Tuesday, June 30, 2015

7 reasons I love being a coach Dan Miller

Here we are approaching the second half of 2015.  This is a time when many people are taking a quick look at their progress.  Are they any better off financially this year than last?  Are their relationships stronger, more loving and less stressful?  Is their work the same old drudgery even though they know there’s got to be a better fit?  Are they living “too small” while fully aware their best life is calling?

Those are the things I hear every day as a coach.  I can’t imagine work that is more rewarding than what I get to do as a coach.  People are open about their desire for more hope and a clear plan for moving toward the success they know is waiting.

As a coach you can provide that needed hope.  If you’ve ever considered positioning yourself as a coach, now is a great time to do so.  Recently over 1700 of you told us you’d like to be a “coach.”  You’re hearing the stories of others in the 48 Days community who are thriving as coaches and you’re ready to join the ranks of those who are serving and thriving.  Read on for a checklist for how to get your first paying client.

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7 Benefits of Being a Professional Coach

Any of you who have been to the Coaching with Excellence live event have received a copy of The Coaching Starter Kit.  On page 17 you will see Thomas Leonard’s (founder of the International Coach Federation) list of the 7 Benefits of Being a Professional Coach.  Thomas was a visionary in the coaching field and I would like to add my own comments to his brief list.

Benefit #1 – You double the rate of personal development.  I’ve always heard that the best way to learn something is to teach it.  In years of teaching in Sunday School and university classes, I’ve certainly confirmed this for myself.  So often in working with a coaching client I find myself studying a particular issue myself.  I’ve learned volumes about franchising, consulting, and speaking as I’ve helped clients become proficient in these areas.  I’ve learned valuable principles about maximum success as I’ve coached people to their own highest levels of success.  Don’t think you have to be the expert in everything to coach – trust me, you’ll learn 80 percent of what you need to know from your clients.

Benefit #2 – You can make an extraordinary living.  Coaches typically make between $40 and $200 an hour.  Once you understand the concepts of re-purposing your content, you can see how $100,000 a year is not unreasonable.  You can put yourself in the category of any other highly paid professional and see your network of contacts open new opportunities.  The model I show at Coaching with Excellence is to be at $150,000 annually by leveraging your unique expertise.

Benefit #3 – You build lasting, empowering relationships.  Having come from a traditional counseling background, this is one of the benefits I enjoy most.  In traditional counseling, you have to maintain a professional distance from your clients and would seldom entertain the idea of actually being friends.  With coaching, that is not the case.  I have developed deep personal and business relationships with many of those I’ve coached over the years.  Joanne and I have enjoyed many special occasions with clients around the country.  And we are now connected to many of their friends as well.  Just like in real life, some clients I want to just know as clients, but with many I build lasting personal friendships.

Benefit #4 – You become a master of life.  I don’t know of any other profession or career that sets the stage so well for developing excellence in your own life.  As I’ve walked through helping clients attain success in physical, spiritual, personal development, career and financial areas, it has prompted me to look for more success in those areas myself.  It would appear hypocritical if I were calling people to levels of success that I did not believe were attainable myself.  I sometimes have people ask me in the initial stages of phone coaching, “Dan, are you living the life you’re calling me to?”  And I tell them, “Come see me. Follow me around on our property at the Sanctuary for a couple of days and then you decide.”  

Benefit #5 – You are well-positioned for the next opportunity.  Most of the clients I work with at this point are looking to develop creative ideas for high income.  Because of that focus, I have people bringing me new ideas every day.  I get to evaluate the best and most innovative ideas available anywhere.  I get calls from all over the country from people wanting me to preview (and endorse) their latest, greatest business idea.  A typical week often brings me 4-5 new book manuscripts and 1-2 new products to review.  Just recently I received a complete set of time management tools (expensive binder, CDs and inserts for one year).  I never get tired of seeing the new ideas – and it gives me a driver’s seat position for getting involved if I choose to do so.  The coaching you will do will set you up to be on the cutting edge of the best new opportunities anywhere in the world.

