058 – Growing Her Gift Hamper Biz to Sell at $1 Million with Sarah Cross

Sarah Cross

At 24 years old Sarah successfully built and sold a million dollar business. It started from her kitchen table and grew to become a national corporate gift hamper service that was formally recognized as a finalist in the prestigious Australian Telstra Business Women Awards.

With the rapid expansion of Sarah’s rags to riches business, she built systems and procedures to enable its sales and marketing success. She also mastered the art of outsourcing to fulfill the demands of a highly-seasonal operation.

Following the success of her start-up business and using her hard-won wisdom and expert insights she’s now a business mindset coach. Sarah runs training workshops, coaching programs, and retreats. She helps women transform their own enterprise and learn how to accelerate their own financially-successful rewarding business.

She helps women get crystal clear on what they are doing in their own small gift industry business – How to transform and expand using smart systems to build financially-thriving successful enterprises.

Her passion is to help business women like herself successfully redefine their systems and learn to outsource to turn their passion into a booming enterprise.

Motivational Quote

GBU-Candle-Quote-058SCBusiness Inspiration

The trigger that got Sarah into the hamper business [4:13]

Candle Flickering Moments

As a start up … how do you handle a $30M order? [6:18]

Business Building Insight

Identifying that corporate business was the key to success [8:10]

Highlights of why her business was attractive for a sale [12:40]

Where business owners get stuck [14:46]

Big tip to increasing sales – we can all do this! [17:22]

Success Trait

Her positive mindset … just like her yellow candle! That’s what she’s all about.

Productivity/Lifestyle Tool

Hear about Time Blocking [26:14]

Asana – The easiest way for teams to track their work and get results.

BaseCamp – A web-based project management tool.

Valuable BookFree Audio Book

The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferris

FREE Cheat Sheet

How to Attract Lucrative Corporate Clients and Triple Your Sales Instantly

Contact Links

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Transcript
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Gift biz on wrapped episode 58 In just one day that

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that article came out,

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it was worth $16,000.

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Hi, this is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,

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and you're listening to the gifted biz unwrapped,

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and now it's time to light it up.

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Welcome to gift biz,

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unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop

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and grow your business.

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And now here's your host,

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Sue Monheit.

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Hi there.

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I'm Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

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Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or

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just getting started,

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you'll discover a new insight to gain traction and to grow

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your business.

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And today we have joining us Sarah Cross of cross success

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coaching at just 24 years old,

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Sarah successfully built and sold a million dollar business.

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It started from her kitchen table and grew to become a

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national corporate gift hamper service.

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That was formally recognized as a finalist in the prestigious Australian

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Telstra business women's awards with the rapid expansion of Sarah's rags

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to riches business.

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She built systems and procedures to enable sales and marketing success.

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She also mastered the art of outsourcing to fulfill the demands

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of a highly seasonal operation.

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Following the success of her startup business and using her heart

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wisdom and expert insights.

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She's now a business mindset.

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Coach Sarah runs,

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training workshops,

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poaching programs,

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and retreats.

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She helps women transform their own enterprise and learn how to

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accelerate their own very important financially successful rewarding businesses all the

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way from Australia.

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Welcome, and thank you for joining us,

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Sarah. Thank you for having me.

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It's nighttime for me and morning for you as we're talking,

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It is we're on opposite sides.

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That way of the world.

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Exactly. Well,

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our listeners know,

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we like to start the conversation around the life of a

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motivational candle.

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This gives us a little bit more insight into you in

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an indirect way.

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Are you ready to light it up?

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Okay. All right.

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So describe to us what your motivational candle would look like.

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What color is it and what would the quote be on

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your candle?

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I, candle is an yellow candle,

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which to me reflects happiness and positivity.

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My motivational quote,

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go confidently in the direction of your dreams live,

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the life you have imagined.

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And how have you applied this to your life?

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I think I've always pursued my dream.

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So when I started the business at 24,

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I throw in my full-time job and set out to pursue

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a dream of actually being a small business owner.

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And I took up part-time work in order to support myself,

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to get my business to a point where I was drawing

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an income and I kept persisting and remaining positive throughout that

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whole process to really go in the direction of my dreams

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and leave that life that I had always pictured myself as

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a small business owner,

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A young girl,

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you were thinking I am going to be in business for

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myself one way or another.

