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Swan City Twins – How Hayley and Kaleigh Dirck Grow Profits For Small Businesses
Episode 421st February 2024 • Celebrating Small Family Businesses • Kuder Consulting Group
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We have a lively conversation with with Haley and Kaleigh Dirck, twin sisters and part of a family of entrepreneurs owning multiple businesses in fields such as branding, photography, and consulting.

They share their experiences, revealing the importance of clear communication, setting effective boundaries, and seeking external help and resources to avoid getting stuck in business.

They also stress on the importance of automating and simplifying certain operational processes to reduce disputes, and underlining the benefits of running a family business, including increased family time and enhanced work-life balance.

The twins also express their desire to help other small businesses succeed and how they use their individual specialties to contribute towards this goal.

00:00 Introduction and Meeting the Twins

00:38 Family of Entrepreneurs: The Story

01:41 The Workhorse: A Tribute to Dad

03:29 The Twins' Individual Specialties

05:22 The Power of Branding in Business

06:08 The Journey to Business Photography

10:00 The Importance of Personal Branding

14:57 The Joys and Challenges of Working with Family

23:26 The Importance of Flexibility in Business

24:03 Overcoming Challenges in Family Business

26:01 The Role of Communication in Business Success

27:19 The Importance of Outside Perspective in Business

27:39 The Role of Money in Business Conflicts

30:32 The Importance of Business Automation

31:30 The Challenges of Starting a Business

35:58 The Importance of Networking in Business

37:40 The Role of Transparency in Family Business

45:21 The Importance of Diversification in Business

46:08 Contact Information and Final Thoughts

Check out https://www.evergrowconsulting.com/ for Hayley's business consulting services and https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaleigh-dirck-3a1812201/ to reach Kaleigh

Transcripts

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Well, good afternoon.

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This is John and Connie Cooter with

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Celebrating Small Family Businesses.

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And we are celebrating today,

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Haley and Kaleigh Dirk.

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Now that's my left and my right.

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I think it's going to show

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up the same way, but I know,

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it's ... Kaleigh has her hair pulled

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back and Hayley has her hair down.

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No, other way

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around.

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Sorry.

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I'm going to see that's what

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happens with twins right away.

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I already did it.

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You already know the secrets out.

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You guys are twin sisters.

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Yeah, who knew?

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Now we're identical twin sisters.

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We are a family of entrepreneurs.

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Pretty much all of us, aunts, uncles,

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grandparents, all of us have owned our

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own business at one point or the other.

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And I think a lot of it has to do

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with one, not wanting to be in some

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corporate ladder nonsense, but also

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we love to help people and we found

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that the best way to help people is by

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creating a business, filling a need.

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We do that fairly well.

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Did anybody go through the

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corporate ladder , to experience

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that and pull the ripcord?

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Or was it just an avoidance?

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My mom is, is our corporate person.

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She helps us run a couple of businesses

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and she has a lot of like little side

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projects that she works on, but she,

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she has done everything from a director

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of IT to being like the, person who

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registered patients at hospitals.

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So she, she's done that

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whole like corporate ladder.

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She got her bachelor's degree just

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so she could move up and get some

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better jobs, better paying jobs.

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So she has done that.

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And then our dad he, he never

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really went into like a management

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position, but he definitely,

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he's kind of like our worker bee.

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And so he's really, really

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good at being a worker bee.

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And, but he's that consistency that

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you need in business for the workhorse.

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He is 100 percent our workhorse.

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He is, has this unbelievable work ethics.

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Like I've never met anybody like him.

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He literally works until

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he cannot go anymore.

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Like three hours of sleep,

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back up the next day.

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He, yeah, he is definitely...

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And now he's in his fifties and

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he's like, I'm not 26 anymore.

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And he makes this jokes all

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the time, but he can still, he

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can outlast this 26 year old.

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All day long.

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He is.

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He goes to his corporate job and where

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he works for a security company and he

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works anywhere between 40 to 60 hours a

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week and then he goes and supports our

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other small family business with his

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son and myself where they do custom car

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audio and he works there from anywhere

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from six to midnight every day and

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then works every Saturday and Sunday.

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Wow.

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So he's setting quite an example.

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He, yes, he has definitely given us

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like "Suck it up, buttercup" mentality

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of like, you get out there, you get

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your job done and you go home at the

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end of the day, but you still, you, you

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give it everything you got every day.

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He's a crazy one.

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I tell him all the time.

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I was like, you know, there's this

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thing called work life balance and he's

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like, yeah, but there's more work to do.

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I was like, all right, Dad.

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All right.

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That is so cute.

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You guys have each got your own specialty.

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Why don't you take turns telling me,

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telling us a little bit about what

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you do in your solo piece of it.

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It's interesting because there is so

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much creativity, like creativeness

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in both and in any business, you have

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to be creative and you have to be

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business oriented in some capacity.

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And.

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I figured out when I was in my master's

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program that both my grandmother

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and my great grandmother, one on

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either side, were bookkeepers.

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And I thought that was really interesting

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because I was like, I was in health

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care and I was really stuck and I

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didn't know what I wanted to do next.

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I knew I wanted to help people,

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but I didn't know what that was.

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And then my cousin happened to

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be the number three reseller

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of QuickBooks in the world.

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And so he turned me on to

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their training platform.

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And I got certified and

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then I fell in love.

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I fell in love with being

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able to help people.

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I'd already seen so many of

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my family businesses be built.

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They had really strong processes.

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And so people look at me all the

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time and they go, how are you a

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business consultant at 26 years old?

