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As part of our on-going series on mergers and acquisitions Chef Kate Plummer and Sous-Chef Andrea Pereira talk with Chef Larry Cohen of Axis Promotions, now Halo Branded Solutions. Larry walks us through what an acquisition can look like from the seller side and what everyone should know. He also drops some amazing Business 101 information that you definitely should start using now. Bio: Larry Cohen is the Founder of Axis Promotions, a full-service marketing and promotions agency, and now serves on the Executive Committee of HALO, the parent company of Axis. After working as a lawyer in Washington, D.C., Larry decided to change directions and put his creative energies and entrepreneurial spirit to use. He founded Axis in 1991 with one goal: build something that was - and still is - 180 Degrees From Ordinary. Axis has grown to become a creative powerhouse in the promotional products industry, with a client base including American Express, L'Oreal, NBC Universal and more. When Larry is not busy growing Axis, he serves on the PPAI board, PromoKitchen Advisory Board, and PeerNet Marketing Committee.

Unity and Humility in the Body of Christ. Bible Study with Jairus - 1 Corinthians 3 Have you ever wondered why Paul seems to expect Christians to leave behind spiritual childhood, while Jesus expects Christians to become like little children? Paul asked Christians not to be “infants in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1), yet Jesus commanded us all to “turn and become like children” (Matthew 18:3) Which is it? Does God want us to become mature in Christ, or does he want us to become like little children? The difference between spirit, soul, and body To understand the answer to this question, it's important to understand the difference between the spirit, soul, and body. To grow spiritually, our soul needs to be transformed, but that does not mean our physical self—mind, will, and emotions--remain immature and childish. Our will, along with our IQ and EQ, will continue to grow and develop as we mature. What is important is for us to maintain “child-like innocence” in our hearts. A person controlled by the Holy Spirit should be very innocent. In other words, Jesus calls for our hearts to remain pure like the heart of a child. Paul, on the other hand, encourages us to grow and mature, so that we do not remain immature, like an infant. Our souls need to experience transformation and renewal through Christ. This discussion relates to a correct understanding of the heart, soul, spirit and body, and the ways they are perceived differently by different churches. In the Local Church Movement (LCM), I was taught that a person has three parts – spirit, soul and body. A person's soul consists of his mind, emotions and will. A person's spirit consists of his conscience, fellowship, and intuition. A person's heart consists of the spirit's conscience and the soul's mind, emotions and will. Whether or not these definitions are complete is a discussion for another time. However, by using these definitions, we can focus the discussion on the difference between spirit and soul. The founder of the LCM, Watchman Nee, preached that a person has three parts, spirit, soul and body, while other famous preachers from Chinese Churches hold the viewpoint that the spirit and soul are inseparable. One of the most famous preachers who holds such a viewpoint is Indonesian Pastor Stephen Tong. This discussion is present throughout the Western Christian community, where different theologians hold differing viewpoints. However, for today, we will focus on the differences between the teachings of Pastor Stephen Tong's and those of the LCM. Pastor Stephen Tong denies the three-part being (spirit, soul and body) and claims that spirit and soul are one. This teaching is more in line with the Chinese culture, and hence more widely accepted by Chinese Christians. Because Chinese culture does not differentiate between spirit and soul, many Chinese Christians have been influenced by this teaching.  The LCM, on the other hand, believes that Tong's beliefs are not scripturally sound based on mainly two Bible passages. First, 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The original Greek text clearly lists the spirit (‘Pneuma'), soul (‘Psuche') and body (‘Soma), which are three distinct words in Greek. Second, Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Again, two distinct Greek words, ‘pneuma' and ‘psuche', were used to describe spirit and soul. From these two passages, spirit and soul are indeed distinct.  Pastor Stephen Tong does not agree that Hebrews 4:12 highlights the difference between spirit, soul and body. Instead, he believes that this verse is highlighting the power of God's word in a metaphorical way. Personally, I tend to agree more with the LCM's belief on this topic. Teachings that do not differentiate between the soul and spirit lead believers to identify with their soul but not mature in their spirit. Many first-generation Chinese-American pastors have noticed that first-generation Chinese churches often devolve into a social club, where believers build friendships, share their culture, or even network for business. However, they are often lacking severely in spiritual growth. From my personal observation, this issue may be related to the lack of teaching on the difference between the spirit and the soul. Watchman Nee's nephew wrote a biography of his uncle, in which he admits that their teaching on the spirit life is an important strength of the LCM movement. Though the biographer disagrees with the One-City-One-Church principle of LCM, he admires their emphasis on spirit life. He admits that many other Chinese churches tend to be more worldly in their outlook and behaviors. The LCM is a movement that originated in China but has now spread all over the world. In this discussion, however, I will be mainly referring to the Chinese segment of the LCM movement. Spiritual exercise The LCM teaches that we can grow up spiritually and train our spiritual being through “exercising our spirit.” Just like we strengthen our muscles and increase their functionality through physical exercise, we can grow “spiritual muscles” by exercising our spirits. There are many ways to exercise your spirit. One of the most common ways is to “Call Upon the Name of Jesus” and read God's word meditatively and prayerfully. After I received Christ, these two methods helped me experience tremendous spiritual growth. However, the reputations of these two methods have been tarnished outside of the LCM. For this reason, people outside the LCM have not had the opportunity to reap the benefits of learning and practicing these spiritual disciplines. At LCM meetings, discussions center around spiritual matters, avoiding the problem of “social club” that many other Chinese American churches are facing.  Many mainstream American church teachings also adopt the viewpoint that a person has three parts: spirit, soul and body. However, the LCM is unique in several ways. The LCM not only differentiates between spirit and soul, but also between our human spirit and God's spirit. The LCM is unique in its emphasis of practical ways to exercise and strengthen our spirits. The LCM teaches believers to cleanse their consciences, deal with the flesh, and remove external things that suppress the spirit, thereby achieving breakthrough and growth in the spiritual life. Such an emphasis on exercising the spiritual person is something that I have rarely seen in mainstream American churches. Certain methods of spiritual growth, such as meditation and speaking in tongues, are promoted by preachers in both evangelical and Pentecostal churches in the US; however, the majority of believers in the US do not actually incorporate these practices into their daily lives. However, the LCM helps the believers to put these disciplines into rigorous practice.   A very important analogy that we can use to illustrate the LCM's teaching is that of an apple tree. An apple tree does not need to try hard and exert extra effort to develop apples. It is part of its nature to grow apples. No matter how hard it tries to grow pears, it will not be able to do it.   However, in the growth process, the tree still needs to be cultivated. If weeds are not removed, fertilizer is not used, and branches are not trimmed, the apple tree will not reach its full potential for producing apples. In the same way, a spirit-filled life can be developed through trimming away things that hinder its natural growth, in order to allow our spiritual growth to reach its full potential. Just like weeds and wilted branches hinder the growth of the apple tree, our sin, guilt, and the flesh hinder our spiritual growth. Through the power of the Cross, we can remove these weeds and live an overcoming life that glorifies God. Just like the apple tree's nature is to grow apples, we have Christ's nature within us, enabling us to live out Christ's love, light, holiness and righteousness. Hence, we do not need to ‘make extra effort' to live out these attributes of Christ. But we do need to remove the weeds and wilted branches that hinder the development of the spiritual life.     Renewal and transformation of the soul Besides teaching the difference between spirit, soul and body and promoting the exercise of the spiritual man, the LCM also emphasizes the renewal and transformation of the soul. Besides the external factors that can hinder our spiritual growth, such as our sinful, fleshly self, a lot of hindrances also stem from the unrenewed mindset of the soul. As such, the LCM emphasizes the transformation and renewal taught in Romans 12:1. This verse teaches us to offer our bodies as a sacrifice and be transformed through the renewal of our minds. Difficulties encountered in the soul will ultimately affect our spiritual progress and development. For example, when two brothers fight, their conflict is taking place in their souls. Both men harbor feelings of unforgiveness and the unwillingness to compromise and be united in their minds. However, when both are willing to come before the Lord to pray, they exercise their spirit and are ministered to by the Holy Spirit. As they unite their spirit with God's, they recognize that the conflict is taking place in their souls. Through prayer, they exercise their spirits and recognize their ability to forgive and accept each other. As each man repents and both reconcile, the issue that they were fighting over gets resolved. The LCM teaches believers to break free from their natural soul, exercise their spirit, and unite their spirit with the Holy Spirit. Believers in the LCM strongly encourage each other to break free from the natural soul and exercise their spirit-man. It is often said that the soul is the “city of problems,” a place full of problems that are difficult to resolve. However, the spirit is a “city of no problems,” where difficulties faced by the soul can naturally resolve. Pastor Stephen Tong has sharp criticisms for this belief. He believes the LCM overly emphasizes spirituality, neglecting rationality. “I don't know when it started,” he says, “but I do know that the Church in China is facing a catastrophe. Reason is seen as part of the soul, emotion is part of the soul, will is part of the soul. Believers are taught to only be spiritual, and to abandon anything related to the soul. So, everything related to thought and rationality is said to be part of the soul! Since the arrival of this catastrophe, intellectuals have left the church. The church is full of fools. The more anti-knowledge and anti-cultural Christians become, the less they are able to gain a reputable standing in the midst of global changes.[1]” From my personal experience in the LCM, I would counter that the LCM focuses on the transformation and renewal of the soul. The teaching emphasizes that as the spirit grows and changes, its benefits will overflow into the soul for its transformation and renewal. The LCM teaches that transformation in the spiritual realm will naturally lead to renewal of the soul. Hence, to solve problems in the realm of the soul, we would first need to grow in the spiritual life. The LCM also teaches the removal of hindrances such as earthly sins and worldly distractions, so as to allow for the change of the soul. The LCM focuses on the shepherding  of one's soul, with special emphasis on helping new believers shepherd their souls and open their hearts to receive the life in the spirit. The LCM teaches us to deny the natural soul life, since that represents our old life apart from Christ. But it does not teach us to deny the functions of the soul, such as the mind, emotions and will. They teach that the stronger our spiritual life is, the more our souls will be transformed. As we lead a spirit-led life, our thoughts will be clearer, our will stronger, and our emotions more filled with love. In my experience, the LCM has never denied rationality. Instead, they encourage believers to diligently study the Bible and other spiritual books. My personal experience of the LCM does not match Pastor Stephen Tong's observations. Tong does not paint a full picture of the LCM's beliefs, and his criticisms are overly harsh. As a result, many Chinese Christians have been discouraged from accepting the good teachings of the LCM.   Some drawbacks to the LCM's teachings While we can learn a lot from the LCM's teaching on the spirit and soul, there are limits to the helpfulness of their stance. At times, the LCM neglects the care of the body and soul by over-emphasizing the growth of the spiritual life. For example, the LCM discounts miraculous healings because they believe Charismatics over-emphasize healings to the detriment of spiritual growth. However, many LCM believers struggle with physical pain and do not get the healing that they so desperately need. For example, my wife and I struggled with infertility for 10 years while in the LCM movement. They were not able to help me in terms of praying for a miracle. I had to seek help from the Charismatic movement. There, through the gifts of healing and prophecy, a divine intervention occurred, and God gifted me a miracle baby. Although many miraculous healings from the Charismatic movement may be questionable, my years of observation and learning in the Charismatic movement have led me to believe that more real miracles occur in the Pentecostal movement than in evangelical churches. I have personally witnessed and heard of many miracle healings and other miracles in the Charismatic church. God's word says that “By His wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). The LCM teaches believers to exercise their spiritual muscles, but it does not teach believers to exercise their faith to receive miraculous healings through the word of God. Therefore, their spiritual faith muscles remain underdeveloped, and they see few miraculous healings. There are many sick believers in the LCM who do not get the help they need, which is a great loss to the LCM. This loss is not restricted to the LCM, but also exists in many other evangelical churches. After I left the LCM and posted a testimony of the miraculous healing God granted me, I received private messages from believers in the LCM who were sick. They were wondering how I received the miraculous healing. While I could not completely help them resolve their issues, most have admitted that the LCM provided limited help in this area of miraculous healing. Secondly, the LCM also neglects certain areas of the soul. While Pastor Stephen Tong's criticisms of the LCM were too harsh, he has an important point. They often over-emphasized the spirit. From what I have observed, there is indeed an issue of over-spiritualizing things in the LCM. While there, I actively read my Bible, exercised my spirit, and sought spiritual growth. I did indeed encounter major changes in my life. However, my pursuit of spiritual growth did not resolve some issues that arose from within the soul. To a certain extent, the seeking of spiritual growth was an excuse for me to avoid dealing with issues pertaining to the soul. For example, my father and I had issues with expressing our emotions and showing care for others. In my growing up years, I always witnessed my father's coldness towards others and my mother's anger towards him. As I imitated him, I also became a cold, unfeeling individual. After I got married, I realized that the same issue that I'd witnessed between my parents was playing out in my marriage. Arguments between my wife and I often resembled those of my parents. I neglected my wife's feelings, she became angry, and I felt hurt. This vicious cycle continued unabated in my marriage. Coupled with the inability to conceive, my wife and I went through many trials and difficulties. I tried my best to follow what the LCM taught, to diligently grow spiritually: to pray more, read the Bible more and take up my cross. Although it was helpful, it did not completely resolve our problem. We were then led by God to enter the Charismatic church, where we learned about deliverance ministries (casting out of demons) and inner healing ministries. These ministries that the LCM neglected have really helped us. First, with the help of the Charismatic church, we were blessed with a miracle baby, who provided much healing in our marriage. Second, the Charismatic church's teaching about inner healing and casting out demons was very helpful. Through Global Awakening, I took several certified, advanced courses on deliverance, miracle healing, inner healing, and prophetic training. In addition, I read extensively on the topic of inner healing and deliverance ministries. Through practical and hands-on learning experience, I have learned that when we see a cyclical pattern appearing in our lives, repeating through several generations, it is often due to generational curses that require the casting out of demons and inner healing. The Charismatic movement's focus on inner healing and deliverance ministries is often done together with the gift of prophecy, where servants of God receive supernatural revelations from God to help fellow believers who are plagued with issues pertaining to the soul. In January 2016, I attended a prophetic conference in Oregon. While there, I prayed for God to speak to me and give me healing as well. At the conference, I met a believer who was a former member of the LCM. She is Korean and had left the LCM and has attended a Charismatic church for many years. She shared that she left the LCM because of their unbelief in current-day miracles. At her Charismatic church, this sister received an obvious gift of healing and a prophetic gift. I watched her praying for the sick. Rather than asking about the person's condition, she received revelations from God as she spoke to him in tongues. She prayed for me in the same way. After the prayer, she shared that there was conflict between my father and I that drove us apart, and that I needed to forgive him. She also shared that my father was unable to show his love, not because he did not love me, but because he was being spiritually attacked and was bound by generational curses. She added that because I was called by God, Satan was torturing me by punishing my father, hoping that this would stop God's call in me. She told me to forgive my father and pray for him, speaking out about the deepest pain in my entire life, which was hidden in my heart. I had never met her before, nor had I mentioned any of these secrets to her before her prayer. God gradually healed the problems that I was facing. Through receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, deliverance from demons, and healing ministries, God provided the growth that I needed. I would not say that I am completely free of problems, but I do know that I have achieved a breakthrough that I never experienced while in the LCM movement. Many Christians deny the fact of demon influence in Christians' lives. Often, the life of Christ in the believer has not permeated throughout our inner being. Demons can take advantage of areas of our life that Christ has not fully occupied.  In the past, I thought that through reading God's word, prayer, and exercising my spiritual man, I would be able to resolve all the issues that I faced. While these disciplines are important and useful in achieving growth in my spirit, they had limited effectiveness in resolving the issues in my soul. Issues of the soul must be managed directly, which the LCM is hesitant to do. For example, the LCM does not provide marriage counseling, since it is associated with issues of the soul. Many people in the LCM have diligently pursued spiritual growth, but still struggle in their souls. The LCM does not recognize the importance of ministries that address the struggle of the soul. For example, the LCM neglects the gift of prophecy, which can effectively minister to the soul. (The LCM does focus on the forth-telling aspect of prophecy, but they do not believe in foretelling the future through prophecy.) In the Charismatic movement, the gift of prophecy is not restricted to predicting what is to come, but also includes visions, dreams, and revelations, helping believers understand the hidden difficulties of their souls. A minister from the LCM shared that in his many years of prophesying (in a forth-telling way), he has never witnessed a scene similar to the one depicted in 1 Corinthians 14:25, where “the secrets of his heart is disclosed, and so falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.” However, this is a common sight in the Charismatic movement. Many times, I've seen a brother fall on his face crying as the secrets of his heart are shared through prophecy. I spent many years in the LCM, where I grew spiritually, increased my Bible knowledge, and received much loving help from many brothers and sisters in Christ. However, I never have met anyone who helped me like the Korean sister in Christ who revealed the secret hidden in my heart. Many in the LCM could benefit greatly from her gift if they were open to it. Many LCM believers continue to bury their problems under the guise of pursuing spiritual growth. Neglected bodily ailments can also negatively affect some believer's spiritual growth. Randy Clark of Toronto Blessings further illustrates the importance of prophetic and deliverance ministries. Randy shared that several generations of men in his family have been involved in promiscuity and other sexual sins. He also sinned in this area, even after accepting Christ as his savior. Even though he had repented, he did not recognize a need to cast out a demon from his life. Eventually, he met some believers with the gift of casting out demons. Through revoking the generational curses and casting out the demons, the spirit of promiscuity was chased away from his household. He then recognized that generational sin in his family was not a coincidence or his own weakness, but a generational curse. He testified that his son and daughters are not continuing in this generational pattern of sin. Another time, at the Toronto Blessing conference, a sister in Christ was unwilling to open up and share her heart, and Randy felt like his prayer was going nowhere. Another prophet, Larry Randolph, offered to give it a try. When Larry started praying, he used the gift of prophecy to speak of what the sister in Christ was keeping inside. As a result, this sister opened her heart and received the encouragement of Randy's ministry. These two examples convinced Randy Clark to strongly promote the ministry of casting out demons and prophecy and to create courses to train others in these areas. I have learned a lot from his courses. In addition, LCM has the tendency to lean towards over-spiritualizing. The LCM denies the physical aspect of heaven, teaching that heaven is a spiritual new Jerusalem, a mutual dwelling place for God and men. After my prophetic gift was activated in 2015, I experienced many visions of heaven, where I have seen architecture with glass, libraries, animals, gardens, many different types of transportation, various houses, fruits and vegetables that are found in heaven. Combining what I have read with the heavenly accounts of other prophets such as Choo Thomas, Kat Kerr and Lai-Wang Xiulan, I realize heaven is a real world, with mountains, seas, plants, houses, activities and gatherings. Heaven contains all the wonderful things of earth. It is not a purely spiritual realm with no physical things. Based on the words of Kat Kerr, heaven is unlike what people think. Many people think of it as flat, but it is round, like earth—just way bigger than the entire galaxy. In my prophetic encounters of heaven, I often saw different sizes of houses: some were small, and some were large. Kat Kerr believes the sizes of our heavenly homes are determined by how we live for Christ on this earth.   