How did you get into photography?

So I grew up in Arlington County to the extent that I've actually grown up.

And there was an adult ed program, which the county, I guess, has for different interests and whatnot.

And two things I studied in my fifth grade, there was a darkroom photography class.

So I asked my dad, hey, I brought this flyer home.

I'd like to learn darkroom photography.

And when he was in the Army...

And you do professional photography today, correct?

Yeah.

Yeah.

[laughs] I guess it'd be quite interesting thinking about it, is obviously we associate it mainly with commercial airliners and aircraft where you have a pressurized cabin, but I wonder what the difference would be if it was in, say for example, like a prop plane, like a pond skimmer that you get in like Caribbean islands and that kind of thing, where obviously it's going to be louder- ... far more turbulent.

[laughs] So it's a, a risky experiment there

Okay.

I think there was a...

Do you know what? I actually recall s- maybe 2020 actually, I, I was asked to judge the vodka section of, uh, the International Wines and Spirits Challenge, and they sent me a, a box of nigh on 200 samples of vodka to my house that I had to make my way through, and they were all categorized by raw ingredient.

Uh, and that was the only information you got was ABV, raw ingredient, and, uh, that's pretty much it, I re- I recall.

But how do business owners especially stay somewhat focused in this world of infinite uncertainty?

Yeah.

I think I believe, and among my background, one of my first businesses was an accountancy bookkeeping business, which is obviously driven by numbers, and I believe quite a lot of things come back to a number.

And customer service scores, logistics, or whatever that may be.

And I encourage my clients to get, again, crystal clear on their numbers because their strategy will be driven by their numbers.

And once we have clarity on the numbers, that helps shape a strategy, and then that should give them that crystal clarity in terms of what it is that they're aiming for.

And again, that was quite interesting listening to Doug reflecting on setbacks and all that sort of stuff.

How does the entrepreneur surround themselves with the people that can be part of the resilience story? In other words, you're not on your own all the time.

How did that soccer scholarship and playing soccer shape your leadership, communication, teamwork, and confidence skills? And how have those lessons helped you as a teacher today?

I, I think perseverance is probably the biggest takeaway from soccer in general, or any sport for that matter.

Um, being able to stick with it.

Uh, for thinking about my own leadership style, I'm not really, like, the frontman of a band.

I'm more of a behind the scenes or leading by example.

So I was never captain of a team or, like, in a leadership role on the team, but I was often referred to, like, not quite be like Mike, but to, yeah, follow the example 'cause I'd worked hard, I trained hard.

I did what I could outside of practice to get better.

After all the different careers, setbacks, and experiences that you've had, Mike, what does success mean to you today? And what advice would you give someone listening to this podcast right now who feels they're still reaching for their own path?

Hmm.

Battling, battling, battling.

And, uh, I went out, he got his driver's license, I went out to his car, and I found a, a, a mar- a weed pen of the, the, the, the weed oil or whatever, right? So I go in to his room and I like get up, come out, turn on the lights.

I'm like, "I'm just gonna ask you some questions.

You're gonna answer." Didn't even yell.

Didn't...

So it was like, I don't know where this came from.

Yeah.

And when we do, we say, well, how do I talk about faith with them? What are your thoughts here around how you can use this gospel of Luke to connect with your neighbors?

Well, Neil, we're actually receiving many, many testimonies.

In fact, in preparation for today, I looked at the testimonies we had and I was scrolling through seven or eight pages just of the ones we've collected so far.

And a huge amount of those testimonies are of people who did not know how they could share the gospel.

You know, maybe they're not as fluent in, you know, the arguments about, you know, why the Bible's true or evolution or how to present the gospel.

But you know what? Every single person can take a booklet and put it inside a letterbox and So it's a great start.

But look, for those who are, you know, seasoned evangelists, this has actually been very helpful for them as well.

Which homes have received them? Does it work like that, Mike?

It, it must make it very difficult for all of your members to work out exactly how they're going to operate and what pricing structures they're going to be have to-- having to implement over the next few months.

Uh, good morning, Ian.

Uh, yeah, a-absolutely.

Uh, we've seen, uh, prices go up and down, uh, but where we are at the moment is, you know, something like a fifty percent increase in Brent Crude compared to where we were a month ago.

So we're seeing it at our petrol, uh, pumps, but our petrol and diesel price is, uh, considerably higher, so we're already paying that economic cost as, uh, as consumers.

And, uh, looking forward to what the impact might be, uh, on our household energy bills, um, we saw yesterday predictions of a three hundred pound increase.

Uh, but they're just predictions.

I mean, it's just not possible to predict what will have happened by July, isn't it? So the, the Prime Minister surely is right to say, "Well, we, we just have to bide our time a little bit." But in the meantime, o-obviously, a lot of people are saying, "Well, I'm, I'm seeing on a week-to-week, month-to-month basis, my bills going up."