351: Mentoring Your Team with Cassidy LaMair
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How do you mentor staff? Just as we work to educate clients, when we bring on staff, it’s our role to educate and mentor them in the career of pet care. Cassidy LaMair, owner of Cassidys Custom Pet Services, shares how she builds lasting relationships and partnerships with both staff and clients through her open and straightforward style. Cassidy details how she creates consistent customizable services and gives her insights into how she learns from her mistakes.
Main topics
Mentoring staff
Making custom services
Mental awareness
Lasting Partnerships
Main takeaway: We don’t learn from being great all the time.
About our guest:
Hello, my name is Cassidy and I am the owner and operator of Cassidys Custom Pet Services in Southern California. I started this business with a passion and drive to support my community and their pets. After years of dog walking/pet sitting on the side, working with families and their pets, and constantly consuming education on training and pet care I decided to make it my full time job. Inspired by my own dogs that thrive with in-home care I set out to bring this same level of love and reliability to the community. Our focus at Cassidys Custom Pet Services is to create a partnership with our clients that emphasizes one on one custom care for their pets. Where they can receive enriching experiences that support them throughout the days and years we get to work with them.
Links:
Website: https://www.cassidyscustompetservices.com/
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, people, person, pet, job, dog, business, hired, visits, employee, feel, staff, decision, greet, learn, life, animals, questions, realizing, day
SPEAKERS
Collin, Cassidy
Collin 00:00
Welcome to pet sitter confessional an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Today, we are brought to you by time to pet and pet perennials. How do you mentor staff, just as we work to educate our clients, when we bring on staff, it's now our role to educate and mentor them in the career of pet care. Cassidy Lamere, owner of Cassidy's custom Pet Services shares how she builds lasting relationships and partnerships with both staff and clients. Through her open and straightforward style. Cassidy details how she creates consistent customizable services and gives her insights into how she learns from her mistakes. Let's get started.
Cassidy 00:39
I was working a sales job. So I couldn't make money. Because my career plans were not panning out for me, I before this job, I had a lot of what felt like failure in just trying to go down the line trying to you know, I went to school for business, I came out and I had a focus on nonprofit management. And so that was my goal. I wanted to work in nonprofit and eventually have one. But it wasn't working. It's a very hard industry as far as like they don't have a ton of jobs all the time available for you. And so coming out of college, I just couldn't find anything. And it got to the point where I just had to have a job to make money because life happens bills getting paid, took a job that was really against what I wanted at all. It was a sales job where I had to stand and pitch to people all day long. And with a company that put a lot of pressure on making quotas, even if they were not reasonable quotas to make, to the point where I was falling short a lot. And I was doing things that were against my character, and against what I was willing to do. But I was so scared of losing it. I was scared of not having a job. I was scared of what it meant. And then I just got to a point where I said, But is this who I want to be? Do I want to be the person lying to get a sales? Like, do I want to be that person? No, I don't that I go home and I hate myself for it. I go home and I don't want to do this the next day. And so I ended up just kind of quitting on a whim, like I can't do this anymore. This isn't, I can't be this person anymore. And I've got to go figure out who I need to be. And so when I did that, I went down a lot of different lines of passions that I had, and seeing what worked and realizing that they wouldn't make a business and something that I had always been doing was petsitting. Since I was a kid, I've been taking care of animals, whether they were mine or other people. And part of what I did was I did go on rover i That's how I started was I went on rover and I just was kind of doing side jobs for people. And I ended up working for with a family that I absolutely love. I still have them today. And they were so encouraging in this being something I was doing with their family. But it really got me thinking, what if this wasn't just a way that I made money when I couldn't make money? You know, like, what if this wasn't just a thing that I was doing for a family or learning about in my spare time? Because that's what I would do. I just like research every little tiny thing that I could learn about dogs or cats or whatever the thing was for fun, just all my spare time. That's what people do. And so eventually, when I came to them, and I asked them, like, what if I started a real business out of this, they were so excited for me, and they wanted to keep on that journey and learn about it every step of the way. And from there, it just became what I did, you know, at least the business degree actually went to something. And, and it worked out for me. But there was definitely a lot of pitfalls before a lot of things I learned that I didn't want to do or be, which were really valuable because I really learned what kind of salesperson I didn't want to be which probably informed the if we decide to move it forward together. Because I never wanted to go back to that I never wanted to be someone pushing a sale down someone's throat and making them feel uncomfortable with it. But yeah, that was kind of the lead into it. I had like I said, I've been working with animals, but I never had thought of it as a career. Because I didn't want to be a vet, I didn't want to be a trainer. Those weren't jobs that I wanted. It was the only thing I could think that was viable in that industry. And then it was like, oh, no, there's like pet sitters. There's like, this is a thing. And so being able to make that transition and step into like, this isn't a hobby, this is a thing I can do.
Collin 04:36
And being able to go like you said ask those questions, what do I want to be? And then how do I want to do that? And see and seeing you know how you've talked about how your meet and greets are heavily influenced by the awful experience of heavy handed sales pushing like, oh, okay, I can I can handle this in a different way in my own way how I would want to be treated or what feels right to me. What kind of person Do I want to be in that situation instead of being forced into it, I want to flip this and make it my own, and realizing we have that ability, and we all have those experiences where something along the line has cued us into how we're acting today. And realizing, okay, I can I can do something different. I can choose to make this my own way, it doesn't matter how everybody else is, quote, unquote, doing it. That's not the point. The point is what makes me feel good. How can I sleep at peace at nighttime knowing how I treated people, how I conducted business, what I was doing today, that that's where we need to find that for ourselves.
Cassidy 05:34
Yeah. And that touches on what I, you know, we talked about earlier of like, we learn more from our pitfalls than we do from our highs, you know, the highs are what we get to after we figured out what not to do. And we're very excited that we finally got there. But it's definitely a lot of learning after just time after time, not being able to make something work or happen or looking at myself going, Oh, I really don't want to walk into this job right now. And informing like you were saying, like, that really informs me when I'm not ready to do something is if I'm going to a job going. I don't want to do that. And I don't want to create that for my employees or my clients. They don't they deserve to have someone who wants to be taking care of their animals.
Collin 06:15
Exactly. Yeah, we can we can give them that that's something we can allow them to have. So how have you made the transition now to having staff? I mean, what's what's that process been like for you?
Cassidy 06:25
There's a reality to to then being in charge of people. And even on your day off, you're never having a true day off. Someone could call someone could text with a question. You're like, Well, I gotta be there. I don't know what to tell you.