The LCM also tends towards speaking in absolutes. Pastor Tong shares his critique of the movement: “The faults of the LCM can be summarized in this way: they speak in absolutes about things that are often not absolute.”[2] Personally, I came to know Christ through a LCM church and have been blessed tremendously by them. I may be emotionally biased towards the LCM. I do believe Tong's criticism of them is overly harsh and that he fails to take into consideration the positive teachings there. For example, the LCM invited Pastor Stephen Tong to study their teachings in greater detail, and to have a conversation with the LCM. However, Pastor Stephen refused this invitation. Pastor Stephen Tong made some sarcastic comments about the LCM and was reluctant to humble himself, converse with the LCM, and better understand them. He said that if the first bite tasted bad, he did not need to take a second bite. The LCM's attempts to dialogue with Tong have not reaped positive results. While I cannot completely agree with Pastor Stephen Tong's criticism toward the LCM, I can admit that they have the tendency to perceive things in an absolute manner. The LCM is unwilling to accept the teachings of other Churches, and often does not venture beyond the framework of Watchman Nee's and Witness Lee's teachings. After leaving the LCM and joining the Charismatic movement, I have learned many new Bible truths, which helped me grow in areas that the LCM is weak in. For example, the LCM speaks in absolutes about Christmas. It teaches believers not to celebrate this holiday, since the Christmas holiday originated in the worship of the sun god. They also teach that Jesus was not born in December. The shepherds would not have been out in the field during the middle of December, so Christmas is not the right time of year to celebrate Jesus' birth. Other churches may concur with them on this point. However, according to Choo Thomas' book, “Heaven is So Real,” Jesus celebrated Christmas with her when he appeared to her. Also, American Prophet, Kat Kerr, had thousands of encounters in heaven, where she witnessed the presence of a Christmas town in heaven. In the town, Saint Nicholas was stationed to welcome children who wished to meet Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas used to give children gifts on Christmas, and the legend of Santa Claus is based on his life. I attempted to share such testimonies with believers attending the LCM churches, but they usually reply with a standard answer: “We speak only of the Bible in the LCM.” The LCM is unable to accept prophetic and spiritual gifts; thus, they would rarely accept such testimonies. However, while these testimonies are not from the Bible, they do not deviate from the Bible. In other words, it is extra-biblical but not unbiblical. Those who have been truly saved will one day see for themselves what heaven is like. God has prepared a real world for believers in heaven. Through these two examples about Christmas and heaven, we can see that the understanding of the LCM is limited. All of us have limited understanding, and we need to have humble hearts so we can learn and accept what God wants to communicate to us through other believers and other ministries. When we are unwilling to openly learn from others what God has in mind for us, we are unknowingly perpetuating factions amongst believers. We are claiming, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:12). I love my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ from the LCM, and I know that they follow the teachings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee out of reverence for God, rather than idolizing these two men. Many Chinese churches criticize the LCM for idolizing Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, which the LCM denies. Many churches also criticize the LCM for being the most closed-up faction of Christians. The LCM denies it is a faction of its own. However, when we are unwilling to learn from others, we are naturally creating factions among believers. In effect, they are claiming, “I follow Watchman Nee” or “I follow Witness Lee.” Similarly, many brothers and sisters in Christ from many other Chinese churches are not open to receiving the teachings of the LCM. Due to criticism from famous preachers such as Pastor Stephen Tong, many do not try to understand what God has given us through the LCM, nor do they try to understand the helpful practices that they teach. This is also equivalent to saying, “I follow Pastor Stephen Tong” or “I follow XXX preacher”. I know that there are many Chinese churches that are against the teachings of the LCM and those of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, especially Witness Lee. However, things are not as simple as they seem. I admit Witness Lee is not perfect, but I have learned a lot from his teachings. We need to “rightly explain the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), objectively understanding and analyzing God's word and the teachings of his servants, including Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. It is not wrong to be critical of their teachings. While I do not agree with Pastor Stephen Tong's criticism, I do think he has the right to criticize. Besides criticizing the LCM, Pastor Stephen Tong is also critical of the Charismatic church. Historical differences, as well as conflict between the LCM, the Charismatic church, and other Chinese evangelical churches, have prevented the uniting of the Chinese Church as one. After identifying the issues at hand, the Chinese Churches should learn to accept the differences and learn from each other, thus unifying the Chinese Church as one. Adopting a punitive, critical approach will not solve the issues. God has indeed used the LCM to teach much truth related to spiritual growth. However, if we do not critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of the LCM, many people outside may treat them as heretical and refuse to listen to their teachings. As a result, believers like you and me will suffer. In 2015, God led me to learn from the Charismatic movement. I have discovered that the teachings of the Charismatic Church and those of the LCM can complement each other. My doctoral thesis at the United Theological Seminary discussed this very point. Not only can the Charismatic Church and the LCM help each other, but other Chinese evangelical churches can also benefit from learning from the Charismatic Church and the LCM. For example, the Charismatic church has been criticized for its over-emphasis on gifts and for neglecting the teaching about growth in holiness. This is precisely the area where LCM can be of assistance. The LCM can complement the Charismatic church by teaching on spiritual growth and holiness. However, many Chinese Charismatics have been influenced against Witness Lee by Steven Tong and others. They perceive Witness Lee and the LCM as heresy. Thus, they are not open to his teaching, and they miss out on an important opportunity to grow in their spiritual lives.   God has given me many revelations and visions of revival in China. In order for China to usher in this great revival, Chinese Christians need to be unified, especially on doctrinal beliefs. The LCM, Charismatic churches, and other evangelical churches need to work through their historical differences and doctrinal deviations. I believe that we need to work for unity so God can usher in the revival of the church in China. Spirit and Soul Pastor Stephen Tong discussed the issue of the soul and the spirit. He said, “The LCM attributes the mind, will, and emotions to the human ‘soul.' May I ask for a scripture reference that backs up this point? There is no Biblical text that supports such a theological theory. To say that reason, emotion, and will are in the ‘soul,' and that the spirit is not the same as the soul, is completely out of line with the Bible's teachings. God is a spirit. Does God have reason, emotion, and will? Does God have a soul? If reason, emotion, and will are in the soul, and if God is a spirit, does God lack reason, emotion, and will? “In reality,” Tong continues, “God not only has reason, emotion, and will, but his will determines his decrees. God's decrees come from his will, God's love comes from his emotions, and the truth of God's revelation comes from his reason. Therefore, God is the source of reason, the source of emotion, and the source of will. God is not a soul, but a spirit.”[3]   Pastor Stephen Tong rejects the separation of soul and spirit, but his argument above is illogical. We will not discuss whether God has a soul. However, humans, as God's creation, do have a living soul (Genesis 2:7). Even though we were formed in the image of God, we are not God. Even if God is a spirit, and not a soul, that does not prove that human souls do not have reason, emotions and will. We have a spiritual body within our physical body. People with prophetic gifts often have the prophetic experience of seeing their spiritual body walking outside of their physical body. Many prophets testify they have seen a spiritual body leave a person's physical body at the moment of his or her death. They saw that these spiritual bodies have arms and legs, just like the physical body. Likewise, there is a spiritual person in our soul-person, and the spiritual person may have the same function as the soul-person. Our spiritual man may also have mind, emotion and will, just as our soul has. Just as we are shadows of God, our souls are the shadows of our spirits. Kat Kerr shared that God clearly told her that his omnipresence has many “layers.” Similarly, humans have many “layers,” just as our soul does. Many prophets have the experiences of being transported. When they are asleep or in a trance or vision, their souls (not just their spirits) are brought to other places to minister. (Philip was even taken into other places physically.) These events take place not only in their spirits, but also in their souls. The mind in our soul recorded these experiences in dreams or visions. I have experienced similar situations multiple times in prophetic dreams. If a human's soul can have many different “layers” that can enter different dimensions of time and space, I suppose there are even more “layers” in a person's spirit, which function similarly. For example, when I am sleeping and having a prophetic dream, I could be brought to a different place, to testify to others about my testimony of having a miracle baby. Not only can I speak to an audience, I can also interact with them, and even see their tears. This is not just a dream, but my spirit and soul being brought to different places to testify. Hence, prophets can shed light on truths that were never known before. Possibly, when a person's spirit matures, more layers can be developed. I understand it is still a mystery to us, just like no one knows where our spirit dwells, even though we all know we have a spirit. However, practically speaking, it is difficult to separate soul and spirit, especially for less mature Christians. A seed contains the life of a tree inside just one seed. The seed can be said to have many “layers,” but is has not fully developed. Paul explained that “The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.” (1 Corinthians 2:15). He also said, “But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually” (1 Corinthians 2:14, Recovery Version). Some Chinese versions of the Bible translate this verse as “soulish man,” but since English does not have a category for “soulish man,” most English translations say, “Natural person.” However, in the original Greek, the word “Soul” modifies the word “man.” While we cannot fully or clearly split the soul and spirit, it is important for us to learn and understand the differences between the two. This is something that Pastor Stephen Tong and many other Chinese preachers have missed, which I believe is a major cause of the tendency towards creating a “social club” in the church. It is a mystery for us to divide the spirit and soul, but we know for sure soul and spirit can be and should be separated in our spiritual experiences. Both the LCM and Charismatic churches, as well as other evangelical churches, preach on the difference between soul, spirit and body. For example, a leader of the Modern Faith Movement, Kenneth Copeland, said, “We are a spirit, we have a soul, we live in a body.” He also focuses on teaching believers to receive healing and develop their faith through the Word of God. John Sandford is a Charismatic leader who specializes in casting out demons and prophecy. He is also a pioneer in deliverance ministries. He has a strong prophetic gift and was considered a prophet in Charismatic circles. Often, in the process of casting out demons and inner healing, he receives prophetic revelations from God. He uses these revelations to help those who are suffering to receive inner healing and be free from demons. He can use his prophetic gift to pinpoint a hidden, secret problem in the soul or find out what demons are inside. Jon Sandford has coined a term, “the slumbering spirit.” Through his many years of ministry in casting out demons and inner healing, John Sandford has learned about the important relationship between a person's spirit and soul. When a child is young, if the child does not get sufficient affection, his spirit will not be able to develop. His emotions and thoughts (in his soul) will develop abnormally. Hence, in his ministry of healing and casting out demons, Sandford would first awaken the slumbering spirit in people, connect with them through their spirit, and slowly awaken their heart and emotions. Then he would be able to heal them. A lot of research has shown that when orphans who live in the orphanage do not receive sufficient hugs, their emotional and mental development is hindered. With sufficient hugs and through allowing them to experience God's love in their spirit, their spirit would slowly become complete. Sandford realized that if people only settled issues of the soul and did not resolve issues of the spirit, it would be challenging to resolve the issues of the soul. This point is similar to the teachings of the LCM, which teaches believers to exercise their spirit and receive God's divine life to renew the soul. However, the LCM misses out on other aspects of John Sandford's teachings, which is using the prophetic gift to reveal the innermost hidden problems of the human soul. Issues relating to the soul are often messy, but God is all-knowing. Through the practice and development of the gift of prophecy, we can work with God to resolve the issues pertaining to the soul. A Korean prophet prophesied over me, saying that God wanted to use me to bring healing to people's spirits, souls, and bodies. He has given me a holistic, wholesome healing ministry. I respond to God's call with a hearty, “Amen,” since God has allowed me to experience this kind of healing in the spirit, soul and body. I want to help others receive the same healing. My father had challenges in building relationships and expressing emotion, which also hindered my own emotional development. Even though I actively pursued spiritual growth and Bible reading in the LCM, they never offered help in the area of emotional development. However, the Charismatic movement's teaching and practice on inner healing, deliverance ministries, prophecy and the encounters with God, brought a greater breakthrough in these areas. My wife and I had a miracle baby, which provided tremendous healing for us emotionally. The LCM focuses on the three-part distinction of spirit, soul and body. It emphasizes the exercise of the spirit and the soul's renewal and transformation but does not focus on physical healing or inner healing and deliverance ministries. While the LCM focuses on the impact of spiritual growth on the soul, it does not focus on recognizing and resolving issues in the soul. It lacks tools in helping people resolve these issues. The LCM also lacks in knowledge and practice pertaining to the gift of prophecy. Pastor Stephen Tong may be right that the LCM over-spiritualizes things, but his own complete denial of the separation of soul and spirit has also affected many believers negatively. His teachings lead to a lack of understanding of the difference between soul and spirit, a lack of spiritual growth and exercise, and the lack of assistance with issues in the soul. My personal experience of the LCM, my interaction with believers influenced by Tong, my subsequent experience with the Charismatic church, Randy Clark's testimony on the gift of prophecy and casting out demons, and the teachings of John Sandford have all influenced and shaped my beliefs. These examples show that there are things to learn from the LCM, the Evangelical Church, and the Charismatic Church. Paul reproached the Corinthian believers for claiming to “belong to Paul, belong to Apollos, belong to Cephas.” At the end of 1 Corinthians 3, Paul writes, “So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.” (1 Corinthians 3:21-23). I prayed through this verse meditatively, as taught by the LCM, and the Spirit gave me an inspiration. The Holy Spirit impressed on my heart the words “so let no one boast in men. For all things are yours.” The Holy Spirit highlighted the word “for” in the verse. The reason why we say that “we belong to Paul, we belong to Apollos or, we belong to Cephas” (and the modern Chinese churches equivalent, “we belong to Watchman Nee, we belong to Witness Lee or we belong to Pastor Stephen Tong,” etc.), is because we have not recognized that “all things are yours.” All things are God's. All God's things are for us, and we should be thankful to receive these blessings. Later, when talking about food sacrificed to idols, Paul instructed believers to receive all food from God with thanksgiving. Every denomination has received certain aspects of God's truth. We must practice these aspects of truth, not so our denomination can be superior to others, nor so we can put down another denomination. Instead, we should be filled with gratitude and humility and seek to learn from one another. We should not flippantly judge others as heretics. We should not assume that we ourselves are completely right while others are completely wrong. The Holy Spirit impressed upon me that we should not revere people. Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present, the future--all belong to us, who belong to Christ, who belongs to God. Everything works together for the good of those who love God. In the same way, Watchman Nee, Witness Lee, Pastor Stephen Tong—all of these belong to us, and we should learn from each of them. We belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. God has raised up different shepherds and servants, just like He has raised up Paul and Apollos. Each of us are called to different ministries by God. Some are called to plant seeds, some to water, and some to teach God's word, all for the good of believers. If we recognized “the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints” (Ephesians 3:18), we would not be tempted to revere or idolize any man. They all have limitations. However, each of them plays apart in God's kingdom. We should help each other for the benefit of those who love God. If we recognize the goodness of what God wants to share with us through others, we will be able to grow in Christ and not remain spiritually immature. Some remain immature spiritually, because they only accept the teachings of their own denomination instead of learning from others in other ministries. Just like cross-pollination increases the quality of the plants and flowers, “cross-pollination” in the church would help us mature in our spiritual lives. We need to overcome the differences between denominations and learn from each other, so we can leave spiritual infancy far behind. In this message, I have shared about the LCM, the Charismatic church, and other Chinese evangelical churches. We all need to be humble and learn from each other. Many readers or listeners may not be familiar with these three denominations that I have mentioned or with the Chinese church at large. But they can still agree with the principles of humility and unity. In a prophetic dream, the Lord showed two rivers flowing towards convergence. While the Lord did not specify which two rivers these are, I believe that in our generation, different denominations or streams are going to come together, just like river waters that flow towards the ocean. In this way, “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). Let us humble ourselves to learn from others in the body of Christ!     [1] https://congfang.com/2826/ [2] https://congfang.com/2826/ [3] https://congfang.com/2826/

