Embers and Wind

Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Guest Ant Blair shares with guest host Jason Carr: “The confidence comes from mastery, man. When you know that you know that you know, it’s a wrap. So, when I hit that TEDx stage and delivered that presentation, I knew I was going to kill it. And that might sound like an asshole thing to say, I knew I was going to kill it. I knew I was going to kill it. And when I walked off the stage, after I delivered that speech, I knew that I killed it. And that comes from mastery, man, that comes from mastery. I mastered that speech. Ten years, ten years I was eye on the prize, eye on the prize. Been in Toastmasters for ten years, man.”

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

In this episode, guest Ant Blair shares stories from his life starting when he was twelve-years-old and his father gave in to his begging and bought Ant a Commodore 64. He talks about the importance of having a reason beyond ourselves that drives us. Ant shares that his son was his first compelling why, his reason to give up a lifestyle, to stop selling weed on the streets to avoid the risk of getting shot or locked up because his son needed him. He talks about being in the website design industry when demand for websites exploded to experience which led him to launch and grow his own company to 12 people in 2000 before the tech bubble imploded 2001. He notes that he knew more about the Internet than the professors during the first year they included how to use the Internet in their course curriculum. He talks about a core principle he’s learned from personal development professionals and found to be true for himself, that your purpose must be bigger than you, that it must be outside of yourself. He shares his desire to serve this purpose bigger as a keynote speaker. He notes that he knows when he fulfills his purpose because he experiences exponentially more joy and fulfillment from educating and inspiring others than from his own achievements. Guest host Jason Carr confides “As you talked about lighting that match, when you and I first met, you lit that match for me.”

To connect with Ant, he invites you to click on the link to his company’s website. His company’s website is listed as the website for this episode. Guest host Jason Carr highly recommends: 1) watching Ant Blair’s TEDx Talk, Gaining Access (a link to his TEDx Talk can be found on his company’s website.); 2) reading Ant’s white paper “The Five Mistakes Antiracists Make and How You Can Avoid Them”. And if you’re looking for a mentor, guest host Jason Carr highly recommends Ant Blair. 

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Listen for the joy in guest Sonja Martinovic’s voice as she shares a story about a sales manager who, after having earned an ROI being coached by Sonja for two months, he then earned these breakthrough results from investing further in himself: “But what was special is that he really wanted to get rid of this over thinking thing and this perfectionism. So, he hired me only for mindset mastery where we dove into his beliefs and his rules and his values. And within a couple of weeks, he launched (his course) again. And now, he’s like, we had a vision at the beginning of the coaching session, the first coaching session. Now, he’s just manifesting everything one after another, and he’s feeling great for taking action. He let go completely of the perfectionism. He doesn’t experience anxiety. He’s traveling the world. His business is going great. And you know just get to enjoy to see everything that he is manifesting. And the best thing is that he’s not even done 20% of what his potential is.”

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

In this episode, Sonja shares what drove her to be an entrepreneur and a coach of coaches and includes her passion that drives her today. She recalls questioning how she could dare feel unfulfilled with a six-figure income, a family with children, and a home. She shares her passion for transformation, energy, and strategy to achieve results and for being an entrepreneur. She talks about investing in herself in time and money in her 20-year journey to build an empowering mindset. She defines an empowering mindset as having the grit to get through challenges because you have this inner knowing that you will achieve the result you want. She tells inspiring stories. She shares her coaching approach incorporates strategy, NLP, mindset, her variation of the law of attraction which she invented, and emotional code (releasing emotions trapped in the body).  She notes how she used her intuition to select The Vault as the name for her podcast in spite of marketing concerns expressed by others. She notes with pride that The Vault quickly catapulted into the top 2% of podcasts. She shares that The Vault is for business owners who want this holistic way of living and success and transformation plus tools and strategies, like sales and marketing, to unlock their next level of success.  

For those interested in connecting with Sonja, she suggests connecting with her on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. You can find Sonja on Facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/sonja.martinovic.1111. You can find Sonja on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/sonja_martinovic_coaching/. You can find Sonja on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonjamartinovic/. She also offers her company’s website as a means to connect. Her company’s website is listed as the website for this episode. For those interested in learning from Sonja, she has workbooks and game plans for people interested in starting a coaching business. She closes with this benevolent Call-to-Action: Listen to an episode of The Vault podcast. See if you like it and you can always get in touch with her.