Collin 06:37
Yeah, it is a different. It's different. It's different music managing people. You know, we're Megan, Megan and I are still pretty new to this. As far as like having staff having people working under us. Not working under us working with us. I'm trying to mindset stuff anyway. It's just been trying to get
Cassidy 06:56
them in the same boat. I'm in the same boat. I just hired my first employee this year. And I'm like, I'm gonna be honest, guys, we're doing this together. I've been a boss before. Like, let's work through it.
Collin 07:07
Yeah, I think that's been really we've, we've had that same approach, I think that's been really helpful for them. Because they get to see, they get a big input on on it, right. And I, I don't ever want to come across, like we know everything. And one of my favorite things to do is I've, I've had to record some videos that walk through our policies and procedures. And I use loom to do that. And anyway, and in person, I'm like, Look, these are our beautiful policies and procedures, these are how we've constructed, I will burn it down in an instant, if you can get a better idea. Right? If you can tell me a better way to do this. It's gone. I will, I will just because I don't. Because I don't I've been in jobs, where it's been like, this is how we do it. And if you question it, you shall be you know, you're out. You're, you're out. And, and I don't want that. Like one of the things I'm I'm looking forward to is having other people's eyes, ears experiences on my business, and like experiencing a lot of the stuff that I'm like, Yes, this is the perfect way to implement lock boxes of have stuff, come back and go. What were you on when you wrote
Cassidy 08:24
here's just a reality to I and I have this during every monthly meeting with my staff member, I I'm always asking her and we first started, I was very much I think all the time was like, I'm one person. I've been running this business for four years. Sure. But I've been doing it for myself, there was no other person who had another perspective or another way of approaching animals or another, it was just me, so everything is fitted to me. So if you're in a house, or you're doing something and you're like, Oh, this is not panning out, the way you have it written because you're a different human then like, tell me please, I will throw it out. We'll figure I don't care. I made this business for me, you know, not for you.
Collin 09:09
Yeah. And that has totally changed what we are willing to do willing to take on how we're willing to structure a day. Because I know what my limits are. I know I know what I'm capable of for both animals and for everything, you know, after coming up on 11 years in this but just making an AI by ourselves if we I know it pretty well, just what I'm capable of. But I have to shift that when I'm in a meet and greet going. Can everybody do this? Yes, but everybody does now. We have training and I can do walkthrough videos and all sorts of stuff but or client requests. Okay, I may be willing to do that. Like we have this just this is a very practical one. We serve several clients who are who are home while we're there for many reasons. One of them lives in an elder care for facility, and she has Alzheimer's and dementia. She has no idea who we are anytime we've come over there. Oh, but she can read our hats that say pet sitter. And she knows in the back of her mind that she has a pet sitter. So it doesn't matter. We have hats and shirts that say that context, right? Super important. That was something we have to check with everybody. Hey, are you okay? Going into this where this person will never know who you are? Yeah. Another one, we have a gentleman who has some mobility issues. And every now and then he needs help putting on his shoes. Right? That's, that's something I'm comfortable with. But some of our other staff, you know, they're not or they wouldn't want to do that. So that's digital discussions. Now, all of a sudden, we I, we, the company has to think about and that's that's so weird for me to think about. The company has to make this decision. What is the what is the company able to do? And that's not a oh, we're the weakest link makes us unable to do so. It's not about that. It's about comfortability, and safety and enjoyment of everybody at the end of the day.
Cassidy 10:59
Now, there's such a reality to when it's a we're in home care, you know, we are going into people's homes, this isn't a facility you're bringing your dog to. And there's a different element that is like, well, we're not just, I mean, with our overnights or being in the house, like, I'll take the trash cans and I'll bring the packages in. I'm there. We have a lot of thievery in our town with packages. So I'm going to bring that in the middle of the day. But you do start to think about those little things of like, we have people at the house as well. Sometimes I'm like, Are you uncomfortable being in the same house? Well, and owners watching you grab the dog and go on a walk? And then mom, like, are you comfortable with that? Because it can feel a little weird at first, we have never done it in this, you know, layout before. So you really do start just like shifting in your mind of like, fine, fine, but are you fine. And so I'm constantly asking like, this client just asked me to do something or we just recently had a dog who went through surgery, and now he's got some new medication that he's on. And I'm like, Well, are you even comfortable doing that? Do I need to take these over? What level? Are you good at? If I'm just like constantly?
Collin 12:10
Are you good? Are we? Okay? Well, I know I and many people may view may or may may think of that, but not want to be that open or vulnerable for fear of not being respected or looked up to or things like that. Do you ever? Do you ever question that mindset or kind of how you're processing that?
Cassidy 12:30
As far as her respecting? Yeah, and Stoss to employee relationship? Yeah. I mean, I don't ever, like I still feel like the boss. Ultimately, I'm making the decision at the end of the day. But I think there is such a value in the employee having a little power in their life and their workspace and what they're doing in a day. And in this job, too. I'm not by her side, all day long, like she's doing these things by herself. And so there is a piece of it of like, she needs, there's autonomy in that. And she should have some say in what her day looks like and what she's comfortable doing. And we are caretakers, I don't want you giving a dog meds, if you're not comfortable giving a dog meds, I don't want that for anyone involved. Or I don't want you doing something because that just creates a more difficult relationship with clients with everyone involved. So I very much feel like she still respects me in that. And I feel like she feels like she has more say and she can bring stuff up to me if there is an issue and she can talk about the hard conversations. Because she's not she knows I'm not going to come at her with judgment and say, well, you're out just because you think this that or the other No, we can sit down and we can talk about it, we can have an open discussion. But at the end of the day, I am the one making the decision, because I also see the bigger picture. You're just doing services. I'm in the background, doing marketing, doing, you know, making sure policies meet the requirements they need to meet, I'm talking to the clients every day and seeing what they need. I'm seeing the schedule and making it so like we have that background view. But what you don't want either is to get so far from the day to day procedures, that the things you're implementing have no use at all.
