231 – Do You Want a Lifestyle Business or an Empire? with Natalie Gingrich of The Ops Authority

Natalie Gingrich of The Ops Authority

Natalie Gingrich is the founder and host of The Ops Authority. She has been in operations for two decades – either in healthcare, corporate America or as an entrepreneur.

Her goal is to bridge the gap and overwhelm when it comes to processes and systems, growing a team, and setting up solid business foundations.

Natalie spent 15 years in corporate operations and leadership at a Fortune 150 company. When given the opportunity to leave, she put the knowledge, certifications and experience to work by creating her own consulting firm, as well as a certification.

She developed the Director of Operations certification to equip existing ops experts with a flexible profession, outside of corporate but still playing a huge role in small businesses, globally.

Business Building Insights

  • Do big things. Have the courage to take a big step forward and leap into whatever adventure is part of your dream.
  • The first step is to determine what you want out of your business.
  • As you grow, build and scale your business, we need to remove yourself from the day to day activities. You do this by defining and documenting the steps all aspects of your business.
  • When you hire others to do the routine work, you regain time that can be used to focus on business development.
  • There is no direction without a business strategy.
  • Step out of product development and into the leadership role.
  • Have a true definition for the why behind what you’re doing.
  • Match your vision to your daily activities. Are you doing things each day that get you closer to your goal?

Resources Mentioned

FREE Business Hub Template from The Ops Authority

Contact Links

Website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Gift Biz Resources

Join our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community

If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you.

Thanks! Sue
Transcript
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 231 my heart,

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my passion,

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my legacy is on how many people I can reach and

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touch and of course I'm going to be in turn,

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blessed financially by that Attention.

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Gifters, bakers,

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crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun whether you

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have an established business or looking to start one now you

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are in the right place.

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This is gift to biz unwrapped,

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helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

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Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,

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resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.

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Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.

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Hi there,

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it's Susan And welcome to this week's show.

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If by chance you happen to be at the Philadelphia national

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candy show in Hershey,

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Pennsylvania, come visit us.

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We're in booth seven Oh eight and I'll print you a

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ribbon with your name or anything else you want on it

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right then and there.

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I'm also speaking this afternoon all about what's working right now

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in social media and as we know that changes all the

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time, so you might be in need of an update.

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I guess this is an educational kind of intro today.

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Maybe it's in the air with the kids all back at

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school, but I want to make sure that you know that

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registration is now open for my upcoming masterclass.

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I'm doing something a little bit different by opening up times

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when I normally don't run classes,

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specifically weekends and evenings.

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I get that you have other things to do and your

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time is limited,

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so I'm doing three classes and I'm pretty sure one of

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these will work for you.

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Let me back up here a bit.

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You may be asking,

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what is this program all about anyway?

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If you've ever thought about turning your handmade products into a

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business or you're just getting started and wondering if this could

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really work for you,

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you'll want to attend the master class.

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You'll learn the single biggest thing people miss when they start

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a business.

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Four critical elements to include when you're pricing your product,

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how to attract customers and the secret to creating loyal customers

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who buy from you again and again.

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The market is so primed right now for your handmade products.

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This whole category is steadily growing as the big box stores

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are seeing declines.

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Just look at your local malls,

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all the vacancies,

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even the well known anchor stores.

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We get into all of this too.

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The masterclass is called how to turn your handmade products into

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an income producing business and it's totally free.

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Go to gift biz on rapt.com

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forward slash masterclass and pick one of the days and times

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that works for.

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I'll be thrilled to have you join us and I promise

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you're going to want to know what I'm talking about here.

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Coming your way right now is a discussion every existing business

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owner should pay attention to.

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I've got one of my mastermind sisters on and we talk

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about what you should be doing to prepare for adding on

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employees. I know.

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I know you may not be there yet,

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but if you ever want to gain back time and set

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your business up for growth,

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you'll need to add this to your plan or heaven forbid.

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Let's say you get sick or injured or you just want

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to take an extended vacation.

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Wouldn't it be great to have your business capable of running

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without you even for just a short time?

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Let's pop over to the interview so you can learn more.

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Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to Natalie Gingrich.

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Natalie is the founder and host of the ops authority.

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She has been in operations for two decades,

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either in healthcare,

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corporate America,

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or as an entrepreneur.

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Her goal is to bridge the gap and overwhelm when it

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comes to processes and systems.

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Growing a team and setting up solid business foundations.

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Natalie spent 15 years in corporate operations and leadership at a

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fortune one 50 company.

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Notice she's not telling us who when given the opportunity to

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leave, she put her knowledge,

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certifications, and experience to work by creating her own consulting firm

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as well as a certification.

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She developed the director of operations certification to equip existing ops

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experts with a flexible profession outside of corporate but still playing

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a huge role in small businesses globally.

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Natalie, welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.

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I am so excited to be here.

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Yay. I'm so curious about how this conversation is going to

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go. But before we get started,

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I want to have you introduce yourself in what's become a

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traditional way and that is sharing who you are by way

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of a motivational candle.

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So if you were to describe yourself,

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Natalie, by color and by quote,

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what would your motivational candle look like?

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So I would have to choose the color purple,

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any color purple,

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like everything from<inaudible> all the way to like magenta,

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like that is my jam.

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It has always brought me so much joy.

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And of course the color purple is Royal and I feel

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like I have always not necessarily see myself as royalty,

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so let's be clear there.

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But I've always felt like a distinction of the knowledge that

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I've been gifted and just equipped to share that.

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So I love the color purple for so many reasons,

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but the symbolic reasons for sure and the quote that it

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would have on there is let's do big things while leaving

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a legacy.

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It just means everything to me.

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And I'm so glad you go over this question because it

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really made me stop and review and visualize what that candle

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would look like as I'm sitting here at my desk burning

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the candle.

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You aren't really.

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I am every day.

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Oh, I'm so jealous.

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Well that's why I like you so much.

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You love candles like I do.

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I actually have four on this desk right now.

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I was trying to decide this morning which one I was

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going to burn.

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Okay, so you have to send a picture of that to

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me. When you say let's do big things while leaving a

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legacy. Are you talking about how they leave the legacy?

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Because the first thing I thought of is sometimes people leave

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a legacy but they leave a big mess behind them too.

