Upleveling your skills offers you the opportunity to open up increased income and refresh your business outlook. Join Kim and Cara this week as they discuss how they have both recently upleveled their skills and their offerings. You’ll find new ideas and a lot of inspiration.
Transcript
The Business Animal podcast is proudly
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Jaz:Welcome to The Business Animal podcast. Saddle up for a
Jaz:gallop to the top of the animal industry, where you'll learn how
Jaz:to tame your wild business beast with tips, techniques, and tools
Jaz:that will take overwhelm to obedience school, and have you
Jaz:wagging your tail with joy. And now your hosts, Kim Beer, and
Jaz: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.
Kimberly Beer:And welcome to The Business Animal. Today we're
Kimberly Beer:going to be talking about up leveling your professional
Kimberly Beer:skills. And this topic came to us because Cara has recently had
Kimberly Beer:a wonderful experience with a videographer, but she's up here
Kimberly Beer:and a colleague in visual storytelling, which is obviously
Kimberly Beer:something photographers are interested in. So tell us about
Kimberly Beer:that a little bit.
Cara Taylor Swift:Yeah, I have been wanting to do this for a
Cara Taylor Swift:while. So it's been on my goals list. And this year, you know,
Cara Taylor Swift:when I sat down and I was planning, you know, what are the
Cara Taylor Swift:big things that I'm going to work on this year for my
Cara Taylor Swift:business. And one of those big goals was adding a video
Cara Taylor Swift:component to my equine and equestrian portrait sessions. So
Cara Taylor Swift:I had gone back and forth, I have bought an online course and
Cara Taylor Swift:I you know, it just it didn't quite fit what I wanted. And I
Cara Taylor Swift:tried some different things. So I decided to just go to the
Cara Taylor Swift:source. And I went to Natalie McFarlane, who's amazing. And I
Cara Taylor Swift:hired her to do some mentoring for me. And we spent a couple
Cara Taylor Swift:days together. And it really I have to say I loved every minute
Cara Taylor Swift:of learning something new. It's been a while since I really
Cara Taylor Swift:spent some time just kind of up leveling and learning and
Cara Taylor Swift:immersing myself in a dedicated way to something that was still
Cara Taylor Swift:related to what I do, but a little bit different. And I have
Cara Taylor Swift:to say, since Natalie has left, I've been making myself use the
Cara Taylor Swift:skills and certainly felt re energized in some ways about how
Cara Taylor Swift:I think about photography and the art of telling stories with
Cara Taylor Swift:the use of our cameras. So I have to say that I'm excited
Cara Taylor Swift:that we're talking about this, but it definitely was inspired
Cara Taylor Swift:by some of the work that both Kim and I have done recently to
Cara Taylor Swift:just grow our own businesses.
Kimberly Beer:Absolutely, absolutely. And so we thought
Kimberly Beer:you know a lot about sharing our experiences in entrepreneurship
Kimberly Beer:has to do with sharing with each other the things that are
Kimberly Beer:working for our businesses. And I think this is one of those
Kimberly Beer:moments to share something that really has worked for both of
Kimberly Beer:us. And very recently, both of us added to our skill set. And
Kimberly Beer:we completely didn't bring into the whole conversation ahead of
Kimberly Beer:time, Cara. We've also added the podcasting skill set to our
Kimberly Beer:repertoire within the last year as well. That was a whole
Kimberly Beer:learning curve, I guess we consider ourselves podcasting
Kimberly Beer:veterans at this point. But bringing new skills into your
Kimberly Beer:business is an important piece of things. And so our big three
Kimberly Beer:for you today is one as to why you would want to do this is to
Kimberly Beer:diversify your skill set and or add an income stream to your
Kimberly Beer:already existing business. So we're going to talk about that.
Kimberly Beer:The second reason you might want to consider up leveling your
Kimberly Beer:skills would be to offer yourself a competitive advantage
Kimberly Beer:or competitive differentiation. And then finally, it does keep
Kimberly Beer:you fresh and motivated. Like Cara said, it feels like she's
Kimberly Beer:re energized around her photography business. Cara, you
Kimberly Beer:have some things here you wanted to talk about directly around
Kimberly Beer:why you would want to do this a further thoughts that you have.
Kimberly Beer:So why don't you share those at this time, and then we'll dig
Kimberly Beer:into number one.
