189: Mental Fitness and Communications with Kate Myers
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Summary:
Kate Myers has been working with pets for the last 55 years. Over that time she has been deeply involved in animal control and animal shelters. Now she has transitioned into a pet nanny. Kate, owner of Darling Companion, shares the experience of building mental fitness and the unique challenges of effective communication to educate pet parents and elicit big changes. She gives some amazing advice on how to receive feedback and turn it into something productive. We discuss what it means to find a niche, why it's so important to charge so you can make a living, and how to best support our local shelters.
Topics on this episode:
Educating pet parents
Mental fitness
Supporting our local shelters
Finding your niche and your worth
How to receive client feedback
Main takeaway: We live and work with our hearts as pet professionals, but that doesn't mean we should ignore planning our business, and focusing on our mental fitness.
About our guest:
I began my work with animals when I was 23. I have served as an education assistant, animal control officer, community outreach coordinator, chief of animal control for King County Washington, Executive Director of the Washington State Humane association and have offered multiple classes for animal shelter and animal care workers focused on mental fitness, communication, organizational development and planning. Currently, I am a pet nanny for special-needs companion animals in Boulder Colorado.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, animals, pet, dog, clients, puppy mill, care, pet sitters, business, nanny, shelter, charge, cats, educating, money, animal shelters, started, education, volunteer, pet sitter
SPEAKERS
Collin, Kate Myers
00:17
Hi, I'm Meghan. I'm Collin. And this is Pet Sitter Confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter brought to you by time to pet and pet sitters International.
Collin 00:30
Kate Meyers, owner of darling companion started off in the pet care industry working in animal shelters. Through her years, she has worked on mental fitness and better preparedness for animal shelter workers and pet care industry workers as well. She's done a ton of information and outreach education to pet parents on how to better care for their pets as well. And now she's transitioning into the life of a pet nanny. Today, we talk about what that transition has been like for her how pet sitters can have more mental fitness in our days, and what it means to be better at communicating exactly it is what we do. Let's get started.
Kate Myers 01:12
Thank you for having me. I started working with animals when I was 23 years old, my family had always treated animals, our dogs and cats, it's members of the family. And I found a litter of puppies on a jogging trail in Eugene, Oregon. And I was so naive, I walked around asking people if they had set those puppies down. Ultimately, I realized that they had been abandoned. And that started my work with animals that has lasted my entire adult life. I think that there are so many things that people can do to make animals lives and dogs and cats especially better in this world that it's important for us to focus, especially as pet sitters, on educating the people who have control over these animals.
Collin 02:09
And when you say when you say educate in helping pet parents, what does that look like?
Kate Myers 02:14
Well, it's sort of a process of nudging. People don't like it when you tell them that they're doing something wrong. But slowly and surely, if they trust you, you can say a few things that that may help them. I have one situation with a little Boston Bull Terrier, named sailor who is an absolutely wonderful little dog. But her companion dog passed away. And since then she has been plagued with separation anxiety, she doesn't want to leave her mom. And what I noticed when I was over there is that her mom didn't really look at sailor as a dog. And I find this very, very often people will say, Oh, it's my child. And so she was being a real smothering mother to the dog, and making sailor nervous. So I slowly started to talk to her about things that she could do to treat Saylor more as a dog. And I found this with a lot of my clients. Dogs, that the highest compliment I can give any dog is that it's a great doc. They are not children, they not our partners, they are dogs, and that's what makes them so wonderful. But if you start treating them like a partner, or your children, it makes the dog very uncomfortable. You're pulling them into a realm that they know nothing about. They can't be in charge of you. So that's probably the biggest form of education that I do.
Collin 03:58
I love how you phrase that of giving these little nudges. Because sometimes when we try and look at those situations, we feel like it's our responsibility as pet sitters and as pet care specialists to try and solve that for the pet parent and try and solve that situation. But really looking at the pet parent and recognizing that that this is something we need to help help them with not solve it for them and giving these little bits of information.
Kate Myers 04:25
Yeah, and I think I always send over articles and when I take on a client, I take them on for life. of my clients are very special to me. And over a period of time I will arrange for trainers or look at someone who can do a conversation with the dog. I'm an animal empath, but I can't tell you what the dog had for breakfast. So animal communicators can be very can be very helpful and over time It really is about relationship building. It's not about coming over for four hours, or an evening or a day, and then leaving. It's about creating a relationship with the human and with the animal.
Collin 05:13
Some of your experience from building relationships with, with humans and animals comes from a lot of work in animal control and in the shelter side of pet care. So I'd love for you to kind of walk us through your history on that side of animal care.
