On today’s edition of The Pegasus Podcast, we are interviewing Jodi Lynch Findley, host of The Thriving Equine Professional Podcast.
After working at Zoetis for a decade, she founded her own brand called JodiSpeaksLife.
Through her brand, she gets invited to speak to college students all across the United States.
Jodi spotlights the value of real-world experiences and the critical role of networking as she narrates her ascent from a 'horse girl' to a professional speaker and mentor.
In this episode, we discuss:
🐴 This episode is brought to you by Pegasus, the first modern event management system that makes it easy to host and run equestrian events. Sign up for early access at www.thepegasus.app.
Be sure to follow Pegasus on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and subscribe to The Oxer, the #1 weekly newsletter for global equestrian industry happenings. 🗞️
On today’s edition of The Pegasus Podcast, we are interviewing Jodi Lynch Findley, host of The Thriving Equine Professional Podcast.
After working at Zoetis for a decade, she founded her own brand called JodiSpeaksLife.
Through her brand, she gets invited to speak to college students all across the United States.
Jodi spotlights the value of real-world experiences and the critical role of networking as she narrates her ascent from a 'horse girl' to a professional speaker and mentor.
In this episode, we discuss:
🐴 This episode is brought to you by Pegasus, the first modern event management system that makes it easy to host and run equestrian events. Sign up for early access at www.thepegasus.app.
Be sure to follow Pegasus on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and subscribe to The Oxer, the #1 weekly newsletter for global equestrian industry happenings. 🗞️
All right, jodi. Thanks very much for joining us today. For our audience, can you just give them a quick two-minute summary of who you are and what you do?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, sam and Jen. Thank you guys so much for having me. I am so excited. I woke up this morning just like, oh, I'm going to be on the Pegasus podcast today. This is going to be so fun. So, yes, I will give you a brief intro, and that is that I am one year into my entrepreneurial journey and I run a brand called Jodi Speaks Life where I focus on training and speaking and facilitating for individuals and organizations in and around not only the equine industry, but really agriculture and sales specifically. I've spent most of my career in sales and my passion is people. I love to educate, inspire and motivate the next generation of leaders, and where I find we really have an opportunity to focus on upskilling, that is through communication and connection. So I am very focused on training, speaking and facilitating for communication and connection excellence.
Speaker 3:That was the most incredible introduction ever. I understand why you teach this stuff. I have so many questions. Okay, so you can step back. How did you get into this? So you said you're a year into your entrepreneurial journey. Where did you start?
Speaker 2:Yes, where did I start? If I go all the way back, I'm always so quick to acknowledge that the beginning of my journey is really because of two high school ag teachers and being involved in FFA. So that's where I always begin. And I got involved in FFA after not being an ag kid quote unquote growing up, but fell in love with horses. I was that typical eight year old who begged for riding lessons and can still take you back to the 1989 version of Jodi that just fell in love with horses and never fell out of that love and passion.
Speaker 1:For an Australian who did not grow up in America. What does FFA stand for?
Speaker 3:Is it Future Farmers of America?
Speaker 2:It is yes, and now it's yeah, future Farmers of America.
Speaker 2:It's one of the largest youth organizations, so it's similar to 4-H, but FFA is very much driven through high school, where 4-H is very much driven through the local community and where I wasn't really involved in agriculture and didn't have that early opportunity toward 4-H activities.
Speaker 2:When I got to high school and found out about FFA, it was really that I was a horse girl, not an ag girl, right, and so I then became involved in the horse judging team and if you want to talk about life skills, if you have the opportunity to be on a judging team, whether that's horses or cattle or anything like that, it is just so beneficial to your character building and life skills. So for me that was it. I just rolled right in from horse judging to public speaking, both prepared and extemporaneous. I did things like floriculture. I won the Maryland State Floriculture Contest through FFA. So you know nursery, landscape, just those kinds of activities that really set the stage for me to move into a sales and professional industry career when I ran away from home. I ran away from Maryland and went to college in Kentucky and really have called Kentucky home since then.
Speaker 3:So you were leading toward the horse girl side of things. Did you hear about Pony Club? Were you ever introduced to Pony Club? And so is that why you went mostly to FFA? Because that was more so than 4-H. So I actually hadn't heard of FFA until recently, but I definitely didn't hear about it when I was younger. But, similar to you, I started with 4-H but was more on the horse girl side of things. But then I was introduced to Pony Club and I imagine there's probably a lot of similarities, because it really is an incredible foundation for kids Like you are tossed in the wild with your horses. You're not allowed to talk to your parents. Luckily then phones didn't really exist, we just had flip phones. So it's not like it could do us much anyway, but it was an amazing foundation. So we'd love to hear how the FFA so it sounds like that was kind of an instrumental component of your career from there. So can you talk a little bit more about how that was the catalyst for where you are in your career?
Speaker 2:Yes, and that is, Jen, I think, a perfect example of some of the differences. Right, Because I didn't, unfortunately. I think I would have thrived in Pony Club and that would have been a much more hands on experience for me as well.
Speaker 2:And I was taking lessons and I did some low level eventing. I love to run fast and jump high. As I say, that's my passion, you know, when it comes to horses. And so the FFA, being very high school and academically driven, really was the catalyst for my industry career, right? So instead of being out now, we had a barn at school and there were certainly hands on projects and that is encouraged. But when it comes down to it, those skills that I developed through public speaking and horse judging and those types of activities really set the stage for me to move into an industry career, which was my direction even at that time and I can look back and have clarity on that with hindsight.
Speaker 2:But when you have that horse group, the barn girl group, I had one dear friend that she knew she wanted to go into the hands-on horse side of the business. She wanted to buy and sell and train, and I wanted to move into an industry career of some sort. And again, at that point I had no idea what that looked like. But FFA was so pivotal in providing exposure and so, as I traveled through the local, regional, state and national competition level, I can take you back to that FFA National Convention in Kansas City where I went through the career fair and decided that, oh my gosh, I can go to college. I can go to college and major in agriculture and maybe agriculture business, and I could be on an equestrian team.
Speaker 2:I learned all of that because of that exposure, of being at the National FFA Convention, and that's where I met the people that facilitated that journey and helped me move. From a high school kid in Maryland that was first generation college, my family didn't know anything about the college process and so still I'm really quick to credit those high school ag teachers, ffa advisors that I had, and that journey began there. So from Kansas City I met with Western Kentucky University and many other universities and landed in Bowling Green, kentucky, at Western Kentucky University and thrived. I spent the next four years milking cows on morning, milking, going to class for ag and riding on the equestrian team in the evenings, and then even stepped into going to work at a local feed store, where then I met the next mentor who showed me what it meant to be in the industry as a feed sales professional and taught me how to do horse owner meetings and things like that.
