475: Creating a Business to Prioritize Yourself with Shannon Hendon
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How can you navigate the twists and turns of life through fostering community? Shannon Hendon, founder of Ocala Pet Sitting, takes us through her 18-year saga of transforming challenges into opportunities. From altering her career path away from vet school to implementing cool new services like kitty cam rentals, Shannon's story is a masterclass in adaptability and passion. She also discusses the power of community, the evolution of her business model as she adapted to personal challenges, and her dedication to setting new standards in the pet care industry.
Main topics:
Getting to create things
Making serious changes
Building relationships
Luxury services
Main takeaway: You really have to draw a line for yourself and teach people how to treat you, especially when going through a crisis.
Meet our guest:
Growing up in rural South Florida (Homestead), Shannon always had a mix of pets, including dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, lizards, snakes, mice, hermit crabs, ferrets, stray turtles that wandered into the yard, and a paint horse named Kona. She gives special thanks to her Mom for nourishing her Snow White-inspired upbringing.
In 1995, Shannon and her husband Jamie moved to beautiful Ocala to raise their four children. Ocala quickly became their hometown, and they now have seven grandchildren!
Shannon, the owner and founder of Ocala Pet Sitting, had a strong desire to work with animals. In late 2005, a friend suggested she start a pet sitting business, and Ocala Pet Sitting was born.
In her extensive tenure in the pet care industry, Shannon has diligently pursued continuous education to elevate her expertise. She feels honored to serve as North Central Florida's Regional Director on the board of directors for the Florida Pet Services Association, actively contributing as a volunteer on both the education and philanthropy committees.
Shannon's commitment to excellence is reflected in her many certifications, including Fear Free Certification, Certified Professional Pet Sitter (CPPS) Certification through PSI, and the vital Pet CPR & First Aid Certification.
Fast forward 17 years, hundreds of clients, and thousands of visits later, Shannon is more passionate than ever about providing the best pet care possible for Ocala residents and has become a mentor to other professional pet sitters. Her expertise, coupled with her love for all creatures, ensures that your beloved pets receive top-notch care and attention while you're away.
Links:
https://www.ocalapetsitting.com
https://www.instagram.com/ocalapetsitting/
https://www.facebook.com/ocalapetsitting
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, pet, cat, business, people, work, love, started, pet sitters, change, network, service, litter box, shannon, years, day, husband, community, meet, gift
SPEAKERS
Collin Funkhouser, Shannon Hendon
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 really mean to make a business our own? How do we adapt it and shape it and mold it to prioritize ourselves? Today we're really excited to have Shannon Hendon, founder of Ocala petsitting. On the show, she shares how some very serious challenges to her personal life, made her take a second look at her business and begin shaping it so that it served her as opposed to the other way around. She also encourages us to dive into our local community to start forging relationships to help make everybody better. Let's get started. Hi, Colin, thank
Shannon Hendon 00:45
you so much for having me today. I'm excited to speak with you. Yeah, so my business is Ocala pet setting have been in business 18 years now, this year, and Ocala is in North Central Florida. We specialize in cat sitting and midday dog walking. And I'm also the Regional Director for fpsa, the Florida Pet Services Association, which is somewhat of a newer Association, and I'm so excited to be a part of it. I am on the education and philanthropy committee. And I'm really passionate about learning from others and networking and making connections. So that's pretty much me, it's
Collin Funkhouser 01:25
pretty much just been in business for 18 years and doing all sorts of things. So in business for coming out, you know, 18 years now, what what got you started initially.
01:38
So I was
Shannon Hendon 01:39
one of those going to vet school, I had four young kids, I was in vet, school pre vet. And it came down to the year that I had to make the decision of applying for vet school. And I had some life things with my kids becoming teenagers and some health things where I decided not to apply. And I was really kind of depressed about it for a bit and someone out of the blue suggested to me, you now you can still work with animals, right? I see these people out here like walking dogs and stuff. And it just like it just switched on for me, I ran to the library at that time, I wasn't really on the internet much. I got Patti Moran's book at setting for profit. And I read it in a day had a website the next day, and I was like started and I just immediately was passionate about it. I did not think I'd still be doing all this time. I don't know if I really thought about the future of it. I just knew I was excited to work with animals. But
Collin Funkhouser 02:50
I'm here still doing it. And I still love it. What was it about that book, maybe that that triggered that into you to make you think it was it was possible and that you could jump in like that?
Shannon Hendon 03:01
I was like most of the public, you know, really unaware that it was even a thing that it was an actual profession. I also have already always been like an entrepreneur at heart. So for me, that was like, Yes, I can do this. i Yeah, immediately. Everything she said in her book resonated with me. And I knew that's what I wanted to do.
Collin Funkhouser 03:31
Yeah, there becomes part of us where we find that and all of a sudden, we realize, I think just like you mentioned, this is possible, right? This is doable? And then we get to figure out, how do we do that? And what part of us do we get to pour into this? And grow from there? So did you? What did you latch on to immediately? Was it the pet care? Was it the meeting the people? Or was it you know, I know a lot of people really, really do like the business side of things. I personally would rather not have to do those. But you know, what aspect you know, or has that changed for you over the years to it has changed
Shannon Hendon 04:08
in and like you said, it's been really a journey, figuring that out, and it changes as my life changes, right? But the main core thing I think is I love being an entrepreneur I have like this free spirit, or free spirit and creativity, that I get to create different things in my business. And you know, there's I'm not constrained by others. And, you know, in the past few years, I thought it was all about working with the animals which I'm absolutely love. But I realized that this business really fulfills my like deep desire to help people. And when I have clients, especially my seeing your clients, who their parents are very senior, and they have you know, to run away for an emergency and they're already established. They are so We're thankful when we come in and can help, you know, relieve their anxiety of leaving their cat or what have you. And I realized that that's what does it for me, I love being able to help them. And in this way, and by me helping them, I'm also helping myself, because I get to care for the animals, which is just like, the biggest cherry on top ever. So yeah, that's, it's my favorite. I love helping people.
