379: Building Resiliency with Abagail Giordano
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What does resiliency look like in your business? Abagail Giordano, owner of Pack Pals NY, discusses how she is building her business through policies, procedures, and retaining the right staff and clients. She explains how it's important to create a sustainable and happy environment. Abagail also suggests to make decisions backwards and start with what’s best for you first. As she prepares for the birth of her child, she shares why making changes to your business is scary, but also necessary, to keep it resilient and relevant for the future.
Main topics
Business deep dive
Using social media
Prepared for anything
Keeping it simple
Main takeaway: You’re not going to be starting out forever, you will grow with your business.
About our guest:
Like many animal lovers, Abagail has been surrounded by them her whole life. Her mother has been a Groomer since 1993 and Abagail has had a lifetime of opportunity to learn the intricate details and skills of animal care from her family. Her full time work here began in 2018 and she is dedicated to providing enriching services that better the lives of pets and their owners. Abagail is a homebody at heart and spends her time outside of work snuggling up with her two German Shepherds.
Links:
Previously on: https://www.petsitterconfessional.com/episodes/273
Jotform: https://www.jotform.com
https://www.instagram.com/packpalsny/
https://www.facebook.com/packpalsNY/
Email Abagail: packpalsny@gmail.com
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, business, people, dog, schedule, services, pet, week, questions, helps, scheduling, email, feel, potential clients, find, instance, community, reach, streamline, offer
SPEAKERS
Collin, Abagail G.
Collin 00:01
Welcome back to pet sitter confessional. Today, we're brought to you by time to pet and the peaceful pet music, calm music for pets YouTube channel. What does resiliency mean to you, Abigail G are down now owner of pack pals in New York rejoins the show to discuss how she has spent the last year building resiliency into her business, through her policies, procedures, through her hiring and through building and designing a business that actually is resilient through the kinds of clients and services that offer to how this helps not just in the short term, but also in the long term life of her business. Let's get started.
Abagail G. 00:42
Hi, and thank you for having me. I've been a huge fan for years. And it's so incredible, to be a part of this amazing resource that you offer our community. I talked with you all about a year ago, and we had a podcast about my weird journey with pet care. I worked for a business for the past five years. And about two years ago, almost I took over ownership of that. So we've had a lot to talk about transitionally. And as we so have it, we've got a lot to talk about transitionally today.
Collin 01:15
We do and so you've your journey into pet care was really about kind of finding things that that filled you and that connected with, with kind of your mission and who you were personally, how has this last year been as you've continued to do that? And now kind of do you feel like you're finally catching your stride in the business at all.
Abagail G. 01:37
I do feel like I'm finally catching my stride. And I feel like that mission and mantra of wanting to do things that make me happy and growing as a person. And we've only continued to deep dive in that, as we've had a little bit of rhythm and a little bit of stride. It's all feeling like the chips have fallen where they're supposed to. And from there we're building and it's a great feeling
Collin 02:01
that what does that mean to do it to be making a deep dive into those things? How does that work out in your, in your business with your staff and with your clients?
Abagail G. 02:12
Well, it's weird, you know, business is business. But a lot of my business has been soul searching. And by that I mean posing my business around the way I want my life to be the way I want those who work with me the way I want their work life balance to be the way we interact with clients. It's all very personal. It's personal preference, if you will. And I try to take the personal very seriously with that to create a very sustainable and happy environment, if you will, one that works as well for my clients as it does for me. We're in the customer service industry, but I have to kind of serve myself first with this, otherwise, we can't be good for anyone else.
Collin 02:57
Well, I you just said, business is business. And a lot of my business is soul searching. And I love that connection of going. My business is a personal business, it's my business. And I'm going to be personal about this, I'm going to make sure that my staff are connected with the business in a personal way that they're being fed. Personally, through some aspects of the business, obviously, we can't be entirely fulfilling to them in their personal aspects. And that's not really our role, but we can help in some capacity. And that starts with us and making sure that the business is serving us and is in alignment with our beliefs that are going to make us happy and help us live a fulfilling life as well. And that a lot of times we either I feel like I can swing between only focusing on personal, and then the business is completely separate over here and locked away from everything happening in personal life and just the realization and being reminded that it's not like it really does flow between them pretty easily, which is both a good and dangerous thing.
Abagail G. 03:58
Yeah, that balance and I hate to overuse the word balance. But that balance is really hard to find. And there is an ebb and flow it does lean more one way and more than the other, you know, in certain seasons. But if you find yourself way down the personal aspect of it or weigh down the business, money focused, organizational focused aspect of it, the other starts to fall and falter. So it's hard to keep up with both but if you can really, really really intertwine them so that every decision you're making is based wholeheartedly and both and not just, you know, one or the other. It starts to work working on that part.
Collin 04:38
It does and I think depending on how your brains wired, you know, I think a good place to start with that a lot of times is is is pricing and making sure you're meeting your personal budget and knowing that those two are interlinked. Now that we are independent business owners and entrepreneurs in this and knowing okay, my business has to feed my family and so my prices have to be set according Really, and then I bring on staff, if I decide to do that my prices need to be set so that I can pay them a good wage for their personal life and do their personal things. And then there's the actions and the services and how you interact with people, and you build from there, and try and try and make that a cohesive unit, which is something that that really, it takes time and understanding. And obviously, it can change over time to of going well, that's where who I was five years ago, but now I'm different. And my business gets to be different with that, too.
Abagail G. 05:31
It is truly that way. And that makes me happy that you brought that up. That's something I see being spoken about in our community very often that I think is incredibly positive people talking about working things backwards and deciding what you need for yourself. First, typically, that conversation happens financially about pricing, like you mentioned, but that's true with almost all decisions. It's you know, it's got to work for us first. So working it backwards instead of just figuring out, okay, this is what I want to offer to the client, it's got to start with us.
Collin 06:03
realizing like, okay, like, yeah, my clients want that service like it my clients want adventure hikes to I want to provide adventure hikes, is that something I would want to do? Do I want to get involved with the, the training and the equipment and the hassle of the drive and being gone, and all this stuff, is that really what would feed me ultimately, and understanding that just because it may make sense financially, it might, if it doesn't make sense, personally, we're not going to, it's not going to stick for very long. And that's it, we're gonna have a lot of, of not a lot of, oh, my gosh, my brain is just completely gone right now. Just a lot of a lot of tension in our life trying to balance those two.
