So many coaches chase clever ideas, but it’s the clear ones that create clients. In this episode, Jo shares why you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to succeed. You need to understand what already works and make it your own. In this episode, Jo explores how to reverse engineer success, find genuine inspiration without comparison, and stay grounded in your own rhythm of growth.

This episode is for you if…

You’re a coach or business owner who’s tired of overcomplicating your niche or reinventing the wheel. You’ll walk away knowing how to model what works with integrity and how to make it yours.

Timestamps

[00:00:00] Clear Beats Clever

[00:02:00] Start with What Works

[00:04:00] The Power (and Risk) of Reverse Engineering

[00:06:00] The Truth Behind “Successful” Coaches

[00:08:00] Volume, Consistency, and Effort

[00:09:00] Stop Playing Safe

[00:10:00] Seasons, Evidence, and Self-Trust

You don’t need to be the most original person in the room, you just need to be the clearest. Find evidence that what you want is possible, do the work consistently, and remember that your season of growth will come.

Useful Links

Registration is now open for Dare Greatly, the Autumn Transformation Experience

Learn about The Business of Coaching programme

Signature Solution Course

Download the Free Digital version of Coaches' Planner (edition 2025)

Grow Your Business Without the Tech Overwhelm - One Stop Coach Shop

Free Essential AI Toolkit – 2 Must-Have Prompts for Coaches

How to secure more coaching clients' free training

Download the 12 ways to get clients now

Connect with Jo on LinkedIn

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If you’re kind enough to leave a review, please do let Jo know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: joanna@joannalottcoaching.com

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What's been on my mind this week is how

often we can chase clever ideas when

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clear ones actually create clients.

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So many coaches are searching for that

niche that no one's ever done before,

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but that's not always a good thing.

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If no one else is doing it sometimes

it's because there is no market for it.

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What if instead of trying to be the

most original person in the room,

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you focused on being the clearest.

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This is something I've worked on

over years and I'm continuously

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feeding back to clients.

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Like, how can we just say this so

simply and so short, which isn't

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always the feedback I used to give.

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And a lot of the niching advice

perhaps I used to give was

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before AI came into business.

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Now AI has come in things sound really

generic, so we need to keep refining and

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keep thinking how can we sound like AI

has not come up with this statement, even

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if AI has come up with your statement.

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So I have loads of ways of doing this

now and it's taken a long time to create

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those short, sharp, normal sounding

niche statements that do convey exactly

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what you do to the average person.

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So my message today is that

clear is better than clever.

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You don't need to reinvent the wheel.

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There are many people

who have gone before you.

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You just need to explain what

you do in simple human language.

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A phrase I shared this week

in my call, which people loved

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was Imitate then innovate.

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So first start with

what's working out there.

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We don't need to create a new car.

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All we need to do is look at

cars that are out there and

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add air conditioning, different

colors, different things to them.

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So I would suggest doing

the same in your business.

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Who is successful out there?

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Look for evidence that what you

want is possible, and then study and

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reverse engineer how they created it.

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This isn't always easy because

I've seen clients reverse engineer

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someone's business who I know

behind the scenes is not successful.

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So this is really tricky to do online.

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So a word of warning here that.

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Only use examples where you have

absolute proof that they are successful.

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So, for example, many of my clients

will know that I have a lot of clients.

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Therefore, what I'm sharing is

real and from genuine experience

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of gaining clients myself.

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Which I know can feel really easy

for coaches selling to coaches, but

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I can promise you that other programs

I've been in, everyone's like, how

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can you ever succeed in that niche?

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It's the hardest niche ever

because it's so competitive.

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So don't be fooled that there is

a really easy niche out there.

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Usually even the easy.

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Niches are hard and take hard work.

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Commitment, consistency,

all of the things.

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So if you have rewritten your

niche statement 50 times to

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make it sound interesting and

very unlike everyone else's.

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Then try and take the approach of saying

out loud exactly who you help and how.

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Write that down and make that your niche

statement, not some elaborate thing

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that you will never remember once you

have closed chat GPT down for the day.

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I've worked in lots of different

courses at the moment with super

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successful people and heard this

same message time and time again.

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If you want to create great YouTube

videos, look at someone who is

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creating great YouTube videos and

figure out how they're doing it

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or learn from them even better.

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Same with content.

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If you're wondering how to create

great content, find someone who's

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doing it and reverse engineer

exactly how they're doing it.

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Sometimes it's not always easy to

see these things, so behind the

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scenes things can be very different.

