197: Leadership of Self with Gila Kurtz
Time to Pet. Go to timetopet.com/confessional for 50% off your first 3 months.
Pet Sitters International. Go to petsit.com/psc and the use code PSC15 for $15 off your first year of membership.
Summary:
When most of us think about leadership, we tend to think of what it means to bring others together and work toward a common goal.
However, leadership actually starts with leading ourselves. Self leadership is based on habit formation, discipline, and follow through. When we are self-aware enough to ask, ‘Who am I right now and who do I need to become?’, we start the process of growing and expanding ourselves.
Gila Kurtz, dog trainer and owner of Dog Is Good, shares why self leadership is so important in pet care and what it means to overcome the limiting beliefs that hold us back. Gila shares why setting goals for ourselves can be so hard and recognize the need for growth. We also discuss how being better at self leadership makes us better at leading others.
Topics on this episode:
Defining your role as a pet professional
Limiting beliefs
Role of language
Self leadership
Leading with your ‘why’
Main takeaway: Our limiting beliefs are built on our past experiences and become our operating system. Breaking free starts with being self aware and asking ourselves ‘who do I need to become’?
About our guest:
As Co-Founder/Co-Owner of Dog is Good, I have been leading the team in growth towards our vision to impact the lives of millions of dog lovers worldwide. Working closely with my business partner, together we create messaging and concepts for a broad array of products for the dog lover. I have been instrumental in building a team that is growing a number of B2B retail verticals. I currently head up the Dog is Good pop-up shop business opportunity for dog lovers- a growing program for dog lovers who want to start a business using the Dog is Good brand.
Author of Fur Covered Wisdom, I currently run a private membership group for dog lovers seeking a dog-centric approach to personal growth and mentorship.
I am a motivational speaker available to speak on topics of leadership, sales, and personal growth.
Links:
Email: gila@dogisgood.com
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
Follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, & TuneIn
Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, pet, business, dog, dog lovers, life, leadership, building, pet sitters, grooves, create, thinking, process, soft launch, brand, discipline, feel, limiting beliefs, training, clients
SPEAKERS
Collin Funkhouser, Gila
00:17
Hi, I'm Meghan. I'm Collin. And this is pet sitter confessional, and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter brought to you by time to pet and pet sitters International.
Collin Funkhouser 00:29
When we think of leadership, we typically think of bringing others together and working towards a common goal. However, leadership actually starts with leading ourselves and leading ourselves. Well, unfortunately, many of us carry around limiting beliefs that prevent ourselves from actually leading ourselves Well, today, we're really excited to have Jayla Kurtz doc trainer and owner of dog is good on to talk about what it means for it to have self leadership in our lives, how we overcome those limiting beliefs, and how we break free from the things that are holding us back to reach the goals that we have for ourselves and our business. Let's get started.
Gila 01:08
Yes, thank you so much, Collin, it is exciting to get this chance to speak to you particularly on this topic. My name, as you already said, is Gila Kurtz and I am one of the co founders of a company called dog is good, which is a lifestyle brand for the dog lover. And we were We've been in business for a little over a decade. And throughout that time, I have done quite a few things within the pet space. But that the Genesis and the involvement of that company really originated from my role as a professional dog trainer, which is something that I do today, believe it or not, I focus puppy development and supporting families who are bringing new pups into their household. And this was, oh my gosh, well, I've been a trainer for over 20 years. And that a continuing education conference for dog training, when I was in an exhibit hall and saw a vendor selling t shirts, this particular vendor was selling t shirts that all look the same, they were white, they said, I love my and they had a particular dog breed on it. And I remember standing there for a good couple minutes thinking to myself, like my brain was turning. And I as I was thinking, I was realizing, you know, I do love my dog. But there's something a little bit more profound than just I love my dog. And the shirts were not something that I was going to wear. And I was trying to figure out like, you know, what would it be that would express truly this relationship that I had with dogs in a way that was also classy and fun and whimsical to wear. And I returned from that conference and had a conversation with my husband, and we decided you know what, the pet space was already starting to grow. There was nothing in the pet space specifically for the human at the other end of the leash. And so we've made it our mission to focus on the dog lover, and create products that made it possible for them to share with the rest of the world, how much they love their dogs. And we've been doing that now for a little over a decade, about 12 years selling also into retail stores all over the country. And we have a pop up shop program that started a few years ago, we've since launched a completely new division specifically for dog lovers, nonprofits, and existing service based businesses such as pet sitting and dog walking, dog training, grooming, etc. And we also licensed the brand to manufacturers who use our designs on their products. And that's a way for us to also get our messaging into distribution. And that's what we've been doing
Collin Funkhouser 03:53
an awful lot It sounds like and it really is the it really is an interesting space to be in because there is an awful lot of passion behind it passion from the pet care professionals and passion from the pet owners and trying to merge those two, whether that's with brand or whether that's merchandise and trying to communicate that to them as well as trying to how do you communicate that passion through the things that you wear things that you use and things you do in your life? And it sounds like right where you're at moving right in that space?