Speaker 3:That is incredible. That is a far cry from your playing footy and drinking at the pub in Australia.
Speaker 2:Now, I did plenty of that, jen, I did plenty of that. I'll be quick to say that I was known for always showing up on Friday morning for milking. I never missed a Friday morning milking and I may not have made it to bed on Thursday night, so you know like, but I never missed a day of work.
Speaker 1:I mean, this is a question we can come back to further in the podcast, but just because you mentioned it as you were explaining the fact that you had these people who brought you in and expose you to these experiences, and you even use the word mentors in the corporate world right, if you work in a corporate services job, there's pretty much an online course anywhere in the world that allows you to learn a skill, whether it's software engineering or sales or whatever.
Speaker 1:You can basically go to Udemy, get an online course, learn how to do it and then just start tinkering In ag and in the horses. It's so physical, it's so real, it's so much more hands-on that, like, you can't do that, which does naturally kind of limit people's access to the career, to the experience, etc. So do you have any opinions on how that basically stifles the industry or stifles the opportunities available for the next generation, or is it is one of those things that you know? We say that as people who live in a metropolitan city, but if you don't live in a metropolitan city, then getting access to those things is just as easy as getting access to a course if you live in a city.
Speaker 2:You know, sam, I think that when it comes down to it, it is really a focus on us as individuals and what our interests are and coming together as an industry to say we owe it to the next generation to prepare them, provide some clarity of the opportunities that abound in our industry and introduce them and connect them with leaders that are out there, because I think that the next generation is often so. We have blinders on right, we're standard breads and we have our blinders on in whatever niche we are involved in and whatever segment we are involved in, and we are hard pressed to take those blinders off and look around and start to ask questions, because those industry professionals are at every event, whether it is Pony Club or it is a local show or it's an A show or whatever it is. There are feed reps there. They're, you know, neutrina or Purina or whomever is there, and we have to do more of this kind of talking, just connecting ourselves with the next generation, with those parents that have children that are horse crazy and we and they have blinders on, because that's natural.
Speaker 2:You know where we don't know what we don't know. So I really think that it is a matter of just what you and I are doing right now. We have to share the stories that bring this all to life, and when someone listens to a podcast and says, oh my gosh, I had no idea that I could go to work for Purina and self feed or be in marketing and be equine, only, like people, don't know what's out here and if that answers your question, I think that's what I'm most passionate about is exposure, providing the clarity of the opportunities and then providing the connections that are going to allow our next generation to explore things that they have no idea exist.
Speaker 3:It's a really good point and well said, and it's one of those where, when you typically go to school, when you're in a college, you then get the traditional corporate type of exposure and see what's possible, but there isn't a school of the equestrian industry. So, to your point, it is up to the people that they do have the exposure and they do have the insight into what is possible to then talk about it. So then other people can get those ideas and then come up with new ideas of their own and share, and then, before you know it, we do have this unofficial equestrian school that maybe should exist. I don't know, maybe that's something that would fit in right well, in Paris, kentucky, if you can get started.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, coming back to your story, how did you find out? So you, obviously you said you were at college. You were basically very much hands on the tools for lack of a better term and then you went and worked for a feed shop and you had a mentor there. So how did you discover the corporate opportunities for the agricultural sector? How did you make that transition?
Speaker 2:I don't know. No, I say that somewhat jokingly, right, but it is just pursuit of something and continuing to just ask those questions and put yourself in situations where you are courageous enough to meet people and ask questions. So when I went to work for that local feed store, I was literally the first female on staff, and so I was still throwing 100 pound feed sacks from a feed mill and sweeping the floor because it was that traditional agriculture spit cup, tobacco, spit cup and coffee in the mornings, kind of a gathering place, and that's fantastic. But that also doesn't attract the next generation of top talent. And so the feed rep that called on that store, she took me under her wing. You know, again, graciously enough, she involved me and taught me so much. So that was my first like oh, wow, she works for this company and she covers the state of Kentucky and part of Tennessee and she goes around and teaches people right. So that's what I got to the point where in my career now, after 20 years, that my job is education and influence, and that's really what it is brand influence, education about products, knowing things like that.
Speaker 2:So I was exposed to that and then I kind of went away from it to be very honest, as I graduated college then in 2000. That was the year that women's equestrian went varsity in the US, and so that was because of Title IX for women's sports to be more equal with men's, and so I actually the first job I took out of college was at Kansas State University to help put together the women's equestrian program. So I spent two years in Manhattan, kansas, working with the head coach there, really as an admin, and helping from the ground up recruit students and acquire horses and equipment, and I did all the travel arrangements. So Kansas, oklahoma, texas, and it was a dual appointment between athletics and animal science. And boy, that was a cool job. But to be real honest, I didn't love Kansas.
Speaker 3:Taylor Swift wasn't there yet. That was a cool job, but to be real honest.
Speaker 2:I didn't love Kansas. Taylor Swift wasn't there, yet that's right. That's right. I wasn't a Swifty, I didn't she was probably not even born yet in 2000. I don't know, it'd be close.
Speaker 3:It'd be close, so that's amazing, okay. So when you were doing that cause that's, setting up the infrastructure for an equestrian team is very different than the agriculture. So when you were doing that, was that something that you were. It was like the best job at the time and you were ultimately looking to get back into ag and back into this, like I don't want to say speaking, but like talking about the industry. Like at what point were you like, okay, this has been a great component of the career, but we're going to get back to the agriculture and I don't know if I would say like Zoetis and in the feed sector is agriculture, but like can you take us through that whole journey and how you're able to kind of get back into where you are now idea?
Speaker 2:what my opportunities were and no idea that this would be my career trajectory. But I have had multiple dream jobs and it was my dream job right at that point in time. And so then, when you approach it that way and you learn as much as you can, that was the experience that taught me you can live anywhere. For two years I did not love Manhattan, kansas, and that's okay. I met some amazing people and, you know, have some lifelong friends from that experience and that was part of who I became. So then, beyond that, I actually moved back east. I didn't come directly back to Kentucky.
Speaker 2:When I left Kansas it was because my grandmother was ill and so I moved back to Maryland to help take care of her through her end of life. And so, with that kind of life situation, I went to work for a local feed retailer in Maryland where my family is, and they were growing tremendously and that's where I really picked up what I call retail detail. So working in that ag retail space. But I quickly became kind of the horse feed person because that was my passion and some of my experience already. But I was selling everything from pet supplies to Carhartt clothing to fences and gates and feed across all species and that was a growing business and I was managing the retail team and doing a little bit of the marketing for three stores.
Speaker 2:So again, that was an opportunity that presented itself because of where I was and what my experience had been through college. So that was the next stepping stone. It was a dream job Again, loved those people and made friends and learned so much. And I was there maybe about almost three years and had the opportunity as I again I didn't know what I was doing then in networking because that wasn't defined for me as a young person, but I networked my way into a job with Purina and that was something that came available with Purina in the mid-Atlantic area and I earned that role and spent the next six years in that dream job.
