179: Avoiding the Pitfalls in Pet Care
Brought to you by Pet Sitters Associates
Summary
Being a service based industry, we should provide both excellent pet care and excellent customer service. However, as we strive to meet those demands on us and our business, there may be some pitfalls along the way.
We cover the common ones we see in pet care, and those we have fallen into. We share how to avoid them and get out of them, if you find yourself already in one. Natasha O’Banion answers, “What’s one policy you wish you would have started sooner?”
Topics on this episode:
Common pitfalls
Why they’re bad
How to avoid them
Ask a Pet Biz Coach
Main takeaway: Avoiding the pitfalls in pet care means working on our mindset around false beliefs we hold about ourselves and our businesses.
Links:
Pet Sitters Associates: use ‘Confessional’ at checkout
Check out Start. Scale. Sail. and use PSC20 for 15% off
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
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Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, & TuneIn
Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
business, clients, pet, pitfall, business owners, pet sitter, people, charging, service, prices, book, feel, dog, day, legitimate, view, confessional, decisions, pay, running
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Natasha
Meghan 00:17
Hi, I'm Meghan.
Collin Funkhouser 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 179.
00:32
Hello,
Meghan 00:32
thank you to our sponsor, pet sitters associates and our wonderful Patreon members for making this show possible today. Today we're going to talk about avoiding the pitfalls in pet care.
Collin Funkhouser 00:42
But before we do that, is anyone else crazy busy? Because we are boy,
Meghan 00:49
shoot us an email at feedback at pet sitter confessional calm with how you're doing and how business is compared to not just this time last year, but also this time in 2019.
Collin Funkhouser 01:00
For us, obviously, we are a lot busier than we were this time last year. But we're also about one and a half times more busy than this time in 2019, which is just crazy to think about.
Meghan 01:10
Yeah, actually, last week, we surpassed revenue for 2020. It wasn't obviously super hard to do. But we know that a ton of other sitters are crazy busy and hope that you are one too
Collin Funkhouser 01:22
as we adjust out of the chaos that 2020 through us. And it will definitely take a while to find what the new market normal is going to be like especially in each particular area where we are in and how everything is going to end up shaking out. We actually have an upcoming episode about the future of the pet care industry with several people we've previously interviewed on the podcast. So please keep an eye out for that we're really excited about getting that released,
Meghan 01:45
or I guess an ear out. You've been ear out for that. Anyway, today we're talking about the pitfalls in pet care and how to avoid them. So we wanted to cover many of the common pitfalls we see as pet sitters and dog walkers. And many of these we have fallen into ourselves, we're halfway Yeah, we're not perfect. These are just some way that we've seen and that we've experienced. And we don't want to just talk about what they are, but really specifically how to avoid them. And in a lot of cases, how to get out of them as well. If you find that you're already in one,
Collin Funkhouser 02:19
though some of these are situations, but a lot of them have to do with our mindset and how we view ourselves in our business. And the situations that arise from that view. The first
Meghan 02:29
one is the bleeding heart, we're going to start with this one because it is by far and away the most common one that we see. And we have often felt ourselves in this one as well.
Collin Funkhouser 02:39
Many people are in this industry because we genuinely care about pets. And it's because of this that we will basically do anything and everything that we possibly can to make sure that the pet is cared for.
Meghan 02:51
And I think that sounds like amazing customer service and good business acumen. But what this actually means is being stretched way too thin, constantly being way too busy. And having essentially no boundaries at all.
Collin Funkhouser 03:04
This mindset when we're talking about in this way may seem like you'll end up getting ahead in the industry. But what it actually ends up doing is getting you taken advantage of by clients. Obviously not all of them are really even that many or a majority at all. However, it just takes a few bad apples to really ruin your day and push you faster towards burnout. So what if you find yourself thinking this way, and you view yourself this way in your business,
Meghan 03:28
it's important to get accountability, have somebody help you process decisions, a third party is always good for if you can't make a decision, having an outside influence, to really think through the process. also getting a good contract a good robust contract operations manual so you know exactly what to expect, the client knows exactly what to expect, your staff know what to expect. And that's you have something to point back to and stick to in case you find yourself having a bleeding heart.
