Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / 200th Episode: Weathering the Storm with Melinda Emerson

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200th Episode: Weathering the Storm with Melinda Emerson · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  When things are all good, you're not really growing.
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  Sometimes storms are necessary to focus to get a new vision, to create a new innovative idea.
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  You know, sometimes we can focus on preventing storms or really we can learn to ride the storm
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  when you learn to ride the storm.
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  It's not a problem anymore, and there are things that only you can learn from a storm.
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  0 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.
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  And she'll give you the information 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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  Hi, everybody.
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  This is Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady, and I'm like, excited to welcome you to another
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  episode of the small Bishop podcast.
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  In fact, this is the 200th episode of the small biz chat podcast.
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  I can't believe it.
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  I am so excited to be celebrating this mile stone with you all today.
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  And, you know, I thought a lot about what it is I wanted to talk to you all about today.
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  And I I was actually stuck going for a minute.
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  And then I I was thinking about it.
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  I would and I was talking to my sweetie babes, my my my beloved And he gave me a really good
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  suggestion.
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  He said, how about you talk about weathering the storm?
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  And I was like, yeah.
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  You know what?
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  That's a really good idea because There's lots of people out here dealing with different kinds
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  of storms, and and storms can come up on your business in so many ways.
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  It could be a key employee leaving.
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  It could be a divorce, and now you gotta figure out how you're gonna buy your former spouse out
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  of whatever equity there is in your business.
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  It could just be the bank calling your line of credit and turning it out into a business loan.
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  I mean, there's so many things that can create a storm for you in your business.
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  And and sometimes, In the midst of a bad storm, it's easy to give up.
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  It's easy to be like, I can't do this, but of course, you can't First of all, all storms are
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  temporary, right, that that there's a song that we used to sing when I was a kid in church and
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  It goes, the storm is passing over.
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  Right?
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  So so there is nobody who walks around with a permanent dark cloud over their head.
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  You know, storms are rough.
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  They can batter and bruise you, but you almost wanna use a storm in your life or a storm in
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  your business.
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  Like a tool.
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  Something that can refine you and shape you for a new vision, you know, and I think that's
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  something that we lose sight of sometimes.
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  Sometimes we're so busy trying to battle the storm, trying to swim to shore, trying to keep
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  from drowning.
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  That we that we don't look at it as an opportunity.
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  You know, the pandemic was a major storm for a lot of people.
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  Now certainly there are people who were prepared and and one big out of the pandemic,
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  whether they, you know, were set up to sell e commerce or they had of a bunch of employees
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  who were able to cash in with the PPP loan money.
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  You know, there there's lots of people who won during the pandemic, but there was many, many
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  people who didn't.
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  And that was a storm That, you know, that even I faced in my business, because, I mean, the
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  pandemic was not a wonderful year for me.
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  It it it was a year luckily that I was able to stand back and think about the future needs of
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  my business and my customers and build a product for the future needs of my company.
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  And that's how we created small business lady university.
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  We updated the becoming your own boss book and set things up for after the pandemic, you know,
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  we've been very successful, but during the pandemic, hey.
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  It was it was rough seas for me over here too, but One thing I know about storms is in the
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  midst of a storm, you can feel all alone and When you are an entrepreneur, it's already a
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  lonely walk.
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  And then something bad happens and you feel like you're even more on an island by yourself,
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  but my father used to say something.
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  He used to say, you know, that sometimes you can feel like nobody loves you and nobody seems
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  to care.
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  But honestly, that's just your emotions playing with your mind.
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  That's not really true.
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  Even in storms, You know, first of all, god's got you, but your family, your loved ones, your
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  friends, these are still people who're gonna be there for you.
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  Nobody's gonna let you or your children start Right?
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  So you have to keep things in perspective, and I like to say keep things factual, not
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  emotional, because definitely storms can feel impossible, but don't waste time thinking about
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  why me, you know, Why did this happen to me?
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  The reality is why not you?
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  You know, trouble will befall everyone at some point.
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  But, you know, there's there's all these things out here now.
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  There's storms.
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  There's fires.
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  There's floods.
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  And sometimes they're heavy and large to manage.
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  But that's when you gotta look to your extra help, your other help, and that's when I always
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  look to the lord for help.
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  You know, I'm I'm certainly all about business plans and strategic marketing plans, but
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  sometimes plan a and plan b are not working.
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  And prayer is always plan c.
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  Some people might say it should be plan a, but, you know, don't be a pray to pray and ask god
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  for a vision of what your purpose really is.
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  That's what I did Gosh.
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  14 years ago, before I became your small business lady, before I started coaching
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  entrepreneurs, I was in a bad way.
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  I had a marriage that was crumbling.
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  I had just had my son.
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  I had been on bed rest for 6 months.
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  My business was in a shambles because was the number one rainmaker in my business, and then I
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  wasn't there to make any rain.
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  And then I just didn't love my business anymore.
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  Before I had my son, I was like, this incredible workaholic that could work 12, 14
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  hours a day.
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  No problem.
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  And after I had my son, I had no interest in living like that, and I had to reinvent myself
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  and my business, but I had no idea what to do.
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  And I literally started praying, and it took me about two and a half months.
