“GO AHEAD – START A MOVEMENT!”

I remember vividly where and when I heard that challenge and the electricity it triggered throughout my body!

Instinctively, I knew in that precise moment my life, at age 60, was about to have greater impact.

I was in a hotel ballroom in San Diego, attending a three-day conference. The year was 2015 and I was just beginning to get clarity about who I was in the next stage of my life and what mattered to me next.

A movement.

One word carries so much weight. It feels so serious, as if one must commit to great responsibility. Yet at the same time, the word is pregnant with possibilities, purpose and optimism.

Since that day, I’ve thought a lot about what defined me and shaped my life. One word came up again and again.

Gratitude.

I reflected on how gratitude came to be at the core of everything important to me and realized it was rooted in my childhood with the awareness of reciprocity.

In this episode, I share how a single teen mother from a small farm, grew up to have a global vision built on the values of lifting while climbing in all areas of personal and professional growth.

Please join me in the Lift As You Climb Movement.

Together we can create and live our legacies while we lift others and empower them to create their own legacy and impact.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/liftasyouclimbmovement

About the Host:

 

Isabel Alexander

Your Next Business Strategist and Transformation Catalyst

 Isabel Alexander's journey from modest beginnings to global recognition epitomizes entrepreneurial resilience and innovation. With over five decades of experience spanning diverse industries, she has become a driving force in shaping economic landscapes worldwide. Noteworthy accomplishments include founding a multimillion-dollar global chemical wholesale business and earning accolades such as Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

As a mentor and advocate, Isabel empowers women entrepreneurs through initiatives like the Lift As You Climb Movement and podcasts, guiding them from startup to maturity. Serving as Chief Encore Officer of The Encore Catalyst, she dedicates herself to coaching and educating emerging entrepreneurs. Her involvement in organizations like RenegadesReinventing.com and Femme on Fire underscores her commitment to leadership and business development.

Additionally, Isabel's advisory roles with government bodies and trade associations, such as Chair of the Canadian Association of Importers & Exporters, highlight her influence in shaping trade policies and fostering international relations.

Driven by her mantra, "Lift As You Climb," Isabel embodies the ethos of mutual growth and empowerment. With dual citizenship in Canada and the United States, she values her extensive family and embraces global connections through travel and professional engagements. Isabel Alexander's narrative serves as a beacon of inspiration, illustrating how visionary leadership and strategic advising can drive global entrepreneurship and economic independence forward.

Founder:

The Encore Catalyst Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/TheEncoreCatalyst )

and

Chief Encore Officer, The Encore Catalyst (www.theencorecatalyst.com) – an accelerator for feminine wisdom, influence, and impact.

also

Author & Speaker ‘Who Am I Now? – Feminine Wisdom Unmasked Uncensored’ https://whoaminowbook.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelannalexander/

 

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Speaker: 00:00:53

Hello again!

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And welcome, if this is your first time joining me on the

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Lift As You Climb podcast.

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I'm very glad that you're here today, because I need some help.

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I've got some thoughts in my head that are hurting my brain and I need this

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opportunity to share them, because I always find that when I share my thoughts

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and my feelings out loud with my friends, I get a lot more clarity about you know,

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what I'm feeling and what's true, and what's not true, and what is possible.

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That's me.

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I'm all about possibilities and unlimited potential.

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That's the story of my life, it's the cheerleader, the optimist, Ms.

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Positivity.

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And today I'm feeling a little, Hmm...

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I don't know...

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verklempt?

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Is that the right word to use?

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I had a question posed of me a few hours ago, and that's the

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catalyst for this podcast episode.

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And why I'm asking for your help to talk this through.

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I recently reconnected with someone that I've known for about 20 years.

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And we haven't talked for a couple of years.

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We've both been busy living life, as that happens, particularly with us women.

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There's always something to keep us going and doing.

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She asked me a question, and I'm, so grateful that, she feels confident

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enough in our relationship to be so, right out there and say Isabel, I don't

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understand exactly what all you're doing.

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I like what I'm seeing and I'm feeling, but I'm confused about

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how all of these parts of you and all of these things that you are

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doing, how do they all fit together?

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Please explain this to me.