Speaker 2:So it has been a stepping stone along the way, but I'm quick to say that's the clarity that only comes from experience and so being able to talk about that with the young people who have an interest in horses, who have a passion to speak horse, they see two or three career opportunities. Right, am I going to be a trainer? Am I going to be a pro rider? Am I going to be a trainer? Am I going to be a pro rider? Am I going to be a professional or do I think I might want to go into the industry? And many of them have no idea the expanse of opportunities in industry roles. So these stories being told are important and then we need to take it to the next level and champion those young people through some connections that are going to be impactful to them Out of interest.
Speaker 1:when you're on the speaker circuit and you are speaking to kids, you're talking to high school kids mostly, or is it college kids or both?
Speaker 2:I love the undergraduate space, so for me it really is that undergraduate they're right there on the cusp of what I call the student to professional transition, and high school is oftentimes a little early for me. I might be a little too much for them, as I will say. I'm a little bit of a lot for some, and so I really find that it's this college and early career where maybe they just have their first role, even if they didn't go straight into college or didn't go to college at all, but they have an interest in the industry and they're in that first couple of years and they're like I want more. Then I really am attracted to that space of providing clarity, confidence and connection, because that's what I believe the three steps are in order to grow in and around this industry.
Speaker 1:It doesn't matter what industry you're in it's not just agriculture, it's literally like every industry is that when you are undergrad and mostly kids who are about to graduate, or they're like two years into their first job of graduating? And I have this theory, which is that and I think this is a large reason why a lot of people in the world get depressed is that growing up, every part of your life is like there's a next step, right. So you like you grow up, you go to kindy, then you go to junior school, then you go to middle school, then you go to high school, then you go to college and then you get your first job. And so there's like this built in momentum to life that makes you feel like you're making progress. And then, once people get that first job, and they realize I hate this like there's no next step, it's have kids or it's your career, and if you're unable to like create that next step yourself, yet you feel that momentum to slow down and it's almost like a river that like hits a floodplain and just dissipates. They're like, oh, what do I do now?
Speaker 1:And that's kind of where a lot of people, I think a lot of depression, angst, comes from is because there's not that next step. And so, like we had a mentor, a mentee for like a better term about a year ago, a young woman, and we said to her we're like do not feel in a rush. Like in this day and age, you can like screw around in your entire twenties and go from shit kicker job to shit kicker job and just enjoy life, earn enough money to be able to go out for beers with friends and have a good time, and at 30, you can get serious and reinvent your life and you'll be fine. Like you can literally do that. And to your point about like it's having those experiences in the feed shop or in a tack shop or working in a barn, like if you're not worried that you're not progressing fast enough, that's okay because you've got plenty of time to make up for it in the future. But it's going to give you the clarity either of what you do want to do or, perhaps most importantly, what you are now absolutely sure you don't want to do. And it's that clarity that then helps you make that decision.
Speaker 1:And it's not just ag, it's every career, and I say this to people I used to when I came to America you guys have this culture of undergrads rushing into their postgraduate studies and I was like you don't want to do that. You want to have that postgrad degree up your sleeve. So at 27, when you really hate your job, you can go back to school and drink lattes on the lawn at 3 pm and relax. And that's when you're like cause, like most people get to like 27 and they finally like figure out what they really want to do. Like they start listening to podcasts that they like and start finding learning fun as opposed to learning is something like you have to do. And it's at that point that they like kind of like figure out oh, now I know what I want to go back and do as my postgraduate study. Now I know what career I want to do in ag or whatever it is. That's kind of when they like confirm, like what they actually like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally, and I love how you said that about people chasing this happiness right, because we're in this hustle culture and, of course, for you and you can recognize this so easily. But I do think that that is one of the greatest detriments of the culture of the US in general is this hustle culture of chasing, like we're chasing. Do we know what we're chasing? Do any of us really know what it is that we're chasing? And my January focus was significance versus success and kind of understanding those two concepts. So I really hear exactly what you're saying, sam. I think that makes so much sense. But, yeah, we've got to figure it out every step of the way and it's okay, it will change. It will absolutely change. I never would have dreamt that I would be an entrepreneur, and you know, at 45.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think you going in at that age is a very impactful time as well, cause like so for me, I went into engineering school. I didn't really know what that entailed, but you know they sell it like, oh, you're going to be building spaceships and we're going to be landing on Mars and you're going to be building the future of the world. And so I felt this pressure to just like hurry up through engineering school. Most people would take a year or they'd go and study abroad, but for me that would mean that I would start my engineering career late and I couldn't do that. I had to like rush into engineering and it was still this haze of what engineering is and could be.
Speaker 3:And then you graduate, you get your engineering job and then you realize you're just doing calculations behind your screen, not talking to anyone every single day, and it's like, wow, it would have been nice to have had someone say like here are other things that you can do and here are other possibilities.
Speaker 3:And here's actually what engineering looks like.
Speaker 3:It might sound grand and I will say if you're working at Tesla, it's probably pretty cool, but if you're a civil engineer designing roads and stuff which is what I was doing not as glamorous, but it literally took me it was like my first year outside of school bored out of my mind.
Speaker 3:I would go to Barnes Noble and just pick up any book and just escape mentally for an hour before I came back to the office and I discovered Tim Ferriss' four-hour work week and that is what kind of sparked oh there's this whole other world that exists. Like I can literally create my future. And it was that book that really formulated the rest of my life, which was like the entrepreneurial journey, and I resonated more with that than just being someone who's going to be a slave to the nine to five cubicle. But it's like what you're doing, like you are kind of that Tim Ferriss coming into the schools and showing, hey, there's this whole other world that could exist, you don't have to just fall into the trap of what society is telling you to go and do?
Speaker 2:Yeah, without a doubt, and that's been so rewarding and, quite frankly, our industry isn't quite ready for it.
Speaker 2:I think you will both know what I mean when I say.
Speaker 2:There are other industries out there that are very focused on skill building on the soft skills side of things, and in the ag and equine side of our business, we're almost still scared of the term soft skills.
Speaker 2:But I think that the standard of excellence today, as it relates to academic skills, clinical skills, whatever that looks like, depending on what you do, we have this lopsided triangle that has to be focused on, because we have at least four different generations that need to be connected and they can't talk to each other the great disconnection that resulted from the great resignation and all of the other greats that we've experienced in the past couple of years. But it is focus on Gen Z and our young talent that have so much to give and so much energy and so much passion. But we are teaching them to think differently Because, just to your point, we can create a life that fits us and suits us, but they're struggling on how do I do that? And then how do I overcome what I call comparisonitis what I'm supposed to be doing compared to everyone else who we see their highlight reel on social media. So I really think that speaking to individuals and the organizations that are employing them is critical.
