121: Preparing for the Holidays
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Summary:
This year’s holiday season is likely going to look very different! On this episode we discuss how to market to that difference, gifts, and safety concerns around holiday food and decorations. Natasha O’Banion answers what to do if you’ve made a mistake!
Topics on this episode:
Pet care and family
Pet Safety
Taking care of YOU
Ask a Pet Biz Coach with Natasha O’Banion
Main take away? The holidays could be busy…or not. Ultimately, take care of YOURSELF
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pet, clients, holidays, people, dog, business, sitters, year, eat, confessional, pet sitters, policy, busy, paws, gift, family, important, kids, making, hear
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Natasha
Collin 00:17
I'm Collin.
Meghan 00:18
And I'm Meghan.
00:19
And this is pet sitter confessional,
Meghan 00:21
and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Hello, and welcome to Episode 121.
Collin 00:33
pet sitting through the holidays. Welcome. And if this is your first time listening, you can go back and check out our extensive back catalogue at our website, or in the podcast app that you're listening to right now,
Meghan 00:45
we wanted to thank pet sitters associates for making this show possible. And also our patrons who are supporting us with just a cup of coffee each month.
Collin 00:55
Not a literal cup of coffee, although
Meghan 00:58
the price of a cup of coffee every month. If you would like to learn more or become a patron yourself, you can go to our website petsitter confessional comm slash support and sign up there. Yeah, we really thank you for taking the time to listen to this today. These holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's coming up. They look really different than ones in years past. Obviously COVID has just turned everyone's world upside down. Right? We know that some of our listeners around the globe are currently under more lockdowns. I know in the UK, they just did that a week or two ago, and
Collin 01:32
they'll be locked down for another month. And things are changing constantly. And so people's travel plans are being disrupted at a moment's notice.
Meghan 01:40
Yeah. And so there has been a lot of talk of, kind of jokingly, but also seriously, like going straight from Halloween to Christmas. But I don't really think that's wise. I mean, here in the US, the holiday that's in between those is Thanksgiving. And of all the years, we definitely need Thanksgiving this year, there is so much to be thankful for. Obviously, every day, we should be thankful for everything that we have. But Thanksgiving really is a time to reflect on exactly what you are thankful for. And we shouldn't just bypass it, because we want this year to end. Yes, all of us want 2021 here, here we go. But we really want to pause for a moment and just say what we are thankful for. So what are you thankful for?
Collin 02:26
I am thankful for our kids in the hectic crazy days of this year, and even currently going on. They are just a constant reminder to be in the here and now and not to be so concerned about things that are coming, that you lose sight of what you have around you right now. And that's a it's a good reminder for me to be present to go explore with them to go on a bike ride, and just enjoy that time.
Meghan 02:53
I am thankful for health. It is more important now than ever. In this year where many people have not had their health I'm very, very thankful that you and I and and everyone that we know is healthy,
Collin 03:08
right? So we want to know what you are thankful for this year. And you can send us a message on Instagram or Facebook and just let us know we're at petsitter confessional. We'd love to hear from you.
Meghan 03:20
As I mentioned, the holiday season looks very different. Some places are locked down. Some people are scared to travel, some people just can't travel. And if they do travel, if they are going to be traveling, they likely aren't going to be going away for a long trip. Like we usually see people going away over Christmas and New Year's and just taking like a full 1014 days off. Right? That's probably not going to happen this year. And if it does, they're likely going to be driving somewhere. So how do we market to people differently during these holidays than we have in the past?
Collin 03:54
Right I think one really good idea is to emphasize in market the message of importance of pet safety. During this time, pets get into presence they can eat plants that people bring in like poinsettias. They try and maybe even eat or attack the tree like cats love doc knocking down ornaments. So letting people know that you are there to drop into to check on the pets when those things are around or to remove them if necessary. And to help get out that energy. So if the pets are actually safer when all the decorations and all those things are out.
