025- Cathy's Critter Care
Cathy joins us to tell us about her story getting into pet sitting and what she’s learned over 20 years in the business! From some of the biggest changes and opportunities she’s seen, to a great discussion about how to avoid burnout and deal with those not so great days, Cathy’s a wonderful resource and such an encouragement to talk to. Love pets AND people!
- How did you get started?
- Why did you get started?
- Husbands fault!
- Thinking about the services you do now, how do those differ then when you first started?
- Whats been the biggest change you've seen in this industry over the past 20 years?
- technology
- don't trust as much
- What's been the biggest challenge?
- technology!
- set boundaries
- hire an assistants
- What's been the most surprising opportunity?
- Do you remember your first client?
- Nancy!
- What sets you're services apart from others in your area?
- Consistency, reliability, and relationships
- Do you have a good community of pet care providers you can lean on and interact with?
- Search for one!!
- Start a local one!!
- Not competitive!!
- Can you describe one of those not so good days in this business, and how you cope with it?
- STUFF will happen! It's ok to admit it.
- take a deep breath
- do your best!!
- learn from it
- take your time
- After 20 years, how do you keep going?
- because she loves it
- the "business" is a living thing to care and provide for
- What advice would you give to someone just starting out?
- expect to WORK
- expect for it to great rewarding
- What kinds of certifications/training do you recommend people get?
- National organizations
- Insurance
- What are some pitfalls people can fall into when starting out?
- inflexibility
- not having a safety net
- What do you wish more people knew about life as a petsitter?
- it is hard work!
- we are professionals
- How can people get in touch and follow along with what you're doing?
mypetsitter@gmail.com
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
Collin 0:15
I'm calling. And I'm Meghan.
Unknown Speaker 0:16
And this is pet sitter confessional, and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter, brought to you
Collin 0:23
by time to pet. Hello, and welcome back, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in this week. Kathy from Kathy critter care is joining us to talk about her experience over the past 20 years in Petcare from how the business has changed and some opportunities that have come along with that, to how to avoid burning out and stay with it after all those years. And some advice that she would give to people who are just starting. I definitely think you guys are going to enjoy this. Cathy is wonderful to talk to. So let's get to it.
Cathy 0:56
I'm Cathy Vaughn as I always hate doing this whole introduction Matthew Vaughn, I own Cathy's critter care professional pet sitting services. We've been sitting in the San Antonio, kind of Metropolitan suburb area since 1998. Yes, way before the internet and email other ones, you know, and download with AOL and all those kinds of fun things. And so we've been around since 1998. So we start, we're starting in 2020, our 22nd year and I couldn't even imagine. I mean, that's just it boggles my mind. Because the person that started this business in 1998, there's absolutely no way you could have told me that I would have been able to raise a family. My husband would have quit his job in 2006 to join me and here we are. 22 years later, still going strong. I would have said, Yeah, I bet a million bucks. You're wrong. Yeah, we serve a San Antonio and and the surrounding area. is you know, we do your standard setting drop in visits, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, hour long daily dog walks, overnight stays general pet sitting.
Collin 2:08
So, so thinking back now 22 years ago, how did you get started and why? What was the reason that you started pet sitting in the first place? Well, it
Cathy 2:20
was my husband's idea. So I have to attribute this fantastic business plan, quote unquote, if you will to him. We were struggling. I had been a zookeeper at the San Antonio zoo. I had a degree in zoology. And I was you know, living the dream and then we started building our human family. And as much as much of the pet industry, the animal industry goes, you know, the San Antonio Zoo wasn't paying me very much money. So I really couldn't afford daycare for my human child and come home and you know, be satisfied with my day's worth of work. That was all going to daycare. So I left my job at the zoo and decided to be a stay at home mom. Well, quickly, we realized that the only thing worse than two and barely thing it was one encounter. So I was happy at home with my human child, but we were still barely making it. So I knew I didn't want to do any of the multi level type things. I tried substitute teaching, but then again, we were back in the same position of go to work and I substitute teach and then I am paying a daycare provider. So my husband stayed up one night, he was watching Teletubbies with our infant son because he couldn't sleep. My husband and he was, you know, browsing around and he said, You know what, I found something really cool. Last night, pet sitting. And I'm like pet sitting. Okay, tell me about that. Well, I bought a book and my first question was how much was the book $30 which was $30 more than we could afford? And I told him how crazy I thought he was because nobody's gonna 1998 just weren't going to pay somebody they didn't know, to come into their house, take care of their pets. And like, you know, they're going to ask their friend, their neighbor, whatever. And so I said, I'll give it a shot. In the meantime, I had been doing some temp work at that offices. And so I told a couple of vets that I had been tempting for on the weekend that I was going to start doing this and they said, Okay, fantastic. Bring us some business cards. So I brought them some business cards, I brought them some brochures, and lo and behold, one plan turned into two turned into four, and so on and so forth. So that's how it started. Yeah.
