Shownotes
The Start of K-9 Reading Buddies
The concept behind K-9 Reading Buddies of the North Shore started back in 2007 around a Starbucks coffee table. A group of five had the idea of bringing therapy dogs into schools to support literacy programs and to motivate the children to want to read. As they put their plan in place, more and more people wanted to contribute to the cause. This is what prompted Carole to formally start her non-profit now known as K-9 Reading Buddies. The business has formalized the program and provides consistency and a professional structure to their worthwhile cause.Candle Flickering Moments
When K-9 Reading Buddies was formed, all members received a letter that Therapy Dogs International would cancel their membership if they volunteer with any other nonprofit. Carole had to get creative to figure out a solution. Another obstacle was a city ordinance that prohibited dogs from entering school property and public buildings. Carol could have met this challenge with defeat but instead, she tackled it head on and it’s a good thing! There wouldn’t be K-9 Reading Buddies today if she didn’t challenge the ordinance and win.Business Building Insights
- Clearly understand the value your business brings. For Carole it was the effect therapy dogs have on the children: stress levels go down allowing calm focus and higher reading performance.
- What we can learn from dogs: They are not thinking about yesterday and what they should have done. They are not thinking about their to do list today, they’re in that very moment. If we can just be in that very moment, we can have less stress.
- When you have an idea, don’t immediately take NO for an answer. See if you can find a solution.
- When working with a group, treat them collaboratively and work towards the same goal.
- Always share an idea. You never know where it may lead!
- When what you do is your passion, it is with you 24/7. But there are times where you have to turn off because we are not machines.
- Believe in yourself and believe in your mission. If you do, nothing will stop you.
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Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 159.
Speaker:It was pretty much strangers just wanting to make a difference
Speaker:with their therapy,
Speaker:dogs, Attention gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is give to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow.
Speaker:Your gift biz here is your host gift biz gal Sue
Speaker:moon Heights.
Speaker:Today. I am so proud to introduce you to Carol you
Speaker:stir. Carol is the executive director and founder of canine reading
Speaker:buddies of the North shore.
Speaker:This is a nonprofit business that supplements literacy programs in suburban
Speaker:libraries and schools.
Speaker:They use reading teams consisting of registered therapy,
Speaker:dogs, and qualified handlers to strengthen reading skills while also boosting
Speaker:confidence. I think we can all understand why this is such
Speaker:a worthwhile cause I'm thrilled to get into the story,
Speaker:Carol, welcome to the show or thank you for having me.
Speaker:So I start off in a little bit of a different
Speaker:way, and that is by having you describe yourself through a
Speaker:motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to tell me what color and what
Speaker:type of a saying,
Speaker:or a quote would be on a candle that would really
Speaker:resonate with you,
Speaker:what would your candle look like?
Speaker:Well, that's interesting.
Speaker:You asked me because I literally have a candle burning on
Speaker:my desktop right now,
Speaker:and it's actually less about the color for me than it
Speaker:is about the scent.
Speaker:The scent is lavender and I feel motivation from the scent
Speaker:of lavender,
Speaker:which is why I have that burning.
Speaker:I've tried vanilla before another sense,
Speaker:but lavender seems to,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:maybe it's the inner Yogi in me.
Speaker:So that's what motivates me and keeps me in a heightened
Speaker:state of awareness.
Speaker:And it's interesting.
Speaker:You asked about a quote because I have a quote that
Speaker:I keep on my kitchen cabinet and I actually happened to
Speaker:see it and hear it on the NBC nightly news.
Speaker:About a month ago,
Speaker:there was a artist who in England was putting posters of
Speaker:inspirational quotes all around his city.
Speaker:And people took the time to write back on his sign,
Speaker:thanking him for changing their day.
Speaker:And actually there was even somebody who was apparently suicidal and
Speaker:reading this man's quote,
Speaker:kept him from making that awful choice.
Speaker:So the name of this artist is Andy leek and he
Speaker:now has inspirational quotes that he posts throughout literally the world
Speaker:like there,
Speaker:even in Alaska.
Speaker:And it wasn't actually a sign.
Speaker:It wasn't actually something Britain.
Speaker:It was at the end of his interview.
Speaker:He said something that resonated with me.
Speaker:So I wrote it down and that's my inspirational quote.
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:if you do things without an agenda,
Speaker:the universe pays you back in some amazing,
Speaker:crazy ways.
Speaker:I want just let that settle in a little bit,
Speaker:but I love that because you're saying just put out the
Speaker:good in the world and don't have an ulterior motive really.
Speaker:And then Goodwill come back to you.
Speaker:Exactly. I love that.
Speaker:Do you use that in your life?
Speaker:Is that kind of how you roll?
Speaker:I guess all I ask?
Speaker:Well, yes it is.
Speaker:And the point being that probably often all heard,
Speaker:if you put something out in the universe,
Speaker:something good will come back to you,
Speaker:but I've never actually heard it said in the way that
Speaker:he said it and or you're shopping for a house and
Speaker:you're getting frustrated.
Speaker:You're not finding the house that you're looking for.
Speaker:Don't worry.
Speaker:One day the right house will present itself.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:those kinds of things have happened and do happen to me.
Speaker:And I think they happen to all of us.
Speaker:We just have to have the presence,
Speaker:the awareness to realize when those things are happening and that
Speaker:it's not just an accident.
Speaker:It is by design.
Speaker:Yeah. When they're happening and then take advantage of them.
Speaker:Exactly. I see the opportunity and then act on it really
Speaker:exactly. You and I are kindred spirits then,
Speaker:because I totally believe in all of that to 100%.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So I am so curious,
Speaker:Carol, and you and I met in person at a chamber
Speaker:of commerce meeting and I heard about your business and we
Speaker:talked a little bit and I was so excited to get
Speaker:you on the show.
