158: Pet Sitters Week 2021
Brought to you by Pet Sitters Associates
Summary
Happy Professional Pet Sitters Week AND International Women's Day! We discuss the tremendous impact women have made, and continue to make, on the pet care industry. We also talk about how the industry has changed and the state of pet care. We highlight what being a professional pet care provider means and how to have a more balanced business. YOU are what this week is all about. Thank you for inspiring us and for making the industry better. Natasha O’Banion answers, “What should more people be doing in their business?”
Topics on this episode:
State of the industry
Role of customer service
What it all means for us
YOU are awesome
Ask a Pet Biz Coach
Main takeaway: You are an inspiration to us. Your passion, dedication, and professionalism are what this week is all about. YOU make this industry excellent by setting the bar high and pushing boundaries.
Links:
Episode 145 - Lindsey Shaklelford
Episode 103- Pet Sitter Self Care with Nicole Ryan
Pet Sitters Associates: use ‘Confessional’ at checkout
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pet, pet sitters, business, clients, industry, book, people, week, millennials, dog, connected, care, professional, sitters, confessional, dog walkers, processes, owner, services, means
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Natasha
Meghan 00:17
Hi, I'm Meghan.
Collin 00:18
I'm Collin. And this is pet sitter
Meghan 00:20
confessional, and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Hello, welcome to Episode 158, where we're going to talk today about pet sitters week 2021.
00:33
Hello,
Meghan 00:33
thank you to our sponsors, pet sitters associates and our awesome Patreon members. If you would like to support the show financially, just for a few bucks a month, you can go to pet sitter confessional comm slash support.
Collin 00:46
It's the first week of March, which means it is professional pet sitters week.
Meghan 00:50
And today, March eighth is also International Women's Day. So right off the bat, we want to recognize the fact that the majority of pet businesses are run by women, which is awesome. And it's not just by a little margin. It's actually somewhere north of 90% of pet businesses are run by women, which is staggering.
Collin 01:14
And again, awesome. Yes.
Meghan 01:17
But it's really interesting that it's a field so dominated by women. And some of the common stories that we hear are, you know, I wanted flexibility to care for my kids or work around my spouse's schedule. Or I was on track to be a vet tech or a veterinarian or something like that. And I found that I really liked pet city more. And then we've also heard people say that they knew they could make a difference and have a huge impact through the compassion that they have for animals and for pet. Whatever the reason, though, the industry has really been shaped and molded by amazing women. And we all continue to be eternally grateful for those who came before us and really blazed the trail. Specifically, like Patti Moran, back in 1983, she wrote a groundbreaking book called petsitting for profit. And I was not alive in 1983. As I'm sure most of you who are listening, we're not either. But if you have a chance, go read her book, it is awesome. I came across this quote today, and I don't know who said it, but it's pretty cool. Other women are not my competition, I stand with them, not against them. And that is what this industry is about. And International Women's Day, it's supporting women, it is raising them up and not seeing them as your competition. Other dog walkers in your area should not be seen as your competition, they are your community, surround yourself with them. So we can all raise up this industry, we can all have exceptional prices, we can all have awesome clients, we can have referrals, if you go out of town, you can refer to your nearby dog walker, because you are in collaboration with them. If you have an Instagram, write posts for each other, or do blog guest blog posts on each other's websites. Let's all think about ways that we can further this industry and lift other women up. So it's in that spirit that we're going to dive in to professional pet sitters week.
Collin 03:24
So this week serves a few really important functions for the industry. First off, it's an amazing opportunity for you to promote your business to your community and educate others on what it means to be a professional petsitter. You can talk about what training, certifications, insurance bonding, what conferences you've been attending, and anything like that, that you've been up to this year, use this week to promote that to the community so that we can continue to raise the bar on what it means to be a professional pet sitter. You may even decide to go live on Instagram or Facebook every day this week. And talk about one aspect of your business that makes you amazing from your protocols to your why in business. That can be really uncomfortable for a lot of us getting our face out there being seen being active online and in the community like that. But your clients are gonna see your face anyway. And if you have existing clients, they know you already there'll be really excited to see you talking about who you are, what you do, and how you do it in an amazing way.
