I’ve been in business for almost 10 years and let’s just say, it has been the rollercoaster ride of a lifetime. And while I have no regrets and wouldn’t change a thing, there are still some things that, looking back now, would’ve been great to know then. It would have been nice to learn them the easy way instead of the hard way. This episode is meant to be your easy way. I’ll share a few of the big things I’ve learned in the past 10 years that I wish I would’ve known from the start and maybe shine a light for you so you don’t have to go through the hard way too.
“Feel confident in the knowing that there is something to learn always.” – Shawn Mynar
“Don’t worry about being successful, work towards being significant and the success will naturally follow.” – Shawn Mynar
“You can only consume so much free content before you actually have to take the leap and invest in yourself and your business. I promise you, it will pay off.” – Shawn Mynar
“There are lessons to learn. We can’t learn those lessons when everything is going right. We have to learn them when things go wrong.” – Shawn Mynar
FREE “Signature Program In A Day” Workshop – shawnmynar.com/day.
Shawn’s Courses – shawnmynar.com/coaching.
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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTS ARE BELOW (transcripts are auto-generated so expect errors in punctuation, spelling, and grammar)
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I’ve been in business for almost 10 years now. And let’s just say it’s been a roller coaster ride of a lifetime. And while I have no regrets and wouldn’t change a thing, there are still just some things that looking back now would have been great to know from the beginning, it would have been nice to learn them the easy way instead of the hard way like I did. And so this episode is meant to be your easy way, I’ll share a few of the big things I’ve learned in the past 10 years that I wish I would have known from the start, and maybe I can shine a light for you. So you don’t have to go through it the hard way, too. Let’s dive in. Hey, hey there, friends, and welcome back to unstuck entrepreneur, so grateful to have you checking out the show. And everything you do to support the show. It all just means so so much to me and glad to have you here. We’ve got some things to talk about some reminiscing to do maybe over the last 10 years of my business. And I just really want to share some things that looking back now would have been nice to know from the beginning. So if you are someone who’s maybe just starting their business or thinking about starting your business, or maybe you’re a couple years in and still feeling like there’s some stuff you just don’t know, this episode is for you. And even if you’ve been in business for a really long time, it’s always just nice to kind of hear what other people have gone through and what other people have learned along the way, just even to commiserate, because you have to and you’ve learned the hard way like I did. But really, I would love it. If this episode could be the easy button. For some of you. Maybe you can learn these things that it took me years to learn and trial and error and mistakes and all the things to finally figure out, maybe you could take some of this and learn it now. And it could be your easy button for your business, at least for some of the things, there’s still going to be plenty of things to happen in your business, that you’re unfortunately going to have to learn the hard way. But it is for a reason. But we’ll get into all that in just a second. First, I want to remind you, this is your final reminder, your final chance to get in on the signature program in a day free live workshop that I am hosting next week, next Tuesday, June 14. Again, this is only relevant for the people that are listening to this prior to June 14, if that is you and you want in this is an exclusive, interactive live event that is free. But it is also like I don’t want to say exclusive and like oh, you can’t come in this was a VIP thing. Not like that. But there are very limited seats because of the interactive nature of it. And so you know, once they’re gone, they’re gone, I have to put a cap on it. Just like basically Zoom is making me put a cap on it. And I want to have a nice interactive experience where everyone can really be a part of that experience. So smaller groups are best. If you want in you are going to learn you’re going to basically we’re going to workshop out your signature program, what you want to add as a program into your business. This is not a webinar, this is unlike any other workshop I have ever done. This will involve brainstorming and working and feeling and sharing, learning, interacting. Just really understanding and working through the process of building your program. In one day, you give me one afternoon, I’ll give you a program. Okay? So come ready to work, make some big decisions, do some brainstorming, share with the group, it’s gonna be really fun and it is totally free. Okay, and when you attend a live, you also have the opportunity to come on and get some one on one support and guidance from me as we do build out that signature program together. And no matter what by the end of that workshop, you will have a solidified signature program and clear next steps for you to get that program out into the world. And this is doesn’t matter what stage of business you’re in doesn’t matter how quote unquote ready you think you are for your signature program. This is a pretty unique opportunity and experience to really get it all hashed out so that you know what your next offer is going to be. So if you want in this is your chance, Shawn minor.com/de da y to save your seat if the website is down if you can’t
