66 | Behind the Scenes: Zoe Fenn shares her business building journey
Jo shares a case study conversation with her client Zoe Fenn. Zoe's journey highlights the challenges of running a business alone, even with prior experience, and the invaluable support and guidance Jo's programme provided. Zoe's testimonial exemplifies the transformative impact Jo aims for with her clients.
Show Notes:
[00:00 - 02:00] Introduction and background on the podcast's focus.
[02:00 - 03:00] Jo's excitement to share Zoe's case study and the significance it holds for her.
[03:00 - 04:00] Zoe's background and the challenges she faced before joining Jo's program.
[04:00 - 06:00] The valuable support and resources Zoe found helpful in the program.
[06:00 - 08:00] The results and progress Zoe achieved through the program.
[08:00 - 10:00] Zoe's success in selling her group program and creating an individual program.
[10:00 - 11:00] Zoe's biggest takeaway: staying focused on the client's needs and perspective.
[11:00 - 13:00] The importance of understanding the client's language, priorities, and challenges.
[13:00 - 15:00] The difficulty of seeing one's own blind spots and the value of external support.
[15:00 - 16:00] Zoe's plans for designing and delivering her group program.
[16:00 - 17:00] Zoe's recommendation of Jo's program to others feeling entrepreneurial.
[17:00 - 19:00] Zoe's praise for Jo's expertise, responsiveness, warmth, and coaching approach.
[19:00 - 20:00] Jo's closing remarks and call to action.
Useful Links
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Transcript
Hello and welcome to Women in
the Coaching Arena podcast.
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:I'm so glad you are here.
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:I'm Jo Lott, a business mentor
and ICF accredited coach
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:Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):
and I help coaches to
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:build brilliant businesses.
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:I know that when you prepare to enter
the arena, there is fear, self doubt,
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:comparison, anxiety, uncertainty.
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:You can tend to armor up and
protect yourself from vulnerability.
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:In this podcast, I'll be sharing
honest, not hype, practical and
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:emotional tools to support you to make
the difference that you are here for.
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:Dare greatly.
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:You belong in this arena.
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:Welcome to the 66th episode of
women in the coaching arena.
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:I am so glad you are here.
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:I was brainstorming what to record
for you on this Saturday morning?
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:And was going to do five strategic
steps or something along these lines.
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:I just wasn't feeling like.
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:Doing five strategic steps.
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:Maybe because it's the weekend and I'm
not feeling particularly strategic today.
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:Instead, I browse my case studies
and cannot believe I have not
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:yet shared my client zoe Fenn's
amazing story on this podcast.
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:Zoe helps develop strong first
time leaders in insight agencies.
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:She was an absolute joy to work with.
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:I think the key parts of her story
that I'll share with you for me are.
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:That it doesn't matter
how much we think we know.
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:It's really hard to do
this stuff on your own.
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:And Zoe had already had 15 years
experience, pretty much doing what I
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:teach in my program, but finding that is
actually really hard to do it yourself
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:because you get in your head, we've got
our emotions and our feelings involved.
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:And that there's so much more to learn
about running a business, even in
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:terms of the ins and outs of running
it, as well as generating clients.
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:Zoe's case study also means a lot to me.
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:Because it's the model testimonial that,
you know, if you do the exercise and.
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:Someone says, what would you want a client
to share about you after working with you?
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:And then like begin with the end in mind?
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:Well, this for me is everything
I could ever wish and more.
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:So thank you so much Zoe.
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:It's also worth sharing in case you
are one of those people like I was
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:when I started my business working
two days a week around my really young
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:children that Zoe did all of this
inside my program with two days a week
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:childcare and two children under five.
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:So hats off to you Zoe.
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:You have done an amazing job,
and I cannot imagine what you
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:were build as you continue to get
more time as your children grow.
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:Hi Zoe, thank you so much for agreeing
to reflect on your journey with me.
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:Do share a bit about yourself.
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:Ah, well, I set up the
business a year ago.
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:Oh, this is just my
professional self, isn't it?
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:How much do you want to know?
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:So professional me set up the business
a year ago after having my two children.
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:And I set up the business because
I wanted to support people who were
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:transitioning into management and
leadership roles within the research
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:and insight industry that I used to
work in prior to having my family.
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:And what was going on for you prior
to joining the business of coaching?
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:What was going on was that I was
really enjoying what I was doing.
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:I felt like I was in the right
ballpark because I was enjoying it,
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:but I spent a lot of time in my head.
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:Debating what course of action was
best to start really growing the
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:business and translate my coaching
skills and my 15 year career in
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:research and insight into a business
proposition that people wanted to buy.
