How to Adapt Your Business Model When You're Living With Chronic Illness | Laura Reeves

# Laura Reeves Pre-Roll Intro

[00:00:00] Have you ever had to turn down work, cap how much you'll take on, or say no to growing or taking on more clients not because you didn't want it, it's because you knew exactly what it would cost you. Laura Reeves, our guest today, made that call over and over. While most of her competitors were showing 20 and 30 dogs a month, she capped hers at 10, and she didn't stop there because capping the work was the easiest part.

[00:00:29] The harder thing Laura did was decide years in advance exactly when she'd walk away from the whole business and actually build toward that date on purpose. Most of us don't even let ourselves think that far ahead. She did, and it changed everything in and how she ran things. So in this episode, you're going to hear exactly how she did it.

[00:00:53] One, what capping the work actually looked like in real numbers month to month. [00:01:00] Two, how she picked a retirement age years before she needed to technically have one, and what she did differently because of that one decision. And three, the strange thing that happened when 30 years of competing against other women in her field turned into something else entirely.

[00:01:21] If you've ever had to say no to growth because you knew the costs at the way you've done it before, this one is for you. Thank you for being here, and stay tuned. And if you want to keep this conversation going, check out the show notes to join us inside of our free community. I'm Nikita Williams and this is Business with Chronic Illness.

[00:01:40] Stay tuned

Nikita Williams (00:00.064)

get started, I'll count it off to three and then we kind of hop into the conversation, but we do a pre-roll. And we put a lot of the details about who you are in the show notes. We really like just to get to the meat of the conversation. Yeah.

Laura (00:07.502)

next.

Laura (00:12.194)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. I don't do a lot of big introductory stuff. So yeah.

Nikita Williams (00:17.372)

Yeah, yeah. It's like, you wanna know more? You wanna know the deets you could find out in the show notes? That's the whole point. Okay, so it looks like I am still on. Earlier I did this and my camera just stopped and I was like, okay, this is why we do what we do.

Laura (00:21.42)

Yes, there you go. There you go. Go click it.

Laura (00:30.786)

Yay!

God no. I had to, I wound up having to, it's not my favorite thing, but the only way I can do my job is to have Starlink. So literally, I literally have Satan's satellite on my roof. Sorry. I'll mind my P's and Q's, but I'm saying.

Nikita Williams (00:44.615)

Really?

Nikita Williams (00:51.414)

Well, we need-

We, know, technology is a double-edged sword, literally, literally, literally. Literally. Well, somebody else will make one at some point and it won't be so bad. You have another option.

Laura (01:00.75)

Mm, literally. 100 % selling my soul to Satan to do my job. So fantastic.

Laura (01:15.37)

Keep waiting.

Nikita Williams (01:17.974)

I know, I know. Okay, so let me count us us and we'll just hop right on in. Okay. 123. Hey everybody, I am on with Laura today. I am so excited. Welcome, Miss Laura. Thank you for being here.

Laura (01:22.158)

Okay, do it.

Laura (01:35.246)

Welcome to me. Thank you for having me Nikita. really appreciate it. It's, you know, I have my own podcast. So saying welcome is like, no, no, I'm supposed to say that.

Nikita Williams (01:44.566)

No, I get it. It's really weird when you're on the other side. It's totally weird. Well, I was so excited that you like raised your hand and was willing to come on and have a conversation with me about what it's like growing a business while caregiving and living with chronic illness. And what I'm especially excited to talk about with you too is that you've been doing this a long time before the internet and before like not before their net, but like before like social media.

Laura (01:48.014)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Laura (02:13.174)

I know before the internet too. I'm old y'all.

Nikita Williams (02:19.986)

And I just think it adds so much perspective to where we are with things changing, because things are always going to be changing. But tell us a little bit about how you feel that your chronic illness has affected your approach to business. Let's start there.

Laura (02:38.704)

wow. so I was originally diagnosed with Crohn's disease in 1997. So y'all do that math. And at the time I had just quit working in marketing at a credit union and started a freelance business doing freelance marketing and freelance writing and stuff like that. And so I had,

Nikita Williams (02:46.64)

Mm-hmm

Nikita Williams (03:04.116)

Okay.

Laura (03:07.18)

all these plans and all these ambitions. And then I was diagnosed and I was in bed for, you know, three months. And when I finally kind of anybody who's been diagnosed, you understand what I'm saying? You come out of that cocoon, you come out of that crash. And I found that I didn't have any clients. And yeah, so I am.

Nikita Williams (03:13.706)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (03:29.718)

Mmm.

Laura (03:36.758)

had grown up showing dogs and it sounds very strange to most of your listeners, but I showed dogs as a child.

Nikita Williams (03:42.39)

Well, it may not be so strange because a lot of my listeners love animals like a lot. Like they're all animal lovers. So.

Laura (03:47.628)

I got you. I got y'all. I'm here for you. I absolutely got your back. So I showed dogs and I had just gotten a new dog and I was showing my own dog and I just started taking on clients showing other people's dogs. I was a professional dog show handler. That was my job and it had not been my intended job. I went to school, get, you know, like I have a degree, like this is what I...

Nikita Williams (04:10.901)

Mm.

Laura (04:15.308)

But, I found that I could travel to dog shows in my own motorhome so that I had a bathroom available at all times and a bed available at all times. And, that was really important. And so I was able to sort of create, curate, however you want to say it, a life for myself that enabled me to do a job.

Nikita Williams (04:23.719)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Nikita Williams (04:30.133)

Yeah.

Laura (04:43.926)

that I liked, that I enjoyed, that I was good at. Running my own business, which is 100 % what dog handling is, very much a self-employed sort of deal. And yeah, so it was a thing. It was a journey.

Nikita Williams (05:03.008)

So let me ask a clarifying question. So you said that when you woke up from the haze, and I think we all have known that there's different phases of the haze of being diagnosed with something and you didn't know you had something. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. You said you woke up and you didn't have clients. Were you already working? were you?

Laura (05:14.626)

Yes. Yes. Yes. And it comes back y'all. Just so you know, that first one's not the only one.

Laura (05:28.302)

I had been doing, I, let's see, 1994 is when I had left the credit union. So I'd been doing freelance marketing and freelance writing for several years at that point. And I was just, you know how it is. You got to start a business. You're growing it from the ground up. This is pre-internet, pre-social media, pre anything kind of days. And women.

Nikita Williams (05:36.223)

Okay.