Gila 04:25
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, at the end of the day, one of the things that I believe wholeheartedly that technology for the past decade has made it possible for us to connect, to communicate, to expedite our processes in terms of communication and do it via email and all the social platforms. And yet at the same time that we're so deeply connected through that those mediums we are as people more disconnected than ever before. And so the relationship that we have with our dog has become even more significant, because because of this, need this human natural need, whether it's conscious or subconscious, there's this need to feel connected in a more emotional way. And the line that we create and the community that we built is to create conversation around that. And in essence, it obviously makes people feel great. And anytime you're elevating someone's emotional state and reminding them about this relationship, that they hold it with such high value, you know, it makes for great opportunity to grow and to connect with others.
Collin Funkhouser 05:41
Right? Well, and being in the pet care space, you can come alongside your pet owners, and help them in that process of helping them in that communication process connecting on a better level with their beloved pet, and talking to them about concerns or problems that you have, and recommendations that you can give to them, because they're interested in giving the best care possible and you're able to again, come alongside them partner with them through that process and help them enjoy their pet more by the services that we are providing.
Gila 06:10
Oh, 100%, you know, in the sitting industry, dog training industry, dog grooming industry, I think part of it is a paradigm in terms of how one views their role within the contractual relationship that one has with a client, right. So as a dog trainer, or we can show up as a consultant, we can show up as a pet, or we can show up in a consultative way. And when you come from a place of expanded expansive service, and over deliver to the to the customer, and it's a great way to grow your business.
Collin Funkhouser 06:49
Write well and on that business move in to talk about leadership of self and a little bit about self motivation, and some things along those lines. And I find it odd. And so I want to pick your brain on this, how it's easy for me to set goals and things for my business, but not for myself, right? There seems to always be a hitch in there of like, okay, I can play it for the next 10 years of where I want my business to be. But when it comes to planning on next 10 years for Collins going to be Oh, we may make it next week.
Gila 07:19
Well, thank you for sharing that. And that is such a great not only observation, but a great question about, you know, why is that, and, and that is very interesting. And statistically 97% of the population has no clue really what they want, right. And so our businesses, it's very easy to see hard data, and make predictive measures based on what we know, to be true for business, you know, out of market to get more customers get more customers grows revenue by x. And so it seems more quantitative. And the goal, a goal setting can be a huge challenge for many, many people. The, to me, the definition of self leadership is the ability to just influence oneself and or progress in the direction of one's specific goals and desires. And so the biggest challenge in that is if you don't have a specific goal and desire that is like this burning desire, if you don't have a vision, for your life, and where your business fits into your life, it's very hard to pull together the core elements of self leadership, which is habit formation and the discipline to follow through.
Collin Funkhouser 08:38
Yeah, and I feel like that the that self leadership, that that kind of feels like it dissipates through adulthood, like my daughter really knows she's going to be a princess astronaut. And that is like the one thing she's going to be for sure, right. And we all felt it would be the best, right? If she that feels like that we can kind of get wayward as we go through life. And as we take on responsibilities, and we can get confused about how we bring back direction to ourselves.
Gila 09:12
Yeah, and part of that has to do with the experiences that we have along the way. So your daughter who I want to support in her dream to be a princess astronaut. That is amazing. If you think back to our childhood, we all had dreams of something similar or something like that. And then along the way, someone told us, oh, you can't do that. Or we had an experience in a classroom or with a group of friends that, you know, made us feel less than or something, things start to occur that throughout our childhood on up through about eight years old and then throughout our teens and into young adulthood, where we start to develop limiting beliefs and unfortunately, these limiting beliefs are not super present on unconscious level, you're not fully aware of them, but they are your operating system. And so by the time we reach adulthood, if you look around and you're like, oh, like, why am I not getting to this place in my life? Or in my business? And what seems to happen? Why is it things start to go well, and then all of a sudden, everything goes to crap, right? There's so many underlying reasons. And many people are not familiar with deep rooted work of growth mindset of neuro neuroscience and the impacts of our subconscious mind and how it controls the thoughts we have the feelings that those thoughts create, and then the actions that we ultimately take or don't take. And so that's, that's kind of that reason, that reason why, and it really does boil down to, I guess, a burning desire for what you want. So it's, it was fun to hear what your, your daughter wants to do.
Collin Funkhouser 10:57
He's talking about that build up of limiting beliefs over time, whether that's through experiences or through interactions with people that start talking to you about what you can and can't do. And I love that word, that phrase that you use, it becomes your operating system, it becomes just how you start viewing and taking in and interpreting the world around you. So how do we start to break free from those limiting beliefs and start reprogramming that system?
