263: Start the Journey with Claire Aither
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Summary:
How do you stay on mission in your business? Claire Aither had to make a choice, go into a career she wasn't comfortable with, or find something else. A cheerleading grandma and passion for pets led her to start Pet Sitting MKE. Claire talks about how her support group helped her deal with insecurities when she first started her business. We also discuss why she decided to stop accepting new clients and no longer take overnight care. Making hard decisions is made easier by knowing what you actually want/need from your business, and whether they are aligned with your purpose.
Topics on this episode:
Dealing with insecurity
Stopping and changing services
Urban adventure hikes
Staying on mission
Main take away: Sometimes you just have to start the journey to see where it will take you.
About our guest:
Hi! I'm Claire, Owner & Creator of Pet Sitting MKE. Life long pet owner and animal lover. While studying my undergrad at Marquette University, I started to miss my two puppies back home. To get my 'dog fix' and pay for books, I started walking dogs in my spare time. Since graduating, I have followed my passion of caring for animals by and establishing Pet Sitting MKE as my own small business. Since then I have continued to expand my team and business.
Links:
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
business, clients, dog, service, people, pet, day, mk ii, hike, walking, absolutely, continue, guess, milwaukee, fortunate, gift, appalachian trail, pets, decided, pursue
SPEAKERS
Claire A., Collin
Collin 00:10
Hello, 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 perennials, Claire either owner of petsitting Mk II was at a crossroads to decide whether to go back to the corporate world or do her own thing. With a supportive grandmother and a passion for pets. She's made her way ever since. She joins the show today to talk about how she makes tough decisions, how she's managed to hire and expand her business even through a pandemic, and how she stays on mission with her business. Let's get started.
Claire A. 00:43
Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Collin. I'm very excited to be here. I am, my name is Clary, sir. I am 23 years old and the CEO and founder of petsitting, the walkie or petsitting Mk II, I started this endeavor or this journey when I went off to college and my parents, just as I left got to cockapoo puppies. And I have been asking my entire life for a dog and had a lot of FOMO. So I decided it would be great to get my own furry friend fix, I guess and decided to pursue dog walking as a part time gig, it allowed me a lot of flexibility between my crazy college schedule, and started to slowly build my clientele base and have grown from there.
Collin Funkhouser 01:40
So how did you heard of petsitting? Before that? How did you discover that that was something that you could do while you're at college?
Claire A. 01:48
Sure. So actually, I started on rover. I had a roommate that signed up. And I had not known if I actually hadn't known of the service that she was providing, until she knocked on my door one day and said, Hey, we're gonna have a dog sleepover. Is that all right with you. And I was like, I have salutely. That's all right with me. And so after a little bit of scheming, we thought that if we both signed up, we might be able to double our odds of getting overnight bookings, or walk requests. So we started doing them together. It wasn't about the financial aspect of things, it was just nice to be able to get outside and hang out with a dog because we never saw any pets on our college campus ever. And you don't realize how weird that is until you're like a urine and you haven't seen a animal or a small child and forever. So it's kind of like a weird microcosm. So that's how I started and then decided after a couple years that once I graduated, I pursued a position that was completely out of the Petcare realm, it was on focus with what I had been studying. And I kind of applied for the position on a whim, and did not anticipate a response, let alone a job offer. And then kind of had to pump the brakes a little bit and reassess, if that was a position that I wanted to take. So I realized I wasn't in a position to take the offer at the time, I thank them for the opportunity. And while I was, you know, trying to think like, what am I going to do? Am I going to go back to school? I have no idea. My grandma actually was like, why don't you continue with that dog thing you're doing? And I was like, you know, I, I probably could do that. So I got off a rover and started my own business. And it's grown immensely in the last few years.
Collin Funkhouser 04:01
Go Grandma, that's so it's great to have people that are so supportive of you in your life like that into kind of see, they help us put together some of the pieces of the puzzle in our own lives where sometimes we don't even know what's going on. And so to have those outside influences, that makes such a huge, huge difference.
Claire A. 04:21
Absolutely. And I think the role that I was pursuing or the career that I had thought that I wanted, was very different, like complete opposite ends of the spectrum. So I felt some sense of insecurity having studied and gone to school and then not deciding to pursue that. But to have my parents and my grandparents support and nudge to say, why are you why are you not listening to yourself? You love this go do this. It I'm so fortunate to have them give me that little push that I guess I needed and I didn't even know
Collin 05:00
But you have said that word there's insecurity, I think that is really rampant through the petsitting industry because there's a little bit of this, I'm going to be found out that I'm a fraud, or I didn't go to school for this, or I don't have this background, someone's What do I do? Is this really what I'm supposed to be doing? Or who I who I'm supposed to be? And it really does take these internal motivating factors and these external motivating factors, okay, cheering grandmas and parents to help to help us see some of that and see some of that potential in our own lives. And so that's really great that through that you had that new been able to have it sustain you through, you know, your your growth and your business so far.
Claire A. 05:41
Absolutely. I'm so fortunate, and I would not be here without them.
Collin Funkhouser 05:46
So you decide you're going to go full time, and you are going to make this make this your thing? How did you know how to set up your business or what services you want it to offer? Sure.