Kate Myers 05:33
Okay, well, after I found those puppies, I took them up to my mom's house and found them homes and I hooked up with an organization that was doing spay neuter contracts. And they sent me home with like 100 pages of information from HS us the Humane Society of the United States. And I read it all. And I had not realized that 18 million dogs and cats were being killed every year in shelters, and I looked around and nobody else was in mind to do the work. I had a degree in advertising and Communications and Public Relations. So I went to the local shelter in Eugene, Oregon. And they happen to have an education assistant. position open, I learned so much from the kennel mistress and the people that I worked with, we had a spay neuter clinic it was, it was a very progressive organization. And I loved working there. But I had an offer from California, to in Sonoma, California, to be licensed and Information Officer at Sonoma County Animal regulation, which was an animal control position. And that was, that was great. I absolutely loved working as an animal control officer. There was a lot of training, but there was also a lot of being thrown into things that I knew nothing about. The big sheep ranching area, and I didn't know anything about sheep. So I offered to volunteer to work during lambing season, at a ranch, Jen learned a tremendous amount about sheep and how hard those people work. And our major problem was dog depth depredation on livestock. So over time, again, with education, I was able to over time, educate the elected officials and the ranchers on ways to prevent dogs from getting into their property and also educates a dog owners that when they left in the morning and left fluffy on the front, on the front porch, and fluffy, didn't stay on the front porch. Fluffy, be out, you know, and go miles and miles away and hurt other animals and then come home. So it worked. We were very successful with our our PR efforts, and we reduced the amount of likes much depredation by about $100,000. In a year that I the years that I was there. So it did work. Initially, there were about $300,000 of livestock lost. And when I left, actually it was about $150,000. So it saved a lot of animals. From there. I my boss from there, moved to Salt Lake City, and he hired me to go with him. And I was the person who did all the public relations programs and education programs in Salt Lake. We did the dog bite prevention in all of the schools and all of the grades. We had four events every year from the kids dog show to the to the show. And we we did calendars of dog owner look alikes. We were everywhere. You could you couldn't get away from me basically. Yeah. There I am. jumping out at you telling you about it. I was on five radio stations every day. I did three pets of the week on television stations. It was I suppose when I was younger and yeah, a lot more energy. But it works. We reduced our euthanasia rate by two thirds in three years. Just think about that two thirds of the animals that would have been euthanized in our shelter were saved. And it was simply because of public information programs. So from there, I became chief of animal control. It was called Animal Control then changed Animal Services. For King County, Washington, that's the county that Seattle is in. And again, we did some education things. But mainly as the chief, I was dealing with personnel issues and budgeting, and I hardly ever got to see the animals or the people who are connected with them. And I stayed there for a while. But that just really wasn't, wasn't my thing. I'm not an administrator. I'm a very hands on person. So the Federation of humane societies hired me as their executive director. And through them, we did a cat show with Tika the international cat Association. And originally they they had they wanted to give money away from their show from their annual show. And so they you know, the year before they'd had about $5,000, but I took over their publicity. And we did a hilarious, absolutely hilarious commercial that had a cat talking, called the cat lips. And this is way back when there was no computer stuff. And it we had a hairless cat who was dressed up like Elvis already. And, you know, it was a PSA. But it got played everywhere. It was just hilarious. And I'll tell me why the owner had an Elvis costume for her cat. But she did. I also advertised and I don't know if it's still around the TV Guide because it was cheap. But I could advertise the week before and tell people about it. When I got to the venue, there was a line around the building. The fire marshal had to keep people out until people left and we made $50,000 at that show, wow. And all of that went into a spay neuter effort where we supplied people with $10 coupons to get their animals spayed or neutered. And then the veterinarians can turn that turn those into us and we would pay them for it. Most veterinarians just donated their services and didn't bother sending those and so we had a pretty good kitty.
12:28
Hahaha.
Kate Myers 12:31
And after that, and we and it was all plowed into public information. So from there, I went to Arkansas as a temporary executive director of the shelter. And we bought a mobile spay neuter unit. As you can imagine Arkansas was just animal welfare was is terrible. When I came into the shelter, I wanted to understand why the walls were moving. And there were ticks underneath the paint, oh, firewall and the whole wall was moving. So that was horrible. So we just impacted we got I got the shelter into shape. And then we bought the mobile spay neuter unit from which we were doing rabies shots, and spay and neuter. The vet that I hired was able to spay and neuter everything in the shelter that was up for adoption died option within a month. And then we went out in the community to provide low cost, spay and neuter, which was not very popular with the veterinarians. They believed that we were taking business away from them, when in fact, we would give people certificates to go to the vet. And if we found anything of you know, while the surgery was happening, we would send them to a veterinarian, so they got extra business, because these were people who wouldn't have done otherwise, it was just too expensive for them. And that still exists today, where people just can't afford to have the basic health care for their pets, but they love them very much. So that's me in a very large nutshell.
Collin 14:16
Well, I'd love it and how each each of those stages involved education and public outreach about certain topics. So I was wondering if maybe you could reflect a little bit about maybe the where the need is today on furthering educating the public about animal care and animal welfare and how how pet sitters and pet care professionals can help.
