449: Letting the Client Be Heard with Natalie Spedden
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What are the unique challenges your business faces? Our business is shaped by our own values and how we want things done. It’s also molded by the community we service. Everything from how we hire, the services we can offer, and the kind of marketing we do is influenced by where we are. Natalie Spedden, owner of Aggieland Pet Sitting, walks through how she runs and hires in a town heavily influenced by a large university. Natalie shares how to take off our rose colored glasses to make hard decisions. She also talks about how she is building a professional team focused on the client’s needs.
Main topics
Taking off rose colored glasses
Challenges of a college town
Community outreach
Building a professional team
Main takeaway: People expect our reliability. Peace of mind is central to what we do.
About our guest:
Introducing Natalie, the founder and CEO of Aggieland Pet Sitting in Bryan-College Station, TX! Her professional career in pet care officially began in 2021, although she had previously been a hobby pet sitter since 2016. Natalie began caring for pets on the side while working as a Vet Tech part-time and studying Animal Science at Texas A&M University. Once she graduated in 2020, she took her business to the next level by turning her passion into a full-time career.Originally, Natalie's dream career was to become a Veterinarian, and took the path all through high school and college to reach her goal of being admitted into Texas A&M's School of Veterinary Medicine. However, once she had worked in a clinical setting for many years, along with the knowledge and reflection that comes along with growing and changing, she had a shocking realization that it was no longer her dream career. She decided to put all her eggs in one basket, and start her pet sitting career full-time, establishing Aggieland Pet Sitting in 2021.Starting out as a solo business owner for her first year, Natalie focused on providing peace of mind for her clients by displaying professionalism, reliability, and attention to detail when it came to their pets' individual needs. As a people person, she absolutely loves cultivating a bond not only with her furry clients, but their owners as well. One of her great joys is knowing that her clients had a worry-free time away from home!Once business was successfully growing and she realized she was saying "No" all the time and turning away clients, Natalie made the decision to hire her first employees in 2022. Natalie now has a team of fantastic, professional, award-winning pet sitters and dog walkers that has completely changed her life when it comes to running and operating her pet care business! Aggieland Pet Sitting won Best Pet Sitting Service in their local city's magazine for both 2022 and 2023.Natalie and her husband are the proud pet parents of a 5 year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Renly, and a 2 year old Golden Retriever named Arya. They also have a ball python named Ellie and a freshwater aquarium. In their free time, they enjoy traveling, racing cars and motorcycles, and spending time with family and friends.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pet, clients, work, services, people, college, town, visits, year, school, helps, sitting, important, pet sitter, hiring, vet clinics, holidays, business, employees, staff
SPEAKERS
Natalie S., Collin Funkhouser
Collin Funkhouser 00:02
Welcome to pet sitter confessional an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Today, we're brought to you by time to pet and the peaceful pet music, calm music for pets YouTube channel. What unique challenges is your business face with? Your business is shaped and molded based off of your personal preferences, your abilities, your knowledge, and how you want to do things. It's also shaped based off of where our business is located for Napoli spent an owner of Aggieland petsitting. That challenge is how to staff and run a business in a college town a place where the entire economy is based off the fact that there's a huge university in the area. Today, Natalie walks us through how sometimes we have to face the fact that we're looking at something through rose colored glasses and the changes that need to be made, the challenges that she faces in a college town and how she is growing and building a dynamic and professional team. Let's get started.
Natalie S. 00:56
Thank you, Colin. So my name is Natalie. And I'm the owner of Aggieland pet sitting here in Bryan College Station. I've had a passion for animals since I could remember. You know, as a lot of people would say in our profession, my great grandmother owned a dog grooming salon. So I would spend a lot of time up there as a kid and out of my sister and I was definitely the one that was more interested in all things animals and pets. And that's kind of where, where my love for animals first started. We weren't able to have dogs or cats really growing up just with my parents working all the time and us being in school. But I had a parakeet asthma for most of my childhood. And that was kind of my first experience taking care of a pet. So and then I just from then on out, I was kind of just one of those little kids that was just wanted to be a vet and help and save animals in some way. And so yeah, I found it Aggieland, petsitting and 2021. Although I had been a hobby sitter since 2016 or so. So our company focuses on providing pet sitting and dog walking services to Bryan and College Station, Texas. They are neighboring towns, but everyone just sort of lumped them together as one kind of mega city, if you will. We have about a 20 mile radius all around for our service area. And I will say that most of our visits are vacation visits. With our clients. However, we're kind of starting to try and expand into focusing on more daily and weakly dog walking services. I had been working in vet clinics in high school and then throughout college, so I wasn't doing much pet sitting until I moved to college station in 2016 to go to school. So I pretty much continued working in vet clinics all through college, and was a vet tech I did I worked in you know, boarding areas. The actual hospital side and then also I was a client services representative for about clinics, I've kind of had my hands and all of that because as I mentioned, that was originally what I wanted to do was to be a veterinarian, so I was like wanting to, you know, kind of dabble in everything and see, you know, kind of how that would be one day for me. So basically, I started getting clients through rover, and then also clients that were going to the vet clinics that I worked at, so they would our events would refer you know, oh Natalie does some pet sitting you know, you, you know want her to come by and check on your pets, you know, she would love to do that she you know has some experience doing that. So then, from there on, I just had a lot of clients through word of mouth, contact me. And so yeah, that's kind of how I first got started pet sitting on the side. And then so that school at Texas a&m Here is very competitive. And so I had a great experience through my High School's FFA chapter and then working in vet clinics. And then of course pet sitting on the side. However, the one thing I really struggled with was having the GPA that vet schools wanted to see from, you know, people applying to their four year program. So when I graduated in 2020, I thought about getting my masters to kind of help raise my GPA and then apply for vet school because I just knew if I had applied right out of college, it would be really tough. A lot of people don't get in on their first time. And so then I got declined for Master's program. So I was like dang, like, what do I do now? Oh, like I was feeling discouraged. I also didn't know if you know, I wanted to be a veterinarian, I was kind of going back and forth on that, once I had had some time to reflect on not being admitted to my masters and all of that. So, in 2021, early 2021, I was working for my friend's moped rental business here in College Station just part time, like, kind of throughout the pandemic. And so I basically just made the decision to try to go full time with petsitting, I noticed it was something I loved, and really enjoyed doing, and I just kind of wanted to see what happened.
