Napa, California | December 30, 2019:Success Strategies Inc.sLynda Paulson, CEO and Executive Coach, has added new sales training and public speaking classes for early January. The results-oriented Winery Hospitality Relationship Sales Training one-day workshopwill be held January 13that Cakebread Cellars in Rutherford, California. Andher two-dayimmersion training course, the Executive Speaking Experience, has been scheduled forJanuary 8th and 9th in Napa. This public speaking and presentation skills course provides hands-on, practical, video-recorded exercises, limited to six participants.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOPS

For the sales training workshop, participants will discover their communication strengths, build poise and confidence, and most importantly, develop relationship sales expertise. These skills will be learned through class demonstrations, discussion, role-playing, and team building exercises. Additional course takeaways include:

The workshop also offers optional pre-class mystery shopping of the winery tasting room, website or phone sales as well as a strategy session with the tasting room manager in order to more fully customize the course material for participants. Participants may also purchase Lynda Paulsons book,Romancing the Grape: Relationship Selling for Wine Professionals.

For the two-day public speaking training course, individual hands-on training sessions with personal coaching; 10 video recordings; written evaluations; practical feedback from peers; a manual with tips and techniques of presentation and communication skills; and a hardcover book, The Executive Persuader, by Lynda Paulson, will be offered.

Students learn how to manage their jitters, think on their feet, and develop poise and presence in front of an audience. Advanced skills such as handling confrontational issues are also taught along with learning to respond to audience Q&A with authority. Some past students have called it, Life changing!

Ive always been a bit intimidated about public speaking (my father was a highly respected speaker, you know what that can do to an offsprings confidence.). So when I mustered up the courage to go to Lynda Paulsons Executive Speakers Experience I wasnt sure what I was in for. I can tell you it was an exceptional professional adventure!

She works with a small group of only 6 people and does video!! The video quickly became a valued tool. Just like with skiing, it is incredibly helpful to see your mannerisms and bearing. I watched others grow and I literally was able to watch my own progress. We all walked away with more authentic style and confidence. I highly recommend her workshop. Were an industry of direct communication. Everyone can use some more confidence and polishI recommend taking advantage of this unique training opportunity, stated Colby Smith, Executive Director & Founder of CANVAS, Concierge Alliance of Napa Valley and Sonoma.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

TAKEAWAYS

ENROLLMENT

Learn more or reserve your seat at:https://winery-hospitality-sales-training-jan2020.eventbrite.com/?aff=WIAorhttps://executive-speaking-experience-jan2020.eventbrite.com/?aff=WIA.Additional classes will be offered later in 2020. Discounts are available for group ticket purchases. Class price includes lunch. Call 775.530.6119 or email[emailprotected]for more information.

ABOUT LYNDA PAULSON

Lynda Paulson has been a sales training coach for more than thirty years withSuccess Strategies, Inc., renowned for teaching sales training, public speaking and communication skills to professionals from over 600 wineries and businesses in the U.S. and Europe. Her coaching techniques have been crafted over decades working with local clients such as the Cakebreads, the Mondavis, the Trincheros, the Martinis, the Wentes and management teams at many local companies. She has also taught training courses at AT&T, American Express, Disney Corporation, Kodak, ING, IBM and many more throughout California, Oregon, Washington, New York, Canada and Europe.

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Success Strategies Offers Executive Speaking Experience Workshops in January 2020 - wineindustryadvisor.com

By Elizabeth Harris, grants manager, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula

Jorge has been a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula (BGCP) since kindergarten and is typically shy and hesitant to take the spotlight. Last spring, when BGCP mentors encouraged him to present an eighth grade speech, Jorge worked with his mentors to improve his writing and public speaking, skills that Jorge knew would be vital to his future success in school.

At the 8th Grade Gala, Jorge gave a commanding speech in front of 100 peers, teachers, and community members about the need for computer science and other programs that prepare low-income youth of color to be competitive in the 21st century job market. His parents and community were proud, but, more importantly, he was proud of himself.

Jorge is one of 2,500 low-income K-post-secondary students benefiting from BGCP programs at three clubhouses and 10 school sites in East Palo Alto, eastern Menlo Park and Redwood City. Although our students live adjacent to some of the wealthiest communities in the world, BGCP students are primarily low-income students of color, and face tremendous odds. Nationwide, only 8% of Latino students graduate from college.

"For students at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula, it's not a matter of lack of skill, talent or intelligence. The difference is the lack of opportunities that our students have access to," says Esmeralda Ortiz, senior director of high school and post-secondary success programs

BGCP, one of 10 beneficiaries of The Almanac's Holiday Fund this year, wants kids' futures to depend more upon their own actions than upon the circumstances into which they were born. We are not selective and welcome all K-12 students.

Our goal is to provide students with engaging learning experiences, exposure to opportunities that develop interests and passions, relationships with positive role models, and the academic and life skills required to graduate high school and pursue post-secondary education or training.

In addition to the academic support, enrichment, and social-emotional learning programs for all students, students who are at-risk of falling off-track for school success receive intensive second and third grade literacy interventions and sixth through ninth grade one-on-one advising, social-emotional coaching and goal-setting support.

BGCP students also have access to five full-time on-site therapists to address mental health challenges, which are a barrier to many students' success.

After participating in BGCP's summer high school transition program, Jorge is flourishing in ninth grade and demonstrating both personal and academic confidence. The next step in BGCP's K-12 continuum is our Future Grads program, which supports 10th grade through post-secondary students to become the first in their family to graduate from college.

BGCP staff will be proud to see Jorge and many BGCP peers join the over 200 Future Grad students who have graduated high school and the 89% that have enrolled in college.

To learn more about the nonprofit, visit bgcp.org.

Donations to The Almanac's Holiday Fund benefit the Ecumenical Hunger Program and nine other nonprofits serving the local community. To donate, go here.

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Holiday Fund: Nonprofit Boys & Girls Clubs addresses the opportunity gap - The Almanac Online

Young entrepreneur Callum Eckersley has set his business up for an excellent start at the turn of a new decade.

Former personal trainer Callum was one of four like-minded people to set up 4FITT, in Newcastle, in 2014 after identifying a gap in the market for a community-based workout space.

Now, thanks to its increasing popularity, 4FITT has opened a second facility in Victoria Road, Fenton, and has spent more than 50,000 to extend and refurbish its Water Street headquarters which now boasts showers and changing rooms.

Callum said: We found a niche in the market and developed a service that offers fitness enthusiasts a middle ground between big circuit-style training and CrossFit.

Weve taken the best of both and adapted the offering to give people a community style place to train, where members support one another with achieving their goals.

We are known for our highly adaptable, high intensity and creative class set-ups.

We have a genuine desire to help our clients achieve their fitness ambitions and do so through our challenges, from fat loss to strength challenges.

They can totally immerse themselves within a style of training theyve never experienced before.

At 4FITT, customers can benefit from gym classes, challenges, personal training, diet plans, nutrition advice and body fat assessments.

The gym has a variety of equipment and rooms set up to meet the taste of individuals preferred training style something which has been integral to its success.

Now Callum who set up 4FITT when he was aged just 24 has entered The Sentinel Business Awards in the Young Business Person of the Year category, sponsored by Myclevergroup.

He added: All of our capital goes into the quality of equipment for our customers and things that impact on their enjoyment in the classes, rather than the cosmetics of the building.

Wed rather spend money on things that matter to clients when theyre training to create a much better experience for customers.

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Business Awards: Personal trainer fit to burst at success of workout spaces - Stoke-on-Trent Live

An accomplished publisher and editor since his mid-20s, he succeeded the revered Robert Gottlieb in 1987 as just the third Knopf editor-in-chief in its 72-year history and over the following decades fashioned his own record of critical and commercial success. He continued to publish celebrated authors signed on by Gottlieb, including Morrison and Robert Caro, while adding newer talent such as Tommy Orange, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Karen Russell.