Kate Myers 14:44
Well, I think the issue the primary issue for me right now is puppy mills. We didn't have those when I started and commercial breeders who treat their animals Like commodities like widgets that can be sold it dogs and cats are not commodities, they are a gift from God. I truly believe that, that there are companions that somebody who will love you no matter what, who you are what you do, and to breed them in such horrible captivity, send them to a buncher, who options them off, and then sends them to puppy mill outlet stores is just horrendous. I would love to see a pet sitter Association, put enough money behind campaign to be able to do that, you know, to just be able to educate the public. And one of the things I don't see, this is not going to make me a favorite with some organizations. But the larger organizations, the only time you see their commercials are when they want money. And I find that just appalling. If they put that much money into educating on puppy mills, or proper care, or responsible dog ownership, even something like leash aggression, which is very common here. Just Just go through the list of things that we need pet guardians to know. And the care of companion animals, we would be a lot further. I mean, I know public information works and outreach works. And right now we're pretty much preaching to the choir. So as the pet sitters and she were financially attached to your clients, you know, you can help them decide on things, but they already have a dog or a cat. What I would like people to do is what I'm doing here, go to the radio stations, tell them you want to talk about a particular issue, find out if there's any legislation and your state, we have in Colorado have a puppy to build that just simply is requiring puppy mill outlet stores to tell people the truth about where they get their animals. And it's still having trouble going through the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association opposes it, which was extremely surprising to me. And the more conservative people on the committee's think that it's an interference with free trade and trying it. But if we can convince the public to support things like that, then we would be able to get get these laws passed. So involvement in the legislation getting out there, it doesn't, you know, you don't have to be great to get out there and talk on the radio or contact the television, folks. They're hungry for stories, and also online doing work online, not just to the people who care about animals, but to everybody. I think that that's how we can make a real difference. Because we're, you know, respected professionals, people really, they do, we're taking care of their pets, we are valued.
Collin 18:34
Yeah, I think that's the really key to remember here, especially if we look at you know, some of these issues may seem too big to tackle as one person. But when we're thinking about just reaching out to a local newspaper saying, Hey, I would like to contribute a story about this that I'm really passionate about, or talking about your your clients because I know in the nine years that my wife and I have been pet setting the number of clients who come to us asking, we're getting ready to get a new dog. Do you have any recommendations, we're getting ready to get you know, or that is a great time to start getting that information out there and already having some things on hand that you can discuss with them. You can push them in a good direction in a positive direction and start making change right there with the people that you're already interacting with.
Kate Myers 19:26
A letter to the editor that's not hard. Those and and also HS us and the ASPCA have handouts on these issues. So you can get in touch with them they'll send them to you for free. And if you do have a client that asked what do you think about going to a pet store or getting dog online which is also a horrible thing because most of those come from summer, summer decent but most of them are puppy mill outlet people. They have They're breeding their own animals in that condition. And unless you're able to go and see where the animals bred, it's pretty much if they won't let you do that, then you pretty much know that this is not a reputable breeder. And believe me, I have great respect for reputable breeders. I was kennel inspector in Sonoma County, California. And we had some of the premier world breeders, who had kennels there. And I learned a tremendous amount from them. And I also learned that they truly care about the breed, and keeping up the standards of the breed. But there are things like cancer and golden retrievers, and other disabilities in laboratory Labrador Retrievers, that have specifically come from Oh, breeding in these facilities. And, you know, now we have to now we're faced with that,
Collin 20:59
yeah, it really does seem like just making these small little changes and be equipping ourselves with that information with that knowledge and starting, you know, where to start, start with ourselves, and, and then just start talking about it to the people around you, and then grow from there.
Kate Myers 21:15
Yeah, it, you know, one person can make a huge difference in the world, really. And we have, we have power that we should use to promote the welfare of the animals that we care for. And, again, educating yourself, just go online and Google puppy mills or Google something that you're interested in, that might be an issue for animals and learn about it. And then, and then try to express yourself in a way that people will listen to you. Again, you don't want to preach, you want to nudge. And you also want to know, to realize and respect that other people do have different opinions than you do. But we as pet sitters, pet nannies, people who care for other folks, dogs and cats, we have power.
Collin 22:12
Yeah, I think that's really important that we recognize that it doesn't feel like it a lot of days when you're going in and out when you're picking up poop or where you're, you know, you're administering medicine and your days are kind of long, and you're covering for at the end of the day. Right. But people, people, people, yeah. But the people look to you, those owners respect you for doing that you are a visible component of the community out doing this amazing work. And, as you said, and I love that like that, that comes with, with power, we have a position that we can speak from in to about these topics.
Kate Myers 22:50
Yeah, exactly. I consider people who provide pet sitting pet training. All of us that are involved in this in this field. Where is important as veterinarians, but sometimes we don't feel like we are, you know, we're just the dog sitter or the cat sitter. And that that add to does need to change. We need to believe that and we need to police ourselves, because there are some really bad actors out there who call themselves pet sitters.
Collin 23:27
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23:31
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Collin 23:56
If you're looking for new petsitting software, give time to pet a try. our listeners can get 50% off your first three months by visiting timed pet.com forward slash confessional and something else that you've worked on over the years has been on you know, we talked about the the members of pet sitting and pet nannies. You've also focused on the mental fitness and and supporting of animal shelter workers. And I'm fascinated by that aspect. So what are some of the unique challenges that those workers face? And I think also equally as important here is how can we help support our local shelter workers?
