Episode 6 - Meghan Huchkowsky of Doodle Dogs

EPISODE 6

[INTRODUCTION]

[00:00:01] LA: Welcome to the Positively Charged podcast. I'm a certified coach who's innately curious and loves discussing life, work, family, and everything in between. My guests and I are sharing how we step into our power and live a positively-charged life. Let's dive in.

[INTERVIEW]

[00:00:23] LA: Welcome to Positively Charged. I'm Lindsay, your host, I am so excited to have a very special friend with me on the podcast today. And that is Meghan Huchkowsky of Doodle Dogs. And I'm going to switch gears and let her tell you all about her beautiful business and what she does in her life. But before I do that, I just want to say thank you, Meghan, for coming on. You know, I love you. I'm a number one fan. I remember when Doodle Dogs is at like 900 followers on Instagram, and I was sharing every post. I'm just like such a huge fan of you. And of course, your husband. Big fan of your husband as well, who we work together for years. I just love the Huchkowskys. So I'm so grateful that you're here. And I'll just start off, Meghan, by just asking you to tell us a bit about yourself and what made you come on the podcast.

[00:01:13] MH: Great. Thanks, Lin. So I'm excited to be here. It's nice to connect with people in this way, especially since we've had such a rough couple years. Yeah, so a little bit about me. My name is Meghan Huchkowsky. I am the co-owner of Doodle Dogs in Calgary. We have two retail locations and an online store. I own the business with my brother, Corey. And we've been in business since 2016. So we had at 1.3 brick and mortars. Now we're down to 2, which is awesome and manageable. You have an amazing group of staff, a delivery driver and my husband, Mike Huchkowsky, who used to work for you, now works for me.

[00:01:46] LA: Now works for you. Yes.

[00:01:49] MH: So this podcast should be called the Mike Huchkowsky Boss Lady podcast. I love that.

[00:01:55] LA: I love that, too.

[00:01:58] MH: And he's awesome. I told him he's getting put on a performance improvement plan yesterday.

[00:02:02] LA: Oh, that's cute. I’m sure you love that.

[00:02:07] MH: Totally. He was very familiar with the title.

[00:02:08] LA: He’s like, “You’re speaking my language.”

[00:02:10] MH: Yeah. Yeah, other than that, in my personal life, I have a dog and a cat. I've been married for 13 years. I ride a Vespa. I volunteer. I'm like addicted to volunteering, even though it's going to like ruin my life. But I can't stop. Every time I give a volunteer gig, I go find another one. And I'm very supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. That is a big passion of mine. And yeah, that's pretty much it. I'm just a happy go lucky person. Pretty positive. And I like to make people laugh.

[00:02:36] LA: I love it. Yeah. And we love your laugh, which I'm sure we'll hear the infamous Meghan Hutchkowsky laugh as we go through the pod here.

[00:02:44] MH: The snorts.

[00:02:45] LA: The snorts. I love it. And tell us Meghan, like, where does all these passions come from? Like, I don't know where you want to start. But you're such a passionate human being. I just want to hear where those came from.

[00:02:57] MH: I think a lot of it – So with regard to business, my passion for that business definitely came from sort of like my first job at Blockbuster Video. Like, Blockbuster Video was one of those places where they pride themselves in greeting everyone when they come in the door, providing that good. Remembering the client when they come back in. And I was like 16-years-old, and I just remember feeling so confident when I could remember someone's account number, or their name, or help them pick up movies, and it was successful. So that's where sort of that whole customer service perspective came from.

And then my passion for Doodle Dogs came from my dog. So I have a super broken Shih Tzu who came from a puppy mill and went through – Actually, after that, I had to take her to her fourth specialist. She's 8. So like, just money just out all the time. But worth every penny, of course. So she's been my passion.

My passion is really for how to improve the lives of dogs every day, whether that's through enrichment, or through fun apparel, or through delicious treats that they love that motivates them or for optimal nutrition. And my passion for the LGBT+ community just comes from everything about growing up. Like, I had a gay best friend in high school. And I went to the prom with two gay best friends over the years. And my brother is gay. So we're an LGBTQ+-owned business. And then I found some volunteering over the years that sort of were like entrepreneurial base, but also LGBTQ base. And for me, I was like, “That's perfect, because I own a business. And I'm an ally. And now, also, it helps support the community in a way that can create such a prosperous Alberta in terms of like now we can bring diversity in a way of business owners.” So it's one thing to be a female-led or female-owned business. But I love to encourage LGBTQ+-owned businesses

[00:04:34] LA: Absolutely. And the more diversity we have in business, the more we thrive, like there's no doubt. What I just am sensing you're passionate about letting people thrive and encouraging other businesses to thrive just as you've done with Doodle Dogs. Really, a beautiful thriving business, owned by a woman and someone of the LGBTQ+ community is just so amazing. And that is like such a celebration just in that. What have your challenge has been in sitting in those seats and doing business? 

[00:05:09] MH: Oh man! I would say the biggest challenge, if I'm being like totally frank, and people don't realize this because no one in the outside – Anyone who's working for another company would never know this. But when you see bank commercials, and when you see how banks promote themselves, you think they just like give money away. They're like, “Who wants money? You get money. You get money.” They're like Oprah, just giving out money.

We struggled getting money financially. Most of the capital that we put in was through our own money, or through very small, modest loads. So we were able to secure capital when we first opened our first location, because we were currently employed. So because Corey and I had secured, and our husbands. All four of us were employed. So we went to the bank and we're like, “Hey, we would like a modest loan.” The bank was like, “Get out of here. There're tons of money. You all have money.”

Once you have a business and your income is your business, or your husbands are laid off, which did happen to us, both of us when we had – No one will give you any money. Like you can show proven numbers, proven revenue, proven profit, proven gross revenue year after year. And the bank's like, “Mm. No.” And you're like, “But I have money?” And they’re like, “No.” And you’re like, “Fine.”

So a lot of times, that is something I don't think people talk about enough. Money makes people funny. But money in business should be something people talk about. And I know you and I just talked about me being funny about financials. But we don't talk about the financial struggles that come from businesses enough. You hear businesses struggling financially, but you don't hear about businesses that are trying to thrive, or trying to scale, or trying to grow, but can't get capital. And that is a huge problem.

And over the years, I've spoken to many other business owners of really great businesses, and none of us could get money. Either we were getting it from outside investors, or we’re having to put up our own capital, which is insane. Like imagine having every small business owner city all relying on their own RRSPs or their own savings to fund their businesses. People don't know that. Isn't that crazy?

