What’s actually going on when you’re feeling overwhelmed because you have so much work? If you’re feeling burned out in your business, especially if you are an intrapreneur, sensitive solopreneur, an unconventional self employed person in some capacity, this episode is for you.

As a solopreneur, you’re often figuring things out as you go, which is fantastic! But once you’ve reached a certain level of success, continuing to do business this way can create stagnation & burnout. But you can absolutely find solutions that not only reduce overwhelm, but that set you up for the next level of success and ease.

Especially as a sensitive person, it’s vital that you find a way of working that allows you to honor your energetic needs and plays to your strengths. Setting up structures in your business to support you to be YOU is totally possible - and vital to keep your business sustainable (and even regenerative).

I explore this topic from a mindset and operations perspective. Operations includes the systems, processes, workflow, software and other tools you use to deliver your service & run your business. 

You’ll learn to:

• Understand the impact of cash flow and scarcity on your nervous system and business decisions
• Identify the sources of burnout, from loose boundaries and perfectionism to inefficiencies with systems, processes and other operational tools
• Where to look for inefficiencies in your business operations, such as scheduling, working against your energy, wearing all the hats, and doing things the hard way
• Discover the importance of creating a plan to build in self-care, joy, and connection while optimizing your business for success.
• How to identify the high impact areas for you to focus on changing so that you create more ease in your business 

……………………………………..

My new offer: Systems for Ease

Create ease & increase capacity in your online business with systems, processes & human-centered work flows. Design the next level of your business the way that fits YOU best. Available in September ‘23.

Learn more: heidijandel.com/ease

……………………………………..

Links

Schedule a Tea Date to chat with me: heidijandel.com/tea

Listen & review: Podchaser.com/empoweredintrovert

Instagram: instagram.com/heidi.jandel

Facebook: facebook.com/hjweiland

YouTube: youtube.com/@heidijandel

Hi, my beautiful introvert friend.

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Welcome to episode number 21,

overcome overwhelm in your business.

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If you're joining by video, you

can see that the sun is shining.

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I have a, the bottom half of

me is covered in sunlight.

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And it looks kind of funky on

the video, but it feels so good.

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I'm not closing the shade

because it is officially fall.

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It is, I've got a fall a not a

fall but a scarf on a hat on cozy

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cozy socks and it's beautiful

here in Alaska so I hope wherever

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you're at it is beautiful as well.

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Today we are talking about Being

overwhelmed in business, especially

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if you are an intrapreneur, sensitive

solopreneur, an unconventional self

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employed person in some capacity.

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Maybe you have a side gig.

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Or maybe it is you have a full

time gig that is your solo.

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You are a solopreneur.

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Maybe you have a contractor

or two that helps you.

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But the key here is that you're

successfully making sales and

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feel like you're at capacity.

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So, you know, your

business has grown, but.

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It's burning you out, right?

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That means that you might be struggling

with taking time off, with self

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care, you're feeling overwhelmed,

and you're just not quite sure

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how to do this because you have

never been in this position before.

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So, first things first, It's amazing,

congratulations, you have gotten this far.

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It is hard, it can be a struggle to just

even get going, get, and then get to the

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place where you are in, essentially you're

in, you're figuring out how to survive and

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not just survive but thrive as a small.

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business.

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So today I am going to approach

this episode from just a little

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bit of coaching, but mostly

from a consulting standpoint.

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So that means that I'm going to be looking

at the problems in your business and,

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and practical solutions more on like a

systems and level versus a mindset level.

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So what you'll learn is How do it

will help you identify the high

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impact areas in your business to

focus on and what you need next.

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Like, is it a good time for you

to invest in support and like a V.

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A.

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O.

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B.

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M.

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Bookkeeper, coach, consultant, whatever.

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This episode will give you more clarity

on what you need to do next and.

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And when you have clarity, when you

have a plan, you can feel more at ease.

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Right away, your nervous system

can give a sigh of relief.

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It alleviates overwhelm and

hopefully helps to steer you away

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from the direction of burnout.

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So often, just a few small shifts can

shift the direction that you're going

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and the way that it feels tremendously.

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I'm focusing on this topic this month

because in September, I'm promoting my

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new offer called Systems for Ease, where

I help you create ease and increase

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capacity in your online business with

systems, processes, Human centered

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workflows, recommendations, custom

fit for you to create a business

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that feels that you love being in.

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So you can learn more about that in the

link in the show notes or wait towards the

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end, and I'll be sharing more information.

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All right, so let's get started.