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She said, I have this email address and that domain and that group on Facebook

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and I know that you've been very busy lately creating and delivering the

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Global Serial Entrepreneurs Summit.

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And you've just launched this podcast, the Lift As You Climb

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podcast, and that you have founded the Lift As You Climb Movement.

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And you have coaching clients that you work with privately,

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and you have a coaching program.

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the Y.E.S!

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Masterclass.

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But how does this all come together?

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And WHY, are you continuing to create new things, and start new things?

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She went on to say we're, close to the same age, she's just a little

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bit older than I am, and she said, I've been thinking these days...

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what do I want to do next?

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What's MY Encore?...

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in Isabel vernacular.

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And so I'm really curious to hear...

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What's driving you, to do all of this, and how did it come about?

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Thank you, my dear friend, for asking me, you take a step back, to slow down just

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a moment and get some clarity for myself.

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Cause you know, if I'm confusing me, I'm certainly confusing everyone else.

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So it goes back, if you rewind in my her-story, it really goes back to

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my childhood and explains exactly why I'm in the right place today, and this

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is where I was always intended to be.

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Although Lord, I would never have guessed that if you'd asked me in my

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20s or 30s or 40s, even 50s, what I would be doing now at the age of 66.

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I couldn't possibly have imagined or visioned this.

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The origins of the Encore Catalyst and the Lift As You Climb Movement, really do

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go back to when I was a kid growing up on a farm in Canada, and really thinking...

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I don't think I belong here.

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I'm not sure who I am, or why I don't feel like I fit in?

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And my life has been continued on that theme or perhaps that's

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been the catalyst for me.

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Always in search of...

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What is the next evolution of me?

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And why do I always seem to be slightly behind, where I am in my

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journey through Womanhood Wonderland.

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Now, as I said, there was that farm girl who thought, wow, the world, I think, is

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much bigger than where I presently am.

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I'm feeling very much like Alice in Wonderland.

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That I am expanding and growing too big to fit into the structure,

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or the environment, that I'm in.

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And yet, there were times that I also felt like I was really shrinking and

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that I was too small to live up to, the responsibilities that were in front of me.

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So if you know of my story a little bit, I left home at 16 and was a teen Mom

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on my own, right out of high school.

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And I would never have made it to the next stage of my life if it wasn't

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for the people that appeared, that stepped forward, and gave me a hand up.

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They gave me a lift, in my life, not with financial donations,

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or charity in that respect.

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They reached out to point me in the right direction.

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To tell me where I could find opportunities, or how to learn

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what's the next way to take care of myself and my family.

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They gave me opportunities of employment where I had the chance to learn

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skills and grow into a mature woman.

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To have a business set of skills that were so valuable to me later

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when I became an entrepreneur.

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And they also taught me that there was a world of opportunity if I

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was open to learn and to be open, with a growth mindset, to the

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fact that evolution was possible.

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If you wanted to do so.

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Now at first you might think, that would have been a difficult

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transition for me to make.

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To accept the help of virtual strangers, to level up, to grow in

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my life, and to ensure my success as an independent working Mom.

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But in fact, it wasn't all that difficult, because it was very similar to the way I

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grew up with farmers helping each other.

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You know, there's something in the farming community that is a code

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of conduct, a way of living, that you always help your neighbor.

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Coming together at the time when crops need to be brought in, or

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farm equipment needs to be shared, or if there's a catastrophe or a

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crisis, and somebody needs help because they're sick or injured.

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I saw it all the time, neighbors stepped forward to help each other without

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expectation of gratitude or payment, it was just expected that when the time came,

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that help would be reciprocated for them.

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And it really was, without me having a label for it, my first

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exposure and education to how Lift As You Climb benefits everyone.

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So for me as that young woman, now from the farm, in the big city, having

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individuals around me and being open, I think that's the other thing that,

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made it possible for me to be successful was that I was open to awareness of

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who was a good role model for me, who I could look to, to emulate as an

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example, or to ask a question about how.

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How to do that, how to be more of myself.

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And that went on, that continued on, as I went through my 20s

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and then on into my early 30s.

