For the love of the breed
TRULY
In my early bartending years, I used to watch in awe when new people meet for the first time or large groups of ‘friends’ came into the bar, all seeming like they had great conversations and a great time. I’ve always been envious of these people. I would wonder what they are talking about, or how people meet at the bar simply because they are sitting next to one another or playing a game of pool. I would strain my ears to hear what the conversation is like, or what they would say when they introduced themselves. I still find myself studying from a far. I am a longtime bartender, I find it very easy to make connections and talk to people when I’m behind the bar. If I am on the other side, more times than not, no one talks to me and I don’t talk to anyone. I feel very out of place, very different (no matter where I am). In 12 years of bartending in the same neighborhood bar I had many regular customers who, if I see today, are ecstatic to see me, but a friend? ...not one. I do however have many people I could call on for information, who I think would be happy to send me in the right direction if needed. Networking is something everyone can benefit from. In business, school, or personal life. If you can successfully network you have and unlimited smorgasbord of information, references, and connections. Keeping an open mind, have a conversation with any and all people, your personal network could grow be the most powerful tool in life. Learn to listen and show genuine interest in what people are talking about. If you’re not a natural conversationalist, I think it comes down to having the courage to take the initiative to start a conversation. When you have a conversation with a stranger, at the very least you may learn something interesting and even greater you’ve made a new connection in life or business. For myself, I will continue to work on this skill. Someday, hopefully, at least be comfortable enough to start a conversation with anyone I choose, when I’m not serving them a drink...or I've had too many. Check out Kio Stark in the TEDTALKS below.
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A valuable exercise to do when starting your own business or thinking of starting a business is to do a cash flow projection. I did one for class and it really puts things into perspective. If done realistically you may realize that you might have a great idea at hand that you could or should pursue, or maybe this wasn’t such a great idea at all. With mine the idea of a nonprofit pet rescue seems a lot more inviting than I thought there seems to be countless ways to generate revenue. Although I didn’t have any real numbers to base fundraising activities from so I used a small fundraiser and a large one.
Make sure you think of everything when preparing your projection sheet. Think of every and all expenses, and your intended sources of income for your business. For start-ups include your sources of financing and how much. On the other side list the payments to repay any loans and finance charges. This web can grow and grow. You may at this point want to think of more ways to generate income, everything helps. It’s a lot of work but there are templates available to do a lot of the calculations for you. As you add more numbers to your incomes and expenses you will see your profits come and go…better now than when it’s too late. You can incorporate and emergency expense, or even an unusually slow month. Make sure your numbers are realistic and you can get the idea of what your income or loss may be. Remember just because you see some great profits don’t go on a spending spree or give yourself a raise. You never know when life will happen. Whether it’s the sky falling or your roof, its best to be prepared with insurance, a back-up plan, and some cash. A great article about this can be found at https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/5-budgeting-ideas-for-every-small-business-owner-scott-allen/ Usual or unusual expenses read this http://junewalkeronline.com/info-advice-category/business-expenses-write-off-wrap-up/ There are cash flow templates on Microsoft Excel already formatted, just fill in with your figures and it will show you the money, or not! Good luck! And Happy planning!
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At NW Bully Rescue we will always train and continue to mentor every employee and volunteer on how we want our customers to view us and how our company culture will hopefully rub off into the everyday lives of people and people we touch. We will encourage positivity, and show compassion in hard situations. We are not here to judge, we are here to help, and save animals.