Collin Funkhouser 05:31
It is, it is, in that sense. Such a simple act of, you know, I'll take care of it right now you you go take care of your mom or your dad who fell or the health emergencies you're having, don't worry, it sounds so easy. And we'll take care of the rest. But we all know the mins hard work, the passion, the dedication it takes to actually pull that off. But it starts simple have no, I can take this burden from you. And you don't have to think about this. And we've we've had those those clients to have said, Man, I don't know what I would have done without you guys, because I had to leave like I, I booked you I was on the plane to get to the to the emergency. And if I didn't have that I either wouldn't have left or I would just have to leave them inside. And it's, we don't think about that from the inside a lot of times of oh, we're coming over to take care of pets, but the burden it relieves people of is absolutely immense.
Shannon Hendon 06:29
Yeah, and when you know, I was younger and started this, I hadn't had those personal emergency experiences myself to even know that was a need out there for people. And now that I'm older and have had more, you know, personal and, you know, emergencies in life, I can see it from the other side. But I didn't know at the time, and it's developed, you know, this awareness for myself that I'm really helping people in this way. And I really have the chills about it because it is so simple, but it's such a huge gift that we can give people
Collin Funkhouser 07:09
it is and you mentioned the deal, as we get a similar experience of our own, we can connect a bit deeper with these, with these feelings with these emotions with these needs. As they as they come up, what kinds of things have happened, maybe for you that over the past 1820 years that have made that more relevant
07:27
for you each day. Sure,
Shannon Hendon 07:29
so I talk about this quite a bit in my with other pet sitters, because it's kind of the thing is we never think something's going to happen to us. And eight years ago, I became very sick, and I kept pet sitting through it, of course, you know, I'm dedicated, I'm going to show up, you know, no matter what, I didn't have a team, I was so low. It developed into a life, you know, crisis where I was dying, and I had a lung surgery to remove a major part of my lungs. And I barely lived through that. Meanwhile, my daughter was in her early 20s At the time, and she did help with my business. But It dwindled down as I recovered, my recovery was quite long as well over a year. So when I started thinking about what, what do I want to come back from this, and how do I want my business to, you know, grow from here? Or do I want to keep my business, I really started thinking about what that meant for me. And it really, you know, almost dying, like really changes your outlook on life. And also, of course, my business. So at that time, I decided, Okay, I'm gonna do this, and I'm going to have a team and I'm going to have support, I didn't have really a lot of support other than my daughter. But when I got better, she decided to move. So it was all on me again. And I said, I'm going to do this and and that's really when I joined Facebook groups and things and started learning other ways to run this type of business. And it really, you know, Blossom and open my mind to it and started networking and finding ways that I could support myself but also support my clients. If I had another crisis, you know, it really put it in my face, also. So, you know, I developed that team, and that was wonderful. And then about five years after that, a few years ago, my husband had a major stroke and I had to be taken away you know from my business and that team model I had set up like it worked it supported me it was amazing. Um, but through his now disability can't work anymore. It's really changed my priorities for the business because now here I'm you know, the sole breadwinner No. And it's not just, you know, fun or support anymore, it's on me. And even though my team and my network and everyone were really supportive, you know, on the business side, then I learned that I really needed to prioritize myself and my own health. And, you know, my own mental health going through all of that. Because here I was, came back from my own health crisis, we're going strong, and then it happened to my husband. So now we have to rewrite it again, what am I going to do, you know, I need to be around more, I can't do, you know, late nights and super early mornings anymore, and how much work I'm putting into all this. So that's when I really started out of selfish need developing a stronger network of other professionals around me just to support me, I guess, emotionally, but also, what they gave me was so much more. And they really I say, like, they really saved my life at that time, and got me through some really hard times in my life and my business. Yes, sorry, to cut all that out, it is a lot I realized.
Collin Funkhouser 11:30
I mean, it especially you know, what, when you start off talking about where you were seven, eight years ago, of, I've got to do this, I'm just gonna bust through, I'm gonna make this I always show up it all. It's all on me. And that is such a mindset that we we all have, like, we all will say at some point, their pets, their living things, we have to show up, that we put that on ourselves and the strain that we go through the torment that we take ourselves through every process. And we think, Well, this is fine. This is fine. until it's not. And and if we have never thought about the fact that it might not be okay, one day, we'll be left in the lurch. Right. And, and we'll be left going, Oh, I didn't think it was possible. And like you said, like, oh, well, you kind of have that experience one time of, and it could be anything, I mean, for you having a huge portion of your lung removed. Like, that's, I don't know, how you came back from that, knowing that you had the kind of work on the other side to go into.