[00:07:00] LA: It is. It totally is. And I can understand the those struggles, like as being a business owner myself, I totally understand that there's barriers that don't seem clear when you start off. Like when you start a business, you think that, “Okay, if I just make revenue, then everything will fall into place,” in the sense of capital financing.

It's interesting to me, because there's something there. There's an opportunity missed. I wonder if that's why like the BBC became a thing. I don't know why the BBC became thing. But it's essentially a non-bank, like a bank that's not really a bank that funds entrepreneurs. And it's probably because there was the TDs, and the CIVCs, and whatnot are so scared to give out that capital, which is such a weird thing, especially in our economy, where startup businesses is essentially keeping the economy alive. The big companies are getting bailed out using our tax dollars. And small companies are actually what's keeping our economy moving.

[00:08:05] MH: Yeah. And which make up 90% of the businesses in Calgary that people don't know.

[00:08:10] LA: Like, I want to give my capital to that. And yeah, just as you said, like it's not common knowledge. And so how was your personal experience informed how you show up in your volunteer work?

[00:08:23] MH: So I volunteered with the Alberta LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce for two plus years. I think it’s almost two and a half. And I went into it being able to relate to other business owners. Like being able to say like, “Hey, we'll promote your business. And if you're not comfortable with how we want to promote business, I can help craft what that looks like for social media,” things like that, because I was the member relations person. So it was really easy for me to empathize with everyone who was a member.

So I did that for over two years. And then recently, I spoke with Pride in Business, who actually the guy, he works for Gallagher. He's like super amazing. But I was working with him because we have health benefits for our staff at work. So he's the founder of Pride in Business. And they didn't have any female representation on their team. So I was like, “Hey, maybe you're looking for like a volunteer or something sometimes.” He was like, “Okay, that sounds great.” And I was like, “I meant like at a festival. But like, that's cool. I’ll join your board. Whatever.”

[00:09:15] LA: I didn’t mean I wanted to be on the board. But, okay.

[00:09:18] MH: Oh, I just felt like – You know that rush you get when you're like really excited about something and you leave it and you're just like, “Ahh! I can't wait to do more of this.” And then you start getting into the work and you’re like, “Why do I commit to every – Like, I have so much work to do now.” But then, like, especially when you're in the meetings and you're like a hands-up person, you're like, “I'll take that. I'll take that, too. Give me that piece.” And you’re just like you leave and you're like, “What am I doing?” Like, am I a sucker for punishment?

[00:09:41] LA: Oh, Meghan. This is so you. And like our listeners don't know. But of course, you were a past client of mine. So you have experienced the coaching experience. And if I'm wearing my coach hat, it's like, “Well, why are you doing that? There is a part of me that is curious about why you're doing that.” And because I know you purchase and from the coaching experience, I know why you're doing that, because you're fucking passionate. Like you're a super passionate person, and compassionate as well, like both.

And I think that's frickin’ missing. Like, that passion and compassion in supporting others. And just like bolstering other companies up. It's missing. It's totally missing. Like, we're kind of a cutthroat. Like, excuse the pun, but like dog eat dog. Like, that kind of vibe of like competition, and, well, I need to win. And winning is everything. And etc., etc. And of course, you want to be successful. But what I hear you in your voice and in what you bring is this like beautiful passion and compassion to hold other people up, make other people successful, and use your talents to do that.

And so that kind of leads me to my next question, which is what I'm really, really curious about is, what is it like when you're really standing in your power? When you are really doing your purpose work in the world, what does that look like, Meghan?

[00:11:07] MH: Oh, man, what a question. That’s loaded. It's a good question, though. It's a question you don't get asked in everyday life. Like this is a question like almost every person should be asked. But it seems like opportunities are given to you a little bit differently when you're a business owner, podcast, interviews, televisions, things like that. And you get asked these extraordinary questions. But you're a regular person. You just happen to own a business, right? So I'm so lucky that I get asked these like incredible questions where I get to like look inward and go, “What the fuck is it like when I’m in my power?” right?

[00:11:36] LA: Mm-hmm. Yes.

[00:11:37] MH: But like, it's really – And I was thinking about this question this morning before we got started, because I was like, “This question could be answered 500 ways.” But I thought about it and I said like, “When do I feel so good? When do I feel the most empowered?”

And I think, for me, it's when I can tell jokes and they land well, or like I feel happy and there's no like anxious or negative thoughts overpowering me. I'm just able to be in the zone where everything's good. And I know when you and I shadowed a lot, I brought up the word anxiety like every second word. I'm like, “Anxious. Anxious.” And you're like, “Let's talk about anxiety for a second.” Anxiety is the star of my movie.

But the good news is, is when I am in my power, I'm also able to identify I'm not overrun with anxious thoughts, and I'm confident. My jokes land. I can read that audience a little bit better to know when my jokes are going to land a little bit. Because for someone like me who thrives on comedy, if your jokes don't land, you feel defeated. You feel like it's a personal attack. You're like, “Why aren't you laughing at this hysterical joke I just made.”

[00:12:36] LA: Don't you know how funny I am?

[00:12:38] MH: Don't you know? What's wrong with your ears? Are they broken? Often, I love when I feel so good that I – And I'm also like controlling an error of the conversation or controlling a narrative situation. So what I mean by that is when I'm at work, when I'm able to like navigate like a whole store, like bounce from client to client and control that situation in a way where it's like, “Okay, I'm going to check back on you in a second.” And they're like, “Okay, okay.” And you can just tell they're listening to me and they're active in what I'm saying. And I tried to instill that in our staff. And I'm always true. Because they're like 20 to 24 years old. They're building confidence. And I think it's something that like that generation is lacking is the confidence. And the pandemic didn't help. Like cyber life doesn't help.

And I'm always saying to them like, “They come into your space. You control the narrative. So someone's like trying to dominate your time, just cut that shit down. Be like, “Excuse me. Like, actually, you're doing great there. I'm going to leave you with those boots. I'm going to check back on you in five minutes. I'm going to see how these folks are doing.” No one's going to argue with you. They're going to be like, “Okay. Okay.” So there's something about being in that sort of natural leadership thing that I get really like excited about.

I love the idea that I could sort of control a situation in a way that benefits everyone while still being polite and still doing my job. It's really empowering. And, really, if I could teach anything to like upcoming retail associates just to know how to do that so that people don't run over you. Because I'm so tired of like people running over people and steamrolling over them just because they use a different tone, or just because they're asking for things in a certain way. It's like, “No. That's why like I love owning a retail shop.” Like, there's no more like the customer's always right, because the customer is – Like, I'll do anything to make people happy. If I slightly upset anyone, I throw money at them. You come in and you look sad, money.

