473: Embracing a Changing Business with Amy Garrison
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How does a passion for pet care transform into a thriving business? Amy Garrison, owner of Oh My Dog Sitters, shares both her evolution as a business owner and her business. She takes us through the challenges she faced when she started, pivotal moments of growth, and how changes in business tactics propelled her company forward. Amy is actively working on shifting to be forward-thinking as she shares the importance of strategic planning.
Main topics:
Starting and Scaling Challenges
Building and Managing a Team
Strategic Business Adaptations
Planning for Future Growth
Main takeaway: It's not about the numbers. It's about making sure every pet we care for feels loved and every client feels understood.
About our guest:
I’ve had pets my whole life. Growing up we had several dogs, cats, rabbits & ducks, and a couple of lambs for a time. My grandparents even had a pair of pet skunks and a woodchuck! I loved horseback riding at the local stable and visiting the calves at the dairy farm. As an adult, being a military family (now retired) we were more limited, but our dogs and cats have always been a part of our family.
I have experience with the young and old ones, the well and not-so-well. In our house, we’ve dealt with allergies, auto-immune disorders, Addison’s disease, Cushings, arthritis, hip dysplasia, cancer(s), kidney disease, UTIs, surgeries, physical therapy, alternative therapies, the list goes on. I understand the level of care and gentle handling they require.
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/ohmydogsitters/
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pet, clients, dog, work, pet sitter, business, employee, visits, people, area, staff, year, care, website, walking, schedule, bottleneck, sitter, relationship, big
SPEAKERS
Collin Funkhouser, Amy G.
Collin Funkhouser 00:00
Hey. Welcome to petsitter confessional. Today, we're brought to you by time to pet and the peaceful pet music, calm music for pets YouTube channel. What's the mindset we need to have to grow and scale our business? How do we go about building and managing a team? And how do we continue to adapt to our business as it changes around us all, while keeping a focus on the love of pets and their clients? Amy Garrison owner of Oh, my dog sitters joins the show today.
Amy G. 00:33
Let's get started. I'm Amy garrison. I own all my dog sitters in Olympia, Washington. I started Oh, my dog in 2017 have with a friend of mine, actually, it kind of came about I had, I had a dog, who her back end basically gave out. This was back in 2013. And we knew that she had hip problems because she had broken her leg as a puppy. And at a year old, her hips already looked bad. And it all caught up with her when she was about 11. So we took her to We took her to hydrotherapy and she had a hydrotherapy massage, and acupuncture and laser therapy. And we recapped her and she lived for another year and a half after that. There were several times in there we really thought she was done for but she was just like, you know, when she went her back end gave out she was running through the yard with the other dog and her she just like her back end fell. And she just kept going like, I don't need those. I was like, what do you what do you do with that? Oh, no. She was always very happy. And, you know, a really good patient, and she got to where she could get up and move around on her own. And she had a good life until tomorrow, check her out. But, um, so I was there. This is where one day, she also had a tumor on her on her wrist that got larger than I expected it to. And it kind of broke open on the bottom. And so when it was healed up enough to actually put her back in the in the treadmill, we I would I kept it wrapped up all the time. So she wouldn't knock it on things and make it bleed. And as I'm wrapping her up one day, the the the person that rehab who actually became a friend of mine, she, she we just got to talk and she's like, you know, you should do like, respite care for dogs. And we ended up she actually ended up starting the business with me originally. And then situations change. And she had to have a full time job like with regular hours and pay. So she left me but all was good. But we originally started with a real lean towards senior dog care, senior pet care, special needs animals, dealing with long lists of instructions and not making people feel bad about that. Because I know when I would hire a sitter, I'd be like, Okay, well, here's my dog, and here's how you have to get her up and around. And here's the five medications that she takes, and the 10 supplements that she takes, and all of the things and I just felt bad. Like, I'm like, I'm giving you this huge list. And so when I first started for sure, you know, and I'm gonna, like, people would be having that same reaction. I was like, Oh, I've been there. I, I am very familiar with this. So if you look at my website, you'll see it still references a lot of, of that aspect of things. For now, I'm actually going to have the website redone. And because we're grown, we've grown a lot. And I have employees now and they don't all have that same background, I'm actually going to remove the medical aspect of that. And I mean, I'm not a vet tech or anything like that. It's just life experience with some very complex dogs that I've had. But so that's kind of how we started. Um, it was it was a slow start, but you know, it's just like kind of the first year was pretty quiet, and then it kind of doubled, and then it doubled again. And then there was the there was 2020. And it didn't double that year. But 2021 It came back with a vengeance and we hit six figures last year, or in 2022. We hit six figures. And then I think in 2023 we didn't we grew like there was a 41% increase between 22 and 23. Wow, I think I think between 2121 and 22 was like a 78% increase, or that was the year anyway, one of those years it was a lot. So it's been kind of just a we've just been running for like.
