239: Looking Forward to 2022
Brought to you by Pet Sitters Associates
Summary
With 2021 almost behind us, it’s time to look ahead into 2022. What do you want to accomplish? What do you want your business to look like? In this episode, we discuss what next year looks like for pet care. We encourage you to take your answers from your annual business review and look ahead to making 2022 your best year. More than simply setting goals and objectives, it's about looking for areas to invest in your business, like marketing and finances, or conferences and education. The most important place to invest? Yourself! Then, Natasha answers, "What's your favorite technology in your business?"
Topics on this episode:
What will 2022 look like?
What we are looking forward to
Areas you should invest your money and time
Invest in YOU
Ask a Pet Biz Coach
Main takeaway: Make 2022 the year of Twenty Twenty YOU.
Links:
Episode 237: www.petsitterconfessional.com/episodes/237
Morgan Stanley: https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/global-macro-economy-outlook-2022
Pet Sitters Associates: use ‘Confessional’ at checkout
Check out Start. Scale. Sail. and use PSC20 for 15% off
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
business, investing, year, work, people, pet, grasshopper, industry, staff, clients, services, book, phone, calls, care, boom, project, growth, talked, big
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Natasha
Meghan 00:17
Hi, I'm Meghan
Collin 00:18
Collin and this is Pet Sitter confessional
Meghan 00:20
and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Hi, you are now listening to Episode 239. Hello. It is almost the end of 2021.
Collin 00:39
Boy howdy Am I feeling it.
Meghan 00:40
So we are looking forward to 2022. Today, we want to thank our sponsors, pet sitters associates and our wonderful Patreon members who support us every month with the price of a cup of coffee. And if you enjoy listening to the podcast each week and want to contribute a little bit to that we would greatly appreciate that you can do so at petsitter confessional comm slash support. If you listen to last week's episode, it was 237. We talked about looking back to 2021 doing a business year end business review. And hopefully you were able to at least start that process. I know he said that it takes a while it takes about a week. So if you haven't already done that, hopefully you can in the next couple of weeks before the New Year hits. So today we want to talk about looking forward to 2022 and all of the exciting things that are happening.
Collin 01:32
But it's more than just looking at your goals. It's taking what you've learned from that year end review and actually starting to apply it. It's also planning out the year and thinking through how you can make next year better than this one. Compared to 2020 2021 was really good to the pet care industry. Many actually struggled to keep pace with the demand of people coming in and needing services.
Meghan 01:57
Yeah, it seemed like obviously 2020 was a bad year for basically everyone. Yeah, and then this year was really good for just about everybody, it was a bad year that it was an excellent year. So we'll see what next year has in store. So during this episode, we'll work through assuming that you've done your own review at this point. And just like last time mindset is really key for this to be successful.
Collin 02:21
It's about not limiting yourself, your view your scope, what you would want to have happen when we limit ourselves in our planning. And that's where we can limit the growth of our business. So we need to make sure that we are not the cork in the bottle, and that we're actually letting the business flow and work organically. When we look ahead to 2022 There are some things that we are expecting to see, there was an urge to travel and there was a lot of extra money pent up in the economy in 2021. So there was this pent up demand and people began to travel, there was a boom in business. That's what we are all experiencing and have experienced this year. So next year, and toy two may actually see a list kind of slowing down, that pace of growth may slow down a little bit,
Meghan 03:07
or it may go back to normal as well. So more of a 2019 kind of vibe, versus a bust of 2020 and a boom of 2021 kind of more of a leveling
Collin 03:17
out. And economists are saying all of this too. They're saying that surges in inflation should go down as supply chains rebalance, and growth becomes more predictable, meaning that clients may be more likely to spend extra money that they have, or they may be more liberal with how they spend or even be more relaxed in budgets and those kind of things because they aren't feeling the squeeze of inflation over the last several months. So there should still be strong growth all around, especially in the service and pet care industries. Well, but
Meghan 03:48
obviously we don't have a crystal ball. So unfortunately, everything we just said the past couple minutes may be untrue.
Collin 03:54
Yeah, you know, yeah, absolutely. What about what about our business? What are we looking forward to in 2022?
