423: Building Trust with Clients from the Start with Kimberly Layman
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
Are you running the business you thought you’d be? Kimberly Layman, owner of Kimberly's Kritter Care, shares the process of refocusing her company to better align with her passions after experiencing burnout early on in the pandemic. She outlines her personalized onboarding strategy of phone calls and in-person meetings to set clients at ease. In addition, Kimberly explains how she structures clear expectations around communication preferences upfront to avoid issues down the road. She also details her strategic approach to obtaining reviews through timely and specific follow-up requests.
Main topics:
Utilizing organizational skills
Refocusing to stay on passion
Building trust through client onboarding
Asking for client reviews
Main takeaway: Establishing trust helps create loyal clients and positive word-of-mouth marketing.
About our guest:
Introducing Kimberly, the founder and CEO of Kimberly's Kritter Care in Charleston, SC! Her journey began in 2016 when she bid farewell to her corporate career, following her heart's calling and love for animals.
Starting out as a one-woman show, Kimberly dedicated herself to providing impeccable pet care services for busy pet parents and never expected to be more than a solo provider. Less than 8 months into the business, she quickly recognized the growing demand for reliable pet care, so she enlisted the help of independent contractors, expanding the scope of her services and touching the lives of even more adorable kritters.
However, it was in 2021 that Kimberly made a game-changing decision. Determined to elevate the level of care provided, she transitioned from independent contractors to building a dedicated team of professionals who shared her passion for animals. With a team of six part-time employees, Kimberly's Kritter Care now stands stronger than ever before.
Thanks to her team and her unwavering commitment and renewed focus on the business, Kimberly's Kritter Care has witnessed remarkable growth. In 2022, the business grew by 76%, and the momentum has continued with a 49% increase through the first half of 2023.
Kimberly is excited to see what the future holds and looks forward to growing the business and expanding its reach even further!
Links:
https://www.kimberlyskrittercare.com
kimberlyskrittercare@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/KimberlysKritterCare/
https://www.instagram.com/kimberlyskrittercare/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQU2yS_U7P90PjCCBhAH2g
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
clients, pet, hire, struggle, visits, person, started, feel, staff, employees, part, people, sops, business, review, questions, scheduling, gift, schedule, moving
SPEAKERS
Kimberly L., Collin
Collin 00:01
Welcome to pet sitter confessional. We are brought to you by time to pet and pet perennials. Today we're talking with project manager turned dog walker and pet sitter Kimberly Lehmann, owner of Kimberly's critter care about how she brought over her organizational skills and structure into her business, how she spent a lot of time refocusing to make the business something that she truly want, how to build trust with your clients from the very beginning, and how to be fearless when asking for a review. Let's get started.
Kimberly L. 00:31
Yes, Colin, thanks so much for having me. Like you said, my name is Kimberly. And I run Kimberly's critter care in Charleston, South Carolina. And we have been in business since 2016. So we're going on seven years, it'll be seven years in December. And yeah, it's, we do pet sitting and dog walking primarily. And I got started, basically just kind of was in the corporate world, I was a project manager for the medical industry for many years, and just kind of wanted to change. And so I started a little bit on the side doing some rover, just doing some visits here and there just to kind of get my feet wet, see if I liked it, because obviously, I love pets. And I thought, well, this is a good way to make a little extra money and kind of see what happens. And I liked it so much that I was like, Hmm, maybe I could make a business of this. And at the time, I really didn't know that, you know, pet sitting and dog walking was a thing. I mean, I know people did it, but I didn't know you could actually make a business and you know, make a living out of it. So it was kind of just, let's just try this and see what happens. My boyfriend has his own business. So that kind of encouraged me to give it a try. So I did and you know, years later, here I am. So it's been a great transition.
Collin 01:50
You're a project manager in the medical field. What did you What did you bring over and into your business from that world?
Kimberly L. 01:59
Well, I'm definitely I have a lot of organizational skills. So I think on the back end of the business that definitely helped, you know, I, the admin part, and the scheduling and the logistics, and all of that, I think, definitely my project management background helped with that piece. Didn't really help with the pet care part. But you know, that just kind of comes naturally. But yeah, definitely all the admin stuff,
Collin 02:22
which is the one that most of us struggle with, right. And part of part of part of project management is yet the organization but it's also the breakdown, the staying on task, the staying organized, and, and timely. And knowing what pieces to pull in. And, and all of a sudden, many of us, you know, we come into we're running a business, and there's a lot of little moving pieces that we all of a sudden are tasked with taking care of. Absolutely, yeah,
Kimberly L. 02:51
definitely. And I, I'm very task oriented because of that. So like, you know, my SOPs are like, really long. And you know, like some of my staff probably like, oh, my gosh, she has all these little check things. And like my little reports in time to pet, I have a ton of little check boxes and stuff, you know, to check off to make sure we did everything. But I think that helps because some people need that. So it makes me feel better knowing that everything's done.
Collin 03:16
Well, those checkboxes are so great, because one, they're nice for the client to see. But but for REG just selfishly like, it's great for me to remember Oh, yeah, did I did I do that? And that's these little prompts of trying to set ourselves up for success of going okay, if I need to remember this, what do I need to do other than just really trying super hard to remember right? Like, that's, that's not going to be good?
Kimberly L. 03:42
Exactly. Especially there's little things like you know, that only do once a week, like take out the trash, or the recycling or something like that, it may not be something that you always think about when you're doing a visit. But having it kind of there on a checklist or a flag in your app definitely helps to remind you of
Collin 03:57
that. If someone's listening to you, they struggle with things like task management, keeping projects on task and moving forward, what is what's some advice that you would give to them in Yes, I am taking notes.
