032 - Opportunities and Resiliency
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Pet care professionals are facing the toughest global market ever. How do we create and take advantage of new opportunities to grow, thrive, and just hang on? More importantly, how do we handle these situations and what does being resilient look like? Managing and coping with the stress and anxiety is more important than ever. Community and support are key. We, and others, are here for you. Let’s all work together to make it through this.
A LOT has happened since last week. On this episode we cover some of the opportunities out there in pet care, the importance of community in times like these, and what being a resilient pet care provider looks like.
Show Outline:
Check out our COVID-19 resource page
Changing your business model and adding new services
How’s your emergency plan doing?
Investing in yourself (and business) now
Investing in your community
Being a resilient pet care professional
Links
Get connected with other sitters: Resilient and Thriving Pet Pros on Facebook with Colleen Pelar
Get Help with Depression and Anxiety
Invest in yourself:
PSI certification courses
Lynda.com courses for any topic under the sun
Shop local coffee shops with Cloosiv
Staying active at home
Now is a great time to start eating better
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Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
business, pet, work, clients, services, pet sitters, people, dog, resilient, home, sitter, changing, small businesses, care, miguel rodriguez, confessional, continue, employees, knowing, talked
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin
Collin 00:15
I'm Collin
Meghan 00:16
and I'm Meghan. And this is pet sitter confessional, and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter,
Collin 00:22
brought to you by time to pet.
Meghan 00:25
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode. Today we're going to talk about opportunities and resiliency. So a little bit of review from last week we interviewed Heather, but from Heather's pet care. She discussed working with difficult clients, and she shared some of the little things that she's done to keep her clients coming back year after year. It was a great episode and we hope that you guys got a lot of useful information out of it for your pet care businesses. So a few things have happened since our last episode. It seems like the entire world has gone into lockdown.
Collin 01:05
Our visit has
Meghan 01:07
our business has been impacted, as I'm sure yours has as well.
Collin 01:12
We posted a page on our site dedicated to Kovac 19, commonly called coronavirus. Although there are multiple strains, we wanted to share resources specifically geared towards pet sitters. We update it regularly. And we've been updating it basically every day as new things get put into it. And from news and resources that you guys can use. We've also started an email newsletter so that you can get those updates directly to your inbox as well as news about our podcast.
Meghan 01:40
And so on that page, we have three different sections. We have a listen section, which has several podcasts and videos on there. So obviously, all the big pet care names are Wayne and Kristen Morrison from six figure pet business. Miguel Rodriguez from city dog pack and he also started another Instagram account called Dog biz TV and attach Oh banyon was start scale sale as some of our favorites. They cover from what you can be doing now in your pet care business, to also keeping a solid attitude throughout it as well. And on attitude if you're not listening to Coleen PLR, you need to she has a podcast called unleashed at work at home. And she's all about creating resilient emotionally and mentally healthy pet sitters, which we really need right now. She's got a Facebook group and does one on one work as well.
Collin 02:32
Our next section is read. And we have resources in here from the CDC World Health Organization, and several other science based organizations about the science behind the virus and many of them are geared towards busting all of the myths that are out there. So can your dog Get it? No. Can you get it from your dog? No. And there's so much more of that kind of information there. Definitely check it out so that you know about it, but also you can share that with your clients.
Meghan 03:01
And then the third section we have on there is the download section. So these are tools that you can use for your business. For example, how do you talk to your clients about what's going on? So Dan from Dan's pet sitting and dog walking, which we had on for an interview a few weeks back, he's offering some coaching and marketing services for free and he also has an email on there that he sent out to his clients about the corona virus and the precautions that they are taking. Natasha obion has one on there as well. And then lucky Lucy's pets has provided an example of their letters that they've used on their Instagram page. Shiny day specialized pet care has let us use some of her presentations about the emergency preparedness where with pets and that's been an amazing resource as well. So please go check out our website at pet sitter confessional comm slash coronavirus, and you can get all of the information that we just talked about on there.