Collin 4:37
Well, I just I love that because everyone has different reasons for going into this and what I what I really enjoy hearing is that, you know, it, it just happened organically. Right. And and as you mentioned, you know, now 22 years later Who would have thought and I think a lot of people are kind of scared to get in because they may think No, I have to have a fully fledged worked out plan for how I can get at And how I can sustain year after year after year. But, you know, you're, you're living proof that you don't you don't have to do that, like that's not necessary as long as you're passionate and you know, investing and in providing quality service.
Cathy 5:14
Exactly. And we really bootstrapped our way up. And I think you're right. There are so many business books out there today that say you have to have a business plan and you have to have this marketing strategy. You know what, you can just do it, you can just start with a passion and a dream and you can bootstrap your way up with some business cards and brochures, some great word of mouth, of course, I firmly believe in education, insurance, you know, you want to do things that are smart and the right way, but you don't necessarily have to have an MBA or business plan to make this work for you. And the two things that my husband said to me that morning when he said I bought this book, he said, this is perfect for you because you love pets, and you love people and there are so many people out there whose They say I'm going to get into this pet probably don't like people, I have yet to find the dog that can run the credit card for the family. be somewhat accepting of people. But when you find this passion in this career field of care, you can do it. Yeah.
Collin 6:18
So thinking back to when you first started, how have the services that you offered, changed? And what what do you think drove any changes that that that are that are there.
Cathy 6:31
But at the time, we didn't even consider overnight care. You know, we just didn't even think people would be looking for somebody to really spend the night in their house. So we've added that to our repertoire. We've added longer visits. And we've added a lot more flexibility as far as timing goes. So we do early morning visits, and we do late night visits. Just because you know people they kind of have this framework in their mind of Oh, we can't do pet sitting for our Heads because we would want them seen at seven o'clock in the morning and then again, you know, as late as nine o'clock at night, so we kind of adjusted our times. But I would say the biggest addition to the pet sitting side of our business is the addition of overnights and I say the pet sitting side of our business, because nine years ago in 2020, November of 2020, will be hitting a 10 year birthday for our boarding business. So nine years ago, we also opened a boarding facility too. So that's a huge, you know, a huge shift too, because so many people again, their framework of what, what's acceptable to them what their idea of sitting is, sometimes pets, it just doesn't fit into what the family's looking for. So we also do boarding facility.
Collin 7:44
Yeah. And so you're showing that, that it's being flexible and being adaptive to the needs that you're seeing around you. And being responsive to that and in taking a moment to go. Is that a service I can offer? Is that a service I should offer in I do you know, how can I best go about implementing that?
Cathy 8:03
Exactly. spot on? Yeah.
Collin 8:06
So thinking kind of about the industry of Petcare, what have been some of the biggest changes that you've seen over the past 2022 years? Well, of course,
Cathy 8:16
technology. So like I mentioned in 98, we would do phone calls, I had one of those huge write on calendars, like the dry erase calendars, that I would keep appointments on. And then I went to paper calendars, and then I went to Google calendars. So things have progressed so far in technology, things are a lot easier now. But it sure keeps you plugged in a lot more. I would say narrowing it down to one word, that's a huge shift in in the 22 years. I feel like people don't trust as much. We used to have people go away on two week vacations to Montana or wherever, right? And they would say okay, news is good news. And we would call them and let them know if we had a question or whatever well today if you don't check in from a visit if you're not sending pictures if you're not sending text, the you know, you're getting responses from clients like have you been there? How are things going? How's the bathroom issue? It just seems like everybody wants tons of information on so a huge shift in technology both good and bad, right for the tools we can use but sometimes just like really it's an Achilles heel because you constantly connected to the science and and having to answer and, and be there for them.