Meghan 04:27
Even if they are just doing a day trip to see family you can still provide a daycare, you can still provide a couple drop in checks or even a dog walk while the family is over. If the dog is becoming too much, or if there's too many family members around, you can let the dog out and take it for a walk for some exercise. You can also continue to promote your cleaning policies. COVID isn't going anywhere and people still need to feel safe about you coming into their home and vice versa especially with pending lockdowns or if you're in a lockdown Right now, people want to know what you're doing to be safe, so they don't get it. You may also consider upping your referral discount if you have one. So instead of $20 off a service, if you if someone refers you, you offer $30 off.
Collin 05:17
Or you could just push gift certificates, if that's something that you are also interested in, whether that's someone buys it for somebody else, or they may buy it for themselves. But as if anything taught us this year, put that off in a separate account or off to the side and don't necessarily spend it immediately wait until the service is rendered. Because we saw and I know many of you experienced getting into that same trouble of having already spent that money that somebody bought on a gift certificate, and then everything got canceled and wiped out from underneath you. So back in March. So being a little bit more careful with how that money is spent and allocated and just waiting longer to actually use it. And when the services are rendered
Meghan 05:57
during the holidays, you may get requests to pets it for family and friends. So it's a good time to consider and think about, will you it's a big question, and one that we often find ourselves getting asked is, will you be petsitting? Will you offer your services to friends and family? And if so, how much do you charge them? If at all? You don't really want to be working for free. But do you want to charge them your full rate? Or do you want to give them a discount. So seriously, think about how comfortable you are with charging your mom or your aunt to care for their pet. And remember that by taking care of their pet, you are giving up a spot for somebody some other pain client and still accepting the liability of their care and safety.
Collin 06:45
So many people may go ahead and say okay, I will sit for my mom, I will sit for my aunt because they are traveling. You know, I may give them a discount because they are family. You may also consider trading for something, say okay, I'm going to set your pet for this other thing that I want from you, you get to watch the kids one weekend or something like that may bartering I guess. But what's really, really important in this is if you do decide to sit for friends and family, still maintain that professional attitude, update them just like you would if they were any other client, have them sign all the forms all the documentation, take them through that entire process. Because as you said, Megan, you are still accepting that liability from caring for their pet and making sure that they are safe. What's also really important here is to make sure you set those boundaries. This is what you're able to do when you come at it from that professional standpoint, with that professional attitude. You're setting those boundaries that you are still acknowledging This is a business for me, I take this seriously. And you will be treated just like any other client. Because I'm going to take you through all these same steps. It may seem really, really silly. But you know, they do say never go into business with friends and family for a reason.
Meghan 08:00
But what if you are taking care of pets as a family. So as many of you know, we have two kids ages three and five. And a lot of times they are with us we primarily do boarding and daycare. And they are with us all the time through that. So if you're taking care of pets and you have a family, some pros are working with them. If you have a spouse, or a significant other or kids that work with you, they're more willing to love on the pets and help out. It really teaches kids responsibility by walking, feeding, etc. Our kids are learning right now at preschool about taking care of pets and they could probably teach the class
Collin 08:40
they have a leg up or
Meghan 08:42
they already know how to walk a dog. They already know how to measure out food and allocate that appropriately
Collin 08:49
and be safe around them as well and how to avoid eliciting any sort of negative behaviors and treating them well while they're eating and make enjoy how to read the body language of dogs and know when to give them space.
Meghan 09:00
Some cons though, if you are considering not pet sitting as a family, it's really sometimes hard to do with kids. It's really tough walking dogs when you have infants or toddlers. And there could be some safety concerns of a lot of new people coming over. Or if they'll be around when you're boarding. However it can be done. Marisa Liz Yoon in Episode 105 includes her young daughter who is a quote Professional Dog Petre.
Collin 09:25
I love that so much and we've actually started to refer to our kids as our professional or full time Professional Dog Petters.
Meghan 09:32
Be sure to tell the owner though if you have a significant other or kids around, is the owner okay with someone coming along with you to help out during droppings or dog walks? What will you do if they are not have those backups in place? have a backup sitter in case the owner is not okay. Or have a babysitter if you have young kids and the dog isn't okay with kids.