Nikita Williams (05:48.565)

Yeah.

Laura (05:54.432)

entrepreneurs, it was just not a thing that like everybody went to work for the credit union and you stayed working for the credit union until you died. And that's what you did. And so it was hard. It was a struggle. I had been showing a few dogs, you know, during that in between time. But it was, you know, I had lost all but one of my marketing and writing clients and that client stuck with me, but you can't you can't live on that.

Nikita Williams (05:57.832)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (06:03.016)

Okay. Okay.

Nikita Williams (06:11.581)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (06:23.002)

One client, yeah. So were you showing dogs like on the side as a fun hobby kind of thing and they, okay.

Laura (06:24.214)

It's not gonna work.

Laura (06:29.354)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I started out showing my family's dogs. My parents bred a breed called clumber spaniels. You guys can Google it. They look kind of like a St. Bernard. You dropped a piano on it. They are long, low and substantial. They are white and they have long white hair and they were developed as hunting dogs. They were flushing spaniels in England. And so I showed all of my family's dogs.

Nikita Williams (06:42.038)

my gosh.

Nikita Williams (06:48.066)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (06:54.27)

Mm. Mm.

Mmm.

Laura (06:59.21)

And, you know, I was still, I was kind of showing my own dog and doing the thing, but I hadn't, I had never intended, pardon me, my heater popped on. I had never intended to do it as a living. It's a hard living. It's very physically demanding, which is maybe counterintuitive to doing it with an autoimmune disease. It worked out pretty well for about 30 years.

Nikita Williams (07:04.15)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (07:18.006)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (07:22.87)

Yeah, I was gonna say how did that work out? How's that?

Laura (07:28.622)

it because I was my own boss and I could do my own thing and I could say I'm only going to have, I'm only going to show 10 dogs versus most of my competitors that were showing 20 or 30. you know, and so, and I'm only going to go three weekends a month instead of four weekends a month. I, and I was able to accommodate my job to my situation with the knowledge.

Nikita Williams (07:28.627)

Okay.

Nikita Williams (07:32.79)

Hmm.

Nikita Williams (07:38.582)

Mmm.

Okay.

Nikita Williams (07:53.695)

Yeah.

Laura (07:58.255)

from the beginning that I wasn't going be able to do it forever. And so that's the transition. I knew that my body was not going to hold up to this into my 60s where a lot of my compatriots are still showing dogs. I am not. I retire.

Nikita Williams (08:01.527)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (08:12.777)

Okay, okay. So interesting. This is such an interesting thought to me because anytime I talk to people who like their hobby turns into their business because of their chronic illness, the opposite usually happens. usually like clients come to me usually having had built their business completely not in alignment with their life living with chronic illness. And I'm like, how have you done it this long?

Laura (08:28.258)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Laura (08:40.642)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (08:42.303)

I don't know how you've done it this long, right? So what I'm hearing you say, really did intentionally design how, you were okay. I don't want to say, okay, I'll ask you this question. Were you...

How did you feel about having to restrain or limit the amount you were doing that that create more stress on your situation? How did you counterbalance that?

Laura (09:11.506)

so like many of us, you can understand I'm a little bit on the stubborn side. Yeah. Right. Right. Okay. Like as I feel like as a community stubbornness is like a requirement. Sad but true.

Nikita Williams (09:18.261)

Yes, we are. We are so stubborn!

Nikita Williams (09:25.751)

Yes, and a more positive, we're very determined.

Laura (09:31.246)

Okay, devoted, determined, committed, know, stubborn. Yeah, so I would frequently overdo. That was particularly early on when I was when I was just kind of getting my, if you will, sea legs under me with the concept of what I was dealing with. I would frequently overdo and then I'd be sick. And so I cycled a lot. And so

Nikita Williams (09:36.023)

Stubborn.

Nikita Williams (09:46.167)

Mm.

Nikita Williams (09:52.771)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (09:59.735)

Hmm.

Laura (10:01.208)

Keep in mind too, this has been.

almost three years, almost exactly 30 years I've been doing this. And so where I am today is not where I was then. And so sometimes thinking back to what it was like then kind of makes you a little weepy because you're like, yeah, that kind of sucked. and so, you know, I can remember, this is just one of my memories, gassing up my van in Washington, getting ready to go to a dog show. And I was so the fatigue, you understand the fatigue.

Nikita Williams (10:07.083)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (10:12.596)

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Nikita Williams (10:33.185)

Mm hmm. yeah.

Laura (10:34.894)

the fatigue was so bad. I w I could barely clamp down on the gas handle to run the gas pump. Like that was exhausting. And I just remember that level of exhaustion and I would, I had to drive a lot to go to my, to go to my events. And so I had a motor home or a vehicle, you know, that I could sleep in and I would drive until I couldn't drive anymore and I'd find a rest area and I'd sleep for.

Nikita Williams (10:41.495)

Mmm. Mmm. Yeah.

Nikita Williams (10:49.515)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (11:01.153)

Hmm. Yeah.

Laura (11:04.136)

minutes or 20 minutes or an hour or whatever it took and then I keep going. I always had kids that helped me, young assistants helped me. I was fortunate I had a lot of really good friends in the industry that would cover my backside when I needed it because there were days there were days that I would just you know I'd crash. I remember

Nikita Williams (11:08.086)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (11:21.184)

Yeah.

You need support system in there, yeah.

Nikita Williams (11:30.412)

Yeah.

Laura (11:32.692)

I can't tell you how many times. Just, I can't get out of the motorhome. Y'all gonna have to go show the dogs.

Nikita Williams (11:38.12)

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it we are all here listening to this and we are probably nodding our head and remembering a moment in our lives specifically, especially when you're just starting or you're trying to figure out like how is this really affecting my body? How does it really look like when I overdo it? What does that mean when I overdo it? I mean, I'm I haven't been doing it for 30 years, but I have been doing it for 20. And I still am constantly like,

Well, this is an older body doing what I used to do and that don't work now. Like there's a whole lot of little lot. That's right. That's a whole yeah, like it's a whole nother. Like I just did this last year or five years ago and this was not like this hard and now it but anyway, I hear what you're saying. I also hear like when I hear us talking about this, I also just like want to go back and tell Laura like you did it girl though. You did it right. Like

Laura (12:08.827)

That's a whole nother conversation.

