918: WAIT! Let's check the weather... (or should we take a chance?)

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Hey, what is up?

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Welcome to this episode of the entrepreneur to entrepreneur podcast.

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As always, I'm your host, brian Lofermento, and this is a solo Sunday episode where we are going to be talking about waiting, and we're going to be talking about all the reasons why you shouldn't start your business or focus on your business or grow your business.

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I'm excited about this one.

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Let's dive in.

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So you're probably thinking right off the bat, brian, why are we talking about waiting?

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Why are we talking about not working on our businesses?

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Well, I'm excited about this because the reality is, we're all human and we all do all of these silly games inside of our own minds, and what I've learned over 16 years of being an entrepreneur is that those mind games they actually never stop.

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We get stronger at recognizing those mind games and we certainly get a little bit stronger, at least, in knowing how to navigate through those mindset ups and downs and lulls and highs that we face along the way, but really, we always do that and we always are going to do that, and so that's why I'm a big fan, so many of you know.

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If you listen to our interview episodes or if you listen to these solo Sunday episodes, you already know how excited I get about quotes, because quotes, they just have a knack of serving me in the moments that I need them and, in my, my mind recalls them.

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And they're really impactful because every quote comes from someone who is far wiser than I am, and I love leaning on the expertise and experiences and wisdom from people who have seen things and things that have withstood the test of time.

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And so that's why, for today's episode, really I want to frame it around a quote, actually an excerpt from the Bible, that I saw when I was just scrolling through Instagram.

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So many quotes that I find really come from Instagram.

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I love that save feature on Instagram.

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If you haven't used that just yet, get into that habit.

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When you see things that move you, when you see things that inspire, you, click that save button.

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You can create a bookmark list just of inspirational, motivational content so that when you need those pick-me-ups, if you find yourself in these moments that we're going to talk about today, you just go to your saved files and start leveraging what you've already put together there to get yourself back in that mood.

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But I do want to read you.

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It is from Ecclesiastes 11, verse 4, and here's what it says but there are some things that you cannot be sure of.

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You must take a chance.

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If you wait for perfect weather, you will never plant your seeds.

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If you are afraid that every cloud will bring rain, you will never harvest your crops.

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So super quick, super simple, that's the end of the excerpt that I wanted to read to you today.

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Now I want to talk to you about it because I feel like it in so many ways illustrates a lot of what it means to be an entrepreneur.

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I'm going to read it one more time.

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But there are some things that you cannot be sure of.

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You must take a chance.

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If you wait for perfect weather, you will never plant your seeds.

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If you are afraid that every cloud will bring rain, you will never harvest your crops.

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So you might be thinking to yourself, brian, what the heck are we going to talk about from this verse here today?

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Well, there's two real ingredients behind that verse that really spoke to me, and the first thing is there are things you cannot be sure of.

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You must take a chance, you must take risks.

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I feel like as entrepreneurs, and especially, I still remember, even though I've been in this journey for 16 years.

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I very much remember my wantrepreneurial days.

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I remember the books I was reading back then.

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It was a lot of blog blogs that I was reading as well.

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Back in the day, blogs were a thing.

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People were consistently writing man-made, human-made blog content that was super valuable, and so I still remember all of those things that I was consuming, all of the things that I was thinking, all of the things that I was trying, and in so many ways, I feel like as entrepreneurs, and especially as entrepreneurs, we're looking for answers Because, let's face it, entrepreneurship is risky business.

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Starting something on our own is risky business.

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Heck, every single thing that we do in life is risky business, and so we want to maximize our chances for success.

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It makes very perfect sense to have that desire.

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Of course, we want to set ourselves up for success in the best possible way, but at a certain point, you have to let go and you just have to accept the fact that there probably aren't black and white answers that you're looking for, for whatever it is that you're looking to solve whether that's marketing or sales, or your company name or your logo, or your branding or your messaging, or who it is that you're meant to serve there are many of those things that we can't control and we certainly cannot be sure of.

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We can make educated and informed guesses based on our own knowledge, our own experiences, or the experiences and insights and strategies of others, which is, of course, why we are so grateful to bring on so many amazing entrepreneurs here onto this show.

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But, at the end of the day, even if you hear the best entrepreneur, even if you hear the best entrepreneur, even if you hear the smartest person in the world talk about something and it worked exactly like that for them they're being fully transparent with you that still is uncertain for your own journey.

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When people ask me about how I started my first business, which was a soccer blog that I launched in 2008,.

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We grew it to three and a half million visitors every single month, one of the most read soccer websites on planet earth.

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The English football association gave us awards.

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We were named the fans favorite football website, and so people often ask me, brian, how did you do that?

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What were the tools that you used?

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What was your content strategy?

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What was your promotional and marketing strategy, and I freely share all of that.

