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Speaker 1: Welcome to Fear and Greed Q and A where we

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Speaker 1: ask and answer questions about business, investing, economics, politics, and more.

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Speaker 1: Are Michael Thompson and good morning, Sean Ale. Michael, Good

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Speaker 1: morning to you. Adam Lange.

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Speaker 2: Hello Michael, Hello, Sean, Hello Adam.

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Speaker 1: Now today we are going to talk about small business,

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Speaker 1: and in particular we are talking firsthand experience of small business.

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Speaker 1: What we have learnt across the last five and a half.

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Speaker 3: Years, getting close to six years at Fear and Greed.

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Speaker 1: There we go, I have to have a sizable party

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Speaker 1: when we hit six years. It's not really a milestone,

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Speaker 1: is it, But any excuse for a party. What we've learned,

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Speaker 1: what's worked, what hasn't kind of because this is the

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Speaker 1: situation that so many people find themselves in running a

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Speaker 1: small business, and you learn a lot of things along

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Speaker 1: the way as you go. Do you have a particular

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Speaker 1: thing that stands out? Because I'll start one if you want, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: because I'm always willing to talk. The thing is that

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Speaker 1: as we have gone across the time, that we have

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Speaker 1: tried a lot of various things along the way, and

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Speaker 1: not all of them have worked, and some have worked

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Speaker 1: really really well in terms of building different podcasts and

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Speaker 1: different offerings and things, and it is not being afraid

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Speaker 1: to experiment and knowing that nothing is kind of irreparable.

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Speaker 1: That if you need to try something, if it doesn't work,

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Speaker 1: fail and fail fast and move on to something else. Actually,

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Speaker 1: just keep on trying things, because what does that thing about?

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Speaker 2: Don't let perfect of good?

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Speaker 1: That's the one. There you go, And to me, that's

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Speaker 1: actually something that has taken a while for me to understand.

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Speaker 1: I finally got there five and a half years.

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Speaker 3: Well done, did you learn?

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Speaker 2: Ad gosh that there's a real tension. And I hope

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Speaker 2: that between the three of us, well, I hope that

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Speaker 2: it stays a healthy tension in the sense of managing

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Speaker 2: the need to generate cash and keep a good idea going,

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Speaker 2: which I think is probably most businesses, right. But you

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Speaker 2: know that tension is something that you do not when

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Speaker 2: you own the business. You don't suspend at any time. Really, yes,

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Speaker 2: there are weekends, but that idea, that puzzle in your

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Speaker 2: head never stops. That's a really interesting thing. And I

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Speaker 2: like to yes sometimes you know, well I'm thinking too

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Speaker 2: much about this. Keeping it into a healthy tension range

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Speaker 2: is a real challenge.

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Speaker 1: Do you think a lot of people go into a

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Speaker 1: business not realizing that chances are it might be easier

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Speaker 1: just working in a day job kind of thing. That

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Speaker 1: you are you are taking on a twenty four to

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Speaker 1: seven thing here, that your working hours are not just

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Speaker 1: going to be nine to five when the shop's open

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Speaker 1: or something that it is going to be all the

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Speaker 1: time and it is always just going to live there

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Speaker 1: rent free.

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Speaker 2: In your head, I certainly do also considering that alongside

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Speaker 2: other business, for example being a restauranteur or putting on

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Speaker 2: a theatrical production or running a retail store. Yeah, we've

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Speaker 2: also got the advantage of sometimes when we had to

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Speaker 2: it was COVID work remotely. Some just don't have that option.

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Speaker 2: Some businesses don't have that option. So you bet, I

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Speaker 2: think that that is such a key factor.

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Speaker 1: What about you, Sean.

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Speaker 3: The thing that I've needed most is belief. So in

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Speaker 3: the first eighteen months, we didn't pay ourselves here and

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Speaker 3: Green and You had to do It's all we had, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: and so we had to believe that we're going to

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Speaker 3: grow to the audience, that we're going to succeed. Now

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Speaker 3: as we've gone on and we started paying ourselves even

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Speaker 3: during that process. At times you think are we doing like,

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Speaker 3: do I believe in what we're doing? And I totally

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Speaker 3: believe in what we're doing. I think that's a public

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Speaker 3: good and what we do it's not a financial thing.

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Speaker 3: So I mean, hopefully at some point in the future

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Speaker 3: finances will come. But you have to have a genuine

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Speaker 3: belief that what you're doing is a good thing to do.

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Speaker 3: And there are times where you just think, oh my gosh,

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Speaker 3: it's four o'clock, it's a Monday morning. Hide, I've got

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Speaker 3: to get out of bed.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you've got to believe. Yeah, it is a form

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Speaker 2: of faith, right, I mean, belief is probably the right word,

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Speaker 2: but it almost becomes something you've got to feel.

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Speaker 1: It is a viable business though, just to just to

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Speaker 1: clear up anything.

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Speaker 3: It wasn't for the first aid, but now.

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Speaker 2: Saying we pay ourselves, but we pay ourselves modestly for

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Speaker 2: the skills that we.

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Speaker 3: Have, well, I think I'm over that's all right.

