What You Aught to Know with Erika Biddix

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Welcome everybody to an episode of Connect the Knox.

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I am your host, Julia Hurley, connecting Knoxville to the nation.

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Today, we are joined by Erica Biddix, Owner of Aught, and it's

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not what you "oughta" know, and I'm very excited to have her

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explain to everyone here what she does for the Knoxville market.

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Erica, thank you for joining us today.

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No, absolutely.

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It's my pleasure.

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There are so many puns that can be made with our business name.

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Trust me.

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I do love a good pun.

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So let's start telling everybody across the nation

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who you are and what you do here in Knoxville.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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So I am a mom.

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I'm a serial entrepreneur.

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I am a meeting planner by trade, but mostly I am a woman who loves

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supporting other female entrepreneurs and getting towards their

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purpose and what it is that they are here in the world to do.

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I love that so much.

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So you and I were talking earlier off camera about the word Aught.

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It's a different spelling.

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It has a different meaning.

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You actually trademarked it.

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It's ingenious.

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I love it.

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Tell everybody what it actually means and what you're using it for.

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Absolutely.

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So we opened as a co-working space called Girl Boss Offices.

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There was some legal stuff that happened with that

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and because of it we had to rename the company.

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Part of the legal issue was trademark, so it was important

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for us that we had a business name that could be trademarked.

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One of the best ways to do that is to use what is called

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an archaic word, meaning a word that has stopped being

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used, so it may not be in dictionaries any longer, etc.

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So as we were reading through those archaic words, aught was

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one of them, and the definitions There's three definitions.

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The first one is actually zero.

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We just skipped that one.

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The next one is anything.

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And then the third one is at all.

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And the way we legitimately read it was that it said anything at all.

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It didn't.

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Those are two different definitions.

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But at that point, we went with it.

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So we consider Aught to be anything at all for female entrepreneurs.

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We do own the trademark on that word.

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Now, and um, I think that means we can define it any

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way we want to, just like how you can entrepreneurship.

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That's really cool.

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I didn't know any of that about that word.

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How do we spell it?

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A-U-G-H-T.

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Kind of like it sounds.

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That's pretty cool.

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I like that a lot.

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Tell us about how you went from girl, whatever it was, to Aught.

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Like this is a really big move.

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Your purpose has stayed the same.

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You're obviously very focused on it.

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It's your one thing.

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What has got you into this space, and where are you

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going with Knoxville fempreneurs, I guess you could say.

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So we opened December 1st of 2019.

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So do the math.

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That was not ideal for an in person co-working.

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That's when we opened as Girl Boss Offices.

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That was the only reason we opened was just to

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be an in person co working space for 12 women.

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When you leave the business world and go into entrepreneurship, you leave

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behind the water cooler and the lunch and the having colleagues, right?

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Like a lot of women who go into this are solopreneurs.

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So creating a community, because that's what I

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wanted as a, as an entrepreneur, I was looking for.

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I was lonely and looking, you know, looking

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to be around other people as a business owner.

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Shortly after we opened, obviously the pandemic shut everything down.

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Being a community, though, was still super

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important to me, especially because we were so new.

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We were this baby community of women and I really wanted to support that.

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So through some months of the pandemic, we

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did that by keeping our women in touch, right?

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So this was not normal, the online space for people.

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And we started doing that kind of thing.

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Keep it, keeping in touch with them, making sure they were good, but also

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supporting others in the Knoxville area that were not part of our community.

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So Hard Knox Pizza, they were one of the

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very first to start doing curbside pickup.

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It's so normal now, but back then, like

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that, that was, you know, totally brand new.

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So we started supporting those others in our community, the

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wider Knoxville community, by the time we got to further into

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the pandemic as it was not over, but we could get back in person.

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It was very clear to us that we were more than just a community for

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the 12 people in the physical coworking space that we had really gotten

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our pulse on the overall community of the female entrepreneurs need.

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So we are physically located in Knoxville, but we run now also a virtual

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community for female entrepreneurs across the world so that they can

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connect with each other, learn with each other, support each other, etc.

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And the relationships that have come out of that have just been awesome.

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That's amazing.

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So you're, you're from Knoxville to the nation, to worldwide, which

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is exactly what we talk about here on Connect the Knox is making

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sure that the more people moved in Knoxville, as we're very popular,

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very good area, people love us a lot, that we keep people local.