But when people come in with a different attitude or a weird expectation, I got no time for it. And I really hope that this new generation of people coming into this world are strong enough to know how to create those boundaries. I think that's so important.

[00:14:36] LA: Yeah, absolutely. And what I heard you say there is when you are in your personal power and really living in a way that is an empowering and in alignment with who you are, you are a natural leader. You are in a leadership role. When you hear me say standing in your power is leadership, how does that land for you?

[00:15:01] MH: I wouldn't expect it. Like, that's not how I would say, right? Like, if you were like, “Meghan, what's your natural power?” I'd be like, “Natural leader, that's me.”

[00:15:08] LA: Natural leader.

[00:15:10] MH: Natural leader providing tasks. No. It doesn't feel like that. But that's the cool part about, I think, being maybe good at it, is that you wouldn't call yourself that. You see a lot of this on LinkedIn where people are like, “I'm an industry disrupter.” And I'm not saying this any shame to anyone who says that, because they are that if they believe they are that. But there's something special I think about when people just do things, and it's just a part of their life. Do you know what I mean? And they don't necessarily –

[00:15:37] LA: It’s just natural.

[00:15:39] MH: Yeah, it's just natural, or they don't like – It's not what they want to be, but they just are it. So if I come out to be the leader, that makes me really happy, because it's not something I'm trying to do. Like I am trying to do it, but not in a way where it's like I just want to be natural, like what you said.

[00:15:53] LA: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like that is just what's happening. Not what you're trying to make happen. It just is what's happening. How do you think like your brother or your husband would describe you as your natural power or your unique genius? What do you think they would say, those people closest to you?

[00:16:13] MH: I don't know. This is funny, because Corey just had to – Had to. Corey just had to nominate me for a woman in business award, because I asked him to. And I asked him to do it because I was like, “I really like filling out applications for things like that when given the opportunity, because it allows you to self-reflect.” But I didn't know what he filled out on the form. And I really wanted to know. So maybe I should ask him.

But I think Corey would say that I'm great with the staff. That I really can fix a situation. That I'm great with like customer service. I'm kind of like nan at the store. Like I always call people like sweetheart, and angel, and babies. And I mean that sincerely and not in like a weird, cheesy way. Like I just mean it in like a comfort, like I want to wrap people up in a warm cardigan way.

And Mike, my husband, will probably – Just he tells me all the time, but he thinks I'm too generous, but he means it in the best way. Like a part of him hates that I tip people like 25%. But a part of him is like, “She's so nice, though.”

[00:17:14] LA: Yeah, yeah.

[00:17:16] MH: Do you know what I mean?

[00:17:17] LA: Yes!

[00:17:18] MH: He always calls me too generous. He's a darling angel. And he's very complimentary to me. And I think that he thinks I'm really funny. And he just thinks I'm a sweetie pie, which is all I can say about him, too.

[00:17:28] LA: Yeah. Well, I have a unique perspective, because I worked with Mike for so long. And just the way he talks about you, of course, is just like so endearing. And you’re his Meggie. You’re his Meggie.

[00:17:41] MH: That’s also, yeah. He’s fun to work with too.

[00:17:43] LA: Yeah. Like I'm so curious. Like that is like truly – You guys have just gone through a huge transition, which is bringing Mike under the business. Enticing him from his corporate gig to work for the beautiful and see that is Doodle Dogs. What was that like? And how is it going? Of course, I know what's going well. But like what was that experience like for you?

[00:18:08] MH: It's been great. I think he's doing a great job. And I really like – We obviously work very differently. So the relationship between myself and my husband is very different from myself and my brother. His siblings are like, “I can say the worst thing about you, and poke your buttons, and we're going to be triggered in 2.5 seconds.” Versus husband and wife, you don't do that. You don't trigger each other for fun. But siblings are like dogs. You know, dogs. They’re like [inaudible 00:18:30]. And then they're fine.

[00:18:32] LA: Yeah, yeah.

[00:18:33] MH: Whereas relationship is like a long, it's a long gone, right? Two years ago, you said this. So he's been amazing. And I love working with him. I love hearing how much he loves the staff, and how he likes to interact with the staff. Because he is not their manager. He's like he can be kind of their buddy at work. So I love learning like which staff he likes the most. Or I'll ask him like, “Which staff you think is the best with customers? And which staff do you think need improvement?” And he's just like, “I think they're all great. And I was like, “Okay. So you're not like an inside track for me at all.” Like, “I just think they're great.” And I just hear him on the floor.

And the thing I'm most proud about, honestly, Lindsey, isn’t – I think over all the years, and you can probably definitely agree with me because you had major corporate life for a long time, is I’m so excited for Mike to just move his effin’ body. I think sitting still is killing all of us. I have a doctorate in sitting still is killing all of us.

[00:19:36] LA: We are coming to your TED Talk, girl. Tell us.

[00:19:38] MH: I'll be there this Thursday. I don't know why we don't talk about it more as a society. But 10 years in a corporate life absolutely murdered my body. Sitting, slouching. My right shoulder from using a mouse is F’d. And you never say that. Like how do you explain to someone? How do you explain to like 2007 Meghan, like, “Hey, FYI, your shoulder is going to be terrible because of using a mouse.” And I think about that all the time. I think that as a society, we need to move our bodies more. And I don't even mean like just getting up for a walk, getting up and moving. But now that Mike is out of the chair, out of the house and moving his body, that makes me happier than anything.

If he made like no money, but just moved his body all day, I would be thrilled. Because I think sitting is killing us. And he is just moving. And I can just see it in his mood. He's happier. He's healthier. He's like – It's so good to see. It's all I wanted for him for two years.

[00:20:34] LA: Yeah, totally. And especially during the pandemic. I can totally relate to what you're saying. Just even when Trevor – We have our steel fabrication company. He started on the floor. Like he was a laborer. And then he was an apprentice fitter, and then a journeyman fitter, and then lead hand and so on and so forth. And then, at another point in time, he hit the office. And when he went from picking up 200-pound pieces of beam every five minutes to sitting and mousing, his body went into shock. Like it was like – Again, like soreness and stiffness. And just like, ugh, that crunchy feeling of just not being able to have like full movement in all of your joints. It's like that stagnation causes – Like mood changes all of that. Like, no doubt. Like, movement is medicine. Like, no doubt.