Collin 03:54
We've had clients cancel and a few have continued service cancellations keep Coming in,
Meghan 04:01
as I'm sure they do for you, as well
Collin 04:03
as clients are grappling with their schedules and work, but we know of other centers who've lost 90 or even greater percentage of their business, not just for this week, but for the foreseeable future.
Meghan 04:13
This has been really hard for all of us. Whether you have a facility or you bored out of your home, or you just do drop ins and dog walks, this has been really tough for all of us. So please know that while this is a really hard time for all of us, you are not alone in this. So we are all in this together. I'll be it from a distance because there is that social distancing thing, six feet away, but but know that we have your back, other sitters have your back, and you can do this, we will get through this. So Collin and I were having this conversation the other day about potentially changing business models. So some people have suggested taking on other jobs. For people groceries or picking up medication from a pharmacy,
Collin 05:05
but at the same time, the would say I specialize in pet care. And I don't want my clients to be thinking that I'll pick up any old job because that doesn't really look reflect good on my business going forward once we're past this, and I don't want to start something that I'm not going to want to provide moving forward in the months to come.
Meghan 05:27
Okay, but then so what are you going to do for money people don't want some people don't want dog walking right now because they are at home because of their jobs. So what are you going to do?
Collin 05:38
And I know the flip side to that is, okay, well, if I'm going to be running out groceries, I don't want to be interacting with more people. I don't want to be going grocery shopping and running errands and bringing sickness into my home or transporting that around. So maybe you don't do it for all of your clients. If you have elderly clients that can't get out or on lockdown as needed. cities around the globe are right now, it would be a kind thing to offer that service maybe just to them, you can also do just your drop offs, you don't have to come into physical contact with them. I know some of the companies like doordash and Uber Eats are doing this, they're changing their business model to where they will do door drops, and you don't even see the person who drops off your food, they just let you know that it's there and you can come and pick it up.
Meghan 06:26
And if you do that for three, or four, or however many you want of your elderly clients, since you aren't walking their dog, that'll be a really good beneficial service to them.
Collin 06:37
And we get that some people don't want to, quote unquote, tarnish their reputation as being a pet care professional. But honestly, right now, it's not the time for holding certain titles above others or politics or anything like that. It's about coming together as a community, being flexible as a small business owner and doing what you need to do for you and your employees. To keep going,
Meghan 07:01
because at the end of the day, you still have bills to pay.
Collin 07:04
This is a time for community and there needs to be more kindness. So we all have to be asking ourselves, where do we fit into that? Are we going to help the community or not.
Meghan 07:15
And you also want to price accordingly. Knowing that now is not really a good time to be raising prices,
Collin 07:21
be responsible with that we've seen both sides of that argument, we totally understand both sides. Some people are giving a discount $5 off or 15% off or 20% off or maybe they're only doing it for healthcare providers, and others are not discounting at all because they need as much money coming in as possible. However, if you're losing clients, left and right, some clients are better than no client. And some clients don't have money right now or don't have the resources or the genuine need to continue services. We are a luxury industry. We're a luxury service industry and in times of downturn Typically luxuries get chopped off. Sometimes clients continue services that are luxuries, sometimes they don't. And honestly right now it's looking like they're not most people are not going to continue having these services. Because a they aren't traveling, be they're stuck at home, or see they don't have the money any longer to continue those services.
Meghan 08:21
But it's a good time to reach out to your clients. And we've seen a lot of posts on social media about this, reaching out to your clients and reminding them that you are a small business and you still have costs, operating costs, you still have employees to pay. And so letting them know that to continue to support you as a small business is important.