Gila 11:24
Yeah, that's a great question. And step number one is you have to be aware, you have to suddenly sit down or have this moment in time where you become aware that where you are at is truly not where you want to be. And you have to be able to ask yourself the right questions. Well, how did I get here? What were the decisions that I made over a period of time that resulted in where I am today? And, you know, there's a quote actually from a book, James Allen, it's, it's an old book, it's written in Old English, very short book, it's as a man thinketh. And in that book, he says, there's a passage, I don't remember the whole quote, but the last part of it is this, he thinks in secret, and it comes to pass his environment, his but his Looking Glass. And what he is referring to there is that thoughts become things, whatever you are thinking, ultimately, you create in your reality, many times, you're not aware of what you're thinking. And it is the the first step in beginning to identify the limiting beliefs is just this awareness that there is this gap between where you are, where you are. And the process of breaking through that is to identify well, who who do I need to become in order to get that? Because, and that might be determined by your own self analysis? Or it could be determined by Hey, who has what I want? Who's already achieved? How are they? How did they show up? What are the things that they do? What are their basic habits, and then developing a plan putting, you know, developing a strategy to begin to shift that thinking process and noticing when old habits start to start to, you know, show up again?
Collin Funkhouser 13:14
Yeah, that two step process of going okay, who do I want to be? But also, who am I? Who am I right now? And why am I that way? And I feel like through last year, many people had their identity challenged as a business owner, yes. Because we I saw made people go, Well, I know I'm a dog walker, I am a pet sitter, I'm a dog trainer. What do you mean, I can't do that anymore. And all of a sudden, they were grappling with, what does that mean for me to not have that in my life? And trying to take these steps to figure out, Okay, if they don't have that, who am I,
Gila 13:55
you just bring up the best points, because that is such a critical thing. So many people become what they do. And that is a very different thing than just being who you are, and getting to do something you love. Right, that can support your dreams, etc. That way, and that is a paradigm shift. And so I completely understand why so many people, you know, deer in the headlights moment throughout COVID-19. Now what you know, and and you're right, that is to become in the business became who they are, as opposed to being a part of the life that they are choosing to live. And that's very different.
Collin Funkhouser 14:38
Yeah, it is. And that's a pretty scary step to figure out that who you thought you are this whole time isn't but that's not necessarily a bad thing, right? Like that just shows you use that word earlier of growth that shows that growth potential, where you can start taking small steps forward to figure that out. And I think that that takes a little bit of time. retrospection, figuring out looking back across your life, and then a little bit of, you know, allowing yourself some space and time to dream and to look forward to things.
Gila 15:10
Yeah. And, you know, during COVID-19, my observation was that there were really two schools of people. They were the people who felt completely lost, stressed, anxiety, chaos beer, who am I? Now? What am I going to do that camp? And then you had the other camp of individuals who were like, Oh, well, cool. Now I get to step back for a second and get reacquainted with what I love, and who I am, and what's possible, and innovate, and be creative, right. And so it's so interesting how you can have, collectively the entire world got to experience the exact same thing. And yet through that process, you got to see how people think. And and that's where I observed people is, you know, listening to the words that they're choosing to use and their perspective on things will tell me you know, what their future path is going to look like in terms of their success in terms of accomplishing the things that they want to do. But it's, it's interesting. And so paradigms, it's, you know, it's how we think, again, going back to that operating system.
16:26
Have you heard about time to pet Susan from the pet gal has this to save time to pet has helped us grow exponentially. We believe the platform's features make us by far more professional than other companies who use conventional dashboards. They are the software gurus constantly developing and improving the platform based on user feedback, this decision was a good one,
16:48
if you are looking for new pet sitting software for your business, give time to pet a try. As a listener of pet sitter confessional, you'll get 50% off your first three months, when you sign up at time to pet.com slash confessional.
Collin Funkhouser 17:04
So when you when you look at those people, and you look at the kind of language they use, what what effect does language have on where we're going to end up in our view of self?
Gila 17:16
Everything. Everything, you know, the words that you speak, are produced based on the thoughts that you have in your head. And that coming from somewhere. So if the immediate, you know, we'll just use COVID as an example, because I have to, I would have to think of another example. And think hard about it. Oh, I'll give you an example. I know someone who is looking for a job they've been looking for a job for, I don't know, feels like over a year. And the language that they share with me is, you know, there's just no jobs out there. No one's hiring. No one's going to hire somebody who's in their 50s. I am struggling. I those kinds of words versus Hey, you know, who do I know that might know someone who, there's something out there for me, it just the right thing hasn't shown up yet. And you know that. So it's just very, very different ways of looking at things. When when COVID came about, literally within a week, you know, I had a lot of colleagues in the pet space, and many, many conversations throughout the first couple of weeks, with heads of other companies and things like that. And there were a lot of people that just as you probably experienced as well with your within your own community, the fear the oh my gosh, what am I going to do? I'm so anxious, I feel so depressed. And I was like, I literally the first words out of my mouth were? Well, what's possible now, what's possible. And every night before going to bed? That's what I would ask myself, I wouldn't try to answer it, I would just ask myself the question. And so in doing that, in seeking answers from a place of possibility, has created a whole new division that we're launching right now, which is taking the future of our company in a completely new and more productive and positive direction than I could have ever imagined. But it's the language that we use that shapes the way that we interact with the world around us.
