Maxwell Ivey's Blog, page 6

Live on the inside with Kim O’Neill

Hello again; This is the latest in my “Live On The Inside” posts where I share my most recent interviews. Growing up in the carnival business I’ve listened to many talented side-show barkers crying to come see it live on the inside. And it’s a way to remind myself of my carnival roots. It’s important […]

Live on the inside with Kim O’Neil

Hello again; This is the latest in my “Live On The Inside” posts where I share my most recent interviews. Growing up in the carnival business I’ve listened to many talented side-show barkers crying to come see it live on the inside. And it’s a way to remind myself of my carnival roots. It’s important […]

The Blind Blogger Wins first international blogging award

Hello again; I have some incredibly exciting news to share with you today. Feed Spot has named me one of the Top 25 Visually Impaired Blogs and Websites To Follow in 2020″> I came in at number 11 on this list of influential bloggers from around the world. This is an amazing honor. One which […]

Craig Lewis recovered from mental illness to become a bestselling author workshop presenter and world traveler

Hello again; This week we are going to start off your Monday with an amazingly inspirational interview on The What’s Your Excuse? Show. Craig Lewis was rescued from his mental illness. In fact, thanks to his parents, he was forced to take psychotropic drugs for years. And he had to deal with the physical, mental, […]

Craig Lewis recovered from mental illness to become a best selling author workshop presenter and world traveler

Hello again;

This week we are going to start off your Monday with an amazingly inspirational interview on The What’s Your Excuse? Show.

Craig Lewis,

was rescued from his mental illness. IN fact thanks to his parents he was forced to take psychotropic drugs for years. And he had to deal with the physical, mental, and emotional effects of being misdiagnosed.

Eventually, two brave young doctors would recognize his situation and would fight for his freedom from the drugs and from being controlled by others.

Since then he has truly lived the What’s Your Excuse lifestyle.

He has written two books about his experiences and the lessons people can learn from his experiences.

He has created a life changing workshop which he has delivered all over the world. In fact he has traveled to over forty countries so far.

I’m not going to spoil it, but lets just say that he is now my travel hero living the why wait for things to be perfect approach to life and travel.

Just one other thing about Craig before we get to the show. When we met and discussed having him on the show, he didn’t have a website. He still didn’t by the time we recorded. He has one now. But for all those people waiting for their website to be perfect they should take yet another lesson from Craig.

Now ON To The Show

book cover for my fourth book titled the blind blogger’s first speaking and signing adventures.

My fourth self-help book and the second in my fearless travel series is now available on Amazon.

You can buy your copy here.

And I hope you will visit my sponsor Chip and Pam Edwards at www.createmyvoice.com

While they don’t figure in this book, their support has allowed me to continue to travel to events. They have even helped me book my travel plans.

You will get to know them a lot better in my next book.

For now just know that Chip is “The Expert” on voice branding through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

He can make the case that being on these platforms is no longer desired but is now an absolute necessity.

This is because the search engines are pushing people to find and consume their content through these wireless voice speakers and their related smart-Phone apps.

And your invocation name is critical to your future success. You have to claim it, protect it, and use it to grow your brand.

With millions more people getting their content by saying Alexa play Create My Voice or Google Talk to Create My Voice; can you really afford not to be on these platforms?

About Craig

Well, I told you Craig started sharing his story before he had a site.

I’m still working on an actual bio for him. But in the mean time you can learn all you need to know about him and reach out to him by going to.

www.punksinrecovery.com

I do hope you have enjoyed this interview. I feel that Craig taught me so much. I also know that he reaffirmed some of the things I have believed about myself and used on my own journey.

He did invite me to visit him in Mexico once Corona is behind us. I’m looking forward to that.

And if you learned something today, then please say thanks by sharing the link to this post or the link directly to our conversation.

Perhaps Craig is the perfect person to coach you or put on a workshop for your group.

Perhaps you know people struggling with mental illness or fighting against the medical profession that he could help.

Lets spread the word about Craig, his story, and his message.

Until next time thanks and take care out there, Max

Publishing my fourth inspirational self-help book and the second in The Blind Blogger’s travel series

Hello again;

I’m writing this to announce the release of my fourth inspirational self-help book and the second in my adventurous travel series.

Buy it on Amazon.

