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Episode 400: What 400 Podcast Episodes Reveals About Writing and Publishing Cookbooks · Cookbook Love Podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker: You are listening to the
• 0:03
  Speaker: cookbook Love Podcast with
• 0:04
  Speaker: Maggie Greene, episode number
• 0:07
  Speaker: four hundred.
• 0:10
  Speaker: Welcome to the cookbook Love
• 0:12
  Speaker: Podcast, a podcast that
• 0:14
  Speaker: celebrates cookbook readers,
• 0:16
  Speaker: buyers, collectors, writers, and
• 0:18
  Speaker: clubs.
• 0:19
  Speaker: And now your host, cookbook
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  Speaker: author, culinary dietitian, and
• 0:23
  Speaker: cookbook writing coach, Maggie
• 0:24
  Speaker: Greene.
• 0:31
  Speaker: Hi, everybody.
• 0:32
  Speaker: Welcome back to another episode of the Cookbook Love Podcast.
• 0:35
  Speaker: Welcome to episode four hundred.
• 0:38
  Speaker: So excited to be here in your
• 0:40
  Speaker: ear and on your phone or laptop
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  Speaker: tablet desktop for the four
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  Speaker: hundredth time.
• 0:49
  Speaker: Shown up four hundred times to talk about writing and
• 0:52
  Speaker: publishing cookbooks celebrating cookbook readers, writers,
• 0:55
  Speaker: collectors, and clubs.
• 0:57
  Speaker: Talk to hundreds and hundreds of people who want to write a
• 1:00
  Speaker: cookbook, and I've had a front row seat to speak with and
• 1:04
  Speaker: interview some of the most amazing people who have finished
• 1:08
  Speaker: their cookbook writing projects.
• 1:10
  Speaker: And after four hundred episodes, here's what I know for sure.
• 1:15
  Speaker: The difference between people who actually finish their
• 1:19
  Speaker: cookbook and who just think about a cookbook.
• 1:22
  Speaker: It's not talent or timing or opportunities, although those
• 1:27
  Speaker: things may be help some.
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  Speaker: I think that the difference is willingness.
• 1:34
  Speaker: And I think about the difference
• 1:35
  Speaker: between being willing and being
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  Speaker: ready.
• 1:38
  Speaker: And that's a little bit what I want to talk about today,
• 1:40
  Speaker: because I know for a fact, when I started this podcast, I was
• 1:44
  Speaker: not fully ready to do four hundred episodes at the very
• 1:49
  Speaker: moment I started.
• 1:50
  Speaker: In fact, when I started back in September of twenty eighteen, I
• 1:54
  Speaker: really didn't even know how to do what I was going to do.
• 1:58
  Speaker: I did not know if anybody was going to listen.
• 2:01
  Speaker: I didn't know if I could keep going week after week, but I
• 2:04
  Speaker: knew that I was willing.
• 2:07
  Speaker: There are episodes along the way that I almost did not publish.
• 2:12
  Speaker: I remember listening back to them and thinking, okay, that's
• 2:15
  Speaker: not good enough.
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  Speaker: I should just redo that episode or I should wait and record it
• 2:21
  Speaker: again when I have everything I want to say all figured out.
• 2:25
  Speaker: And the truth of the matter is, is that when we do something
• 2:30
  Speaker: like that and we decide that something's not good enough,
• 2:34
  Speaker: nothing external really changes.
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  Speaker: Um, nobody's waiting for what we
• 2:40
  Speaker: are going to do in its perfected
• 2:42
  Speaker: version.
• 2:43
  Speaker: And no one was going to tell me
• 2:44
  Speaker: that it was okay or give me
• 2:46
  Speaker: permission.
• 2:47
  Speaker: I just decided to publish it anyway.
• 2:49
  Speaker: And that's an internal decision to publish and to be willing to
• 2:55
  Speaker: put things out there before they're perfect, and do that
• 2:59
  Speaker: over and over and over again.
• 3:01
  Speaker: And that's exactly what I've done.
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  Speaker: And here we are, four hundred
• 3:04
  Speaker: episodes later and talking about
• 3:07
  Speaker: the difference between being
• 3:08
  Speaker: willing to do something and
• 3:10
  Speaker: feeling ready.