Speaker 3:Well, to that point too. So for us we didn't have I mean, at the time, right, mr Beast didn't exist, instagram didn't exist, like there weren't all these outlets to see what else is possible just on the internet. So it was really easy at least like for the average American, I think to just fall into the trap of what society is telling you to go and rush and do. But have you found, by talking to this next generation, if you will, that they are thinking more outside the box because they are exposed to all these different possibilities, or are most of them still? It doesn't matter that there's these new media channels and new possibilities in their career, they're still following this. You know the same thing that our generation did.
Speaker 2:I think that it is starting to change. I'm actually teaching for the first time. This is one of my newest opportunities. I'm teaching an ag sales class at the University of Kentucky this semester and I have 26 or so students that are all juniors and seniors facing graduation, facing the student to professional transition. And, jen, I asked them that just the other day, as we talk through these career opportunities whether it's specific to sales or in and around sales, but it is all agriculture they're mostly ag, economic majors and I said how many of you want to go to work for corporate right? Raise your hands. How many of you are going to go to the farm level, small business ag? And then, and I asked the question, how many of you have an interest in becoming entrepreneurs? There was at least six of them. So I thought that was a really great response to that question and really well-rounded in that classroom. I'm impressed by them, to be very honest, and I really didn't know what I was getting into.
Speaker 2:I think one of the reasons that God put this opportunity in front of me is because I'm pretty critical of higher education and I think that our gap is growing on our ability to prepare young people for the transition from student to professional, which goes back to your point. Are we living in an antiquated space that's telling us that this is what you have to do and you're going to go to work, and you're going to work an eight to five job and check these boxes, and so many of them now are saying, well, that's not what I want to do. And they are coming out and want to make an impact immediately. So some of our traditional hierarchies and traditional rules and traditional career ladders that have to take two years to get to this level and two years to get to this level, they just are not relevant anymore. And I think that in many cases, academia is not relevant anymore. So they are thinking that way.
Speaker 2:But they need to hear that they can, and I think for some people they would be quick. You know, some of our baby boomers especially might be quick to say well, I don't believe that a college graduate should be an entrepreneur. They should go and get experience before they become an entrepreneur. Okay, I can hear you and but I'm not sure you get to make that decision. And there is also the coaching that we can provide that failure is not forever and go be an entrepreneur If that is what's on your heart and you're willing to put that work in and that effort and connect with people. Again, I think that the number one skill we can provide them is the ability to communicate and connect with others, because without that skill, most of us will fail.
Speaker 1:The two things that I've learned over the last like 10 years is that there's a few points here I want to tie together. But two things I've learned is one is that someone once said to me like, don't worry about what your skill set is, don't worry about, like, how old you are, don't worry about whether you deserve it, don't worry about everyone else's doing. If you generate value, you will get paid. And so, like, for example, right, you can have a young entrepreneur coming out of your sales class who might be like you know what I want to go become an entrepreneur at the age of 22. And someone might say to them well, you don't have the experience, you don't know what you're talking about, you don't know the industry.
Speaker 1:It's like, yeah, that might be true, but if they create, if they say, hey, I'm going to specialize in how to optimize social media posts and going viral and I'm going to specialize in doing it in the ag sector because they know it better than our generation ever does, right, they're just on it. They naturally get it. And then they go create a company where they sell those services. That is creating value to companies like us who are like yeah, I will pay you because you know how to make my post go viral. Like, I don't care who you are, I don't care how old you are. You could be someone who doesn't even speak English in a country and refuse to turn your camera on on the zoom, call Like and I'll never see your face. But if the data tells you that my posts are going viral, then, like, I'm happy, you've created value and therefore everything else is irrelevant.
Speaker 1:So, for the young entrepreneur in the ag space who wants to be an entrepreneur out of the school, if you're hitting up against those barriers, which is? And the agriculture. I'm not sure what it's like in America, but in Australia the agricultural space is more old school, and therefore there's more old school hierarchies that are expected. Then, like that's, just think of it as how do I create value? The second thing, though, is confidence. So I was listening to a podcast the other day, and it was talking about the tech space, so not agriculture, but it was basically saying in this day and age, in the last few years, the average person who creates, who's an entrepreneur, is in their mid thirties, and 10 years ago, it was in their mid twenties, and everyone thought that backing the entrepreneur in their mid-20s was the thing they wanted to do, and now a lot of the investors are like well, actually I want to back someone in their mid-30s because, one, they've tried a couple of things before and they've failed, so they now have one, they have a chip on their shoulder. But two, they've learned what not to do, and this trend is common through every sector, which is that and this comes back to like spending your 20s just screwing around and learning what you like and what you don't like, which is that, as you get older, you see the people who are supposed to be the adults, the people who are supposed to be in charge, and you see how they run their business and you're like this is insane. Why are they doing like that? If I was in charge, I would do it like this. They're doing this wrong. They should be doing this better.
Speaker 1:And it's that exposure to the fact that the adults aren't doing it right that gives you the confidence that you can actually do it yourself, and so I think that's a large part of it as well, which is that, like for those that don't want to be entrepreneurs, just out of high school, spend your 20s, or out of college, spend your 20s, get the jobs, see what the other people are doing, see how badly they're all doing it, develop the confidence you can do it yourself, and then go start the company knowing exactly what you want to do, how you're going to do it, how you're going to do it better, and then you'll be successful, which is, I assume, is kind of like how you got to that point as well. Right, like you've now witnessed, enough like people not do enough to educate and inspire the next generation. You're like screw it, I'm going to go scrape my own company and I'm going to be that person because no one's doing it well and I think I can do it better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, without a Without a doubt, and I think that I agree with everything. And we do want to educate them and we want to inspire them and we also just need to empower them. Many of our young people today aren't coming with the experiences of what I call character and resilience, and so they need to experience some character building and some resilience and we can empower them through those experiences to continue to grow and not to settle. But you're right, after six years with, purina then decided that I missed Kentucky. And so back to Kentucky I came, and that I had almost a year of a really kind of tough growth period professionally, like what am I going to do? And Purina didn't have anything in the Kentucky, tennessee area. And so that is how I ended up with Zoetis. And you know, you want to talk about my dream job. I was not qualified for that role and I got that interview as a courtesy.
Speaker 2:Someone made a phone call. I was a last minute, last end of the day interview and I wasn't from central Kentucky, I wasn't involved in the thoroughbred industry, I didn't have pharmaceutical experience. Sure, I had sales experience, but I didn't have pharmaceutical experience. And so I can tell you that Laura Prim, who hired me took a chance on me, right? So she said there are.