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I was like, I had a whole lot of examples.

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Of what not to do, what to do, what really

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helped, what saved their businesses.

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And so my brand is Evergrow

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Evergrow Consulting and I like

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businesses to be ever-growing.

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And so that's kind of my thing.

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And then my thing is she talks

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about creativeness with businesses

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and you have to have creative side.

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So I compliment hers with.

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doing business branding.

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So mine is Swan City Photography,

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where I specialize in making

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your brand tell the story.

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And so whether it's from your headshots

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to your, , logos to your other

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things, I help create that story and

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create your ever growing business.

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So are you responsible for the branding

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of all your family businesses, other?

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Pretty much.

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She does.

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She does everything from our logo designs.

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Like, she helped me design my logo.

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She helped me design, like, I'm business

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of the month at a bank this, this month.

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She helped me design all of

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my marketing materials for it.

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Even down to our social media

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posts, she'll help us post

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everything that we need.

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She'll take our headshots.

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My dad and brother got into a magazine.

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She was sponsored in the

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magazine as the photographer.

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It came out really super cute actually.

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So she, she definitely takes it, like all

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the things that we do well, she captures

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it and captures it well and then brands

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us to, to speak to our target audience.

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Excellent.

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Great teamwork.

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Wow.

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So Kaleigh, we, we know kind

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of how Haley got into it, but

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how did you find this niche?

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So I went to school for graphic

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design straight out of high school.

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I had previously fallen in

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love with photography and just

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always had a knack for it.

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And I always had a camera in my hand

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since I was probably 12 years old.

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And then I had a coworker who

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was doing second shooting and I

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was really interested in shooting

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full time and learning about a

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business culture and again, how to

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help people and capture memories.

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And because the memory is, you know,

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worth a picture is worth a thousand

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words, but what does that memory say?

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And so that's kind of where I came

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into it was capturing people's

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events and things like that.

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But then I was like, with my

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brother's company and my sister's

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company and my aunt's company have.

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I learned very quickly that there's a

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whole lot of photographers out there

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ready to capture your firstborn.

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But there ain't a whole lot of

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photographers out there ready to

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capture your business and create you

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a story that you are like minded.

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And that will bring in your ideal client.

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And there's tons of marketers out there.

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But the marketers don't do the

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individualized branding of yourself

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to present to somebody else.

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Because a small business is oftentimes

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just the person who owns it.

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It's not a big huge team.

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It's usually, you know, a

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husband and wife like you all.

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And and you might have a couple

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other people on your team and that

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usually you get 10 employees maybe.

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And that's why we all

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fall in love with them.

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And so I kind of found my way to

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businesses and have been loving being

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able to support them ever since.

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Wow, very cool.

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I guess you're talking about capturing

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the story and I'm thinking about

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Google business page and the fact

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that there's, , room for continuous

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updates to keep that fresh and to

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keep Google, , showing your business.

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Do you do some of that as well?

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I do.

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I, encourage people.

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So I'll go kind of through their

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analytics with them, and then I'll

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give them advice on how to update that.

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So whether it's I go through

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all of their social media.

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So when I do a consultation with somebody,

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I look at their logo, their Google My

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Business, the backing of their social

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media is like Facebook and Instagram.

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Even if they're do Pinterest or Nextdoor

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or some of the other less popular,

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but I'm still out there marketing

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ways or, you know, communication ways,

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there's some sort of social media.

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I look at all of that and

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I give tips on each one.

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Based on my experience with each one,

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and I hope that I can get more calls and

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for you guys and for each client and I

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give them advice on what analytics are

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showing and seeing how they can improve.

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And then if I can't personally

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help them, I find them

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like a website designer or

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somebody who can help with their

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SEO and things on the back end.

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Nice.

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Well, way more than just

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photography, I'm hearing.

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Way, way more.

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Yeah.

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So you get the photography part of

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it, which is the piece that I love.

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She did.

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She's really great about it, but there's,

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there's a fundamental business advice.

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So when I talk about businesses

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in general, I talk about who

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you want to connect with.

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So like you and I, we're a B2B.

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We're business to business oriented.

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Our, our ideal client is a business owner.

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We don't want the Joe Schmo on the

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street that has a family that, that

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we really want to talk about a budget.

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We want to talk about mindset.

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We want to talk about mindfulness.

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We want to talk about what's stopping

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you from getting to that next level.

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What's been the thing that's like,

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that's hurting you all this time and

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you don't know how to get past it.

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Right.

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That's what the consulting side does it.

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That's what the coaching side, the

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business development side does to it.

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And so when you can team up with people

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like us and people like you guys, where

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we kind of get you out of your own way.

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Well, they're like,

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well, I hated pictures.

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That's the biggest comment I get for

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photography and for branding is that

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I hate being in front of the camera.

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And I said, That's, is that you?

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Yep, see?

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And it's one of the worst comments I get.

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But here's the reality.

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Your brand is yourself.

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Especially when you become the business.

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The business is part of your identity.

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The business will be that thing

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that builds you generational wealth.

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That you will pass on to your children.

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It is your legacy that is left behind.

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Otherwise, you wouldn't have

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started it in the first place.

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And, and, and in that

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sense, take the picture.

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Be the brand.

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Be the identity.

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Be the reason why people want to

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come into the room and talk to you.

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And when we talk about RGA, we talk

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about the Kuder Consulting Group.

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We talk about how Connie and John comes

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into a room and they light up the space.

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Because you guys are the brand.

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You guys help people.