Laura (12:31.608)

Yeah, I did do it. And I think that if I, know, one of your questions is how is you, how have you coped or what? I'm like, you got to just do it. And, I explain this to people and sometimes they get a little grumpy with me because, you know, but I finally decided after I'd been laying in bed for three months, that I had two choices. I could lay here until I died or I could get up. And I got up.

Nikita Williams (12:41.655)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (12:59.209)

Yeah. Yeah.

Laura (13:01.13)

And I'm not saying I did it all great, but I, I, that was the decision that I had to come to. And I have continued to make that decision for three years.

Nikita Williams (13:04.247)

Right? No, none of us are. No. Yeah.

Nikita Williams (13:15.733)

Yeah, and it is a decision, right? I love that you're saying it's a decision every day. To me, it's like love. Love is a decision. think the idea that love is just like this thing that flows and you got it. You just go until you know, no, it's a decision. It's still a decision. And to your point about decisions. Other things happen in that affect those decisions, right? Like, so you are dealing with what you've got going on, then you have family.

Laura (13:17.934)

It is.

Laura (13:23.362)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Laura (13:38.486)

Thank you.

Nikita Williams (13:45.299)

At some point did other decisions like taking care of, you know, parents or friends or family come into the play on top of what you were already managing.

Laura (13:56.022)

yeah. yeah. So I think we all know that the basis of autoimmune disease is genetic. So my father had lupus and died with complications from lupus. My mother had scleroderma and died with complications from scleroderma. They died almost exactly three years apart, like practically to the day. And I had...

Nikita Williams (14:03.509)

Yes.

Nikita Williams (14:08.983)

I'm so sorry.

Nikita Williams (14:17.483)

Wow.

Wow.

Laura (14:24.96)

Life is life is life. Anyway, I had come back to my, not my hometown, but my Oregon where I live. And my dad was living in Roseburg and my mom was living in Grants Pass. And I spent a lot of time shuttling back and forth between them, helping take care of them, eventually helping them transition into the next life and a lot of other things that were really a lot.

Nikita Williams (14:39.314)

Hmm.

Nikita Williams (14:50.868)

a lot.

Laura (14:53.014)

and a lot on my body and a lot on my various disease process.

Nikita Williams (14:58.729)

Yeah.

We always talk about chronic illness. I find it so frustrating when I hear people talk about chronic illness. It's just a one dimensional thing. It affects your sleep, it affects you know, and I'm like, it amplifies all of the things that everybody else is going through. Everything that we all have to go through times 10. It just intensifies all of those things and on top of that,

Laura (15:22.158)

Just times 10 and everything.

Nikita Williams (15:31.805)

you have to find some way to make money. Like you have to find some way to like support yourself. Like it's, is, it is so, so, you know, so diversely complicated and complex. So, and I, again, like I said, I'm.

Laura (15:46.752)

I tell you about the two bad marriages that I got into just so could have health insurance?

Nikita Williams (15:49.849)

Oh, goodness. goodness. Oh, goodness. Oh, goodness. Complications, complexity, right? And so how while doing all of that, you know, part of the show and this particular approach we're taking this year is like, looking at a hindsight 2020, it's so much easier to look at it like 2020, even though it's still like not cry about it.

Laura (15:54.082)

Yeah, so there's that.

Laura (15:59.011)

Mm-hmm.

Laura (16:14.254)

Treader's gray, you got it.

Nikita Williams (16:19.274)

What are some things that you think?

you are appreciative of that you did for yourself or that you put space in for you, that you look back now on, mean, like, yeah, that was great. Or, you know, I would have did this differently because of this. You know what I mean?

Laura (16:36.45)

Mm-hmm. So I'm really glad that I made the decision that I knew I was going to have to retire from handling because it is so physically demanding and it was just not going to, I had the start of RA coming. So I've been diagnosed with multiple additional autoimmune issues since the first.

Nikita Williams (16:48.664)

Mm.

Okay.

Nikita Williams (16:56.824)

Hmm.

Yeah.

Laura (17:02.722)

and I just knew and so I planned for it. And so I am very glad today in the career that I'm doing today that I planned and made this decision on purpose instead of just flying by the seat of my pants. I'm really, really glad about that.

Nikita Williams (17:06.296)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (17:11.574)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (17:15.928)

Mm.

Nikita Williams (17:21.45)

It sounds like this is hard for chronic illness people. think, and I don't see this like in the context of like, this is hard to make this decision. There's this like, there's this really fine line between acceptance and like resigning that this sucks. Like, yes, it sucks like giving up, right? There is that, there's this line that's in between like, this is my reality and I'm going to.

Laura (17:26.09)

Okay.

Laura (17:40.92)

Giving up. Giving up. There's a big...

Nikita Williams (17:49.817)

plan for it, I'm gonna do what I can. I talk about this with, I don't know if you've ever listened to her show, but her name is Nitika Chopra, and she talks about, we talk about this often, where there is, those of us who are on this line of like, accept it, we plan for it, we go with the day with how sucky it is, and how great it is at the same time, and then we keep going. And then there's that other line of, some days we don't do that.

because I'm not going to sit here and say like, you know, every day I'm on the right side of this line because I'm not, right? But the majority is on the other side of this line of like planning. How have you done that? How have you done that?

Laura (18:37.24)

So I don't know if this is the case for everybody. I don't spend a lot of time in sort of autoimmune disease support groups. Like it's just not who I am. So I'm not sure if everybody is like this, but for me, what is my trigger is not work stress. It's not being busy. It is personal emotional stress. So my mom dying was bad. Anger, right? Anger at a situation at

Nikita Williams (18:47.586)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (18:59.192)

Mmm.

Yeah.

Laura (19:07.042)

the political thing or whatever it is, right? Anger is really, really, really, really bad. Rage, particularly bad. And so as someone who has a lot of passionate feelings about me, my times that I've been really, really ill over the course of time have been

Nikita Williams (19:09.208)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (19:15.97)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (19:24.79)

Yes.

Laura (19:36.271)

that I have not taken the opportunity to deescalate my own self. And I have had to learn that if I don't want this giant who daddy in the middle of my head was a lupus lesion that exploded and hi, I make my living in front of a camera. This is really pretty. And it's because I had an anger thing and I didn't manage it and it got.

Nikita Williams (19:43.832)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (19:57.432)

you

Laura (20:03.713)

away from me and my body got away from me and so and this is like last year okay so it's not like y'all like like i got all good at this right so my solution to most of these things i am very blessed to live about an hour from the giant redwoods and the sequoias and the oregon coast and i

Nikita Williams (20:09.72)

you

Yeah, right. Yes, the process. Yes.

