Podcasts about when andy

When Andy gives, he realizes that the relationships he's formed matter. Giving and relationship are intertwined. Whenever we make the decision to give and invest, we see God move in every other area of our lives. fmhouston.com

When Andy started hurting her sister, my husband and I found ourselves discussing spanking. As a child of an abusive father, I didn't want to physically harm my child. What would I be teaching her if I hit her after she hit someone? That discipline meant freedom? Or that it meant terror? It took one instance of spanking her to set me on a completely different path—one that was better for our family, for my children, for me as a parent, and as an individual.

When Andy first died, I didn't want anything good to come from his death. I selfishly wanted everything about it to be 100% horrible. I didn't want there to be a silver lining. Perhaps that is why it annoyed me so much when people tried to cheer me up in some way, telling me that he was in a better place or that it was all part of God's plan. 'Well, God's plan stinks," I would reply (either in my head or even out loud if the person was a close enough friend). After time though, I began to realize that I did want something good to come from this whole experience. Andy deserves that - he deserves to have something amazing and beautiful come from the ugliness. For me, the desire to make something beautiful with Andy became the Always Andy's Mom podcast. For others, it may be founding an organization like Mothers Against Drunk Driving. For the majority of people, however, it is doing something much smaller, perhaps something just for you, your family or even something that helps just one other person in pain. Today, Gwen and I talk about meaning making or post traumatic growth, the way we can actually grow and become 'better' people after experiencing devastating loss. We are certainly not the same people that we were before the death loss occurred. I know it felt to me like I did not just lose Andy - I lost a huge part of myself as well. I had to take a long hard look at myself and ask this question, "What do I do with what's left?" I am not the same person, but what can I do moving forward? What are my strengths and how can I use them in a positive way? The answers to these questions are different for every person, but know that as broken as we feel, we all do have strengths and turning to them is what will lead to healing. So for all of my listeners who are a bit further out on their grief journey, I have questions for you as well. What have you felt called to do in your grief? How have you grown? What things have you been able to do that you would have never thought possible? *If you want to share the answers to these questions, email me at marcy@andysmom.com or comment or message through Facebook or Instagram. Gwen and plan to do a follow-up episode in July sharing some of those answers.  

When Andy started his theatre career in San Diego in the mid 90s, there were little to no roles for Asian Americans in the theatre space.  So just like a true pioneer, he refused to accept the closed doors and created his own.  Today he has paved the way for so many Asian American actors in the US and now he is the Director of Production and Casting at East West Players in Los Angeles.  I'm grateful for people like Andy who have so much grit and vision.  

Andy Goldstrom is a parent of a former wilderness student. When Andy's daughter began high school she struggled with behavioral issues. Andy and his wife, Lori, tried various ways to help their daughter but to no avail. They learned about wilderness therapy and decided to have their daughter transported to Pacific Quest in Hawaii. Andy shares his family's treatment journey and how their lives changed. Andy is now a parent coach and host of the "Wilderness Therapy and Residential Treatment Journey" podcast.

Matty saw Steve the Pirate, Jarrod is not in studio, You Foodz, Childcare plumbing, Little Box Co, Matty is off to Perth, Matty’s social media, Dancing in South Australia, What it means to a nightclub organiser, When Andy worked at Red Square, Jarrod in the Barossa for The Maker and The Drinker, Smells at a Winery, Andy the Hacker, Sexy Sam, Babies awake at night, The Mail Bag, Instagram Questions, Twitter Questions, Shifty Lizard Brewery, Jarrods screen in his Subaru Outback,  Jarrods NBA jerseys, Our favourite podcasts, TV Binge Recommendations, Favourite drinks, Jarrod and his future in radio, Matty’s Parmy Top 5, Back to the Future Quiz. Mushroom Heaven. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matty saw Steve the Pirate, Jarrod is not in studio, You Foodz, Childcare plumbing, Little Box Co, Matty is off to Perth, Matty’s social media, Dancing in South Australia, What it means to a nightclub organiser, When Andy worked at Red Square, Jarrod in the Barossa for The Maker and The Drinker, Smells at a Winery, Andy the Hacker, Sexy Sam, Babies awake at night, The Mail Bag, Instagram Questions, Twitter Questions, Shifty Lizard Brewery, Jarrods screen in his Subaru Outback,  Jarrods NBA jerseys, Our favourite podcasts, TV Binge Recommendations, Favourite drinks, Jarrod and his future in radio, Matty’s Parmy Top 5, Back to the Future Quiz. Mushroom Heaven. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matty saw Steve the Pirate, Jarrod is not in studio, You Foodz, Childcare plumbing, Little Box Co, Matty is off to Perth, Matty's social media, Dancing in South Australia, What it means to a nightclub organiser, When Andy worked at Red Square, Jarrod in the Barossa for The Maker and The Drinker, Smells at a Winery, Andy the Hacker, Sexy Sam, Babies awake at night, The Mail Bag, Instagram Questions, Twitter Questions, Shifty Lizard Brewery, Jarrods screen in his Subaru Outback,  Jarrods NBA jerseys, Our favourite podcasts, TV Binge Recommendations, Favourite drinks, Jarrod and his future in radio, Matty's Parmy Top 5, Back to the Future Quiz. Mushroom Heaven. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matty saw Steve the Pirate, Jarrod is not in studio, You Foodz, Childcare plumbing, Little Box Co, Matty is off to Perth, Matty's social media, Dancing in South Australia, What it means to a nightclub organiser, When Andy worked at Red Square, Jarrod in the Barossa for The Maker and The Drinker, Smells at a Winery, Andy the Hacker, Sexy Sam, Babies awake at night, The Mail Bag, Instagram Questions, Twitter Questions, Shifty Lizard Brewery, Jarrods screen in his Subaru Outback,  Jarrods NBA jerseys, Our favourite podcasts, TV Binge Recommendations, Favourite drinks, Jarrod and his future in radio, Matty's Parmy Top 5, Back to the Future Quiz. Mushroom Heaven. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two-Time Olympian Andrew Wheating joins Sasha Spencer on this week's Talkin' Ducks podcast to discuss his unorthodox route to Eugene, his time as an Olympian and what he wants to be remembered for in the future.1:48 When Andy started running.2:50 Talking about his connection to Jeff Johnson.6:10 The intense routine he went through when he got to Oregon.11:40 The dominance of Ashton Eaton.20:10 Reflecting on the 2008 Olympics.23:00 Talking about seeing Kobe Bryant at the Olympics.32:25 Reasons for choosing to give up running professionally?37:35 Talking about his new company ON.

Two-Time Olympian Andrew Wheating joins Sasha Spencer on this week's Talkin' Ducks podcast to discuss his unorthodox route to Eugene, his time as an Olympian and what he wants to be remembered for in the future.1:48 When Andy started running.2:50 Talking about his connection to Jeff Johnson.6:10 The intense routine he went through when he got to Oregon.11:40 The dominance of Ashton Eaton.20:10 Reflecting on the 2008 Olympics.23:00 Talking about seeing Kobe Bryant at the Olympics.32:25 Reasons for choosing to give up running professionally?37:35 Talking about his new company ON.

Without leadership, nothing happens! Episode Description:  In today's Better Wealth Episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Andy Wyatt, author, coach and CEO of Andy Wyatt Leadership LLC, a company developing leaders around the world through coaching. In today’s world of hundreds of leadership guru’s, Andy shares his authentic value that “Wise, caring, balanced servant leaders are good leaders, and good  leaders produce good results!”  Without leadership, nothing happens! Listen as Andy dives deep into his new leadership book https://amzn.to/3rLhUaT (Pro-Leadership: Establishing Your Credibility.) Andy believes that leadership development first starts with looking at what he calls your “backstage” and says it's important to “Excavate before you Elevate!” Andy challenges listeners to win the day by managing your focus and constantly asking “Is This Important NOW?” I talk with Andy about his unique leadership development process and reflect back on how valuable it has been to me and the foundation of my leadership role at BetterWealth. #BETTERWEALTH For more information on BetterWealth or the content you hear on the Podcast visit us at http://www.betterwealth.com/podcast (www.betterwealth.com/podcast). Guest Bio:  Andrew Wyatt Leadership LLC, develops leaders around the world through coaching, speaking, training and consulting: CEO entrepreneurs, leaders and their companies. Andy is the Author of Pro Leadership, Establishing Credibility, Building Your Following and Leading with Impact, published by Morgan James in February 2021. In addition to writing and speaking, Andy coaches one on one, leads Pro Leadership Mastermind Groups, Masterclasses, Seminars and Retreats.  Andy also founded Andrew Wyatt Leadership and he is Head Coach & Managing Partner.  He did so after completing 24 years as Founder and CEO of Cornerstone Capital Management LLC. Andy founded Cornerstone as a private wealth management business in 1993. When Andy left Cornerstone in 2017, the firm had grown to over $15 billion in assets under management, serving institutional clients through four investment teams with offices in Minneapolis and New York.  Prior to Cornerstone, Andy was Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Investment Advisers, Inc. At IAI, he gained extensive investment experience working with both institutional and individual clients in the management of their financial portfolios. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural economics with a concentration in futures trading. His vision, passion, and energy resulted in an unwavering commitment to helping clients achieve their financial objectives by creating a high- performance culture that attracted and rewarded the best financial management talent in the industry.Andy has been married to Luann for 35 years and they have three grown children, Claire, Joe and Maggie. He also has a West Highland White Terrier named Winnie. Guest Links:  Check out Andy’s New Book: https://amzn.to/3rLhUaT (Pro-Leadership: Establishing Your Credibility) Learn More About Andy: https://andrewwyattleadership.com/ (Andy Wyatt Leadership) https://www.instagram.com/andrewwyattleadership/ (Instagram) https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-wyatt-a160a74/ (LinkedIn)

When Andy, Paul and Winston took to the stage at a club in Liverpool in 1978, the small crowd assembled didn’t quite know what to expect. Especially because Winston was a tape recorder. What they wouldn’t have anticipated was that, within three or four years, this peculiar band - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - would rattle off a string of hit singles and eccentric inventive albums, placing them firmly on the frontline of the electro-pop invasion of the early to mid-80s.

Happy Thanksgiving week guys! While not a "Thanksgiving movie", Funny Farm was our choice to get you through this turkey and stuffing eating, Black Friday shopping, Zooming with everyone you know week! From 1988, Chevy Chase plays a slightly smarter, albeit possibly even more narcissistic version of Clark Griswold in the sports writer turned wannabe action adventure author Andy Farmer. When Andy and his wife Elizabeth leave their New York City life for the country dreams of Vermont, they get more then they bargained for, including an honest look at their marriage! We'll talk about how psycho Andy Farmer is and agree to disagree if Elizabeth is equally as bad, if the proper way to drive over a rickety as f covered bridge, and what exactly are rocky mountain oysters? Cue the deer!

Today our expert guest is Andy Storch, an author, consultant, coach, speaker, and facilitator on a mission to get the most out of life and inspire others to do the same. He is also the host of two podcasts — The Talent Development Hot Seat and The Andy Storch Show — and the author of “Own Your Career, Own Your Life,” which is designed to help professionals stop drifting and take control of their futures. When Andy was on the show back in episode 115, just a little over one year ago, this book wasn't really on his radar. But as he got more into personal development  — by way of Hal Elrod, like myself — he realized that he already had a message he wanted to put out into the world. He just hadn't put it all in one place yet. A big part of Andy's message is contrary to a lot of what you'll see in the self-development space these days, which often emphasizes the personal freedom unlocked through entrepreneurship. And that's true, to an extent, but being an entrepreneur isn't for everyone — and it's not necessary to live a happy and abundant life. So Andy endeavored to create a resource that was applicable to anyone who has been told that you can't have it all, or that you have to put your time in and then you can have a good life in retirement. This is a resource to help anyone put in the priorities, boundaries, and systems that will allow them to, as the title says, own their lives. This may not be the right time to burn all the ships and charge forward with a grand new venture, this might not be the right time to tell your boss where to stick it. But there are still ways to take back control, and Andy has some practical strategies to help you do it.   The Biggest Helping: Today's Most Important Takeaway “I want you to think about where you've been drifting in your life, letting other people or society dictate how you live and what you do for work and in your career. Where can you really flip a switch and start to take ownership, start to take responsibility, stop playing the victim, and set a course and really start moving towards that. Stop putting things off, stop procrastinating.”  Where can you take ownership today? Where can you really dive in and own your future?   --   Thank you for joining us on The Daily Helping with Dr. Shuster. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Google Play to download more food for the brain, knowledge from the experts, and tools to win at life.   Resources: “Own Your Career, Own Your Life” Top 5 Career Mistakes andystorch.com Instagram: @andy_storch LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andystorch “50. Elevating Consciousness, One Miracle Morning at a Time | with Hal Elrod” “93. The Rise of the Youpreneur | with Chris Ducker” “115. Taking Responsibility For Your Career & Personal Development | with Andy Storch” “127. The Two Decisions That Guarantee Success | with Hal Elrod”   The Daily Helping is produced by Crate Media

This week we review - Detectorists (Series 3 Episode 1) Detectorists follows the relationship between two friends who share a passion for metal detecting.When Andy and Lance are together, they're like an old married couple. They gripe at each other, but there is a true bond underneath. Each has their own slightly dysfunctional lives but together they dream of finding a priceless Saxon hoard that will cement their place in detecting history.Helping them along the way is a delightfully quirky crowd of characters who are drawn to this all-absorbing hobby.Written by Mackenzie Crook.Produced by Adam Tandy & Gill Isles.Directed By Mackenzie Crook.A Treasure Trove / Channel X North / Lola Entertainment Production for BBC.The Detectorists is available here: https://bbc.in/3jW4TaU The Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube. Subscribe for a new episode each Monday. Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

Welcome back to Backtrack! New episodes every WEDNESDAY! SPOILERS AHEAD This week we review Disney/Pixar TOY STORY! Toy Story (1995) in this first fully 3-D animated feature film, Woody (Tom Hanks), a good-hearted cowboy doll who belongs to a young boy named Andy (John Morris), sees his position as Andy's favorite toy jeopardized when his parents buy him a Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) action figure. Even worse, the arrogant Buzz thinks he's a real spaceman on a mission to return to his home planet. When Andy's family moves to a new house, Woody and Buzz must escape the clutches of maladjusted neighbor Sid Phillips (Erik von Detten) and reunite with their boy. Host: Conner Norton (Twitter/Instagram @mrconnernorton) Co-host: Andrew Vargas (Twitter @avargasaurus) Support us: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/backtrack Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/backtrackpodcast/

When Andy and Sophie met at a coding camp, they decided to make a video game together. Their final project? Tampon Run — a video game where you shoot tampons at your enemies.

