144: Marketing in 2021
This episode is brought to you by our awesome partners: Pet Sitters Associates, Start Scale Sail, & Texas Pet Sitters Association
Summary:
Finding new clients has always been challenging, even more so this past year. While the challenges have changed, the fundamentals haven’t. We have to identify who our clients are, what problems they need solved, and then tell them about our services. How that looks for each business is different as we each focus on unique clients. Natasha O’Banion answers, “What was your biggest lesson from 2020?”
Topics on this episode:
Marketing vs advertising
Who is your client and what problem do they need solved?
Methods of advertising
Ask a Pet Biz Coach with Natasha O’Banion
Main take away? It’s not necessarily about the method of advertising, it’s about the messaging.
Links:
Our first episode on advertising: Episode 11
Episode 143: Mikaela Vargas on website design
Pet Sitters Associates: use ‘Confessional’ at checkout
Check out the Texas Pet Sitters Conference and get signed up today!
Check out Start. Scale. Sail. and use PSC20 for 15% off.
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
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Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, dog, pet, people, business, advertising, services, marketing, day, walks, work, problems, bookings, posting, puppies, review, local, community, care, confessional
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Natasha
Collin 00:18
Hi, I'm Collin.
Meghan 00:19
And I'm Meghan.
00:20
And this is Pet Sitter Confessional
Meghan 00:21
and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Welcome to Episode 144.
Collin 00:32
Hello,
Meghan 00:32
if this is your first time joining us, we are so glad you're here. And if you've been listening to us for a while, we are also very glad you are here. Thank you to our sponsors, pet sitters associates in the Texas pet sitters conference for sponsoring this episode. Thank you also to our Patreon who support us every month with the price of a cup of coffee. So if you would like to learn more about that you can go to pet sitter confessional comm slash support,
Collin 00:56
we are looking for your funny stories as a pet sitter as a dog walker, as a groomer as somebody in the pet care industry. So we'd love it if you would call and leave us a voicemail so that we could play that. On the show, we're wanting to start a new segment where we play a short clip about a quote unquote, confessional or just something interesting about what it is a little bit behind the scenes about life in the pet care industry. So you can call us at 636-364-8260. And we'd love to play it on the show.
Meghan 01:28
Our topic today is about getting clients as a topic in 2021. This is really hard. We had initially done an episode all about advertising back in Episode 11, which was in 2019. So a ton has changed since then, last year up ended the pet care industry. And so we wanted to take a closer look at what it looks like to market and advertise your services this year and moving forward. We know that a lot of sitters in cities like Los Angeles and New York City and a ton of others who haven't really bounced back, and that may be you as well. We're seeing a lot of people posting asking about getting new clients and why they're not getting any traction. But something to keep in mind is that since the holidays are over, this is really the slow period of the year.
Collin 02:15
Yeah, recognize that this time is normally pretty slow for everybody. And what's important to take note in that is that offseason advertising, so don't get discouraged if you're posting and not hearing anything. Now is the time to be marketing when there isn't as much out there competing for your clients attention. As businesses, when we're talking about advertising, we're trying to get people's attention. At the end of the day, we are competing for that one asset that there's never enough of companies spend millions of dollars to vie for attention. So I mean, just think about how much attention Netflix or Facebook get in any one day from people out there. During the slow season, your advertisements actually go further. And that's because your information about dog walking or pet sitting isn't also competing with the latest Christmas sale or the big year and discounts at your local car dealership. So before we move forward, we do want to note that there is a difference between marketing and advertising though, throughout this conversation, we'll probably end up using them both interchangeably at times,
Meghan 03:17
I do sometimes get confused with what they mean, because a lot of times people use them together and don't really explain what they're talking about. So marketing is the process of identifying customer needs, and really determining how best to meet those needs. In contrast to that, though, advertising is the exercise of promoting a company and its products and services. So marketing is the problem solving stage, whereas advertising is telling people how you've solved the problem. And when people talk about doing market research, a big component of that is what problems do people need solved? So how have the problems change for our clients? If you were doing that a dog walks, people don't necessarily need that service anymore. So how has the problem changed? Because if we don't identify those, our advertising is going to be way off base.