Collin 9:38
Yes, so that kind of goes into my next question as far as like what's been the biggest challenge and so the kind of like this this two sided double edged sword of technology of it's it's both a blessing because of how the services and connectivity that you can have but you also Yeah, you are connected in in sore your clients and they do you know, there is an expectation there of responsiveness and connectivity at an almost, you know, 24. Seven,
Cathy 10:06
right. And I feel like unless you really set those boundaries, or you have a support system in place, you have, you know, if it's an office assistant, if it's somebody who handles, phone calls and texts, when you're having dinner with your family, or something along those lines, it's super easy to fall into the trap of being 24. Seven on and then, you know, get reaching that point of, I can't take it anymore. These people are driving me crazy. I'm going to have burnout Forget it, I'm done. You know, I'm just going to go back to my office job. So it's, it's really easy to get to that point unless you set some kind of a boundary or have something in place that can help you at least have a little bit of time off.
Collin 10:47
How have you gone about setting those kind of healthy boundaries, and how has that worked out for you and was that easy to implement?
Cathy 10:54
It's been a you know, it's been a transition over the years. Thankfully, we didn't just flip a switch and go from It notes and MapQuest straight into GPS and texting 24 seven. So we had some transition time. And I remember a time midway thinking, I'm just not going to text clients that you know, that's just too much time out of my day. Well, if you choose to do that, that's okay. But realize the expectation is there these days. So you know, you're going to have to find a certain kind of mindset meets that criteria and they're not going to be expecting that so. I, you know, my support staff is great. I have an office assistant who handles most of the calls four days a week, most of the emails four days a week. She does not handle texts, because we still haven't shifted my my biggest goal in 2020 is to find us a really reliable office phone system that we can do mobile where she can do texting and all that kind of stuff where she's not to share her personal information. But I would say just having my team of pet sitters and Having my staff where I can take a day off and not have any visits and have my office assistant handle all the phone calls and emails. It's just like a breath of fresh air just to have a day off.
Collin 12:11
Yeah. So you know, some people may be hearing that going off. I wish that sounds great. So, you know, when did you make that decision to finally bring somebody on? And was that it was an easy decision, or how did that go?
Cathy 12:25
It actually was an easy decision. And it wasn't mine, just like the business wasn't my idea. I ran into a fellow pet sitter, I was doing some visits for her daughter here in San Antonio. She was her daughter was a nurse and i was i whenever for the interview and talk to the mom. And so we talked about the dogs. We want a little trial walk and all in all the concept we always do, right? So I got hired and midway into the service, maybe two or three weeks down the road, doing walks while her daughter was at work. she messaged me or she emailed me so this was Probably around 2001 2002. So may have been an email or maybe a phone call. And she said, You know what, that's the direction. Yeah. And you have a really good thing going Have you considered hiring staff because you're going to get really busy said, oh, there's no way I don't want to manage people. I don't know the first thing about that I just want to take care of animals and make, you know, meet the client's needs. And she said, That's okay, if you want to stay where you are, but I'm telling you, you're going to get busy. there's going to come a time that you're going to want some time off and she said, you know, just try it out. Who do you know out there that would be a good Exeter with you? Well, like I said, I had worked at the zoo. I had tempted that offices. So I made a list of who the friends were that worked at the zoo, worked at the vet offices that I trusted, that I knew have great work ethic that I knew knew what they were doing, and contacted them and said, hey, my pet sitting business is booming, and I need some help and Three of them signed on. And then one of them is still with me today. My goodness,
Unknown Speaker 14:06
whoa, yeah.
