Ready, Steady...Launch!

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Welcome to podcasting one on one with me your host

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Rachel. This podcast is for female business owners and

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solopreneurs that are looking to start a podcast that add to your

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own already awesome offering. I'll give you helpful advice

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that you can take away and use in your podcasting journey. I

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hope to answer those tricky questions that just keep you

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from starting. Once a month, I'll be joined by other female

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podcasters. They'll share their journey with you and offer tips

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and advice they discovered along the way. Let's get started.

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Hi, and welcome back after my little summer break, I hope you

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guys have had a good summer too, it felt really good to just

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switch off and not really do a lot. And obviously do a lot for

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the kids and having a lovely holiday. But workwise I felt it

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really refreshing just to kind of put it to one side for the

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summer and try and enjoy being on holiday. But I'm excited to

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get back and get into this episode, which is all about

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launching your podcast.

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If you're ready to launch, then you will have done all your

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planning and prep beforehand. If you're listening to this, and

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you're not quite ready to launch, then I have done some

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episodes that will help you get there. For example, there's

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episode two, which is what's stopping you from starting your

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podcast? Episode Seven, how do I plan my podcast episodes 910.

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And 11 talks about recording editing and publishing your

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podcast. So have a little look back through my previous

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episodes and see if there's any there that can help you. also

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listen to some of our amazing, some of my amazing guests. You

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know, they really know what it's like to set up a podcast and the

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insights are really, really helpful. So I'd recommend just

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having a little listen to those. Okay, so launching. Once you

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have a launch date, I would recommend that you work

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backwards to plan your marketing campaign, I would say at least

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two weeks, ideally four weeks to when you want to launch,

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you would have your episodes pre recorded that you want to launch

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with. So you would need to plan a mixture of posts for social

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media. So audio grammes video clips of them of the episodes,

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you know video clips, if you have them, if you're doing a

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video podcast as well. Or if you fancy just perhaps maybe

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recording your first couple of episodes, then you could use

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that for extra visual content, I would put them into a trailer as

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well and have a have a trailer that will the audiograms can act

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as a trailer.

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Record a video, if you're comfortable doing that, and

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that's in your podcasts or go live on Instagram or Facebook.

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If you have a Facebook group, this would be a really great

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place to go live. And to tell them all about your upcoming

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podcast, you need to decide on your podcast branding and design

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some graphics, I mean, I use Canva Canva is a very popular,

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easy to use tool. You can either get it on the free version, as I

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said before, or you can get a pro version for a very

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reasonable price price of I think it's about 99 pounds for

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the year. Well worth it in my opinion. I'll put a link to

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Canva in the show notes as well. If you have not heard of it,

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listen to the episodes, pick some quotes that will resonate

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with your audience. These are really great to share.

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To get everybody interested in what you have to say.

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I would also recommend that you schedule these

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these posts.

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This just makes it easier to plan. So you're looking for

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weeks ahead. Yeah, a lot of social media plans, you can plan

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more than that ahead. So you can make sure they're scheduled. I

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use a mixture of meta business suites, friends Instagram or

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Facebook and buffer. I use the free version of buffer you can

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have three channels on there. I found that when I want to paste

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Instagram from buffer, it doesn't always work. So I've had

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some posts not be posted. So I actually prefer to use the metta

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business suite. Or you can also this makes it easier as well

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because you can do the mentions. So if you've got guests coming

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on or you want to mention a company or anything

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that, you can do that on the meta suite. Whereas with Buffer,

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it doesn't do anyone mentions, I think it's just starting to do

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business page mentions, but it doesn't do anything else. So you

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have to go back in and amend your post. I mean, you have to

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do that for LinkedIn if that's what you if you've got to

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recommend a guest. But for if you're listening, I would love

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for you to update that because that would be super handy. If

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you could do mentions and scheduled to LinkedIn, meta, you

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can access to a browser. Also, there's a there's an app for it

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now, which can be really handy. If you're on the go, you should

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have access to this when you did your business page, or it'll

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just come up in the menu options.

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If you have an email list, utilise it, keep your audience

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up to date, tease them with the trailers and information on

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guests or the topics that you're going to be talking about. I

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mean, like, basically tell everybody that you're having a

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podcast that you like your upcoming podcast. I mean, I

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Facebook wise, I do have a Facebook page for my podcast.

