439: Gaining Confidence by Doing Hard Work with Abby Strong
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Can you transform a simple passion into a thriving business? Abby Strong, founder of Auntie Abby's Pet Sitting Service, shares her journey from a part-time pet sitter and full-time nanny to a thriving business owner. Abby shares the challenges and triumphs of transitioning from working solo to leading 21 pet sitters and dog walkers, emphasizing the importance of tackling hard tasks and taking pride in one's work. She discusses balancing the multifaceted role of a caretaker, the customization of pet care services, and the significance of building strong client relationships. It’s not just about growth, it’s about personal development and finding fulfillment and taking pride in our hard work.
Main topics
Roll of caretaker
Being a nanny and overnight care
Having pride and doing hard things
Making lives better
Main takeaway: Take pride in your hard work, and you’ll build something that serves others with excellence!
About our guest:
Hello! I am Abby Strong, owner and founder of Auntie Abby’s Professional Pet Sitting Service in Des Moines, IA. I opened my business in October 2019 as a solo provider driven by my profound passion for animals and their welfare. I quickly realized there was a tremendous need for quality, trustworthy pet care providers where animals are most comfortable: in their own homes! I truly feel pets are best served by staying in their regular environment while maintaining their normal routine. Turns out I was right, as I also quickly booked myself 7 days a week from 6AM to often 10PM with walks, visits and overnight jobs in clients homes. 1.5 years later, I reached a point where I needed to make a big decision: I could either continue working as a solo sitter, working at a crazy, unsustainable pace and having zero free time, or I could hire. Despite some initial trepidation that no one could do the job as well as I did, I took the plunge and starting interviewing job candidates. I never looked back!
As of today, we have grown to a team of 21 phenomenal pet sitters and dog walkers. I aspire to continue that growth. It’s hard to articulate just how proud I am of this team. We’ve had amazing success due to our incredible attention to detail, stellar client communication, professionalism and true love, adoration and respect for each animal entrusted to our care. Our sitters truly take the time to meet each pet at their level and provide an enriching, enjoyable experience.It is immensely rewarding to know my passion is shared by so many others. We believe that a carefully tailored care plan makes each pet visit highly enriching and highly anticipated. We are met with much joy and excitement by each pet and the feeling is reciprocal. Tail wags, leaps of joy, wiggles, monetary tips for exceptional service, repeat business and heartfelt client testimonials fill our hearts and let us know we are indeed in the right business!
Links
info@auntieabbyspetsitting.com
https://auntieabbyspetsitting.com
https://www.facebook.com/AuntieAbby
https://www.instagram.com/auntieabbyspetsdsm/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/abby-strong-490b5a37/
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pet, clients, sitters, service, work, visits, business, abby, find, dog, overnight, feel, care, business owner, team, day, great, important, gift, staff
SPEAKERS
Collin,, Abby S.
Collin Funkhouser 00:00
Hey, welcome to pet sitter confessional. Today, we are brought to you by time to pet and pet perennials. As a business owner, you'll be faced with many hard things to do and growing and running a business is just straight hard work. But what do we get out of it other than a business? Well, personally, we gain a lot of confidence by trying and doing hard things. Today, we are really excited to be interviewing Abby strong owner of Auntie Abby's pet sitting service about her journey into pet care why tackling hard things is critical to her success, and about the pride that she has in that hard work and how it's paying off. Let's get started.
Abby S. 00:43
I call in it's such an honor to be featured on your podcast. I'm a huge fan. So my name is Abby strong. I am the owner and founder of Auntie Abby's pet sitting service in Des Moines, Iowa. We have been in business for four years now. October 2019. So actually, it's our four year anniversary right now. Yeah, we offer a variety of pet sitting services all in our clients homes, from dog walking and drop in visits to pet nanny care and overnight care. This was something I had done on the side for probably a decade prior. I've always been very passionate about animals and their welfare. I volunteered with the Animal Rescue League of Iowa and bailing out Benji, which is founded in Ames, Iowa and is now a national nonprofit. They work to educate the public on puppy mills, which is quite a problem here in Iowa. And so this came very naturally to me. I also nannied full time for 13 years. So I've always been in kind of a caretaker role. And this was a natural progression from that, I would say
Collin Funkhouser 02:09
the caretaker role. I think that's a, that's a very important aspect to what we do. What does that mean to you, when you hear caretaker? Can How do you break that down into the constituent parts and approach that? Right?
Abby S. 02:23
Well, I think there are a lot of parts there. So one, there is the responsibility. It's a huge responsibility to be in charge of a pet or child well being. Then we can also incorporate the enjoyable parts. So enrichment, nurturing different aspects of pets, personalities, all sorts of things. So I think it's multifaceted. Now,
Collin Funkhouser 02:51
we tend to get caught up in the care without the caretaker. And that that's our responsibility. Love how you started off with that. It's our responsibility that we bring to the pets that are in our charge while their owners are away. And that that really is that's us. Right, that falls to us. You called Auntie Abbey's? Is this is this from your your nannying days, or where did this name come from?
Abby S. 03:18
That's a great question. So I have two nieces who are five and seven now. They started calling me Auntie Abby. And what I really wanted to portray to clients is that we will care for their pets just like family. In fact, our tagline is your pets family when you can't be. And so Auntie Abby just felt like a natural expression
Collin Funkhouser 03:44
of that. As much as a name is like, not all that bored. Like it's really important. Because yeah, it does. It does convey a lot, and especially when we think of the kind of emotions that we want our clients to have the connection that the connecting points to that. And I think a lot about that, too, is just the familiarity of kind of what that what that is imbued with to to the general public. Oh, absolutely.
