137: Knowing You’re Enough with Melanie Haynes
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Summary:
Melanie Haynes, owner of Space Coast Pet Services and Virtual Pet Pro, shares how she found her authentic self by starting her pet care business. She discusses how being a professional pet care provider means taking care of the intangibles and building trust with your clients. Melanie also gives advice on what it’s like to be a virtual assistant and what it takes to have a great working relationship with one.
Topics on this episode:
Setting herself apart
Her biggest lesson
What is a VA?
Staying organized
Main take away? Set yourself apart by being true to yourself and letting your personality be part of your business.
About our guest:
Melanie has always loved animals- big and small. When she was in transition from an industrial security corporate job in defense contracting at Cape Canaveral AFS, she decided to take her years of pet care experience and start a business that reflected that passion. After pet sitting casually as a hobby and becoming a pet parent, she understood the importance of having professional and personalized pet care. With the lack of full-time, registered and insured in-home services in the area, she decided to fill the need for qualified, trained, loving professional home pet care providers in Brevard County.
After traveling the world in a military family, Melanie obtained her BA in Sociology and Criminal Justice from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She settled in Brevard County in 2013. She is the mother of 2 amazing children and 2 adorable pups. She is an active volunteer in the community and enjoys reading, swimming, hiking in the mountains, traveling and naps..
Links:
hello@thevirtualpetpro.com
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
business, pet, people, clients, hire, business owners, home, pet sitters, virtual assistant, services, area, thinking, dog, florida, year, running, hurricane, offer, staying, care
SPEAKERS
Collin, Melanie
Collin 00:17
Hi, I'm Collin.
00:19
And I'm Megan.
00:20
And this is pet sitter confessional,
00:22
and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter.
Collin 00:26
Today's episode is brought to you by time to pet and pet sitters International. One of the most common questions that we hear from pet sitters across the globe is how do I set myself apart from others in my area. And today, Melanie Haynes, owner of Space Coast, pet services based out of Central Florida comes on and shares some very specific and some very tangible advice that she has learned from being a pet professional for the past several years. Melanie's take on this is to be you and stay true to yourself. And I love how she presents that Melanie is also a virtual assistant. And we spend some time talking about the benefits of a virtual assistant to a business and how to build a successful working relationship with a virtual assistant to make sure that you're getting the most that you can out of that. Let's get started.
Melanie 01:17
Hi, Collin. Thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here today. So my name is Melanie Hanes, I am a mother of two younger children. And I live in VR, Florida, which is on Florida's Space Coast on the east side. I own a pet sitting and dog walking company called Space Coast pet services. And I also and the owner, a virtual assistant for pet business owners called virtual pet enterpreneur.
Collin 01:45
Yeah, and I love the name of your pet business because your place ghost pet services and I love just the the tie in that you have to the the local community there and, you know, the launching of the spaceships and all that kind of stuff. I just I love how you're able to make that tie in.
Melanie 02:00
Right. And when I was thinking of my company name, and I bounced around lots of things, I couldn't think of it, I thought, let me just go with our location, it's pretty simple. It tells you exactly what we do.
Collin 02:10
Well, and it's such a unique name, you immediately get exactly where you are and what you're where you are in relation to other things, too. So what got you started in pet care?
Melanie 02:19
So I'll try to make a long story not so long. I spent most of my post college career and defense in the defense security industry. So I did security program were for like our nation's largest defense contractors. And that's what brought me to Florida I was working over where they do the shuttle and will no longer shuttle but like the satellite launches, and I actually had a back injury. And that led me to getting laid off. And when I was laid off from my corporate job, I took some time to heal and recover and you know, be um, but then I thought, well, you know, the mortgage isn't pay itself. What can I do that I enjoy doing that can kind of put some food on the table while I figure out my next move. And I honestly thought I would continue with my corporate career. So I started offering like pet sitting and dog walking. And honestly, I thought it was going to be a hobby, I love animals. It's something I wanted to do. And the need was there. I mean, I was booked out from the minute I started. And then the longer I did it, and I got more and more booked and the money started coming in. And I thought you know what, I'd really like to make this an official business. So it took me about three months to you know, start my LLC and legitimize my been my business like people workwise. But that's how I got started, I got started just thinking it was gonna be a hobby. And it turned out to be an interesting career choice for me.
Collin 03:44
Well, I think that follows the same path that that many of us get into it of, Oh, this is something I enjoy doing. I'm relatively good at it. Let me just do this for the time being and then you look back five years down the road. I'm running my business.
Melanie 04:00
Yeah, one thing, at least for me, personally, a lot of like, my health and stress issues was just not being happy in my environment, my job. And even though the pet sitting and dog walking was obviously a huge headache, I no longer had corporate benefits and insurance. But there's really no price tag you can put on being happy. And not having that stress that my my life really improved once I did what I loved, even if I wasn't making as much. So that was the most important thing that made me decide to stick with it and not go back. I just, I didn't want to go back to being unhappy.
Collin 04:35
Yeah, who would and especially with something that you're so passionate about, and that you can do and it fits your schedule, right. It allows you to flex it a little bit and do things when you can and just just make it work for you.
Melanie 04:49
Yes, I mean, my number one goal is to always make sure you know I'm a single mom, so I wanted to make sure I was there for my kids. And you know, having a pet business really allowed me to do that. So I'm very thankful for that.
Collin 04:59
Yeah. Now I am curious, you have your background in security and all that, how does that play into how you run your business?
Melanie 05:08
Well, you know, it's funny because a lot of people really worry about letting a stranger in their home, you know, clients, they're, they're hiring a pet sitter or dog walker, and all these people have my keys, they have my alarm codes. And I think my background and being able to, you know, talk to people, or meet and greets, and kind of tell them where I come from, that it really instills trust in them, like they trust me, they know that I am going to do a security check of their home and going to keep their kids safe, I am not going to, you know, when I have a team hire just anybody off the street without a background check. Not that a background check will solve 100% of your problems, but at least you know, you do do due diligence. So I think that really helps that people know that Yeah, they can maybe hire some a little bit cheaper, who might be younger, but having you know, an adult professional with a security background really makes them able to trust me.