Kimberly L. 04:13
Well, I mean, I think definitely, like I mentioned having good standard operating procedures or SOPs in place you know, especially when you have staff and have to train them you know, when it's YOU the business owner doing all the work, I think it's a little easier but when you want to train other people to do that, I think it's important to have those SOPs in place so that they know step by step what's expected of them and then I also have like I mentioned, I use time to pet as my pet setting software and in there on your report, you can customize those so you can set you know like I mean I set things like you know, gave fresh water you know scoop the litter box gave medication, you know just different little things like that and even like, you know, rotated lights, open closed blinds, ensured all doors are locked. You notice little things like that that? You know, I mean, I'll be honest, when I first started, I had left someone's door unlocked before and they came home. They're like, Oh my gosh, I got home. Well, my door was unlocked. I'm like, Oh my gosh, I can't believe I did that. So that's what prompted me to start putting those little things that should be second nature. But sometimes they're not. And just having to check physically check that box, I think helps remind people that to do those little things, that even though we do them in almost every single visit, it's still a nice little reminder. Because if you have to go in and check it, it's like, okay, well, did I really lock that back door before I left, you know, so sometimes I'll go back in and check just to make sure. So I think that's key doesn't like I said, having the SOPs outlined. And having those update checkboxes and stuff just to make sure everybody clicks those,
Collin 05:47
what what I hear when you say that can really, it's getting the all those little bits of information out of your brain out of your own brain, right, and are putting them somewhere else. Because we have a lot going on, right? There's and sometimes we didn't get as much coffee as we needed, or maybe we got too much. Maybe the lights didn't work for that morning, or maybe that first dog was really bad. And now we're still demanding our brain keep all of those little tiny intricate details, and all of those little things in place. And I would recommend even even if you are a solo senator, and you want to stay solo, still write out your SOPs, because then you'll really start to see in a right in front of you physically, where holes are, what you're missing, maybe where you can expand where you can dig deeper into those where you thought you were doing something. But now when you're laying it out, there you go. That's actually not what I would like to get. And having those reminders. Just it allows you to with more surety go? Yes, that is what I did.
Kimberly L. 06:44
Yes, absolutely. And I think, you know, over time, I mean, I think your SOPs are like a living document, you know, you're constantly changing them. And I've learned so much over the years. You know, just to add things on there. So mine continues to grow. And it's like, oh, yeah, I never thought about that. Because this one client brought it up. And so now I'm like, yes, we need to make sure we do XYZ, you know, on all of our future visits. So, yeah, I think definitely, like you said, even if you're solo, it's important to have that because we all make mistakes, we're human. And, you know, like I said, I'd left someone's door unlocked before, you know, forgot to turn a light on for, you know, whatever little things that but I mean, the door locked is kind of not a little thing, but, but still, it makes, you know, makes you think and before you actually leave, and I always tell my senators to you know, make sure you send that report before you leave the property. You know, you can sit in your car and do it or sit in the house and do it. But always make sure you send that beforehand. So I think that too, is kind of a reminder that, hey, make sure you did all of these things.
Collin 07:41
But not before the visits done, because that's another thing that I know I've personally done, where I've written the report, everything's great, shiny and wonderful. And then I go to lock the door, and it's like, shatters or like something happens. And you're like, oh, no, I need to send an awkward update.
Kimberly L. 07:57
Absolutely, yeah, definitely want to make sure that it's done. And you're ready to go before you send that update.
Collin 08:03
When you make those little mistakes, or when you have staff make those little mistakes. And really, how do you process those kind of what's your way that you work through those when they come up?
Kimberly L. 08:12
Meaning like, how do I handle with the clients or with the staff?
Collin 08:16
Well, then I was also curious, just personally to how you do that. Yeah. Oh, um,
Kimberly L. 08:22
I mean, you know, I mean, like I said, we're all human, and we're gonna make mistakes. So I think it's just, you know, you have to forgive yourself or your staff or whatever. But you know, also, it's a good training moment to, if it's with staff, to say, you know, hey, it's alright, you, you messed this one up, but you know, next time, let's do better, let's use this as a less than to make sure that you do, you know, whatever it is, before you leave, and to make sure you don't send that report until everything is done and checked off. And then, you know, for me personally, like I said, that one time I left someone's door unlocked, you know, that was, I mean, I definitely learned more from my mistakes. So I think that, you know, having that, you know, that definitely caused me to make these reports and make sure that those little things are done, because they're not little things to a client, you know, coming home to a door unlocked. That's not a little thing. Even though it may seem like a little thing to us, it's, you know, somebody could break and not break into their house, but walk into their house. So. So yeah, I mean, I just think that the best way is to learn from the mistakes to train. How even you know, sometimes if whether I do it or one of the staff members do it, I use that as a training opportunity for everyone you know, and I don't call the person out and just say, you know, hey, as a little friendly reminder, make sure you're always locking the door before you leave and double checking, you know, like pull on the door and make sure it's locked. For instance.
Collin 09:43
I know that can feel weird and awkward of going well, I don't I don't want to call people out on this or make them feel or like it's a passive aggressive thing. But really just taking it as a teaching moment because if one person is struggling with it, I guarantee you more people are or I guarantee you it's time for a reminder of just hey, just as a reminder, hey, you know, make sure that this is your go to page 72 of the field manual, go to where whatever it is, right? Like, it's pointing people back to that, because we can become so distant and removed from aspects of our business and our staff can as well. Just showing something to one person one time isn't enough. It's a continual process of reminding and prompting, and educating. Absolutely,
Kimberly L. 10:25
yeah, I'm actually closed us me thinking about kind of doing like a weekly, just a little training thing, whether it's either on Slack or, you know, recording a loom or something like that, or even doing like a weekly zoom with my staff, just kind of little training tidbits every single week. So then it's not like, you know, hey, somebody made a mistake yesterday, so I'm going to call it out. So it's just kind of like a continuous thing every week.
Collin 10:50
Yeah, that's actually what we do, we do Monday meetings, and those staff who can't attend can, if they can't, it's recorded, and then we send that out to them. And protip, if you're sending things through loom, you can change rename it to be the person's name, and then you send that link to that person so that you know that they watched it, thank you, you can also use a call to action button at the very end of the which is what we used to do where they hid it, and then they have to sign a form to say that they watched it, but some people don't make it all the way to the last couple of seconds and whatever. But that way, you can rename it. And that way, I know, you know, Sarah watched the video and Dave didn't and so we can follow up with them to get more feedback from now it does mean if you have like 20 staff or you know, even even 10, it can get a little complicated because you're making 10 copies. But at least if you'd like, really, really important ones, it helps us know for sure that we can follow up.
Kimberly L. 11:45
That's great. Appreciate that tip.
