461: Keeping Control of Your Calendar with Jessica Stavros
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What does it mean to find your balance as a solo pet sitter? Jessica Stavros, owner of Celina Prosper Pet Sitting, shares her journey from starting in the pet sitting industry 19 years ago to adapting her business model to fit her life's various stages, especially motherhood. Emphasizing the art of setting boundaries and saying no without guilt, Jessica discusses the importance of managing a solo business in alignment with personal life demands. She highlights the challenges and strategies of maintaining a work-life balance, particularly as a solo entrepreneur. Jessica also delves into the nuances of client management, emphasizing professionalism and risk management, and the significance of viewing and presenting oneself as a dedicated business owner, not just a pet lover. Her story reflects on the adaptability required in the pet sitting industry and the importance of building trust-based relationships with clients while maintaining personal well-being.
Main topics
Balance and sustainability
Being a working parent
Full means full!
Planning to save your sanity
Main takeaway: Your calendar will be a runaway train, unless you get in front of it!
About our guest:
Jessica Stavros, owner operator of Celina Prosper Pet Sitting in Celina (pronounced Sah-line-uh) Texas, northern suburb of Dallas. I’m a full time solo sitter and a mom of three school age kids. I’ve been in the industry 20 years, starting in Houston, taking some time off when my kids were young and re-opened in Dallas five years ago.
Links:
jessica@celinaprosperpetsitting.com
https://www.instagram.com/celinaprosperpet/
https://www.facebook.com/celinaprosperpet/
https://www.celinaprosperpetsitting.com
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, pet, years, people, visits, pet sitter, business, schedule, sitters, booked, dog, feel, today, greet, started, meet, day, gift, kids, offer
SPEAKERS
Jessica S., Collin Funkhouser
Collin Funkhouser 00:02
Welcome to pet sitter confessional. Today, we're brought to you by time to pet and pet perennials. What does it mean to find your limits? And then how do you structure your life and your business to live within those today, just because Davros owner of Celina Prosper Pet Sitting joins the show to talk about how to stay balanced and sustainable as a solo pet sitter, how to say no without feeling guilty, and how we can actually go about setting those healthy boundaries and planning our own lives. Let's get started.
Jessica S. 00:39
Thank you for having me today. I am a longtime fan of the podcast. So I'm thrilled to to be able to to have a little bit of time to join in. So my name is Jessica stab rose. I am the owner and operator currently solo of Celina Prosper Pet Sitting. I cover two towns in the North Dallas suburbs of Celina, Texas and prosper, Texas. So I am currently solo I have had staff in the past, I may have staff again, but I have found for this current life season of being right smack in the middle of raising kids solo works for me because I can best manage a one person schedule rather than a team schedule. So I do a blend of midday dog walks, I do vacation drop ins, and I have a handful maybe 10 or so overnight clients. I do not offer boarding in my home, I have a one dog who would not be a fan of that. But I have been in the industry for a very long time I launched my first pet sitting business when we lived in Houston 19 years ago. So that was 2004. And over the years, I have accordions back and forth. The first five years were going and going full steam, me and five staff members and just work work, work, work work. It was fantastic, especially since the industry was younger than it was just great to get in there and and experience firsthand what a great legit full time career this can be. But once my children came along, I really could not sustain that pace. And nor did I want to. And so I cut way back. And we also had a move in there. And I really feel like I've been able to have the best of both when my kids were little bitty I was able to focus mostly on on the pleasure of being a stay at home mom. But I also did some independent contractor work. You know, when you are home with three little bitty kids a It feels great to have an opportunity to get out of the house a little bit. So I did a little bit of independent contractor work. I had a few just a small manageable client load of neighbors and church friends. You know, kind of one of those. Once people find out you're a pet sitter, you are never lacking for work. But I was able to keep it very manageable. And of course, I always maintained my insurance during that time because I would never ever imagine pet sitting without insurance.
Collin Funkhouser 03:39
One of the things that you mentioned there of you're kind of in this this current life season raising kids solos best for you. That may seem counterintuitive to some people who would think well, why wouldn't you want a team to be doing visits so that you don't have to be out doing that? So walk us through your your thought process and how you've arrived at what's working best for you right now?
