As we start into a new year, it’s nice to look back at all we’ve accomplished and be grateful for all those who helped us along the way. Now, we’d like for you to turn your attention to ways you can help others in their entrepreneurial and life journeys.  In this episode, Kim and Cara talk about how you can pay it forward and bring success and good vibes to more people.

There are opportunities for Random Acts of Kindness everywhere you just have to look:

Check out RandomActsofKindness.org for some awesome ideas that are perfect for kicking off the new year. 

Welcome to The Business Animal podcast. Saddle up for a

gallop to the top of the animal industry, where you'll learn how

to tame your wild business beast, with tips, techniques,

and tools that will take overwhelm to obedience school.

And have you wagging your tail with joy. And now your hosts,

Kim Beer, and Cara Taylor Swift.

Hey there business animals. It's Kim with

Be More Business.

And Cara with Fast Horse photography. Hi, Kim,

how are you?

I'm doing well. How are you? Cara?

I'm good. Happy New Year. Happy New Year.

Happy

New Year. Yeah, it's happening. The new year,

the New Year is here. It's happening. Woohoo. It's

upon us. So what are we talking about today.

So today, we're talking about something that I

find really interesting in entrepreneurship. And that is,

for those of you who've been an entrepreneur for a little bit.

And oddly, it's going to be less time than you think we're going

to be talking about paying it forward to other entrepreneurs.

So as we start out this new year, it's nice to look back at

the things that we've accomplished and that we're

grateful for, and to, to do the thing where we turn around and

look around us, and see where there's other people in our in

our world, in our industry, in our community that could maybe

use a little bit of help, in the same way that we needed help

back in the beginning. And I gotta tell you, I'm crossing my

fingers out there that the folks that are listening to this, when

they were in the position of being new in business and

starting out that that an entrepreneur who is a little

more seasoned, or a veteran business owner in their industry

turned around and said, Hey, I see you, I see you out there

starting this and I want to step up and help you be successful, I

would stand in as mentor or if you have a question, I'll be

here to answer it. And just being friendly in a good

community to each other. So I'm hoping that happened to you,

when you were starting your business. If it didn't, then

remember that feeling of being all alone out there with your

business and not knowing the answers and wishing that

individual was there. Now that you've gained a little

experience and perspective, and you've earned that veteran card

here in your own entrepreneurship, in at least

some areas of your business, now is the time to look around and

see if there's other businesses or people in your industry that

you could help and give them a hand up and pay forward, the

success that you've had.

There is nothing better than starting off

the new year with good vibes like that this is gonna be a

fun, hopefully shorter ish episode for us. But I love the

idea of starting off the year with that type of like

mentality, that kind of vibe going on in our businesses. And

it doesn't always have to be 100%. Like, give, give, give,

how can I give back a lot of times, there is just this, this

beautiful thing that happens when you put yourself out into

the world and you are pushing good vibes out there and you're

bringing other people forward, you're pulling people up, when

you're helping out other small businesses, that always comes

back most of the time that comes back in some way, as a positive

for us and for our businesses. Do you see that? I mean, I feel

like if you put those good vibes out there, they come back to

you.

Oh, well, you know, you're gonna get me

talking about energy. And and you know, I'm a big believer in

the energetic cycles of everything and how there's true

magic in the energy that we carry, and that we put out into

the world. And part of that is that whatever energy you put out

into the world comes back to you threefold. So if you put out a

bunch of negative energy, negativity comes back to you

threefold. If you put out positive energy and you put out

helpful energy, then that's going to come back to you three

times over. So every time that we put that energy out into the

world, it multiplies and returns to us it's part of the of that

magical feeling and the energetic kind of laws that

there are out in the world that I live my life by. So now you're

getting me really woowoo but yes, I think if nothing else,

I'm going to tell you this, it'll make your heart happy and

it will help someone else. And if you want to think about that

in in less woowoo or more realistic terms, if you help

another business person, be successful or help lift them up.