Collin 11:50
You started in 2016. And then about five years in about this 2020 2021 timeframe, you started to have some some changes in how you felt about your business, right? Yes, kind
Kimberly L. 12:04
of just, you know, got a little burned out. And I think COVID probably played a part in that, you know, because everybody's business I'm sure went way down. So it was kind of like, well, I'm not working that much now. And it's just, you know, it was kind of floundering, kind of wondering what I was going to do, if I was going to stay with my business. If I was going to go get a regular job, I was going to try something else. So it was it was a struggle for a while. So you know, definitely put some thought into it and just kind of racked my brain with what I was going to do you know, because at the time, I don't think many of us were making a lot of money. What
Collin 12:39
was it? Was it the aspect that you that income was down? Was it I mean, when you think about that of all those different you rattled off several things there, your business is down, it's floundering, you weren't doing the work, right, that you were passionate about? What do you think was really, or maybe it was all of them combined? I don't know, for you, like, like really the driving factor of of what you were really struggling with at that time? Honestly, I
Kimberly L. 13:01
think it probably was mostly that business was down. And the, the aspect that I'm talking about is like, I was so used to being busy all the time. And then I wasn't. And I don't know how you are. But like, if I have too much free time, it's not a good thing. I mean, obviously, you need to take care of yourself and have time for yourself. But if I have too much, it's almost like I feel like I just I don't know, I struggle with what to do with my time, I guess is probably the best way to put that. And so I was kind of struggling and just didn't really know what to do with myself because I had, you know, had all these daily dog walks previously, and was doing pet setting as well. So I was busy in the mornings, afternoons and evenings. And then here all of a sudden, no one was traveling. Most all of my daily dog walks had canceled, I mean, I still had a few people, because I'm in the south. So we type, you know, things weren't as tightly locked down as in some parts of the country. So we did open back up fairly quickly. But people were still a little more cautious with their travel. So during that time, it was just, you know, it kind of I just didn't know what to do with my time. And that kind of caused me to lose focus of the business because I wasn't as passionate about it at that point. Because I guess I just it wasn't there. You know what I mean?
Collin 14:13
It's hard to stay on focused on something that's kind of disappeared. And I, I taught in college for a little bit. And I saw this with with high school students who came out who were so married to the strict schedule of a high school program. And then they get in college and all of a sudden, it's a little like, whoa, you don't have to show up and sometimes you guys lots of time in between things. And they were like what, like they're completely ungrounded and then when people graduate they're like, oh, now I'm in a business world and what do I do and as a business owner, I'm the exact same way can really I had I had a couple of hours where I could have done just kind of anything last night. I just laid in bed and was like what I like and like struggled to stay on task or do one thing or switch to the other. It was really hard For me to focus I find whenever I am more time constrained, I'm more productive. And that whenever the whenever the walls get separated and moved out and my calendar is clear, I will get nothing done. Absolutely nothing.
Kimberly L. 15:15
I'm so glad I'm not the only one. That's exactly the way I am. And it's difficult. I need to have both time. And I think that comes from the project management background too, is like you always have those deadlines and those things you have to get done and it's pressure. And when I'm not under pressure I flounder it's like, I don't know, it's weird.
Collin 15:34
It is, you know, some of this is external motivating some of its internal motivating some of it is internally and externally regulating of ourselves and, and kind of needing that and, and part of that is just understanding how we operate. And knowing those signs of okay, I'm, you know, this is happening, what am I now what do I do, which is I think is the biggest thing of like, okay, once I know, I see the signs, and I am feeling like I'm floundering and nothing's getting done. And I'm kind of spiraling now. Because if you're like me, once you stop being productive, then you're like, a little bit depressed at yourself that you're not productive, and you feel bad that you're not doing that. So you're more likely to get stymied and stuck in this mire, and even making it makes it even worse. Yes, correct. So what did you What did you do to get out of that?
Kimberly L. 16:24
Well, I think I just kind of had a mind shift change, you know, just like, I really need to decide if I'm going to do this business and really build it or if I'm going to move on to something else. So at that point, I was like, Okay, I really want to make a go with this, I want to make it work. You know, I'm passionate about this business. And I want to grow it. And so that's when I put an ad out and I hired a few people, I prior to that just a step back, I had only had one IC. So I started using ICS because it was kind of industry standard back when I started. And so I had one IC and then I decided when I started hiring that I wanted to switch over to employees because I had heard a lot of horror stories about ICS. So decided to switch to employee so I moved my current IC to an employee and she was fine with that once I explained it all to her. And everybody else kept moving forward was hired as an employee. So I hired my first few employees. And one of them is still with me, the other three are not. So you know, that's always fun going through the the open door kind of thing with the hiring. So I wanted to refocus on the business, hire the staff get them trained, because obviously you can't really train an IC, so I wanted them train to do things, you know, the way I felt they should be done. And that's when I started, you know, kind of refocusing on the business really growing it and sort of taking on new more more new clients started marketing efforts. And just really kind of reinvested myself and put forth all the effort I could into the business. And that's where we really started to grow even though it was you know, post COVID I think it was in May of 2020 I had probably one of my best months since I had been in business and part of that was because I had oh I'm sorry not 2020 May of 2121 had my best month and it was because I had some more staff members so in though through those marketing efforts had gotten a lot more clients, some of the solo people had shut down because of COVID So probably got some business from that. And then once things started building and taking off then I really got excited and kind of reignited my passion for the business. So that's when I continued to hire and continue to market and just continued to grow and then things just kind of exploded so
Collin 18:45
sometimes we need those little those little wins I'm gonna I'm just in general these winds to reignite that we do need to start seeing things firing and working and kind and making movement and it is this this kind of positive feedback loop of of the more we start getting these little successes and these little wins in the more we're invigorated by this, the more we're spurred on to continue to invest and pour ourselves back into the thing that we built.
Kimberly L. 19:13
Yes, absolutely. 100% And now I'm just like full force into it, you know, half the days where it's like, but then like you said something will reignite me and but overall Yeah, I'm definitely passionate about my business and growing it from here forward.
Collin 19:27
Have you heard of time to pet dog from bad to them on pet care has this to say
Doug 19:32
time to pet has made managing my team and clients so much easier. Our clients love the easy to use app and scheduling features and our sitters love being able to have all of their information organized and easily accessible. My favorite feature is the instant messaging by keeping conversations on time to pet we are able to monitor our team and ensure nothing ever falls through the cracks.
Collin 19:52
If you're looking for new PET scanning 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 Um, slash confessional. And you said that all started because you just you reached a point where you decided I'm either going to do this or I'm not right. And so what was the dividing line between those for you? Yes,
Kimberly L. 20:12
that's a good question. Um, I don't know that I had a specific thing I just, you know, I think I just decided that, yeah, I need to do this, because I just, like I said, I really love what I do, I love helping people care for their pets. And I just decided that, you know, that's what I want to do. And I And honestly, I didn't really want to go back to a nine to five. I would have if I had to, to pay the bills, you know, but I said, you know, here's my opportunity to see if I can really make this work, and make a living off of this business. So, you know, I did it. And it worked. And now I'm very happy that I decided to go that route, rather than going back to the corporate world. So
Collin 20:51
I think we've all had a moment or several moments like that, where we're, we're looking at how far we've come. And we make we have to go it. Is it worth do I want to keep moving? Right? Is this something that I'm still interested in? I'm still invested in? And I think it's important to ask ourselves that question, even when we're not in a crisis, right? Even when we're not struggling and into if it's an annual thing or whatever, or you've got set time blocks or whatever, how are you want to structure that? It's okay to ask yourself, Do I Is this something I still want to be doing? This is still something I'm passionate that I'm invested in. Because then we're staying on top of ourselves, we're staying more in tune with how we're feeling. And it can help us make some of these decisions of going okay, yeah, I'm still invested in this. And I still want to meet these goals. So let's double down.