Abagail G. 06:47
I think that's super true. I think people fall into two trains of thoughts with that, or to train of thought with that. And one being well, if I don't do it, are gonna go to someone else, and someone else is going to make the money off of it, and I won't, and the other train of thought being, well, if I don't do it for them, no one else will. And that's the camp that I fall into. And all you have to do is look around you and pour yourself into your community to realize that is not true. We're lucky to be in such an age where we have so many resources as pet owners, and so many different options ranging from the the old school, you know, high school neighbor next door to very professional businesses, like the one I run and everything in between. And there's someone out there for every client, and I don't have to always be that person for them.
Collin 07:40
It is you feel you feel guilty, and especially with missions that a lot of us have of like helping pet parents live their best life possible with their friend or helping them be better educated or serving the pets to make their lives better. When we focus on that we can feel like it is it suddenly becomes our our obligation, our responsibility to meet that need. And if we don't like you said somebody else will or it just won't be met at all. And then we get this guilt coming in from the business going. Well, I guess I have to do that then to make this work and realizing that no. There's somebody else out there. Maybe you can serve them in a different way. And being okay with them.
Abagail G. 08:24
Yeah, that is the truth. And one huge part of that, for me, was realizing I don't want every client. Yeah, and alternatively, I'm not the best fit for every client either. And getting a lot pickier about the people that you serve. And then you know, the dogs that follow them. And what the right fit is for you is super helpful in kind of really digging into your niche and finding your little sweet spot, if you will.
Collin 08:55
Yeah, well, so for you, how do you go about being being picky? What kind of things do you look for kind of cues to maybe, maybe this potential client isn't going to be a good fit?
Abagail G. 09:06
One of the best things that I did shortly into my time here was trying to figure out this started from a place of very, very business minded, how can I optimize my time? Where am I spending my time and one of the things I found I was spending a lot of time on was emailing potential clients back and forth and back and forth. And basically kind of trying to gently dig for information and you know, not sound too weird, but understand their needs. And that took a lot of time. And so the best way I found to streamline that and then also I found that could help me find who I'm looking for was creating a new client form. And the form is with jot form. So it's a super, super easy thing to do and it asks all type of specific questions about the dog's behavior about the client's routine, and things of that nature. So before I even speak to them before I reach out to them, I've got a, it takes about five minutes on their part, but it gives me I mean hours of communication from them hours of information to kind of sort through and look at and be prepared to kind of know a little bit about who I'm speaking to, and the situation of entering before reaching out to them.
Collin 10:21
It helps streamline that a lot. And you can ask very pointed questions. And that kind of also makes it less. In one aspect. It's very beneficial when you have those intake forms, because it makes it less awkward to ask some very pointed questions to clients without staring them in the face in the face or having them on the phone. And it'd be uncomfortable, right? And especially for us, like me, like I don't want to confrontational. So I tend to try and sugarcoat things, but in black and white on the on the paper on the forum, it makes it really straightforward to go, Okay, I need to ask this piece of information. And then based on your answer, I can just really quickly read go, oh, okay, there is a bite history here. Maybe that's not something that's not something I even want to approach and I need to refer them to somebody different. And you can really process that a lot quickly. It reduces a lot of the mental fatigue as well, throughout that. And also, like you said, like you just the back and forth can really it just weighs on you of getting back quickly and responding and doing it the right way and asking the right next question and stressing about the follow up and just going no, here's, here's a form, if you fill it out, I kind of like think about for hours that like, if they make it through this form, that's a big step that they are a potentially a good client, because they have filled out.
Abagail G. 11:35
Yeah, and then you get to feel informed and empowered. Not like you've got the hand up, but you have the information, you need to have an informed conversation with them to ask the questions you need to ask or to right off the bat disqualify them from your services, you know, something that really helped me form that was just viewing as many other dog walkers or websites as possible seeing what type of questions they were asking what type of ones specifically apply to my services. So for instance, we require a minimum, under under the strictest three or four hour time window. So if and if they say anything less off the bat, and I can touch base and confirm that with them when we speak. Explain why that doesn't work for us. But I've got the leg up. I found prior to that, I would find what seemed like the perfect client, you know, let's say a five day week, there had a weird timeframe, I have a hard time failing, everything seems great dog is good on leash, oh, wait, they can't be left alone more than x hours. So if I don't arrive right on the.it doesn't work, we find ourselves kind of forgetting to ask the important questions. So it's nice to get the huge ones out of the way first.
Collin 12:48
It does. And I like being able to have everything in one place. Because then you can form a lot better, cohesive follow up questions instead of one at a time. Because when you're doing that on the phone or in person, it's a lot to sit and process and try and put those pieces of the puzzle together. So whenever you get that and that form, you have a much bigger, you can take the time to really sit and go okay, what are these questions really telling me about this dog? And this separation anxiety? Okay? The clients aren't okay with those with the time windows that we have. You know, you can you can deny moving forward for many reasons, because it's not the client isn't okay with your policies, or the dog is not a good fit for your abilities in the services that you offer, or anything in between, or combination of them is what we find a lot of times.
Abagail G. 13:33
Hmm, yeah, we found that too. And I feel that getting all of those big things out of the way first allows me to have a more enjoyable meet and greet. because prior to that, we used to try and ask a million questions at the meet and greet and undoubtably you either end up there two hours going question by question line by line, or you end up not going over a lot of important information that you really need to know ahead of time. So now my meet and greet is much more meeting as people enjoying each other's company getting to know what are these people like versus, you know, running down a list of information about the dog?
Collin 14:10
Yeah, because it is awkward to go okay. And I know it just depends on the kind of business and how you're writing it and the clients that you're working with. And, you know, forms may be people may may be worried about using them because of technology issues with a lot of clients or they're not savvy with computers or whatever. You can walk people through that and you that's not to say you still can't do those kinds of Meet Greets with that information, but just doing it going, Okay, I want to do that a lot less. I think that's a good goal that I just wanted that a little bit less, you know, 10% less than 20% less and if keep reducing that down, and you'll find clients really embrace that. I like giving clients the ability to, for them to give me as much information as possible because that's where I find I connect with our ideal clients, because you'll see you know, and it's a judgment call was going okay, did this person not answer these very well? Because they're rushed? Are they busy? Are they in a hurry? Are they stressed? Or are they really annoyed? They have to fill this out? Well, if they're annoyed about filling out my form, boy howdy, my policies are gonna be a whole nother thing.