Abby S. 04:13
And because all of our services are offered and our clients home, we also really want to focus on building that relationship that feels like extended family, it's a big deal to allow someone into your home.
Collin Funkhouser 04:28
We too often forget that write of just how big of a deal this is. To let a stranger into your home because at the end of the day, that's what we are right? We're strangers, we if we have staff, they're also strangers to the client. And it's normal for us, right? It's kind of old hat at this point like, Oh, this is no big deal. But I don't know if you have a lot of your clientele are like ours. We get a lot of people who I've never needed the service before. I've never done anything like this before. Help me. I'm concerned. I'm more. Do you get those kinds of responses from people Absolutely,
Abby S. 05:01
we hear multiple things. So one thing I hear commonly is family, we've always relied on family or neighbors. Or I hear from people who have used a, you know, national, pet sitting business, and they've had a poor experience. And so I really tell them about the benefits of working with someone local and a business owner who's right here to jump in at any moment.
Collin Funkhouser 05:30
I know you do use a team. So does that change that relationship with the clients? Are they expecting to get the same person every time? Or can how do you have that structure to have that conversation with them?
Abby S. 05:41
Great question, because this started out as a solo operation for about a year and a half. And at that point, when I grew to a team, as you can imagine, the clients have gotten very used to working with me personally. And so I had to convey to them why this was a good move to make. One of the benefits of having a team is that there's always someone to step in if there's an emergency. And I also, I personally conduct meet and greets in person with any client with dogs, because I like to get a feel for dog's temperament. And then the sitter's any set or working with the client also meets with them prior as well. So I think that really helps clients to feel comfortable working with different people. We also use time to pet and our reports allow us to work really seamlessly in time to the pet, and our clients see that as well. They know the senator who might be helping later in the day, has read all of the particulars that happened at the last visit.
Collin Funkhouser 06:57
Yeah. Yeah, really extending that, that peace of mind of that of that of, although the individual may be a stranger, if they have to come in, they are not unfamiliar with your home or their care requirements. And that's an aspect that is it's kind of hard to get across to clients, at first, at least I found because they you know, I get all this good, well, can I need to meet, you know, all six people who may take care of my dog or not quite how this works, but, you know, explain to them our scheduling process and how everything's put together and everything. And then at the but linking it back to the shared notes, like the the team communication and the collaboration that we have together?
Abby S. 07:41
Yes, absolutely. And that's such a key piece. Because this job to be done well, really demands that were very attentive to detail that we're in regular contact. And so that's just a really critical component. Because
Collin Funkhouser 08:01
especially when you go from solo to having somebody else, right, when you're just doing the visits, when it's just you, it's easy to keep track of where you put the thing last, or how the home was when you left or what its gonna look like moving forward. Because that's It's you, right? And now we're working as a team, we've got to try and incorporate that a little bit better and kind of almost force it. I feel like at times, it's like, No, you must send this information like this is in writing to review. Yes. Oh, absolutely. So do you have do you have staff members that do all the same client, so you said kind of have a primary staff member on a particular client and the backups in case they can't get there?
Abby S. 08:43
Right. So depending on the type of service, I actually like to have two to three centers for each client. We do a lot of our clients are divided in that some opt for overnight care, or someone sleeps over in their home, and some opt for our vacation visit service, where we make multiple visits throughout the day. And with the visits in particular, that often ends up being a couple of different sitters, just based on their availability. Yeah, and I like that as well. Because then I know you know, if somebody gets sick or something comes up, we have backup, you know, somebody that could take on the majority of the visits.
Collin Funkhouser 09:27
Having those backups is really important. And then I also try and founders a lot of benefits of the multiple eyes, ears hands on the pet on the home, because the same person right? If they if they kind of have this, this it's not really a blindness, but like a blindness to the pee stain that's on the rug like they're never going to see it but the person who that another person is probably going to be like, Oh, well what's that? So helps catch a lot of these things. And it does really help elevate that quite a bit. When you're when you're working at that kind of having mold Will people come in throughout the time that they're traveling? Yes,
Abby S. 10:03
I agree that because I think everybody brings different things, different styles, you know, things that they are more in tune to. So I absolutely agree with that.
Collin Funkhouser 10:17
You mentioned you offer quite a lot of different kinds of services. And I know at the core of every one of those services is is a problem that you're trying to solve for the client? So how do you how do you go about understanding the problems that your clients face? Because many of us go well, I've got this thing, or, or what do I do with how do I connect? What is it like, when you sit down you go my clients? How do you start? How do you think about their problems?
Abby S. 10:41
Yeah, great question. multiple different ways. So at the core, I'm big on building client relationships. Similar to when I was nannying. You know, I was I was a part of those clients families. And that's what I want for this as well. So from the very beginning, I let our clients know how important they are to us. And I really show interest and learning about their pets and their pets behavior and their households. I start by having an in phone kind of interview of sorts with clients, where I collect some information. And then I tell them about our onboarding process, time to pet, all the things we have in place. And then from there, they create their account in time to pet and most clients are really impressed by the amount of items I cover and time to pet. So it's everything from where's the thermostat located? What you know, feeding where dishes located, would you like us to wash your pets dishes, I really try to get in there. And that way we can truly mimic the normal habits and routine of the pets. Then I would also say, with social media, we know we're really trying to address our client's needs. So we do a variety of things from sharing pictures and videos of pets on you know, really illustrating how we're providing enrichment or, or going through the services like a dog walk, we did a fun, real the other day with a dog that we brought bacon flavored bottles to the visit, and this little Frenchie had the time of her life chasing these bubbles. And I want our clients to see you know, this enjoyment that it's not just a potty break, and a feeding, you know, we're coming into these jobs, bringing an enthusiastic them and excitement. And then I also am big on connecting with other pet businesses in the area. So for instance, there's a wonderful dog trainer, Sheila Williams, that I first met two years ago. And we have partnered on a lot of things, and she's been a great referral to clients. And then it's very easy for us knowing Sheila's approach to things to implement that, while we're there with services. Yeah, I could expound on that. Oh.
