Latest / Success Story with Scott Clary / Lessons - The Real Secret to Personal Branding | Aaron Marino - 6M+ YouTube Subscribers

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Lessons - The Real Secret to Personal Branding | Aaron Marino - 6M+ YouTube Subscribers · Success Story with Scott Clary

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  In this lessons episode, explore how authenticity and persistence shape lasting
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  personal brands in the digital age. Discover why embracing individuality builds
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  stronger audience trust and impact, understand how repeated failure fuels
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  creativity, and resilience in entrepreneurship, and uncover why surrounding
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  yourself with ambitious, like-minded people, transforms both mindset and
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  opportunity. So walk walk me through even just like building out your your own
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  quote-unquote personal brand. So the brand is is a combination of of things that
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  are I don't even know how to best describe it like things that a man would
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  want to figure out or learn about or like how did you come to what Alpha M is
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  what was the most the concept. Yeah so Alpha M when it first started was just style.
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  I was just talking about like how to dress because at the time back in 2008 the only
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  resource for for guys was really like GQ and Esquire and you know it wasn't my
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  reality and wasn't the reality of of my friends and family and people that I
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  knew and so I was like maybe there's just a space for a regular guy to talk
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  about style in a more regular way and then from there it kind of went into
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  grooming and because I've always been interested in grooming I cut my own hair
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  you know and so it was these little things that I started you know talking
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  about like but hair like you know I was the first person talking about like
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  landscaping online really and it was just because I was I was comfortable talking
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  about it and and it's something that I had questions about and so I was like maybe
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  there are other people that are interested in this kind of stuff and and maybe
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  I can just be that resource and then it transitioned into you know pretty much
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  anything that a guy might be interested in and relationships and dating and
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  and you know pretty much just lifestyle stuff and then I
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  I am fortunate enough to be able to give because I am a bit older than a lot of my
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  audience give some just just real-world lifestyle or life advice on things
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  that I've struggled with in my past or things that I've dealt with it
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  I feel I can just share a perspective and so I think you do something really really
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  well and and I've watched you know I've watched a couple of your videos obviously
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  and one thing that how you teach is like you just mentioned you're just telling
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  stories you're telling stories about stuff that you've gone through you talk
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  about X's you talk about your personal choices for style for hair for grooming
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  all that stuff did it take a certain was that something that you were
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  comfortable with putting yourself out there authentic was that something you
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  had to struggle with for a while or was that like you mentioned the first few
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  videos they weren't authentic what were they if they weren't authentic
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  no it was me trying to put be something that I wasn't in trying to you know I
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  I was trying to be something that I thought I needed to be in order to get
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  people to like me honestly and it never works no it never works and so it's very
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  very easy to see through that and so yeah I mean
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  that was just something it wasn't hard I mean that's the thing like the hard
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  thing was was trying to be something and put up off the side and so
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  you know the the easy thing is just the kind of like let your your true self
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  you know shine through and just just do you and and be authentically you know
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  open to you authentically you yeah be authentically you exactly lots of
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  cliches and this in this so many clear then cliches there for reason I love it
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  okay um let's uh okay what's the what's the shartank play what's the shart
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  tag expert you were two acts on shartank right you were there twice I was on
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  so what happened there try to get on a third time they wouldn't take me back
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  they're like Aaron what's yeah what's the story now like shit um yeah so say
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  shartags like my favorite show and for any entrepreneur if you're thinking
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  about you know we're interested in business watch shartank you know the cool
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  thing is that you can go you know they're they're they're syndicated now on
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  on you know television so every night of the week you can go and watch like
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  episode after episode after episode and so um I came up with this e-product it was my
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  first stab at like an info product I should say not an e-product because it was
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  actually physically DVDs that I was trying to sell um it was an info product I
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  thought that you know a lot of the people that I am I'm friends with in the
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  space of internet you know business and sales a lot of guys are like oh the
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  e-product the e-product and so I came up with this style system so my dad was
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  like well how are we gonna try and sell it I'm like I don't know he goes you
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  should try and go on shartank I'm like yeah sure and so literally I remember it
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  was a Friday night um I went home I went to ABC's website and I applied
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  and on Monday I got a call and and they're asked for information and it was
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  three months later I was pitching in front of the sharks in terms of of the
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  the alpha m-style system they hated the idea and um and I was like oh no big deal you know
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  it's okay I'm on TV so it's gonna be great I'm gonna sell you know thousands of these things
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  I'm gonna be rich well the night shark tank aired I had like this big party everybody was around
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  and I was sitting there with like my my computer and I was like ready for the sales to come
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  rolling in I literally right nine million people watching the show I sold one style system get
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  out yeah you sold one I know people that are on shartank and they they get like thousands
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  as I've sailed it depends on what it is apparently apparently I that was a real wake-up call like
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  hey stupid this is not this is not right and um and so yeah it was it was a bomber so I was
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  bummed out for a little bit but then you know kind of got over it and and I am I just
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  realized that I'm not really an e-product kind of guy and at least not like physical DVDs like I
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  said I'm a dinosaur yeah like you can't even play a DVD on your computer anymore like it doesn't
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  even have that ability and so if it was an app if it was like a web-based like program that was
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  less expensive I think it would have been successful and I still think it's a good idea it's just
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  it wasn't the right application and I wasn't the right guy to do it um and then I I started a
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  hair product company beaten Pedro back in 2012 13 somewhere in 2013 I believe um I started
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  beaten Pedro which was a hair product company and um I went to my stylist that I was friends with
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  Stephen I said hey do you have any connections that at any of these like labs that make hair product