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Like they'll step on people or it feels disingenuous or something

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like that.

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So are you comparing how the message is sent and how

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it's received along with the big things that you're doing?

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I feel like we,

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especially as females,

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we'll waste a lot of our hearts by not going after

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the things that we really aspire to do.

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So we kind of squash them and minimize them and maybe

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we never take that leap.

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And it doesn't have to be from a profession perspective,

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but in all areas of our lives.

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And so when I say let's do big things,

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I mean just having the courage to just take that step

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forward to take the leap and whatever it is,

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if it's buying a new home,

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if it's creating a new product,

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whatever that may be going on,

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that amazing adventure you've always dreamt of,

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let's figure out a way to do it and let's make

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it happen.

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And then leaving a legacy is the result of that.

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Right? Absolutely.

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So I have to be really honest with you,

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Natalie. When we met,

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I don't know,

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about a year and a half or so now you're about

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a year and a half ago.

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I guess.

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Even though in my corporate world I was often on production

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floors, lots of operations,

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processes, et cetera.

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I don't really think I understood what operations meant for businesses

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like ours.

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So to ground me and all of our listeners.

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Can you share with us a little bit what your definition

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of ops is for us?

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Absolutely. So when I talk about operations,

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think about your business as having two different sides.

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So you have what I call the front of the house

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or the front office and the back of the house.

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So everything that you would see.

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So imagine your customer is going to purchase something from you.

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We as the customer only see the front office.

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So we see the graphics,

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we had the opportunity to purchase.

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It's what we visually see as a consumer.

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But the back office is all of the operational pieces.

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So this is all of that technology that goes into putting

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that one product on a website or all of the things

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that happen to be an exhibitor at a show.

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The amount of projects and tasks that go in to creating

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and executing something.

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All of that is going to be in the operation space.

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So some common areas that are operations that may make this

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a little bit more clear for you are a lot of

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the technology.

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It will be the financials.

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I know that this is not glamorous.

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Definitely all of the efficiencies and the processes and the systems

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that you're going to need to scale your business.

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And those are not the first things that you think about

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when you walk into a business.

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You often think about getting your product on the shelf.

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And so this back office and the operations piece are going

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to be helpful with strategizing the ways to make that easier,

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more automated,

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et cetera.

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Beautiful. So tell me how this became an interest to you

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and why you decided or how you chose to take this

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on as the focal point for your career.

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It is so wild.

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But even as I look back over my life,

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I have always had this as a part of me and

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of course at the age,

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you know,

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in my childhood I had no idea that this was a

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value that this was going to be something that I would

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use over and over and for the rest of my life

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and much less make a profession out of it.

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But I have always had the knack for making lists,

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for organizing,

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for leading.

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And as I went through college and got my multiple degrees

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that I'm not using today,

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I have always been able to connect the dots back to

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what I now call operations.

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But if it's really a systematized personality and we can look

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through all the personality types,

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et cetera,

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but this was the gift that I have always had and

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leveraged and I really can remember it all the way back

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to being six and eight years old.

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List-maker leading organizations,

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driving for results and being able to tie a big vision

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that I have and breaking it down into small pieces ultimately

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so that we could attain the goal that we had set

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forward. So I'm relooking at your bio and healthcare,

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corporate America,

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all these big organizations that have multiple departments underneath them,

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lots of employees.

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Of course,

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they would need these systems and processes to run their businesses

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efficiently. And now I guess I'm seeing an understanding why,

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even if you're a one man show,

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this can become really valuable.

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Right? Let me take you on a little journey.

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When I went to undergraduate for nursing as well as business,

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I know I was like most people between the ages of

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18 and 21 had no idea what I really wanted to

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do when I grew up.

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I actually could see you in nursing by the way,

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cause you're always caring about people around you.

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And you know,

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I know we're going to hear it all throughout this interview,

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but you overlay that nice,

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calm, warm personality on top of operations,

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which can feel so rigid and strict.

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So in that way you're really different in terms of combining

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this topic with who you are as a person.

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It makes you really unique.

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Well, thank you,

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Sue. Anyway,

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I'm excited to hear the story.

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Go ahead.

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Thank you.

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Carry on.

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Yes, so I went from my undergraduate degree in nursing and

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business went on and wanted to be a specialist.

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Again, you're saying that high achiever in me wanting to get

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excellent education to be able to come out of this and

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really serve in a bigger,

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deeper capacity.

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I went on and got a master's degree in a specialty

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called cardiac rehab,

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and I know this is wild because it feels different when

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you're listening to this,

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but I will connect the dots for you whenever I have

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wrapped up.

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But I went on to get a graduate degree and in

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doing so I came out with an advanced degree being able

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to serve this particular like a niche audience,

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if you will,

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as compared to business and was really serving the the gerontology

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world. We ended up moving,

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my husband had gone on to get his degree and so

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we had taken some turns and I was licensed in a

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couple of different States to perform this well.

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Of course every single one of those roles I loved patient

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care. Like there is a super servant part of me that

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just always comes out,

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as you mentioned a second ago,

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but the patient care was so important,

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but also being able to consistently treat these patients in a

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way where they knew what to expect.

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And I could also train other people below me.

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So these are very much operational skillsets that were natural to

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me that of course I could not have seen at that

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time. But that was my benefit to every single provider I

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ever worked for.

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I would come in,

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I was systematized,

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I would naturally get into leadership and then as the world

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turns we would move to another location.

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So we moved to many years ago,

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I guess about 15 years ago we moved to Texas,

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back to Texas.

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I'm originally from Texas,

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so it was a nice place to come back home to.

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But when we moved to Texas,

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the Medicare rules were quite different.

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And so I was not able to serve in the field

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of cardiac rehab like I had before.

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Lots of medical jargon that we don't need to get into.

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But it forced me to look around and see what else

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I wanted to do.

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And so I went to work for that fortune one 50

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company that I left nameless and here in San Antonio,

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it provided me so much.

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It has allowed me to connect the dots backwards as I've

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been mentioning,

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because I left that nursing field and I walked into human

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resources and this is all on the job training.

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I was extremely grateful and blessed with a path and support

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and additional knowledge that I couldn't have jumped up.

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But I came in because of my expertise in both client

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care and in the servicing space.