Kimberly L. 21:41
Absolutely, yeah, I think that's very important, especially in this day and age where so many people experience burnout from their jobs, and so forth. And being a business owner is not for, you know, the faint of heart. So I think it's important to do that, like you said, at least an annual check in with yourself and just, you know, see how things are going and do that pulse check.
Collin 21:59
Yeah, we do it with our business, right, we look at our financials, you look at the OE annual year over year above, about, you know, spreadsheets and all that cuts up. And if you're not doing that, like just at least look at some numbers, right? But then we should also be checking in with ourselves. And going yeah, how do I feel like and what I used to do this with the kids that I taught before I gave them their test grades back and always ask, How do you feel like you did on this test? Right? How do you feel like this? What did you struggle with? Okay, now let's look at your grade. And let's compare and contrast a little bit why we're, we're feeling these differences here of going, Okay, how do you feel like this last year went, Okay, now let's look at some numbers. And let's figure it out. Because you may have actually had a down year, quote, unquote, where you made less, but man, you felt amazing. You had more free time, you really enjoyed it. And so Okay, well, let's, let's try and get some of that back into this. And just just comparing how you're feeling versus what the business is telling you is, is another way
Kimberly L. 22:53
to compare that. Definitely great idea.
Collin 22:57
Now, you mentioned your team, and I did want you to tell us a little bit about them, and kind of how you how you have them structured and how you actually are using your employees in your business.
Kimberly L. 23:06
Okay, so yeah, so I currently have six employees, and I'm definitely on the hunt for new ones. I like kind of going with maybe eight, nine ish. So that's my goal. But yeah, so my current employees, we have pretty broad territory, we're spread out in like three different counties, but everything's connected. And it sounds like a lot. But it's, we don't do every all the whole county of all three new parts of each of those counties. So but it's a pretty spread out territory. So like to get from one end to the other is probably about 40 minutes or so depending on traffic and traffic can be a bear sometimes, so. So I kind of have when I do hire, I try to focus on hiring in a certain area to cover you know, those sits in that area. But I do have some, I have like two employees down in the lowest part of my territory, and then one up in the top part, and then the other three are kind of centrally located. So you know, so I guess just trying to organize that when I when I do schedule sets, I try to get obviously the person who's closest. And like I mentioned earlier, I use time to pet and each of our clients have a primary sitter assigned to them, and then at least two backups. And that's location based. So you know, I always try to get that first primaries that are scheduled because number one, they're the most familiar with them. Plus, they're the closest in mileage because we do reimburse mileage for our employees. So So I try to get that closest person but then if it's not available, it'll fall to the next one or the next one. Now, there are occasions where I may have that person at the top of the territory do you have to go to the bottom because there's just no one else available? And that happens from time to time. So that's something I kind of struggle with. I've thought about tightening up my territory from time to time but then I'm like, I hate To lose those clients that are on the outskirts, so, and then I also think about, well, maybe I should expand and hire more people in those outer areas. So I struggle with that all the time internally, you know, like, which way should I go? So, we'll see what happens down the road. But, but yes, as far as how we structure things, I mean, you know, right now, just, we have everybody that's kind of the same they do, you know, they do Pet Sets and whatnot, I do all of the admin work. Currently, I do have a VA that I recently hired about a month ago, who is actually located in Missouri. And she does some of the scheduling for me and things like that, is helping to kind of fine tune my SOPs. But otherwise, I do all the other back end stuff the admin work. And but the and then then staff, you know, basically, they just do the visits or the bulk of the visits. So, like I said, I try to keep everybody close to their home within about five to eight miles. But you know, sometimes that doesn't all play out well. So you got somebody that calls in sick, or the car breaks down, or they're on vacation. So, you know, then, and then that's when it comes to me filling in sometimes as well, which is not necessarily the goal. But you know, something, someone's got to do it. So.
Collin 26:15
So when you when you get a client in, you assign that primary center. So they would do of all visits, you know, three a day or four day or however many that visits that client needs for the duration of their trip.
Kimberly L. 26:28
Sometimes, sometimes we split it up, I do have three of my sisters who have full time jobs. So they only work primarily nights and weekends. And then the other three, their only job is with me, even though it's not full time. But this is the only job they work. So they have more availability to do you know, the three times that now the one girl doesn't work in the evenings, and then one doesn't work weekends. So it's like, everybody has their own kind of schedule. So that's something that we have to play with as well. You know, when we're scheduling things. So there are times when two or three people you know, like with a client is on vacation, two or three people will do their sets and split it up. So that definitely happens. Probably more often than not, I do have one girl who is more than willing to do all three and do all the visits, but others kind of have their times that they like to work. And I'm fine with that. As long as I have coverage.
Collin 27:21
Yeah, it really is starting to look at availabilities putting together the puzzle, when can people work? When can people not work? How do I make this work? And do you so and I'm sure part of that is just asking them and getting that in writing of like, what are you committing to when you come work for me?
Kimberly L. 27:40
Yes, absolutely. And, and sometimes, you know, when they first start on, I'll be honest, they say, oh, yeah, I can do any of those hours. Yes, we can do it all. And then once they realize they get into it, they're like, Yeah, I don't want to do the night hours, or I don't want to do the early morning hours or the weekend. So we adjust that as we go. And you know, I'm fine with that. As long as they're upfront and honest with me and tell me, then I can block their schedules. And then you know, I tell them to you know, like maybe in an emergency, I might call you and say Hey, can you do this one visit on the night time or the weekend? I know you don't normally do it, but would you be okay, doing that to help us out and usually they're okay with that, they just don't want to do it on a regular basis. So I just think, you know, laying that out for them and finding out what their needs are and what their you know what they want to work because I obviously want them to be happy and not leave, I would rather just someone scheduling than to have them leave and go somewhere else because they're not happy.
