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I think we can all agree that 
working in HR should not feel 

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like you're constantly on a 
scavenger hunt, digging through 

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spreadsheets, chasing down 
timesheets, balancing between 

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apps that just don't speak to 
each other. 

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I'm triggered. 
By all of those ideas, it's just

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simply not the job that we 
signed up for. 

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It's complete chaos, Pandemonium
even. 

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And so we know, I know that 
Intuit QuickBooks Payroll will 

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help you leave that chaos behind
and focus on what matters most, 

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like supporting and growing your
business and your team. 

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QuickBooks Payroll brings 
together payroll, time tracking,

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HR, and accounting in one 
powerful, connected platform. 

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No duct taping of your systems. 
No steep learning curves. 

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None of that. 
Just clarity, confidence, and 

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time back to focus on your 
people. 

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For example, I think that it's 
amazing that QuickBooks Payroll 

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integrates with all of your 
books through integration, AI, 

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and automation. 
All of those things handle all 

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of the heavy lifting, giving you
nearly 4 hours back a week. 

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And I think we've talked about 
this before, that anytime back 

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in your week is, is time well 
spent and money well spent on 

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anything, right? 
We could all use a little bit 

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more time. 
So leave the HR chaos in the 

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past. 
Discover how QuickBooks Payroll 

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can help you today. 
Learn more by going to 

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quickbooks.com Payroll. 
That's QuickBooks SCOM Payroll. 

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Welcome to the Bringing the 
Human Back to Human Resources 

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podcast. 
I'm Tracy Chernoff, and I've 

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spent my entire professional 
career in hour. 

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Each week, we'll explore the 
delicate balance between people 

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and business with the aim to 
reconnect the two and create 

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meaningful outcomes. 
Listen in as I share my own 

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experiences, challenge the 
status quo, and chat with guests

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from various industries about 
our mission to bring the human 

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back to human resources. 
Hi everyone and welcome back to 

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the Bringing the Human. 
Back to human resources podcast.

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Thank you so much for being here
for another week. 

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It is 2026. 
Happy new year. 

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Woo. 
I'm recording this one. 

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It's 2025 still, so it feels a 
little hard to say it's 2026. 

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Happy New Year. 
Yeah. 

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But hey, we made it. 
We made it to 2026. 

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Hopefully. 
I mean, look, I'm, I'm a time 

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traveler at this point because 
I'm recording this in 2025, but 

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you're hearing this in 2026. 
So. 

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Cool. 
Listen, I wanted to give you a 

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quick update. 
This is going to be a pretty 

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short episode, I must say, 
probably one of the shortest to 

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date, if I do say so myself. 
As many of you know, I am a mom 

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to twins and said twins. 
My, my daughters are two years 

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old by the time I'm recording 
this, so they'll be a little bit

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older than two, not by much, 
only a few months by the time 

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this episode comes out. 
And I just wanted to let you 

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know that I'm actually going out
on maternity leave by the time 

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you hear this episode because I 
am pregnant with #3 And so you 

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know the drill, if you've been 
here for the last two plus 

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years, that I did not share 
anything about my pregnancy with

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my twins until basically after I
delivered them. 

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Now I'm, you know, first of all,
I'm Jewish. 

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So that means that we're very 
superstitious. 

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I, I could say this because it 
is true. 

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We don't, you know, really talk 
about the pregnancy unless like 

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we have to with people very 
close to us. 

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And so I tried to withhold as 
long as possible, although some 

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of you might have been able to 
tell just because I am out of 

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breath constantly on all these 
episodes for the last several 

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months. 
But yes, I am. 

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I am due in January, so we'll 
see when the baby decides to 

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make her arrival. 
Yes, she is a girl. 

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So that means 3 under 3, all 
girls and lucky us. 

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So very exciting and, you know, 
God willing, everything goes to 

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plan and everything is all good 
and she's healthy and that's, 

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you know, all we can ask for. 
So I'm kind of almost using this

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episode as a manifestation of 
what I hope to be true, which is

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that I bring a healthy baby into
the world and that my twin 

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daughters become Big Sisters, 
which is so sweet. 

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Yeah. 
So I wanted to share that big 

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news with you and let you know 
that that means since I'm on 

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maternity leave, that I have a 
bunch of episodes that I've 

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recorded to get us through the 
winter and the spring so that I 

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can focus on my family and my 
own health. 

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And so there are many fresh 
episodes. 

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As a matter of fact, if I look 
at my, my production schedule, 

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most of the, the episodes that 
you will hear for the first few 

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several months of 2026 are 
fresh. 

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When I went on maternity leave 
last time, I did a lot of kind 

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of rerun episodes, kind of like 
the best of the best, so to 

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speak, and I am going to do a 
little bit of that this time. 

