180: Having What it Takes with JP Anunciacion
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Summary:
Buying a business can be a very daunting task. JP Anunciacion, owner of Dog Days & Cat Naps, bought a pet sitting company after a background in call centers, business process outsourcing, and moving to the U.S. from the Philippines in 2006. After climbing the corporate ladder, he needed a change, and found a love and passion for pet care. JP purchased the company from Becky Eberly (episode 122) and dove head first into learning the ropes. He shares what he learned in the process and how he worked really hard for a smooth transition with staff and clients. We also discuss the importance of customer service and what good leadership means to him.
Topics on this episode:
Background in business processes
Why buy a pet business?
How to make a smooth transition into a new business
Has it met his expectations?
Main take away: Take the time to learn the business, meet the staff, and build relationships to help smooth over the transition after you purchase a company.
About our guest:
With a background in call centers, customer service, and business processes, JP Anunciacion knew it was time for a new life and a new setting for his family. JP moved his family from the Philippines to Florida and purchased Dog Days & Cat Naps to start living truer to his ‘why’. Since then he has continued grow and expand the business and won Bold City Best Pet Sitting Service 3 years in a row!
Links:
Becky Eberly’s episode on selling her business
Website: https://www.dogdayscatnaps.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DogDaysCatNaps/
Email: admin@dogdayscatnaps.com
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
business, pet sitters, becky, pet, people, buy, clients, company, learn, transition, customers, jp, industry, call, day, understand, owner, adog, gift, philippines
SPEAKERS
Collin, JP
00:17
Hi, I'm Meghan.
Collin Funkhouser 00:18
I'm Collin. And this is petsitter confessional
00:21
and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter,
Collin Funkhouser 00:24
brought to you by time to pet and pet perennials. We previously interviewed Becky Everly about her selling her business back on episode 122. And today, we are really excited to interview the person who bought her business. jp Annunciation immigrated from the Philippines in 2006. And after climbing the corporate ladder, he needed to change and he found his love and passion, Petcare JP purchased the business and Dove headlong learning everything that he could to be a better leader and to grow the business. Let's get started.
JP 00:59
Well, first and foremost, yes calling It's It's such an honor to be on your show and just wanting to say hi to all the listeners and and being just be yours is just great honor and I'm very excited to be here. And that's a great first question to ask, by the way, you know, as you most of the listeners know, being a pet sitters not easy, but more so being an outsider, buying a business in through this great industry is is also something that's that's kind of hard, I guess, you know, just to introduce myself, I I am from the Philippines. I was born and raised in the Philippines. So that kind of add more maybe calling to the question is like, well, how does that work? But yeah, I came to this country 2007 ish. And, you know, I I just like any other foreigner who dreams to be in America once once to be in to live that American dream, which fast forward today, I'm very blessed. And be leaving that leaving that dream that we have right now. But just to let everybody know, it was it was hard. It wasn't an easy, easy journey. For me, I my background was mainly the business process, outsourcing the BPO, which what I did was I was involved in a lot of the call center stuff, customer service, telemarketing sales, and that whole nine yards. I came to this country as one of those call center brewery gurus that was hired from the Philippines to be here. And I was very blessed to climb up that corporate role that very young age and to be involved in. And just building developing training, hiring, recruiting, everything that's involved in in call centers, and call centers was very big outsourcing and in, in the Philippines, where I was from, and that's kind of where my background is. And I did that for about 15 years. And it reached a point where there was just a focal point in my career that I've I've owned a call center in the Philippines and I owned a call center a small call center in South Florida where I was from and or where I move from three years ago. And what the system The decision was really, really huge focal point in my life. I guess to summarize everything, it reached a point a little bit where I knew that I was already having a bad relationship with with my, my previous business partner. I don't want to get too much detail into that. But that was really the big decision maker was I was stressing myself where I'm not I'm no longer happy with, with the industry that I've loved and evolve and learn to love. And I was I was trying to make a decision where What should I do? And it was it was a point that I could no longer sleep I could I could no longer move forward and I was losing weight and the first thing I've done was I told my wife I want a puppy I want a dog so it kind of started there I drew enough I got a puppy and and then I started walking this puppy every day and and I see a lot of people walking into community and and seeing in America how you guys love pets and how passionate people are here in America especially I keep saying here in America just so you know that culturally speaking in the Philippines, pets are very different. You know they're, they're, I hate to say sometimes they're just locked up in in a kennel outside the house. They're not you guys Here in America here, the pets live such a great life that sometimes I wish I was their pet, you know? But yeah, I mean, I saw that opportunity. And I said, you know what I told my wife, I'm gonna, I'm gonna cross that bridge is time for me to move on. And I wanted, I wanted to make that giant leap of faith, I'm ready. If it wasn't as easy as saying I'm ready. It took a while, maybe a couple years for me to have that decision. But I guess calling when your back is against the wall. And you have your wise and you realize that you're wise in your life is no longer in line to what you do every day as as as your job or your source of living. Then that would make you decide that you get a job into something else and, and True enough to true research. And a lot I mean, a lot of research. I happen to just land into something that was a match made in habit. You have interviewed the previous owner of Dog Days and catnaps Becky Everly, she was she was an angel sent from above, I was just very fortunate that after looking at several pet businesses, I found the right one and we met and her wise in selling the business kind of kind of match to my wife and why I wanted to buy a business.
Collin Funkhouser 06:31
I love hearing that process of really refined refining your why after 15 years in customer service in call centers, trying to refocus and almost it sounds like almost had to rediscover who you were in what you wanted it out of out of your job out of your life moving forward. And that this move into Petcare into buying this business was a way to get things in real alignment for you, so that you could you know just just basic things like just sleep at night and have more peace in your life.