Speaker:And I don't know if you remember what I said to
Speaker:you when we met,
Speaker:but it's like,
Speaker:stop, stop,
Speaker:stop. Don't tell me any more.
Speaker:I want to wait and hear it firsthand from you.
Speaker:And so that's what we'll do now.
Speaker:So take it from the top.
Speaker:Tell me all about canine reading buddies.
Speaker:Well, we started as a small group of people in 2007,
Speaker:it was a total of five of us who met at
Speaker:a Starbucks in the town that we live in and talked
Speaker:about this vision that we had of bringing our therapy dog
Speaker:teams into schools,
Speaker:to support literacy programs and to motivate kids to want to
Speaker:read. And at that time it was just five of us
Speaker:who wanted to make a difference.
Speaker:And what happened was that as we began to break ground,
Speaker:and of course there's a whole story behind all of that
Speaker:people, moms,
Speaker:dads, who brought their kids to libraries to read to our
Speaker:canine reading buddies,
Speaker:wondered how they could do what we were doing.
Speaker:And that first year,
Speaker:all we did was make copies of sheets of information that
Speaker:I had collected from a non-profit that I had worked with
Speaker:prior to this group.
Speaker:So to figure out how to do what we wanted to
Speaker:do, we just met a couple times a month and we
Speaker:talked about what happened and how to work with certain situations
Speaker:at the library or with parents or with children.
Speaker:And as other people became interested in what we were doing,
Speaker:they wanted to do what we were doing.
Speaker:And by 2008,
Speaker:we realized that we could no longer just be five people
Speaker:sharing information and talking about it.
Speaker:We needed to create an actual process for new people to
Speaker:come on board and to have consistency and a protocol for
Speaker:how to deliver our program in the professional manner that we
Speaker:designed. And so we were really an accidental non-profit.
Speaker:I used to call us the user foundation because it was
Speaker:being funded pretty much by my family,
Speaker:my husband and I,
Speaker:as we grew,
Speaker:we realized that we needed to become a nonprofit and it
Speaker:needed to self-fund and we needed to have our volunteers actually
Speaker:pay a membership so that we could continue to grow and
Speaker:expand. When you were first,
Speaker:just the five people sitting in Starbucks.
Speaker:Were you guys friends or were you connected already because you
Speaker:had registered therapy dogs.
Speaker:So you were already into that interest of helping people with
Speaker:therapy dogs.
Speaker:That's a really good question.
Speaker:Well, what happened was I had moved away for a year
Speaker:and lived in Wisconsin with my family.
Speaker:I had a golden retriever at the time that I had
Speaker:trained and then tested to become a therapy dog.
Speaker:And I volunteered with this chapter of the therapy registry that
Speaker:had a reading program set up at the local library.
Speaker:And that's where I got the idea that this is something
Speaker:that really resonates with me.
Speaker:And I participated in that program that whole year.
Speaker:And when we moved back to Highland park,
Speaker:there wasn't a program like that.
Speaker:And I knew I didn't have time to travel to Chicago
Speaker:where sit,
Speaker:stay, read runs its programs,
Speaker:because I had a child in school,
Speaker:like a lot of us do or did,
Speaker:or just,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we're busy people working during the day and don't have much
Speaker:time to travel,
Speaker:but want to give back.
Speaker:And so I realized other people were probably like me and
Speaker:wanting to do this too.
Speaker:And literally,
Speaker:I just began to find some of the people through the
Speaker:therapy registry that live locally.
Speaker:And actually one of them was somebody that I swam alongside
Speaker:at the local rec center.
Speaker:And so I knew her from there,
Speaker:but otherwise everybody was pretty much strangers just wanting to make
Speaker:a difference with their therapy dogs.
Speaker:So you were getting together with them.
Speaker:And so you guys decided still it was more of a,
Speaker:I'm not going to say it was a hobby because clearly
Speaker:therapy dogs.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's a serious thing when you're doing that,
Speaker:but you were doing it more,
Speaker:not thinking you were going to turn it into a big
Speaker:business. I was not,
Speaker:it was a nice thing to do with some nice people.
Speaker:Yeah. In a way to give back and spend your time
Speaker:in a good way,
Speaker:a give back way,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:All of that.
Speaker:Right. Exactly.
Speaker:It was a win-win all the way around.
Speaker:And at the same Time,
Speaker:little, did you know you were testing the viability of the
Speaker:program, right?
Speaker:Exactly. So was there a trigger you were saying already the
Speaker:size, there were so many people interested in doing this too,
Speaker:but was there a certain point in time when you just
Speaker:said, all right,
Speaker:no. Now we have to put systems around it.
Speaker:We have to become more professional and organized or did it
Speaker:just kind of evolve to that realization?
Speaker:Well, it evolved and,
Speaker:but also the right people,
Speaker:there you go,
Speaker:the right people sort of fell on my path or our
Speaker:paths in that,
Speaker:my background before I became a mom and moved to Highland
Speaker:park, my background was as an it training manager and consultant
Speaker:Silicon Valley.
Speaker:So I had the experience of setting up programs and implementing
Speaker:them and creating processes and standards and structures.
Speaker:So it was a natural segue for me to do that
Speaker:with canine reading buddies.
Speaker:What I did have the skill set to do was to
Speaker:create an actual training class.
Speaker:I could say what I thought should be in a class,
Speaker:but I didn't know how to create one.
Speaker:And then one of our team members who had a background
Speaker:in instructional technology,
Speaker:training and design,
Speaker:so together,
Speaker:we designed a class.
Speaker:She knew how to make a multimedia class engaging and fun.
Speaker:And I knew what needed to be in that class.
Speaker:So that was one of those,
Speaker:if you put it out in the university,
Speaker:the universe gives back kind of moment.
Speaker:Yeah, totally.