They're going to remember that and cheer Chances are, if

nothing else, they're going to pay it forward somewhere down

the line, or they're going to talk really good about you,

they're going to share what happened because as humans, we

are a big part of that community, that humanity

community, where we do like to share our experiences. And when

you have that to give, and you share your experience, then it's

bound for you as the person who was the catalyst for that, to to

reap some rewards from in that sharing from the other

individual. So that's the least of it, I still believe in the

bigger energetic cycle, and what you put out comes back to you.

So I definitely think that there's a lot to it,

I tend to not be as woowoo as you, but that is

something I really do believe in, if you put good out there,

it's going to come back to you. And more times than not, it's

going to come back to you. And at like you were just saying, at

a bare minimum, make friends with other business owners, be

kind to them, help them, they will help you when you need

them. I have I can't tell you how many times I've helped

people been in a situation where I just needed something. And it

could be something as simple as a ride somewhere or, you know,

someone to grab something for me and they are just willing to do.

You've made a fan, you've made a friend, you've made a colleague

in the world, and they are ready to help you. So at a minimum, if

you can take that away from this conversation today. I think that

we're all starting at Are you in a really good place as business

owners.

Absolutely. So this reminds me of a story of

last year. Do you remember when we went to art of the cowgirl

and we had to put up our tent? And we didn't know what the what

we were doing?

Yes, I do you remember that? I Gosh, I really

do. I painfully remember that.

Okay, so But remember, there were people that

were walking along as we were setting up and some of them

walked on by and we didn't judge those people. And some of them

stopped to offer help. I think there was a guy who came by and

helped us pound the stakes into the really hard ground. Do you

remember that? I don't know if Yeah, we

weren't I wasn't prepared for how hard the

ground was in Arizona.

Yes. So but there were people there that stopped

and helped us? Well, here's how it got paid forward. I don't

know if you were with me, I don't know if it was Phyllis and

I or me and one of the students that was there. But when we were

walking out that same day, a little bit later in the day,

there were some girls setting up a tent that was very similar to

ours, and we'd already learned how to set ours up. And we

stopped and helped them set their tent up, we help them It

only took maybe two minutes out of our day to do that. But we

learned a lot from setting ours up and we got help from other

people. And that energy just carried forward and moved into

helping those ladies set their tent up. And and it just it

helps everybody right? They remembered who we were because

it was the cowgirls with cameras, right? And we had a

discussion about it. And it's just it's such a lovely feeling

to do that. And to, to just pay forward what people give to you.

And and it's it's amazing.

And it's it didn't it didn't take anything

more than two minutes of your time. It didn't cost you money.

No, it cost a small amount of energy. But what you gained back

from that moment of just helpfulness and giving and, you

know, helping a stranger like you it comes back to you. It

comes back to you so much more. And even if it's as simple as

when we left and we went to dinner, we were in a better

mood. I'll take that. I'll take it.

I'll take it to I'll take it to Yeah, because

you do you feel good with it. So let's dive into the big three

for this episode of paying it forward. Number one is to mentor

or sponsor people in your network. And I think that's an

easy way for us to do this. It's the sharing of the knowledge.

Number two is to share knowledge at a little bit more organized

way by teaching classes or giving workshops or things like

that. And then number three is to make an hour a week to help

out small business owners who have supported you. And Kara has

a wonderful list of suggestions that come along with this

because believe it or not, this is a lot easier than it sounds

and trust me that hour will be a lot more fun than you're

thinking about right now. So number one is to mentor or

sponsor people in your network. And I think mentorship is

something that all veteran entrepreneurs should be open to

at least and I don't think you need to mentor every single

person that comes up and asks, but I think if you see a young

padawan we'll use a Star Wars reference there. If you see

somebody there that that needs your help that needs the

guidance and apprentice that would like to learn about

things, it's, it's only beneficial to your entire

industry to mentor that person. And it's up to you like for

photographers, a lot of times mentorships are paid. But in

other places mentorships are not always paid. So it's not doesn't

have to become a service that you offer. And you don't have to

take every single person. But mentorship is a great way for

you to share your expertise, as a, as a business owner and as an

entrepreneur. And honestly, your mentorship, usually mentors are

in the same industry as the person that they're mentoring.