And I remember him saying exactly that. Like he's like – So the exact opposite of what you're talking about with Mike, he had tons of physical work, and then hit the office. And it was probably like, I want to say, four years before he was like, “You know what? I think I need to get a regular movement practice going, because I think that's what's missing. Like, I think that piece.” You don't know what's missing until you actually analyze it. But yeah, it was probably three or four or five-ish years that he was like, “I can't do this anymore.”

And there's something so beautiful about seeing your partner unblock those energies. Like I really, really can agree with that. Like when Trevor and I started doing a regular movement practice together, it was like so rewarding for me as his partner just to be like, “This is what you needed.” And for me, me too. This is what I needed, too. That's just such an awesome byproduct of bringing him under the Doodle Dogs umbrella.

[00:22:32] MH: Absolutely. And it's nice that you said like Trevor recognized it himself. Because it's easy for us to be like – Because I would scream at Mike every day, “You got to get up and you move your body. Like go for lunch. Take the dog for a walk.” But if you're having a rough day at the office, or you’re working at spreadsheets all day, you don't want to like get up and go for a walk. You want to go sit on the couch, watch a little TV, like eat your lunch, and then go back to work. And that's what he was finding himself doing.

But I was always like, “You got to move your body. Like go walk with me.” He's like, “I don't want to do any of that. And I forgot what that was like. I forgot what it was like when you don't want to do because you've had a long mentally exhaustive day.” Versus where I have a physically exhausted day, right? They're very different. And I forget that.

[00:23:08] LA: Yeah, absolutely. And both are exhausting. And both require different ways of recharging, too. I think that's really important to understand that what works for one person doesn't work for everybody. And it's interesting, because you can see it from a 50-foot view. You can actually look in from an observer’s perspective and say, “You know, I'm seeing this not being the best for you. And you're in a weird spot, because you're his wife.” Like I always have felt like that, too, where it's just like, “I don't want to tell him what to do.” Like, there's no part of me that feels better, or affirmed, or supportive when I'm telling him what to do, like when he can come to his own conclusions. That's when everybody can. Not even just your partner. But when anybody comes to their own conclusions on what feels best for them or works best for them, that's like the crux of my job. Like that's what I do with people every day, is help them come to their own realizations. And that's exactly what you're saying, is like, all of a sudden, he could take an observer’s perspective because he changed his environment. And then he can, like, look at it in a different way, which is so beautiful. So what do you like best about working with your husband? What is that like?

[00:24:20] MH: Probably just seeing how happy he is and how serious he takes every aspect of the job, because I was kind of not associated with that before, right? So now I get to see – It's funny, like he'll come home and he's orchestrating sort of like all the courier work, all the pickups, all the online store, which he's supposed to be doing out of a warehouse that we purchased. But it's not ready yet. So he's doing it in the store. But just like seeing how serious he takes it, despite what the job description is. Like he'll come home and he'll open the laptop and he'd be like, “What time was just delivery done today?” And I was like, “Dude, put the laptop away.” And I always say to him, I’m like, “I don't care. It'll figure itself out.” And he's like, “No. I must figure out what happened with this delivery.” And I was like, “We’ll figure it out. We'll throw money at it. It's fine.”

We’re good, too, that like he's new to the role. I've been doing it for five and a half years. I'm getting to the point where I'm like, “Everything will figure itself out.” But he's still really passionate about it, which I really admire. And I also just love – I don't know. I just love having him at work, because I don't work with him every single day. Like I'm probably making the staff uncomfortable. But when I show up to work and he's there, like we always kiss each other or hug each other. And I try not to, but he's so scrumptious. Like what am I supposed to do? He’s so cute. Sitting at the computer that it's hard not to be like touchy or show PDA with each other. But I try to narrow it down. But he's just kind of nice to have him around. Because during the pandemic, I was at Doodle Dogs delivering, and he was home all the time. So now I actually get to see him a lot, which is cool.

[00:25:44] LA: Yes! Oh, my gosh. I felt like that when Trevor and I started working together. I was like, “We’re going on lunch dates. We’re seeing each other.” Like, I went from working like out of the house downtown with a commute down to the deep south where we all used to live. And that's a 10-hour day at minimum, and you’d get home, you're exhausted. And you need to cook dinner. Do dishes. Get ready for the next day, blah, blah, blah. And that's not a lot of quality time where I find – Like, if someone were to ask me like what's my favorite part of working with my husband? It's we get more quality time together, that it's in smaller batches. But it's definitely more quality.

Like him and I going out for lunch together just the two of us without our kids, we would never do that if we didn't work together, like if we weren't literally next door to each other in our offices. So that's such a nice part. And why stop the PDA? It's your company. Do what you want.

[00:26:41] MH: Totally. And it's nice, too, that he can go for happy hour. Like, Corey and I love to go for happy hour next door and get like cocktails. And now we can say like, “Mike, come with us.” So the three of us now go. And Mike will tag on to like vendor meetings and stuff, too, which is super red. So then he can see who I've talked about for years. I'll be like, “This is Jen, and all the customers that are coming in.” I'll be like, “Mike, have you met so and so?” And he'll be like, “Oh!” And he gets really – Even though he doesn't know anything about them, he’d excited to meet them. He'll be, “Hey, so great to meet you.” Because he knows that that person has been a longtime client. So he knows to put on that like, “Oh my God! This is really great to meet you.” And then the clay will be like, “Yeah, we've been coming here since the cocktail days or whatever.” And it's really nice to see him appreciate like that that person has contributed to our business, right?

[00:27:20] LA: Totally.

[00:27:21] MH: So cute.

[00:27:21] LA: And I'm sure he loves it, because you love it. And he loves you. So it all kind of goes together. And I think that it's a beautiful gift. It honestly is. Like, when I heard the news that Mike was leaving the corporate gig, I was totally super happy for both of you. I love Mike, and I think he's fantastic. And so, Mike's Boss Bitch Podcast. Yeah, there it. There’s the start. I totally felt like a man's happiness for you two to not only for him to get in alignment with what you've built, of course. But for you, Meghan, like it kind of made me – It made me really proud in a funny way that it was kind of odd. But it was like you’ve built something really special with Doodle Dogs. And I know you know this. And like I said, like I remember at the beginning, like I remember sitting with Mike having lunch at our table that we had in that open area. And him pulling up the Instagram and being like, “Oh my gosh! Look! Like they’re at 900 followers.” And I’m like, “We can get it to 1000. I know we can.” And like how many followers are you now?

[00:28:34] MH: I think just over 19,000.