Collin Funkhouser 04:01
Well, what we're trying to do here is we're trying to set up these boundaries so that we are not being taken advantage of by our customers, because that's not actual customer service that's just being taken advantage of. You have a business to run and you have boundaries that need to be set to keep you mentally, physically emotionally healthy. Without any of those, we're not able to do our job well or consistently. anytime anybody is asking you to do something that either you're a not comfortable with, or be it's not a service that you provide. You don't have to do it
Meghan 04:34
well, and again, it's worthwhile mentioning, bringing somebody else in or having somebody else to pick your brain on what's going on and some of the decisions that you're making. And over time, you will then have less need for that kind of support. But in the beginning, it is especially helpful to have somebody who has already traveled along down this road, whether it's a fellow pet care provider in your city or nationwide or even a business coach to help you someone who's been They're done that and knows some of the early warning signs. The second pitfall that we need to try to avoid is the I will do it for free and pitfall.
05:08
Yes, I. Also, I just love animals so much, I don't need to get paid for any of them.
Meghan 05:14
And I know we talk a lot about boundaries, and knowing your worth on this podcast. So I'm sure you have already a great idea of how to avoid this one. And how this manifests in our business. The I'll do it for free is we start off by charging way too little. And again, we've all done this in the beginning, we did this in the beginning, you want to get as many customers as possible, as many dogs and cats through your door. And so you charge little or you don't know how much you're supposed to be charging. So you just go with what everybody else is charging. And usually they're charging pretty low rates. And then on top of that, you never raise your rates, or very rarely it's been you look up and it's been five or 10 years since you've raised your rates on your clients, or this could mean not charging for trimming a dog's nails during a visit or house it that is a service and extra service that you need to charge for. vets don't do it for free, and you shouldn't do it either.
Collin Funkhouser 06:11
There are things like that, that we all do in our businesses of Oh, we'll just cover it this time. Or I'll go out of my way to make sure I take this is taken care of whether that's driving a little bit outside your service area, or going over one extra check because they didn't expect to be gone as long as you don't end up charging them.
Meghan 06:28
Again, these are one off scenarios that you just mentioned. So you may be okay with it one time. But if it's a consistent problem, it needs to be addressed.
Collin Funkhouser 06:37
Yeah. Or it could be that you end up taking huge discounts or give discounts to people who asked for them.
Meghan 06:43
We used to do this for a second Dog Boarding or daycare on our home a huge discount. Because we wanted the dogs, we wanted the little bit of extra money, but it's not worth it. They're taking up a spot, whether it's in your home or in their home, if you're walking dogs. And so we give a very small discount now for the second dog.
Collin Funkhouser 07:03
But why is this such a bad thing? Isn't it being flexible for our clients and giving them what they want and meeting their needs? Well, at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, do you need to make a living or not?
Meghan 07:14
Yeah, when we compromise our prices, and we don't set prices that we can live on, we really undermine ourselves, our businesses and the ability to be here day after day. Now, earning money is not a bad thing. Obviously, we are all business owners, we all want to make money for us, for our staff, whatever you have. Making Money caring for pets is not a bad thing. Let that sink in. Making money while caring for pets is not a bad thing. Do not let any client make you feel guilty for your prices. If they do, you don't want them as a client, right?
Collin Funkhouser 07:46
There are no such thing as too high of prices. There are only clients that would not be willing to pay for it.
Meghan 07:52
Right? There's that paper clip that I think Tiffany sells that paper clip is like $400 or something, it's a
Collin Funkhouser 07:57
gold paper clip or something real special. If you can buy a $400 Gold paperclip, somebody will pay higher prices for your services, I guarantee you that there will always be somebody willing to pay you for your service and pay you more for it. And that's because they see the value in you and what you do and the care that you bring for their pets.
