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Hi there.

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It's Sue and thanks for joining me for Tips and Talk

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Day. These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions

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and things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small

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business. If you'd like to submit a topic DME over on

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Instagram at Gift Biz Unwrapped,

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gosh, this year I've rolled out a number of new opportunities

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for you.

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Here there are the bashes where you have a chance to

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showcase your business to this entire listening audience.

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There's the new Owl app.

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When you have a quick question where you'd like my input

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and now I'm excited to bring you Gift Biz boosts,

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think of these as free strategy sessions,

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leaving you with a clear action plan to boost you forward.

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Whether you're at the beginning of your business journey and need

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concrete steps on how to start,

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or you've been doing this for a while and could use

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a fresh approach,

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these boosts are for you.

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You'll know a podcast is a boost.

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If you see that word in the title.

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Want to get your own free boost?

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I'm taking these on a first come first serve basis.

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Head over to gift biz unwrapped.com/boost

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and sign up for your session today.

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Ever since I can remember,

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I always like to dream up and create little side ventures.

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When I was really little,

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I was the doctor in my pretend veterinary clinic.

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My patients were my stuffed animals who had terrible ailments,

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broken legs,

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bite wounds,

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and sicknesses of all sorts.

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Every morning and throughout the day,

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I'd check in on them and check their progress charts.

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I'd give them their medicine,

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which was little rolled up papers stored in real leftover medicine

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bottles, and I wanted to always ensure that they were on

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the road to recovery.

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This was my little baby business for I'd say well over

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a year.

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My first money making venture was the traditional lemonade stand and

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later selling Girl Scout cookies.

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I even tried my hand at creating and selling a woman's

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fashion accessory very early on,

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but even through all that,

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I really never thought I'd seriously start a business of my

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own. After college,

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I had my share of a few short term unsatisfying jobs

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where I put in my time,

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learned what I could and moved on.

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My significant corporate career actually came about pretty quickly.

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About two years after I graduated there,

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I learned sales,

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marketing, and management skills.

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I consider myself wildly fortunate to have been intimately involved with

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many small boutique shops and quite a few,

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few big brands too,

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like Osco Drug,

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McDonald's, and a company which was called Main Street that's now

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Kohl's. I had an up close and personal look at things

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I never realized would serve me so well when I did

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start my own businesses,

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and they often now pop up in my coaching discussions today

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too, traveling,

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working with fabulous people,

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finding out that strategic business planning was a passion and building

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a dynamic sales team,

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if I must say so myself,

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all got checked off my list.

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As I climbed the corporate ladder,

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I found myself in the running to head up one of

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our 20 nationwide production facilities.

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It was then that I realized that if I continued on

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this path,

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a path that I loved,

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it would also keep me away from my young children,

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and this was time I could never get back.

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There's no pause button on children and they are my priority,

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so no matter how sad I was to walk away from

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a very fulfilling career,

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that's exactly what I did.

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I spent five wonderful years at home as a full-time quote

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unquote traditional mom.

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I headed up Creation Station,

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a publishing department for students writing in the grade school.

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I took positions on the pta.

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I coached my children's a Yso soccer teams and was fully

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integrated into their childhood.

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These were the most amazing years,

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but even so,

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my love of business kept buzzing around in my head.

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For a moment,

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I thought of going back to my past company because they

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kept calling me and checking in to see when I'd be

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ready to return.

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That however would put me back in the same place of

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being away all the time,

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so not an option cuz I was talking all this through

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with my husband.

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One night he said something to me that changed everything.

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He said,

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Sue, why don't you start a business of your own?

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You've been telling everybody else how to be successful and grow

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their business for years.

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Why not do it yourself?

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Omg, instant light bulbs.

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Yes, that fit into my mind perfectly.

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To this day I still can't even believe.

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I never considered it myself.

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I mean,

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really, why did it take someone else to suggest it in

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a way?

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Give me permission to even consider it.

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Now, this was almost 20 years ago and back then times

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were different than they are today.

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Today starting your own business,

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the whole entrepreneurial thing is much more widely accepted than it

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was back then.

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Once this idea of my own business was in my head,

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it wouldn't go away except now what type of business should

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I start?

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Once again,

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Michael to the rescue with some great advice.

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He told me to consider the qualities my business needed to

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have and then list 10 types of business that would fit

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the bill.

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The most important thing for me was that I could still

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be available when my children were home and to participate in

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their activities.

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Definitely no travel,

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something that was fun and had the potential to make decent

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money. Of course,

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I don't remember all the types of businesses on the list,

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but the final two were a gift basket business and investing

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in a wine shop franchise that I envisioned would be on

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Central Avenue in our downtown community.

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At the end,

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I chose the gift basket business because that I could do

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out of the house with that basket.

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Time was born when this decision was made.

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I'd never built a gift basket in my life,

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but I knew my strategic business angle.

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I wanted to target small businesses and use these gifts as

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a way to recognize and show appreciation leading to higher retention

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of employees and customers that is trackable in the numbers.

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Nobody else in the industry had this approach and I was

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able to use all my corporate training to become more than

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a vendor to my clients.

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That was the vision and how I would set myself apart.

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I had a lot to learn about the gift basket business.

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It was such fun researching,

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developing professional building techniques and sourcing product that probably was my

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favorite. Lots of tasting and sampling.

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Once I was ready to flip on the switch to be

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open for business,

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I immediately went into my community to get my new business

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known. I joined the Chamber of Commerce,

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several actually and BNI Group.

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My very first sales were from these organizations and also my

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first large corporate contract,

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which came through connections from networking.

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This corporate account eventually kicked me out of the house.

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It became too big to manage from home,

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so I moved into a production facility and brought on employees

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and it was up from there.

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Basket time was a fabulous business that was growing and making

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great money as I phased it out.

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That sounds crazy,

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doesn't it?

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But I found something else that sounded like even more fun

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and even more challenging,

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and boy was it ever.

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I'm referring to the Ribbon Print company,

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which is one of my businesses up and running today.

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In addition to Gift Biz Unwrapped,

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I wanted to share my experience with you today to point

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out five significant things.

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One, you don't need to wait for anyone's permission to start

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your business,

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and if you are,

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I give you that permission right now.

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Two, before you start,

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think of what you want in a business and consider multiple

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options before making a final decision.

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As a handmade product maker,

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this would be selecting only one type of product so you

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become known as a specialist in that craft.

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Three, the easiest way to get your first sales are at

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in-person events.

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Craft shows,

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festivals and farmer's markets are perfect for this and also help

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you validate that what you're offering has a market and people

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who will buy it.

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Four, think about your past experiences and how they might add

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value to what you're doing today.

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If you make lotions,

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do you have additional knowledge from the time you were a

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nurse? If you make jewelry,

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can you apply experiences from your time in the theater?

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For me,

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it was merging my strategic business knowledge to help other businesses

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grow through gift baskets.

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Who would've thought and five,

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your business may morph into something else over time,

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allow room your brain for that expansion,

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even if it's a complete change like mine was.

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Perhaps this review of my past has you thinking about what

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you do in a whole new way.

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Maybe there's another angle you can add.

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Having listened to me,

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each of us is an original and applying that to your

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business makes your company truly one of a kind.

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That's a wrap.

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I'm a get to the point kind of girl,

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and this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

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sessions. Now it's your turn.

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Go out and fulfill that dream of yours.

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Share your handmade products with us.

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We want them and they bring us both.

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So much happiness.