Why Business? - Burning Brightly

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Why Business?

Episode 26 • 13th September 2023 • Burning Brightly • Bonnie Wiscombe

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You're listening to episode

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26 of Burning Brightly.

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Why business?

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This is burning brightly, a podcast

for Christian moms who are feeling

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called to build a business and

share their light with the world.

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I'm Bonnie Wiscombe, a life

coach, mom, and entrepreneur.

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And I'm honored to be your guide.

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As you face this business building

adventure full of highs, lows,

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and everything in between.

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This is where we help each

other find the courage to shine.

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Microphone (2- ATR2100x-USB Microphone):

Welcome back, friends.

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Today, we're going to dive into

why business, meaning why are we

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building businesses out of all the

things that we could be doing with

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our extra time that we're carving

out from our families, from our,

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, responsibilities within our community.

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Why in particular am I talking about

business versus a million other things?

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Well, I named podcast burning brightly

because I want to inspire women of faith.

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to make themselves more visible

in the world and specifically

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to shine God's light.

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And one way to do this

is to build a business.

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Now, it's not the only way, obviously.

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We can volunteer in our communities,

which I'm sure many of you already do.

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We can fight for justice and

freedom and awesome values.

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We can run for public office, which

is amazing for some people and would

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be a terrible idea for me, but I'm

glad some people like to do it.

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We can start a nonprofit.

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We can foster a child.

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We can do so many things that

put goodness into the world.

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So starting a business

is just one of them.

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But on this podcast, I

only talk about that one.

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So why?

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Well, because businesses

make the world go round.

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I think they are amazing.

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So incredible.

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I was not, exposed to a lot of

entrepreneurial examples as a kid.

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Maybe you haven't been either.

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so because of that, you might still think

of business as this big, massive kind of

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corporate entity that would just offer

you a job and products that you need.

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isn't necessarily doing much good in

the world, but I want to reframe how you

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think and feel about businesses today so

that we can put our efforts into building

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our own and know that it is going to put

the good that the world needs out there.

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So let's redefine business for a second.

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A business is simply an organized

means of exchanging value.

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That's it.

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It's just a way to exchange value,

but it's organized so that there's

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particular steps someone goes through

to get the value that you offer.

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A business is usually created when one

person or a group of people see a need, i.

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e.

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a demand, and they know how

to create a solution, i.

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e.

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a supply.

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So they see that somebody needs something

and they know how to create that solution.

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When they organize themselves to meet

this demand, then that's a business.

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So it could start with one person

offering, lemonade on the corner.

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And then once they organize themselves

into a legal entity and they start

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doing things on a massive scale, then

it becomes a business and they're

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then selling their lemonade to

larger amounts of people, hopefully.

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So that's one very simple

example of a business.

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A couple of other examples of small

businesses could be a plumber that knows

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that people need good, honest, reliable

service, and he knows how to give it.

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Awesome.

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New business.

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What about a seamstress who loves

to sew and wants to help people with

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alterations that nobody ever seems to

know how to do for themselves anymore?

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She sees a need, she

can supply a solution.

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Or a piano teacher who is great

at inspiring kids and happens to

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know that her community is full

of such kids and parents who

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really want their kids to learn.

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An instrument.

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Great.

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A need, a solution.

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Okay.

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That's all a business is.

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One person or group creates the

value and exchanges it in the form

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of money of the country's currency to

someone who really wants or needs it.

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You guys, we engage with

businesses all day long.

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Stop and think about it for a second.

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It's fascinating.

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Sometimes minute by minute, we're

engaging with a new business.

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Right now, let's just talk

about what I'm doing right now.

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Right now I'm using my computer brought

to me by Cox who gives me my internet

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And Apple, who created my laptop.

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I'm also wearing clothes thanks to,

let's see, Free People and Target,

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I think, Two more businesses.

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You are listening to my podcast via

my hosting platform and whatever

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phone you're using, that brand, And

your phone company that you pay for.

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We are comfortable in our homes thanks

to air conditioning or heat companies

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and realtors, builders, right?

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So many businesses come together

to offer us the things that we need

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if you're listening to your car,

think about all the people that come

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together to create an awesome car.

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all of the parts that go into it.

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Sometimes created by various different

companies, the oil companies that

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create the gasoline that we need

to get from one place to another.

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It is just amazing when you

start to think about it.

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So many businesses are required

for you and I to just go about our

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daily lives and live comfortably.

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This is the miracle of

the industrial revolution.

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We live in amazing and amazing time.