Collin 05:56
Yeah, and that trust is so huge, so central to the the service that we're providing here of when you are going into somebody else's home, that's because they trust you, and being able to talk to them about maybe some insecurities that they have, or concerns that they may have about that about who's going to be there. Yeah, I can 100% see how they'd be, you'd be able to kind of talk that language of these are the precautions that we take, this is how we control it, and everything's gonna be just fine.
Melanie 06:21
Right, and knowing that somebody you know, who's had a security clearance with the US government coming to their home, I think they feel a little bit more refreshed. But I've gotten so much feedback from clients that they really appreciate that, you know, I do check the doors and windows and look for any signs of entry while they're gone. I do you know, double check to make sure everything's locked up and secure. So I think the peace of mind, you know, is a big part of pet care, not just loving animals. So I love that I can bring both to the table.
Collin 06:47
Yeah, providing peace of mind to those clients. Yeah, they want to know that their pets are cared for. But they also have these other concerns going in the back and being able to just again, come alongside them and go, it's okay, this I'm a professional, I can take care of this. That's that's so huge. Right?
Melanie 07:01
Yeah. And I even have the tagline on my website that says, you know, it's custom care for pets and peace of mind for pet parents. So that's really the philosophy that I run my business on.
Collin 07:11
Yeah, tell us about the kind of services that you offer.
Melanie 07:15
So I offer I mean, nothing like super special and unique it I offer the dog walking and pet sitting that includes cats exotics, I do in home pet sitting in my home to some people call boarding. But here because I don't have kennels in cages, it's more of like an in home family style, you know, pet setting. And I have offered poop scooping, I've kind of gotten away with that just because of this time after COVID-19 we're kind of seeing a reduction, all sorts of services. So I've kind of narrowed down what I do and my service area to kind of make keep it profitable. While I also, you know, explore other areas of, I guess, earning revenue, and income, my family,
Collin 07:56
right? Well, that is the continual balance of being able to provide new and interesting services while making sure that they're profitable, and trying to plan all that out. So especially in this time, where settings are so uncertain and see where exactly things are gonna land like that does, that is quite the balance to be walking.
Melanie 08:13
And what that's going to pick up for my business is also house sitting. So even if he doesn't have pets, because we have a lot of snowbirds here in Florida, and a lot of retirees because there's a lot of travel restrictions, a lot of people who would be here for the winter months coming, aren't able to travel back. So they are hiring me because I am a trusted, you know, community service provider to come in and check on their homes and do their like do their mail and just make sure everything's on the up and up while they're gone. So that's another source of income for my pet sitting business that's been picking up and that I really enjoy doing. I mean, I love the animals, but I also love knowing that I can help serve my community in more than, you know, one way.
Collin 08:54
Sure, yeah, making sure that the homes are safe and that they're being communicated without any issues that they have going on. I I did want to ask about the exotics, because I know it's something that Megan and I we don't have a lot of experience in that. So I'm curious, you know, what kind of animals that you've cared for and how you prep and whether that's different or not in the typical dog or cat.
Melanie 09:15
I wouldn't say I prep any differently of them. You know, I may refresh, just like with either Google searching or you know, studying the notes in the client portal about each specific animal because each one just like a dog, you know, there's not one way to take care of a dog. But um, I really enjoy it because I love dogs and cats and that is you know, the majority of the bread and butter of our business, but I love having the variety and just getting to I've always loved I had a pet snake growing up. I've had rabbits, I've had turtles, I've had frogs, so I really enjoy having the variety. I do take care of a rabbit pretty regularly. He comes and stays at my home. We've had chameleons, we've had snakes, we birds I have an African gray that started off as a client And now it's become a long term foster situation. It's been over let's see, it's been over a year, almost a year and a half at the time that this will air that we've had him. It's actually a she, but they didn't realize it. So we just call him hate me for 19 years. And so when the parents couldn't when his parents couldn't take care of him anymore, he they they asked if I would, you know, keep him so I have Yeah, I just I there's a lot of fish tanks. Sometimes even in the homes with dogs and cats. They have, you know, other animals to hamsters. dribbles. I just, I just love learning about animals and taking care of them and just having the variety. It's fun to me.
Collin 10:42
Yeah, I can see how that variety would just, you know, continuing to learn new things and be exposed to new experiences and keeps it pretty exciting for you. But
Melanie 10:50
my most, like, odd experience, I would say was about in the first year of my business I had, there was somebody with a pot bellied pig. And I'm thinking in my head, like, okay, as a cute little note this thing. I mean, he was he was adorable. But he was, you know, probably like 250 to three pounds. He was huge. And they told me that he was crate trained like a dog, that he had a playpen, and they need to keep them so I thought, okay, I'll keep him at my house. Because in my mind, I was thinking like this cute little pot bellied pig. So at one point for a week, I had this ginormous pig in my home. But I was also boarding dogs. And one of my clients who since passed away, he was a long haired German Shepherd, his name was Ace, and Ace, and this pig his name was Hamilton. Eysan Hamilton, were the best of friends. They both bark, they both ran up and down the fence, they would go in their crates together, they would take naps together. And it was the sweetest thing ever. So while I probably wouldn't do that again, now, it was such a great experience. And it really taught me you know, check. Like, check first double check before you take on things, but it was a great experience. And yeah, I don't know. I just thought I'd share that
Collin 12:05
was really cool. Because Yeah, you think pig you know, it's in your home? You don't think this 300 pound animal?
Melanie 12:14
Yes. I have great pictures from it. So
Collin 12:19
in Hamilton, of course, of course. What a great.
Melanie 12:22
I mean, I would have suggested by Kevin Bacon, but yeah, Watson was great.
Collin 12:27
Maybe next time?
12:29
Yeah.
12:33
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Collin 13:02
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13:19
Michonne.
