02: Build Your Sustainability Squad

Jaz 0:01
Welcome to The Business Animal podcast. saddle up for a gallop to the top of the animal industry, where you’ll learn how to tame your wild business beast, with tips, techniques, and tools that will take overwhelm to obedience school, and have you wagging your tail with joy. And now your hosts, Kim Beer, and Cara Taylor Swift.

Kimberly Beer 0:23
Hey there business animals, I’m Kim Beer with Be More Business.

Cara Taylor Swift 0:27
And I’m Cara Taylor Swift with Fast Horse Photography. And welcome to The Business Animal podcast.

Kimberly Beer 0:31
Today we’re gonna be talking about networking, and about building a sustainability squad so you can keep your sanity and your forward motion in your business.

Cara Taylor Swift 0:43
So just like all of our episodes, we’ve got a big three takeaway for you guys, each day that we’re going to work our way through, this is a pretty meaty episode. And we’ve got an amazing giveaway that we’re going to make sure that you guys have at the end of this. So the big three for today are going to be number one, networking is the fastest way to build your business. So we’re going to talk to you guys a little bit about networking, Big Three, number two, cultivating a network should be a mindful priority. And number three, networking is more than just knowing people, you have to work your network. I as a small business owner, as an animal based business owner, when I first started in this work camp, I found myself feeling a little like I was on an island all by myself trying to hash my way, claw my way through all the dynamics that it takes to run a business, but then also getting the word out about my business into my community, it was super stressful, I was exhausted. And I’m really excited about what you’ve created for us. For our audience, I have had the awesome opportunity to get a sneak peek at it before many of you guys and actually spend a little time kind of working through it in terms of my own business. So I’m excited to hear your take on it. And then all that, you know, kind of when I worked through that what that was like for me as a small business owner. So go ahead, Kim, take us away.

Kimberly Beer 2:03
Absolutely. The number one in this episode with the networking being the fastest way to build a successful business. After three decades, I caught them getting old, after three decades of being an entrepreneur, I can tell you hands down that your network is it is everything. And to me, there’s really kind of two pieces to your network. There’s the piece of the network where you build joint venture partners, and where you find centers of influence that become very monetarily associated. And we’ll address that somewhere down the line. But today’s episode is about the network that builds the foundation for you. This is your self improvement network. This is where you learn all of the things you didn’t know you didn’t know. So this network is also there to support you as an entrepreneur and to guide you forward. Both of those networks are absolutely critical and crucial in building your business. And I say this often and I’m sure you’ll hear it more than once from me, but I teach digital marketing. I teach people how to market their business. And they don’t always like it when I tell them that networking is the best way to do that. Because it feels awkward, and it’s uncomfortable for a lot of people. And here’s an interesting thing I know about Cara, Cara is an introvert. So no wonder it was exhausting to you to build your network because it’s exhausting to you to have to go and be amongst all of that human energy out there. And it’s also daunting to know what to say and how to approach people and how to answer the questions that are going to come along and then how to work and build on those relationships. And that’s kind of what I’ve built this workbook around is to help people be able to understand that so I guess I could retire a little bit. The extroverts guide to how to network.

Cara Taylor Swift 3:59
Also good for introverts.

Kimberly Beer 4:00
Yeah, for introverts.

Cara Taylor Swift 4:02
I think the big takeaway for me is that we need people in our corner. And we have to network to make that happen. And being able to go out and recruit those people to help make people like me who would prefer to be a little more behind the scenes go out and be successful. And having a plan to create that support network really made a big difference for me. So I’m not just having to go to you know, a meeting out in my community and shake hands with everyone, I’m, I’ve kind of have a plan behind it as well. And I know the type of people that I need on my team that I want on my team, you know, and so I can minimize those moments where as an introvert, I feel like I’m being pushed to my limit.

