361: Parenting and Pet Care Roundtable
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What’s it like being a parent in pet care? As a business owner, it can be overwhelming to consider adding a child and growing your family while also keeping your business running. There is so much to account for and many different business models you can try. On a very special roundtable Marissa LeJune, owner of Tail Swaggers, Amber Van Denzen Suarez, owner of Atta Boy! Animal Care, and Stephanie Brown, owner of Happy Trail’s Pet Sitting & Dog Walking Services, join the show to share their experience of raising their kids while running their business. If you’re just starting out in your business journey, or are a soon to be new parent this is for you!
Main topic
Facing fears
Preparing for birth
Making business changes
Taking maternity leave
Main takeaway: You can make your business work for your family, it takes planning and setting realistic boundaries.
About our guests:
Marissa LeJune is the Owner of Tail Swaggers, the #1 luxury doggie daycare in Fort Worth, Texas that provides each dog a balance of fun, structure and learning during the day. She believes there is depth and detail that goes into caring and building trust with you and your dogs. This is why her daycare focuses on fulfilling both your dog's physical and mental needs while challenging them to learn skills that will benefit them in real world scenarios. She also believes dog’s are similar to humans in that they are a product of their daily habits. With this knowledge she makes sure that each dog a part of Tail Swaggers daycare is being properly loved, educated & empowered to become the best version of themselves!
Amber Van Denzen Suarez is the Founder of **Atta Boy! Animal Car**e, Florida Pet Sevices Association, and Pet Sitter CEO Youtube channel. A dually certified Professional Pet Sitter, retired Veterinary Nurse of 13 years, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Animal Sciences. cpps. She lives with her 3 dogs, 15 chickens, 3 fish aquariums, 2 hermit crabs + 1 green anole lizard with her human family in Lakeland, Florida
Stephanie Brown was born with a passion for animals which was instilled by her mother at a young age. Always having family pets to love and horses to care for she knew from an early age she’d spend her life devoting herself to loving and caring for pets
After traditional college, she found herself back with animals and pursuing a career as a Large Animal Veterinary Technician with one of the country’s top Equine Vet’s. After some time, she found herself caring for patients whose owners had a planned trip coming up and had an “unexpected” pet emergency…so she found a niche, not only her skill set as a vet tech, but to be able to help the “humans” in those pets’ lives, to comfortably leave with ease knowing their pets were getting the best care. Providing the personal touch and keeping both pets and owners happy is when Happy Trails came to life!! Originally started in 2002, as Happy Trails Professional Pet Sitting & Equine Services, the main focus was special needs pets and a strong presence of horse care in every aspect.
Over the past two decades, Stephanie has transformed Happy Trails, now known as Happy Trail’s Pet Sitting & Dog Walking Services, into one of the county’s top Professional Pet Sitting and Dog Walking service providers. The company’s primary focus has now shifted to mostly Dogs and Cats and Hobby Farm care, always eager to help the special needs pets. Winning several prestigious awards including Next Doors Top Company and Morris County’s Best Of awards to name a few! Community care and support is super important and a huge reason for Happy Trails Success, so giving back any way possible is always the goal from providing baskets for tricky trays, supporting local sports teams, dropping off donations for our local food pantry and giving back to our local rescues whenever possible!
Stephanie’s goal is always to provide the best, most professional and loving care and has created an amazing team of pet care professionals that go above and beyond for every pet every time! Happy Trail’s Team culture is heavy on Happiness…as happy team happy pets!!
Stephanie is proud to live and work in Long Valley NJ with her two boys, Zac and Patrick and her husband of 15 years, Alex!!
When she isn’t working in the office or out in the field caring for pets, she enjoys hiking with her rescue pups or competing in Agility with her rescue westie Grayson!
Links
Join the facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710565637355650
Marissa LeJune - Tail Swaggers
@tail.swaggers
Amber Van Denzen Suarez - Atta Boy Animal Care
Steph Brown - Happy TRAILS Professional Pet Sitting
https://happytrailsprofessionalpetsittingllc.com/
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
business, clients, child, pet, daughter, parent, dog, people, knew, planned, pet sitter, kids, mom, grow, team, pregnancy, feel, years, animal, family
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Marissa LeJune, Amber van Denzen, Steph Brown
Collin 00:00
Welcome to pet sitter confessional an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter brought to you by time to pet. What's it like being a parent in pet care? As a business owner, it can be overwhelming to consider adding a child growing your family while also keeping your business running. There's so much to take into account, different business models, different ways of running your business. So today on this very special roundtable, we are super excited to have Marissa LeJune owner of tailwaggers, Amber van Denzen Suarez, owner of Atta Boy! Animal care. And Stephanie Brown, owner of happy tails, pet sitting and dog walking services, all on the show to discuss their journey into being parents and running a pet business. Let's get started.
Marissa LeJune 00:43
Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Marissa LeJune. I'm the owner of Tail Swaggers luxury doggy daycare. We are out of Fort Worth, Texas. And I guess my qualification for being on this podcast is that I'm also a mother, to such a beautiful, smart, four year old girl seem to be five. So excited to talk a bit more about her and everything. But thanks for having me.
Steph Brown 01:06
I'm Steph, I own Happy Trails Pet Sitting up in New Jersey, where they make it very hard to be a mom and own a business. We are celebrating our 21st year I have a 13 year old and 10 year old so my energy is different. Not so much with baby babies. But you know, a whole nother level of lots of activities and no one to drive them. And yeah, I'm really excited to be invited on this. I certainly have a lot of suggestions of how not to do it. But we are still here 20 years later. And I'm very excited to connect with other moms and kind of let you know how I slipped through the you know, and was able to continue having a business while trying to raise children.
Amber van Denzen 01:55
`Hi guys. My name is Amber van Denzen. I am the owner and founder of Atta Boy! Animal Care adventures and petsitting located in central Florida. And we are celebrating our 10 years anniversary this year as well. And I also have a two human children, a seven year old daughter and a 10 year old going on teenager boy,
Meghan 02:17
I am Megan I am the co owner of Funky Bunch Petcare in Missouri. And we I have been pet sitting in for 1011 years now. And I have two wonderful kids, a five year old boy and a seven year old girl.
Collin 02:30
Now I know that the journey into becoming a mom becoming a parent is different for everybody. And it happens at various stages. And so I did want for each of you to kind of share where you were in your business whenever you had a child in what way and what that looked like for you.