But the truth is, is that entrepreneurship owning a

business is universal enough that sometimes it's okay for you

to mentor somebody who's in it in a completely different

industry, but talk to them about mentoring around

entrepreneurship around what it feels like to be maybe a

solopreneur. Or to have a small business that has to interact,

you know, with, with the public at large, or with a, you know,

working with clients that that's all universal, we all share that

across each other's worlds. The second part of this for me is

sponsoring people in your network. And this one is

honestly easier, it doesn't take hardly any investment in time.

And it's not that the the mentorship it can get to be a

deep relationship, but sponsoring doesn't have to be.

And for sponsors inside of a network, what you're doing is

you're wanting to connect people that need business with people

who need whatever the person business is. So for example, if

you get your I'll use dog groomers again, as an example,

I've been on the dog groomer, like, kick for your while. So I

have, but I'm going with it again, it's mid morning here and

my brain is starting to get a little fried. So but if you're a

dog groomer, or you you take your dog, you're the person who

takes your dog to get it groomed. And you happen to know

that that works really well in your entrepreneurial life, I'll

do a little twist to it, because you have a dog groomer that's

like, excellent at being on time and, and getting the getting

your dog just write and treating your dog really, really well.

Then if you are at lunch, or you're out around some other

people that have dogs and that conversation comes up about dog

groomers. This is when you mentioned your dog groomer and

you say you know what, I know you're a busy entrepreneur. And

I know that it's important for you to get a good grip on your

dog. And here's a business that I would really support. That's

you sponsoring the dog groomer. So that's you being a sponsor.

And sponsorships go even further than that. Let's say that you

work in an industry where there's another organization

where a lot of you work, like there's a contract that's

involved. And you know that that organization needs more

businesses like yours to serve. And you know, a person who would

be good in that position and you'd like to have him in your

community sponsor him in there. Tell the person who who is the

the purveyor of the contracts that you know this individual

and hand them out a business card and contact information and

all of that kind of stuff. So you're sponsoring that person

into a place that is going to further their business.

Honestly, this is as easy as pie. And if we would make a

practice of all of us doing this for each other, we would we

would all grow our businesses exponentially so fast because

sponsorships are amazing. They're when you have a

recommendation is somebody who's looking for a specific service

or product. And somebody says, Hey, I know a really good one.

Is that that is gold. That is gold to that business that you

just recommended.

Absolutely, absolutely. And this reminds me

of the episode that we did I think it was all the way back in

the beginning the early days. Episode number two, but when you

remember the episode can we did on building your sustainability

squad? Do you remember that

episode? Yeah, I do. Yeah, well,

in this episode, that episode, we're

talking specifically about building your own as a business

owners sustainability squad, but being a part of someone else's

sustainability squad. If you haven't listened to that

episode, we talk a lot about sponsors and cheerleaders in

that episode, and how you need those people for your business

and how you need those people in your life. This is a way for you

to be that for someone else. So definitely go back and check out

that episode.

Yeah, and just as important as mentoring and

sponsoring cheerleading is equally as important, you know,

rally up around your fellow business owners and say, Hey,

good job. Or if you see a business owner that's

struggling, say, Hey, I get it. I know what it's like to

struggle in a business. But yeah, chin up, it's, it'll be

okay. It's a cycle, and it runs through it, and you can do it

and look at all this amazing stuff you've done. Again, it's a

thing, if we're each other's cheerleaders, it helps

everybody. Because not everybody is down or up at the same time.

It's all across the spectrum. And if when we're up, if we can

turn around and lift up the person next to us, if they're in

a down position, it just raises us all up.