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Guest Becca Goldsberry invites you to accept this benevolent Call-to-Action: “Say yes to yourself. Say yes to being stress free. Say yes to growth. Say yes to being open-minded, being coachable. Whether coaching is a fit for you or Southwestern is a fit for you, just say yes to yourself. Because when you say yes to yourself, not only are you just helping yourself, but you’re helping your family, your children, your friends. You’re helping the community around you. And yes, means so many different things to so many different people but just say yes and being the very best that you can be professionally and personally. And to me, coaching is just a great vehicle to be able to do that.”

In this episode, Becca Goldsberry shares she is a guest on Embers and Wind to seeking top sales professionals with at least eight years’ experience who are interested in exploring a potential fit with becoming a sales and leadership coach for Southwestern Coaching, a division of Southwestern Consulting. She talks about her love for developing team members and clients to reach their full potential personally and professionally. She notes that the parent company has been around since just after the Civil War with expertise and experience in direct sales. Becca shares her story about how she became a sales and leadership coach for Southwestern Coaching. She states that she knew when she was hired to work for Southwestern Coaching that she knew that she would stay and one day retire from Southwestern Coaching. She talks about Southwestern Consulting creed and how this creed resonates with her faith and her personal values. She shares with pride that Southwestern Coaching adheres to their company creed that states that their complimentary one-hour workshops provided by Southwestern Coaching to introduce companies to their work provides value to help sales team succeed through providing customized content to address the needs that the sales team leader believes will benefit their sales team members. She notes in exchange receiving the complimentary workshop, their company benefits by having the opportunity at the end to sell their one-on-ones coaching for professional salespeople and for their leaders and executives. Becca states that the candidate hired from their comprehensive process will report to Becca. She explains that they have an extensive hiring process to ensure a great fit.

To connect with Becca and Southwestern Coaching, she encourages you to send her an email and she will promptly reply. Her email address is: [email protected]. Her company’s website is listed as the website for this episode. She invites those interested to connect with her on LinkedIn at this website address: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccagoldsberry/. She invites those interested to follow her on Instagram at this website address: https://www.instagram.com/beccagoldsberryswc/. Becca invites those interested in learning more about the sales and leadership coaching position to email her. She states that additional information about Southwestern Consulting and this position can go to this website:  https://southwesternconsulting.com/.

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Guest Larry McInnes says this about finding happiness: “Oh my gosh, I don’t feel like I have to look for it anymore. I’m so good at finding it. It comes to me. It’s so simple, it’s stupid. You start off with gratitude. I’m grateful for being able to get up in the morning. I’m grateful for the smell of the coffee. I’m constantly grateful for the water that comes out of the faucet because that’s just a miracle to me. Things like sitting in front of you right now and having this opportunity to speak with you is the point of gratitude. I think that’s where a bunch of happiness is rooted”

 I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

In this episode, Larry McInnes shares how his journey to find happiness began when he was sleeping on his friend’s futon with a cat after his wife discovered that he had been involved in a 3-year affair. Instead of filling the happiness when he entered into his affair, he found he had made his life more complicated and then sank to a new low while sleeping on his friend’s futon. He realized then that something had to change and that he was the thing that needed to change. After being on his path to find happiness for 10 years, Larry notes how thrilled he is to discover he no longer needs to seek happiness because he has finally found it. He asserts learning how to generate gratitude was a foundation for his success. For those seeking a life filled with happiness and abundance, Larry recommends starting a gratitude journal to log 3 things you feel grateful for at the start of each day for 7 days, then revisit your gratitude journal at the end of each day. Larry shares his intention is to help those seeking happiness and abundance to collapse how much time it takes them to find both by utilizing the tools and techniques he has developed to learn what he’s learned in a fraction of the time instead of taking their own loopy path.  

To connect with Larry, he invites you to contact him through his happiness and abundance website which is the website listed for this episode. Larry invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Faebook. Here is the link to Larry’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrymcinnes/. To connect with Larry on Instagram, he offers this link: https://www.instagram.com/hey.larry.mcinnes/.  For Facebook, he offers this link to his company’s business page: https://www.facebook.com/Happiness-and-Abundance-Challenge-103861591800187/. If you are interested in learning more from Larry, he wants you to know that he has a happiness tool available on his website, developed by the University of Pennsylvania, as a starting place to scientifically measure your current state of happiness. He closes with this benevolent Call-to-Action: 1) start a gratitude journal; 2) start each day by logging 3 things you feel grateful for at the start of each day; 3) keep a notebook close by in case find something to feel grateful for in the middle of the day. 