Marissa LeJune 02:47
So I guess I'll start first mine was not planned. I had just finished college, graduated and was found out I was pregnant. You know, it was not planned. But I look back when I had any other way. So where I was my business at the time. tailwaggers wasn't even on my mind. It was part time I did it on the side. I was an athlete in college. So I just kind of did it on the weekends when we had home games. I walked dogs like it was just kind of something I just like do because I love dogs. So at the time when I became pregnant, I didn't really see this as a full time thing I struggled a lot with, you know, kind of how I know a lot of moms might think like can is this like can this be done? And it wasn't even can it be done as a mom it was can I do this I was scared of what people would think I was scared like two people for to have people think of me as like someone that did this full time literally brought me to tears because I was just so afraid of being made fun of and the whole nine. So I think my journey was a little bit different because during my pregnancy I was fighting battles within my mental health to kind of get to the point where I could you know, really see this as something I could do for a lifetime thing. Like this is a full time job. This is my income. And it was hard and the father of my daughter is actually one that was like look this is like something you love to do. I see the passion you have it. Like, just get over this hurdle, like just try it. And so then the entire pregnancy I just I kept doing my side thing kept hustling and just kept building really,
Steph Brown 04:33
I think like so many people, you know that I've met through conferences and stuff like that, especially people that are over 20 years in business. 15 years in business kind of the forefront people that nobody thought this was like a real job right? Like you're going to do this full time. When are you crazy? So I definitely did not have planned babies. I like to live on the seat of my pants. by the seat of my pants. I was a little different When I wrote, I was a veterinary technician. And I started my company based on special needs pets, because it happened to be that nobody expects their pet to have an emergency a week before their trip to Italy. But they can't cancel. And I was a large animal vet tech. So I work primarily with horses. So aside from the horses, kind of making it into a pet sitting career where they wanted somebody that was trained and knew how to do certain treatments, it kind of turned into I ran a farm, I was doing the pet sitting, I was riding horses professionally, all under the window of my petsitting career, I'm sure looking back on it, you know, insurance was a little different back then I'm not sure how much, you know, was correct. But I learned as I went through it, and then I got married and pregnant in the same day. And that really changed everything. It's a blessing. I'm not saying it isn't. But it wasn't planned. And I rode horses, I trained horses, I couldn't, you know, and I rode up until I was seven months pregnant, which, you know, isn't terrible. But it was basically because I was forced to stop by the owner of the horses because she was so scared, something would happen to me, I wasn't in a position that I wouldn't be hurt. But you know, they're large animals. And long story short, I continued doing it part time, I had a very supportive husband. Luckily, I kept a few of my handful, of course clients and did it as I could. And then I got pregnant again, a few years later, as it happens, and
06:31
he was born a little special,
Steph Brown 06:32
and needed some special help and special treatments and stuff that was kind of above our health insurance. And it was getting really, really hard to kind of juggle everything. And my husband, I was like, Well, what am I going to be when I grow up? Like what can I do? Like, I got to figure out a way to like, fill what insurance is paying, and my husband is bringing in and my little hobby, you know, petsitting Long story short, my husband's like, you've got this, like, you've got to take that petsitting and take it to the next level. And I was like, what does that even mean? How does that I like what am I, I've always been word of mouth. And you know, I've always worked for people who knew someone who knew someone and I just basically took a leap of faith and it's been my son is 10. Now and and it's basically been the last 10 years of like climbing and, and just networking, and I'm representing what a professional pet sitter is. And, and it has been. And again, we I don't mean to take too much time. I do feel like there was so much grit that I had to make this work being a mom, that I don't necessarily think having your kids in the back of your minivan watching movies for hours at a time, while you're taking care of Spring Break Pet Sets, and all that stuff. I don't, you know, there's probably better ways, but we've all been there. My kids like to fight in the car, which was really fun. But it was something that now I look back and I've had an amazing team for the last six years, my kids I've been able to go on vacations with them in spring break, I'm actually spending with them. And it was just building from like getting through that gritty part to like now really enjoying it that it's you know, I try to make them remember how hard it was when they're seeing me home working from home every day. So it can be done,
08:15
I promise. Ah,
Amber van Denzen 08:20
without a boy, it was a planned process. Actually, I also was a veterinary technician. And I knew that industry wasn't super conducive to the type of parent that I wanted to be, which was the one that was raising my own children and being involved in all the things and being the Girl Scout leader and whatever. So it was actually a planned process to purposely start Adeboye knowing that I would hopefully be self employed and have a little bit more regulation. With my schedule just a little, not so much. At the beginning. I started Adeboye in December of 2013 and got pregnant in December of 2014. So my business was just a little over a year old or just at a year old. Luckily, my business was fairly small still at the time, because I was still full time that teching this was my startup, you know, occasional client type situation. So we had less than a handful, probably a dozen or so. So being able to pause the company for my firt my pregnancy with my daughter was a bit simpler, because of the small size that it was at at the time. It was a planned pregnancy also so I kind of had an idea that it was going to be happening hopefully in a certain amount of time. As for our son he is actually adopted through the foster care system so that process was a bit different and in a way less know how like you know you're usually going to be pregnant for approximately nine months. We didn't know when we would find the child that was supposed to be our you know, our in our family long term. We didn't know that would look like so preparing for that was was very different. And and the expectation level of that was was very different because it was more on the seat of our pants. If we got a call, we had to go, type situation. And it was a very hard and labor us process. And like Stephanie said, My daughter ARIA came with me on plenty of pets at visits after I was after she was born. And I do not recommend that nor does insurance cover that type of incidents concerns, but it did occur 10 years ago, would I recommend it? No. But that's what I did to start my business. And yes, my children had been sitting in cars with tablets, and window coverings. So the neighbors don't get suspicious of kids sitting in AC conditioned cars in the middle of summer of Florida. Do I recommend it? No. Did it happen? Yes. But it was what was needed for you know, to make this business grow and, and be where we're at where that's not a needed process anymore. And it was a learning curve of many things like Stephanie said again, earlier that I wouldn't recommend doing and I a hypocrite hypocrite in a way because of that. But it was I didn't know any better. Because I feel in the industry, especially when I started 10 years ago, I'm sure others finding another pet sitter that was my age bracket was very uncommon for a professional as well. I feel like a lot of professional pet sitters 10 plus years ago, this was a retirement gig for them, or they were already past it an average age of having younger children. So there was nowhere to go to get advice or recommendations or thought processes. So I was I was swimming in the sea, I felt very alone, I wasn't involved in social media, it wasn't really as prevalent back then either. So it was versus nowadays. So it was a definite learning curve and different processes for both biological child and adopted child.
Meghan 11:55
Yeah, I think for us, we had our first kid five, about five years into the business, we had already moved to a different part of Texas way far away from where we had started our business. And we left all our clients there and then had started back up. And we were only just probably a year into starting back up the business when we had discovered that we were pregnant. And so it was a little shock. But we didn't have a ton of clients at that time. So it was it was pretty easy to draw it back and draw it down, we all it was also not our sole income. So we were not reliant unnecessarily on this. And so we still did it a little bit here and there. When we had our daughter Colin was out doing the visits. And then when we had our son, we were still just doing this very part time and only really cranked up the business once he was about two years old.
12:47
Something that I heard come up quite a few times through that was instead of you mentioned the word grit. Marissa, you mentioned the the mental aspect of trying to work through this and Amber, you mentioned a lot of unknowns through this I did just want to kind of go through and ask your fears about becoming becoming a mom becoming a parent, while you're while you're in middle of running your business and kind of what how you were processing those as you as you work through it.