Absolutely. And this is one of those areas,

I think, where as business owners, we can feel a little

anxious around like competition in our industry. And, you know,

well, why would I want to help somebody else do what I do, you

know, and I think that's where as business owners, like you

said, if you're feeling anxious about, you know, maybe you don't

want to help the person that does the exact same thing down

the street from you. But there are other ways that you can

mentor within the business industry in general, there are

lots of things that you do in your business that you're really

good at. And you can you can pass that knowledge on. And like

I said, If you feel uncomfortable doing that with

one population, you might be really comfortable doing that

with business owners and another segment of the work. So maybe

just, you know, spend some time thinking about that. What can

you mentor and sponsor on what can you you know, pay forward in

your industry?

Absolutely, absolutely. So are we ready to

move on to number two, I think we've talked that one. So

there's there's other ways you can share your education, your

share your knowledge, and turn it into education for other

people. And this one, number two, here is something that I

practice in my business all of the time. So I teach a volunteer

on a volunteer basis for an organization called score, which

serves entrepreneurs. So this is somewhat of self serving. And

it's also somewhat of pay it forward. Because first of all, I

had all of this is done through the Small Business

Administration. So score is a nonprofit that is supported by

the SBA. So it's important to make that designation. Because

when I did my first business, I wasn't too smart. I ended up in

bankruptcy court. And long story short, when I started the second

business, I went and got help from an SBA counselor to write

my business plan and to really understand how cash flow worked,

which is what tanked my first business. So the SBA was an

important place for me in my own business development. And when I

teach classes, and I got recruited through Constant

Contact, I was doing classes for Constant Contact, I got

recruited to speak for score. And so I teach, I don't know

anywhere from four to eight classes a year for score, it is

volunteer, I do volunteer my time, but I will sit with a

roomful of 15 to 32, sometimes upwards of 60, or 70. If we're

on Zoom entrepreneurs from across the country, or from

Kansas City, local, a foreign person, and talk about things

like social media marketing, and understanding how to use a CRM

and just the very basics of the things that that they can learn.

Now, I don't take social media marketing clients any longer. I

don't take a lot of website development clients any longer.

More of this has become for me a way to pay it forward to all

look from all of those people that I learned from as an

entrepreneur, the SBA counselor that sat with me and helped me

figure out how to write a business plan, the people in the

office where he was at that, you know, cheered me on to, even to

my bank, or who like helped me figure out cash flow and sat

with me and helped me understand a lot of these topics, to all of

the people that I've met along my journey as an entrepreneur

that gave me tips or that sat with me and helped me understand

a certain concept or even up into more modern when I've had

my own score mentor that I've worked with and that person

helped me double and then double again, my income. That's the

wonderful Mr. Mark Wolfson, who is just an amazing mentor for

score that volunteers his time that's a way for me to continue

that legacy. And to share with others what I've learned and

also then what my expertise is from having a business for many

years in those, those categories. I mean, I'm still

deeply involved in marketing for many businesses, and I'm

shifting a little and how I'm approaching my clients, but it's

still there. And that knowledge is still something that I want

to share with everyone. Because again, if we can lift each other

up, if we can share the knowledge with each other, it

just makes us a better community to live in all the way around.

Absolutely. And you are teaching the class

and you're paying it forward. And, and those things, those

things come back to you. I mean, those people that you you are,

you're presenting yourself in a expert in your field, light, you

know, you're you're getting in front of people. And this while

you are paying it forward, there's a lot of benefits to

that you're making connections, which is a laudable, you're

getting new clients for other areas of your business, you have

your book that's available that you can sell your drawing people

to our podcasts, you're enrolling people in workshops,

you've got paid things that are available all of the time that

those people are now going to be interested in, roll themselves

into. So as business owners out there, if you aren't thinking

about ways that you can use this big three teaching a class and

start thinking about little things that you can do for free

in your community to put knowledge out there that comes

back to you in paid work down the line. It it does, it

absolutely does. It's, you're paying it forward. But you're

also doing some marketing, you're doing boots on the ground

marketing, and you're out there networking and connecting with

people. I know that's on our topic today we're talking about,

yeah, but it all comes it's true. It's so true.