Collin Funkhouser 13:26
Well, I think you know, at the core of that you talked about building relationships. And you said a phrase there, have you really tried to help them understand how how important the clients are to us. And I know from one aspect, sure, they are important to my business, because they're going to be paying me financially, right, that's that they are important in that aspect. But also, they're important, because they're important, right? The human has value, the pet has value, and we value them for the way they are and where they're meeting us. And that takes us time to listen, to understand, to hear between the words that people are saying to us, so we can actually start to craft and understand what they're what they're asking us. So that the partnership that you mentioned, I know we have some some general partnerships with with trainers with groomers and stuff like that. But it sounds like you've really, really fostered that that relationship with that trainer quite a bit.
Abby S. 14:23
She's become a personal friend. I have enormous respect for her methods. I know they're safe for pets. I know she meets every pet at their level. And it feels good to be able to refer to someone that I know and trust very well.
Collin Funkhouser 14:42
I know, man, when we first started and we were still getting connected with trainers, you know, I'd tell people Oh, you know, well, let me know what trainer you're gonna get connected with. And then we'll all reach out to them and we'll talk to them and kind of understand their approach and whatever. But now after having built and fostered some of these relationships, kind of into suitably knowing where and never just assuming that what their approach is going to be always having that conversation, but you intuitively know what that approach is going to be and that you are good match, and they're not going to just spring something on you where all of a sudden, you're you're not comfortable with what they're trying to do with that dog.
Abby S. 15:15
Yes, yeah. And that's one of the reasons I think anybody that you are going to refer to, it's very important to truly get to know, their services, their offerings, their methodology, is you want it to align with your, your personal business values.
Collin Funkhouser 15:32
Right? Because you don't want to have this referral going out that you actually at the other day aren't 100% comfortable with or you wouldn't send your own dogs to or, well, they're great, except this one. But so did that. What did that? Did you reach out to her in that way? Or, you know, just just a phone call and say, Hey, can we meet for coffee? Or kind of how did you start that? Because I know many, many, many of us are either a really busy or be unsure how to approach people, because it's, it's just why you want me to cold call somebody, you know, how do I how do I make this work?
Abby S. 16:04
Right. And that's been an area of growth for me over these past four years as networking skills, and I've become much more confident. I am big on following all of our neighborhood Facebook groups, and Sheila had posted about her services and a neighborhood that we work in. And so I sent her a message and said, hey, you know, I'm Abby, I would really like to get to know you and hear more about your services. So we met up for coffee. And then we just built the relationship from there. Those
Collin Funkhouser 16:38
Those neighborhood Facebook groups are really powerful. They're a great marketing technique for us as businesses to kind of be a direct connection to a lot of people, but also just from being a fly on the wall to see what kind of things are being okay. questions are being asked what kind of recommendations are being given? Who else is out there that maybe I don't know. I mean, we've discovered so many local pet sitters, who, when somebody posts, you know, I need help with blah, blah, blah, blah, just we'll just wait a little bit. Cuz see who scrolls up, see who comes up? And okay, I know that person Oh, I've never seen that person before. Maybe I'll reach out to them, it can really expedite a lot of that networking process. Oh,
Abby S. 17:17
absolutely. It's just a wealth of knowledge just in learning about that community and what their needs are. And like you said, other pet sitters and pet businesses are specific issues that clients are not clients, but neighbors are having and they're asking the group for, you know, help, you know,
Collin Funkhouser 17:35
then you can pop in and say, Oh, hey, that's a great question. You know, here's this yz. Now, all of a sudden, you're a resource. And, and what this is actually doing is, this is the business aspect of doing some market research, right? Where are people's struggles? Where are their pain points? What kind of questions do they have? Because we know generally what our clients are struggling with. But if we're constantly trying to market to new people, we have to understand where they are. And not just geographically but but where they are. They're in their pet ownership, and their pet, you know, their life with their pet right now, where are they? What struggles are they having, and we can try and put out all sorts of, you know, questionnaires or flyers or stuff like that, but hearing it directly from people is exceptionally powerful.
Abby S. 18:16
Oh, absolutely. You know, and there's so many moving pieces, you know, depending on the economy COVID COVID was a huge thing, you know, where we saw the impact of that on on our clients and our pet sitting businesses. So it's important to always be evolving. You know, in for me, this business has been a wild journey over four years of starting as a solo, you know, center and now having a team of 21 centers. And so what I've learned is you've got to constantly be pivoting. You know, you may have a business model that you need to evaluate that every few months because it's constantly changing and you're finding ways you can do things more efficiently and another need that you can potentially meet.
Collin Funkhouser 19:07
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Doug 19:12
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Collin Funkhouser 19:32
looking for new pet sitting software, give time to pet a try. Listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/professional What's something that you've had to pivot from or away to recently where you thought oh, this is what I'm doing? This is a great idea and then maybe backed off when nevermind or some other sort of scenario.
