385: Promoting Professionalism with the Florida Pet Services Association
Time to Pet. Go to timetopet.com/confessional for 50% off your first 3 months.
Pet Perennials. Go to https://petperennials.com/pages/register-for-a-business-account
What does it mean to lend your voice to the pet care industry? Being involved in a local professional organization provides you with so many benefits, and allows you to be part of the conversation around raising the bar in the industry. Sometimes, there isn’t a local organization to join, so you have to start your own. Today, we’re joined by the Board of Directors of the Florida Pet Services Association. Savanna Westwood, Doug Keeling, Amber Van Denzen Suarez, and Heidi Lewis-Pracko explain why it was important to have a local organization and how it helps the industry be better. From setting the standard, to providing locally relevant educational and networking opportunities, they share about their upcoming Summit as well.
Main topics:
Why form an organization?
Benefits to a member?
Benefits to the industry
the 2023 Summit
Main takeaway: You get out what you put into a professional organization, and there’s many ways to serve to make the industry better.
About the Florida Pet Services Association
Florida Pet Services Association is a 501C3 comprised of companies that provide professional pet services in Florida. All members of FPSA are required to be a legal business, and be insured.
Mission Statement: To promote professionalism, provide elite education and create and connect professional relationships in the pet industry in the state of Florida.
Vision Statement: To promote the highest level of excellence in the pet industry and advancement of pet care standards in the state of Florida.
About the Board of Directors:
Savanna Westwood - President
“Hello! I am Savanna Owner and Founder of The Savvy Sitter, Pet Sitting and Dog Walking, LLC. I have grown up with animals all my life and enjoy spending time with them. I have lived in the Winter Garden and Windermere Area for over 30 Years. Though I do not have any animals myself, I love taking care of them and giving them the cuddles, playtime, and treats they deserve. I am an active equestrian, big dogs and horses do not frighten me. When I am not taking care of your Fur Friends, you can find me reading, practicing archery, riding, and figuring out ways to provide additional and great services to our clients!”
Doug Keeling - Vice President
“I’m Doug the Dog Guy, and I’m the owner and founder of Bad to the Bone Pet Care. I began pet sitting and dog walking in the Fall of 2013 because I missed my childhood best friend, a Jack Russell named Skip, and because I wanted to combine my passions for animal welfare and entrepreneurship. Bad to the Bone Pet Care was born in 2014, and we have since had the privilege of working with thousands of pets across Northeast and Central Florida. We have won multiple awards for our premium-level professional pet sitting and dog walking, including Pet Sitter of the Year 2023, Best Jacksonville Dog Walking Company 2018-2022, and Best Pet Sitting Service in Northeast Florida 2016 & 2017. I tell everyone I meet, “this is a dream come true for a dream I didn’t know I had.”
Amber Van Denzen Suarez- Secretary
“Amber is the founder of Atta Boy! Animal Care. She has been working in the animal field for over 16 years. She started in the field by working in the horse industry – stable hand and pet sitter. She then trained as a local Veterinary Kennel hand, Veterinary Assistant and then an Emergency Veterinary Technician for both small and large animals for over 13 years. She has a bachelors of Animal Science from University of Florida.”
Heidi Lewis-Pracko - Treasurer
“Throughout my childhood, the running joke was always, “Where’s Heidi? She’s probably with the dogs.” In 4th grade, my family adopted our Welsh Corgi, Angel - the light of my life all the way into college. When she passed away, I was devastated. Luckily for me, 4 months later, we brought another Corgi into the family. I named her Hope, because she was doing exactly that, bringing hope to our family. Thus...Heidi & Hope Pet Services! My true passion came when I began pet sitting on the weekends. Pet sitting showed me the rewards of getting to work with animals one-on-one. I LOVE being the only one to care for people’s pets and being relied upon to do so. I finally made the full-time move to Naples in 2016, where I feel lucky every day getting to live in the place that I vacationed all the time growing up. I immediately got into pet sitting upon my move and the rest is history!”