Larry Kendall’s most recent visit to the podcast was so jam-packed with information that Matt and Garrett decided they needed to have him back again to continue the discussion, and lucky for all of us, today is that day! In this episode, Larry picks up where he left off by delving into the concept of negotiating home plate in an effort to reverse the cancelled contracts that some realtors are experiencing in the current market. When Larry speaks, it’s wise to listen closely, and today is no exception! He and our hosts begin by emphasizing the importance of researching the frequency of cancelled contracts in your marketplace, defining ‘home plate’ and when to negotiate it, and the necessity of counseling your seller or buyer early on, particularly about the 5 negotiating points in a contract. They then explore some of these points, including contingencies and dates, stress the need for you to control the process, and offer some strategies to help you win contracts. The ‘magic wand’ approach, the concerns with electronic negotiations, and the value of backup contracts and showing up at ‘moment of truth’ are discussed as well. The episode concludes with a review of the components that go into the right listing, getting the ‘perpetual motion machine’ going, and a recommendation to attend Ninja Installations whenever possible. As they note, there is so much information presented here today, you will want to run through it a couple times just to ensure you haven’t missed any of the priceless pieces of wisdom shared. And, don’t forget that, after receiving many requests, Matt and Garrett have decided to start a Facebook group where listeners can get together to talk about episodes, ask questions, and connect with others. Our hosts will be in the group as well to do some fun things and serve as resources for members of the group. If you’re interested in joining this community, please go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/theninjasellingpodcast and sign up today!   Episode Highlights:   Researching the number of cancelled contracts in your market   What ‘home plate’ means and when to negotiate it   Counseling your seller or buyer   The 5 negotiating points of a contract and educating your clients about them   Contingencies and dates   Controlling the process   Some ideas to help win the contract   Larry’s example of using the ‘magic wand’ approach   Electronic negotiations and the ‘faceless other’   Backup contracts   The components involved in presenting the right listing   Showing up at ‘moments of truth’   Getting the ‘perpetual motion machine’ going   Ninja Installations   Quotes: “There’s a lot of damage that happens around this.” “Ninjas are about efficiency and having a process and high income per hour and customer satisfaction.” “We recommend that you negotiate ‘home plate’ at the time you have all those offers on the table.” “You need to negotiate as much as you can up front.” “I’m not watching the listing agents...and sellers understand the power that they have.” “See what the options are…ask the questions.” “These discussions need to happen up front so that you’re negotiating ‘home plate’.” “Pre-inspections are absolutely God’s gift to realtors.” “As the listing Ninja, you’ve got to control that process on behalf of your seller.” “If you want to win the contract, take a look at the 5 negotiating points.” “Don’t stick your head in the sand.”  “If your seller could wave a magic wand and have this transaction go just the way they want it, tell me about that.” “Price isn’t everything to all sellers.” “Pick up your phone - that is your best negotiating technique, in my opinion.” “How many offers do you really have?” “Your next listing is embedded in this one.” “My goal is to put you in the strongest negotiating position possible.” “Top producing Ninjas who really bring their A-game are not having a problem with inventory right now.” “Don’t ever sacrifice process or service because of what the marketplace is doing. Always be at this high level.”   Links: www.TheNinjaSellingPodcast.com Email us at    TSW@TheNinjaSellingPodcast.com Ninja Selling www.NinjaSelling.com @ninjasellingofficial Ninja Coaching: www.NinjaCoaching.com @ninja.coaching Garrett garrett@ninjacoaching.com @ninjaredding Matt matt@ninjacoaching.com @matthewjbonelli   The Ninja Selling Podcast Facebook Group

Gender Reveal Parties - a ticket to the morgue? ▲ Why do parents think people care about their kid's sex? ▲ Why did Larry lock himself in a toilet for a day? ▲ The reasons most parties suck ▲ Why all parties, forever, will be masquerades ▲ 3 party foods that will gag a maggot ▲ When Larry likes blindfolds ▲ This episode can save your life!