Speaker 2:I think it's where I learned to say you hire character and train skills. She hired my character and then we had a lot of skills to train and that's what happened. And then I spent the next 10 years in an amazing, rewarding job with the largest pharmaceutical company in animal health and I am quick to say I was a spoiled brat who doesn't want to be the equine specialist in central Kentucky for the largest animal health company. And the people that I met the largest animal health company, and the people that I met, the experiences that I've had, the horses that I saw and the veterinarians that I have access to the list goes on. But we have to encourage and empower the right connections for that.
Speaker 1:So, coming back to the classroom that you're currently teaching, how would you describe the students that make up the demographics Like? How many of them are? Okay, so my hypothesis is is that the Generation Z, for example, increasingly environmentally aware. They're increasingly counter mainstream traditions and paths through society. A lot of them believe that they can make money themselves without being employed. Like I think being a YouTuber is the number one desired career path, which is ultimately deciding to be an entrepreneur. Being a YouTuber, you're going to live and die by the sword.
Speaker 1:So, with that mindset, my theory and I could be 100% wrong in this is that you probably get a lot more people going into agricultural studies who aren't just kids or farmers, who maybe they grew up in metropolitan centers and just decided that, hey, I don't want to be another metropolitan drone, I want to be in touch with the environment, I want to work with the animals, I want to try and fix some of the issues in our food supply and all that sort of stuff. So what are you seeing when you're teaching? What is the demographics? What percentage of them are just farmers, kids who have just naturally followed the career path? What percentage are exploring it for the first time and have you noticed any difference between those two demographics and how they approach the course?
Speaker 2:So I'll start by saying just the other day I read an article that was put out as a survey from Resume Builder and it was very negative toward Gen Z. You know the problems that hiring managers have with bringing Gen Z in. They're entitled, they're not prepared, they can't communicate all of these things, and I shared that with my class. So I just wanted to get that plug in, not exactly an answer to your question, but because I am so passionate about how we are communicating with these young people and what those differences are. Because, to your point, in agriculture we have an expectation of a natural work ethic, right? So if they've come off of the farm and come into the classroom, which is about a quarter of them so to answer that part of the question, it's about a quarter of them that are coming in from production agriculture.
Speaker 1:I think most people would expect it to be bigger.
Speaker 3:I would have expected to be like 90%.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when I in Australia when I went to college I had lots of friends who did ag. In Australia we call it ag echoes.
Speaker 3:Ag echoes.
Speaker 1:Agricultural economics and 100% of ag echoes. Kids were farmer's kids, 100% of them, they all were Because in. Australia too. We have such big plots of land Like you're, like oh, how big is your farm?
Speaker 3:And like just casually. They'll be like oh, you're like 300,000 acres, so it's like that's a lot of money and a lot of value that the parents are like.
Speaker 1:You're doing Ag Echo's and you're figuring out how to keep running this farm when I'm gone.
Speaker 2:And they but props to that, because what I am so impressed by is that it is a business degree. Right, we're getting better at training, business acumen and finances and some of those skills that you don't necessarily get by pursuing, let's say, animal science. Right, how many of us have an animal science based ag degree? And so about a quarter of them are production ag and they have an interest. You know, a couple of them are going to go back and they're going to run, generally speaking, in this. You know central Kentucky and broader Kentucky market. It's going to be cattle or it's going to be row crops and that's what they're pursuing. But I then have about a quarter of them that are equine Because, as you can well imagine, in central Kentucky you have a higher population than you do in a lot of other places that are pursuing equine careers and some of them are pretty specific to sales, for instance.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a career opportunity that many equine folks have no idea exists. Right, they want to be a bloodstock agent, they want to be involved in the thoroughbred sales industry or the quarter horse sales industry and valuation of horses appraisal. I have a few that are real estate and appraisal interests, and so it is a really interesting spectrum but, to your point, there's at least half of them that, again, much like me, did not come from production agriculture backgrounds. They have an interest, for whatever reason, in pursuing. I have more crop and seed students than I would have expected, right, so they want to be involved in that side of it. Some of them that have a financial interest in farm credit or ag credit services financial services that is specific to rural America and the agriculture community. So it really is a very unique demographic of young people that have some different backgrounds, experiences and pursuits.
Speaker 1:Right. So you mentioned that a quarter of them were equine. So something that we've talked about a lot in this podcast and I wouldn't say talked about, we've questioned and asked and never really had anyone talk about it very effectively. But equestrian agriculture have this like natural overlap, but equestrian isn't really considered part of agriculture. You know what I mean. So, like you know, like the USDA, for example, they focus on production of crops, livestock etc. And horses is kind of this thing. That's like an adjacent market, that's attached to it but isn't really part of the manufacturing output of the industry. So how do you think about where horses fit into this sector? And is it like the people who are doing agricultural sales, like is it really teaching them what they kind of need to know or are they just doing it because there isn't really a equine sales course available?
Speaker 2:So many thoughts. I'm like rubbing my hands together on that question, sam right, so yes, and I think every aspect of our industry has struggled with that. First and foremost, there's a tremendous economic impact of the equine industry and I think that the manufacturers right, for instance, if you go back to Zoetis, any of the manufacturers, any of the distributors they live through this challenge of, oh, do the equine people belong with, like the food animal folks as sales reps, or do they belong with companion animal? They don't belong with either. They really don't. And so there are still companies that and we've been through all those changes. Oh yeah, that was the year that I was on, like, we were part of the cattle team, so there was two equine folks and the rest were cattle. Oh no, we were with companion animal then, so we were doing everything with the dog and cat people and they think we're weird too. And then, you know, like a company like Zoetis a few years ago, and I was so thrilled by this because I think it really painted the picture of their investment in the equine industry, where they created a standalone equine business unit, and that's really the way that it needs to be and it really is also the way that our industry needs to think.
Speaker 2:Now I'm pretty quick to say we need some versatility. We do need what I believe can be gotten from both of the other. If you separate food animal, companion animal and equine and just do it that way. The food animal folks are economists. They're so strong in their financial acumen because it is literally putting food on the table, right, so they are in charge of our food supply, so they think about economics and safety. And the companion animal folks, on the other hand, that is such a large and very well taken care of industry as it relates to disposable income. There's so much revenue through companion animal just because of the size and the scope. And so then you've got equine and while we are a high revenue in many ways, we are still a very small scope in the big scheme of things, right? So what are there? You know? Like 7 million horses in the United States, and I haven't gotten a chance. I know that the American Horse Council just came out with their economic impact study this week and haven't had a chance to review that. But when it comes down to it, we are our own industry.
Speaker 2:I do think that we have to remember we need to have some greater versatility and we need to also be willing to understand that we are not always loved. The production agriculture people think we're absolutely crazy. Companion animal people think that we're not always loved the production agriculture people think we're absolutely crazy. Companion animal people think that we're certainly pretty crazy and that's okay. Right, like that's okay. There are so many opportunities that we can pursue that are specific to equine.
