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4. Fake It 'Til You Make It With Darby Knoll
20 Plays2 years ago
The key to success? Rad women who've always got your back.
Darby Knoll, Pack Leader at Darby's Dogs and Executive Director of Backcountry Squatters, shares her roundabout path from wannabe veterinarian to entrepreneur. Plagued by teasingly-diverse interests, and eventually health challenges, she reflects on how she learned to create a (far) more sustainable career *her way.*
Thanks to her learned self-confidence, and a community of women to cheer her on, Darby counts her lucky stars every time she hits the trails—pups in tow. (Kidding, they're out front, of course.)
Now, more than eight years into nonprofit management, and about to hit her first anniversary at Darby's Dogs, she reflects on listening to your body, imposter syndrome, and why doing your research is kinda overrated.
For more inspiration, subscribe to Unbound Turnarounds on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!
LINKS:
- Connect with Nicole
- Connect with Mallory
- Connect with Darby: https://www.darbysdogs.com/ or https://backcountrysquatters.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to Unbound Turnarounds, a podcast all about the challenges women business owners think about constantly but rarely voice.
Meet the Hosts
00:00:11
Speaker
We're Nicole and Mallory, entrepreneurs, friends, and co-founders of Business Unbound, a community helping women alleviate the headaches, heartaches, and backaches so work actually works for life. This is your safe space for the ups, downs, and the turnarounds.
00:00:31
Speaker
Welcome back to Unbound Turnarounds. Today, we're really excited to chat with a relatively new entrepreneur. But first, Mallory, how are
Health and Lifestyle Chat
00:00:39
Speaker
you? I am doing awesome. How's the back today? Oh, yes. I've been dealing with a sore back. Feels better. I did all the things yesterday. Good. I saw one of my support people. And I think we're moving in the right direction. OK, good. Because that's a distraction. When the health is not right, it's distracting.
00:00:59
Speaker
It's everything you think about. It's always in the back of mind. And how are you today, Nicole? I'm doing okay. I'm struggling a bit with the daylight hours shrinking at an enormous pace, and I fell asleep at grandma time last night, and we don't have to talk about it.
00:01:13
Speaker
Which is not normal for you, is your night owl. And we're both way up in the north, so we get those very short days in the winter. I know it's coming. But we have this podcast to keep us energized. Yes. And here we are. Well, let's bring our guest into the fun.
Guest Darby Noll's Background
00:01:28
Speaker
So let me introduce her. We have Darby Noll here. She's the pack leader, actually, at Darby's Dogs.
00:01:34
Speaker
So she has more than 10 years of experience in the animal care world. Darby's worked in various roles, including a veterinary technician, a dog sitter, and a dog trainer in the beautiful Bozeman, Montana, where Nicole is. Darby is passionate about seeing animals thrive and live their best lives through activities like pack walks, positive reinforcement training sessions, and enrichment and ventures.
00:01:59
Speaker
Welcome, Darby. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Well, we're going to get you started off with this little tradition we do. We call it high-low. Can you share with us a little high, a little low from the last day or so, are we professional or personal?
00:02:14
Speaker
I guess my high would be I just went on vacation for four or five days to Chicago for the weekend for a little girls trip. And I got back yesterday and it was my first day back walking the dogs and they were all so excited to see me. They only had one day off, but it just felt like they missed me so much and I felt some real love. And the low is coming back after vacation and opening your emails. The admin that comes with business ownership is not fun. So true.
00:02:42
Speaker
So we are digging into the whys behind why we start our businesses and why we deal with things like emails and all the other annoyances that come along with that. Just talking about this season, the things that we can come back to, that ground us, that keep us energized and going even on the hard days.
00:03:03
Speaker
We're really excited to try it with you because your path is really interesting on how you got here. And I think your motivations are unique as well. And so that's where we want to start with a little bit of background, just leading up to your career before starting your current company.
Career Transitions and Challenges
00:03:18
Speaker
Tell us about what you were doing.
00:03:20
Speaker
Yeah, I've always been a person who likes to hold one too many things in their basket, I guess. I went to school here in Bozeman. Fresh out of college, I was one of the co-founders of a nonprofit gear called Backcountry Squatters that is geared towards getting more
00:03:36
Speaker
college-age women and non-binary folks into the outdoors and that was like my first passion straight out of college. I went to college to go to vet school and as soon as I got accepted to vet school I didn't go because I couldn't leave Bozeman because I love it too much and also I didn't want to pay for it. Um sure. But uh yeah so I was committed to staying in Bozeman but wasn't really sure what I was gonna do and
00:04:01
Speaker
Really dove deep into backcountry squatters and through that landed an amazing opportunity at a local marketing firm here in Bozeman and worked there for about three years as a project manager and account manager with a lot of local Bozeman businesses. And then I have had a series of health scares towards my last year working at that marketing firm. And for my mental health and physical health, I quit my job and really decided to focus on my health. And in that time.
