Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / How to Turn Your Divine Gifts into a Business with Michelle Kopper

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How to Turn Your Divine Gifts into a Business with Michelle Kopper · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Three, two, one, zero.
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  Ignition.
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  Lift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Have you subscribed to the small biz chat podcast?
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  Well, it's time.
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  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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  small business.
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  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
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  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Bitch Chat podcast today.
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  Now let me introduce my guest, Michelle Copper.
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  She believes your calling is your compass.
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  It's the key to creating impact and prosperity.
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  She helps coaches, healers and experts turn visibility into income.
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  With over thirty years of experience, she helps thousands share their voice and turn their
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  visibility into prosperity from inside out.
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  As CEO of the Inspired Voice Business Coaching, she helps clients refine messaging, elevate
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  presence, and grow faster.
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  She's a master in helping leaders create more impact by stepping more fully into who you
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  truly are.
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  For more information, go to michellecopper.com.
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  All right, Michelle, welcome to the Small Bitch Chef podcast.
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  Hi there, thanks so much for having me.
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  Glad to be here.
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  All right, so tell me a little bit about you.
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  How did you walk into this coaching people into their divine gifts and turning divine gifts
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  into, income, pesos, de niro Yeah.
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  Charity and impact.
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  Yeah.
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  Thanks.
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  Question.
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  So I have been called from the earliest age.
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  I was called the first earliest memory.
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  I was called to sing with the angels in the church Christmas play.
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  I was four years old.
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  That was my whole reason for existing.
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  And there I was in my silver tinsel halo and my white sheet angel costume and the lights came
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  up and I was about to sing with the heavenly host and I was overcome with inexplicable
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  terror and I ran to sit on my grandma's lap.
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  And I felt that calling and that fear resistance over and over and over.
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  I was told I could be a world class vocalist, And all I heard was could be this divine
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  purpose called me and called me forward to help me do brave things.
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  But always overcoming this fear resistance, I pursued vocal performance and my body would
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  betray me when I was standing to sing.
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  I stopped singing and pursued professional acting career, had great success in a very
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  young age in my late teens, and moved to New York to be an actor, but always this holding
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  back.
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  And the closer I was to what I really wanted to do, the more I had this caving that I would do.
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  And so fast forward, I had a pretty profound spiritual experience where I hit a rock bottom
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  and all of a sudden had songs dropping into my head and heard very clearly, you know, these
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  songs are meant for more than you and set about overcoming and healing my blocks and fears
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  around being seen and heard all along the way, developing skills as a teacher and a mentor,
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  teaching what I learned and helping others.
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  And so fast forward through twenty years of owning performance studios and helping
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  thousands of people from Broadway to the boardroom really give voice to their
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  expression.
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  And through that, their calling, I began specifically mentoring calling based business
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  owners or purpose led transformation bringers, coaches, healers and experts about ten years
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  ago online was my next expansion.
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  I wanted to reach and serve more people.
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  And it's the closest to the full complete expression of my calling that I have come so
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  far.
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  And so that's how I came to be coaching people forward into their self expression through the
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  prosperous business, really linking the calling to the prosperity.
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  You said, I love to say your calling is your compass, but it can also be your conundrum.
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  And my story showed me how it was my conundrum because the more I wanted it, the more close I
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  got to it, the more I had resistance and fear and uncertainty and self doubt.
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  So healing that, I discovered myself that my own prosperity and my own stepping into that
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  full expression of my calling was linked.
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  And I tried to leave my calling out of it and just switch seats on the bus and get a
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  different result.
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  But for me, because I've always had that calling to sing my song through my business,
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  it's connected.
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  So I have seen over and over again how when we have those layers of holding back or
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  uncertainty or self doubt, it impacts our prosperity.
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  And when we can connect that calling and that courage and that conviction and that clarity to
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  a thriving business, it goes together.
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  Because if we're not fully expressing, we're in some way putting, slowing down our prosperity
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  and our clarity, which is part of our prosperity.
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  So that's the long answer.
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  Talk to me about how do you define divine gifts?
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  Well, I think everyone has to define divine gifts for themselves and what that means.
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  For me, it's that little tug, it's that thing, that secret heart's desire.
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  It's the thing I most want and it might be the thing that's the easiest for me, Right?
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  So it might be the thing that comes most naturally to me or the for me, it's that tug.
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  So many people will think, well, I want to be doing this, but I have to go make a living.
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  Right?
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  And it actually, when we choose to have that calling based business and lean into it, we
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  have the opportunity to do those things, the easiest things that are our biggest gifts, and
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  actually create the most prosperity doing that.
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  Well, what role does faith and spirituality play in all of this?
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  Well, that's up to the individual, right?
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  For me, there is only love, only faith, right?
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  And for me, my experience was that I had the gift of total surrender where I was like, I
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  can't do this alone.
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  I can't figure this out.
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  It's not working.
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  And so for me, it was a gift of desperation and surrender where I was like, there has to be
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  something more.
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  If there's not, I'm toast.
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  Right?
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  And so I had an emotional surrender and found, you know, tools, resource community to help me
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  live on the basis of trusting the universe, whatever that is to you.
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  If it's a certain kind of religion or a faith or a practice for me, it was a felt experience
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  of surrender and a felt experience of trusting that I was okay, I was enough, I can have what
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  I want, I am meant to be here.
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  And ultimately this calling came with purpose.
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  That I heard a voice say, if you don't sing these songs, no one will ever hear them.
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  And they're meant for more than you.
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  And then I had a choice.
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  Okay, I'm going crazy.
