377: Keeping a Business Owner Mindset with Maria Teran
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Where do you go for new ideas and adapt to changing business landscapes? The ability to create and seek out new ways of thinking is a super power. As a business owner, it’s critical to staying successful and relevant to your clients. Maria Teran, owner of Chicawoof Dog Walking and Field Days, joins us for a conversation centered around how to seek out feedback and then make necessary changes. Maria walks through her two powerful tools for getting feedback, and why you have to leave emotion out of it. She also shares what it means to stay creative as a business owner and the importance of continually exposing ourselves to novel ideas. Throughout the process of changing and adapting, Maria stresses how to stay connected with your mission so you stay true to yourself.
Main topics:
Everything changes
Adapting to client needs
Getting new ideas
Staying on mission
Main takeaway: Successful people don’t gate keep. Lean into your community and those around you by sharing your experiences and knowledge.
About our guest:
For most people, pet care doesn’t sound very interesting. For me, pet care is a passion I’ve been chasing for over 6 years. My curiosity and fascination with dogs landed me my dream job. First, North Bergen Pet Sitter in New Jersey, and now, taking The Windy City with Chicawoof! and Field Days where I’m focused on providing dog owners with personalized care, enrichment, and quality time.
Links:
Previously on Episode 220: https://www.petsitterconfessional.com/episodes/220
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, people, pet, business, maria, dog, learning, service, feedback, overnights, exceptions, review, staff, business owner, love, expectations, company, questions, mission, ideas
SPEAKERS
Collin, Maria T.
Collin 00:01
Welcome back to pet sitter confessional Today brought to you by time to pet and the National Association of Professional pet sitters. Where do you go for new ideas and adapt to changing business landscapes, the ability to create and seek out new ways of thinking is a superpower. And as a business owner, it's critical to staying successful and relevant to your clients. Maria Teran, owner of Chica woof dog walking and field days joins us for a conversation centered around how to seek out feedback and then make the necessary changes. Maria walks through her multi step process for getting feedback and why you have to leave emotion out of it. She also shares what it means to stay creative as a business owner and the importance of continually exposing ourselves to novel ideas. Throughout this process of changing and adapting Maria stresses, how to stay connected with your mission. So you stay true to yourself.
Maria T. 00:53
Let's get started. Well, hello, my name is Maria Teran, and I've been working with pets for six years now. I currently own two businesses in Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, where we offer dog walking and pet student and now dog grooming. And field days where we offer midday dog walking. I went to Puerto Rico and I took a Roman course. And it was almost a year ago. Yeah, it wasn't February 2022. I didn't really interested for a while I'm learning Roman. So the opportunity was there. And here we are. It's been almost a year.
Collin 01:34
What was that like embracing a whole different service for your
Maria T. 01:38
business? And it was really good. My clients were like waiting from day one. I told them hey, I'm gonna be away from it was like almost a month that I was away from the business. I'm learning bloomin, and it was a very intensive course. So I let everybody know in advance, like, hey, maybe I'm not gonna be like answering so fast because I'm gonna be doing this in a real way. And, you know, so they would have been excited from they were like, Yes, as soon as you come back, please. I need unemployment. I need nails I need this and that. So it was really easy. And it's been super fun because that's the first day that I took the course like they want I was like, Okay, I love this.
Collin 02:30
So, so what grooming was something you'd always had your eye on, or was that a service that you had heard clients wanting for? And you were looking for a way to fill that
Maria T. 02:38
or or both? Um, okay, well, because I've always been like interested in learning grooming. And now I know like I knew there was like potential with my clients. So it was kind of both
Collin 02:53
that's well that's really great whenever you have this client need and you have an interest right that's where we want to be working as business owners and providing services for clients is where we also have a passion
Maria T. 03:07
Yeah, and I was concerned about you know, like, oh my god, I'm not gonna be digital worker I'm gonna be the groomer so I just I just hope you know that the dogs don't hate me but no, they still love me
Collin 03:23
so how are you spending your your your days then Marina between running Chica whoo field days the grooming where how do you allocate your time?
Maria T. 03:32
What am I now I'm not I'm no longer like working on the field like doing a walk in and bed sitting not religious. Sometimes when you know, a bad cop is needed. I do a lot of grooming. I learned I do a lot of admin work. So it's not that bad. You know, it sounds crazy but I swear is not that bad.
Collin 03:59
Well, that's that's nice though. And so where are you really seeing seeing demand from your clients? And I guess Can you just remind us kind of how Chica woof and feel days are are different with their services.
Maria T. 04:12
Chicken does dog walking. That's our top service and it's always been our top service manager working. We do pet seating. We do overnights and now we mean and with field days. It is only midday walks. We only work Monday to Friday between 10am and 3pm and that's the only service we offer there.
Collin 04:34
So are you seeing what are you getting your as far as demand from clients as far as what are their asking have you given the services that you offer?