Benefit #6 – You get to give your gift.  In a recent survey, one of our coaches replied: “I’m actively coaching and utilizing what I learned at Coaching with Excellence to grow my coaching business! – My greatest hindrance is that people I know want what I have to give them with the word GIVE being the operative. Because I am a friend, they know me, I am a Christian – they feel it should be my ministry to just give them my time and experience….they feel it would be silly for them to pay for it. How do I find REAL clients?”

What an interesting quandary.  Most people go to work and put on a different hat.  As a coach, we get to just be ourselves all the time.  My interactions with client, our neighbors, friends of our kids, church acquaintances, business associates and casual encounters in restaurants and airplanes, all have the continuing theme of helping people find and fulfill their highest calling and purpose.  But that does raise the issue of when does that person become a paying client as opposed to someone who just receives my coaching for free?  I don’t have hard and fast rules about that.  But I find that giving freely just leads to more requests that then are paying clients.  Many of the referrals I get come from people where our life paths crossed and I was able to help them through a challenging time – but perhaps as a friend or chance encounter rather than as a regular client.  It doesn’t matter – the “giving” part of my coaching comes back magnified.  Much like the Biblical “Law of the Harvest.”  Several years ago I had a gentleman contact me about the Sunday School class I was teaching at the time.  He wanted to duplicate that in his own church in Florida.  I gave him all my notes and class outlines and met with him to offer anything else I could.  I then discovered he had just sold his business for $18 million and didn’t know what to do next.  He became a $2500 client and has used me as a consultant for his new business and for doing workshops at his church.  As near as I can calculate at this point, I have generated about $60,000 as a direct result of this man’s influence and have in addition created some priceless contacts in the publishing world.

Benefit #7 – You will be appreciated.  When you truly do “coach” someone to a higher level of success in their life, they will love you for it.  I don’t know of any more gratifying work than to be involved with people as they are moving from mediocrity to excellence.  And they will see you as part of that rewarding process.  Does everyone make that successful transition?  Of course not.  Right now I have a couple that came to me after receiving a substantial inheritance from his father.  They presented that this provided them with an opportunity to move into an entrepreneurial business and experience the freedom of being on their own.  Now, after two personal sessions followed by some very direct questions, I find that their marriage is essentially gone; she does not support anything but having him get a “job” and his ADHD is severe enough to explain his scattered work history.  I don’t see any easy solutions for this.  And the tough questions I am confronting them with are not likely to make me a loved friend.  I accept the responsibility to speak the truth when necessary.  My goal as a coach is not to make them feel better, but to be better.  Fortunately 90% of the time I can just enjoy the process as people grasp new vision and new levels of accomplishment.  And I appear the omnipotent hero!

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If you are exploring being a coach or want to accelerate your coaching success, plan to join us for the event that has launched hundreds of success coaches around the world – Coaching with Excellence.  The only remaining open date for this year is September 3-4th.  We’ll walk you through the process of setting you up as a coach – ready to enjoy these 7 benefits.

If you have a question you can shoot a note to Ashley@48Days.com.

You can also get my free list of 10 Tips for Getting Your First Client to help you see if this is a fit for you.

 



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Friday, June 26, 2015

Will success make you happy? Dan Miller

 

Will success make you happy?

  1. I’ve always been successful but not happy with my work
  2. I now have a very regretful Domestic Battery charge on my record
  3. I am physician-endorsed Cigarette Whisperer
  4. I am an ethnic minority physician in a predominantly white area.  Do you have any advice on how I can increase the number of referrals I get to my medical practice?
  5. My biggest obstacle and problem when started working for myself has been the lack of structure accompanied with loneliness

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“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer

Check out all these Resources to move you toward your dreams: 

Harrys.com – use 48Days as the code to get $5.00 off your purchase of Dan’s favorite morning product

Go to http://ift.tt/1GPcoIh for your free download of “What you Need to Know About Changes in Higher Education”

Want to join the ranks of successful writers?  Here’s my free 48-point Checklist for Writers

Here’s one of the most popular lists we’ve had:  8″Keys”to”Starting”a”New”Business” 

I have an 11-page checklist to help you identify What’s Holding You Back From Your Dreams? 

