327: Finding a love of business with Laura Breakstone
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What does it mean to run a ‘local’ business and how do we foster a love for it? As business owners and entrepreneurs, we have to seek out things that inspire us; whether they’re another business owner or something else. Laura Breakstone was inspired by a small pet supply store that gave her the idea for her business. She shares how she’s maintained the local feel of her company, even as she’s grown. Laura has used a very specific marketing tool to great success, and gives her insights into why it’s so effective. She also walks us through her most popular services, and how she finds what to offer her clients.
Main topics
Importance of being ‘local’
Developing a love of business
5-house marketing rule
Keeping things simple
Being transparent
Main takeaway: Find your inspiration for your business to keep you engaged and trying new things.
About our guest:
My name is Laura and I’m the owner of a local pet sitting and dog walking company that I created called ParaMount Pet Care. As a company, we strive to provide peace of mind to our clients that use us while they work and travel.
I graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Veterinary and Biomedical science. Upon graduating, I had decided that going to vet school was not the appropriate route for me after all. One thing I was sure of was that I still wanted to spend the rest of my life working with animals in some capacity because that is my one true passion. I was immediately asked upon graduation to become a manager at the big chain pet store I had spent many of my high school and college breaks working at. I then switched gears a few short years later to a small independent retailer known as P&D Pet Supply in Mountain Top, PA. Working here made me fall in love with business and the idea of turning my passion for animal care into an actual business and career.
After learning the “ins and outs” of small business and getting to know the clientele of P&D on such a personal level, my pet sitting business took off! I Officially launched the brand ParaMount Pet Care in November of 2020. I was able to leave my full time management position at P&D in April of 2021 to work in my company full time. Now, I am thrilled to say that I employ 10 pet care professionals, have some of the absolute best clients in the world (both the furry ones and their parents), and I am living out my dream every day! I wouldn’t have it any other way! I couldn’t thank each and everyone one of my clients enough for trusting my team with your finned, feathered and fur babies. I hope to continue to provide superior pet care to Luzerne County for many years to come and look forward to meeting so many more wonderful people and pets in the process.
Links
laura@paramountpetcare.com
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, people, pet, business, staff, dog, vet, guinea pig, working, pet store, paramount, owner, find, area, visit, transparency, set, felt, sitter, walk
SPEAKERS
Collin, Laura B.
Laura B. 00:00
Honestly, we are the people that hold ourselves back, right? I mean, we are much more capable of doing things that we just think we can't do. And that was just me for a long time. You know, I was I was very happy working as a manager in these pet supply stores. I mean, I loved I loved it, but at the same time, I always felt like there was something that was missing there. You know, something I'd like I felt like I had more potential, but I just didn't go for it and so on. So I did.
Meghan 00:35
Hello, I'm Megan. I'm Collin. And this is Pet Sitter confessional and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter
Collin 00:41
brought to you by time to pet. What does it mean to be a local business? And how do we maintain that feel, even as we grow and expand and add staff and service new areas. Laura Breakstone, owner of Paramount pet care joins the show today to share how she grew her business while keeping warm relationships and focusing on trust with all of her clients. She also shares how she's implemented the five house marketing rule into the neighborhoods that she really wants to work with. And why partnering with a coach or mentor early on, can really help set yourself up for success, but it's never too late. Let's get started. Sure, yeah.
Laura B. 01:19
Well, thank you so much, Collin, for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity. So my name is Laura. And what I do is I own a local pet sitting and dog walking company in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, it's called Paramount pet care. And right now we have about over 250, I think I just checked about 270 clients, and about 10 team members. So we've grown pretty significantly in the last two years.
Collin Funkhouser 01:46
Yeah, that is, that's a lot of growth. Does it feel as fast as it as it appears to be when you look at kind of those numbers? What was it like experiencing that?
Laura B. 01:58
Oh, my God, like the answer that I don't even know how to answer that question. Because it's like, yes, and no, you know, sometimes it's like, you have those days where like, overwhelm kicks in and you're like, I need a secretary. You know what I mean. But then there's other days where it's not as bad and it's like, okay, I can catch my breath, I can get caught up on my work, and we're good. But it's just been a continual thing. So it's like day in day out, I don't stop stop marketing ever. And I don't stop recruiting ever. So I always try to be able to meet the demands by adding on professional pet sitters onto the team.
Collin Funkhouser 02:37
Now, you said been in business for about two years, what happened two years ago that made you go, Oh, I'm gonna give this a try.
Laura B. 02:45
So I was working in a local mom and pop pet store, I was a manager there. And in a small little town called mountain top Pennsylvania, and specifically that town, it's one of those places where everyone knows everybody, and they were the only pet store on the mountain so to speak. So, you know, it's just a small little community and I had been pet setting since I was about 16. Just kind of like, under the table for friends and family. And then when I was working there, as a manager, I got to know the clientele on such a very personal level, that axion, they see the same people in and out all day long. And then I told them, Oh, I do pet sitting on the side. And they instantly were like, Oh, this is great. So I would have my full time job doing that, and then do my petsitting jobs, part time on top of it. So that's kind of like how I ended up switching gears because I had this, you know, place where I can just completely market to, you know, clients right then and there on the spot, which is really cool. And then, you know, I really found a love of business through working for a local pet company, because our pet, you know, pet store, because I used to work for a little bit larger, like a chain retailer, and you don't really get that the warmth to it, or you don't really get like the business aspect of it. It's all like a corporate thing, which I mean, I loved my time there too. That was really cool and made a lot of friends. But this really gave me that love of business. And I saw the potential for growth.