12:34
Yeah, and, you know,
Shannon Hendon 12:36
thankfully, I mean, and I have wonderful husband family that, you know, got me through that in itself. And it was beautiful life changing, you know, experience at this point, you know, I can say, and my clients that, you know, stuck with me, they were so wonderful, and they still check on me. But it did also create new criteria would say, for my business, you know, the lung thing, like I can't go into, you know, certain situations where there's too much ammonia from cat litter, like, you know, there has to be a cleaner situation, you know, so I had to kind of change my business model really, around my prayer, my needs and my family's needs.
Collin Funkhouser 13:21
Yeah. Well, and, you know, that, that that prioritization of of what do I need to do? And you mentioned that a couple of times, like, what am I priorities? How am I doing this? Why I, you know, you're there have to ever suffering this the surgery, you know, and you said, you had to decide whether you want it to come back or what you wanted to come back to? What was it that made you decide, okay, no, I still want to move forward with this. Because honestly, if I, I don't know, if I would have made that decision, and I probably would have been like, well, nine to five back to me, because this is too much.
Shannon Hendon 13:55
Yeah, I mean, and I did consider it and I will say that, you know, before that even I did have other jobs and try other jobs. You know, I'm, I'm a little bit of a scientist at heart and I worked in a lab and, you know, I did all these other jobs and tried other careers. And I just keep coming back to AD setting and my client, the love of my clients and the love of working with the animals, you know, even the tough cases, you know, I, I just love it that much that I I've tried to give it up and I can't, like it's just in me, I just am a pet sitter, like for life, I guess. And even after the pandemic, after going through all that, I was like, well, am I gonna have to try a nine to five and I'm like, this is like, I can't even fathom it. Like, I can't, I can't do it. In even if I don't pets it, I will work in the pet sitting industry in some way. Like it's just an me now. And I just, I love everybody I need. You know, I love my clients, like truly, some of them are just they're so wonderful.
15:09
So that's me.
Collin Funkhouser 15:14
You mentioned how your own personal health scare made you develop a team started doing that. And you mentioned that also when your husband had his health issues and is now a disability that changed, I guess was that? Is that how you change? Do you view how you viewed your business? Or the seriousness that you took it? Or what what kind of changes did you make after? After going through that?
Shannon Hendon 15:38
I realized that, um, well, him and I are both getting older. And you know, we're not old yet. But you know, I'm slowing down a little bit, Colin, and you know, all these, you know, 20, you know, 1815 12, it's at today, I can't do it anymore. You know, and I, you know, with going to some conferences and stuff and talking to other pet sitters, and hearing the other changes people made after the pandemic, I really realized that, you know, the vacation pet sitting side of my business, was really wearing me down, and I wasn't loving it anymore. And I, at the same time, in the past, you know, since I came back, really, from my surgery, became more and more in love with the cat setting side of my service. But I didn't really I didn't have the confidence or think that it was possible to have a cat only business, until I really heard from other business owners that were doing it, and how, and then I had that other moment, like, okay, I can do this, like, you know, it might be a little rough transition at first, but so, I just wanted a business that would make me happy and excited to go wake up every morning and do it again. And you know, after a long time, it some things do get dull, you know. So, you know, but also the ability to network with others also gave me the confidence that I could start a cat only business or specializing in cats, because I have all these other wonderful, you know, dog sitters in my network that I can refer to, and, you know, through mentoring with them and everything. I have such trust in them and their experience with the dogs that, you know, I was able to have the competence to make that change in my business.
Collin Funkhouser 17:37
Yeah, that is, you know, that's, that's a change that I know, a lot of people are really looking at and asking Is that for me? Can I do that? And it's scary. I mean, the vacation visits, that's what a lot, you know, I don't know, majority, whatever. But a lot of people do the three days, the four days for two, three weeks at a time. And it is, I don't think again, like the weird thing is part of our industry. Like, I don't think people really realize just how grueling that actually is, and how unrelenting it is on in the drain that it takes on us. And the toll it takes on staff of no 6am. Always 6am You know, always 930 at night. So whatever, whatever schedule we set, like it is a lot to do. And we have to decide, we get to decide it gets back to that creativity, that you start talking about the beginning standard, like why do you do this? Because you get to be creative, you have to go? Is that for me? Okay, if it's not, it's first off, we have to know it's okay to ask that question. It's safe to ask that question. And many times we fear that because we're kind of worried what we're actually going to answer, but just right, it's like, oh, no, I'm
18:44
actually not want this, but I feel dedicated to them. Then
Collin Funkhouser 18:48
we get to go. How would I do that? And so when you when you made that transition, Shannon, I mean, reaching out to clients, explain it to people, you know, how much time did that process take? Really,
Shannon Hendon 19:02
I mean, it took a while. But what I noticed was I was probably two years before I, you know, made the official announcement job that changed everything. I was naturally starting to say no to more and more vacation clients and becoming more restrictive, on you know, their location or how difficult they were, you know, I was naturally tired from, you know, having to, you know, be a caretaker for my husband and stuff. So, I was naturally kind of saying more yes to these cat clients. And I had it in the back of my mind, sort of, but the actual transition when I finally made the decision, I'm doing this, like my husband was terrified. He told me he's like, I don't know if you should be doing this. You know, initially my vacation was probably 90% or more of my business was just vacation and clients. And but by the time I naturally started, you know, some clients moved away The Vacationers and I started saying more yes to the cats, I was more closer to maybe 6040 You know, 60% vacation 40% cats. So that was still kind of a jump. But I also created, you know, some new services, some higher end services to support that I did, you know, quite a few things that would help me manage the jump, I kept a few vacationers that were, you know, my favorites. And so I didn't 100% cut them off. I kind of weaned them down, you know, you know your criteria, who's your favorites? And so, I did that for a while, and I still have one or two, you know, that I'd love to do. But it's not the daily grueling grind. Like it used to be. Yeah. So yeah, and I love it. And also, you know, the cats sitting business side of the business, it's so much easier to staff and train staff, like, you know, cat sitting is not easier by any means. But the time schedules and working with cats is easier. You know, on the business end.
