581 – Share your story: Tom interviews Teresa Velardi

Episode 581 – Teresa Velardi
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey, everybody, is Tom here with episode 581 of Screw the Commute podcast? I'm here with Teresa Velardi, and I'm really glad she's here because I saw an obituary online that said she died in 1999. So I'm hoping that she made. That wasn't her or she made a comeback just to be on our show. So we're going to talk about publishing and we're going to go back and forth a little bit about the pros and cons of anthologies. And she's got publishing company and all kinds of good stuff, so we'll bring her on in a minute. Hope you two missed Episode 580. That was Stephen Lentz. He was a former ten year firefighter EMT, and he held many pitiful jobs before that. But now he's a business coach and he's owner of his own digital marketing agency and he poo poo is a lot of the stuff I've been ragging on about branding and and let's just go make some money and then the brand will find you. How about that? So he's episode 580 and any time you want to get to a back episode, you. Go to screw the Compucom and then slash and then the episode number his was 580 and today's 581. All right. So make sure you grab a copy of our automation e-book. It's screwthecommute.com/automatefree. All this stuff and all Teresa's great stuff will be in the show notes. And this book has saved me millions of keystrokes. Literally. We actually estimated it, and it allows me to spend more time with customers and prospects and not fighting with my computer. And that's where you want to be because that's where the money is. So download a copy of that e-book and this isn't any kind of stupid three page, you know, lead magnet kind of crap.

[00:02:15] This is a 6070 page book that shows you the details of all the stuff I've used to handle up to 150,000 subscribers and 65,000 customers without pulling my hair out. So grab a copy while you're at it. Pick up a copy of our podcast app at screwthecommute.com/app. It does a bunch of automated stuff for you too. And you can put a put it on your cell phone and tablet and take us with you on the road. All right. We're still going strong with our program to help persons with disabilities in my school, getting them trained in Internet and digital marketing so that they can not only get good jobs, they can start their own business or both. So we have a Go Fund Me campaign set up for that at IMTCVA.org/disabilities and you can actually see two of the people are blind and they're shooting better videos than I do. So check that out then. Any little bit you can throw in is appreciated. And hey, if you're really flush with cash, you could sponsor a person yourself and wow, what a what a thing to be proud of, to change somebody's life for the better.

[00:03:30] All right. Let's bring on the main event. Teresa Velardi is here. She's an author and publisher and she's host of Conversations that Make a Difference podcast. She's a writing and performance coach and a potter. And I'm hoping that something with pottery and not just she sits on the pot. I don't know what that means exactly. And her daily quiet time and and writing keep her focused on her God given purpose as life unfolds in this ever changing world. And we've all got a story to tell and a heartfelt message to share. Teresa, are you ready to screw? The commute?

[00:04:10] Yes, I am. And I screwed the commute a long time ago.

[00:04:13] Tom, that's good. Get off that pot and let's let's go there. I guess you could do I guess you could do a podcast from the pod.

[00:04:22] It'd be podcasts as well.

[00:04:25] Well, I'm going to go with the first. First answer you had to Potter. I do make pottery.

[00:04:32] Oh, okay. Yeah.

[00:04:34] Yeah. So every once in a while, we all got to sit on the pot, but I make pottery. Well, is.

[00:04:39] That where you have one of those things that goes around in a big pile of clay in front of you and your hands are all, like, shaping the thing. Is that what it is?

[00:04:48] Yes, indeed. It's just like what you saw in the movie Ghost. Only I can promise you, Patrick Swayze has yet to show up in my studio.

[00:04:58] Well, he might be there, and you just don't know it. You can't see him.

[00:05:02] Exactly.

[00:05:03] Exactly. Is that a pretty messy deal? I mean, do you have to you have a kiln to dry them and and all that stuff going around in circles? Is that slop all over the place is a pretty messy thing.

[00:05:15] Yeah. Well, for beginners, yeah, it can be pretty messy, but once you learn how to control the clay, it is. It becomes a really fascinating process. And actually, I'm going to write a book on this.

[00:05:30] Well, of course you have to. But is this like you go out and dig some clay in your yard or is this some special clay or what?

[00:05:37] Yeah.

[00:05:38] No, it's not as simple as digging clay in the yard. I buy the clay from a company that manufactures what they call a clay body that is used to be able to make the pots. And it's for various various different types of clay, do various things. They're stoneware, there's porcelain, there's all different kinds of clay. But no, I don't go out in the backyard and shovel clay.

