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Relationships Lead to Revenue with Sandra Taylor-Moore · Christian Business Growth Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to Christian Business Growth Podcast.
• 0:03
  Today we're here with Sandra Taylor Moore.
• 0:05
  She's with Serendipity Designs and she's gonna tell you a lot more about that.
• 0:09
  So Sandra, tell us how you got started in business.
• 0:13
  How did God get you into business?
• 0:15
  Well, um whenever I was really young and I was in high school and you know they always ask the question, so what do you want to be when you grow up?
• 0:21
  I hate that question for college.
• 0:23
  I mean, for kids who have graduated from high school because it's they don't know what they want to be.
• 0:27
  And so I would tell my mom, well, you know, I think I want to be this and I want to be a lawyer.
• 0:32
  And she was like, I don't think so.
• 0:33
  And I wanted to be a psychiatrist.
• 0:35
  And she was like, I don't think so.
• 0:37
  And then she worked for Mary Kay Cosmetics.
• 0:39
  so there was her Mary Kay's secretary was going to design school down at El Centro.
• 0:45
  And my mom came home and said, I know what you should be.
• 0:48
  You should be a designer, because I would if I was bored
• 0:51
  at your house I would rearrange your furniture or if I was really bored I might go into your closet and put outfits together for you because you can do so much that you don't
• 1:00
  even think about and so I didn't know that there was a career in that because we didn't grow up with that kind of money and so I pursued it and it's been the love of my life and
• 1:11
  I don't consider it work I consider it a ministry and I consider it a gift and a privilege.
• 1:17
  So do you do clothing and houses or do just focus on houses?
• 1:21
  What's your specialty?
• 1:22
  We, I opened up a drapery workroom um after working for another workroom for quite some time.
• 1:29
  Some girls that were there were um not being treated very well and so they wanted somebody to get them out of that place and so they asked me to do it and I didn't really think I
• 1:39
  could but I did and at that time I wasn't really being led by God I was really being led more just by myself and helping other people because I've always been a helper.
• 1:50
  And so with that, I think that, you know, God definitely blessed those girls and blessed me with the ability to walk away from a very bad situation.
• 2:02
  And tell me, you don't have to get too much details in your situation necessarily, but how did God kind of start to work in your life?
• 2:08
  You said you were going by yourself and then you started listening to God more.
• 2:12
  So what was that transaction like?
• 2:13
  That transition?
• 2:14
  Well, whenever I got divorced from my first husband, I wasn't going to church.
• 2:20
  I wasn't doing anything like that.
• 2:21
  And so then I thought, maybe that would be a great place to meet people because that's what people think.
• 2:26
  And so I went to a lot of different types of churches, which really opened my eyes to the true faith of Jesus Christ and not being led astray on all these other little roads.
• 2:38
  so then whenever I met my latest husband, I
• 2:43
  was going to be having his daughter in my life and I thought, it's going to be so very important to have her in church.
• 2:49
  And so I went to church all the time.
• 2:51
  I started teaching Sunday school.
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  I became this whole other person that that's not who I was before.
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  um And but he got me through so much.
• 2:59
  Jesus did.
• 3:00
  And um that marriage did not last.
• 3:03
  And so I needed him.
• 3:04
  I needed him to be my everything.
• 3:05
  I needed him to be my father, my brother, my husband, my friend.
• 3:10
  And he was there and he has shown up my whole life.
• 3:13
  I mean, my
• 3:13
  father committed suicide when I was 13 and so um I saw God take care of us you know but I didn't realize it was him right and now when you get enough years on you you can look back
• 3:26
  and you can say oh I see where God was the whole time you know even though I didn't recognize him
• 3:33
  Right.
• 3:34
  Yeah, one of my Bible studies recently, we talked about God's in the moments, not just in the miracles.
• 3:39
  And you see his handiwork just going step by step in the background.
• 3:42
  And when you stop and look at it, it's amazing, know, kind of the example I always give, you you're mad because you got a flat tire, but you don't realize that flat tire kept you
• 3:51
  from getting into a wreck, losing your life.