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  A praying every day without Seasing.
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  And then finally, God gave me a vision and a dream three times to become America's number
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  one small business expert, and he moved every mountain out of my way to do that.
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  And that was back in 2007.
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  I got that vision and and and I'm grateful to say all these years later it came to pass, but
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  it was a vision he gave me when I was in a storm.
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  And so I want to just let you guys know that sometimes you have to wait on the lord to give
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  you the answer.
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  And it's not fun to wait.
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  No.
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  But I don't know about you.
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  I hate waiting in lies.
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  I hate waiting for stuff.
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  And so it's important for you to remember that storms draw something out of us and sometimes
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  calm seas don't.
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  When things are all good, you're not really growing.
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  Sometimes storms are necessary to to get a new vision, to create a new innovative idea.
• 7:43
  You know, sometimes we can focus on preventing storms or Really, we can learn to ride the
• 7:51
  storm.
• 7:52
  When you learn to ride the storm, it's not a problem anymore.
• 7:56
  And there are things that only you can learn from a storm.
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  You know, when we are vulnerable to storms, that's when You know, amazing ideas can come to
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  us or when we are quiet enough to hear god speaking to us or a vision that He has for us.
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  So you gotta think about coming out of the storm.
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  You won't be the same.
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  It's not possible.
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  For you to be the same after a storm.
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  And that's the purpose, I think, of the storm in the first place.
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  You know, it's a lot of the times.
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  It's like life is not about waiting for the storm to pass.
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  But about learning to dance in the rain.
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  I actually saw that as a quote in someone's office one time, and I and I remember that.
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  And I thought, Yeah.
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  It is it is about dancing in the rain.
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  And and if we really wanna get, you know, truly biblical about this, if you if you look at
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  Psalm 62 one too says my soul finds rest and god alone my salvation comes from him.
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  He alone is my rock and my salvation.
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  So if you're looking for A biblical reference for weathering the storm.
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  That is a perfect one.
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  I always can go to Psalms and get me some inspiration.
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  But at the end of the day, the truth is we need storms.
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  It's uncomfortable as painful and, you know, and these seasons of life can be, they grow us.
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  They stretch us.
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  They make us appreciate the good times that much more.
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  So what I wanna challenge each of you to do is to look for the blessing in the storm.
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  You know, because the at the end of the day, when god wants to move you to a bigger
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  blessing, he will allow a heavy storm to pour on you because All plants grow after the rain.
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  So I want you all to think about what it is that is gonna help you weather a storm better
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  the next time.
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  And I wanna leave you with just a couple of powerful things you can do.
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  First of all, you can think positively.
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  You can network well.
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  You should exercise daily and sometimes you need physical exercise and other times you need
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  to exercise your mind.
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  You should eat Healthy.
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  You need to work hard.
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  Stay strong.
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  Build.
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  Faith.
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  Wearless.
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  Read more, volunteer freely, relaxed often, and love always.
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  I really hope that these are things that you think about.
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  The next time a storm is upon you or if you are in the middle of a storm right now, I just
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  wanna pray that these words have encouraged you because that is what they were meant to do.
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  I want you to live your best life.
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  We do not live to work.
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  We work so that we can live our dream life run hour.
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  Dream business.
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  And that's what it's all about, but I am also really excited to give you guys a special
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  announcement I, for the first time, in 6 years, I am gonna be hosting a live conference in
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  Philadelphia in September, September 21, 22, and 23.
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  And I'm calling it brand in demand live.
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  And I wanna tell you guys there's only gonna be limited space.
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  This event is going to sell out quickly.
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  What I want you guys to do is head over to my website,
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  smallbizladyuniversity.comforward/brandendomanlive to get on the waiting list to get details.
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  I if you are somebody who has always wanted to be a high speed speaker, You wanna be a
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  national spokesperson.
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  You want to be a book author, a media spokesperson a thought leader, these are things
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  that I'm gonna give you the blueprint, the bam blueprint to become a brand in demand.
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  And I'm so excited about this.
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  People have asked me to teach this information for years.
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  And I'm finally relenting.
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  I'm finally being obedient.
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  I am going to host a fantastic event.
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  In Philadelphia, September 21st, 22nd, and 23rd.
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  And I'm gonna give you guys what you need to build your blueprint to become a brand in
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  demand.
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  So you guys want information, wanna get on that waiting list, I want you to head over to
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  smallbizlaneuniversity.comforward/ brand and demand to get on the waiting list.
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  Details in early bird registration are gonna drop some time later in the month of May.
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  So I want you guys to make sure that you are there so that you get the details because You
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  won't be able to say I didn't teach it.
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  We are not live streaming this event.
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  You gotta come to Philadelphia to get all of my good information.
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  But I'm gonna teach you guys my secret for how I have built the incredible small business lady
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  brand.
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  So please don't miss out.
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  I want you guys to jump on this.
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  There's so many awesome things coming But watch watch my website, watch our email list.
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  We're gonna be putting out the information really soon.
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  I really appreciate and feel great that I am your small biz lady, and I always wanna leave
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  you with this.
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  You never lose in business, either you win or you learn.
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  God bless everybody.
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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 more
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  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 succeed as your own boss.com.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.