Collin Funkhouser 21:19
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21:25
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Collin Funkhouser 21:45
you're looking for new pet sitting software, give time to put a try. Listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting hunted pet.com/confessional. And that's again, like when you said like, Well, I was already kind of naturally saying no to these things. Like that's a great sign like if you whoever listening going, oh, yeah, I'm I noticed I'm getting a lot of calls for things and I'm not moving them through my process. Like I'm not moving them on rate sign. Maybe, maybe, maybe you need to take a step back and re re see what your priorities are actually today. Because if we haven't taken the time to do that self assessment, sometimes we were like, huh, yeah, okay. Well, I've actually kind of already done this transition, because I was saying no to people for a while. Yeah,
Shannon Hendon 22:31
it's so funny because like, you know, we we we really know the answer. Like you said, if you ask yourself, you don't want to know, like, it wasn't, it's not just like a moment, where, you know, one of my mentors or someone said, she had a really write down, what do you want to do? You know, I was like, Well, I can tell you what I don't want to do anymore. Like, you can feel that in yourself.
Collin Funkhouser 22:55
Oh, yeah. Ya know, it trusting yourself to and really going no, like this, I really need to listen to this part of me. Because too often we don't, and we end up 510 years down the road with with this regret, and with this frustration, or with this anger, because we allowed our clients, our community to dictate to us how what we were supposed to do. And then we're sitting there running a business and doing this thing that we have no passion for. And we go, I'm out. I can't do this. I'm not here, instead of going. No, I still have passion. It's it's buried somewhere in there. How do I how do I take that back out?
Shannon Hendon 23:38
Yeah, you know, that really hits me, because I have over the years met quite a few, you know, new pet sitters, who don't last a year or two? And I do think some of it is that, you know, of course, you know, they may not realize, you know, how hard it was when they started, but at the same time, they did get into this for a reason. So maybe, you know, they didn't listen to that, you know, and adapt and find ways to adapt,
24:09
you know? Yeah, I
Collin Funkhouser 24:11
mean, we hear a lot from people who are getting started have, you know, frustrations with clients, frustrations, with expectations, frustrations with the demands placed on them or these things, and kind of pulling them off to the side and going, you know, you can say no to that, right? Like, you don't have to that person sounds an absolute horrible force to work with. You don't have to like it's okay. Yeah, you know, so many times. I mean, I think over the last decade or so, when Megan and I were just starting out of going, oh my gosh, if somebody would have just pulled us aside going, you don't have to be treated this way. Like you don't, it's okay. How much more we would we have progressed or like grown as individuals, instead of our lives again, being dictated by people who are going to offer us money, and that's going oh, I guess that's what I have to do. Okay. Sure. Okay, and then just kind of be been taken for a ride? Yeah.
Shannon Hendon 25:02
You know, am I it's so funny because my husband worked for many years and another service industry completely different from pets, you know? And he would always, he never had the choice to say no. And so I did kind of hear that from him, you know, nightly telling me about his day, and he had wonderful people that he met, but he also had, you know, very challenging ones. And he would, but he would always say to me and be able to, like, how could you say no to that? Like, like, he just wouldn't get it? And I was like, Well, why am I an entrepreneur? Doing
Collin Funkhouser 25:37
this for myself?
Shannon Hendon 25:40
Say, why would I say yes to something that, you know, because I'm the owner, I have the choice. I have it within me. And it's not worth it. And especially when you go through, you know, life changing type crisis, you really realize that it's just not worth it. At the end of the day, no amount of money is worth someone treating you that way. Your happiness, like, yes, we have to pay the bills. But you really have to draw the line, you know, for yourself. And, you know, teach people how to treat you really, you know, very first thing incoming if they call and leave me a nasty voicemail. I just had one this week, like, No, I don't have to work for you. It goes both ways, right?
Collin Funkhouser 26:27
It does. It does. And knowing those signs of, well, this person contacted me two months ago asking for my services. It here's what we get a lot. I'll just my example. We get people last two months, you know, two months ago, they contacted us. And then radio silence. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, three days before they travel, they pop up. And now they're demanding. Well, I need a schedule that meet and greet. And you need to send me those forms. And you're just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, like, that's not Oh, any of this. I haven't even decided if we want to work with you yet.
Shannon Hendon 27:03
Yeah, I had one the other day, it's just this, I don't even have time for your forms or your your things or your app or whatever you have, I don't have time for it. I just need you right now. Like, I'm so sorry, you're having an emergency. But it doesn't work that way for us.
