049- Kitchen Confessions
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Summary:
On this Kitchen Confession, Collin and Meghan discuss some of their thoughts on what it’s going to look like reopening, questions they’ll be asking clients, and what procedures will stick around even once everything is fully opened again.
Topics on this episode:
Reopening
Questions to think through
Adapting your services for the future
Disclosing care of pets who have owners with Covid-19
Practicing for video meet and greets
How we plan to operate moving forward
Main take away?There is still so much to consider as the world gets closer to slowly reopening, but hang in there! No one has it all figured out, and we’re all just feeling our way through this.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, pet, people, business, dog, continue, reopen, questions, libby, sanitizing, pet sitter, foreseeable future, week, communicate, existing clients, spent, mask, work, confessional, disinfect
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin
Collin 00:17
I'm Collin
Meghan 00:18
and I'm Meghan. And this is pet sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter.
Collin 00:30
Hello, everybody, and welcome back. Happy Monday. Both Meghan, I hope you had a wonderful weekend.
Meghan 00:36
We appreciate you taking the time to listen to us on another episode of kitchen confessions
Collin 00:42
over the last few days, Megan and I asked a couple questions in our sitter confessional group on Facebook. If you're not a part of that I really encourage you to do so there's amazing people in there, and lots of really good discussion. And one of the questions that we asked was regarding how people are playing Planning to reopen their business as the economy gets turned on, and there are more things coming online.
Meghan 01:07
Yes. And so that's kind of one of the things that I had wanted to talk to you, Colin about today is reopening. So that is going to happen, hopefully soon for all of us, but at the same time, you know, obviously we want to be cautious with whatever we're doing. So some some of us have closed down. Some of us are still hanging on, like we are. We have a couple daycares still hanging on there, and we had a border last weekend, but otherwise, it's, it's been pretty quiet around here. So what does reopening your business look like? How will you operate your business differently? Or will you many people already use pan sanitizer and wipe things down? A lot of people use gloves when they pick up dog poop and all those kinds of things. But are there other things that you want to think about? If you have a facility or going to require dogs to be dropped off outside? Or will you use your own leashes and not the clients, a lot of people have been doing that during this time, where they're just bringing their own during drop ins and dog walks. And that way they can sanitize them before and after, and not have any kind of cross contamination. If you were house sitting and you're gonna continue to do that, what does that look like? That's going to be a really interesting transition out of this COVID-19 pandemic that we've been going through because you will be staying in people's houses. So think about if you're going to be bringing your own bedsheets. If you're going to be bringing your own cleaning supplies in case they don't have any so that you can disinfect before you set up camp in the client's house. That's
Collin 02:46
if you can find any at that time. Well, that's true.
Meghan 02:49
Yeah. And I also recently heard that one lady has stopped housesitting forever because she is a high risk she has asthma and she will never want to take the risk of getting infected. And so that's something that you're going to have to consider is whether to even provide that service at all.
Collin 03:06
It really is going to be. So case by case basis. One of the first things that I think of if you are going to be housesitting is, it's going to sound silly, but asking them to take their temperature regularly before you come over asking questions about where they've been. Have they been around anybody that has exhibited symptoms, and almost treating it like a quasi self quarantine and just trying to track a little bit to give some peace of mind to both you and the person that you're going to be in their home for? And I think another subset of that entire discussion is is a question and something that's been rattling in my brain has been communicating to clients, if you are caring for the pet of somebody who has this or has had it, right, right, and How that's communicated, keeping in line with all of HIPAA compliance and all of those kind of privacy concerns,
Meghan 04:09
right? You can't say their name, you can't
Collin 04:12
say their location or anything like that. And it's not even really your place to share that to most people. However, I would think that just disclosing that I am currently caring for the pet of somebody who has this or is being watched for this. These are the precautions that I am taking of sanitizing using my own equipment, using a mask and
Meghan 04:41
taking my own temperature.
Collin 04:42
Yeah, taking my own temperature and tracking that and kind of putting it on your clients putting the ball in their court and saying, Are you comfortable with this? Are you so comfortable with me caring for your pet, knowing that I am doing these things,
Meghan 04:56
right. So that's something that you your moral compass is going I have to guide you on is do you want to take on those clients that are sick, or really need their pet cared for while they're in the hospital with COVID? Because that could jeopardize all your all of your other clients that could put your business on the line where those other clients say, no, we're not okay with that, because we don't want to put ourselves at risk. But on the other hand, those COVID-19 patients really, really need their pet looked after. So it's a balance. It's whatever you are comfortable with.