[00:28:35] LA: Like, holy shit! Holy shit!

[00:28:38] MH: It was such a lot of work. 

[00:28:41] LA: And I also am cognizant that followers doesn't equal success. Like I think I have like 300 followers on Instagram. But you are a retail location. That exposure, the exposure of Instagram or any social media platform is probably pretty important to your business. And that's a huge accomplishment, like a huge accomplishment. And I also want to say that I don't know anything about social media. So like, what am I saying?

But for me personally, there was a lot of pride for me in seeing the engagement on your social media. It's like you can have – Anyone can buy 100,000 followers. But what I noticed about following you and being engaged in your social media is that people are engaged. People are like your clients. The people who are rooting for you are really showing up on your Instagram, which I think is just so beautiful and so lucky. Like I think that's – And when I say lucky, I don't mean it came by luck. Like it came by hard work. But there's a blessing inside of that hard work that is like all these great people that are supporting you and rooting you on.

[00:29:52] MH: No. I appreciate it. And I know what you mean by lucky. There's like you do feel very blessed/lucky. And I agree with you. Like, you create your own luck. But at the same time, you just have to look sometimes and be like, “Gosh! I feel lucky.” Regardless of how you got there, you just feel lucky.

I love our social media. And I love the work that we put into it. And Corey and I have really tried to step back from all the administrative stuff to do more of like the marketing and the TikToks. And Corey has just been doing a kickass job doing like a lot of educational videos on Tiktok. And he's really good identifying like trends, and audio trends, and algorithms, and just things that can help build it.

[00:30:25] LA: Wow! That’s amazing.

[00:30:27] MH: And he was amazing, especially since neither of us have a background. We've just been into it. And I've always told folks, when you're building your business, because everyone I talked to like starting a business will be like, “Oh, I have this marketing person, but they're not doing what I want them to do.” And I'm like, “Do it yourself. Everything within business, do it yourself. And if you're no good at it, then hire someone to do it.” But if you're hiring people and throwing your hard-earned dollars at them, and you're not doing what you want, then do it yourself until you can't anymore.”

So I did all of our payroll for a long time. And eventually, this was like, “Okay, I'm great at payroll.” But like the things that like are actually making us money, right? Which was like social media and marketing. So, basically, we started paying people to do all of our – Because I did bookkeeping, too. So I said, “We'll pay everyone to do our bookkeeping and our payroll, because that gets me out of that, and puts me to the things that make us money.” Because no one cares. Like if someone was looking at Doodle Dogs, they’d be like, “My God, Meghan is a good bookkeeper. She’s so good at keeping them books.” Like no one would – That doesn't mean anything about like it's good from the backend of the business. But like Corey and I in social media, we did discover quickly was the formula of success. Because you start to get more stores, people don't feel connected to you when they go in and don't see you. But they feel connected to you on social media. So if Corey and I make face on social media as much as much as we can, people will literally come in and go, “How have you been?” And they’ll literally say right away, “Well, I feel like I've just seen you. I feel like I've seen you.” So you need to connect with your people. Because if I just keep showing pictures of like oil and food, people are just going to think that we're just this pet store.

But when you show face and you are your personal brand, people will feel connected to you even when they come in and you're not there. And that's been really, really hard for me is, for a long time, I would take it very personal when people said, “I come in all the time, and you're never there.” And I'll literally like look up at their transactions. And they come in at like 6:45. I'm like, “No, I'm not there on Tuesday, 6:45.” And the way I look it is like, “You should hope I'm not there.” Like if you want Meghan to be a good, happy, healthy person, you shouldn't want me to be there every time you come in, because I need to have a life, right? Like I'm not there to be someone's therapist. I'm not there to be greeting people every time they come in. So if you love Meghan and you love Doodle Dog, you should want me to have good work-life balance.

So where we have found that is being on social media, because it allows us to like be in the stores. And then when people come in and they see us, they get excited because they get to see us in person and chat. But they also still feel connected to us when we're not there. So that's really important.

[00:32:48] LA: Yeah. It is. It totally is. And what you said earlier in our time today was that really encouraging your staff to embody that welcoming, and loving, and caring, truly. Like not just for sales or for customer service. But really embodying the Doodle Dogs way is an important part of how your retail associates really like continue on your brand, continue on your personal brand in store that is kind of created maybe in the online world. But really rubber hitting the road with those people in store.

[00:33:23] MH: Yeah, and forming their own leadership. Like I want them to be their own little leaders in their community. Like I want them to feel like they're leading the store when I'm not there. Like I always tell them, “When I'm not here, this is your store.” Right? Command situations. Like if I come in and there's a dog running around off leash, I was like, “Who am I going to get mad at? The dog or you?” And by get mad, I mean like I want you to commend the situation the way I would. And I'll never get mad at you for it.” Because I always say to them, “I want you to have conversations that are uncomfortable with clients, because you're going to have conversations later in life that are way more uncomfortable than telling someone to put their dog on a leash.”

[00:33:59] LA: Yeah. Meghan, yeah. Like you’ve said this to me before. And actually, this is a great segue, is like this kind of encouraging people to – When you hire someone. Sorry. I'm kind of bouncing all over the place. But when you hire someone, the vibe that I get is that you care for their whole self and want them to be successful not only for your business that you're hiring them for, but in their life, in their life. And your unique genius is empowering others through your leadership. And that is like a really special genius to pass on. And it's not typical, especially in general retail environment. It's like you think of retail and you think, “Okay, that's a maybe an entry level role that maybe someone doesn't really truly care that much.” Whatever. Like, there's maybe some bias that exists there. But what you're saying is – Or what I'm hearing you say, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on what I thing, is it's the whole person. Like when you bring someone in, you are grooming them for their whole life, for their whole essence. And that in turn really helps you with your company. Really supports your bottom line. What do you think about that observation?

[00:35:17] MH: No. Our interview process is more extensive than you'd think. Because for Corey and I, because we do like to work in the stores, it has to be someone we want to work with. Like, I don't want to look at the schedule and go, “Oh, I'm working with X, Y and Z today.” I never want to feel like that. And I don't ever have favorites, because I want them all to be my favorites. Like, obviously, there's times when some staff are probably not being as effective, or there's some tweaks that need to be made. But overall, they're all my favorites. And I want it to always be like that.

So when we interview, I pre-screen call everyone. And within the first like five minutes, if I don't feel like I'm having a fun, engaging conversation, even if – I can tell. I'll listen for nervousness, and if I can tell they're nervous, that's one thing. But if they're feeling competent and I'm not buying the vibe, I'm like, “If I'm not buying this vibe, our clients are going to buy this vibe.” Right?