Collin 14:26
Exactly. Yes. And that that can be that's a definite concern of ours as we kind of do less and less in the field. Because I don't I don't want to write a policy, write a procedure put a new training thing into place and not have not have lived it. Right. And that's that's another aspect of this as well. And so that that's about feedback. And then I think that respect and those boundaries are still maintained when you ask for feedback from people because they actually end up respecting you more, and I've had several staff come to us it's so weird because we hire employees You haven't you have an employee? Right? And, and but yet we still treat them a lot like independent contractors because we, we ask them is that are you okay with this? Does this work with your schedule? Are you fine with this, which, which I think is healthy. And I've had many staff members who have come to me and said, I've never had a job like this where somebody took this to be so serious, like the one of our staff members who was experiencing a little bit of burnout early on, and I said, Okay, that's fine. I'll take this over. She, she actually came to me later and said, I thought you were going to fire me. And I thought, I thought there was something else that you weren't telling the truth, when you said it was fine that I cut back on hours. Because in her other jobs, she would, she would ask for help. And they would just completely ignore it. Or they'd say, You know what, that doesn't meet our standards, you don't work with us anymore. Yeah. And it really made me really sad that it was a reminder that not just we talked about our experiences that our clients have, and what the expectations they bring into our company and what their past experiences with Petcare are, when we bring on staff, they have past experiences, with jobs, with bosses with work environments that they bring into this. And we have to be hyper aware of the things we say how we act, and how they're going to perceive things that we do. Because in this situation, she really thought that when I said, Okay, that's fine, let's cut back and then we're gonna schedule a meeting in two weeks and see how it's going. She thought that that two week was the you're fired. I was like, I was like, Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry. I had like, it wasn't even on my brain. I was just going, I want to get a date on here. So we this doesn't, you know, so we can keep touching base more, because I feel like we need that right now. But I didn't. I just said we're gonna have another meeting in two weeks. And she was like, oh, gosh, that's it. But that's my two weeks. I was like, oh, so all of a sudden, this, you said like we're reviewing the bigger picture of the of the company. But we're also going to take a bigger picture of, of the staff that we have and the people that we're caring for because and to making sure we're being we're being human and we are treating them as humans and people as well.
Cassidy 17:05
Yeah. And I think it just it provides more space for them to get their energy back. Like you're saying she experienced burnout. And this job can burn you out, especially if you are so like, physically active dog walking is a huge part of what we do. And that's that can just be tiresome, and being a caretaker in general is tired. Yeah, no, no, but you're taking it all in and I that's, that's heartbreaking that she felt like she was gonna get fired. And I know on my side in those positions, I'm like, I love having you here having the help is so welcome to me. And I after doing it for so long by yourself to have another set of hands and to be able to be like, can you take this service? Is such a relief, I don't want you to leave like how do we make this work? Don't leave?
Collin 17:57
Exactly what I said was like, oh, no, no, no, no. You're incredibly valuable. i We're so happy you're here, the everybody loves, you know, you're doing really well with the clients were super happy with your with the level of care. And we want you to be able to continue doing that in whatever capacity. So I'm totally fine. If you need to cut back for now and you want to expand later, we'll have that conversation again. And just giving them that space, I think it's really is really important and trying to be as as flexible as possible to those needs. And, and just being realistic with them too is something that I've I've had to be more like we'd start off talking about, like, just being honest about where you are with your decision making, how the process is coming along, what you're doing to keep them busy, where you're struggling with where you need feedback, all of that just Garner's a lot more communication and interaction that's only going to make you better in the end.
Cassidy 18:52
Oh, yeah. And that was a huge topic between me and my employee was transparency. You know, and not you don't have to tell me everything going on in your life. But when I start to see like, I do see that burnout, I see something's going on, let me know because if I don't know I can't help you. I can't take the service. I can't figure out what works best for you. And I ended up actually having a conversation you know, I was going through some things in life that were pulling me in so many new directions that I was losing focus in the employee direction and I was like, I'm really sorry, I haven't I need to be transparent in this moment with you. I've got stuff going on. I don't mean I'm still here for you don't worry about that. I'm still here you call I will answer and I'm sorry if you have noticed any like pullback on communication, I don't mean it at all. But if I'm asking you to be transparent with me when things are you know, a little rocky life happens, life happens for every single one of us regardless of your boss, employee, client. Life's always gonna come. So if we can have that level of I'm going through something right now, I don't mean to put you out or anything like that I'm here to communicate, I promise, you can tell me the same thing that can create a team even more. So it's like, okay, I see where you're coming from, how do we work with each other to continue?
Collin 20:15
Yeah, and that's part of where that management and almost mentorship comes in. Because something else that I've been realizing as we hire, we, we really want I don't for us, we're like, we really want task oriented, detailed people like that's what we want. Because we know, the visits, there's a lot to keep track of, you know, you know, you know what that leads to, that leads to that leads to mental burnout and fatigue, when you're going test test, test, test, test, test, test, test, test, check, check, check, check, check, check all day long, for eight hours straight. So now all of a sudden, it's like, oh, I have to help these, I have to help my Pete my team manage that. And give them some good tools, equip them for how to decompress because I worry about myself decompressing. And I trained them perfectly on how to walk a dog, I need to I need to handle I need to help train them on how to decompress, and not and, and manage the task switching the details throughout the day to help them with that, because that's equally as important if not more so in a lot of cases than the actual how to scoop litter box how to insulin like those are, those are tasks and jobs that need to get done. But they can't be we can't forget the context with which they're being done as if we have got a stressed out burned out, really, you know, mentally exhausted employee trying to give insulin, that's recipe for disaster.
Cassidy 21:37
That's not gonna go well for anybody. And at the end of the day, there's, you know, scooping the litter box doing the dog walking. These are simpler things to teach, especially if you are an employee or a person who has experience with animals, you're coming into this with a background already, you probably have a foundation in that. So what does it look like big picture, okay, I can teach you how to do all these things. But what is the in between look like? What is the tired days look like? And how do we manage all of that? Because you can scoop a litter box, I trust that you can figure that one?
Collin 22:16
Yeah, well, then it's other things too. If the other night, I was getting ready to go into a walk. And I was like, Oh, I worry about things like plantar fasciitis for myself, I need to be worried about that for my team as well. So I jumped on loom and I recorded a video of like, Hey, here's three things you can do to help your feet stay healthy. Right, and I and I sat and I sent that out to them. Because I if if they don't have that information, I'm going to start getting calls of hey, I can't come in today, because I've got really bad pain in my foot, I can't do that full walk. I'm not having fun doing this anymore. Because I'm in pain. I don't I don't want that for anybody. I want them to be able to enjoy this. So hey, go out, buy a tennis ball, do these stretches get make sure you have these kind of here's a link for some shoes that you know, everybody really likes. I'm learning that I'm trying to equip and make a holistic approach to this of really nurturing what it means to be a team member, not just show up and do the checklist because I don't want that at the end of the day.