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Yes, I knew I had to make it work.

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I knew that I just wasn't cut out to work in

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a nine to five job.

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I'd been raised by parents that each had their own small

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businesses. And I guess my family background has always been about

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pursuing your dreams and doing something that brings you that ultimate

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happiness. Wow.

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I've got to say,

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I knew that I connected with you right in the beginning.

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And now I know why,

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because my candle color would be yellow as well.

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And not many people choose yellow.

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Surprisingly. Yeah.

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It's a happy color.

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I mean,

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yellow and red are the two food stimulant colors.

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I'm not sure if you knew that.

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That's why I make tunnels.

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So that apparently that meant so much the fifth,

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because both the colors,

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yellow and red stimulate your appetite,

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but yellow to me just always reflects her happiness and rightness

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and positivity In your voice.

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That's for sure.

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Yeah. Let's talk about Camper business.

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And how did you decide that that was what you were

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going to go into?

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The turning point was knowing that I wanted to have my

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own business,

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but it was just a matter of diving into finding out

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what industry and what nature of business I wanted to have.

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And it was really triggered by at the time receiving a

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very sort of out of date,

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sort of old style cane basket that was filled with items

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that were filled with preserves and marmalade and the idea of

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tin Patay and things that I just would never eat or

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enjoy. And that's what got me thinking if that's the standard

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of what is out there at the moment,

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I think I can do better than that.

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I think I can create something that would satisfy a bigger

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market. And I mean,

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I was only 24 years old and I just,

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I knew I,

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as I mentioned,

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I wanted to follow that dream of having my own small

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business. And I had a background in corporate catering.

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So I did see that the corporates had very big budgets

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to spend on themselves on,

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on rewarding and incentives.

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And I guess that's what got me thinking that I could

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build a creative and exciting corporate gift basket business.

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That's really interesting.

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Cause you're merging two things together.

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I mean,

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you saw that there was an opportunity in the market because

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you got this basket that didn't really thrill you that much.

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So you saw an opening there and then you merged that

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with your knowledge through the catering business,

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you've got connections,

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you knew the industry.

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So you were able to see really quickly how identifying a

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need on one end and you already having some skills on

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another end could merge together to form a business.

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That's really interesting.

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Yeah. So I had the inspiration possibly it was a little

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naive entering into the business world,

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but extremely enthusiastic.

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So I think passion really drives that commitment.

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Use the handsome,

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I guess I just couldn't kind of put it out.

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Like I just knew I had to face it.

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So what happened then?

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So you had the idea where did it go from there?

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I try.

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So I started the business in August,

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so I actually knew that I had the Christmas period to

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really target that's.

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You know,

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I knew that it was,

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it was going to be a busy time for me and

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a massive turning point.

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And I guess the biggest weeding that I had was that

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first Christmas that I had started the business,

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I landed a $30,000

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corporate gift order.

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Wow. So there was 800 paces and I was working out

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of my two-bedroom apartment.

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Oh, my word,

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How did you ever handle that?

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It Was not.

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I cold in the trips.

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I got on the phone to my mum and I asked

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the help.

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I look back now and think it was crazy.

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I did everything probably made all the mistakes then and there,

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but the order was fulfilled.

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The client was happy.

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I stole them in the people's apartments.

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I had a house that I was able to use because

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storage was clearly an issue.

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You know,

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you said a little while ago,

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ignorance is bliss or whatever.

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I think that's really good though,

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because in this situation,

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had you heard that,

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Oh my gosh,

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you might be set up and having to do an 800

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piece order.

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That might've been just enough for you to back up a

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little bit,

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but instead,

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and I think I make the point for all of our

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listeners is move forward and get that business and figure out

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the solutions afterwards.

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Don't let yourself out of fear.

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Stop keeping.

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Absolutely. There was no way I was going to say no.

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I mean,

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I was literally picking my jaw up off the ground as

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I took the order,

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but I knew that I had something to fulfill and I

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knew that it was a massive win for my business.

