In this episode of the Mind Your Own Dog Business Podcast, Kristen Lee & Emily Nolan sit down and have a brutally honest conversation about getting your shit together when it comes to hiring in your dog training business because getting your shit together when it comes to bringing in employees isn't as easy as posting a job, hiring, and throwing someone into an onboarding process.
It's nuanced as fuck and can wreak HAVOC on any dog business when you don't have the systems in place for hiring in your dog training business and managing employees as a dog trainer.
We cover:
REGISTER for our live, Get Your Shit Together Webinar on Wednesday, May 24th at 5 pm EST.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LdoVz4rcSDSNpvoRr0SZ5A
Episode Links:
In this episode of the Mind Your Own Dog Business Podcast, Kristen Lee & Emily Nolan sit down and have a brutally honest conversation about getting your shit together when it comes to hiring in your dog training business because getting your shit together when it comes to bringing in employees isn't as easy as posting a job, hiring, and throwing someone into an onboarding process.
It's nuanced as fuck and can wreak HAVOC on any dog business when you don't have the systems in place for hiring in your dog training business and managing employees as a dog trainer.
We cover:
REGISTER for our live, Get Your Shit Together Webinar on Wednesday, May 24th at 5 pm EST.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LdoVz4rcSDSNpvoRr0SZ5A
Episode Links:
You're listening to the Mind Your Own Dog Business podcast. I'm your host leading expert in dog business strategics Kristin Lee. Guys, get ready for your journey. Your journey to cutting edge marketing and sales, creating a standout kick ass dog business brand, along with mastering your mindset that's gonna smash all this glass ceilings that have been holding you back and catapult your dog misses to the next level with actionable steps. You can take right away. We're going to empower you. We're going to grow you as you step into your authentic self, not only as a dog trainer, dog walker, or whatever slice of the pet industry you find yourself in, but as that badass entrepreneur, my mission is to disrupt the current norm. Cut through the noise, cut through the bullshit, and empower the incredible women of the dog business industry to step into the spotlight, reclaim control, and transform not only their businesses, but their lives. It's real, it's raw, it's uncensored, and it's what this dog business industry needs. Let's do this guys. Hey everybody. Welcome to this episode of Getting Your Shit Together on the Mind Your Own Dog Business podcast. I have. Fucking Emily Nolan here today. Emily has been my savior in dog with school when it comes to actually helping our higher level clients manage their facilities and also their employees. So today's episode is all about getting your shit together when it comes to employee stuff. Emily, welcome. Thank you so much, and hi Kristen. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Um, um, so, um, before we hop on and get like really deep into this, do you wanna give a little bit of your experience in like, leading, like a management team? Well, leading an organization, employee, employee stuff. Yeah. So I, I have run several teams and, uh, over the years I think that, like, I always fell into leadership roles my whole life. But most significantly at this point, we have a team of 15 and a management team of four. Um, The company, our facility, it's a dog training boarding daycare company, um, brick and mortar. Is run, staff run. So it has, I have oversight of the leadership team, but they are doing the work of like client care, dog care training, all of the above. So if that is a dream of yours to get to that place, then we have insight on how to do that and it is achievable. And I think a lot of people that are in some sort of. Whatever, um, level of, you know, having employees at whatever level they're at, you kind of feel like it can feel like you're really stuck and they're not as helpful as you wish they were. Mm. Um, and sometimes it can feel like a lot more work and that's not the reason why we have employees. We have employees to take work off of us and to make our lives easier. And so we have some tips for you on that, I think today. Yeah, sis, I think what you described is like every, like entrepreneur's dream of like having a. Like an employee led fucking organization because it seems like it's such a like a far away thing away. And it's like, I feel like a lot of dog trainers especially get so heavily invested in the emotions of running a team and everything. So what we're gonna do today with Emily is what people need to do to get their shit together when it comes to hiring and managing. So, Emily, do you wanna kick it off like, What do people need to do to get their shift together when it comes to like hiring first and foremost? Sure. Yeah. So I think, well, I'm gonna talk about a couple things. One is I, what, what we see a lot are, um, Business owners and dog trainers that are at a level where they're just so overworked in all these different facets and they think, oh my God, I can't get it all done. And the first thing that they think is, I need an another me. I need another person just like me, you. And that is a false thought, uh, in my opinion, that if you are looking at, I need a replica of myself, you are. Basically, um, gonna have your heart broken cuz it's an impossibility. Mm-hmm. And you actually don't want that. And I could go into reasons why, but just take my word for it. You know, what you need is very clear systems, very