Equipment for Podcast Guests!

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[Applause]

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if there's one thing we've learned about

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business in life is that people are the

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X Factor they constantly surprise us

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both in amazing ways and not so much

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we're B Andia and welcome to n on this

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business bites podcast this show is all

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about real life things we all deal with

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every day how they relate to business

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and how to make some sense out of our

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daily chaos welcome to the

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[Music]

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show and welcome back to another episode

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of non this business bites well I don't

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know if you heard cni's rant a week or

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so ago about podcast guests and you know

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what we maybe we went off a little bit

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you know we were we went off a little

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strong but you know what it in our mind

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it needed to be said it taking taking by

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the the the comments that we probably

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got is I will bet that we weren't that

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far off from a lot of people because I

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know a lot of podcasters and they all

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say the same thing today we want to talk

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about the technology we want to talk as

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a podcast guest what we can do to be

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able to make sure that we have the right

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technology

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in play and it doesn't have to cost us a

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fortune but to be able to make sure that

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we present ourselves in the best light

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and the best sound possible to be that

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great guest on a show so seea let's know

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on this oh look peoples you you heard it

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from me all the time if you're going to

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be a guest a lot understand there's a

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very big difference but between being a

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guest on a live stream and a podcast and

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a zoom call yes okay I see too many

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people treating live streams and

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podcasts like a zoom call and to

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me it makes and it diminishes the

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content greatly because yes it's a

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conversation but it's still meant to

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edify

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entertain right uh

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engage so

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Zoom calls to me are usually

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meetings we have an action item we're

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doing something we're doing a task

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collaborating on something a live stream

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podcast is usually meant to entertain in

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a conversational way that's going to be

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interesting interesting is a key word

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here but here's the fun part if you're

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in doing a collaboration over zoom and

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you're doing work you don't care what

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you guys look like and you care you

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don't care what you sound like because

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that's not the priority you're working

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on I don't know some TPS reports that

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you guys got to fill out okay but if

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you're doing a live streaming podcast

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guess what your priority should be how

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you look at how you

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sound that that's my thesis for today I

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I'll never

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forget I had just started a podcast

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about five six years ago it was it was

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it and i' landed a

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fairly prominent guest who was a

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worldwide speaker and he said yeah I'd

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love to be on your show you know I you

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know i' love what you're doing love to

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be on your show you know do it so he

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booked booked the meeting and I said

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great wonderful I get a call from him

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three weeks before and said um I'm going

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to be in

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Portugal I said okay he says it says you

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know I'll readjust the time so we

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readjust the time for the

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recording but what he didn't tell me was

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he was going to be on his cell

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phone in a museum that was built into a

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cave it was the most

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echoey

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staticky

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podcast what I should have done and this

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is on me this is on me I should have

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said look why do we reschedule this for

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when you're back when you're in your

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studio because this guy's you know this

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guy has a studio that was like a cockpit

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he I think he had four different cameras

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two different mics you know it was it

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was perfectly sound I great we're going

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to have a perfect great interview and

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I'm on the middle of a cell phone in

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Portugal in the middle of this Museum

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that's built into a cave and you know

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the echo on this thing was

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abysmal and it killed me and I went I

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can't ask him to re redo it but you can

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here's the thing as a as a host you're

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saying says look you're not going to

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sound your

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best you're not going to sound your best

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you're going to come off as not as good

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as you can be and my job is enable you

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to shine let's

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reschedule yep and that's my fault

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that's my fault for not having the guts

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to be able to stand up and say hey but

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we need to think of when we're on a

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podcast this is not a oneandone type

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thing podcasts and live streams live

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forever yep they live

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forever and people are going to go back

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and look at the library some of my most

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popular podcast episodes are four and

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five years old yep that people just go

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back and listen to them over and over

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and over again and they're four and five

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years old they have no video attached to

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them they're Audio Only but the content

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of them are so good and the guests are

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so good that people just go back and

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they look for them

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great but they come down to the fact

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that those guests were prepared and had

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a proper

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location to be able to do the podcast so

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they sounded good they didn't sound tiny

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they didn't sound echoey they you know

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were actually had a live mic they

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actually had earphones in and they were

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in a quiet place and they weren't on

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Wi-Fi they were actually hardwired or if

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they were on Wi-Fi they were right next

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to the router so they could have steady

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stream and it's th it's those simple

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little things it's those simple little

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things you know what I have been on a

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podcast where I've I've inter people

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interviewed people with on their