Collin 08:42
So we need to be ensuring that we are maintaining the same amount of value or adding value to your customers. If you're charging $30 a walk or more normally, well that person is now at home. And let's say they work an hourly job. They're not getting paid to sit at home. They aren't going to be paying or they might not pay to continue those services, especially if they have kids at home and all sorts of other things going on. you lower your price for them. They may continue that service. It's not as much as you were getting. But it is something and it could ensure services for longer at a cheaper price.
Meghan 09:18
But then on the back end, once the world kind of picks up its pieces again, how do you have that conversation about raising that rate? Again?
Collin 09:28
You could give a coronavirus discount limited time only or X number of days if there's a lockdown in your city or something like that. Maybe valid through the end of April. That's a good point. Yeah. You want to work with them as much as possible and as they can without compromising what you've built for your business and the expectation you've set for you and your client.
Meghan 09:48
So this goes into cancellation policies and I'm sure you have already thought about this as clients have canceled or asked for a refund or something. Do you do it or not? As we've done Talk about it's kind of a case by case basis. So do you know somebody who's really hurting, and you know their situation, you can give them back their money.
Collin 10:09
Otherwise, you could hold it for services rendered in the future. So keep it as an in store credit, so to say, you could say, you know what I this money is it's been paid, know that it will go towards all future bookings, so that they know it's secured whenever things do pick back up.
Meghan 10:25
I've even seen some people not give a refund at all. So if the owner wants to cancel, normally, the pet sitting business does not give refunds. And even in this situation, they're not giving refunds either. So it really depends on what you think is best for your business, your business model, and the client.
Collin 10:46
So as Meghan said, we're as businesses we're having to decide what's best for you, your staff, your business, but honestly, at the end of the day, don't sit back and complain that you aren't making money and you're Losing clients left and right, when you're willing to change anything or try something new, you don't get the plane. complain if you aren't going to do something about that. Please lost 90% of your bookings. What are you doing about that? Is that something that's concerning to you enough to start making some changes?
Meghan 11:19
So yes, as a business, you have to decide whatever is best for you, or your staff, like I just said, your business model. But please don't sit back and complain that you aren't making any money and are losing clients when you aren't changing anything if you're not willing to be adaptable and flexible in this time, this is an unprecedented time for the world, basically. And so as pet businesses, we need to kind of be malleable to what is currently the status of our businesses, which really doesn't look very bright or good. And we also need to be malleable to what the future holds. Right?
Collin 11:57
There are lots of companies currently doing this. LVMH is a French luxury group, and they've shifted away from making cosmetics and perfumes for things like Christian Dior. I don't think I even said that right? they've shifted away from making cosmetics to making disinfectant gel in an effort to limit the impact of global shortages. Rolls Royce, everyone knows they make cars but they're shifting production away from that. And it actually started making ventilators at the request of governments and and other entities because that service is needed.
Meghan 12:30
That's good for them though. It keeps their production going while also helping others
Collin 12:34
right. So as pet sitters as pet care professionals, we need to be thinking about what other services we can be offering.
Meghan 12:43
So some suggestions are in home grooming, administering medications, being a pet taxi,
Collin 12:49
helping with mobile vet in the area. Poop scooping, you have a ton of clients who are now not in your daycare facility or not going on walks with you and are pooping in people's backyards, what a great time to start being a booth scooper.
Meghan 13:03
You could also start pet food delivery or other dog supplies and deliver it to their house.
Collin 13:10
Or, and we've seen this across the globe at this point, maybe just cut off all services in the next seven to 14 days, it might not be worth the risk to come in contact with other infected people, or run the expense of keeping your doors open at this point. That's a really tough call. But it's something that we're all facing at this point.
Meghan 13:34
Another option for a service you could offer is a free one. You could just call your clients and see how they are doing. Don't even bring up your business or seem like you're trying to drum up service just ensure that they're okay. So we talked a long time ago in an episode about the 8020 rule, how 20% of your clients make up 80% of your business and so really taking this time and investing so much into those clients that that 20% that brings in so much of your business, calling them up seeing how they're doing writing them a little card, just showing your appreciation for them in this time. Other people are also doing dog training for free. I know Miguel Rodriguez is doing that in New York City, and just really being there for your clients right now. not physically, but just checking in on them and making sure they're okay. And they're healthy.