Nikita Williams (20:27.384)

Mmm.

Laura (20:32.437)

recently felt another one of these situations building. And I just threw everything down and said, I'm leaving when I'm going to the coast. And I went and I, Ruby art major alert, Ruby art major alert. I, I talked to my trees and, I can't explain it. but physical contact with these.

Nikita Williams (20:46.712)

you

Nikita Williams (20:52.536)

Mm.

Laura (21:02.351)

2000 plus year old living beings, I cannot like buckles my knees. That is not an exaggeration. That is not a joke. It isn't even something I say out loud very often. It is the sensation of like sucking poison out of your system.

Nikita Williams (21:05.56)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (21:12.534)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Nikita Williams (21:25.866)

Mm, mm, yeah.

Laura (21:29.031)

is something I can't even really describe. that is, that's basically what I've found works best for me. That is my.

Nikita Williams (21:32.865)

Hmm.

Nikita Williams (21:41.06)

That's your healing. That's your release. That's your healing. That's your center. That's beautiful. I think we all have something. Everybody, right? Yeah, and I say this often with my clients and on shows, I'm like, for me, it's my faith. For me, it's faith. For me, it's...

Laura (21:49.911)

Everybody has something you have to, or you're not going to make it,

Nikita Williams (22:08.589)

the ocean for me, like, you know, yeah, like it's, it's, it's for me, it's my fur babies. And sometimes my fur babies don't do enough of that because they stress me out. So I go to the ocean, like, you know, say like, right, right. So like there is a, yeah.

Laura (22:10.499)

open these. So you go to the trees and then you go to the ocean.

Laura (22:22.553)

usually take a dog with me to the ocean. Dogs, you know, here's the thing about pets. And we talk about it a lot on my podcast, the human animal bond is real. And it helps people live longer, better lives. That is just simply a fact. Now, there are days that I call my dog bad words because she has done something so foul. I can't even discuss it. Okay.

Nikita Williams (22:37.977)

Mm-hmm. So true.

Nikita Williams (22:43.319)

Okay.

Nikita Williams (22:51.403)

You're so right! my goodness!

Laura (22:52.367)

So I'm not sure what part of that improving the human animal bond that is. When I'm calling her things I can't say on TV.

Nikita Williams (23:06.59)

huh. Yes, I know what you mean though. I know. It's amazing. Yep.

Laura (23:09.967)

but it's real, you know, it's real. is. I have my step tracker and even on days that the weather's too gross or I feel terrible or whatever, I still get in the vast majority of what I should have for a step limit in a day, simply putting the dogs in and out and feeding them and, you know, doing whatever needs to be done with them. They keep us moving.

Nikita Williams (23:32.098)

Yeah.

Laura (23:39.631)

And that is what I will say. I was like that very first diagnosis was in November of 1997. And in December of that year, I had my first litter of puppies in my own house. Like I'd done it with my folks and stuff, because I breed dogs. Breeding dogs is a lot of work and it's very exhausting.

Nikita Williams (23:39.703)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Nikita Williams (23:59.322)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (24:05.14)

yeah, who can't even imagine?

Laura (24:07.455)

And this particular litter had some complications. And at one point I went 72 hours without sleeping because I had to bottle feed 11 puppies. And when you have to bottle feed 11 puppies, you finish bottle feeding the 11th one and you start with the first one all over again. It's just, there's not, So, and you, you, you learn that

Nikita Williams (24:15.607)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (24:19.449)

No.

Nikita Williams (24:25.3)

Yeah, my goodness.

Laura (24:36.451)

These animals that need us, they need our involvement in their lives, who need us to eat and go outside and have a drink of water and get snuggled and whatever. That is the, when you say you have to get out of bed, even though the 50 pound bags of flour are definitely lying over your entire body, right? The fatigue.

Nikita Williams (25:03.065)

Yes. Yes.

Laura (25:06.127)

that you still have to get out of bed to do the thing. so, you know, in that case, was 11 puppies that were gonna die if I didn't get out of bed.

Nikita Williams (25:18.109)

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I agree with you. mean, I love my I love my Zoe. I love my we have a cat we have. used to have two cats, but now one of my cats and we're every time he does something, I'm like, we have you because we love you. Right. Like we have to remember that. Right. Like we have to tell ourselves when they do this stuff that you're like, gosh. But we love them. And I can't even bring my heart to say that.

Laura (25:35.459)

Yeah.

Laura (25:40.028)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (25:45.974)

he won't be here one day. Like it's just a horrible thing to think about. And so the same thing with my Zoe, know, fibro with fibro, there are times where I was like just coming from the hospital or something like that and I'm taking care of my pets. It's the thing that makes you say you got to move and you could almost like never move again. Right. And it's it is helpful. I think.

And it's, think we're designed in that way that they need us and we need them. I definitely feel like that, but.

Laura (26:16.303)

That is absolutely scientific evidence of the coevolution. It's really fascinating, the coevolution of people and dogs specifically, that they evolved together to meet each other intentionally.

Nikita Williams (26:20.707)

Exactly.

Nikita Williams (26:27.514)

Hmm.

Nikita Williams (26:31.61)

Hmm, so interesting. So I'd love to hear in the seasons that we're talking about, like I mentioned, in the business world that you've kind of grown, how did you plan for that transition from like, I'm not gonna be doing this forever, I can't do it forever, how do I plan for this, doing it forever, along with like, the stream of time has changed, like how we do business is so different than what we did in 1999 versus what we're doing now, like.

Laura (26:34.095)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (27:00.506)

How's that look for you? Every day.

Laura (27:00.879)

And it changes every day. Like I'm training. I'm trying to learn how to do reels. I mean, come on, y'all. I am a dog handler. I am. What is this? I need a 12 year old. Can somebody recommend me a 12 year old to come do my insta reels for me, please? Cause I'm sure I'm not doing it right. Um, so yeah, uh, towards, the, I had set my mind that I was going to retire from handling at 50.

Nikita Williams (27:10.852)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (27:16.346)

Laura (27:30.073)

that that just was when that was my thing. That was what I was going to do. So I had started several years before that kind of thinking, talking to people, poking at ideas. I knew I wanted to do something in my space that I was in and in an educational type of concept and mentoring and stuff that was was really a gaping hole at that point in time in our sport.

Nikita Williams (27:32.76)

Okay.

