Sofa Series: More Passion, More Purpose

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Welcome to Seasoned Women, Serious Business, the podcast for entrepreneurs

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aged 45 to 75 and beyond who've changed lives, challenged status

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quo, who are wise enough to want more and gutsy enough to create it.

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Join me, your host, Isabel Alexander, a seasoned business owner, as I

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serve up the Knowledge and best practices for life and business,

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along with unfiltered wisdom from other women entrepreneurs and leaders.

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Whether you're looking to reignite your passion for your business,

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unlock new ones that build your legacy or simply shake your head at the

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folly of underestimating ourselves.

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You are in the right place.

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We're serious about business.

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And we're serious about loving the life that we've worked hard to create.

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Stay tuned and be part of a community built on collaboration and collective

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wisdom that dismisses old paradigms and celebrates vibrant women just like you

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and our limitless potential at every age.

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//web.descript.com/b961cf36-43d2-426c-b4dd-28f0d479279f

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: Are we ready to take off?

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Ready to take off.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: Look it, for those that are watching this right

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now on YouTube, there is this beam of light radiating through our heads.

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We have no idea where it's coming from.

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We've been moving the furniture.

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We've been doing everything we can here.

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So we're just going to go with it.

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Just know that we are Brilliant.

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In every way, shape, and form.

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Totally legends in our own minds.

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Getting better every year.

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All right, everyone, welcome to the very, very first of what we

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hope will be a continuing series.

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We're going to call it the Sofa Series because that's what we're doing.

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We're sitting here on the sofa.

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As we do every once in a while and solve all the problems of the world.

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Absolutely.

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There's something about being on the sofa.

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Having my ass grounded on this couch.

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Welcome to Seasoned Women, Serious Business, Wise Enough to Want More.

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And my very special partner here, Jackie Wazalick, who has been the

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wind beneath my wings for a long time.

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: And every once in a while we switch.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: We have a lot of names for each other.

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Some of those we will not share with you right now.

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Look, there's something going on with the lighting.

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I don't know.

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It's so crazy.

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Why are we here today?

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It's because I'm on the cusp of 70.

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By the time you watch this, I will be.

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Jackie's just slightly ahead of the curve of me.

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And we recognize through conversation between us and with other friends

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that there is a lot of being in isolation and feeling like we

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don't have it all figured out.

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fund,

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We will be right back after a brief message from our sponsors.

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This episode of Seasoned Women, Serious Business is brought to you

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by Crossroads Clarity Solution.

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If you're feeling overwhelmed and unsure of your next steps, whether

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it's maintaining the status quo, closing down, scaling up, Selling or

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transforming your role as a primary shareholder, Crossroads Clarity

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Solution guides you to the right path.

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This program is uniquely designed to help female entrepreneurs navigate through

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critical decisions and align their business with their values and priorities.

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Find out why it works at CrossroadsClaritySolution.

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com and don't waste another minute of your future.

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As promised, we are back with this episode, because you

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are wise enough to want more.

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: true story.

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Everything changes, every sort of the decades bring us into a

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new awareness of what's going on.

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And we knew who we were raising kids.

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We knew who we were running businesses.

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We knew who we were volunteering, sitting on boards, whatever we did.

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But there comes a time when some of those things no longer light our fire.

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Sometimes those things no longer serve us in the way they served us in the past.

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And so our friends tended I speak for myself.

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My friends tended to be those that I met up with every

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month at association meetings.

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My friends tended to be my, some of my customers because it was just good doing

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business with people I liked, right?

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Retirement, a long Awaited retirement actually brought me into a space of,

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ah, all this time to explore now.

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And so I'm having fun exploring, but I would love to find something that just lit

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my soul up and got me up in the morning and make my life a legacy life, right?

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So that people are, and I say this sort of oddly, but I hope people

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are going to miss me when I'm gone.

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Thank God she's off this planet.

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I do want to make a contribution to the world.

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Continue to do that.

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Because I think the impact we have on the world is really the most important

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thing we can do while we're alive,

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: you touched on a whole lot of important themes

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for me because retirement, what the hell does that mean anymore?

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Knowing who we are now, because it sure as hell is a surprise to most of us.

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: Yeah, there's all kinds of things

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that show up that Wow, who knew?

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: Not welcome things and some other

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delightful bonus surprises, right?

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Because to your point, Jackie, when and so Just to explain for those who

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don't know her, Jackie has just recently sold her business, and that's how she

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and I reconnected talking about what it's like to be in that period of not

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having every moment of your day and every It's a very down to earth thought

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driven by the activities that your business demands of you, or that you

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have actually created for yourself.

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And you mentioned friendships and relationships, because that's the other

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thing, that if you are a seasoned woman, and when you sell your business or you

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start to prepare for that, oh my god!

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Our relationships, our community, is so

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: interwoven

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: into who we hang out with and who we show

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up for and who we don't show up for, is another factor which is.