Collin Funkhouser 05:42
There's a, there's a lot in there, sadly, of basically, only trying to find that path forward. And, and, you know, to know that you started off with this one direction, but we're really able to pivot and go somewhere else. You know, my, I was never interested in vet school. I know, my mom was, and the canonical story is, um, she had signed up for classes. And she was she was trying to get into vet school. And she knew that that was her path that she wanted to go in the first day of classes and college, on her trajectory to go to vet school, she couldn't find the class to go to like science or whatever. And she was like, well, that's my sign, I don't have a system. So you can't take those, take those take those signs, you know, when, but but really now, you know, that was a dream that you had. So what was it like, you know, coming to terms with the fact that, well, that dream is not for me right now. But I have this other dream of now doing this business. Yeah.
Natalie S. 06:41
So I think for me, what it really was, is just the realization of what veterinarians really do have to face on a day to day basis, and things that they struggle with, that are on talked about just things that people don't really mention, whenever you're you're growing up in, you're going down that path to go to vet school, and because to everyone else, it's like, and even to you, it's like, well, you're going to be saving animals, you know, like, that's what you're going to be doing. And so, as I worked in that clinics, I realized, you know, the, the hardships also come along with it, you know, you have to, sadly, let some pets go and make the decisions to tell pet parents, you know, what's best for their pets, and they don't always like to hear that. And when I was a client services representative, you know, I really, unfortunately had to be the person sometimes to tell them and also, you know, be that last point of contact, when they when they leave, after a pet, you know, has been put down. And so not only that, but it's just extremely long hours. It's it's a lot of school, it's four years, it's a lot of, of student debt. And it's something that I feel, I personally feel that somebody needs to really truly want with everything in their heart to do and that needs to be their calling. And for me, you know, it was I had definitely kind of had rose colored glasses on about it. And then once I realized, you know, it wasn't for me specifically, I just knew that I had to do something else. Although I wanted to be with animals. I just wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go.
Collin Funkhouser 08:27
That's really important to know, when I'm when am I looking at something with rose colored glasses versus when I'm just when am I really excited about something? Because those are two different things, right? Yeah, no, I'm sure you wake up really excited about your business and really excited about the clients that you're serving, but you're not looking at them through, everything's fine. It's perfect. It's you know, it's perfect today, there are no issues, what issues are you talking about?
Natalie S. 08:49
Oh, yeah. And I mean, everybody needs veterinarians. I mean, they do such a great thing for the community and for pets. And, I mean, I just have so much respect for them. And I just think, yeah, they're, they're amazing. And so, for me, it was just, it was something that like, I thought I had wanted, and once I was actually in there and really got a feel for everything and how it works and I and you know, I loved a lot of the pets and got really attached to them and you know, loved that aspect loved working in the clinic setting, because I really do thrive under pressure and like that constant kind of, it's just always so busy. And there's always a lot of teamwork involved. And like I really enjoyed that. And so it Yeah, it was it was for me, it was just taking, being kind of rejected a couple times to really kind of think about what I wanted to do in life and for a career. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 09:46
recognizing it's not it's like, it's one of those moments of No, I didn't fail at that. I realize it wasn't for me. I think that simple. That kind of framing really helps us as we go through life, because we can look things that maybe we wanted or thought we wanted is even in running our own businesses of Oh, I think I want to expand to 40 miles, right. I think I want to reach, you know, 100 different employees or whatever and realize, oh, okay, that's, that's not that doesn't fill me, right. That's not what I actually want. Now that I've learned more, and I've become more familiar, a lot of a lot of times it really is becoming more familiar with, with who we are at the end of the day. Yeah. And
Natalie S. 10:23
I think it's important for people to really realize that it's okay to say that this career path is not for me. And it could have been a dream of theirs, like it was for me as a kid and kind of growing up through high school, college doing the trajectory it takes to go that way. And then kind of just realizing, you know, that just have to be honest with yourself. And it's scary. And it's nerve wracking to kind of pivot like that in such a dramatic way. But I mean, it's definitely been like the best decision I've ever made. So did
Collin Funkhouser 10:53
you ever struggle with the with the with the comparison game of Oh, I could have like, coulda, shoulda, woulda, or I'm just this or anything like that?
Natalie S. 11:03
Well, I do know that if I was to go through with going to that school, and being a veterinarian, that there would have been a lot of things that I loved about it, and really would have enjoyed and would have brought, like me purpose. And you know, so on one hand, yes, I can definitely say that. I've thought about that. But at the same time, like, I just know that the path I've chosen has been just as if not more fulfilling for me, and I'm just just very happy with the decisions I've made.