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Are that page anymore, that means that it is already full. And I will potentially do this again, another time, we’ll see how it goes. But save your seat and get ready to work. And if you do want to be included in the workshop, but you can’t attend live, you can still do so you will have to email me and let me know you can’t be there live. So I save your seat for someone who can be and you will get the replay. But I want you to really stop and think about what you want for your business how you want this actually to go for you. And imagine having answers to questions like, am I truly ready for a signature program? What’s the best topic? Who’s the best client? What results? Am I promising these people? What’s the price? What am I going to include? How do I get people into my program? How do I sell this thing? Imagine having answers to that. And knowing that you have this offer, that is so awesome, so transformative for the right people on the right topic that you can now put out into the world confidently. That is a big deal. And I know, because I talked to a lot of you that one of the things you want the most in your business is, first of all, to have something that doesn’t directly take your time in order to make money. And number two, you want to help people in a meaningful way. And number three, you want something that you feel confident and proud about, you want an offer that you are excited to put out into the world. This is what we will do together, we will have those three things going for you by the end. So make sure you save your seat, Shawn minor.com/day, and I cannot wait to connect with you all live next week. It’s coming up so soon. All right, let’s move into these six things. I wish I knew when I started my business. If I had like a month to think about this topic, I probably could have come up with 36 things, probably 106 things, so many, but I want to just start here with what I kind of thought of over the past few days and just really thinking, you know, I I reminisce about my business a lot. It’s been almost 10 years, that is completely mind blowing to me, because, you know, in some ways, it feels like I started last year and in some ways it feels like I can’t even remember what it’s like to work for someone else. It’s one of those things where it feels like a long time and not very long, all at once.
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And I really, truly can say that I don’t have any regrets. I mean, yes, I made some terrible decisions. I made a ton of mistakes. Some of these decisions and mistakes cost me lots of time, it cost me lots of money. But I can also very clearly see why those things needed to happen. I had something to learn. And you know, if you’re in this place right now, where you feel like you are making mistakes, you are doing things and they’re not working, you are having to make decisions, and you don’t know if they’re the right decision or the wrong decision. Welcome to Business, welcome to entrepreneurship. That’s how it goes. And also feel competent in the knowing that there’s something to learn always. It’s a constant learning experience. If you make a mistake, if you make a certain decision, no matter what move you make, there is something to learn there, you are going through that experience. For a reason you made that decision, you made that mistake for a reason. It is part of your journey, you are being guided towards what you want towards that business that you’re looking for, by way of your mistakes and by way of your decisions. And by way of things not working. Because it kind of takes things not working for you to go down the path towards what will work. You have to go through it all. And I guess Hey, maybe this right here is another bonus thing I wish I would have known is like you have to go through all of this. And so yeah, I’m going to share some things with you that I wish I would have known sooner in my business, but you’re still gonna go through the mock, you’re still going to have decisions to make, you’re still going to learn things the hard way. But maybe part of your journey is to listen to this episode to hear from me and learn from me. So at least these things that I’m going to share with you today. You can learn the easy way and then you’ll have even more space and even more energy to learn other things the hard way. What
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which is inevitably going to happen if you want a business. Okay, so before I get into my list that I have for you, I also have a quote from Oprah. And it says, Don’t worry about being successful, work towards being significant, and the success will naturally follow. I think most of us know that I think most of us are doing so. But it is always a good reminder, because it’s easy when in business to start looking at the surface level things like the money you need to make. And that’s totally understandable. We all have bills to pay. And you do need to make a certain income. And you know, the vanity metrics, the followers and the subscribers and the this and that. And those things are important important in a way you do want to keep track of those. But they are vanity metrics, as we know. And when we can take a step back from those things, and start moving from a place of just wanting to be significant as Oprah states it, but in a way that is just you are doing something to help other people. That is what it means. And that’s what open means by saying work towards being significant. Doing something meaningful, helping another person, and putting yourself out there in a way that lets those people know that you can help. And not always focusing on these other things that can really grab our attention these days. But those aren’t really what’s actually important. Having a certain number of followers making a certain amount of money, and having a certain number of subscribers, all these things that we tend to really get wrapped up in. That comes as a byproduct of you focusing on doing meaningful, significant work for just one other person. You don’t have to try to be Oprah and have every single person on the planet know who you are. That’s not the case here, doing something meaningful for your people. For those people out there who want and need the services or the products that you provide. Don’t worry about being successful, work towards being significant and the success will naturally follow. It is law that success will follow it is how the universe works. Alright, first thing I wish I knew when I started my business, I wish I knew my worth and valued my time. I’ve talked about this quite a bit, I think here on the podcast about how I massively undercharged for my services. As a personal trainer, this was way back at the start of my business. 