505: The Importance of Empathy in Pet Care with Lori Holt
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How do you transition from a corporate job into full-time pet care? Lori Holt shares her journey from working in customer service to founding Stow Road Pet Sitters. She discusses the challenges of administrative tasks, the importance of empathy and trust in client relationships, and how her family plays a crucial role in her business. Lori also highlights the lessons learned from a dog bite incident that led to stricter client screening processes. Join us as we explore Lori's inspiring story of passion, growth, and dedication to exceptional pet care.
Main topics:
Administrative Burden and Chamber Involvement
Transition from Corporate to Pet Sitting
Empathy and Customer Service Skills
Family Involvement in Pet Care
Overcoming Challenges and Business Growth
Main takeaway: One of my favorite things about my job is seeing the stress melt away from a client's face during a meet and greet when they realize their pet is in good hands.
About our guest:
Lori Holt is the owner of Stow Road Pet Sitters, LLC, a dog walking and pet care business based out of Marlborough, MA. Lori started out as a part-time pet sitter in 2021 and has since made this her full-time job. Lori offers daily dog walks, drop-in visits, half-day doggy daycare, poop scooping services, litter box maintenance, medication administration and overnight care. Additionally, she has recently dipped her toes into rehoming and adoption assistance services.
She is a rescue dog mom of 1 to her sweet ACD/Pit Mix Harley and a mom to three human children as well.
Links:
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
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SPEAKERS
Collin, Lori H.
Collin 00:03
Welcome to pet sitter confessional. Today, we're brought to you by time to pet and the National Association of Professional pet sellers. Making a transition in our life is never easy. But sometimes it's exactly what we need to do to live the life that we want. Today we're really excited to have Lori Holt owner of sto road pet sitters on the show to talk about her transition out of her corporate job into the pet care industry. How she works hard to overcome the administrative burden that comes on unexpectedly, how she's been balancing offering a wide range of services from in home care to also doggy daycare and how subscriptions have changed her business model. Laurie also shares the importance of focusing on customer service and having empathy for others. Let's get started.
Lori H. 00:50
Yes, my name is Lori Holt, I am the owner of stubborn pet sitters LLC. We're a full service pet care company based out of Marlborough, Massachusetts, which for those who don't know where Malborough is, it's about like 30 ish miles west of Boston, between Boston and Worcester. That's where we're located. And we're a thriving city of about 41,000 people. So lots of pets and pet parents to service and me and I love living here.
Collin 01:16
And you say you're a full service business, what does that mean to you and how you help your clients? Yeah,
Lori H. 01:22
I like to tell people, I'll do a little bit of everything. I do doggy daycare in the morning. So we do have midday doggy daycare at my house from about seven to 11. After that, we drop our pups off which people love that, like they can drop their dog off before they go to work. And then I bring them home. And they're thrilled that their dog gets out of the house for a little bit. And then at that point, I start my day daily dog walks, you know, midday ish, like 11 to four. I also have my vacation clients that take up a lot of my time, especially during busy season. Lots of cats and dogs both. And of course we do boarding here at the house to boarding is already getting very full for the summer. So I'm very excited for that. I
Collin 02:05
really love that service of the morning to midday daycare, and then you take them to their homes. It's such a I love that concept. I'm sure like, you know, the clients do too, because it's just super convenient for them. And you're not having dogs at your house for 1011 12 hours during the day. Yes,
Lori H. 02:26
I've got a really core group now. I started offering monthly subscriptions. First month I started offering that was in March. So it's still a fairly new thing for me, but it's worked out really well. You know, people just commit to the same days every week, week to week, month to month and you know their invoice at the front of the month. They don't even have to worry about it. It just auto auto charges their time to pet shout out the time to pet love that software so good. So you know one of the great things about my doggy daycare versus like a lot of other you know, brick and mortar type of places, for example, I have smaller groups, I typically have about like four dogs a day, that's like kind of the upper number. Sometimes it's like one or two but it's usually hovers around four. And it's the same dogs, right. So they get to know each other it offers like safer playgroups because we're not like constantly introducing new pups and they just have a really great time they come home exhausted. I hear that all the time. They're like, wow, I don't know what you did. But he has been napping. So take home so good.
Collin 03:32
Well, and I know that you had a really special dog that made a big impact in your own life. Right that I'd love for you to tell us more about about that her? Yes.
Lori H. 03:40
My dog's name is Harley. She is a seven year old female pit mix. She's a part of Australian cattle dog Blue Heeler. So she was adopted by my fiancee back in 2018. So I met her when she was about two. And I didn't grow up with dogs. People always find that fun fact to be fun and interesting. Actually, like, was kind of afraid of dogs for most of my life. Thanks, mom. She's always like Thompson's gonna bite. You don't trust dogs. And I'm like, okay, um, but yeah, so it wasn't until I met Harley that I really got to know how awesome and rewarding having a dog in your life can be. And she stole my heart. And now I just love every single dog that I need. And my kids love her and it's just awesome. I've been a pet sitter for three years. I started in 2021 in May of 2021. So almost my third anniversary. I'm rounding at this point, Colin it's like right there.