Meghan 08:19
Okay, so how do we get out of this? Now? How do we accept that it's okay to charge more or at all for services,
Collin Funkhouser 08:26
we have to tackle that mindset of feeling guilty for charging for something that we enjoy and recognize that we are legitimate, that we have value. And then we have to learn those two big letters of in Oh, no. When we start putting all three of these together and putting them into action in our business, we start battling down those voices that say that you should feel guilty for this, you should feel bad that you're making money while caring for pets and doing this thing.
Meghan 08:56
Or if somebody is trying to have over prices or something cheap or free or they want a discount. You can say no.
Collin Funkhouser 09:02
Right here are actually some easy phrases that you can use if somebody asks you to do something for cheap or for free. Something like thank you so much for reaching out to me and inquiring about my services. Here's the link to my website where you can see my prices and availability, Period. End of story. That's all you need to respond to something
Meghan 09:21
or you could say thank you for thinking of me, it sounds like a wonderful opportunity. Just to confirm I do charge for my services. Here is a link to my website where you can read about my business.
Collin Funkhouser 09:30
Now if you're listening to this and you're thinking about the prices that you have set and you're realizing that they are way too low and you haven't raised them in a long time and you actually need to start making your services meet the needs that you have. There are some ways to go about that. There are ways where you can grandfather in existing clients and every new client that you have coming on board gets your new higher rate. You can also slowly stair step your existing clients up over the course of a Few months to the higher rate. We know many people who just say, July one, this is the new rate for my services, take it or leave it. However, you want to work that way up to a higher price for you, you know your clients better than anybody else, you know, who will accept them? Who won't, and I'm sure there will actually be, you'll be pretty surprised by some people who continue to use their services, people who you may never expected that would pay a higher rate to you know, your clients best and you know, which one of those three ways it was going to work best for you. And now's a great time to do it while everybody is becoming increasingly busy.
Meghan 10:36
Yeah, and we actually had a whole conversation about prices in Episode 167. Something that's not a pitfall is pet care insurance. 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 you can take your career to the next level with flexible coverage options, client connections and complete freedom and running your business. Learn why pet sitters associates is the perfect fit for you and get a free quote today at pets it 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 petsfit llc.com. The third pitfall is the I can't say no. And unfortunately, this is a chronic problem that we have seen in this industry. And I am right there. I don't like that word. I just want to say yes all the time to everyone. But this is really a byproduct of the bleeding heart mentality. And the always wanting to go above and beyond and say yes to everyone and you want to pet all the dogs and kiss all the kitties. Sometimes it's for when an existing client just doesn't treat you very well. And you feel like you have to say yes, because they are already an existing client. Or sometimes it could be the belief of the scarcity mindset that there is never enough and that if you don't say yes, there might never be an opportunity again,
Collin Funkhouser 12:08
it's kind of the there's always grass greener on the other side. You don't want to miss out on an opportunity when you're just one one. Yes, away from the big windfall that you're expecting or something right. Like we have personally failed to say no, for many, many, many reasons.
Meghan 12:24
Yeah, my mind mostly evolved revolve around money. So it could be that we are afraid of losing out on money. And that's really my pitfall that we have to take advantage of it when the getting is good. You know, we are insanely busy right now. And that's great. And so I just want to keep saying yes to all the clients. Because why not? They're ready to travel. I'm ready to take them on. Let's do this. Yeah, I often think what if a new downturn happens? And if we only said yes, one more time, we would have been able to make just a little more money by living in the scarcity mindset really limits our ability to see all of the potential growth and sustainability in a healthy way. It means that we're making decisions rationally and out of fear as opposed to opportunity and more positivity.