This week, Larry Knight shares his Appalachian Trail thru-hike story. It was never really a bucket list item for Larry but, as often happened, a confluence of events culminated in Larry finding himself at Springer Mountain, heading north. Injury curtailed the first attempt, but Larry returned to finish the job the following year. When Larry was finished, he wanted a memento of the trip and started thinking about a map that would be personal to him and his hike. This has developed, and a listener to our show, Don Robinson, recently bought and gifted one of Larry's meticulously detailed maps to Steve. Larry then picked up the ball and offered to personalize a map for Steve. It is nothing less than spectacular. Check out the video further below. If you'd like to learn more about Larry's wonderful maps, visit his website at https://www.redeftmapping.com/ or find him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/Red_Eft_Mapping/ Steve and Larry discuss how these maps came about and–very generously–Don Robinson and Larry are donating the original map to one of our listeners. Larry himself poses the question on our show, so don't forget to enter this competition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs2XvoTHrkw Alyssa Reck was somewhat thrown in at the deep end with a few minutes' notice for this week's ATC segment but handled herself admirably. Alyssa's subject was "Why Connections Matter: From Engagement to Responsible Recreation." If you'd like to learn more about the issues discussed, Alyssa has provided the following links. Hiker Resource Library https://appalachiantrail.org/hiker-resources, This is a collection of resources for hikers to stay safe, healthy, and responsible on the Appalachian Trail. Register on A.T. Camp https://atcamp.org/ Recreate Responsibly Coalition https://www.recreateresponsibly.org/ Folks can also always find ATC us on Social Media. Lastly, Gene Espy figures in this week's reading of Larry Luxenburg's "Walking the Appalachian Trail." If you like what we're doing on the Hiking Radio Network, and want to see our shows continue, please consider supporting us with either a one-off or monthly donation. You'll find the donate button on each Hiking Radio Network page at https://www.hikingradionetwork.com Any support is gratefully received.

The world is moving, and the locals aren’t happy about it. When Larry moved to rural California, he was met with hostility. Trip experienced the same thing when he was a volunteer on an Indian reserve. Connected communities don’t like outsiders and Anna has seen how easy it is to fall into a silo with your other “outsider buddies” and never even pick up the local language in a foreign country. Each community you enter into has its own cultural language and it’s important to do a little bit of groundwork and research to properly acclimate beforehand. Key Takeaways Looking beyond Zoom towns, how will the politics and culture change as more people go home or move to a cheaper state? Trip grew up in Washington, DC, and doesn’t remember differing opinions being so divided. People just seemed to respect each other a lot more back then. Larry grew up in a town of 1,200 people. Currently, Larry lives in a rural part of California that leans red on the political spectrum. However, he’s been warned not to drive into certain states with California plates because they’re hated. Every election cycle, someone wants to move to Canada. It’s actually pretty hard to do. Anna has seen people move to new countries without doing any research on the culture or the long-term residency requirements. Buying a new iPhone in Costa Rica is double the price than what you can get in the United States. Shipping things from Amazon into the country is expensive! Trip shares a story about Trader Joe’s vs. Pirate Joe’s in Canada. When Larry first moved to this part of California, there was not one friendly person to greet him because they knew he was an outsider. Trip encountered something similar when he worked on an Indian reservation. A lot of people are moving; the key is to understand the culture you’re about to enter into and understand the locals may be hostile. Some city folk end up calling 911 when they see a bear. That’s not how things are done outside of the city. Anna went to the United States, and because it’s so diverse, she had no idea who was a friend or foe if they were walking towards her after dark. She needed a culture buddy. Larry experienced the same thing in China. He had no clue what was a safe neighborhood or not. Anna believes we’ll still be seeing silos of the “outsider folk” in a community and they won’t make an effort to get to know the heart of the community they’re moving into. You need to make an active effort to integrate with the local scene because the locals aren’t always going to welcome you with open arms. Larry believes the distribution of people will still be good for us as a whole. However, there will be some growing pains. We’ve heard about “fly-over states,” but it’s going to be “fly-into states.” It’s so easy to compare how your old life was so much better than this new or smaller community you’re now a part of, but the locals will get tired of hearing it. Believe it or not, you can find common ground with people who perceive you to be a murderer. Anna explains. Resources Thebraveworkforce.com (http://thebraveworkforce.com/) Bravenewcompanies.com (http://bravenewcompanies.com/) Email Anna: Anna@Thebraveworkforce.com (mailto:Anna@Thebraveworkforce.com) Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships, by Marshall Rosenberg (https://www.amazon.com/Nonviolent-Communication-Language-Life-Changing-Relationships/dp/189200528X)

Trip is in the middle of leaving Seattle to move on to greener pastures. He and his family originally moved out to Seattle for his career, but now that his career is remote, why stay? Trip and his wife made a conscious choice to move to Pennsylvania to be closer to family. He’s eating his own dog food. Anna, Larry, and Trip talk about why now is the best time than any to make the leap. Key Takeaways Trip is currently traveling through Montana! He’s leaving Seattle for good. Let’s back up, why is Trip moving? The pandemic made Trip and his wife realize that they’re really far away from family. Trip’s kids want to know where they come from. It was tough for a while because they couldn’t go anywhere and they were trapped in the house. It would be easier with family around. Economic opportunity moved to the cities, but there’s a lot of room for growth in the Midwest, where you will literally not see anybody for miles. Larry has seen farms and businesses die out when he was in Nebraska. You don’t have to live in a place where you don’t want to be. How low could your cost of living really be while also increasing your quality of life? Trip is driving through parts of the country and he sees so many people with boats in the driveways. These people have time for amazing hobbies! Your quality of life can drastically improve outside of the city. One of the best ways we can increase diversity and inclusion is through traveling the world. You can find so many similarities in people that don’t look like you. Seattle is one of the most bigoted places Trip has ever been to. He explains what he means by that. Google recently came out saying that they plan to replace college. You can take certification courses now for six months. When Larry went to college, it changed him. He was exposed to a new set of cultures and values for the very first time. Larry grew up in a town of 1,000 people and those types of towns have been dying. Remote work allows for people to have more economic opportunity throughout the world. Tech money came into Silicon Valley and it pushed a lot of working folk out. What would happen if we saw a distributed virtual working model throughout the world? Larry, Anna, and Trip offer their final takeaways. What does “great” look like to you? Resources Thebraveworkforce.com (http://thebraveworkforce.com/) Bravenewcompanies.com (http://bravenewcompanies.com/) Email Anna: Anna@Thebraveworkforce.com (mailto:Anna@Thebraveworkforce.com) American Nations Book by Colin Woodard (https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029)

This inaugural episode of the Good Tidings podcast introduces the show, which will provide monthly episodes highlighting and inspiring a community of givers. The show is hosted by the Founder of the Good Tidings Foundation, Larry Harper, and this month, Larry sits down in Lake Tahoe with highly successful Olympic volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings. In addition to her involvement in sport, Kerri is committed to faith and family, along with giving back to society. When Larry thinks of the great and good people he knows, Kerri is at the top of the list, making her the perfect conversation partner to kick off this podcast series! For full show notes go to https://goodtidings.org

This inaugural episode of the Good Tidings podcast introduces the show, which will provide monthly episodes highlighting and inspiring a community of givers. The show is hosted by the Founder of the Good Tidings Foundation, Larry Harper, and this month, Larry sits down in Lake Tahoe with highly successful Olympic volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings. In addition to her involvement in sport, Kerri is committed to faith and family, along with giving back to society. When Larry thinks of the great and good people he knows, Kerri is at the top of the list, making her the perfect conversation partner to kick off this podcast series! For full show notes go to https://goodtidings.org

Clive Barker's Hellraiser is a transgressive journey into a world where the lines between ecstasy, pain, heaven, and hell are blurred. It stands as a unique counterpoint to the one-note slashers of the 1980s. (0:36) - Intro(6:04) - Trailer(8:28) - Synopsis(9:47) - Review(14:53) - Score(24:59) - Spoilers(1:05:22) - Hellraiser Vs Hellraiser(1:13:31)  - It Came From Social Media(1:20:03) - Outro @dgoebel00 on Instagram provided this amazing artwork. Follow him and check out his website. Synopsis Hellraiser is about a psycho sexual sadist named Frank that seeks out a personal pandora’s box. He believes that by opening the mysterious puzzle box, he will get everything he ever wanted in life. Turns out he was mistaken and he didn’t end up liking eternal pain in Hell. Whodathunk? When Frank's brother Larry and his wife Julia arrive at the family house that Frank mysteriously disappeared from, flashbacks reveal that Frank made his brother a cuckold by sleeping with Julia. When Larry accidentally cuts his hand and bleed on the floor of the attic, he inadvertently helps Frank begin resurrecting himself. When a mostly goo Frank is discovered by Julia, he recruits her to bring sacrificial singles in their area so that he can become a real boy. The only thing standing in their way is Frank’s niece Kristy, and the hell-demon Cenobites that seek to recapture him. https://youtu.be/8mOn4h0lgKQ Hellraiser Poster Review of Hellraiser This film is Clive Barker’s best film, and it is a unique mix of family dysfunction, sex, sadism, and gore. At times it feels like a 50’s melodrama, other times like a nightmare, and sometimes like torture porn. The tone that it sets is hard to put a finger on, but it is definitely dark and icky. The surreal imagery and goopy special effects are really the best parts of the film. The acting isn't particularly great, but the imagery and themes of the film overwhelm any shortcomings it has. Score 9/10 HellraiserAdd Hellraiser to your collection or stream it now.Buy/Rent Hellraiser