Claire A. 05:58
So I having started on that third party app was, I guess I had sort of a structure in mind of the services that I wanted to provide, I knew a basic block a check in. And that was kind of the extent of it, at that point, I was only doing what would be 30 minutes services. And then occasionally, the walking clients would ask me if I could have their dog overnight, once in a blue moon. So that's how things I guess, started. And I was able to use that framework to know how I wanted to start pursuing this. But in terms of actually, like creating my business, I have no background in this business was not what I studied in school. And I was very fortunate to have parents and other family members that are entrepreneurs themselves. So with their guidance, and having joined a couple women's entrepreneurial groups in Milwaukee, and researching different, I guess, businesses, through their business models, through networking with other pet care businesses around the world, I was able to gain some insight and some help. And I would not have been able to do it without, you know, the guidance of others that were much more experienced in the starting of business realm than I was. Well, it's,
Collin Funkhouser 07:26
you know, that's totally not uncommon. I mean, that's Megan, and I have no background in business. And it took us getting some research and getting tips from other people to kind of again, this pouring into our lives to help set us out on that right foot that could really do that we can now okay, this is what you've done. How do I now make this my own and make it work for me and how I want to run and operate my business? While you were going through that process of learning and combining all this information? How did you start to kind of find your way through that information and make it your own?
Claire A. 08:03
Sure, well, I guess I'll say, Collin, I'm still doing that. And that's the beauty of business is that the world is your oyster, I've, I've really been in a position because I came straight out of school where my entire life, I'd been climbing a ladder where I knew what the next step was that the next goal was with the next thing I needed to achieve. And having now a business of my own, there was no next step, I was my own director. And so that was terrifying, but a lot of fun at the same time, because I was able to take on bits and pieces of information from different people or different advisors, and add them together and then make adjustments where needed. So I'm still learning, I just found out that the place that I do my bookkeeping is also offers payroll, and I've been doing my payroll elsewhere. I learned this last week, and I've been doing this for a couple years now. So I'm still figuring it out every single day you learn something new, and then you make an adjustment, or you find out that this service isn't selling and why is that? And then you address that issue? How can I sell this service in a different way? Or how can I tweak this service or maybe scrap the service completely? The the beauty of it was I started right licensed my business two weeks before the State shutdown for the pandemic. So not the most ideal time. But it gave me a lot of time to sit down and think about things and create a a well crafted plan. I don't want to say business plan in terms of like I didn't have any structured financial goals. I didn't really know what I was doing but to be able to really write some standard operating procedures and things like that. It allows Need to do that upfront? And then kind of grow from there?
Collin Funkhouser 10:05
Well, yeah, cuz you have this time well, many people aren't kind of, it's this double edged sword right of like, now all of a sudden, you have this time to do all this planning and investment into your business that if you were up and running and crazy busy, you wouldn't be able to lay that foundation. On the other hand, you just license your business, and then everything shuts down. So what, what was going through your mind when you were off on this journey, this is your thing. And then nothing?
Claire A. 10:33
Sure. Well, I was fortunate to have some clients at that time when I when I had just started that moved away from those apps and continued working with me because they really liked me. And they were very supportive and wanted to help me in whatever way that they could. One beauty of the business that are one, one benefit to having started a pet care business was I didn't have a ton of overhead. I mean, essentially, I needed feet. And that was it, I could start wherever you know. So it wasn't necessarily paying for, you know, electric, or I wasn't paying for, you know, rent on a big facility or things like that. So I was fortunate in that way. But I think, scary nonetheless, to not know what to be able to predict. Especially not knowing if you know, I there was a time when we didn't know if dogs could get COVID. So navigating was really weird. But with the support and transparent communications with my clients, we were able to work things out were even, you know, a month in restaurants weren't necessarily open. But if people didn't feel comfortable with me coming into their home, and they were home, I could pick up the dog from the backyard and sanitize the leash, and or bring my own or things like that. So we, I was very fortunate to have people that wanted to support me, and kind of craft different scenarios in which we could continue to do business safely and still make things function, not knowing what, you know, what the severity of the virus was, or anything like that.
Collin Funkhouser 12:18
Yeah, I mean, those kinds of skills of taking a situation and going well, I don't like this. What can I do with it? Right? How do I still operate and still provide service that my clients are asking for, in a new and different way. And, you know, not being set in our ways, but prior and kind of like this is just how we this is just how we do this. This is what we do. This is what petsitting Mk II is all about. And that kind of sets that foundation for how you move forward and how you adapt and change to new things that come up.
Claire A. 12:49
Absolutely. And again, I was fortunate to kind of have started in this time, because I didn't have a super set structure in the way that I was operating things where I needed to make a great pivot. I was just starting so I was just at the budding you know, I need to I there's a problem at hand and I need to solve it and how am I going to do so makes it a lot easier when your slate is clean versus hive been operating in in one way. And now I need to completely change that I can only imagine that that would have been much greater
Collin Funkhouser 13:25
task. If it really is really, especially for pet sitters, or for businesses who didn't want to make that change. They felt kind of begrudgingly like oh, I guess I'll have to do this coming in it with fresh eyes and kind of maintaining that to like that's that's kind of the new challenge now of like, okay, how do I always have this freshness of viewing my business and viewing the problems around me? And we do that for a lot of different ways of doing business reviews of asking questions of our clients. That's one of the hate asking my clients how they're feeling or like, are you still happy with things are going on? It's like being okay to receive that feedback of what's going on and how to adapt and change. Have you heard of time to pet Claire from acting critter centers has this to say
14:12
time to pet has honestly revolutionized how we do business. My sitters can work much more independently because they have ongoing access to customer and pet information without relying on me. I save hours upon hours of administrative time on billing, processing payments and generating paychecks
Collin Funkhouser 14:29
if you were looking for new pet setting software in the new year, give timed pet a try listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting timed pet.com/confessions. How do you stay on top of the industry because it's changed so much and just the time that you've been involved with it?
