Podcast
The Time Rich Project (formerly the Corporate Escapee)
Hosted by Brett Trainor · EN
Life's too short to keep going through the motions.
If you're Gen X and you did everything right, but somewhere in your 40s or 50s you looked up and thought "is this it?", this show is for you.
The Time Rich Project is about one thing: taking back control of your time so you can live the life you actually want, on your terms. Not someday. Now. Whether you're still in corporate or already out.
Host Brett Trainor brings you two kinds of episodes. Real people living time-rich lives, so you can see what's possible. And the simple how, the moves that free up your time and fund the life you want in the fewest hours.
No guru talk. No hustle. Just an operator a few steps down the road, showing you it's doable.
Start living the life you want, on your terms.
44episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
What Pro Athletes Know That Corporate Won't Tell You
2w ago00:22:07Tap to summarizePro athletes know their career has an expiration date. Corporate never tells you yours has one too. Here's the part nobody says out loud: when corporate moves on from you, it usually isn't because your talent slipped. You just got too expensive. Gen X is the first generation facing this without a pension to catch us, and we're going to outlive the old retirement math by decades. So this episode borrows from the people who have been managing forced career transitions for 50 years: professional athletes. What do they lose when the game ends, and what can we take from their playbook? In this episode: The four things you lose when corporate retires you: identity, community, structure, and money Why "you got too expensive" is not the same as "you're done" The three-part transition: design the life you want, fund it, then live it The four areas to rebuild around: relationships, mind and body, purpose, and fun Separating mission from money so you don't burn out chasing the wrong one Becoming a high-functioning lazy person: funding your life in the fewest hours possible You've got another 30 good years, and 20-plus years of experience the athletes don't have. This is the sunrise, not the sunset. Let's build the plan. LINKS & RESOURCES Free: The Time Rich Starter Kit (six worksheets to see where your time actually goes) → https://stan.store/thecorporateescapee/p/see-where-your-time-actually-goes The Time Rich Collective (connect with Gen Xers on the same path) → Website → https://timerichproject.life Mentioned in this episode: https://trp-collective.circle.so/checkout/the-time-rich-project-collective Paul Shirley (former pro basketball player and author) — earlier TRP episode Diana Alt — "separate mission from money" (recent TRP guest episode) ABOUT THE SHOW The Time Rich Project is for Gen Xers who paid their dues and are ready to write the next chapter. It's about taking back control of your time and funding the life you want in the fewest hours possible, so the rest of your time is yours. Real stories, real mechanics, no hustle. Hosted by Brett Trainor. CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — The parallel nobody talks about: pro athletes and corporate 00:50 — You didn't get worse, you got too expensive 01:30 — The first generation without a pension (and outliving retirement) 02:45 — The four things you lose when corporate retires you 02:55 — 1. Identity: who are you without the title? 03:40 — 2. Community: everyone misses the locker room 04:50 — 3. Structure: owning your calendar, and my time-blocking mistake 06:45 — Why it's called Time Rich 07:30 — 4. Money: funding the lifestyle instead of chasing a paycheck 09:00 — Turn the faucet up or down: your first dollar out 10:00 — Start with what you know, then go wider (UGC, AI, small services) 10:50 — Separate mission from money (thanks, Diana Alt) 11:50 — The pyramid: from C-suite to everyone else 13:40 — What we have that athletes don't: 20+ years of experience 14:30 — Sunset or sunrise: it's your call 16:30 — Designing the life: relationships and the no-asshole policy 18:15 — Mind and body: built to live to 90 18:40 — Purpose: follow the energy 19:40 — Fun: are you getting enough of it? 20:00 — Funding the life you designed 21:00 — Living it: the 80/20 way 22:00 — Design, fund, live: putting it together
Transcribe →The Hardest Boss to Fire Is You (with Diana Alt)
