Hello everybody, HoodedCoreCommander78 here, and this time we're gonna do something a little different. This is not a quick shot, this is a full review, but we're not gonna be reviewing a GI Joe action figure or vehicle. Instead, I wanted to look at a couple ways Hasbro gave us to carry the figures. We're gonna look at the 1982 official collector display case and the 1983 pocket patrol pack. I had both of these as a kid and I thought they were pretty cool, so let's check them out. Starting with the 1982 collector display case. This is an official collector display case. This is not a licensed product. Hasbro actually produced these and this is pretty much what it looked like on the shelves. Didn't have any outer packaging or anything like that. In fact, this one still has the price sticker. Looks like it was purchased at Rinks for $4.89. On the front, we have this really nice image that has most of the GI Joe characters from 1982 with the MOBAT tank in the background. It's very dynamic, it looks great. This same image was used on the 1983 Battle Gear accessory pack number one and it was used on the card for the pocket patrol pack. A modified version of this image was used on the GI Joe comic book issue number one. You can see it carries and displays 12 GI Joe team members. There's the official Hasbro logo there. Now this number 12 is a little bit of a problem because in 1982, there were 13 members of the GI Joe team and there were three Cobra figures if you count the mail away Cobra commander. So if you had the entire set, you could not use them all in this display case. You just have to pick the 12 you liked the best to display. On the backside, we have that GI Joe logo there and we have some photos and some information about the display case. We have a photo of some of the 1982 GI Joe action figures. Not all of them though. It looks like we are missing Hawk and Grand Slam and Clutch and the Cobra officer. Then down here, we have some photos showing how to use the display case. You can either set it on a shelf and that's the way I like to do it. You can close it up and use it as a carrying case or you can even mount it on a wall. The case is hinged on one side and it has clips on the other side so it opens like a book. And there's even a handy arrow right here on the top that says open here. So let's open it as instructed and take a look at the inside. Here is the inside space to display the figures and there are some interesting choices here. Of course, these are the spaces for the figures and there are strips that cover them and hold the figures in. On these strips, there are labels and the display case came with a label sheet that had a label for each of the 1982 figures and these were placed on here by the purchaser and so you just chose whichever labels you wanted to use and placed them wherever you wanted to. For that reason, as a collector, if you get a display case that already has the labels applied, it's very unlikely that any two of them will be exactly alike. Those strips peg in and can be removed and since they can be removed, they are often missing. These labels are interesting. They do not include the character's codename, only the specialty and red letters and the accessories in black letters and they don't even mention all of the accessories really only just the weapon. No helmets or backpacks are listed. This display case was reissued in 1983 and it included a new label sheet with the 1983 lineup. The display case was also available in 1984 but I'm not aware of any 1984 label sheet. Next we have a weapons armory with a removable door and this is for storing accessories. Now obviously this is not gonna hold every accessory from 1982, it probably won't even hold the accessories just for the 12 figures you can fit in here but it is large enough to hold most of the weapons. It will even hold the largest weapon issued with a figure that year, rock and rolls machine gun. Since this door is removable, it is often missing and there's another problem with it. It pegs on using three very thin pegs and those can crack off and they can even break off inside the case. Next we have the partition for the combat command file and this is a space for holding file cards. It pegs in exactly the same way as the figure strips do but one of the pegs actually goes behind the armory door so you have to remove the armory door in order to take off this strip. There is enough space in that partition to hold all of the 1982 file cards. Holds it pretty snugly but they do all fit and they are fairly secure in there. As mentioned earlier, there are three ways to use this display case. You can either set it on a shelf like that or you can close it up and use it as a carrying case or you can mount it on a wall and it actually has notches. There are four of them. One of them is behind the armory door where you can hang it on nails nailed into a wall. The problem with this is these little notches here are covered by the label in the front and the back so if you mount this on the wall it will necessitate punching through the labels. Here is the display case filled with figures. These are the figures that this particular display case has labeled and of course the figure is with its particular label and I went ahead and put the file cards in there as well. This is how it was intended to be used but I don't prefer this as a way of displaying the figures. The figures can't always keep their accessories on while they're in the display case and like I said that weapons armory is just too small to hold all of the accessories so I prefer to display the figures in a different way but I actually like to display the case itself. This is what I like to do. This case has some gorgeous artwork and photos and it's kind of a novelty in itself and deserves its own display and if you're using it to display figures then you are hiding this really nice artwork that I think deserves to be seen. So this is what I prefer to do. Display the figures separately and then display the display case on its own. Now let's look at the pocket patrol pack from 1983. This shouldn't take nearly as much time as looking at the collector display case. There's just much less to these. Again, these are official Hasbro products. These are not licensed. These pocket patrol packs were first released carded in 1983 at retail and they were later available through the mail. We have two of them here because we have a variant. The GI Joe label on them changed over the years. It started out at retail with this label, the black background and that original GI Joe label which looks pretty good. This is the most common version of the pocket patrol pack. Later ones updated the logo, but not just the logo. If you look at the space where the label goes it actually changed. Originally it was a rectangle with an angled edge here on this side. Later it was changed to just a basic rectangle so it's not just the label that changed. There was a change in the mold itself. The label on this one is misapplied unfortunately. It's a little crooked. These pocket patrol packs were included with some later releases of the mail away starduster figure from 1987. Later still the pocket patrol pack was given away for free for any orders of $20 or more from Hasbro Direct. So there should be a lot of these floating around. On the back of the pocket patrol pack we have a loop and this is for a belt. You're supposed to wear this on a belt. And it's very easy to use. You have a clip here in front. You just pop it open and that reveals three compartments for storing figures. I've put three random figures from 1983 in the pocket patrol pack to show you how it works. It only holds the three figures. That's it. It's really all it does. But one thing that's nice about it is there's enough space in there that most figures can still keep their accessories on and the case will still close. That's all there is to the pocket patrol pack. That's really all there is to it. It does nothing else. It just holds those three figures and nothing more. But I did have the pocket patrol pack as a kid. In fact, I think I had several of them. And sometimes we would use them as ammunition packs when we were role playing as soldiers. So they did have that function. When they're not using them as figures, they did kind of make a nice role play toy as kind of ammunition packs. That was my review of the 1982 official collector display case and the 1983 pocket patrol pack. I hope you enjoyed it. I thought it might be fun to just do something a little different. We do have full vintage GI Joe toy reviews every week on this channel. So please subscribe to the YouTube channel so you don't miss those. You can find me on social media, on Facebook and Twitter. And I have a Patreon if you'd like to support the channel in that way. And I do have to give a special thanks to my patrons. Their generosity is overwhelming and I greatly appreciate it. I also have a coffee account if you like the videos and would like to leave me a one time tip. I'll be coming at you with a full vintage GI Joe toy review soon. So please don't miss that. And until then remember only GI Joe is GI Joe.


عنحة السلام عليكم صباحة مرحبا تشتغل بقوة الغصة one of the core activities that ICRC is undertaking not only in Somalia but in many other countries around the world to work with the authorities to engage with them in a constructive dialogue to improve the conditions for the detainees inside the prison ن also carry out private interviews with the detainees to understand the conditions in which they are living, to be able to talk in a comfortable way and to express their concerns.