Claire A. 14:46
Sure. So I'm constantly taking information of you know, from wherever I can so listening to your podcasts there's a couple other pet training or pet care or just pet story I guess pod cast that I listened to that I really enjoy. So I'm always taking in information. But my I think what's most important is your willingness to adapt or to make those changes. A lot of times I'm, I feel like you can get very stuck in one position if you decide not to embrace the uncomfortableness of life and ever changing things. So if you can just accept that, you know, what, a lot of the a lot of life is going to be beyond my control, and I can only control what is directly in front of me and what is my doing, I guess, it makes things a lot easier to take, to not take things so seriously,
Collin 15:43
there is a certain levity to the service that we are providing. Right it is, that's why a lot of people come to this industry from other industries, you know, we get there a lot of vet techs that come here, because they realize, you know, that's a heavy industry that weighs on people that is very, that drags them down. And in twos people up, pet sitting, dog walking, we get to see dogs on good days, on Happy Days, we have our bad days, right? We do. But we are providing a service that people joyfully reach out for. And they joyfully and willingly seek us out for that's a very different relationship that we have with both the pet parent, but also with the dog or the the I almost had the carrot, I meant the parrot, or the whatever animal that we're dealing with, you know, that's a very different interaction that we have that that does, you know, again, this levity, this, this joy that we get to have and carry with us while we're doing these things.
Claire A. 16:39
Absolutely. And my partner and I, we always joke that we, we get to be the fun aunt and uncle, we get to you know, people send their, their, our clients send their pets to us, or we go and pick up their, their pets for different excursions or walks or outings. And we get to fulfill a need, which is, you know, letting them go potty and socializing with them. But we also get to provide the fun, and then at the end of the day, we get to, you know, give them a good old belly rub and kiss goodbye. And they're going to be excited every single time that they see us. So makes it a lot, a lot easier, even on the toughest days to go into a home and and see just a smiling face it Oh,
Collin 17:25
yeah. You said that phrase, we get to do this, this is a choice that we have decided that this is something that we view and we deem as valuable and necessary. And again, this joy we get to do this thing is it's it's a big honor to be able to provide the service to give this peace of mind to people who are desperately seeking for it. And I think constantly being in that mindset, because it does I mean, you go day after day, year after year, can you kind of a drudgery and you can get kind of, you know, frustrated about little things that come up and annoyed at everything that's going on. And I think every now and then taking a step back and going, man, is this how I felt when I first started, you know, how did I used to how do I use to approach my day when I woke when I wake up? And sometimes that can communicate that it's time to make a change? And it's a reminder to us to have, hey, how do I get back to that? How do I find that joy in the work that I was doing? Because that happens to everybody. And it's that's a process.
Claire A. 18:25
Absolutely. And we just went through a big transition as well, where we made the difficult decision to stop hosting dogs overnight in our home for similar reasons. So that was a decision that obviously was not an easy one to make. We were it was a service that there was a great demand for and we were very fortunate to be booming in. But it wasn't necessarily aligning with my original goals for the business. And at the end of the day, I was exhausted and I couldn't take care of myself. And if I wasn't taking the best care of myself, I wasn't able to show up as the best version of myself, for those pets or for those clients. And when I would come home and start to be just tired thinking about oh, I have to wake up at this time tomorrow. It started to click Like when did when did this lose its allure and and that's when I realized if if I am stressed enough where anybody else can even get a glimpse of that. That's not who I want to be when I shut up. So I needed to make a change. And unfortunately, that was discontinuing overnight services. But since we've done so I've been able to sleep. I've been able to make more time for myself. My boyfriend and I hadn't had a weekend off since oh gosh, it was like we had a nine month stretch of like not a single weekend off. So it was nice to be able to do things together and by taking care of ourselves again, we were able to take better care of others?
Collin Funkhouser 20:03
Yeah, no, that is so huge to be reminded of that. And you said it didn't align with the goals that you had for the business what? What were those, but in kind of what where you saw the the business going?
Claire A. 20:15
Sure. So originally when we started, walking was my that was what I really loved. I had never even found like a workout routine or anything that I ever liked. But one day, I just started walking. And then before I knew it, I was walking 10 to 15 miles a day. And I realized holy cow, like this is something that I enjoy for numerous reasons. But I just, I wanted to get back to why did I enjoy this? And how can I continue to sustain that and and asking myself, What were those? What were the like most exciting parts of my day. And that was always going to and from different clients homes, introducing different clients, I didn't necessarily like staying in my own home for the day and taking care here, it was just a completely different operation altogether. And so when I realized that there was, again, a great demand for the service, but it didn't necessarily align with my personal goals, but also our goals to grow the business outside of Milwaukee, eventually, it wasn't necessarily that the two were kind of coming and butting heads just in the way that we operate. We would have to, you know, like either bring overnight dogs with us on walks, which can be difficult if there's inclement weather, just constant adjustments that we wanted to get back to, I guess the basics and, you know, reevaluate. What did we want to get out of the business? And what do our clients need from us? And how can we meet halfway? How can we really continue to fulfill their needs while also fulfilling our
Collin Funkhouser 22:08
own? Yeah, absolutely. Knowing that you have agency and control over this business, it's your business, right? Like, if you don't want to do this, you don't have to. And I think that kind of gets back to this a little bit of you mentioned earlier of like, you had this, you were always climbing this ladder. So you knew what the next rung was. And at times, we can feel like we know exactly what the next one is, because it's just this logical conclusion of this thing came before now it got to go to this. But stepping back again, and going, it doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't, and I'm sure that was still wasn't easy. Because that saying no to some clients, you know, they might not want the drop in, they might not want the walkshop able to convert all of them over to your other services. So you're saying no to money, and you're saying no to all these other things, but you're trying to again, like you said, pull this back and go, I want this, I want this more simple, I want this, I want some of these things to be more straightforward for us. So that we can have a life. And so that we can still be providing this awesome service, which you know, it's something that we're do a lot of educating on for our clients. So they always want borning always want daycare, they always want these things, and trying to educate people on the vast majority of dogs actually don't need those little they're not bad, right? They're totally needed service for many. But most people's dogs don't need them. And that's hard for clients to start to understand and accept, and trying to get them around the wrap their brains around the the benefits of doing in, in their home care versus taking their dog somewhere else. So there's, there's a lot that goes into that decision.