Abby S. 19:54
I think actually maybe what I could talk about your is our pet nanny service. Yeah, cuz
Collin Funkhouser 19:59
I saw On your website, and I was like, Okay, this is this is a little different. And obviously knowing your background as being a human nanny, right, it kind of makes sense of why they important, but I don't I don't see this service offered a lot. Okay,
Abby S. 20:14
so this service, one of the biggest features is that it's very customizable. And you can choose exact time blocks to have a sitter come and spend an extended period of time in your home. So it's a minimum of two hours to book, it's typically booked anywhere from two to five hours. And this began out of COVID. So what did we find during COVID, so many pets got so very used to having their owners at home, you know, they weren't left, they weren't left alone very often. So there was some anxiety. And then I started thinking of all the other ways it's beneficial. So maybe you've got a pet who recently had a medical procedure, they're taking pain meds, you know, they're wobbly on their feet, client needs to go to a meeting, you know, you've got somebody that can come spend that time. Puppies, new puppies, you know, they need to be let out frequently, they're trying to keep up with potty training habits. So somebody that can be there, you know, in and out monitoring. Also, we just have clients who love their pets, so Gosh, darn much, which is awesome. And they know, their pets are just happier having someone there, you know, we've got a client, when they travel, they have someone come for two hours in the morning to be with their cat. And then three hours in the evening, and they just no Normie is no, he's happy. And you know, we sent all these videos, and he's just hurrying and making biscuits and head butting.
Collin Funkhouser 21:49
Yeah. Oh, and, you know, because that's, again, this, there's a need out there. And can I should I? How do I fill this? Right? And that's an important question that we as business owners, we have to ask ourselves, and I know many of us go, extended stays like that. I don't know if my current business model allows me to do that. So I have to evaluate that maybe what is my? And then we start going well, what does that change for my hiring outlook? Or not? Or What? What? How much? Am I involved in those? And so, you know, the pricing on those? I know, it may people may think that there's you know, Are there discounts for those kinds of services, or kind of what's the pricing model on that? Yeah, so
Abby S. 22:33
it's a minimum of two hours to book, it's 30 an hour, so a minimum of $60. So really, it's very nice, because clients can choose what works best for them and clients who might opt for our vacation visits. Like if they have dogs, instead of our overnight service, it's always an option to add that on. So maybe in place of the bedtime visit, they come home, someone's been two hours at bedtime, kind of similar to like an almost overnight.
Collin Funkhouser 23:01
Yeah, that that flexibility. Is that? Do you get pushback on that? Because, you know, $60 for a service? You know, that's, that's good enough there as far as cost for a lot of people.
Abby S. 23:15
Right? Well, we found that this appeals to a select clientele. You know, it's it's people who they have a need for it. It's people who really just like to make sure their pets are comfortable. So it's not for everyone, but it's a good option for those who would like it. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 23:33
well, I think it's important to remember because we have people from all across the country, and pricing is always a Oh, I could never charge that I could never do that kind of thing. Right and, and so it's understanding your your market, where you are your personal budget and things like that. But, you know, for $60 for a minimum service fee, you know, and I mean, you're you're in Des Moines in a lot of people might be surprised that, that you can charge that kind of money for for a service like that. Right.
Abby S. 24:02
And the nice piece there, we also offer 3045, and 60 minute visits or walks. So all sorts of options, all sorts of options. The pet nanny is when you're really looking for that one on one care for an extended period. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 24:20
and that's the I think that's what's really important is is to look at your entire pricing structure of your services to understand is there a stair step here of services and pricing that works the way up so they kind of see this nice flow upward and and it does kind of go okay, well, I'm, oh, well, it's just a little bit a little bit of pricing mindset comes in where the the person purchasing goes, which is five bucks more than that, well, if I'm already doing that, and I can work my way up to this up to this cost. But that's, that is something that that we can provide because if you don't say How'd that stairsteps sometimes it's harder to sell or have see that have the client see the value in that extra charge for that service. That is, you know, that's a very, very premium service, right, staying at somebody's home for five hours in a row. Like, that's, that's a lot. Right.
Abby S. 25:17
And I think our clients realize that. And so those that truly want that service, they understand the value of somebody's time, when a sitter could be filling in elsewhere with multiple visits. However, I'll say our sitters really like this, because it allows them to stay put in one place for a while versus driving here driving there, you know, it's, it's nice in that respect. It
Collin Funkhouser 25:41
is, you know, and and I know, do you have to have conversations with them of like, what do I do with the cat for two hours? Yeah, how do I make this work? Like, what how do you approach that because I know many of us would go, if you go to Howard.
Abby S. 25:56
What? Yeah, so once again, it totally depends on the client and the pet. So if you've got a really energetic dog, you're with for three hours, you might go on a walk, and then come in and cool down in the go play out in the backyard. And then the dog naps for 30 minutes, and you read a book. If you're with a cat, honestly, Shelley will sit there and the cat just wants to knead on her and sometimes will fall asleep. And that's what the client wants, they just want someone to come and you know, love on them. And then Shelly can, like I said, read a book or look at her phone. So it just really depends. And we always know going into the job, specifically what the client is looking for.
Collin Funkhouser 26:35
And that all starts back with that initial conversation, right? And those questions that you're asking, because we, we can't determine what this time looks like. Unless we know what they're wanting. Now, obviously, we have our professional opinion. And we're going to do it that time in the best interest of the pet and, and express that and build that in. But at the end of the day, if the client is okay with you sitting on the couch with the cat falling asleep in your lap, and you feel guilty, like, well, you know, that's something you've got to work with and be okay, be okay. Because you know, you're doing what the client asked you to do. Exactly. Yeah.