Kimberly Beer 4:41
Yeah. And and it’s so hard for me because this is my favorite thing to do, right? Give me a roomful of people that I can talk to, and I am in heaven, I am on it. I leave that with much more energy than I came into it. So for those of you listening for some of you, it’s gonna be be super easy for others, it’s gonna be a little bit of a challenge. And that’s okay, a couple of tips that I have, because I do have a lot of introvert clients, and those clients and students both actually. And for some of them, I’m their designated extrovert. So I actually fill some of the roles that we’re going to talk about with those, I have six p six groups of people that I think you need to recruit for this kind of foundation network. And I fill those roles as an extrovert for a lot of my introvert students and clients, because I’m able to talk about them, sometimes easier than they can talk about themselves. My other big introvert tip, and Cara can share any because I’m just guessing at this point, what it’s like to be an introvert and never know. That’s my mother said I’ve never met a stranger in my life, is to just be kind to yourself, because you have to be able to recharge your batteries away from humans. And I always tell my introvert clients that get a lot of pushback around creating the network, one of my big tips to them is make a bargain with your introvert before you walk into the networking event. Say I’m going to go into this networking event and I’m going to meet five people. And once I’ve met my five people, I’m gonna say it’s okay, I can go home, hide under the covers and read a good book and lock the door and just be with my family and my pets. And it’s all good. But I need to meet those five people and get ABCD taken care of with them. I don’t know, how do you how would you think that strategy would work in your world, Cara?

Cara Taylor Swift 6:30
Absolutely. As a wallflower, like I am. A lot of times people don’t realize that I have this introvert side of me because I do that same thing. I’ll be sitting in my truck and heading to an event and I’ll tell myself, okay, I will stay for X amount of time, I will talk to a certain number of people. And at that time, if I’ve done that, and I want to go, that’s okay, if I am feeling good, and I want to stay. That’s, that’s bonus time for me. But then I do reward myself, I do come home and I do relax. And I do I have to recharge after that. And I know there’s a lot of people out there right now maybe they’re driving in their cars heading to an event and listening and saying the same things to their self. And that is totally okay. What matters is that you know that your networks important and that you’re willing to take some steps to get out there and enhance it. So Kim, I know you’re going to go through the six things you need for your sustainability squad. But I do want to for those people that are out there listening right now I want to let them know that Kim has created this really cool workbook, and we are making that available to you for free. So we’re gonna give you a little snapshot of it. And then we will remind you guys on where to find it.

Kimberly Beer 7:38
Chances are you already have all of this started. So you already have some people that are on your squad right now you also have people that you may want to recruit to your squad, and then you need to be mindful. And that’s our big three. Number two is cultivating your network should be a mindful opportunity, a mindful priority, this is going to help you make that mindful. In other words, it’s going to help you look at it and say, who could I add to this squad to make myself more accessible or to get more access to who I want to have access to? And then how do I utilize each of these relationships. So let me tell you about the six groups of people that you’re going to look for to build your sustainability squad. There’s the mentor, the teacher, the coach, the advisor, the sponsor, and the cheerleader, and each of these people has a different role. And by the way, you also play this role for other people, you may be a teacher or a mentor or a coach or a cheerleader. So you want to think about it two directions network is not a single direction. It’s not a path that goes one way. It’s a path that actually goes both ways. And when you think of it that way, it becomes beneficial for everybody. So we all get to raise up together, which is what makes it really awesome. Let’s break down those six groups and talk about them just really briefly. Again, the workbook goes into detail about what each group’s strengths are, what the benefits are, how you should build relationships with them. But for the purposes of our podcast, let’s take a look at each one. The first one we’ll look at is the mentor. And for me in building my business, my mentors were the place that I got the information from where I could really leapfrog forward. So mentors are people who have walked the path that you’re on now. And they themselves are a representation of who you want to be in the future. And when you choose your mentors, you should choose them with that in mind. In other words, they should have attributes of where you want to be in the future and where you want to go and their success level. Cara, who do you have in your world for mentors? Do you have a mentor?

Cara Taylor Swift 9:53
Yeah, I mean, I have some I have an assortment of mentors because I think it’s important to have them for like the different parts of my business. I have mentors, people that I feel like I’ve been super successful in those areas. I definitely consider you one of my mentors.

Kimberly Beer 10:07
Oh, that warms my heart.