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So before you brush off business as

something that's not for you, or something

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kind of cold and faceless, think about

all these people that started with

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just one person or just a handful of

small people, and then decided to offer

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something of value to those who needed it.

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So basically what I'm trying to

do here is to help anyone who

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has negative associations with

the word business to understand.

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It is just an organized

way to exchange value.

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So can we survive in our day

to day without businesses?

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Of course.

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People did it for thousands of

years, but life is a lot harder.

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We actually really need each other

to survive and to thrive, especially

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in our modern days where we have

so many resources to do amazing

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things like put out podcasts.

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Thousands of years ago,

people had to create.

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A lot more tools and

resources than we do now.

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They had to rely on themselves

for almost everything.

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if they wanted milk, then they had to

own the cow and know how to milk it.

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If they wanted clothes, they needed sheep

and then they had to process the wool and

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make it into fabric and sew it together.

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It was a much bigger deal to get these

basic human needs that we fulfill

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just by driving down to Target.

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Humanity then progressed from creating

our own things to bartering, maybe,

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the dairy farmer would swap the

milk for the wool from the sheep

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farmer, but access to our wants and

needs was still very, very limited.

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Now we have access and almost

instantaneous access sometimes to

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literally anything we can dream of.

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Really money is the only barrier.

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All we need is money and we can get

that thousands of different ways.

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Think about all the different ways, you

know, that people make money through

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their jobs or their businesses or

any, you know, selling things on the

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internet, a million different things.

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It is so fascinating.

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So I personally have never milked

a cow in my lifetime, but I

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enjoy ice cream all the time.

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Isn't that a miracle?

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I've never built a car.

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I've seen one built.

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It's pretty fascinating, but I can get

to drive everywhere because somebody

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else did that hard work for me.

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Also, never designed a computer, see me

inside, looks like gobbledygook to me,

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but I use one every single day, thankfully

for other geniuses who put their time

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and effort into their business to create

the computers that we use every day.

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So I think we now know just how vital

and just how important businesses are,

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but let's move on to the next step.

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Why is it important for you and

I to create or build one of these

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organizations that exchanges value?

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Well, because you and I are full of value.

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Do you believe that you truly believe

that you have value to give the world?

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If not, then we need to have a

conversation, preferably on a

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coaching call where I can help

you parse out some of those

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thoughts that are not serving you.

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But I firmly believe that every human

being on this planet is full of value

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that they can give to other people.

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We know how to love people and

teach them and inspire them and

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encourage them wherever we go.

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And some of us are more practiced

than others, but the world has

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need of what we have to give.

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Especially, I believe God's

faithful women are so powerful.

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And I believe that he's calling

us to step into that power and to

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show it to the rest of the world.

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Sadly.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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The modern society that we live in has

caused a lot of physical disconnect

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with friends, family, even strangers

that previous generations didn't

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have in order to barter those goods.

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They had to walk down the street

and talk to their neighbor.

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They had to go to a farmer's market.

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We don't need to do that.

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We can literally live inside of our

house with almost zero human interaction.

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It's very sad.

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I mean, it's great for those

of us who are introverts.

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But do you guys remember the movie The

Net with Sandra Bullock from the 90s?

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Back then it seemed like science fiction.

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A woman could live in her house and

not know anyone physically, and no one

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could vouch for her identity because

so few people knew her in real life.

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And that is our reality today.

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You can DoorDash everything.

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You can Amazon Prime everything.

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And have so little human interaction.

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So I think that we really need to take

advantage of the internet that we have in

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order to create more connection, not less.

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So the upside to having access

to the internet is that now we

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have access to the entire world.

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I can put out a podcast that a

woman finds inspiring in Japan or in

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Australia, and those women can put

value out into the world that could

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benefit me all the way in Arizona.

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It's so amazing and I love it.

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But there are pros and cons, of

course, as we see this physical

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disconnect, but then we can reach

people further on the internet.

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So can you see why God might

be calling you to do this?

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It's because he needs your talents and

skills put out into the world and on the

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internet where thousands upon thousands

of people could benefit from them.

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Now, don't get freaked out by

the thousands and thousands.

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We're going to start with just a handful.

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Thankfully it takes time

to build an audience.

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I say thankfully because most of the

time it's really nerve wracking to get

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on the internet the first couple of

times and building an online business

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is full of scary moments like that.

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But it's going to take time for more

than, you know, just your friends

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and family to follow you and see what

you're putting out into the world.

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So once you get confident, then

you can go reach the thousands

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and it won't feel quite so scary.

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All right, so we've established

why businesses are not, mean, nasty

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corporate entities necessarily.