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But it's kind of mainly as a shopfront. Really, because I

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haven't linked with my Instagram. I mean, LinkedIn is

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where I'm mainly hanging out. But it's beneficial to use

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Facebook, if you don't already, it's a great way to let family

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and friends know as well, you can post it to your to your

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personal page, if you have a personal account. You know, you

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never know who might want to listen or be interested in what

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you have to say. And I think that it's really important to

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just to tell everybody about it.

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So I mentioned this a little bit before about launching with

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three or four episodes. So I've done a bit of research on this.

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And I mean, there are some valuable points for and against

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it. So you could launch your trailer launch with your

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trailer, which you would release before as a teaser, and three

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episodes. This is a way like once people are listening and

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they love it. Obviously, they can binge a few episodes, that

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would be handy to help solidify your audience and what you have

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to say. And this is how I chose to launch this podcast. That's

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what I did. I then went into week of promotions for my

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podcast. So every week I promote my podcast and let people know

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what an episode is out on what it's about and try and create

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some other social media posts to create engagement around the

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subject that I'm talking about. What you mustn't forget to do,

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which I nearly did is promote the episodes that are launched

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altogether. So if you're launching a with with three

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episodes, just make sure you promote all three of those

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episodes because it's easy to then get into the weekly

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promotion of your podcasts. But then you haven't promoted all

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three episodes. So I would just make sure you tease clips of all

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three episodes as part of your pre launch promotion. Or you can

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launch with a trailer and one episode. And when I did my first

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podcast, this is what I did. I didn't know at that time that

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there was a recommendation to launch with more than one

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episode. So I did a trailer.

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I don't even know if I did a trailer actually thinking about

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it. I think I just did an audiogram for it. And I when I

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discovered those, I absolutely loved them. So I did an

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audiogram which is kind of like a trailer. And then I released

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an episode. And then I would then I you know, did weekly and

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then it changed to monthly.

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And I think it just depends on what I mean there is research,

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like I said for and against, before and against, but for for

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both these kinds of strategies. So I think it's up to you really

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what you would like to do whether it's possible for you to

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get those episodes recorded, prior to launching, you know,

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depending on your timescale, to just have a little think about

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that.

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There is a way to help create some excitement is throwing a

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virtual launch party. Now I've not done this, but I do know a

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few people that have done this, it could be a really great way

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to get everyone excited about the podcast and listening. You

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could do it in your Facebook group, you could create an

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Eventbrite link and make it easy for people to join. You don't

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have to charge for it. depending on you know, maybe where you are

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with your business where you are with your audience. You know,

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things like that. So but that's something to think about and it

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could work really well.

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If you have people's phone numbers, then you could do a

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launch and create a WhatsApp group. I want to give a little

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shout out to the HR Director's Cut podcast with my wonderful

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friend Lisa Tomlinson, Victoria bond and Kate Madison Greenwell.

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And they did this for their kind of launch party got all their I

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think it was family and friends as well and close colleagues to

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get involved and to like listen to the episode live. Their

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episode comes out on a Friday at eight o'clock.

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I think and encourage everyone to get a glass of wine, have a

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listen and then do a review. And they are also doing a wonderful

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thing with their reviews is for every review that they get,

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they're going to plant a tree, which I think is a really a

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really lovely thing to do and a great way to encourage people to

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give you reviews. So that was a way that they did it. And I

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think that worked really well for them. So this is something

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that you could consider as well.

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You just need to make sure that you keep engaging with your

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audience throughout. You know, your your podcast promotion, and

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then when you start, you know, getting into the swing of

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things. Make sure you reply to your comments, DMS, emails, all

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of those things, this is key to getting your audience keeping

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them engaged, if they're reaching out to you reach out to

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them.

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Right. So there we are. That's my advice and some tips there

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for you if you're looking to launch a podcast, I hope this

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episode has helped and you've got something from it. If you

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have any questions, please get in touch. I love to hear from

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you. I offer a free 30 minute session. If you're thinking

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about starting a podcast or you have a podcast already and you

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have any questions, then please booking a call and we can have a

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chat about those things. Thanks for listening. Bye.

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Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed today's episode,

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please like share and subscribe. Your support means so much to

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me. If there's a question or topic you'd like covering then

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I'd love to hear from you. Find the podcast on Instagram at

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Reggie Botfield and drop me a DM till next time bye