Collin 05:34
And looking to reopen, and starting to provide more and more services as we are allowed. Those kinds of discussions are going to have to take place, right. I think they were on a lot of people's minds as the case number started to go up exponentially. And I would say that those kind of conversations are even more important now as we are cautiously trying to Get out and do more things and whether people are going to be comfortable with how things used to be or not.
Meghan 06:08
So some other questions you might consider asking are Will you require the pet to be bathed before you care for them during a boarding or house it? Or will you bathe them once they come to you? Also, will you limit the number of pets that you care for to limit the potential spread of COVID-19? So what is the number of pets and homes that you are comfortable taking care of? You might not be okay with taking care of quite as many pets. As you were before all this happened. It's just something to consider.
Collin 06:39
And just from the business side, the the cups that we have the comfort level of How comfortable are you going to be taking on as many clients as you were before or new or different ones? How comfortable are you going to be asking questions as far as have they been coughing or do they have a fever Then it comes to your business. And using this time right now, in the slow time to have everything prepped for when it starts to open up. Many people are saying that they hope or are expecting there to be a huge bump in business in September and October. But other people are preparing their business for a slow rough climb out of this. So yes,
Meghan 07:24
as I mentioned last week plan for both scenarios. So if the market comes back strong, and if it doesn't, if you marketed and sold gift cards heavily during this time, don't spend all of that money right now, or soon because it'll put you right back in the same position of not having a ton of cash flow. Mike with Jetro and Associates a couple weeks ago talked about cash basically cash is king right now you want to have as much cash right now as possible. So also if you've added services during this time, you may need to keep those are the foreseeable future. If your clients come back Slowly so the poop scooping the taxi service, whether you're getting groceries or transporting pets to and from if you don't normally have those services on hand, you may need to continue those if you don't see a strong influx of dog walks and boardings in the near future,
Collin 08:18
and be ready to scale those kinds of services if you need to. So is the way you're operating your poop scooping business right now scalable, if that's where you need to be investing heavily moving forward, if those clients if the dog walking and pet sitting clients don't come back in the numbers as you are hoping for. And same thing with the pet taxi and all of those. Are you ready or able to scale those to meet financial needs and goals for this year?
Meghan 08:47
Right And so with that, if the market comes back really strong, or if you see a huge influx of those services that you are providing right now, think about right now think about and plan for how You will avoid burnout when things get crazy again, because they will. So remember this time, remember that you were given this time to refocus, readjust yourself, your business your life. And keep those things in mind when you start to feel that anxiety of maybe you have overbooked yourself or done too much. And obviously, if you have a team of people, a staff rely on those people more heavily if you start to feel burned out,
Collin 09:28
yeah, Doug, from bad to the bone mentioned this a lot as far as really remembering this time using this time to clear out all of that mental and emotional baggage as far as the burnout and the passion fatigue that we were all feeling. So that as you mentioned, Megan, that when this comes back, and when this starts to get busier and busier, we don't immediately fall back into those same habits, those same mindsets, those same processes that we were Before,
Meghan 10:00
yes, so in the coming weeks, continue to communicate with your clients as much as possible, I know that we need to get better at doing that. Let them know how you are doing, ask how they are doing, invest in them right now, and continue to invest in them. Because the clients that come back after this are your tried and true clients. And you really need to be appreciating them. Because people are likely going to be I think people are going to likely be nervous about going back to work. And especially with booking vacations, whether that be domestically or internationally. So letting your clients know that you are still here for them, that you care about them. And you want to take care of their pets
Collin 10:44
in what you're doing to prepare for those kind of things. How you think now how you are going to help diminish those fears, how you're going to address those as a business. How are you going to communicate that to all sanitizing things, how are you going to communicate that you are wearing gloves and masks and how you communicate those things to them. So that when they ask or before they ask you or already have those things on hand to tell them.
Meghan 11:14
And I know that a lot of we see a lot of you guys on Instagram and on Facebook letting your clients know this. And so you guys are doing a great job. So whichever way this shakes out, take it one day at a time, each day will likely look different based on which clients you have for that day. So maybe pick a day of the week like Sunday, and outline your week and the precautions that you need to take every day with each particular client because every client is going to look different. So I think you mentioned this earlier, but someone in our case sitter confessional group on Facebook had an interest interesting thought. Should you have a set of questions you should ask the owner before you enter their house or take care of their pet. Have they gone anywhere and protected lately, and also if you wear a mask in the clients home will the pet be afraid of you
Collin 12:00
Something I hadn't thought of No,
Meghan 12:01
I hadn't thought of that either. And so dogs, some may remember your face, some may not. But otherwise your face will look different in a mask. And so if you choose to take the mask off immediately when you enter the home just for a minute or two so the pet can remember you or if you choose to keep your mask on the whole time, it's up to you. But just keeping that in mind of the pet may not remember you, especially if it's been a long time since you've taken care of them and you're wearing a mask.