Melanie 13:25
Collin, where do I start? as many pet business owners know. Having a team you know has lots of pluses and it's an up and down thing. There's it's just a roller coaster of emotions and headaches and reward. And so about a year in, I started hiring. And I had team members team members up until March of 2020. This year, when right before COVID-19 hit Actually, my my last employee quit. They had two jobs, they thought they'd be able to go back and forth. But then the other job decided to hire them full time. So it wasn't you know anything negative, but I was just about to start hiring again. And that's when COVID-19 hit. And I really think that was a blessing to me. Because as stressful as that was I didn't have to worry about a team and layoffs versus furlough and TPP for employees or unemployment. I really just had to take care of myself and my family so I have not rehired since then I have decided to stay on a solo and just kind of do what they can. That means I'm not always available and I might have to reduce my service area. Things haven't picked up to the point to make it profitable again for me to hire. So right now I have a team of one. But I have had, I've hired probably a little over 20 people and the three years that I've had my business and I mean I've I've learned a lot. Let's just say I've learned a lot about an employer.
Collin 14:51
Well, sure, as you mentioned like it, it is less stressful in the fact that you aren't the one having to go out and do most of the services but The other side of that is you have to now almost provide for them, you have to make sure that they're cared for and that they're busy, and that they're doing all the right things, all of those considerations have to be taken into into account when you decide to go and and hire.
Melanie 15:15
Right. And sometimes trade one stress for the other, you know, when you're solo sitter, and it's, let's say, Christmas week, during non COVID times, and you're running ragged, it's stressful to say, Okay, I've got this many visits, you know, you're on a strict time schedule to get it all done. But it's also pretty stressful when you're relying on other people to get done in a way that represents your company well, and knowing that they can just walk out the door tomorrow and say, you know, I quit, and now you're scrambling to so you kind of have to weigh the pros and cons and the pluses and the minuses and, and just know that you're taking a risk either way.
Collin 15:47
Right? And I feel a lot of us are a lot of us who do this solo are kind of always on the bubble of trying to decide if we're gonna hire or not hire or not hire or not. So maybe what advice would you give to somebody who's thinking about that thinking about hiring? You know, right now,
Melanie 16:02
I would say, I mean, you really need to be honest with yourself and ask, are you okay? If something were to happen to you, you have no one to run your business. And on the other hand, if you're hiring and you want to keep hiring, you have to ask yourself, Am I really okay? Letting go of some of the control because you have to, or else, you're not gonna have a great relationship with your team members, you know, and letting them do the job according to how you train and trusting that it's going to get done. Right. And that, you know, they'll come to you with any problems. But really, you're kind of like setting your baby free in the world. And it's, it's very, you know, it can bring a lot of anxiety. So, I wouldn't really say that, you just need to make sure that you're okay with letting go. And that you're at a good, I guess, income flow to be able to support them and pay for them, you know, because you don't want to bring on people and not pay them, right. Like, that's just not an ethical thing to do. Right. And I would say that you need to make sure that you are organized like that, the best thing you can do to serve your employees, make sure you have your processes taken care of. You have everything in place so that their experience goes smoothly, because he wants to bring on somebody in into, you know, the middle of chaos. I mean, there's one thing that you learn as you go, and every business, you know, you're kind of going to learn through that as you when you first start hiring. But you really need to at least have a foundation of you know, your processes, you know, your training, and you really want to, you know, get them started on the best foot.
Collin 17:25
Yeah, yeah, you want to do right by them, like they're there, again, we need to be caring for and taking care of the people who we bring on under us that they're being paid appropriately, that they're being busy, that they know what they're going to do, they're trained properly, all of those things, you're right, like who you wouldn't want to be hired into the middle of chaos and people running around crazy. So why do that to somebody else,
Melanie 17:46
right, and they hear some people or I've heard, you know, just online or wherever they'll say, I can't wait to hire. So I can just sit back and relax. It's not really like that. And I don't think that's responsible to do I mean, as the owner of the company, I feel like you should be there for your team to be the not the last resort, but you want your team members to solve problems on the go. But in the event of something that, like the buck stops with you, you have to be able to make decisions and handle emergencies. You can't just sit back and send a newly hired person out and then say, Well, I'm just not responsible anymore. I just don't think that serves them well. And I think your team members appreciate when they know that you're always going to have their back and you're there as a resource if they need it.
Collin 18:27
Yeah, I know that totally is it's it's part being a leader part, being a mentor, and part being a resource to them, continuing to teach them to help improve their services, and then again, hold it holding yourself responsible when things go wrong, or when something needs to be taken care of knowing that you back them right that they're just not out there dangling on their own, that you're gonna cut them off if something happens, but you know, you've got your back.
Melanie 18:50
For sure. So I mean, I can't say that I won't hire again down the road. But right now I'm, I'm happy with where I'm at, I've come to a place of peace that you know, it is what it is. And there's a time and a place for everything and things change. There's ebbs and flows. And I'm just kind of going with the flow right now. So I'm happy with it.
Collin 19:06
Yeah. enlighten us a little bit about what the market is like, in your area.
Melanie 19:10
Oh, goodness. So, I mean, being where I am specifically in Florida. We have you know, the younger, like family type age, you know, they have a family, they're they're engineers, they work with us, like the government or the space program or something like that. But we also have a huge, huge number of retirees and people who are snowbirds. They live here half the time and they live somewhere up north half time. So why oh, there was a there was about a year and a half where I tried desperately to become solely a dog walking company because I thought okay, with the recurring revenue, that's the bread and butter, but honestly, this area isn't set up for that. So once I became realistic about who my market was and what's available, um, it just, I just naturally went to pet city. So I mean, I think there's there's busier times but people in Florida I would say they traveled All the time, even if it's just a weekend trip to Disney, or, you know, the Tampa Bay to the other Gulf side of the beaches, or, you know, there's not really a just a holiday travel season. So that's what I did like about setting it up and having it as a pet, mostly pet sitting business, even though I do also dog walking, that there really was a slow time now we're talking, you know, pre cope and not pandemic times, right. That's, that's different in every way, shape, or form. But just on the average, I would say, in my area, there's just people are always traveling, either it's work travel, or it's family travel, weekend travel, there's, there's pretty steady work if you're willing to put in the time and are in love on their pets.
Collin 20:41
Yeah. How do you find that you're able to differentiate yourself from others doing similar services?
