Mind Your Own Dog Business

If You're Selling Your Time For Money - Listen The FUCK UP Dog Pros

October 22, 2019 Kristen Lee Episode 21
Mind Your Own Dog Business
If You're Selling Your Time For Money - Listen The FUCK UP Dog Pros
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode of the Mind Your Own Dog Business Podcast, Kristen Lee breaks down the problems of defining your value as a dog trainer, dog walker to the services you perform, and selling your time for money.


Because, if you’re like most dog trainers, dog walkers, it’s a massive problem that is HOLDING and preventing so many dog trainers and dog walkers back from real stability and SCAILBLITY of their dog businesses. 


Your value is NOT DEFINED by the hrs and services you perform as a dog trainer. As a dog walker. Your value falls into the significant impact that’s created by the momentum of the expertise and authority you own as a dog business entrepreneur. 


Kristen also breaks down the process to free yourself from this trap and to start REFINING your value on your terms.

It's real. It's raw. It's what you need

Links:

Grassroots Dog Biz School: www.thekristenlee.com/dogbizschool

Check out more episodes of Mind Your Own Dog Business

Connect with Kristen:

Online: https://thekristenlee.com 

Instagram: @dogwalkercoach

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristenleegrassroots

Speaker 1:

You're listening to the mind your own dog business podcast. I'm your host leading expert in dog business, strategic Kristin. Leave, guys yet ready for your journey, your journey to cutting edge marketing and sales, creating a standout kick ass dog business grant along with mastering your mindset that's going to smash all of this glass ceilings that have been holding you back and catapult your dog was us 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 what ever slice the pet industry you find yourself in, but as that bad-ass entrepreneur, my mission is to disrupt the current norm. Cut through the noise, cut through the bullshit, 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.

Speaker 2:

[inaudible][inaudible].

Speaker 3:

What is going on? My amazing, my beautiful ma, bad ass dog business entrepreneurs. Welcome to today's episode of the mind, your own dog business podcast hosted by yours truly Kristin Lee. Oh Holy crap guys. This is going to be a super disruptive one and one that you are going to want to listen the fuck up too. Especially if you are a dog industry professional that is defining their value by the hour or the service you are charging, AKA selling your time for that mother fucking money. It's going to be a good one guys. It is and I want you all to listen up closely and if this one resonates with you, make sure you frigging screenshot it and tag me on Instagram and tag one of your business besties because this is going to be a fully baked one and my gift to you and giving you some tools and tips and strategies so you can stop doing this business fuckery, such business fucker you guys, because you guys are more, more than worth what you've put in yourself to guys. You guys are just such bad asses and I want to see you grow and I want to see you do good things with your business and fucking make a bigger impact and leave a legacy and not be a hundred years old. Training dogs and being cranky and being in that dinosaur that's like, ah, back in my day we burned ourselves out and we smoked cigarettes and ate McDonald's. Why? We trained dogs or walked dogs and just being that cranky old dinosaur. And we'll talk more about those dinosaurs. But Holy shit, where the fuck did 2019 go? It's, I'm sitting here in my office recording this and I'm looking outside. I'm like, how's it almost November? Why is it almost November now? It's not a bad thing. I mean, the last few months have been incredible. I've been on and off stages performing at live events, giving typical, um, industry disrupting talks, not only to dog business professionals but other women entrepreneurs. Um, couple of weeks ago I was actually at the Raleigh empower X and I was a keynote speaker and just the love and the support I got from those ladies. And everybody reaching out to me and they're starting to listen to my podcasts, women that are not even dog business entrepreneurs. I got to give you guys all a special shout out. You guys were a mazing and thank you so much for welcoming me in and I just want to see you women grow too because we are all in it together. But yeah, like I cannot believe that end of the year is upon us and I want to ask everybody here that's listening to this. What have you done? What have you accomplished? Now? I'm not saying it to be like, Oh, you better get your ass in gear. You have a couple of months left. No, no, no, no. I want you to take a silent, meditative like look back at what you've done and chances are you've probably done some really fucking bad ass of phenomenal things. Now as an entrepreneur, it's easy to focus on the fucking things that you have, quote unquote not accomplished or have fucked up or you're not where you want to be. No guys, no. Think about everything you've done, everything that you survived, that you've gone through, that you've on stuck yourself with and give yourself a massive fucking hug and you know, just know with solidity that you are a true bad-ass when it comes to being a business owner. So anyway, super, super excited for today's episode. It's one of those that you are going to be able to take actionable steps and I know you guys are all implementers cause I get the messages that like Chris and I've done this and you know I really had great, great results. So that's why I want to give this one to you because especially if you are selling your time for money now what am I talking about? We are talking about the topic of charging services by the hour or maybe by the minute or per service. For example, if you are a dog trainer and you sell less than packages or maybe so board and train for specific whatever. So we need to start breaking down and getting rid of that anecdote[inaudible] and that old business practice of that belongs back in 2012 I want you to retire it and I want you to be targeted with all the old burnt-out bitties that are be doing this business forever. And it's like back in my day again, I'm going to quote this back in my day, you work till you drop dead and then you smoked a pack of cigarettes and whatever, right? That's unhealthy. That stupid shit. That old fucking advice belongs back in 2002 to 2012 where, where it just an industry fostered that really, really high level of burnout, okay? Because guys, if you're like 99% of dog trainers and dog walkers out there, you all are doing this, right? And it's not, it's not like you've done anything wrong cause you don't know what you don't know. But I'm here to shine a little bit of light and awareness around it because we need to hash this out and it's a massive, massive fucking problem that is holding and preventing. So many of today's a dog trainers and dog walkers back from true sustainability and scalability of their dog business. And it's also affecting you personally because I hate to see people not have a value like this. This, it's like this thing of where we don't recognize our value and then we bring it to the marketplace. And then it also gets solidified by when we put it out there, people are like, okay, we'll just, we'll just pair dog Walker, dog trainer this, right? So my goal for this episode is to start shifting, you know, I don't need you to go and do this all at one shot. Like it'd be awesome if you could, but start shifting your awareness around this topic and start seeing where this might be affecting different parts of your business and how we can start moving that awareness around and start moving and shifting into a different way of thought and business model. So this is something, this statement that I'm about to talk about and state is super important. It's one of the things I'd always tell every single one of my new clients that come in. All right, so write this down. Pause this, screenshot this or whatever the fuck you want to do. Your value is not defined by the hours and the services you perform as a dog trainer or as a dog Walker. Your value, yes, your value falls into the greater impact impact that is created by the momentum of the expertise and authority you embody as a dog business entrepreneur. Now I'm going to break it down a tiny bit more so you can understand this and get a really great awareness around this. And let me repeat this. Write this down on your mirrors. Tattoo it on your arm. Fucking smear a dog should I knew when knows. I want to get this into your head. Your value is not defined by the hours and services you perform as a dog business professional. You're limitless and value falls into the greater impact that's created by the momentum of the expertise that you owned as a dog business entrepreneur. Now, if you are selling your time for money, AKA selling it and charging by service, by lesson, by the