Nikita Williams (27:45.167)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (27:56.282)

Mmm.

Laura (27:56.823)

and in our community and in with the people. And so I was writing a column for an online newsletter, online magazine kind of thing at the time, and started talking randomly at a dog show to some random person. And we just continued this conversation. Turns out she was a stunt coordinator in Hollywood who showed Norwegian alcohol.

Nikita Williams (28:23.674)

Mmm.

Laura (28:26.447)

And she and I both were talking about different, you know, educational mentorship, you know, all this kind of stuff. And finally, she said to me one day, she's like, I want you to host a podcast. And I'm like, what is a podcast?

Nikita Williams (28:41.658)

So like me.

Laura (28:44.527)

Understand this is 2015 16, right? 16 2016. Yep. And because it was right after my mom had passed away. So, I mean, there's a whole thing about the journeys and all of that, but this was right after my mom had passed away and I really needed a thing to put my head around, you know? And so I looked up the podcast now this, I'm not going to startle your audience, but

Nikita Williams (28:48.115)

That's about the same time I started. Yeah.

Nikita Williams (29:05.146)

Mmm.

Laura (29:11.821)

When I looked up a podcast, the only thing I could find that wasn't like finance or tech or stuff that I thought was boring was the podcast Savage Love by Dan Savage, who I had known in Seattle working at the Stranger and other underground newspaper rags. When he worked for an underground newspaper rag, I knew him. And so I saw that Savage Love

Nikita Williams (29:23.79)

haha

Nikita Williams (29:36.09)

Mmm.

Laura (29:39.695)

had 500 episodes and I didn't want to listen to any of them but I saw that they were there and I'm like hell if Dan Savage can do this I can do this.

Nikita Williams (29:44.035)

Right?

Nikita Williams (29:49.403)

have, wow, yeah, wow. You're like, well, he, look, you had, we had a very similar realization of this. My husband said, you should start a podcast. I said, I don't know what a podcast is. I looked it up, I saw all these dudes do it, and I'm like, if they could do it, I could do it. So let's do it, like.

Laura (29:55.087)

Serious, serious.

Laura (30:07.183)

Exactly. Exactly.

Laura (30:11.759)

I'm not giving gay sex advice, but I'm saying.

Nikita Williams (30:12.474)

Okay, so.

Nikita Williams (30:19.556)

Goodness.

Laura (30:21.135)

I figured if Dan Savage could do it, I could do it too. So yeah.

Nikita Williams (30:27.273)

So you said yes. So she asked you to start, like, was it for her company or like Guinea or? Oh, wow.

Laura (30:31.503)

She helped me. No, we created it. We created it out of whole cloth. And I kept telling her that I didn't want to be the host. This is a face made for radio. And I had worked with a company doing self-guided audio driving tours for National Parks and National Forest, who was one of the top sound design companies in the country, maybe in the world. And he did...

trade show sound design for Nike and Nintendo and Coca-Cola and Motorola and like fortune 500 companies. And he was very, very, very well known. And he had told me once years before working on some project, I had recorded something and he's like, don't ever do this again. You have a terrible voice. And so I, yes, did. 100 % dead. And so I had that in my heart and I

Nikita Williams (31:03.534)

Wow.

Nikita Williams (31:18.645)

No, he did not!

Laura (31:28.803)

I mean, we could talk a whole another podcast about the things we carry in our heart from the people who say things to us that they shouldn't probably have said. Anyway, so I told Mary, I can't I have a terrible voice. can't can't do this. And anyway, she continued to encourage me and she finally flew from L.A. up to southern Oregon, plopped down at my dining room table in my guesthouse with a mic and a pop filter, the same pop filter that you can see right here.

Nikita Williams (31:33.146)

Mmm... Mmm...

Nikita Williams (31:41.082)

home.

Laura (31:58.863)

And sat me down in front of the microphone and said, go. And she did a lot, you know, some really basic voice coaching and acting coaching and just little stuff, you know, that got me confident enough to do it. And it took forever. Our YouTube is so far behind everything else because I refuse to be on video. Like, I'm like, no, I'm no, no, that's no.

Nikita Williams (32:12.576)

I love that.

Nikita Williams (32:21.956)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (32:27.022)

Hmm.

Laura (32:27.639)

I still kind of like struggle with it.

Nikita Williams (32:30.299)

Well, or you're not you're not behind. I want to say you're behind on the YouTube. I think a lot of I feel like a lot of podcasters are like, do we have to?

Laura (32:38.957)

Yeah, like audio is so great. You don't have to wear pants. It's fine.

Nikita Williams (32:43.961)

I'm like, do I have to do that? Like, I don't know. mean, the whole, I'm like, half the time when I'm doing solo episodes, I'm in bed. Like, what are you talking about? Like, you know, so I get it. But I love that you had a champion. This is you sound like. You had a champion in your corner. It sounds also throughout your whole story, you've had some champions in your corner, like supporting you through this, right? Because we can't do this by ourselves.

Laura (32:47.087)

I don't want to put a face on. I don't want to brush my hair. See, look at this. Yeah. Right.

Laura (32:59.555)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Laura (33:06.19)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. Nobody can do it by themselves. have been, my mom was my biggest champion. It's why losing her was such a blow. She had been my biggest cheerleader for my whole life. And that was really hard. But I've had a lot of really good, I've been really lucky. I'm not gonna lie about that. I've been very fortunate and not everyone.

Nikita Williams (33:18.147)

Yeah.

I'm so sorry.

Laura (33:35.107)

who starts in business stays in business. Not everyone who starts in business stays in business without going bankrupt. And, you know, I'm like, I'm 30 plus years into self-employment, never been bankrupt, never lived under a bridge. you know, I mean, there's a first time for everything, but I'm doing all right so far.

Nikita Williams (33:37.659)

Sure.

Nikita Williams (33:41.115)

Hmm.

Nikita Williams (33:52.634)

Well, I think you're, and living with a chronic illness, to be like, I'm like, multiple, multiple chronic illnesses, okay? We're not talking about one, none of us live with one. Like, that's not a real thing. And if you only have one, I'm sorry. Statistically, you will have another one. I'm so sorry. So sorry.

Laura (33:57.433)

Several, several.

Laura (34:02.467)

Nah, it's not a thing.

