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EP157 - 10 Lessons Business Has Taught Me (Series 3 Finale) · The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business

• 0:01
  Hi there business owner, and welcome to the Three BS Podcast,
• 0:04
  the place where we go beyond the numbers and dive into strategies
• 0:07
  to help you build a Better Business one step at a time.
• 0:11
  I'm your host Stephanie, a multi awarding entrepreneur with over
• 0:13
  a decade of experience in the bookkeeping and currency world.
• 0:17
  If you're a business owner looking to streamline, grow and
• 0:19
  get back the time that you deserve, you're in the right
• 0:21
  place tackling real world problems, answering tough
• 0:24
  questions and digging deep into business building secrets in
• 0:27
  just 15 minutes each week. So Are you ready to build a
• 0:31
  Better Business with confidence and clarity?
• 0:33
  Then let's go. Hello and welcome back to
• 0:37
  another episode of The Three BS Podcast, your go to place for
• 0:41
  around 15 minutes of motivation, education and inspiration to
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  help you build a Better Business each week.
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  If we haven't met before, hi, my name is Stephanie Marshall.
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  I am a bookkeeper, business owner, podcaster, author, and
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  someone who genuinely cares about helping the humans behind
• 1:00
  businesses feel more confident, more in control and a lot less
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  overwhelmed. And I can't believe we're saying
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  this, but today's episode is number 157, which means this is
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  the final episode of Series 3. And I wanted to take a moment to
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  pause, to reflect and to share some of the biggest lessons that
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  business has taught me. But before we get into that, I
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  just want to say thank you. This podcast has now reached
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  over 3000 downloads across podcast platforms in 38
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  countries, more than 6900 views on YouTube and almost 60,000
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  impressions over there as well. And as you know, I love data
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  because data helps us make informed decisions in business.
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  But behind those numbers are real people.
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  People listening on dog walks, on school runs, in the car while
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  making a cup of tea. And that means more to me than
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  any metric ever will. So thank you so much for being
• 2:01
  here now. Running a business teaches you a
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  lot. Some lessons you pick up
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  quickly, some take a little bit longer, and some, I hate to say
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  it, but we learn the hard way. So today, I just want to share
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  10 lessons that business has taught me.
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  Not from a textbook, not from theory, from real life
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  experience. And if you're running a business
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  right now, which I presume you are by watching or listening to
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  this podcast, I think at least a few of these will resonate with
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  you. Lesson #1 Revenue is exciting,
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  but profit is what matters. Revenue is the sales.
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  It's the number that everyone talks about and it sounds
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  impressive, but it's profit that actually changes your life.
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  Profit is what pays you, what gives you breathing space, what
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  allows you to make decisions without panic about your
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  business. I've seen businesses turning
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  over a lot of money and still feeling incredibly stressed
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  because the profit just wasn't there.
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  Lesson 2 is that busy does not mean successful.
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  I know I talk about it a lot on this podcast, but this one is
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  huge. A full diary, a busy inbox,
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  constant activity. We all know that feeling, but
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  that doesn't always equal progress.
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  Sometimes it just means you're busy and there's a big
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  difference there. Lesson #3 Not every client is a
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  good client. In the early days you say yes to
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  everything and that's normal. But over time you tend to
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  realise that some of those clients are costing you far more
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  than they're worth. Time, energy, headspace, peace.
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  And the moment you start being more selective, everything
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  shifts less than #4 Systems make everything easier, not more
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  complicated, easier. When things are in your head, it
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  works until it doesn't. And all the time you are keeping
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  everything in your head, it's taking up headspace that is
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  stopping you from being able to breathe, stopping you from being
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  able to put anything down. And that's not sustainable long
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  term. Systems create consistency, they
• 4:00
  reduce stress and they give you space to think properly.
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  I think so often we think, oh, it's going to take so much time
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  to write that process down, to write that system down, to
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  implement a system for onboarding or running that
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  particular repetitive task or doing your admin or writing down
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  your KPIs. But actually, I no longer have
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  to think because everything is written down for me.
