Have you ever wondered about the miraculous power of horses to heal broken hearts and restore hope? Join us in this episode of "Seek Go Create" as host Tim Winders sits down with Kim Tschirret, founder of Hope Reins, to explore the extraordinary journey of using rescued horses to help children in crisis. Discover the compelling stories, transformative leadership lessons, and the divine calling that fuels this incredible sanctuary. Tune in to uncover how faith and resilience intertwine in the lives of both kids and horses, and learn how you can become a part of this unique cause.
"Hope is a powerful healer, especially when delivered through the gentle wisdom of horses." - Kim Tschirret
Access all show and episode resources HERE
Kim Tschirret is the founder and CEO of Hope Reins, a unique sanctuary in Raleigh, North Carolina, that has provided healing and hope to over 3,000 children through equine therapy since 2010. With a background marked by personal experiences of abuse and solace found in horses, Kim has transformed her profound personal journey into a thriving nonprofit organization. Her inspirational leadership and dedication to helping children in crisis have garnered national attention, including a bestselling book about a rescued horse named Joey. Under her guidance, Hope Reins celebrated its 15th anniversary, continuing to expand and serve a growing community in need.
1. **Discover Hope Reins' Unique Mission**: Learn how equine therapy, mentorship, and faith transform the lives of children in crisis through powerful personal stories and impactful results.
2. **Leadership and Resilience Insights**: Gain valuable lessons on leadership, resource management, and building resilience from Tim Winders and Kim Tschirret’s experiences in running a nonprofit.
3. **Exclusive Success Narratives**: Hear inspiring tales like Lily's journey from trauma to healing with the help of therapy horses, showcasing the profound connections formed at Hope Reins.
### Resources Mentioned:
1. **Website**:
- Visit Hope Reins website for more information, newsletter subscription, and a free Joey book.
2. **Book**:
- **"Joey"**: A book written about one of Hope Reins' rescued horses, which became a national bestseller. Available for purchase through the Hope Reins website or other book retailers.
3. **Academy**:
- **Hope Reins Academy**: Structured with business, leadership, and operations modules, leading to horse and kid training. Involves a three-year "Essentials" curriculum and has various video curriculums for creating and running similar programs.
### Action Steps:
1. **Support and Donation**:
- Consider sponsoring a child through Hope Reins to support their participation in equine therapy programs. Information on sponsorship and donation can be found at Hope Reins website.
2. **Personal Reflection and Routine**:
- Implement a routine of quiet, still time early in the morning to connect with God and reassess personal and professional motivations. Use this time to ensure alignment with godly intentions rather than personal gains.
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1. **Embrace Divine Timing**: Both Kim and Tim emphasize the importance of waiting and seeking divine direction. Referencing Psalm 25, the discussion underlines that periods of waiting and seeking are crucial for personal and organizational growth.
2. **Resilience Through Relationships**: The power of equine therapy at Hope Reins demonstrates that building trusting relationships, particularly through safe and nurturing connections, is essential in fostering hope and healing in children.
3. **Authentic Leadership and Pace Management**: Effective leadership requires self-awareness and the ability to regulate one's pace. Tim discusses the need for leaders to slow down and reassess to facilitate better engagement and organizational growth.
4. **Impact Over Traditional ROI**: The episode highlights the significance of storytelling and real-life impact over conventional metrics of success. Hope Reins' focus on authentic stories and meaningful relationships drives their mission and connects deeply with their supporters.
5. **Aligning Passions with Purpose**: Kim and Tim share how their personal experiences and divine callings have shaped their life's work. Recognizing and pursuing passions—as Kim did with horses and helping children—aligns individual purpose with broader missions that create significant positive impacts.
00:00 Introduction to Kim Tschirret and Hope Reigns
02:30 Kim's Personal Journey and the Birth of Hope Reigns
04:01 Challenges and Growth of Hope Reigns
04:39 The Impact of the Book 'Joey'
11:32 Balancing Control and Faith in Leadership
15:07 Kim's Personal Struggles and Healing
17:42 The Role of Pace and Patience in Equine Therapy
20:17 Kim's Background and Early Life
25:01 The Healing Power of Horses
26:47 Reflecting on Personal Passions and Healing
31:11 Leadership and Self-Care
32:16 The Metaphorical Barn
34:16 Spiritual Connection and Solitude
37:18 Marketing and Brand Management
44:25 Resilience and Healing
53:31 Hope Reigns Academy
56:42 Call to Action and Conclusion
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We don't have to be everybody's thing, like
Kim Tschirret:go find your thing, right?
Kim Tschirret:What has God wired you to be passionate and care about, right?
Kim Tschirret:Whether that's the homeless or building wells in Africa or kids in crisis
Kim Tschirret:and then go, go there and go deep and give and be a part of that community.
Kim Tschirret:You
Tim Winders:Can a horse change a life?
Tim Winders:Today on SeatGoCreate, The Leadership Journey, we welcome Kim Charette, founder
Tim Winders:and CEO of Hope Reigns, a sanctuary where healing and hope meet through the
Tim Winders:connection between children and horses.
Tim Winders:Born from hEr own experience of abuse and finding solace with her horse
Tim Winders:country, Kim has transformed her pain into purpose, creating a 38 acre ranch
Tim Winders:in Raleigh, North Carolina, that has touched the lives of over 3, 000 children.
Tim Winders:Join us as Kim discusses how resilience is built through relationships, both
Tim Winders:human and equine, and shares her insights on the power of equine therapy.
Tim Winders:The intersection of faith and mental health and the leadership lessons
Tim Winders:learned from running a nonprofit that offers healing all free of charge.
Tim Winders:Kim, welcome to Seek Go Create.
Kim Tschirret:Thank you, Tim.
Kim Tschirret:I'm very excited to be
Kim Tschirret:here.
Tim Winders:that you're here too.
Tim Winders:My first question, is, When someone asks you what you do, what do you tell them?
Kim Tschirret:I have the privilege of helping kids heal from their
Kim Tschirret:trauma using horses of all things.
Tim Winders:And when you say that, what do people say?
Kim Tschirret:They say, wow, tell me about that.
Kim Tschirret:How does that even work?
Tim Winders:tell, tell me more.
Kim Tschirret:Tell me more.
Tim Winders:And and so one of the things that's fascinating,
Tim Winders:there's like multiple things that interest and intrigue me about this.
Tim Winders:And so what I'm going to attempt to do in our time together is try
Tim Winders:to connect some of those dots.
Tim Winders:But
Tim Winders:I think the first thing that comes up when someone says that is, how'd you
Tim Winders:get into that, which I know involves a lot of story and background.
Tim Winders:So how did one get involved with that?
Tim Winders:That
Kim Tschirret:Yeah.
Kim Tschirret:Well, do you want me to start with where we started or back in my childhood?
Tim Winders:You know, why don't you start with how you
Tim Winders:started and then we'll back up
Kim Tschirret:Sure.
Kim Tschirret:Yeah.
Kim Tschirret:So, I had felt for a while that God had something for me to do.
Kim Tschirret:And, I had gone to a, women's retreat where the question was asked, What
Kim Tschirret:is something that you used to love to do that you don't do anymore?
Kim Tschirret:And, for some reason, horses popped into my head, So I just started to
Kim Tschirret:kind of pursue that a little bit.
Kim Tschirret:And I thought, okay, God, am I supposed to buy a horse?
Kim Tschirret:I started taking riding lessons again.
Kim Tschirret:I started over kind of a two year period of really seeking the Lord, praying,
Kim Tschirret:kind of waiting to see what he had.
Kim Tschirret:And I ended up, in 2009 finding a book about an organization in
Kim Tschirret:Oregon that was Kids and teens in crisis with rescued horses and this
Kim Tschirret:beautiful healing was happening and given my personal background,
Kim Tschirret:I was like, okay, God, this is it.
Kim Tschirret:I know this is it.
Kim Tschirret:So that's, that's how we got started.
Kim Tschirret:I read a book and, God flew the doors open and we've been running
Kim Tschirret:to keep up ever since for 15 years.
Tim Winders:I was about to ask kind of put a time step on it.
Tim Winders:So you're so you're around the 15 year mark Which means
Tim Winders:you're out of startup stage And, and you've kind of even gone through
Tim Winders:the stage of going through a few ups and downs and cycles, I'm guessing
Tim Winders:from a leadership standpoint.
Tim Winders:And what
Tim Winders:state, how would you define the current stage you're at, at the 15 year mark if,
Tim Winders:and whatever words come to mind are fine.
Tim Winders:It's not like a hard and fast, but what stage would you say you're
Tim Winders:at with the organization now?
Kim Tschirret:Well, I think we're maturing.
Kim Tschirret:We're a mature organization, but God is calling us to grow to help serve more
Kim Tschirret:kids, but not in a way that I think most businesses would think of growing.
Kim Tschirret:So it's a unique opportunity and unique way to grow.
Tim Winders:Do you feel pressure to grow or it's just time or
Tim Winders:what's the word behind that?