Collin Funkhouser 19:29
Yeah, I really liked the way you put that because it's not necessarily the fact that you know, words manifest things in the world, but they tend to manifest thoughts in yourself and then you react and respond to that in the world around you. And so that's why the language we use to describe ourselves I mean, I think we've all had a friend or knew someone in school who said, you know, I'm, I don't know anything, right. I'm too stupid to do this. I'll never learn this. I can't get through this, right. That that I'm no good at math. I'm Yeah, right. Yeah, I could never do that. What what that does is it just becomes the self fulfilling prophecy of each failure, each thing that's not 100% each not success. I'm not even to say failure, I'm just say they didn't quite succeed. They, they, it reinforces that belief. And then eventually, you just stop trying, and you don't have that effort behind you.
Gila 20:22
Now, well, and it goes, that's very, very true. And so the question becomes, why do some people become so easily defeated? at the first sign of failure, the first sign of a challenge, or the first sign of an obstacle? And why do others go, oh, shoot, there's this big rock in the road, I kind of figure out a way to get around that. And they do, right? It goes back to knowing what one wants. And having this burning desire. That is, so it that it's so strong, it's going through your veins, and a unwavering faith, whether you have proof around you or not that this will come to fruition, you don't may not know how, and you don't need to know how that you just believe. And then persistence is the other ingredient. And it's something I actually I do a thing on through our groups called Monday motivation. And I'm going to be talking about persistence today. Because without that, most people fail, that's where most people fall short, they don't push through the uncomfortable, they don't embrace the A, and whether it's, I'm not worthy enough, or I'm not deserving enough, or see more evidence that things just don't work out for me, you know, whatever the perception is within their heads, is the reason why they will not get to where they want to go. And it's so easily read, there's a there's an easy remedy if people are willing, but people have to be willing to do the work, right, they have to be willing to want acknowledge that they might have some limiting beliefs that are taking them in the wrong direction, and then be an awareness and a desire to make some of those changes. You know, growth mindset is not something that everybody engages in.
Collin Funkhouser 22:15
Yeah, I think when you start assessing where you are, and then that where you want to be, sometimes whenever you realize, Oh, I'm not there yet. It's an immediate failure. Right? It's like, Well, okay, I'm not where I want to be. So why even try? Right? Why even bother? And, and you said that he said, You know, they don't want to work through the uncomfortable like it is it's real work. And I think that that is sometimes we get lulled into this sense of security, especially maybe if we've been successful in what we thought we wanted to do our entire life. And then we realize, Oh, he gets taken away. Or we realized, no, this isn't actually who I am, to try and backtrack and rework another route in our lives, to what we actually want what's actually gonna be beneficial to us. But but that's work. And that that does take time. And that's hard, right? Because I gotta have to be patient. And I got to do the same thing tomorrow and it gets, it can be frustrating.
Gila 23:09
Yeah, now, exactly. If you look at any successful person, any successful company, I always try to help people put this into make it relative, not one of those people that you might be viewing as successful. Did this overnight? Right, they did not achieve their success overnight. Everything takes work, and, and grit and the willingness to, as I already said, you know, push through the uncomfortable,
Collin Funkhouser 23:38
I would like for you to break out a little bit more about what are the components of leadership of self, and how we can recognize the need for growth in those.
Gila 23:48
I think self leadership starts first in knowing again, it always goes back to knowing what one wants, I'm of the mindset these days where I don't, I will come up with things and or decide that I want to do something for myself. And if I don't, I don't even worry about how I'm going to do it. Because I know there is somebody that knows how to do it. And I'm great at asking for help. So there's that case, knowing what you want, but having the strategic resources or plan having a definite plan that you can then implement. But the two core ingredients I think are the discipline you know, you got you got to be disciplined to follow through and discipline is to me doing doing things are real, even when you don't want to do them. That you be that you are impeccable with your word. You're saying I use fitness as an example because people always bring this up. You're saying to yourself, I'm going to go to the gym and start going to the gym and you wake up and tired or you're going to run and Oh wow, it's sprinkling outside. I'm not going to go. That's not discipline that's not being Integra with your words. That's again at first Sign of challenge at the first sign of discomfort you weren't able to push through. So there's the discipline. And then there's the habit formation that has to be there. as well. All of those things are integral in terms of leading oneself, I got to know what I want, I got to do it. I'll give you a quick example. I just started doing 75 hard. I don't know if you know what that is. But it's actually a challenge for the mind, even though people often thinks it's a physical challenge. And it involves working out twice a day, one of the workouts has to be outside 45 minutes each reading 10 pages of a personal development book, I'm drinking a gallon of water and taking a photo of yourself to track the progress. I think I got it all. Yeah. And I remember one of the nights I forgotten, I still had like, half a gallon of water I needed to consume. It was like nine o'clock at night. And I was like, No, but I'm doing this. And I drank all the while I drank it all. And of course, you know, all night, taking care of that. But I was just committed. easy not to do this right now. But I've said I was going to do this for 75 days, and I'm more than anything going to prove to myself that I do what I tell myself. I'm going to do.