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/FLPetServices
https://www.instagram.com/flpetassociation/
ProTrainings: For 10% off any of their courses, use CPR-petsitterconfessional
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
Follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, & TuneIn
Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pet, industry, people, conference, florida, pet sitters, organization, opportunities, professional, association, groomers, persons, work, gift, connect, business, clients, speakers, group, amber
SPEAKERS
Amber van Denzen, Collin, Heidi, Savanna, Doug
Collin 00:01
Welcome back to pets that are confessional. Today we're brought to you by time to pet and pet perennials. What does it mean to lend your voice to the pet care industry? And what is the role of a local organization and helping set our standards and develop each other? Today, we're so excited to talk to the Board of Directors of the brand new Florida Pet Services Association about why they formed how important it is to lend your voice to the industry and about the summit that they have coming up later in this year. We are joined by Heidi Lewis Proko Doug Keeling, Amber Vanden Suarez and Savannah Westwood. Let's get started. Hi, yah.
Heidi 00:42
So I'm Heidi Lewis- Pracko. I own Heidi and Hope pet services in Naples, Florida. We have been in business since 2018. And recently just celebrated our five years in business. We do pet sitting dog walking, pet transportation and dog grooming. And we currently have four active staff members. So
Doug 01:02
hi, everyone. I'm Doug, the dog guy. I'm the owner and founder of Bad to the Bone pet care. We're a team of pet sitters dog walkers and pet transporters covering northeast and Central Florida. And I am serving as the vice president of the Florida Pet Services Association and I'm super excited to be here and talking to y'all today.
Amber van Denzen 01:21
Hey everyone, my name is Amber Van Denzen Suarez and I own Adaboy Animal Care located in Central Florida as well. I serve as the secretary for Florida Pet Services Association. And when I'm not working with Florida Pet Services Association, our Adeboye company does pet sitting dog walking mobile dog treadmill services and adventure hikes.
Savanna 01:44
Hi everyone. I'm Savannah Westwood, the owner and founder of the savvy sitter pet sitting and dog walking LLC located in lovely Orlando, Florida, particularly winter garden and Windermere. We offer pet sitting dog walking pet taxi and overnight stays for our clients here. And I am the president of the fpsa.
Collin 02:03
So we're here to talk about this new organization that you all have put together. And I just want to start off by asking you why Why was this something that you felt was needed? And and what's the mission?
Savanna 02:16
So calling, it's actually some credit to you a little bit. One of your podcasts was with the Texas pet sitters Association, and I thought to myself, Well, does Florida have something like that? And the answer was, No, it doesn't. And I got to thinking a little bit as far as you know, like why not? Why not make this bigger. So why not involve the pet industry as a whole. So including groomers and trainers boarding facility facilities, pet waste removal, vets, and brick and mortar stores. And that's pretty much exchange businesses, a lot of business a lot with these companies. So we share the same clients oftentimes. So credit to Colin petsitter confessionals are having the pet sitters Association on board. And then as well as you know, connecting us visibly with Doug and Amber and Heidi, which I reached out to them wanting to see if they would be interested in starting this up. And the answer was across the board. Yes. But we thought this was important for the state of Florida because it's a very diverse environment and opportunities and culture. So we wanted to make sure that, you know, Florida had its own Association for the pet industry, the mission statement is to promote professionalism, provide elite education and create and connect professional relationships in the pet industry in the state of Florida. And longterm our mission statement is to promote the highest level of excellence in the pet industry and advancement of pet care standards in the state of Florida. Ultimately, that's what we all agreed on, we want to definitely raise the bar across the board.
Collin 04:02
And why was it important for you to make the association more than pet sitting and dog walking? Why were you interested in including other pet care services?
Savanna 04:12
I think we, as a whole we deal with a lot of different pet industry fields. And I think it's important to involve them because we're always learning something from the vets and the groomers and you know, current trends and whatnot. And, you know, we pass that along to our clients. And you know, I get asked a lot to write some of my connections, you know, like, what do you do with X or Y in a situation as a pet sitter and dog walker? And I usually give them that information. But I think it's important, you know, because it's a great exchange of information and connectivity.