Claire A. 23:33
Absolutely. And I think the Milwaukee dog community is also different in that we, there are other businesses in the area that are really great, and we are just so supportive of one another. So there's always going to be a service that I'm not going to provide I, I would rather provide a list of let's say, 10 services, and knock them out of the park every single time, they give you a whole bible full of, you know, page after page after page of we can do any of this, and then provide those services, you know, in a mediocre fashion. I think that was really crucial to also figure out that we don't have to do everything, you can really specialize in one area. And there's not always you know, not every client is going to be the perfect fit for you. And you're not going to be the perfect fit for every client and accepting that and being able to say, hey, I don't unfortunately offer the service that you're seeking. But we offer some other great services. And here, you know, I can tell you why this might be a benefit to you. And at the end of the day, if they don't want to do business with us if they're really, really set on daycare, let's say I'm fortunate to know other people in the industry and say hey, you know, these are also great people in the area if you're seeking help, I would definitely recommend checking out these other businesses and services
Collin Funkhouser 24:59
that As a heart as a constant tug of war on us as business owners of always trying to figure out where we fit in our client's needs of going, Okay, who am I for? And it's a question that Megan, I asked ourselves, probably 10 times a day, who are we for? What do we actually want and then stepping back and going, okay, my decisions that I'm making is that are those decisions getting me closer to or further away from both my clients that I want and the business that I want to be running? And constantly re evaluating that and always questioning? Is this what we actually want and not being? Okay, you know, sometimes you can make a forward decision, you can make a backward decision that you can make a lateral decision and not being satisfied with a lateral decision. No, no, we've got to be moving forward towards this goal, and and keeping all that in focus at all time. Absolutely. Absolutely. Collin. Now, on your on your services, I noticed that you don't necessarily designate a time frame for for the services that you provide. And I was very curious about how you make that work with scheduling and with, with your team and all of that.
Claire A. 26:07
Absolutely. So we actually just made this transition. So it's relatively new to us. We went from operating a standard, you know, you have your 15, year 30, or 60 minute options, there put a lot more eloquently on our website. But essentially, those are the time frames. We decided that, you know, a lot of dogs are they have similar days to humans. So the best example is, you know, have you ever had a really great weekend, and you're on this, you're on a running kick, and, and you wake up on Monday morning, and you're just, I don't know, not feeling it today, maybe maybe we're not going to get that running today. Or maybe we will, but we're gonna sleep an extra 10 minutes, and I just, we're going to get to the last half of the run. We have those days, or those days that you got an extra two hours asleep, and you have great energy and you're ready and you want to go an extra block and a half, you know, dogs have those days too. And we started realizing that very quickly when, especially in times of like inclement weather, that's another example. What do you do in the case that a dog is miserable out in the cold, we were just chatting, you know, briefly about the weather right now is pretty brutal. What does that look like when you're when the dog is, is very cold and visibly uncomfortable, but you want to fulfill the service to a designated amount of time is very difficult. So we've started to customize our experience more so that we can connect with the pet's preferences, through their through attention to detail and through love, so that we can fulfill their needs in however long it takes. In terms of structure we have, we still have three, I guess, sizes of services. So it's a SPD, essentially, a standard and then a premium. So they kind of align with those small, medium large that 15 3060. But it gives us more wiggle room. So we're able to say, You know what, there's no cap on this service. If I have the time, if I'm having a great walk with fluffy, the weather's great, fluffy is just loving this walk today, this is my last one. And then I don't have anything to do for the afternoon. You can book a 30 minute service, or what is a standard service. And then you can receive, you know, an hour and a half long law. I think a lot of people are concerned about making this change in their business because they think that the client is going to perceive it as cutting down on time or, or charging a certain amount and in a weird exchange for for time, but they're not paying for time. They're paying for the quality of care that you're providing. And I think that was super, I guess, important to realize. And at the end of the day, my team is great, I employ a lot of different pet lovers that they're going to want us end up spending, greater amount of time than a booking, even, you know, is designated. So we're still working through a couple kinks of in terms of our end of scheduling and making sure that we're able to get into the, to the right people in the right time block and everything like that. But at the end of the day, it's actually provided us a greater amount of flexibility to work with different clients in different areas of town and transportation from one place to another and so on.
Collin Funkhouser 29:48
Yeah. I absolutely love how you framed this transition. The clients aren't paying for time they're paying for the quality of care. And I think that too often Often we do focus on those little time blocks. And obviously, having some constraint is important if you have a busy day, right and knowing Okay, well, I've got to get these together. But also knowing that I need to be okay with this taking longer if it needs to, because I have been in those situations where I'm I check in, I pay, you know, charge client, I'm going in, and I'm taking down the seconds and I'm I'm rushing, rushing, rushing, rushing, rushing, right? That's not a good mindset for us to be in. Right? That's, that's a really unhealthy and we're focused more on the on the clock than we are on the pets in front of us. And so to step back and realize and go, Okay, I need this time to I think good word. Maybe I need to luxuriate in this time that I have, and make the most of it. And if it goes 40 minutes, that's fine. If it you know and not be so watching the clock when we're when we're in the house.
Claire A. 30:55
Absolutely. Yeah. Perfectly said that was a very concise. That was perfect. That was great, Collin.
Collin 31:03
Well, I, I think it's a good reminder, again, we get to do this, there is a need and the clients are paying for the quality care and to keep these top of mind when we're going through our days. So that we have that right mindset. So we're not feeling rushed, and we're hurried. Because that a lot of mistakes can happen whenever you're in that mindset. And you can ignore things or miss things that you that you should be paying attention to.
