Welcome to the Hair of the Dog podcast. If you are a pet photographer ready to make more money and start living a life by your design, you've come to the right place. And now your host, pet photographer, travel addict, chocolate martini connoisseur, Nicole Begley. Hey Everybody. Nicole here from Hair of the Dog Academy and welcome back to another Hair of the Dog podcast.

Today we are diving back into the coaching journals. Have you listened to episode number 1 92? This was our very first Coaching Journals podcast episode. And this one is going to be building on that. Now, it's not imperative that you go listen to the first one first, but if you listen to this and you're like, oh man, this is really interesting,

I wanna hear the first one. We'll jump back to 1 92 hair of the dog academy.com/ 1 92 and you can take a listen to that. So anyway, what the heck are the coaching journals? Well, the coaching journals are two Elevate members that have agreed to share their experiences and let us follow along with everything that they have going on in their business, reporting numbers,

clients, all of those things, sharing their goals, sharing their progress on their goals, sharing what they're doing for the goals, sharing their coaching calls with Heather because they each get a bonus monthly coaching call with Heather. And so that we can really just follow along on what this takes to build a successful pet photography business. So today we have the second month of coaching calls from Christi Baker of Christi Baker Photography,

as well as Monica Adelstein, Adelstein, Adalsteinsson. Oh my gosh. I was practicing at Monica before the podcast to say it appropriately and my tongue is tied. Adalsteinsson. Boom. I think I did it right. My apologies if I didn't, Monica. Anyway, next time we're gonna pick people with easier last names. No, I'm just kidding.

Congratulations though to Monica because she recently just announced in the Elevate Group some of the incredible success that she has had. her May numbers exceeded her goal. She came in at over $16,000 in sales in May and has already quite a few inquiry chats as well as clients spoke for June as well as July. She kind of went over all of the things she is doing for that in that update inside of Elevate.

She's doing a fantastic job. Congratulations Monica, on that recent accomplishment. But anyway, wanted to share with you guys these two coaching calls. So without further ado, I'm gonna stop talking. I'm gonna turn it over to these guys. We'll start off with Monica and then we will also follow up with Christie's session. If you would like some of this coaching in your life,

definitely come check out, elevate. It's really unbelievable how affordable it is for what it is and for the results that some of our students are getting inside of Elevate, it's absolutely incredible. Just go to www.hairofthedogacademy.com/elevate. Check it out. Bonus, when you join, elevate during the six months that you're in Elevate, you do have complimentary access to the full hair of the dog academy as well as Heather's full Flourish Academy.

So that is included. So when you're checking out the crazy valuable price, keep that in mind. Anyway, without further ado, let's go ahead and roll the coaching journals. Monica, where do we find ourselves today? Oh my gosh. Well today I'm doing really well. Okay, good. So I'm making a ton of money. Yes, I'm very happy.

I'm only, I'm less than 2,500 away from reaching my 16,000 goal right now. So For this month. And we still have for this month a week left? Yes. Okay, great. And do you think, will you be able, do you have, do you see that happening? Are you I see that happening simply because I do have, I have,

I have all my numbers right now, so I have three galleries that haven't been purchased yet. So that's an option to add to that. That could easily be an additional, Ooh two for $6,000 if everyone purchases the biggest package. Right. So that could be added on. And then I do have a few sessions this week. I think I have like,

my gosh, I think I have five or six sessions this week that would, that would hopefully be having people purchase from that. Those five or six sessions that you shoot this week, when are, when is their IPS appointment or how does that work? So I do, it's like a hybrid system. So like I send them a link to the gallery and then they purchase a collection that way.

So it's all like on their time. But yeah, so, but I have shortened my purchase time down to 14 days. Cuz before I would give them like three months and it was insanity. So I cut it down to 14 days. I may even do like seven days moving forward. We'll see. But yeah. But since So they can order purchasing.

Okay. So you, but they have up to 14 days to do that. What is preventing you from telling them they have two or three days? Right? I dunno. I think I get anxious cuz like the idea of like what if they're outta town or, you know what I mean? Like at that time that I send them the link. Like I wanna give them some time to like be at home and like be ready and present for,

to look at their images. But that's my only hangup. Your only hangup is what if they're on vacation? Yeah. My clients apparently go on vacation on us. So I guess these people are just vacationers, they're always vacation. No, I mean Going to Taylor Swift concerts. No. Right. Ok. So out that thought a little bit, when you're feeling anxious about creating a shorter timeframe,

let's get really clear on what the thought is. Yeah, it's a really Okay. Writing that down. So the feeling is anxious. Yes. So we're Thinking something and your thought was actually in the form of a question, which is like, what if they're not home? Which is basically like, what if they're not available? What if they're too busy?