Collin 04:48
Yeah, I mean that those two points of educate and connect, I mean really are so important, especially in the modern age where everybody's off doing so many different things. It can be hard sometimes to come together and find out A place where you can be connected and plugged in with people that don't don't just understand where you're coming from, but are also in your same circles, whether that is a groomer, trainer veterinarian, or whether or whatever they're doing, it really helps you be, be be more professional in that aspect of being connected to that broader community.
Savanna 05:19
Yes, I agree. And that's what the point of fpsa is,
Collin 05:22
with many associations. I know there are there are rules, there are responsibilities. There are things like that. So how are you planning on servicing your members? What kind of what are you expecting to give them? And then on the flip side, what are their responsibilities for being a member of your association
Amber van Denzen 05:41
really have some large goals associated with fpsa. But you know, we kind of said, let's start with the thing that we saw the most need one of and that was combat camaraderie and education. So we are have a handful of goals to start off with but the first one is camaraderie, which we always start already started with. We have developed multiple Facebook groups that are available to Florida based companies based in their industry specification in the pet care industry. So we have an F PSA groomers, FBF, PSA dog trainers, fpsa, pet sitters and dog walkers, etc. To allow for those persons to be able to form camaraderie, connections, and referral networks within the state of Florida. The secondary thing that we've already started, which we're very excited to announce, is our conference that will be coming up in August of this year. So only a handful of months away, and it'll be in Orlando, Florida. This conference is open to not just Floridian based company businesses. But anyone that is interested in coming to the Sunshine State during August 23 to 25 of this year, this conference is a piece of that education part that we're very excited to be doing for our members. And anyone that attends the conference automatically becomes a one year member of fpsa. So since this is our first conference, anyone that attends the conference this year will be considered a founding member of ftsa, which is very exciting. Other things that we are looking forward to doing is offering additional education opportunities, private membership, access to a website, eventually with those opportunities. And then really, again, just growing and the associated Association, promoting professional standards to ensure that we, as a whole are self regulating ourselves prior to potential governments, you know, coming in, in creating regulations without being in the industry itself. So really just being able to help those that are new into the industry form into the best pet professionals possible. And the ones that have in the industry already growing and changing and learning more to ensure the best outcomes for pet owners and pets themselves. And we're very excited for all those things. And those are our lofty goals, obviously, but they're definitely in process. And we know it's wanted and needed. And we're very excited.
Collin 08:16
Yeah, yeah, a lot, a lot going on with that. So you guys will be pretty busy. But I do love when you set up the different Facebook groups for the different sectors of the industry, I thought that was absolutely brilliant to bring people under the big umbrella so they can be part of the association. But then they can be part of these groups that are just a bit smaller, that are really focused on their own things, to allow people to commiserate and have camaraderie with those specific groups of people in their very niches of the industry. I think that's a really great way to go about that to help people break come in, set those standards and then have the smaller groups that people can be connected with.
Amber van Denzen 08:55
Even cooler thing about it that we're also doing is already and like many other states, in the state of Florida, there was already some naturally created groups from other pet professionals based off of location or region. For example, Doug had created a regional group for the Northeast section of Florida I had created one for more central Florida Tampa Bay, like Central Florida Tampa Bay, Savannah was part of one is part of one in mid central Orlando area. Heidi as well in the south east, west Florida, Naples area as well. And we wanted there was already connections forming, but kind of not formally and so because of that, we are really wanting to work with those fellow organizations that have already kind of started, not formally and kind of help them come into the fpsa organization and allow for more regional smaller chapters that allow for networking across the board for those professions. So each one of these areas can meet Each fellow groomers, trainers, pet, pet waste professionals, veterinarians, etc. And then allow that camaraderie and fellow referral networking in those smaller areas. And eventually having monthly networking meetings or resume based ones or in person ones. Some of these are already doing these already. And so why not become part of a bigger mission and statement to allow it to just flourish and then also go into areas that may not have that already as well. So we do have a goal of having geographic area smaller organization meetups as well.
Collin 10:36
Have you heard of time to pet Dan from NYC pooch has this to say
10:40
on Tibet has been a total game changer for us. It's helped us streamline many aspects of our operation from scheduling and communication to billing and customer management. We actually tested other petsitting software's in the past, but these other solutions were clunky and riddled with problems, everything in time to pet has been so well thought out. It's intuitive feature rich, and it's always improving.
