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improve it! Podcast – Professional Development Through Play, Improv & Experiential Learning
In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin shares the story of how one question—“How do people actually do this?”—helped her go from improv workshop facilitator with zero keynote bookings to speaking on stages at Amazon, LinkedIn, and major association conferences. Along the way, she discovered that curiosity is a career-building practice. Erin breaks down the five curiosity practices she used to build her speaking career from scratch and how she applied those same practices to help team member Cristy von create her first keynote. Whether you're navigating a career pivot, developing your leadership skills, or wondering what your next move should be, this episode will help you stop waiting for the perfect plan and start pulling the thread. Inside This Episode: Curiosity Is a Practice, Not a Personality Trait: Discover why curiosity can be intentionally practiced and how asking better questions can fuel career growth, leadership, adaptability, and collaboration. Study People Who've Already Done It: Erin shares why researching people who are already where you want to go can reveal the path, shortcuts, and questions you didn't know to ask. Learn Before You Hire: Before investing in a coach, mentor, or course, Erin explains how free content can help you do your homework, find the right fit, and make smarter career development decisions. Borrow the Room Before You Build Your Own: From free speaking gigs to the “rubber chicken circuit,” Erin shares why small stages can become your curiosity lab for practicing, gathering feedback, and refining your skills. Get Curious About the Community: You don't have to figure everything out alone. Learn how finding the right professional community can expand your perspective, strengthen your network, and help you understand where you fit. What to Do Now: Name Your Next Move: Identify one career move, skill, opportunity, or goal you want to pursue next. Don't worry about the whole plan yet. Start with the question: How do people actually do this? Find the People Who Know: Identify two or three people who have already done the thing you want to do. Study their paths, content, and choices—and ask what you can learn from them. Learn Before You Invest: If you're considering a coach, mentor, course, or program, start with their free content. Get curious before you get out your credit card. Your Freebie The Confident Leader's Toolkit: Want to show up as a more confident, authentic leader without feeling like you have to perform? Download this practical 4-step guide to craft an intentional professional persona, so you can lead with clarity, confidence, and presence without burning yourself out. Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it! Leadership Playground online membership community Erin's website Erin's Instagram Erin's TikTok Erin's LinkedIn improve it!'s website improve it!'s Instagram Connect with Erin Diehl
333 / What mindsets and practical strategies can transform setbacks into growth for writers—and what really defines success in a creative career? A.B. Jackson shares how he successfully pivoted from music marketing to writing and publishing fiction and non-fiction. He unpacks the lessons learned from both industries and how he leverages community and personal growth.Changing limiting beliefs and redefining successLessons learned from the music industryBuilding authentic connections with readersManaging criticism and unhelpful adviceCrafting your own marketing approach✨ This week's sponsor is Vellum: https://www.tryvellum.com/wish
If the garden is your muse, or your source of peace and mental wellness, you'll want to join me today on a restorative and inspiring visit to FloraWood, where Jen Wilcoxon's delightful home garden and design studio serve as the basis for her creative, plant- and flora-based business. Jen founded FloraWood in 2019 to share […] The post Episode 784: Visit the Portland (Oregon) garden studio of FloraWood, where designer Jen Wilcoxon draws her inspiration for seasonal floral subscriptions and workshops appeared first on Slow Flowers Podcast with Debra Prinzing.
What is Naughty N'awlins REALLY like? In this episode, we're sharing our honest, firsthand experience at Naughty N'awlins one of the biggest swinger events and lifestyle gatherings in the country. From the hotel takeover and swinger convention to the parties, people, atmosphere, surprises, and everything in between, we're breaking down what it was actually like to not only attend Naughty N'awlins, but work, help and plan huge parts of the event. If you've ever wondered what happens at Naughty N'awlins, considered attending a swingers convention, party, takeover, or are simply curious about the lifestyle community and what these events are really like, this episode gives you an honest look at the experience. WATCH EPISODE 59 on YouTube and subscribe to the Accidental Swingers YouTube Channel for a SPECIAL EPISODE 39 Part 2! UPCOMING EVENTS JOIN US for the Accidental Swingers and Caliente (Unofficial) Facebook Fan Page hosted weekend: Caliente CALL 813-966-3700 to make on-site hotel reservations or CLICK HERE for day/night pass information JOIN US for Splash Ft Lauderdale: Information & Registration JOIN US for Swinkation: https://www.swinkation.com/ Use the code ACCIDENTAL25 and save up to $750 per couple! JOIN US in 2027 for the World's Largest Swinger Takeover Naughty N'awlins Check out all our events: Accidental Swingers Events Page Follow us on Social Media: Instagram Tristan's Instagram X YouTube
PPO participation can quietly erode profitability when fees, network relationships, and write-offs are not regularly reviewed. In this episode, Kirk Behrendt talks with Clinton Johnson, founder of Profitable PPOs, about the hidden PPO mistakes that can cost dental practices seven figures over time. Clinton explains how PPO network structures work, why reimbursement has failed to keep pace with rising practice costs, how to evaluate the true financial impact of each plan, and why dentists should build a PPO strategy around their practice goals rather than making emotional decisions. Learn how to audit PPO participation, identify low-profit plans, improve reimbursement, and strategically move toward greater profitability and autonomy — listen to Episode 1094 of The Best Practices Show!Main Takeaways:PPO reimbursement has not kept pace with inflation and rising practice expenses, forcing many dentists to work harder to maintain previous income levels.Dentists can participate in PPOs through direct contracts, network share agreements, or umbrella companies, and those options can produce significantly different reimbursement levels.A PPO strategy should be designed around the practice's priorities, including profitability, broad network coverage, and administrative simplicity.PPO write-off percentages can be misleading when a practice's office fees are not appropriately set for its geographic market.Dentists should review EOBs and conduct a comprehensive PPO audit approximately every 18 to 24 months to verify network participation, fee schedules, and opportunities for improvement.Practices considering PPO reductions should use financial data and generally begin with smaller plans that have poor reimbursement rather than making large changes based on frustration.PPO optimization should include analysis, strategy development, financial modeling, implementation, and verification that insurers are paying the expected fees.Episode Chapters:00:00 Introduction to hidden PPO mistakes that can cost a practice seven figures.01:11 Kirk introduces Clinton Johnson and the complexity of PPO participation.03:57 Why dentists are producing more without necessarily becoming more profitable.05:58 Three ways dentists can participate in PPO networks.09:51 Why PPO write-off percentages can be misleading.12:08 Clinton explains the PPO profit ladder.13:41 The long-term financial and practice-value impact of poor PPO reimbursement.16:16 Why dentists need to monitor EOBs and identify missed upside opportunities.21:03 How to evaluate which PPOs are helping or hurting the practice.24:55 Why traditional PPO fee negotiation is less effective than it once was.27:09 When dentists should stay in a PPO or consider leaving.30:00 Risks of leaving a PPO without a structured plan.31:41 How PPO strategy can support independent dentistry.34:21 Which practices are and are not a good fit for PPO optimization.37:28 Clinton explains the Profitable PPOs analysis and strategy process.41:30 How to contact Profitable PPOs.42:00 Closing thoughts on profitability, independence, and practice ownership.Guest Bio:Possessing over twenty years of experience working with dental offices, Clint Johnson is passionate about helping practice owners optimize their PPO plan participation and profits. As the founder of Phoenix-based Profitable PPOs, Clint has focused that passion by helping ensure dentists participate with the right PPOs, in the right way, and for maximum reimbursement. Hundreds of dental practices every year, across the United States, big and small, look to Profitable PPO to provide the insurance participation management needed to make the most of their profitability–both in the present and in years to come.For Clint, dentistry has always been a family matter, with his father, grandfather and great-grandfather all dentists. The experience of seeing both the benefits, and the challenges, in dentistry inspired him to help doctors optimize their practices. Clint knew there had to be a way to help those in the dental field deal with the challenges and costs associated with insurance participation… And that challenge was the impetus behind the creation of Profitable PPOs.In addition to his work with Profitable PPOs, Clint is also an author and a frequent presenter at dental conferences. In his free time, he enjoys reading, skiing, scuba diving, and traveling with his wife and three children.Episode Resources:Profitable PPOs: https://profitableppos.com/Phone: 855-PPO-GAINMore Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:Contact Gina to learn more about ACT: gina@actdental.comThe Best Practices Show: https://www.actdental.com/podcast/Smile Source Community Hub: https://www.actdental.com/community-hubUpcoming Events & Workshops: https://www.actdental.com/events/Smile Source: https://www.smilesource.com/Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.comSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com
David Young is the proprietor of Big Rock Bows based south of Spokane, Washington. David was introduced to primitive archery and bow carving more than a decade ago from his friend, renowned bowyer Clay Hayes. Since then, he has carved his own reputation as an exceptional bowyer and regularly hosts bow carving retreats at his ranch, Big Rock Ranch. Please enjoy this episode of Project Quiver on Salish Wolf with David Young. Episode Links: https://www.bigrockbows.com/https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582085921443https://www.instagram.com/bigrockbows/https://www.youtube.com/@DavidYoung-fc6qlProject Quiver at Anchor Point ExpeditionsSummaryIn this episode, David from Big Rock Bows shares his journey into traditional bow making, his experience on the show Alone, and his passion for bowcraft and the outdoors. Discover insights into bow building, land management, and inspiring youth engagement in nature.Show Notes:David's background in bow making and land managementExperience on the TV show Alone and lessons learnedTechniques and tools for traditional bow buildingLand management and land restoration effortsYouth engagement and outdoor education initiativesChallenges and rewards of custom bow makingThe role of patience and character in craftsmanshipInspiration from natural materials and land for bow makingFuture plans for workshops and retreatsChapters:00:00 Introduction to David and Big Rock Bows02:02 Land and Land Management on the Property05:04 Bow Wood Options and Land Resources09:47 Experience on the TV Show Alone20:01 Lessons from the Arctic Adventure29:59 Bow Making Techniques and Tools40:00 Challenges in Custom Bow Building50:07 Engaging Youth and Outdoor Education59:56 Workshops and Future Plans01:09:58 Philosophy and Personal Insights on Bowcraft
In this episode, I'm skipping the polished protocols and step-by-step guides for a raw, unfiltered stream-of-consciousness chat about today's Venus in Libra transit.We know spiritual ascension isn't always candlelit meditations and aesthetic balance; sometimes it's bumping headfirst into our own immature patterns, laughing at the cosmic absurdity of it all, and navigating real-life chaos while trying to anchor higher expansion into your actual emotional, mental, and physical body.I'm sharing personal stories, a few snarky realizations, and a transparent look at my own ascending experiences as the energy shifts. Settle in for some unscripted Somatic-Mindset Micro-Habit & Conscious Living Musings of a 5D Mystic moved into 9D (wink, wink), and more on what finding your "sacred balance" actually feels like when the spiritual hits the reality of the everyday—which means you practice your restorative embodiment and resilient capacity as a human who's simply being yourself and is also spiritual.