Kim Tschirret:Well, it's been probably seven or eight years since
Kim Tschirret:God gave us this big vision of true hope and real healing for every child.
Kim Tschirret:And initially, we said, No, we're like, God, we're in Raleigh.
Kim Tschirret:How is every child going to happen, with our location?
Kim Tschirret:what we didn't know is that this, book, Joey, that's about our beginnings and
Kim Tschirret:one of our rescued horses that was blinded from starvation was going to come
Kim Tschirret:out and become a national bestseller.
Kim Tschirret:And we've had all these people calling us and saying, will you help us get started?
Kim Tschirret:So It's been happening, and we're just starting to execute on the plan to help
Kim Tschirret:launch some additional ranches for more kids to have access to hope and healing.
Tim Winders:we're going to, Back up in a moment because I know your story your
Tim Winders:background and the work you're doing with horses fit together I will say
Tim Winders:nicely You just brought up something.
Tim Winders:I know a lot of listeners are leaders.
Tim Winders:They do strategy.
Tim Winders:I'm a strategic coach I work with organizations and What we will often do
Tim Winders:kim and I know you've got a background in this area too Is that we will
Tim Winders:sit down and develop strategy for?
Tim Winders:Growing and it'll include marketing and how do we get the word out and
Tim Winders:all of those things and all that's good I'm, not saying anything against
Tim Winders:it, but it appears as if there was no strategy around this book joey It
Tim Winders:appears as if even the author and and you i'm gonna let you tell the story
Tim Winders:it appears as if This literally was a gift from god that came to you and So I know
Tim Winders:I know you've got a business background and I also know you're a person of faith.
Tim Winders:And so can you kind of tie those things together?
Tim Winders:Because it seems as if something that you had really very little control
Tim Winders:over, very little thought into is something that's really sprinkled
Tim Winders:gasoline on this fire that you had
Tim Winders:that was going
Kim Tschirret:Yeah.
Kim Tschirret:Well, we always say as a leadership team that we have seen and experienced
Kim Tschirret:over the years that God gives us the vision, And then there's
Kim Tschirret:always a time period of waiting.
Kim Tschirret:it doesn't matter whatever new initiative he's taking us on.
Kim Tschirret:He gives us the vision and then we have to wait for a little while.
Kim Tschirret:And so, we've kind of gotten used to that.
Kim Tschirret:But yeah, at the time we were a small organization.
Kim Tschirret:And when this volunteer came and said, I want to write a book
Kim Tschirret:about Joey, I was like, sure.
Kim Tschirret:You know, unknown author, never published a book.
Kim Tschirret:it's a very powerful story.
Kim Tschirret:Joey was blinded from starvation.
Kim Tschirret:He was an alternate to the Olympics, at one point in his life.
Kim Tschirret:And, Tyndale fell in love with the story.
Kim Tschirret:They've never, they never work with unknown authors.
Kim Tschirret:So you can see how this is like, it's only God, like we can only point and
Kim Tschirret:go, okay, God, you totally did this.
Kim Tschirret:And then it's sold over a hundred thousand copies and.
Kim Tschirret:become a national bestseller and touch so many people's lives.
Kim Tschirret:And we get notes from around the world of people that have read
Kim Tschirret:the book and it's touched them and they want to make a donation.
Kim Tschirret:you know, we, at the time kind of on the heels of Joey had been
Kim Tschirret:feeling the pressure of the mental health crisis for kids, right.
Kim Tschirret:And how are we going to.
Kim Tschirret:Grow and expand and serve more kids because what we're doing really
Kim Tschirret:works and that's when these phone calls started to come about, will
Kim Tschirret:you, will you help me get started?
Kim Tschirret:And we have a very replicatable proven, not only program process, but
Kim Tschirret:business process, like a very specific business process that we run on.
Kim Tschirret:And, we wrestled for a long time.
Kim Tschirret:We asked ourselves a lot of questions and really.
Kim Tschirret:The board wrestled.
Kim Tschirret:We all prayed and really felt like we even had a donor that offered us land to
Kim Tschirret:franchise and it just wasn't right for us.
Kim Tschirret:So it's not about hope reigns glory.
Kim Tschirret:It's about the Lord.
Kim Tschirret:So this is our strategy and our direction.
Kim Tschirret:We're going to keep serving the kids at our ranch, and we're building this academy
Kim Tschirret:to train other people so that they can have hope and healing in their community.
Tim Winders:let me
Tim Winders:attempt to stay focused on, the order I'd like to go.
Tim Winders:first of all, I'm going to ask it in maybe a different way.
Tim Winders:I already think I know the answer to this, but I'm.
Tim Winders:Going to just state what I heard.
Tim Winders:There wasn't a strategy meeting where y'all are sitting there going We need
Tim Winders:to get more exposure Let's commission someone to write a book and that book
Tim Winders:is going to sell a bunch of copies and it's going to spread our nets wide so
Tim Winders:that we can Communicate with more people that wasn't on the radar at all, correct?
Kim Tschirret:Not at all.
Tim Winders:Was there even any hesitation when you said it was a volunteer?
Tim Winders:I guess it was someone who had volunteered in the organization.
Tim Winders:Was there any
Tim Winders:hesitation saying, you know, what if they don't do a good job?
Tim Winders:What if it comes across as a negative?
Tim Winders:Was there any thought in that arena at all?
Kim Tschirret:I honestly and I and she and I have had this conversation.
Kim Tschirret:I didn't even think the book would come out.
Kim Tschirret:I mean, it was such a long shot that that somebody who had never written a book
Kim Tschirret:before was going to write a book and this is back before like anybody can write
Kim Tschirret:a book today and you just publish it.
Kim Tschirret:I mean, that wasn't really a thing.
Kim Tschirret:This has been six or seven years ago, so I didn't even think it was
Kim Tschirret:going to come out, you know, And so, and then when she drafted it, you
Kim Tschirret:know, I thought it was, it was great.
Kim Tschirret:It's really the beginnings of Hope Reigns and our ups and downs.
Kim Tschirret:So, I mean, it's a very, it's a vulnerable book for us and for me.
Kim Tschirret:So, but it's a very beautiful story.
Kim Tschirret:and yeah, it's really impacted a lot of people.
Tim Winders:I also want to say, and you may have the statistics, I don't
Tim Winders:know the exact statistics, but there's a lot of books that get released,
Tim Winders:like you said, and there's a lot of
Tim Winders:books that get released, formal publishing, self publishing, etc.
Tim Winders:And we do know how many books most of those sell, right?
Kim Tschirret:Mm hmm.
Tim Winders:I mean, I don't want to burst anybody's bubble that might
Tim Winders:be listening in, but most books sell a handful, less than a hundred.
Tim Winders:And did I hear you say a hundred thousand copies?
Kim Tschirret:Over a hundred thousand
Tim Winders:So, so phenomenal.
Tim Winders:All right.
Tim Winders:So, so I've circled around and we've kind of come to this.
Tim Winders:Okay.
Tim Winders:We, we can say that there was nothing other than God's
Tim Winders:hand was in that
Kim Tschirret:Yeah.
Kim Tschirret:And then I think God had been planting for a while in our hearts this idea
Kim Tschirret:of, you know, helping others or giving away what he's given us, right?
Kim Tschirret:And that sort got fueled and, and then there were many, many years,
Kim Tschirret:like I said, where we were going, what are we going to do with this?
Kim Tschirret:So, yeah.
Tim Winders:All right, so then that ties into the other thing.
Tim Winders:I think I was able to keep it in my head so that I could pull it back out.
Tim Winders:And that is just something that we talk about quite a bit here is the difference
Tim Winders:between what I'll call the, the way of the kingdom of God, and then the way
Tim Winders:of the world system.
Tim Winders:And we can talk about business principles.
Tim Winders:We can talk about the way business works.
Tim Winders:Y'all mentioned franchise in your board meeting, you said in
Tim Winders:your, in your leadership team.
Tim Winders:And I think one of the things that is a challenge for people in a role
Tim Winders:like you're in, I'm in, others, people that I work with, is, you know, we're
Tim Winders:citizens of this kingdom of God that has But yet we still are functioning,
Tim Winders:living, hanging out in this world system.
Tim Winders:And so, I actually was bringing all that up to do kind of a follow up to the
Tim Winders:discussion about the growth expansion.
Tim Winders:You mentioned franchise.
Tim Winders:And
Tim Winders:I actually just had a conversation with a client for two days.
Tim Winders:We were doing our core foundation session and they're growing tremendously.
Tim Winders:But what are some other things that you can share from y'all's
Tim Winders:brainstorming from your
Kim Tschirret:Yeah, like how we made the decision.
Kim Tschirret:So we're,
Kim Tschirret:instead of franchising, we're replicating.
Kim Tschirret:That's really
Tim Winders:It's that I will often use the word duplicating.
Tim Winders:I'll look at business
Tim Winders:models often and I'll say, is this duplicatable?
Tim Winders:Is that, would you say that's the
Tim Winders:same word, similar word?
