Creating Professional Respect in Your Animal Based Business

by | Jun 28, 2022 | 0 comments

Creating Professional Respect in Your Animal Based Business

How you present yourself — and your business — matters. Being a professional means you gain respect and confidence. Creating professional respect in your business begins with you and in this week’s episode of The Business Animal Kim and Cara break down three ways you can make the shifts necessary to gain professional respect from your industry, customers, and the public — and gain some important self-regard as a bonus! 

Transcript
Kimberly Beer:

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Jaz:

Well, welcome to The Business Animal podcast. Saddle

Jaz:

up for a gallop to the top of the animal industry, where

Jaz:

you'll learn how to tame your wild business beast with tips,

Jaz:

techniques, and tools that will take overwhelm to obedience

Jaz:

school, and have you wagging your tail with joy. And now your

Jaz:

hosts, Kim Beer, and Cara Taylor Swift.

Kimberly Beer:

Hey there business animals. It's Kim with

Kimberly Beer:

Be More Business

Cara Taylor Swift:

and Cara with Fast Horse Photography. Hi, Kim,

Cara Taylor Swift:

how are you?

Kimberly Beer:

I am doing well. I am on the other side of my

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health issue now. Woohoo. I'm feeling so much better. Oh, I

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love hearing that I'm back to work the full time part time.

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And I'll be back to work full time probably the first week of

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July. So very, very happy to be getting out there getting ready

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to create more content and definitely feeling much better

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and very relieved. So yeah, that makes

Cara Taylor Swift:

me so happy to hear I sound a little off

Cara Taylor Swift:

today, because I do have COVID My whole family has COVID right

Cara Taylor Swift:

now. But I'm on the tail end of it just the part where it's kind

Cara Taylor Swift:

of feels gross in your throat. But I feel fine for the most

Cara Taylor Swift:

part. So I just want to apologize for folks if I sound a

Cara Taylor Swift:

little deeper than normal. But yeah, so Kim and I are in this

Cara Taylor Swift:

in this good place right now. And I love it. So we're getting

Cara Taylor Swift:

ready to finish up season three of The Business Animal, which is

Cara Taylor Swift:

crazy, a couple more episodes to go. So what are we talking about

Cara Taylor Swift:

today,

Kimberly Beer:

we are talking about something that I think is

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a really interesting conversation that maybe you

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haven't even thought about in your business. And that's

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creating professional respect. So here's a little story in a

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background as to where this comes from in my world years and

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years ago when I was first getting to be a graphic designer

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on my own. And I would work with a client. And I want to remind

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you that I was at the time, I didn't have a storefront, I

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didn't have like an official title. I didn't go to college to

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be a graphic designer, I was just a really good artist. And I

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was good with technology. And I was doing a perfectly fine job.

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But inside I don't know if something felt off or wrong. But

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whenever I would go and I would work with a client, one of the

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things that they would say when they looked at the finished

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piece is they go Oh, that is so like a professional. That's very

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professional. And you know, at first I guess it didn't bother

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me. But the more I did it, and the more that I got

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accomplished, it kind of got underneath my skin that people

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hired me and then were surprised that they received a

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professional result. So has anything ever like that happened

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with you, Kara? I mean, it sounds weird, cuz honestly, they

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were giving me a compliment. But I kind of took it a little

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differently. Well,

Cara Taylor Swift:

I mean, we're, we're artist as well

Cara Taylor Swift:

right now. And so I think any field out there were men. And

Cara Taylor Swift:

there's a lot of fields, I think like this where maybe you can do

Cara Taylor Swift:

it part time, or it's something you can do on the side, or it's

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something you can learn on your own. And there are a bunch of

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fields out there that people will jump into and photography

Cara Taylor Swift:

is one of them as an equine photographer. But as a

Cara Taylor Swift:

photographer in general photography is one of those

Cara Taylor Swift:

areas where maybe somebody is unemployed, and they decide, oh,

Cara Taylor Swift:

I'm going to become a photographer. And then they open

Cara Taylor Swift:

a Facebook page, and suddenly they're a business and I'm

Cara Taylor Swift:

putting that in quotation marks. So it's one of those things and

Cara Taylor Swift:

there are lots of others out there, you're probably you can

Cara Taylor Swift:

probably think of them in your brain, I'm not going to call any

Cara Taylor Swift:

of them out. But that come up that automatically when somebody

Cara Taylor Swift:

that can automatically when someone says oh, this is my

Cara Taylor Swift:

profession, or this is what I do. People can write it off as

Cara Taylor Swift:

maybe not as professional maybe not take it as seriously this

Cara Taylor Swift:

topic came up for me recently, however, because I was working

Cara Taylor Swift:

with a couple of mentees is that the right word when you're

Cara Taylor Swift:

mentoring someone is mentees the right word? It that feels like

Cara Taylor Swift:

I'm taking something too fresh in my brand. Mentees mentee.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Okay. So I was working with them and and they said, you know that

Cara Taylor Swift:

when someone asked them, you know, what do you do? Or tell me

Cara Taylor Swift:

you know, what's your business? Or what do you do that they feel

Cara Taylor Swift:

oftentimes when they go to answer that they don't know how

Cara Taylor Swift:

to answer it or that they don't do themselves a service with the

Cara Taylor Swift:

way that they answer to make themselves sound like a

Cara Taylor Swift:

legitimate business that they are and so I've really took that

Cara Taylor Swift:

to heart and I remember in the early days when I went from

Cara Taylor Swift:

working in a brick and mortar and working a nine to five you

Cara Taylor Swift:

know in I switched to being an entrepreneur and having my own

Cara Taylor Swift:

business and working from a home studio that I even struggled in

Cara Taylor Swift:

internally with the idea of taking my own business

Cara Taylor Swift:

seriously, and then that then transfers to how if I don't

Cara Taylor Swift:

think of my business as or I have second thoughts about how

Cara Taylor Swift:

my professional my businesses are legitimate my businesses,

Cara Taylor Swift:

how can I portray that to other people in a confident way that

Cara Taylor Swift:

makes them not just write me off as another person that's just

Cara Taylor Swift:

out there kind of floundering in the world. So I thought this was

Cara Taylor Swift:

a really awesome topic for us to cover today. And since it's

Cara Taylor Swift:

something we both experienced, and we know firsthand, other

Cara Taylor Swift:

people that are dealing with this right now,

Kimberly Beer:

absolutely. And I'm thinking of my clients that

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I work with on a regular basis, who have their corporate jobs

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still, and they are in this weird sort of one foot in one

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world and one foot and another world. And they're usually very

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accomplished in their corporate job. And in their corporate job,

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they have a lot of respect. And it's given to them easily

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because they've really been in that for a while, but they're

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wanting to step out and maybe be an equine assisted coach, or a

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gestalt artist or a photographer, or or start a, a

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grooming business or something like that. And because they

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don't have their foot completely over here in the world, where

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they're kind of side hustling and wanting to get into people

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don't take them seriously. And that can lead to all kinds of

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fallout for your business. If you really want to know the

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truth at the bottom line of this discussion that we're having

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today, it has to do with revenue, people will not pay you

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as much if they don't respect you. Or if you ask for a full

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payment, and people don't think you have a legitimate business

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or are full time it's something it's really, really sometimes

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difficult to get paid the value of what it is that you're

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providing. So being able to create that professional respect

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in your business mindfully to me is super important. And it's

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going to take a couple of mindset shifts. One of the

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things I think that both Kara and I want to impart before we

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get on to the big three is that even though all of the things

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that we're going to give you to do have a little bit of an

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outside action to them, it's truthfully how you feel about

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yourself inside that makes the difference. And you've got to

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work on your confidence building. And really, if you if

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you're one of those folks that straddling two worlds, when you

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are standing in the world, where you're where you're wanting to

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build your professional reputation, you know, pull your

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other foot out of the corporate world and stand squarely and

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confidently in that space. Even if you have to jump back to the

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other side.

Cara Taylor Swift:

There's a couple places I think that we

Cara Taylor Swift:

could mention, like where you might hear this, a great example

Cara Taylor Swift:

was when someone says, oh, you know, I'm a photographer, for

Cara Taylor Swift:

example. And then they say something like, Oh, I'm a

Cara Taylor Swift:

photographer, too, or my daughter's a photographer. And

Cara Taylor Swift:

I'm using the photography example. Because that's, that's

Cara Taylor Swift:

my focus. But I find that to be almost triggering to some

Cara Taylor Swift:

extent, because to me, I've worked so hard at legitimizing

Cara Taylor Swift:

and proving myself in the industry that I love talking and

Cara Taylor Swift:

chatting with other photographers. But sometimes I

Cara Taylor Swift:

think that comment, it's probably meant to, like, have

Cara Taylor Swift:

commonality, but it makes me feel and this is me inside of

Cara Taylor Swift:

myself. It makes me feel like they're writing me off as

Cara Taylor Swift:

someone who's not professional. And Kim, I know you have another

Cara Taylor Swift:

photography example that you like to give around when people

Cara Taylor Swift:

talk about your camera. Yeah.