Jessica S. 04:01
Sure, sure. And I absolutely think the team model has has a lot of advantages. I really think there are pros and cons to both. I have been in that situation, having employed a team in the past where you are coming up to a major holiday and it is it is booked full to the brim and suddenly three of your five people drop out. I have had those nightmare schedules landed in my lap. So really for me right now I feel like and it's just I think it's just my own personality. I know that I am not going to flake on myself. And I really don't want to be in a spot where I am managing high turnover and have this impossibly full schedule and I'm scrambling to scrambling to hire So, I have for right now, I take what makes sense for me and my family. And I have just gotten really good at using that no muscle. And and I think that's for me, that is just how I have maintained my sanity and stayed joyful in this business year after year, I can take what I can take. And then when I'm full, full means full, No means no. And I try to offer referrals to local colleagues when, when they have the availability, I think it's essential to establish good friendly relationships with your local colleagues and not view them as competitors, but they absolutely are your colleagues and your allies. So that is what I try to do. But at the end of the day, if I am full, I have politely said, No, my colleagues are equally booked. Sometimes, you know, the client will figure it out, and the world will keep on turning, they're not going to get angry. There. We go through all these emotional What if responses that the client probably is the client is fine, they will figure it out. So just really managing not having an emotional reaction to when it's time to say no, no, is no. And you do reach a point, especially with with kids, that it's simply not worth it to squeeze in one or two or three extra clients at the at the expense of completely sacrificing your family schedule. You
Collin Funkhouser 06:47
mentioned in there that you can take what makes sense to you. And I think that that is incredibly powerful to know that that is the control that we have. Right is our ability, we we are the gatekeepers to our calendar. And too often, we feel like, Oh man, my time is not my own, which is not the reason that a lot of us go in to start our own businesses. Oh, I want to have the freedom. I want to ask stuff. I don't want anyone to tell me what to do. When we look at our calendar and go, Well, where do I fit into this? Sure. Where does my family fit into this? Sure. And it
Jessica S. 07:22
can happen so easily. And I think anyone who's been in the industry longer than a year or two will see how that calendar is just a runaway train if you don't get out in front of it. And it's all from good intentions. It's it's great to be to be books and to be in demand. But you do for me it's a frequent, and I'm a work in progress. It's a frequent daily reminder of this is my business. I started this for XYZ reasons. And like you said, the the enjoyment of being self employed the ability to dictate my schedule to a certain extent. Now you can't say no all the time to everyone or you will not have a business. But it it certainly is doable to run a full comfortable pet sitting schedule and, and still be a present attentive parent still have a social life still enjoy all the things and I think burnout and struggling with setting boundaries is is frequently mentioned as as big problems in our industry. And the reason that perfectly good pet sitters quit because they just get to a point where the joy is gone. And I have I've never wanted to get to that point. So it's just a daily reminder to me, I keep an eye on that. For me, it's counting, you know how many visits I have on the schedule that day. I watched that number like stockbrokers watch the stock ticker.
Collin Funkhouser 09:11
It is important to, to know our limits and and a lot of especially when we're just starting out, we don't really know that or more. I think more importantly, we don't know what's sustainable as a process. And that's where that's where I know even I get tripped up of Well, sure. I could do eight or I could do 16 today or what could I do that for the next month? Or could I do that my my my Megan's Megan's folks ask us that question a lot of times, is this what you want for the next 30 years? Right is is and kind of keeping that mindset of it's not just about today, I have to be able to do this for the next insert number of years. If I want to if I if if I want to be successful,
Jessica S. 09:55
right. Right. So yeah, that's why mine has a core And over the years back and forth, and even season to season, you know, a season can be as short. As you know, we know these next few weeks are really going to be a crunch and a push or, you know, it can be looking at the next few months where you're either going to make the decision to really buckle down and focus and, and take on a good amount of work. Or if you need to look at your schedule and everything that's going on in family life and think you know what, I need to pull back a little bit. And I certainly I don't don't mean, when you have clients already booked to contact them and saying change my mind can't do it. That's completely unprofessional. I would never do that. But that's why you keep up with what you're saying yes to?
Collin Funkhouser 10:44
Well, so how do you know? Or what are some some ideas or ways that you look at understanding what your current limit is? Because that's where I go? Well, can I can I do one more? Is that okay, or kind of weird? How do you approach understanding how much is too much for you?
Jessica S. 11:01
Right? Well, I think just, we develop a pretty good internal radar for that, the longer we do this, I can tell, for instance, just a normal standard weekday 10 visits is totally comfortable. For me, when I start getting at the 12 mark, I No, you wouldn't think that two visits would make that much of a difference. But at the 12 mark, that means I'm not really going to see my kids very much that day. And that's when things start to get a little hectic, you know, we do kind of have to buckle down for holiday seasons, those peak weeks of summer. 15 is when the red flashing lights are on for me. You know, in my younger years, when I first started, you know, when we when I first started my business in Houston, it was in a totally different life season. 19 years ago, I was in my mid 20s, married that child list. And man, I could do a marathon every day, I could do 22 visits in a day I had if I had 22 visits today, with three children in my mid 40s, I would want to cry. It really does just depend on where your current life season is. I think it takes a good look at evaluating how you feel when you look at that calendar and you have 10 or 12 or 15 or 17 visits booked that day. You know, we know we're like, you know, we know when we look at it like, oh, who do I have today? How many okay, you know, piece of cake, or we look at it and just think, oh my gosh, why did I let all of this pile on. And I think that that is magnified when you are running this business and also raising children. You know, I know I know, you and Megan are parents, I have three kids. I currently have a 15 year old son, a 13 year old daughter and a 10 year old son and you know I say I'm right smack dab in the middle we we still have a lot of years ahead of us and they are just they are at the activities age and none of them are driving yet so everyone has something seems like every single day and that's fine These are all good things but it's not fair to our family schedule or to my health and sanity to think well I'm going to still take on 22 visits because that's what the clients want and be present for kids and activities and homework and just I'm also a firm believer in just downtime and family life that calm time at home you just there's no replacement for that. So we are not a family that just runs runs runs so it's just that daily that daily tuning in to what feels right for for where you are and a young single person sure if you want to if you want to burn that the Nile Midnight Oil for years then fine more power to you I will be cheering you on but that's not for me anymore however you know it's still this business is very much you know it's seven days a week and you know just the year round that you know when you've done it for even a short time you get that it never really lets up so it's very much on us to run it and to manage it or else it will seem role us Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 14:43
I see those posts a lot of people who go I haven't had a day off in six months, seven months or I haven't taken a vacation in five years. And that's a that's a that should be a warning to everybody of this kind of industry will Take your time, if you open up time a little bit, it will take all of it, not just some of it, all all of it. And it is, it is important to know and I love that you mentioned Jessica about the importance of tuning in, and staying tuned in with yourself of okay, let's say you did those 20 visits that day, at the end of the day, take you, how did you feel? Were you operating at your best? You know, it's, it's terrible. And then to know, how then check in next morning 5am. When you're getting up to 6am, you've
Jessica S. 15:36
got to do it all over again.