Kate Myers 24:41
Well, number one, if it's animal control, don't call them dog catchers. And stop using that phrase. You know, you couldn't be elected dog catcher. You know, we're not they aren't dog catches. I wasn't when I was I will control officer But also what what faces people and was part of my experience is, most people start young. And they're a kennel attendant or a customer service person. And they're given very little, they don't know what they're getting into, they're given very little training or understanding of what they're good that people are going to call them names, that animals are going to have to be euthanized, that it's hard and heavy work. And unfortunately, most shelters don't pay their people who were on the front lines. That much I believe in the inverted triangle, where the people who deliver the services are supported by the CEO and the managers, and that they may take as a reasonable amount of money so that they can live. And most humane societies all say, well, we just don't have the money. But they should be making money and commensurate to what their CEO makes. So they start out. There's a huge cognitive dissonance between what they thought they were getting in to, to help animals and what the day to day issues are that they're facing. And a lot of the time this cognitive dissonance leads to destructive behaviors, they smoke more, they drink more, they use substances more, I found in the study that I did, for my master's degree, that a full two, a two thirds, and in some cases, three quarters of the people working in shelters, did some kind of not not maybe abuse, but something to make themselves feel better, because then on top of not getting paid much and being young, when you tell people you work in a shelter, the guaranteed responses, oh, I couldn't do that I love animals. And how debilitating is that for someone who loves animals, and is doing the very best that they can for them. They are not respected in the community. It's not something that people want to talk about. So they're isolated as well. And the work that I did was was very much in mental fitness and communications, so that they could make the job a little bit easier. But there's also the other side of the work, where you know that I consider stress, there's also trauma, where you are faced with many traumatic experiences. And I would say a majority of people who work in animal shelters have at least some PTSD. Now, my having to euthanize animals was the worst part of the work. And I was traumatized by it. By the time I got out of shelter work, I was a mass. And that's really why I got my master's degree and my doctorate, so that I can help people not have to go through the same things that I went through it and it was, you know, I was helpful, I think, and in giving people that that kind of support. But I also know that pet sitters and pet trainers, and anyone who is involved with companion animals has the same kind of trauma and stress. And they need somewhere that they can go to learn about mental fitness to learn to hear that other people are going through the same things. As an example. Today, I go out and I think I told you, I am an animal empath. I am working with a dog who bites people. So come in through the gate, and she's bitten five people so far, even though the signs are up. And you know, you can't get through the gate without realizing there's a dog who might bite back there. She's a firefighter. So I've been going over twice a week, I started out with just standing there facing a tree so she couldn't see me. I've gotten up to sitting in a chair. And she's getting curious and coming up to the fence and sort of thinking, you know, this, this might be but today, she came up close to me. And she lost it. She started barking terribly and growling and it hurt me I actually started to cry because she didn't trust me. So it affects the people as well as the animals and we get into this work because we care about them. So those kinds of things can be really traumatic.
Collin 30:05
Yeah, I can't imagine how, you know, he said, you go into the work to help the animals. And it's kind of like people who go into Child Services because they get into it to help the kids. But you very rarely see kid those kids on their best day. Right? You very rarely see the pets on their best day when you're working in a shelter. And those those happy moments I'm sure are, those are those are those are wonderful when they happen. But those can be tough to come by sometimes, I'm sure so. So as pet sitters in our community, what are some ways that we can support our local shelters and help them and lift them up?
Kate Myers 30:43
I would say just get in touch with them, tell them who you are, tell, you know, give them that support, and tell them that you respect the work that they're doing so much volunteer at the shelter. So you understand what people are, are going through. And I think support groups are a great idea. They, I would always suggest those when I went out to an organization to teach them it. And I would teach them how to do a good support group. People mental health is sort of a sticky issue in this probably all over the world. Yeah. People don't want to admit that they go to a counselor or the they're involved in a support group. And it shouldn't be that way. I mean, we had so that's why I call my work mental fitness. Because it's just like building your muscles. You have to build a certain boundary and have clear, clear boundaries around what you're doing. But go out and volunteer, volunteer to walk some dogs, talk to the people who work there and tell them that out in the community. And in the community. When people say something bad about that, let's say shelter has is a kill shelter, it has to be because they're just way too many animals. When people start to malign the folks that work there because they kill animals, stop them and say, you know, what would you want them to do with these 2000 animals a year? Are you willing to take that 50 of them and give them a home? There are too many animals and not enough homes and again, back to the puppy mill issue. They are flooding the market with very emotionally and behaviorally and sometimes physically sick animals. And but people are buying from those places and they're buying online. They think of the shelter animals being sort of a secondhand dog, or a secondhand cat. And they're not they're you know, they're wonderful and there are many purebreds that are in shelters. So that's what I would do just get to know the people in your community that are doing the work.
Collin 33:07
Yeah, and I know many shelters are, have been struggling, especially through last year with the lockdowns and the drop in city revenues. Many of them relying more and more on volunteer work just to make, you know, the basic minimum care required, and barely stay afloat. So there is a really, really big need out there for that kind of involvement.
Kate Myers 33:32
Yeah, and volunteers tend to want to do the fun stuff, you know, walking dogs, you're giving your time. Yeah, walking dogs, grooming dogs, you know, seeing the the good side, but we as pet sitters are professionals, we know how to clean a kennel. We know how to do to do that work offered to do those things instead of the fun things and do a few fun things to but and recommend to your clients that they go in and adopt animals from the shelter. There are just a lot of wonderful animals that I have had to euthanize because they just were unwanted. And that is a tragedy. You have had all of that experience in in the animal care side.
Collin 34:18
And how does that affect how you now operate as a pet nanny and the specialized care that you give?