00:04:31
Speaker
spent about nine months working on the health and also thinking like, what do I want to do that is both good for my mind and good for my body? Because the way that I was working before, you know, 60 hours a week at a computer was not good for me and it put a lot of stress on my body. So I was thinking about what to do
Building a Dog Business
00:04:49
Speaker
next. And all of my friends know me as like the dog person. I'm the person that they go to when they have veterinary problems, when they have behavioral problems.
00:04:57
Speaker
Everyone was like, you should do some sort of dog business. And I was like, starting another business seems difficult. For sure. There's a couple other businesses, not in Bozeman, but around the United States and Canada who do a similar pack walk structure. And I follow them because.
00:05:14
Speaker
Everyone loves dog content on their Instagram. And I thought, Hey, like, this would be a really cool thing to bring to Bozeman. I have the network to do this. This would definitely be very good for my body and my health. I started last winter, but I really launched my business this summer. So this brings up one thing that I wanted to ask you about, which was that your previous life before the dog business.
00:05:36
Speaker
clearly wasn't supporting pieces of your lifestyle that you needed or wanted. You said part of that was health, part of it was mental health. What other contributing factors do you feel like you thought, well, maybe doing my own thing could help with this piece?
00:05:49
Speaker
I honestly was super lucky in my very first, I call it big girl job in the marketing world of Bozeman where I had a boss who really trusted me and I did get to control my own schedule and set my own hours. I think I'm a people pleaser by birth and although I could control my own schedule, that also meant like working 40 to 60 hours a week to make sure my clients had what they needed and like that business was in a really good spot. So I almost needed to,
00:06:19
Speaker
jump into a business that I still have clients and I still want them to have the very best experience, but I almost took the pressure off of my shoulders of something larger. I scaled back that external pressure from clients. I think it's a huge reason why I jumped into the solo entrepreneurship of Darby's dogs is this idea that it's not life or death. There's a frantic vibe to it. The dog dogs, they're just, they're chiller. They're, they're calmer.
00:06:48
Speaker
I like it more. Well, I think that's amazing that you would prioritize that piece of it because I think when you're in that situation all the time, it's very easy to then deeply believe that everything is that important and let everything else go by the wayside. Like your mental health, your physical health. It's just like quitting my job and stepping back to really realize that. Like I definitely did not realize that in the time of how much the job had ever ended. Soon as I stepped back, I was like, this is a lot.
00:07:17
Speaker
So let's skip forward then from the marketing career to the nonprofit experience because that's my background before I started entrepreneurship. So I'm so curious about it for you. Tell us a little bit about backcountry squatters and the role that it played to help you transition out of the big corporate feel and then what that role still plays in your life right now.
Nonprofit Ventures
00:07:39
Speaker
So I am still currently the executive director of Backcountry Squatters. It's a primarily volunteer position that I somehow squeeze in on the side. But we started Backcountry Squatters as a college club at MSU, and the goal was to create a women-centered outdoor club. And when we were graduating college, we realized that
00:07:59
Speaker
There was a need for this community at other campuses nationwide. We had friends of friends reach out to us and say like, how do we start this? And also we really struggled while we were at MSU with funding and fundraising and using the funds that we had raised how we wanted to. We really wanted to set up a scholarship program and MSU wouldn't allow us to at the time. So we thought we're 23, we're strong women.
00:08:24
Speaker
Let's go start our own nonprofit. At the time I was like, I just graduated college. My whole career that I had planned vet school is no longer happening. I have no idea what I'm going to do. Please let me start this nonprofit. And very luckily I had a team of very supportive women behind me who were like, go for it.
00:08:41
Speaker
We will be your board. We will support you. And since then, we had some bumps with COVID and since then we now have 13 chapters nationwide and each chapter takes on their own mission of backcountry squatters and they're all very unique based on where they are geographically.
00:08:57
Speaker
The goal of the nonprofit is to help with the current chapters, help future chapters get started, and then we also provide a large amount of funding towards women and non-binary folks looking to get into the outdoors. So this was like your first company started.