Collin 28:32
Yeah, that's really we've we've dealt with that a couple times. And we're going through that right now of doing a schedule adjust of the person is it still wants to work just is struggling to have this balance and needs a little bit more needs a little bit more flexibility back in their days. And because they do work another job full time job, and so we're working with them to go okay, I still want you here, you know, you're still valuable to the team really appreciate if you contribute, we'll just we'll just pull it out. Now that means that now we either have to expand hours from other staff members or hire somebody to cover additionally, but that's why we're, you know, we're doing that aspect and they're committing to what they can, you know,
Kimberly L. 29:15
a valuable employee is, you know, you want to do whatever you can to keep them so if it means saying that they don't work any more weekends or whatever the case may be, then you usually try to accommodate that so that because it's much easier to keep a happy employee than to go out and find a new one. So that's definitely
Collin 29:33
well I know you're in that process of of looking for a few more staff members, what do you look for when you go I need an employee for Kimberly, care what what what does that person look like to you?
Kimberly L. 29:45
So for me, I don't really look for pet experience unnecessarily because I think you can train somebody how to walk a dog, how to scoop a litter box, you know how to give medications and whatnot. So I look for more like the personality type trades. You know, I definitely want somebody who is passionate about caring for animals, but they don't necessarily have to have cared for them before. So I think that they have to be passionate about it, they have to be committed, they have to be, you know, I look for things like I use indeed, for my hiring. So on there, you can have them do like little recordings about what motivates them to work and ask them about conflicts they've had in the past and things like that. So I really listened to those and read what they write or listen to what they say. And you can kind of pick up on things like how they handle certain situations and things like that. Like if they tell me they don't handle conflict, well, then I'm probably not going to hire them. I mean, I still may talk to them if they are good on paper otherwise, but I think you really have to just listen for those little things. Because, you know, there can be conflict at this job just like any job. So if they don't handle that, well, then they may not be a good fit. So I kind of just go with my gut a lot. I know that's probably not a great answer for everyone. But but it's really what I do. I mean, when I the way my hiring process is I do the initial indeed add, like I said, they can do those recordings to answer those few questions. I didn't review the resume, if I'm interested at that point, I scheduled just a quick phone call with them, not really an interview, just more like a chat to get to know them a little better. usually lasts about 10 minutes. And then there I kind of take a lot of notes on how they respond to things and questions they may or may not ask. And at that point, I decide if I want to move on to a face to face interview. And there, I think it's really important to read their body language. And, you know, I have a series of questions I asked them, not a lot of them are pet related. It's more like, you know, just how they handle certain things and what they've done in their previous jobs in certain situations. So it's like I said, it's not really certain qualities necessarily, I'm looking for. It's just I don't know, it's kind of a whole package.
Collin 32:05
Yeah. Well, you said a phrase there, if you did that quick chat. And I think we need to really pay attention. You said I, you did not say I write down their answers you wrote, you wrote how they responded. So you're writing things down about like, tone? Did they pause? What was the what was the the expressions that they were giving you throughout this process? What was the the emotions that they were bringing to this? How did they then the follow up questions that these, these reading, it's reading the person, right? Because that's the other aspect and that that's the mistake that we made? When we first started hire. We didn't do that we didn't. We were like, Okay, we have the right answer in our brain. And they're going to tell us or they're not that I'm going to hire them or not. Like, that's what we did. Just a right answer to how you walk a dog, and you're going to tell it to me, and that's gonna dictate and, and we got some great people, but like, we also got some people who were just terrible fits, because we weren't paying attention to how they answered the, you know, tell us about a stressful situation in your life and how you handled it. Like did that person come up come up with, were they were they thoughtful about that? Were they flippant? Whenever they responded to that? Were they disrespectful to other people, when they described the other party in this situation? All of that is critical, because now we're bringing people into a people environment. Yeah, we don't see everybody. Any right, you know, all the time. But we're constantly interacting. And we know, maybe, you know, and you said, I might not hire somebody, depending on how they have a conflict. And someone may think, Well, I'm not going to have conflict with this person. What do you mean, what do you like? Well, you're going to have conflict at some point.
Kimberly L. 33:44
Inevitable. Yeah. So yeah, so yeah, I think it is just more like, like I said, it's kind of a gut feeling. And just a read on people, I think you have to get really good at reading people, even over the phone. But it's it's easier in person, obviously, because you can see their expressions and whatnot. But I just think that that's key and hiring. Like I know a lot of people say they want people that are experienced with pet sitting dog walking, but honestly, to me, I almost would rather have people that don't have that experience, because then they don't have any preconceived notions as to how to do things. And sometimes they think they know how to do it better than the way we do it. So I personally prefer people that don't have a lot of experience.
Collin 34:23
And then if you do have that person who has all of this experience, and we encountered this, this not too long ago, this person came in Super qualified, like all of these certificates and training and all this stuff. Was was one of it, but then we were like, Okay, what are we going to be listening to from this person? We we we wanted to ask him questions that were more is this person teachable? Is this person going to accept guidance correction from us? And we very quickly learned no, no.
Kimberly L. 34:58
They knew better right?
Collin 35:00
And it wasn't that what they did was, was wrong. They weren't doing in opposition to the things of how we operated, but we knew we would be unable to, to take a concern to this individual and go, you didn't do this or what, you know, this, that would have been disaster. And so that was something that we couldn't move forward with.
Kimberly L. 35:18
Yeah, definitely, definitely, they need to be able to handle the constructive criticism, and take, you know, guidance and training from you. So that's important.
Collin 35:27
And to get it that, you know, sometimes you can ask those questions kind of just on the, on the head, like, put neato nail on the head and going, yeah, when was the last time you got feedback? Or criticism? And how did you handle that? You can ask that question, right? Or you can ask more roundabout ways of getting to that. And that's just kind of where the, the art form of doing an interview comes in of kind of knowing how to get at various aspects. And it's a lot of trial and error, unfortunately,
Kimberly L. 35:54
definitely. Yeah, I kind of started out like you, I had my list of standard interview questions. And I didn't necessarily have a right or wrong answer. But I just didn't really delve into like the, the site, the logical part, or the, you know, those kinds of social situations and stuff. So over time, I've developed a lot more questions that I like to use in an interview, as opposed to the standard petsitting questions, if you will.
Collin 36:18
That's a little bit about your, your, your staff, obviously, your your hiring staff so that you can service your clients. Well, and one of your core tenets of of your company is to have the clients trust you and to build that trust. How do you go about doing that? Because I know that that's, that's, like, one of the biggest factors of the businesses that we run, is that trust?