Andy Frasco’s story has been well documented. His live antics are well known. But behind all of that is a gentle guy who deals with depression, insecurity and much more. On his last album Change of Pace, we were all exposed to his personal struggle and on Keep on Keepin’ On that very authentic human condition is exposed once again. He is an excellent showman, front man and prolific digital media content maker, but he is way more complex than all of that. So though he isn’t currently on tour, he is still putting out his podcast, a weekly live stream and tons of content. When Andy and I hooked up and got to talking I was curious to understand how he finds the time to do everything. First Song: 00:14 - Keep On Keeping On Interview Begins: 03:59 Extro Song: 37:41 - None of Those Things See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom and Doug are joined in studio by Sarah Sprinthall and Colton Ray. Sarah starts out with her Francis McDormand influenced story about her 1985 Mitsubishi Mirage. Then we get down to brass tacks and talk about how Walser is dealing with the Corona virus outbreak. Colton Ray, Walser Automotive Marketing Director, talks about their brand new service, “Walser to you” which allows customers to purchase vehicle from the comfort of their homes. When Andy and Melissa discover it also includes free service pickup, we book our first two “Walser to you” service appointments.

Tom and Doug are joined in studio by Sarah Sprinthall and Colton Ray. Sarah starts out with her Francis McDormand influenced story about her 1985 Mitsubishi Mirage. Then we get down to brass tacks and talk about how Walser is dealing with the Corona virus outbreak. Colton Ray, Walser Automotive Marketing Director, talks about their brand new service, “Walser to you” which allows customers to purchase vehicle from the comfort of their homes. When Andy and Melissa discover it also includes free service pickup, we book our first two “Walser to you” service appointments.

In this episode, I sit down with my good friend, Andy Rohrbacher. Andy is an extremely competitive, nationally ranked, amateur triathlete. We discuss his journey from obesity and depression to breaking out of his comfort zone and setting (and then completing) harder and harder goals. Everyone can learn from his daily commitment to show up and get just a little bit better by turning weaknesses into strengths. By the way...he broke his neck last year, and he hasn't let that stop him!When Andy isn't training, he is a business and organizational development consultant, a member of the Board of Managers at the White Rock YMCA, a volunteer and fundraiser for social causes and charities, and an avid traveler.Follow Andy on Instagram: @andrewrohrbacher

Today’s episode is all about marketing, marketing, marketing! How do we integrate old-school marketing with new-school methods? Is it possible to do it in a cost-effective, repeatable way? Our guest has some answers!   Andy Buyting is an established thought leader in the world of content marketing and brand positioning. He is a TEDx speaker and the author of two books: The Retailer's Roadmap to Success and How to Win Clients & Influence People. Andy has successfully leveraged his integrated marketing approach to print, digital, and through interactive marketing, to help captivate an audience and build reputation.   When Andy was in Verne Harnish’s program, Birthing of Giants, he was exposed to the concept of building a reputation through print media. Andy was running the marketing for his retail family business and he decided to launch their own retail magazine. This helped the business tremendously because they were the only retailer who had a magazine!   Through his magazine, other retailers/businesses throughout the country were approaching Andy and asking if he could replicate the same thing for their business. He developed a program so that companies could quickly create their own plug-and-play magazine.   The next thing he knew, he was building a magazine company on the back of his retail business and leveraging his customers’ mailing lists. His first issue with these partners had a print and distribution size that was 4X the size of the largest home and garden magazine in Canada, which had been in print for 120 years. After that, the rest was history.   Interview Links: Tulipmediagroup.com The Retailer's Roadmap to Success: 33 Secrets for Driving Your Business to the Next Level How to Win Clients & Influence People: Create Instant Credibility and Gain an Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition “Become the Yellow Flower in the Sea of Red” | Andy Buyting | TEDxUNB Birthingofgiants.com   Resources: Scaling Up Workshop: Interested in attending one of our workshops? We have a few $100 discounts for our loyal podcast listeners!Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshop: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube

Tino and Scott are actors, producers, writers and playwrights who have a show on in London called After(s). The link to tickets is here: https://www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk/whatson/After(s) Andy and Sarah live together in their adult flat, with their adult jobs and their adult love. Andy and Sarah are happy. Or so they think. When Andy's childhood friend Yog, and free-spirited, violence prone, sex fanatic, Dolly-Parton-devotee Laura crash into their lives one weekday evening, their world is turned upside down. Following up their debut play, The Unemployed Actors' Union, Scott Mackie and Santino Smith bring you an exploration of love, friendship, sexuality and identity. After(s) is a new comedy farce about growing up in today's world. And whether or not you should. Welcome to the greatest after party you've ever been to in your life.

In this episode of PixMix, Arun and Patricia discuss about the movie that started it all: the 1995 animated feature Toy Story. The movie is about a cowboy toy named Woody who is the favorite of his owner, a kid named Andy. When Andy's birthday arrive earlier than expected, he receives a space action figure named Buzz Lightyear who thinks is a real space ranger. Buzz takes all the attention from Andy and the rest of the toys become enamored with him making Woody very jealous. Woody comes up with an idea to get rid of Buzz, but it goes too far making him rejected by the other toys. Woody only has a few days to get Buzz back to Andy's house before he and his family move. When the film premiered, it was critically acclaimed by critics and viewers making over $373 million dollars on a $30 million dollar budget. It was called the most groundbreaking animated film since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and placed Pixar on the map for quality animated films for kids and adults. It's been over 20 years since its premiere. Does it still hold up today? Listen and find out. Check out Arun's links down below http://www.arunmehta.co.uk http://www.facebook.com/ArunMehtaShow http://www.twitter.com/ArunMehtaShow https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/arunmehta Check out Patricia's links down below http://oldschoollane.blogspot.com/ https://www.youtube.com/oldschoollane https://www.facebook.com/OldSchoolLane https://twitter.com/patty_b_miranda

In this episode, Stacy, acting as a field reporter, walks a very short distance to interview guest, Andy Grinsfelder. When Andy was a kid, he had three unexplained brushes with possible paranormal activity. Knowing that Andy is a lifelong skeptic, Stacy is shocked to hear these stories for the first time. Although there is plenty of laughter throughout the episode, there is no punchline because this is not a Dad Joke.  Side note: This episode gets a little creepy, so it may not be suitable for all audiences. 