[00:05:59] Well, I've got I've got a clay body and it's all squishy.

[00:06:04] And.

[00:06:05] However you want. So tell everybody what you're doing in the business world with all this publishing stuff.

[00:06:14] So I help people get their stories told in books in a variety of different ways I've been lately. I've been doing a lot of children's books, which are really awesome. Every single one of them has a lesson with all of the authors they bring to the table, the characters that they have in their mind. And then I have a brilliant illustrator who's able to take those descriptions and turn them into characters on the pages of the book. We do the editing, we do the formatting, we do everything for you. It's a hybrid publishing company. It saves you the nonsense of having to put things up on Amazon yourself. We just bring the whole package and you get the finished product and the royalties that go with it.

[00:06:57] Well, you know, in the news, there's been a lot a lot of I'll call it noise about the stuff they're trying to teach children nowadays and the kind of books that they're promoting. I mean, are you in that field or staying away from that field?

[00:07:15] I'm staying away from this critical race theory and all the nonsense that's going on in the world. I think we need to rise above what's happening and and really bring wholesome conversations to our children because, you know, no matter what the government says, you know, those children are our children. They've been entrusted to us when they were when they were born. And it's our job to make sure that they get educated in a way that will help them to be not only what, not only successful, but to be, for lack of a better phrase, righteous people. And that's not what they're learning in school today. All these conversations about, like I said, critical race theory, gender dysmorphia, all this stuff, it's like I mean, when I recently heard somebody say that, there was I listen to a lot of podcasts and a lot of video that people are speaking out about what's going on. And when they're teaching kids in, I don't know, second grade things that go on in the adult bedroom. I'm sorry. I have to I have to draw the line. At what I bring to the table. I bring wholesome conversation, not just for children, but for adults. Also, what is you like? What are you doing? What are you doing in your world that you're making a difference? Are you bringing a business conversation that's going to help someone to grow their business or get into business? Come on board. If you're bringing a conversation about how your life has been transformed through something you experience, come on. On board. I'll take that. Don't bring me conversations about about things that are going to put me in the courtroom, so to speak. I'm very careful about what goes on the pages of the books that come through my publishing company. I want to bring light into this world. Leave the darkness behind.

[00:09:13] Well, there's a there's an extra word I would throw in there. When you said make a difference in the world, I would say make a good difference in the world because all these people are making a difference, that's for sure. But I.

[00:09:26] Don't know.

[00:09:26] I'm glad I'm so over the hill and I can't remember going up the hill because I'll be dead before if these things take effect. Oh, my goodness. By the things and and you said second grade they're doing in kindergarten, they're talking to kids about stuff that's just crazy. I mean, you would think, you know, reading and writing might have some place in schools. I don't know. Call me crazy. But you see that thing out of Baltimore where out of they had 600 kids. And I think I'm not sure the exact numbers, but only 12 of them could read at their grade level. And many of the the high schoolers could only read at kindergarten level.

[00:10:09] Yeah, it's a sad thing. It's a sad thing because when I went to school and I'm sure you too was reading, writing, arithmetic and and the things that we're going to get to through day to day life, you know, and now it's it's like I don't even have a word for it.

[00:10:24] Well, we even had Home EC and typing and you know, is the stuff that you need to succeed in the world, you.

[00:10:32] Know.

[00:10:32] To feed yourself.

[00:10:34] Right.

[00:10:35] And then there was also the arts, the creative arts. Like I learned how to do pottery in a high school classroom, you know, and and when there's when there budget cuts, those are the first things that go. But in the meanwhile, those are the things that bring out who these kids really are. You know, the creative aspect of life. People may think, oh, how are you going to make a living as an artist? Well, let's not talk about some of the some of the that the old painters that have and even do. I know people that are painters that are making their income and a great income off of the fact that they've been given these gifts and talents. I believe you come to come to this world with gifts and talents, and it's your job to use them in order to be able to make your money and make a difference because it was given to you for a reason, you know. So well.

[00:11:26] I kind of I kind of wish you wouldn't have got into the arts because, you know, I got in big trouble at the parents day when they had all our art exhibits held up. So I had disguised a pen and ink drawing with the Jolly Green Giant. But he was he was peeing in the valley.

[00:11:52] Why am.

[00:11:52] I not surprised when.

[00:11:54] We go? We go way back. She's seen my shenanigans quite, quite a bit. When I think we met. Maybe you saw me in Arthur 101 or something.

