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Retail Stock, Profit and Mindset: Three Pillars of a Resilient Retail Business · The Resilient Retail Game Plan - retail insights, retail trends and best practices

• 0:17
  I'm gonna tell you the three or maybe four episodes of this podcast
• 0:21
  that you need to listen to, to speed up your path to success.
• 0:37
  Believe it or not, today is the 300th episode of the Resilient Retail Game Plan.
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  It's absolutely mind blowing to me that we have been going for
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  nearly six years, 300 episodes, and recently crossed the 1 million
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  download threshold as well, which is.
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  Absolutely mind blown for something that I have for the majority of the time
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  recorded in my absolutely tiny office.
• 1:01
  And one of the biggest joys of the podcast is when I go out and about
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  and I meet people who listen to it.
• 1:07
  So if you are a regular listener, I just wanna take a moment, say
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  a huge, huge thank you, because it absolutely means the world.
• 1:14
  What I wanted to do in today's episode was really reflect back on the key themes
• 1:19
  that have come outta the 300 episodes, and I wanted to talk you through.
• 1:23
  Three episodes, well actually four sneakily that I have picked out that
• 1:28
  really reflect the biggest themes that I talk about on the podcast.
• 1:33
  So if you are new to the podcast and you haven't listened to the entire
• 1:36
  back catalog, which is perfectly understandable, uh, but you want to get
• 1:40
  a really quick sense of what the podcast is about and get some key episodes
• 1:45
  that will help you really understand that messaging, then this episode
• 1:48
  is going to walk you through them.
• 1:50
  So I began the podcast in 2020, which was obviously the middle of
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  lockdown, the middle of the pandemic.
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  And since that time.
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  The retail industry has gone through what I almost would refer to as a perma crisis.
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  In other words, there hasn't been a single year since I started the podcast
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  that everything's just been absolutely fine and there haven't been any major
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  crises or major issues that are looming.
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  And so what has changed since then?
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  I do believe that people believe even more in the importance of our
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  local shops, our local communities.
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  I think that people still have an appreciation for shopping in person, that
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  they really missed it during the pandemic.
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  Yes, we saw more people shopping online because they had to, but I think that
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  people have really grown to love and appreciate that experience of shopping
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  locally, shopping with independence.
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  And I believe that we've also seen an incredible new
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  wave of independents opening.
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  People who've got a real passion for it, a real passion for their community, and I
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  actually feel pretty confident and excited about the future of the High Street.
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  I think there've been some incredible seismic shifts though in the way
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  that the industry has operated.
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  I think AI has come in and had a huge impact.
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  In both good ways and bad ways.
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  I think that it's actually been a huge bonus for a lot of small business owners.
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  I think that AI has helped become the team member that you just
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  didn't have the budget for.
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  I think that it's helped people get more consistent with their content.
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  I think it's helped them repurpose information in a way
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  that they couldn't do before.
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  It's helped them be able to get an extra helping hand, and I think that
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  it's been really super positive.
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  Interestingly though, I think that it's also in a way highlighted just how much
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  has become automated, how much people are beginning to just hear the same
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  thing over and over again, and people are really craving that human connection.
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  And I actually think that independent retail has a benefit of being quite AI
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  proof in terms of nothing's gonna take away that experience of seeing people
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  in person, seeing bricks and mortar.
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  And I think that can actually be a real bonus for independent retailers as well
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  in, in small businesses in general because one thing that they've really got going
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  for them is their true, authentic voice.
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  You have a voice, you are a real person.
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  And I think that the more that the world leans on ai, the more that
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  people are going to feel, almost like.
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  Unconscious repulsion against things that are too robotic that are not real.
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  And I think that that's actually gonna help people really connect with
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  independent retailers and brands and feel really excited about talking
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  to them because they're real humans and not AI avatars, which I think,
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  yes, it's great for efficiency, but in terms of human connection, I
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  don't think it's particularly great.
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  But on the flip side, I think retailers do have to recognise that not online
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  shopping itself so much as the way that customers are going to arrive at
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  your online store is going to change.
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  So I think that we do have to be aware of the fact that people will be using
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  shopping agents more and more to make purchase decisions and making sure that
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  our businesses are being found by them.
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  I think that that is a key consideration, but I think that ultimately.
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  A lot of these shifts, they're just different ways of getting customers.
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  There's so much that has stayed the same.
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  The importance of great customer service, the importance of having
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  products that your customers actually want, the importance of making your
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  customers feel seen and cared for.
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  Actually, a lot of the things I think that really help with success in
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  2026 are those really key fundamental old school retail principles.
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  As well as a really good understanding of how do you grow your sales, how
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  do you connect with your customers?
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  How do you manage your stock so that you're not letting your
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  profit drain out in random places.
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  as the French say, sells al The more things changed, the
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  more they stayed the same.
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  And I think that.
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  Yes, there's been a lot of shifts.
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  Yes, people are maybe buying in a different way, but the experience they
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  want to have, why they come to independent retailers, what they're looking for
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  hasn't really shifted in that time.
• 6:06
  What I wanted to do in today's episode was really reflect back on the key themes
• 6:10
  that have come outta the 300 episodes, and I wanted to talk you through.
• 6:15
  Three episodes, well actually four sneakily that I have picked out that
• 6:20
  really reflect the biggest themes that I talk about on the podcast.