Debbie's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are: Relator, Belief, Adaptability, Developer & Learner Debbie Hannah Skiinner has been married 43 years and loves being a wife, mother, and “Mia” to her grandkids. She is and artist and Bible teacher and enjoys encouraging women to engage their hands in making art to help focus their heart on God. She is the found of WisdomInWatercolor.com Link to take the CliftonStrengths Assessment Coaching and Workshops with Barbara Culwell Subscribe & Leave a Review on Embrace Your Strengths
Why should women play smaller just to prove they know how to rest? In this episode, I unpack the real difference between ambition that comes from fear and ambition that comes from something alive, and why wanting more and actually resting can be true at the same time.WHAT YOU'LL LEARN✅ Why wanting more isn't something women need to apologize for, and why we don't ask men to prove they can rest before we respect their ambition✅ The real difference between ambition that comes from fear and ambition that comes from something alive, and why it changes how rest fits in✅ How to hold both wanting more and enjoying what you've built, without needing them to split evenly down the middleCHAPTERS00:00 Poolside Spark00:39 Show Welcome01:03 Season Reset02:02 Stop Apologizing02:29 Summer Reality Check03:20 Redefining Rest04:55 Ambition Without Fear05:57 Reflection Prompts07:42 Coaching Invitation08:13 Final Sign OffSend us Fan MailSupport the showGRAB AN OFFER
When we talk about earning potential, society usually measures it by how much money someone can extract. But what happens when that extraction destroys the planet, dysregulates communities, and leaves everyone else picking up the broken pieces?Real worth isn't built on destruction—it's anchored in sovereign leadership, nervous system regulation, and regenerative growth. Tune in to explore why destructive extraction operates at a net-negative, and how true leaders step into authentic capacity for a better future.
A full schedule does not always mean a productive schedule. Without a clear average daily production goal, teams can stay busy, miss production targets, and spend their days reacting instead of intentionally building the schedule. In this episode, Kirk Behrendt talks with Robyn Theisen, ACT Dental coach, about using average daily production goals and ideal day scheduling to create a more predictable and productive practice.You will learn how to set daily targets, structure high-production procedures, monitor the schedule in advance, and help your team consistently work toward the same goal. To learn how to build your schedule to win the day, listen to Episode 1093 of The Best Practices Show!Main Takeaways:An average daily production goal should be used as an intentional scheduling target rather than an end-of-day report card.A schedule can be completely full while still failing to produce enough revenue to meet the practice's goals.Every provider and team member should understand the daily production targets and how the schedule is designed to achieve them.Production should be monitored days and weeks in advance so the team can proactively address openings and protect high-value treatment.High-production procedures should be strategically placed throughout the day instead of being scheduled wherever space happens to be available.Daily production goals should be calculated from the practice's annual production goal and the number of days worked each year.An ideal day schedule gives the team a framework for placing procedures, protecting capacity, and working toward production goals consistently.Episode Chapters:00:00 Metric Mondays Intro02:19 Why ideal day scheduling is an important practice management tool.03:46 Using production goals as intentional targets instead of report cards.05:01 What happens when a practice's schedule is busy but not productive.06:17 What a practice looks like when production goals and scheduling are aligned.08:08 Using full fees, write-offs, and adjustments correctly within the scheduling process.09:47 How to calculate daily goals and begin building an ideal day schedule.11:11 Wrap Up And ResourcesGuest Bio:Robyn Theisen brings an entire life and legacy of dental experience to the team and every team with which she works as the daughter and sister of dentists. With almost 20 years of experience in dentistry, her roles ranged from practice management to operations at Patterson Dental to coaching teams. Robyn's passion is empowering teams to realize that they can dramatically impact the lives of the people they serve by implementing skills and systems to remove barriers to life-changing dental treatment. She has done it for decades and does it every day with dental teams.Outside of coaching, she enjoys time with her husband, Rob, and two daughters, Emerson and Ruby. She loves traveling, music, fitness, and cheering on the Michigan State Spartans.Episode Resources:Ideal Day Scheduling and Block Scheduling Resource Guide: https://hub.smilesource.com/c/resources/color-coding-block-scheduling-and-ideal-day-schedulingMore Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:Contact Gina to learn more about ACT: gina@actdental.comThe Best Practices Show: https://www.actdental.com/podcast/Smile Source Community Hub: https://www.actdental.com/community-hubUpcoming Events & Workshops: https://www.actdental.com/events/Smile Source: https://www.smilesource.com/Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.comSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com
Shift from Reactive Survival Loops to Real-Time Empowered Composure—The SMART Way. Download Your FREE 10-Minute SMART MICRO-HABIT Check (PDF): https://payhip.com/b/r3sNW
Shift from Reactive Survival Loops to Real-Time Empowered Composure—The SMART Way. Download Your FREE 10-Minute SMART MICRO-HABIT Check (PDF): https://payhip.com/b/r3sNW
Shift from Reactive Survival Loops to Real-Time Empowered Composure—The SMART Way. Download Your FREE 10-Minute SMART MICRO-HABIT Check (PDF): https://payhip.com/b/r3sNW
What should dentists understand about practice ownership, selling to a DSO, planning for retirement, and building a career that stays aligned with their values? In this episode, Kirk Behrendt talks with Dr. John Cranham, restorative dentist, educator, and former clinical director of the Dawson Academy, about the decisions and transitions that shaped his career as he prepares to step away from clinical practice. You will learn what dentists should consider before selling a practice, why giving up control can be difficult, how practice models affect the way dentists deliver care, why retirement requires something meaningful to transition toward, and what Dr. Cranham believes the future holds for comprehensive and fee-for-service dentistry. To hear his perspective from nearly four decades in dentistry, listen to Episode 1092 of The Best Practices Show!Main Takeaways:Dentists should think about their eventual transition and end game early in their careers.Selling a practice to another dentist or a DSO involves tradeoffs, and every transition model carries potential risks.Dentists considering a DSO should carefully evaluate control, compensation, scheduling, practice philosophy, and the organization's long-term stability.Practice environments become difficult when the dentist's preferred style of care conflicts with the organization's priorities or values.Dentists who want to provide relationship-based, comprehensive care need an environment that supports the time, training, and systems required to deliver it.Retirement is easier when dentists are transitioning toward meaningful work, relationships, service, or other activities rather than simply leaving clinical practice.Dr. Cranham believes fee-for-service dentistry remains viable for dentists who combine strong relationships, comprehensive treatment planning, technical excellence, and appropriate use of technology.Episode Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Dr. John Cranham's retirement and practice transition.01:23 Dr. Cranham prepares to step away from clinical dentistry.04:23 His path from dental school to comprehensive dentistry and education.06:04 Building a general practice focused on aesthetic, implant, and complex care.07:04 Why Dr. Cranham sold his practice to Heartland Dental.09:55 Comparing transitions to another dentist, group practice, or DSO.13:27 The challenge of giving up control after selling a practice.17:21 His daughter's decision to reconsider her future within the DSO model.20:35 Benefits and limitations of high-volume DSO practice.22:40 Financial promises, compensation, and risks when evaluating DSOs.25:39 Finding a practice model that aligns with your values.28:40 What Dr. Cranham would tell himself on his first day of practice.29:52 Why behavioral skills, relationships, delegation, and financial planning matter.31:58 Why retirement should be a transition to something meaningful.33:56 How Dr. Cranham became involved with the Pankey Institute.38:39 Dr. Cranham's view of the future of dentistry.41:01 Why fee-for-service dentistry is not dead.42:21 The next chapter for Dr. Cranham and Dental Mastery.44:22 Final thoughts on challenges, changing direction, and asking for help.47:00 Time boundaries lesson48:25 Closing EncouragementGuest Bio:Dr. John Cranham graduated from dental school in 1988 and built a general dental practice in Chesapeake, Virginia, with a focus on aesthetic dentistry, implant dentistry, TMD, and complex restorative care. Early in his career, he completed advanced education through the Dawson Academy, the Pankey Institute, and programs associated with Kois and Spear. His Cranham Dental Seminars organization merged with the Dawson Academy in 2004, and he served as clinical director of the Dawson Academy from 2004 to 2020. He later developed Cranham Culp Digital Dental and has continued teaching comprehensive dentists how to translate traditional restorative and occlusal principles into digital workflows. He is also involved with the Pankey Institute and its educational programs.Resources:Good to Great by Jim Collins: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996Dental Mastery: https://dentalmastery.com/More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:Contact Gina to learn more about ACT: gina@actdental.comThe Best Practices Show: https://www.actdental.com/podcast/Smile Source Community Hub: https://www.actdental.com/community-hubUpcoming Events & Workshops: https://www.actdental.com/events/Smile Source: https://www.smilesource.com/Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.comSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com
Shift from Reactive Survival Loops to Real-Time Empowered Composure—The SMART Way. Download Your FREE 10-Minute SMART MICRO-HABIT Check (PDF): https://payhip.com/b/r3sNW
We can't change the dysregulated leaders out there if we're running the same bypassing loops inside ourselves. True leadership starts with mastering your own internal state. In the episode we talk about this somatic-mindset truth, how personal growth supports us to disengage from bypassing and distortion, how the IHP Community Building Practice expands this positive change for others too and builds healthy communities, and the eclipse-full moon wisdom that comes for the spiritual leaders ascending.Shift from Reactive Survival Loops to Real-Time Empowered Composure—The SMART Way. Download Your FREE 10-Minute SMART MICRO-HABIT Check (PDF): https://payhip.com/b/r3sNW
Episode 122 – BTG Listener-Favorite Series: A past conversation with Dr. Allen Tennison, Ph.D.–theological counsel to The General Council of the Assemblies of God and chair of its Commission on Doctrines and Practices–and our podcast host, Mykelti Blum. In this episode, they discuss our sometimes-cultural assumptions of the Old Testament, why we need to know the Old Testament to better understand the New Testament, what we miss if we skip the Old Testament, how God's patience and mercy is evident in this part of the Bible, how Jesus is the clearest reflection of God's heart, and much more! Learn more about BTG at mnbtg.org or follow @mnbtg on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Subscribe to the BTG Podcast on Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Spotify, YouTube, or listen on WordPress. BTG Events & Resources: 2026 Thrive Conference October 9-10, 2026 Mayo Civic Center (Rochester, MN) Featuring Lisa Bevere, Christina Girma-Hanfere, Martha Tennison, Susie Larson (speaker and emcee), Amber Gerstmann (emcee), and Substance Worship Afternoon & Main Sessions, “LIVE at Thrive with Susie Larson” — a BTG Podcast Recording Experience, Lunch with Speakers, the Thrive After-Party, Shopping, and More! Groups of 40 or More Who Register by September 20 Will Receive Reserved Seating. See All Ticket Types, and Register: First-Time Guests to Thrive in Rochester Can Register for ONLY $20 FREE Tickets for 2026 High School Grads and North Central University and Trinity Bible College and Graduate School undergrad students! Email info@mnbtg.org to Request Your Coupon Code. (These free tickets are not transferrable.) Register for Early Bird Tickets by August 31. BTG Missions Trips and Giving Opportunity Learn About Our 2025-2026 BTG Missions Partners, and Give A Tax-Deductible Gift:: mnbtg.org/missions. Apply to join a 2027 BTG Missions Trip to Cambodia or Cambodia and Vietnam: mnbtg.org/trips. 2027 BTG Leadership Conference February 19-20 Lake Geneva Christian Center (Alexandria, MN) Featuring Lisa Seaton and More! Main Sessions (including the Lund Leadership Award Presentation and the Leadership Exchange), Workshops, Brainstorming Groups, the After-Party, Exhibitor Shopping, Networking, and More! Register: mnbtg.org/leadership. Nominate a female leader of excellence for the 2027 Lund Leadership Award by Oct 31, 2026. 2027 Single Moms Retreat June 4-5 Lake Geneva Christian Center (Alexandria, MN) Featured Guests: Dr. Keisha Spivey (speaker) and Derrick & Ashley Benoit (worship) Main Sessions, Multiple Workshops, Lots of INCLUDED Activities, Giveaways, and Services. Learn More & Register to Attend, Exhibit, or Volunteer: mnbtg.org/retreat. 2027 Garden Coffee Free Missional Event for Women and Girls of All Ages! July 2027; Lake Geneva Christian Center (Alexandria, MN) Enjoy Refreshments, Worship Together, and Hear from a MN Global Worker. You’ll Also Have the Opportunity to Invest Into Missions (to Support Our 1000 Sisters Fund). Learn More at mnbtg.org/1000sisters. No RSVP Required; Invite Your Family and Church Community! Please take a moment to rate and review the podcast to help others find this resource, as well!