Cara Taylor Swift:Yeah, I'm happy to So Kim just listed a
Cara Taylor Swift:big three today for three reasons that we're going to
Cara Taylor Swift:specifically talk about that you want to consider up leveling
Cara Taylor Swift:your professional skills in your animal, equine, pet based
Cara Taylor Swift:business, but there are actually a lot of different reasons I'm
Cara Taylor Swift:just gonna briefly kind of run through them real quick.
Cara Taylor Swift:Hopefully we will inspire you to dig into our big three when I do
Cara Taylor Swift:but first of all up leveling you know, it's hard to think okay,
Cara Taylor Swift:everything is working just fine. Right now my business is
Cara Taylor Swift:working. I'm you know, creating an income for myself. Why would
Cara Taylor Swift:I want to add something new to the mix? Right? So first of all,
Cara Taylor Swift:it can open up new opportunities for you. And I can't sit here
Cara Taylor Swift:and tell you exactly how but I have seen in my own business,
Cara Taylor Swift:how when I learned something new and start to put it into use for
Cara Taylor Swift:my business, how it has created new connections. I've met new
Cara Taylor Swift:people, I've gotten new clients, and there's just so many things
Cara Taylor Swift:around that. It's also when you have a new skill set that
Cara Taylor Swift:something that differentiates you here we go with that word
Cara Taylor Swift:again Kim remember I had a horrible time on that episode
Cara Taylor Swift:when something that differentiates you from the
Cara Taylor Swift:crowd from your competition that's going to be appealing to
Cara Taylor Swift:consumers out there looking for someone like you, it's gonna be
Cara Taylor Swift:appealing to those new potential clients. And it's also something
Cara Taylor Swift:new that you can provide to your existing clients. So people come
Cara Taylor Swift:back to you, maybe they need to work with you again, you know,
Cara Taylor Swift:how do you take what you've already provided to them, and
Cara Taylor Swift:then uplevel, that service to them with your new skill. Now
Cara Taylor Swift:they have new things, to brag on you about new things to talk
Cara Taylor Swift:about new things to share online. I mean, there's all
Cara Taylor Swift:these different things that are happening as a result of them
Cara Taylor Swift:being able to talk about, you know, working with you, it also
Cara Taylor Swift:the biggest one, it really helps you remain relevant in your
Cara Taylor Swift:industry. Think about what has happened just in the last two
Cara Taylor Swift:years with COVID, the world is changing so fast, right?
Cara Taylor Swift:Technology is changing things around us how we do business,
Cara Taylor Swift:it's changing. And we have to be able to adapt as business
Cara Taylor Swift:owners. So having some new skill sets and learning new things is
Cara Taylor Swift:a great way for you to remain relevant to what's happening in
Cara Taylor Swift:your industry right now. And not only remain relevant, you don't
Cara Taylor Swift:need to be running behind everyone. I think if you can be
Cara Taylor Swift:the person in your industry that's setting those trends.
Cara Taylor Swift:That's the one that's coming up with the ideas first, that's
Cara Taylor Swift:making those changes and adding things to your business that
Cara Taylor Swift:other businesses like yours haven't, that's really giving
Cara Taylor Swift:you a competitive advantage. Adding new skill sets can also
Cara Taylor Swift:help you diversify the services and the products that you offer.
Cara Taylor Swift:So thinking about that in terms of how can I pivot this into
Cara Taylor Swift:something that I can sell to a client, you know, or that I can
Cara Taylor Swift:offer as a service upgrade. So thinking about it that way, I've
Cara Taylor Swift:already mentioned that it you know, has really opened new
Cara Taylor Swift:doors, new relationships, new connections, new opportunities,
Cara Taylor Swift:it can make your business something that people just, they
Cara Taylor Swift:like more, they want to hear more about your business because
Cara Taylor Swift:you're doing fresh things. And I think one of the fun ones we
Cara Taylor Swift:don't think about is in that I've recently experienced is
Cara Taylor Swift:it's it doesn't always have to be about the business. It's okay
Cara Taylor Swift:to just enjoy learning new things and picking something
Cara Taylor Swift:else up to help keep you fresh and inspired. It's kind of fun
Cara Taylor Swift:sometimes to learn new things. I mean, right now I'm taking
Cara Taylor Swift:pictures, but really all you want to do is edit video.
