Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / How to Create Unbreakable Leadership with Michelle Snow

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How to Create Unbreakable Leadership with Michelle Snow · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  If you don't lead, then what are you doing?
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  Right?
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  I mean, you have to be in position where, number 1, you have the strength the character,
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  the the know it all, to lead not only yourself, but to others.
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  You have to have that like factor.
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  You have to have that courage factor.
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  And with leadership comes vision.
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  Right?
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  We know scripture tells us, without a vision, the people perish.
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  So you you can't just have grit You can't just have tenacity because that's necessary too.
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  The leadership and division is a necessary skill for you to get to where you're going.
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  3, 2, 1, 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 spurt, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  Welcome to another edition of the Small Bishop podcast.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small bus lady.
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  America's number one small business expert And I am so excited to welcome you to another
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  episode of our great show.
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  And if you're ready to grow your leadership, My guess is gonna give you everything you need to
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  know so that you can build what we call unbreakable leadership.
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  And you know something, guys, 50% of all business problems are not so well hidden
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  personal problems.
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  So what does that come down to?
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  That comes down to you, your individual leadership and management style.
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  And so we're gonna talk about how you can evaluate your leadership and how you can get
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  better at it because that should be the goal of any small business owner.
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  Now listen, the small business chat podcast is a peer to peer mentoring program.
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  We have designed this show to give you advice that you otherwise would have to pay lots of
• 2:09
  dollars for.
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  I also wanted to give you information so that you could get it from different perspectives
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  because the mission of smallbiz chat is to end small business failure.
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  We've been doing this for well over a decade, and I am committed to helping you live your
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  dream life as an entrepreneur.
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  So with that, let me formally introduce my guest.
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  Her name is Michelle know.
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  She is the a business coach.
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  She is a strategist, and she is a seasoned business coach who helps small business owners
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  achieve championship like success.
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  She is a philanthropist and award winning trainer, speaker, and executive consultant who
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  helps her clients grow their leadership to grow their business.
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  She is the CEO of grow with snow.com.
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  A professional and leadership development firm based in Philadelphia.
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  And after recovering from a diagnosis of sarcoidosis, Michelle has dedicated herself to
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  coaching and mentoring young and mature entrepreneurs to live their dreams.
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  Michelle's been featured in Forbes build up the inquiry of the ladder and many other media
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  outlets.
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  For more information, go to grow with snow.com.
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  Michelle Welcome.
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  Thank you, Melinda.
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  I'm so happy to be here.
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  Oh my gosh.
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  I am so happy to to have you.
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  And I and I have known you for many years, so I'm cited.
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  I know this story, but my listeners don't.
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  So tell me, how did you build, grow with snow?
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  How did you how did you become a a world class executive consultant and and trainer and coach?
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  Well, Broad Snow, is a newer business for us.
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  9 years ago, I started working with young adults, and then we morphed into, working with
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  corporations, However, during the pandemic, everything changed, not just for me, but for
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  most people.
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  Right?
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  And so at that time, January, February, 2020, all of my contracts, to shame on me, but all of
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  my contracts were live.
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  Right?
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  All of this big personality was either at a corporation or at a school.
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  And so my, my magic was in working directly in person with our clients.
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  Well, In in March, guess what?
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  Every contract was paused or suspended or canceled.
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  So I probably had a complete and total meltdown.
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  And in the midst of trying to save my life and save my mind and save my business, And, of
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  course, being completely and utterly devastated, I grabbed my phone and just started
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  powering through the streets of Philadelphia.
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  And it was a safe place for me because people trusted my brand.
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  They trusted my social media.
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  They trusted my journalism.
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  And so I'm going through the streets of Philadelphia covering the damage, covering the
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  rioting, covering busted windows, talking to owners who are in tears, speaking to people on
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  the corners who were literally without exaggeration, just wandering aimlessly, taking
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  pictures of the boarded sneaker stores, And if if I was to just go a little bit deeper into
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  detail, there was one sneaker store in particular, Melinda.