Knopf also was home to some of the best-selling works in recent times. In 2008, Mehta acquired U.S. rights to a trilogy of crime fiction by a dead Swedish journalist, Stieg Larsson's "Millennium series, which went on to sell tens of millions of copies. In 2012, the paperback imprint Vintage won a bidding war for an explicit erotic trilogy that at the time could only be read digitally, E L James' "Fifty Shades" novels. Other top sellers released during Mehta's reign included Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In," Bill Clinton's "My Life" and Cheryl Strayeds Wild. When the Center for Fiction honored Mehta in 2018 with a lifetime achievement award, tributes were written by Joan Didion, Haruki Murakami and Anne Tyler, who praised his precision and deft assurance and called him the Fred Astaire of editing.

Knopf's catalog often reflected Mehta's own broad curiosity. In a single season, the publisher might release new fiction by Morrison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, crime novels by P.D. James and James Ellroy, poetry by Anne Carson and Philip Levine, history by John Keegan and Joseph Ellis, humor by Nora Ephron and memoirs by Bill Clinton or Katharine Hepburn or Andre Agassi. Knopf also appreciated the rewards of patience, allowing Caro to spend years between each installment of his Lyndon Johnson biographies, a decades-long project that sold hundreds of thousands of copies and brought Caro numerous awards.

Mehta was born Ajai Singh Mehta, the bookish son of Indian diplomat Amrik Singh Mehta. He lived everywhere from Geneva to Nepal as a child and graduated from Cambridge University with degrees in history and English literature. Choosing book publishing over his parents wishes he become a diplomat. Mehta needed little time to make an impact in London, helping to launch the literary career of his college friend Germaine Greer and introducing British readers to the profane Americana of Hunter S. Thompson. With Pan Books, he released works by rising authors such as Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie, while signing up Jackie Collins, Douglas Adams and other best-sellers. He was Gottliebs personal choice to take over at Knopf, but still faced initial wariness from the staff.

"People ... had the terrible fear that I was going to suddenly publish Jackie Collins over here and really sort of lower the tone of the place," Mehta told Publishers Weekly in 2015. "I think the difference was that I probably encouraged people to market a lot more than they were in the habit of doing. I encouraged them to look at a certain type of literary fiction and see it wasn't necessarily intended for some kind of ghetto, that there was a bigger market for it."

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Sonny Mehta, Visionary Head of Alfred A. Knopf, Dies at 77 - The New York Times

One of the best ways to learn vital lessons is the hard way -- by making mistakes that we don't forget. That's not the preferred way to learn, though. It's much better simply learning from others, who offer bits of wisdom, sometimes based on lessons they themselves learned the hard way.

Here are a dozen quotations that can make you far savvier about your money and how you manage it -- which, in turn, can help you grow wealthier and more financially secure. See how many you can take to heart -- or even commit to memory.

Image source: Getty Images.

You might not think you're basing your retirement plan on magic, but if you're simply taking some actions here and there without a plan, you're engaging in magical thinking, leaving a lot to chance and hoping for the best. Take some time to come up with a solid retirement plan that lays out how you'll invest over time to reach your financial goals and have a secure future.

It's common for many people to get their paychecks, pay for this and that, and then, with insufficient funds to pay for something important, to wonder where the money went. Well, if you create a budget for yourself, the process of creating it can help you see exactly where your money is going -- and it can help you spot areas where you can cut back in order to save more. Budgeting is a vital tool that can help you manage your money more effectively.

It can be hard to not spend freely, especially when we have pockets full of credit cards. But tweak your thinking a bit, and restraint can come easier. For example, let Thoreau's words sink in, because they're true. If you work a 40-hour week and earn, say, $50,000 per year, you're collecting about $24 per hour. So if you're thinking about buying a $144 jacket, ask yourself not only whether you need it and will wear it, but if you're willing to allocate six hours of your life to it, because that's how long you'll have to work to earn the money for it. Thinking about a fancy $2,400 camera or bicycle? That's 100 hours -- close to two weeks' worth of work.

Debt is a pernicious thing. If you don't manage it well, you can end up paying much more in interest than you borrowed in the first place. That happens routinely and oftenunavoidably with mortgages, especially in high-interest-rate environments. But it shouldn't happen with credit card debt and other debts. Being locked into onerous repayments can hurt your ability to achieve financial goals such as saving for retirement, college, or a down payment. If, for example, you're carrying $25,000 on your credit cards from year to year and you're being charged 20% interest on it, you're forking over $5,000 per year! That money could be much better spent, no? Aim to get out of debt as soon as you can.

Whether you earn $19,000, $75,000, or $300,000 per year will make a difference in your life in plenty of ways, but a low income doesn't necessarily doom you to financial ruin. Many low-income people can find ways to save money and can learn to invest in stocks, thereby building wealth gradually. That's how more than a few secretaries, teachers, and janitors ended up with millions.

Image source: Getty Images.

Many people think of shares of stock as mere pieces of paper, or even as lottery tickets -- investments that could soar or plunge in value, almost at random. That's wrong, though. A share of stock in a public company is actually a stake in the company itself -- it makes you a co-owner of the company, entitled to share in its successes and failures. When you consider buying shares of a stock, be sure to think about the underlying company -- ask yourself how comfortable you'd be owning the entire enterprise, how confident you are in its ability to prosper long-term, and so on. Aim to be a long-term owner of companies you strongly believe in.

Super investor Warren Buffett has famously quipped that he'd be fine with the stock market if it was only open for business once a year. He's not interested in trading frequently and jumping in and out of stocks every day or week. When he buys companies, he tends to hold them forever: He boughtSee's Candy in 1972 and GEICO in 1976, and still owns them both -- among many other holdings. He boughtshares of American Expressin 1964 and shares of Coca-Colain 1988, and they remain major holdings in his portfolio today. He's worth tens of billions of dollars today in large part due to patience. Meanwhile, those who trade actively face headwinds such as commission costs and short-term capital gains tax rates, which are generally higher than rates for long-term gains. Day traders, the most active of all, are frequently simply wiped out entirely.

Few of us really have the time, interest, and skill to study the universe of stocks and carefully select the most promising individual stocks in which to invest. Doing so also means we would have to keep up with our holdings regularly and know when to sell. Thus, it's very handy that we have a simple alternative that actually performs very well -- low-fee, broad-market index funds. They're mutual funds that track a particular index of stocks (or other securities), holding roughly the same ones in roughly the same proportion. Due largely to their ultra-low fees, index funds outperform the vast majority of actively managed mutual funds. Indeed, asof the middle of 2019, fully 90% of large-cap stock funds underperformed the S&P 500 over the past 15 years.

The stock market is up around 30% so far this year, at the time of this writing, and over long periods it has averaged an annual rate of return close to 10%. That doesn't mean that your investments will earn 30% or even 10% this year, or over many years. You might average 8% or 12% or something else. It's great to hope for the best -- and to position yourself to take advantage of a great growth rate by investing sizable sums regularly -- but do brace yourself for poor performances and possibly worse things. Be sure you have insurance to cover any loss of health, life, or property, and that you have an emergency fund loaded with enough dollars to cover your living expenses (including taxes, utilities, transportation, and so on) for six to nine months in case you suffer a job loss or health setback.

Failure can hurt, but it's usually not the end of the story. The most successful people have usually got lots of failures behind them. There are often great lessons to be learned from failures. Don't view a market crash as a failure, either: If you're invested in stocks for the long run, you'll inevitably experience market crashes, and they're not times to panic and sell. Rather, they're generally excellent times to load up on more shares of stock, as those shares are on sale.