It features the complete and total honesty that my readers have come to expect from me. Along with a wide-eyed wonder about all the experiences I enjoyed along the way.

Good or bad, flattering or embarrassing, success or setback; they are all in here.

I also share with readers the approaches, attitudes, and methods that I have employed to allow me to go off on such a big scary adventure.

And I do it with a friendly conversational style that will remind you of getting a letter from a treasured friend.

I want people to think that if Max can do this then What’s My Excuse? And I want to show them how they can do just that with their own dreams.

Even in corona there are adventures all around us. From creating art or music in our homes to meeting new people online to starting a podcast or even writing that book; adventures and experiences are all around us.

So excited about my new book. And it already has two Five-Star reviews.

Lessons I learned

I had a lot of trouble finally completing this book. After all, it’s been almost three years since I went out on the adventure chronicled in this book.

So, you are probably asking yourself why couldn’t the no excuses guy finish his book?

I had to ask myself that same question and give myself an honest answer.

I took an inventory of all of my activities online and in person. And I asked myself what could I most easily eliminate to give me more time and energy to write, edit, and work with my editor Lorraine Reguly to finish the book and get it out into the world.

I decided that the first thing I could do without or severely pull back from was social media.

I imposed a limit on the amount of time I would spend online until the book was published.

I chose two networks to focus on and even with them I was strict on myself.

I decided to keep up my twitter account, and my membership in a wonderful online master mind group Creating A Brand.

I decided to only visit Face Book, Linked In, or Instagram; if someone posted something negative on my profiles. Or if I felt someone really needed a reply.

That helped, but I still had to do more.

I eventually pulled back from replying to emails as promptly as I usually did. I sent more messages to the trash folder instead of doing something with them. And sadly I missed a few important occasions of friends by doing so.

Finally, I had to accept that I couldn’t keep up with my schedule for posting new podcast episodes.

I kept recording them because I find conversations energizing and upbuilding. And when you are pushing through to finish an especially difficult challenge you need those emotional boosts.

In hindsight I should have pre-recorded a bunch of episodes, created posts that were scheduled to go out at a later date; and I would have been okay.

Beyond that I could have thought to ask someone to help with the posting of the audios and creation of the blog posts.

Thankfully, the editing and publishing of this book is behind me. And I find the work of promoting myself and my story much less stressful mentally and emotionally than writing a book.

Saying Thanks

Another thing I’m known for is showing gratitude. And I don’t just mean in the acknowledgements page.

I’ve already mentioned Lorraine once,

but she deserves an even further mention. She showed remarkable patience with me during the publishing process. She encouraged, comforted, and challenged me all along the way. And she managed to find time for me in amongst other work she was doing.

I also want to thank my friend Catherine, Cat, Lyon.

She is a friend I met during this trip. She doesn’t show up in the story, but she has been amazingly helpful in the process of promoting my books.

Where I do podcast bookings, she does press releases and book site submissions. Thanks to her efforts many more people are finding out about my books. It just shows that anything is possible with friendship.

If you are an author, or you are thinking about writing a book; you really should think about engaging us.

Podcaster Win Charles who has cerebral palsy on a mission to help others with disabilities find their voice

Hello; I’m posting this latest interview while doing interviews myself today.

I will provide more information about Win, the interview, her links, and my sponsor as the day goes along.

For now I wanted you to have the opportunity to listen to this inspiring interview as soon as possible.

I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks, Max

Staci Greenberg is a true example of living a no excuses life

Hello again;

I know it’s been a while, and I know you have heard me say that before.

Inspiring radio personality Sandy Rodgers of Life Love Wellness visits What’s Your Excuse

Hello Again;

I’m always excited to share my latest interview with the amazing people who come on my show What’s Your Excuse.

It’s extra special when my guest is someone like Sandy Rodgers.

She has had me on her show twice.

And we had long, in-depth, personal conversations.

Like this one in May of 2016.

The one thing that I love the most about Sandy, and the one thing that comes out powerfully throughout our entire conversation; is her whole-hearted belief in being our most authentic selves in all things.

She comes back to it time and time again, and not in that forced way that you sometimes get from people who are used to doing lots of interviews.

She talks about it when discussing her childhood. How she played sports, dug in the dirt, and took a wood working class instead of typing or home economics.

She talks about it in her employment at a chipping company. How she had to get to know each of her coworkers, so she could deal with them authentically. Making allowances for their personal problems or for working together to solve problems with a delivery.