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For example, you've got no idea if

someone's sending hundreds of cold dms a

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day, you could be looking at their social

profile thinking, how are they successful?

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They haven't posted for a month.

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Maybe that means I don't need to

post for a month, but it might mean

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that they have a very different

strategy behind the scenes.

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So again, all of this advice is really

tricky if you haven't got the inside goss

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on what's going on in the industry, but

I hope it gives you some inspiration to

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really reverse engineer what's working.

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For example, if I were to reverse engineer

those who are more successful than me,

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I would know full well what I need to

do is do this podcast on video and add

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it to YouTube, pitch myself to events.

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There are tons of things that I

know I could do differently to get

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to that next level by looking at

people at that next level above me.

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Whether I have the energy, time

is up to us individually to decide

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whether we want to use that strategy.

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But we can't be cross for the

results that we don't get from

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the work that we don't put in.

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I often run this call in my business

of coaching group where we look at

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a handful of successful coaches.

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We reverse engineer together so we don't

spiral into comparison what they're

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doing with a genuine curiosity lens.

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Most of the times the things we

notice, and it's very clear when

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you're looking at five successful

people, one after the other, is a clear

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niche, knowing exactly who they help

and how and saying it super short and

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super simply, consistent authority.

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There are usually logos or statements

that just emphasize that they know

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exactly what they're talking about.

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This can also be images, so

maybe they've spoken at events.

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That social proof and trust markers

are always there, so you know that

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you are in safe hands, and usually

this part is often not visible,

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is some sort of regular rhythm.

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Whether I know behind the scenes

perhaps that they are sending lots of

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dms or putting consistent posts out

or consistently liaising with their

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network or some other methodology

to being able to actually make

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this work for them consistently.

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But again, take the warning online

everyone looks successful, so only

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use data from people who you a

hundred percent know are successful.

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So today I invite you to look for

evidence that what you want is possible.

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I had a client this week who said, well,

everyone's doing leadership coaching,

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so I don't wanna do leadership coaching.

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Actually, that's not a bad sign.

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If everyone is doing leadership

coaching, maybe there's a

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market for leadership coaching.

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And yes, there are loads of different

levels, so don't just think, oh,

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I'll be a leadership coach, then

there's a market for that because

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there are a lot of successful people

and there are a lot of people that

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aren't successful in that niche.

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But what it means for you is if there

are any successful people in that

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niche, there is some market demand.

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Beware that they may have spent

years gaining that market demand.

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So don't be naive like I have been in

the past and think, well, they did it.

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I can do it next week as well, because

sometimes it's a lot of tiny, tiny

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repetitions and consistency that

that person has put in to build

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whatever you see on the outside.

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Look at the volume of the

work they are producing.

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So again, if I were to look at people

the next level up from me, I know that

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they are not just posting once a day.

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They are posting twice a day,

sometimes even six times,

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eight times, 10 times a day.

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Yes that may make you feel

completely overwhelmed.

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And again, we get to decide do

we want to go to that next level?

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Do we want to build that or don't we?

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And while you are doing

this, check in with yourself.

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How safe are you playing?

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Are you sharing your opinions widely

or are you being a bit vanilla?

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And this doesn't mean

being shouty or aggressive.

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Hopefully you will know from listening

to this podcast and all of my work that

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that is not my style, but I do share what

I believe honestly, but with empathy.

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And that is how people start trusting you.

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So imitate before you innovate.

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Learn from what is working, make

it your own and say it clearly.

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Clarity beats being clever every time.

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If this resonated, go find three coaches

who are doing what you want to do.

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Look up to them.

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Do it with heart and not comparison.

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Study what they've done and

admire what they have built.

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Not saying we don't all compare, but

if I take this approach, I can really

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see that those who are ahead of me

have put in the work to get there.

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So they deserve all of the credit.

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There is one particular person who

was at a similar stage to me maybe

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two years ago, and now she is utterly

flying and I know it's because she

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has put in so much work, so much

money into Facebook ads, for example.

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So much therapy, all of the

things that I haven't done yet.

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So we all have our seasons in life.

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We can only do what we can do.

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We are just human beings.

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And if you are like me with a

couple of snatched hours each

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day to build your business, then

that's what you have right now.

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And make the most of it.

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I hope this helped you and inspired you

today that what you want is possible.

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Find evidence for that fact.

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And like I say at the end of

every episode, trust yourself.

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Believe in yourself, and be the wise

gardener who keeps on watering the seed.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

Thank you so much for listening to this

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episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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joannalottcoaching.com.

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And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

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Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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personally thank you for that.

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Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.

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Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.