Written by: Nigel Beckles , Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. When you begin to date someone new, there is usually an exchange of experiences and opinions, which can provide important clues regarding potential compatibility. You begin to assess whether he or she likes the same things or shares the same views on certain topics. You will find similarities and differences, but these differences do not necessarily mean pursuing a relationship with the person is a waste of time. Every couple experiences disagreements, but the key to resolving differences is to seek a solution both partners can accept. If people can't find a way to work together, compatibility problems can start to show up, which can result in very serious conflicts. Two people can have different tastes, styles, and worldviews and still have a successful relationship. Often, each person finds the stark differences in their partner intriguing; they appreciate the different personality traits and often stay together because they complement each other. For example, a normally shy person may feed off their more gregarious partner, and vice versa, so each partner finds aspects of themselves they are missing in the other person, which makes the relationship mutually supportive and helps it to thrive. The key to success in this type of relationship is that each partner respects the views and opinions of the other. It usually takes a period of time before you discover if you have met someone who is really compatible, so take your time instead of committing to a relationship too quickly. While unresolved emotional problems can cause a person to create difficult and unhealthy relationships, becoming romantically involved with someone who has a compatibility hazard can present huge challenges that may be impossible to resolve. These hazards are not usually obvious and may be dismissed or ignored at the beginning, but they often surface after the relationship has been established. In this article, we will explore several issues that can frequently cause major problems. The Long Distance Relationship Many relationships have begun this way and succeeded, but there can be a variety of potential hazards. Long distance relationships can be romantic and exciting as you countdown to the next meeting, and this encourages couples to indulge in fantasies about meeting each other again. The distance also creates the illusion of a relationship, which may not be as good as it seems on the surface and lets each person avoid certain truths. A person in this situation knows the time available together will be limited, and this increases the longing to see their partner again along with increased sexual desire. Because of the limited time together, having a good time and often having great sex is prioritized.While the meetings are very intense and great fun, the goodbyes are usually sad and emotional. The romance and distance easily entice many couples into a dramatic fantasy where the focus is on the next meeting and seeing their lover again. This type of relationship can be highly romantic but is also a high risk strategy as the separation can encourage a great deal of unrealistic expectations and love myths to be played out mentally by one or both partners. Long-distance relationships can also serve as a distraction from asking yourself important questions, such as what this person is really like as a person. Each person is usually on their best behaviour, which creates an artificial interaction that results in only the positive aspects of each personality being revealed. If a decision is made to move closer to each other to spend more time together or even to live together, aspects of their true character may be suddenly revealed. Spending prolonged time together can uncover behaviours, habits, and attitudes that are extremely irritating, annoying, or frustrating, which can lead to serious disagreements. Serious compatibility conflicts may be revealed very quickly; tensions may build, resulting in a reduction of mutual sexual attraction and activity, and a ‘match made in heaven’ can swiftly transform into the relationship from hell. Reality Check! Various studies have shown that long distance partners tend to excessively idealise each other or view each other in unrealistically positive terms. It’s usually much easier to hold on to an idealised view of a partner when you’re not with them for significant amounts of time. The only way to discover if the relationship has a viable future is for each person to be authentic and true to themselves while pursuing normal activities together. Effective and honest communication is the key to dealing with any conflicts as they arise. An important element in any relationship is the shared intention of both partners. If a person is being strung along for convenient sex, obviously, it’s better to find that out sooner rather than later. There are no shortcuts to getting to know someone properly. The key to building a solid foundation for any relationship is to spend consistent, quality time with your partner. There are inherent constraints that restrict the natural growth and development of a long distance relationship because these types of relationships are by definition limited. This type of relationship isn’t necessarily doomed to fail; there have been many successful partnerships that began as long-distance liaisons. Differences Between Religious & Spiritual Beliefs Individuals who hold deep religious beliefs are usually taught a particular religion during childhood. Religious indoctrination at a very young age is often powerful and provides the foundation for adult belief systems and values that shape a particular worldview. A child who has been brought up in a religious home is unlikely to abandon their faith during adulthood and can be very resistant to even considering alternative concepts about life, death, and spirituality. Most couples don't talk about their religious beliefs when they're dating because they're too busy having fun and getting to know each other. However, different religious and spiritual beliefs can cause unexpected compatibility problems, with disagreements causing a lot of anger and frustration. It is important not to allow another person to control your views; failing to take the time to consider and define your own personal beliefs may leave you susceptible to being influenced by someone else’s. Allowing another person to strongly influence your beliefs means giving someone else permission to define your perspective. For example, if you become involved with someone who holds strong opinions regarding their religion, you may accept their spiritual or religious views during the early stages of the relationship but then decide to explore your own beliefs. Each individual has the absolute human right to decide what they believe for themselves, but choosing a different belief system than your partner will often cause major disagreements. Exploring Religion & Spirituality We live in a diverse world where many different beliefs compete to be heard or even dominate. There are people who don’t believe in any type of spirituality, religion, the paranormal, or the existence of God. Others believe in various spirits, angels, astrology, numerology, alternative dimensions, or paranormal activity. There are individuals who believe in their personal interpretation of God but who are not involved with any type of religious organization; they rarely attend a church, mosque, or synagogue but have a flexible approach within their own personal belief system. A person may choose to demonstrate their beliefs and values through their behaviour and attitudes instead of being a slave to religious rules and doctrines. You may decide religious or spiritual practice doesn’t interest you, and it’s absolutely your personal right to make that choice. In the dating game, it is always sensible to discover a potential partner’s views on religion, spirituality, and children. Most men and women have clear ideas about how children should be raised, and when a relationship gets serious, the possibility of getting married and having kids is likely to come up. Suggested Questions Is your partner of the opinion that parents have the right to teach their kids to believe in a certain religion and limit what they can learn? Do parents have the right to bring up their children in an atmosphere of strict religious dogma? Should parents have the right to insist their children strictly follow their faith? If a child grows up and rebels or abandons the faith, should the parents and religious community reject their son or daughter? When a person has strong religious or spiritual beliefs, this will have a great influence on their views regarding how their children should be raised. If there is a significant difference in religious or spiritual beliefs, this can result in very serious disagreements when the relationship has already been established. If you hope to have children, it is vital to share your personal views and expectations regarding how they will be raised concerning their religious or spiritual beliefs. Finding out what a potential partner’s religious or spiritual beliefs are may not seem like a big deal during the dating phase, but this issue can cause major problems. The simple way to avoid this potential compatibility hazard is to raise the subject during the early stages of dating someone new. These matters can be discussed generally, and the responses provided will often offer valuable clues as to whether there could be any potential conflicts. Any serious delay or reluctance to discuss this topic can lead to major problems; hiding or avoiding the truth regarding your spiritual beliefs can be a major mistake if significant differences are later discovered. No matter how much love a couple has for each other, the relationship could be doomed, which would be very sad and painful. Already Involved The question, ‘Can a couple with different religious backgrounds work?’ comes up quite regularly in my relationship forums. It’s obvious that if a person is a fervent atheist and becomes involved with a partner who is deeply religious, there are probably going to be major disagreements. These conflicts have the potential to tear the partnership apart as a couple experiences deep conflicts regarding different belief systems, traditions, and attitudes. A couple committed to the relationship can conduct research regarding mixed denomination partnerships or seek advice and support from their respective religious spiritual advisors or support groups. The reality is that a person with deep religious beliefs is likely to be intransigent if a workable compromise cannot be achieved, and if so, the relationship simply isn’t viable. Leaving a relationship due to this compatibility hazard is a small price to pay for your emotional, mental, and spiritual freedom, along with your peace of mind. Don't let a partner force you to follow a certain religion or belief. It's very important to follow your own conscience, inner guidance, and personal path, wherever they lead you. Toxic Ex-Partner One of the most difficult compatibility hazards to deal with isn’t always obvious until the relationship has been firmly established. A toxic ex-partner can cause severe problems and create havoc in your relationship. There are men and women who will refuse to accept a relationship is over and will be extremely upset when they realise their ex-partner has found happiness with someone else. These kinds of vendettas don't always start right away. Passive-aggressive behavior, harassment, and psychological warfare may not start until it's clear that your current partner is moving on with their life and is serious about getting back together with you. Men and women who refuse to accept and respect their ex-partner has moved on typically include: Refuse to acknowledge your relationship. Fail to respect your privacy. Try to cause problems between you and your partner. Refuse to respect certain boundaries despite being your partner's ex. Turn any children from the previous relationship against you or your partner. Before he or she became involved with you, they may have been still recovering from their previous relationship for a variety of reasons, or perhaps they were rejected. In my experience, the partner who is rejected in a relationship usually feels far worse than the person who decides to end the relationship. This can leave someone feeling rejected, hurt, not ‘good enough’ or lacking full emotional closure. An ex-partner or lover sabotaging your relationship is likely to provoke negative emotions, including: Angry when your partner appears to be giving higher priority to his ex-partner’s feelings than to your own. Angry when your partner doesn’t understand how you feel while accusing you of being insecure or jealous. Frustrated and impatient when he constantly makes excuses for his ex-partner. Resentful when your partner excludes you from certain aspects of his life that include his ex-partner (for example, picking up or returning children for visitation) in order to "avoid any problems." Worried or scared when you know the toxic behaviour is clearly escalating but your partner dismisses it, saying it's not a "big deal" or that they will "sort it out," despite the fact that you know your partner is dismissing your concerns. In extreme cases, men and women with personality disorders can be obsessed with destroying the lives of others and commit terrible acts. Ignoring toxic behaviour or being in denial could even be dangerous, and any reluctance on his