Kimberly Beer:

So for many, many, many years, I would shoot

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horse shows, and people would come up to my alongside of me

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while I was shooting alongside the arena, and they would look

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at my camera and they would say they and they see the pictures

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like our digital cameras now have photos that pop up along

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the back for us to take a look at to check our settings and

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stuff. And they would say things while they were standing layer

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like Wow, your camera takes great photos. And that always

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just irked me. I gotta tell you, and then somewhere this is not

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mine. I don't know where I found it. It was somewhere in my life.

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I ran across this statement of I taught my camera everything it

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knows. So now when somebody comes over and stands next to me

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and says your camera takes great photos, I'm like, thank you so

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much. I taught it everything it knows. And that puts the focus

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back on me without me being rude about it. It just simply says,

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Hey, I learned how to do this. This is my skill, my talent. And

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this is a tool that I use and it's the same for those of you

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who have any type of thing where you're like the talent behind

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the tool. It's a really good little statement to use and it

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has Got another adjustment inside my head, the more I set

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up that instead of getting kind of bent out of shape, or

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thinking I had to buy a better camera, if I wanted to take

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better photos, which is, by the way, not the way to take better

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photos, you take better photos by increasing your skill level,

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but over a period of time is saying that I really got into

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understanding that yes, it was me that made the better photo,

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my camera was just a tool that I used to create those images. And

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I really did each and everything it knows,

Cara Taylor Swift:

I love that I think that takes us into our big

Cara Taylor Swift:

three, do you want to go ahead and run through those

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I do. And so the big three for today is the first

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one. And we've already kind of breached into this a little bit.

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And we'll get into it some more is to adjust your inside voice.

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And by inside voice, I don't mean inside the room, I mean

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inside your head, adjust how you're talking about yourself

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from the inside out. And then number two is explore and

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prepare the right professional response for the situation that

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you're in. And then number three is to clean up all those loose

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ends out there that make you feel unprofessional. So number

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one is to adjust that inside voice. And again, you have to

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kind of tweak that on your own. And one of the ways that I

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encourage people to do this is to think about where they want

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to be. So let's just take that example of that person who's got

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their foot in two worlds, right, they've got their foot in their

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corporate job, and they've got their foot in the side hustle

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that they want to make their living passion at, there's a

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point and you have to be diplomatic in that situation.

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Because when you're in your corporate job, you can't be

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standing completely in your side part. But what you have to do is

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you have to think about where is it that I really want to be how

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do I want to be seen three to five years from now. And I'm

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gonna have all that professional experience, you know, business

Kimberly Beer:

owners that are new have a problem with this as well, like

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they've just started their business, they don't have a ton

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of confidence yet, they've got a big plan, but they're just at

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the basic part of it. Think about who you're going to be in

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three to five years and how you want your level of respect to be

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and give your sales pitches talk from the perspective of that

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individual who has all of that experience underneath them,

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who's maybe left the corporate job and is now full time in this

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with a full quiet slate. So speak from the position that

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you've already achieved your goals. So this kind of goes into

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that psychological game, we like to play with ourselves as fake

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it till you make it. It's not really faking it, though. It's

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where you're going to be and when you voice that, and you're

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gonna get where we want Kara for a moment, but when you voice

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that out into the universe, all the universe will conspire to

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make that true for you. So I do firmly believe that one way to

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adjust that inside voice so that you're speaking from that highly

Kimberly Beer:

professional level, even if you maybe haven't quite physically

Kimberly Beer:

moved over to that professional level yet. What do you think,

Kimberly Beer:

Kara? Any tips here for people?

Cara Taylor Swift:

You know, how do you expect people to take

Cara Taylor Swift:

your business seriously, if you don't, right? So I from day

Cara Taylor Swift:

number one of my business, I was on board with this, I might have

Cara Taylor Swift:

struggled on the inside a little bit with oh, gosh, there's so

Cara Taylor Swift:

much I need to do any I have a lot of loosens, I need to tie

Cara Taylor Swift:

up. But for me, once I was in the image I presented to the

Cara Taylor Swift:

world, I wanted it to be as professional as possible. I

Cara Taylor Swift:

mean, I can't even tell you, I probably was a business for a

Cara Taylor Swift:

week. And I already had a t shirt. I mean, I was like I had

Cara Taylor Swift:

something to wear, you know that. When I showed up at

Cara Taylor Swift:

events, people recognize that I was there. I wasn't just you

Cara Taylor Swift:

know, showing up in my every day barn clothes. So I didn't waste

Cara Taylor Swift:

any time. But I think it is something to be said for how

Cara Taylor Swift:

seriously you take your business is what you're going to put out

Cara Taylor Swift:

into the world. And if you talk about your business in a serious

Cara Taylor Swift:

way and professionally, then other people are going to follow

Cara Taylor Swift:

suit. And I think that as a business owner, you have to

Cara Taylor Swift:

start thinking about, you know, how do you talk to people about

Cara Taylor Swift:

your business when they ask you about it. And you need to have

Cara Taylor Swift:

that prepared in advance which is going to kind of roll us into

Cara Taylor Swift:

explore and prepare the right professional response. But you

Cara Taylor Swift:

know, if you're not confident in what you do in the service that

Cara Taylor Swift:

you provide, how do you talk about it? And how do you expect

Cara Taylor Swift:

other people to go out into the world and talk about what you do

Cara Taylor Swift:

and talk about your business with the folks that they come in

Cara Taylor Swift:

contact with. So you know, thinking about your story, your

Cara Taylor Swift:

story of origin for your business, what motivated you

Cara Taylor Swift:

what got you excited about doing the work that you're doing in

Cara Taylor Swift:

the animal industry, you know, all of that stuff is going to

Cara Taylor Swift:

come into that response side of things when we get there. So I

Cara Taylor Swift:

definitely think that a downside that I see a lot is people using

Cara Taylor Swift:

the term side hustle mompreneur boss, babe, like, think about

Cara Taylor Swift:

some of this language, you guys, it automatically undermined your

Cara Taylor Swift:

professionality, as Kim would say. So when I see that kind of

Cara Taylor Swift:

stuff like we use side hustle on the show all the time. But there

Cara Taylor Swift:

are things out there that that we do trying to be trendy and

Cara Taylor Swift:

trying to be maybe up with the you know, the hashtags on

Cara Taylor Swift:

Instagram or something along those lines, but they really I

Cara Taylor Swift:

think, take away from the professionalism of our business

Cara Taylor Swift:

if we're not careful.

Cara Taylor Swift:

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Kimberly Beer:

I agree with that I kind of in some ways, like the

Kimberly Beer:

term Girlboss. But I'm going to tell you in the end of the day,

Kimberly Beer:

I'm a boss. I'm just a ball in front of it. I'm just a boss,

Kimberly Beer:

I'm the boss. I'm the boss of this. What are the things that

Kimberly Beer:

you said back when you were talking their care really

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intrigued me like you had a t shirt the first week and it

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makes me think to how we embody our businesses right so it let's

Kimberly Beer:

just use the military as an example. Let's say you want to

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join the army. The first thing the army does with you when they

Kimberly Beer:

they get you into the Army is they give you the army haircut

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and they give you a uniform that you can wear and you become to

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embodiment of of what you will become on day one, you're

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starting to embody what you will become as you move through the

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military. Now I'm not a big military proponent, I would have

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been a horrible, horrible private in any army because that

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when that five o'clock wake up call came around, I would have

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been like, Excuse me, unless there's photographing horses

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involved. Why the hell are we up this early in the morning. But

Kimberly Beer:

the embodiment of the uniform is part of what you should do. And

Kimberly Beer:

uniform can be metaphorical. Okay, I didn't have a T shirt.

Kimberly Beer:

But I embodied a graphic designer. When I was with my

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graphic design clients, I embodied a photographer when I

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was with my photography clients, I embody a gestalt just when

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someone comes here to work with me with the horses. So it's

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embodiment, it's, it's truly stepping into who you will

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become even on day one, and then allowing everything else to

Kimberly Beer:

catch up along the way, if that makes a weird kind of sense. But

Kimberly Beer:

I love the metaphor of the uniform that you brought up,

Kimberly Beer:

Kara.

Cara Taylor Swift:

It's just the things in my brain that I felt

Cara Taylor Swift:

like I had to do quickly to feel inside, that I was moving in the

Cara Taylor Swift:

right direction of professionalism, and honestly

Cara Taylor Swift:

setting myself apart from the sea of other people out there

Cara Taylor Swift:

attempting to do the same thing. And in the animal industry, I

Cara Taylor Swift:

think there's lots of businesses or career paths that could be

Cara Taylor Swift:

similar to this where you could start doing it. And maybe while

Cara Taylor Swift:

you're doing it, you're still learning and gaining skills as

Cara Taylor Swift:

you go. I think about some of the industries like horse

Cara Taylor Swift:

training, for example. You know, there's a lot of horse trainers

Cara Taylor Swift:

out there. But there's a lot of different levels of horse

Cara Taylor Swift:

trainers, and a lot of horse trainers that have gone through

Cara Taylor Swift:

some real specialty training and have years and years of

Cara Taylor Swift:

experience and have legitimate businesses. And then there's

Cara Taylor Swift:

also horse trainers out there that are maybe they want to be

Cara Taylor Swift:

horse trainers, maybe it's a hobby, maybe it's something they

Cara Taylor Swift:

do personally, maybe it's something that they hope to do

Cara Taylor Swift:

down the line and they're starting out. It's the same with

Cara Taylor Swift:

photographers, there's a large scale from where one

Cara Taylor Swift:

photographer might be to another photographer. So there's a lot

Cara Taylor Swift:

of professions I think in the animal industry that would fall

Cara Taylor Swift:

under that I mean, anything I think you can do to set yourself

Cara Taylor Swift:

apart and show your professionalism. So I think that

Cara Taylor Swift:

takes us into number two, explore and prepare the right

Cara Taylor Swift:

professional response. So for me, I think about What's the

Cara Taylor Swift:

story? What's the story behind your business? Where did it come

Cara Taylor Swift:

from? What's the origin? What inspired you to get out there?