00:09:12
Speaker
It was the first job I started, but it wasn't paid. But I jumped into that and was like, I can do this. I had a bunch of rad women behind me who were like, you can do this. And that was my first big taste of entrepreneurship and starting a business, filing our 501c3 and everything. So I think that really helped start my current business. And it sounds like the community piece was huge, because you had mentioned too, probably some of these same women were the ones
00:09:38
Speaker
that reminded you of your own passions and said, you know what, if you're looking for something new, here are the things that we see that light you up. Can you do something with that? So how important is that group of women been just in your life still? They keep my head above water. They're like.
00:09:54
Speaker
my biggest support group and I like to think that I'm their biggest support group and that's how you get through this world is just like a community of rad people behind you. We totally agree. So one thing I'm wondering though when they said, what if you turned your passion into your business? Did you have any concerns about the potential to lose that passion once you tried to turn it into a profit making business? A lot of people will either
00:10:18
Speaker
think like, oh, I used to love this. And now that I've turned it into trying to make money, like it loses something, or a lot of people absolutely make it work. And they're like, this is the best because I'm always interested in it. I think originally when I started Darby's Dogs, I looked at it from a big financial standpoint and was like, this is how many dogs I need to have per day, per week, per month to make this viable and support me. And now
00:10:43
Speaker
I do another thing on the side. I'm still like a freelance marketing consultant, which currently supports my income, which allows me to like grow Darby's dogs in a way that I think for now is sustainable and allows me to keep loving it. Like I didn't have to jump in with six dogs per walk twice a day because I have another source of income and I had a good savings account
00:11:06
Speaker
leading up to it.
Running a Dog Walking Business
00:11:08
Speaker
I like to think that I will still love this in two to four years, but I'm a jumper, right? And if in three years decide I want to do something else, that's what I've done up until this point. So I feel very comfortable just saying, okay, that was a fun three years. And now we're going to go do three other jobs for funsies.
00:11:26
Speaker
Or that maybe the business looks different in three years. You still have it, but maybe you've changed what it looks like because your lifestyle needs have changed. But I want to know logistics. I can't be the only one listening who wants to understand how it works. So how does it work? I'm a dog walker. My primary structure is pack walks. I do offer private walks, but I'm really trying not to push that. Most of my private walk clients at this point have been
00:11:52
Speaker
people who want their dog trained so that they can join the pack. But the patch structure kind of works like this. I offer a morning and an afternoon pack walk. I come to your house. I pick up your dog. It wears a little harness. It gets seatbelted into my car. I have a seatbelt system in my Tacoma.
00:12:09
Speaker
I pick up anywhere between four and seven dogs and then we drive out to a local Bozeman Trail. I have a couple of trails that are pretty uncrowded so we just don't see that many distractions. We go for an hour and a half long hike and then we load up and I drop them off at the afternoon mark or the evening mark.
00:12:30
Speaker
And then on our hike, they're off leash and we work on things like recall and leave it, whether that's wildlife or people or other dogs. And we work on learning manners like when our friends want to play and when our friends don't want to play and how to walk away from that without getting beat up. We just do various enrichment and training exercises with the goal of your dog is getting exercised, it's having fun with its friends.
00:12:56
Speaker
But it's also learning some vital trail etiquette. So when you want to take your dog on the weekend, it is a good trail partner. You're doing three hours of hiking every day. I'm only doing it on Tuesdays and Thursdays right now. By January will be Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Just you or you're hiring people. I'm not looking to hire right now. That scares me. Oh, well, we can help you with that when you're ready. We have a whole course on it. You said you started this in the winter. Are you doing this in the cold? Are there days?
00:13:26
Speaker
if it's just too cold. I did this a little bit last winter. There will be days where I will cancel the morning of. I will never cancel because of snow, but I will cancel because of it's too cold to like safely be out there. But last winter we had a cold spell in Bozeman and I had to cancel for a week. This was when I was figuring out my systems and figuring out how I wanted to do it and whatever.
00:13:50
Speaker
The dogs who were supposed to walk with me still came over to my house and we had like enrichment activities at the house and everyone got phones and got to see their friends and it was warm. We did homeschool. That's amazing. You mentioned getting your system set up. So back in the beginning of this business, you'd started one nonprofit already. What kind of systems either just structurally logistical things or actual systems were you using to make this all work?