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:I had so many different pathways in
my head as to how I could do that.
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:And yeah, I was just spending a lot of
time going a little bit into one direction
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:and then pulling back a bit and then going
a little bit to another and pulling back
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:a bit and feeling a little bit frustrated.
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:With that just, just frustration really
that I felt like I hadn't crystallized
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:what I was about and how to go
about really building the business.
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:And what was the impact of that?
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:At the time?
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:Yeah, well, frustration
and poor use of time.
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:Which started to impact
my esteem and motivation.
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:The coaching qualification teaches you
coaching skills, but you don't get any
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:support on like running a business.
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:At me.
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:So maybe I felt like it would be good
to get some support there as well.
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:Yes, exactly.
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:And what did you find
helpful from the program?
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:Oh gosh, lots of things were
helpful from the program, really.
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:I mean, Your constant availability.
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:Maybe that's not something you can
but honestly the speed at which you
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:got back to me on an awful lot of
kind of small things important to
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:me was really, really helpful just
practically for moving forward on stuff.
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:So that support I really valued.
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:But in terms of the whole program what I
really valued was the community of people
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:and how much we supported each other.
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:And also the breadth of stuff we covered
in the course, stuff that I wouldn't
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:necessarily have Like paid for bit by bit,
you know, but it's all part of the mix.
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:I kind of felt like there was
a lot of added value from it.
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:Things like the copywriting things like
the breathing exercises listening to
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:somebody else do a presentation, even
that kind of thing, and actually, how much
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:you gain from even those conversations
as well, because you sort of think,
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:oh, maybe this is doable for me now.
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:Hmm.
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:And get ideas for how I
could tell a story like that.
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:So those sorts of things were amazing.
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:And then all of the videos online,
the fact you can do that in your own
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:time, and you've got a process, but
you can also fit it very much around
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:your life, was really, really good.
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:And then when you introduced that
half an hour slots, those were
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:really, really, very valuable.
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:Oh, Brill.
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:Thank you, Zoe.
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:It's great to reflect for me and hopefully
for you too, what was the result for
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:you from being part of the programme?
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:Well, a huge amount of progress
on actually creating a business
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:and a viable business proposition.
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:I wouldn't have had the success
that I've had with clients were
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:it not for the program, for sure.
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:I've learned from the program how to
build a credible offer, and I have
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:learned to iterate, I've learned to get
that to a point and then just run with
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:it and then keep iterating as I go.
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:I have learned what sales
strategies work for me.
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:Hmm.
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:I have learned an awful lot of tech
from your course, an awful lot of how
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:to make the most of LinkedIn, how to
make the most of different technical
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:sales tools, lead magnets, things like
that, that I'd never heard of Canva
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:I've migrated everything onto that now.
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:And I just don't think I would have
taken all of those steps as well.
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:And when you're running a small business
you know, to make all that more seamless
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:is so valuable as well as actually like
generating the sales at one end, but
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:actually creating processes that sit
behind that, that are also efficient.
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:It's helped me both grow the
business, but also run the business.
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:Yeah, totally.
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:And tell us about your
successes with clients.
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:I successfully sold my group program,
which I am absolutely thrilled about.
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:I did have a vague group program
when I joined in January that was
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:very loose and not to the point and
was didn't have any of this frontal
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:benefit stuff that we've talked about.
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:You know, it was very, this is what
you get from coaching and I've moved it
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:into really standing in the shoes of the
business and trying to understand what
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:is it that they want for their staff.
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:So I've translated what was quite inward
looking, I suppose, into something that
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:the world actually wants and needs.
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:And I have now.
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:seen that succeed in terms of sales.
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:So I have successfully sold
my group program, which I'm
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:really excited to have done.
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:I think I'm about to make another sale.
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:So you could wait until you, you
could wait until I have before you,
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:before you put the, put this out.
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:But I've translated the group program as
well into a program for an individual.
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:The group one is my flagship, but I've
translated it into one for an individual.
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:And I think he's about to, to buy that.
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:So I can kind of see now how I've
got a signature, but then I can
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:branch out other stuff off it.
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:And I don't think selling the one to one
program is my primary route because I want
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:to do the group ones and I think that I
will enjoy those more and there's bigger
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:benefits from that for the business.
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:But if some businesses are too
small for the group one, they don't
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:have enough people at that level.
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:I've got a version of it for the
individual, which is just so clear.
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:Now, because I've done all that work
through your program on how to really
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:build an offer that you can sell.
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:Amazing.
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:Yeah.