Marissa LeJune 13:16
So I think for me my biggest fear. So whenever I started my business in the beginning, as I mentioned, I wasn't full time doing this, I was just surveying trying to figure out you know what I want to do with my life post college I had a lot of people just trying to tell me you know, you should use your degree here you should work here and it just I'm not the type of person to sit behind a desk and that type of way where it's just you know, no activity it's just me and the computer so when it came to having my daughter I think one of the biggest fears was like being out and her just being around so many different dogs not because it was dangerous to be out and about but it was dangerous because a lot of the new dogs that I was meeting as my business was are starting to grow I didn't know how they were going to be so I'm going to meet and greet with my daughter strapped on my chest you know and I have it was a lot of I know Steph mentioned grit it was a lot of me having to be extremely focused and on my game at all times. If there for a second I thought this dog had shown any type of aggression was too crazy with jumping, I had to immediately tell them no, I had to always put my daughter first when it came to those type of safeties. Because I mean, this is her life. She's a newborn and she's so I think that was the only scary moments I had. Thankfully, I did not have a lot of those. And when I did I immediately you know turn the client away but I feel like that for me in that time in my life. I was excited for you know, starting my business I felt like a lot of the excitement and the passion took over. And I was able to work through a lot of those fears of you know, the safety I think the safety of my daughter was like the biggest thing because when I had one of those dogs where I'm opening the door and the dogs like barking or something I immediately close it. And we like, you know, would call them up and let them know the situation. And I can't do this, like, I'm sorry, it was hard because I never want to turn on the client. Because of that time. Again, I'm this is my income. You know, as I started to push back being a server, I started to take more time off, so I could actually grow my business. That was hard. But I think I always really knew my priority. And I just had to do it in a way that was sustainable, not only for me, but for the health of my daughter. So I think for me, the safety part was just my biggest fear of my heart pounding and, you know, knowing there's a dog coming or knowing like, how do I protect her? How do I, then it was just thinking on my feet, it was a lot of thinking on my feet. And I know, Amber mentioned, like, there's a lot of things that I did that I wouldn't recommend now. But I do know, in any type of business, when you are a parent, there are stuff that you have to do that. You just, it's you got to think on your feet, you've got to act now. And I think it kind of just gives you an advantage in your business, because now you can give advice to someone else. But at the time, it's very scary. It's a lot of like, what am I doing, and figuring it out as you go,
Steph Brown 16:06
you know, I think a lot of my situation is so different, because I didn't have time to have fears, it was kind of like, oh, and we're going to add a new person to the family. And well, that would be fun. Let's see what happens. It was also being that it was, you know, my son is going to be 14, so 14 years ago, newly married, you know, I, I feel like I wasn't at that. I think now at this point in my company, and the way the industry has gone, it's so great that you're doing this type of informative type of thing, because I didn't necessarily know what to be worried about. And then it was kind of everything was thrown at me. And then it was something where like, well, we're just trying to figure this out. You know, I was fortunate to take time off. So it wasn't, you know, it wasn't like I had, you know, like I do now seven days a week, you know, all hours of the day, my team is out there. It was, you know, my clients that I've had for a million years. So I think that today's women or whomever family planning that they're they're doing who's ever family is planning, you have more support. Now I feel like what Amber had said to me was just, you just didn't know like, and it is it was a different industry it was it was more of a retirement type of issue. And it was it. It was different for me I feel like I didn't know what to be scared of. I just kind of I was young, and I just gotten married and it just like somehow magically all worked out. And looking back on it. I would like never let a team member do some some of the stuff that I did. I mean, we specifically say you can't bring kids, I can't stay in the car. Like you cannot pretend you cannot have children if they get is the nurse calls you? Well guess what? They can stay in the nurse's office until you're done? And then you go get the doc No, I'm just kidding. I mean, they can go get their kids, I'm just saying you have like a whole protocol of like what to do, because these pets are relying on us. So I, I feel like you know, I just got through it. So it was a survival thing. So for me,
Amber van Denzen 18:01
we're kind of as a pregnant woman, of course, just the concept of harming the fetus, potentially by accident, whether through toxoplasmosis in in cat litter, potentially, to a dog knocking me over pushing too hard, because those definitely happened even when you're not carrying a baby in you. And then it was our clients gonna be understanding that I have to have to bring a child and I am a parent. And this if you need me and you want my skill set, I do have to bring a little human with me. And it definitely lost clients. Because of that, then I definitely wasn't my best pet sitter self having a child with me at any given time. During this I was babywearing with a baby carrier. And there was certain things and limitations that that caused. And I know things got missed for sure. Because I had an infant that would scream in the middle and I would potentially mess up the food quantity or or you know, forget to do something. And that's why all of us I think say we don't recommend it necessarily bringing that that factor but those fears were fears of my child getting harmed and fears of not performing quality care that should be expected from a professional pet sitter. And all of those related to that whether it's harm to myself harm to my child, or harm to the pets that I was taking care of all those were were fear based. And they were valid fear based, too because I did get knocked over while I was was pregnant. And I did have to cancel a client's daily dog walk because I had to be rushed to the emergency room in the middle of my pregnancy because I had major pains that were not normal. And I'm canceling on the client and kind of failing them in a way because of that. And as for my adoption process, there wasn't as many fears because that was a couple of years later. I already had a team established of independent contractors at the time we have employees now But I actually pushed myself out of the day to day work. So I could be more flexible with the needs I had for my new new adopted child process and everything. So those lips were looked very differently. So there was less fear. Because I was confident as a business owner, I was confident that I'd already played this game a couple years. And I kind of knew what I wouldn't want not do. And, but at the same time, I was, I guess, fearful that I wasn't, I was going to fail my team potentially, or forget to do something because bringing in a new child into our family was my main priority at that time in my family is my main priority. This is why I do what I do. And I am a professional pet sitter, because this all comes down to wanting to be able to be a mom and a wife, and a professional and help the animals in my fan community. But but also prioritizing what matters most to me. And that was my family, and all of my decisions. business wise and whatnot are because of that, and my business did suffer, my business did not grow as quickly as others because I had to pause in moments of, you know, child's needs and making decisions on availability and access. And that still even happens today, you know, Can I do a consultation? Or is that during bus pickup time? You know, and that may affect the client being able to be booked or not quicker or later. So those are all fears, but also motivate motivators as well.
Meghan 21:32
Yeah, I mean, there's the whole admin side of this of, okay, am I going to be able to fit everything into a day when I have an infant, you know, those first few years are rough, you are not really sleeping, you're getting up multiple times a night, for whatever reason. And it can be very hard to go, well, I need I have these priorities in my day, these tasks that have to get done. But also, I have a kid that I obviously has to be taken care of. So what what is the bigger priority here, and it's obviously always going to be the kid but at the same time, it's, it's really tough to struggle, I have to get these clients scheduled, or I have to do the invoicing or whatever it is,
Amber van Denzen 22:08
I mean, if that was hard to because, you know, even when I was deciding to shut down my business for a certain amount of time, you know, the last, say, month of my pregnancy, I definitely knew I wasn't going to be be successful and petsitting most likely, I also had to plan accordingly. Like, if I had a C section, Oh, there I go. I'm out of the field for eight weeks, I can't drive for eight weeks, potentially. And that did happen to me and unexpected t shirt section occurred. So it not only extended my availability and availability at the time, but it also was mentally frustrating because I was like, I felt like a failure kind of to I can't do this. I want to be a parent and I want to be a professional business owner. And I want to be successful and help community pets, and I can't because I'm stuck in a gang bed because I can't move and I'm on drugs that helped me with the pain relief. I know. So it's a twofer for sure I feel like for that.
Steph Brown 22:57
I so admire Amber and and just going with, you're doing this for your family, right? Like we're I'm in an admin position pretty much now where I think there are times. I know looking back on it, especially when I was building the team and I took time away and like Andrew was saying, like, I hate night meet and greets, but like work taking care of people who work so odds are they need to meet us after work hours after six which I'm dead and exhausted, where they want to meet on the weekend where my kid has one of 17 hockey games. Like it there are times where I've made choices that in the big picture were for my family, but I've had to do things that you know, hey, listen, like I can't go to this because I have made this meeting and like the reason that we have this company and we have you know, we're we're you know people use our services because we're dependable if I call a meet and greet and blow them off two days before, you know it's just something that there is a lot of sacrifice, it's not going to be easy as I don't think owning any business is an easy thing for a mom or parent to do. I think the pet care industry because we're so passionate about pets getting that grade care that we sometimes we do that compassion fatigue on our family and we give more to the business because we're trying it it's it's a really tough balance and for me, I struggle with it every day there isn't a perfect perfect outline of how to do it right I think as moms or parents I think just knowing that everybody does it a little different and we're never gonna be perfect I think that is kind of how I that's how I go through life because I can't keep beating myself up over certain things because I've missed this because I had to do this but you know, so it's a balance and and I you know it's those night meet and greets man in the weekend. I just hate
Amber van Denzen 24:49
it just like had to run out of a holiday, you know, dinner because you're like, Oh, I could finally get it off. But then there was an emergency and I miss the experience whatever was happening in the dinner because that happened. To be the one darn night that something hit the fan. And while I thought I was being a business owner and able to make choices and be able to have those days off eventually finally, which I was at, I still got called away, or had to cancel or come back home early because a major issue occurred, and we didn't have a process or procedure ready to go yet for that, or it just was a first time event. And yeah, you know, missing out on the concert or whatever, even though you had it planned, something happened, you know, and yeah, that guilt is real, for sure, for sure. And like you said that shorter term goal versus longer term goal, you know, this will make it possible to do more accessible things and be there more for your children later in life, whether financially or maybe them having access to career opportunities within your company. So those bigger concepts, not necessarily financial, but you also want to be present, because they're only going to be five, once they're only going to be 10. Once, they're only going to be two months once. And there are things that definitely got missed because you're crying or frustrated or saying the F word in the quarter because of the business affecting that, but that's what any industry, like you guys said that I mean, I could have had that same thing as a vet tech and, and grieving because of bad euthanasia, and not be mentally there for my child because of that either.