Cara Taylor Swift 10:09
Yeah, I feel like I learned so much from you all the time. So that’s one right there. I mean, even just sitting down and having conversations about our sustainability squad. So I would say right off the bat, Kimberly Beer, Be More Business is a mentor of fast cars, photography.

Kimberly Beer 10:23
Nice, nice. Well, and that’s a wonderful, I’m very honored to be there. I too, have mentors in all different types of areas. For my business. I have an entrepreneurship mentor, that helps me push myself as an entrepreneur, I have mentors that helped me with my art and creativity, I have mentors that helped me with my writing, I have mentors that helped me with thought processes that I need to be able to learn really well like running a ranch as a single woman. Sometimes that needs a little help. So I have mentors in all those areas,

Cara Taylor Swift 11:01
would you say that it’s totally okay to have a mentor relationship that is kind of a one hit, you know, like you reach out to them because you need some information or you want to work with them on something, or would you put that in another category,

Kimberly Beer 11:13
I would put that in another category, that kind of lighter relationship. To me a mentor is somebody that you build a really tight relationship with, because mentorship from the mentors perspective is that’s passing your legacy along, right. That’s the cool piece of being a mentor is you get to pass your legacy of what you’ve learned along. So it’s an ongoing relationship, my entrepreneurship mentor that I have, I’ve had a relationship with him as a mentor for going on five or six years now. It’s incredible his through his mentorship, I have more than doubled my income for my business two times. So it’s a very valuable relationship to me. And I think it’s a valuable relationship to him. He’s a wonderful older gentleman. And he just he loves doing it, it’s giving back he doesn’t need it for money, he doesn’t need it for status. He just simply wants to see people be successful in entrepreneurial ism. And I think it’s it’s pretty amazing when you find somebody like that. So thank you, Mark. Listen to this episode. And I have other mentors to another one of my mentors is actually a client of mine, Melisa Pearce, who has touched by a horse, Melisa has many of the attributes that I would want to find in myself and in my own business. And I’ve learned a tremendous amount, not just from facilitated mentorship with her, but also from watching her and and learning from observing how she does things. And speaking of that, there’s a defined difference between a mentor and a coach, in my opinion, which is one of the other categories we’re going to talk about. Mentors are not paid. Generally, they provide their knowledge and their expertise and kind of take you under their wing, and to a certain extent without being paid for that service. Again, it’s kind of a legacy sort of a relationship. And you should choose your mentors carefully and respect to them and be thankful for them and show a lot of gratitude for them because many times they are not being paid. And the least you can do is pick up the tab for the coffee or say thank you and show your gratitude for them.

Cara Taylor Swift 13:23
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Kimberly Beer 14:11
The next category and we will get to coaches here in a momen, but the next category on the list is teachers. And these are people that give you skills, they add some hard skills to your inventory as a business person or in your trade or industry. And some of these folks, these are the more transient people that come in and out of your life. They’re the people that like Cara mentioned, you may be would have one conversation with or would ask a few questions about something very specific. Many times they are paid. There’s a lot of times that you will pay to have a teacher and it doesn’t matter if it’s you’re young or if you’re older adults have teachers as well as kids. So teachers are the second group. Can you think of any teachers you have in your world, Cara?

Cara Taylor Swift 15:00
Yeah, I mean, I, I was just sitting here thinking about the question I posed earlier about kind of like the one hit like you touch base with people. And I see a lot of folks online advertising like paid mentorships. And I think that they probably and you can correct me if I’m wrong, they probably fall more into like the teacher or coach category is probably where that comes in. But mentor is such a such a hot word right now. I think. So people are kind of pulling from that. But yeah, I mean, I have people that teach really specific things like if I want to learn a new skill in Photoshop, for example, I might hire someone to spend a few hours with me just teaching that specific thing, or, you know, something really business related. The other day, I was trying to create an automated system for responding to clients, and I set up a meeting to hire someone to walk me through that process.