The way we market, the way we approach our customers, the way that we really nourish that sales pipeline has to change. Welcome to the Smarter Building Materials Marketing Podcast, helping you find better ways to grow leads, sales, and outperform your competition. All right, everybody, welcome to Smarter Building Materials Marketing, where we believe your online presence should be your best salesperson. I am Zach Williams, and my co-host, Beth Papiklav, is not here. So I'm flying solo today, but I am so pumped about today's guest. We have an awesome guest who I've been friends with for a while now, who I've been really excited to have on the show. We've got Toby Bostwick, who's the VP of Product and Brand at Fortress Building Products on the show with us today. Toby, welcome to the show. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me on. Very excited, as you mentioned. Very excited to be on the Vinvio podcast. I watch it religiously, so I look forward to it. Thank you. Awesome, awesome. And Toby, you and I have gotten to know each other the last couple of years. And I'm not just saying this because you're on the show. I really respect what you're doing and how you're building, but also how you lead your team, which I think we're gonna talk a little about today. But for listeners, if they don't know who you are, they don't know who Fortress Building Products is, can you give us just a 30,000 foot view of what you do and what you guys sell and who you guys market to and things like that? Love to, I appreciate it, Zach. I'll start with Fortress. Where I work, it's an important piece of who I am. Then at Fortress, almost three years now, the number one thing about Fortress and why I really moved to Fortress was about the purpose that we serve. Yes, we are in building products. We manufacture, steal, aluminum, composite, different building products in eight different categories. So I'll drop that plug in there. But more importantly, it's about our purpose, right? And our purpose is leading global change in the way people build and live. And it's something that is deep for me in that passion of really helping people change what they do, how they live, so bringing solutions to the market. At Fortress, we definitely bring solutions. That's what separates us from what I consider many in the industry is not just trying to bring new products to market, but bring a solution. I know that you used a lot, but that's where we start. You brought up how we're developing and leading the teams and it's really starting with the solution in mind for the customer. And that's really about Fortress. Being there three years, it's been quick. I've been counting them in dog years, Zach, so they're going really fast. So it feels like 21 years as I look at it with everything that's happened in the last three years. Of course, it's been a lot of moving parts and pieces at Fortress. So you got there in 2019? Is that right? That's correct. August 2019.  And then like six months in, the world gets turned upside down, right? It's amazing, right? It's like my wife always says I'm a sucker for punishment, right? In some way, shape or form. And when I started, it was like, oh, this is going to be smooth sailing. Sure, Stad, the owner of Fortress was restructuring the business. And great foundation of where we were going to go. I'm like, I got it, right? It's mapped out. And then all of a sudden, COVID hits right after Deck Expo of that year. And the whole world just changed. And it really took a different perspective. A little bit on me, as you had asked. I've been in the industry for 20 years. Starting in 2002, from home building to commercial construction, product development focused all the way through. But you name it, one area of building products I've stayed in my entire career. And the last three years have been a very different, challenging, but also rewarding of really digging down, finding out who you are as you go through these last three years. And excited to talk about it a little bit with you. Absolutely. So I think the thought and the idea that's on everybody's mind in building products right now is, what do you think is going to happen? What's going to happen with building, with construction? I mean, I read two different articles today. And this is about the cost of oil, which does impact building products. And one was by Citigroup and one was by JP Morgan. And Citigroup was like, hey, we project that oil is going to be $65 a barrel by end of year. And JP Morgan was saying, hey, we think it's going to be close to $300 or something crazy with that. Don't call me on the exact amount. But the reality is nobody knows. And that feels like what we've lived in for the last few years is that nobody really knows what's going on. I think that's why we need stronger leadership now more than ever. And so I want to talk to you about marketing, because I love marketing. But I really want to understand is you being a leader of people, being a leader of a marketing organization and an organization that's gone through restructuring. And you guys are at the front lines of what's happening in building products. I want to know, number one, what are you seeing? What are you hearing? What do you all think and how are you approaching this? And then, secondarily, how does that translate to how you're leading your team? Absolutely. No, it's a good question. And if I get this right, then I'm going to go buy a lottery ticket right afterwards as well. But it's so funny, because hindsight's such a great teacher. And I think what we've learned is going to help us as to what we're saying to move forward. And what I mean by that is we've got to be prepared in a different way differently than we ever have before. And as you just articulated, you can have barrel at $300 or crude oil at $300 a barrel or $65. That's the world we live in right now. And if you read one article to another article, you're going to get a very different sentiment of what's really happening. And for me, the way I look at the industry right now in building products or in building materials and specifically to our area, we do have an insulation layer. And I believe that. I've seen it right. I went through the 2007, 2008 coming out of home building, saw what happened in going to an alternative wood alternative material manufacturer. There is some insulation there. As people start to focus on their home, refocus where they spend their discretionary income, the long-term play is still a good investment in your house. So those homeowners, they're still an investment there that, yes, the dust has to settle. Inflation is real. What we're going through right now is real. So an acknowledgement of the present is going to help us prepare for the future. But the investment in your home is still going to continue. And the same thing is true with businesses. We've got to keep going through with business. And so whether it's your home or the business that you serve, alternative building materials, wood alternative materials like where I focus specifically, they still have a play. The sales cycle is going to change. That's what I see being a little bit differently. So the way we market, the way we approach our customers, the way that we really nourish that sales pipeline has to change. And if we learned anything from last year is that you've got to keep marketing, you've got to keep developing, you've got to keep nourishing that sales pipeline during the tough times and the good times. So last year, when orders were just coming in and coming in and coming in, how did we continue to nourish that pipeline? How did we continue to market, reach new customers and new opportunities? So that's what I see in that near future right now is those people that are being creative, that don't give up, that don't get discouraged, continue to market, continue to push through, find those segments in the business where growth is still going to happen, but be patient with it. Got to be patient as we're going through this next six months to a year and really finding what I hate to say new normal. Go for it, man. Yeah, that new normal got just overused all the time, right? But yeah, that's what I see. The opportunity is still there. There's an insulation with discretionary spin that in this industry will continue to be there. And I firmly believe that's going to continue over the next year. Won't be pretty. There's going to be down times. There's going to be slowdowns. We face it now. Many have in the industry. If you read some of the reports in the publicly traded companies or private companies, there's some tough times that people are going through right now. So I don't want to be, you know, I want to be empathetic to that and understand that there are tough times happening. Let me ask you this. When you think about Fortress' strategy, what percentage of your business is renovation versus new construction? Sure, I mean, it's high. I mean, we're 90 plus, right? You know, we get some of that new construction in terms of through our traditional steps though, through our traditional two-step. That'll help feed some of that. But it's going to be 90 pluses still in that R&R market. I think, and I love to get your take on this, I think R&R is going to become even more important because if you think about it, there's a large portion of the United States, not if I go macro on you. This is what I love is like, if you look at macro, a large portion of the United States has been locked into a 3% or even sub 3% mortgage, right? And so they're looking at like five and a half or six. And I mean, granted, depending upon when this podcast drops, it could increase or decrease when you look at that mortgage rate. Sure. And so more or less, it might be depending upon the percentage here, but there's going to be a percentage of people that are like, hey, I'm not going to move right now because interest rates are so high, I can't trade my current house for a better house without substantially increasing my cost, my monthly mortgage payment.  As we saw renovation huge through COVID, what you're going to see is people are like, hey, I want to move, but I can't, you know, I'm not going to increase my mortgage. I'm just going to go renovate. I'm going to make an addition. I'm going to renovate my kitchen. I'm going to do whatever it is to make my house in an even better environment. Because you said this earlier, and I think this is something people forget, is like we pre COVID, we looked at our home a lot of times we justified buying it purely through the lens of what is that financial investment? Am I going to see return? But I think more and more people are also seeing, well, what's the emotional investment? What's the investment in my family and having a space that's really built for us? You know, because we're spending more time at home. And so I'd be curious to get your take as somebody who's really on our side. Do you have the same sentiment or you're still waiting to see how, you know, things play out? I do. So it's an interesting way you put it because I'll speak personally, you know, whether luck plays into it or not. I do think timing is everything, right? But also in the last year, when you bought a home is critical. As you just pointed out, as interest rates continue to rise, right now it's tough, but those that are locked in at those lower interest rates, what we saw and what we're seeing across the country is that drove instant equity into that home, right? So now that spend is available, right? And as people start to tighten down a little bit and you see that you have that equity in your home, that makes the availability to do your backyard pergola or to put up a new fence or to renovate your kitchen, whatever the R&R is, it's gonna be there for those people that bought at that time, right? The sensitivity factor says, yeah, there's others on the flip side. So I wanna be aware of that. But Zach, I agree with you. I think that will generate, that's that insulation we were talking about or I brought up a little bit is on the fun, you know, on the upside in building products, you get that demand, right? And that supply is tight and that demand grows, but then when things start to slow down, you get the insulation of, now I look at my home as an investment. I look at it as what I wanna invest my money into because most people stay in their home seven years, as an example, seven years from now, we'll be back up on a swing, right? We've come out of this period in time that we're in, I'm staying away from the R word. So, you know, we're coming through this period of time and the GDP will change and all these things will start to change for us and we'll have a different mindset as we look at five years from now when somebody goes to sell their house again. So, putting in that new backyard's going to pay off, putting in that new kitchen or that new bathroom, it will pay off and that money is sitting there because of what we've seen over the last 18, 24 months in housing where I live down here in Florida, you can't find a house. It is still at that point of where soon as it comes on the market, it's