Cassidy 23:19
The foot things are great one I just said that to me. And I was like great, like tip and like health wise and making I get stuck on like the mental portion of it all make sure you're taking a break and realize, you know, go of law, but just the physical health and the toll it can take. I know I think about that internally. But it's like, oh, you have to say things out loud. You have to say stuff out loud. Other people won't hear you. If you don't say
Collin 23:48
no. Which is a different, which is a whole mindset shift going from a solo to adding people around you, right. And sometimes it's just adding a CPA or sometimes it's adding you know, a virtual assistant or some anytime you bring somebody in your orbit, you have to become more communicative, whether that's written, whether that's phone calls, whatever that looks like that that becomes a necessity as part of that decision. And we make a lot of we we move a lot of decisions. We go, oh, this is the goal that I want. But sometimes we forget things that we have to do because of that. I want staff Okay, well, you have to talk more. You have to if you're not, if you're not comfortable doing that, right, we're gonna there gonna be some issues that come up. So making some really encapsulating and trying to think through everything that now you're required to do because I know a lot of us think of things like, Oh, well, I'm required to do different taxes or I'm required to do all of the there's all the paper pushing stuff that I feel not all my obligations, but then there's the managerial side and coaching side of this that that comes along with them. And that part's
Cassidy 24:55
the more important part and not something that everyone is ready for or thinks about, because at the end of the day, the taxes, the paper pushing, they have so many systems to help you with that. And to walk you through that and automate it for you, you know, like you can get that taken care of. But if you don't know how to sit down and have the communication or even the hard conversations and being able to sit down and go, we really need to talk about how this looks right now and what we need to do moving forward. And if something does go wrong, how do we handle that? If something happens on service, you know, this is how it now meat needs to be handled, you know, and like being able to sit down and have a harder conversation. Because if you can't have that piece either, like we can learn to communicate the technical things. But if something happens and goes wrong, what how are you having a hard conversation in a way that is productive?
Collin 25:53
Have you heard of time to pet Claire from acted and Critter sitters has this to say,
25:59
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 26:16
If you are looking for new petsitting software, give time to a try. Listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to bet.com/confessional. Is that easy? For you? I know some people enjoy tough conversations. Other people, like myself are very much more like, oh, what can I do to not let this happen? Can I not have it? I'd rather not.
Cassidy 26:41
I think this version of myself has a lot easier time with it. Can I say that I could do this years ago when I first started? No, no, I was not in a place to be able to have a productive hard conversation. Now I think over the years, I've gained a lot of tools personally as well as professionally. And I chose a really good first staff members I start with, I took a very long time to cross the bridge between me doing this job and my baby business and all the clients that I loved, and then relinquishing that to someone else and saying, Okay, now you can come in and tell me things that I may be wrong about or whatever that next step is, but I know it's where I want to go. So I have to do that. And it took me a while to feel comfortable enough to find the right person to feel comfortable enough to make that step with. And when I found her, it was just like, Yes, this is the person I have been kind of searching for. She has those characteristics, those task oriented things, she loves animals, she, you know, wants to see a career in this field. And I don't feel like petsitting is often seen as an option in this field to make a career out of and make a life off of. And so I think finding the right person who I've continued to have good hard conversation with gave me it gave me real time experience to say, oh, I can have the hard conversation and she can hear it. And we can move forward and make the necessary adjustments. But I definitely don't think that would have happened three years ago. That happens today with this destiny.
Collin 28:25
Yeah, well, and that's that's a reminder to that, I think about the kind of visits that Megan and I take on now compared to what we did 10 years ago. And just the level of complexity, skill required to take on some visits. So we can say yes to now that we weren't able to back then. Same thing with our staff members. When we first hired we were very, very, very particular about the kinds of people that we hired and not saying that we aren't today. But we've learned so much over the course of hiring and people leaving and doing rotations and things like that, that who I'm able to hire and train up today. It's very different than the kind of person that could have hired and even six months ago, going okay, I've I've learned so much of how to do so. So going in that's different for everybody, right? Like you're kind of ready when you're ready. And you just you just keep learning and stay active in that process.
Cassidy 29:23
Yeah, yeah. And like you just said it changes over time and that's experience that's getting the experience of real time action of doing the thing in a way that you feel safest and then that safe box kind of opens and opens and opens with the more experience you get. So you can start like thinking outside that box that you originally started with when you hire someone and you can kind of like okay, okay, now I can pull in someone who may be is sees things differently than I do where this person like I that flows and changes.
Collin 29:56
Yeah, well and I know for your your in your company. You, you, you say that you offer custom services? And what I'm what I'm interested about that is how do you maintain that that custom aspect while also now bringing on staff? And how do you how do you stay consistent with with multiple people coming and going through through the services?
Cassidy 30:19
Will right now because it is one staff member, it is easier to manage. And a lot of my training is very, like hands on real time I go with her, I show her the individual house before she's ever in a house by herself. And we go through what that specific house were, you know, requires, and the custom aspects, not just what's happening inside the services, but it's how people can create what their family needs, what their house needs. So whether it's, you know, in complete overnight with someone at the house, or you're just doing a system of dropins, for a set of days that you're gone, like whatever that looks like for you and your family, you can customize to make that fit, and we work with them to make that happen. And then within the services, really it was just about giving her tools and tools and tools. And we have I mean, like I'm sure you've experienced so many pets that are experience, you have such a range of animals that you work with low energy to high energy, and really putting Castillo's custom Pet Services, and it was just me showing the clients, we're going to look at you the house and the animal, I'm not taking what works for this house and making it work for your house, I'm not going to do what I do for a senior dog and do it on the puppy. That's not what's gonna happen. And we're going to integrate enrichment, we're going to integrate the things that they need and the games that we play. And if it's raining outside, we've got games to play inside, we've got things to work with your specific house, and what you need and the support your family needs. To make that service, the most supportive and satisfying for the animal that it can be just
Collin 32:03
showcasing the range of options, I think is really important not just for not just for myself or the client, but if you have staff helping them. That's where, again, this education comes in of talking through like, Hey, you may experience XYZ, here's how we would approach all of those. It's this continual education aspect, because you can't always experience all the possible range of visits in the shadowing period, or whatever that looks like for you. So just always having that conversation. And committing to that communicating that to clients I found it can be can be hard to try to capsulate all of the possible options in a succinct manner without just doing complete overload. So I know for us well, I tend to hit some of the basics and things that we always do. But I tend to feel like sometimes when I do that the clients don't always get what's possible. So do you run into that? Or how do you have those conversations or market, the customization ability that you have to talk to potential clients?