• 3:54
  So we don't see all the little things that God's going through.
• 3:56
  That's cool that you have such an intimacy with God.
• 3:58
  That's great to hear.
• 4:00
  So what's God currently doing in your business?
• 4:03
  Well, currently he has shown me so many times that people will call.
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  I don't do a lot of real advertising.
• 4:10
  It's all pretty much word of mouth.
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  And so somebody will tell somebody that you should call me.
• 4:15
  so typically I can pretty much decipher pretty quick when I'm working with Christians and when I'm not, because I'm in their homes.
• 4:22
  And so there's the art, there's the books, there's the things that kind of
• 4:28
  say oh, but then when I don't see that then you know they'll be telling me because it's a very personal business.
• 4:34
  I mean they're telling me about their kids, they're telling me about their lives, they're telling me about their marriages and you know they'll be hurting and so I'll just say well
• 4:42
  do you mind if I pray with you and I don't walk away and pray later I pray now and you know or maybe I get in my car and send them a song and so it makes that connection with
• 4:54
  those other faith-based believers.
• 4:57
  But it also kind of makes other people go, oh, who is she?
• 5:01
  Whenever they're not believers, right?
• 5:02
  They're like, what is she doing?
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  And I just take it as an opportunity to meet new people every day.
• 5:08
  That's what my mom said I would be great at because I love people.
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  I love collecting people.
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  That's what I call it.
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  I collect y'all.
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  You're in my collection.
• 5:16
  Yeah.
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  And so I just see him.
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  He'll bring people in to my life and then he'll take them out.
• 5:24
  And sometimes you think,
• 5:26
  why did they leave my business?
• 5:28
  And then you find out why they left the business, why they went somewhere else.
• 5:32
  And God was just protecting me the whole time, just like he has been my whole life.
• 5:36
  And I've never, it was funny because when my dad passed away, my mom didn't work.
• 5:42
  And so how we made it through those times, I know it had to be God.
• 5:47
  And how my business, every time I finish a client, I'm unemployed again.
• 5:52
  And so another client has to be brought and I don't go looking.
• 5:56
  They just come.
• 5:58
  And after my divorce, God gave me a scripture and it was the one out of Joel and it said that God would replace all that the locusts had eaten and even more.
• 6:07
  And he did.
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  And I think that when we rely on God, God shows up.
• 6:12
  And when we look for him, I'm reading a book right now, it's called The Two Chairs.
• 6:15
  I don't know if you've ever heard of that, but you invite God to sit across from you.
• 6:19
  Today was my first day.
• 6:21
  you know, God, he said, you know, there's going to be new people this year in your life.
• 6:26
  And some of them will be business and some of them will be um relationships.
• 6:30
  And I just want you to be there for those people.
• 6:33
  That's great.
• 6:34
  That reminds me, was a lady, she's the elderly lady at our church, and she was always spry and joyful and everything.
• 6:41
  And somebody said, how do you do that so much?
• 6:43
  She's like, well, I get a good night's rest.
• 6:44
  They're like, that's kind of a weird statement.
• 6:46
  She's like, every night I lay my head down on the lap of Jesus and give Him all my worries.
• 6:51
  I just thought that was the sweetest thing to kind of talk about that.
• 6:54
  When I hear you say that, that's kind of the words I think about.
• 6:57
  So what about somebody who's kind of struggling with that concept of, I don't know if I want to
• 7:03
  work with non-believers, I don't want to work with believers, or somebody who says, I only want to work with believers, or I don't want to tell people that I'm a Christian because
• 7:11
  that might keep people away from my business.
• 7:12
  What kind of advice would you tell them about that?
• 7:15
  Well, you I used to think about that.
• 7:17
  I used to think, you know, well, I didn't want to anybody, right?
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  And so how do you not offend anybody?
• 7:22
  Well, you just don't speak up.
• 7:24
  You just keep silent, do your job, keep your head down, and that's what you do.
• 7:28
  But how are you going to be a blessing to somebody if that's what you do?