Collin Funkhouser 27:21
And you know, that we do have to balance sometimes. And we've gotten feedback from some people who've said, I think you'd be a whole lot more successful, if you didn't have all these hoops to jump jump through. I said, Well, these hoops are, you know, to not have working with you. But I didn't say that out loud. But let's say we do have to make sure that our what we have is reasonable. And we're not asking the moon of people and we have expectations set appropriately. But that onboarding process is so key for them, us to get to know their expectations, and then get to know how we operate. And that reciprocal aspect is so often overlooked of, of asking yourself, at the end of by the time I'm conducting a service, does the client know what to expect from me? And how I want to be treated? And just asking and going if they don't? How do I make that happen? Right. And,
Shannon Hendon 28:09
you know, when I when I realized that was really what a contract or agreement is really doing? It's setting up those expectations, you know, not just financially but all the ways that we interact with one another? How do we communicate, you know, what is the best? What is going to happen when you have an emergency or I have an emergency? You know, and really I find my clients especially they read my agreement thoroughly. I have a lot of senior clients and they love it. And and they love knowing that it's so thorough, and I say I'm sorry, it's kind of like buying a car like there's this long agreement here. Okay. But my ideal client loves that they love that we're thorough, and we've thought of everything, you know?
Collin Funkhouser 28:59
Yeah, I know we have we have ours sign it at the very kind of beginning of everything as they're coming in. And we've, again, we've had questions from that as well. I've never signed an agreement before it has done service. It's like, well, this is my this is actually kind of like my Terms of Service, my user agreement, if you want to think of it that way of by operating with us you agree and to abide by the standards. And we want to make sure that you know those expectations because I honestly don't want you to be a client if you're not okay with my cancellation policy. And I don't want you to be a client if you're not okay with my XYZ policies, you need to know what you're getting into because we are going to hold you to this and we want to be fully transparent with that and just going here's everything you will need to know to work with us. If you're not okay with us with this. We're probably not going to be a good fit for you.
Shannon Hendon 29:50
Yeah, we do the same thing now to you know, they, they get a chance to review that, you know, before we even move forward, you know, with any meeting I used to back in the day, you know Before software, bring the paper thing and I, you know, it was a lot of time wasted, I feel like you know, and not in a bad way anything negative if they didn't want to choose those, but it's nice to know upfront, you know, how things are gonna go and how is our relationship going to be because this really is about relationships.
Collin Funkhouser 30:23
And reminding, at the end of the day, it is a business relationship to, if there are boundaries that we need to have, we care we love deeply every single pet that we care for, that we take care of, and their clients as an extension of that, to have business policies for a reason to protect us and to protect our staff. And it is important to have those outlined so that, again, everybody's on the same page, because you're right, you don't want to be in a meet and greet, or even after the fact that somebody's not okay with something or, you know, questioning these things. It's like, we just want all that out in the open right up front, so that that relationship can be off on a good start.
31:00
Yeah, and I
Shannon Hendon 31:02
feel that's what makes our industry so special is that we, you know, we have the business side of it, and these policies and stuff, but at the same time, it's such a personal thing we're doing caring for people's, you know, beloved babies, like, you know, they intensely love their animals, of course we do. So it's so, so much different than, you know, standards will compare to while you know, the service guy that came from my see didn't do this, you know, it's like, it's such a different, unique industry,
Collin Funkhouser 31:34
you know? Yeah, it is. And there's a lot of education that to have, because a lot of people do expect, well, I'm going to call you and you're just going to show up, right? Or I'm just going to, I'm just going to do this thing, and you're going to be okay with that, right? And it's like, well, no a first we're operating with a business and B, we've got some steps to jump through. So you wouldn't do this to a plumber or you know, an H fac or you know, whatever other service like you wouldn't do this to them. You don't do this to your car mechanic like we are the same. And here's, here's what we need to work through. To make sure that we we are respected as well.
32:07
Yeah, it's beautiful. I
Shannon Hendon 32:08
think it's one of the things i i love about our
32:11
industry the most, you know, well,
Collin Funkhouser 32:14
and you also develop deep relationships, you mentioned it a couple of times already have have with local sitters, and with local people in the pet care industry. Will How do you go about fostering those? Because a lot of people are really, they get anxious, they get oh, that's my competition, or I don't know, what would I even talk about? So when you when you think of that, yeah. And like how do you go about reaching out to these people? Yeah,
Shannon Hendon 32:37
I felt that same way. In the very beginning, I was so intimidated. And you know, I'm not like a person that loves the phone and talking on the phone, especially to someone I've never met before. And I felt that they might feel I was competition when I was new and or maybe I didn't live up to what great thing they were doing. So it wasn't until, oh, maybe 10 years into my business that someone approached me and said they wanted a group of us to meet. And so, you know, I did that. And I met some senators. And I found that like, I jive with some of them and not with others. And you know, that's okay. But I didn't like get like a close feeling from that network. You know, we were great, we refer to each other, but we didn't have like that deeper connection. And after my husband's health crisis, I felt like I needed that like to get away for myself. So what I did was I contacted three of the senators that I kind of was closer to and would occasionally call and I asked them to meet me
33:51
for lunch. And we just all
Shannon Hendon 33:55
of us just really got along so well and really had a lot of the same like core values for our selves our lives and the way we ran our businesses that we we developed like a really close connection. And we kept meeting and you know, sometimes one or more of us would just meet alone. Sometimes it would be all four of us and we would have a blast and have some margaritas you know, and it developed like okay, well let's go kayaking together so we started doing fun things together was outside of you know, pet setting and we've really created like this bond that was so tight, and I found that it was the missing puzzle piece to not only my business but to my life. Pets sitters understand each other like no other person really Chan. My husband doesn't understand what I do. My family they they love it and they think it's Great, but they can't understand it, like another pet sitter. And when you find when you can find, you know, even if it's just one other person in your community that you can meet for coffee meet for lunch, and build that connection. There it is life changing. And I'm, as you can probably tell, I'm really passionate about this now. Because I've, I've loved my business before, but I love every like, I love all pet sitters, I love everything about it so much more. And now, a few of us have introduce other sitters that kind of are newer to pet sitting, and now we have several newbies that join us. And we're able to mentor them and have a good time. We, we just, we just get so much from it. And I encourage everybody to keep trying, I know initially, like you might meet some senators that you know, you don't really, you know, get along with or you know, you might have different ideas, that you're running your businesses, but keep trying. Because once you find, you know, those people who you can get that extra level of friendship and connection with, it will change everything for you.