3w ago00:45:22Tap to summarize"Work should feel good. Not a long, slow march to oblivion." That's Diana Alt, and it's the perfect line to open our first guest episode under The Time Rich Project. Diana is an executive and career coach who came out of tech. She works with people who are still in corporate and quietly wondering if this is it. Her take lines up with where this show is headed: corporate isn't the enemy. It's a client. You get to decide if the deal still works for you. We got into: The four cornerstones of an aligned career (right work, right boss, environment, culture) and how to spot which one is actually broken Why burnout comes more from misalignment than from long hours "The hardest boss to fire is you," and why building a business you hate is easier than you'd think Mission vs. money: don't burn down the thing paying the bills to chase the thing that lights you up Why anyone with 10+ years of experience should have an LLC in their back pocket The only two things you need to make your first dollar on your own: an offer and a way to get paid If corporate has stopped feeling good, this one gives you a way to figure out why, and what to do next. GUEST: DIANA ALT Executive and career coach helping people build work that aligns with who they are, in corporate or on their own. Host of the Work Should Feel Good podcast. * Podcast & site: https://workshouldfeelgood.com * Newsletter: https://dianaalt.com (click the "Let's Connect" button) * LinkedIn: Diana Alt, the No BS Coach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianakalt/ LINKS & RESOURCES Free: The Time Rich Starter Kit (six worksheets to see where your time actually goes) → https://stan.store/thecorporateescapee/p/see-where-your-time-actually-goes The Time Rich Collective (connect with Gen Xers on the same path) → https://trp-collective.circle.so/checkout/the-time-rich-project-collective Website → https://timerichproject.life Mentioned in this episode: * Working Genius (Patrick Lencioni) — the six genius types * Time Rich by Steve Glaveski * Grace McCarrick — soft skills coach CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — First guest under the new name (and how we found each other) 01:15 — Fountains and drains: choosing who you spend your time on 02:10 — Who Diana is: work should feel good 04:05 — Your company isn't your boss, it's your only client 05:00 — The biggest flex in business: firing what isn't aligned 07:00 — The hardest boss to fire is you 07:30 — The four cornerstones of an aligned career 10:40 — Why burnout is about alignment, not just hours 16:00 — The 50-hour week and how little of it is real work 16:50 — Someone says "I'm done." Now what? Find what's actually broken 20:30 — Agency, victim mode, and the clients Diana won't take 23:00 — Good people who lost confidence in what they're great at 28:30 — Diana flips it: what to build for time freedom 29:00 — Owning your calendar, and the time-blocking experiment that failed 31:40 — The scorecard: relationships, health, purpose, fun 34:00 — Low-friction income and becoming a high-functioning lazy person 35:50 — The car-buying guy doing $300K a month 36:40 — Mission vs. money: don't burn down the day job 39:50 — Everyone should have an LLC in their back pocket 42:40 — You only need two things to start: an offer and a way to get paid 44:10 — Where to find Diana
Transcribe →Sunrise, Not Sunset: Life After 50 Isn't the Wind-Down
3w ago00:22:38Tap to summarizeFor six years I thought I was running from corporate. Turns out I was chasing the wrong thing. Welcome to The Time Rich Project. Same host, evolved mission, new name. This is the first episode under it, and I get into why the change and why it matters if corporate has stopped working for you. Here's the shift: I wasn't escaping corporate. The real unlock was taking back control of my time. Once I had that, everything else opened up. In this episode: Why Gen X is at a crossroads (and why it's a bigger opportunity than getting out) Sunrise, not sunset: you could have 30+ good years ahead, so what do you actually want to do with them? The four things that decide your happiness: relationships, health, purpose, and fun Return on hours: how to fund the life you want in the fewest hours possible Why your first dollar outside corporate is easier to make than they told you The time-blocking experiment that failed twice before it worked You don't have to quit corporate to start living better. You do have to get intentional about your time. Corporate isn't the enemy. It's a deal. This show is about going in eyes wide open and deciding for yourself if it's still worth it. Do what you want, when you want, where you want, with who you want. That's the whole thing. Let's go get it. TRP Collective: https://trp-collective.circle.so/checkout/the-time-rich-project-collective https://stan.store/thecorporateescapee CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Why the name changed (again), and why this one sticks 02:24 — The real unlock: I stopped chasing paychecks and took back my time 04:39 — The Gen X crossroads: career, family, and the retirement myth 06:53 — Sunrise, not sunset: 30+ years to do what you actually want 08:20 — The four things that make you happy: relationships, health, purpose, fun 11:43 — How to check in on the four without turning it into a spreadsheet 13:10 — Return on hours: making the money you need in the fewest hours 16:30 — Make your first dollar outside corporate (easier than they told you) 18:53 — My time-blocking disaster, and what finally worked 21:15 — What you want, when you want, where you want, who with