Collin Funkhouser 15:37
How do you feel right. And that's so in pinning it to how we are doing. And I also love how you mentioned, I mean, you have these of like at 12 visits, I know I'm not seeing my kids much, pin it to something that's important to you, right so that when you see this number pop up, you immediately know what how it's going to start impacting your life, because then you can start drawing those hard lines.
Jessica S. 16:03
Right, right. And I think,
16:06
you know, I
Jessica S. 16:09
being solo, and my clients know that I'm so low and I am really, really fortunate to have a clientele that is heavy, I have a lot of type A planners, so they send me their requests, months and months and months, sometimes up to a year in advance, and I am happy to get those dates on the schedule. I am not a fan and I am not a fit for the last minute Linda's that you know, what's, you know, want to leave for a two week trip starting tomorrow. And I you know, I had my years early on, where I would turn my my schedule upside down to fit in requests like that, and I just don't do that anymore. Again, you know, it's not fair to my family. And it's also just none of us want to operate like that I found I would take it, but I would be resentful of it the entire time. And that's not how we want to think of our clients. And that's not, that's not how we want to operate. That's not why we got into this business. However, that client I truly believe 95% of our clients are, are not difficult manipulative people. However, if you always say yes to their last minute request, they are going to think that's totally fine. And that's just how you operate. And, you know, we're packing I guess I better book the pet sitter. So you have to, you know, it takes a few times with some of them have have, you know, saying an unfortunate No, I'm sorry, I'm I'm fully booked. Really difficult for me to take you on short notice. They'll figure it out. But, you know, it does take kind of training them by by saying no, and they might move on. But in my experience, I have said no plenty of times and they still continue to ask and generally with, you know with improved notice. So it's very much one of those we we teach people how to treat us. It
Collin Funkhouser 18:13
is it is I mean we have that experience to have. Why does this person always booked? It's like they're leaving today, right? We had one. We had one client who who texted us. She had taken a last minute trip to Yellowstone and Texas after she was already on the road and driving and then like yeah, and then like it was like, what? Right? And really going how did we end up here? Yeah, the truth was, we had to take a hard look at our what we had done and gone. Well, we've always said yes. Right. Why wouldn't Why wouldn't they do right?
Jessica S. 18:48
You allowed it to end up to an extent and it's hard to take those lessons on yourself. And we've all been there. We've
Collin Funkhouser 18:54
had this Yeah. And to go okay, now. Now, the next time this happens going okay, even if I have space to fit in? I should probably say no, because I have to stop this. This is not respectful of me. And that's not the kind of client that I ultimately want. Have you heard of time to pet Chris am from raining cats and dogs has this to say
19:18
becoming a time to pet clients has been a game changer for us. We can give our pet services clients real time cloud based information they never imagined they'd be interested in. And most importantly to me personally, I can better manage my company and look forward to more and not a small thing. Time to pet is responsive to my requests for new features and modifications to existing one. If
Collin Funkhouser 19:44
you're looking for new petsitting software in the new year, give time to pet a try. Listeners of this show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confessional No,
Jessica S. 19:56
absolutely. And you know those that, that tends to be more the, the type of client that probably would be fine with using a last minute app based, you know, on demand, et cetera, you get who you get. And that's simply not, that's not what I offer. That's not what I want to offer. And so it's the planners tend to be my Type A planners are the ones that I drive with the most. And then, like my mid days, you know, they're kind of on an established yet fluid on demand schedule. My mistakes are not set in stone, I have some that are on very regular schedules and others that let me know kind of week to week, what that looks like. But it's very rarely is it last minute now I will never chastise someone or make them feel bad for asking, I will always take a look. And if it's a fit, then I'll say yes. But if it's not a fit, I have learned to say no and not lose any sleep over it.
Collin Funkhouser 21:00
So how would you feel like or how are you getting that judge of character? Or what kind of person this is going to be when you're taking on a new client? I mean, do you how do you get a sense for that? Because we would all I think would would want clients to book us a year out or several months, and not take to lesson one. So do you have a special what's what's your secret question? You ask them to understand who they are? Jessica?