Cara Taylor Swift:

And to start this business? It's okay, if it's that you're a stay

Cara Taylor Swift:

at home mom and you want to bring income into the family,

Cara Taylor Swift:

that's okay, if that's your message, but it's how do you

Cara Taylor Swift:

prepare that as a professional response? Do you have a mission?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Do you have a tagline? What happens when people ask you the

Cara Taylor Swift:

question? Oh, what do you do? Or what do you do professionally?

Cara Taylor Swift:

How do you respond to that? And I will tell people, it's like so

Cara Taylor Swift:

many other things in the business, being prepared to

Cara Taylor Swift:

answer that question in advance is huge, and will do wonders for

Cara Taylor Swift:

how people view you, when you're talking to him about your

Cara Taylor Swift:

business. What do you think about that cam,

Kimberly Beer:

I think it's really important for you to be

Kimberly Beer:

prepared to talk about your business to the person that

Kimberly Beer:

you're in front of. And that means that you need to adjust

Kimberly Beer:

your professional response accordingly. I do a lot of

Kimberly Beer:

different things in my business. And I have rehearsed or thought

Kimberly Beer:

through wrote out memorized to a certain extent, different

Kimberly Beer:

responses for the different rooms that I'm in. So whenever

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you sit down across from somebody, you have to ascertain

Kimberly Beer:

how could what I do benefit them. And I want to have the

Kimberly Beer:

conversation from that point of view. Now I know my benefits, I

Kimberly Beer:

know my values. I know my story, I know how I can be of help. The

Kimberly Beer:

thing that I've done, and I spend a lot of time I spent a

Kimberly Beer:

lot of hours in my car to be honest with you by truck driving

Kimberly Beer:

around to different appointments into Kansas City and to Montana

Kimberly Beer:

and Wyoming. And there's there's a lot hours of endless highway

Kimberly Beer:

is what I'm getting at while I'm driving. I practice those

Kimberly Beer:

responses to people and understanding how to talk about

Kimberly Beer:

the value that I bring to them is really important, rather than

Kimberly Beer:

just saying what do you do or answering the question, what do

Kimberly Beer:

you do I respond with how I bring value to people. One of my

Kimberly Beer:

favorite statements right now is when I'm in my entrepreneurial

Kimberly Beer:

uniform, and I'm speaking to entrepreneurs, and they ask,

Kimberly Beer:

what do you do I say, I help entrepreneurs get out of their

Kimberly Beer:

own way. Because and that doesn't give you a lick of an

Kimberly Beer:

indication about you know, do I do it through graphic design? Do

Kimberly Beer:

I do it through consultation? Do I Do you know, that opens the

Kimberly Beer:

door for them to ask questions about like, Well, exactly. How

Kimberly Beer:

do you do that, because I find myself tripping over myself a

Kimberly Beer:

lot in this entrepreneurial journey. So it's just a point of

Kimberly Beer:

learning how to make those responses, and then rehearsing

Kimberly Beer:

them and understanding well enough about where you want to

Kimberly Beer:

be, like we said in number one, adjusting that inside voice and

Kimberly Beer:

then helping the conversation move forward. And I am also not

Kimberly Beer:

opposed into correcting people just like the little statement I

Kimberly Beer:

make to people when they comment on my camera. By the way, I hear

Kimberly Beer:

that a lot less now because I'm a much more competent

Kimberly Beer:

photographer than I was 20 years ago when people were saying that

Kimberly Beer:

to me. But it's a point of the confidence now that I exude as a

Kimberly Beer:

photographer, people don't ask me that question any longer,

Kimberly Beer:

because it's no longer something they think about because they

Kimberly Beer:

see me before they see the camera. What I'm getting at here

Kimberly Beer:

is sometimes you got to practice that within yourself. Maybe even

Kimberly Beer:

if you don't believe it completely, until you do believe

Kimberly Beer:

it completely. So peel away the corners, defend yourself. If

Kimberly Beer:

somebody says, Hey, that looks really professional, you should

Kimberly Beer:

be proud of it. Say, Hey, you know what, I am a professional,

Kimberly Beer:

I got paid for that job. And I am super proud of it. So thank

Kimberly Beer:

you for noticing that you don't have to be mean about it. But

Kimberly Beer:

definitely stand up for yourself and prepare your response in a

Kimberly Beer:

way that you feel good about saying it and then defending

Kimberly Beer:

that position if you need to. every small business owner wants

Kimberly Beer:

to gain traction in their marketing. After three decades

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of working with small business owners just like you I have

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developed what I call my four by four marketing method. In just

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190 minutes session, you'll discover the four major focus

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areas of a successful marketing plan. And together we'll uncover

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where your business is getting stuck. You'll leave the session

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engine drop by be more business.com To request your

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there.