Collin Funkhouser 04:30
You've used the word a couple of times now but working for a local company and you own a local company. What about that local newness is important to you?
Laura B. 04:42
It's that feeling of I think I already use this word too but warmth, right? Like it's that feeling of just like, um, you know, you can talk to people one on one and create a relationship because the more you create these relationships with people, they're more the more they're going to trust you, especially when you're trying to develop a team of people to work for you instead of you. And that's like a process on itself that I had to kind of overcome, like, you know, telling my clients, okay, it's not going to be me anymore all the time. But you have to trust me to hire really awesome people that are going to take care of your pets like I do.
Collin 05:23
Yeah, that is that is hard. And it's really scary to communicate whenever you've worked so hard to foster those relationships. And then you are kind of passing that torch on to somebody else and going, oh, man, like, have I done enough. But as you said, like, there's that trust that the clients go, I trusted you to take care of my pets. Now I'm going to trust you to find the best care for my pets within your company. And that is a process and a lot of time, it's our hang up that prevents us from making that step.
Laura B. 05:51
Exactly. Yeah. And it's, it's interesting, because the first person I ever hired onto my team was my boyfriend. And, you know, my boyfriend, actually, at the time, me and him were only going out, like less than a year. So it was one of those things where it's like, Hey, I know, I've only been dating this guy for like, you know, nine months. But here he is, he works for my team, I roped him in and you got to trust him. So it was it was a little wild. At first, I'm not gonna lie. I'm just, I feel like, like you said, like, within that two year span, like everything did happen very quickly. And, you know, I was able to make it happen, which I'm very thrilled about.
Collin 06:35
And you mentioned, while you were at that local pet supply company, you develop the love of business. That's, that's a phrase that I don't think many people have, usually we have animosity towards running our business, we have fear of the administration, and we have these kind of things. When you say love of business, what does that what does that mean?
Laura B. 06:55
Oh, man, I guess it just means kind of like you develop those relationships with the people around you that people coming in and out of your store. And then you kind of get to see how things operate on the back end of the business, too. So when I was working there, I was doing a lot of ordering from our suppliers. So I got to kind of do things like that. And I don't know, it just it got to the point where I was like, I could see myself running a business, I felt like, you know, it was me and these two other girls, we were the three managers there, and we really like ran that place. You know, we, I mean, the owners were there, obviously. But at that there was a certain point where that there was a switch and ownership and the owners that originally hired me, they're looking to retire. So at that point, you know, they kind of have like a foot out the door, so to speak, even though they're present in there. But they really relied on the three of us to just operate this business day in and day out. And that was really cool to me to be able to be a part of that.
Collin 08:05
Yeah, sounds like you had an opportunity to see how every part of the cake was made, you weren't just worried about this one particular component, which is easier to do in a much larger corporate setting. But you really got to see and experience small business is how it runs the front end, the back end and everything in between and really sounds like you loved that, that process and kind of everything involved in it.
Laura B. 08:30
Yeah, you know, I didn't really get to experience all of it. Like I wasn't the one running payroll or anything like that, like, those are all things I kind of had to figure out as I got into my own business. But yeah, it was it was neat to just learn about business and you know, kind of get that it was more of an inspiration than anything, you know, you see this husband and wife who own this local pet, you know, basically pet supply business, and you think, okay, like, I could be like them one day, you know, I, I get really inspired by entrepreneurs, I think and I think that that was always a pathway that I wanted to go down. But I'm not gonna lie, I always was afraid to go down that path. Like there was always something inside of me holding me back from that. And I am so glad I made that jump. Because I mean, I do what I love every single day. And I really wouldn't have it any other way. Like I feel exactly where I'm supposed to be at in my life. And so if there's anybody else out there that is afraid to to make that jump, I say just do it. Just absolutely go for it.
Collin Funkhouser 09:37
That's being inspired, I think is a really important part of what we do. As small business owners. We need to be inspired in a lot of aspects of inspired of ways to run our business, how to run our business, how to be good managers and bosses, how to respect others. And with that inspiration that really helps us do a lot that helps us create that helps us keep moving forward. really do need to find exactly what It inspires us in our business, whether that's reading or that sitting down with somebody or having a business that's local to you, that does inspire you, whether they're in pet care or not, it could just be, you know, recently, I became really inspired by a local tow truck company because I got to talk with the owner while a car was being towed for an hour and a half. And he was just one of the most inspiring people that I've I've gotten to talk to, and I was that was that was fun. But I think that is really important, because to help keep us engaged and active in in our business.
Laura B. 10:33
Yeah, for sure. And honestly, we are the people that hold ourselves back, right? I mean, we are much more capable of doing things that we just think we can't do. And that was just me for a long time. You know, I was, I was very happy working as a manager in these pet supply stores. I mean, I loved I loved it. But at the same time, I always felt like there was something that was missing there. You know, something, like, I felt like I had more potential, but I just didn't go for it. And so while until I did.