Kimberly L. 36:40
Absolutely, yeah, we're in people's houses and taking care of their family members. So yeah, definitely. Key is trust. But I think trust starts with the initial interaction, whether that be a phone call, or you know, filling out a form on your website, and and how you respond to that. I think that's how you start to build that trust. Also, on your website, in general, you know, showing client reviews, you know, and and pictures of you and your staff with pads, things like that helped to build trust as well. But definitely, like I said, with that initial, okay, to step back, sorry. I do have a form on my website is the Get Started form they it's kind of like the intake, they give me the information. Where do you live? What kind of pets do you have, you know, what kind of care do you need? So usually what happens when they fill out that form, either one of two things, either we have a responder thing that goes through our website that sends them back, you know, thank you for filling out the form, we'll get back to you shortly with any questions, so I always try to call them back. Because I think it's important to have that initial conversation with them, rather than just going back and forth in email, or text or what have you. Because that can just be very impersonal. So I like that personal touch. And I do all the calls right now, for the company, I'm gonna try to call them just to have a little bit of a conversation set that tone initially. And I not tooting my own horn, but I feel like I have, like the ability to put people at ease, you know, just to conversationally, so I think that they always feel a little better after talking with me, even if they've already seen our website and all that. And then of course, the next step, once you find out that they're a good candidate, and they still, you know, like you and want to hire you, then you go to that we call it a new client consultation, some people call it a meet and greet, what have you. I typically do about 95% of those, because I think as the face of the company, you know, it's important for them to meet me and trust me. And at that meeting, I explained the team concept and all that good stuff. I do usually try to have the primaries that are go with me so that they can meet them if they're available. If they're not, then I will do it myself, which is fine. And I think that that's where you really build that trust. That's the key to solidifying that trust, I guess, is meeting them in person I've had so many clients tell me, after meeting with me in person, I feel so much better now leaving my pets in your care, you know, and even if they never met the sitter, that's going to do it. They just feel I think better once I kind of set their mind at ease and go through. And I have a checklist that we go through again, you know, for our initial consults. And you know, we review everything and like, show me where this is, show me where that is. If their pets are on medication, I usually have them show me how they do it, things like that. So there's just so many little things that we cover. So I think that makes them feel more at ease. And then of course, we're bonded and insured, and all that and we talk about that during the meeting. So I think that makes them feel more at ease as well.
Collin 39:44
Our friends at Pet perennials make it easy to send a heartfelt condolence gift directly to someone with a broken heart. They have this awesome direct to consumer gift model that takes the effort off of us and ensures a thoughtful, personalized simply gift reach our client or employee on our behalf. All gift packages include a handwritten card colorful gift wrap and shipping fees across both the US and Canada. They also offer an array of a milestone gifts and greeting cards that can be sent to celebrate birthdays, extend, get well wishes, and welcome new and 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 a 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 purchases, Learn more at Pet perennials.com Check out their business programs or register for that free gift perks account using the link in the show notes. I know you use time to pet at what point are they going in and filling out their profile? Are you doing that for them?
Kimberly L. 40:52
I do I have them do it. I don't do that, because I need them to be comfortable with the system. So like I said, we start with that intake form that gets started form on the website. And then after that initial chat on the phone, then I set up an account for them and time to pet send them the link and tell them that they need to complete everything prior to that consultation in person. So they knew all of that.
Collin 41:17
Okay, yeah, and I like that a little bit of this psychology too, of going no, they they need to be they're going to be the one booking the services, if that's our endpoint, if we don't want to be taking phone calls or emails or text messages, we want them to be using the software, they are going to have to use it at some point in going here. What tell me and one of the easiest ways is to go. Tell me about your pets. Right now. They're there, they're engaged, right? They like answering this stuff. So they're more apt to use the software, then whenever it's the drudgery of scheduling or whatever the boring stuff now at least they're in their
Kimberly L. 41:54
mind, I explained to them on that initial phone call with them the importance of filling everything out, I said, it's gonna take you a while because I ask a lot of questions. But we need this to properly care for your pets. So then they're like, Okay, no problem. And most of them fill it all out. I've had one or two that struggle with it, and you know, maybe forget to hit save, and they have to do it all again, and they get frustrated. So for those people, I'll usually make an exception. And when I go to do the new client consultation, you know, either take my iPad, or do it with them on their computer and help them go through it. But I still want them to do it. I don't do it for them.
Collin 42:28
But at least you're there to have that oversight. Right. And I think what's key there is going, what do I want the exception to the rule be right is it if the exception is I'm going to be a bit more hands on hear through this. The the rule is clients are more autonomous, they're putting this information in plus the aspect that they can go in and update that at any time is crucial. Because now they're more comfortable with that that's what you want. You want to you want to encourage this good behavior. It's all this training. Onboarding is not just I've learned this more and more onboarding is not just a process of getting us to walk the dog. It's also about training the client to your company expectations.
Kimberly L. 43:11
Absolutely, definitely. So yeah, I think it's definitely key. And you know, like, I'll have a client still occasionally text me and say, Do you have availability for this? And I'm like, Well, you need to put the request in. Because you know, nine times out of 10, we're gonna have availability with staff. There's very few times we don't maybe on a holiday, but for the most part, you know, we have availability, so put your request in. And if for some reason we can't do it, we'll let you know. Because I always try to train people do all communications through the software, don't text me because if I'm not around, then that message is going nowhere.
Collin 43:45
Or you, if you're like me, you look at the text and you go, wow, that's really important. Anyway. And then like two days later, you're scrolling through and you go, Oh, no, I didn't know.
Kimberly L. 43:56
I'm really bad about that sounds like we have similar ways that we do things.
Collin 44:04
It's why it's so important to just not we have enough to worry about as business owners, we've got a lot on our minds, worrying about missing a visit or missing scheduling for a visit, let's back away up until you would say a visit at this point. We're talking about a scheduled request. That's not something that I am willing to worry about. So it just needs to sit in an email, or on a dashboard or somewhere that's going to alert me whenever it's up there. And I know I'm always going to see that like that's trying to certain trying to know about yourself, what information do you need surfaced in your life so that you don't have to be juggling it behind the scenes is an aspect of of hate a project management? Right, right back to that?