Collin 09:53
Now we do take our kids on meet and greets. And as you said Megan, we do mostly daycares and boarding in our home. where the kids are. So it is a 100%. Deal Breaker if the pet is not kid friendly, or in most cases, if it's never been around, kids to begin with, we need dogs and pets that are proven to be safe and have a lot of experience being around kids.
Meghan 10:17
So the other side of the coin, though, with all this family and holidays is really dealing with the expectations from your family when you are a pet care professional. A lot of times family doesn't understand what we do, doesn't understand the expectations, the sometimes limitations, and everything that goes into this wonderful, awesome job. But it really is a job. So we run into this a lot. We're very busy during the holiday times and weekends, which makes it hard to get away for time with family. When we first started, our family didn't really quite understand why we weren't taking breaks or weren't really willing to set aside that time,
Collin 10:58
we had to do a lot of discussions with them a lot of like, Look, this is how our business operates. This is what it's like in the pet care industry. We are are busy times are the holiday periods and on weekends. And so we will will make time we will schedule other periods to be with you. But celebrating on Christmas or on Thanksgiving is very difficult for us.
Meghan 11:19
Now we know that some sitters don't work over the holidays, and that's great, right? You do what's best for you and your company, we have decided that we are going to work over the holidays, at least sometimes. Yeah, in the years past, we have taken one holiday off of the major holidays of the year. But this year, we're going to work both Yeah. But again, you do what you do.
Collin 11:44
It really is deciding where your priorities lie, and what you can make work for you. And just being enough with that.
Meghan 11:52
Also, if you board in your home, be prepared for some friends and family to not be comfortable coming over to your house. Some people are shockingly not dog people. What I don't understand that either. But I don't really understand that either. But they are not okay, being around several dogs, cats and all of the hair. So you may not have as many house guests as you were used to
Collin 12:16
that is something definitely to keep in mind is that if you are used to having many people over at your house, and you are just now getting into pet sitting and you're now boarding those same people might not want to be over at your home. And that's just for their prerogative, they don't want to be around all the dogs and all the pets, that's fine schedule a different time for those kinds of functions. One of the big questions and that you have to address around holidays is the pricing. And whether you will or will not have different pricing during the holidays,
Meghan 12:46
we know that this is basically an eternal topic of debate in the industry. What prices should I charge? How much should I charge? Is it okay to charge more or less? Or do I look at others in my area? Do I charge more or not for the holidays, we have chosen to charge more for holidays, since the demand is so much greater, and any sort of cancellations are hard to fill, especially as things get closer to the holiday. So also thinking about what you consider to be holidays, right? Some sitters just do the day of Thanksgiving, or they do the whole weekend of thanksgiving here in the US Thursday through Sunday. We charged by night. And we consider Thanksgiving night and Friday night as holidays, but it's your business. So you make the call. Just make sure two things apply one, it's clear on your website and or your social media. And to you make it clear to your clients. Otherwise, they're probably going to have sticker shock and may not book with you if they don't know the prices up front.
Collin 13:51
And because of that, and the confusion of communicating the different prices or just what people are comfortable with. Some sitters don't raise the rates at all, they just treat it like any normal day. And it helps keep their messaging clear and their clients know what to expect.