Abagail G. 15:15
Right, or your online scheduling system that you use or your online billing. And I've had people do that as well, intentionally and unintentionally, people will reach out through email or through other avenues. And, you know, my, my standard response is always Well, sounds great, thank you so much for reaching out, please take a moment to fill out our new client form. That way, we might be able to go ahead and schedule a meet and greet together. And at that point, very rarely will they ghost you, and then you go, Okay, well, that's definitely not a fit. That's self selection. Fantastic. Or they'll say, hey, you know, I'm having a hard time with that, or, you know, whatever the answer may be a couple of weeks ago, I had a gentleman say, I'm not very tech savvy. So I'm like, Okay, let's schedule a phone call. And I called him and we just went over the questions together. No, that took a lot of extra effort. But we got a good new client out of it. And thank goodness, I had their questions ahead of time, instead of just giving in and showing up to meet and greet and finding out Oh, no, this, isn't it?
Collin 16:14
Yeah, what again, that's a great example of the but that's not what you're doing all the time now. Right? And if it's a burden to you, it's like, okay, if I just did maybe if I just did one of these a month, like, if I could get down to that, that'd be great. Or just significantly less than where I'm doing. Now. Just save yourself that mental burden.
Abagail G. 16:30
Yeah, I'll say, since since we started implementing this, we didn't have a large problem with this before. But since we've started implementing this, we have not had a meet and greet and not followed through with the client on services. And vice versa, they've always followed through. And I find just in general, were much more aligned much more on the same page. We have had to some clients haven't worked out with their dogs after a little bit, but not in part due to this. And it made things easier, even when things didn't work out with clients, because we had a super clear expectations, they knew exactly what I was looking for. We talked about any answers that were maybe not what I was looking for regarding behavior. And it was just super informative. So for instance, when when we show up to a meet and greet, I've got that paper printed out to review. And one of the questions I have, it just says, Please check any of the behavioral things that your dog may struggle with. And it goes you know, leash walking, jumping vacuums, men with hats and beards, all of these different little behavior things right that dogs might have issues with. And so I can show up to the meet and greet and talk about this and say like, Okay, well, it says here, the fluffy pulls really bad. Can you tell me about that? This is what we expect when we're with them. And this is how I think we might be able to help you with it. If things don't improve with this, you know, or they're very bad, we're falling over, we can expect that services might not work out, it helps me set expectations from the jump, instead of a client being surprised of well, why can't you take my dog because XYZ? I'd love that.
Collin 18:10
Yeah, saying that expert. I love that going. Okay, well, here's our expectations for what when, like when we asked this, when we state this, here's what we expect. Here's how we would manage that. We do that with, with people who say the dogs bolt outdoors. That's a question that we have, as we talk bolt out of doors. And one of basically, it's one of two responses that you get when you show up to the Meet Greet. And you ask those clarifying questions. And you say, Hey, I noticed that you stated here that Fido likes to will bolt out doors. Tell me about that. And then when giving them that floor, they can explain. And it's one of two responses. One, it happened when their dog was a brand new puppy, and it scarred the client, like permanently, like this was a very traumatic event for them. And it's one thing that they are just hyper focused and hyper concerned about or it happens all the time. And the the owner just wanted us to be aware not to freak out about it when it happens. It's so pray, you can take that and go okay, like those, we're going to act very differently. And we're going to change how we enter and we're going to give some recommendations for how to stay to the house or where to keep the dog or how to you know, double barriers, all this stuff, and you can continue that conversation.
Abagail G. 19:22
And I love either I see the exact same thing and I love either the reasonings behind that because either the client is very in tune with their dog's history and they value us having that information which is great because we all know it can be hard to get important information on a client's and And alternatively you know if that is truly what they're living with on a day to day it encourages me that they're willing to be honest and work together on their dog. A lot of people out of touch seems like a mean phrase. But but a lot of people don't see clearly their own dog's behavior. You know, the The blinders of love. Yeah. So even if someone isn't attempting to, you know, hide information from us, it can still be hard to get accurate information, sometimes until it's too late and you see a behavior that they didn't mention, because they don't take it the same way that we do. So poignantly asking all of these specific questions, I feel like it helps to dig in and get rid of the room for error there.
Collin 20:25
Yeah, because they're living with it, that's the thing that we have to remember is that it's not new or novel to them. It's their life. It just makes sense for that their dog would would would just, you know, occasionally tear tear apart things on the counter. That's just how their dog is. It's not who didn't say, Does your dog have any issues? They may say, oh, no, of course not my wife. This is just my dog. Oh, yes. And also, sometimes they'll destroy, you know, the paper towel roll kind of stuff? Oh, well, that's really good to know. And recognizing that we get to come in with fresh eyes. And the questions that we ask have to be phrased in such a point where they are pointed, they are exactly are putting the clients in very specific situations or trying to help them understand the behaviors, because then we can better work with them, direct them, it changes how we may interact with them, or just go, You know what, this, this actually isn't going to be a good fit for us, we would recommend XYZ.
Abagail G. 21:18
Yeah. And I think like you said, asking those questions very directly is helpful. I find that in person, there's still some questions we have to go over that aren't necessarily disqualifiers that are necessary to put on our intake form, but are important to go over in person. And I love wording them as if XYZ were to happen for your dog, would that be very abnormal, typical, or just a little weird? So for instance, we do that one with like, diarrhea or accidents in the house? You know, if I come in, and there's an accident, is that very weird? Or is that pretty normal? And posing questions in that way? Where it's like, it's acceptable, there's not a wrong answer. Just tell me the relevance of this to your dog tends to be helpful for me.
Collin 22:00
Yeah. Because that helps you to be more sensitive. Because they get to get defensive. Either they're embarrassed, or they don't want to say the wrong thing. And just presenting things in a way of like, there's no wrong answer. Here. Your dog is your dog. And this is how you're operating. I'm just here to gather information, right? There's not this is not a quiz, you're not being graded. Many people feel like that, you know, for various reasons, and just trying to present it in as neutral way as possible. As you're gathering facts. It's a fact finding mission at that point.
Abagail G. 22:32
Well, and that's something I say on my intake form, too, is there's no wrong answers here. We're just trying to make sure that we are the perfect fit for you. And if we're not, you know, tons of other people and with your permission can use this information to help guide you towards another person who might be a better fit. So it's a perfect transition into a referral if necessary. They don't expect that because they fill out this form, we're going to show up and start walking the dog. And it also helps form a good relationship there too, even if it doesn't work out.
Collin 23:03
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Collin 23:28
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/confessional. You also for new clients have actually started requiring some some minimum number of visits and walks a week, can you can you tell us why that was something you you decided to implement?