Collin 26:20
Part of running the business is is planning. And looking ahead, I know a major part of preparing to become a parent is actually working with our clients. Now. I mean, it was mentioned a couple of times of you know, whether that was losing a client or not being able to take on a job or how to continue to serve your clients. Well. So how did you go about talking with your existing clients about the the incoming birth or the new child that you're adding to the family? And what other kinds of preparation work did you start to do for preparing for that?
Steph Brown 26:52
I'll go, my first baby. None of my clients believe me, because they were just at my wedding six weeks earlier. And they're like, Yeah, you're so funny, you wouldn't do that. Oh, that sucks. That's funny. And then they were done. It was real. And I was like, Oh, really, I have to have to, you know, I'm not feeling so good today. And but again, I was smaller when it was just me. And it was like I had selected like a couple of clients. And it was while I was working at the animal hospital, and it was, you know, kind of that foundation stage. And they were all very, very supportive. But I I couldn't imagine now having the locomotive that is my day to day, I honor the company enough that I think me stepping out would be okay. But you know, it's definitely in the beginning. For my first it was definitely well accepted. And everyone got a good laugh out of it after I really was like, No, really, I know, you were just thank you for the gift, here's my thank you gift, and my baby shower is going to be you know, in a few months. It was it was a busy time, I got to see them a lot. But yeah, it was support I was supported, I felt I didn't feel anyone was angry, or like felt like I was you know, inconveniencing them, because it wasn't the same back then as it is now, for me
Amber van Denzen 28:07
by just acknowledging it to the clients as well, again, small at that point in time as well. And just kind of individually message them to saying, hey, surprise, you know, attaboys, adding a new team member, whatever jokingly, and letting them know that our availability was going to be not available basically, at that certain time of birth, for birth child. And also, when I was accepting new client tell, I really had set that avatar of what that new clientele needed to be to be successful during the next you know, 910 12 months or whatever of my career as being in the field as the actual Pet Sitter so I leaned towards ideally, you know, once a day client tell like the dog walks that I could do when the husband was home, or small dogs that I knew probably had less likelihood of ripping my shoulder off in the falling homes that weren't two stories that I had to walk up with a bowling ball eventually on my belly, and then you know, cats but then also actually putting on a mask at the time, which wasn't common because it was pre COVID vibes. And you know, wearing surgical masks from the veterinary field when doing litter to avoid toxoplasmosis as well. Some choose not to do cats at all because of that. So orj small animals only you have to consider salmonella risks, you know, so it really was kind of picking and choosing what I wanted, and what I was available for short and long term and then just being completely honest that we understand we might not be the best fit for you right now. And then knowing that hey, when this child does come she will have to be with me. So your your dog or animals would have to be comfortable with that. And most were totally comfortable with that and understanding. Luckily a lot of them were parents at one point and Time themselves and said, you know, we commend you for doing this. And others not so much, but very few, honestly. And there was trials and tribulations with that too, because then you're like, Okay, what do I do when I get at the visit, you know, and the babies on my background, my friend, can I bend over to do this event, my daughter ate through a handful of dog bowls and ate kibble at one point in time at a client's home, broke a cat dish and another client's home that I couldn't replace and felt super guilty for, because it was no longer made, like, you know, flipped over a water bowl before, like, all of those things occurred while my child was with me. And it was just open and honest conversation. I'm so sorry, my daughter broke this, please let me know where to find it. So sorry, you know, so sorry, sorry. And most were very understanding and forgiving. And then it also was talking about growing my team at that time, I knew I didn't, in the future wanted to be the primary and solo, I wanted a team and it was working on setting up standards to create team positions, staff, you know, ICS, at the time, no employees, and what that looked like. So I spent a lot of my time instead of actually petsitting, pausing the pet sitting business itself, and creating those positions and start looking for team members to make it successful long term, which allowed my later adoption process to go much smoother, maybe out of the field during that and not have as many issues with scheduling or having the same No, because of that as well, which is what I would recommend to any parent nowadays is if you think you want to be a parent and a professional pet sitter, I would suggest, you know, having a team based approach for your company to make that the best outcome for you and your child and your family.
Marissa LeJune 31:43
For me, because it was so early on very beginning of my business, I think it helped for the communication part because I was just again, honest, upfront, like, Hey, I'm pregnant. At the time, it really bothered who didn't really seem to care, because I was really small. So I wasn't even showing for like, I don't think I ever showed really. So but what for my clients, like shout out to all of them from the beginning to all my current clients, because all of them have been very supportive. Even through the birth of my daughter, when I had her, like I mentioned, she was strapped to me, all of them. You know, hi, Leah, how are you? You know, you know, she was little she, of course, she couldn't talk but very supportive, asked if I was okay, you know, if they were home, do you need some water for your walk, like, at the time I was just doing walking, and drop in visits, I don't offer those now. But I started out doing that. So I just was always open and honest with where I was with my pregnancy. And then when I did have my daughter, I think I took about four to six weeks off. And I just I was only doing boarding when I couldn't, you know, walk or do anything. So I maybe had like one dog every so often during those four to six weeks. And you know, the signs that border with me during that time knew I had, you know, my daughter, and they will ask how I was doing. So I can say that it was very smooth for me because I think it helped that, like I started my business with my daughter. So she was already a part of the picture of you know, the clients that knew me at the time. And it wasn't such a like, I've had been doing this for years. And all sudden I had a daughter, it was like, I kind of grew into the business, being a mom. And so it was very encouraging. You know, some of them. I mean, actually, most of them I still have as clients today. So they've seen my daughter grow, you know, from a little bitty girl and my little harness to like, you know, full grown four year old. So I hope that you know, anyone listening to this has that experience. I know not everybody will. I did out of, you know, the beginning of the when I first started, I think I had one person telling me and it wasn't rude. He just he noticed I had Leah. And he was like, I didn't realize she she came with you. And he had bigger dogs. They were sweet, you know, not aggressive, but he was like, I just would like to for the safety of your child. I think I should find someone else. And it was heartbreaking. Because again, I very passionate as all we all are. And I wanted to service him but I understood and he was honest with me. And I you know, I said okay, thank you for letting me know, I finished up that walk I had for that day. And that was it, you know that door closed. But I've been very fortunate. You know, there have been many other clients very welcoming. I've never had anybody, you know, be rude about it or have some type of opinion and just, you know, a nasty way. So I, again, I hope everybody listening has that experience because I know being a mother or a parent in any type of workplace is hard, let alone in our industry if our kids have to come with us. So it was thankfully a good experience.
Meghan 34:50
Well, and I think it also depends on what stage of your business you're at as far as preparing. So if you are solo and you want to remain solo, maybe that means Yep, Going back a little bit or having referrals to other dog walkers and pet sitters in your area. Good. We know great ones that you can refer to. If you are trying to build a team or you already have a team is it? Do you have your SOPs in place? Do you have? You know, when you take that maternity leave when you take that time off? Is your team still going to be able to function without you?
Collin 35:20
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Susan 35:24
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Collin 35:41
If you're looking for new pet saying software, give time to pet a try. Listeners of our show could save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confessions. Mercer you actually mentioned that you started off doing dog walks and drop ins and you made it you made a switch in your in your services. So could you share kind of what your business looked like before? Before you had a child? And does it what does it look like now? And what why did you make some of those changes?