Cathy 14:09
For like 18 years or something crazy like that she's still at the San Antonio zoo. So it was an easy transition into those first few employees now, has it been a challenge? Absolutely. Have 100 some turkeys? Absolutely. I've hired people that quit the second day, I've hired people that, you know, failed to check in with me from their visits. But I've also heard some great people made wonderful strides in my business, who've been better pet sitters than I am. So it's just one of those things. People always want to know what the magic pill is for hire. I just wish I could ask the right questions. I wish I you know, have some sort of X ray that says are you going to be a good pet sitter? you not? I don't really think that's out there. You just gonna have to try it out. There was
Collin 14:57
Yeah, and I liked the idea. You know, Dear approach of who in my either inner circle or close proximity of people would I consider reaching out to because when you're bringing on somebody, it's, it's both the managerial side of it, and it's the personal side of it. And you know, bringing somebody on to help that, you know, personally can help to handle those kind of stresses. And then you can deal with the managerial stuff. Bring on someone brand new, who you don't know from Adam, it's like, I can be kind of overwhelming. You know, there are ways to prepare for that. But this kind of small steps into you build and learn experience building live experience, so that, you know, several years down the road, you kind of have a feel for what to expect
Cathy 15:44
exactly what makes a good pet sitter, and I still use that technique. So when it's time to add to our team, I'll ask my current pet sitters. Do you guys have anybody in mind that may be a good answer? Because they know what it takes good. They know the stresses of the job. They know the early mornings, the late nights, the traffic, the diarrhea with the dogs dumping on you and all the craziness that we see. So I still use that sort of inner circle approach. But that's not the only thing I use. So yeah, I use I, you know, I've hired people, sight unseen, and a lot of them have been great. Some of them not. But a lot of them have been great, just like with finance, right? I mean, a lot of our clients are fantastic. And you think the one that you're really going to love turns out to just be like, Oh my gosh, they are
Collin 16:36
it's Yeah, that's a reminder that when you're going through that process of doing of when someone reaches out to you asking for you to provide service that it's a two way interview, you know, and I think that's so hard to remember in the shuffle and the hustle and bustle and the busy and crazy days of of you as the business owner, you as the pet sitter have power over that transaction to and whether it Place or not? And and that it is hard to remember that. But when you do, it's like, oh, it can be very empowering those situations of No, I don't have to take this on it. I can say no, I can say no, it's kind of a revolutionary idea. But, you know, you you make mistakes, and you learn and you grow from that.
Cathy 17:18
And sometimes it's hard. Well, most of the time, it's hard for me to say no, yeah. And I feel like a lot of people in our industry, we're not know, there's where Yes, they are. We're caretakers, we're givers. You know, it's difficult, but once you do it, and once you do it a couple of times, it gets a little bit easier. It's never going to be easy, you know, to turn a client away or to decide that this isn't a good fit or to find the right words to tell the client that but it is important. Again, going back to setting those boundaries and making sure that you're in this for the long term if it's something that you want to do for 510 1520 years or more, that you've set some kind of boundaries for yourself. Taking the clients that are
Collin 18:05
Have you heard about time to pet? Susan from the pet gal has this to say
Unknown Speaker 18:10
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Collin 18:27
are looking for new pet sitting software for your business, give time to pet a try. As a listener of pet sitter confessional, you'll get 50% off your first three months when you sign up at time to pet calm slash confessional. So thinking about clients, do you remember your first client when you just started out?
Cathy 18:49
I do. name was Nancy. She's my house now is probably two miles from my first clients house. We had moved A couple times around here in there, but now we're back in the area. And unfortunately, Nancy has passed away. But she had an awesome dog. And I remember that I got this client because I had advertised on a local PBS channel here does like an auction every year to raise money for the local station. And so I had put some gift certificates out there. And how scary is that? Right? Somebody's gonna win your gift certificate to provide service for them. What a nightmare. That could be. Yeah, but at the time, you know, I was just starting. How bad can it be? I had no limbs to look for him. He turned out to be fantastic. Wonderful dog. Fantastic. fantastically
Collin 19:45
Yeah. Those those first. First one always always sticks with you for sure. And it really shapes. It's such a huge learning, stepping stone for you. When you're just starting off get your first client under your belt. You get those personal interactions You start building some expectations and it just, it's such a huge change.
Cathy 20:04
There really is. I love that you asked that question too, because 22 years down the road, you know, I don't revisit that feeling very often of how nervous I was and is my paperwork, right? And I'm going to ask the right questions and what is she gonna think about me? So it was really, it's really fun to to go back and rekindle those feelings of nervousness and how things have changed. And just to let people know, you know, what, like, Nike says, Just do it.