Collin Funkhouser 11:37
Yep, absolutely. Realizing that there's just as much fulfillment, if not more. So once you're finally doing what you want to be doing. I think that's what's what's really critical there is to realize, no, this is, this is what I'm doing. And I'm doing it because I need to be here. And I want to be here doing.
Natalie S. 11:52
Yeah, there was such a need for it. And this community as well. I mean, there's only one other well, actually, we have fetch pet care, which is a franchise, pet sitting business. And then we also have my friend Savannah runs, runs her own pet sitting business as well. So at the time, it was only her though, when I got started. And so the need was there. And I knew it was. And so I pretty much just took my opportunity to kind of, you know, start learning what it takes to become a professional.
Collin Funkhouser 12:27
And you you were describing your service area earlier, and I you know, I was Spoken like a local who, who who gets who gets maybe frustrated with how people just think it's all one thing. And honestly, before I moved to Texas, I thought Bryan College Station was just a really long, awkward name for something. So yeah, I too was one of those people. So Natalie, what's going what's what's your other than the confusion about the two or maybe that's part of it, it kind of what's what's unique about
Natalie S. 12:55
about where you're servicing? Yeah, so I would say my service area is unique because college station and Brian are primarily college towns. So College Station is home of Texas a&m University, which is where I went to college. And just that school alone has over 75,000 students. And then Brian has blin Community College, which is a very popular college for those kind of looking to transfer into a&m. So they will move up to Brian and then go to blend and then transfer into Texas a&m. And so with that, I would say there's a good mix of both college students and families that live here. Most of our client base is actually established families that have made their residence here whether they do have some that work for the University, but also have some that don't some business owners some that work from home and just moved back here after graduating, things like that. They're like alumni. So it's definitely unique because of the college really being the central focus point of the town. And I mean, when they have football games here, they like shut down the roads like around the college. It's no joke like they are there. They mean business around here. When it comes to a&m. It's
Collin Funkhouser 14:15
a different feeling. Isn't it as a college to have the industry driven by the economy driven by something that is so seasonal, I mean, Megan and I went to Texas Tech University, so hopefully there's no hard feelings there. But yeah, we that was a that was a very much college town vibe as well of, of when there were when the students were in town. The the the town was thriving and humming and buzzing and then when there was nobody there, it was just it was a ghost town of where's everybody? Why do we have so many stoplights? Do we need these lanes? Look, it was just it felt like there was the town was empty too. Oh, yeah,
Natalie S. 14:56
absolutely. And it definitely rings true. here as well, when it comes to that, I will say that the reason that we are so busy in the summer when you know most petsitting businesses are is because so much of our clientele are families that are you know, traveling for the summer. But yeah, during the semester, I mean, it's, you know, spring and fall, it's just completely packed here. And there's just so many different age groups and points of life for people like professionals, people in school, you know, retire people, like there's, there's it's such a huge kind of, like melting pot here in that way, which is why I love it.
Collin Funkhouser 15:36
Yeah, but it can make, I don't know, does that make your marketing or your messaging more confusing about how do you target because, you know, we'd like to think our services are for a lot of different people. Well, you have, like the world has been brought to you as far as cultural diversity, demographic diversity. You said life stage diversity, like there's so much in that town? How do you manage that marketing and finding the right clientele for you?
Natalie S. 16:00
Yeah, so it can definitely be challenging, because we are on the higher end, price point for pet sitting and dog walking services here, we definitely advertise as more of a top notch kind of the, the more like, just higher quality service, we're also award winning, we have one best pet sitting service in our local magazine, 2022 and 2023. As well as being Yeah, that was amazing. Only being in business for two years, you know, and then being rewarded with that was just absolutely amazing. So yeah, it can, it can definitely be challenging, because we really want to market to you know, primarily families of you know, that higher kind of income bracket but also just those that because we do have hospitals here we have doctors and nurses as clients, you know, that will utilize our services. But I will say we do have occasionally, college students as clients like PhD students, masters students, professional school students, as well. So when it comes to marketing, it's it's really just trying to set ourselves apart. You know, there are a lot of hobby sitters here with it being a college town. Lots of you know, lots of people on rover advertising services, just Facebook groups. We are next door, we have a lot of a lot of people in college just trying to also compete with us as hobby sitters.
Collin Funkhouser 17:46
From your experience in the town. What's the mix of pet care there? Are people mostly doing boarding and daycares or are they looking for the kind of services that you're offering.
Natalie S. 17:57
So there are multiple boarding options here in town. Not only do we have, I would say seven or eight really great boarding facilities, a lot of the vet clinics here also do offer boarding as well, maybe not in the same capacity as a dedicated boarding facility. But we do have a lot of veterinarians that graduated from a&m vet school that started about clinic here and so that that along with boarding is definitely oversaturated However, at the same time, we do still get a lot of new clients that call us that say that they cannot get there's no capacity at the boarding clinics at the or at the boarding facilities at the vet clinics. And so they're they're calling us also. But I will say that since I've started my business here along with networking with my friend Savannah, we have really tried to get out there in the community and kind of in that outreach and let people know who we are and what we do and because there's just so many people that have no idea that we exist and that there are professional pet sitting businesses that come to your house and so yeah, it's really it's it's a good balance. But yes, definitely lots of different pet care services available here.