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And that's what really set me off in the direction of

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pursuing the corporate gift basket target audience that were my market.

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Then Business then progressed to the point where it was a

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saleable business.

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The essential ingredient was tapping into the sort of high season

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and low season of Christmas.

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Things were very quiet.

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So I guess I knew that I needed to have,

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I mean,

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they, you know,

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they do say 60% of yearly profits are just made in

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one month of the year.

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That's how intensely busy this type of business can be.

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So I knew that if it was going to work to

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make it a year round business with getting that consistent monthly

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cashflow in,

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I had to approach industries that would sell high ticket items

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like cars and houses that would actually reward their clients with

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client appreciation gifts.

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So things like closing gifts for property sales and handover gifts

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for the cars for prestige car dealerships.

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So you really strategically decided I'm going to need the business

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that will level off some of that big holiday business.

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So you'll have business throughout the year because that's how you

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support employees too.

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Exactly. When you start to expand.

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And as I went to three different warehouses,

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so over the course of my 10 years,

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because I kept on outgrowing the space.

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So to meet the demand of that and having all the

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fixed costs that I needed to cover,

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I knew that I needed that consistency each month.

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I couldn't rely just upon the Christmas,

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tried only to survive until the next Christmas.

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Right, Right.

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Let's stick with the hamper business just for a minute.

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Can you talk to us about something you wished you would

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have known before you got started maybe a Rocky time that

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you had to,

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you know,

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there were problems you had to figure out,

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just some type of advice for any of our listeners who

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might find themselves in that situation.

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I think it comes down to the struggles,

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you know,

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everything's great at the Christmas time of the cause.

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It's so highly seasonal and you come off such a high

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after Christmas and in the January,

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particularly with the corporates,

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it's a very quiet time.

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So it's being able to strategically market and continue being consistent

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with your marketing each and every month to continually keep on

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growing your business.

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And that was something that was very significant at the sale

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time of my business was that I had had such steady

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growth. So I think that,

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I mean,

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those times when there are much quite a low season times,

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it's always about coming up with some incentives to win new

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clients, you know,

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to actually get around.

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Because I think particularly in this industry,

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cashflow is in a major,

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major problem that I hear Now,

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were you always looking and growing the business with the intent

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to sell it?

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At some point?

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I think I was,

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I actually knew that I wanted to sort of build up

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something and then,

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you know,

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the time that I was ready to sell the business,

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I had a great offer that did come through.

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And it was almost a bit like that $30,000

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first order.

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It was too good to refuse,

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but I actually did know along the way that I needed

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to put systems in place,

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I needed processes.

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I needed something that I knew that I could hand over,

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whether it be to my staff so that I could take

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a vacation and I could leave the business,

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which again,

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I do find a lot of people do struggle with because

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they simply haven't had a holiday for a number of years

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because they're working in the business continuously.

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Right. And you're talking about the systems and processes,

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which is going to lead into what we're going to talk

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about in the future.

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But that was pretty much what you're calling the saving grace

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for you.

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Yes, I believe so having those out and in a procedures

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manual and having a good,

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good sort of systems in place,

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just ensures that the quality control is there so that I

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could actually not always have to be working in the business.

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I could actually work on the growth of the business.

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Right. Right.

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Well, gift biz listeners.

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I just want to underline a little bit of what Sarah

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said here now.

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And I think it's really significant whether you're looking at growing

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your business for a future sale or not,

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and that is the systems and processes that you put in,

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allow people to be able to continue running your,

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and it might not.

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I mean,

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vacations, Oh my gosh.

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We all know,

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no we made them,

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but what if there's an emergency in the family or heaven

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forbid you break your leg or,

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you know,

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something happens where you can't be in the business.

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You want that insurance or bench strength,

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if you will,

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that the business can continue going for a medium amount of

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time, not just like a week,

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just in case.

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And that also sets Sarah up for a saleable business,

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because if you're looking to sell a business,

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those systems and processes add so much value,

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and I'd say,

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Sarah differentiate you from possibly other businesses.

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Another buyer might be looking at that could tip someone over

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the edge into your field because you've got all the systems

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already set up.