00:14:16
Speaker
I had to figure out this idea of how am I going to put six to eight dogs in my truck without letting them all jump out? Was I going to do a kennel system? Was I going to do a leash system? Because when I open the bed of my truck, I don't want all six dogs to jump out.
00:14:32
Speaker
I wanted them to have like parking lot etiquette and we had to figure out how we were going to leash in the parking lot and what the timing of everything looked like. Driving around Bozeman, I have five to 10 places I go, I would say. I had to figure out what the timing of all of those places was from Bozeman and when my actual pickup window needed to be and when it needed to close. Technological system for that was literally, I just kept a journal in my truck that was like, I pick Riley up at this time.
00:14:59
Speaker
It took us this long to get to this house and then this long to get to this trail. And then I did some phone maps. So are you using any systems on your computer as well? I mean, you probably invoicing or what other tech systems are you using? I have a website that has all my information. I built it through Squarespace super simply. I'm using an invoicing software and that is currently it right now. I think in the future I will shift to scheduling system because right now
00:15:28
Speaker
Most of my clients book out monthly. They join the pack for the month. So it's not a lot of, Hey, do you want me to come pick up Buddy today? Cause I already know I'm taking Buddy for the next four weeks. But as things get busier and I get more clients who aren't looking for that super consistent thing, I will probably move to some scheduling software.
00:15:50
Speaker
I'm going to tell her to go into probably my favorite CRM, Dubsado, built for entrepreneurs. Mallory will hook you up when it's time. She'll set it up for you. We'll talk about systems like CRM's in our advanced systems course, which we haven't written yet, but I just like to ask because you're at the beginning stage, and so I think systems can be a holdup for some people. I don't know what to do, and look at, you started, you didn't have to do a lot of things.
00:16:14
Speaker
You know, a website, it's really important because of the sales and it gives you like that viability to your brand. And then you have some way to invoice, but you don't have to have a lot of things to start out and add them later if you need to. And Mallory and I talk about that too, even with business unbound, it's just like, we don't have to do things the way that other people do them or we don't have to do them to the nth degree. It's like, you know what? This is my business and we can do it in the way that we want to. And I think you're clearly doing that as well.
00:16:42
Speaker
Yeah, I think when I started this, people are like, oh my gosh, dive head first, go get a small business loan, do this, get your own car, invest in this system. And I was like, I'm going to start this, not with a website, not with anything, and then just slowly dive into it. So big question here.
Pets in Business
00:16:59
Speaker
I know you don't have employees, but you do have three little colleagues, I believe, Peanut and Juniper and Clementine. And what do they think about this business impacting their life?
00:17:10
Speaker
We'll start with all this Juniper. It's too much activity for her. It's too much. It's not on every walk and she doesn't. She's very emotionally intelligent and she also is so good about setting her boundaries that she just really gets along with most dogs. She's not friends with every dog, but dogs just naturally really respect her. She's done really well with the pack.
00:17:32
Speaker
Peanut is my second dog. She's the youngest. She's one. This business has honestly been the best thing for her. She is a dog who has a lot of childhood trauma from being a puppy and just getting socialized in the wrong way up until like 16 weeks and she has
00:17:49
Speaker
a ton of fear and unfortunately that fear comes out in aggression so we have always worked on introductions really slowly and really worked to like build her confidence and her confidence since walking six to eight dogs at a time and walking with them and becoming friends with them has like skyrocketed she now meets dogs on the trail and like doesn't run away she's like I can handle this or like I know how to avoid it she's really grown
00:18:14
Speaker
And then Clementine is the cat. She's the office manager. So I walk a couple of dogs like full day. So they come in the morning and then they'll stay with me for lunch and we eat lunch at home. And then they'll come out for the afternoon. And there are some dogs that she does really well with. And there are some dogs where I hide her in the closet while they're here.
00:18:34
Speaker
And she's okay with it. Like I said, I'm the dog person in my friend group. She's so used to there being random dogs at my house constantly that she handles it really well. And she loves days like this where she can just like play with things on my floor while I have calls. This is so great. I mean, I feel like you're talking about these animals. Like I talk about humans. It's so beautiful, the empathy that you have for them and the understanding. To me, it seems like you have this skill set to really be good at this venture that you've taken on.
00:19:01
Speaker
Yeah, luckily I've seen a lot of animals. They all have personalities. They all have their good days and bad days and you just roll with it. I'm sure having human children is like, have an experience yet, but, uh, yeah, we're just rolling. They all are. They all have different personalities.