Abagail G. 23:49
I have so we have a minimum weekly attendance of two times a week and that is for walks and for our other services that we offer, which is PAC play. I describe PAC play as mobile daycare or playgroup we go and pick the dogs up, take them to our location, let them play and bring them home. So that's what that is. The the primary services that we offer those two, well, they're the only services really, but those two services, most of them are social activity, we very rarely have private walks anymore. We've maintained some old clients who are on private walks but don't take private walks anymore. So all of our activities are socials. It was very important to us from a social standpoint that these dogs stay in good current standing with their peers so that everyone knows what to expect when they arrive you know, if a dog leaves and schedules in frequently or is ad hoc, it's we don't know what to expect when they come back and neither do they. So for us, safety was number one there. But even in not in regards to social activities, it makes scheduling ridiculously easier. So we've got all Have our schedule, you know, on on a Google Doc. And we know Fidos going to be with us Monday and Tuesday between 12 and two every single week. So I know he always has that spot, instead of when we used to be more ad hoc and let clients schedule as needed. You know, sometimes that meant once a month, and sometimes that meant for the month, they need five times a week, every week. And maintaining availability for those clients was incredibly difficult. And now we can promise availability to clients. And that helps with our income to being able to level that out kind of know more what to expect. We have slower seasons, we do have seasons where people can sell more. But in general, we've got much more of an average,
Collin 25:45
well, and especially when you view your number of slots per day as an opening. And by having this minimum requirement, it's limiting the amount of potential openings that are there, which makes it a lot more predictable, you're not having to fill those with more one offs, which means more individual clients, which means more intake forms, and more training and more acknowledgement and all this stuff. And let it helps reduce a lot of the variation as well gets the dogs into that groove. When so when you when you communicated this to your existing clients? How did you go about communicating that that this transition to them,
Abagail G. 26:21
we were in a pretty good standing with. So we had a good set of clients who pretty much did have a recurring schedule every week. And then we have a certain amount of clients, maybe 30% or so. So we were still already doing pretty good. As far as that's concerned, maybe 30%, who were still ad hoc, you sign up when they feel like it type of client, and most of them took it very well, we didn't actually lose any clients. Because of that. Some clients were very honest with us, we've got very few who said, Hey, we're happy to sign up regularly, we can only do one time a week. And those clients we allowed that we've known their dogs forever, we know they're not a safety issue, we're good to go. And we really post it from Hey, we want to be as available as possible for you, I hate to tell you know, when you need us, so let's make a schedule that works for us. So we can always be there. And with that, because we're not ad hoc based anymore, you know, as needed based. We we always have a little bit of flexibility in our schedule, and for the most part when one of these clients does request an extra visit, we can accommodate that. Whereas before, you know, sometimes we couldn't and that it didn't feel good.
Collin 27:35
So you found that going this route, because of the predictable nature and how you're able to schedule this, you can actually accommodate that the ad hocs a little bit easier than you were previously.
Abagail G. 27:47
Absolutely, because our schedule is set I can I can look ahead and say yes, Wednesday, two weeks from now at 3pm. I do have an opening. Whereas before I didn't I don't know. So typically that meant saying yes. And then having a crazy schedule. Or you'd say no. And then realize, oh, like I could have done that. Yeah.
Collin 28:09
So you when do you offer? You know, when when people think of offering or requiring these kinds of things? Are you offering a discount on multiple bookings for that week? Or is it all the same price doesn't matter how many times they book, you
Abagail G. 28:23
know, same price, and my personal justification behind that. So we used to offer if you were five times a week, instead of this, we're old rates, but our walks were 25. And if you were five times a week, the walk was 20. And that was fantastic. But the people, no one signed up for that. For the discount. The people that got that they already needed five times a week, we didn't do them a big favor, you know, it didn't get clients to go five times a week, it just gave a benefit to those who happen to need it. And you know, going more frequently or going more frequently didn't didn't change our cost, we still needed to spend the same amount of gas, the same amount of time, it doesn't change anything for us. So I've actually been weaning those clients down over the past year to removing that discount, if you will, getting them on normal rates. And that was very hard because when I took over I initially raised rates pretty steeply as we never had an increase. And so those clients who were receiving that discount had been slowly slowly bumped up to now their walks are $10 More than they used to be. Which is huge. Yeah, but we haven't lost one.
Collin 29:39
That's wild. And that's why it's important to remember about the discounts being very careful with those as we will get people who will ask for discounts and they'll go well, I'll you know, I'll guarantee service and all I'll sign whatever you want me to do and I'll have you come out, you know three times a week for forever. And in my head I'm going Yep, if it's not profitable The first visit, it's not going to be profitable the 30th. Right, then nothing is changing about that. So being very cautious and making sure that you know your numbers and what you're giving away. And that because what could that can lead to? Is you going well, I've agreed to this. And you can start to resent that a little bit, especially whenever you feel like you need to raise prices or things aren't working out.
Abagail G. 30:22
Oh, yeah. And particularly as you're, you know, when you're starting out, I think that's when the appeal is to offer his highest to offer discounts. But you're not going to be starting out forever. And after a little while, you're gonna find yourself busy. And you know, you might have taken that discount discounted client before because you think, Oh, well, if it's not them, I don't have anyone else to do that spot, you know, it's that client or nothing. And that's simply not the truth long term. You know, for me, that client doesn't work out, I'm still going to have that spot available. And I'm going to fill that slot either way. If it's a permanent opening, there's no sense in attempting to convince people to use our services, as if we desperately need them. Because we don't it's it's mutual, we need to find I need to find a client, I need to find a dog walker. But it doesn't have to be exclusive that we're the only fit for each other.
Collin 31:15
Right, right. So how are you finding new clients these days? What are some things that you've been thinking about or trying to reach out to potential clients?
Abagail G. 31:27
Fortunately, a lot of what we get is word of mouth. Because we're pretty well established. We're not in a very small community, but we're in a tightly knit community. But prior to all of our word of mouth, some of the avenues that we really liked sharing our services on our an app called next door, which you might be familiar with, it's kind of like a, like a neighborhood social networking app. So if we post on there, and we get one client who is regular on posts on there, next time, someone is in there asking for a dog walker, they'll bring up our name if they love us. And an alternative to the app that we also loved was local groups on Facebook. So for instance, we service the Bethlehem area Bethlehem local moms group, Bethlehem, local businesses, Bethlehem, local families, group, all of these little online Facebook groups, we found our clients were promoting our services on there before we were even part of those groups. And so when we got in them, and we searched our name, we saw Oh, my goodness, all of these clients are talking about us. And that made me realize we should be talking about ourselves there. So whenever we would be looking for new clients, I'd go post, and they're like, Hey, friends, you know, we we service our community here and offer these services to some other members in the group. And if, if you're interested, blah, blah, blah, and do our little advertising there. And then automatically the couple of people who were our clients, if they saw it, they'd post Yes, we love them, blah, blah, blah. And, and that's really how we shop for things nowadays is by recommendation of others, you know, even a toilet bowl cleaner, we're going to review it on Amazon and see what other people have to say. So of course, that's how we shop for services, you know, for our home and for our family.