Maria T. 04:45
I see the high demand and dog walking of course. But I'm getting a lot of overnights especially this year like 2023 we I think we are booked until the end of May. Right now for overnight. It's so I'm not sure if people are traveling, or what the thing is. But somehow we are booked for the first five months of the year for overnights.
Collin 05:11
That's a lot. And so for that you're how you're staying in the client's home? Or is that coming late at night? And again, first thing in the
Maria T. 05:19
morning? Yeah, we do, we stay in the claim home for 12 hours, which usually is from 8pm to 8am. We have some flexibility there. But that's the time that most people are.
Collin 05:32
And that's, that's an interesting observation, because we've seen a little bit of that as well, where that seems to be the default of for pet care, when we're getting inquiries from clients of why I need you to stay in my home. And I think a little bit of this is, is really the outfall of all those pandemic puppies that we were really worried about. This is another wave of the clients looking for ways for their pet student be never left alone, and looking for ways to have them fully pampered. Because doing those kinds of overnight cares can be really exhausting. I know Megan and I did that by ourselves for years. And for us, it gets kind of like it gets it's really draining on us to be away from our home for days on end to be in somebody else's house dealing with their dogs. How do you how do you support your, your your team members while they're doing that?
Maria T. 06:28
I mean, I understand that and I also I make sure people knows that this is not like we cannot take like 50 clients per month, because we have a limited staff available for this because not everybody can do it. You know, there are people that have like families or children's and they can be away from home. So in my case, I don't have a lot of support from my husband. So I can do overnights whenever I want, pretty much. But still, you know, we all want to be home, we want to sleep in our beds. So I really am very picky. To be honest, I'm pretty picky with overnights when it comes to overnights I handpick clients. And I just I don't take everybody and I don't take every single request. Yeah,
Collin 07:17
well, you just you first off, you just can't because of it's very hard. You can't sleep in two places at once like that. But then, but then there is the the you know, some people really they really love that the the idea of constantly traveling, but making sure that when you're if you have staff doing that, if you're doing that really making sure that that aligns with how you operate, if you're a homebody, being in somebody else's home for seven days, nine days non stop is really hard. It's really hard on that. And then to go to the next one, and then the next one and the next one. And just to take that step back and go, Is this actually something I want to do? Like it's that? Well, the clients are really asking for this service, the clients want this service, and then going up, am I am I the one to fill that? Is that something that we need to do?
Maria T. 08:07
Right. I personally, I tried to know the overworked people when it comes to overnight. I'd say you did an overnight this week, I'm gonna send you to the federal overnight the day after. Because I know people are not going to be able to keep up with that. And I understand. So I tried to take it easy. And even if I have like 100 requests, I just take whatever I know we can take.
Collin 08:34
And that's that's that's hard to have that hard to have that line in the sand to go no, this is our capacity, because we always have at least I don't know if you suffer with this. Maria, I do have going, Oh, maybe I could just do one more. Or maybe I could sneak in something here. Which is that draw that draws real.
Maria T. 08:56
Yeah, I mean, I, I've been there. I'm learning. I'm still learning to you know, to say no to know my limits and other people's when it's to it. This is not only about me anymore, because now I have a team. So it's not just me. It's not it's not all about me. Everything is changing. And I have to keep that in mind and think about them too.
Collin 09:19
Yeah. Well, when you say when you say everything's changing, what is what does that mean?
Maria T. 09:25
I mean, like we're growing, we can run and grow. And so yeah, as we roll, things change,
Collin 09:32
of course. And you have to remember is that if that's your decision to bring on staff that now you have to externalize a lot of your thinking and going okay, maybe that's something I would take on is that something I would let that person take on or is that something we the company should commit to I know that's a phrase that I've tried to save a lot more of going, is this something the company can commit to is that something we're able to do and take on and that really helps set that perspective of when you think of this isn't a About me, you said that Maria like, this isn't about me anymore. This is about everyone else who is also doing the same services.
Maria T. 10:05
Yeah. And I tried to keep in mind that now because I'm okay with something, everybody's going to be okay with that, you know, because at the end of the day, this is our job, and they are normal people working, you know, same way. Whoever works at the office, they wake up every day and go and work and get paid. The dog walkers and bedsure is the same thing. You know, they wake up every day they will they take care of pets, they get paid. So is it still a job? We all love it. We're doing we are passionate about what we do, but it's still a job. So that's good to keep in mind.
Collin 10:39
So how have you found staffing over the last couple of years? For for the positions that you've had as you've grown?
Maria T. 10:48
I don't lie to you. It's been hard. It's been hard. I, I've seen a difference, especially after COVID Where it's becoming harder and harder to hire people. But I have my team and they've been with me almost two years now. And I'm very happy with them. I'm very happy with what they do. I'm super proud of them, especially with all what we accomplish in 2022. And yeah, I told them that we had like a holiday dinner. And I told them, guys, my only wish is that I could have the same people on the table next year, please. Oh, yeah. Um, so I'm super happy with with them. I'm super happy with my team right now.