Collin Funkhouser 05:14
That's I mean, that's what you mentioned, like that slow start. And I know a lot of people when they start their business, that slowness is incredibly frustrating, right? Like, oh my gosh, can this just can this train get out of the station yet, and, and a lot, a lot of people, they quit, or they put it off to the side because they don't see those results. And it really is something that giving it it really is a logistics curve where it takes so long, and then it's just this rocket up, you know, how did you have those feelings of frustration in the beginning days? Or what? What was that like?
Amy G. 05:47
A little bit? Um, I'm kind of fortunate, I was in a position where I didn't have to have the income. Right. So that relieves a lot of the pressure of I have to do this, I have to take that job I have to do you know, it took away the panic that if this is a terrible idea, and it doesn't work? Well, I guess I'm just out, like, you know, the startup costs. And yeah, it was, gosh, I remember, like, in 2020, what I was doing, I, you know, because there was nothing going on, which is one, that's when I discovered the groups on Facebook. I had no, I had no idea that any of the petsitter groups were out there, any of this stuff was out there. And I don't know what made me look it up one day, but one day, I just put in the search bar, and there was like, a whole world of things opened up for me. And I think I was doing one of Kristen Morrison's courses are. Well, once you did, like a third, like the 30 day things that she was doing. Yeah, yeah. So what we started with doing some goal setting and at the time, it was, it was me, and I had an independent contractor who was pretty part time. And I was like, I want to have my goal for 2021 was 40 visits a week for for the two of us combined. That was the goal. And I'm like, man, now that it's like, nothing you know, like, we're kind of quiet right now. We had, I think, like 85 visits this week or something like that, but, and that feels slow. So it's, yeah, no change.
Collin Funkhouser 07:38
Yeah. Well, so you know, this was it sounds like this started as something I mean, was it started as something that was just kind of fun to do or see where it went? Or? Or were you did you anticipate this to grow and be your thing five
Amy G. 07:50
years, not at all six years, it was it was like kind of a part time I hadn't been working for a while voluntarily. And I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do because I did need to go back to work. But um, yeah, we just kind of we were winging it really is kind of what it boils down to. I did not anticipate what it is now. I absolutely did not anticipate that and that's one of the reasons why I'm kind of always behind the curve because it's just going and going and going and I was like, I'm still trying to get stuff done from back here. Like last year, I was supposed to I was going to have somebody redo the website last year when I'm like, Oh, it'll be slow in January and February and then it wasn't that it was twice of what it was the year before and I was like I don't even have time to sit down I haven't even sat down and figured out what I want to tell the web designer I want right and I'm not gonna hire her and just do it again. Take a guess um, yeah, so yeah, I did not I did not at all anticipate where it is now and I remember like um, you know talk of six figure businesses was like oh, that's never gonna happen that's never gonna happen. Wasn't really wasn't really a thing until it was a thing and that was like oh, well here we
Collin Funkhouser 09:20
are, I know for for us as our business has grown and I can step back every now and then and sometimes in amazement sometimes in like pure terror realize like where it is and it's it's such a weird feeling to be like, Wow, this is look at this thing that's being built the commitment from the staff the trust and love from the community. Wow, that's really scary. Like we never thought it would could could get to this point and and what no matter what that point is on your business journey, it's not like a number of revenue or number of staff. It's just a sometimes when you step back, there's this like, all in terror. Like, wow, like it's actually a big, it's doing something.
Amy G. 10:04
Well, and I still feel like I'm like, I don't I guess I don't really talk to a lot of people about specifically what happens in my business. You know, most like people back home, right and be like I, you know, I own a pet sitting dog walking business and like my husband had, so he went back to where he used to work and had lunch with some people. And they asked what I was doing, he's like, wow, she's, you know, doing pet sitting, and they're like, Oh, my God, this isn't that cute? You know? He's like, Yeah, it's a six figure business now. And they were like, Huh. Yeah, you know, and I feel like people don't really, I mean, I guess I can't blame them. I didn't really expect it to be this either. But people don't really grasp how, how it all works and what's going on with it. My it's just, you know, they know I'm busy all the time, because I'm never around when they call.