Collin 33:14
Yeah, if you, we have absolutely loved the local Facebook groups for us is it's insanely powerful to be in there. And you're right going in there. And if you're not gonna join a couple, there's, there's even if you're like, Oh, I'm in a very small town, trust me, you know, the town we live in is like 20,000 people and I think they have almost 100 Different groups for all
Abagail G. 33:35
sorts of reasons to be part of
Collin 33:39
it in all sorts of niches and for different aspects and things and some for businesses some for just general knowledge, I'm forgetting connected, some for selling and whatever. And just seeing what's out there already and searching your name. It's not vain. You're doing market research and seeing what pops up and then going, you'll be surprised going, Oh, wow, people are already saying mentioning me. So what can I do? What can I share? What content can I be making for for? But not just potential clients, but for my community at large?
Abagail G. 34:08
Yeah, and that's that's kind of how we search for everything. It seems so silly, because you know, why wouldn't they just Google it but just the other day posted in a group for for my location of where I live? Hey, who's the best local plumber? Who do you recommend? I don't know why, even though we have Google people want to know, I want to know who did my neighbor's shrubs. We're, we're nosy and we want to hear actual experiences from people we feel like we have some connection with even if that connection is very loose. And so that that's helped us a ton. A ton our that boosts your your credibility, obviously your visibility within your community and just your overall trustworthiness.
Collin 34:50
Now, did you ever consider anything like other direct marketing or mailing aspects of postcards or flyers or things like that?
Abagail G. 34:58
I did. I did. went almost to completion and sending with something called Every Door Direct Mail. EDDM, I believe is the appropriate acronym. And that's their USPS where you know, the coupons that you get in the mail for the local pizza chain, that have a coupon on them and tell you about that, that is Every Door Direct Mail, you can go through the post office and purchase small routes and select the routes that you'd like within your town or within another town to send out your flyers to. And we decided to do that, or what we were going to do that because you can really target specific areas. So there's a couple places that we service in our community where you know, you always think, Hey, I'd like a couple more dogs right here, this is a good spot, and I met here at a good time. So you can you can go in and purchase. And for us, for instance, those routes were about $100 each. So you can do it very small, or you can do it very large scale. And we thought that'd be a good way to, to target by location clients. The only reason we decided not to do that was we got a couple more clients, and we found ourselves to full. What a blessing, right, we didn't need to do it. But I thought that'd be fun. And I really wanted to see the results of that. One of my one of my local colleagues, owns a business dog walking business and has done the same thing, and she loved the results of hers. You know, we always rationalize it if I spent $500 on this. So that's like two routes and your postcards, right? If you only spend $500 on that, and you get to long term clients, who are a couple times a week, it's worth it. If you don't get anything, send a giant investment. And that sucks. But at least some people know your name now. So it seemed like a win win for me. And it was for her as well.
Collin 36:51
That's actually something that we have looked into as well. And we're kind of in the, in the middle of either deciding to move forward with it or not. And because of how our businesses are set up being extremely location specific, and, you know, down to the neighborhood and next door neighbors, sometimes it really is, from us and from people we've talked to about it seemed like a great way to help optimize that, because that's what our businesses rely on is good operations and good route planning and something that we all kind of stress out about. So going, You know what, if I've got some really good clients over here, who I know, I'm going to serve for a while, or it really works out with my driving or my schedule, or where how things happen. If I could just get to three in that area over the course of a year, that'd be that'd be huge. And like you said, looking at that cost benefit going, Okay, if I get these people and they booked me for two vacations, or they booked for me for five walks over the course of a month like that could make a long way to paying off for those, that kind of investment.
Abagail G. 37:54
Right, and, and so, and then like I said, another thing about that is and even if they don't they know your name, I've heard it said so many times when talking about marketing, that someone needs to see its brand recognition, you know, someone needs to see your brand, several, I think there was like three or four times before they'd consider using you, it needs to be a thought in their head, a household name, if you will. And that's something that our online stuff, it being in groups and things like that being on next door helps with a lot because if someone sees our name online, and then for instance, we sent those postcards, and then they talked to one of their friends in person, and they mentioned us okay, we're now a very trusted resource to go reach out to, versus if they've only seen your name one time, you know, on a flyer around town. They know of you, that's great, but they don't remember it. So being able to have brand recognition like that, and, and see a brand multiple times helps a ton with that.
Collin 38:51
The ad now they have something to share, to give out to somebody to refer back to it's a physical, you have a physical representation of your company, in that person's hand in their home. So whether like you said they decide to use you or they have a friend and they go, oh goodness, I just saw that flyer, hold on, let me go find that real quick. You can you have that connection, and it starts to ingrain that brand recognition really does start to take off.
Abagail G. 39:17
And it truly works. And if you think about the way that you use services yourself, it can help a lot when thinking about how you want to promote your services. For instance, like you said, having that physical reminder we've got a magnet, our electrician left here one time when he did a service and now you know it's it's not like not like he was bad or anything like that. But now I'll never Google for an electrician again. I'll go get my magnet on my friend. We used to do magnets for our clients as well. And yeah, I love that.
Collin 39:48
Yeah, we do magnets as well. They're just very small. They're they're the size of a business card, and we leave them on the counter. I try not to just put them directly on the refrigerator and be just like leave them out. out for them. Like, no, I am taking this place, just say here, here's this, and we'll come back and there'll be up there. And it's a reminder. And, you know, it's a great way to just have those various touch points with your clients.
Abagail G. 40:14
We, that makes me think of we didn't do it this past year, because I was a little little busy with things at the time that they offered it, but our YMCA does. Our local YMCA does, like family days where some businesses will come. And there will be, you know, crafts setups, and things like that for kids and families to run around and do. And that's a great way to get stuff like that out of there's community, or out there is community events, I definitely encourage people to involve themselves as much as possible in that if they're trying to grow and become more recognized in their community, no matter how you small or no, no matter how small. Like you mentioned, your community is so so small, but that's even more reason for people to know your name. Because everyone talks to everyone and everyone knows everything about everyone and you want to be one of those everyone's and everything. If your business is a go to even if there's other people in your community, if everyone knows there's these two different dog walkers, they're going to call one of you.