Meghan 04:25
Well, and that's a challenge for us as well. Yes, we were a little camera shy as well. So Oh, yeah,
Collin 04:31
no ographers that we are definitely fall in line with that boat. And it seems like each week we have to stare at that camera and go Okay, what can we talk about this week? What can we talk about today? And I think just knowing that it doesn't have to be this long hour and 45 minute presentation talking about the ins and outs of your your business specifically.
Meghan 04:51
Yeah, going live can just be a simple three minute explanation of a specific aspect of your business,
Collin 04:57
right something that maybe you particularly enjoy Maybe it's something you want to highlight something that you've changed recently, those kind of things you can highlight just real quick to get out there. And again, get your face out there and really be seen this week.
Meghan 05:11
This week also serves as a way for us pet sitters to look around and see where the industry is, and kind of do some navel gazing. As an industry, we use this time to connect with other pet sitters and see how they're doing. And then if you do that grow that community of pet sitters as well. I know there's a lot of Facebook groups out there for local pet sitters. If you don't have one in your area, start one reach out to other dog walkers in the area if they are amenable to friendships and in working together, collaboration over competition kind of thing. Everyone went through a tough year last year. So the more that we can all connect and come together, the stronger that we as an industry are going to be.
Collin 05:57
And we've done episodes talking to pet sitters about communities that they are building, Episode 145 was with Lindsay shackleford. We also talked with Natalie durack, about the importance of community in the face of COVID. That's Episode 57. But we also interviewed Alicia bondo about starting a pet care specific community in Chicago. And that's Episode 126. So while you're getting connected with the community and building that around, you spend time reconnecting with your why. And really importantly, here, see if it still fits with where you want your company to be going in where you want to be. We talk a lot about periodically reassessing your business. And if you're operating in it for the right reasons, then that aligned with your why you should definitely have that as a scheduled event. But if you don't, why not use this week to do that. Now we started as a way to earn extra money and help make ends meet as graduate students, that's now changed into a way to spend more time with our kids and together as a family, because it provides flexibility and control over what we're doing.
Meghan 06:58
And I would say that's probably the majority of the reason why people get into pet care is the awesome flexibility it provides. You can make it work for your schedule, your friends and family may think that it's all rainbows and puppies. And some people really do believe that. But they fail to actually see that it's hard work. And it takes grit and determination. And as a professional petsitter. You know that, you know, the hard days, they the difficult clients the sometimes death of a pet as well. These are all hard things that we have to deal with.
Collin 07:33
But beyond that, it's truly been one of the most fulfilling things that we've ever been involved in. As you've mentioned, you get to have that flexible schedule that you want to make it work for you and your family and for your goals. You get to be a caregiver and spend your days nurturing and pouring into not just the pets lives, but also the people's lives in their owners lives as well and solve their problems. Obviously, having adorable pets around is a huge bonus. But at the end of the day, it's just a super satisfying and gratifying career to be in. Because you do get to make a difference. And you do get to change lives by doing this every day.
Meghan 08:10
If you are just starting out, and you're also needing some information on what kind of gear software etc you should be using, you can check out the resources page on our website for a ton of gear recommended by other pet sitters. But as an industry, we're about to see a massive boom in demand and visibility to the average pet owner. Well over. I think 70% of households in the US have at least one pet with 20 last year seeing many first time pet owners, especially with puppies. So there's a lot of potential to grow. And to find your niche. One in three people got a pet during the pandemic. That's a lot of pets. Yes. Obviously, you're not going to be able to service them all.