Collin Funkhouser 26:29
Yeah, no, that's, that's huge. And when I hear that, I think of like, external and internal motivating factors for ourselves. And I know for us, you know, one of the things that we struggle with is just telling clients No, right? And when I say no, I mean, no, I'm not going to go back on that, and how many times we end up going, Okay, well, this one time, okay, you can do, I'll do this late thing, or you don't have to pay this time. And who are we helping, you know, as a business owner, as as the on the wonderful road of entrepreneurship and, and running our own business. We are accountable to ourself, and if we can't hold ourselves accountable, how can we expect to hold anybody else accountable for their actions, you know, if we're not doing it for ourselves?
Gila 27:09
100% and that starts with really having clarity around your values, too. If they're, I can see where that might happen a lot in the business or like, even in my when I'm doing puppy training, let's say if somebody Oh, I got a cancer, can you reschedule that? The only time I welcome the canceling is when it completely where I'm like, oh, like, I wish I didn't have to do this tonight. Because there's so much else I gotta go on, you know, and the universe always hears me and delivers and sound like yes. And we'll reschedule but, but at the core is, you know, what are your values and in the pet setting, industry, dog training any any of these industries to me, what is the client onboarding process? And is this discussed is this part of the conversation in the onboarding process, and, and sharing with them, hey, I want to share with you why I do what I do. So I always tell people why I do what I do, they have to know that I'm so committed. Number two is, let me I want to also share with you some of my values in ensuring that you have an exceptional experience with my service, and bum bum bum bum bum. And if I was petsitter, I probably would have it in the contract that they signed. And they're aware. And when they come up with the thing, you could say, Oh, I so know that you're struggling with that. And unfortunately, I'm just you know, unable or time does not permit me right now to do what you need me to do, or whatever it is you just do it. And the more you start to stick to it, you end up very aligned, your values are aligned, which makes you feel good. And the more you start to do it, that becomes a habit. So then your boundaries don't get crossed, and you don't get thrown off and you don't feel frustrated. And stay in alignment with what you're going to be and and i think that you know, by stating that right up front in your onboarding process, that it really helps to set the expectations for the customer.
Collin Funkhouser 29:10
It does. And again, you are off boarding that process from yourself, right. And now all of a sudden, you're externalizing what the client has to go through, and it's not reliant on you. So if you feel like Oh, I can't always be consistent, or sometimes I waver blah, blah. Put it all on pen and paper, we have black and white so they can read it. And then it's you know, you don't have to worry about saying yes or no, it's already taken care of for you. And I love that you sit down and you even explain part of your values to your clients. And I think that's a process that many of us actually don't do or might or maybe don't even know what their values are.
Gila 29:50
It is kind of it's unfortunate because a lot of people not only don't know what they want, truly what they want, like what three years are now their business is going to look like and their life as a result. of it or what their life is going to look like and how their business fits into that they don't have clarity on that. But the second pieces to what you just said is, they don't have clarity around their core values. I think it's critical to share with any customer. First and foremost, why you do what you do. I mean, the moment you do they know you're walking dogs, or sitting while they go out of town or taking them in to use your services, but they will be more committed customers, when they know why. When that when you're when you lead with your why you build a much different relationship with your customer. And then if you share with them, your values it, it will set that expectation as well.
Collin Funkhouser 30:48
I think many of us have heard Oh, I have to know my why. But I think what you know, listening to this and hearing you talk, it's like, it does so many things for your business, right? It doesn't just give you purpose, but it gives you concrete understanding for each one of your actions, it actually brings control back to you. And it helps you better connect with your clients, especially if you're sharing it with them and having on your website or on a contract, right. And then you're building that relationship, and they get to know you. And they can they know that they are supporting somebody that they that they believe it.
