🎙️44. Integrity Amidst the Ashes: A Personal Reflection on Leading with Values Artwork

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Fearless Thinking

🎙️44. Integrity Amidst the Ashes: A Personal Reflection on Leading with Values

June 13, 2024 • Michael D Devous Jr • Season 1 • Episode 44

Episode Description:

In this episode, host Michael Devous reflects on the importance of integrity in the face of crisis, drawing from his personal experience with wildfires and evacuating his family home. He explores how integrity serves as a compass during challenging times, guiding us through tough decisions and helping us learn from mistakes. Michael shares his struggles with maintaining focus and productivity during the crisis, emphasizing the importance of building resilience and strong habits. He also discusses how The Ascend Hub can provide a supportive community and resources for entrepreneurs facing adversity.

Key Highlights:

Personal Reflection on Integrity in Crisis: Michael shares his experiences with maintaining integrity during the wildfire evacuation.
Integrity as a Compass: He discusses how integrity can guide us through difficult times and help us make tough decisions.
Challenges to Personal and Professional Integrity: Michael explores how crises can test our values and commitment to integrity.
The Importance of Building Resilience: He emphasizes the need to develop resilience and strong habits to cope with adversity.
The Ascend Hub as a Supportive Community: Michael discusses how The Ascend Hub can provide resources and community for entrepreneurs facing challenges.
Lessons Learned: He reflects on the lessons he learned from the experience, including the importance of self-compassion, seeking support, and prioritizing mental well-being.

Impactful Quotes:

"Integrity isn't just a set of rules for when things are going smoothly... it is a compass that can guide us through some of the darkest of moments and storms that we face."
"Integrity is not about being perfect. It's actually about showing up as authentically as you possibly can to make the tough decisions with our values as our guide and learning from our mistakes."
"When the biggest challenges come up, your most authentic self will fall to your training. You will fall to your habits."
"The Ascend Hub will be that community and that home for individuals like us... to support each other and collaborate together on our dreams, our passions, and our journeys as entrepreneurs."

Key Takeaways:

Integrity is essential for navigating crises and making tough decisions.
Building resilience and strong habits can help us cope with adversity.
Community support is crucial during challenging times.
It's okay to not be perfect and to struggle during a crisis.
The Ascend Hub offers a supportive community and resources for entrepreneurs facing challenges.

https://theascendhub.com/

Summer Promotion:https://r1.theascendhub.com/

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Hey there everybody.

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And welcome to Fearless Thinking, a

podcast designed to help you navigate

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authentic leadership and the

entrepreneurial journey.

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I'm your host, Michael Devous

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And these are my thoughts, lessons and

insights from my entrepreneurial

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journey into coaching workshops,

motivational speaking.

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And of course, what I picked up from

interviews with inspiring leaders and

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entrepreneurs along the way.

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My mission is to help people unlock

their untapped potential by using fear

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as a catalyst for powerful change

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and growth,

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so they can step into the greatest

version of their most authentic selves.

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All right, let's get into some fearless

thinking.

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Hey, fearless thinkers.

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Welcome back to episode 44 of the

FearlessThinking podcast.

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I'm your host, Michael Devous.

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Integrity admits

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admit

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integrity, amidst

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the ashes, a personal reflection on

leading with values.

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Wow,

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this week, as I'm I've told you, coming

off of the

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returning from the evacuation due to

fires, reflecting on the power of

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crisis and personal integrity

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and resiliency, this week, re I'm

recording all these episodes.

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As you can see, I'm in the same shirt

again because episodes 42,

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through 45

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didn't have sound.

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So I'm re-recording all of them.

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I hope that I do a good job with them.

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Because I try to do these, you know,

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organically,

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so that it feels like,

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oh, no,

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I'm not just reading from a script, but

today I'm reading from a script, and I

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am trying to rerecord these things.

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Now

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we're

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looking at

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integrity this week, unwavering

integrity.

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And we're diving into how your

integrity can get tested

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in the face of a real life crisis,

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while in the middle of launching a

business,

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while in the middle of doing your

things, like

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there's so many challenges that are

going to come as entrepreneurs as

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you're launching your business,

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whether you're in the middle of

launching your business, at the

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beginning, launching your business, or

you're a post, launching your business,

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going to launch another

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one, you're going to have challenges

that face you along the way.

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Well, when a real

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saying, there aren't crisis that

happen.

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When a big crisis happens, we're

talking, volcano, earthquake, tornado,

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firestorm, flooding,

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you name it, big things like that,

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a death in the family,

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an accident,

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these things

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can really challenge our personal and

professional integrity.