Right, right. Okay. Yeah. But I want, I don't want you to leave your brain with a question, I want you to answer it. Okay. Like what's, what's the real thought there? That's a statement. I'm feeling anxious because I'm thinking, I think deep down my thought is they haven't gotten their paycheck or something like that. Like they're not ready to pay me for my services.

You aren't Ready. Yes. And that's not a good thought. No, because, well we know it's not a good thought because it leaves you feel, it's actually, we don't know if that would be a good or bad thought except that we can pay attention to the feeling. And if the feeling is anxious and the thought is they, I'm writing this down,

they aren't ready to pay me, then what you do in your action line is you give them more time. Right. Based on this thought. They aren't ready to pay me. But is that true? How do we know that's true? Yeah, that's such a good point. Like Why would they not be ready? Yeah. Why would they not be ready?

I've told them their pricing. They've been educated. Yeah. Like when, I don't know about you, but when I purchase something, especially if it's kind of, I'm spending a little bit more money like in the thousands, I actually wanna make my purchase as quickly as possible. I have the opposite thought is like, I wanna hurry up and do this today.

Like if you gave me 14 days to do it, I would be doing it on day one or two as soon as I could make a few minutes to sit down and go through the gallery. Because, well, I'm excited but I also, I, this is just my money brain is like, I wanna spend the money and get it done and pay it and move on.

Yeah. Yes. Okay. So good. If you could pick a feeling around, okay, first of all, let's, let me back up and say what would a good number, what would a number for timeframe look like for you? That's less than 14 days. I feel like three to five days, like maybe five days is like, let's Split the difference and say four.

Okay, let's do four Because we're just, Hey you, last time we talked, you told me about how you made up a holiday. We can make up numbers. We can, we totally can. Okay. So let's say you, you decide it's going to be four days. Okay. If you could pick any emotion to feel about four days,

if like you could pick it, what would you choose? I feel excited about it. Excited my Money faster. Like what would You need to think about four days in order to feel excited about it? Oh, I need to think about it. I need to think that I can get paid. Not can I will be paid. They are ready to pay me.

They're ready, willing, and able to pay me. I love that They are, I'm writing it down. They are ready, willing. Somebody should teach that and able to, I wonder who teaches. That's just my favorite line because It's Because not only is it true, but it feels good. And so when we're, we're coming from a place of like feeling good and excited about something,

we just take better action. Yeah. So what we're doing, I don't, you've probably picked up on this is I'm putting this in a model. So the circumstance is four day gallery. The thought is they are already willing and able to pay. The feeling is excited. And then what's the actions that you take from that place? I am going to initiate this,

right? Easy action. Yeah. It's super easy. You, you just do it and make it happen. And then guess what the result is? You feel so much better. Like you Would feel better because you would be getting paid faster. Yes. So The result is you are creating the container to make your money faster. And sales always tells us that people spend more when the emotion is high earlier on in the process rather than later.

Oh, Okay. Always. I will always spend more money on the first couple of days than I will 14 days later. Yeah. And that's because the initial reaction to the photos has diminished. Oh, that makes sense. They still Love them. Of course they love them. Yeah. Yeah. But it's not the same like intensity. Correct. Correct.

Yeah. The intensity of like the, you know, they're blown away. They see the images for, for the first time. This is amazing. Which is the reason I ps when people see their photos for the first time in an i p s appointment, that's why it's so effective. Yeah. Because that emotion is really high. They're excited. They just make things happen too much.

I I have to wonder, just out of curiosity, if this doesn't increase your sales Yeah. I would be so curious to see that too. I mean maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. I'm actually thinking it probably will, but Yeah. Even if it didn't, you would still, you would still be getting through a session in the process and the workflow with each individual client faster.

Which would, there's, there's like a secondary benefit here. So getting paid faster is the, the primary. Yeah. What would be the secondary benefit of getting these turned around faster? I feel like it's a better client experience too. Yes. Just because like they can share their images immediately when they get them. Like Yeah. It's, it doesn't put so much time and waiting on them.

Yeah. So we have this thought, you know, we have the thought, they aren't ready to pay me. Yeah. Which doesn't create the best client experience because it's no too much time. And then there's like room for your self-doubt or maybe their self-doubt. Yeah. And second guessing purchasing decisions. Possibly. Yes. And then we have this thought they're already willing and able to pay.

Yeah. How We, how we think about this? Number one is a choice. You can, you can think whatever you want about it, but if we could pick our thoughts and our emotions, why not choose the ones that serve us and our clients win win. Yes. Okay. How, yeah, what are your thoughts or feelings on that whole?

Oh gosh. I'm like, how do I, I'm like, I'm gonna implement it like immediately. But I'm also like, I have some people who are lingering and I'm like, how do I get them to like, you know, cuz it's in the contract that like, they have more time, but I don't even know if they read that stuff.