Collin 41:11
Yeah, yeah. And recognizing that those community events, the being very realistic of going, Okay, I'm gonna go to this. I might not get any business or bookings from attending. But what have I done, I have made myself more prominent in the community. That's a huge win. Like that's, that's, that's big, and something that we need to seriously make sure that we are nurturing and being very attentive to,
Abagail G. 41:38
yeah, that that really helps the perception and view of potential clients about our business. We talked about that last episode that we did together, about making ourselves as legitimate as possible. Because people tend to view pet care as not a very legitimate thing. Many people view that as something you ask your neighbor to do something you asked a middle school kid to do. And we're in here squeezing and saying, No, we're a professional business. So we've got to do everything we can to show them yes, we really are. And I love community events for that. And like you said, getting out there and that professional manner.
42:21
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Collin 43:09
you never miss a moment of music. Now, we started off the episode by talking about kind of where you are in a season of more more transitions in your life and working on things. So what are you what are you planning for in the future? And and what are you looking forward to in your business.
Abagail G. 43:31
So all of this goes together. So I'm currently expecting my first child. We're due early this summer. So I just hit my second trimester. The Morning sickness is starting to fade, but the planning is not it is in full swing. So we're currently getting ready for that. I'm finding that unintentionally, it's always been my goal to start a family and, and have this business and have a family since you know being part of this business. And I'm finding that a lot of these policies, a lot of these procedures, a lot of things that I've implemented already, you know, forcing so much flexibility in our scheduling with the clients and with us, and having such pretty pretty set schedules. And by flexibility. I mean, having a lot of room, you know, for instance, I only need to go to work as of now two days a week. I've built our schedules so that we can combine routes whenever we need to. So if someone's sick, if someone has car trouble, we can combine our routes for the most part, and little things like that. We've got a lot of planning to do to get ready, but I'm finding wow, I really have been building the business that's going to work for my life. It's really good feeling.
Collin 44:49
Well, that's super exciting. And congratulations, Abigail, I know that that's a very exciting time but I sure it's also scary with with unknowns and and things and you say you're still working on planning, where are you focusing right now, as far as trying to make sure things are are all in a row.
Abagail G. 45:09
It is. So something something I've done with that is, like I said, we've got our because we know our schedule every single week, our schedule is made for the year, it's in our scheduling system, if someone wants to add on something, that's great, but our schedule is done for the entire year. And it's January still, when we're recording this. So now I need to make an alternate schedule of okay, this is what the schedule will look like if I go into labor in the middle of the week. And this is what it'll look like when I'm on maternity leave. This is what it'll look like the month leading up to that. And then the month after, and because we're on recurring services, I know what that looks like. All I have to do is move things around in in the chart and figure out how they're going to work. I've got those schedules made, and we're going to do some mock trial runs, and implement them. And so far, it's not very worrisome. I feel really blessed to have the setup that I do leading into this. And I think that that's why making these changes that work better for your life are so important. If I hadn't made a lot of these changes that I've made, this would be so overwhelming right now, there'd be no way to plan. I know that like the recurring schedule thing isn't for everybody. But this is like a number one for instance, why? Why it works for me family planning?
Collin 46:36
Because whether it's whether it's having a child or it's something that comes up unexpectedly, because you well you know it early summer, like the exact date is going to move. It's not it's not set, right. So trying to just understanding like, that's a that's a fear a lot of business owners have of going, how do I plan for the unexpected? Well, the thing is, you can't but you can prepare, you can get systems set up, you can structure your business, to be what be more resilient to when changes come to when unexpected things happen. And that that takes time. Right? It sounds like you've been spending this past year, kind of unintentionally getting ready for this point.
Abagail G. 47:17
Yeah, right. And I love that word that you just use about that building resiliency, in your business and in your scheduling. And that's that's one thing that I would tell anyone, even myself who I feel like I'm doing pretty well with that continue to build more flexibility with your clients. So for instance, we we offer pretty much three timeframes nine to 11, early early bird people who want early, tend to to and that's 90% of our clients, and one to three people who want the latest slot we have available. Those slots overlap, because sometimes we're going to be early or sometimes we're going to be late. But the majority of our clients have a four hour timeframe of 10 to two. So as I'm preparing, and I'm looking at this, you know, new schedule of what it's going to look like, we're for instance, let's say something happened today, this morning, one of our girls, if they blew out a tire, I have this dog scheduled, you know, for 10 at our earliest part of his timeframe, well, now we've got this going on, if I didn't have that timeframe, I'd have to reach out, make sure that's okay, apologize, feel bad, you know, yada, yada, yada. But now I could just move him to 130 or even 145. And we still wouldn't be late having having that really allows. It takes away a lot of communication and apologizing with clients and justifying what you're doing. And also just it sets healthier expectations with clients as well.
Collin 48:42
Yeah. And it's less mental fatigue and burden on you again, going okay, well, that's fine the way that operates right now. But that's because I can be attentive to do that. Let's say hypothetically, I don't know, going into labor or having an emergency surgery or something like that, where I can't reach out and say, Hey, I'm sorry, we're going to be an hour late like, now you've you've already set that expectation. And it's not something you have to worry about anymore, because it's just the way how it operates.
Abagail G. 49:09
Exactly. And I don't think I'll need to do it. But as I'm looking at, at our maternity schedule, if you will, I'm thinking oh, well, it'd be really convenient if I could do this client, you know, at three o'clock instead of our tend to, you know, just on Mondays. But now when I do need to reach out for any type of accommodation for myself from a client that happens so rarely now that the clients are much more willing to because in general, I don't need anything from them. And I never have to apologize regarding our timing or anything like that. And timing seems to be the number one issue for people. So that's, that's my number one recommendation is just broaden it.
Collin 49:53
So are you are you going to be bringing on extra staff for whenever you step away, or how are you handling that? Just that the personnel issue
Abagail G. 50:03
at this time, I'm only needed two days a week, and that would be Tuesday and Thursday for a pack like group. And I'm currently deciding between temporarily allowing or not allowing, but I'm currently deciding between temporarily having some help from another business for two clients who prevent, prevent my staff from taking on those two days of work for me, or what I think we'll end up doing. I think my husband will be joining me previously, he's been a, you know, a silent partner, who's he only here to love on the dogs, but what I think we'll end up doing is having him work for me, those two days a week, our pet play that we run is is at my house. So he is in group every day saying hi to any everyone anyway, he's known these dogs for years, because we board them and you know, our pathway program. So all I need to do is teach him the routes, the actual picking of the dogs up, and our scheduling, you know, he knows pretty much all the clients already. So I think I'm gonna have a little short term business partner there.
51:12
I'm excited. You guys know all about that. But I I know nothing about what that looks like. So I'm a little scared.