Jessica S. 21:23
is actually a really good question. And I think I think again, it just comes with time comes with experience. And I think we still even you know, even now 19 years, and I still will be blindsided with a client who you know, appeared over email to be fantastic. And then you get there. And it's kind of a train wreck, or I mean, there's just people are surprises. But I think when it comes to having a, you need to have an onboarding system, and that looks, that looks a little different for everyone. You know, mine is a little more old fashioned, because it's just me. I'm not, I don't use an app. I am, I still keep it pretty traditional. But my clients, I really try to direct everyone to the website to contact me via the web form. And that way, when that comes in, I can look at the dates they need, where they live, general description and think about whether or not it's even a good fit. A tip that I learned actually, from listening to this podcast several years ago, I found that, you know, I had just a general voicemail message that you know, thank you for contacting Solana, prosper pet sitting, you know, leave your message, I will get back with you. And I was getting so many just vague, rambling voicemails, you know, saying, you know, oh, this is George Smith, I'd like more information about your pet sitting surface will you call me back? And so then that was you know, kind of a thing hanging over my head, I need to call this person back. I need to call them back. I need to call them back. And we would you know, do phone tag a little bit. And then I would I was I found I was wasting a lot of time returning General Information phone calls, and hardly ever did it turn into a good client. Nine times out of 10 They didn't even understand what pet setting was I was getting. I was getting voicemails, like, you know, you're a pet sitter. We need to leave in the next two hours. What's your address, so I can bring my dog over and I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, that is not even do not show up at my doorstep. I am constantly refining my website, I would say once or twice a year I sit down and take a good look at trying to make sure addressing clearly what the service is areas covered. I publish rates I know that's that's kind of a controversial thing. Some people publish their rates some people do not. I don't want any surprises. I don't want to get 30 minutes into a phone call and find out that I'm way out of someone's budget and this was just kind of a waste of time for both of us. I would rather have everything transparent. But one tip that I learned from this podcast specifically about my voicemail was directing people where to go so in my voicemail now it probably borders on a little bit rude, but you know, it basically says I will not take inquiries over the phone. However, if you will, please visit my website, www dot souligner prosper petsitting.com Fill out the web form and I will contact you that way. So I do little to know Business via phone call. And I feel like, you know that may seem counterintuitive to, to those people who are like, you should always answer your phone. I found like when I answered my phone on the fly, I was taking clients who weren't the best. I was agreeing to things that I probably wouldn't have, if I had had all the information in front of me and been able to process it been able to look at their dates think, okay, this person lives in this neighborhood. But wait, I'm already booked on the other side of my service area for most of this, does it even make sense to take this. So I'm more of a processor, I like to look at it and think about it before a greeting. So I really don't enjoy those on the fly phone conversations. And that has been something that has, by directing people where to go, I still respond to everyone. But it's after I've had a chance to look at what they're wanting. And so that's been a good filter for kind of weeding out the last minute people, the people that are just calling every number they can find hoping someone will take the stock because they're leaving in two hours.
Collin Funkhouser 26:09
Oh, yes. And, you know, I hear a couple of things, as you're, as you're talking about that, Jessica, in that, you know, the the how do we get clients that work within our systems? Well, you start from step zero, by putting them into your system, and they're following that system, you know, okay, well, this person is already a, you know, amenable to how my company is processed. And they already kind of understand what I'm doing here. It also has this, it takes a long time, right? When I get people who call and say, Hey, I need you to come over today to do XYZ. It's like, okay, well, maybe even if we could, here's the 17 steps that we go through to make this actually happen. So it delays that. And I'm really love how you said, it allows you to process because how many times do we get on a phone call, we hear the sob story, we hear the person who's nervous or scared. And we just start nodding our head, right? And then all of a sudden, what we've done is we've committed ourselves to two weeks of care that starts tonight, and we're not gonna meet the dog. We're like, Well, how did I write to insert it to kind of remove that emotion from it, read the facts that are in black and white text in front of you and go, Okay, no, this is not a good fit. Because a lot of times we take all these clients because we were what we feel guilty. Yeah, that that we're going to
Jessica S. 27:32
have to tell them no, yes, yes. And my my people pleaser, comes out the most strongly when I've picked up a random phone call, and I want to be polite. And then when by the time I hang up, I just found myself thinking, why did you just agree to that. So I really got away from that I and again, I know people who do a lot of business over the phone, that probably sounds like the dumbest not growing your business tactic. But for me, I really want to see all that black and white information in front of me and think about it. And I still very much get back to people in a timely manner. But I want to think about it and you know, it's a thought out Yes. Or it's a thought out? No.
Collin Funkhouser 28:16
Yeah, because you want to be able to see everything with it within its context. Because I know I've taken phone calls and then gone. Well, you know, thank you for your information, I will be back in touch with you. After I process this. And what does that client do? They go, Oh, and they just start calling the next people on the Google list, the next person that they can get in touch with, and they're just going to go until they find a yes and just leave you in the dust. And so don't have that, like, it's their, their problem is not my emergency, right, I need to drop everything that I'm doing to now dedicate everything here. Not that we don't focus our attention on it. But like, look, like I understand you're leaving today, I have a process that I have to go through, so that I can make sure that we're a good fit.