[00:12:04] Yeah, and. But I really. I got to know you and. And see your incredibly good sense of humor. When I was working with Debbie Allen.

[00:12:15] Yeah, you were a project manager and event planner and stuff to write in your career.

[00:12:21] Yeah.

[00:12:21] What's the what's the wake up women thing that that I saw in your LinkedIn profile?

[00:12:27] Wake Up Women is Karen Mayfield. She is the founder of that organization. And I was a leader in that organization for a while, helping her to not only bring women to a conversation of collaboration, but also to put together these collaborative books that you've told me you don't like.

[00:12:48] So we'll talk about that. But oh, I thought it was something like, you know, like when women see me, they kind of pass out not from not from swooning, but just like, oh, my God, this guy can't believe I'm going to get away from that to wake him up. Wake and wake up is my book Wake Him Up business presentation. So I'm well into the wake up part. So, so, all right. So since you brought it up the anthology, people have heard me rag about those a lot other than I was in Chicken Soup for the Soul. And then sometimes people ask me to be in one to help draw other people to be in them. But so I've I've said, here's what I. You said, Teresa, and you can convince me of the benefits of them that the only people that make money are the people that do the anthologies. And then everybody else has just got some a little bit of bragging rights and they're just lumped in with everybody. So go ahead, take it away. Tell me what the what you think the the benefits of anthologies.

[00:13:49] Right. Well, first, I.

[00:13:50] Want to tell.

[00:13:51] Everybody what they are.

[00:13:52] But anyway. Okay, so first, I want to acknowledge that there are a lot of people who are actually, excuse me, meeting your your definition of what they do and out there. So there are people who charge great amounts of money for people to be in anthology books, and then they make all the money. And then the people who are in the book, they they just get the book. But the bottom line is you have to be a good marketer for anything that you do. And my idea around the anthology books and the way that I approach them with my authors is that for people who want to write a book, don't have a lot of content yet and don't even know whether or not they're a good writer or whether they have something to bring to the table. Based on what the topic is for the anthology, this is a great way for people to get their toe in the water, so to speak, of the writing world. Some people just don't have it and some people do. When you apply to be in an anthology book and we have a couple of them going on, which I'll talk about in a little bit, but when you apply for an anthology book and you get in there and you submit your story, the person who's doing the book and the editor's who I am, one will look at it and say, okay, we can work with this, we can modify, we can change the structure. It will flow with what we have as an idea and other authors have brought to the table and we can work with you as an author. What that does is it builds confidence in the person who has never authored anything so that down the line they may in fact be able to take their message, which may be life changing for someone else and bring it to the world in a book of their own. So I look at anthology books, first and foremost, as a stepping stone to your own book. What do you think about that answer time?

[00:15:45] Okay, well, what if they really just think.

[00:15:48] If they think, you tell them that, you know, there's also coaching that comes, you know, that there could be coaching on how to do things. And there are there are a lot of different ways to write books. Some people just can't put things down on paper. And I'm actually going to give your audience a writing tip for people who have a hard time putting their thoughts on tape, on paper, on every cell phone, every smartphone that's out there. There are apps that you can use that will record your voice. The Notes app is my most favorite one because when you speak into the Notes app or Evernote is another one, but the Notes app should be free on all that. All the different phones that are out there, you just speak into it. Sometimes I get my greatest inspiration when I'm driving or when I'm stepping out of the shower, you know, and I keep my cell phone close by because I can just open that notes app and talk into that app and put my ideas on paper, literally on paper that I can then take and put into a word document, collect all my thoughts, and from there you can construct your story or your book or whatever it is that you're writing at the time.

[00:17:04] Yeah, and that's the exact method that I use because because I can have the best idea in my life when I pull in my driveway. By the time I get to the front door, I forgot about it. So I like keep my cell phone handy and record the notes and then I go ahead and write up the stuff. But, you know, I'm known as a pretty good writer, and I'm not ragging against people that aren't good writers because I know people that are barely literate or like dyslexic and got many, many bestsellers. So legit bestsellers.

[00:17:38] Yeah. And for people who do have dyslexia or the inability to translate what comes out of their brain onto the page, this is an amazing tool. There's always a way for you to get your story out there. So and that's one of the one of the first things I tell people, you know, I have somebody in my life who is just all over the place, tends to go tends to go down rabbit holes every opportunity they get. And it's it's difficult when when something that has been written by this person comes across my desk. It's it's painful. So, yeah, so I have to so I, that's one, one person who I say, do not put anything on paper, talk into your phone and then just copy and paste it into a word document and, and send it to me. And it's much, much less. Because she can't speak. But writing is not necessarily on the top of the list of gifts that that.