Collin 51:20
Communication, just too far away. That's all I can say. But that's really that's really nice to have, again, that that that support and being able to lean on that and that he has that experience. And so hopefully you can get his his new T shirts ordered and get him on the training program too. With the with the company. Yeah,
Abagail G. 51:42
I feel I feel really good that, you know, aside from trying to create this resiliency and flexibility that be prepared for anything mindset. And that's why I did that all of these things that I've done is out of fear of being ready. And always being able to show up to work no matter what, you know, we've got an emergency policy, if if all goes you know, if all goes south, we will still show up and take the dogs on a free potty break, you know, trying to be prepared for anything. And I've done all this out of fear. But now I'm saying like, this is just the way we should be living our life or I should anyway, because it just it takes so much pressure off of things. And I just like a deep breath of relief.
Collin 52:26
Yeah. And so you you mentioned that you'll be stepping away obviously not just for for delivery, but also having some maternity maternity leave, built into this as well. How are how are you planning on using that time, when you're when you're away from the business and recovering and bonding with the baby.
Abagail G. 52:48
I'll be doing exactly that recovering and bonding with the baby and nothing else. So one of the things that we've done in preparation for this and you know, now expecting a baby, I've got all the more reason to kind of set these boundaries and set these new rules because what client is going to argue with me if I'm not being unreasonable, you know, we've got a really good a big Y now, if you will. And so you know, my y being the baby, one of the things that we've done recently is really streamline our channels of communication. So previous previously, I used to answer Facebook Messenger, Instagram, DMS not professionally monitored, but I would get back to clients quickly email, our scout scheduling system, they can add notes for us on there and text and phone call. And so I've reached out to all of our clients and said, Hey, our staff are going to be helping manage the business phone while I'm away. And to help make life easier for them, I would like for them to only have to monitor one of these forms of communication. So please reach out via text only if you need us to respond within 48 hours. If you just want to send me cute pictures or something feel free to email and and that has been a huge relief. I've already I'm like why didn't I do this two years ago this is how it's always going to be
54:10
Yeah, reducing that method that bombardment of input and channels to selecting it's an amount it's a mental burden to remember Oh Did I check Facebook Messenger today or where was that thing? Where's for me it's very much like if it's not in a text in our software or in an email it just doesn't exist like I just will I will forget about it and then I'll be perusing and Facebook Messenger and go oh look a message from two weeks ago oh
Collin 54:38
it's that's that's great that you can help streamline that and and just making it that's something that's going to help set up a lot more. There's that resiliency and streamline nature of the business moving forward like it's these things aren't aren't just a sounds like they're not just a temporary thing. It's something that you're you're looking forward to them sticking around moving forward to.
Abagail G. 54:57
Yeah, my thought is why can't it be like that all the time? before, it's going to be good. I think as I know, as business owners, a lot of the reason that we don't get help, or we find that we can't outsource, you know, some of these things with staff is, well, then no one else is going to be able to do this, the way that I do it. And if you have that training thought, probably the way you're doing it is wrong. Of course, I can't expect someone else to manage six different avenues of speaking with clients throughout the day. So I probably shouldn't be doing it myself. So, you know, when you do the kiss method, if you will, that keep it simple, sweetie, you make it so that your work is manageable, and you you can outsource it, you can get help when you need, I can just hand the girls the phone and say, hey, please take this. For instance, while we're on this podcast, my husband has the phone. Because there's only one thing to do. And that's, that's monitor text. And that that keeps it easy, you know?
Collin 55:54
Yeah, and keeps things moving along. And, and really does help it set up for that. It's not wholly reliant on one person, one individual person to accomplish everything, which, when we're first starting out that that resides in us. And going if I want to make this as resilient as possible, what what can i What can I off board so that if I don't show up, if I can't be there one day, something can still happen and in the business can still function as it as it needs to?
Abagail G. 56:23
Well, and here's a perfect example of this. You know, it's not even just about streamlining things, so that you can help so that others can help you but so that you set yourself up for success. For instance, I was still maintaining a couple forms or a couple a couple clients communication through email, because that's what they preferred. And I just never told them, hey, this doesn't really work for me. And a couple of weeks ago, in early December, a client message they asked to add on an extra day for the week. I said, Yep, that sounds great. Let me know if you want to confirm, and they did email me back. But when they were emailing me back, we had a plumbing issue and our house flooded. So the last thing I was doing was checking my emails, you know, I was just in treading water mode and answering texts and figuring out work scheduling. I was checking my emails. So a day later, I'm getting you know, calls in the afternoon. Why aren't you here for my dog? Why aren't you taking my dog and I had to tuck my tail between my legs, apologize and go through this whole big thing. When when that wasn't necessary. We could have done it was completely avoidable. We ask that clients manage their schedule, aka add cancellation, or make cancellations or add things through our scheduling portal. And because I allowed her to do it via email, historically, that's how we were doing it with her and making that exception because it was easier than setting the boundary. I set myself up for failure.
Collin 57:52
Oh, gosh. That's a really, yeah. of it. We make exceptions. And we never fully understanding sometimes how that could like, again, that that well, what could possibly go wrong. I'm just doing it this one time. And not being paranoid about our actions. But just realizing that when we simplify in these nature in this nature of business, communication services, pricing policies, it helps us stay consistent and helps make actions and behaviors much more predictable on both sides of the table between the client and ourselves.
Abagail G. 58:28
Yeah, that's so true. I and I'm going to continue to do this, I think I think everyone can take a little piece of that, regardless of whether your family planning or planning for a vacation, that is helpful for every aspect of your life, I would love my business to run in such a way that if I just poof like disappeared, the business would still be running the same. No one would know anything different. That's, that's the way I want things. I know people love to have their hands and everything. And that's fantastic. And you still can, but for it to be sustainable, able to receive help able to be resilient and withstand change or withstand emergency. You've got to create a plan for that. And the plan cannot be you know, for instance, me telling one of the employees Hey, you've got to check email, though, because so and so and so and so like to communicate there. That's not a foolproof plan for managing and running your mistakes. Got to be simple and procedural you know?
Collin 59:32
Yeah, because if you're the only one who knows the super secret communication method, or think form exactly, it's like, well, that doesn't help anybody coming in behind you or taking over or assisting you and helping and then you have to do the what just is causes so much mental burden for me as the also aliens of that. Oh, well. This is exactly how we do this. But also sometimes we do this and sometimes there's this thing and oh yeah, there's this one client and you just keep adding on these Addendum which you're like, well, that's not how you do it. Sounds like you do this 17 different ways.