improve it! Podcast – Professional Development Through Play, Improv & Experiential Learning
In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin sits down with Yana Carstens, an integrative executive coach, to explore why high performers often burn out faster than anyone else—and why the solution isn't always to simply lighten the workload. Yana makes the case that burnout is often a reflection of our internal operating system: the beliefs, identities, and patterns that shape how we respond to pressure, achievement, and success. If you've ever wondered why you can know you need better boundaries and still struggle to set them, this conversation is for you. Yana shares how somatic awareness, mindset recalibration, honest communication, and authentic connection can help you recognize the patterns driving exhaustion and create a more sustainable way to succeed. Inside This Episode: Burnout Is More Than a Workload Problem: Yana explains why burnout isn't always about having too much on your plate. For high performers, the deeper issue can be the internal wiring that tells us we need to be responsible, perfect, useful, or constantly achieving in order to feel worthy. Your Body Is Giving You Data: Physical signals like neck tension, shoulder aches, and anxiety aren't just inconveniences to push through. Yana shares how these signals can act like a dashboard, revealing when we're operating from old patterns or beliefs that no longer serve us. Your Strengths Can Become Your Blind Spots: Traits like responsibility, high standards, and a strong drive to help others can be powerful strengths—but they can also become “anchors” that keep us stuck. Yana explores how hyper-responsibility, perfectionism, and people-pleasing can quietly fuel burnout. Recalibrate Your Internal Operating System: Instead of automatically reacting to stress, Yana offers practical ways to pause, notice what's happening internally, and question the beliefs driving our responses. She shares tools for shifting from autopilot into more intentional, values-aligned action. Use Your Values as Your Wind: Yana uses the metaphor of a boat, anchors, and wind to explain the difference between disempowering beliefs that hold us back and core values that help us move forward. The goal isn't to eliminate stress, but to make sure we're navigating it in a direction that actually matters to us. What to Do Now: Notice Your Signals: The next time you feel tension, anxiety, irritation, or exhaustion, pause and ask what your body might be trying to tell you before you automatically push through. Question the Belief: When you notice yourself overworking, people-pleasing, or striving for perfection, ask: “What am I believing I have to do or prove right now?” Find Your North Star: Identify one core value that matters most to you right now, then consider whether your current habits, boundaries, and decisions are moving you toward it—or keeping you anchored. About the Guest Yana Carstens is an integrative executive coach who helps high-performing leaders understand the internal patterns that influence how they work, lead, and respond to stress. Through a combination of mindset work, somatic awareness, and practical coaching tools, Yana helps people recalibrate their internal operating systems so they can pursue meaningful success without sacrificing their well-being. Her work centers on helping leaders build greater self-awareness, healthier boundaries, authentic connection, and a more sustainable relationship with achievement. Your Freebie Networking doesn't have to feel performative, transactional, or awkward. Download our Networking Without Feeling Weird toolkit for practical strategies to help you build genuine connections while staying confident, clear, and grounded. Whether you're walking into a conference, meeting new colleagues, or simply trying to expand your circle, this two-part resource will help you network in a way that actually feels like you. Connect with Yana Carstens Yana's LinkedIn Yana's website Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it! Leadership Playground online membership community Erin's website Erin's Instagram Erin's TikTok Erin's LinkedIn improve it!'s website improve it!'s Instagram Connect with Erin Diehl
332 / How can you craft vivid, sensory-rich books set in places you've never visited while thriving as a modern author? Action-adventure writer Luke Richardson shares insights on transporting readers around the globe and balancing the art and business of writing.Incorporating travel and sensory details into fictionTips for writing about locations you haven't visitedDeciding how much personal travel experience to includeThe benefits of slowing down productionIn-person travel event with readersPodcasting for readers✨ This week's sponsor is Bookfunnel: bookfunnel.com
What should you do when a longtime team member can no longer meet the demands of their role? In this episode, Kirk Behrendt talks with Alan Twigg, president of Bent Eriksen & Associates and an HR professional with more than 20 years of experience, about how dental practice owners can address declining performance without making assumptions about age or medical conditions. You will learn how to establish objective job standards, document performance concerns, approach fitness-for-duty situations, involve an employee's treating physician when appropriate, and navigate accommodations or transitions while reducing legal risk. For practical guidance on handling one of dentistry's most difficult HR conversations, listen to Episode 1091 of The Best Practices Show!Main Takeaways:Employers should address an employee's job performance rather than attempt to diagnose or manage the employee's medical condition.Current job descriptions, HR policies, and standard operating procedures provide objective benchmarks for evaluating whether an employee is meeting role expectations.Regular check-ins can uncover performance concerns and give employees an opportunity to explain challenges before problems escalate.Leaders should separate observable facts from assumptions about why an employee's performance has changed.A fitness-for-duty process can involve the employee's treating physician in determining whether the employee can perform essential job duties and what restrictions may be necessary.Employers may have legal obligations to engage in an accommodation or interactive process when an employee discloses a protected medical condition.Documentation of performance expectations, conversations, restrictions, and accommodations is important when a practice may ultimately need to end employment.Episode Chapters:00:00 Intro01:11 Alan Twigg's background and Bent Eriksen & Associates.04:23 Medical, cognitive, physical, and medication-related factors that can affect job performance.06:52 Why employers should not act as an employee's treating physician.08:03 Using policies, job descriptions, and standards to establish performance expectations.11:56 Keeping job descriptions current as technology and practice needs change.15:28 Reviewing changing expectations as a dental practice grows.18:22 Understanding the fitness-for-duty process.21:21 Focusing performance conversations on standards, patients, and the team.22:45 Managing longtime employees who resist changes or plan to retire soon.28:35 Protected medical conditions and employer responsibilities.32:43 Why dental practices benefit from qualified HR guidance.35:00 How Bent Eriksen & Associates supports dental practices with HR issues.Guest Bio:Alan Twigg is the president of Bent Ericksen & Associates. For over 10 years, he has guided thousands of clients and consultants through the ever-changing world of HR and employment compliance. He is a speaker, consultant, and author who is passionate about bringing education and peace of mind to such a confusing topic.As a strong proponent of symbiotic employer-employee relations, Alan is passionate about teamwork and positive work cultures, with an emphasis on long-term personnel retention and employment compliance, where his solutions-oriented outlook excels.Episode Resources:https://bentericksen.com/More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:Contact Gina to learn more about ACT: gina@actdental.comThe Best Practices Show: https://www.actdental.com/podcast/Smile Source Community Hub: https://www.actdental.com/community-hubUpcoming Events & Workshops: https://www.actdental.com/events/Smile Source: https://www.smilesource.com/Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.comSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com
You've been the strong one for so long it started to feel like your whole personality. Free to Be Mindful Season 8 launches with a new trailer, and this one's for the high-achieving woman nobody's checking on, the one everyone counts on at work, at home, in every group chat. This season we get honest about ambition, identity, and mental load, no filler, no 45-minute episodes, real talk you can actually fit into your day. Free to Be Mindful was named the #1 Latino Mental Health Podcast of 2026 by Feedspot. Season 8 starts September 1, 2026.CHAPTERS00:00 Who This Is For00:33 Meet Vanessa00:40 Podcast Milestone01:01 The Hidden Load01:36 Weekly Real Talk01:56 How To Listen02:06 Subscribe And ClosingSend us Fan MailSupport the showGRAB AN OFFER
Get ready for Workshops to proliferate. Pilates and Somatic Movement gurus are gearing up to solicit you and your money. Yes we need more tools. No we won't find them in boring complicated workshops. _____Follow PhysicalMind Institute on Instagram or Facebook and subscribe to our newsletter.Visit the PhysicalMind Institute shop.
