In this episode of The Mind Your Own Dog Busines Podcast, Kristen Lee had the incredible honor to speak to two badass mom dog trainers as their dog training businesses are experiencing astonishing growth during the 2020 pandemic while shifting and pivoting the way they do business.
These women are rockstars and superwomen!
Lindsay has been a dog trainer for eight years in Canada, and she has the most adorable little girl. Sonia is a mom of two boys, ages 9 & 5, a Chicago-based dog trainer in business for about two years.
Sonia and Lindsay share their experiences from the moment they KNEW everything was about to change, how they handle running a household with kids, homeschooling/distance learning with young children, and managing their growing dog training businesses.
They also talk about:
Learn more about our supermoms:
Lindsay Somerville - Raven Frost Academy
Sonia Fetherling - Best Of Behavior
https://www.bestofbehavior.com/
Links:
Check out more episodes of Mind Your Own Dog Business
Connect with Kristen & Grassroots:
Online: www.dogbizschool.com
Instagram: @dogwalkercoach
In this episode of The Mind Your Own Dog Busines Podcast, Kristen Lee had the incredible honor to speak to two badass mom dog trainers as their dog training businesses are experiencing astonishing growth during the 2020 pandemic while shifting and pivoting the way they do business.
These women are rockstars and superwomen!
Lindsay has been a dog trainer for eight years in Canada, and she has the most adorable little girl. Sonia is a mom of two boys, ages 9 & 5, a Chicago-based dog trainer in business for about two years.
Sonia and Lindsay share their experiences from the moment they KNEW everything was about to change, how they handle running a household with kids, homeschooling/distance learning with young children, and managing their growing dog training businesses.
They also talk about:
Learn more about our supermoms:
Lindsay Somerville - Raven Frost Academy
Sonia Fetherling - Best Of Behavior
https://www.bestofbehavior.com/
Links:
Check out more episodes of Mind Your Own Dog Business
Connect with Kristen & Grassroots:
Online: www.dogbizschool.com
Instagram: @dogwalkercoach
You're listening to the mind, your own dog business podcast. I'm your host leading expert in dog business, strategic Kristen Lee guys get ready for your journey, your journey to cutting edge marketing and sales, creating a stand out kick ass dog, business, and brand 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 this 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 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.
Speaker 2:[inaudible]
Speaker 1:Welcome to today's episode of the mind, your own dog biz podcast. This one goes out for the mamas out here. Cause I know I have a lot of mama listeners who happen to be business owners and kick ass dog trainers too. So today I am incredibly incredibly honored to have two amazing women. I might have a couple people join mid, mid, mid conversation. That's totally cool. That are incredible dog trainers with amazing businesses, but something else that makes them super women like super women, they are moms. They bared children like, Oh my God, I can't even keep a snake house plant alive. And snake house plans are the ones that like you can't kill, right? So these are some of the strongest women in the industry that I know. And every day I'm in awe of how they do it all. So officially welcome ladies. And thank you for taking the time out of your insanely busy day to speak with me and my listeners. Hello Lindsey. Hello, Sonya. Hey, thank you for that glowing introduction. That was amazing. And you're welcome. You're welcome Lindsey. You're up in Canada. Aren't you? Yes, I am nice. And then I have a Sonia here. Sonia. I was, it was so funny right before we kicked off, I was like, yeah, I can say this is an international podcast because I was like, Sonya is in the UK. And then so he's like, no, I'm in Chicago. I'm like, God, fuck. But I'm bringing it a little slice of, of, uh, Europe with my accent
Speaker 3:At least. Right. Make me civilized. Alright ladies. So I want to get right into this big clusterfuck. That is 2020 and the whole thing of being a mom first and foremost, being a business owner, being a dog trainer that has a lot of clients going on that you still have to serve and just like running your household. Cause I'm not sure Sonia or, uh, Lindsey, if you guys are distance learning with your kids, but tell me, I wanna, I want to hear about that moment back in March or April of when you knew shit was about to change as a business owner and mom. Well, um, for me it was, Oh, it was mid-March and I've been sick. I've been sick for about a month already. Um, I'll never know if it was covered or not, because I was never tested. They wouldn't do that up here. Um, and, and I got, you know, I took my, my sick time and I was still working a regular job at the time. Well, you know, raising kids and while running the dog business. And uh, after my sick time, I was told that I was, uh, I'd been laid off and they didn't know when I was coming back. And at that point it was like, okay, is this the sign that I was looking for, that this needs to be my full time gig now. And that's, uh, that coupled with the lockdowns really? That was that moment that I was like, okay, life is not ever going to be the same again. Instead of Sonya. What about you when you had that realization that like, things were about to change for good? So for me it was, we had locked down for it and it was going to be two weeks, right. That's flattened NYCLA for two weeks and then it just started to carry on and it was going to be another week and that week, and then the end of the month. And it just started to seem like, I don't think this is going to happen the way that we have been led to think that this is going to occur. And I think we need to prepare ourselves. And then we started to go into, we're going to start doing distance learning and all of that. And I feel this is not going to be any short thing. This is going to be, this is going to affect us much big, much, much more monumentally than we had anticipated at first. And that was kind of when, so it was, I was within the first month of COVID hitting that. It really started to Dawn on me that this is going to be a much harder hit than we first thought. What was like your Mo like for both of you guys, what was like the first feeling you had? Like, what was that like emotional feeling you first had? Was it like fear? Was it anxiety? Was it just like, Oh my God, Holy shit, what the fuck is going to happen? Or was it like, Oh, just for me, Oh, go ahead.