00:19:18
Speaker
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00:19:38
Speaker
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00:20:07
Speaker
Okay. So since I've devolved that I am the human emotion person, let's talk about how you are feeling. You're not quite a year in. Where's your head at? Where's your heart at? How's it feeling being new to the space? Feel free to share the lows. This podcast is also about that too. So if there's any been really hard times, we are open to hearing about it.
00:20:27
Speaker
Overall, I'm feeling very good. I really like where my business is at right now. I think there was a time for like nine months where I was mainly bedridden and couldn't walk more than a mile without having to sit down. And now I get to hike for six hours a day and just be outside. That aspect feels amazing.
00:20:49
Speaker
I think when you sit in bed, you think about how things are going to play out. And the business where it is right now is not how I would have played it out to be. I would have thought it was bigger. I would have thought I would have had more consistent clients by now. And it's all meant to be. That sounds woo woo wee. But I really do believe that. My business is not as big as I thought it would be while I was laying in bed. And I'm so grateful for that because my life isn't ready for it to be
00:21:16
Speaker
where I thought it would be either. Like I'm still recovering. I'm still figuring out my scheduling. I'm still like working with marketing clients. I'm still like tits deep in backcountry squatters. Like where it is right now is so perfect. Just after a series of knockdowns of the last four to five years, I have the personality and the tools to really just go with the flow and fake it till you make it. And that's what I'm doing. And it's working out pretty well. I'm pretty happy.
Growth and Community Support
00:21:45
Speaker
It's amazing that you realize even in the moment, this business is not where I thought it would be. However, it's where I need it to be for my life. And so I'm not struggling about it. I'm actually going to be grateful and have that gratitude mindset of, you know what, this is actually the right thing.
00:22:02
Speaker
that should have happened for where I need to be. And I'm not going to tie myself to either what other people thought it should look like or even what my past self thought it should look like. That's a big thing for entrepreneurs because we all get that imposter syndrome or we feel like we should grow something. And I remember probably four years into creative quarterback writing a blog post about why I decided not to grow it.
00:22:26
Speaker
And I just didn't want to and giving myself the permission to say, I don't want to do that. It was the same permission I gave myself in corporate of saying, I don't want where that career path is going. I don't want to do what it would take to get there and what that would do to my life. So just giving yourself that permission to say, you know what, this is going to look how I want it to look and how life is going to make it look. And I'm going to be okay with that.
00:22:50
Speaker
and following the energy of that. So instead of forcing it, because if you were forcing it, then you are going to lose the passion. You are going to like it as much. So like following that energy of being like, okay, it's not here. It's not where I thought it'd be, but it feels right. So I'm just going to lean into that.
00:23:08
Speaker
And then when you start to feel like you're ready for the next level of growth or the next pivot or the next aspect, when you start to feel that you'll put that energy out and then it will become easier because if you're not fighting against it, makes it harder than it needs to be. And that is something you can take through your entire career. That's something I have to think about.
00:23:28
Speaker
I don't have the energy, the capacity to do this right now. So I'm going to focus on this because this feels right in my gut. I think this is what I need to do. And I often need Mallory to remind me to do that. And you probably have this with your group of rad women. There was a day when we sat at a coffee shop because she came down to Bozeman and we just went through this huge list of everything I was doing and all the juggling. She was like, this is insane.
00:23:52
Speaker
But I'm just like, oh, well, and I'm also doing the other thing for that other person. And I'm doing these two things also, but they're really small. And she's like, what do you, like, what, what, you know? And so I still, she's like one thing, that's it. And I just came across that list like last week when I was cleaning out a closet of
00:24:12
Speaker
like 35 things that I was going to stop doing. Yeah, I stopped doing them because you told me to. And I was like, yeah, that makes sense. Down to three businesses now. It's fine. So how have you found that your community, even in like the Rocky patches, whether it was when your health was going through a downturn or maybe some of the Rocky bits in your first year of business, how did the community remind you about your why and why you were doing this? Were they part of.
00:24:38
Speaker
keeping you grounded to the reason you were going on this journey in the first place.
00:24:43
Speaker
I think my community in this question is literally like a pack of dogs. No matter how annoyed I am with marketing, consulting, backcountry squatters, the admin of Darby's dogs, I go and I pick up dogs and I walk in the wilderness and I come back and I just feel better. I feel lighter. I feel less stressed. Even if my list is still that long or even longer, because emails have come in while I'm walking dogs, I just feel better.