Collin 08:53
And you wouldn't want to anyway,
Meghan 08:55
yeah, not every client is good for you. So But the real question is, as business owners, how do we prepare for that? How do we prepare for the massive pet population that has boomed? Well, if you want to grow, whether that's number of clients or staff or location, maybe you want to move your business to a different state or across the country, make sure that your business is set up for that lay the foundation now so that you can scale quickly and easily. I know a lot of midday dog walks are not back yet. They will be though eventually. And so if that is your bread and butter and you want to keep it your bread and butter, lay the framework now so you can scale quickly and efficiently get processes in place. Now, like if that's a software that automatically sends a response when a client contacts you for the first time or
Collin 09:45
an easy way to book without having to contact you to get on the schedule. Along with these changes. We're also seeing the growth in younger clients specifically millennials. Hello,
09:55
hi.
Collin 09:57
And Millennials are willing to spend more on Are pets because pets are increasingly seen as an integral part of our family?
Meghan 10:04
Well, that's our tagline for our business is your pets our family. So yes, we are trying to connect more with that mentality.
Collin 10:11
Millennials are also looking for clothing and specialized food or treats to give to their pets,
Meghan 10:17
lots of organic and all natural products.
Collin 10:19
We're hungry for information and really want to be connected and involved into a cause that we that we can take personal ownership in, we're looking for more high end options, looking for more all inclusive packaging, not just really thinking about what's the cheapest, but what's going to be the best and kind of taking price. As a secondary aspect to that with this rise in millennial clients, the pet industry needs to be a lot more connected and online than ever before. And this is because 93% of our fellow millennials own a smartphone and are looking for ways to instantly book and see availability for things that they're interested in. And this, this hurts a lot of us because we feel like it takes away from the personal touch that we're so used to giving and that we feel like it's foundational to our business. But the important thing here is that millennials, we see this as the personal touch, we're able to meet their needs when they need it. And it's not just having an online booking process and checking that, that we have a website and that they can book online. But is it optimized for mobile? I mean, Long gone are the days where somebody would sit down to a desktop computer in a dedicated desk in a room and go through booking and doing their research there. We are constantly doing research and looking for information and booking while on the go while going from place to place.
Meghan 11:38
Yeah, I mean, I don't really I have a laptop, but I don't really open it anymore. I do everything on my phone.
Collin 11:45
So putting some more of these pieces together, we have this millennial generation that is really connected, that is really hungry for involvement and having their needing their needs met. Research has also shown that millennials are actually more workaholics than previous generations.
Meghan 12:01
Well, I can attest to that as well.
Collin 12:04
Whenever things go back to more normal kind of in normal working times, meaning that millennials really value time and ease of use to get their needs met. So in this hyper connected world that we are starting to move into how and when we communicate as pet sitters means our boundaries will be challenged more and more, unless we start automating, and offloading some of those processes that we're used to handling ourselves, which gets to the importance that you were mentioning earlier of having that back end work, so that you can scale quickly. Part of that is automating a lot of these processes,
Meghan 12:38
we have to rephrase it and think about what personalization means to everyone. So 50 years ago, it was writing a letter, I have not sat and wrote a letter in a very long time
Collin 12:49
probably to say thank you to people when we got married, yes.
Meghan 12:55
You know, 20 years ago, it was a phone call. And I don't really make a lot of phone calls these days. Either
Collin 13:03
you make me do all of them well.