a cash deal, it's the day of and you gotta be ready to buy sometimes at five to 10% over asking price just to get into a home. Now, it's a little bit tougher now when interest rates continue to climb so it does slow it down a little bit but I think having that equity line is going to be there, it's going to continue to boost the R and R side of the residential part of what we look at. If we shift and talk about marketing for a moment, I want to hit your take here, Tobion. You said this at the beginning about the importance of continuing to invest in marketing. I think that's also though, when you look at marketing, it's also an indicator of leadership and not to go too deep on you. But if you think about it, if you as an organization are saying, hey, we're going to continue to market through an upswing or through downswing or whatever it might be, what you're doing is you're reinforcing to your team how you feel or how you view the business. And so, yes, I want to hear how you're approaching your marketing and is your messaging at all to your audience changing? But I also want to hear from you what kind of things are you coaching and speaking into your team and how are you leading them through this giant question mark that is the current state of like society? Absolutely. Can you talk to me a little bit about that? Yeah, I think it's a great question. Something close to me and you know me well, Zach. So I'm a passionate person. And when I look at it, I have to give credit where credit is due. As I think about marketing, I had a mentor, an industry pioneer really that told me a long time ago that we need to do three things in this industry, especially in building products is number one, make a better and different product. Number two, be easy to do business with. And then number three from a marketing side, you got to tell everybody about it. And if you do those three things really well, you're going to be successful, right? We're not doing heart transplants. We're not changing the industry through scientific discovery and those things. We're bringing solutions to a need. And that's what we do in building products and not to simplify how important that is. But if we concentrate on those things as you ask about the marketing, the messaging and the team conversation that we have is to speak to the customers how they receive messages. And I know that sounds kind of odd, but customers now versus two years ago before the pandemic, they're receiving marketing differently, right? Whether that be digitally, right? So through the structural side of it, digitally, online, on their phone, those things, that's one part. But how you talk to them is extremely different, right? How an architect looks at an opportunity now, it is different than how he looked or she looked at it two to three years ago. Same thing for a contractor, a deck builder, right? You're seeing changes in the market. So how we talk to them as a marketing department, as a product team, and as an innovation group, and those are the three areas, Zach, that I have the opportunity to lead, it is different than what we did three years ago. We have to understand, yeah, go ahead. Can you give me an example of that, like brass tacks? Like, hey, we spoke to this audience this way and now we're finding, shoot, this doesn't work anymore. Or does it work as well? Very, very clearly. With contractors, I'll give you a perfect example. We did a lot of push, right? Two to three years ago, we did a lot of push. So, hey, we've got this good idea, we've got this new railing, we've got a new fence, we've got a new frame, and it's a great innovation. You should buy it.  Here's a display, here's the samples and all those kind of things, which is great. I'm not downplaying that. But if that doesn't meet their specific market needs, right? And New England is different than the Southeast. Denver is different than the Bay Area in San Francisco, right? And if it rains in Seattle, doesn't mean it's raining down in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And we have customers in all those different places. That's just North America.  And understanding that one contractor in one of those areas, absolutely, you cannot take this one-size-fits-all approach anymore and think, well, I'm gonna sell frame this way because this contractor in Denver, Colorado really likes it. He's an innovative person. He just wants to be at the leadership of driving new innovation. Well, that may be great for that contractor. So to specifically answer, if I move to the Atlanta market where the pricing is different, the pressures are different, that contractor, they may need that conversion opportunity. So how do I get them to understand how to upsell from traditional treated wood to a steel frame? That messaging is completely different than if I'm leading with an innovation-type story or if I'm leading with a conversion story. So being able to craft messages, whether it's through social media is huge, Zach. The way that we've picked out who our influencer partners are or how we talk about our products now to those target markets is completely different than it was when we were doing that push. Now it's listen first and then create the pull-through side. What are you using to listen? Is it just conversation? Are you seeing things online specifically? So two areas. You hit on both of them, but I'll be a little bit more specific. Online is huge, right? Your chat rooms. It is amazing. If you jump on a Facebook contractor chat room, how much you learn? Not only about manufacturers, but about what's working, what's not working? What am I feeling in my world? We have contractors right now, as we speak to that, that are still backed up three, four months. But we also have key contractors in this market that are starving for work because they're starting to see people pull back and those $100,000 projects are no longer just there, right? Just say, write the order and let's go. Customers, their customers are taking their time now. So on Facebook chat, I'd say one thing that has really picked up social media, whether it's Instagram, TikTok, those types of things, I love them all. I don't understand them completely. That's why I have people way smarter than me in the marketing department doing those things. But the feedback we get from those, priceless. People are real and I think there's a sense of security. People kind of let down their guard a little bit when you're on Facebook or Instagram I'll go through the comments on our fortress Instagram. So many great questions or input. Hey, did you think about doing this? Did you think about us in our market? How can you get us product quicker? And you would have never known that if you weren't on those different channels where they feel comfortable conveying that type of messaging. The other side that, and I'll just be really clear, now more than ever talking to our customers and I mean distributors, dealers, contractors, our home center partners, that quality time, right? Just like what our wives have always told us, gotta spend that quality time, right? Quality time. That quality time in five minutes can be quality time. One thing you ask about my coaching and some of the things that has really shown to be important with my team. And I got a great group, they get the benefit of that is that spending time with a contractor every week. So we'll start our Monday afternoon calls with a conversation. Number one, it's always about core values. Can't move away from that. And number two, it's about what contractors did you talk to this week? What did they say? You ask your marketing department those questions. Oh yeah. Your product department, all that. So product department, everyone has a, I'll call it an ultimatum, but there is a directive. We don't learn anything by just talking internally. As soon as you just talk internal, what we have found is you start making short-sighted decisions. And when you talk externally, you'll make long-term decisions. You'll make those decisions that are beneficial. And that's what we found talking with our contractors. Those customers that are putting money in the bank, right? Those that are paying the bills. Those are the people that are giving you the honest feedback. And that's where it really starts to come into your decision-making. Am I getting honest feedback from my distributor partners? Do I have a line of communication with my dealers? What's going out the door? What are they selling? What's not moving? What are we doing well? And the same thing, obviously, at the contractor level. So those three different levels in understanding their business is critical to being able to make good decisions on our side and understand our business. That's super smart. I love that you're tasking your team, regardless of whatever division that they're in, that they got to be talking to the customer. Because you're absolutely right. And we all see this.  You don't have that outside perspective. But you said something a minute ago, I think it's, I wanna get your take on Toby, which is you're talking about those people that maybe they have a $100,000 project that they're seeing pullback. And the last two years for a lot of companies in building products, whether it's the trade or a contractor, builder, even manufacturers, if you look at that scale of fear and greed, it's been very much greed. It's like, hey, I got more. I mean, I can't even make enough product to sell. And now you're starting to see like you said that pullback. And so I think the biggest message that manufacturers, and you push back against this if you disagree, but I think the biggest message that manufacturers are gonna need to start to speak to is the greatest pain point that people are gonna start deal with, which is uncertainty. Is that these guys, they're like, hey, I've been really hot for a while now. Is it gonna continue? Like uncertainty, I think it's the biggest thing. It's more than like job flow. It's more than even finding someone to do the work or even finding product. It's the overall uncertainty of the times because if there's anything that's happened over the last two years, even three years now, is that we live, and I hate the term, but it's very uncertain. And like things are changing so quickly. And I think that's why people are tired too. Like you were talking to us before we started recording. It's like, we're not tired because we're working so hard. We're tired because things are changing so much so quickly. Yeah, you're 100% right. I'll directly answer your question there in terms of contractors. As I told you, and this came directly from contractors, obviously won't use their names, but spent a lot of time with them last week, face to face. We had a great build off. I don't know if you've probably heard about it, but going on out in East Texas. And it was a great opportunity with many different manufacturers in building products to get together, but to have real conversations. And you'll see some that still have that backlog that's like, I had this pipeline build up. I was six to seven months as far as my lead time last year, but now that's down to three. But I still have a good book of business, good order coming through. But the flexibility is a word that I think every contractor right now is using all the time. And what I mean by that is, they need to be flexible in having so many different projects open because you don't wanna give that time for somebody to question. You want to be able to say, okay, hey, let's move this forward. Let's do your initial investment. Drawings are done. We've already moved forward because that hesitancy as you brought up is really starting to happen. Do I wait? Should I wait and see what happens? My gas just went up to $5 a gallon or $6. I think maybe I should wait to spend this $40, $50, $60,000. So flexibility around scheduling, flexibility around having multiple projects going at once. I heard it time and time again last week. It was extremely important.  