Collin 11:39
It's a lot of trying to understand what they incoming or what the applicants expectations are. And and really, I don't know, if you've had that experience of of hiring and then do they pretty much immediately stop working or decide that they want to quit, or different things come up, and you only you're only working with them for such a little bit. I know, I've had to struggle with a lot of feeling kind of jaded towards new applicants have to not, you know, have that voice in the back of my head that's just like, well, when are you going to quit like not not going to, because because I I want to always I want to be open and give them the benefit and and be as enthusiastic with them with my with my 100 Hire just as much as I was for my first hire. And because that's a big part of how we set the tone and those expectations.
Maria T. 12:32
Yeah, but you know what I've seen too, in my case, we do a lot of walking, like that's our main service. So I've seen that people says, Okay, I'm gonna work with with dogs with animals. It's gonna be all cute and games. And it's not always like that, you know? Because you go from doing nothing, or maybe have a job where you ideas at the office? Or it's not really like, physically demand then. And then you go from there to walk, I don't know, five, six miles per day with the dogs. That's a lot. And a lot of people they, they are like, No, I can't. I'm sorry. I've seen that a lot.
Collin 13:16
Yeah, and I know for us, we've gotten some feedback from people who have gone, I wasn't, I wasn't ready for the mental mental burden that this took this took place of all the information being on alert the whole time, everything I needed to know everything I need to keep track of, and I'm really being on my game for hours on end, and then switching and driving and moving. And and all of those things both up into one really make it a lot both both hard physically, but also mentally. And that's an aspect that I know I have definitely come to appreciate, as we brought on and trained staff of helping them manage the mental burdens, the mental fatigue that comes along with
Maria T. 13:56
this. Yeah, the fatigue decision. I mean, decision fatigue. Yeah, it's, that's real. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I understand. Like, I would say this is not for everybody. Yeah.
Collin 14:11
And it's, it's so it's so difficult whenever you're doing those ads, and you're talking with people because you you kind of want to make it appear like it's for everybody, or but I know when we have tried to make it the posting or the position too attractive. We don't get good fits for it. It's whenever we actually are honest about how hard it is the difficulties of it. I've done interviews where I've been like, well, these are the three places that most people struggle or have issues with. So heads up on that. And here's how we manage that. And here's what we do about that. Just to give them a peek into exactly what they're signing up for.
Maria T. 14:45
Yeah, I've learned that I'm very honest with people with applicants, I'm very honest. And I tell them, hey, this is what is going to happen. And I let them decide if that's something they want to try. If they want to jump in I
Collin 15:02
write it because it's it's not a it's not an age thing, demographic thing, it's none of those things, a lot of what we bring to the table for our expectations of the applicant, and really, I've just been having to remind myself of going, Okay, if we set the standard, this person is either going to meet the standard or not. And more often than not, the person does end up meeting the standard. We just have to hold to it and be consistent with how we present that talk about it and train that.
Maria T. 15:30
Yes, I agree.
Collin 15:34
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15:39
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Collin 15:59
If you're looking for new pet sitting software, give time to pet a try, listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confessions. We started off talking about how you've added a whole new service with grooming and that you went for education down in Puerto Rico. And that this sounds like it's been a big hit for you. Because one of the topics I want to talk with you about Maria was, was really how how you adapt to client needs, you know, you've you with the two companies that you run with the multiple services and with, with the staff that you're bringing on. I know a lot of people have, you know, struggle with knowing like, what does my client want? And am I actually meeting that so for you? How do you make sure that you are meeting the needs with your clients and changing with them as their needs change.
Maria T. 16:50
So something that I think it really plays on our favor. And I didn't mean to do it, like I it just came like naturally, is that I really like to focus on the client experience. Like first, I'd like to meet all my clients, even if I'm not the one performing the service. And even if it's just, you know, a call or exchanging emails, because I'm not gonna do the meet and greet. The sitter is gonna do them in a grid. I like to get to know them. I like to get to know the expectations weather situation is. So I can communicate my team how to proceed in order to give this client personalize that experience. And I say this as a way to show the client that we care that they are important, because they are. And I think they really appreciate that. Because nowadays, everything is really like automatic, like Everybody's rushing, everybody wants to do everything quick. So I really take my time to do all this. And I think my clients really appreciate it. And I also like to make sure that they know that if they have any issues at some point, with our services, they can come to me, like, please come to me before anything else. And we'll find a solution, you're never going to see me avoiding clients, because you know, there was an issue or something went wrong with the visit. No, I always want to work with the client to find a solution. And I apologize if I have to, I'll issue a refund if I have to. But I've always do my best to show the client that that I care, and that they just in my business with their pets and their homes. It's important to us.