Like, should I try to Yeah. Push them along. So How many clients would you say are in this? I have, I only, okay. I only have one that's really bothering me. Cause it's been two months since I delivered the gallery. And like, I know they got the money, so I'm like, why aren't you buying? Like,

I don't understand. And they were very like, initially, Why aren't they buying? Why aren't they buying? I feel like they're prioritizing their money on other things because I can. Yeah. Because I've given them that ability. Yes. Yeah. Well, yeah. And I now thinking about it, like what you're saying is so true because initially that first viewing,

she was like, I'm in tears. I love these photos. And then it's been crickets ever since. I'm like, okay, You see what happened there? Yes. Yeah. What I need, I need to give them a shorter timeline because she lost that intensity of the feeling. Yep. Which doesn't serve anyone. It doesn't serve them and it doesn't serve you.

Yeah. It feels kind of gross. It does. It does. Yeah. So, okay, this person, how your, your question was how could I Yeah, how like e Encourage them. Yeah. How? Cause I sent them an email. Actually, I, I used my little chat. G B t I was like, can you please,

You were telling me that you put something in the chat g p t to message this client. Yes. It was so good. So yeah, I like told it like, can you create a sense of urgency and, and like explain that like your photos are valuable and we don't want you to lose out on this. Like these precious images that we created together and it created this beautiful email for me.

And then they clicked on the link and everything like to be the gallery, but they still haven't purchased. Yeah. When did you I sent that on, it was, I swear it was like, was it Thursday? It was like the day I learned about CHATT was like, I'm putting this use. Yeah. I, yeah, I love it.

Okay, so what would be the next, what would be the next move? So in that sense of urgency was was there, yeah. Was it, was there really a sense of urgency or? So I put like a last call kind of message on there, on the subject title. But I feel weird putting a date because their actual date according to their,

according to their contract isn't for like another month. And I don't like, I feel like it's like a, Oh, it's, it's equity integrity. Yes. That's what I, yeah, that's the word. Yeah. So technically they have another month before what the gallery would expire or what would happen then. Yeah, it would expire according to their contract.

And then it's, there's a $200 anar archived fee, all that stuff. Yeah. Okay. So, So what are your options now at this point? Oh goodness. It feels weird because like, I know they love their images. I know that they have the funds. I just like, I'm a little stuck in my mindset. I'm like, why don't they want to purchase them?

You know what I mean? Like, I keep telling myself, I'm like, they're gorgeous photos. They are. I know they love them. But yeah, I'm feeling a bit stuck in that sense. Well, what could you do? Gimme some options. Just like make it up. I mean like in these, by the way, when I'm saying options,

brainstorm options. Yeah. Yeah. They, they don't have to be like realistic. Like for instance, you could close the gallery today. I could. I totally could. Okay. I'll just, I'll spit 'em all out. Yes. So I could offer, I could offer them like a very small discount they wanna purchase today, which I hate that idea,

but, But it, right. Yeah. But it creates some sense of urgency. Yeah. I could just close the gallery and like, they'd be like, what the heck? Where, where are my photos at? I could tell them it's gonna close in like a week, which feels a little weird to me. But that's what I genuinely want to do.

I wanna be like, you got three days girl. Like, yeah Mo, let's do it. I could just like leave it and not let it affect me and just move on with my thoughts. Interesting. I could leave it. Yeah. Yeah. You could also send another email. You could maybe pick up the phone. Yes. Yeah. Like,

and say, Hey, I just wanted to check in. I'm really curious. I wanna make sure I get these images to you quickly and you know, is there anything I can help you with? Maybe they are hung up on something. Yes. Oh yes. So why not assume positive intent, which is they are ready, willing, and able to pay.

And they just have a question that that, that maybe they don't even know how to articulate in an email. So maybe that's why they didn't respond. But if you got someone on the phone and you just started talking, it would just come out in conversation that there's something they need to know or don't understand. Yes. Okay. I like that. You know,

when it comes to potentially tricky situations that we're tossing around in our mind, the best option I think always is to pick up the phone. Yeah. It's just that most of us self included by the way, don't like the phone, don't wanna talk on the phone and we think we're imposing on someone else. But you, you know, you, you're spinning this around in your mind of like,

I don't understand why they're not doing it. Like, and it's kind of irritating and you just, you just need more data. So, and you tried the email and that was a, I think that was a great first step. That's exactly what I would've done. And then next I would pick up the phone. Like, how can I help you?