Meghan 13:05
And so in 2021, it's a streamline mobile optimized process. What does that mean? It means that the client can go to your website or your booking app, and from start to finish book you and you could be sleeping, and they could do it all themselves. People want that they want to be able to go from A to Z with as few steps as possible, and as fast as possible. So really, it's all about customer service. Too often we think about just caring for the pets and training to be better caregivers. And that is important. You do want to be trained in dog behavior and know what signs to look for in cat aggression. But this is a service industry. And we need to remember to focus on caring for the needs of the pet owners as well, making sure that they are taking care of, you know, as we set boundaries for our business and what we want for ourselves, but also, knowing that we need to be caring for the owners and last year taught us that we need to be checking in with people and making sure that they're okay as well,
Collin 14:14
right. I mean, I've said it before, I'll say it again, I've never ended a walk and had the dog turn around and pay me for it. So until Fido can book us online and pay for the visit, we'd need to be focusing on the owner, we talk about who your ideal client is, or talking about is the owner. Now niching down means solving a smaller and smaller subset of problems and specializing in that and that's where you get into dog breeds specialized care, certain locations, certain issues that clients may have. But we immediately start thinking about who do we want to be paying for our services. That's the client and that's all customer service. So when we think of customer service, it kind of boils down to about four things. It's being proactive instead of reactive. Having that mobile booking having those FA Q's have training program. Call some place for staff know your services and your rates so that when people call you asking questions, you don't have to go look them up.
Meghan 15:07
Yeah, at least have them on a piece of paper. That's what we do.
Collin 15:10
Auto magnet on the fridge. Yeah.
Meghan 15:13
Then also show you care about their problems. So like I said, When business was decimated last year, because of pandemic, we checked in on our clients and said, Hey, how are you? And didn't just say, Oh, we desperately need your services right now. You know, we tried to focus on them as much as possible. How are you doing? How are you coping? How are the dogs doing because we hadn't seen them in a while, you know, they're contacting you, because only you can solve their problem in caring for their pet. So really take an interest in them. And in that, also, having prompt response times is huge. So if you're trying to compete with rover and wag, a lot of their sitters respond in just a few minutes. So it's really all the more reason to set up automated messaging and fast booking protocols. Obviously, we can't be on or accessible 24 seven, and you shouldn't be you need to be sleeping at some point. But realistically, we absolutely must have some form of automation in place. And we also think good customer service is about being a resource to the owner. So as pet sitters, we need to be the go to hub for all things pet for our clients. So if that's blogging and talking about specific things in pet care, like nail trims, or household plants that are toxic to pets, whatever that may be ready to connect your clients to groomers and vets and massage therapists and nutritionists in the area if you have them, and try to help them navigate the crazy world of natural pet foods. There are a lot and a lot of pet owners truthfully don't know the crap that they're feeding their pets. So it's a great opportunity to be a resource for them right and then also grieving with them when they lose their pet. Send a little gift, a pet perennials gift when they lose their pet and be there for them. If you are super close with them, go over to their house and cry with them and get on a phone call with them just really support them through the tough times.
Collin 17:11
And we've done an entire episode on customer service back on episode 80. Something that we will talk about here in just a moment is that part of being a professional pet sitter is being fully insured. So as pet care professionals, your clients trust you to take care of their furry family members, pet sitters associates is here to help. For over 20 years pet sitters associates has provided 1000s of members with quality pet care insurance. If you work in the pet care industry or want to make your passion for pets into a profession. You can take your career to the next level with flexible coverage options, client connections and complete freedom in running your business. Learn why pet sitters associates is the perfect fit for you and get a free quote today at pets it LLC calm our listeners get a discount when joining by clicking membership, pet sitter confessional and use the code confessional at checkout to get $10 off today. Check out the benefits of membership and insurance once again at pets it llc.com.
Meghan 18:05
So what does all this mean for us during National pet sitters week?
Collin 18:09
Well, I think something good to ask right now is what does being a professional pet sitter look like in 2021?
Meghan 18:15
Yeah, especially after last year.
Collin 18:18
So it's several different factors. Do you carry insurance? Are you taking additional trainings to better your skills?