Abby S. 27:09
And you know, this is also when we get to bring in some of our fun enriching activities. So dog puzzles, flirt, pull the bubbles I mentioned, and clients love to see their pets doing new and exciting activities. Right. So you
Collin Funkhouser 27:23
also do do overnights and so I am curious? Do you try and steer clients to one over the other? Or do you pretty much go with whatever that client's initial request is.
Abby S. 27:33
So when I first speak with clients, even if they already feel they have a strong preference, I detail both services, so they really understand what they each look like. And then I explained that the overnight service is one that books up extremely quickly. And we only have a certain amount of team members who offer that service, whereas anybody on our team offers visits. So I really outline what both services look like. And sometimes I get clients who they hadn't considered the idea of somebody visiting four times a day. And I really helped them way, you know, I asked questions like Is your dog kenneled? When you're away, that might not be the best fit for you then because that can equate a lot of kennel time. So I really kind of get into the nitty gritty and help them process what would work well.
Collin Funkhouser 28:31
And that's personally that's really hard. Because I feel like a lot of us while we know the answer, we have a what we would like to do, and having to process that information for somebody may feel like it's laborious, right? It's a lot. It's a well, they just need to decide. But but it isn't important. Because if you do get clients who go, I don't know, my neighbor just stayed over, you know, or my neighbor's daughter would stay over son would come over and I don't know, that's just what they did. So that's all I know. And taking that to them. Okay, well, here's some pros and cons, let me help you. Because if it's the first time that they're learning about this, I don't know if you've ever had this happen to me. But though obviously, there's like a long pause. It's just like, this is where people are going, Why? Why
Abby S. 29:24
they're absorbing it all. And I, you know, part of my personality is I truly care about making the right decision for the pets in the household. So I don't want I don't want to do visits. If I know, you know, there's gonna be a dog who's super anxious overnight. So I'm really good about making what I feel is the right recommendation.
Collin Funkhouser 29:44
Yeah. And that's, again, going regardless of what may be most more or less profitable for me. Here's the decision that you really need to go with and that that speaks to your integrity. write to your actual motivation of why you're doing this is to when you find yourself and, and I think all of us could do better at steering clients away from requested service. Because we know it's not the best fit.
Abby S. 30:13
Right? Thank you. Yeah, well, and we want our clients to truly be happy with us and have a good experience so that they're repeat clients,
Collin Funkhouser 30:22
and it is good. The client may think they want something. But if you, you know, this is where those questions come into play, because they may go, oh, actually, that wasn't a good fit. And my dog didn't look happy in the photos. And I didn't get what I expected from this, and oh, no, nevermind, that's not for me anymore. And when when realize when it could have been, oh, well, I just asked, I just use the wrong words, because I don't know any better. And so we that's a little bit on us to help understand and parse out, I find myself saying this all the time. Okay, I hear you're asking for house sitter, can you? Can you tell me what you mean by that? What are your expectations with this? What would you want your house sitter to do? And many times they'll say, Oh, well, I just want somebody to come by a couple times a day. So let's talk. Okay. Okay. So I hear I was getting anxious about quoting your house sitting price to get elevated and freaked out by this and trying to figure out where they were really just wanting, you know, drop in
Abby S. 31:20
visits. Right. And that's why I think, actually having that initial phone conversation when possible, is really helpful. You also get a vibe for that clients personality, which helps you to start thinking, who would be a good fit on our team for this client who's going to vibe with this person, and the standards of care they have,
Collin Funkhouser 31:41
especially and again, this all comes down to the kind of approach that you have as a company, right? If you schedule like, like you, like you're talking about Abby of going, I can piecemeal this with my staff. And I because I have a subset that asks to do this kind of thing. I know where their strengths and weaknesses are. I know what kind of personalities they have. I know what kind of experiences that they have. And I can now this is part of what it sounds like, kind of the way you customize those services is not just, oh, let me talk to you about what you're wanting. But now who do I put on that service for you?
Abby S. 32:15
Absolutely. Because that's part of making this successful, both on the client side and the sitter side. While this is a tremendous responsibility, I also want it to be enjoyable for Senators, you know, it's no fun to be dreading going to a job. I want sitters to be excited. Yeah, I like this client, I enjoy their style of communication. You know, I enjoy working with fluffy or, you know, I get the behavior quirks.
Collin Funkhouser 32:41
How do you go about knowing about that for your staff? Because is that a questionnaire you send out? Or is that just kind of observing them while they're out doing work?
Abby S. 32:49
That's great question. So yes, we do. Some Google forms that sitters fill out about the type of animals, they're comfortable working with the type of situations they might not enjoy. And then I also just personally get to know centers. Prior to them starting with us, they shadow me personally on a variety of jobs. And then I also shadow them. We do a lot of connection over Slack. So we have like a kudos channel where I'll send out kudos each week for you know, specific things for ciders. We do team meetings where you know, we'll meet up for dinner or something like that. So I just feel like, I get a good sense of who people are. In also, you know, reviewing their their reports, initially, kind of helps me get a good sense, who's more talkative, you know, because it's more, you know, they go through the facts and say something like, no concerns today. It just, it just helps me to get an idea. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 33:57
it's amazing what kind of mismatch you can have between the communication styles between even yourself personally, like I am a very verbose person, I like to write long things in my updates with very, you know, with stories, all sorts of illustrations. I did that one time for a client, I literally, but this time, I was being literal. And I said there was a fish head in the ditch, then we had to avoid it. And the client was like, what is that? What does that mean? And because she's so used to me being you know, you know, flowery or whatever, using illustrations. I was like, No, it was a little fishy. But here's a, here's a picture, and it was so you kind of have to have that feel for who you're communicating with and what those styles match up.