Kim Tschirret:Yeah.
Kim Tschirret:Yeah.
Kim Tschirret:Replicate, duplicate.
Kim Tschirret:Yeah, because we just didn't, you know, franchising is just
Kim Tschirret:a whole beast in and of itself.
Kim Tschirret:And then you're managing all that and you're making sure everybody's
Kim Tschirret:doing exactly what you said.
Kim Tschirret:and who are we to say that we have the perfect right way to do anything?
Kim Tschirret:You know, I mean, we just really, you know, we have our three year plan.
Kim Tschirret:that we execute on yearly, right?
Kim Tschirret:put together through a lot of prayer and seeking God what
Kim Tschirret:we think he wants us to do.
Kim Tschirret:And then we execute on our plan and we leave things a little open because
Kim Tschirret:he might change some things, right?
Kim Tschirret:Or he might slow some things down.
Kim Tschirret:And so it's, it's really trying to discern, God, where are you?
Kim Tschirret:And there are some things that have happened over the years.
Kim Tschirret:That I know we're headed in the wrong direction.
Kim Tschirret:Like when I'm banging my head against the wall and I'm trying
Kim Tschirret:to make something happen, it's like, Ooh, are you in this God?
Kim Tschirret:Like, where are you?
Kim Tschirret:You know?
Kim Tschirret:And, and then there's the enemy.
Kim Tschirret:It's a hard walk and really discerning where you are.
Tim Winders:So one thing, and we'll get into this shortly, Kim, is I know
Tim Winders:your background is one that you felt strongly about achieving, performing.
Tim Winders:the reason I know a good bit about that is that my wife, Kami Came from a similar
Tim Winders:situation and you know, we could use words like, in fact, we were just talking out
Tim Winders:back of our RV here earlier, kind of in me, easing into this conversation was
Tim Winders:that, you know, control being in control of situations is also a byproduct of that.
Tim Winders:And I'm teasing a little bit of the conversation you are about
Tim Winders:to have about your background.
Kim Tschirret:absolutely.
Tim Winders:the reason I bring it up here when we're talking about leadership,
Tim Winders:leading an organization, and then you brought up that you have a three
Tim Winders:year plan, but you keep it loose and flexible and you're expanding, you're
Tim Winders:duplicating or replicating this model to other places, often control Is
Tim Winders:lost when that happens and it can make
Tim Winders:people uncomfortable if they have On the spectrum a higher level of control.
Tim Winders:How's that been for you?
Tim Winders:Knowing that some of that's in your past.
Tim Winders:I'm not saying you're that way now, even though
Kim Tschirret:Mm hmm.
Tim Winders:Sometimes we have that it's part of what helps us succeed
Kim Tschirret:Yes.
Tim Winders:can be our kryptonite if we allow it to talk a little
Tim Winders:bit about your journey In that
Tim Winders:space, how
Kim Tschirret:Yeah, we were about four to five years into creating
Kim Tschirret:her brains and I was so exhausted.
Kim Tschirret:I had two little kids and everybody knows startup is hard and I one day thought
Kim Tschirret:I was having a heart attack and ended up going to the ER I was having panic
Kim Tschirret:attacks, And what I realized in that process is that I was still performing.
Kim Tschirret:And I was driving myself to accomplish because I wasn't worthy in and of myself,
Kim Tschirret:And so that's my value performance.
Kim Tschirret:and yes, control, because I thought I knew the way things needed to happen,
Kim Tschirret:because that's all about safety for me.
Kim Tschirret:If I know what's going to happen, if I can predict, then I'm going
Kim Tschirret:to feel safe and secure, right?
Kim Tschirret:So that's just been a huge obstacle for me personally to overcome.
Kim Tschirret:and as an organization, we're very, I mean, driving is in our DNA.
Kim Tschirret:we are not, low achieving people, so it's a hard mix, right?
Kim Tschirret:But, you know, I think that, I've gotten better over the years.
Kim Tschirret:It's not something I don't think I'm ever going to get over, so to speak.
Kim Tschirret:But, yeah,
Tim Winders:do you balance this is a great conversation that I want to state
Tim Winders:right here was not on my mind when we first started, but this is powerful for
Tim Winders:leaders because there's so many people that are leading from the place that
Tim Winders:you're you're in how do you balance?
Tim Winders:Pace you just mentioned you were Going at a pace that led to some
Tim Winders:anxiety and things like that I think a lot of leaders are either there
Tim Winders:or close to that right now
Kim Tschirret:Yep.
Tim Winders:And one of the things with the team I just recently met with I wrote
Tim Winders:it on an index card early in the process.
Tim Winders:They were such a fast moving organization.
Tim Winders:I wrote slow down With even the few days that we were spending together
Tim Winders:and I kept it in front of me the whole time it was very Awkward at
Tim Winders:times because they struggle with slowing down, but we needed to.
Tim Winders:So talk, I mean, all of that to say, just talk about pace.
Tim Winders:What is your
Tim Winders:personal pace?
Tim Winders:What is the
Tim Winders:pace of the organization?
Tim Winders:I mean, because you have what I would call a very.
Tim Winders:Patient requiring, I don't want to say product, ministry, role, whatever you do.
Tim Winders:It's not like, it's not like y'all are churning through thousands
Tim Winders:of people on a weekly basis.
Tim Winders:So pace, that's the topic.
Tim Winders:Anything that the Lord
Tim Winders:leads you to say about that.
Kim Tschirret:Yeah, well, it's so fascinating to him because this is
Kim Tschirret:where our horses teach us so much, you know, and I think as far as pace goes,
Kim Tschirret:like we've been in different places for pace, like building, growing, driving.
Kim Tschirret:Right now, we are, really kind of slowing down to go fast, right?
Kim Tschirret:We're slowing down.
Kim Tschirret:We're assessing where we are so that we can build.
Kim Tschirret:Build any additional resources or, internal capacity, so that
Kim Tschirret:we can continue our expansion.
Kim Tschirret:we have a very special culture, and that is really important to us.
Kim Tschirret:Our staff, we have a 94 percent engagement rate with our staff, and, it's comes
Kim Tschirret:from our core values and that we really live and breathe our core values, being
Kim Tschirret:authentic, Sharing our story, you know, Jesus heals a lot of different things.
Kim Tschirret:But, I think when you talk about pace, with the kind of, equine
Kim Tschirret:therapy that we do, right.
Kim Tschirret:Which is about relationship.
Kim Tschirret:Where our horses are not here to perform, they don't have a task to do.
Kim Tschirret:Their job is to connect relationally and emotionally and
Kim Tschirret:be present with these kids, right?
Kim Tschirret:And for us to facilitate that.
Kim Tschirret:And in our line of work, you don't go in and drive a horse, right?
Kim Tschirret:So the pace and the way you present yourself really is going to determine
Kim Tschirret:What's going to happen, whether they're going to want to engage with you or not.
Kim Tschirret:Because if you're all harried and running and stressed out and you come up to
Kim Tschirret:them, they are going to be like, whoa, I want nothing to do with you today
Kim Tschirret:because you are completely unregulated.
Kim Tschirret:Right.
Kim Tschirret:So it's just really important internally what's happening with us.
Kim Tschirret:and yeah, we learn a lot from our horses in that way.
Tim Winders:Very good.
Tim Winders:And so let's start connecting a few other dots here.
Tim Winders:You mentioned that you are in the space that you're in because
Tim Winders:somewhere in your past you had interest or connected with horses.
Tim Winders:And then you also said that what you do with the children that come
Tim Winders:through also is related to your past.
Tim Winders:So let's jump back whatever you believe with the line of questioning
Tim Winders:and the pace and all that we're doing with this conversation.
Tim Winders:However you would like to tell that story, let's, let's go ahead and share that now.
Tim Winders:Kim's background and how how this all what was going on before hope reigns
Kim Tschirret:Oh yeah, well, I, grew up in Ohio in an upper middle class home
Kim Tschirret:that looked really great on the outside.
Kim Tschirret:my dad was a very successful businessman and it just looked really good.
Kim Tschirret:But what people didn't know is on the inside, it was not good.
Kim Tschirret:he was an alcoholic and very emotionally and verbally abusive and we just never
Kim Tschirret:knew what was coming through the door.
Kim Tschirret:You know, the garage door would go up and it was just all of us were like, Huh.
Kim Tschirret:You know, what's, what's coming through that door.
Kim Tschirret:And, there was just never any rhyme or reason.
Kim Tschirret:And, we were never allowed to talk about it.
Kim Tschirret:You know, anybody who, has addiction in their life knows it's very
Kim Tschirret:hidden and it's very shameful.
Kim Tschirret:And I really grew up feeling crazy.
Kim Tschirret:Like.
Kim Tschirret:I knew something wasn't right, but we weren't allowed to talk
Kim Tschirret:about how it wasn't right.
Kim Tschirret:And I think a lot of kids, in my position, they either, go internally, right?
