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Hi there.

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It's Sue.

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And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.

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

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

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If you'd like to submit a topic,

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DME, over on Instagram at gift biz unwrapped,

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A few weeks ago,

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I was at a podcasting conference called pod Fest.

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Seriously, one of the best events I've ever attended in terms

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of learning timely and relevant new things and meeting the most

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incredible people.

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Now you may ask,

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how does this apply to you?

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You're not a podcaster most likely,

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but I see application in seven areas that we can apply

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as handmade product makers.

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And that's what we'll go over today.

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First, I want to point out that the reason I got

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so much out of this conference is that I went in

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with three goals in mind,

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three things that if I walked out with the answers or

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solutions, my time spent there would be a success.

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This is how I approach every conference because it's super easy

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to become overwhelmed by all the bright,

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shiny things and lose track of why I'm there and let's

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face it.

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It's energizing to get away for a bit,

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meet up with friends and connect with new people.

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But if I'm not advancing in my business,

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I can consider it more,

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a vacation than business travel,

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something to consider.

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As you head off to your next business event,

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identify three things you want to address that will move you

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forward and make sure you walk away with those checked off.

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I'm happy to tell you that I met all my goals.

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I also bought a super cool new mic.

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So you might hear the quality improve as we go forward

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for the guest episodes.

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That is these tips and talk shows I do from another

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location. Anyway,

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getting off the topic here,

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back to what applies to you.

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Here are the seven points that I want to present.

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Remind and reinforce that will strengthen your business and thereby improve

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your results.

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Hold out for this last one.

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It's a doozy.

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And one,

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I didn't know before first up play to your strengths.

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Sometimes we try to increase our skill or knowledge in some

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area where we feel less capable while it's important as the

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business owner,

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to have a working knowledge in all areas of your business.

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If it's not naturally your interest or a task that comes

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easily to you,

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it's better to pass that one on to someone else,

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working against the grain to obtain detailed training and do those

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projects. The ones where you feel resistance will not get you

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as far as you'll be.

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If you lean into what comes naturally to you,

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things like doing your own financials versus hiring a bookkeeper to

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tend to the numbers.

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That's one for me or forcing yourself to go live on

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social. When in-person events are where you shine,

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doing more of what you're strong at and back filling the

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rest will advance you further.

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Now I know when you start out,

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you're doing all the things.

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This is advice as you grow and start spinning things off.

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Number two,

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keep your eye on the customer.

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Now this one on the podcast inside is about how valuable

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well-known guests are for our listeners.

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That's you.

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Of course,

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if I had a celebrity or a big name on the

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show, it gives me bragging rights.

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But if it's not someone related to growing your business,

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how valuable is it for you?

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Apart from the entertainment I've actually heard from many of you.

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And I see it in my analytics that the most popular

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guest shows are ones where I'm talking with a maker that

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you can relate to,

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not some big brand that feels so unachievable or unrelatable to

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you on your side.

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This could apply to how you post on social media.

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Are you mixing in personal things that don't relate in any

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way to your business and feels totally disconnected from your customers

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on your Instagram feed.

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As an example,

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you sell handmade,

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pottery and randomly images pop up showing your horses or your

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son pitching at his last softball game.

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If you can relate this back to your product or business

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in some way,

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that's fine,

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but completely unconnected content like that holds no value for your

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follower. Otherwise,

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similarly, your message should be valuable to your customer.

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Not for the purpose of impressing your competition.

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If you want to point out that you've reached 500 Facebook

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page followers,

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great, but position it not as a look at me post,

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but thank your followers for helping you achieve this milestone.

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See the difference.

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This leads to my third point,

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consistency as a listener to this show,

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you expect to see new episodes arrive early morning,

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every Saturday and Wednesday.

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What if I put them up on all different days and

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times and some weeks,

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not at all,

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I'd lose my spot in your listening flow.

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You may even unsubscribe don't underestimate keeping to a schedule.

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This applies to showing up regularly on your social media platforms.

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And when sending emails,

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have you ever gotten an email from someone who you interacted

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with years ago,

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and then all of a sudden they're popping into your inbox

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now to my way of thinking,

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that's email abuse and I hit unsubscribe show up or be

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forgotten and erased next up,

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number four,

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be visible as an authority.

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You may not think since you make products to sell that

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you're an authority,

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but in reality,

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you are,

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you're an authority on the production end for sure.