Collin Funkhouser 11:08
That's really that's really, really good. I'm glad you made that jump. And then like we've mentioned a couple of times, within two years, you've really grown a lot. Why do you think that is?
Laura B. 11:20
I have a very simple answer for that. And you're gonna love this woman by the name of Colleen Sedgwick. I know, you're I know, you're familiar with her. But speaking of inspiration, she was my initial inspiration. Before I even joined her program, I was watching her YouTube videos online, and I just sat there and I was like, I want to be like this woman someday. And, you know, then all of a sudden, I made the jump started my business and was like, Okay, now I really need to take her program. I'm glad I did, though, honest to God, because I would not have been fast track like this. Because I've done I have been involved in her program now for a year and a half. And so that's like, you know, the majority of that two years? And, you know, look at how far I've come then. So I owe a lot to her for sure. She's amazing.
Collin Funkhouser 12:16
Yeah, well, I think it is important to look at what kind of resources are out there. And whether that's a program whether that's a coach, whether that's a community find something to get plugged into. And you know, you sounds like you looked around, and when I connect with this person, this person is speaking the things that I connect with, and I want to have in my life, and that takes some some time and understanding and thinking about ourselves and recognizing what that connection is going to be. But that kind of stuff really does help us because now we're engaged, we're active, we're committed to this thing. And I think just being committed is part of that.
Laura B. 12:51
Yeah, for sure. And just the ongoing support to right not even just from your business coaches directly, but from the community that you have around you by being involved in a program like that, because you're involved in in touch with every single day, all these other entrepreneurs that do exactly what you do. And that's
Collin Funkhouser 13:12
that inspiration, again, of when you're feeling down when you're feeling like you're struggling and being able to be connected to that community of other people who may have experienced it, or can give you an encouraging word or show you how they have overcome that. That is what so that's so powerful, and helping us overcome things as they come our way and can like you said earlier can really are what hold us back at the end of the day. Yeah, absolutely. One of the things you do that I find fascinating, and I think it's a growing trend, and I wanted to pick your brain on this is you charge for your first meeting with the client? How long have you been doing that? And what kind of feedback do you get kind of why did you decide that that was something that you wanted to implement?
Laura B. 13:59
Yeah, so initially, I never did, especially when I was doing this slow solo, you know, with no other staff or anything like that. Because I always felt like that initial consultation was really a necessary part to get to know the people's pets. But then as I started to hire, you know, I calling actually really inspired me to do this because she said, Well, number one, I have to pay my staff to go out there and do it. So I mean, you know, for I have to pay for their time to go out there to do it. So at that point, you know, you have to kind of look at it like no matter who you're bringing into your house, whether it be you know, somebody who's going to fix the sink or you know, the whatever the plumber, whoever it is, you have to pay for them to walk in your door whether or not they fix anything at all. So I mean, Colleen gave me that mind said of like, okay, you really should be charging for these initial meetings because you have to pay your staff to do it. And when I asked her, Did you get any pushback from that? She said, No. And you don't want, I really have not gotten pushback from that. And if anybody or anybody ever questions me on it, I simply tell them what I just told you, like I, you know, I have to pay my staff to come out to you. So I do charge for that initial meeting. Everybody has been okay with that.
Collin 15:29
And that's one of those things of as the petsitting industry has kind of grown and matured, we're finding these things that a lot of other industries have had in place for a pretty long time. Like if you take a mechanic or somebody or, or, well, if you take your car to the mechanic, they have a service for you to look under the hood. And a lot of times, they'll either apply it to the fix or whatever, sometimes they don't, it's on top of that. But people are used to paying for people to come to their home and do things for them or not like that is that is a part of our society and culture. And so I think it is interesting how we kind of hold ourselves back from that. And whether we have staff or not, I think it is important to put that in place. Because it does a lot of things, it pays ourselves, right, because that was gas that was out of our pocket, if we're doing one's doing it. It also is kind of another commitment. We're always looking for better committed clients in our lives, and in our business. And so we need to think through what are things we can put in place that kind of help people get on board a lot faster. So have you found a difference in in clients when since you've started doing this?
Laura B. 16:35
I mean, I don't know. I don't know that I've noticed an actual difference. I'm sorry, I don't have a really great answer for that. I don't know that I noticed the difference, to be honest with you.
Collin Funkhouser 16:49
No, that's fine. I know, I know. I know, many people get to the meet and greet. And they go, how do I convince this person to go with me? Right? What's the what's what makes this person go with me and my business. And it could be a lot of different factors. And so I know many people will have decided that well, by having them pay for me, maybe that will make them more committed to go with me in the end. And I think that's something that's just going to be dependent on every single person in every single client set. You know, if you charge for the meet and greet, someone goes, that's 20 bucks or 22 bucks, you know, whatever. Like, if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't, it's not a big deal to some people, other people, it is a big deal. So they're more committed to that. And I think there's kind of, depending on your clientele, you're going to find a different balance with that.