walk, by the pack, hike by this. By that I can tell you guys with great confidence, this is one of the biggest pressure points that's not only keeping you but millions of others and dog business, fucking purgatory. It's legit. One step from fucking hell, and again, the stuff that I'm going to be giving you is the very first strategic directions I give every single one of my clients that come in. Now this is essentially a trap. It is a trap and it's a soul sucking trap that's keeping every single one of you guys that are fucking incredible like I am in awe of the expertise and the knowledge and the background that every single one of you guys have before. You're like, Oh, well I don't have that much. I've only been in yours. I'm like, no, stop that imposter fucking center bullshit. But when you get stuck in this trap, you are not. You are like in that rock and a hard place. It's that thing of where you're like, well, you know, I know what to do but I can't do it. But it's like I just can't put all the pieces together or I feel stuck or I feel blocked. That's one of the biggest things I hear a lot of people say I'm blocked and block and block. I just don't know what to do. Right? So I'm giving you the fucking steps to do this guys. And what happens with this mindset of selling, you're selling your time for dollars or like whatever you want to call it. It's solidified and backed up by everything else you fucking read in the Facebook groups and the, the networking groups and whatever. So there's things you keep reading and observing and watching your S they're spewing out this bull shit advice and it's okay. That's why I'm here guys. That's why I'm here. I'm not here. I'm not here to, you know, knock anybody down. But I just want to bring awareness and kind of shine some light around it. But when it comes as business advice, it keeps you toxic and, uh, keeps you burnt out. So let's think about how this model works for the general majority of the business owners. The selling your time for value. You're a service provider, right? Right, correct. So what do you, do you offer services and get paid for the service you perform? Yes. Correct. Cool. We're on the same page here. Good. So nationally you have a list of services perspective clients can kind of pick and choose from maybe all a cart, right? So you've been told, have a defined service section on your website where people can see your services and your prices and people can choose what they want. You want to be clear, clarity, clarity, clarity, clarity. You don't want to confuse your market. Great. Maybe you've grouped packages such as maybe like a puppy kindergarten or maybe it's like, Hey, you have to send out for three pack hikes a week or three pack walks or a dog walks or whatever. But guys, when you do something like that, even if it's like, Hey, you know, you have to do this six week reactive Rover, um, reactive roeger Rover group class, all you've done is taking, selling your time to a fancy title in a package and wrapped up in a bow. It's the same exact shit guys. Like I, I can't say this enough. It's the same thing. You just put a pack, you just put it in a fucking gift box or gift gift bag with some tissue paper. So you have all these pick and choose things going on, right? So you start to market it via your website like we just mentioned, or when people connect with you, hi, I'm interested in your dog walking. How much is it? I do this, this, this, and this. Itemization, itemization. And then when you get a client, you get them in this dog training session or this class or this last lesson or whatever, lather, wash, rinse, repeat. Same thing with the amazing pack hikers and dog walkers out there. Again, lather, wash, rinse, repeat, repeat. In corporate speak guys, this is what we call B a you business as usual. What I like to call it as business, fucking purgatory, business, purgatory, right? So you have this model of service or provider. You do this, you do that, you do this, you have an itemized list of what services you do for this amount of money. Basically. Again, you're selling your time for money. Now this is where it can fuck you over in so many ways and I'm not talking about fucking you over in a good way because everybody likes a good fuck over, right? But this is where it can really start to stunt you and limit you as a dog, Walker, dog trainer or even a fucking pets. Or guys like I work at pet sitters too. So what happens if you have this service provider quantity based model so you get stuck, you possibly cannot take on more. You are human. We all get 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That is life. That is the matrix we're in right now. And you can't take more on what do you do? You hire cool, right? And before everybody starts to think like, Oh Kristen, you're antique. You're anti hiring, you're anti hiring. No I'm not. I'm actually like pro hiring the right way and it can actually grow and foster a really fucking healthy business. Like if you have the right management team in place, geez, you can fucking just sore and just fucking sore. But if you are hiring just to keep up with the quantity amount of people coming in to check off your itemization, unless to allow them just to pick and choose what's, what could happen. I'm not saying it's going to happen, not saying what's going to happen, but what couldn't happen. You hire to just keep this going and just kind of the process of like in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out. Right? It's like the Amazon of dog walking dog training and what happens with your employees? They tend to get burnt out and if you just keep hiring just to kind of replace those people, you start to burn out and you start to get really fucking fucked with everything else. Cause you're just hiring to fix and put a bandaid over a massive bleeding infection or you're just putting peroxide over it. You're not really treating it and going in with an antibiotic fist strategic business plan. So it just comes into the cycle of burnout through employees and then you're just all over the place and your attention is diverted from actually having client care, which can also be another issue. Clients start to get pissy, they start to drop off, they do charge backs, right? See how this can start to deep be deeply affect different aspects of your business, not just from employees but also your fucking client care. And as a, as an entrepreneur, we have to recognize and honor our clients are our, is our paycheck. It's our income. Okay. So we talked about the aspect of employees and stuff and like that and the client carry that people can start kind of, if you get distracted with everything that's going on and all the fucking employees and stuff, your clients can get pissy. They feel like they're not taking care of. Cool. So what happens? What's another thing that can happen if you're like, all right, cool. I'm