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You are easy to identify.

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And so one of the things that I love

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about you guys coming and joining us on

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a regular basis is you are so memorable.

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We definitely don't ever forget you.

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No, that's for sure.

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Welcome.

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Well, thank you.

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Yes, and I yeah I love that you just

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said that because one of the things

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in our education about marketing and

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what we listen for and watch for.

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And when I just heard somebody

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yesterday say that they were, we were

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doing introductions around the room.

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And one person is in the

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financial advisory space.

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And there were three or

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four others in the room.

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And this person said, what makes

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me different is that I really care.

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And I thought, Oh, dear, sweetie,

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we need to help you with that.

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There's a lot of branding

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there that could use some help.

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We don't even do that.

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But yeah, I mean, forget what that sort

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of says about the other people, you

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know, implies about the other people.

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There was no intention of that.

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But we also heard a lady

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one time as a realtor.

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She stood up and said, What makes me

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different is that I'm I'm a Realtor.

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I'm a member of the National

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Association of Realtors.

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That and a hundred bucks

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a year will get you that.

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Makes you different from maybe, you

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know, a photographer, but yeah, so,

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so that personal brand that when

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you're talking, , one of my favorite

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questions is if I was to line you up

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with 15 of your competitors in the

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same, that work in the same industry

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as you do, What makes you stand out?

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Right!

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So for me, for bookkeeping,

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for me, I don't hand people

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back a profit and loss sheet.

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I won't hand it back to

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you and say, here you go.

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My response to you is

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how do your numbers work?

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Why are they working?

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Why are they not working?

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What's your next goal?

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Like, I will never just hand you

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back your books and say, here you go.

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Have a nice day.

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My response is, how do we

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make you more profitable?

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Are you, are you charging enough?

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Are you like, are you even up to market?

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You know how many estheticians

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I've redone pricing on just

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because they weren't up to market.

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Wow.

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And they, they're, they're selling

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themselves short at 50, 60 bucks an hour

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when they should be pricing their selves

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anywhere from $95 to $250 an hour for

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certain types of, of services or facials

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because those products are expensive.

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So it's not their time

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that they're paying for.

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It's the products and they

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don't even realize it.

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And is it because they don't realize

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what the market is or that they're afraid

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to charge market and lose customers?

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They're afraid.

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So especially specifically in

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Lakeland, they're afraid to

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charge market and lose customers.

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But I've noticed is that every single

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one of them have gone to a loyalty

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program where that if they buy three or

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more services at a time, they get a, the

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person gets a certain percentage off,

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which winds up being back down a little

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bit higher than their original prices.

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They still give them that 10,

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15, or 20 percent back in a tip.

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They're still making the 95 an hour.

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It's not hurting them one bit.

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And now they're getting

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reoccurring services.

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And so they built businesses based

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on loyalty instead of building

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businesses based on scarcity.

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Well, getting back to the family

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part of it, what do you guys love

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most about working with family?

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I love that.

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I saw a statistic the other day that

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says when we move out of state that we

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see our family 1000 times more in our

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lifetime, like 1000, like just 1000 times.

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That's it.

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And what I love about working with

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family is it takes the barrier

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out of conversating with them.

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Our lives get busy.

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We get out of touch.

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We kind of get so busy

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that we just disconnect.

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What business makes you do.

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You don't get an option for it

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is it makes you communicate.

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It makes you conversate.

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It makes you connect with them on a

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daily basis, six, seven times a day.

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Sometimes depending on

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what you're working on.

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I mean, I call Kaleigh every

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day to talk about business.

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Yes.

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And when we weren't doing businesses,

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we probably talk once a week.

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And so what I find is

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it ups our connectivity.

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It increases our, our communication.

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And I love seeing her let's be real.

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Kaleigh, what about you?

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What do you love most?

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I want to say that my relationship with

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my family has always been a strong one,

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but there are moments where oftentimes

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helps us create boundaries and stick

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to boundaries and learning another

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person's work type or work ethic.

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Like I know, Me and my brother, if we

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don't have food, it's not a good day.

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It's not going to be a good day.

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I know that if we don't get lunch by

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a certain time and like just knowing

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things, and I guess, and when you work

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in the office, you see, you know, your

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coworkers, you can get used to that.

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But when you, you have your family

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there, it's, you know, another person

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to help take on responsibilities,

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do the caretaker role for, you know,

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the whole household kind of thing.

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But in this work, in case it's

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the whole work world, you know.

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And so definitely with communication

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and just earning relationships that are

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sometimes tougher in our life anyways.

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I don't know about you, if you've

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ever had, you know, a tough moment

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with your mom or dad and you're

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like, Oh my God, I want to kill

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you as the child or the parent.

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And we've worked through those.

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And you know, at the day, we still call

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each other and it's like, Hey, by the

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way, we have other stuff that happened.

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And you know, still do

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the whole update thing.

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So I definitely say I get more

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quality time with all of them.

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Nice.

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It sounds like you guys have found

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some healthy ways to take those

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challenges and pull appreciation

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for each other out of them.

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Ultimately when you work through

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them, you see, you see the person

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has more than just that family role.

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Yes, and that's really nice, too, because

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I know if I called my brother right now,

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one, he's going to pick up the phone

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because he's going to think it's business

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related and he's going to make money.

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And two, and or two, he's

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going to be like, well, she's

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calling, it must be important.

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But before it would be like, Oh,

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she's just calling to chat and

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maybe ignore the phone call or

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my dad's kind of the same way.

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Like he'd be busy during the day

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and now he answers every phone call.