Taking control of her health and her body. Knowing what she takes into her system. And that includes foods as well as prescription medicines or herbal supplements.

She talked about how the corona virus is giving people opportunities to reconnect in ways we haven’t experienced before. Especially for families who now see each other more often and get to spend more time together.

She also mentioned people doing things like yoga where they come together either in person or online. Of course, keeping social distancing when meeting with neighbors.

And I loved how she said that Covid is an opportunity to really focus on the foods we are putting into our bodies.

She made this point by saying that in the stores she has visited the shelves aren’t all empty. She pointed out that it’s the processed foods that are being snapped up. She made the point that there is still plenty of fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables for those who can get past their stress and see them.

Well, I don’t want to give it all away.

After listening to our conversation, I’m sure you will agree. If Sandy can do it, then what’s my excuse.

Please Visit My Sponsor

Chip and Pam Edwards at www.createmyvoice.com

They will create a voice branding strategy for you that takes advantage of the voice platforms like Alexa and Google.

Starting with helping you decide on and claim your invocation name. That’s the name people use to ask for your content on these speakers and their related apps.

Such as Alexa open create My Voice.

Or okay Google ask for Create My Voice.

These names or phrases are unique. There can be only one, and whoever claims it first gets to keep it.

If someone else takes the name you use for your blog or podcast, then they control what content people will hear when they look for you.

This could result in a loss of traffic, fewer potential customers, and damage to your brand’s reputation.

At the very least letting someone else grab your invocation name would mean having to choose another that is harder for people to say or that you just don’t care for.

So, please reach out to them right away. Use the contact form on their site to schedule an appointment to discuss this with them. And do it right away.

Now On To The Show

About Sandy

Sandy Rodgers a Reverend, Author, Radio Personality, Film Producer, Life Coach, Reiki Master Teacher Practitioner, Master Gardener, Energy Practitioner and Certified Raw/ Plant Based Food Educator is forever growing and expanding. She invite others to join her in living their Authentic Self, whatever that is for that person. Be True to Self is her motto.

Born and raised in Watts California, she is fully invested in community life, Wellness as a social and human right and individual empowerment, actively working within marginalized populations.

In the sharing of her very intimate life journey, she gives permission and voice to the voiceless while encouraging true self-expression.

Sandy, a seasoned radio host heightens awareness around diverse social topics, nutrition and spiritual enlightenment. She develops publications, programs, audio projects, and other sources. She remains a willing servant of humanity; areas of interest are Spirituality, Community and Family, Wellness, Emotional Healing, Nutritional Health, Wellbeing, and Physical Movement

Rev. Rodgers, an Amazon #1 Best Seller Author. Newest – Look In My Mirror, and God’s Groceries…As Nature Intended. Other titles by Rev. Sandy Rodgers are Natural Healing: Use Prayer, Food and Energy Healing as Natural Remedies. All My Men; The Rose Garden…remembering our beauty in tough times and When God Leads…just follow. She has contributed to; Cornbread, Fish and Collard Greens – Prayers, Poems & Affirmations for People Living with HIV/AIDS, and Erieka’s Magical Realism.

Connect With Sandy

Website: www.SRAuthenticAscension.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/sandyrodgers.37

Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/rev-sandy-rodgers-1b8b0b1a

Twitter: www.twitter.com/MsRodgers

Support The Show

Please visit my Store Page

Where you can buy my books or What’s Your Excuse? merchandise.

And if you too would like to invest in yourself you too can sponsor the podcast and have your products or services mentioned on the show.

I thoroughly enjoyed talking with my old friend Sandy.

I love how authentic she is in all things.

I hope you will visit her website or follow her on social media so you will know when her next show goes live.

She always has such great guests who talk about living your best life now.

If you have a podcast, then please consider having her on your show.

She is a truly generous loving person, and we can never have too many people like her in our lives.

I hope you will reach out to both of us and share your journey with us.

Even those who inspire others need to be inspired in return.

And I bet there is something in your life that would educate, inspire, or entertain me.

As the pandemic is reminding us all, kind words have value.

I ask because I couldn’t do what I do without knowing you are there.

And this is my way of trying to get to know you so we can both continue to grow and do even more in our lives.