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I came in and was running their wellness and health benefits.

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So I did that for a long time through the company

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and rising into leadership,

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I had been absorbed into the project management space,

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which of course was perfect from an operations perspective because now

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we were looking into the details and that forced me to

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kind of get out of that health space.

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And so I started working in it projects and you know,

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Sue, you and I have talked about your history and your

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corporate experience and some of those things that I see you

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worked in putting out new campaigns,

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et cetera.

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I was behind the scenes doing that from a project perspective.

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So there you go from a nurse all the way into

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working in it and marketing campaigns.

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But I was really on the delivery side,

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so I was always making sure that the process and the

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projects were set up and then I was the person that

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was leading the team to make sure that everyone met their

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milestones, that we had all the materials that the budget was

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being attended to because that's always a big issue in corporate

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projects. And after I had worked in project management for a

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while, I was voluntold that I would be the chief of

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staff for our chief executive officer.

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So for our CEO,

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and it was a humongous role,

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as you may imagine,

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this company has 40,000

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people. And this CEO was just an amazing gentlemen and I

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had a great opportunity to serve him.

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But what I really recognized at that point was what was

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happening to myself and my family.

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So this is where that legacy,

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that part of the candle,

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where legacy just keeps burning and burning and burning.

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I started to look at the commitment that I had to

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the business and the way I was showing up here in

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my own home with my children and my children were getting

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bigger. And so it was a great opportunity.

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He had retired when he left the company,

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it gave me the opportunity to leave or find another job

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within the company and I just took a risk and I

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said, you know what?

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I'm going to go home and shuttle my kids around and

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not spend $30,000

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a year on getting them to places to,

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because I couldn't be there as a corporate employee and my

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legacy was forever changed.

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But what ended up happening after I came home is that

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high achiever and ambitious Natalie could not just be fulfilled by

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being on the PTA and volunteering.

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I found myself back in business and supporting in the exact

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same way I was supporting that CEO of fortune one 50

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I felt myself really trying to understand the small business sector

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I grew up with in a single parent family who had

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led a huge business in the seventies and eighties and so

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that is ingrained in me,

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but I just wanted,

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I was committed to understanding what the small business workscape look

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like and then I complimented it by putting what I was

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doing in corporate and duplicated it and started serving CEOs in

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the small business space in the same way.

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I loved your story Natalie,

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because it's so you.

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Interestingly enough,

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that was exactly my route,

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a little bit different circumstances,

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but corporate I elected to leave because of family,

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but then there was always that underlying business love to.

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So when the time was right,

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I jumped back in.

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But I also want to bring this up because give his

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listeners, look at what you're doing right now with a fresh

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eyes. What skills are you using that so easily come to

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you that they don't even feel like their skills,

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right? Maybe something that your friends compliment you on and consider

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that as one of your,

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Also if you have a nine to five a regular job

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right now,

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what types of things are you learning?

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What education are you receiving that you might very well be

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able to use as you move forward with your own business?

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Just like Natalie demonstrated.

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And another thing,

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Natalie, now I'm going back to operation specifically.

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You were talking about the front of the house and the

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back of the house.

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The tech,

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yes. Financials.

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Um, but yes,

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but also the production aspect.

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You know,

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everyone who's listening here is a maker.

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So the production of the product,

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the steps that are taken,

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the process,

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if you will,

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of how you make your soaps,

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how you create the special sense or doing the mold or

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whatever applies to the specific art.

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As you go.

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Creating processes around this is what allows you to grow.

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Because taking that uniqueness,

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documenting it then allows you to pass it on to somebody

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else who can then replicate it.

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So you can focus on growing the business.

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Absolutely. Whether you are in a service based business or in

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a product based business,

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all of us will start by most likely doing all the

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work ourselves.

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And then as we grow,

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build and scale our businesses,

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we try to remove ourselves.

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And the only way that we can do that is by

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defining what it is that we're doing.

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What is your secret sauce?

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And you know,

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so it took me a long time.

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I kept saying no one can ever do what I do.

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Like it's just me.

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No one can do that.

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And I'm sure you and everybody else that's listening have said

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that about something in your life.

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I'm the only one that can do this.

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We say it about our kids all the time.

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I'm going to fold the towels because I like the way

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I do it.

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No one else is going to do it my way just

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to make this very practical,

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but we can all remove ourselves and it does you and

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your business such a service to be able to write this

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stuff down to articulate.

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You don't have to physically write it.

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Honestly. There are so many different ways to get the stuff

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out of your head,

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but just as you said Sue,

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if we cannot get the process out into the world,

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no one else will ever take it over,

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which will also limit you from being able to do and

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focus on other things.

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So having yourself replicatable should be a big driver for all

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of your listeners.

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Okay, so let's extend this a little further to something that's

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more concrete.

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I don't care which angle we take,

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but I'm kind of hoping that we can go with the

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product creation process.

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How would you suggest someone gets started?

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I personally,

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I'm a child of the seventies and paper is a good

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friend of mine,

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so I typically start everything on a piece of paper and

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I will eventually move it into some digital software,

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but I think of what happens chronologically when you sit down

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to create that candle.

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What are the steps that you were doing?

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What is the very first thing?

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The second thing,

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and I mean detailed,

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so I really do think of this comes down to age,

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which no discrimination but we,

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me, Natalie,

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42 years old,

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I would sit down and write every single small detail.

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What I'm seeing with millennials is they are going to record

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themselves either speaking it or in video form recording exactly what

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they're doing.

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That's why YouTube is so big today,

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right? They're recording the how tos,

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but if you just do that,

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honestly, if you put a camera up in your office for

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a day and just watch what you're doing,

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I know that that would not be super life altering content,

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but it's so helpful to see,

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to break down,

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to be able to see the big picture and break it

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down into the small pieces of what you're doing.

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So I'm just going to go back to the candle thing

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because I can still see that purple candle just burning in

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my office over here.

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Is there a scent to that candle?

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It is lavender lemon mint.

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Oh that sounds amazing.

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Sorry I just had to do that.

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We had to get a feel for your environment.

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Yeah, I've got ports all around that poor candle.

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Let me ask you a question here real quick.

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Would you start with let's say with a candle,

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cause that's perfect.

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Would you start with here's the candle,

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here are the ingredients that go into it and then here's

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where I resource it from.