Laura B. 17:32
Yeah, that's very true. And I mean, you bring up a valid point there where any potential client could get their freebie meet and greet. Have you come over the house? And then just go nah, sorry, and then just not booked with you at all. And now your time has been wasted. And your gas getting there has been wasted? So that's definitely another Yeah, I mean, and that's huge these days, right? Like, we sit here and laugh about it, but like act, it actually is a pretty big deal these days. I mean, it has been going down, thank God. But you know, when gas was up near $5 A gallon that was getting scary. And also it was, like you think about the staff to your might, you know, my staff? Oh my gosh, like, you know, I really have to kind of keep them in a tight little radius. They're near their homes, or else they're not going to be making a fair wage.
Collin Funkhouser 18:21
Yeah, well, okay, so on that it'll make people kind of have this discussion of Do I have a central location that I set a radius around? Or do I hire staff in areas and then set a radius around where they live? Sounds like they've kind of gone with the latter over the former? What what why was that
Laura B. 18:37
for you? Um, I mean, it, I don't know, it made more sense, I guess at the time, and I when I post my jobs on Indeed, yeah, I will post for specific areas. So if I'm looking for a sitter and mountaintop Lake, you know, there is going to be people who live in mountaintop that are flying, and or maybe live like within a couple miles of that area. So you know, I, I always cater to kind of where my client, the bulk of my client base is, and try to hire people that live right around there. And then just give them a little bit of a radius right around their house.
Collin Funkhouser 19:19
Yeah, it helps that helps a lot with them and their travel time and them and their gas expenses and understanding their schedule. And for you as well. When you get a client it's a lot easier to say yes to somebody if you know you've got two staff members sitting over there ready to go for them. As opposed to going well, we're kind of bouncing back and forth across a 15 square mile radius and it's kind of a free for all for everybody. I can see how that would simplify it a lot for you in an organizing a lot of that as well.
Laura B. 19:51
Yeah, I don't know. It made the most sense for me when I was starting out with that and, you know, I just kind of continued to really spread my employees all over the air you know, all across Luzerne County we don't serve a spa whole county it is a pretty big County. But it also depends on how many people I can hire for any given area to some areas are easy to hire in and others I've right now I'm struggling in a certain area. So it's it's a balance.
Collin Funkhouser 20:18
Well, so break down your county there. What are some of the demographics, populations that you're dealing with? And kind of the receptiveness that you get to the petsitting needs?
Laura B. 20:29
So what are the unique things about my business, and actually why I named my business Paramount pet, pet care, is because the M in the mouth is capitalized. And there are two specific towns, one would be mountain top, and the other one being the back mountain. So we actually kind of cater toward those two areas. And the demographics of those areas are, you know, pretty much like you're anywhere from middle class to upper class families that would be looking for pet care, whether it be while they travel on vacation, or working throughout the day. So those two areas kind of just matched what I wanted my client base to look like, and specifically, the pet store I was working at was in mountain tops. So that's kind of where I got my start. But then I thought, oh, my gosh, there's all these people in the back mountain area. So I was like, okay, Paramount, it took me like six months to come up with that name. And I thought it was clever, it might not be clever.
Collin 21:36
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21:44
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Collin 22:00
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Collin Funkhouser 22:11
You mentioned how you have kind of never stop marketing, maybe maybe break down what your your marketing machine looks like and kind of what a typical ad or process is for you? Well,
Laura B. 22:24
I would say the bulk of our marketing definitely is social media. We've post and I say we because so my boyfriend is very much involved in my business, he actually helps me manage it. And he we're kind of actually working him into a position where he's pretty much going to be a full time manager. Right now he manages part time, and he takes over all of my social media accounts for the business, which is great. And then he does petsitting part time as well. But yeah, so he will make sure that he schedules out posts on Facebook and Instagram, and we do tick tock, we're involved with that, too. So he'll make the cute little videos for that. So that's a very big part of our marketing, specifically Facebook, we have a lot of followers on there. But what else we do to reach out to people is we do this five house marketing rule, which is I don't know if that's something you've ever heard of. But that was something I was taught. And basically how this works is when you go and you service, pick any client, right? You take the three houses that are across the street from them, and then the two on either side of them. And you send out a postcard to those five families and say, Hey, we just watched your neighbor fluffy, and they'll probably know who fluffy is because that's, you know, they live right there. And it basically like if you ever want pet care, you know, call us up. It's basically just like a direct mail marketing ad. And it has worked. I actually just got a phone call the other day from somebody saying, Oh, well, we found your price sheet in a vet office, but also we got your card in the mail too. And hey, that's a sign like we definitely need to go with you. That was like, Is it a sign or is it good marketing tactics?
24:19
Props, props to the marketing tactics, that's
Laura B. 24:23
for sure, for sure. But yes, we also do work with, we partner up with different vet offices, groomers, pet stores, and you know, we'll bring them cookies or treats or whatever every month, and we'll give them our brochures like we have pricing brochures, we give them business cards. So that's another thing that my boyfriend is in charge of is going to all these locations in these different areas and giving them our information so that they can hand out to their clients.