Meghan 14:06
There is an interesting middle ground, though, that you heard the other day,
Collin 14:09
right, where instead of raising prices, the person shortens the amount of time per visit or per walk. So instead of a 30 minute drop in, they'll do a 20 minute drop in but still charged the same price. So technically, on a per hour basis. They are getting a raise for the time that they're there. But nothing's changed except the time that they were there with a pet. And so you'd have to clear that with the client and make sure it's a good fit for them. If you have a pet with a lot of medications or needs a kind of a longer walk that might lot of energy or has a lot of energy that might not be the best fit for them. But I'm sure that some clients would be willing to do that kind of visit. Just because you know they're going to understand it's the holidays and that you have time that you need to be with your family and friends to
Meghan 14:55
our sponsor for this episode is pet sitters associates as pet care professionals. Your clients trust you to care for their furry family members, pet sitters associates is here to help. For over 20 years they have provided thousands of members with quality pet care insurance. If you work in the pet care industry or you want to make your passion for pets into a profession, you can take your career to the next level with flexible coverage options, client connections, and complete freedom and running your business. Learn why pet sitters associates is the perfect fit for you and get a free quote today. At pets@llc.com. You can get a discount when joining by clicking membership pet sitter confessional and use the discount code confessional at checkout to get $10 off today. Check out the benefits of membership and insurance once again at pets@llc.com. Pet safety is obviously top of mind for all of us on a normal day. But it's especially important during the holidays when there is food galore around things that pets should not eat. Turkey skin and bones, gravy stuffing, raisins and grapes, onion, mushrooms, nuts, fat trimmings, chocolate, butter, bread dough and anything with xylitol. things they can eat cranberry sauce, pumpkin Of course, sweet potatoes and green beans. There are a ton of infographics showing the foods pets can eat and can't eat, and things that they could have from the table. We have included a few of these in the show notes. But you can just google and share on your social media because pet owners your clients need to know these things. And you obviously as the pet sitters the pet care provider definitely need to be aware of this in case they the dog you go over for a drop in and the dog has gotten into the can of cranberry or the stuffing is it okay are you gonna have to call that
Collin 16:43
might it really important here is acting as a source of education for your clients during this time of year. We there's a lot of things going on during the holidays of people coming over people leaving a lot of new things. And so the clients really need to be educated as to what their dogs can can't have, especially as people come in and just think oh, I can feed them human food that we hear that all the time and no they can not. So helping educate your clients so they can be advocates for their dogs for their pets, while they're away from your care is really really, it's just it's so important.
Meghan 17:17
But also knowing why they can't eat the certain foods is very important. Either. It's a because they contain chemicals and substances that are really toxic. So like I mentioned xylitol, it causes blood sugars to drop and eventually liver failure and seizures or methyls and binds in chocolate it causes vomiting and large amounts of seizures and deaths. We all know chocolate is bad for dogs. And it could even just be too much of a substance like salt
Collin 17:44
or and you know we're talking about Turkey and ham and that kind of stuff. It could be undercooked or or served improperly, which means that now we're dealing with issues of bacteria or parasites that can be harmful. And this is especially things like raw ham, and fish the dog that dogs make it into
Meghan 18:00
and finally consuming items that can cause blockages. Turkey bones are a big one. dogs love turkey bones, and Turkey. They like corn on the cob chicken, but not good. But these can cause obstructions in the digestive system. No matter how careful you are though your dog or your clients dog might find and swallow something that they shouldn't. So keep the number of your local vet, closest emergency clinic and the ASPCA animal poison control on your phone, sticky note somewhere in your car everywhere where you can find it. If you think your dog or your clients dog has eaten something toxic, get help right away, especially if it's going to cause a blockage in their system. That's very dangerous.
Collin 18:47
Obviously, in those cases of emergency, take care of the emergency get the dog help, but then you are going to have to absolutely notify the client and keep them updated through the entire process. Right now before the holidays kickoff is a great time to make sure that you have all of those vet forms already filled out and filed with their credit card on file with their preferred vet. Because some things get tricky around insurance. If you pay for something out of your business pocket, it can get a little tricky to get reimbursed from the insurance. It is a much simpler way to have the client's card on file so that they pay for everything and then they get reimbursed through your insurance. It's a much cleaner system. It's a much simpler, much more direct system to have in place. So having those credit cards on file for their preferred vet is extremely important.
Meghan 19:38
So before you or a family member starts to give a pet some food from the table think through the three B's bad chemicals, bacteria and blockages another part of pet safety during the holidays is do you have a pet safe snow melt and de ICER these can be painful to their paws if they are not pet safe. They can be dangerous if they start to lick their paws. And they like it particularly for cats. So double check your snow melt and start talking to your clients about theirs.