Cassidy 33:02
I think that part comes in when we get to the actual meet and greet, and the actual, you know, face to face conversations over the phone conversations when we first start the process of getting to know each other going on the meet and greet seeing if that fit works. And sitting down and going this is what the basics of any service is gonna look like when we arrive, we do XY and Z. And then I look at what the family is saying to me, I have you know, I have the meet and greet form that they fill out before I even show up at the door that outlines the specific questions I'm looking to have answered. So when I walk in, and they start to fill in the gaps between those questions, I can specifically talk to them about what a session looks like. So we have the basics of when I show up when I leave, this is what's happening. And then I look and at that meet and greet and listen to what they're specifically saying to me and I go, Okay, well, this is what I would do with your dog, your high energy dog, you've got an hour walk that you want to set up, okay, we're gonna do 45 minutes of actual walking, we're gonna come back and we're gonna play games, because she's very intelligent, she needs that mental exercise in addition to the physical walking. So that would be what a session with me looks like. And I just get very specific with that house to house thing. I'm not going to go to the next house with a senior dog who's barely moving and give them that spiel, you know, that care is very different. So okay, I see that your dog is his senior dog. She's getting older, she's really not moving a lot. I still want to get blood flowing in those joints and you know, kind of still have that interaction. So this is what I'm going to do for her. It just really becomes about paying attention to the person sitting in front of you looking at the animal sitting in front of you and getting specific in that house, which is the wonderful ability we have with in home care. I don't have to tell you what they're doing what they're doing what they're doing, though. can be helpful sometimes. And I'll say, you know, I have a similar house, this is what we do for that, would you be interested in that
Collin 35:06
continuing to learn and for us just to take in new information about possibilities, new ways of operating and new events or games or things like that, so that we have those options. So we can look at our list and go, Okay, you're saying XYZ I see, okay, this, this kind of thing may fit for you. And really, you mentioned several times, really listening to that person. written instructions, or checkboxes on an intake form can only tell you so much. I have really found that especially around things like dogs who we have questions about as your does your pet bolt. Right. Okay, so that people have different versions of what bolting looks like. And you really, and it's just a yes or no question, right? And so now I get to have them. Okay, I noticed on the form, you said that they bolt tell me more about that, then you can really start to see is this something that they're really concerned about? Maybe it's not that big of a deal, but it happened one time, 10 years ago, when the dog was new to the house, okay, that's something different than this is a chronic issue, or they have a lawn company that continually leaves the gate open at the back. And so over the course of the mean, greet, they're continuing to refer back to the gate. And we don't forget about the gate, don't forget about the gate, don't really, okay, I'm going to make some notes there. So that I know in my updates, I'm always going to say, check the gate gate was shot. So that now that because that's something they're concerned about, and I can alleviate that concern by just saying, gate was shot when I was over period. It sounds real simple. But if you're not listening to the intonation, the repetitiveness of nature, somehow people keep circling back to the thing that they're concerned about. It's like, okay, like that. But that takes some time, and really being present in the moment and not being distracted by everything else going on, which, which can be really hard.
Cassidy 36:47
Mm hmm. And there's always room for off days. And, you know, like, life happens, and in this in any job in any business, but you just, I think you learn over time you learn how to, to kind of turn the volume down on some things, and really focus it. But that's such a good point on listen to the repetition. Even during the course of your relationship, you're hired on maybe this thing wasn't even mentioned. But all of a sudden, you're on service, which happens. But maybe you're on the service. And you notice that every time you're confirming something or whatever it is, they're constantly telling you, hey, please don't forget to do this, XY or Z, don't forget to lock the thing. Don't forget to take this collar off. Don't forget to put this back on. And they're always telling you that so you just you always and that just leads to building trust, that just leads to building so much trust and relationship, because eventually I find those questions do go away. When they know over and over again, without them having to say I'm still putting it in the update. I'm still putting it in there. Don't worry, it's happening, I will manage.
Collin 37:52
And that's the important part of I know many centers can get frustrated. They're like, Oh, they keep telling me to do this, I always do it. Well, did you? Did you tell them that you did it? Did you'd have a photo of you doing Did you? There are some ways where you can start prompting and alleviating this before those questions come now, it doesn't work every time? Absolutely not. We still have clients who say did you wipe their feet and there's a photo of me like literally wiping the feet. And it's the same thing every time. But it's fine. But you it is one mechanism that we have an ability that we have to start alleviating those fears or concerns or stressors. And a lot of times those are driven by the fact that the client isn't there to do it. It's nothing personal against you. It's just they are so used to doing it themselves, that it is actually they feel really vulnerable and powerless in those situations. Because they can't do that they can't be the one that always remembers because that's their responsibility. So again, it's we can't take always take it too, personally, because it's just something that they're fixated on, because they they feel powerless about that. And and we have to take that into consideration when we're dealing with a lot of those kinds of clients.
Cassidy 38:58
No, it's very true. They're not there to do the thing that they're so accustomed to doing. And there's also an element of I sit in front of so many clients who had a really bad experience with a pet sitter, who didn't not just do the basics of wiping the paws, but completely ignored. Their dog didn't come when they said they were going to come didn't feed them for days. And just really like that leaves a bad taste in people's mouths. So when they finally step into trying that pet sitting again, they're scared they're nervous. They don't know if you're going to be who you say you're going to be and you can't show them until you get hired and actually do the job because I can talk the talk or like all I want in the meet. No I can. I can show you I can tell you what I'm going to do. But you're not going to know until the day you're gone and I show up. That's and this job only happens when you're not really able to do it yourself or their present to do
Collin 39:54
it yourself. Yeah, it's a reminder that it really is a show and tell kind of service of They're not going to maybe will will not believe you until you do it. And so that's, that's on us to do. And I tell a lot of our staff to all of our staff, the individual tasks that we do aren't necessarily rocket science, the hard, the hard part comes in doing them excellent every time, the hard part is in the perfect execution of these every single day. That's where this gets difficult and tricky. And that's why we go through all of our processes that we have. And that's where we start convincing, and bringing clients kind of in converting them over into going, realizing what's possible is how we execute what they've asked us to do.