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Exactly. And I think that that probably really came home to

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roost when the purchase of made the business,

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that was a passing comment that they felt that they could

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step into my role and that they were very confident with

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the staff in place and with the systems in place that

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they could actually basically take the bull and run with it.

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Right. You know,

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not a huge learning curve for them and a potential dip

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in revenue that was kind of stabilized given the system and

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processes. The other thing that you talk about that I'm sure

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made your business very attractive is that there was more of

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an even revenue stream.

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It wasn't so up and down like a hamper business could

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be Well,

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yes. Thinking with many gift basket owners,

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that is one of the biggest challenges that they face running

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a highly seasonal business.

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How do you land lucrative client accounts during the times that

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it's not Christmas?

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How do you keep your cashflow consistent so that you can

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sleep at night?

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Right. Exactly.

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Well, let's wrap this portion up,

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Sarah, and I just want to remind listeners in case you

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didn't catch it.

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When I was doing the intro,

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Sarah sold her business for over a million dollars.

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So she knows of what she speaks.

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So you sell the business now,

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what are you going to do with yourself?

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Oh, sorry.

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That was probably something,

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I guess in the early stages I had young children,

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I was enjoying being a,

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you know,

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a mother taking care of my family.

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And I think I stepped into mentoring and helping others because

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I guess,

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because I had sort of learnt so much actually in the

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trenches, you know,

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I had actually worked in the business and seen and done

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so much.

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So I wanted to be able to pass that on.

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So how did you start forming that business?

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I was actually approached by,

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I local give Tampa business who were having some problems with

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their cashflow and which market to target.

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And it kind of just sort of naturally evolved from there.

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So how long have you been in the coaching business?

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A couple of years now,

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What overall,

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if you could give us two or maybe three things,

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where do you think people are getting stuck?

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Most? I think that sometimes they get in their own way.

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Which sounds interesting.

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Yeah. I actually find that sometimes it's just more of a

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mindset. A lot of people have a fear of approaching corporates

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too, to be able to go through,

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you know,

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and there is a sales process that I take my coaching

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clients through that is a formula that wins them business.

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But I think a lot of the times they kind of

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stumble over,

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picking up the phone and getting in their own way.

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They've maybe attach themselves a bit too much to the outcome.

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You know,

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if someone was to reject them,

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there are very ideal industries that really love gift basket,

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but they actually are looking for suppliers.

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And it's just simply a matter of connecting up those dots.

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And as you mentioned,

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the cashflow is the common struggle.

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That is sort of something,

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a highly faced,

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no business to overcome.

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There are plenty a challenge around that.

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I really would say just from my own experience on both

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sides when I've consulted other businesses,

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as well as when I was selling to other businesses,

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the individual consumer and a corporate contact are very different animals.

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I don't mean to say call people animals,

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but you understand what I mean?

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But in many ways,

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working with someone in corporate is much easier.

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They have goals to meet,

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they have processes,

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they aren't gonna be as concerned and nitpicky in most cases

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as an individual consumer could.

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And I think that's the beauty is that,

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you know,

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when we're talking volume orders,

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I had one client orders through that.

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I managed was a national client loyalty program with gift rewards.

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So it was worth $150,000.

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And that was one single client account that I managed that

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relationship with.

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I mean,

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if you looked at having to get that money back by

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dealing with individual consumers,

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you would actually have a lot of work on your hands.

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Never get there without a lot of people because those are

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individual phone calls,

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individual custom baskets,

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et cetera.

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Yeah. So hopefully we're convincing some listeners that based on the

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industry they're in,

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if they're nervous or anxious about corporate,

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maybe we're getting them to rethink this a little bit.

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It's such a lucrative market,

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you know,

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and it's such a profitable business to be in.

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I mean,

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it's so creative and it's such a happy feel,

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good business.

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That's why I did it.

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And that's why I loved it so much.

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Well, let me get some more insight from you then into

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the business and maybe you'll draw on actually being in the

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business. And also now that you're consulting,

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what types of promotions or events or what types of things

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do you see today that move the needle for people in

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terms of bringing in new sales?

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One really big win for me was profiling the business.

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I was into a national business women's awards and I was

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able to be recognized as a finalist throughout all of Australia

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and through that.