It comes back to you three times over. That's

what I said, if you put it out there and you put it out there

with the mind of helping people it's going to come back to you

in a huge way. And I can tell you it's made my business. I'll

be flat honest with you. Yes is probably my biggest secret to my

success was was doing this work, which was volunteer work, paying

stuff forward, has exponentially built my business. And I know

that that people will look at that and go Yeah, right. But

it's the truth. It is how it's worked for me. And I will tell

you, you don't have to find an organization and like volunteer

to teach classes. Here's another thing you can do put in this is

also helped my business, put some videos on YouTube, people

are always appreciative of you sharing your knowledge on

YouTube. It you know, it can be something simple, like

explaining something that other people struggle with being able

to solve. And I know it's not business related, but I'm going

to tell you there was a YouTuber changed my life this last week.

I don't know what inity got into my truck. But something haunted

my pickup for a few days, and turned on this thing that

announced game scores for the NBA. All right, I don't hold any

new trends to people who, in my truck who watched basketball or

who listened to basketball, I think you all are great. But I

personally do not like and must be basketball. It may have been

hockey. I don't know. Now now that I think about it. I don't

know it was a game and it was scores. And it would come on my

radio without my permission. Like, I'd be driving along jam

and sing into Lady Gaga. And all of the sudden a game score would

pop up. I could not figure out for life me how to turn it off.

And I thought surely I'm not the only human with this problem.

And I look and some blessed soul had shared on YouTube, how to

turn that off. So and I figured it out. And so no more game

scores on my radio. So I know that's an off topic example. And

hopefully you guys enjoyed the fact that Lady Gaga get

interrupted by game scores. At any rate, when you share your

knowledge on YouTube, it helps people it is a way to pay it

forward so that someone else can solve the problem. And with with

search engines being so good now, you can take something as

absolutely out there and unique and as being able to reset your

dodge 2017 Dodge Rams game radio situation and change somebody's

life. It just it was life changing. It was so awesome.

Listen, that's no joke I have watched in

the last several weeks alone. I have watched free education Not

all content and been converted to sales at some point down the

line. I watched a makeup tutorial recently and ended up

watching so many makeup tutorials that I was showing I

ended up buying makeup from the lady later on. Yes, I recently

also was watching an editing like a photo editing tutorial,

and watched several of them really fell in love with them,

and ended up on their website and purchased a preset. I mean,

it's like that kind of thing. It's, they're not doing it all

the time just to get back. I mean, it is it is an amazing

when you can get the free content, and you can enjoy that.

But there is an end game that a lot of entrepreneurs don't think

about. So it's not just about time. I mean, yes, we're talking

about paying it forward today. And that is hopefully the intent

that a lot of us have out there. But there's all sorts of payback

that comes from that. And like Kim and I just sitting here

talking, I'm just sitting here thinking about all the times

that I've been pulled into free, beautiful content and learned

something and then ended up becoming a client down the line.

Because you're developing that like that. What is it the like

trust in God was a factor light? Oh, yeah, thank you like to know

that and these people are becoming Thank you. It's it is

something where these people become experts, you know, to you

in the field, and you start to trust them, and you want more,

and you can see, you know, you attend a free class with Kim.

And it might be an hour long presentation she gives. But if

that changes your business, then you're going to want to hear

more from that person. And you're going to Well, what other

tips can she give me so that, you know, I can change other

parts of my business? So yeah, I think that as entrepreneurs, we

spend so much time working in our business that sometimes we

forget that there's all these little things that we do every

day that other people that are coming up, they don't realize,

we don't realize that they still have that to figure out. And if

we can give like these little tidbits and help people, they

might come back to us and do a paid mentorship down the line or

attend a workshop or attended, you know, become clients later.

So we're talking about paying it forward today. And there's lots

of ways you can do that. But this stuff comes back to your

business.