clearly defined roles and uh, very clear processes. And you need to bring people in that are gonna support you. Take things off of your plate, open up the free spaces for you to do more of what you love. And that comes with an. Kind of like, think about it as intentional design around staffing. Um, unfortunately you get to a place where you are so stressed and maxed out and you think any help is good and you put someone in, but when you have no plan, you're just, they're walking into the same like bees nest that you're living in. Yeah. And usually those relationships go south, not all the time, but a lot of the time. And the way that they go south are many examples of that would be you quickly, um, You quickly raise an entitled employee that thinks that they have control over the business that comes from a place of stress and burnout, where you are, uh, like, please help me with everything. And, and you are like kind of overly needy for the help. And then you, oh, we lost her first, second or two maybe where they think that they run the show. Oh, did, did you lose me? I'm so sorry. No, you're still here. You're still here. Here. Go ahead. Oh, so that's one way that it goes south is you create an entitled employee. And I promise you that's gonna be a, give you a whole host of headaches in the future. The other thing is that you have people that are ready to come take what they want and steal from you because you have no clear boundaries within the business. And then the third is you have an employee that's just really a drain, a baby, a needy baby that, um, is actually. Requiring more from you, more emotional work and actual work and, and they're not really a help at all. And now they're kind of like this expense that you have to keep up with and you're like, why did I even get in this? So all of those things come from not having clear systems in place, not having clear boundaries in yourself, not understanding what it means to lead a team and not going into hiring with intention. Yeah, I think there's like this misconception, especially in the dog training industry and the pet industry all around. It's like, cool, you have a need because A, like you're, like you said, you're tired, you're burnt out, you're stressed, you need to scale, you know, whatever. And so you put the job posting up and then it's like this whole like thing around of just like, okay, we get the right person in and then we onboard them and then everything should be hunky dory and yeah, you're all, your problems are solved. So what I hear you saying is a lot more fucking complex than that. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. This is not a quick fix thing, but if you do it right, and I wanna tell everybody this, I love having employees. Every time I hear a dog trainer or business owner of any kind say, I'll never work with anybody. I think that that's a huge blind spot in the potential for their business. Um, I love working with employees. If you do it right, it is a blessing that will give back to you over and over and over again. But you gotta get real with it, and you have to be on your shit. Yeah. What would you say? Like what, what does that look like? Like, you don't have to give like all the details, but like what is Sure. Getting on your shit on and getting your shit together when it comes to this type of stuff. You need to have, so, and this is where having a coach or just even a consult with somebody as an outside perspective will give you some really good insight of where you need to hire first. Because a lot of you think that you wanna replicate one thing and, and most dog trainers go, I need to get another dog trainer. But they're not actually. Um, and this gets a little bit, I don't wanna get in the weeds too much with this description. That's where their brain goes first, because that's how they think about the business always. Support that's needed, and if they were able to give support into different areas. Sometimes it's a front end office person, sometimes it's a kennel tech or you know, house cleaner or somebody that's gonna take some of the things off of their plate. So a lot of times what we do is we have this idea, again, going back to I wanna replicate myself. It's a huge role that's saying, I need, I need another person that's capable of doing it all. You're not gonna find that person. Yeah. And you could build someone into that, but you're not gonna just hire them off the street. So what you need to look at is, Hiring with intention is, what are some things that I need to get off, may plate it right away, make a list of that, and then what job is that? And then hire for that. So a pa personal assistant, a front end office assistant. These are all roles, uh, like a, you know, a kennel hand or a junior trainer or a trainer assistant, something on that low level because, um, and then write a clear description of what that person would be doing. And again, I know I always push working with a coach, but I think when we're going into these territories, yeah, it's just good to have some outside eyes, but this is where someone will help you really get aligned with what that is. You're gonna write out that description, a really clear intention of this is everything that person can do. We feel so burdened by our own jobs and that they feel so complicated to us that it's like, how could I even bring somebody in to explain the nuance of the way that I train and I train so amazing and nobody else does it like me, and I don't want some bullshit trainer. I don't want you to have some bullshit trainer. In fact, please don't hire a trainer. Mm-hmm. Hire a person that's going to support