Collin 04:13
And that's where many of us tend to get tripped up. We think that just by doing the advertising step, we think that just by telling people that I'm a pet sitter, and that that should be enough. And for a few clients, it will be but
Meghan 04:28
what we really have to do is sell ourselves and our services, right. And that really hits home for us because we are trying to shift our services and promote more walks and drop ins and daycare and boarding. But it's hard though, it's hard to try to convince an entire market to shift with you both with existing clients and potential clients. But that's what those sitters who predominantly did midday dog walks had to do over the past year or so to market differently. And
Collin 04:55
it's something to keep in mind here is that the problems that your clients face will be Different than somebody else's. Why is that? Well, it's because you've identified who your clients actually are. You've taken the time to build an avatar for your, for your client. Are they younger or older, married, single, working, retired. And you can go way more in depth than that. And I recommend that you should. You can also think about what kind of pets that they own cats or dogs, large or small, old or young. All of these kind of questions to start asking yourself about who your client is. Because when you identify who your client is, the problems that they have are going to be different depending on how you define who your client actually is. We've seen a huge need in geriatric and specialized pet care, which is something that we have been specializing in specializing in over the years through trainings and experience.
Meghan 05:48
But you may see a need in large breeds or small breeds, depending on your area, and what kind of clients you want to service with 2020. What you're probably finding is a big influx of puppies, all the puppies. We talked about this a lot. So if we know there are a lot of puppies out there, how does this change our messaging? What we saw last year, it was many older couples in our area, specifically, they got puppies, and then they suddenly realize that puppies have a lot more energy than they do, and they need a break. Right? So we have messages on social media and elsewhere about high energy puppies, and we provide services to cater to that and to where the dogs out.
Collin 06:31
Yeah, we've literally had clients admit, you know, I just need them out of the house for a while they're driving me crazy. And I feel like that's probably a common sentiment among many pet owners these days.
Meghan 06:43
Well, yeah, especially with more dog owners home, more dog owners getting more dogs and them needing to get out the energy, right.
Collin 06:51
So what's really crucial is before we start moving into the advertising stage, the telling people about your services, we really have to put in the time and the effort to think about who our client is, then what their problems are. Because if we are telling people about solutions to problems that they don't have, the advertising is gonna fall flat and it's not going to be as effective as it could be.
Meghan 07:15
Speaking of advertising, 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 1000s of members with quality pet care insurance, if you work in the pet care industry. And you do because you're listening to this podcast Hello, you can take your career to the next level with flexible coverage options, client connections and complete freedom in 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 petsitter 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. So what are your clients stresses and problems that need to be solved. Because it's not an issue of the method of advertising. It's an issue of the messaging, right?
Collin 08:05
If we're continuing to hand out business cards that say book a midday dog walk while you're busy at work, that's not connecting with any clients right now,
Meghan 08:15
or at least not very many of them. We recently did a poll of our listeners to see if their clients were back to the office still working at home or a mixture of the two. And 59% said a mixture of the two. So if that's true for you take a moment to think about what kind of problems your clients are facing or your potential clients are facing.
Collin 08:35
Right, the client may be worried about having consistent care or a routine for their dog, the owner may have a more jumbled schedule than before. So it may be less predictable, or the days that they go into the office may change from week to week, depending on meetings and other obligations. So a big shift that we've seen and have seen for a little while now has been a movement towards quote, you know, on demand bookings versus more scheduled and predictable bookings throughout the week. It's been a much more piecemeal booking process than it used to be for many of our clients, where each week and every few weeks, the days that they need us change and the time that they need to change is their schedules are changing and are more flexible than they used to be.
Meghan 09:21
Yeah, it seems to be a lot more erratic than it has before. So are you communicating to your clients that on demand is okay? Are you even okay with on demand? Do you have systems in place to accommodate that? And have you told people about it through your social media through your email newsletter, whatever mode of communication that you have? Are you telling people about your services and what you offer? So an example of this is, you know, you can say your schedule is unpredictable, but care for your pet doesn't have to be with simple booking and payment software. Getting care for your pet has never been easier.