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Absolutely.

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: There's also those who are like, huh, I tolerated

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that for quite a while, right?

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Oh my goodness.

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Yeah.

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Why?

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: Yeah.

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Therefore, shouldn't come as a big surprise to us that, holy fuck,

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there's a lot to figure out now, right?

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And I don't know if generally more people are smarter that

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they anticipated all of this.

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But I sure as hell didn't.

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: Yeah.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: I was still living in the la fantasy land

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of life of leisure, sleeping in.

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going to the spa, hanging out for lunch with friends, catching up on all

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those things I said I was going to do.

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All of that takes about five minutes.

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: Yeah.

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And then you find this little chunk of time that's not dictated by

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what showed up on your phone today,

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: right?

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: Yeah.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: And even how that just, it's not bad.

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We're not saying don't do this.

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We're saying, Just be prepared, be open, and have grace for yourself when

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suddenly you feel like you have fallen down the rabbit hole and Alice isn't

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even there to give you directions.

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And it's what the hell?

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Who am I?

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And what am I going to do with myself?

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And

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: how long can I have lunch, right?

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: Ladies do lunch.

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Only a very boring people.

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Yeah,

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: It, there really does need to be something that just

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fires us up and something that really

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contributes, right?

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: That brings us to the other point you

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brought up, and that is legacy.

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Yeah.

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Now, maybe, is the time where, instead of just being driven every day by other

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people's agendas and the chaos that we've created for ourselves, is that moment to

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pause and go, why will my life matter?

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Yeah.

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What have I been doing on this planet for the last 60 plus years that anybody

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will care at all about afterwards?

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Hopefully there are enough people that we have been, we have loved

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and created a relationship with that will miss us a little and

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say something maybe nice about us.

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But really in the end, once that's done and they all go

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back to their own lives, what.

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What are you leaving here?

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: And, Isabel and I attended an event on Friday

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that was really quite inspirational.

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And I see women younger than us doing some great things and making

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an impact on their community.

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And I think that's lovely.

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And I also know that we have so much to give back, yet we've given it so much

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over our lives, that there's also that, I don't even know if it's a fear, or a,

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maybe it's time to just relax and we are enough, we are, we've got enough And what

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can I share but also without again losing ourselves in that busyness and in that

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whole scope of why am I doing this sitting down at the end of the day instead of I'm

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doing this because I just love doing it.

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Oh

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: my gosh, Jackie, when you said that my heart took a little

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bit of a flip flop because I wondered is that part of the difficulty in this

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transition is if we stop being busy and visible and giving of ourselves,

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do we become invisible?

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: Yeah.

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And is that less of us?

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I don't, I don't know, figuring out these really deep questions

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of what does this look like?

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And

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: I go back to my concern is that there are millions

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of us just in this one little patch of the planet, millions of us in our 60s,

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70s, and beyond that are in this role.

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I think we're in isolation most of the time.

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These aren't conversations that I've had the opportunity to have often

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enough, and that's really why I started the podcast, was to be able

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to talk to women of a certain age.

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Oh, what a horrible expression that is.

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But seasoned women, because as business owners, we've got like

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appetite for life.

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: That's all I could say.

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That's a beautiful way to express it.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: I am hungry

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: To learn and to be part of and to,

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: yeah,

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: experience more.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: Yeah, so how do we still satisfy that appetite of

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curiosity, and having some influence and impact and feeling like we

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matter, we're relevant, without having to go sacrificing, again, health.

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personal time, growth, reflection.

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: And the ability to have fun and find

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humor and find joy again, right?

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That take ourselves really seriously and have.

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And so when I find that little bit of joy and that spark of humor and

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sitting down with people who can laugh about the same things, right?

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Because that's another piece of it.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: For instance, memory.

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brain fog, forgetting why you walked into a room.

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Why have we allowed ourselves to be convinced that's something to be ashamed

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of and cover up or ridicule ourselves?

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Oh my god, my brain is so full, like I'm still cramming

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all this new stuff in there.

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Give me a break.

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Every once in a while I have to wait for the CD to come around again.

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: I was laughing when I had some conversations with

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some other women, and some older than me, and, it's more like playing a

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game of charades sometimes, right?

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Remember when, do you know who that is?

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Yes, I remember who she was.

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What was her name?

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And so we go back and forth and it isn't, I think, a matter of, As Isabel and I,

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one of my 80 year old friends one day at lunch, couldn't remember a name of a

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woman, and the other woman said to her, who was a dear friend of hers you D.

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O.

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B.?

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And she said, What do you mean?

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You demented old bitch?

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Can we laugh at those moments instead of feeling Oh, shit, we're

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going down the rabbit hole, man.

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I don't even want to be in public.

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We don't need to be ashamed of those moments.

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We need to embrace those moments and know that we have good friends

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that gotta have our backs, right?