JP 07:07
You nailed it calling you nailed it, that that was actually everything that you just said kind of give me a goosebumps, it kind of reminds me of my situation where I was where I could no longer sleep at night, where where were the money that you're bringing in, you realize is not making you happy. And I think most of the listeners would agree that a lot of people have left a corporate world and started the pet sitting business and they realize that there's so much to just being having that, that income, the salary that you get versus do what you're doing right now and and just have that true calling and passion and taking care of pets sometimes, Hey, you know what? It might not give you the same income and corporate role, but you would find someone that happiness that you can't find somewhere else.
Collin Funkhouser 08:01
And so you're making this transition JP into pet care, and you decided to buy an existing business? What was the decision Corinne buying versus starting one on your own from from zero?
JP 08:15
That is a very good question. You know what, before I even found Becky and dog bass and cat naps, I was researched researching on how to start a pet sitting business. And you would find a lot of the pet sitter sitters and the owners of such businesses are, are very kind people when I say now when I reach out to others in my area that already are doing it as a company. There were they were willing to sit down with me and educate me. And they were sharing me to me what they have done and what they do, you know, they started giving me and pointing me to the right directions like psi or naps and I started researching about what psi does and naps does and and I've learned a lot and to be honest with you. I even signed up with rover and I became a rover, pet sitter and just learning about your your platform, your competition, should we say guy got you into it. But you know, I was I was more into willing to start from scratch. But going back to why I was doing it in the first place got me into life. I was more of an my situation calling was different who was quite unique. I being a foreigner. I was in this country with an executive visa. I was a non immigrant and I was being a non immigrant with an executive visa. You have a petitioner so my My business partner was my petitioner. So my, my, my family's future was in the hands of somebody else. So my decision making quite so complicated that if I decided to leave the company that I kinda supposedly own any work for, I would lose my ability to stay in your wonderful country. So hiring a very good immigration lawyer, I found out that, hey, if I could own a business, then I could be here in this country, which is would put me to be an investor, which is isn't easy. So anybody, anybody in America, that is an American citizen could buy a business, not all foreigners could buy a business. So that makes it more complicated in my situation, there's certain criterias that I need to qualify for, obviously, and number two, you're going to be in a microscope that the government has to approve you, as the buyer. And your seller says to approve you, which makes it great. I was with Becky and say, Becky, you know, the good thing about me buying your business, the government has to say yes, first before I can even buy your business. So they already did the scrutiny for you. So but but you know, what, just looking outside. And looking back, I think, I think if there is a business out there that is really established, the value really is a lot of customers, and a lot of people take into consideration to the new ownership of how long your company has been in business. So a lot of times when I say that, we've been in business since 2000. Not that they call the credit there, Becky was running this business for 16 years. Yeah, I only came in on the 17 year. But you know, I got, you know, I got the opportunity to double the size of the company. When I bought the business, I was blessed enough to be able to use my background, in my previous industry, apply it to the new industry that I'm jumping in. And I was fortunate enough to del Becky, Becky, I did you justice by mind his business because in the span of just two years, from 35 pet sitters, and that's what I that's what I bought, I bought the asset of the company, and the team and existing customers. But But two years moving forward in 2019, our biggest year, we were down, we were up to 70 pet sitters at some point, and we doubled the size of of the company revenue wise, we were making in doubling the note the amount of of bookings that we had. So that was that was great. And again, looking back saying that should I started or by I guess it's just a matter of time. If you're starting from scratch, you got to be more patient, you got to be more willing to put more legwork and and that's what I bought the business for. Because Becky did such a great job in 16 years to build up and I was just there to basically materialize on what she built for 16 years.
Collin Funkhouser 13:35
Well, first off, I have to say, I learned more about immigration law and that process talking with you these last couple months than I have probably from anything I've read or been involved with before. So
JP 13:48
it's it's it's not easy. It's not easy calling. So a lot of a lot of people take that for granted. And I yeah, and I and I shared I shared this story to a lot of people pet sitters are not that sometimes especially what's going on with this country right now. Right? Like last week, all the all the chaos that's going on politically is just disturbing. Right? You know, and, and at the end of the day, people just have to realize that, that a lot of people take it for granted. Being an American is such a privilege is not just a right you know, so I don't get to enjoy that privilege yet. I hope one day and I pray and work so hard to be but a lot of people don't realize that that you wake up every morning to enjoy that freedom and enjoy that privilege to call yourself an American people like me don't get to enjoy that every day.
Collin Funkhouser 14:44
It's it's a reminder of when you talked about your why's we all we all have that and and to know that that was a major deciding factor in this moving forward and buying this business because you saw it as that was a part of that puzzle that you were putting together. And then it also sounds like you were able to see the company and it meshed well with the strengths and your background, that you had an experience from the customer service operation, the business process side of things,
JP 15:16
correct? Absolutely, absolutely. I think owning a pet sitting company and running a customer servers and call centers are very, very similar. You get you get used to, to understanding your customer, what they want, what they need, the only the only thing in our learning curve that I have to do to learn and that's why I moved up here in North Florida because I was in South Florida Back then, I realized that I thought when I bought the business, he could be quote unquote, an absentee owner calling. And then you think that buying a business could just run itself. One thing that you would learn from the get go is that you cannot do that. If you if you buy a business, you got to get your hands dirty. You got to get involved. And you got to learn it firsthand. You can't just you know, he can't buy a business and expect it to just run by itself.