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  Where they were literally in there still stealing, right, with bags and book bags and
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  just taking out whatever they wanted glass everywhere.
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  And if if anyone here is familiar with Philadelphia, one of the biggest churches in
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  Philadelphia is Enon.
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  And the pastor was doing the same thing.
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  So we were walking the streets of Philadelphia.
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  I'm sharing that background because That was when I felt the strong urgency to laser focus,
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  to lean in And here is where I could be most effective working with small business owners
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  storefronts to help them to recover And that summer, we literally grew and opened grow with
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  snow.
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  Now people, have heard me say that for years, but grow with snow It was a mantra.
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  It was a tagline.
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  It wasn't a business, but we moved it and focused on small businesses that summer, and I
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  haven't looked back.
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  I love it.
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  I love it.
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  So why do you think leadership is so important?
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  Because sometimes leadership has to pivot.
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  Right?
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  You had to pivot your leadership.
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  Why is leadership so important for business success?
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  Well, if you don't if you don't lead, then what are you doing?
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  Right?
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  I mean, you have to be in position.
• 6:59
  Where number 1, you had the strength, the character, the the know it all, 2 lead, not
• 7:05
  only yourself, but to others.
• 7:06
  You have to have that like factor.
• 7:09
  You have to have that courage factor.
• 7:11
  And with leadership comes vision.
• 7:14
  Right?
• 7:15
  We know scripture tells us without a vision that people perish.
• 7:18
  So you you can't just have grit.
• 7:21
  You can't just have tenacity because that's necessary too.
• 7:25
  The leadership in the vision is a necessary skill for you to get to where you're going.
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  So what do you think makes a leader a great leader, highly effective?
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  Well, Character, character.
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  If I did say it, Melinda, I'm gonna say it again, character.
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  I have had the pleasure of working with some of the best and some of the most awful.
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  More recently, we worked with the client, and their mindset, their culture and their business
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  was I'm going to give you a task.
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  Either get the task done or get out.
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  Now I get that that time is money.
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  The challenge was there was no protocol for how to Onboard your team.
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  Right?
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  There was no system estimation that there was cam ability.
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  There was no check-in for understanding It was just this mindset of just do it the way I say
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  it and get rid of them.
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  Now here's here's the problem that they had after that.
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  Constant rotation.
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  Now you and I know, if you're constantly hiring and you're constantly firing, what does that
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  mean to your bottom line?
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  Well, it costs you three times as much to replace that person.
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  Plus, if you're constantly going through churn, Usually, that means you don't have a clean
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  hiring process.
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  Like, you don't have a clear job description.
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  You aren't interviewing multiple candidates.
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  Basically, you're going with the lowest lowest dollar person you can get and they get mad when
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  they don't don't, you know, they can't perform.
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  But if you don't take the time to train people and how it is you want them to do it and give
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  them a proper onboarding time, I mean, I talk about this all the time.
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  People throw people the keys and say, good luck.
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  Right?
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  You know, they don't you know, it's small business owners everywhere are notorious for
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  this.
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  It's like, We gotta get a little bit more uniformity to this, like big businesses when it
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  comes to hiring people because really nowadays, people are loyal down to the last dollar.
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  And a core employee is actually somebody who's only been with you 2 years.
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  That's now a core employee because of how much people are moving around.
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  So people who are employees have options.
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  Right?
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  So you have to be good to your people, and I don't know that everybody gets that.
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  And and I will share In this particular client that I'm referring to, it took a lot of work to
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  begin to shift their mindset because were not talk this particular client was not a mom and
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  pop.
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  They were not broke.
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  They were not struggling for income.
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  They were a they are, I should say, a multimillion dollar company, and cash is not an
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  issue, right?
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  So they were unable to see how much money they were losing because, like, their business is
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  kinda raining in cash.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  So it wasn't until I kept stressing and emphasizing, like, hey, you we've gotta get you
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  some infrastructure so that you can keep people longer.