Yeah, you will have it. I promise. just was diagnosed with RA and lupus about two years ago. So it's been a whole nother journey. Because you know, get, here's the thing, you get used to what you have to live with, right? Like I'm used to the fact that I have to use the bathroom 16 times a day. And I wouldn't know what a solid bowel movement looked like if it bit me.

Nikita Williams (34:21.07)

Learning, right?

Nikita Williams (34:25.274)

Yes.

Nikita Williams (34:33.924)

Mmm.

Laura (34:35.171)

Yeah, I'm used to that. Like I'm used to these, this level of criteria. I am not used to this level of criteria over this level of criteria over here is unacceptable. And so you have to go through the whole thing all over again.

Nikita Williams (34:37.018)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (34:50.808)

Yes.

Yeah, it's just what I call the OG phase. Like this is the OG phase of chronic illness. You learn that you're always in a phase. Like you're never just like, you're never not a newbie. You're never not like kind of in the middle. You're never like actually so know it all. You just don't, you just go. You just kind of going with the flow. You know what saying? You've learned how to flow with it. But.

Laura (35:14.701)

deal with it. Just gotta deal with it. Yeah? Yeah.

Nikita Williams (35:21.411)

I think those are aspects that makes us really good business owners because of this truth, right? Because we have to be able to flow with the changes. We have to be okay with figuring something new out.

Laura (35:35.637)

Innovative, willing to stand up on your own two feet, willing to take chances. All of the things that make us able to survive at some level, our disease, also make us able to be successful in a business setting. Determination. Did we talk about determination? Dedication, commitment. I mean, so I'm saying, right?

Nikita Williams (35:41.529)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (35:51.621)

Yeah. Yeah.

Nikita Williams (35:56.301)

Yeah, I mean, we talked, yeah.

Yeah, I would love to hear what you feel like when it comes to marketing in this day and age of like how we grow businesses and things like that. How does that feel different? And how does it feel different than you've like now that it used to feel?

Laura (36:21.487)

So marketing is still at its core, at its essence, at its very stripped down basic. It's telling people your story. That's all marketing is. How you tell your story, who you tell your story to is still a basic truth.

Nikita Williams (36:37.039)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (36:48.7)

Mm-hmm.

Laura (36:50.063)

the words you use, the tone you use, the attitude you bring to it represents who you are as a business. So telling that story, okay? Used to be you could only tell your story on the telephone with a wire that went to the wall or in person or in like a printed piece of something, paper, newspaper, magazine. That's what you had.

Nikita Williams (36:59.536)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (37:06.268)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (37:15.333)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (37:19.813)

Yep.

Laura (37:20.033)

unless you were really, really, really, really, really rich and you could do TV, right? Right. You could do TV or maybe radio. Okay.

Nikita Williams (37:23.772)

You could do a TV infomercial.

Nikita Williams (37:32.916)

yeah.

Laura (37:33.443)

Right? The last 25 years have exploded the opportunities, the channels. That's not news to anybody. Unless, of course, you didn't exist before 2000. Okay. So y'all that are only 25 years old, let me help you. And so it continues today. Right? Like this whole concept of

Nikita Williams (37:43.74)

Mm-mm.

Right. Right. Exactly. You're like, what are you talking about? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Laura (38:01.067)

me trying to figure like, finally got Facebook figured out. Now you want me to do reels? Come on. Or, you know, like, why can't somebody just go do me a Tiki-Taki because I'm not doing a Tiki-Taki. Like, that happened. So not happening. Like, it's just not a thing. Okay. So help me to understand. It's just.

Nikita Williams (38:11.388)

Do me, do me a Tiki Taki.

Nikita Williams (38:21.785)

my gosh.

Okay.

Laura (38:32.548)

you

Nikita Williams (38:33.564)

That's one for the ages right there. Someone do me a tiki-taki. I'm gonna tell my husband that, he gonna die. Okay, okay. Okay.

Laura (38:43.823)

I'm saying, all I'm saying is some of us don't transition as well into the newest of the new media. Right. Okay. And so trying to do something and that is, that is a struggle. But again, welcome to being someone who's been challenged their entire lives and having to figure it out. And so you do.

Nikita Williams (38:53.488)

Right.

Nikita Williams (39:03.548)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (39:11.18)

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Laura (39:12.961)

I'm like, what's the option? Get married, get left behind, get whatever.

Nikita Williams (39:19.43)

think you don't have to do everything. Like I think that's a faux pas. I think everybody's trying to do all of the marketing, all of the things. If anything I learned in my journey with chronic illness is that anytime I'm trying to do all of the recommendations that the doctors and the friends and the family and the Western medicine and the holistic, I'm in, I'm.

I'm in trouble. Like I'm in trouble. I'm more tired than I need to be that I'm already can't help but be. And it's just too much. So for me, it's been a space of being like, I don't have to say yes to everything. I really do need to be super clear on where I can excel, even though it might be a challenge. How has that like what

Laura (40:06.511)

So drawing lines and boundaries, I mean, you know this, everybody listening knows this, is critical. So for me, again, this is my personal journey, busyness doing stuff is not a stressor for me. It is when I'm, you know, I've got a bad...

Nikita Williams (40:13.117)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (40:24.701)

Mmm.

Laura (40:30.651)

situation with someone that I've been friends with that I'm going to have to take out of my life for whatever reason, because they are, their issues are now making me ill. Okay. That that's taken me two years to get over that particular one. Okay. That's the kind of thing that I struggle with struggling with learning or hiring somebody or figuring it out. No, I mean,

Nikita Williams (40:35.323)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (40:44.465)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Laura (40:56.993)

I am a huge fan of hiring trained professionals. Just going to say like y'all trust me. It doesn't cost you that much. Hire a trained professional to do whatever it is. I have had a trained professional that does my audio production, a trained professional that does my website design, a training, you know, like this is a thing. And so I do believe that that is worthwhile. I,

Nikita Williams (41:01.169)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (41:08.081)

Yes.

Nikita Williams (41:19.845)

Mm-hmm.

Laura (41:26.475)

even if you're hiring someone to do a marketing plan for you on a commission basis, right? Like I'm doing that right now. Like I'm okay with the money I have, I could use more. So here's how we're going to do this. You bring in money, you get half of it. Figure out creative ways to get the professional help you need so that you aren't doing all of the things. Because you can't do all of the things. You just can't.

Nikita Williams (41:32.497)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (41:42.173)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (41:52.529)

Yeah.

Laura (41:55.225)

That's basic self-employment, whether you've got a chronic illness or not. You can't. We are not good at everything. And I know very clearly the things that I am not good at.