Welcome to episode 64 of THE UPSIDE with Callie and Jeff Dauler (original release date: October 10, 2019) ********** - our phone number is 800-434-5454 … call anytime, about anything! - follow Callie and Jeff on IG: @CallieDauler and @JeffDauler - join our awesome community on Facebook by clicking here - have you subscribed to our weekly Pick-Me-Up newsletter for good news and deals? - shop our Callie and Jeff merchandise ********** Please share this episode and the show with the whole world! The easiest way to do that - especially if someone doesn't know too much about podcasts - is by sending them to callieandjeff.com and having them hit the LISTEN NOW button. Internet magic will take them directly to the best available player for whatever device they are using. If you share about the show on social media, please use #livefortheupside so we see it and can respond / repost / follow! ********** Here are all of today’s show links, for your clicking convenience: Skillshare (UPSIDE gets you two months of free learning) Salted Caramel Pretzel Blondies from Smitten Kitchen - https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/08/salted-caramel-pretzel-blondies/ Andy Grammer’s podcast - https://www.thegoodpartspodcast.com/ ********** Today, Jeff is grateful for no-lace Converse sneakers. Today, Callie is grateful for Jeff and his housekeeping skills. Jeff’s birthday is one month from today! Last year, Jeff wanted to be alone for his big day. He’s not as stressed this year, so he can be excited again. Today, Callie and Jeff are continuing lessons about the power of silence. Some people will take anything you say and spin it into something negative. A listener brings up the challenges of using the power of silence on family members. When you happen to be blood-related with someone, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have boundaries. Realize that contributing to toxic conversations is optional to participate in. A dramatic reading of the recipe for salted caramel blondies. Andy Grammer (Jeff and Callie’s new BFF) joins the show and talks about how being encouraging and kind makes you rebellious these days. During meet-and-greets, Andy brings everyone into a circle and asks them about their deepest pain and what it has forced them to grow into. At 25, Andy lost his mom, and it gave him complete empathy for the rest of the world. When Andy needs uplifting, one of his go-tos is Louis Prima, the voice of King Louie in The Jungle Book. Andy knows inspiring songs can be cheesy; however, adding context and value will make them come out authentically.. Lastly, it is complete misery that Andy’s songs have been on Kids Bop. And if you want to know about the shirt … you’ll just have to listen! Skillshare: Don't trust random YouTube videos to teach you important things! Learn from an online learning community where you can see the credentials of your instructors and take thousands of courses. Scores of classes covering creative and entrepreneurial skills to get you set up for the starting a new project, setting yourself up for a new job, or just exploring something new. Two months totally free ... see how much you can learn! Just visit www.SkillShare.com/upside. Happy learning! ********** SUBSCRIBES, FOLLOWS, and FIVE-STAR REVIEWS are always appreciated. WE ARE ALWAYS GRATEFUL FOR YOU! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FULL EPISODE EPISODE SUMMARY Conversation with Dr. Mardi Steere about Mission, Leadership, Emergency Medicine and Ebenezer Moments from her 8+ years at Kijabe Hospital. EPISODE NOTES David - So today, I'm talking with Mardi Steere. This is a conversation that I don't want to have. It's about leaving about memories, and about Kijabe.And I don't want to have it because I don't want you guys ever to leave. That is the hardest part of life in Kijabe. But amazing people come and amazing people go and you're gonna do amazing things and stay in touch. First, why don't you give the introduction you gave at the medical team the other day. Mardi - So this is bittersweet for me as well. We came to Kijabe in 2011 and planned to stay for two years and here we are eight and a half years later, taking our leave. And in some ways, it's inevitable. You can't stay in a place forever. It's been a real opportunity for me to reflect. David - Let me pause you real quick there. So when you first came, who is we? And then what did you come to do? Mardi - In 2011, I was a young pediatric emergency physician with an engineering husband looking for a place where we felt like God had said "To whom much is given, much is required," and we knew our next step was to go in somewhere with the gifts and the passions and the exposure and education that we've been given. And so I came as a Pediatrician, and the hospital hadn't had a long-term pediatrician in quite a while. Jennifer Myhre had just joined the team in 2010 and my husband Andy is a civil engineer and project manager, and now, theological educator as well.We moved here with our then two-year-old and four-year-old to do whatever seemed to be next. David - That's amazing. So give the theological introduction to the Ebenezer. Mardi - It comes from first Samuel Chapter 7 verse 7-12, where there's a battle between the Philistines and the Israelites and Samuel lays a stone to God for being faithful and to remember what God has done. When Andy and I got married in 1998, actually, it was a scripture that was read at our wedding. And we were encouraged when these Ebenezer moments come, take stock of them, step back, and acknowledge what God has done . Those moments will be key moments in your marriage. As I was talking to the medical division the other day, I felt like it was just another reminder that, as we have our professional lives and we work in a place like Kijabe and we serve, it's really easy to get caught up day-to-day in the daily struggles that we all have - with life and death and bureaucracy and not enough money and not enough equipment and team dynamics and conflict. But there are these moments when we take a step back and we see what God has done. This hospital has been around for 100 years, and I've only been here for a little over eight of them, but there are so many moments where I look back on where we've come from - and the journey that we've been on - and I see these landmark moments of God intervening. David - How do you see the balance here between medical excellence and spiritual - I don't know if excellence is the right word - between medical excellence and spiritual excellence. I think the origins of medicine were very intertwined with the spiritual, but at least in Western medicine, it's very divorced and I feel like in some ways, what I see happening here is not taught in classrooms anywhere else. Mardi - This is one of those things that I am going to be taking with me for the rest of my life. I don't know who's listening to this, but Americans have a cultural Christianity where it's acceptable in medicine, I think, to ask medical questions and maybe you ask a spiritual question and saying God bless you and bless her heart, and praying for people is somewhat accepted but still it's a parallel track to medicine. In Australia, it's completely divorced. There's almost a cultural fear of discussing the spiritual in Australia, a very agnostic country. So to be a Christian in Australia, you have to make a choice. But then when you go to medical school, it's taught to you almost don't bring that in. This is a science, and one of the things that I love about Kijabe is that they are inextricably intertwined. There isn't a meeting that we start here without prayer. When I'm covering pediatrics, as a clinician, we start with team prayer and depending how busy things are, if you're trying to see 30 patients on rounds, you might pray for the room, as you start. We ask the parents how they're doing, and then we pray for the mom with her permission, and for the baby or the dad or whichever caregiver is there. We ask God to intervene, we ask God to give us wisdom, we ask him to be a part of the science. We ask him to be a part of the conversations. When it comes to the even bigger picture, when it comes to strategically planning the hospital, and our core values again - they're inextricably intertwined, and it's a gift. One thing that I'm gonna take with me as a leader and as a clinician, is that it is not difficult to ask anyone, "What is your world view and what is your spiritual worldview? Because all of us have one in Australia. That world view might be... "I don't believe there's a spiritual realm." That's so important to know. But what if the answer to that question is," I believe in God, but I don't see him doing anything." What an opportunity we miss. What if we have immigrants in our population in our community, and we don't ask them "What is your spiritual and cultural world view? What do you think is happening beneath the surface?" and we don't give someone an opportunity to say without derision, "I think I've been cursed" or "There is a generational problem in my family," and we don't open up the opportunity to intervene in a way that's holistic, much we miss by not intertwining the spiritual and the physical? The fact is every one of our communities has a spiritual world view, and shame on us if we don't explore it with them. David - Amen. It's fascinating here because before coming here, I thought of missions as giving. The longer I'm here, the more I think of it as receiving. When you stop and pray for a family, the encouragement received from those family members is huge. The trust and the love, and you do see people who come in the halls and you ask, "Why are you here?" "Because my doctor will pray for me." Mardi - So what's interesting to me is there are some conversations going on in medicine around the world right now about this "innovative new concept of Compassionomics." And really it's exactly what you're saying, it's not new and it's not innovative. I think that Compassionomics is our fearful way of re-exploring the spiritual. It's taking the time on rounds to say, "How are you doing as a family, how are we doing as a team," and to take the opportunity to draw comfort from each other. It comes from a spiritual foundation, that I think that we've lost, and I think a lot of it comes from burnout and from the way that medicine has become a business and a commodity. We're starting to re-explore through Compassionomics, and I pray through exploring the spiritual, the deeper side of medicine that around the world I think people really miss. David - Right on. Mardi - And if that's not reverse innovation, I don't know what is. David - It's fascinating, this space that Kijabe fills and how we think about it and how we talk about it. I use a phrase - World class healthcare in the developing world - but when I use that, I don't mean that I want Kijabe to be the big hospital in the big city in the West, because there are certain aspects that we don't want to lose. Yes, absolutely, it would be super-cool to be doing robotic surgery, and some of these wild technological things, but really I feel like what Kijabe excels at is not fancy and not glamorous. It fundamentals of medicine. I remember Evelyn Mbugua telling me this one time. I asked her, "What do you think about medicine in general?" "When I have a challenge or when I'm stuck on a patient, I go back to their history." It's fascinating that that's fascinating! Some of the basic fundamentals of medicine are practiced here, just looking at your patient and laying your hands on them and touching them and talking to them. A conversation is both a diagnostic tool and it's actually medicine. If the numbers are true, I know it's different from orthopedic surgery than for outpatient, but, if half of medicine is actually placebo, this stuff is really important to healing. And it's not anti-science. It actually is science to care about people. Mardi - It's interesting when you mentioned the placebo effect. I think that the placebo effect is considered as nothing, but it's not the placebo effect, is actually a real effect. It's that time and conversation and compassion, truly do bring healing and the point of a control trial is to see in a drug-do better than that. But the thing we're doing, already makes sense. It's interesting to me that medicine around the world is getting faster and faster and more and more advanced. Time is money. I think that around the world, we wanna save money in medicine, we wanna do more with what we have, but we're willing to sacrifice time, to make that happen. And why is that the first thing that goes? Burned-out physicians in high income countries, the thing that they love, is when they have to see more and more patients in less and less time because they know what they have to offer is beyond a drug, and beyond a diagnosis and beyond a referral and beyond a surgery. The one of my favorite phrases in medicine that I truly don't understand but want to spend the rest of my life working on it, is a "value-based care." I think to define value you have to define what we're offering. If value is time, then one of the things I think that Kijabe and mission hospitals can continue to pioneer the way in is, "how do we cut costs in other areas but refuse to sacrifice the cost of time and make sure that our impact is helpful for our patients but that also helps our team members and our clinicians receive the value that comes from being a part of a meaningful conversation. I think that's what patients want too. They don't want the robotics, they come to us because they're helpless vulnerable and afraid, and those are the things that we're treating. They trust what we tell them and if we don't have the time to build up that trust, we've lost a lot of the value that we offer. David - What have you seen change about team? You guys have been part of this big culture change process, but I think it's something that's started long before long before either of us. What do you see is the arc of Kijabe and the archive teamwork and the arc of culture? Mardi - So, Kenya is an incredibly multicultural and diverse country and Nairobi is high-powered and it's fast and it's a lot of white-collar and highly educated people and Kijabe is not so far from that. I think we operate more in a Nairobi mindset than a rural, small town mindset, but that's actually been a huge transition, I think, is going from presenting ourselves as a rural distant place to a part of a busy growing rapidly advancing system, and so that comes with leadership styles that become more open and more I guess, more modern in style. And so that's been the first big thing that I've just seen a huge jar over the part of the decade that I have been here is that leadership is no longer just top-down, enforced. It's participational leadership and I'm a massive fan of that. Leaders do have to make hard decisions and make things happen, but the input of the team has become a much, much higher priority in the last decade. And that's huge because our young highly-educated, highly-aspirational team members have got some great ideas and shame on us as leaders, if we don't take the time to listen to their approach to things. So that inclusive style of leadership has has been a huge arc. And then I think the other thing is just our changing generations, millennials are not confined to high-income countries. We have a young generation of people here who aren't gonna stay in the same job for 40 years like their parents or their grandparents did, and that's the same globally. And so we've had to question, over the last decade, how do you approach team members who are only gonna be here for a little while? Do you see that is, they're just gonna go, or do you get the maximum investment into them and benefit out of them in the time that they're gonna be here and then release them with your blessing? And so that's been something that's been huge for me is when we've got these new graduate nurses or lab staff radiographers, to not be on the fact that three years after they come to us, they go it's to say, "You know what, we've got these guys for three years, let's sow into them, let's get the most we can out of their recent education... Let's do what we can to up skill them with the people that we've got here and then let's release them all over Kenya to be great resources for health care across the country and across the region. David - I would say, for healthcare and for the gospel. I've been wrestling a lot with what does it mean for Kijabe is to be a mission hospital. I think the classic definition - I don't know if we define it as such, I don't often hear people say it out loud, but I think it's an unwritten thing - that what makes a Mission hospital a Mission Hospital, is that it cares for the poor. Hopefully on some level, or on a lot of levels, that will always be true at Kijabe. But I'm really excited about the possibility of what you just described, that if these guys are here for three or four years and we are to training them with the attitude that they are going out as Christian leaders and as missionaries to these parts of Kenya that honestly, you and I will never touch. And a lot of the places I've never even heard of. But if we're equipping them to be the light that's the huge opportunity that Kijabe has to be missional. Mardi - This is a much, much longer podcast, but defining mission is really really important, isn't it? I think that there's a couple of things that stick out to me as you're talking and one is that, I think mission has a history that can be associated with colonialism. And one thing I love about my time in Kenya is seeing that we are a globe of missionaries. The church that we attended in Nairobi, Mamlaka Hill Chapel, these guys would send mission teams to New Zealand, which is fabulous. It's not that lower middle income countries are receiving missionaries anymore. All of us need the gospel, all of us need the full word of Jesus and when you're spreading the gospel, what are you spreading? I think that this is a much longer conversation, but I believe that we are called to go and make disciples we are called to serve the sick, we are called to serve the poor, we are called to serve those in prison. I focus on the parable of the sheep and the goats, it is one of my life scriptures, "when you are poor and sick and needy whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me." And what I hope for Kijabe does is that for whoever passes through our doors, whether it be patient, whether it be staff member, this is who we are, we love Jesus and we want you to know this incredible King who gave so much for us and who has an eternal life for us that starts now. And eternal life starting now means making an impact and restoring that which is broken, and it means restoring it now, wherever you are. As our team members go out to work in other hospitals, I would hope that one of the indicators of success for us would be a lack of brain drain, because it would show that we've shown people, "You know what there are people here that need you in healthcare. And this is why I'm here." If I had wanted to be an evangelist rather than a health care missionary, I should have stayed in Australia, for less people in Australia know Jesus that in Kenya. But I felt like my call in mission was to serve the sick in a place where I could help other people do the same. That's been my passion here, but I'm called to go back to Australia now. Does that mean my mission life is over? Absolutely not. It means that I'm going back to Australia to love Jesus and serve sick there and to do it in a different way. And I think that understanding that all of us, whoever is listening to this podcast right now, wherever you you have a call to mission, it's that sphere of influence that God's put you in. It's to take care of the poor or the sick, or to love the wealthy, who are lost around you that are never gonna step foot in a church but need a love of Jesus every bit as much as one of our nursing students here in the college. David - Amen again, that's fantastic. So back to Ebenezers, back to the the stones. What are things come to mind as you look back over on your time at Kijabe that were hallmarks or turning points? Mardi - There's a few of them. One evening sticks out to me because it's so indicative of the bigger picture and what we've been working towards. I'd been here for about nine months or so. . . One of the things that Jennifer Myhre and I noticed is we started out on pediatrics was that our nursing staff were incredibly passionate about their kids, but no one had really had the time to teach them about sick kids and how to resuscitate them, just basic life support, because they were so overwhelmed. You know, there was one nurse who was taking care of 12-15 patients at a time. That ratio is now one to eight, so it's much easier. But they just hadn't had the opportunity to learn some of the basic life-saving assessment in resuscitation skills, and so we started doing just weekly mock resuscitations with the nurses and as we got to know each other and they got to trust me and to know that I wasn't there to, to judge them, but to try and help them, we would do mock recesses every week, and people would stop being scared of coming and would come with by interested and actually came to test their knowledge. When I started in 2011, about once a week I would get called in, in the middle of the night to find a baby blue and not breathing, who was dead, and there was nothing that I could do. But what we worked together on was setting up a resuscitation room, and setting up the right equipment. And so after about nine months of this, I was called in for yet another resuscitation in the middle of the night, and by the time I got there, the baby was just screaming and pink, and I asked the nurse is what had happened and it was the same story as always, this baby choked on milk, they had turned on the oxygen given the baby oxygen done some CPR and they resuscitated that baby before I got there, they didn't need me at all. And the Ebenezer for me was the was the pride on their faces. "We are experts at this and we know what we're doing." That has just escalated leaps and bounds. Now we've got outstanding nursing leadership and they're being equipped and taught and up-skilled every day. But that was an Ebenezer moment for me that the time taken to build relationship and team and invest doesn't just bring a resuscitated baby and life is important, but it builds team and it builds ownership and pride in "this is what I've been called to do, and I'm good at it." It's interesting because it's what you would do is individual doctors with your teams and doing the mock code. But it's also very much a systems process for Kijabe hospital, right? A big part of solving that challenge was getting the right nursing ratios, but also setting up high dependency units to where children you're concerned about could be escalated. Did that happened during your time here? Mardi - So when we started here in 2011, children weren't really admitted to the ICU at all unless they were surgical patients who just had an operation, and then the surgeons would take care of them and transfer them down to the ward. So the pediatrics team wasn't really involved in any ICU care, extremely rarely. We didn't have a high dependency unit. And our definition of high dependency unit, here, is a baby that can be monitored on a machine 24-7. This is something that shows you how reliant we are on partnerships, David. So for example, the nursing and the medical team together decided, "Look, we think we need a three-bed unit, where at least the babies who were the more sick ones can be monitored on machines." And so, Bethany kids were the ones who equipped... We turned one of our words into a three-bed HDU in the old Bethany kids wing, and that was the first time we could put some higher risk babies on monitoring so that if they deteriorated we knew about it sooner. And we saw deaths start to drop, just with that simple thing. The other thing was that pediatricians who worked here in the past weren't necessarily equipped in how to do... ICU care. And so Jennifer and I said, "Well I'm a Peds-emergency physician, and she is an expert in resource-poor medicine, between the two of us, we can probably figure this out." We started putting some babies in ICU who we knew had a condition that would be reversible if we could just hook them up for 24 hours to ventilator. So we started ventilating babies with just pneumonia or bronchiolitis. Or sepsis, that was the other big one, something that if you can help their heart beats more strongly for a day or two, you can turn the tide. And so we just started working with the ICU team to say, "Look, can we choose some babies to start bringing up here? And four years later we were overtaking the ICU at the time and that's why we had to build a new Pediatric ICU, which opened in 2016. All of these things are incremental, and we stand on the shoulders of giants. The Paeds ward existed because a surgeon said "I don't want babies with hydrocephalus and spina bifida to not get care." And then we came along and said "We think that's great, but we think that babies with hydrocephalus spina bifida, who also have kidney problems and malnutrition, should probably have a pediatrician care for them." And over time, that degree of care, that we've been able to offer has just grown and grown. And we had Dr. Sara Muma as a pediatrician join us in 2012 then Dr. Ima Barasa - she was sponsored into pediatric residency long before I got here. That was the foresight of the medical director back then, to say "We are gonna need some better pediatric care". And then I stepped into the medical director role and people like Ima and Ariana came along and they've just pushed it further and further and further. None of us are satisfied with what we walk into, and we keep saying we can do better because these kids deserve more. David - That's fantastic, I think that's another way when you think about the influence and the impact of Kijabe, it's that refusing to settle. It's to say, "Yeah this is possible. Let's figure it out." And for all the team members to say that and commit to it, and for the leadership to support that I think that's what makes Kijabe special. I read something that the other day, it was just an interesting take, someone said [to a visiting doctor] "Why are you going to that place? It has so much." But Kijabe only has “so much” because the immense sacrifice of so many people over so much time. None of this showed up without the hours and the donations and years and years and years of work. I remember you saying that about Patrick with his ophthalmology laser? How did you phrase that? Mardi - Patrick, he's such a wonderful example of the kind of person that doesn't look for reward, but sees a need and just walks to the finish line. He started out, I believe, on the housekeeping team in the hospital. He's been here for 20 years at least, I think, and then went through clinical office or training, which is a physician assistant level training, and then received higher training in cataract surgery. He started our ophthalmology service in 2012. Since then he had nurses trained around him. He's been doing cataract surgery, and then he said, "We've got these diabetic patients and the care we offer isn't good enough, we need a laser." He went to Tanzania, and got laser training, and now he's going to start doing laser surgery on patients with diabetic retinopathy. He refuses to be satisfied with the status quo. And that's the heritage that we have here. You know, talking about even a moment I feel them enormously privileged to have been here in 2015 as we as a hospital celebrated our centennial. It took us a year to prepare for that, and I know you were a part of that process, David. David's job was find all of the stories and all of the photos and interview all of the people and make sure to document everything that might be lost if we lose these stories now. Being a part of that process... I was in tears so many times when we would hear one more story about somebody's commitment and sacrifice. We've been able to write down that story from 2015, with the Theodora Hospital as we were known then. The stories of not just these missionaries but these extraordinary early nurses, like Wairegi and Salome who worked here for decades, who were initially trained informally, because we didn't even have accreditation for the nursing program. David - We didn't even exist as a country. Mardi - That's a really good point! To hear those stories and to see our very first lab technician was just amazing. And then when these 80 and 90-year-olds came over and saw the scope of the hospital as it exists now, it just gave me a glimpse into whatever we do today, we have no concept of 100 years from now, the fruit that that will bear. And I think a missional life, is like that, isn't it? It's being okay with not seeing fruit. There's foundations positive and negative, that all of us lay in the interactions and the work that we do and I think all of us, our prayer is that those seeds that we plant would bear fruit. We have to be okay with not seeing the fruit with saying this has been my contribution. I've stood on the shoulders of giants and now I hand over the baton to you, who will come after me. Make of it what you will. It's not my dream and it's not my goal, I've done my part, and let's see where God takes it through you. David - And so, very shortly, you're about to become a giant. [laughter] I really appreciate you, I appreciate you bringing that up. That was one of the most important things that could have ever happened. It was in the 2015. It was before we started Friends of Kijabe. The realization for me I always come back to how long life is. It's both amazingly short and amazingly long. Watching Dr. Barnett and realizing that he worked here for 30 years, and then went back to the states, so now he's... I think he just hit 102 years old. It really does bring in a clear view what is legacy, what does it mean and what are we building? But also that this is very much outside of us. We get to pour everything we have into it for a time, but then others will take up that work. And it's both humbling, and amazing and... Mardi - And I think it's helpful to as many of us have a sense of calling on our lives, I think that this is what God has for me now. But we have to hold that with open hands because our view and our understanding of what God is doing is so small and what he is doing is so large. I think sometimes in this kind of setting, you come in with a dream and a passion and a goal, but you see that path shift and change during the time that you're here and that is good and that is okay. I think a danger is when we come in and think that we have the answers or we know exactly where God is going, and then things don't work out, and we burn out or are bitter or disappointed. To come into a sense of mission and calling... Saying "not my will but yours be done," and to just obey in the day-to-day and to see where it goes and to be okay with the direction being different at the end than it was at the beginning - I think that's how we lead a life led by the Spirit. We hold these things with open hands and say, "God take it where you will" and if it's a different place, let me just play my part in that. David - Okay, I gotta dig into that cause. How do you balance that? I would frame it as vision. I feel like a good example to look at, I don't know if it's the right one, so, you can choose a different one if you want to, but the balance between vision and practicality and reality. Because you say that, and you are walking in the day-to-day, but I just think of the Organogram that has been on your wall, which was on Rich's, wall, which is now your's again, which is about to be Evelyn's wall. And you had this vision back in, "this is how I think the organization should work to function well." But there's a four-year process in making that come to pass. How do the day-to-day and the long-term balance? Mardi - I think we're talking about spiritual and practical things combined aren't we? I think that anyone who's in organizational leadership knows that you, your organization as a whole needs a trajectory and a long-term plan. We make these five-year strategic plans which are based on the assumptions of today and every strategic plan. You need to go back every couple of years and say, Were those assumptions right? And just to be a super business nerd for a minute, you base things on SWOT analyses and you base things on the current politics and economics. David - What does SWOT stand for? Mardi - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Then you do a PESTLE analysis, you look at the politics, you look at the economy, you look at the social environment of the day, etcetera etcetera. In technology everything is changing quicker than we can keep up with. And so I think that when you're looking at a place like a happy, which is large and complex, you set yourself some goals, and you work with them, but, you know, so something's going to change. Politics are gonna change, the economy's gonna tank, maybe there's gonna be a war on the other side of the world and we’re the only source of this, that, or the other?Maybe India falls into the sea and we start doing all of the surgeries that India was doing? I just don't even know. One thing for me, I've been enormously privileged to have been the medical director for two different terms that were separated by two years. And so I think I have a slightly unique perspective because from 2013 to 2016, I set the way I thought that our division would work and I came back into the role, two years later and already it had changed, but Rich had made it a better. It's funny, I when I came into the role, my predecessor. Steve Letchford said, "Look, you're gonna need a deputy, you can't do this by yourself." And I looked at my team and said "Um, No, I need four deputies, four sub-divisional heads because this is too much for one or two people and I can't keep my ear to the ground without it. I came back after two years away and there were five deputies and my initial gut reaction was, "You changed my structure!" And then I realized that Rich and Ken had made a really wise call. It did have to be five deputies for lots of really good reasons and that team of five has been my absolute rock this year. David - Who is the team of five? So the team of five, I've got a head of inpatient medicine and pediatrics, and specialties and this George Otieno. There's a head of Outpatient Department, and Community Health and Satellite clinics, and that's Miriam Miima. I've got ahead of Surgery and Anesthesia, and that's Jack Barasa. There's a head of Pharmacy, and that's Elizabeth Irungu. Then there's a head of what we call Allied and Diagnostic that incorporates the Lab and Pathology, Radiology, Physiotherapy, Nutrition and Audiology, and the head of that, it is Jeffrey Mashiya who is a radiographer. What's amazing to me about that is when I instituted this framework in 2014, there were four people and they were all missionaries. And I've come back in 2018 and there are five people and they're all our Kenyan senior staff and they're extraordinarily talented and any one of them can stand in for the medical director, when the medical director is away. What a gift that has been. David - I can't imagine how important this is for continuity. Because you think right now, you're handing off your responsibilities to Evelyn, but she has five people that...those are the executors and they actually get to groom her in leadership. That's amazing and for the strength of Kijabe and the stability, it's indispensable. I don't think there's another way to build a strong, stable system other than to build that. Mardi - Yeah, that's actually one of the things that brings me so much joy as I leave is the team isn't going to notice too much the change in senior leadership because that level of day-to-day practical strategic and operational leadership is just so strong. I think it made Ken as my CEO, I think it made his job easier to say, "Look, who should fill the position that Mardi is vacating?" He was able to say, "Who's got institutional memory and who's got leadership expertise and wisdom, and who knows how the senior leadership team works?" Whoever that person is, they're gonna have a team around them that will mean that no voices get lost in the transition. When I took the job in 2013, hearing the voices of specifically missionaries and surgeons can be really noisy and you hear their voices, but who's listening to the head of palliative care and who's listening to the head of laboratory who's listening to the head of nutrition, which is a tiny team of four people, those voices are well represented by wise people who all listen to each other and make the system work around them. It's a tremendous gift and there's no way to do this job without a team of people like that around you. And you know what, that's one of my other Ebenezers, David. Thursday, we installed Evelyn as the incoming medical director. Seeing those five sub-divisional heads praying for Evelyn and as that took off, I will never forget that. David - Absolutely. I wasn't here the first time, but I remember I should print out a series of those [pictures] because I remember you handing the hat to Rich and I remember it going back to you and then watching you give Evelyn the hat and stethoscope. There's this legacy of people that care. It's interesting to think about... 'cause you are, I mean you’re building this remarkable team and your system and things that operate independently of you. But at the same time, you're unbelievably special, and have given a ton over the past years and you. As Rich phrased it, you walked in shoes that not many other people will get to walk in. It's special. I imagine is what it's like when the former presidents get together for their picture. There's things that only only you guys will know and only you guys will have experienced. Mardi - You know, one thing that is really special is I think a lot of leadership transitions come through pain, brutality and war. And one thing that I noticed on Thursday, is that in the room as I handed over leadership to evil and were Steve Letchford and Peter Bird, who have both been here for decades and who've previously been the medical directors. I think there's a beauty about the transition of leadership here in the clinical division that it hasn't come through attrition, war and burnout. I'm leaving with a lot of sadness, and I'm not cutting ties with this place to see. . . there has been a cost. Rich. I know, I would still love to be here in this position as the person who is my predecessor…but to see such strength of leadership that is here and sowing into the next generation rather than leaving when they died. They've stepped down and gone into leading other areas to ensure that the team that follows them is strong, I think that's a tremendous gift and something unique about Kijabe. People love this place and they love this team and they wanna be a part of its ongoing success in its broader mission. David - And they love and they love that above their own glory and their own desires. I think it's what makes an organization great, it’s what makes a country great. I think it's probably gonna be easier in a place of faith, honestly, that this is God's ministry, not our own, not any one persons's. FPECC What is FPECC? I think it's important for people to know a little bit about how hard is it to create a training program or anything new in Kenya? Mardi - So FPECC is the fellowship program in pediatric emergency and critical care. Ariana [Shirk] and I are pediatric emergency physicians, we trained in pediatrics, and then we did specially training in how to take care of emergencies and resuscitation. And were the only two formally trained pediatric emergency doctors in Kenya. Critical Care is taking care of kids in ICUs and currently in the country, there are four pediatric ICU doctors for 55 million people. I don't have the stats that my finger tips, but it's extraordinarily low. I think of the city where you live and how many ICU beds there are, and how many children's hospitals you have just in your own city if you're based in a high income country. For 55 million people, there's kids just can’t access that care. David - Recently, I'm sure it's gone up, but two years ago, it was 100 beds for the country. Mardi - For adults and kids. . . In the country, there are a 12 pediatric ICU beds. Actually no, that's not true, there are 16 and eight of them came into existence, when we opened up our Peds ICU here three years ago. David - And keep in mind, this is East Africa, of the 56 million people. . .33 million of those are under age 18. So 16 beds. Mardi - That's right. Think of anything that can cause a critical illness. Trauma, illness, cancer, you name it, that's not enough beds. So when I came to Kenyo, I had no dream of starting a training program that wasn't even remotely on my radar. But sometimes things just come together at the right time. It was actually University of Nairobi, where they have the only other Peds ICU, they had been working with University of Washington in Seattle to say, “Look, can you help us start some training?” This is really important, because in East Africa there is nowhere that a pediatrician can learn how to run an ICU. Think of the US, where every state has got multiple training programs, where pediatricians will spend three years to learn to be an ICU doctor. There is nowhere for 360 million people in this region to learn how to do ICU care for children. Just think about that for a second. 360 million people... No training program. There's one in Cairo, and there's one in Cape Town, but that's for 600 million people. So I'm just taking a few of them where there's nowhere to go. University of Nairobi was talking to Seattle. They've got two Peds ICU doctors in Nairobi and they were thinking of starting a program. Then just through several contacts, actually through the Christian mission network, one of University of Washington's ICU doctors grew up in Nigeria but she's involved with the Christian Medical and Dental Association, and so she knew about Kijabe. The University of Washington team came out to Kenya for a visit, and they said, "Hey we heard you doing some ICU care caring Kijabe. Can we come out and see what's happening?" That was in 2013. They came out and said "Hey what are you guys doing here?" And we showed them around, and their minds were blown, they didn't know there was any peds ICU happening outside of Nairobi at all. And so, we rapidly started some conversations and said "Look, why don't we start a training program in Pediatric Emergency Care and Critical Care and our trainees can train at both Kijabe hospital and Kenyatta hospital in Nairobi and they can get an exposure to two different types of ICUs. They can also take advantage of the fact that Ariana and I are here as Peds Emergency faculty, and we can split the training load. Training programs in the US have dozens of faculty for something like this, to rely on just two doctors in Nairobi was an incredible risk even though University of Washington is supporting with visiting faculty. So we said, "Look, we've got all these people in the country at the same time, let's just try and do it." So we started that process in 2013. We took our first fellows at the beginning of this year. It's taken us six years. That's how things work here. You've got to form relationships. University of Nairobi didn't know us real well when it came to our pediatric care. We had to get to know each other, we had to develop a curriculum. We had to let the Ministry of Health know. We had to get the Kenya pediatrics Association on side. The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board, had to approve the program. The University Senate had to approve the program. We had to try and get some funding in place. None of that happens quickly. It's all relationship that's all a lot of chai. That's all a lot of back and forth and making sure that you don't try and skip anything to get through the hoops, any quicker than you need to, because if you try to go to quick it falls apart. And if University of Nairobi and Kenya doesn't own this program, it's not gonna last. And I think that's probably the first thing to take away for me is this program exists because University of Nairobi and Kenya wanted it I didn't come in here and say, "We need this.” University of Nairobi wanted it, and we said, "How can we support it?" And so Arianna showing up here for a short-term visit - which we rapidly recruited you guys as long-term - it was God's timing because Ariana and I couldn't have done this independently from each other. It's taken both of us to build those relationships over the last six years. Arianna and I are so proud of this program. Our first two graduates will finish this training at end of December 2020, and we hope and pray that we can recruit them to stay at Kijabe and University of Nairobi as our first home-grown faculty. What's been lovely about that, too, is that we've connected with people all over the world who want to support this kind of thing, they just didn't know how. David - Not did they not know how, there wasn’t a way. It literally did not exist until February 2019. Mardi - So now, we're actually talking to colleagues in Uganda and Tanzania, and colleagues in Sudan and other places about... “Hey, is this a good model for you?” I've got some contacts in Nigeria, they've got how many million people, 30 million people or something ridiculous? And there's no way to get this training there either. And people all over the world want to be able to support what a country wants to start in its own strategy. So that's something that I'm just thrilled to be leaving. Even as we leave next month, I'm hoping and planning to come back at least once a year to teach in the program for the forseeable future and to support Arianna from a distance in continuing to connect people all over the world to say, "Here's a way that your global health desires can interface with a local country's needs." David - You two are the only Peds Emergency Medicine doctors in the country and there's a realization. . .What actually is Emergency Medicine here and what is the difference between what it looks like here versus America? Mardi - Yeah, it's a really great question. First of all, Ariana and I trained in a country where there are multiple children's hospitals per city. So, Pediatric Emergency Medicine is the Emergency Department attached to a children's hospital. There are less than 10 children's hospitals on this entire continent, I think. So there are no Pediatric Emergency departments. What is really great is that Emergency Medicine combined adult and pediatric is a growing specialty here. There's been so much great work that's going on in so many countries around the region. Rwanda last year, just graduated their first class of emergency residents. Uganda just on the cusp, the great advocate there, Annette Allenyo is leading the charge for emergency medicine. Ben Wachira is an Emergency Medicine trained doctor here at Agha University, and they're on the cusp of starting an emergency medicine residency training program. You know Emergency Medicine's a funny thing. Emergency medicine in a high-income country, is a part of a functioning system. Emergency medicine in the US means that you've got ambulances that get your people to you and you've got an ICU at the other end that you send sick people to. Emergency medicine here is. . . people showing up on our door step, we don't know how to get them here and then where do we send them? I think that Emergency Medicine training here is so much more broad. We're training people not only how to provide Emergency Medicine, but how to be advocates in a broader system. And I think if you live in a high income country, you can't understand how much medical training is not about medical training. It's about advocacy and building access to care for people, no matter where they're at. What I see emerging here is…from the start, it's collaborative. Emergency Medicine training here isn't just training a doctor in a specialty to give you a certificate and leave you there. It's connecting you with people who are trying to get paramedic systems going and people trying to build ICU care. That's one of the reasons we realized that our Pediatric Emergency and Critical Care program had to be both. There's not enough places to work where you've got the luxury of staying in the ICU. Our graduates are gonna go out and work in hospitals where they will be expert trainers for the pediatricians running the ICU and the family medicine doctors running the emergency department and the surgeons who are doing pediatric surgery with just general training. Our graduates are gonna be those advocates drawing teams together asking "How can we improve the system from arrival at our doorstep till the day we send them home." It's a different focus in our training. Yes, the skills are necessary. You need to know how to run a ventilator and keep a heart pumping when it's not. But it's about building a team and being a part of solving systems issues and hopefully in a way that is affordable and sustainable. David - I love that word, systems. For me, this is the year of systems. Thinking broadly about each of these individual parts because it’s another way that healthcare here is very different from healthcare in the US. The US is just sub-specialization, that's what it's all about. And here, there's not a fine line between. . .for an Emergency Medicine doctor, you're not sitting out in casualty waiting for a kid to come in, right? If you want to find the emergency, you just walk around and lay eyes on every kid and there's gonna be one out of 70 children in that building, who is in trouble. So it really is a bigger and broader way of thinking about things. Mardi - I think another thing that's interesting to me just as we come back to the missional aspect of who we are... I think 00 years ago, a missionary was someone who would go into deepest, darkest wherever and be whoever they wanted to be. I think as we consider what is global mission, our question needs to be, “What is that country looking for, what systems are they trying to develop and how do we help them in it?" And that comes down to health…if you're a missionary, what does the local church want to do? What is their mission and how can we assist them? I think we need to ask better, what system is someone trying to build and how can we be a part of it. Because that's the key, isn't it? We're here to serve God who is restoring creation and he's doing it in lots of different ways already. We don't need to necessarily think we've got the answer, but to say "God, where are you working and how can I be a part of it, and what does it look like?" I think Mary Adam in her community health project, is a really lovely example of that. Community Health growth is a priority of Kenya. So she's gotten grant funding and she is just sowing in it, she knows every county Governor in the country, I'm suspecting. She knows how to get into the system, but how to be salt and light, and how to be the love of Jesus in making things functional and making all things new. I think that's one thing that I think Kijabe is doing well. We are looking at health strategy and saying How can we be a part of it and love that our FPECC program is in partnership with University of Nairobi. I love that our clinical offices have a program that we got accredited for called the Emergency Critical Care Clinical Officer program, that actually wasn't a part of hell strategy, but we did see a gap, and as soon as we trained people in that we went to the Clinical Officer of Council and said, "Hey you want to accredit this? This is a really good program. And they did, and now the Kenya Medical training training college has taken that program and they're doing their own program. I think those are lovely examples of saying “We're here to bring restoration but we don't want to be separate from the system. Where are you going and how can we help” David - What does that mean for friends of Kijabe? How do you see that working with Friends of Kijabe as an organization? Mardi - What's been really lovely, about Friends of Kijabe in the last year, and I know you're excited about this, David, is in what the core the Friends of Kijabe vision and mission. I think a core part of Friends of Kijabe that we've got the CEO, the CFO and the Director of Clinical Services on the Friends of Kijabe board. One question that I've heard you ask so many times in the last year is "Where are you going and how can we help, what are your priorities? Friends of Kijabe exists to help the hospital further its strategy, but also exists as a bit of a connector between people in high-income countries who really want to contribute and who have passions. Where does that intersect with the hospital strategy? So Friends of Kijabe is not going to take the whole hospital strategy and try and piecemeal help every part of it. They're gonna say, "Hey you're a part of your strategy that are happy resonates with and that's become very clear. A lot of Friends of Kijabe funding currently goes towards whatever the hospital thinks is important. The hospital has prioritized the theater expansion project this year and that's great. But, at its core, Friends of Kijabe also says, "We support the needy. We support education. We support sustainability. How can we get there?" And so [FoK] has prioritized putting money towards each of those areas which happened to align with the core values of Kijabe Hospital. So a large proportion of what Friends of Kijabe hospital is doing this year is helping us with an infrastructure project. But every year we're going re-ask "What are your priorities, and how can we help that?" But we're also going to say, "Here is where our heart beats. Can we help with this too?" I think one of the things about Friends of Kijabe is the trust that's developed since its inception. As Friends of Kijabe, we trust that the hospital leadership is following a strategy that is meaningful, that is sustainable, and that is in line with where Kenya is going and where the African Inland Church is going because that's who we're owned and operated by. As long as our missions intersect, I think Friends of Kijabe can trust that at the hospital is taking us in a good direction. David - Awesome, anything else I should ask you? Anything you'd like to add? Mardi - No. It's been an extraordinary eight years and it's been such a privilege to be here, and it's lovely to leave with joy, even as there's associated sadness. I really can't wait to see what the next few decades bring, and I'm gonna be watching both from a distance and also up close, when I come back to visit. David - Thank you Mardi.