Kim Tschirret:They, they implode and sort of, you know, just go inside
Kim Tschirret:themselves, or they perform.
Kim Tschirret:And I totally went the performance route, because I just tried everything I could
Kim Tschirret:to get my dad's, love and attention.
Kim Tschirret:Which never really worked.
Kim Tschirret:and, for some reason, I think it was because it looked good.
Kim Tschirret:He ended up buying me a horse and, he ended up buying me this really, for my
Kim Tschirret:first horse was just this Morgan horse that I just had fun with, which I loved.
Kim Tschirret:And then when we moved from Ohio to Oklahoma, he bought me this
Kim Tschirret:really expensive show horse.
Kim Tschirret:And I loved that horse.
Kim Tschirret:And, you know, the, the barn was like the place where I felt safe.
Kim Tschirret:It was a place of comfort for me, and my horse was really the only
Kim Tschirret:thing I ever whispered my secrets to of what was happening in my life.
Kim Tschirret:but because he bought me a show horse, I had to sort of perform in that, right?
Kim Tschirret:I had to go into the show ring and perform, which wasn't what I wanted.
Kim Tschirret:Like, if I had my druthers, I would just hang out with my horse, play with my
Kim Tschirret:horse, and relationally connect with my horse, which is exactly what we do today.
Kim Tschirret:Brains, um, which is really crazy.
Kim Tschirret:But, I sold my horse, where my dad sold my horse.
Kim Tschirret:And I went to college, where my dad wanted me to go to, and I ended up
Kim Tschirret:studying marketing because my sister did that and I didn't know what else.
Kim Tschirret:and so embarked on a marketing career that I think I was pretty successful at,
Kim Tschirret:worked at a lot of, smaller businesses, during the dot com boom, companies that
Kim Tschirret:went IPO or got sold and really learned so much about, Business and marketing.
Kim Tschirret:And, then I started to get this poll from God, I went through so much of
Kim Tschirret:my life, Tim, I'm sure maybe some of your listeners can relate to this.
Kim Tschirret:My life was this when, then.
Kim Tschirret:Like when this happens, then I'm going to be happy, right?
Kim Tschirret:When I move, then I'm going to be happy when I have this relationship, right?
Kim Tschirret:And there was always this emptiness inside of me, right?
Kim Tschirret:Because I had no value as a human being, and didn't feel loved for who I was.
Kim Tschirret:this is, when God really started pursuing me, and I ended up finding Jesus after
Kim Tschirret:I got married and my husband and I moved to Raleigh and that was the catalyst.
Kim Tschirret:I always said, I'm never going to drive a minivan and I'm never
Kim Tschirret:going to stay home with my kids.
Kim Tschirret:And guess what happened?
Kim Tschirret:Because my work was empty.
Kim Tschirret:I was just making other people a lot of money.
Kim Tschirret:And so I stayed home for a period of time.
Kim Tschirret:And then that ties into the tail end of what I shared with you about when God
Kim Tschirret:started to really resurrect this or plant this dream, in me to help other kids.
Tim Winders:Was there any component of faith During your growing up years at all
Kim Tschirret:No, I mean we would go to church because it
Kim Tschirret:looked good, like Christmas, Easter, but it was always a fight.
Kim Tschirret:Like there was always this argument, are we going or are we not going?
Kim Tschirret:So, I didn't have any connection to a faith, when I was a child.
Tim Winders:there was the, I'm, I'm going to use two words and you correct
Tim Winders:me if these are incorrect words, but this is how I've been defining a lot
Tim Winders:of things with a lot of spiritual studies and things that I've been doing.
Tim Winders:There's chaos and there's peace.
Tim Winders:One of the things that Jesus says is that He brings His peace.
Tim Winders:And there's a lot to that.
Tim Winders:I also think that peace is a word in our current modern day culture.
Tim Winders:We may not even have a good grasp of it.
Tim Winders:We think world peace.
Tim Winders:We think peace between countries,
Kim Tschirret:hmm.
Tim Winders:harmony, things like that.
Tim Winders:But truthfully, I think the foundation of peace is peace between.
Tim Winders:Us and God and then other things spill
Tim Winders:from there.
Tim Winders:But anyway, so he brings our peace But it sounds as if and I know this from
Tim Winders:speaking with my wife because she was the Child of alcoholic parents went
Tim Winders:through divorce suicide attempts from her mother a lot of stuff like that
Tim Winders:I didn't it sounded a little flippant the way I said that I did not mean
Tim Winders:for it to come across that way I'm
Kim Tschirret:yeah.
Tim Winders:giving facts
Kim Tschirret:Yeah.
Tim Winders:Did you find peace in the barn?
Kim Tschirret:Yes, that's what I found in the barn.
Kim Tschirret:It was, it's like the things that we teach people, that our horses
Kim Tschirret:teach us now, is being still, being present, slowing down, like way down.
Kim Tschirret:these are the principles, these are the truths of horses, right?
Kim Tschirret:Doing everything, everything is about relationship and connection first.
Kim Tschirret:Always about relationship first.
Kim Tschirret:And so, That's what I was experiencing and what I wanted, but wasn't allowed.
Kim Tschirret:I was only allowed snippets of it, you know, at the time that I could grab it.
Tim Winders:So, is it possible?
Tim Winders:I'm about to try to connect something that maybe we shouldn't, but was Jesus
Tim Winders:in your life in the barn at a time that you may not have had Jesus in your life?
Tim Winders:Right.
Kim Tschirret:sure.
Kim Tschirret:I mean, who could make up this?
Kim Tschirret:This is all God's plan.
Kim Tschirret:I know Jesus was with me, you know, I just didn't know it at the time, right?
Kim Tschirret:Because this horse and this connection was a gift that he planted in my heart
Kim Tschirret:of something that I'm so passionate about that I now want other people
Kim Tschirret:to be able to enjoy and experience.
Kim Tschirret:And that's all we do at our ranch.
Kim Tschirret:showing and performing is great with horses, it's just not what we do.
Tim Winders:So, all right, there's an exercise that you brought up that
Tim Winders:is sort of like in between here.
Tim Winders:And I think I may have heard you on another podcast mentioned this,
Tim Winders:but you said that you were asked, I don't know if it was a Bible study
Tim Winders:or if you were in some counseling or
Tim Winders:something like that, something
Tim Winders:like what is something that you once enjoyed doing or the anyway,
Tim Winders:I've kind of gotten it started.
Tim Winders:So tell that again and, and then I've got something I want to ask about it.
Kim Tschirret:Yeah, so we were at a women's retreat and the woman asked
Kim Tschirret:the question to all of us, what is something that you used to love
Kim Tschirret:to do that you don't do anymore?
Kim Tschirret:And I think as women, we wear so many hats, right?
Kim Tschirret:We multitask, we raise our kids, a lot of us work.
Kim Tschirret:I mean, it's, and then we get lost in the shuffle.
Kim Tschirret:You know, and I think you can even say that for men.
Kim Tschirret:You know, we don't value ourselves.
Kim Tschirret:We don't put our, self care.
Kim Tschirret:first and live out of that.
Kim Tschirret:We empty ourselves first.
Kim Tschirret:Right.
Kim Tschirret:And so I think her point was, like, are you enjoying your life?
Kim Tschirret:Like, do you have a passion?
Kim Tschirret:Do you have something that that's fun that brings you joy and brings you life
Kim Tschirret:right outside of your normal duties?
Kim Tschirret:And that's just when horses popped into my head.
Kim Tschirret:And honestly, I hadn't thought about it since I sold my horse.
Kim Tschirret:that would have been 25 years, you know?
Kim Tschirret:So yeah.
Tim Winders:Do you,
Tim Winders:here's the reason I bring it up that obviously was an event.
Tim Winders:It was a time it's probably been at least 15 years ago because it was before this
Tim Winders:current, this current project iteration was started.
Tim Winders:Is that something that we need to ask ourselves more often?
Kim Tschirret:It is something we need to, and I think it's, a different question
Kim Tschirret:for different seasons of life, right?
Kim Tschirret:Because when you're young and you're staying at home with your kids, that
Kim Tschirret:can look really different than my phase, which is an empty nester, right?
Kim Tschirret:I think God gives all of us passions.
Kim Tschirret:in fact, I talked to our donors about this a lot, like we don't
Kim Tschirret:have to be everybody's thing, like go find your thing, right?
Kim Tschirret:What has God wired you to be passionate and care about, right?
Kim Tschirret:Whether that's the homeless or building wells in Africa or kids in crisis
Kim Tschirret:and then go, go there and go deep and give and be a part of that community.
Tim Winders:So as you first realized something with horses was part of maybe
Tim Winders:an assignment that you had, but also it was part of your healing process.
Kim Tschirret:hmm.
Tim Winders:Anything that you want to share about that, and then we're probably
Tim Winders:going to talk more about organization.
Tim Winders:But to me, it's so fascinating that this story is about Kim.
Tim Winders:And it's about a ministry and an organization.
Tim Winders:That's the way God
Tim Winders:works too.