Kimberly Beer:That'll change after you edit video for a while
Kimberly Beer:I'm sure it will. While you are going through this list, one of
Kimberly Beer:the things that came up to me that kind of dovetails in with a
Kimberly Beer:little bit of what we're going to talk about in the Big Three
Kimberly Beer:is that, you know, adding another skill set or up leveling
Kimberly Beer:the skills you have deepens your brand message. So you know if
Kimberly Beer:your branding is all about healthy animals, let's say and
Kimberly Beer:really maintaining a healthy animal. And let's say your way
Kimberly Beer:of doing that is providing massage services up leveling
Kimberly Beer:your skills to maybe also consider nutritional advice, or
Kimberly Beer:teaching massage skills or something like that to the
Kimberly Beer:clients. It deepens the brand message about who you are. And
Kimberly Beer:it deepens your mission in your business as well. So all of this
Kimberly Beer:is is a positive movement to keep your business moving
Kimberly Beer:forward and really keep your clients hooked on to you and
Kimberly Beer:where they really want to stay with you long term. So let's
Kimberly Beer:dive into the diversifying your skill set and adding the bat
Kimberly Beer:income stream. So here's my story with this. I've been an
Kimberly Beer:entrepreneurial consultant for the past 10 years, I've been
Kimberly Beer:working with entrepreneurs for over 30. So one of the things
Kimberly Beer:that I saw happen a lot with my clients is that I would provide
Kimberly Beer:them with an awesome website, I give them great marketing
Kimberly Beer:materials, and they wouldn't use them. And then they kind of
Kimberly Beer:complain about oh, I have to you know, I have to do better my
Kimberly Beer:marketing or I have to get different marketing. And I'm
Kimberly Beer:like you already have marketing. Why are you not using the
Kimberly Beer:marketing? Well, the truth of that is a very complicated
Kimberly Beer:answer. And it's very different for every single person. A lot
Kimberly Beer:of times it has to do with limiting beliefs or it has to do
Kimberly Beer:with somebody's own personal trauma and that I had no control
Kimberly Beer:over as a graphic designer, as a website designer, as a marketing
Kimberly Beer:person. I couldn't help my clients with that. And it felt
Kimberly Beer:like this huge roadblock that was in front of them that there
Kimberly Beer:was no way for me to help them solve and I hated watching them
Kimberly Beer:It broke my heart watching them kind of run into that wall and
Kimberly Beer:then sometimes not ever getting over it or it taking a really
Kimberly Beer:long time to get over it and by then they're burned out so when
Kimberly Beer:I wanted to add a skill set to uplevel my business I attacked
Kimberly Beer:that barrier. I wanted to help my clients be able to get past
Kimberly Beer:it. So I added a whole nother portion to my business, which is
Kimberly Beer:now the Gestalt coaching a portion of which happens with
Kimberly Beer:the horses because I wanted to help my entrepreneurial clients
Kimberly Beer:get through that barrier as quickly and efficiently as
Kimberly Beer:possible and not watch them fail but instead watch them succeed
Kimberly Beer:at being able to get their business off the ground and
Kimberly Beer:really moving forward in a manner that was productive. So I
Kimberly Beer:went back and took a look at a certification program that I'd
Kimberly Beer:been doing marketing for for a really long time and ended up
Kimberly Beer:becoming a certified equine Gestaltist so that I was able to
Kimberly Beer:help my clients being able to get through those barriers. And
Kimberly Beer:I'll tell you it is it's a huge difference when I can sit with
Kimberly Beer:somebody and I can look at why aren't you using your marketing?
Kimberly Beer:Or what's stopping you in this business plan? Or what are you
Kimberly Beer:worried about? And they can tell me that, and then we can
Kimberly Beer:actually work through it together, experiment with it,
Kimberly Beer:see what is going to really shift things for them, and then
Kimberly Beer:watch the transformation happen, and they just soar. So I love
Kimberly Beer:the fact that I added that to my business, and that it's such a
Kimberly Beer:benefit to my clients. It again, it goes back to it deepens my
Kimberly Beer:brand message, it adds a level of success that my clients
Kimberly Beer:wouldn't reach otherwise, which then furthers it for me not only
Kimberly Beer:as an additional income stream, but let's face it, the more
Kimberly Beer:successful my clients are, the more of the marketing and
Kimberly Beer:consulting services they need, and they're gonna have the
Kimberly Beer:wherewithal to pay for them. So it's a win win situation all the
Kimberly Beer:way around.