Andy is a father, he is newly engaged to Mel who also runs, and his son is an avid runner too. Andy has taught his son that when you try your very best, you have already won the race. Andy found running around the same time he started on a weight-loss journey back in 2014. When Andy started running he weighed around 300lbs, his running journey began with 30 seconds of running 1 minute walking, on repeats and his longer run was a 2km. Andy has since been hooked with running and has now completed some serious mileage and challenges over the years including 30 marathons and 8 ultra marathons, including the Threshold Trail Series’ Race to the Stones 100km Race several times. Andy has also completed some crazy challenges such as 26 Marathons in just one year, 7 Marathons in 7 days oh and a half marathon, on a treadmill!  Tune in to hear exactly how Andy found his love for running; what keeps him motivated; the importance of speaking up about mental health and how running and what it has brought to his life has had such a positive and life changing impact with his mental health.  This was a great chat filled with the lessons learnt along the way, and some brilliant tips on getting started with running, and running the marathon and ultra marathon distances.   Links:  Andy’s Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/chubs2ridgewaylife/  Threshold trail Series  https://www.thresholdtrailseries.com/  Natalie - Not Another Runner Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/notanotherrunner/ Blog: https://notanotherrunner.home.blog/  Easy Thrills Podcast  https://anchor.fm/easythrills Interview with Easy Thrills Podcast https://anchor.fm/easythrills/episodes/Natalie-Hawkins---Not-another-runner-e488pg 