Collin 12:33
Going along with that is something that Kira from last week's episode discussed with separation anxiety in pets. And I hadn't thought about that really either. But it makes total sense. Pets we, as we all all been talking about are probably loving all this time being around their owners. However, when they go back to work, they're probably most likely going to be some separation anxiety issues with those pets. On top of that, you are now Entering a home with a mask, looking a little different wearing gloves possibly smelling really weird because of all the hand sanitizer and soaps and disinfectants that we all have on our bodies. Be prepared for those. Start thinking about how you're going to address that with each individual client with each individual dog.
Meghan 13:20
Because some dogs may not care and others will be skittish.
Collin 13:23
Right? So have those when you are reaching out to your clients have those communications with them? How are you planning to approach that? How can they begin to prepare their dog for that eventual moment
Meghan 13:34
or the cat because I know cats are not so friendly sometimes.
13:39
They can be particular for sure.
Meghan 13:42
Another thing I wanted to bring up and I think we're going to do we've talked about doing a whole episode a revamp on this episode but I think that a lot of meet and greets will be done virtually now. So on I believe it was Episode Two. We did three episode three on over So three, we did a whole episode dedicated to the meet and greet. And that is going to look very different
Collin 14:07
than it was from the before time,
Meghan 14:10
it's going to look very different on the back end of all this. And a lot of them will probably be done by zoom or Skype. So it will be a huge change from how we are used to doing it. We are used to getting up and close with the dog to know how he interacts with us how he interacts with the owner and other dogs. So if this is something you are going to consider doing, then you need to have a Skype or zoom setup where you get to video with the client to discuss the pet schedule and temperament and all of that stuff. If that's not possible, then I think of a park is the next best option. It's really just trying to minimize the client coming into your house and you going into theirs. And this won't be an easy thing as I just mentioned, because most of us rely on getting to interact with the pet as much as possible, getting to know them face to face before we care for them. But this is the reality that we face that that's not necessarily going to be an option going forward for the foreseeable future.
Collin 15:03
And if you've never spent any appreciable time on Skype or zoom, I know that's an increasingly very popular thing to do. Now, if you've never tried to do it in a professional manner, practice now with existing clients, to touch base with them. Start with that, see how that's going to work for you, how you react, how you are going to pace yourself and your questions, how you're going to ask them to manipulate camera so you can see the dog but still interact with the owners. And think of some commands or some steps that you can work through with the owner so you can get some idea of the dog's temperament and behavior around certain things. That's a lot to do over video call. But it is possible
Meghan 15:48
and for some, it's going to be the only option. Because the client may not be okay with coming into your home or you coming into there's so how are we going to operate our business differently moving forward.
Collin 15:59
Oh, Other than the meet and greet, and that looking differently as far as definitely meeting in a third party neutral location, the park or not not necessarily even the dog park, but just a nearby park close to where we live, I think we will at least be keeping track of where our clients are traveling and whether they are hotspots or not of potential COVID outbreaks. Moving forward for the few daycares that we have done. We have been doing all of those drop offs and pickups outside of our home and at six feet apart, using the leash to letting the dog go to the owner and then then grabbing the harness and then pulling the leash to them. I foresee us continuing to do that moving forward and just becoming part of our SLP for pickup and drop off.
Meghan 16:50
I think going forward we will be a lot more cautious with who comes into our house and who we say yes to. I mean we know all of our regular clients But for those new people, it might I might be a little more leery of having them come in, especially since we do have small kids. And we are going to be very vigilant with cleaning, and disinfecting everything on our end.
Collin 17:15
But you can't ensure that they are going to be doing that on there and as well, right. So it could potentially limit us our openness to taking extremely last minute bookings for brand new people, right, those might not be those are probably not going to happen for the foreseeable future for us, that if you want to book with us, we will stick hard to and not even allow last minute bookings.