Collin 14:24
We are constantly talking about how this business is so much more than just making money and how it's not all about that. It's about the community. It's about caring and investing in those around you. If there ever were a time for that. Now is the time to let that shine and let your clients know that you're there for them beyond just providing your service, but making sure they're okay to So right now, as a business and personally it might be a good time to take stock of your emergency plan and how well yours is or isn't working out.
Meghan 14:59
So baby Basically, this is a worldwide emergency. I think
Collin 15:02
if anything classified as an emergency, it would be this right? Now, obviously right now, and right, the second isn't the time to be changing this drastically. And honestly, we are all in the boat of just trying to weather this storm. But where you're seeing cracks and shortfalls, plan on addressing those in the future,
Meghan 15:22
ensure that your employees have plans to and that you've communicated what's working and what's not that you're getting their feedback.
Collin 15:29
So if you have little to no emergency fund, start a plan to save what you can right now. We're all in the mode of emergency lockdown of not just our cities where we're being forced into that, but also of our businesses and looking around and going, what can I cut off? What services do I need to add or subtract? How adaptable Can I be here so that I can save money and as much as possible? Maybe you don't have diversified income streams work to address span services as we are continually bringing that up now is a great time to see what the markets demanding what services people actually need. And then adapting and fitting those,
Meghan 16:11
like we talked about with the coronavirus, discount or special or whatever you want to call it, if and when you decide to add on a service, saying that it's a Corona virus service or however you want to word it, but make sure that your clients have no and have the expectation that. So if you don't want to continue that service after this pandemic is over, make sure that your clients know that.
Collin 16:32
It's just taking stock of what your plan was before all this happened. And seeing what's working right now being in the moment and really looking at how things are working out the time for change in the time for big shifts, maybe later. And right now just hunkering down and trying to hold on as tight as we all can do those big shifts those big changes those big things that may have to change. Might right now might not be the time to do that because your energies are probably going to be invested in other things.
Meghan 17:06
But making notes right now of where you can improve is a great idea
Collin 17:12
Have you heard about time to pet Dan from NYC pooch as this to say I'm tobacco has been a total game changer for us. It helped us streamline many aspects of our operation from scheduling and communication to billing and customer management. We actually tested other pet sitting software's in the past, but these other solutions were clunky and riddled with problems everything in time because has been so well thought out. It's intuitive feature rich and it's always improving. If you 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 timed pet.com slash confessional. So everybody's favorite thing is when somebody tries to describe a meme over audio So we're going to do that right now. The Good luck. And I'll try and find this and put it in the show notes. But I saw a meme the other day, it had two pictures. The first picture said pet sitters. They say I've never had enough time for myself, and I'm constantly busy. At the bottom, it has a picture of the virus and it said, Hold my beer. No, it's not funny at all. Ah, all of us are constantly talking about being too busy and never having enough downtime. Well, here we are, here we are with a lot of downtime, downtime. So trying to make something positive out of that. What can we all be doing right now? To help us avoid burnout? Are there classes things and things that we can be taking maybe yoga at home, not a studio, maybe reading books about businesses or online classes about business? What can we all be doing right now to invest in ourselves and our business and our employees while we've got this time on our hands
Meghan 19:00
If you've always wanted to do a 5000 piece puzzle, now's a great time. Or all those books that keep piling up on your bookshelf, maybe they're even pet care business books that you have wanted to read, do it
Collin 19:12
always so busy. That's the common theme that we hear from pet sitters time and time again, is always busy always on the go. Now we've got a lot more free time on our hands. We'll take that as a positive. I know for for Meghan and I, we're taking this slow time to have our yard worked on and looking into having the deck worked on as well. It's virtually impossible when we have dogs here because of the constant in and out motion in the dogs needing access to the yard. When there's no dogs here is a great time to have it seated inside it.