Collin 11:01
If you're looking for new pet setting software, give time to pet a try, listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting a tiny pet.com/confessional really is about that importance of being plugged into a local group. I know that that comes up a lot on the podcast, when you talk with people about Oh, I gotta get connected to local, local, local. And and I think many times we can forget just just how important that is to us as an individual as at the business level. But what does it look like? What does it mean to participate locally? Because now we've got local, we've got state or some national organizations? How do we go about finding our role and working in a local group like that? And really, what is what do you feel like that does to us and our perspectives. So you know,
Amber van Denzen 11:49
the cool that, you know, whenever you start something and other people are interested in joining, is it not kind of intimidating to kind of enter a new era and or new organization with new people and not know the expectation of what that is. And that's why we kind of created a handful of kind of levels of depending on the people's interest or frequency of interest, or participating with fpsa, to have be part of these fpsa specific role. Facebook groups such as fpsa, dog walker, Walker's pet sitters, there's no charge with that it's completely free. It's open to anyone that's in the region, you know, that that kind of realm in Florida. And so you could just passively be in those groups, watch what's being asked, answer what maybe is being asked and then passively be participating in that. And then you know, you have your next level of creating already having part of these regional groups that are kind of already created. And that's again, a free process that people can participate in passively or as much as they want. Then you have the conference, of course, that obviously has a financial piece associated with it, you'll be investing in a ticket, which includes that conference weekend, as well as your annual membership. And then the goal of that and your requirement is to hopefully attend the conference, obviously, right. And then ultimately, in the future, you know, there'll be opportunity, which we already have opportunities for volunteering within the organization to help this because we are a nonprofit status organization, officially a 501 C three, and, you know, joining the Board of Directors joining committees that will be forming to help with different parts of this organization, thrive and flourish. And we already have a handful of other volunteers that are on our board of directors, shout out to them for helping us along with this process and joining us in these early times and helping us grow. So it really is a diverse way of participating based off of person's choices, abilities and financial abilities as well. Yeah, it's not
Collin 13:53
always just about getting something right. You don't join an association or group. Excuse me, you don't don't join an association or group just to get stuff, right. It's a great place to now reinvest back into the organization and into the industry as well using your time talents or your treasures in some unique way. Why is that important? Why is why should we take time out of our busy days, our businesses to go invest in something like this,
Savanna 14:20
the more people put into it, the more that we're able to, you know, return an investment, I guess, would be the correct term. Like we are new, we are starting out but it also gives people the opportunity to help mold it to something that they want to see. You know, we're always open to receiving, you know, insight and suggestions and wanting, you know, we may not have a specialty, we all specialize in certain things. So, you know, someone else may come in and say, Hey, have you tried it this way? Or have you talked to this person or have you talked to this topic? So, having the opportunity to help mold something is definitely in its infancy stages will go will help it grow long term,
Collin 15:04
right? Because we have to recognize and association a group is made up of individuals, right individuals doing something for the greater good doing something that's bigger than themselves. So what's what is our role in setting the industry up for success because that's what we're this is all leading to right is helping the industry be better
Savanna 15:21
setting it up as an industry as a whole is like, you know, as Amber was saying with the governance part is, you know, we don't want, you know, or we don't want the government to come in and kind of set orders, I think what Amber was mentioning in her initial conversation piece, but as well, as you know, we want to have that bar set up for, you know, that level of professionalism and best practices and you services that kind of meet or mirror your own business. So insurance, employee handbook level of experience, any type of certification and education is important. Like it will work, if we can raise us up all together, then that raises the bar as well,
Collin 16:08
we have to have to recognize that this industry that is turning into a multi multi billion dollar industry won't go unnoticed from the government and regulations for long right, it will start peeking people's interests and start bringing people into the industry going, Okay, what's going on here? What's What are we doing? And if the industry itself can turn and go, hey, here are some things you need to look at. Here's some things that we are already trying to get at and hand them a playbook that says that sets us up to the a lot more successful than, you know, hammer in Savannah, you mentioned having people outside the industry trying to come in and understand what we do, because what we do is kind of weird. And going here's here's some of our own standards. And here's what we would like to see implement,
Amber van Denzen 16:51
even just ensuring that the persons in the future that want to grow into this industry and start in this industry, we can all say it was very hard to start in this industry properly, successfully and effectively right away, because there is not a handbook, like you said for your state, and how to do your professional pet care services in your state necessarily. And because of that you're relying on other persons from other states maybe or maybe random connections you may have made to literally just call them and say hey, how did you do this? In this state? Hey, I want to have employees, how did that work in you know your business, and to have an industry that allows for that to be successful already, it's going to allow for a lot more people to enter this industry, which we definitely need. While we all want more clients. We all can't handle all the animals out there. Currently, there's just not enough of us ratio wise, whether you're a groomer, a trainer, a, you know, pet waste management, dog walker pet sitter, we need more people in this industry. And we need more quality people that are doing the best of the best care with the best of the best standards. So we can refer network and then ultimately have less people have bad experiences with nonprofessionals.
