The Leashed Mind Podcast, Mental Health & Dog Training

Season 1 Finale: 10 Things I Wish I Knew Earlier

August 08, 2023 The Leashed Mind by Woof Cultr© Season 1 Episode 19
Season 1 Finale: 10 Things I Wish I Knew Earlier
The Leashed Mind Podcast, Mental Health & Dog Training
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The Leashed Mind Podcast, Mental Health & Dog Training
Season 1 Finale: 10 Things I Wish I Knew Earlier
Aug 08, 2023 Season 1 Episode 19
The Leashed Mind by Woof Cultr©

In this season finale, Mandy takes a step back to appreciate how far the podcast has come since the debut on April 4th, and dive into some profound lessons learned along the way. Join your host for this intimate one-on-one session where she shares 10 key things she wish she knew earlier as both a pet professional and business owner.

This episode is a deep dive into the wisdom gleaned from our experiences. Mandy highlights aspects often overlooked in training courses and mentorships, but crucial to running a successful pet business. Drawing from learnings at 'The Leashed Mind', 'Woof Cultr' and 'Digi Woof', we explore the nuances of pet professional businesses that could vastly improve career longevity.

So, buckle up and get ready for an episode packed with actionable insights and personal stories to help us bring season 1 to a close! 

Support the Show.

If you are new to The Leashed Mind Podcast, Mental Health & Dog Training then please don't forget to like, follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!
@theleashedmind on Instagram
@theleashedmind.pod on Facebook
@theleashedmind on YouTube

Support the show & help us continue making great content for listeners everywhere - cancel anytime, no commitment!

Think you might have some great advice, experience or story you'd like to share with our audience? Head on over to https://www.theleashedmind.com/ and scroll down to our guest application!

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Show Notes Transcript

In this season finale, Mandy takes a step back to appreciate how far the podcast has come since the debut on April 4th, and dive into some profound lessons learned along the way. Join your host for this intimate one-on-one session where she shares 10 key things she wish she knew earlier as both a pet professional and business owner.

This episode is a deep dive into the wisdom gleaned from our experiences. Mandy highlights aspects often overlooked in training courses and mentorships, but crucial to running a successful pet business. Drawing from learnings at 'The Leashed Mind', 'Woof Cultr' and 'Digi Woof', we explore the nuances of pet professional businesses that could vastly improve career longevity.

So, buckle up and get ready for an episode packed with actionable insights and personal stories to help us bring season 1 to a close! 

Support the Show.

If you are new to The Leashed Mind Podcast, Mental Health & Dog Training then please don't forget to like, follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!
@theleashedmind on Instagram
@theleashedmind.pod on Facebook
@theleashedmind on YouTube

Support the show & help us continue making great content for listeners everywhere - cancel anytime, no commitment!

Think you might have some great advice, experience or story you'd like to share with our audience? Head on over to https://www.theleashedmind.com/ and scroll down to our guest application!

10 Things with Mandy 

[00:00:07] Welcome back to the Leashed Mind Podcast, mental Health and Dog Training. I am your host, Mandy Boutelle. how are we done with season one like I am, I'm really having a hard time wrapping around my wrapping it around my head that we're already done with season one. This is the last episode of season one. 

[00:00:28] Season two will pick up. I'm hoping for some time, you know, mid to end of fall, somewhere around there if I can get all those episodes edited. and you guys are in for such a treat when you find out who is on season two, because if you thought the lineup for season one was awesome, whew, just wait for season two, it's gonna be even more epic. 

[00:00:51] Uh, but with that, I know a little mean of me to give you that teaser, not explain that, but you'll just have to wait until season two. but aside, [00:01:00] from really even getting into the episode yet, I just wanted to thank all of our followers, our listeners, subscribers, everyone that has shared posts tagged us, told us, personally what whatever me episode has meant to you, messaging me personally, sending me an email. 

[00:01:17] It means so much to me. I started this podcast on a whim. I, I myself got burnt out with Woof Cultr and was feeling like I wanted to do more for the pet professionals in general out there, because I feel like their mental health gets overlooked. It's something that I. 

