by Joey | Jan 8, 2020 | Real Life
I want to first start this post by saying that Bailey, so far, is just fine. But we had a bit of a scary experience on Tuesday. I’m sharing only because had I been armed with all of this information at the start, I would have done things quite differently. Now that I know, I feel it’s my responsibility to share should you ever find yourself in a similar situation.
In case you don’t know, raisins and grapes are toxic for dogs.
In fact, according to my extensive internet research, they’re rarely described as anything other than fatally toxic. So, yeah. Thanks Dr. Google for that additional heart attack. This isn’t like the chocolate thing where you’ll hear stories from people who don’t understand that it’s baker’s and dark chocolate that are toxic. One raisin, one grape can be enough to cause severe injury. Research has yet to determine any kind of reliable formula to determine exactly how or why. Which also means regardless of your dog’s size of how little they’ve ingested you have to take immediate action.
On Tuesday evening, I was running out to pick up some moving boxes from a woman on Facebook Marketplace (update on that coming soon…I hope). Oh a whim, I invited my mom to join me–you never know with these internet pick ups. The pick up was less than 10 minutes from our house, and we couldn’t have been gone more than 30 minutes. But Bailey acts fast. Especially since we’ve been living at mom’s, if there is any food left remotely accessible to her, she will eat it. There is no rhyme or reason here either. Sometimes she can be left for hours at a time and not touch a thing. Other times I’ll be gone 10 minutes and she’ll eat an entire loaf of bread. This dog, even at 9 years old, is mayhem.
As we pulled into the garage, it dawned on me. I left meatballs defrosting on the counter. Mom stared at me, an amused knowing look on her face. We knew before walking in the door those suckers would be long gone. But Bailey does something…strange. You see, Jonathan and I are living at Mom’s right now. Everything my mom needs is on the first floor–so we live on the second. We have a little living room area, a tiny kitchenette (we’re talking a coffee pot, mini fridge and toaster oven), our bedroom, bathroom, my (closet) office, you get the picture. Basically, we have our own little “apartment” up here sans a real kitchen.
I don’t know why Bailey does this, but whatever she takes from the kitchen, she brings it upstairs to consume. It’s the most bizarre thing. I walked in, checked the counter and sure enough–the meatballs were missing. But it wasn’t until I got upstairs a few moments later that I discovered that wasn’t all.
My mom had been gifted these amazing pastries that were filled with…raisins. And what did I find when I climbed the stairs? The pastry box…empty. Before you criticize, it’s important for you to know that 1) those suckers had been in the SAME PLACE for 2+ weeks and the dog never bothered them. 2) They were OUT OF HER REACH…or so we thought. This dog is a freaking Macgyver I tell you. Initially I was just annoyed. I vacuumed up the mess (side note: apparently she doesn’t really like raisins because she spat about 5 of them out, eating only the pastry). I vacuumed the downstairs for my mom. And then I sat down to research.
Uh, this is kind of a big deal I said to my mom as I walked into her bedroom, laptop in hand. We have to do something about this. The thing is, what? As a pet owner, my instinct was to bring her to an emergency vet. So I started a Google search.
I called a local vet who didn’t close until 7, but unfortunately their doctor had called out with strep throat. But the tech gave me some vital advice.
When this happens, she said to me, if the ingestion was within the last 2 hours, we advise you call animal poison control first to get your dog to vomit before we proceed with treatment.
I had no idea there was an animal poison control. We have had Bailey for 9 years. I grew up with dogs. How is this not more of a widely known thing?
Dog owners: here’s what you need to know:
Animal poison control: 888-426-4435
What you need on hand:
- 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
- A pediatric syringe (without the needle–you know, the kind you could use to squirt a liquid into the back of a dog’s mouth)
- AND/OR something to mix the peroxide with
If you suspect or know that your dog has consumed a grape or raisin, and it’s within the first 2 hours, call animal poison control immediately. There is a $75 fee for the service, but you and I both know that’s less than the initial fee to simply walk into a vet’s office. And the vet is going to call poison control the moment you bring them in anyway–so DO THIS FIRST. The key here is that you want this stuff out of their bodies before it digests and starts to absorb into their bloodstream.