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As I promoted from one job or one level in a job to another, always

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looking to be with other people that I could grow with, and at the same time,

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show my gratitude and appreciation to them, by living up to the commitments

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and at the same time, reaching back and sharing what I had, with others.

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And there were plenty of opportunities to do that, especially in a

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community of young single moms.

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We all had to help each other, and have each other's backs.

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The universe provided an opportunity at the age of 35

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for me to start my own business.

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Now, this is a whole new level of growth for me, going from having

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relative security, not always security, as, you know, if you're working for

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someone else, things can happen.

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But then to be fully responsible, not only for my livelihood, but

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then within a couple of years, the livelihood of a team of people.

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And to feel very responsible for keeping promises, keeping commitments to my

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customers, to my suppliers, because I felt strongly that my reputation was

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the single most important asset I had at the time of growing a small company.

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And again, there were opportunities where people helped me, they reached down and

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they gave me a leg up, a hand up, to a new circle of connections and resources.

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New opportunities where I could show that I was more than

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deserving of those opportunities.

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And with my increased success, I was able to help more people.

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There are many ways that you can do that.

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You can create opportunities, helping people to elevate

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their own economic autonomy.

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Opportunities to share, to give back in your industry and your

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community, with involvement and with charitable contributions.

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It all builds on itself.

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And it continued to build for me with that, mode of operations,

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that philosophy for my life, that I would always do better.

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I could do well by doing good, and by reciprocating to others.

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I don't believe that it's all the gift of the universe, or opportunity,

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or karma or synchronicity.

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I also believe that Lift As You Climb, the philosophy, can be addressed successfully

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in a strategic manner by looking forward, to the areas that you know that you need

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to grow, the relationships that you need to cultivate to be able to achieve the

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next level of your own goals and success.

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Also to look very strategically around and behind you.

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Who needs your help?

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Who will benefit that you've already been through that experience?

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Or, you can give them an opportunity to be exposed to something

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they're not even aware of yet.

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Well, Lift As You Climb has just been there, a guiding principle for me, for

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a very long time, without me really being aware that's what it was, until

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this decade, where I came to a stage now, after having the opportunity to

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have great success with one business, and grow multiple other businesses.

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Now a more reflective stage of my life, and realized, I want

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to have a different impact.

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I want to use the influence that I can have...

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because of who I am and what I've learned and what resources I have, to

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be able to create a bigger impact in the lives of others that is sustainable

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and that it's without limits.

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And that's where they idea of the Lift As You Climb Movement.

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Came to be.

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And that I felt that it was a platform, an opportunity to welcome other people

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who share those ideas with me and who want to learn more about how we can

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collectively come together and magnify the results of that, while we think about

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what it is that we want, that's really important to us, so that we are living

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our legacy while we are here to influence it and experience it and enjoy it.

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And at the same time, that our legacy becomes the catalyst for others

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around us, some that we know and some that we don't know, to create

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their legacy, so to empower others.

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And there's this exponential impact I believe that we can have, when we come

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together with like-minded individuals, and put our collective wisdom and desires

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together to create what a Movement can.

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And how cool is that?

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To be part of a movement and to witness it growing and having greater impact.

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To my friend who is asking...

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So what's the connection?

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In the process of moving through my life's journey as an

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entrepreneur and selling a business.

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I went through, that period that we discussed, of figuring out "Who I Am

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Now" which became the Encore methodology, which became the company, The Encore

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Catalyst, my business entity...

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it is the host for the coaching and the programs that I offer.

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The Lift as you Climb Movement is who I am and what I stand for, and

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the community that I want to be in.

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The Lift As You Climb podcast, is a way that we can share these ideas,

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and invite new ideas about how we can increase the results and the influence and

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impact of that kind of thinking that...

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Pay It Forward, Give A Hand Up...

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There is enough pie for everyone...

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belief.

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I am Isabel Banerjee, I am the Encore Catalyst, I am the Lift As You Climb

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Movement, but that doesn't belong exclusively to me, it belongs to

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each and every person that wants to be part of that kind of thinking

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and attitude and every-day action.

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And I invite you to join me in that.

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I'm reminded of the African proverb that says that: "If

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you want to go fast, go alone.

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But if you want to go far, go together.

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So please, come, be with me, we will go far.