16:26
Have you heard about time to pet chrisann from raining cats and dogs as this to say
16:30
becoming a time to pet clients have been a game changer for us. We can give our pet services clients real time cloud based information they never imagined they'd be interested in. And most importantly to me personally, I can better manage my company and look forward to more and not a small thing. Time to pet is responsive to my request for new features and modifications
Collin Funkhouser 16:54
to existing ones. If you are looking for new pet sitting software for your business, give time to pet a try. listeners of pet sitter confessional get 50% off their first three months when they sign up at time to pet.com slash confessional. And in my conversation with Becky you know it was talking about a lot of the like how to outline the processes get everything documented, get everything put in place. And now hearing you it's going, I can read I cannot you know I can understand things intellectually about the business and how it operates. But actually working the business is a whole other story and is part of that learning process when you come into and you go into a business?
JP 17:37
Correct? Absolutely. One thing that I could tell us if you listeners listen to the previous podcast that calling had with the previous owner, a lot of it involves with Becky doing a lot she was more detail oriented, she had all the procedures in place when I took over, she had manuals in place for me she had every day like everything was so organized that that it didn't give me a hard time transitioning. I think if you want to learn for those of you if you want to be on the on the seller side, if you're interested in selling your business, I encourage you to listening to that, but also for my interview today's to learn that it really, it really is a great value. If you have if you're buying a business and the seller is so organized. It makes the transitioning so easy. Becky was already scheduling a cruise ship, cruise trip with the family that she deserves. Two weeks from the moment I bought the business. I'm like Becky, you're gonna be out of the Raider in two weeks. So I was like panicking. I'm like, how am I going to learn this? Am I gonna be like, no, but you know what, because she was so organized, that the transition was super duper easy. And again, a lot of credit to her. Um, you know, I think I think one of the things that we did decide that I asked a favor from her doll calling as I asked her, would it be okay to you just introduce me to the team as the new marketing guy like a new marketing manager. I think I made that decision mainly because I didn't want to. I guess for me, I didn't want to rattle everybody. I'm not the type of person that hey, I'm the new boss. I'm the new guy. You know, I just don't think that's gonna work. So I made an arrangement with her. The moment I bought the business, she emailed everybody and say there's a new marketing guy that's going to come in. He's going to introduce himself, he's going to get involved in a marketing side. So that's how I kind of transition myself. I didn't I I know that a couple of the managers that I took in one of one of Matt, such a great guy, he was the reservations guy back then we'd Becky. So I got him talk to him sat down. And exact same thing. I told him my why's, and I told him why I'm buying a business. And I offered him a full time job. And he was the first guy that I brought in and said, You know what, I'm going to give you a full time job. He was having a baby, their first baby at that time. So it kind of worked out, I told him, the great news is, you can work at your own pace, anytime work from home. And that kind of worked out, he knew that he was the only guy who knew who I am. And then I, I brought in and hired another reservations manager to take over his job. So he could be there to help me run the business on a day to day. So both of them kind of knew who I was from the beginning. But the rest of the team didn't know who I was, and that I was the new owner.
Collin Funkhouser 21:03
And so why was that kind of transition to you so important, because I feel like that transition can be held in many different ways. Like, you know, one where the new owner just waltzed in and go, Well, I'm the boss. And like you mentioned, what you didn't want to do versus the slow introduction, this personal introduction that you had from Becky to everybody saying, Hey, this is who's coming on board. And and getting that that more one on one connection. So why did you decide to make that transition? With the employees like that?
JP 21:35
I think a lot of it is that I think, to be honest, on a personal level, I think I kind of felt insecure is if that's the term because I'm not one of you guys. See. I'm not I wasn't a pet sitter for 15 years, you know, I'm trying to say, yeah, so I don't want to be judged like an outsider, a new owner, outsider, I wanted to kind of train myself first, I want to be the pet sitter, I started pet sitting. From the moment I bought the business I tried to study how it feels to be a pet sitter, what are the ins and outs and, and I want to learn the procedures of the company myself. So as a leader, you cannot just lead without being there, you can't just be general that hides behind the desk, you know, you have to be crew, courageous enough to be out there, and do the job yourself. So I gave myself the time to learn it. So when I was ready and prepared, I was able to face my pet sitters and say, Hey, you know what, I know how you feel. Because you can, you cannot understand your team, if you're not there doing the job yourself.
Collin Funkhouser 22:53
Right, which is something that many of us may miss by but with through this conversation of needing to gain that connection, and being able to empathize with your sitters and being able to empathize with your employees, as you just said, I know what it's like, I know what those days are like, and that it was part of that process. But I'm sure that that also showed the employees that you were now leading of like, a lot of a lot of humility and a lot of ability to learn from others, not just coming in from on high and saying this is the way it's going to be and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but like, really taking that time to soak in everything and get to know not just the business but the people to
JP 23:36
correct that is true, I think I was I was also kind of concerned about push backs on on the scale of things business wise, I felt like it was a lot of risk to just from the get go deldot pay, there was a transitioning, business was on sale, I bought the business people start leaving the company because they don't know this new guy. You know, customers start leaving because there's a new owner. It kind of now makes sense to me to just learn the business v behind the curtain first, understand truly the business understand what your people are going through. And then the next step that I did there was I started meeting the pet sitters one by one. And I guess that was one of the new that was the new technique and new strategy that I could say I did kinda took over for Becky and changed a little bit because Becky was more into the virtual, you know, meet through FaceTime or Skype or whatnot. I kind of learned it from my call center business that let them come into your office and meet the person that who you are, understand what kind of quote unquote boss you are. And, and you would probably get a little bit more mileage out of If you know what I'm trying to say. So what I did is I started calling them and I asked, I asked my managers and say, Hey, what do you think? Are the top pet sitters? Can I start with them first, because they were the key people in the business to begin with. So I started with them start reading, not interviewing them, it was more of them interviewing me, and me telling them that who I am, and I'm the new owner, by the way, and, and kind of introducing myself face to face versus sending out a mass email that, hey, this is the new owner. So that kind of work well, so to speak, what kind of
Collin Funkhouser 25:37
what other strengths Do you feel like you were able to bring in from your experience in in call centers and running that business from, from what I know call centers can be pretty brutal places. And the amount of attention to detail and customer service there is really, really high and I know you've dealt with a lot of the business processes. So as you're as you're learning the business as you're getting connected, and you're getting building these relationships with the pet sitters. What else are you bringing along with you from your previous 15 years experience?