Kimberly L. 44:46
Absolutely. Yeah, it's difficult because like, I think in our businesses, there's so many points of contact, you know, I mean, there's our phone, there's our text, there's email, there's our website, contact forms. There's Instagram, there's Facebook. You know, there's so many ways that people can reach out to us. So I think having it all, you know, initially, I tried to check all that stuff. But then once you get that client on board, and I'm like, we only communicate through the app, because there's so many ways it can get missed. Like, just the other day, I had a client who notoriously books dog walks lead, which is fine, we can usually accommodate her. But she used to always text me and say, Hey, do you guys have time to walk by dog? And I would get back to her. And then I finally like, one day, I missed the text, or I probably did what you said, you know, I was doing stuff. And I glanced at it and said, I'll get back to that later. And totally slipped my mind until like three o'clock, and I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry. You know, this happened. I said, I tell you what, let's always ask this through the, to the chat in our software. That way, even if I miss it, one of my staff will see it, and they can say they'll let me know, oh, hey, I can do that walk. And I'm like, and that's happened on like, three different occasions since I told her to start using the software. So it's been so nice, because sometimes I don't see it if I'm busy doing something. So you know, like, I just had to happen yesterday, actually, one of my sitters messaged me on Slack and said, Hey, I saw that, you know, Gaby needs a walk, I can do that after so and so. And I'm like, Oh, great. Thanks. And I hadn't even seen the message come over yet. So it's really nice to have that. So I think it's important to, like you said, train your clients how you want them to communicate. So that's key.
Collin 46:27
Yeah. Because it does make sure things don't slip through the cracks, right, because that's a big aspect of, of one of the piece of things about the peace of mind that we that we bring to the table is never missing anything, or having all of the details. And if that's all reliant on me and my poor, sleep addled brain, like with poor, good luck, right, everybody, like, this is not what we want. That's not how we want to represent our company to our clients. And that, then, when we're able to present I think, part of this of building trust with clients, yes, it's, it's showing a good face, it's being professional in front of them, it's being able to communicate well, and being able to put them at ease. Part of that comes in talking about your systems that you have in place, talking up everything, that you have all the lattice and support structures that you have in your business, you don't have to walk through every, you know, agrees it's detail or you know, that you have in place. But some clients need that to know, the kind of company that they're working with.
Kimberly L. 47:27
Yes, absolutely. Yeah, I think it's really important to set those boundaries upfront. So are those expectations?
Collin 47:35
Well, boundaries, boundaries boundaries to do you have office hours and times of communication? That, you know, when staff when clients can or can't? Or shouldn't be?
Kimberly L. 47:47
Well, loosely, yes, I do say my hours of for the office are nine to five, Monday through Friday, and like nine to one on Saturday. But, you know, honestly, if I'm sitting around and, you know, watching TV, or cleaning up the kitchen, or something, if somebody calls nine times out of 10, I'm gonna answer it unless it's like 910 o'clock at night. But I do answer the phone after five. But I still advertise that those are my office hours. And I try not to go in and like approve visits and everything until the following morning. So that is sort of a little bit of a boundary, I guess, unless it's like a last minute thing. So I do have office hours set, but I don't always follow them myself.
Collin 48:27
Same. Yeah, it's I would say, everybody has that little bit of a wiggle room in what they do. And they we are looking and seeing and trying. But I think it's really important to ask you, you mentioned that there really? Is this last minute, is this an emergency request? That should always be that first screen when it's outside of office hours? And then going? If it is? Okay, I do need to take a few minutes to sit down and address this. If it's not, this is going to wait till tomorrow. I mean, and that's but that's hard. Because what what is that? We're talking about training clients, if you say my office hours are nine to five, and then they're submitting requests and getting confirmations or whatever back to them or you're responding back to them after that. Well, they're just going to continue to send those things after five right and and then if you don't one day, they're going to be asking, Did this happen to this go through what's going on? I didn't I usually get requests, I usually read get response. And you're gonna be like, Oh, that's not actually what I want. So keeping in mind, how you just how you want to live your life and then going What do I structure around that? You know, is one way to kind of move forward through that?
Kimberly L. 49:29
Yeah, I definitely try to like certain responses and things that you can set up I scheduled them to go out the next morning, I still may do them that night. But I want them to not go out until like eight or nine in the morning when technically office hours start you know, so that helps stop. But yeah, sometimes I forget to do that schedule thing so they do slip through sometimes.
Collin 49:50
Now I know you also have quite a lot of reviews across different different platforms there. Are you Are you purposely asking for those or How're you going about that process?
Kimberly L. 50:02
Yes, we absolutely asked for them. I, over the years, I've kind of developed a process. So and this is part of my SOPs, because eventually I want to hire an Office admin person. So I'm working on that. But basically, our process is we like if it's a new client, or even an existing client, that's never left us a review. When they vacation clients, when they go on vacation, we always have them check in with us when they return to make sure their pets are, you know, back in their care, and we don't need to do another visit. And then about three to five days after they return, I schedule a message to go out in time to pet asking them for a review. It's just a sage reply within time to pet that you can just set up and send. So that goes out, like I said, three to five days after their return, I always try to do it like on a weekend because I know, you know people that come back from vacation, sometimes it takes them a couple of days to get back into their groove, and then they have to go to work. So I try to schedule it like for a Saturday or Sunday, because then they have maybe a little more time to sit down and write that review. And I always leave them links to our different platforms. You know, Facebook, Instagram, I mean, I'm not sorry, yeah, Instagram, Facebook, Google. And next door is usually where I asked for the reviews. So I leave them a link so they can go directly to the review, they don't have to scroll around looking for it. And then for my daily dog walking clients, usually, once they've used us, you know, started with us, and after they've walked their dogs for a couple of weeks, two or three weeks, then I'll send them a request review, request for review. So I usually get a decent response. I mean, obviously, there's some people who just never leave reviews, and that's totally fine. And then I never want to like do a, an email blast to everyone asking for a review. Because you don't want to get like you know, 1020 reviews at once because then people assume that they're fake. So I like to set them up, when they come back when everything's fresh in their mind. Plus, then you're making sure they're happy, because you're doing that follow up to make sure they got home. And then if if there's any thing that that they want to maybe have a grievance about at that point, they would let you know. So if they do, then you're probably not going to request that review. As long as they don't, then you send that request for review. And I'm actually I haven't implemented this yet. But I want to start doing a follow up phone call with each client when they come back from vacation. You know, maybe not that first day, but maybe a day or two later, just do a quick phone call to say and you know, this is Kimberly just wanted to make sure that your services went well that you're happy if there's anything we can do to improve. Because I think that personal touch really helps to kind of seal the deal with them as far as even if maybe they're not happy, then maybe they at least appreciate you following up and listening to them. So that's something that I'm going to start implementing really soon, but I haven't yet. And so hopefully that'll help to get more reviews as well. Because at that point, you know, if they say yes, we were very happy, you know, with so and so said or this or that, then you can say well, hey, you know, would you mind leaving a review for them? And then maybe follow up with that text sending them that link? So that's probably something I'll start soon.