Are your financial systems helping you collect what patients owe when care happens—or are unexpected balances creating extra work for your team later? In this episode, Kirk Behrendt talks with Robyn Theisen, ACT Dental coach, about same-day collection percentage and why clear financial arrangements matter for both cash flow and the patient experience. You'll learn what this metric measures, what low same-day collections can reveal about your systems, how stronger financial conversations reduce accounts receivable, and what your team can do to improve financial clarity before treatment begins. For practical ways to strengthen your financial systems and create more predictable collections, listen to Episode 1090 of The Best Practices Show!Main Takeaways:Same-day collection percentage measures how much of the patient portion owed for treatment is collected before the patient leaves the practice.Lower same-day collections often point to weaknesses in financial arrangements rather than a collections problem alone.Reviewing and signing treatment plans before appointments helps patients understand their financial responsibility in advance.Clear financial expectations reduce unexpected balances, collection calls, statements, and administrative follow-up.High-performing practices use consistent systems, payment options, and role-playing to help team members present financial arrangements confidently.A healthy same-day collection percentage can vary based on the practice model, including differences between fee-for-service and PPO-heavy practices.Teams can audit financial readiness during chart preparation by confirming that patients have signed financial arrangements and clear payment expectations.Episode Chapters:00:00 Introduction to same-day collection percentage.01:38 Why same-day collections matter as a practice metric.05:08 Common signs that same-day collection systems are not working.07:17 How prepared teams approach financial conversations.10:17 Why collection benchmarks depend on the practice model.12:39 Auditing financial expectations during daily chart preparation.13:00 Final thoughts on improving financial systems.Guest Bio:Robyn Theisen brings an entire life and legacy of dental experience to the team and every team with which she works as the daughter and sister of dentists. With almost 20 years of experience in dentistry, her roles ranged from practice management to operations at Patterson Dental to coaching teams. Robyn's passion is empowering teams to realize that they can dramatically impact the lives of the people they serve by implementing skills and systems to remove barriers to life-changing dental treatment. She has done it for decades and does it every day with dental teams.Outside of coaching, she enjoys time with her husband, Rob, and two daughters, Emerson and Ruby. She loves traveling, music, fitness, and cheering on the Michigan State Spartans.Episode Resources:Creating a Clear Financial Policy resource: https://hub.smilesource.com/c/resources/creating-a-clear-financial-policy-55-questions ACT Dental Community Hub: https://www.actdental.com/community-hubMore Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:Contact Gina to learn more about ACT: gina@actdental.comThe Best Practices Show: https://www.actdental.com/podcast/Smile Source Community Hub: https://www.actdental.com/community-hubUpcoming Events & Workshops: https://www.actdental.com/events/Smile Source: https://www.smilesource.com/Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.comSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com
In this episode of Referrals Done Right, Scott Grates sits down with revenue growth strategist Sue Clement to rethink how entrepreneurs approach referrals and sales. Sue shares lessons from more than 26 years of coaching and building businesses. She explains why networking should focus on relationships instead of chasing an immediate sale.Scott and Sue also explore how workshops can create trust in a world increasingly filled with AI generated content. Sue explains why giving an audience more information is not always the answer. Instead, great workshops create awareness and help people understand the problems standing in their way. The conversation offers a practical look at simplifying growth while staying focused on real human connection.In this episode:• Why great networking is about finding referral partners instead of prospects.• How to teach your referral partners to recognize opportunities for you.• Why workshops can help experts build trust and turn audiences into clients.• The difference between providing useful insight and overwhelming people with information.• Why working the relationships you already have can be more effective than constantly chasing new leads.---Sue Clement's Links:Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/sue.clement.92Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sueclementcoach---Scott Grates' Links:Referrals Done Right - https://www.referralsdoneright.orgReferrals Done Right FB Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/296359076662332Scott Grates Website - https://www.scottgrates.comLove Living Local - https://www.instagram.com/lovelivinglocal315Scott's FB - https://www.facebook.com/scott.grates.1Scott's - https://www.instagram.com/scottgratesTikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@scott.grates
Episode summary Humility and humiliation sit so close together that we often feel them in the same breath. In this conversation, Dr. Janet Steinkamp and her daughter Brianna gently pull the two apart. One is a choice we make, openness, curiosity, a willingness to keep learning. The other is something we feel, shamed, diminished, our dignity on the line. Together they walk through what it actually takes to set humiliation down, and why humility turns out to be the stronger place to stand when we are trying to find our way back to each other. In This Episode Why humility is a choice we make, and humiliation is something we feel, imposed or perceived How the need to be right, and the need to be validated, can keep us locked in a fight that no one wins The quiet power of naming our own part before anyone else can, and setting the weight of shame down What our reactions, the sighs, the big feelings, the volume, keep saying to an adult child long after the words are gone Why stepping back can be an act of humility, not surrender How reconnection is built on mutual humility, not mutual humiliation “Reconciliation is built through mutual humility, not mutual humiliation.” Dr. Janet Steinkamp Voices from this episode “When I switched to a more humble mindset, I felt like a thousand pounds got lifted off of me. It was one end of the spectrum to the other. A huge swing.” Brianna “For me, the humiliating part was never really the mistake. It was being caught and called out for it. So if you can call yourself out before anyone else does, you take the power out of humiliation.” Brianna “Parents always ask me, I wonder if they even remember me saying this. And I tell them, your voice is in their head. I promise you.” Dr. Janet “One of the most impactful moments for me was when you stopped reaching out. To me, that was you humbling yourself. It was the opposite of what a parent usually does, and humility played a part in that.” Brianna Connect Find us on YouTube at @DrJanetSteinkamp for these conversations in video. If this one meant something, please share it with someone who might be walking through estrangement too. None of us should have to walk through this alone. One Next Step There is a place to bring these questions in real time. Dr. Janet and Brianna host Virtual Office Hours, a low-pressure, come-as-we-are space for the very things this episode stirs up. Register on the website. Virtual Office Hours: https://www.whenouradultchildrenwalkaway.com/office-hours 60-Minute Consultation: https://www.whenouradultchildrenwalkaway.com/service-page/60-minute-consultation Fall 2026 Workshops: https://www.whenouradultchildrenwalkaway.com/copy-of-classes Writer's Lab: https://www.whenouradultchildrenwalkaway.com/writers-lab #FamilyEstrangement #AdultChildren #EstrangedParents #ParentingAdultChildren #Reconciliation #FamilyHealing #HumilityVsHumiliation #EstrangementRecovery #WhenOurAdultChildrenWalkAway #DrJanetSteinkamp #FamilyRelationships #HealingFromEstrangement #ParentChildRelationship #ShameAndHealing #Reconnection LEARN MORE: WhenOurAdultChildrenWalkAway.com Produced by Balancing Life's IssuesHi Listeners. I'd love to hear from you!DISCLAIMERThe content of this podcast is based on my professional work as an estrangement coach and my personal estrangement journey. Any examples, characters, or stories referenced are drawn from my own lived experience or represent a composite of multiple real-life situations shared with me over time. PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS: Dr. Janet SteinkampWhen Our Adult Children Walk Away with Dr. Janet Steinkamp explores healthy communication, ethical interaction, safe family relationships, and reciprocal (appropriate) boundaries. The podcast provides education and support for parents navigating family estrangement, communication breakdowns, grief, reconciliation efforts, healthy boundary development and adult family relationship dynamics.Dr. Janet Steinkamp's work emphasizes emotionally healthy communication, adult accountability, ethical and safe relationship practices, mutual respect and appropriate boundaries, voluntary communication and reconnection and safe and appropriate family systems. Listeners gain practical tools to improve communication, understand the dynamics of estrangement, and pursue emotional responsibility, compassion, and integrity.
Panik, Angst, Verzweiflung, innerer Terror ist die Sprache eines Nervensystems, das sich auf die Begrenzungen, Identifikationen und externen kollabierenden Einflüsse der 3D-Matrix bezieht und diese Verdrehungen wiedergibt. Die Power vieler High Sensitives allerdings entsteht in der multidimensionalen Öffnung für neue Lösungen und Systeme. Welcher angstbasierte Lebensbereich hier auch immer gerade aktiviert ist - er ist derjenige, in der dein Nervensystem sich gerade „multidimensionalisieren“ und die alte Matrix durchbrechen darf. In dieser Session erkläre ich diesen für den linearen Verstand etwas herausfordernden Content und helfe dir energetisch bei diesem Jump in der Frequenz-Session ab Minute 23 ... Am So, den 30.8.2026 , 20.30 Uhr vertiefen wir diese Multidimensionalisierung in der Online Frequenz-Heilung „Neuro-Frequency - ein multidimensionales Upgrade für neurodivergente Systeme“. Infos und Details zur Anmeldung auf meiner Webseite unter Workshops & Events. xx Ludwig Worte der Achtsamkeit: Ich bin kein Arzt, Therapeut oder Heilpraktiker , stelle keine Diagnosen und gebe keine Heilversprechen. Die Informationen in dieser Session werden nach bestem Wissen und Gewissen weitergegeben. Sie sind ausschließlich für Interessierte und zur Fortbildung gedacht und keinesfalls als Diagnose- oder Therapieanweisungen zu verstehen. Bei Verdacht auf Erkrankungen konsultiere bitte deinen Arzt oder Heilpraktiker. Meine Arbeit hat das Ziel, spirituelle Transformation & energetisches Wohlbefinden durch körperzentrierte Frequenzveränderung zu initiieren und kann keine konventionellen Therapiemethoden ersetzen. Sie richtet sich an spirituell interessierte und “energiefühlige” Menschen.
