Blended Family Podcast

Mort Fertel is a serial entrepreneur who started his first business at 18 years old. He has a private equity portfolio that consists of SudShare, 2 other businesses, and real estate holdings. He graduated from the Wharton School of Business, and, during a short time when he thought he might be a corporate guy, worked on Wall Street for Bankers Trust Company. Mort is also an author, creator of the first online relationship renewal system (2004), and the subject of Back from the Brink, a documentary written and directed by Toroes Thomas. Now a grandfather, success for Mort means making a difference. And SudShare makes a difference by allowing customers to enjoy life and Sudsters (washers) to have their own work-from-home business. Mort loves working with his family to revolutionize the laundry business. Mort was on this show back on episode #228, when he was discussing his book Marriage Fitness, so if you haven't heard that one check out that episode too. In this episode, he's here to talk about his new company Sudshare.

Personal story of Sudshare and how it came to be
What it was like to create a family business
Tips for families who want to create a business together
How Sudshare works
What Sudshare costs and how it compares to other laundry services
Business opportunity for Sudsters
Where Sudshare is operating
How to get started with Sudshare
And much more!

Connect with Mort

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Schedule an interview or coaching session HERE

Send questions or feedback to melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Send me a voicemail at Speakpipe

Visit the website at www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

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Joe Pomeroy-Expert at helping business minded men become the best family men they can be! Aug 02, 2021

Show notes

melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Joe Pomeroy knows how to translate business principles into family success. Joe gained a deep knowledge of business while helping build an 8-figure company and earning his MBA. More importantly, Joe discovered how to utilize those hard-earned skills to save his marriage and his family. He went from his wife walking out the door, to having a confident, committed, and connected relationship, and now he is committed to helping other dads and husbands learn how to use those principles to be more confident in their role. As a bestselling author and Family Leadership Coach, Joe helps business-minded men discover the new way to become the husbands and dads they once promised to be. His mantra has become: "Save the Family, Save the World."

His personal story
Why businessmen become the best family men
Why families and blended families should be treated like a business
How to translate business principles into family success
Why some men lack confidence and how they can build it
How to identify generational patterns and how to eradicate them
How a partner can best support a man in his journey to greatness
Joe's 3D family framework
Joe's best advice
And much more!

Connect with Joe

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Join the Private Facebook Group

Connect with me on Facebook

Schedule an interview or coaching session HERE

Send questions or feedback to melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Send me a voicemail at Speakpipe

Visit the website at www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Listen and Rate/Review on Itunes

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Debbie Ausburn, author of the book Raising Other People's Children Jul 26, 2021

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melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Debbie Ausburn is the author of the book Raising Other People's Children and has spent more than 40 years working with children who've experienced trauma. Her many roles include social worker, group home parent, foster parent, and stepparent. Along with parenting seven foster, adopted, and stepchildren, Debbie has served as a criminal prosecutor, volunteer, and Board member with nonprofit organizations. She is now an attorney in private practice, counseling and defending youth-serving organizations. She says, "I make my living as a lawyer, but what I do is take care of other people's children."

Debbie's personal story
How fostering children and blended families are similar
Tips on building new relationships and forming trust
Helping children through trauma
Sibling rivalry
Advice for stepparents learning their place
Helping children who have an absent parent
Dealing with attitude and backtalk
Debbie's best lessons learned
Her book, Raising Other People's Children
Debbie's final advice/word of encouragement for listeners
And much more!

Connect with Debbie

Twitter

Buy the book HERE

Connect with me

Join the Private Facebook Group

Connect with me on Facebook

Schedule an interview or coaching session HERE

Send questions or feedback to melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Send me a voicemail at Speakpipe

Visit the website at www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Listen and Rate/Review on Itunes

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Are you feeling your feelings? Jul 19, 2021

Show notes

melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

We all have feelings, and they are there to help us. Most of us do not know how to work with our feelings, and instead we push them down and suppress them for various reasons. This is quite common in the blended family. It's important that we learn to recognize and process our feelings and emotions so that they do not get trapped in the body.