Collin 18:41
I love that of going I need to know this client so I can direct my team or point out things. I that's actually something that I is not something you think about whenever you're so low. But that is something that is incredibly important, no matter whether you're solo or whether you have team to understand what is that person actually saying? What are their fears? What are their expectations? You know, you mentioned what is their situation? Where are they coming from? What are they dealing with right now? Because then that's where we assess what that is, complement that with the pet care. And now that experience that they have with us is truly magical. When we can go we just as an example where we actually are taking care of a lady who is traveling for the very first time ever really and leaving her dog behind and her sister has been apparently getting on her for multiple years to finally get a pet sitter, get a dog walker to take care of your dog so that we can go travel and do the fun things now that you're retired. And so knowing that kind of information, I can share that with the team share that and we know that so that we can really make sure that we are on our game with her and really helping to set that expectation moving forward and really focusing on the little things and making sure that we She says something multiple times we're writing that down, we're repeating it back to her, make sure she has competence in us. Because if we don't they feel they feel ignored, right. And that's, that's one of the worst things that you can feel like as a customer, as a client is to feel like you are being ignored by the person you're talking to.
Maria T. 20:16
Yeah, I think communication is very important, like, with the client, but also with the team. I like to hear what they have to say like my team, I want to hear you, I just tell them, I want to hear you, like, tell me everything, you know, doesn't matter. I have no filter, I'm okay, I'll take it. Because, of course, I don't know everything. So I like to see what they have to say when you know, maybe they have an idea. Also, they are with the pets every day. So they even know them, but they don't know the dogs better. So if they told me later, I think this would work for this. For this client, I tried to really like listen to them and keep whatever they have to say.
Collin 21:01
And really trusting and leaning on them. As you mentioned, they become they have this now institutional knowledge of clients of their homes of the quirks with the door of the pet and all of their eccentricities, then everything that they need that now we can take that and from with our experience, our oversight, our knowledge, we can apply that and we can have a wonderful conversation where now that that service to that client truly starts to become something totally unique, because of that feedback on that conversation that
Maria T. 21:32
we have. Yeah, and I think that client also notices that they notice when when you have like a good communication with with your team, and I think clients appreciate that they see it like, wow, they are really working as a team. So they feel better about your bet with you.
Collin 21:52
Especially whenever you're having to handle you know, tricky situations, or medications or behavioral issues or, or you're trying to monitor a problem to make sure it doesn't get out of hand or things like that. They they really go wow, these these people know what they're doing. I hired
Maria T. 22:07
Yeah, yeah, they got me like I can go and enjoy my vacation or whatever in keys,
Collin 22:13
which is something that we want and making sure that we are, are meeting that and that at least we know what's going on. So I think that's really important that we don't forget to to understand where they're coming from. And Maria, you mentioned that you'd like people to get in touch with you if there's any sort of issues. Walk us through what kind of feedback process you have with with clients so that you you're hearing from
Maria T. 22:40
them? Well, I have two powerful tools, I like to call them like that. First is something that I call a testimonial request, which is an email that I sent every six, eight weeks to new clients and clients that haven't reviewed on Google or Facebook. In that email, I ask them to leave a review. But I also tell them that if they feel like we haven't earned five stars, to click to please give me the opportunity to make it right before they review us. So that's taken away. It's like paying special attention to the reviews on my Bezzina software. After each service, the client receives a report card performance. And they also have the option to read the sitter from one to five stars. And they can also write a review. So I'm always checking those reviews, we get that, like daily, a lot of clients review the sellers. And once they review a setter, I get an email notification. So I can see immediately what's going on. And I'm always checking those reviews to make sure everything is going everybody is happy with with the services,
Collin 24:00
that tool really captures the person before they go out and go public to Google to Facebook to these other places, it's capturing that. And so you really can have a much more immediate response to them, especially if that's going out daily, or however frequently that is you can really ket sounds like you can catch a lot of small problems with them.
Maria T. 24:19
Yeah, that does it. Do
Collin 24:23
you do you use those reviews at all as part of employee reviews or anything like that whenever you're sitting down and looking at their performance?
Maria T. 24:34
Yeah, I do. And they also not only I get the notification on my email, but they do too. Every time they get a five star rate or any rate they get an email so they know what they're doing.
Collin 24:48
So how do you how do you reach out to a client who's left not so glowing review or is or has an issue because I know that conversation can be an awkward for some I know it can feel a little confrontation Rational or or just weird for a lot of people because they get very uncomfortable. So how do you make that? Is that a phone call email text? And kind of how do you start that?
Maria T. 25:12
What I found out that my clients prefer email. So the first thing I do is apologize. As far as the second, I have to find out, you know what I'm going to do to prevent that from happening in the future. And I let the client know that I'm taking action, I let them know what I'm going to do. So you know, they know I'm finding a solution, and then that's not going to happen again. Then I compensate the client. As I said before, if I have to wait for the client, because we did something wrong, I will. Or if I have to give a discount for future services, or whatever the case is, it really depends on to what happened, but I make sure I compensate the client. And finally, I talk to my team. And I tell them, Listen, this happened and the client wasn't happy. So now we're going to do it in this different way. And I communicate them the solution to and I'm always open to hear what solutions they have in mind to. And yeah, that's pretty much what I do. And depending on the claim answer to I may have different steps. But usually, yeah, usually that's what what it is. I mean, I've never had a sense that I never had anything like horrible happening. But yeah, that's what we do. I think
Collin 26:36
those four steps are just absolutely amazing for handling that situation. And again, speak back to that customer experience that client experience with you the company that they feel like they they are being heard they are being seen, especially whenever you are trying to identify what you'll do to prevent that from happening. And the hard part there as is, is that that that can take some time. And it can, it can feel really frustrating to have this negative review sitting there. And you might not know immediately how you're going to prevent it from happening next time. And how you're going to make sure make it right to them. And and that. So you're trying to take some time to give yourself those moments to think through, have a conversation with other people maybe go to your team put something together, instead of just rushing through that process. And just kind of because that can come off as being rather flippant, or like it wasn't a big deal, or, or things like that, where the client now doesn't feel like you're actually taking them seriously.