Collin Funkhouser 19:20
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Collin Funkhouser 19:47
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Natalie S. 20:09
Well, so for the most part, if we are kind of a last resort for people, then no, we don't typically like to take on those types of clients, I will say, that does not happen very often. Usually, if it does, it's close to a holiday or spring break or the weekend. And so we kind of when they call, you know, I can kind of gauge that right away, or their hobbies that are fell through and or their neighbor can't come anymore. So we get, we get all of that, I will say that we do have a lease, we struggle with college students that request our services only on holidays, that they are going back home, such as spring break, Thanksgiving, Christmas. And so we typically like to focus on clients that will use our services more throughout the year. And with that being said, we also face the challenge where clients will request visits only when they come in town for the football games. So we have a lot of clients that are people that call us and they may own a townhome or an apartment here that they only come in town for the game. And so they'll reach out like hey, can you just drop it on my dock for those those times? And it's just definitely not the kind of clients that we would say we tailor to. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 21:34
as, as you're talking, Natalie, I'm getting all these flashbacks to our time when we were pet sitting in Texas Tech. And in Lubbock of just exactly this, this variation, this fluctuation, these huge pulses, and then nothing and then pulses and then nothing because it's driven by the ebb and flow of the college and trying to figure out trying to find that through line of how do I maintain, get stability and make those decisions, do I because one, one type of thought is, we'll all just ride the wave up. Because I know there'll be a you know, there'll be a crash on the way down. So I'll take all these one off clients and a one off one off one off one off? Versus the well, how do I build these longer lasting relationships with people, but how do I stay connected with people locally, so that I have more of a baseline that I can build from? Definitely,
Natalie S. 22:21
and I would say that we have really formed some amazing relationships with our clients that live here in town and use us regularly, you know, throughout the year, we. So we have really cultivated those relationships with those clients and the people that really see our value and have wanted a professional counseling service from the beginning. So with that being said, we we just, we face those challenges of the people wanting the more one off walks and visits because of the football games here and because of so many college students living here. And so yeah, I would say most of our clients are families and established professionals that live here in the town and have planted their roots here and have kids and they go to school here. And that has been our best way of receiving clients for sure.
Collin Funkhouser 23:23
I'm making that judgment call of going okay, is this person calling me for this last minute one off? Am I ever likely to convert that person over to a more full time relationship with them or more consistent basis. But right if they're if they're coming out of town, and they only come out of town, you know, they come in from out of town for the several football games or whatever sporting event they're coming to or, or homecoming, it's like, No, there's nothing I can do to convert that person to have me walk their dog five days a week when they live in, you know, the Carolinas or something. So, so maybe I won't take that on but this person who called me who can't go to the kennel because you know, their dog has kennel cough or because they their full? Well, there is a chance that I might be able to convert that person over to my services. So if I can, maybe that somebody that I can take on?
Natalie S. 24:09
Yes, and we definitely have been able to do that. And I mean, we use time to pet and so we have have on our website, a link that says book now with us. And so that will take you to our time to pet Create an Account page. And so they answer a few questions upfront from us that really helps us to see what they're looking for. And if if they are looking to form a relationship with us going forward. And so that definitely has been very helpful. And I think that the more that we have been getting out there in the community and people of learning have learned about us, the more that they have realized our value and they actually will opt to go with us over any sort of boarding facilities.
Collin Funkhouser 24:57
Do you ever have that reaction when you're out looking Mudie at an event and somebody looks at you. And then they look at you and they go, wait, what? What do you do? I had no idea this was a thing, right? Oh, yes. Oh, yes,
Natalie S. 25:09
we have an event here every October is called Reiner steel. And it's like your dog races. So it's dogs and races and Corgi races every year. And so there's booths and just lots of people around to watch the races. And it's such a great time. And so I every year, I usually do that event. And, yes, we'll get tons of people that walk by and they're just like, wow, like, we had no idea that this was even a thing like, we've hired a college student once, but we, you know, maybe we had a bad experience, or they moved out of town, moved back home move, got a job and moved away. And we just need someone more reliable and established that can, you know, serve us throughout the year. And so we get a lot of clients that way, for sure. What
Collin Funkhouser 25:54
do you typically you say you go to that event? And what how do you approach that? How do you prepare for it are things that you bring to that event ready to share,
Natalie S. 26:03
I like to have a lot of you know, little God values of like dog treats. Of course, on the table, I have a big banner that says who we are and what we do. And then we also do a raffle for like a gift bag or a dog and then a gift bag for a cat. And then you know, we have a bunch of brochures we that we hand out to people when we talk to them about our services. So we have done a couple of those events, I will say that the best way that we have obtained clients has been through Google and then also our local Facebook groups. So I do, we do get a lot of people looking for pet sitters in our local community, Facebook groups. And so I will kind of have the spiel that I copy and paste and I put in the comments with a picture of our banner. And I just say, you know, this is who we are, this is what we do. And so definitely online has been the best way for us to gain new clients. And then we did still get some word of mouth from our clients as well. But the events are definitely just fun to kind of get out there and be a part of our, our community whenever we can. And so we understood is a great opportunity to do that every year.
Collin Funkhouser 27:13
Okay, so you said that's an October because I think I need to make some some flight plans to CoSIDA. Yeah.
Natalie S. 27:21
It's such a great time, and everyone looks forward to it. It's a big fundraiser for a nonprofit, animal shelter. So,
Collin Funkhouser 27:29
so Okay, well, so you're supporting a lot of different things there then by your presence of supporting the shelter and growing, being connected to that community. And I think that that's really where those events shine is, is not so much Oh, how many conversions did I get? Or how many new clients I get from this event? But just how much awareness? How connected? Am I? What kind of conversations did I have? What kind of education was I able to give to people as they came to my booth and and really kind of changing the metrics on that? Because I know for us the first couple events that we went to, like I was really like, Oh, we're gonna get so many clients from this when there's so many calls and then, like literal crickets from that and then throw up your hands. You're like, no, no offense or tear, terrible, why waste your time. But But realizing it's about so much more than that, right? At the end of the day, having that connection that face to face that presents a physical presence, which is so hard for us in the service industry, because we don't have a physical store people can go to they can't come and talk with us. So we can now bring ourselves to the wider community. Right?