When Larry was doubled over with chest pain, his wife Jane drove him to the nearest ER where he was diagnosed with a heart attack.  The health care Larry received over the next few hours was motivated by profit and punishment. At each turn, hospitals sought to maximize their profits, including fraud and falsified medical records, on the treatment Larry received. The hospital staff made choices, always the most expensive choice - like sending Larry to another hospital by air ambulance instead of road ambulance, or choosing high cost, highly invasive medical procedures over the least costly, least invasive medication Larry actually requested. In spite of Larry repeatedly stating he only wanted a minimum dose of pain killers, the hospital injected him with multiple pain killers, rendering him incapable of making informed consent. Larry was air transported to the local Cathlolic hospital. While much of this was going on, Jane and their son were intentionally and overtly being kept away from Larry by the hospital chaplain -- and while the chaplain was receiving updates on Larry’s condition, he wasn’t sharing the info with Jane and their son. Hours went by and during that time, Jane repeatedly asked the chaplain to leave so she and her son could have some privacy and speak freely. He refused each time. Jane couldn’t understand why the staff were being so openly hostile toward her and her son. The next day, Larry couldn’t understand why the staff had ignored his statement to be treated with medication, and instead implanted several costly devices in his body. Devices that cause side effects and will probably contribute to his death. But when Larry and Jane got a hold of Larry’s medical records, they began to understand that his hospital care and treatment was not based on his medical need, it was based on profit and religious punishment. But the punishment was actually started by the first hospital as Larry and Jane share in the medical experience with multiple layers: profiteering, medical errors, negligence, religious bigotry, fraud, homophobia, deceit and denial.  If you thought hospitals were benevolent and their staff empathetic, you will think differently when you hear all that happened to Larry and Jane in part 1 of my interview…. SHOW NOTES: 0:06:00 Larry (a pseudonym, as is Jane's name) grew up in Indiana - his father was a contractor in the construction industry with one brother, and a half brother and sister - health child with normal measles, mumps, poison ivy 0:07:00 Jane grew up in central Indiana - her father worked for the a big pharmaceutical company - when her parents got divorced, life was hell because they fought constantly even though they were divorced - Jane met Larry through work, she worked for the State and Larry was doing a contract computer job 0:08:00 They've been married since 1987 - they have a son who is a teacher, and a daughter who is in business with Jane, doing specialty sewing -- On August 11, 2018, a Saturday night about 7pm 0:09:00 Jane found Larry on the floor with chest pains and difficulty breathing - pain level about 7 out of 10 -- Jeane said they had to go to the hospital, but Larry wasn't keen 0:10:00 Larry has always been healthy, so not in the habit of seeking medical attention - Larry thought maybe it was indigestion from dinner 0:11:00 Larry wasn't having pain down his arm or irregular heart beat, his blood pressure was fine 0:12:00 The pain was for about 8 - 10 minutes before Jane found him 0:13:00 They live in the country so drove the local hospital - when Larry got to the ER his pain was 6 / 10 0:14:00 They admitted him right away - first thing Larry did was tell them he was very sensitive to pain killers and didn't want any fentynal, versad or anything like that - the doctor if he would accept a small amount of morphine, so Larry agreed to that - but he told the doctor that in the past pain meds had messed with his blood pressure 0:15:00 Pain meds raise his blood pressure, cause erratic breathing, cause nausea - after the morphine, Larry's pain was 1 / 10, a dull ache 0:16:00 They did diagnosis a heart attack, but said they were not equipped and that Larry would have to go to another hospital - Larry decided to go to the hospital that had a heart center 0:17:00 Larry was told he would have 3 options for treatment: open heart surgery -- or angioplasty - or medicines to bust the clots -- Larry said he'd prefer to try the drugs first - the doctor said Larry could discuss with the doctors at the heart hospital - Larry said that Jane needed to be there for major decisions 0:18:00 The morphine made Larry a little slow on thinking - he would find out later they had given him 4mg - the doctor said he would order transportation to the other hospital, he'd call both an ambulance and helicopter and whoever arrived first would take Larry - but according to the hospital records, they never called an ambulanc, even though the EMTs were just down the street 0:19:00 Jane checked with the EMTs later, and they were available and could have taken Larry - but Larry believes the hospital chose the air ambulance because it belongs to the hospital and is more expensive 0:20:00 It took almost an hour before the air ambulance arrived with pilot and 2 medical workers - they asked Larry is pain level, he said 'one' - he found out later they wrote down 'eight' 0:21:00 But the ER doc had noted Larry's pain as 'one' after the morphine 0:22:00 They loaded Larry into the helicopter - Jane and their son started to drive to the other hospital - in the helicopter, Larry wore sound defeaning ear protectors - the paramedics did not speak to him, but noted in their records his pain was 8 / 10 0:23:00 In their records it shows they gave Larry, without his knowledge or consent, a 100 mcg of fentanyl - Larry was out of it, he didn't know what was happening - he thought he must be dying, he felt like he was above his body - this continued until late Sunday - he was incoherent and can only remeber bits and pieces - but basically like a zombie 0:24:00 Larry does remember when the helicopter landed, there was no one to meet them - the paramedics waved down an employee in the parking lot, who let them in a side door - they wandered around the hospital looking for the 'cath lab' 0:25:00 When they got to the cath lab, with the pilot observing, they put Larry on a steel table - they had already given him to IV ports, one in each arm - the female nurses in the room didn't speak to Larry, but started stripping his clothes off 0:26:00 Larry would find out later they dumped his clothes in a red haz (hazardous material) mat bag - Larry was out of it, his arms felt like lead - fentynal also paralyzes and makes patients compliant 0:27:00 Larry could hear the doctors and nurses talking - someone said to send a Chaplain to the family and Larry wondered if he was dead - he was scared, wanted Jane 0:28:00 According to the records, Larry was left naked on the table for about 25 minutes, they never spoke to him - but their records said his pain was 5 / 10, but Larry wasn't feeling any pain - Larry heard one of them say they would have to shave Larry, so he thought he must still be alive, but why would they want to shave him? 0:29:00 They put 2 more IV ports in his arms, so that he had 2 in each arm, but there was nothing in the record - he could hear them talking and laughing 0:30:00 Larry found in his record a consent form that stated that Larry had verbally stated that he was having an 'emergent cath', but he did not even know that term at that time - but Larry did not say that, and their records showed him 'alert X3' - but they had given him 4mg of morphine and 150mcg of fentanyl and 1mg of versad 0:31:00 CMS (Centre for Medicare / Medicaid Services - government watch dog) admitted the consent form had only been completed after Larry had been drugged - but CMS also said no reasonable person would say no to gold standard treatment 0:32:00 In the medical records, one doctor said he thought they should just put Larry in a room for observation, but the hospital had already called in the cath team (cath team: xray above steel table, from groin to chin) 0:33:00 They go in through the wrist if they are experienced, otherwise in through the groin, as happend to Larry - they insert flexible wire with camera on the end after shooting dye into your system, known as angiogram - and angioplasty is when they go in and bust blood clots, or open an artery with a balloon, aka PCI except put in metal stent 0:34:00 stents have a habit of forming plaque and platelts and blockage and probably heart attack 0:35:00 Larry was cold, didn't know what was going on, pressure from xray machine, and also immense pressure in his groin as they pushed the tools up through his arteries - when all is said and done, they put 2 stents in Larry that will probably kill him at some point in time - another artery was 38% blocked, but they didn't do anything with it, they will save it til later - for another costly operation 0:36:00 so Larry is naked on the cath table, so cold he's shaking - the records show that Larry's blood pressure dropped severely at that time, Larry went into cardiagenic shock, which is low blood pressure for more than 30 minutes 0:37:00 Larry and Jane don't think it was cardiogenic shock, they think it had to do with the massive amount of fentanyl - they were also doing a procedure to clear out the clots at that time, so it could have contributed - the doctor who did the procedure was new, just learning 0:38:00 The nurse told Larry that they were going to put suture's into Larry and that it would hurt - they sutured 3 different places, because they also implanted a pump to help his heart, they sutured to the inside of his leg - as well as sutured a pacemaker into the inside of his other leg 0:39:00 They didn't use a numbing agent for the sutures - Jane says it seemed like they enjoyed inflicting that pain - this would become apparent later when they got the medical records 0:40:00 After suturing they moved Larry onto a gurney with a sheet over him and took him into the hall where he caught a glimpse of Jane and their son - they moved Larry to the CCU - coronary care unit 0:41:00 They moved Larry onto a bed but the nurse was flustered because the gown Larry was in was not the right gown for CCU, so she ran off leaving Larry naked again - she found a gown and put it on Larry, but only from his navel up to his chin - she was trying to hook up the equipment 0:42:00 She was complaining about too many wires, not enough connections, she didn't know how to do it - then the room fills up with IT techs and more nurses - the nurse told Larry to urinate and if he couldn't, she would put a catheter up his penis - so Larry peed into a bottle in front of a room of people as look on and talked and laughed - then the nurse showed the people how she was cleaning up Larry like a baby, and they laughed 0:43:00 It is hard to reconcile the juxtaposition of Larry perhaps dying from a heart attack, and the laughter of the hospital staff in the same room and context 0:44:00 A woman asked Larry if his spouse sexually molested him - but Larry felt like he'd just been sexually molested and felt humiliated and wanted Jane - he could finally hear her voice and she was having a tense conversation with the nurse about who his spouse was - the nurse then pulled the sheet up to cover Larry' genitals 0:45:00 The staff put Jane and her son in a waiting room, and told it would be 15 minutes - 2 hours went by - but there was hardly anyone in the hospital, but their son grabbed a nurse 0:46:00 She started laughing at him 'I know who you're here to see' - she told them how to get to Larry's room, but was laughing the whole time - Jane went towards Larry's room, while their son went to fetch his diabetic medicine from the waiting room 0:47:00 As Jane gets to Larry's room, she can see the sheet is only covering Larry from his navel up - the nurse turned smiling, but when she saw Jane she told Jane to get out - Jane said 'why, I'm his wife' - 'no you're not' - Jane said "I am' 0:48:00 The nurse starts laughing again and adjusting the sheet on Larry, saying 'there was a room full of people, I didn't know how to hook up the equipment', laughing the whole time 0:49:00 When Jane and her son arrived at the hospital, they were told that Larry was not there and were told to stand aside - the staff whispered among themselves and then yelled across the room that he was in the cath lab and they would send a chaplain - a nasty looking man in a polyester suit said he'd take Jane and her son to the waiting room 0:50:00 Jane tells the chaplain that they were fine and he could go - he said no, he'd stay - Jane repeated that she preferred that he left, but he refused - Jane and her son wanted to talk privately, but he wouldn't leave 0:51:00 The chaplain's phone rang, it had it on speaker phone - Jane could hear the person on the other end refer to Larry - but the chaplain walked away so Jane couldn't hear any more - he then said they were working on Larry - this happened 3 times - the 3rd time the chaplain said the doctor was ready to speak to Jane and her son - They got to the doctor's office, and again Jane asks the chaplain to go away - she put her arm across the door and said I don't want you in here, you have to leave now Part 2 of the interview with Larry and Jane next week. Connect with Larry and Jane on Twitter  Be a podcast patron Support Medical Error Interviews on Patreon by becoming a Patron for $2 / month for audio versions.  Premium Patrons get access to video versions of podcasts for $5 / month. Be my Guest I am always looking for guests to share their medical error experiences so we help bring awareness and make patients safer. If you are a survivor, a victim’s surviving family member, a health care worker, advocate, researcher or policy maker and you would like to share your experiences, please send me an email with a brief description:  RemediesPodcast@gmail.com  Need a Counsellor? Like me, many of my clients at Remedies Counseling have experienced the often devastating effects of medical error. If you need a counsellor for your experience with medical error, or living with a chronic illness(es), I offer online video counseling appointments. **For my health and life balance, I limit my number of counseling clients.**  Email me to learn more or book an appointment:  RemediesOnlineCounseling@gmail.com Scott Simpson:  Counsellor + Patient Advocate + (former) Triathlete I am a counsellor, patient advocate, and - before I became sick and disabled - a passionate triathlete. Work hard. Train hard. Rest hard. I have been living with HIV since 1998. I was the first person living with HIV to compete at the triathlon world championships. Thanks to research and access to medications, HIV is not a problem in my life. I have been living with ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) since 2012, and thanks in part to medical error, it is a big problem in my life. Counseling / Research I first became aware of the ubiquitousness of medical error during a decade of community based research working with the HIV Prevention Lab at Ryerson University, where I co-authored two research papers on a counseling intervention for people living with HIV, here and here.  Patient participants would often report varying degrees of medical neglect, error and harms as part of their counseling sessions. Patient Advocacy I am co-founder of the ME patient advocacy non-profit Millions Missing Canada, and on the Executive Committee of the Interdisciplinary Canadian Collaborative Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Research Network. I am also a patient advisor for Health Quality Ontario’s Patient and Family Advisory Council, and member of Patients for Patient Safety Canada. Medical Error Interviews podcast and vidcast emerged to give voice to victims, witnesses and participants in this hidden epidemic so we can create change toward a safer health care system. My golden retriever Gladys is a constant source of love and joy. I hope to be well enough again one day to race triathlons again. Or even shovel the snow off the sidewalk.

On this episode of Real Talk University, Andre and Christian sat down with Larry Flowers, an LA based jeweler and entrepreneur. Since getting started, he has become the go to guy for a lot of NHL players for watches and engagement rings. His network of connections is incredible, but his character and selflessness is the most impressive aspect of his story. He dropped a ton of knowledge, but here are the 3 main takeaways: Networking is KEY! When Larry arrived in LA, he worked as a bartender for a period of time. With all of the interactions he made with people on a consistent basis, it did not take long for him to become friendly with a lot of LA people. Not to mention, someone he knew had a connection to the NHL and this is how he started meeting pro hockey players. This blossomed into him becoming widely known as the go to guy for jewelry around the league. If an opportunity presents itself, take it! Larry’s friend introduced him to the idea of going into the jewelry business, and his decision to go for it would change his life. Rather than be frozen by inaction or indecision, Larry gave the venture a shot and it has paid off in a big way. He has found a passion for jewelry, and his business has been booming! Honest business is the best form of marketing. Larry’s name has spread due to word of mouth and referrals as the people he works with are impressed by him as a person and by his products. He told us on the episode that he gives people honest prices for his items even if they have no idea what the piece could be worth, and he always tries to make a real connection with his customers. Many of his customers are making a purchase for a special occasion in their life, and Larry strives to make it as smooth as possible. - Start Your Own Podcast TODAY! Are you ready to start your own successful podcast but not sure where to start? You're not alone! This FREE ebook will be the #1 tool to help you launch a world-class podcast in less than 30 days! Download your FREE ebook ($97 VALUE) and start your podcast TODAY! Download Your FREE Copy Here: http://bit.ly/rtuebook - Contact Larry: Instagram: @larryflowersjewelry - Contact The Hosts: Andre: ahaykal1@binghamton.edu Christian: cbonnie1@binghamton.edu Twitter: @realtalkuni Instagram: @realtalkunipodcast Website: https://www.realtalkuni.com/ - Thank you and enjoy!