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He's like, Hey, are you good?

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Is the business good?

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Are we good?

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I'll be like, everything's fine.

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Just call me when you get a

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second and then click and hang up.

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And so it definitely makes for

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like funnier conversations too.

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You know, you get the customers and you're

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like, Oh yeah, that customer came in and

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you know, that guy was just sweeter than

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ice cream and you, you got to treat him

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good when he comes back kind of thing.

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And so we get to have those kind of.

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Relationships with customers and they get

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to know us as a family and they eat it up.

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They love it.

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They love that we're all there together

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and they really enjoy our, you know,

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banter back and forth with each other that

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you maybe wouldn't get in the workplace.

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That's true.

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You don't there's a level

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of trust there, right?

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And I think they're jealous too.

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They think about where they work

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and they say, man, I wish I could

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have that much fun where I go.

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And it makes us human and it gives

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them a good reason to connect with us.

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And it gives them, they can

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identify in their own lives.

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They think that, man,

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this family is doing it.

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They've, they've beat out the obstacles.

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They have achieved kind of a work life

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freedom in the, in the sense that.

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Like, when we want to take off

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a week, we close the businesses

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for a week and we leave.

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Granted, are we necessarily

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working, you know, making money?

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No, but has it happened where,

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where it works out because the

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next month is busier than the month

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prior because we took that break?

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Absolutely.

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And there's moments where,

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you know, we can take off to

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go to doctor's appointment.

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Not everybody can do that with their work.

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I'm sure you, you guys

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worked in corporate as well.

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And you guys, you had children while

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you worked in corporate, correct?

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No, no, no.

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My corporate career was

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at the end of my career.

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And mine was at the beginning.

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Well, hey, well then y'all worked out.

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Yeah.

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Oftentimes, like my brother before he

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opened Swan's Feet Customs, he had an

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electrician job where he literally worked

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like 16 hours a day for somebody else.

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And so he, he couldn't spend a whole lot

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of time with his family anyways, and he

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wasn't making very much money anyways.

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And he, and he hated it.

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He, he, he wound up like opening the

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Swan City customs was a blessing for

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him because now when the kids have

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soccer games on Saturdays and Sundays,

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he goes to every single soccer game.

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He goes to every single soccer practice.

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Every single graduation.

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It doesn't, it doesn't matter if my

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dad's not able to cover the shop, then

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Kaylee and I will go and cover the shop.

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So it has really been nice to, to find

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this balance, not only with our, with our

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businesses, but in our, in our lives to

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be able to go and enjoy the moments that

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are important that should be enjoyed that

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we probably wouldn't have been able to.

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So for instance, my grandmother

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came into town for the weekend.

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I took the entire weekend off to go spend

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with her and make sure we went to the

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beach and make sure we spent time because

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the last time that our grandparents

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were here were it was the last time.

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Like, and so it's nice to be able to

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control that schedule without having to

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be like, oh my God, what am I missing?

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Yeah, no, I totally second that.

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You know, I was fortunate enough

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to be in a family business

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where I could take the time off.

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So I never missed a school program

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or a game or any of that stuff.

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I was always there.

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And, and your parents

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were always there too.

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And I, I think our kids

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probably took it for granted.

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I don't know.

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But but I know there and I, and I've

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seen the other side I worked with.

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Yeah, I did work with people that weren't

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able to, you know, in that corporate

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world and and ask time off to take

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their kid to the doctor or, you know, be

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concerned about the status of their job.

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When something was going on at home when

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they needed really needed, you know,

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that moral support and emotional support.

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Now they're having to worry

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about two things instead of one.

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And that's, that's sad, but that's,

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that's what I liked about family.

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Yeah.

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Cause kids I'll tell you, and

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you probably know this yourself.

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You're close enough to this.

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You don't remember it at

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the times they were there.

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You remember the times

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they've worked there.

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Absolutely.

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And I think like, as even as

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kids, we didn't get to do a lot of

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extracurricular activities because

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our parents were working corporate

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jobs then and our parents didn't get

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off until 6 or 7 o'clock at night.

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So, we actually had a family friend

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of ours, a teacher who would take us

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back and forth after school because

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she lived around the corner from us.

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Which I don't know if that would

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be allowed nowadays, but we did.

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We had a teacher who was kind enough to

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take us to all of our, our TSA and all

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of our extracurricular FBLA, you know,

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stuff because that's what they did.

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And and that was the only reason

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why we got to participate.

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Right until we were much older in

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high school and we could drive and we

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were able to go to do theater after

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school and then we had after school

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jobs that we went to and mom just

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gave us the keys and we went off.

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We went.

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Yeah.

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So, but we couldn't do that until we

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had vehicles and rides for ourselves.

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And I'm sure most kids are like that,

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especially when their parents don't

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have that ability, but it's like I have

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a, I have a client of mine and she's,

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she has a 14 year old daughter and she

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takes off at 11:30 every weekday during

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the summer to take her to gymnastics.

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And she can do that because

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she owns her own business.

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There you go.

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Nice.

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She just walks out that

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time and takes her.

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And I think those are hours in our

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lives that we don't ever get back.

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That's correct.

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That's correct.

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So what's the challenge that you

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all overcome in your journey?

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As a family or individual?

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Well, you know.

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Yeah, y'all are a little bit different.

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Work together and and individually.

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So I don't know, just, you know, is there

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is there a challenge that that you've

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overcome that other family owners might

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relate to that, you know, that would be,

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I think, I think communication is key.