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  I think I I want to come out with a hair product line and he's like yeah and so he he gave me a
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  number I I called him up they sent me samples I called a few other labs I got samples I I chose
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  my products I I started beaten Pedro white labeling products and um my opening order I believe
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  it was I started beaten Pedro for $3,000 and so no well that includes everything that includes
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  my website that includes my my little stamps.com like printing station boxes inventory I had five
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  products private hair products that I was selling and I got 96 units of each and um and it took me
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  like five months to sell through that inventory and um yeah that was uh that was an amazing
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  business my first kind of business selling physical products other than I I played around I had a
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  website also that I tried doing for a while a membership website where I was selling like hand
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  strung like beaded bracelets the problem was that I was sitting there at night hand stringing
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  these bracelets and so not not a scale not not fun no and so I've tried a ton of shit man I have tried
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  a lot of things and you know a lot of things some things have worked most things haven't you know
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  and you just keep you know trying and throwing stuff against the wall and just scratching the the
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  curious itch and that's kind of the takeaway you know I'm not scared to fail once you fail as big as
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  I failed in terms of the fitness center and bankruptcy and all that you know failure it's not as
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  scary and once you kind of get it out of the way and you realize it okay well that sucks it's things
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  and and and a lot of it not only one of the worst parts about when you when you when you fail in
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  business it's not necessarily the burden that it places on you it's the embarrassment of having to
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  acknowledge that something that you tried didn't work to other people and so when you get over at
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  least it was for me you know I can only speak for myself but once you kind of get over that the ego
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  of yep you know what I tried it at least and and you realize that most people aren't even willing to
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  do that you know and and it's funny because the most people that are the most critical or the
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  naysayers of the people that'll you know say oh you shouldn't do that or you're wrong they've
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  never done shit and they never will they're just going to basically they're more comfortable staying
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  comfortable and would rather you know sit on the sidelines and point figures and and say how
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  you you didn't do something right or you should have done this way it's like you know what you know
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  f you you know I'm I'm out here trying I'm gonna I'm gonna try I may not I may not be successful
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  but at least I I don't have regret and I'm not doing something I don't want to do that's a
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  damn good attitude to have just just jump into stuff in life and I think that that's what you
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  have to it's super but you know what you got to do you got to find you got to find your tribe
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  that just supports and and then and then you double down on that tribe and you force yourself
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  to be accountable by telling them what you are doing so you're so you know that if you fail they're
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  there to support you because you don't want you know and that's a tough thing because like
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  sometimes it's family sometimes it's friends you've had for a long time that are just really
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  shitty to towards what you're trying to do and that's a tough pill for a lot of people to swallow
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  but when you find your tribe people to support you that are also trying shit and entrepreneurial not
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  even entrepreneurial just like super ambitious if you put it out into the world like for this podcast
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  for example like I purposefully tell every single person I meet now and now my identity has become
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  more of the podcast when it was first starting it was the other stuff I was doing well I work at
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  this job and I have a podcast on the side versus I lead with the podcast because that's holding
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  me accountable man like they're gonna look me up and they're gonna see it and like I don't want
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  I don't want to fail so I don't you know I'm just like making myself do it all the time but I think
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  that's the tribe you have to build people that are cool with that and that was yeah and and that
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  was you know there was a gentleman that I that I met that was on YouTube Antonio Centeno he is a
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  YouTube channel real men real style he reached out to me and and I knew about him just because I saw
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  it was it was me I started the YouTube thing first talking about style and then he came in a few
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  years later and and I and I hated him I'm like this son of a bitch is doing trying to you know
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  steal my something whatever and so he actually reached out to me and he said hey let's get together
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  and and meet up and why don't we have kind of like a get together or meet up for some of these
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  other people that kind of are in our space and I was very resistant to doing it but it was one of
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  the best decisions I ever made was kind of stepping out of my comfort zone because I did not understand
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  the importance of surrounding yourself with people that are sort of moving in the same direction
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  and you know and that was one of the like I said the things that changed my life all the sudden I
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  was around people that I had I needed to be around that were all like you know inspiring like people
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  that were trying that were just going after their dreams and doing something different you know
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  and and that was it was amazing because once you do get around those people that are that are trying
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  that are striving that are just doing things outside of the box it is amazing how it inspires you
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  number one but it also will give you ideas and then if you ever need help you know it's there
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  always you know just a phone call or text away and my my friend Jordan Harbinger likes to say
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  you your network is your your network or your network is your network I'm sure he stole back
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  somebody else anyway but the damn good quote I know yes the Jordan he has a great podcast you
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  yeah that's what I'm trying to go yeah he's he's he's a rock star right and so yeah Jordan you
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  know he says and and Jordan had kind of like a tumultramult I can't even say that we're tumultuous
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  tumultuous sort of relationship break up with his former business partner and you know and and it
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  was hard I mean Jordan literally almost started like from ground zero he had his podcast but you
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  know they had a very big you know and successful coaching business and and you know and and Jordan
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  he was like you know what I'm just gonna reach out to these people that I know that are friends
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  and and he does he every day like sits down and sends text messages to people just to say hey
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  and just to keep that connection going and you know I think that's something so incredibly you know
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  powerful because we get so caught up in our own lives and our own shit a lot of times that you
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  know just take in a few seconds out of the day just to connect with people you never know when
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  you're going to need them or they may need you thanks for tuning in if you found this valuable
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  don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode and if you want to dive
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  deeper into this conversation check out the links in the description to watch the full episode
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  see you in the next one