One of the best investments you can make is not in stocks or bonds or real estate, but in yourself. If you keep reading and learning about investing, your portfolio will likely perform better for you. If you learn more about your field of work -- perhaps adding a new degree or certification -- you may advance faster and earn more. If you learn about a different field of work that seems more appealing, you may be able to switch into a more satisfying career for many years. Simply reading broadly, about subjects such as history, psychology, and science, can make you a more interesting and effective person in many facets of your life.

Finally, while money is important, and most of us do need to accumulate a lot of it for our retirement, it's not everything. And it certainly shouldn't be taken as any kind of measure of your worth. Even Warren Buffettwould agree, as he has said: "Basically, when you get to my age, you'll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you."

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12 Quotes That Will Make You Rethink Your Personal Finances - The Motley Fool

An environmental campaigner in Glasgow. Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Archive/PA Images

John Murton, now in his late 50s, has had a distinguished foreign office career, which includes ambassadorial posts to several countries in Africa. He lists his passions as renewable energy and Welsh rugby and he tweets in a cheerfully upbeat tone: his response, for example, to an election result that might have daunted the most resilient foreign office heart, was an enthusiastic tweet that pointed out that all parties were committed to net zerothe UKs ambition to bring emissions and carbon removal into balance (by 2050 under current plans).

He will need all that optimism in the coming months, along with consistent application of persuasive charm, another of his personal assets. As the UKs envoy to COP26, shorthand for the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, he faces the diplomatic equivalent of rowing single handed across the Pacific.

Getting a result at COP26 that meets the planetary need would be a challenge, even had the UK not been intent on tearing up its current relationship with its nearest neighbours. As host, the UK will be remembered for its successor failurein Glasgow in November 2020.

These conferences happen every year, so COP26 reminds us that it is more than a quarter of century since 196 countries and the EU agreed that climate change was dangerous to humanity.

Every year since then, they have met to try to agreesome more convincingly than otherson how to avoid the catastrophe that we now confront. Critics complain that the annual circus contributes to carbon emissions and has achieved little: thousands of peoplepolitical leaders, activists, negotiators, journalistsfly around the globe each year to participate, and it is tempting after less successful conferenceslike COP25, which concluded in Madrid with some big issues unresolvedto see the whole lumbering process as costly and ineffective.

But there is no better forum in which to negotiate who does what and who paysthe two basic questions at the heart of this global enterpriseand, despite its flaws, without the UNFCCC and the action that it has stimulated, including the crucial scientific assessments that inform it, we might be looking at a possible 8C degrees of warming instead of the three that remain embedded under the current plans. This has been achieved despite the momentous two decades of growth in China, with its associated coal-fired energy boom, and the ambivalence of the United States, which could generously be described as intermittently helpful.

So while it is true that humanity is nowhere near the level of emissions cuts that is needed, we are substantially closer than we would have been without the UNFCCC. Meanwhile,the impacts of the one degree of warming we have already racked up are becoming inescapable, except perhaps to the Australian prime minister, who dismisses reckless calls to curb coal mining; the rising chorus of scientific assessment is overwhelming; a mass youth movement has taken to the streets around the world to demand action; and even financial institutions are beginning to understand that the global economy rests, as does all human activity and planetary life, on a natural world that we have brought to the brink of collapse. Murtons task is to coax the players into committing to the radical and urgent action that is now needed to save our cities, our people and our livelihoods.

On the upside, there is a much wider understanding of the dangers than 25 years ago and a much more highly developed set of technologies that, properly applied, will be the foundation of decarbonising of the global economy. It is not hard to see that human security depends on making that transition, and that such a transition could deliver a cleaner, healthier and more equitable life.

There is also a basic frameworkthe Paris Agreement of 2015 that, until the withdrawal of Donald Trumps US, includes every nation on earth. Trump denounced it, bizarrely, as unfair to the United States, despite the fact that the US pledges were determined by none other than the US itself.

But the lessons of the Paris Agreement are that to achieve a successful outcome in Glasgow will demand extraordinary reserves of political will and effort. Since that moment in December 2015 when the gavel came down on the Paris Agreement, almost every positive diplomatic factor that contributed to success has either been reversed or slowed down. The result in Paris had come after two years of intense French diplomatic effort: they drew lessons from the bruising failure of the Copenhagen meeting in 2009, identified every possible roadblock, and worked out how they might be circumvented or removed.

During the two weeks of the conference itself, they operated as skilled firefighters, ensuring that hitches did not break out into crises. It was an impressive operation, but it would not have succeeded without a number of supporting elements, among them the bilateral agreement on climate cooperation struck between Barack Obama and Xi Jinping in 2013. That had helped to remove one of the major roadblocks and transformed a confrontation between the worlds two biggest emitters into cooperation.

The Paris Agreement establishes a framework in which each country pledges to take action. Countries were asked to update their commitments by 2020, by which time a common rule book would have been agreed and a mechanism for richer countries to support emerging economies to choose a low-carbon development model. The target was to limit warming to less than 2C, which many argued was a safe level. It is now clear that 1.5C is the maximum that we could consider safe. The commitments on the table in Paris would not stop us exceeding 3C of warming before the end of the century, and global emissions today are 4 per cent above the levels of 2015. To meet a 1.5 degree target the world must reverse that growth next year and cut emissions by more than 7 per cent a year for the next decade.

The problem that Murton and his team now confront is that collective action is undermined by growing instability. Not only has the US administration gone climate-rogue, it is encouraging others to sabotage the talks. States with high dependency on fossil fuelsSaudi Arabia, Australia, even Polandshelter in the US shadow and work their own mischief. US-China climate cooperation has been replaced by the US-China trade war, and although China remains a party to the agreement, it is now prioritising support for its slowing economy.

The behaviour of the two biggest emitters stands in contrast to that of small- and medium-sized countries at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit in New York. Some 68 nations have promised to raise their ambition for Glasgow. And despite the US presidents abdication, nearly 70 per cent of US GDP in the shape of states, cities and business remains committed to the process. One key development Murtons team will be watching is how much leadership the EU will offer. In December, the EU proposed to halve emissions in the next ten years and pledged to reach net zero by 2050, which, if it is achievable despite the opposition of coal enthusiasts in Poland and Hungary, will be an important bright spot in a darkening landscape. No doubt the irony of the UK position has not escaped Murton: just as the UK seems intent on destroying its 45-year relationships in Europe, the EU is the steadiest and most promising friend of the Glasgow COP.

Excerpt from:
The UK will be remembered for success or failure at the Glasgow climate summit - Prospect

Dana with cat, Beetlejuice.

I really thought I was going to go be a doctor, Dana Schwartz says about her time as a pre-med student in college. Then I had this panicked moment of realizing I was so fundamentally unhappy. My dream was always to be a writer, but I never thought I could make a living that way. But now after three books in the last three years and more projects in the works, that dream has been fully realized for Schwartz.

The 26-year-old author has written the YA novel titled And We're Off and a memoir, Choose Your Own Disaster. Last month she released a humor book, The White Man's Guide to White Male Writers of the Western Canon, with cartoonist Jason Adam Katzenstein. She is the host of the iHeartRadio podcast, Noble Blood, which is executive produced by Lores Aaron Mahnke. She is also working as a writer on Marvels upcoming She-Hulk TV show on Disney+.

While Schwartz was always a voracious reader and liked to write short stories, her writing career began on Twitter. In college, she started the popular twitter account, GuyInYourMFA. It made was making fun of basically my own insecurities when it came to the literary world, making fun of the lit-bros who intimidated me, she says. It got me traction and attention on the internet, which gave me the boost of confidence to think, maybe I could do this.

Her newfound confidence led her to freelancing which led her to a job at Entertainment Weekly. While her online writing portfolio grew, it was still her GuyInYourMFA account that created an opening for her to write books. I had a few publishers reach out to me after the success of the parody Twitter account, she says. Every good thing that has happened to me has been because I made something and put it out in the world. Work begets more work. Its less about having social media to check a box, its more about using social media as a tool to show your sense of humor and your sensibility.