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iPhone with a set of you know just

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standard

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earbuds and have had great Audio Only

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interviews that that is that is the

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critical component here guys you don't

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have to spend a lot of money to look and

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sound good you do not you could use your

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phone if your phone is newer okay

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uh it doesn't take you could even put

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your phone if you have to use your phone

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uh on like a bookshelf or whatever and

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just leaning it up against and so you

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could get in a proper position and just

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do what you need to do put your earbuds

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in and by the way I get this question

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all the time Ben well I've got a

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microphone why do I need an earbud I'm

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using my laptop

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speaker so do you want to answer that

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question or shall I you can but it

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sounds to echo echo echo echo echo

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echo yeah you may not hear your own Echo

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but we can hear it and it makes it

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unlistenable it makes you unlistenable

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so guys you can get and I I actually

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still have it this is I stole from Avis

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I don't know how why I ever I don't even

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use Avis so I don't even know how I got

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it I I I loathe to think I might have

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stole out of someone else's ear um but

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no yeah a cheapy thing here's the thing

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you guys when we ask you for those ear

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earbuds whatever it's not because we

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want you to buy a can like this now

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granted if you're editing obviously this

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is really good for all that but you just

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need to hear there you go you just need

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enough to hear you don't need to hear in

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Stereo stereo stereo okay we don't need

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that but what we're saying is is this

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little thing here prevents us and your

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microphone from picking up that audio

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and that's what's happening it's

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catching everyone else's uh audio so I

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there's some people just don't

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understand that I'm trying to be patient

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here and give Grace that's why we don't

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need to hear our own voices in your

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micro microphone so and speaking of

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which depending on how old your laptop

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is some of the mics are pretty damn good

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they're getting better yeah but it's not

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radio quality so if you want the if you

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want the radio quality sound and how you

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doing today then you might want to

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invest into it um but you don't need to

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invest into a lot the cheapy ones you

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can get for under 50 bucks they actually

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work pretty deep decently now I have an

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Audio Technica mic right here okay this

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Audio Technica mic is

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$69 it's a

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$69

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microphone and does a phenomenal

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job you know sure I've also got A500 or

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$600 sure

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mic but the mic that I use every single

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day is this

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at: 2005

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practical it plugs right into my headset

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and it's and it's it just sit there it's

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it's comfortable with my voice you know

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it it actually works with my

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voice I love it I have the: 2100

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this is my go-to is has been infallible

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I've had this baby since: 2017

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never never not knock on uh Audio

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Technica at all I just happen to have a

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Shore now just because I like the sound

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of the shores too but yeah

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guys there are brands that are popular I

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will say one thing I don't like the blue

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yeti I'm just gonna say it I don't like

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the blue yeti sorry Blue Yeti don't like

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it don't want it and I hate it when I

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see clients using it I I don't

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understand some people sound great with

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the blue yeti and others I swear to God

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I would just want to shoot myself like

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seriously it's really it's really simple

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most people don't know how to use a blue

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Betty they have it too far from their

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too far from their voice they don't have

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a wind screen on it they are not what

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you want to do is there's a there's a a

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mode on it it's got a heart on it that's

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the that's the mode you want to be on

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you want the mode that's got the heart

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on it I can't remember what it is but

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it's it's a heart mode okay and you also

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want to put attach it to a boom mic so

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it can be so it can be near it can be

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near you you also don't want to talk

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directly into it you want to talk across

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it some mics you want to talk directly

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into it some mics you want to talk

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across some Tes you want to talk to the

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side it depends on how the mic is built

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and you need to you know you need to

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look at your individual mic and

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experiment with it and see how do I best

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come across I need to be sitting here

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going let's see it's looking from from

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my chin to the mic is about that far

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that's about the dist that's about the

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distance that it is you know some people

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want to be right up next to it and you

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can tell the difference when I'm right

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here and when I'm right here you can

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tell the difference in terms of the

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sound so therefore it enables you to be

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able to sit there going am I clear or

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not and what you can do is you can ask

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your host how am I coming in am I coming

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in

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clear the same thing goes with video the

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same thing comes with video are you well

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lit you know if you have a window right

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in front of you that's open guess what

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if it's on the side it's fine if it's

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right in front of you you're going to go

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completely you know gray you know you're

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just going to go you're just going to go

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blackface and that's the way it is it's

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just the fact that you're going to hide

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behind the the camera it's just not

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going to be able to pick pick up the the

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light on your face the best the uh sorry

