Speaker 1: 0:30

So I run Safety Education Specialists. We are a CPR BLS tactical training company based in Ashburn, virginia, and my husband and I formed the business back in 2009.

Speaker 2: 0:43

Okay, so you guys have been in business for quite a while now.

Speaker 1: 0:46

We have, we have. I've been training for about 20 years, my husband for around 30.

Speaker 2: 0:51

So it just took us that long to incorporate. And I saw that you guys have a background in police history, medical history. Tell me a little bit about how you guys got into this.

Speaker 1: 1:04

Sure, sure. So my husband was an FMF corpsman, so that is a Navy corpsman who is assigned to the Marine Corps. That's where he got some of his start with this. When he was younger he was an EMT in a paramedic up in Baltimore as well, and for me I was an optician. Way back when and when we met I didn't really know what he did in terms of training. He didn't know what my background was. We met when we worked at the Navy exchange at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. He was in security and I was in admin and I remember we were going to go out one night and he had asked me you know, hey, can we postpone our date? I've got to go teach on Wednesday. And I was like, oh, what do you teach? He says, why teach CPR? And I'm like, oh nice, knowing you. Thank you very much. Bye-bye, because I had a horrible experience with a CPR trainer when I was a lifeguard in high school. It was horrible.

Speaker 2: 2:01

Tell me about that experience. Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 1: 2:04

This instructor told me that and remember this was way back when, before we had defibrillators, we were lucky to have CPR masks.

Speaker 1: 2:14

We got those just because we were lifeguards, so we were professionals even as 15, 16 year olds. But still this instructor had told us that if he did CPR right, they lived. If he did it wrong, they died, which is horrible. It's number one very incorrect, very, very incorrect. The statistics do not bear that out at all. But it was just an awful, awful experience, and even though I'd always had jobs where I had to be trained so I would get the training, I hated it. You know, the classes were always boring. The instructor spent the entire time talking about how wonderful they were and they would yell at you, and so it was just really awful.

Speaker 1: 2:53

So when I found out this guy was a CPR trainer, I'm like, you know, never mind, I don't need that in my life, I don't need that. But he was like wait a second, let's unpack this a second and see what's going on. And I told him why and he goes okay, he says, yeah, I get it. There are trainers like that. That's not how we all are. It's like just give me a chance. And so I did, and obviously now we've been married for a long time. It was great, he was wonderful and for several years, even after we started dating I still was like you know, great, I'm glad you did this CPR. I think I don't want to be involved in that at all. It's not my thing. But my thing was I would still complain about how other people taught. So I would still do the research and I would help him prep for classes.

Speaker 1: 3:40

And they said how they taught Taught.

Speaker 2: 3:42

Excuse me, oh, I'm sorry, yeah, yeah, no, okay, got it, yeah, so how they taught.

Speaker 1: 3:46

I didn't like that. I'm like, oh, this person's saying this thing wrong or they're doing that wrong. That's not what it's supposed to be like and it really should be this, and yada, yada. And eventually he got so tired of me complaining about everybody else that he was like look, either shut up or do it better. I'm like, okay, fair enough. So, and I think him knowing my personality, he was like, okay, yeah, if I give her that, she's not gonna exercise the be quiet option, she's going to exercise the let me do it better than you option.

Speaker 1: 4:14

And he'd been trying to get me to teach with him for years and I had been like no, no, no, no, no. So finally I did and I found out that I really enjoyed it and my part of it is I really dig into the why's and the wherefores. I will. It's almost like my Super Bowl when they come out with new guidelines from the Heart Association every five years. I will stay up until midnight the night they release the guidelines and I'm reading through and I'm going through the footnotes, I'm pulling up the studies that led to the study that led to the study, cause I wanna know why are they saying this? And you're passionate.

Speaker 2: 4:45

I can definitely see that.

Speaker 1: 4:47

I love it and it's really been great, and the teaching part of it has been wonderful too. I enjoy being able to teach people. I enjoy being able to give people some information in a way that is accessible and that's non-threatening. Cause I've had students of mine who've told me that they had experiences similar to mine. I had one poor student. She was in my class and I can usually tell in a class if there's been some kind of trauma related to this.