Schwartz has chosen to work in a new genre for every book. I have been all over the place in terms of my work. Some people have said that I would have done better professionally if I had stuck to a more consistent personal brand, she says. The through-line is its always something Im genuinely interested in and excited about. I have never done anything because I thought it would be good for my career, its all things I love.

While Schwartz has bounced between genres and mediums, her newest book returns to her roots making fun of white male writers and the men who worship them. Its a full circle because its loosely based on the guy in your MFA character, she says. Each of my books has been an entirely different experience, she explains. With the humor book, it was just so much fun. I had to do a lot of research into the writers I was making fun of. I was so lucky to have Jason do illustrations which made everything funnier.

Schwartz maintains a busy schedule. Even with the book published, she still has to juggle her podcast, TV job, and new projects, but Schwartz takes it in stride. She says, Success is getting up every day and writing for a living.

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26-Year-Old Dana Schwartz Doesnt Need To Stick To A Genre - Forbes

Is It Time To Strategically Coast At Work?

By: Emily Lamia

It seems like today were constantly flooded with articles, podcasts, books, and more with information and suggestions on how tolean inmore at work, or get that next promotion or raise.

Even when were not actively seeking new responsibilities, were still getting messages about how to achieve more by doing less, or the best way to optimize our schedules.If career growth is important to you, it can seem like there might be something wrong with you if youre not constantly thinking about moving up or setting new goals.

[Related:Why It Might be Time to "Lean Out"]

Is it realistic (oreven healthy?) to constantly be driving toward the next developmental goal or promotion at work?Its time we make room for another acceptable approach thats sometimes needed at work: strategic coasting.

Strategic coasting is when you deliberately and thoughtfully take the energy you might usually put into going above and beyond at work, and redirect it toward something else.Its when you do your work (and do it well), while being strategic about where your extra energy and time goes.

Strategically coasting at work might make sense if youve got a lot of personal things going on at the moment. Maybe youve just become anew parentand those responsibilities are more pressing. Maybe youre caring for a sick family member or are working through an illness of your own. Or maybe youre training for a big race, and thats where you want to focus your efforts for a few months.

It might make sense if youre working on a career pivot. Making a career change can be a lot of work all those informational conversations and applications can take loads of time and energy!

There are phases and chapters we all go through in our lives and careers. Many people treat their careers like a sprint, and quickly burn out in the most demanding fields. We need to treat our careers like the marathons that they are. And sometimes it may make sense sense to stop for a water break, or walk for a few miles.

[Related:Five Ways to Manage Burnout in a Digital Career]

Strategic coasting makes sense for you if you find its time to take your foot off theworkgas pedalfor any variety of reasons.So, how do you strategically coast at work?

First of all, it doesnt mean youre clocking in late and leaving early. And it doesnt mean youre not completing your work, or being a great team player.

But it might mean youre not taking initiative on a new project. Or that youre actually taking your hour-long lunch break if you get one. You might leave the office or sign off for the day on the earlier side, assuming your most important work is done, so you can go focus on other things youre prioritizing.

But strategic coasting isnt something you want to do indefinitely. Theoretically, theres a specific time period youre planning on coasting.

But lets all give ourselves permission to strategically coast at work when we need to. In the long run, it may actually help us achieve new levels of success personally and professionally.

[Related:Why You Should Work As Though Your Kids Are Watching]

Emily Lamiahas been helping people grow and develop in their careers for over a decade. In 2015, she founded Pivot Journeys to create experiences to help individuals navigate their next career move and find meaningful work.

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Is It Time To Strategically Coast At Work? - Forbes

What do you want to accomplish in 2020 and beyond?

Each year I review the top lessons I learned, taken from the most interesting interviews I did and my own personal experiences as an entrepreneur.

This year I had the opportunity to have conversations with many amazing entrepreneurs, ranging from trailblazing artists to billionaire software CEOs. I also overcame burnout, discovered my true passions, and founded a new software company called Endpass.

Investor and software entrepreneur Heather R Morgan stands in front of art

Here are my top 8 insights from 2019 which you can apply to the coming year:

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan had one of the biggest tech IPOs of 2019. I was fortunate enough to meet Yuan many years ago when his company had less than one hundred employees. Yuan has always inspired me to be a better entrepreneur and person, as well as a more selfless leader.

Yuans advice for successfully running the startup marathon: Focus on your product, company culture, and recruiting the right team. You'll be better equipped for the ride when you've done these things. Running a startup can be overwhelming and feel impossible sometimes, but breaking down your priorities into these areas makes it seem more manageable. I think that patience is also the key to healthy growth and longevity for a company and its team.

It took severe burnout to make me discover my love for rap and other creative pursuits. I was so obsessed with work and my business goals that I forgot why I wanted to achieve them in the first place. Ive always loved writing, but during burnout I suffered from writers block, for the first time in my life. My creative passion was gone, and I had forgotten the joy of true self-expression.

Creating my rap persona, Razzlekhan, helped me rediscover that happiness, and reminded me of other creative talents I had completely forgotten for years. For a while, I was terrified that burnout would creep back again, but rap and other art forms have helped me create work life balance and given me a wonderful space for self-expression. Since I created Razzlekhan, I have been the happiest Ive ever been. My only wish is that I had done this sooner.

Technically I interviewed Awkwafina last year, well before Oceans 8 and Crazy Rich Asians came out, but I keep thinking about our conversation. Not only did it inspire my own creative pursuits, but to be more shameless as a female entrepreneur and leader. Like Awkwafina, I grew up a weird only child who never really fit in. Just as Awkwafinas childhood hero Margaret Cho inspired her to shamelessly do her own thing, even if it was the last thing people expected from her, my conversation with Awkwafina motivated me to take a big risk with self-expression.

I didnt realize it for a while, but it was my conversations with rappers Awkwafina and Mickey Avalon that subconsciously inspired me to start rapping and create Razzlekhan. Something else Awkwafina said also sticks out in my mind: Shamelessness is especially important for women because a lot of times it gets confused with courage. I actually think Awkwafina-level shamelessness takes great courage, whether she realizes it or not, but I hope my own shamelessness can encourage others (especially underdogs) to unabashedly be their real selves.

My interview with fashion art darling and badass female entrepreneur, Ashley Longshore, had a big impact on my year. If you dont know who Longshore is, shes the one doing the iconic feminist pop art you might see in places like Bergdorf Goodman. She regularly collaborates with brands like Gucci, and her paintings, which selling millions in hours on Instagram, feature everything from Lil Wayne to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Our conversation not only inspired me to strive for the next level of self-confidence, but her thoughts on fearlessly blazing your own path echoed my own life motto, Be a goat; not a sheep.

Anyone trying to do their own thing whether theyre an artist or an entrepreneur knows how difficult but important this is. While society loves celebrating innovative icons like Steve Jobs or Salvador Dali, there were many times when they were met with more criticism than popular support. While resilience is one of the most critical factors in success, staying authentic is a major precursor to happiness.

Its hard to pick just one tip from Keith Krach because everytime I talk to him I learn so much about leadership, business, and professional development. Keith Krach is the former CEO of two multi-billion dollar companies, Docusign and Ariba, and now works with the US State Department, furthering Americas global economic interests. After recovering from burnout, I was very careful about deciding what kind of software company I wanted to build next. I knew whatever it was, it had to have a noble mission I could feel passionate about since I might be dedicating the next 10 years of my life to this company.

Krachs words greatly inspired me to move forward with my new software company, Endpass, which strives to stop global fraud, cybercrime and terrorism through AI-driven identity verification.

Adam Foroughi is an aficionado of productivity. As a young father of five and the CEO of a billion dollar software company, AppLovin, Foroughi has to be. What impressed me so much was Foroughis dedication to a meritocratic company cutlure, no matter how big that business becomes. Because of that, he doesnt believe in pedigree, and would rather hire the person who struggled and took the road less-traveled over the Stanford or Harvard MBA.