It does, it does, it comes back in a big way. The

one thing I do want to caveat out there, and I honestly am

going to wager our listeners probably wouldn't do this to

people. But when you do this and you are actually manipulating it

to make sales like you show up with the with the forefront of

paying it forward. But really in the back of your mind, you're

like this is a tactic and I'm going to manipulate people, I'm

going to tell you the magic loses its spark. So show up with

your open heart share with what you are okay with sharing, and

let the magic happen. But when you try to manipulate it, and

tell people okay, if you want something more than this, if you

want the answer to this, then you have to pay me for it does

not work. And realistically, and I know people again are not

going to believe me on this because I fight this all the

time with my own clients. It they're like, I don't know how

much to give away. I don't know how much you know, where do I

stop and draw the line and say, this is free knowledge. And this

is paid knowledge. Here's what I've learned in my career. I

give away the farm, right? I give it all out there to people

I share, I don't give away my farm, I share my farm with

everyone. I share my knowledge with people, and they still come

back and hire me because that's the connection that they have.

And that they want. It's with that free flow of information

and knowledge when I get it or try to say, I'm not going to

share this with you unless you pay me for it, then then I kill

that magic. So I'm not going to spend all day for free with

somebody. But I certainly will spend 15 minutes on a YouTube

video telling you everything I know in that 15 minutes or an

hour and a half teaching a class and sharing everything I know in

that hour and a half that's pertinent to what's coming up,

then the people want to come in and they want to work with me on

something bigger. So that's how that works. Guys, if you want to

if you want to do this, share it openly. All right, Cara. I think

we're ready to move on to making that hour a week to help those

small business owners who supported you. And you had some

fantastic ideas for this. And again, just like the giving that

referral or making that five minute YouTube video that helps

them Pourcel figure out how to turn off something in their

dodge ram truck. These things do not take you very long to be

able to do so. Take it away Kara. These are great ideas.

Okay, we have it Tonight, we have a big list

here. So I'm just going to go through our list. So these are

ways that you can own I would say schedule this, if you can

schedule an hour a week, put it on your calendar, where you can

take some time to help out a small business owner, it could

be a small business owner that supported you before or it could

be new business owners that you're hoping to make

connections with. So here is here's our list, we have a whole

bunch first of all, reviews, if you've used a product, purchased

a product in the past, and enjoyed it and gotten benefit

out of it. let the community know reviews are so powerful. I

don't know about you can but I go on Amazon to buy something.

And before I make a purchase, I check that star rating and I

check the reviews. And I usually go to like the one stars to just

because I want to see what the real crappy people have to say

yep. And to see if that's important to me. But something

like that having reviews as a business owner, especially a

small business owner is huge. If you aren't already hop online

and give those small business owners that have social media

accounts alike and a follow on social media. And if you've had

a great experience with him, share that with your community

of people. You know, you have you know, people and they are

going to want to access that business potentially as well.

Think about things like following up with their business

blog posts, can you leave a positive comment on a blog post?

Can you share their blog post interact with that content that

they're putting out there, that applies to social media posts as

well, if you aren't already following their social media

accounts, follow those accounts, share them to your stories,

highlight something that you really like about their

business. Things like referrals are huge. You know, if you have

friends that need something, if you see a post online looking

for someone who does tile work, we just had a great guy come and

do bathroom work for us, and help us remodel. And I can't

stop talking about to everyone I know if you need tile work done,

I've got a guy for you if you need to work done, you know, I'm

just constantly putting that out there because I was just so

impressed with his business. So you know, making referrals,

sharing business that you've participated in, or you've had a

great experience with. But also, you know, I have clients that

are potential clients that come to my business, sometimes with

an inquiry and they're just not a good fit for whatever reason,

I will refer those people to colleagues, I will refer them to

colleagues that I think will be a better fit for them. Also, I

have had businesses reach out to me in the commercial world where

maybe I've been working with them for a while or they're

reaching out to me. And that is just no longer a good fit for me

in my business. But I know other business owners would just

absolutely love to have that work. I'm going to pass that on,

I'm going to pass that on to them. Let's see, helping other

business owners share their good news. If somebody wins an award

is recognized in the community, share that help them be excited

about that help other people see that they've been recognized for

the good work that they're doing. Tell family and friends

about the businesses that you love, give business shout outs

these are all easy, easy peasy things that we can do that take

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friend that started a newsletter, sign up for it, sign