Nikita Williams (41:55.643)

No.

Nikita Williams (41:59.837)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (42:08.509)

Tiki Taki is one of them.

Laura (42:11.829)

You're not gonna do it.

Nikita Williams (42:14.589)

That's just gonna be the cutest thing ever. I need to put that on a t-shirt.

Laura (42:16.911)

It's just... Tiki-daki. I don't know. I just, I can't get it. I don't get it. I don't want to get it. I'm not going to get it. So no, it's not a thing. Somebody out there want to come do my Tiki-dakis for me? Excellent.

Nikita Williams (42:28.615)

I appreciate you saying like...

Yes, yes. Like I agree with you so much about hiring help is not for people who are rich. Like, I mean, rich people do do it. Yes, obviously. They know because they understand the most important part of their life if they cannot get back, which is time. Right. And we understand it to me. Time is we can't get it back, but I can't also get my current capacity back either. Like capacity and energy.

Laura (42:42.371)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Laura (42:52.26)

when

Laura (42:59.299)

Yeah. Yeah. Spoons. How many spoons you got? I don't have the spoons to do it all. I just don't. Somebody out there gonna have to get somebody else's spoon.

Nikita Williams (43:02.107)

I talk about, yeah, right? Right? did.

Right. And I think we operate, I hear a lot of people trying to operate just focused on the revenue, return of revenue. And I think if you're living with chronic illness, you have two metrics that are equally important. It's the return of revenue and return of energy, like capacity, ability to do.

Laura (43:27.949)

return of revenue has to even come below that because if you're dead you can't do the work so...

Nikita Williams (43:33.852)

That part, I say this all the time, exactly that part. And that includes if you're taking care of somebody, that includes if you're taking care of multiple somebody's. Taking care of yourself is the whole thing, then if you're taking care of somebody else, you have to structure your business around what you actually can do. And if you can't, you can't do it all. So you have to build a plan for having someone to do the things you can't do.

With that being said, how does one or how have you found doing like deciding, okay, well this can wait and this is now.

Laura (44:08.983)

the things that are now are the things that are structurally fundamentally like the podcast has to go out every Monday and Wednesday. Okay. Like that has to happen. and that's the bottom line. If all I can do is crawl out of bed and drop a podcast twice a week, then that's all I can do. And that's done. and then.

Nikita Williams (44:19.59)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (44:32.573)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (44:36.572)

Mm-hmm.

Laura (44:38.431)

next one is recording the podcast, right? Like I have to have content. you know, booking people, getting people on air, getting people, right? Okay. So that's two. Those are two things that you can't not do if you're going to have a podcast. And so then after that, I am very fortunate. My producer came like at the beginning, Mary

Nikita Williams (44:41.681)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (44:49.244)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (44:52.753)

Mm-hmm.

Laura (45:05.903)

the person who helped me start the podcast had resources that found him and so He's been there all along and then his girlfriend look, she happens to be a person that does websites. Great. Would you have me? So yeah, so it's it has been like the the website has been built a hundred percent from what Michelle has put into it we're just going through a whole big overhaul and so my

Okay, as another perfect example, I am not physically at a place where I can well puppies anymore. It's very devastating to me because it brings me a great deal of joy in my life. And so not being able to snuggle them and kiss them when they're two and a half and three weeks old is really, really hard. But I also know that I will die if I chase 14 wire hair pointer puppies around my house at eight weeks old going,

Nikita Williams (45:42.461)

Mmm... No...

Hmm.

Nikita Williams (45:53.465)

my god, I can imagine.

Laura (46:06.697)

And yeah, so trying to still achieve a goal, just breathe this particular litter because it's very important. I have people who are looking for puppies and this is a piece of a plan that I've had for 20 years. Okay. So that then you get to be creative and you find someone to work with you who will do some of the hard physical labor. So I am

Nikita Williams (46:21.927)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (46:26.898)

Hmm.

Laura (46:34.54)

supervisory, right? Like I am the idea creator and the putter-togetherer and you find someone who's willing, a whatever, a dog in the fight, right? That's willing to and able to do some of the other pieces. And so that collaboration, it's kind of interesting. I spent my entire life

Nikita Williams (46:35.975)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (46:50.797)

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (46:56.445)

Right.

Laura (47:04.527)

showing dogs, which is a career that is all about competition, and finding a way to transition your brain from constant competition to collaboration, it takes a little bit work. But that is what has been the most important.

Nikita Williams (47:12.254)

Mmm.

Mm.

Nikita Williams (47:21.49)

But you but you're doing it and you have been doing it. You know, you have been. I feel like competition and collaboration are interesting. I'm sure you have very interesting thoughts about like how competition is different than collaboration. But in competition, there is a need for collaboration.

Laura (47:42.359)

Yes and no. In the way I did it, yes, absolutely.

Nikita Williams (47:45.854)

Tell me how, how, how so, how so would you say so?

Laura (47:50.511)

So, literally what we were talking about earlier, if I get up in the morning in the motorhome and I can't do the dogs, I have to call someone and say, come help me. And so that was our own little family unit of people that were friends and kind of would help each other out. And we all had days, good days and bad days. So yeah, it's collaboration.

Nikita Williams (47:58.942)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (48:06.269)

Right.

Nikita Williams (48:10.641)

Mm. Mm.

Laura (48:14.723)

But when you're head to head, like, want to win this group. And if you win this group, then I'm not winning this group. Right. So competition is a piece of it. But if you do it right, you understand that, OK, you won today. I'm going to win tomorrow. It'll be fine. And you go back to the collaboration piece. And where I see people fail in my industry, and I think in a lot of industries, is they lose sight of that.

Nikita Williams (48:20.912)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (48:32.283)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nikita Williams (48:41.806)

Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, you bring up, that's a really good point. I'm glad we talked to, or talking about it because I do think in business, especially now, everybody does something that you do. Like, there's not a person under the sun that's doing something completely different than what you do. Like, the only thing that's really different is how you treat people while you're doing it, in my opinion, right? And I think that is what...

is what matters at the end of the day, and that's who wins the competition, right? Like, who's gonna win it? And so I think if we, and if we are all doing it, then we have multiple options and we are both served, like me making money serves you making money. make, like it's a, like in entrepreneurship.