So your value that you bring to a homeowner is different than what it was last year, right? As you just brought up, brand loyalty as an example went right out the door last year. But now it's different. Absolutely is. Last year it was like, can you get my project on the books for this year? And now you're seeing the hesitation, that pullback. Absolutely. Toby, this is really interesting. I mean, I feel like I could talk to you about this for hours, but I want to know if you're, let's say a manufacturer and you're listening to this and you're hearing you talk about how you're approaching the market, how you're tasking your team, how you're leading. What's the one piece of advice that you would give them heading into the next six months next year if you're saying, hey, I want to be successful. I want to continue to grow. What would you tell them? Yeah, I appreciate you asking that. It's something that being in building products, it means something to me it always has. I'll never leave this industry. And the reason why is because it's a people industry. And one thing that I always have, and I was taught a long time ago, and it's been successful for me in my career, is two things. And that is separating the fact that we manage a business and we lead people. And there's a big difference between how you manage a business and make those type of decisions and how you lead people. And from my perspective in talking with other people in the industry, right now is that critical time for leaders to lead. And that is with your family at home. That's in your organizations close to home. But it's also with your team and at work and being able to truly lead in a different way than you led before the pandemic, before all the things broke out with COVID and supply chain and work from home. There was all those different things. And then during that time period, as we talked about earlier, it's head down. You're really grinding. You're making those day to day, sometimes hour to hour decisions. As for my side, right? With a global type manufacturing perspective, we were making minute to minute hour to hour decisions sometimes. How tired was that? Like how exhausting. It is a grind, right? Sometimes there's a 12 hour time difference with some of our manufacturing partners and you're making decisions around the clock. You're making decisions when the supply chain and you're looking at the different port closures that happen or you're dealing with a shutdown in a certain part of the country, it changes your approach day to day, hour to hour and how you led during then towards now as things are starting to change, right? You're starting to see a little bit of softening on the supply chain. You're seeing, yes, there are some difficulties, kind of some new headwinds we're facing, but some of those things where steel prices, we're all praying it's starting to come down a little bit, aluminum's starting to come down a little bit, freight, we're all praying that it starts to come down a little bit. And as you see those things happening, now it's how do we lead coming out of this? How do we inspire? How do we really get our teams moving in that direction? And for me, and I hope you don't mind I've always positioned myself as leading, and I call it the four T's that I think is important with leadership. And that's truth, that's tools, that's training, and that's time. And what I mean by that is the truth is all about the transparency in the why, right? You hear everybody talking about understanding the why, but it is so critical right now that we are transparent in what we're saying, how we're saying it, what we're conveying to our team. And it's important as you're evaluating your team, right? So a part of leading people is also evaluating those people that you lead. That's part of the responsibility you have as a leader. So the first one being truth, the second one is the tools. The tools is do you give them the opportunity to do the job, whether it be a computer program that they have, but the tools to execute their job at the highest level and the potential to do those things. And then the last two are really all about do they have the right tools, but then it's do they have the right training? Are they trained correctly, right? As the clear expectations are their KPI set where that training to do the job with the tools that you've given me, I can do that to the best of my ability. And then the last one is probably the most important and it may seem simple, but to me it is the most important. Have you given them the time to execute and did you communicate what that time was? So if you've told them the truth, if you've given them the tools, if you've given them the training that they need, now do they need three months, do they need six months, do they need a year in that seat doing that job, what's that cycle of time that they need to be successful? And the reason that I bring that up, right? We're talking about this great resignation and talking about all these different things, but if you can evaluate your people and what I've learned over the years, if I can say yes to those threes or those Ts, I've given the truth, I've given the tools, I've given the training, then I'm given the time and I still have somebody that may be not doing what I need them to do, I may have a people problem. I may have the wrong person in that seat. I may have the wrong person on the bus. Maybe they need to move on, right? And that's a responsibility of what we have as leaders now, but you gotta have a system in my opinion to execute on that as a leader as you're leading those people. That's great. Toby, this is awesome and hats off to you for what you guys are building and how you're doing it, no pun intended. If someone wants to connect with you, what's the best way for them to do that? Absolutely. Yeah, so the best way to get ahold of me, Zach, is through my email, TobyBee at FortressBP.com. So, T-O-B-Y-B at FortressBP.com would be the quickest way to get ahold of me. Also, connect with me on LinkedIn. I can definitely see LinkedIn being a very beneficial piece for how we continue to grow this industry, specifically to building products. So either my email or look me up on LinkedIn. And then for Fortress, you can always jump on the FortressBP.com website and do on a contact me on there and we can definitely touch base. It's been awesome. Toby, man, thank you so much for taking time to chat with us. This has been super helpful. Truly appreciate it, Zach. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. And for our listeners, if you enjoyed this episode, make sure you go to venvio.com slash podcast to subscribe to get more. Until next time, I'm Zach Williams. Thanks, everybody.


Hi guys, welcome back to my channel. Today's video is going to be a story time slash background history about my weight and my weight journey. I thought it would give you a better understanding about where I'm coming from when I talk about working out and everything like that. Also, I just love talking to you guys so I hope you enjoy this video. If you're not already subscribed, it would mean the world to me if you would subscribe and turn on the little bell icon so you get notified every time I post a video. Today's question of the day is what is your favorite food? Starting off, I danced for a while. If you've been around on my channel, you would know that. I did dance competitively. I went to an art school and danced there as well. I've always been physically active. I really didn't have to watch what I ate. I always had dance. So I had dance on the weekends during the week.  I was always on the move. My stamina was so strong and high. I could get through long hours of dance and rehearsals. So I danced from the time I was three probably until, well, until I was 17, 18 because I still did dance at school. But I stopped dancing competitively around 16, probably sophomore year. I think I stopped dancing. It was fine still and I didn't gain a ton of weight because I was dancing at school. And even though my school dance wasn't as rigorous as my dance studio dance, I was still getting physical activity and it just wasn't that big of a deal.  It was really bad and I got really sick. And after that, I never really got back to the stamina I had when I danced competitively. I feel like I got a lot weaker. And when I danced at my school, it wasn't as rigorous like I said at my school than it was at my dance studio because my dance studio was super challenging and it was just a lot more physical body movements. I don't know. But so I got pretty sick my junior year to my senior year. I just think I was, I had a lot of anxiety because life was changing and then I go to college. So when I go to college, I'm really high strong. I have a lot of stress. If you guys didn't know, I went to school for biomedical sciences and I wanted to be a doctor. That's a whole other story. But I went to the University of Central Florida. I did have a car on campus but I walked everywhere.  You're gonna get the freshman 15. I had the complete opposite reaction to that idea and concept. I lost a lot of weight. I was probably my most skinniest when I was at UCF. I was walking to all my classes. In the Florida heat, it's super hot out here. So I was sweating a lot because I was walking to all my classes. And if you've seen the UCF campus, it's huge. So when I would have classes at classroom building one or classroom building two, I would walk all the way from the Hercules housing unit. And I was stressed because I had to make good grades. Like, you know, they weren't perfect but they were still really, really good. And I was always studying. I basically lived on mac and cheese and green beans and Subway.  Because again, we think that I got sick and I got the infection and everything because of my diet. I was also traveling during the summer between my junior year and senior year. And I wasn't eating the healthiest because I was traveling.  And I think that's what scared me into eating really, really healthy. So I was like, okay, so I ate Subway a lot and I had macaroni and cheese and green beans in my dorm, hence why I have a refrigerator and microwave in my bedroom right now because that was from when I was in school. So I was not eating a lot because a can of green beans isn't that big. And then the small packets of mac and cheese aren't that big. And I would have some chips on the side or whatever. And then I also had Subway a lot. And then I also had Chick-fil-A. Those are like the three main things that I like lived on in school. But I didn't really eat a lot and I was walking a ton. So that was a big factor in why I lost a lot of weight. So I was looking great back in the day when I was in university. And then I switched my major. As you guys well know, I went to Valencia for my AS degree in digital media. And that is when I think I transitioned and kind of started gaining weight because I wasn't getting a lot of physical activity. I mean, to walk to a classroom like we just parked our car like right outside the building. And then we walked in and then the whole class we were just like sitting. And then I would just get back in my car and then drive home because I commuted. My physical activity levels were starting to drop. So I think that is when my weight started to shift and I started to get a lot less physical activity. That was the big turning point. Then after being at Valencia for a while, then I got on birth control. And this is probably when I saw my weight spike up. I didn't really think of it or pay attention to it at the time. But then slowly transitioning after starting the birth control, I started my new freelance position at the TV station I worked for. And that was a lot of sitting. Like the whole like shift was sitting and editing at a computer. So clearly I wasn't getting up any physical activity doing that except for going and walking to the bathroom and back. And at the time I had just started the birth control. And as you guys know, birth control contributes to your hormones and everything like that. And probably makes you a little bit more bloated and affects your body differently. So with the combination of the birth control and the new work environment, I was definitely not seeing any physical activity. And I did not stop eating whatever I wanted. That combination kind of sets you up for failure. So I was eating a lot of pretzels, funyons, Doritos, all of that stuff, which I haven't cut out completely in my diet because I love that stuff. But I definitely don't eat it as much as I used to. And I definitely watch more what I eat. But that is really why I gained a ton of weight and I just didn't feel like myself. I know you guys are probably gonna ask me, are you still on birth control? Yes I am because I just wanna keep my hormones in check and it's already started a pattern. And I talked to my doctor and she was like, just stay on it, just because. I don't know, I do wanna do an experiment. If I were to get off birth control, would I drop even more weight? I'm just so curious. But right now I'm not going to. I will update you guys if that happens. So stay tuned for that if you wanna know. I don't know when that's gonna be, to be honest. I'm just throwing it out there. Some of you guys reached out to me saying, you know, I can barely do a burpee from Chloe Ting and I have never really been physically active. That is totally okay. I was always physically active and that's why when I got out of being physically active, I could easily get back into becoming physically active. It took a little bit longer but it was a little bit easier for me because I had a background in that.  You can still grow as a fitness person and your fitness journey. So don't give up hope, keep pushing and you've got this. I hope you guys enjoyed this video. I hope it gave you some more insight and a good little background about my weight and my weight journey. I'm still on my workout and fitness journey. So it's definitely not something that you just start and then stop. It's a continuous journey. That's why it's called a journey. But anyway, don't forget to give this video a thumbs up, subscribe to my channel, answer my question of the day and I'll see you guys in my next video. Bye.