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show was an early pioneer of Web Standards, writing a best-selling book on the subject of CSS.  He then went on to found Clearleft, arguably the first dedicated UX consultancy in the UK.   He also set up dConstruct, the UK’s first digital design conference, and UX London, the country’s first dedicated UX conference.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Andy Budd is a renowned Design Leader and agency CEO. He started his IT career working as a designer. During his early career, Andy became a pioneer in the field of Web Standards. At that point, he published his first book – CSS Mastery. Over 14 years ago, he co-founded Clearleft, one of the UK’s first dedicated User Experience consultancies. In 2015, he set up the dConstruct conference, which was held for 10 years. It was the first design conference to be run, in the UK. He is also the founder and curator of Leading Design. That annual conference improves design leadership and management. Andy speaks at these and many other conferences that are held across the world. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.09) – The first thing I wanted to ask you really was about how you transitioned from the web standards and the CSS aspect or your IT work to founding Clearleft. Andy as a natural transition, and goes on to describe how it happened. He started his working life as a flash coder, creating games. From there, he discovered CSS. When he did he realized almost immediately that separation of presentation and content was the way to go. Baked into this were standards around accessibility and usability. Andy was an early adopter of web standards. He had the 3rd table list website in the UK. He got together with two other early standards geeks to found Clearleft. At the time he was already creating controlled vocabularies, working with information architecture, usability testing and much more besides. So, he was one of the first people, in the UK, to take care of user experience, rather than just making a site look pretty. For the first few years, it was hard to get clients. Nobody could understand why it took them twice as long to deliver a website and why the fees were higher. In time, that changed. Now, UX design is the norm. (4.48) – Phil comments that at the time Andy set up Clearleft, a lot of people would not have known much about UX. So, he asks Andy how big a part of educating people about education was to making Clearleft a success. Andy agrees educating potential clients about usability was important. But he goes on to say that the fact people had never really thought much about UX before was also a superpower. Nobody else was really doing it. As a result, as soon as firms began to wake up to the importance of UX Clearleft grew really quickly. This was especially the case when companies moved away from using websites solely for marketing. Once, they started to use their sites to sell things and transactions were involved the functionality of the website became far more important. (6.11) Phil asks if the introduction of new devices like iPads and SmartPhones has changed the approach to UX at all. Andy responds by saying that the tools have changed. But, the underpinning philosophy hasn’t really changed. The underlying problem-solving principles remain the same. However, the introduction of smartphones had an impact in another way. Mobile sites had to be slicker and better designed. At that point, a lot of companies woke up to how ugly, clunky and old-fashioned their main sites were. When they saw how good a website could look and what an effective sales tool that type of site was a lot of firms wanted to re-design their original websites. (7.44) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Andy explained that for him no single thing led to his success. His approach has to continually review what he is doing and make little course corrections. But, he does say that working in a company where you are not the best at what you do is a good idea. It ensures that you are continually challenged and stretched. You need to be a continual learner and have a beginner’s mindset. This ensures that you learn new tools. If you do not, your knowledge becomes stale. At some point, those tools are going to become obsolete. When that happens, you are stuck. (10.32) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Andy has been very lucky career-wise. So, could not think of anything he would categorize as a bad career moment (11.47) – What was your best career moment? Andy has had a lot of great moments in his career. His first speaking gig went really well, so that was a highlight. Meeting Jesse James Garrett from Adaptive Path was also a great career moment. He was sat next to him at a book signing at SXSW South by Southwest. His work has also led to him traveling the world, which Andy has clearly enjoyed doing. Plus, over the years, he has worked with some fantastic clients. Spending time in Copenhagen working with Nordic Region Banks was a highlight for Andy.  Working with Zappos was also exciting. (13.38) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Andy is fascinated by the rise of artificial intelligence. He believes that in the next decade or so, AI means that things are going to get really exciting. About two years ago, Andy realized he was a bit out of the loop when it comes to AI. Rather than read a bunch of books about it, he decided to pull a diverse group of people together to discuss where AI could take them. The result was really interesting. It is clear that the landscape is changing drastically. AI will lead to wide-scale automation. As that happens, jobs are going to disappear and be replaced by others. So, people are going to have 2 or 3, maybe 4, careers in a lifetime. That is why it is so important to be a continual learner. Some talk about there being a 4th industrial revolution. Regardless, these changes are going to create winners and losers, but it will also be exciting. Andy states that we are already moving away from hand coding using a traditional text interface. Coding is set to become more visual, with developers acting more like curators and editors than creators. (16.57) – What drew you to a career in IT? As a child, Andy enjoyed using the BBC Micro and Spectrum computers. While other kids were out playing football, he was learning to code. He thinks that his interest in sci-fi and love of reading gave him a curious mind, which is why he was drawn to all things tech. But, he did not realize that he could turn what he viewed as a hobby into a career. Nobody, in his family or circle, was involved in the IT industry. So, he was not exposed to the possibilities. After university, he did an aeronautical engineering degree. To do that he had to learn how to use CAD, which he really enjoyed and quickly became good at. Once he had finished his engineering degree, he went traveling for 6 to 7 years. During that time, he started to use internet cafes to communicate with friends at home and research his next destination. One day, while he was in one of these cafes he saw a guy building his own web page. He was creating a travel blog. Later, he met a web designer. He worked for 6 months and traveled for 6 months. Andy decided that he wanted to do the same. In 1999, he arrived back in the UK, bought a Pentium 486 and learned HTML and how to code. To do this he turned to several sources. One of which was a website called Ask Dr. Web, which was run by Jeffrey Zeldman. In time, he became a friend on Andy’s. It was him that inspired him to learn CSS, which eventually led Andy to where he is today. (21.25) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? When Andy set up his IT business he read a book called E-Myth. It contained one great piece of advice which was to make sure that you are working on your business, not in it. That means you need to hire people to do the day to day tasks for you, so you can be free to grow your business. He also explains that you need to see your career as a journey. You have to see it as a business and treat it that way. (22.24) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? You need a business plan is no longer good advice. It is no longer necessary. (23.52) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Andy states that when he got started in the design industry the bar was much lower. The tools and sites were so basic that it was not that hard to compete. You could easily get in at the bottom end of the market building sites for local businesses. Now big providers like Shopify and SquareSpace make it possible for people to put together fantastic sites without employing a technical person. (26.52) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Andy’s focus is on helping others to unlock the power of the web. He is very appreciative of what IT pioneers have done to enable him to succeed. So, he wants to pay it forward and help others. (19.16) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Andy is a keen and experienced diver. In fact, he is a dive instructor. That role taught him the importance of becoming a good communicator. You are working in a dangerous environment, so you need to communicate effectively with your students. If you do not, it can be disastrous. Learning to be a good communicator has ended up helping his IT career in many different ways. (31.01) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Andy works as a servant leader. He is a boss who is very focused on helping others to energize and progress their careers. Taking that approach has had a positive impact on his career too. It helps to keep him motivated and keeps his team engaged and contributing. (31.57) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Andy’s IT role takes him all over the world. Whenever he can, he incorporates a bit of leisure time onto his business trips. Doing this provides him with the chance to continue to explore new countries and cultures. Andy also loves good food. So much so, that he has made it his mission to eat at every one of the top 50 restaurants in the world before he is 50. He is really enjoying completing that mission. He still dives a lot and has recently tried cave diving. Andy has also got into bouldering, which is indoor climbing. He says it is a lot more fun than going to the gym. Participating in the sport has virtually cured the RSI he has picked up from his constant mouse usage. This is because climbing stretches and strengthens the muscles in the hands and arms. More importantly, it works the opposite muscle groups from the ones used while working with a keyboard and mouse. Bouldering is very popular with the IT crowd. A lot of it is about problem-solving. Planning your route and working out what techniques and hacks to use is all part of the fun.  (36.02) – Phil asks Andy to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. If you work in the design industry, you need a killer portfolio. A CV that shows career progression also helps. But, when someone is hiring a designer they want evidence of what you are able to do. If you are claiming to be a UX designer you have to demonstrate that fact. For example, when hiring, Andy wants to see photos from user research sessions, as well as interactive, paper-based and animated prototypes. If someone claims they can do information architecture, he wants to see sitemaps, content audits and controlled vocabularies. BEST MOMENTS: (4.34) ANDY – "These days, saying you’re a UX designer is like saying you breathe air or drink water. It’s just what all of us do." (5.45) ANDY – "Our clients quickly realized the benefits of not just making a pretty website, but making something that actually delivered business results." (8.27) ANDY – "It's always better to work in a company where you are not the best at the thing you do." (15.31) ANDY – "We're moving towards a kind of visual coding. I think we're moving much more towards being curators, and editors rather than creators" (22.53) ANDY – "It's important for you to be working on your business, not just in it."  (36.07) ANDY – "For the design industry, having a killer portfolio is everything." (37.34) ANDY – "A really good resume should be backed with a powerful portfolio that demonstrates that you can do these things."   CONTACT ANDY: Twitter: https://twitter.com/andybudd LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andybudd/ Website: http://www.andybudd.com/