Natalie S. 28:32
Absolutely. And I completely agree. I mean, we have so many clients that have learned about us, like I was saying just from you know, other clients, and then they have had a maybe not so great experience with either a boarding place or with a hobby sitter or rover. And so they they hear about us, and then they they kind of do some more research and I mean, our website has everything about us all of our services, our pricing, what you know what we bring value wise and and I just think that once people really do give us a shot and realize you know that this is our livelihood. This is our take this very seriously that they never go back to a different service.
Collin Funkhouser 29:23
I absolutely love your website, by the way. It says very, very, very well done. I think you use did you use marketing on that?
Natalie S. 29:31
I did. I did. Yes. Erica is great with marketing. I recommend them for anyone looking for a pet business specific website.
Collin Funkhouser 29:41
Yeah. Okay. Let's go. No, I just I was I was I was on it looking at it. And I was like, Oh, this is really good. I really liked it. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Now, I can imagine to because you've been working on growing a team, right and hiring and stuff. How has that been going for you? Yeah,
Natalie S. 29:58
so I started out so low for the first year of my business, so all of 2021. And then in about March of 2022, I realized that I really needed help when I was beginning to say no to my clients, and turning them away whenever there was just too much that I could handle. Because I mean, early on, I really determined what my capacity was. And so I really tried hard not to get burnt out, because that has definitely happened to me. And so I just knew, like this was something that I really needed to look into if I was wanting to grow. And so that's when I started looking into hiring. I started through Facebook groups, and posting in those groups that I had mentioned earlier about my business and that I was hiring. But unfortunately, I found that I wasn't getting the really the best types of applicants that I was looking for that way. So then I started using indeed, which has been really successful for me so far. That along with also reaching out to our local animal shelters, and we also have a wildlife center on Adams campus. Reaching out to those volunteers, I have gained an employee that way as well. So those that would definitely be my primary method of hiring is indeed, and so that is where, where most of my people come from?
Collin Funkhouser 31:25
And what kind of people do you feel like are applying to your job?
Natalie S. 31:30
Yeah, so I would say the vast majority of people that apply with us are college students that are looking for gaining more hands on experience for either a vet school or like a professional career with animals. And so they find it just perfect for them because they can work while they are going to school. And we can be flexible with their school schedule. And it's fun, and it's just a little bit of extra money on the side for them. And so I will say that that is majority of the people that apply to work with us.
Collin Funkhouser 32:03
How do you navigate things like school breaks, right? If they're not, if it's a student that isn't local, and still maintain your capacity to take care of clients over over Christmas and Thanksgiving and that kind of thing? Yeah,
Natalie S. 32:16
so that is definitely a challenge that I have to face with hiring college students, is they understandably, so they want to have some time with their family during the holidays, and they may want to go back home because majority of students here are not from this area. There are some but majority are not. So I do let everyone know upfront that I am going to, you know, have that expectation that they work with us through the holidays. Now maybe we schedule them to where they do have a day or two off throughout that holiday, those dates during the holidays so that they can have that time with family. And I think that hiring and having a team has really helps with that because everyone can kind of rotate. And it's fair that way. So with that being said, I haven't had any issues with employees working here with us during the holidays, as long as they do have ample time to see their families. And then if we do have those that apply and just are not available at all during the holidays, it's just very unlikely that we hire them. Yeah, it's it
Collin Funkhouser 33:26
is tough business going, Oh man, this person is here. They've got a flexible schedule, they can work the hours that they want to go, they can't be here over Thanksgiving and Christmas and going Yes. How do I how do I work with that? How do what kind of conversations do I have? Or is that something that I can bring on because obviously you don't want to increase your capacity right before Thanksgiving, because you add a couple extra staff members, and then they all disappear. And they can't take on the extra capacity for when you actually really need them during the holidays.
Natalie S. 33:56
One of the things that has also helped out with that is hiring seasonal employees. So I have had an employee last year for Thanksgiving and Christmas break that will be returning with me this year that she is actually from Brian. So her family lives in town. And so she's able to work a lot throughout the holidays, and she wants to. So that has been a great help as well. But I also understand that not everybody wants to hire just seasonal part time employees that they, you know, won't have throughout the year. But for me, that was what I needed to do when I first started hiring because I wasn't as strict about the holidays as I am now. Because now I make that very clear and upfront in my hiring processes that that is something that we have that expectation from
Collin Funkhouser 34:49
you. Are you still doing the seasonal hires? Or is that something that you don't do as much anymore?
Natalie S. 34:56
Not so much anymore. It's definitely going to be A thing of the past, my one employee that's coming back this year is the only seasonal hire that I'm having back.
Collin Funkhouser 35:07
What kind of what kind of things? Did you learn from that experience? Or why is that something you no longer want to do?
Natalie S. 35:13
I really think it's important to have that employee retention kind of throughout the year, you know, I have always said to my employees that I'm very flexible with their school schedules, as they change from semester to semester, just, you know, let me know, what your schedule is going to be like, and I will work around that. And you also other commitments if they have another job, or other other commitments, I'm always very flexible with them, as long as they are flexible with me. And they have the intention of staying on with us, you know, as long as possible, whether that's until graduation, or you know, a year or two like we we value retention, a lot more than maybe a bit at the beginning of when I first started hiring,
Collin Funkhouser 36:00
what does that retention look like? Because when I think college towns, I think kind of high, high turnover high, a lot of people coming and going just by the very nature of what a college is meant to do, bring kids in, educate them, and then they leave and go somewhere else.
