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Hello and welcome to the Lawn Hustle.

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I appreciate you being here today.

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In this episode, I feel a need to just be open, be transparent, be real with you.

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Life is not fair.

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It reigns on the just and the unjust.

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Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people.

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But I have found out that it's not what happens to me that matters.

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That's how I react to what happens to me that really matters.

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I am a throat cancer survivor.

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I could have given up a long time ago.

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I could have thrown in the towel and said, that's it.

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I'm done.

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What's the use?

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I try.

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But instead of giving up, I redefined myself.

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I have found that when situations and circumstances happen to you in life, and they will happen,

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because you cannot change the things that come your way, you have to learn to deal with them.

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You see, I truly believe that every one, every man, every woman, every worker is worth minimum

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wage from the shoulders down.

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That's what happens from the shoulders up that makes the difference.

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How you respond to the circumstances in this thing we call life.

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How you interact with people.

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How you react to troubles, trials, temptations.

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That's what really matters.

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You see, and it seems a little cliche, but let me just say, if you don't believe you

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can be successful, you never will be.

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If you don't believe you can get through your situation, then just sit down somewhere

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in the corner and woe is me, and this is bad, and this situation, and this circumstances

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are affecting me in my little world, or you can determine and make up your mind that you're

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going to get up, you're going to strap on your boots, and you're going to go to work,

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and you're going to get through your current situation.

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Somebody needs to hear what I'm saying right now.

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You're going through something that seems to be unfair.

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You're going through something that doesn't make any sense to you.

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Why you're going through this circumstance.

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But I promise you, tough times don't last, tough people do, and it's a matter of how

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you think.

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Right before Jesus went to the cross, and I'm not here to preach to you, but I just

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want to use this as an example.

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Right before Jesus went to the cross, he was at a place called Gethsemane.

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I have been there when I went on a tour of Israel, and I walked through that garden,

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and our tour guide said some of these olive trees are thousands of years old, and I wondered,

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would it be this tree that Jesus prayed, Father, not my will, but thine be done?

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As God, He knew the cross was before Him.

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He knew the anguish and the suffering and the pain that was before Him.

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But He won the victory in Gethsemane, and the Bible says Gethsemane is called the place

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of the skull.

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He won the victory over His flesh in the skull, in Gethsemane.

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And if you are ever going to overcome and ever going to win, you've got to overcome

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and you've got to determine that you're going to win in the place of the skull.

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You've got to make up your mind.

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That's why I say everyone is worth minimum wage from the shoulders down.

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It's from the shoulders up where millionaires are made.

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It's from the shoulders up where successful businesses operate.

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It's from the shoulders up where you make up your mind.

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If I fall, I shall rise.

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If I get knocked down, I'm going to get back up.

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Abraham Lincoln was in all reality a failure that never quit trying.

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And finally, after several defeats for Congress and Senate, finally was elected the 16th president

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of the United States.

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Had he quit after his first defeat, he would have never been president.

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If he had given up after his second defeat, he would have never been president.

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But he just kept trying until he was elected president.

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I just feel like I need to tell somebody you've been knocked down before.

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You have failed before.

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You have made mistakes before.

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Make up in your mind.

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I'm going to get back up every time I fall, every time I fail, every time I make a mistake.

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You see, winners are just losers that didn't quit.

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And I want to tell you, whatever you're facing, whatever you're going through, the right mindset

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can help you overcome.

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Don't get caught up.

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When the woe is me, I feel sorry for myself.

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I'm going to sit down and suck my thumb.

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Get up, brush yourself off, and get to work.

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Make up your mind.

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I will be an overcomer.

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I will be successful.

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This will pass.

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They always do tough times, hard times.

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They always pass.

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You just got to stay in the fight.

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You just can't quit.

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You just can't give up.

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Make up your mind.

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You see, when I started this podcast, I knew it probably wasn't ideal for me because of

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the way I speak, because this is what cancer left me.

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Half of my larynx removed, 10 surgeries, sick for three long years.

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But when I got to feel better with a tracheostomy tube in my neck, I went to work because I was

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not going to allow that to define me.

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I was not going to allow that to stop me.

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I made up my mind.

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I'm going to find success.

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I'm going to be an overcomer.

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I'm going to be a winner.

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I refused to lose.

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And I want to look at it this way.

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I didn't have cancer.

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Cancer had me.

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It's a matter of how you look at it.

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The glasses and always have empty.

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It's half full.

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So whatever you're going through, step back.

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Look at it at a different angle.

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Look at it with a new perspective.

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And win the victory in the place called the skull.

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In your mind.

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If you cannot win in your mind, you will not win in any situation.

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You got to make up your mind.

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You've got to be determined.

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You've got to settle the issue.

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I'm not stopping.

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I'm not quitting.

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I'm not giving up.

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If I can barely put one foot in front of the other, I'm going to keep walking forward.

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I refuse to go backwards.

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If it's in your business, your marriage, your place of employment, your health, whatever

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the situation is, I challenge you to win the victory in your mind first.

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Welcome back.

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In this episode, we've been talking about how life can sometimes deal you a situation

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that's hard to handle.

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And I understand that.

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But I also understand that you can make it. I can make it if we win in our mind first.

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If you're a business owner, you've got to determine it doesn't matter what the situation

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or what the circumstance is.

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I have to go to work because I have deadlines, because I have payroll to meet, because I

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have a family to provide for.

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I have obligations.

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And even though there are days, it would be easier for you to not go to work.

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Stay home.

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Somehow you've got to work through that and make up your mind if I can just get there and

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just do the first job and just get motivated enough to try.

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You can find the strength and the motivation that you need to get through the day.

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Don't let anything steal time from you.

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You have to make up your mind.

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You have to be determined.

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And no, it's not easy.

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Let me just tell you, I'll be the first one to tell you it's not easy.

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And I am a little emotional right now because I look back on my situation with my cancer

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diagnosis and it was hard.

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It was tough.

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There were many tears shed.

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There were days I thought, why is this happening to me?

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I'm a good person.

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I try to provide for my family.

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Why is this happening to me?

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Why?

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Why?

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Why?

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I still don't have the answer to those whys.

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A lot of confusion.

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A lot of hurt.

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A lot of pain.

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But somewhere through it all.

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I had to make up my mind that I'm not going to let this detour me.

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I'm not going to let this destroy my family.

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I'm not going to let this destroy my life.

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We're going to get through it.

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I remember having a conversation with my wife about finances.

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How are we going to pay the bills?

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I can't work.

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We're running up astronomical hospital bills.

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In and out of the hospital, surgery after surgery, treatment, treatment, medications, medications.

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How are we going to do this?

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I remember my wife saying, I don't know how.

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And I don't know when.

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But it's all going to work out.

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It's going to be okay.

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We're going to make it.

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And we did.

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And here we are today trying to encourage you.

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It's going to be okay.

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It's going to work out.

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This whatever you're going through will not destroy you.

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It will eventually make you stronger.

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It will eventually help you be a better individual and a stronger person.

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Someone that has a testimony, someone that can share with others like I'm sharing with

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you what you're going through right now can be someone else's salvation experience.

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Because your testimony can save them if it sparks in them a determination not to give

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up, not to quit, not to surrender.

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I just wanted to be real with you today.

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I hope you've enjoyed this podcast and I hope you have found value in it.

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Be encouraged, be strengthened, and don't ever forget you can make it if you make up

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your mind.

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Thank you for listening to the Lawn Hustle.

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We'll talk next week.

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I hope you have a great week.

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I wish you nothing but success.

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We'll talk again soon.