Jessica S. 29:01
Sure. And I think that just comes with experience, you know, in the beginning, you know, I felt like I was just dying on the Hill that is customer service. But really, when customer service is not just being a doormat, who agrees to anything that that person on the other end of the phone wants, you know, nine times out of 10 they don't really even know what they want. So I have found that true, you know, instead of having an you know, this can happen to at the meet and greets, you know, even if you've proceeded you're like okay, this is I think this will be a good fit client. When you get there and they're like, well, we would we would like you to come five times a day. You know, 6am 10am 1pm and you know, they're just going through when they want you i i Don't do that i reframe the conversation. addition with here is what I can offer. And I have found that most pets, you know, in 19 years of experience, most pets do perfectly fine on XYZ schedule and frame it like that. But remember, this is your business. And this is your schedule. And nine times out of 10, they are completely fine with, here's what I can offer. And they're fine with fitting into that. But if you reframe it, or if you frame it from the beginning with letting them tell you exactly when they want you to come, they're also going to expect that every time and when you have, you know a schedule that's already full, or it's a holiday or something like that. You know, it's also important to train clients to be willing to work within those window timeframes. So reasonable windows, not a five hour window, but you know, a two hour window for breakfast, you know, that kind of thing that makes it enjoyable for you so that you're not thinking, oh, man, they're watching the clock. They're watching the cameras. It's 635, they wanted me there at 630. No, you can't sustain that long term. So again, reframe it like, this is what I can offer. These are the timeframes. And I think in some instances, I've actually seen them kind of breathe a sigh of relief, like, Oh, this is, you know, this person knows what she's doing this. This is the schedule, and I think Buster will be fine with that. So and that, you know, that frees us up to, to work within that schedule of what we know works for us, too. Yeah, I know,
Collin Funkhouser 31:45
there's a lot different philosophies on the purpose of the meet and greet. I know, there are a lot of suitors out there who who won't go to a meet and greet, unless it's basically a done deal. And this is just kind of a formality that they go through, we still very much view our meet and greet as part of an interview process of No, I still do not have all of the information, we're going to be going through more things, I'm going to see the setup, I'm going to see everything make sure that we're comfortable with how this is going to play out. And I'll tell clients of like, you know, because they go, Oh, I don't have any dates right now. Can I just book you and I need you? It's like, Well, look, I understand. Well, yeah, to try. But also, I've told so many potential clients that I don't want you to go through our process. And then we find out that this actually isn't a good fit for everybody. So it's better to go through the process now to know now so that you are not leaving in a couple of days, and you don't have somebody to care for your pets. So let's just go ahead and do our due diligence in this process. And I know that may sound defeatist to some people, but we aren't a good fit for everybody, or we just know that we're not. And it's better to get everything out there in the open as soon as possible. And just let them know, this is still part of the interview for whether we are going to take you as a client on and that
Jessica S. 33:03
that's okay. Yes, no. And I absolutely agree with that. And I am always willing to do a meet and greet and see and, you know, even even being dog people, you know, they're most dogs take to me, but you know, there are cases that you know, I just wasn't getting the right energy from the dog or even looking around, you know, just being in a client's home, you just kind of get a feel for that. And I really think while I'm sitting there, okay, is this a home I'm going to want to spend a lot of time in. And you know, I've done a handful of meet and greets that I could tell right off the bat, we were not at all aligned on what quality pet care looked like, I finished the meet and greet that kept it short, kept it polite, and then declined it in writing after after thinking about it, you know, later that day, or whatever. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 34:00
because again, we feel just like some of the dangers of taking that phone call. Now I'm staring somebody in the face and they're going to ask me, okay, you want to take this on? Like, hey, like, what are we? Oh, I gotta write. All we have to say is, it's been a pleasure meeting you and Baxter. We'll be reviewing your information. And we'll be in touch within X number of hours. 24 hours really like. That's, that's all we need to say. And then we can remove ourselves from that emotional situation. We can look at it in an impartial manner and go factually, again, is this still something that I want to do? And then we can send that that message after further review of your information? We're not a good fit. We recommend you reach out to XYZ, if you have somebody you can refer them to. Otherwise you just say no. Yeah, best of luck on your search
Jessica S. 34:46
for Peck. Yes. And they will figure it out in the world. We'll keep turning. Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, even I've gotten more limited and even the times that I will Oh, offer a meet and greet again, it's one of those don't let the client dictate when they want you to come. So, I have found I, I don't offer, meet and greets on weekends anymore, because that's when my kids are home. I try as much as possible to schedule meet and greets during the school day. Now, that's not possible for you know, for those clients that work out of the home, if we absolutely need to do like a weeknight dinnertime meet and greet. I will. But again, that's one of those, offer it to them, like I typically offer meet and greets at 10am or 2pm, Monday through Friday, will any of that work for you? Instead of saying, you know, Can you can you come Saturday at three and you agree to it, because it's what they said. But really, you're thinking well, that means now I'm going to miss my kids soccer game or, you know, again, just you're the one in the driver's seat. So offer offer openings that you have versus letting the clients boss that around.