Speaker:The other thing that I really like here just by way
Speaker:of a demonstration for our listeners is you had different people
Speaker:with different skills.
Speaker:I don't know what the other three people you just described
Speaker:you and this other person is part of your group,
Speaker:but it's nice if you're putting something together where there's a
Speaker:group of you,
Speaker:that each of you bring something different to the table.
Speaker:Exactly. One of our team members is,
Speaker:and was she still active with us,
Speaker:a certified teacher.
Speaker:And she ended up going for her masters in the ESL
Speaker:instruction. And along the way,
Speaker:a lot of how she got to where she is,
Speaker:was by having volunteered with us and being exposed to higher
Speaker:Hispanic population that were struggling readers.
Speaker:And that gave her the idea to move on with extra
Speaker:education and get a degree.
Speaker:And now she's back in school teaching,
Speaker:but she still helps out with our program on weekends.
Speaker:Oh, that's wonderful.
Speaker:That's a great story.
Speaker:You each were helping each other there for sure.
Speaker:Give us a little feel for what the organization looks like
Speaker:today. So today we have upwards of 50 to 60 volunteers
Speaker:and what evolved was,
Speaker:we started out as trained therapy,
Speaker:dog teams going into schools and libraries,
Speaker:but then it evolved into needing somebody to run those programs
Speaker:at the libraries that when we just had one library,
Speaker:I would run the program.
Speaker:But now we have eight libraries.
Speaker:It may come as a surprise to you,
Speaker:but I can't be everywhere.
Speaker:You can't you're superwoman.
Speaker:Right? Exactly.
Speaker:It's just,
Speaker:it's not physically possible.
Speaker:So now we have adult volunteers without dogs who manage our
Speaker:library programs and we call them library services,
Speaker:coordinators, and they manage everything that happens.
Speaker:And all of the details of signing in the children and
Speaker:talking with the parents and doing all the PR and making
Speaker:sure that everything is running smoothly at the libraries.
Speaker:So they are the point person there.
Speaker:And we also added youth volunteers.
Speaker:And those youth volunteers are sixth grade up through high school
Speaker:who volunteer without a dog to help those library services coordinators
Speaker:at the libraries.
Speaker:But also they help at events that we run as do
Speaker:the library services coordinators.
Speaker:So their event staff,
Speaker:as well as library staff,
Speaker:how the youth volunteers happened was actually an interesting story because
Speaker:I am back in 2008,
Speaker:my son was 10 years old and I would pick him
Speaker:up from we're Jewish.
Speaker:I picked him up from Hebrew school and I would have
Speaker:him be at the library while we were running the program.
Speaker:And he asked if he could read to one of the
Speaker:reading buddies.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:why would you want to do that?
Speaker:Because we have two golden retrievers who are reading buddies at
Speaker:home. They were the first reading buddies.
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:well, but it's different when you're reading in the library and
Speaker:it's not to your own dog,
Speaker:can I do that?
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:I'd have to check.
Speaker:And he said,
Speaker:well, isn't this year program.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:what? That's a good point.
Speaker:And I guess my boss says you can do it.
Speaker:So that night he read to a reading buddy and was
Speaker:really excited to read to this Leon Berger.
Speaker:But that was just one night.
Speaker:And the rest of the nights,
Speaker:he had to keep busy while he was there.
Speaker:So he wouldn't be interrupting me.
Speaker:So I would give him tasks and he would be in
Speaker:charge of shuttling the children to,
Speaker:and from the reading buddies,
Speaker:he would be in charge of taking their photo afterwards of
Speaker:the child with the reading buddy.
Speaker:And then he would have to make notes about what they
Speaker:were wearing.
Speaker:So we would make sure that we sent the right picture
Speaker:by email to the right parent.
Speaker:And as the years went on,
Speaker:one of the kids aged out of our program from first
Speaker:through fifth grade,
Speaker:that's our grade school program at the library.
Speaker:And after he aged out,
Speaker:he still wanted to be involved.
Speaker:And he asked if he could do what my son Adam
Speaker:was doing,
Speaker:because he wanted to do that job.
Speaker:And this child was on the spectrum.
Speaker:So he's a little insecure.
Speaker:So he's a little shy and this was big for him.
Speaker:He wanted to give back and who better than somebody who
Speaker:was actually involved in the program from the beginning anyways.
Speaker:And so he is still a youth volunteer with us to
Speaker:this day.
Speaker:He's a senior in high school.
Speaker:Now we've had just numbers of youth volunteers throughout every school
Speaker:year asking to volunteer with us and their parents love it
Speaker:because it empowers their children.
Speaker:It teaches them responsibility.
Speaker:It's not just a nice to have job.
Speaker:We really need their help.
Speaker:And they're important.
Speaker:I am so impressed with the inclusiveness of the entire program.
Speaker:So now you're talking about not only the younger students,
Speaker:I'll call them being participants,
Speaker:but then also helping others,
Speaker:helping the children who are reading to the reading buddies.
Speaker:Right, exactly.
Speaker:But then you've also got the people who have the dogs.
Speaker:And then you also have other people who may not own
Speaker:a dog or have the ability to put a pet through
Speaker:the structure to be able to have them registered.
Speaker:So virtually anybody who has a passion could potentially find a
Speaker:space within your organization.
Speaker:Exactly. I mean,
Speaker:the library services,
Speaker:coordinators love being around.
Speaker:Children love being around the dogs and love giving back and
Speaker:making a difference.
Speaker:One of our coordinators,
Speaker:she has been on the board of Louis children's Memorial hospital
Speaker:for like 25 years.
Speaker:And this is her favorite thing to do once a month.
Speaker:She goes to this little one room library in Highwood once
Speaker:a month.
Speaker:And we just have one reading team there.
Speaker:She just loves it.
Speaker:And a couple of our other library services coordinators are retired
Speaker:school teachers.