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  I'm hearing voices or, but wait, all of a sudden I feel peace.
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  I feel clarity.
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  I feel hope.
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  And I can choose to act toward that calling again and again.
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  So for me, it was a felt experience and I think people have to define that for themselves.
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  So what mindset shift do you think is necessary for someone to really start treating their gift
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  like something like that could be a serious business?
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  I think that it starts with being able to articulate the value, right?
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  So a mindset shift is to, if even one person could be impacted positively, uplifted, served,
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  supported, are you willing to show up and share your message?
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  Is usually the first mindset shift that people who have this gift, whatever it is, have to
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  find some some to trust in the value to others.
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  And then of course, articulating the value to others and learning how to communicate that and
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  how to stand in that is part of what we do as we create offers and create revenue and create
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  marketing and all of those things.
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  But how do you overcome, I can imagine that somebody who's not a singer that says, okay, I
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  felt like the Lord told me I've gotta sing these songs, But how do you overcome the
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  inevitable imposter syndrome that kinda comes with some of this kind of stuff where you gotta
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  put yourself out there and you're still unsure?
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  So to be very, very clear, I shook and cried and sweated as I sang these songs.
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  My throat closed up, I apologized.
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  It's been a rigorous journey of showing up past the edges of my comfort zone and trusting on
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  faith, even when the sounds weren't as good as I knew they could be, I felt that cringing
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  terror inside.
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  So part of the transformation was having enough of the right support to be bold and courageous
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  and do it anyway.
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  That overcoming blocks and fears around being seen and heard is something that I've seen come
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  in at every level of success.
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  And you're asking, how do we overcome those and surrender like that first tool of permission
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  where if even one person may be served, will I show up even though my voice is shivering, even
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  though I'm unsure, even though I feel inside?
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  We don't compare our insides to other people's outsides, right?
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  So there's a bout of courage.
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  There's some daring, there's having enough of the right support, and then there's showing up
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  no matter what.
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  And so it's a balance of inner game mindset and also action, right?
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  Visibility is a practice like prayer, meditation, martial arts.
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  Sometimes we gotta go to bat for our message, right?
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  And so it happens in the doing and that's where having the messaging so you have the right
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  words and it feels true and aligned.
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  That's where having maybe some coaching in terms of, on how intense the fears or the
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  holding back is to heal those blocks and fears, but knowing how to do it differently can be
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  really powerful.
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  Did I answer your question?
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  I think so in your own special So tell me, how does someone validate that there's a paying
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  customer for their gift?
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  Because I think there's some hobbyists out here who would tell you it's their gifting, but
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  they're not really making any money doing it.
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  What would be the three things you would suggest someone do if they really wanted to try
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  to validate that there was a market for what they wanna do?
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  Craft an offer.
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  And if you don't know how to do that, get some help.
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  What is it that people will get when they work with you or receive this gift?
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  So it does have to get very tangible and practical.
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  The three things are to craft an offer.
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  And that means not just how many hours of coaching and what type of coaching, but the
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  promise.
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  Have you got the support you need to really figure out how you talk about what you do, and
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  and what the promise is.
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  What is the benefit to your participants or the people who buy the thing, right?
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  I think we have to craft our offer.
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  Everything I do in my world starts with crafting that offer.
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  Hopefully in language that feels true to you, reflects the full value of what you bring and
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  is resonating with the people who will benefit most.
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  And that's why, you know, we all have I I think we should all have mentoring and business
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  coaches to help us do that because the closer it is to our calling, the harder it can be to
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  articulate and see.
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  So the very first thing is to craft that offer And that is also the foundation of the next
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  thing, which I think is your business model, right?
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  And there's a lot of little pieces in that, but really it could also be broken down into your
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  revenue model.
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  And a lot of time when people feel called, when we start to put things like offer and business
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  model on top of it, it can get very overwhelming or confusing or intense or scary
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  because it's so easy for us.
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  It's just what we do.
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  So we may have trouble valuing it.
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  And the commerce of it can feel really like a hot stove, really scary and charged, but have
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  the business choose to step forward in your business.
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  And that means you have to know what you're selling and how it helps people and how to talk
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  about it.
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  And you have to have a business model that is sustainable.
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  So, that's where I think if you're a creative or a visionary or you have this big gift you
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  wanna share, having some practical nitty gritty, small business advice is critical.
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  It's really critical.
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  And then believe in yourself enough, do a triple dog dare and go for it.
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  Make a decision, commit to it, and take action.
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  Love it, love it.
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  All right, last question for you.
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  What is the best business advice you've ever been given?
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  Sell it before you make it.
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  All right.
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  Well, you heard Meaning, Meaning
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  invite people, articulate your value, make those offers and invitations at the highest
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  level for the biggest result for your potential client and trust yourself and get the support
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  you need to over deliver on the results.
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  Love it, love it.
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  Thank you so much, Michelle.
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  You are amazing.
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  You've been such a wealth of wisdom.
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  For more information, go to michelecopper.com.
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  And thank you all for joining me for this episode of the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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  If you wanna learn more, head over to our website, Small Biz Lady University.
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  And if you're a woman owned business and you're looking for a confidential community to support
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  you in your business journey, please consider joining Small Biz Lady Academy.
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  We have content there in English and Spanish, and I wanna support you in your journey as your
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  coach.
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  So check out smallbizladyacademy.com.
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  And I'll leave you with this.
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  You never lose in business.
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  Either you win or you learn.
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  God bless everybody.
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  Thank you so much.
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  Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
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  more fantastic information and interviews.
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  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
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  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.