Kate Myers 34:29
Well, it is it has informed my work. I know, he asked me a question I probably know the answer to it. Or if I don't, I will find out and that gives my clients a sense of being stable and knowing that when they leave their animals with me that they are going again, I have a relationship with them that they're going to be properly and well cared for and truly loved. So And the things that I've learned like giving fluids and injections and pills, and especially pills to cats, which I have a client, I have to do. Nikki forgives me every time but you know, he is not really thrilled about having this pill in his mouth. So all all of the ultimate skills that I have, and also all of the depth of information that I have informs the work that I do, I can help people I can help animals. And especially since I have found my niece and taking care of a special needs animals that has, and I think it's important for every pet sitter or pet nanny to find a niche that they can work in. because number one, you can command more money. And number two, you can help people that can't get help anyplace else.
Collin 36:02
Yeah, and I want to, I want to dive into that a little bit more. Because when a lot of people here find a niche that can seem a bit ethereal and in not concrete enough. So So when you say find a niche, what does that mean to you?
Kate Myers 36:19
Well, it means deciding the exact kind of work that you want to do. Do you want to work with large dogs? Can you take dogs for there's one group of people here in Colorado, who take dogs on adventures and park their knees is taking large dogs out? For a lot of exercise? Do you want to take your your canine companions that belonged to somebody else to training, I went to a training class with one of my clients just to be involved in what the she and the dog were doing? Do you? Do you want to only work with cats? Do you want to only work with small dogs? Do you want to work with dogs who are paralyzed or have cancer or have other other physical disabilities? But also behavioral disabilities? Do you want to help them work through those with the trainer? Do you want to provide around the clock service I'm 24 seven, with the animals that I take care of I take on no other clients while I'm taking care of people's animals. And you know that I don't make a lot of money because I'm working 24 hours. But the folks who are charging you just coming in and charging 40 bucks a night. They have to have other things in their lives or they wouldn't be able to survive. So are you providing the enough specialized care? And are you charging enough for your time? A whole night at somebody's house usually part of the day before and the day after? How much would you make if you were a nanny for a child? I think that's really important to understand that we do everybody that I come in contact with says oh my dog is just like my child or my cat is just like my child. But when it comes to caring for those animals, they want to get the cheapest thing they can. And you know, 30 $40 a night is just not enough for people to live on. Do you want to make cuts? Is it just a side job? Or do you want to make pet care and being a pet nanny into a lifelong journey? Well, yeah,
Collin 38:47
and it takes those people who are really passionate about it. I mean, those are the kind of people we want to see continuing year after year after year. And when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it, the only way that the passionate people can be in this business is if they're earning enough money to live off of it and to do it. And if when you see that burnout happen those people flame out because a lot of times, well they were wasting a lot of this time or not a whole lot of money and they didn't see it being worth it to them to continue doing that. And so by raising those prices, and and charging, you know, things you can live off of you are able to continue to give that excellent care that you want to be giving.
Kate Myers 39:35
Exactly and I charge $120 a calendar day. So if I stay overnight, I'm charging two days. So it'd be $240. And my clients don't mind paying that. But it is significantly more than most most pet nannies or pet sitters charge and some of the some of the animal Like care for really aren't, don't have no physical problems or behavioral problems. All dogs have behavioral problems. I've never found one who would just walk beside me on a leash and never bark. I mean, really don't every human has a behavioral problem. If you're if my clients don't have a problem, but the fact that there are people who are charging 3025 $40, I think the highest I've seen is like $50 a night. That really is undercutting folks that want to provide good service. And it's also undercutting their own sense of worth. I mean, how much are you worth? I would say that most pet sitters are worth a lot more than they are charging. And don't be afraid. I mean, I started out at $50 a night, I went up to 75. And then I realized that I could get 120, I could probably get 150. Now, for the work that I do. Now there's a cost of living, they have to keep up with
Collin 41:16
your right and and that is hard to sit down and from just look reflecting in on yourself and going What am I worth. And I think that knee jerk reaction is to say, I'm not a whole lot, right? Because there are better people out there than I am, right, there's, and I would technically do this for free, because I love it so much. But I've got to put a number out there. So I'll just make I don't want to make anybody mad. And I don't want anybody's feelings. And I don't want anybody to say no or not be able to get their pet care that they need. So it's all just charge, you know, $15 for this. Yeah, right.
Kate Myers 41:51
You're driving to walk a dog, you're driving for getting back for 10 minutes, you dog for half an hour. 15 bucks is not enough, even for that service. And a lot of people end up at sitting, you know, staying with the animals in the owners home and I go to the owner, son, by the way, and then walking six dogs that day as well. And that to me, you're not concentrating on the care of the dogs that you are cats that you are caring for during the day, every once in a while ask a client could I go over and work with this other dog for a couple hours, you know, but I always tell them that I would be doing something and and most don't mind. But I've had cases of separation anxiety where I've had to be there literally 24 hours a day. And I would have food brought in. And I'll have people spell me so that I could go out and go to the store. That's the kind of dedication you need if you're going to charge a lot of more money than than the average.
Collin 43:02
And I think I think that gets down to how you've classified your services here. You know, you say pet nanny and so I was wondering why you didn't decide to go be a pet sitter or how you differentiate between those two.
Kate Myers 43:16
Okay, well, I don't sit on the pets. Number one. Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. And, and I am more like a nanny. I have a relationship with the owners I have. I have people who booked me a year in advance for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I give more. I'm just the nanny. I know. It's like a child's nanny.