So for me, it's really important that I pre-screen every single applicant as much as I can and then bring them in for interviews. And then we usually just have like a casual conversation. And like the way I look at it is like I want the conversation to be who is this person? I don't care if they know anything about dogs or cats. They don't even have to own a dog. I just want to see who is this person. Do I like hanging out with them? Will my clients like hanging out with them? Will the staff like hanging out with them? Because at the end of the day, it's a fun job. It's not meant to be a stressful job. It's supposed to be a job that sort of help pays the bills while they're in school, or while they're paying their rent, or while they're trying to like build that sort of young adulthood. But I don't want this to be a stressful job. I don't even want it to be a stressful job for me. I had a stressful job, right?

[00:36:49] LA: Been there, done that, girl. No, thank you.

[00:36:51] MH: 100%. So, really, I just think it's important that when we find these nice little wholesome people, I want them to have good core values. And I want to sort of try to – I sound like a total cheese ball. But I do like to find people who have different motivations, whether it's like, “I'm here for money.” Or like, “I'm here because I'm in school.” Or, “I'm here because I love dogs.” Or, “I'm here because –” Like you know what I mean? Like, finding those personal motivations and those core values is so important.

And I know we're just a pet store. But I also really want it to be a place where they can leave and go like, “I actually learned a lot there. Like I learned a lot about receiving. I learned a lot about POS. But I also learned a lot about like clients and maintain that relationship with clients.” Because one of our staff go to school to be like some amazing, like, executive account holder. And then they can learn that relationship, right? Because we have so many repeat clients. Like how amazing is it to learn that repeat relationship client? Like that relationship is so important. So if we have staff that go on to be a sales rep or an executive account holder for some business, like they could be like, “I remember when I had my clients at Doodle Dogs, and they would come in, and they would look for me and –” Do you know what I mean? Like, I just think that there's so many skillsets they can learn from this job. And I honestly mean this with my whole heart. I hope that everyone can take away something from having worked with us.

I think that's – And not necessarily even just pet nutrition. Pet nutrition is great. But just something that helps them through life, like my blockbuster job did for me.

[00:38:14] LA: Yes!

[00:38:15] MH: Yeah. I hope they can look back at that job and say like, “I really liked that job because, Meg and Corey were fun to work with.” Like one staff told me the other day that she'd worked for – Or she knew people who work for a lot of men. And working for the men was really horrible for her. And then she said she was so lucky because she worked for amazing men. And then she said, “And now I work for you guys, which is great.” And that made me happy that my brother was viewed as someone who was a man that's respectful towards women, who makes a fun, safe environment. And that's really important for me. And I forget that. I forget that we have so many females on staff that Corey is a male leader. And sometimes I'll hear him say like, “Hey, girls.” And I'm like, “Don't say hey, girls.” Do you know what I mean? Like I try to get him to use gender inclusive language. But like you can't change people. But they his intentions are so good that they know he doesn't mean anything by it. So that's the most important message, right?

[00:39:06] LA: Yeah. And you know, I really sense from – I don't know Corey very well. I've dropped in the store a couple times to see if you were there. And I'm like, “I’m Meghan's friend.” And he's like, “Oh, I know, I know.” But I really do get the sense from both of you that like if there was somebody who was non-binary, for instance, who's working in your organization, he wouldn't say hey, girls. You know?

And that to me is what you just said is the intention. The intention is just to be loving and fun. And, obviously, that loving and fun, loving light, can cause harm at some times. And I really do get the sense from both of you that there's a good fine line. Like there's a fine line, but a good line of like we know when it's harmful and it's not. And that creates really a ton of safety and comfort in their in your workplace, right? Is just when people can really know that they're being taken care of, and being encouraged, and not being put into a situation where they have to stay, have to be there for the money. It's like they enjoy it. They want to learn from you guys. And you guys are great role models for your team.

It's clear, it's obvious, like just even hearing how you talk about the passion of building this business and building the people in the business. It's like, I would love that. Like, I would love to work for someone like that. I think that that's a beautiful archetype to be as a leader. And I also just want to bring it full circle back to what you said is – Well, what I said. Maybe what I said. What you kind of said. But what I said was that like your unique genius is really a natural leader, and an empowering leader. And that is not easy to come by. Like I can speak from the I on that. Like I have seen so many different leaders, so many different leaders in my career. And it is not natural for everyone. And I think not only is it natural for you, but it is what makes you special as well, which I think is just really – It’s probably a huge part of that recipe of why doodle dogs is so successful, why your volunteering gigs have been so successful, the work you've done with the chamber. Like it's just like all of those pieces, I really just feeling called to like celebrate you and what you bring to that, which is just your light. Like you were just such a bright star. And yeah, like I hope you do get that women in business award, whichever one you applied for. Go get it, girl.

[00:41:41] MH: [inaudible 00:41:41]. Thank you for saying that. That's very – I haven't said it enough already. But the stuff you're saying is very kind. And I appreciate it. And I appreciate that someone who I adore and respect so much would feel that way about me. And who can see it. Like I know you and I don't talk all the time. But I love that you're able to get all of that from even our conversations or from social media. I appreciate you for saying that. It really makes me – It makes me want to continue what I'm doing or do better.

But it's funny, too, because you know what? There're people who have worked for Corey and I. And this is something you have to learn as a leader, too, who weren't thrilled about our leadership style, or who didn't like us, or who were terminated. And sometimes you hear rumblings that they weren't happy with you after they left. And I remember one time when the staff kind of devolves some information. So yeah, there's people who've left for whatever reason, whether it was resignation, or termination. And you know they're not happy with you, or you hear rumblings that they're not happy with you.

And I remember it was a big pill to swallow to think like you can't just sit back and be like, “Well, F them. I was a great manager. They had a great time.” Because it's not. Like everyone's experience is unique. And everyone's experience with you is unique. And I remember having to say to someone once like, “You know what, I don't blame them. Because if they feel like that was their experience with me, then their feelings are valid. That could have been 100% their experience.” And whether or not my experience with them was like, “Well, my experience with them was excellent.” It doesn't matter, right?

Like how they felt about working from us, their feelings are valid. There's no true or false in someone's experience with working for you. And I'm not trying to say this as like a total cheeseball. Because it is really hard to hear that people who worked for you weren't happy. But at the same time, like, I still want people to be successful. So if I terminated someone and it forced them to go get their dream job, amazing. That is all I can hope for that person, right? I hope and pray that anyone in the past who has not had a good experience with me has been able to go on and have either an amazing other career. Like I just hope that it puts them on a trajectory that makes them awesome in a different way that betters that. Like that's all you could hope for people, right?