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if the if the uh if the light's behind

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you you want to have the light on your

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face but if the light's behind you all

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you're going to do is your your face is

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going to be in Shadow so you need to

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take a look and say where is the light

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source I've got two LED lights one on

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either side of me and I got a great big

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par can in front of me guess what I

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bought these over

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years and as as I've gotten better and

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as I've become more sophisticated as my

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videos have become more sophisticated

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I've upgraded my equipment when I

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started this 11 years ago I had a $40

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microphone and a set of $10 earbuds and

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that was

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it so we need to sit there and say we

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don't need to spend a fortune but we

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need to put ourselves in a position

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where we can be heard we can be seen and

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we and we don't sound all tin and echoey

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no and look you don't have to be

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technically Savvy either let me be very

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clear on this too because I see people

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like oh I just spent $5,000 worth of

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equipment I don't know how to plug it in

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I'm like why the hell would you do this

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why would you do

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that I get it people like their gadgets

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they also want to look good and sound

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good and all that stuff but

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understand just because you can buy a

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Lamborghini doesn't mean you know how to

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drive a Lamborghini okay they've got

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like touch troll like changing it's

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there's no automatic in those supercars

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okay you got to actually known how to

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drive right so just because you buy a

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high-end thing doesn't mean it's

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necessarily the best thing for you okay

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I think USB mics are fine they really

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are people's it's it's ultimately think

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about this if you want to buy an

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expensive microphone right so I've got

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this drawer and I'm talking to it then

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then learn mic control that's a

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different thing that's when you have to

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learn how to like not breathe in so heav

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or like oh my God if I hear more Pops I

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have to edit that out I just want to

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shoot myself oh the other

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thing oh my God I hate the mouth noises

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so look maybe you don't need to be that

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close to the microphone so unless you're

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into the whole ASMR lip smacking sound

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which okay that's your own kink uh

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typically you can go further away from

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the microphone right um the other thing

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too is uh lighting is your best friend

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okay I get it there are some there are

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some cameras on laptops that are

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improving greatly so I'm not going to n

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uh like hit on that too hard but but if

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you're using an older laptop and you

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also don't clean your webcam like window

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often you're going to

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look worse than the Star Trek hazy

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filter that they used to put on for the

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women when they were all pretty you

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would just look like one big blur like

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you look like that 80s like glass that

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you know back in the day that you can't

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see through um but okay so on the

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contact of lighting one ring light will

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do you good guys I get it and here's the

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other thing even if you're traveling for

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example and you're in a hotel you could

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literally use the lamps around you to

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achieve the lighting effects you need so

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for those that are really on a budget or

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you're just not sure I've actually said

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this many times hey do you have a lamp

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in the other room you can just pull over

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for a moment then let us move it around

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and let's adjust it and you'd be

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surprised light is light now granted

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mostly it's yellowy lighting or it's

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that weird harsh like the spiral light

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that we all have to do now a lamp shade

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you guys again like I've done this to

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even my own Lins when I think it's too

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like bright like I'll I'll put like um

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what do you call that paper towel over

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it yeah just to soften the lighting up

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right it I get it don't leave it there

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too long especially if your light bulb

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gets hot then you're going to set the

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house on fire so don't do that too long

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but it's good for the duration of an

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hour trust me it'll be fine you know but

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anyway so yeah lighting uh the sound of

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your voice with microphones uh hearing

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uh so make sure you get an earbud ear

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plug uh and camera you can get all that

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for under 100 bucks I kid you not 100

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bucks just to get a decent setup and

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then as you progress as you start making

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I guess you monetize your either people

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pay you or you're getting business as a

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result right or you're selling books

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then maybe invest in a little bit more

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as you go so that's that's my I I know

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we went hella Along on this but it's

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just so important part two to understand

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the hardware is just as important as the

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words you use because ain't no one

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listen to you if they can't hear

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you and that's the words to this so I'm

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Ben I'm seea and we'll see you soon

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hey hey hey thanks for listening to

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another episode of not on this business

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fights if you liked what you heard we

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most humbly ask that you like share and

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hit that subscribe button if you want to

17:16

communicate more effectively within your

17:18

organization contact Ben atyou brandmark

17:22

dcom or me at brilliant beam media.com

17:26

we can help you build your community

17:28

brand awareness and personality through

17:30

digital content and podcasting we cannot

17:34

wait to hear from you so see you next

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week for another episode of not on this

17:39

business

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fights