Speaker:So they just love being around the kids and the dogs.
Speaker:Oh, I love this.
Speaker:So I know for sure that therapy dogs do something physically
Speaker:when you're around them,
Speaker:you can bring therapy dogs into hospitals just to meet with
Speaker:patients for a mood elevation or something.
Speaker:I also know in senior centers assisted living.
Speaker:They'll bring dogs in.
Speaker:Can you share with us some of the research of what
Speaker:happens physically when you're around animals like this,
Speaker:Carol is going to give us her answer right after a
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Speaker:Certainly the truth is that just being in the same room
Speaker:as a dog,
Speaker:lowers blood pressure and reduces anxiety.
Speaker:Even if you don't pet that dog.
Speaker:So when you do pet the dog,
Speaker:then your oxytocin levels go up and your stress levels go
Speaker:down. It just as a naturally occurring experience.
Speaker:And the result is that when people are relaxed and especially
Speaker:in a situation where you have a struggling reader,
Speaker:then they can focus because they're not feeling nervous.
Speaker:That's actually the magic that happens.
Speaker:People tend to open up more and it's not through any
Speaker:kind of solicitation necessarily.
Speaker:We do stress relief clinics at the high schools.
Speaker:These are teenagers.
Speaker:If you have a teenager in your house today,
Speaker:it's hard to get your own teenager to talk to you
Speaker:much less one.
Speaker:You don't know.
Speaker:And when you have a therapy dog at your side and
Speaker:they're petting your dog,
Speaker:they open up,
Speaker:they tell you things that they would never normally tell you
Speaker:or anybody in a public setting,
Speaker:except for the fact that that dog is there.
Speaker:And they're relaxed enough to just chatter away.
Speaker:And oftentimes they say things in front of kids,
Speaker:they don't even know.
Speaker:And sometimes it's personal.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Yeah. But again,
Speaker:they all feel relaxed.
Speaker:It's just something different happens when that dog is there.
Speaker:It sounds kind of magical actually.
Speaker:Yep. And it is.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:when I take my work breaks,
Speaker:I go to my therapy dog and he's not actually a
Speaker:therapy dog yet.
Speaker:He's a two year old golden retriever he'll be tested,
Speaker:but he provides therapy to me because the beautiful thing is
Speaker:that when you are with that dog,
Speaker:your dog,
Speaker:there is only that moment.
Speaker:If we could just learn from our dogs,
Speaker:they're not thinking about yesterday and what they should have done.
Speaker:They're not thinking about their to-do list today or what they
Speaker:want to do when you're done petting them.
Speaker:They're in that very moment.
Speaker:And if we can all just be in that very moment,
Speaker:we would all have a lot less stress.
Speaker:I so agree with you there,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:what has just happened,
Speaker:Carol, anybody who's Listening who has wanted a dog,
Speaker:I think we've just convinced them.
Speaker:It's time.
Speaker:It's time to go out and get a dog,
Speaker:whether it's for therapy or just for your house as a
Speaker:pet, to have a companion.
Speaker:Exactly. So you can proudly blame Carol and I,
Speaker:for that,
Speaker:for your renewed passion of an interest gift biz listeners of
Speaker:wanting to go get a dog,
Speaker:let's talk through more of the business end.
Speaker:Now, was there ever a time that was really challenging and
Speaker:a real big struggle as you got from 2007,
Speaker:sitting around in Starbucks,
Speaker:one of my favorite places to where you are today,
Speaker:any challenges that you Share with us?
Speaker:Yes. And I didn't have to think very hard to bring
Speaker:this one up.
Speaker:When we started out,
Speaker:our teams were all registered with therapy,
Speaker:dogs international.
Speaker:And what happened was it's a very long story that I'll
Speaker:make very short.
Speaker:They decided that any team registered with them could not volunteer
Speaker:with any other nonprofit,
Speaker:regardless of whether it was another therapy registry.
Speaker:It could be there's another nonprofit reading education assistance dogs,
Speaker:which actually is how I learned about how to set up
Speaker:our program here.
Speaker:Because I first became a reading education assistance dogs,
Speaker:teen therapy dogs international would cancel your membership if you volunteered
Speaker:with any other nonprofit.
Speaker:So what ended up happening was my teams began to get
Speaker:letters as did I,
Speaker:that therapy dogs international was going to cancel our membership.
Speaker:They offered me that I could,
Speaker:and I got on the phone with the president or slowly
Speaker:camp at the time.
Speaker:And I explained to her that we are a registered non-profit
Speaker:a five Oh one C3.
Speaker:We do fundraising.
Speaker:And that it made no sense for them to cancel our
Speaker:membership. We're a literacy program that uses trained therapy,
Speaker:dog teams.
Speaker:We're not a therapy dog registry.
Speaker:So their reason for canceling all our teams membership in mind
Speaker:made no sense.
Speaker:And she said to me,
Speaker:well, you could become a chapter of therapy,
Speaker:dogs international,
Speaker:and then raise money for us,
Speaker:but not be recognized as canine reading buddies at the North
Speaker:shore anymore.
Speaker:And, and I thought,
Speaker:well, why would I do that?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I spent all this time working on our nonprofit,
Speaker:building it,
Speaker:developing a reputation.
Speaker:Why would I fold it and raise money for a therapy
Speaker:registry? Especially since they don't have a therapy dog program,
Speaker:they had a little thing.
Speaker:They call it,
Speaker:they put up flyers saying they had a program called wagon
Speaker:tails. And it was just a one sheet piece of paper
Speaker:that said in general,
Speaker:what you could do,
Speaker:ours is a full blown program with training,
Speaker:right? It's not just a one sheet thing where people just
Speaker:go out and do something,
Speaker:not to disparage any of your listeners who may be doing
Speaker:that. And that's fine that they're doing that because reading programs
Speaker:need to be a lot of places and we can't all
Speaker:be everywhere at the same time.