Meghan 19:43
You could also use this as an opportunity to let your employees take some online training or refresher courses, first aid, CPR, all of those things. And then if you have a pet care facility, doggy daycare or something like that, you can do it. Clean of it,
Collin 20:01
or maybe just the tools and toys that you use in your daily pet care. Maybe you've seen something and it's been on the back of your mind of, Oh, you know what, I really need to get that cleaned really well and make sure it's well really disinfected. Now's a great time to do that.
Meghan 20:15
Another aspect is social media and your website, revamping your website? Does it need a little tweaking? Could it be better? I know Miguel Rodriguez had talked about this. I'm working on marketing right now. So during the busy times of the year, the holidays, and the summer months, everybody is advertising their business and you get lost in the shuffle. Well, people are at home right now with not a lot to do. And businesses are kind of pulling money away from marketing and advertising because they're wanting to funnel it into someplace else. So use that as an opportunity to market a lot. advertise all over the place, even if nothing comes of that right Now, at least you will be in front of people's eyes as they're scrolling on Facebook or looking up Google searches, you want to be in front of the most amount of eyes that you can. And right now, since people are at home, you'll get a lot of people looking at your business.
Collin 21:18
Maybe you've been thinking about upgrading some equipment that you have around, or maybe switching to a new software that you use. Slow times are great for those kind of transitions. When you're switching to a new software, you don't want a lot of downtime, because you've got clients coming in and out you're sending messages and updates and keeping track of files and data. However, whenever you have slow times, like right now, it would be a great time to do that switch and start testing it before the influx of customers start coming back.
Meghan 21:50
On a more personal note, you could use this time to keep up the physical activity. So if your body is used to walking and being very active all day and you suddenly just sit around all the time. To watch Netflix, which kind of sounds nice,
Collin 22:01
it does a nice,
Meghan 22:03
you are going to mentally and emotionally feel that so go for a jog walk out in your living room. Work out in your living room. Take your own dog for a walk if you have one, and keep eating healthy. This is not really the time to be binge watching Netflix and eating Oreos. Again, that does sound nice. We will include links to the trainings, the courses and all the other options that you can look into on our website and our show notes.
Collin 22:28
We mentioned earlier about this being the time to be in community and investing in your community now is harder than ever to do that because we're being required to stay away from each other. However, pet shelters, still need help and rescues still need help. Maybe volunteer your services to those who are really struggling particularly again if you have elderly clients that are told or being required by law to stay inside for the time being How are they getting supplies and help? Do they need prescriptions picked up, not something you would charge for, but just something to help out someone in need.
Meghan 23:09
And I had just mentioned this a minute ago, but also providing free virtual dog training seminars for all of those people that are stuck at home.
Collin 23:16
So continue working with the clients that you've been giving tips and pointers to as you've been interacting with them on a daily basis. But now saying, Hey, I can't interact with your dog, or I know you don't need me right now to do a walk. But let's get on a FaceTime call and work on some commands and some things that I was working on with the dog and I want to show you that.
Meghan 23:37
Also an idea is to reach out to health care workers in your life and make sure that they have everything that they need as well because they're, they're the real heroes right now who are taking care of the sick,
Collin 23:49
with schools canceling and so many kids not getting at least two meals a day, which is something that millions of kids rely on every single day here in the United States and around the globe. They're not getting their free meals. So charities are stepping in to make and deliver them to those in need. That would be a wonderful thing to do with this time off to ensure that the kids nearby are being taken care of.