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So I was invited to be featured in a number of

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business magazines,

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national newspaper features with stories about the success in the business.

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And in just one day that that article came out,

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it was worth $16,000

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just from people reading that article free advertising.

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I, you know,

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starting out,

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I didn't have a huge budget.

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So I was able to really profile and brand the business

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by getting a lot of activity in the media by being

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part of these.

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And it was a fantastic experience to do as well.

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Did you initiate the profile and the business or did someone

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else do that for you?

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No, I did that.

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Okay. So I am so glad you bring this up because

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I think we overall is women.

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Aren't really good at tooting our own horn or getting out

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there and talking about our successes.

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And I think in a little bit,

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you have to do it a little bit carefully because you

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can't come across as obnoxiously confident,

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I guess I would say,

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but there is nothing wrong with submitting your name or calling

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the press for articles or entering into awards or anything like

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that. And you just heard what it did for Sarah.

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That is a great opportunity.

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And I'll tell you,

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you know,

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a lot of local papers too,

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are looking for stories.

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If they don't know you,

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they're not going to be able to profile you.

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So there's nothing wrong with reaching out right in your community

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and getting some PR Women in particular in business.

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You know,

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there's so many of them now in Australia,

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for instance,

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that are actually setting up these businesses,

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they've had a change of career they've left the corporate world,

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and it does provide you with a lot of confidence to

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go through and transition into being recognized for doing something that

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you might've worked really hard for to get recognition is actually

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something I think most humans do strive for,

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you know,

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to be appreciated,

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which is exactly what this business is all about.

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It's all about being rewarded and appreciated.

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And that is a reflection in the business as well on

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all levels.

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That's exactly right.

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And then you can put that on your website.

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Everybody, we talk about the about us page and credibility on

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websites, et cetera.

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You can put all of that on your website to show

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that you're getting the awards,

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which separates you from other people.

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And it makes people feel comfortable and confident that you are

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a legitimate business,

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especially if you do a lot of your business online.

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Exactly. I totally agree with that.

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Look on the customer service end.

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Are there any insights that you would have again from both,

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you know,

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now consulting clients as well as when you had customers directly,

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what types of advice would you give us in terms of

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how to handle customers In terms of handling customers?

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I mean,

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everyone is unique.

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I was reading on LinkedIn.

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Actually they say that 69% of client supply relationships made on

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the decision that they actually like working with you.

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So that it's a based on the relationship.

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It's not always necessarily weighted towards your product.

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And obviously that plays the part on the product and the

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service that you provide,

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but the relationship that you build and everyone is very unique.

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I think that was sort of something that I actually really

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loved was nurturing those relationships with my corporate clients and maintaining

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my staff and the morale as I had a little long-term

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staff members that work for me.

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So I think that making each individual meeting what their needs

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are, and,

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and I think like what you mentioned earlier about corporates being

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a lot easier to work with,

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you know,

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they, they're busy people,

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they have a task,

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they want you to be able to meet the task and

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fulfill. And once all that happens,

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they love you and you've made them look great and everyone's

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happy. And the feedback's fantastic.

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And you testimonials that coming in,

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that was a formula that I sort of stuck with was

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making sure that all their needs were met and fulfillment of

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the orders was the most,

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you know,

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most critical element to maintaining and keeping a really great relationship

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with your corporate clients Word.

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You're going to follow through on what you say.

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If you say it's going to be done at a certain

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time, it is done at a certain time.

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And also I think with corporate,

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it's your responsibility to make your contact look great.

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Exactly, exactly.

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And with as much ease for them as possible so that

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they can do all their other tasks.

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Yes, yes.

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You know,

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transporting across to now or who my gift industry,

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coaching clients,

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I mean,

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predominantly. So they all tend to be just fantastic women to

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work with.

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They've all about building up their own gift,

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where business with aspiring dreams,

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but at the same time,

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they're also busy moms looking after young families,

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the demands of children,

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raising children.

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And I think it's important to remind them that they are

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doing a really great job wearing many hats and juggling so

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many daily responsibilities.

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Not everybody needs to be growing a million dollar business either.