just not going to hire employees. I'll just fucking do it all myself because I am big shot Pappy pads. Hello. That is me. I'm not making fun anybody. That is so me. I'm an Integram three. I am an achiever. I am a performer. I am like, what the fuck? Right? So what happens when you get stuck in this trap? And I've been there. Listen, I want to say I've been there. I was there a couple months ago and you get stuck in the glass ceiling of profitability where you are like you can't possibly take on more people want to work with you. They're super excited to work with you. But at this time it's like, Oh my God, I'm selling my time and my services. Um, I'm selling that. It's like you just get so trapped and then you're unable to make more money. And also again, create more revenue coming in through your lead generations. You can't focus on sales and then you're stuck in this glass ceiling. You're consistently working, working, working, working, working, and hustling, hustling, hustling, and getting nothing fucking done. It's crazy guys. It crazy. And then what also can happen, how other ways this can fuck you over is it can essentially allow your market, AKA your client's brand, you for you, which you do not want. Listen guys, branding is everything that people see. And if you don't have an established brand, people will make a brand for you. So I'll give you an example of this. So if you are a a, if you are a dog trainer that specializes in puppy school, right? And you want to start offering like board and or whatever, but you've been stuck in this trap of doing the time for the value or whatever, and you start to move out of it, people are going to be like, well, when they call you like, um, well, hello, I thought you did this, or I thought you did that, or I thought you were a pack hiker. Why, why you? Why are you offering me a board and train or whatever? And it starts to confuse the fuck out of your market. So now you have all these little fires going on and you're essentially fucking stuck, right? You're essentially stuck. And when you want to start to make those implemented changes, you essentially have to kind of just do maintenance. It's almost like one of those, it's like having like a really old car where it's like everything's always going on with it and you can never get ahead because you're always putting money into the car versus having money to put down for a new like fucking new BMW or a new Mercedes. So it's like you're consistently keeping up with your 1988 Honda civic while it's putting money into that. Why the whole time you could actually invest in a down payment into a nicer car to keep your business going. Right. And then also too, this is where I see a lot of people get stuck. So when you are so stuck in this business model of quantity and selling your services for time, your personal growth, your mental growth, your health and your skill development goes into business purgatory again, like you can't, you don't have the time to invest your, you don't actually have time to invest in your own personal growth and development, whether it's with a business coach, whether it's with going to a workshop or whatever, right? And one of the most fucked up, like strategically fucked up thing that gets me going on this is you absolutely have no control at all of your sales processes and systems. Think about this, think about this, you, when you do this of selling your time for services like you've been told and what you've been doing for years. You have everything up on your website, everything looks good and people reach out to you and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and I'm talking, again, I'm talking to every single dog business professional. You are basically turning yourself into as a fucking CEO of your dog business. As an entrepreneur. You are basically an order taker and don't authentically have control of your sales. This is total misalignment of your amazing experience and knowledge where I'm talking about this, you know how I started talking about it guys like, listen, your value is going to be based on the impact of what you have, all of the blood, the sweat and the tears you have invested in being a dog business owner. Not even just like the money you put out or whatever, but the missed holidays, the developments of your own dog, you know, you know what I mean? Like as an entrepreneur myself, like I've missed times with my dog and I have a 13 year old, half, 13 and a half year old Labrador that is literally on palliative hospice care right now and it hurts my heart of all the time I miss a line because I've been doing a lot of crazy shit all the times you missed your school, your kid's school play or a developmental step and your kid or a time with your husband, your spouse, your partner or whatever. And if you're a business owner, guys, you know another thing is if you are a business owner, you are already a rebel at heart. Like you guys are already rebels at heart. What we do as dog business owners, as entrepreneurs in the dog industry, this is a rebellious thing like people think for fucking crazy like, and that's good. Like I like being fucking crazy. I think it's amazing that like when my old mentors from corporate look back and they see what I do, they're like, God, you're a fucking crazy bitch. I'm like, hell yeah. All of you guys are crazy bitches and that's why I fucking love you. So if you're a rebel at heart, what I'm asking you to do now, tap into your soul, tap into who you truly fucking are and rebel against his old dog business shit like rebel against it. Like cut this shit out. Start making these changes. Start owning your mother fucking expertise, knowledge and authority. You know? It's like, Oh, I'm not authoritative. Yeah, you fucking are soft imposter syndrome shit like imposter syndrome is killing our own dog business economy at this point. We need to have people to start stepping into authority. You know? It's like, yeah, you have all these other people that are big names or blah blah, blah blah, man. Yeah. It's like, okay, cool. But there are so many hidden figures in the dog industry that I actually personally work with as a business coach and part of grassroots. I'm like, Jesus Christ, why isn't she up on a podium talking? Fuck that dude. Like yeah, he's like whatever, like yeah, cause he has some videos. So everybody sharing the shit. No, I want you guys to be doing this step into your authority. Stop fucking diminishing your value by selling your God damn time. Guys, listen, if you're listening to this, you are not your average dog trainer at all. You are not your average dog Walker. You are a fucking powerhouse. If you were your average dog Walker dog trainer, you would be on Rover and wag. You'd be with the hobbyist. But no, you are entrepreneur or CEO. Bad-ass is rebellions that are walking packs and hikes and dog dogs. You are changing people's lives. That's