JP 26:12
I think I think most of it is, is the basics, like when I train new people to be on the phone, as I always tell them that it's it's the irony of things. She I'm teaching people that customer's always right, customers are the king. But at the end of the day, I always tell them that customers are also the biggest liars say it but so it's again, it's just the nature of things, you know, cuz cuz cuz which is true, I hate to say I'm a customer, too. Sometimes, people call you and not just call you they would yell at you, they will sometimes unfortunately have to curse at you. Yeah. You know, I've learned just being on the phone, you could tell different cultures from where they are. By by somebody calling in and always be in a hurry. I already know that they're from New York, New Yorkers are like, boom, boom, boom, I'm on the phone, here's what I want. Give me what I want, hang up the phone. And then you call somebody from taxes and this grandma start telling you what was what was dinner for Thanksgiving couple months ago, right? So there's, there's different kind of learning some basics that you kind of get from from the call center Customer service is understanding who your customers are, and how to handle them. You can't, you can't, you can't handle all customers the same. You know, and, and you always have to take in and absorb the blow. You know, a lot of times in that same world, not all petsitting clients are the same. You know, some, most I'm not gonna say some, most of them are the nicest people. But some of them could be difficult at times, you know, but with that specialty of how to handle customers, I guess that was a key I, I kind of knew how to kind of, you know, play my cards when it comes to different kinds of customers to needs very, very important and in fact, calling. The reason why I moved here in North Florida, instead of being a remote owner is on a Friday night, in the first Friday night that I owned a business. I was waiting for my wife to come home from her work, and call it a week, a day a night and bring my wife for a dinner date. Guess what I was on the phone for two hours and trying to pacify an very angry customer. Oh, no. So and I realized that what I did is I told my wife that was it. That was the focal point and say, we're gonna move out in North Florida. I'm going to live where my customers are. I'm going to live where my pet sitters are. And what I did, when I moved here is I met with that client face to face. I met with that client face to face. I took the humble pie of apologizing to that client face to face. And I told her that we're going to make things right with her from a negative review in Yelp to an updated when asked her to update it. In a couple of months, we got the best review ever in Yelp, which is hard to get that it's all about it. You gotta be you gotta be there too. It's all about customer service. Right? You know that in this respect setting. I think that's what I've learned with you guys with the best pet sitters out there. I've learned that it's all about that extra mile that you do for the pets in your clients, you know, picking up their mail from their mailbox, unlike what I thought we were paid as a pet sitter or or Or taking their their recycling down to the curb or their trash to the curb, you know this this extra miles that you do for your clients at the end of the day, that's, that's customer service for you. And that matters. So that what I did in a call center put it in, but there's so much customer service that you can do not just with customer service issues, like plainly being there for your clients.
Collin Funkhouser 30:28
And you've outlined your how you made that transition with your employees? Did you have a similar approach? or How did you approach making that transition with the clients the existing client base that you had?
JP 30:39
That's very good question to be honest with you. I was I couldn't play Honestly, I couldn't. I couldn't even remember how Becky introduced me to the clients. But But can I be honest with you calling? I think I always believe as owning the company, and being a company owner for 15 years prior to this, that not trying to say that clients are not important. I think I always believed that with out your people, your company is nothing. I'm not trying to say that I'm always going to be pro employee. What I'm trying to say is that I think my strategy back then is that if I knew that I have the support of the team and the pet sitters, you will get the support of your clients. I didn't know that. I wasn't too sure if we emailed everybody about me and introduce myself to people. We might have been later down the road. But it was more of if I knew that your team is on board, you have their loyalty you have their support, it doesn't really matter. if if if they aren't who the owner is at the end of the day, right? Because Because your pet sitters Third, the initial handshake for the company now meaning, you know, the clients don't get to meet the owners. You know, they don't, you know, they don't get to choose who the company owner says, but they get to choose who their pet sitters are. So that's kind of was more logical to me to know that. As long as that team were on board, not that I don't care about who the client is. I just felt like it was more important just to get those bets that are so on board first.
Collin Funkhouser 32:26
Right? Are you talking about where you should be investing your your your energy, it's in your tongue, as you said, right? Like, that's where the primary focus needs to be the clients will be there, they're still going to get served, because you are taking care of the petsitter. And knowing that there's still that that connection, because I think, you know, sometimes we may feel like, oh, anytime I make a transition in my business, or I'm part of a transition or you know, my clients are going to run away, and there's going to be this big, big to do. But what you're saying is like, no, there's like, focus on the basics, focus on the people in the company, make sure they're okay, that they're well cared for. And then the rest of that stuff is going to follow.
JP 33:03
Correct? Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, the company is obviously, logistically speaking, I bought the asset of binding existing customers. But for me to value the asset value was more of the people that's already in the company, working with the company, because right now, it's not that easy to hire this kind of people for you to grow this big. It's it's hard to hire good, trusted and reliable pet sitters. So, you know, for me, that was more important than, again, I'm not trying to downplay or, or disrespect my clients, I'm just saying that, that the rest would follow if you knew that as an owner that you have to gain that trust and respect of your people first,
Collin Funkhouser 33:56
right. Now, in that transition, did you experience any sort of any pushback from from employees or clients?