Speaker 2:But we do have to understand the scope of that as it compares to the larger agriculture industry and that we are an extremely small piece of that greater pie. Whether we're talking about food animal and that goes beyond cattle, right, cattle, pork, poultry, etc. Whether we're talking about aquaculture and fish, that is, quite frankly, internationally larger than the equine industry. I believe at this point, right, feeding the world and companion animal we can't touch, and everyone in America, whether urban, suburban or somewhere in between or rural, we know about dogs and cats. Everybody has dogs and cats and the equine industry. We're just different and it is a luxury and it's disposably income driven, and so that just makes it different. I don't know if that answers your question, sam.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it does. Zoetis has done an incredible job, to your point, of carving out that niche, especially with their campaign of Long Live the Horse and seeing all of just like the things they do at these prominent events, Like I discovered them at Land Rover a few years ago and I mean they're a partner of ours so we love them. Even if they weren't, we love them. But yeah, it's been tremendous to see them carve that out and see how others kind of follow suit.
Speaker 3:Because, yeah, to your point, it is this weird thing that I think the general population they're not quite sure as to where the equine sector belongs in and, for example, like there are funds out there that they're ag funds, and they've approached us because like, oh, horses, you know, maybe we fit into your thesis. Then you know we talk about event management in equestrian sports and then they're like, Ooh, I actually have no idea what you're talking about. This isn't like feeding the cattle and reining in some wild horses and you know we're helping out. That like this is a completely different ballpark. So, in your experience, how have you kind of helped continue to define that niche?
Speaker 1:Like, is that something that you actively talk about in your courses, in your classes, or would you say, got these people in your class who, in many respects are a completely different industry and a completely different sales experience and a completely different demographic market, but you've got to create an educational content that hits them as well. So, on top of Jen's point, how do you accommodate them in your classes, especially if they make up 25%, which is huge.
Speaker 3:I'm just envisioning. It's like half. Some of them are like we use our horses to work the fields and the other half is like, well, we jump on our horses, they would never hold anything, and that's a perfect transition into some of the clarity that has to happen is we as an industry also need to be a little nicer.
Speaker 2:If you are involved in the aqha on the western side of the world, versus being a USEF competitor and you are running fast and jumping high like guess what? We're all still horse people and so we do need to have a little bit more accommodation with one another and understanding of one another and seeking to have more effective communication. So I'll start there, but I will say you know how do you bridge that? I think the most important piece is really understanding that it isn't just about the equine industry or the cattle industry or the seed industry or the feed industry. We have to understand the basics of business management and ethics and those kinds of things as it relates to sales and being a part of a small, medium or large size business and being able to acknowledge the contributions of the cattle industry or the row crop industry or the equine industry to the economic impact. Then that takes some of the emotion out of it, right? Like why do we need to be emotional that our space is better than your space? Right? We're all involved in animal agriculture. The equine industry is just as important as the show cattle industry if you think of it that way. Right, and those folks aren't going to be poo pooing, if you will, the show cattle industry, but they're pretty quick maybe to be critical of equine.
Speaker 2:Well, we have a tremendous economic impact that comes from the equine industry and so I think that really just being able to highlight and I challenge them to bring those examples, if you know, back to Sam's question of how do you do that in the classroom, well, I put that on them right.
Speaker 2:So we've got this great dialogue going about because and I mentioned ethics, because that was what we discussed this week was business ethics, and so those examples of equine industry, and I've got a one young man who is very involved in the produce industry, and so we have all these examples and I feel that what that does is bring the content to life. Right, we can move through academic education, but until we have open dialogue, discussions and conversations that bring it to life and make it applicable to each of us, so that we are listening with open ears to the young lady who is talking about her experience with her inventor, versus the young man from you know, with produce experience whose father runs produce, versus, you know, the young man who's involved in the thoroughbred sales industry then it brings it to life. And that's really the goal that when we see each other as humans and we are able to share different yet similar experiences, that's the goal, that's what creates connection.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just having spoken to a few different people from a few different perspectives about this and like, for example, we spoke to Julie Broadway from the American Horse Council about it, it's interesting Like horses are kind of this, like they're like the wild card that floats around and people use it when it's convenient to them. So like, for example, julie was saying that, I was saying to her I was like look, I'm not someone who grew up in horses, so I've come in to learn the industry later in life and I've just been like, as I've learned it, I've just been like, oh wow, this is fascinating or this is interesting. One of those key things right is, if you look at statistically at the people who participate in equestrian activities, the average person who works in equestrian industry makes like $72,000 a year, right. So the narrative that everyone who participates in horse sports is rich is actually wrong. It's like the top let's call it the top 20% and they're like they're just out there because they're very, very wealthy, but the average person makes seventy, two thousand dollars a year. They do it for the love of the sport, but because of that there is so much size that when julie, for example, she went around to washington dc and the basically the I'm going to get this term wrong, but basically the caucus for outdoor activities eventually like spoke to julie and was like oh, you guys are outdoor activities. Do you think you can like come help us sponsor a bill? And Julie was like sure, yeah, we'll come sponsor a bill. What's it about? It's like oh, we want to make secure access to outdoor areas and national parks, et cetera, and prevent land developers from overdeveloping it. She was like sure, and when the horse industry got behind it, it doubled the outdoor activities industry. Like the numbers went like went up 50%, because equestrian activities was equal to the size of all other outdoor activities combined.
Speaker 1:And so in that case, outdoor activities was like oh, yeah, we'll have the horses. That's great, that's really, really convenient. It gave us a lot more bargaining power on Capitol Hill. That's fantastic. And then so that's like the 80%. And then, when you come back to the 20%, the thing I find interesting is that a lot of those people who are in that top 20%, who love horses and like a lot of them, like everything else in life is something they do and this is their one passion. They are all very powerful people. Like they donate to campaigns, whether it's political campaigns, whether it's local political campaigns. We lived outside DC, in Virginia A lot of the people who own very wealthy horse farms out there. They were like stopping development at the local level because they had the power and the lawyers to go up against the developers.
Speaker 3:It's in Middleburg so it's a big fox hunting area, so they were the ones to protect the fox hunting Like fox when you're on the roads. Everyone yields to the fox hunters. It's cool.
Speaker 1:They also were like going around and they're all putting their land in a trust so that it couldn't be developed. So you've got this like perfect unity of very, very powerful people. Powerful because they have money, powerful because they use that money to donate to political campaigns and therefore can influence senators and congressmen's decisions. And then three, they have the money to fight like large companies themselves, because they have the money to pay lawyers to go up against a large development company that's trying to develop land for housing or something. But despite all of this, they kind of like this floater that is bastard child that no one's kind of like trying to take responsibility for when I would have thought they'd be like the prom queen. It's like how do we get the horse on our side? Because they've got scope, they've got size, they've got influence, they've got money, they've got political power Like we should be trying to get them involved in everything.