part to establish clear boundaries will probably encourage her interference or any toxic behaviour. Dating Paying attention to any red flags and asking pertinent questions during the dating phase may reveal whether or not he has any ‘unresolved issues with an ex-partner. Questioning a partner about their relationship history doesn’t guarantee they are going to tell you the complete truth; they could be worried about telling you about a toxic ex-partner because he or she doesn’t want to scare you off. There could also be concerns that they may be judged harshly for being involved with an ex-partner who may be emotionally unstable. Already Involved Do not ignore the warning signs and refuse to accept any excuses your partner may offer regarding his ex-partner’s behavior. Where there are issues due to serious disruption and sabotage caused by the ex-partner, it’s your partner’s responsibility to deal with the problem. Don’t wait for the problem to solve itself because it won't, so discuss the matter with him and make your concerns very clear. Your partner is just as responsible for how their ex-partner acts if they haven't set clear boundaries. If your partner has set clear, firm boundaries, it's unlikely that their toxic ex-partner will be able to hurt them, no matter what they do. If your partner is allowing their ex-partner to undermine the relationship and makes it clear they are not prepared to take action, explain how this makes you feel and give them an ultimatum. Explain that the situation is unacceptable and that you will only remain in the relationship if they establish clear boundaries with their previous partner. It will probably hurt to end it but the emotional costs will be much higher if you decide to stay, hoping that things will get better. If your partner will not support you, things will only get worse. In this type of relationship dynamic, it’s also important to look at yourself and consider if you are being unreasonable. If you suspect you have jealousy issues due to your partner having a friendly and appropriate relationship with his ex-partner, which is not causing unreasonable disruption, you need to be honest with yourself and make arrangements to tackle the issue. Seriously consider attending counselling or therapy either on your own or with your partner. Whatever you decide to do, understand that doing nothing is not a realistic option. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Nigel! Nigel Beckles, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Nigel Beckles is an Author, Certified Relationship Specialist & Coach, holds a Dealing With Narcissism Diploma and Psychology of Relationships Diploma. He is an Educator, Online Adviser and Workshop Facilitator. Nigel is a contributor to the award-winning documentary ‘Looking for Love’ available on DVD and online. He is also the creator of the podcast 'Interesting Conversations with Interesting People' featuring Interviews with Award-Winning Authors, Therapists & Relationship Life Coaches. All Podcasts Available @ Website: www.authornigelbecklespodcasts.com his work involves guiding men and women through difficult relationship issues. Sources: Book Extract: ‘How to Avoid Making the BIG Relationship Mistakes!’ Available @ Amazon https://amzn.to/2KqM0A0 12 Key Points of Compatibility Nicole Beasley |Updated October 5, 2022 https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/love/12-key-points-of-love-compatibility/ 9 Signs You Are Mistaking Compatibility For Love Kristine Fellizar July 15, 2021 https://www.bustle.com/wellness/signs-youre-mistaking-compatibility-for-love

Written by: Karuna Jain, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. What is Past Life Regression? Past Life Regression is a technique used to access the many lifetimes we have lived. It is based on the principle of reincarnation. We go through the cycle of birth and rebirth till we reach the state of Enlightenment. In each birth we take, we have experiences, emotions, beliefs, learnings, wisdom, unresolved issues, patterns, and habits. All that is part of you, it is recorded in your energy field, in your energy body. Our soul wants to expand in consciousness, to grow continuously till Enlightenment is reached. The hope is we keep expanding in every lifetime, learning, and gaining wisdom. Enlightenment is understanding all of creation, how and why creation happens, what is this Universe, and what our role is in it. That is huge. We live many lifetimes, learning and accumulating knowledge and wisdom in each lifetime till we reach a lifetime where we understand it all. This results in perpetual peace, harmony, happiness, and joy, an enlightened being. We are spiritual beings in the human body. Another principle to understand is the theory of Karma, which is basically you reap what you sow. All actions that you take, all choices that you make, have cause and effect. This is all stored in your karmic body which is part of your energy body. You carry your Karmic body with you to every lifetime. You leave your physical body behind but take your energy body with you to another lifetime. Your current lifetime is affected by all that resides in your energy body, all that you experienced and left unresolved in all lifetimes. Everything that you are manifesting in this lifetime, all the people in your life, all the situations, your talents, and your abilities are greatly impacted by the karmic/ energy body. Another way to understand past lives is to think of yourself as a pearl necklace. Each pearl in the necklace represents a lifetime of yours. All the pearls are connected together to form a single necklace. If I move one pearl up and down, all the pearls in the necklace are affected. Each of your lifetimes is affecting every other lifetime. Why is Past Life Regression important for enjoying great health? We are energy beings. We are not just a physical body. We have an emotional body, a mental body, and a spiritual body. Each of these bodies are storing information from all of our lifetimes. Together they form our energy body. The bodies are interrelated. To enjoy great health, you need to have balanced emotions, positive thoughts, and strong moral values. We have spent many centuries understanding the physical body. Yet we don’t have root causes for most of the diseases and discomforts we experience. The root cause lies in all of the other bodies. It is time now to take care of all of our bodies. There is a lot of scientific evidence about the energy body and its correlation to health. I grew up using Homeopathy for any health issue. The homeopathy doctor would spend more than an hour with each patient. He would understand the personality, habits, behavior, emotional state, and mental state of his patient besides the physical symptoms. Then he would accordingly prescribe medication. There was not one medicine for an issue. It depended on many factors. Even for the common cold, there are many different homeopathic medicines. I believe it is the same in Ayurveda, the thousands of years old modality of healing. Now we have many more holistic healing modalities such as Energy Healing, Energy Medicine, Sound Healing, Vibrational Healing, Shamanic Healing, Plant medicine, Past Life Regression, In-Between life regression, and more. In each of these modalities, the human is looked at holistically, that is all of his bodies are taken into consideration to heal from any issue. Past Life Regression is an amazing technique to go into our other lifetimes and clear up the energy blockages, the emotional/mental baggage, the limiting beliefs, unhealthy patterns, and limited knowledge. This is a really great technique if you have a chronic condition. Then maybe your condition is due to things happening in many of your previous lifetimes. Some of the benefits of Past Life Regression sessions are: Understand why some people are in your life, what is their role, and what soul contract you made with them. Having a higher spiritual understanding of a relationship creates healthier relationships, releases negativity from the relationship, and provides learning opportunities. If you are on a spiritual journey, you want to have a deeper knowing that you are a multi-dimensional being or that you have lived many lifetimes, Past Life Regression will convert knowledge into knowing for you. Knowledge is linked to the mind. Knowing comes from the heart. Knowledge comes from external sources mostly. Knowing comes from your experience. An amazing shift happens in your energy field, an expansion in consciousness when you have this experience. This creates a big shift in your perception of this lifetime, in understanding ‘Life is a play’ as stated by Shakespeare. To clear energy blockages. This could manifest as feeling stuck, having phobias, anxiety, stress, and depression. Or it can manifest in physical issues such as shoulder pain, stomach issues, etc. Each physical issue is like the tip of an iceberg. Underneath it lies a mountain of emotional, spiritual, and mental baggage. To truly heal from a physical issue, you have to take care of your other bodies. Go across lifetimes. An unbalanced energy body could result in a mentality of lack, block abundance in many areas of your life, and create difficulty in reaching a goal. It can result in low vitality, low energy, suicidal tendencies, and difficulty attracting the right partner or soulmate. This may be coming from many lifetimes. You can bring back your learnings from other lifetimes that will help you in this lifetime. This is truly magical. Is Past Life Regression safe? It is important to go with a trained and experienced Past Life Regression therapist. The therapist will create a sacred, safe, and protected energetic space to do the session. Sacred space allows only experiences that are in your highest good to be revealed during the session. Safe and protected energetic space allows only beings of higher consciousness to be part of the session. These beings are your higher self, your spiritual masters and guides, and the divine team of the therapist. An experienced therapist knows how to facilitate the session, keep an eye on the client at all times and use her/his deep intuition to understand what and how to say the right words during the session. I have been doing hundreds of Past Life sessions over the years. I am deeply intuitive and know exactly how to guide the client through relevant experiences from a lifetime and moving from one lifetime to another. I also do actual healing work in your past life just like I would do in the current life. This ability was granted to me several years ago by my divine team. Just viewing the past life releases a lot of stuck energy, gives an opportunity to see your patterns, and brings back the learnings. Deep healing happens during the session. My journey with Past Life Regression Past Life Regression has been an amazing tool for my spiritual growth. I started by having others do the session for me and quickly moved to do it myself. I have visited hundreds of my past lives. Just to expand on this, we live in other bodies, in spirit form between taking human incarnations. This is called the In-Between Life session. There is a lot of learning in this state also. I am truly fortunate to have these tools available to me. I have done healing and teaching work in many lifetimes worked with energy and studied energy in mystery schools. I have been able to bring back a lot of my learnings from these lifetimes. This has expanded my knowledge of the human journey. I have so much respect for all that we go through on Earth. My perception of life is very different from most people's. This has helped me go through my dark periods with compassion and tolerance and come out of these periods stronger than before. It has expanded my ability to love myself unconditionally. The more love I bring into my energy field, the stronger it becomes. This allows me to share this love with others easily. All of my healing work happens from a place of unconditional love. Past Life and In-Between Life are my magical tools to continue expanding my consciousness. I do want to leave this life with a way more expanded consciousness than what I came in. Extra Information: I have created videos to talk about Past Life Regression . It is available on my YouTube Channel , Karuna Healing Center. Visit my website http://www.karuna-healing.com to know more about my services and/or schedule a Past Life Regression session. I offer free ½ hour consultation. You can connect with me from my website or send an email to info@karuna-healing.com . Feedback and comments are welcome. Best wishes for your life journey. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Karuna! Karuna Jain, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Karuna Jain is a certified Life Coach, Hypnotherapist, Energy Healer, Past Life Regression therapist, and Corporate speaker. She combines science and spirituality in her work. She conducts classes on various topics including teaching Reiki healing. Her clients are global. She is into metaphysics, multi-dimensional realities, consciousness expansion, reincarnation, soul integration, and meditation. She is very passionate about empowering people to take care of their own health. Teaching and sharing knowledge is her major life mission. Her emphasis is on healing the mind and body through Universal Compassion. Her Mission: To assist her clients to reach their goals in a loving, compassionate, non-judgmental environment using the best of eastern and western methods of natural mind-body healing modalities.

Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview Bryce Gilleland has an MBA from Berkeley, Haas and a BS in economics from UCI. He operates Asha Capital Partners and previously ran the No.1 performing fund in 2020, returning 846%, which grew from $8M to over $600M in under two years. He also serves on the board of Global Glimpse, a non-profit supporting emerging leaders, and as an advisor on Berkeley’s Cal VC Innovation Fund, an early stage investment fund that partners with the school, sharing proceeds to help further education. You are a high-energy business veteran, cryptocurrency expert, has fulfilled various roles in Fortune 500 companies as a senior manager in investor relations and corporate strategy, and CEO of Asha Capital Partners. How do you handle such a big responsibility? It is through keeping your eye on the big picture. We provide a service and that means everything we do should be handled with careful consideration and effort. Then, making sure I have a great team that knows this as well so I don’t have to micro-manage activities as we all know the first principle of the company. We check in on big things, make sure we align with our purpose, and move forward. All of us handle large responsibilities in our day to day lives. Whether that is taking care of a family, running an organization, going to school, or all of the above. For any of these roles, those that stand out to me are individuals who were determined and predictive. In our day to day lives we all have the opportunity to positively or negatively impact others and working hard to do the right thing, I believe, is all a responsibility we all share. "This gets down to respect, and being a good human." For me, I like to treat others how I would want to be treated. My Mother always said the golden rule was “doing unto others as you would like others to do unto you.” I take this into account in any role I have and expect the same of my team. Is the next action I take something my family would be proud of? How could I do it better? What would a discerning customer want to see? Testing your actions and strategy against these questions helps get you, or your team, closest to a best possible outcome. For my current role that means clear and honest communication, diligence and determination in my work, and the desire to do my best, and of course lead by example. Taking that a step further means getting ahead of the curve. In the world of finance, we try to predict what is coming next and position ourselves in a way that can take advantage of that potential opportunity. In some cases this means being defensive, in others being aggressive. The end goal is what will positively support our customers and their goals. Managing other people’s money is a great responsibility and while what we provide is investment services, what we really provide is peace of mind. My goal is to ensure our customers know we are working hard to make their future as bright and stress free as possible. How did you end up in the cryptocurrency industry? My friends and I were always interested in investing. I was an Economics major and ever since I was a young kid finances interested me. I saw parents talking about them, and planning around them. I remember sitting around the kitchen table and hearing discussion, some good and some bad. My parents would hide little finance secrets with me and I wasn’t supposed to tell Dad about Mom’s credit cards, and I wasn’t supposed to tell Mom about Dad’s art collection. It was a stress I saw first hand on my family and something I’ve always sought to reduce for myself, and others. Also, while finance appeared boring to others, it was exciting to me. When I learned about cryptocurrency I saw a way of supercharging one’s portfolio. In my previous work I would give seminars on 401k investing and maximizing long-term retirement growth. In a good scenario one could expect 8-10% annualized gains. When I saw the opportunity of cryptocurrencies, and knew how quickly new technology could gain market share, it was clear to me that this was a way to supercharge a portfolio and more importantly, something I wanted to be in. The technology of the sector, and the simplicity of having humans not control all of the levers with policies that over and over again caused huge economic downturns, exemplified this opportunity. It also was an area that was growing more and more over time. That is, more and more people were getting interested, and the space was growing at such a rapid pace in terms of new companies and offerings. If you couple these things, the massive growth opportunity is clear. The thing to manage after the growth was the downside. Most newer spaces are more susceptible to large gains, but also susceptible to large losses. Cycles will always exist, this is simply human nature repeating itself. This meant be prudent: be focused on growth, and know when to turn that focus to protection. Protecting during a downturn means you have much more opportunity when the next uptrend comes along. For me it was clear, you could see decades of gains in only a few short years in cryptocurrencies. In 2016 I hopped in and worked hard to become an expert. Do you have any tips for people that have just started paying attention to cryptocurrency and are wondering whether to invest or not? Are there any specific things you need to know about or avoid in the beginning? I recommend a focus on the long-term. While you can supercharge a portfolio, you also need to be very cautious. Most people who ask me about crypto ask “what’s the next big coin?” They see it as a get rich quick scheme and just want to find that one. While there are stories of that working, that’s rare and chasing that dream leads to disappointment over and over again. My tip is to understand the cycles and the timing. Generally Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies, go on cycles. They have incredible returns for 1-2 years, then they pull back significantly for a year, then they go sideways for a year. Emotionally this means people get very interested for one year - typically at the end of the cycle - and buy at a high price. They then see it crash a year or less later and are disappointed. That’s the opposite of what you want to do. Most people invest in the space when the price is high and it’s all over the news - this is the number one mistake to avoid. The real method for making it in the space is to wait until the crash finishes and you stop reading about it on the news. When the sector and space is most quiet that’s when the opportunity is the greatest. The price has declined and there is a sense of fear and “will it just go to zero?” That is when Buffett’s phrase comes in “when others are fearful, be greedy.” It may take a year or two to see your money grow significantly, but the upside potential is great. This again focuses the investor on long-term investment gains, not get rich quick schemes. It always makes me laugh that people are willing to put money into their 401k for 30+ years and just let it grow, but want crypto to make them rich tomorrow. If you even take the 30 year timeline down to three or four years, and set your expectations as such, you can find this space is an incredible opportunity. The other method, which others are also disappointed to hear, is devoting your life to the space and working very hard to find promising projects early and then invest across a variety of those. The problem with this is you have to change your entire life around, and then you are working to find a limited number of spots against people who have been in the space for years. You talk a lot about the importance of diversifying your investment portfolio, can you elaborate on this? Yes, diversity of strategy, not just diversity of holdings. This is a concept I think nearly everyone could adopt more of. Everyone hears a diversified portfolio is key. Most people, and most financial advisers, stick to the common 60/40 portfolio. That is where 60% of your portfolio is in stocks and 40% is in bonds. While this sounds safe, like 2022 has shown us, this can lead to your whole portfolio drawing down. We call that systemic risk - when assets are all systematically correlated. What a diversified set of strategies can do is create opportunities during market downturns. Do you have a trend following aspect to your portfolio allowing you to short the market and ride trends downwards? These exist in almost all sectors and studies show that having a portion of your portfolio in trend following strategies, in the 20-30% range, can significantly increase portfolio performance over the long-run. This makes sense. If markets go through cycles, it is only a matter of time before the market turns down again. Given that, make sure your portfolio is prepared for such activity - that’s an example of diversification of strategy. There are many more complex opportunities like VC investments, arbitrage, foreign currency trading, etc. One can go down a rabbit hole, and my recommendation is find out about trend-following first and then continue to expand your alternative investments from there. For thinking about digital currencies, it’s carving out a piece of your portfolio that can fit into digital currencies. If you are risk avoidant, put in 2-5% of your portfolio. If you’re risk inclined and more interested in upside, 5-10% may be reasonable. I, of course, have a much larger portion of my portfolio carved out for digital currencies. That means it either owns digital currencies, or, like now, is in cash waiting to purchase them when I feel the price has declined significantly and we are again at a great value buy - we are close. Finally, what’s the next big goal or project in your career and how can someone get in contact with you? For me the next big goal is to help educate others on the possibilities for their portfolios and continue to educate people on how to safely invest in digital currencies. Most investors that I know that have ‘control’ of their lives have taken their professions seriously. Peace of mind comes from having a trusted advisor who manages their assets. There is a trust bond between both the investor and the advisor, that allows them to stay focused on their work without sacrificing returns. I have realized that many people don’t take active control of their portfolios, or know what their advisors are doing. While I know everyone can’t be interested in finance, knowing enough to be comfortable is important. Think of it like your health - you want to know what you are putting in your body, and how to maintain it. You don’t have to be a nutritionist, personal trainer, or Doctor, but it’s good to know the basics. I work to make sure all of my LPs, and everyone who wants to chat with me, can at least learn a little and have a growing level of comfort, without being overwhelmed by complex terms or market lingo. This is what leads to peace of mind and peace of mind is what investing is for - knowing you have a secure future. To reach me you can contact me at bryce@ashacapitalpartners.com, at https://www.ashacapitalpartners.com/contact-us or on LinkedIn.