• 3:12
  Speaker: So I hear this a lot from people that I listen to the podcast.
• 3:17
  Speaker: They have not been on the show,
• 3:18
  Speaker: but people write to me behind
• 3:19
  Speaker: the scenes.
• 3:20
  Speaker: They come to cookbook clarity conversations with me and talk
• 3:24
  Speaker: about their cookbook.
• 3:25
  Speaker: They joined my programs and they
• 3:27
  Speaker: do want to write a cookbook, but
• 3:29
  Speaker: they really don't feel like
• 3:30
  Speaker: they're ready.
• 3:30
  Speaker: They're waiting for more
• 3:32
  Speaker: recipes, a bigger audience, the
• 3:34
  Speaker: they say agents and publishers
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  Speaker: tell them they need more
• 3:36
  Speaker: followers.
• 3:37
  Speaker: They need more time.
• 3:38
  Speaker: They need more clarity.
• 3:39
  Speaker: But what's really happening is that every time we start to get
• 3:42
  Speaker: close to doing something.
• 3:44
  Speaker: Did you know that the starting line moves, you could decide
• 3:48
  Speaker: that you need to have one hundred dollars in the bank
• 3:53
  Speaker: before you start a podcast.
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  Speaker: And I make this is just an analogy.
• 3:57
  Speaker: Then you get to one hundred dollars and once you get there,
• 4:00
  Speaker: you think, okay, I'm not ready.
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  Speaker: I need to have one hundred and
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  Speaker: one dollars or I need to have
• 4:04
  Speaker: one hundred and ten dollars, or
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  Speaker: I need to have two hundred
• 4:06
  Speaker: dollars.
• 4:07
  Speaker: And we change again the circumstance outside of us
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  Speaker: before we actually make the decision to do whatever it is we
• 4:15
  Speaker: want to do.
• 4:17
  Speaker: And when the moving and starting line changes, we're never ready.
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  Speaker: Not because something's wrong or because, uh, we have done
• 4:30
  Speaker: anything wrong, but because readiness is not something we
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  Speaker: achieve ahead of time.
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  Speaker: Readiness comes by starting.
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  Speaker: So if I'm going to start a
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  Speaker: podcast when I have one hundred
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  Speaker: dollars in the bank and I make
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  Speaker: that decision when I get one
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  Speaker: hundred dollars in the bank, I
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  Speaker: start and then I record my first
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  Speaker: episode, publish it, record my
• 4:55
  Speaker: second episode, publish it,
• 4:57
  Speaker: record my third episode, publish
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  Speaker: it.
• 4:59
  Speaker: So starting it is what actually makes us ready.
• 5:02
  Speaker: Not waiting for an arbitrary starting point.
• 5:07
  Speaker: Now it's good to have goals, and it's good to have measurable
• 5:09
  Speaker: goals and to say we're going to start it on a certain date or at
• 5:12
  Speaker: a certain time.
• 5:12
  Speaker: But the secret is, is that we actually do what we say we're
• 5:15
  Speaker: going to do at the time we decide we're going to do it.
• 5:19
  Speaker: And this is true for people who finish cookbook proposals or
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  Speaker: finish and publish cookbooks.
• 5:25
  Speaker: They don't wait for everything
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  Speaker: to feel settled in certain and
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  Speaker: ready.
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  Speaker: They make a decision that they
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  Speaker: are going to do it and they do
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  Speaker: it.
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  Speaker: I've had people inside cookbooks on KDP, publish, self publish a
• 5:38
  Speaker: book on Amazon, their recipes and stories in twelve weeks.
• 5:44
  Speaker: And the reason that they were
• 5:45
  Speaker: able to do that is because they
• 5:47
  Speaker: decided to join the program and
• 5:49
  Speaker: do it.
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  Speaker: They finish them.
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  Speaker: Now, granted, they come to the
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  Speaker: program with recipes written,
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  Speaker: photos ready, but they finish
• 5:57
  Speaker: their books in twelve weeks
• 6:01
  Speaker: because they made the decision
• 6:03
  Speaker: to start their book and complete
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  Speaker: it.
• 6:07
  Speaker: They don't wait until everything feels okay on the outside.