Speaker 1: 5:15

You just kind of get a vibe from people and you're like, okay, something's going on. You know they're being forced to be here, they have to do it for their job, whatever, and you can always pick up on. There's something going on with that student there. And this one woman. She said can I share this story with you? I'm like, yeah, sure, go ahead. That's half of what I do is just listen to people's stories about this stuff. And she said, yeah, thank you for leading me through this.

Speaker 1: 5:38

Cause I was really, really scared. I was like, well, what happened? She had worked in a daycare and she had been told by her instructor that if you don't break their ribs, you're not pushing hard enough. Oh my gosh, that is not. Yeah, that's not it at all. Okay, you know, broken ribs can happen, but usually only in adults and in children or infants rarely, you know, because they're so, their bones are so soft, so it's like that's completely wrong for a daycare. But okay, fine, I said, well, what happened? She was well, I had to do CPR to one of the kids and the kid didn't make it and I thought because I didn't break his ribs, I did it wrong and I let him die.

Speaker 2: 6:18

I'm like oh, no, no.

Speaker 1: 6:20

Yeah, I was like okay, let's, we're gonna unpack this right now because you know, so I'm not gonna let you walk out of here until you know that you did okay and you did not make this happen and it was just unpacking the guilt that she had held for so long over this and and you know, can I just say that, yeah, your intuition and like reading people, like that is so Important, and I feel like a lot of people don't do that.

Speaker 2: 6:46

They're just like thanks for coming to class this, bye. But yeah, just like unpack stuff and you want to get to know people and you can kind of tell based on your experience in the past.

Speaker 1: 6:55

Yeah, that's so. Some of it's based on my CPR experience, some of it honestly, as I've unpacked with my own therapist. I'm a big proponent for mental health. Some of it's a trauma response, things that I've gone through in my own past that have made me very aware of other people and just picking up on you know what their vibe is, what their mood is, how is this person functioning in this group?

Speaker 1: 7:19

And there's good and bad with that. Yeah, you know, the good part is, yeah, I can usually figure out if someone's got something going on and it's great to be able to help unpack that, because seeing her feel okay at the end of it was so good. I'm like, oh good, it's like, so now you can go to work and you can be with these children and you don't have to hold that guilt of thinking you did something wrong, like when, honey, you did everything exactly right. And you know, I guess in some ways I am kind of digging on other instructors, but only the ones that I mean, you know, come on, yeah, it's like you don't need to be being that horrible to people.

Speaker 1: 7:55

Yes, sometimes you have to be strict. Yes, sometimes you have to tell people uncomfortable truths, but you don't have to do it in a way that's nasty and you don't have to scare people. People are already afraid of this topic, you know, because we're dealing with, quite frankly, death you know, if someone needs CPR, they're already clinically dead.

Speaker 1: 8:13

They're not breathing, their heart isn't pumping, it's already as bad as it's gonna get. Yes, the last thing I need to do is your instructor is go okay, let's pack on some trauma and guilt on top of that and let's just make this a trauma sandwich. You don't need to do that.

Speaker 2: 8:26

What do you feel is lacking with other Specialists or trainers? What do you feel like they could improve on or what would you like to see change?

Speaker 1: 8:35

I would like to see. I Would like to see a more collaborative effort with trainers, while there is this kind of myth out there that all of us who do this kind of training we're doing it for the mission, we're doing it because we love everybody. No, every one of us, even though, yes, I Could meet another trainer in a social situation. Oh, oh, you train this too. Okay, great, I even have people at professional things introduce us to other trainers in the area and say, oh, this person teaches CPR to you. Want to go? Say, hi, oh hi, how are you?

Speaker 1: 9:09

And there's always that underlying threat between us because we're not collaborative. We all view it as a business with extremely tight margins, because all of us we have to little known thing with the CPR business. We have to purchase your certification. So if you take a certification class from us, we have to pay the entity. So, whether it's heart association, ecsi, red Cross, we pay them a fee that they set for your Certification, for your manual, for your stuff. Plus we buy all of our own equipment. We then pay to get the training for us to do it. There's nothing for free as a trainer. So we pass that cost on in some ways to our students, but because everything is so tight we can't. You know there's constant undercutting in this business, like we know of some trainers, not in this exact area here, but within the geographical area that there's a couple places that are just known for. Yet they will undercut you, even at their own expense.

