The Business Animal

My three thoughts for Thursday this week are around qualifying your customers. If you want to fine tune the people who are showing up as clients in your business this episode is for you!

In this pep talk, I share my experience with the not so shiny side of customer service — what happens when it goes wrong and how you can both improve your business and protect your inner peace.

Three Thoughts for Thursday (T3) on Customer Service

In this episode I share three thoughts on customer service for mission-based business owners. I started my working career as a Customer Service Agent for ChemLawn back in the 1980s. (Wow, I'm getting old - and WISEr!) For the ensuing 40 years, I've had to really embrace customer service in my businesses and, frankly, in life. Here are three short wisdoms I've earned (along with my pretty gray hair!).

In this interview, Sherrie Ortiz shares how her focus on customer service makes Just One Day Travel Tours a unique opportunity and beloved business for those who tour with her.

About Sherrie:

The day tour travel business has been on my mind for many years. I had an amazing career in the bakery industry working as a retail cake designer for 20 years, followed by 18 years owning my own bakery. This gave me the best of both worlds while our kids were young. Now they are adults and out on their own paths and I am free to create this new adventure called Just One Day Travel Tours.

I have always loved planning trips. Family vacations and Girl Scout outings….. the logistics, the hunt for cool stuff to do.. …all those things are exciting to me. I enjoyed a good gathering of people that just wanted to relax and have fun. To tour local-ish places and learn how things from the past and new things to engage in is all very refreshing. I am also a bit of a thrill seeker. I love to go zip lining, rappel, and snow tubing……tours I plan to do in the future if you are game ?!?! ) You can see more about me, Sherrie Ortiz, in the blog adventures, Facebook and Instagram?

I hope you will come join Just One Day Travel Tours for these new adventures.. There will be a number of pre-planned travel trips in the Kansas City and surrounding areas that you and your friends can join as a group, or come by yourself and meet new people. If there is something that you and your friends have always wanted to do, but don’t want to do the planning and driving, I can put together a trip just for you. You can also join the Affiliate Program and earn free seats.

Sherrie's website: https://justonedaytraveltours.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Justonedaytraveltours

Instagram: @justonedaytours

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherrie-ortiz-77a097197/

Welcome to a new feature of The Business Animal podcast: Three Thoughts on Thursday or T3. In this short weekly segment, I pick one topic and provide three pieces of wisdom (thoughts) plus three strategies and three suggestions on how to take action on those thoughts. This week, I'll be talking about Customer Pain Points. I hope you enjoy and benefit from this short episode. I'd love feedback, so please feel free to send comments to me at [email protected]

I talk in this episode about Value Proposition Design. Here is a link to the book I mention on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Value-Proposition-Design-Customers-Strategyzer/dp/1118968050/ref=sr_1_1?crid=20GBYWRE8976D&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.y27DqkR8AOdqOvu48U4hkklHqbU36dC-lRBrjXBF-0tXdPkqluibB-gSznc4Gav5DnF_hDp85KYbro4CfANxXEN60BrS3EO0L45-i2DRNwVNgqJoUpHd8KtVpbSWuWslWzCxTasm9eHfsES0cRCZBkQDvIsoQGMECLIakMLK8cQyNinViqDlP1S4KSXeEzY1sXfbZS3-udPx0XDcHWS4qAEqlTiWCJCNgCsj5VQOREE.EjnrKriQNOsRDZOJwN89oKO3TS8NnyrQNdeLg_iGqzw&dib_tag=se&keywords=value+proposition+design&qid=1726147767&sprefix=value+prop%2Caps%2C110&sr=8-1

In this episode, Annie Young and I talk about what it's like to build a business with your whole heart and in service of a population that you not only know well, but deeply feel compassion around. We also discuss what it's like to get your vision together — and then have life throw up a series of HUGE obstacles and what it's like to overcome and drive on in trust and with focus.

About Annie Young:

Annie Young is a triple certified master equine assisted mental health practitioner who works primarily with adult parents. Annie specializes in parents of special needs and parents of children who struggle mentally and emotionally.

https://sawubonaranch.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-young-3a8b8792/

https://www.facebook.com/annie.young.52/

Instagram: @sawubonaranch

Email: [email protected]

In this episode of The Business Animal Podcast, join me for an interview with Carmi Swift, founder of iPoint Touch EHR software for complementary animal therapy practitioners as we discuss the impact a passionate entrepreneur can have on the people they serve.

About Carmi Swift:

Carmi Swift is a lifetime entrepreneur and animal lover. Carmi’s unique ability to see solutions to entrepreneurial challenges has made her an outstanding ally to both the Audio/Visual Service Industry and Integrative Animal Practitioners. Carmi spent 10 years building a successful AV Service business that worked with residential and commercial contractors to supply the latest AV equipment and fulfill installation. Late nights doing paperwork after a full day of serving customers fired her desire to make her own life easier so she sought help from her son and business partner Brooks who had a background in programming. Together, they developed a software system that reduced the time needed for project management by eliminating repetitive tasks. The system they created for their own business made such a dramatic difference, Carmi and her son made a decision to package and resell it to help others in their industry. The resulting company, iPoint Solutions LLC, owned and operated by Brooks, is a software product now internationally successful with thousands of users.