• 6:10
  Speaker: They make the internal decision to start.
• 6:13
  Speaker: Even when the outside circumstances may be aren't
• 6:16
  Speaker: exactly what they thought they should do, or they don't feel
• 6:19
  Speaker: fully confident, they move forward knowing there's always
• 6:21
  Speaker: going to be unknowns.
• 6:24
  Speaker: So our current life is not set up to produce cookbooks.
• 6:30
  Speaker: If it were set up to produce cookbooks or podcasts, you would
• 6:34
  Speaker: have one now.
• 6:36
  Speaker: If you want it.
• 6:38
  Speaker: But the truth of the matter is, is that we don't sometimes have
• 6:42
  Speaker: what we want.
• 6:43
  Speaker: We dream of doing something new, which means we have to change in
• 6:46
  Speaker: order to get it.
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  Speaker: Cookbooks require space structure, follow through focus.
• 6:56
  Speaker: And the question is, is whether or not.
• 7:01
  Speaker: We have created that structure, focus, follow through and space
• 7:05
  Speaker: in our life in order to make the cookbook or the podcast appear.
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  Speaker: So there's small ways that this happens in our real life.
• 7:17
  Speaker: Let's think about something that we really want to do, and we
• 7:20
  Speaker: make a plan to do it.
• 7:22
  Speaker: And, um, we get everything lined up and ready to do it.
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  Speaker: But we tell ourselves at that
• 7:30
  Speaker: moment, kind of like having one
• 7:31
  Speaker: hundred dollars in the bank that
• 7:32
  Speaker: we need one more thing or we're
• 7:34
  Speaker: not ready.
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  Speaker: And then the days pass and the
• 7:37
  Speaker: weeks passed and the months pass
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  Speaker: and the years pass, and we don't
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  Speaker: do it.
• 7:41
  Speaker: But the truth of the matter is,
• 7:42
  Speaker: is that the decision needs to be
• 7:44
  Speaker: made.
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  Speaker: We need to follow through on our decision?
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  Speaker: And then we need to make the space in our life for whatever
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  Speaker: it is we want to do.
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  Speaker: Time in our day, time in our calendar structure, follow
• 7:57
  Speaker: through, maybe support if you need it, mentorship, guidance,
• 8:00
  Speaker: join a coaching program, something like that.
• 8:02
  Speaker: If you really want to have the support and structure to do it.
• 8:06
  Speaker: So if there's something that you
• 8:07
  Speaker: dream of doing, if it's a
• 8:09
  Speaker: podcast, writing a cookbook, the
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  Speaker: question becomes not are you
• 8:13
  Speaker: ready?
• 8:13
  Speaker: But are you willing?
• 8:16
  Speaker: And are you willing to decide to start something and create the
• 8:21
  Speaker: space for it so that you feel ready by starting?
• 8:28
  Speaker: This is something that I think about a lot, and I tell this
• 8:31
  Speaker: story about my first cookbook.
• 8:33
  Speaker: I think I've told it here before, but I certainly had the
• 8:35
  Speaker: credentials to write the book.
• 8:36
  Speaker: Being a registered dietitian, I certainly had the experience.
• 8:40
  Speaker: I was a private chef for people in their homes for many years in
• 8:45
  Speaker: the Greater Cincinnati area.
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  Speaker: And then I went on to work with the joy of cooking.
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  Speaker: Was cooking here at home for my family every single day.
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  Speaker: But I hesitated to send my cookbook proposal to my
• 8:56
  Speaker: publisher because I wasn't sure it was ready.
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  Speaker: I wasn't sure I was ready to step into being an authority on
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  Speaker: home cooking in Kentucky.
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  Speaker: And I first had to decide that I was really ready to claim that
• 9:15
  Speaker: space, to be that expert.
• 9:17
  Speaker: So I waited because I wasn't
• 9:19
  Speaker: ready, not because I didn't know
• 9:20
  Speaker: what to do, not because I didn't
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  Speaker: have the cookbook proposal
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  Speaker: written.
• 9:24
  Speaker: But I wasn't ready to fully own who I needed to become and the
• 9:28
  Speaker: authority I needed to own.