When Andy said Teresa came in hot on the reunion, he was not wrong! We dive into part 1 of the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" & it was everything we wanted it to be and more. **Denise Richards appreciation post** because she is such a good addition to the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" cast! Also, the breakdown of LVP's friendship start to show :-o Boys night/Girls trip to Solvang included some unwanted visitors & "Real Housewives of Atlanta" made us sad, real talk :-/

When Andy's business was in trouble, there was little ad money to spend. That's when he discovered a customer attraction secret that pissed off the media!

When Andy was handed Moby Dick in high school, as he stared at this startlingly thick book, his teacher told the class to dive in - they'd never get anywhere if they didn't dive right in. As Andy considers the eleven disciples, hearing the Great Commission for the first time, wondering how on earth they could ever complete something truly impossible - yet the church exists today because of their willingness to simply dive in. Matthew 28: 18-20 fmhouston.com

Today everyone knows about crowdfunding websites, but how was GoFundMe built? It was one of the first of its kind and today you’ll hear the story of its inception, formation and reformulation and its tremendous growth. Joining us for this edition of CTO Studio is Andy Ballester, one of the co-founders of GoFundMe. Today Andy and his co-founder Brad Damphousse sit on the board of GoFundMe, but our discussion will take you back to the beginning when it was just Andy and Brad and an idea. Listen in for their fascinating journey, and lessons you can learn from their experiences. In this episode, you’ll hear: Why is there always a reason to rewrite? Why was it so important for Andy and his co-founder to answer phones and speak with their customers early on? How did Kickstarter help them in their early stages? How the social aspect influenced the creation of GoFundMe. Why did they switch to WePay and how did it explode their growth? And so much more! When Andy and Brad started GoFundMe they had met in San Diego when they worked at the same start-up. They found they worked well together and built a lot of products as a team. So when the idea of GoFundMe came about it didn’t matter that Brad was in LA and Andy was in San Diego. They had always known if they came up with the right idea they could build something interesting together, and they thought they had it with GoFundMe. As with most things, GoFundMe started off as another idea. Initially they were going to create something that would help people save money for items they wanted, they called that original product Coin Piggy. As they built it out on paper they found that if they had people saving on online merchant accounts (like PayPal) it would be like a savings account with a negative 3% interest! So out of the gate it was not a good product, but they had a lot of use cases to explore. They could see the social aspect was interesting, and that sparked something. They thought forget about people saving up for what they wanted individually, and instead considered what could people save up for socially? Andy says it was like they backed into this idea of personal fundraising. They built out a product over the next six months called CreateAFund, which was the predecessor of GoFundMe. For two years they took that product and tried to find a fit for it, and tried to explain and educate people about it. At the time Kickstarter was out there but their project was different. Kickstarter was product-based and was built around the idea that you could help start-ups in a non-equity way. He says they have tremendous respect for Kickstarter and what they were doing and have done. Andy believes they owe a lot of the initial easing of their use case into society because of Kickstarter's early viral campaigns. Before they could rebrand and relaunch, Andy and Brad had to find ways to bootstrap their company. Often they would take consulting gigs and Andy got to build on a lot of different platforms as a result, he saw interesting features from some along with the drawbacks of others. But it helped him and Brad, his co-founder, to know they wanted something that was lightweight in terms of the engineering. Symfony's blank skeleton at the time was 11,000 files and that just seemed like too much code and too complex for the use case they wanted to solve. As a result they started off with a mixture of open source and some custom code, in total it was only about 6 files to manage. Taking Andy back to the rebrand, I asked if they modified the existing code or did they do a rewrite? It was mainly a rewrite he says. The methodology for the MVC layer was mainly the same so a lot of the core classes came over. However the front was so different as was the feature set so a lot of that code had to be written from scratch. It was a hybrid kind of rewrite, everything got touched to some degree. Dev time was extraordinarily precious at the time! He was the only coder and his co-founder Brad was doing all of the design and all of the CSS. They had some outsourced help for some of the HTML, but that HTML didn't go very far in the company's life cycle. So with the rebrand under their belts and two years of bootstrapping, they launched in May 2010. They got some traction early on thanks to a TechCrunch article, along other articles published in the tech world and local press coverage in San Diego. Even though they were hopeful for the new PayPal APIs there was still parts missing. To explain more Andy takes us back to how he and Brad met. They met at a start-up where creating viral loops was the entire name of the game. They were very good at creating viral loops on email, so back then (in 2005 and 2006) all of the different email providers were interesting places to do viral marketing. But by 2010 it was all about Facebook. Facebook was the de facto platform everyone was on and they thought they could do some interesting mechanics to create a viral loop (a loop by which one person tells a hundred people and more than one person comes back in as a result of that loop). It was a very natural extension of what their product is because viral loops are all about alignment. You have alignment with the campaign organizer, they in turn want to tell as many people as possible. People donating want this person to get help and want to move this cause forward so they want to tell as many people as possible, and they wanted them to tell as many people as possible. In short it all works out if they make telling people as easy as possible, then they could get that marketing funnel to more than 1.1 users. The problem is the two times where it would be natural to ask those questions, when the campaign organizer was setting up their campaign and when someone was donating, they had a PayPal step right before each of them. So one of the early pain points was users had to put in their social security number as a campaign organizer (in order to sign up for a PayPal merch account), which is a terrible thing to do when someone is first signing up with your company. They realized they needed their users to trust them and the users would also need an incentive. The other problem they ran into was on the donation side, they had to actually send a physical link to a PayPal payment form. Half of the time that link was broken, and in general the interaction between that form and the person trying to use it was poor. They talked to PayPal about it and they did make changes, but those changes happened slowly. They felt like they had a Ferrari but there was a spark plug missing and without that spark plug they weren't going to get anywhere. But they did get things going and Andy describes how on today’s show. He also tells us why they never wanted to be the middle man for the funds, when he knew they were on to something with GoFundMe, and where GoFundMe is today. We wrap up with lessons about being a CTO, including how he and his co-founder knew it was time to let go of their creation. You’ll hear all of that and much more with Andy Ballester on today’s CTO Studio.

Patricia Orozco knew Mike Dodd was serious the day he picked her up at UCLA in 1985. She knew he was serious because, after taking her to Marine Street for a crash course in beach volleyball, he took her to The Kettle for lunch in Manhattan Beach. “And it was like ‘Whoa!’ If you get taken to The Kettle for lunch then this he’s serious,” she said on SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter. Serious enough that, a year later, they wed, and Patty took Dodd’s last name, and 33 years later they remain not only happily married, but business partners and elite coaches in the Manhattan Beach area where Patty began to learn the beach game. Well, Patty is at least an elite coach. Mike is technically, and hilariously, the equipment manager at MB Sand Volleyball Club, and he takes his job seriously enough that when Patty couldn’t make it one day, one of the 12-year-olds commented that MB Sand must be running terribly low on coaches because the equipment guy had to fill in. She had no idea the equipment guy was a five-time Manhattan Beach Open champion and Olympic silver medalist. “The mom just could not wait to call me, because she knows Mike’s background,” Patty said, laughing. “That’s what 12-year-olds can say. The janitor is going to run practice.” Some janitor. And some janitor’s wife, too. Let’s, for a moment, put their prolific playing careers aside – and indeed they were prolific – and examine only their coaching backgrounds. When Patty graduated from UCLA, she took up an assistant opening with the Bruins indoor team. They won a national championship in the very first year. “I knew early on that I wanted to do this,” she said. “I just fell into being a graduate assistant in my fifth year and we won NCAA and it’s like ‘Oh, yeah, alright, I like this. I really like this.’ I was so young at the time, but the fact that what you said had an effect on the player or the play or the outcome, I was hooked. “It just took me a while to get to the coaching part because I was doing my playing part.” And she did her playing part well. A native of Bogota, Colombia, Dodd graduated from high school in 1980 and moved to Santa Fe Springs, where she could learn English and play volleyball for a local club team. Within those six months she had offers to play for UCLA, Hawaii, USC and Oregon. "I remember when I first saw her at a Christmas tournament," then-UCLA women's volleyball Coach Andy Banachowski, who has led his teams to four national championships, told the Los Angeles Times. "I was looking down in the Sports Arena and I saw this girl move incredibly well. What really caught my attention is that I didn't know who she was because I know all the kids in the area with talent." "When Andy came up to me," Orozco told the Times, "I couldn't even understand him. I was even named all-tournament and didn't even know what that meant." The accolades, she’d soon become quite familiar with, setting UCLA single-season kills (627), single-match kills (33) and single-match digs (30). As a senior in 1983, she led the Bruins in kills with 403. She still had yet to step foot on a beach. She finished her grad year at UCLA and competed for a year in Italy, where she initially met Dodd. Who better to teach her the beach game, then, but the man she met in Italy who was in the midst of winning four consecutive Manhattan Beach Opens? Yes, the janitor can coach, too. She proved a quick learner, too, Patty. By 1989, just four years after Mike took her to Marine Street and provided the Beach Volleyball 101 crash course, Patty, partnered with Jackie Silva, won 11 of 13 tournaments. Four times that year, Patty and Mike won tournaments on the same weekend, becoming the first married couple to do so. By the time they finished competing, with six total Manhattan Beach Opens to the family name, the Dodds combined for 89 wins and nearly $2 million in prize money. Now they’re teaching others to compete and thrive like they once did. Aside from serving as the most over-qualified equipment manager in beach volleyball history, both Mike and Patty help with USAV National Team practices. She loves the quiet tenacity of April Ross, the genial intensity of Kelly Reeves, the efficiency of Taylor Crabb and Billy Allen. More than that, above all, as it almost always has been, she loves to coach. Loves to teach. Loves to pass on the gifts that to this day she’s still developing herself. “I’m really enjoying MB Sand,” she said. “It really gives me immense joy to see the kids develop their game and to see them make friendships and different partners. It’s such a healthy environment to build beach volleyball. “I love that about beach volleyball, that the kids need to be great at all of the skills. It just brings me a lot of joy to do it.” 