Speaker:So however,
Speaker:some of your listeners may be doing a reading program.
Speaker:That's a good thing.
Speaker:It's a bad thing to tell other reading programs that they
Speaker:can no longer do it though,
Speaker:right? That they must dissolve and desist.
Speaker:So it was an extremely stressful period.
Speaker:It happened during the holiday season and I was beside myself.
Speaker:I didn't know quite what to do,
Speaker:but I did know about other therapy registries.
Speaker:So I did my research and I built a relationship with
Speaker:what was called at that time therapy dogs,
Speaker:Inc, same acronym,
Speaker:different nonprofit.
Speaker:And I spoke with the executive director that we had,
Speaker:like, I don't know,
Speaker:we must have had 20 something teams at that time that
Speaker:were all registered with therapy dogs that are national,
Speaker:that their memberships were going to be canceled,
Speaker:but we had programming ongoing and we needed to keep with
Speaker:our schedule.
Speaker:Is there any way they could work with us to test
Speaker:our teams and have them switch over all at once?
Speaker:Well, our story was an old story.
Speaker:They've heard it before.
Speaker:They were getting a lot of new members from therapy dogs,
Speaker:international therapy dogs incorporated.
Speaker:Their mission is to provide testing temperament and obedience and provide
Speaker:insurance for their members to go out and do therapy work.
Speaker:And that could be wherever they choose to do it.
Speaker:There's no strangle hold on how and who they do it
Speaker:with and that's their whole purpose.
Speaker:And so they were very gracious and we were able to
Speaker:set up a testing for all of our teams and transition
Speaker:them all at once.
Speaker:And it wasn't easy and it was extremely stressful.
Speaker:And I remember at the time hearing that Miley Cyrus song,
Speaker:the climb,
Speaker:and I would use that as sort of like my mantra,
Speaker:because it seemed like an insurmountable mountain.
Speaker:I didn't want to quit.
Speaker:I didn't want somebody telling me it was important and we
Speaker:never looked back.
Speaker:And now we're all with Alliance of therapy dogs,
Speaker:and couldn't be prouder.
Speaker:And you made it,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it was probably Oh,
Speaker:such a rough time,
Speaker:but you didn't give up.
Speaker:I think that's the important thing we didn't give up.
Speaker:We had to find a solution one way or another.
Speaker:Exactly. There was one other time that we had a door
Speaker:close in our face,
Speaker:and this is something that your listeners could benefit from.
Speaker:And I always tell our students when we do presentations,
Speaker:that when you have a good idea,
Speaker:don't take no for an answer.
Speaker:Just persevere.
Speaker:When we started out and approached the school district,
Speaker:there was a city ordinance that prohibited dogs from being on
Speaker:school property and in public buildings,
Speaker:the schools wanted to use our program,
Speaker:but there was this law that kept us from being used.
Speaker:So in the summer of 2007,
Speaker:I worked with our city council woman to make a change
Speaker:in that ordinance.
Speaker:I drafted language that made an exception for registered therapy dogs
Speaker:to be on school property and in public buildings for the
Speaker:purposes of academic and therapeutic reasons.
Speaker:And that summer,
Speaker:the city council passed that exception unanimously.
Speaker:So if there is a city ordinance or our law that
Speaker:prohibits dogs from being on school property,
Speaker:or in libraries where your listeners would like to volunteer there,
Speaker:don't give up,
Speaker:there is a way to make a change or for anything
Speaker:else that may be standing in their way when they have
Speaker:a good idea,
Speaker:look for alternatives and how you can work with that.
Speaker:Yeah. This is a great story because I think that we
Speaker:think, okay,
Speaker:there's a law,
Speaker:it's over,
Speaker:that's where the book closes,
Speaker:but you're showing that that might not be the case.
Speaker:Don't just take that at face value and say,
Speaker:okay, and stop whatever it is you're doing,
Speaker:whether it's therapy,
Speaker:dogs, or something else that you're doing for whatever your product
Speaker:is, dig deeper.
Speaker:Exactly. Make sure that it's a closed door that it's just
Speaker:not shut a little bit and that you can't open it
Speaker:and change something don't give up on your dream.
Speaker:So easily.
Speaker:Both of those times,
Speaker:Carol, you could have said,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:insurmountable, we had a fun go at it.
Speaker:And now it's over.
Speaker:You could have easily done that.
Speaker:Right. But you don't sound like the type to do it.
Speaker:I didn't know that I wasn't the type to do it.
Speaker:I didn't know.
Speaker:I didn't know I had that in me at all,
Speaker:but I just realized that I just knew what we were
Speaker:doing, had a place and that it was the right thing
Speaker:to do.
Speaker:And I have a passion for it.
Speaker:And all of our volunteers have the passion for it.
Speaker:And I didn't know that I had that sort of,
Speaker:That's a great comment,
Speaker:very insightful.
Speaker:We really don't know until we reach some of these things
Speaker:and you probably didn't know until you got past it.
Speaker:You're not sure what the outcome is going to be.
Speaker:Exactly. And the other thing I think with your example is
Speaker:you probably pushed forward because you had people counting on you.
Speaker:Now you had teams and you were part of that group
Speaker:of five or however many.
Speaker:There still were at the time,
Speaker:your, your original group together,
Speaker:but brings up a different question for me.
Speaker:We talk often about people who have partners in a business
Speaker:and the challenges you can have when it's two people who
Speaker:are at the helm,
Speaker:running a business,
Speaker:you guys had five.
Speaker:Were there any challenges or is there any advice that you
Speaker:could give when there are multiple people?
Speaker:Maybe not everyone is the direct leader in steering the ship,
Speaker:but you had a group who were moving this mission forward.
Speaker:Any advice on that?