Claire A. 31:25
Yes. And I cannot tell you the amount of times that I had done that in the prior way that we had been operating. And then you're three walks later. And you're like, wait a minute, did I lock Fluffies? Door? Didn't I lock? You know, you're so flustered and you're so you're so zeroed in on? Yeah, like you said, the time that you're taking away from the actual intimate relationship that you're building with these pets and, and your clients too.
Collin Funkhouser 31:55
I know you have a an awesome team around you tell us about the people that you have working for you and kind of your your background in building and developing them.
Claire A. 32:05
Sure. So funny enough, a vast majority of my team, were actually relatively tight knit. So when I started, I had a then like I said, on that third party app, and on any day is that like, let's say I had an exam or something. If I was unavailable, my younger sister and I went to the same college. So I was able to say, hey, fluffy knows my sister, if you are desperate for help on this day, or if you really, if it, I'm sorry, I'm not going to be able to make it, you know, two Tuesdays from now. But I would love to offer you, my sister if you want her help. So we kind of started building that together. My partner and I we live together, we've been together for four years. And he's a huge asset to my team, because he's helped build things at the internal aspect of things. From there, my sister's roommate in college just joined the team. And we continued building. So my best friend since the age of three, she graduated school, and she said, I don't know what I want to do. I want to, like let's hang out. And she came on a couple days where I was walking, and she met some dogs. And she said, Do you need help? Can I help you? And we've just kind of been it really built organically. But now we're fortunate enough to be in a position where it's growing. And so we've had to continue to hire outside of my friends and family. And we I have some really great I guess a team members that were clients are our clients still but have turned into team members as well. Because they, they see the passion and they love the business. And they love the care that they're getting. And so to continue to get out there with their dogs, they love to walk on the side and hang out and do the same thing that that we get to do because I hear so many times from clients that like oh, you have the best job. I wish I could do this. I'm like, Hey, you can you can.
Collin Funkhouser 34:16
I know. So when hiring. That's really cool that you have that tight knit and you use a tight knit team and these people people have been working with and around for a really long time. On the other hand, there are a lot of relationships here that are now kind of weird of boss, employee staff and, and otherwise. So how do you make that work and make sure that you have those those boundaries in place?
Claire A. 34:41
Sure. So I think setting the tone and the expectation is very important. So now I have a complete six phase hiring process, probably more than most people but I really want to make sure that even if you are my best friend in the whole world If you're serious about this position, I still want you to continue to go through those. Those phases, I want to make sure that you're still going to be the good fit. I'm not here just hiring willy nilly, you know, whoever, I want to make sure that it's going to be equally beneficial to me and to you. Same, I want to be able to set the structure and the tone and having open and clear conversations about things. We are friends, we are, you know, best friends, or we're sisters. And we're always going to be sisters, but we need to understand and respect each other's boundaries. Having a clear, I guess, structure and set of expectations of your team is very important. And it's been working very great. So far, I think, in all honesty, just the communication has been the biggest asset and at all is just being able to talk things through when if there is a misunderstanding, not jumping to conclusions, or not being, you know, taking your interpersonal relationships to into the business, but making sure that there's a clear distinction between your business, your relationship within the business and your relationship outside of the business.
Collin Funkhouser 36:21
Yeah, and like you said, that starts from day zero, that starts at the very beginning of setting those foundations setting those boundaries. Because if you don't, sometimes they're really hard to put back in place, or to try and build them up in the middle of the mess and middle of the busy schedules and stuff that are going on, it's kind of hard to put those back in or install them in the first place. So you know, having that I like hearing that, you know, when you bring on a friend or something, it's like, well, here's my process. And as you said, like, if this is sere, if you're serious about this, this is what it takes, right. And getting back to that discussion about, you know, there's a levity to what we do, but we take it very seriously. And I find that that is sometimes hard for people to understand. And when we went through the hiring process, the job, it sounds great, every what we do is amazing and wonderful. And we are extremely blessed to be able to get to do it. But it is, is definitely take it definitely seriously. It is it is I mean, this is what we eat, sleep and breathe. And we're constantly doing these things to be better. And if that's something that somebody doesn't understand, and they think it's just all puppy cuddles and rainbows and butterflies, it's like, ah, we got to get talked about this. To break into Yeah, no, you're right. You're right. But But knowing okay, this, this, there are a lot of positive things about this. And we need serious people who are seriously passionate about this.
Claire A. 37:39
Absolutely. And at the end of the day, I mean, this is your bed, your business, your baby, this is my baby, I've created this from day one. And I yeah, I've put everything that is my being into this for the last few years. And it's, it feels like a part of me. So making sure that you you express that to your team clearly, you know, and setting those boundaries is so important.
Collin Funkhouser 38:07
So after you've brought them on, what's your what's your training process in kind of onboarding with them into what petsitting Mk II does?