• 7:32
  You can't.
• 7:33
  And so to me,
• 7:35
  It's not even something I think about anymore.
• 7:37
  It's just something that I do.
• 7:38
  I think that you become more and more comfortable in your skin of being a Christian when you realize that I'm not there to change their minds.
• 7:48
  I'm not there to necessarily recruit them into Christianity.
• 7:52
  I am simply there to show the love of Christ and whatever I do and whatever I say.
• 7:59
  invite them to volunteer with me whenever we volunteer at Feed My Starving Children, and help them to just get connected with other people.
• 8:08
  And to me, that's what's really important.
• 8:10
  And I think that that's what my job allows me to do is to meet people and to influence people, not necessarily for...
• 8:20
  Influencing them like you do like you think about big influencers, right?
• 8:22
  I'm not a big influencer.
• 8:24
  I'm just an influencer I just get to show you the joy and the people ask me all the time.
• 8:28
  They're like you're always so happy and I'm like You know pretty much.
• 8:32
  Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm blessed, know And I I have lots of people that I pray for every day that they're really struggling and I read in the book that I was reading last
• 8:42
  night.
• 8:42
  It said I'm You know you go out and you want to look for friends because you know, that's what everybody thinks that we should be doing
• 8:48
  And it stated that maybe you should go out and be a friend.
• 8:52
  And I liked that.
• 8:55
  Yeah, there's so much joy that people have as Christians, but when you look at them, they're sourpuss faces.
• 9:02
  Sometimes just sharing a smile, that simple concept of just sharing a smile and complimenting somebody or making somebody feel better about their lives.
• 9:10
  I love that you said that you just do it now because God has become integrated into your life.
• 9:16
  It's not something you have to think about.
• 9:17
  You don't go out, set out to do it.
• 9:19
  Because God's so integrated in your life, it just happens naturally.
• 9:22
  I love that.
• 9:23
  And you collect people.
• 9:24
  That's the concept.
• 9:26
  Exactly.
• 9:26
  So I want to dig into that a little bit because our next little question is how do we talk about business growth or what are some business growth tips you would have for someone?
• 9:34
  And you and I kind of talked about a little bit is that you have a very intentional way of connecting to people.
• 9:40
  Most people think when I do a one-on-one, I've got to go there and sell all these people.
• 9:44
  I'm going to make a list of 10 people and I'm going to sell five of them.
• 9:46
  That's how I meet my goals and they miss the point of one-on-ones and you're a great networker.
• 9:51
  So could you kind of talk about networking a little bit, how that works in your business and your life?
• 9:56
  Well, to me, my business and my life are one.
• 10:00
  They're not separate.
• 10:02
  um so for me, if I was going to ask you for a one-on-one, I really don't want to talk about your business.
• 10:11
  I don't want to talk about my business.
• 10:12
  I want to talk about who is Lyle.
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  How did Lyle become who he is?
• 10:16
  What were the struggles that Lyle had to overcome in life?
• 10:19
  um And is he happy and is he content in the business that he's in?
• 10:23
  And if he's not, how could we ship that?
• 10:25
  How could we look at a different perspective of what else could Lyle be doing to make Lyle a more content and joyful person?
• 10:33
  I mean, we have to go to work.
• 10:35
  We have to pay our bills.
• 10:36
  But there's so much that can be done at work that's not work.
• 10:41
  You know, you can make relationships, you can encourage other people, you can go there with a purpose more than just a paycheck.
• 10:50
  And so to me, most of my referrals have come because I care about other people and they know what I do.
• 10:58
  And they're like, well, you should call Sandra because number one, Sandra will call you back.
• 11:03
  Sandra will.
• 11:04
  answer your questions even if I if you I tell people all the time that the what I do for a living is custom draperies and bedding and upholstery and remodelings and a lot of people
• 11:13
  just cannot afford that.
• 11:15
  I mean it's not like JCPenney draperies it's much more than that and so not everybody can play in that sandbox but that doesn't mean that they're not a valuable human being for me
• 11:24
  to have a relationship with you know I'm not just looking to find the people in Dallas that can afford me I'm looking to find the people in Dallas that I can encourage.