Collin 09:54
Of course the other side of this is that you may not want to do or move to on demand bookings That can be quite stressful that can be a little bit hectic trying to manage all that. Or maybe you have systems already in place to prevent last minute bookings. I know that something that we've been struggling with is this movement has has been progressing towards more on demand. And then I know many dog walkers and pet sitters only provide care if the client books with them to three or maybe four times a week, so that they have this predictability, they can build in the schedule, they can build in a routine with a dog, and it can be more comfortable for them. And that's perfectly fine. Just know that you have to tell people about those services and figure out how it fits with their new problems. You may also need to think about other online resources you can have available to them.
Meghan 10:42
Yeah, so if you have a package of by 10, walks, get the 11th free, put that out there, put it in, let people know, but people may not go to your website. So splash it everywhere of the packages that you offer, what exactly you offer, and how it can benefit their pet.
Collin 11:00
Right? Something that I like to think about this is that as you think about your services, you can even have it on your website of I offer walks, and then in big bold letters underneath walks, tell the people who that that would be good for this is good for high energy puppies, this is good for people needing midday breaks, this is good for people who need breaks during zoom calls. And do that for each of your services. Because sometimes it may be a little bit confusing for a client to identify what they need or how they how it's gonna fit into their life. So take that extra step and do that process for them identify those problems and then identified the solution. So they can see that it's going to be pretty easy for them to know why they need to book
Meghan 11:43
well, and also as your problem solving for your clients, you may need to find a new ways to differentiate yourself and provide them even more value. So start with skills that you already have or interests that you have. So are you an artist, I am not, we would not be doing this. But if we weren't artists, you could provide art days with the pets, you could sell the portraits that you recreate from photos that you take, and really just use your skills. So what is unique to you, if you love to bake, or just have the time and the skills, you could make dog treats and either sell them or provide them as part of a package deal. We've also thought about going and selling them at the local farmers market. That's a good way to have brand recognition, get your name out there be a face in the community and make a little money as well.
Collin 12:31
Right. So we sell ourselves and our services is family based. We also use all natural organic cleaning products in our home. And by adding these all natural organic dog treats, it would be a way to again and elevate and make a more inclusive package of our services. And then of course, if the dog had certain allergies, we could customize treats to fit them while they're with us. And then send them home with the dog when they leave.
Meghan 12:56
And then along the same lines photography as well. If you have a great DSLR camera already, or even really just the iPhone 12 I've heard is amazing. Yeah, yeah, it really is. So if you have a great phone or great camera, set up photoshoot days and provide them to your clients above the normal photos taken during a visit. I know a lot of dog daycares do this they'll have you know, Valentine's Days coming up to have Valentine's Day booth or like have the dog wear certain heart clothing and take pictures and have a little photoshoot there.
Collin 13:30
I really liked this idea of partnering with a local art studio for a dog's night at the gallery or however you want to phrase that and showcase those paintings showcase those photos that you've taken and you've worked on with your clients over the last several weeks, or months. Of course, this is obviously for when people are able to go out again and be together. But it's something to possibly plan for invite dog lovers and other people in the community to a night to view the art that the dogs created visit and just get to know each other. Alternatively, you could host a virtual get together where each dog is able to show off their art skills and paintings and maybe even teach a class about that for dog owners in your community. It's about providing value to that local community and getting your name and face out there. Like you mentioned earlier about going to a local farmers market to sell these things that you're making or sell these paintings or sell these portraits as another thing that you can be adding value to people that not aren't necessarily just your immediate dog clients, but people who are interested in dogs and pets as well.
Meghan 14:32
This whole conversation is couched in thinking outside the box, the marketing strategies. The advertising that you used in 2019 and the beginning of 2020 are probably not going to work now. people's problems are different. They need different solutions to their problems. And so thinking outside the box, getting creative, making unique things or selling unique things or just being unique in your business apart from the next dog walker now Down the street is going to help you stay in business.