Collin 20:08
And then along with that snow along with that rain comes the mess. And of course, this is something as a as a kind of a clean freak, this is always on my mind as well. Just be mindful of bringing that into your client's home, if you're doing dropins, wiping their paws down, double, triple wiping their paws down, which I know some dogs do not enjoy that at all. So work a system with them, get them into a routine, you can practice that it to make them more comfortable with getting their paws wiped. But it is just a really courteous to make sure that they're not bringing in a lot of mud, a lot of grass or snow into a client's home. And especially for your own home too. If you are boarding,
Meghan 20:47
it's the holiday time. So naturally, everyone thinks about gifts. So client holiday gifts, gifts looks so different this year, as does everything, basically, many people don't have the money. So as always, you should never expect a gift or a tip from a client. And if you do get a gift, and it's kind of outlandish, or something that you didn't really want, say things with a smile, remember that it's 2020. And people are doing very weird things this year, our businesses were hit hard because of COVID this year, so you absolutely don't have to give an expensive gift. And you never have to give an expensive gift no matter what year it is. heartfelt gifts are always wonderful and mean the most to someone, if you want to do a gift, which you don't have to but if you want to, it doesn't have to be expensive. And you certainly don't have to get one for every one of your clients. This would be a lot for some people who have hundreds and hundreds of clients. But there are some clients that have been with us for several years. So this year, we are going to give a gift to
Collin 21:49
them. And these can be really simple. If you have taken a favorite picture of their their dog or their cat or their bird, have that framed or put it on a smile, give them a small bag of treats in a coffee mug or something along those lines, especially if there's a local treat Baker bakery or something along those lines that you can partner with as well to help boost their business. And on that, you know, if there's not a local bakery near you make your own treats. You know, that is something that we hear of centers doing an awful lot of making homemade dog treats,
Meghan 22:23
and something that I've been toying with to for 2021.
Collin 22:27
Okay, sounds like a new project list for us. Yes, just make sure that they're made with pet safe ingredients, and they won't lead to an upset stomach. So as minimal as possible. And you may even have to make special ones for different clients if they have a very, very unique diet, or get creative and do pet paw prints on a canvas or something like that an ornament. I know, each time we try and do pop prints, they very rarely work out for us though,
Meghan 22:55
they have not worked out so far. It's it's
Collin 22:57
something that we're still going to try. But, you know, it's it's the thought that counts right there.
Meghan 23:04
If you see that the pets collar is kind of dingy or they need a new one. Or if you notice that the pet loves a certain squeaky toy, replace it, I'm sure that your client would love to know that you specifically hand picked out a collar or a leash for their pet in mind, you could also do something as simple as a coupon for a free night of service or a free walk or a whole coupon book.
Collin 23:28
And we've been talking about gifts for the pets of that we're taking care of. But you know, if you feel feel so inclined, you could also get a gift for the owner. Something like a bottle of wine this year, which may be needed more than last year, I don't know.
Meghan 23:45
Or you could even donate some or all of their money from the state to a local shelter or rescue. I know a lot of our businesses are hurting right now. So all of their money may not be an option. But even just like three or 5% would be a huge benefit to a local rescue.
Collin 24:01
Right and people you know not that this is about driving business or marketing. But when clients know that you're involved in something like that, that gives them good feelings for using you and and partnering with you for taking care of their pets.
Meghan 24:13
If you bored or do daycare, you likely already have a set of antlers and a sweater for pups to dress them up. So you can have a photoshoot and maybe even team up and partner with a local photographer who can come to your home and do a little doggy photoshoot for 30 minutes.
Collin 24:30
Yeah, which might be a really great way to drive business on certain days where you partner with a local photographer and say Tuesdays are photography days and this is where everybody gets their photo and it's not something that you charge the clients for. It's just an extra nice thing that you get to do during the holidays.
Meghan 24:46
In all of the craziness and buisiness that can come from the holidays. Remember to take time for yourself. Especially in 2020 this year has been crazy. You time is essential. Don't forget that two letter word no. And oh, it works, you can do it. It is not as hard as you think it is. really look at your schedule and make time to spend away from pet sitting for a day or two, and celebrate with family and friends. If you want to take the holidays off, great. If you don't take some time in early December or the middle of November, and take time away, whatever that looks like for you this year, spend time on you.