My personal journey with feelings
Why feelings are important
How thoughts and feelings are connected
Why we ignore feelings and what that does to the body
My 4 step process that I made for you to help you RISE above those negative feelings
The emotional scale and how to climb it
Tips for self care
Tips for expressing feelings and emotions
Tips for loved ones

Connect with me

Join the Private Facebook Group

Connect with me on Facebook

Schedule an interview or coaching session HERE

Send questions or feedback to melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Send me a voicemail at Speakpipe

Visit the website at www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Listen and Rate/Review on Itunes

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Gray Divorce, with Carol Hughes and Bruce Fredenburg Jul 12, 2021

Show notes

melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Carol Hughes, PhD, LMFT, holds her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology and her master's degree in Counseling Psychology, achieving both summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors. She is also a two-time Fulbright Scholar. Carol served for ten years as an Associate Professor of Human Services at Saddleback College. In her practice in Laguna Hills, CA, as a California licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and family-focused divorce professional, for more than thirty years, she has assisted hundreds of divorcing families, as a therapist, child and co-parenting specialist, divorce coach, and mediator.

Bruce Fredenburg, MS, LMFT, has been a California licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for more than 30 years and is Board Certified in Clinical Hypnosis. He was a college instructor in Human Services at Saddleback College and at the National Medical Review School in Southern California. He also created and taught parenting classes for adoptive and foster parents. He is trained and experienced in chronic pain management, trauma, addictions, mediation, and collaborative divorce. In his practice in Laguna Hills,

CA, Bruce helps families as a therapist, divorce coach, co-parenting specialist, and mediator.

The topic of this show is Gray Divorce, or divorce that takes place after the age of 50, after the children are typically grown. In this interview we discuss

Bruce and Carols personal stories
What is gray divorce, and why it's becoming more prevalent
Why not many people are talking about this trend
What gray divorce looks like and how it differs from earlier on divorces
How adult children are affected by their parents late divorce
What parents can do to make the transition easier on their adult children
How a couple going through a gray divorce can move forward without fear
Their book, Home will never be the same again: a guide for adult children of gray divorce
And much more!

Connect with Bruce

Website (Orange County Divorce coach)

Website (Psychology Today)

Connect with Carol

Website (Dr. Carol Hughes)

Website (Divorce Peacemaking)

Buy the Book HERE

Connect with me

Join the Private Facebook Group

Connect with me on Facebook

Schedule an interview or coaching session HERE

Send questions or feedback to melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Send me a voicemail at Speakpipe

Visit the website at www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Listen and Rate/Review on Itunes

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To receive discount, use promo code BLENDED

Post COVID stressors, and how they affect our children, with Dr. Regine Muradian Jul 05, 2021

Show notes

melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Dr. Regine Muradian is a licensed clinical psychologist, children's author, speaker, consultant, and mental health advocate. In her clinical practice, Dr. Muradian works with children, adolescents, and adults who present with a wide range of emotional stressors. She specializes in Anxiety and is a Certified Clinical Anxiety Treatment Professional (CCATP), ADHD, Depression, Eating Disorders/Body Image, and Executive Functioning Training. Dr. Muradian is also a specialist in Psychological and Neuropsychological Assessments.

She has extensive medical experience and expertise. Dr. Muradian is fluent in 5 languages and incorporates her multicultural background with her clients. Lastly, Dr. Muradian is a published children's author. Her first book, Franky and the Worry Bees was released during the pandemic as she found children and teens were having a difficult time connecting and staying motivated over distance learning. She has two more books as part of her Franky series coming out in 2021 titled, Franky and His Homeschool Adventures and Franky and His Special Talent. Dr. Muradian knows how to keep your child motivated and help parents create positive change in their lives. In this interview we discuss

Her personal story
What children and teenagers are facing coming out of COVID
What some of the post covid type stressors are that might affect our kids, and how we can help them overcome those
Signs your child is having trouble acclimating to post COVID life
How to help our children move forward past fear
What the long term psychological effects of COVID are, and how to minimize them
Anxiety and how COVID ties into that
Determining whether post COVID behaviors are normal or if they require special attention
Resistance to mental health help, and how to manage if a child is resistant
Her program for mental health training for teachers
Tips on getting kids to a positive mindset
And much more!