00:25:12
Speaker
So I have two and a half horses and a dog. I also find it like just my mental state. If I don't get myself out to the barn, it affects my business. It affects my life relationships. I am a better version of myself when I go do those things. Those are also the things that like when I look at my horses or when I'm checking email from the middle of the field on horse, you know, I'm like, this is when I remember that I could not do these things before.
00:25:38
Speaker
And so even doing activities that aren't your business bring you back to the why of why you're doing your business.
00:25:45
Speaker
Okay. Let's go back to you said the whole fake it till you make it concept. And I built my entire business doing that. And I almost think that probably most entrepreneurs do.
Entrepreneurial Mindset
00:25:58
Speaker
Everyone's doing it, which is not talking about it. Yes, but we're talking about it now, unless you've done it before. And even if you've done it before, there's still new things coming up. Like we're launching a podcast. We've never done that before.
00:26:10
Speaker
I think that that is a sign of self-awareness and a good thing that you're adaptable and you're confident that you can figure it out. But what does that mean for you for faking it until you make it? Like tell us about what that's been like starting this new gig.
00:26:26
Speaker
I think you hit the nail on the head there, right? You just have to have confidence in yourself that you are good at whatever your job is, or know you can become good at whatever your job is, and you are confident that the path that you are on is the path that you want to be on, so you work hard to make it happen. I think that's how I've approached life, luckily. That's how I was in college. I was
00:26:49
Speaker
Definitely not a person who fit like normally within my major. And I did really well in college because I just had the confidence that I could. My parents probably built up my ego a little too much as a child. All the time. They get annoyed with my ego. No, because like they're like, Darby, you cannot say that. I'm like, well.
00:27:07
Speaker
You created me. I see. Exactly. Exactly. If you hadn't said all my paintings were good, I wouldn't be this way. Exactly. Oh, they are trash, but thank you. These things are horrible, but.
00:27:22
Speaker
The parents are also faking it. Yeah, that's true. Like and especially like with women specifically in business, it's this weird thing where we want to support women in business, like all women want to, but at the same time, there's this weird competition thing of I want to be a better woman in business than the other woman in business. So you don't say that you're faking it till you make it because that is a flaw. People like to think, oh,
00:27:49
Speaker
They started this and they've had it figured out from day one because that's the persona that they give off and they were speaking it. They just didn't admit that they were speaking it. Yes, competition can be friendly and good in that sense, but it's not a one-upmanship and that's the entire basis of this company is to have a community.
00:28:09
Speaker
and to have community over this competition aspect. So let's debunk that myth right now and say we don't need that. We can lift each other up. We can bring men in who are allies and we can all lift each other up. Let's find those allyships and let's do that and be honest about the journey to get there. Why not? I know you said you were going down the vet school path.
00:28:28
Speaker
But Mallory knows this even as me being a business major and then you start a business and you think, well, that'll be easier because certainly they taught her those. No, you don't learn anything useful. Right. And I'm like, how am I still having to learn everything from scratch? I remember I was like a year into being the ED of squatters and that first year I was a substitute teacher in Bozeman
00:28:50
Speaker
We were sitting in a meeting and I was sitting there with the secretary at the time. She's now the president of my board, Andy. And I was like, Andy, I think I'm going to go get a business degree. The area I want to go, I think that will help me a lot. And she was like, dude, you already started a business. Andy, we see you. Yes, because what is this phenomenon of women thinking that we just need more education?
00:29:10
Speaker
I mean, it's great that it can be the right path for people at certain times and for certain things. But also there is some times where we're just going back because why? There's like something about it, like the confidence or there's some cultural upbringing that we all have been ingrained in that we have to be 99% ready to do something.
00:29:31
Speaker
Whereas saying like, no, let's just go out, make it so we make it and get some experience. And then we can not even go that education route, but I don't think it's the same for men and women. So I find that really interesting. And I think what's cool now is that there are so many different options for getting that education, doing a specific course online.
00:29:50
Speaker
gets you 90% of the way to filling a gap that you have. It's not that you need to go back to college every time, and I say this as a daughter of professors and PhDs all over the place, but if you want to know about SEO, you go take a class on it. That's enough. Yes, that's what I'm saying, but we don't need to go get these degrees, and they're so expensive. It comes back to the imposter syndrome, right? When I was offered my first job at this marketing firm in Bozeman, we were working with them as backcountry squatters, doing marketing stuff for us.
