Latest / The Resilient Retail Game Plan - retail insights, retail trends and best practices / How to stop feeling stuck in your own head in your retail business

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How to stop feeling stuck in your own head in your retail business · The Resilient Retail Game Plan - retail insights, retail trends and best practices

• 0:00
  Have you ever felt stuck in your own head when it comes to thinking about your business?
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  Do you feel like you're overthinking every decision?
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  And are you wondering if you're the only one who's finding it hard?
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  There's a phrase that I love: you can't read a label from inside the jar,
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  and it's so true when you're a business owner.
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  When you are the one who's living and breathing a business day in, day out,
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  it's really, really difficult for you to get out of your own head,
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  to get out of your own way, and to really look beyond what's going on for you right now
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  and to think about the possibilities of what could be.
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  Now when you're in your own head, it can magnify your fears,
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  it can distort your perspective, and it can make normal challenges feel like a personal failure.
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  This happens all the time to small business owners, and I'm sure it has happened to you.
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  So what's the answer? How do you get out of your own head?
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  It can be really difficult to do, especially when you are the person running the business,
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  either at home all day working on your online business,
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  or even if you are in store or running your team, it can feel like you are still the one
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  trapped in your own head.
• 1:40
  But the good news is there is a way out,
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  and one of the quickest ways that I found to shift perspective
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  from your own mental limitations is to see other people's stories.
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  And other people's stories are really powerful because they help us rewrite the narrative.
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  When you are the only person hearing your thoughts, it can feel like they're the gospel truth,
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  whereas when you actually see other people who've gone out there and done the things
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  that you wanna do, or if they've grown their business in a way
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  you may have told yourself isn't possible,
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  or they've overcome some kind of challenge that you yourself are struggling with,
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  it's a really quick way for you to shift your perspective.
• 2:29
  I'm a big believer in the saying, you need to see it to be it.
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  And that is one of the most important reasons why I started Retail Roar in the first place.
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  So, Retail Roar — that's R-O-A-R, Roar like a tiger.
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  It's my free online summit.
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  It's coming up on the 26th and the 27th of March,
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  and I specifically created it because I was having so many conversations with people
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  who were stuck in their own head, and I wanted to pull together some really inspiring people
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  who had built their businesses from the same place that you have.
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  Many people who'd started in their parents' house or on their kitchen table,
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  they'd started with a stall, but now they have a whole load of shops.
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  Or maybe they started with a pop-up and now they have bricks and mortar chains.
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  There are people who started with an idea and now they've got huge reach,
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  hitting six-figure months or winning awards for their businesses
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  as the fastest growth and hugely impressive turnovers.
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  What I've challenged myself every single year when I've run Retail Roar —
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  this is my third year running it — and I spend pretty much the whole year doing this,
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  looking for people who've got really interesting, inspiring stories
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  that will give you the viewer an opportunity to really get out of your own head,
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  to put to one side what you feel like you might be capable of doing in your business.
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  And to see the stories of people who have really created something exceptional.
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  So everyone that you admire started with an idea.
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  Everybody who you look up to, and I'm sure if you spent five minutes,
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  you could think about the people that you really admire,
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  that you wish to yourself, "Oh, I wish I had a business like them."
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  They all started with an idea. They all had their wobbly first launch.
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  They all had a tiny following or a lot of self-doubt.
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  And what is the difference? Now you might say, "Oh, well,
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  they're just really good at what they do."
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  But I'm here to tell you that having interviewed a lot of people
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  who've grown amazing businesses, one of the biggest differences between the people
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  who create something amazing and the people who don't is that they kept going.
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  In this year's Roar, it's absolutely no different in terms of the brief that I set myself,
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  and I wanted to just run you through some of the examples
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  just to give you an idea of the kind of speakers that you're gonna be hearing from.
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  If you haven't signed up already, it's completely free to sign up. You can go to Retail Roar,
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  that's retailroar.co.uk.