Natalie S. 36:16
Yeah, so I definitely try to focus on as I'm hiring, I try to focus on applicants that definitely know they're going to be in town for at least a couple more years, I typically won't move forward with someone that may be graduating that same semester or even the next semester. So I kind of take that into account. I also explained that, that this job is very important in the sense that the clients pets, we'll get to know you as well. And, you know, I would prefer not to have such a revolving door, you know, of employees, and the turnover and all of that. And so I think that with being so flexible with their schedules and the changes in their lives from semester to semester, and summer to summer that most of my employees have stayed on with me at least six months, but usually more like 10 or 11 At the least,
Collin Funkhouser 37:13
that I think that's where I just as an employer, you go, what is my applicant pool expecting? And can I make that work for my business? And is that something I want to do and the flexibility there sounds like that's one of the key things that you can provide them have the ability to basically say, whatever you, whatever you whatever availability you have, or can give, will work with that. And that means that you're kind of sticky to them, because they know, now there aren't very many other jobs out there that can do that kind of thing for me, or who are willing to work around my schedule. So maybe it's worth, you know, sticking with these people for the long run.
Natalie S. 37:51
Right. And I'm very much still in the field myself. So you know, if there's extra visits, and I need to pick up a little extra slack like I will definitely do that. It's just in our service areas, specifically with it being a primarily primarily college town. It's harder to find those that have a set schedule, you know, year to year or you know, doesn't really change very often. So that's kind of something that I have just had to learn to adapt to on a semester by semester basis. And then if I do need to fill the gaps, you know, I will hire accordingly. So it just kind of depends there.
Collin Funkhouser 38:32
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Natalie S. 39:51
Yeah, so I do look to see if they have any previous animal experience whether that be pet sitting or in the clinics. setting or FFA, just anything like that. So that I know, you know that they really do love animals, that, to me is the very first important step. And then also just being very thorough with my training processes. And my team communication, you know, we utilize slack for team communication. And that has been really great for our business so far. I also will host monthly staff meetings in person where we'll all eat together, meet at a restaurant and just, you know, catch up that way. And also just making expectations clear in a respectful way with my staff, and also always providing constructive criticism for them. Because, you know, I want this job to be enjoyable and fun for them and something that they like to do on the side while they're in school and doesn't add additional stress, you know, to them. And so I think that just having processes, and also just being an advocate for your staff can really help maintain that quality and just consistency with a team.
Collin Funkhouser 41:09
And that may have clear expectations. I've heard it said before that to be to be clear as to be kind, right and loving towards that person. And, and especially whenever you couple that with the constructive criticism, because it's telling somebody how to improve, or that they need to improve is not a bad thing. It's not good, especially whenever we're going, Hey, I saw this happen. I saw this photo, I saw this update, I here's what I would suggest we do to kick that up a notch, or have you tried doing XYZ or this is what we need to see moving forward. Because that is clear expectations to them. And they know whether they're performing well or not. And that gives people peace of mind to know, oh, man, I'm really doing well. Or I'm not, maybe this isn't for me, maybe I need to try something else. And so when you have that kind of ongoing conversation, you're you're building that relationship with that person. And that's, that's so critical, especially whenever we're trying to have those high standards. We're trying to have a consistency between individuals, if we're not talking to them, none of that's going to take
Natalie S. 42:14
place. Oh, absolutely. And I completely agree. I mean, the I've told all of my employees that the last thing that I want to be in their eyes is someone they feel they can't talk to, and like a scary boss and someone that they just can't come to about if they make a mistake or something goes wrong. And because I've been in those environments, and so I know how that's like, and I knew that as a manager, I didn't want to, I didn't want them to struggle with that. And so I think just Yeah, being an advocate for them, but also letting them know that, you know, if we do give them constructive criticism, it's never to break them down in any way. It's just to say, Okay, what, what happened here? How can we learn from it? How can we prevent the mistake again, and then just tell them something great about what they're doing as well, and letting them know,
Collin Funkhouser 43:04
I had a hell of position formally where my boss came in and wanted to talk to me about how rapidly I was responding to emails. And I was like, What do you mean, what's weird? And they said, Well, I, I noticed that you don't always spell words correctly. And, and when you do that, it's not a good reflection on you, or what we do here. And so I wanted to come in and before this got worse, or before you set one wrong email to the one wrong person. And before it blew up, that you just take a minute to breathe. And and, and look at writing basically what they said, just look at the words you're typing, Colin. And it was very like, oh, right, right. Right. Right. It's very, like what I think is just this trite, little simple email that I'm shooting off, like, I'll just bang it out. And we'll go, it's actually very important with how people perceive us. And now in our own company, it's like how even more so of taking a few minutes to breathe, spell check my update before I send it to the client or respond to that email about a sponsorship or whatever, like, those little things matter. And it's our job as the as the managers as the coaches, basically, to our staff to help see go, hey, I want to I want to step in. And before this becomes a problem, I just want to let you know that that here's how we can help correct that. So you don't have to worry about that again. I'll
Natalie S. 44:24
call into bad when and have chat GPT when you were back in that job. Are you fine,
Collin Funkhouser 44:31
I would have just that's all I would have done all day. I was like, Oh, here's an email, sit, write a prompt like it would have been amazing.