[00:01:36] Greatly overlooked when I was heavy in the training and walking profession and, and being a business owner in that aspect. So it's something that I really wanted to talk about more and, and help others feel less alone in that journey because I think if we feel less alone in that journey, then we're going to slowly but surely gain more confidence in ourselves and [00:02:00] get reassured that it's okay to have these thoughts. 

[00:02:02] They're just thoughts. And you are doing this because you love animals. Yes. But you are also really wanting to improve the animal human connection. so that's why you chose us as your profession. you deserve to feel competent and like you deserve to be here because you do so. Aside from all that Sappiness, thank you guys so much for just, just all of the r plus with this podcast. 

[00:02:28] I'm very it. It's very reassuring in that I know that I am on the right path with this and that it is leading to something, even if it's just one person messaging me and telling me that they feel less alone in their mental health journey and their journey as a business owner. It's all I want, so thank you. 

[00:02:47] And I'm very excited to be wrapping up season one. I can't believe we're already here, like it's the end of June and the podcast officially launched, I think the trailer launched, sometime like mid [00:03:00] to end of March, and the first episode dropped April 4th. Now we're almost like, I think 18 episodes in. 

[00:03:08] Season one's done. I can't believe we're here, but I figured what better way to wrap up than just some one-on-one time. You and I really talking about 10 things I wish I knew as a business owner and as a pet professional because as when you take your training courses and mentorships or whatever, a lot of the times, Some of the things I'm gonna mention aren't really communicated a lot of the times, the courses that we take, it's heavily about the training and a little bit about instructing. 

[00:03:44] Tiny, tiny bit about. Being a business owner, but we don't really dig into it in, in what to expect in this list that I have in front of me. It's just things that I realized I really wish someone would've [00:04:00] told me in the beginning. And there're also just things that I've noticed could have helped my career Longevity. 

[00:04:08] For sure. and, and they're things that I absolutely, instill in my businesses now with The Leashed Mind, with Woof Cultr, with Digi Woof. Um, They're all things that I have, you know, I wasn't able to apply them to my training and my walking business, but I am able to apply them to this business. And I think that's why I enjoy what I do now so much, because I have learned from my mistakes and found ways to tune that into this business. 

[00:04:34] but yeah. So with that, let's start with number one, which is clear communication. And I guess number one and number two kind of go hand in hand. So number one is clear communication, and number two is boundaries with clients and work. So let's talk about clear communication and what I even mean by that, I mean that you need to spend a little time and think about how. 

[00:04:58] You want your clients to be able to [00:05:00] reach you how they want, how you want them to communicate with you. So that might be Facebook Messenger, that might be via email, that might be via like a Marco Polo app. Um, The ideas are endless. You can get a Google Business number so that they don't have your personal old number. 

[00:05:16] That's another thing with boundaries with clients, because I personally used to give clients my personal number and I deeply regretted it because then they always had access to me. Um, and so when I go through this list, you will notice there a lot of the topics they overlap and a lot of the bullet points, they kind of go into one another. 

[00:05:34] So, That was my point with this, is just helping you think overall of how you're taking care of yourself within your business. with the clear communication, thinking of how you want them to communicate with you first, how do you want them to reach you? How is that going to affect your mental health? 

[00:05:52] Do you wanna be having them pinging your phone all hours of the night? Are you okay with that? Are you okay with being on call? I'm [00:06:00] gonna assume not. Um, so, so keep that in mind. How do you want them to reach you and be able to communicate with you? And then so, Hours of when you are having that communication and when you are responding and when they can expect a response from you within a time window, um, certain days of the week, things like that. 

[00:06:19] And again, you guys are gonna notice that this kind of crosses over in, into the boundaries with clients and work because in order to preserve our mental bandwidth and keep it intact, we are needing to have these boundaries. Um, so clear communication number one. Boundaries with clients and work. Let's get into that a little bit more. 