Savanna 18:09
Yeah, I've been telling a lot of my clients as of late that all the good bits, I recommend out that there's a three month waitlist.
Collin 18:18
And part of being part of being a part of a healthy growing industry is seeing new people coming in, because that means growth, that means more opportunities, that means more niching down into things that we want to be doing. And we should look forward to that and encourage that as opposed to keeping an arm length that people are trying to block people from entering we should going okay, here are some things to work on. Here's some resources. Now let's go tackle this all together. That's a little bit about the the association but thing that you all have coming up later this year is is a conference. And I would love for you to tell us more about that. And I know you mentioned the importance of of education and how the conference is an outflow of that. But but but really, why did you feel like it was time or needed to host a conference there in Florida?
Heidi 19:01
Yeah, so I'm Heidi, I forgot to mention that I'm the I serve as the treasurer for ftsa. So start off. So we decided to really focus on the conference, because it's just a great way especially post pandemic for people to get together in person. I think everyone's kind of craving that interaction. And you know, those friendships and also kind of putting a name to a face. I know, when I go to a conference, it's just nice to like, finally talk to someone that I've been talking to like their business social media and put a face to their business name. We also thought it would be a great idea for the conference, because it's more of like a localized focus for like a local event and it's kind of brings not just Florida people together, but everyone's together. But we can also focus on commonalities that we all face in Florida so like example like hurricanes, wildlife, you know, different state laws. So, yeah, we just thought it'd be a great way to connect and kind of follow our camaraderie, as Amber was saying, and just a great way to meet people face to face. And also like conferences can be a lot of fun. Not only just connecting with others, but leading with actual plan steps for your business and with resources that you can implement.
Collin 20:19
I know in one of my previous conversations with with you, Heidi, you were talking about, you know, being being observant and being vigilant of like things like cane toads, and the danger that those pose to dogs. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, like, that is not something we have in Missouri. So yeah. Those kinds of specific local, and it could be local ordinances or local state laws or licensing requirements, or all these things that we see put out on Facebook or questions that people ask about, can I hire? Or what's this process? Or what are my legal obligations? Or how to put this contract? The first question we have to consider is, well, locally, what am I required to do? Right? Because it's different everywhere and having a place to go that's bringing that information in, not just you should have a contract. But here's what a really good Florida contract looks like. And maybe you can get resources out to county levels or in different cities and the municipalities to have those resources now all of a sudden becomes really, really powerful. Yes, exactly. Pepperoni always makes it easy to send a heartfelt condolence gift directly to someone with a broken heart. They have this awesome direct to customer gift model that takes the effort off of us and ensures a thoughtful, personalized, simply gift reaches your client or employee on your behalf. All gift packages include a handwritten card, colorful gift wrap and shipping fees across the US and Canada. They also offer an array of milestone gifts and greeting cards that can be sent to celebrate birthdays, extend, get well wishes, and welcome new and even rescued pets. Additionally, there are gift choices in case you need to send a sympathy gift in memory of a special human client, or celebrate pregnancy engagement or wedding of a pet lover. If you're interested register for a free business gift perks account to unlock the all inclusive discounted package prices. Since the service is used on an as needed basis, there are no monthly or annual obligations or minimum purchase, Learn more at Pet perennials.com Business program or register for a free gift purchase account using the link in the show notes. And on the website of the conference. What should people expect while attending? And because I know conferences can be a little overwhelming while they are fun. How can people be best prepared for that?