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The REAL Connection System (How Solo Escapees Actually Build a Pipeline) w/Janice Porter
May 2900:39:50Tap to summarizeJanice Porter has been on LinkedIn since 2004, hosts the Relationships Rule podcast (368+ episodes), and has spent almost two decades teaching solo operators the part of business most of us got wrong in corporate: the relationship part. In this conversation, Janice walks Brett through her REAL Connection System, a four-part framework for solo escapees who'd rather build a business through referrals than spend their week shouting into the LinkedIn algorithm. It's a refreshingly old-school playbook for a world that's getting more synthetic by the month. They dig into why direct mail to strangers gets a 1% open rate while cards in envelopes hit 99.5%, the story of the CMO who sent $5,000 in chocolates and closed $12 million in deals, and why the rental company owner who shifted from "send to get" to "send to give" went from zero replies to a full pipeline. If you've been treating networking like a phase to get through instead of the actual work, this episode is the reset. For most solo escapees, 95% of their business will come from referrals. This is the playbook for earning them. What you'll learn 🎯 The REAL Connection System (Refresh, Engage, Appreciate, Leverage) explained step by step 🎯 Why Googling yourself in an incognito window is the first thing every escapee should do this week 🎯 The 5-comments-a-day move that beats posting (and where to actually leave them) 🎯 The "send to give, not to get" mindset shift that turns cold outreach into real relationships 🎯 How to leverage your first-degree connections for warm intros without being weird about it 🎯 Why "human-to-human" is the move in an AI-augmented world Quotable moments "Don't send to get. Send to give." "95% of solo business comes from referrals." "Direct mail to strangers: 1% open rate. A card in an envelope: 99.5%." "How you do anything is how you do everything." "Don't be attached to the outcome. Just keep moving." Resources mentioned 📋 Janice's REAL Connection System (free ebook): janiceporter.com 🎙️ Relationships Rule Podcast: [LINK] 💼 Connect with Janice on LinkedIn: Janice Porter (mention you heard her on TCE) 📬 Send Out Cards: sendoutcards.com Connect with Brett 📰 The newsletter (10K+ GenXers building life-first futures): [NEWSLETTER LINK] 🐬 The Escapee Collective. First month $1: theescapeecollective.com
Transcribe →Your Age Is the Asset (UGC, AI, and the GenX Advantage) w/Megan Collier
May 2100:42:29Tap to summarizeEpisode Description Megan Collier (@megan_ugc, 300K+ on TikTok) is back on The Corporate Escapee for a Round 2 conversation, and the market has shifted under our feet. UGC, user-generated content, is now a real path to $2K to $15K a month for people who've never been in front of a camera. And the demographic brands are scrambling to find isn't 25-year-old influencers. It's GenX. Megan walks through what she's calling the "trust recession." Polished ads are losing. Real faces, messy houses, lived experience are winning. New state laws are fining companies for undisclosed AI-generated content. The result: human creators just got more valuable, not less. Brett and Megan dig into the cat litter brand story (where Megan got rejected, then called back asking for her 65-year-old mom instead), why GenX experience is the unfair advantage brands need right now, and the four-step play to land your first UGC deal this month using products you already own. If you've been waiting for the "what would I actually do" piece of escaping corporate, this is one of the cleanest entry plays going. What you'll learn 🎯 Why "we're in a trust recession" and what it means for anyone making content 🎯 The four-step outreach play (notes app, Instagram ad audit, Loom video, brands you already use) 🎯 Why your age is the asset brands are paying double for right now 🎯 How to land your first deal even if you've never been on camera before 🎯 The Loom pitch script that converts way better than cold email Quotable moments "We are in a trust recession." "The ageism you felt in corporate is the exact thing brands are paying for in marketing." "Just figure out how to make that first dollar outside of corporate. I don't care if it's 25 bucks." "You don't need followers to do this. You need to be a real human in a world full of AI." "The skill that got you fired is the skill that's about to get you paid." Resources mentioned 📋 Megan's free UGC checklist: [STAN STORE LINK] 🎓 Megan's UGC course ($87, lifetime access): [COURSE LINK] 📱 Follow Megan on TikTok and Instagram: @megan_ugc
Transcribe →8 Service Offerings GenX Escapee Could Offer Tomorrow