Marissa LeJune 36:10
Oh, yeah, really quick question, Colin, my business glutes completely different from when I first started, when I first started, I did anything and everything I could do. So dog walking, drop in visits, bath, boarding, I mean, anything my client needed, I was there. And as my daughter started to grow, I mean, when we first started, we were walking dogs from 7am to seven or 8pm. Like it was an all day thing. And you know, I lost a lot of my baby weight. But you know, I started to realize, as my daughter started to walk in to take her first steps that like her being with me all the time out and about wasn't realistic. Not just because she was getting tired, but because it wasn't safe. I mean, we're out walking in, you know, at any moment, someone could try and snatch or someone, you know, there's just so many things, so many scenarios. And so I'm actually the father, my daughter, kind of the one to kind of throw ideas of like, let's start making a business model, let's start making this to where Leah doesn't have to go out in about all the time. And so I made the transition, probably maybe two years into my business. So I went from doing all the services to just niching down to just doing structured doggy daycare, and boarding. So I have a set number of clients that I work with. And those number of clients are also who I offer boarding to. And so I do a lot of it's doggy daycare, but it's with more structure. So it's with training, it's with a lot of mental and physical stimulation, it's it's like all in exclusive your dog is like getting attended to, and learning things are gonna help benefit benefit them for you know, the real life with you at home. And that has been a tremendous change, I'm so glad that I actually decided to and actually took the chance on that because now my daughter can when she is home, like on the weekends or whatever, or after school, she's here. She doesn't have to come with me for this visit, you know, late at night or? And so I think as a parent, maybe if you're getting into this look at like what you want your life to be like, do you want to be out and about walking? It is just you? Do you want to have a team of people that do that? Do you want to just be me, you know, out of one location, whether it's training, doggy daycare, grooming, I think maybe think about what you want in the long run and kind of base your business on that. It can't you can, you know, change I did, it is a little bit difficult. Because once your clients know what you offer, and you start to grow, that's kind of what they think of you as so it's possible to switch gears but just know, like, it'll take some time there was like a little little during, you know, when I did transition, because everyone knew me for walking and drop in visits. But I think just staying consistent and just letting people know where you are in your business now, you'll start to, you know, attract those potential clients again,
Collin 39:07
I think being able to take that and go what how do I make this work for me the life I want to lead with my kid. That's a decision that we get to make running our own businesses for sure.
Marissa LeJune 39:18
Yeah. And you have to just kind of know what season of life you're in. Like, when I first started, I just, you know, I was figuring it out as a lot of us work. And I think finally having that like, Okay, I am actually going to do this full time. What does my life look like? What is it that I want? And you just kind of have to like shift gears and figure it out. And you know, a lot of us have mentioned now like you can actually ask other parents that are in the industry, you know what they might advise or you know what, but at the time again, it was just me, I didn't know anybody in the pet industry. So I just was figuring it out as I went. But as over the years I realized like there are different seasons in your business. There is a time for hustle there is a time for to step back and be like okay, I'm gonna be be more of an administrator and I'm gonna help let my team do it. So just figuring out where you are, and kind of giving yourself grace as you grow, because it's gonna get better, you just have to kind of figure it out and put things in place that'll help with you, help you with your life and how to maintain it and not just kind of be so overworked and burnt out. And like it's possible.
Amber van Denzen 40:23
Like being able to talk to other like you said, parents that are currently going through this or have helped a ton. And I've seen you know, different parents structure their businesses in or change them because of that like, like Marissa did, or what metric maybe they chose small animal like cage critters, reptiles, amphibians, cats only that have more time flexibility. Typically, maybe when it takes the time specific medication, pets, or maybe do focus on daily dog walks, which occur typically during school hours situations, as as alternatives, I think there's ways to do it, for sure. And again, you know, taking on certain clientele, especially if you're the one in the field, based off of those needs. I even homeschooled my children, for a handful of years, as well. And that affected how I was in the field or admitting and maybe it was I didn't do admin work during the day, like a standard nine to five, or would or even a nine to two when the kids are in school, public school. But when my husband got back from work, I worked for two hours during that period, and he became primary parent during the day at time and I did admin work or like, if he's taking kid to scouts, that's when I stay back home and do a little admin work then instead, so it doesn't affect family time or child time necessarily. But I kind of have more sporadic hours that I'm admin working, planning, scheduling, interviewing, whatever, that's not the standard block of time, which is a huge component of how I work to is I'm not always chronically working certain hours, it's a couple hours here, on certain days, couple hours there, if I'm volunteering at a school, I take a break for a couple hours. And that's the great part of this business too is I can choose that, because I'm the owner, I'm the boss and I get to choose my schedule for the most part, and I can be there and I can volunteer and I can be the field trip person, you know, and volunteer at the kids school or or meet at their little concerts or pick them up from the bus and give them their snacks or whatever. And more often than I feel others have to and I'm able to avoid daycare costs a lot more because of that as well, which is a consideration when we were making those decisions as a family to
Collin 42:42
one of the parts of aspects of flight planning this is that knowing that there will be a time where the baby is going to come I know ever you know, if you're fostering you don't really know when that call is going to happen. How far into your pregnancy Did you did you work? And then I think the second aspect of this is how did you know how much time to take off. And in amber, I'd also like to hear your your take on how much time you took off whenever you did get your foster child and how that worked out in your family. Or by pregnancy,
Amber van Denzen 43:07
I worked as a veterinary technician full time and I actually did overnight emergency during that time of my life, as well as petsitting. Up until I think it was the last four weeks of the pregnancy, I was not the most efficient person I would say personally during that time. And I can't say I was the most active successfully like dog walking, but I did do it and I got it done. So I work to the last four weeks of the pregnancy with my daughter who was biologically from my body. And as for the adoption, because I already had a team in place, I was not in the field as much any longer. So that timeframe was sporadic because by the time we went through classes and got certified to be able to adopt through foster care, it actually was a touching go process of being partnered with a child and chosen for that child. And it was a year and a half process. And during that time that we were driving an hour away to even meet our child where he was at in his current foster home multiple days a week, when sometimes we didn't know until the day before that we had access to go see him. So really, I stepped back pretty significantly and did not take a lot of clientele and our business growth was very stagnant for the first pretty much three to four years of my business because of that, and there is sometimes feelings of jealousy maybe or in ways when you see other businesses grow astronomically quicker than you during that time doing the same components or even you know, maybe you even feel like you're doing it better, but I chose parenting and growing my family during that time instead. And so that was more harder process because I feel it was less Unknown. than a typical pregnancy where you go, okay, even if the baby does come early, it's usually maybe six months seven, it's gonna happen somewhere in the first nine months after, it's me. And then the C section. Typically, if you know that C sections, the average, you know, post care time with a C section is, you know, six to eight weeks or something. So you had some guidelines with that one versus the adoption was not the case. And it was even to the drastic of the, you know, our son was supposed to move into our house, we found out in July, we thought he was going to be moving in and a few months after that, it got delayed significantly, it didn't happen till November. So weekends, we had purposefully planned thinking a child was going to be in our house knew didn't happen, and we had to extend that even longer. And that's why I am a huge component of the team based approach as as a parent, because my team was able to offset that we were still able to take care of our clients and have accessibility to professional tech care, even though I wasn't the main person doing it any longer. And then it was a huge communication factor with our team as well. I was bluntly honest with my team. And I think it was great because it formed camaraderie with my team going, hey, you know, I am so happy that you have this opportunity. Not everyone does. I'm super grateful for that. So while I may complain sometimes or be jealous or upset or cry, I know it was a privilege to be able to not only give birth to my child, but also go through the adoption process, because not many do have that accessibility or abilities or, or sometimes don't want to, and that's great, too. So it was harder to plan 100% During the adoption process, the way we did it through foster care, because we just, it was an unknown of when the child that was the right fit for our family. And when we were selected to take, you know, tab comes along. Now,
Collin 46:52
that's definitely you had somebody tell you to stop riding a horse. After a little while. How did that? How did working when your business changed from your first child to your to your second child? And how much time were you able to take off a client, she
Steph Brown 47:07
was actually a neonatal surgeon. So she was very well invested in like, keeping me safe. I think she had a little bit more knew a little bit more than clearly I did.