Meghan 24:12
Again, we can't stress this enough. It's all about community and how we can help each other during this time. So calling five friends today and seeing how they're doing, that's a great challenge. I don't really like talking on the phone. So that would be a really big challenge for me. But it's a great thing to do. And making sure that everyone is being supported and uplifted during this time because there is a lot of fear going around also shopping more local than you've ever done before. So if there is a local farmers market that is still meeting right now, we don't have any currently because it we're transitioning from winter to spring, and where we live, but using those resources and shopping local supporting small businesses, right,
Collin 24:55
there's a really neat app that I actually just found out about. It's called cluesive LSV it's about connecting local coffee shops on an app so that you can order from there and either have it delivered and go pick it up, like some of the apps from the larger chains provide. But that way you're supporting those local businesses there are around the corner so that they are still there. As small business owners, we know that right now is a big struggle. So we need to be investing in the other small businesses around us.
Meghan 25:29
And not Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks,
Collin 25:32
those kind of places. Now more than ever shop more local than you have ever done during these times. We heard this great thing very recently. Surrender the me to the we. Our takeaway from this was, it's not about us. It's not about you. We win when we fight together when we realize we're all on the same side right now. This is a public health care crisis. We all need to be doing our part to battle and support each other along the way.
Meghan 26:04
So we don't need to sit back and sulk and think only of our business right now. I mean, it is important to be continuing to fuel your business as much as possible,
Collin 26:14
as we talked about and being flexible and providing services that you can,
Meghan 26:18
but we do need to be smart going forward. Because right now, it's about keeping ourselves and those around us healthy.
Collin 26:25
pet care professionals are facing literally the toughest global market ever. How do we create opportunities in that to grow in thrive? how we handle these situations personally, and ensure we cope in healthy ways?
Meghan 26:39
So we do have a role in this? Will you choose to stop shaking hands? I know we're all supposed to keep six feet apart from each other right now. Elbow bump, yeah, but the elbow bump. Will you engage in that social distancing? Will you stop attending gatherings? Will you endure short term discomfort for long term gains and losses? health of the society as a whole, you will find that being selfless versus selfish behaviors really do pay unexpected dividends. In the long term,
Collin 27:11
keeping an eye towards the future help is in the works for small businesses with expanded unemployment insurance availability, extensions for business tax payments, resources for financial aid and loans. Those are all on the table, not just here in the United States, but globally, as well. Those will take time to work through the systems just know that there is help there is light at the end of the tunnel here.
Meghan 27:36
And on a positive note, many sitters are reporting stories of those awesome clients that have opted to retain their services and pay for them but not actually have the sitter do the walk the daycare, etc. And how wonderful and selfless of them to think of pet care businesses and small businesses and this time
Collin 27:56
as we shift from thinking of the opportunities that we have have before us and how we can take most advantage of those. The other side of this coin really is being a resilient pet care professional, during these hard times, how we handle that will shape our business and who we are as individuals. Moving forward. being resilient is much more than just pretending to be happy. It's definitely not grin and bear it. And honestly, you may never feel like you truly ever are, quote, unquote, resilient.
Meghan 28:31
It's about your attitude and how you deal with it in the face of adversity. It's about showing up for yourself,
Collin 28:38
building routines that help you decompress and cope in healthy ways. It's about having support structures and community and so that you can live the way you want to. And having community right now is so hard. We as pet sitters are used to not having a whole lot of immunity and kind of being the lone wolf out there maybe alone Chihuahuas, I don't know. But we're used to working by ourselves. But now a lot of us just physically cannot be in contact or around other people.
Meghan 29:10
How do you be resilient, being intentional about acknowledging your feelings and responses to the events around you? So basically, right now, this kind of sucks,
Collin 29:21
really sucks. And acknowledging that is fine.
Meghan 29:25
And knowing that that's okay to feel that way. But not letting it overtake you not letting it define you. And knowing that it will get better. This is not going to last forever, right? So having that flexibility, that adaptability that we talked about earlier, having that in your business is really going to save you personally in your personal life and also your business.