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What's going on when you're feeling

burned out because you have so much work?

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Now, oftentimes our initial

answer is, I am working too much.

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But if we take a step back, I want to

invite you to take an honest look at your

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cash flow and your sense of scarcity.

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This is because when your cash flow

is low or it is unpredictable, your

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nervous system Is not going to be very

comfortable with that, especially if you

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as a solopreneur and intrapreneur, you are

responsible for bringing your money in.

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Nobody else.

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And if you, especially if you're

taking care of other people, if your

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income is supporting others, this

can be a tremendous responsibility.

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And it can throw you into survival mode.

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When you're in survival mode it's

almost like living paycheck to

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paycheck, but even worse because when

you're in a job and you're getting a

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paycheck, you can predict the future.

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You have a pretty good idea of what you

will be making this month, next month.

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two months from now.

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But in your business, if you don't

have predictable sales, if you don't

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have the ability to project, like if I

spend this much time with my service or

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product, I will make this much money.

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If that is unknown, then your nervous

system can freak out or just be at a

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low To like an oscillating level of

stress and often times when it's pretty

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consistent, you sometimes don't even

know that it's there, but it is, and

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this is important because if you're

living in a constant state of stress.

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Constant scarcity, it's gonna affect how

you show up in your business, how you

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make decisions, what you focus on, how

you spend your time, whether you're taking

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care of yourself, whether you're taking

time off it might, it can lead to you

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doing anything possible to make money.

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So you end up having a million things that

you do, which increases the complexity

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and there's more to keep track of and

creates more busyness for your brain.

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Like there's all kinds of effects.

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That being in stress and

scarcity causes in your business.

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So if you're experiencing that, then

one of my most top recommendations

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is for you to take an easy side job.

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As an investment, as an investment in your

business, when you can get a cash flow

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stream in that doesn't require a lot of

energy, a lot of high level thinking, then

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your nervous system can feel a bit safer.

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Yes, you might have to adjust

your business for a little bit.

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You might have to work less in

your business, but that's okay.

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Because.

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You will be working more efficiently,

you'll be working, you'll be able to

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work from a place of less stress, make

better decisions, you have more access

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to your creativity, it feels better

to be working in your business, which

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is like a A huge part of what it's all

about, at least here in my world, in my

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mission, the way I feel when I'm working

is as important as the work itself.

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Okay, so let's assume that

now you're burned out.

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You have cashflow, you have sales,

you know how to create sales.

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So you are successful.

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This is a normal stage of business.

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This is pretty much,

we all go through this.

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So nothing has gone wrong.

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There's nothing to be ashamed of.

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If you find yourself.

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Wishing you had more time off,

did more self care, you know, felt

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less stressed, more confident.

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Like, this is all, this is the

journey that we signed up for.

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So, I invite you to just like, hold all

of that, recognize it, and appreciate it.

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It's the shadow side

of, of the light side.

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Like, it's all one.

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It's all good.

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Don't beat yourself up for up for

it because that right there beating

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yourself up for anything increases

your stress and decreases the

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satisfaction in the moment of your.

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So then what creates the

burnout and the overwhelm?

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at this place in your business.

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So looking at this from a coaching

perspective, a mindset, mind, and

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emotions perspective we can look at

the way that you're showing up, the

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way that you're making decisions,

like what to do, what to focus on.

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And often, at this point, you will see

things like loose boundaries, not being

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able to say no, perfectionism, over

scheduling, making decisions because

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you're reacting to what other people want.

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And all of these are normal.

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You know, saying no is something

that can be quite difficult

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for us sensitive people, right?

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Because we're, we want to

make other people happy.

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When other people, even just

imagining that they might not be

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happy or not happy with us, that

makes us feel certain emotions.

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And so, then we're more likely to

say yes to something, even though

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that yes is not something we normally

do or want to do or have time for.

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Right?

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So, that will...

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Lead you to be doing lots of

things in your business that aren't

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those high impact cash generating

or ease generating activities.

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Perfectionism is very similar.

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It's that fear of judgment or this

desire to please others that keeps

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us working beyond the needed amount.

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Oftentimes, you know, we can, we can.

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Rationalize it by saying, you

know, I want, you know, I really

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care about this product or

service, I want it to be amazing.

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But that extra perfectionist part

that you, that you put in there

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actually isn't needed for the

product or service to be successful.

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And the client often won't even notice.

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Over scheduling, over

working, quite similar.

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Making decisions from, you know, reacting

from, from a place of stress, where

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something happens, you feel stressed

out, and you immediately try to solve

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that versus focusing on the important,

activities as a primary, and this comes

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to like, how do you schedule your time?