Collin Funkhouser 36:06
Oh, it's such a game changer to be able to say, okay, great. Now it's a part of the process where we're scheduled meet and greet. I told you, we need to do this and the initial part, right, because I know I'm explaining to everything along the way. Here are the options. Go instead of going in seven days a week 6am to tend to pick go ahead what works for you. Because then it's like, okay, do Tuesday, like oh, no, I'm walking a dog on Tuesday afternoon. Okay, we do Wednesday, well, actually, Wednesday, I got to know you set the times. And then it also helps you have more understanding of what that week's gonna look like going back to how we look at our calendar going. No, I'm not going to fill these two days or time slots with anything else because those are those are Meet and Greet times. Then I offer offer the flexibility. If those can't work, and then I'm still going okay, well, here's my option C and D, and they're still kind of locked in. Perennials makes it easy to send a heartfelt condolence gift directly to someone with a broken heart. They have this awesome direct consumer gift model that takes the effort off of us and ensures a thoughtful, personalized, simply gift for each our client or employee on our behalf. All gift packages include a handwritten card, colorful gift wrap and shipping fees across the US and Canada. They also offer an array of milestone gifts and greeting cards that can be sent to celebrate birthdays, extend, get well wishes, and welcome new and rescued pets. Additionally, there are gift choices in case you need to send a simply gift in memory of a special human client, or celebrate a pregnancy engagement or wedding of a pet lover. If you're interested register for a free business gift perks account, unlock the all inclusive discounted package prices, the service is used on an as needed basis. So there are no monthly or annual obligations or minimum purchases, Learn more at Pet perennials.com Check out their business program or register for that free gift perks account by using the link in the show notes. So you, you mentioned that you had started in Houston and then moved to Dallas, I am interested about this because many people make this transition in their life where they start a business somewhere. And then for whatever reason, you know, they they move, they go with family or they need to get to somewhere else. How did you make that transition with your business from Houston to Dallas?
Jessica S. 38:15
Sure, sure. So the Houston business was a long time ago, like I mentioned it was 19 years ago. 2004. So the industry, I was psi and all the bells and whistles back then even it looked different. It was a lot smaller. But it professional petsitting did exist even back then. And my husband and I actually it was the beginning it was actually his idea. I I have a background in children's ministry and so I had a full time children's ministry job and he has always been a corporate marketing guy and he was interested in just dipping his toes into the entrepreneurial spirit, you know, seeing if we could get a little little side gig going, you know, we were in our mid 20s and childless and had lots of time and energy and he started doing the research. You know, we knew we were crazy about dogs and seemed like kind of a fun thing. Kind of no harm, no foul, like let's start this. Give it six months, see if we get any clients and of course we know we know how that goes once the word is out. Within six months, I was looking at resigning from my children's ministry job and took off full time and I began hiring shortly thereafter. So it's just one of those the the clientele grew very organically and of course you know learning all All the rookie mistakes along the way that all of us make and experience is the best teacher. So I guarantee you any, any mistake, you could mention, I have probably made it. You know, I think we all we we all just, that's, that's how we learn. So about five years into that business, we were ready to start our family and I, my our first son was about to be born. And it also coincided with this is, this was the time that we were looking at moving from Houston to Dallas or my husband's job. So it just, it just kind of dovetailed nicely that it was the right time to make that transition. Looking back, I did not sell my business I sure wish that I had. But at the time, you know, I was really just looking forward to being home with my baby. And I wanted more than anything for my clients to feel taken care of. I wanted my, the five staff that I had to, to have jobs with my colleagues if they wanted to keep doing that. So I had three or four local colleagues that I had good relationships with, and basically just kind of broke my client list up and each of those companies absorbed a portion of clients. And they also were interested in having my staff come work for them, because you know, they had proven to be good workers for me. So you know, anyone who's hiring, if you hear about a good reliable pet sitter, you know, you want to get their number. So that made for a good transition, I simply closed my business rather than rather than selling it. But, you know, at the time, I was really just just ready to settle into motherhood. So we moved from Houston to Dallas. And so during that time, I mostly focused on my children. So we had my son then two and a half years later, we welcomed a daughter two and a half years later, after that we we welcomed another son. So we you know, for that decade I was quite busy we refer to that as the decade of diapers but I still continued to work in small ways that made sense to me you know, I mentioned I I did some independent contractor work that was nice to be able to go in with a couple of local senators who were so low but you know, had that had that heavy feeling like oh, I can't step away from my business for you know, I want to take a vacation but I don't have anyone to take over. And I'm you know, I'm over here raising my hand like Hey, I would I would love to arrange childcare for a week and take a break from from Mom, mommy life and and you don't even have to train me because I already know what I'm doing. So that was that was really, I think beneficial for both my colleague friends who really wanted to step away. And nice for me to be able to get out of the house and enjoy. Enjoy pet sitting kind of once a pet sitter always