Raisins and grapes threaten the kidneys. Even just one raisin or grape can cause severe kidney injury or renal failure. Poison control will ask you all the important questions like how much your dog weighs, what and how much they consumed, how old they are, their medical history, etc. From there, they will give you an exact, specific measurement of the solution to give to your dog. DO NOT JUST READ ON THE INTERNET AND BALLPARK. This is critical!
They will also give you instructions on what to do if your dog doesn’t vomit within 15 minutes of administering the solution. They give you a case number and a specific call back number so that you don’t have to keep explaining the situation over and over again (and to save precious, critical time).
In our case, I mixed the solution with yogurt (per instructions) and Bailey was a champ. She ate all of it and did vomit within the first 15 minutes. Twice.
When I called back, the Dr on staff felt fairly confident we had thwarted any further threat to Bailey’s kidneys. She did say that in some cases for further certainty, to take the dog to a 24 hour vet to get some bloodwork done. If there were still any immediate threat, they would administer IV fluids which is the most aggressive way to flush the dog’s system.
In our case, we were given very specific instructions of what to look for. We were told that if we see any of the symptoms (I’ll refrain from sharing only because she did say these were dog/case specific) to call back immediately.
So far, Bailey is doing just fine. She is drinking regularly, and voiding properly (TMI but hey, here we are). There doesn’t seem to be any further threat to her kidney function. (Praise Jesus!)
If I had known any of this, I wouldn’t have wasted so much time. Sometimes that one hour can be the difference between an all clear and devastating damage.
TLDR: If your dog eats ANY raisins, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, preferably within the first 2 hours call animal poison control. Be sure you have (fresh; read: bubbly) hydrogen peroxide in your house at all times. The immediate urgency is to get your dog to vomit as quickly as possible and then take them in to an emergency vet unless they are showing immediate signs of distress.
I am not a veterinary professional. All of the information in this post is for the sake of sharing my own personal experience and what I wish I’d known. Seek professional veterinary consultation to make any informed decisions.
by Joey | Oct 17, 2019 | Creative Entrepreneur
Confession: I’m totally nosy. And with the perfectly curated social media world we live in, I find myself craving the real stuff. The raw details, you know? I want to see the how not just the what. I’ve been blogging (though now seemingly “on & off”–but that’s finally changing, promise) since the spring of 2009. That’s over 10 years, y’all.
In those 10 years, I’ve kept various different schedules. I maintained a 5 day a week publishing schedule for many years. Then I dropped down to three. Then two. And then, once I launchd my first company, I focused the majority of my time on that website–still publishing weekly. The phases they come and they go. But one thing remains the same: publishing content is a lot of work.
I think that’s the most surprising aspect to pretty much everyone who decides to dip their toe into the content creation world. It’s not all fun photos and quick write ups. No, no. Not at all. There’s so much work that goes in behind the scenes. And when you’re trying to keep a consistent schedule (which, if you’re trying to grow your website at all, you have to keep a consistent schedule), you gotta take all the help you can get.
I’m a planner for sure, and I’m one organized chicka–but I was struggling with everything. I’ll be honest, that’s a lot of the reason I fell off the publishing bandwagon for so long. There are so many social media platforms that juggling all the various scheduling tools was all just getting to be too much. And expensive. Really expensive.
I was having to toggle between three different scheduling tools plus my CMS (WordPress) just to get all the content mapped out and scheduled. And you guys–I’m organized. I am. But I was having a hard time keeping track of everything. And then I finally just sort of gave up.
You’re not new here: you know how I feel about social media. I loathe it. Loathe it. But it’s necessary for content promotion. And eventually, all of the fun was just sucked out of the entire process entirely.
As you all know, I recently launched a podcast. And I’m reintroducing weekly blog content into the fold. (I don’t know why, but I was sort of expecting some cheering there…moving on…) I manage and write blog content for clients. And I coach creatives. I’ve got a lot going on. So hunting down a content management tool that kept my content creation life as straight forward and streamlined as possible was a top priority.