By operating AppLovin under a culture of just get stuff done, and making sure his team only invites people to meetings if they will personally get value from the event, Foroughi truly embodies the idea of think big, act small.

Although Vietnamese immigrant entrepreneur Johnny Dang designs diamond jewelry and other bling for hip hops biggest stars, like Kanye West, Beyonce, Migos and Cardi B, he is all about staying humble and working hard. In my interview with Dang, he offered this timeless wisdom, Success doesnt always last, especially if youre complacent. This is true for entrepreneurs and rappers with hit songs; you have to keep working hard if you dont want to just be a one hit wonder. And thats something everyone should remember.

Fear of loss often drives people to make really bad decisions. But being afraid to cut your losses, and not walking away from time or money youve already sunk into something thats not working out can prevent you from being your happiest and most successful. So dont be afraid of letting go of sunk costs you already spent: instead remind yourself of all the potential amazing opportunities youre missing out on (opportunity cost) when you dont cut that loss.

Do you have other insights from 2019 youd like to share? Id love to hear about them.

Read more:
Use These 8 Insights From Trailblazers and Top Entrepreneurs To Make 2020 Your Best Year Yet - Forbes

December 30, 2019 08:00 ET | Source: Hemp, Inc.

Las Vegas, NV, Dec. 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE --Hemp, Inc.(OTC PINK: HEMP) a global leader in the industrial hemp industry with bi-coastal processing centers, including the largest multipurpose industrial hemp processing facility in the western hemisphere, announced today its support for the U.S. Department of Agricultures new crop insurance option for hemp growers in select counties of 21 states in 2020.

The insurance program will provide Actual Production History (APH) coverage under 508(h) Multi-Peril Crop Insurance (MPCI). The MPCI coverage is for hemp grown for grain, fiber, and CBD oil for the 2020 crop year. This offering comes in addition to the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection coverage program available to hemp growers that was announced earlier this year.

This new pilot insurance program is open to eligible producers in certain counties in Alabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave hemp farmers a huge Christmas gift this holiday season by creating a new kind of crop insurance for hemp producers in 21 states, just in time for the coming crop year, said Bruce Perlowin, CEO of Hemp, Inc. The new crop insurance option for hemp growers is a groundbreaking program because it brings hemp closer to other commodity crops and reduces risks for producers.

According to a June 2019 market research report published by MarketsandMarkets, the industrial hemp market is projected to grow from $4.6 billion in 2019 to $26.6 billion by 2025, recording a compound annual growth rate of 34.0% during the forecast period.

Additionally, beginning with the 2021 crop year, hemp will be insurable under the Nursery crop insurance program and the Nursery Value Select pilot crop insurance program. Hemp will be insurable if it is grown in containers and in accordance with federal regulations, any applicable state or tribal laws, and terms of the crop insurance policy.

To see one-minute videos of Hemp, Inc.s current activities, visit Bruce Perlowins personalFacebook page, where he shares daily posts of Hemp, Inc.s activities around the country.

WHAT IS HEMP, INC.?

What is Hemp, Inc.? With a deep-rooted social and environmental mission at its core, Hemp, Inc. seeks to build a business constituency for the American small farmer, the American veteran, and other groups experiencing the ever-increasing disparity between tapering income and soaring expenses. As a leader in the industrial hemp industry with ownership of the largest commercial multi-purpose industrial hemp processing facility in North America, Hemp, Inc. believes there can be tangible benefits reaped from adhering to a corporate social responsibility plan.

HEMP, INC.S PROPRIETARY HEMP FLOWER DRYING SYSTEM

Unwavering in its commitment to the industrial hemp industry,Hemp, Inc. disclosed the successful development of its innovative hemp flower drying system for smokable hemp flower. Highly efficient, this compact proprietary hemp flower drying system is fast, drying in only 3 days as opposed to the traditional 7 days while maintaining the critical terpene profile of the product. To be unveiled at its Oregon location, Hemp, Inc. executives expect this advanced hemp flower drying system to bring in excess of $10,000,000 in revenue for the company from the Oregon 2019 harvest season. The drying process lends itself to creating Hemp, Inc.s high quality range of King of Hemp pre-rolls and, of course, high CBD hemp flower. The sheer size and scope of the crop in Oregon is nothing short of amazing and is expected to be a massive game changer for Hemp, Inc.

To read the full release on Hemp, Inc.s proprietary hemp flower drying system, clickhere.

HEMP, INC.S TEN DIVISIONS

Hemp, Inc. has been helping to build the industrial hemp infrastructure that was basically non-existent in America. There are now ten divisions:

Division One The Industrial Hemp Infrastructure

Division Two The Hemp Farming Infrastructure

Division Three The Hemp Extraction Infrastructure

Division Four The Hemp Educational Infrastructure

Division Five The Hemp Marketing Infrastructure

Division Six Accessories, Products and Services

Division Seven Research and Development

Division Eight Industrial Hemp Investments and Joint Ventures

Division Nine Industrial Hemp Consulting

Division Ten Educational Entertainment

Division OneThe Industrial Hemp Infrastructure

The Industrial Hemp Infrastructure(Division One)currently consists of two hemp processing facilities across the country, with two more under development, which will include an in-house third party testing laboratory. The largest of the two is its multi-purpose industrial hemp processing facility and milling operation inSpring Hope, North Carolina. Its the largest industrial hemp processing center in the western hemisphere and has grown to become one of the pre-eminent centers of the industrial hemp industry. The 85,000 square foot facility sits on 9-acres.It is environmentally sustainable and was built from the ground up in hopes of Making America Hemp Again." With a patent pending manufacturing process, the North Carolina facility is operating full time to process millions of pounds of our unique kenaf-hemp blend, to manufacture all-greennatural loss circulation materials (LCMs) that are to be sold to the oil and gas drilling industry, along with an all-green natural oil spill absorbent, a second industrial kenaf-hemp product called Spill-Be-Gone. (See http://www.ihempman.com)

In addition to the companysindustrial hemp processing facility in Spring Hope, North Carolina, Hemp, Inc. also has one of the most sophisticated local processing centers (LPC) in Medford, Oregon which focuses on hemp harvesting, drying, curing, trimming, bagging, storing, and in some cases selling high CBD hemp for local farmers and the Companys own hemp grows in that area, and post processing for the CBD industry. The Companys main focus is the King of Hemp pre-rolls and high CBD smokeable buds a new phenomenon of smoking hemp which has caught the marketplace by storm.

Hemp, Inc. also has 4,500 acres of land in Golden Valley, Arizona(90 miles from Las Vegas, 30 miles north of Kingman, AZ). Out of the 4,500 acres of land, 500 acres are designated for the Veterans Village Kins Community (VVKC) for Arizona. Hemp, Inc. is preparing 80+ acres, of the 500 acres, for hemp cultivation. The company aims to boost the economies of these towns by offering affordable hemp processing services, which incentivizes local growers to add hemp to their crop rotation. The company is continuing to scout new locations for local processing centers in Florida, Puerto Rico, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and several other states.

Thus far, Hemp, Inc.s Local Processing Center (LPC) in Oregon has employed over 200 employees during its 2018 harvest season and over 300 employees during its 2019 harvest season to further support the infrastructure necessary for local and large scale farmers operating in the industrial hemp space.

Division TwoThe Hemp Farming Infrastructure

The Hemp Farming Infrastructure(Division Two)consists of hundreds of acres of hemp and kenaf growing in multiple locations, farm equipment, cloning rooms, clones and seeds, grow rooms, greenhouses, hemp drying facilities and a huge amount of peripheral farming tools and equipment. The progress Hemp, Inc. has made in its agricultural endeavors, over the course of three years, has been amazing.(To see Hemp, Inc.s agricultural progress from 2016 through 2019, visit Bruce Perlowins personal Facebook page atwww.facebook.com/kingofpotand scroll through posts from 2016 to the present. Visitwww.hempincpresents.comto see the videos of Hemp, Inc.s grows in multiple locations.)