[00:06:37] So A lot of the times, especially when you are a green trainer and you are just starting your business out, you need money. You need a source of income to live off of, especially if this is your main source of income. So of course, we. Just are. If you're not watching on YouTube, I am reaching my arms out, trying to just take all the clients in because [00:07:00] we just, we want everything. 

[00:07:01] We're hungry for money and experience and exposure and networking, so we are just taking on what we can at the moment. There's nothing wrong with that because we all gotta start somewhere, but I think it helps to have certain boundaries in place so that we are not jeopardizing our mental bandwidth. And in turn, Actually starting to resent what we do for a living because it's very easy to get there if we let it. 

[00:07:25] so boundaries with clients. I already talked about having the clear communication, how you wanna communicate when they can reach you windows of when you'll respond. Um hmm. I think those are all the main points with boundaries. I. I, I will say the biggest thing I wish I would've done in the beginning was not give out my personal number. 

[00:07:44] And that's something my husband will attest to as well. He wishes that he did not put his personal number on the website, on Yelp, on Google business, on the social media pages because then you're just getting, your personal phone is getting blown up and then it kind of [00:08:00] makes interacting on your phone a little aversive. 

[00:08:02] Um, for us that was the case. And it turned into always having our phone on vibrate or do not disturb because we just, we didn't wanna constantly get the messages, especially when we were not in our work hours, but it work was still communicating with us. So think of how you wanna have those boundaries in your business when it comes to communication, first of all, another is thinking of what you. 

[00:08:28] Will and will not take on as clients. That is another boundary to have in your business, whether that is, you will not work with specific locations. So for example, when we had our business, we lived in San Francisco and there were certain. 

[00:08:47] I guess you call that neighborhoods, there were certain neighborhoods in the city that they, whether they were too far or just, how do I say this nicely? They housed a [00:09:00] very specific snooty-tooty type of clientele. And while, yes, sometimes those clients do have the most money in their pockets and are willing to spend the most money and that money can pay your bills, it's not worth the sacrifice of your mental health. 

[00:09:18] Um, take it from someone who has, who worked with those types of clients and in turn, hated what I did because I was looked at as just, You know, the help I was, I was the dog trainer. They didn't wanna put the effort in, they just wanted me to do the work for them, and then somehow expected that to transfer over to their dog and, and, and them and their relationship. 

[00:09:43] So I guess what I'm saying with that is just really, you are allowed to be choosy about your clientele. You are allowed to. Pick who you want to work with. You do not need to, um, say yes to everyone. this is another bullet point on my list, is [00:10:00] that you can, you can, and you deserve to be selective with your business, whether you've been doing this for 20, 30, 10, 15, whatever years, or you are just starting out and. 

[00:10:13] You already have a sense of who you would not work with clientele wise, whether that's how they communicate, how they articulate their relationship with their dog, or just geographically, it's, it's too far for you whether you can't get there by bus car, or walking or biking. So those are different ways you can have boundaries in your business. 

[00:10:34] And I want you guys to come at it in a way of boundaries. Don't just mean communication. So, It's, it's thinking of different ways you want to filter your business and filter who gets to work with you because it's an honor to work with you and you don't need to say yes to everybody. I hope that sinks in and sits well with you guys. 

[00:10:55] Um, Oh, this is, I wanted to [00:11:00] make this one, number one, but I figured I needed to start with something more serious before I get a little fun with you guys. number three is, um, always having snacks handy. Now, some of you may snort and laugh at me when you hear that, but really having food handy on you. Is going to save your sanity so much. 

[00:11:22] I cannot tell you how quickly I learned that I needed to always have snacks, on my person or in my vehicle at all times. Because for me, I was running around San Francisco a lot, uh, in my, in my car, driving from client to client, bopping all around, and usually the drives were about 30 to 40 minutes between each client. 

[00:11:44] And then I'd have maybe a. 10, 15 minutes if I got there early to sit in my car and. If I didn't feed myself during the day, I would run out of brain power and kind of just be a little airheaded during the session and, and [00:12:00] feel out of it and head achy and, and snippy and short. And, you know, your clients are paying you for this time, so you deserve to show up to them. 