ENTER: COSCHEDULE, WHAT MY CONTENT PLANNING AND ORGANIZING DREAMS ARE MADE OF
I’m on the individual plan which is perfect for bloggers, start ups and soloproneurs who are looking to organize their blog and social media content. Basically, the editorial tool puts everything I need into one place. I can capture my content ideas, plan out my content schedule, manage tasks and create social media campaigns all from the same platform. I mean, do you hear those angels singing? Because y’all. This platform is a freaking game changer for anyone out there who has content to manage.
They do have other plans available in case you manage multiple content platforms or work with a team of people. And they also have different power up packages that can take your workflow management to a whole new level (I have my eye on the work organizer package). These upgraded plans allow you to manage all of your marketing efforts in one place.
As a whole, I use the platform to plan, organize, manage and schedule all of my content. That includes podcast show notes, blog posts, social media (including Pinterest!!) and my email marketing. It syncs beautifully with wordpress.org so I’m actually able to manage everything either from the coschedule dashboard or the WordPress dashboard.
The piece of the puzzle that sold me is the fact that I can create social media campaigns directly within my “blog” content. This, for me, includes blog posts and podcast episodes with the show notes. And to take things a step further, I actually created promotional campaign templates for both types of content. Additionally, with the use of what they call “helpers” I’m able to automate the content where it’ll generate the social posts for me based on the helpers I designate. Seriously, this tool is a dream for anyone who doesn’t necessarily love all the extra work social media promotion requires.
Once everything is scheduled, it appears on the calendar so I can easily see any gaps in my content (if there are any). I’m also able manage all of my tasks for the content as well by using the task manager within each project and scheduling those out accordingly.
You know, I’m one to stick with the easiest and most affordable option when it comes to pretty much everything. Especially as people are starting out. But time is money–and creating, promoting and managing content can take a lot of time. If you’re someone who create content consistently, or you’re someone who wants to create content consistently, yeah. Coschedule is worth it. I’m actually slightly annoyed that I didn’t know something as robust as this existed when we were all blogging our little hearts out all those years ago.
Get started with Coschedule today!
by Joey | Aug 29, 2019 | Real Life
When I was a kid, every so often my mom would come up the stairs and leave a box of black trash bags outside my door; the subtle indicator that it was time to do a deep clean. I hated the process but always loved the results, so after a few deep breaths, I’d dive in.
Somewhere in the middle, I’d lose stamina and motivation. Inevitably, I’d find myself sitting on my bed in the midst of chaos, my room an actual disaster zone, everything out of place. Mess makes me anxious, so this would always bring on a bit of a panic. I’d regret ever starting. I’d beat myself up for losing steam or not having a better plan of action going in. I would struggle to see how I would ever recover from the destruction. The visions of a clean and clutter-free room were long gone; a pipe dream.
But little by little, the floor would clear. The bags would fill and order would reinstate. Then I’d stand in the doorway admiring my work, breathing a cleansing breath of relief. You did it.
There are seasons of life that look a lot like black trash bag cleaning. And y’all, I’m in it. This year thus far has been a long process of touching everything in my life and making the painful but important decisions about where (and if) they fit. I’ve closed the door on friendships, cutting the ties that tether me to toxic drama and chaos. I’ve let go of things I was white-knuckling without really knowing why I was holding onto them. We drag things around with us from season to season without ever really deciding to. I’ve put my hands on everything, laying it all out in front of me to examine.
And right now, I’m sitting on my bed evaluating the mess in front of me out of motivation and stamina. Everything is out of place. And I don’t know how we’ll recover from the destruction.
The messy middle.
As a person so full of hope it can get obnoxious, I know this season will pass. I am constantly reminded that everything everything, good or bad, is temporary. But that doesn’t make the mess any easier to stomach. The only way through it is through it. But it’s also really easy to forget that everyone goes through it, too. Social media makes us believe that everyone has their ish together. And y’all. It has to stop. You can be a mess and still rock the eff out of your business. You can be dealing with really heartbreaking realities and still experience joy. This is the beautiful dissonance of real life.
The middle is messy but it’s also where the magic happens, or so says Brenè Brown. And I really believe that. The messy middle is not just unavoidable; it’s actually integral to the process of change.