When Carmi’s dog Tate needed chiropractic care, she sought out a local practitioner and, during the appointment, her keen ability to solve problems kicked in as she watched the doctor hand write copious notes. She recognized in Dr Emily what she had seen in herself as the catalyst for the birth of iPoint Solutions. She approached Brooks about developing a software for Integrative Animal Practitioners and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, Carmi is devoted to helping doctors provide the best care for their patients and do so efficiently with as little stress and repetition as possible. Carmi lives in the Kansas City metro with her pack of German Shepherd dogs and human family. In her spare time she enjoys dog showing, doing “projects around her home, and traveling to Marco Island, Fl to spend time with family.

You can find Carmi at:

https://ipointtouch.com

https://www.facebook.com/carmi.swift/

Join her Facebook Group for animal practitioners at https://www.facebook.com/groups/167050077260384

email: [email protected]

Join me for the first of a monthly installment of the Business Animal called "The Entrepreneurial Pep Talk!" In this short episode, I hope to "pep" you up if you're moving through an evolution in your business — whether that evolution is planned or unplanned, wanted or unwanted. So prepare to be pepped!

If you'd like to watch this episode, head over to YouTube: https://youtu.be/GCnAvvg5h

About Kimberly Beer:

Think of me as your Entrepreneurial Wisewoman, I optimize the most important asset in your business: YOU! I do this through knowledge earned from 30 years of my own entrepreneurship helping my clients ideate, build, market, and automate their small business. I have a unique toolkit of skills that address the toughest aspects of entrepreneurship fall into the gap between your therapist and traditional business coach. I am known for my out-of-the-box approaches including drawing on the wisdom of nature and horses to inspire you in the changes you seek. I lead an active and supportive community of like-minded business owners who are creating a business that supports the life they want to live.

Find me at https://kimberlybeer.com

On YouTube at https://youtube.com/kimberlybeer

Join me as I talk with Risa August, founder of Feather and Sage Coaching, author, coach, and hair sparkler! Risa shares the unique challenges she's faced in building a business that supports the life she wants to live — including how a life changing diagnosis of a brain tumor has both changed her and, at the same time, solidified who she came into this life to be. You'll laugh and learn in this insightful episode.

Buy Risa's book "The Road Unpaved" here: https://a.co/d/gUFM4pW on Amazon. It is available in paperback, Kindle, and Audible formats!

Risa's Bio:

Award-winning author, Speaker, Gestalt Practitioner, and Patient Advocate, Risa August has been living with a pituitary tumor and rare disease for over a decade. Risa shares her insights and perspectives on stage, offering words of inspiration to audiences. Additionally, Risa works one-on-one with clients, guiding them through the many roadblocks of life and toward living more fully inspired.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/featherandsagecoaching/

https://www.facebook.com/risa.august.unleashed/ (Group)

Instagram: @risaunleashed

Website: https://www.risaaugust.com

About Kimberly Beer:

Think of me as your Entrepreneurial Wisewoman, I optimize the most important asset in your business: YOU! I do this through knowledge earned from 30 years of my own entrepreneurship helping my clients ideate, build, market, and automate their small business. I have a unique toolkit of skills that address the toughest aspects of entrepreneurship fall into the gap between your therapist and traditional business coach. I am known for my out-of-the-box approaches including drawing on the wisdom of nature and horses to inspire you in the changes you seek. I lead an active and supportive community of like-minded business owners who are creating a business that supports the life they want to live.

Find me at https://kimberlybeer.com

On YouTube at https://youtube.com/kimberlybeer

Amy Schield is a time management coach who takes a unique approach to helping her clients through neuroscience. In this episode Kim and Amy discuss her journey to build Amy Schield Coaching including how entrepreneurship develops personal growth that leads to confidence.

Amy's Bio:

Amy Schield, MBA is a time management and mindset coach for small business owners, solopreneurs, and busy professionals. Using a mix of simple tactics and neuroscience-based strategies, she helps clients manage their time effectively, set and achieve goals for business growth, and navigate the mental and emotional side of owning and running a small business. Acting as a personal trainer for the brain, she teaches her clients how to get more done in less time, so they can make more money.

You can find Amy at:

https://www.amyschield.com

https://youtube.com/@amyschieldcoaching

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-schield/

https://www.facebook.com/AmySchieldCoaching

On Instagram @amyschieldcoaching

Want to watch this episode? Head over to YouTube: https://youtu.be/2OuOSB0J61Y

About Kimberly Beer:

Think of me as your Entrepreneurial Wisewoman, I optimize the most important asset in your business: YOU! I do this through knowledge earned from 30 years of my own entrepreneurship helping my clients ideate, build, market, and automate their small business. I have a unique toolkit of skills that address the toughest aspects of entrepreneurship fall into the gap between your therapist and traditional business coach. I am known for my out-of-the-box approaches including drawing on the wisdom of nature and horses to inspire you in the changes you seek. I lead an active and supportive community of like-minded business owners who are creating a business that supports the life they want to live.

Find me at https://kimberlybeer.com

On YouTube at https://youtube.com/kimberlybeer