Escaping Shawshank – eagle awards  http://ift.tt/1A5lbGj.com/eagle/

Escaping Shawshank – the event in August where we’ll look at Prison, Purpose and Plan – Meet Dan & Joanne there.

48 Days Coaching Mastery Program

The Ultimate Advantage Cruise – Feb 2017

Coaching with Excellence – September 3-4, 2015

Question for Dan – http://www.48days.com/ask-dan/



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Thursday, June 25, 2015

A Wheat Field in Kansas: New Beginnings of the Mind Dan Miller

This is a guest post by Derek Olsen, co-author of the book One Bed, One Bank Account and co-host of The Better Conversations Podcast. Derek and his wife Carrie encourage married couples to have better conversations about money that will strengthen their marriages. Derek and Carrie challenge everything money related on their blog, in their books, and on their podcast. When it’s time to get serious about your money, come find us.  If you’d like to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Living in Kansas City means I have the pleasure of driving across Kansas several times a year.

I love it.

Endless fields of green and gold allow my mind to drift.

I’ve had some amazing thoughts and experiences in the middle of “nowhere.” There’s just something about those wide open places that give space for the imagination to run wild.

Recently I found myself in the back lot of a Sonic Drive-in half way between Denver and Kansas City. I stood next to our car stretching my legs while waiting on our food to be delivered when a sound caught my ear.

The sound was coming from the enormous wheat field that lay about thirty feet away. The sound begged me to come closer.

I walked right up to the edge of the field. I reached down and snatched up some wheat and held it in my hand. The waves of gold stretched out towards the horizon.

This field of wheat in central Kansas is nearly ready for harvest. An unusual misty morning added misty drops to the wheat stalks. Focus is on wheat closest in foreground.

The waves of wheat can sound like beautiful music

I watched the wind make waves. I listened to the wheat play its music. I lost myself in the beauty. I just stood there listening.

A few minutes passed and I noticed an older woman approaching me. I thought perhaps she was going to ask me to leave or give me a Can I help you? sort of invitation to buzz off.

I was pleasantly surprised.

“I’m the owner of this land.” She said with a friendly smile.

“Oh really? I was just listening to the waves.” I replied.

“Yes, it’s beautiful isn’t it?” She said.

“Yup, we don’t get to hear nature like this in the middle of the city where I live.” I replied.

She went on to tell me how she inherited the 240 acres from her mother several years ago and how her father had farmed it for many years before that.

We had a really nice chat and she told me all kinds of things about the area and about farming.

Then she said something that struck me like lightening.

“My father used to say that this is where everything begins.”

Whoa! What did she mean by that?!

I mean… seriously!? A wheat field isn’t much to look at and I can’t imagine anything but maybe a loaf of bread beginning there.

She went on to explain that without food, nothing else happens. Humans can’t play sports, go to school, drive cars, build libraries, or sip coffee without food being taken care of first. It’s a top priority, and thankfully one that is mostly taken care of in the developed world.

So here I am, standing in front of a massive golden wheat field in Kansas being told that this is the beginning of all other things. Wow.

It was a special day.

I walked away from our conversation refreshed. I don’t know if it was the wheat field or the conversation or both.

It got me thinking about beginnings. New ones.

I’m not talking about a new job, a new car, or a new year.

I’m talking about new beginnings of the mind.

What can begin in a person’s mind that can eventually lead to and support other, more impressive things?

Every second of every day of our lives we have the opportunity for new beginnings. We don’t have to wait until Monday or January 1st to make a change. We can choose a new beginning right now:

  • A new attitude.
  • A new perspective.
  • A new direction.
  • A new relationship, or perhaps a renewed one.
  • We can drop that which isn’t working and pick up a new focus.

Such a simple place for big changes to begin, right there in your mind. So simple, we might overlook it while waiting for change to come from the outside.

All the great things that mankind has built has it’s beginnings in a simple wheat field.

And how many great things can come about in your life from the simple decision to begin?

Without new beginnings we have nothing.