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I'll have a few rerun episodes 
for you, probably about like 6 

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00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:04,120
or so sprinkled throughout, but 
there's also going to be a ton 

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of fresh content. 
So I want you to hopefully feel 

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really excited about all of the 
episodes that I have planned for

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you. 
It's been a lot of work to get 

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those episodes recorded before 
going out on my leave, 

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especially as I have approached,
you know, the later parts of my 

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pregnancy. 
And I can't breathe, obviously, 

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as you can hear constantly out 
of breath and you know, just 

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being exhausted. 
You might have even noticed that

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I'm pregnant just because of the
sheer bags under my eyes. 

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No amount of concealer can save 
this face at this point. 

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I'm exhausted. 
So this is my commitment to you 

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is getting you fresh content all
the while. 

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All while I should say, see, I 
can't even my brain, it's just 

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not firing on all cylinders, you
guys. 

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But all while I, you know, 
hopefully in a healthy capacity,

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bring a new life into the world.
So very exciting stuff. 

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My husband and I are also 
closing on our very first home 

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purchase in the next few days. 
So it's been a very, very busy 

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several months. 
We've been living with family 

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for the last four or five months
and so it'll be nice to kind of 

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get into our own place. 
I think hopefully before the 

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baby arrives and all of this. 
I'm kind of going between 2025 

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and 2026 here at this point, but
I'm, I'm manifesting a very 

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fabulous 2026 for all of us and 
certainly for the arrival of 

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hopefully a healthy baby in my 
family. 

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So that's that. 
I also, you know, I want to 

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invite you to reach out if there
are certain topics and episodes 

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00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:55,520
that you want to hear once I 
return from maternity leave 

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00:06:55,520 --> 00:07:00,360
because I do have a tremendous 
number of guests who are really 

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excited about joining the 
podcast. 

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And I also have a tremendous 
number of solo episodes that I 

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have planned for 2026. 
And I just want to make sure 

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that you are getting from my 
podcast what you are really 

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00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,680
hoping to get. 
So please reach out. 

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Don't be a stranger. 
I want to know who you are and, 

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00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,560
and why you listen and what 
you're looking forward to and 

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how I can help with anything, 
frankly. 

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So, yeah, that's that's it. 
And this episode is now going to

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be probably under 10 minutes. 
But, you know, hey, maybe that's

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my New Year's gift to you is a 
short but sweet episode. 

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And I hope that you enjoyed last
week's Policy Pulse episode. 

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Very interesting stuff, if I 
just say so myself. 

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And you can certainly look 
forward to more Policy Pulse 

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episodes. 
By the way, those will relaunch 

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probably around the summer, 
since we want to make sure that 

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we record fresh episodes for 
you. 

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00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:56,320
And we generally record the 
Policy Pulse episodes like a 

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00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,400
week or two before they air. 
And since I'll be on maternity 

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00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:01,600
leave, we're going to kind of 
pause that production until the 

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00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:03,280
summer. 
So something to just look 

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00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,600
forward to since I know many of 
you have reached out about 

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00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:09,240
really enjoying those episodes. 
So thank you for that feedback 

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00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:11,520
as well. 
And with that, I hope you have a

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00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:13,960
fabulous year ahead. 
And I hope you had a wonderful 

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00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:17,800
holiday season. 
And thank you again for being 

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00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:19,920
here and for listening to my 
podcast Don't go anywhere, 

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00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:26,280
because the next episode is is 
an episode with a really 

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00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:28,920
interesting guest, if I do say 
so myself. 

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And I think you're really going 
to enjoy it. 

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00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:36,880
So I don't want to tease it too 
much, but I do think that you 

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00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:41,159
should be excited because we're 
talking about something very, to

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me, very interesting, which is 
benefits and insurance 

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00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:47,720
specifically, not even just 
benefits, it's really insurance.

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00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:56,080
And we kind of dive deep into 
the issue that is insurance and 

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00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:58,800
insurance companies. 
And I think it's a hot topic for

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00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,360
many of us, especially coming 
out of open enrollment for a lot

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00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:05,120
of the majority of people. 
Or for some, maybe you're going 

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00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,560
into open enrollment and you're 
like, what the heck is going on?

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00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:10,920
So I think that'll be a really 
interesting episode for you. 

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00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:14,040
So stay tuned. 
I think you're going to love 

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00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:15,840
2026. 
And again, I hope you have a 

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00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:20,200
fabulous year ahead and I will 
see you fresh and kind of quote 

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00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:23,320
UN quote, live in the summer. 
But again, the episodes that you

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00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:27,880
can look forward to between now 
and then are freshly recorded, 

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00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,840
mixed in, sprinkled in with a 
few rerun episodes that are some

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00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:34,560
of my favorites. 
So I appreciate you being here 

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00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:37,040
and I will see you very soon. 
Thank you. 

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00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:39,520
Bye. 
Hey, just before you go, don't 

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00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:42,320
forget to subscribe to the show 
so that you are the first to 

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00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:46,080
hear when an episode drops each 
week and maybe leave a five star

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00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:48,680
review and a comment about how 
much you loved this episode. 

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00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,480
Plus, if you have someone in 
mind who would really enjoy this

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00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:53,120
episode, make sure you share it 
with them. 

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Thank you so much for tuning in 
and I'll see you next week.