Meghan 18:23
Yeah. Do you want to be fear free? Or do you have a certain Dog Training certification if that's what you're going for in your business,
Collin 18:30
but what it really boils down to at the end of the day is do you care enough about the changes going on in the industry in the world to do something about it. What actually separates the professional from the non professional is the fact that the professional is going to continually improve, change up their business and work hard to stay in the game, always raising the bar and always pushing the limits of what pet care should be. And we saw many people doing this through the past year of the kind of services that people added. So whether those were specially crafted puppy packages to meet the growing demand from the lockdown puppy boom that has been happening, or adding different services if people didn't need dog walking, but they switched over to poop scooping. Or maybe it was they changed the game completely and designed brand new walks, adventure hikes or one of those were a year ago, two years ago, those were hardly seen in the industry at all. And now they're almost commonplace, but it was a way that people could see to design a brand new service that still met their client's needs. It's the personal ownership that you take in the industry and how it's perceived by the general public.
Meghan 19:42
That's what being a professional means. And I'll also add that a true professional knows their limits and when it's time for self care. We've done a couple episodes on self care and interviewed Nicole Ryan and Episode 103 but it basically involves getting reconnected or even changing your way So that you are living and working your passion when we're operating out of alignment towards our goals and our purpose, we're actually not advancing as we think we are. And it also means getting plugged into a community of other pet sitters and business owners so they can hold you accountable to the things that you want to say no to and the things that you want to say yes to. And with that, setting your boundaries and saying no more often than you think you should. This has been really hard for us the past two weeks,
Collin 20:28
we've had to say no more times in the past two weeks than we probably have said over the past two years. Yeah,
Meghan 20:33
it's a lot. spring spring break really caught us off guard. I think this week is really all about you, though you are an inspiration to us. your passion, your dedication, your professionalism, are what this week is really all about. If you are still standing at the end of last year, and everything that pet sitters have gone through, you are awesome, you make this industry what it is you set the bar, you push the boundaries. So thank you. We're celebrating this week in honor of you and for you.
Collin 21:06
Now for our Ask a pet business coach segment where Natasha answers the question, what should more people be doing in their business,
Natasha 21:12
they should be understanding business. A lot of us get into pet care to love animals and that's our first heart's desire. But it really takes understanding and having a small knack of business or hiring a mentor or you know, someone to come in and kind of help keep you on track. Because where you have flaws or weaknesses, I have so many flaws, so many weaknesses. And I love hiring where I do not want to deal like realistically like people know the things that I hate doing. I'm not gonna do it. It's gonna sit on my to do list for ever. It's going to be we're going to be in a whole pandemic with nothing to do board is hell. But I still don't do it because I'm procrastinating these are things that we just have to be on it. I hate it. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it like email newsletters and mass sending people stuff. I that's not me. I that's I will never do that. So I have to hire a team who will write newsletters and who will send them and keep it going because I keep looking at my email and I'm like, What am I doing with this thing? Because I like getting on the phone. Yeah, you know, even though I have all those automations going on, I like to just go right to the person I still miss that of the 90s. So but you don't your business doesn't stop or doesn't lose quality just because the owner doesn't want to do it. You just hire their people who don't have their zone of genius. So then you can stay in yours. So if you want to walk dogs or pets it all day do that. But the bookkeeping and the accounting and all those social medias and all the things that we all hate doing. just hire someone else to do that, you know, going into accountability groups and keeping on track. You got to implement the things where you necessarily don't want to do but you still have to do
Meghan 23:06
Natasha has her own dog walking business but she is a pet business coach as well. And if you would like her to be your personal pet business coach, you can go to her website, start scale sale, calm and use the code PSC 24 15% offer coaching.
Collin 23:21
Coming up on Wednesday, we have an interview with Kimberly Richmond owner of posh Pat's, where we talk about how she brought her hospitality background into her business, and what we can all learn from the world of public relations. We want to thank the pet sitters associates for sponsoring this week's episode.
Meghan 23:36
If you would like to get connected with us, we are on Facebook and Instagram at pet sitter confessional. We would love to hear any feedback you guys have for any of the 150 plus episodes that we've done. And we appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to listen to us each week.
Collin 23:53
Thank you so much.