Collin Funkhouser 11:02
It is that to have of because it's something so far outside of many of our own backgrounds, right? Like, I've talked with people before about how we how our business operates and stuff and yeah, their eyes kind of get really big saucer like, and they kind of start looking around, like, is this real? And I'm like, oh, and then we do this. And we have to do this schedule. And we've got to do route planning and the number of people who are like, you're in the logistics management, like you were like, Amazon, at that point, you were like, yes, in route planning, and in staffing and knowing where man hours can go and all this stuff. And it's like, we actually you're right, like this is this is actually a really big thing. And no matter the scale at business, if you are working as a solo sitter, or if you have a team of 40 senators like it is still a complicated monster, right that we get to Apple,
Amy G. 11:49
this guy. Actually, I do use my time to pet schedule to demonstrate to people what's like, if I'm talking, I'll just pop up on my computer like this is this is what it looks like. And I like the eyes glaze over. Like, how do you even do that. And because the scheduling, the schedule really is the hardest, it is the hardest thing. But you know, on the list of hard things, the schedule is really out there. I kind of like it, though. It's like a giant puzzle. And I do get some satisfaction out of getting all the pieces into the right places. And sometimes my best laid plans just fly by the wayside because things happen and people get behind. I was like, Oh, I had this grand coordination plan and it didn't work but we adapt and go on.
Collin Funkhouser 12:41
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Doug 12:47
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Collin Funkhouser 13:07
for new pet scan software, gift time to pet a try, listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confessional. Well in that busyness to like you mentioned, you feel like you're always like working on yesterday's work today. And in that that feeling of I'm never quite caught up. There's always something extra. Is that is that motivating to you? Or because I know like for me personally, when I start to really look at the clouds and start realizing where I'm not getting to and how much work there's, I start to become I get defeated, right and I start to retract? Oh no, actually I'm not. And if I know a lot of people get energized by that. And they're like, Yeah, I'm more things to do.
Amy G. 13:47
No, I get a little overwhelmed by that. And I feel like a lot of times I'm apologizing to my staff because I'm like, I'm sorry, I haven't got that done yet. Sorry. I don't have that done yet. So I don't have that thing worked out yet. Sorry. I don't have that employee handbook actually out to you yet. Sorry. You don't have SOPs written yet. So um, you know, and that's where I that's where one of my biggest roles has been is trying to actually get the systems in place. So that they can do it without me. Yeah, that's like, I also have kind of a lack. My background. I've had various jobs. Almost all of them were very small businesses, not corporate things with structure and employee reviews. And I think I had an I think I had a job with an employee handbook once. Maybe. I don't know. Like I it just, you know, like I worked for when I many years ago, you know, I worked in food service for my first jobs. I worked at a family run ski resort for in there. I worked A family run flower shop for a long time I worked for sole proprietors sign shop, like I used to do vital sign design an application, and it was like, you know, there's like five people that work there. And then I was a realtor in Montana and Alaska. And so it's all been like, this various collection of things that I have done, but none of them have been particularly like, structured, other than you go to work. And this is what you do. You know, so I've struggled with like, how do I create policies? You know, like, what do I want the policy to be? And how do I, how do I create all these policies and the handbook and all the things and think I have it? And then then something happens? And I realized, oh, no, I have to refine that. So then I still don't get, you know, that stuff done. And the more people I bring on the more diverse backgrounds that come in, I realize where my where my instructions are lacking. And so then I'm like, Oh, I kind of fix that in there, too. Yeah. And then I had had an employee who had been practically full time, and she left in November. And so then I was, I think that's when, originally like we were, we were in contact, and I was just like, I just on boarded two part timers, and then she left and then it was like, Oh, crap. It's November. And so then I'm still out on visits. So that's also the problem, like, I need to not be doing visits, I need to create proper instruction and delegate a lot of the things that I do to my staff. And that's, that's my big, that's my thing this year, like I need to. Well, there's always one that comes up that I'm like, Oh, I'll still do that one, like we just took on we took on. So I live in the capital of Washington and its legislative session right now. And it's like, we've got some clients that are just for it. They're going to be daily visits through the session, because when they work really, really long days during the legislative session. And so like one of our one of our current clients is a blind dog. And so it's like, well, I can't just send everybody because my right now my daily staff kind of rotate. So I was like, I'm not going to send everybody in with a blind dog. Right? Like, it's a new client. It's a little sensitive as far as like, there are things that I mean, because he can, he can see light and shadows. And like sometimes if it's bright sunlight, it changes how he perceives things when we're outside. And so I'm like, I was like, Okay, well, let's just till March, I can, you know, there's two of us that will take care of this dog. to kind of keep things a little stable for him. I have to stop doing things like that.