[00:12:09] Present and on it, and you are mentally there. Of course, not every day is going to be like that, but nourishing your body and feeding yourself really will help how you are showing up for your clients. Um, Ideas of snacks to have. So I always had a lunchbox or some type of cooler in my car that I kind of just kept stashed away. 

[00:12:31] And I always like replenished that with snacks throughout the week whenever I ran out. Um, even if that just meant like going to Costco and loading up on a bunch of easy snacks that are already pre-packaged, um, you know, you can get salads, you can get bars, you can get string cheese. Meat platters, like chips, whatever it is, just have some type of food that you can put in your face when you are starving and angry [00:13:00] and you feel yourself fading. 

[00:13:01] You need that energy. Things that I usually had packed. mind you, when, while I'm saying this, I was in my like mid to late twenties, so my diet wasn't the healthiest as it is now. But, applesauce packets, protein bars, snack bars, granola bars, um, cutting up things of fruit, having an apple, a nectarine, cherries, cutting up watermelon. 

[00:13:26] string cheese, salami, things that you can get by in bulk, and then just dish out and things. So I always used, uh, like old takeout containers. I would load those up with snacks. plastic baggies. Yeah. Things like that. nuts, protein, drinks, smoothies, whatever it is. Just have those things handy on you so that when you do feel that grumble in your stomach and you're like, oh my God, I, I didn't take the time to eat lunch today and now I'm starving and it's four o'clock and I have two more clients. 

[00:13:58] What am I gonna do? I feel [00:14:00] myself fading. You will be thankful for yourself when you have that like maybe slightly melted protein bar in your car door, cuz at least it's something. And with the snacks always have some type of hydration in your vehicle. I always had like a backup water bottle or a, like a jug that I would refill and leave in my car, on top of like my regular water bottle that I would carry to client's houses with me. 

[00:14:25] so hydration and some type of snacks in your vehicle, in your bag on your person. At all times, it will help, especially for those of us that are neurodivergent and, and we don't think to feed ourselves in a routine, timely manner. Having snacks that are quick and easy to reach for are so helpful. a lot of the times I would just load up my lunchbox with like, any snacks I could grab, fruit snacks, nuts, crackers, cheese, salami, a applesauce [00:15:00] packet, protein bar. 

[00:15:01] I'd have all those things. And then like, maybe a pb and j. and, and just having 'em like in the moment I'd be like, I'm not going to eat that. But if I got hungry and tired enough, I would eat that because it would give me energy. so just finding things that are easy for you to grab, easy for you to prep and having them. 

[00:15:19] In your vehicle or in your training bag is really going to make a difference. When you are getting those hunger bands, you're feeling yourself fading. Feed yourself food is the most important thing when it comes to your energy and your mental bandwidth and being able to show up for your clients. So feed yourself, bring snacks. 

[00:15:39] Um, that was number three. let's see here. Number four is don't overload yourself. Space things out. So I know it's very easy, especially when some of us are just starting our businesses or we hit a busy window, busy season in our business, it's very easy to front load and take on everything all at once. 

[00:15:59] [00:16:00] So, but then we don't schedule it out timely. Then we get really burnt out and somehow we have to really put our head down and force ourselves to get through the work. When we just may not have the spoons and we are tired, we might need a nap. We might need to like sit down and close our eyes for like 30 minutes because it's just too much visually and on our brains, but we can't. 

[00:16:24] Give ourselves that time if we're overbooked and overloaded. I've been there. I've done it to myself. Again, I am made this list because no one told me these things in the beginning and I just did it to myself. So I am sharing this so that you guys aren't. If you are doing it to yourselves, don't beat yourselves up about it, but maybe find little ways where you can go, oh, okay, well maybe that wasn't the most productive thing to do for myself. 

[00:16:48] Maybe I don't need to have five, six clients in one day. What Mandy used to do that? Yes, I did. I used to do that. it was exhausting. before I got [00:17:00] into training full-time, I dog walked twice a day. Six to eight dogs at a time, at an off leash park. but that was a lot. It was draining. And then when I did that, I converted to doing it part-time. 