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Cara Taylor Swift:I think that's huge. I mean, you're looking at it from that
Cara Taylor Swift:perspective of what is another way I can help the folks that I
Cara Taylor Swift:work with do better with the stuff that I'm providing them,
Cara Taylor Swift:like I want them to have more successful businesses be more
Cara Taylor Swift:successful with the tools that I give them. And so you've thought
Cara Taylor Swift:about it from that perspective of how does up leveling my skill
Cara Taylor Swift:set? How does that help my clients be happier with the
Cara Taylor Swift:services that I provide or be more successful with the
Cara Taylor Swift:services that I provide them. And I also think about it from
Cara Taylor Swift:that perspective of there's so much security around
Cara Taylor Swift:diversifying your income streams. I mean, we have seen
Cara Taylor Swift:industries locally around us close because of COVID
Cara Taylor Swift:restrictions or because just the environment that we're in right
Cara Taylor Swift:now has changed with how we want to be served and have the types
Cara Taylor Swift:of services that we want to see out there. So having the
Cara Taylor Swift:security of having multiple income streams come in, I think
Cara Taylor Swift:is huge. You know, there's different ways that different
Cara Taylor Swift:industries have done that, but thinking about it in terms of
Cara Taylor Swift:like having a side hustle, even, you know, and how can you look
Cara Taylor Swift:at your animal business and say, where is a way that I can learn
Cara Taylor Swift:something new that I can offer something new, that I could
Cara Taylor Swift:provide something new, sell something new, I mean, I think
Cara Taylor Swift:all of that is huge. So I love that you've done that from the
Cara Taylor Swift:perspective of how you know, helping your clients. But it
Cara Taylor Swift:just makes sense in terms of small business ownership in the
Cara Taylor Swift:safety and security around that.
Kimberly Beer:It does. And I you know another example of that
Kimberly Beer:in my life is my ranch. When I took over this ranch in
Kimberly Beer:management, we were a cow calf operation and that was it. That
Kimberly Beer:was the baseline it was all that the ranch did and when the
Kimberly Beer:cattle market went kaboom. If you're not diversified, you
Kimberly Beer:don't have the ability to recover from that it was a hard
Kimberly Beer:lesson for me. And then when I was offered the opportunity to
Kimberly Beer:keep going, I gotta tell you, I pulled it up by the bootstraps.
Kimberly Beer:I'm very proud of myself and that I survived a recession and
Kimberly Beer:a cattle market crash in this last couple of decades. But the
Kimberly Beer:income diversification here was really important to me. So we
Kimberly Beer:added the motorcycle races we added and you know and the
Kimberly Beer:Gestalt stuff that's added to the ranch as well and hunting
Kimberly Beer:and all of those things. So I know my ranch is a business and
Kimberly Beer:those are skills that it earned so it's not necessarily me up
Kimberly Beer:leveling it but my business The Ranch itself up leveled it
Kimberly Beer:skills and what it offers. And now it's just it's better
Kimberly Beer:because I don't have to worry that much.
Cara Taylor Swift:And you're learning how to serve different
Cara Taylor Swift:audiences that is up leveling, I mean, you're not just working
Cara Taylor Swift:with one specific clientele, you've learned how to reap some
Cara Taylor Swift:value out of a property that was single minded, focused for so
Cara Taylor Swift:long, you really did up level skills there by learning how to
Cara Taylor Swift:create space for the races, you know, and and create space for
Cara Taylor Swift:the crops or whatever it is that you've done with the ranch so
Cara Taylor Swift:far. So that's amazing.
Kimberly Beer:Yeah, and it's awesome, because now I don't if
Kimberly Beer:one sector of it fails, the other ones pick up the slack, or
Kimberly Beer:at least band-aid enough to get the other one back up.
Kimberly Beer:Everything is circular. In ranching and business in life,
Kimberly Beer:you know, I mean, it may be down now, but it'll be back up later.
Kimberly Beer:And you just got to be able to ride the wave on the down as
Kimberly Beer:well as the up. And so it's very rare that, you know, if you have
Kimberly Beer:more than one income stream, they're all down at the same
Kimberly Beer:time. Are we ready to move on to number two?