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Would you start there for as far back as there?

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So it's almost like a recipe.

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Then with the ingredients,

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the sourcing,

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and then you'd start step one,

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step two,

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step three,

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et cetera.

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It really is going to come down to the type of

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person that you are.

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I myself,

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yes, that's exactly what I would do.

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I would start all the way from sourcing to filling the

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candle and complete it with how I got it on the

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shelf. But that's just me.

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If you're a creative,

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that's likely not how you're going to be thinking.

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So I would start with the part that you are the

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most connected to the part that comes the easiest to you

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because that's going to be the easiest part for you to

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teach to the person that you could hire or help you

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to get this done.

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Perfect. And I'm thinking that it can change over time too.

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So if you just start getting some steps down,

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you can always adjust and add to it later as you

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go. You can fill it in and edit it and add

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to it over time,

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which would be a reason for it to be digital because

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then you can easily adjust it as you go.

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Right. So I think about a jewelry designer and I come

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back to Kendra Scott quite a bit just because I've researched

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her a lot,

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but she loved the design piece,

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right? And so she held on to that piece the longest.

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And so what she did was go,

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the way the route that she went was to understand how

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to document,

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how to source these,

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the Juul,

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how to bring them in,

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how to market them,

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how to get them out.

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She documented all of that,

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but she still held on to the actual design piece cause

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that's what she loved.

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So if there's a part of the process that you feel

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highly connected to and you love it,

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you feel like that's your unique advantage.

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Hold on to that piece.

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So you may not want to go there first.

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You may want to go to the pieces that you want

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to outsource.

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It's really going to be dependent on your type of personality

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and how much help you can afford to bring in.

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Right? And I have to say from talking with lots of

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business owners,

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I frequently hear that as your business grows,

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you start to grow yourself out of the business that you

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love. Your job starts to change as you hire employees,

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um, have to go out and market the business,

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right? And all of a sudden you're not doing some of

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the things in your business that you really loved,

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like making the jewelry or pouring the wax of the candles,

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some of those things.

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But as the business owner,

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you get to choose,

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you might still want to participate up until the design stage.

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So you design everything,

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but then when it gets moves over to production,

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you hand it off so that it's still your hand in

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the product all of the time.

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But again,

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I just want to layer on top of this that you

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always get to choose.

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It's kind of that choice of how much time do you

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want to spend working on your business versus working in your

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business? Right?

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And I would also say this also depends on the type

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of business that you want,

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right? A lot of us start as hobbyist.

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We realized that,

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I mean we've got a big fire and a big passion.

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We realized that we can monetize it so we get into

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the business kind of on accident,

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which is at that point it's still very much a hobbyist

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business and then it gets to the point where production or

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request or demand is coming in and all of a sudden

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overnight you turn into a business owner,

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well, you may not have a business background or a business

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backbone and all of a sudden you're putting yourself really out

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of your comfort zone.

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So when you start to dissect what part you're going to

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remove yourself,

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if that has been your path,

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it's going to be a little bit more cloudy because you

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don't know about the marketing side.

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You don't know about all of this technical how to get

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my product on the shelf type of thing.

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You may be great at parts of this and really we

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can others,

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but I will go back to the type of business that

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you want.

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I get the question all the time.

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Do you want to have a lifestyle business or do you

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want an empire?

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And I would ask yourself that.

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It's a challenging question because the high achiever in me is

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like, Oh yeah,

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I want an empire,

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but me,

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Natalie personally have never been somebody who has been motivated by

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a six figure business or a seven figure business or the

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numbers, yes,

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numbers matter and yes,

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I need to be able to contribute X amount of dollars

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to my family every month.

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But income is not as important to me as impact.

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And yes,

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I still need income.

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Like I'm not saying that I'm doing this for free,

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but I'm doing this,

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my heart,

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my passion,

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my legacy is on how many people I can reach and

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touch and of course I'm going to be in turn blessed

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financially by that.

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But it really comes down to the type of business that

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you want to understand,

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how much you want to get out of it,

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how many parts you want to continue to play,

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how many streams do you want to hold on,

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how many of those processes that you are going own?

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If you're somebody who's wanting an empire and there's nothing wrong

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with that.

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I'm inspired by empire builders every single day,

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but if that is what you're wanting,

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if that one candle you wanted to turn into something that

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is in every big name shop,

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then you're looking for an empire.

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You're going to have to replicate yourself much differently than the

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person who is content with selling and sharing at craft fairs.

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So you have to get to determine what it is that

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you want out of your business.

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And then I think that operations become a little bit more

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clear in how hard you're going to have to work at

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this piece,

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A lifestyle business or an empire,

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something to think about.

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We'll carry on with this conversation right after a quick word

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Speaker:

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that your numbers need to increase year over year.

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You may have a certain timeframe in your life where you

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need to just keep things on the even keel and not

Speaker:

increase. And guess what?

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That's okay.

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Balanced with what else is going on in your life is

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really important.

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And you were talking about legacy a little earlier too,

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Natalie. Yup.

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What a great thing to be home with the children while

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they are little and just keep the business humming along,

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you know,

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on a peaceful keel and then later as the kids are

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growing and you find an opportunity,

Speaker:

then you can build your business further.

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I just answered this question earlier.

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I had a boxer,

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we use boxer to communicate with some friends and she was

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asking me about a legacy business or what kind of business

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I wanted and I just said,

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you know what?

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Right now I can't think past a lifestyle business.

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I need a lifestyle slash legacy business because I spend 17

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hours a week in the car taking my children to activities

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and so when they're gone in just five short years,

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I'm not going to have any kids at home.

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My goals are going to be,

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I know that they will be vastly different but I'm not

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there yet.

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So I also know as a small business I am not

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going to put the carts so far ahead of myself that

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because so much can change.

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I know it's going to change.

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And you know that you've been a great model for me

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and our friendship because you are ahead of me both in

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business and in family development.

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I'm watching all of you guys and I know you have

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more time to be on the road right now cause you

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don't have young kids at home and so who knows what

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the future holds.

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But I do know right now it is definitely based on

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a lifestyle business.

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Yeah. Well you know what,

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you can't put your kids on pause but you can put

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your business on slow.

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Yes, listen to that listeners.