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I think finding a mentor is key.

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I think finding a business coach is key.

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Getting out of your own way

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is super duper important.

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I think when you come it.

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At something from an outside perspective,

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and you're having other people validate

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somebody else's like opinions and

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beliefs and a sense of we should

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run the business this way because

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this process flow makes more sense.

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Or these are the 10 steps that

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you need to take to run inventory.

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I think that that has a lot to do

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with overcoming specific obstacles in

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business, because what it takes to grow

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$100,000 business is not what it takes

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to grow a half a million dollar business.

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That's correct.

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So they're getting the Dad and Trevor

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really have They have really grown

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to the next stage where they need to

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start tightening up some areas, some

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expertise areas to help them grow to

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that next level which is one of the

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things that we've been working on as of

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lately as a family, as a family, we've

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all hopped in and said, okay, this,

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this process cannot stay like this.

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It's inventory in this case.

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This process cannot stay like this.

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How do we fix it?

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We, you know, correctly do stuff

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going forward and how do we

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manage this if we get employees?

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Cause we're to that stage where

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we're going to start hiring

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people who are not family members

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and that becomes a difficult.

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You know, thing to train somebody else,

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you know, and so Our thing is in our

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family it beaks down to communication.

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I'm not an expert in car audio things.

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I'd like to be an expert on car audio

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things But there's days when I just I'm

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not gonna know something that you know

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my dad who has you know, 30 plus years

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experience in it or my brother who's you

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know, got almost 20 years experience.

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And at this point, cause he's been

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doing it since he was grasshopper.

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And so there's just moments where,

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you know, we really got to communicate

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with one another about a customer or

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project, or, you know, communicate

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across and how to teach somebody

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else, how to, you know, train another

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person to be, you know, another you.

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And I know that I have a twin

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and like that kind of translates.

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To, you know, well, you

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do have another, you.

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No, we're a little different.

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And so I think also taking a step

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back and not being mad at them because

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you're, they're their family and, and

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understanding that everybody's opinion

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and everybody's thoughts have, have space.

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Mm-hmm.

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so you can feel a certain way all

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day long and understand that those

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feelings and emotions are valid.

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Mm-hmm.

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, but sit down and say, Hey.

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We can come at this from a solution

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point instead of a problem point.

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And so like we have right team

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meetings and we sit down and we

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ask everybody's opinion on it.

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Especially at the shop.

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I say, you know, what do

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you want to do with this?

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What money do you want to spend?

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How do you want to, you know,

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what's my budget for this?

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Mainly most people's pain

Speaker:

points are over finances.

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Every point in time, somebody's

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feelings are gonna hurt, get hurt,

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hurt over a dollar or $2 or $250.

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It's always gonna be about

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money no matter what.

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And you're always gonna feel

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stressed and pressure when you're

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trying to make a business work

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when there is limited finances.

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And you sometimes have to learn to be

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creative or put the dollars in the right.

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spot.

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And there's always gonna

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be an argument about that.

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It doesn't matter how good

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of communicators you are.

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It doesn't matter.

Speaker:

Somebody's gonna get yelled at

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and somebody's gonna, you know,

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yeah, constructive disagreement,

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I think, is exactly what it is.

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And you gotta, you gotta make sure that

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you get your opinions or your opinions.

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But we all have one.

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And it is super important to not

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get overwhelmed or angry even

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because there is an opinion.

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There's a path.

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You will always find the path.

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If it's meant to be, it

Speaker:

will work out, I promise.

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But there are things in this world,

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like inventory, where you have

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to do it a certain way or you get

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in trouble by the powers that be.

Speaker:

The Department of Revenue,

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the sales tax people, the IRS.

Speaker:

And so what, where I always start

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is from a place of logic, right?

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In any business, I put,

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start from a place of logic.

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Well, while this is costing us

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money, is it, is it the, is it?

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How should we be doing it legally, right?

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Because a lot of people don't

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understand, even in their state,

Speaker:

their, their county or their

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city, what kind of laws there are.

Speaker:

So are you required to have

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a business license in, in, in

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Pinellas, Polk, Hillsborough?

Speaker:

Are you required to have a business

Speaker:

license in the state of, of, or in the.

Speaker:

City of Lakeland in the city of Tampa,

Speaker:

checking those basic boxes first, and

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then getting into, okay, now we have

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this big thing like inventory, and

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we're not really managing it well,

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well, Square creates a barcode system

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that you can scan a picture item.

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And as long as you put all the items in,

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and you have a barcode, and you type in

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the price of the inventory, and you pull

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a report once a month, then you're done.

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It's that simple.

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That sounds like a best

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practices kind of logic.

Speaker:

You start with a, you've got a decision

Speaker:

tree that starts with, you know, what's,

Speaker:

what's the law, what's legal, like what's,

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what are the requirements, and then what

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are best practices, and then what are we

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going to do, what are we going to try.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

Because sometimes practices don't

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work in a business and you've got

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to try stuff and find out what

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works and then try something else.

Speaker:

Exactly.

Speaker:

And I think the other thing is, is

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finding ways to automate in business

Speaker:

that take the decision making out of it.

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Then you don't have things to

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argue about because it's automated.

Speaker:

Exactly.

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I love that.

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Yeah, because the, you know, you say

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decision making, but I, I know in practice

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a lot of times it's, it's more moods,

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you know, at once, like doing that today.

Speaker:

Exactly.

Speaker:

And so when you automate the process

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or make it super easy or super simple,

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then there's no reason to argue or

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complain or discuss it any further.