Collin 43:46
Part of that too is that you've decided to specialize your niche is a special needs pets. How did you find that?
Kate Myers 43:58
Well, a friend I had no pet of my own. And a friend of mine had a dog that was dying of cancer. And she and her husband were were the caregivers for this dog. And just like a caregiver, you know, for a human. They were really getting burned out. They hadn't been on vacation for three years. They have barely, you know, even a weekend. So I said okay, I'll, you know, I'd be happy to take care of them. And they went off for about five days. And when they came back, they were so refreshed. And, and they you know, they felt and they felt so comfortable with me that they didn't even worry about their dog. And to me that it just was sort of an aha moment for me that there was I was like that was a dog, a wonderful dog, my first adult dog who had a heart condition. My husband and I didn't go on a vacation for seven years. Yeah, wow, a lot and a lot of people want when they have an animal dog. So I thought, you know, there must be a lot of people out there who want this kind of service who want someone who's going to be there all the time, who's going to get to know their animal who's going to know what to do, if the animal get sick, who's going to know if the animal gets worse or Andrews itself or, you know, I don't panic. years of animal work has gotten so bad, I just do what I have to do to make it to make it better. And I've had to take dogs so that I've had to, I had one dog that passed away while I was there, which was very sad, but he really wanted permission to go, I could sense that he was so tired and in so much pain, that he really wanted to be able to go. So while they were gone, he's passed away in my arms. This gave him a big sigh and died. And that's hard. That's really difficult. But I was glad that I could be there for him. Also, on the cost, the charging issue, I have a sliding scale. If it is a financial hardship for someone, I will work for less, or sometimes I waive my fees entirely. If it's if it's someone who needs me. And because I charge my other clients enough, I can do that.
46:37
How much should I charge for my pet care services? It's a question we hear all the time at pet sitters International. And this month, we want to equip you to answer that question with confidence. This month, you can watch a special training, profitable pricing, are you charging what you're worth for free when you visit petsfit.com slash p. s. See, by June 30. After watching the on demand recording of this session, which was originally presented during psi is 2020, virtual petsitter World Conference, you will feel more confident pricing your services for maximum profitability without fear of losing business. After a tumultuous year like 2020, it's a good time to revisit your pricing and decide whether you should update your rates to ensure the longevity and success of your business. Or if you haven't opened your business yet, this free training will give you insight into how to set your rates for your new pet care service. Visit pets att.com slash PSC by June 30. To access this free training,
Collin 47:42
why do you think that that issue of of encouraging others to charge what they're worth? And to find that niche? Why is that so important to you?
Kate Myers 47:53
Well, because we need you really set up, we need people of value to do this work. People who are committed to animal welfare in the broad sense, and who are committed to individual animals and their clients. And the more micro sense, people are passionate, and you're not going to be able to get people passionate, if they have to keep three jobs to be able to do is to do the work with the animals. They're just going to be miserable. And they're worth it. You're worth it. Since a lot of people in the pet sitter business are women. And I don't think people women really know they're worse. I charge I've figured out my charge by going for eight hours for $15 an hour. And that's $120. But I charge a calendar day, not an overnight. So you know it is it is more expensive.
Collin 48:52
Yeah. But as you said, You're worth it. Right? You're like you and the listener and currently listening to this are worth it to sit down in because sometimes when you sit down Go, what am I worth? You know, you can back into it from a couple different ways you can go Okay, what's, you know, what's the minimum wage? Or what's the going rate for these kind of care services? Or you can look at what you just need to live and make ends meet and then charge that right like, like there are a couple different angles that you can come from to get to that point.
Kate Myers 49:22
Yeah, you should decide. I have friends who are pet sitters who are bed techs, and they're charging what would end up being like $5 an hour for the work that they do. And they're trained veterinary technicians. Yeah, it's just and again, women really don't know their own worth there's a term to remember her name, but there's a podcast that it's no your worth. And I would suggest that everybody get on that and listen to what what people who have been very successful. People say, I'm not going to get rich doing this work. And I do have social security, which gives me a base income. But, you know, we're not going to make a fortune, but we should make enough to keep us able to live and to live well, not just, you know, to live, to live in a box and come out when we have the petsitting job to do. I know several people in Colorado who have no home and they just go from pets that to pets, and they don't charge people anything. But I, you know, I caution my clients, you get what you pay for
Collin 50:41
you really you really do. And that that goes into part of again, factoring your worth, because you can use it to also to differentiate yourself from others, also, to attract certain types of clients, there's a lot that goes into the pricing, that that really needs to sit down and do some serious consideration and thinking and almost, you know, strategizing over.