Written by: Daniel Calugar The Federal Reserve has been getting a lot of attention recently as it attempts to stamp out inflation by instituting historic increases in the benchmark interest rate. But, while most people have heard of the Fed before, investor Daniel Calugar says some may need help understanding what the Fed is and its role in fiscal policy. These are essential topics to understand, as actions the Fed takes can have significant consequences on various financial matters -- as anyone who's tried to obtain a new loan such as a mortgage has found out recently. Below, investor Dan Calugar explains in depth what the Federal Reserve is, what it does and what happens when it makes a mistake. What is the Federal Reserve? The Federal Reserve System serves as the central bank of the United States. In essence, it's a financial institution that controls how and when money is printed and produced, as well as the system of credit within the U.S. The Fed has only been around for a little more than 100 years, as it was established in 1913 by then-President Woodrow Wilson following financial panic in 1907. Until then, America was the world's sole financial power that didn't have a central bank. Because of multiple financial panics leading up to the early 1900s, the U.S. economy suffered a few severe disruptions when banks failed, and businesses went bankrupt. The Fed was established in large part to prevent future disruptions and panics. The Fed has what's known as a dual mandate, which is set by Congress. It must work to ensure that prices remain stable in all parts of the economy, and it must work to support employment at maximum levels. Under that umbrella, the Fed does so by setting the overall monetary policy for the U.S. as well as regulating all of its member banks. This is quite a big job, of course, which is why The Fed is split into 12 different Federal Reserve Banks, each responsible for a particular geographic region. To prevent panics, the Fed is given rather broad powers to take actions they feel are necessary to ensure the country's financial stability. Daniel Calugar explains that this can be seen in how the Fed is currently acting. With inflation above 7% for each of the last ten months as of September 2022 -- and above 8.2% for each of the last seven months -- the Fed has stepped in to take action by increasing its benchmark interest rate. In doing so, they are walking a tightrope trying to bring down inflation while not causing a full-blown recession. What is the Federal Funds Rate? The Fed has a few primary tools at its disposal to guide monetary policy in the U.S., and the Federal Funds Rate is one of them. This rate affects all financial products that include an interest rate -- everything from debtor accounts such as personal loans and credit cards to savings accounts. Because of this, the Federal Funds Rate, in essence, dictates how much money actually costs in practice in our economy. This rate is set by the FOMC, or the Federal Open Markets Committee, at its eight meetings during the year. In doing so, the FOMC sets both an upper and a lower limit. The rate is determined based on several economic indicators, including the durable goods orders report and the core inflation rate, which provide general insights into the country's economic health. The Federal Funds Rate is used by the Fed's member banks to determine how much interest they should charge -- or how much they should be expected to pay -- if they lend or borrow from other Fed financial institutions. What are Federal Funds? Federal Funds encompass any excess cash reserves that financial institutions and commercial banks deposit at their regional Fed bank. These funds are used to ensure that banks don't fail and have sufficient funds to meet customer demand on any given day. Dan Calugar explains that each Fed member financial institution is required to have a certain amount of reserves on hand to meet customer demand. Any money they have in excess of that amount is considered Federal Funds. These funds can be used to give loans to other member financial institutions that may not have enough cash in reserve to meet what the Fed requires or lend as much as it wants. These loans are made between financial institutions with relatively low-interest rates to make borrowing more affordable for everyday consumers. Effectively, the rate that is used in these instances is the Federal Funds Rate. What are Open Market Operations? To affect the Federal Funds Rate, the Fed must take clear action. It cannot simply state that the rate has changed, for instance. The way that it does this is through what is known as OMO, or Open Market Operations. Through OMO, the Fed will either purchase or sell securities on the open market. This helps the central bank regulate how much money is kept on reserve at its member banks. If it feels as though the money supply needs to be increased, the Fed will purchase Treasury Securities. If it feels as though the opposite is necessary, it will sell these securities. Investor Daniel Calugar explains that through OMO, the Fed will be attempting to affect how much credit and money is available in the U.S. economy. In theory, when interest rates are higher, there will be less money in the economy and less borrowing. This is what the Fed has attempted to do throughout 2022 to stamp out inflation. When the Fed adjusts the Federal Funds Rate, its effects can also be felt in output, unemployment, and the overall costs of services and goods. What are Treasury Securities? Treasury securities are considered the safest of all investments in the U.S. The Fed and everyday investors have used them for years to bring financial stability and security, especially in turbulent economic markets. The reason they are so safe is that the federal government backs them completely. The yields on these investments are typically low, especially compared to other investment vehicles, but there is next to no risk of losing the principal amount that is invested. There are three types of Treasury securities, based on the maturity length. The first type is T-Bills, which have the shortest maturity range of any government bond. T-Bills are the only treasury security found in money and capital markets. The T-Bills that mature regularly do so either over four, eight, 13, 26, or 52 weeks. T-Notes are the mid-range for Treasury securities in terms of maturity date. The terms offered are two, three, five, seven, and ten years. Interest is paid on a semi-annual basis. T-Bonds are the third type of Treasury security and are referred to as the long bond because of the longer maturity length of 30 years. These are, as a result, seen as long-term investment vehicles, often a part of a diverse investment portfolio. Interest is paid semi-annually, and the bonds are auctioned monthly. What is the Discount Rate? U.S. banks have two ways that they can borrow money -- either from other member banks or directly from the Fed. Again, banks can take these loans for various reasons, to cover any shortfall in reserve cash, to address any problems they have with liquidity, or to prevent its ultimate failure. These loans are taken on a very short-term basis, usually for 24 hours or even less. When the Fed loans money to member banks, it does through its lending facility, which is called the discount window. The Fed will charge the standard discount rate as interest to the banks taking the loan, and that rate is, again, set by Fed. In most situations, commercial banks will only borrow from the Fed for emergency purposes when they cannot find another institution willing to lend them the money. In addition, the discount rates offered by the Fed have interest rates that are commonly much higher than the rates other banks offer. When banks must borrow from the Fed, it may signal to investors and other participants in financial markets that the bank is weak. What are Reserve Requirements? Fed member banks can loan their customers based on just a fraction of the total cash they have on hand at their facilities. The federal government gives them the ability to do so with only one requirement -- they have to keep a set amount of money on hand so they can cover withdrawals customers may request. The Fed sets this requirement because they don't want customers to be denied the ability to withdraw money they have deposited in the banks, according to investor Dan Calugar. If this were to happen, consumers would lose confidence in that bank -- and potentially the U.S. financial system as a whole. The amount the banks must keep on hand is referred to as its reserve requirement. In addition to setting the interest rates on excess reserves, the Fed also sets the reserve requirements. The Fed will use the reserve requirement to control the liquidity in the U.S. financial system. When they lower this reserve requirement, they are instituting expansionary monetary policy. This is because banks aren't required to keep as much money on hand, which gives them the ability to lend more. When the Fed increases the reserve requirement, it's instituting monetary policy that's contractionary. By being required to hold more money on hand, banks won't be able to lend as much. However, it does provide these banks extra protection against potential failures during economic downturns. How Does the Federal Funds Rate Affect Interest Rates? When the Fed adjusts the Federal Funds Rate, it doesn't just affect inter-bank loans; it also affects the economy as a whole. One of the most direct ways it does through is how it affects general interest rates offered to businesses and everyday consumers. When the Fed adjusts its funds rate, it immediately changes the prime rate. This is the rate financial institutions will offer their customers with the best credit scores. The prime rate also serves as the basis for interest rates offered to all other consumers. When the Federal Funds Rate increases, the prime rate increases as well, and so, too, does the interest rate charged on most consumer lending products. This directly affects credit, such as business loans, personal loans, credit cards, auto loans, and adjustable-rate mortgages. It also indirectly affects fixed-rate mortgages. Of course, the prime rate can decrease and increase just as the Federal Funds Rate can. What are the Implications of Higher Interest Rates? When interest rates are higher, money is generally considered more expensive. This is because it costs more for businesses and individuals to borrow money -- whether it be for everyday purchases on credit cards or larger, longer-term investments such as homes. Even slight increases in interest rates can cause things such as minimum monthly payments to go up substantially. In addition, for loans with adjustable rates, such as most credit cards, the same amount of outstanding principal