Hemp, Inc. also has a model Small Family Farm in North Carolina situated on 12 acres that consists of a cloning room, a greenhouse, and enough land to grow 2,000-3,000 high CBD hemp plants.(This model farm can be seen on Bruce Perlowin's Facebook page, in the Aug. 22nd - 26th, 2018 posts.)The model shows farmers how to grow high CBD hemp plants, operate a greenhouse and turn a barn into a cloning room to earn up to $500,000+ a year. This shows an example of how the Small Family Farm can be duplicated and reappear on the American landscape. After all, the original small family farms in America were able to survive economically by growing hemp as their main cash crop and the first five presidents of the United States were all hemp farmers.

According to Perlowin, the company is preparing to grow on up to 500 acres of land in Oregon, 300 acres in Arizona (maybe more), hundreds of acres in NC (combination of hemp and kenaf), and an undetermined amount in other states. He says collective sales from all these grows will be extremely significant in terms of pre-rolls, high CBD buds, distillate, isolate and biomass. By 2020, we anticipate the main function of the company will be sales and marketing as we will have completed the infrastructure to support that sales and marketing. Right now, I believe we have the largest footprint with vertical integration in the hemp industry in America today. We are always looking for joint ventures where we have or can expand our footprint, commented Perlowin.

Moreover, A to Z services for the farmers are available - from harvesting to drying, bagging, curing, storing, nitrogen sparging, machine trimming, hand trimming, and selling, creating a one stop shop for the small to large family farms. And with the soon-to-be addition of our third party, on-sitetesting labs from Digipath Labs, local farmers can do their testing, processing and selling in the same place. Digipath Labs brings their proprietary ISO-17025:2017 accredited standard operating procedures and testing protocols, to establish, maintain, and operate each lab.

DigipathLabs will bring state-of-the-art equipment, lab expertise, proprietary operating procedures and management to Hemp, Inc.s rapidly growing locations to ensure the highest quality of goods before entering the marketplace. They will provide all necessary laboratory-expertise and related management services to develop and operate each Lab, including purchasing and maintenance of the laboratory instrumentation, as well as hiring and comprehensive training of lab personnel.

Without an in-house, third-party testing laboratory, products in need of testing would need to be transported off site, which could mean waiting days or even weeks for results. The addition ofDigipath Labsat Hemp, Inc.s production centers will expedite testing processes and further support new business developments.(For more information on Digipath Labs, visit http://www.digipathlabs.com.)

Division ThreeThe Hemp Extraction Infrastructure

The Hemp CBD Oil Extraction Infrastructure(Division Three)originally consisted of a Supercritical C02 Extractor. After operating for over a year it has been determined that Hemp, Inc. will be upgrading to a much larger and advanced alcohol extraction process. These large-scale extractors are expected to be placed in all additional hemp processing arenas, thus completing this part of building the industrial hemp infrastructure. The CBD oil that we extracted from our 2018 hemp grows in North Carolina has been made into pure crystalline CBD isolate which we will add to our King of Hemp branded line of pre-rolls to bring to the marketplace and a pre-roll fortified with pure crystalline CBD isolate.

Prior to building its own extraction laboratories, Hemp, Inc. plans to utilize the facilities of other labs in the industry to manufacture its own line of CBD oil products while they continue to build and expand the infrastructure for pre-rolls and high CBD smokeable buds. The Company will hire or joint venture with other, already existing, labs to manufacture CBD, CBG, CBN, and other products in our future cannabinoid line. With 113 different cannabinoids, over 300 terpenes, and more of each being discovered almost monthly, the product range and possibilities in this area are endless.

Division FourThe Hemp Educational Infrastructure

The Hemp Educational Infrastructure(Division Four)includes Hemp, Inc.'sHemp Universitywhich focuses on educating and empoweringHemp farmers and entrepreneurswith knowledge, processing, infrastructure and support. Theeducational seminars, through the Hemp University, are held periodically and teach farmers and landowners how to create a profitable income stream by maximizing the per-acre crop revenue. Through this division, Hemp, Inc. has trained well over 500 farmers in its first two years by doing a total of nine Hemp University seminars in North Carolina and Oregon, thus far, which include:

The Pre-Harvest Symposium September 8, 2019 (Oregon)

The Pre-Harvest Symposiumworkshop at Southern Oregon University was expertly designed for both farmers and entrepreneurs of all experience levels, focused on harvesting, processing and profit channels within the hemp industry.The third edition of the Southern Oregon Hemp University brought an abundance of insight into innovations within the realm of harvesting and processing to the forefront. Additionally, the symposium touched on traditional practices in agriculture.(See Bruce Perlowins personalFacebook post on 9/9/19for a short video on this symposium.)

Pre-Plant Support Workshop May 4, 2019 (Oregon)

The Pre-Plant Support Workshopwas an incredible success that filled the entire venue to capacity with attendees. In total, there were close to 200 attendees, including 20 vendors in attendance. The workshop was designed to help hemp farmers or those who are interested in the hemp industry learn the best pre-planting practices prior to the planting season.The Hemp University Pre-Planting Support Workshop was an interactive and informative workshop that covered the various details hemp farmers should know prior to planting in the 2019 season and beyond.(See Bruce Perlowins personalFacebook post on 5/9/19for a short video on this workshop.)

The Hemp University Educational Seminar- March 23, 2019 (Oregon)

This was the first Hemp University held on the West Coast. The seminar provided attendees with a full day of networking, education, and support.The seminar helped others in the area who were interested in the hemp industry learn more about the Industrial Hemp Revolution and how this movement can not only transform Southern Oregons economy, but also revive family farms and small businesses in the surrounding areas.(See Bruce Perlowins personalFacebook post on 3/28/19for a short video on this seminar.)

Growing Hemp for Profit March 10, 2018 (North Carolina)The Hemp Universitys first educationalsymposiumevent of 2018 entitledGrowing Hemp for Profittook place on Saturday, March 10, 2018. Attendees learned from the Universitys industrial hemp experts as they shared their lessons from their experiences in growing industrial hemp.Growing Hemp for Profit,which took place from 8:30am to 5 pm at the Hilton Garden Inn in Charlotte, North Carolina.(See Bruce Perlowinspersonal Facebook post on 3/17/18for a short video on this symposium.)

Hemp Money Event: Economics, Lessons & Planning for 2018 December 2, 2017 (North Carolina)

The fifth most vital and anticipated educational symposium of the year was Hemp Money Event: Economics, Lessons & Planning for 2018. This symposium was held on Saturday, December 2, 2017 from 8:30am to 5:00pm at the Shrine Club (320 Airport Rd, Rocky Mount, NC 27804). Attendees learned the economics of growing industrial hemp for fiber, seeds, and CBD; learned about other master POD growers experiences and lessons; and, learned how to prepare for the 2018 industrial hemp growing season with a well-defined blueprint for success.(See Bruce Perlowins personalFacebook post on 12/23/17for a short video on this symposium.)

The Hemp Oil Event: The Art and Science of CBD Oil September 30, 2017 (North Carolina)

The Hemp Oil Event (The Art & Science of CBD Oil) was The Hemp Universitys fourth symposium in North Carolina, held on Saturday, September 30, 2017 from 8:30am to 5:00pm at the Peachtree Hills Country Club, 3512 Peachtree Hills Road, Spring Hope, NC 27882.The symposium brought attendees up to speed on all business and scientific aspects of Industrial Hemp CBD cannabinoids by disseminating current, reliable information that continues to shape the revolutionary CBD market. Attendees also got a chance to go to Hemp, Inc.s, then, 70,000 square foot multipurpose industrial hemp decortication facility for the first live public demonstration of its Supercritical CO2 Extraction System using North Carolina-grown CBD industrial hemp. Representatives from NuAxon Bioscience were also on-site to allow those interested in purchasing their own CBD extraction system.(See Bruce Perlowins personalFacebook post on 9/30/17for a short video on this symposium.)