Cassidy 40:39
Yeah, that's a great way to put it. And it's something I think about all the time know, what I'm doing is not rocket science, a lot of people could probably manage the basic tasks of what I'm doing. But to do it consistently at a high level, over weeks, months, years, even I've, you know, you have clients for I had one of my I've had one of my clients since before I actually became a business, you know, and I in to consistently give her the same thing. And I would also add on top of that, when I do fall short, or I do make a mistake, being transparent with my clients and showing up consistently there so that they know, even if I fall short on something I'm going to do, I'm going to keep that communication alive, I'm not going to hide it from them, I'm not going to be like little shuffling in the darkness and trying to fake something. I'm just I'm going to show up. And I'm going to tell you, this is what happened today. I don't you know, X, Y or Z, explain it out and move forward and fix it in whatever way you can. But it's showing up consistently,
Collin 41:46
well, and that takes being extremely vulnerable, as a private a personal level find nobody admitting and talking about your weaknesses, especially to somebody who's paying you to do that is it's one of possibly the worst feelings I've ever had I ever have, whenever I have to admit to a client that they paid me to do something and I failed at it. And but in that failure, and I will say this, when you fail, because it's a failure mistake oversight, however, you want to phrase that when you don't meet that client's expectations and you own up to that. Nine out of 10 times, if not 10 out of 10 times that will cement in the clients mind that you're you're worth keeping around. Because we had a plan because we owned up to it. We didn't try and hide it like you said or cower away from it or just hope they didn't find out. We were able to bring that to them. And they went okay. These are people who we can work with because we're learning and we developed a better system with them of labeling and positioning and help make it more workable for us to
Cassidy 42:46
No, it's It's so true, just showing up with a plan. And I mean, I've recently also had an incident where I definitely it was fixed I had to do right away, and I was talking to the client the whole entire time, and we're coming up with a better plan, and making sure we're ensuring these different mechanisms in place. So it didn't happen again. But I was I after that conversation I was I had no clue. I have no clue. If she's coming back, I have absolutely no idea. And it would be heartbreaking because I love them. And it would have been, you know on us. And you know, about a month later, she ended up booking us again. And it was just like a sigh of relief. Like it was enough like we showed up. And we were honest about what happened. And we came up with a plan. And that's the real portion of it. Because the reality to what you were saying too, is we don't learn from being great all the time. And that's human nature, we do not learn from being 100% on it every single day. We learn from mistakes, we create better things, when we can be honest about those mistakes and move forward from them and go how do we not do this again. And we wouldn't have known that that was a thing we need to do better on if we didn't mess it up. It's a reality.
Collin 44:05
It works until it doesn't right. And then it breaks. And that does mean that we have to have some space and time and our days to reflect and learn on that and learn from those things that happen. Which which is difficult in this job because we're always on there's always something more there's always stress and we operate pretty much at 100%. And then a mistake happens. Where do we go from that? Right? There's no way to be better at learning from our mistakes we see here that a lot learn from our mistakes. Well, that does start with step zero, creating just 1% of space in your life so that you have some sort of capacity and mental bandwidth to now process what happened and is going on so that you can learn from it. That's kind of a fundamental aspect of that because if you don't, you won't have that space that creativity which is really what that is thinking outside the box right. This is how I operated for five years. A mistake happened if I don't have the mental bandwidth because I'm so piled on with everything. I won't be able to think of anything different or bringing in new information to help me. So I've got to have that space in my life.
Cassidy 45:11
Oh, yeah. And it can, it's a difficult thing to because that when the ego can kick in a little bit of like, five years, and I am wrong. No. That can be a hard thing to come up against. And so it is a learned practice to step back and go, it doesn't mean I'm wrong as a human, it means I made a mistake, and I need to take the thing I was doing and improve on it, or just realize the factors in it. I made a small mistake the other day that like I just never make but I was coming off of like a three weeks overnight, I was exhausted and burnt out. I had been working for 20 days straight there either at that high level and coming off of it. It's yeah, I made a mistake because I went too hard for too long. And I didn't take a breather. I didn't take a minute and that's on me for not recognizing that these small things can happen when I don't take a second.
Collin 46:11
Yeah, against that content context. Everything is happening in including my context, my mental ability, my mental fatigue, how aware I am what I just finished doing versus what I'm walking into all of that we have to be self aware enough to recognize, oh, I'm I know for me going okay, I fade off pretty quickly at night. So doing 10pm visits, not my favorite thing in the world. But I know that about me so that when I'm at that 10pm visit, I go a little slower. I take my time I'm triple check everything I'm putting in more things so that I don't literally fall asleep on the job. Sometimes I kind of have these things. And if you have staff helping them in that process as well. Hey, I know you said you were a morning person. That's amazing. If you do these evening or late night visits, make sure you're taking a little bit of extra time or maybe your late night person we have several night owls going okay if I if I do if you do get put on a morning if that's something you want to do. Set seven alarms Please wake up. Our friends at Pet perennials already make it easy for you to send sympathy milestone gifts. But did you know that they are designing a new line of car air fresheners with long lasting scents, adorable designs and clever expressions, these make the perfect client gifts. The positively fresh car air fresheners are always releasing brand new designs, one you have to check out is the hyper exotic air freshener. Let me say it's a horse with a guitar in upset order a whole case of your favorite design for dollar 95. A hanger or pet perennials can send it as a gift package, the handwritten card and gift wrap for 1275, which does include shipping, check them out at Pet perennials.com and register for that free business gift service account, unlock the all inclusive discounted gift package pricing and access the wholesale catalog. Remember, you only pay when you ordered. One thing I noticed on your website is you have this language. And that says if we have decided to move forward with one another talking about after the meet and greet that that's it, it's really caught me by surprise because it really forms that this is a two way decision. And very few pet sitters, I feel like feel like they have that option to to decide to move forward or not. So how did you develop that mindset that this needs to be a decision that works for both of us.