your business, that can become a trainer potentially, if that's the direction you're going, and then create a game plan around how that role is gonna support you. But one thing that happens, oh, I'm sorry if I'm, is that, go ahead on that first question. Okay. No, go ahead. Keep going, keep going. One thing that happens often is that, um, We also think, oh my God, this is my saving grace. They're gonna come in and they're gonna immediately help us. And then when that doesn't happen, our heart sinks. Well, I'm actually here to tell you something. A well hired employee that's walking into a well designed role, I. Will supply immediate help. But if you're not experiencing that with your hiring, that's because there's a problem on your end, not on their end. Mm-hmm. So there should be a baseline of things that somebody can do and take off your plate, and you should stairstep that into greater and greater responsibility as that employee proves themselves. And then you're going to bring them through a training process that is. A relief, not a stress. We often get complaints from facility owners where they say, I don't have time to hire an employee. To me, what that means is you don't know how to train in a way that works with the systems that you have in place, and you need to learn how to train in a way that I would always love to have somebody next to me ready to do the work with me because there's always something they can do and they should always be learning. But if you can't think like. Hold bees nest in your head. Then you need to get that bees nest figured out first. Bring in the people, bring in the systems and processes. So I hope that was a really long answer, but no, that's actually a really good one. Cause like No, that's a really good one because a lot of times like when people come to us and they're like, oh my God, I need to hire a trainer. It's like, why? Like you have to ask yourself why. And like you said, it's like, no, I don't recommend doing that. Like where in your life can you outsource and like hire out? And like you said, like it could start with a freaking personal assistant. It could be somebody who actually like goes and picks up your meal prep. It could be somebody that picks up your phone for you or fields your emails. You know, in the beginning where it doesn't necessarily have to be a trainer to train the dog because I feel like that too puts a lot of pressure on the dog trainer as well. Like you, the business owner, to get a person up to code and up to standards, to your training levels. And I see a lot of people, and there's also a lot of risk when it comes to that too. Cause like you said, like in entitle employees, people that would steal your clients or people that become over overly rely on you and become, um, you know, IOR babies with that type of stuff. And absolutely Kristen. And then also I, I want you guys to understand that you have some work to do to learn how to present and manage a staff. If you haven't been doing this for a long time, don't think you're gonna walk into it. And it's gonna be a cake walk, because that hu like the soft skills of clear communication, accountability boundaries. Go, go, go, go, go. I want you to go into this. Please, please, please, please. Those things go overlooked. They're a top down. Um, Thing in each organization. So if you see really healthy, clear employees that are motivated and professional, that means that you have an employer that knows how to translate that and has a really high standard that they hold. We often think that we are gonna, you know, do great in that arena until we're put in the arena and then we realize that we have, or hopefully we realize we have blind spots. Or worse, you don't realize you have blind spots and you keep blaming it on everyone else. So, Bringing in an employee and then like kind of over-inflating their role into this big thing. It, it hurts your business in the long run because you as the employer, don't have the skills to manage that person. So I would suggest bringing in a lower level employee into a junior role of something and then really starting to see how do I feel about managing it. You would be surprised how many people have a hard time. Figuring out how to pay someone and when to not pay someone, like going into one, wanting to like overpay for minimal work. Being afraid to ask the employee to go back and do something again the right way. Being afraid of all any kind of confrontation whatsoever, or also like letting. Stress and resentment buildup. And then over-correcting the person and being too kind of micromanaging and too militant, not finding that middle ground. Those are skills that come from you and you. So when you get good at these things, and these are soft skills, like I said, but they're m massively valuable. When you get really good at them, you feel like you can take any old lump of cl. Play and turn it into a, you know, beautiful sculpture. At this point in my career, I feel like even a mediocre employee, I can make a good employee and a good employee. I can make a great employee because I know what I'm doing. So, That those skills have to come from you first. You are not going to find gems, diamonds in the rough, maybe once or twice in your whole career. You will. And honestly, they come with their own set of issues too, because keeping those people happy and keeping them committed to you is a whole different set of soft skills, by the way. Cuz there's no reason why they, they, they at some point will realize I can do better than working for somebody. So you, so you need to find these okay to good. And then you make those ones great and