Shift from Reactive Survival Loops to Real-Time Empowered Composure—The SMART Way. Download Your FREE 10-Minute SMART MICRO-HABIT Check (PDF): https://payhip.com/b/r3sNW
You may be tracking KPIs in your dental practice, but do you know what those numbers are actually telling you? In this episode, Kirk Behrendt talks with Adriana Booth, an ACT Dental coach, about how key performance indicators reveal the health of your systems, team, patient care, and business.You'll learn how to interpret KPIs as diagnostic tools, identify the systems influencing your numbers, focus your team on meaningful improvements, and make steady progress without chasing perfection. To understand what your practice data is really telling you, listen to Episode 1089 of The Best Practices Show!Main Takeaways:Every KPI is influenced by multiple systems and should not be interpreted as having only one cause.KPIs can help measure both the health of the practice and the quality of patient care.Teams should ask which system produced a result instead of assigning blame to an individual.New patient growth can be affected by referrals, phone conversion, the first-visit experience, treatment presentation, and follow-up systems.High numbers of unscheduled active patients can indicate weaknesses in reappointment, recare, or other patient-retention systems.Tracking KPI trends over time provides more useful information than relying on assumptions or memory.Practices can create meaningful improvement by selecting a few important KPIs and improving the systems that influence them quarter over quarter.Episode Chapters:00:00 What KPIs can reveal about a dental practice.03:01 Using KPIs as feedback instead of judgment.05:40 Why every KPI is influenced by multiple systems.06:38 Systems that can affect new patient growth.08:30 What unscheduled active patients can reveal about a practice.09:32 KPIs as measures of practice health and patient health.11:12 How periodontal percentages can reflect patient-care outcomes.12:45 Stop asking who is responsible and start examining the system.14:38 Using collection percentage to identify system improvements.17:38 What a high broken appointment percentage can indicate.22:44 Focusing on progress rather than perfection.24:48 Choosing a few KPIs to improve each quarter.26:34 Using the KPI analysis activity to better understand practice metrics.28:50 Resources for KPI improvement and coaching support.Guest Bio:Adriana Booth is a Lead Practice Coach who partners with dentists and their teams to cultivate leadership skills, drive practice growth, and streamline business practices. With nearly three decades of experience in the dental industry, Adriana brings a deep passion for professional development, high-level training, and systems creation to her coaching.As a dental hygienist committed to continuing education and personal growth, she thrives on helping practices achieve their full potential. Adriana holds a BS in Dental Hygiene from West Liberty University/O'Hehir University and remains actively engaged in the dental community through study clubs and professional networks.Now based in Teays Valley, WV, Adriana enjoys fitness, reading, quality time with family, and exploring the outdoors with her Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Beau Duke.Episode Resources:KPI Analysis Activity: https://join.actdental.com/c/resources/kpi-analysis-activity More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:Contact Gina to learn more about ACT: gina@actdental.comThe Best Practices Show: https://www.actdental.com/podcast/Smile Source Community Hub: https://www.actdental.com/community-hubUpcoming Events & Workshops: https://www.actdental.com/events/Smile Source: https://www.smilesource.com/Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.comSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com
In this podcast episode replay from a few years ago, you'll meet Cora, a pet business owner navigating the impact of depression and anxiety on her pet business and her life When feeling well, Cora is high-energy, responsive, and prompt with billing. However, during depressive episodes, she feels physically and mentally blocked, causing client communication and routine business tasks to stall for weeks at a time. As you listen, I want to emphasize that I, Kristin Morrison, am a business and life coach – not a medical professional or therapist – the session is designed solely to help Cora manage her business operations during low periods, not to diagnose or treat her condition. Anyone struggling with anxiety or depression is strongly encouraged to seek help from a medical professional. This episode highlights the reality of running a business while living with a mental health condition. Thank you to Cora for her courage in speaking up, to give a voice to the many pet industry entrepreneurs facing similar challenges while also helping all listeners build deeper empathy for invisible struggles. Visit the show notes page: www.ProsperousPetBusiness.com/podcast178 Find out more and sign up for the online breathwork circle for stress and burnout relief. Try the stress-relieving exercises in the TRE video. Get the How to Recover from Pet Business Burnout book. Find out more about the monthly Pet Business Webinars and Workshops. Click to apply to be coached on the Prosperous Pet Business podcast. Book a pet business coaching session with Kristin Morrison. Connect with Kristin Morrison on Instagram. Copyright © Prosperous Pet Business and Kristin Morrison www.ProsperousPetBusiness.com
Reflections from host Sarah Olivieri ... Why Distributed Leadership Fails (And What Actually Makes It Work) Most nonprofit leaders I talk to already know they can't make every decision themselves. They've read the books. They've heard the term "distributed leadership." They've said out loud, in strategy meetings and board retreats, that they want more decisions happening closer to the people doing the work. And then, a year later, they're still the bottleneck. The story I hear is almost always the same. "I told my team they had authority. I told them I trusted them. But nothing changed. Decisions still come to me." What looks like a resistance problem is actually a systems problem. Distributed leadership is being announced instead of built. The word gets used. The system underneath it does not exist. When the system doesn't exist, people keep doing what the old system taught them to do. They ask permission. They wait for the meeting. They send the email up the chain. Not because they don't want authority. Because nothing around them has been redesigned to make holding that authority a real, workable practice. The Difference Between Declaring And Building A pattern I see over and over: a CEO decides the organization is going to be less hierarchical. They restructure the org chart. They rename departments. They talk about it in the all-staff. And then, six months in, nothing has actually shifted. The org chart is new. The meeting agendas are the same, the decision paths are the same, and the CEO is still the person everyone routes to. The chart got redrawn on top of an unchanged system. This is the structural piece that gets missed. An org chart tells you who is in charge of who. It doesn't tell you what actually needs to get done in the organization or who is accountable for making sure it does. And it doesn't touch the two places where the old hierarchy actually lives, which are meetings and decisions. Until those change, you've made a values statement. You haven't built a system. Trade The Org Chart For A Functions Chart The first piece of the redesign is the one leaders skip most often, because it looks like a semantic move and it isn't. Stop leading with an org chart. Build a functions chart. An org chart is about who is in charge of who. It's a picture of hierarchy. And a hierarchical leadership system, by design, consolidates power by concentrating decision-making. Using an org chart is literally a system that moves you in the opposite direction of distributed decision-making. A functions chart, which is the shape of the Leadership Blueprint I've developed with clients, is about what actually needs to get done in the organization and who is accountable for making sure it does. Instead of boxes for roles under other roles, you have named functions, each tied to a specific outcome, each with one person accountable for that outcome getting produced. That single move changes everything downstream. Now people aren't waiting to be told what to do by the person above them. They're accountable for an outcome, and they hold the decisions required to produce it. Distributed leadership stops being an aspiration. It becomes the actual design. One line from my conversation with Jocelyn Wyatt, CEO of Alight, has stayed with me: "I both could hold distributed leadership, but then also had to teach distributed leadership to sort of the next level and the next level and the next level." What I appreciate about this framing is that it explains the mechanism. Once the functions chart is in place and each function has a clearly accountable owner, the work at each layer is to run distributed leadership inside their piece of the chart. That's a system carrying the practice, not a value statement trying to. Rework The Meetings The second piece is meetings. This is the piece I see leaders underestimate the most, and it is where command-and-control reinstalls itself no matter what the org chart says. Meeting agendas are a system. They reinforce whatever model is baked into them. If your leadership team meeting agenda is a series of updates rolling up to you, followed by decisions the group is asking you to make, you are running a command-and-control meeting. It doesn't matter what you call the meeting or what values you name at the top of it. The structure produces the behavior. A meeting designed to reinforce distributed leadership looks different. The agenda is structured around identifying where things are going right and where things are going wrong, and giving each outcome owner the chance to receive support from the rest of the group. Not approval from everyone. Not approval from any one person. Support. The group's job is to be useful to that owner, not to sign off on their work. That one shift, done consistently, changes how the whole organization behaves inside a quarter. People stop bringing their decisions to meetings for permission. They start bringing them for input, and the input goes back with them. Let People Volunteer Into The Outcomes They'll Own The third piece is how outcomes actually get owned, and this is the part most leaders get backwards Distributing decision-making is essentially the same thing as delegating outcomes. The person in a heads role is accountable for an outcome that sits outside their direct control. They can't personally make every donation come in, or every program hit its mark, or every partnership hold. But they own whether it happens. They decide what changes, what scales, what gets paused, what gets killed. The traditional way to fill those roles is assignment. The CEO and one or two senior leaders sit in a closed room and decide who gets promoted, who gets moved, who gets the new accountability. That model has two problems. It's bad for innovation, because people don't do their best thinking when they feel like they need a supervisor's approval for their next move. And it's bad for equity, because every layer of subjective human assessment lets inherited bias operate. The better move is to make the Leadership Blueprint visible to the whole team and let people volunteer into the heads roles they want to grow toward. The map shows every function, every outcome, and who currently owns each one. In front of the team, you ask: Where does the organization need to grow next? Who's ready for a heads role they've never held? Who wants to add a heads accountability on top of what they're already carrying? That's not chaos. It's not a free-for-all. It's a shift in the question. Instead of "what does my manager think of my work this quarter," the question becomes "where does this organization need to grow next, and where do I want to be standing when it does?" When someone volunteers into an outcome, the accountability lands differently. They chose it. They saw the map, understood the gap, and stepped forward. That's a very different starting point than being told what you're now responsible for. Ownership behaves differently when it's chosen than when it's assigned. The closed-door version of advancement produces one thing: the CEO deciding who moves. The open-map version produces three things at once: better innovation, better retention, and a more equitable system. Then Train Inside The System Once the functions chart is visible, the meetings are redesigned around it, and people have volunteered into the outcomes they'll own, training becomes the thing that lets the system actually run. Training is real work. Workshops, small conversations, direct coaching on what it means to invite the person closer to the problem into the decision, how to synthesize what they say, how to bring insight back and let it change the plan. It teaches people how to operate inside the redesigned system. On its own, though, training can't do the whole job. If the meetings, the reporting lines, and the decision rights still send the old signal, the training won't override them. Announcing a principle is a values statement. Building the system that makes it real, and then training people to operate inside it, is the whole job. Only the second one holds. Curiosity Is The Precondition There's one more piece underneath all of this that I want to name, because it's easy to miss. All of the structural work, all the redesign of the functions chart and meetings and decision rights, all the workshops and small practices, sit on top of a mindset. The leader has to be genuinely curious about what the people closer to the problem think. Not curious in a symbolic way. Not curious in a "we ran a listening tour" way. Curious in the sense that you actually don't already have the answer, and you know that the person in front of you has information you don't, and you want it. Jocelyn put it well: "I would probably say curiosity. I think that curiosity is such important sort of trait to hold, particularly as a leader. Like, I think we so often, as we sort of go up a journey in leadership, are told that we're the experts, that we know all the things, and people ask us all the questions, and we have the answers." This makes sense given the setup. When a leader believes they already have the answers, distributed leadership becomes theater. The information from the people closer to the problem never actually changes what happens. When a leader is genuinely curious, the information starts to move things. That's when the system produces something different. Curiosity is what makes the whole system real instead of performative. Without it, the practice collapses back into the CEO deciding everything, just with more meetings. What Changes When You Build It This Way When distributed leadership is actually built into an organization, a few things start to shift. The CEO stops being the bottleneck. Decisions get made faster because they're being made where the information lives. The people closest to the work feel the weight of it in a good way, they own the outcome and they own the improvement. Programs get better because they're being shaped by the people running them and the people they're serving. Money follows more easily because the strategy is grounded in what the ground actually looks like. None of that comes from the announcement. It comes from the redesigned system underneath the announcement. A functions chart that names the outcomes and who is accountable for each one. Meetings restructured around those functions, not around reporting to the CEO. People volunteering into the heads roles they want to grow toward, instead of being assigned in a closed room. Training that teaches people how to operate inside all of it. The CEO learning to sit on their hands the twentieth time they want to redirect. The point is to become the kind of leader who builds the system that makes the whole organization stronger, instead of the one whose signature has to be on everything. About the Guest Jocelyn Wyatt, CEO of Alight, leads a global team of over 2,000 members, leveraging her extensive strategic development expertise and a strong human-centered approach. Previously, as co-founder and CEO of IDEO.org, she drove collaborations with major global entities like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Acumen, fostering a decade of impactful leadership. Jocelyn's influence extends to her roles as a founding board member of Airbnb.org, board member of IDEO.org, advisory board member of Marketplace, and founding member of Chief. Connect with Jocelyn: Website: https://www.wearealight.org/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelynwyatt/ Be sure to subscribe to Inspired Nonprofit Leadership so that you don't miss a single episode, and while you're at it, won't you take a moment to write a short review and rate our show? It would be greatly appreciated! Let us know the topics or questions you would like to hear about in a future episode. You can do that and follow us on LinkedIn.