Speaker:

It's either automatically taken

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care of, or the process is

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so simple that it, there's no

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reason why it can't be followed.

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Very cool.

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Yeah, that's fabulous.

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Anything you wish, go

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ahead, sorry, Kaylee.

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Sorry, pain points for other things, I'm

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Do you wanna do us That's, do you want

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us, us to talk about it individually?

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That's good.

Speaker:

We could go on for hours

Speaker:

and we, we, but we won't.

Speaker:

. . Is there anything about being that you

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in a family business, that you kind

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of grew up in a family business, so

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this may not apply, but that you know

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now that you wish you'd known earlier?

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Like, is there any discovery

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that you made along the way?

Speaker:

So in our community in Lakeland, there

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are not a ton of resources on how to get

Speaker:

started, what to do, where to go, who

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to contact, what demographics to search.

Speaker:

There is not a ton of resources.

Speaker:

If we had known now what we like,

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known then what we know now, we

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wouldn't have struggled so hard.

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And I think when you, and I know

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Orlando created something and I

Speaker:

know Lakeland is working on creating

Speaker:

something, find the resource in your

Speaker:

community, search it out, find a mentor,

Speaker:

find somebody who's done it before.

Speaker:

Because what happens is we spent

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so many years, literal years,

Speaker:

trying to figure out the best way.

Speaker:

Like we had, when we first started,

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and granted I'm a bookkeeper now

Speaker:

and what I do, we didn't know when

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taxes were due for our businesses.

Speaker:

We had no idea and it's another

Speaker:

thing is like you can go to the CPA.

Speaker:

But the CPAs half the time only help

Speaker:

you so far and you're like, give me

Speaker:

this document and this document, but you

Speaker:

don't, you don't even know what those are.

Speaker:

And you're like or our big

Speaker:

thing was tangible taxes with.

Speaker:

The county and we had moved locations

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and we ended up with multiple bills,

Speaker:

bills for these tangible taxes

Speaker:

based on these multiple properties.

Speaker:

But our business had moved.

Speaker:

There was no multiple properties.

Speaker:

There's only one property.

Speaker:

And And it wound up costing them

Speaker:

several thousand dollars to get

Speaker:

fixed because we were beyond the

Speaker:

timeframe and didn't know it.

Speaker:

And it was just finding, so part of the

Speaker:

moving was to update the records with

Speaker:

the county or the, the taxing authority

Speaker:

so that that didn't happen, right?

Speaker:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker:

And we, we went ahead and we did

Speaker:

the update and all that, but because

Speaker:

we didn't have the knowledge that

Speaker:

we have now and went through that,

Speaker:

somehow they created us a second.

Speaker:

account number into the first account

Speaker:

number and we didn't realize this

Speaker:

until later on and it was a whole mess.

Speaker:

Not one or two, they had three.

Speaker:

Did you find, what resource did you

Speaker:

find that, that you could recommend?

Speaker:

Is there, is there one like at SBDC?

Speaker:

So it, so RGA is a good resource

Speaker:

just because it's, it does, it

Speaker:

kills two birds with one stone.

Speaker:

You have a ton of business owners in RGA

Speaker:

that know what they're doing for this.

Speaker:

particular community.

Speaker:

So finding a networking group

Speaker:

always is a great resource.

Speaker:

There's I think SCORE is national.

Speaker:

And so SCORE is a really

Speaker:

nice resource because it's

Speaker:

typically free in communities.

Speaker:

Honestly, go to a local church.

Speaker:

Is a good place to start because

Speaker:

they're gonna be business

Speaker:

owners should go to church.

Speaker:

I'm gonna tag in there.

Speaker:

Go to the resources.

Speaker:

So if you're opening a business,

Speaker:

go to your local, go to your

Speaker:

local cities page or town page.

Speaker:

So ours is Lakeland.

Speaker:

gov.

Speaker:

And so go to there and they have a

Speaker:

business section and they have a business

Speaker:

they're Laker Chamber of Commerce and

Speaker:

there's a merge, which is for millennial.

Speaker:

It's like their millennial group.

Speaker:

Almost.

Speaker:

It's like the 25 to like 45 range.

Speaker:

It's typically the business

Speaker:

owner that's in emerge, emerge.

Speaker:

But the other thing is go to the

Speaker:

county, whatever county you're in call.

Speaker:

They have a.

Speaker:

business department.

Speaker:

And then the state also

Speaker:

has business department.

Speaker:

Now, if you go there and you get no

Speaker:

answers, look for people who are business

Speaker:

consultants or who help businesses.

Speaker:

So like in my case, I helped lots of

Speaker:

businesses become a business because

Speaker:

they're like, I don't even know what

Speaker:

I want to name my company because.

Speaker:

I know what I want to do, but

Speaker:

I don't know what to call it.

Speaker:

And I don't know where my story is going.

Speaker:

So that's kind of where my

Speaker:

photography business comes in play

Speaker:

is like, I help them find a name.

Speaker:

I help them register their

Speaker:

LLC, you know, do those things.

Speaker:

But also, you know, typically a bookkeeper

Speaker:

or a CPA, oftentimes can help with some

Speaker:

of that leading information as well.

Speaker:

Nice.

Speaker:

Okay, cool.

Speaker:

Do you guys interact with other family

Speaker:

businesses that are outside your family?

Speaker:

So I go to a networking group.

Speaker:

I go to several networking groups.

Speaker:

And one of the things that I found

Speaker:

is that a lot of our leaders in our

Speaker:

community actually own businesses.