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And throw

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us for a loop.

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And

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in the midst of this experience

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of evacuating my family and me heading

one direction and them heading another

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direction and then trying to come back

together,

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I had lots of moments of doubt,

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and I was questioning myself and my

ability to actually follow through.

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And

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as I started to get calmer on the other

side of this and seek help and seek

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advice or whatever,

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realized something

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profound

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that integrity.

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Integrity isn't just a set of

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Rules

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for when things are going smoothly,

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for when things are going great.

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It is a compass

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that can guide us through

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some of the darkest

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moments and storms that we face.

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And I've said this before, it's not

about being perfect.

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Integrity is not about being perfect.

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It's actually about showing up

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as authentically as you possibly can

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to make the tough decisions with our

values as our guide

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and learning from our mistakes.

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It's about being honest with ourselves

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and with others, even when it's

uncomfortable.

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And what's interesting about

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is showing up authentically in every

moment

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I think we do.

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I think you can do a pretty good job of

that if you've established a really

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good set of value systems,

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a foundation of integrity

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and practices and habits and training

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that

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help guide you

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when these things take place.

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What's interesting is when the biggest

challenges come up

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your most authentic self,

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you will fall to your training.

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You will fall to your habits.

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And I felt like I fell to my hit mine,

which were not

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solid enough, consistent enough, good

enough

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to help me get jumped, to help me jump

over this hurdle and get back on track.

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And now some people would say, good,

lord, give yourself a break.

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My god, you had fires.

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Yes, that is true.

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What I didn't have was a mental

capacity and facility to maintain a

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sense of

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um.

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I was overwhelmed with anxiety.

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I couldn't concentrate on work,

couldn't focus on riding, couldn't

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focus on production, couldn't focus on

my job, couldn't focus on anything really,

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for any extended period of time.

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Which tells me that my brain wasn't

trained to fall to a place

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of understanding

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disasters.

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Over there, you're over here.

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You are safe.

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Yes, you might lose some things.

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It's ok.

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Let's move forward, because you can't

do anything about it, right?

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Can't stop the fire.

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Can't become a firefighter the next

three days and save the world.

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with that in mind,

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I got more distracted by my

distraction, like I was more distracted

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at the fact that I was distracted, then

by the distraction itself.

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I was irritated with myself for being

distracted.

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And so I layered, on top of my stress

and anxiety,

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an additional set of judgments I placed

on myself for not being better at this,

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while I preach and praise and whatever,

about showing up authentically.

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I think it's wonderful to be tested in

these moments, to see what I'm really

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made of.

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And I was, and I think I showed up

pretty well for my family and my

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friends and for the things I needed to

do.

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I did have an emotional breakdown.

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I did go through that.

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And

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I am writing these things and doing

these shows and doing these episodes

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and talking about this stuff, because I

need to get this out.

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I need to get this off my chest, and I

need to share it with the world.

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What it's like to

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be an early aspiring entrepreneur in

the midst of launching a business and

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getting my dreams and my passions out

there and facing

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some challenges.

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My dearest friend died to bury him

while we didn't bury cremated

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him, and host his celebration of life

at the beginning of may, he died in

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late January.

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I carried that burden

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for the last several months until we

could have his celebration of life.

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Following the celebration of life.

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In less than two weeks, the fires

happened.

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And here we are.

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So I have had numerous challenges and

setbacks

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this past spring, including an entire

month out with COVID

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brain fog.

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You name it, the whole thing

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and

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it is.

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It is abundantly clear to me that I

have to be better at my practices and

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my habits of taking care of myself,

because

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life is going to continue to throw this

stuff at me.

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And I need to make sure that all of the

parts of my life

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are prepared and at their optimum

performance level, so that when these

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things happen, I can get back up and

get back in that settle and get things

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moving, or

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Pivot and adjust better

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in order to accommodate that challenge.

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And

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one of the things I really am excited

about doing with the Ascend Hub and the

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launch of the Ascend Hub this coming

summer,

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is actually building a community of

individuals, and like minded, like

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valued individuals and

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leaders executives, mentors coaches who

can come in and create this very

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community where when we face these

things, we face them together.

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When we're facing creative challenges,

design challenges, innovative challenges,

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marketing, social media, content,

development challenges, as business

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owners and entrepreneurs, we have a

support system and resources

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we can reach out to in that moment to

get the help we need when we need it,

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where we need it most.

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And on top of that, now,

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when shit hits the fan people, when

real hard times occur,

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that there's a community of individuals

there to help back you up,

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take up the slack to help you borrow

back some time, to provide you with

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