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You know,

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that's one of the things that's nice about going into business

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for yourself,

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a quarter of that,

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or even less could be what you need and what you

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want because you balance lifestyle against income against being able to

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be with your children,

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all of that together.

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So success is very unique to every single person.

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Absolutely. I mean,

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obviously, you know,

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the money part is the,

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is a fantastic reward because it does obviously provide you with

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the benefits of lifestyle.

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It makes it,

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you know,

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allows you more choices.

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But the beauty of working for yourself is that flexibility that

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you mentioned,

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you know,

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around family,

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around children and when it's time for the school vacation and

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school breaks that you can actually work the hours that are

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going to fit in around you,

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your family responsibilities as well,

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Or, and through all of that inter weaves the whole idea

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of relationships,

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you know,

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we were talking about earlier,

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so really important.

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Okay, Sarah,

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I'm going to move on now into our reflection section.

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This is a look at you in different specific things that

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you're doing in the course of the day that make you

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successful. We've talked a little bit about the fact that you

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knew you were going to be an entrepreneur away from when

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you were A girl,

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but what other traits Do you think you have besides that

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positive yellow candle and optimism and all of that?

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What else is innately inside you that's helped you to be

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successful? Well,

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I guess,

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you know,

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the positive mind fit is probably the biggest thing followed with

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just a,

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a dream,

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just with the desire to,

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to pursue that dream.

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You know,

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just that,

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that burning sort of drive that I actually had recognized that

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I wanted to be my own boss and that I wanted

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to have my own business.

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And look,

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there was certainly a lot of,

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I experienced challenging times,

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that's where having a positive mindset and having a end goal

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in your mind that you can kind of tell yourself,

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you know,

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what you want to believe.

Speaker:

And there were challenging times with running a big business.

Speaker:

And I also was managing an auto immune disease.

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So there was certainly days that I just felt like I

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just couldn't get out of bed.

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You know,

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I couldn't get dressed,

Speaker:

but I just always believed that having that strong minded,

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positive mindset and having those goals and wanting that lifestyle for

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your family,

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they're the biggest drivers in getting you to succeed,

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getting you to reach those goals that you said wonderful.

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So you jumped right,

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Right in here with a little bit of a health issue

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there. Right.

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And I know,

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I mean,

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all of us,

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you know,

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when we're younger,

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we think,

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Oh, not me.

Speaker:

Nothing's going to happen.

Speaker:

Right. Do you care to share any more?

Speaker:

You're not on the personal end necessarily,

Speaker:

but how did you overcome that and continue to be able

Speaker:

to grow your business and just dive through with that?

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Because I was hit with,

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you know,

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quite a,

Speaker:

quite a serious illness,

Speaker:

I was really probably really sort of propelled the processes and

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systems. You know,

Speaker:

I need that the staff had to basically step up on

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days that I wasn't well enough to be working.

Speaker:

And so I actually knew that I needed to build a

Speaker:

really sustainable business and I needed to also be able to

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outsource, you know,

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I needed to be able to recognize that I couldn't do

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everything. And we,

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you know,

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I actually did a lot of outsourcing of labor in order

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to continually grow the business.

Speaker:

But I also had to look after my own health as

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well. Sure.

Speaker:

I'm going to move on now just for time purposes,

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what tool do you use regularly in your daily life,

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either business or personal so that you stay productive or you

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create some type of balance?

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Well, I'm a really big one for riding out daily to

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do lists the,

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I have actually quite extensive to do lists and I've sort

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of done that for a long time.

Speaker:

I find that it's better to get it out of my

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head onto paper so I can sort of prioritize what surgeon,

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you know,

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what can wait.

Speaker:

There's many great tools that I,

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you know,

Speaker:

I do use a Sana and Basecamp to,

Speaker:

it's a team management tool.

Speaker:

When you're working on projects,

Speaker:

you can share with other team members that,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

one great tool that I think anyone can apply.

Speaker:

It doesn't have to be a software tool is working in

Speaker:

time blocks.

Speaker:

I just find that I'm sort of someone to get easily

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distracted with,

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you know,

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nowadays, you know,

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Sue with all the social media notifications and Facebook and SMS

Speaker:

messages and phone calls,

Speaker:

what you do working in the time blocks.