Kate Myers 51:02
Yeah, I mean, it's just like any business, you need a strategic plan, you need to know your mission and your goal. And you need to set up a business, you need to do it like a business. So it's not just if it is a sideline, make sure to tell people that you are going to be doing other things and that you're, you're not going to be full time with their animal and, and that's okay. But we need to start differentiating from that type of thing, the kid down the street who charges five bucks an hour, 20 bucks for, you know, taking care of your dog for an evening. And the professional pet sitter or pet nanny, it is important for us to recognize that we are we are professionals. Now. Also, if you're just getting into this, and you don't have a lot of experience, I mean, I have 45 years of experience. So I'm an I'm an easy sell to clients. Oh, wow, you've done a lot of stuff. But if you're just starting this kind of work, learn about things, take classes. And if you're able to do that, you have to figure the cost of those kinds of things into into your pay. You have to figure out travel time and the time you spend promoting your business. Anything you spend on advertising. Now I started with Craigslist, and there was no charge for it. Until Craigslist got crazy. And all I got were people who are trying to sell me something or send me to Russia or whatever. I was just weird. So I went on next door, next door neighborhood. And that brought me a lot of business. I have signs on my car, I get that cards and every you know, place I go because I should go to the Chamber of Commerce and talk to them. But you do need to educate yourself in proper pet care, and there, there are always classes that you can take and with zoom, they're usually not bound expensive. Again, you have to have a passion for it and you have to want to learn. Recently, the San Francisco as PCA held a great class for it was for pet owners but you share could learn a lot. As a pet sitter, there is a group and their name is sort of odd. It's called fear free, happy homes. Now the first time I heard that I thought it was about domestic violence. But yeah, what else but it is for pets. You know, pet owners, pet sitters, they have a lot of great information. There's a whole world of information out there. And if you spend a couple hours a day, just going online and reading about something that interests you, you'll find what you really want to do. You know, some people can take care of horses or livestock. I can see that as a great nice if that's if you can close people always have dogs and cats too. But I can see that as a great niche. I take care of horses, I take care of livestock. I take care of goats, you know any of those things. I mean, I think you can make a lot of money. Caring for caring for livestock. And a way to learn about livestock is to volunteer at a local farm animal sanctuary. They're pretty much in every state.
Collin 54:51
Yeah, you talk about people who are passionate about their animals in their lives force people are passionate about the animals in their lives to a level that a few can rival so that it is a real need because they stress about having a properly trained professional person to come over and take care of their horses or as you said, Have you have their livestock of whatever range that that could be? They, you can see an instant sigh of relief when you were able to solve that problem for somebody, like you can see, yeah, you see that tension release from their shoulders? And they can they breathe just a little bit different when they realize how you can help them in that manner. Like it really does make a huge difference. difference in somebody's life?
Kate Myers 55:37
Well, I think that shouldn't be, we should say, How can I help you? What can I do that will make this better. And if you're going to go into horses or livestock, there is a state i guarantee there is a state university or veterinary school, that you can take classes out. You don't have to matriculate and become, you know, course doctor, but I am sure there are. Colorado horse rescue is a great organization and also the Great Escape Mustang sanctuary, they take volunteers and they will teach you everything you want to know about these animals. So that's, that's a nice, that's an opportunity for someone, and it probably is an opportunity for four or five people, even if you live in the same area. I don't look at money as a limited pie. And we've all got to rush around trying to get our little slice of the pie. There, it's an unlimited pie, you know, you can make another pot. I mean, it's not like we're gonna make one pie. And that's it, you know, never another. That would make me very unhappy. So, yeah, there are all these attitudes and things that people need to really work through to decide what am I going to do? Do I want to do this for the next spot? Maybe just the next five years? No, do I do I not want to do this, and maybe I become an animal control officer, because they're always looking for them. Or I work in a humane society, or I get a, you know, veterinary degree. But yeah, to think about, it's not just one day at a time, you have to look into the future. I'm 68 years old. So I really can't take care of huge dogs that pull me down the street. So I limit my actually one of my clients has two Labrador Retrievers, who are very enthusiastic, they hire a dog walker, to walk the dogs, while I'm pet sitting,
Collin 57:53
as you said, like knowing, knowing those limitations, knowing what you can and can't do, knowing what you're willing to do and what you're not willing to do all tie into that as you look at solving those those people's problems. And I love how you, you touched on there of having the long view through it and looking ahead and having a plan because I feel like and I know that I do this in my life all the time of I'm really passionate about something, and I just start it right and I take that first step. But I have no idea where that second step is going to land, let alone, let alone the third or fourth, or you know, I'm not even I can't, you know, I'm not even counting up the 10 at that point. It's that. And so, as we're in our businesses, as we're running our businesses running, we are running them we are running these marathons that our business carefully having a plan for each step that we're taking along that path guiding not just for our knees, but also for us, the business owner, what am I going to be doing? What am I going to want to be doing 20 years down the road? I don't feel like many people, especially in pet care plan that far out our plan for the next year there. So as you said in the here and now trying to survive trying to make it that lead, you know, a year, let alone a month from now, that's not even in the cards.
Kate Myers 59:18
Yeah, well, most people who do this work live with us and think with their hearts, right? Which is wonderful. But you also need to develop the skills and that's not to say that everything's gonna you're gonna go 1234 and it's all gonna work out. You should be open to an organic growth that leads you you know, once you open this up, anything could happen. It's thrilling to I thought I would just be doing special needs animals, but I'm doing all sorts of companion animals now that people just want extra care for
Collin 59:57
and if you are limiting yourself Like that there's that very fine line between having a plan and executing the plan and being open to other opportunities as they come along. So there is that balance of of executing a plan but also being flexible enough and willing enough and open enough to opportunities as they come along. Because you don't want to miss those, you don't want to miss the the potential that those have to not just make your business more robust, but also to expand your experience to expand your knowledge and expand your skill set. So that the next time somebody asks for something, you can go, Ah, hey, I've done that, I can help you.