Today we're going to honor Larry Tesler, who died on February 17th, 2020. Larry Tesler is probably best known for early pioneering work on graphical user interfaces. He was the person that made up cut, copy, and paste as a term. Every time you say “just paste that in there,” you're honoring his memory. I've struggled with how to write the episode or episodes about Xerox PARC. It was an amazing crucible of technical innovation. But they didn't materialize huge commercial success for Xerox. Tesler was one of the dozens of people who contributed to that innovation. He studied with John McCarthy and other great pioneers at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in the 60s. What they called artificial intelligence back then we might call computer science today. Being in the Bay Area in the 60s, Tesler got active in war demonstrations and disappeared off to a commune in Oregon until he got offered a job by Alan Kay. You might remember Kay from earlier episodes as the one behind Smalltalk and the DynaBook. They'd both been at The Mother of All Demos where Doug Englebart showed the mouse, the first hyperlinks, and the graphical user interface and they'd been similarly inspired about the future of computing. So Tesler moves back down in 1970. I can almost hear Three Dog Night's Mama Told Me Not To Come booming out of the 8track of his car stereo on the drive. Or hear Nixon and Kissinger on the radio talking about why they invaded Cambodia. So he gets to PARC and there's a hiring freeze at Xerox, who after monster growth was starting to get crushed by bureaucracy, so was in a hiring freeze. Les Earnest from back at Stanford had him write one of the first markup language implementations, which he called Pub. That became the inspiration for Don Knuth's TeX and Brian Reid's Scribe and an ancestor of JavaScript and PHP. They find a way to pay him, basically bringing him on as a contractor. He works on Gypsy, the first real word processor. At the time, they'd figured out a way of using keystrokes to switch modes for documents. Think of how in vi or pico, you switch to a mode in order to insert or move, but they were applying metadata to an object, like making text bold or copying text from one part of a document to another. Those modes were terribly cumbersome and due to very simple mistakes, people would delete their documents. So he and Tim Mott started looking at ways to get rid of modes. That's when they came up with the idea to make a copy and paste function. And to use the term cut, copy, and paste. Thee are now available in all “what you see is what you get” or WYSIWYG interfaces. Oh, he also coined that term while at PARC, although maybe not the acronym. And he became one of the biggest proponents of making software “user-friendly” when he was at PARC. By the way, that's another term he coined, with relation to computing at least. He also seems to be the first to have used the term browser after building a browser for a friend to more easily write code. He'd go on to work on the Xerox Alto and NoteTaker. That team, which would be led by Adele Goldberg after Bob Taylor and then Alan Kay left PARC got a weird call to show these kids from Apple around. The scientists from PARC didn't think much of these hobbyists but in 1979 despite Goldberg's objections, Xerox management let the fox in the chicken coup when they let Steve Jobs and some other early Apple employees get a tour of PARC. Tesler would be one of the people giving Jobs a demo. And it's no surprise that after watching Xerox not ship the Alto, that Tesler would end up at Apple 6 months later. After Xerox bonuses were distributed of course. At Apple, he'd help finish the Lisa. It cost far less than the Xerox Star, but it wouldn't be until it went even further down-market to become the Macintosh that all of their hard work at Xerox and then Apple would find real success. Kay would become a fellow at Apple in 1984, as many of the early great pioneers left PARC. Tesler was the one that added object-oriented programming to Pascal, used to create the Lisa Toolkit and then he helped bring those into MacApp as class libraries for developing the Mac GUI. By 1990, Jobs had been out of Apple for 5 years and Tesler became the Vice President of the Newton project at Apple. He'd see Alan Kay's concept of the digital assistant made into a reality. He would move into the role of Chief Scientist at Apple once the project was complete. There, he made his own mini-PARC but would shut down the group and leave after Apple entered their darkest age in 1997. Tesler had been a strong proponent, acting as the VP of AppleNet and pushing more advanced networking options prior to his departure. He would strike out and build Stagecast, a visual programming language that began life as an object-oriented teaching language called Cocoa. Apple would reuse the name Cocoa when they ported in OpenStep, so not the Cocoa many developers will remember or maybe even still use. Stagecast would run until Larry decided to join the executive team at Amazon. At Amazon, Larry was the VP of Shopping Experience and would start a group on usability, doing market research, usability research, and lots of data mining. He would stay there for 4 years before moving on to Yahoo!, spreading the gospel about user experience and design, managing up to 200 people at a time and embedding designers and researchers into product teams, a practice that's become pretty common in UX. He would also be a fellow at Yahoo! before taking that role at 23 and me and ending his long and distinguished career as a consultant, helping make the world a better place. He conceptualized the Law of Conservation of Complexity, or Tesler's Law, in 1984 states that “Every application has an inherent amount of irreducible complexity. The only question is: Who will have to deal with it—the user, the application developer, or the platform developer?” But One of my favorite quotes of his “I have been mistakenly identified as “the father of the graphical user interface for the Macintosh”. I was not. However, a paternity test might expose me as one of its many grandparents.” The first time I got to speak with him, he was quick to point out that he didn't come up with much; he was simply carrying on the work started by Englebart. He was kind and patient with me. When Larry passed, we lost one of the founders of the computing world as we know it today. He lived and breathed user experience and making computers more accessible. That laser focus on augmenting human capabilities by making the inventions easier to use and more functional is probably what he'd want to be known for above all else. He was a good programmer but almost too empathetic not to end up with a focus on the experience of the devices. I'll include a link to an episode he did on the 99% Invisible episode in the show notes if you want to hear more from him directly ( https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/of-mice-and-men ). Everyone except the people who get royalties from White Out loved what he did for computing. He was a visionary and one of the people that ended up putting the counterculture into computing culture. He was a pioneer in User Experience and a great human. Thank you Larry for all you did for us. And thank you, listeners, in advance or in retrospect, for your contributions.

Our guest for this week is Larry Benet, a thought-provoking and highly entertaining seminar speaker often referred to as “One of the Most Connected People on the Planet”.About LarryLarry is a world-renowned Connector and the Founder and CEO of the Larry Benet Agency, the Thought Leaders Mastermind Series, SANG Events (Speakers and Authors Networking Group), and the creator/author of the Connection Mastery training system. SANG is a group of some of the most successful speakers and authors in the world. On the list of SANG Members and Participants, you can find esteemed professionals such as Tony Robbins, Les Brown, Peter Guber, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hanse, Harvey Mackay, Keith Ferrazzi, Tony Hsieh of Zappos and Paula Abdul.Larry’s goal is to raise a billion dollars over his lifetime through his connections, business ventures, and social influence. He is a strong advocate for many charity organizations and believes that we CAN and WILL change the world, and solve the problems that plague so many people in America. He is the past Chairman of the Tsunami Disaster Relief Project, where he brought top business leaders together to raise money for the victims of the Indonesian Tsunami.He has also supported the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, served on the advisory board of the Wyland Foundation and the Soul of Africa, and has helped raise money for Richard Branson’s charity, Virgin Unite. When Larry isn’t working, he likes to attend live concerts, sporting events, and award shows like the Grammy’s. On the top of that list, however, is spending time with his 4 little nieces.Connect with Larry:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrybenetTwitter: https://twitter.com/larrybenetWebsite: http://www.larrybenet.com/In This Episode We Canvas:The Big Turn-off of NetworkingLarry has never been excited about networking and doesn’t encourage it at all. He is more focused on connecting with influential people and other people in general and believes more in helping people, adding value to their lives, serving them, and making a difference in their lives in an authentic manner. “One of the last things that I personally would like to do is go to an event where I don’t know anyone and try to walk up to random strangers.” - Larry BenetThe 5-Step Recipe for ConnectingHis recipe for connecting with people starts with creating an authentic meaningful personal connection with someone, followed by finding out what is most important to them, helping them get what they want, being a good VC (Value Creator), and setting up a good strong follow up system that will ensure you stay in touch with them. “You don’t have to be a venture capitalist, but if you can just master the skill of value creation, in my opinion, that’s one of the most valuable things you can learn.” - Larry BenetHow to Figure Out What’s Important to PeopleFinding out what’s important to people both personally and professionally is a game-changer and the best method is still - just to ask them, point-blank. And if you can help them to get closer to achieving it - your relationship will be off to a great start!“After I have a rapport with someone, I’ll just come flat out and ask them what’s the important project or goal they’re working on in case I or my influential network might be able to help them.” - Larry BenetWhat Is Relationship Currency?In life and business, people prefer to do business with people they know, like, and trust. But Larry believes that when we help others, we make it easier to connect with those people, and this the fundamental meaning of relationship currency or relationship capital. There is so much power in realizing that there is always someone who has what another person wants.“The reality is, what you want in life, someone else already has.” - Larry BenetThe Value of TrustA great example of just how deterring lack of trust can be are the relationships between the republicans and democrats in the United States. They don’t trust each other. The resulting effect of that is that it takes them a very long time to pass legislation. Trust is critical and the fact of the matter is that whenever trust is involved and we go out of our way to help someone, a lot of value is being exchanged. It’s a lot easier to get the end result done and to do it way more efficiently.“When there is no trust, things take a very long time.” - Larry BenetInvesting Time into Connecting with PeopleConnecting with people is a way of life for Larry, and he encourages people to incorporate reaching out to three people a day into their daily structure. This should include showing appreciation by, for example, pulling out your phone and texting someone you haven’t talked to in a while and tell them how you value them. It’s really all about being thoughtful!“It’s just being thoughtful more than anything else. It doesn’t have to take a whole lot of time or money.” - Larry BenetHow to Be a Value CreatorWhen we come into contact with others, we should think about how we can contribute to them. There are so many ways to do that and it can be as simple as just sharing a book, a podcast, or an article. Larry believes in being a “professional inviter” and advises people to always invite others to events. He encourages giving to givers because when we give to takers all the time, our world doesn’t change very much.“It all comes down to creating value, being a resource for others.” - Larry BenetMastering How to Stay In TouchWe need to learn how to utilize the advantage our smartphones provide us with. We can write notes about the people we meet and keep track of information that goes above and beyond just their phone number and email. We can write down when we met them, how we met them, what’s important to them, when their birthday is, and so much more. Those details enable us to stay in touch on a more regular basis.“One plus one equals eleven and the art of staying in touch makes a difference.” - Larry BenetLarry’s Message of Inspired EvolutionThe fact that connections are one of my highest values made having Larry on such a blessing. I just love how simple Larry’s recipe for connecting with people is and truly hope this episode inspires you to go out there and connect more. The world is full of friends we haven’t met yet!“If possible, put yourself in an environment where you can connect with others” - Larry Benet See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Festivus and Other Twisted Holidays represents Larry McDonough’s Irreverent Jazz take on Christmas with a little influence from the Seinfeld TV show. Catch it at the Black Dog on Monday evening December 23. When Larry talked to Phil Nusbaum, Larry told where the inspiration for the irreverent Christmas comes from.