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That is exactly right.

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And I will say having one business that's pivoted into another

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and my whole business progression has been my baby and it's

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been a big help when the kids started leaving the house

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because that is a big Turning point for sure.

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Yup. I can see myself diving really deeply once even just

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one child goes off to college and I can't even imagine

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both of them being off,

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but we're not that far away.

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It'll happen and when it does,

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you and I will talk and everything will be fine.

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Yes. Okay.

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Let's talk a little bit more about product creation because a

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couple of ideas came up as you were describing things,

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talking about the different steps involved that you go through to

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create whatever it is that your product is.

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I'm thinking also about the time involved with going through each

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step, so what are the time requirements for each step and

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of course you as the designer of your product will know

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best how long it takes and what appropriate requirements are for

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each step.

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The reason I'm saying that is twofold.

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One is just kind of a flat set statement and the

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other one I think we can have some conversation around knowing

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how long it takes to make your product is going to

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help with the production part of your pricing.

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As makers,

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it's so easy to perfect that design just a little bit

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more and that's 10 minutes or mess around with the bow

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a little bit or add a little bit more color in

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and there goes another 10 minutes.

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So all of a sudden you have wasted 20 minutes when

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depending on your product,

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you might have been able to make a whole new piece.

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Or even more importantly,

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maybe you could've made a call to a corporate account or

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done something to advance and grow your business instead of,

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you know,

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kind of wasting a little bit more time making it perfect

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without necessarily an incrementally valuable result.

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Let's talk about this a little bit time into making your

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product versus time in to developing and growing your business.

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Right? So we usually start our businesses,

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especially females and I know that that's the majority of your

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audience, but we start our businesses most often out of an

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emotional need,

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a financial need or we're just extremely passionate on the topic

Speaker:

or the product so it's easy to fall in love with

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the creation side of business.

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It's exciting,

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it's fun,

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it's an adventure,

Speaker:

but like we were talking about,

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once you move from the hobby more into the business side

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where you want that income to continue to grow,

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really do have to remove yourself from that product piece,

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which is going to be hard.

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I get it.

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I totally understand that.

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For me,

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your product side is like my relationship.

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I could sit and talk all day long to new people

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to help them.

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I mean that's what I could do all day long,

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but I know that my business will be limited if I

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ignore and I don't really dive in to those other pieces

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that are going to make my business run more smoothly.

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So you will what buy tip is for anyone.

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Absolutely. Any type of business in any stage of business is

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once you understand you have a product that sales you know

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that it's selling well,

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understand how you're doing that,

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how you're developing that product so that you then can have

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somebody come in and help you with multiplying how many products

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you're able to make and removing you from it.

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From here,

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I really want you and all of your listeners to think

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about the business strategy and these sound like stuffy corporate words,

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but without any strategy,

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you don't have a direction without a direction.

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You go back to your default,

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right? You're not stretching,

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you're not growing,

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you're stuck in the candle making.

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You never move past that because that's easy.

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It becomes comfortable.

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So with a business strategy,

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it all starts with a vision.

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So where do you want this business to go?

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What we were talking about just one second.

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Go with what kind of business do you want?

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Do you want this to be a hundred thousand dollar business?

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What is it?

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What is your big driver?

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Why is this candle business so important to you?

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So we start there and then we really start to look

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at how we're going to make that happen.

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And that's what makes your business strategy.

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When you get up in the morning,

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you understand the business strategy that's ahead of you and for

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right now you will know what to work on.

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Once you complete that,

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then you can keep looking and growing closer and closer to

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that longterm vision.

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I think that vision is so important and it is my

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first step in maker's MBA.

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I'm just going to stop right here and tell everybody that

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you are the one who named my signature program.

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I stop right here and tell the story.

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Can I tell the story?

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Because you definitely get all the credit.

Speaker:

So last year,

Speaker:

2018 Natalie and I were in the CEO biz chicks mastermind

Speaker:

together and I was on the hot seat.

Speaker:

We were going through,

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I'm talking about the signature program because I'm about to relaunch

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it and I'm sharing what it's all about.

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And Natalie dear heart that you are,

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listens intently and says,

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uh, SU,

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what you've just described does not match the name in any

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way, shape or form.

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It is so much more than what the name kind of

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suggests. So she let me contemplate that for a little bit

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and then we took a break and she meets me in

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the hall and she says,

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okay Sue,

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I have just checked everything out.

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You need to name your signature program maker's MBA.

Speaker:

I see that the domain is available right here.

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Would you like me to buy it for you right now?

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So that was that and I will forever more be indebted

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to you and everyone now knows where the name came from.

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Okay, let's get back on track here.

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And going back to the conversation about the vision,

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I so agree with you there and specially for makers because

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we have This different element of the fact that we have

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to put time into production to making our art.

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And then when you sell you actually,

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the more you sell,

Speaker:

the more time and work you're creating for yourself.

Speaker:

But it's not necessarily business development work.

Speaker:

It's busy product creation work.

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Yes. So I'm going to blow your mind really quick.

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Oh, do it.

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My very first business,

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which I was out of graduate school,

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I was probably 25 it was called sassy pants art.

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I love that already.

Speaker:

And I made jewelry and I'm thinking back to the days

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I loved going to beating shows and bad by the way,

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and finding jewels and gems and I loved that part of

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it. I loved understanding how to use the tools.

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I loved making the final product.

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But where I have always struggled in business is in the

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marketing piece.

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And so as you're telling the story,

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it's really bringing me back to some of my roots and

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my own entrepreneurial journeys and understanding that there was a block

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for me in growing the business because I was scared to

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market. I was scared to contact the craft fairs and the

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craft shows that were around me because I was attached to

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the creation process.

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And so for me to have scaled that business,

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I would have had to get over that and move forward

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and understand where my vision was.

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But I never put a vision to that business.

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Number one.

Speaker:

I was probably too young to see where it could go,

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but I was too closely attached to the actual creation piece

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to make it a true bonafide business.

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A solid business.

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Right? Which could have been fine if that's what you wanted,

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you know,

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extra income on the side.

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But this is perfect and yes,

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it does blow my mind.

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And by the way,

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you're really good at naming businesses if this is a new

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sideline job wanted to uncover.

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Okay, but let's carry on now with this line of thinking.