where your value lays and communicate that. Guys. Now listen, I know this is a bit harsh and intense. I'm an intensive care bear, right? You ever see the episode of the, of um, of uh, the Simpsons music? I'm an intensive care. I'm like, yeah, that's so me with the fucking New York accent or whatever. And like, I know some of you guys are probably getting really pissed off, but this is why I'm putting this out there. I want you to resonate this. I want you to deeply fucking resonate with this. The thing is the guys that you don't know, well you don't know. That's why I'm here. I'm here for you. I'm here. I'm giving you a life as I'm giving you a Swift fucking kick in your ass to get you out of this fucking dumpster fire of itemization, how to break free, how to break free you this shit because you have an obligation not only to yourself but to the greater good to design a business that you fucking love and you have the power. I don't care how fucking stuck you feel. You have the goddamn power to do it. Now you're probably like, okay, cool. Motivational talk done. I need a cigarette. Right? Okay, cool. So go smoke your cigarette or go have a sip drink. Have a seltzer. I'm not into cigarettes. Oh, sorry. If you smoke, it's, it's totally cool. My husband smokes. I get it. You guys smoke at school. But the first thing you need to do the top of your priority list right now to start owning your value and defining your value by that is to assess your, you need skills and talents while tying it into your big picture when it comes to your availability, your ability to help humans, not just the fucking four legged creatures at the other end. The leash. Yes, we love dogs. That's why we gone into the deep down. They heal us, get it. He'll heal dogs, but we had to remember the power of your value that you're defined by is to help and cause change and impact into humans. Okay? Then once you start to uniquely identify what you can do, what your really bad asset, and the thing is guys too as well, you can always shift your skills, right? If you're interested in learning to shift your dog handling skills, if you've been a dog, a dog Walker for all, even a fucking dog trainer, go to www dot[inaudible] dot com forward slash dog biz school. We have an amazing, amazing dog business school that combines business and dog handling skills. But I'm not gonna pitch that anymore. But the thing is, it's like you're gonna want to start identifying where there is alignment with your ideal humans and what gaps that you're there to fill as a dog professional. Okay? So you sat here, you wrote down on a list, write this down on a list. What unique fucking skills do I bring to the table when it comes to working with humans, with their dogs? You're working with humans in their dogs, okay? Now again, we're going to go back and see what humans, what humans am I aligned with that I can start filling the gaps that you're there to fill? What problems are they having? Remember, guys? And you're not just there to perform a service. You're not a commodity. You're a fucking brilliant, bad-ass, talented dog person, okay? Once and only once you get these magical two things lined up in your area, bad-ass re ass, hurry and expertise doing with what you, what you need to do with people with their dogs, okay? You have these two things. What you're going to start doing is creating very beautiful thought provoking content and marketing geared towards these people. Okay? Now listen, this one, no basic bitch content. Stop making it about you. You are going to want to create carefully curated branded journeys for your perspective clients. Clients are, they're out there. They're literally out there waiting for you, getting them the help they need, but you just need to show up whether they're on Google, whether they're in another business right now, for example, they're shopping at pet people or if they're fucking shopping at Lulu lemon or if they're on Facebook, if they're on Instagram, if they're on Snapchat, if they're on fucking TechTalk. You want to start creating a curated customer journey with branded content that's not basic speaking to their needs, connecting with them as the human being at the other end of the leash. Now that you started that process, that marketing song and dance, you're thinking now, great. I just tell them what I do. Nope, hold on there. Hold on. Chill the fuck out for two seconds. Listen, let's check back in. Your services are not an itemized list guys. High end consultant of sales begins with the sales process, which is another curated journey of where you show up and guide them versus taking that order, taking you gift them. You give them a gift. Literally give them the gift of listening and empowerment, but choices with their dogs. All right? So versus letting them choose. Pick and choose what they want. You shut the fuck up. You listened to them, you ask them questions and you help educate them and make a logical decision what's going to best serve them and fill those gaps. And there are my Fred is where your defined value, truly leis. So stop short changing yourself. Stop defining your value and an itemized list or service you provide. Okay? Your value is not defined by the hours and services you perform as a dog. Pros, alright, so you guys are armed. You're ready to go. So I want you to go get them fucking bitches. Go get them. And do me a favor. If this episode was really good, fucking leave me a review. Screenshot this, tag me an IgG, tag your business bestie and let me know in tech. Give me your best breakthrough through this because this is a tough one. It's intense, but I want you to stop selling your motherfucking time for money guys. Wow, this was really good. Cool. So till next time guys, I'm looking forward to seeing the results from this episode. Love you all. I wish you nothing but the best. Go out there. Fucking rebel against the old bullshit. Retire that shit and get it going and fucking own your value. Talk soon. Bye. Hey there. Thank you for listening to another bad-ass episode of my Euro dog business. If you haven't already subscribed,

Speaker 1:

what are you waiting for? Oh my God. Go and subscribe now so you don't miss out on any of our content packed dog business jam sessions plus special offers that I'm gonna only be sharing with my amazing dog business entrepreneurial podcasts. Listeners. Now, if you've enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a five star kick ass review. So more amazing dog business owners just like yourself can find us and start to transform and disrupt their businesses and their lives unapologetically. And if you feel so inclined, feel free to tag me on Instagram with a screenshot of this episode and holler at your girl. I'm at dog Walker coach. You can find me dog Walker, coach, and I'll pop up and I'll give you a special shout up. All right guys, til next time. Bye.

Speaker 2:

[inaudible].