Cara Taylor Swift:Yeah, let's do it.
Kimberly Beer:So the competitive advantage part, it
Kimberly Beer:really goes hand in hand with the diversification of the skill
Kimberly Beer:set and income streams. Because competitive advantage and
Kimberly Beer:deepening that mission is such an important part of this. For
Kimberly Beer:me, my clients that come to me for business consulting, I feel
Kimberly Beer:like the deck is stacked in their favor in success rather
Kimberly Beer:than another business coach or consultant, because we're
Kimberly Beer:getting at the heart of the matter of what is going to
Kimberly Beer:really shift their lives and shift their businesses. That to
Kimberly Beer:me really makes me very different from the other options
Kimberly Beer:they have in this area, or in the industries that I serve. So
Kimberly Beer:I feel like that is a huge, huge competitive advantage. And I
Kimberly Beer:feel like that bears out in the testimonials from my clients and
Kimberly Beer:the people that I work with. So I know for me, that was another
Kimberly Beer:big reason why I wanted to take the extra certifications for the
Kimberly Beer:equine Gestaltist program.
Cara Taylor Swift:When you learn those new skills that are
Cara Taylor Swift:related to your existing business, I think that you find
Cara Taylor Swift:all sorts of ways to bring new value to your existing clients.
Cara Taylor Swift:And that's what we talk about all the time. How do you bring
Cara Taylor Swift:value? How do you bring value and a great example that always
Cara Taylor Swift:cracks me up, it's super simple is I have a farrier that comes
Cara Taylor Swift:out and does work on my horses. And he's a great guy. He's a
Cara Taylor Swift:regular farrier, there's nothing special about his skill set. In
Cara Taylor Swift:my opinion. It's he's a great guy. We don't do a ton of work
Cara Taylor Swift:with our horses. They just need basic work done. And if I
Cara Taylor Swift:thought to myself, well, maybe I need someone that is a full time
Cara Taylor Swift:farrier, that this is their specialty. Of course, we all
Cara Taylor Swift:want to work with, you know the best in the industry, that sort
Cara Taylor Swift:of thing. But I'll tell you what keeps me coming back to this
Cara Taylor Swift:farrier is that not only does he do a great job with my horses,
Cara Taylor Swift:but every time he comes out, he is helping me with a horse
Cara Taylor Swift:related issue. I could have a question around working through
Cara Taylor Swift:a problem, a training issue with one of my horses. And he has
Cara Taylor Swift:advice, I had a recent issue where I had the vet out. And
Cara Taylor Swift:they thought that my horse had a pulled tendon. And it ended up
Cara Taylor Swift:being an abscess that he was able to diagnose. And it changed
Cara Taylor Swift:the way that I was treating that horse. He's helped us with so
Cara Taylor Swift:many things, and it cracks me up because he's coming out for
Cara Taylor Swift:farrier work. But the value that he brings, every time he comes
Cara Taylor Swift:out, he helped me hang a gate the other day, while he was out
Cara Taylor Swift:there. It's just it's silly. It sounds silly. But the truth of
Cara Taylor Swift:the matter is he brings all of these different skill sets when
Cara Taylor Swift:he comes out, which makes him so much more valuable for just the
Cara Taylor Swift:work that he originally came out for. So for him being able to
Cara Taylor Swift:add on to what he does, yeah, I'm happy to spend 20 minutes
Cara Taylor Swift:helping you, you know, hang that gate, and I'll pay him for his
Cara Taylor Swift:time. Like that's the kind of thing that to me, you know, is a
Cara Taylor Swift:silly kind of simple example. But if you can make yourself
Cara Taylor Swift:invaluable to your clients, they will be less tempted to look
Cara Taylor Swift:down the road for the newest, greatest best, the biggest
Cara Taylor Swift:thing, whatever is happening in your your area. So I just think
Cara Taylor Swift:that that was a kind of a fun example. But that's really true
Cara Taylor Swift:to my life right now.
Kimberly Beer:Yeah, it is true anywhere where you can get
Kimberly Beer:endeared to your clients. Again, Cara mentioned it, bring the
Kimberly Beer:value, bring the service level, bring the relationship. And when
Kimberly Beer:you get that together, it really does offer you a competitive
Kimberly Beer:advantage and it increases customer loyalty.