Speaker 1: 10:06

They will lose money to get the client, and so there is that bit of mmm and there's also that same kind of tension between the different quote unquote governing bodies for CPR. There's the American Heart Association versus the Red Cross, versus ECSI, versus HSI, versus all these other people that make their criteria. And not every place is equal. It's like you know you get a car, you know there's a Kia, there's a Toyota, there's a Subaru, there's the Lexus, there's the Lamborghini. So it's, they're all a car, they all function, but they're all different, right, and it's not that one is a better car than the other, it's just some have different features, but some places only want certain cars, and that creates some animosity and misunderstandings, and so it's.

Speaker 1: 10:55

I would love to see a world where, number one, the cost that the instructor incurs for the student is less, because I would love to be able to offer this for free to anybody who needs it. But I have to make a living. You know I can't call my landlord and go hi, I teach CPR and he goes no problem, your rent's covered, I wish. Right, that's not how life works. But there's also this there just is, there's an animosity and there's almost a threatening nature with those of us who teach it.

Speaker 2: 11:28

That's so funny. You say that in an industry like this.

Speaker 1: 11:30

Oh, because everybody thinks it's so nice and sweet right.

Speaker 2: 11:33

Me. I'm that person, yeah exactly.

Speaker 1: 11:36

Well, because you get different kinds of instructors and I tell people, I'm not the fluffy bunny instructor, I'm not the one who's oh, thank you, I'm not the person who's going to talk to you about how you know, you get your spark of life and you're going to, you're going to have this joyous experience with this person and I don't do that. That's not me. I'm going to tell you exactly like it is now of the two of us and I wish my husband could have joined us today, because he is a lot more. His name is Fred and Fred is of the two of us. He's the much more gentle one and you wouldn't think it if you look at the background. You'd think, oh okay, you want to get the female instructor because she's going to be really nice to you and she'd know that's not how it works.

Speaker 1: 12:17

Unfortunately, he's the one who is. He's much more flexible and I've had to really learn from him with that, because I was very rigid with. These are the rules and this is what you have to do, and if you don't do X, y and Z, you fail. And it's sorry, not my fault. That's what's on the paper and he's like all right, listen, no, we don't pass everybody, but you've got to look at certain things, and he really taught me how to be flexible and take the knowledge that I had and the reasons why we do things and go okay. But let's apply that to the real world.

Speaker 2: 12:48

That's a good combination for you both to be in this business like that.

Speaker 1: 12:51

It's great because we really do play with each other really really well. The times when we get to teach together. I really value those because we will ping-pong off each other throughout a class and it really the dynamic works out really really well.

Speaker 2: 13:04

I really enjoy doing that, so yeah, and can you tell me what all classes you offer and teach and who your clientele are?

Speaker 1: 13:12

Sure, sure. So for my classes that I teach, we do everything from civilian-level CPR and AED training for the Heart Association's called Heart Saver, and that's for the general public. That would also be appropriate for someone who works in a daycare, someone who is a teacher. This level is training that they need. We do then what's called basic life support, and that is for the healthcare provider, so it's your doctors, your nurses, your dentists, physical therapists, things like that. They get the basic life support.

Speaker 2: 13:44

And is that like the company will hire you and you teach the faculty Sometimes?

Speaker 1: 13:48

yeah, yeah, sometimes I go in and teach the faculty. Sometimes an individual come and see me for an appointment. We have government contracts that we see we take care of law enforcement, so we do the local law enforcement here. We also do tactical emergency casualty care, which is one of my favorite classes to teach. I love that one.