Hello everyone. This is financial author Ahmed Dunn of Ahmed Dunn.com. On this channel, you'll find financial travel and more videos just like the one you're watching right now. If you like what you see, please give it a thumbs up and consider subscribing. Hello everyone. This is financial author Ahmed Dunn of Ahmed Dunn.com. Today, I'll talk about a recent letter I just received in the mail from Chase Canada. Chase Canada will be leaving a Canadian credit card business and they will be closing all the accounts for Chase Marriott Visa Premier credit card and Chase Amazon Canada credit card. So I'll show you the letter I just received and then I'll talk about a little bit more about Chase credit cards in Canada. So this is the letter I received in the mail and what it says that starting March 15 this year, the Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa credit card will no longer be available for Canadians and Chase Amazon Canada customers also receive this similar letter and that credit card will also be closed as well. So Chase started accepting applications for Amazon I believe about one year ago and for Chase Marriott Premier Visa card about four months, five months ago. So at that time there was a speculation that this is going to be closed in Canada in the future but I didn't expect it to be so fast. So this is just, I have had this card only for a few months not even most likely for six, seven months and now they're saying that this card is going to be closed. So they're not even charging any annual fee after January 1st, 2018 and for those who paid annual fee before that then they will be returned the money which is going to be paraded for the rest of the month. So I'll flip the letter. So this is Chase offered one of the few credit cards in Canada which did not have any foreign currency fees. So closing these cards mean that Canadians will have less choice in terms of having a credit card which do not charge foreign currency fees. So right now there are two credit cards which you can have without foreign currency fees and I'll put those two cards on the screen. So it looks like this is the end for Chase in Canada. If you're collecting Marriott, Marriott Rewards points, still you can do so by collecting through SPG American Express Gold Credit Card because SPG and Marriott are under the same chain right now since Marriott bought the Chariton chain. So that card will give you the option to get Marriott or Starwood points as well. So it looks like if you like to have a hotel card with the Marriott chain, so right now the Starwood preferred guest American Express card is the only option. And also the future of the American Express SPG card is also unknown. No one knows that whether it will be converted to another card or it will be just closed or what or Chase will terminate contract with American Express or it will strike a deal with other credit card. So right now there's no certainty in anything. So I have the SPG American Express Gold Credit Card as well and I have that Marriott card. So the SPG American Express Gold Card has foreign currency transaction fee but the Chase Marriott did not have that card. So right now I'm going to be getting another credit card with no foreign currency fee which I'll put on the display. So let me know what you think and if you had this card or if you had the Chase Amazon card which will be closing as well. If you like what you see please give it a thumbs up and consider subscribing and I'll be back with another video shortly. Thank you.


Before we start with the formal introduction, I want to introduce Vishal Sikha, who is our new board member for technology and innovation and is locally based in Palo Alto, and I'll hand it over to him for the interest. Thanks, Jim. It's a pleasure for me to welcome Jim and Bill here and all of you. Really welcome all of you to a great session. So what do you think, Bill and Jim, we just get going with the question and answer? You're on. As you wish, Vishal. For joining, I just came in from Frankfurt. I always get inspired when I get here. The innovation that happened in the valley is an important asset for us as well. We have, as you can see, a lot of our innovation going on here, and we have just opened up to the innovation center with our customers, a very important part of bringing our innovation capability to much closer to our customers. So I'll just briefly talk a little bit about our innovation. It's obvious that we will, in this new partnership, significantly accelerate our innovation capability as a company. We have a pretty comprehensive strategy going forward. As you know, we are already the leaders in the business applications for the on-premise world, and we have defined a product strategy going forward where we will make significant steps into the on-demand world as well. We believe in a hybrid approach where customers can choose on-premise and on-demand extensions, and we will, during this year, make some significant dawns for products in the on-demand space. So that's the first new pillar of our product strategy. The second new pillar of our product strategy is what we call on-device. It is the opportunity to consume SAP software from any device in any experience that you want. This requires a pretty thorough architectural blueprint, which Michel Seeker has been mastering over the last few years, and basically it's based on the assumption that you extract the logic, the business logic in the application from the front end logic. And with that, you get an opportunity to consume our applications from any device, and we will build our own experience on these new devices, mobile devices, and any device, and we will allow partners to do the same with that. Hopefully, grow an ecosystem that innovates experiences for the many people who will use our technology going forward. Obviously, the analytical toolset report with the acquisition of business objects is an important part of that, uses centricity in our DNA, and we will then add the mobile capabilities of the world, and with this, reach many more people with our applications. So that's the second important new pillar of our strategy. And the third one is what we call orchestration. The importance of being able to orchestrate master data and business processes across the landscape of on-premise, on-device, and on-demand kind of software, and make sure that the end-to-end process still is intact and consistent. So we are investing in these areas, and we want to lead in orchestration in the areas of master data synchronization across multiple applications, SAP and non-SAP. This is process management, where you can pursue an end-to-end process across all these different applications. And finally, life cycle management, together, unified life cycle management across on-premise, on-demand, and on-device, so that we can get the lowest possible TCO for our customers. The way we will accelerate our innovation power is by introducing what small companies do for doing large-scale, small companies work in agile development methods where they iterate with their customers and with that get very efficient in their process. And we want to be the combination of the power of an entrepreneur and the scale that we have as SAP. So we are introducing these methodologies across a large development organization of 12,000 people, and with that we hope to show the best of two worlds, speed of innovation as an entrepreneur, and power when it comes to bringing those solutions to the market. So that is one of my thoughts about SAP. I would first like to say welcome. I think in adding to Jim's remarks, I would simply say it's been a fun partnership. Jim and I go back now about eight years. And we also served on the executive board of SAP together, and we have a very high trust relationship that's built on a super strong foundation. So the last five weeks have been great fun. We're focused on our customers. We have 95,000 of them, which is one of the really great assets of our company. And the many innovative things that Jim just talked about can be applied to those customers and many more. We have almost 50,000 people in the company that are fired up and ready to go. And so are we. A couple of weeks ago we did the CBIT technology conference together in Hanover, Germany. And CBIT, as you may know, has about 350,000 IT professionals in attendance. And I think Chancellor Merkel had a lot to say, but certainly she challenged the audience there. And she basically said it's time to innovate. It's time to invest in capital expenses again that help you change the dynamics of your business. And you have to move beyond your borders and really think differently about this global economy. And in large measure what our solutions do is help companies run better. And we do that in 25 distinctly different industries. We do that to small, medium and large customers alike. And we take these innovations and the motivation and the passion of our people and we apply it to making every customer best run business. That's what we're here to do. And I believe we're off to a very fast start. We haven't stopped. As you can see we haven't slept either. But we're having fun and it's really been thrilling.