00:30:19
Speaker
the boss was like, I'd like you to come work here. And I was like, my degrees are in microbiology and animals. I've got nothing for you. I owe her so much. She was like, you are already like good at your job. I want you to come help me manage some projects like you already manage all these projects.
00:30:35
Speaker
And then when I left that job for like health reasons, I immediately felt the societal pressure to get a job immediately and do some remote jobs. So I started applying to jobs and it's something like men will apply to jobs when they hit four out of the 10 requirements.
00:30:52
Speaker
I wasn't applying to jobs unless I hit 10 out of 10. I was having a conversation about this, I think, with Andy again. She is one of my biggest champions. And she was like, just start applying to jobs like men do. I got offered like eight jobs. Like, this is insane. Like, why do we have this complex about us that like, we're just not built for the jobs unless we hit every single mark of them and we're not capable of starting a business unless we know
00:31:19
Speaker
everything about starting a business. I didn't do any research into filing with Montana Secretary of State for a corporation. I just did it. People ask, let me see your business plan. I was like, guys, I never made a business plan. And you just have to be OK with that. I think you're right, and that is normal. And I think that we're here to say, if people are interested in coming into the entrepreneur space who aren't there yet, don't let that be a holdup for you.
00:31:46
Speaker
You can find courses like ours or other courses online and little things to fill gaps and to help you so it's not so difficult. But I think the thing you said is like those people hired you in that marketing firm because of the character and your work ethic and your dedication and your loyalty and your adaptability. Those are all things that you've built your whole life to become. And those are things that are extremely difficult to teach people because it's just like they have it or they don't really.
00:32:15
Speaker
You know, we can teach you skills from our course and we can teach you tactics, but we can't teach you how to have a work ethic. So if people out there listening or lacking some confidence right now at any stage in their business, just remember what got you to this point. You have the skills that you need that you can't teach and we believe in you in those things and you can fill the gaps. But just remember, we have those gifts inside of us. I'm assuming everyone does because it got you to this point of starting a company in the first place.
00:32:43
Speaker
You know, we talked a little bit about growing or not or hiring extra support or not. How do you think about that with your business going forward? You said where it is today is not where I thought it would be. It's probably not where some other people told you to take it, especially people who have never started a business, like telling you what your business should look like. I'm sure out of a good place, but also your business only needs to look like what you want it to look like.
00:33:08
Speaker
So what do you think going forward now that you're almost a year in, what do you want it to look like in another year? A year from now, it would be awesome if I had full clients at least Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, that would put me in a very good place. Like financially, calendar wise, I would still get me like Mondays and Fridays to do other things that I'm currently looking to cut back on. I am looking, I am actively. Mallory can help you.
Balancing Growth and Well-being
00:33:39
Speaker
It is a long process. She needs to do the red, yellow, green sticky note. Okay. We'll talk about it. Yeah. But I think I will hit some critical point where I can no longer take on new dogs because my schedule doesn't allow it, but there will still be new clients coming.
00:33:55
Speaker
Knowing Bozeman and knowing how big this dog community is and how much money people are willing to invest into their dogs, it's expensive. I understand that. I will eventually hit some sort of wall and I don't know where I'll go at that point. I think right now with my past experience at my marketing job and backcountry squatters and listening to other friends who have businesses have to manage people, I'm not into it.
00:34:24
Speaker
I feel like the structure could support a contractor. Again, if you're open and then you put it out there, the perfect person, like a great partner could come and they're a contractor, right? Yeah. I'll be curious to see what happens. I'm such a micromanager when it comes to me and my dogs. Dogs these days are people's children, right? So like I want my clients who are being like managed by the subcontractor to have the exact same experience they would with me. And that is so hard.
00:34:53
Speaker
I'd rather work more hours than let go of this and let someone else handle it. It's your reputation. It's your brand. We talk about it. We know it's one of the biggest hangups from people hiring support. You're not there yet. It's okay. Maybe your perspective will change down the road or maybe not. It could be that you find there are pieces of your business that you are not comfortable giving up and that's fine, but the support that you need to
00:35:15
Speaker
grow it or change it in the way you want in the future. Maybe that comes from different types of support that are not giving away that client relationship, right? It could be managing the schedule. Maybe that is someone else's job in the future or invoicing or doing all those things. And so it doesn't always have to be that you're open to all support at all the times, right? It's just which pieces of this are not serving me and what would let me spend more time and effort on the things that I really like about my business.