Maria T. 27:39
Yeah, something that something that I learned is like, Don't be emotional, you know? Because sometimes you get a bad review, or you get this email saying hey, I didn't like this. I didn't like that. And you freaked out. And you answer from that state of mind. So I've learned to just calm relax, and just look into the issue in a more like rational way. Like with a business owner, mind.
Collin 28:04
EU Business Owner mind, that's huge. That's huge.
Maria T. 28:12
I'm still working on that.
Collin 28:16
But I think that's a great way to think about it of of not being emotional about it, not taking it personally thinking bigger thinking as a business thinking I have to respond is now a representative of the company. And I that may mean I have to change policies, procedures, change a contract, that means I have to change my training, I may have to change the sweat service. I like thinking through all of those various aspects. Because emotionally, we just want to make it go away and get as done as quickly as possible. Without fully I think what this gets to that business owner mind is we don't think through the full repercussions of what we're agreeing to or what we're saying we're going to do when we respond immediately. Because it's we're only thing our brains are only short term. And we're just trying to get away from that pain and get make sure that somebody isn't angry at us, right?
Maria T. 29:09
Yeah, just take a deep breath and relax.
Collin 29:13
Obviously easier said than done. It does take time and how have you worked on that, Maria as far as getting getting into that mindset more frequently?
Maria T. 29:26
Well, usually our feedback is good. But there's been only one exception in all these years. It was a very particular case. And I know deep inside I know that we all did everything in our power to accommodate this person. But something that I've learned too, is that we are not a good fit for everybody. So that's something that you eventually learn when it comes to business because I'm you know, you're a business owner, you want all the clients you want all the adults you want everything, but eventually you're going to find out that that's not the way you should be doing business. So you have to make a difference, like when you're a good fit, and when you are not. Because if you know that you're not a good fit for a person, and you still go with that person with that client, that only that's the only trouble. That's what you're gonna get from trouble. So I learned that and the hard way. And yes, but it was just that particular case. So, yeah, I'm lucky that we have like, a positive feedback from our clients.
Collin 30:41
It is and really staying in touch with them and giving them the opportunities for feedback, especially whenever you have a client who may be really frustrated about something because I know that's, that's, that's a question that may come up of going, well, I have all these people don't use me. But are they happy? They're using me, right? That's another thing of like, Are they happy that they're using me? Why are they using me, giving them these outlets, for their comments for their frustrations for their joys, allows you to capture that and they'll do something with a lot quicker feedback than that showing up on your your Google My Business, your Google business profile, you know, a month later, and now you're left going, Oh, they never I, they never told me about that. Otherwise, I would have XYZ. And it's it's hard to ask for feedback. Because we've got to be vulnerable, we've got to put ourselves in that position of going, okay, like, I have to be mentally ready to receive things I don't like or I'm not ready or not happy about. But I know that I've got to do this. And that's going to be better for me in the end.
Maria T. 31:44
Yeah. And that's an everyday work day. That's not to me my opinion, like there's not like a magic formula doesn't have a thing.
Collin 31:53
It is is. And it's just kind of which is frustrating, right? This, we look for the like, what's the two things I need to do? What's the three things that will guarantee this? And it's unfortunately, well, you know, it kind of the answer is it depends. Which is, which is where you end up both when you're on a you mentioned, like going onboarding new clients. And then sometimes when you part ways with existing clients recognizing well, and sometimes that happens, Maria, where you go, Okay, well, we were a good fit when we first came on, but because of maybe how we've changed our business, or maybe how that client's needs have changed, we're no longer working together very well. And this, this can pop, this could probably end badly, unless we do something about it now and just recognizing, just because I brought somebody on that was a good fit for me, then doesn't mean they're gonna stay a good fit for me for the next several
Maria T. 32:48
years. Yeah. And that's, that's what I mean, when I saw like, as you grow, your business, things are gonna change and not everybody's gonna be okay with those changes could be
Collin 32:59
that now, their their dog gets it gets an illness, or as the dog is aging, they have different requirements that you aren't quite able to meet, but they have this expectation of well, they've always been there for me and your, your business might not be set up to care for them in that way. And just being honest about that. And that's where those feedback really helps so that you can go you know what, after reviewing your last information, we are no longer able to serve you in full faith and competence that we're doing right by you. Here's, you know, three or four other people that you should get in contact for your particular needs.