Is there some, is it because they could be just again, somewhere that they're stuck? Yes. I love that. Okay. And you know, when it comes to, again, I just wanna reiterate, when we're brainstorming options, it doesn't mean you have to do or like any of them. But if we remove sort of the constraints of I have to like my options and just allow ourselves to think about anything,

what ends up happening is like if I say give me 10 things you could do and, and they're just wacky. But what could happen is you like look at a couple of those things and then you create this sort of hybrid of like, oh, I hadn't thought to do that. And you just get a new way of looking at it. So sometimes we constrain ourselves with like,

no, I'm not gonna consider that option because I don't like it. Yes. Okay. Yeah. But what if you just like, no, of course you're not going to just close the gallery. It's not Right. Right. And you don't like the idea of offering a discount. So there's picking up the phone and there's also, we could look at the thoughts around,

you know, like just leaving it. Yeah, yeah. Because it, right, because it won't happen again. Right. It's not going to happen again. Yeah. We won't let it happen again. So new policies being put in place, they have a much shorter timeframe. There are very clear parameters that are communicated throughout the entire process and reiterated.

And there are are boundaries that are enforced. You know, like, this is what's going to happen if you don't purchase, the gallery gets closed, et cetera. There's, there's the fee to bring it back online. So what would it look like? Just like playing with it. Yeah. What would you need to think to feel just maybe neutral or Okay.

About leaving it for the month? I think what makes me feel the best is thinking that I have plans in place to not have this happen again. That's, that's my biggest thought is that Yeah, It's, I think that's a great thought. I have plans in place. Yeah. So that this won't happen again. Meaning I am in control of my business.

Yes. The Reason you don't like this situation is because it feels like you're out of control because you set up a process so that you are in fact out of control. Like They're, they're they're running the show. Yeah. Because Okay, it Doesn't feel good. Right. Which is fine. Like that to me is just like, oh, oops,

information, data. So I won't do that again. Another thought I like to think is when I am in, I'm gonna be really dramatic here. When I'm in pain over these situations, I say to myself, I am at peace with my pain or my angst because I know it's temporary. It will not happen again. Everything is temporary. By the way,

side note, I use this like in life with physical pain, emotional pain, relationship challenges, everything is temporary. And so I will tell myself I am at peace with this circumstance or this challenge because I know that it's temporary. Yeah. Oh my. So you, You know, you ha you might maybe you might be able to talk to them and get the ball rolling or you might Yeah.

Have to wait the month in order to close this one out and that will be behind you and it's a great foundation for experience. Yeah. That, yeah. This will not happen again. Yeah. I love it. Okay, great. Couple of minutes left. What can I help you with? Do you have any questions? So I do have a couple questions.

So I am launching, or I launched my art gallery fundraiser. Yes, I remember. And yes. Yes. So, and my goal was to kind of replicate the calendar contest, the way it fills up my books because that's why I've been, I've been feeling like I have a lot of clients right now because of the calendar contest, brought in a bunch of clients,

which is great. But I feel like I'm not having a lot of like, buzz around the art gallery project fundraiser. Like I have 12 spots, only four people I've applied. And I thought there'd be like so many people I wouldn't, I would like have a hard time choosing, you know what I mean? So I'm like, why is there only four applicants?

Like should I like network with like businesses? Like I, I don't, I don't know. I'm a little stuck. Like why? Why there's not much. Well how did You get, how did you get the four? So I got the four. They're from the rescue. All of them are cause it, it's benefiting a rescue. So they're all from alumni from that rescue.

So, which is great. Like we wanna see those dogs. But I like to like have a bigger reach and the, oh, that's another thing. The company that we're doing the art gallery at has been sharing my posts, but like no attraction from that. Yeah. Do You, how else were you promoting it or talking about it? So I mostly just like,

I sent it in my newsletter, like sent out to my news, my newsletter people. I posted it on social media and that is really it. Now that I'm thinking about it. That's not very much. Well that's two things. But how many times each did you do That? Oh, how much? I've only posted about it. Oh my gosh.

Only like twice on social media and I emailed about it once. So yeah, not very much. Ok. I'm realizing now, yeah, I need to be more active on it. I emailed once. Okay. Okay. Listen. And we know that people don't read email or goes into spam or whatever can happen. I mean you need to be emailing about it multiple times per week until more people sign up or they just unsubscribe.

I mean whichever comes first, you know. But the truth is what will happen is people will, people will read it, not read it, delete it. Like, and then they, they just won't care. So, okay. Yeah. So now more emails. Okay. So more emails and more social posts and what else? Okay, so that's One thing.

Yeah. Well, and I'm wondering, I wonder if I can reach out to like a local newspaper or something like that and like see if they'd wanna write a little story on it. Like Love it. So yeah, the question becomes who else can I talk to about this? Who else can I network with? Yeah. Out in the community that would maybe love this idea and wanna encourage people and talk to people and would be like,

oh my gosh Monica, that's so fun. That's so brilliant. Like I would make a list of like 10 people I could maybe talk to about this because some will be receptive and some just maybe won't understand and that's fine. But like, how can I get more out into the community with this information? So the emails in the social media are great.