[00:18:39] Do any of those apps that you that you talk in to automatically transcribe.

[00:18:46] Well, the notes app on the iPhone does transcribe I think Evernote transcribes. You can also there are transcription platforms out there that are pretty inexpensive that you can actually record a an audio recording using the the voice recorder on your phone and you can just submit it to them and they will transcribe it for you and send it back to you in a word document that you can play with.

[00:19:11] Yeah, we use one. And I mean, I've been waiting for this for years because in prior to these kind of things coming around, I never paid less than 60 bucks per recorded hour in the US and 30 bucks in the Philippines. And now I get $5 per recorded hour and it's back to me in 10 minutes, you know, and it's 90 to 95% accurate, which is no better than the you know, when you're talking about certain things, it's not going to be exactly accurate with even a person doing it. So so yeah. So you can get stuff transcribed easily. And, and I really gained a big respect for editors when I did my first book, my major book years and years ago because this editor. And I know you. I think you have someone on staff, too, right?

[00:20:05] Yeah, I have some. I have some assistant editors, but I've been editing for years.

[00:20:09] Yeah, well, you have different mind than me, because this, this lady, this is a 300 and some page book. And she said, Hey, Tom, this sentence that you have on page 264 should probably be on page 82 in this part, I think. How do you keep track of that kind of stuff? Oh, my God, what a mind. So so you have to two imprints. So we be publishers and book endeavors. What's the difference?

[00:20:40] So I have I actually have four imprints in the main publishing company is authentic endeavors publishing that's the main publishing company and I have published books under just that in the past I also expanded to book endeavors B book endeavors, and I've been publishing my children's books under that. So they mostly are most of those children's books are under book endeavors. Then we b books. I collaborate with Kathleen O'Keeffe cannabis and we bring business books.

[00:21:17] What's her last name? Cannabis. She smokes.

[00:21:20] With you. Oh, my goodness.

[00:21:25] We're going from pottery to pot to.

[00:21:29] Know.

[00:21:29] You know, my my shows are going to be in the pot.

[00:21:32] You know.

[00:21:34] Cannabis can be oh oh.

[00:21:38] Oc.

[00:21:40] But she, she and I collaborate on, on books. For books. We have a we actually have a three book series coming out from Frank Zuccari. He has written the first two business Secrets to Walking on Water and then Business and Personal Secrets to avoid relationship landmines. The one that we're editing right now is Secrets to Getting Unstuck. And then he's got a collaborative book that he's working on gathering authors for. So if anyone who's interested in knowing more about that, you can you can email me for that. But that one's for it's called From the Battlefield to the Boardroom. And they're stories of people who have served in any of the armed forces in any capacity who have come out of the service and have either started their own business or taken on a position with a corporate entity. And Larry, Larry Broughton is writing the the foreword for that. Larry was Special Forces, and he's an amazing man of business. And he just is he's like the perfect person to be the writing the foreword for that book. So for anyone who wants to know about that and then the other one that I have coming on as well is with Peggy Wilms. Wilms, her brand is All Things Wellness, and her book title is The Fourfold Formula for All Things Wellness. She's writing with Dr. Marcus Yvette Stein, who is an endocrinologist, and she's collecting stories of wellness in any category. It could be it could be physical wellness, emotional spiritual wellness. There's a whole bunch of information that she's giving for people to have a variety of voices come forth with the topic of wellness. So and those books go on to be books. And then I have I have a Christian label. It's called Kingdom Book Endeavors. And those, of course, are for people who who their books are Christian themed.

[00:23:52] Beautiful boy. Boy, you're into a lot of different things. A lot of opportunity there, folks, that that she just rattled off. So so we've got to take a responsive break. When we come back, we'll ask Teresa what's a typical day look like for her because she screwed the commute a long time ago. And so we'll see how she how she works, her daily schedule. So, folks, about 24 to 25 years ago, I kind of put the the Internet guru world, if you want to call it that on its head.

[00:24:24] Because.