Speaker 4:I was just gonna say, I, I tend to adapt really fast and I think I'm on my feet and I'm kind of one of those people that likes to have options and full fullback back. So I have having had anxiety my whole life. I'm really, really good at functioning at high levels of anxiety really I'm my, um, so I do that really well. And I like to always think of options. So I like to have four or five options in the back on the back burner so that I can flick to them if I need to really, really fast. Um, so for me, it was just another added adaption that I had to do in my life. Um, but it was going to be just not me. It was going to be everyone and that everything that we knew as normal had now changed. So that was kind of a bit more difficult for me cause it wasn't just me. It was not just my family, it was everything. And so that was a little daunting, to be honest with you, but, um, I just kind of rolled with it to be honest with you and just kind of, um, try to help everybody else because that was kind of challenging,
Speaker 3:Man. I'm so glad you said that Sonia, I'm a guy of a very similar situation with the anxiety and always assuming that everything is burning down. So then when things like were legitimately burning down, I was like, I know what to do.
Speaker 4:This is fine.
Speaker 3:Um, and I know that's a really weird, you know, reaction to have to append them, but it was like it's finally happening and I'm ready. Um, so it was a, I mean there was, there was some fear because I mean, I've been telling myself this story forever that, you know, like I'm not ready to take stuff to the next level. And you know, like all the, all the doubt pieces and all of a sudden life was like, okay, you don't get to have those excuses anymore. Like it's happening, it's here, it's now. And if you don't rise to this, then everything's over. So the stakes were a little bit higher, but again, with, you know, my normal anxiety, it was, it was the right kind of pressure to make the right choices as quickly as possible because there was no, I mean, it, wasn't the time to sit and wait to see what was going to happen. You get left behind. If you do that in a situation like this, I feel so. It was, um, yeah, it definitely fear. But uh, but also like kind of a little bit of terrified excitement as well. Yeah. Well also to Lindsay, I have to kind of point out to everybody there it's like, cause I know you personally, you know, working with grassroots at this
Speaker 1:Point, it's like you went from transitioning from a job into full time entrepreneurship as a mom at w you have a farm to the last up in Canada. So you had a lot of things on your shoulders and that's the thing too guys. It's like, I feel when, you know, a lot of dog training women, we have this like unique, empathetic side to us. We all have that, but we also have like this thick skin. So it's like when you're consistently waiting for the shoe to drop, you're like, it's my time to shine. It's like, yes. And what I've noticed with students, particularly like past and current students and whatnot, is it's like when you get faced with something like a pandemic, which is incredibly horrible and you know, things that are happening in the States and across the world, people either it's that fight or flight response, it's like you either freeze up and you kind of like seclude or you're like, you know what, this fucking sucks. I'm going to do the best to our ability. So Bravo you guys for doing that. Like that's fucking huge ladies. Like it's huge. Like it's just, it's insane to me to be able to have kids in a household and a business and to actually decide, to make the choice to move forward versus kind of like recede and go into the blankets. It's, it's a big deal. So I want to like, just say that and like consider yourself like really incredible women to do that.
Speaker 4:No, thank you. I also wanted to add that going in and seeing and hearing from the business, the people in the business that we're in, um, not including grassroots, that it was Tara. Everybody was like, my business is going to close down. I can't see clients, how are we going to function? And everybody was scrambling. And, you know, they were seeing the numbers just drop in decline and we didn't know what was going to happen. And, and I was just kind of like that, but focusing on my family more at the time, but I thought, Oh, it's fine. You know, I'm just going to kind of plugged along and, you know, um, I'm sure it'll be okay. But then I started with grassroots, uh, just around the pandemic time or actually just a little bit after I think it was when I actually finally started one of the programs and my business, excuse me, my business exploded. And I was not prepared really for that, which because at the same time, the, the things that my family needed, which my children had just started in a school, a Montessori school, the months before COVID hit. So I had been homeschooling up until that point, which was fine. Cause I could, I knew how to do that. It was easy. It was seamless into my day. And then we had to suddenly do this e-learning distance learning. And at the same time, my business is exploding and the requirements on myself and my husband, it was a little daunting to say the, so just as a warning, if anybody starts with grass roots, be prepared to have your business explode
Speaker 5:In a good way.
Speaker 4:You know that if you're, if you're struggling for, for people, you know, you won't be after you stop. Yeah. It was, it was a little like, Oh my gosh. And suddenly it was just running away with itself. And I was trying to hold on for dear life in all aspects of my life. So
Speaker 1:You both lead came into our 2.0 school and you know, to give you guys a little bit of back, I don't know if we've ever told you me and I gave, ever sat down and told the co the cohort of this is when everything started happening. We were preparing for actually a massive immersive sales retreat. And it was like on the March 16th or the 15th, and like shit was going down bad. I mean, there was a lot of things going on behind the scenes of grassroots. I, my disc in my back slipped out, my dog was dying. My dad was like actively dying. Maggie was like, had a whole bunch of personal stuff going on too. And we were getting ready for this huge sales retreat with some previous students and not hit. And I was like, okay, so what do we do? And we went and surveyed the current grassroots dog, physical students. They're all like, Roquet, we're like, we're good guys. So what we did was we kind of prepare them. You know, we did some like almost triage, a triage style, like actually not with their business. Cause we were like, you guys are going to be fine entire time. We need to let you guys kind of sleep and be incubating kittens. And we got to go and help the other people. Cause we started seeing it with people outside the industry. Everybody's like, Oh my God, the sky is falling. Know everything's burning down. And we're like, no chill out. And we went and created 2.0, and one of the things that we didn't tell the 2.0 students, you get ladies at the time was when we were preparing our other grassroots students. We weren't preparing them for like their businesses crashing. We were actually preparing them for survivors guilt because what they were going to start to see is people actually actively burning their businesses down. Like without even knowing. Cause it's like, Oh my God, I've been trapped in this whole thing of everything that's going on. I have no control. And that's what you probably have seen two ladies. It's like, some people really flourished like right now, we're in like what almost October of 2020. Some people have really flourished and you know, it's rebounding back, but we don't know what the hell is going to happen. Especially here in the States, the election and everything like that. But we literally had to prepare our students for PR survivor's guilt. It's like some of these people aren't going to make it guys and it's going to suck and we got to prepare you guys. So anyway, that's me going off on a tangent about that.