00:35:42
Speaker
You're right. I could definitely let go in certain areas to maybe allow for more room and others. So we have a fun closer coming up for you. But before we get to that, is there any other advice though that you feel like anybody who wants to step into this world who hasn't joined us yet needs to hear?
00:36:00
Speaker
The biggest advice I have and that I've learned from this process is to number one, like listen to your body. My body was giving me so many signs over four years that what I was doing was so unsustainable. You only got one body, so treat it right, listen to it, try and figure out like if your current place is working for it and then adjust because
00:36:24
Speaker
As soon as you let go of some of your stress in life, whether that's getting a new job or starting your own business, you're going to become a happier person. It's just going to be better. I have a team of medical support people who are also my biggest champions and are the reason that I'm here today. Yes. Agreed. You said that beautifully. That was wonderful advice. Nicole, how are you feeling when she said that? Does that feel related? If people have listened to episode one, they might see some parallels there.
00:36:53
Speaker
I mean, it's just life comes first all over the place. That was the permission I had to give myself, is to step out of the path that people, rightly so, they want you to be secure and successful, whatever that means, but to just give yourself permission to say, you know what, this path is not working for me. Like I applaud you if it works for you, but this one hour call, this is the only meeting I'm having today.
00:37:18
Speaker
Right? Like I'm not doing it. I have an energy thimble and it's my job to A, make sure it lasts through the day, but also make sure that I have enough for the people that I care about. And I just found that in my past professions, like I didn't have anything left and I don't want to be a person who can't give that energy to the people I care about. And so it just, you know, obviously Mallory and I talk about that all the time. She leaves me a voicemail every time she leaves a doctor of any kind.
00:37:47
Speaker
You have to give yourself permission to listen to your body, listen to your mind, and say, you know what, I am not willing to live with this stressor or this stressor in my life. And if I have to figure out some other way to do it, maybe it's quitting your job, maybe it's not. Maybe it's just doing your job differently or having different people in your life. Life comes first. It's been a motto for me since I started my company nine years ago. That's one of my why's that I just have to keep coming back to.
00:38:14
Speaker
And what Darby said about listening to your body, because they start as whispers and then they get very loud and screamy. If you don't listen, they are bad. When you wait to that point too, like no one really talks about this, but like it gets expensive. I've been in Canada just over two years now. Healthcare is free, but I'm seeing, you know, if I want to see a therapist, if I want to see a carpenter or an osteopath, those things are not free.
00:38:39
Speaker
We actually do have some added insurance here because the employers don't have to pay for health care so you can get some extra benefits, but they run out if you need them for a long time. So even up here where health care is free, it's expensive financially and emotionally. Like we said, it takes a lot of brain power and space to manage.
00:38:57
Speaker
And to prioritize yourself, right? I think that's hard too. You know, I'm someone who just lives by myself with a dog. It's a little easier to prioritize myself than if there were kids running around or, you know, things like that. But still you're choosing to spend that money and time that way. And that's the same struggle that parents have. But it's like, yeah, I need to invest in a massage a month to keep this machine running. That's just how it is. Okay. So our closer is please subscribe for everyone listening. The photo behind you on the wall. Huh?
00:39:26
Speaker
It's a little pig. His name is Stewart. I pets it for a woman down in Cheaton Valley, Idaho, who runs now a 501c3 animal rescue thing. And he has 12 or 13 pigs, but Stewie was originally rescued as a baby pig. I think it was like 16 weeks old at the time. And he lived in her house with
00:39:54
Speaker
the dogs and ate his alfalfa kibbles with the dogs and now he's probably close to 200 pounds and lives down at the barn with the other pigs and like sleeps on a queen size mattress every night because he is a king. Well he has prime spot behind Darby's head. We're on video watching her and there's just this picture of this pig. So I have to ask her because also you probably are only animal person on the plot at least currently scheduled out. So it was quite appropriate to know why this pig is so prominent for you.
00:40:23
Speaker
He was a baby. We used to cuddle at night in the bed and now he's all grown up. I like that. Well, Darby, thank you for being here and sharing all that with us. It was such a pleasure to get to chat with you and hear some of those nuggets of wisdom that you have for everybody. Yes. Thank you so much for having me. All right. That wraps us up. So we will see you guys on the next episode. Chat then.
00:40:49
Speaker
Thanks for listening. Hop over to UnboundBoss.com to join our community and leave us a voice memo. We absolutely love hearing from you. If you like the podcast, please subscribe, leave us an Apple review, and share your favorite episodes with other women entrepreneurs. Talk to you soon.