Kimberly Beer 15:53
Absolutely. Having a teacher in that area is really important, because you need to have someone that can explain to you step by step how to do something. And that’s what teachers are really, really good at. When it comes to choosing a teacher, I encourage you to make a list and that’s part of what’s in the workbook is make a list of what do you need to learn in the next six months? What do you want to add to your skill or your kit or your tool bag, in your business or in your life, and then that’s the teacher that you need to look for, and understanding, again, what you want to learn, we’ll help you find the right teacher. So you can learn that skill. And by the way, I say teachers are mostly paid. But you can also find some great teachers online, YouTube is a fantastic source for finding teachers in your life. There are some lovely people if you’re wanting to learn about Adobe software, like all of the fun Photoshop, and Lightroom, and all of that you can get on YouTube and find teachers galore for that particular topic. And it’s a lot of fun to watch them. And once you find somebody who’s really good, you can subscribe to their channel and follow them so they can help educate you on that topic, LinkedIn learning, which used to be lynda.com. And then there’s all kinds of academies online that you can attend to that are based around teachers. And when you find someone you like, as a teacher, follow them and learn what you can from them. But also realize they usually are pretty transients, they’re, they’re going to come and go out of your life, and you’re going to find new ones, as you level up your skills that teach leveled up skills. The next group of people we’re going to look at is coaches, coaches, whereas teachers have that specific set of skills. And your mentor is usually somebody who’s been where you are in some capacity and knows the territory of where you want to go and can help you get there. A coach doesn’t necessarily have to know anything about what you’re doing. Their job is to help you realize your potential. In other words, you know, some coaches, I’m sure that coach football have played football, but there’s a good chunk of them that have not played football, especially at the level that they’re coaching people to play football. And when we talk about coaches in the business world, it’s a similar type of deal, right? It’s doesn’t mean that your coach has to have had a eight figure business in order to coach you to a seven figure business. It just means that coach has to have the skills to help you realize your potential and then to keep you accountable and help you get on track to achieve that goal that you want to achieve. So usually coaches you have a specific goal as to why you are seeking that coaching relationship and coaches will push on you a bit to be able to get that it’s it’s usually a very intimate relationship when you speak to them on a regular basis. So when you choose a coach, you need to choose a coach that aligns with your values and someone that you’re going to be able to trust and who will really work with you on a one to one basis. Like you said about mentor the word coach gets thrown around a lot in particularly in the business world and online about I’m a business coach or I am coaching somebody in this particular topic. And a lot of times those coaching relationships are maybe given over video or they are given in a group situation where it’s a lot of people and the coach is just simply talking to me those are more teachers. The coaches that I’m talking about here are people that you can build if not a one to one relationship with a small group relationship with so that’s key and that.

Cara Taylor Swift 19:45
This feels like the mindset Yeah, part of this like where they don’t have to know how to be a small animal based business owner. They don’t have to know that part of it. So I do have a coach in my life. He’s a successful business person. However, He is not an animal person, he’s not a small business owner. He’s a larger business owner, but he’s someone that can shift my mind and get me thinking about the bigger picture. And when I get stuck in this like mindset of this is the way it has to be, because this is the way everybody else is doing it, or I start to see a problem and I get kind of hung up on it. This is the person in my network that pushes me through that, and helps me see the bigger picture helps me see maybe where I’m being narrow minded about it, and kind of opens that up a little bit.

Kimberly Beer 20:36
I have a bunch — I of course, work with coaches, I have a whole little subset of my clientele that are — so not a little subset, it’s pretty substantial subset, actually —of people in my world that are coaches. So I am at no loss for coaches. I have several that are on my payroll that I do pay to help me with specific things and keeping my mindset straight, and being able to hold me accountable, I tend to chase butterflies. So I need someone to kind of say, okay, you need to come back over here and actually catch this one before you head off for the next one. So that’s a lot of help. Other things that coaches can help you with that you may think so you may think, Well, I’d like to have a coach. But coaches are pricey, right? are very expensive. And there’s a reason for that. So here’s an example of why you might want to pay a coach a pretty substantial amount of money. If you’re a small business owner, and you have limiting beliefs around the abundance of money and financial return in your business, it can be incredibly costly. I know for me, and without getting into too much detail. Growing up, I had a had a real hard time in my family and how they treated money and value. And it affected my ability to be able to build people when I got into my business. And that sounds absolutely crazy. But it’s true.