Collin Funkhouser 18:03
It's a reflex, though, isn't it? Amy? What were like? Yeah, we're we, as we've brought on staff, and, uh, you mentioned this, and I really like when you said that I was like, right, like, diverse backgrounds, like recognizing, like Megan and I, we've been doing this for 12 years, like the things that I look at, and I go, Yeah, no problem. We can we can do that. realizing like, did I train our staff to do? Or is that my skill set? Is that my wheelhouse? Oh, okay, maybe I need to start changing this a little bit. Because I can't always we can't always be the saviors that step in and write things over. Because that's not the goal that we have for our business. And that does mean that necessity means that we are going to have to change the kind of visits and care that we give, if our goal is to not be in the field doing that work anymore. And that's, that's a struggle. Because I get we get requests, and my first Yep. Oh, I'll do that.
Amy G. 19:02
Absolutely. Yes, you have a 70 pound reactive drug. That's no big deal. I can do that.
Collin Funkhouser 19:08
And then I have to go and go, wait, wait, wait. And it's not it's not in in this discussions. Like it's not a Oh, we don't have well trained staff or that's not it's like, that's not where their strengths are, right? That's not where their history is, where their passion may be. And so working in that and going, how does this work as a team to continue to provide a high level of care, but but maybe not for everybody? And that's, that's hard for us?
Amy G. 19:35
And especially because I I used to take everybody, you know, when when we first started, there's a long time, cat only sitter. I think she's been in business since. I'm going to say maybe 2002. I haven't looked at her website a long time. But she she moved across town she skates nail down her service area a lot. And I still don't actually know how she found us may have been through her vet because we both like, we need to use the same vet. But I can't remember if I ever told the vet that I had started this business, but either way, she started referring people to me. And they were on like, the outer edges of town, you know, like, what now is our secondary service area that we still go out there, but we charge more for it now. You know, some of that were farther away some that, you know, needed more visits later in the day. And she you know, she kind of just pared down and sent a lot of people to us. Which is, was a beautiful thing, because it's really like, that's one of the ways that we first got started was referrals from another pet sitter. And I didn't even I had never met her. And I didn't even meet her. We emailed a little bit after maybe a year of people telling me that she had referred them referred them to me. And I think I met her like, two years in. And actually now we actually subbed for her so she can have days off. Yes, she's kind of the one that put me in the mindset of having a cooperative relationship with other pet sitters in the area. I've done a lot of jobs sharing, like a couple of different sitters with diabetic cats, they do the morning, I do the night, some of those kinds of things. And that's how kind of how it worked to this, where we sub for her for her days off, we have, we have an arrangement. And so well, that yeah, that's how she can ever get days off. Sometimes it's just we go take her at the cats, and she gets to stay home in your pajamas. It's a beautiful relationship. Um, you know, and there was another another local sitter back in December, sent me an email, I've met her a couple of times, and she thought she might have to have a short notice surgery, and she's like, I won't find out until December 1. And I have these books, and I don't know what I'm gonna do. And, you know, I was like, let me look and see if, you know, she kind of gave me a description, I was like, I can definitely fit this one. And I can fit that one. And I have some trouble with this one. She's like, Okay, I'm like, just let me know, if you need us to take it, we'll take it. And use, you know, just because I didn't know what I was gonna do. And, yeah, so it's been really nice. To be able to have good contact with some of the other senators, I see a lot of new people coming in. And I always like I actually started a Facebook group for a local set up for our area sitters. I do make them be insured to join them. Because I was like, you gotta have a license and insurance if you want to join this Facebook group. So a lot of them don't. And I am trying to bring them into, you know, like, I would like to get to know the new senators, it's just a little bit hard, especially when all I'm doing is running around.
Collin Funkhouser 23:07
Well, you get yet another benefit with that time back gives us because that's where we go, look, if I can do this, that makes everybody better, right and going, Look, it's not me going, Oh, I'm going to bring them in and make them do things my way it's going no, we can all talk or we can all have backups. Because that's, as you know, is a solo sitter, like that's even us who has a team, it's like, sometimes things just don't work out and you need somebody to reach out to and it's not just a oh, this person's outside my service area. Or maybe this isn't a good fit for how we operate. But it could just be, look, we need help covering something like that's, that's where that network really comes into play.