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  And even though I know that process inside and out, having
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  it written down as something to refer back to means that there's
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  less space in my head with having to make sure I remember
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  how to do that thing or remember to tick that box or remember to
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  send that particular report or this client likes things
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  presented in this certain way. Everything's written down.
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  Everything's in a system and in a process so that I can close
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  the laptop and leave the office at the end of the day, and it's
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  still there when I go back to it.
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  But I don't have to keep it in my head.
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  Lesson 5 is something I care so deeply about.
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  Your numbers should support you and not scare you.
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  Your finances should not feel overwhelming.
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  They should feel like a tool, something that helps you make
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  decisions, not something that you avoid and then be fearful of
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  or stress about. Most of you did not start a
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  business to do bookkeeping or accountancy.
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  Therefore, it's important that you arm yourself with enough
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  knowledge and education that the numbers don't feel scary
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  anymore. And if they still feel scary or
• 5:29
  messy, get that support into your business like us at ABCSUK.
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  Lesson 6. You don't have to love every day
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  in your business. I think this is something people
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  don't talk about enough. You can love your business.
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  I talked about just last week how much I love Mondays.
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  Mondays are my favorite day of the week.
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  They're my busiest day in the office.
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  But you can love your business and love Mondays and still have
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  days where you think this is really hard.
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  And that doesn't mean you're doing it wrong.
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  It means you're human. And so often on social media
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  when you're consuming content or talking to other business
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  owners, they give you the filtered sunshine version.
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  Well, I'm here to be real with you.
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  Business is not always amazing. Some days it is a really, really
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  hard. But it's yours and you're
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  building something incredibly special.
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  So keep going. Lesson 7.
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  Community matters more than you think.
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  Business can feel incredibly lonely, especially when you
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  start a business and maybe your family and friends around you
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  are all in employment. They aren't looking to build
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  businesses. They don't know what it's like
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  to build a business. Which is why it's so important
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  that having people around you who understand it is so
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  important. People who get it, people you
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  can talk to, and especially people who remind you you're not
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  the only one figuring things out.
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  If you feel really lonely right now and don't have a community,
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  please do Drop into my DMS on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn,
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  Facebook. Drop into my emails.
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  Let me be the first person in your community.
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  Let me help you find your people so you don't feel alone in this
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  journey anymore. Lesson 8 is perfection slows you
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  down. This is the one that took me a
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  really long time to shed my perfectionist skin and just do
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  the thing anyway. Waiting for things to be perfect
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  just keeps you stuck, and progress comes from action and
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  not perfection. I will often get into
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  transactions either personally or professionally, and I see
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  their systems and processes and I look at their sales page or
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  they're sending me a Word document invoice and I think,
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  oh, this is it. It's so not professional.
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  It's not the sort of standard that I personally would put out
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  content. It's not the way that I would
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  like my website to look. It's not the impression I would
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  want my clients to get. But we all start somewhere.
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  Sometimes it is a Word document, sometimes it is a WhatsApp
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  conversation, sometimes it is as simple as a payment link.
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  But we all have to start somewhere.
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  Don't wait until everything is perfect.
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  Launch the thing, start the podcast, post that thing on
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  social media because the first couple of times, yeah, it's
• 8:17
  going to be rubbish. But every single time you do
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  that, it gets less rubbish until you become quite a seasoned pro.
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  57 episodes ago there was no video content to this podcast.
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  There was me in my pajamas on my sofa with an iPhone and look
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  where we are now. I like to think we're fairly
• 8:37
  professionally edited, yet it's all done myself because every
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  single week I get a little bit better.
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  I learn a new thing, I learn a new skill, I find another
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  setting in our software that I didn't know we had.
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  I find a new tool that makes things a little bit easier.
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  Just keep going. Which leads me really nicely
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  onto lesson 9. Decisions matter more than
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  ideas. Ideas are easy, we all have
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  them. And if you're an entrepreneur, I
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  am 99.9% certain your notes in your phone probably look
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  something like mine. Absolutely full of content
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  ideas, offer ideas, business ideas.