May 2000:27:51Tap to summarizeEpisode description: GenX is elite at overcomplicating making money. A Millennial gets a side hustle idea and is live by Sunday. A Gen Z is already filming the TikTok. A GenXer opens a Google Doc, then a spreadsheet, then researches LLC structure, then goes to bed. Brett admits he's been part of the problem. For years he's preached solo consulting and fractional work as THE path out of corporate. It's a real path. He still believes in it. But it's not the only one, and it's not the fastest one. In this episode, Brett walks through 8 service businesses a GenXer could start running this weekend. None of them require corporate experience. All of them work on the same model: find a known, friction-heavy problem, solve it for $500-$1,000, and stack the deals. He breaks down the proof points (Tommy at Delivrd doing 300 car negotiations per month at $1K each, plus a friend billing $15K/month on credit card points optimization), walks through the filter for what makes a good escapee service, and runs through the full list from subscription audits to federal subcontracting to the Escapee Starter Pack. If you're still trying to figure out your "big idea," this episode is the reframe. 🎯 What you'll learn: 🎯 Why solo consulting isn't the only path out of corporate 🎯 The $500-$1,000 "stack the deals" model and why it works 🎯 The 6-point filter for a good escapee service business 🎯 8 specific service businesses you could start this weekend 🎯 Tommy's $300K/month service business and what it reveals about every other category 🎯 The federal subcontracting sleeper play (full episode coming) Resources mentioned: 🐬 Join the Escapee Collective for $1 your first month: theescapeecollective.com 🎧 Subscribe to The Corporate Escapee Podcast wherever you listen Quotable moments: "GenX is elite at overcomplicating making money." "You don't have to be light years ahead of somebody to teach them or offer a service. You just have to be slightly ahead of where they are." "Find a known, friction-heavy problem. Solve it for $500 to $1,000. Stack the deals. That's the whole game." "Tommy didn't invent anything. He just found a friction-heavy problem and charged people to make it go away." "When I was in corporate, I paid somebody to do my expense reports for me every month. Was I capable? Yes. Did I want to? No. That's the whole secret."
Transcribe →No One Is Coming to Save You: The Mindset Shift That Works Whether You Escape or Stay
May 1300:20:52Tap to summarizeNo one is coming to save you. Not your company. Not HR. Not the next reorg, promotion, or administration. That's not doom and gloom. That's actually the good news. Because once you accept it, you stop waiting. You stop hoping. And you start doing something about it. In this solo episode, Brett walks through the single mindset shift that changes everything for corporate professionals, whether you're planning your escape or staying right where you are. You're not an employee. You never were. You're the owner of a one-person business, and your employer is just your first and only client. Same job. Same paycheck. Completely different relationship to it. Then Brett walks you through the One Client Audit, the exact framework he uses with escapees inside the Collective. Six questions. Thirty points. By the end you'll know whether the client you're working for is worth keeping, worth renegotiating, or worth firing. This episode is for the still-in-corporate crowd, the recently laid off, and anyone who's tired of living a completely reactionary work life. 👉 Run the audit yourself. Grab 3 free frameworks to take control of your work and your life: the One Client Audit, the What Do You Really Want Worksheet, and the 5Fs Scorecard. → https://stan.store/thecorporateescapee What you'll learn: 🎯 Why "nobody is coming to save you" is the best news you'll get this year 🎯 The mindset shift that takes you from reactionary to in charge (whether you stay in corporate or leave) 🎯 The six-question One Client Audit you can run on your employer tonight 🎯 The three owner's moves: renew, renegotiate, or fire 🎯 How the hidden cost of your job is bigger than your paycheck 🎯 Why running your corporate career like a business is the prep work for running an actual one 🎯 Plus: grab the One Client Audit, the 5Fs Scorecard, and the What Do You Really Want Worksheet free in the show notes Quotable moments: "No one is coming to save you. Not your company, not HR, not your manager, not the economy, not the next reorg." "You are not an employee. You never were. You're the owner of a one-person business. Your employer is your first and only client." "Same job. Same paycheck. Completely different relationship to it." "Trying to keep a corporate career is going to be harder than starting your own business, especially if you start running your career in corporate like it is a business." "You've already done everything you'd have to do if you went solo. Landing a corporate job is harder than landing a client." Resources mentioned: 📋 Download 3 free frameworks (One Client Audit, What Do You Really Want Worksheet, 5Fs Scorecard): https://stan.store/thecorporateescapee 📬 Join 10,000+ readers of The Escapee Insider newsletter: escapeeinsider.beehiiv.com 🐬 The Escapee Collective (first month $1): theescapeecollective.com Connect with Brett: 🎙️ Subscribe to The Corporate Escapee Podcast wherever you listen 📬 Newsletter: escapeeinsider.beehiiv.com 🔗