a pet sitter, it really is like riding a bike you don't forget how to do it, you don't forget how to do a good job with it. So I had that I had a few neighborhood clients, church friends, you know that I was able to, you know, handle small trips for them and things like that. It was never on my heart to continue to run a full time pet sitting business while also juggling young children. I never wanted to take them with me. Number one, that's an insurance violation. Number two, if you've ever had a child with you on a pet sit, it doesn't go very well. It hasn't with me anyway. Your attention is not going to be on the pets. It opens up you know, so many things can happen. Kids are not quick to get in and out with the door. You know, just all of the I think as good professional pet sitters. We are always thinking from a risk management standpoint or we should be so we are thinking about how do we prevent escape? How do we present how do we prevent a bite? You know, a good number of my client dogs are not accustomed to children. So it was never a Um, you know, I hear that. And you see that from Hobby sitters that, oh, my kids, and I would love to come check on your dog for a week, that probably isn't going to work. And you know, are you going to get a baby are you going to get a sleeping baby out of bed at 6am to go do a pet set, I didn't want to do that. So I kept it small and manageable. And then when my youngest son went to kindergarten, it was just a great time to open the floodgates and go full time again. So that was, that was 2018 2019. And having already launched the Houston business, it was the easiest thing in the world to restart, again, because I could skip all the rookie mistakes. It was it was so easy. I built a really solid website that was really optimized and caught all of the search engine words, I kept my business name really simple. It's not anything flashy, it is souligner, prosper petsitting, which are, that's the two towns that I cover. So when someone is logging on to the internet, searching Salina, pet sitter, I'm the first one that pops up. So you know, just things like that, that you learn the tricks of the trade, the longer you do it. I have social media pages, but it's really not. I don't enjoy spending a lot of time on that. So my social media is not flashy at all. But you know, just one of those, it was just really easy. To get reestablished. Google is king. So if your website is good, and you have a good Google listing, you know, you're gonna pop up. And again, I just, you know, I knew to have those systems in place and have a web form and just things that made it a little more fluid and not so bumpy. So it's been just one of those, you know, I spend pretty much no time following local social media, you know, responding to, you know, when people say they are looking for a pet sitter, you know, I don't even respond to those. A lot of times those are the hobby sitters that hop on that anyway. But yeah, it was just really easy to get started again. And I think too. We're just at a point in, you know, in our current society, where in we're, where quality pet care is so in demand, and people are more than willing to pay for it. And it just was not difficult to get started again, we also live in an area that is very quickly growing residentially so there's a huge influx of population growth and has been for the last five years and will be the projections are for at least the next five years. So there truly, there's more demand than there are good people to meet that right now. So staying fall has not been difficult at all. Well,
Collin Funkhouser 48:16
I know on your website, you you do a couple of things that I really haven't seen before. One of them is you quote your pricing per day, even though you're doing multiple visits. So and I was curious why you started doing this, or kind of how that came about.
Jessica S. 48:34
I've been pretty lucky I've never had too much pushback on rates. But number one, people don't listen, and they don't read. Yes, I wanted to make it as clear as possible. In you know, hopefully directing them to the website in the first place. That these are the rates. So you realize, if you are booking me for three visits a day, that is $25 per visit $75 per day, just to make it as black and white clear as possible. So that they are again so that you're not wasting time on the meet and greet I certainly understand that we are in a time of of economic crunch and economic difficulty. And it may not be in a family's budget to pay $75 a day for pet care. But that's where to it's really important to differentiate your professional presence from the hobby sitters who will do a day for $25. You know, you don't want to waste anyone's time, either our own or the client if this is simply something that's not within their budget. it. Yeah, so I just wanted to address that right away. And even, I just like to have it all black and white. So if they know, without even contacting me that I'm out of their price range, that's fine. I understand that, you know, just so there are no surprises about that. I never want anyone to be shocked by their bill. And I had I had no idea that it would cost that much. Well, you know, it's right there in black and white. Well,
Collin Funkhouser 50:25
and especially in a world where if people are accustomed to paying a nightly rate, or a daily rate for a boarding kennel some some facility to be able to kind of immediately set those up to say no, like, kind of using the clients own lingo basically rack at them and going, Okay, you asked for per day, because, you know, they don't have to say, well, it's per visit. So it depends on how many visits you want per day. Well, just just tell them, you have to do the math for them. Because you're right. People don't read the hear what they want to hear. Yes, I mean, I've I mean, I've even had a conversation where it was felt like it was a who's on first conversation, I was saying is like, okay, it's, and for that kind of visit. It's it's $27 each time we come over and she was okay. So it doesn't matter how many times you come over, it's still $27. And I was like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. So I think that's where that that clarity really comes out. To just put that right back in front of them go no heat, here is exactly what this means for you. So there is no sticker shock at the end of it.