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  We have them all the time. But businesses don't grow from
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  ideas. They grow from decisions and
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  then taking the action. And that's the most important
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  thing I want you to take from this podcast and this episode.
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  Take the action, make the decision and then do the thing.
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  There must be in my notes on my phone somewhere in the region of
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  around 20 different offers, courses, services, product ideas
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  that I have had in the last almost five years.
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  While they are sat in the notes in my phone.
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  They are making no money. They are not generating any
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  revenue. They are not making any impact.
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  They are not serving any client because they're sat in my notes.
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  If I release those things and had one sale, I've made one
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  impact. And if it doesn't work, great.
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  We learn from that. We pull it, we go back to lesson
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  8. Perfection just slows you down.
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  You learn from that, you fail fast and you release something
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  else or you just stop selling it if it's not the right fit
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  anymore for you. And finally, Lesson 10, a Better
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  Business is built on purpose. Not pressure, not panic, not
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  comparison, but purpose. And if you are here listening to
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  or watching this podcast, the Three BS Podcast, then amazing.
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  Well done. You are already building your
• 10:35
  business on purpose by understanding what you're
• 10:39
  building, why you're building it, and making decisions aligned
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  with that. Why is how you build a Better
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  Business. Very, very rarely do you
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  accidentally build a business. You accidentally fall into a
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  business. We see the stories on the news
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  of somebody that accidentally created a product, but they
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  already had a purpose in mind for that product.
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  They already had a problem they wanted to find a solution to for
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  that product. Build your business on purpose.
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  Understand what you're building, why you're building it, who
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  you're building it for, and you will build a Better Business.
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  Now if you're listening to this episode and thinking I've learnt
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  some of those lessons the hard way, you're not alone.
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  I learnt most of those the hard way.
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  That's business. As we wrap up Series 3, I want
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  to leave you with a few things that I hope we'll stick with you
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  and help you on this business journey.
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  Your business doesn't need to be perfect.
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  It doesn't need to look like anybody else's, but it should
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  feel like something that works for you, something that supports
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  you, something that you are building intentionally.
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  And if it doesn't feel like that yet, that's OK, You can change
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  it one decision at a time. Now, before we finish up, I
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  would love to hear from you. I want to know what you want
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  more of in Series 4. What topics would help you most?
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  What conversations do we need to have?
• 12:09
  Message me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, e-mail,
• 12:12
  wherever you hang out. Because this podcast is not just
• 12:15
  me talking, it's a conversation and I want to help you build
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  better businesses. If you've enjoyed Series 3 or
• 12:24
  any of these podcast episodes, please do take a few seconds to
• 12:28
  like, rate and review this podcast.
• 12:31
  It really does help more business owners find it.
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  And that's the whole premise of this podcast.
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  And if you need support going into the new tax year, whether
• 12:39
  that's clarity, structure, or just someone to help you make
• 12:42
  sense of your numbers, that is exactly what we do at ABCSUK.
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  Because your business deserves better.
• 12:49
  You can find the links in the show notes and book a discovery
• 12:52
  call. Get 15 minutes in my diary so
• 12:53
  that we can have a conversation to see how I can help you build
• 12:57
  a Better Business. Thank you so, so much for
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  listening, whether this is your first episode or you're 157th.
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  I'm Stephanie Marshall, this is the three Piece podcast and I
• 13:08
  will see you next week for series 4 episode 1.
• 13:12
  Bye. And that brings us to the end of
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  another episode of The Three Bees podcast.
• 13:17
  I hope you found it useful and that you're walking away with
• 13:19
  some motivation, inspiration, or education to help you build a
• 13:23
  Better Business. Don't forget to subscribe, leave
• 13:26
  a review, and of course, connect with us on social media for more
• 13:29
  insights, tips, and behind the scenes content.
• 13:31
  Your next step in building a Better Business is just a click
• 13:34
  away. I can't wait to connect with you
• 13:35
  and I'll see you on the next episode.
• 13:37
  Bye.