Collin 25:31
Yeah, we do not need to be compounding, fatigue and stress from everything else that the this year has thrown at us. On top of confect compassion, fatigue and burnout from being crazy busy during the holidays. Set those dates aside right now, before all the bookings start pouring in or before the craziness sets in, set that time aside right now. And keep that for you. As if you know, we talked about gifts, the best gift that you can give yourself is time to recover and time to think and time to be by yourself or be with friends be with family to invest back into you. So that in 2021, you can be on an amazing foot.
Meghan 26:16
I would also say on the back end of that, yes, you take time off before the holidays. And then if you choose to work the holidays, you can be busy. But then on the back end of that take time off in January. Yeah, take you know, after the new year is over January 10 or something take a week off take just even a weekend off. Make sure that you have that breathing time afterwards as well to decompress to get ready for all of the wonderful business that is coming your way in 2021. Yes.
Collin 26:47
Yeah, it is bookend the craziness with some time to send it recenter yourself and to reconnect with who you are and with your friends and family.
Meghan 26:57
Right. So we're trying to prevent burnout. So pre planning, that time knowing that it's there will help you when you are crazy busy.
Collin 27:06
Yeah, you have something to look forward to, you'll say you'll be able to say yeah, I know that it's really, really busy right now. But in three weeks, I'm taking the whole week off, or I've got an amazing weekend where I have nothing on my books, it's kind of helps you and that carrot that helps you get through those tough times. And you know that that time is dedicated to recharging your batteries, and really taking care of yourself.
Meghan 27:28
But we say this all the time. So again, it is your business, you can be as crazy busy during the holidays, as you want to be assuming you have a lot of clients and they're going away. Right. Like
Collin 27:38
it's all this discussion is couched in buisiness. Right. And and so I guess you know, what would you say if somebody isn't busy, right during these during this time
Meghan 27:48
to focus on your 2021 goals. And to line them out, we have a couple episodes of goal setting. So the SMART goals and line them out what are you going to do differently in 2021, to push you through the year, are you going to market yourself differently to the clients, whatever services you offer, and continue to take a look at your business. And it's not that it's not necessary this year. If you are not busy, it's not necessarily that you are doing anything wrong, or you are not marketing hard enough, or smart enough. It could just be that if you live in a very small town, people just aren't going away. Or if you live in a state or a country that is locked down. People are not going away. It is not necessarily anything that you've done, right? It could just be clients are not going to be traveling. And being okay with that. Like it's it's not your fault. Just like we said at the start of the pandemic, this is not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. So just kind of sit and be if that's what you want, or continue to take a look at your business and what you can continue to be doing.
Collin 29:03
Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say that the holidays are a mixed bag. For some people. Many people don't like the holidays, because they don't have friends. They don't have family that they can connect with because of bridges that were burned in the past or bad relationships that they're still coming over. So sometimes the holidays can be really dark for people. And now we're adding another thing on that is, well, I used to be really, really busy. And now I'm not. And so these these thoughts, these these dark clouds start hanging over us whenever we don't have what we used to have. And it's just another notch in making holidays, not a fun time or not an exciting time like they used to be. So when we were talking about everything that we've talked about in this episode, it is definitely couched in, hopefully being busy. But if you are not, you said Megan, it's not your fault. It's not your fault and that's and it's been really hard and this this has taught us a lot about excepting what is our fault and what is not our fault. So if you are not busy, really, I like the idea of continuing to look ahead, continuing to plan for the future continuing to, again, invest in yourself, invest in your business in new in different ways. And think about the 2021 that you want to have. Maybe it's the 2020 redo for you, a lot of us had big plans, make 2021 that way. And, and really, if if the holidays are a dark place for you, if the holidays are already a struggling time for you, please reach out to somebody, please talk to somebody, you know, jump into a Facebook group Call us if you want to, we want to talk to you want to hear about your business, hear about everything that's going on touch base with somebody. And if you know somebody like that, stay on top of them and stay in Connect connection with them through this time, because this year has been really hard. And capping it off with a difficult holiday season is something that nobody needs to be doing alone. Nobody should be alone during this time. So if you know somebody, or if that's you, please reach out and get connected.