Tim Winders:It's like we think it's what we do for the world and the impact and all this kind of
Tim Winders:stuff when at the end of the day there may be a time in this next
Tim Winders:realm where God just whispers in your ear, you hear, Kim, just so you
Tim Winders:know, all this was just about you.
Kim Tschirret:Yeah.
Kim Tschirret:Well, I actually had to wrestle with that.
Kim Tschirret:we brought in a specific horse that was the kind of horse I grew up riding that
Kim Tschirret:I really wanted to have in our program.
Kim Tschirret:And everybody was like, Kim, she's not going to work in our program,
Kim Tschirret:and tried for several years.
Kim Tschirret:And what I didn't realize is that she was for me.
Kim Tschirret:She was not for the ministry, but I couldn't receive her.
Kim Tschirret:For me, So it's been such a healing journey for me.
Kim Tschirret:It still is.
Kim Tschirret:And our staff will say that and our volunteers will say that
Kim Tschirret:because so many times we come to something like, Oh, I'm here.
Kim Tschirret:I'm going to help you.
Kim Tschirret:I'm going to do all this stuff.
Kim Tschirret:And you don't realize like, we say around our ranch, we're all session kids and
Kim Tschirret:God wants true hope and real healing for us as much as he does for our kids.
Kim Tschirret:And that's what ends up happening when we really lean into.
Kim Tschirret:The way our program is structured and the skills that we're building that
Kim Tschirret:horses teach us and that healing happens.
Kim Tschirret:You can't help but experience that yourself.
Tim Winders:that's getting larger,
Tim Winders:how Do we, do you keep in mind that, you know, this is about the impact.
Tim Winders:This is about the big vision.
Tim Winders:It is about the mission, but there's also Kim that's part of this.
Tim Winders:how do you do that?
Tim Winders:let me ask it this way.
Tim Winders:How are you doing with that right now?
Tim Winders:Are you hyper focused on organization or are you still very keenly aware of.
Tim Winders:Your soul, your heart, your mind, you know, anyway, is that an okay question?
Tim Winders:And
Kim Tschirret:Absolutely.
Kim Tschirret:And I think, you know, my role is changing a lot and my role has continued to
Kim Tschirret:change, you know, throughout the years.
Kim Tschirret:I'm like our visionary.
Kim Tschirret:I'm the one that's Thinking about the future and where are we going and
Kim Tschirret:meeting with donors and making sure all of our money comes in I Have a
Kim Tschirret:fantastic COO Who's our integrator, she's the one who can go Kim that's not
Kim Tschirret:happening or Kim that can happen, right?
Kim Tschirret:and so she's kind of like the filter and she manages all the staff and
Kim Tschirret:the leadership team We're really in a phase where we're really continuing
Kim Tschirret:to raise up I'm really stepping more out because I'm really working on
Kim Tschirret:this future, this future vision.
Kim Tschirret:Which is really, really exciting for me, and it's kind of weird and scary, right?
Kim Tschirret:I think because we're in a place with the organization really slowing down,
Kim Tschirret:I've realized over the last however many years that I haven't been doing
Kim Tschirret:a good job taking care of myself.
Kim Tschirret:so, my self care is my number one priority.
Kim Tschirret:It's God and then it's Kim.
Kim Tschirret:It's not God and then Kim.
Kim Tschirret:My marriage and Hope Reigns and my kids and I get mixed in there somewhere.
Kim Tschirret:I'm really making a concerted effort, to execute a really strong self
Kim Tschirret:care plan, which is going to make me a better leader, a better wife,
Kim Tschirret:a better mom, a better everything.
Tim Winders:How much time do you actually spend in the barn?
Tim Winders:Do,
Kim Tschirret:you mean me
Tim Winders:do, yeah.
Tim Winders:and the barn is a bit of a metaphor here for what,
Kim Tschirret:you mean like what I did
Tim Winders:Yeah.
Tim Winders:It's like, you know, there was a, there was obviously that was a place of peace.
Tim Winders:That was where Jesus met you.
Tim Winders:And then later in life you realized that was a connection.
Tim Winders:And then now there's an organization around all of that
Kim Tschirret:Yeah,
Tim Winders:and you're raising money and you're doing the
Tim Winders:podcast and blah, blah, blah.
Tim Winders:I mean, all, listen,
Tim Winders:leaders, the people listening in going, Oh boy.
Kim Tschirret:yeah,
Tim Winders:how often are you spending it
Tim Winders:in the, proverbial barn maybe?
Kim Tschirret:Well, the literal of that is the horse I mentioned that we
Kim Tschirret:brought in, we ended up determining she wasn't a good fit to be at Hope Reins.
Kim Tschirret:And thankfully, one of our board members lives right around the corner
Kim Tschirret:and she has her own rescued horses.
Kim Tschirret:And so she lives, her name is Selah.
Kim Tschirret:She lives there.
Kim Tschirret:And that's my space and my place.
Kim Tschirret:And it's actually so much better for me because then I don't have to be
Kim Tschirret:like, I love being at Hope Reins.
Kim Tschirret:It's so great, but it's people are always, Hey, what's going on?
Kim Tschirret:You know what I mean?
Kim Tschirret:It's not the place where I can just stop and have that moment.
Kim Tschirret:And so I go out and see her several times a week and we hang out
Kim Tschirret:and, and that's, that's my time.
Kim Tschirret:That's my connection.
Tim Winders:What does that do for the rest of your week
Tim Winders:when you spend that time?
Tim Winders:And what does it do for your week when you don't spend that time?
Tim Winders:Contrast the two.
Tim Winders:And the reason I'm digging on this while you're pausing, I am seeing in the world
Tim Winders:that we are currently in, leaders that would consider themselves a faith, let's
Tim Winders:say kingdom of God, that this topic is.
Kim Tschirret:Yeah.
Tim Winders:are they finding their peace because they're they're generating
Tim Winders:a lot There's a lot of chaos and all the rest of the organization.
Tim Winders:So contrast the two I mean, do you notice anything like oh, this is what I notice
Tim Winders:here and you don't have to make it up If there's no difference i'm cool with that,
Tim Winders:too
Kim Tschirret:no.
Kim Tschirret:And it's really more than just going in.
Kim Tschirret:It's more than barn time.
Kim Tschirret:But if you're using barn time as an analogy of like.
Kim Tschirret:My time with God, like
Kim Tschirret:my solitude, my silence, my connection,
Kim Tschirret:that is every morning, 5.
Kim Tschirret:30, 6 a.
Kim Tschirret:m.
Kim Tschirret:and a not rushed time and man, when it's not happening, I
Kim Tschirret:feel it, after a day or two.
Kim Tschirret:So it's, it's so vital because.
Kim Tschirret:How else can you get alone and really know what, what God is showing you,
Kim Tschirret:you know, where he wants you to go.
Kim Tschirret:I'm, I'm marinating in Psalm 25 right now, just talking about the steadfast love
Kim Tschirret:and the mercy of God, and just waiting on him and making my path straight Lord.
Kim Tschirret:And, you know, I've done.
Kim Tschirret:running ahead of God For a long time and I don't want to do it anymore.
Kim Tschirret:I just don't have the appetite for that anymore it sucks the
Kim Tschirret:life out of you And it's just not something i'm interested in it.
Kim Tschirret:It's not fruitful for me I would much rather slow down keep my connection
Kim Tschirret:and go wherever it is he wants to go because Then I have stories to share
Kim Tschirret:with you that you can't make up, you know, because they're they're about god
Kim Tschirret:They're for his glory and not mine, right?
Tim Winders:the interesting thing that i've been observing and I get to work
Tim Winders:with leadership teams So I see this is that the community I don't want to say
Tim Winders:my time gets magnified or productivity.
Tim Winders:Well, I don't even say that, you know, in business and leadership.
Tim Winders:So many times we can get extremely results oriented, you know, we could,
Tim Winders:you know, like, well, how many, how many horses have you rescued?
Tim Winders:How many kids, you know, are in the current program and what, how many
Tim Winders:branches or whatever we're going to call them ranches that, how many do you have?
Tim Winders:and and yes, I think it's important to know the numbers.
Tim Winders:But something that's fascinating to me recently is that the less
Tim Winders:I do or we'll say the more time I spend in the barn During this
Tim Winders:the more time I spend in the barn
Tim Winders:the more I look at the the results are popping up that I probably wanted but
Tim Winders:yet maybe they just Keep happening.
Tim Winders:It's it's and I believe leaders that consider themselves
Tim Winders:kingdom minded leaders.
Tim Winders:That is
Tim Winders:the most important thing to be doing right now.
Tim Winders:The still quiet
Tim Winders:time to know that he is.
Kim Tschirret:Absolutely, because it really goes back to our motivation,
Kim Tschirret:and I think as a leader, sometimes it's really hard to realize that your
Kim Tschirret:motivations are not great, right?
Kim Tschirret:It's, you say you're doing something for God, and yet, You know, where
Kim Tschirret:is God in what you're doing?