Speaker:I treat everybody Collaboratively and our non-profit could not be where
Speaker:it is today.
Speaker:If it weren't for the insight and effort of literally every
Speaker:volunteer who has been with us and continues to join us,
Speaker:I can't take credit for what we have today.
Speaker:It's definitely due to everybody who has been involved.
Speaker:What I've always said is that always share an idea,
Speaker:always share a concept with us because you can make a
Speaker:difference. You can make it better.
Speaker:And if people don't speak up,
Speaker:we say that in our training classes,
Speaker:too, that if you don't speak up,
Speaker:then we're not going to improve our quality.
Speaker:Let us know what we can do to improve or let
Speaker:us know what you'd like to see happen.
Speaker:And we've never had any conflicts.
Speaker:I know it's almost like too good to be true,
Speaker:right? But everybody's in it for the common good.
Speaker:And everybody works together and uses their skill sets to make
Speaker:a difference.
Speaker:That's all I can say that we've never had anything negative
Speaker:come up.
Speaker:Well, it sounds like it's because everyone is really focused on
Speaker:the end result.
Speaker:No, one's looking at taking the glory at any portion along
Speaker:the way.
Speaker:Everyone's focusing on the goal of doing good.
Speaker:That's exactly true.
Speaker:And I'm going to point out right now,
Speaker:we're moving towards this huge event that we've never done before.
Speaker:It's a vision that we had some of us a couple
Speaker:of years ago,
Speaker:K9 pup Stratton.
Speaker:The expo is May 5th at sunset,
Speaker:was in Highland park and is designed to bring together.
Speaker:It's celebrating 10 years as a nonprofit.
Speaker:And it's designed to bring together the dog,
Speaker:loving community,
Speaker:the academic community and the social and emotional health community on
Speaker:one place.
Speaker:It is a fundraiser for us.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:never did anything like this before.
Speaker:It's scary,
Speaker:definitely bitten off more than I could chew,
Speaker:but we've got great volunteers.
Speaker:They all pipe up at different moments and offer different skillsets.
Speaker:It's not like we've broken down into committees.
Speaker:I wish we had,
Speaker:but again,
Speaker:this is being run out of my home office and by
Speaker:emails. So we don't have that kind of structure.
Speaker:Maybe next year we will,
Speaker:but this is a fundraiser for us.
Speaker:And this is also for awareness to increase our resources so
Speaker:that we can expand.
Speaker:And the reality is that it's huge,
Speaker:but it's again,
Speaker:something designed to bring together.
Speaker:What I think of as all our friends,
Speaker:who's our friends,
Speaker:it's the libraries.
Speaker:It's the schools.
Speaker:It's the students.
Speaker:It's the families.
Speaker:It's everybody in the communities that had supported us every step
Speaker:of the way.
Speaker:So we're going to have like,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:dog themed businesses and services,
Speaker:there'll be canine buddy boots where kids can read to a
Speaker:therapy dog and get a complimentary photo taken.
Speaker:There'll be author doing a book giveaway and doing a couple
Speaker:of readings.
Speaker:She wrote a book about a library dog.
Speaker:And we partnered with her when she did her book launch
Speaker:in the fall.
Speaker:And there'll be a youth art tent where kids can color
Speaker:Bucky, the dog.
Speaker:That's the logo dog for the Highland park think and trust.
Speaker:And as I describe it,
Speaker:it's something for everybody.
Speaker:There'll be pet misuses there for giving pet massages.
Speaker:But then there's going to be our local therapeutic needs,
Speaker:doing chair massages for people.
Speaker:So it's something for everybody where everybody can share and learn.
Speaker:We're going to have tutors there because what do our kids
Speaker:need? They need tutors.
Speaker:They sometimes need a little help and we'll have human tutors.
Speaker:They're not just dog trainers there.
Speaker:And groomers,
Speaker:they're promoting their services for people who maybe they just moved
Speaker:and they don't know what's available.
Speaker:So it's something for everybody.
Speaker:And that,
Speaker:isn't my other big dream to just pull together the communities
Speaker:all along the North shore and beyond to share information on
Speaker:a beautiful may morning.
Speaker:Hopefully it's warm then.
Speaker:And it's all for the greater good to me.
Speaker:It's a win-win yes,
Speaker:it is a fundraiser for us,
Speaker:but it's also to just put everybody in the same place.
Speaker:They got to go out and walk their dogs.
Speaker:Anyhow, why not do it with like a few hundred other
Speaker:good friends?
Speaker:Sure. And once again,
Speaker:there's inclusion there because you're expanding this and including other businesses
Speaker:who are in the area,
Speaker:right? So Sandy with therapeutic needs and all the other businesses
Speaker:that you described.
Speaker:So, and the great thing about that too,
Speaker:I'm sure you already know this,
Speaker:but I'm just talking this through for our listeners as well
Speaker:is everybody that you invite to participate comes with their own
Speaker:followers, their own customers,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:So in terms of getting visibility and then participation on that
Speaker:day is big.
Speaker:Exactly we have from the pet stores like Bentley's and Kriser's.
Speaker:And I think when I met you,
Speaker:we weren't even at this point,
Speaker:when I first met you at the chamber meeting and pet
Speaker:people is going to be there.
Speaker:And then we have care,
Speaker:chills, kennels at Rover's place.
Speaker:So we have doggy daycare,
Speaker:places there'll be there.
Speaker:But then we also have with merchandise that none of us,
Speaker:maybe a lot of us haven't seen before,
Speaker:because they're coming from other places.
Speaker:So people who are like looking for cute little dog accessories
Speaker:for their dogs,
Speaker:they're going to find that they're at this pet expo,
Speaker:just really something for everybody.
Speaker:And our author is giving away a hundred books of her
Speaker:story, about a library dog.
Speaker:It's called the secret room for the first hundred children.
