Crafting a Richer Listener Experience: Elevating Present Influence

John: 00:00:00

Hello, listener.

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Well, it is just you and me today.

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Now, whether you've been listening

to Present Influence for a while

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or whether you're brand new to

the show, hopefully this is gonna

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be a valuable update for you.

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And if you have been with the show

for a while, just a quick message

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for me to say I really appreciate

you and thank you for keep coming

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back and subscribing to the show.

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Hopefully what I'm about to share

with you is going to encourage you

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to want to keep coming back more.

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That's really what was about, because this

isn't just an update, this is a reset.

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I want to share with you what's changing

with Present Influence, why I'm changing

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it, and how it's gonna make the show

better, how it's gonna make it more useful

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and hopefully meaningful for you as well.

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So over time, I realized the,

the show had started drifting.

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Lots of interviews, but maybe just a lot

of noise and sometimes the interviews

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weren't really going the way I wanted to.

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I wasn't always happy

about publishing them.

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The conversation wasn't always there.

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The shows that I've really loved to

make and to bring to you have been the

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deeper practical two-way conversations.

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They're the ones that you've generally

told me you value the most as well.

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Sometimes I've been guilty of chasing

consistency for the sake of being

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consistent rather than focusing what it

really meant and, perhaps even losing

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what makes the show hopefully valuable

to you as a speaker, a communicator,

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a coach, a, a business professional.

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so in this short episode, I want to

share a wake up moment that forced me

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to rethink things and to share with

you what's changing moving forward,

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and my, this new version of Present

Influence will be sharper, simpler,

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and better for your growth as a

communicator and a person of influence.

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Now the decision came after a realization

and, and it wasn't an easy one.

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It was really quite an uncomfortable one.

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If you follow me on LinkedIn, on my

newsletter, you might have already

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seen this, but, um, it's one that I'd

fallen into my own trap of performance

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over presence and, uh, and really just

making a show, doing what, probably

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doing what most other podcasters do.

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And it wasn't really who

I am or what I'm about.

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It's not really what

I want for you either.

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When I had to really think about it,

I wasn't really making a show that I

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would want to listen to all the time.

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Some episodes were great, some

episodes, just keeping stuff

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going, so I'm putting out content.

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So I've been getting a lot of

encouragement in recent times from seeing

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the numbers going up on the show, people

tuning into the audio podcast, been trying

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to focus in on YouTube somewhat, but

that's not been going as well as I hoped.

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Very up and down.

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But the podcast audio numbers

were going up and up and up

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and I thought, this is great.

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This is all going the right direction.

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And then they took a slump and I'm

like, ah, crap, what's going on?

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I sort think, well, let's

see what happens next time.

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Maybe it's just this episode next

time, kind of about the same.

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So after a big rise in the numbers over

several episodes start, things started

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going down and I couldn't really tell why.

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So I had to have a really long, hard

thing and take a look at the show because

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ultimately I make the show for you.

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I want it to be valuable to an audience,

and if signals are coming back to me

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that this isn't really that valuable for

you or you're not returning to the show,

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then I have to pay attention to that.

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And I, I'm a fool if I don't.

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So I did start to pay attention to

it, and as fate would have it, I was

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listening to some of the podcasters I

followed who were talking about reasons

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why your show might not be growing.

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And one of them said this.

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He said, uh, if you don't know why your

show isn't growing, you can't fix it.

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And I thought, ah, that really

explains for me where I am.

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I don't know why the show isn't growing

and because of that I can't fix it.

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So I started to take a bit

of a deeper look listening to

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some other experts as well.

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And really the answer was coming back of

you're not making good enough content.

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Especially the interview episodes.

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They're not, they're not up to scratch.

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Whilst my interviewing skills I

feel have improved over time, the

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interview shows themselves sometimes

we're a bit milquetoast, a bit bland.

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Um.

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Not really what you would want to get.

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Be getting value from speaking to guests

who have lots of expertise, experience,

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achievements, and great value, but not

always delivering the goods for you and

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not always exciting to listen to as well.

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The episodes that have generally

done really well that have gone well

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have been ones where the conversation

has more naturally flowed, where

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there's been back and forth where I've

been able to share my insights and

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understanding as well, and maybe even

be challenged on stuff, or perhaps

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even to challenge some of the guests.

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And I think when those kinds

of conversations happen and

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you get to share those with us,

that's a much more interesting

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version of the show to listen to.

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So here's what I decided.

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I decided to stop just adding more noise

and stop focusing so much on consistency

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and start focusing more on value and also,

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I'll be honest with you, the show has to

take up less of my time than it has been

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because it does not make me any money.

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I make this show because I love making it.