Melanie 20:48
You know, it's funny, because you asked that, because there's so many times where people say like, what sets you apart, and they want like a word or something tangible. And I honestly think that the thing is that each one of us apart are the intangibles, like, someone could copy your website, they can copy every single service you have, but they're never beat, they'll never be you. They can't step into a meet and greet and be you. They can't, you know, no one can duplicate everyone's unique and, and I just think that's wonderful. Because there's something for everyone. Like, every client is not going to be a great fit for me, and I'm not going to be a great fit for everybody. But that's okay, because there's enough. And there's enough people to go around. So I can't really say it's, you know, one specific thing, but I really, really think that the care and concern I put into not only just their pet, but their family, their home, just to making sure that their experience is comfortable, and pleasant and pretty much stress free. I just I love being able to provide that service to the community.
Collin 21:48
Yeah. When you hit you know, you said it's the intangibles that someone else will never be you like, that takes a lot of confidence in yourself, to be able to know that I am enough. I am enough right now to set myself apart from somebody else, I'm unique, I have my experiences, I'm able to do that, that can pull that's kind of that's kind of weighty at times, I feel like to be able to just to know that like, Yeah, I do a good job, I'm confident in what I do. And that's enough, you know, as you said, like, they can copy and paste your website exactly, but they'll never be you.
Melanie 22:24
Right, and I don't recommend clearly, you know, anyone copy anyone else. Even somebody was starting out and you said, Okay, I love what they're doing, they have a great successful business. Nothing you do or see on paper that you copy is going to replicate that if you don't have it within you to bring yourself I think like whatever you have in you and your personality and the way you communicate. That's what really sets every business apart.
Collin 22:47
Yeah, no, I, I absolutely love that. And think that that's, that's something that, you know, it may take some time to become comfortable with and to think through. But when you start looking at people around you to not immediately jump to what services are they offering? What training do they have? What are their prices? To look at yourself and know that? Yeah, no, people choose me. Because,
23:06
I mean,
Collin 23:09
it's never gonna, you're never gonna be 100% all the time, fit, good, best fit with a client. And that's okay. And that needs to be that way so that you can work with the people that you want to be working with.
Melanie 23:20
Right? And don't get me wrong, this didn't happen. You know, this epiphany did not happen overnight. I've had my business for three and a half years. So it's just taking time, and growth and just being comfortable with who I am knowing I'm doing the best I can and that there's always room for improvement. And I mean, there's no one I'm competing with other than myself. What's it
Collin 23:37
like operating in in Florida with the hurricanes and everything that goes on with that?
Melanie 23:43
I guess they can get kind of crazy. I don't know if you know, but 2020 has been the most active hurricane season that we've had since 1916. I heard on the news today we have currently nine named storm named storms that have hit the Continental the lower continental United States. So it's we're in for a crazy ride. But everyone when you live in Florida, you kind of know when you get here that June, November is hurricane season, you're going to get a lot of rain, a lot of tropical weather and starting in September, you really start to buckle down and get ready. So not only do you prepare your home and having non perishable food and lots of water and batteries and make sure your generator is working and you know, gas cans full of gas, you need it. But I wouldn't say for the business wise, it's really about communication. So when a client comes on board, they immediately they need to review and sign an agreement for an emergency whether a hurricane policy I have and that just sets expectation of what I'm committed to doing in the event of severe weather and what they're going to be responsible for in the event as well. And I think having clear expectations kind of smooth it over as it goes. Because the closer that the storm gets when we do you know have an impending um hurricane, you know, tension rises, anxiety rises, people are Just out, people want to know what's going to happen with my pet if I need to get out of here. So just knowing that I can keep communicating and as the government issues, you know, whether it's a hurricane warning, Hurricane watch, you know, severe thunderstorm warning, whatever it is that we have policies in place, and I just communicate daily if I have to, when the last one that we really were affected by Irma, you know, there was some times every day, twice a day, I was sending out notifications, what I was able to do, what areas I was able to travel to, and just really, as a community, we came together, and they knew that they had somebody who can help care for pets, but they also need to, you know, have emergency contacts in place a local, a local planning case, I can't be there.
Collin 25:43
Right? Yeah. and communicating all that upfront. And I really like the staged approach that you have of linking it to these government releases of as the business owner going well, I don't know when safe or what's not safe or what's going on, link it to these announcements that come out. And you when this things come out, you know, you do XYZ and your clients know you do XYZ, and they need to go do XYZ as well, making sure everybody's in that loop. Is that something that you remind clients have periodically or refresher asked them about updating things throughout the year?
Melanie 26:19
Oh, yes. I mean, in my client portal is precise Petcare, everyone's required every two months to review their account and update it. As far as the severe policy, I will go in at the beginning of June each year and reset it so that the next time they log in, they have to re review it and sign it just to make sure we're all on the same page. And I know a lot of times I can sometimes get almost paralyzed where I don't know. Should I say this? Should I say that? Should I offer this should not. And I'm able to use, you know, the local emergency planners and the agencies to say, Okay, I'm making a decision, because the experts have made this and they know what they're talking about. That kind of takes the pressure off of me. And now I'm just following my SLP, right? Like, if x happens, I say why if y happens, then I send this email. So it really kind of takes the heat and pressure. And I just think it's a smart way to do business. Because I mean, things can get so crazy. And we're hit by a storm. I mean, you don't know when you're going to have power. I mean, I remember to a few years ago, when Irma hit we I lost, I only lost power. Actually, eight hours, I was surprised a lot of my surrounding community lasted for about a week, I didn't have water for 10 days, whoo, if you don't know, it's like to not have water to like turn on the faucet to brush your teeth to pour water for dogs to I mean, take a shower, that's stressful. So when you can kind of have a system and a process in place that kind of tells you what to do and kind of limit the decisions you have to make. When you're in that high stress moment. It makes things so much easier.
Collin 27:53
Oh, no, that's huge, you know, limit the decisions you have to make because they're pre planned out. They're linked to other things that are external from your brain, which may be sleep deprived, super stressed, because you're worried about taking care of your kids and the pets and the people in the area. And everything going on. At that point, externalize that, and you're just working the system to right you're just with it with everybody else. And that that takes planning and maybe take some some practice and some discipline to to stick to that. But it pays off in the end.
