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Secrets of Leadership You Never Knew
1K views
Mar 24, 2025
In this video, Paula Jenkins discusses the importance of leadership in small businesses and various aspects of effective leadership. Key points include: Leadership is not just about managing people but also about how you lead and manage various aspects of your business, such as finances, social media, and brand. Leadership is about influencing or guiding others in their actions and behaviors. There are various styles of leadership, and it's essential to recognize who you are and how you show up as a leader. This can be discovered through experience, situational factors, and feedback from others. Communication, empathy, and self-awareness are crucial elements of leadership. How you communicate with your team and clients, show empathy towards their stories, and being self-aware of your limitations are essential for effective leadership. When hiring people for your team, it's crucial to find individuals who believe in your business and share your vision. Receiving feedback is essential for growth as a leader. Encourage open communication and create a culture where feedback is welcomed and valued. By understanding these key points and implementing them in your small business, you can improve your leadership skills and increase the chances of success for your company. Chapter 1: The Importance of Asking for Help (00:00) Recognizing the need for help in leadership Hiring assistance and realizing its impact on business Chapter 2: Leadership Skills in Small Business (00:59) Adapting leadership styles for different situations Overcoming challenges as a small business owner Chapter 3: Building a Supportive Team (02:38)
View Video Transcript
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best kind of leaders raise their hand
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and say I need help
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let me just say it one more time the
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best kind of leaders are the ones who
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raise their hand and say they need help
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and for some of us it takes us a little
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bit longer to do that and I think that's
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really hard but the moment you do and
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you start recognizing wow the help
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that's come is really helping me that's
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the game changer in your business and
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it's hard and I'm not sitting here
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saying this is some easy thing I'm going
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into my fifth year business and I just
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got in the past year or so around the
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importance of hiring help
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so the key is recognizing that yeah we
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can we can still do this for the you
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know next five years by yourself if
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you'd like but the reality is being a
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really good leader is recognizing you
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can't do it all you don't know it all
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and that's why there are people who as I
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say
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that's not my Lane that's their Lane and
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they can come and help you and I think
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that's the key when it comes to being an
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entrepreneur is recognizing it's time to
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raise your hand
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[Music]
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thank you
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how important are leadership skills when
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running your small business they could
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make the difference between success and
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failures as Paula Jenkins founder and
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CEO of lfs Consulting for secrets to
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improve your small business leadership
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skills watch our full interview up next
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a lot of small business owners and
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particularly solopreneurs they may not
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think of themselves as Leaders because
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they're you know they know their thing
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they know their their Niche or whatever
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they're getting into so I'm wondering
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why is leadership important
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in small business like why is it
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important for you to think about this
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initially
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yeah that's a great question so you know
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so often
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um because we don't think about it we
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don't understand the correlation between
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our success and how to sustain our
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business and that's where the leadership
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part comes in is how you lead your
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business how you lead the finances of
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your business how you lead your social
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media like I think a lot of times we
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think of that leadership piece as a
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person it's a team it's a group it's an
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organization the leadership piece is
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also just how you run the business how
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you show up
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um how you lead your brand how you lead
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your product or your service so that
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leadership piece is critical because you
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do want to make sure that you show up in
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a way that's going to sustain your
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business and grow your business so
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whether you have a team or not that
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isn't the part that matters what matters
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is you understand that how you lead how
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you show up that's the part no matter
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what the size of the business that's the
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part that matters I mean we need a good
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definition then maybe we don't have a
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good definition I mean what what would
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you say is a good definition of
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leadership leadership about influencing
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that's what it's about and whether that
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is influencing you can call it guiding
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people
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um thoughts whatever you want to call
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their actions their behaviors leadership
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is truly about the influence that you
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have on someone somebody some team
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um that's really what it comes down to
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it it's it's we can have lots of other
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words that we can add in but at the end
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of the day you are influencing somebody
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period and so for me my definition is
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leadership is influencing or guiding
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other people when it comes to their
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actions when it comes to their behaviors
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that to me is leadership when you think
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about leaders maybe a lot of people have
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a vision in their head of what a leader
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is supposed to be like maybe this is
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supposed to be extroverted maybe they're
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supposed to be uh you know have a strong
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personality maybe they're supposed to
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you know have a loud voice maybe yeah
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and people might think well I'm
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introverted I'm kind of like I'm a quiet
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person I I don't I'm not the first
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person to speak up in a room and
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everything maybe that means I can't be a
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leader then we talk about the different
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there are different types and styles of
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leadership aren't there yes there are
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some of those types and styles
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so here's what I'll say you know I I am
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not a person who says I have this
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complete list of you know here's all the
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different styles we can Google all types
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of lists there's a list of sevens a list
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of eight there's a list of there's lots
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of lists
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um for me what I will tell you is there
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are some some
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simple ones that I think about I call
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myself a servant leader
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um that to me is who I am into how I
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show up and it's really important for me
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to show up as a servant leader when I am
