Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. To wrap up the show, our final installment of Shop Listener 2022. Holiday season is in full swing, as you know. With just a few more days left, buy your loved ones, some very thoughtful gifts. We wanted to take this final opportunity to let you shout out some of your businesses that sell experiences as gifts.

If you're a Brian Lehrer Show listener, many of you know that we've been doing this Shop Listener series at the holidays for a few years, and we've done a number of episodes of it in the last few weeks, specifically to give our own listeners a chance to shop from others of our own listeners and our own listeners who sell stuff that is appropriate for holiday gifts, a chance to get a little extra publicity because we are, after all, a community of WNYC listeners and makers.

212-433-WNYC, if what you're selling is an experience of some kind, because it's already Hanukkah, day three. It's going on, you're out of time, you're on deadline if you're trying to come up with a Hanukkah gift. Christmas and Kwanzaa are just a few days away. It's probably too late to get something shipped. We are making this final episode of Shop Listener, one, for those of you selling experiences of any kind, because then, of course, people can just say, "Oh, I bought you a bloody blah, a trip to the river, this kind of experience. You can do this whenever you want."

Listeners, if you are selling experiences as Christmas gifts, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Don't forget, you can also post these. If you're a shopper, you can also see everybody who has used Shop Listener as a seller on our website at wnyc.org.org/shoplisteners. We've already gotten a ton of great experience gifts in our previous call-ins, people selling business improv to community bookstores, to artisanal jewelry makers. Those are people selling things.

We've got soap makers, and, in the experience category, dance classes. We've got bladesmithing school, that's an experience, blacksmithing school. There are a bunch of experiences already up there, and those are the ones that we're going to open up to for this final Shop Listener call-in of 2022. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692 for our shop listener gift guide. We'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC, our final edition of Shop Listener for the holidays for 2022 if you are selling experiences that people can give as holiday gifts. Liz in Newton, New Jersey, you're on WNYC. Hi, Liz.

Liz: Hi. Good morning to you and thank you for having me on. Our experience is agritourism. The farm is called Hidden Pastures Luxury Fiber Farm and Shop. For $25, up to a family of four can come on out, get a farm tour, meet the alpacas and the Tibetan yak and all the different fiber animals, and then take a moment and shop in our shop. We sell products that are fiber from the animals that we have on the farm.

Brian Lehrer: That's neat. That's agritourism?

Liz: Yes, it is. Blending a little tourism with agriculture, educating people about the value of agriculture and, like you said, locally-sourced products.

Brian Lehrer: Very nice.

Liz: We're in New Jersey. [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: Oh, go ahead. Finish that. Yes, Hidden Pastures.

Liz: I was just going to say we're in Northwest New Jersey. Luxury Fiber Farm and Shop.

Brian Lehrer: Hidden Pastures Luxury Fiber Farm and Shop. Thank you. Good luck. Jan in Manhattan, you're on WNYC, as we come from the farm into town. Hi, Jan.

Jan: Oh, hi, Brian. My goodness, I'm so nervous. I'm such a fan of yours. My business is called Forward to Success. I'm a life and success coach. I focus on health and well-being. I used to be an international opera singer and I had three traumatic brain injuries, and I couldn't walk or talk for a very long time. I learned what the gifts of what a new normal are. I went back to school for a number of years for coaching, and I love to help people, partner with them, and help people discover what other gifts are in their lives and how to get through difficult times and how to change challenges into new gifts in their lives.

What I'm off offering is a 50% off any packages or any sessions, the prices, anything purchased between now and the end of this year. Also a free strategy session. I also offer something-- By the way, I'm also multiply certified and I'm certified with the ICF, which is the International Coaching Federation, which is- it's very, very important to make sure that you're working with a real coach.

Brian Lehrer: When we usually hear about success coaches, they're for people with respect to their careers, people who are very aspirational and want to succeed, people who are ambitious in business, that kind of thing, or in their work life, in one way or another. It sounds like you are doing life coaching for people who've been through something really horrible in their lives and need help turning the page. Am I hearing you right?

Jan: Well, that's my background, but I had started out working with opera singers who wanted to do really good who were finding that they weren't doing really great auditions. I also work with people who are in business who are not-- and also people who are in leadership positions because it's all really very much the same thing.

Brian Lehrer: It's called Forward to Success, and people can find you on the web?

Jan: Yes. It's fowardtosuccess.com. They can email me at info@forwardtosuccess.com. I would be absolutely delighted to hear from them. They can also call me. Should I leave my phone number?

Brian Lehrer: Sometimes better not to, but you've got the web address out there, your email address out there, and Forward to Success. Jan, thank you very much. Good luck with it. Lynn in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Lynn.

Lynn: Hi, how are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What you got?