Melanie 28:22
And I've actually found that that kind of strategy, for me at least, has been very beneficial in more areas than just you know, my hurricane planning. I mean, everything in my business that I've created slps and processes for and canned emails, all these things just make things life so much easier. Because you don't have to make the decision, you have a plan. I think the hardest thing is making sure you stick with it to be I mean, while you're making it, it's a lot of work to do it. But then if once you just implement it, it just takes a lot of I have decision fatigue. I mean between being a mom, being a business owner and just life in general. There's just so many decisions we have to make. And I really try to limit that and try to work on my I've been really working on that the past year and a half or so is trying to get away from my decision fatigue.
Collin 29:08
Yeah, no, I love that. Because Yeah, if you don't like simple things, like you said, like pre scripted automated emails that go out, like if you have to sit down and handcraft a bespoke email for every new client, you're going to look at that. What did I say last time, I'm so angry right now because that other client like you just just like it goes off automatically or you just copy and paste the pre the text that you use all the time. And off he goes. And he said, you don't have to worry about this decision fatigue. So that's really cool to hear that how you've implemented that not just in emergency planning, but in business planning to
Melanie 29:42
write and it really helps honestly, for people who are growing and scaling their business. If they're looking to hire like an office manager or someone to help them on their team on the back end. Having those things in place are gonna like seriously make your life so much easier because he wants to hand off something and not have a guide. If you already have it in place, because you're doing it, it's easier to hand that off. Even if it's not long term, like, if, let's say that I was not saying I was gonna get hit by a car, let's just say you had a, you know, unfortunate accident, and you had to take, you know, two weeks off for health reasons or whatever, you know, being able to have somebody even short term to be able to come in and pick up because you have everything written down, and they can send your canned emails, they can follow your processes, that's just gonna, to me, that's just great planning and just a great contingency, a contingency plan for any business to have
Collin 30:30
making sure people can step in and helps with training too. As I mentioned, if you want to bring somebody, if you've got it lined out, and it's what you felt you do, then you have confidence that when you hand it to somebody else, we'll just do this, and you'll you'll know what's gonna get done.
Melanie 30:44
Right, exactly. That's the goal, at least.
Collin 30:48
And so, you know, thinking back over the last three years, that you've been running your business and everything that you've you've experienced, and how you've grown and things like that, what would be the biggest thing that you say you've learned, since starting?
Melanie 31:02
Gosh, there's so many things, Colin, as I come up on my fourth anniversary, which will be in March of 2021, I would say that I've just learned so much about myself, I've learned about what boundaries I've had to make in order to be you know, happy and successful, whether it's client boundaries, and employee team member boundaries, just life boundaries. I've learned, like how to work with so many different types of people, because I love I love meeting and working with different types of people. So but it's also a learning curve, like when you're especially if you're somebody who's like the boss, or in charge, you know, to kind of go that fine line between these different making a friend and you know, also, you know, having to have rules in place and discipline policy, those kind of things, I've really learned that you can, you can, honestly, any business that you have, you're going to make the best or the worst of it. And it really just starts with your mindset. I mean, it's not one specific formula or recipe that says, Okay, if you do XYZ, you're going to have x amount of revenue, right? It's really about finding out who you are, what personality traits or what values mean the most to you. And showing up that way in your business every day. If you're somebody who expects honesty and really values that, then make sure you're running your business that way. If you're somebody who values being on time, then show up in your business that way, you know, just those kinds of things about the inner work and just the mindset. I think I've learned more about myself, and it's not necessarily business related. It's like personal growth related.
Collin 32:35
No, that's huge. Because as you mentioned, you know, whenever you're hiring people, the buck stops with you. And so growing into that level of personal responsibility, and saying, Yeah, while I'm running my business, I need to run my business the way I want to run it, and that fits with me, and fits with how I value myself, my my values, my goals, and in aligning everything with that. So that you can, you know, you run the business that you you want to be running.
Melanie 33:06
But also being open to feedback. You know, there's a lot of times, a lot of times for us in the pet care industry, we get so high strung and so defensive when either our clients upset about something or one of our team members upset about something. But I choose to look at it as this is an opportunity for free advice on how to improve my business. There's something that was done, whether they're right, it's not about who's right or who's wrong or placing blame, but it's an opportunity to learn, okay, this client didn't like that we did this, how can we improve for next time? And honestly, I appreciate those things. Because without it, how are you going to find out how you should improve or how you can improve your client experience or your employee experience? All of these things, instead of looking at it as a negative, I look at it as a positive. Yes, in the moment, it doesn't feel great, you know, I have to make an apology or take responsibility for something that one of my team members didn't do, right. But in the end, I think how we deal with that, whether it's a negative review online, or a phone call from an angry client, that's really going to set the tone for how your company is viewed in your community. And it really, it's really going to set the tone on how you choose to grow as a person, whether you're going to take it as a negative and just get defensive and forget about it. Or if you're going to choose to make it a learning experience and really
Collin 34:23
taking the time to look and grow from it instead of stopping and locking into your previous ways of behaving and acting and go What is this teaching me? What is my business teaching me? What is this response teaching me and going from there?
Melanie 34:37
universe has a funny way of doing that right usually shows up in ways that's going to help us grow the most. I see that in my children as well.
Collin 34:47
Children have a wonderful way of teaching you all of that stuff. Yeah.
Melanie 34:51
Yes, it shows you every every inch of space that you need to grow
Collin 34:58
a few times now You've mentioned being part of the community being viewed as a responsible actor in the community and being viewed Well, in the community. What Why is that important to you? And where does that where does that come from?