36:25
So, we
Shannon Hendon 36:27
tried a few different types of themes for our get togethers. In the beginning, it wasn't all smooth sailing, you know, people always say, Oh, we're not gonna get together just to like complain, right? Because we know how that goes. And, and so when I say we all had similar values, it would be like, you know, we weren't gossips. You know, we weren't there to talk about other senators who weren't there. We weren't there to complain about, you know, we were there to talk about, oh, I have this dog that did this, or, you know, there's this cat is it was difficult, and kind of more of a positive, uplifting mindset with one another. And so that just kept continuing. And we found we all loved it. And you know, how people say, Why can't ever get my network together? When you have this kind of network that's uplifting and supportive. And on that friendship level, they make time to get together, like it becomes a priority and our schedules, because we really look forward to it. Oh,
Collin Funkhouser 37:35
well, well, it's just a difference of two things there are many people get frustrated by the group, because all it is at its roots is already for all network, which is different than a friend group. And I think that that's the distinction that you're making there, Shannon, of luck, you can have a big network of people who you know, in the industry, who are in your local area, who you refer out to, but who's your core group? Who are the friends that you're making in the industry, that you're connected to? That you can, that you can, you know, help each other grow? And that you can really feed into their life and be fed into yours through through whatever like through through stories through that uplifting nature? Having that, that, hey, when we meet this is the purpose to be uplifting. How, how beautiful is that? How wonderful to have that kind of guiding principle with this this group? is we want to support one another referrals or no referrals? Like let's put that off to the side, maybe those will come? Maybe, maybe not. We need to help one another here. And and that's when we understand that difference of what am I looking for? Am I just looking for a bunch of referrals? Or am I looking for a core group of people to get connected to and grow with year after year?
Shannon Hendon 38:47
Yeah, and you know, it's really I find the only way to do it, you know, we are 100% about like camaraderie, and friendship and helping one another. And, you know, talk about having the know how now, like, if I have another crisis, one of them is going to show up for my business. And it's going to help me through that. And the other thing too, is it benefits our clients in ways I hadn't imagined. We now tell our clients about well, of course, we tell our clients about our network, and we're part of this network, and we love each other because often our clients are scared like, oh, I use that other path better. Should I tell her you know, and so we tell our clients look, get set up with at least two of us and let us be each other's backup. We're not out to steal each other's clients or anything like I know if I have this other you know, client that she's primarily Amy's client, but I she calls me if she needs a backup, and I think that's a wonderful thing. You know, I rather that than her trying to deal with you know, an or hottie senator who might not be reliable. So our clients really appreciate it. And not only that is, you know, it just happened to turn out that we covered different areas of town. So it we carried it, you know, we have some overlap, but that's wonderful. But also now, it also gave me the ability to switch to cats because I know I have them through for the dogs to, you know, the vacation dogs. And I know our community has that support, that they can support the vacation dog sitting clients, and I can move into that role of the cat sitter. You know,
Collin Funkhouser 40:41
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42:38
Yeah, it's such a beautiful thing. You
Shannon Hendon 42:40
know, we we the four of us did this, called Ocala pet Palooza like this big pet, you know, event. And in past years, we had done it separately as our businesses and we didn't really enjoy it or find, you know, too much value and going to one of these big events. Well, once our network started going, I said, What if we all did a booth together. And so we created like a network name for ourselves. And we did this booth and we all got together and like mate shared filling up raffle baskets and put all of our goodies out. And whenever people from the community came to our booth, I was like, Oh, we want to meet me you want to meet Dana, there's going to help you better than I could. And people really loved it. And we had the best time. You know, doing that. But it was such a great feeling to do it together. You know, versus I don't know, there was just something so beautiful about it. And you could tell the that people that were walking by our booth and talking to us were really surprised that
Collin Funkhouser 43:47
this kind of thing was going on? Yeah. Well, they don't. Because it's it is unusual in the business world to see quote unquote, competitors again, because that's what people see from the outside. They think those are competitors. Why would they help one another? What is going on? This doesn't you don't see this happening in H Vacher in yard work or in anything like that, or you know, car sales or home, nobody does this. And what it really is communicating is we are stronger together. And we are here to help you. And that that level of genuineness is picked up by clients and the community. We wonder Oh, because I mean, the client, the consumers these days can smell out a fake, you know, compliment a mile away like they are so discerning, but to have that genuine community and camaraderie together like that is noticeable and actually impacts people just by being there. Yeah, I
Shannon Hendon 44:47
really felt that at the event. And you know, because of that event, and you know, I was sharing it on our social media and stuff. You know, the board directors of the Florida pets airbuses sociation contacted me, and they were like, We love what you're doing, this is what we're all about, we want you, you know, to join us. So like, it really, you know, opened up a whole new world for me and my network, because our met network now is kind of growing into that Services Association, and taking on, you know, our ideals matched there, you know, as far as educating and, you know, the public and all these things. So, it's been just such a wonderful thing that's come out of this just group of a couple of pet sitters getting together.