you do that through really, really good systems. Just like with dogs, by the way. Yeah, I was gonna say that the parallels to like the dog training stuff with employee stuff is like incredible. Like, I'm like, I'm like, oh yeah, just like dog training. Yeah. I think that's the thing that a lot of people like. When they go into hiring and like, listen, I'm not a hiring person. I'm not an employee person. This is why we have Emily on our team. I mean, I'm like, Emily, just take it with any of our clients that like have, you know, management stuff is like, there's this whole thing in this indu in the industry alone as like a contractor or you know, a W2 full-time employee. It's gonna like solve all your business woes. And it's like if you don't have, like you said, those soft skills. In order to actually effectively manage somebody, it's really fucking hard. I mean, like a lot of people in this industry do not like confrontation. And here's the thing, if you are gonna have employees in your business, you are going to have some level of confrontation at some point, right? Because we are fucking people. Yeah. You have to learn how to have a real conversation like an adult. I mean, and I hate to say it, that's hard work. It's, it's hard work. I don't, I know people that are in their fifties that don't know how to have clear, direct communication, non-reactive communication, you know? Yeah. So they're E, where they're not either A, avoiding the problem cuz I just can't deal with it. Or B, being too reactive to like, and I came from that. So I feel like if you wanna liken me to something, I was the reactive dog. That learned how to have better impulse control. I wasn't the scared dog that was running away that had to learn how to be more confident. A lot. I think that there's a bigger challenge on that end, but either way, you're, you're never gonna make it with staff if you can't get to a calm, neutral place where you're like showing good, calm, decisive leadership. Not like crazy manic, scared, overworked leadership. Yeah. Well, you know, Emily, I wanna talk about like leadership and like building leadership and authority not, and I say I don't say that like authority like a dick, but like really like the whole management aspect of leadership and authority with your staff. Can you kind of talk about that a little bit? Like how to start, like start leading with that type of stuff? Because we've seen so many people Yes. That have had staff that overstaff or have staff and they get so stuck into employee drama. Yes. And they're like, it's almost like they're, you're not on the same level. Like if you are a manager, like you have to remember like, yeah, you can be a cool person, like with your people, but you also have to have a sense of leadership and authority with your people as well. And I feel like a lot of people get stuck like in the mix with their employees as friends. Yes. Yeah. And I see that too, Kristen, where, um, so inherently as a human, we possess this need to. We might say something or do something that creates someone, like, causes someone to dislike our actions. And so when we're in these little dynamics with our employees, a lot of family dynamics that are really deeply embedded in us come out the core to having a good team. Well, uh, you know, this is what I say a lot to managers, respect is the language of love. So you need to first create respect, show it to them, and expect it on your end. And then from that comes love and comes trust and comes like a safe space, if you will, if you wanna use those words. But truly where a person can show up and show you and deliver the best of their ability and learn from you and take your feedback and you know, you can have all of those wonderful, warm, cozy feelings that you wanna have with your staff. It starts with respect. I would say the same thing with the dog. So you come into the situation going and how do you create. That. How do you create respect and trust? You're very clear about what you want. That doesn't change. You know, I need you to show up at this time. I need you to do these things. I'm gonna pay you on this day. Here's what we, here's how we act here. Here's how we look here. Here's what we're the expectations for how you pace your time and you're clear and you're upfront about it from the beginning. We don't come into relationships with the person or the dog that we're training going, how do you wanna do it today? What do you wanna work on today? Mm-hmm. Are you interested in training today? Or would you like to get on the couch today? When you start your relationships with your staff like that? You create insecurity, you instill insecurity in them immediately. And through that insecurity you have a totally imbalanced relationship where often we're pandering to our staff because what will happen is you'll start to grow a team that you need because you're growing the business to, you wanna have a kennel, you need that kennel tech. You wanna have a dog walking company that spans the whole city. You need several walkers that walk in different districts. Well, as soon as you need them. But you started the relationship. Uh, unclear way. You are fucked because you're going to continue to, and you can never be enough. Pander and pander and pander more and more and more to that. Need for them. It's like getting in a toxic relationship. Yeah, it is. Um, because you're like, fuck, don't leave me because if you leave me, there's no one that's gonna let the dogs out at night. There's no one that's gonna walk the dogs in the city, whatever. It's, and you're like, I'm so screwed. And whether they realize it or not, they