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That we understand who is here, who has been here,

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and what they are growing to bring it to the masses.

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That's an amazing opportunity.

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Tell us a little bit about the transition that you are seeing the

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conversation that goes from nine to five corporate to entrepreneur.

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What did, what are some of the struggles?

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In addition to Aught, I am also an entrepreneurial strategist.

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Come, like I said, from a background in meeting planning.

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I ran my own agency for several years, and overnight it

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went to seven figures, and it was about the end of me.

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It was about the end of me, the end of my company, the end of my family.

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It was just, it was awful.

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And by all accounts, that's what success is, right?

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Like growing better, growing in number, growing bigger, growing better, etc.

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So it's super important to both myself and the DNA of Aught that

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we are supporting women in entrepreneurship and how they want to do

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it, which is very different than what a nine to five job is, right?

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There is so much freedom in entrepreneurship.

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There is a lot of ownership and hurdles,

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and there's a lot that goes along with it.

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So not only are we supporting their companies, it's super important

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to us that we're helping them to define success on their own terms.

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What does that look like?

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Is it, you know, you're selling three dozen cookies a

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month, or is it you're in three dozen brick and mortars?

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We don't care.

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We will help you get to whatever that success is.

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So that is the difference that we're seeing between traditional employment.

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of nine to five, you have to hit KPIs, etc, etc.

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And entrepreneurship, where you can really better define success for yourself.

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I love that so much.

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What do you find is the, the biggest, in business in general, but

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especially for women, what do you find is one of the biggest self-hurdles?

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Not necessarily something that, It's real because we all know that we have that.

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So what are you finding in that main conversation?

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There's a lot of, "why me?"

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Like why am I the one that can do this?

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Who am I to think I can?

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That's the biggest mental hurdle.

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I think my response to that is who are you to

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not do that thing that you can offer the world?

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Yes, there are other cookies out there to keep that metaphor going,

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but there's something about your cookies that make it different.

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Or there's something that you're doing with the revenue

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you're bringing in that is impacting someone different, right?

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So I think we just have really been taught that there's

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a certain way you do things, and you have to be super

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special to do things a different way, and you don't.

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I think that's what the last few years have taught any of

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us, honestly, is that there are so many other options and

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opportunities out there than we initially thought there were.

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Yeah, I think one of the biggest conversations that I have, especially

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with different age groups, is people don't want to be in an office anymore.

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I can't believe people aren't working nine to fives anymore.

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My thought process is I don't think they have to anymore.

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There's seven streams of income everywhere.

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You look, there's an opportunity.

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You just have to make sure that you understand

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the opportunity and take it when it comes.

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And we work with a lot of women who are traditionally

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employed, but also do something that may be considered

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a side gig or something that they do after hours.

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A lot of those then transition into the entrepreneurial life full-time.

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But there's, it can look so many different ways.

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There's not one way to do entrepreneurship, and I

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think that's an important message to get across.

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Absolutely.

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What do you find are the biggest, gimme top five, maybe

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10 personality traits that make your business last?

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So, there's not a personality trait, but the first one is purpose.

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If you start a business just to make money, good luck.

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Like that's, it's just not, it's not enough reason

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to still get you out of bed in the morning, right?

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So having a purpose, that purpose may be what you are working towards.

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For instance, my purpose is supporting other women and growing their purposes.

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It may be for some people that your purpose

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is to send your kids to private school.

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It may be that your purpose is to be able to be home with your dogs all day.

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Like your purpose can be, you know, it is what it is.

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I can't tell you what it is, but I think having that

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purpose is the, like that's number one on there.

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I think dedication, being a dog with a bone, keep the dog thing going, right?

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Like you just have to be willing to get to where you're going.

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There is a lot on Instagram that'll show you

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entrepreneurship is like drinking champagne on a yacht.

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I have never drunk champagne on a yacht

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as part of my entrepreneurial experience.

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You have to be willing to go through what you know will be difficult times.

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It may be difficult mentally.

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It may be difficult physically.

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It may be difficult from a resource perspective, but you have to

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have that dedication to the idea of what it is that you're doing.

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Consistency is something that will burn you out, or it will

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continue you, but if you don't have the why, the biggest

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possible reason, you're just not going to finish it.

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And I think also it has to be not about winning all the time.