Cara Taylor Swift:

You know, the more that you do that, the more

Cara Taylor Swift:

that you sit down and spend the time thinking about your story

Cara Taylor Swift:

and your responses. That's how you're going to find your people

Cara Taylor Swift:

anyway because you're going to be working on that with the idea

Cara Taylor Swift:

of your ideal client in mind. So that like Kim said, when you sit

Cara Taylor Swift:

down next to someone and they ask you that question, depending

Cara Taylor Swift:

upon the situation that you're in, if I'm standing at a horse

Cara Taylor Swift:

show, I know how I'm going to answer that Question, right?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Whereas if I'm standing in a group of photographers, I might

Cara Taylor Swift:

answer that question differently. So thinking about

Cara Taylor Swift:

that and practicing it, I'm a big proponent of get the words

Cara Taylor Swift:

out of your mouth and say them out loud, you know, in practice

Cara Taylor Swift:

and privacy, so that when you have to say it, and when you're

Cara Taylor Swift:

in a position where you say you can say it confidently, and

Cara Taylor Swift:

you're not tripping over the word, so I love that I don't

Cara Taylor Swift:

think enough people in the early days spend enough time thinking

Cara Taylor Swift:

about those responses. And it's such a big piece to the

Cara Taylor Swift:

confidence aspect of it, you know, the first time you put it

Cara Taylor Swift:

out into the world. And then, like Kim said, Oh, you must be,

Cara Taylor Swift:

you have a really nice camera, you must be you know, you must

Cara Taylor Swift:

create some pretty pictures, what a nice camera the first

Cara Taylor Swift:

time that happens to you what a hit to your confidence, you

Cara Taylor Swift:

know, wow, I do have a nice camera. That's probably why I'm

Cara Taylor Swift:

taking such good pictures, or no, like Kim said, I've thought

Cara Taylor Swift:

about this. Yeah, I taught that camera, everything it knows, you

Cara Taylor Swift:

know. So thinking about those responses in advance and

Cara Taylor Swift:

practicing them, so that when the time comes, you're ready and

Cara Taylor Swift:

you can be confident about it will set the tone correctly the

Cara Taylor Swift:

first time Absolutely.

Kimberly Beer:

And the more you practice it, and the more you

Kimberly Beer:

work through the bugs of how to talk to people, the less you'll

Kimberly Beer:

stumble around, and the more confidence people will have a

Kimberly Beer:

new because you will carry yourself differently. I'll tell

Kimberly Beer:

you another thing that you don't want people as a business owner,

Kimberly Beer:

you don't want people taking a chance on you, you want people

Kimberly Beer:

hiring you. And you want to set the expectation that that's

Kimberly Beer:

going to be a professional experience for them. Not that

Kimberly Beer:

they're taking a chance on your business. Think of it that way.

Kimberly Beer:

And think of it how you as a consumer, how you choose to

Kimberly Beer:

spend your dollars and money is tight. I mean, we're not in the

Kimberly Beer:

greatest economy right now. And there's a lot of choices for

Kimberly Beer:

every single one of your businesses out there that you

Kimberly Beer:

are the best choice for a certain group of people and hold

Kimberly Beer:

that in confidence and make sure that they know you are the best

Kimberly Beer:

choice for them in how you present yourself how you answer

Kimberly Beer:

those questions, how you respond to the things out there that are

Kimberly Beer:

being asked, and the conversations that are being

Kimberly Beer:

brought up around your business.

Cara Taylor Swift:

So that's the thing, Kim and I think that

Cara Taylor Swift:

moves us into big three, number three, cleaning up the loosens

Cara Taylor Swift:

that make you feel professional, because we can prepare ourselves

Cara Taylor Swift:

to speak professionally about our business, we can plan our

Cara Taylor Swift:

story, we can adjust our inside voice, we can do all of those

Cara Taylor Swift:

things. But if our business isn't on its way to being

Cara Taylor Swift:

actually a professional business, it might catch us up a

Cara Taylor Swift:

little bit. And it's gonna make that harder and harder for us.