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Guest Noelle Turner, born in the states and living for 45 years in Germany talks about cultural differences: “In the beginning, it was a difference, and there are still things that bother me, there are many. It’s just little funny things that they don’t sometimes keep a physical distance, like they walk past you and maybe bump into you and don’t notice it. It’s just how their culture is. You know, for us that would be considered rude. Or like, if you’re talking to one of your friends, or something and they’ll say something like ‘You look really terrible today!’ For me, that’s an insult. And Germans do that in a way to show they care. But it still bothers me, you know, ‘You look really tired.’ And sometimes you feel great, and it makes you feel like ‘Oh, is there something wrong with me today?’ I would never think of telling somebody that they didn’t look good that day. But for them it’s a way of showing that they’re interested in you and that they care about you. But I still get insulted when people say that.”

In this episode, Noelle shares how winning a Rotary Ambassadorial scholarship from Rotary in 1975 while finishing her master’s degree at Indiana University in Bloomington opened the door for her to study opera in Germany and learn the German language. She talks about earning the opportunity to stay in then West Germany led to a career as an opera singer. She notes it was her love of musical theater growing up near New York that she developed in high school that enabled her to become the first musical theater professor in Germany because there was no one in Germany with comparable musical theater knowledge and experience as she had acquired from watching a Broadway show every Saturday. She recalls how touched she was when invited to join Rotary 15 years ago because this gave her a way to thank Rotary for the scholarship. She shares the discomfort she felt being the first female member of her club for a full year, a club that included 80 men. She notes she was offered the privilege to serve as club President 5 years later. She notes how serving as club President was a way to thank Rotary for the scholarship. She recounts seizing the opportunity to return to Bloomington, Indiana, in March 2013 to express her gratitude to the Bloomington Rotary club for the scholarship she received in 1975 during her term as President of the Rotary club in Essen, Germany. She recounts being asked by the female District Governor to help start a Rotary Passport club, a club that meets only virtually. She shares with pride that she will become club President on July 1st. While Noelle shares that she retired from her professor position at the Fulkwang University of the Arts five years ago, she feels busy and blessed by opportunities to teach masterclasses and workshops all over Europe in addition to providing private lessons.  

To connect with Noelle, she recommends reaching out to her by email: [email protected]. For those interested in exploring learning from Noelle, she invites you to contact her by email and Noelle will set up a Zoom meeting to have a chat.  She invites you to accept this benevolent Call-to-Action from this quote by Henry David Thoreau “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” Noelle invites you to accept others the way they and stay true to your calling.    

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Guest Cameron Davidson states: “So it’s actually kind of funny. The first time I heard about Rotary, of course before I knew what it was, I kind of just thought it was a club of just older people who just, you know, hung out and would have conversations. So the very first time I actually heard of Rotary and had an experience with Rotary, was when I was a sophomore in high school. My English teacher had encouraged me to participate in the (Rotary) 4-Way speech contest that our local Rotary club was hosting and the grand prize was $100. So, 15-year-old me thought ‘Wow, $100! What can I not do with $100?’ So of course, I uh, I signed up to participate, and I ended up coming in first place. And this was like the very first experience that I had with the Rotary club…. The Rotary 4-Way Test is kind of like this motto that Rotarians and people associated with the Rotary club follow. And it’s essentially like a guide that guides your actions and your thoughts and what you say. And basically, it’s just ensuring that everything that you say or do is true. It’s fair to everyone concerned. It builds good will and better friendships. And it’s beneficial to everybody concerned.”

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

In this episode, Cameron Davidson recounts his multiple encounters with Rotary and putting service above self, beginning with winning $100 in the Rotary 4-Way Test speech competition as a high school sophomore. He shares how meeting high school students all around the world broadened his perception by participating in Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) program. He explains how participating in RYLA stimulated his interest in Rotary Youth Exchange. He talks about how attending school for one year in Mexico through Rotary Youth Exchange and living with a host family stimulated his interest in obtaining his education and then committing his career to peace and conflict prevention/resolution, one of the six areas of focus of The Rotary Foundation. He shares what it felt like to win Rotary District 6580’s $40,000 Global Grant Scholarship Award to obtain his master’s degree in Spain in Global and International Studies with a focus on nationalism and conflict management. He challenges people, including older people, to do things outside of their comfort zone. 