• 11:34
  And if it's just making one pillow or if it's just giving you some leftover fabric so you can make your own pillow.
• 11:40
  You know, I don't want to be the person that says, oh, you can't work with me if you don't want to spend $20,000.
• 11:47
  There's designers out there and other people that they do.
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  They limit it.
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  And to me, that's limiting God.
• 11:52
  And I don't know who I'm going to meet.
• 11:54
  I don't know who they know that they know that they know.
• 11:58
  And I don't even do it for that purpose.
• 11:59
  I just do it to make a connection with a human being because I love humans.
• 12:04
  and all their flaws and all of their messed up lives and everything else like that.
• 12:09
  I just find it very interesting and I'd love to help people know who God is and what God has done in my life.
• 12:16
  It doesn't mean that you have to become a Christian, but I do definitely want you to know what he's done in my life.
• 12:23
  Right.
• 12:24
  That's great.
• 12:25
  so you're talking about this networking, this having this deep relationship, that scares some people.
• 12:31
  So these most people, you they go into a room of people.
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  And think you and I, you were in the group when we talked about it.
• 12:35
  We figured out that in this room of people, there's like 30 people, but there's approximately 30 individual connections between each of those 30 people.
• 12:44
  And that's 900 connections in a group of 30 people.
• 12:48
  If you're trying to sell one person in that group, you missed the point.
• 12:51
  But if you're making a connection with that person, you're impacting 30, 90 more people just from that connection that you do.
• 12:58
  So it's somebody who's not good at that networking thing and getting to know people a little bit better.
• 13:03
  Most people aren't going to go in and say, hey, what's messed up in your life that that would scare them.
• 13:07
  So what are some basic questions somebody can ask to kind of get that deeper conversation other than what do you do for a business?
• 13:12
  Because that tends to be the base contact when somebody does a one-on-one.
• 13:17
  So what are some additional questions people can ask?
• 13:19
  How can we help them?
• 13:20
  Well mostly what I do is I just ask people like I think what's really important as you say you know they go so what are your hobbies nobody cares about what your hobbies are I want
• 13:30
  to know what did you do in the last two weeks what did you do in the last two weeks that brought you joy and most of the time they sit there and they're like what I just want to
• 13:39
  know that because
• 13:40
  then that springboards me to a conversation.
• 13:44
  Like I did go skydiving not too long ago.
• 13:47
  It's a once and done thing.
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  So to say that that's my hobby, that's just something I did.
• 13:53
  But what is my hobby?
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  What do I do?
• 13:58
  I can ask that question of other people and then you know something about them and so then you can talk about, you ask them another question and you ask them another question.
• 14:08
  Because people love talking about themselves.
• 14:11
  What they don't like is listening to other people talk about themselves.
• 14:15
  Right.
• 14:16
  That's what's that from?
• 14:18
  How many friends and influence people?
• 14:20
  Weirdest name book, but people are more interested in them.
• 14:23
  And you have somebody, you can say five words and they could do the rest of the talking and they'll walk away feeling like you're a special person because you listen to them.
• 14:31
  There's a, I think we missed that in our social media context.
• 14:34
  Everybody's all about getting, even the stuff people are posting is self-serving.
• 14:39
  Nobody's really trying to connect anymore.
• 14:41
  They're all about what can I do to feed my bottom line and everything?
• 14:45
  But you and I both realize, you and I both have the same problem is people keep coming to us for business.
• 14:49
  We don't have to go out there and find people.
• 14:51
  That's a good problem, I call it opportunity.
• 14:53
  But we do that because we've made deeper connections.
• 14:56
  I love to ask people, one of questions I love to ask, the questions I like to ask is outside of business, what are you most passionate about?
• 15:03
  And that's another phrase people like passionate.
• 15:05
  I don't even know what that means.
• 15:07
  people, know, we have our set.
• 15:10
  Oh, I'm gonna get preachy.