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How do you decide how

you schedule your time?

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So all of that can really, coaching can be

quite effective to help with that, because

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it's looking at the way that you relate to

other people, the way that you think about

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yourself, the way that you make decisions.

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And all of that, you know, creates.

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Inefficiencies.

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So what is creating the burnout and

overwhelm from a practical standpoint,

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then, is essentially inefficiencies.

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It's overusing energy

for not enough results.

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And we see that in scheduling.

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In, like, scheduling, it might be

having your email open all of the time.

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So that's where you're, you know, there's

that people pleasing coming in, but you're

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constantly responding to other people,

versus scheduling blocks of time where

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you focus on your high impact activities.

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It's a pretty simple,

simple adjustment to make.

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It can be very inefficient as a sensitive

person when you are working in a way that

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goes against your energy, when you find

yourself pushing a lot and not having time

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to replenish your energy stores, replenish

your focus, and we learn how to work

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oftentimes by the structures around us.

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So when you can identify.

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The way, the optimal way for you to

use your energy and put that into your

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schedule, then you are going to be

more efficient when you are working

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and have time for other things.

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As a solopreneur, very inefficient,

pretty much solopreneurism is pretty darn

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inefficient because You wear all the hats.

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You do everything, right?

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You came into this work probably

because you love creating your product,

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or you love delivering your service.

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And yet, a business is

so much more than that.

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You have You have the onboarding,

you have the delivery of the customer

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service, you have, you have the

bookkeeping, the accounting, the taxes,

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you have the legal aspect, you have

the marketing, you have the sales, and

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depending on what you do, there could

be a whole other range of activities.

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And while you can absolutely learn to do

it all, you are naturally good at certain

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things and naturally at other things.

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So wearing all the hats is Certainly

admirable, but that is where you want

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to work out of as quickly as possible so

that you can focus on what you do best.

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And then you can have other people

do the things that you are especially

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not great at, which saves you time.

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Yes.

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You have to invest a little bit of

money into it, but when you do it

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right, you actually end up creating

money through that investment

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because you're freeing up your time.

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A great example of this

is doing your taxes.

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For me to do my taxes when I

still did it, it took me days.

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Now I pay someone else who

is an expert in doing taxes.

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I have those days back

and they do it right.

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So much better, so much more efficient.

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Another way that our businesses

are inefficient is when we do

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thingsthe way we know how to do them.

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Doing things the way that

you know, the way that you've

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learned can often be inefficient.

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So.

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If you learned how to do bookkeeping by

using a spreadsheet, for example, and

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that's just the way that you do it now,

and that's why you do it that way, versus

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taking the time to learn learn a software,

learn a method that is going to ultimately

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be way more efficient and help you run

your business to a higher level, right?

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So...

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Like kind of the idea behind this is

that we are coming into our businesses.

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Most of us as these technicians,

as professionals providing a

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specific service, we're not trained

in all of these other areas.

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And we can do them, we can wear all of

the hats, but the way that we, we learn

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to do them, oftentimes there are better

ways that, that are more efficient, you

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know, so that even if we do continue to

do them, we can do them in a way that.

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Takes less time and the last way

that our small businesses can be

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inefficient is not having automation

Repeatable systems and processes.

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So that means that we are doing all of

the things all of the time, you know,

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instead of creating a product and doing it

the same time, same way, every time we're

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innovating, we're being creative and,

you know, having fun and that's awesome.

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And maybe that's exactly

what you want, but.

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Maybe you're at a place in your business

where you want to optimize that process

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to create your product and figure out

how to create it in less time so that

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you can increase the The financial

impact from that, and then hopefully,

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eventually you can hire someone else to

do it, have repeatable processes, write

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them down, test them, get them so fine

tuned that you can hire someone for

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less, fire someone, hire someone and

then you can focus on something else.

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Whether that is taking time off,

taking care of yourself, being with

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your family, or working in your

business in some other capacity.

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A few examples of these

inefficiencies is, so, scheduling.

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Say, scheduling software.

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Right now, if someone wants to schedule

with you, they send you an email, or they

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give you a call, and then you back and

forth to find a time on the calendar,

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you make the the appointment, and then

the day before, they need to reschedule,

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and then you're back on that train.

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Simple scheduling software.

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Maybe they email you once that first

time and then yours, you say, Hey, great.

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I'd love to connect.

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Here is the link to my online calendar.

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You can sign up there.

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You'll receive a confirmation

that has a reschedule link.