The Art and Science of CBD Greenhouse Growing June 24, 2017 (North Carolina)

The3rd Hemp Universityeducational symposium held on June 24, 2017 focused on The Art and Science of CBD Greenhouse Growing.The educational symposium was held at Louisburg College in Louisburg, North Carolina.A team of experts engaged attendees through the greenhouse and indoor growing process from cultivation to harvest and from processing to distribution. Dr. Robert Bruck, Dean of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science at Louisburg College, was The Hemp Universitys special guest who lectured on soil microbiology during the symposium.Attendees were able to spend half of the course at Hemp, Inc.s, then, 70,000 square-foot Industrial Hemp Hub, in a 3,000 square-foot cloning room.There, attendees had the opportunity to experience a more hands-on learning approach.(See Bruce Perlowins personalFacebook post on 6/30/17for a short video on this symposium.)

Farming Hemp for Profit April 29, 2017(North Carolina)

Hemp, Inc.s second, sold out, educationalsymposium(Farming HEMP for Profit), through its Hemp University, was a phenomenal success. Thesymposiumtook place on Saturday, April 29, 2017, from 8:30am 5:00pm, at the Hampton Inn & Suites located at 3920 Arrow Drive, Raleigh, NC27612 and drew over 100 attendees. The one-day educational symposium and tour of Hemp, Inc.s, then, 70,000 square-foot multipurpose industrial hemp facility was an opportunity for landowners and farmers to learn how to apply real business building tactics with a specific step-by-step blueprint on how to grow, sell and profit from farming industrial hemp.This event accomplished its mission to help landowners and farmers add a new viable and profitable income stream by maximizing the per-acre crop revenue.(See Bruce Perlowins personalFacebook post on 4/30/17for a short video on this symposium.)

Farming Hemp for Profit March 18, 2017 (North Carolina)

This was Hemp, Inc.s firstHemp University symposium. The symposium was a sold out event and was a huge success with 100 attendees who rated the quality of information presented as excellent.The symposium took place on Saturday, March 18, 2017, from 8:00am 5:00pm, at Hemp, Inc.s wholly owned subsidiary,Industrial Hemp Manufacturing, LLC, located at 1436 Highway 581 North, Spring Hope, North Carolina, 27882.The one-day educational symposium was an opportunity for landowners and farmers to receive a specific step-by-step blueprint on how to grow, sell and profit from farming industrial hemp by using real business tactics and principles, presented by industry experts.(See Bruce Perlowins personalFacebook posts on 3/18-19 and 3/21-26, 2019 for a short videos on this symposium.)

The Hemp University is expected to hold its next Post-Harvest Symposium and the first ever Golden Grow Awards Gala, in Oregon, in collaboration with the Southern Oregon Hemp Co-op and GreenLeaf Lab during the first quarter of 2020(tentatively, January 26, 2020). The Golden Grow Awards Gala is a joint effort to recognize, evaluate and honor excellence in the industrial hemp field.

To listen to past Hemp University workshops, please visithemp-university.teachable.com. Also visithttps://www.hempincpresents.comto see highlights from Hemp, Inc.s inaugural Hemp University held in North Carolina, which sold out in two weeks.

The Hemp Universitys twelveonline educational masterclassesare $10 each and each masterclass is under an hour in length. The online courses include lectures from industry leaders who have educated attendees at the Hemp University workshops in Oregon. These online masterclasses provide farmers who were either not able to attend the first Hemp University or who would like to revisit certain topics presented by the event speakers.

Those interested in attending, presenting or showcasing at Hemp, Inc.sHemp University, for Oregon, may contact Sophia Blanton via email (hempu@hempinc.com). For other states and to be part of our online courses, all experts in any aspect of the industrial hemp industry, contact Chris Tinney on (855) 554-6834 or via email at (ctinney@hempinc.com).

According to executives, there are also plans in the near future to expand The Hemp University to other states, including Arizona, through a variety of different formats. The eco-village in Arizona will serve as the venue for interactive and hands-on camping events which will focus on building with hemp-crete and other hemp construction materials, as well as growing hemp and the various aspects of organic gardening/farming, natural bee-keeping and other back-to-the-land and small family farm educational courses.

Since The Hemp Universitys initial launch with the educational symposium, the number of attendees has grown tremendously and it has been an overwhelming success, each time.The interactive, hands-on learning approach is invaluable. By learning inan interactive cohort format, students gain the necessary skills they need to immediately implement them on their farm or in their organization. Its the perfect mix of quality instruction, relevant educational content and a high level of commitment, to ensure the educational success of each attendee, said Perlowin.

Thus far, The Hemp University has helped transformthe livelihoods of North Carolina and Oregon farmers transitioning from tobacco and other crops to industrial hemp by providing them with the tools and support needed to gain a foothold in this burgeoning industry.

Division FiveThe Hemp Marketing Infrastructure

While marketing is a critical facet of any business operation for increasing revenues, Hemp, Inc. believes there must be a keen focus on the infrastructure first. The demand for CBD and hemp products is massive, some even say the demand is insatiable. In order to supply that type of volume/demand, there has to be a strong foundation or infrastructure in place. While Hemp, Inc. is poised to grow a rock solid Hemp Marketing Infrastructure, CEO Perlowin reminds us that this infrastructure has to be able to support a meteoric industry growth.The cannabidiol (CBD) market is on track to grow to $23.7 billion through 2023, according to theBrightfield Group. The firm also estimated the smokeable hemp market to be valued at $11.5 million in 2018, a growth of 250% from 2017. This is why we focus on infrastructure, at the moment, more so than specific marketing activities, says Perlowin. Specific marketing activities isnt the issue. The ability to grow, process and produce what the marketplace is demanding is the issue and hence the reason we focused on creating the infrastructure first.

The company has also recently joint-ventured with the retail store Hemp Healthcare, in Dolan Springs, Arizona, to sell high-end cannabidiol (CBD) and hemp-based products. Hemp Healthcare is home to an array of renowned CBD and hemp products, including Hemp, Inc.s cosmetic and wellness line that includes shampoos, lotions, candles and more. The retail storefront is conveniently located off Highway 93 in Arizona, in a highly trafficked tourist area. Specifically located on Pierce Ferry Road, Hemp Healthcare is next to Dolan Station a location that welcomes numerous tour buses daily with visitors from around the world that stop there on trips to the Grand Canyon. On some days, up to 40 tour buses stop at this location, filled to the brim with tourists on their way to the Sky Walk at the Grand Canyon.

Division SixAccessories, Products and Services

Division Six focuses on the sale of hemp industry accessories such as the sale of extractors,harvesters, storage bags, containers,fertilizer, soil amendments, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, balers, greenhouses, and greenhouse equipment; the drying, trimming, curing, storing and brokering for other farmers harvesting hemp; and ultimately anything else a hemp farmer may need to be successful.

What we found is that people are always looking for hundreds of items. New harvesting equipment, irrigation equipment of all kinds, soil amendments, organic soil fertilizers, organic pest control products, new extraction technologies and more, said Perlowin.

Division SevenResearch and Development

While Research and Development has been an integral part of Hemp, Inc. since day one, a more formal research and development project is planned after significant revenues are created. This division will then start and expand rapidly. The Company originally planned for Puerto Rico, but found the barrier to entrance was much too great and has therefore changed its position to focus its research and development division on states where hemp is already legal. Hemp, Inc. is proud to have been a pioneer and leader in the early stages of the hemp industry in America with our strategy to build infrastructure even before legalization occurred in a state such as what was done in North Carolina and Arizona.