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In corporate work, a lot of it, if you step

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back, you could see it as winning, right?

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Like that's what you're constantly trying to do.

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Win the deal, win the whatever, you know,

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win the meeting, win the gig, whatever.

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Entrepreneurship's not about winning.

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Entrepreneurship is about being willing to fail

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until you learn what it is that you should be doing.

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I hate the word pivot, but I'm here to tell you, I wake up every day,

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and I'm like pivoting some degrees this way or some degrees that way.

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Yeah.

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I think some really good advice on that would

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be sometimes you got to go with the flow.

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Because the plan needs to go out the door.

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I was talking with my Ops Manager the other day.

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Strategy is great.

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I love strategy.

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My job title is Entrepreneurial Strategist.

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But there are times strategy and reality do not align.

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And what that means is you have to be flexible.

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I don't think our corporate world is as flexible as

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it needs to be when it comes to strategy and reality.

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One of the great things about entrepreneurship is that you can.

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You can be more flexible.

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We all know that real estate is location, location, location.

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Our team at Just Homes Group has the true expertise,

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pairing buyers and sellers with the right opportunities.

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Whether you're looking to buy or sell a home right here

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in Knoxville, Lenoir City, Clinton, or Farragut, we have

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the expertise throughout every Knoxville surrounding area.

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Call Just Homes Group today.

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What do you think one of the biggest challenges,

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especially for women, are in business in general?

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Nine to fives, corporate, non corporate?

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What is, what are the top five?

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Honestly, I'm just gonna say the framework that we have grown up with.

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We have grown up with the framework that, um, I'm 46-years-old, right?

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So I'm kind of in the middle of a couple different generations.

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We have grown up with the framework that if you are a working

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woman, you are also running the house and, you know, taking

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care of the kids and feeding everybody, et cetera, et cetera.

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That's not to say everybody believes that that's the way that it should be,

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but that's how everything around us appears, um, on TV, on books, et cetera.

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So I think that's one thing is we are our own worst critic when it

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comes to being an employee or a boss and also a mom, if you have

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kids or whatever relationship you may be in, um, with other humans.

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I think that's number one.

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Entrepreneurial specific, our funding is just not as great as it is for men.

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It just is not.

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There is so much data out there about the

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disparity in access to capital for men and women.

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And then I think, on the third piece of it, it

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really is, you have to be willing to break the mold.

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And so many of us are not willing to break

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the mold anywhere in our lives, right?

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So especially when it comes to money, making money, we joke all the time, myself

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and other women that I'm around, that we'll walk into a meeting, I mean, not

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now because we all know better, but a lot of women or young women will walk

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into a meeting and it's, what I meant to say was, did, did that make sense?

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I'm sorry, right?

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But men just walk in with an innate confidence.

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I realize that is a gross stereotype across the board, but

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in reality, when you're in business situations, we have been

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taught to be meeker, I guess is probably the better word.

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And not use that confidence that we may

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actually have to tamp that confidence down.

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I say whip that confidence out and use it wherever, wherever you are.

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I'm not someone who's going to walk around

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and tell you how awesome of a human I am.

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That's just not who I am as a human.

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But I will walk around and tell you how awesome my friend

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Aught, this business Aught, is all the live long day.

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Because I believe in her and what she does so much.

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And having that separate avatar as a business.

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Really, it's very helpful.

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Have you found in the Knoxville market where if childhood or child

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care is an issue, is that becoming more of a hotspot for women?

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I think there are several organizations and

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women specifically who are working towards that.

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Yes, it is an issue, but it is an issue that's not being ignored.

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It's an issue that people are working diligently to fix.

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The solution is not there yet.

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And much like everywhere else in the world.

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Childcare costs are high.

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The options for childcare are limited.

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Hours are an issue.

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My kiddos are older.

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I've got two in high school and one in middle school.

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But even with that, you know, there's an afterschool program for my

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middle school kiddo, but he gets out of school early today and tomorrow.

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So if I was traditionally employed, that would be real hard.

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It's not easy as an entrepreneur because now

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I've, I've lost two half work days, right?

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But I can make it happen.

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But people who are traditionally employed, it's not as easy for them to do that.

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We're seeing a transition in the news a lot lately about larger

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corporations saying hey we know we told you you could work from home

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but

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now you can't.

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Get your butt back into the office.

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People are literally saying no I refuse to do that.