Cassidy 48:38
It was from the get one of the most important things that I realized, because I doing this job for the most part means being alone in someone's home. It means that from the get we have to have a level of trust and respect for each other to even endeavor on this partnership together. And so I wanted it to feel like a partnership from the beginning us choosing that this is the right fit. And there's a reality sometimes that I am not the person for the job. And I had a client and it doesn't. Honestly it doesn't happen a bunch. But I always want to leave space for if you don't feel comfortable with me it is okay. I am not here to pressure you into something that isn't going to work for you or your family or you're not ready to step into and at the same time. I'm not going to show up and be in someone's space especially because we do do overnights We sleep in people's homes, and we live in people's homes essentially, that takes a level of comfortability that can be very odd for people to experience especially if it's their first time doing it. Whether it be me an employee or a client, we want to make sure everyone is in on That partnership and I did have someone asked me, why did you not take on our job, and I just had to be very point blank. And say, it's my job to know what I offer, and to know what my business is. And to look at a situation with honesty and transparency and know that I'm not the right fit for what you're asking me to do. And I was not the right fit for that job. There are other people who are in this community who are the right fit, and I'm not it, you'd be better matched with them, and you're gonna have a better experience if you go with them. And that's, and if it was with me, it would not be it wouldn't be good for me, it wouldn't be good for them. And I have enough experience in this job to evaluate that decision. And so it just it became a real foundational thing. And it really became important when I hired an employee, because I never wanted them to walk into a house they were not comfortable in. I never wanted them to interact with a person that they didn't have a just an amount of comfortability with or sleep in a house or whatever the thing is, that they couldn't do, or were just like, see, like, just so not okay with. And so when we can make it a mutual decision between us and the clients, and be honest about that from the beginning. Because it even goes into the meet and greet. I never, I always tell potential clients in the meet and greet. I don't You don't have to make a decision right now. I'm okay, moving forward, you don't have to make a decision right? Now it can be super uncomfortable to be sitting in front of the person selling things. And like you don't know what to say or do and you want to talk to your spouse about it more. Maybe it's just one person and they have to go talk to their husband about it, or their wife about it. Or they just want to not have me in the room while they discuss it. That's a totally valid answer. Right now you guys can go and not have me here and text me later with your answer. Even if that answer's no, there's no pressure.
Collin 52:06
That's so important on both sides. And I think as a business owner, not being not having a scarcity mindset that I have to take everything that comes across my plate just because it's on my plate. In that if you're if you're on it, you have to be honest with yourself things that you're comfortable with and capable of doing that you really need to be careful because that's where bad things happen. That's where injuries occur. That's where accidents take place. Because we are out of our comfort zone. And when we're operating out of our comfort zone. While that is a period of growing, if it's too far out of our comfort zone, we're it's not going to go well, right, nobody's going to be happy with that. And you can have some serious implications. On the backside of that, you know, whether it's, oh, I've got seven cats, and these are the medical regimes for all of them. And if you, if you, if you struggle with putting together plans for keeping all that information and data organized, that's probably not a good visit to take on. Or if there's a certain kind of animal or if it's certain kind of house or neighborhood or whatever that looks like we're like, you know what, I, this doesn't fit with my service area, and I can't reliably get over here. That's not something I can take on. I don't want to commit not just myself, but now like company to that. That's, that's, that's a lot of agency and control that we have as a business owner. And then to give that courtesy back to the client, because it is awkward to be like, Well, I have everything I need. What's your decision, and stare at them while you're sitting on the couch? You know, just Okay. Yesterday, I did that yesterday where I did the meet and greet. And I said, Okay, well, I do have everything I need. I know you need to talk it over with your spouse, just call me if you have any questions, and then we can move forward if you want to. And said goodbye. And that's that's all it has to be. And just, you know giving that space because that allows both people to think it over. Because I know in the moment, a lot of times my gut reaction is yeah, we'll take this Yeah, we'll take the I will do. If I have five minutes in the car to think about it and go, You know what, actually, that's not something we can do. I've had that happen before it had been like, Okay, well, I'll go ahead and let them know, after reviewing your information, this isn't going to be the best fit, but here's some people that I think you should call and get connected with. That is so powerful to give to them.
Cassidy 54:22
Yeah. And that's and that's some of the mechanisms we've put in place of like I do have ones where I'm like, Oh, I'm good to go on this. I'm totally good to go. I know I'll be fine with this. And then I have ones where if I have any question in my mind about a service like I have lines in my head that I can say and go okay, great. Like I you know, we I'm gonna go look over our schedule, we're gonna look over the information and then get back to you blah blah, blah, whatever that line is that feels comfortable for you having that in place so you can give yourself five minutes because even to say no right away or Yes, right away when there's just a question for you. Just give yourself space. And I'm definitely a person like, I gotta I can't be in front making decisions. I can't be no one can be watching me while I make a choice or I'm going to be like, what have you don't stop. And so giving yourself just a line that at least gives you the 10 to 20 minute, five minute drive home to think in your head, is this the right fit? Does this work for me, and then come to that conclusion. But I also wanted to say like, you talked about a scarcity mindset as a business owner. And I think that was part of the thing is the thing that comes with making those choices and giving yourself the autonomy to do that, and your clients need autonomy to do that. We're not just trying to get a drop in for one visit, we're not just trying to get one day's worth of work, we're trying to create a relationship that lasts years, we're trying to create clientele that comes back month after month, after month after year. And that doesn't happen if you're doing it just out of fear of not getting the next thing. Because I mean, in my experience, nine times out of 10, when I've said no to someone, I have been able to leave that space open that they would have taken up and the mental capacity, it would have taken up to then lead in to clients that ended up being amazing. And I have now been with for years. So you have to, it's hard to say especially when you're starting out, and you're just like, there's a need to get my name out, there's need to do this stuff, and try and try and try, there is that level of it. But if you can do it from the start and just really make it a focus of what your goal is and what family that you're providing for like that you can provide for them what that looks like. And it may change over time. But if you can keep that in mind and and just stick to your guns a little bit, it will create a clientele that you just adore and love, which is what we have.
Collin 56:53
Yeah. And remembering that it is we are building that relationship with that we view this as a partnership, while they may have hired me to help them I'm not just the hired help, right? This is so much more than that on both sides of that equation. And that starting from the very beginning and building those muscles building that ability to say no, because that can be some of the most freeing aspects because I think many times we get into those that scarcity mindset, and we say yes to things that we regret after about that third visit, right? We've got that week, that week ahead of us where we're like, oh, I Oh, no. We've all we've all done that I know, I guess we all do that. That's an unknowing. Okay, that's, that's, I've learned another thing that I need to say no to. Because sometimes the best thing you do to do for your business and yourself personally is to say no. And before you even get into those situations, and sometimes it's when you're in the situation, I literally can't this is not the I have to say no call the emergency contact, this is not working for us. And to give yourself that ability in that space to back out and decline. That is always an option. And too often we forget that it actually is that time here I've wasted my I've wasted my time I'm here in front of you, you filled out the form. So let's go it's a sunk cost fallacy, right of going well, we're already this far. Why as we'll keep going? No. We can always always say no. Yeah,
Cassidy 58:18
you definitely can. It's it's an interesting thing, because you aren't the hired help. And but if you get in that mindset, I think that that can also be what leads to I have to say, Yes, I'm fired up, I have to say yes. And I, I think it's awesome. It's been the most beautiful part of this job that I never saw coming was the relationships I have with the families. And the reality of what it is to take care of these animals that are so important to the owners, and to be a part of that process in to integrate yourself into those families is I don't interact with a lot of my families. They still feel very like person to person. Everything's generally over messaging. You know, we occasionally see them in person, but I still feel very integrated into their family. I had one, one of our clients, I was doing it overnight. And she texted and said, Oh, such and such as in your room. Oh, my goodness. It was so beautiful. I loved it so much. I was like, wow, I didn't see that coming. But like you get integrated into people's lives in a way that you don't realize. And if you can see the beauty in that too. I think that changes the relationships. You know, I've recently had now this is my third client who's pregnant, but one of them just had a newborn and part of her services was in light that she had a newborn, and she needed help with the dog because she also had a two year old and she had all this stuff that was going on. She's like, I can't walk the dog right now. I just need help, like, I need help. And that was informed by the fact that she just had a baby. That's a real life thing that's happening, that you are now walking in and supporting them with. And so, and we work a lot with young families who are starting their own, you know, having children starting their own families, as well as having teenagers graduating, whatever that thing is. And that those are real life changes that people go through. And that's what's informing them even hiring you in the first place. And so to be a part of it, and really see that whole picture has just been a really beautiful side of having this job.