[00:24:25] People in my level were charging 50 or 100 grand up front to help other small businesses with with the online stuff. And I knew a lot of these people that they're just rip offs and they'd never help you once they got their money. So I said, it's too risky for small business. I'm a big small business advocate. And I said, okay, I'm going to charge an entry fee that's like ten times lower than what they're charging. And then I'm going to tie my success to your success. So for me to get my 50,000, you have to net 200,000. Well, people really like this and 1700. Students later. It's still going strong. Teresa's seen me speak and the people sign up at these events, and. And I don't have any lawsuits, any complaints. It doesn't mean everybody did the work. I won't claim that. But the thing is, is nobody will put their program up against mine because they can't. I'm a fanatic. I'm a crazy fanatic that threw a class on Thanksgiving one day because I forgot it was Thanksgiving. That's how bad I am. So but it's good to have a fanatic on your side that knows what they're doing so you can check it out at greatInternetmarketingtraining.com. We have enormous numbers of unique things you cannot get anywhere else, like an immersion weekend in Virginia Beach and where you actually live in my estate with me for an immersion weekend, you have access to our TV studio. You get a scholarship to our school that you can gift to someone in your life or use for extra training. You know, just an amazing program and that's why it's lasted so darn long. All right. So check it out. GreatInternetmarketingtraining.com.

[00:26:08] All right. Let's get back to the main event. Teresa Velardi is here. She's an author and publisher and podcast host. So, Teresa, what's a typical day look like for you to get up early? Do you work out the meditate you eat? What do you what do you do?

[00:26:23] So I start my day anywhere between seven and 830, depending on how long I've been working the night before. I try to get good sleep. But that doesn't always happen because my brain goes a mile a minute. So I get up in the morning and I sit down with a cup of coffee and my journal and I write every day and I'll look to look for the scripture for the day and start my day. Just being quiet, my morning quiet time makes a huge difference. And for people who are living life, either as an entrepreneur at home or even when you're going to work, to have a moment to yourself, a moment with whoever or whatever you call God, just to be able to be who you are and take take a check on where you are in that moment. And maybe there's something that you need to do during that day that will make you feel better about yourself, make you feel better about what you do, or we'll bring you an idea that you didn't even know was living in your head. That could potentially be a moneymaker down the line or even something that you realized that you didn't have the capability of doing. And it comes easy to you, and I've found a lot of things in my morning quiet time, and then I'll start my day after morning, routine shower, breakfast or whatever, and I'll start my day working with. If I've got an editing job in the hopper, I'll work on that or I'll plan out things like this. And in my day, like an interview with someone, I'll decide who's going to be my guest on my podcast.

[00:28:05] If I have people that I need to call for that I usually schedule out in advance maybe two or three months. But basically my my work is my daily work is talking to people. Maybe I have a conversation with my illustrator, who's in the Philippines, super talented guy. And those are always fun because we get to take what people give me in in writing about what they look, what they think the character looks like. I get the opportunity to see it come alive on the page. So that's always a great way to start the day. There are 12 hours ahead of us, so that's usually early in the morning. Yeah. So my day goes by just working at my desk. If I've got appointments out of the house, maybe I'll go to a lunch with a friend. You know, working from home from me is so awesome because I get the flexibility to say when somebody says, Hey, are you busy? Can you meet me for lunch? And I get the flexibility on many occasions to say yes, and I enjoy that. And then my son owns a restaurant, so maybe in the evening I might go go see him for a little while, have a meal with him and then and then come home and do whatever I'm inspired to do. As far as writing or answering emails, which happens throughout the day and just doing my doing my best to make what I've been given work not only for me but for those who touch my life.

[00:29:32] Yeah, it's a beautiful lifestyle business. The only change I do is when they ask me to lunch, I say, Who's buying?

[00:29:39] Or I say, You know.

[00:29:44] Where are we going?

[00:29:47] We come to that. You can come to northeastern Pennsylvania. I'll take you to lunch at my son's restaurant.

[00:29:52] Well, yeah, you're home, girl. You originally from PA?

[00:29:56] No, I'm a Long Islander. I'm a.

[00:29:58] Girl. Well, how'd you end up in Pennsylvania? You wanted another place with high taxes, right?

[00:30:06] Right now, actually, in comparison to Long Island, the taxes in northeastern Pennsylvania are nothing.

[00:30:11] Well, I get it. Yeah, but still, it's known as the nickname is Land of Taxes.

[00:30:16] Pennsylvania. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:18] But I came here because I really needed to have a better place for myself and my son. My ex husband was a nightmare, so I wanted to be away from that, but close enough to my family that I was a three hour drive rather than a three hour plane flight. So I ended up in Pennsylvania and and I wanted to give more space for my create the creative side of me. And I wasn't able to do that. I was constantly working. I was before before this I was an insurance agent for 20 years.