[00:17:13] So I would have like a morning group that I would walk and then I would go train dogs. so again, don't overload yourself. I know we all need money and we all need a source of income. But again, this is, number eight on the list, which is pay yourself well. So again, if you won't have to overload yourself and 

[00:17:35] take on so many clients in such a small window, if you are paying yourself well. So, you know, look at what your competitors are paying, are charging if they have their prices listed and. You are allowed to try charge within that ballpark, within that same range, if not a little higher, if you have more certifications than them, but charge your worth because you deserve to have a living wage. 

[00:17:58] You deserve to charge that living [00:18:00] wage so that you are not needing to take on side jobs. and I, I feel like it really does say something because people do compare prices so, Do you want clients that are bargain hunting or do you want clients that you know, okay, they understand and, and can make sense of your pricing. 

[00:18:20] When you have the certifications you have, you are dedicated to your business and you dedicate specific timelines and windows, and you have a great way of how you operate your business. The right clients are going to appreciate that. So, yeah, charge your worth. Pay yourself well, and don't overload yourself. 

[00:18:39] Space things out. what number are we on here? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. We're on number five. Okay. So take a lunch break. What I just learned to start taking lunch breaks, like, like really taking lunch breaks. So, End of last year, so like mid to end of 2022. Otherwise, I would say, [00:19:00] okay, I'll eat while I answer emails or I'll eat while I work on this design. 

[00:19:04] No, that is not recharging. You are not giving yourself time to like just be. Out of work, brain, sit down, eat your lunch. I know not all of us have that flexibility in our schedule, but find the time. Even if it's, you know, 10 more minutes than you did the day before, maybe it's, um, you prep things on, you know, one of your days off so that you have a way of having that lunchtime. 

[00:19:33] Just give yourself time to decompress from whatever it is you're working on and feed yourself. You do not need to multitask as much as us. We, we love to do that. Give yourself the time to eat. Read a book, be outside. Just take the time for yourself. Minimum of let's say 30 minutes. If you can do that, if you can't do that, 15, work your way up. 

[00:19:57] But you deserve that time to just [00:20:00] take a breath, eat your lunch, nourish your body so that your brain can get the power it needs to continue on with your day. It's okay. Taking that 15, 30 minutes, hour for yourself is not going to change your schedule that much. and it takes time. It's a learning skill. 

[00:20:18] I know that. Okay, let's see. Number six here. You do not need to be on call. You don't, you do not need to be on call. like I said, this is going to circle back into the clear communication and the boundaries with clients and not overloading yourself. Do you guys see what I'm doing here? 

[00:20:35] So you don't need to be on call at all times. Again, this is something where you can have a Google business number. In your business so that your clients do not have your personal number and you're not on call at all hours of the night getting text messages at 10, 11, 12 at night when you're supposed to be decompressing, answer things during work hours unless it is an actual emergency.[00:21:00]  

[00:21:00] I can guarantee you that 95% of the time it's not an actual, actual like ER emergency or something traumatic happened. It's usually something that's like really quick and can get answered the following day. So you do not need to be on call. You deserve to have your downtime too. You need to recharge. 

[00:21:21] Number seven is schedule your time off well in advance, either end of the year or the beginning of the year. So this is something that my husband and I always did when we had our walking business. And then when we went to training full-time, same situation, we always would sit down at either at the end of the year or the beginning of the year and we would, we were so, so the way we did it is that we. 

[00:21:48] New, typically the like slower business periods we had where clients, you know, would go out of town, maybe their kids were out of school and so they would take the [00:22:00] dog and go on vacation. They didn't need walks, they didn't need training sessions, whatever. We, it's very easy once you start looking at the calendar to gauge when people take, typically take off for holidays or whatever. 