Speaker:

It's a sign of working two hour blocks of time,

Speaker:

which you dedicate it towards completing a single important task.

Speaker:

And I found that you can really increase your productivity and

Speaker:

feel accomplished when you do work in those blocks.

Speaker:

So it's a matter of actually really sort of focusing in

Speaker:

and working on those in order to feel accomplished at the

Speaker:

end of the day,

Speaker:

Time-blocking you take a specific task,

Speaker:

you dedicate a certain amount of time to it.

Speaker:

And by golly,

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it's gotta be done by that time.

Speaker:

So you're really focused.

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Yeah. And you do actually feel then that you've been very

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productive because I know that it's so easy to get distracted

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and sort of stop jumping around doing all sorts of different

Speaker:

things. People are sort of,

Speaker:

like I mentioned on the social media checking emails and then

Speaker:

going back and writing up,

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you know,

Speaker:

some content and,

Speaker:

and packing an order and they sort of,

Speaker:

they haven't actually really achieved a great deal that day.

Speaker:

Right. Exactly.

Speaker:

I totally agree.

Speaker:

The other thing I really like about what you said is

Speaker:

writing down to do lists,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

it's not any electronic checklist or anything.

Speaker:

There's some satisfaction between scratching off that one item as you

Speaker:

go down.

Speaker:

There's something about just the tactical ability to do that.

Speaker:

That's awesome.

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A click on a computer just doesn't do it.

Speaker:

I agree.

Speaker:

I'm a bit of a old school pen and paper.

Speaker:

The end-result is the most important thing,

Speaker:

I guess,

Speaker:

is what I'm trying to say that.

Speaker:

Absolutely. All right.

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Have you read a book lately that you think our listeners

Speaker:

could find value in?

Speaker:

Yes. I have the book that I love is called the

Speaker:

four hour workweek and it's written by Tim Ferris.

Speaker:

He's an American guy and it's all about being highly productive,

Speaker:

outsourcing tasks that you can train others to complete.

Speaker:

And ultimately it frees you up to do more of the

Speaker:

things that you do like doing.

Speaker:

And that you're really good at.

Speaker:

I've read that book too,

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but I think it's a little bit crazy to think that

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you could possibly work only four hours.

Speaker:

I know many people who would really only want to work

Speaker:

four hours a week.

Speaker:

Oh, right,

Speaker:

right. But he has some great ideas in there.

Speaker:

I haven't read it for a while,

Speaker:

but I remember I really,

Speaker:

When you sort of need someone to do the,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

the background work or the admin work or knowing that you

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can tap into,

Speaker:

there's so many avenues for resources and,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

for outsourcing so that you can do all the,

Speaker:

more of the things that you do,

Speaker:

like he goes off and learns a new language or he

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goes off and does.

Speaker:

So I think it's boxing or he does something that's not

Speaker:

even work-related because he'd simply outsourced his entire business.

Speaker:

Yeah. It's a great book.

Speaker:

So gift biz listeners,

Speaker:

just as you're listening to the podcast today,

Speaker:

you can also listen to audio books with ease.

Speaker:

I've teamed up with audible and you can get an audio

Speaker:

book just like the four hour work week for free.

Speaker:

All you need to do is go to gift biz,

Speaker:

book.com and make a selection of that book or any other

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book you'd like,

Speaker:

again, that's gift biz,

Speaker:

book.com. Okay.

Speaker:

Sarah, I would like you now to dare to dream.

Speaker:

I want to present you with a virtual gift.

Speaker:

It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

Speaker:

This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights

Speaker:

that you would wish obtain.

Speaker:

Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

Speaker:

What is inside your box?

Speaker:

Oh, inside my book,

Speaker:

there's many magical things.

Speaker:

I would probably say that inside I've built a,

Speaker:

a global giftware coaching business.

Speaker:

I'm guest speaking around the world at industry events and workshops,

Speaker:

and I'm traveling to lovely overseas locations,

Speaker:

hosting business retreats,

Speaker:

or gift giftware businesses,

Speaker:

and just continuing to help grow thriving enterprises.