Abagail G. 1:00:07
And you know, it's better than anyone. I'm a sole proprietor, so the only one I need to answer to for my disorganization is myself. But you know, you and Meghan work hand in hand, and I'm sure you each have some separate responsibilities. But you need to work as one brain and have one set of procedures that work so. And yeah, tell me about that you know all about that. Communication
Collin 1:00:30
is communication and taking the time to sit down and recognize, like, if I'm doing something, I try and keep that in mind, like, Okay, right now, I'm responsible for handling, you know, front facing with a lot of clients, and back in budgeting and running payroll and things like this. But if I don't, if I'm seriously ill, Megan has to know how you know where the login is in what buttons to click, and how that process works. And likewise, she sets up all of the schedules, and she does all of that in assigning things with our software, if she's sick, or if she needs to step away for something, and I have to be able to fill that role. And that takes sitting down with one another. And yeah, sure, there's the Oh, my goodness, why didn't you do it this way? And what is this and about, but using that time for opportunity and growth and going you're right? I didn't expect to ever have to teach this process to somebody else that I need to embrace this as a as a strengthening opportunity to really help outline exactly what this is. And whether that's, oh, well, why do you always, you know, in being not being afraid to ask questions, or encouraging the other person to ask questions, when you sit down to show them that process of going, I'm going to show you how I do it. That does not mean it is the best way. It is how I do it. And write down your questions. Let me get through everything. And then let's go back and I'm actually going to ask for for improvement in this process. So while they're learning the process, I'm we can improve this at the same time when they're asking good questions.
Abagail G. 1:01:59
I love all of that. And I can't stress enough. I feel like there's probably someone listening who thinks I don't have employees, I don't have a business partner, I don't even have a way to get help. I don't have a husband, I don't have anyone that can step in, all of these things are still important for you. You have to set yourself up for success. First and foremost, that's number one. And through following policies and procedures about why and how you do things, you can set yourself up for success, even if you feel like oh, well no one's ever gonna help me, it doesn't matter, I'll just No, no, you need to do it. And one day, you might have help. And then you'll have you know, the handbook the procedures to give them
Collin 1:02:39
or, or I know I am not the same person every day. I forget a lot of things. Sometimes I'm sick, sometimes I'm really tired. Sometimes I'm performing these these actions really early in the morning, or really late at night right before bed. And if it's not simple and straightforward, I will forget to do certain aspects, I will forget to flip the little tab or to save or to put send the email in a certain way. And so it helps you because then you're not have you don't have to be burdened with all of the mental also ants and all of the every little exception that you have made and crafted, when it's simple, you are able to be more consistent, so that then it's not, it doesn't matter who's doing it, it doesn't matter when you're doing it or how you're feeling when you're doing it or when you're thinking about other things, it really simplifies that a lot for yourself and makes again that word consistency for just just for yourself at the end of
Abagail G. 1:03:36
the day. I love that the the also adds, also adds and if this then that eliminating as much of that as possible. Is is helpful, even just with the communication piece where it's like, you know, also and I need to check the email to make sure I do this and blah, blah. And if they respond via email, I have to channel them to our scheduling program, if you can just streamline the way that you do these things, if there's less things to keep you up at night. Now the things that keep me up at night or I need to check my schedule requests. Do I have any texts remaining? No, I can go to bed. Right not is there? Is there a DM I need to respond to is there a Facebook thing I need to respond to I'm I'm really simplifying my responsibilities. So the rest is just extracurricular. But we've got the skeleton, the bones of what has to be done every day. And then all the excess that isn't important. And like you said on a bad day, or on a day where you're maybe feeling more spacey or you're more tired, you're distracted because you've got stuff going on. If you can just from then or from there, manage your skeleton, manage your texts, your emails, whatever that is for you. You've got a good baseline to work with that is forgiving as your life changes day to day.
Collin 1:04:53
I love that Abigail I'm so excited for for everything that you're working on you And for the arrival and or early summer, is that right and so. So that's there's just so many exciting things going on. And I know that there's still work to be done that you're focusing on. But I want to thank you for, for coming on and sharing all of that and walking us through why being being simple and being focused on these things benefits us not just in the moment, but for preparing for unknowns in the future. And that that goal of being resilient and consistent in everything that we do should really be a top priority for us, in our businesses. I know you're about to go on a very busy season of your of your life up. So what if people want to get in touch with you and follow along? How best what channels should they go about doing that, to reach you?
1:05:51
Well, for fun, and for help. And for social networking, I'm a lot more available than for scheduling. Because I can't mess it up. There's
Abagail G. 1:05:58
a lot less pressure. You can reach out to us, particularly on Instagram, if you'd like to see what we're up to. And that's Pac Pac K. Pals, Pa LS n n y is in New York. So PAC pals and why. And at Instagram, that is Arsal also are at Gmail, if you'd like to email, and that is also our website. Through our website, if you are interested in looking at some of the questions I ask, you can go on there and take my little new client form if you're interested. I did that for many people. And I've had that taken many times by people curious to see what helps us.
Collin 1:06:38
Yeah, perfect. And I'll have that in the show notes. So people can just click right to that page too. So they'll be easy for them to find. Abigail, as always, thank you so much. I'm so appreciative of your time, and of all of your your wonderful wisdom that you've been sharing. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Abagail G. 1:06:55
It's been a pleasure and an honor. Thank you for having me. I said it last time and I'll say it again. This podcast helped me when I had no one and nothing regarding pet care, no one to talk to no hope no ideas, no Facebook group for camaraderie it or for calm camaraderie, nothing. This podcast has been a godsend for me for years. I'm so appreciative of the work that you and Meghan do. And it makes me really honored to be a part of that for others.
1:07:25
As a business, we should not think of resiliency as just being able to withstand tough times or withstand trials as we endure them. Instead, we should view resiliency as a process that makes us and our business stronger and better. Whether that's through better policies, procedures, hiring and staff are just internal and personal development that we go through over time. So that as that process of building resiliency, we build a better business, we build a stronger business. So that year, after year, after year, we're able to handle take on endure and actually be better than we were the year before. And whether that's intentionally because you are starting a family you need to step away you have things come up where you're trying to hire or you're trying to refine your client list. Every one of those aspects in preparation for those is a process of building resiliency in your business. And we'd love to know how you build resiliency in yours what your thoughts and process have been like, you can send that to feedback at petsitter confessional.com. We want to thank today's sponsors, timed pet and the calming pet music youtube channel. Check out the links in the show notes to learn more about both of them. We want to thank you so much for listening today. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. We'll be back again soon.