• 6:25
  So if you are new to the podcast and you haven't listened to the entire
• 6:28
  back catalog, which is perfectly understandable, uh, but you want to get
• 6:31
  a really quick sense of what the podcast is about and get some key episodes
• 6:37
  that will help you really understand that messaging, then this episode
• 6:40
  is going to walk you through them.
• 6:42
  So when I thought about the really big themes that I talk about on the
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  podcast, one that comes up again and again is stock, also profit, and then
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  the third one is the mindset element of running a retail business as well.
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  So if we start with stock, then an absolute quintessential episode that will
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  help you understand why I'm so passionate about this topic is episode number 278.
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  And that is all about dead stock.
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  How to free up dead stock that is cluttering up your cash flow and stopping
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  you getting the money that you need to reinvest into your best sellers.
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  This is a topic that I touch on in lots of different episodes.
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  There are seasonal episodes about your dead stock at Christmas.
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  There's how to clear it in January.
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  There's lots of different episodes where I touch on how to figure out
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  how much to order and how to run promotions without damaging your brand.
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  But episode 278.
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  Is a really good look at why this topic is so important and why it's
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  something that is literally make or break for a lot of different retailers.
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  So the sneaky extra episode that I wanted to drop in when I was
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  talking about this is episode 262.
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  Episode 262 is all about your cash flow and the different elements that affect it.
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  So your cashflow, I talk about the SHOPS acronym, which is.
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  Your sales, having it all planned out, your overheads, your profit, and
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  your stock and how those five elements that spell out SHOPS nicely are really
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  crucial when it comes to your cashflow as a retailer and are really important
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  elements for you to understand how they all interact and help you end up with a
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  healthy cash flow, which helps you be more resilient and pay yourself more, which
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  is a big bonus in your business for sure.
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  So those are my topics.
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  Episodes 278 and 262.
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  If you head over to resilientretailclub.com/300, that's 3-0-0.
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  Then you will see links to all of these for episodes that
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  I'm gonna be talking about.
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  So if you are busy scribbling around trying to figure out how to write down
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  the episode number, don't worry about it.
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  You can just head over to resilientretailclub.com/300.
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  Those two episodes I think are really good representation of one of the absolute.
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  Quintessential key themes of the podcast, which is all about
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  your cashflow and your stock.
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  so when we come on to talk about profit, that's something else
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  that I'm really passionate about.
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  It does link into your stock piece for sure, but profit is also about
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  how you have profitable sales.
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  And you actually make the most out of your sales and protect your profit margin.
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  So episode 259, which is called Sell Less, Make More, has lots and lots of
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  tips for you about protecting your profit margin, and definitely go check that
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  one out because that again, is a really big theme that goes through everything
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  that I talk about in the podcast and is really crucial for you to understand.
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  it takes to become a really resilient retailer.
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  And actually all of those tie into the key truth that I like to talk about,
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  which is that there are two fundamental elements that impact whether or not
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  you have a profitable and therefore successful, long-lived retail business.
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  And that is, are you making enough money every time you make a sale, which
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  is all to do with your profit margin.
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  If you're worried you're not, then definitely go check out episode number
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  259 And also, how quickly are you getting your money back from when you spend it on
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  your stock, which again is everything that we talk about in 278 and 262 So making
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  sure you're clearing through your dead stock, making sure you've got a plan for
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  your cash flow, and then really honing in on your profit margins in episode 259 as well.
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  And then the final element, the final thing that I talk about a lot on the
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  podcast and a final, really crucial part of running a retail business is
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  the mindset side or the psychological side, or motivational side, whatever
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  it is, however you want to call it, of what it takes to actually.
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  Get up every single day, run your business, keep looking forward, keep
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  overcoming those obstacles, overcoming sometimes the loneliness of running
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  a business where maybe you don't have other people, you can bounce ideas off.
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  All of that is absolutely essential when it comes to building a retail business.
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  So, for example, one of my recent episodes, number 296, the
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  importance of keeping selling even when it feels like times are tough.
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  That is definitely a great episode to tune into if you haven't heard that one
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  yet, because I'm touching on that absolute crucial element of running your business.
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  The importance of not just.
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  Financial resilience, but also that mental resilience as well.
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  How do you keep going?
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  How do you believe in yourself,
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  believe in the work that you're doing as an independent retailer,
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  which is absolutely critical, and keep moving yourself forward.
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  So there you have it after 300 episodes, I mean, there's so much more that we
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  cover in the podcast that three really big themes are, are you making enough
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  money every time you make a sale?
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  Which take a listen to 259 for that episode.
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  Are you clearing through your stock enough?
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  Getting that money back?
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  So listen to 278 and 262, and then how do you feel in yourself?
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  Are you motivated?
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  Are you believing in yourself and your mission as a retailer
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  to keep you moving forward?
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  And if you feel like you need a pep talk, then 296 is your episode.
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  As I said, if you head over to resilientretailclub.com/300,
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  you'll see my personal picks for the four episodes that really.
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  Encompass everything that we talk about in the podcast, and we'll
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  give you a really good grounding if you haven't listened to all 300.
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  But by all means, do take a look through.
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  We have incredible speakers.
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  We cover all kinds of topics, but these four episodes are really honing
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  in on the key message of the podcast.
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  Thanks so much for listening, and here's to the next 300 episodes.