Speaker 4:Alright. So
Speaker 1:Super quick ladies. I know the circumstances are a little bit different. So tell me a little bit about the daily life of running a dog training business. Cause I know Sonia, I'm not sure if you do board and trans Lindsey, I believe you do board and trains, but you guys have an active roster of clients. Um, what does it look like? Like what is your day like how, like how do you manage it all having kids taking care. I know, I don't know if you guys all have husbands, it's totally cool or are partners, but like what is the daily family life look like for you guys?
Speaker 3:Well, um, so my, I like to start really early. Um, I'm usually up around five because that way I actually get an hour, hour and a half, maybe even two hours where everything is quiet and nobody needs anything. So for me that's a really big piece. I wasn't doing it. And then I realized I was going crazy. So I started doing that because that's the routine that I used to have in my like regular nine to five job is that I had this little piece of time in the morning where I could actually, you know, have some time for myself. Um, and then after that, I mean, like, as you mentioned with the farm, I mean, it's, you know, the minute the kids out and my husband is up, it's all the things need food. All the things need water, all the things need to be done. So usually between like eight and nine it's, you know, like we've got doctors, we've got chicken chores, I gotta feed my own personal dogs. I got to deal with, you know, if we do have a board and train and at the time I only take one at a time. Um, so that I actually have time for everything. And then usually I, I mean, it varies. We have some clients that we work with during the mornings, uh, during the week and those generally fall under what my husband's working on because then I'm working on backend stuff for the business. It's a really good time in the morning, uh, to get, to get that kind of stuff done. At least in my experience with my daughter, she seems to be calmer before noon afternoon, we start getting into this kind of like, okay, that is, that is trial time. So in the morning when I'm working or my husband is working, I mean, we use some TV, we get her set up with her food. I mean, and she's got all her toys, all her, all her stuff. So she usually working in and around with us. Um, and then, I mean, in the afternoon we're homeschooling. So we do, we do workbooks. I mean, she's only three right now. So the actual workload for her schooling isn't huge yet, but it is something that you have to give all of your attention to you. Can't be answering client emails. Well, you know, your kids trying to learn how to, you know, draw a straight line for, you know, the, the alphabet, uh, just for an example. And then weekends are usually a crapshoot because we've got all kinds of mean there's, there's so much, man. It's I, I am busier now this year than I have ever been. I think in my entire life, we have every weekend booked up until November and probably all of November. If I thought hard enough, I do a lot of training. We do a lot of training on weekends. And then if we're not training, it's, it's, uh, either farm shores things we have to do to get ready for winter, because we do have quite substantial winters where I am in particular, I'm in a wicked little zone for wind. And um, yeah, I mean, it's just, it's kind of constant or we've recently gotten my daughter into an outdoor learning school. So it's a camp near us. Yeah. It's really, really cool. So it's a camp near us and you can imagine how they were affected during the summer. I mean, they're a summer camp and they couldn't be a summer camp. So there's, I mean, they rallied and it's really cool to see other businesses doing the same kind of things that I'm trying to do, you know, where they, they, they pivot and they switched their focus and they're like, okay, we can't do the thing we normally do, but we see this need in the community and this is what we're doing. So she's just started that. And man, that is a game changer. You get home. And you're like, Oh man, I like time. But the things that, it's not that I don't the rest of the time, but I mean, if she needs something, she needs something like I have to drop what I'm doing, you know, it's, you know? Yeah. That's, that's, you know, that's really crucial. You used the word pivot because as caution knows cautious our assist our operational assistant slash unicorn she's on this too, is pivots been the word for 2020? It's like every second it's like pivot, pivot, pivot, pivot, and the ability to have like a pivot place. It's it's the most, I feel like it used to be like, okay, the ability to actually open up yourself to learn a little bit more, you used to be a big driver of success. I always thought, but now it's the ability to be able to like shift and pivot and be open to pivoting and zigging when people are zagging has been like the backbone to survival right now. I truly believe that. So Sonia, how has your daily life, like, tell me a little bit, tell us about your daily life and everything like that. Cause I know Lindsey has an entrepreneurial husband too as well, so it's like that whole household, I, by the way, not to interject and put myself in there, I live in with an entrepreneurial partner to her husband and it's sometimes our heads can, I just want to, it's so tough when you have to, after living in the same house and have totally different ways of looking at businesses. So anyway, so Sonya tell me a little bit or tell our listeners about what's it been like? So you have multiple kids, right? Sonia I do. I have two boys, five and nine years old now. So, um, yeah, he was eight when this, um, so I think at the beginning, when we started with the learning, it was, my husband