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Maybe some are.

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That they are valuable organizations

that exchange value and why we

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might need to start a business to

put our own value into the world.

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But I know what some of you might

be thinking now, okay, you get it,

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but why charge money for this value?

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If it is such great value and God wants

us to put it onto the world, why not

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just volunteer or create a nonprofit?

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Of course you can volunteer.

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Of course you can create a nonprofit.

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I highly recommend you do,

especially if you feel called to it.

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But there are two main reasons why

charging for your knowledge, expertise,

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or your creativity is worthwhile.

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So hear me out.

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the first one is that

you deserve to be paid.

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Okay.

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So putting goodness out

into the world is hard work.

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And in order for it to be sustainable,

meaning last more than about two

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months, value needs to change hands.

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Meaning you need to receive money

for what you're putting out there.

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Not only do you deserve it, but it

actually costs money to disseminate

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information content products to the world.

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So your business can only be viable

while money is changing hands.

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Now you could make it super cheap, but

wait for number two and you'll, you'll

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learn why you might not want to do that.

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So essentially you can only put goodness

out into the world until the money runs

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out until you don't have money to pay for

your hosting platform or your website.

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Okay.

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So that money has to change hands

to make it worth your while and also

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to continue putting it out there.

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The second main reason why charging

is essential is because people value

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things more when we pay for them.

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Tell me you don't think this is true.

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It is absolutely true.

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We all know this is true.

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When I have access to something

free, I'm either super suspicious

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and I don't take advantage of it.

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I'm like, why is it free?

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Right.

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Or I just don't value it at all.

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When we charge people money first, it

shows them that what we are offering is

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valuable and it communicates how valuable.

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So, a Gucci purse is more valuable than

a purse from Target for multiple reasons,

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but not the least of which is cost.

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It's about 500 times more expensive.

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Ergo, it is 500 times more valuable.

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Now, people can argue whether

it's actually higher quality.

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That's not what we're talking about here.

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What we want to understand is that

the money tied to a particular

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item, service, piece of information

shows the world how valuable it is.

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And then also, of course, charging money

communicates to the person receiving

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the item or the information that

they should take it more seriously.

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The things that I own that have

cost me a lot of money are treasured

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and cared for way more than

the things that I got for free.

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Not only do I not care for the free or

the cheap things as much, I don't spend

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as much time or energy enjoying them.

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I figure since it was only 5

or 25 or whatever, I only have

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to enjoy it 5 or 25 worth.

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If I invested 100 or 200 or 1, 000

in something, I know that it is

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more valuable and I spend more time

and effort enjoying it or getting

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that amount of value out of it.

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So when I invest serious money into

something, it reminds me that it's worth

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having in my life and I allow it to take

up more space in my life or in my brain.

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I just know it's more valuable.

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So, unfortunately, way too many female

entrepreneurs worry about charging

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money for their products or services,

especially large sums of money.

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And they worry that it's not

Christlike or something because

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they're focusing on bringing in money.

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But do you see how undercharging

could also be really terrible?

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Not just for you and your business,

but for your customers or your clients.

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When you undercharge, you diminish the

value you are bringing to the table

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and you're effectively communicating

that your product, services, whatever

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you're offering is not valuable.

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So you might be thinking, well,

I'm only going to charge 15 or 20

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for this thing because I want it

to be affordable or accessible.

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But when people see a price tag of 15

or 20, you know what they're thinking?

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This is cheap.

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This is not valuable.

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It's not certainly not as valuable

as that thing over there that's 250.

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Okay.

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So keep in mind both

sides of the equation.

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You have to require people to pay you a

high value so that you are communicating

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the value of your product or offer.

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Don't forget that because you don't

want to cheapen your business.

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You don't want to cheapen your

experience, make your business not viable.

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You also don't want to cheapen

the experience you're giving

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to your customers or clients.

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Now I'm also not a fan of overcharging

for no reason just because you can.

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We do want our services to be accessible.

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We do want people to benefit from the

value we're putting out into the world,

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but not at the expense of us or them.

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And we can do so by charging a fair price.

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So, if you believe that you can help

people change their lives, which I believe

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you can, communicate that by charging the

amount that that transformation is worth.

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Not your time, not the energy required

to produce that offer, but what the

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transformation you are selling is worth.

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That will make all the difference.

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I firmly believe that as more amazing

women organize these businesses and

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start creating more value and then

exchanging them for value in their

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life, everyone's lives are blessed

and the world becomes a better place.

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So let's get out there and

build those businesses.

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I'll talk to you next week, friends.