Amy G. 23:45
You know, there's an area so we we work in, in three cities in our county, because they're all right next to each other. And so our service area is still a little bit too big. One of my things I'm going to be doing soon, aside from raising rates and some new, some new, we're going to start I'm going to start charging for consultations. I'm going to start charging some cancellation fees, I'm going to start charging some late booking fees, you know, nothing extreme, but something. And I'm going to take off the two farthest out service areas from the website. We don't do a lot of them out there. And we can do cats if they're out that far. But like I won't take I won't do the dogs that are out that far. Because it just doesn't work. But there's a there's an area of town that I have had a number of requests, and it's it's like, there's a big retirement community up there. And I always feel bad. I'm like, well, we can do it. But because of where you are from where I am. It's expensive. Yeah. And so I tend to refer those to the Senator that I know lives closer. And as like, you know, I try and send them up there because I was like, I could do it and I can charge you a lot more for it and but I don't really want to do that. If you don't have to, if I can send it to a competent, licensed and insured, professional pet sitter, who lives closer to you, I'll send it along. Right. Like, we're definitely not desperate.
Collin Funkhouser 25:13
That to have going, we've had that decision so many times I'm going to, I could, I could do you, but I would need like two or three other people out there to make it really worth our time. And sure, it's gonna be extremely costly if we charge what we need to to make it worth our time. If if it's just you. So let's find you another option, because I'm really not the best one. And then we have to figure out like, Okay, I got a request, do I need to focus my my marketing and everything over there to drum up more so I can take people? Or do I need to focus over here on my service areas shrink back a little bit, so that I'm more optimized.
Amy G. 25:50
And that's, you know, it's a hard thing like we, a lot of our work is actually across town. So I live kind of, in, I don't actually live in city limits, but I'm right in between Lacey and Olympia. And a lot of our work is on the west side. And we do take clients that are farther out on the west side, because we're out on the west side all the time anyway. And so you can kind of hop from one to the other to the other. So even though, sure that's a 2025 minute drive way the heck out there. Many times we're already halfway there are three quarters of the way there. And sometimes we're right down the block already. So that kind of works. It just really, you know, and that's the direction. So more of our work is to the west. And like the place that I tried to refer out is Northeast, and I was like, we just not there enough. To make it really viable. I do have one employee who lives up there now. So I'm like, Well, maybe but I only have her for she's only I have her in the mornings on the weekdays. So I'm like, you know, if it's, it's just kind of depends on where people start out. Because we do, we do all travel all over our service area, because we're still small enough where I'm basically try to schedule people in shifts. So if you're out, I'm sending you they're usually I can send them out, loop them back around, I can start them sort of close to home and loop them back around kind of close to home, I try. Because they're not getting paid for the you know, the commute portion of the visit. And I try not to abuse that, if I can give them a stop along the way. So they're clocked in, they're getting paid mileage, you know, they're gonna be happier. You know, I'm gonna feel better about it. But, yeah, so we do we seem to be West more than we seem to be East. And so I'm more willing to take farther out ones that are on the west side, because we're already there.
Collin Funkhouser 27:52
I've we've done that to have of when we get those people that are requesting it, and they're really far away. It's like, well, I can't I have nobody else out there. So I can't take you on. But sometimes people request further out in right, we're going well, I'm kind of already halfway or three quarters of the way there so I can get you this weekend. But this can't be a consistent thing. And if we're looking as a business to have more consistency in the kind of clients that we're booking, we want we know that the client also wants consistency in who's serving them. It's like, okay, well, this, this relationship isn't gonna work.
Amy G. 28:23
Yeah. Where and I do like one of the things on my to do list, which is very long. So I am looking to take a lot of the work that I do off of my plate and put it on somebody else's. And I want their things like, I want somebody to take on an admin position, because there's things that I want to happen and they keep getting tossed by the wayside because we're just busy. And I'm like, Well, I don't have time for those nice things. So like, the priority is be where we're supposed to be take care of the animals. And sometimes the niceties get left behind and things that would really go towards building customer loyalty and some promotion like right now, I don't do any advertising. I have a website. That's yeah, our website.
Collin Funkhouser 29:12
How are you? How are you getting connected with clients is then
Amy G. 29:16
So did they find me on Google with the website and on the website, and then I tried to be very upper I do need to tweak things. And like I said, Take kind of the medical aspect of things off of there. But you know, they can see our service area they can see our pricing the pricing differences, like all the things are there. So I'm like, Please don't call me and ask me these questions because I I'm like I just want to send you a voicemail on my voicemail at this point refers you to the website because that's, that's where it's at. And we we get referrals from other pet sitters from our clients from my vet is actually a really good referral source. She actually sent me an employee to Oh, it's good to have a good relationship with your batch. Yeah. You know, like, she also like really appreciates the fact that I take care of my aunt when I go into the vet. I'm like, yes. Do the things do the blood work, we will get the medication? I say yes. Like that. And yeah, so it's basically Google and referrals. I have cards at other offices around town, we have a regional pets pet supply store, I think I still have so I haven't even gone back and like refreshed my business cards in places for I don't even know how long when I go shop at the pets. When I go to my eBay, I do look and see if my cards are still there. And if it's empty, I put some more there. And that's really like, yeah, there's right now I'm doing no actual marketing. My my business Facebook page is stagnant. I never bothered to learn Instagram. We're just going.