10 years ago, I massively under charged for the work that I was doing. For the time I was spending in a session with my clients, the time it took to drive their cars, I was in home personal training at the time. And I went above and beyond for my clients too. I would take clients pretty much at all hours of the day, like hey, you want to work out at 5am Sure I can wake up at four, no problem. I work six days a week because people wanted to work out on the weekends, I would allow last minute changes and cancellations. I did not value my time, I did not know how valuable the work that I was doing was for these people. And I think I’ve mentioned this before, too, that I specialized in doing personal training sessions for older adults. Now, not all of my clients were older, but the vast majority were 55 plus. And that is a super valuable, valuable thing for people of that age to have someone come to your home and train you make you stronger, make your more mobile, huge right. At the time, couldn’t see it. I just was so worried that if I stood up for myself, if I started valuing myself, if I started charging, what I was actually worth, that I would lose clients, my self worth and my value were so low in my mind that I lacked competence to know that my clients would stick with me even when I charged what I was worth and if they didn’t, then that wasn’t a good match.
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And this went on for years. This didn’t change until I started working on
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For myself, until I really got to the root of why I had that low self worth and value, which had nothing to do with my business, and everything to do with those darn limiting beliefs that I had been carrying around since childhood. And so at that point of my life, which was in my mid 30s, I was used to having to prove myself, I was used to being the underdog and having to work really hard.
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And I also on top of that had a really poor relationship with money, which again, stemmed from childhood, and just like generational things, from my family. And that bled into my business too. And how I assumed other people thought about money. This happens a lot for all of us, we project our money, beliefs, our money mindset, on to our clients or on to other people, and then just assume like, oh, well, I wouldn’t pay this much for this. So they’re not going to or the I can’t afford this, so they won’t be able to. And so that’s where I was, I was projecting my money issues on to my clients, assuming they had the same stuff, and therefore not charging enough. So it really took me doing the work on myself inner work and figuring out these limiting beliefs that I had, doing that stuff, and then also working on my money mindset, to get to a point where I just know how valuable the work that I am doing is, and I charge based on that value, and what my time is worth both to the client, and to myself and to my life. And what’s important to me, this is something you know, learning how to set your prices, is this fluid thing that will be the case for all of you, you start somewhere you see how it feels for you, it’s so much of an intuitive process, like you have to see how you feel with things. And back then I was a super disconnected to my intuition. Like I wasn’t listening to that at all, because my head, my ego voice was so strong with those limiting beliefs that I couldn’t really tap into my inner voice. And, again, took me getting involved in doing the inner work before I could get to that place. So hopefully, you guys are a little more in tune with yourself than I was back then. And can now get to this point where you feel
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what’s right, and feels good to you, and is the right spot to be and what doesn’t feel good to you. And you can think more about the value that you are providing for your clients. How valuable what you are doing for them is how much it is going to enhance or change or save their lives. And you can also charge based on that, but it will be fluid, it will take some time for you to find that sweet spot, you can always go up or down or whatever you need to do, I would recommend setting your prices and then continuing to go up. So you can do so in increments. But what I want you to know from the start is that you do something very valuable for someone else. And you are worthy of getting paid for that. That is what I want you to know. That is what I wish I knew from the start. Next, I wish I knew that investing in my business wasn’t a choice, but a necessity. Because the reality is, I wouldn’t have had to learn everything the hard way. If I would have just been willing to invest in my business from the start again, going back to that money mindset stuff that I had going on. I was afraid to spend money. I saw it as an expense, not an investment, which you really need to get to know the difference in your business ASAP. It will change everything for you. But if I would have started investing in my business from the beginning, I would have saved myself so much time and so much money. And I would have actually started making way more money much sooner.