47:18
I probably with my first one, I probably took a good, I don't know, it's hard to say because I've probably
Steph Brown 47:29
a good four months of nothing. We didn't have software back then there was like, I stopped like, I'm so old, I feel like very old.
Amber van Denzen 47:36
years ago was the same thing too. So 20 years versus 10 years versus 13 years, in the past five years is very different than that.
Steph Brown 47:44
He's 14, and I remember like social media just came out. So like, my day to day of like marketing was like different. Like, it was like you had an ad in the local paper, you you know, it was so different. I didn't have software to like have people inquire I had like the psi petsitter locator that was like my website, maybe Vistaprint website. So there was really nothing to do with I wasn't going out to the Pet Sets. And it was always word of mouth, or somebody would call. So my second little man, when he was born, that was when after he was born. That was when I really dove in. And I started looking into marketing and Facebook and, and social media. And that's where I really started to build. So I feel like it happened because it was ready to happen and, and the market was ready to really accept a petsitter like when I started petsitting professionally, it was like this crazy idea. And then before I got married, you know, I became insured, and you know, did what I was supposed to do. And then it just kind of was slow to grow. It was just referrals. And. And then so I was able to take more time off. And then after my youngest was born, you know, I took off a considerable amount of time. And then that was it. I put my heels in and I was just like, Alright, we're gonna grow this and we're gonna grow up big. And I've got to do this for my family. And I did and it's here. And some days it's the best job in the world and other days. It's, you know, it's a job. It's the balance of being a mom and like, you know, hey, my kiddo is going to be home you know, I'm home all day, I should make him cookies or something. But that like never happens even though I'm home all day. That's the goal to have like a special treat. But I'm home and he's not doesn't have daycare, and not that there's anything wrong with daycare at all. But you know, I'm able to be home for them. And they know when I'm in the office to like try to be quiet. But I tried to be available as much as possible get the core work done during those school hours. The shutdown and virtual I remember I don't know how you did homeschool.
Amber van Denzen 49:51
We did during COVID. Two we shut down and our kids are both virtual at that time too and that
Steph Brown 49:58
yes, yes, it was a long It was a long, I don't know, it was it was hard. But it's something where, you know, if you do try to put your kids first and I do try every single day, but it is a balance when it's your your baby is your business and then you have actual babies that are your family. So it is a it's a balancing act, and I certainly don't have a perfected yet. But you know, I think the the undertone everyone is saying is there's so much more support right now than there was 10 years ago, and you're doing this podcast and getting it out there. You know, hopefully it doesn't have other mamas think that they can't do it. It's just a balance
Collin 50:35
it is. And I know, it's all sounds like y'all took several weeks off and you know, maybe a couple months off after the birth of a child or even integrating the foster child into the family. How did you know it was time to reenter the business and get started back up? And how did that transition work for you? Because I know there's a lot to juggle with that. You mentioned a couple times of childcare, no childcare, how to what support do I have? So how did you start putting the pieces of that puzzle together?
Amber van Denzen 51:03
Oh, if it was a planned concept versus a natural, like, when I actually had a moment, finally, you know, I was able to, to add in one next step. Um, I felt it felt like it was a case by case scenario for each child, and on when the opportunity or availability came up. And if I decided to say yes, no, maybe or delay, in those moments, I don't think it was an actual, okay, I'm going back to work. Four months post, like maybe a typical office job gives you that Max allotment of maternity leave, and you have to or you may lose your job type thing, it wasn't that it was it was more of a natural progress, the more my child became slightly more independent, or the more it wasn't as new was when the time came available, and that's when I was able to like, you know, Stephanie, or Marissa, you know, planned, let's add a little bit more marketing let's, let's add a little bit more interviewing for new team members, let's you know, do those things. And it it kind of progressively grew. But older my child grew funny enough. And and that allowed for availability to now that they are in a school setting on a more routine hours and planning in those actual work hours around that essentially, as well. So
Marissa LeJune 52:28
I'm a much very much of a go getter. I like hard work is like one of my core values. Although I've had to change it a little bit, which I can talk about why. But so for me, when my doctor said you're clear, you can start walking and working back up to running and working out and doing lots of things. My doctor knew I was very much into fitness and stuff like that. I was like, okay, started letting my clients know, I can, you know, I'm available for walking, I'm available for dropping visits. And I just, I just didn't I just, I didn't really have a plan to get I was very, very early on. Like, my daughter was a baby, my business was a baby. So I just was so excited about both things that I just kind of like, let's go and let's figure it out. So I just kind of when I got that green flag, I just took on clients and started building my business. I'm at the time. So when I took the four to six weeks off, I was still waitressing at a restaurant. And I remember when my doctor gave me the okay to like, you're good to go back to work and stuff like that. I remember going back to the restaurant that I was at. And at the time it was it was pretty cool. Because my dog business was taking off, I was actually making more income than my waitressing job. And so my which was actually holding me back from getting more clients because of the availability I didn't have. And so I remember I went back and you know, I told the lady like I don't, I can't work that often because my my business is now taking off. And I remember her being like, look like let's just go back in and let's get you a schedule. Like we have to put you two more hours, but it's like mandatory. And I remember looking at her and saying, No, thank you. This is my last day. And I remember leaving and I just I was terrified because I was now officially this was the time I was going full time in my business. But I had this sense of like, just a gut feeling of like, No, this is it. This is what you've been working for. And I think that's also what played into like when I was released you know from my pregnant after having my daughter why I was so excited because I had officially made the decision like I'm doing this full time. Um, so that I think that really played into like, why I just was all in I didn't really have like, one client a week. You know, I just just went for it. I was just so excited for this next chapter. So I don't really have much advice there because I just went out on a limb and just kind of followed my gut instinct.
Meghan 54:54
Well, and I think that's something that's makes the pet care industry unique is it is very much fee male driven. And we also have to, I guess, the balance is the word I don't know if there's such thing as a balance, but, you know, balance being moms being parents, but then also, you know, running the business. And if you have a team or if you're solo, and it's just it, is there really a balance there that can be had,
Amber van Denzen 55:20
as an owner, majority of our staff are female. And, you know, making them not have to always choose between being a parent and being a professional as well, like many of us had to in different industries is we had to make a choice, you could be a full on mom, or you had to be a full on business mom and you know, make different choices. And, you know, when I make policies and procedures and processes and abilities for my, my team, I think of what I need more support, or what I need a different type of policy, if I was a parent and working as a pet sitter, or admin in my team now, attaboy, and I think sometimes it's easy to not do that anymore, because it doesn't affect me anymore, necessarily, in some ways. But that's what I feel as parents, if, if we grow as a community and in industry, we need to set those standards for other professional business owners and pet sitters, to be able to support families, whatever that looks like, with policies and procedures, that that, that just don't protect our clients and our pets, but also protect our team and help their team be able to be able to choose to be parents if they want to, to little humans, because I think a lot of people have to make choices because of career goals. And I know I had to, and I don't want to necessarily have to put that on someone else moving forward, either.
Collin 56:51
You've been parents for for several years now as in your businesses have continued to grow and change and evolve. What do your businesses look like now? And how are your businesses helping you be the parents that you want to be?