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Corporations are losing money hand over fist on multi-billion dollar

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leases and buildings, not exactly sure how that's going to play out.

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What is your stall for that or conversation?

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Absolutely, there's two pieces of it.

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The first is morale and relationships, right?

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So I like to see all the sides of it.

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And I do understand from a corporate perspective,

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the benefit of having people in community together.

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Right?

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I don't think that's where most of the corporations are coming from with it.

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They were coming at it more from that angle of community.

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I think it would be an easier sell, but right now we live

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in a world where for a while the Olympics got canceled.

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The Super Bowl was different.

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College football, for goodness sakes, we didn't get to go.

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Like the world, everything we knew to be true about the world changed, right?

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And this is one of those things that you don't have to be

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in an office to make your job work, or to do good work.

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And I think corporations specifically need

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to see it is not a black and white issue.

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There is a lot of gray in there, and how can they

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take advantage of when their folks are in the office?

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And by that, what I mean is use that as community time.

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Use that as teamwork time.

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Don't use it as a punishment or a you have to, you know, you have to do it.

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That said, from a co-working perspective, we offer that because it's much

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cheaper than a multi-million dollar building or, you know, real estate holding.

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It still gets you around the people, and what I know is when I leave my

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house and I go to my office at Aught, I am in a totally different mindset.

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I am there to work.

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I'm not going to do my laundry.

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I'm not going to like pet the dogs, you know, like any of that.

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Can you tell I have two dogs outside the office right now?

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So I think there is something to be said from an

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entrepreneurial standpoint about having an office and

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being able to take your mental space into an office space.

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So again, not a black and white issue.

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I think it's both sides.

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There's always room for improvement on everybody's

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side, but your side is entrepreneurship.

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So make sure that everybody kind of understands

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what you can do to assist in that transition.

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If they want to make that transition, a lot of people have one foot on

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either side of the fence on a regular basis and kind of dabble in both.

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They love their corporate job.

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The benefits are great and they get a little bit of money on the side.

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What about somebody who's full time, 80 hours a week, just 100 percent bought

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into their idea, their, their future What does that look like on your end?

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It depends is always the answer, but what size is their business, right?

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So that's one piece of it.

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Is their business In a space where having a physical office makes sense.

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In that case, then in Knoxville specifically, we have that office space.

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It's affordable for them.

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They've got other people that are around them who, you know, they can have

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lunch with, or they can ask, "Hey, does a social media post look good?"

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before they hit go.

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What we see are with our virtual community is that most people can't

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even spell the word entrepreneur, much less understand what it is.

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So as an entrepreneur, you oftentimes are on this island by yourself,

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not just because you're a solopreneur, but because you're doing something

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that the majority of your friends and family around you are not doing.

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So having the virtual community space where they can

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come together and get questions answered in a safe space.

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Ask something that, makes sense to other entrepreneurs,

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but you couldn't bring up at the Thanksgiving table because

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nobody would even know what you were talking about, right?

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So that's how the virtual community serves those women.

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And then I love, as an entrepreneurial strategist, working

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one-on-one with women to identify where is it they want to go?

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Where are you now?

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Where is it you want to go?

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And how can we get you there in a way that

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supports you, your family, and your business?

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Not just, not just the business.

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But everything holistically and do it in a healthy and sustainable way.

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I love that so much, Erika.

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We're almost out of time.

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I have just loved so much learning all about you and Aught.

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Can you tell our audience where they can find you?

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Absolutely.

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So we're on the socials all the time.

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Instagram is where I personally hang out.

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So Aught is at WeAreAught on Instagram and Facebook, W-E-A-R-E-A-U-G-H-T.

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And then if you're more interested in the strategic

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items you can find me at Erika Biddix on both as well.

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Well Erika, thank you so very much for joining us today, everyone.

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This is Erika Biddix with Aught, A-U-G-H-T, here in Knoxville, Tennessee.

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I'm Julia Hurley, your host of Connect the Knox.

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Connecting Knoxville to the nation.

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Thanks for tuning in, everybody.

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Have a good one.

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Thank you, Erika.

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Thank you for tuning into the show.

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Make sure to like and subscribe.

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Leave a five star review on your podcast player of choice.

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And if you would like information on moving

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to Knoxville, send me a private message.

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As always, this is Julia Hurley connecting Knoxville to the nation.