Meghan 31:14
And please also don't compare your business to somebody else's business. During this time, the Facebook groups can sometimes get really drama filled and yeah, you can really start to compare yourself to somebody business and that that should never be done. But it should definitely not be done. Now everybody lives in a different area. We operate differently. We have different services, we charge different things. We have different clients. Some people might be really busy and love it. Some people might not be busy and want to be busy. And some people don't want to be busy at all during the holidays. It is it everybody is unique. Every business is unique. Please do not compare yourself to anyone else. Because you are wonderful. If you would like to give us a call it is 636-364-8260. Or you can find us on the internet at pet sitter confessional. Our website is petsitter confessional.com. And Natasha is back this week for another question of learning from your mistakes.
Collin 32:15
As we're growing and as we're in business mistakes are going to take place things are going to happen. How can we be better at learning from those mistakes?
Natasha 32:25
mistakes. We had a podcast on mistakes, I'd be great. So mistakes obviously help us learn and grow. What happens if you make a mistake, it's really not what happens. It's really how you handle it. You know, nobody, everybody knows that we're human, everybody knows things are going to happen. But this the process that you take and the approach you take to fix it to guarantee it to make sure it doesn't happen again, that's really what's going to matter. So number one, I always tell my coaching clients is to write the mistake down number one, how it happened, and then how you can prevent it. And so now we have a problem and we have a solution. The problem and the solution both need to get written down on paper to become a policy. That's how we create policies people will make come up. It's like, oh, shoot my dog. Walker doesn't know what to do when it's freezing cold outside and it's below zero. Okay, well, you can keep the dog outside for an hour and freeze to death. Or you can make a policy that's called weather protocol. What do you do when the weather is below freezing? What do we do as a company? And then now you teach that to everybody. So when someone may may have made a mistake now, because the company policy, if someone loses keys, well, did you have the keys hanging on a lanyard in gentling in your pocket? And you were trying to find 50 different options on your keychain? Or do you put a lockbox option in so you lost the key? That was a mistake. But now what's the solution? So that's the biggest thing about mistakes is having a solution and don't say Oh, that was just a one off thing that will happen again. It's never a one off guys. It's never never Neverland, a one off thing if it happened once. It has to be your policy. Trust me, fix it. And don't deal with it again and set it and forget it, put it in there. And trust me, we all hate when our staff or anyone on our team ask us the same thing over and over and over and over that's in the state. That's a management mistake. Because you're allowing your team to bug you and ask you over and over and over except making a policy for what they're saying. To be heard at once. You're gonna hear it again. Put it on paper.
Collin 34:34
Yeah, really taking that time to sit and go Okay, like that. One thing happened that one time I don't ever want that to happen again. What what you know, and really think about that really put that into context? Who was it who do the who, what, when, where, why, how have that and then go comma, but I don't want that to happen again. Because you're right. If it happens one time, it's gonna happen again, you know, might maybe not be exactly the same. They'll be the Slight variances, but then you're just refining at that point, okay, you're you're making it better over time.
Natasha 35:06
Absolutely not saying like, Shame on them Shame on you is a real thing because you've had this happen before. You know, you felt it. You've been here you've done that, but you didn't do anything about it. That's where they say you're not learning from your mistakes can be allowed to happen again. Whereas No, something's happened. We quickly corrected it. We have a new policy and the handle was like cool. I like it. It just gives us a sigh of relief and peace of mind that we all want.
Meghan 35:37
Natasha does business coaching with start scale sale. And if you would like to learn more, you can go to her website, start scale sale.com and use the code p sc 20. For 15% off any of our coaching, we would like to thank you so much for taking your most valuable asset, your time and listening to us today. Thank you also to our patrons and pet sitters associates for making the show possible. We hope you join us next time.
Collin 36:02
Thank you