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  Grab your free spot, and that's all you need to do.
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  You'll then have an opportunity to join a Facebook group,
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  and then the sessions are streamed into the Facebook group on the 26th and the 27th.
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  You'll be able to watch them all there as well as watch the replays throughout the weekend.
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  But just to give you an idea of the kind of people that we have got coming up,
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  I wanna tell you about a few of the inspiring stories that you're gonna hear.
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  One of the people that I really wanted to get onto Roar, and I was delighted it all worked out,
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  was a guy called Luke Ane Cameron. He runs a business called Yes Clean,
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  and I met him for the first time at an event that TikTok put on,
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  which was a press briefing for their Black Friday. And then they also had some creators.
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  It was like a matchmaking event between brands and creators.
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  So I was struck immediately by Luke and the branding for Yes Clean, which was really fun.
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  It's a cleaning brand, in case you hadn't guessed, and has a huge following on TikTok.
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  And what was so incredible about Luke's story — he took the time, he did the research,
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  and then he won the TikTok Breakthrough Seller of the Year
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  for his first year in business, where he shipped 650,000 orders in year one.
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  And what makes his story so interesting
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  is that he's extremely open with sharing the steps that he took,
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  the things that really made a difference to him and how he created this cult brand
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  with his incredible community following.
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  We also have another amazing entrepreneur, Catherine Byrne.
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  You might recognise her name from The Apprentice, where she was a finalist.
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  She has a brand called My Christmas Pajamas,
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  and again, she'll share some really great, concrete information about how she manages
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  with such a seasonal business.
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  You can imagine — when your business is built around Christmas pajamas,
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  you have gotta be absolutely spot on when it comes to your stock management.
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  In terms of bricks and mortar, we have got some incredibly inspiring entrepreneurs
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  who are gonna be sharing their stories with us in Retail Roar.
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  We've got Richard Austin, who is the founder of Vinegar Hill, a chain of stores,
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  as well as Priya Aurora, the founder of Lark London.
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  Now, Vinegar Hill has 15 stores. Lark London has 18,
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  and they both started with a single shop.
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  So it's so interesting to hear their journey in terms of starting with one shop.
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  What made them decide it was the time to expand, and how they went about doing that
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  while still delighting their customer.
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  And then we're gonna hear from Todd and Jenny Cassidy.
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  They have built a chain of 41 bridal boutiques.
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  But again, the really interesting thing about their story is
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  how they recognised a gap in the market, how they recognised that they could create
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  something that the customer really wanted, how they really leaned into that
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  and used that as their springboard for growth.
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  And then we have another fantastic, very inspiring TikTok Shop seller, Don Bogle.
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  She runs a business called Hair Anatomy,
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  and she's gonna be sharing how she went from selling at her kitchen table
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  to hitting six-figure months by building a community of women suffering from alopecia
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  or undergoing cancer treatment, who maybe were making their first ever purchase of a wig,
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  and how her sensitivity and her ability to connect with people
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  during this very emotional time for them has really helped her build her community.
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  What I love about all of these stories is, again, as I mentioned,
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  these are people who started exactly where you are now.
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  They are not shy about sharing not only their story,
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  but also some of the setbacks along the way.
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  I know for a fact, from speaking to a lot of people over the years,
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  that hearing these kinds of stories, understanding a little bit more depth
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  behind the trajectory that these businesses have gone through,
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  makes such a big difference.
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  And that was always my intention with Retail Roar.
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  I wanted it to be inspiring. I wanted it to be uplifting.
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  I wanted it to be really super feel good — a great opportunity for you
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  to hear from people that you maybe have never heard from before.
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  Maybe you are familiar with their brands, maybe you're not so familiar,
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  but these are people who are gonna be sharing not just the highlight reel,
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  but also some of the challenges that they had to overcome.
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  These are people who are gonna be sharing how they chose products,
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  how they marketed, how they built communities.