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leading it is not about me it is about
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others it's about meeting people where
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they are it is about really making sure
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that the work gets done but it's never
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about me never has been about me you
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think you also have other leaders where
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we talk about
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um it may be very transactional and so
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what do I mean by that it is all about
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yes let's get it done let's get it done
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let's get it done let's get it done and
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not to say about the caring piece or the
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the other pieces that may be important
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to people but it is about getting it
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done and in some cases you may need that
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um there's other styles where it's just
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like look I don't care what how you all
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get it done just get it done and and
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that's kind of the hey it's it's it's I
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don't need to be in all of your business
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I don't need to get into all the details
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I trust you enough to get it done and
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you know there's lots of names for that
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as well you know lazy fear those kinds
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of things but
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um there's the the the
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Democratic Leadership there's all kinds
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and so I will tell you I have not spent
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the time to say Here's the the five or
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the eight or the nine or the ten because
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there's so many different kinds I think
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the key is is recognizing who you are
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and where you are that's why I know for
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me I can say that I am absolutely a
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servant leader because I know how I show
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up and what's important to me and it
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doesn't mean it's the right the best or
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the worst it is who I am and how I show
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up but I also know how to change it to
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different types of leadership styles
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when necessary I don't know if it's
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discovering the kind I am or if it's
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deciding what I want to be how do I go
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about doing that I mean how do I go
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about figuring out what kind of leader I
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am so one it takes time
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um this is something where I will tell
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you probably 10 years ago even 15 I
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wouldn't have said I was a servant
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leader I think it is the environment
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you're put in I think it is the
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situation that you're put in the people
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that you are leaving and leading the
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people that
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um are surrounding you in what is needed
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a lot of times what we don't understand
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is depending upon the situation the
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environment people's personalities you
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have to show up in a different way and
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that doesn't mean again I I'm always
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talking about it's not about good bad or
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or indifferent it is what is needed at
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the time so sometimes you'll find out
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that you can be and maybe you do need to
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be the hey hands-off leader because
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that's what the group needs and they do
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well in that you may not understand
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whether you're 100 comfortable with that
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but that's what the group needs you may
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need to be the person who is the very
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transactional type of person because
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they absolutely need it in that
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environment so the way you find out is
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honestly it's the experience that you
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have it's the situations you're put in
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it's also asking asking a lot of times
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we're leading people people too often we
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don't want to ask a question I am really
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big on feedback and I think it's really
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important to ask for it I don't shy away
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from it I've said for years probably
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decades
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if you don't tell me what I'm doing well
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I may not continue doing it if you don't
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tell me what I'm not doing so well I
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might continue to do it so part of it is
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also understanding what's working in the
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environment that you're leading what's
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working for the people that you're
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leading that is an important piece of
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leadership and so how we find out who we
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are we can ask it's not a bad thing it's
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not a bad thing you know you also see
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when you look up what are the elements
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of leadership and people look at those
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lists and they say gee I don't have
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those personality types or I'm worried I
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don't have those personalities but do we
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really know I mean what are the
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qualities or elements or whatever what
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are some of the things that might
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indicate that you're a good leader well
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here's what I will sell you for me
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everything begins in Angel communication
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so when I immediately think about
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leadership it is honestly we have to
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start with how we communicate now some
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of us are really great communicators
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some of us have work to do and some of
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us are not as good I recognize that but
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communication is key how we communicate
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with our teams with our people with our
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investments all that is important that's
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that's that's one to me the most
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important element but there's others yes
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it's how you care
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um it's empathy we have to be able to be
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empathetic
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um I'm also real big on emotional
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intelligence and understanding our
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self-awareness and self-regulation our
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motivation all those types of things but
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I will always say it absolutely starts
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with how we communicate and a lot of
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times I think we you know it's immediate
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that that it's the verbal how we
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communicate but communication is all
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kinds of things it's how we show up it
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is how we talk it is how we write think
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about all the times we write things and
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how we communicate to people and
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sometimes our tone even in writing is
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not very kind it is how our body
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language shows up and how we communicate
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whether we're listening to somebody or
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not somebody how we care and show up for
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that person so for me you know I a lot
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of what I do is always about the top
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three I don't want to four or five six
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because I can't remember all that so
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it's communication it's it's you know
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that first element is how you