Transcribe →What a Life First Future Actually Looks Like (& Why You Can't Build One You Can't See)
May 600:23:49Tap to summarizeThe Setup Six-plus years ago, when corporate quit on Brett, the goal was simple: make more money than corporate was paying him. That was it. Money, money, money. It took two years to realize money was never the real prize. What he was actually chasing was control. Freedom. The ability to design a life where work fit into it, instead of 25 years of life fitting around the job. Most of us spend a lot of time thinking about the escape — the transition, the layoff, the leap. Not enough time thinking about what life actually looks like on the other side. And here's the thing: you can't build a future you can't picture. Most of us have never been given permission to picture one. That's what this episode is for. What You'll Get In This Episode A definition of a Life First Future, the contrast with the corporate-first life most of us have been living, and a four-step exercise to help you actually see your own. Grab a notebook before you press play — you're going to use it. Key Concepts The shift Brett didn't expect. It wasn't more money that changed everything after corporate. It was realizing he was getting more done by noon working for himself than he used to get done in full days inside the system. Strip out the unnecessary meetings, the fire drills, the commute, the reorgs — and the time you've been giving away comes back. Corporate-time vs. Life-time. Corporate trained us to think in fiscal years and 2-to-4-year promotion cycles. The Life First Future requires thinking in 5-, 15-, and 30-year horizons. That's not a small reframe. It's the entire game. Why "energy" beats "purpose" or "passion." Most people get stuck looking for the One Thing that lights them up. Brett spent six years monetizing his corporate experience eight different ways before landing on The Corporate Escapee. The signal that kept him moving wasn't passion — it was energy. Each move gave him more energy than the last. That's the real compass. You're not designing a fantasy. You're using 25 years of evidence. This isn't a 25-year-old's exercise. We have something better than time — we have data. We've lived enough to know what energizes us, what drains us, and what corporate actually delivers (and doesn't). The 4-Step Ideal Life Framework Step 1 — Map Four Milestones Today. 5 years. 15 years. 30 years. For each, answer four questions: Where am I living? Who am I with? What am I working on (if anything)? How do I feel each morning? This is a living document — Brett's been doing it for years and it still evolves. Step 2 — Find Your North Star Look across the four milestones for what stays the same. The patterns are your non-negotiables. Don't get hung up on finding your "passion" — chase the things that give you energy, and follow them as they evolve. Step 3 — Connect Today to Tomorrow Every decision becomes a filter: does this move me toward my North Star or away from it? (Brett goes deeper on this in Episode 2.) Step 4 — Write Your Vision Statement One guiding sentence. Revisit quarterly. Brett does this with his wife as a quarterly business review — a session that fundamentally changed how he runs the post-corporate life. Brett's Real-World Life First Schedule (mentioned in the episode): 6–8 AM: Deep work, client work, strategy 8 AM: Gym (six days a week, non-negotiable, no meetings before 10) Friday afternoons: Golf Granddaughter time, family dinners, vacations on his schedule Result: more done by noon than he used to do in full corporate days The Bottom Line A Life First Future is one where your time, energy, and decisions are organized around the life you actually want — and your work fits into that, not the other way around. Define it first. Build toward it second. Episode 2 covers the how. If this episode hit, the best way to help is to subscribe wherever you listen — Apple, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts — and share it with one who needs to hear it. Get Busy Living
Transcribe →Stop Waiting for Permission. Nobody is Coming to Give It to You