[00:22:13] And you can figure out your time off within that so that you're not missing out on income. Because something we had done before we noticed this was that clients would take certain times of the year off and then we would, you know, like I said, I'd be, I'd walk six to eight dogs at a time. There were times where I'd have like two or three dogs on a walk and it's like, okay, well for like a week. 

[00:22:37] Yeah, because people would go on, a lot of clients would leave the city and go on vacation. and we didn't think or plan for that. And then it's like, okay, well, walking two dogs, I could have just taken this week off and taken the time for myself and then come back to my full work schedule so that I'm not hurting for money. 

[00:22:57] so being able to plan around that, and you [00:23:00] can always. To generally tell. It's, I don't know if anyone has noticed this, but slow periods are always around, before school starts. So like August, September, there's always that lull. And then I'd say third week of September or so, it picks back up. 

[00:23:17] Always. I, I'm very good at guesstimating this because I've. Realize this over the years, there's always that slow period, and then there's another slow period that is just after the holidays when everyone has spent their money and they don't have the money to be spending on training and walking and holidays and taking time off and spending time with family. 

[00:23:36] That second lull is usually from February to March. So if you are able to fine. Tune your business and figure out ways to offset that. Maybe that is you have certain virtual classes available during that time, or people can buy packages in advance. Or maybe it really is just you saying, okay, this is gonna be this [00:24:00] slow period. 

[00:24:00] Maybe I actually give myself a week off so that I can like come back and recover and plan and get ahead of the game. So, I hope that made sense, but yes. So figure out time and windows for yourself, typically in your slow periods when you wanna take that time off. It doesn't even mean that you need to go take a tropical vacation, cuz I know a lot of us can't afford that right now. 

[00:24:24] I myself cannot afford that. I haven't taken a vacation since 2019. I know because that was the last vacation I had. But it can be a staycation. It can just be that you hang out at home and you don't work. Maybe you start a new project, maybe you start a new hobby. Whatever it is, do something that is taking your brain off of work that is relaxing and recharging so that you can fill your cup and then come back stronger after that slow period. 

[00:24:52] so going back to number eight, which I mentioned when I was talking about, number five and six, pay yourself well. [00:25:00] So you deserve to have a living wage. If you are going to do this full time and you're not taking on side jobs, you deserve to have a living wage and charge yourself well. You have spent the time getting the certifications, taking the courses, collecting your CEUs, continuing your education. therefore you should be charging what that is worth. All that time and money you are investing into your education to better your skillset, charge what you are worth. You deserve it. Absolutely. number nine is you can be selective. So again, you are allowed to be selective with your clientele. I know in the beginning, Or if we're really hurting for money and we're feeling stressed, sometimes we don't have that luxury. 

[00:25:42] I acknowledge that and I have been there myself. I get it. I know it. I feel it. I, I, I get it. But there will be a certain point in your career where you notice you can be selective and you can start to niche down maybe when you're first starting, or maybe you're thinking of pivoting your [00:26:00] business in a way. 

[00:26:00] And you're like, Ooh, maybe I wanna niche down, but I don't know what I want to specifically niche down to. That's okay. Maybe you just eliminate one thing that you don't like training, but maybe you know another trainer in your area or someone that offers training virtually that's really good at it. 

[00:26:19] Refer out to them. Stop taking on that one training thing you don't like. And see if it lightens the load. See if you're like, wow, okay. I really am happy that I don't have to take on, you know, for, I'm just spit balling here, but like I'm really happy I don't have to take on reactivity clients. I didn't like working with that, or I didn't really like working with puppies and it's so nice to refer that out and know that I can refer that out and I don't have to take that. 

[00:26:43] So you can be selective. It doesn't mean that you need to, I. Have these walls of like, I'm not gonna work with these kind of people. I'm not gonna take on these kind of clients. I'm not gonna cater to these neighborhoods. You can, but that may limit your source of [00:27:00] revenue and your income. So maybe it's just taking those little tiny steps of, okay, I don't wanna work with puppies. 

[00:27:06] I don't wanna do basic obedience. And then maybe that'll help filter down to what you do want to be more selective with. and having a good client intake system will help you in being selective and getting, you know, weeding through the client that you're not gonna gel with. The communication may not be there. 