Those are what I consider online marketing. But something like this that's in the community seems to be a better or more appropriate fit for offline marketing. Which means how can I get out into my community and network and meet with other people or businesses to spread the word? How can I leverage a relationship, create a relationship, nurture the re relationship, leverage the relationship in order to grow the awareness about what I'm thinking.

Like, because it's a fun, great idea. Yeah. I just need people to know about it. What like, like The world needs to know how brilliant you are with things. Like, this is so fun and this is so smart. And they just need to know, like when I think of it that way, like seriously my thought is like if I'm like in your place and I'm you,

yeah. I'm thinking I have the best idea in the world. I am so smart. This is brilliant. It's going to be amazing. Everybody needs to hear about this. When I think those thoughts, I feel empowered, unstoppable, incredibly excited. And I will go out and talk to anyone and everyone. I would be walking through Walmart telling people about it.

Like I'm just, and because it's coming from a genuine place of like excitement and they need to know this. Yeah. It's so cool. Yeah. It's so Cool. I'm so smart. I mean, would you agree with me that you have a lot of really brilliant ideas? Yes. 100%. Ok. You need to say it like, Yeah,

I'm brilliant. I'm brilliant. I have really good ideas. Do people need to Know my brilliance? Yes. I have to get out there and explain to people because it is, it can be a little bit challenging to convey brilliance in email and social media posts. That's true. But when you meet someone in person and they get around your energy and your excitement for this rescue,

for the dogs, for the owners, for what you're creating, it is magnetizing. Like yes. But oh my gosh, that has to be, that's an in-person thing. Yes. It's so is. I already have like so many ideas going right now. So thank you. You are so welcome. It is my pleasure. I'll check back in soon.

Okay, sounds good. Bye-bye. Hey Christie, give us an update. Where are you? What can I help you with? Update? So last week I was on vacation, so a little bit of a mental break, which is really nice. That's great. And then right now really focused on getting all of my calendar contest dogs into their sessions and just finalizing all of that and getting them kind of,

that should really go through the end of June, which is really exciting. So I've had some really good sales so far this month, so that's been good. And just checking along, I guess like the biggest, I guess sticking point right now is sometimes just like getting people to like schedule their session or like schedule their call or schedule their pickup appointment,

which seems like minute, but it's just a lot of logistical things that feel like kind of a time suck. Hmm. Now. So that's kind of been probably the biggest hurdle for me from kind of just like making sure everything's streamlined and easy and it makes sense in my mind. And so then I like kind of, I almost second guess myself. I'm like does it make sense to the client?

That's a good question. Where do you think you could improve that? I definitely think I could improve in some respects just because the calendar session, like a client comes to me in such a unique way, throwing them into my workflow maybe isn't the best idea. And just tailoring that. I've had a couple people change their mind cuz they had like two dogs that won a calendar contest session.

So they were like, okay, we'll do free, no can we do a a regular session cuz we want our third dog in? And I'm like, yeah sure we can do that. And then they want like they're still their session time to be on the same day. And I was like, that's not how it works, but That's not how this works.

Is there a way that I can like make this super seamless for you? So like I wanna do those things to make my client's life easy, but I also need to see like figure out what boundaries I'm willing to break and which ones I'm not. Oh my gosh, that's a fantastic question. So what we're saying here is how do we streamline the process for both you and your client and respect your boundaries?

Yeah. And also account for the potential of an occasional outlier. Like how, how often is it okay to have an outlier where you have to make exceptions? And I think like the outliers that I would want are like those end of life sessions, right? That's like a, I understand this means so much to you, thank you for allowing me to help create something for you.

I'm going to make this exception for you because it's, you know, a lot of it is just time is sensitive. Right? So that's where I would be really willing to make those exceptions. And I wouldn't, it really wouldn't bother me if it's like once a month. I think once it gets outside of that I start to be like, time is draining and it,

you know, it goes poof. Like there's not, there's only a limited supply of it. Right. So that's where like, I mean, I mean maybe, but okay. I mean that, I think that might be a different topic for a different, right. But no, it's important to make sure that you, you're respecting your own boundaries because that helps you provide the best possible experience to your clients.

Yes. So only you can judge when you have sort of crossed the line as to accommodating too many outliers. Yeah. So there are things where like if I have a series of outliers, the first thing I ask myself is, is there some way I could streamline this or make it better so that takes care of that outlier or is this truly a unique situation that I need to accommodate?

So it sounds to me like when it comes to end of life sessions, it's like you will accommodate that. It's like done good and maybe a few other different types of exceptions maybe. Yeah. Like I've always kind of been the person who like in client experience or customer experience is like surprise and delight people. I want that to be kind of known with my brand.