Collin 15:04
And part of that is for us, at least we've started leaning into the convenience side of messaging and not necessarily the time saving aspect, because we recognize that many of our clients don't necessarily need time saving, they need convenience for their dogs. So recently, we've been running several posts and ads about, we walk in cold snowy weather, so you don't have to. And what this is getting at is the problem is not necessarily that they need time back because they're never at home with their dogs, they're never there available to care for them, they're at home with their dog all the time. Now, what their problem is, is that they might not necessarily they don't want to get out when it's really cold or when it's really rainy, or when it's really snowy. So why not have us do that, we will do that for you. So it's just a slight change in how we're messaging, our exact same services. Trying to get at the NIT, again, like you said, making these new problems that people are having.
Meghan 16:06
This also plays into all inclusive packages as well. So some clients just don't want the hassle or have the time to worry about each additional add on service. If you have them having an option that's all inclusive, and pretty expensive.
Collin 16:21
That's the important part of this one.
Meghan 16:23
Yeah, but they don't have to worry about anything else with the all inclusive, it's definitely something that we're thinking about adding, and there may be a lot of interest, we just have to kind of test the waters. So an example of this would be we provide taxi service to and from boarding or daycare or the vet or whatever they need at an extra cost. However, with the all inclusive package, it gets you that plus extra goodies as well
Collin 16:47
like extended daycare times, or extended drop off or pickup times and a little bit more flexibility in their day. Plus these extra goodie bags of these organic treats that we're making and photos that we produce throughout the day.
Meghan 17:00
And maybe stopping at Starbucks or the local coffee shop and getting a puppy Chino, right, it's also important to market and advertise to clients about the little events in their lives. So educating the different reasons people need a pet sitter or a dog walker, we feel like we're doing a ton of educating because we're trying to shift services and people in our town don't necessarily know about the services, all of the services that we offer, but marketing to the little events. So if they have a new baby, if the wife is pregnant, and she needs to go to a doctor's appointment, but doesn't like leaving the dog alone, or if they've just had a baby and need the dog to some, some stay somewhere for a few nights or get out the dogs energy while there's a new baby home. That's important as well also painting a room or a whole house or doing house renovations of any kind. Also a fridge or another appliance delivery
Collin 17:52
where the doors are going to be open. And they might not necessarily want to have the dog left in the backyard or they might not have a backyard to leave the dog in. Having the dog go on a walk while that's being delivered or having it brought over for daycare, while it's being delivered is a great way again to relieve the stress of thinking about and being concerned about where their dog is and making sure that's okay.
Meghan 18:12
Zoom calls are also a very important time for dogs not to be barking and running up to you with toy squeak and playing fetch. So marketing to that as well. You want to get your dog out for an hour while you would do a zoom call. Or if you have a zoom call today and you need your dog worn out, I can come by in the morning and do a walk and do some play. And we can get out the energy that way. And we are trying to market and word our messaging differently because the big events just aren't happening like they used to. People aren't going away for a weekend. So they can go to a city far away and go to a football game or concerts or any any big events, they just aren't happening. So again, finding where the pain points are, and the frustrations in your clients lives. And meeting those is really going to help you
Collin 19:01
so as you're thinking through these pain points and these frustrations or these concerns that your clients have, another one is going to be about their safety. Yes, about COVID. So be communicating to them about sanitation procedures, gloves, mask wearing all of that good stuff. But they're also safety concerns about having you in their home. So how are you going to communicate that their pets their home, that their health are going to be safe, that can be part of this market research and then advertising how you're meeting that need. So the need here is not really focused on the pet care, but what it is focused on is meeting that concern about the safety and how you are going to do that.
Meghan 19:44
And that can be something as simple as posting a selfie of you in a mask with a dog or saying that you bring your own leash so your clients don't need to supply that relationships with clients still matter. Building trust still matters what those relationships look like now and how you build trust may just look differently than it did previously, and how you communicate to your clients. Most people aren't doing group walks with owners anymore. Instead, they're choosing to meet online, a lot of dog trainers went online, or they're sharing photos of their walks throughout the week in a private Facebook group. So hopefully by now, you know what problem you're solving for your client. And now it's time to think about how we tell them about it.