Claire A. 38:15
Sure. So we have an orientation process, in which we have our new hires do an online virtual, it's a pet care training, that's two hours as well as two hours of pet first aid and CPR training. From there, once they've completed that and they send me their certificates, we move into going through the policy handbook and the employee training manual. And that's where having those are that time really in the beginning to kind of set the expectation and write all of that out was very essential. We're continuing to add to it. So I'm now working on creating videos for my team to use as a resources. The vast majority of our clients don't use gentle leaders, but every once in a while there is one so how did how do you put that down? What does that look like, but also having our new hires do in person shadowing. So we have four days that we designate two different things. We have a checklist, one to safety and security, one to general pet sitting so more oriented to cats and those small animal care. One that is specific to just dog walking and what the transaction looks like. And then one where we go through the software itself that we use. So after that we like to have a conversation with our team and say, Do you feel comfortable? How confident do you feel? Have them kind of ask any questions that they need to and then if they need more assistance or they feel like they need more shadowing or more training, being able to have them tag along and shadow with a team member is super beneficial. I feel like there are so many different ways that people learn that, you know, some people don't learn through virtual training, some people don't learn through watching a video, they have to be there, some people can't just see it, they need to hear it, some people need to read it and see it written out. So being able to supplement all of those different learning styles has been incredibly beneficial that that was a learning curve in itself and realizing not everybody's gonna learn the same way that I do. So how can I make sure that my team is 100% confident in their roles before sending them on their way? And that's been beneficial to me too, because at the end of the day, I receive a lot less phone calls about how do I put this harness son or I, what do I do with this key or things like that, that can be easily avoided? upfront and just making sure that you are like, covering all of your bases has, has worked out really well. Yeah,
Collin 41:05
no, I, you mentioned about how, what you're creating these videos, because things like not everybody's gentle leaders, but every now and then one shows up. And it's like which way goes what and what are the other way around. And I was thinking, one of the things that came up was my had one of our team members shadowing us on some visits, and I went up to the door lock and it was a code and I entered the code went in. And thankfully, he was gracious enough to say, Hey, I've never seen a door like that. Can you show me how to work that. And all of a sudden, that just stripped me way back? And I was like, oh, I need to think through this a little bit more in depth about I've been in literally 1000s of houses by this point. There's not really a door lock or an entryway or door jamb that surprises me these days. But somebody who's new to this has no clue. So absolutely. So even some of these really my new ship details we get to think through and it's benefited us a lot about what our product, you know, how we approach certain problems and how we start problem solving and
Collin Funkhouser 42:07
thinking through our own experiences. I know that's been of great benefit to Megan and I.
Claire A. 42:12
Oh, for sure. I think you lose sight sometimes of those little things that maybe you didn't necessarily know would be a question. But definitely working in the city. There are an immense amount of different fobs and gadgets and tech, we've got QR codes that we scan to get into some buildings like new things are constantly coming out with these. I don't know, entryway, routines and things like that. So yeah, definitely agree.
Collin Funkhouser 42:45
And one of the services you offer are urban exploration hikes. And these fascinate me and I want you to tell me about how they work and you know, some of the how you know, dogs is going to be a good fit and kind of area that you use to
Claire A. 43:01
Sure. So the service itself is sort of like a nature walk, I guess we live in the city. So a lot of our clients are right here and concrete jungle and they don't often get the space to roam, where to sniff around without it being like a trash can, or I'll stuff on the street. So providing them with a space that they can do. So it is very enriching for both the dog but also for whomever is building the relationship with the dog. So we transport the pet from or the dog from their home to a nature reserve or a park or a trail near nearby that we know is going to be safe and that is not heavily trafficked. We don't want you know, a trail where there's bikes and people running through and things like that. We want to be able to provide the dogs with a good amount of space so that we can use a long lead and give them the room to to sniff around and explore. It's essentially a decompression walk where whether your dog has a lot of energy or anxiety or isn't really too fond of view yet maybe they're just more shy and reserved and you need to build that trust. Decompression walks or in our case like urban exploration hikes are incredibly beneficial. They, it allows the dogs to sniff around, do their instinctual or follow their instincts and then also to be provided with not only the physical stimulation of the walk, but the mental stimulation so dogs end up going home tired. They are less stressed because it's been proven that if they are sniffing around and you're giving them the time to sniff and identify a sense that they're having heart rate actually decreases. And it allows you a lot more space than standard five foot leash might with a dog that is uncomfortable, so we see a lot more overly excited or overly anxious dogs. But this service has been appealing to a lot of various different clients just wanting, you know, their dog might not be overly anxious or overly excited, but they want their dog to get out and enjoy some different scenery or different space. So it's not that it's geared towards one type of dog, it can be beneficial to all of them, but is incredibly beneficial to our more anxious pups or, or very energetic puppies.
Collin Funkhouser 45:45
Yeah, and I think too, for clients who maybe book The the standard walks or whatever, it may be kind of a nice, every now and then to throw in there into the mix, give them some variety and keep them interested and things like that. Or if things change in their life, and they do need a bit more time and attention. I'm sure it's a great thing for them to have access to.
Claire A. 46:05
Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, it's it's been a huge hit so far.
46:09
So that so that's a newer service for you, then. Absolutely, yeah,
Claire A. 46:13
so I, we added that actually, we had a client that was an overnight guest last year, and we just kind of to build trust with them. I wanted to have them be a little less stressed out. And they were stressed in our homes. So we added that. And they ended up seeking that later on outside of our overnight. So when I said hey, we we changed this space up, we changed our routine, and we found it beneficial. They came back and said, Would you do just that without the overnight. And so we decided to add that service. And then it's been relatively new within the last few months, but people have been really enjoying it.
Collin 46:51
Yeah, that's awesome. Again, that gets back to listening to that need, seeing where to be flexible and taking some of those opportunities. Because again, it's it's not, there's not a lot of overhead to offer a new service like that. And so the worst thing that can happen is you have it listed on your website, and nothing ever takes place. Right? There's no real loss to you, but at least putting it out there and going, Hey, where's the interest in this? What can happen with this? And then just gonna see, again, this natural organic of kind of what takes place?
Claire A. 47:18
Right? Yeah. Trial and error, essentially, you know, if the demand isn't there, the good news is you can always scrap it. And then if the demand is there later, you can always add it back again.