Cara Taylor Swift 22:01
I think that’s a lot of people, though. It happens on pricing and charging and the fear of just sending an invoice.

Kimberly Beer 22:09
Yeah, there’s a real fear to that.

Cara Taylor Swift 22:11
And putting that value out to the world that that they’re worth a payment. You know, I think that makes a lot of sense.

Kimberly Beer 22:17
So a coach can help you overcome that because I seriously, I would not build people, and I wouldn’t be paid. And then I would get into this little resentment spiral about well, I took this work and I didn’t get paid for it. Well, I didn’t ask for the money. So it was it had to do with my childhood and my family. And it was nothing against my parents, they were just doing the best that they could they actually inherited it from their parents, so is this sort of generational trauma around asking for payment, and I am still working on that to help me be able to feel really good about pressing that send button on an invoice when I’ve completed a job. And I consider myself successful as an entrepreneur. And I have difficulty doing that. So as a new business owner, you may have a lot of difficulty around money, or around contracts, that’s another one people a lot of times will be like I don’t want to have to sign a contract or they want to have a contract that specifies every single little thing. There’s limiting beliefs, there’s roadblocks, there’s things in your world that will stop you from being truly successful. And a lot of times you don’t even realize what they are. So when you think about the amount of money that you spend on a coach, a lot of us have that tied back to revenue, financial block, if that can get cleared out of the way trust me, you’re gonna make a lot more money than you would if it was still there. So the coach ends up being really, really worth it. The next group of people we’re going to talk about our advisors and advisors to me are people that have a crucial and very specialized skills get there like the Liam Nieson of your the very, very, very specified skill set that is going to help you in what you’re doing. And there are people that generally their skill set is something you’re not going to want to learn so you don’t want to be have a teacher role. So in for most people, they’re going to be lawyers, accountants, IT professionals, insurance agents, bankers, financial advisors, those kind of people that fall into this category.

Cara Taylor Swift 24:25
I think it’s probably safe to say to them that most people in like an animal based business or a creative space, you know, are those two even coupled together we probably are less advisor mindset sometimes and we need to have those people in our life.

Kimberly Beer 24:41
Absolutely. Especially your banker. One of my … I actually know my bankers name. I have his phone number memorized. He is a very sweet man named Danny. Danny is very realistic with me. I think when he sees me walking into his office, he’s a little bit like oh my God what is she there for now?

Cara Taylor Swift 25:01
Okay, well, Danny, this one’s for you.

Kimberly Beer 25:03
Yeah. And he has to chase me down every once in a while to get his financial statements and keep me on track with the bank as far as paperwork is concerned, because that’s kind of not on my radar. But having a relationship with a banker is very important because you do need to be able to occasionally go in and ask for an operating loan, or there are times when maybe you’re in the middle of a pandemic, and you can’t make a payment on your loan and you need to know the person you’re talking to. They’re actually really cool people once you get to know them.

Cara Taylor Swift 25:35
But not just bankers. Obviously, there’s insurance agents and financial advisors and IT professionals and lawyers and all of those people, accountants,

Kimberly Beer 25:46
Yeah, insurance agents. Anytime you work around animals or with animals, you need to have a darn good relationship with your insurance agent and especially if horses are involved in your world because horses tend to light up people when it comes to the insurance stuff. I have had more insurance policies canceled because we have horses that have danglers so anytime you have a stallion, it becomes a big insurance liabilities. Apparently.

Cara Taylor Swift 26:14
I’m like, Where’s she going with danglers? Yeah,

Kimberly Beer 26:17
We don’t have any ones with danglers anymore. They’re they’re all geldings now. So advisors, I encourage people to have a roundtable of people that they can pull on. And if when they get into a sticky situation, that they’ll be able to reach out to that person. But also, the big point to this is don’t just make your relationship with your advisors, when you have a problem. Make sure you keep a regular relationship with them. So that when you call, they know who you are, it’s really handy with your lawyer, if you have a lawsuit, that your lawyer knows your name. And that it’s like, oh, I recognize this person.