Collin 20:27
But before we do that, we want to tell you about the 2021, Texas pet sitters conference February 19, through the 21st, this is a jam packed conference that is totally free to attend, that you can go to TX pet sitters.com, and get signed up today. And one of the speakers that we're excited to hear from is Shannon Hoskins, who's going to be talking about all things, cat care, and things that every pet sitter needs to know and providing the best possible service to their cat clients, which is actually a really growing need. Here in the United States. We know many people who are converting over to 100%, cat care, and not even providing service to dogs. So that's going to be a great talk to listen to, as we think through these new needs that clients have moving forward, especially as we think about how cat care is becoming a really big deal, at least here in the United States. And the bookings for pet sitters is going through the roof. So this talk is going to talk about, again, medical concerns and things that you can watch out for and becoming an awesome cat advocates, not just your clients, but those in your community as well. Again, head on over to TX, pet sitters.com, and get registered today for this totally free conference.
Meghan 21:34
So now let's think about ways we can advertise our business door hangers. Many neighborhoods don't allow solicitation, so be careful of this. But it can be effective flyers or cards at the dog park. So if they have a bulletin board up, you can tack a business card on there. Also getting your name out there with local vets and groomers is really important. They know they have connections, they have clients, they have clients that need your services, getting your name, there is important we've talked about in the past of maybe providing a snack for them or bringing them in donuts, but don't just bring in the snack and drop it off and say here's the business, throw some business cards at them and leave, that's not effective, it's not going to get you new clients, you need to build that relationship with them. If you have a pet and you take your pet to that veterinarian, talk about your services with that veterinarian and build a relationship over time.
Collin 22:29
You may also think about providing yard signs for existing clients. We see this all the time for things like roofers or people who make fences of
Meghan 22:36
this fence provided by right so don't buy right.
Collin 22:39
So make a urethane says I love my dog walker call, blah, blah, blah, whatever your number is, but
Meghan 22:44
my dog is walked by
Collin 22:46
Exactly. But again, thank you know, remember here that some neighborhood some Hoa is don't allow these kind of solicitation things. So just be aware of that and ask your clients nicely if they would be if they would consider doing that.
Meghan 22:57
Also taking out ads in the local newspaper or on local radio. If you live in a huge city like Dallas, it's probably going to be really expensive, and probably not necessarily very effective. But if you live in a small town, this is going to be huge for your business,
Collin 23:12
right. And maybe you don't get an ad out in the local newspaper. Maybe you write a guest column for them about pet care about the benefits of dog walking for them and an opinion piece or something like that, that can again start putting you at the center of being an expert in this and will draw attention to you, as people see that.
Meghan 23:31
Yeah, it gives you credibility in the pet care field, we used to use Craigslist, back when it was a thing, not so much a thing anymore. No. And that's actually how we got our very first client. But obviously, we haven't used it in years at this point. And I would say it's not an effective strategy anymore. But the tried and true method is and probably always will be word of mouth, it is not a quick solution is not a fast solution. It takes time and years. But it's huge in the pet sitting and dog walking circles. So don't be afraid to ask for reviews and testimonials, you'll need to decide where you want the client to leave them. We like sprinkling reviews across Facebook, Google My Business and other places as people find us through them. And it doesn't have to be super complicated. It can be something as simple as, after the stay the two days after three days after Well, it's still kind of on their mind. You know, it was a pleasure carrying for Lucy, we're happy to do it again, any time. If you would please give us a review, we would really appreciate it and then attach the link to where you want them to leave a review. So they don't have to go find it. Don't just say go to my Google My Business Page at you know wherever
Collin 24:41
don't just say please leave it on Facebook because the more steps that they have to do to get to the point of leaving your review, the less likely they are to do it. So include the link directly to where they need to do it. And that will again just reduce the amount of hurdles that it is for somebody to finally leave a review or rating for you.