Collin 47:29
Exactly, yeah, you can kind of adjust and play with your services as need be, especially if you're new or you're to a new market, or you're trying to change clientele, you can really take this and see what kind of mixture you can get in there and not, again, not being afraid to do that. I've always walked or I've always done this, I've always done that, like, okay, you don't have to you can change this, you can see what it's not going to cost you anything to add this to your website and start putting it on social media. Just see where where that interest is, for sure. Now, another big decision that I saw that you have made recently was that you've you've actually stopped accepting new clients. And so I want to know, you know, what kind of your thought process is with that in kind of your decision for that?
Claire A. 48:15
Sure. So a few things. First off, we are working to hire more team members before we take on any more clients. So we're at a at a point right now where all of our team members are, they're pretty well booked, they have a good structured schedule. But if we took on any more, we might have to, I don't want the quality of care that we're providing to our clients that we already have to diminish, I want to be able to continue to provide for those that are already here. And not necessarily continue. You know, just putting my fish net out there and grabbing whoever I can. So making sure that the the pets and the clients that I already have or are happy and are receiving the services that they that they need at this point is more important than just grabbing wherever I can or wherever we can. So we made that decision until we find the perfect fit for our team. But we're gonna keep it where we're at, because we don't want to over overextend ourselves. I also, this is kind of fun, I guess, because I'm telling you and I haven't really told many people this. So this will be like news on the podcast. But I have I've been fortunate enough to grow this team and I'm in a position where I'm going to be hiking the Appalachian Trail this this spring or this year. So yeah, no big news. So I'm going to be leaving for a few months and just to continue to focus on making sure that every Anybody that we have right now is is happy and well cared for before I slip away for six months to go, hike 2000 miles. That was a huge, huge, I guess, impacted in my decision to do so. So just making sure that everybody we have right now is comfortable and not only the services fulfilled, but that they're actually like excited and continue to be energized about the services.
Collin 50:27
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Claire A. 52:13
In all honesty, I think it was also personal stress and burnout, I think I was at a point where I was overworking myself. And we were realizing that if we had a team member that was gone for a week, essentially I was the one picking up all of all of their walks in addition to whatever my workload was. And we just weren't in the in a position to do so. So again, back to taking care of myself so that I can continue to show up as my best self for my clients was super important to me. And, and I really, I really believed in that. So taking a step back and reevaluating. And I think I hope I'm allowed to name drop in here. But Natasha says she had mentioned on one of your most recent podcasts, the importance of recognizing that you can be growing or you can be content, but being content, I think it could be perceived as a bad thing. But at the end of the day, if you're happy with where you're at more power to you, I mean, you don't constantly need to be grasping for straws, and always overworking yourself because it's not sustainable. And I was just at that point.
Collin Funkhouser 53:22
Yeah. And enough so that you're going to go spend six grueling months hiking 2000 miles on the shoot.
Claire A. 53:28
Yes, yeah. That's a may have played a part in there. But
Collin Funkhouser 53:34
that's, well, that's really exciting that that you see this opportunity now for you to be able to go and do that, that your business is such that you can take that time away from you. So just why the Appalachian Trail? And when did that start
Claire A. 53:48
for you? Sure. So Well, my dad is it this is one of his lifelong dreams to hike the Appalachian Trail. And he had been training for the last two years and has been getting ready. And he was going to do it by himself. He was super. He wanted to he had invited all of us and said, you know, you're welcome to join me. But it's not always easy to be like, I'm gonna take six months off, and I'm gonna go disappear into nature for a little bit. So I was like, love the idea. Not gonna happen, dad. Thanks. So, but I wanted to join him because I wanted to, or at least join him for a portion. And so I asked, you know, how is this? What is this going to look like if I come fly out and meet you and hike for a week or something? And we were talking about the logistics of it and it could work but it would be pretty difficult because you don't know where he's going to be at at what time or in what state? So he said to me, why don't you start the trail with me because it's going to be really hard for me to convince you to hike the entire thing. Or you can't hike I can't convinced you to hike the entire thing, if you don't start it with me, and for whatever reason that really resonated with me and I was like it, the reality of there is a possibility, this is my life I can make this decision really sat in. And it took a lot of soul searching, I guess for lack of explanation. But I decided, you know, this is something I want to pursue, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to do with my dad. I'm also at an age where this is kind of sad. But I think we all go through this you get, you get older, and you realize you're, your parents aren't invincible, and you want to be able to share, cherish all of those memories and moments together. So I haven't been training in the same way that he has. But I think my 10 to 15 miles a day is a good start to get me going. But
Collin Funkhouser 55:53
maybe you need to take a dog along with you. So it's more natural for the way you've been.
Claire A. 55:58
Exactly, yeah, we'll just someone gets like a exclusive service. Just one
Collin Funkhouser 56:03
extreme hiking adventure. Hopefully not one of your parents cockapoos. That might not be
Claire A. 56:13
I don't think they'd make it that far. love them to death, but I don't think they would,
Collin 56:17
they would do well on the trail. Your dad said, I can't convince you to hike the whole thing unless you start it with me. I think that is so true with many things in our life, you know, including your own business, right? I think if you would have talked to, you know, 20 year old yourself, you know, I probably never envisioned where you are to this day, and you never would have been able to talk yourself into doing what you're doing right now. Until you started doing it at the beginning of the pandemic, right. And that's we so because so many, so much gets tied up in that where the experience we see we are capable, we see it something we enjoy. And we see these memories that we can build with people while we're doing it. And all that all of a sudden becomes really valuable. And we want to see that through. So whether it's hiking the Appalachian Trail, or whether it's the the business or new service that we start sometimes exactly like your dad said, we just have to start it. And then that's what can help motivate us to see it to the end. So that's absolutely exciting, Claire.
Claire A. 57:12
Thank you. Yeah, well, I guess a big, big news that I have yet to announce. But now this will this will be the push to, to send out that email to finally tell everybody.