Nuance - a subtle distinction or variation It was an "unforgettable day of music, community, and celebration” for brother/co-host Brian, telling us about his evening out with his friend Matt for dinner at the newly open since January Hitching post Tavern followed by the Sunfest block party at London Brewing Co-Op to kick off Sunfest season and the music was Sonido Pesao, a Montreal based Latin urban / rap group. Brian likes to share with us about the shows he goes to see in London, Ontario where he lives, but a real part of that while supporting the music scene, is the fatigue that comes with being overstimulated in public settings when you live with blindness and other disabilities and conditions. There are adaptations and ways to make such things easier and we talk about some of those on Outlook this week. Navigating an open event with stalls and stages and crowds can be stressful and difficult for example, but on this episode we discuss the low tech and the high tech tools we use, for whatever we're looking to make even a little bit easier. From the new glasses our nine-year-old niece recently got and her exclaiming how putting them on finally has made everything show as so beautiful to a new app release for way finding - it's called NaviLens, it's available in the UK Grand Central Station in Belfast City Center, not using GPS. We learn, also from the UK, that glasses are sometimes known as jam jars colloquially. As well, we share about something we refer to as advocacy fatigue, along with the cognitive load fatigue that's possible as we discuss National Accessibility Day and National Accessibility Awareness Week, 2026 - as sister/co-host Kerry's first Blindness 101 workshop approaches, just before, NAAW being May 31st to June 6th, the latter being the day of Brian's Band King Orca's first live show. As we talk more about AI wearables, we again return to the benefits of having one's phone and its technology with us, monitoring medical concerns like diabetes levels or magnifying our surroundings for us, while too we recognise the toll it all takes on the environment and communities living with it. However, businesses and companies cannot get the message, just because apps are being developed and systems are being put in place that their work and effort is no longer needed and they can avoid their legal requirements and responsibilities. We don't wish to sugar coat things, it's more advocacy fatigue in the mix with a local spa jumping to rash conclusions, displaying pigheaded and ignorant attitudes, and automatically making a whole bunch of incorrect assumptions, without looking enough into our own lived experience as blind people, but also we who only wish to act as regular customers like anyone else. This is coming up again, feels like foreshadowing, but the whole thing reminding some of us of the advocating it took to get to experience Toronto's CN Tower Edge Walk several years back - all these are what National Accessibility Day and National Accessibility Awareness Week are for in the first place. Spring is kicking into high gear and workshop season has begun and Kerry's even reached out to CBC's local London Morning for help spreading the message of Blindness 101. In the meantime, check out the video made for the workshops and her appearance on the Blind Beginnings “Limitless” podcast where she speaks with founder and program manager Shawn Marsolais and recent Outlook guest Jennie Bovard about how the year of facilitating is going: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QBUnMdFd_k https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/episode-232-blindness-101-and-national-accessability-week/id1518892826?i=1000767864001 It's not simply an accessibility tick box somewhere, but more like a series of job interviews to get people to see that AI alone isn't enough and that community, like the local one with the tea room that's struggling, where Kerry and BF Barry love to go - why it all matters, in community and connection.
improve it! Podcast – Professional Development Through Play, Improv & Experiential Learning
“There is enough for everyone. Enough time, enough opportunity, enough resources, enough love, enough patience.” -Tiffany Sauder In this episode of Workday Playdate, Erin sits down with Tiffany Sauder, founder of Life of And, for a conversation about working motherhood, burnout, ambition, and building a life that actually feels sustainable. Tiffany challenges the idea that women simply need to “do more” or “manage their time better” and offers a more practical approach: build better systems, make intentional tradeoffs, and stop treating every season like it has to hold everything. Through her Life of And framework, Tiffany helps ambitious women navigate the tension between meaningful work and meaningful presence. From her “not now” list to her “size of your yes” method, she shares tools for making decisions that honor both your current season and the life you're still building. Inside This Episode: Abundance Over Scarcity: Tiffany shares why her guiding word is abundance and how believing there is enough time, opportunity, energy, and love can change the way we approach career and family. Burnout Is a Systems Problem: Discover why burnout isn't simply about being busy. Tiffany explains how putting in significant effort without feeling meaningful progress can leave high-achieving women depleted—and what to change instead. Every Yes Has a Hidden Cost: A “yes” doesn't just take the time listed on the calendar. Learn how to account for prep, cleanup, transitions, logistics, and emotional energy before committing. From “I Can't” to “I Don't Know How Yet”: Tiffany explains how changing the language we use with ourselves can shift us from limitation and guilt toward ownership, creativity, and problem-solving. The Power of the “Not Now” List: You don't have to abandon a dream just because it doesn't fit your current season. Tiffany shares how parking an idea for later can create peace without closing the door on what matters to you. What to Do Now: Calculate the Real Size of One Yes: Pick one commitment on your calendar and calculate its true time cost, including preparation, transitions, cleanup, and emotional energy. Then ask: Is this still a yes? Create a “Not Now” List: Identify one goal, dream, or interest you've been feeling guilty about not pursuing. Instead of abandoning it, give yourself permission to say, “Not now.” Decide when you'll revisit it. Find One Micro-Solution: Look at one recurring source of stress and ask: Can I outsource it, automate it, eliminate it, or approach it differently? You don't have to redesign your whole life to create more margin. About the Guest Tiffany Sauder is the founder of Life of And, a platform dedicated to helping ambitious women navigate the intersection of career, leadership, motherhood, and caregiving without sacrificing their well-being. A wife and mom of four daughters, Tiffany brings both professional experience and lived experience to conversations about working motherhood. Through the Life of And Podcast, Life of And Program, and live events, Tiffany gives women practical frameworks for making confident choices in demanding seasons of life. Her work helps ambitious women move beyond guilt and perfectionism and build lives where career and family, leadership and presence, and achievement and well-being can coexist. Your Freebie Networking doesn't have to feel performative, transactional, or awkward. Download our Networking Without Feeling Weird toolkit for practical strategies to help you build genuine connections while staying confident, clear, and grounded. Whether you're walking into a conference, meeting new colleagues, or simply trying to expand your circle, this two-part resource will help you network in a way that actually feels like you. Connect with Tiffany Sauder Tiffany's LinkedIn The Life of And program Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it! Leadership Playground online membership community Erin's website Erin's Instagram Erin's TikTok Erin's LinkedIn improve it!'s website improve it!'s Instagram Connect with Erin Diehl
331 / How can you balance craft and criticism? How do you know when to take feedback and when to reject it? A.A. Sekhon shares insights on filtering feedback, writing historical fiction, and staying creative when you don't feel creative or inspired. Navigating the difference between writing and marketing skillsetsThe role of constructive vs. destructive criticismFinding your first readers and building review momentumLeveraging an academic background to enrich storytellingWhy writing for yourself can unlock creative freedom✨ This week's sponsor is BookFunnel.com.
What does it take to build a stronger team that can think, collaborate, and perform without the dentist stepping in for every decision? In this episode, Kirk Behrendt talks with Michelle Wakeman, ACT Dental coach, about why stronger leadership starts with self-awareness. They explain how your behavior affects team culture, the four leadership tendencies based on care and challenge, why clarity and accountability strengthen trust, and how pausing before reacting can help you lead more effectively.Learn how to recognize your leadership patterns, give clearer feedback, and create a healthier, more accountable team — listen to Episode 1088 of The Best Practices Show!Main Takeaways:Self-awareness requires understanding your strengths, shortcomings, and impact on other people.The leader's behavior and emotional state influence the climate of the entire practice.High care with low challenge can lead leaders to avoid difficult conversations and over-function for their team.Low care with high challenge can reduce psychological safety and make team members afraid to speak up or make mistakes.High care with high challenge combines genuine support with clear expectations, honest feedback, and accountability.Pausing before responding under stress helps leaders choose a more effective response instead of reacting automatically.Consistent, proactive conversations prevent small performance issues from becoming larger cultural problems.Episode Chapters:00:00 Why stronger teams start with self-awareness.01:03 Building a team that can think and work together.02:31 Why self-awareness starts with understanding your impact on others.04:00 Using assessments and coaching to better understand yourself.06:29 Balancing care and challenge as a leader.09:19 The four leadership tendencies.20:26 The power of pausing before responding.23:18 Identifying your leadership tendency and practicing accountability.24:00 Kirk's “today's the day” leadership story.29:00 Final thoughts on self-awareness and leadership development.30:00 To The Top Study Club and closing remarks.Guest Bio:Michelle Wakeman, BSDH brings nearly 20 years of clinical dental hygiene, administrative, managerial and sales experience to the table. She has a passion for people and a natural aptitude for communication that has led her to develop meaningful relationships throughout her career in dentistry. As a coach, she seeks to help dental practices develop systems that enable them to enhance their patient experience, leading to better relationships among owners, team members and patients along with profitable outcomes.In her off time, Michelle can usually be found at the ice rink supporting her son, Hunter in hockey, the ball field cheering on her son, Carter, or the gym, reliving her days as a gymnast with her daughter, Leighton.Episode Resources:Radical Candor: https://www.radicalcandor.com/DISC Assessment: https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-discTo The Top Study Club: http://actdental.com/tttMore Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:Contact Gina to learn more about ACT: gina@actdental.comThe Best Practices Show: https://www.actdental.com/podcast/Smile Source Community Hub: https://www.actdental.com/community-hubUpcoming Events & Workshops: https://www.actdental.com/events/Smile Source: https://www.smilesource.com/Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.comSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com
Are gaps in your schedule really a case acceptance problem, or are you simply not diagnosing enough of the care your patients need and want? In this episode, Kirk Behrendt and Metric Mondays co-host Miranda Beeson explain diagnostic percentage, why it is an important leading indicator for future production, and how inconsistent exams, assumptions about patients, and excessive “watching” can limit both care and opportunity. You'll learn how to evaluate diagnostic percentage by provider, create greater consistency in your comprehensive exams, and identify opportunities to better serve existing patients without turning treatment conversations into a sales process. To improve your diagnostic consistency and help more patients understand their options, listen to Episode 1087 of The Best Practices Show!Main Takeaways:Diagnostic percentage measures the percentage of patients receiving an exam who are diagnosed or treatment planned with new treatment in the practice management software.A low diagnostic percentage can indicate inconsistent exams, incomplete documentation, communication challenges, or assumptions about what patients will accept.Practices should diagnose consistently and allow patients to decide whether and when they want to proceed with treatment.A strong clinical philosophy and standardized examination process help patients receive consistent information regardless of which provider they see.Reviewing diagnostic percentage by provider can reveal variations that should be explored rather than immediately judged as right or wrong.Miranda identifies 45% or higher as a useful benchmark while noting that percentages in the teens, 20s, or low 30s may indicate missed opportunities.Comprehensive exams for existing patients and regular review of conditions being “watched” can uncover changes in patient needs, wants, and appropriate treatment.Episode Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Metric Monday and diagnostic percentage.02:53 Diagnostic percentage as a measure of consistent patient care.05:51 Avoiding assumptions about a patient's willingness or ability to pursue treatment.07:00 Common causes of low diagnostic percentage.10:18 How consistent standards support stronger diagnosis.12:00 Helping patients plan proactively for future dentistry.14:56 Reviewing diagnostic percentage by provider and using benchmarks.17:21 Re-evaluating existing patients with comprehensive exams.19:00 Using improved skills and technology to better evaluate patients over time.20:00 Untapped treatment opportunities within the existing practice.21:00 Closing thoughts.Guest Bio:Miranda Beeson has over 25 years of clinical dental hygiene, front office, practice administration, and speaking experience. She is enthusiastic about communication and loves helping others find the power that words can bring to their patient interactions and practice dynamics. As a Lead Practice Coach, she is driven to create opportunities to find value in experiences and cultivate new approaches.Miranda graduated from Old Dominion University, and enjoys spending time with her husband, Chuck, and her children, Trent, Mallory, and Cassidy. Family time is the best time, and is often spent on a golf course, a volleyball court, or spending the day boating at the beach.Episode Resources:The Wallet Biopsy: https://www.actdental.com/blog/the-procedure-to-always-avoid-wallet-biopsyMore Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:Contact Gina to learn more about ACT: gina@actdental.comThe Best Practices Show: https://www.actdental.com/podcast/Smile Source Community Hub: https://www.actdental.com/community-hubUpcoming Events & Workshops: https://www.actdental.com/events/Smile Source: https://www.smilesource.com/Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.comSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com
We sit down with Odessa Bowdin-Sierra, the founder and designer behind LA Native, a Los Angeles apparel brand celebrating local pride, neighborhood identity, and the belief that moving up doesn't always mean moving out. A proud Angelino with deep ties to the Crenshaw community, Odessa first made her mark in 2003 with Nobody Jones Boutique, bringing high-quality, fashion-forward clothing to a neighborhood she felt deserved more options. In this conversation, she shares her journey through the fashion industry, the racism that drove her to open her own shop, the origins of LA Native as a "love letter" to the city, and her philosophy on community reinvestment and small business ownership.ResourcesLA Native website: shoplanative.comLA Native storefront: 4343 Crenshaw Boulevard (across from Leimert Park, next to Taco Mel)Community AnnouncementsSouth LA Economic Development Strategy Meeting Thursday, August 27th | 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM Council District 8 Constituent Service Center — 8475 South Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles Conducted in English and Spanish. Accessibility accommodations available upon request.Keep Los Angeles Beautiful — 8th Annual Beautification Conference Saturday, September 19th | 9:00 AM Friendship Auditorium — 3201 Riverside Drive, Los Angeles Free and open to all. Workshops, panel discussions, and a community resource expo with 30+ exhibitors.Subscribe & ReviewRate, subscribe, and review MHD Off the Record — leave a review and get a shout-out on the show!
