Dogs In The Office And The House- Building A Dream Business!
By: Sandi Krakowski (With our mascot, Kobe)
As many people make the leap to come home and start their own business, many things come into play they might never have thought of when working in a corporate setting. Things such as :
1. Getting a housekeeper- the house gets used more than 100+ hours each week now that you're home! It will get dirty!
2. A delivery person- if you have a list growing you'll start to get mail at your post office!
3. An executive assistant- who can run errands and make your life a lot easier!
And the list goes on.
There's one thing that will come up if you're a pet lover, as I am, that many business mentors aren't talking about. It's the topic of training the pets to operate in a home based company.
My husband and I now both work from our home, with occasional services from our teen boys. We absolutely love it! This month they're moving some of our company to a local office, so they have more space! They'll most likely work there 1/2- 2/3 of their time. But truth be told, they'll be home for lunches, home for meetings and they'll be HOME more than they ever were before when Dad was off at work and the teenagers were off having fun with their friends!
And something begins to arise! "WHO is going to train and help with the pets?!"
Ironically, as you're working from home, it's one thing if your adorable puppy sleeps under your feet all day at your desk, as my babydoll Kobe did. But holy mackeral when it was time for everyone to be in the house working together at one time…. Kobe Bear decided HE was going to be boss! And sadly…. as you will hear more about later, it's because NO ONE was telling him who was boss in the first place.
The "Klepto Sock Stealer" began to strike.
We thought it was cute at first. Then, we were missing our socks for our workouts. NOT cute. We were missing socks we needed to grab at the last minute for an outfit we were wearing and heading out the door in. SO not cute! The socks began to disappear and my sweet puppy wuppy turned into a serious thief!
He really wasn't a puppy anymore…. as I would later discover, he's an adolescent dog. Just as adolescent sons need to know how order and rules are operating in the home (and it's a key to having a blast with them & everyone getting along!) the adolescent dog also needs to understand order and rules. But we had a problem- no one had taught him.
The socks began to disappear.
Little trinkets were next.
Gifts my son received from his girlfriend were vanishing.
Guitar picks…… snacks…… important papers for crying out loud- GONE!
And cute little Kobe Bear that you see in the picture above became quickly, "That darned dog!" Now listen, before you send me hate mail and tell me, "Well geez did you expect him to train himself?! What are you thinking?!" I've already repented of my sin and honestly have taken full responsibility 100% for this horrific behavior in my dog. And actually…. I went one step further..
I called in an expert!
Jim and Leila of http://www.petiquettedog.com/ are Ruby clients who came on board in the middle of this year. As you've read in my previous articles on mentoring, I believe that when you want to get really good at something, you should hire a mentor. So we did just that.
Jim took Kobe Bear and I under his wings with some intense training.
He sent me videos, even wrote me an intense eBook with step by step instructions on what I could do to remedy this problem. I love Kobe, he's a doll! Tolerating this ridiculous behavior was not in my recipe for a successful relationship with my dog, however.
I'm happy to say that Kobe Bear has found his happy place again in our home and we have 100% ERADICATED his stealing tendencies!
Now some of you are wondering what on EARTH do dogs in the office and learning to train your dog have to do with building a big business from your home…. or even your local office near your home! Oh… keep reading.
The next 'issue' we had to deal with were a few 'gifts!" that we weren't so happy about showing up in the family room in our beautiful lower level of our home! Yes, you guessed it, the gifts were NOT something we were happy to receive and in plain English, Kobe was working hard to once again ask , "Who is boss of this room?"
Jim helped again….. and we are happy to say my boys are once again enjoying their XBox as does Alan, his office! Without the horrific smell of Kobe sending gifts. (Blah!) Jim is that good! Friends, this is what having an expert in your life can do. Fix things that hold you back, quickly!
Many times business owners think the only challenges they'll need to call an expert in on will only be in regards to business topics, such as dealing with marketing, profits and loss. Well trust me.. Kobe didn't go stealing when we were all hanging out in the living room! Of course not! He was a smart theif! He was stealing when I was on a conference call or Alan was busy publishing a newsletter…. and this issue with our pet had EVERYTHING to do with business.
We weren't about to give him up or let this problem slip by…. and just like we've addressed issues with procrastination, delays, drama, deadlines and keyword research, we dealt with the issue of the dog in the office and the home.
If your happy and growing business is seeing a few "pet challenges" I'd love for you to meet Jim and Leila! They've created a few resources just for fans of Kobe… and their pets who might be stealing or dropping gifts when they least expect it.
Stealing stuff and biting: http://www.petiquettedog.com/products/stop-dog-stealing-biting/
Older dog house soiling: http://www.petiquettedog.com/house-soiling-solutions-older-dog/
As a coach, let me have a proud moment here and share with you that Jim and Leila have taken a 100% offline business and began to grow it into an online fortune! With more than 2000 people already on their list in a very short time and daily activity on their social media profiles, they've learned as they have taught many of their clients, even old "Dogs" can learn new tricks! They are also long time dog trainers who are now impacting lives all over the world with their Cyber Dog Lessons. I highly recommend you check them out!