Cara Taylor Swift:

So regardless of if your business is a full time

Cara Taylor Swift:

business, if it's that side hustle, we've been referring to

Cara Taylor Swift:

something that you hope one day, maybe you can do full time and

Cara Taylor Swift:

move away from your current job. Or maybe it's just a part time

Cara Taylor Swift:

money making endeavor that you're doing on the side to

Cara Taylor Swift:

bring in some extra income, there are still lots of things

Cara Taylor Swift:

that you can do to set yourself apart, first of all from the

Cara Taylor Swift:

competition, but also give your business that professional

Cara Taylor Swift:

appearance that it deserves. So I have a whole list here per

Cara Taylor Swift:

usual, first of all, actually go through the steps to set up your

Cara Taylor Swift:

business legally. Okay, so get yourself all of those documents

Cara Taylor Swift:

in line, every state's a little different. Get yourself your

Cara Taylor Swift:

ability to pay your taxes, get yourself a legal business name,

Cara Taylor Swift:

go through all the processes, register with your state or your

Cara Taylor Swift:

county, wherever you need to do that, get insurance, do the

Cara Taylor Swift:

things you need to do get yourself a website and keep it

Cara Taylor Swift:

up to date. So just having a website that just sits there and

Cara Taylor Swift:

isn't up to date and isn't current is a start. But it's not

Cara Taylor Swift:

going to be professional and people go to your website, if it

Cara Taylor Swift:

doesn't adequately represent who you are. And what you do get

Cara Taylor Swift:

your own domain name, have a business email address, you can

Cara Taylor Swift:

have a Gmail or Yahoo, but honestly, if you can get

Cara Taylor Swift:

yourself a business email address, it looks a lot better.

Cara Taylor Swift:

We've already talked about professional appearance, but

Cara Taylor Swift:

think about what you want your image to be, and what you want

Cara Taylor Swift:

that to be for your business out in the community. And this one's

Cara Taylor Swift:

a tough one because I think about this all the time because

Cara Taylor Swift:

I'm the face of my business. And while I'm a horse person, I work

Cara Taylor Swift:

with horse people. So I'm not showing up dressed super fancy.

Cara Taylor Swift:

I do like to be clean and have clean clothing on and have my

Cara Taylor Swift:

boots not be too disgusting and dirty. And I don't like to be

Cara Taylor Swift:

caught out in public even when I'm not working looking

Cara Taylor Swift:

unprofessional as well are looking super shabby doesn't

Cara Taylor Swift:

mean I'm not wearing my jogging pants and stuff like that. But I

Cara Taylor Swift:

do keep these things in mind when I'm out and about because

Cara Taylor Swift:

we're always representing our business. I mean, I run to

Cara Taylor Swift:

clients at the feed store all the time, for example, be active

Cara Taylor Swift:

as a business on social media. So not just from your personal

Cara Taylor Swift:

page, I highly recommend having a business page and then sharing

Cara Taylor Swift:

content that's relevant to your business with high end curated

Cara Taylor Swift:

imagery. So actually thinking about your images as well.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Making sure that they represent your brand, professionally, take

Cara Taylor Swift:

the time to think about your ideal customer and work on your

Cara Taylor Swift:

brand and your branding. You know, just being aware of your

Cara Taylor Swift:

branding and how people see you in the world and being

Cara Taylor Swift:

consistent with a logo and colors and fonts and all of

Cara Taylor Swift:

those things. And your messaging is huge, big pieces that Kim and

Cara Taylor Swift:

I talk about all of the time on here, be attentive to your

Cara Taylor Swift:

business through follow up follow up with people when they

Cara Taylor Swift:

inquire first way to come across unprofessional is not get back

Cara Taylor Swift:

to people provide excellent service when you are working

Cara Taylor Swift:

with people. And then of course, things like testimonials, which

Cara Taylor Swift:

we've talked about on the show harnessed the power of those

Cara Taylor Swift:

testimonials out into the world around you. The last thing I'm

Cara Taylor Swift:

going to just say all of these things we've talked about

Cara Taylor Swift:

before, but they all do come together in your business is

Cara Taylor Swift:

also focused on that existing customer, because your next

Cara Taylor Swift:

customer will most likely come from the people you're working

Cara Taylor Swift:

with right now. So how are you treating them? Are you treating

Cara Taylor Swift:

them professionally? Are you being professional in your

Cara Taylor Swift:

conduct with them, because they will tell the next person what

Cara Taylor Swift:

it was like to work with you. And just remember that, you

Cara Taylor Swift:

know, being professional and professional action leads to a

Cara Taylor Swift:

professional business appearance. And it all comes

Cara Taylor Swift:

together if you can do these things and get started on them.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Even if it's just one of these little things as you work your