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  Finally, they came back.
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  I think it was 90 days later and said, I get it.
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  And thank you.
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  And now they retain, Hallelujah, Amen, they retain their team.
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  So leadership is very important.
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  It's critical.
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  It's a key.
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  You must be visionary.
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  You can't have one without the other.
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  So I know that you specialize in teaching people how to create what you call unbreakable
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  leadership.
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  Can you define that for us?
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  Tell us what that means.
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  Well,
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  I found that it's okay to bend, right, it's okay to bend.
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  It's o it's okay for you to become and feel a little disjointed.
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  That is a part of the process.
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  The challenge is people don't have any root to stand on.
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  They don't have they don't have a team that they can trust.
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  They don't have the god of factor.
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  And so what happens often is in in true story, I have literally seen people crack.
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  They have had mental breakdowns They have literally, without question, temporarily, even
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  lost their minds.
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  And it's so sad to me.
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  That breaks my heart that people have gotten so low and so frustrated and desperate in their
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  business and their calls to be great and to be successful that it took everything away from
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  them.
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  So we created unbreakable leadership number 1 to motivate and incur people that it's okay
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  that you may sway a bit, but we you don't have to crack in this business.
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  How do you do that?
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  1, you get a network of people around you that you can trust, right, because that's one of the
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  first areas why people break.
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  They stay in relationships that are too long, the the relationship in business becomes toxic.
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  There becomes this hate, and then it becomes a bitterness And when you have all of those, all
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  of those keys running together, that is a recipe for complete disaster.
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  So one of the ways to to become unbreakable is to know your network.
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  The next part is you've got to know when to say no.
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  If you're a people, please enlighten me, Melinda, I do.
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  I I get it.
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  I'm a only child.
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  I'm an Aquarius.
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  Right?
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  I'm I'm high energy.
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  I love to please you, but when you can't pull back, when you cannot say no, you overextend
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  yourself, guess what?
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  Then you crack.
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  Because you're burning at both sides, you're overwhelming your capacity, and then you can't,
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  you're you're unable to do anything.
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  So between the god factor and knowing those key elements, that's a big part of being
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  unbreakable.
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  So I know that you talk a lot about leaning on your faith.
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  And and I and I am a believer, and that's something that I believe in too, you know, one
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  of the most powerful things any entrepreneur can do is pray over their business every day.
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  Why do you think that's a key element of business success?
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  Well, nowadays, the the secret is out.
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  Right?
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  I mean, a lot for years, we thought that success was magic or people were smarter or
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  better or had more experience.
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  Right?
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  Like, oh, I'll never be as successful because they're smarter or better.
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  They have more money.
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  We found out through so many studies and surveys and stars and celebrities.
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  They're now telling everyone that they are applying, affirmations.
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  They are prayerful in the morning.
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  They're getting up early.
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  And they're trusting a source higher than themselves.
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  It's really important because I don't care.
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  How successful you are.
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  You will hit a wall where you will not know the answer, where you will feel completely
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  overwhelmed you'll be and feel absolutely alone.
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  And and and if we were just to go a little bit more deeper with authenticity, you'll have a
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  moment where you'll feel like shattered pieces.
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  My aunt told me one time that she was going through in her life.
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  And when she came home, She felt like if she took one more step, she was going to fall to
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  pieces all over the floor.
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  And having your god like that They're having your higher power.
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  It centers you.
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  It grounds you.
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  It gives you something to give you courage and to give you hope.
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  And quite frankly, I don't see how anybody can make it without having something bigger than
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  themselves.
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  I I think I agree with you Michelle, I wanna switch gears with you just a little bit because
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  one of the things I wanted to ask you about is coaching.
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  And do believe that every small business owner needs a coach?
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  There's always an area in your business or your personal leadership skill set that you can be
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  better in, right?
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  Some businesses are brilliant.
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  Right?