may cost more to pay off after interest rates increase. As such, consumers will typically make significant purchasing decisions based on interest rates. For example, the average benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage had an interest rate of 7.32% as of November 3, 2022. That's a significant increase over what it was just a year ago, making homes much less affordable in late 2022 than they were at the same time in 2021. Consumers will generally spend less money when interest rates are higher. As a result, the demand for various services and goods will also drop, which can cause inflation to decrease. This is what the Fed is attempting to do now. On the other hand, higher interest rates mean better returns on deposit accounts such as savings accounts and Certificates of Deposit. What are the Implications of Lower Interest Rates? Lower interest rates will typically result in the exact opposite scenario. Daniel Calugar says when interest rates are low, borrowing money becomes significantly less expensive, which leads to expansionary actions by consumers and businesses alike. Businesses may take out more loans to fund investments in their business. This can lead to higher output and the need for more employees, which can lower unemployment rates. Consumers may similarly make larger purchases, such as cars and homes. They also may be more willing to make discretionary purchases since the interest they are charged on purchases is relatively low. When the Fed lowers interest rates, it does so to encourage people to spend money. It's typically done during recessions or challenging economic times, such as during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Fed's rate was near zero. This essentially made borrowing money "free," or at least close to it. That helped spur economic growth in the U.S. after the economy came to a grinding halt due to lockdown orders and massive restrictions on everyday life. Lower interest rates also result in lower returns on deposit accounts such as savings accounts and CDs. What Happens When the Fed Gets It Wrong? Since the Fed has such immense powers over monetary policy in the U.S. -- and since those powers are largely unchecked -- it can be disastrous when they get it wrong. Many economists believe that the Fed completely missed the boat with inflation in late 2021 and 2022, and the country is paying for it now. In the spring of 2020, the federal government took decisive action by passing a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill at the height of the pandemic. That helped to stabilize bond markets, recover stocks, and give households extra support they needed through expanded unemployment payments and direct checks. Two more "rescue" packages followed that, spending about $5 trillion to stimulate the economy. The Fed also played a direct part in the effort, increasing its purchases of short-term bonds by adding $3 trillion to the balance sheet. The result was too much money being spent, and the economy performed too well. With all that money in the economy, prices started rising rapidly. By August 2022, year-over-year inflation had increased 8.3%. In April 2021, that number was 4.2%. As nearly everyone in the U.S. knows, inflation has dramatically affected various aspects of life, from higher prices of gas and food to considerable dips in the stock market. How Can You Protect Yourself When the Fed Gets It Wrong? When the Fed gets it wrong, there are some tactics consumers can take to protect themselves. But, first, Dan Calugar says it's essential to understand the effect of the Fed's misjudgment, as that will determine the tactics to take. When the Fed increases interest rates, investors will typically start stocking up on short- or medium-term bonds. The yields on these will typically increase as interest rates rise. Series I Savings Bonds, for example, hit historic highs of 9.62% for most of 2022. Another tactic is to invest in companies that consume a lot of raw materials. The thinking here is that the cost of raw materials will either decline or stay the same when interest rates increase. That, then, results in these companies experiencing a higher profit margin. Many investors consider these types of companies to be solid hedges against inflation. On the other end of the spectrum, when rates drop due to a Fed mistake, consumers can take advantage of lower borrowing costs by refinancing their mortgage to a lower fixed rate. You can even take the savings you are realizing from your new mortgage and invest it in solid options during deflationary times. The Fed occasionally gets it wrong, but consumers don't have to be victims in the mess. Daniel Calugar says there are many things consumers can take to protect themselves when the Fed gets it wrong. About Daniel Calugar Daniel Calugar is a versatile and experienced investor with a background in computer science, business, and law. He developed a passion for investing while working as a pension lawyer and leveraged his technical capabilities to write computer programs that helped him identify more profitable investment strategies. When Dan Calugar is not working, he enjoys spending time working out and being with friends and family, and volunteering with Angel Flight.

Written by: Kaisa Siipilehto, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Do you want to feel in control of your life? And enjoy it fully?! There are many events we don’t have control over even if we wanted but we can control the most essential ones that have the biggest impact on our life. I believe our purpose is to enjoy life. And I want to see you on top of your game living the life you’re meant for. So, I want to share with you the secrets that changed my life and have been transforming the lives of my clients. Focus on these 3 essentials to create the life you want. I can’t wait to see your transformation! 1. Preparation It’s how I met my husband and changed my life! You want to be prepared not to miss any remarkable opportunity that comes to you and can change your life – now or forever. Think about what you want to prepare for so you won't regret it passing by. A job offer? The love of your life? Starting a family? Moving to a new city? Getting that dream house? What is important for you? What you can't live without? You might want to make a list of them all and invest in the preparation. Let's get you focused and unleash what you want! First, let me clarify what I mean by preparation. And how it can transform your life. For me, it all started with an urge to know who Kaisa is and what Kaisa wants to be. This was ground-breaking but only the beginning of what I was meant to experience. When I started shifting my thinking and adding things in my life that brought me joy, I saw the world opening in front of my eyes. The inner work prepped me for dating and exploring what attracts me. As I got to know new people, men, I realised what I valued the most in a partner. So only a few hours after meeting my husband, I knew I wanted to get to know him better. Now over 5 years later I still do. I was ready for more. I left my home country to live with him and study a new profession and started a business on my purpose. Now I have the freedom and lifestyle I truly enjoy, a partnership that lifts me up and a meaningful way to help others transform their lives. I’ve mentioned the next essentials already. 2. Live by your highest priorities I used to live small and safe. I was so focused on building a secure lifestyle, career and home that I wasn’t thinking about what else could be there for me. Basically, I was living a mediocre life. This almost cost me what was important to me. When I was about to lose the man I love, I decided to take control of my life and happiness. This is when the fear of losing pushed me to make big decisions and needed changes so that I could live the life I was meant for. This moment in my life was groundbreaking because it made me think about what was the most important for me so that I could enjoy my life fully. Discovering my priorities and designing my life and career around them truly transformed my life. Now I’m not settling for a life half-lived. So have a look at your priorities and rate on a scale 1-10 how well you are living by them. 3. Master your attitude Making the needed decisions and changes in your life is not so easy. I was feeling very overwhelmed of all the moving parts and how they will impact one another. And there was plenty to consider and figure out to make the transitions happen from finding a tenant to updated insurance and starting a coaching program to building my business. As I mentioned, love and fear were my driving forces to kickstart my life transformation. But for me to follow through and take the needed steps, I needed attitude. This means mastering emotions and mindset. This is easier said than done but the good news is that you have everything you need. It just takes practice! First, notice your emotions and whether they are serving you. If not, master shifting your emotions to what you want to feel. Same for your mindset: notice if your thoughts are helping you to do what you want. If not, what do you want to think instead? You have the power to change your thoughts in seconds! Managing your emotions and self-talk will help you to master your attitude towards actions and changes you want to take on and feel excited about doing them! How ready are you to enjoy your life full out?! I’m hosting a workshop on this! If you want to learn an easy yet effective framework on how to improve your quality of life, career and relationships – yes, all at the same time in just one hour! – Sign up here now! Looking forward to seeing you in the next workshop! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Kaisa! Kaisa Siipilehto, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Want to transform your life and future? Kaisa Siipilehto, the founder of LIVIO JOY Ltd and Courage to Lead Community, helps purpose-driven experts lead their vision with courage. As a Leadership Coach and Growth Enabler, Kaisa offers a fresh solution-focused approach combining insights from her corporate experience, business knowledge, and internationally recognized coaching methods. After ten years of progressing her career in brand marketing and enhancing customer experiences and engagement, Kaisa sought new opportunities to help the world work better. Certifying as a coach, living as a nomad entrepreneur, and building a business on her purpose have given her an understanding of what it takes to make major changes that improve life satisfaction, joy, and fulfillment. Since 2020, Kaisa has helped purpose-driven experts, leaders, and entrepreneurs from over 20 nationalities living around Europe and The Americas to focus on what matters to them and transform their lives and careers.