Meghan 04:01
I'm looking forward to more continued growth in our business. I mean, particularly with our expansion into new territory. That's what we did this year. This year. Also saws hiring our first couple employees, which was super exciting and incredibly terrifying. But we did it. So we hope to grow that new territory with not only clients this coming year, but also staff as
Collin 04:23
well. Yeah, taking all of those lessons that we learned from this past year of hiring people questions, to ask questions, not to ask, what process to have in place, and really refining that moving forward to make it much more efficient, especially as we look to hire faster as we grow. And then I personally am really looking forward to the Texas pet sitters conference in February and why is that? Oh, some guy who I know maybe talking there? Maybe me? Yeah, me, mate. Yeah, I may be talking about identity and imposter syndrome, especially in the pet care space and why it's so prevalent and things we can do to overcome that and battle that As we go through our businesses a lot to look forward to there and other amazing speakers and looking really forward to getting connected with everybody else who attends that as well.
Meghan 05:08
Okay, so that's us. But what about you? What are you looking forward to in 2022? Let us know. So we're gonna think back now to last week's episode, we mentioned one of the reasons to do a year end review was to prepare yourself for the coming year, to look back at what went wrong, what went right. And then to assess what you're going to do in the new year, how you are going to implement more of the things I did go well, and what you're going to change and implement new things that will work in the new year.
Collin 05:39
So we're going to look again at those five categories, and talk about ways that we can invest in each of them to continue to grow and make 2022 a really successful year. So those were financials, human resources and culture, major projects and initiatives, marketing, and then goals and opportunities, how you responded to the questions that we gave back in episode 237, will really inform you and how to look at the coming year. So starting off with finances, with a lot of growth expected in this industry, where can we look to see about investing in our business, maybe it's time to start paying down some debt, so that you'll be able to in a better position later, or start using the extra business to upgrade your technology, your gear your website, to take advantage and be able to do actual more business down the line.
Meghan 06:28
But if you found that you weren't as financially healthy as you thought you were, after you did the review, maybe cut back on your spending, or change where your money goes, gas prices went up. So did you not make as much at the end of this year because of that, you know, if you're paying for two cell phones, one business and one work, try going down to one phone and using Google Voice to handle your business calls. Whatever the outcome was, remember that you're spending money is actually investing in your business. And this is assuming that you have a separate business and personal bank account. And if you don't, please make that something that you're going to do in 2022, because that is hugely beneficial for tax time.
Collin 07:09
But And speaking of investing, keep investing in people that hits right at the heart of the culture and human resources. Our businesses are built on people, you your staff, if you have any and your clients, so work on making their lives better. If you're so low, maybe it's time to find a way to give yourself a race or give one to your staff.
Meghan 07:30
Yeah, that is an interesting question. How do you have human resources? When you are solo? What does that look like? It's treating
Collin Funkhouser 07:36
yourself well, giving yourself benefits, investing in yourself and giving yourself time off and allowing yourself to do things that maybe you don't want to because you feel like you're not able to because you're wearing all of those hats, okay, so if you have staff, then when it comes to giving raises, on our episode where we talked about insurance, they talked about that one of the best things that you can do if you have an extra dollar is to give your staff benefits as opposed to a raise. Because when you give a raised you have to pay taxes on that you don't have to pay taxes on benefits. So when you invest $1, in benefits, it's actually $1 that you spend, and your staff get something extra, you can do vision or dental or life insurance. It doesn't have to be full blown health coverage, but you can find ways to invest people and enrich their lives.
Meghan 08:22
And whether you are solo or have staff going to a conference is an excellent way to invest in yourself and your team, or maybe a new training. If you are hoping to get pet first aid or fear free certified, they did just come out a couple few months ago with a petsitter specific fear free certification. Woohoo. So maybe 2022 is the year that you want to invest in that and get that training. Or it could be some other training outside of the industry altogether, maybe just some specific business training that you want to get.