[00:30:47] Oh, did.

[00:30:48] You want to talk about dry?

[00:30:52] Yeah.

[00:30:53] I had a bartender one night time at my nightclub and was selling insurance on the side. It was life insurance. And I said, This is easy, man. You just the day before your appointment, you call in a death threat to the family and. I don't know if that's exactly ethical by all your standards, but I don't know that it would work.

[00:31:19] And.

[00:31:20] Leave it to you to come up with something.

[00:31:21] Like that.

[00:31:22] It just made sense for me. So. So tell them how they get ahold of you.

[00:31:28] Just email me Teresavelardi@gmail.com.

[00:31:31] Spell it for him because Teresa sometimes has an h or something.

[00:31:35] And by the way, I'm not that person that you found in the obituary, but I ironically, I did have gallbladder surgery in 1999, so who knows, maybe I had a near-death experience.

[00:31:55] So it's possible. So. All right. Well, glad you took time away from your cannabis friend to talk to us.

[00:32:09] There's one more thing that I want to touch on that I didn't talk about my daily routine, if you don't mind. I've I'm one that that watches what's going on around me and watching what's going on with the economy and whatnot. I mean, I've watched the gas prices go from $2 a gallon to more than 450 a gallon in Pennsylvania now. And so with what's going on in the economy, inflation and whatnot, a lot of people are finding that it's and the dollar being valued at nothing. A lot of people are finding that it's prudent to start looking at things like precious metals in order to secure your future. So I've gotten involved with a company that really helps people to save money on a regular basis without even feeling like they're saving money by buying precious metals and products made with precious metals. So for anybody who might be interested in and talking to me about that and learning more, just email me at that address. Teresavelardi@gmail.com and just put in the subject matter. Silver And if you want to talk to me about books, you can just put in the subject matter if I want to be a writer and I will be happy to help you on both of those topics.

[00:33:25] Where they can put in their silver books. And then if they want to write a book about, you know, what people are, people are. Here's the thing, Teresa. People are always bugging me to buy silver and gold. And I said, I'm going to buy bullets because if I have enough bullets I can get all the silver and gold it.

[00:33:46] Yeah, that's what you said to me. Well, we had that conversation, you know, it's something you are you have got your mind is your mind is unbelievably brilliant.

[00:33:57] Well, you're saying brilliant, but you're thinking some other term, bro.

[00:34:01] No, I think you're brilliant. You know why? Because here's the thing. Not everybody can be as quick witted as you and really be able to like regardless of what's going on in the world. I mean, we've had a conversation where we've been laughing and having fun and and still talking about things that are are making a difference for people. The question I have for you is, how do you how do you feel about anthologies now that we have a short conversation about them?

[00:34:29] I'm good. When I go on the pot, I'm going to think about pottery. And if anthologies have a place. Well, now that you you said it's mostly for I don't want to say beginners, but people that aren't sure about their writing skills and maybe don't have a lot of content, that's to get started. But as long as it doesn't cost a fortune and then they, they have to hock their lungs to pay for it.

[00:34:58] That's yeah. No, and that's and I think that's I think that's highway robbery for people who charge a fortune for this. But but and it's not just for beginners, it's for people like I've written in a ton of anthologies. I'm out all over the place with with things that have happened in my life that are relative to whatever the topic is. And I'm a decent writer, you know, but I haven't. And the the the conversation that we had at the beginning with the steps to making pottery, that's I'm working on that right now and that's going to have just my name on it. But it's a great way to have it brings visibility to who you are. It brings visibility at best. Try and say that it brings it brings voice to what you have to say. And it's just a good way for people to. I said this before, I'll say it again to dip their toe in the water when it comes to being a writer. And one of the things that I and I believe it or not, there are a lot of people who are afraid to tell their story. What if so-and-so reads it? What if this one reads it? What if that one's read it? Well, if you're keeping the names change to protect the innocent, I wouldn't worry about it, you know. So.

[00:36:10] So what's the thing called that goes around in circles when you're making pottery?

[00:36:16] A potters wheel.

[00:36:17] A potters wheel. Okay, the thinking of some play on words and on the book title. You know how to get on the pot or.

[00:36:26] Or.

[00:36:27] Anyway, you're the you're the expert on writing. I said, thanks so much for coming on.

[00:36:33] Tom, this be great fun. Thanks for having me.

[00:36:36] All right, everybody, we'll get you on the next episode. See you later.