Written by: Jenny McCabe, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Do you feel uncomfortable talking about your prices with clients? Do you struggle with what to charge and often feel afraid that you're charging too much, so you set your prices too low? How you set your prices can determine how you value your time and whom you attract as clients. I spent my first few years in business under-charging and over-delivering. I was practically working for free for some clients. I ran myself into the ground, trying to please them, and to be honest, I ended up resenting them for not appreciating me! Every time I dropped my prices to win business, I gave away my power, and those clients inevitably became the most challenging and demanding clients to work with. I was stressed, and frustrated and no matter how hard I tried, they were never happy. As a people pleaser (now recovered) it made me feel that I wasn't good enough to raise my fees and that I was unworthy of having a successful business. Not to mention, the effect it had on my pocket. Undercharging and Over-delivering Undercharging is a huge challenge for women entrepreneurs and it's one of the fastest ways to kill a business. I've worked with a lot of women in business and there's a lot of fear around pricing and the mere mention of a price increase can send many into a cold sweat. The problem with low fees is, they can undermine your creditability and confidence because people naturally put a higher value on something if it's more expensive, as they believe it must be better quality. But more importantly, there is also a direct relationship between your money and your self-worth. We live in a society where money is used as a measure of value and if you don't truly believe that you have value, it'll feel hard to charge your worth. On a conscious level, we crave a successful business, more money, more impact, and more freedom but if you unconsciously believe that you're not worthy to have financial abundance, you're going to push it away. You'll undercharge and over-deliver just to prove your worth, you'll struggle to attract or keep it, you'll overspend, fail to save, be over-generous and give it away. To add insult to injury, when you go in with low fees, you attract the wrong type of client and you also have to keep working twice as hard as everyone else to make ends meet. I've had to do a lot of inner work to transform my self-worth and what I've learned is if you don't value YOU… CHOOSE you … know YOUR magnificence... No one else will because the continued cost of undercharging is a lack of freedom and living a life of comprise that will cost you your dreams. Reasons for Undercharging When I host my webinars, I run a poll at the start asking attendees why they haven't raised their fees and the top 3 fears are: 1. What will people think of me? So many women have a fear of being judged. They're so worried about what people in their industry or potential clients will think about their fees in case no one will buy from them if they raise the prices and move to premium pricing. Women give all their energy to feeling judged instead of focusing on the people they were meant to serve. People will always have an opinion and you probably won't like it so don't give it any power. 2. Will I lose my clients? One of my clients has a social media agency and by the time we started working together, she had been in business for 6 years. She is amazing at what she does, but she had never once raised her fees. Meanwhile, the cost of living has gone up a lot in 6 years. She was stressed, worried about the future, and just about getting by. She knew on a soul level that she had to raise her prices but the fear of losing her clients was far greater than her desire to raise her fees and claim her worth. And guess what, during our coaching together, I discovered that some of her most challenging clients were on the lowest packages but demanded the most attention. Sound familiar? When she raised her prices, some of those clients didn't up-level with her but because she had created a vacuum, she very quickly replaced them with new clients at a much higher rate, and just like that, her monthly income almost doubled without working any harder. 3. Am I good enough to raise my prices? This is a very common fear, especially for new business owners, they don't feel that they're experienced, skilled, knowledgeable, or qualified enough, or their program, course, or product isn't perfect yet or any number of reasons why they don't feel they are good enough to raise their prices. This is a limiting belief about self-worth and is one of the hardest abundance blocks to overcome when it comes to undercharging and one of the root causes of imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and procrastination. Why You Need to Raise Your Prices In my experience, most women have the same fears around raising their prices, and maybe even, just the thought of putting up your prices, might feel uncomfortable or even downright scary but there is no other strategy that impacts the success and profitability of your business as much as pricing. There is no magic number or pricing formula because there is no such thing as a "perfect" price, it's simply impossible to please everyone. No, this is about you having the courage to choose yourself and saying "no thank you" to a life of struggle and "yes" to your desire to have more money, freedom, and impact. On an energetic level, pricing isn't just about money... it's a message to the world about you and how you empower yourself to unapologetically own your worth. The more you charge, the more you can step into the energy of a premium service but the biggest barrier for women stepping into charging premium prices is the mindset. Stepping into Premium Pricing Premium pricing is an opportunity for more money, ease, and joy in your business and allows you to thrive. Premium prices elevate the type of clients you work with and your sense of self-worth. Your work is of vital importance to your soul-aligned clients, and they need you to transform their life or business. The expertise that you have and take for granted is unique to you and is truly priceless to your soul-aligned clients. Premium Pricing is a mindset that helps you shift your focus to serving clients at the highest level and which also honours your worth. Lastly, premium pricing is not about being affordable to everyone, it's an invitation for your clients to step into a higher frequency and work with you at a higher and more meaningful level. For more pricing strategies and mindset tips, grab my free Pricing Playbook! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jenny! Jenny McCabe, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Jenny McCabe is a Certified Money Breakthrough Business Coach and Spiritual Entrepreneur. She started her coaching business after working in the Franchise Industry as a Franchise Business Consultant. She has worked with dozens of women, empowering them to own their worth and build a six-figure business with heart, soul and ease, Jenny's transformational & spiritual journey to find her purpose work lead to her passion of helping women find their inner-power and connect to their soul. Her new signature program Aligned Feminine Business launches in 2023.

Written by: Stephanie Benjamin, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Have you decided or maybe just wondering what it is like, to become a digital entrepreneur, freelance writer or remote employee working from home? Well, the truth is that for many of the people who choose to go for this lifestyle, it is really a life changing career and even close to be a dream career. Here are some of the benefits of this way of living that might help you take the decision of a lifetime: A feeling of freedom Working from home gives you a feeling of Freedom! With less restrictions and less limitations, every day of life is an adventure! You can spend more time with your children, you no longer must wear business clothes for every single day. If you are an entrepreneur or freelancer, you can manage your own working hours without the necessity to negotiate with a boss. Yes, there may be times you have to work nights or weekends, but you decide when work start and when work stops, and this, is a luxury that makes the difference. Low-Cost Start-Up This is mostly (but not only) beneficial for entrepreneurs and freelancers. To get involved in a business is remarkably inexpensive to start up, compared to most other careers. The main piece of equipment that you need is a quality computer and a reliable Internet connection, with possibly a printer. But let's face it! Who today do not already own that! Your computer becomes your office and then fill in optional items as your business begins to grow. Therefore, you can start up as a virtual assistant, freelance writer, tutor or videographer, and own a business with low-cost investment, just with your computer. Financial rewards Rather than needing enough of professional clothing for daily office work, all you need is one or two decent outfits to wear when meeting with clients, which really helps when it comes to save money on gasoline and car maintenance. This money can now largely stay in your pocket or your bank account and, by telecommuting, you’ll be kinder to the environment. Not only you save money but if you are a creative entrepreneur, you can rapidly realise how rewarding it is financially to make a living selling your services and potentially, create an unlimited income. You can read of lot of those success entrepreneurship stories on websites such as fiverr.com and upwork.com. Making a Difference By working from home, you may also have opportunities to make a difference in other people’s lives. Perhaps, by working as a freelance writer and writing journalistic pieces about a promising new test for cancer, you can help people get earlier diagnoses and increase their chances to be cured. Or maybe you can share information about fundraising walks to raise money to fight hunger and, through your passionate prose, inspire people to participate in those walks with all their hearts. There is no better feeling than knowing that something you did made a positive difference in other people’s lives and many home-based workers have that opportunity. Additionally Other outcomes of working from home are the ability to be more productive when it comes to meetings and public events as it is the occasion to interact and perform in a social environment. People with a more introvert personality have a better chance to work and be comfortable in their own way. And finally, a decreasing of more than 50% on your level of stress, by working home, you don’t have to deal with the outside challenges that very often lead to the unknown, you only have to consider your sweet home environment. Bottom line, Working from Home comes with a lot of benefits, however this doesn’t mean it is for everyone. If you have a social personality and need to constantly be in contact with other human beings, this work lifestyle may not be your cup of tea. However, if this is something that you seriously consider, do not think twice and go set yourself for success no matter where you work. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and visit my website for more info! Read more from Stephanie! Stephanie Benjamin, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Stephanie is an international speaker, serial E-Business entrepreneur, Amazon best seller author, Business and Leadership writer, nominee for the “Women of influence” 2022 category at Success Magazine. Throughout her career, she helps individuals achieve their success goals by developing a success mindset and is mainly involved in entertainment and sports-related industries as well as global leaders. Some of her collaborations include Olympics Athletes, Celebrities, Entrepreneurs, Millionaires, and Billionaires. In 2020, she founded SuccessLifeGoal LTD (SLG), a digital training platform that inspires and motivates people using the philosophy of the sport industry and the power of storytelling. Stephanie believes that by implementing the mindset of a champion in your everyday life, you can improve your lifestyle, become the best version of yourself, overcome fears and obstacles, as well as multiply your possibilities, opportunities, and potential incomes. At SLG, students can access impactful courses, as well as storytelling content run by real champions such as Pro-Athletes, Olympics Athletes, and top Leaders from around the world. Stephanie is also a co-author of two Amazon best seller books: "Unstoppable Courage" and " Rejection to redirection”. And the author of another Amazon best seller book named “Billionairess…is the goal.”, a visionary book, entirely dedicated to women in power, business, and leadership and that is developing the idea of building up the women’s world of tomorrow, where more and more global wealth will be owned by women. She is a writer contributor for Business and Leadership related medias such as Meer.com and Women in Leadership magazine. So far, She has been featured in WOTC magazine, Forbes (Monaco), Fox, NBC, and CBC affiliates media. Stephanie is also involved in international volunteering programs related to women's and children's education development. She is driven by the idea of empowering others, helping them become the successful version of themselves, and actually seeing them succeed.