So ki sometimes that's going a little bit above and beyond. And so to me those are good times to break it. But there are times where you know when you and feel that like gut reaction or that thought or the feeling where you're like, oh why am I doing this? Like that's when I'm like, that's that's when I really need to listen to it.

And I think sometimes I don't, I'm just like, fine, I'll do it. That's actually a really good point of distinction for you, which is you said when something comes up and I want to do it because I want to surprise and de delight and sort of break the rules, I actually would change those words to say when I want to surprise and delight,

I'm going to accommodate this person. So it's actually not breaking any rules. Yeah. It's just, that's part of your experience. Yeah. And you know when there's a difference based on how you feel. So if you feel like you wanna do it because of surprise and delight that's accommodating. If you start to sense a little bit of resentment, that's a clue to say,

okay Christie, what do we need to do differently here? Like this, we clearly do not wanna do this. So I think paying attention to what's coming up for you when you are presented with a situation that feels like it could be an outlier, does it feel good? Yes. Okay. I'm accommodating. So I'm not even gonna classify that as an outlier.

Like That's, that's, yeah, it's just, But when you're feeling that, hmm, oh I don't really wanna do this or does it feel good? It's a clue. Do you have an example of something like that? Mostly it's been like specifically with like pickup appointments, people will be like, I can't get to your house by this time of day.

And so I'll be like, well I'm around it this time. Like I'm gonna be here all night. I just would like to have the boundary of work issue. Yes. And I get a little bit of mental relaxation just to kind of unplug and stuff like that. So I, I did have someone reach out to like schedule something on a Sunday,

never got nothing prompted in my C R M that said they scheduled or anything like that. And I was like, I'm, I responded via email and I was like, I am close on Sundays. And so I like stuck to that. Please reschedule your time if that was a blip. I'm not sure. Hmm. So that, those are kind of like,

Sunday is basically like sacred to me. Like you just don't touch it. I don't do anything on Sundays. I do my volunteer work on Sundays and I relax on Sundays. So like those are kind of the couple of examples where I've had a lot of one people miss the appointment, which I get it, life happens, work comes up, stuff like that.

But then it's like getting everything finalized, like, oh reminder, make sure you reschedule or What, what can you do here? What's, what's a maybe or a few options to approach this. So one thing I've thought about is like sending text reminders to clients. That's an option. I don't really wanna feel spammy, but like my dentist texts me.

So I feel like most people are starting to like really become more accommodated to that because I'm always like, oh crap, when is my dentist appointment? I know it's sometime in this general vicinity, but did I not put it in my calendar? You like start to second guess yourself. So I think that's like an option for sure. And I have some clients that love to text me,

they're like, Hey, okay I'm at the location, all that stuff. So it seems very streamlined to do that. I don't really have an automated service to do that. So that would be a manual process. Sending more reminder emails. But I feel like I do over communicate with email. How many do they get? Or For like a pickup appointment for example,

They would get an email when to schedule when their schedule is confirmed and then they would get a reminder the day before. Yeah, that I Do you think that's too many? No. Sometimes I throw in a little extra one if I'm like really remembering, I'm like, oh, it's gonna be like Monday. They're gonna completely forget. So like no one out on like Saturday or Friday just to make sure,

like by the way, on Monday, don't forget. So like three to four I would say is probably the pretty standard. So I don't feel like that's too many. I just inbox clutter I guess is my biggest concern. Well are you responsible for how someone manages their inbox? No. I mean my inbox is completely clear so that wouldn't, like I'm looking at my inbox right now.

You could send something to me, it would be right at the top. I would see it. Yeah. So that's true. I mean I guess maybe, I mean I think that you right, you need to maybe explore Yeah. How to make this right. Yeah. For you Brainstorming just like the divergent thinking of like, what can I do and just throw everything on a wall,

whiteboard, whatever, and then start to kind of like pick through. Oh, just, just for the sake of fun, give me, give me a couple of things that you could do that are totally wacky. I could send them a loom video. There You go. Yep. Which I guess is not that wacky. No. Send them a postcard via mail to remind them.

That would be funny. That is funny. What else could I do? Call them, leave them a voicemail. That seems to be weird to people. I don't know why people hate the phone. Yeah. I keep getting all these voicemails are full. I'm like really? You just let everything go to voicemail? I actually got that for someone I tried to contact recently.

Their voicemail was full so I tried to email them and their email inbox was full. How does that happen today? Like it's not like we only have two gigabytes of email. I don't know. But it sends a very clear message to me, which is this person cannot manage their lives. That's fair. And therefore I don't want to do business with this person.