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Wednesday, June 24, 2015

My Boss is Satan’s offspring Dan Miller

It’s really not difficult to determine a person’s point of reference.

No, I really didn’t make that up.  As usual, the rich life stories I hear in working with people in transition offer enough real anecdotes that I don’t have to be very creative in finding phrases that colorfully describe real situations.

A figure posed with head resting on hand, with a headache caused by loud talkers around him

It’s not to difficult to tell a person’s basic core

In anticipation of meeting with me, a very “successful” young lady wrote this in her pre-coaching form:  “My company is going in a strictly money-motivated direction, and my manager may very well be Satan’s offspring.” She further validated her suspicions with lots of examples that certainly convinced me she might be accurate.  While we saw the humor in her portrayal I also helped her go through a list to confirm the possibility of a less than healthy work environment.

Here’s the checklist to tell if your boss (co-worker or the guy in the mirror) is Satan’s offspring:

  • Immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures
  • Hostility and fighting
  • Jealousy, outbursts of anger
  • Selfish ambition, dissension, hard to get along with
  • Complaints, criticisms, arguing and causing trouble
  • The feeling that everyone else is wrong except those in his own little group
  • Envy, drunkenness, wild parties

This list is actually a mixture of this lady’s stories and another source I refer to frequently.  If it sounds a little familiar, you might want to check the list yourself in Galatians 5:19-23 (The Living Bible).

It’s a well-known fact that we tend to take on the characteristics of those around us.  We recognize this phenomenon easily in children.  Clothing, music, foods and slang expressions all quickly become a reflection of the group of friends involved.  We do much the same as adults.  If the list of characteristics above describe your work environment, you are likely to start exhibiting those same characteristics.  And if you bring those home with you, your family will start to reflect those same traits. 

Fortunately, if you want to break that cycle, we also have a list of what to expect in a healthy, positive and Godly environment:

  • Love
  • Joy
  • Peace
  • Patience
  • Kindness
  • Goodness
  • Faithfulness
  • Gentleness
  • Self-control 

Not too difficult to tell your boss’s allegiance, is it?  And if you’ve gotten sucked into the first list, you can decide today to move to the other camp.  Your words, actions, and attitudes easily show which “boss” you are following today.  And if you’ve got a boss who won’t change, it may be time to start a new job search.  



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My life is too small Dan Miller

I hear the most interesting statements from people who are describing their lives.  Recently a 36-yr-old MBA in an executive position in an exciting industry shared this concern in her coaching profile: “I have a vague sense that my life is too small.”

Living large does not necessarily mean a bigger salary, house, cars or retirement fund.  It has nothing to do with fancy vacations or the latest fashions.  Rather, it means having a life that is full of meaning and purpose.  And that can occur – or be absent – at any place on the continuum of the traditional parameters of “success.”  I’ve seen millionaires who are living life “small” and those with scarce financial resources who are living “large.” Boss Man

Let me ask you this: What is your life saying to the world?  Are you living your life too small? Is it so full of meaningless tasks that there’s no room left for the things that make your heart sing? Are you pushing so hard in doing more that you’ve lost the sense of being more?  Does more activity really equal greater accomplishment, or does it at some point tip the scale and begin to diminish the meaning of your life? Are you creating the legacy you want to leave for your loved ones?

Reflect back on last month – yes, just this last month.  What did you do to keep your life from being too small?

Can you identify:

  1. 4-5 ideas you had for a better job or starting your own business?
  2. 3 things that you did just to help someone out with no expectation of payback?
  3. The books you read or listened to that enlightened your spirit, confidence, knowledge and wisdom?
  4. The number of hours you spent in quiet contemplation?
  5. The 2 or 3 things you did that you had never done before?
  6. The concerts, art shows, seminars, workshops or other enriching experiences you had?
  7. 2 or 3 specific things you did to strengthen the relationships that mean the most to you?

If you have no responses to these seven questions, chances are strong that you are living your life too small.