Written by: Lisa Hammett, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. It’s six weeks until the start of the New Year. Next week is Thanksgiving in the US. For many individuals, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season. The holidays can be challenging if you’re trying to lose weight, get healthy, or maintain weight. Seasonal temptations abound. You may have a tradition of baking cookies or other special treats. Tis the season for festive parties and get-togethers with family and friends. Trying to limit our indulgences can be very difficult. Completely checking out often becomes the most desirable option. This is giving yourself permission to eat whatever you want, in whatever portion size you want, for the entire holiday season, without any regard to health and wellness. It often involves minimal activity. Checking out, provides the least amount of resistance. As humans, we take the path of least resistance. We want easy peasy. If it’s easy, we’re more inclined to do the behavior. If it’s challenging, we’re less likely to do the behavior. Therefore, limiting our indulgences is less desirable because it requires willpower, which is overrated, and involves more friction. When we check out for the holiday season, it sets us up for more challenges in the New Year, including doing major damage control in January. This can feel very restrictive and is not sustainable. You may be successful for the first 2-3 weeks of January but are likely to fall off when you begin to feel deprived. Deprivation leads to irritability which impacts mindset, making it difficult to achieve goals. A negative mindset sabotages our efforts to be successful by generating doubts about ourselves and our performance. Tasks become more difficult to complete, productivity declines, and communication with others becomes strained. Before we know it, our best intentions for a happy, healthy, successful New Year have disappeared. How do we manage our behavior so we set ourselves up for success in the New Year? We start by setting realistic expectations for the remainder of the year. It may look something like this. Determine the number of holiday celebrations you’ll experience in the next 45 days. For example, there may be 10 days that involve holiday temptations and celebrations. That leaves 35 days to focus on a healthy diet and activity. Think of activity in terms of moving more throughout the day. Park farther away, take the stairs, get up every hour to walk around your office or home for a couple of minutes. Holiday shopping counts as an activity too! Develop a strategy for the 10 days of holiday celebrations. Plan ahead of time what you’ll eat. If you are going to a friend’s house for a party, bring a healthy dish. Focus on your non-negotiables, those favorite foods that you may only have during this time of the year. Plan for a manageable portion and forgo other high-calorie foods that are not as desirable. Prevent over-eating by sharing meals at restaurants and packing a to-go box. Keep your most enticing holiday temptations out of your house. Enjoy them at parties, but don’t bring them home. In my international best-selling book, From Burnout to Best Life, I share other important tips for developing sustainable healthy habits. I also include a section for creating a laser-focused vision for the New Year. You’ll find my book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other distribution channels worldwide. Here’s to setting yourself up for an amazing 2023! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Lisa! Lisa Hammett, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Lisa Hammett is a leader in health and wellness, stress management, and goal setting. After a 26-year career in the corporate retailing world, which left her stressed, burned out, and at her heaviest weight, she left the industry for a successful 16-year career in direct selling. During this time she developed her love of coaching. She also started her health and wellness journey, losing 65 pounds, and has kept it off for 11 years. After losing the weight, she became a health coach, for a global wellness company, and has been coaching members for the past 11 years, to achieve their weight loss goals. In May of 2020, she launched her Success Coaching practice, to help individuals who were struggling with anxiety, depression, and weight gain due to the pandemic. Her business has since expanded to life coaching. Client success stories include weight loss, improved health, stress reduction, creating a balanced life, development of sustainable healthy habits (mind and body), development of a laser-focused Vision for goal achievement, building strong confidence, improved relationships, and business success.

Written by: Karen Cappello, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Let’s put me on the spot! As a successful Business and Executive Coach, if I simply had to attribute my success to any one thing, what would I pick? Leveraging. I’m all about leveraging. I truly believe that repetition creates recognition– especially when it comes to social media. Think about it: As a busy coach, you've already spent your time and resources to create beautiful and actionable social media copy, right? If you don’t repeat your content, you’re potentially missing out on making a memorable impact on dozens upon dozens of your potential clients; Clients who would have otherwise LOVED to engage with your content and work with you. Let’s let go of those missed opportunities. Today, I want to share how you can save hours AND make your marketing much more effective. Keep reading to learn 6 simple ways to expand your reach and brand recognition by repurposing your content. Start With Your Client FAQs Think of this as addressing your potential client’s objections or concerns in advance. This is an especially powerful strategy that salespeople use to convert leads. There's nothing more reassuring than feeling seen and understood. That’s a HUGE spark for client conversions. Choose three or four of the most asked questions from people inquiring about your services. The next step is so easy. Simply answer these questions – and to give you that edge – answer them from a few different angles. Sometimes, that could be as simple as switching up the wording. The thesaurus is totally your friend here! Next, find or create images that relate to your answers. Use this powerful combination of questions, answers, and attractive images to create several posts. You get bonus points if they are photos of you. Even with this simple step, your social media engagement numbers should pick up. Give Those FAQs a Little Makeover Now that you put in all that work, let’s squeeze that juice! Convert your FAQs into a blog post or LinkedIn article. Expand on the posts you already created to increase the length of your content. Before you throw in a call to action (CTA) ‒ Make sure to give them plenty of valuable information to engage with. Don’t hold back. I’m not asking you to show your hand ‒ that's what your strategy calls are for – instead, answer their question sufficiently while restating how important it is to BUILD on the insights you shared. Think of a good analogy to put this into context for them; Your wisdom is a piece of the puzzle to bring their big-picture vision to life. Now comes the vital CTA. Encourage your reader to leave a comment, schedule a strategy session, or get into your Facebook group. Send Your Videos Far and Wide According to Wyzowl's State of Video Marketing Survey, 86% of video marketers confirm that video has been hugely beneficial for generating leads. And 94% of marketers say that videos have helped increase user understanding of their product/service. Let’s take a page from their book. Send your videos everywhere! Videos can be so intimidating to create, but here’s a strategy to simplify your approach. First, write a script, or maybe just a short list of talking points. Remember, you are an expert, even though you might feel awkward! Practice it, if you need to, but don’t spend too much time getting it perfect. Your ideal client will relate to your AUTHENTICITY. Then, go live on Facebook: on your page, in your group, and on your profile. Using all your locations will help expand your reach. After the live video is finished, download it from the platform you created it on, save it, and upload it to other platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube at least. You should start attracting your ideal clients like a magnet once they notice your expertise and authenticity. Showcase Your Highlight Reel Let’s start thinking bigger picture. Once you have a few videos under your belt, create a longer piece of content (or use a previously recorded presentation) and break it into a few shorter videos. Think about a section of the longer video that would be most INTERESTING to your ideal client. And once the shorter videos are created – you already know the drill. Make sure to post them everywhere: Your Facebook page, Facebook group, Facebook profile, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Tweak Your Content for Engagement Just by doing the few simple steps above, you’re already way ahead of most of your peers on social media. Congrats! By now, you have a wonderful vault of marketing pieces; social media posts, blog posts, and a few video options. Using the existing content, create more engagement by re-contextualizing it with different questions, anecdotes, and CTAs. You know what comes next: Share this on all your social media channels! When followers interact with your content, more like-minded people with similar interests will see it – that's the beauty of the algorithm. And that influences higher engagement numbers. Just like an awesome ripple effect! Quote Yourself This might sound indulgent – But I promise you it works to reinforce your competence and reputation online. Grab a line from a video you did, your blog post, or a LinkedIn article, and create a graphic quote to share. Sprinkle in a quote at least once a week to your free group or on your page. And here’s the best part: Quotes only take a few minutes to put together and still have influence! I’ll say it again (dare I say, repeat it – LOL): Repetition creates recognition. As your ideal clients see your content everywhere, they are going to start buzzing about you. Your business. Your content. And yes, your offerings! Repurposing content saves you time and increases your effectiveness. It’s the ultimate win-win! Keep going. You’re already making big waves with your business. As always, I want to say thank you for being a coach and helping others reach their highest potential. You deserve support to reach yours. I'm here for you if you'd like to talk about growing your business with ease and joy! Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Karen! Karen Cappello, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Karen Cappello, MCC, BCC, is a business and executive coach, communication specialist, motivational speaker and coach trainer. She collaborates with leaders and executive coaches to promote highly beneficial business outcomes. With over 30 years of experience and expertise in business management, financial planning, and higher education, Karen has brought a broad-based background to her coaching clientele.

Written by: Laura Kingston, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Does your business strategy fit the current economic climate? If not, it might be time to make some changes… No one needs reminding about what challenging times we’re currently facing in the UK economy. Many businesses are being hit hard, so how do we survive, and perhaps even thrive in the circumstances? Demonstrate energy without panic The headlines can be daunting, but there are still customers out there and money to be made. Where? Repeat business should be your mainstay so talk to your current customers and find out what their problems and/or changing priorities are. Some questions to ask your customers: What are their issues, and how can you help? Are they looking for better payment terms? Can you offer them any additional services to support them? Are they making cuts to staff or suppliers that you could supplement? Who do they know that could use your services? Difficult times cause businesses to review all current suppliers, so be waiting in the wings to demonstrate the value your business can add. If you have doubts, gently assess if they are still stable. Is there a chance that they’ll be unable to pay for the services you provide leaving you with unpaid invoices? It’s a hard conversation but better to know now rather than waste the resource of your team. Is there a way you can help them without compromising your own business? Some questions to ask your suppliers: Can they reduce their charges or give you better credit terms if you’re having cash flow issues? Can they provide services that you are currently paying more for? (The reverse of what you asked your own customers) Get business intel: Do they know of competitors in your field that might be closing down and whose customers you can approach? This is a time when communication is critical. Talk, look for opportunities, and try to help where you can. It will often come back ten-fold. Review your costs The fastest way to save money and increase profit margin? Don’t spend on anything unnecessary. Guard every penny with your life but try not to compromise your brand or future – instead, analyse the most cost-effective ways to promote your business in every way you can. This is not a time to appear scared, even if you’re stressed. These are judgement calls that only you can make but for example: What support services could you deliver in house? Challenge your suppliers’ charges – are you getting enough value? Scrutinise travel costs and expenses. Can you upskill yourself or a team member on anything you outsource to an agency? Reducing your costs eases cash flow, giving you a feeling of great control and allowing you to become more competitive to retain and win customers. Assess your team A recession is a reality check for your workforce as well. Talk to your team about the challenges your business is facing and how they can help. They have the same worries as you and if they’re the right people, will want the business to survive. So, get everyone to roll their sleeves up together – you may be surprised how creative and insightful your team can be and this is a great time to bring that out. If they are important to the business, tell them that. Reassure them so that they aren’t afraid to make even radical suggestions to improve the business. Unfortunately, on the flip side, any underperformers need to be told supportively to up their game or they put both their job security and your business in jeopardy. Some questions to ask yourself: Is each employee earning your business more than they cost? Am I leading the team as effectively as possible to ensure maximum performance? If a team member handed in their notice, would you be stressed or relieved? If it’s relieved, then you need to take control and either work with them to improve their performance or say goodbye. This is a wake-up call, and now is the time to work harder and hopefully smarter. Believe that you will make it through, don’t let the headlines get to you and use that energy to focus on your business. Laura Kingston is the Founder and Managing Editor of High Life North Magazine. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Laura! Laura Kingston, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Laura Kingston is an expert in disruptive digital marketing, online publishing, trend analysis and leadership. Her expertise is in identifying key trends and implementing them into businesses to keep them ahead of the game. Laura specialises in building effective teams to ensure high-growth, high-energy businesses. She is Managing Editor of High Life North magazine which is disrupting the Northern publishing industry in the UK, providing an online platform to empower women and champion independent businesses.