[00:43:53] LA: We're not at everyone's flavor.

[00:43:56] MH: 100%.

[00:43:56] LA: Yeah. And it also doesn't detract from how amazing you actually are either. Just because you're not for someone, it doesn't mean you're not amazing. And I've learned that with my coach every – My coach listens to the podcast, and she's going to be like, “Oh my God, yes.” But like every time I meet with my coach, she's like – Or I'm like, “I just want to be liked. I just want to be liked. I just want to be liked.”

It's true. Like no matter what our accomplishments are – And I should speak from the I. No matter what my accomplishments are, no matter what I am doing and who I'm talking to, I still want to be liked. And there's something really mature and beautiful about also allowing for someone not liking you to be completely okay and completely in service of them. And they will go on and have a great life, a great career.

Especially from having an HR background, and I'm sure Mike can attest to this. But it's like I've never actually connected with somebody who we terminated, who didn't go on to do something better or something that was more aligned with them. And we always sat in the seat of HR, which is like the neutral party making sure that things are being done properly. Or that was the role I took anyway. Just because they didn't have a good time with us wherever we were doesn't mean that they're not a great person, a great employee, a great potential for somewhere else. Actually, it means they are a great potential for someone else.

We obviously, in HR world, we would deal with firms that we would call outplacement firms, which you connect to them with the departed individual. And they supported them in getting their resume together and all that kind of thing. And I remember just going out for lunch with one of the heads of these firms. And we were just chatting about like – And I was so curious. I was like, “So what is it like getting all of these people who are like departed? Like they're not in the best place. They're not in the best part of their career.” And she was like, “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! No. No. They're in the best part of their career.” And it was just that interesting flip. But that's what creates good leadership is when there's something truly special about being able to see both sides of that and being like, “Yeah, I'm not everyone's cup of tea. And I do want to be liked. But I know that not everyone's going to like me,” and move on to the better things for them and for you.

[00:46:14] MH: And when you're a small business, as you know, you often don't – Like companies don't get HR until they're like a million people. And they're usually very resistant, because it's a support function that doesn't have an ROI. Like it does in the long term. It's like a long game ROI, but for the betterment of your staff. But when you only have like 10 to 15 staff, I am HR. So I am the HR function for our company. I do not have HR skills. I do not have HR background. I do not have payroll. I'm not a business partner. And I don't know the Alberta labor standards inside and out. So any terminations and any difficult conversations, everything has been done by me. This person who literally worked for like Shell Canada for 10 years has now taken on this jack of all trades.

So handling those HR conversations and those terminations and everything is so important, because they need to be done properly. But it's so tricky. Like, it's so tricky, because you're like, “I can't do the wrong thing.” And to know too that your staff have an HR that they can talk to about another staff member. Because your staff have to be able to trust you in a way where they can come to you and speak about something important and know that you're not going to tell other people. That you're not going to broadcast it. That you're not going to joke about it later. And that's going to be handled.

A lot of people don't realize either, when you're a small business, you are all functions. And HR is probably the hardest one. Recruiting is the worst one. And HR, like after.

[00:47:33] LA: Preach.

[00:47:34] MH: It's so hard. It's so hard. Recruiting is hard. Handling difficult conversation. I also do, obviously, our health benefits and all that in our onboarding. And then, obviously, offboarding and things like that. It's wild. And it's all going to be handled so well with no training. So like kudos to every single business owner out there. I don't know how y'all doing it. I don’t know how y’all keeping it together.

[00:47:56] LA: Yes, we can dedicate this podcast to small business owners. Well, and I'll do a shameless plug of like hire a coach. Hire someone who can help you walk through these really uncertain times and be completely unbiased and completely like not involved. Because like even with Trevor. Like when I'm actually supporting Trevor, and what he's doing with his business. It's like there's still even there a little bit of a bias where I'm like, “I have a vested interest in what the end result that he's looking for.” I, of course, try my very, very best to be neutral.

But it's true. Like hiring someone who is completely not involved in what you're doing, to just talk it out. Like you could talk to Corey all day about it. You could talk to Mike all day about it. But they have a weird connection to your problem. And so, shameless plug for hiring a coach. Not for you, specifically. You have been coached. So you know what it's like. But just generally, for our listeners here who are small business owners, it can – And you don't have to hire me. But like go find someone. Go find somebody who can kind of hold the space for you to talk about the things that are uncertain. Even if they're not telling you what to do, they can at least hold the space for you to kind of get through the – Again, yeah, what's uncertain. And just kind of come out the other end with a little bit of a plan.

[00:49:15] MH: Well. Lis, I want to plug you for a second, because I don't think people – Do you remember when I reached out to you and said I really want – Because you were like, “Hey, I'm just looking for some folks to kind of work with me and so I can build my –”

[00:49:27] LA: Yeah, when I was first starting. Yeah.

[00:49:28] MH: Yeah. And I was like, “I'll give it a try.” Because I'm very anti-life coach, business coach, mentor. Like I've always been like, “Oh, build your own path. And you don't need that. Do it yourself.” But I'm also like obviously someone who doesn't know how to ask for help and who'd rather just like complain. So my time with you was amazing, because I am like a straight shooter and I thought all that was hokey-pokey, baloney. Talking to you unveiled a lot of stuff for me.

And while you prided it and being like – You're like, “It's all you girl. You figure –” It wasn't. It was the way you crafted questions. And it was the way you helped me navigate my life. And at that time, when I chatted with you, I had a lot going on. I think we were at three stores at that point. I was very, very busy with my chamber position, because I was replaced by three people after I left. And I was very busy with that. Every conversation I had with you was completely different from the week before. Like, I would say to you like, “I don't have anything to talk about.” And you'd be like, “It's okay. Let's keep our meeting and we'll still talk.” And I still talked for an hour.

Having someone like you in my life that could craft questions in a way and bring back to me the stuff I was saying. Because when you just talk, talk, and talk, and talk, and talk to, like you said, like your business partner or your husband, they're not going to say to you, “Hi. You've said the word anxiety seven times.”