Collin 29:50
What this all kind of starts boiling down to is knowing that you do have work. As Meghan mentioned, you're not defined by Your business you're not defined by the success or failure of that. You're not defined by the number of clients that you have or how busy you are, or aren't. You are defined by you as a person. And just knowing that and being able to stand on that each morning and each night is being resilient. You're more resilient now than you even know. How do you handle stress? Is it healthy and productive? Or are you feeling helpless and awash in a sea of the unknown, which is where most of us are right now? We don't know what tomorrow look like. We don't know what the numbers are going to be. We don't know how many more clients are going to cancel. If and when they're going to come back. There is help reach out to Facebook groups or counselors and coaches. Again, we cannot recommend Coleen PLR enough. She's an amazing person with a heart for helping pet care professionals. That's all that she works with. Listen to her podcast seriously. Again, it's unleashed. at work and home, and she does have a Facebook group for support, you can talk to her one on one, if you're needing some support right now. And really sometimes just talking about the stress and worry can help getting it all out on the table writing it all down all the things that are concerning you letting somebody else into that world pulling back the curtains into that stress. Yes, right now there are business things to work on and planned for and in strategic your eyes and be flexible and adaptable to
Meghan 31:30
but if you're not okay, or if you're struggling, you need to focus on that first. It's like the oxygen mask that they tell you when you're in an airplane, you need to put on your oxygen mask first before you help your child or you have the passenger next to you. If you haven't friends or employees that are struggling with the chaos, you need to help them put on your oxygen mask first, and then check on them to make sure they're okay and see if they need one as well.
Collin 31:57
This business can be lonely enough and right now we're being told To stay away from everyone. It's an unfortunate catch 22 here where we just need so desperately community, and a lot of us are just now starting to get that into our lives, but we're unable to have it. And it's being ripped out from us. So if you're struggling emotionally, from depression or fear, anxiety, reach out right now and get help, whether it's in a Facebook group, or email to us or others. Just because we're being told to engage in social distancing doesn't mean we have to be alone.
Meghan 32:37
Okay, so let's be real. I was burnt out with dog sitting about a month ago. And now I'm burnt out with kovat 19.
Collin 32:46
I'm serious. Meghan and I have been talking about this. It's all consuming. It really is.
Meghan 32:52
so emotionally, it's been impossible to keep up with the hysteria it's worldwide panic. People are buying out The toilet paper, the cleaning supplies, the food,
Collin 33:03
everything.
Meghan 33:04
So we've decided to pick a path forward and start working through this. Turn off the cable news. Limit your social media usage. I know Kristin Morrison's doing only one hour a day of social media, there is work that needs to be done. And there are people that need help.
Collin 33:20
And that's what we should be focusing on is that there is work you can do. There are things that you can do in your life. And there are people around you that desperately need
Meghan 33:29
help. You don't need to be feeding into the hysteria of the world because the world is already doing that. And for itself, the
33:36
crazies are already out there.
Meghan 33:39
We don't need to be a part of them. Yeah, we want to hear from you and how you're dealing with this. Let us know how you've been impacted, what you're working on to get past it, what you're learning about from your business model where it needs to improve how your clients are doing, what services you've added how you've adjusted your prices. All of this as always, there is no one size fits. Model approach for every pet care business because we're all in different locations around the world, we all provide different services. And so we're all going to need different things at different times. Ultimately, though, hang in there. That's where we all are right now. weathering the storm are Petcare businesses likely won't look the same on the back end of this as they were before this chaos started and that's okay. So we we need to embrace the change, embrace all the opportunities that this brings. Look for the positives in this knowing that you can still help people and to support small businesses. As small business owners we have the benefit of being flexible and adaptable to the changing markets. We know we don't have to answer to a big boss, and we
Collin 34:54
know the work that needs to get done and more importantly, how to do it. We know where we are strengths are we knew where our weaknesses are, but know that you have this. And we've got your back too.
Meghan 35:07
Thank you for joining us today and we can't wait to talk to you guys again.