Speaker 4:Had previously, then he's in sales and he previously was most of the time out of the house. Um, so it was just me and the kids. And when I was homeschooling, it was fine. You know, I had my kind of loose schedule and um, and we would go out a lot when I homeschooled, you know, we would do work at the beach, we would do work, you know, we'd go up to the museums and stuff. But then when they had started at the Montessori and then we did the eLearning, when the pandemic hit, things really changed. So it was, everybody was in the house all the time. And that actually kind of helped in some ways. It, honestly, it was kind of like running like chickens with the head cut off and throwing a hot potato at each other because it was like, you catch the hot potato now, now I'm going to throw it to you, catch it, you know? And then it was like, you could do your thing. And then the other person would be like, gotta, gotta throw the potato at you. Okay. I've got it all right now. And so it was children and put a, putting them onto their, um, classes, you know, getting them on the zoom calls at time and on time and doing the lessons that they had to do. And then trying to spend time with each of them to do the lessons like Lindsey said, you've got to be completely present and I can't be talking to clients. So making telephone calls or, or anything else, I have to be a hundred percent present for each child when we're doing that work. So that was a huge chunk of our day, to be honest, you know, good six, seven hours. Um, then when summer came, it was easier. But having two young boys, if anybody else has two young boys, or if you've had brothers, they love to get into fights, getting him to bikes constantly. So everything be fine. And then boom, another fight would explode and they're not particularly, you know, physical, but it's, you have to stop and you have to manage it. And it's like, you know, being in an MMA ring, you have to sort of get in there and separate and then calm everyone down and separate them. And then the little one wants to go play with the big one and the big one's still angry and it's, so it was constantly navigating these waters whilst trying to run my business and trying to be professional. But to be honest with you, most of my niche clients are also parents or they have been parents, you know, and, and some, their grandparents at this point. So mostly they're extremely compassionate and, and they laugh and, and, you know, I try to be as professional as I can and give them my a hundred percent focus, but sometimes it's just not going to happen. And um, so I really need them to be compassionate and, um, and, and hold that kind of space for me, it happens. Okay. It happens also, I'm going to you because I feel like
Speaker 1:This is a really good point, Sonia,
Speaker 4:The fact that you have the, you have
Speaker 1:The clients that have that compassion and understanding too for you, you know what I mean? It's not like you have the clients that expect you to be at their Beck and Beck and call 24, seven a day, but they understand where you're coming from as a human being also doing the best you can do with your business too. So I want to kind of point that out,
Speaker 4:Right? Absolutely. And then even parents that are in the professional, you know, sort of like my husband, all of those people who maybe had never dealt with being at home with their children while they're trying to work or suddenly they were suddenly in that situation and, you know, trying to have a professional conversation or being on this, you know, large sort of conference call and their children, you know, and needing this and needing that or hectic screaming. And so I think people have really also now seen how challenging it can be. Um, and, and thus are actually a lot more compassionate than they probably were prior to. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And plus the dog's in the background to tell you ladies, come in.
Speaker 4:Exactly. Exactly.
Speaker 1:So, so new, why have you on here, let's roll into the next thing. What has been the biggest disruptor in all of this? Like what has been the biggest thing that made you kind of like step back and be like, Oh my God, like, how the hell do I do
Speaker 4:Having the children home 24 hours a day? And if they're not home, then I'm the one that has to be responsible for taking them somewhere. Which of course, then I might have to be a hundred percent present, right. Wherever we go. Um, so making sure that I meet their needs. So identifying what my children's needs are, which again changed as well, because I can't be their friend, like a little five-year-old friend, you know, I can't meet those social needs just by myself, you know? And those social needs that children have are immense and we weren't able to meet those. So having to isolate and all that. So having to, um, identify those needs much broader than I had ever had to do really. Um, and making that was, you know, suddenly my 24 hour priority, you know, when were you in your parents and your children, aren't going to places then you're like, okay, they're safe. They're being taken care of the needs being met. And then I can focus a hundred percent on something else. But when they're here constantly the whole time and you still have to run a business, it's a, you're, you're suddenly, you're juggling act. They've just thrown 20 more balls into your, and you've got to click those balls up. It's like Dodge ball. It's like, yeah, it really is. And, and so just having them home the whole time, I think, um, with no interest, they weren't getting to go to summer camp. They weren't getting to go for, you know, these day camps and playing with their friends and just doing normal kid stuff that was not accessible to them. So it was, it was really challenging that summer was tough. Tough.