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The tools you use,

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the methods and techniques you've found along the way,

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these things even lead some makers to create classes,

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to share what they know.

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Maybe you've done this already too,

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and it can go further.

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If you're a baker,

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there may be health benefits to some of the ingredients you

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use. If you work with essential oils,

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you can talk about emotions provoked by various sense and on

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and on the topics can be used for social posts or

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even better in blogs,

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to get more information about blogging,

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reference back to tips and talk number 67,

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sharing this information positions you as an authority.

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And this tips,

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the scale in your favor when a purchase is being considered,

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we all want to buy from a specialist and expert.

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It's perceived that products are higher quality and value.

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So position yourself as the expert tip number five is don't

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be the same as others.

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There's a natural tendency to look at your competition and copy

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exactly what they're doing.

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What that creates is only more of the same and that's

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boring. There's no problem looking at what's already available in your

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industry to create a baseline,

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but then setting yourself apart and making what you do.

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Different allows you to stand out.

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It's so important in your business that I dedicate an entire

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module of my makers MBA program on how to do this,

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by the way,

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maker's MBA.

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If you've been interested in it in the past is now

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always open,

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no more waiting months and sitting on a waiting list to

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get in.

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If you're interested,

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of course,

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you can go over to the website,

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look under courses and check out maker's MBA back to not

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being the same as others.

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You're seeing it at work right now with this podcast instituting

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the gift biz bash is new and unlike what others are

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doing in the podcast realm,

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and I have more fun,

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new things on the way two or three things in the

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works that most important,

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allow me to be of additional service to you,

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but also set my show apart from others.

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I can't wait to bring them to you and they're right

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around the corner.

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And when I do,

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I will ask for feedback.

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This is 0.6,

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similar to validating your product in the beginning.

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When you start your business,

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including your customers in some of your other decisions and asking

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for feedback keeps you in tune with their needs and how

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well you're fulfilling them.

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It's easy to create things in a vacuum with the assumption

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that people want,

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what you're making.

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Then you do a surprise reveal many times with disappointing results.

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You could be entirely off the mark because you're just too

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close to the plan.

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Getting customer input prevents this from happening and subtly walks your

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customers into quote unquote,

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buying into the plan.

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They begin to feel invested in what you're doing because they've

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had a part of its conception,

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asking for feedback is a powerful,

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but very under utilized activity.

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Finally, even though all those points are important,

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this last one is the most important of all.

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And one I didn't know about,

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you know,

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all that legalees that you just click and accept when you

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sign up for your email provider.

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I know whoever reads that anyway,

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that's why the type is so small.

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Nobody does,

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but did you know,

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hidden in that language is wording about how they can change

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their rules at any time and that they can shut down

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your email account to O M G seriously,

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did you know that could happen?

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I didn't,

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this is 0.7,

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protect against email censorship.

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The person at pod Fest who talked about this had it

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happened to her.

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So it is real.

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An email list of tens of thousands was blocked.

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We covered this before for social media that you don't own

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access to any of your followers,

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but the solution and action we always talk about is getting

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their email because as long as you've captured the email information

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in the proper way,

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they've agreed to be included on your list.

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You own the ability to be able to communicate with them

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through their email,

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to have ownership of your email list while this is still

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true. You are at risk.

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If randomly your provider decides to sensor your business,

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email the solution,

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backup your email list on a regular basis,

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weekly or monthly,

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depending on how active it is with new subscribers or unsubscribes.

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It's easy.

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Just download a CSV file to your computer or better yet

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a Dropbox folder.

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And then you're covered.

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This was a heart stopping learning for sure.

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So I specifically want to share it with you.

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Take heed,

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although it seems rare.

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It could be an email and business disaster.

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Here are these seven points.

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Again, one play to your strengths to always keep your eye

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on the customer.

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Three, be consistent,

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four, be visible as an authority.

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Five, don't be the same as all the others.

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Six ask for feedback and seven protect against email censorship here's

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to keeping your handmade product business protected,

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strong, and growing.

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I've been interjecting within these points,

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how I applied them to my business.

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And now I'm going to demonstrate number six,

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by asking for your input,

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which of these hit home for you?

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The most DME on Instagram at gift biz on wrapped and

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let me know and stay tuned.

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As I mentioned,

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there are new and exciting things coming your way.

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Bye for now 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 go out and fulfill that dream

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of yours.

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Share your handmade products with us.

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We want them and they bring us both so much happiness.