We all work so hard to hide our seasons of messiness. Lives on display, shame creeps in. Comparison tells us we messed up, or worse failed.
Because no one shares the mess. Overnight successes really look like a whole lot of work and heartache behind the scenes. Everyone is quick to share their new homes, baby announcements and business launches. But what about all the struggle behind it all?
Life is hard, y’all. Why do you think my coaching business is booming? Because everyone needs help. You’re not alone in the struggles and neither am I.
And that, my friend, is a beautiful thing.
So I might be staring a mess in the face right now, but I know that little by little, the floor will clear, the bags will fill and order will reinstate.
Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
Hebrews 12:1
by Joey | Aug 27, 2019 | Creative Entrepreneur
A friend messaged me the other day. “I need to pick your brain.” I wasn’t doing anything, so I told them to call.
This friend has an MLM business. And she’s been off social media since February. “I hate it,” she told me. “But I feel like I have to do it.” She wanted my insight into hiring someone to create the content and manage her accounts. The accounts that she hasn’t logged into since February…
I could have easily handed that information over. There are several people in my network who would happily take on that project. And they’d rock it. But instead, I asked her a question.
“Since you’ve been off socials, how is your business doing?”
She went on to tell me that things are going well. Slow and steady but consistent. So I asked her exactly why she felt like she needed to be on socials.
“Because my network is only so big. I need to expand my reach.”
I could hear the disappointment in her voice. She felt such pressure to do something she really, really didn’t want to do.
Here’s the thing. We all do this. With one thing or another, we all force ourselves to do things we don’t want to do because we feel like we have to. Maybe it’s the easiest thing to do. Or the most traditional. Or my favorite: because everyone else is doing it.
You guys, you started your business to design your life. To design your day-to-day. Yes, every business has aspects that no one likes. And the typical advice, in that case, is to simply suffer through it until you can afford to hire it out. But we add things to the miserable “have to” list that don’t actually need to be there because we forget to employ creativity. Somewhere along the way, we stopped giving ourselves permission to think outside the box.
Don’t just accept the misery. Get creative. Think. Explore.
MLMs have been around forever. I remember attending Tupperware parties with my mom and I rubbed Skin So Soft all over in the summers like every other kid of the 90s. Social media is young. A baby! It is not the end all be all of success for a creative business. Can it help? Sure. Can it have a massive impact? Of course. But social media also has the power to consume you. It requires constant attention like a needly little toddler. And if you simply cannot stand it or worse, you see that it’s negatively impacting your well-being, don’t force yourself to do it.
I asked my friend to pretend it’s 2002. Social media doesn’t exist, and you’re determined to grow your business. What do you do? I encouraged her to find an in-person networking group in her area. (I’ve been a member of WIN which is a great one. BNI is also a really powerful group.) I told her to start attending events like Creative Mornings. Make deep and meaningful connections with the people around you in your regular day-to-day life. Find vendor events. Pop up shops. You get the picture.
The thing I love about this friend and how she runs her business is she doesn’t spam people. IRL or online. She understands the power of connecting not selling. When she did post to her socials, she offered true value.
“So take it offline,” I told her.
By the end of the call, she felt energized. A heavy, wet blanket lifted. Her perspective shifted, she was reinvigorated to tackle this next stage of growth.
So I’m going to ask you–what’s weighing you down? Holding you back? Paralyzing you and stunting your growth? What do you feel like you have to do but you’re repulsed to actually do? How can you shift your perspective? Brainstorm some out-of-the-box solutions. Stop reaching for the simplest or easiest and get intentional about designing your life and business to operate in a way that brings you joy.
by Joey | Jul 10, 2019 | Creative Entrepreneur
I get it, a big draw for creative entrepreneurship is that ever elusive freedom everyone is lusting after. I remember being at my day job day dreaming about what my life would look like when I no longer had to adhere to someone else’s schedule. A lot of people envision flitting from coffee shop to coffee shop, meeting interesting people and hammering out the work they love. Some hope their days will be filled with Netflix watching and sun bathing. The latter tend to find their businesses belly up in the first few weeks (probably getting a better tan then they are…), but that’s only because it takes work to build that kind of flexibility into your business. My dream week is a beautiful blend of those two visions. Some days I hustle hard. Other days I don’t want to get out of bed. So, I needed to figure out a way to make that happen. Enter: systems & processes.