Collin 20:32
Yeah, and, and sitting down sometimes and thinking back of, especially on those days where you don't, you know, you're not feeling the greatest or you don't feel like anything's different, you know, beyond as a technique, you can sit back and think, okay, where was I? Five years ago? Where was I 10 years ago? Oh my gosh, like how much more has been put in place, how much more experience I have. It can. I like doing that sometimes, especially whenever you're having a really particularly hard Clients just to go. Okay, like this is we can get through this. Yeah,
Cathy 21:05
this too shall pass. Yeah, that's hard clients, right? Yeah.
Collin 21:10
When you think about your services and the area that you provide care to, what would you say sets you apart,
Cathy 21:18
I would say our longevity and our consistency. So if someone hires us to take care of their pets now, I can, you know, I can't guarantee that we're going to be around five years from now, but there's a pretty good chance that we are going to be so we're all just in it as a as a temporary thing. We're not just in it as a summer job or a winter break job or just between my real careers. This, this is my real career. This is what I do to support my family. So we're going to be here so consistency, and we build relationships. Of course, most of the people that are listening to this podcast, build relationships with their clients. Because that's what it's all about establishing that trust building that relationship. You want to be there for them when they call when their father in law has passed away and they need you tomorrow. And it's holiday weekend. So, consistency, reliability and relationships.
Collin 22:17
Yeah, those those relationships, especially with it with the owners and with the clients, that's, that's so huge. And I think sometimes often overlooked, or at least taken for granted. The the amount of the trust and and care and you know, almost love at times that that you share with with the owner because you're both have concerns and caring and providing for the pet that they love and adore. And to not take that for granted into really invest invest in that. So that, you know, year after year, you continually provide that that consistency of care.
Unknown Speaker 22:57
Right, exactly.
Collin 22:59
So thank you about community and and relationships. What's the community like among pet care providers? Where you are in? Do you find that you can lean on and interact and have a good relationship with them?
Cathy 23:14
Absolutely. We have a, we have a loose knit group here in the San Antonio area. Of course, we have our own Facebook group, which I'm sure most a lot of your listeners do. And if you aren't part of a face group, Facebook group sorry, there I go, can't get a word out group in your area, search and see if there is one and if not start one and invite fellow pet sitters to join in because at least that's some sort of a support for you to a vent. So there are huge national organizations that have Facebook groups, but sometimes when you get on there and you ask a question, you'll get like 700 responses, but with a local group, they're going to know more of what your micro econ mutism, what things are looking like and even weather issues and things like that. We have this group here in San Antonio. And we have the Facebook group. And every once in a while we'll get together have a late breakfast or an early lunch, you know, in between those morning visits in the midday Ron so that we can all get together and have a bite to eat and just reconnect and talk about what's been going on how businesses but you know what, mostly, it's just to see each other face to face and to know that we're still out there in the trenches, and things are going well. And we have a really great group of pet sitters here work. There are so many dogs and cats and neighborhoods, family seeking pet sitting, that it's not a competitive environment, it can be super cooperative. So that's what we focus on this cooperation instead of competitive.
Collin 24:51
Right. And I think that's generally the biggest fear that maybe someone new to pet sitting or maybe just a something that they have in their brain. Well, I can't talk to them because they're my competition. They might steal clients from me. But when you're saying this, like, No, it's just to come together, have coffee together and talk about struggles and, and to have people that you can, you know, refer people to if it's not a good fit for you or, or whatever. But just to have a personal relationship, that someone can relate to the same things and same issues and same concerns that you're dealing with is is priceless,
Cathy 25:29
right. And if you, if you have the opportunity to go to one of these networking meetings in your area, even if you can only make it for 10 or 15 minutes between visits, just go. Those 10 or 15 minutes of connecting with people and putting a face to a name are really priceless. Because those are people that are going to are going to be your support group there in the area. So don't think that because they say, you know, we're going to meet from 10 to 1130. Like, well, there's no country that I haven't got to see and I'll have to do that. this and this and this Mississauga, just for a few minutes, introduce yourself and say, Hey,
Collin 26:04
right, and just start becoming and in plugging into that that resource.
Cathy 26:09
Yeah. And again, if it's not there in your area, don't hesitate to start it, because it's obviously needed. So,
Collin 26:16
right. So you mentioned the word earlier being down in the trenches of the business. Can you describe one of those not so good days in this business? And I think more importantly, how you cope with that. Yeah.