Cara Taylor Swift 26:55
And they’re familiar with your business and what you do. Yeah, and if it’s just kind of general purposes,

Kimberly Beer 26:59
Yep. It doesn’t have to be doesn’t have to be where you go on, you know, coffee dates with them. But just making sure you keep in touch and that they know who you are, and that you have a retainer if it’s necessary and I file folder are really made up.

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The next group we’re going to talk about is sponsors. And sponsors are one of those groups in your sustainability squad that are key and crucial to your business success. Because they go out into the world and tell people about you and your business, and they hook you up. So these are the people that when you walk into a networking event, they recognize you and come over and say, Hey, Kara, I want to come introduce you to this person who might be able to help your business sponsors are beyond important in your business. And here’s a thing that women in particular have a difficulty with this subset or group of people because they don’t always ask as women, I think we’re a little bit hindered in in having learned how to say, Hey, could you put in a good word for me? Or could you talk to somebody about me? Or could you help me get this opportunity, then seem to be able to do this a whole lot easier. And I think it just has to do with our culture and how shifting perspectives are coming into play now that women are being able to get to this group of their network and how important and figuring out how important sponsors are.

Cara Taylor Swift 29:04
Would you say that sponsors can oftentimes be maybe past clients that you’ve worked with as well, that had a really good experience? I actually just had an experience this morning with a client coming into my office and picking up a piece of artwork and you know, super happy with the job. And then they mentioned a place that I’ve always wanted to shoot at and they’re like, best buddies with this person. So I’m like, oh, could you put a word in let them know I love their property. I’d really love to come shoot out there some time. There herd of donkeys are amazing. And just putting the word out and just you don’t always know when those little connections can be made. But absolutely, definitely. I feel like a lot of the people that I would consider sponsors in my life are people that have had great experiences within the past through the work, like you said, mentioning you to other people all the time.

Kimberly Beer 29:50
Absolutely. And asking, asking for that referral, right, asking for the hookup asking for them to connect. You to the person that is the person you want to talk to. I mean, there’s an entire social network around creating sponsorships. And that’s LinkedIn. Right? It’s it’s around who do you know? And how can you ask that person to get you to the next level of where you want to get to, at its most base level, at its simplest level, that’s where it’s at. at a higher level, it’s the client or the mentor, a lot of times your mentors become your sponsors as well. It’s that person who, without being asked, will go out into the world and create opportunities for you, or they’ll go to a center of influence and say, you really need to be working with this person. sponsors are probably the most rare of your sustainability squad, but they’re also one of the most important.

Cara Taylor Swift 30:48
That makes a lot of sense, I feel like my sponsors are also the people that I can turn to, you know, when I need updated reviews for my website, they’re those people that have experience with you at an intimate and an intimate level sometimes and can really speak truly to your business and the things that you do.

Kimberly Beer 31:06
And to you as a person, they know who you are. And that’s the really cool thing, because that’s what they’ll give to the person that they’re referring you to or they’re they’re speaking to about you is they’ll give you their personal endorsement of you as a trustworthy and capable person or to fulfill a service or to buy a product from and that 100% sale.

Cara Taylor Swift 31:31
I feel like the people that have come to me from, like you said through the sponsorships are people that by the time you get them on the phone, or you’re talking to them in person, you don’t have to sale, you don’t have to do a lot of pitching, they’re ready to work with you, they’re ready to hire you, because your sponsor has done all the work already. Absolutely.