عوض بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم السلات والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء وسيد المرسلين أب القاسم محمد المستفى صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم وعلى آله الطيبين الطاهرين الغر الميامين المظلومين ولعنة الله على عدائهم أجمعين السلام عليكم ورحمة الله و بركاته أبو بركاتي و أبو بركاته أبو بركاته مرحباً لكم على مرحباً على إمام حسين تيوبي تي 3 تيش توك وخلال أبو بركاته في المنصف رمضان ماني من زعالي برجي والأيام في هذا الشهر هو أن يساعدنا تطبيقنا في الأشياء في الأسبار من أهل البيت عليهم السلام وعلى ذلك نحن نساعدنا سيد شابير كرماني من أمريكا السلام عليكم ورحمة الله و بركاته إنه مرحباً شكراً for flying from the United States and for being with us during this holy month كيف تقوم with the fasting for you in London to be honest it's a tad longer than I'm used to but it's phenomenal in the sense that the community here is vibrant bustling thriving community I love that about London it's very nice the people have been extremely hospitable towards me been wonderful in that regard so I really love my trip thus far it's been very quite nice now that's good then insha'Allah I hope you enjoy the entirety of this day now if we'd like to ask you just to get a bit of your background where you come from what have you been doing where you involved what activities are you interested in sure like to be honest I'm a working professional that's my full-time job I've worked in technology, software so in undergrad I studied economics math and computer science and then after that I got into the working force after undergrad and after that I did my master's while actually working full-time as well and so I did that in engineering as well and now I'm currently working on my PhD so I've always had this vision that you know Islam and secular success they're not mutually exclusive they're actually part and parcel of the same thing and you can have the best of both worlds and I think that's what it lays that foundation towards it and so a lot of a lot of young guys I grew up with and I think a lot of people in general felt kind of like do I have to pick and choose my path do I have to be like religious or can I be secular or can I can actually thrive in both hopefully through this show and through this discussion we can actually get to a point of it where we see how we can actually thrive both as individuals and as communities at large and Islam actually gives us the tools to be able to do that at a very high level so that's really how my background came about and that's how actually I got into lecturing to be honest with you it was a need a lot of young people were feeling as though there aren't people who can really relate speaking to them and so one of the communities who was that early on was like you know they were saying that you know we need somebody but we're not able we don't have the resources to make that happen for someone to speak especially for example in the English language you know and second of all relating to the younger demographic the youths like issues like you know music and you know a lot of the things that go on in school life you know in elementary middle high school college scene and so there's a big identity crisis that a lot of youth feel where am I where do I fit into this big picture what's my identity and so I sought to try to pursue and answer those questions for myself and through that process I wanted to help answer that question for others as well well I'm looking very forward to extract that information from yourselves prior to that well the topic for today is activism and development during the holy month of Ramadan and also would like to inform our respected viewers that insha'Allah at the second half of the program will be accepting calls for a Q&A with the Sayyid and the telephone number will be visible at the bottom of your screens insha'Allah now before we go into our topic I wanted to ask you since you've come from abroad from America we are aware that both United States and the United Kingdom Alhamdulillah there is a very strong Shia community what are the difference if any between the Shia communities in America and in the United Kingdom what you've seen so far benefits positives absolutely so there are distinctions there's a lot of similarities as you alluded to and you highlighted right Alhamdulillah on that front but there are some differences especially I've been mostly in the London and its vicinity the brothers and sisters in the community in London Alhamdulillah they're very close like in the sense that you know London is a very compact city it's a city that has a lot going on in a little bit of space in the United States the Shia community is mostly it's dispersed because the landscape of the United States is so vast so you have pockets in big cities for example New York, New Jersey in places like that you have the California Los Angeles locations like that Dearborn, Detroit these areas have bustling thriving communities as well but now we're seeing a lot of pockets of Shia communities that includes places like for example Utah or Kansas City Missouri and other places where traditionally you may not have heard of these communities and they also have Alhamdulillah thriving communities but Alhamdulillah what I noticed in London which was really beautiful to me was that in this metropolitan city one of the leading global cities in the world you have a bustling thriving community both in numbers and also in activism and there's and actually help develop a stronger community but I was blown away by the hospitality and the love of the community Alhamdulillah and since you've mentioned it with regards to sharing information and experiences how important is it to have unity amongst the communities especially Shia communities but Ali this word that you use is phenomenally important unity I think this may be arguably for us as followers of the Ahl al Bayt Ali Mus Salam in particular first in our own home in our own house as followers of the Ahl al Bayt we must stay united at all times and at all costs and our scholars have been very adamant about this in particular and if we don't do we risk a lot of challenges further down the road and so that would be a very important thing I would say that my message in London and my message in the United States is the same that we must be very united now under which banner under which banner do we become united this is a very important discussion because a lot of people use the term unity what does unity really mean has anyone really defined what unity means I think that's an important discussion we need to have does unity mean for example that we take let's take the example of Muslims for example in general does that mean that I come forward and say that you know all people we take all of those things that Muslims have we take all the commonalities and we remove all the differences and we make we make one new sect or one new thing so focusing on the common grounds and build common grounds so that's one option another option is the dominant or the majority faction or sect within Muslims they take the mantle and everyone else must adopt to them for example today in today's modern world أحلى سنوة الجماعة maybe the dominant number in terms of share numbers and all other Muslims in different sects must come under that umbrella for example within other groups come under that faction or others within the Muslim realm they all have to come under the umbrella of that for example now you can see with both of these situations there can be problems or challenges because within the schools of thought for example سنوة الجماعة there may be people who say for example I adhere to one school of thought حنفي or someone say شافي مالكي حنبلي for example with due respect to all of them but who's going to be the right one everyone will say I have my view so consensus on that front would be very difficult on the other front if we said let's look at all the commonalities and discard all the differences and form for example شياع and Sunni and form a new sect let's call it for example let's make that would people agree no one would agree because those differences they exist for real reasons that are important to both sides in both parties I would like to propose perhaps and other scholars have also proposed another version of what I unity means it means that I say that an individual's life property and dignity is sacred that I will not infringe on that person on that respect I will not disrespect them I will not say that spilling their blood is permissible for example I will not disrespect them I will not steal from them and that perhaps is the most viable definition of unity because unity does not mean compromising one's beliefs and we should not have a problem with that in particular with followers this is I was talking about the general community but when followers we must all unite under the single banner that we are followers of Ali ibn Abi Talib first and foremost and we fall under his banner if we agree to that we can talk about anything we can discuss anything and unity you should not be a problem for us حسنتم well said well said another thing I wanted to ask you about with regards to us developing communities from different background and nationalities Mashallah from Pakistan India from Middle East Arabs or even converts reverts the thing that we have in common is the language for example United States United Kingdom is English and especially a second third fourth generation of foreigners have English as the first language according to your opinion how have we improved with regards to for example lecturing we've got Mashallah lots of English speaking lecturers nowadays has it improved dramatically is there room for improvement is there more to be done is it enough is it sufficient with regards to the exposure that English speaking even though a lot may have parents who speak Urdu Arabic and can either tune to a channel or attend Majalis in the native languages but for for us for example who were born and raised in America and may not have Urdu or Arabic as a first language and it's English do we have enough material is there enough of projects and lecturing going on to suffice is it so a wonderful question you ask here so I'll give you a little bit of my background I was born and raised in D.C. and I've lived my whole life in the West there's a portion of my life where we actually moved to Dubai in my youth and then we came back to America so from D.C. to Dubai and from Dubai too back to America and to Florida in particular and I was able to see East and West there now this language question that you're asking is actually a very important question and sometimes people get afraid of the discussion and I don't think there's any cause of fear it's really a natural progression if you look at the history you'll find many for example people who are Sa'adat for example Sayyid who have their lineage from these people for example they live today all over the world but if you go back a little bit historically they lived in for example Hijaz on the western bank of Saudi Arabia initially and then there was a movement towards Iraq for example but now as time progressed people began to see Sa'adat and say it's in for example Iran you began to see them for example in Lebanon in places like this you began to see a migration from Iran and forward towards even India Pakistan in these places as well well how did that come about when we talk about this notion of identity and developing a community this is extremely important that we understand where Shi'a-Izam has come from and where is it going to so we can chart what is going through you know there was a time where the Muslims the Shi'a in particular follow the Shi'a of Ali ibn Abi Talib were persecuted to such an extent and the Sa'adat in particular those sayeds who were claiming they came from you know with Ali there was a time in the history of Baghdad the history of Baghdad that they would not erect a building until they would drain the blood of a Sayyadi Hassani in the cement this was the level of animosity and so when we began to think how did this migration happen well it happened because they were being heavily persecuted which exist till this day as you see throughout the globe in Iraq for example in Pakistan and other places in Afghanistan but what happened was they said that we must keep our mission alive we must keep our iman alive and so they began to say that this place no longer is suitable for us for example at time in Baghdad that is no longer suitable so they said we must migrate the places where we can save this religion and pass it forward so for example they moved from Iraq they moved towards Iran for example and this migration happened throughout but what did these people take with them when they left did they take their property did they take all their wealth did they take all that no they took two things they took their