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She is sure, she is true, she is straw is straw,
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she is true, is true.
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She is praise, pray, she is plese, she is you.
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Hello, everyone, welcome to today's Word of Mom Radio Here on
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the Word of Mom Media Network. I'm your host, Dori
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Di Carlo, and you know we are here week after week,
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show after show, breaking those myths the morepreneurs and businesswomen,
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especially those of us building our businesses from home, that
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we're just dabbling in between bake sales and getting our
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nails done. We're not. We are smart, we are savvy,
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and we are sharing the wisdom of women in business
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and in life. And I look forward to bringing today's
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guest into our coaching corner. Laura Watson has spent the
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last thirty years dedicated to helping individuals reach their full potential.
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She is an award winning coach, a devoted wife and mother,
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and a world country dance champion. Her secret sauce lies
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and translating complex business leadership and communication concepts into practical
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ideas and actionable steps. As a whole person coach, Laura
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recognizes that business leaders face personal challenges as well. She
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addresses both professional and personal issues often transitioning from business
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discussions to topics like addiction, parenting, and infidelity in a
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single session. So I keep sharing about what Laura does,
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but so much better to bring her in. So, with
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all that being said, Laura, welcome to Word of Mom Radio.
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Hello Dory, it's great to be here today. Thanks for
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having me.
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Oh, it's my pleasure, and I would love for you
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to take us on your journey that led you to
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coaching and all of the things that you're doing, and
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then we'll talk about some world championship.
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Yeah. Well, it's then quite a journey over the years.
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You know, it all really began because I've always been
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passionate about helping people. I grew up. My parents were
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great role models for that. They were always in service,
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and that's really where it started. I got in. It
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started in the nonprofit arena, actually, because I got a
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master's in social work and I started in the counseling arena.
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So I started in the trenches doing child welfare work
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and documenting bruises, having to take parents to court unfortunately,
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dealing with adolescent addictions and community crisis intervention, all really
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fascinating work and important work to do. But then I
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got to a place in my career where my children.
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It got a little tougher once I had my own kids,
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and then my kids were going in full time school,
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and I started to evaluate, how else can I help,
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Where else can I make a difference? And so I
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actually hired a career coach and I worked with that
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person for a little while to help me gain some
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insight and explore some options. And that's when I discovered
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business and leadership coaching. And it was a natural transition
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of the skills I already had, and my husband had
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his first business at the time, and it really fascinated
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me about helping, you know, business owners get they're dealing
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with so much. You know, there's a lot to deal
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with in life itself, and then you add building a
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business on top of that and needing to make a
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profit and needing to lead other people, and it just
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takes our personal and professional development journey to a whole
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new level. So that's when I decided, yeah, you know what,
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this is really what I want to say, specialize in.
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And so I got some coach specific training so I
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could dive into this arena. I worked with another business
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coach at the time. We collaborated and that's really how
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I dove into this area, and it's been fascinating. I
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really love being able to coach people on both sides
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of what I call the business building coin, because there's
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the leadership and the business side of things and building
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a business effectively, and then there's the other side of
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the coin, which is our personal development and our relationships
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with our spouse, our kids, and ourselves personally. So that's
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kind of that's how this all came to be, and
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here we are, like twenty five years later.
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I have to ask, how did you mind wind up
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weaving ballroom and country dancing into Oh did that become
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such a passion for you?
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Well, it's definitely a passion and dance with something I
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kind of always wanted to do but never had a chance.
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I did not grow up dancing at all. It was
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not something that was really available in the small town
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I grew up in. So I would go to the
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high school dances, you know, and do the booty shaking
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like everybody else does, and just you know, loved the
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sense of movement, but never really had a chance to
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pursue it. And then of course you get married and
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you have kids, and your life is busy that way.
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My husband has zero interest in dancing, so and I
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just started got to a place in my life where
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it's like, you know what, this has always kind of
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been on the back burner. It's something I really want
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to do. I'm in my forties now. If I'm going
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to do it, i'd better do it. And my husband
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was super support portive. He said, you know what, if
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you want to pursue this, and pursue it. So I'm like, okay,
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I did, And so you know, I've been dancing now
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for about twelve thirteen years. Got into ballroom originally, absolutely
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loved it. Then a friend asked me if I would
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try country dancing, and so I got into that with him.
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I've always done it competitive competitively as a reason to
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keep improving and getting better, and it worked because you know,
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in twenty twenty three, my friend and I actually won
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a world championship, so that was pretty cool.
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That's amazing as somebody. I did theater professionally my whole life,
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and my father ran dale dance studios well before the
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other ones happened. I used to love dancing with my
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daddy because it was magic on the dance floor. So
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I love it, and it's so funny because I am
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not a country music fan, but I love country dancing.
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I really do mind it. I love I love all
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of it. And then of course Freda Stare Ginger Rogers,
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I mean, you just there's something so elegant and.
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Exactly is to me.
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It lends itself to somebody who's approached because you have
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to be able to work in conjunction with the person
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that you're with. You know, absolute thing. You have to
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work in conjunction with the people that you're working with
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as opposed to being adversarial, because then it's not going
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to work.
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And so yeah, it's a partnership right without it, and
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that's very I don't consider myself my clients coach, per se.