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communicate it's that empathy you know
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being empathetic caring for the people
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that you are leading there's nothing
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worse than somebody who knows that their
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leader doesn't care about them
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um we all have always you know tell
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people everybody has a story everybody
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has a story
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everybody's not going to share their
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story with you and that's okay but if
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you get to know people they might share
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their story and when they do you got to
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care you got to be empathetic to
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whatever they're going through
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um and then that self-awareness being
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aware of where you are there's nothing
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worse when there's a leader who doesn't
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recognize they don't know everything I
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know that you left corporate uh the
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corporate sector for for you know to
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basically build your own business and I
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think as small business owners the one
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thing we never think about is the luxury
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we have often that we don't have it in
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the corporate world you you actually
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often are building the team you're going
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to lead so when you have your own
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business and you're going from what I'm
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going to call the solopreneur to now
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wait a minute I have a team of people
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every single person and I've said who's
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going to touch my business I want to
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believe in it they've got to believe in
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it this cannot just be oh this is just a
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job I need you to believe in what I'm
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doing because if you don't that's going
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to show up and how you serve not only me
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but my clients the the public like
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that's going to be a problem so it is
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important and part of that is how we
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onboard people how we find people you
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may have to go through a few people and
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that's probably the challenge no it's
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not probably it is it is the challenge
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as a small business owner of recognizing
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okay I have to go to a few people before
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I find the right person and that's just
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part of we all know in hiring anyway but
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you know when it's again your baby Wings
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your business as an entrepreneur you
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want to make sure that you're bringing
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in people again who care you want to
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take the time even though we know for a
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lot of times it's like okay I need
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somebody right now but it's still you've
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got to take the time because again this
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is they're accessing your information
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they're going to be responsible for your
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brand they're going to be responsible
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putting processes and Sops all these
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things so part of it is yeah you've got
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to take the time to hire the right
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person and you've got to make sure that
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you are involved in that process and not
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to say that you can't hire somebody to
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hire somebody but you do want to be
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especially in the beginning you want to
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be part of that process because here's a
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unique opportunity to make sure you're
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bringing in the right people or as close
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as possible the right people in the
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beginning so they can grow with you you
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talked about the importance of getting
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feedback when you're the leader when
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you're the boss sometimes people assume
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you don't want feedback
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um are afraid to give you free feedback
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how do you let people know I'm serious
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about this I really really want to know
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what you think I I really need to know I
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don't have all the answers first of all
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you gotta you have you have to you know
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you can walk the walk you gotta talk the
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top right I'll give an example of that
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so many years ago I was coming in as a
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new manager and I had 17 direct reports
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and I recognized very quickly that the
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culture that they were used to was very
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different illusion they would was very
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different from who who I was and what I
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remember saying that at that exact thing
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I believe in feedback I can take it as a
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new leader here I want to make sure I'm
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understanding what's happening I quickly
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could read the room and they were like
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yeah whatever I knew that I could tell
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immediately so part of what I did is I
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said okay I'm gonna do an exercise
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answer two questions for me and I sent
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an email out and I said be as honest as
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you can and I said and I mean that I
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said you I know you don't believe me but
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I'm telling you it was two questions
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what am I doing well what can I do
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better very easy and this is probably
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within about 30 to 45 days of starting
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I collated all that data and I put two
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sheets of paper all together on one
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sheet of paper it had all the feedback
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together what I was doing well on the
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other it had all the feedback given to
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me about what I could do better I had a
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team meeting and I shared both of them
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all of the feedback
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the good and the bad what am I doing
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well
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showed us to the team and they're like I
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can't believe she's showing it and then
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I put off the paper what am I what could
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I do better and let's just say some of
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it wasn't very flattering but that's
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okay I meant what I said I can take the
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feedback and I will tell you in that
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moment what happened with that team is
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one that trusted me and they believed me
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and they understood what she said she
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means when I see I can take the feedback
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I can take it so much that I will even
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share the theater that you all gave me
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and it was Anonymous right and there was
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stunned by the fact that I shared all
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this feedback but my point was I get it
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I knew you don't know me you don't trust
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me but when I say I believe in this I
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believe in it so if you're gonna do this
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you gotta talk it and you got to walk it
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and that's it for another episode of
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small business 15. thanks again to Paula
14:27
Jenkins and please like And subscribe if
14:29
you enjoyed the show and please leave a
14:31
comment and let us know what topics
14:32
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14:34
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