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  We've met the business owners that are great at finances.
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  They're great at sales or they're great at customer service.
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  Right?
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  But they may be they may be lacking in their approach for their team.
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  There's gonna be something where there's a gap where they can be better.
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  And I believe that every business owner needs a league of coaches find people who are good in
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  their lane to help you with that thing.
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  Right?
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  Because just because you are a good coach in finances, doesn't necessarily mean that you're
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  a great coach and team building.
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  So if you really wanna continue to grow to the next level, find a niche coach to help you in
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  every particular area.
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  I know for me, I have about 7.
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  I have about 7 coaches, and one of them is on the line right now.
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  Don't tell nobody about that.
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  But anyway, listen.
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  When you're thinking about bringing in a coach.
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  What are some of the things you need to think about or some of the questions you need to ask?
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  I love that you asked this question because this is one of my hot buttons.
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  First of all, you want to get a coach who does more than just coach.
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  Right?
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  Now let me clarify what that means.
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  If all your coach does is sell, right, if all they do is go on and book you in their classes,
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  but you can't find their business.
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  They have no other acumen.
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  All they do is book you.
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  Like, you you're the business.
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  They've got no skill set.
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  People aren't better.
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  They're just booking you in classes.
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  I am I am that is a big sore spot for me.
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  Run.
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  Right?
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  If you find the coach that is not coachable, they refuse to take wise counsel.
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  That is another red flag you want to run.
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  If you find a coach, who refuses to let you talk, run.
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  Right?
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  They've got all the ancestors, but they haven't heard thing.
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  And here's one of my favorites, because I've got 32 more, but I know we're out of time.
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  Here's my favorite.
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  The coach that believes that coaching is texting.
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  Yeah.
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  I yes.
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  Yes, Samantha.
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  Go ahead.
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  Go ahead.
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  I have seen that.
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  Where clients, why should say prospects, have called me and said, my coach just texted me.
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  Do you actually have conversations with your clients?
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  Let me just go ahead and say, run, baby, run, and run some over.
• 17:53
  Wow.
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  Wow.
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  I you you have said so much there, and you were right.
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  We're just about out of time.
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  So I have one more question for you.
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  What is the best business advice that you have ever been given?
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  I think you gave us, but what's the best business advice anyone's ever given you?
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  Yes.
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  One of my coaches gave me the best advice that I use all the time.
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  Listen to lead.
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  Listen with empathy, with compassion, and with all of your authenticity, and then respond.
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  And that has been our secret sauce.
• 18:28
  I love it.
• 18:28
  I love it.
• 18:29
  Thank you so much.
• 18:31
  You have really inspired me.
• 18:33
  You made me laugh.
• 18:34
  You made me chuckle.
• 18:35
  You made me think about things that I hadn't thought about in a long time, and I'm sure you
• 18:39
  have inspired my listeners.
• 18:42
  I appreciate you so much.
• 18:44
  This has been such an amazing conversation we have had today.
• 18:49
  Thank you to my guest, friend Tillman, the LinkedIn Whisper.
• 18:53
  Check out her group at socialsaleslink.com.
• 18:57
  Thank you all for joining me for another episode of the Small Bishop podcast.
• 19:01
  If you're still working on your digital pivot, don't forget to head over to our online school.
• 19:06
  Small business lady university.
• 19:08
  We've got lots of courses there to help you finally start generating the money you deserve.
• 19:13
  And with that, I just wanna leave you with, I really love serving you guys with the small biz
• 19:20
  chat podcast.
• 19:21
  My mission is to end small business failure.
• 19:24
  And I wanna leave you with this.
• 19:25
  You never lose in business, either you win or you've learned.
• 19:29
  Time's less everybody.
• 19:30
  Good night.
• 19:34
  Thanks for listening to the small biz chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 19:38
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday for more
• 19:44
  ticket information and interviews.
• 19:46
  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
• 19:51
  website succeed as your own boss dot com.
• 19:54
  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.