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  I'm always really keen to hone in on the questions,
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  because you often hear people say, "Make that connection with your customer."
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  Well, what does that actually mean in practice?
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  How do you survive tough seasons? What do you do when things aren't going right?
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  Because nobody's story is linear. It helps to normalise your own journey,
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  and it can really be sometimes the only thing that can get you out of a little bit of a rut,
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  for want of a better word. This is always so that you can get inspired,
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  get that information, that inspiration, and just hear from people who are just like you,
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  who have done amazing things with their businesses and some of the decisions they made along the way.
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  Inspiration — it's not just about feeling good, although it does feel good to be inspired,
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  but it's really, really important to expand what you believe is possible,
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  especially if you are often bombarded by negative messaging.
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  Sometimes we can get stuck in our own corner of social media where everyone's talking about
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  all of these businesses that are closing down, or people who decided to shut their doors,
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  or maybe you are hearing about people who've just decided to go do something else.
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  And it can feel very much like the reality is, "Oh, well, everything's really difficult
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  and it's just not possible to do what I want to do."
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  But when you actually hear from people who are doing the things that you wanna do,
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  or maybe it's not exactly what you wanna do, but it's what they wanted to do
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  and they've been able to build the business for them.
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  And that to me is the really important thing about hearing inspirational stories —
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  to really help you look forward and see things in a different way.
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  Three concrete business reasons to listen to inspirational stories.
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  Number one: you think bigger. You stop playing small.
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  You start to take your business more seriously, and you also just get really clear
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  on some of the other things that have worked for other people.
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  Secondly, it can help you feel more confident showing up,
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  get re-energised with your marketing.
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  We know that often you can get stuck in that cycle of doom,
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  where maybe sales slow down and you feel like, "Oh, this is all really difficult,"
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  so you are not as inspired to show up.
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  And then if you don't show up as much, then sales slow down,
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  and round and round we go in the cycle of doom.
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  Getting inspired, listening to these stories, can help lift you up,
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  give you that boost and get you back out there.
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  And thirdly, it can help you make braver decisions.
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  Just hearing about what's possible, the kind of decisions
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  that you might not even have thought were an option.
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  It can be really inspiring and help you look at things differently,
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  because as I said, you can't be it if you can't see it.
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  So definitely come along to Retail Roar.
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  Completely free to sign up and get your dose of inspiration.
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  So Retail Roar — it's not just about fluffy stories that sound really good from the headlines.
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  This is me sitting down with these incredible founders and delving into the details.
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  If you've listened to this podcast for a while, you'll know I love straight talking,
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  straight to the point. What's practical? What can we use as a takeaway?
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  The talks are short — they're typically 25 to 30 minutes long.
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  You can dip in and out. It's completely free to join,
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  so there's no reason not to sign up. I wanted it to be accessible,
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  and I wanted it to be open to everybody.
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  And if you sign up, you'll be able to get the replays inside the group
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  for a few days after the event.
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  So even if you're not available on the 26th and the 27th,
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  you can come along and have a listen.
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  So Retail Roar — it's about showing you what's possible,
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  about giving you real, practical insight and helping you see the bigger picture
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  for your own business.
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  So if you've been feeling stuck in your own head,
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  this is your chance to have a reset.
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  If you've been feeling flat, feeling isolated, wondering if it's just you,
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  then this is your reminder: it's not just you.
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  Everybody has these moments.
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  There's also another reason that I put it in the first part of the year —
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  because I knew that February and March can be really tricky, slow months
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  for a lot of people,
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  so I wanted there to be something really uplifting during that time
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  so you don't have to figure it all out alone.
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  You can get inspired. You can hear from incredible people
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  who have grown their businesses and learn from them.
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  How did they get through? How did they keep going?
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  How did they keep that forward momentum?
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  Go to retailroar.co.uk, get your free ticket,
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  come and see what's possible,
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  and then let's get you out of your own head and back into action.