Gila 31:21
That is the essence of it, what you just said, right there, it's a very different relationship with your customer, I will share with you, I have been training puppies for real dogs for over two decades. And about nine years ago, I decided I just want to focus on puppies, because they're, I just love them and I really am helping families, I want those dogs to stay with the family. Right, we can get them early, that increase the rate of that will increase significantly. So um, but but the building the dog is good company, very busy. And so I would only train like here and there just randomly if somebody you know, called I would take that on. But this year with COVID, as many trainers are experiencing, I've had an influx of massive falls and in training. And I of course, I've been enjoying that wholeheartedly. But what's interesting is that I don't have a website. I don't have any kind of online program. I don't have anything that would even indicate that I train puppies. But my book is beyond full to the point where I'm training someone to help me ultimately. And that comes from the way that I onboard the process, that I take people through that whole experience. It's not just training the puppy, and then the off, you know, offloading. I hate to say it like that. But the closure of the training, or the work that we're doing together, that expands into this massive referral opportunity. And, you know, so those are all processes of building, but it's because I lead with those things. And I bring it up, and I get excited about it. And they get connected to it. And they do they want to. They want to help you out.
Collin Funkhouser 33:16
Yeah, they absolutely do. And you're talking about you know, you get excited about leading with your why and you're staying up late to drink a half gallon of water. Has this been easy for you? Is this something that came naturally to you? Or over the years?
Gila 33:31
Yes, yes and no. Okay. So believe me, there's like, I am perfectly imperfect, just like all of us. But one thread of my being is that I am a disciplined person. So when I say I'm going to do something, I, I am going to do it, even if it means Oh, my gosh, I have to stay up late to finish that off. Because I promised it or I said, that's just been always relatively easy to me. Yeah, I think that discipline, and I don't know where that came from. I don't know. I mean, it could come from, I'm thinking back to my childhood, so driven to always be that, you know, good student, and, you know, who knows what limiting beliefs are going on there? Or what operating system that that is? But it's it's this? I'm driven by achievement, you know, and I know that I have to follow through with the things that I'm doing in order to make make things happen.
Collin Funkhouser 34:32
Yeah, I think that there are definitely people who are born with that drive. And then there are people who have to learn that drive and have to learn ways to build systems to have support to do that. And, and I think that just that just goes to show that it's a process for everybody. Right, nobody's perfect. Right?
Gila 34:53
It is well and so to that what you just said which is interesting, which is also something I feel very strongly about like that. Is my weakness. I am not a systems person, I am a visionary person. I am a visionary and a jeweler. But I'm not a detail or systems person. And so with that in mind, in order for things to work, like it's business related, I have to surround myself with people who are that's their area of genius, right? That's, there's an otherwise, like, I would just mess it up, you know, you know, knowing what you're really good in, and just trying as much as possible to stay in that zone. It's not always possible. But as, you know, as, as much as you can, staying in that place of where you really, were, your best work happens.
Collin Funkhouser 35:44
Yeah, and I like, you rephrase that a little bit of going. It's not that you have to all of a sudden become this really driven person or become somebody different. It's lean into your strengths, and then see who else needs to come along? What problem you know, what slps do I need to bring in here? What software do I need to be on board? Because I need to be operating in my strengths and staying true to myself. So I'm not getting over here and doing things that I'm not either passionate about, or I don't really want to be doing
Gila 36:14
100% you just nailed that.
Collin Funkhouser 36:21
Are you a member of pet sitters International, psi is the largest Educational Association for professional pet sitters and dog walkers with a mission to promote petsitting excellence through education. After the tumultuous past year. Having the support of a strong community indirect access to educational resources in business tools is more important than ever. As we rebuild our businesses. psi is here to help with a free monthly member toolkit, monthly bonus resources, online trainings private member group on Facebook and more. Along with group rates on insurance and background checks. psi is a one stop shop for everything you need for your pet sitting or dog walking business. As an Educational Association, psi believes that if you know better, you'll do better, and invites you to join 1000s of other like minded professionals who are committed to offering the best possible pet care services and elevating our industry. That sounds like you visit pets.com slash PSC to learn more. our listeners can save $15 off your first year membership by using promo code at PSC 15 at checkout. I think we touched on a little bit earlier. But I did want to come back to it and talk about how self leadership how does that help us be a better leader to others and those around us?
Gila 37:33
That is a great question. Because without your ability to lead yourself, you are not worthy of being of followers into the day. So it plays a huge role, your ability to follow through on the things that you say that you want to do creates a confidence, it creates your empathy because you're experiencing things it provides puts you in a position where you can be a source of inspiration to others. And you know, to me that leadership is for me anyway, my definition is basically being a lighthouse for others and illuminating the path for them to step into and empowering them to shine. Basically, that's to me the way that I like to lead. And I can't ask others to do things or expect people to follow through if I'm not doing those things myself. So it starts there. But you know, where people get caught up as they try to think of all these things that they want to start doing for themselves in terms of self leadership. And if they just pick one thing, you know, what is the one thing that you really want to hone in on and drill down on for the next 90 days, I mean, this year is gonna pass no matter what, like, we're all going to turn the page on December 31. And so you could do any one of a million things in terms of improving your mindset, or improving your physicality or improving your communication skills, whatever those things are. One and, and become a genius at that. If it fits into your vision, if it's something that you really want and give yourself baby steps, isn't it? You don't have to be 100% you have to be 50% or 51% or more. Right? And you're going to make progress.
