 Welcome back to Geeks Are Sexy. We have brought all of our guests back this week to talk about our panel discussion. We like to bring everyone together and talk about a theme or a topic. It's been great to learn about all of your businesses and events coming up, but this is where we can really have a real discussion for our audience about some of the things that are important to us. And this month we're going to talk about professionalism. So I'm going to kick it right over to you, Lindsay, and say what is professionalism to you? What constitutes professional behavior? How do you know it when you see it? Sure. So professionalism to us is something that we deal with every single day. It's something that we hold ourselves to a really high standard to make sure that we're exuding professional behavior, such as making sure we are in constant contact with our customers. So if they book an appointment with us, they receive, you know, a text message from us letting us know, like, hey, we received it. We're good to go. We've accepted the appointment and we'll see you at this time. But that is also how I can in turn see if I'm getting a professional reaction from the customers, because they can let us know, you know, yes, this appointment still works. No, it doesn't. I think sometimes just in our particular industry, cancellations are part of the game. Absolutely. So it's all about how customers handle that. So do you tell me 30 minutes beforehand or do you tell me, you know, a week in advance and that way we can give someone else the opportunity to take that appointment. So professionalism is huge. And I think it also just kind of fits really nicely with what we do with professional pet shots. It's something that, you know, we want everyone to achieve. So we can help them with that. Okay, cool. Sarah, I mean, you must run into this with, you know, what we talked about in your segment was some of these clients aren't ready for the things you're offering them. How does that come about? How does that come across in professionalism? Well, I think it's interesting because I kind of brought a stereotype to my own profession, thinking that, oh, golly, if I'm going to be successful in this, I have to wear a suit and tie. I have to be all looking, you know, and I just, that's not who I am. So to me, professionalism, and I liked what you said in your segment about, you know, maybe suit and tie is appropriate, but maybe, you know, just a nice blouse or, you know, something with a cuff or something like that, that, you know, you're, it's more of an attitude. And it's not an attitude of even who I am, but it's an attitude of how I treat you and how I treat you and you and each person individually, it's giving respect and an understanding for their particular issues. You know, whatever those might be, that is, some people think that being on time is late and some people think that being late is perfectly acceptable and having that kind of grace to bring that in but having a good set of standards for yourself, whatever that might be. And that's professionalism. That's a very philosophical from a bookkeeper. Sorry. And I loved your answer, both of you. One, yes, I do agree that it is adaptability, having adaptability, being able to adapt, which means you would have to do some research or understanding, get to know your client, potential client, whatever, so engagement, so being adaptable. And like you're saying, honest communication is number one. Integrity is number one. I think that if you, if you are, you, you're honest and you have integrity, then the professionalism is actually gonna just come natural because you are able, listen, people are late, things do happen, but if you can communicate honestly, then, then maybe it's not such a bad thing. And so people forget about that. Maybe they are afraid or maybe they're just not prepared. But I think it is what you're all saying, one, it's adaptability. It is honest communication, I think is number one in integrity. And I learned with the closing of the business how important not just honesty and communication and but how important loyalty. So again, we talk a lot about customer service. People talk about customer service and people talk about, I used to always hear the saying that your customer comes first, but I have to tell you professionalism means you take care of your, your team, your company, your employees. Those are your first customers. And if you do that, then they have a way to know you model it and they know how to adapt and they also know how to communicate honestly. So it's communication and it's communication, honest communication, adaptability. That's great. I know everybody in this room understands that it's not so much what happens to us that defines us, but how we react to it is really what defines us and sets the stage for what's coming up in our lives. When someone has treated you in an unprofessional way or has been unprofessional, because I truly believe professionalism isn't something you do, it's something you are. Yes. Yes. I truly believe that. When someone has been unprofessional or not professional to you, what are some of the ways you've reacted to that? How do you react to that? That's great. It's a really good question. Would you like that? That's why I've got the sheet of paper. If you want to go first, if