Collin 08:55
There was also a pet boom in 2020 and 2021. And not just for the cats and dogs that most of us think about. I feel like something about 20% of people looking for a pet actually got something like a fish or lizard or something else. So as we look forward to boom, again in the industry and a continued growth. What other skills do you or your staff need to care for those more exotic pets. So as we look to make our business better next year, really assess what other skills that you could use, or let your staff use different tools or help out in different ways. Let them invest in different passions that they have in your business to help them feel like they're a bigger part of the company which
Meghan 09:37
leads us into any major projects or initiatives that you want to do. Maybe 2022 is the year you want to partner with a rescue or partner with a shelter in your area and really make it known that you care about the health and well being of the animals and other people should as well. Now is the time to really look at what you want to change. Look at it new areas to expand, you want to open up a new territory next year, assess where you're getting inquiries from, or what kind of services, maybe send out a survey to your existing clients and see what they would be interested in
Collin Funkhouser 10:14
a major project may be actually spending time to retool your services to meet the demand of your clients after you did the assessment last week, or if you're still working on that you may find that the services that are on your website don't really meet the needs or aren't really all being utilized well. So I think it's a big project for everybody to look and assess what services are actually being used, how can I make them better and more efficient. And really, I think that goes along with this is taking a hard look at our prices, with demand through the roof in most markets, prices need to go up to accommodate that.
Meghan 10:49
Or maybe you want to start a new project of going from all paper to all digital, or you want to change your website in some way, or retool or start writing your employee manual. It's really about those big hairy projects that you don't have time for in one go. But you always kind of have to be working on them little by little. It's not
Collin 11:09
just about dreaming big here. It's using the data that we've collected and analyzed from your review to dream smart.
Meghan 11:16
You're talking like a scientist now.
Collin 11:19
Data and amortization and collecting Ooh, spreadsheets everyone loves
Meghan 11:25
as scientists Yes, we do.
Collin 11:26
Yeah, I know, I have a lot of speaking of everyone's favorite marketing. Your review should have told you where people are coming from and how your marketing dollars have paid off. So double down on the ones that are working and think about scaling back on the ones that aren't, if you've been investing a lot of money into a local pet magazine, but no client who you've talked to has said that they found you through that, or they heard about you through that. That's money better spent somewhere else.
Meghan 11:53
If you get a lot of referrals from word of mouth, which a lot of us do, maybe give it a boost with a referral code is Facebook really taking off for you develop Facebook specific content to share in groups and really drive up that engagement or do a giveaway we're doing one right now.
Collin 12:09
I think one that not enough people do is actually building an email list. Whether it's through auto signups for new clients, whether it's through links through giveaways through freebies, if you have a brochure about pet friendly places, have somebody sign up for that give them they give you your email, you send them a link to download that document and now you can start sending them in other information. We do a monthly email dump of new client emails into our email list. We sit down, we look at everyone who signed up and started using services with us. Because our intake form asks for multiple forms of contact, we take that email, put it into our email list. And now we start sending them weekly emails. Not about anything salesy, but it's full of information directly dedicated to them includes our weekly blog includes pet basic pet care tips, and availability for booking in the future. So it's really things that they can use, and we're not really against selling services to them.
Meghan 13:04
If you're not sure where to go with marketing, though, maybe it is time to get a coach or take a marketing class, which is a big one, it goes right into the goals and opportunities category. If your assessment showed a bunch of weaknesses, or you are just totally lost, get help. Join a pet sitter specific Facebook group or start asking questions, or even a business facebook group as well meet up with other sitters in your area or Yeah, hire a coach. There are several of them in the pet care space. And there's all time obviously a ton of just regular business coaches, but there are people out there to help
Collin 13:44
or maybe you don't even reach out to a coach but get a mentor to bounce ideas off whether they are in the industry or not. It's all about looking at where we can take advantage of opportunities and getting help is the biggest opportunity that we can do. So what other opportunities are out there in this year. The big one is conferences, Texas pet sitters. We've mentioned that a time or two psi ibpsa Nast all have big conferences this year. And we have links to their websites in our show notes and our website at petsitter confessional.com/episodes Slash 239 and go and mark those dates today. Go set them aside, go reserve them on your calendar, start saving and remember it is a business expense to put towards those conferences. Investing in your education is one of the best ways to help make next year better for you and your business. And while
Meghan 14:35
you're marking off those days for the conferences go through the entire year and mark off your personal days off that you want to take off. If you have a goal to not work holidays next year. Don't work holidays mark that off now start telling people now that you will not be available that they need to book as far in advance as possible but you will not be able to accommodate them for those dates.