It hardly seems possible that today’s show is the celebration of the One Year Anniversary of The Wedding Biz podcast! When Andy started the show a year ago, he began as a passion project, but since that time, it has turned into so much more! Andy knew he wanted his podcast to be different, and he certainly accomplished that. One of the things that makes The Wedding Biz so unique is that Andy only does interviews in person. So for the past year, he has visited the homes, offices, and event venues with his guests, in order to sit down and conduct a face to face interview. Andy says it’s one of his secrets to making a real connection with his guests!   Listen to the episode as Andy introduces you to his team - Marketing Director, Melissa Fancy, and Director of Strategic Partnerships, Christy Haussler. Together they share their favorite things about the show, re-live some highlights of their favorites guests on the show, and they also reveal the strategic direction of the podcast of 2018 and beyond!   This star-studded show also features some heartfelt congratulations from some of our favorite guests. Be sure to listen to this episode to get this behind the scenes look at The Wedding Biz!

Andy Savakinas is the owner of Parts Online Network where he and his team help automotive parts shoppers connect with the best price for the parts they want. His goal to live in a world where you can easily find the parts you need at the lowest price possible and in one easy-to-use location. Whether it’s replacement parts or performance modifications Parts Online Network is your one-stop source. When Andy isn’t helping others find parts you’ll find him in the shop fixing, repairing, or modifying performance vehicles.

Today our expert guest is Andy Janning, a speaker, visual storyteller, and the author of Heroes, Villains, and Drunk Old Men: A Love Story for Real Life. Andy describes himself as “the most accidental of entrepreneurs,” and he's had a lot of success over the past six years, but prior to that, he spent over two decades in corporate America.   When Andy left his corporate job, he started to blend his passion for talent development with his passion for stories, visual storytelling in particular. And in the process, Andy has created a unique model of talent development that helps people live out their best story and serve others.   Heroes, Villains, and Drunk Old Men isn't your typical nonfiction book for working adults – there is a narrative thread running throughout, enhanced by Andy's knack for visual storytelling.   And although Andy's name is on the front cover, he is not the star of this particular story; “I am blessed to know an amazing number of everyday heroes, and they are the people that I want to lift up.” The end result is intimate and powerful, and the lessons it has to offer were tested in the real world by these real people.   Andy is the first person to tell you that none of the stories or people in his book are perfect, however. It is designed to help people take inventory of their own scars and blemishes, appreciate where they came from, and have a better sense of where their life is currently aiming them.   “Failure is a great teacher, but success is a great wind in our sails – and I want to capture both of those.”   Andy also identifies eight questions that every hero should answer in the process of transforming. They are designed to short circuit our pattern and habit to forget, and help us see the nuance and richness in our stories   What do you really want? Who is going to be your mentor? How are you going to fail? How are you going to succeed? What are you going to fight for and against? What will victory (or success) look like? What are you going to give away? Where are you going to go next?   You can (and probably should) ask these questions at any point in your life, and they will help you cross the right finish line for the right reasons. (In 8 Questions for Every Hero: The Story of Your Journey, these questions are expanded on and accompanied by the gorgeous art of acclaimed illustrator Jingo de la Rosa.)   The Biggest Helping: Today's Most Important Takeaway   “If you don't want to be the villain in your own story, have someone in your life who will hold you accountable, knows you better than yourself, and can pull the good things out of you… And you need to mentor others. If you're under mentorship, and you mentor others, that's what creates a real sense of community.   “Heroes know that they're trying to create more heroes – villains are trying to create more followers. When you create more heroes, you create community, but when you create more followers, you just create a cult. And this world has enough of that.” --   Thank you for joining us on The Daily Helping with Dr. Shuster. Subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play to download more food for the brain, knowledge from the experts, and tools to win at life.   Resources: Learn more at AndyJanning.com Heroes, Villains, and Drunk Old Men: A Love Story for Real Life Send a copy of your receipt to book [at] andyjanning.com and you will receive three free gifts! 8 Questions for Every Hero: The Story of Your Journey

When Andy signed up for UpWork around 8 months ago, he may not have imagined that it would eventually give him the ability to quit his job and freelance full-time. But that's exactly what happened.

When Andy woke up in a hospital bed on the night of March 20th, 2011, his desperation became his inspiration to create Alitura. He had been struck by a series of large vehicles while crossing a busy street. He had a collapsed lung, seven broken ribs and a severe compound fracture of his jaw, which was broken in five places. As someone who has always made a living based upon his appearance (modeling & acting) and the execution of demanding physical tasks as a Division 1 athlete (baseball), the outcome of this incident had far-reaching implications. He recognized that he had the power to choose, as we all do when faced with stressful events, and he was determined to bounce back even stronger. Andy Hnilo: https://alituranaturals.com/ Ronnie Landis: http://www.ronnielandis.net

Alright alright alright. How's it going? It's episode 22 time and it's a chat with Andy Sheridan! We visited Andy in Manchester where he was acting in the play People, Places and Things alongside previous TSP guest Michael Balogun. Craig first worked with Andy in the feature film Control - That was ten years ago. When Andy wasn't acting and being a father he never stopped learning and feeding his creativity. As a writer, his first play Winterlong won the Bruntwood prize. This Two Shot Podcast is a great little episode where the intersetion of acting and writing comes to the fore. We hope you enjoy listening in.Facebook- search 'Two Shot Podcast' Twitter- @twoshotpod Instagram- @twoshotpod If you've enjoyed listening then please click through to https://www.patreon.com/twoshotpod to make a donation to the running costs of the show. You'll get bonus pictures, video and audio in return. Nice one. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to our 13th episode of American Real, where this week our guest is Andy Hnilo, former star athlete, actor and model turned entrepreneur. After being struck by a series of large vehicles while crossing a busy street March 20th, 2011, Andy woke up in a hospital bed suffering from multiple injuries including a broken jaw and ribs. While recovering, his desperation to heal became his inspiration and in the process he created a wondrous healing mask, followed by a full line of all natural skin care products he named, Alitura.His journey would bring him together with Dave Asprey, the founder of Bulletproof Coffee and Bulletproof Nutrition, where Dave would become a partner in Alitura. When Andy says the products are all natural he means it, confessing most are even edible and some actually taste good.Andy is a living example of perseverance, determination and the ultimate pursuit of your inner passion.The team at Alitura is providing American Realers with a special coupon code. Visit www.alituranaturals.com and use the Coupon Code "American" at checkout to receive a very special offer!Watch the full episode for FREE HERE on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2zVQDLO  

After being struck by a series of large vehicles while crossing a busy street March 20th, 2011, Andy woke up in a hospital bed suffering from multiple injuries including a broken jaw and ribs. While recovering, his desperation to heal became his inspiration and in the process he created a wondrous healing mask, followed by a full line of all natural skin care products he named, Alitura.His journey would bring him together with Dave Asprey, the founder of Bulletproof Coffee and Bulletproof Nutrition, where Dave would become a partner in Alitura. When Andy says the products are all natural he means it, confessing most are even edible and some actually taste good.Andy is a living example of perseverance, determination and the ultimate pursuit of your inner passion.The team at Alitura is providing American Realers with a special coupon code. Visit www.alituranaturals.com and use the Coupon Code "American" at checkout to receive a very special offer!Watch the full episode for FREE HERE on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2zVQDLO 

www.success101podcast.com/178 When Andy woke up in a hospital bed after a tragic accident, his desperation became his inspiration to create Alitura. Andy had been struck by a series of large vehicles while crossing a busy street. He had a collapsed lung, seven broken ribs and a severe compound fracture of his jaw, which was broken…

Back the campaign: http://igg.me/at/zoolaplex Like us: http://www.facebook.com/thezoolaplexshow Follow us: http://twitter.com/Zoolaplex 60 days, $16,000. Can we do it? With your help, YES WE CAN! ----- In the middle of our fundraising season, we're going back to Cityville in an all-new Zoolaverse short! When Andy's car is in the shop, he has to get an Uber to work. But when his driver starts speeding up, it becomes clear he's in for a wild ride! ----- Cast Andy - Reece Bridger Tanith - Lizzy Hofe Drive-Thru Guy - Steve Nunez Writing Head Writer - Reece Bridger Sound Mixing - Reece Bridger SFX Courtesy Of SoundBible.com, freesounds.org, and www.freesfx.co.uk Visuals Editing - Reece Bridger Theme Song 'Wanderer' - Sacred Sights Art Director - Stefi Delly Cover Art - Amy Summers Created And Directed By Reece Bridger Produced By No Studio In Particular Special Thanks To Our Patreon Supporters! Drew Bridger, Judi Williams, Tatiana Mason, Jacob Anderson, Vannamelon, Ash Pana, Shinjifox ----- Want to lend your voice to a character on the show? Want us to play your music in the background? Send us an email at thezoolaplexshow@gmail.com today!

Watch the video of this podcast here. In his role with GoDaddy, Andy is a member of the content team and works on content in one form or another, including everything from webinars to blog posts to ebooks. But his primary focus is on his GoDaddy pro clients and helping them take full advantage of the Pro features available to them. He also has an extensive background in communities, but today we are focusing on his knowledge of content. And that knowledge can be perfectly summed up with his 7 Ps of content creation. The 7 Ps were born when he was working with a lot of B2B and small agencies. He found templating processes was helpful to implement things faster so more work could get done. He also began to consider if the same approach could be applied to content creation. He wondered if there was a framework that could act as a standard references and ensure all bases were covered while creating content consistently over time? He answered those questions and ponderings with the 7 Ps of content creation! They are listed in order below. Prepare your goals. When Andy presented this topic at a WordCamp for the first time he was talking about the different steps of a marketing funnel: reach, teach, sell, and support. He broke down each on today’s show. Reach - at the top is your reach content, this is the content that helps people find you (social media, etc). It is content that grabs attention and brings people in.   Teach - this is content that teaches people and helps them learn. Your goal with this content is to teach people something and solve a problem of theirs through education.   Sell - content that sells isn’t necessarily content that closes a deal but it is content that convinces people to take the next step with you like subscribing to your email list or signing up for your webinar. This content is anything where they are giving you something, and there is a greater exchange of value. Support - this happens after you've helped your prospect come on board and you’ve worked together. After you've done that, the support content is there to help them use whatever it is you have built for them. Plan your topics. The next P in the content creation process is plan. If you're going to position yourself as an authority what are all the things you would teach about that subject to educate someone? Start thinking like a teacher and not a business owner when you are planning your topics. When you do that then can start thinking about what pieces of content you need to put out and what posts to write, and what presentations you'll put together. Andy recommends leaving SEO out of the game plan at this stage, and focus on getting good quality information out there first. Producing the content. This next P, producing, can be where people hit a wall! Andy describes what works for him: just start writing.   He brain dumps all of his ideas into a Google doc, and doesn't worry about making it perfect. He recommends you get into the habit of capturing thoughts and getting things written down and noted. Once you've done that then you can start by researching the rest of the information that will fill in the blanks of the points you want to convey. You also need to research and add some authority to your content, according to Andy. You can add credibility by pulling in other sources and he suggests using BuzzSumo to find content that has gotten a lot of social shares and to find the big influencers sharing that content. Repurpose. The fourth P in the process is repurposing.  What you create can be repurposed into different formats like video, blog posts, podcasts, etc. One of the things he likes doing the most is creating a presentation on his topic. Promote. After producing and repurposing your content, you should promote it. This is another step where many people drop the ball! The first thing you should do is promote the content you produced yourself through organic social shares on Twitter and Facebook. But you also need to tap into other people's audiences too. BuzzSumo or HARO are two tools that can help you find people for this. Work with others to either create strategic partnerships or simply ask them to share your content with their audience. The important thing is to find a way to get in front of other people's audiences. Participate. The 6th P is participate. By this Andy means participate in communities, online and offline. Naturally this is something you should be doing anyway because it’s a great way to offer your help to others. Yes you can generate potential leads, business partners and partnerships, but it’s also important to participate in order to be giving as much value as possible. On today’s show he illustrates examples of both online and offline instances of doing this and gives further detail on why it’s so important. Proving. The very last step is proving: make sure you are actually hitting your goals with the different content you're creating. Make sure your teach content is educating people and the content that sells is converting, for example. Otherwise you won't know what's working and what's not! Each step of the content creation process has a KPI (key performance indicators) so you can course-correct if things are off. You need to watch indicators so you know everything is working and you know your content is worthwhile. Otherwise you are flying blind! Andy gives some tools he likes to use in the proving stage, tools like Google Analytics and Hotjar. Finally, we wrap up our conversation with Andy’s advice on what to do next, and how to proceed if you feel overwhelmed by all of the information in the 7 Ps! You’ll want to hear that and hear more examples of each of the 7 Ps on this episode of WP Elevate with Andy McIlwan.  