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So let's say we have somebody who has been making their

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product all along themselves and they recognize that if they want

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to grow,

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they're going to have to add staff employees,

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but they've never done that before.

Speaker:

What would you direct to that person who needs to now

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start thinking about bringing on people to produce their product?

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Right. Well if you've got started by documenting the process and

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then Sue,

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you had just mentioned kind of putting the times of how

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long it takes you to complete that.

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If you've got this long list of items and tasks that

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it takes to create the candle.

Speaker:

Let's just talk about the actual product creation.

Speaker:

So you'll have this list of everything.

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If you know the timing that it takes you,

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you can double that for a new hire.

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So if you're hiring someone to come in to do what

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you were doing,

Speaker:

some of the questions that I get often is I don't

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know who to hire.

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I don't know how to hire and I don't know how

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many hours or what to pay them.

Speaker:

Like it's such a big can of worms,

Speaker:

but if you will do what Sue had just said about

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understanding how long it takes you to you personally to do

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this, to do the work that you're doing and you become

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so good at right now,

Speaker:

you can double the time and that's kind of an easy

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equation to understand how much help you need for that one

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particular piece of the puzzle.

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The next piece is understanding who it is,

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what the skill sets of the person that you need,

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what level of person are you looking for?

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And people come at this all different ways and I cannot

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tell you a particular formula to go for,

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but if you're looking for a lot of,

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actually most people will come into this looking for low price

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talent. And when I say low price,

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I mean someone who can come in and help either with

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products or in the administration piece.

Speaker:

So fulfilling those types of things you can get from labor

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that is not extremely expensive,

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but it's also not specialized.

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So if that's the path that you take,

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you're now going to know that you need that type of

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labor. You're going to know how many hours you're going to

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need them for and then do a market analysis.

Speaker:

And that word seems really stuffy.

Speaker:

But number one,

Speaker:

you've got to look at your finances to see what you

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can afford.

Speaker:

And second of all,

Speaker:

see you may want to see what other people are providing

Speaker:

or offering for a similar role,

Speaker:

but I could care less what other people are paying.

Speaker:

If you cannot afford it,

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you can't stretch your budget because it always affects your personal

Speaker:

margins. So I'm always telling people don't overinvest in people despite

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your own success.

Speaker:

Yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker:

And there's another thing I'd like to interject in here as

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well, and that is you don't need to necessarily hire somebody

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to take over from the start to the completion of your

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product. If there's some time intensive portion of the product,

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maybe it's involving prep,

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getting everything set up or some very basic steps.

Speaker:

You may hire somebody to do that where those steps require

Speaker:

less of a skill level,

Speaker:

but you come back in and be the quote unquote finisher

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of the product.

Speaker:

This allows you then to get back some time that you

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can use on growing the business.

Speaker:

Some of the other things that employees just wouldn't be able

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to do yet.

Speaker:

You'd still be involved with creation of your product at least

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for a time being,

Speaker:

you know as you start growing,

Speaker:

and this goes back to the steps and the process,

Speaker:

you'll know which particular parts you could hire in for if

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you have those steps defined.

Speaker:

Yes, I mean having the processes is number one.

Speaker:

So if you have not grown a team and you aspire

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to grow and to have people come in and help you,

Speaker:

I would highly encourage you to start documenting what it is

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that you do today.

Speaker:

Something that came to mind as you were talking,

Speaker:

Sue, I have taken what I do from a one to

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one client perspective and I've documented this into six particular and

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paths and what I have done is for those six I

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slowly as I was growing my business,

Speaker:

I slowly removed myself one by one by one.

Speaker:

So you're absolutely right.

Speaker:

I would be almost crazy,

Speaker:

foolish and broke if I would bring somebody in or several

Speaker:

people to do all six of those steps at one time.

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So it took me almost a full year to remove two

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of the six steps and to hand those over to somebody.

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So yes,

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don't feel overwhelmed that you're going to bring in somebody and

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you're going to have to pay them a whole lot of

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money because are handling an entire piece of this.

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You could just have one small part,

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maybe it's inventory,

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maybe it's ordering inventory,

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maybe it's the actual marketing piece,

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whatever that may be.

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Don't feel like you have to overdue or overspend.

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One small piece of outsourcing can free you up and it's

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only going to free you up if you're bringing somebody in

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and they're helping you two hours a day to do something.

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If you use those two hours to do business development,

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to do other things that can making a new product or

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finding a new place to retail,

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whatever that may be.

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I always like to warn people that it's not easy to

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outsource. This is a big journey,

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but once you've done it,

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it feels so good that sometimes we as business owners look

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at this as like a retreat,

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like we got two hours back,

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but you're only going to see the return on the investment

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if you're putting those two hours back into the business in

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another way,

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In a way that's closer to the sale because that's the

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way you can afford to hire them on.

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You continue to grow.

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That's right.

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And it's not then that you're free for lunch for an

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hour a day or something.

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But I see it so often.

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Okay, so I'm putting myself in the heads of some of

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our listeners and they're going to say,

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Natalie, there is not a chance that I am going to

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share with anybody else all the secrets about how I make

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my product.

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What's the response there?

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If you have a process that needs to be legally secured,

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it's okay to do that and it may be a really

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wise investment for you to protect your intellectual property,

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Protecting the product depending.

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Right, Right.

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And then also having good contracts for the people that do

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come in.

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I mean there can be repercussions,

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but I also think that this is a mindset thing outside

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of the legality and the scary parts.

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I think a lot of us are just concerned that someone's

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going to take our idea and run off with it and

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guess what?

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There's not an original idea out there.

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Right? So there's a lots of different candle makers and yes,

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what they may all make them somewhat similarly,

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but there is something different about each company,

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so just know that no one's going to do it your

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way. Yes,

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it's likely that you want them to learn from you and

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they may not be invested in you forever,

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but the most important thing is that you need to focus

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on is that they're giving you the space and energy and

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allowance to do something different for yourself.

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They are offsetting what the time and investment that you were

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making in the business so that you can grow it.

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Now the risk as businesses,

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all there are definitely risks and business is that they're going

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to come in and potentially learn something and take it somewhere

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else. That's a very common fear,

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but just know most people are good.