Cara Taylor Swift:You know, as an entrepreneur, we have the
Cara Taylor Swift:need to continuously be evolving our skills, we have to remain
Cara Taylor Swift:competitive. And we like we said before, we have to keep up with
Cara Taylor Swift:those changes in our industry. And so it's really on us to make
Cara Taylor Swift:sure that we're doing that I just spent 30 minutes on the
Cara Taylor Swift:phone with an older woman who was wanting to get some updated
Cara Taylor Swift:portraits done headshots done because her current portrait was
Cara Taylor Swift:10 years old. And we ended up getting in this conversation
Cara Taylor Swift:around her struggling with interviews and being hired due
Cara Taylor Swift:to her age. And I found it really interesting. It's it
Cara Taylor Swift:really is something you have to continuously be up leveling
Cara Taylor Swift:yourself personally in order to be relevant in all industries,
Cara Taylor Swift:not just in the animal industry.
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Kimberly Beer:So Cara, I think we're ready to talk about big three number
Kimberly Beer:three, which is keeping you fresh and motivated. Now you
Kimberly Beer:said working with Natalie and getting that new set of skills
Kimberly Beer:around video really reenergized you. I had a similar experience
Kimberly Beer:with getting my certification tell us about your experience
Cara Taylor Swift:as a photographer that shoots kind of
Cara Taylor Swift:the same type of thing on a regular basis, people with their
Cara Taylor Swift:horses, you kind of get into a routine, you get kind of a set
Cara Taylor Swift:pose flow that you work through, the expectation is pretty
Cara Taylor Swift:similar from client to client. So I'm very kind of comfortable
Cara Taylor Swift:with that. And I'm not gonna say it gets boring, but it gets
Cara Taylor Swift:routine. So learning this new skill really made me think about
Cara Taylor Swift:what I do from the on the photography side of things in a
Cara Taylor Swift:totally new perspective. It reenergized me it got me excited
Cara Taylor Swift:it even while I added the skill, and I'm in the process of
Cara Taylor Swift:finessing that skill set. It also changed and re energized
Cara Taylor Swift:the photography side. So it got me excited and looking at some
Cara Taylor Swift:different poses I could do in some different flow tactics,
Cara Taylor Swift:learning this new skill, reworked kind of everything and
Cara Taylor Swift:gave everything a new glow.
Kimberly Beer:I love that too. And I'll tell you watching my
Kimberly Beer:clients be more successful with the certification around the
Kimberly Beer:Gestalt has really helped me and seeing the difference that it
Kimberly Beer:makes in their lives and their attitudes and the shifts in
Kimberly Beer:their business it really makes makes me know I made the right
Kimberly Beer:decision. So I think it's a really good thing. If you're
Kimberly Beer:feeling burned out or you're feeling less than excited. If
Kimberly Beer:you look at a new skill, a lot of times that kind of bumps you
Kimberly Beer:out of that feeling and get you into a more positive headspace
Kimberly Beer:and motivated and fresh outlooks and all of those things. So
Kimberly Beer:Cara, in her infinite wisdom has compiled you guys a list of
Kimberly Beer:places that you might look for these up leveled skill
Kimberly Beer:opportunities for continuing education or for being able to
Kimberly Beer:add something new to your business. So this time, Cara, I
Kimberly Beer:invite you to give them that list because it's awesome. I've
Kimberly Beer:learned a couple of things on this list.
Cara Taylor Swift:Well, okay, so we're talking about up
Cara Taylor Swift:leveling, but you might be, you know, thinking to yourself,
Cara Taylor Swift:well, I need to get some ideas around what I might want to do,
Cara Taylor Swift:or I've got some ideas, but what are my next steps. So I tell
Cara Taylor Swift:people start small, you don't have to make a huge investment
Cara Taylor Swift:right off the bat, just start thinking of little ways to bring
Cara Taylor Swift:value or add to what you do for your existing clients or in your
Cara Taylor Swift:business. So a great place to start in a place that I started
Cara Taylor Swift:first was online learning. There are so many options out there.