Collin 04:46
It's like when your kids are like, you know, they're there. It's when they get to the half and then after the half they just start rounding up the next six months. So I totally totally understand.
Lori H. 04:56
Exactly, so I started out on rover actual Willie, I know Robert gets a bad rap. But I'm forever grateful to that app because it got me to where I am today. Um, it's been quite a journey along the way. But um, now, you know, my private pet care business takes up a lot of my, my time, you know, but yeah, we didn't name it started pet sitters until we moved to the location we're at now, which was in June of 2022. We were in the process of buying a house, it took us almost a year to find a house. So I was like, come on, I want to get my business. But I want to name it after wherever we end up. So we live on Stow road. So that's where the name came from. Oh, that's
Collin 05:36
nice. So back in 2021, what got you started in this and looking into this weird world that we listen to that we're all in? Yeah.
Lori H. 05:44
So that was, you know, obviously, still very much at the beginning of the pandemic. Even though I was fully employed at the time at my corporate job, I was severely in debt $40,000, roughly in debt, which was kind of the start of all of this, this is an important part of my story. I've been on this Debt Free Journey. Now since January of 2021. It was I remember one day, I just was feeling really like, down and out on myself. Like, you know, we all have those days. You're like, oh, my god, how am I ever gonna get out of this hole that I built myself? And my best friend, tree has always been trying to get me to check out Dave Ramsey. He's a financial coach. Sure. Most people know that name. He's been around forever. I. And I remember at the time, I was just like, No, no, no, I can't this is too strict. I can't do it. I can't do it. And, and then it, I must have thought on YouTube or something like his name came back to my head. And I was like, okay, hold on. Now, this website is this little like debt free calculator on there. And it has you like, put in all your debts, how much you owe on all of them. And it tells you how long it will take you to pay off your debt if you just keep doing minimum payments, which is what I was doing. And it was like nine years. Like, well, my kid is 10, my oldest is 10, I have three kids. And at the time, she was 10 as like, well, she will already be in college at that point. So that does not help me at all. Because, you know, I want to be able to like, I'm not going to pay for all of their college education. But I would like to give them a little bit of money to help them, you know, when they started out. Um, and I was like, Well, okay, we definitely need to speed this up, because I don't have that much time on my hands. So what am I going to do? So it was at that point that I started working with a financial coach that I've met through Ramsey's website. And I've been working with him ever since. He helped me to really get a hold of like, where all my money was going. And give me a better idea of like what I needed to do to get out of the hole. And it became very obvious after a couple of months of reviewing my budget, like, you need to make more money. So he's like, Well, what about like, do you have time for like a second job? Oh, maybe? Yeah. All right. So I like went on Google. And I put in like, best side hustles. And one of the first things that popped up was dog walking. And as I just mentioned, I recently inherited this awesome dog that I have grown very fond of. And I said, Well, I have a dog. I like walking dogs. We could give this a try. I thought it could work really well. Because at the time we're all working from home, I could walk a dog on my lunch break and walk a dog in the evenings or the weekends or whatever. I'm oddly enough, everybody that reached out to me when I first signed up on rover was looking for boarding or not talk walk? No. Because it was made of the first year that things kind of like opened back up and everyone's like we're going on vacation. Can you watch our dog? So we are very busy on for summer and we are proud to say we still have a majority of those clients from the very first summer we were in business and we watch them every year. It's like clockwork. So it's been fantastic.
Collin 09:16
Oh, so what were you doing? You said you were had a corporate job full time at that time. What kind of were you doing involved in?
Lori H. 09:23
I was working for a supplement company. I was doing customer service there. And I worked there. So from the time I started till the time I quit it was six and a half years roughly. And I loved that job. It was probably my favorite job aside from the job I have now. But like I want to say that was like my first like big girl job I call it because I was a stay at home mom for the longest time and that was like my first real job. And I grew up so much and learned so much and a lot of the great customer service I have now with me clients, I learned at that job. And we, I worked in the call center. So we were taking like 50 phone calls a day, you talk to a lot of people. Especially during the pandemic, we're getting call after call, you hang up your phone, you get another phone call, you have a phone call, I was just like, been Ameland. Because everyone was like, I don't want to get sick, what can I take to stay healthy? You know. And I learned a lot of empathy through that job. Like, over and over again, I would talk to people who had some really serious health problems that we're just like, I don't know what to do. My doctors aren't helping me, what should I do? What can I take? And just like, constantly learning like that is where I really grew a passion for like learning and getting good at what I've been doing, because people were counting on us to help them and I sort of became the person in my team of like, Oh, lord knows the answer that Oh, lord knows the answer that because I just love learning. And I love helping, helping as a huge part of my passions. I've always known that I wanted to be a helper of some sort, I didn't really know what that looked like, for most of my life, I announced, I now know what it was. But I just, I really enjoyed that job a whole lot. And I'm really happy that it was a part of my life, what
Collin 11:24
you said that phrase, I learned a lot of empathy. And that is such a key aspect of what we do. And I can't even imagine the kind of people that you were talking to, but they, you kind of get that feeling of everybody calls with an emotion, right? Everybody calls for a reason. And not that we have to take on that emotional burden and take it make it a part of who we are. But just understanding where they're coming from and why they may be a bit more terse, or why they are a bit more rushed, or maybe interrupting us or not, you know, saying thank you, or they like, those come from some place. And when it comes to customer service, just understanding where somebody's coming from allows us as a much better way of handling that. And we know how to steer that conversation and what we need to say, to keep things moving forward. And you also said the phrase helper there. And I know that that's a really big part of what you do and how you view yourself. So from your perspective, Laurie, what does it mean to be a helper?