Apr 3000:16:53Tap to summarizeThis one is personal. Brett flies solo to deliver the one thing he wishes someone had told him when he was still inside corporate grinding it out and telling himself it was the responsible thing to do. You already have permission. Permission to want something different. Permission to design a life where work fits into it instead of the other way around. Permission to stop waiting for corporate to decide your future and start building one on your own terms. Nobody is coming to give it to you. So Brett does. What You'll Learn 1️⃣ Why corporate conditions you to ask for permission for everything — and how that conditioning follows you home long after you leave 2️⃣ The hidden cost of corporate that goes way beyond the paycheck — time, energy, identity, and control 3️⃣ What living life on your own terms actually looks like in practice — the real daily routine not the highlight reel 4️⃣ Why the chaos of going solo is temporary and what comes after it 5️⃣ How Brett went from scheduling every 30 minutes — which was worse than corporate — to finding his actual rhythm 6️⃣ Why the gym at 8am every morning is possible when you own your calendar and impossible when corporate owns it 7️⃣ Why you don't have to wait for corporate to kick you out to start designing something different 8️⃣ The only thing actually standing between you and the life you want Key Quotes "Life is too damn short to follow somebody else's plan." — Brett Trainor "I'd rather be homeless than go back to corporate." — Laine, Escapee Collective Member "The only thing stopping you is you. And it doesn't have to be a perfect plan. Done is better than perfect." — Brett Trainor "Give yourself permission to want something more. Because nobody else is going to give it to you." — Brett Trainor Your Permission Slip You have permission to want more than what you have right now. You have permission to design a life where work supports you instead of consuming you. You have permission to find out what's actually possible when you stop waiting for corporate to decide your future. Connect With Brett Ready to stop waiting and start building? The Escapee Collective is the community for ex-corporates taking control of their future and getting busy living.
Transcribe →3 Surprising Ways GenXers Are Replacing Their Corporate Income
Apr 1700:15:33Tap to summarizeMost people leave corporate and immediately chase the familiar paths — consulting, coaching, fractional work. Those are valid. But they take time, runway, and a warm network. In this episode Brett breaks down three unexpected ways GenXers are generating real income right now, using skills they already have, without needing a big audience or startup capital. The backdrop is an AI world that most people are reading completely wrong. AI didn't shrink the opportunity for skilled humans — it exploded it. Because now there's an entire population of people who are aware of their problems, have access to the information, and will still pay someone else to just handle it. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN ✅ Why AI makes YOUR corporate skills more valuable, not less ✅ The "skill flip" model — how to charge for what you already know ✅ What UGC is, why GenX is uniquely positioned for it, and how to start ✅ How to turn what you know into paying clients without building a course empire ✅ Why your first dollar outside corporate changes everything THE 3 PATHS 01 — The skill flip Tomi Mikula spent 10 years on the dealer side of car sales. He now runs Delivrd — charging consumers $1,000 flat to negotiate car deals on their behalf. 300 customers a month. $300K in monthly revenue. His customers could use AI to do what he does. They pay him anyway. Because the problem was never information — it was execution, accountability, and not wanting to deal with it. That's the model. Find a high-stress transaction, one side has information the other side doesn't, and charge to be the expert in the room. HR disputes, salary negotiation, medical billing, contractor bids — it's everywhere. 02 — UGC (User Generated Content) Brands are paying real people — not influencers — to record short videos about products they actually use. No following required. Platforms like Billo and JoinBrands connect brands with creators, paying $150–$500 per video. GenX is ideal for this: authentic, credible, and speaks to a demographic most brands can't reach. Brett just signed two deals in one week for just under $1,000 combined. You don't need an audience. You need a phone, a face, and something real to say. 03 — Teaching what you know Not a course empire — just solving one specific problem for one specific person who's standing exactly where you were. The AI translation angle is huge right now: small business owners know they're falling behind and will pay someone who speaks both business AND AI to help them catch up. And you don't need to be far ahead — you just need to be far enough ahead. The people in Brett's community who are winning fastest are teaching hyper-specific things to people one or two steps behind them on the journey. MEMORABLE QUOTE "The problem was never information. It's about execution, accountability, and people just not wanting to deal with it. Your 20 to 30 years of corporate experience puts you right in the middle of that opportunity."
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