• 15:11
  I'll try not to get too preachy.
• 15:13
  But we live in a box.
• 15:14
  You and I are talking on these boxes.
• 15:16
  We're working on our box.
• 15:17
  We get in our car, that's a box.
• 15:19
  We go to our TV, that's a box.
• 15:20
  Everything we work in is in a box.
• 15:22
  You gotta open that box up and let people in that box to be true and authentic and dig deeper and say, you're a person that God cares about, therefore I care about you.
• 15:33
  And this world, it's so full of hatred.
• 15:36
  Oh, it's so sad.
• 15:37
  I love seeing people of joy like you because of the way you care for people.
• 15:42
  So you're in a...
• 15:43
  I'm going give you a scenario for a second.
• 15:45
  You come into a brand new networking group.
• 15:47
  First time you're ever in that group.
• 15:49
  What do you do?
• 15:49
  What goes through your head?
• 15:52
  Well, I kind of scan the room and this is what I do.
• 15:55
  I find the person that's not talking to anybody that's sitting by themselves because that tells me that they're either A, new or B, they're very introverted.
• 16:05
  And so I go over and I stick my hand out and I say, hey, I'm Sandra, who are you?
• 16:11
  And what do you do?
• 16:12
  And what, what?
• 16:15
  We brought you joy this week.
• 16:16
  And I did that at the gym too.
• 16:18
  And people are just like, I'm sure half the people are like, oh, please don't talk to Sandra Washington at the gym.
• 16:24
  But I just think that you try to fit into the big circle or the big clicky thing that everybody's at.
• 16:31
  You're missing what your purpose was for being there to begin with.
• 16:34
  It wasn't about you.
• 16:35
  It's about other people.
• 16:37
  And other people sometimes don't know how to talk to other people.
• 16:42
  And then, you know, somebody else will walk up and then I'm like, hey, this is, this is Lyle.
• 16:46
  I just met him and who are you?
• 16:48
  You know, and I just engage that conversation.
• 16:50
  I'll lead that conversation.
• 16:52
  I'll jokingly tell people though, and it's probably not a good thing, but like I cannot talk politics.
• 16:59
  I cannot talk sports.
• 17:01
  All I can talk is Jesus and making your house pretty.
• 17:06
  I like it.
• 17:09
  I'm with you on that.
• 17:10
  I don't talk a lot of stuff and I want to get to know people and I want to know how can we, how can I help you get to the next level?
• 17:16
  To me, that's the way I think about it.
• 17:17
  When I go into a group, I do the same thing.
• 17:19
  I find those people that are in the outskirts because people are already talking and chatting.
• 17:22
  They've already got their connections made.
• 17:25
  I want to find those people who haven't made their connections and get a little bit deeper with them.
• 17:28
  So after the meeting, tell me what it looks like for you for the follow-up.
• 17:31
  How do you do those, schedule those one-on-ones?
• 17:33
  Do you schedule them right then and there?
• 17:34
  Do you contact them afterwards?
• 17:36
  Do you text them?
• 17:37
  Do you call them?
• 17:37
  What's your process?
• 17:39
  Well, typically, you know, I will say, hey, I don't know where you live.
• 17:43
  I don't know what your schedule is like, but you know, I can be pretty open because I own my own business.
• 17:48
  And I would love for you to come over to my house and just have lunch with me.
• 17:52
  And I've had young guys come over here in groups and I've had young girls come over here in groups.
• 17:58
  I've had, you know, multi-generational people and we just sit and we just talk about their lives.
• 18:04
  And sometimes with the young people, it's just talking about
• 18:08
  their relationships, you know, and I've coached a lot of young guys about girls and relationships, you know, they'll tell me and it's just crazy how people will just tell me
• 18:17
  everything.
• 18:17
  I mean, that's why whenever I was growing up, I thought that I wanted to be a counselor was because people feel very comfortable opening up to me because, you know, while I do
• 18:27
  have my faith and I do live my life a certain way, I understand that that's not how I always lived my life.
• 18:34
  And these people will come along.