Collin Funkhouser 45:42
It is, it's really cool to watch and see as, as you guys, you know, work work in that and know how and collaborate with one another. I know, people throw that out there, a lot of times are gonna be like, but what does that mean? Like, how does this work effort? And it's, it's things like, Well, have you ever been frustrated? How you never feel like your clients understand what you do? Well, imagine if every other pet sitter and dog walking company in your, in your beauty, were posting about what they do, right? These these community efforts to educate and uplift and raise the bar on professionalism to have you know, have you ever been frustrated by your clients not understanding why you have a contract? Well, if every other person that they contacted also has a contract, it kind of become the norm for them, and you wouldn't be the one sticking way out there. Right.
Shannon Hendon 46:27
It's so true. And, you know, that's, that has, what we've all seen come out of it is that it's growing from that, and, you know, even people from the event who weren't necessarily looking for pet care, or anything, you know, they were educated on, you know, what was going on in the community. And we're impressed enough about it that we've gotten referrals from, from lots of those people that said, we saw you there, or we saw your networks doing this, you know, so it's just reached so many, many more people in our community.
Collin Funkhouser 47:05
You know, I love it. Yeah. Well, and you said as part of that, again, this, this sounds like a big process of reaching out to people developing your community, your network, your support group growing out your team, specializing in your services, as you've curtailed their business to fit how your your life and what's your what's going on. Part of that, too. You've added some luxury services. And I did want to pick your brain on these because I was a little I was I was surprised and was really excited to see these on your on your website.
Shannon Hendon 47:38
Thanks. So I started just thinking about what my client's needs were and ways that I could, you know, add some more unique services, especially to my cat clients, you know, I'm going cat. So what can I think of? And one of the biggest things I thought of was we deal with a lot of shy cats, right? You know, they'll hide and some of our a lot of our clients have cameras, but the cameras are not necessarily pointed at the cat food or the cat's litter box. So yeah, they might have you'll say, oh, and I, you know, did I see Avi cat? Yeah, I saw him he's alive on the camera. But be as a pet sitter. I want to know, Well, did he drink water? You know, is he stressed? You know, I could I could maybe see him underneath the bed, get a flash in the eyes. But you know, is he really okay? And so what I thought of was doing this kitty cam rental thing where I would set up my own Wi Fi camera pointed directly at their food and water area. Or the letterbox if you have letterbox concerns or both. And you know, I tested it out with a few OSI cat households, and it worked perfectly. The minute I walked outside to my car, here comes the motion camera, right on my phone, cat, like, and I get this quick little video. And it works so wonderfully. I was like, Oh, wow. So it gave me a maybe more peace of mind with some of the clients. But I have found that our clients are interested in this kind of unique service. Right? We're always trying to find ways to be kind of different, you know? Yeah. So that was one and then of course, my networks like what what's that Shin and what are you doing over there? So, so that's what I call kind of like a luxury add on, you know, and we have a litter box service where we come. It's much like the pooper scooper for outside the yard only we're doing it for their litter boxes and we do a full sanitation Yeah, and we have, you know, our ideal clients are, are mostly seniors. So for, you know, maybe their, their back hurts, and they can't scoop the litter box or they can't really lift all that heavy litter to do a full clean out, you know, stuff like that. And then I have this live in care that I started doing. And that's thanks to Amy over in my network, she started doing it for some high end clients that have hobby farms and things like this. And I never would do overnights before, because when I started, my kids were young, so it just wasn't doing overnight. But now that my kids are grown, and I have grandkids, and you know, it's just me now, I'm like, well, I could do live in service and run my team from there. So that's kind of I tried that out with a, you know, a wonderful client, and it works. So well. I felt that for us to live in services, 20 hours, so we have four hours in a day where we can leave, if I need to run an errand, I'll actually come visit my dog and my cat and my husband. And you know, if I need to do one or two visits, I can do you have that freedom, but I basically live out of their home. And I find that now I'm enjoying it better, because I can just relax without all the driving. And you know, I'm very picky about you know who I'll do it because scheduling, you know, I don't want too many of them where they overlap because I want to be able to say Yeah, and it's only myself doing it, I don't at this time, have a team doing it. That's a whole nother issue as far as like paying, you know, hourly and all that. But we'll see if that comes in the future. But for now, it's working wonderfully, because I find I can manage my team from there. And it's kind of like a little vacation away from home when I go,
Collin Funkhouser 52:02
you have that flexibility. Now in your life, like you mentioned earlier of? Well, you know, yes, your personal life has changed, you know, with without having kids in the home. Also your business has changed, where you're not doing the vacation visits on top of now the live in service, and it's been now you're stretched between those two. And it's way more complicated. So now you can go, what would I actually make this look like? And what would I want to do? And what would work for me? And I'm sure it's not an inexpensive service. So it's not for every client either. But it is an option for those who want that.
Shannon Hendon 52:36
Yeah, and I and what I'll say to it is just, you know, just because you said no to some type of service in the past, maybe rethink it and revisit it, you know, don't be afraid to change and adapt as you know, your life or your circumstances change in some way. You know, we really have to be open to doing that. Or else you know, we could just get stuck in a rut or you know, not had the same income potential.