Speaker 1:And plus again, kind of going back to the thing of like, you had a business that was experiencing exponential growth at the time where everybody else was saying like, Oh my God, you can't do it. Like you can't have a business. Did you ever feel like you had to make a choice? And this is kind of one of those questions I wanted to ask and Lindsay, I want to get your thought on this, that you had to potentially choose between a business and then being a full time, stay at home mom or whatnot. Like, did you ever feel like you had to make that choice or were you always like, you know what, I've done this before I have a steady growing business, a sustainable income. Did you ever feel like you had to be put in that place of children versus the, the dog training business
Speaker 4:[inaudible] um, I think it was slowing down and having to just say, I'm too stubborn to say, I'm not, I'm going to give up my business. That's just not going to happen. Um, so for me it was just like, okay, I'm just going to take every day as it comes. Okay. I'm just gonna take every hour as it comes. And I'm going to navigate each moment as I need to prioritizing my children as much as I need to, and also asking for more help, which is hard for me. I'm not, it's not easy for me to ask for help. So having to lean on my husband and say, I need more from you right now was challenging, but I had to do it. And that way I was able to keep everything could float, you know, and sometimes, excuse me, some days it would be more, you know, I'd be more focused on the children and doing everything I needed to for them and less on the business. And some days I would be able to focus more that particular day or for longer periods of time on the business and doing things that required more intense focus. So I was never prepared to completely give it up. If I was going to then I would have, um, minimized it if I had to, but I never felt like I have to choose one a hundred percent over the other. Um, no, not really.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I, um, I didn't either. Um,
Speaker 4:Which was nice because it was always the goal for me longterm, like two, three years out from now that I would be working
Speaker 1:Any other kind of employment and I would be full time biz,
Speaker 4:Full time farm, full time mom
Speaker 1:Doing that all at once. So that was always like the pipe dream. And then when I
Speaker 3:Had it for us upon me, I was like, okay, this is really, really hard, but because it was always the dream, my attitude kind of became, well, I just haven't figured it out yet. It wasn't that I was, you know, I had to make a choice right now. It was, it was that I have to keep going at this and I have to keep learning and I have to keep, I have to keep pushing until something finally works and it's gotten better. I mean, you mentioned disruptors earlier. And for me, this ties right in the hardest thing for me when I, when I started this full time, right. When everything exploded in March was that we had to learn how to be, how to all work together as a family. We had never had to do that before. I mean, I've been working, I've been working since my daughter was three months old, um, full time at something. And when, I mean, full time, like I'm talking 80 hours a week, so my husband's been the full time caretaker. And he's been, he's been the one who's been taking care of her and working and running his own business. And he's a musician, so he's got a lot going on. And then I showed up and I think I was the disruptor because all of a sudden, no one was getting anything done. We were, we were to use a Sony as example of the hot potato. We were, we were pelting the potato out each like each other so much that we weren't like, we weren't accomplishing. And, um, and that was really hard for me because I was coming from, I mean, like retail management, right. So like I had my space and I had some semblance of authority kind of maybe. And I mean, like I could, to a certain extent control my environment and how I was working and how it was going to work best for me. And then when I'm at home, all of a sudden, I mean, we're working in the same office space, which was also my daughter's playroom and her, and, you know, like, and we'd finally figured out, you know, like my husband's ease, he's getting his stuff done. And he's like, okay, I should be done in an hour. You can jump on that. And I'm like, okay, perfect. So why jump on? And I'm trying to listen to videos or I'm trying to do calls, and then he picks up the fiddle and then he's playing the fiddle. And I don't know if anyone's familiar with the fiddle, but that thing is loud, like loud. Like you can't do anything else, but listen to the fiddle being played in a small house. So it was, um, man that took probably, you know, we're probably almost over that hurdle. Okay. Now six months in figuring out how we juggle our space and our time and our noise levels and what, and what we need for each other. I mean, so I guess I was the biggest disruptor to answer that question from, from way back. Yeah. That was me. Yeah. It's so interesting because I, I don't know if you guys were on the coach's corner yesterday, we talked about distractions and I don't know about you ladies. Like when I get distracted, it throws everything off. So I couldn't even imagine if my husband was playing the fucking fiddle
Speaker 6:All in the background while I'm trying to do goddamn work. Lindsey
Speaker 3:Send him to the room today. Think of Fiddler on the roof, send them up then. Oh yeah.
Speaker 6:Storm with a metal rod.
Speaker 3:Like even today, it was so funny. He's like, yeah, I gotta do this. And I got to do this. Like, that's one thing we've gotten really a lot better at it. And he can definitely hear me downstairs from while we're doing this. So that's hilarious. But we were, we were talking about what we had to get done today. And he's like, yeah, I'm a finish my stuff up, but you know, right before noon, and then I have to practice cause he's got a gig tomorrow and I'm like, Oh no, no, no. I'm like, you have to wait until one 30 and I will be done. And then you've laid your heart's content. And I won't even complain. I promise. I'm like, but you gotta, you gotta give me this time. So, I mean, communication has been huge. Like we have to literally tell each other, like what noise level we need for different pieces of our work, because he has things that he has to work on as well that are like really analytical number stuff. And I mean, like it's serious stuff. So if he gets something wrong because you know, I'm being too loud on the call then, I mean, like people don't get paid and you know, companies get in trouble. Like it's a big, it's a big deal. So yeah. I mean, yeah. Do you ladies feel, this is a question for both of you, um, do you guys feel the way this is not a plug for grassroots by the way, but it kind of is too at the same time, I'm not gonna, I'm going to be shameless about it. Do you feel the way that the systems you have in place, especially around your program structure, your higher end prices has helped you transition to doing business a little bit better, kind of like helped your survival around this? Like, do you feel that it's been one of the bigger benefits so much, so much and possibly the biggest piece for me is that I haven't been out here trying to kill myself over people that, that are the wrong fit for me in the business who aren't paying me appropriately, because that's something that I would do in the past is I would give absolutely everything I had to the point of burnout to clients who weren't, weren't appreciative and worked. I mean, just the wrong fit, you know, um, and, and crossing boundaries and whatnot, and the life we're in now, I, I mean, I need to hang on to as much mental health and sanity as possible because it's so busy and crazy. So now when I can walk away from someone that I've got huge red flags about, and I don't have to do that to myself is really big. So the clients I have, I mean, they're amazing. They're amazing. And I love them. And they're, I mean, they're paying the bills too, you know, like I'm, I'm not, I it's it's quality over quantity.