For those who want to connect with Cameron, he recommends connecting with him on Facebook or on Instagram. His Facebook page is listed as the website for this episode. This link is to his Instagram profile: https://www.instagram.com/cam.davidson99/. He also offers his email as a means to connect with him: [email protected]. His benevolent Call-to-Action is to push yourself outside of your comfort zone by meeting new people, trying new things and doing something you would normally never do. 

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Host Keith Weedman states “I was working with a leader who led a team. In the second module, he acquired useful knowledge to apply to build his skill giving an employee constructive feedback in a way that effects change that elevates their engagement and performance. He received a two-week daily call to action to apply what he learned to build this leadership skill in 2 to 5 minutes each workday. This leader shared that he gave constructive feedback to a direct report one day. Then he gave them time to think about it and followed up the next workday. Then he stated ‘But the piece of feedback that I really took out of our last session was letting them kind of end that conversation and go into that reflection mode and then coming back to them a day later to check in was really beneficial because it allowed us to have a productive conversation about going forward. They reflected on what feedback I had given them and then we were able to put together a plan on how to really move forward and take that feedback and really capitalize on it. And that was something I had never done before.’”

In this episode, Keith shares four ways he helps benevolent leaders solve their employee engagement problem: 1) expressing gratitude; 2) giving positive feedback; 3) giving constructive feedback; 4) sharing relevant, inspiring stories. He includes guidance for each of these ways. He tells three inspiring stories to illustrate them. One story he shares is about a benevolent leader he met in Rotary who stands out even among Rotarians by the example he sets putting service above self. He states he began studying and practicing constructivism epistemology in graduate school while he was working in a leadership position which eventually stimulated him to apply what he learned to help benevolent leaders solve their employee engagement problem by learning multiple ways to effect change that elevates both engagement and performance through brief interactions. He shares he invested 20,000 hours building his skill and developing curriculum to help leaders acquire relevant knowledge to build their skill elevating engagement and performance through brief interactions.

To connect with Keith, his company’s website is listed as the website for this episode. To connect with Keith on LinkedIn, this link will take you to his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-weedman-34335051/. His email address is [email protected]. His cell phone number is 812-343-2697. He states he will respond to your contact within 24 hours. To learn from Keith, he invites you to schedule a 30-minute Zoom chat by clicking on this link to his calendar (https://my.timetrade.com/book/J1LRC) to start to get to know one another, learn a little bit about your work, and answer your questions about his. 

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Guest Jason Carr states “I went out to Facebook. I found somebody named Marci Hemby, and I reached out to her. I said ‘Did you go to St. Simons?’ And she said “Yes, I did.’ I said ‘What grade did you go there in?’ She said ‘I was there in the 3rd and 4th grade.’ And we continued to talk back and forth. And I quickly became, I don’t want to say devastated, but a little depressed. And the reason why I became depressed is that all these years Marci had had a profound impact on me, but she didn’t remember who I was. All these years for some reason I had held our friendship high in my mind. And when she didn’t remember me that caused me to reflect on well why, after you said three and a half decades, did I still remember this person from 3rd grade? As I began to reflect on this, I began to understand that she singlehandedly taught me the lesson that’s it’s OK to be yourself. She’s my first friend I ever had that was that demonstration that it’s Ok to be who you are, and you don’t have to seek continual popularity to be happy.”

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

In this episode, Jason Carr helps listeners understand how impactful brief interactions can be in our life. He talks about being the new kid in school in the second grade and how well he was treated as the new kid. He talks about how his status changed the following year when he was no longer new to the school. He shares how a brief interaction with Marci in the 3rd grade impacted him for 3 and ½ decades. He shares the important life lesson she showed him. He talks about how he applies what he learned from Marci by gravitating toward folks who are not popular. He notes that he finds them to be both interesting and very strong people. He shares how he first became the Toastmasters mentor for Embers and Wind host Keith Weedman and then how Keith became his mentor in giving feedback to people he’s responsible for, servant leadership and in recognizing that you always have an impact on people you interact with. Jason acknowledges that he is writing a book to thank all the people who have made a significant impact on his life. He has not yet decided on the name for his book. He’s been thinking about the title being Thank You. He encourages listeners to write their book to thank people who have made a significant impact on their life.