pick up on it intuitively and it messes up the whole dynamic. So. You have to hire with an intentional plan, and you have to de, you have to expect respect from the beginning. And the way that you, the way that you get respect is you give it. And the way that you give respect is you show up in the role that you are in. I'm the boss of this company, here's what I need from you. And you're very clear and you have follow through. That's how you get respect. It's not by letting them do, make their own choices. Just like with the dog, if you said, Hey, we're gonna do this. Walk how you want it. The dog is not going to respect you, and it's going to then actually resent the pressure you're putting on them. Well, it's the same with the people, and yet for some reason we think it's different. Yeah. Well, I think too, it's like more of that active leadership role and like the active respect of it. Because like what I see a lot of people doing, especially like as they go into employees, right? So they go in, they fill a need, whatever they hire, yada yada, they have onboarding and it's like, cool, read the manual. And then that's really, that's where the it ends, right? And then they're like, what the hell's happening? When they're noticing like employees or. Fucking around on the job. They're, they're not keeping a higher standard. They're calling out late. They're not, or they're not like training the dogs to spec or cleaning to specification. They're not bringing things or the communication is not being brought to you. It's be, it's just with the employees. Right. And like what I hear you saying, like, in order to get your shit together, like with managing people, it's like you have to take an active leadership role, an active respect role, and actively ask for that respect back as the manager, as the leader of the organization. Yeah. Nail on the head there because, um, a lot of times we let little things go early when those were the, those were the opportunities for coaching. Yes. And then you cr you're creating a bigger ticking time bomb in the future that you have to clean up and, you know, sometimes you can, I've cleaned up people later on, but it's a lot harder. It is, it's a lot harder. Absolutely is. Yeah. I even like with dogma school week, we've had some PAs that haven't worked out and it was because, you know, I know there's, you know, other aspects of it, but like in the beginning, cuz I wasn't, like, I didn't wanna, you know, be confrontational cause they're helping me out with my life. You know what I mean? I. Like it, it turned into a cluster fuck at the end every single fucking time because I didn't confront or actively communicate to 'em in a clear displace manner of like, listen, this is not cool. I should have coached you around this. And I didn't do it right Because I'm like, okay, cool. Maybe next time we can try it again. You know what I mean? And I've seen it happen like over and over. And as being from the receiving end as a manager like that, it fucking sucks. And it's hard when you have to fucking fire somebody or you start to build resentment up cause you're like, okay, maybe they can get their shit together or whatnot. So, and they don't, oh, let's talk about firing. Yes. Let's talk about firing. Yeah. This is a thing that I stand true. Yes. You should never have to, this is gonna sound weird. You should never have to fire somebody. Every employee that ever leaves your organization fires themselves. And if you're having to actively fire somebody and like are pulling the rug out from under them in any way, or it feels that way, you fucked up somewhere along a, a lot of times you fucked up a lot of times. Now, how could that be true? Well, if you were doing your job along the way of managing that employee and you were saying, listen, this is what we do. The expectations are you do this. There's no gray area here. They, whatever it is, they're late. That's an easy one. They're late once, there's no gray area here. You can't do that. They're late. Again. I'm writing you up. There's no gray area here. You can't do that. You go the second, that second time you go if you're late again. You. You can't continue to work here because a requirement of working here is being on time. They're late a third time. Do you fire them or did they choose to fire themselves? The latter. They chose it themselves and they already know. You don't have to do anything. You can say, Hey, remember how we had that conversation where we don't, we can't be late, and the people that work here have to be on time. Unfortunately, you chose not to be here on time. Again, thusly, you chose not to work here. I have nothing to do with it. It's outta my hands. You made these choices, but when you don't, Manage the employee along the way, that's when you're going, all of a sudden you're like having to cut off a, a rotting leg in the organization and it's really painful for everybody, including yourself, and it really creates a lot of like chaos. Yeah. Those people walk in and they walk right out. The ones that aren't a good fit because I go, Hmm, we can't do it that way, and if I still see you doing it that way, it's not gonna be a good fit. They, they know before I know. Cuz they're, they know that they're either gonna change or they're not. Yeah, and then they make their own decision and see how empowering that is for you and for them when you go, oh my God, I don't have this burden of, and I say this to say, Often with hiring too. We hire someone in and we feel like we, we've just gotten into a long-term committed relationship and there's no way to get out of it. That's not true. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You need to self-power that person to go, here's the rules of working in this place. Please hold yourself to these rules and it can be a good work environment. And when they don't, you go, okay, it's not a good fit because you decide, because you're not able to follow these guidelines. It's not personal. But when we mean it, when, when it's personal, that's when we get into this big fear of like, oh my God, I've gotta fire this person. Or, oh my God, I've gotta whatever. And all of this is emotional distress that keeps you in a really toxic space with your employees. Yeah, I was gonna say it's like kind of like a codependent, toxic relationship. Yes. You're like, yes. I, I've been there with my employees before. I, I don't know. I'm just saying, yeah. I had to learn. Yeah. Yeah, that's crazy. And that's the thing, it's like, I think there's so much nuance when it comes to that, and this is why we're like, yeah, when it comes to employee stuff, like don't fuck around with that type of shit like, Get, even just fucking call us, like to get a consult on this. Like if you're like, you know what, I'm struggling, or all this sounds like me, like, get in touch with us. Like we'll hook you up with Emily and she'll fucking tell you the truth. And she'll lay out like a system and a process and like kind of guide you on this because like the longer it's, you call it like gang green, it's like the longer you keep these like toxic relationships in your business around like the more it's gonna fucking like poison you. It's like poisoning the well and everything else like that. That's right. Oh, Emily. I think people need to get their shit together when it comes to employees, especially in the dog training industry. Well, let me give you guys a, just a, a glimpse of the future if you have, if you do this legwork, which is not as hard as it sounds like it is, yeah. Uh, and you really commit to learning this, you realize that you can do anything that you want in any business. So, And like I would make a joke, like at some point when I started to get good at this, I was like, if someone comes near me, I know exactly how to put them to work. You know, like it just, it's like you get so good at kind of that organizing your brain around running a team. Mm-hmm. And it feels really easy and there's a lot of fluidity to it and you enjoy it. I just, actually right before I got on this with Kristen, I don't run my staff meetings anymore, my leadership team does. Um, For our junior staff, so I just run leadership meetings and then they run the staff meeting. But I happened to be there. I was walking through and they were doing their all staff meeting and I sat down with them and I got to just have fun. We did a little exercise with the dog. I was joking around. It was laughter, like it was so great. That is, you know, I love them. I genuinely have like compassionate love for these people. They. Have been means so much to me and the way that I get to interact with them is so pleasant and fun. And I also get the massive privilege of being able to come and go from the business around the schedule that I dictate, which is what I. All of us who got into entrepreneurship on some level thought we were like, we want control over our lives. Well, right. By avoiding these things, you, you are keeping yourself out of control over your life and by committing to them, you're actually getting control. So I get to enjoy my staff. I get to enjoy my life because I did the process of going through these steps instead of having the anchor around my neck or sometimes the noose around my neck. That is a team that is poorly managed. And a business that's poorly managed for that matter. So I have a question to ask, and this is probably, I'm probably gonna call out some people on this, and I just say that I wanna ask this because I just want to, what would you say to the person that doesn't wanna be confrontational, that really doesn't wanna manage a team? But needs to hire, like what would you say to that particular person? Cause when I see those people and they're trying to expand, you know, their, their business, and they're like, yeah, I need to hire somebody. Maybe they have like a VA or personal assistant, but they now they're like, okay, I do have to have a kennel tech. Or I do have to have like a person, like a, a dog walker or you know, daycare attendant or whatever. But they just don't like confrontation and they never have, and they know they're never gonna have essentially the SSP to do that. What would you say to that person? Should they even consider hiring somebody? Um, well, actually that's a great question. Should you consider hiring? Uh, you know, I, I believe that everyone, like I do with sales, I think everyone has the ability to get better. You start where you are, you can mm-hmm. Get better. Are you gonna be the best? Who's to say, I have no idea. But I think it's, it's a, there's a potential for growth with everyone, right? And you can use this opportunity to hire if you're saying, I would like to do this. Then use it as an opportunity to grow in your interpersonal skills from wherever you are to wherever you need to be. But if you have a inherent fear of confrontation, which it's really not that confrontational, but if you're on any level, if you're in avoidance or fearful of it, or a super big people pleaser mm-hmm. They're, they're this, you need this work more than anyone. And if you're doing it correctly, not only are you gonna have a mirror held up to yourself to see, oh, I'm bringing all of this to the table. It's probably gonna change some of your other relationships