Speaker 2: 14:05

I love that one a little bit. I'm not familiar with it, oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:09

It's a relatively new course. It's less than 10 years old and it was brought about because it's the committee for tactical emergency cash to care. They were started by a group in Alexandria that noticed that there was a big hole in what we were seeing. So we saw the general train the public would get. But then we had, unfortunately, you know, mass shootings and response to that and they're like, okay, what's going on? So the first tier response that came out of it was to stop the bleed classes, which are extremely accessible and it's just meant for the general public to learn how to stop the bleed. So you learn tourniquets, wound packing, things, like that Great class. I love teaching that class. The overhead for that is exceptionally low, so I'm able to offer that to like church groups and things at little to no fee, which is really awesome. I love being able to do that. But then you have the other side of that.

Speaker 1: 15:03

The hole that they found was especially with the Las Vegas shooting. If you notice, the folks who survived that were the ones who were near somebody who had some kind of tactical training, usually military or law enforcement, and they do what's called T, triple C tactical combat casualty care. So it's meant for in the military. You've got a combat situation how do you handle yourself and how do you handle your battle, buddy? And they say you know what? We need to make this for the population. And that's how tactical emergency casualty care came about. And it's an awesome program because it takes the knowledge that we received, unfortunately, again, through being at war for so many years. We have a. We have a lot of knowledge and a lot of data. We were able to take that and go.

Speaker 1: 15:46

What are the skills that we can translate to an everyday person, that you can learn so that you can save your own life or the life of somebody who's near you? And it teaches you. There's different versions of it and there's different ways that we can adapt it. So we have what's called active bystander.

Speaker 1: 16:01

That's where that's what I do for my government clients where it's like hey, you, you are at work and stuff hits the fan All of a sudden, you've got to do something about it. What are you going to do? And then we have the version for those with a duty to respond. So that's like for law enforcement. There's another version for EMS emergency medical services and you take that and you run through a bunch of exercises and you, you decide. You know what do you do when you're in a hot zone, warm zone, cold zone, active fire, threat has been mostly neutralized, but you're undercover or threat neutralized. What do you do? How do you act in those situations? And that is it's one of my favorite classes, as you can probably tell to teach. I love teaching that one, that is so important.

Speaker 2: 16:45

You're right, there is a gap right there, for like, what do I? Would? I don't know what to do, like I don't know. The first thing, my first instinct would be let me hide. Yeah, and that's okay, and I know I don't know how to help others. I want to help others too, but I'm scared.

Speaker 1: 17:00

Well, yeah, you're going to be scared, that's natural You're. You're supposed to be scared. That's the way our brains protect us. If we didn't have that fear response, that would be a real problem. And here's the thing. Some folks think that code, okay, the more training I get, the less afraid I'm going to be, or, if I'm a professional at this, I'm not going to be afraid. That is what I would think. No, no, every professional is afraid. Everybody who has training is afraid, and you're going to have that moment of fear.

Speaker 1: 17:25

So the stuff hits the fan and emergency happens. Whether it's a really horrific thing, like, let's say, there's an active shooter, or let's say one of us has a cardiac arrest right here, there is going to be a second of where your brain just goes oh my gosh, that's your fear, and that's okay, because in that pause, whatever training you've had, your brain is going to go back and it's going to find that it's going to go all right, now I'm going to do the thing and it's great. That's why, the way that we structure our training, we do it so that you and this is a weird thing that we've noticed Over the years we've done this. This has been consistent with all of our students. I've said this. After the class they'll think about it and go.

Speaker 1: 18:08

I remember nothing. I don't know a darn thing. Is it 30 and two? Is it this? Is it that? What do I do? First for a bleed? Do I get a tourniquet? Do I wound back? I'm confused. What do I do? But when the stuff hits the fan, your brain goes uh-huh and it goes back. Because the way we do it, it makes it so that your brain files it away where it needs it. Your brain doesn't want to store. It's like a computer. It doesn't store everything in access memory right now because it doesn't need everything right away. That's why your desktop gets full of icons, your computer gets slow, because that's you telling the computer this is all important right now, remember all the things immediately. And your brain can't do that, just like your computer can't. We have a finite amount of space. So you got to file that back and you got to put that in your filing cabinet and go. Okay, where is it going to actually go? Where does it need to live?

Speaker 2: 18:53

And we put it back there and then you've Somewhere where you know where you can get it. It's right there, Exactly.