Collin Funkhouser 31:05
And it's, I think it's a reminder of, of focus on something, right. It's not everything. I think too often I, we business, we get caught up in like, I have to be doing everything on
Amy G. 31:19
Facebook every day all the time in like, and nobody sees it. So yeah, and
Collin Funkhouser 31:25
I've also got to be doing Facebook and Instagram and Tiktok and Twitter and LinkedIn, and I have to be running a blog and I have to be boast boosting these things and running this ad in and going into talking to people and and and and and and just stopping and going, what do I have time for and what's what's actually paying off? Fostering that relationship with that vet, continue to go that way? Right. Like that's if that's working, we're going to double down on that every single time. And, and, and build those relationships to with those
Amy G. 31:55
referrals. My when I get all my stuff together. What so I did also start a dog walking club back in the was at 2020 or 2021, when when Tracy Besson had had the masterclass on that I was part of that I love and I actually did. I have picked up clients from that. And then also that client referred me to other people, I would really, really like to get that functioning again, it kind of went by the wayside. Because I started it and then my dog died. I was like, Well, I can come to the dog walking club, and I have no dog. And then I got another dog. And that was the so the both of those dogs were senior yellow labs when I adopted them. And my second senior lab, she couldn't walk very far. So that kind of worked for a while and till it didn't. And then we adopted a younger dog, my foster fail in 2022. And I was like, you know, she could go but she was afraid of everybody for the first year. I think the last I think the last plug walk I did, my dog refused to walk because she was scared of the giant Malamute puppy. And she wouldn't move. She just was like she froze and was like I couldn't get I couldn't, I couldn't get her to go anywhere. And I was like, Well, this is a problem. She's much better now. Now she would she would go but I haven't had time to actually resurrect the club. But I think that my first marketing things when I get through my list a little bit or need to do the things, I would really like to get the dog walking club going. And also, I want to start a client referral program. Because I haven't done that either. And, but those I think will be the first steps to a more no to doing some marketing.
Collin Funkhouser 34:03
You know, the dog walking club, what are some basics for that? Because I know that something that I've heard a lot of people like mention or like say how to do it, but like how are you approaching that and making that work for you? You know, or like what are your thoughts of when you when you bring that back?
Amy G. 34:17
So what I feel like I need to do, consistency was a problem with that. And then trying to like when I would have time. When I started it, we weren't all that busy. And then like I said, my dog died and I didn't have a dog and it's kind of weird when you show up and it's very it was very small. We'd get like two or three people who would come and I'm like here I'm here and I have no dog that's weird. But I feel like if I so it's a Facebook group. Um I do also have a well, I don't think I actually have the website I have the URL reserved. I bought that. It's called it's only Dog Adventures is my dog walking club. And so it's a Facebook group. I think there's probably 300 people in there, not that there. And that there's any activity or, you know, by no means would there be 300 people and like, we were lucky to get five people to show up. But I also wasn't doing it on a very consistent basis, once we kind of got rolling, because then in, like I said, in 2020, we're like about June of 2021. We just got hammered busy. And every time I think, Okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna schedule a walk, and we're gonna do this thing. And I was like, I'm so tired. I was like, I have like a three hour window in that day, and I think I'm going to stay home. What I would really like to be able to do is have one of my staff members manage the Facebook page, and actually engage with the club. And because what I envision it to be as a good way for people to get to know us, and to get to know our staff, and to get to see how we interact with dogs, without having to book us first. And, you know, for those that are like, well, I don't know, like, I'm not really sure about a pet sitter, I'm not really sure about a dog walker, like having a stranger come to my house. You know, I feel like it's a good way for people to get to know us with no real commitment, right, like, and actually the client that I definitely did acquire from the dog walking club. I think I must have still had my lab then. And she she was the only one who came on this walk. So we had a nice chat. And she was trying to get somebody to come over Thanksgiving. And I actually had some availabilities. So she's, you know, been a client for a couple of years now. Yeah. Yeah. So I think it's a really good, that has a lot of potential for for client acquisition, frankly,
Collin Funkhouser 36:57
just again, building those relationships. And I love that goal to build that trust and let people see you, because that's something of going and how do we communicate what we do unless they book us, but they're not going to book us unless they know what we do. And so it's like this chicken and egg problem, and we're just going to circumvent that entire thing and go, you want to see us in action? Or they basically like, yeah, do you want to walk your dog with a group of people? Cool. You're also going to see how we do that and get to know people relationally Yes, with her
Amy G. 37:24
with the masterclass she also had ways to it could be an income producing option on the back end of that, but I didn't never, I didn't ever do any of that parts. Really, we just got as far as you know, getting the group set up. We went in like, it's also part of the purpose of the dog walking club is to get to know, good and there's a lot of nice outdoor areas here. I mean, I live in the Pacific Northwest. It's gorgeous out there. You can walk on trails in the woods, but if you're by yourself, and you don't know where those trails go, it's a little intimidating.