Marissa LeJune 57:05
What is it like to answer this first, if you don't mind, just because one of the things when he sent me these questions, something I had to tackle probably midway last year was I know, we talked about, you know, doing this for our family and doing this for our kids and setting our kids and family up for success. One of the things that I actually struggled with was being so goal driven that I was putting my daughter on the backburner for so many years and so many weekends like it was I want to help my clients, I want to serve our clients. But I wasn't allowing that same mentality to go to my daughter, like she was my second thought, because I was so business oriented. And I've had to really take a step back and say, okay, yes, I love my business. I love all my clients, but I don't want my daughter to feel like she's second to me. And I feel like the shift that I've had coming into this year is making sure I have not only have policies and procedures in place, but that I'm following it, like, you know, I am seven o'clock, whatever, like it's business is closed, it is my daughter's time. Or you know, whether it's lunchtime, I have time dedicated for her. On the weekend, it's making sure like, I'm not so in tune with the dogs that I'm boarding that like I'm actually spending time with my family and my daughter, I think that for me, that was really hard. Because as I know, Amber, you mentioned, like, have feeling like you have to choose between being a business woman, growing your business, building an empire, whatever it is, and then feel like you also need to be this like great mom, like you can do both. And I think it's just trying to figure out what works best for you and your life like. So the way my business looks now is I have certain hours for daycare, certain hours, my clients can drop off their dogs morning and pick them up in the evening, I even have a time slot in the morning to where I'll drop her off at school during that 30 minutes or whatever, I'm not going to be here like for drop off, so nobody is coming or going. You know, when I do hire someone, they will be able to fill in those time gaps. But I think it's just again, looking at your life and your schedule and your day to day whether your kids going to daycare, whether they're going to school, you know, and I do have helped because Leah's that also does work from home. He's an entrepreneur as well, so we can actually balance off our schedules together. But I think it is just like finding what works for your life. And when your season changes and something doesn't work, being able to be like, Okay, let's figure out something else. It just kind of kind of always being on your toes. And I think that's part of being an entrepreneur is like, when something doesn't work, it's about finding a solution instead of being fixated on the problem. So and I feel like I've kind of made that shift because again, I want to say like, I had to learn the hard way about like making sure my daughter wasn't feeling like she was behind me she was second to me letting her know like no Lee I love you. You know, I apologize. I've got this meeting here or, you know, I've got to be with this client here but we can do This this at this time, I'm very open and honest, communicating that to my daughter. And I think that helps with her to not feel like she's on another call, like, I can't really play with her right now. Because she is still young. So I know she wants a lot of that attention. And so I felt like I wanted to say that because that's a lesson I had to learn recently, that I didn't really know that I was doing I just was so into my business, I'm just, you know, hitting goals, you know, growing, and I just, I didn't realize that, like, oh, man, I am kind of kind of leaving her behind a little bit, I need to re reorganize and reset and kind of make a new routine and a new way to go about it.
Meghan 1:00:39
Yeah, well, it can be tough of like, you know, why is mommy always on her phone? Well, because we run our businesses from our phone. So yeah, it can be it can be hard. I mean, we started off doing house sitting and dog walks and drop ins for the first five years. And then when we had kids, we realized, Oh, we actually want to be home with them more. So we shifted more towards boarding and daycare, and now that they are older, and we're starting to do more activities out of the house and starting to go to sports and all that now we're saying okay, well, we're doing a big shift, again, of no more boarding to daycare, we're going to be all out call now with a team. So you know, it can I can definitely see how you know, seasons of life require different things, or you want different things out of the seasons of life and adjusting your business and knowing that this, it can be whatever you want it to be
Collin 1:01:27
Stephanie, you've navigated the newborn, early adult now in your tea, you had some teenagers, what how has your business changed and shifted to adapt to that to that kind of lifestyle, so that you can go to the to the million hockey games you have on the weekend.
Steph Brown 1:01:41
I love hockey. You know, it's, it's, it was really important to me when I went after my second and I decided, Okay, I've got a, I've got to go big or go home. If I did go big. And it was just me forever. Because I was saying, Oh, I'm not going to build a team. I'm not going to be able to do all this like I'm what do I know about running a business, I'm just going to do the work myself. And then I think it was when my kids were in the minivan watching movies, you know, doing all this stuff. And I had 23 visits a day for spring break. And that was their spring break, they would go to date, they had like a fun little Campbell and high wasn't that fun, but it kept him busy for a few hours, and my mom would pick them up. And then I would come my mom would try to feed me real quick. And then I would take them and then off we'd go because my husband travels a lot for work. So the kiddos were on my watch. When he was away, he would always be away for spring break. Um, it was really looking at them and thinking like, gosh, this isn't fair to them, like this is their time off from school like, it's, it's my busy time. But it's it's their it's their time too. So how can I make this so that I can still have a business and support my family and be able to go take them out for day trips, or go do something on their sprint like their spring break, right their break from school. So I think that's kind of where I was like, Well, I've just got to build a team. And that has a whole new level of challenges. And I am on my phone a lot. And it is something that I constantly am putting out fires, even with a manager covering things. I'm in Disneyworld at lines last week, and I'm on my phone, and it's like my husband's like, this is a big vacation, like you should probably put the phone away. And it's like, well, something happened. And my manager just needs to know. And it's not something that I have like a procedure for because I don't know what to do. If you know something like this happens, you know, it's always something new reinventing the wheel. So I would say that I agree. I built the team, I am now this boss that I'm proud of I'm a boss I would want to have. And you know, I'm just really trying to advocate for professional pet care. I think that it's something that isn't that popular where I'm at. And I'm just trying to say hey, don't just hire anybody hire someone you trust that, you know, it's going to care for your pet so and also, just as a side note, I love sponsoring the teams in our town, that's my favorite thing to do. We are huge in advocating for all the little ball team soccer teams, and anything tricky trees, like that's probably one of my favorite things. And I think my kids have a lot of pride in the amount of give back that my company does into the community because, you know, that's their mom, that's my team too. But that's they look at that, and I go Happy trails like that's us. And it's just something that they're proud of, and they can be proud of their mom and they see it like on their jerseys or, you know, at their school function. So that makes me really proud. And that's what success is is when you can give back to your community and still keep a roof over
1:04:42
your head. That's kind of those are my those are my
Steph Brown 1:04:45
two beacons of success,
Amber van Denzen 1:04:47
what business looks like now versus what it was before. It is obviously very different. I have a seven and 10 year old they're in school. The things that that have drastically changed throughout the years that I recommend for anyone is is really we Look at our year in advance. We specifically take off the kids birthdays, we take off the big events, we look at the school district calendars, and look at the tentative schedules of when spring breaks can occur and those holidays, which affect my business naturally anyways, because those are busy times, but also what I want to do with the children and our as a family throughout the year, so December of the year before, if not earlier, we already know what days are 100% off the market for me to be working and then work backwards from that, making sure I have no management that will be covering those. We have a like a game plan folder in case of emergencies. Like if you can't contact me for whatever reason, there's the business credit card here. And here's the login information for that. We're even just flying this weekend, and I had a panic attack slightly, because I haven't been on a plane in a couple of years. And I was like, what happens if this crash is who's gonna pay payroll next week? Great, he's like, you're gonna be dead, who cares? Oh, my husband. And I was like, I care because these people's lives are affected by my life do and then having those you know, emergency papers accessible to and letting a manager or a lead staff person know in case of emergency, open this folder, you know, for all the information. And that's that's what business looks like. Nowadays, my my kids I jokingly say, as well trained as a good dog. Because they know when a phone rings, we say on the phone and everybody goes silent and goes into a room or something. And then as soon as I hang up off the phone, they I say off the phone, and now they know they can interrupt. Most of the time when an adult I'm speaking to a client, I usually have it on mute on my side until it's time for me to speak just in case a child interrupts or I may even just acknowledge guess what, just so you know, there's a little human child here, I apologize in advance if you hear that in the background, because if they're offended by that, that's not the client that I want anyways. So, you know, all those little factors and idiosyncrasies that are what build the business today, my daughter's first word was cat, she knows how to spell attaboy animal carrot seven. And she's like, I'm gonna be the boss of that one day. So maybe if I don't sell it, but you never know, you know, and it's ingrained in us. It's a family business. You know, in the truest heart. It's part of our world, you know, my kids know, purple, and yellow is our business colors, they can see the logo and say, Oh, that's Adeboye animal care, they do see it in the community like Stephanie's kids and get excited over it. Because they're just as part of this as we are I don't showcase my children in our business, social media, really, for security, personal purposes, especially for our adopted son. Because there's biological family, local, that we prefer not to know those connections. So we rarely have them on social media. I know a lot of people's businesses heavily have their child ingrained into their their businesses. It's a great selling point, I won't lie. But we have chosen not to do that. So that's what you know, running a business nowadays looks like for us certain hours that were available. For office purposes, hard boundaries of Sundays, we are closed for Office purposes, not putting you know I have a hard tendency of watching a Disney movie and playing with Canva for social media purposes in the background. I'm trying to stop that you know, and actually be in the moment with my kiddos. But also knowing that I do have to do dual work a lot of the time of being at least I'm there least I can communicate and know what was going on. But sometimes money is on the phone. Definitely doing behind the scenes work. In the meantime, as
Collin 1:08:41
well, especially for listeners who are listening to this they've heard your stories that you know, they're in where their their their own position right now and they're they're still maybe they have fears or they're not sure what's going on, based on your experiences. What some advice that you would give to an expecting parent as they're looking at their business and looking at trying to grow their family
Amber van Denzen 1:09:00
like top key things are if you choose to carry a pregnancy or have the ability to carry a pregnancy yourself. Obviously they always say doctor's advice but self advocacy is huge to knowing your boundaries. Knowing what toxoplasmosis is many people do not if you did not research that because it can cause spontaneous miscarriages. And I think that's a huge thing that's not talked about in the pet care industry. The next thing is setting boundaries and setting realistic boundaries. So you don't have to mentally exhaust yourself or physically exhaust yourself as much as possible. And again, I go back to I'm a huge team component person. So I would highly recommend the the best way to run this business I feel like in many ways is having a team based approach. If you want to have children and be part and not have to choose all the time between holidays the fun stuff or business and that's not always viable right away and like some pregnancies come along unexpectedly or Adoptable Children or you know, Family Growth and take it step by step, you know that business will be there. And sometimes it looks bad in the moment, but ultimately in the long run, it will grow again, it will there are more pets than there are pet sitters or dog walkers or dog trainers, or groomers or daycares. And you will have the ability to step back onto your feet and start back where you started. Even though it may take a little bit longer than others.