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I love talking about the launch of my first business.

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It obviously changed the entire course of my life.

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It led to me one day starting an agency, one day publishing a book, in 2016, starting this show.

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All of it traces back just to that one soccer blog, and when I share the strategies with people, they think that that's a roadmap.

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They think that they're gonna get some concrete, tangible, fail-safe strategies and insights that they can just take and apply to their businesses.

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And I wish that were the case.

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I wish that were true, but the reality is no strategy on planet Earth is fail-safe.

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No strategy, no insights, no, anything is 100% guaranteed that you can be sure of, and that's why I love that part of this verse from Ecclesiastes you must take a chance.

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You must take a chance and we have to openly acknowledge that.

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And I'll tell you what in a world where every other ad seems to be an ad for sports gambling and there's so much going on in the world where things are risky, we take a risk every time we post on social media and express our thoughts.

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We take a risk when we are navigating our friendships and our relationships.

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We take a risk when we're gambling on sports for people who choose to do that with their lives, whatever it may be, everything is a risk.

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Everything is a chance, but I'll tell you what.

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If I'm going to take a chance on something or someone, why not take a chance on me?

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And I know that I'm preaching to the choir here.

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I know that you feel that inside, because you have that bug.

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You have the entrepreneurial bug, or itch, that we just can't ignore and to me, this is at the very root of it.

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This is at the root is that acknowledgement of you know what.

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I just need to take a chance.

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I need to take a chance, and it's not just one chance.

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I need to continue to take the chance each and every single day that I show up for myself, that I show up for my business, that I show up for the people that I want to serve.

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Every single sales call that you get on, you're taking a chance.

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Every single sales call that you get on, you're taking a chance.

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Every single ad campaign that you launch into the world, you're taking a chance.

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Every single piece of marketing material that you write or put together heck your website, the text on your website.

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It's all taking a chance and we have to acknowledge that and we have to flourish.

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In those circumstances, we have to say, yes, I want to take a chance, and taking a chance means acknowledging the fact that we're not sure of it, and that is a natural part of the journey and the second part of this verse that I'm sharing with you here today if you wait for perfect weather, you will never plant your seeds.

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If you are afraid that every cloud will bring rain seeds, if you are afraid that every cloud will bring rain, you will never harvest your crops.

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My goodness, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate those words, articulated in the way that they are in this verse, because we all do this.

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We all do it not just at the beginning of our entrepreneurial journeys, not just in the middle, not just at the end.

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We do it every single day as human beings, as we watch those clouds and we wonder is it going to rain?

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Should I go for that bike ride?

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Should I go for that walk?

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Should I text my friend and see if they want to play tennis?

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We are always looking at these clouds in life, in business, in weather.

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Literally, we can always, we can spend our entire lives watching the weather and always wondering when the perfect time is going to be.

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And we can take this verse and think about it through that lens of my favorite Chinese proverb that I've referenced so many times before here on this show of the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.

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The second best time is right now.

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But I actually feel like this verse goes far beyond that, and I think this verse isn't simply a reminder for us to hey, take action right now it's the perfect time but I actually think it also adds emphasis on the fact that we can't just stand there looking at the clouds.

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We can't look at all of these external forces.

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If we are going to take a chance, we need to do it completely regardless of the macro landscape, of any micro landscapes that we're analyzing and assessing.

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We just need to take a chance.

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We will never be able to be sure of those market conditions, the micro market conditions, the macro economic situation.

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Heck, we're in volatile times.

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There's a lot of changes ahead.

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I have no idea what's going to happen as we race to an end here in 2024.

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Obviously, it's political season here in the United States and, I know, in so many places across the world.

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There's economic conditions that we're all facing.

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Interest rates are they going to be raised?

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Are they going to be lowered?

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Who the heck knows what's going to happen in the housing market.

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I have no idea, but at the end of the day, more so than me sharing with you hey, ignore those things.

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What this is really about is don't even watch those things.

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Take a chance.

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Take a chance on you, because the clouds have no bearing on when you should plant your seeds.

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The clouds have no bearing on when you should harvest your crops.

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The clouds have no bearing on when you should harvest your crops.

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If you're always waiting for those circumstances, of course they'll never come, and none of this that I'm sharing with you today is mind-blowing.

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None of this stuff is overly complex or the most brilliant things that you've ever heard in your life.

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I know that it's simple, and that's exactly why we're talking about it, for this Solo Sunday episode is it's the simple things that are the hardest.

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When we think about the really complex things, I mean, I think back to, you know, freshman year of college when we learned derivatives and integrals in calculus class.

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Yeah, that seems really complicated.

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If you walk up to the average person on the street and you say, hey, what's the derivative?

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Find the marginal revenue equation for this business's real life data.