Collin Funkhouser 38:08
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Amy G. 39:34
Um, for sure. Last year. I think actually it was one of the podcasts with Natasha I can't remember her last name right now but yeah, I'm pretty positive. It was it was something she had said where when when you hire employees and you're like nobody can do this as well as I can. And reality your employees can kind of do it better than you can, because they don't have the 50 other things running through their brain having to deal with other things going on, they can go in, they can do the visit, they can do the work, and they can go. Whereas I go, I'm like, oh, that's one of my employees, I have to check this, I have to do that I have to keep track of all the things I'm like, in reality, they kind of can't do it better than me. And that was kind of a mindset shift. You know, she kind of planted that seed of, well, you know, maybe I should think about things a little bit. But it's what I realized is like, oh, because everything waits on me, the clients, cuz it's really when clients were contacting me, and I was so busy, like, I know, it's awful. And I feel like the, the, the New Client Onboarding is terrible. Like, people wait sometimes days for me to get back to them, because I'm like, I just can't do it. Because I'm here. And I'm here. And I'm here. And I've got this, and I've got to get the schedule. And I've got payroll done. I'm like, well, I'll call you back. Someday. And that's what it's really been like, for many months of like, my, my New Client Onboarding is terrible. And we still grew 41%. over last year, yeah. I'm like, this, this, this area clearly has a need. And there's so much potential for this business, if I can get the systems in place to make it run. And that's that, but basically, I am I realized last year that I'm the bottleneck, I'm the one that has the client, the new contract client, the new client contacts, I'm the one that does the meet and greets. I'm the one who's doing the schedule eight, I'm doing keeping track of you know, when there's a problem in the field, like my employee just called me because there was a problem. And I'm like, It's all me. And I'm exhausted.
Collin Funkhouser 42:09
Well, and, and like you said, like, oh, like, there's so much potential here. And, and as our is my business growing because of me, or kind of like, in spite of me, like. And that's not a good feeling. But but sometimes we have to admit that I'm going like, Oh, if I weren't the one doing this, we'd be in a better position. Or if I wasn't the only one doing this, the company would be better off. And that takes that takes a definite. You said mindset shift, I'm going to say a little bit of humility, as well, because we're not done. I'm not the be all end all of this thread, and just letting go of some things and going this if unless I do this, because as I also think of it, like, do I want 10 more years of working like this doing this does that? That's like, No, I would not want to do this. Out How Yeah, like in a couple of months, you're working through them. You're like, now how do I steer this in a different direction? Yep.
Amy G. 43:07
And so I actually wrote out the other day, I'm like, Okay, I'm trying to line out. Well, I'm also proud of Jane DeVos. Button, next pet biz MBA. Yeah, I don't participate a lot. But I am able to get the information through the podcasts as I'm driving around, I really need to stop doing this. If so, I'm working on an org chart. And some, some positions, some more responsibility for some of my employees, I've got a couple of people who are interested in taking on more responsibility, even though I don't have them, you know, for a lot of hours, they are definitely willing to do more things for me, I do have like, all of my staff is very good. In there. Like, you know, we'll take it, you know, they try to make things easier for me, it's, it's me, the problem is me. I joke sometimes when I'm walking chaos, but you know, what the the place that we really, truly excel is in the pet care. And like, our clients love us, we went sick and get through the onboarding process and actually get us. They love us. And we we have very good employees who, yeah, they do a great job. And if I can, I need to do things that will make their jobs easier. So one of the things like I'm looking at creating like a field manager, having somebody also having somebody who specifically does them admin tasks, who will be the new client contact and be like, This is how we screen clients. This is how, you know, basically to get through the new client stuff and then send them over to the field manager to go do meet and greets. Also the admin person to like Keep things caught up in time to pet because that's another problem where like, the there's changes to the care information and things have to be changed in the profile. And it's like, oh, yeah, I got to do that too. Because that's me. I did the meet and greets, I did I know with a weird thing that didn't get put onto the profile. I'm like, Oh, I've known this dog for six years, right? Like I can, you don't know what weird thing the dog is doing? I can probably figure it out. You know? And, yeah, so there's a lot of that. Still, while like, a lot of the back end, things are kind of, they're very messy. The, the pet care is where we excel. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 45:43
and finding those, if you have staff that are existing, take that to them. And going, Hey, here's some responsibilities. Because I know it's very overwhelming when you start being like, oh, I need a field manager and Operations Manager, I need to do, it's like, oh, that's like 17 people, I need to just suddenly hire I guess, as I go talk to some people that are already with your company first, and add them and see what they want to take on. And just like that little bit, little bit, and that's you just take or just take little chunks, and all of a sudden, we can look up and go, Okay, now that actually feels that's actually a physical difference that I feel in my day, with six people are doing one or two things. Like that's huge.