Steph Brown 1:10:28
I think Amber said it really well. I can't even I'm trying to say something that isn't as amazing as that. That was all the good stuff. It I think the biggest thing is with anything with parenting is you give yourself grace, there is no right or wrong way. I mean, I've done things the wrong way. I've done the things the super great way. At the end of the day, it's a balance. And some days business is a little heavier than kids and sometimes kids is a little heavier. I don't I think you just have to get a good network of mom, friends. I think those are hugely supportive. All the Facebook groups now, you know, Amber has the, the mom page with? I mean, where was that 12. dog walker was
Amber van Denzen 1:11:17
just launched? Yeah, I know, I wish I had that.
Steph Brown 1:11:21
It's something where you know, even at my kids being older now, like, I don't have it figured out like I'm my kids playing hockey, and I'm checking in making sure that my 7am visits are being completed. Yes, that's right, because I'm at a hockey rink before 7am. But it's just, you got to give yourself grace, what Amber said is business is always going to be there like it may you may cause for a minute, but it's going to come back like it's you gotta take that time for your health and your baby. And then you can kind of start rolling back into it. And before you know it, you're gonna be so busy saying what was I so worried about? You know, and hopefully you have a support system. So you're able to take that type of time. You know, it is a balance. But you know, it is grace is probably the biggest thing that I can say is you just need to
1:12:10
be kind to yourself.
Marissa LeJune 1:12:12
I agree with both Stephanie and Amber. I think for me, my biggest thing when it comes to women are parents, because I know it's a lot to juggle is my advice is just like, dare to dream, like, dare to think that it's possible because it is you've heard it from all of us. Here on here. Like there's many other women and parents that are doing it still, like just be bold enough to like, take that first step, even if you like are like I have no idea what I'm doing. Like we've all been there. And sometimes we're still there. I know, I know, Stephanie just said like, I don't have a procedure for that, like, what do I do. So I think just having that courage to like, like, just go for it. And like, you know, like, I feel like you just know, you belong here in our industry, there's so many clients to be served, like, we all cannot service everybody. And so I feel like whatever your niche is, whatever it is just like be brave enough to just try it and go through those tough times of you will be burned out some days, you will be frustrated at your kids, some days, you will, you know, there's a lot of factors. But I just think like, having that courage to do it. Because a lot of people I think gets stuck with like being afraid or feeling like they don't belong, and that holds them back from like really just embarking on the vision that they've been given. And I think that's really sad. Because every every single one of us have different niches in the industry. And we were given that for a reason to help serve the clients we do. So I think just be brave, just, you know, just go and do it. Like it's scary, but it is possible.
Amber van Denzen 1:13:40
When we found a pet adopt note not a pet sitter, a babysitter, I say that all the time, a babysitting service that has a team based approach. So it's not just one babysitter that you can rely on. Wow, beautiful.
1:13:55
Well, I want to thank you all so much for coming on the show today and talking about this topic that is extremely relevant to a lot of people. But as you all pointed out, it doesn't get a lot of of coverage and there isn't a lot of connections to be made. And we do do feel so so alone in the in those moments. And so thank you for sharing your experiences and being so encouraging to others. I know that there's a lot that goes into this kind of topic, and we're always learning and growing. So how can people get in touch with you follow along with your business or pick your brain if they have questions and get connected?
Marissa LeJune 1:14:34
For me, you can either email me at info inf o at tail swaggers.org or you can reach out on Instagram. That's really the main platform that I'm on right now. It's at tail like a dog's tail, and then a period and then the word swaggers, SW a G, G, E R s. So those are the two areas you can reach me out.
Steph Brown 1:14:57
You can reach me I'm at a Um, you can email staff Ste pH at Happy petsitting that or, or follow us on social media. Really just Facebook. Gosh, I know I have a Instagram but I don't go on it that often I know somebody at my team member runs it I don't think she's doing. I don't I don't know what our last post was. So I'm probably dead and SEO cool. You can follow us on Facebook Happy Trails professional petsitting we come right up. And yeah, definitely any inquiries as far as being a mom and a business, you can't have too many friends. So happy to speak with anyone or give any tips of what to do or not to do. Anytime.
Amber van Denzen 1:15:41
You can find me at info at Attaboyanimal care.com att A B ally animal care.com You can also join the pet sitters and dog walkers with kids Facebook page has recently launched. And I do have a very small YouTube channel, which is my name Amber Van denza and petsitter CEO, which I talked about a variety of pet setting owner subjects, but kids stuff definitely gets involved, or you may hear them in the background as well, depending on
Collin 1:16:15
perfect, I really appreciate all that. And I'll have the links to those in our show notes and on our website. So people can click to that and they can get connected. I I seriously cannot tell you how much I appreciate getting to have this conversation and all of the wisdom that you've shared today. I really, really appreciate it.
Marissa LeJune 1:16:31
I hope this was helpful. Like I was, I know, we all have different perspectives. Yeah. Like I hope, you know if there is any type of parent listening, like they're like, Oh, okay. Like, they get something just whether it's, you know, anything we have, I really do. Because this is like, I know, for all of us, it was so new. So you know, parts were scary and just the unknown world. And again, I feel like even meeting you guys today, like it's like there are other people out there, you know. And so I just I'm hoping that if it does help somebody,
Collin 1:17:01
there are so many unknowns that we face in our business and adding to our family is certainly one of those with a lot of questions. So we have to ask, but there is a community out there, there are people that you can reach out for help and support. And that's where this all starts. You're never alone in your business and you're never alone in your life as well. So I hope you can get connected to not just the guests that we had on today, but others in the community to reach out for support and questions and start making sure that your business is meeting your life goals and your personal goals as well. We want to thank today's sponsor time to pet for making this roundtable possible. And we really, really want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. And we'll be back again soon.