Connect with Regine

Twitter

Connect with me

Join the Private Facebook Group

Connect with me on Facebook

Schedule an interview or coaching session HERE

Send questions or feedback to melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Send me a voicemail at Speakpipe

Visit the website at www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Listen and Rate/Review on Itunes

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To receive discount, use promo code BLENDED

How to make your multi cultural blended family work! Jun 28, 2021

Show notes

melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

When two families come together, there are always differences in structure, tradition, discipline, and family values. Many blended families also experience cultural differences, where two families from entirely different cultures come together. This can present many challenges to a blended family, yet there are always benefits if we choose to seek them out. In this show, you'll learn about what some of these cultural differences are, as well as how to use them to help your blended family grow closer together! In this interview we will discuss

What a multicultural blended family is

Different types of multicultural blended families

Serious issues that should be addressed before blending

Challenges multicultural families face

Tips to make things easier

And much more!

Connect with me

Join the Private Facebook Group

Connect with me on Facebook

Schedule an interview or coaching session HERE

Send questions or feedback to melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Send me a voicemail at Speakpipe

Visit the website at www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Listen and Rate/Review on Itunes

Affiliate

To receive discount, use promo code BLENDED

Moving Past Trauma into Peace, with expert Jolyn Armstrong Jun 21, 2021

Show notes

melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

When her son was arrested, Jolyn Armstrong discovered that even an idyllic life can be turned upside down in an instant by catastrophe. That's why she launched Grapevine Mindware, a counseling and coaching program aimed at helping you end the pain, find peace, and get your life back after a personal catastrophe. Jolyn's mission is to help everyone achieve peace and joy regardless of outside circumstances.

Her personal story

Grapevine Mindware's origins and who it's for

How we can find our way out of darkness

How to find peace in the eye of the storm

How trauma can lead to loneliness, how to overcome that

How we can protect our mental health during a crisis

Tips on how to move through trauma

How to live a great life after a crisis

How to achieve peace

And much more!

Connect with Jolyn

Special page for my Blended listeners

Connect with me

Join the Private Facebook Group

Connect with me on Facebook

Send questions or feedback to melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Send me a voicemail at Speakpipe

Visit the website at www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Listen and Rate/Review on Itunes

Schedule an interview, coaching session, or financial review here

Take my money quiz here to see how financially literate you are!

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Nacho Kids Program

To receive a special discount, use promo code BFP

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Resiliency and conflict resolution, with expert Kristin MacDermott Jun 07, 2021

Show notes

melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Just for Blended Listeners!

Kristin MacDermott is a licensed marriage and family therapist with a decade of research in resilience. Her resilience-training programs have been validated in four studies with researchers from the Duke Clinical Research Institute, published in peer-reviewed journals, and proven to improve key mental health and resilience outcomes, including anxiety, depression, distress, self-efficacy, and PTSD. Kristin has designed resilience-training programs for some of the highest-performing people on the planet, including Navy SEALS and the LAPD. Her programs have been used in more than 20 hospitals across the country, including at the Duke Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health. She has also designed programs for schools, corporations, non-profits, and mentors who support at-risk kids. Kristin is the author of It Takes Two Minutes to Shift Your Mindset and Build Resilience, a book that breaks resilience down into bite-size skills you can apply to your life immediately. She has recently launched two online courses for parents, one called Resilience-Based Parenting and the other called Parenting Through Divorce. She has a private practice in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida where she lives with her husband of 28 years and her three children. In this interview we discuss

Her personal story

Why conflict resolution and resiliency work well together

The MacDermott Method, Kristin's unique practice

Conflict between co parents and tips on managing it

Why it's important to get your own needs met

How to stay calm in conflict

Teaching our children conflict resolution

Kristin's offerings

And much more!

Connect with Kristin

Connect with me

Join the Private Facebook Group

Connect with me on Facebook

Schedule an interview or coaching session HERE

Send questions or feedback to melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

Send me a voicemail at Speakpipe

Visit the website at www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Listen and Rate/Review on Itunes

Affiliate

To receive discount, use promo code BLENDED

How to live a BOLD life when your family doesn't look like the norm, with Jessica Frew May 17, 2021

Show notes

melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com