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I can't even tell you how many times I say that

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to people,

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but most people are good people and having them sign documents

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will help to enforce how important this process is to you

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and convey that to them.

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Okay, so like non-competes and things like that,

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nondisclosure agreements,

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et cetera.

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I'll also say,

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and I have seen this happen before,

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let's say a noncompete is not enforceable or something happens and

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someone's not protected and they have an employee who decides I

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can do this so much better and they go off and

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they start their own company.

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Running a business is so much different than just making a

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product. Yeah.

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It takes a different set of skills.

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You know,

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we were just talking about the courage and putting together procedures

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and processes and the fact is a lot of people look

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from the outside and say that,

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Oh, it looks so easy and they can do it.

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But when reality sets in and you actually have to,

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it's not as easy as it looks.

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Let's face it,

Speaker:

those of us who decided that we're going to start our

Speaker:

own business,

Speaker:

we're a unique breed.

Speaker:

I think they say like 78% of small business does fail

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on the first two years and 90 I think it's 90

Speaker:

something. I don't have those stats.

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98 within the first five within the first five.

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Yeah. So I mean,

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let that comfort you,

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unfortunately, and remember all the steps that you have gone through

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as a leader to get your business to this point.

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Would that person really have the tenacity to do what you

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have done?

Speaker:

And that is not a point to discourage you give biz

Speaker:

listeners, look,

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you're listening here.

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I'm sure you're capturing information from other places.

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You're resourceful just by the fact that you're here and that's

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what the majority of people won't do,

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so please don't turn a mirror on yourself and say that's

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going to be you.

Speaker:

Think of the opportunity that's available to you because the fact

Speaker:

is the further along you go with the growth of your

Speaker:

business, the more competitors drop off.

Speaker:

They reach obstacles and just decide they're not going to continue.

Speaker:

I always say,

Speaker:

and some people disagree with me on this,

Speaker:

but it's really easy to start a business where it gets

Speaker:

challenging is staying in business and growing a business.

Speaker:

I couldn't agree more.

Speaker:

The other thing is by bringing on,

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to kind of piggyback on what you were saying too,

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with don't let this be a discouraging,

Speaker:

this should be the exact opposite.

Speaker:

I understand that there's fear because you're going to be trading

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money for this role to come in,

Speaker:

but understand that you're fulfilling something.

Speaker:

You're putting a product out into the world,

Speaker:

you're growing a business,

Speaker:

you're supporting other people to make this happen,

Speaker:

which is extremely difficult to do and you've had the courage

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to do it.

Speaker:

Absolutely. And then the more that you give somebody,

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the more responsibility,

Speaker:

the more that this person is able to assist you and

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to help you,

Speaker:

the deeper that they become attached to you and your brand.

Speaker:

And ultimately,

Speaker:

I think all of us who do aspire to have employees

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or contractors helping us,

Speaker:

we want them to be a true extension of us.

Speaker:

I'm a firm believer that the more you give to these

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folks, the more authority,

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the more you allow them to express their natural skills in

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your business,

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the deeper they are and the more committed they are to

Speaker:

you And the pride they have in what they're doing.

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Yeah. And I think when you stretch people to do things

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that they never thought they were capable of doing,

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they love it even more.

Speaker:

Right. Think about that in our own lives.

Speaker:

I mean,

Speaker:

I know I can think back to corporate.

Speaker:

I would have never put myself as a corporate project manager,

Speaker:

but because I was given those skills in that trust,

Speaker:

it changed the trajectory of my life.

Speaker:

So you can do the same thing for somebody else.

Speaker:

There you go.

Speaker:

So Natalie,

Speaker:

what would you say to the person who has started their

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business, is working with their product and has just listened to

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our conversation here?

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What would be the steps that you would suggest?

Speaker:

You know,

Speaker:

maybe they've been taking notes,

Speaker:

maybe they've just been listening.

Speaker:

What are one or two things that should be the biggest

Speaker:

takeaways? It's really stepping out of the product and into that

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business leadership role.

Speaker:

And when I say leadership,

Speaker:

I'm really talking about having a true strategy for the why

Speaker:

behind what you're doing.

Speaker:

Where do you want to go?

Speaker:

So as Sue talks about,

Speaker:

what is that vision for your company and now what are

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we going to do in the next six to 12 months

Speaker:

to get closer to that vision?

Speaker:

I am a believer that a vision is going to be,

Speaker:

and for a small business like most of ours,

Speaker:

we're not going to have a vision that's going to extend

Speaker:

past three years.

Speaker:

The economy,

Speaker:

the industry,

Speaker:

technology, all of those things can come in and can disrupt

Speaker:

it. Set your vision big enough to where it's a three

Speaker:

year kind of stretch.

Speaker:

Where do you see yourself in 2023 and what are we

Speaker:

going to do in 2019 to get closer to that 2023

Speaker:

vision? I love that because You're making the vision farther out

Speaker:

so that it can be a bigger vision,

Speaker:

but there's not the pressure that you have to be there

Speaker:

tomorrow. You break it down step by step so you can

Speaker:

start progressing to where you're trying to go And see advancement

Speaker:

towards your goal every single month.

Speaker:

Right? And that's the only way that we as individuals feel

Speaker:

progress, right?

Speaker:

So for someone,

Speaker:

me who's not extremely money motivated,

Speaker:

I love to see this.

Speaker:

This gets me closer to where my heart wants to be

Speaker:

versus where I physically am at today.

Speaker:

And that's truly the way I look at it.

Speaker:

I know it's very soft and fluffy,

Speaker:

just so that I can share with you guys a true

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example. My vision for my company is by 2025 I will

Speaker:

have certified 500 directors of operations on at least four continents.

Speaker:

So it's specific.

Speaker:

And so everything that I do in my business,

Speaker:

I am always looking through the lens of what am I

Speaker:

doing to make sure that I'm equipping business owners and equipping

Speaker:

people who have operational knowledge to be in business because I

Speaker:

want them to have a flexible lifestyle just like I do.

Speaker:

So it allows me to say no to things that pop

Speaker:

up. It allows me to say yes to the right things

Speaker:

and having that vision,

Speaker:

making sure that everything runs through that lens.

Speaker:

Should I run Facebook ads?

Speaker:

Like even the day to day stuff is still run through

Speaker:

that exact same lens.