Natalie S. 44:36
Selling would have been perfect, but you wouldn't have had to worry about anything. No,
Collin Funkhouser 44:41
I know. And that's, you know, that's a big thing too, that I work with our staff as I know, as I try and teach and encourage a lot from my own deficiencies of hey, I rush through things. I type things out really fast and hit send. And then I and then I do and then I look for grammar after it's already been sent like that. That's my superpower is once the emails or message has been sent, then I look at it and I go, Oh, look at all the spelling mistakes anyway, right? Like, so, going, Hey, I struggle with this too. Let me help you with this. And then, because we also often struggle or as when you bring on staff, you go, how do I help people? Like where do I help them from what we have our own, just pull from your own personal experiences, pull from where you've how you've grown, and identify areas and your staff, because I guarantee you, there's a lot of similarities there that you can actually speak to,
Natalie S. 45:29
oh, yeah, and anyone can be trained to do this job. I mean, it's, as long as you, you know, you love pets, and you love animals, you know, in some capacity, I mean, anyone can be trained. And so, you know, in the early stages of hiring last year, you know, I wasn't, I didn't have such a great process. And honestly, listening to your podcasts on hiring has been just a complete godsend for me in that way of having that structure and training, because that will just very, like naturally inspire confidence in a team if you are hiring them, or not sorry, if you are training them in a very thorough like, step by step way, and then also giving them the reins to you know, go out on their own, and shadow them and see how they do and then, you know, make criticism when needed. But I mean, just just having that constant communication is so important. Well, in
Collin Funkhouser 46:31
those those processes are invaluable. And I love how you touched on the fact that it's not just training people in the skills and stuff necessary, but it's also communicating to them how serious you take it, or how the company takes it, right of like, Hey, before you come on board, here's seven hours of online training, you're gonna watch. And then oh, by the way, at two months, there's a quiz, you're gonna take everybody rejoice, like, like, really sets, it's like, don't these are the standards, and it's okay to have high standards, as long as you help people meet them. Through your onboarding, training, encouragement and coaching. Like that's, that's really important to have both of those in line with
Natalie S. 47:10
each other. Yes,
Collin Funkhouser 47:12
I completely agree. And I know another thing that is really important, through this process of when you bring on staff is, is having your, your company values, your company morals, these guiding principles, you know, how, how are you helping your staff members connect with those?
Natalie S. 47:30
Yeah, so from the very beginning, you know, I let them know that we are professionals, and that I'm going to train them as such. And so I'm also we are huge on our reliability to our clients. Having peace of mind is the one thing that's like, my kind of my statement that I make, is that I'm just huge on peace of mind for our clients, and just having them be worryfree while they're out of town. And so I think that, you know, letting them know that we will be there no matter what, we'll always have a backup, we will have a highly trained staff that is there to care for their pets, I think really helps those values. And also just being as detailed as possible as we can when it comes to their pets instructions and what they need and their particular needs. And so, also, I think that letting the client be heard, is very important as well. And so they will, you know, tell us in detail about what they may need, what their pets may need and just you know, them feeling that they're being listened to, and and that we are following those directions correctly, I think also helps with that all of my employees also have been trained to administer medications, some of them have been vet techs as well, which helps and we do care for senior and like end of life pets as well. And so I think that's all of that along with our our communication with art but then ourselves on Slack and our staff meetings has really helped kind of our company morals and that value as well. Because then
Collin Funkhouser 49:29
it stops being just a you, you know, pounding at the pulpit or pounding the gavel trying to get people to hear and listen, they start seeing other employees, living acting, talking about those same things. So there's definitely this this reinforcement process of okay, I'm going to make sure I tell everybody and I'm always going to tell everybody but when they start seeing other people living and acting and working it out in their day to day, do it during the dog walk during the pet sit. It's incredibly powerful and I don't know about you but like it but also very satisfying to be like, oh, oh, there. Got it. Like, that's so encouraging. Oh,
Natalie S. 50:06
yes, definitely. And then also just the fact that we are insured and bonded and licensed and all of my staff are as well. And they we all do pet care team training, or fetch find I kind of go between the two as well, is extremely helpful as well. But it's just really the things that set us apart from the rest is what is important to me.
Collin Funkhouser 50:33
It is it isn't it's finding those finding those to them and allowing, allowing the staff members to really to see that right. And I know, it can be a lot of pressure to go, Well, if this was the standards, like I've got to lead by example, right? I've got to lead by when the staff reached out to me, and they say, Hey, I found this problem, should I should I tell the client that's like, oh, like I personally embarrassed by this, but like, No, we need to tell them, right? We need to own up to this, it could be very easy to just say, Oh, no, don't don't worry about telling them this time. Don't worry about that's teaching them. Okay. Well, you said transparency and communication was a big deal. But it's actually not to you and so going, No, I teach by how I how I live these and how I act them out in what I do as well. Yeah,
Natalie S. 51:17
it's it's definitely very important to be honest, and be okay with making mistakes and knowing that you can and that it's going to be okay, and you're going to learn from it. And it's, it's something, you know, that, you know, happens and everybody makes mistakes. And so I'm just being honest and truthful. And, you know, to the best of your ability is just, you know, what is required in this kind of industry? Have
Collin Funkhouser 51:45
you had to go to your staff or your to your team and and apologize for an error on your own part and bring that to them?