Melanie 35:12
You know, I grew up, my dad was in the Air Force, I was a military brat, I lived in four countries and visited, I think it was around 27, by the time I was finished high school. So I think because I moved around so much, and I got to know so many people in so many different places, but I never really had a hometown, if you ask me where I'm from, I'm gonna say, I'm a military brat. I'm not from anywhere. So when I moved to Florida, it's been seven and a half, almost eight years now. I really feel like I wanted to plant roots. I wanted to get to know the community. And really, I really want to leave any place better than I found it. If I can't, you know, I can't save the world. But I can look around me and see how can I impact this better? whether or not I'm staying here eight years, or I'm staying here, you know, back in the day, only 123 years. So I think for me, I've always just grown up with a sense of pride about if you're going to be here make the best of it. I mean, I hate heat and humidity, which is funny, because I live in Florida. However, how can I make the best of where I'm at? How can I go out in the world? And when people encounter me or interact with me, they leave me feeling positive, or at least not negative about the experience, right? I don't know. It's just it's part of how I grew up. And I just think it's just the value that really means a lot to me. There's so much negativity, you know what, I don't want to be a part of that.
Collin 36:33
Yeah, no. Absolutely. It speaks to the fact that, you know, the businesses that we run are so much more than quote unquote, just a business, right? Like, yeah, and I know, I know, you're putting yourself out there and trusting that you and be competent in you is, you know, we talked about that. What sets you apart in your area? Well, it's you and how you interact with people. And knowing that when you are out there walking dogs or pet sitting, you're visible people know, they see you, and they're going to look to you and see how you're reacting. Are you respecting the area? Are you kind to people, all those kind of things, it's we're not just running a business, because we do we are part of a community, we are a part of something bigger than just taking care of animals.
Melanie 37:18
Right? When you go into someone's home, and especially when they're not there. I mean, you become to me like you become part of the family. I always say like, these are my Space Coast pet families, like Welcome to the east coast, pet family, everyone gets a welcome. When they sign up as a client, maybe because you really become an extended family. They are trusting you with their homes and with their pets or family members. And so for me personally treating it any other way just doesn't go right. And I just I just try to run my business. Well, there's always room for growth. I don't have anything, you know, perfect or down, Pat. I really think staying true to my core values is just really important to me.
Collin 37:54
Yeah, no, absolutely. I love I love hearing that. That's so cool. And to know that you're viewing it not just as your business, but you doing it as being part of a community and taking care of people to
Melanie 38:05
Emily assessable as they are as well. Yeah, we're all in this together. This life, this business, everything. We're all in it together.
Collin 38:14
Yeah. Now you also run a virtual assistant business?
38:18
Why? Yes, I do. Yeah.
38:20
Amongst all the other things you have going on? now. Tell Tell us about that. And why you started that
Melanie 38:26
news story. So I actually, when I started my business, I told you, I was just looking for like a little extra money on the side. Because in my mind, I wanted to be VA I've always wanted to be VA, I really loved administrative and the project management side of my corporate job. And I thought, well, let me just try to do it for myself. And I really did the petsitting because I just needed, you know, to feed myself and my kids while I was going to start the VA business, but I just didn't realize how quickly the pet business would blow up. So I've spent two years working on growing that and organizing that and setting it up with systems and you know, things in place to have a team again someday. And so finally, this year, again, things slowed down a little bit with COVID. And I wasn't, you know, I caught it crisis, ISIS schooling, not homeschooling, because we weren't really traditional homeschool. We were all crisis schooling. When that slowed down a little bit, I was able to pick back up with my original passion, which is serving other business owners. I just I love doing that. And so that's how that started. That was originally the that was supposed to be the first business but it just ended up being the second one. No,
Collin 39:35
I many of us may have heard of a virtual assistant, but it's kind of this other thing of like, Oh yeah, they have a virtual assistant or have you used one but we might not know what it what a virtual assistant does. So what does a virtual assistant do? I guess.
Melanie 39:49
So I mean, every virtual assistant could, you know could offer different services. For me personally, I provide virtual assistants to business pet to busy pet business owners in the area. have like logo design, social media management, blog management, and general administrative, which could be like a one off project. And so what that means for me is that I come in, and I help business owners with the back end projects or things that they need to get done. But I do it from my home, I am my own business. So it's not a 1099 contractor, and it's not hiring, you know, it's not a W two employee. It's really just being able to know what I'm really good at, and what I enjoy, and what I want to offer to help other business owners because let's face it, we can't be everything to everybody all the time. And so everyone eventually needs help. And so that's what I do. But there are virtual assistants who are like virtual bookkeepers, or, you know, they could be Pinterest managers, or they could be, you know, YouTube managers. So really, there's anything that's in your business that doesn't need to be physically done by you and in person can be done by a virtual assistant, everyone kind of defines their own business, what works for them.
Collin 40:57
And as the business owner, maybe taking some time to think about, hmm, do I need to be doing this? Is this something that I need to be actively doing right now? And then maybe, you know, if maybe that's a staff member that can do that? Or maybe you know, you don't have people that around you that can do those kind of things, then looking for a virtual assistant that that can help?
Melanie 41:18
And it's not just what do I need to it's Do you want to? Like there's a lot of things that you can do by what are you saying no, to in order to say yes, so things you don't want to do in your business? Every s comes with an equal now and I always tell people look at the noses in your life, what are you saying no to you saying no to going on vacation? Are you saying no to spending time with your kids after school? Are you saying no to taking the weekend off and you know, sitting in front of the TV, and binging on Netflix, whatever it is that you're saying no to that means you're saying yes to something else, and vice versa. So I think it's important for business owners to really take a look at not only the things that they can't do, but just the things they don't want to do. Like there's nothing wrong, there's no guilt, and saying, I would rather hire this out and spend time doing the things I love with the people I love the most like there's nothing wrong with that.
Collin 42:06
Thinking about virtual assistants. If somebody's looking for one, what would you say makes a great virtual assistant,
Melanie 42:14
I think it's gonna depend on what you're looking for. But I mean, number one is do they have, you know, the skills required to do what you need them to do? Or at least the motivation to learn, if you have time, you know, if you don't need something tomorrow, they have time to learn it. But for me, honestly, I say that the biggest thing is personality, if you don't mesh well with somebody, and you can't communicate well. And like the point of having a virtual assistant to me is to take stress and you know, pressure off of you and to make things easier. And if you can't get along with and communicate well with the person that you're hiring, I think that makes it very stressful. It may work for short term, like one off project, they don't have to, you know, deal with, but the types of things that I do I have an ongoing relationship with my business owners and my clients that I really love to be able to, you know, email or send a text real quick. And you know, they get me I get them and everything gets done, and everyone's happy.