Abby S. 34:40
Absolutely. And I always tell sitters, you will have clients who respond to every single thing you send, you will have clients who never respond, and you'll wonder if they're reading, and oftentimes I find out they are reading things because they'll, they'll say something to me later on. And so it's important that Whatever the communication style the client, you're still giving those detailed reports. And I tell people to be genuine, you know, I don't want people to compliment things, just for the sake of throwing it in there. If you like the wreath on somebody's front door, say, hey, Jean, you know, I noticed your new fall wreath. That's just beautiful comment on the weather, you know, just really build a relationship. And I want it to be genuine.
Collin Funkhouser 35:23
Right? It can feel very one way, right? I know, we had a client who we were taking care of their dogs, and it was a terrible winter. And we were all the updates. I mean, we were nailing everything. We were doing a fantastic job. We didn't hear a peep from this person back not nothing. Honestly, I did not find out. until a year later, we went to a new shop that had opened up in our town, I was talking to the store owner while she was best friends with that client and was like, Oh my gosh, we sat on the beach together. And she just raved about those updates every time you said and showed me all. You know, here I was like, what did we do wrong? Like I feel you know, it was just like, okay, but some people just don't respond back. That's just how they are. And we can't really take that that too, personally. Oh, absolutely.
Abby S. 36:07
And I think part of it is some people are a little better letting go. Especially if they're on a trip, it's okay, we trust you do your thing. You know, I just want to be able to relax and unwind. And then we have other people who really do want to check in and need those touch points. Going
Collin Funkhouser 36:24
back to those overnights I know that is a point of I don't know, frustration or concern that a lot of business owners have of how to make those work. So are you are you paying hourly for those is that piecemeal work, kind of how do you have that structured for your staff?
Abby S. 36:39
Great question. So our current model is that we charge by the 24 hour period, which is what I did you know myself prior to growing a team. And so no, it's not paid by our it's paid by job. I have a raid worked out with sitters. However, we're getting ready to restructure, you know, I was talking about pivoting and you know, and what I'm liking now is the idea of having a senator that can offer the overnight portion. So from a set time to a set time in the morning. And then that Senator can either also help with afternoon care, or another senator can jump in and help and I think that's going to allow us to really have more availability for overnights because I have people that are, I would say mostly full time on our staff. They're all independent contractors, and then I have people that are part time and may have a Monday through Friday office job. So you know, it varies as to what people can
Collin Funkhouser 37:44
do. Right. And, and I think that's about finding that flexibility in your business. And while while sometimes when people hear flexibility, they hear headaches, right? Because let's be honest, like when it's when it's flexible, that means there's a lot of variation. But at the end of the day, if you're preserving and keeping people from burnout, if you're adding if you're it allows you to increase capacity, if it increases your resiliency if something goes wrong, all of those are good things, we just have to decide, how do we actually make that work in our business and for for the people that were on staff?
Abby S. 38:20
I also, you know, I asked my sitters for their feedback all the time. And I think that's important and they like to they like to be heard, you know, and it really is a team approach. I initially when I was solo, I kind of had this idea of I could do it all I should do at all. And I have learned that having a team is great because everybody has a different skill set, different ideas, different thoughts, and when we come together, you know, it's it's cohesive.
Collin Funkhouser 38:49
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Abby S. 40:00
A couple things
Collin Funkhouser 40:02
you say with a smile, okay?
Abby S. 40:07
One, I was fortunate I gained popularity very quickly, I quickly realized there was a huge demand for In Home Pet Care. So I was taken on tons of clients I was working from really I'd say, 6am in the morning to like, 10 Every night, because I was doing overnight stays. I was doing walks, I was doing visits, you know, breakfast, lunch dinner. And so I was going at a frantic pace. And I had recently joined a business networking group, you may be familiar with BNI. Yeah. Yeah. And people have been asking me, you know, are you going to expand? Are you going to take this further, and I couldn't, I wanted to, but I was scared to I'm a perfectionist. I knew how things were done. You know, I didn't necessarily trust anybody else could do that. So I really had to get to a spot where I felt like my back was up against the wall, I cannot take any more business, I cannot take referrals from this group. And because they felt that pressure, I could have either gone, okay, this is what we can do. Or I could say, Okay, I'm gonna take this leap. And so I put an ad out on Indeed, and started interviewing people, and I honestly never looked back.
Collin Funkhouser 41:27
I feel like a lot of times in our businesses, we may we have to get to that point. Where is probably you have some idea in your head of going, like could probably have some help, or it'd be nicer. But not yet, right? Now's not the time, now's not the time. Until we get to the point where we go, it's now or never, I have to do this. Or, or I don't know what else is gonna happen. Right?
Abby S. 41:50
Well, and I think naturally, we say to ourselves all do that, when I'm more confident about it. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, you gain confidence by doing. And I have to repeat that to myself sometimes, because that is my initial mindset. And I'm scared to do that. I'm not quite sure what this looks like, No, you gotta get out there, and just start doing it.
Collin Funkhouser 42:13
So you mentioned that you're a perfectionist? How did you go about finding people to match your criteria that you were looking for? Because that's a huge struggle that we all have. Great question.