Cara Taylor Swift:Right now, there's online courses, which can be a small
Cara Taylor Swift:investment or huge investment, they can be short, or they can
Cara Taylor Swift:be you know more lengthy where you're doing them repetitively,
Cara Taylor Swift:or you're doing different meeting times, but you can do
Cara Taylor Swift:some bite sized stuff like with YouTube, you can learn sometimes
Cara Taylor Swift:you can learn a really quick little micro skill by doing a
Cara Taylor Swift:two or three minute YouTube video and boom, you've already
Cara Taylor Swift:changed something in your process. Looking to places like
Cara Taylor Swift:LinkedIn is another great way to learn something new or to see
Cara Taylor Swift:what's being offered and using environments like Skillshare
Cara Taylor Swift:even where people are sharing education and topics around
Cara Taylor Swift:things that they do. So just think about it in terms of doing
Cara Taylor Swift:something bite sized of it doesn't have to be huge, but it
Cara Taylor Swift:can be something small but totally relevant to your animal
Cara Taylor Swift:business. Also, mentoring is a great way to up your your skill
Cara Taylor Swift:level mentoring from someone who's really great at something
Cara Taylor Swift:that you want to learn like what I did with working with Natalie
Cara Taylor Swift:on creating video, so I decided to go right to the source. And
Cara Taylor Swift:then another great one that Kim mentioned when we were talking
Cara Taylor Swift:through this is adding a certification. So going out
Cara Taylor Swift:learning something new, getting certified in something new is
Cara Taylor Swift:another great way you can also do in-person learning such as
Cara Taylor Swift:attending a class, even if you're not enrolling in college,
Cara Taylor Swift:there's a lot of just classroom opportunities that are still
Cara Taylor Swift:available at a community level or attend a workshop. You know,
Cara Taylor Swift:like we do with Cowgirls and Cameras, we have photography
Cara Taylor Swift:workshops that we offer. So thinking about what is a
Cara Taylor Swift:workshop that you could attend that you could learn something
Cara Taylor Swift:new. You can also do something different, like buying new
Cara Taylor Swift:equipment, or renting new equipment so that you can know
Cara Taylor Swift:how to use it that you can decide if you like using it if
Cara Taylor Swift:it's something that you enjoy. And then when the time comes
Cara Taylor Swift:that someone is looking for that skill, you know how to use that
Cara Taylor Swift:gear, because you've tested it, you've spent time with it or you
Cara Taylor Swift:own it. Another great thing is thinking about as a business
Cara Taylor Swift:owner learning about something that adds to your business. So
Cara Taylor Swift:think about like adding an affiliate program that
Cara Taylor Swift:complements your business. If you're someone that trains
Cara Taylor Swift:horses, maybe you offer nutritional supplements, and you
Cara Taylor Swift:learn about great nutritional supplements that you can then
Cara Taylor Swift:sell to your clientele. If you do saddle fitting, maybe you
Cara Taylor Swift:offer a special type of saddle pads that are perfect for you
Cara Taylor Swift:know, different types of horses. I recently did obedience
Cara Taylor Swift:training with my new puppy. And one of the first things they did
Cara Taylor Swift:when I got there is they recommended a collar and they
Cara Taylor Swift:told me the benefits of the collar and then sold me the
Cara Taylor Swift:collar. So I'm a sucker for that, I guess anyway, so
Cara Taylor Swift:thinking about the ways that you can look at your existing
Cara Taylor Swift:business and add to that learning something new and then
Cara Taylor Swift:having another product that you could potentially offer. And
Cara Taylor Swift:then one more example is you know, if you do equine massage
Cara Taylor Swift:or equine chiropractic work, you know maybe you add a new service
Cara Taylor Swift:like Magna wave or something else that's related that is
Cara Taylor Swift:helpful that but it's another product or service that you can
Cara Taylor Swift:offer to your clients. Any other ideas Kim?
Kimberly Beer:No, I think that is a really nice and
Kimberly Beer:comprehensive list and gives people a lot of places and
Kimberly Beer:avenues that they can go down and look for opportunities to
Kimberly Beer:uplevel their skill set and take advantage of our big three that
Kimberly Beer:we've covered in this episode this week. Thank you guys so
Kimberly Beer:much for hanging out with us and tuning into The Business Animal.
Kimberly Beer:We will be back next week with a another great episode.
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
Jaz:more. Find us at thebusinessanimal.com We'd love
Jaz:to hear from you. Until next time, keep your business well
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