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I consider myself their partner. I get engaged with them
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and their business. I want obviously the best for them.
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I want them to be the best that it can
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be personally and professionally, and so I really consider myself
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their partner. And you know, just like in the dance world,
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amazing partnerships. And I formed a bit of a dance
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family because we travel together and we do all these
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things together. My clients are my business family, and I
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really create that kind of connection with people because I'm
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there not just for the coaching session. If they need
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to chat with me between sessions, They're always welcome to
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reach out because I see it as building their business together.
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Without a doubt. And in looking at that, and I
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can see what you love about coaching. How is it
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for you when you step into that leadership coaching? You know,
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because you have those different levels and you know, as
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a leadership coach, totally what a shift?
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Well, leadership coaching, I mean yeah, business coaching tends to
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involve helping people like with their business plans and strategy
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and develop that sort and that is still present in leadership,
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but leadership go dies even deeper. It's really about how
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are you showing up? Who are you being as a
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person as a leader, And it's really about tapping into
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your authenticity. You know, Leadership has often been viewed as
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a title. I'm the owner, I'm the manager, I'm the boss,
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and it kind of comes with this perception of having
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to make people do things to a degree, and that's
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really not effective leadership. Leadership is about role modeling. It's
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about going first and inspiring people to want to follow you,
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not following you because there's a paycheck attached. So it's
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really about enrollment, inspiration, having a vision, and then showing
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up being the best version of yourself, which is difficult
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when you've got stress going on. You've got the stress
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of your clients demanding things from you, you've got the
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stress of your team demanding things from you, your kids
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at home still needing you, your spouse needing you, having
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to write those paychecks and pay the bills. There's a
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lot of stress involved, and it can be difficult to
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show up at your best. So leadership really is about
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learning how to be the best version of yourself in
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stressful situations, and also learning how to coach others to
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do the same, because again, leadership is not just about
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telling people what to do. It's really if you can
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show up in your leadership and actually learn how to
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coach others to become the best that they can be.
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That's when the whole business moves forward.
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Does that make really? I like the way you're phrasing
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it insofar as how you are showing up as a leader.
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It's interesting. We have a show does a show with
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us on Word of Mom Radio called Ask Mom Parenting
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talking about how everything we learned as parents is wrong
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because we read parenting books about how to change our kids,
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and it's really yourself well chewing up as a parent
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m And it's amazing because when you say that, it's, oh,
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you know, because if your kid's lying, it's because you
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haven't created an atmosphere where they feel like they can
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tell the truth. It's the same thing at works as
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a leader. If you've got somebody you know as somebody
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who I started in multi level marketing, which I'm a
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huge fan of, and one of the first things you
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learn is problems go up and good news goes down.
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So you talk to when you've got a problem, you
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go to the people higher than you, and when you're
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the boss, then you go to your coach. You don't
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take your problems and put them down on your vps
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and stuff like that or your down lines. Very often
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people forget that. It's like, hey, the goodness, you want
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to excite everybody you're working with. They don't need to
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know how you make the secret sauce, you know. That's
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that's why you work with a coach. That's why you
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work with accountability people and things like that, because in
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creating that sense of calmness in your team that everything's
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going to move forward and our the boss knows what's
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going on. It really is how you show up. So
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it's kind of well.
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Exactly and the adage is true, it can be lonely
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at the top, right, So as you do as an owner,
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as a leader, you have to show up and be
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your best for your team. But who gets to take
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care of you? You know, our spouses often don't understand
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the situation. Our friends often, our business owners, they don't
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get it the same way. Uh so owners leaders, they
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need support and so yes, it can be hard to
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find a peer group. Or you go to a networking event,
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but everyone's at the networking event, you know, trying to
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put the brave face on and say everything's great. Who
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do you get to really share what's real and think
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through how to deal with what you're dealing with. That's,
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in my opinion, that's a huge role for a coach.
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On that note, think of what Laura just said. We're
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going to take a quick break, say thank you to
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our supporters, and we'll be back here in just a moment.
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On Word of Mom Radio, she is brave, she is bold,
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she is you and We want to tell your story.
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Are you ready to share your journey with us on
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Word of Mom Radio. Go to wordommradio dot com and
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register as a guest. We want to tell your story
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because when you win, we all win.
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In twenty seventeen, in Silent Voices was formed to help
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survivors of domestic abuse and gender based violence worldwide. The
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organization currently serves sierri Leone, Rwanda, Ghana, and the USA.
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In twenty twenty two, Unsilenced Voices gifted over thirty three
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thousand dollars to survivors in the USA and in siri Leone.
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There are over twenty six young girls who have been
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rescued from sex trafficking and domestic abuse and now going
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through vocational training school in order to better their lives.
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We need your help. Donations are critical in order for
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us to continue our work. We also need volunteers to
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help with research and development. Please visit Unsilenced Voices dot
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org for more information.
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And we're back here on Word of Mom Radio. We
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are talking with Laura Watson, who is the founder of
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Venture Coaching and really talking about how you show up
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as a leader and then, let's face it, the leader's
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got to have somebody to talk to, because sometimes you
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go on the ledge, you know sometimes, and sometimes you
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just need that reinforcement from your coach that, man, you're
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doing it great. You're doing a great job because you
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are the person that they are looking up to to
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help home the thing. So for you yourself as a