[00:27:25] You guys just may not have the same views, same approach, whatever it is. If you have a good intake system and forms that really ask questions in a way where, you know, you'll get a specific answer from the potential client. Do it, you deserve that. Um, and it's not that hard to set that up so that it's just one automatic step that's gonna help weed through and filter through potential clients so that you are able to work with the clients that you will gel with and have good communication with. 

[00:27:56] And then point number 10, I'm getting winded here. Point [00:28:00] number 10 is just, see, I actually, I had a list. I wrote it out. but point number 10 is just make your business, your business. that sounds loaded, Mandy. Well, it kind of is, so I. I think a lot of the times we allow others' opinions of, uh, us, our businesses, who we are professionally, to take more space than it deserves. 

[00:28:25] And sometimes we'll get into our own heads thinking, okay, well if someone's doing their business this way, does that mean I need to do my business this way? No, you make it yours. And that's just like what I was saying with the client intake process. Maybe you have it set up in a way so that it helps you really weed through your clientele and so that you are very specific with who you will work with, what kind of clientele you will take on and. 

[00:28:52] You know, the boundaries, the communication. How do you work with clients? Do you only work virtually? Do you only work in [00:29:00] person? Do you do both? Do you work four days outta the week? Do you work five days outta the week? I'm pointing at the screen right now. You better not be working six days a week because you deserve two days off, whether they're in a row or not, you deserve two days off, so I'm not gonna allow you to work six days a week. 

[00:29:15] But just it's more about making it your own and how do you want it to reflect to others? I. And I think the Smart Bitch episode, I believe that's episode six where Jio and Taylor from Smart Bitch come on. And they really make it clear how they operate their business. And I think the way in which they do that is a great example of how to make your business your own. 

[00:29:41] Because the way they are choosing to navigate their business and set it up, it's working for them so well And I. Think everyone would benefit from listening to that episode with Jio and Taylor from Smart Bitch, because that will absolutely help you shift your perspective and think, okay, well [00:30:00] if they're doing it this way, I can absolutely make those fine tune adjustments to make my business my own. 

[00:30:05] Because again, you can be starting brand new, you can be doing this for X amount of years, whatever it is. You deserve to have your business be your own. It's your business. You are investing so much time and money and blood and sweat, and tears. Into this, that it, it needs to be yours. It doesn't need to be how someone else has it because no, just like people, no business is going to be the same. 

[00:30:29] It's going to be unique to you and how you wanna operate it. So with that, I hope that you guys really benefited from my 10 things I wish I knew as a business owner and pet professional. I'm sure there are so many other things we can add to this, but these were all just kind of really front of mind and. 

[00:30:46] Tip of the iceberg of really focusing on how you wanna operate your business and take care of yourself in the process. 

[00:30:52] That's it. We're done with season one. I can't believe it. So, wow. Wow. I can't believe this is the last episode of season one. It's a little bittersweet, [00:31:00] but it's also. It feels like it's coming full circle. I really hope you find some benefit in this. And thank you so much for supporting the Leashed Mind Podcast and just making me feel like this is the right step to be taking. 

[00:31:14] I'm so excited to see so many awesome professionals out there talking about their mental health, prioritizing their mental health, and most importantly, not feeling alone in their journey, cuz they aren't. You aren't. You're not, All right. Hmm. It's a little sad. I'm not gonna talk to you guys for a couple months, but catch up on all the episodes from season one. 

[00:31:33] I'm gonna put out a few little bonus tidbits here and there between now and season two, And if you like what we're doing here at the Leashed Mind Podcast, Mental Health and Dog training, please feel free to follow us on social media. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, follow us wherever you get your podcasts. Like Share with a Friend. Just give a little r plus. And in the meantime, season two will be [00:32:00] dropping. 

[00:32:00] Late October, 2023. So between now and then, you have time to catch up on season one and make sure you listen to all the episodes so that you are ready for season two with us. Thank you guys so much for listening to the podcast.

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