Like either working with me for me or me work. I mean like any direction, I don't, yeah, everything's full. How am I supposed to get in touch with you? That's fair. Yeah. That's crazy. I'm like, organizationally you're like, right. Okay, I'm gonna give you an idea that's like wacky and out there. Okay. If they miss change or reschedule,

they get a CSTA fee. Oh yeah, I know, I know, I know. Stop. You're face that at all. There's no way I'm doing that Heather. I recognize that. I'm just saying when we are brainstorming, we put anything and everything on the list. Yeah. Because there might be something that, like you see all of these things together and there might be something that like when combined with something else,

spawns a new idea. They're like, oh, I hadn't thought of that. You know, like Yeah. I mean is there a way to communicate, lemme give you an example before I ask this question. When I was photographing 30 weddings a year, when my brides would call me, they would always, they would always apologize and they would say,

Heather, I know you're so busy, I respect your time. I just wanted to ask you this quick question. And they never missed appointments, they never missed phone calls, they never missed anything. One would argue it's because it's their wedding and it's pretty important. Yeah. But I think it was because they got the very clear message from me that I respected my time.

Yeah. So when we had an appointment scheduled, it was like, you better keep your appointment because Heather's pretty busy. And I don't know when you'll be able to rebook that. That's true. Well like, and like dentists charge a late fee. I mean it's only $25, but like most of the time it's like enough to get people through that freaking door or to call 48 hours in advance.

Right? Correct. There's like, you know, how much people respect you and how you run your business and your timeline and appointments is, is because of how you respect it and what you put out there. Like the message that you are sending. So when I'm working with my coach, I actually get an email. When I create the appointment, I,

I think she uses, I wanna say acuity. So I get a, a confirmation email. Okay. I get an email 24 hours before and I think the next one is eight hours prior. It's either four or eight. Cuz it seems to me that it's like right before the appointment, this is a Zoom call. Of course. Okay. Yeah.

If I want to reschedule, I can do so within 24 hours via the link in Acuity. If I go into Acuity and it's less than 24 hours, it just won't let me, you know, because that's obviously set up in the system. Okay. If I do not show up for the appointment, I'm assessed a $50 fee. And okay. I'm not suggesting you do that,

but what I am suggesting is that like I never blinked an eye at that, that didn't like, that's never been an issue for me because I don't miss appointments. Yeah. And in all of the months I've been scheduling with her, I've only ever had to change one appointment and I went in and did it myself within plenty of time and it was fine.

So there were, there have never been any issues. Yeah. Because it was very clear to me from the beginning that this group I'm working with, they respect their time. Yes. And they are not messing around. Yeah. Now you can still surprise and delight people. You can still be accommodating and flexible. Yeah. But what is the, what is the overall vibe you're sending out and how are they responding to it?

Now if it happens every once in a while, then it's maybe just a person. Yeah. But if it's happening more than you'd like it to happen, then it's just, you know, what's my role in this? How can I change this? Yeah, For sure. Yeah. And I think like it kind of comes down to the one of those things like time sensitivity necessarily isn't there.

So it's not always gonna be at the top of people's priority list, but what can I do to one, make sure they're very well aware of what's going on, that they're expected to pick it up. And then possibly if, you know, I, we can always write the lovely language into the contract to say is if you miss an appointment, you'll be assessed a fee.

And then, you know, I don't, I can't always have the option to be like, no it's fine. Like always a fee this time. Especially if it's one off, if it's every, you know, if they've missed three pickup appointments and I might be like, yeah, I'm gonna assess you the fee, here's the invoice, you can pay it right now.

So Well I'm gonna charge you to ship it to you. Yeah, for sure. And actually that's a really, okay, so boundaries in general are about protecting you and the person you're working with. And when it comes to boundaries, it's not like we want people to behave a certain way. For us it's like there is an action and there is a consequence.

So if you miss your pickup appointment, I will happily put that in the mail to you and send you the invoice for the shipping. Like, okay, I don't like nickel and diamond people, so I don't, I don't want anybody to hear that wrong. I wanna offer full service. I'm just looking for policies that I can put into place or,

or incentives. So, you know, the whole assessing a fee sort of is an incentive, but it's kind of like punishment if you don't do it. You know? So I'm not sure how I Right, right. But feel About it. But Yeah. But offering an incentive maybe. But again, I mean how, how big of a problem is this?

Like in reality, how, how much effort do we need to put into this? It's been somewhat minuscule. It's mostly, it came all at once from my, like my mini sessions that I did. And so like a few of them, some people it was more than 48 hours. I need to reschedule. It's totally fine done. But I,

I think it's because I had a little bit of volume this week that I just noticed. I was like quite a few people missed and they send me emails afterwards. They're very kind for the most part. But I'm like, is this a bigger consideration that I need to take into account? And maybe I just am having recency bias to this, but I also wanna make sure that like I am always improving it.