books of their scholars of Islam of Shiaizam in their hands and they took their iman in their hearts and they migrated and when they migrated the value of iman was so valuable to these people that they were willing to forsake even their language at times so those people who were first in Iraq or in the Arab belt or in Madinah modern-day Madinah Al-Hijaz for example they had Arabic but as they migrated towards Ajam from Arab to Ajam they came to a point where they began to adopt the language a language to perhaps we think some people think for example leaving your language of Urdu or Arabic or Farsi or for example any other language is difficult at this time you know there was a time where the division was Arab and Ajam amongst the Arabs Ajam meaning someone who is a mute this is how much pride the Arabs had in there language because it was a beautiful language it was a specific language it was a language of depth it was probably very difficult for them to leave their language by the way I don't say that one should completely leave their language and I'll come to that at some point if we have the opportunity because there is a blessing and as our scholars have also alluded to to keep your identity to keep your identity Subhanallah I feel that there may be a very very valuable reason for knowing your mother tongue as well because there may be certain words that exist in those languages that may not necessarily yet exist in your language and so it's important to understand those for example what word for example a word like حياء حياء we typically say modesty now modesty is not a comprehensive definition I need to include some other things I need to include modesty shyness integrity and a series of other words to try to give a glimpse of what it means that's the beauty of Arabic it's the beauty of the language same with Barakah we say Alhamdulillah it's tremendous Barakah in Shahra Ramadan and no doubt about it tremendous Barakah but how do I explain to somebody Barakah just by saying it means blessings or abundance is that really the true meaning and hence I think this is why the scholars perhaps they said that there is certain things that are embedded in the culture that have come from the religion and they're inseparable so there's a benefit there but as those communities migrated from the Arab belt to Iran and then on Pakistan and throughout the globe from there they began to adopt new languages and this gave rise to beautiful things through the Barakah of Imam Al-Hussein Al-Islam for example the beautiful Majalis that were done throughout the world that Arabic poetry that was so beautiful in Hijaz in Iraq in those belts then when that moved on to for example Iran it took a new flavor with that influence and original influence it took on a new flavor and then they added their own character to it so now you have for example Farsi poetry and you have Arabic poetry and both are beautiful and each one of them has its own identity and distinguish the Arabic poetry and it went the same happened when it moved to Hind India, Pakistan it took on a new flavor as well and I'm proposing that the same will happen when it comes to English it will learn from those traditions and build upon it and this is why we need more poets more speakers in the English language to cause that evolution to occur we don't have a دعبل or a فرزدق in English yet إن شاء الله we will and we need that it's very important and the same with speakers but now coming to the notion of development how does this how does this relate or tie to development you noticed as those communities migrated from the Arab belt to Persia throughout they adopted those traits and those cultures are we in our migrations learning the best of each community الحمد لله I've had the opportunity to lecture throughout in various communities I've lectured الحمد لله Iranian community Iraqi community Lebanese community Pakistani Afghani and all mixed as well and الحمد لله you notice certain communities have certain strengths and how do you learn from each of the other this community community A the community B does not and vice versa can we teach each other can we learn from each other and build upon that that's what we should do that's what we should do that's what we should do help one another because by remaining united we could help for example if we have any defects another group of people may have a remedy for that defect and we could share the knowledge and that's how we can improve but if we isolate ourselves we're doing no one a favor I sense 100% agree with you on that it's a very important notion I've met certain communities where for example they may be very good artistically some communities produce very good poets who their imagination it leads them to recite some of the best poetry by Thomas I've met other communities for example they're very good in business and enterprising and entrepreneurship this is their strength how can we merge those pieces of the puzzle to build on it to get to a point where we are the strongest community where the rest of the world is looking and saying look at how the how the how they have enterprise and how they have built systems and infrastructure for the rest of the world because this is what these great personalities they were not they were not just sitting about and they were not to the point we're told in Islam you're not to just sit at home and just pray or just sit in the Masjid and just pray at all times no, there's a balance رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم has told us very clearly to divide and the Al Bayt علي مصلام divide your day your awake day in thirds in three parts say يا رسول الله how said first in obtaining حلال رسق حلال livelihood حلال sustenance a lawful sustenance this is a part of Dean this is a part of of one's belief one's religion he says number two make sure you take out some time for your friends and family your close friends and your close family make time for them every day it may not be as much as you want but make sure it's there and he said a third that third time is between you and your Lord الله سبحانه وتعالى in prayer that's the how you should divide one's day I remember I was speaking in London in one of these in one of the beautiful centers here and I spoke that and I mentioned this tradition and one of the sisters came to me afterwards and she asked about that and she said that you know I really needed to hear that and I said why I'm always trying to listen I believe speakers should listen more than they speak it's very important and so she said that you know I'm in a position in work where I'm working six six and a half days a week for hours on end 10 12 hours days and you revived my belief system in terms of understanding that you know this is something that's not separated you know today in the modern world sometimes we compartmentalize our world what does that mean that means that when I'm at work I'm in work mode and when I am for example at school I'm in school mode and then when I come to the mosque or the Masjid of the Hussain then I'm in Islamic mode but outside of that it's not Islamic that's funny but now that you mention it of me pondering of myself as well I do do it and unfortunately it's become like a second nature I can't help it it makes sense but why and how how can I change it how can I at least improve on it or use it can I use it to to a benefit or do I have to reshape it reform it it's a beautiful question so we're all kind of guilty of this duality this dual life you know if you will and the reality of the matter is if we focus on our our goal which is to be good followers of the Ahl al-Bait our compass in life is always the same as followers of the Quran and the Ahl al-Bait they'll always guide us to where we need to get to because we always need a reference point we always need to understand where it is and what is reality what is truth because tomorrow's society may tell me that this for example is really great you should be listening to it or it may be saying that go to this for example place on a Friday or Saturday night and that's the best thing for you how do I check and gauge is this right or not and this is not to judge anyone you know we're all on our own journey we're all in our own degree of faith you would hope that the chart of religiosity of Islamic sciences and that relationship to Allah SWT is always inclining it's always going up but for others maybe it doesn't go all the way up sometimes it drops but the hope is the trend always is trending up you know like a stock graph a graph of the markets you know sometimes it goes down and sometimes it goes up but the general trend you can track is over time it's going up if we have that I think that should be the aim because it makes sense I always try to think of it putting myself in my own shoes that sometimes I feel that spiritual motivation where I want to focus more in my Salah I want to extend my Sujood I want to do extra عمل مستحابات and other days I just it's as if the fire maybe not completely there and I make question myself is like why why why why was it like this a week ago and I'm different a week now is it what I eat is it how I live does this influence my spirituality ونحن نتحدث عن الشهر رمضان ونحن نتفكير كيف يمكننا أن نتفكير كل هذه الأنجي لأن الشهر رمضان is a beautiful, blissful month where a lot of people should embrace it as an escape route that you can find a way to just detach yourself from dunya and just focus that this month yes I still have to go to work and earn my living but the main aim of this month is inshallah to increase my spirituality gain more knowledge but build a better relation with the Holy Quran and Ahl al-Bait you put it very beautifully and I think that's the problem we have in our community whenever we see a problem it's because either we abandon the Holy Quran or the Ahl al-Bait in a certain subject or topic and that's how when you said it, that's the answer if you keep the Holy Quran and Ahl al-Bait as your compasses there's no way you can go straight the Holy Prophet ﷺ said himself حديث الثقلي you could never go straight but that maybe is a distraction of dunya and the whispering of shaitan that we kind of lose that aim of focus in life إن شاء رمضان is the best month to regain it and beautifully with this topic as well I want you to slowly slowly open it up to advising with regards to activism and development in the Holy month of Ramadan with regards to development how can I help myself develop so the next 11 months will be prosperous and beneficial not that I'm going to switch off after عيد الفطر I don't want to do that I want to build so the next holy month I'll have already gained some ground and I'll aim to gain even more how can I do that so when we talk about activism and development if you want to be an activist and you want to be a change agent in your world or your sphere of influence or you want to develop a community or a society well how do we go about doing that well a society a movement for an activist a movement or for someone who is interested in development developing a community developing a society they all begin with the same thing and that's the individual communities are built with individuals movements are built with individuals so what does that mean شهر رمضان this is a blessed month of barakah as per الله سبحانه وتعالى as he says in the holy book in their various traditions this is a month of abundant barakah abundant grace of Allah سبحانه وتعالى what does that mean for you and I what does that mean for us and it's also a particular opportunity for us to gain something through that barakah barakah meaning that the gates of mercy of Allah are open in this month to the extent that we have been told that Shaytan is locked up in this month that anything that we do that is wrong or in vain is because of his training that he's made us accustomed to and attuned to so the question is at the end of the month when he is freed or let loose for example how much work are we going to give him is it going to be as though he's going to say for example oh this guy is just where he left off or God forbid worse or for example there may be a moment in time where that person begins to say that no that Shaytan himself is saying that I have to start from square one development is very important on that front developing so discipline is the main root as an individual I must discipline myself if I hope to create a community or create a movement communities strong vibrant communities require these movements they go hand in hand part and parcel so if I want to be an activist I must engage in having self-control and this is what this month of Ramadan brings to us you know I often think about what was شهر رمضان فهل البيت علي موسى and this is what we are going to get at the crux of in this show and this is what I hope to tackle إن شاء الله سنتم will continue before I would like to go to a short break so please do stay