Collin Funkhouser 13:12
So what do we do with this? What do we do if we feel like we can't say no, but we realize that no, is not a bad word. And if you need to plaster that over your car, I think I do, I've put it on the lock screen on your phones that you're reminded of, of it. And you have to build up to saying no to big things. So start saying no, in the little things of No, you're not going to go out to eat or no, you're not going to go this way home, you're going to go a different way home. We've talked a lot about this on several episodes. But we need to focus on the fact that when we say no to something, it's because we're saying yes to something else. So what is that? What is that? Yes, for you?
Meghan 13:54
Well, that yes is our goal, whatever it is, it could be mental wealth, physical health, spiritual health, we say no to petsitting opportunities, or particular clients because we value other things more. And that's not a bad thing. I mean, it could be valuing time with friends and family or time for yourself more. It could be that you value eating dinner at a reasonable hour
14:17
or at all I guess.
Meghan 14:20
Or you know, whatever it may be for you, we have to get our priorities straight before we can know that we should be saying no. And when we should be saying yes. So if you have not done it, outline exactly what your top five priorities are in life, big 30,000 foot view priorities, what do you want most and then rank them? And that way when those decisions come up and you feel guilty or whatever, for saying no, you can look at that list and remind yourself of why you were saying no in the first place
14:50
and what you were saying yes to by saying no.
Meghan 14:54
The fourth pitfall that we can fall into is the I'm not a real business pitfall.
14:59
Oh, anyone Feel this?
15:00
Yeah, we do. We're sure.
Meghan 15:03
Growing up, we absolutely never would have viewed ourselves as being business owners or running a company. If you know us at all, we are science minded, and we have science backgrounds. And so the whole being
Collin Funkhouser 15:15
business owners is completely foreign to us, and was absolutely never on our list of things we want to get done in life. And Megan absolutely had a list of things she wanted done in life and business owner, I don't think was was on.
Meghan 15:26
No, it wasn't, but hey, I like it. So it's okay, it fits now. And even that word company can really feel foreign and alien. And I'm sure many of you feel the same way as well. But you are a company. And we didn't set out in life to be business owners, but nine years ago, that's exactly what we became. And it's taken every bit of the nine years to see ourselves as not just running a business, but being business owners being the CEO of our business. And even with things like paying taxes and the paperwork, and the insurance and everything else that goes into running the business, everything we do every single year, it still doesn't feel as a serious business.
Collin Funkhouser 16:06
Okay? After all that, why is this bad? Why does it even matter how we view ourselves, it's because this kind of ties up everything that we've been talking about up until this point, if we don't see ourselves as legitimate as running a real business, we feel like we're not making real decisions, like there's nothing on the line, we don't think it's having any impact on what we do or how we do it. We won't make steps to have good operating procedures in place, we won't go and try and have good contracts that actually protect ourselves, and our clients and our staff, if we have them, we stopped trying to improve or making sure we're doing the best that we possibly can. When we don't see ourselves as legitimate, it halts our progress and stunts our growth. But what can we do about this, it's, it's not all lost,
Meghan 16:53
be honest with ourselves. So we are an LLC, we are a partnership. And so we need to start referring to ourselves as small business owners. And it's not simple. Using those words about how we describe ourselves is extremely powerful, because it starts putting those thoughts into our words, those words and thoughts become actions because of how we view ourselves in the world.
Collin Funkhouser 17:15
And this could also mean several other things. Yes, you can start referring yourself as a small business owner, putting CEO or founder in your tagline for your email so that others know that as well. It can also mean getting to know other business owners in your area and socializing and connecting with business owners, it may feel weird that you're a business owner, and all you do is, quote, walk dogs. And yet you're just as a legitimate business owner, as somebody who's selling cars, or who builds houses, or who does the myriad of other kinds of businesses that are out there. But when we put ourselves into that world and start associating with people as who are else who are also small business owners, it really does, we do start to see ourselves as one as we associate with them.