SYSTEMS & PROCESSES UNLOCK FREEDOM IN CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Those two words: systems & processes have become such sexy buzz words in the entreprneur community that I’m afraid no one reallys know what they mean. They just know two things: they sound official, and they need them. Before I started my first business, I devoured episodes of the Being Boss podcast. This was back in 2015/16 when they first launched, and I’d listen to Emily and Kathleen chat while I swept someone else’s floor, dreaming about someday. I wanted to be prepared for someday. As prepared as possible. And if I learned anything listening to those bosses, I knew I needed systems & processes. But like…what exactly? I craved specifics. I needed details. Systems where? Processes for what?
SYSTEMS & PROCESSES: WHAT EXACTLY ARE THEY?
Your system keeps things running smoothly, like canned emails that allow for a rapid reply with a few quick edits or project templates in ASANA. Systems are your own personal business hacks. They help you be efficient and consistent. They’re the little automated favors you create for your business that make your life easier. I like to think of my systems as my little robotic assistants. Your process is your method of operation; it’s how you do things. Think of it this way, your process should be documented in a way that should you (likely the sole individual in your business initially) were to fall suddenly ill, your processes would instruct someone with no prior knowledge of your business how to operate it.
WHERE YOU NEED THEM & WHY
In my humble opinion, you need either one or the other or both in pretty much every aspect of your business. But here are a few key places you may need/want systems and processes and why.
Communication. You need both a system and a process in place for your communication: all of it. From inquiries to your final client meeting. Communication, in my experience, is one of the biggest time sucks in business. It’s vital, unavoidable. But if I spent one more day drowning in my inbox, never getting any actual work done, I was going to lose my mind. (Oh wait…I did…)
Packaged offerings//DOING THE WORK. You might be able to create and establish some systems here, like the aforementioned project templates. Maybe you are able to create design templates or a coaching structure map or any kind of thing that might make doing the work a bit easier for yourself. But what you definitely need here is a process. For your own sake and especially for your client’s sake (which really, is for your sake, let’s be honest). Having a process here will change your relationship with your business. And better yet, it’ll change the way your clients view your business. Whether you have one packaged offering or 15, create a process for each one. A process allows you and your client to know what to expect throughout their relationships with your business. It communicates credibility and earns trust. With a process, you’re able to ascertain the life cycle of a client which helps you determine your bandwidth and allows you to plan strategically.
Marketing/Social Media. Systems here are good. Having a some canned, recyclable posts, graphic templates and a general post structure to follow are all helpful. But a process here is vital. Do you follow a posting schedule? (i.e. motivational Monday, tip Tuesday, etc) What is your brand voice? Do you have a certain structure for your posts? An email marketing schedule? Figure out how you do this (or how you want to do this) and create a process around it.
Roles. Okay, so it might just be you in your business right now. But hey! Dream big! Like dressing for the job you want to have, dress your business up as the business you want it to become. Even if it’s just you, establish roles. Sure, you might wear all the hats, but you probably won’t always. Establish a process for the different roles (or departments) in your business. How does the work get done across the board? Further more, a benefit here is, even if you wear all the hats, this helps you establish boundaries within your business. Once you start hiring, it allows your employees and team members to establish boundaries as well. And let me tell you, this is crucial.
Business day. Both systems and processes will play a role in your standard business day. Think through everything you do on a daily basis and see where you can simplify (i.e introduce systems) and document the general operations (i.e. establish your process).
The short answer as to why you need these things is pretty simple: systems save you time and keep things operating efficiently, processes establish and maintain consistency in your business regardless of who is at the helm.
If you’re like, dude…I gotta get some systems and processes into my business stat, I’ve got you covered. I’ve designed this in-depth guide to help you create your own custom systems & processes and implement them into your business. So, what are you waiting for? Grab your free guide! 👇🏻