Amber van Denzen 22:32
So when we were thinking about creating this another conference, right or a new conference for specifically kind of geared towards Floridians, but welcome to anybody. We, you know, even debated ever longingly on, do we use the word conference? Do we use other things and we ended up limiting, you know, finally figuring out what the words and the value brings to the people that are coming to it. And that's why we landed on Summit, because really it was our goal was to bring a plethora of people that are professional pet owner of business owners or managers tend to one area and to grow and move forward with their businesses. So this is our first conference that we are actually creating. None of us are conference creators or professionals. We're fellow pet business owners that saw a need for a professional meet up that provided educational opportunities, especially for businesses that have already been established, kind of already been doing this for multiple years in a row and are really looking for ways to grow to potentially change potentially add on things or to just better their current structures and processes. So we really are focusing on that for this conference as much as possible. Everyone is welcome, whether new into the field wanting to grow into the field or already frequently established in the field. But honestly, what we're looking at is having over 16 speakers in two days now this is a massive amount of speakers, we we decided we really wanted more speakers centered around certain subjects that kind of combined and work together. But having a vast amount more of opportunity to have these beautiful, amazing educated brains that we have in the industry come and teach us everything that they need to know. Now this is quite different than some other professional organization conferences that are currently happening that have a handful of speakers that do maybe a one one and a half hour stint of speaking, have great content and you move on from it. We're actually doing a more workshop style process where the persons that are coming in instead of speakers are kind of workshop providers that are not just giving us great content but something to work on or leave with completed once done in their process. This is a great thing because I think so many of us have gone to conferences potentially before that we have so many ideas we walk away with pages and pages Do some ideas. And then we go. Now what? Like, where do I start from here. So our goal was to have these workshops style speaker sessions, that not just allowed for good content, but actually time to work on that content, and a very specific format to finish and walk away with actually a checked off to do list process. This conference also allows for networking, and socializing, networking, many of us don't realize how important it is, even whether they're local to us or out of state to us than we realize. Networking is a great way to meet other businesses, see how they're doing it, pick their brains get inspired from each other. And then really also, let's just breathe, relax, complain a little and know what when they're talking our lingo. And we know what were the complaints we're talking about people understand us. Because there's only so much a spouse or friend that's outside of the pet industry really can understand unless they're actually living it day to day.
Collin 26:04
Well, and you said, because it is a more workshop style, it's not really going to be a sit and passively receive information. Sounds like we need to show up prepared to do some work.
Amber van Denzen 26:15
Yeah, absolutely, we are going to definitely recommend persons to bring their laptops or their iPads or whatever they frequently work on, have backup batteries with them, because that's going to be a great thing for them. And then expect to walk out with a lot of inspired work to do even after these initial steps are created. We have speakers that are talking on HR, and I'm building an HR internally to your business. We have hiring processes, we have Canva 101, and branding and design of your pet business. We have veterinarians coming to speak on professional aspects of that, and personal goals and scheduling and how to not just schedule your business but to schedule your personal things into so you don't burn out as well. We have diversifying your business conversations. I mean, the list goes on and on. We're very excited to be posting that list very soon to with our ticket sales being open as well.
Collin 27:17
Here in closing, could you tell us a little bit more about what membership looks like? Kind of, you know, do you have different levels or different things like that? And then where can people go for more information about the association and the summit that you're putting together. Our
Amber van Denzen 27:33
conference specifically is ticket registration is open. As of yesterday, we have early bird special pricing for the conference, which includes automatic membership to fpsa. As well, which our initial ticket price is on sale for the early bird special of $199. It will go up to our two other tiers of pricing. So the normal pricing and then last minute pricing as well over the next few months. And all of those will include automatic membership. And that is for anyone that joins the organization at the conference will automatically join the organization as well. That is our current only membership option at this point in time. In the future, there may be other opportunities, but that's where we're starting off to keep it a little simple for everyone.