JP 34:04
I did, I did. It's not 100% all the time, as we know, like, when when you when when we're trying to push for this call earlier when you're ready, there's some push backs. But uh, but yeah, there there was, um, I know that there was one pet sitter that was specifically not happy because she felt like, you know, it was more so with Becky that she was kind of upset with it. She said that Becky should have at least let them know. But now at the end of the day, you know, business owner, you have every right on how to run your business. And one thing that I could tell everyone that you have to put the fine line like wall to how you really want to run your business because at the end of the day, you want to run your business the way you want to run your business. You can't let others do on how to run your business, that's the time that you would see your yourself going downhill and spiraling. And no longer happy with the business that you own is if you're more concerned on that scissors telling you what to do, customers telling you what to do, you know, you got to put a little bit of, of boundaries and lines to that. But, you know, with that said, I was just able to, again, take over and learn that customer service experience I had and, you know, kind of empathize with that petsitter and make her understand why it happened to wait was right. And, and, you know, she she turned around, and she did came back and work and, and we always had the revolving door with with our company, we I can't force a pet sitter to stay if they're not happy. Um, some of them would have some personal issues here. And there, I asked them to, to take their break. And you know, I've had some pet sitters that came back after a year or six months, you know, I always tell them that, I always have a rule of thumb that you know, you, you come when you're ready, you go and you're not ready. I, I've learned in this pet sitting world that you're going to learn to say no now, then sorry, later. If that kind of makes sense. Especially during the holidays calling, people would call you on the 23rd to take care of their pets on the 24th. Like, really? Is that going to work? You know? So? Yeah, it's better to say no, now then try to squeeze them in your schedule, and then you sacrifice a quality? And then you say sorry, later? No. Yeah, I'd rather say that. I'd rather have that very, very hard. No, then a very hard sorry, later.
Collin Funkhouser 36:52
Well, you know, it's just you talk about boundaries and the importance of saying no, in your business and, and yeah, like your business is your business, you need to run it the way you need to run it. And one of the biggest tools that we have, in our tool belts to do that is the power saying no, to things that we don't want to be doing or aren't in alignment with where we want the company to go. And it's, it can be it's really scary to say no, though, right? It's because it's Oh, I may lose that business, or I may upset them, because I'm not able to serve them today, or whatever reasons we can put in our brains. But at the end of the day, as you as you so eloquently put it there, if you are trying to avoid the sorry, or the apology, or that long two hour phone call or this back end work, that's going to make it worse for you and make a worse experience for somebody, then if you just stick to your rules, stick to your policies stick to the direction you're trying to go and go with that.
JP 37:48
Right? Absolutely. Totally agree 100%.
Collin Funkhouser 37:53
So you're coming into the business, and you're getting to know people, you're getting connected with clients, you're learning the ins and outs. From what are some of the changes that you were really looking to make? And I guess the second half of that question is, is how did you go about getting those implemented.
JP 38:11
So focusing on the business itself, the first six months, I let it ride, I let the business run as if Becky still owned the company, I didn't change anything. And then I started seeing some of the things that was working and not working. A lot of it that wasn't really working for me was the marketing side of it. Um, a lot of my background in in the BPO was adopting to what works like for example, print ads, there was a lot of costs in print ads, but no business are coming in. So I mean, it would have been maybe working back into days, for Becky. And again, no disrespect, it was just something that I thought has to be evolving through time. So I started changing the prints to online advertising. So I focus on social media, I focus on Google pay per click. Um, I really have to tell you though, that it, it really helps a lot knowing that you have that brand name out there for many, many years. Right? It got it got to a point that dot name itself sell itself. So one of the things that I did not touch nor plan to change ever was to change that brand name. In fact, when I did the first year was improved the website and I have hired somebody to redo revamp the entire website. And that's when the new owner came in kind of place. They kind of like, oh, you're the new owner, I could tell because their websites are different and it looks different and feels different. Let's be honest with you. So same name, just different website. Make it really look Nor make it more modern and more techie, I guess. And I guess that's what social media is ever evolving, you know. And that's kind of where I got Yelp. Guys, I don't know if you love Yelp, but we're not restaurants. But Yelp was a love hate relationship for me, we've spent a lot of money with them, and they don't really give true reviews, their algorithm is so screwed up. So I took Yelp out of the picture. I took a lot of the other stuff that wasn't really helping a lot. So I focused I focused on just the marketing side networks. And for me, just to shout out what works for me was revamping the website driving more traffic to the website, I'm constantly engaging with your with your leads, meaning your customers, even if they haven't booked with you yet, you know, we send out weekly newsletters to our customers. We don't just sell sell sell, we we engage, meaning we try to have different content on our newsletters every week. You know, it has to be more of a 7030 rule, I guess where 70% has to be non related to your business and 30% is your business. Same with your posting with your social media, you don't want to keep posting, sell, sell, sell, nobody wants to follow that you get you get to know your your your viewers, your customers, your listeners, for you, and being able to provide valuable content for them. So that's kind of what I change I tried to do on some of the face to face, which I didn't get read more success, I tried to do some face to face. Networking, you know. And again, I just kind of step back with that because I just let the brand name and I just let let the pet sitters do their work. And that kind of work. Really good for me calling,
Collin Funkhouser 42:16
you started off by talking about letting the business run for six months, because that kind of gets connected back to that. You have all the operating procedures for the business, you've got all the contracts, you've got all of the training manuals, all of this book, all of these books, to see that in operation before you start making these subtle changes. And really putting in the effort and putting in your where your gifts and your talents are just see it as it was like I can, I can really see how that would be so important in this transition, before you start ripping out the guts of something that you don't understand how it works and don't understand how all these pieces fit together to go, Okay, let's just watch it in operation. And then we'll make these slow, gradual changes and put my my effort behind the things that I see where they need to be going. Because if you don't like you, you may miss the whole point of you know, the business and its operation and not fully understand exactly what you're changing or why it was there in the first place.
JP 43:11
Absolutely. You're right. You're right. That is correct.