Maria T. 33:32
Yes, I would say like, always be honest with the client, be honest. Tell them how you're feeling like what's happening. And yeah, try to try to do what is what is best for the dog, because in this case, as you say that the dog is agent that dog needs special treatment and maybe your company is not able to, you know, fulfill doubt at the moment. Just tell the client that you are you want the best for the dog and we are not a better fit now. So yeah, it is what it is.
Collin 34:05
It is what it is. And that's that's that business owner mindset coming in and going it is what it is right? This is a business decision. And yes, the client may be emotional, feel like you're not doing something but you have to make what's now the right decision for your company, that you're not putting yourself your staff, your clients in jeopardy of something that could go wrong if you aren't prepared for him. The National Association of Professional pet sitters has a vision of a future where pet care professionals and pet parents collaborate to make a significant positive impact on the welfare of pets and the pet industry through education, certification and community outreach. Together we can make this vision a reality. Naps is run by its members for its members. It's a volunteer driven Association. They actually offer a trial membership and various webinars to showcase the mini naps member benefits offered. Visit the NATs website at pets There's a.org for membership details and more information. With everything changing as your business grows and adapts, as you're in it for multiple years, there is a real need to have new ideas to approach and solve new problems as they arrived. So where where do you go for your new ideas? And how do you how do you process
Maria T. 35:21
those? By phone, business coaches, and a lot of businesses on Instagram a lot, I'm fond of all of them. So I always see what they are doing. And I take what I like as an inspiration for my business. Sometimes I even messaged them and ask questions. And what I love about the cutter community is that they are always somebody responsive and willing to help. So you know, successful people don't get keep, I always say that. And I love that. So yeah, social media is like my main source of inspiration. I also tried to go to conferences, workshops expos every year, and I get a lot of ideas from there, too.
Collin 36:05
What are some of your favorite conferences and expos that you've been to? I know, actually, I know you. You've started your pet business after flying out last minute to go to a psi conference, right?
Maria T. 36:18
Yes, my favorite has been the Texas petsitter conference. That's my favorite. I won't be able to join this year. But I love it. I think I've done a conference that I've got him up more ideas from the do like a small event. So it is more like personalized, you get the chance to actually talk to the speakers like the speakers are more like reachable after their sessions. I really liked that because I asked a lot of questions when those conferences, and I enjoy. Of course, networking with all the dog walkers and pet sitters that attend the business owners that attend. I really like that because I like to ask, Hey, how do you do this? How do you do that? And if I have the chance to ask that too honest to one of the speakers, that's great, because the speakers are like the experts. Right? So that's what I love that that Texas conference is a small event is like everybody's like, more reachable. So you can ask more questions and bring way the home to work in your business?
Collin 37:28
Yeah, that's yeah, those questions are huge, and getting connected to people. And you know, you start off saying I'm going well, I want to follow a bunch of other businesses, and I'm going to get ideas from them, and not being afraid to reach out. And that's where I people get hung up of going, well, I don't maybe I don't want to bother them. Or I don't know how to phrase that question, or I don't know if they'll respond to me or anything like that. And just going, if you have a question, it's okay to ask, right? It's going to be okay, the worst thing that person can do is not respond to you. And then you know, okay, well, I need to ask somebody else. And, and continuing to reach out to people, because when we start to pull in and not be connected to other people, it's really hard to get novel ideas when it's just you in a room, right? Like this, be honest about this.
Maria T. 38:18
Yeah, I love that. I mean, I'm like, if they don't answer, or if they said, No, I'm not gonna tell you, that's fine. That's fine. You know, I just move on with my life. It doesn't matter. But I always ask if I ask is because I like what you're doing. And somehow I look up at you, you know? And, in my case, I always get like, a positive answer for everybody. I even have people Uh, hey, do you want to schedule a call, I can explain you better. You can do this, you can do that. And I love that. I love the medical community.
Collin 38:53
It has a lot of people willing to help and share their experiences. Because there's a whole lot of unknowns, right? And everybody does something a little bit different. And looking at other businesses, not necessarily copying them, but looking at them going Hmm, how would I do that? In my business? How would I set up that policy? What would that look like for me to serve my clients in my community with my goals and my objectives? That's where we start internalizing these questions. And now we can start processing that new information of going now, what would I do with that, right? It's not just learning what other people do, that's fine. But until we take that information and ask that question, what would I do with that? Or how would I do that? That's where we really start getting some where the rubber meets the road and we start getting some things and put into action.
Maria T. 39:39
Yeah, and especially if you see like a bigger business, like someone that already has the results that you want, like why not, you know, they already breached the goal that you currently have. So why not?
