How to Unleash Your Personal Brand

WEBVTT

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Hi, this is Lori Johnson with
Hancock Whitney Bank, and you're listening to

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Local Leaders the podcast. Visit Local
Leaders the Podcast dot com for previous episodes

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or for information on peering on the
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Now let's get into what we're going
to talk about today, and it's

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a little bit different. I'm not
interviewing anybody today I'm doing something else.

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I actually spoke at a Livingston Paris
Chamber commerce luncheon that they had. It's

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called Busconnects, where business owners get
together and just kind of network a little

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bit with each other, learn a
little bit more about each other's business.

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And I was honored to be the
keynote speaker at that event, and what

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I talked about was personal braining.
And one thing I figured out after the

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event ended is not a lot of
people in that room, and there was,

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it was packed. Not a lot
of those people knew what personal braining

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was, and even if if they
were somewhat familiar with it, not a

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lot of them knew exactly how to
implement it, what it meant, especially

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what it meant to their business.
So I thought it'd be a good idea

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today just to take a few minutes
and explain exactly what personal branding is and

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how it can benefit your business.
So we're going to jump into it.

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What exactly is a personal brand.
It's the unique combination of skills, experiences,

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and personality traits that define who you
are and how you are perceived by

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others, be it your clients,
your friends, your customers, even your

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coworkers. It is essentially how other
people see you and how you brand yourself.

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And what it means to brand yourself
is you're going to make an intentional

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effort to create and influence that public
perception. You're going to go for it.

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Once you understand how to personal brand
yourself, going to make intentional moves

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in order to see to it that
you're branded properly. So how do you

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do that? How do you brand
yourself? Well? The first thing you

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have to do and probably the most
infigral thing in the whole process, is

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you have to define your purpose.
Every strong personal brand starts with a clear

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sense of purpose. You want to
ask yourself what I want to be known

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for. Maybe it's the knowledge in
your field. Maybe you want to be

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known as an expert, or maybe
you want to be known as the hardest

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worker in the room. Maybe you
want to be known as the problem solver,

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and maybe you want to be known
as all three. But you got

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to figure that out. That's your
first step. And also in defining your

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purpose, you got to figure out
what your core values and your passions are.

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Maybe you're passionate about your community,
or maybe it's a specific nonprofit,

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or maybe you're just passionate about football. Whatever it is, you need to

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establish it and you need to really
hammer it down. Figure that out.

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Find your passion, because if you
don't know what you're passionate about, or

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you don't focus on what you're passionate
about, you will burn out, There's

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no doubt about it. Now,
once you define that purpose, you want

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to do what experts will call finding
or identifying your unique value proposition. Now

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I call that finding your separator.
What sets you apart from other people in

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your field, what makes you different, what makes you special, and what

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separates you not only from your competitors, but even from people in your own

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organization, the people you work with. There's things that make you stand out.

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And the good news is you don't
have to figure that out. Your

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clients, your customers, those you
do business with, they're going to tell

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you. You just need to know
how to listen. Now, typically you'll

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notice that several different people are saying
the same things about you. And in

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a prior industry that I worked in
for twenty plus years, I would constantly

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hear clients comment on how much they
appreciated my follow up and how accessible I

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was when they would call. I
would answer the phone. They would always

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make that comment, no matter what
time of day. It was right.

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Well, that told me two things. First, it told me that apparently

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there was an issue in my industry, would follow up and maybe my competition

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was struggling with that, so I
can use that to my advantage. But

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second, it validated that I was
good at it. And once you figure

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out what your separator is, you
can really start moving on your personal brand

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because you want to make that a
focus of why people should do business with

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you. Then you move to the
next step, which is to craft your

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narrative. Now, this step right
here, I believe this wholeheartedly, deep

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down into my core. I mean, I make a career now of helping

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other businesses do it. Remember this, your personal brand is not just about

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what you do. It's also the
story behind why you do it. Share

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your journey, challenges you've overcome,
achievements that highlight your strengths. Authenticity matters.

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People connect with real stories from real
people. My entire premise on this

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podcast, Local Leaders is based on
the belief that once people know why you

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do what you do, they are
many times more likely to do business with

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you. The why always leads to
the buy and make no mistake about it.

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When I was fifteen years old,
I read a book called See You

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at the Top by Zig Ziggler,
and let me tell you a classic.

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If you hadn't read it and you're
in the business field, especially if you're

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a younger business person, go check
it out. Trust me. In that

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book, Zig said something that made
such an impression on me that now,

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thirty five years later, it sums
up exactly why I do what I do.

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Zig said, people don't care how
much you know until they know how

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much you care. It's a fact, and it's exactly why crafting your narrative

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is so important. Now. Once
you've crafted your narrative, you want to

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establish your online presence. Now today
everything is going digital. You can get

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your news online, people order food
online, people even find their spouses online.

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It's true. But most important for
this discussion is the vast majority of

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people make buying decisions online. Over
seventy percent of people today say they are

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more likely to do business with someone
with a strong personal brand and presence online

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than someone without it. That's straight
up facts. I'll also say this is

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the step that most people struggle with, the establishment of a business page on

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Facebook, for example, that's easy
five minutes. It's the promotion of themselves

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that people most struggle with. They
just feel funny mentioning they won that award

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or talking about how good they are
whatever business it is they do. Now,

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there are ways of verbalizing things where
you don't come off arrogant, but

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you need to get comfortable with telling
people the facts of what you bring to

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the table if you're trying to build
your following and thus your personal brand.