It's been crazy with what's been happening around Adelaide, Liam fingered a bat, fruit tingles, favourite lolly as a kid, OJ's the Icy pole, OJ Simpson, Ross from friends, John Travolta, Scientology, The Adelaide Podcast Festival, we got shouted at, Eddie, Coopers, Liam's drinking a long neck, Cat poop at Liam's old house, Stepbrothers, ever had anything do a poop on you? When Andy got pooped on by a bird in the back seat of a car, future podcasts, centurion, hangovers, Big Al's hangover technic, Soggy Sao, the Adelaide Fringe, Sam Simmons, Big Al's next gig, Edinburgh Fringe, balls of steel, Abandoman is awesome, The Adelaide Fringe, our stubby holders, we're a year old, we're on twitter, 5pba, E.T at GU Filmhouse Adelaide on Good Fridays, we talk about what happened at the last Big Al gig we went to and it turned bad, we have car park audio of the incident from customers, what's the craziest audience member Big Al's had, when Liam DJs fights break out, indoor fireworks at a birthday, Adele in Adelaide, chick allergic to balloons, Elon Musk, SA power grid, flight to Mars, liam knows a dude who signed up to fly to Mars, what would you do for fun on Mars? They were testing in Hawaii, what happens if you flip out on Mars, Mikey Cyrus's Rohan Harry house, want us for your footy club, event, party? Book is now...Liam's yard glass, Andy would do a half yard glass at Liam's before going out. Auscast details, Role Models, The Badcast stubby holders on Facebook. Facebook: TheBadcastPodcast Twitter: @The_Badcast Instagram: @TheBadcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we discuss our favorite Christmas memories as children. Tune in this week to hear about… • When Andy’s family opens presents • Andy’s favorite gift and the story behind it • The role football plays in his holidays • How Andy’s parents did Christmas • Andy’s favorite Christmas movie and why • How different things were when Andy was a child Listen to the end to hear Andy’s favorite Christmas song! Merry Christmas!    You can also hear more from Andy by subscribing to his new podcast, The Professional Noticer. Just go to AndyAndrews.com/podcast for details.  Do you have a question for Andy? Call in and your questions might be features on the show! Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com Facebook.com/AndyAndrews Twitter.com/AndyAndrews Instagram.com/AndyAndrewsAuthor

Comedian Andy Hendrickson returns to discuss a trip to Myrtle Beach when he was in college. When Andy and his friends got to Myrtle Beach they weren’t sure what to expect. Find out how a fun weekend quickly turned into the worst on this edition of One Crazy Story with Nate Armbruster.

We thought we'd mix it up a little this week and talk turkey, seeing that we're right in the midst of turkey season nationwide (yes- we know it's over in parts of the deep South). Don't get us wrong, we're talking deer hunting too, but mostly turkey. We feel that in order to be a good deer hunter you should also strive to be a good turkey hunter, specifically because being in the woods in the spring can hone your woodsman skills and often reveal new deer travel corridors.  We could think of no better guest for this task than fellow podcaster Andy Gagliano. Andy is the Turkey Hitman (see Twitter Handle) and one of the most talented turkey hunters we know- he's completed multiple Grand Slams. Andy won't admit that he's as good as he is, but we know better. He's also a darn good deer hunter. When Andy isn't turkey hunting you can generally find him interviewing other turkey hunters for his podcast, trying to learn from them to constantly sharpen the mental aspects of the turkey hunt.  HERE'S WHAT WE DISCUSS IN THIS SHOW: A Labor of Love Still a Deer Hunter from Alabama You Shot My Booner! Big Deer with a Gun from Dad The Alabama Blackbelt and Pine Trees Turkey Season from the Nation, South to North Indiana, Ohio, and The Grandslam 3X! The Osceola, Eastern, Merriams, and Rio Grande- Each Act Differently It's Not Plastic and Learning the Hard Way Carrying on the Traditions for Future Generations The 50/50 Rule and Closing the Gap The Natural Order of Toms and Hens Dusty's First Turkey Kill! and His Good Buddy Cliff The Door Slame and Stuck in the Mud- The Drum of a Turkey The Run and Gun vs the Sit and Call A Little Bit Sad Cuz Strickland, Making a Turkey Gobble, Tom Kelley Eddie Salter and Chris Parrish 90% Calling, 10% Other or 90% Other and 10% Calling The Dieing Pig Caller and the Alabama Low Crawl I Am Not a Josh Carney Pick Your Tree, Then Get 5-10 Yards Closer 90% of Success is Being There, Can't Kill a Turkey if You Don't Hunt Best Book: Illumination in the Flatwoods Naked Without:  Turkey Vest Links: www.IamTurkeyHunting.com  Our APP: www.BigBuckRegistry.com/app Help Support This Show: www.BigBuckRegistry.com/pledge FEEDBACK HOTLINE: 724-613-2825 HELP FUND THIS SHOW: www.BigBuckRegistry.com/donate REVIEW and SUBSCRIBE on iTUNES and Stitcher: www.BigBuckRegistry.com/itunes www.BigBuckRegistry.com/stitcher Want to Know When the Next Big Buck Podcast is Released? Then Join the Club: www.BigBuckRegistry.com/huntmail Submit A Buck: www.BigBuckRegistry.com/mybuck Be a Guest: Guests@BigBuckRegistry.com Share for Share: www.BigBuckRegistry.com/s4s Facebook: www.Facebook.com/bigbuckregistry Twitter: www.twitter.com/bigbuckregistry Feedback:Feedback@BigBuckRegistry.com Also find us on these fine networks: iTunes Stitcher Blubrry Libsyn TuneIn Other Recommended Podcasts: CarrieZ Wildgame IamTurkeyHunting BowRush FishNerds Bowhunting Freedom Up North JournalBlanchard Outdoors

Register for the Heavan in Business Conference Here To See the World Transformed We Have to Focus on Building Champions “I had some cracks in my foundation, [thinking] that my identity is in external success and performance and not that success is based in Christ in me - the hope of glory.” –Andy Mason What do you do when everything you thought you trusted in changes? Andy left behind his house, salary, career, friends, and everything he knew to follow God’s direction to move to a new land. He suddenly found himself without a blueprint for success. Feeling like he was wandering in the desert, Andy realized that he had to learn how to allow God to speak louder than his own internal voice of doubt. He needed to change his mindset as a Christian from the performance mindset he had in business to one of dependence and waiting on God. Andy always felt that it was he that was reaching up and holding on to God with all of his might. When Andy saw the painting you see pictured here, he had a profound revelation: God was holding on to him and would never let go! This changed his view of God as well as Andy’s ability to trust Him. “Instead of focusing on fixing the broken, to see the world transformed we have to focus on building champions.” –Andy Mason What you will learn Where to look when you don’t feel God’s presence How to replace a performance mindset with a relationship mindset How to find cracks in your foundation and fix them What tools to use when you find yourself in the midst of your own desert period How to build champions Resources Bethel Church Heaven in Business Facebook Community - Join 3800 raving fans! iDreamCulture - Helping you re-discover the dreams and desires of your heart Heaven in Business Conference - Click here for more info January 27-30, 2015 in Redding CA God with you at work is more than an idea worth sharing; it’s a highly profitable business plan worth living. A culture of honor is the fundamental building block to establishing that plan as a culture. Honor elevates the status of people. It brings out their best and results in an environment where people and profits thrive. This three day conference will inspire and equip you with keys to build a culture of honor in your place of work. You will get to hear real-life stories from real-life business people, be activated to access more of God in local business, receive personal ministry and leave with tools to create a personal and work environment where all people prosper. Bio Andy and Janine Mason are from the beautiful east coast of New Zealand. Together, with their four elementary-aged children and ten suitcases, they arrived in Redding, California, in August of 2008. Andy and Janine developed and currently lead the Dream Culture program at Bethel Church. This has spread into programs and classes in Bethel Christian School and Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. They have also helped catalyze Dream Cultures in other churches, businesses and community centers. Andy has a background ranging from relationship management and consultancy, to international community development. He has established a micro-finance project, orphan program and leadership development program in eastern Uganda. He was also involved for ten years in the leadership team of a local New Zealand church. At the core was his desire to help people discover purpose and resource them in whatever way possible to get there. In addition to being a wonderful mother to four children, Janine brings strength in strategic planning and a high value for relational unity. With her background in people development, adult training and project management, she helps people unlock their dreams and develop practical steps to see the impossible happen.

When Andy and Alden flee from pursuers into the haunted Forest of Giants, they get more than they bargained for - mammoth trees that hurl them to the feet of hungry giants, scratchy poison ivy, and a bellowing seven-headed fire and poison breathing, winged dragon. What to do?

What's that saying? Sometimes it's better not to know? When Andy learns the danger and peril he will face to retrieve the scale of a red dragon, he fears the end will not turn out well, for his experience battling said creatures is confined to video games. What will he do?

When Andy discovers a vulture-man, a transforming agent of Oomaldee's enemy, is attempting to shoot his best friend with a poison dart, he must act. How will it end? 

Today's special episode of Balancing Pointe Podcast celebrates the holiday of Love as I interview one of ballet's most famous married couples, Megan Fairchild and Andy Veyette, both principal dancers with the New York City Ballet.   Megan and Andy met when they were both rising stars at the New York City Ballet and were married in July 24, 2011 in the backyard of Crabtree’s Kittle House, in Chappaqua, N.Y. When Andy first met Megan, he began to pursue her, but she knew of his “bad boy” reputation and did not immediately fall for him. Eventually, however, his efforts paid off and now the couple are happily married living and working together as principal dancers with NYCB. Their laughter filled interview make it apparent they are a perfect match!

When Andy's Wii U breaks, Han, Josh, and Blake have one hour to replace it. Will they pull it off? Plus, Favorite Games of 2012, the Top 5 Games You Didn't Play in 2012 (and now your mother is disappointed), and more. All on Ep5 of Gamesies! Special thanks Agent Whiskers for doing the music this episode. Note that this episode was originally published in January 2013.

When Andy's Wii U breaks, Han, Josh, and Blake have one hour to replace it. Will they pull it off? Plus, Favorite Games of 2012, the Top 5 Games You Didn't Play in 2012 (and now your mother is disappointed), and more. All on Ep5 of Gamesies! Special thanks Agent Whiskers for doing the music this episode. Note that this episode was originally published in January 2013.

Andy answers some amazing questions from listeners, including a 1st grade teacher and an anonymous listener with an insightful question about adversity. Amanda, a 1st grade teacher, wanted to share how Andy’s books have affected her life positively • She had the opportunity to incorporate The Boy Who Changed the World into a social studies lesson and her students loved it • Andy says it’s not about what’s in the book; it’s about what you do with what’s in the book • Surprisingly, The Boy Who Changed the World has been really popular with high school graduates • Public schools, especially in small towns, are dying to have adults come in and read to the kids. It’s an awesome opportunity for you to make a difference in the lives of other people An anonymous listener asks how to help a close friend gain perspective. Can a lack of adversity be a hindrance to gaining perspective? • Yes, a lack of adversity can be a hindrance to perspective • When things are going great with your finances, marriage, etc. people tend to not dig as deep for answers • This is a perfect example of what we tell people about adversity—adversity is not necessarily a bad thing. It will shape you into something better • Many people don’t understand the battle between “good” and “the best.” When things are good, we tend to not strive as hard and struggle and push past a certain point • Finding your purpose is the best motivation to push past good and attain the best. Your purpose will ignite your passion We all have periods when there is no adversity, hopefully. When Andy is in a comfortable place, he has to intentionally remind himself of the purpose he wants to fulfill. • He asks himself, “What is it that I want to affect, that I want to create, that I’m after, that I want to help?” • Then, he asks, “Who do I have to become to be the kind of person people will listen to? Who do I have to become to be the kind of person that my family needs me to be?” • Asking those questions will give you a tremendous amount of responsibility and control over every aspect of your life If you’re interested in reading what In the Loop host Andy Traub (A.T.) writes, check out his blog at TakePermission.com. Andy (Andrews) highly recommends his blog post “5 Things to Do When Leadership Leaves”. Questions for Listeners • Have you volunteered time to read to young children at school? We’d love to hear about your experience! o Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY o E-Mail: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com o Facebook.com/AndyAndrews o Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

Episode # 129 of THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID finds both Matt and Kevin wondering if it's "too soon" to joke about Lincoln's death. TWSS listeners: You've got your sheep, and you've got your black sheep... and I'm not even a sheep.  I'm on the freakin' moon! When Andy realizes that business is like a war, he decides to give the office staff a battlefield education. Surely the lessons learned from the Battle of Gettysburg can be applied to the daily operations of a small paper company? Meanwhile, Kevin loves cookies, Gabe-raham Lincoln wows the crowds, and Dwight finds his ancestors once hid fabulous dandies. You know, in the African-American community, this episode is... no? Well, I thought it was worth a try. Incidental music provided by Music Alley from Mevio. Email us at TWSSpodcast @ gmail. com, or leave a comment on our blog page at TWSSpodcast.com. iTunes reviews are always appreciated! Help spread the word! Also, PLEASE help support the show by signing up for a FREE 14-day trial of Audible.com. Go to http://www.audiblepodcast.com/shesaid for a free audiobook download.

Episode # 125 of THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID finds both Matt and Kevin enjoying a delicious watercress sandwich. When Andy throws a garden party at Schrute Farms in a 2-for-1 attempt to impress both his dear old dad AND Robert California, you just gotta know this isn't going to work, don't you? I mean, anyone? Still, poor AndyÉ it's not everyday you get outsung AND disrespected by the guy who starred in Tales of the Gold Monkey. Add in a sycophantic Gabe, a baby naming war, the return of Kevin's toupee, and the most ridiculous Jim/Dwight prank ever, and you've got one big hairy mess. And goats. Lots and lots of goats. Incidental music provided by Music Alley from Mevio. Email us at TWSSpodcast @ gmail. com, or leave a comment on our blog page at TWSSpodcast.com. iTunes reviews are always appreciated! Help spread the word! Also, PLEASE help support the show by signing up for a FREE 14-day trial of Audible.com. Go to http://www.audiblepodcast.com/shesaid for a free audiobook download.