Meghan 17:56
Yeah, we can see that they are not scary. And we are not scary, because we're all just humans trying to run our businesses the most efficiently and best way that we know how,
Collin Funkhouser 18:07
you know, I attended a small business owner meeting in our town of a little while ago at this point. And it really rocked me back on my heels to see the connection that people were growing that what they were reaching out for. And I did feel like a huge imposter standing there in front of these people who had quote, unquote, legitimate businesses. And we were I was just a pet sitter, right? I was just a dog walker. So I totally identify with this pitfall with this mindset when it comes to it. But at the end of that meeting, you know, they saw me as legitimate. There was no question in their minds that I was a business owner that everything was going on. And being accepted as one of them like it was very, I guess, gratifying, gratifying and cathartic for me as well, because I did have this huge imposter syndrome. And that just wasn't there at all. As soon as I said, we, my wife, and I own a pet sitting and dog walking company. They went, Oh, that's awesome, really cool. And they had a lot of questions about it. And it was very helpful. So I strongly encourage you to do that, if you have it. Or if you haven't reached out to people in your community to just start having those kind of connections because it really does help and it really can change how you view yourself. The
Meghan 19:14
fifth pitfall here is doing things that don't serve at your business. So the first one I have here is social media, in terms of scrolling endlessly and mindlessly and not having a plan. So instead, use it strategically. So it think about it. It's not very efficient to join global Facebook groups for finding a pet sitter. There are a ton out there and there are a ton of people in them. But the likelihood that someone in your town is on there, especially if you live in a small town is basically miniscule. So it's not worth your time. Have a plan for social media, and I think this is an episode that we're going to do coming up. But have a plan with your social media. Don't just wake up in the morning and go What am I gonna post today, and then you can't think of anything in the five minutes that you have before you have to go to a client's house. And then you don't post anything. I know there are varying opinions on whether social media is effective or not. And there are so many platforms out there. And if your ideal clients are even on them, it depends on your business. But just make sure that your digital presence, your social media, is serving your business the best that it possibly can. Another thing that doesn't serve your business well is having clients not book themselves. So if at all possible, have a software button on your website that clients can go book themselves, whether it's for a meet and greet, or for an actual service, you need to get that off of your plate. I know a lot of pet sitters have their phone number blasted everywhere, but then you're having to feel phone calls. And what if you're busy during the day, and then they the client doesn't pick up and you're having to play phone tag, you can have a call service, that is a great way to offload that on your plate. But your social media, your website, your newsletters should do all of the heavy lifting. So clients won't have any questions before they go to book you or very, very minimal questions. They should not be asking, what are your prices, you should plaster them all over. And if you're still getting them make a Frequently Asked Questions page, do one on social media, put it in your newsletter, of where they can go to find the prices just make it super easy for them to know exactly where to go to find the information that they want. And we are still not perfect at this. But it's always a process, we're trying to figure out the most common client questions and how best to solve them digitally. And so that they're not having to call us or we're not having to take time away from the care of the pets that we're just able to provide the best service possible. And the clients can book whenever they want. These are just a couple of examples of doing things that don't serve your business. But there are so many more. So if you feel like you are not as efficient as possible, pick a day this week, and write down every single thing that you do in and for your business. And then the next day, review that list, see if there's anything that can be streamlined, made more efficient, or that can be taken off your plate or cut out completely so that you can run the business that you want to and you aren't wasting your time doing things that aren't helpful.
Collin Funkhouser 22:30
These are just a few of the pitfalls that we see very commonly in the packer industry. And yes, we have fallen into many of them as well. We hope this has shown some light on those. And we would love to hear about any of the pitfalls that you have fallen into, or that you have worked hard to get out of and how you did that. You can do that by calling us at 636-364-8260.