So it's kind of 1% too is just like, you notice it, is there something I can do about it? I love your awareness. So give me a gut check. Is this just because there was a lot and it was busy? Or is there, I mean, I don't know. Yeah, I, it's probably more of the allot and I'm,

it was busy and I just like kind of got caught up in the like is this, is this a problem? Is it a real problem? Maybe it was a little more, I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but maybe it was just a little more annoying because you were busy. Yeah, that's true. I mean, and it's kind of one of those things where you're like,

you know, you might be sitting around where you're like, I wanna go run errands or I have things. Oh, absolutely. Right. So Yes. So yeah, that, I mean that's just, again, that's kind of the time boundary, right? Where I think it's more about like, how can I set this up in a way that also respects my time in addition to my client's time.

Could You say, and specifically for the pickup appointment that I am available, you know, I'm assuming they come to your home. Yeah. So I'm available between four and 5:00 PM on Wednesday between two and 3:00 PM on Thursday. Like, and I'm not going to be available those other times, as in I'm not guaranteeing that I'm home. Yeah. Like you,

you, you can't ha I don't want people and trust me, it happens. I have a lot of photographers that come to my house and sometimes people just show up here and I am not okay with that. Right. I mean, like, we have camera club every month and it's free and it starts at 6:30 PM and I will have people pull into my,

we have this homestead, so we're in the middle of the woods. So there's, it's not like you can like park down this tree. You're either here or I can see you and I will, I've had people show up at 5:00 PM when the camera club starts at six 30. And of course I'm, I'm not gonna just let them sit out there.

So I go out and I, and they'll say things like, oh, I got here early so I could pick your brain. And that's sort of crossing a boundary of like, oh, you're looking for some free coaching or, and so you just showed up at my house early. I mean, I don't think there's ill intent, you know, and a lot of these people are my friends.

But at one point, actually several points I made announcements and posted in our events group that like, please do not show up prior to the start time of the event because like my family's here we're eating dinner. I might have to run my son to work. I mean there's, like you said, you might wanna run errands. Like there's all kinds of things that happen.

Yeah. So finding a way to put into words, these are the available pickup time slots and they are like hard times. They're not like soft. Yep. Could you find a way to say that? I think so. I would ask chat. Chat gpt. Yeah, Chat. G P T was writing emails for me today. Well I like did the magic email.

I like tried that with somebody who kind of like did, just didn't respond a couple times and I was like, okay, we're gonna just send it one more time. And I like made a really nice one and the person responded and they're like, yep, we're, it's just not gonna be a priority for us at the time, this time. And I was like,

cool, we're done. We'll close that out. It's fine. We're gonna move on. Which I think was like really nice. And it was funny cuz I talked to my brother about that email cuz he does it all the time in his business. He's like, it gets people to respond to you and you know, if they're moving on that's fine.

Yes. They're ready to commit to it. Like it gets like them in the process. So I was like, oh, it's lovely to hear that. Like other people are like, have had that work with them. But yeah, chat G P T helped me make that a little bit like It. I love it. I love it. And I don't,

you know, as entrepreneurs specifically in our business, I don't think any of us love loose ends. Yeah. You want everything to be wrapped in. Yes. And I think that's where like part of me is like, can you please just pick up your stuff? Cuz I technically still have a liability. Like Right, I'm holding an asset. Like in real,

you're an accounting nerd, so then I just wanna deliver that or inventory and I don't want your crap on my desk. Right. It's like basically it, I need you to come pick this off. So I wonder if even Send your survey be done like Right. Take it out of the shoots column and then yes, you archive you in a nice little spot.

So I wonder if there's also a way you could say it's very important that you pick up your products in a timely manner, therefore please select from one of the following times. Yeah. Like, yeah, again, chat G p T would be able to put this together more eloquently. But I want, I would ask chat, g p t I would say write an email for me in a conversational tone.

Encouraging my pet photography clients to pick up the products that have been delivered to my home. Wi whilst respecting my time. Keep it light and fun. You know, like I, I ask it to do that. So I like, I don't wanna yell at anybody or make it super serious. Perfect. Yeah. But friendly and light, but firm like conveying the message that this is important and this is how we do things.

Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Okay, great. Okay, perfect. Let me know if you need any help. Awesome. Tag me in the group and I'll talk to you soon. Okay. Awesome. Thanks for listening to the Hair of the Dog podcast. This was episode number 1 96. If you wanna check out the show notes for access to any of the resources that we mentioned,

simply go to www.hairofthedogacademy.com/ 1 96. Thanks for listening to this episode of Hair of the Dog Podcast. If you enjoyed this show, please take a minute to leave a review and while you're there, don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss our upcoming episodes. One last thing. If you are ready to dive into more resources, head over to our [email protected] of the dog academy.com.

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