Speaker:She meets,
Speaker:she's giving a brand new book.
Speaker:That's so wonderful.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:What an exciting thing to look forward to?
Speaker:I'm sure there's a lot of work,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:an organization and all of that,
Speaker:but what a great mission to do this event,
Speaker:It's a lot of work,
Speaker:but again,
Speaker:what I'm going to say is that different volunteers of mine
Speaker:pop up at different times and they say,
Speaker:can I help you with this?
Speaker:Or can I help you with that?
Speaker:And then I tap into them.
Speaker:So in that way,
Speaker:as it has always been,
Speaker:we're a bit organic,
Speaker:but it always works out.
Speaker:That's fabulous.
Speaker:Now you've mentioned that you're working out of your house and
Speaker:you have a lot of things in play,
Speaker:right? Because you have events that you're doing,
Speaker:you have the library is you have the schools,
Speaker:all of this stuff altogether.
Speaker:How do you keep everything organized from a home office business
Speaker:practice? Well,
Speaker:I'm a Virgo,
Speaker:which means we're detail oriented.
Speaker:That's it?
Speaker:We're done.
Speaker:Yeah. Enough said so.
Speaker:Yeah. I don't know.
Speaker:It's kind of crazy.
Speaker:I think I'm just a natural multi-tasker.
Speaker:But if I'm sitting in my office right now and I
Speaker:do have equal sized post-it sheets all throughout my walls now
Speaker:due to this event,
Speaker:normally I wouldn't have it that way,
Speaker:but because this event is something we've never done.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:I will say,
Speaker:Oh yeah,
Speaker:a little bit scary,
Speaker:but we do have some help with a production company helping
Speaker:us and a PR firm.
Speaker:Luckily they take pity on us and give us non-profit rates.
Speaker:So otherwise,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:this fundraiser would make us go broke.
Speaker:So right now that's kind of how I do it with
Speaker:these easel size post-it sheets to make sure I stay on
Speaker:track in different areas.
Speaker:And I just create a lot of files and label them.
Speaker:And then I also recognize that I do have to shut
Speaker:down after like six o'clock.
Speaker:I have to stop because when,
Speaker:what you do is your passion.
Speaker:You actually never leave it.
Speaker:It is with you 24 seven.
Speaker:You think about it constantly.
Speaker:And, but there is some point where you have to say,
Speaker:okay, I seriously have to turn off because we're not machines.
Speaker:Absolutely. Right.
Speaker:You've just given us three really good points.
Speaker:The first thing that I love that you were saying is
Speaker:about outsourcing some of this,
Speaker:but you're not the professional at putting on events,
Speaker:although you're so professional and you probably could do it all
Speaker:yourself, but you have everything,
Speaker:all the normal everyday things that you need to do to
Speaker:keep the organization running.
Speaker:Correct. So outsourcing to somebody who has that skill already is
Speaker:such a smart thing.
Speaker:And give this listeners for you.
Speaker:It might be have someone help you build your website or
Speaker:have someone figure out how to put up your social media
Speaker:or whatever it is,
Speaker:but consider if this is not a talent that you have,
Speaker:or the time outsourcing,
Speaker:just even by a task,
Speaker:doesn't have to be forever.
Speaker:It could be just on a project basis.
Speaker:Like Carol's talking about the other thing that I really liked
Speaker:about what you're saying,
Speaker:Carol is the post-it notes because you're getting your ideas up
Speaker:where they're visible at all times and you can move them
Speaker:around. So I bet that's been really helpful,
Speaker:Right? So what happens when you hire a PR firm in
Speaker:a production company is that they create projects for you.
Speaker:And so you're suddenly thrust in an area of tasks,
Speaker:doing things that you've never had to do before.
Speaker:So it's quite a learning curve,
Speaker:but it creates a project list then have to design so
Speaker:that you fulfill on your end.
Speaker:And so that describes a lot of the post-it sheets,
Speaker:the easel size post-it sheets,
Speaker:so that we make sure we stay on track with what
Speaker:our commitments are in order to follow through on the project
Speaker:that we got handed by the production company or the PR
Speaker:firm. Right.
Speaker:You weren't expecting that.
Speaker:It sounds like,
Speaker:well, yeah,
Speaker:Because we we'd never done this before.
Speaker:Yeah. So the thing is that with a production company,
Speaker:there'll be managing all the onsite event and coordinating all of
Speaker:that, but bringing in the dog team businesses and merchants and
Speaker:all the relationships lands on us.
Speaker:And when I say us,
Speaker:that kind of usually means me,
Speaker:but there's all this support systems.
Speaker:So they're not here with me,
Speaker:but they're there for me to call up or tap into
Speaker:it as,
Speaker:as my web designer.
Speaker:And I will say this one thing about the website since
Speaker:you brought it up,
Speaker:it wasn't until this last fall.
Speaker:So pretty much 11 years that we had a website up,
Speaker:we had a couple of false starts and so never didn't
Speaker:listen to my liking was a couple relationships that we had
Speaker:a few years ago and I wanted a certain look and
Speaker:feel. So I wasn't just going to put up brochure where
Speaker:I really wanted a look and feel that represented us.
Speaker:And finally,
Speaker:I landed with the right relationship in,
Speaker:I think North Carolina could be South Carolina.
Speaker:So hopefully they're not listening.
Speaker:Cause I might be confusing my Carolinas,
Speaker:but anyways,
Speaker:they are so supportive and so wonderful.
Speaker:They came up with the right look and feel for us.
Speaker:And we get compliments all the time and they taught me
Speaker:how to work with them,
Speaker:to give them the right content,
Speaker:to get that look and feel.
Speaker:So we're really proud of that.
Speaker:It's beautiful in preparation for us talking,
Speaker:I did take a peek over at the site.
Speaker:It's gorgeous.
Speaker:Well, thank you.