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They're going to say what the heck is a marginal revenue curve and how do I even begin to calculate that?

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And the truth is you could learn it.

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I know you could learn it.

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I was a math tutor in college, so that's why I'm picking this example.

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I could easily explain to you how to take that real life data, do a regression analysis on it and then take the derivative of that to figure out the marginal revenue curve.

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Sounds like a lot of complicated stuff, but the truth is I can walk you through it ChatGPT can walk you through it these days, so we can figure those complex things out.

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The hardest things in life, the hardest things in business and for sure, the hardest things in our own personal development journeys, are the simple things, because it's deceiving how simple they sound.

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And we like to complicate things because we can figure out how to find solutions to complex and complicated things.

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It's why we sit down in our own minds as we're trying to go to sleep at night or when we're driving and we find ourselves just on autopilot thinking about all the things that might go right or might go wrong.

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And we love working through those scenarios in our minds because when we think about those scenarios that may or probably will never happen.

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We're really good at coming up with those solutions, but Finding solutions to the simple things, sticking to consistency and discipline and building momentum and maintaining momentum all simple things.

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Not looking at the weather and just planting our seeds Gosh, what sounds simpler than that?

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Hey, tomorrow let's go plant all those seeds.

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Well, what about if the weather's raining?

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What about if it's sunny?

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What about if it's too hot?

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What about if it's too cold?

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Who cares the way?

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Simpler solution is just you and I saying you know what?

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What about if it's sunny?

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What about if it's too hot?

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What about if it's too cold?

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Who cares the way?

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Simpler solution is just you and I saying you know what, tomorrow let's go plant those seeds.

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Simple, isn't it?

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Why is that so hard?

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Because these are the games that we play in our mind, and so I feel really strongly about us putting these topics front and center.

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And I'm so grateful to have come across this Bible verse, in particular Ecclesiastes 11, verse four, because I think it's really powerful when it gets at the simple things, when it gets at the fact that we need to stop watching the clouds and we just need to start planting our seeds and harvesting our crops and taking those chances.

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How, in that two or three sentences, we fit in these three powerful concepts, incredibly important, and that's why I lean on the advice of things that are way beyond our knowledge and expertise and the experiences that we've all had ourselves, and the wisdom shared in so many amazing quotes that I love bringing to the air.

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So I hope this one hits you where you need it and I hope that it serves you on this beautiful Sunday or whatever day of the week and whatever season it is that you're tuning into this episode, because this is the real stuff and I'm excited for it to positively move us in the direction of our dreams.

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So that's it for me.

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Today, I'm super excited.

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We are just rocking and rolling as August races to a close, which, truth be told, I don't understand how time is moving as fast as it is, but I'm really excited for this week's lineup of guests.

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Garrett Daly talks about clarity.

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I love the conversation that I got to have with Garrett that's going to air tomorrow, because, when it comes to thinking about clarity in our businesses whether it's clarity in our messaging, clarity in our mission, clarity in how we want to show up in our business and for the people that we serve.

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Garrett has a really interesting perspective on it and this is someone who is very intentional in the way he thinks.

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He's been into philosophy and you'll see how much that has translated to his works.

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You do not want to miss episode 919 with Garrett Daly tomorrow and then the rest of the week.

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We've got two teenage entrepreneurs, which makes me so excited to round out the month of August.

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These are two incredible entrepreneurs just trying things and shaking things up in their industries and being willing to take those chances and experiment.

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So huge shout out to Zach Derhockey, who you're going to hear from on Wednesday, who is within the world of tech, just trying things and applying technology to age old problems and finding those market gaps.

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It's really cool to hear about the way that his executive and entrepreneurial brain thinks.

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And then Friday's episode 921 with Gemma Cullen.

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Holy cow, gemma is so wise beyond her years.

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Actually, I lied, she's not a teenager, she's 20 years old, though.

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So I'm super excited for you to learn from her as well on Friday and really hear her experiences, because this is someone who is just moving and shaking and taking action and getting results already, while also managing a college workload.

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So these are all teasers.

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I could brag till the end of the day about this week's guest, so make sure you pound that subscribe button because we'll see you, as always, every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

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Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

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If you haven't checked us out online, there's so much good stuff there.

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Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at thewantrepreneurshowcom.

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And I just wanna give a shout out to our amazing guests.

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There's a reason why we are ad free and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate.

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These are not sponsored episodes.

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These are not infomercials.

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Our guests help us cover the costs of our productions.

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They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you, awesome wantrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible.

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So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just want to invite you check out our website, because you can send us a voicemail there.

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We also have live chat.

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If you want to interact directly with me, go to thewantrepreneurshowcom, initiate a live chat.

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It's for real me and I'm excited because I'll see you as always every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.