Collin 1:00:29
Yeah, you're you're allowing them to have that aspect of their life, right with guilt, guilt free and stress free as much as they as much as they can let go. Yeah, exactly. We've we've we've done visits for parents who are taking their their daughter off to college. And that's a very emotional time for them and is very apparent. And they have a little bit more relief, because we're showing up that, like you said, that has informed their decision to start walking down that road of needing pet care. And we can't always know why they're contacting us. But we do have to recognize that there is a reason they're contacting us, it's not because they want to make our lives miserable, or that you know, anything like that. They have, they have a need. And it's up to us to decide, is that a need, I can fill it this time. It's all
Cassidy 1:01:15
given take, it's all partnership. It's just such a beautiful part of of this, if you can really dive into that aspect and create partnerships that you're invested in and having people tell you, I even we had one client the first time she hired us, she messaged us at the end and just was like, I'm so grateful, I did not have to worry about my dogs because I'm just got proposed to like I'm engaged. And that's why we had this weekend. And I never once thought about whether or not my dogs were okay. Or even getting the simple text of I remember, I was working with an aggressive dog, who they couldn't find someone who was willing to work with him and willing to do overnights with him because he couldn't go to any sort of kennel or anything like that. He just had a rough life. And I remember waking up to a text the next day have like, I didn't even think about whether or not he was okay, this time. I've never not woken up in another place and been worried about whether or not he's okay, or if something's gone wrong. And today, I didn't It's been a full two hours I've been awake and I just am now texting you. And it's like that's a beautiful thing to be a part of. And to give someone relief about.
Collin 1:02:28
Yeah, and refocusing on on our why and our business and right. Those are the things that can help motivate us and not getting too hung up on them. And again, feeling obligated, okay, well, now we have an emotional connection here. So I always have to do what they asked me to keep still keeping that autonomy, I am a business and I do have boundaries. That's really important. And but going, this is something I get to do. And that that little shift between I have to versus I get to is something that can really start freeing us. And when you start looking at that language of going, how do you view those visits? How do you view those clients? Is it something you have to do, you get to do you want to do and another thing, how you would describe that action and do it for each individual thing. And that can help guide us a little bit on where we want to cut off or remove or enhance move forward? As as we view what what is what am I thinking about this when I'm walking into that? Because we all have those visits are going again, or I don't, okay, okay. When it starts feeling like I have to, versus I get to, that's a really good cue in my life to at least back, take one step back. And okay, let's see what's going on here.
Cassidy 1:03:34
Now, that's a really good point, it really puts in perspective, what you're doing what you want to do, what relationship has value. And I found that yes, I'm still in autonomous business who gets to say no to things and it's to not be feeling obligated to a person just because we have an emotional connection or a relationship or I do have that I want to do it. I would say though, when you have a partnership mindset, all of my clients deeply respect the fact that I am a person with a business and then I'm running a business and they all respect that to the point where they're like I get it I get that this is a last minute asked I get that this is xy and z. And if you have to say no, that's completely okay thing I just thought I'd ask so they always respect that portion of my life and what it means to do overnights and I put my life on hold to essentially go and live at your house. And so what does that look like? And can I take that on? Because of I think that mindset I have of if we decide to move forward together, we're making this partnership we're working together, we're coming in on it together. They have always had respect for me as a business and if they don't, I can usually tell right from the get if they don't I can tell in the meet and greet if they do not respect that I am a person running a business. I am not your neighborhood teenage dog walker. I'm not Yeah, just doing this on rover as a side job, this is my livelihood. And so I have say in that, and generally, at least I've found in doing this job after so long, I can pick up on those signals pretty quickly of like, oh, like, no, that's not, that's not the thing we're gonna do. No, no,
Collin 1:05:17
no thanks. Cassidy, I want to thank you so much for coming on the show today and talking about all of this stuff, and encouraging us to be open and human, with our staff, with our clients and knowing that we have agency in that partnership to build those long lasting relationships. I know there's a lot more that you have going on in the US you're doing so how can people get connected with you pick your brain and see all that you're doing?
Cassidy 1:05:44
Well, you can follow us on Instagram. It's Cassidy's custom Pet Services on all social media platforms. So Facebook and Instagram, we also have a newsletter you can sign up for which you can find in our profile on Instagram, as well as a blog that we'll be launching. So we can be a better resource to our clients and our communities. Just with all of the I mean, you accumulate so much information in this job. And you know a little bit about so many things. And so we really wanted to expand on that and open the blog up.
Collin 1:06:14
This has been such a wonderful conversation. Cassie, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to have it.
Cassidy 1:06:19
Thank you too. It's been so fun to be on. And I'm glad we finally got connected. Who are you
Collin 1:06:27
mentoring? Whether you realize it or not, you have a team around you whether you have hired staff or not. There's a team supporting you, from your family, to your tax accountants to your CPAs bookkeepers, to your lawyer to your social media cheerleaders, to your clients. Everyone who is supporting your business has a role that plays in keeping you a successful and showing up day after day. You can continue to mentor educate and equip them with good tools, knowledge and resources to make not just them better pet parents, but your community better for pets in general. Today, we want to thank our sponsors time to pet and pet perennials for making the show possible and we really want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. We'll be back again soon.