you have an answer, otherwise I can go. Do you want to? Sure. I will be honest. We all sometimes react badly. That happens. Sometimes somebody, we're caught on a bad day, we haven't had enough caffeine and it's downhill from there. For me, I hope that the other person would understand. They have that choice to react whether they do or don't. Same thing with me, when someone else doesn't have caffeine or we don't know what they've gone through and to say, okay, what grace can I give them? How can I build a circle around them to maybe bring them back to a place where they can act professionally again? Give them that ability to do that and come alongside of them and say, hey, yeah, I understand. This is frustrating or hey, yeah, man, something's going on. Tell me more about that and then if I can keep my cool or professionalism, then they can regain theirs. Awesome. I was just going to say, so my degree is actually in communications and one of the things we talk about is managing expectations and sometimes I feel like what happens in whatever industry you're working in, people will violate your expectations. So you'll have in mind this is how they're going to react because this is how I want them to and they completely do the opposite. And so like you said, it's all about how you handle that in that moment is what defines you, I think as I mean, the themes of professionalism, how professional are you to be able to handle that when your expectations have been completely violated? And the funny part is people always associate that with a bad thing, but sometimes it can be a really good thing. I think a lot of times will be apprehensive about things or afraid to like you were talking in yours, you tell people stuff they may not want to hear, you know, no one wants to admit they've done something wrong or maybe there's a way they could do it better. So if you have that conversation with somebody and they're excited and happy that you've brought this to light, maybe no one's been honest before, that could violate your expectations in a positive way. So having, you know, that in the back of your head that, you know, kind of walking with I don't really know what to expect. And then that way you're always sort of able to take it for what it is. There's always a saying, you know, get to know the nature. And sometimes we don't want to accept what people are and who they are. So like you said earlier, we have certain expectations, but that can be nothing because if you get to know the person who they are, maybe they never had intentions or they're just not able to meet those expectations. And then things do happen. I just had a challenge, you know, a challenge with our company. And one of my former employees really violated the trust and proved to not be professional. He wore a mask, a very good mask, because he looks professional and seems professional. You know, this sometimes, like you said earlier, can make people think that you're professional. But the integrity side of it is the most important thing. So with that reveal, and I just ran into him. And it was interesting. That was the first time after the situation happened. But I had to say, and I mean this, congratulations on your success. And really extended my hand for a handshake. And that individual could not respond, did not look at me, did just really try to ignore the situation and walk past. And that to me is the biggest test of professionalism, integrity and everything that we're talking about the expectations. You can do everything that you can and everything that you should do, but it's still a two-way street. And like you said earlier, we're human and we will forget and we will lose and let the emotions in. But being professional, we do have a way. We have a responsibility to stop and breathe, stop and breathe and not react, but to respond. Well, that's great advice. And we could talk about this all day, but we're going to leave it right there. So very quickly, because we're getting the signal, we got to leave the studio. Sean, tell everyone about where they can find the information about your event and your company. Absolutely. So the event once again is Breathe Summit. It's the Breathe Health and Wealth Summit and Expo. And you can go to www.breathe.com. You can reach out to me, because again, 5AM Global is a full-service marketing company, and we are producing this event. So we do strategic partnerships, full-service marketing and event production. You can find me at www.SeanSHAWN.5AMGlobal.com. Thank you. All right. Lindsay, how can everybody get to you? Sure. So email would be fantastic. It's just lindsay.com. But like I said earlier, we are on Facebook, so Facebook slash we do shots. You can follow us on Instagram or on Instagram at we do shots. All right, Sarah. I'll keep it simple. You build the dream so I can keep the books dreambuilderbookkeeper.com or my phone number since I gave it out earlier, 541-525-0380. It's on the website. All right. Awesome. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for joining us for our January show. Thank you all for being here and joining us for our January show. Come back the 4th Thursday of February 28th. I don't know. You guys are smart. You'll figure it out. Thank you for being here today. I'm Jason Leduc. This is Geeks Are Sexy. We'll see you next month.