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I was that person that just consumed all the free content. There was not a
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piece of free content from a business coach that I did not consume, all of the downloads, all of the ebooks, all of the podcast episodes, the blog posts, all the things that were free.
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But there’s a reason why they are free. And we talked about having freebies here on the show and how important they are. And you know, because you are someone who is giving out free content for prospective clients, that you’re not giving it all in that free material, you’re giving enough to help them get started to help them get to a certain point to help them with one certain thing. But then you know, that there’s no possible way for you to put everything that you can do to help another person into one free thing, there’s just no way. And so everyone else is doing the same thing, the people that you are consuming their free content to help you with something in your life, your business, for example, they cannot put everything in to their free material that will help you succeed in your business, you have to invest in your business. So going back to the difference between an expense and an investment. The cool thing really is that when it comes to your business, almost everything that you pay for in your business is an investment. Yes, it’s also an expense, and you can write it off on your taxes. And that’s amazing. But also, it so much of it is an investment because it is there to get you a return on it. It might be by way of helping you make more money, or helping you save time, which is honestly even more valuable since it’s a non renewable resource. But I feel like almost everything in your business that you are putting money into, is helping you with one of those two things, both of which are really incredible investments, you either make your money back plus some or you get it back in time, which is, like I said, just immensely valuable, and will still come back to you making more money too. So just see it as that I know, it’s hard when you’re potentially not making any money in your business right now. Or you’re not making a lot of money. And it feels like why would I invest? Why would I spend money when I’m not making anything. But you have to understand the way that investing works, not spending investing, there’s a big difference, you can only consume so much free content, my friends, before you actually have to take the leap and invest in yourself and your business, I promise you, it will pay off.
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I wish I would have known that. But again, took me several years to know that next, I wish I knew that 90% of my job would be to market myself. It’s really interesting when you start a business, especially as a service based business, and really proudly the same as a product based business to you want that business because you’re good at that service, or you have created this amazing product. And you’re so excited to get it out into the world. And you’re good at what you do. And you want to help people. And we have these really great hearts, and really service based mind. But then you get in business. And you realize that no matter what kind of business you have, no matter how good you are at your service, or how great your product is, you still have to market yourself. And you have to market yourself a lot. And that is why I say literally 90% of what I do today is Marketing, Marketing, my services, what I am good at doing what I love to do how I want to help people. And that’s great. And I’m glad that that is 10% of what I do. But right now 90% is getting the word out there is growing and building my audience. And I had no idea back 10 years ago, what that would look like today or how that would evolve over the 10 years or how much time that would take up. It would take years before
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For I really truly learned about messaging about making an irresistible offer, about selling in a non sleazy salesy way, like true authentic selling, it took me a long time. And something again, I know, I’ve shared here before, about how I had these programs that I had created. And I didn’t get anybody to buy them. Because I didn’t know how to market myself, I didn’t know how to launch, I didn’t know what a launch was, I thought I could create this thing, tell a few people, and they’d buy it. And we could go about our business. And I could go back to doing the service that I love to do for people.