Lynn: I'm so excited to be here. Well, I am the founder of Gold Comedy and a membership to Gold makes a great gift. We are the only comedy school and creative community and content studio for women who want to be their funniest selves, become their funniest selves in a place that takes them seriously. You could buy a membership that includes all we offer for your friend who has trying comedy on her bucket list, or who wants the comedy skills that are life skills, or who just wants to bring a little joy into our life for next year.

Laughter is currently tied with medicine as the best medicine, and we'd like to offer that.

Brian Lehrer: Comedy school. Lynn, you just said comedy skills that are tied with life skills. What's an example of that?

Lynn: Well, comedy skills are definitely life skills, because when you learn comedy, you learn how to write sharper, think faster, read a room, land a punch, get out of your own way. Those are skills that apply pretty much everywhere; at work, at home. We have lots of folks in Gold who definitely want to do comedy as a career who are comedy-serious. Then we also have lots of folks who are comedy curious, who just want to find a fun place to do something creative and get those skills.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Gold Comedy School for Women. Lynn, thank you very much. Cindy in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Cindy.

Cindy: Hi. Thank you so much for having me. Yes. I'm calling in from Turnstile Tours. We are a tour company that works in partnership with different community partners to develop and offer tours about people, places, and infrastructure that really  maintain and nourish New York City.

A few examples, we do tours about the street vendors and the financial districts in Midtown, Jackson Heights, that are feeding the city and did so through the pandemic, in many cases. Public markets. We also do the tours of different manufacturing spaces in New York City at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Brooklyn Army Terminal, sharing the stories of the people that are working there today and creating good jobs, but also about really the history of these places.

Yes, they're all experiences about working in New York, and people can purchase tickets to come on tours, which our calendar is up for next year. We also sell gift cards, and we also offer tours of Prospect Park as well.

Brian Lehrer: That's a good name for a New York City tour company, Turnstile Tours. I assume you sometimes take the subway to your locations. What do you think is the ratio of tourists to New Yorkers who take your tours?

Cindy: Actually, it's really interesting. Majority of the people that take our tours, about two-thirds of them, for the last 10 years, have been people that live in the five boroughs of New York City, or in the surrounding tri-state areas. It's a lot of people that really want to understand what's happening in their own backyard. We love having tourists, but it is the case that people who, for example, work in Midtown, they want to get to know the vendors, and since we have relationships with those vendors, it's a real opportunity to learn about their stories and the stories behind their businesses.

We can feel, in many ways, that the tourists help people meet their neighbors and feel more connected to the city.

Brian Lehrer: That is cool. Cindy, thank you very much. A few more minutes as we finish up taking your calls on our Shop Listener series if you're selling experiences as holiday gifts because it's too late to get stuff shipped. Danielle in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Danielle.

Danielle: Hi, how are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What you got?

Danielle: Well, I'm calling in from Brooklyn, New York, as a rep for Uncommon Goods' newest program Uncommon Experiences, which is a set of over 100 live virtual classes that we host and have enjoyed with thousands of participants in the past couple of years.

Brian Lehrer: Classes such as?

Danielle: Sure. Our top-class this year is an exclusive romantic mapmaking class where we work with a local Brooklyn poet Brendan Lorber. He guides people through creating one-of-a-kind maps of the story of their relationship or the story of their life. They make a beautiful gift. They come with a frame that's shipped ahead of the class, and that's been our number one class this whole year. Another really popular class is our--

Brian Lehrer: That's beautiful.

Danielle: It makes a beautiful gift too. Home bar hero is one of our top mixology classes. Another Brooklyn native Amy K., she's our cocktail coach. The participants get simple syrup sets. Then Amy leads the class with big Woo, and it's a soup-- It's like having a party with your closest friends, but on Zoom.

Brian Lehrer: Uncommon Goods, that's the name of the company, right?

Danielle: That's right. Uncommon Goods, and our website is uncommongoods.com. There are plenty of seats available and great classes all through January. We have a principal too. If you're worried about something not getting in time for Christmas, there's something that you can print to tell people what class you chose for them.

Brian Lehrer: Which is the whole point of this segment. Danielle, thank you very much. One more. Rosemary in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Rosemary. Do we have Rosemary in Brooklyn? Rosemary wants--

Rosemary: Hi, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Hi, there. We got about 20 seconds for you. Go.

Rosemary: Thank you so much for the opportunity. I just wanted to offer up consultations with my ecological landscaping service, so that we can help businesses and residents transform their lawn into pollinator paradises. We register your face with the National Wildlife Federation. You can check us out at ourtemenos.org.

Brian Lehrer: Say that name again or you might need to spell it.

Rosemary: Yes. It's ourtemenos.org.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Rosemary, and thank you for everybody who called Shop Listener in our series this year. We are happy to provide you the opportunity to sell holiday gifts to fellow WNYC listeners. Remember, whether you're a seller or a shopper, all of this lives on a map and a list that we have on our website. Go to wnyc.org/shoplistener, for the holidays.

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