Collin Funkhouser 24:56
That's good. I'm glad I'm glad he made it through the 90 day review process with you
Collin 25:05
What I love about that five house marketing rule is that many people are interested in direct mailing and direct fliers. But it can be really overwhelming to go, what on earth? Where do I start? How do I and a lot of us just try and find the wealthy neighborhoods and get their addresses and stuff. But I think one of the reasons why that kind of rule works is it is a very real connection directly to them like that. They, they immediately go, Oh, I know those people or I see those people. And that makes sense. Okay, that it's an immediate familiarity that you have with them. It's not just some Hi, here's me, you don't know me from Adam. Let me walk your dog. It's, we're serving this person. And it's kind of challenging them to go and social proof you with their neighbor? Right? It's yeah, it's a great way to start a conversation of these people really doing this. And then we're gonna go, yeah, they are. And they're amazing. And Paramount's, the best and all this stuff, and you definitely need to call them for your dog, like, it kind of puts them into that mode of having a conversation where maybe they wouldn't have had before, for sure. And I mean,
Laura B. 26:15
that all goes back to what we were kind of talking about before with the personal connection, how I made those personal connections with the people who are coming in to the pet supply store, and then they automatically trusted me to watch their pets. Now, we're kind of putting that into marketing, where you know, we have that officers referring us out. So it's like, hey, if the vet off, like if your vet, say you should probably go with this person for your pet sitting needs, you're probably going to listen to your event, you know, and same thing with the five house marketing, like, Hey, we're watching your neighbor's dog. And it's like, oh, well, I love my neighbor. Like they're cool people, like if they use you know, if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. So we even tried to just make it personal, no matter how our marketing, which is, it's proven to be very effective.
Collin Funkhouser 27:03
Yeah, I think one of the things that's really helped us was when we got connected with some vets who vague gave out new puppy packets to clients, and they have a big packet of recommendation and resources for them. And when we built a relationship with the vets, they started to stick our flyer in there for their clients. And so as an immediate like, Oh, here's the trainer, right, here's the one trainer I need to talk to, here's the groomer, I need to talk to Oh, and here's the one pet sitter I need to talk to. And we were there, those relationships where they, they want to refer to good people they want they have they have a vested interest in having this pet owner, keep this pet for as long as possible. They want to see them live their best life, we can help alongside and help them in that and be a good resource and be a good member of the community in that way.
Laura B. 27:50
Exactly. And I mean, a lot of people who own pets and companies don't necessarily realize the power behind that, you know, once you get that leverage of people that are in reputable businesses recommending you a reputable business. That's, that's powerful.
Collin 28:10
It is. Yeah, it's really telling whenever, you know, we get phone calls from vets, and they're like, Hey, we're out of your flyers, you need to come make a new drop, you know, it's like they are wanting that resource to give out. Yeah, and I think even finding may be, you know, pet friendly places and fostering a relationship with them. I know, in our new service area, there's a coffee shop that we spent a lot of time in, and they're they're right across from a very popular dog walking trail and park. And we initially just came in and was set out some fliers and some stuff there. And then we started to set out tennis balls and poop bag holders with our name on it. And they actually went out of their way to make a really cool like display of all of this stuff. And I was reloading it the other day, and the barista said, we get so many compliments on the tennis balls and the poop back holders because they everyone is so happy that we're so pet friendly. And it really makes the place really nice. And I had never thought of it that way of we're helping them have a more pet friendly area by some simple tennis balls and some poop bag holders. And so there was this realization of like we we can work together on this to really make the pet parents lives a lot better.
Laura B. 29:22
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. promo items are cool. We actually just did dog food can lids with our logo on it and just pens because everybody loves pens, right? So especially the vet offices, I don't know they effed up
Collin Funkhouser 29:38
sometimes literally with some of their patients they do.
Laura B. 29:43
You're not wrong.
Collin Funkhouser 29:45
But you know, it's it's something that's really simple as doesn't have to be extremely costly to just add a little bit of benefit to somebody who needs that in that moment. Right. Absolutely. Something else about your your visits You know, you mentioned that you charge for the first initial meeting and consultation. You also don't have a distinction between Dropins and walks like a lot of people have you just call them visits and they're broken down by time increments? Where did that decision come from? And kind of what's that look like for you communicate to your clients?
Laura B. 30:19
Yeah, so it for me, I felt like keeping it as simple as possible was better. Because I had thought about pricing between all of those things. And I thought, I don't know that I'm necessarily going to charge more or less for a dog walk versus a visit. So I thought, okay, let's group them all into one thing, keep it really simple for people. But then the idea is when people contact me about it, and kind of want the rundown on how that all works, I pretty much say, Well, look, whatever you need done in that half hour, or in that 15 minutes, you know, we'll do so it's, you know, if you want a 20 minute walk in 10 minutes to just kind of feed and, you know, do whatever play indoors with your dog, then we can do that. And then plus that, you know, you kind of get into the the thing where it's like, yeah, we'll bring in your mail to will water your plants as well. So it's like, people kind of like to hear that. It's, it almost seems like a really good package deal to them, right? Like you get all this stuff in in a half hour? Or what we can do you know what I mean? We do what we can do within that a lot of time. But yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 31:34
yeah, cuz I know sometimes when we say oh, we'll do a drop in you know, people go, Well, can you take my dog for a walk? Or is that something separate? Or what does this include or not include, and I do like that idea of going, Look, this is the 30 minutes, this is the hour of visit, you tell me what you want done. And we'll we'll make that work or give a different recommendation. And it really does kind of puts the owner in a position of more involvement, I'll say of
Laura B. 32:01
Yeah. And personalizing it to I think that we like to cater toward, you know, personalizing your own pet care plan, however you want it. And I mean, I tell people look, you know, if you want three visits a day, you don't have to pick just the 30 minute visit, you can do to 30 minute and maybe a 15 minute final potty break before bedtime doesn't mean what in 15 minutes that you can't do much, but you can certainly let the dog out to go to the bathroom and tuck them in for the night. You know, so. So yeah, it's I really try to create that environment where the client gets to choose what they want done within that amount of time and how they want to personalize their pet care plan.