Cara Taylor Swift:

way through each time you do that your self confidence in

Cara Taylor Swift:

your business and your feelings of legitimacy around your

Cara Taylor Swift:

business and growing your business will be so much

Cara Taylor Swift:

stronger. So I remember in the early days, each time I set

Cara Taylor Swift:

something up each time I made a change. I remember that when I

Cara Taylor Swift:

got my own domain name. And then when I changed my email address

Cara Taylor Swift:

from a Yahoo account to fast horse photography, it was like

Cara Taylor Swift:

look at me, I'm so much more professional than I was even

Cara Taylor Swift:

yesterday. So these little things are awesome. And they can

Cara Taylor Swift:

do so much for you. In terms of your mindset around this. I know

Cara Taylor Swift:

you have things you want to add to that, Kim,

Kimberly Beer:

actually, I think you completed that list

Kimberly Beer:

beautifully. I think all of those things are so important to

Kimberly Beer:

becoming a legitimate business. And when you feel more

Kimberly Beer:

legitimate, you walk in a really legitimate way you talk in a

Kimberly Beer:

legitimate way. And people automatically respond to that,

Kimberly Beer:

you know, we think that communication all comes out of

Kimberly Beer:

our mouths, but it doesn't, it comes out in a million different

Kimberly Beer:

ways, especially in as being a business owner. So all of those

Kimberly Beer:

things are key and important. And I think the list is actually

Kimberly Beer:

very comprehensive as to what I would tell a new business owner

Kimberly Beer:

to do about the only thing I don't see on there is to write a

Kimberly Beer:

business plan. I think one of the things that helps me or

Kimberly Beer:

helped me become really professional in my business is

Kimberly Beer:

going through the motions of writing a business plan. And you

Kimberly Beer:

will hear a lot of people when it comes to this. By the way,

Kimberly Beer:

that's not an easy endeavor. I say that like oh, write a

Kimberly Beer:

business plan. Not a big deal. But it is a big deal. It will

Kimberly Beer:

take you months, it makes you really know your business inside

Kimberly Beer:

and out. I always think it as almost a clairvoyance tool

Kimberly Beer:

because it gives you insight into things you might have never

Kimberly Beer:

ever, ever thought about before. And when you do sit down and do

Kimberly Beer:

it, it is a great exercise, people will tell you don't need

Kimberly Beer:

to do it. If you aren't going to get alone. I say do it anyway, I

Kimberly Beer:

still think it holds a value even if you aren't going to be

Kimberly Beer:

asking for a loan. I think having a business plan and

Kimberly Beer:

really knowing what you're going to do. Having a vision of where

Kimberly Beer:

you want to go. All of those are really important tools and steps

Kimberly Beer:

that you can take to make yourself know that you are a

Kimberly Beer:

professional to provide evidence to your inner critic that you

Kimberly Beer:

are a professional to provide evidence to the person who

Kimberly Beer:

doubts you inside you your imposter syndrome. We did a

Kimberly Beer:

whole episode on that horrid term. But if you have any of

Kimberly Beer:

those feelings inside of you having that plan, writing it

Kimberly Beer:

out, knowing your vision, knowing where you want to go,

Kimberly Beer:

knowing who you are, as a business owner, it really helps

Kimberly Beer:

chase all the shadows out of the system so that you can stand in

Kimberly Beer:

the light of who you truly are.

Cara Taylor Swift:

I think that's it, Kim, what do you

Cara Taylor Swift:

think?

Kimberly Beer:

I think this has been a really interesting

Kimberly Beer:

episode and I'm going to tell you of all of the episodes we've

Kimberly Beer:

done lately, if I were a new business owner, this is the

Kimberly Beer:

episode I wished I would have listened to as a new business

Kimberly Beer:

owner. I think that if you take some of these things to heart,

Kimberly Beer:

it's gonna save you a lot of frustration and heartache. I

Kimberly Beer:

wished I would have known a lot of this when I was newer in my

Kimberly Beer:

business.

Cara Taylor Swift:

I hope that those folks that are out there

Cara Taylor Swift:

listening today enjoyed this episode. If you did, please let

Cara Taylor Swift:

us know you can hop on to wherever you're listening and

Cara Taylor Swift:

rate, review, follow do all of those things. We really

Cara Taylor Swift:

appreciate it and if you are online, don't hesitate to follow

Cara Taylor Swift:

us at The Business Animal on both Instagram and Facebook.

Jaz:

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Business

Jaz:

Animal. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And

Jaz:

if you learned something today, leave us a review. To learn more

Jaz:

fine This at thebusinessanimal.com We'd love

Jaz:

to hear from you until next time keep your business well trained

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