Cathy 26:33
We've had and this is this goes back to people not wanting to share, you know, the bad times because they think it looks like a failure on their part. You know, stuff is going to happen. Insert whatever word you want to for stuff is going to happen. This is a business. You're dealing with real people, you're dealing with live animals, stuffs gonna happen no matter how much you Prepare. There are so many variables in this business. We've had dogs get out, get lost. We've chased dogs through fields for days and nights. And I feel like such a failure on those days and the first two people are not happy. And the one instance that comes to mind that the lady wasn't happy. It really wasn't even our fault. But the dogs got out. She had a doggie door. She had a side gate that blew open and her dogs got out. And when we went for the visit, the dogs were out. But she still wasn't happy. And of course, like I said, we're givers were yes Sayers. We're caretakers. So when somebody's not happy with us, and it's home, you know, it's, this is a personal business, it's not operation even if you are incorporated, I guarantee you, it hits your heart and somebody's not happy with you. So, take a deep breath, know that this too shall pass and do what you can to fix the problem. Of course. At the present time, you know, I'm the dog gets sick pet to the vet, fix the door that the key broke off in. We've had that happen to we've lost keys, we, you know, we've dropped keys, we have a key in our hand and we drop it on a deck and it falls underneath the deck. Like what are the odds of that happening, right? So you name it and the stuff has happened to us, but we fix the problem in the present. We take a deep breath, we know that this too shall pass and we learn from it. So we put a ribbon on the key chain something to make it not fall through the deck. You know, for all future clients. We make sure people lock their gates instead of just leaving them latched. Because wind can blow it open. Our kids can be pranksters and come by and open it up. We make sure we do a check on every single pet every single visit so that nobody ever is ill The next time we go and we're not sure if we saw them before. Every opportunity every time you feel like you failed, is definitely an opportunity for growth,
Collin 29:07
acknowledging that it happened. And then as you mentioned, breathe, and then learn from it and continue to make improvements in if that's writing it down and sitting and thinking about, okay, how can I make this problem go away? Or this feeling was really crummy? I didn't like feeling that what kind of assistance? Can I seek out to deal with that? Or what kind of procedures can I put into place? Or what kind of training can I get looking to that positive? Is, is is going to help you when you're down in those trenches and then reaching out to that community that you're either attending or you started to learn and grow from them to
Cathy 29:45
and not being scared to share and, you know, something I realized about myself a long time ago is it takes me about three full days. Whether it's my fault or not, it takes me about three full days to get past a traumatic event that has happened in my business before. Where I can actually start unpacking everything, like logically. So, for those first three days, I'm emotional and it's all I can think about and it's just over and over in my mind, and then I about d3, I can go, Okay, let's take a look at this and really look at it logically. So knowing yourself to and whatever resources you have for diving deep into your own psyche and knowing what drives you is important too.
Collin 30:27
Yeah. So after after 2022 years now, how do you keep going?
Cathy 30:34
Because I love this. This is what I was meant to do. Like my husband said, I love pets. I love people. The business, I visualize this living breathing thing. So there are times when we're slower and it's kind of like a contraction period. There are times of growth and this expansion in this big breath of fresh air. But really, even on the really crappy days. I will be love this job, because I know, after being I was only in the real workhorse for a handful of years, right, I worked from the time I was 16 until I was 27 ish, 28 ish. I didn't have to deal with the corporate stuff too much. But I know even from my jobs that I was and there's nothing more appealing to me than doing this career than loving these pets and caring for these pets and bringing the knowledge and the education that we have into these households, and really doing damn good job for these families. I mean, it just, it's so rewarding for me, for people to know that there are professionals out there, like everybody listening to this podcast that can come into their home and know what they're talking about, and do what they say they're gonna do.
Collin 31:53
That acknowledgement of man, this, this is a service I can provide and I can knock it out of the park. And having that confidence to be able to to say, Yes, I can meet your needs. Yes, I can provide the service like that is that is a very fulfilling thing to be able to meet their needs. And as you mentioned earlier, we were care providers. We love making people and pets happy. That's just what we do. That's how we're wired. And so whenever those when how you're wired starts messing with what you're doing. It's magic.