Speaker 1: 18:57

Yes, and you yourself, you have no idea where it is, but your brain does. It's a lot like, frankly, windows 10, where you've got no idea where to save the file. You just have to go to the search bar and go search file name and it goes there. It is like oh, there, it is Perfect. I have no idea where half my stuff is on my computer because it just files it in random places, but it's there when I need it. Same thing with your brain, and it's amazing how that works. But yeah, to be able to teach that, that's one of my favorite ones to teach because it is so niche, but I get to bring out a lot of great stuff with that class. We also do intermediate first aid, advanced first aid, again tailored for are you doing wilderness stuff? Are you doing shelter in place stuff, things like that. And each level we bring out more and more toys to play with.

Speaker 2: 19:41

Yes.

Speaker 1: 19:42

So, yeah, we'll bring out wound cubes you can practice wound packing. We'll get our tourniquets out so you can practice tourniqueting my advanced first aid class and then my tactical emergency couch to care class. If we have enough time with it, we do a whole moulage exercise where I take theater makeup and I will put wounds on people and do all that kind of stuff and it's really fun because and this is all pre-COVID we're getting back to the levels of students to do this post-COVID with our government clients the NIH is the one we do this with the most and we take our classes, our students from prior classes, and they could be our actors for the new class coming up. So we'd get 10, 15, 20 people coming in like all right, what kind of wound do you want? What do you want to do? I want to bloody eye, exactly.

Speaker 1: 20:27

I actually do have an eye popped out that I can do on people, so I can make your eye hanging out, I can give you busted teeth, I can have a finger gone.

Speaker 2: 20:36

Wonderful, I can have you not lop off a foot.

Speaker 1: 20:38

I can do all the things for you, and it's really fun.

Speaker 2: 20:40

Do you know makeup like special effects? Yeah, Does that something you learned during COVID? Oh, I trained myself on that years ago You're like girl, I've been had this.

Speaker 1: 20:48

I had to figure it out. I had to figure it out because I went to an exercise one time for CERT training up in Fairfax and it was a great experience. My husband went through the whole thing and I was part of the moulage crew at the end not the makeup side but the actor side and I was like, ok, give me a bruise, you know whatever. Like they had certain.

Speaker 2: 21:10

Like yeah, give me a bruise.

Speaker 1: 21:10

It's fine, it's great, and they did it and I'm like, eh, that's not really good. I didn't really know no offense or shade to them. You know they're all volunteers, you're doing what you can do, right? I'm like there's got to be a better way to do this, and so I started watching a bunch of YouTube channels.

Speaker 1: 21:28

And I'm like, ok, show me how to do this. So I take mostly regular makeup, but I do use some. Is it mayhem makeron makeup? So some theater makeup there. And I'm just like, ok, let me figure out how to actually do this on people and make it really fun. And my husband, he has a latex allergy, so I couldn't use all the latex that everybody had, so I had to learn how to make it out of gel effects.

Speaker 2: 21:52

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1: 21:53

So I've got a couple rounds of that and so I've got a whole library of wounds that I can pull Full of wounds.

Speaker 2: 21:59

Exactly.

Speaker 1: 22:00

It's like would you like some glass in your wound? Would you like some of this, which is really great for recycling stuff? So you break something at home. You're like, oh, can I put that in something? I'll take some of that. Exactly that's how I got my glass wound.

Speaker 1: 22:13

I broke a picture frame one time. I'm like, oh, this will be perfect. So I rolled some gel effects in the glass. Hey, that's one way to recycle. It works. It works. But I really like being able to do that stuff. That's super cool and super creative and it was so much fun for all my students. They loved it. They were like, oh, let me do all the things. And so there were pictures we actually had to pull them down off of one of the presentations that we had. Was it too gory? It was too gory and they were like, yeah, this was really great, because I did a slide show at the beginning of here's all of the training we've done for you guys over this last couple of years. And they were like, yeah, can you I don't know either zoom out or kind of blur a bit on this one slide, because that's the look. Oh yeah, sorry about that, is that real? I?