Kate Myers 1:00:33
Exactly. And don't look at criticism. In the scientific world. Negative feedback is feedback that makes no changes. Positive feedback is feedback that makes a change. So if someone says something to you that you might improve, that's positive feedback. If you pay attention if you pay attention to it, so you know, listen to what your people are saying, I always send out a little questionnaire after especially with new clients, that says, Is there anything I could have done better? Is Would you like anything additional? How did you feel? And I'm not looking for compliments? I'm looking for people to actually tell me what they what they would like, which can be really scary,
Collin 1:01:24
right? Yeah. How do you how do you how do you receive that feedback? What kind of advice would you give? Or do you give to people who the the mere thought of opening yourself up for kind of feedback like that is? It's is terrifying.
Kate Myers 1:01:40
Yeah, it is scary. First, I go, ouch. hurts. And then, you know, I leave it for a little bit. And then I come back and say, Okay, what can I learn from this, this person isn't doing this to be me. Or if they are doing it to be mean, just never talk to them again. But they're not doing it to be mean, they're doing it to tell you how you can improve. And the ouch stays there. Oh, it always stays there. So I'm not perfect. I thought I was perfect. So no, I I just I, of course, I'm older. So as you mature, I think you've become it's it's a quality of maturity that allows you to engage with people, even if they aren't of your beliefs, or your or they give you something that you did is yucky and makes you feel yucky. No, it took me a long time. But I learned a friend of mine was like the premier trainer for American Humane Association. And he did sort of business training and how to be a leader, that kind of thing. And he hired me to give a lecture on public relations. And the one I gave was terrible. The audience looked like, you know, deer in the headlights still. And he took me aside and very gently said, No, that was terrible. And what you need to do next time is this and this and this. And this, he hired me again. And I had changed the entire presentation. And it was excellent. I got so many compliments for it. So you know, I mean, it hurt, but I trusted him. And I think that that kind of thing is it just helps you grow even and it's like it's gonna hurt. Right?
Collin 1:03:55
Yeah, I think you said a very important word there. And that was you trusted. You do have to trust when you ask for feedback, even if asked it, you know, it's a little solicited, or otherwise, you have to trust that there's a meaning to it, that there's a purpose to it. And that you can take whatever feedback you get positive, negative or otherwise, and make something good become a fit and grow from it. And you have to be right you have to trust in that.
Kate Myers 1:04:23
Well, in all ask if there is something that they want done differently. I'll go back and ask them. Okay. Well, thank you for telling me that. And if I have a question about how to do it, I'll ask them, you know, what would you think about this or what would you think about that? You know, it helps you grow.
Collin 1:04:42
Kate, I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I can't tell you how much I've learned from it. And I really appreciate you touching on the importance of education, passion and personal reflection in ourselves and in our businesses, to make them robust to last for years and years to come, but I know that there's a lot more to cover. And I'm sure our listeners will have a lot more questions as well.
Kate Myers 1:05:08
So I'm just thinking of all the things I didn't say. Well, that just, that just means that there's a part two that we'll have to get scheduled coming up. So that's all that means. Well, if people want to get in touch with me, they can go to my website, which is www darling companion, one word.me.
Collin 1:05:31
And I'll have that in the show notes. So people can click on that, as well as some of the other stuff that we've discussed as well links to feel free happy homes, and some of those horse rescues that you mentioned, as well, so people can check out and see if there's anything like that in their area and start making some advancements or making some connections today.
Kate Myers 1:05:51
Yeah. It's been wonderful. I really enjoyed it. And I'd be happy to come back. Yeah,
Collin 1:05:56
we'd love to have you back on Kate. Again, it's been a real real pleasure, thank you so much. Me, too. Take care be safe. I had three really big takeaways from my conversation with Kate. The first one was the importance of education, not just education of ourselves, as pet professionals to continue to better ourselves and hone our skills so that we can charge more and know our worth. But also the importance of educating our clients in our community. Maybe it's something that we are passionate about, or a big problem that is going on in the pet industry, like Kate mentioned of puppy mills. My second big takeaway was the unifying theme of passion, and how our passion as pet professionals, drives us every single day. Now, unfortunately, the flip side of that is that we tend to be more prone to trauma to PTSD. Because we care so much when things go wrong, we have to have something to reflect on. And we need to be able to recover from that mentally and emotionally. And that doesn't happen all the time. Kate mentioned this, particularly in animal shelters, and that sight of pet care, but it also plays a role in pet services, as well. And it's something that we have to stay on top of. And so developing mental fitness, through groups, and through D stigmatizing, seeking counseling and seeking help is something that we can all do. And then my third takeaway is the importance of personal reflection. And this really hones in on what we are worth and taking that time to look into ourselves. to plan out our business is to have a long view in mind not just for our business, but also for our personal growth. To know where we're headed and why we are headed there. We'd love to know what you took away from this episode. And you can send that to feedback at petsitter confessional comm or DMS on any of the social media platforms at petsitter. confessional, we want to thank our sponsors time to pet and pet sitters international for making this week show possible. And we want to thank you for listening. It really means so much You have no idea how much it means to know that you are listening, and you're sharing the episodes and that these are benefiting view. We love producing them. We love making them. And we're so happy that we get to share these kinds of conversations with you every single week. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. And we'll be back again soon.