Collin 43:12
Yeah, it does. Again, setting those expectations upfront early. And reminding of them often is so huge in that so that you're not thinking, oh, here's a project. You know, it needs to be I know, it needs to get done tomorrow, but I'll just see whenever they can get it done, or thinking that you can drop something like that. And someone's going to be able to turn around as fast as possible or things like that. So knowing, hey, what's your what's your schedule actually like? What kind of things can you take on right now and then as a business owner, being able to adjust accordingly. And just being able to communicate those expectations?
Melanie 43:43
Right, I would say before you hire have a clear, like, be clear on what you need, when you need that by and what your budget is. Because if you're not honest with yourself about when something's due, you can't fault anyone for not getting it done in the time that you need it if you haven't clearly stated when it needs to be done, like you letting go of how it gets done is going to be important because remember, these aren't like we're not employees, we our own business owners, and we're taking the responsibility of getting it done, the way we needed to get done according to our contract, you know, you can put anything into your contract, as long as you're clear with expectations on both sides, and it's in a contract. And I think that's an important way to get started off on a good foot.
Collin 44:22
Now someone's listening and going, Hmm, maybe I have some skills that I could put forth and become somebody's Virtual Assistant, what does that process look like? How would you How would you recommend somebody get started?
Melanie 44:34
I would say um, take a look at what you're good at, and also what you enjoy doing, because there's a lot of things I'm good at, but I don't I don't enjoy doing it enough to I mean, to really get paid to do it for anyone else. No. So I would say once you know kind of what you're good at or what you're interested in and what you're interested enough to invest in yourself. So if there's a skill that you would enjoy doing or you want to enjoy to learn how to do you have to invest in your First, before you expect any business owner to invest in you, if you if you haven't invested in the time to set up your business correctly, require, you know, acquire the required training or skills or experience, whether you're doing it for yourself or if you do it. When people start out, they ask a friend or somebody close to them like, Hey, can I do this in exchange for a testimonial or review or for experience? So I would say if you're not willing to invest in yourself in order to be the best you can be, don't expect any, any business owner to spend their money, their hard earned money to invest in you as well. Anybody who likes pets can say, Okay, I'm a dog walker, because I walk dogs. But do they really have a business, you know, the same way we can say that there's hobby, pet care people. And then there's pet care businesses, the same thing can be for VA, I need to be a VA, you have to be really serious about what you're doing. Because remember, you are, you're now responsible for not only your own business success, but your clients business as well. And I take that responsibility very seriously. And I mean, I love what I do. And I love seeing them grow and being able to help in any way I can. But I don't take it lightly. And I don't say okay, well, I'm working for myself. So today, I'm just gonna sit on the couch, it doesn't matter that they need this. I know if I make a commitment. And you know, you're saying that you're going to be there, you really need to be there for the for them in the way that they hired you to be.
Collin 46:19
Yeah, there's again, that personal personal responsibility, taking yourself seriously so that other people will see that seriousness and know that, you know, it's important to you, if you recognize it as a business, how do you balance the petsitting and the VA work throughout the day?
Melanie 46:36
Oh, my goodness, well, it's COVID actually been a blessing in this way, because a lot of the pet business has slowed down enough for me to spend the time getting all my systems in place for my VA business. But I would say, you just have to be really good at organizing and prioritizing. And being honest, I'm not going to take on any project, whether it's petsitting, or whether it's a VA client, if I don't have the time, realistically and my schedule to complete what needs to get done in the time that you know, they need. So that means I have to turn down a weekend client because I want to spend time with my kids and take them somewhere, well, then I just need to be honest and do that. Same thing with my VA business. If 50 people today called me and said, I need a logo by next week. Clearly, I'm not going to be able to do that. So you know, you'd have to get in line. And that would be great. I would love if 50 people call me today looking to hire me. But you know what I mean? It's really about just being realistic and being organized and getting your calendar down and saying, okay, I block my time, this is my time for this. This is my time for this and trying to stick with it. It's not always going to be exactly like that. There has to be some flexibility. But I say in general, that's, that's what has served me. Well.
Collin 47:49
Yeah, looking at your priorities going? What's my number one priority? And then because that's my number one priority, what must fall in line? What must I say no to? If that's really my number one priority, because you said if if weekends to go with my kids, somewhere is my number one priority? I must say no to bookings for that weekend, so that I can do it. Because if you if you start saying yes to things that don't align with your priority, was it even a priority to begin with? And no, and staying consistent with that is really the hard part.
Melanie 48:19
Honestly, it goes back to what I said about having a great relationship with your clients, my petsitting clients and my VA clients, they all know me, and they know that I have a good work ethic. And they know that I'm a person of integrity. So let's say because I am a solo sitter now that I get sick, or something happens. And I'm a little bit late for something or I have to we have to adjust the deadline. We have such a great relationship because I only work with people that I can serve well, that we mesh, well. It doesn't it's not a problem. They have to change things, I have to change things. It's kind of the ebb and flow of owning a business. And if you have a great relationship, and there's no animosity there, you just can be as long as you communicate, I think people are willing to be a lot more forgiving and give a lot more grace than we give people credit for
Collin 49:05
just better safe than we give people credit for because we expect you know if we say no people are going to come out the woodwork with their pitchforks and knives and chases away because, right, no. But really building those relationships and trusting one another again, as we started talking off with the very beginning of our of our conversation here, like the importance of building trust in these relationships, when somebody trusts you and you have a relationship with them. You can say no to them, and they're still going to be there. They're still going to like you. It's okay.
Melanie 49:37
And it goes both ways, too. So, you know, as a VA, you know, things do come up and sometimes, you know, like an emergency might happen. I had to reschedule a meeting. It doesn't happen a lot, but it happens the same way. I want grace and forgiveness and you know, to realize that I'm human the same way I have to do it for my clients. It's my clients. They owe me something a deliverable and they're late and they have to change the date or something comes up in their personal life. I mean, we're all again, we're all in this together. And I think that when you work with a great team of people who can support you, and you can be there for them, there's nothing better to me. I know that being a VA isn't for everybody, but it is seriously what I love, love doing.