To connect with Jason Carr, Jason’s LinkedIn profile is listed as the website for this episode. Jason also invites you to reach out to him by email at [email protected].  

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   Welcome to Embers and Wind!

    Guest Kirk Bouchie, current Rotary District #6580 Governor serving southern Indiana, shares what drew him to Rotary “I joined Rotary #1 because I was asked. One of our board members asked me to join and to come to Rotary. And #2, I thought it was a good thing to do as a community leader, a young community leader. I really didn’t know what I was doing at that point, but I knew that there were a lot of people that were in the Rotary club at that time that I needed to get to know. Many of them I knew. Having grown up here, I knew the names. I probably knew some of the families. I knew a lot of the people that were in leadership at that time, I knew a lot of their kids because I was kind of the next generation. It gave me an opportunity to meet more people in an informal setting. I guess the buzz word now that we use for that is networking.”

    I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

    In this episode, Kirk talks about growing up in Vincennes, Indiana. He notes with pride that Vincennes is a decade away from celebrating their tricentennial He credits Vincennes University for helping him succeed in college. He notes why his family moved back to Vincennes, Indiana. He talks about his passion for baseball and how he got involved in the Babe Ruth League when his sons were five years old. In addition to coaching a team, he also volunteered in administering the Babe Ruth league system. He remains active as the President of Vincennes Cub League Inc., their community name for the Babe Ruth League, where he has served as President since 1998. He talks about how volunteering for the Babe Ruth League fits Rotary’s call for selfless service. He shares that he joined Rotary for networking and stays engaged because he enjoyed the fellowship being among people with benevolent hearts doing good work in their community.  

    Kirk invites you to connect with him through Rotary. The link to Rotary International's website is listed as the website for this episode. He invites those who live in southern Indiana to learn more about the clubs in the southern Indiana District by clicking on this link: https://www.rotary6580.org/. He ends the conversation with this benevolent Call-to-Action invitation:

·        Find a Rotary meeting in your community. (Rotary International's website has a search feature to help you find a club close to where you live.)

·        Consider visiting to meet new people with a benevolent heart to do good in your community.

·        Enjoy your visit.

·        Remember, through Rotary you can make a difference on the world stage, and more importantly, you can make a difference in your own community. 

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Guest Brian Buck states “I’m a huge proponent, I don’t know where this concept came from, but it’s ‘Your attitude is contagious.’ And so are we being purposeful in what we’re infecting others with? Are we infecting each other with respect and positivity? Or are we infecting each other, and like you can feel when someone distrusts you. You can feel when someone thinks they’re above you or below you. And so it is really important that we are conscious about what we really believe about the others around us and how that effects that because it will show up in how your customers feel.”

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

In this episode, Brian Buck shares that he has 12-years’ experience in the corporate world in the healthcare industry and his expertise in the Lean or Six Sigma or the Toyota Production System and their two pillars. He shares that one pillar is the scientific element of improvement: the plan, do, check, act. He states the second Toyota pillar is relationships. He asserts relationships are essential in building and sustaining quality and notes that companies who focus only on plan, do ,check, act will struggle because the way employees are treated will impact customers. He notes that he believes in both pillars. In response to how his faith influences Brian’s work, he shares that he is a Christian and by helping his clients overcome fear his work is in alignment with his faith to love your neighbor as yourself because fear is the opposite of love. He notes his core values include self-responsibility, trust, respect, and innovation. He admits that he is a Geek and that he loves Stars Wars and especially the Trilogy. He shares his intention to narrow his niche to work with Geeks and help them unleash their superhero. He shares two obstacles he had to overcome as an entrepreneur. One was being comfortable with where he was, a need to manufacture urgency.

To connect with Brian, you can click on the link listed as the website for this episode. He also invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn by clicking on this link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianbuck/; or Facebook with this link: https://www.facebook.com/brianrobertbuck; or Instagram with this link: https://www.instagram.com/coachbrianbuck/. To learn more from Brian, he invites you to click on the link listed as the website for this episode.

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