Collin Funkhouser 32:46
I think that's really empowering to them, especially clients who maybe have never done this before. They don't know what to expect. They're kind of lost in the process. Or let's be honest, a lot of clients know exactly what they like, and they don't, they don't like to be pigeonholed into a little box. And so we can kind of come alongside them. And I'm sure within reason go. Yeah, let's let's design this time together. Yeah,
Laura B. 33:11
yeah, absolutely. So I mean, it worked. It works out well for us. And it keeps the pricing and things like that. Very simple. So I think when people have too many options, I think they freak out. I mean, like, let's be fair. I mean, I can't even look at a menu in a restaurant without going, this decision is so stressful, I don't know what I want.
Collin Funkhouser 33:34
I tend to always just go with a good looking picture and go, maybe I'll try that and kind of avoid everything else.
Laura B. 33:42
So I like to keep things simple, because I'm simple in that regard. Anyway. So when it comes to choosing,
Collin Funkhouser 33:50
well, it's simple. It's it's more predictable for the client, it's easier for us as the owners and our staff to remember what the heck is going on here and what things look like it's just more simple and refined that we can make that I think the more of a benefit we bring to everybody.
Laura B. 34:06
Yeah, for sure. And then like from our side of so from like the business standpoint, when we're selecting these visits on our PET scanning software, then, you know, we can choose like I do have an option for a 30 minute dog walk or a 30 minute visit, it's all the same price. But then that lets the pet sitter know, what are you here to do primarily. So it really it's more just to put out that certain front to the client where it's like, hey, we'll do whatever you want, while you know whatever you need us to do while we're here, but then we need to kind of keep it organized on the back end too. So that the sitter is like, Okay, wait, what am I doing? You know, so this so it works out.
Collin Funkhouser 34:51
That's that's really cool. And I know you also offer quite a list of concierge services that kind of provide a lot of additional stuff How have you arrived at that list?
Laura B. 35:02
Oh, I, you know, I got a lot of that inspiration from Colleen. Um, you know, a lot of what my business model is, is really modeled off of her, but I mean, why wouldn't I? Because she's super successful. Right? But, um, so yeah, I, you know, why not? But anyway, so we have that list. And you know, it's not a super popular thing that people add on every day, you know, we're not getting a ton of add ons. But I will tell you that actually, are not as a whole list. The most popular service is the guinea pig nail trim.
Collin Funkhouser 35:39
I saw that on the list. And I was like, there is a story behind this. I need to know more about this.
Laura B. 35:45
So yeah, I'm like the guinea pig guru, right. Like, I don't know, I just I fell in love with them. I don't have one right now. But I, I had one in college absolutely adored him. And then when I was, I was like a pet care manager at the big chain retailer I worked at, and I spent, you know, I was basically in charge of like all the animals there, right. So like the guinea pigs, the hamsters, the reptiles, the fish. So I was in charge of that whole department. But the guinea pigs were always just my favorite. And I kind of through owning a guinea pig and having to take care of them on kind of a daily basis, I just like grew fond of them. And it became one of those things where I do the only type of wording I offer right now is guinea pig boarding. Because I just I have mine, I don't have a facility, right. But like if people want to drop their guinea pig off at my apartment, please do. So then while they're there, I'm like, oh, their nails are looking a little long. Why don't I trim them for you. So then that's how that add on service came to be but then people will call me up and have me go to their house to trim the nails, too. So that's been quite the experience. But I love it.
Collin Funkhouser 37:04
Oh, that's super cool. I love how just excruciating ly special specific that is in in care and needs for clients. It's it's something that I genuinely had no idea was a problem that needed to be solved for pet parents.
Laura B. 37:16
It actually is. And you know, it's funny because I when I was working, you know, at PetSmart it was one of those things where I sold a lot of guinea pigs. But then I had to tell people, like, Look, you have to keep up on their nail maintenance. And they go, why? And I'm like, Yeah, their nails grow, and you need them trimmed. And then I had to direct them over to the nail trimmers and say, okay, like, you know, if you're taking your guinea pig home today, you should probably consider taking a pair of these clippers. And, you know, then it was one of those things where like, I didn't know we had to do that. Like, it's so funny. Like, it's so random, right? You said like, oddly specific, it is very much oddly specific. But something that I am just good at. So I thought you know, what, if I'm good at this, and I know what I'm, you know, talking about? And I know what I'm doing? I might as well just tack that on as a service. Yeah. Yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 38:14
I mean, if it's something that you're getting requests for already, and you have clients who are calling you and asking for that, and you're able to do and you can provide and it's something that fits in with your business model? And is, you know, something that brings you joy. Why not? At the end of the day, why not help people in that
38:30
way? Yeah, absolutely.