Speaker:And so that's what I want your listeners to know that
Speaker:don't be in a rush.
Speaker:You feel you're there now you do exist with your product.
Speaker:And we existed for 11 years and it feels like you're
Speaker:not really on the map until you have your website because
Speaker:people always say,
Speaker:Oh, so what's your website and you feel bad because you
Speaker:say, well,
Speaker:I don't have one,
Speaker:but it's better to say,
Speaker:I don't have one than to say you have one,
Speaker:but inside you feel like it's not one that you can
Speaker:stand behind.
Speaker:It's not one that you're proud of.
Speaker:I recommend waiting until you get the one that you'll be
Speaker:proud of,
Speaker:But don't wait too long.
Speaker:Right. 11 years is too long.
Speaker:I feel like everybody needs their website.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:for credibility too,
Speaker:because what do people do if they're not sure of an
Speaker:organization, they're going to go look at the website,
Speaker:but if you don't have one online,
Speaker:it could bring up questions.
Speaker:Exactly. And then your point about free time,
Speaker:boy, can you teach me how to do that?
Speaker:Because I am not good at that,
Speaker:but I know how important it is.
Speaker:Just taking time walking away.
Speaker:And you're so much better when you come back,
Speaker:when you do walk away for a little while,
Speaker:all right.
Speaker:If someone,
Speaker:maybe it's not doing exactly what you're doing,
Speaker:but someone's on the brink of thinking,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:maybe I can start this vision that I had for a
Speaker:business. Maybe it's doable.
Speaker:What would you say to someone who's just on the edge
Speaker:and needs that little push to get started?
Speaker:I would say to them that really have to believe in
Speaker:yourself. And you have to believe in your mission because if
Speaker:you do,
Speaker:nothing will stop you and just to persevere.
Speaker:And the other thing is a quote from one of those
Speaker:motivational signs that a lot of us have had over the
Speaker:years to stay the course.
Speaker:Sometimes you have to make waves and don't be afraid to
Speaker:do that.
Speaker:Don't be afraid,
Speaker:just dive in.
Speaker:Perfect. Have a plan,
Speaker:but dive in.
Speaker:Yeah, love that.
Speaker:So Carol,
Speaker:we have been talking about things,
Speaker:just aren't a coincidence and the law of attraction and all
Speaker:of that.
Speaker:And that leads me right into my final question for you,
Speaker:which is a dare to dream question.
Speaker:I want to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable
Speaker:Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in front of all
Speaker:of us right here.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:Well, my box contains therapy dogs at every school to help
Speaker:every child who needs it.
Speaker:I just think that would have a huge impact because these
Speaker:children grow up.
Speaker:They grow up to run our country and to run our
Speaker:businesses. And up until second grade kids learn to read.
Speaker:But after third grade they read to learn.
Speaker:So if they can't read we're all in trouble.
Speaker:So if we could have therapy dogs at all the schools
Speaker:to support all the kids and reduce their anxiety so that
Speaker:they could focus and read,
Speaker:I think our world would be a better place.
Speaker:Beautiful. I've got to tell you while you're saying that all
Speaker:I see is a box opening up and all of these
Speaker:cute, adorable puppies jumping out and I'm taking every single one
Speaker:of them.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Really? So,
Speaker:all right.
Speaker:If you could tell us one place online where you would
Speaker:direct someone,
Speaker:if they want to know a little bit more about the
Speaker:business, whether it's your Facebook page or website or wherever,
Speaker:what would you say right here for people who are just
Speaker:listening? I would say go to canine rpns.org.
Speaker:That's K as in canine.
Speaker:So K the letter nine,
Speaker:the number are BNS as in reading buddies of the North
Speaker:shore. So K9 rpns.org
Speaker:and just take a look around good pictures,
Speaker:good information.
Speaker:Not too wordy,
Speaker:whether you're just interested in what's involved or how you could
Speaker:be a volunteer or what did those youth volunteers do anyways?
Speaker:All your answers should be there.
Speaker:Perfect. Perfect.
Speaker:And give biz listeners.
Speaker:You also know there's a show notes page.
Speaker:I'll have all their other information there.
Speaker:Facebook links,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:So just jump over to give biz unwrapped and you will
Speaker:see Carol's show notes page there.
Speaker:Carol. I'm so glad we got this together.
Speaker:I know you're so busy with your event coming up.
Speaker:We were kind of going back and forth as to whether
Speaker:we could get this in.
Speaker:Thank you so much for taking the time.
Speaker:Really, really good and solid business skills that you've talked with
Speaker:us about in terms of strategy and planning and working as
Speaker:a team.
Speaker:I really appreciate your business expertise and you sharing it with
Speaker:all of us.
Speaker:Well, it's been my pleasure.
Speaker:Thank you for having me there.
Speaker:You have a gift biz listeners.
Speaker:If you have ever thought of turning a passion of yours
Speaker:into a nonprofit,
Speaker:Carol has really delivered the goods,
Speaker:overcome obstacles and really built something great.
Speaker:Speaking of great.
Speaker:I cannot wait to share with you our episode for next
Speaker:week. If you have been looking at getting into corporate landing
Speaker:big accounts from companies,
Speaker:you've just had your eye on and felt that there was
Speaker:no way you could possibly get in and talk with them
Speaker:and actually get the business.
Speaker:You do not want to miss what's up next week.
Speaker:I'll see you.
Speaker:Then This episode is all wrapped up,
Speaker:but fortunately,
Speaker:your gift biz journey continues.
Speaker:Are you eager to learn more?
Speaker:Our gift biz gal has a free download just for you.
Speaker:Head over to gift biz on-ramp to.com/twelve
Speaker:steps to get your copy of the 12 steps to starting
Speaker:a profitable gift biz don't delay,
Speaker:head over to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com/twelve steps today.