Collin Funkhouser 43:17
So you know, you mentioned you moved to to the northern northern Florida, and you're brand new to the pet industry and brand new to the area. Did you reach out to local pet sitters in that area and start talking with them about their businesses and how they operate? Ah,
JP 43:35
yes, I did. And I'll be honest with you, some of them call me nuts. I got some interesting phone calls. Sometimes it's like I know who you are like, why did you move in town? was like so but no, that's not that's flaming out my intention. I guess some but not all. But you know what, there's a lot of great people in the pet sitting industry I i you've interviewed one of my peers dog of bad to the bone. That was a great interview great segment in your in your podcast. I listened and that's how I knew about you. Just like him, I called him up, sat down with him have coffee. And I didn't stop there. I think I contacted maybe four or five people that are already doing what we're doing. And and for me, it was more of letting everybody know that who I am. Same with my pet sitters and what I am I'm not. I'm not I'm not here to dominate the world. I'm not here to Command and Conquer. I'm here to collaborate. I'm here to learn. I'm here to know that hey, I'm the new guy. But I'm willing to work with you and learn with you. And I'm willing to share best practices because that's the only way that we all can succeed. You know We can't, we can't just step on each other's toes. And a lot of times I remind everybody, when I tell them to, there is more pets out there than pet sitters and pet professionals, right? Plenty for us to share. In fact, in fact, there is not enough pet sitters out there. So, you know, for me to collaborate with other pet companies, you know what, what I always believe that whatever, whatever you give, if you give it when your heart always comes back then folds. And I'm already I'm already been a recipient of that last year. All this smaller companies that I collaborated with, during the holidays, they don't have enough to cover. So they would come back and call or refer people to us. And the same token, if they're not busy during the summer, we give back and always refer people to them, because we're so busy. You know, it's, it's, and I've learned through time that, that you have to collaborate and learn from each other instead of trying to compete with each other.
Collin Funkhouser 46:07
Right? Well, then there's that other aspect too, of like, as we're all learning and growing, and our knowledge and understanding of the business of client interactions of new practices and things we're trying to do, when we share that with other people, that makes everybody better in the industry gets better as a whole. And we all want to see that we all want to see everybody operating with the best knowledge with the best experience with the best tools and resources available to them. So that as the industry all the boats can rise, and we can be better for it.
JP 46:41
You know, the happiest that I could ever share when you call in is when when I took over the business, I guess the gauge of success that I'm had and I told my wife, you were right, we we moved to North Florida, moved to a new house, new community, my kids had to go to school, my wife had to get a new job. I personally had to make this giant transition from, from the corporate world do walking on your gym clothes and pick up dog poop, right? major difference from from being that coat and tie to your shorts and your running shoes and picking up dog poop. Totally different scenario. But what I'm trying to say is that we are totally transition from that. But we've learned a lot from that. And, and I think my point is, looking back when I when I was recognized, I wouldn't say correct me, not I we were recognized as the bold city bass of Jacksonville. Three years in a row this year, we won the Best petsitting. And for you to be part of that recognition, where they've tried to recognize every professional in the city. And it's nice to see, what I'm trying to say is it's nice to see that we're I'm not trying to make a personal recognition. But as all of us as pet sitters being recognized as quote unquote, profession, right, that we are no longer just a hobby. We're not just a gig, you know, we are now being recognized as one of the professionals, right. So when they set up a category that Fest, that sitting company, and we've won that three years in a row ever since I've owned it for me looking back and I tell my wife, I did something right. And I made the best decision in my life to jump into this industry. And and for me, I wanted to share that with everyone because, you know, it's sometimes Oh petsitter is that a job? Yeah, I'm sure you, you understand? Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 48:56
it absolutely. And I guess, you know, to see yourself as part of this broader picture, this broader movement to legitimize the industry and the job as what it is, as you know, everyone in the industry recognizes it as legitimate and as worthwhile and as a productive and an amazing place to be. But there is still that little bit of education, for recognition and for to be seen as legitimate in operation and and when we share and when we all improve, that moves the industry forward when we're working together and viewing each other as community versus competition.
JP 49:36
Totally, totally agree. And that was my main motivation and on on when you just asked me why I was reaching out there. That was it. It was just pure of a movement that we are in this together because we want to educate people in our communities that we do exist that we are the professionals. We're not we're not hobby people. We're not doing this as a side gig or side income or hobby. We we were true professionals that learned and trained in all water risk that we get involved in doing this. You know, and people say, Well, I'll hire somebody there for free. But you know that free person is not going to be as trusted and as reliable as you are and when knock on wood, hair comes to vet bills because that free service is not as licensed and insured as you are. Are you going to be able to really ask them to take care and cover the cost? Absolutely not.
Collin Funkhouser 50:36
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JP 52:03
Let me let me answer that by going back to what I said earlier on this show when I said that when I met Becky her wise in selling the business, in line to my wife and buying a business that was very important. Six months down the road when I owned this business, I found another pet sitting company that was for sale in South Florida, just right around the corner where we used to live, right? And out of curiosity, I started inquiring and this and that. And I went back and asked Becky Hey, Becky, do you know this company? Because they use the same software as we are? Which is the PSP petsitting professional software? And yeah, I know them. And in fact, they were the first people who, who was planning to buy my business we were talking about about it, but something that can didn't turn out. It was it wasn't meant to be. Let's put it that way. So going back to that scenario, again, to answer your question. The smooth transition was between Becky and I was it was it was it was really in line with why she wanted to sell the business and why I wanted to business. I would advise any businesses right now calling to be honest with you. I have looked at other businesses recently, like last year, I was planning to buy a pet salon that are offering grooming service and boarding. But something did not connect the why wasn't there. So I feel like if the why of the seller is deep enough for you to kind of dig in and dig deep, I feel like you're gonna carry a lot of loading or shoulder to kind of pull that back, you know, trying to say so I think that's very, very important to have a smooth transition. It's like, it's, it's like a matchmaking. You know, it just, it's not just all about the money. It's not just monetary transaction, because Becky could have sold that business to that other company. And six months down the road, Becky would have probably seen her company being on sale too. Right. So so that that kind of what I can say is is really just in line you're wise?