with us السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته سلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته welcome back my beloved brothers and sisters respected viewers you are watching a brand new show called T3 on Imam Hussein TV teach talk and thrive إن شاء الله now we've reached our second half of the show where we'll open the lines for any of you who would like to join the discussion and ask any questions or even if you would like to add to anything that's been said already phone number will be visible on the bottom of your screens it's 0203 515 0109 I repeat 0203 515 0109 إن شاء الله we'll be looking forward to your phone calls now before proceeding to a topic there's something Sayyid has touched upon regarding the Holy Month of Ramadan and that's just something I wanted you just to expand a bit for us you mentioned about Shaytan during this Holy Month has been locked up I want you to just elaborate on that for us what does it mean what's the effect what effect does it have on Shaytan does that mean I can't sing does that mean I can't get whispers بسم الله very good question now and this ties back into what is alluding to before the break and that is that indeed the work of Shaytan may have been done to an extent that during the month of Ramadan it becomes very difficult for one to break down the work that has been done by Shaytan and so those whispers can continue for example in some level in the sense that it's already ingrained in one's mind that I've been doing that I've been doing listening to Shaytan I've been doing his obedience and God forbid but the reality of the matter is if that is what I've been trained to do and I've trained myself to do then it becomes harder to break down those things but I don't want anyone to lose hope because Shaytan is a tremendous beacon of hope that can invigorate the hearts and that's really what Allah SWT to me is saying that I have opened the flood gates of Rahman this month that you have every opportunity available to you to make use of this blessed month and this blessed month should not just be used and limited to just individual and I think about myself it starts there but it doesn't end there I must use this fuel to build my community my society and my country and the world that's really where we need to get to that's the level we need to be thinking at so what kind of opportunities will we get during the holy month of Ramadan is tremendous so hard work is a necessary prerequisite and a necessary prerequisite to that is discipline having self-control having the ability to control my own nefs which is a struggle we all go through day in and day out and each person's test and trial is different for one individual it may be for something for another it may be something completely different and at different levels so how do you go about managing that it's a struggle struggle but Shah Ralla Ramalan helps us on that helps prepare us for that to have control and discipline over ourselves if we don't have that discipline we won't go very far I'll share with you briefly brother Ali if you may there's a very famous study it's called the Stanford Marshmallow study I want the viewers to check out if they're not aware of it this is a study that was done a few decades ago and what they did in this study and I'm going to a what they did was they brought a few children into a into a lab and it was it looked like it was just a room essentially and these were little children and they said listen for the sake of this we can make it a candy we can make it a lollipop or something like that it doesn't have to be a marshmallow whatever take your example that's what they used and they told the children listen we're going to put this candy here in front of you and we're going to go outside for a few minutes if we come back then you'll get an extra candy you'll get two I'd like to pause you on that we call it on the line السلام عليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته لاعكوم الله لاعكوم الله هل حقا أن أخبرهم أن لا أخبرهم أن لا أخبرهم أن لا أخبرهم هذا؟ إذا ما هو أخبريني أفضل للأمر؟ هل ينتهي من المهم؟ أو أخبرهم أن أخبرهم أن أمامي من أسلام؟ أو what do you think is best for me in this situation? مباشرة جيدة. وعحب أن أحسنت أحسنت وأنا أحسنت حقا أصدقائنا وخبرنا عضا أحسنتهم. شكرا بلقا إن شاء الله سيدنا بحاجة إلى هذه الأشياء ما تعتقد؟ هناك بعض الأشياء للتحدث أميل المؤمنين علي ابنة بطالب صلابات الله وسلام وعلي has laid a very clear principle for us that people are either your brother in faith or they are your equals in humanity and what that means is we have respect for everyone whether that's a Muslim or otherwise no problem on that front for example and we all go through this I came from work, I was working yesterday today as well we have colleagues and friends from within Islam for example I'm sure the same is true for you and all for all of others and we say to them the same way that for example we don't have to go into necessarily all the historical aspects of طراهوية and its innovative nature that it was not something that was there and this is very clear because there's a very well documented with respect to how long did Rasul Allah for example do this did he do this for the whole 30 days or did he do it for 3 days at the end according to the traditions of أحسنة والجماعة for example and on top of that how many raka'a did he recite was he reciting 11 or 30 how many was he reciting and so when you go to for example and I don't want to go too much into this but when you go to for example Saudi Arabia you find one way is adopted and you go to other parts of the Muslim world is a different way in which طراهوية is done and things like this there's not consensus as in did Rasul Allah how many times how many raka'a did he do and for how many days some people say that he did 3 days only and some people say that for example he only did for example a few raka'a but then there's not consensus among the community in terms of why you do 30 days for example or why you do a certain amount of raka'a but we don't want to get into this for example this is an innovation and this is an Islamic historical debate but يهلو البيت عليم السلام have said and have alluded to us not to try to get into religious arguments too much and the reason is because they had this حكمة and this wisdom that many times people become this is my group this is your group and they don't come to agree or they don't come to listen to the other party they come to cause friction and if that's gonna if you know that this conversation is gonna go to a point of friction then don't discuss and even worse if we lack the knowledge this is best not to get into an argument whatsoever exactly I mean and furthermore and this is true in America for sure and sure this is probably true at some level in Europe as well that there's certain things you don't talk about it work for example you don't talk about religion you don't talk about politics you know that's called distaste so it's considered distasteful although these topics come up all the time you can't really escape them but to get into an in-depth discussion there is a you can say if you want to have and you know the situation the dear respected brother who called in knows the situation better than I do or you do or else and if you think that this is there is some space for hope to explain to the brothers what is the reality of the matter then take that insha'Allah subject to the receiver being willing to precisely if you feel that that person it may not benefit and it may cause more strife then it may be best to say that my brother I have my dear I have my respected view I respect your view I do not partake in but I don't stop you from doing it for example and you just leave it at that now if in the scenario where let's say for any reason XYZ the person felt shy and did not want to reject the invitation if I went now we're going a bit into a fit but for the sake of argument and for the sake of knowledge if I attended the ceremony is it haram for me to do it is it okay for me to join the salah can I just join and do a intention of just praying to raka'az or whatever perhaps if you want to just go and listen to the recitation because Alhamdulillah credit where credit you some of our brothers have beautiful recitation of the Quran let's listen there Alhamdulillah you can listen to the recitation of the Quran there no problem but in terms of do I have the authority to impose on the religion of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and his messenger a new rule which was not there before so it would be unjust to the rule so this is why I say for example on that front you know a lot of I have many friends in some of my dearest and closest friends as my dear respected caller may have as well many times I've noticed our friendship has remained a strong friendship because we have not gone in depth discussions on religion it sounds kind of strange right but that's why because we start getting boxing each other into this group and we stop being open minded this goes back to what is the definition of unity the definition of unity does not necessarily mean that I bring you to my side of belief 100% or vice versa you bring me to your side of belief 100% no because if that was unity no two people 100% agree on everything even a father and son they may have 2-3-5% difference of opinion two brothers siblings brother and sister they may see 50-50 different views of the world or not at all that's not the meaning my brother is still my brother my father is still my father I have absolute respect although there may be a difference of opinion the same as what we should approach with brothers in Islam that we they have a difference of view and the same with for example fasting our brothers in Ahlu Sunnah for example they open their fast prior to the followers of Ahlu Bayt Ali Muslim a slight delay for example what does the Quran I say for example you can get into these discussions but is the person on the receiving an open minded to listen for example and vice versa that's the issue that the Quran for example it says that recite your salah in the evening for example and keep your your fasting till night so what's first evening or night so these are things that linguistically one can talk about but only to open that door if you think the receiver is open to that there are many people who just seek to argue for the sake of argument I don't know what case this falls into but we must be prudent on that when we have that discussion how do you bring one closer to your viewpoint the best and most optimal way is through etiquette through mannerism of the Bayt Ali Muslim this is how they themselves did it and the month of Ramadhan is a beautiful time to develop that etiquette that mannerism you know it reminds me of a story very quickly about where there was a man who he was in a state of fasting and he began to scold his his maid wealthy man he had a maid and Rasool Allah had to be in the happened to be in the proximity at that point in time he began to shout and scream and scold at her Rasool Allah offered him some food a date or something like this he said يا رسول الله شهر رمضان I'm fasting you're a Rasool Allah you should know this he said it doesn't seem like you're fasting by your etiquette and your conduct meaning he give a huge statement Rasool Allah that it's not just fasting is not staying away from food and drink fasting is much bigger than this yes he said that your etiquette this anger is not tolerable in sayam in the fasting state you must have control over yourself and that's the thing I think أهل البيت علي مصام or divine representative الله سبحانه وتعالى no doubt about it but if you ask me what was most important to them I don't think it was staying away from food and drink because علي ابنة بيطالب ate very little throughout the day and night outside or outside he was eating a little bit of barley little bit of water very very meager he did not eat much but the lesson he was trying to teach others was have control over your nefs that includes your anger that includes your desires that includes everything and inshaAllah we can benefit from this month أحسنتم أحسنتم سيدنا جزاكم الله خير unfortunately we've come to the end of our program but we will continue the same topic activism and development during the holy month of Ramadan for tomorrow same time 6.30 inshaAllah in the meanwhile I would like to wish you all and your brothers and sisters and respected viewers we're approaching slowly slowly to the time of مغرب إن شاء الله may Allah bless you all in this holy month and always always never forget to remember إمام العصر was the man عد الله and pray for the hastening of his reappearance and inshaAllah may Allah bless you all with a lovely iftar inshaAllah on a daily basis coming up next is إن شاء الله أحكام SOS with شيخ معاش and سيد محسن شاع so stay tuned thank you very much and we'll see you two more السلام عليكم رحمة الله وبركات