Natalie S. 51:52
Oh, yeah. So I do consistently remind them that I'm also human, and I make mistakes, even as the business owner. There was actually a recent situation where we were doing five visits a day for a client that was recently diagnosed with kidney failure. And so he was on a five meal a day regimen that had medications mixed in. And so it was very important to give him those medications every two to three hours. And then there was a late night visit scheduled from nine to nine to 10pm. And we actually normally don't schedule visits that late at night just for safety and things like that. And so what had happened was, I had scheduled that visit to myself the later night visit. And I had had no other visits throughout the day other than that one. And unfortunately, I had just forgotten about it. And so the client had messaged us about one or two in the morning, letting us know that she didn't see anybody COMMBUYS everything okay, and so, thankfully, you know, I was able to see that and head over there and take care of them early in the morning. But I did have to come to my staff and let them know, because they had seen the message on time to pet that that had happened. And I told them, you know, everything's fine with flan. He's all good. Like, he it's okay that he didn't get that medication, it was more of a supplement at that point of the day. So it was all good. But I had to let them know that I had made a mistake. And I still do, and it's okay that you do as well, as long as you come to me about it, and you're honest, and we work through it together and just learn from it. Because now I have definitely put systems in place where that doesn't happen again.
Collin Funkhouser 53:45
It's the it's the learn from it, right. And it's the bringing that stuff to them of if we really want an open door policy, that means it's both ways. It's I don't just sit here and hide my mistakes and my errors or my you know, when we sit down and do scheduling and or, you know, route planning, and we just totally befit on Drive times. And you know, and it's like, oh, gosh, like, yeah, that was our bad. Like, that's we messed up, we were looking at the wrong thing. I'm really sorry about that we'll make we'll get that corrected. Like, that's whatever it is, it's, it's we don't have to be perfect in all knowing. Right. And that's, that's actually really dangerous for for us. And
Natalie S. 54:23
for me, it was just something as simple as it being out of my normal routine, and something that we weren't used to doing. We're used to doing those later night visits. And, you know, due to his condition, you know, I told the client, you know, we will do that going forward, having that later night visit and so, thankfully, they've been a client for a long time and everything was was just fine. And she completely understood, and the dog was fine, but it's very important to have that transparency with the team. And just letting them know that you're you're one of them. I mean, you're a manager, you're their boss. Yeah, yes. And you have to have that role. But you're also one of them and just I feel that that now AAA just helps them deal with they can come to you and talk to you. And without being afraid and without holding back.
Collin Funkhouser 55:05
I know you mentioned kind of you list out some of the values and morals that your company has. How did you find those come come about those? And and what advice would you give to people who maybe don't have those outlined for themselves? Well,
Natalie S. 55:20
I definitely think, first and foremost, it's important to put yourself in the shoes of a client, and what you would be looking for in a professional pet business. And so I think that by doing that, you can really start to, you know, think about what you want your company's morals and values to be, and upholding those and those standards. Because, you know, if you do want to, you know, advertise yourself with all these credentials, all these certifications, you all these awards, you know, you want to get to that point, you really have to start with that foundation, and just how you advertise yourself and how you just look to a prospective client that could be interested in your services. And so, and then just sticking to them by just, you know, consistently reminding yourself, if you're solo consistently reminding your team you know, what your values are, and what the you know, the expectations are and the standards that you bring to the table and what clients have come to, like, know you for, and your value, I think is really important. It's in sticking to those.
Collin Funkhouser 56:31
Natalie, I really want to thank you for for your time today. I know you've got a lot going on. So it just means a lot for you to carve out this time to talk with us and share your story. And encourage us to stay customer focus and encourage us to work with that, that that applicant pool to stay flexible and to meet the needs and so that we can be serving our community to the best that we can with our community to the best that we can. I know that there's a lot going on, that you do a lot of cool stuff and you're always posting really fun photos and things like that. So how can people best get connected and follow along with all of your work? Yeah, absolutely.
Natalie S. 57:09
Well, thank you, Collin for having me on the podcast. I've been listening since the beginning. So it was really cool to finally come on myself and you know, tell you a little bit more about us and our service area and what we do so for those that want to get in touch, we do have Facebook and Instagram under Adeline petsitting. Or they can also send me a message to my personal Facebook page, which is just Natalie Spedding. I'm in a bunch of the petsitting Facebook groups you could probably find me on there I'm also consider confessionals. People can also email me at Aggieland petsitting@gmail.com. With any questions whether they are or are not in a college town kind of surface area, they can definitely reach out to me with any questions just relating to hiring or just employee morale, you know, company morale, I would I really love talking about that, and just employee retention. So I know when I got started, I reached out to a lot of people and listen to a lot of resources. And I just everyone was so helpful for me. And I just want to do that for others as well.
Collin Funkhouser 58:13
Well, wonderful. Yeah, I'll have all those links in the show notes. And on the website so people can get connected. And Natalie, it's been absolute pleasure app really seriously. It's been great following along with everything that you've been doing as you grow and continue to, to push what's possible and make it more and more known in Bryan College Station. So so it's fantastic.
Natalie S. 58:34
Thank you so much, Collin for having me. At
Collin Funkhouser 58:36
the end of the day, people expect our reliability, peace of mind is central to all that we do as a company. So given the unique challenges that you're facing as your business, how are you going to keep the reliability and the peace of mind Central. Keep that first and foremost and everything that you do, challenges will come and go. They'll change from year to year, but people will continue to expect our reliability and their peace of mind must be central to everything. When we keep that in focus. It helps shape how we tackle the problems and how we continue to push forward. We want to thank today's sponsor, it's time to pet and the peaceful pet music, calm music for pets YouTube channel. Make sure to check those links out in the show notes. And we really want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend. We'll be back again soon.