Collin Funkhouser 54:21
Well, I think that's an aspect that many might not think about or consider is that they may only think about Okay, well how do you buy business where you have the money to buy the business or you you have all of the operating procedures lined out and that's how you buy a business. But what you're really discussing here is that there there is this alignment of connections and alignment of why's and that when those are off as in anything in life when you're wiser off from what you're trying to get to. It gets really messy, right it gets messy as communication breaks down. It's you're not working in the same goals. You may be working against each other and to really do take that time to get to know the seller to understand what they're doing, why they're doing their motivations, and see if that fits you. Because that speaks to how they ran the business that speaks to how they have things set up. It's really, it's really a little bit different of a connection than just going well, all the numbers line up and everything checks out. So we're good to go. It's It's It's your what you're saying here is that there's one more step that you need to do here is to make sure you have that kind of connection.
JP 55:26
Absolutely here, right. And to seal the deal when I was when this conference room meeting with Becky and Mike her husband, it's I can I could not forget about this to seal the deal. I asked him one question before we stood up in Jordan. So I asked them, so what do you guys think I have what it takes to own your business. It's like going to an interview. But I had to ask them because yeah, you know, you got to know it from the seller, she has been running this business for 16 years, yeah, I get a go to interview as a new owner, because it doesn't do justice for me to take over a company and know that I'm gonna run it to the ground. Wow, I have sold businesses in the past call him. And that was that was the problem that people might have the money they might have. They might have the money at debt. But, you know, they run that business to the ground, because they weren't really meant to run that business. So as a seller, I guess, if you really want to consider that what really is what you want to see on a business that you work so hard for? So for me, that was it, I had to ask both of them and say, hey, did I pass the thing? I can do it? You know, and I get to hear from them?
Collin Funkhouser 56:52
And she says, Yes, obviously in case anyone's wondering. Correct? Correct. Correct.
JP 56:57
I think I passed.
Collin Funkhouser 56:59
I think I think so. Absolutely. And you know, it is part of that, especially coming into a new industry wholecloth needing some some validation and what you were saying what you were thinking how you were interpreting things, whether you understood it appropriately? And then to have somebody with 16 years of experience? Go, yeah, you're gonna, you've got this, you're going to be fine. Like, I can see how that would really impact you, you JP going, Yeah, like, okay, like, I'm on the right path. This is where I need to be going, and really puts you off on a really good footing.
JP 57:33
Right? Correct.
Collin Funkhouser 57:35
So, if anyone is listening to this, and they're thinking about buying a business, what kind of advice would you give gift to that?
JP 57:44
I think the first advice is research tons of research on, you know, you cannot make any decision out of emotion. And can I be honest with you, that's where I was, I was very, I was, again, as I mentioned earlier, my decision was quite unique I was my back was pushed against a wall, when you're very emotional, you tend to make the wrong decisions in life, you tend to be a little bit more emotional or, or impulsive. And you you make decisions that you may regret later down the road, right. But a lot of it has to come with a lot of research, a lot of research, a lot of prayers, you got to pray. Because you can't just, you can't just lean on your own understanding when you do this research. A lot of them, they may not make sense to you. But you know, also know that when you're buying a business, you got to go back to why am I buying this business? Do I have do? Do I have a long term goal or a short term goal? Do I want this as a passive income? Or does this would be a replacement of an income? So going back to those two options, I would say most of the businesses that are for sale out there or you want to buy, don't expect them to replace your income from the get go. Because if so don't buy a business itself. You can't You can't just say okay, I buy it and now making money next month, you know, I'm trying to say yeah, there's a reason why that business is for sale and most of the time they're for sale, it's because they need some revamping to do rework to be done. And then look at the numbers don't don't buy, don't don't it's like buying a house, I guess my rule of thumb is find your pride try to get bit or the profit margin that they have and try to multiply that by two and I would say that would be your maximum, you know, price point as far as how many you might want to buy that business. And again, if it's a short term long term goal, if you think that this income could be a great passive income, or a replacement of income for me, it has to be a little bit about my the bash, my back was against the wall, it has to be my only income and my passive income at the same time, I built it to be more of a replacement of income. But I know that there's when you grow this, there's residual income in this, that it will eventually be passive. And you guys are wanting to get into this business I, again, research, research and research. You can't You can't just, it's it's not a perfect industry. But it is such a great industry to be in. If anything, I would encourage somebody to do it. But do it with a knife, right knowledge behind you don't just do it in you think that you could get skip manuals and do it yourself. Now you gotta get you got to get that education behind you. And if you get it right on, it's just a very worthy industry to be in.
Collin Funkhouser 1:01:06
So you, JP, you've been in the industry for several years now. And you've done all this research. You've grown the company by leaps and bounds. Right now is it? Is it what you thought it would be? And then a follow up question to that is, is what what are your plans for the future and moving forward?