Meghan 17:44
Right. Because it's not just you and me that we have to think about, it's the kids and it's our other clients, our
Collin 17:49
clients. It's our parents that we interact with. It's other people all around us too. Those are things that we are already doing, but moving forward keeping those in place and being even more scrutinized. Have what bookings we decided we want to take that will limit our income. Obviously that will be an impact to our business. But being cautious in a view of the long term, I think is healthy and extremely important. I did want to add on that. When I think of looking to reopen, in what ways can we physically do that? Making a big splash, whether it's a Facebook Live or a zoom with all of your existing clients to have a celebrate, to have a party, just for you to celebrate being able to open again, and, and whether that comes along with a new logo or a new website or whatever, you know,
Meghan 18:44
I've also heard of some people potentially doing a giveaway or a free walk for returning clients for
Collin 18:51
I think trying to make it a celebration, a happy occasion. A big thing. Because it is it is it is a Finally, we can get back to doing this. Finally, we can go back to doing what we love and what we are all so incredibly passionate about and how much it has pained us physically, mentally, emotionally, to not be able to do that. Let's have a party, let's celebrate that. And that's gonna look different for everybody. And, and that's okay. But I think it definitely deserves a celebration. If you aren't planning that, whether they're big or small, grand or budget, I think it needs to be done in some way. In recent episodes, we've been asking people to call us and leave a voicemail and tell us about how they're doing.
Meghan 19:48
And if you need a reminder for that number
19:49
is a biggie I know I do because I still don't know what it is
Meghan 19:52
636 3648 to six zero,
Collin 19:56
I will get this eventually, to call that number and leave a voicemail about how you're doing and how you've been impacted what you're spending your time doing what you're hopeful for. Maybe some fears. We had somebody reach out to us and they were in the UK so they couldn't call. So they decided to send us a message and we're so thankful for
Meghan 20:16
from Libby parkins of world whiskers. She said Hi, I was listening to your podcast asking for Corona stories, but I'm in the UK so can't ring. I'm a pet sitter trading as well. whiskers. This is the fourth week of lockdown. But as of five weeks ago, all my appointments were getting canceled. So this is my fifth week of no work booked in or planned. It is so scary as I don't know when lockdown will end or when people will have disposable income go away. I continued with my marketing, but the viewings have gone down. I think this is due to so many people on the internet and posting things. I'm working on building trust, respect relationships by being knowledgeable. Some time has been spent improving my website and networking locally. Thanks Libby.
Collin 21:00
livi thank you so much for sending that in, that hits so many things out of the park. And it was really encouraging to me that in this time where you have seen five consecutive weeks of nothing, it is scary. You continue to push forward and to try and improve yourself and what you are already offering.
Meghan 21:26
Yeah, it's great that you're still marketing that during this time and trying to get in front of your audience, and trying to get as many people looking at your stuff as possible. That's a great thing.
Collin 21:36
And I will say that you You're absolutely right, that when everybody turns when it turns out when the entire globe is shut down and have nothing to do, posts go through the roof on every social media platform, so it is hard to compete or eyes and hard to grab attention. But the potential audience is so huge there, that the payoff is is is worth it. And continuing to be consistent in what you're posting. And most importantly, it's for your existing clients, and letting them know that you're still there and all the stuff that we continue to talk about. When Libby says that she's working on building trust, respect, and relationships by being knowledgeable, I really feel like that speaks to what is so needed right now that it's the trust moving forward, we talked about how things are going to look different, and, and that you're going to be operating differently and you may be serving different clients or you may have apprehensive clients. Trust is at the foundation of all of that. And now is the time to be really building into that laying that strong, strong foundation. Most of us already had that in and that is what made our amazing clients all that amazing because they trusted us. We need to continue to pursue that and reassure them and build upon that. Both with existing and potentially new clients, and doing that through being knowledgeable as far as what you're posting what you're learning, learning new things, learning new skills, whether that's dog training or CPR, or just general health and behavior, things, all of that ties into how you communicate to others.
Meghan 23:18
Speaking of trainings, pro pet hero has an awesome online first aid and pet CPR course through pro training calm. And right now, you can get 10% off when you use our code, CPR, dash pet sitter confessional at checkout, but it's not just pet CPR, they also offer a health and safety course a fire safety course, continuing education and blood borne pathogens and regular first aid and CPR as well. So it's a lot. Yeah. And so it's a really cool just one stop shop of all these different certifications and trainings you can go through
Collin 23:56
if you've been thinking about expanding your knowledge and getting some additional training definitely check out pro
Meghan 24:01
training COMM And again, that code is CPR dash pet sitter confessional
Collin 24:07
coming up later this week. We have an interview with Corey Miller from Murphy and me and on Friday, we have an interview with Amber from Attaboy Petcare talking all about rebranding. Hope you guys have a wonderful week and we will talk to you again soon.