in your life too. But the other thing is it's not about you. So when you do the work the right way, like I said before, this is the role. Here's the role, here's how we do the role, here's the expectations for the role. Here's what I wanna see at the end of the role. I'm gonna teach you how to do the role. I don't expect you to be great at the role. I don't even have necessarily a timeline. Each person a little different. You can be kind of good at some parts, not so great at others. We move along like this. A little bit of a fluid timeline on that. You're always supporting and helping, but I have expectations and I'm clear on what they are. And you grow. If you step out of the bounds in these ways, you're negligent to them. Just throwing some random ones out there. You're negligent to the dog, you're rude to a client. You're, um, Unreliable as a staff member, you are messy in this area. You know, whatever these things are outside of that, the clarity of that role, you are continually not following checklists or you're continually negligent around procedures of care with the animals. Uh, it's not about you. It's about that. So again, it for the person afraid of confrontation, you don't have to confront them. You just have to go back to the system in the process and say, it's one of two things. If an employee is failing, they either are, uh, directly, uh, Negating the role and the systems and going, I'm gonna do it my way, and then it's failing, right? Mm-hmm. In which case you go, go back to the system and the role, and if they say, no, you go, you okay? Then we can't work together because you're not willing to do the job. Right. Easy piece of cake. It's not, it's not me, it's you. You just told me you don't wanna do the job. Okay, I hear you. I love you. Mm-hmm. Go with God. Um, you know what I mean? Sorry. I love you so much for a different job. Like it's just whatever. Yeah. Or, uh, yeah. Or. The person's like, I'm doing this system, I'm doing the role, and I'm still failing. Like if there's still a problem, whatever it is, I'm pressing inter control, al delete. I'm pressing this, I'm saying this. We're not getting the result we want. And they're trying. And you see that you go back to the system and you go, I gotta redesign the system is this, it's a broken system also, not about you. Mm. So it takes all the pressure off of. You know, Emily being the source and puts it on these external things that you work on as a team. And then it's not about an individual human, it's about this system either serving me or not serving me. And this PPL employee either opting into the system or not. It's so much, it takes so much pressure off of you and the any co-dependent or. Um, dictatorial, like people that are dictators or any other ways that you try to do this, I promise you it's not, it's unhealthy and you are not gonna get anywhere with it. I, um, mic drop Emily on that one. Holy shit. I, I really wish people would, I want people to understand the freedom that comes with learning this stuff. Yeah. Instead of thinking of it as like, The headache that it is. It's like, you know, and it's so bizarre to me, cuz I know I, I hear Kristen and Maggie and coaching and stuff, and they're like, Hey, like here's like a million dollars, you know, here's a million dollars. All you gotta do is follow this step by step guide. Yep. And it shocks me when people go, no. It shocks me. Right, right. Absolutely. Yeah. It's, it's one of those things that's like, cool, here's the highway. Or you could take the really, really bad back country road where the lights are always gonna be backed up. You're always gonna be in a car pickup line area, traffic. There's gonna be a hundred different things. And it's like, no, it's like, It's like, what the fuck? And sometimes we wanna shake people. It's like, no, it's right there. So that's why we're like, Emily's like shaking you. It's like, no, it can be this way. It can be, yeah. It absolutely can be. And some of you guys, you know, if you start to change up how you're doing stuff with your staff, you might lose some ones that you have right now that you thought were the good ones. They weren't if you lost them. Yeah. It's just the way it is. But it's opening the door for you to have something really, really beautiful and stress free and lovely and amazing. And, Fun, you know? And like if you wrote down a list of what are the things that I got into this business because I wanted to do well, I wanna do really good work, I wanna have community connection, I wanna have fun, I wanna have time to spend with the dogs. I wanna have money put it on the list. Cuz you all do want it. I know I wanna have security and I wanna have freedom and I wanna have, okay. And okay. All of those things are available to you. No one is. Incapable of having any of those things. The only difference between where you are right now and having that list of beautiful things that you've written down or trying to manifest or whatever it is, um, is. Getting serious about getting into the dirty work of doing this the right way. And it's all, and it's all like extremely loving. None of it is like I have to turn into a brutal monster in order to be successful. That's not true. Those people are not successful. No, they're not successful. They're brutal monsters. Yep. And maybe they make more money but they're not successful. Yep. Uh, you are gonna be operating solely from a place of respect and love, and you can have money, freedom, happiness, joy. Dog, dog, whatever. I don't know. But you can have it all if you get serious about this work. And, um, yeah, I just, I hope that some people this year really look at that and go, I'm ready. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, 1000%. So reminds you of our sales retreat and you having this exact conversation with them too. It's like, no, it's all here. Followed this map, and then it's like, why aren't you following this map? But you gotta do the work that goes to this map too, as well. So, well, Emily, I, that's the thing. Yep. It's, sorry, I'm sorry. It's ok. No, no, no, no, no, no. Keep going. I wanna say like, when people don't follow the map, and this is very true in dog biz school and in coaching scenarios, like Kristen's talking about, if we went into that retreat and someone said, and I was like, oh, we're just gonna feel it out. Everyone's gonna do it their own unique way, and then it's not working out well guess who takes the blame for that? Kristen and I, yeah. Yeah. But when we say, Hey, I need you to follow this format, and then the person goes, I'm not willing to do that. Well, we've given them a gift and the gift is true accountability. That they understand that they've made a choice for themselves where they're not blaming me because blaming me does nothing for anybody because at the end of the day, I go home to my house. You're wherever you are in the world with your business. And if you're gonna go. Fat girl. She told me something crazy. I blame her. Well, all it doesn't fuck Kristen. Fuck Maggie. Yeah, it victimizes you. It keeps you in a victim role in your life. And I hate to say it, but that really hurts you way more than it'll ever hurt me. Yeah, so blaming me hurts you, does nothing to me. But what we give is a gift back to you where we go follow these processes, do it this way. And when you have to actively as an adult, and you all are, if you're listening to this podcast, I guarantee you're probably over 18 going, I don't wanna do that. That's not for me. Then you're making a conscious choice for yourself. And I'm not saying there aren't you. You can't find. Whatever you need in life away from the way that we do it, but you at least have to acknowledge and own that. You chose not to do it that way. And that is like a beautiful thing about stepping into adulthood, and that's gonna make you feel empowered. When you do choose to follow a process and you start to see results, you're gonna go, oh my God, my choices and the actions I take have a direct effect, either positive or negative. I'm telling you, it's the, it's a gift. I'm gonna reference God again. It's a gift from God. I'm just like turning into a preacher. It's a gift from God. Accountability, adulthood responsibility. Anyway, love you guys. That's amazing. I could see you like on a preacher stand. Oh yeah. A gift from God Of what? Waving a Bible around or, I guess so. It's dog leash around, I don't know, waving like when those really thin slip leads around. You wanted to hang yourself with it. I'm telling you, it's a gift from God. What's a gift from God? Please, Emily. Thank you. I appreciate you for coming on. I know it's, you know, I know you got a lot of stuff going on, so I appreciate you coming on and sharing as always on the podcast, and you're amazing. Thank you. No problem. And. Yeah. Yeah. And if you haven't, if you guys haven't heard, like we said before, we're gonna be doing a webinar. Um, we're gonna be doing another one with Emily on facilities and specifically managing employees. A little bit later on, the dates are still kind of T B D, but we'd love for you to join our getting your shift together. Still, that's gonna be on Wednesday the 24th.
At 5:00 PM Eastern. But yeah. Um, and we'll have more information on like employees of, uh, facility during that webinar too as well. So I know there's a lot of cool stuff going on. And then in the meantime, like you don't have to wait, like reach out Emily if like you apply for dog to school. Emily actually knows pretty like sooner than us and she could fucking hop on and do a con consult with you around employee stuff. Absolutely. Getting ki get you guys kind of straightened out and she's fucking, Emily's a gift from God when it comes to employee stuff because she. I mean, you know, I know Maggie's good at employee stuff. I'm horrible at employee stuff like management shit. But like Emily, man, I mean, she's unfucked a lot of clients, like at the employee stuff, and God forbid you don't listen to her on that. Like she, like she says, it's like she gave you, she gave you the gift, she gave you the. That path then if you haven't done that, then that's on you too. So, but Emily's fucking phenomenal and that's why I'm so glad to have her in like a coaching role with all of our facility owners and our people that have our staff. Cuz it's advanced level shit. It's not as easy as just giving somebody an employee handbook and be like, okay, have fun. Here's the standards. We keep our kettles clean. Make sure you read the book type thing, so. Mm-hmm. That's right. All right guys. Well yeah. Cool, anybody, so give us a call. All right, we'll talk to you later. Bye. Hey there. Thanks for checking out another episode of the Mind Your Own Dog Business podcast. Mind Your Own Dog Business is hosted by me, Kristen Lee, and produced by the Unicorns over at the Dog This school team. For more information, how to get in touch with me for more information on dog school or to learn more on how we can help you with your dog business. Feel free to visit our website@dogbusschool.com. Now, if you really enjoy this episode, do me a favor and leave a five star review on Apple. The reason why, because we wanna disrupt more dog training businesses and how people do the business of dogs. Till next time, I Hi.