Speaker 3:But to your point about being wild cards. And then every year at the Kentucky Derby, right, it's like everyone remembers how much they love horses, but then something bad might happen in the racing industry, and then all of the equestrian industries like we don't touch racing, we're here, so it is a wild card. That's a good way to put it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we do have to be like that's a great point, jen.
Speaker 2:We have to be a little bit more unified in that and you know, we have to understand the power of those three Triple Crown. Races like that does not showcase racing, and we know that. But that's what the United States consumer audience associates with horses is the Triple Crown, and that's a challenge that agriculture has faced for years. We are such a small portion of the population. You know production agriculture less than 2% of the population is feeding the world and we're not the best marketers, we're not telling our story, and so the American consumer is critical of production agriculture, in my opinion, for no reason other than our lack of ability to market and educate and engage the everyday consumer as to the choices they're making about how they feed their family, and they lack the basic understanding that we have the safest food supply in the world, and we should be very thankful for that. But it's the same. There are not enough of us uniting to tell the story, and to tell it in an engaging, impactful way that involves the American consumer.
Speaker 1:Okay, so coming bringing back to the classroom, so 25% are farmers' kids, 25% are horse people. Who are the other 50%?
Speaker 2:Those are going to be like I say, just like me, they are kind of coming from a random suburban background that have an interest in, especially, some sort of like I said real estate and land appraisal, and they have parents who may or may not work two full time corporate jobs, but they have had some experience with agriculture along the way. That made them say you know what it's ag economics? That's my pursuit, ag economics. So, but what I'm saying is that they just are not coming off of farms. These are kids that are coming into the classroom, not off of farms. So maybe they had an F farms, so maybe they had an FFA experience, maybe they had a 4-H experience that was non-animal related, and so they felt that passion that I did of oh my gosh, like what a safe feeling culture, what a welcoming culture this is in and around agriculture, and so this is where I'm going to put my stakes in the ground and this is what I want to pursue. And quite and quite honestly, sam, they have no idea what they're gonna do with that.
Speaker 2:Many of us, right? I didn't either. What does this mean? Yeah, I'm going to school and I'm gonna get an ag degree because I love it. I fell in love with agriculture in high school, in FFA, and so I'm gonna get an ag degree.
Speaker 3:I don't know what I'm gonna do and are you teaching at one particular spot or what like? What is your day to day look like? Are you going to different places within Kentucky to teach as like a guest lecturer, or are you a professor at a particular university now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that is a part time instructor role. So I am teaching at the University of Kentucky, so it is a specific semester long Tuesday Thursday class, and so I just build my travel around that, because my real job is speaking and that is all over, and so I just continue to align with different organizations. That's my passion, that's the growth side of my business is partnering up with these organizations that have young people coming into, especially sales roles or a team that we are really needing to help them thrive. And we've got sales teams or otherwise, just organizational. Some of it's vet clinics that have multi-generational teams and we're doing skill building and communication workshops and those kinds of things. But yes, that part-time instructor is a Tuesday Thursday class at University of Kentucky and so that's right here in Lexington on campus.
Speaker 3:That's amazing, yeah, because I could imagine not only the schools in Kentucky who are so focused in this sector, but also, like thinking out loud of Pony Club, 4-h, ffa, intercollegiate and even some of these show circuits where kids are there for months and they're doing homeschooling and you know they're basically just doing the homework of whatever school they came from, say up north. But to have this as this, you know, like knowledge base while they're competing, to also see what's possible in this sector, I think that could be a really interesting route to. Maybe you already do that, but I know it'd be awesome if that was a program that while kids are competing, they can also learn about how to do this as a career and not have to be learning about the corporate stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, jen, and I actually hadn't really thought about the show circuit until I was thinking about this interview with you guys. You know, as I've now over the past few months, we've connected and I've been listening to your podcast and I was like all of these young people who are on this show circuit and they are spending time in Kentucky and Wellington and Ocala and New York and California, that is a group of students that would be prime to start to really be exposed to life beyond the showgrounds, life beyond the barn, and start to have exposure. So I would love that and I'm going to work on that. I had that in my mind, so I'm glad you brought it up. So if anyone out there is listening and they're needing a speaker or educator or an organization or industry, just let me know.
Speaker 3:And on that point too.
Speaker 1:So where can people? I want to make sure that everyone does know how to connect with you. Yeah, Well, one more question before we wrap it up. So we've talked a lot about some of these kids come from farming backgrounds and therefore are likely like learning how to take over their parents' farm. Then you've got the equestrians and then you have the city kids who want to get into the real estate or into the agricultural economy. Have you been in a position to observe them, whether it's like in the class and they're just chatting, or whether it's something that is like a formal speaker you've had come in or whatever Like is it clear to these kids what career paths exist for them, like their routes off the highway, or is it literally still just very much a case of like I've been told to go the agri-agri-hose degree, I'm getting it and then from here I'm not really sure what's available to me.
Speaker 2:What a great question, sam, because that to me, is that's probably less anyone's fault, right, there's no fault to be blamed for our lack of understanding of the scope of opportunities out there. But I also started a podcast this past year and that's my goal is on the Thriving Equine Professional, to highlight not just these two or three jobs that young people think they can get when they come out, the journey and the job opportunities that are so vast across our industry that they would have no idea about because we don't. And I think that's just a matter of ignorance, but it's not chosen ignorance, it's just until we're older and wiser and have some hindsight, then we don't know what we don't know. And so the marketing, right, the marketing opportunities are tremendous and we probably like I had a guest recently that said we need, if you're interested in marketing and you can speak horse, we need you. We don't have enough equine marketers out there that are speaking horse and we know we can bring marketing folks in to do a great job. Right, like go talk to Jen Grant at Zoetis, you know, like if we are advertising for the Kentucky three day event, we do not want a barrel racer on that ad and unless you speak horse, you don't know that. So that's off on a little bit of a tangent, but we don't know what we don't know, and so we have to be highlighting some of these careers careers in research and development, right, careers in pharmaceutical, careers in feed and careers that are veterinary related. You know, practice managers and veterinary technicians are needed, equine veterinarians are needed.
Speaker 2:So there are so many opportunities out there. You think of all the roles when you start to look around, as project managers and sales, data analysis and things like that, and we just have to start telling these stories and sharing the people that are doing this. I encourage young people all the time. You need to be finding folks that are 10 plus years ahead of you doing the things you might be interested in doing. For instance, I think LinkedIn is one of the greatest places and platforms for that right, because you know, are we teaching our young people that really, by high school and college, you should absolutely be active on LinkedIn. We spend enough time on all the other social applications, whether we chat or snap or tick tock or whatever it is like. Spend some time on LinkedIn and start building that network of people and you'll start to see things you had no idea exist, and so it really is some of those little habits that we can start to share and instill that are going to create greater scope of our opportunities.