Meghan 24:57
Yeah, and then also if you have a website To put a review at the bottom of each web page, instead of having a dedicated page for reviews, we all know the reviews on that page will be stellar, because obviously no one is going to put a negative review on their website. So if clients find the reviews organically by scrolling down the page on your site, they are more likely to read them, you can encourage them to leave a review, if you give a referral discount, you obviously don't have to do this. But we used to leave business cards with a personalized code on their counter at the end of the day, so that if someone used it, we know who'd refer them and they both get a discount on their next service.
Collin 25:36
Local Facebook groups are increasingly powerful. Sharing your blog posts, favorite photos, or pet care info are great ways to be involved in the community without constantly selling. If all you do is post, I walk dogs for $20. Let me know if you need it. It's not very engaging, it doesn't show that you are giving to others. I can't remember exactly, but it's something like the 8020 or 7030 rule. So posting information and engaging content 70 to 80% of the time and then selling the other times. Always add value. Don't just sell yourself in your local community groups, but share infographics community events, your blog posts. When we write a blog post, Nagin shares it to the local Facebook groups, and it's gotten us a ton of good return on investment. We've
Meghan 26:23
also had success on the next door app, at least we lived when we lived in Texas we did. We haven't gotten it so much here because we live in a smaller community. But if you live in a larger city, this is really going to help you. Again, it may not be available everywhere. But it's at least worth checking out when things are safe again, get involved in community activities. Again, it's about getting your face and your name out there and your team if you have one, have a booth at community events or like I mentioned the farmers market if you want to start selling dog treats, sponsor things show up and contribute when they need volunteers at the shelter. One of the things we are kicking ourselves for is last year, around October, our local parks and recreation was asking for sponsors for their local light display at the park during the Christmas holiday season. And we were really toying with the idea of becoming a sponsor and sponsoring one of the light displays.
Collin 27:13
And just never pulled the trigger on that. But every time we went through the light displays with our kids, and we'd see them we'd go Yeah, we need to do that next year.
Meghan 27:21
Well, especially once we saw that they had a huge dog that that was wagging its tail would have been
Collin 27:25
perfect for us, but that we didn't know about that. But our park also does things like bark in the park in dog swimming events at the pools, which would be again, great times to be involved or at least show up and volunteer your time to help those events run.
Meghan 27:41
Also make sure that your website and Google My Business is being kept up to date with blog post photos, and current hours of operation. So don't just leave that stagnant. You need to be posting pictures there, at least a couple times a week, just like you would your Facebook or your Instagram page. And
Collin 27:56
we've actually done some interviews about these topics, you can check out Amy Tillman's episode on 120 to learn more about SEO at Google My Business. And then recently we had mckaela, Vargas on on episode 143. Talking about website and website design, when we go through this list of things to do and how to market most of them aren't very exciting, or they were things that people were doing five 610 years ago. As we mentioned earlier, the really important part here is not the method of advertising. It's the messaging that we're focusing on. So if you've always posted business cards at the local dog park, have you changed the message that's on those at the local dog park, if you've always done a banner, somewhere, has that banner message changed. These are the things that we're thinking about as 2020 change the entire industry and change the needs of our clients as a whole. They changed our messaging needs to change, we can still reach them in the exact same way. Because that attention is still there, those methods that we just listed here still get attention. It's the messaging that we're needing to try and connect with our clients now, as their needs have changed.
Meghan 29:04
Yeah, they still have a problem. They still have dogs, they still have cats, they still need their pets to be checked on. Maybe not necessarily in the middle of the day while they're at a long day of work. But they still have events in their lives where they leave the house and may not want their dog left alone, or they may just want their dog played with and are not able to do that or don't want to do that during the cold winter months. So how are you advertising and building relationships? What has worked for you? Again, don't get too discouraged if you aren't getting any new clients right now because this is the slow season after the holidays. And before spring break. A lot of us aren't as busy as we were. And if you are that's great, awesome. So not only is it part of the annual slow season, but it's even made worse with the pandemic. People can't really travel a whole lot or don't want to or kind of scared and most people say it's all about money. mindset, if you just have a positive mindset about it, it'll all get better.