Jessica S. 51:31
Yes, yes. And I think you have to cover it a number of times, you know, it's minor, as opposed to black and white on the website. It is something when they submit the web form, and I establish contact back with them, I will quote the right again. And then at the meet and greet, I will quote the right again, just so it's completely transparent. Because you also
Collin Funkhouser 51:53
have a section of your FAQs about addressing cheaper options that people might come up with, and why is this something that you think is important? Or kind of what does that what do you think that tells the client as they're looking at
Jessica S. 52:08
your website? Right? Well, you know, it's never about any of us, you know, we're not price gouging. One of those, you know, completely unhelpful phone calls that I mentioned early on in my business when I was still just returning random requests for information. I remember I had spent 30 minutes on the phone with this lady, and it wasn't going anywhere. And then when we got to rates, and I started telling her my rates, which are very much in line, I'm actually on the slightly lower end of professionals in this area. Her exact comment was, wow, you're just raking it in and I'm thinking Yep, I'm the pet sitter over here, just rolling in my millions. Yen in our area, and I really think it's probably like this nationwide, there are a lot of hobby sitters, and with local social media being the place where a lot of potential clients, whether they be potential good clients, or bad clients, you know, that won't be there, they'll hop on next door or they'll hop on their neighborhood Facebook page and say, you know, looking for a pet sitter, and 10 people will respond with oh, I pet said for you know, I pet said on the weekends are Oh, my daughter will do it. She'll be home from college and you know, people volunteering their teenagers, who will who will do it for $10 of visits. But you know, I try to caution people, you are very much getting what you pay for. And all of the things that set us apart as professionals, our insurance, our years of experience, our our contract all of those things that set us apart and really that muscle that we have developed over the years of thinking like risk managers, we have learned from experience, how to prevent the horror stories that we hear of. I mean, you see it all the time, especially, you know, it seems like it peaks at holidays. You know, our pet sitter and I'm saying that with air quotes, our pet sitter left the dog in the yard and he dug out and you know, there was a tragic story. Just just last week here of same thing, a hobby Pet Sitter that the dog had gotten away from and it got to the nearest highway and was killed. And it went I mean, you hear things like that all the time. So I think with a professional web sight, when people meet you, and you convey that professional presence, we don't really have to work too hard to sell our rates, all of those things, you know, being insured, and just all of those extra steps that we take to think like risk managers really set us apart.
Collin Funkhouser 55:19
I'm glad that you talked about risk managers and kind of that relationship to the holiday times. And that's when more people are traveling than ever. And so the demand is really high. So a lot of people pile into the market of without really vetting appropriately, and understanding what they are, what they what they are getting into, and kind of where their own limits are. And it's prudent upon us to as the professionals, as people who take this seriously, just continue to stick to those processes, just like we talked about. Okay, I understand. You need us over Christmas. And that's in a week, shocker. You know, this came again this year, I know. Thanksgiving. Oh, do you wrote Jessica, do you get those phone calls? People are requests. You're like, Yeah, I'm I'm I'm traveling to Thursday through Saturday of this week. And you're like, is it Thanksgiving? Are you traveling to excuse me? That's Wow, who knew anyway? But but going, this allows us to pause to be deliberate and intentional about what we're taking on, and just encouraging everybody to do that as well in their own business.
Jessica S. 56:31
Yes, yes. And I think that's one of those iron sharpens iron things where if we continue to set ourselves apart, as professionals, you know, those best clients, the ones that we are going to want year over year over year, they know our value. And it's not even an income thing, because some of my best clients are living on very modest incomes, but they love their pets. And it's important. So they budget that portion of pet care to pay for professional quality pet care. So the hobby sitters, and I'm not knocking hobby sitters, everyone starts somewhere. And I absolutely think that a great pet sitter can be born out of someone that starts doing it part time in college and figures out that they really love it. So I'm not knocking the hobby sitters. But there are a lot that, take it on with zero thoughts and can Yeah, I need to make some extra money. How hard could it be like this? This sounds easy. This sounds fun. Sure, I'll check on your dog over Christmas. And before we know it, a horror story has happened because they're just not. They're just not thinking about all those things that could go wrong. And, you know, I've told my clients, you know, I, I've told them, you know, I'm really not a pessimist. I'm just thinking of the 25 things that could go wrong here. And it's my job to prevent those. Well,
Collin Funkhouser 58:00
Jessica, I want to thank you so much for coming on the show today and talking to us about balancing these demands, how we can say no without that guilt, and send those strong boundaries without feeling like we're doing anything wrong. And that's actually really healthy for us so that we can have staying power in the industry. I know that there's an awful lot more here that goes on. So if people who want to reach out with you get connected, follow along with everything that you do. How best can they do that? fairly
Jessica S. 58:29
responsive on Facebook Messenger, just just by my name Jessica Stavros. My Instagram account is Solana prosper pet. So that is C ELINAPROSPERPE. T. And yeah, so those those two platforms are probably the easiest way to get me. Don't call because I won't answer my phone. That will go to the voicemail directing you to the website. But thank you so much for having me on. I really have enjoyed talking with you today. Jessica,
Collin Funkhouser 59:10
thank you so much for coming on the show today and talking about that. It's been a lot of fun. And I really appreciate your time today. Well, thank you very much. Your calendar will be a runaway train unless you get in front of it. What are you doing today, to set yourself up for success tomorrow, open up your calendar app on your phone, go grab the paper planner that you have on your desk or in your car. Hopefully you know where that is. Go grab that. Look at both of those and see and ask yourself, Is this how I want to be spending my time? Is this where I need to be spending my time? Yes, we recognize at the end of the day we all have to dedicate time to doing the work and the visit. That is why we got into doing this. But are you doing that work in a way that is satisfying and fulfilling? To you and the rest of your life, look at your calendar. What are you sacrificing to make it work? What are you putting off until tomorrow so that you can take care of your things today. So I'm always easy to make those decisions or those distinctions. But we must do that if we are to have balance and to be sustainable in this business. 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 much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