I read an article called “Customer Service Should be Your First Branding Exercise”. This article weighed in on how critical customer service is and its effect on branding your business. With one thoughtless remark or not being empathetic toward a situation can cause a company’s BRAND to turn sour. We as professionals need to realize that to treat a customer bad, or not cater to their specific needs means just as much as saying we don’t like you, we don’t want your money, a paycheck, or your business! For most companies, there are many others that offer the same service or same products. So why should or why would they want to come back after a bad situation. When dealing with difficult customers remember you do not know their situation or what they've been dealing with in life. Or, maybe you've had a bad morning or week, but as a representative of your company you mustn't take it out on customers or let it show in your work. If possible take a break or switch tasks with someone that is not the front face of your business. Happy customers are key to your business success. Kill bad situations with kindness, empathy, and gratitude. Read more at http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/customer-service-should-be-your-first-branding-exercise-0340666#WUHxDmzK6T5eZEYL.99 ![]() Today I read an article from Forbes.com titled “Making Sure You Eat: Paying Yourself As A Small Business Owner” written by one of the Forbes staff members Kelly Phillips Erb. Of course, the title caught my eye. What do you mean feed myself? I own a business of course I’ll feed myself. Have you ever heard someone say ‘it takes 5 years to make a profit’? I think I had at least 10 people rattle that off before I tried my first business venture. They also said have at least 3years of living money put aside if I wasn’t going to keep my regular job. Today with so many different business options and so many businesses you can start with little or no money and almost no overhead that may not always be true. Either way this article is worth the read. The writer Kelly Erb highlights that it’s very important that whatever you decide to pay yourself (a reasonable amount) keep it consistent. This reflects well on you as a business owner. When banks or creditors look at your finances, or investors, or IRS it’s a good idea to have your pay be consistent and at a reasonable amount. What’s reasonable? You can base it of off what others in your field make, you can also take in to consideration how much you work, and what your work actually consists of. Ultimately it’s up to you but Kelly says it’s a good idea to pay just enough. Whatever you pay yourself is taxable but if you need to put what you pay yourself back into the business the IRS will not be knocking on your door to give you a refund, you just lose that amount. Just as you keep a business account and a personal account don’t cross-spend, don’t buy your personal care items and groceries with your business card/account! It just doesn’t look good. If you like to check out the article click here http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2015/08/24/making-sure-you-eat-paying-yourself-as-a-small-business-owner/#2880de591f79
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![]() Do you ever wonder how some people seem so organized and get everything done on time? Their house is spotless, the kids are all involved in sports, music, and dance all at the same time? These people still have time to go to the gym, go for a run with Fido, work a full-time job and be everywhere they are supposed to be on time? OCD? Superhuman? Super Smart? Robot? Some people are naturally organized but many, if not most need to plan, keep a list, and check their calendar. One start to organizing and planning is to set goals. Have you heard of SMART goals? SMART is used as an acronym to help you to realistically set your goals SPECIFIC > Think who? what? where? why? Answer that and you will have a specific goal. MEASURABLE> How many? How Much? If you know what you are trying to do then its easier to see or even more motivating when get close to your goal. Like a goal of $10,000 or 100 new clients. ATTAINABLE> Can I achieve this? Do I have the resources, skills, or knowledge? For instance the average person wont be able to raise a million dollars in a week. You wont be able to travel to the moon in six months. Relevant> Does this even align with what is going on now? Will it be worth the effort I put in? Is it Realistic? Time Bound> When will I start? Now? Next week? An when will I finish? You can also set times to check in to make sure you are on schedule. ****On Monday I will clean all the papers and off of my desk. The papers will be shredded or filed. I will finish this project by Friday. The next goal may be... ***I will keep my desk clear of debris and misc. papers by opening mail immediately, filing or recycling, all bills and invoices will go into appropriate file upon arrival. I will make sure desk is clear before leaving work daily. Using smart goals can help to keep you on track for little tasks like above and SMART goals make sure you are actually working on something you need to work on. Like you may not want to paint the office before you clean off the desk! You can spend years working on 10 different projects and never finish one. Setting goals, making a list, organizing those lists can all help move you to actually accomplish something! Remember to check to make sure and adjust your goals as needed. If I set a goal to place 15 pets per month into a forever home and I meet that goal every month, it is time to set a higher goal. ![]() Thinking about being a bully parent? Here’s a few things to consider Do you have time? Can you walk your dog daily?
![]() Ok so you now you have a bully, maybe it was free, maybe you adopted it from a local shelter, or maybe you spent top dollar for your new companion. But it doesn’t stop there, can you really afford it?
![]() Veterinarian bills
![]() Can your home accommodate a pet?