Collin 30:04
But unfortunately, that can really move into toxic positivity, where it stops acknowledging the reality around us. It's okay to say it's hard getting clients, it's okay to feel like this work, this advertising is not going anywhere. What matters at the end of the day is what you do with those feelings? Are you putting anything new into action? Are you doing something else? In the meantime, the pet care hustle is very, very real. We're hustling every single day, which means sometimes, we have to take on a different job, when things get slow, or you have to change up services that you're offering, or how you're marketing, the name of the game is change, we have to both acknowledge that the change is real, and then be open to changing with it to keep our dreams alive and our businesses running.
Meghan 30:52
Right? Again, your marketing message in 2019 is not going to work now. So you have to be creative, you have to be unique, you have to think outside the box. And unfortunately, we can come up with some answers, but they may not all of them. And they may not work specifically for your business, depending on exactly what services you offer, where you are geographically and even your particular clients and your potential clients that you're wanting to target in your local area. It's all different. We all have very different businesses. The bottom dropped out of the pet care industry in 2020. That is a fact. And that happened to all of us. But how we respond to it, not only personally but within our businesses, how we continue to communicate to clients, and how we continue to survive is unique to everyone.
Collin 31:45
Right? Right, which makes it easy and hard. Well, it makes it hard when you try and compare how you're doing to somebody else. And whether your marketing is working compared to somebody else's marketing. Those are dangerous comparisons. Because as you said, it depends on where you are, what clients they're after, and what kind of services they offer. If you take all those things into account, everybody is marketing just a little differently. So don't be too discouraged. Again, when things when you see somebody else marketing and advertising a certain way and you try it and it doesn't work. Well, that might not work for you or your clients. Again, it's slow, made even worse by the pandemic. There's a lot of factors going into this. And I really wish there was one simple answer to all of this to make it better for everybody. But there's just not it takes experimenting, it takes determination, it takes grit to get that done.
Meghan 32:31
But if you have something that has really worked for you, if you have the golden ticket to solve solve this problem, please let us know. Please let us know we would love to interview you or talk to you. It would be good to just have everyone's voices so that we can come up with more creative ways to spur on our businesses. Speaking of businesses, Natasha opionion pet business coach is now going to tell us what her biggest lesson was from 2020.
Natasha 32:57
So my biggest lesson from 2020 was to enjoy your life. I mean, I'm really dialed into that far as getting into my business and getting into the coaching business. But it really validated for me that I need to cut the strings in whatever I'm not doing and live it to the fullest. So the previous year 2019 I have been traveling with my family and I went to 15 countries which was amazing, but I'm like I needed to go to 50 I needed to go to 120 I need more because basically you just never know when someone's going to take the control away from you or shift your gears or take your income potential away or any of those things that you cannot create on your own. I realized so much that as all as business owners and even pet lovers need to put ourselves in scenarios where you're just living your best life. I mean, I can just say that to the fullest I mean the COVID situation has hit me but it didn't hit me the way that it could have if I wasn't thinking ahead already years and years beyond the only thing I regret is not stamping you know 100 more countries before so and kind of hit waiting on idle now. But I would say 2020 has really taught me to dial all the way into every single thing I want to do no limits you know no gaps no hold back just just full on live your best life exactly the way you want to do it because you never know what is or isn't gonna be so the burnout and the stress and my clients don't appreciate me and I don't really want to offer this service and I'm doing things really don't like cut all that out, cut it out. You know, just let all that go get really clear on exactly what it is you love doing and start from here and do it that way.
Meghan 34:50
Natasha does pet business coaching and if you would like for her to be your personal pet business coach, you can go to her website start scale sale calm and use the code p sc 20. For a 15% off her coaching, we thank you so much for listening today. And we also thank our sponsors, pet sitters associates and the Texas pet sitters conference for making the show possible. Don't forget to call in and leave us a voicemail if you would like with your funniest pet sitting or dog walking story. Again, you can call us at 636-364-8260. And on Wednesday, we have a wonderful interview with Lindsay shackleford of dogs of Charm City and how
Collin 35:25
she views her entire company as a community based company, not just a dog walking company.
Meghan 35:31
We hope you join us then Thank you. Bye