Laura (49:08.975)

you

Laura (49:23.695)

And I talk about this a lot. You asked who I admire, who I look up to. I work with constantly younger women that are doing something interesting in my field. And I bring them on the podcast and I promote them. most of them go on and have very successful businesses of their own. Great. Go for it.

Nikita Williams (49:38.674)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (49:48.744)

Yeah.

Laura (49:50.511)

Right? Like that is my happy place. And I am, I just was talking to my attorney about a particular contract that I'm setting up with some, with a young woman that I want to encourage to do this project that she's doing. And my attorney's like, girl, you're not getting any money out of this. I'm like, yeah, it'll be all right. I'll be all right. Because I'm not going to be here forever.

Nikita Williams (49:53.426)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (50:18.397)

Mm-hmm.

Laura (50:19.575)

None of us is, but I'm really not. So if I can't encourage these people to come up, there isn't going be anybody behind me to do the things that I think are so important to have done and have them done right.

Nikita Williams (50:32.479)

Mmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. With the values and care and kind of, you know, all the things, right?

Do you feel that you have, when you set out to do your own business, you have set out and you're still doing it, do you feel like you have accomplished what you were wanting to accomplish in this journey so far?

Laura (51:01.795)

Yeah, yeah. When we started specifically Pure Dog Talk, that particular business, I saw a need, right? Like everybody, you start a business because you see a need. I saw a need for mentorship in my sport and in the community that I'm involved with. mentorship and education were deeply lacking.

And I have built a community and a product that provides those things. 100%. And I get, it's a little bit embarrassing sometimes. I get messages and texts or calls where people like accost me at the dog show.

Nikita Williams (51:40.607)

I love it.

Laura (51:54.511)

You know, the only reason I'm breeding this breed that's more rare than giant pandas is because of your encouragement. You know, a breed that's gonna go extinct if people don't breed it. The only reason she's doing it is because I encouraged her. I'm only here at this dog show because you gave me the confidence to do it.

Nikita Williams (52:02.138)

Mmm.

Nikita Williams (52:06.237)

Mm-hmm.

Mmm.

Laura (52:13.455)

or I changed my entire life because I decided I wanted to be involved in dogs because I listened to you and now I live on a farm in Tennessee with my gay husband. Right, like whatever it is.

I think that many of us who run our own businesses and the special niche of us that we're talking to today that are doing it with an autoimmune disease have a little bit of that, know, I want to be a helper sort of person. And I believe that I have helped people.

Nikita Williams (52:56.157)

Mm-hmm.

Laura (52:56.981)

in a way, I mean, when I was showing dogs, I mean, it was fun, you I enjoyed it. And first, you know, my one client or whatever I was showing a dog for, I made their dream come true, you know, their dog got a best show or their dog was a champion or whatever it was. But it was pretty fleeting and it was pretty individual specific. This

Nikita Williams (53:19.154)

Hmm.

Laura (53:22.788)

is a much larger opportunity to do a much larger thing.

Nikita Williams (53:28.133)

Mm-hmm. And I love that you're doing it because you made a decision that you were going to plan a life where you could have the space and capacity to take care of you and what that looked like for you. And you didn't run away from it. You didn't give up on it. You just said it's just going to look different and it's going to have to look like this for me to live the life I want to live. That's what I also just love, too. Like, that's awesome. You know?

Laura (53:53.561)

Yep, those are real things. And I guess if I can say it, know, encourage anybody, honey, honest, if I can do it, anybody can do it. It really is a thing. doesn't have to, your truth doesn't have to look like mine, but it can look like yours.

Nikita Williams (53:57.076)

Mm-hmm.

Nikita Williams (54:14.662)

Mm. Mm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So true. So true. You gotta embrace it as crappy as it can feel sometimes.

Laura (54:29.143)

Yes, well, can we once again discuss I make my living in front of a camera and I've got like four hairs left, you know, thank you to whatever medications. So yeah.

Nikita Williams (54:40.83)

Well, I appreciate you coming on and sharing just your journey and your story and what you're doing. mean, I don't know. Like, I don't think I've had anyone on the show talking about like their business being showing dogs, talking about dogs. Like, it's awesome.

Laura (54:46.521)

to do it.

Laura (54:54.253)

No, it's a pretty niche opportunity, honey.

Nikita Williams (55:00.563)

I love it. I appreciate you and I love that you are open to share it and you're open for people to hear about it. I just really appreciate it. Yeah. I was gonna say, please do because as you guys know, I lost a kitty recently and I was just like, man, there's not enough resources out here for you to lose like a pet. And I, as an adult, it's a very different experience than as a child.

Laura (55:08.099)

Yeah, 100%. Everybody check out the Marty and Laura show.

Nikita Williams (55:27.32)

And it really did. There's a couple episodes in there that I really appreciate it. So definitely, yes, go check it out. We'll have the link to everything in the show notes. Is there anything special coming up in this year that you want people to know about?

Laura (55:38.639)

Well, there's a couple of really cool things. We just added a kids corner to Yep, the Marty and Laura show. So there is a tab on the website where you can go and download a free coloring image. And if you pay five dollars, you can download a bunch more coloring images and there'll be a QR code that you can buy a whole coloring book. And it is a partnership with because what do we do? Right.

Nikita Williams (55:44.425)

Nikita Williams (55:53.864)

Aww.

Laura (56:08.057)

partnership with one of my patrons who's created coloring book drawings of every breed and now almost every group in the American Kettle Club. They're fantastic. They're fantastic. Yep. So you can go to the tab and download your Color Me Canine coloring page. And I'm telling you,

Nikita Williams (56:20.088)

wow. That's super cool. I love that. That's fun. I want it. I want to color.

Laura (56:34.959)

For those of you who have not yet twigged to coloring as salvation. Yeah, and the images that she's drawn for the coloring book are so realistic. They're so beautiful. Like really, really beautiful.

Nikita Williams (56:41.728)

Coloring's fun.

Nikita Williams (56:48.8)

Well, we'll have all of that in the show notes so everybody can connect to it and everything. Anything you want people to know about starting a business with chronic illness that you feel like needs to be said before we close out.

Laura (57:10.667)

Know that you can do it. Know that it might seem scary. And I know it seems scary to a lot of people. But to me, the scary thing was being stuck in bed for the rest of my life. That was terrifying to me.

Nikita Williams (57:28.832)

Mm.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you again. I appreciate you so much.

Laura (57:36.813)

Happy to do it. I enjoyed it. was good fun.

Nikita Williams (57:39.393)

Yes, it was.