Speaker 4:Yes. I totally agree with Lindsey. I mean, it was everything that we went through and the 2.0 program was exactly what I needed for my business. And for me to learn about, for me to be exposed to, for me to question myself in so many ways. And for me, it was giving me the understanding of things I hadn't. I knew I needed to know, but I didn't. And some things I didn't know, I needed to know actually a lot of that and also confidence in different ways, not just my training, but the actual business parts of my business. I had boundaries as a huge thing that I have always struggled with. And that was one thing that they have helped me enormously with finding my niche clients, um, and questioning certain things that I would never even have thought to question. I mean, in just so many ways grassroots has and is just helping me in monumental ways. And I can't imagine having gone through this pandemic to this point, what it would have looked like had I not been a member of grassroots and been going through their program. So yay for groceries.
Speaker 1:That's something that you both totally just hit on was around the boundaries. Because right now, again, I can't even put myself into the place of where you guys are at with having children, having, you know, a spouse, a household and other things that are going on. I remember Sonia when we first talked back in June after 2.0 is, was over. You're like, you know, thank you for the boundaries. And right now, no matter what, you know, what's going on in your life or, you know, whatever political thing you're going, falling and whatnot. The key to actually having a safe mental health space is boundaries at this point and like setting those strong boundaries. And, you know, I know a lot of people get nervous around setting boundaries, especially dog trainers and dog walkers, and a lot of listeners here because they don't want to be seen as mean or bitchy or whatever and boundaries, which you guys have noticed. And you've, you've enacted, literally can save your life. They save you physically. They save you emotionally and they save you spiritually. So that's why I'm so glad to hear you guys bring it boundaries because boundaries has been the driver of 20, 20 it's pivot and boundaries for, for everybody I believe
Speaker 4:Completely, completely. And it also just leaves so much more of ourselves to be able to give to our clients in inappropriate ways and really show up every day and bring the best of us every day, because we're not completely drained.
Speaker 3:We're not completely exhausted emotionally. It's, it's just, it's a game changer, complete game changer. Yeah. Like being able to come at each thing that you're having to do in the day and be like, yes, I get to talk to people on the phone. Yes. I get to go train some dogs and it's not like, Oh my God, I have another class or, Oh my God, I got to get back to that person. Or, Oh my God, how is it 10 o'clock already? And I still haven't done this or that or whatever. I mean, being able to hold those boundaries means that, I mean, okay, four o'clock hit and that is the end of what you're doing, like for your emails or for your whatever. And it's irrelevant that you feel that you didn't get to whatever, because now it's time to spend time with the family or do any of the other millions of things you need to do because you've set those boundaries, even with yourself, you know, you're like, this is the time for this stuff. And then this is the time for this stuff. And it's amazing now, like, and I've just noticed, I really just noticed that started to happen. But now that I've put those boundaries up, that my clients are respecting them and not just respecting them, but I mean like really showing up for me too. I mean, like, I will get a flood of emails or messages at 10 o'clock because that's when I've told them, that's when I'm ready to start doing that. And that's when I get it. And then by the time I'm done that, I'm, you know, I feel good and I feel that I've delivered to everyone and I've helped everyone. And then I get to move on to the next piece of the business, like guilt free, you know what I mean? And I don't have to feel bad about any of it. And it's awesome. It's great. What I love about boundaries too, and this is something I'm going to, cause I saw your, I saw your post in the group by the way, Lindsey today about the red flag stuff.
Speaker 6:When I, when I saw that and I
Speaker 3:Just thinking about that, when you have such clear boundaries and settings, you're able to identify the red flags are able to identify, we call it like the Amber alert style thing. Like, you know, like this might be bad because you have that clear mindset around it and you know what your boundaries are, what your values are, what your ethics are and what expected behaviors you expect from a client and whatnot. So that's why it's like when we don't have, you know, solid fucking boundaries. And I always say, my boundaries might not seem nice, but they're kind and I mean, they're kind to people they're kind to myself, they're kind to grassroots. They're kind to students, their client, they're kind to my family. But when you have such a solid set of boundaries that you hold yourself to your, to yourself as well, you're able to see more clearly and objectively and not act on emotions. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I mean, I'll be vague. But to use that example that you saw today, I, I mean six months ago I would have looked at a request that was absolutely full of liability and red flags. And I would have said, okay. And I will figure it out as I go. And it wouldn't have ended well that then I can see that now, but I don't feel the need in my business right now to invite those kinds of things into my sphere. If that makes sense. I understand now that I, I am not my business and I am not something like, I'm not a public service. It is, it is me. And it is my, my group of people that I have chosen to have. I, once they're in, they're going to get a whole lot more, but I don't exist to, to help everyone with everything, for whatever kind of treatment. And I know that now, and I didn't even know that six months ago, but I know now
Speaker 4:Absolutely. We feel that a hundred percent too, coming from the sorts of side of the business that I come from, we tend to sell ourselves really cheaply. We have to fix everybody and help everybody. It's a real guilt trip. You know, if we don't and we completely push ourselves into the ground to help everyone and, and take everything, take everyone. And now I I'm the same way as Lindsey in that is this good for me? Is this good for my business? Is this good for my family? Is this a situation that we want to be in? And I don't have to feel guilty saying no, and that's a game changer.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. I love that. I think that's such a big thing cause it's like a lot of people get, so this is where I might go on a tangent for a second. So I, I apologize in advance. My listeners know this and you guys have heard me go on a tangent last night during the coaching call, but it's like a lot of people get the notion of, okay, cool. I can have a choice of who I want to work with. Right. And they start to set boundaries and whatnot. But then like when something like a blip on the radar, like the pandemic happens or just say like a local economy crash or whatnot, or they lose all their clients, they get into this like almost survival mode where they can't think that clearly boundaries get kind of lowered and whatnot and they start to taking everybody. And like you said, it can start to have devastating effects in your life. Right. Cause it's like, Oh, well they're just a dog owner that I'm training their dog or what not. But truth be told like, you guys bring that shit home. Like as a business owner, we don't have that beautiful delegation of where I can clock out at five o'clock and just be able to chill and do whatever at home and whatnot, and just kind of relax, especially in a house of entrepreneurs and what else? Like you bring that shit home and that