up to receive their newsletter and make their day. Plus, you

probably will get some good information that you can share

down the line. This is a simple one is feels like it should be

obvious but tip. If you are getting great service tip, I

received a tip the other day as a photographer and I never asked

for tips. I never expect tips. But man if someone tips you it

is just such a confirmation that you're doing good work out

there. Other things that we can do, we can if you don't need

something right now go ahead and buy a gift card for leader from

that business, you know, you're going to need something from

them later. So I if for example I have my aunt she is has one

particular place she likes to get her hair done. And she just

got her hair done. And I went in and she was talking about how

great her haircut was. And I went in and I went ahead and

bought a gift certificate even though her birthday isn't for

months, I was like you know what, I'm gonna go ahead and

support this small business. Now, while I'm here I'll have

this gift certificate and I can gift it to her later down the

line. So even though you don't need it now, you know you're

gonna need it later. Go ahead and buy up those gift

certificates and support that small business. And then the

last thing I'm gonna say and then Kim can jump in here if she

wants, but dang it Be kind, be kind because this is the time of

year where it is not the small business owners fault that you

know, you didn't buy your friend their birthday present until the

day of their birthday is not their fault. Go ahead and become

Mind, you don't need to be Russian people, they're doing

the best that they can do. Kim, what do you want to add to this

list? Or do you want to comment on this list? Before I talk

about this little website I came across when I was doing research

for the show,

I would encourage you to talk about it. But I love

the Be kind. And I actually want you to continue, because I love

this last little thought here. So let's roll with it. Yeah.

So I just think that this part, you know,

it's crazy to think but sometimes we have to schedule,

you know, an hour into our week for kindness, I guess I don't

know. But there are lots of easy ways that you can be kind. And

I'm when I was doing the research for this, I came across

a website for random acts of kindness. And it's called random

acts of kindness.org, I highly recommend you guys checking it

out is the cutest website. And they have so many great ideas.

We know we're in the new year. Now. They have so many great

ideas for just kicking off the new year with kindness. And it's

everything from ideas for kindness, at school, kindness,

at home, kindness at work, they have ideas where they have a

kindness at work calendar, gives you prompts for every day,

something that you can do, that's kind to your colleagues

that are out there. You can do kindness challenges, they have a

kindness, blog, kindness stories, all sorts of kindness

quotes you can pull from, and just endless kindness ideas. So

I thought this was really fun. I played around on the website a

little bit. And had, you know, a lot of they have a lot of free

content. So like they have like seven steps to create kindness

at work, free kindness at work calendar that you can download,

they have kindness at work posters, they have certificates,

they just a ton of really cute stuff that you could incorporate

into the work that you do every day. So I thought it was really

cute. Wanted to share that with everybody. I'll drop a link into

the show notes, of course, for all of us.

Nice, I love that, you know, I am I am on the

receiving end of random acts of kindness. But I'll tell you, it

nothing makes you feel better than being the person who

actually is the initiator of the random act of kindness. So yes,

and be kind to each other. If you see, you know, that goes to

four, I think really in our current situation in the world.

Right now, it seems like service staff like there just is not

enough service staff on the planet, I we just do not have

enough people in restaurants as servers or, as a matter of fact,

anywhere. It's like everywhere I go, they seem to be short

staffed. Remember that. And that those business owners and

businesses are doing the best that they can. And sometimes

being kind is being patient. And just allowing for the fact that

there are some times when there just isn't enough people to go

around to serve everyone in the way that they you think you

should be served but rather than complaining and being rude, just

be patient and and say this business and this business owner

are doing the best that they can. And I'm going to be kind

first.

Absolutely. Well, I don't know. I hope you

guys enjoyed this episode and that it's gotten people thinking

about ways that they can pay it forward in their industry or pay

it forward to other small business owners out there. And

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