Kim Tschirret:And why are you killing yourself and driving your team?
Kim Tschirret:And, you know, so it's hard sometimes.
Kim Tschirret:And it's just, it's part of the growth process.
Kim Tschirret:And I've had that too.
Kim Tschirret:I've had to check my motivations and go, Oh, wow.
Kim Tschirret:Ow, yuck.
Kim Tschirret:This is not, this is not godly at all.
Tim Winders:So you mentioned that you were trained in marketing and probably
Tim Winders:have A lot of skills probably can do marketing plans business plans all of
Tim Winders:that type stuff there a lot of those skills that you learn that are being
Tim Winders:implemented today in the organization?
Tim Winders:Are there some are there none?
Tim Winders:Is it different?
Tim Winders:give a relationship of Old I want to say old kim Uh
Kim Tschirret:Yeah.
Tim Winders:Pre and now Kim running this
Tim Winders:organization
Kim Tschirret:Yeah.
Kim Tschirret:Well, I mean, my background in brand management and brand development and
Kim Tschirret:product you know, working in that whole crazy dot com boom of, marketing your
Kim Tschirret:company on TV just to get it sold.
Kim Tschirret:You know, it was just it was a crazy time.
Kim Tschirret:So there was so many different skills that that I learned.
Kim Tschirret:But I think, some of the biggest connections I would make is our brand.
Kim Tschirret:Is really, really important at Hope Brains.
Kim Tschirret:And I say that to mean a lot of different things.
Kim Tschirret:Like the moment somebody steps foot on our property, that's when it starts, right?
Kim Tschirret:Or they see our website or they receive something in the mail.
Kim Tschirret:So we have a very specific look of our photos and, you know, somebody
Kim Tschirret:receives something from Hope Brains.
Kim Tschirret:If it didn't have our logo on it, they would know automatically it's us.
Kim Tschirret:even just people will say stepping foot in our property, Tim, it's like, it's clean.
Kim Tschirret:It's calm.
Kim Tschirret:It's safe.
Kim Tschirret:Like the first thing we want a kid to feel when they walk on our
Kim Tschirret:property is safety because without feeling safe, they can't heal.
Kim Tschirret:Right.
Kim Tschirret:And so we just do things with excellence and we take care of what God's given us.
Kim Tschirret:We steward our resources really well.
Kim Tschirret:And marketing has always been a very important at Hope Reigns.
Kim Tschirret:It is a seat at our leadership table.
Kim Tschirret:And I think a lot of times companies say, Oh, let's cut marketing
Kim Tschirret:because sales are down or whatever.
Kim Tschirret:and it's just not always the right strategy.
Tim Winders:or even different is if it's a ministry or if it's something
Tim Winders:that's in Church world we need to do it differently because we're different.
Kim Tschirret:Marketing happens everywhere.
Kim Tschirret:it's the staff that stops for a moment on a donor tour and introduces them
Kim Tschirret:to the horse that they're working to.
Kim Tschirret:You know what I mean?
Kim Tschirret:it's how we answer the phone.
Kim Tschirret:it's all tied together.
Tim Winders:Is there anything no different that one does with
Tim Winders:marketing an organization like this where faith is a component.
Tim Winders:I mean, I, you don't hide the fact that y'all are followers of Jesus.
Tim Winders:I'm looking at the website right now.
Tim Winders:You know, it's not all over the place.
Tim Winders:But you don't have to do a lot of research To find out it's there Is
Tim Winders:there anything different that you do you have to consider versus what
Tim Winders:you did with a dot com company, you know, 25 30 years ago a different way
Tim Winders:of thinking any strategies that are different anything that comes to mind
Kim Tschirret:Well, I think, it's funny.
Kim Tschirret:we don't charge our clients for our services.
Kim Tschirret:They're completely free of charge.
Kim Tschirret:number one, because we're faith based and number two, because the majority
Kim Tschirret:of the kids that we serve live at or below the poverty line and they
Kim Tschirret:could never afford to go to school.
Kim Tschirret:See a therapist and get any help.
Kim Tschirret:And, we're based solely on donations.
Kim Tschirret:We don't take any government money.
Kim Tschirret:And so we are who we are and either people like that or they don't.
Kim Tschirret:And that's not the way most businesses run, right?
Kim Tschirret:Because you want to cater to everybody wanting whatever it is that you
Kim Tschirret:have so that you can be the leader.
Kim Tschirret:And so we've just learned a long time ago that we, we've really been working to
Kim Tschirret:connect with people who care about kids and in crisis that have a heart for what
Kim Tschirret:we do and God always provides, right?
Kim Tschirret:Because then they, they're very passionate.
Kim Tschirret:They too, most of the time have had their own impact, um,
Kim Tschirret:story with something traumatic.
Kim Tschirret:So they get where our kids are and they want to pay it forward.
Kim Tschirret:I don't know if that answered
Tim Winders:Yeah, it does because that is
Tim Winders:a different way of thinking and the ROI is different the ROI to me are
Tim Winders:some of the stories and I think I've heard some, as we sort of make a little
Tim Winders:bit of a transition here into talking more about where the Lord has you now
Tim Winders:with the organization, what are some
Tim Winders:things that you're looking for?
Tim Winders:What are opportunities?
Tim Winders:what are some things that you might have need of?
Tim Winders:I've heard a story about a horse hero Let's talk about the
Tim Winders:real returns of what this organization does.
Kim Tschirret:Yeah, and we're working on a really special project right now,
Kim Tschirret:our 15th year anniversary, and we have 15 of our adult kids that have been
Kim Tschirret:through our program that are thriving right now, and I can't wait to be able
Kim Tschirret:to share all those stories with you.
Kim Tschirret:They're so excited to share where they are today.
Kim Tschirret:the majority of them have said they wouldn't even be alive, you know, or
Kim Tschirret:where they are without hope brains.
Kim Tschirret:I think the story you're talking about gives a little context
Kim Tschirret:of what happens in sessions.
Kim Tschirret:Lily was one of our kids that, at the time was five years old.
Kim Tschirret:her mother was a drug addict and overdosing on the couch.
Kim Tschirret:And she called 9 1 1 to get she and her little brother rescued, rescued
Kim Tschirret:her mom, saved her mom's life.
Kim Tschirret:And then, You know, got removed and put into the foster care system, which for
Kim Tschirret:a lot of kids is not a good situation.
Kim Tschirret:And unfortunately for her little brother, the caregiver was
Kim Tschirret:keeping him locked in a dog cage.
Kim Tschirret:And this made the news here in Raleigh.
Kim Tschirret:I mean, just horrific abuse.
Kim Tschirret:And at five years old, she was so brave to him.
Kim Tschirret:She found an iPad.
Kim Tschirret:She went and took a photo of her brother in this dog cage
Kim Tschirret:and showed it to a safe adult.
Kim Tschirret:And again, got them rescued.
Kim Tschirret:And, you know, when the kids come to Hope Reigns, the first things that we do is
Kim Tschirret:we take them on a tour and we introduce them to all the horses and their stories.
Kim Tschirret:And most of the time a kid will resonate and connect with a certain horse's story.
Kim Tschirret:And then sometimes a horse picks a child.
Kim Tschirret:Lily came that day with her new family.
Kim Tschirret:she and her little brother had been adopted and they came through the
Kim Tschirret:gate and she literally stood in front of her brother, like protecting him.
Kim Tschirret:Cause this has been her whole life that she's had to take care of.
Kim Tschirret:Protect him, right?
Kim Tschirret:And, as they started on the tour and they were going down the fence line,
Kim Tschirret:one of our horses, who was sleeping in his shelter, saw Lily and just made a
Kim Tschirret:beeline and walked right to her all the way across the paddock, put his head over
Kim Tschirret:the fence, right on her little chest, and took a big sigh And everybody including
Kim Tschirret:Lily were, was weeping because here's a little girl that had never been chosen.
Kim Tschirret:She'd never been prioritized.
Kim Tschirret:She's had to fight her whole life.
Kim Tschirret:And of course Hero was her horse.
Kim Tschirret:And, this is where the God thing comes.
Kim Tschirret:Because we can't make this up.
Kim Tschirret:We can't make something like that happen.
Kim Tschirret:And then to process with this girl, Lily, like, you're a hero.
Kim Tschirret:You saved your mom.
Kim Tschirret:you saved your brother.
Kim Tschirret:And who chose you?
Kim Tschirret:But the horse name Hero, right?
Kim Tschirret:And so she's either going to run her brain someday, or she's going to be the
Kim Tschirret:president of the United States because she's so courageous and brave and has
Kim Tschirret:experienced so much healing out of the ranch and has really built so much
Kim Tschirret:resiliency to help her into her future.
Kim Tschirret:And it's just doing so fantastic.
Tim Winders:You use the word resilience.
Tim Winders:What's interesting is, I'm just thinking about a recent team that I was working
Tim Winders:with and I actually use words, I said we need to be a more resilient
Tim Winders:leadership team.