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Speaker 1: Another one for me is within your business, know your

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Speaker 1: limitations as well, and then don't be afraid to call

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Speaker 1: on partners as well, so to to to have a

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Speaker 1: good accountant, to use good software, and shout out to

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Speaker 1: our friends at zero and knowing kind of what you

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Speaker 1: know and what you don't know and what you can learn,

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Speaker 1: and even then there's going to be a limit and

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Speaker 1: you are going to need expert help.

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Speaker 2: Right, oh very much. So in that same theme, you've

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Speaker 2: got to know your limits, right, but how how do

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Speaker 2: you know them until you've gone.

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Speaker 3: To So Adam, this is a great like my thing

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Speaker 3: was have a crack And then it reminds me of

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Speaker 3: Adam putting together our website. Yes, this was in that

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Speaker 3: very first problem and we had no money. Adam said,

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Speaker 3: I'll put together the website. So now we god, could

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Speaker 3: it be we not go onto the website to see what?

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Speaker 3: And the website was a big fato of Adam's face

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Speaker 3: and that was it.

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Speaker 1: It was the benevolent dictator of fear and great. Actually,

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Speaker 1: to be fair, he did go. He did also get

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Speaker 1: a link to work. That link was bizarrely taking bookings

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Speaker 1: for yoga sessions. We were not a yoga business. We're

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Speaker 1: a podcast.

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Speaker 3: So the point there, though, is having you go. And

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Speaker 3: I think when you were running a business and you

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Speaker 3: don't know what you're doing, and let's face it, had

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Speaker 3: there are cer core skills like as a journalist I

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Speaker 3: have now as a manager, Adam has those, Michael as

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Speaker 3: a producer slash host slash journalist has those, right, and

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Speaker 3: we've all stuck to our swimmines pretty well. Yes, right,

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Speaker 3: And I think that's really important that you know what

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Speaker 3: you're good at and what you're not good at, but

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Speaker 3: then occasionally you feel you need to go outside those

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Speaker 3: swim lanes and just having a go. I think that's

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Speaker 3: very cool thing to do.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and finding and in my case, completely going past

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Speaker 2: those limits.

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Speaker 3: I disagree though, and I admire the fact that you

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Speaker 3: did it, you kept doing it right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Communication, yes, really important, fine of love, talk to

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Speaker 1: my mother, well done, well done. But I mean that

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Speaker 1: this is the thing that you can get so focused

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Speaker 1: on tasks, trying to do the tasks and the day

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Speaker 1: to day that the communication, particularly when you're in partnership

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Speaker 1: with other people, just to maintain that contact.

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Speaker 2: Being here in the Novice studios as we are now,

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Speaker 2: what an advantage that has been, you know, being able

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Speaker 2: to because at times we had to work remotely there

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Speaker 2: was no choice through COVID and so on, and then

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Speaker 2: we had the option of doing it differently.

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Speaker 1: Okay, we are out of time. One question if you

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Speaker 1: could change anything, if you could do anything differently, what

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Speaker 1: would you do differently.

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Speaker 3: I'm going to be.

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Speaker 1: Putting your hand up on the website earlier before the

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Speaker 1: big picture went up.

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Speaker 2: I reckon yes, But in general I've always wondered about this,

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Speaker 2: and we you know, as Sean mentioned, we worked for

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Speaker 2: nothing for the first eighty months on faith, on belief

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Speaker 2: before we could earn anything. And I do wonder whether

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Speaker 2: you know if there is an option. And this is

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Speaker 2: probably more for other times to try different things than

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Speaker 2: other people. But if you can work out how to

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Speaker 2: fund as a side hustle or an investor, that is

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Speaker 2: probably going to be a lot lower burden on your

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Speaker 2: anxieties and just the pressure you feel to run the business.

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Speaker 2: So that's one.

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Speaker 3: So mine is what I would do again, rather than

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Speaker 3: what I wouldn't do. What I would do is not

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Speaker 3: know what the future held. If I knew how much

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Speaker 3: hard work and relentless this is going to be, you

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Speaker 3: wouldn't try it. But that's just the truth. You know,

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Speaker 3: you'd go and get a highly paid job, yep. But

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Speaker 3: the reward for doing it yourself is far, far greater.

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Speaker 3: So I would say it's good that you don't know

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Speaker 3: where you're going.

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Speaker 2: Do you know? Most founders say exactly that, is that right?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: I remember when I worked for Chris Murphy managed in

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Speaker 2: Excess Right, and they were selling ten million copies of

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Speaker 2: Kick Right. I said, how did you do it? I

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Speaker 2: just in the interview, So if I'd known how hard

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Speaker 2: it would be, I wouldn't have done it. Yeah, And

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Speaker 2: I'm looking at him from across the table in the

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Speaker 2: office that he owned one of one of the biggest

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Speaker 2: bands in the world, going, you're kidding, you know. I

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Speaker 2: just couldn't fathom that statement.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's a pretty good place

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Speaker 1: to leave it. Thank you very much, Adam, Thank you, Michael,

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Speaker 1: and thank you Sean Michael.

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Speaker 3: Thank you Adam.

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Speaker 1: If you've got a question that you'd like us to tackle,

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Speaker 1: send it through on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or at Fear

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Speaker 1: and Greed dot com todau. I'm Michael Thompson and it's

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Speaker 1: a fear and Greed pure and a