Cathy 32:25
And even so there's a saying what like, the even the worst day fishing is better than the best day at work. Yeah, that I'm like, even the worst day pet sitting is better than the best day at a corporate job. So, you know, some days are a stretch, I'll give you that, you know, and holidays are rough and early mornings and late nights and you feel like oh my gosh, I've got 10 more visits tomorrow. And then Sunday, I have this mini and it's just on and on. But that's where you really maybe need to take that a step back. Take a break and look at, you know what you can do maybe staffing wise or just take a little break and let your clients know that you're going to be off days,
Collin 33:09
right? So if someone's just getting into this business, they're just starting out. What kind of advice would you give them?
Cathy 33:18
I would say expect to work a lot.
It's not as easy as you think it is, um, expect great things. Expect great rewards. Expect small surprises as in pets that you may really connect with that you weren't that you didn't think you would expect to be proud of yourself. Working. I think, really, if I had to narrow it down, I would just tell people expect to really work if, you know, it seems like the kind of job where people say, Oh my gosh, you're a pet sitter. How awesome is that? You get to play with dogs all day gets gone. Dog walks, you must be in great shape. And you know, it's really not that it's hard work. It's getting up early. It's making sure that your car has enough gas and you didn't have time to get an oil change last month because you were so stinking busy. You're going to have to put in the hours to get those
Collin 34:11
clients rolling. I think, I think another really common question is when people are just starting out are, do I need to get any sort of certifications or training and I'd wonder what you would recommend to somebody if they ask that.
Cathy 34:24
I really like certifications, like from the national organizations and things like that, because I feel like they have really great information, things that you may not have thought about different types of pets that you may be asked to care for. There's so many backyard chickens now I mean, chicken care, but yeah, I believe in certifications. Is it absolutely necessary to get started now but is it a great safety net to have? Yes. I definitely believe in insurance because you want to have that safety net. Yeah. And then when you belong to it of a group of pet sitters, it gives you credibility. So we're all quote unquote, competing against a lot of startup hobbyists, whatever you want to call them. So whatever you can do to establish your credibility, and here's what I know, here's the certification that I have. Of course, you want to definitely learn the material, not just get the certification for the piece of paper, because you may have to prove that you know, the proof is in the pudding. If somebody asked you to take care of their chickens or if you have an emergency, you have to know pet first aid. Right off the bat. Yeah, yeah.
Collin 35:50
Yeah. And I like that, that, you know, seeking after certifications is really Yes. It's about putting it in your information when people see your website But as you said, more importantly, it's about you seeking out information, you learning things you growing, and you investing in yourself, so that you, you do continue to grow and learn new things over time.
Cathy 36:14
And you may surprise yourself and find out that you actually do love taking care of parents or something crazy, right? So there's so many avenues we can take out there as pet sitters and so much growth opportunity. Don't get stuck in that tunnel vision of, of here's what I do day in and day out, allow yourself to grow. Allow yourself to learn. And that will give you that breath of fresh air that you may need to.
Collin 36:38
Yeah, so when when people are starting out, they're putting everything together. What would you say are some of the biggest pitfalls that you can get into?
Cathy 36:48
Hmm, that's tough. So, ah, inflexibility I really think a good pet sitter really does need flexibility. You know, maybe you're not going to take care of very large dogs are not going to walk very large dogs but have some flexibility and the types of clients, you're going to take it. Okay, when I first started, and I don't know if this is true for you, too, when I first started, I kind of took every client that I
Unknown Speaker 37:22
what Yeah, no, yeah 100% we didn't.
Cathy 37:27
I didn't care if they were far away. I mean, there was some kind of geographical boundaries, but they've really shrunken up over the years, but I took people that were far away, I took big dogs and I took people that told me that their dog was a challenge and it was, you know, learning and growth. So, be flexible, be open minded. Try to understand that you're there as a service provider. So you're not there to preach to them about how they should take care of their dog. We all want to hold on All of our clients to use the right leashes and feed the right food and provide the right exercise. And there will be times that you can provide that information to people. But I feel like sometimes people come across a little bit preachy. And it may turn people off, but what's the ability? Um, yeah. I don't know what more I can add to that. Yeah, yeah. No, I bear with me and not having a safety net. You know, you really need to have what if something happens to you? What if you're in a car accident and you're carted off to the hospital unconscious? What's going to safety net? Do you have to take care of those steps that you really love and care for? That? Yeah,
Collin 38:42
I know, that was a big learning curve for us. I mean, when we first started, we did we took on every single person that even kind of looked at us as a possibility. Regardless of what they were willing to pay or how many pets that they had in it. It ran us right to the ragged edge of what we were capable of sustaining and we had no safety Net. And there were several times when we're just starting out where it came really close to not being able to provide service because we were run ragged and and and that is something that you can it's very easy to fall into that that I must say yes to everybody because what if they say no and I need to grow? I don't have a backup plan in case I can't meet all those expectations that people have placed on me, and you can put yourself in a really dangerous situation.