A Chicago woman uses her side hustle to support her life, then adapts it to help more than 1,000 children in trans-racial adoptive families. Side Hustle School features a new episode EVERY DAY, featuring detailed case studies of people who earn extra money without quitting their job. This year, the show includes free guided lessons and listener Q&A several days each week.Show notes: SideHustleSchool.comEmail: team@sidehustleschool.comBe on the show: SideHustleSchool.com/questionsConnect on Instagram: @193countriesVisit Chris's main site: ChrisGuillebeau.comRead A Year of Mental Health: yearofmentalhealth.comIf you're enjoying the show, please pass it along! It's free and has been published every single day since January 1, 2017. We're also very grateful for your five-star ratings—it shows that people are listening and looking forward to new episodes.
Beyond...What's SHE Up To Now Day 3119? Supersize Challenges, CCA, AI, Workshops...! Join us every day in 2026 for a quick challenge that is all about you Improving and creating the life you want! https://www.facebook.com/ThrivingSharon Ask your questions and share your wisdom! #supersize #lessonslearned #missedopportunities #decisionmaking #beabetteryou #personalgrowth #developskills #uncoverwhatis #giving #coaching #scaling #supersizechallenges #howcanIhelp #contribution #AI #coaching #exhausted #burnout #skoolcommunity #community #spirit #communityspirit #beyond #meditation #spiritualpractice Learn how spiritual business practices influence your daily operations. Improve decision making and company culture for sustainable growth. This discussion focuses on the spiritual aspects of business and how they shape organizational behavior. If you are an entrepreneur looking to integrate deeper values into your leadership, this session provides a practical framework for aligning your personal beliefs with your professional strategy. We examine how focusing on internal wisdom can lead to more intentional business decision making. By prioritizing these elements, you can foster a more cohesive business culture that supports long-term scaling. This approach helps you move beyond traditional metrics to find meaning in your daily work. We break down the connection between spiritual health and business growth, helping you apply these concepts immediately to your own ventures. Subscribe for daily business strategy breakdowns, and comment below on how you integrate your personal values into your professional life. 0:00 The Spiritual Foundation of Business Growth 1:25 Unlocking Clarity Through Meditation 4:11 Consistency Over Duration in Your Habits 7:25 The Science of Mindful Leadership
Hiring an office manager can add leadership and structure to a dental practice, but the title alone will not solve problems with communication, accountability, or culture. In this episode, Kirk Behrendt talks with Lorie Streeter, a longtime dental office management advocate and MaxAssist team member, about what practices need to have in place before adding an office manager. They discuss when the role becomes necessary, the leadership qualities to look for, how to define decision-making authority, why regular communication matters, and how dentists can protect strong managers from burnout. To better understand what makes the dentist-office manager relationship work, listen to Episode 1086 of The Best Practices Show!Main Takeaways:A practice should consider adding an office manager when greater leadership and coordination are needed between the clinical and front teams.A strong office manager needs leadership ability, business awareness, level-headedness, and the capacity to manage multiple areas of the practice.Longevity in a practice does not automatically qualify a team member to become the office manager.Dentists and office managers should have consistent business-focused meetings in addition to their daily patient and team communication.Dentists need to clearly define which decisions an office manager can make independently, which require discussion, and which remain the dentist's responsibility.Trust between the dentist and office manager should include appropriate oversight of KPIs, scheduling issues, unscheduled treatment, and other important business indicators.Office managers need support, communication, continued education, and clear boundaries to reduce the risk of burnout.Episode Chapters:00:00 What dental practices should know before hiring an office manager.01:37 Lorie Streeter's background in dental office management.05:19 AADOM and Office Manager Support07:00 Why an office manager will not automatically solve practice problems.11:20 Indicators that a practice may need an office manager.13:08 Leadership skills and responsibilities of an effective office manager.16:13 Office manager workload and the risk of burnout.19:07 Communication rhythms between dentists and office managers.21:52 Defining decision-making authority and responsibilities.24:23 Managing communication in multi-doctor practices.27:13 Balancing trust with appropriate oversight.31:00 Qualities to consider in a prospective office manager.31:04 Transitioning from clinical roles into practice administration.35:00 How MaxAssist supports practice teams and tracks team activity.38:00 Final guidance for dentists and office managers.Guest Bio:With nearly three decades in the dental industry, Lorie blends deep field experience with a passion for growth and connection. As a former dental office manager and past Vice President of The American Association of Dental Office Management (AADOM), she understands firsthand the challenges and opportunities practices face. Her focus at MaxAssist is to expand impact through relationship-driven strategy, smart technology, and a heart for office managers.Episode Resources:AADOM: https://learn.dentalmanagers.com/Dental Assistant to Practice Administrator course from AADOM: https://learn.dentalmanagers.com/products/dental-assistant-to-practice-administrator-da-to-pa-curriculumMaxAssist: https://maxassist.com/lorie/https://www.instagram.com/loriestreetermaxedout/linkedin.com/in/loriestreeterhttps://www.tiktok.com/@loriestreetermaxedoutMore Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:Contact Gina to learn more about ACT: gina@actdental.comThe Best Practices Show: https://www.actdental.com/podcast/Smile Source Community Hub: https://www.actdental.com/community-hubUpcoming Events & Workshops: https://www.actdental.com/events/Smile Source: https://www.smilesource.com/Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.comSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com
Episode 121: A conversation with pastor, evangelist, and professor Elise Wood. In this episode, Pastor Elise and our podcast host, Mykelti Blum, talk about lessons Pastor Elise has learned being a female in ministry. Pastor Elise is passionate about reaching the next generation for the Lord and training up young people in vocational ministry. She shares about how God is Who calls us into ministry, and He is looking for our obedience—not a perfect performance. Pastor Elise has a lot of wisdom and experiences that we know you will be incredibly blessed by! Learn more about Pastor Elise and the Ripple Effect Ministries at rippleffect.me. Follow @elisewood or @rippleffect.me on Instagram. Follow @MNBTG on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Subscribe to the BTG Podcast on Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Spotify, YouTube, or listen on WordPress. BTG Events & Resources: 2026 Thrive Conference October 9-10, 2026 Mayo Civic Center (Rochester, MN) Featuring Lisa Bevere, Christina Girma-Hanfere, Martha Tennison, Susie Larson (speaker + emcee), Amber Gerstmann (emcee), Substance Worship, Angie Goetz (BTG Director + conference host), and Mykelti Blum + Shannon Velsor (Bonus Sessions emcees) Afternoon & Main Sessions, “LIVE at Thrive with Susie Larson” — a BTG Podcast Recording Experience, Lunch with Speakers, the Thrive After-Party, Exhibitor Shopping, and More! Groups of 40+ to Register by Sept 20 Will Receive Reserved Seating. See All Ticket Types, and Register: First-Time Guests to Thrive in Rochester Can Register for ONLY $20 FREE Tickets for 2026 High School Grads and North Central University and Trinity Bible College and Graduate School undergrad students! Email info@mnbtg.org to Request Your Coupon Code. (These free tickets are not transferrable.) Register for Early Bird Tickets by August 31. BTG Missions Trips and Giving Opportunity Learn About Our 2025-2026 BTG Missions Partners, and Give A Tax-Deductible Gift:: mnbtg.org/missions. Apply to join a 2027 BTG Missions Trip to Cambodia or Cambodia and Vietnam: mnbtg.org/trips. 2027 BTG Leadership Conference February 19-20 Lake Geneva Christian Center (Alexandria, MN) Featuring Lisa Seaton and More! Main Sessions (including the Lund Leadership Award Presentation and the Leadership Exchange), Workshops, Brainstorming Groups, the After-Party, Exhibitor Shopping, Networking, and More! Register: mnbtg.org/leadership. Nominate a female leader of excellence for the 2027 Lund Leadership Award by Oct 31, 2026. 2027 Single Moms Retreat June 4-5 Lake Geneva Christian Center (Alexandria, MN) Featured Guests: Dr. Keisha Spivey (speaker) and Derrick & Ashley Benoit (worship) Main Sessions, Multiple Workshops, Lots of INCLUDED Activities, Giveaways, and Services. Learn More & Register to Attend, Exhibit, or Volunteer: mnbtg.org/retreat. 2027 Garden Coffee Free Missional Event for Women and Girls of All Ages! July 2027; Lake Geneva Christian Center (Alexandria, MN) Enjoy Refreshments, Worship Together, and Hear from a MN Global Worker. You’ll Also Have the Opportunity to Invest Into Missions (to Support Our 1000 Sisters Fund). Learn More at mnbtg.org/1000sisters. No RSVP Required; Invite Your Family and Church Community! Please take a moment to rate and review the podcast to help others find this resource, as well!