Written by: Anna Goryacheva, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Khomyakov is praised by audiences and critics worldwide for the virtuosity, charismatic artistry, and emotional intensity of his playing; perpetuating the heritage of European and American piano schools, he uniquely combines the traditions with the individuality of a sensitive and passionate artist. On December 1st, pianist Vladimir Khomyakov is releasing his third studio album, SCRATCH. I was privileged to obtain a physical copy of the recording directly from Vladimir, and I am excited to be one of the first to listen to it and exclusively review it for Brainz. Being a collection of works by Russian composers, the title is also an abbreviation of the names of three of them – Alexander Scriabin, Sergey Rachmaninoff, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. In terms of impact, this recording is one of the most moving and astonishing albums I have ever encountered and something you don't want to miss if you love piano. The four of Rachmaninoff's Préludes evenly spread throughout the album are most admired by the audiences. The dramatic Préludein C-sharp Minor from the composer's early Opus 3 opens the recording with a powerful statement of three massive octaves, followed by a dark and gloomy melody, which everyone will instantly recognize. If you would have to name just one piece associated with Russian piano music of all times – people will call Rachmaninoff's Prélude in G-Minor among the very few others. Masterfully performed, with its fateful rhythms, virtuosic octaves, great dynamic variety, and polyphonic and harmonic richness of the middle section ‒ Khomyakov's version worthily can be added to the list of most excellent recordings. Elégie takes the place of the lyrical center of the album and is one of the most recognizable tunes in classical music. It is hard to describe all the feelings and emotions that Rachmaninoff put into this work, but the emotional effect of this music is comparable with very few other pieces. Vladimir has genuinely lived through it, which you can feel in every note the pianist plays. The album is thoughtfully structured in terms of tonal and musical relations, making it one solid work of art. One track goes into another with deep thought and a dramatic sense. Thus whirlwind Étude in D-sharp minor by Alexander Scriabin – one of two Scriabin's Études on the album – happens to be an enharmonic replacement for the key of E-flat Minor in Elégie. Khomyakov plays it with great virtuosity and harmonic clarity, though with the highest degree of dramatism and power. Four compositions represent the heritage of Tchaikovsky – Romance, Nocturne, Sentimental Valse, and Dumka. Best known for "The Seasons" and his symphonic and theater work, Tchaikovsky did not write much for solo piano, so many western listeners will discover some of these gems for the first time. Of all of them, Dumka is the longest track in the entire album, lasting well over ten minutes. This epic ballade-style composition, subtitled Russian Rustic Scene, presents a stunning variety of moods and tempi, with a melodic introduction, exciting dance rhythms, and a dramatic"frozen" ending with two shocking final chords. Mazurka by Mikhail Glinka – a simple yet beautiful interlude before Dumka – is intriguing. This single-page sketch was published in a periodic magazine and is the only composition on the album without an opus number. It tastefully sets off the surrounding large-scale works with its simplicity. As you can probably notice, a dark world of minor tonalities dominates in the album. Out of thirteen, only two last tracks bring some light ‒ brilliantly performed Rachmaninoff's whirlwind Prélude in B-flat Major and Anatoly Lyadov's Une Tabatière à Musique. The French title stands for Music Box, also marked as Joke-Valse, and the composition tastefully concludes the album, imitating the slowing down and intermittence of a musical toy. What also makes this recording so unique is the piano sound, which I rarely get caught by with classical recordings. The audible architecture in the tracks is the most amazing I have ever heard, with the layers of the texture so transparent that you can almost physically feel them. For this album, Vladimir collaborated with Andrey Borisov, one of Europe's best engineers and sound designers. So while the recording process happened in Los Angeles, California – using American Steinway Model D – the final stages of the production took place at Borisov's studio in Moscow. Luckily their collaboration will continue in the next release scheduled for 2023 with the works of Ravel and Mussorgsky. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Anna! Anna Goryacheva, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Anna Goryacheva is an award-winning Russian-American pianist, recording artist, educator, and entrepreneur. Being a brilliant soloist and chamber musician, Anna performed recitals in Russia, United States, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Finland, and Sweden. Her solo and orchestra performances were broadcast on the radio and television worldwide. Anna is the Founder of Elite Piano Institute – the top piano school in Los Angeles, California. She has also gained recognition as a renowned pedagogue and has been featured in numerous media outlets for her expertise as a piano coach such as Thrive Global, Kivo Daily, Influencive, America Daily Post, The American Reporter, Voyagela, Disrupt Magazine, to name a few. In 2020 Anna was featured in the Brainz Magazine global list of 500 entrepreneurs, influential leaders, educators, and business owners worldwide recognized for their success, achievements, and unique work.

Written by: Jordan Hathaway, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. One summer break in college, I decided to join some friends on a road trip from North Carolina to New York City. I did not return home with them! I always had this dream of being a model. As a little girl, I coveted fashion magazines so much so that I would thank God for them when I said my nightly prayers. I had experienced the loss of my father, and I realized how short life could be. Writing this makes me smile; as I remember my unwavering confidence in myself. There was no plan B. I was going to be a model no matter what. I remember going from agency to agency only to hear "No" or that I was too old. I never gave up, and I eventually got a yes. The crazy schedules, dense makeup, and not taking care of myself eventually caught up to me. Skin being our largest organ, mine began to tell all my secrets. Now, as an esthetician and coach, here are the things I wish I had known when I started my modeling career. 13 Skin Tips For Glowing Skin 1. Control your stress I had NEVER heard of meditation until my mid 20’s, but what a game changer! Just a few minutes of daily meditation slows down the overall aging process. 2. Wash your face! Wash your face every night, NO MATTER WHAT! Because our skin heals while we sleep, it is vital to have a clean slate. I like to think of it as washing the day away. 3. Get your beauty sleep Speaking of sleep, I should have prioritized that more in my early 20s. I am sure we’ve all noticed the effects not sleeping has on our appearance and mood. Consistent sleep deprivation can cause rapid depletion of skin elasticity and collagen. 4. Drink Water Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! From flushing toxins to a healthy glow, water is a superhero. 5. Do not pick your face Avoid picking at all costs. We’ve all been there, but the body knows how to heal itself. When we take matters into our own hands, we can spread bacteria and cause scars. I recommend pimple patches for my pickers. 6. Wear sunscreen every day Wear SPF! Sun damage is the most common and the most difficult to treat. Save your future self. 7. Low and slow Do not overdo it with harsh products. I like to tell my clients, “low and slow.” The skin takes time to repair. By overusing harsh products, you're creating inflammation and damaging the skin. 8. Stay away from sugar Limit your sugar intake. There are zero health benefits to sugar. Sugar makes your skin age prematurely by breaking down collagen and elastin. It also causes inflammation in the body which can lead to acne breakouts. 9. Wash your pillowcases Change pillowcases often. Ideally, you should be washing your pillowcases every 2-4 days. 10. Get Moving! Exercise helps to balance hormone levels and detoxes the body. 11. Get regular facials Skin is your largest organ! Why would you not go to a professional to make sure it is in its best shape? This is also a great time to ask any skin-related questions you may have. 12. Keep your dirty phone away from your face! When using your phone opt for headphones or the speaker option. If you must put your phone to your face, make sure that it has been sanitized. Phones carry so much bacteria. The last thing you want to do is spread that bacteria to your face. 13. Ice, ice, baby! Increase circulation. Before castings and shoots, I would fill up a big bowl with ice water and dunk my face in it. After the ice, I would massage my face with a moisturizing product. This combo helps to depuff, soothe inflammation, and reduce redness. It brings oxygen to the skin giving you an instant radiant glow! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jordan! Jordan Hathaway, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Jordan is an expert in holistic skin, integrative health & overall wellness. Jordan was a high fashion model in New York City, but as her success continued to rise, her health was declining on all fronts. She was living with chronic health conditions, was overmedicated, dependent on alcohol & had a lot of unresolved trauma. She finally decided to stop listening to all those who told her she was unwell & she slowly healed herself holistically. Creating a new lease on life, she has dedicated herself to helping others to do the same. She owns Hathaway Holistic of Miami, FL, where she focuses on holistic high-tech facials and assisting others to live healthier and more fulfilling lives.