Speaker:

That sounds wonderful.

Speaker:

And it sounds like it's just building up what you've already

Speaker:

started. So the seed has already been planted.

Speaker:

Yes, I think so.

Speaker:

It's a slow,

Speaker:

it's a slow burn.

Speaker:

And I think that it's definitely w you know,

Speaker:

where I can see myself going and something that I know

Speaker:

that would really bring me a lot of fulfillment and happiness,

Speaker:

being able to continue to help other gift basket gift,

Speaker:

where business owners to build that dream life and build that

Speaker:

dream business Sounds spectacular.

Speaker:

But you do know what that means.

Speaker:

A lot of hours flying around.

Speaker:

Yeah. That I I'm an avid TRIBE.

Speaker:

Hello. Wonderful.

Speaker:

Well, good.

Speaker:

I will see you in the States soon then.

Speaker:

Could our listeners best get in touch with you on the

Speaker:

show notes page?

Speaker:

We'll have the website and Facebook page has all the links,

Speaker:

but if there was one place that you would direct everyone

Speaker:

who's audio right now to go to,

Speaker:

where would that be?

Speaker:

Okay. K.

Speaker:

So I actually have a free cheat sheet to give away

Speaker:

to your listeners today.

Speaker:

A little gift,

Speaker:

wonderful. It's a free cheat sheet about how to attract lucrative

Speaker:

corporate clients and triple your sales instantly.

Speaker:

They can get that freebie@wwwdotsarahjcross.com

Speaker:

forward slash get freebie,

Speaker:

get freebie,

Speaker:

but that's just only available.

Speaker:

It'll be up for a little while.

Speaker:

If they want to logo on and going there,

Speaker:

they can actually download their free teaching to getting,

Speaker:

learning how the,

Speaker:

some, some steps to start landing for lucrative corporate account.

Speaker:

Well, it is May 10th,

Speaker:

2016, everybody.

Speaker:

So if you're listening within month,

Speaker:

several months from now,

Speaker:

maybe it's still up,

Speaker:

but don't delay because you heard that Sarah says she'll take

Speaker:

it down at some point.

Speaker:

So this free cheat sheet is available@sarahjcross.com

Speaker:

forward slash get freebie.

Speaker:

And if you're listening after it's already been taken down,

Speaker:

I would just jump over to this show.

Speaker:

Note page,

Speaker:

go onto our website,

Speaker:

because my guess is she'll have some other things in the

Speaker:

offerings as well.

Speaker:

At that point.

Speaker:

I've got both of us.

Speaker:

Yeah. Sarah,

Speaker:

thank you so much.

Speaker:

This has been really interesting and you've brought up some points

Speaker:

that I don't think we've talked about.

Speaker:

So I really appreciate the insights.

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

your story about growing and selling a million dollar business right

Speaker:

in your twenties is spectacular.

Speaker:

I talk often about making sure that people who are taking

Speaker:

courses or doing anything online,

Speaker:

work with someone who really knows because they've done it not

Speaker:

because they've learned from a book and you are certainly one

Speaker:

who has done it,

Speaker:

you know,

Speaker:

of what you speak and coach,

Speaker:

and it has been an absolute pleasure having you on the

Speaker:

podcast today.

Speaker:

Thank you so much.

Speaker:

May your candle always burn bright,

Speaker:

Fantastic to be here,

Speaker:

learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your business.

Speaker:

Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business

Speaker:

and life.

Speaker:

It's our gift to you and available@giftbizonrap.com

Speaker:

slash tools.

Speaker:

Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the

Speaker:

next episode.

Speaker:

Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,

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looking for a new income source for your gift business.

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Customization is more popular now than ever granted products with your

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it's all done right in your shop or cross studio in

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seconds. Check out the ribbon company.com

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for more information after you listened to the show,

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if you like what you're hearing,

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make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on

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iTunes. That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they

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go. And thank you to those who have already left a

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rating by subscribing rating and reviewing help to increase the visibility.

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It's a great way to help others with their entrepreneurial journey

1 Comment

  1. Joyce Arrieta on May 16, 2016 at 7:27 pm

    Excellent broadcast….thank you Sarah for some valuable tips!

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