JP 1:01:27
I think one of the research criteria that I wanted when I wanted to buy a business was to buy a recession proof business. And that was a that was the first part. And I thought that being a patent industry, everybody that sells a betting industry business tells you Oh, it's a recession proof business. But it's not a pandemic group business. So nobody but nobody, nobody would have thought about thinking of a pandemic. I mean, who would? Right, right. But I guess Looking back, I think in the several years in business, I would not change a single thing. I think I think the industry is such a great industry to be in beyond blessed to be in this business at the right time. I think it's a booming industry. As you can tell, every household has pets. If they don't have one walking outside, they would have a litter box inside. So But yeah, I think I think I would think that I would really one thing that I developed pre pandemic calling that I would like to share it to everyone is that when I bought the business there was a lot of the bulk of the business was the Monday to Friday, recurring midday dog walks. I kind of anticipated that if we wanted to grow, I want to tap into the vacation pet sitting. So it was more of like a 75% of our clients were the Monday to Friday recurring people that was the building Becky to add, great job building up. But that was the one that we've lost during the pandemic, right, we've lost a lot of the Monday to Friday recurring business. lucky enough in the last couple of years, we started another kind of more of a niche, which what we call the private boarding. So we can never be toe to toe with the big kennel facilities out there. They've spent millions of dollars to build such great facilities. But no in mind that not every pet are fit to be in a kennel facility like theirs. You're going to have puppies that are not fully vaccinated, or you're going to have hospiscare that are not meant to be surrounded with not many dogs. So we try to we try to add the private boarding and that's what saved us true to pandemic is that we've had people nowadays that would go staycation, maybe go drive somewhere near and have a wordy break. And you know, we had that weekend off and we take them during the weekend. That kind of that kind of helped us a lot and grew and in 2020 we won the Best private morning company pet boarding company in Jacksonville, which until this day, I still don't know how we want to because we were we were we were up against this giant tycoons you know, the big the big companies out there. But again, going back, it's all about the quality of service, not the quantity of service that you provide. So yes, I would say my direction would be hopefully to go Roll more of the private boarding side, I think that's kind of more of where the market is right now they wanted to, I think rover is, is. I think one of the things that that I would add on before we join is that when I bought the business calling is you have to study your your you have to study your market and your competition. I think the biggest competition we all have us bets in in companies are is rover, right? So I told myself, Well, if rover we're gonna dominate, how we going to survive the business. One thing that I realized that rover is good in private boarding, because people would just go to their website and where do you live, I'm going to drop my dog where you live, I know where you live. Yeah, that's easy. But rover will never ever going to be dominate what we specialize in, which is in home pet care, where we go to people's houses, and they know that they're hiring a legitimate company, versus somebody in a website that claims to be a pet sitter. We're gonna dominate the In Home pet care, because we're trusted, reliable, and they know that we are a full blown, legitimate company that could go and take care of their pets, not just their pets, but their house.
Collin Funkhouser 1:06:25
Yeah, I mean, just a lot, you know, to focus on. And to remind ourselves of the services that we provide, and in how we provide them, you know, it is it is about quality of care, not quantity and everything that we do as business owners. And so it's really good reminder, especially moving forward, as we look how to add a place our businesses and growing through 2021, that when we focus on quality, when we focus on the relationships of with our clients, with our employees, if we have them, putting those first and foremost, and everything that we do as a business, know that that is that that translates into a business growing and a business doing well.
JP 1:07:08
Correct? Absolutely. I think that's a big reminder for me as the start of the year, is I want to go back where I was when I bought the business four years ago. And I want to start from scratch, honestly calling I want to start calling my pet sitters, again, just checking up on them. Are you still happy? Or are we still on in line with the direction of the company, and I'm going to start calling customers randomly and checking up on them. I think that's, that's the best thing that we can do right now versus worrying about this whole pandemic. It's really just causing a lot of anxiety to a lot of people. jp,
Collin Funkhouser 1:07:47
I cannot tell you how much I've enjoyed this conversation and getting to hear your story and the success that you've seen over the years. So thank you so much for sharing that with us and our listeners. if people have questions and want to get connected and reach out in tag along with everything that you've got going on. How can they do that?
JP 1:08:04
Yeah, well, yes, we have a website that's done with Dog Days, cat naps.com. We also have that same Facebook, dog a scan app, start calm. You can contact us or follow us through there. My email is admin. At Dog Day scat naps, calm, feel free. If you have any questions at all, you know how to do help out and you know, hopefully this, this segment calling I appreciate you it's there's so much great questions you have. And you know, there's so much good things that we could share with our listeners. So I appreciate you. And thank you, sir.
Collin Funkhouser 1:08:46
Yeah, no, absolutely. And I'm happy to have you back on to talk more about business operations. And you're playing for growth in all of that too, because there's so much more to share. So hopefully we'll have you back on the program sooner rather than later. jp, again, it's been a real pleasure. Thank
JP 1:09:01
you so much. Thanks, everyone. Such an honor.
Collin Funkhouser 1:09:04
Inspired is not a strong enough word to describe my feelings after interviewing JP, his determination and his goals that he had for his family drove everything that he needed to, to decide to end up buying a pet care business. He looked around the landscape of businesses that he could buy, and he saw something that fit his passion, fit all of his goals, all of his objectives. And then he didn't step aside. He dove right in and that's my one of my favorite parts about talking to JP is he didn't just buy business and then step aside. He dove in and learned the business, learned the hard work, learned what his staff was actually doing. And then did everything he could to make it better to grow it to expand from there. And I think that is by far away my biggest takeaway from talking with JP that when we go to make a change When we go to grow and expand, we have to be equipped with functional knowledge in how things operate and how things work. We can't just speculate about how something is doing or what it's supposed to do. We have to know it inside and out so that we can make the best and the most informed decisions possible. They're going to actually make good strong real world results. And I absolutely love that about JP. We want to thank our sponsors this week, time to pet and pet perennials for making it possible to bring this episode to you. And we want to thank you for listening. And we hope you enjoyed this episode. And if there are other topics that you would like to have covered or people that you would want interviewed on the podcast, including yourself, please reach out to us at feedback at petsitter confessional comm we'd love to hear from you and we'd love to help share your story. Have a wonderful weekend and we will be back again.