Speaker:

Should I go to this conference?

Speaker:

Should I speak at this event?

Speaker:

Should I,

Speaker:

all of those things,

Speaker:

all of those business activities,

Speaker:

I come back and I say,

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okay, if my goal is to have 500 certified director of

Speaker:

operations, does it make sense for me to talk to wedding

Speaker:

professionals because that's an offer that I had to go speak

Speaker:

at. So it just helps me to stay in line,

Speaker:

to stay in check,

Speaker:

to make sure that I'm doing the right things,

Speaker:

and if I can tie my daily activities to the vision

Speaker:

that I want in 2025 then I know I'm going to

Speaker:

make myself proud.

Speaker:

I know that I'm going to keep marching forward and fulfilling

Speaker:

that heart piece of why I'm doing what I'm doing.

Speaker:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker:

I love that example because you could be so busy by

Speaker:

taking speaking engagements and training and all of that,

Speaker:

that could ultimately bring you into an entirely different direction than

Speaker:

where you were trying to go.

Speaker:

In that case,

Speaker:

you'll be really busy,

Speaker:

you'll be dedicating a lot of time,

Speaker:

but none of the actions that you're taking are actually bringing

Speaker:

you to your goal.

Speaker:

Right. And I just have to say corporate Natalie,

Speaker:

I love how concrete it is.

Speaker:

500 certifications for continents.

Speaker:

Yep. Time to kind of come up with that number.

Speaker:

But I'm super analytical and so numbers do somewhat come naturally

Speaker:

to me.

Speaker:

But yeah,

Speaker:

I love having that because you know what?

Speaker:

It tells me how much marketing I need to do.

Speaker:

It really helps me to reverse engineer by putting some numbers

Speaker:

to this.

Speaker:

It did allow me to do that,

Speaker:

but it also could be having a product and target,

Speaker:

right? It doesn't have to be a number.

Speaker:

It can be where do you want this product to go

Speaker:

in the next three to five years?

Speaker:

Where, what shelf do you want it to be on?

Speaker:

Sure. That's a huge vision.

Speaker:

I mean the point is having the vision not to just

Speaker:

be doing a ton of work and not sure what road

Speaker:

you're on.

Speaker:

So I do something called strategic mapping,

Speaker:

which would be really helpful for your audience and it starts

Speaker:

with the vision,

Speaker:

but it's also being organized in your business.

Speaker:

And I know that as makers,

Speaker:

you spend a lot time in that actual product because that's

Speaker:

where you likely entered business.

Speaker:

So it's hard to remove yourself and we've talked about that

Speaker:

today. But I also think once you are ready to grow

Speaker:

and scale this business,

Speaker:

make it a little bit easier for you.

Speaker:

Maybe remove the overwhelm,

Speaker:

you're going to need that productivity and that structure internally and

Speaker:

I have a giveaway at the,

Speaker:

if you go to the opposite authority.com

Speaker:

forward slash business dash hub like business hub,

Speaker:

it's going to help you with getting started in getting organized

Speaker:

and then understanding how you create and take that vision to

Speaker:

your daily activities.

Speaker:

Thank you so much for sharing that with us.

Speaker:

Yeah, so it's the apps authority.com

Speaker:

forward slash biz dash hub,

Speaker:

right. You got it.

Speaker:

Gift biz listeners,

Speaker:

you know that I'll also have that for you over on

Speaker:

the show notes page and Natalie in addition to this for

Speaker:

another place on mine for people to go to learn more

Speaker:

about you,

Speaker:

where would you direct them?

Speaker:

So you can definitely go to the website,

Speaker:

which is the opposite authority,

Speaker:

but I'd encourage you to check out the podcast as well,

Speaker:

the opposite authority,

Speaker:

podcasts.com and then I spend the majority of my time on

Speaker:

Facebook, call it my age,

Speaker:

but I love Facebook,

Speaker:

you and me.

Speaker:

Yes. So you can go to facebook.com

Speaker:

forward slash the opposite authority.

Speaker:

So everything is the opposite authority.

Speaker:

I'm also on Instagram.

Speaker:

I do spend time there,

Speaker:

but Facebook is more my jam so you'll see me there

Speaker:

more often.

Speaker:

Well, Natalie,

Speaker:

thank you so much.

Speaker:

This has been a topic we've never discussed before and you've

Speaker:

given us some nuances,

Speaker:

some different ways of looking at things that are going to

Speaker:

be really helpful as we build our businesses into the future.

Speaker:

So processes the name of the game.

Speaker:

Thanks again Natalie.

Speaker:

It has been such a joy to have you on.

Speaker:

Michelle, Thank you for having me Sue.

Speaker:

So now you know all about processes and the important role

Speaker:

that they can play within your business.

Speaker:

We started documenting our procedures about a year ago or so,

Speaker:

maybe a little bit more.

Speaker:

We're not done yet and every time we start something new,

Speaker:

it's built into our system to capture the steps and the

Speaker:

procedures. I have to say it makes me so much more

Speaker:

at ease to know these things are written down.

Speaker:

It's also helped when I brought on a virtual assistant and

Speaker:

as we bring in new people for order fulfillment or different

Speaker:

things like that.

Speaker:

The trick here is to actually get started.

Speaker:

So why not?

Speaker:

Think of one process you have that you can capture on

Speaker:

paper. Momentum can really help here too because once you've done

Speaker:

one, the next one will come easier.

Speaker:

As we say goodbye for this week,

Speaker:

I want to remind you to go over and register for

Speaker:

a spot in my masterclass.

Speaker:

The link again is gift biz unwrapped.com

Speaker:

forward slash masterclass.

Speaker:

Do it right now,

Speaker:

so don't forget,

Speaker:

and having said that,

Speaker:

I'm looking forward to us being together again next week.

Speaker:

Bye for now.

Speaker:

After you listen to the show,

Speaker:

if you like what you're hearing,

Speaker:

make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on

Speaker:

Apple podcasts.

Speaker:

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

Speaker:

live, and thank you to those of you who have already

Speaker:

left a rating and review.

Speaker:

By subscribing,

Speaker:

rating, and reviewing,

Speaker:

you help to increase the visibility of gift biz on wrapped.

Speaker:

It's a great way to pay it forward to help others

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