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I do not make money from the show.

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That may change over time, who knows?

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Um, but for now, I do the show

because I love it, because I enjoy

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sharing with you and hopefully it

is giving value to you as well.

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Completely candid with this.

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I'm not saying I haven't ever made

money from the show or had sponsors

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over time, uh, and various things

of sort risen because of having the

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show, but ultimately the show is not

monetized, and that's something I would

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like to change, but I have to fix the

value part first before I can do that.

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So I see this as a natural evolution,

uh, not so much a pivot 'cause the

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show's not gonna change drastically,

but there's gonna be fewer interviews.

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So instead of two, two interview

episodes a month, um, there's gonna

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be one and there's gonna be one

interview episode a month, which means

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for you and for me, the quality of

guest is going to be a lot higher.

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I have to say no to more people in

order to bring you the conversations

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that are gonna be worth listening to.

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That's a harder job for me.

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I'm sure you can understand that.

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It's not always easy saying no to

people who've put themselves forward

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for wanting to come on your show.

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But if they can't tell me

why their episode would be

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unmissable for you, my listener,

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they're not coming on the show, I a

tough decision that had to be made.

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If someone does join me, it'll be

because they add a real depth to a

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specific conversation, a specific topic.

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So there's gonna be more of

those deep dive conversations,

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more coaching episodes as well.

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I haven't really brought you

that much and I was promising it.

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I am doing that, getting them booked

in, and I'm looking for more people who

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want to be coached on the show as well.

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Free coaching session for you, okay?

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It's gonna be public, but other

people are gonna get to learn

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from your experience as well.

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So if you are interested in that, there's

a link to fill in an application form

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to be coached on the show, and there's a

good chance you'll get through as well,

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because this is kind of a new thing.

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Um, we'll go further into the psychology,

the strategy and the real application

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of influence will have a bit less

surface chat, more, more substance.

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So really you're gonna feel like,

I think hopefully you're gonna get

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a better sense that myself and the

guest have connected before the show.

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That I sense that we can have a

good conversation, that there's

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gonna be a good back and forth.

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You will also see some people returning

to the show who have been on before,

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and they, they will be coming back

because the conversations are good.

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The results of those episodes are

good, and because you enjoy listening

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to those episodes, as my stats have

been showing me, and I have to trust

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the data on this as best I can.

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So the solo episodes are gonna

stay, stay much the same.

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I'm still try and be keeping as much

value and framework and um, maybe

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some of my rants in there as well.

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Maybe even still sharing with you

some of my, some of my comedy.

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I'm still doing a lot of stand up.

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I'll try and put some of that into

episodes as well for those of you

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who are interested and, and what I'm

doing, how I'm working on that, how

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I'm turning things up, because I think

that could be valuable to you as well.

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I have been lining up some

incredible guest conversations.

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I've been very clear about what the

style of the show is gonna be for them.

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These people are unafraid to have the

conversations, to be challenged on what

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they talk about and to go deep for you and

to share real value, not just the standard

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interview questions, or they shared on

every other podcast that they've been on.

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So the tone of it will be maybe a

bit more fireside chat sometimes,

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but we're still gonna keep it sharp,

practical, structured, but honest,

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reflective, maybe even a little

uncomfortable sometimes, but in the

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best way, not awkward, uncomfortable,

just good, uncomfortable as well.

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The kind of discomfort that helps us grow.

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if you're hearing my voice now, it's

because you want to communicate with

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more clarity and credibility, and you

want to maybe even grow a speaking

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business, this next stage is for you.

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You're gonna be hearing fewer guests, but

you'll get far more insight per minute.

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The goal is very simple.

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Every episode should either make you

think differently or show up differently.

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So the next phase of Present Influence is

gonna be leaner, smarter, truer to what

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the show was really always intended to be.

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A place to grow your

influence without the fluff.

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This is a natural evolution that

has been a long time coming.

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I'll be honest with you, if this

doesn't work out, if this ends up

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not being something you all want,

I'll probably be packing in the show

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because there's no point in just

keep, keep churning out content if

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you don't really want to listen to it.

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But if you do, I'd love to hear from you.

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But growth only happens with feedback.

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I need to know if this

shift lands for you.

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So if you haven't already hit subscribe.

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Maybe even leave a quick review.

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Tell me what you think of this new idea,

the new format, and maybe even tune

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into the episodes that are coming up

because this is a transition I do have by

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backdated recordings of more traditional

style interview shows that you will

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notice starting to move into a more deep

level conversation style show, and I

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can't wait for you to hear those as well.

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But again, thank you for those

who have been sticking with me.

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The best conversations are still ahead.

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I hope to see you there.