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And we can laugh about it with.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: Let's be honest, is there ever a time in your life

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that you feel that you could remember every single thing in the instant, the

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nanosecond, or the name of the person that you met once at a networking event?

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Why are we putting more emphasis on it now?

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And truly, I do believe that there is a, justification in that.

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Look how much our generation has learned and experienced, and that we're cramming

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it in there, cramming it in there.

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And so I feel like I never forget anything.

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It just takes a while to find it.

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Yeah.

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But why should we feel less than for that?

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The lights are just playing tricks again.

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I don't know.

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It's pretty cool.

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I think that this is a sign, okay?

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Everybody who's watching This you're witnessing some

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celestial aura that's going on.

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: Yeah,

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: That's because we are DOB and it doesn't have

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anything to do with light bulbs.

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And I love that expression.

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I'm so happy you shared that because that was yours to share.

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Originally, I thought DOB stood for date of birth, but I am having way much

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more fun with this version of DOB, and I am now, tempted to sign my credit card

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statements and everything else with that, because why not have fun, and that's

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That is the pact between Jackie and I.

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If it's not fun, we're not fucking doing it.

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That's

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: just doesn't make sense anymore, right?

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I love this.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: And we are still, we are women.

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We are mothers, wives, grandchildren, grandmothers, friends, business owners,

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multiple business owners, careers, and

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Being involved and giving a hand up.

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That's another thing that j Jackie and I share the philosophy of lifting

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as you climb, becoming the best version of yourself in the moment.

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It is not work that is ever done

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. Jackie Wszalek, DOB: And good.

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It's really good.

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Yeah.

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And I think one of the other things that I really love

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about my life is I have people.

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in my sphere that are different ages, different races, different points of view,

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and they can be male also, honestly, I have no problems with Whoever shows up is

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welcome and let them share in this whole experience of being on the planet, right?

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But it's so much more fun.

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To me, that is

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: the ultimate in diversity and inclusion.

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The more diverse, the richer the circle around you.

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And, by the way, That doesn't happen accidentally.

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It has to be done purposefully.

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It's up to you to reach out and expand.

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I love that I can learn from people that are three generations younger than me and

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I can teach them a few things too, right?

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And together, it's Oh, wow.

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I didn't see it that way.

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That's pretty cool to see it differently, right?

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: Yeah.

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I'm grateful.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: Grateful, absolutely.

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That's why travel.

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for me is so important because I'm continuing to see the world through

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different eyes, different cultures, different flavors, different

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colors, and it just, that's all part of that continuing life, right?

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: Absolutely.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: So because we're sitting here doing all this

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talking, I'd really like to give you the opportunity Let us know,

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for you, was it like a slam dunk?

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You knew exactly who you were when you turned 60 or 65 or 70 or 75 or 105?

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Because if you knew who you were going to be then, did you feel like

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it was all that you wanted it to be?

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Oh my god, this lighting is crazy!

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It is absolutely insane!

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And there were swear, swear, no alcohol yet.

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Yeah.

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So that's the conversation we'd love to welcome you here into the living

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room with us and comment so that we may have some more conversations around

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the topics that you care about and the questions that you have, or the

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stories that you can share with us.

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That'd be awesome.

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That would be awesome, right Isabel?

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We're going to create a tapestry with you, and I believe that's what we're supposed

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to be doing now, at this age as seasoned women is that we've got a whole lot of

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threads in our lives that we can bring together and we can crochet whatever not

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to get you know too cute about it all but it's true it's by not being alone in our

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own perspective or self doubt or worry and maybe you got the coolest idea to be

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able to lift others as you are climbing.

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'cause I, that's the other part of what we talk about is that staying young at heart.

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Through laughter, through play, through curiosity, through meeting new people

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and new perspectives, trying new things.

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Oh my God, look at us sitting here on the couch.

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We couldn't get the mics, the lavaliers, we didn't work.

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So hopefully the sound quality is good enough for you.

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We are not in a professional studio.

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There are some professionals who would like to put us someplace,

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but we're not going

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: anywhere.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: No, we are we're just going and growing,

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: yes, please share.

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Yeah, that would

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: be

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: really wonderful.

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: Please share.

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Invite your friends.

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Yeah.

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And if that is your colleague, your neighbor, your mother, your grandmother.

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your daughter your son.

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This is for everybody.

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It's not just for us.

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I guess if we're the old broads, then what are the guys?

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I don't know, but

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Jackie Wszalek, DOB: we know what

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Isabel Alexander, DOB: they are.

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We know what they are, whatever we tell them.

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Yes.

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Okay, so we're going to wrap this as the first.

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episode of the SOFA series and I really hope that you

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enjoyed it as much as we have.

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Absolutely.

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Yay!

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Bye for now.

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See ya.

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Thank you for spending your time with us today on Seasoned Women, Serious Business.

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We really value you and are thrilled to be part of your journey.

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Until next time, keep thriving, keep vibing, and keep living your legacy.