• 9:29
  Speaker: And when I submitted that proposal, so what finally
• 9:33
  Speaker: shifted for me is I remember sitting down and realizing I
• 9:37
  Speaker: could just keep thinking about sending that proposal for
• 9:39
  Speaker: another year, or I could send it and start being ready.
• 9:45
  Speaker: When I sent it.
• 9:47
  Speaker: So I sent the proposal, the book got accepted.
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  Speaker: It became something real.
• 9:52
  Speaker: It got published, and that went
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  Speaker: on to open so many doors for so
• 9:56
  Speaker: many opportunities, including
• 9:59
  Speaker: the podcast that I'm sitting
• 10:00
  Speaker: here talking to you on with for
• 10:04
  Speaker: about today.
• 10:07
  Speaker: That one book changed my entire life.
• 10:13
  Speaker: So are we ready to have to do something new knowing it's going
• 10:19
  Speaker: to change our life?
• 10:21
  Speaker: In many ways, it's going to
• 10:23
  Speaker: change our life while we're
• 10:24
  Speaker: creating it because we have to
• 10:25
  Speaker: focus on it, create the
• 10:26
  Speaker: structure and the space, and
• 10:28
  Speaker: it's going to change our life
• 10:29
  Speaker: because we step into the
• 10:31
  Speaker: authority of who we're going to
• 10:32
  Speaker: be when we write a book, and
• 10:34
  Speaker: it's going to change our life
• 10:35
  Speaker: because of the opportunities
• 10:36
  Speaker: that come down the road because
• 10:38
  Speaker: of that book, including writing
• 10:41
  Speaker: more books, being asked to be a
• 10:45
  Speaker: guest on people's podcasts,
• 10:46
  Speaker: being asked to be on book
• 10:48
  Speaker: panels, speaking and
• 10:49
  Speaker: engagements, opportunities to
• 10:52
  Speaker: travel, um, go places I've never
• 10:54
  Speaker: been because I suddenly was an
• 10:56
  Speaker: author.
• 10:58
  Speaker: This is the same thing that happens every time we decide to
• 11:02
  Speaker: do something new, and we're willing to do it.
• 11:06
  Speaker: Because after four hundred
• 11:08
  Speaker: episodes, I can tell you that
• 11:09
  Speaker: the people who succeed with book
• 11:11
  Speaker: writing aren't.
• 11:12
  Speaker: Podcasts are not the ones who
• 11:14
  Speaker: feel the most prepared and the
• 11:15
  Speaker: most ready.
• 11:17
  Speaker: The people that have four
• 11:18
  Speaker: hundred episodes of a podcast
• 11:20
  Speaker: and have written multiple books
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  Speaker: and have done things in their
• 11:24
  Speaker: life that they dream about
• 11:25
  Speaker: doing, are the ones who are
• 11:26
  Speaker: willing to move forward without
• 11:29
  Speaker: feeling ready at the starting
• 11:31
  Speaker: line.
• 11:33
  Speaker: So what in your life are you willing to change?
• 11:36
  Speaker: Or what are you willing to shift
• 11:39
  Speaker: in order to make your dreams
• 11:40
  Speaker: come true.
• 11:42
  Speaker: Maybe you need to.
• 11:43
  Speaker: Maybe it's your schedule.
• 11:44
  Speaker: Maybe it's your priorities.
• 11:45
  Speaker: Maybe it's how long we stay in
• 11:47
  Speaker: research mode instead of making
• 11:48
  Speaker: decisions.
• 11:49
  Speaker: But something has to change in
• 11:51
  Speaker: order for these things to
• 11:52
  Speaker: happen.
• 11:53
  Speaker: And I think the biggest thing
• 11:54
  Speaker: that I now tell myself that I
• 11:57
  Speaker: didn't used to tell myself, was
• 11:59
  Speaker: that I have tons and plenty of
• 12:02
  Speaker: time.
• 12:05
  Speaker: I'm not crazy busy, I have time,
• 12:11
  Speaker: and the reason I have time is
• 12:13
  Speaker: because I'm alive, and I believe
• 12:16
  Speaker: that my life is here for a
• 12:18
  Speaker: purpose, to introduce people to
• 12:21
  Speaker: things that bring more light,
• 12:23
  Speaker: more love, more peace, more joy,
• 12:26
  Speaker: more fun, more enjoyment, more
• 12:29
  Speaker: food, better food, more
• 12:31
  Speaker: community, more family time into
• 12:34
  Speaker: their life.