Kimberly Beer 31:49
And that’s why your sponsors are pure gold in your network, and you should reward them, thank them, a lot of people really feed off of recognition. And it doesn’t have to be a huge financial gesture, it just needs to be a simple Thank you, or something really nice, like a little bouquet of flowers or a card that you send, it doesn’t have to be high ticket, it just needs to be a gesture of gratitude. And by the way, in the workbook, there’s a little area for you to think about what you’re thankful for, with each of these groups of people. Because when you approach your network from a place of gratitude, it grows a lot faster, and it grows a lot stronger, it really is the water for that garden. All right. And our final group of people that we’re going to talk about are your cheerleaders. And these people, they don’t really maybe have they, they don’t have any tied success to your business, or they’re not necessarily even business minded. But they’re your family, your friends, your client base, I have a lot of my clients that are my cheerleaders, they’re there to support you to bolster you up to pick you up, if you have a bad day. Or if you’ve had a bad experience in your business, they’re the ones that’ll that’ll get you to say, keep on going. And you can do it. I love my cheerleaders. Because there are times when being an entrepreneur is hard. And these folks really help you be able to see that you’re valued out there, and that you’re touching their lives, and you’re an inspiration to them. So cheerleaders are a very important piece of your sustainability squad.

Cara Taylor Swift 33:26
These are definitely the people to I feel like in my life that when I’m feeling a little discouraged, maybe a little defeated about something that’s happened in my business, they’re the people that will pop up and just make you feel great about something else. And sometimes, you know, I’ll even be laughing and I’m like, of course, you know that these people are in my corner. But man, there are days if I don’t have these people to give you a pat on the back or to be cheering for me in the background, then I could get have a super negative day. I mean, it’s amazing what cheerleaders can do for you. And they’re definitely some unsung heroes, sometimes for a small business owners out there.

Kimberly Beer 34:02
Absolutely. And very few times do we think about who they are, or how to nurture that relationship, or how important it is to us to have that relationship or be that relationship for somebody else. It’s equally as fun to be someone else’s cheerleader. Yeah, and actually, for all of these roles, and that’s the final piece of this puzzle is that you not only have these people that serve those roles in your world, but you should be serving those roles. For other people, the ones that are not paid professionals, I don’t expect you to go be somebody’s accountant or to be their coach. But being a mentor or being a sponsor or being a cheerleader, are all great places for you to return. And to look also if you would make a good coach for somebody and that might be an income stream for you or if you do advise people I’m an advisor for a lot of people around business because I’m a professional in that area, and I advise them around business and marketing. And that’s my relationship with them. And it is a paid one, thinking about how you could fit yourself into these specific roles and be able to fill that for someone else. Especially being a cheerleader. Being a cheerleader is a lot of fun. Oh, I didn’t do it in high school. I wasn’t that cheerleader girl. But as a grown woman, I do like to be it. Were you the cheerleader?

Cara Taylor Swift 35:31
Do I look like a cheerleader?

Kimberly Beer 35:32
A little bit.

Cara Taylor Swift 35:33
I was a cheerleader for one year. So I’ll admit to it. I was a cheerleader for a year. But in my life, I try really hard to always be a cheerleader. I got people who I am constantly cheering on. Yeah, because I think it’s one of the easiest costume nothing to be caring and supportive of people that you want to see succeed.

Kimberly Beer 35:54
Exactly, it costs you nothing. And actually, it pays you back big time. Because that energy, it’s a really nice little wave to ride as you move forward. Well, I encourage you guys to go to the shownotes onto our website at The Business animal.com. And you’ll find out how to get it’ll be pretty obvious of how to get to the the free sustainability squad workbook. And it’s not something that is going to take you forever. It’s a relatively quick exercise for each of these. And it’s something you can kind of keep and maintain over time.

Cara Taylor Swift 36:28
And as someone who’s gone through it and done it, I can tell you it really gets you thinking about who your people are, who’s on your team, but also what you’re missing. And what you can be out there recruiting for your sustainability team. It’ll be here I definitely recommend grabbing it. downloading it Kim has graciously gifted it for you guys to download and for me to download and enjoy as well. And we’d like to hear from you guys. So you know hop over to our Facebook and our Instagram because we want to cheer for you guys. So pop into our DMS or pop into and leave a comment. We want to cheer for you guys and hear what you’re up to.

Jaz 37:04
Thanks for listening to this episode of The Business Animal. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you learn something today, leave us a review. To learn more. Find us at The Business animal.com we’d love to hear from you. Until next time, keep your business well trained with The Business Animal

Transcribed by https://otter.ai