Speaker 3:A hundred percent. I mean, we've obviously been on LinkedIn for a long time, but even just talking about some of the things that we're talking about on LinkedIn, it's been really remarkable seeing how much it resonates and how many people have reached out with their own stories and their own ideas, and I think LinkedIn is a really great place for that.
Speaker 3:I mean Sam's a little mini LinkedIn influencer, so I know you can attest to that and yeah, and to your point with Jen Grant, like props to her and the Zoetis marketing team, because they've done an amazing job of educating, putting really great content out there, showing what's possible in, like the marketing space, in Equestrian, like the branding's beautiful, the storytelling is beautiful. The storytelling is beautiful, it's like it's a really inspiring example of what others can do to better the industry and attract more marketing, really good marketing to it.
Speaker 1:So I don't know, I don't know if the LinkedIn influencer wants to step in, but no, I mean, I mean, my experience has just been on LinkedIn is, very simply, is that like there's like basically no one in the equestrian space or and not many people in the agricultural space who want to write detailed analysis of the industry. It's usually like either self-promotion or complaining. Complaining or talking about the one little thing they're doing and we talk about this. The whole reason we started this podcast was very simple, which was was that it applies to agricultural at large, not just equestrian, although equestrian is our focus. Is that the equestrian industry, historically, most people in it, they operate like small businesses.
Speaker 1:It's like I'm going to just create a training barn, I'm going to have like 10 stalls, I'm going to have 10 clients and if I lose one I've got to find another one and that's fine.
Speaker 1:But as opposed to being like all right, I've got one, it's working. Okay, I've got this supply of hay. Well, if I have three barns and therefore I have like therefore the margins go up because I can get a discount on the hay and therefore I can get bigger margins. And in order to have like that mindset you've got to be thinking about is well, what's the regional opportunity? What's the local opportunity, the regional opportunity? What's the local opportunity, the regional opportunity, the national opportunity, international opportunity? How do markets work? Where are the markets going? In order to assess the risk, in order to allocate the resources, you need to think of yourself inside this bigger sphere of influence and market economics to then help you to weigh up an opportunity, weigh up the risks, allocate resources and give yourself the confidence that there's a sound logic to what you're doing, so that you can take that risk, so you can buy that second training barn, so you can expand your operations, you can hire a marketing team.
Speaker 3:Or even just thinking more long-term, because, to your point, a lot of these barns and just in general it's a revolving door, Like I think every horse person can attest to. Oh, when you boarded a horse you probably went to dozens of barns. I remember growing up you'd go to one barn and then you'd find out they weren't doing what they said that they were doing and what you were paying them to do, and it was at risk of the horse's care. So you go to another barn and then something happens there and you go to another barn. I feel like everyone can attest to have been at numerous barns over their horse journey.
Speaker 3:But to that point of people thought more of like okay, this is a business, customer service and standing on my word and providing value, and I don't want it to be a revolving door. I want these people to be at my barn for decades, Cause you know they just like anything else. I don't know, for some reason, that that just doesn't happen in a lot of equestrian type of businesses. And so even, just even if you're not thinking about expanding to your point three different barns, but at least just thinking of it, if you were starting a restaurant like you wouldn't just throw food on the table and be like, oh, we'll get. We'll get more people tomorrow, Even if this food's terrible, there'll be more people tomorrow. It's no, it'll damage your reputation then eventually going to have to close up your doors. So even just that little shift I think is needed in the equestrian space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what is your brand? Every one of us has an individual brand. What do we stand for? And that's what we're hungry for today.
Speaker 2:You know we may not be able to always articulate that, but, to your point, some basic business and financial acumen is necessary. But beyond that, when we do focus on the relationships that we are creating, the connections that we are creating, I think that we should all do. You know, mission, vision, values, kind of purpose, activities, right, if you have more than just you, if you have customers, if you have colleagues, you have employees, everyone should be able to see, know and feel your passion. And that is the connection that I believe is going to be demanded as we continue to grow. And I think that that, again, is just, it's the people.
Speaker 2:I'm a people, people and I, you know, like the more people are focused on other people. I think that you know, again, my Jodi Speaks life, that brand that I am building, life is living, inspired, fulfilled and empowered. And I think that, you know, inspiration comes from loving other people and fulfillment comes from serving other people in some way, and empowerment comes from respecting the differences of others. So it really is about people, and so focus on that when we focus on that, we're going in the right direction.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that reminds me too. We went to. So Claire Mansman she's an upper level inventor in Virginia, has this beautiful Pacific Farms, and that was the first time I think someone had really actively had this approach like who we are and what we believe in and being. I don't know they put it so much better than this, but it was like serving the customers and the clients. And do you remember when we went out there a few years ago and it was this amazing group of women. They've been training with Claire for years. I mean I wouldn't be surprised if it was like 10 plus years at this farm Like no turnover.
Speaker 3:No turnover, Like just an amazing operation, because their whole focus was like well, amazing operation. Because their whole focus was like well, we're here to serve you and we want you to have an amazing experience. We want you to have improved horsemanship and to get better and feel confident and have fun and love this space. Like this space is all of ours to enjoy. And it was like we had like goosebumps being there because it was a stunning property but two, it was just like the whole approach and everyone's attitude was like the antithesis of things that most people have experienced. And I think if more Barnes could approach their Barnes like theirs, I think overall, the entire stereotype of the industry could change Totally.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that doesn't happen by accident, right. That culture did not happen by accident. That was intentional and purposeful, and they made decisions along the way and they communicated in a particular way together in order to create that culture. And so I think that, again, is what I'm saying to everyone you need a partner. Most organizations need someone to come in. Not everyone has that strength of that side of leadership within their team or organization. You need a partner to come in and to help you be able to say my purpose, vision, mission and values, let's build this, and it needs to be everyone at the table. And when everyone is working together like that, the success is just natural. It comes natural like that. What a great example, right? But it is intentional and purposeful and requires some time and attention to create.
Speaker 1:All right, Jodi. Well, that's been incredible. If people want to reach out to you, how do they find you?
Speaker 2:Yes, they can find me. We talked about LinkedIn. Jody Lynch Findley on LinkedIn and my website is JodySpeaksLifecom, and so Jody is J-O-D-I. So Jody Lynch Findley on LinkedIn and wwwJodySpeaksLifecom as my website.
Speaker 3:And listen to your podcast at Thriving Equine Professional on all streaming platforms.
Speaker 2:On all streaming platforms you can find the Thriving Equine Professional.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Sam and Jen, so much Thanks for having me. This has been fun.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Take care, bye.