![]() If you think you could have a pet and then just get rid of it after 6 months or a year don’t get one ever! Or possibly consider fostering instead of owning. Adopting a pet is for the life of that animal. If it’s a puppy, then expect it to be around for the next 10 to 12+ years. And puppies are only puppies for a short time and can grow to be big dog! ![]() Owning a dog isn’t for everyone, but, whatever you decide please take all of this into consideration. A dog or any pet is family not a toy to get rid of when you’re tired of it. Your pet requires your attention and depends on you every single day, not once or twice a week, every single day for its life. In return you will have a loyal companion, friend, and even protector...FAMILY ![]() So today I searched the web for ideas about what I might like my rescue to be like. I had a few Ideas but nothing solid. Would I try to go basic have a few kennels and do what I could to help a few animals? Or would I go all out? More research on my behalf needs to be done on the nonprofit end. But if I were to go all out I really liked a lot of what this place has done/ accomplished. Motley Zoo (MZ) is a rescue in Redmond WA has a very nice website very easy to navigate. They have links to everything they offer and links to solutions for what they do not. Their donate button stands out on every page as well as the buttons for MZ’s Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube accounts. They have a brick and mortar doggie daycare, they also offer training. They call themselves a rescue but they do not take in strays and need advance notice to set up fostering for surrendered animals. Their website says that they do not have open kennels or anywhere to hold a dog overnight and suggests strays be brought to humane society or veterinary clinic. They do not want to deal with the regulations that follow having permits to have a drop-in shelter or take in strays. They are listed as a nonprofit and have been successful at placing many animals. From the looks of the website and facility it looks very “for profit”. Unless maybe the daycare runs as a different entity. In the end, still a nice place seems very organized and are doing their part in finding homes for dogs and cats. http://motleyzoo.org/ The next rescue I reviewed was Emerald City Pet Rescue (ECPR) in Seattle. This looks a little friendlier maybe not so commercial. Their website is fairly easy to navigate but not quite as organized as MZ’s site. They do have a retail store as well as online sales of pet products and logo wear. They focus on saving animals from high kill shelters. They are activists for all animals, domestic and wild. ECPR fosters, trains, rehabilitates, and finds homes for “animals” in need. They seem very active in the community with presence at many community events and collaborating with other shelters and resources. ECPR seems more like an actual rescue. http://emeraldcitypetrescue.org/index.html Today I read an article from Forbes.com “Don't Follow Your Passion -- Or You Might Be Disappointed” by Liz Ryan. The title seems to be a bit opposite of what most articles might be titled that’s what caught my eye. Ok, so don’t follow your passion? Would that really be the advice to give people?
The article starts out with a letter from reader basically saying they like most of what Liz writes about but to stop telling people a fairytale! She responded because she receives hundreds of letters saying similar things…we work for money and that’s the bottom line. If you’re lucky you might like your job don’t try to sell a dream. Liz responded by letting the readers know that even if we aren’t in our job of our dreams or job of choice. There are ways to put yourself into the job, to be innovative in your work and bring your talents to the table. Liz also talked about failures, failures are opportunity to learn, opportunity to grow. She also said people fear failure, scared to try new things, resistant of change. That’s perfectly normal but if you never face your fears your basically stuck in one spot never progressing. The person that wrote the letter had the attitude that I, myself have had many times with the dreaded interview question…Why do want to work here? My uncensored response would be: “to make money” of course! But in reality, wouldn’t it be great to truly answer “because this is my dream!” or “because this is what I truly love” I believe it’s possible to follow your dreams and for some people it may just be to take the plunge and just do it! You must take risks sometimes or you could live your life never knowing if you could have succeeded in making money from your passion or dream job. Life is about difficulties without them you would never progress. Make sacrifices if you don’t you may never realize your full potential! You can read the article here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2017/01/09/dont-follow-your-passion-or-you-might-be-disappointed/#398b60b628e9 ![]() I was contimplating a kitten and somehow this is what I ended up with! Meet Dragon (the brown one) & Caprice (the other one) I never even wanted a dog. and these two joys entered my life! I was only contimplating a pet because I worked 9-10 hours a day monday through friday nights. A kitten would have so much more self sufficient...8 years later these two are family and I love them to death! But it wasnt and still isnt easy. |
JennaJust a girl passionate about animals and hates discriminations of any kind! ArchivesCategories |