Tim Winders:when you use that word, maybe not The way I used it, even though it probably
Tim Winders:is similar to talk a little bit more about why it's important, maybe even if
Tim Winders:it had something to do with your story.
Tim Winders:why is that part of I don't say your marketing that I see?
Tim Winders:what is resilience come up so often?
Tim Winders:And what I see when I look at Hope Reigns.
Kim Tschirret:Yeah, well the four things horses teach us trust communication
Kim Tschirret:boundaries and leadership are the skills that we teach our kids that the resiliency
Kim Tschirret:skills, and they're all, they're all rooted in scripture and who God says
Kim Tschirret:we are right, I am safe, I matter.
Kim Tschirret:Um, I'm not alone and I have purpose perfectly aligned with, with these
Kim Tschirret:four things sources teach us.
Kim Tschirret:And then we discovered, many years ago that Harvard did this huge study on
Kim Tschirret:kids and trauma and how kids needed to build resiliency and trauma.
Kim Tschirret:That's how you like hope and healing equals resiliency.
Kim Tschirret:And what they found was that kids really needed one safe adult relationship.
Kim Tschirret:There's four skills that they say kids need to build.
Kim Tschirret:We call it the recipe for resilience.
Kim Tschirret:But it's really, Tim, in the simplest terms, our ability to bounce back, right?
Kim Tschirret:and where you are bouncing from matters, right?
Kim Tschirret:If you're bouncing from a place of, where you're not healed.
Kim Tschirret:So many kids who don't heal from their trauma become the homeless,
Kim Tschirret:the incarcerated, the mentally ill, the drug addicted, right?
Kim Tschirret:So for us, them being able to heal and then onboarding these skills,
Kim Tschirret:because they're going to have hard things happen in their life.
Kim Tschirret:And we want them to always be able to go back to, Oh, I learned these coping
Kim Tschirret:skills, these really healthy skills.
Kim Tschirret:and take that into my adult life.
Kim Tschirret:And so that's why resiliency matters.
Kim Tschirret:And we measure what we value.
Kim Tschirret:We measure hope and healing out at our ranch.
Kim Tschirret:that's how we know what we do works.
Tim Winders:And I guess that, that's a powerful word.
Tim Winders:I love that, you know, hope and healing, and one of the things that's interesting
Tim Winders:is that in our culture today, you don't have to look around very much and know
Tim Winders:that there is a lot of hopelessness.
Tim Winders:And so it is interesting and, you know, we, we haven't mentioned this
Tim Winders:for those that might be with the audio, but the Hope Reigns is spelled R E
Tim Winders:I N S for a reason, not R A I N S.
Tim Winders:Kim, talk about what all goes on with one.
Tim Winders:You, you've got yours, I guess, your facility, your place in
Tim Winders:Raleigh there up in North Raleigh.
Tim Winders:And then we're going to talk about maybe more of the scale aspect,
Tim Winders:but just give a little bit of information about what happens at one.
Tim Winders:I'm guessing there's not.
Tim Winders:thousands that come through there.
Tim Winders:There may be some
Tim Winders:numbers that, you know, you can handle this or that, but just give me a little
Tim Winders:bit of information on one location and then we'll talk about the bigger picture.
Kim Tschirret:Well, yeah, where we are today, it's very different
Kim Tschirret:than where we started, right?
Kim Tschirret:But in a year, we're doing about 3, 000 little over 3,
Kim Tschirret:000 free of charge sessions.
Kim Tschirret:And this year we'll serve about 260 kids.
Kim Tschirret:And so what that looks like is that the kids come weekly.
Kim Tschirret:Our program starts first with one on one mentorship because,
Kim Tschirret:again, we have to build safety.
Kim Tschirret:Kids have to feel safe.
Kim Tschirret:They have to build connection and trust.
Kim Tschirret:Trust, boundaries, communication, and leadership are the skills that
Kim Tschirret:we're working on all the time.
Kim Tschirret:And then they move along our pathway.
Kim Tschirret:And they start building peer relationships and they start,
Kim Tschirret:you know, with leadership skills.
Kim Tschirret:we have Kids Give Back, which is our volunteer program where
Kim Tschirret:kids get to come and serve and give back, to the organization.
Kim Tschirret:and it's really about a three year process is what we see for a lot of
Kim Tschirret:our kids that they're with us, to really, heal and onboard, these skills.
Tim Winders:And so there's many people that they would think this
Tim Winders:is somewhat of a crass question, but it's, this is Business talk here.
Tim Winders:What is the cost overhead, et cetera?
Tim Winders:I'm sure you've probably got some degree of numbers here.
Tim Winders:What is the
Tim Winders:cost for either the visit or for someone that goes through the three year program
Tim Winders:for one of these children that do that?
Tim Winders:what do those numbers look like?
Kim Tschirret:Oh, yeah.
Kim Tschirret:Yeah.
Kim Tschirret:I mean, our budget this year is a little over 2 million, 2.
Kim Tschirret:2 million.
Kim Tschirret:And, and we've got 36 staff that do a lot of our sessions, but we also
Kim Tschirret:have 200 active volunteers, Tim, that really run our operations.
Kim Tschirret:And so we've got an 18 horses.
Kim Tschirret:So it's a lot to manage, but we like to talk to people about a child.
Kim Tschirret:We really, kids commit and parents commit to a year.
Kim Tschirret:And so year one is really the most vital because that's when they are in the most
Kim Tschirret:extreme trauma and they really need to come weekly, which ends up being about 40
Kim Tschirret:sessions, you know, throughout the year.
Kim Tschirret:And it costs us about 18, 000.
Kim Tschirret:And that's a direct cost of like number of kids, not, you know, how
Kim Tschirret:many sessions and cost per session.
Kim Tschirret:So if people want to sponsor a kid, it costs about 18, 000 a year.
Tim Winders:And so many people, when we talk situations like this, they will
Tim Winders:say money is our biggest challenge.
Tim Winders:I don't think that
Tim Winders:way, just so you know, because I'm looking at,
Tim Winders:you know, 36 staff, 200 volunteers, property, you know, it's not as
Tim Winders:if y'all are doing this in a small storefront, you're doing it on
Tim Winders:a piece of land.
Tim Winders:What would be your Biggest barriers, challenges, et cetera.
Tim Winders:Or if someone is thinking about doing this, what would be
Tim Winders:some of the biggest things that they will, they can consider?
Tim Winders:And I know your location is in a different place than someone who
Tim Winders:might be wanting to get started, but what are some of the challenges?
Kim Tschirret:Well, I think our challenges today, I really tend to
Kim Tschirret:be more going back to what you talk about the pace and our leadership.
Kim Tschirret:and we only have, we have this many hours for a leader and where should
Kim Tschirret:they be spending that time, right?
Kim Tschirret:Like, we have some of our staff that have been with us for 15 years.
Kim Tschirret:They have all the knowledge, right?
Kim Tschirret:They're the ones.
Kim Tschirret:That are stepping into the academy and doing a lot of this training.
Kim Tschirret:Right.
Kim Tschirret:But they're also running operations.
Kim Tschirret:So, you know, it's for, for, Barb and I are COO.
Kim Tschirret:It's like, where, where is the best place to deploy the resources that we have?
Kim Tschirret:and then I think a lot of times, you know, sometimes we end up being the
Kim Tschirret:bottleneck, right, because we only have so much capacity and then at the same
Kim Tschirret:time, we're, we're telling ourselves right now, Hey man, let's just slow down.
Kim Tschirret:Who's setting this pace, right?
Kim Tschirret:So for people, especially in the beginning, you know, we Everybody
Kim Tschirret:always wants to know how do I do a session and where do I get a horse?
Kim Tschirret:And it's and you know what, you know what we do with our Academy.
Kim Tschirret:our first course The first module is business.
Kim Tschirret:The second is leadership and the third is operations so we don't
Kim Tschirret:even tell you anything about horses or kids Until our third module,
Kim Tschirret:because none of that matters.
Kim Tschirret:If you don't have the right structure and the right foundation and a good business
Kim Tschirret:plan and a way to talk to people to invest and you're assessing where are you as
Kim Tschirret:a leader and where are your skills and where do you need to bring people with
Kim Tschirret:different skills in, you know what I mean?
Kim Tschirret:And just take the time that you need to build things the right way.
Kim Tschirret:And, that's really the, the, the biggest key learning is I
Kim Tschirret:think we've driven ourselves too hard at different time periods.
Kim Tschirret:And I would offer to people not to do that.
Tim Winders:So right now you have people on your staff that are really
Tim Winders:working within your operations and then they're turning around and teaching etc
Tim Winders:People can't do that.
Tim Winders:They're either operations or academy.
Tim Winders:Have y'all run at all into there's some people that are better at teaching it
Tim Winders:and some that are better at operations or will it eventually be two separate
Tim Winders:Things.
Kim Tschirret:That's their
Kim Tschirret:job is the Academy.
Kim Tschirret:But the way we look at it is we have subject matter
Kim Tschirret:experts on our staff, right?