Speaker:

They've been in business

Speaker:

owners for a very long time.

Speaker:

But I'm also finding that, like.

Speaker:

We, we have a security company and

Speaker:

one of the networking groups I go

Speaker:

to, it's her husband and herself

Speaker:

who, who are the business owners and

Speaker:

they've been doing it for 20 years.

Speaker:

I find that one of the other leaders

Speaker:

who leads it, they're an insurance

Speaker:

agent and her husband's a realtor.

Speaker:

So like they've been doing

Speaker:

family business for a long time.

Speaker:

What I do love about going

Speaker:

to these networking groups.

Speaker:

Is most small business owners are going

Speaker:

to have some sort of family aspect.

Speaker:

So whether it's their son, daughter,

Speaker:

grandchild helping out, or whether

Speaker:

it's their sisters and brothers or

Speaker:

parents I have found that once you

Speaker:

start a family, once you start a

Speaker:

business, your family kind of follows.

Speaker:

And, and that's what we've seen in

Speaker:

our case is like every one of us

Speaker:

steps in my, our parents are divorced

Speaker:

and my mom will still go help my, my

Speaker:

dad and brother run their business.

Speaker:

Like, if that's if they needed somebody

Speaker:

to go sit in on Saturday, she would go do

Speaker:

it.

Speaker:

And it relates back down to that we

Speaker:

are all in small business to build

Speaker:

a business to support our families.

Speaker:

And so most families recognize

Speaker:

that and help as much as possible.

Speaker:

Okay, great.

Speaker:

That's that's what I was wondering because

Speaker:

when I was You know, it's a different

Speaker:

situation maybe, but in our business,

Speaker:

my father was very private about the

Speaker:

business and he was like, don't talk about

Speaker:

our business to, to outside the family.

Speaker:

And so, and the family was, there was

Speaker:

no, there was no, you know, you, you

Speaker:

guys have talked about having mentors

Speaker:

and getting, you know, fresh eyes and,

Speaker:

and, and outside ideas and all that.

Speaker:

And, and other than the CPA and the

Speaker:

lawyer that were trusted, you know,

Speaker:

and, and I mean, we were dealing

Speaker:

with second generations there and.

Speaker:

You know, we had an insurance agent that

Speaker:

we've been I'm we're now dealing with

Speaker:

the second generation of that been using

Speaker:

the same family for insurance for 40

Speaker:

years plus so outside that very close

Speaker:

circle, there was nobody to talk to I

Speaker:

was afraid to talk to anybody because

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I was afraid I was going to reveal.

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So I couldn't compare notes with

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anybody and I just I feel like there

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is an aspect of family business that

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can be, if the family has that sense

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of privacy, protecting their privacy,

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that it can be very isolating.

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And so, you know, in asking about

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networking, I'm wondering if

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you run into, you know, people

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that are experiencing that.

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I so because I come and I and I

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think this is a Kaleigh and I thing.

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So, if you sit down with us, you

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typically tell us your life stories.

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Yeah, that's true.

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People are not shy.

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I, I don't know if it's

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because we're very disarming.

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We're, we're 4'10, 4'11, dark

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hair, blue eyes, pale skin.

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I don't know if it's because I was

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told the other day that we look like

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puppies, but we really are lions.

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So we're very disarming.

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And so a lot of times, one, I

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ask leading questions that will

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get me to that next answer.

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But most of the time I, I can, I

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went through the Starbucks drive

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thru like three months ago and this

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lady told me that her kid was sick

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and that she was having a rough day.

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And she's like, I'm so sorry.

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I haven't told this to anybody all day.

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And I was like.

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It's okay.

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It's fine.

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You, you know, I hope your, your kid feels

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better and that you have a better day.

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And here's an extra tip.

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And that has just been the

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story of our whole lives.

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Like people will and she's giggling.

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Connie is literally giggling.

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This happens to Connie, our

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son, our youngest son teases her

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all the time because people would

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tell her their life stories online

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and they're like, can we hug you?

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Like they feel this like personal

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relationship and we're like,

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it's really interesting.

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Cause we, we are asked all the time

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if we, if they want the twin hug.

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So it's, it's, it's a thing.

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They feel like extra loved or

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something about the twin hug.

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I don't know.

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Anyways but yeah,

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But it's really interesting because

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we'll be standing in the middle of

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the grocery store and this dude will

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be like, man, I'm having a bad day.

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And they'll start talking to us and

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we're like, do you want a twin hug?

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And it will change their whole day

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because we're like, did you want a hug?

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And they're like, yeah.

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Of course we want to hug, but

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it's the basic human connection.

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And I think that's what businesses

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ultimately do is it connects us together.

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Good, bad and ugly.

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And it can really break people

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apart, but I think that if you

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can kind of get past some of the

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arguments and mostly about money.

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If you can get good financial

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footing and good financial education

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and literacy, I think that makes

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all the difference in the world.

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I think what people sometimes

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fail to do in family businesses

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is they get so private.

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They don't reach out for help and they

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get, and they get into a predicament

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where their business is failing and

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they have no idea how to save it.

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And now they're because it's too late.

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And it's too late and it's too late

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and the other thing is some of that

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comes with generations as you both are

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familiar with your parents did it totally

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different than you did and your kids will

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do it totally different than you all do.

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And so, our generation and.

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You know, for Haley and I, we were

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very much taught to be very open and

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we were taught to be very transparent

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and that's something that, you know,

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we were nurtured into as we were always

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transparent, you know, most time with

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finances in our household, we were

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transparent, you know, with conversation

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and communication in our household.