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:It's so exciting, isn't it?
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:And then you can make that into
a book or anything else that you
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:want to, like for an online course.
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:And yeah, super exciting.
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:I've got ideas coming out of my head.
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:Really.
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:I just can't, can't put them all
into practice at the moment, but
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:yeah, I'd love to kind of build an
app and build some stuff that people
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:can just access themselves almost
and just do their own learning.
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:But yeah, lots of ideas
for how I can do it.
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:What would you say is your
biggest takeaway from the program?
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:It's funny because it's sort of
stuff I already did know from
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:my previous career, but it's...
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:I don't know, it's somehow you get
lost in all the other stuff when
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:you're running a business, but I think
it's just to be super focused on the
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:consumer, on the person who is buying.
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:And that was the biggest thing.
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:One of the other big things, I maybe
should have mentioned that in what
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:was going on before for me, but one of
the big things I was spinning around
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:about wasn't just like what's the best
way to grow this and market it, but
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:it was also like, should I be a B2B
business or should I be a B2C business?
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:Yeah.
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:And it took a long time for me to feel
really comfortable with one or the other.
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:It took a long time to kind of let
go of one, but now I am focused
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:on being a corporate business
and I want to sell to the agency.
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:It's just made a huge difference to
what I spend my time doing and how I
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:prioritize my precious time I have each
week to spend on my business right now.
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:That is the single biggest thing
for me that was important because
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:once I had that, everything
could flow much more easily.
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:Think about the kind of
events I need to be at.
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:The events where the CEOs and the
agency owners are not necessarily the
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:events for the actual like employees.
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:So going to things like the
MRS conference, for example
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:was a big thing for me.
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:So I think I will take away to always
think about what that person wants and
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:needs and to keep myself constantly
connected with those people and be
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:doing market research with them,
always understanding Top of mind
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:priorities are and what's worrying them
and what's keeping them up at night.
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:And, you know, is it retention?
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:Is it productivity?
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:Is it performance?
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:I think that's the biggest thing.
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:Like once you know that you
can tell the story around that.
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:And it's not to say I'm
like changing what I do.
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:I still am focusing on those people
at the beginning of leadership
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:and management, but it's just
to stay relevant in terms of.
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:why they need me.
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:Yeah, so true.
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:And it's something that most
people think isn't important.
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:So I love that you've shared that
because everyone just wants to
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:jump to like selling the thing,
but there's so much value in
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:really keeping up with that client.
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:That's what I've learned, like, stand
in someone else's shoes, see the
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:world from their eyes ask questions,
don't perform and yeah, really.
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:Get as much information and get
as familiar as you can with what
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:they're doing and what's going
on right down to the specific
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:language that they're speaking.
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:And as I was saying, it feels
so odd to say this because I
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:did it in a previous career.
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:Like when we'd be giving advice to
brands to do that, giving them the
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:exact language and all, like everything
from quality down to language that,
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:you know, consumers would connect with
and then giving that to the brand.
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:But then it's good cause I've got
a lot of evidence in my head of
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:being a very successful strategy.
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:So I just needed to, to
apply it to my business.
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:And I think you do think when you start a
business that it's all about you and you
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:get bit, you do get bit self absorbed.
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:Exactly.
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:And we can't, we can't do it ourselves.
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:Like I have a business coach to
tell me, you know, what I need to do
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:differently because you just can't see
it when you're in it no matter how much
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:you know the staff, it's just really
hard to see your own blind spots.
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:Yeah, exactly.
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:And it's a lot of ego when you start
a business, you know, you sort of want
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:it to be successful and you think, I
think you have that belief that, or
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:I probably had that belief that it
was about me and what I was doing.
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:Yes.
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:Make me successful or not.
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:And so you're getting quite
focused on like what you're
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:producing and putting out there.
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:And I think you can shift to
focus on what do they need?
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:But it's such a difficult process to
go through on your own, because you
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:have to work out like who you're even
targeting and why and all that stuff.
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:And that's what the course does.
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:You say it kind of lets you
get there in your own time.
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:You've got your point of view
on that right from the outset
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:around niching and stuff.
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:And I think I even heard that in the
thing before I bought the program, like
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:about why you need a niche and everything.
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:But I think I thought I had a niche, but I
didn't realize until I joined the program
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:that it wasn't quite niched enough.
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:Yeah, yeah, totally.
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:It's all the stuff around that.
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:Exactly.
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:It's the so what and it's the with what
offer and all of those different bits,
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:you know, it's, even though I know that
theory from my, as I say, I know that
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:theory from before, but actually applying
it to yourself and being disciplined
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:about going through that process.