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But you have to know, and I hope you can get this from the start or wherever you’re at today in your business. You are a marketer, we had a whole episode about this, a few episodes back, you are going to become a marketer, you’re going to make that choice to make that a big part of what you do. And it can be fun, it can be flowy, it can be easy. It can be simple. It doesn’t have to be complicated, or hard, or just something that feels uncomfortable, you can and will enjoy it. I enjoy it. Like for example, me right now here talking to you on a podcast episode. That’s considered marketing, I’m creating content that will help you get to know me and my services and what I do and what I offer and how I can help you. And I’ll invite you to join me. That’s marketing. And this is one of the most fun things that I do in my business, recording this podcast. So fun, I love it. And it can be the same for you. But you do have to learn what that looks like for you, you do have to learn what that takes and how you can become a marketer and what it means to launch and what it means to have messaging and an irresistible offer. And non salesy selling. You have to invest in yourself and your business and learn how to market and then make it enjoyable for yourself whatever that looks like for you. Next, I wish I knew that I needed a passive income stream as soon as possible. This one I really want you to work on in your business right away, it is so important for you to immediately find a way to on Ravel your time with your income. A lot of us think the first place to go is to take one on one clients, which is trading time for dollars. And that’s great, but it really can’t and shouldn’t be it, you also need to work on a more passive income stream a way for you to make money that doesn’t directly involve your time or your calendar, that is going to be really important moving forward. So even if you do take tons of one on one clients, no matter what you always have that other income stream coming in, as well. As I mentioned, right when I started, I was only focused on my one on one personal training clients, I did have a few groups, I taught a few classes, which was really helpful, but still required my calendar and my time in order to make the money for that group or that class. And that is really stressful. Even if you do have a decent client list and enough people on your calendar, there will be times when people cancel, there will be months where you don’t get as many clients or things happen. And when your income is directly tied to that, then you always feel a little concerned about the money that you’re going to make. Whereas if you work to set up another income stream right away, then you have that going on as well. And really one of the coolest things about the businesses that you are creating is that you don’t need just one income stream you really can and should build up to having multiple income streams so that you have that flexibility and you also have that knowing that comfort that security that maybe you’re looking for when it comes to your income. And so yeah, the first couple years of my business, not only was I undercharging my clients, but I also that was the only income stream I had, I did not immediately look to start adding other passive income stream
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seems to my business, which just made it that much more stressful. And so it wasn’t until a couple years, like I said, I did create some programs. At first they didn’t sell because I didn’t know how to market myself. But then finally, number five, launched number five, I was able to get that passive income stream going and keep it going, and then start adding even more things, other programs, ebooks, affiliates, those kinds of things to where, by the 2018, I believe I had 19 streams of income. That was a little much that got a little confusing when it came time for taxes. And my accountant didn’t love it. But but it really cool. So you have the opportunity to do that for the type of business that you are building right now. So don’t wait to start thinking outside the box and thinking about other things that you want to add to your business besides just the one on one work. Or maybe you don’t want one on one clients at all, which is totally fine and normal. But definitely things to consider and know now instead of waiting years from now to figure out where your money is going to come from what other income streams you can add.