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You know, everything from boys to, you

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know, money and finances to business.

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And that's how we have businesses and

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multiple of them at 26 is because we did

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have so much transparency growing up.

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And I think that generational divide

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of like her, you know, my parents.

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We're maybe a little more secretive

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with their parents or maybe a little

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bit more secretive with the, you

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know, their businesses and didn't

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reach out to resources until, and

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one of the things that I think a lot

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of us are starting to understand is

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wealthy families talk about money.

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All the time.

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Wealthy families talk about money.

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They talk about how they

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got to their next step.

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They talk about what they're

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doing, what they're setting

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up in trust for their kids.

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They talk about what college

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they're going to go to.

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They talk about what career

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they're going to get.

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All from a very young age.

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When we talk about when the average

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family who makes 40 to 60, 000 a year,

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you think they're talking about money?

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Absolutely not.

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They're avoiding it because they don't

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have enough money to cover the bills.

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So why talk about it?

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Why bring it up?

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And you have no expectations of going

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to college and et cetera, et cetera.

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And you're on your own or trade school

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or what's going to be your career path.

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Those are not topics of conversation.

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No.

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And and.

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One of the things that my parents did

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is that they did for both of us is we

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talked about career paths early on so

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so early on like that time we were like

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11 we're like what are we going to go

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to we I wanted to be a chef when I was

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10 like they bought us cooking supplies.

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We were 10 years old they bought us aprons

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and timers and egg separators and you name

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it we were cooking and Yeah, all by 10.

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And then by 15 I wanted to be a

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CEO of a non for profit hospital

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because my mom worked for the

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healthcare system and she loved it.

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And now I'm, and I wanted to

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be a CEO by the time I was 28.

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I'm a CEO by the time I was 26.

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So we a little different

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field, but it worked out.

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Yeah.

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So I think Kaleigh's always

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wanted to be a photographer.

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We she's always loved it.

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We even went to the art Institute to

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like tour the photography industry

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and they're there at like 15 or 16.

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Our mom took us over there

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and it was really impressive.

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And my response was photographers

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don't make any money.

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I'd looked at the statistics then, and

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they really unless you got into a specific

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field, they didn't make a ton of money.

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Branding, on the other hand, makes a

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lot of money, and so it can be a very

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successful career path, and then if you

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have a team to build on to, I think every

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business needs a team, point blank period.

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That's the other thing, is don't have

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your family do every single thing, because

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if something happens to you in your

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business, or something happens to you

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outside of your business, the reality is,

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you have to have people trained, skilled,

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in order to take over that business.

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So whether that's family who's grieving,

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you have to have other people willing to

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step in and, and kind of handle things

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until they get back on their feet.

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And so now by not putting all your eggs

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in one basket, always dependent on those

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family, finding people who can learn the

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business, who can train with you while

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you still pass it down to family members.

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It doesn't have to be the end all be all.

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Wise words.

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Very good.

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So you guys I'm gonna say,

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where can people contact you?

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Is evergrowconsulting.

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com the, the central point?

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Or, or I know you've also got Swan

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City Signings and Swan City Title

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Office and Swan City and Swan City

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and Swan City Trailer Rentals.

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One of those have its own website

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and separate brand and Absolutely,

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so you can contact any of

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those pretty much at a dot com.

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So Evergrow Consulting is my

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business and you can email me

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at admin@evergrowconsulting.com.

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Find me on evergrowconsulting.

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com.

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I'm listed on Google.

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You can always give me a call there.

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And then Kaylee, her

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Swan City Photography.

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Let me take a look.

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I was just letting her go, guys.

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So Swan City Photography, you can

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reach me at my first name assist.

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So it's K.

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A.

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L.

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E.

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I.

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G.

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H.

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Assist a S.

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S.

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I.

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S.

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T.

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at gmail.

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com or call me by my cell

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phone number at 863 660 6814.

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Or Google me on Google

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at Swan City Photography.

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The other businesses are all

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just like swancitytrailerrentals.

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com.

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You can reach out through email or.

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Through phone through their

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signings is the same thing.

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Phone or email through swancitysignings.

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com or and swan city

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title is swancitytitleco.

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com.

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Again, phone number, email there,

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and swan city customs, just google.

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Wonderful.

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Well, I'll make sure I get all this in

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the in the show notes for this episode.

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And yes, I'll, I'll send you,

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I'll send you an email with all

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of the information written that'd

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be wonderful written out for you.

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Thank you.

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But like, let, let's not make

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it harder than you needs to be.

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Let's, let's give you the information.

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So Perfect.

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Just put it in the, in the podcast

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notes and, and call it a day.

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Thank you so much.

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Well, this has been an immense pleasure.

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Oh, absolutely.

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For spending this time with us.

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And we learned so much, not

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just, you know, about you, but

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about your business and, and how

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you two work and it's been fun.

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So thank you so much for having us.

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Yes.

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Very inspiring.

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Thank you.

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We look forward to seeing what

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you're like in your next steps.

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Yes, we will.

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We will be growing immensely

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over the next couple of years.

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So I my personal goal goal is

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to be in every single state

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in the next three years.

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I'd like a client from every single state.

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We'll be watching.

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Awesome.

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Thank you for president

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or emperor or something.

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I don't know if I want to

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take it that far to be clear.

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Maybe later on.

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You know, thank you again.

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We appreciate it.

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Awesome.

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Thank you guys.

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Thanks.

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Bye.

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Bye.

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Bye.

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