Amy G. 46:25
Like, I had a chat with one of my employees last week, about we were at we were talking a couple weeks ago, and she she did say, you know, she would love to to take on some more on the some of what I do. And you know, she says, like, I do have management experience. And so we had a talk on, like, tell me what that means. And tell me what, you know what it is that you did in this position? Before so it's kind of like, in that conversation, it came out. And she's like, I love to do that. I love to train, you know, I love to teach people how to do things. And like she would love to train new employees. I'm like, Yes, it's good. Cuz that's also me.
Collin Funkhouser 47:14
Yeah, it is. Because then now you have an employee who's more invested. Right? Who feels growth and feels potential, the company who feels more responsibilities, who's taken
Amy G. 47:23
many times she's like, I love my job. You know? Yeah. And your people? Yeah, definitely. So I need to I need to utilize, I need to utilize the people that I have. And then also, like, I am hiring right now. We're, we didn't want to interview yesterday, have a couple more this weekend. You know, like one of those people, I looked at a resume, I was like, Ooh, you might also be good for tech, put a little admin work on to, you know, based on some of her work history, and I'm like, a psycho. So maybe I'll do that. And that, and I'm just kind of like lining it out in my head. But I'm like I have to, because my goal is to move and run my business from across the country. I have to not be the go to person, I have to not be the backup sitter, I have to not be the only one that can see this dog or this cat or whatever, right? I can't be that person. Um, so that's, that's my real motivation is that I'm trying to move back to brunch. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 48:30
well, and that's, you mentioned that thing of like, oh, this information isn't in time to pet but I just know it. So that's fine. It's like, I mean, just the other day, I mean, I'm training a new staff member, and he stepped out of the car, and he has all of his gear, and he starts bringing in his leash, and I look at him and in my head, I'm going, Oh, you don't need that leash. But in my head, I'm going, he doesn't know that. He doesn't know he doesn't need how does he the only way he knows that it's because he reviewed the information and didn't see anything about there. So he assumed I'm not gonna get mad, I'm gonna go make another flag from time to pet now at a SIG leash needed or at least not needed. So people know, and going foundational stuff about the pet care and recognize that there's so much institutional knowledge in the company, whether that's for your existing staff or just you and that has to be externalized somewhere, it's got to be otherwise it's kind of pointless to have it in any one person because if they leave, something happens, that you know that that information stops. Amy, I want to thank you so much for your time today. How can people get connected with you and follow along with everything that you're doing? Um, probably the fat low
Amy G. 49:34
I'm a little hard to get ahold of I hear but you can call it's 360-216-5681 which is also on my website, which is on my dog sitters.com That's probably the best way and I'm there's an email link on there as well.
Collin Funkhouser 49:53
I want to thank you for walking us through that and encouraging us to step outside of ourselves and think bigger and trust others to make that happen. And so thank you so much for your time today, Amy, I really, really appreciate it.
Amy G. 50:04
Thank you.
Collin Funkhouser 50:05
How do we know we're the bottleneck in our business? Well, when everything weights on us, when we keep having to apologize to people for not getting that thing that they asked us to do, and this includes the impacts that it has on our personal lives as well, I'm, I'm sorry, I missed that lunch again, I'm sorry, I couldn't get on that phone call. I'm sorry, I didn't get that email back to you. When we recognize that we cannot do it all the it all for everybody. Then we can look to making big changes. And whatever that looks. It's not always hiring. Sometimes it's in saying no to those clients. Sometimes it's in hiring that CPA, that tax accountant, whatever that looks like. Recognize and spend time identifying where you are the bottleneck in your business, and what changes you need to make to make a difference. We want to thank today's sponsors tied to that and the peaceful pet music, calm music for pets on youtube channel for making today's show possible. And we really want to thank you for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. We'll be back again soon.