Collin 39:54
In recognizing that you may think that's I think what's really important sometimes is you may think that's your goal. And then you find out what it's going to take to get there. And you go, Oh, actually, yeah. And that's, that's super valuable. Because even then you've learned a way to not do something. Okay, well, let me be changed something. And that's what now we're processing. And we're learning. We're learning all sorts of
Maria T. 40:22
things. Yeah. I love that I love like connecting with people.
Collin 40:28
It really does help you get outside of your boundaries, your preconceived notions, your background, and and start having that conversation with people and go well, like, I didn't know the variety here. And I like some of it. I'm not a fan of all of it. And that's okay. Because now we can make that work for ourselves.
Maria T. 40:45
Yes, absolutely.
Collin 40:47
And when it when it comes to new ideas, and we just said, like, you know, these things that come to us, and we're learning about businesses, and we're learning about new ways of doing things, how do you know if a new process procedure or policy service, how do you take that and now ask that question, well, will this will this work for me? How do you judge whether something will be a good fit for for Cheikhou? For fieldays?
Maria T. 41:14
Well, when I want to try or implement something in my business, I asked myself, is it going to bring a benefit? And it's going to fix a problem? So if the answer is yes, then I'll jump in. But me, it doesn't guarantee that it will work. But keeping those two factors in mind, make me feel like I'm reducing the risk, and I'm not wasting my time.
Collin 41:39
Is it going to benefit us it isn't going to fix the problem? I think that really helps put into context of what's really asking, what's worth my time, what's worth investing in? Because if you ask those questions, and you do that deep dive, and it's not going to benefit, and there's no real problem at solving, that the the risk, there is not going to outweigh the benefit that you could reap from them.
Maria T. 42:03
Yeah, especially if you are investing money.
Collin 42:06
Yeah, yeah. Something that we're all concerned about these days. Especially when you get to when we're thinking about our clients, and going what are my what clients, what are their problems they facing? And you know, Maria, as you're going through this, this feedback process with them, I'm sure you also get some insight into what their expectations are, what they're facing, how they, what their concerns are. And so as you come across new information going, hmm, can I apply this to the problems that my clients are having, then if if that is the case, then I know that there's, there's probably going to be a benefit from this, that I that I could reap from it as a business or as I'm happier clients, or maybe even happier staff, it's just about trying to understand when we'd say good fit for us, a part of that is also knowing what our our mission is with for our for our company. So what what is your what is the mission of Chico woof and field days?
Maria T. 43:03
Well, our mission, we are deeply committed to providing pets with personalized care and quality time. And our mission is to serve as a reliable source of pet owners can count on to fill healthcare needs and spoil their babies, their fur babies. Yeah. Everything reduces to peace of mind that my My goal when it comes to pet care with my two businesses, yeah.
Collin 43:30
Well, so how do you how do you stay connected with that, with everything going on with all the information with all the changes that you experience? As your company grows and goes from year to year? How do you stay and make sure that your company is connected and plugged into that?
Maria T. 43:47
I think your mission reminds you why you started and what the purpose of all your hard work is. So if you're not connected to that, I feel like somehow you're contradicting yourself. And I hope this doesn't sound cheesy. But I feel like if you're not connected to your mission, and you are not living by your mission, you have to train yourself in your business. Because you're doing like the opposite.
Collin 44:19
Ooh, oh. That cuts that gets hard. As far as has no recognizing that my actions if I'm not, if my actions don't live out my mission, I'm betraying myself and betray what I actually say I stand for in a fact what we're saying is we're we're we're lying to the world around us.
Maria T. 44:40
Correct? Yes.
Collin 44:44
Which, which is Oh, that's that's some hard news. Sometimes when you think about it.
Maria T. 44:53
And I have worse news because because to me, every time you say Yes. When you want to say no, you are betraying yourself and your business every time you make all this crazy exceptions, and don't respect your boundaries, and your business policies are betraying yourself. You're betraying your business. Because
Collin 45:17
of we say, we're going to do one thing, but we're acting another way. Right? outgrowing? Well, I in those exceptions, oh my gosh, Maria, those exceptions, they creep in over everything with for almost every client has this, this. They talked about mission creep. Well, there's definitely a client creep of this, these little demands these little exceptions that we say, Oh, it's okay, this one time, Oh, it's okay, this one time, this one time, and then we look up, and we're making this one exception 100 times, and it's. And then we and then we feel burned out and upset with what's going on and feel like we aren't leading the company that we want to lead, and that the clients are controlling our staff, and everything just gets out of whack. And it all started because we took a little step away from that mission. And then just a little bit step from that. And we look up and we go Oh, wow, I'm I'm way, way, way away from that mission.
Maria T. 46:11
Yeah, I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do. So. Yeah.
Collin 46:16
Yeah. And and that, that the that all of this this hard work, you said, the when you when you stay connected to your mission, it helps remind you that that the purpose of the hard work is, is that there is a purpose behind that, that all of this is not for naught, we're not just doing this all for kicks and grins, that there is a meaning behind the work. And that's what it really means for us to be connected and living out that mission. And what's the hard step that is helping our staff see how they get connected to that, because then that's where they can start living out our the y that we set forth for them is the mission in the business. And now that helps everybody get through those tough times and sees how they are contributing to something bigger than themselves.