Collin 53:15
Well, and will you do that within that three to five day time period, as well,
Kimberly L. 53:20
yeah, maybe even a little sooner, or maybe a day or two later, you know, because if if they do have any issues with the services, that gives them the opportunity to tell me and then for me to try to make it right with them. So that even if they do leave a review, it's not going to be a bad one. Because everybody likes to leave those bad reviews, you know, they're quick to do that. But not everybody, but a lot of people but then when you ask for a positive, it's sometimes harder to get that so, but I think that'll go a long way with trying to encourage them to leave that positive review.
Collin 53:49
Well, and the other aspect to that I know, people who struggle with allowing people into their home is like, Am I ever gonna see this person again? Like, because it's a fly by night kind of company? Like, are they just gonna disappear and ghost me on these things? And then us, you know, you showing back up with a phone call and saying, Hi, I want to talk about your recent experience with us and just see how everything went. There's anything, any feedback you have for us, I think we can do better next time. That really takes like, oh, this person isn't going anywhere. Like this person, this person is invested. Because we all talked about, oh, we want to build a relationship and we want these things. But if we don't have touch points with our clients, there will be no relationship built, which means that we shouldn't be surprised when they don't respect our boundaries and when they don't follow our procedures and whenever they're not really the best client.
Kimberly L. 54:39
Absolutely, yeah, I definitely think that the more personal touch you can give them the better. I mean, I know personally for me, if I were to use a service and they were to follow up with me via phone a couple days later that would really make me feel special and important, you know and make me feel like they care about me and what you know what my experiences so that That's why I want to start implementing that really soon.
Collin 55:02
Yeah, well, that's super exciting. I'm very interested to see how that goes. And I know a lot of people are scared of phone calls, or it's not their biggest forte. So that may be a struggle for, for other people for us. But I think just going, I have a purpose, maybe I've got a little bit of a script, and I'm just I'm not going to be the one doing a lot of talking. I'm just going to be asking some prompting questions. And then, you know, jumping off the phone call or you know, or saying, Okay, thank you for your time kind of thing. And realizing, I'm I do need this, that this feedback is valuable to me. And hopefully, that's enough to prompt a an action on this.
Kimberly L. 55:37
Absolutely. Yeah. I'm looking forward to actually implementing that. I'll let you know how it goes. Okay. Yeah.
Collin 55:42
Kimberly, do you are you are you running the business? You thought you'd be running back in 2016?
Kimberly L. 55:48
No. I'll be honest, in 2016, I, like I said, when I quit my corporate job, and started the company, I thought I would remain solo. And I was like, you know, I'll be happy if I make like, 12,000 a year. So you know, and just be be happy. And then like I said, just, I never thought that I would actually have a business with employees, and you know, all that stuff. So definitely, totally different than what I expected when I got started. Oh,
Collin 56:19
yeah, making that jump, and just seeing how, how big it goes right as you go along of going, man. And did you ever ask yourself like, is this what I like? Is this what I want? Is this the company like do you ever struggle with with, you know, kind of all the operating and things and, you know, moving pieces that you have on? Do you look and go, Yeah, this is still what I'm passionate about?
Kimberly L. 56:40
Yeah, I mean, I do. Like I said, there's days when you struggle, I think but overall, yes. I'm very passionate about it. I love the business. I love what it's grown to. I love working with the clients with the staff. I love doing all the organizational things doing the SOPs, I love I love structure. So I love putting all that together. And kind of like you said, the puzzle pieces together, I actually enjoy doing scheduling, which most people are praying, like, why
Collin 57:08
a rare person indeed, Kimberly.
Kimberly L. 57:11
You know, it's kind of like, it's like a you said, it's like a puzzle. It's like, you know, you, I look at the schedule, and like we have our regulars, you know, that are always on the schedule. And then somebody pops in and says, Okay, I need a visit. So you have to look at where this best fits in, you know, who you have available, where their location is, and who's familiar with them and all that. So, to me, that's kind of like, interesting and fun trying to fit that all together. Sometimes it gets frustrating, I will admit. But overall, I enjoy doing stuff like that. So, so yeah, I mean, I really love what I do. And even though I struggle at times, I think it's the business is definitely moving in the right direction. And I'm very hopeful that it will continue to grow. And I embrace that. And I love that.
Collin 57:50
That's super cool. Kimberly, I'm so so glad we got to talk today and, you know, encouraging us to, to look for those deeper skills of those of those staff members and to work really hard about with building that trust with the clients at every single step along the way. But I know you know, I really love this conversation. I've got a lot of notes here for me to track. Thanks for my homework. But no, I it means a lot for you take the time out of your day. I know there's a lot here. And so people are interested in organization stuff staying on task, you know, some more of your your processes, or they just want to follow along with all the cool stuff that you're doing how best can people do that?
Kimberly L. 58:33
Yeah, sure. So our website is Kimberly's Twitter care.com. And that's critter with a que. And just little odd. So that's our website. And then my email is Kimberleys, critter care@gmail.com. So definitely can reach out that way. You can also feel free to call me if you like, I don't know if I should give my number on here or they can look it up on the website. But I'm happy to take phone calls or text or DMS, you know, whatever anybody that I'm happy to help people out I love we have a local network here in Charleston. And we all help each other out, you know, with questions and stuff. So I'm definitely happy to help anybody who has questions on that stuff. So
Collin 59:15
awesome. Well, I'll have links to those in the show notes in on the website for people to get connected. And yeah, and give me a call if they need to pick your brain more. But Kimberly, I really appreciate it and really enjoyed this conversation. Thank you so much for taking your time today.
Kimberly L. 59:29
Absolutely enjoyed it too. Colin, thank you.
Collin 59:31
Are you running the business that you thought you'd be running when you started? Really take a moment to consider that and all the facets and I think importantly, one major part of that is are you doing the things that you thought you'd be doing? Do you enjoy them? Or do you need to make some changes? This could either mean that you need to hire or change your services or change your business operations and organizational structures. We're not talking about whether You feel like you're successful or your business is successful? It's are you doing the thing you wanted to do in the beginning, plain and simple? And if it's not, what steps can we take to get there? And if it is, or maybe you fallen in love with new portions of it, how you make sure that you have more of that and your life. I want to thank today's sponsors, tie into pet and pet perennials for making the show possible. And thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
