We are looking forward our way.

A happy New Year to you.

Yes.

This is kind of an off episode that we are, you know, namely wanting to thank you, the listener, for another great year.

And we want to wish you a happy New Year, too.

You're hearing this hopefully on New Year's Day, if not right after that.

You know, we namely, really appreciate you as a listener for another full year.

We greatly appreciate it.

Absolutely.

We're in year six, and it's actually year nine when you talk about the first podcast program that Brett and I put together for employment for seniors.

And we do absolutely appreciate all of the feedback that you give us, those of you who have come to us and said, hey, I'd love to be on your podcast.

We like hearing from you and your suggestions and want to hear more about what you would like to hear in your podcast.

Podcasts are growing.

There's a lot of them out there.

There's a lot of competition.

So we definitely appreciate you listening to us.

Yeah.

From the latest research that I have seen and heard about the audience that we talk to, you, adults over 50 is the biggest growing podcast user.

So hopefully what we're putting together resonates with you and that you're able to share easily.

The top, whether it's every episode or not doesn't matter.

That's why we have a variety that we do, that you share it, that you give us feedback.

And we also, you know, another way to say thank you to us, and we don't ask this a lot, is that, you know, if you feel inclined to buy us a coffee and we have a link on our website and in the show notes of just, you know, kind of giving us a couple of bucks here or there, it is one way of saying thank you.

We do this, we don't make any money on it does cost us a little bit of money to produce a little bit, you know, we're not going.

To the bank and getting loans to have to do this.

That was never in the cards.

It was never discussed to do that.

But it does give us some feedback that you do like what we're doing.

Well.

And it, as I always say, I like learning something new every day, which I certainly do in the vast array of podcasts that we put on.

But also, both Brett and I are tied to this community, love this community, and want to be able to provide support, assistance and resources for those of you who live in our community.

And so if you think of a topic that is really interesting to you and you haven't heard any detailed Information.

We'd be more than happy to discuss that and see if that's something that we could help you, because that's where we would like to see this program grow.

Yeah.

And to that point.

And I'll make around the bend back to this point.

We did do a new logo change, as many you have probably seen, if you haven't take a look at it.

And it does represent.

It's a speech bubble with.

Our podcast name, looking for it our way.

And what we wanted to do is re.

Emphasize.

It must have been subliminal because I didn't really think of it initially when I put the idea together and I threw it at you and you said, oh, yeah, that really focuses on our experts talking.

And it's like, yeah, sure, okay.

I didn't.

So my mind was.

You didn't know how brilliant you were.

Right.

Apparently, at that moment, I didn't.

But it does signify that we try to do our best to bring the best experts that we can to the table to talk about it.

It's not just Carol and me talking about a topic, which we can do.

We have knowledge of things, but we truly enjoy bringing people the table to talk about what they know best.

And we hope that that resonates with you, too.

And when you do submit some ideas to us, please submit the expert as well.

You know you have a topic if you know someone.

Oh, my gosh, yes.

We'll definitely contact the person to see if they'd want to be on the podcast or know somebody that might be if they don't want to be.

But yeah, if you have the topic and somebody to talk to.

Oh, my gosh, yes, please do.

Well, you know, we are truly so fortunate in central Ohio to have incredible resources that are accessible.

You know, a lot of communities have resources, but you can't ever get to them.

And luckily, Brett and I have a wide enough network that we can almost always get to that expert.

And we've had an incredible array of people come in this past year, and we have great programs already started for next year for 2026.

Yeah.

And those topics do include some people that are out of market, which is easily enough done.

No problem at all.

We can bring them in through technology.

That's okay.

But that topic input we do want, we need from you as well as we ask you to kind of give us some input on how we present the podcast.

Is the podcast episode too long?

Have you feeling kind of a dragging or all of a sudden you're going, wow, it's over.

Just like they say, my gosh, that time flew.

Give us some feedback on that.

Do you like how we put the podcast together in regards to breaking it down?

The very beginning, we introduce the expert, they give us some background, we get into the details and then some.

Comments at the end.

Does that work for you?

Do you like the length or should it be a little bit shorter?

Would it work for you to listen to it in a shorter format?

Now, I do realize that podcasts you can hit pause and come back to and such, but do we drag it out too much or is it just perfect or would you like them to be a little bit longer?

Do you want us to go into more detail?

If it's possible, let us know.

We do value that feedback.

Right.

And so far I've been willing to do this because it's only audio, but video has come up a few times.

So let us know.

Do you really want to see us and see that, you know, the voice in the picture doesn't match, which happens so often.

But we can, you know.

Are you able to find the podcast?

Okay, are you?

Or do you have to search each time you want to see what we've been up to?

Let us know if the newsletter is working for you.

Right.

Yeah, I didn't even think about talking about that, but yeah, we revamped that as well this year, right?

We did.

I think it's cleaner.

It's a little bit easier for me to put together as well too.

We wanted to enhance what we do with the newsletter as well as the website and really focusing on topics that we've already talked about.

Some news articles we, we've kind of pulled back from doing social media posts.

It, it.

Social media was not working for us, let's put it well.

And there's so much out there, people.

It's just gets to be repetitive, repetitious.

And we've not abandoned.

Facebook is our, our main social media platform.

It just, it doesn't like us, let's put it that way, because we, we tend to post what we think is important, but we also put a link out which social media does not like, you linking out to another webpage or something like that.

So we really don't get a lot of shares, we don't get a lot of in regards to exposure, I shouldn't say shares, but exposure from the algorithm on Facebook.

So we know we need it, we know we are there, but you're not seeing us post as much as we used to.

We just get a lot more feedback and we get a lot more interaction from the newsletter, we see the numbers on the back end when we send a newsletter out that the opens are there, that you're actually clicking on articles, which we love.

Thank you for doing that.

I'm glad that it's working for you, listener.

And I think too, with all of those changes, our audience size is growing.

So we think we're on the right track.

Right, Exactly.

And to Carol's point earlier, if you're having some difficulty in regards to sharing what you hear from us, let us know.

We can make a better point in each episode to instruct the listener on how to share the episode.

Really, the easiest way is almost to go to our website and share the page link where the podcast lives.

That really is most universal.

But if you want to share within your podcast player or whatever, send us an email.

If you're not quite understanding how to do that and you would do want to share it with somebody, oh my gosh, don't hesitate to email us and I can walk you through it because we definitely want you to share the content that that's what it's there for.

Exactly, exactly.

So, yeah, that kind of.

Thank you again for a great 2025.

We are looking forward to, you know, 2026.

We've got a lot of great stuff lined up.

We're, you know, experimenting with some ideas.

Not format wise, but with different people to talk to.

But we'll bring back the old favorites as well too, because we have to do that because, you know, we have.

People have been in here five or six times now and.

Right.

You should see their smiles when they walk in the door, folks.

They just, they're looking forward episode.

And we look forward to seeing them too.

Exactly.

Coming in.

So that, that, that's something we did not get to experience four years ago.

Right.

You know, when you can bring people in that many times and they're, you know, they almost automatically respond to the email.

Oh, yeah, okay.

That date works.

That's great.

Yes.

You know, they do.

You know, that's the.

That really is also sort of a testament to what we're doing, is we not only find those resources and experts, but they.

And they always say yes to us.

Yeah.

And so that's a good thing.

And so we wanted to say happy holidays to our listeners, to our experts if the.

If you're out there.

Also that we so value what you bring to our table.

And we just wanted to make sure.

We thanked you and hoped everyone had a great 2025 and ready for wonderful new journeys in 2026.