Until next time take care out there, Max

Live on the inside with David Goldstein of I Can’t C U

Hello again;

This is another post from my Live On The Inside posts where I share a recent interview on someone else’s podcast or radio show.

This time I’m blessed to get to sit down with my new friend from Pod Fest, David Goldstein.

I was lucky enough to get to room with him for the weekend. And he actually lead me sighted guide for much of the conference.

We had several long conversations about blindness, vision loss, and the various ways we manage to live our lives in spite of our lack of vision.

And he was gracious enough to come on my podcast. You can listen to that interview by clicking here.

This interview is one of my all time favorites.

First, because I don’t get a lot of opportunities to chat with another blind podcaster.

While David has more vision than I do, and he has much better cane traveling skills than I do; we can talk about things in a way that other people may never truly understand.

Also, most hosts allow me to gloss over my vision loss. They don’t mind when I talk more about my life after vision loss than how I was feeling as I was losing my vision.

We talked about my type of eye disease which is RP, Retinitis Pigmentosa. And the time line of when I lost my vision. And the various methods we employed to deal with the changes in my eyesight.

We talked about braille and learning about orientation and mobility.

We then talked about podcasting and being business owners. And we compared our styles.

His podcast is more scripted and he does some editing.

My podcast is much more seat of my pants, and I never edit.

With navigating new places, he prefers to show up early and learn his way around.

I prefer to just show up and find my way around by following whoever’s shoulder happens to be handy.

And I dress up even for podcast interviews because it has become part of my brand.

And I’m jealous of David because he gets to dress casually.

The point of the interview is that every blind person is different and if you want to help you need to get to know us as individuals first.

You can listen to our conversation here.

I really enjoyed my time talking with David.

It’s so rare in our online world that you get to meet someone in person, and spend some time getting to know them.

Then to have the chance to interview that person.

And finally to be on the other side of the mic and have them interview you.

I just visited the post and found there were no comments. Lets spread the word about his show so we can fix that.

About David

I’ve been an entrepreneur my entire life, opting to work in my parent’s supermarkets rather than going to summer camp.

I opened a video store when I was 21 years old in 1986 when there was a vacancy in a storefront in some commercial property my parent’s owned that happened to be next to one of their markets that I worked in as a kid.

During the 13 year run at the video store, I landed a segment on a local Philadelphia radio station every Thursday morning to talk about the new video releases, the movie industry, and award shows. In addition, I appeared in radio spots on several other Philadelphia and Wilmington, DE stations in which I also wrote the copy.

In 2004 I co-founded Digital Graphics Design, a graphic and web design company. We create branding for small businesses and solopreneurs, as well as develop their online presence with website design, SEO, online advertising, and web hosting. We continue to help our clients to this day, though more in a consulting role.

I launched the iCantCU Podcast in 2018. I talk about the challenges I face on a daily basis and how I overcome them.

It is meant to show sighted people that blind people can do most of the things sighted people do, we just do it a little differently.

Connect With David

Website: www.icantcu.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/davidbenj

Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/davidbenj

Twitter: www.twitter.com/davidbenj

Instagram: www.instagram.com/davidbenj

Youtube: www.youtube.com/davidbenj

I’m often asked why I include so much information about the podcast host.

People ask me why do it. The point is to promote you and your interview isn’t it?

I do it because to me a podcast interview isn’t just a means of self-promotion.

It’s a great way to meet new people and begin the process of building a relationship.

It’s a time to learn from the host while sharing your stories and insights.

So, I believe that I should support the host.

It’s also my way of showing gratitude for the opportunity he or she has given me.

After all, these podcast hosts work really hard, and very few of them are making a living from their show.

In fact most could care less if the podcast turns a profit.

They do it for fun, for expressions, or out of a sense of community.

Many of them feel a calling to inspire, encourage, educate, and entertain the world by interviewing people like me.

I hope you will check out David’s podcast and not just the episode I appear in.

As I often tell y’all the best way to say thank you to my guests is to drive traffic to their sites.

Because the most valuable thing to a podcast host is faces behind those screens.

And this time I want to take it one step further. Please leave a comment. Or click on one of his social media links and tell him how much you appreciate what he’s doing.

Just like I couldn’t keep doing this without you.

He, and other podcasters, need that reassurance.

They need to know that people are listening and paying attention. They need to know you appreciate them.

Until next time thanks and take care out there, Max