53:02
Right. Well,
Collin Funkhouser 53:04
I love I want to go back to the kitty Kim real quick because I love that that idea because yeah, there are times where it's like, well, there's no food here. And there's there's pee and there's there's definitely application in the litter box so that cats fine. It's doing that stuff. Other than that, I can't speak to this. And yeah, a lot of clients, because many people will think well, my clients have cameras inside anyway. But like you mentioned, I love how you said they're not pointed right at the booth. Right? They're not sitting right outside the litter box. Think of it sounds like it's really kind of like a trail cam right for your for your kitty trail cam. But people love that. Like they want to see that. And you mentioned to like, we also are like okay, cats doing great, and we're fine and but test share that with the client to give them access to that where they can now interact in that real time way. Really, I mean, that's a lot of peace of mind off of that, especially if they're going to be gone for a long time.
Shannon Hendon 54:03
Yes. And, you know, the majority of the ones I was really concerned about is our clients. I have two cats. One is super social. Yeah, that was shy. You know, we can kind of judge how much Foods Eating but we don't know which one went to the bathroom. We don't know which how much which one ate. And really with cats, we really want to make sure that at least drinking water. So you know that is a big concern for me. And so our clients are loving it. And even you know, the cameras are inexpensive these days. Super easy to just plug in and set up their Wi Fi. The only thing you need is the clients Wi Fi and it's on an app and the clients can have access to the live link of the video that they want. And we're setting it up and taking it away so they don't have to bother with it. Like so. It's it's kind of a win win for everybody. You know, and that and I love that you call it The Katy Trail cam it totally
Collin Funkhouser 55:04
Well, I, I had that I had that realization Yes, the other day while we were looking for some cats in a home of, of this is so weird I'm in a home and I'm like searching for a wild animal hidden, who knows where and it's like I no other job would allow me to do this, you know, crawling around and peeking under and lifting things and like just waiting to see a little bit of fur and tail dart around a quarter. It's like I really am on a safari.
Shannon Hendon 55:30
So so crazy. You know, and I and I think also coming with so much experience, too. I've had so many situations where there was either a cat emergency, you know, I might have noticed the behavior change and a cat that was super social. But a shayad cat, I can't notice the behavior change because the behavior is we're hiding. And we're hiding it. That's all we're doing. And I had a client one time who went on, you know, a weekend trip just a few hours away to another town. And they had four cats. One of them was what would sometimes peek out at us but usually wouldn't. And I asked them Are you sure are the cats are in the house because when they were home, I think they would let them out like through a patio door, or their little pond area. And the husband overnight got so worried that I couldn't find the cat. I searched everywhere I in love. And it was a big house. And I mean, I could not find this cat, he drove home in the middle of the night to make sure his cat was in the house and okay, and wasn't, you know, trapped somewhere. So I kind of felt bad that that happened. I didn't want to worry them. But, you know, thankfully, they were a distance where he could drive home. But if I had had that camera setup, I would have seen the cat probably the minute I left, you know. And so, and he told me he was hiding and the stairs that go up the bed, but it was like this large wooden one. And you could he could get inside the staircase. I would have never looked inside a built in like staircase thing. So I was like, okay, that that cat is genius. But it's just coming out of these type of like crazy situations where like, this simple technology could really solve some of these things. You know,
Collin Funkhouser 57:27
and that's, that's what it's about, of going. And I love where that landed when we were telling that because it's it's a we are adapting in our business. As we as things become more accessible, you know, 18 years ago, those cameras weren't really there right there. You couldn't those they were so cost prohibitive and so weird, and people didn't have Wi Fi and all this stuff. Now they do so how do we? How do we integrate that into our business? And then how do I change and adapt my business as I change in my needs change. And it's is about a continual process of growing and learning. And you do that by getting plugged in to people in your network, and staying engaged and listening to your clients and asking good questions and being open to learn. Because that's what's really hard is we get stuck in our ways. We don't want to do it. It's hard. But if we don't, we're not going to be around next year or the year after that.
58:21
Yeah. Oh, that that's just a wonderful, isn't it? I
Shannon Hendon 58:26
just love that. I
58:27
love that.
Collin Funkhouser 58:29
Well, Shannon, I really, really appreciate your time today and sharing with us your story and encouraging us to change to adapt that it's not just necessary, but it's a good thing. And we should embrace that. For those who want to get connected with you follow along with everything maybe pick your brain on the kitty trail cams or whatever thing else that you've got going on. Best can they do that? Oh, love
Shannon Hendon 58:55
it. I love for people to connect with me. So I am Shannon, Hendon on Facebook. And that's linked to my Ocala petsitting Facebook, so you can find me on there. And that's OC ala PTSITT ing on Facebook and Instagram. Yeah, come find me. I'd love to talk to any of you.
Collin Funkhouser 59:18
Well, I will have those links in the show notes so people can get connected with you right away, Shannon. It's been an absolute pleasure and honor. Thank you so much for your time today.
Shannon Hendon 59:28
Thank you so much call and I had such a wonderful time. Have a wonderful day. My
Collin Funkhouser 59:34
biggest takeaway from my conversation with Shannon is when she said you really have to draw a line for yourself and teach people how to treat you, especially when you are going through a crisis. Nobody knows how you need to be treated in that moment. Nobody knows what your personal life is throwing at you and the struggles that you are going through. Take a breath and tell people what you're needing in that moment. It's okay, those who respect that or those who need to keep close. Those who don't are the ones you need to consider cutting out. Because if we don't teach people what we're needing their how we need to be treated, they'll never know and will continue to be frustrated. We want to thank today's sponsors tied to pet and pet perennials for making this show possible. And we really want to thank you for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