Maria T. 47:01
Yeah, and your staff, they're watching you. They're watching, what do you do? If you you do the opposite that you told them to do? So how do you expect them to have some respect? Or, or do whatever you say, if you said, Hey, do this this way, and then you go yourself and do the opposite? You know what I mean? There is no, like, makes no sense.
Collin 47:25
Yeah. Just a very clear example, if you have a training video where you're up there going, and as a company policy, we never use a flexi lead. And then that first day that that staff member is shadowing you, they've watched your video, they took the quiz, they signed off that they agreed to that policy, and they go up to that first client and you go, Okay, well, this client uses a flexi lead, but they're an exception to this. And we usually don't. Immediately they're gonna go, okay, and I'm being held to what, like, what was the purpose all this?
Maria T. 47:57
Yes, yes, that's, that's what I mean.
Collin 48:03
Which, and understanding that it's not just such a staff to it's also clients, people out in the I'm constantly reminded of just how public of a job this actually is, about the eyes and ears of the community of the neighbors are on us at all times. And for both good and bad. And that's another thing to remember of going look you are a representative, whether you are the owner doing the visits, or you have staff during the visit, you are representative of the company, when you are out, and to never forget that people will will make judgments on you, for better or worse, depending on what they see. And this is not a Oh, you have to scrutinize every little thing that you have to do. But just realize that what you do in public and with and with people is insanely powerful. Because they are going to know is this person being truthful or are they not?
Maria T. 48:59
Yes, you have to live with your example. Yes, yeah,
Collin 49:03
that example really helps you because that's where that leading comes from people don't you're bringing on staff they don't know how to act they don't know what to do the policies to follow they're gonna look to you. And if you are constantly saying well, we don't do that. Well, this is the one time we don't do that. It really does undercut and undermine both your your your authority and your ability to lead and guide them
Maria T. 49:27
yeah, there will be like this person don't know what what they're doing like
Collin 49:35
it really and then when you go to write them up on something, or to have to have a hard conversation with them about something they did wrong, you know, the whole time they're going to be thinking Well yeah, but like what about all the other exceptions? Can we just make an exception this one time for me?
Maria T. 49:51
Yeah, or they could say like you do it too. So now going on in there.
Collin 49:59
There's there's a lot, there's a lot more than that for sure. Which is, which is a reminder of, we get to, we get to set that example, right, we get to hold ourselves to that standard, because at the end of the day, our clients are choosing our company for a reason. And we need to stay true to that reason and stay connected to that reason, which is our mission with high quality care, whatever what that secret sauce is for you and your company recognizing they picked us for a reason they continue to pick us for that reason, we can get feedback from them to continue to improve and correct errors as they come up. Being honest about that process at the end of the day is really what that boils down
50:33
to. Yes, absolutely.
Collin 50:37
Maria, I can't believe time has flown as it has. And I want to thank you so much for for coming on today. And for encouraging us with everything and to embrace those changes and to get that feedback from everybody around us. And to be willing to help others when they reach out. I think that's something that I'm going to going to focus on is that when people reach out to us to share and help them because we know we haven't made it here alone, and that we have pulled from resources and other things, as well. But I know that there's there's a lot to be covered. And I'm sure people are going to have questions and want to follow along with everything that you're doing Maria so how can they get connected with you and follow along with all of your work.
Maria T. 51:19
Of course, we are very active on our Instagram at Chico don't walk in, or via email. If you prefer to send me an email, I always check my emails every day. So people can contact me via email to info at chica work.com
Collin 51:38
Perfect. And I will have those links in the show notes so people can follow you're very active on all of your amazing photos and stories and things that you do on social media. Because those are so so much fun to to follow and get inspiration from as well
Maria T. 51:54
I answer my messages on Instagram. So feel free to message me and ask whatever you want to ask.
Collin 51:59
Hey, perfect, that's awesome. I'll have those there. So, Maria, again, I can't I can't thank you enough. I really do appreciate everything. And I've just loved love talking with you today. My pleasure. What does your business mindset say about you? And how you perceive your business and how you perceive yourself as a business owner? How do you act as a company, whether you have staff or you are a solo senator, having a business owner mindset means thinking through of all of the possible repercussions thinking big picture long term implications from the decisions that we are going to be implementing, so that as we adapt and grow as a company, and we continue to meet the client needs, we meet them the way we want to meet them. We meet them from a position of strength from our company and their background resources and training so that we can do it well every single time. And all of that is done through experimenting through exposing ourselves through new ideas and trying new things in our business by asking those questions that Maria encouraged us to ask. We want to thank today's sponsors timed pet and the National Association of Professional pet sitters. Make sure you check out the links in the show notes and on the website to learn more about them and to get connected with Maria Tehran. I want to thank you so much for listening today. And we can't tell you how much it means that you spend your time with us throughout the week listening to these episodes and sharing from your own experiences. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