Collin 38:33
Well, and when you were telling that story, you said the you know, you add someone who buy a guinea pig, then you would say, Oh, by the way, you know, there is this extra thing that you're going to have to stay on top of. And that's part of it sounds like that you've part of your your your desire and your goal to be transparent in everything that you do and make sure that everything is upfront. What does that mean for you? And why is that so important?
Laura B. 38:55
Ah, you know, I have learned just over the course of time, that transparency, there's nothing like it because it coincides with good communication. And you want that all around between not just your staff and your clients, because that's very important. But you also want to have that type of relationship as a business owner, with your staff too. And the transparency thing, it's, it's huge, because, you know, you can have staff that just can't communicate effectively at all, like I just had a staff member recently, who, you know, I did have to terminate because I tried to reach out to her and she never got back to me and it's like, can't you just tell me you're uninterested in this job isn't for you anymore. Like I will gladly just send you on your way but it's what you know, it's the moment the staff member becomes unhappy is the moment where problems start to arise. They might show up late to their jobs they might not show to their jobs at all. But if we can create this relationship from the very beginning saying, Look, I'm approachable. Like I'm a very just fun loving, easygoing person, I don't, you know, you know, it's one of those things where it's like, if you do a good job for me, like, I'll take care of you in the end, and it's like, let's just have, let's keep conversations open. And I also want my staff to have that with my clients as well. So like, I tell them, if you ever noticed anything out of the ordinary with a pet in your care, like you've been watching this pet all week, and now all of a sudden, it threw up on the last day, just mentioned that in the notes, just give a quick mention, because it could be absolutely nothing. But it also could lead to something more serious. And if we didn't have that level of transparency, saying what happened, instead of just like cleaning up hiding it, throw it, throwing it away. You know, they could the owner can come home and be like, Oh my gosh, like we have to rush our dog to the vet set, you know. So it's like, everything I do, how I operate is just being transparent across all levels.
Collin Funkhouser 41:07
Yeah, we try and avoid those follow up messages from clients. The second day, they've gotten back of going, Hey, did you notice Baxter was limping? It's like, no, if we would have noticed, you would have been notified immediately. Like, that's how we operate we and obviously things happen and things like that. But it's like, that's the goal is to when we see something, we're going to say something about it. And we're going to be upfront, because whether it's not even communicating bad news, it's just communicating and reporting on what we're observing and seeing and trying to, I think that's hard for for to get through to a lot of people. I know I struggled with that for a while as well of going, well, this is bad. I don't want to tell people bad news. I don't want to let them know about this. And I really had to sit down and embrace and go, no, they this is what they're paying me for. They're paying for me to be eyes and ears and hands on their pet while they're away. Well, they can't be here, they need to know this. It's not a reflection of me. It's a it's a reflection of the reality that I'm experiencing. I have to tell them out that it's basically a moral obligation at this point. And I'm being paid to do it too.
Laura B. 42:13
Exactly. Yeah. So it's, it's really transparency and open communication kind of go hand in hand, and you run a more effective business, when you can have that on all levels between you and your staff and your staff and your clients.
Collin Funkhouser 42:27
Yeah, because it's setting up those expectations right from the get go. And whether that's communicating our pricing to our new clients that are coming in and not being not trying to hide those in some way or delay reporting those to them, like they're going to find out how expensive it is and how costly it is to them, eventually, we need to just get that out there. Because that may be the deciding factor for them or with staff, okay, we need to let them know that the late visit wasn't appropriate because we can't let that go on. And then we hope and we want and we earn yearn for that to be come back to us. We want our clients and our staff to be transparent with us about how they're doing. So we can either readjust, reassign or remove them from certain things.
Laura B. 43:08
Exactly, yeah. And it's just more effective all around. Because like you said, you if we had to remove them from a certain job, like if my staff isn't telling me like, hey, you know, I got scratched up pretty bad or something from the last visit? Or, you know, it comes down to the point of like, do we need to reassess these these people as clients? Because maybe is, you know, are the dogs putting my sitters in harm's way? Or maybe do we need to just make a casual suggestion like, hey, like, we know, your dog doesn't have intentions of being aggressive. But to be truthful with you, I think your dog could use some training, because it's putting my staff at risk. You know, here's a suggestion I have for you, as a trainer, I hope you don't take it the wrong way. But you know, it's going to be a little bit safer for my staff to come in there if your dog was, you know, acting like that.
Collin 44:03
Yeah. And that that can be hard to communicate, we don't like to communicate the news to the owner that their that their pet isn't as well behaved as the client may expect. But this is going again, it boils down to this is what we're seeing. This is how we want to be able to operate safely. And here's what your responsibilities as the clients are now that you know that. And absolutely, and we tell our staff all the time, like the expectation is not that you have to put up with aggression, biting, growling, jumping things on you that you don't have to put up with that, if that's happening, we need to know about it so we can do something about that. And I think that's really what the transparency and communication does is it moves us from this position of I'm putting up with this I just have to kind of grin and bear it to actually doing and implementing to making our lives the pet lives in the owners and the staff lives better. Like it just helps everybody.