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So if you need to reschedule,

just check out that email.

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Can't wait to talk with you.

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And you can also put that

link in your LinkedIn.

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You can put it on your website so

people don't even need to connect

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with you to make an appointment.

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Simple!

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And if they need to pay

beforehand, you can configure that.

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You can get all of this

set up in, an afternoon.

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If not, Quicker than that.

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Oops.

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I just had a cat disaster I'm back.

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Lovely tried to jump up on the

desk and like pulled and the

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pulling the microphone apart.

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And it was a disaster.

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So she's been banished and I am back.

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So I'm talking about

inefficiencies and yeah.

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Repeatable systems.

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When another example is often, like

when we start doing things, the way

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that we know, like we take Venmo and

and then what happens with the payments?

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Like you have to then transfer the money.

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Like, what is that for?

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What did people buy?

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You don't really know quantity.

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You don't have numbers

to help make decisions.

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So switching to something like QuickBooks,

where every product is tracks, you can

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see how much of each product that you

have or service that you have sold.

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You can look at what's selling more.

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What's selling less, look, compare over

time and really have a lot of data to

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help you decide what to do next right.

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Having data can be incredibly

helpful, especially when

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you're feeling overwhelmed.

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And having a hard time making decisions

and figuring out what the heck to do.

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Most importantly, when you're

feeling overwhelmed and you, you've

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come to this place of, of success.

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Like, this is a time to evaluate not

just the systems in your business or,

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like where you need to grow, but how you

want to feel in your business and what's

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missing and figure out how to build that

in, because oftentimes we start with the

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idea of, of having freedom, having time

off feeling connected, but then as we go

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and we become successful, we, you know,

we go where the work is and then all of

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a sudden we're burned out and overwhelmed

and it's time to evaluate again.

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Totally normal.

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It's actually pretty amazing place to be.

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So, how do you want to feel,

what do you want your work to

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look like in terms of time off?

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You know, are you scheduling it?

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Why, why not?

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Self care during the day, like.

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Self care.

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I believe should be built into

your business schedule because it

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is going to make you sustainable.

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What do you want to build in.

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Joy and fun.

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Even on the weekends, even if

it's not strictly in your business

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schedule, the joy and fun is

an investment in your business.

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Spending time with your family,

with your friends, with nature.

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And connection.

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So I find this for myself and so

many other solopreneurs is that

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we feel isolated in business.

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Do you feel like you have the

connection, the emotional support?

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That you want to have right now.

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So.

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Once you figure out like

where, what you want to change.

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So where you're at now, where you

want to be, what you want your work

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to look like, then you can start

figuring out what needs to change.

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And.

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I find the solution.

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So that is one of the biggest

questions at this point.

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What do I need to change in order to

create the business that I want now?

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And in the future, six

months down the road.

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Where do I want to focus?

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What are my high impact activities and

where, where I make the most money or

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create the most time for other things.

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You know, how can I support myself?

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What would help me feel

the most supported?

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Is it having someone

take care of my books?

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Is it having a coach to help

you work through the people

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pleasing and the perfectionism?

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So that you can say no.

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You know what.

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How would be truly the most effective.

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And.

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And, you know, I see a lot of there's

so many resources available today.

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There's free online communities, there's

startup communities, your local community.

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We have.

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Really beautiful one here in Anchorage

where there are regular events.

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There's sometimes there's special events.

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where you can connect with

other people like you.

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Coaching.

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Working with a coach working

with a consultant to come in

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and optimize your systems.

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There are so many ways to get

support so much is out there.

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And this is such a beautiful

way to invest in your business.

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So, what is your plan?

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I would love to hear.

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I would love to know what you need

to love working in your business.

337

If you're like, I need some coaching.

338

I need to get my systems in place.

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Well, right now I have a special

offer for solopreneurs, for

340

people with small businesses.

341

Called Systems for Ease, and it's all

about creating ease and increasing

342

your capacity in your business with

systems, processes, human centered

343

workflows, and really figuring out

what it is that you need to build in

344

order to create that ease, that space.

345

So it's a combination of small business

operations tools with my holistic wellness

346

practices so that you can really design

a custom fit, next level version of

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your business that you can implement

yourself, or you can work with me to

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implement it together in a close working

relationship for three to six months.

349

We'll get you going.

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If you're interested in

learning more there's links in

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the show notes can reach out.

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Can't wait to hear from you.

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All right friends.

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Thank you so much for

showing up to the end.

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You're a rock star, have a beautiful

week and I will see you next week.