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:I just don't think that's something
you can really do on your own.
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:No, not in, not in like.
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:Three to four months anyway, or whatever
it took me to probably took me like three
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:months to sort of get that bit going.
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:And then like three months more, the
second half of your program, more
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:selling strategies and how to then
be getting the program out there
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:and what worked, I would say more
or less spent three months on each.
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:And so it's a huge amount of
progress in six months, really.
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:Yeah, amazing.
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:Yeah, it's been brilliant to see.
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:What's next for you Zoe?
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:Well, I'm going to design and
deliver an amazing group program.
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:It is in the making a future idea
that I do have is creating the same
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:program for a slightly senior level.
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:One about building high trust
teams specifically and becoming a
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:head of or a team leadership role.
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:Because I think the program I have
now is more for people who are at
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:the very beginning of like trying
to have client relationships and
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:trying to line manage people.
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:The next one will be more around
how do you scale up your leadership
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:and build teams and have impact
and influence at a bigger level.
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:Yeah.
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:Who would you recommend the program to?
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:Well, I already have recommended it to
somebody who yeah, like I'm connected
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:with, who seemed to be feeling similar
feelings to me around just spinning
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:around in their own head quite a lot and
getting a bit frustrated with progress.
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:I would recommend this program to people
who are really feeling entrepreneurial
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:and really want to build something.
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:And
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:people with a passion for, for making
a business out of what they do.
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:Totally.
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:And what should others
know about working with me?
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:That you're amazing.
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:I like this one.
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:You are a font of knowledge on everything.
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:I mean, I know you are there as a coach.
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:You do also have your own experience
to draw on as well, and do you
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:research things for us or things that
the group is interested in as well?
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:So you did quite a lot for me and
others like me on the corporate
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:side of things and looking at some
of the corporate sales strategies.
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:So I think that you have lots
of expertise yourself and then
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:you'll go away and look up things
as well, which is super valuable.
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:So there's the expertise and the fact
that you've been there and done it.
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:There's as I say the responsiveness.
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:But then there's just all of
the warmth isn't there as well.
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:There's just all of the
warmth and the encouragement.
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:And the really kind way in
which you challenge us, I think.
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:You, the way you build everyone
up and build up the belief.
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:But you keep the baton with us as well,
you know, to keep trying stuff and and
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:then work out what works for ourselves.
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:It's not, in that sense,
it is more coaching esque
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:because it's not prescriptive.
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:It's not, it's not like.
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:Five steps to getting
clients type of a thing.
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:There's the frameworks which you need
to work through for yourself to build
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:the kind of business that works for you.
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:You're like selling a way for us.
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:To solve our own challenges and whatever
those are, whether that your challenge
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:is more at the offer end of things, or
if it's more putting yourself out there.
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:I didn't particularly have that one
so much putting myself out there.
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:But I did have more of the, like,
getting clear on what I was doing and
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:about, but whatever your challenge is,
the frameworks are there for that, for
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:you to work out what works for you.
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:That seems differentiated
to me in the market.
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:And then the fact that it's a combination
of a group program plus some one to
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:one time with you as well is great.
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:And the fact that it's longitudinal,
it goes over six months.
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:I think you need that time.
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:And you need that like regular dose of Jo
every week to keep you moving on things.
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:So I think that the format of
the program is unique and the
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:way in which you deliver it.
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:Oh, thank you so much.
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:That's so amazing.
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:And I loved working with you.
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:I can't wait to see what's next for you.
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:Thank you so much, Zoe.
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:I hope you enjoyed listening
to Zoe's learnings.
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:She shared some really key, fundamental
things for you in this episode.
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:And if you would like my support to
make this happen, this is what I do.
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:Send me a message on
LinkedIn or Instagram.
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:It's Joanna, Lott Joanna with
an A, and Lott with two T's.
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:.
And let's chat about how I can help you to build or grow your business even further.
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:And like I say, at the end of every
episode, trust yourself, believe
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:in yourself and be the wise Gardner
who keeps on watering the seed.
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:Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):
Thank you so much for listening to this
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:episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.
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:I have a mess of free resources on
my website joannalottcoaching.com.
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:That's Joanna with an A
and Lott with two T's.
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:joannalottcoaching.com.
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:And I'll also put links in the show notes.
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:Let me know if you found
this episode useful.
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:Share it with a friend and
leave me a review, and I will
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:personally thank you for that.
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:Remember to trust yourself, believe
in yourself and be the wise Gardner
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:who keeps on watering the seed.
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:Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.