Collin Funkhouser 39:37
Yeah, and that's, that's so important in setting these realistic expectations. Again, when you're used to go through that process of thinking and discovering who you are, and then who you want to be understanding that that's not going to be an overnight process. And then just picking one thing and you said you know, do it for 90 days and the timeframe on those kind of things is so important. Because if you go and now I have to become that and I guess I'll just do that between Now in infinity, all of a sudden, it's really daunting. And you can you can do and and, and put yourself through just about anything in it for 60 to 90 days, because you know that there's an end to it. Now the hope is, you're going to be making incremental improvements so that by the end of 90 days, you don't even recognize that person at the beginning.
Gila 40:20
100%. And every time you're making progress, forward, you're getting your brain gets a dopamine hit, the more dopamine hits your brain gets, the more it is likely to become a long term, very deeply ingrained habit. And it's also like, have you ever seen motocross? Yeah, with a motorcycle, I was at a tournament once and watching all that. And you know, the deep grooves that they get, and as they're right as motorcycles around, well, those happen from the repetitive cycling through that these, these grooves, and it's the same thing in your brain, the the thoughts and the actions that are taken as a result of those thoughts begin to build these nice little grooves inside. And that's where we just that's our go to, that's our go to. And what we need to do is make it so that like, over time, the dirt just starts to cover that section up, and you're creating a whole new groove based on your new repetitive actions over and over and over again.
Collin Funkhouser 41:24
Yeah, what seems impossible from where we are right now becomes manageable, becomes totally doable, becomes just who we are, right, and being in it for that process. And having that persistence to make those grooves
Gila 41:39
and getting out, you know, seeking out a mentor, who's done, you want to do and an accountability person, you know, if you tend not to be accountable to yourself, or be accountable to someone else, they'll hold you accountable, right.
Collin Funkhouser 41:53
And part of this self leadership is is recognizing where we want to be and what we need to do to get to that. And I know in business, sometimes that means changing services, to get to where we want to go to realize some of these goals. So you've talked about it a little bit, but I'd love for you to tell us more about some of the exciting things that dog is good has been working on the past several months, and that you've got coming out.
Gila 42:19
Ah, thank you, I am so excited about this, I can't even I cannot sit still. It is the vision that we have for what we are creating is enormous. And the reason for that is it's it's our desire and our commitment to create a vast movement over time of changing lives, one dog at a time, and empowering people in that process to be that conduit to positive change. And so when COVID first tip, well, let me back up one sec, we have had since 2017, a program in our business called the dog is good pop up shop. And this is a basically a business opportunity for dog lovers who wanted to collaborate with our brand and basically have a mobile boutique that they set up at local events, in businesses at retail stores. So it's you know, it's a mobile, but it's all fully outfitted with the dog has good products and brand. And that was just that was so much fun. And I just love the community that we were building, they're very tightly connected. And it was it was really growing. And through that process, we started to get people reaching out to us asking how they could collaborate with the brand, but not necessarily in the mobile pop up shop capacity because of the amount of inventory It looks like a store. So you know, it's a bigger investment. So we're just kind of moving around some ideas. And when COVID came about and everything shut down, my husband john and i, whose John's my business partner, also partner in life and partner in business, and we were like, you know, this would be the perfect time to really create a new relationship based sales channel and create something that would be that would serve not just dog lovers, but also nonprofit organizations and existing service based businesses that were getting obliterated because you know, due to COVID and I also in my early 20s had a very successful experience in the direct selling world. And so I was like you know what, this is it. This is the best way to connect with with dog lovers and so we put together the infrastructure for this. We are in currently soft launch pre launch right now so the systems are being tested. We are not fully advertising this just yet but we are bringing on brand ambassadors and super fans and have created this you niQ there is nothing in the industry like this. It's a pure hybrid of direct selling through the pop up shop program and through our, what we're probably going to call the bolo bark tea, which is a small sample set that people can be using as displays and driving people to their websites that they're getting. We are launching with the dogs good lifestyle products, and bringing out the second pillar right now the pet health, wellness and nutrition and lifestyle products, we will be bringing out a third pillar that is around services. And then ultimately a fourth pillar will be experiences. So the longer term vision is building this global movement in support of people in our MB and helping people turn their dreams into realities, through their passions and love that they have for their dogs and to collaborate with the brand to make that possible. So we're very excited about it. So yeah, that's what we have going on. And you know, one of the the, your core community, the pet sitters are a wonderful group of individuals to consider this as a additional revenue stream for their existing business.