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So if you engage in business and
you don't have a business presence on Facebook

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and LinkedIn, at a minimum,
there's many others, but at a minimum

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those two you're missing a major vote. So I'm gonna move on to my

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fifth tip for building your personal brand, and that's network and engage. Attend

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business related events, in age in
online forms, be active in your community.

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People need to know who you are, what you do, what your

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belief system is, and how you
can help them at all times. If

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you're supporting nonprofits, go to nonprofit
events and support them and let people know

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it speaks to who you are.
It may be a difference maker. My

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sixth tip, deliver value and build
your credibility, whether through your work,

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content you share, or interactions in
person with other people always aim to add

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value. You want to position yourself
as the trusted resource in whatever your field

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is. That builds credibility and it
will also reinforce your personal brand over time.

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You want everyone you come as to
know that you're an expert in that

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field. You want to help them, you don't want to sell them.

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That's the perception that you want to
put out. And number seven except criticism.

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Creating a personal brand, y'all,
it's an ongoing process. Be open

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to constructive criticism and be willing to
adapt and improve your personal brand based off

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of that. Maybe you're doing a
mail chump and you're bombarding people too much

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with too many emails, Well,
you can fix that. Or maybe you're

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not doing enough Facebook post you can
fix that. Or maybe you breathe too

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much, believe it or not.
I had a friend of mine several years

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ago tell me that I breathed too
much on my podcast and it made the

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podcast hard for them to listen to. Well, I went back and I

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listened to several of my podcasts and
that person was right. I breathe too

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much. So I'm proud to say
that now I breathe much less than I

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did before, but I had to
accept that criticism to figure that out,

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and my numbers did increase after that, so who knows, maybe it was

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a deal. And my last tip
for today, live your brand. Your

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personal brand is not just a persona
you adopt professionally for business. It should

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align with your actions and your behaviors
at all aspects of your life. Be

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true to your values and maintain your
integrity in everything you do, whether in

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your business life or your personal life, because one will affect the other.

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And I want to lead you with
this. It's a post that I personally

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put on Facebook just about a week
ago, but I think it's a good

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reflection of my personal brand and I
titled it someone needs to hear this.

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When I left one career to reinvent
myself and follow my heart and where I

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felt God was pushing me. In
twenty twenty, I have one podcast on

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my roster, my flagship podcast,
Local Leaders. Shortly after, I had

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a literal dream and when I woke
up, I wrote down everything I could

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remember that I envisioned from that dream. I even named my production company in

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Vision in honor of that dream.
I put my faith in God and educated

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myself on everything I could learn about
the production side of podcasting with the hopes

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that if I built it, they
would come. And did they ever.

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Fast forward until today and I am
either executive, managing editor, engineer,

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host or co host on all of
the above podcast and I had a picture

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of fourteen different podcasts that I do
that for. Two of these podcasts are

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in the top one hundred worldwide,
five of these podcasts are in the top

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two fifty worldwide. All of these
podcasts are homegrown right here in Livingston Parish.

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And that's what I'm most proud of. So what if I learned that

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could apply to anyone looking to better
their business in any field. I have

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learned so much over the past four
years. Yes, I now have more

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certifications than I can count. But
one thing I learned is that following what

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works for others and implementing it that
is what is more valuable. Don't reinvent

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the wheel, add to it.
Always remember where you came from, stay

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humble, keep your ego in check, and give back where you can.

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Just be genuine. But lastly,
and in my mind most important, never

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listen to the naysayers when you go
for something that can knots in life will

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come out of the woodwork. First
they'll try to destroy your vision, then

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your reputation, and finally your dream. They'll get jealous of you, blame

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and simple. Those who are truly
happy to see you succeed are rare,

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and when you find them, cling
to them and make sure they know how

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much you appreciate them. Push through
the noise and know who you are at

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all times. The cream will always
rise to the top. I'm so honored

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to play a role in the success
of all the podcasts you see pictured here.

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They try to my company and myself, and I do not take that

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lightly. If you have not listened
to these fine folks, please check them

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out. And I hope that this
post helps at least one person not only

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envision what they're capable of, but
believe in themselves enough to go for it.

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And that, y'all is who I
am. That is my personal brand.

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So I just wanted to bring that
to you today. I hope it

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helped. I hope you can implement
some of those tips. They work for

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me, some of them may work
for you. I appreciate everybody that listens

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to local leaders and everything else that
I do or am involved in it.

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Truly is an honor to be able
to bring you some entertainment, maybe some

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knowledge. Hopefully you get something out
of all of the things out of it.

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I do want to thank level dumpsters. Without them, what we do

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would not be possible. And if
you're interested in sponsoring local leaders of the

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podcasts, reach out to me jimatlocal
leaders ofthepodcast dot com. We love to

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promote our local businesses. So if
you're in Livingston Parish, Baton Rouge,

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Prairieville area pretty much a fifty square
mile radius around Livingston Parish, so Hammond

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will be included in that, maybe
as far as the sly L area,

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shoot me an email and we'll talk
about it. Until next time, I'm

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Jim Chapman reminding you love your community, support local business, and keep leading.

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Thank you very much,