Laura B. 44:54
Right? And I mean, honestly first as much as we like cringe making these phone calls and we're like, oh, I don't want So you don't have to make this phone call to this client to tell them this. But if you learn how to it's about the deliverability of the message, so if you learn how to deliver this news in a certain way, where you're being sensitive to their feelings and sensitive to like, you know, saying, Look, I know your dog's a great dog, but here's the issue we ran into, and might I make a suggestion, you know what I mean? It's about how you deliver it. So if I've only ever had pretty much success with that, and I have had to make a couple of those really weird phone calls where it was like, I had to tell people flat out, we can't service your dog. I'm so sorry. But like your dog, like the dog was being rather I don't even know if aggressive is the word but it was just massive and didn't know how big like the dog had no idea how big he was. And he was getting to the point where he was like, dragging my pet sitter down the street during the meet and greet. So yeah, and, and among other things, jumping and scratching. And I was like, I can't send my pet sitter in there. And I had to tell the client that and the client actually totally understood it was a brand new client. And he said, Look, honestly, we're trying to rehome this dog anyway. And I was like, Oh, I was like, okay, and then so I you know what, though, then it ended up becoming one of those things where I helped him find a home because of my fan No, of whatever you wanna call fan base, right? That sounds stupid. But following. That sounds really dumb. I'm so sorry. My followers on Facebook, and I reached out to a lot of people who, you know, would be able to put the time into training this dog, we found the dog a new home. And guess what, he still has two other pets that we now currently watch. So we still got a client out of it. Yeah. So have that have the tough conversations, because it actually might end up working out for you,
Collin 47:05
you know, you never know. And I do know that, you know, we we try and, and have those tough conversations in an appropriate way. But clients don't always give that back to us. So have you ever had to deal or handle kind of some harsh feedback or negative reviews,
Laura B. 47:20
so negative reviews, nothing on social media or Google knock on wood here, but um, I have had to deal with a, an angry client over the phone. And, um, but you know what, at the end of the day, when I looked back at that conversation, and I kind of talked to my business coach about that conversation, that client was very less than ideal, very, not just not somebody I wanted to have within my client base anyway, because of how they so aggressively reacted to the situation. And I thought, you know, what, it's better that we just let this go. And I was very thrilled that he didn't, you know, leave me a very nasty Google review or anything like that. But, you know, it was a situation that really couldn't be helped. And he just, you know, blew it out of the water and forced me out and all that fun stuff. So,
Collin Funkhouser 48:19
you know, and like you said, like, in the moment, it really hurts, and it's not fun, but we're able to look back on that and go, they weeded themselves out of my client pool. So this is Alan. Yeah, the better of everybody.
Laura B. 48:31
Yeah, in the moment, it's not fun, especially because, like, I tend to take things very personally and very to heart. So I tend to in the moment, I remove all logic, and like, feelings are all there and I'm like, really super hard about it, right? Like, this is terrible, you know, you hang up and you're crying, and it's like, the end of the world. And then logic kicks in. And then you start to realize, okay, like, it's going to be okay, you don't want this person as a client. Anyway, Laura,
Collin Funkhouser 49:03
I can't thank you enough for joining us today and walking us through your business journey, showing your love of your business and of your clients. And why transparency and communication are so important to the business and how it's well run. I know there's a lot here and you have a lot to share. So how can people get in touch with you follow along on your Instagram or tiktoks that your boyfriend's putting out there and pick your brain?
Laura B. 49:27
Yeah, sure. So um, so my website is an EPA petsitting.com So you anybody's more than welcome to reach out to me on my website. As far as the Facebook page. If you just you could just look up Paramount pet care, I should come up but I believe the link to that is facebook.com/cut Sitting any pa as opposed to any pa tech setting. I'm not trying to confuse people. I don't remember why that happens. But yeah, and then I Other than that email is Laura at Paramount. picker.com.
Collin Funkhouser 50:03
Wonderful. I've so enjoyed this floor. It's been it's been a real pleasure getting to talk with you today.
Laura B. 50:10
Absolutely, I want to thank you so much for this opportunity again. You know, it's it's been awesome. And, you know, I look forward to, you know, maybe even doing more in the future be great to connect up again,
Collin 50:21
as business owners, we are always looking for that trifecta of things that we enjoy doing things that there is a need for, and things that we can be compensated for. When we find those things that are bound together, we are able to flourish and are better able to meet the needs of our clients. When Laura talked about how she has become the guinea pig, a guru in her community, it really got me thinking about what are we gurus have? What are you a guru of? What do you have? What skill set knowledge passion drive Do you have that can fill a need for a client? Even if it's just one person? We all have it. So what does that look like for us in our business and you and yours and that's something that I think we do need to spend a lot of time meditating on of there are services that clients need and demand that we can fill naturally. But what is actually lighting our fire what is inspiring us to keep going every single day and to strive to be better. That is something that we can spend more time thinking on. We want to thank today's sponsors, time to pet and thank you so much for listening. We know we're going into a really busy time of the year and we just can't thank you enough for how much you support and encourage us as well. So we hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend. We'll be back again soon.