Make it a regular practice to embrace living large times in your life. Wisdom, peace, contentment, and insight about investing your life in fulfilling work will grow in those times. Take a walk, give thanks for simple things, take a bath with music playing and candles burning, turn off the telephones, TV, and computer. Carve out those times for restoration and spiritual breathing. Don’t let the busyness of life crowd out your opportunity for living large.  Don’t let your life be too small.



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Monday, June 22, 2015

Let’s write a swimming pool! Dan Miller

Paul McCartney once said to John Lennon before writing a new song: “Let’s write a swimming pool!”   What he meant is that as talented song artists they could decide in advance to easily generate enough money to build a swimming pool, buy a car, take a dream vacation, or pretty much anything else they wanted.
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Does your talent translate into tangible things you’d like to have or give, or is there little connection between working, getting a paycheck and simply making a living? Do you see that new car, a family cruise or a swimming pool when you begin a project that uses your best skills?

Nick Pavlidis just wrote an important little book – Confessions of a Terrible Husband.  It’s his story of working to become a husband that wives dream of.  And guess what, the financial rewards will allow him to do some other cool things for his family.  Emily Chase Smith is helping other entrepreneurs write their stories.  She has 13 projects in process right now – but is currently in Spain taking a week-long class in Flamenco dancing (a lifelong dream). 

I suspect it would help us frame our work if we were better able to “see” what that work was leading to.  What if you sat down with a blank canvas and visualized an elegant European trip or building a school in Uganda, or being the total sponsor for a Habitat for Humanity house like my publisher friend David Hancock does.  (Morgan James Publishing)

Paychecks that are deposited directly into our checking accounts where bills are paid automatically somehow lose their tangible connection to anything.  I think that in our “paperless” culture perhaps we’ve lost the connection between writing well and a swimming pool.  That’s why Dave Ramsey encourages us all to use “cash” when making purchases.  It feels different than just swiping a card or even writing a check.  To this day I still pay for cars with cash – I want the visceral connection between working hard and then giving up that stack of $100 bills for a chunk of metal and plastic.

Yeah we’ve all heard about “singing for your supper.”  But that’s not a real connection for most of us.  So what are you going to write, draw, hammer, sing, bake, build, mow, blog or talk for today?  Connecting today’s activities with the image of a clear goal will help draw out your highest talents and skills.

Want a new swimming pool?  A new car, a special vacation, or a newly remodeled kitchen?  What work can you do that will lead directly to that?

If you want to use writing as your key tool – here’s a 48 step checklist to make your book produce a swimming pool – or something fitting your dream.



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Friday, June 19, 2015

What rules are you breaking? Dan Miller

What rules are you breaking?

  1. How can I overcome the resistance, even if I have hope, clarity and freedom?
  2. Should I quit a job where I am miserable at without having another job lined up?
  3. What percentage commission should I get if that’s my only pay?
  4. My Wife is getting frustrated with my low pay.

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“You are remembered for the rules you break.”  Douglas MacArthur

Other Resources:

Free Audio Book from http://ift.tt/1MuglnA 

My recommendation this week:  The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle  By Steven Pressfield

Want to join the ranks of successful writers?  Here’s my free 48-point Checklist for Writers

Here’s one of the most popular lists we’ve had:  8″Keys”to”Starting”a”New”Business” 

I have an 11-page checklist to help you identify What’s Holding You Back From Your Dreams? 

Escaping Shawshank – eagle awards  http://ift.tt/1A5lbGj.com/eagle/

Escaping Shawshank – the event in August where we’ll look at Prison, Purpose and Plan – Meet Dan & Joanne there.

48 Days Coaching Mastery Program

The Ultimate Advantage Cruise – Feb 2017

Coaching with Excellence – September 3-4, 2015

Question for Dan – http://www.48days.com/ask-dan/



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The easiest way to hire a great coach Dan Miller

As a former career coach, author on career clarity and life planning expert under the name Rob Clinton at 180 Career CoachingRobert de Brus story is a story of redemption. Having gone through many challenging transitions and life upsets, from business crashes, failed relationships, financial hardships, and circumstance after circumstance that he doesn’t wish on anyone he is re-claiming a future for himself that’s not in anyway dictated by his past. It’s all about the re-claiming of a new future.