Our guest today is Retired Lt. and US Navy SEAL Larry Yatch, Founder and CEO of SEAL Team Leaders. The power of Larry’s story combined with his understanding of leadership and what it takes to win have led to incredible success as an entrepreneur. Larry shares how he wanted to be a SEAL from a young age and used that focus to accomplish his dreams. After retiring at 28 due to massive back surgery, Larry turned to entrepreneurship and has helped many achieve success. His stories of combat are as powerful as the extraordinary transformations he inspires. About the Guest: The only thing Larry ever wanted to be or do was taken away from him at the age of 28. He had trained at the elite levels as a Navy SEAL and it all came crashing down after a massive back surgery, followed by many other surgeries. He’ll never forget the moment when his fiancée Anne turned to him after the news and said, “What makes you extraordinary isn’t what you can do physically. It's how your brain works, how you think. Wouldn’t it be incredible if we could take all that knowledge, all those experiences, all those hard won lessons and bring them to people who know they are extraordinary... and want to create more of that?” When Larry left the SEAL teams and went into entrepreneurship, he had no idea how difficult it would be to create the same level of high performance he experienced as a SEAL every day. The one thing he craved more than anything else was a team that supported him at the level needed. This team he envisioned wasn’t happy with anything less than excellence. Now, Larry finds himself and the team he has formed empowering other entrepreneurs. Building up their teams, so that they can find success with a powerful backing of their own. Personal Links: facebook.com/sealteamleaders youtube.com/larryyatch sealteamleaders.com   Resource Links: Brain Rules- https://amzn.to/36hNwKd Brain Rules for Baby- https://amzn.to/2RWs6gP Iron War- https://amzn.to/36rvWnm   About the Host: Dan McPherson, International Speaker, Business and Personal Development Coach, and CEO of Leaders Must Lead, is on a mission to help Creatives and Entrepreneurs create and grow profit and understand that Dreams ARE Real. With more than 25 years’ experience in corporate roles leading teams of up to 2000 and responsible for more than $150M in revenue, Dan is a recognized expert in leadership, sales, and business strategy. Through his Leaders Must Learn Mastermind, Dreams ARE Real Podcast, Foundations of Success Training, and powerful 1-1 coaching, Dan helps hundreds of entrepreneurs around the world from musicians and artists to chiropractors, coaches, retailers, and beyond experience success and accomplish their goals. To learn more about Dan or to follow him on Social Media, you can find him on: Website: www.leadersmustlead.com Leaders Must Lead Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leadersmustlead Free Coaching Assessment: https://leadersmustlead.com/free-coaching-assessment Dreams are Real Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/365493184118010/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leadersmustlead/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/leadersmustlead YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZXypDeFKyZnpeQXcX-AsBQ   Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to my podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a note in the comment section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. You can also subscribe from the podcast app on your mobile device. Leave us an iTunes review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to me and greatly appreciated. They help my podcast rank higher on iTunes, which exposes the show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on iTunes.

When Larry first got started investing in real estate he had nothing and had to learn everything in the school of hard knocks. Hear the tale of one of Larry's first deals and how he purchased a property without having any money. It was Larry's first exposure to creative financing, he figured out what they wanted and found a way to give it to them. When putting together the terms, Larry only knew that he had a deal on his hands, not whether or not he had a good deal. That's why it's extremely important to know what numbers matter to the deal before you sign anything. Just because you can buy a property at a “good” price, that doesn't mean you've got a good deal on your hands. One of Larry's biggest mistakes has made and sees other people making is doing their own rehabs. Instead of doing all the repairs yourself, you should negotiate the price so that you can afford to hire a contractor. Remember, your time is worth something. Don't just throw it away. You don't make money swinging a hammer to save $12 an hour. Take a licensed contractor with you through the property before you make an offer. Too many people throw dollars at deals and fail to factor in holding costs to their deals. Things like the mortgage payment every month, the property taxes each month, property insurance each month, and other monthly fees. If you don't factor those into your buying decision, they are going to come out of your profit check at the end. It's going to take at least 4 to 6 months to rehab a property, don't fool yourself.

When Larry was hot for a nun! ● Brother Larry welcomes embezzlers ● The cathedral cafeteria where a miracle happened ● The Bond-girl nun of your dreams ● How to steal $500k and get no jail – or even arrested! ● Why Washington DC is a creep-filled destination ● How you can get lucky with a nun ● All this an MORE in this salacious Sinners’ Sunday!

What are L.A.’s Devil Winds? ♠ Malibu – you can swim, you can surf, you can DIE! ♠ Ways to die in the desert ♠ Vegas – a portal of hell? ♠ Why everyone in LA is bat-shit crazy ♠ Why the City of Los Angeles is one big junkie ♠ When Larry’s house almost burned down ♠ Why Phillip Marlowe kicks Sam Spade’s punk, Commie ass ♠ All this and more in this burning episode!  

My guest today is Larry Goins, master blaster of wholesaling real estate and seller-financing. I met Larry at the Collective Genius Mastermind, we have known each other for many years. Larry has 30+ years experience in a wide variety of real estate. Today we focus on his Filthy Riches program and his HUD strategy. Larry offers some great advice for my listeners today and delivers a wonderful episode. MINUTES MARKERS 00:00 — Introduction to the Big Mike Fund Podcast. 00:23 — Welcome Larry Goins to the podcast. 01:50 — Larry's life on the lake and his passion for real estate. 03:46 — Larry's most successful deal to date. 04:30 — Larry's books and general real estate experience. 05:04 — Why Larry focuses on wholesaling and seller-financing. 05:30 — Why real estate investors need to be marketers as well. 06:25 — The basics of seller financing and the Filthy Riches program. 07:00 — How Larry creates a Filthy Riches property. 08:50 — When Larry decides to do a contract for deed arrangement. 12:00 — How contract for deed varies state to state. 12:44 — Larry's HUD experience and his strategy. 14:05 — Where to find Larry's book HUD Homes Half Off. 15:00 — Larry's favorite books. 17:25 — Why Traction is a great real estate tool. 18:00 — Larry's favorite production tool. 19:10 — Larry's opinion of the current market. 21:06 — A deeper look at value investing and cash flow investing. 21:45 — Larry's contact information. 22:46 — Larry's parting words to the audience. 23:07 — Thank you to Larry for joining us. 23:15 — Outro to the Big Mike Fund Podcast. RESOURCES Filthy Riches HUD Homes Half Off by Larry Goins Lessons from the Richest Man Who Ever Lived by Steven K. Scott The 4 Disciplines of Executions Traction — Gino Wickman

My guest today is Larry Anderson. Have you ever wondered what you would do if your biggest client suddenly dropped you? Larry has experienced that first hand. He is an “accidental entrepreneur” that came back home to help with the family business. Since getting his start in the industrial repair field, Larry has pivoted into many technology niches including contract manufacturing and most recently, the online freelance market. During today’s episode, Larry walks me through his business experience and offers some hard-learned lessons. He is inspirational for his tenacity and flexibility within his industry. If you are looking at a possible pivot, Larry Anderson is an excellent example of staying positive and moving forward. You will learn about: Larry’s entrepreneurial background. How industrial repair and contract manufacturing differ. Lessons Larry learned from his first business sale. The ups and downs of serving just one large client. Why the contract manufacturing industry changed. What came after the big blow? How Larry pivoted Finding the right buyer and business broker. The importance of doing due diligence before exiting the company. What Larry would have done differently. Today’s guest covers a couple of big risk topics, namely lack of customer diversification and technical expertise. We all get into our businesses to satisfy a need and should never undervalue our expertise in that market, but when it comes to expanding to areas we aren’t familiar with (including selling our business), it’s best to reach out to others who have a greater understanding of these areas. For Larry Armstrong, these two factors caused him to become an entrepreneur in the first place and have led to the reason why he is on the show today. Diversifying from Your Biggest Customer Is Mandatory to Increase Company Value When it comes to customers, there is safety in numbers. Larry, however, had a business where one client made up 99% of their revenue. While that wasn’t a concern for him at first because that client was so reliable and they had such great communication, it eventually became a bit of an issue. As much as you want to trust the people you work with on a daily basis, the bottom line is that each one of us has to look out for what’s in our best interests. When Larry’s client eventually came to the conclusion that different services would better suit their needs, Larry was left holding the bag and putting money into a company that wasn’t putting out returns. Eventually the client let Larry know that his services weren’t required anymore, but Larry had already been hanging on for two years and not turning a profit. While there are some businesses that do only have one or two major clients, it’s important to get as much information from them as possible about their future plans so you’re not left in the lurch—or, better yet, go out and actively seek new clients so your portfolio is more diverse. Another way to decrease risk for your business, without necessarily expanding your clientele. Go for long-term contracts and renewable contracts. The more locked-in a client is, the more likely they are to stay. Clients stay where they’re comfortable and well taken care of, so as long as you are fulfilling your contractual obligations with this client, you should have no issue getting a long-term contract from them. This gives you an idea of the stability of your future earnings by those who agree to stay for the

029 | Larry Marcus Tells Us Why Experiencing Fire in the Belly is So Important in Business Larry Marcus has a long and successful background in media, marketing and finance.  Having served in the capacities of CEO, CFO, and VP Business Affair of several large and small media companies, he is currently, Principal of Marcus Strategies, a business consulting practice, the Managing Partner of Marcus Investments as well as Chief Executive Officer of Peak Media Holdings, an investor in television stations. Additionally, Larry is an Angel investor for half a dozen early stage start-ups. In his current semi-retirement mode, Larry is and has been involved with multiple non profits, serving San Diego's inner city youth, economic environmental impact and hospice care among them.  Larry has experienced a lot in business, beginning his career in media at the age of 12 or 13, with a neighborhood paper route. His parents were from the depression-era and were constantly telling Larry NO to the things he wanted. He made it his life’s mission to learn how to turn every NO into a YES. Larry takes us through many of the NO’s he heard and how he worked to flip that answer. The number one thing to learn from Larry is that you need to find your fire in the belly. Once you’ve discovered that and where it comes from, it becomes easier to grow your career or business. You won’t let anything stand in the way of your drive to move forward. Join the conversation with Larry, and hear how he’s successfully grown several businesses as well as become an amazing angel investor (who almost invested in my last company, FITzee Foods). Enjoy, thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Larry Marcus for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! P.S. Are you ready to niche down and find the prospects of your dreams? Stop feeling obligated to say YES to everyone who shows up. Let's put the odds in your favor so that the RIGHT people to show up! Check out my guide “Getting REAL About the Ideal: 5 Steps To Knowing (And Finding) Your Dream Clients” and start calling in the perfect prospects TODAY! Right HERE! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Larry Marcus. Larry shares his story of growing up with depression-era parents and how it changed the whole way he viewed hearing NO. Michelle and Larry talk about where “fire in the belly” comes from. Delivering newspapers led Larry to a life in media. When Larry hears NO, he hears an opportunity to find out why they said NO and then uses that to learn for the future. Larry believes that NO does not equal failure! When you get a YES from one person you use that YES in your next pitch session, to help inspire more people to invest. Larry stresses how important it is to follow-through on all of your deadlines when meeting with companies. “The more tangible we can make something for an investor, the more they can understand it” ~ Larry Marcus Investors are risk averse, they want to know if something goes wrong that you have a solution. Larry shares how important it is to be prepared before going into a meeting with an investor. Larry shares what he’s looking for when he’s considering investing in someone. Larry talks about how important it is to find a partner that aligns with your business goals. Larry shares what he’d tell his younger self. Connect with Larry: LinkedIn Larry’s Website Are you ready to niche down and find the prospects of your dreams? Stop feeling obligated to say YES to everyone who shows up. Let's put the odds in your favor so that the RIGHT people to show up! Check out my guide “Getting REAL About the Ideal: 5 Steps To Knowing (And Finding) Your Dream Clients” and start calling in the perfect prospects TODAY! Right HERE! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com

Larry Cohen of Axis Promotions shares his unique story and company and how they've maintained and grow an amazing company and connect with their clients.   How to Connect to Larry & Lou:   Larry: Twitter: @axispromo Lou:   Twitter: @ThriveLouD  //  Site:  www.thrivepartners.net   More on Larry: From humble beginnings around his kitchen table back in 1991, with a few good ideas, a lot of enthusiasm and a share of naiveté, Larry began Axis with a mission to develop a full-service promotional products company that focused on delivering creative solutions and not merely selling products. AXIS’ client base covers an exceptionally broad cross-section of industries (Pharmaceutical, Entertainment, Financial, Beauty and Fashion, Publishing and Sports).  Axis has been named Counselor Magazine’s Top 40 Distributors five years in a row, Promo Marketing Magazine Top 40 Distributor, 4 Gold 2015 PPAI Awards, SAAGNY Distributor of the Year, and PPB’s Greatest Companies to Work For. Axis now ranks as one of the top promotional merchandising agencies in the United States. From that little kitchen -- Axis’ has grown to over 70 employees with offices in New York City, Westchester, Boston and Chicago and soon to be out on the west coast. When Larry serves on the board of the Promotional Products Association International, PromoKitchen Advisory Board, Peernet Marketing Committee, and is a former chair of the North American Leadership Conference. He is a graduate of Duke University and The University of Pennsylvania Law School and a stand up guy that runs one cool company…

Larry (in a Pontiac) battles Psycho Steroid Hercules • Where are the pointiest chix in North America? • Larry almost becomes a victim • When Larry was a wimp • The ultimate pointy chick arcade game • Secrets to your best summer ever • Who you should mock mercilessly, and how  • How to teach a four-year-old to body surf • Meet Larry's T.N.S Dad • Best episode yet! • And more, more, more!