improve it! Podcast – Professional Development Through Play, Improv & Experiential Learning
"Your next opportunity probably won't come from your resume. It'll come from a conversation." – Erin Diehl In this solo episode of Workday Playdate, Erin shares the true story of how one cold email, one coffee meeting, and one unexpected dinner led to improve it!'s very first paying client. If networking has ever felt awkward, transactional, or downright exhausting, this episode will completely reframe the way you build professional relationships. Erin introduces her BREW IT networking framework: a simple, human-centered approach to creating meaningful connections that lead to real career opportunities. Whether you're job searching, growing your business, or simply looking to expand your professional network, you'll walk away with practical strategies to network authentically without feeling fake. Inside This Episode: Networking Starts With Showing Up: Erin shares how attending one Chicago networking event introduced her to a connection that would ultimately change the trajectory of her career. The Coffee Matters More Than the Pitch: Career-changing relationships are built through curiosity, generosity, and genuine conversation. The BREW IT Framework for Authentic Networking: Learn Erin's five-step process for building meaningful professional relationships: Be There, Reach Out, Earn the Relationship, Win Them Over with Who You Actually Are, and Invite the Next Scene. Relationships Before Opportunities: Discover practical ways to build trust long before you ask for anything—including thoughtful follow-up, sharing someone's work, making introductions, and staying connected over time. One Conversation Can Change Everything: The episode ends with a simple challenge designed to help you stop overthinking networking and start creating momentum with one meaningful conversation in the next 48 hours. What to Do Now: Start With One Person: Think of someone you'd genuinely love to learn from and send them a short, specific email asking for 20 minutes to connect. Lead With Curiosity: During your conversation, focus on asking thoughtful questions instead of trying to impress. The best networking conversations feel like exchanges, not interviews. Keep the Story Going: Follow up within 48 hours with a meaningful thank-you, a helpful resource, or an introduction. And don't forget to invite the next conversation! Real relationships are built one scene at a time. Your Freebie Networking doesn't have to feel performative, transactional, or awkward. Download our Networking Without Feeling Weird toolkit for practical strategies to help you build genuine connections while staying confident, clear, and grounded. Whether you're walking into a conference, meeting new colleagues, or simply trying to expand your circle, this two-part resource will help you network in a way that actually feels like you. Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it! Leadership Playground online membership community Erin's website Erin's Instagram Erin's TikTok Erin's LinkedIn improve it!'s website improve it!'s Instagram Connect with Erin Diehl
330 / Curious how authors can turn their books and stories into brands and unique products—while actually making the process work for them? Dana Claire shares how she founded The Inkfluence agency and what she's learned about successful marketing, Kickstarter campaigns, and brand expansion.-From author to founder: Dana's journey and the birth of The Inkfluence-What authors need to know about overseas book production and special editions-Kickstarter campaign strategies and common mistakes to avoid-Expanding author IP into collectibles, novelties, and mass market retail-The power of tracking, simplifying your marketing, and building the right author mindset✨ This week's sponsor is Bookfunnel: https://bookfunnel.com
Join our next FASO Show Live!https://artists.boldbrush.com/p/the-faso-showLearn the magic of marketing with us here at BoldBrush!boldbrushshow.com--Most artists don't plan to teach. They plan to paint. To show. To sell. Teaching comes later; sometimes out of necessity, sometimes out of desperation, and sometimes almost by accident. But here's what every artist in today's episode will tell you: once they started, something unexpected happened. Teaching didn't just pay the bills. It changed them.Today we're talking about the studio that pays for itself: the teaching side of an artist's career that rarely gets discussed openly. How do you start? When are you ready? How does it actually make you money? And what does it give back that has nothing to do with money at all?Six artists. Six different paths into the classroom. All of them still painting, still teaching, and still surprised by what one has done for the other.Episodes mentioned:77 Aaron Westerberg104 Thomas Schaller116 Liz Haywood-Sullivan159 Barbara Jaenicke174 Matthew James Collins179 Tanner Steed
Dental marketing has changed significantly, but the goal is still to connect with the right patients and give them a reason to care. In this episode, Kirk Behrendt talks with Minal Sampat, marketing strategist, social media coach, dental hygienist, best-selling author, and founder of Marketologist, about what is working in dental marketing today. You will learn how to use AI without losing trust, create content around patient outcomes, improve local and social marketing, track where patients actually come from, and evaluate your marketing budget based on your audience and competition. For practical ways to make your marketing more effective, listen to Episode 1085 of The Best Practices Show!Main Takeaways:Marketing platforms and techniques continue to change, but effective marketing still depends on connecting with people and giving them something they care about.AI should be used as a tool rather than a substitute for human communication, and practices should be transparent when AI-generated avatars or content are being used.Dental content builds more trust when it shows the patient outcome of treatment instead of focusing only on procedures.Practices can expand their local reach by supporting nearby businesses and organizations and collaborating with them through social media content.Marketing budgets should be based on the competitive environment, the patients the practice wants to serve, and the activities that produce a measurable return.New patient forms can help identify the patient journey by allowing patients to select every marketing source that contributed to their decision.Internal marketing should emphasize patient appreciation and practice culture, while external marketing should create a consistent experience across reviews, social media, websites, ads, and patient communication.Episode Chapters:00:00 What is working in dental marketing today.02:39 Minal's background in marketing and dental hygiene.05:40 Creating a Guinness World Record campaign.10:11 How dental marketing changed after COVID-19.13:26 The growing role of AI in marketing.14:55 Using AI while maintaining trust.17:00 Humanizing AI-generated communication.21:05 Social media content and Google search visibility.22:30 Creating dental content that builds trust.28:49 A simple local marketing strategy for dental practices.30:59 Combining ground marketing with social media.33:11 Leveraging existing marketing to reduce unnecessary spending.35:37 Understanding your target audience.36:52 Marketing KPIs and tracking patient sources.40:07 Internal versus external marketing.42:29 Evaluating the potential patient journey.44:15 Final thoughts on using marketing tools effectively.44:47 Minal's Exchange session.45:43 Podcast Wrap UpGuest Bio:Minal Sampat, RDH is the bestselling author of Why Your Marketing Is Killing Your Business, And What To Do About It. She is the founder of Marketologist® - an online marketing strategy & training course & community, a renowned marketing strategist, sought-after speaker, and social media coach extraordinaire.Minal is the founder of the popular CE on The Beach™ event! She hosts CE events & workshops on beautiful islands around the world. This event has sold out every single time!Plus, she is the Co-founder of the Pediatric Dental Marketing Course & Pediatric Dental Growth Summit!P.S. Many call Minal the "Marketing Therapist."Episode Resources:https://www.minalsampat.com/https://ceonthebeach.com/https://marketologist.com/https://www.instagram.com/minalsampatllc/https://www.facebook.com/RealTalkWithMinalSampatHeyGen: https://app.heygen.comChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai/More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:Contact Gina to learn more about ACT: gina@actdental.comThe Best Practices Show: https://www.actdental.com/podcast/Smile Source Community Hub: https://www.actdental.com/community-hubUpcoming Events & Workshops: https://www.actdental.com/events/Smile Source: https://www.smilesource.com/Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.comSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com
Lauren Fields is the Founder and CEO of Fieldswell, a wellness and personal growth company dedicated to helping individuals and creators evolve from the inside out. Lauren's journey spans hospitality, wellness, and psychology, culminating in a Master's degree in Psychology, a TEDx talk, and a podcast featuring global thought leaders, all driven by her curiosity about human potential and commitment to growth.After overcoming a traumatic brain injury, Lauren transformed her personal wellness journey into a mission to empower others to create lives they love, not in spite of adversity, but because of it.Through Fieldswell, Lauren leads:The Fieldswell Podcast - recorded at Fieldswell Studios in Rancho Santa Fe, featuring conversations with global voices in wellness, mindset, and personal development.Fieldswell Wellness Sanctuary - a hub for coaching, healing, red light therapy, nervous system support, and mindfulness practices.Fieldswell Studios - a luxury content and podcast studio providing curated sets, VIP content days, and creative support for entrepreneurs and creators.Workshops & Live Experiences - sold-out events focused on mindset, wellness, and brand-building to spark clarity, connection, and transformation.Coaching & Brand Strategy - psychology-driven guidance helping clients achieve inner alignment, expand identity, and craft impactful personal brands.Lauren is passionate about helping others cultivate clarity, confidence, and lasting impact through holistic growth, creative expression, and transformational experiences.In This Episode, We Explore:How Lauren's personal journey, including overcoming a traumatic brain injury, shaped her approach to growth, resilience, and empowerment.The critical role of identity and nervous system safety in personal development and how to navigate limiting beliefs.The importance of authentic visibility and aligning your brand with personal values to connect deeply with your audience.Strategies for building sustainable success without sacrificing wellbeing, including avoiding burnout while pursuing professional goals.Practical insights and actionable steps for transforming adversity into growth and embracing challenges as catalysts for personal and professional evolution.Follow Lauren Fields on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenfields/Follow Fieldwells on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fieldswell/Learn more Fieldswell here: https://www.fieldswell.com/Listen to the The Fieldswell Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fieldswell-podcast/id1743282753Stay Connected:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/whitneyaronoff/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/starseedkitchen/TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@whitneyaronoffTikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@starseedkitchenLearn more about Starseed Kitchenhttps://starseedkitchen.com/Shop organic spiceshttps://starseedkitchen.com/shop/code STARSEED for 10% offShop Chef Whitney's favorite source for organic regenerative meats at StarWalker Organic FarmsUse code CHEF for 10% off your online order of $150 or more. Get an additional 10% off for a total discount of 20% when you choose a subscription. https://www.starwalkerorganicfarms.com/discount/CHEFSave 20% off on the healthiest beef sticks by Artemis. 100% organic grass-fed & grass-finished beef sticks. Regeneratively raised with the added bonus of organ meat, heart & liver. Use code STARSEED20 for 20% off. https://bit.ly/4aHDKFlThe 36-pack Subscribe & Save plus my code saves you about 36% off retail.Work with a personal chefhttps://form.typeform.com/to/CGDu08tEBook a 1-on-1 callhttps://bit.ly/4smXWUfFind more of Chef Whitney's offerings herehttps://linktr.ee/whitney.aronoff