Collin Funkhouser 57:22
Exactly. With with all that you have going on and with all that you've been through already. Where do you where do you see the future of petsitting Mk II and and kind of where are you headed?
Claire A. 57:37
Sure. Um, I'd love to continue to grow in the Milwaukee area, but also the state of Wisconsin, I never knew there would be a demand for my service outside of the city of Milwaukee. But I have clients that last year when we were offering overnight services, my hometown is about 700 people, it's very small. And the town that I grew up and went to school in is about 3000. So it's still really small, but they don't have services like that out there. And there's still a need for it. It's just not a business that anybody has really pursued out there. So people would friends or family members not only love to support me as an individual, but they would go out of their way to drive a couple hours to come drop their dogs off with me instead of with grandma or with whomever so there's definitely a need. I've had people from well, I can name drop a bunch of small towns but it probably wouldn't be any significant to the podcast but continuing to grow I'd love to continue to build some some branches outside of Milwaukee. That is a huge thing that's on my radar. And then I'm also fascinated with I have a couple other I guess business ideas up my sleeve maybe I shouldn't divulge those and until they're out and pursued but
Collin Funkhouser 59:07
that's interview too we can hear more about those but as you've grown and as you continue to expand what what helps you stay on mission
Claire A. 59:17
asleep. I think I really I huge advocate of sleep. Um, no, I think I think just general self care has been huge and if you're mentally drained, you're you're already losing a battle you're already stuck in one place. That is whatever mental or physical right that you're in. So being able to, I guess care for myself was super crucial and unfortunately I had to learn that through trial and error but after having gone through that, I now know that this is essential than I need to be setting time in my day to you know meal plan or to take a break or if I needed nap to do so or basic care, I guess, I think continuing to be consistent and to check in with your goals and see if you're continuing to align with your goals, making sure that not only you and your clients are satisfied, but also your team is, is happy in the position and the place that they're in.
Collin 1:00:20
What he's saying is, in order to stay on mission, you have to check the mission. And you have to check back in with not just yourself, but with the clients and with your staff, and with everybody in your life. Because if you're not doing that, you have no idea what's going on. It's it's just, it's just happening, things are going on, and you have no idea where you are on that roadmap. And the whole point of a mission is to be is to have a roadmap for you. And if you're not asking those questions, if you're not being consistent in your communication, if you're not being consistent in your self care, and sticking to this quality of care that you have you you lose that. And so it's this. Well, I just ask, right? It's it sounds super simple, because it is but it's also really hard to do with everybody that's involved.
Claire A. 1:01:05
For sure. Yeah, it's It's not uncomfortable to get it, it is uncomfortable to get feedback, oftentimes. But that's how you assess. And that's how you that's how this decisions are made. And that's how the changes come about. I think that's where there's room for growth in the business. When you're able to take external, I don't know, advice or a response, and then reevaluate. How does this how do I apply this to my own business and what our goals for the business are, so that we can continue to grow? Together, I guess, my clients, my team and myself and our paths to,
Collin Funkhouser 1:01:47
of course, we can't forget, we can't forget them, Claire.
Collin 1:01:51
This is I have, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed this. I really have getting to hear your experience and your stories, and all the exciting things that you have going on in this trip and just everything that you're working on. I mean, I really, really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to do that. With us. I know there's you're doing a lot. And there's you've got a lot going on. So how can people get in touch with you see all that you're doing and start following along?
Claire A. 1:02:18
Absolutely. So our website is www dot petsitting mk ii.com. But we are very frequently on our two main social media platforms are Instagram and Tik Tok. And those are at petsitting Mk II. Pretty easy. But if you're not from Milwaukee, sometimes people think it's petsitting. Mic, there's no I in there, but it's pretty close. So I'll I can understand why you might think that.
1:02:50
Okay, I'll raise my hand for that. I totally thought it was petsitting mic for about 30 seconds. And it was like, wait, no, it's not.
Claire A. 1:02:56
So if you're not from the walkie there's no reason why you would have any idea to know that. But I love it. I've been asked a handful of times. So who's Mike? It took me a while to really figure that one out. And I was like, Who is Mike? I don't know. You tell me and then. All right. I got it now. But who cares? I love it.
Collin Funkhouser 1:03:25
Again, thank you, thank you so much for everything and for sharing. And definitely, we'd love to have you back on the show, to give all of your updates to tell us how the hike went and all the exciting stuff that you have going on.
Claire A. 1:03:39
That would be great. Khan. Thank you. Yeah, I've loved I'd love doing this. So definitely we'll we'll stay in touch.
Collin 1:03:45
I can't convince you to hike the whole thing. Unless you start it with me. Or Dan has Embree wise words. I think it's especially applicable to being a business owner. Take a look at where you are right now in life. Take a look at your business. And ask yourself, if you tried to convince you when you started to run the business that you're running and run the life that you're running right now. Would you do it? Would you start? And that's the thing. Many times we have no idea where we're actually headed our life, our business, change and evolve over time. That's part of this. We adapt, we evolve we change with the times and change with our wise and change with what's needed around us. And the journey that we are on right now. The journey that we will end is totally different than the journey we started on. But there's no way we could get to where we are now. If we didn't start somewhere. Where did you start? Why did you start? And very importantly, here again, what keeps you going right now? We'd love to learn about your journey and why you keep pushing forward. Send us an email feedback at Pitzer confessional. We're everywhere on social media or give us a phone call and we'd love to talk to you and interview you about the journey that you're on and why you started. Thank you so much for listening. We want to thank our sponsors, tiny pet and pet perennials for making today's show possible. And thank you for the time and attention that you give every week. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend. We'll be back again soon.