Meghan 22:53
We do love voicemails or on social media at Facebook and Instagram at pet sitter confessional. Natasha opionion is a pet business coach and she is going to answer the question. What's one policy you wish you would have started earlier? Oh, there's
Natasha 23:06
so many how God but policy that I wish I would have started from day one. probably would have been just a book any Yeah. From day one book in the app, do not email, do not call, do not pass go No, do not text. If they would have if I would have just jumped on the software from day one. I would have not wasted so much time trying to implement and get people on board the proper way. Because that's where I hear like, Oh, I'm gonna get pushed back. I'm getting pushed back. You're only getting pushed back. Because your client is used to you doing things a certain way. And then now you're introducing something else. And they're like, Whoa, I used to text you I used to text the owner. Okay. I don't want to text admin B anymore because I was with the owner. Right? So anytime you change something that they're not used to is why they get a little edgy. It doesn't mean it's impossible, but they don't like change. Nobody does. But like all my new clients who booked in the app, they're like, Oh, well, Natasha, this is so easy. They booked their schedule. They thought their forms update, they pay us. They keep booking, they're like, I don't have to wait for you to call me back. Actually, this is fine. I can. I'm empowering to do it myself. Actually, I usually think about my schedule at midnight. I can actually just go into your app and book it now. And I was like, Oh my god, literally call it I don't get any emails. You would think I would get emails I get none. 00 emails. I literally may get one or two phone calls. They know how to go on our website, click book, once they're in there already have their own app. They feel like they have full control and it's so easy. I mean, I cannot believe I actually email people ever once upon a time. There's no administrative tasks happening.
24:59
Oh Here?
Meghan 25:02
Yes, that's the first thing I wish I would have implemented is our software.
Collin Funkhouser 25:06
Well, that's, I really like that answer. Because we get this software, we get these tools, we get these things to make our business more efficient. And then we do it the hard way, right? We do it on hard mode, but we're still the one booking through the software that the clients also have access to. And we're still the one doing all this manual entry, when it could be so much simpler. And, and I think that is part of this, well, I've got to I've got to control this. And this is the way things are used to and I don't want to mess it up. But what you find is, you know, you end up wasting all this time on this administrative stuff, when the software was supposed to help you not do that. But because of this idea of what you need to control, you still keep trying to piece it all back together.
Natasha 25:48
Absolutely. I mean, just think about how you would feel right. If you were trying to book something, if you could just go in like people say, Just show me what to do, right? They always say just show me, okay. So if you if you needed something, if you could just go in and book it yourself, then you can move on with your day, your life. That's one thing on my to do list is actually done and completed. But if you had to contact somebody via text or email, wait for them to respond back, get their permission or approval, you want to feel like you're bothering them because you're like, Oh, I gotta go through the gatekeeper every time I want to book right. So you've kind of feel like you're bothering them when you're like, well, I could just I can book it on my own. I'm fully capable of doing so. And then you wouldn't be waiting for responses and a full on chitchat when you just kind of want to get a simple thing done.
Meghan 26:44
Natasha not only runs her own dog walking business, but is a pet business coach as well. And if you would like her to coach you through your business, you can go to her website, start scale sale, calm and use the code PSC 20 for 15% off her coaching
Collin Funkhouser 26:58
coming up on Wednesday, we have an interview with JP Annunciation to talk about him purchasing a business from actually, Becky Everly we had interviewed back on episode 122.
Meghan 27:09
So if you've not listened to that episode yet, and you have time this week, go listen to 122 before Wednesday.
Collin Funkhouser 27:16
So that's wonderful because you can listen to the way that Becky sold the business for her side, her perspective. And then we talk about JP and what it was like purchasing the business from Becky and all the things that he learned through that process and how he's grown and changed the company. Since I've really enjoyed my conversation with JP
Meghan 27:34
We hope this episode was helpful to you. And we thank you so much for taking your most valuable asset, your time and listening to us today. These are so much fun to make and we really appreciate you listening to us.
27:47
Yeah. Thank you so much.