When Larry and Sergey first met, they didn’t like each other much...BIBLIOGRAPHY:In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives The Google Story How Google Works The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture Googled: The End of the World As We Know It The Google Guys: Inside the Brilliant Minds of Google Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2000/05/29/search-and-deploy http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1999/11/08/268521/index.htm See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Larry Michel - also known as “The Love Shepherd” is the founder of the School of Genetic Energetics, a Master ERP™ and host of The Larry Love Show. He’s a breakthrough relationship coach, author, trainer, speaker and producer. Larry came to southern California as a former partner of Tony Robbins, having designed and developed Robbin’s corporate training programs. As an operating partner, he also helped launch John Assaraf in his initial teachings toward Brain Entrapment and Nueroplasticity.  As the Founder and voice of TheFourAnswers.com he’s brought to the world the only scientifically proven online compatibility system that unlocks the mysteries and reveals the true motivations behind our actions, from devastating emotional upsets to our most joyous and blissful experiences. Larry dedicates his life to creating possibility for all of us to live in courageous intimacy, in deep connectivity and in our full loving expression. Guiding Principle, Quote or Mantra Relationships are not hard work. Great relationships flow.  The hard work is our ability to be honest and vulnerable and authentic and tapped into who we really are. When You Tripped Up Larry’s biggest trip up in relationships has been around Rational-lies. Describing or discussing something and making it OK. He would try and solve difficulties by keeping them inside so no one else had to know. But they still knew.  His belief system that he had to work out things on his own all the time is what did the damage to his relationships. Until Larry stepped into courageous intimacy, he was always undermining the connection in his relationships. Proudest moment in partnership The woman in Larry’s life right now is the most exciting relationship he has ever had. What makes it so special is that a lot of the things he needed to learn, he fully embraces now. Courageous Intimacy is a big part of it. And the fact that they both are inspiring and inspired by each other creates magic in their life on a regular basis. How can we be Courageously Intimate without being needy? Neediness is relying on other people to assist us with our challenges and our issues. Almost like we are constantly taking from them to feed ourselves. This is not good balance. When Larry is being Courageously Intimate he first asks himself if it is his issue or something else? If something has it’s emotional grip on him, he asks “What do I have to believe to feel this way right now?” Then ask, “Is that my belief?” If it is your belief ask “Why do I believe it?” Because we hang onto beliefs because we are getting some benefit from it. Then ask, “What is that benefit?” Being curious will free you from being stuck. We all do the best we can with the resources we have. If someone views you as needy it may be that they don’t have the resources right now to help you, and they have some work to do on themselves. This does not make either person wrong. It is an observation of what is going on in the moment. What is the best partnership / relationship advice you have ever received? Look inward and go inquire about what you have to believe and are holding onto that is in the way of being able to show up fully for your partner. Be excited and do your own inner work first. Best Partnership Book (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0399176136/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0399176136&linkCode=as2&tag=speakofpartn-20&linkId=d08eb511e9f000d793e57c4b42404abc) Psycho-Cybernetics: Updated and Expanded (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0399176136/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0399176136&linkCode=as2&tag=speakofpartn-20&linkId=15ed496af1478236b2603c9a75064dac)...

Larry Hagner was adopted by his step-father when he was a young boy. Everyone who knew Larry's father knew he was a good man, but he had a drinking problem that turned him from Bruce Banner into the Hulk. Larry's mother, also a heavy drinker, divorced this man when Larry was 10. At age 12 he met his biological father, but that relationship didn't continue. Every father figure from that point was just as toxic. When Larry became a father at age 30, he didn't know what to do. He struggled with being a dad until his wife called him out on it about 5 years later.  From this "Jerry McGuire" moment, The Good Dad Project was born.  In this episode, Larry and Mark talk about why men have a hard time letting others in, the importance of communication, and how a strong woman can be a man's biggest support. Larry now runs a Facebook group, podcast, mastermind, and website supporting dads around the world. 

When Larry was a kid, he loved running through the woods and enjoyed being at one with nature. From an early age, he would go hunting, all alone, in the deep forests of Oklahoma. One day, while he was squirrel hunting alone, he encountered something that would change his view of the woods forever. We hope you'll tune in, to hear Larry talk about what happened that day, as well as some other strange experiences he's had, in the woods.

~ CBS Radio Mystery Theater, The Lady Was a Tiger, Act 1, Scenes 4-8 — In Grave Danger ~ A femme fatale double agent frames an unemployed reporter for homicide in Paris. Dave Wilson: And just what is it that you’re seeking?Carol Johnson: [Breathy] To warn you that you are in grave danger![Photo © Victoria Andreas/Bigstock.com] Running Smoothly Like Clockwork Larry and Dave have made it to France. Larry goes off to play his part by interviewing Professor Teal. During the interview, he is handed the slip of paper, the map, as planned. Everything seems to be going fine, running smoothly like clockwork. Les Deux Magots Dave Wilson waits for him at a café called Les Deux Magots. This is a very famous café on the Left Bank of the Seine river. It opened in 1885 and is still in Paris to this day. The name of the cafe means "The Two Mandarins" -- an old name for Chinese government officials. Inside the cafe there are two carved statues of Chinese Mandarins which likely date back to the 1880s when the building was a novelty shop, not a café. Thecafé kept the name of the former shop. It was quite a fitting name as Mandarins had to pass an exam to get their government position. They were intellectuals, and the café attracted intellectuals, writers and artists. Les Deux Magot is a cafe in Paris where intellectuals, writers, and artists met. [Photo © Dinkum: Wikimedia.org] The two Mandarins oversee the cafe. [Photo © Donar Reiskoffer: Wikimedia.org] The best laid plans... As Dave sits at a cafe table waiting, he is approached by a strikingly beautiful woman with a phoney accent. She has a warning for him. When Larry gets back to meet Dave at the café, everything falls apart and he finds himself involved in a crime scene protesting his innocence.   DL062~DL067: Keywords & Transcript Login to download the free PDF. Not a member? Register now. Membership is free. Have fun learning the keywords with English-Chinese Flashcards and Games.DL063 Keywords on Quizlet Larry is in deep trouble. If this happened to you, what would you do to prove your innocence? Leave me a comment in the side-bar on the right!

"Hi! I'm Annabelle. And I'm Angus. We are black-tailed prairie dogs who live in Kansas. We want to tell you a story about a real wildlife hero, our friend Larry Haverfield."  Through the voices of Annabelle and Angus, discover what almost happened to wildlife on the Kansas prairie. When Larry receives a letter that says he must destroy the prairie dogs on his land, he and some of his neighbors join together to make certain that all wildlife remain unharmed. Not only were black-tailed prairie dogs at risk of destruction but the already-endangered black-footed ferrets were at risk of becoming extinct.  In Larry Saves the Prairie, with the help of Annabelle and Angus, you'll discover what it means to be a true hero, and most especially, what it took to save prairie wildlife in Kansas.

"Hi! I'm Annabelle. And I'm Angus. We are black-tailed prairie dogs who live in Kansas. We want to tell you a story about a real wildlife hero, our friend Larry Haverfield."  Through the voices of Annabelle and Angus, discover what almost happened to wildlife on the Kansas prairie. When Larry receives a letter that says he must destroy the prairie dogs on his land, he and some of his neighbors join together to make certain that all wildlife remain unharmed. Not only were black-tailed prairie dogs at risk of destruction but the already-endangered black-footed ferrets were at risk of becoming extinct.  In Larry Saves the Prairie, with the help of Annabelle and Angus, you'll discover what it means to be a true hero, and most especially, what it took to save prairie wildlife in Kansas.

On our third trip to the House of Franklin-stein, Chris and Cindy are joined by their son Andrew to discuss his (and Chris') favorite Universal Monster film, 1941's The Wolf Man! Lon Chaney, Jr. gives an iconic performance as the doomed Larry Talbot, the prodigal son who returns to his Welsh home only to stumble into a nightmarish world of ancient folklore and gypsy curses! When Larry intervenes to save a life, he is bitten by a wolf, or was it a werewolf? Will Larry convince his father, Sir John (played by Claude Rains) of his plight in time, or is his fate sealed? It's Greek tragedy with rubber snouts and yak's fur!!! Then we rummage once again through our cobwebbed longboxes and dig out Marvel Team-Up #12, featuring Spider-Man and The Werewolf by Night! Our friendly neighborhood wallcrawler is on assignment in San Francisco when he stumbles upon a mad (and we do mean bat-crap crazy) plot involving Marvel's favorite lycanthrope, Jack Russell, a handful of mind-controlled civilians, and the mysterious magician known as Moondark! Will Spidey survive? Will the Franklins? Listen on! Download via iTunes. Be sure to let us know what you think! Let your voice be heard! We'd love to read it aloud in an upcoming episode. Drop us a line in our comments section, or email us at supermatespodcast@gmail.com. If you're listening on iTunes, please consider leaving a review of our show! We're also on Facebook! Chris (aka Earth 2 Chris) co-hosts the Power Records Podcast with the esteemed Rob Kelly over at the Fire and Water Podcast feed! Next time: It's our final trip into the House of Franklin-stein, as Chris, Cindy and returning son Andrew dish on the modern revamp of the classic monster rally films: 1987's The Monster Squad! We'll discuss Wolfman anatomy, how to successfully redesign classic monsters, and more! Plus, one final tie-in super hero/monster mash-up! It's a Halloween blow-out!!!

Want to know how to start and run a $75,000,000 company, and how that success can allow you give back?     Today we’ve got a very special guest on the show who has done just that through his company, Petretti & Associates, and the organization Pencils of Promise.   Larry Petretti has spent his entire adult life in the contraction business.  He started at the bottom and worked his way up to running a $50 million dollar company as CEO, then in 2010 started his own company.   When Larry started his company, he had a clear philosophy, “We were never looking to be the biggest.  I told the boys, let’s be the best.”   “Exceptional service.  Period. That’s it.”, is how Larry treats all of his clients.   One key to the success of Larry’s company was that he was incredibly specific about his niche and value proposition. He wasn’t taking on any and all construction projects.  He wanted to do corporate interiors for fortune 500 companies.   Many people have heard the term, “success leaves clues”.  Narrowing your niche is a common theme with successful people.   Another clue we can take from Larry is that he spends about 75% of his time meeting with clients and potential clients, which is the highest and best use of his time.   Way too many entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs waste 80, 90, or even 100% of their time in lower-level activities like managing email or doing technical work that could be delegated to someone else.   It’s actually very simple to determine what you should do in your business and what you should delegate.  You should do what ONLY you can do.  Everything else should be delegated.   After having been in business for quite some time, and having been approached for all kinds of fund raising activities, Larry was introduced to Pencils of Promise.     And, after meeting the people who ran the organization, he gave them the largest donation they had ever had at that time, $1,000.   This was eye-opening for Pencils of Promise and completely changed the way they looked at fund raising.   Fast forward to today, as we shot this interview, we’re sitting in Guatemala with Larry meeting the children we have committed to help and seeing the schools we have committed to build, and for Larry, that experience was one of the most touching and memorable of his life.   It is a rare experience to meet the recipients of your charitable donation face-to-face and to personally receive their gratitude, not to mention getting your hands dirty and actually helping with the mission.     For Larry, and for us, that was the most impactful part of our experience as donors.   What an amazing inspiration Larry is, both as a business man and philanthropist!    Interested in finding out how you can help?   Just go to http://lifeonfire.com/76 for more info!   If you loved this episode, let us know by writing a review in iTunes for Life on Fire TV, tell us what you love, and leave us a 5-star rating.   Thank you for subscribing to our podcast in iTunes!  You fire us up!

Find out how Justin Rashid and American Spoon Fruit are preserving summer fruits on this week’s episode of The Farm Report! Erin Fairbanks chats with Justin about American Spoon Fruit’s line of preserves. Learn about the terroir of lake-area Michigan, and why some of the best fruits in the world come from that location. Find out how American Spoon Fruit helps fruit growers by buying specific selections of their crop. Learn what fruit varieties have fallen out of favor, and why Justin believes these heirloom varieties are culturally and culinarily important. Learn more about the science behind preserving on this week’s edition of The Farm Report! Thanks to our sponsor, Cain Vineyard & Winery. Today’s break music has been provided by PEELS. “I’m thrilled, and pretty much amazed with what has happened recently in agriculture. When Larry and I started this company, what we were doing was considered kind of ‘odd’… agriculture in American was the past. And now it seems to have such a thriving future prospect.” [8:30] “The trick with preserving is trying to get the product, the lid, the jar, and the headspace at sterilization temperatures, but then when the jar seals, you have to get that heat out. [24:00] — Justin Rashid on The Farm Report