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Alright, we’re getting down to the last few. Next, I wish I knew that entrepreneurship was a never ending rollercoaster ride. I think a lot of us know this. But I also think, you know, when I consider how I was approaching business back, when I started, I really did have this mindset of, if I can just get this, this and this, if I can make this much money, and do this thing and have this many clients, then I’ll be good. And I can just let it ride, let it flow, I’ll just stay there, I’ll be all good. And I can just coast along for the rest of my life in my business. That is not how it works. That is not ever how it works. I think we’ve all seen that drawing or that meme, where it says what we think business is going to be like and it’s just like straight line up. And then what it actually is, and it’s this like line that’s all over the place and a mess and curly and curvy, and all over. That’s what true. That is exactly what happens that it is what it is like to have a business. Again, I think a lot of you know this, at least deep down. But I think it is a mind game, we can play with ourselves of feeling like you just need to get to a certain place and then everything will be amazing forever. And you’re only struggling right now because you’re in this spot. But that will never happen again. And the reality is it is full of ups and downs all the time, like daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. It happens and it is going to continue to happen. Because that’s just how the journey plays out if we go back to what we were talking about at the beginning, because there’s lessons to learn. And sometimes we can’t learn those lessons when everything’s going right. We have to learn them by certain things going wrong. It’s just part of the process. And you know, I wish I would have known this from the beginning because then I would have known that when things were going wrong when it seemed like nothing good was ever going to happen. When it seemed like this was all doomed. It was just part of the journey. And pretty soon it would go back up. And I would be going up the roller coaster only to go back down again and then up again and then down again and curve around and go upside down and all of the things. It’s just an experience. And it’s an experience that we’re signing up for by being entrepreneurs. It is one that no one else will ever understand unless they are also an entrepreneur. And it is also very much worth it. It is so worth it to be on that roller coaster ride every day, every week, every month every year. The highs and the lows. It’s all good. All right, last one. I wish I knew that it would all turn out better than I could have imagined. Even on this roller coaster ride to still be able to look at where I’ve come what I’ve built what I’ve done. It’s I just couldn’t have imagined that what would happen 10 years ago when I first started this thing, I could not have dreamt of this. And I think the same will happen to you 10 years from now. You just have no idea what’s in store for you and how good it’s going to get. But I know that at the beat
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Getting and even in the thick of it, it can feel like it’s never going to happen, that light at the end of the tunnel can seem really far away. And you can find yourself in this cycle of stress and struggle and only being able to see that.
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But then that person, that business owner, that entrepreneur from 10 years down the road, is telling you that it’s all going to turn out better than you could have imagined. And then what does that do? Knowing that how does that shift things for you? How can you look at things differently? Knowing that, and I wish I knew that from the beginning, because for me, it would have made things a lot more fun, a lot less stressful, I would have had a lot less worry. And I would have just been able to enjoy the process a little more, not a little more, a lot more. Because I would know that it would all turn out better than I could have imagined. And the same is true for you. And what does that change for you knowing that.
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And that’s it for what I wish I would have known when I started my business. But I do want to end with just one little thing here. And going back to it turning out better than I could have imagined. Why I believe that it turned out this way, why I believe that it did get this good in my business, even with the roller coasters and the ups and downs and all the craziness that has happened over the past 10 years, which is just to be expected. And I now know that. But from the beginning from day, one of me being a business owner,
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I knew how to connect with my audience authentically. I knew how to be consistent.
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I knew that done was better than perfect. And most importantly, I knew what I wanted. These were the things that yes, I did not know a lot. When I started my business like almost nothing. But I did know those four things. I knew how to connect with my audience. I knew how to be authentic, I knew how to be consistent. I knew that Dunn was better than perfect. And I knew what I wanted. And that is why I believe that I was able to make it through the ups and downs, the roller coaster ride, The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, all of the mistakes, and blunders and bad decisions I made, and still get to this point where it turned out better than I could have imagined because of those things. So the reality is, it doesn’t really matter what you don’t know right now, because you’re gonna learn it. And hopefully, I’ve made your journey to learn it a little less of a struggle by sharing with you this episode today. But no matter what, you’re going to learn what you need to learn. But then you can also take what you already know what you already do well, what you really want, and go for it and make it happen. And that’s what I really want you to embrace. No, you don’t know everything. Yes, you’re going to learn a lot. Yes, you’re gonna learn a lot the hard way.
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But there are things that you already have right here right now today, that will build a thriving, significant if I’m going back to Oprah’s words, business, and you have that already, right now within you. So a good exercise to do would be not to figure out what you don’t know because you don’t know it. So that’s not going to go anywhere. But figure out what you do already know and what you are already good at in your business and just focus more on that. Just do that and see where it takes you. And yes, when all the stuff along the way. All right, friends, that’s gonna do it for this episode. Remember, if you want to be a part of signature program in a day, my free live interactive workshop for a small group of you all. I can’t wait to connect with you next week, June 14. So save the date, head to Shawn minor.com/day. Reserve your spot and I will see you there live and until next time, take care
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