And the best part about what you did for me was you were able to help me recognize that my anxiety was the majority of what was happening for me. And I have to credit you completely for that. Because I ended up going to the doctor. I remember after I was done my sessions with you, I made a list of things I had to do. And one of them was like, “I need to go see a mother effin’ doctor, and deal with the fact that my anxieties creeping into every aspect of my life. It was home life. It was work life. It was volunteer life.” And that was important for me to go and see someone about why that was impacting my life so much.

And now I've got a good regime. I have great medication. I talk about it very freely. Like I don't ever hide it. Like I joke when I'm at the gym and my heart rate is up on the screen and everyone can see it. And they're like, “Why is your heart rate going?” I'm like, “Oh, I'm littered with anxiety. Like just sitting here is hard for me.”

Yeah, and I joke about that. And I think that's helpful for people because they're like, “Oh, she has anxiety. But she's outgoing and funny.” Because most people who are going and funny are probably people suffering the most. And we don't even know, right? Like, here's the clown. So I wanted to thank you, because if I could give on any advice, if you're a business owner, or even just a professional, or a person, and you think that everything is baloney, talk to a business coach. Talk to Lindsay, because she's great.

But what I also really liked about you is that you're a real person. Like you were able to be so professional and how you crafted questions. But you're also fun to just shoot the shit with, right? Like you were swearing, and you were able to like get off topic for a while. Like you weren't like dedicated – Like you just kind of flowed with the conversation, which was so important to me. Because I never want it to feel like, “Oh, this is stiff.” Or like, you know, when you go to –

[00:52:21] LA: Stiffness. Yes, that's exactly what I'm hearing you say. Like, stiff. Like if something is too stiff, then all of a sudden, you want to wiggle out of it, right? Like no one wants to be held in that.

[00:52:30] MH: Totally. But anyways, kudos to you. And I love this podcast. And I love that I had an opportunity to come on here and tell your listeners that you're fantastic. And that – Like you did not ask me to say that. You did not say like –

[00:52:42] LA: I was just going to say that wasn’t the point. But I appreciate it.

[00:52:45] MH: No. I did. I remember thinking to myself, like I want to make a point to tell people because I was such an anti-coach person. And now I couldn't have imagined my life without it. And you came into my life at such an important part, right? I could have done one of two ways. So you really helped me navigate what I need to do. So that’s for that.

[00:53:03] LA: Oh, I'm so grateful for that. And I love you. You know I'm a huge fan. And it's my pleasure. It's my honor to be included in your story and be part of your journey. As always, Meghan, you know, I'm rah-rah. I'm all for you.

So as we're coming to the top of our hour, I'd love to hear, for you, Meghan, what happened in our time today? What did you uncover? What did you say? How would you summarize what you just went through in the last hour with me today?

[00:53:34] MH: I had a fun conversation with an amazing person who's very complementary and also likes to support people, lift people up. So, thank you. You really just helped me reaffirm, I think, the things that I'm doing well, and leveraging that. Like now I really want to continue to talk the talk and walk the walk. Like I come on here and I say I do all this great shit. I really want to continue to do it or do it better. Like I would never want someone to listen to this and be like, “She’s not fuckin doing any of that.”

Like I would hope that anyone listening to this would be like, “Totally, that’s exactly what she does.” And I really just want to piggyback off that feeling that maybe I'm doing some really great stuff and some good areas. And I really want to do all of that.

Like I did a post recently on LinkedIn where I talked about my personal experience with the stress leads I took from my previous job. It has the most views of any posts I've done. It had the most comments, the most likes of anything I've ever done. And it really shows that mental health plays a huge part in everyone's lives. And the biggest thing I know I said in that post was – And that's the same thing about talking the talk. I said that no one reached out to me when I was at my company and I had come back. And I really, really tried to do that for my staff. And I really try to make effort of it.

Like when I say to you, “Hey, this is what I do for my staff.” I want to leave here knowing that I really am trying to do all that. And I really want to do more of it. And I want to get creative on how I do it or how they accept communication, or what kind of things they want me to reach out with them. Even if it’s like, “Hey, are you enjoying the job?” Like sometimes I'd like to reach out to staff saying like, “Hey, how are you enjoying the job?” Even when they're like six months in. But I just want to make sure that everything I've said today something that I could still walk the walk on. I'd never want to be phony baloney. I never want to be a cheeseball. So everything I say, I want to be genuine in. And I think that this conversation really helped me identify the things I just want to keep doing right, all I can do better at, and just mean it. Be sincere, you know?

[00:55:26] LA: Yeah, totally. Be sincere with it. And you are. You're just so sincere. And we're very grateful for your candor and you're just openness to share your beauty. Like that is really why we're here, is sharing your beautiful gifts with the world. And I know my listeners are going to just lap it right up, because how could they not?

And before we hang up, I just want you to tell us, Meghan, where can we find you? Like can you tell us a bit about what's the handle for Instagram for Doodle Dogs? And how do you prefer to be contacted if anyone wants to get in touch with you?

[00:55:59] MH: Sure. If anyone wants to connect with me personally, you can add me to LinkedIn. It’s just under Meghan Huchkowsky. Meghan with an H.

[00:56:07] LA: I’ll link it in the show notes as well.

[00:56:08] MH: Oh, perfect. Yeah. I'm pretty casual on LinkedIn, which makes it fun for me. And then on Instagram, my business account is @DoodleDogsYYC. I hope you like our content, if anybody follows us. And if anybody who's listening wants to talk about pet nutrition, raw food, fresh food, quality ingredients in their kibble, holler at your girl. Because that's what I love to do. And I was doing it yesterday. And I was just like so excited. It feels like every day is like – You know that? When you're in your comfortable part of your job where you feel confident, I still get that feeling. You know when you’re like six, then you're like [inaudible 00:56:44]. Like I had a little bit of that yesterday. And I was like, “I love this.” So if anybody wants to come talk to me about food, I will talk to your offer.

[00:56:52] LA: I love it. I love it. And I hope they do. I hope they reach out. And at minimum, go check out the hilarious content at Doodle Dogs while I see on Instagram, because it's awesome. And if you want to laugh, it'll be perfect for you.

So, Meghan, thank you again. I couldn't be more grateful for your time. And I cannot wait to share you with my listeners. So thank you so much for joining me today.

[00:57:15] MH: Great. Thank you, Linds. I had a blast.

[00:57:17] LA: Okay. Talk to you soon. Bye-bye.

[00:57:19] MH: Bye.

[OUTRO]

[00:57:21] LA: Thank you for being here with me. If you loved this episode Positively Charged, please rate and review wherever you get your podcast. If you could benefit from illuminating your own personal power, please contact me to get a free coaching consultation. Stay positively charged my friends.

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