Collin 50:16
Yeah, as you mentioned, it is that ebb and flow, it's a give and take on both sides that makes what that is that that's a working relationship. And both people are giving and taking, you know, back and forth. So that it so that stuff happens so that you can get work done. And that's and that's what makes it successful.
Melanie 50:34
I mean, there's a big difference between making excuses for not getting things done, and needing some grace because, you know, life happens. And as long as you know, you stay true to yourself and know that you're doing it for the right reasons, and that you can't there's some things that are just out of our control. The rest is kind of falls into place.
Collin 50:49
Right? Oh my gosh, I love that so much that making excuses versus understanding and needing that there's times for grace in when because things happen. It's, it's, we you see that your daily life. So you have to recognize that other people see that to other people know, things happen. And so it's not it's so you have to trust that. And that's just part of that. That relationship. I love that I was I like that so much.
Melanie 51:15
I mean, having those I needed my fair share and some more of grace in my life. So I tried it out as more than I need to take it.
Collin 51:23
That's a that's a wonderful life lesson. Are you a member of pet sitters international BSI is the largest Educational Association for professional pet sitters and dog walkers with a mission to promote petsitting excellence through education psi is offering a free five day New Year challenge for pet sitters and dog walkers January 4 through the eighth. This is a free challenge and is open to both members and non members this year. Visit pet sit.com slash challenge to sign up and access the private challenge Facebook group. This free challenge will offer daily videos, action items and resources to help new and veteran pet care professionals alike refocus and set their businesses up for success in 2021. Again, visit pet sit.com forward slash challenge before December 31. To register for the challenge. thinking of maybe your biggest piece of advice or other pet sitters.
Melanie 52:28
Let's say that on a regular basis, you need to go back to your why remember why you started your business? What is your goal? And most of your big business decisions are going to come back to do they align with why why I'm doing what I'm doing? And does this represent me? Well, I think if you can answer those two questions, when you're making like the big, big decisions, everything else will kind of fall where they need to be, you're not always going to get it right. But if you know if you have a solid foundation of who you are and who you want to be. And remember, your business is kind of like a second you it's a person in its own self. It needs to be nurtured and respected and cared for. So if you can kind of apply what, what you want for you to your business, I kind of think that you'll be successful in the way that success is defined for you. And everybody doesn't have the same definition. And that's 100%. Okay, not everybody wants to be a seven figure business. Not everybody wants to work seven days a week, it is okay to kind of carve your own path in this industry.
Collin 53:30
Yeah. And and reminding yourself of that, you know, you said revisit your why periodically, just like we send reminders to our clients to review the forms, review the policies and procedures
53:41
we write,
Collin 53:42
we need that reminder in our life to do it, whether it's an annual review, quarterly review, something like that, to look and go, am I still doing? Am I still doing this? Because you know, I want to be doing it is this how I would be operating my business. And just so you stay true to yourself and your business. Because that's, you know, that helps avoid burnout, that helps avoid so many other things when you're running the business that you want to be running.
Melanie 54:04
Right? You know, what I tell people to do, I also say that, you know, it's okay to change your mind. Like, you might want to start out as a dog walking and cat care. And next year, if you decide to only be an in home daycare, that is okay, nothing pretty much not much is written in concrete that can't be changed. It is okay to grow and evolve. And that can mean you change your services or change your service area, or update your pricing. Like a lot of people get into this mindset that they set this up. And it has to be this way forever. And then they're miserable because they want to change something and I kind of say, Well, you know, we're not a tree, like let's just move like you're not planted in one area. You're not stuck with one thing, like let's make it happen. So I think that's a good reminder that if there's something you're unhappy with, sit back, remember your why and kind of say, Well, I can I can now repaint this the way I want it to be painted. That's gonna make me happy.
Collin 54:59
Right? I could not agree more. That's wonderful. Melanie, thank you so much for coming on today and talking about your story and getting started staying organized, and then letting us peek behind the curtain of what it's like being a VA. So thank you so much for coming on today. It's been a real pleasure. if people have questions, want to get in touch follow along with all of the things that you have going on. How can they do that?
Melanie 55:24
Well, I can be reached on my website, which is www dot the virtual pet pro.com. And I can be emailed Hello at the virtual pet pro.com. I am on Facebook and Instagram. Although I will admit that a lot of times it's kind of like the cobblers kids who have no shoes. I am so busy sometimes getting the social media done for all of my clients and all the things that mine gets. Put on the backburner. But that's okay for me. But just know that I am here. For anyone who wants to reach out if you have a special project that you'd like to do, or some way that you think you might need help. I'd love to hop on a quick discovery call and have a quick chat about how I may be able to help them. And the thing is, if I can't I know a lot of resources, I might be able to put them in touch with somebody who can fit them as the best bet. I just want to say thank you for having me on. It's been such a pleasure to get to share my story with your audience, and just the chat with you today. I really enjoyed it.
Collin 56:22
Likewise, it's been a real pleasure, Melanie, thank you so much.
56:26
Thanks, Colin.
Collin 56:28
My two biggest takeaways from my conversation, we're Melanie, we're one you are enough for your business. And that's exactly what sets you apart from anybody else doing any thing that is remotely close to the kind of services that you offer. I cannot tell you how much I love that how uplifting that is. But again, how scary that also is to realize that we we are the ones that are enough. And we have to be okay with that. And, and that is a process. Absolutely. And then too, I really appreciated how Melanie explained how she views herself as being part of the community and how she takes that so seriously, in everything she does, from being in somebody's home to when she's out and walking around. She is representing not just her business, but she's representing herself in the community for others to see. And for others to connect with to know more about her and to trust her and the services that she provides. We'd like to thank our sponsors time to pet and pet sitters international for making this week's show possible. We'd love to hear feedback and get in contact with you. So check us out on Facebook and Instagram at pet sitter confessional and email us at feedback at petsitter confessional.com. Head on over to our website petsitter confessional comm and see a lot of the resources, a lot of our previous episodes as well with full transcripts that you can read through and you can click on all the resources that we talked about there as well. Megan and I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays this year and we wish you all the best. We'll be back again soon.