stuff really affects your day to day life and affects your mental health too. So fuck. Yeah. I'm so proud of you ladies really, really heavily focusing on the quality aspect. Right. And like, you know, you can even have the best process and some people are going to go through, but that's totally cool too, but that's why you have those boundaries. I love it. I absolutely love it. I love talking about boundaries by the way. I need to find somebody. If anybody knows that's listening is a boundary coach should let me know. I'd love to have you on. I want to talk to somebody like that all day long on boundaries. Alright, so we're going to wrap this up in a second. But as you ladies sit here, what if you were to ask the universe God or whatever else, your family, your friends, your colleagues, your peers, the industry, what do you ladies need in terms of support from others? Like how can my listeners support you? How can your family support you? Like if you could pick something, it doesn't matter how big it is. Like what type of, what do you need? Like what do you need? Cause I feel like a lot of the times as women too, like you were talking about like the power of delegating, delegation's super fucking hard for me and Maggie, by the way, like, we'd go back and forth on that all the time. Um, that's why I'm so glad we have a team now, but what do you guys need in terms of support? And it could be anything. Hm. Um, I think I've got a really little one and then a really big one. Um, the littlest one is probably on like the family level and it would just be a, like a safe space, a safe space. Um, but like my own little area, an office, if you will, where all of their creative, everything that has to happen when it's happening, uh, it can happen uninterrupted. And, and I know that's hard and it may not seem like it's a big one, but on the family level, I could see that being super helpful, but on a bigger level, I think, and I don't think this applies just to our industry either. I think this is every industry. Uh, just an understanding that when people are self employed and when they are entrepreneurs, it's, I mean, if you invite someone out or, or you want to have some kind of social event or something on a day when they're, when they're running their business and, and if know, like they decline, I don't know the response of, Oh, well you can't, you just, you know, it's just, you, like, you can just postpone or you can just this, or you can just that, um, I think it does a disservice to all of our entrepreneur, friends and our self employed friends when that's kind of the attitude, because I know if you're working for somebody else, I mean, it can be as simple as asking for a day off, but, but when it's your own blood, sweat and tears and you've, you've organized things just so too, like in systems and
Speaker 4:To mental work in a certain way. Um, it's, I think more disrespectful than people know when, when that's the reaction, you know, from like a close friend or family, like, Oh, let's just, well, you can just move it though. Right. You know, I, yeah. And Sonya, what about you as a few things actually festival, which is, this is for everyone generally, anyway, compassion, please understand all of us, especially during this pandemic, we are all trying to do our best and we are all trying to meet the needs of everything can everyone. And that I have a gazillion things going on in my head of what I have to do. I have to make sure that I have enough long pants for my kids. And then once they try them on, I have to go back and exchange them and making sure that everybody has the smallest little tiniest thing they need has to get the right lunchbox. Or we are going to have a meltdown as well as I've got to reply to this person via text or email or call them, or do this, do that, take notes. Do you do all this other stuff? There are a billion things going on and I'm trying to meet every single one of them. If I drop it, it wasn't intentional. Please have some, a little bit more patience. Um, I'm trying to, I work from less and I tried that. That's the only way that I can do this is working from less by that. Um, and so leading on from compassion and understanding and patience, um, clear communications of needs. I am not a mind reader and I try to anticipate everybody's needs. I try to meet everybody's needs, but I kinda guess everybody's need so clear. Communication is appreciated and clear communication of expectations because I can't meet them if I don't know what they are. So that will help me be, you know, meet everybody's needs in a timely fashion, according to whatever that is, um, offers of help, obviously that comes more from sort of family. So, you know, offer to be offered the simplest little things sometimes, especially now that we're starting to sort of see more family members a little bit, that really helps because it gives me more free time. Um, and that really didn't happen before. Um, and that is about it really well. The reason why I wanted to ask this question was for my listeners, because they obviously have clients that are sometimes they're business owners, sometimes they're most of the time, their moms and parents or whatnot. So the reason why I wanted to ask you this question for you guys is so they can
Speaker 3:Better serve their clients that might be in the position that you guys are into as well. You know, they might not be dog trainers, they're their clients or whatnot, but also have that compassion that have that need and have that, that understanding that, you know, I always say like, and this is something that we talked about the other day in a team meeting was like, we all have to have grace with each other. It's like, we all are trying our God damn fucking best at this point. And it's like, it's so easy as entrepreneurs to have impatience and you want to get shit done and you want to get all the things tackled. And me to Sonia, I go off the list. Kaushik was off of us. We all go off the list, but we also have to have compassion for the other end, for like, for example, for you guys that are in the students that are in the students role, we have to understand that sometimes you guys, aren't going to be able to do all the work and commit to two hours a week or whatnot, and have the compassionate patient when you guys do have the questions and whatnot, not be like, Oh my God, they're not doing the work. It's like, no, they are, but they're trying to manage a business and a family and a house too at the same time. Yeah, for sure. So my last question, as we wrap this up, this is my favorite question. I usually ask this in the beginning, but I was like, Oh, let's just jump right into it. What is the one thing? The one thing, it could be two things. If you want proud of, since this all started Chapin, the jeopardy music right here, um, we're all alive. Sonya wraps it up. She might, she drops the Mike she's done yet. We're all alive. We love each other still every at the, and um, my business is ever growing the end, the end, she'd done by, she's going to go run and do a million things. I mean, I'm pretty close on that. I mean, it's been really hard and there's been a lot of challenges and I know we're not done with challenges, but in general everything's gotten better. I mean, I, as much as everything is crazy and hectic and you know, there's never ending lists. I also work off of lists. Um, it's like, it's all starting to come together. You know, like perseverance equal, you know, I can't say success because I don't think success ever. You don't reach success and then that's the end, but like it's working and it's getting better and there's improvement. Perseverance has equaled improvement. And, and I can see that continuing this way is the right call. And there's validation in that too. I mean like a
Speaker 1:Lot in this industry too. I think, um, we, we deal with some of that like, Oh, like when are you going to get a real job or, you know, that kind of stuff. And, and it's, it's really nice that it's all coming together and yeah, I think that's the thing that I'm most proud of. Nice. Yes. That's so awesome.