Collin 28:23
Simple is always best, especially when first starting out so that you can communicate that well and people know how to fit in and you can grow and adapt as you need. Yeah. And as far as going for more information and where to connect with you all how best can people do that?
Doug 28:37
Yes, you can head to our website, that's FL pet association.org. And we're on Facebook as the Florida Pet Services Association. We're also on Instagram as the F L pet association. So definitely check us out there. And I also want to quickly mention that, you know, we are very proud to be working with some of the larger organizations in the pet industry. You know, pet sitters International is our one of our sponsors, as well as the National Association of Professional pet sitters. Fetch find and time to pet are also sponsors of the summit. We are super super excited to be working alongside them. You know, we all have things to learn from each other to work together. We're all in this together. And Marketing Marketing Solutions is also one of our sponsors. You know, we're so we're very excited. Again, head to NFL pet association.org. You can read about all of our speakers and sponsors see our lineup and then you can buy your tickets there as well.
Collin 29:47
And, Doug, I appreciate you touching on that and that it's not a competition here. It's not exclusionary, it is important to be both connected at a local and national level and have communication and partnerships between both levels of organizations so that the industry can can be better. Because at the end of the day, that's, that's what we all want.
Doug 30:05
Yeah, exactly, exactly. We're all in this together. And we're all big one community here is pet professionals.
Collin 30:14
Well, I want to thank you all for coming on today. And I will have all the links in the shownotes, where people can get signed up and registered today and join that and start contributing as well. Because as the industry grows, it's going to require more and more people to have input to have voices. And this is a wonderful way for people to do that. So thank you all for coming on. And I'm so excited to see what happens with the Association and how it will grow and make the industry better.
Doug 30:40
Thank you so much, Colin,
Savanna 30:42
thank you for having us.
Collin 30:44
What would it look like for you to be involved locally, and a pet care industry? kind of way? I know that not every state or area has a particular organization like Florida is putting together or how we've talked with Texas before. But would you be interested in starting one in your state and in your area? For us there are really five reasons why people should be involved in a professional local organization specific to the dog walking and pet care industry. The first one is pretty obvious. networking opportunities. Being involved in a local organization is specific to dog walking and pet care provides you with invaluable opportunities to meet and connect with like minded professionals that can help you forge new partnerships. exchange ideas are identify potential job opportunities or sharing opportunities or educational opportunities. They also opened doors for you in the industry in case you want to go on and try new things or build your skill set. Speaking of skill set, professional development is the second reason to be involved. You get access to things like workshops, seminars, training sessions I have can help you stay current in this industry. By participating in these events, you yourself acquired new skills, they update your knowledge enhance your professional growth. There's also access to industry specific resources and research that can support your development as a business owner. And as a leader in the industry. There are leadership opportunities. So number three, being an active member in the professional organization gives you opportunities to take on leadership roles within the group. You can serve on committees, organize events, presented local conferences, or make your own conference to showcase your skills and talents to people in the industry and help further their own education. They build these skills, they're going to be invaluable to your career and allow you to give back. Number four staying current with industry trends. This allows you to stay more informed on the latest trends, technologies, best practices, client expectations that are constantly changing. regularly attending meetings and events helps you stay up to date on important changes and developments that can impact your ability to stay in this career, whether that's local regulations, that's new laws, that's new tax things that are going into place that are going to help you stay competitive as a business owner. And then advocacy and representation. Local organizations advocate on behalf of their members and the industry as a whole. By being an involved in a local group. You contribute to shaping policies, regulation, industry standards, you lend a voice to the creation and development of those things that we all want to see happen. We all talk about raising the bar. But what does that mean? Where do we get those ideas? How do we implement that being involved in a local organization allows you to have a voice in the shaping of the future of the industry, it ensures that your voice is heard and that the interests of your professions are represented at a local, regional and even national level. And that is what is so exciting about the future is that more people are going to have an opportunity to have a voice to have input to create the best possible dog walking and pet setting industry to serve more people and to be inclusive for all. We want to thank our sponsors this week, time to pet and pet perennials for making the show possible. And we really want to thank you so much for listening and we look forward to you lending your voice to the industry in the future. Hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. We'll be back again soon.