Speaker 2: 22:53

apologize. Yeah, no, have you ever shared any of that online? Show the process with a time lapse. I feel like that would be so cool. I have not. I need to. You should get on that, I feel like. Do the time lapse from the start and it's going fast and see the whole end result.

Speaker 1: 23:08

I really should. I'm very technologically challenged. My YouTube is horribly outdated. It's awful. I'm working on it. One of my goals for this year is to teach myself more about it and to actually start filming things like that.

Speaker 2: 23:26

Yeah, and you're so educational the way you speak and the passion, I think it would resonate with a lot of people and they'd be like I want to go to her. I like her personality.

Speaker 1: 23:33

Yeah, I need to start doing some of that.

Speaker 2: 23:34

But thank you for saying that. I really do appreciate that. Yeah, you're welcome and maybe just start off with Instagram. Doesn't have to be complex Like YouTube. Just get a little tripod, put your phone and just time lapse it. Yeah, it's like I need to figure that and get your husband to do it Be like hey, are you going?

Speaker 1: 23:47

Oh no, we're both old.

Speaker 2: 23:49

Both of us are technologically challenged. Well, thank you.

Speaker 1: 23:51

No, we both are at the age where we call our children and go hi, excuse me. And now that we have an empty nest, we're just kind of going shoot. They're not here. And I screwed up Like there's one series of videos on my channel. It was right after my little son enlisted in the Navy and he was one that would always help us with this stuff and I decided to do a tourniquet tier list of rating different brands of tourniquets that are available, ones that I've trained with and used and go okay, which ones are good, which ones are awful, in different price points, and you know the whole. Like YouTube, make your tier listing right. Yes, and so I did that, but I did it like three times because I kept trying to make it happen but I could never save it properly as a long file.

Speaker 1: 24:32

No, so it ended up being three 10 minute videos because I'm like yep, tech supports at basic training right now and I don't know how to do this. You tried, the try was there. You tried Exactly. I'm like so it's okay. There's parts one, two and three, so you just gotta listen to all three parts. That's cute, but yeah, I'm like I'll just make it work. But I felt so dumb I'm like, oh man.

Speaker 2: 24:52

No, don't, it's okay. Everybody starts somewhere, you know? Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1: 24:55

So you know it's difficult because you want to. You know figure out how to do stuff and technology of course. You know moving at lightning speed to try to catch up on things. You know, when I was a kid I used to read like PC World Magazine and stuff. I was really good at stuff and then when I had children it was just like done, no more time.

Speaker 2: 25:14

They were the priority, then Exactly it's like that's where I'm frozen.

Speaker 1: 25:16

I'm frozen at Pentium 3 and 4. So that's the last time I was comfortable with technology when we had. Pentium 3 and 4. Noted Beyond that, we're like yeah, oh, yeah.

Speaker 2: 25:26

I got nothing Tell me about. I saw a class that was. I was like how does that work? I think it was for pets.

Speaker 1: 25:32

Oh, yeah, cpr, oh my gosh, that is one of the favorites. So we do offer a pet first aid and CPR. We have a mannequin for dog CPR so you actually learn how to do CPR Is it a dog mannequin.

Speaker 1: 25:46

Yep, oh, yep. His name is Casper the CPR dog. Okay, love the name. He's adorable. He looks like a Labrador. He's like a Labrador. He's absolutely adorable.

Speaker 1: 25:56

And, yeah, you can learn how to do CPR for your pets and for a state as well. Very different from Summon. Summon, not really, not really. There's a bit of an anatomical difference because for us our rib cage goes in with our sternum, which is where you put your hands. With animals, the rib cage tends to go out, so you've got to work on the side versus on the sternum. There's obviously little differences in breathing, so if you have a long-souted dog, it's a little different than if you have, like a pug.

Speaker 1: 26:20

But yeah, it's one of our most requested classes. We do it for Take your Child to Work Day for the NIH. We go up there for NCI every year and they just they're like, yes, keep offering this class. So we do that during COVID, when we couldn't be in person, I actually filmed a class for them and I had my dog Max at the time.