Abby S. 42:24
So one thing I looked at in particular was people who truly loving animals I wanted to see in their faces and their smile, I wanted to hear stories about their personal pets. Because that is a key piece for me, this business was built upon my love, genuine love for animals. I looked for people who were detail oriented, you know, I observed as we were meeting in person, what's the communication style? Does this person feel more optimistic? You know, do they just getting that overall style, and I was more concerned about finding that love and respect for animals and the detail oriented piece than I was someone who necessarily had a lot of previous experience, you know, so working in a shelter, etc. That's a bonus. And you do need to have experience working with animals. But there were particular pronounced personality traits I was looking for. I also, when I brought on staff, I didn't raise my rates until six months in, which meant that I was not personally making a lot of money off of services. But I wanted to ensure I was paying people well, and something that I would work for, because you attract what you're putting out there. Yeah. And also, I really let sitters know how we vet our clients. What's what's different about working with a local business? Here's the difference. I've spoken with each client, if they have dogs, I meet them, I make sure it's a safe environment. They've given us proof of rabies vaccination, they've taken the time to fill out all their information in the portal. They've signed our client contract, it takes all the guesswork out, I
Collin Funkhouser 44:14
find that that piece actually helps a lot more people than I expected when I explain like, Okay, well, let me talk before we show up for that first visit, right? Let me count the ways with which we remove people from our client list like Right. And you can tell people, especially people who aren't as well versed in the industry or haven't done this professionally before or whatever, like you can say all of a sudden they go, Oh, they take this really seriously. Right? They take this and so as as an employer, it's our job to both take our work seriously facing our clients, but sometimes even more importantly, taking our work seriously and being an employer seriously, towards our staff. and letting them know that this isn't just a fly by night thing that this isn't just a, we're we're winging it together, right there. There's support here. There's structure. There's helis. And this has been thought out.
Abby S. 45:13
Yeah. And, you know, I became more particular with my clients when I grew a team, because all of a sudden, I felt like mama bear. You know, I don't want to put anybody in a questionable situation. You know, I want to protect and support the people on our team.
Collin Funkhouser 45:30
Yeah, I mean, I know, I have put up with a lot of things over the past 11 years of doing this. But the moment somebody does that to one of my employees, I'm like that no right step will not stick.
Abby S. 45:41
Yes, that is how you feel it's one thing when it's you when it's somebody else you care about? Yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 45:48
Right. And it's it is care about it, it is caring about them at the human level, right, just as we talked about how it's important to know is that how the clients are important to us, because they're important, right? Our staff are important to us, because they're important that they're human, right. And that's connecting with them on that level. It doesn't just help them see themselves connected in a corporate family, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But like, genuinely, there's help. There's a connection there. Right? Yeah. Abby, something that I get from talking with you is just this immense pride of your business, and of your team. What are you most proud of?
Abby S. 46:31
I do have this feeling of pride. Part of it is, I think, turning a passion into something that really helps other people. So I'm proud of the number of clients we've been able to take on and really provide excellent service and peace of mind and terrific care for their pets, then I would also say, as a single woman, it's very rewarding to put work in and see something profitable and feel like, you know, you build this from scratch. Because coming into this, I was not someone who had prior experience running a business, I was really involved in the service aspect of it. So it took a tremendous amount of learning and you know, all these different resources, business coaches specific to pet sitting. So I'm very proud. And there were times where I thought, why am I continuing to do this? Because this so hard right now. And I kind of felt like, you know, you're in, you're in a rodeo, you're writing the ball, and I was like, I am not letting go. I have latched on to this, and I'm doing this. So yeah, there's a big source of pride there.
Collin Funkhouser 47:52
Why not let go, right? I know, because we hit a lot of speed bumps, we hit those tough points in our life. And, and I know for me, there's always that that little voice in the back of my head going just to stop, right? Just, it's not worth it. Is it at this point? Why? Why put yourself through this again? Well,
Abby S. 48:08
and one thing I think all pet sitting business owners have in common is we prioritize the needs of others, we're working with so many people. And what I've had to learn is I need to focus on some self care. In my everyday life. That was something a business coach I work with pointed out to me, and that sustains you through some of the more difficult periods, or knowing that there's something to look forward to. But honestly, even it's exciting to see how you can fine tune things, you know, and so the more that you go along, you're like, wow, we've really got this down, we can do this efficiently. So I find it exciting. And I actually like a good challenge.
Collin Funkhouser 48:53
I find that there are such a wide variety of different kinds of business owners, there are the kinds of people who want a lifestyle business, just to have a business running to meet their business to meet their personal budget to run it that way. There are the car and you run that business very differently than somebody who is is optimizing and refining and growing and facing challenges and grow. There's not one or better not one is not better than the other. It's just a different approach. And I think it's connecting back to what we want our business to do in the first place for us that it really sounds like you've gone man, I love these pets. I like this analysis and you're like, Man, I love this business. Right this business is rockin
Abby S. 49:38
Yeah, and it's so cool to be able to see that
Collin Funkhouser 49:40
and it can be surprising sometimes to look up and go, Man this is hard work but man I really enjoyed this and five years ago, I never would have guessed right. I never would have guessed that things that I like doing now that have nothing to do with walking a dog or taking care of a cat or, or hedgehog or anything. But I get immense satisfaction. and enjoy out of those tasks because I know, at the end of the day, they're helping people, right? That's being connected back to that going, oh, man, I've got to make this, make another phone call, I gotta go to a chamber of commerce thing, I gotta do this. Right. But I do that so we can help people. And that's where I'm in you connect with it. as your business grows and evolves in you do too. And whether you have staff or not, you find new ways to I'm going to say, it's gonna be sappy, and whatever, but like, fall in love with your business, again, of like, oh, wow, there's a whole other aspect to this that I didn't even know of when I first started. Absolutely. And
Abby S. 50:37
it feels good to be in love with your business. And you're not always going to be in love with every area of it. But the pieces that you are, really, really make it worth it.