The story from Rob Clinton to Robert de Brus is the core emphasis behind his transition from a life of being trapped by circumstances, to a life of freedom as a Lifestyle Entrepreneur.  You can read more about him here.  If you’d like to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

I can remember sitting reluctantly as well as enthusiastically on the fence before I hired my first coach. This was right at the beginning of 2009 and I knew I wanted to get somewhere, but I was a little hesitant to make a decision because the fears sparked by previous failures made me question my true abilities.

If I feared my abilities, then surely anyone who would work with me would see what I was lacking and that would be a little embarrassing, not too mention I was a little short on cash anyway.

After all, priorities are priorities, and it’s better to focus on the fires you have to put out now before pursuing any dreams, right?

Hand holding a black chalkboard which is written text of Follow Your Heart.

My heart was trying to live out of my dreams

That was the looming concern. My mind was trying to live out of my circumstances, but my heart was trying to live out of my dreams.

Well, I finally got the nerve up and stepped into my next season in life by hiring Kevin Miller of Free Agent Academy to help me brand myself and develop what was formerly known as 180 Career Coaching. It was an amazing experience getting off the ground, and I enjoyed every bit of helping other people succeed as a coach myself.

Since then I’ve hired numerous coaches for certain areas that I needed help in, and I haven’t stopped hiring them. They and many of my favorite mentors like Dan Miller himself have been absolutely vital to any progress that I’ve made in my own personal and professional development.

Now I was really brand new at this, and I didn’t know how to properly seek out a coach to work with as I kind of went with my gut, but fortunately I lucked out and hired a fantastic coach right off the bat.

Not everyone who skips this part of the homework process is going to be so lucky.

However, when I look back on the things I did, I found that there were obvious reasons of why my gut was in check and made me feel really good from the get-go about working with Kevin.

Jump into the water – Find the people who are succeeding

In the very beginning I looked at everyone who was succeeding in business, but specifically honed in on who was succeeding at building personal brands. I wanted to find my personal brand and build a business platform. Then I started surrounding myself with many other greats and others who had similar dreams as well.

If you want to do anything worthy, it’s always best to seek out the people who have made it and go learn from them. You’re going to find that many of them become mentors and perhaps new networks build in the process, but you should do everything you can to start surrounding yourself with people who are succeeding and performing where you hope to be soon.

Identify your area of need

While I was getting involved, the first thing I did was identify my area of need. I didn’t know exactly what that would be yet, except that I wanted to be awesome at something and find personal fulfillment doing it. So what I realized was that self discovery had to be a heavy part of creating my brand.

People come from all different areas of the spectrum; from marketing to platform development, to building audiences, but mine had to be self discovery and personal branding. Luckily 48 Days to the Work Love had done a lot of the preliminary work me and I had some great insight about myself to take with me into my coaching sessions.

Focus on mastery

One big thing that I wish I would have done better was focusing on a specific plan of attack before moving to the next. I would have several areas of focus going on at once, and as a result this made my runway for succeeding longer than it should have been.

I have a shiny object syndrome mentality, and I would go from one idea to the next trying to implement everything at once. That’s great and all, but I was endangering myself of becoming what some say is a jack of all trades but a master of none.

Pick your focus and be disciplined about going after it with your undivided attention.

Invest in a coach

Finally, write that check and send it off! You’re not just paying for services here, you are investing in yourself. It’s interesting the more money I’ve paid people in the past the more locked-in I was to the process. The same goes with clients I’ve worked with as well.

It’s human nature. This is where you really own it; your hard-earned dollars are in the game and nobody wants to see their money go to waste.

The money you invest should be a seed that you plant to reap you 10 times the amount of value you put in. If that happened; if you invested even a thousand dollars into a coaching process, and was able to generate ten thousand extra dollars that year I’d say everyone wins. That’s what you call ROI, and that’s what happens when you hire the right coach and you take action.

Have you hired any coaches lately? What has been your success with coaches and how do you ensure that you’re moving in the right direction with the right coach?



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