Speaker 4:I want to add, because as hard as this has been, and it has been for every single one of your listeners, this has been excruciating me a difficult time. It has brought, I think everybody's stronger, closer together. And, um, and as a little silver lining, cause I always try to look for the silver line cause that's just me and focus on that. Cause then it can become the whole cloud. Right. Um, but it's been wonderful for my business cause it's, my kids were home. Um, I was able to use them as a distraction because I had no choice in my training. So my dogs were that I was working with every single day when needing to they were having all this proofing and all these challenges, you know, just, it was naturally happening around them. And some of them do have grandchildren, you know, other, you know, the people have grandchildren or children. So being able to work with these dogs around my children and have them do the things that I need them to do, do the downstairs or the sit stays or the focusing or whatever, while that was going on actually really helped these particular dogs. So, or just, you know, proofing distractions anyway. So it, you know, there's always something really good that came out of it as well. I didn't want to sound like a negative Nancy, whatever, then the good stuff that happened to.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, something I want to, I want to pick up on what you said, Sonia, I see a lot more of coming together in the pet dog industry right now than I have ever seen before. It was massively divided. Now there's always going to be some division, but when we opened 2.0 and we welcomed, you know, a different breed of student in it actually made me less curmudgeon like about people. Like honestly, cause I've always loved people. I've always loved working with people, but now I'm like, Holy shit, there are some really incredible business owners out there, no matter what spectrum you're on and training and whatnot. And to me, because again, I'm not a dog trainer, I've just been married to one for my entire life almost. And I've just been in the industry for so long. I'm an outsider. It just opened my eyes so much. I'm like, Oh my God, this is possible. It is possible to have a spectrum of people there that all connect and there's no inner fighting or division. And it's just, it didn't cry. It's absolutely incredible. I'm so fucking proud of it. I'm so proud of the grassroots students at this point. Like right now this yep. Go ahead. Yeah. I agree so much about that. I mean that was something that's always kind of driven me crazy about this industry is that, I mean, people
Speaker 3:Talk about, you know, their peers in the industry and I've never felt like I had any because there wasn't that community. And there wasn't that. I mean, like I've never met the people who train near me, like, you know, like I had a couple of people, but we were all apprenticing under the same guy. I mean like that's how we were a bit of a community, but after joining grassroots, it was like, Oh, Oh, this is a tribe. This is what that is. You know? And the pieces that we usually fight over are just so completely irrelevant that it's, I mean, you actually get that tribe and you get that support when you need it, you know, and right. And I want to add that what, or sort of underline that word, put it in neon lights actually support because the grassroots community is a very supportive community. We may not necessarily completely agree with the techniques that other people use, but we all tend to just look past that and we support each other as entrepreneurs, as business owners. And that is honestly beautiful. Yeah. It's all focused on growth. It's all focused on healthy growth moving forward and really just killing it. Just fucking killing it with your businesses. Well, ladies, this has been incredible. I appreciate you guys taking the time out of the day. I know Lindsey, your husband's waiting to play his fiddle. That sounds really dirty. I was holding that one back since you said put off, I literally wrote that down in my notes. I was like, that's what she said. I had to, I had to put that in there. I'm going to use that$1. I haven't used that one yet. Be like so bad. This is what personally told me today. She said, go play your fiddle and have fun. So ladies, it's been incredible. It's been an honor to have you on here. I'm gonna let you guys go. And yeah. And if any of my listeners are still here, if you guys are interested in joining the tribe, that vibes and everything like that, shoot me a message on Instagram or go to our website.[inaudible] dot com. And there's multiple ways you can get in touch with one of our staff and we'll be able to help you and connect with you and see what's a good fit or not. Because again, we practice what we preach. We interview and screen everybody to ensure we have a community of likeminded people. All right, ladies, thank you so much. It's been incredible. I appreciate you. And I'll see you all in the group soon. Thank you. Thank you. Bye guys. Hey there. Thank you for listening to another bad-ass episode of mind, Euro dog business. If you haven't already subscribed, what are you waiting for? Oh my God. Go and subscribe now. So you don't miss out on any of our content pack dog business jam sessions plus special offers that I'm going to only be sharing with my amazing
Speaker 7:Dog business entrepreneurial podcast 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, confine 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 at dog Walker, coach, you can find me dog Walker, coach, and I'll pop up and I'll give you a special shout out. All right guys, til next time. Bye.