Collin Funkhouser 50:49
So how, how would you say you make the lives of your clients and their pets better? Couple of different ways.
Abby S. 50:56
So one, this is what I tell everyone on the phone. My goal as a business owner is to provide peace of mind. I want clients you know, whether they're on vacation, or they're at work, when they're away, I want them to be able to fully focus on what they're doing, I want to take the guesswork out of that. I want them to feel confident and their caregivers confident in our system. So the peace of mind is huge, too. I want to make sure we're truly providing joy to the pets we're taking care of. And you know, we meet pets at their own speed. So some cats, for instance, are super social, others prefer their distance, and we really respect that. But for those animals who want that attention, what fun it is to be able to bring them joy. You know, like I was talking about the bubbles or the walks you know, where we do kind of like a sniff farI and just all these fun things. So it's it's, it's twofold, you know, the client has peace of mind. But also they know, gosh, this is great for my pet,
Collin Funkhouser 52:00
like the guesswork out of their care, and make them feel confident. And that is an aspect that I don't think a lot of pet owners really connect to until they need to connect with it. And it's sometimes hard to get them to understand that aspect of it before they experienced your services. And it can be one of the most frustrating things in the world of I have gotten people on the phone. I've told them what we do talk, ask them some questions about what they're looking for. And in my mind, I'm like, this is the perfect fit, right? This This person should book immediately. But they don't make that connection. And I'm going oh, only you dog. It can be hard, but finding new ways to meet them where they are, I think is that is a challenge that will that will never really end as a business owner.
Abby S. 52:49
Right? Now, I completely agree with that. I think once people take that leap and start working with us, like they may contact us and say, Oh, usually our family helps out, but they're going to be on vacation with us. You know, as a business owner, I could say, oh, this might just be a one off thing. You know, one and done. We help them once it's done. But I try to look at things as possibilities. What if we help them? And then they say, wow, you know, that was an incredible experience. My pets were so much happier, let's work with you again. Or even if they book us once they tell other people, you know, in in person or on those Facebook groups, you know, they're throwing her name out. And so I really think every client you work with, it's an opportunity. Yep,
Collin Funkhouser 53:33
we get those to where they go, Well, I usually have my mom take care of my pets, but she's going with us to Cabo or whatever. And you're like, okay, yeah, well, I'll probably never see you again. But is that going to change the quality of work that we do? No. Right. Is that going to change the path that we bring to this? No. is we still gonna love the pets like our own? Yeah. So we're going to do this, and we're gonna do it. And a lot of times what we find is, how do people typically travel? Right? They go, Well, my neighbor is going to check on Tuesday and Thursday. And I need to find Frank to come and take care of my trash. And I've got mail coming. And Betty is going to do that. And I and I'm going to have my cousin stay over. And all of a sudden, it's like when you can come in and you're just like no, like, Will that's us. We're like, no more get you don't worry. We'll take care of all that. You can see there. The tension release from the shoulders a lot of times where they go, oh, yeah, well, that's cool. And you're like yes, yes, it is very cool.
Abby S. 54:35
Yeah. And when I when I tell people this on the phone, you know, we will will check for mail and packages every day. We'll take your trash and recycling out. We can fill your outdoor bird feeders, you know, we can wash our plants. It's like Oh, that is one of the benefits. You know, we're watching over your home and we're we're keeping things running smoothly.
Collin Funkhouser 54:54
Abby, I really want to thank you for coming on the show today and walking us through your journey. Me and encouraging us to be proud of that hard work that we do hard things, and that there are other things that we can do and meeting people where they are. And asking those good questions is going to help us set up those expectations appropriately. I know that there's a whole lot here, and you do a whole awful lot. So how can people listening? Get connected with you and follow along with all of your cool stuff? Yes,
Abby S. 55:24
so we are on Facebook, anti Abby's professional pet sitting service, and I'm sure we can put a link in the show notes. We're on Instagram, linked, and I'm very active and all of the pet selling Facebook groups online. So you can find me there as well. Abby,
Collin Funkhouser 55:44
this has been an absolute immense pleasure. So thank you, thank you so much for coming on the show today. Oh,
Abby S. 55:50
my gosh, Bill, thank you for this opportunity, I was so excited to be able to share some time with you and get to know you and hopefully help others.
Collin Funkhouser 56:00
I had two really big takeaways from my conversation with Abby. The first one is the importance of doing hard work, and us personally gaining confidence from it. The fact that as we try new things as we tackle hard problems, we see ourselves as more and more and more capable of doing them again, what an absolutely critical aspect of running a business, having confidence in our ability. Now, that's not to say that we become cocky, or we become too self assured to reach out for help or think we know it all. But we begin to know and understand our own personal abilities better each time we try. And that I really appreciate her conversation around having pride in our work, being proud of your hard work. The fact that you have built you are building something that from wherever you came from, no matter the struggles or the hardships that you have faced you are here you are doing something to serve your community if you have a team to bring and build them up alongside you as well. All for the purpose of making somebody's life just a little bit better. That is wonderful. We want to thank today's sponsors, time to pet and pet perennials for making today's show possible. And we really want to thank you so so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