• 12:37
  Speaker: I have tons of time to help people do that.
• 12:40
  Speaker: I have so much time to help
• 12:41
  Speaker: people get the results that they
• 12:43
  Speaker: want.
• 12:45
  Speaker: That is an amazing thing that has happened to me over the
• 12:50
  Speaker: course of time.
• 12:53
  Speaker: So once you stop asking if you're ready, you can start
• 12:56
  Speaker: asking a much more useful question, which is what needs to
• 13:00
  Speaker: change in my life so that I can actually do the things that I
• 13:03
  Speaker: want to do.
• 13:05
  Speaker: So some of you might be listening to this podcast for
• 13:08
  Speaker: the first time.
• 13:08
  Speaker: Some of you maybe have been here
• 13:10
  Speaker: a long time, and some of you
• 13:12
  Speaker: have listened to dozens of
• 13:13
  Speaker: episodes, maybe even hundreds of
• 13:15
  Speaker: episodes.
• 13:16
  Speaker: And some of you are here just learning for the first time.
• 13:20
  Speaker: And maybe some of you still have
• 13:21
  Speaker: a dream of writing a book, a
• 13:24
  Speaker: cookbook, nutrition book, food
• 13:26
  Speaker: book, a cookery book, baking
• 13:27
  Speaker: book.
• 13:28
  Speaker: And remember, you want to do it not because you're ready,
• 13:31
  Speaker: because you decide that you want to do it.
• 13:34
  Speaker: So I want to tell you that this week I'm hosting a free
• 13:39
  Speaker: masterclass called Stop Dreaming About Writing a Cookbook and
• 13:42
  Speaker: start with a clear Plan.
• 13:44
  Speaker: Inside this class, I'm walking
• 13:47
  Speaker: participants through decisions
• 13:48
  Speaker: that we make to move our
• 13:50
  Speaker: cookbook projects forward and to
• 13:52
  Speaker: show you how to go from thinking
• 13:54
  Speaker: about something to building it
• 13:56
  Speaker: with direction.
• 13:58
  Speaker: So if you are interested in that
• 14:01
  Speaker: masterclass, the link is in the
• 14:02
  Speaker: show notes, or you can head to w
• 14:04
  Speaker: w w dot cookbook writers academy
• 14:06
  Speaker: dot com.
• 14:10
  Speaker: And sign up today for the masterclass.
• 14:14
  Speaker: So in closing here again, thank
• 14:17
  Speaker: you so much for all of your
• 14:19
  Speaker: participation.
• 14:20
  Speaker: Episode four hundred for my
• 14:22
  Speaker: podcast did not happen because I
• 14:25
  Speaker: was ready.
• 14:26
  Speaker: It happened because I decided to show up every week, week after
• 14:31
  Speaker: week after week after week dedicated to putting this show
• 14:36
  Speaker: together for your benefit.
• 14:40
  Speaker: And our cookbooks work the same way.
• 14:43
  Speaker: Everything won't click in one perfect moment.
• 14:45
  Speaker: It's just a series of decisions that we make to move forward.
• 14:48
  Speaker: So if you're willing to make
• 14:49
  Speaker: those decisions, I can
• 14:51
  Speaker: definitely show you how in the
• 14:53
  Speaker: masterclass that I'm teaching,
• 14:54
  Speaker: and I would love to see you all
• 14:57
  Speaker: there.
• 14:58
  Speaker: So that is it for today's episode, four hundredth episode
• 15:02
  Speaker: of the Cookbook Love Podcast.
• 15:04
  Speaker: This is your host, Maggie Green.
• 15:06
  Speaker: And until next time, have a
• 15:07
  Speaker: great day and keep loving your
• 15:09
  Speaker: cookbooks.
• 15:14
  Speaker: Thanks for listening to the Cookbook Love podcast.
• 15:16
  Speaker: You can find out more information at w w w dot
• 15:19
  Speaker: cookbook dot co.