Speaker 1: 26:40

He was this beautiful Havishan and he was like on my lap the whole time. He was snoring, so he's like snoring into the microphone. Good, he was so calm I was able to show how to bandage on his little paw Like here's how you bandage a doggy paw and he just what a good dog he was. So he was the best. He was the best. We lost him a little over a year ago, sorry, it's okay. He was just. He was my little sweet pea he was. He was my little bug and your little model too. Like, oh, he was, he was Years and years ago we had a Labrador named Merlin and he would actually sit still for first aid classes so we could do first aid on him and students could do that Our dogs that. We have now not quite there yet.

Speaker 1: 27:23

We'll see, one day they'll be able to do it, but they're not quite there. But yeah, that is just, it's an amazing class. And that class was that was actually my first time being a gift for somebody. So, you know, business will have gift certificates and stuff. Yes, I mean, who on earth is going to put a stocking stuff first? Here's a gift certificate for safety training, that's. You know, that's like yeah, you're like thanks, you know, it's like going here's a gift certificate to go buy a vacuum. That's kind of like what it feels like it's very utilitarian and it's kind of weird. But I had this call from this lovely woman last year and she was like, hey, my parents, they're, you know, in their 70s, they just got a new puppy and they're really excited and my mom really wants to learn pet first aid for the new puppy. Can we do this as a gift? And I'm like heck, yes, we can. Yes, yes, I can totally do this. And so I had the mom and the dad.

Speaker 1: 28:18

And then there are three sets of children and spouses that all came to my house and we did pet first aid and CPR for them and it was just so cool because I'm like they're bonding too Exactly and they're like I was a gift and these people they traveled some of them from states away to come and do this as a surprise for their mom and dad, and so I mean it was just so sweet. It was a moment for everybody, it was beautiful, it was just the most beautiful thing.

Speaker 2: 28:45

So I love that I love the passion, like you really do have a passion for it. I can tell your smile and like your anger, like they did it to it right, like I love it. Oh good, I'm glad it shows how much you care, like it's genuine too. Thank you, I appreciate that. And then, just to wrap things up a little bit, can you tell me a message that you would like the world to know, just that you want to leave with, whether it's for your clientele or just anybody?

Speaker 1: 29:11

Well, what I want people to know is that you don't always have to stay the same and you don't always have to do things the way that they've been in the past, whether that's with your business. So it's important with your business to stay flexible, listen to what your clients want. Listen to what they need. That's how we moved from doing classes in rented spaces to having a dedicated home office, because we listened to what our clients actually wanted. And the same thing with yourself.

Speaker 1: 29:42

Just because you've always done things a certain way or always felt a certain way about something, doesn't mean it can't change. Maybe you've always grown up thinking that you really don't like a certain color, and then one day you decide wait, no, I actually do like that color. I used to think I really hated the color pink, like just the worst color in the world, and then millennial pink comes along. I'm like that's adorable, I love it. And so I completely changed my mind. I was like I love millennial pink, this is really cool, it's a great color, I love it. I love that for you. So don't be afraid to change. Don't be afraid to look at your mindset and what you think is the way that you think about something and go? You know what? Is this really the feeling I'm having right now about it? Or has my feeling evolved? Because we're supposed to grow, we're supposed to change and it's a beautiful thing when that happens. It's absolutely beautiful.

Speaker 2: 30:38

That is such a good message. I have to agree with that, because sometimes we're so stuck in our way and we're sure that it's the way, but then you see it done a different way. Are you trying to be like you know what? This was actually easier, and sometimes you want to fight it back yourself because I'm like that sometimes, and then you're like you know what, that wasn't so bad.

Speaker 1: 30:57

I'm open to change and maybe you think that someone else is going to judge you because, again, for years I don't like pink, but now it's like, but I do like millennial pink. I think that's cool, exactly, and you know what. You have to be able to go. Yeah, I didn't like it then, at that stage, at that time of my life, I didn't like it.

Speaker 2: 31:16

But now I do and it's OK. That's OK, it is all OK. Yes, same mind. Yeah, right there, I love it. Well, thank you so much for coming in. I love all the advice and thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 1: 31:26

Oh, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate this. This was really a great experience.