Collin Funkhouser 46:19
Yeah, I'm thinking back to that early vendor that you were at in your training days, with the kind of terrible t shirt and it didn't really scratch the itch of the passion for pets that you had and that you saw around you. And now hearing what you've built up in what you're building to going okay, what what about a holistic approach to being not just a pet owner, but a pet lover? And then how can we empower those in the pet care industry to be a part of that and to help their clients, again, care for their pets the best way that they can.
Gila 46:53
Yeah, and our core focus is really just building community contribution, and delivering an opportunity that change lives one dog at a time. So absolutely.
47:06
So you're currently in the soft launch of this system and everything that you've got going on, it'll come out in a couple more months or beginning of early next year.
Gila 47:17
So currently, people can collaborate with us and join our movement in this early pre launch soft launch period. Things are not perfect, I tell everybody, we are building the plane as we are flying it. But if you can see the vision and be part of this at the early stages at the ground floor early adoption stage, this is most definitely the time to do it. Plus, you're getting a lot of connection directly with the corporate. And so that role in terms of we're getting a lot of feedback from the people who are already part of our division. And that helps to shape the evolution of what it will look like. And so that's very exciting. We probably will not go into full launch, meaning where we are full on blasting and advertising and really building this until I don't know, you know, it could be fall, it could be early part of 2022. But, you know, every day we make more progress. And the thing that's really cool to be honest with you, Collin is I was just thinking the other day, how cool is this, like, all this was was an idea. March 2020. And see the taking an idea into action, and to the things in limited, not without challenges. Like times, I'm like,
48:44
Oh my god, whatever.
Gila 48:47
I tell people take stock and Madison Reed that's the brand I used to color my hair, the gray hair. But so, you know, it's not with that. But the progress we've made just even in the soft launch and the challenges that we've addressed, learning new systems and getting all those things in place. It's so cool to see that process
Collin Funkhouser 49:08
feel this has been a wonderful conversation. And I really appreciate all of the wonderful advice and thoughtful input that you had on leadership of self and self motivation for us as business owners and just how important that is, especially in these days and these weird crazy times that we have. And then the exciting opportunity and stuff that you have going on over at dog is good but I know that there's a lot more and we just covered on you know, basically the tip of the iceberg for each of those. So where can listeners go get more information, get connected with you and find out all that you have going on?
Gila 49:46
Yeah, well I would invite everyone to join the dog is good lifestyle group on Facebook. It's a really engaged community of dog lovers. So you'll be you know involved with them. A lot of like minded people. If they want to learn more about dig direct, we have also a private Facebook group called visionaries inspired by dog. And if they want to see anything about dog is good, they can just go to dog is good calm. And if they're interested in learning more about the pop up shop etc There is a link on there that will tell them a little bit more about that people can reach out to me by email if you're listening and anything that I said may have moved you. It's Gila gi l A at dog is good calm. And I would also invite you guys to check out my book for covered wisdom, a doc can change the way you see the world which is available on our website as well.
Collin Funkhouser 50:47
Awesome, a lot of resources there, I'll have all those on the links in the show notes and on our website. So people can click right through those, again, feel this has been a fascinating conversation, I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Gila 50:59
Well, thank you. I've really enjoyed it too. And I'm so happy that we were able to make it happen.
Collin Funkhouser 51:05
My biggest takeaway with my conversation with Gila was the importance of the language that we use in our lives, how when we start describing ourselves or our situations in a certain way, we tend to follow suit, with our behaviors, with our actions with our thoughts. It's when we've decided that we've had enough and we need to break free from those limiting beliefs that have been built up over the years, from things that people have told us, or we've believed about ourselves, when we've decided that we need to break free of those, the power of language really shines through. And that when we start talking positively, or in a different mindset, about ourselves and about our situation, we start acting differently, we start actually realizing that we do have control over some situations, and we do have agency in ourselves. And that at that core foundation of what self leadership is, is recognizing our control that we do have, and letting go of the control that we don't. And then sticking to the control, Gail talked about the importance of sticking true and staying true to our word. We've talked about the importance that that brings to not just ourselves, but it shows others that we respect ourselves. And they in turn, respect us whether that's the staff that we have on hand or whether those are the clients that we are interacting with and respecting those boundaries that we set for ourselves. So we really want to encourage you to start asking that question, Who do I need to become? That starts with recognizing where we are right now and knowing that it's okay, that where you are right now is exactly where you need to be to launch yourself into who you need to become to meet those goals, meet those objectives, and start living that life and running the business that you want to be running. We'd love to hear if this is something that you have done in your life and how you have worked through overcoming those limiting beliefs and reprogramming that operating system in your life. We want to thank our sponsors timed pet and pet sitters international for making today's show possible. And thank you so much for listening. It truly means an awful lot and we are so thankful for you showing up every week and listening to the podcast. Hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. And we'll be back again soon.