Cathy 39:24
Yeah, there's that balancing scale for sure.
Collin 39:27
So speaking to maybe non pet sitters, what do you wish more people in the general public knew about life as a pet sitter?
Cathy 39:38
That it is hard work that we are getting up at the crack of dawn, a lot of us are to go take care of pets. We're working weekends and holidays, when everybody else is picking a turkey or getting their boat ready to go out on the lake. We're super busy. So it's a challenging job. We're not the kid down the street. It's not all fluffy puppies and and jobs down the street. With a perfectly well behaved dog, it's hard. And it's a real job. It's a real career. It's not something that just anybody can or should do. And it's not just something that you should trust anybody with. So many people say, their pets or you know, their little children and obviously their homes are one of their most valuable assets. So it's always this it's this weird ironic thing to me that they would hire somebody that's, you know, their cousins, brother in law's friend from work as well. Big golden doodle who's hot, you know, super active and tears up their blinds of left out of the crate. I like really, okay, so what part of that picture was wrong? So, right? Yeah, I just want them to know that it's legitimate, that we're we're real people that really take our career seriously and we do educate ourselves and we have the best interest for They're in their homes.
Collin 41:02
Yeah, I love I love that, that it is a career. We are professionals. And we provide great service. And it's not easy. Not everyone can do it. Because I think so often people do fall into that, well, why don't I just pay the high school down the street or, you know, they say anyone can do that job, like, well, anyone could do anything, but not everybody can do it well, or provide the level of service that I can. And
Cathy 41:25
through Yeah.
But I don't know if the house would still be.
Unknown Speaker 41:30
Yes, yeah.
Collin 41:32
Yeah, they don't say that to the roofer or the plumber that comes in or the person or their mechanic, you know,
Cathy 41:39
maybe that goes back to why it is important to maybe have some of those certifications, insurance and things like that in place so that it does really set the bar of here's who I am, and this is important to me, because I am
Collin 41:56
Kathy, I really appreciate you coming on our show today and sharing about your experience and how you've grown and in what you've learned from it all over these over the course of these these years, and I know we only touched on a little bit of it. So how can people get in touch with you ask some follow up questions and follow along with your work.
Cathy 42:15
You can always reach me by email. My email address is my pet sitter si TT er online@gmail.com. Email is a great way to get in touch with me. I'm also on Facebook. At you can either search for Kathy's critter care or facebook.com slash CCC sitting and I'm on Facebook, but it is
Collin 42:38
awesome. Wonderful. Again, thank you so much for coming on today.
Unknown Speaker 42:41
Absolutely. Thanks, Paul. And
Collin 42:44
one of the themes that came up time and time again was the importance of loving Pat and people that when you are consistent, reliable, and you invest in the relationships around you, you'll go a long way. Not just with clients, but also Within the pet sitting community where you live, I hope you guys reach out to Kathy and ask her any questions. She's so encouraging and such a wonderful person to talk to. We also want to thank our sponsor time to pet if you have any questions or feedback or a story to tell, we'd love to hear from you. You can email us at feedback at pet sitter confessional.com. We're on Facebook and Instagram at pet sitter confessional. Find us on Twitter at PS confessional as well. And don't forget to check out our show notes and for all of our past episodes as well at our website pet sitter confessional com, you can click on this episode or any other episode and see links to products or things mentioned as well as the rough transcripts of the show and a general outline. One of the most common questions we've been getting since the start of the new year has been what conference do you recommend? Well, we've been doing some interviews and this Friday, we're releasing a bonus episode where we talked to some of the CEOs and founders of the biggest conferences going on in 2020. Look out for that. Wherever you listen to your
Keywords: people, pet, clients, pet sitter, business, dogs, years, visits, care, days, confessional, question, job, service, dog walker, certifications, provide, hired, san anontio, area, zoo