Collin 14:58
Well it's easy to do do that right now. Because nothing is really booked that far out, usually. So carve that time out for you. Because above all, invest in you, in 2022, we've talked about all the categories that you should be investing in in ways to improve to make next year even better. But the best way to make 2022 the best year ever, is to make sure that you have the best year ever.
Meghan 15:23
And that's because you matter and you are important and you have value. The annual review that you did, won't tell you that, you just have to believe it that you are worth doing those things for if you want to create a reading list for the year if you're a bookworm, or maybe start your fear free certification, or you want to learn to knit, or wakeboard, or literally whatever you want to do next year, make it happen. Plan now, for what that looks like. Looking forward to 2022 should mean looking forward to an amazing you. And that means intentionally setting aside time and money sometimes to do it. So before you get too busy and your calendar can't take another item. Because we all know that most pet sitters like to fill up their calendars and be super booked. Why not? And to not say no, not us. What are you talking to put yourself first in 2022, but that there's something left of you at the end of it. Please don't let us have this conversation again next year. And you'll be pulling your hair out because you're like I wasted a year doing stuff I didn't want to be doing no be intentional about this coming year you can do it.
Collin 16:37
We are here for you. And we are so excited for the work that you're doing. We see it on social media and in the emails that we get from you. We are so proud of the people in the industry and the hard work that you are doing. Thank you so much for making the industry what it is.
Meghan 16:54
And awesome powerhouse within the pet care industry is Natasha Oban yen and today she's going to answer the question, what's your favorite technology your business uses other than your booking software.
Natasha 17:04
Oh, I love grasshopper to my phone system. It's amazing. I know that a lot of people do not like to answer the phones. And grasshopper will literally allow me to put nine to five in my phone system. And I won't get calls outside of that time, they will transcribe my voicemails, they will allow me to send instant text message they allow for hold music, they allow for us to transfer phones to anybody on our team for five minutes if I felt like it, you know, or a day or forever. With us having multiple territories, it was always really great to just help each other out. So we work we're not a franchise, we work as a whole. So I would say like hey, so and so in Texas has gone you know in Virginia, hey, can you go ahead and back the phones up? No one ever calls us because we promote our software so much. But if we ever were to get a call, anybody could answer the phone. So I really really love grasshopper for those reasons to what makes them great is to what when I started as well, I originally just use my cell phone number, I had no idea that my phone was going to go ballistic. So I had my normal phone as well like most of us, and then grasshopper, you actually import your phone number over to them. So I was on at&t line. I imported that number over to Grasshopper. So that was my new official business number. And you can just keep it going. It's an app. Also, it's a Wi Fi app too. So you can use it on your phone. You can use it on your computer. So a lot of times I'll just take phone calls, if I'm on the computer as well. When I travel International, I could make Wi Fi calls out. So that was really nice. But I know a lot of people are like, Oh my God, my phones are off the hook. They're crazy. Literally that system almost filter your calls out. And again, when people call me they say welcome to walk with friends on Ruby did you know you can book directly online? That's the first thing they hear. And so most people just hang the phone up when as soon as they hear that they usually hang up and then just go book.
Collin 18:56
Yeah, it's really satisfying. Whenever somebody calls and we don't answer it, we let it go to voicemail. And then like a moment later, we get a notification that somebody is registered as a new client on our software and you're like, oh look, it worked Tada.
Natasha 19:11
And as and talk about boundaries, it's such a great way to kind of make your personal line and your business lines separate. And you're not running the two together like oh my god that all that gives me anxiety my phone going off the hook, dinging and pinging on my line app crazy
Meghan 19:32
Natasha runs a very successful pet business and she is also a coach. So if you would like to work one on one with her, you can do so at start scales sale calm and use the code PSC 20 for 15% off. We greatly appreciate you listening today. And if you've enjoyed this episode or any of the other 238 episodes, Oh, I'm tired thinking about that. Feel free to share them with other pet sitters who you think would enjoy them? We would also like to thank our sponsor pet sitters associate Thank
Collin 20:00
you so much for listening and we'll we'll be back again next week.
Meghan 20:04
Bye bye