Kim Tschirret:Like if we're talking about how to train a horse, I'm not going to
Kim Tschirret:be the person to do that training, that will be our director of
Kim Tschirret:operations or equine manager, right?
Kim Tschirret:Because that's their area of expertise.
Kim Tschirret:And then you're right.
Kim Tschirret:There's some people that are really good at teaching and some that aren't.
Kim Tschirret:But, we just have our core group of subject matter experts, that really
Kim Tschirret:do a lot of the video curriculum.
Kim Tschirret:And then we have our two staff that are working with our current ranches,
Kim Tschirret:34, we're excited we have 34, that are working on building a program right now.
Tim Winders:So, tell me about the academy.
Tim Winders:How many people have
Tim Winders:been through it?
Tim Winders:How many people are interested?
Tim Winders:What's the type of person?
Tim Winders:I mean, you told your story, your background and your interest in
Tim Winders:horses kind of came together.
Tim Winders:Is that required for someone that's interested in doing this or, you know,
Tim Winders:tell, tell me a little bit more about
Tim Winders:that.
Kim Tschirret:Yeah, it's not.
Kim Tschirret:I mean, we've had like we beta test everything that we do, Tim.
Kim Tschirret:we build and then we test.
Kim Tschirret:And so we did virtual trainings for three years and had 90
Kim Tschirret:people that went through that.
Kim Tschirret:And we had quite a few people that started there.
Kim Tschirret:And now we've built a formal, academy with an LMS and a video course.
Kim Tschirret:curriculum, called the essentials.
Kim Tschirret:That's everything you need to know from year zero to three, how to start
Kim Tschirret:yourself up and open your doors.
Kim Tschirret:And, I would say it seems that the people who, are called to this
Kim Tschirret:tend to be people more like me.
Kim Tschirret:Like maybe they had a horse when they were a kid, or maybe
Kim Tschirret:they always had a dream of that.
Kim Tschirret:They've had some sort of emotional issue, trauma, maybe somebody in their life.
Kim Tschirret:because I do think it is a calling.
Kim Tschirret:and then I think that a lot of times the people sometimes who are called,
Kim Tschirret:they're not the only person because they're not going to have all the
Kim Tschirret:skill set, you know what I mean?
Kim Tschirret:They, you've got to find, this is one of our encouragements in the beginning
Kim Tschirret:is we're big on assessments, test yourself, what are your strengths and
Kim Tschirret:weaknesses, and then go find people to walk with you in your areas of weakness.
Kim Tschirret:Yeah, and we have again, 34 people that are in the essentials right now
Kim Tschirret:and, uh, and very excited that they're working on building their own ranch.
Kim Tschirret:Our goal, Tim, is to launch 200 ranches.
Kim Tschirret:So by 2035.
Kim Tschirret:running, and we've got a woman in Iceland, we've got somebody in Germany, we've
Kim Tschirret:got people all over the United States.
Kim Tschirret:They're just, you know, however they find out about us primarily
Kim Tschirret:through the book or hear about us.
Tim Winders:Our son just circumvented Iceland on a cruise.
Tim Winders:He flew from where we were here to, he's 30 years old, and he
Tim Winders:was invited to come on a cruise.
Tim Winders:And so he went to Reykjavik and went around there.
Tim Winders:Very interesting.
Tim Winders:Is there a, I don't want to say a profile, that's not the right Term is
Tim Winders:there is there anything any common?
Tim Winders:Traits characteristics, etc.
Tim Winders:That because I'm going to ask you if there's that and if it's
Tim Winders:yes, if it's no, that's fine
Tim Winders:and then i'm going to allow you to give Whatever it is.
Tim Winders:It's on your heart.
Tim Winders:That might be a need for what your organization is
Tim Winders:doing.
Tim Winders:But what type person?
Tim Winders:Might need to reach out to you if they're like going, you
Tim Winders:know, this is intriguing to me.
Kim Tschirret:Well, I think anybody who's intrigued should reach out
Tim Winders:Good answer.
Kim Tschirret:because you just never know.
Kim Tschirret:And the other exciting thing is, even if you're not, maybe you're somebody who
Kim Tschirret:works with horses and veterans, or you work with horses and, a different type
Kim Tschirret:of audience, we can help you as well.
Kim Tschirret:And we're coming out with our horsemanship, our methodology and
Kim Tschirret:how we train our horses, which is going to be really exciting
Kim Tschirret:for a broader audience for us.
Tim Winders:All right.
Tim Winders:So having said all of that, I'm going to give you some time here, Kim.
Tim Winders:Speaking of the microphone, what do you need?
Tim Winders:What is a desire?
Tim Winders:What is something that if someone's listening in, they've listened in
Tim Winders:this long and you just wanted to speak to them, what would you say?
Tim Winders:and maybe in the same breath, say how they can connect with
Tim Winders:you and reach out and websites
Kim Tschirret:hmm.
Tim Winders:or anything like that.
Tim Winders:So you've, you've got.
Kim Tschirret:I think for maybe you're not interested
Kim Tschirret:in starting something similar.
Kim Tschirret:I will tell you that right now we have 80 kids that are
Kim Tschirret:waiting to get into our program.
Kim Tschirret:So they're in the highest trauma.
Kim Tschirret:They need to get into our services 4 million between
Kim Tschirret:now and the end of the year.
Kim Tschirret:to fund these 80 kids so that they can start in our program.
Kim Tschirret:And so you can sponsor a kid.
Kim Tschirret:You can sponsor, you know, whatever you can, but we need that support
Kim Tschirret:to make sure that all of these kids, can get into our program.
Kim Tschirret:And, if you're interested in knowing more about the Academy, we've
Kim Tschirret:got an offer for your audience.
Kim Tschirret:If you go to Hope Reins, Tim said, r e i n s dot o r g.
Kim Tschirret:Backslash podcast, you can sign up to, join our newsletter to get
Kim Tschirret:the stories of the ranch, just like the one I shared about Lily.
Kim Tschirret:We send them out once a week.
Kim Tschirret:you can download a free copy of the Joey book.
Kim Tschirret:If that's something that you're interested in, we're giving away free copies of that.
Kim Tschirret:and then you can find out more about our Academy and what does this look like?
Kim Tschirret:And how could you possibly help me?
Kim Tschirret:we just want to help more people.
Kim Tschirret:So that more kids have access to hope and healing in their community.
Kim Tschirret:That's the most important thing.
Tim Winders:And I'm actually, I've got it pulled up right here now.
Tim Winders:Horses, mentors, Jesus, beautiful picture there.
Tim Winders:That's where someone could go to donate them on the donate page currently.
Tim Winders:So that's where they could go.
Kim Tschirret:Yep.
Tim Winders:the sponsor of the step one and
Tim Winders:step two is a 16, 000.
Tim Winders:And I would know some resources of people that listened in that
Tim Winders:actually could be something that they could sponsor someone for that.
Tim Winders:Well, We will include the links to those, Kim.
Tim Winders:I appreciate you sharing that and I did look at the page also where Someone could
Tim Winders:get the book and sign up and there I believe that there could be Some interest
Tim Winders:from that from people that listen in so we'll expect people to do that Kim.
Tim Winders:We are Seek go create those three words If I were to allow you to choose one of
Tim Winders:those And why, which would you choose?
Tim Winders:Seek, go or create?
Tim Winders:My last question.
Kim Tschirret:Oh, for sure.
Kim Tschirret:Seek.
Kim Tschirret:I've gone, gone, gone.
Kim Tschirret:Go, go, go.
Kim Tschirret:And, and created.
Kim Tschirret:And like I said, it's Psalm 25.
Kim Tschirret:I'm just in a posture of really seeking, waiting on the Lord and letting him
Kim Tschirret:guide our path and what the next steps are and trying not to be the driver.
Tim Winders:I so enjoy hearing stories of people that are doing,
Tim Winders:you know, it, we say they're unique.
Tim Winders:Not, not everything is that unique.
Tim Winders:This is actually unique to me.
Tim Winders:this is what got my attention when it came across my desk.
Tim Winders:You know, I'm looking at hopereigns.
Tim Winders:org now.
Tim Winders:Make sure if you're still listening in, go check that out.
Tim Winders:Go check out all that they're doing.
Tim Winders:Because this is a great story.
Tim Winders:This is a great cause.
Tim Winders:This is something that other people need to be aware of.
Tim Winders:So I'm excited.
Tim Winders:I was able to have the conversation with you.
Tim Winders:If you've been listening in here at SeatGoCreate, we do
Tim Winders:have new episodes every Monday.
Tim Winders:They're on YouTube.
Tim Winders:They're on all the platforms.
Tim Winders:I appreciate you sharing and subscribing and commenting and love to see the
Tim Winders:comments down below on YouTube and all about this conversation we've had.
Tim Winders:It's been a little bit unique having the leadership conversation around the
Tim Winders:ministry, but I've enjoyed it thoroughly.
Tim Winders:until next time, continue being all that you were created to be.