According to Hemp, Inc.s CEO, Bruce Perlowin, Currently, it is now economically more advantageous to operate in a state that already has several years of legalization behind it and thus, further down the road, making it easier for hemp companies to thrive as we have done in North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada and especially Oregon. Weve hit a grand slam in Oregon, so to speak, in our growing operations for 2 consecutive years. We may revisit Puerto Rico once they have straightened out their legal red tape, and their rules and regulations.

Division EightIndustrial Hemp Investments and Joint Ventures

Hemp, Inc. recently established the eighth division(Industrial Hemp Investments and Joint Ventures). Since the passing of the 2018 hemp bill, Hemp, Inc. has been flooded with inquiries of people who want to invest in the hemp industry but dont know where to start. As the Avant-guard of the industrial hemp industry, Hemp, Inc. has put together numerous joint venture investment opportunities for the medium to large-scale investor. Those who are interested should emailir@hempinc.com. Multi-million dollar investors, and in some cases billionaires and billion dollar hedge funds, are aggressively trying to get into the hemp industry since the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill. Our joint venture agreements are that they put up the money and we put up the expertise in a 50/50 revenue share(after all the initial investment money is paid back first). This will save the large-scale hemp investor often two years and dozens of multi-million dollar mistakes that they WILL often make without an expert in the hemp industry. This is where Hemp, Inc.s vast network of experts and resources in the industrial hemp industry come into play because this is something that can easily be provided to those interested in entering this industry.

Division NineIndustrial Hemp Consulting

Hemp, Inc.s Industrial Hemp and Medical Marijuana Consulting Company (IHMMCC) was recently restructured as its ninth division and is now Division Nine - Industrial Hemp Consulting. With an influx of public companies wanting to expand into the industrial hemp industry, Hemp, Inc. has been inundated with potential consulting agreements.To keep up, Hemp, Inc. revamped its consulting division to work hands-on with each company to provide its years of expertise.According to Perlowin, there is definitely a sense of Community of Companies whereby a lot of companies are working together to pool their resources, marketing connections and strategies in order to grow simultaneously.

Typically, companies seeking in depth consulting services from Hemp, Inc. pay mostly in stock since cash flow is oftentimes tight during the developmental stage of start-up companies in this industry. Through Hemp, Inc.s Division Nine Industrial Hemp Consulting, a wide range of services are forged from the experiences of creating the first publicly trading company in the cannabis sector (Medical Marijuana, Inc.) and having well over a decade of experience in the cannabis industrys public sector. Perlowin, Hemp, Inc.s chief executive officer also has over five decades in the industry itself.

Division TenEducational Entertainment

Hemp, Inc.s newest division, Entertainment, will cover everything from investing in the movieThe Adventures of the King of Pot(http://www.kingofpotthemovie.com/)and other historical movies, books and documentaries representing our industry up to the current docuseries being made onThe Modern Day History of Hemp. Those interested in investing in any one of these ventures should contact the divisions Project Manager, Chris Tinney, at 855-554-6834 or via email,ctinney@hempinc.com.

VETERAN VILLAGE KINS COMMUNITIES

To see the livestream feed for the Veterans Village Kins Community Arizona, visitwww.hempinc.com/arizonaand click on View Live Feed.

The companys 500-acre strategic growing partner Veteran Village Kins Community in Golden Valley, Arizona, is designed to grow hemp and produce CBD products to benefit veterans as well as generate revenue for Hemp, Inc., the Veteran Village and individual veterans living in the community.

TheVeteran Village Kins Community in Arizona has completed its final site plan blueprints for its 500-acre site in Golden Valley, Arizona(20 miles north of Kingman, AZ and 90 minutes from Las Vegas, NV). The site plan was submitted to the Mohave County Building Department for final review. The Company is also in the final stages of completing the necessary infrastructure to support an off-grid, renewable, energy system.

As soon as all the live streaming video cameras are up and operational, the world can actually see the way the Veteran Village Kins Community is designed and watch it being built. According to Perlowin, the basic framework or overall plan of the Veteran Village Kins Communities is to create a holistic healing and learning center that is designed to educate and heal veterans with PTSD, alcoholism, meth addiction, opioid addiction, and other psychological conditions while at the same time training them on the numerous aspects of being part of the emerging multi-billion dollar hemp industry. To see the first live streaming video, clickhere.

The Company will also build hemp-growing communities for other groups such as Abused Women & Children Village Kins Communities, the Orphaned Children Village Kins Communities, Homeless Village Kins Communities, and the Healers Village Kins Communities (the healers are professionals who are knowledgeable in the modalities to treat these traumatized groups). These particular communities are all synergistically aligned to work simultaneously supporting each other.

For example, the Healers heal the traumatized veterans and women & children; the women support orphan children, and orphan children want to see people living in homes and not homeless. Thus, a portion of the hemp grown in each community goes to create and support another community, giving everybody a sense of giving back and helping others as they help themselves. This circles back to the healers who also work to heal the veterans and the other traumatized groups. This is the economic foundation on how the sale of the hemp products operates as a quantum economic matrix or an example of symbiotic economics which is more complex than this brief description allows.

Dwight Jory, the Project Manager for the Veteran Village Kins Community Arizona, Inc., said, We are very happy with the progress. Our Kins Community is really beginning to come together. In anticipation of planting to begin during the spring, 300 acres have been fenced, 16 overnight trailer park sites are under construction, and six 4040-ft organic vegetable gardens have been planted and are currently producing food and kenaf, according to Jory. These organic gardens double as experimental growing modules using an entire array of different growing technologies to see which modalities grow the best in a desert environment. As for the 6 geodesic domes mentioned in an earlier press release, 1 is structurally complete with only the electrical and plumbing to be completed. The rest are on site awaiting final site plan approval.

We are now accepting volunteers who have expressed an interest in helping to build the first Kins Community for our veterans, said Jory. Those interested in making the first hemp growing CBD-producing Veteran Village Kins Community become a reality should contact Ms. Sandra Williams via email (swilliams@hempinc.com).

One thousand trees, on 36 of the 500-acres, have also been planted, with an additional 1,000 trees on order. The Veteran Village Kins Community will include a 100,000-square foot GMP compliant, central processing plant, a state-of-the-art testing laboratory, and various health and wellness centers to support veterans who may have psychological, emotional or health issues.

As Hemp, Inc. positions itself on the forefront of Americas industrial hemp revolution, we see our partnership with Veteran Village Kins Community Arizona, Inc. being paramount in supporting the small family farm movement that we are confident will reshape the American landscape, said Perlowin. As we work toward getting our eco-village up and running in Arizona, we are also aggressively scouting strategic locations in other states including North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. Giving veterans and other Americans a place to learn new skills and take part in this multi-billion-dollar hemp CBD market is very exciting. Its a big part of our mission to give back. Recently we have expanded our Kins Community concept internationally focusing, but not limited to, Israel, New Zealand, Canada, Africa, and Uruguay.

Hemp, Inc. executives are also continuing to scout new locations nationwide to open additional hemp processing centers in legal markets.

PRESS COVERAGE

Between the Hemp University, the hemp processing center and Bruce Perlowin himself, the Company has created an enormous amount of media coverage. See below for the list of press hits the Company has received up to the end of this quarter:

Hit:Hemp: the burgeoning industry of southern Oregon - (NBC) KOBI-5, December 22, 2018

Press Release:Hemp, Inc. Featured on Oregon NBC 5 Station Following Passage of 2018 Farm Bill

Hemp, Inc. Featured on Oregon NBC 5 Station Following Passage of 2018 Farm Bill

Hit:Carolinas next cash crop?: Farm bill will add hemp into more growers rotation - The Wilson Times, December 26, 2018

Excerpt from:
Hemp, Inc. Applauds USDA's New Insurance Option For Hemp - GlobeNewswire