• 18:36
  as God brings them along.
• 18:38
  And you just gotta love them where they're at and not judge them, you know.
• 18:43
  So you literally have dinner parties with all these people.
• 18:45
  That's unique.
• 18:47
  That's different.
• 18:48
  What about somebody who can't have a dinner party?
• 18:50
  They just want to invite somebody to like a coffee meeting or a Zoom meeting and everything.
• 18:54
  What advice would you give them?
• 18:57
  I think that meeting one-on-one is really personal.
• 19:00
  I think that Zoom and all of that, it served its purpose during COVID.
• 19:05
  But I think that we need to be able to hug each other, to shake each other's hands, to look each other in the eye.
• 19:12
  So whether it be coffee, whether it be lunch, whether it be dinner, I really do try to make it a personal situation.
• 19:19
  I invite them to come serve and feed my starving children and then you know we can make a relationship there through serving or you know I invite them to come to my church or you
• 19:28
  know I invite them to go to my gym.
• 19:30
  I invite people to go everywhere you know and some of them take it and some of them don't but you know there's just a lot of really we're really busy in our lives but we're also
• 19:39
  very lonely in our lives and I try to be that person that you know if you really don't want to be lonely you can fix it.
• 19:49
  but you just need encouragement.
• 19:51
  Yeah, I think it was Simon Sinek, I'm not exactly sure who said it, but they said never eat alone.
• 19:57
  Schedule lunch with someone every day, you gotta eat anyway, so why not eat with someone and just say, hey, I want a little lunch at this part of town, would you like to join me?
• 20:05
  Tell them it's Dutch, be upfront about it so you don't guess, who's that?
• 20:08
  Well, and I've met people in line at Panera and said, you know, are you with anybody?
• 20:12
  You want to sit with me?
• 20:13
  And they're like, sure.
• 20:15
  But, you know, we've gotten so accustomed to having our phone.
• 20:17
  And so our phone is our date.
• 20:18
  Our phone is our friend.
• 20:20
  Put the phone down, people.
• 20:21
  Come on.
• 20:21
  Let's make relationships.
• 20:23
  I agree.
• 20:25
  So as we end up here, tell us, number one, how people can get in touch with you and then one final bit of wisdom you want to leave us with.
• 20:32
  Well, you can get in touch with me through my email, is serendipityds.317 at gmail.com.
• 20:40
  Or you can call me at 214-232-2276.
• 20:45
  I have a website, but it's not really to make a connection.
• 20:49
  It's just for people to see my work.
• 20:51
  And that's SerendipityDS.com.
• 20:54
  And so if people wanted to just see my work.
• 20:57
  And I do go talk to young designers that are in college.
• 21:01
  And so for young people that are trying to break into this business, I would say it's very important to go work in the field, to do that internship that we...
• 21:12
  you we think that we're just going to get out of college and make six figures.
• 21:15
  Well, you have to do the work to do the internship to get.
• 21:19
  the knowledge that is needed.
• 21:21
  And then, know, for just, you know, everyday people that want to know how to resource what I do.
• 21:29
  I mean, people just send me pictures of their rooms and, you know, I can kind of get a little jump start so that we can kind of um get a budget kind of in mind because I'll ask
• 21:38
  people, do you have a budget?
• 21:40
  And they say no.
• 21:40
  And I said, I'll find your budget.
• 21:42
  And it's not that hard to find it because you throw out, you know, a number of $10,000 and all of a sudden they're like, I wasn't thinking 10.
• 21:49
  I'm like, okay, so what were we thinking?
• 21:51
  And so, you know, I just think it's like with anything that if you want to have something done around your house, you do, you might not know what it might cost.
• 21:58
  So it's good to get an idea of that upfront.
• 22:01
  But, you know, then you have to get real with yourself and what are you wanting to spend?
• 22:05
  Because to get quality work, you have to pay.
• 22:09
  So yeah.
• 22:11
  Well, thank you for being with us today, and we'll talk to you soon.
• 22:15
  Okay, thanks.