Lori H. 12:30
So, you know, you had to really learn how to read people and their body language and like, what it is that each specific client needs. Some folks need a lot more hand holding than others. I'm sure you know that to be true. One of my favorite things about my job is like when I am at a meet and greet, and you just kind of like see the potential client shoulders just like go down. And like you see them take a like a deep breath. And like, the stress is kind of like melting away and like, I'm helping them to have that peace of mind that their dog is going to be like in good hands while they're away or out of the country. And it's like, very much a favorite part of my job, just being able to help people with what their needs,
Collin 13:20
especially when you understand where people are coming from, why all of a sudden, what we do takes on an immense weightiness to it right, where all of a sudden, like I was just reflecting on this just yesterday as well. Yeah, no yesterday of the clients that come to us, sometimes you know what that pet means to them. Sometimes that pet was their husband's dog and the husband has since passed away. Or maybe that dog was something that or the cat helped them through. And now all of a sudden they're taking you and they're walking up to you and basically saying, protect my most prized possession. And it's like, so Kay, like let's let's really sit with this and what we and understand what we get to do for that person. And it kind of makes you you know, not not question but starts trying to understand like, yeah, how do all of a sudden How do I get better at this and you mentioned that you learned that while you're at the call center have have that's where you grew your passion for learning because when we get connected with that of like, Oh man, this what I do is really important. I have to make sure that I know what I'm doing. I'm not just winging this. Have you heard of tiny pet? Christiane from raining cats and dogs has this to say becoming
14:31
a time to pet clients has been a game changer for us. We can give our pet services clients real time, cloud based information they never imagined they'd be interested in. And most importantly to me personally, I can better manage my company and look forward to more and not a small thing. Time to pet is responsive to my requests for new features and modifications to existing one.
Collin 14:55
If you're looking for new PET scanning software, give time to pet a try. Listeners of our show opened, save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to fat.com/confession.
Lori H. 15:06
First of all, I want to say thank you guys for your awesome podcast because truly like, I don't think I would be where I am today without it. Like I remember the day I found your podcast, I was out walking a dog. And I was feeling really like lonely because like, you know, working in the call center, we were working in person, as a team, just this like positive buzzing energy, you know, and then you go from that to being home alone. And I'm an extrovert, I really thrive off other people's energy. And so I'm out walking into my lunch break, and I was feeling like, really down. And so I went on to Spotify, and I typed in pet and you guys popped up right away. And hosts like MySpace ever you guys were like on episode like 250 or something at that point. I was like, this has been here this whole time like and, and it was in one of those episodes where I learned about the Texas pet sitters conference. And I was like, What is this all about? And I went, I knew nobody that would be there. I just did it. And I'm so glad I did. Because it's it just it kind of like it was like a chain. It was just like a shift in my like, like seeing that people can do this as a full time job. I remember when I was at my corporate job someone was at Lego, how's the pet stuff going? You know, I always get that question house and pet stuff going on. It's gonna look good. Oh, yeah. So you're gonna quit this place? And go do that full time? Oh, no, no, no, no, come on. He's like, are you you? Are you are? No, I'm not. No, I'm not like, people knew it before I knew it. So it's kind of cool to like, see, like having gone to the conference again, this past February to see how much has changed in just like one year, it's just wild to me.
Collin 16:55
Why do you feel like other people could see that? And you couldn't? When they were saying, Oh, you're gonna leave? Like, no, I'm not like, what do you think that was?
Lori H. 17:05
I don't know, probably self doubt or like, not even knowing that, like, there were people like me out there. You know, I think being a part of these Facebook groups, having people in my quarter. It's been amazing. I it's very emotional, honestly. Um, it's important to keep learning always. And that's what I love most about the conferences.
Collin 17:32
It is it is it is emotional, when we get to reflect back on how far we've come. And we think especially when we think of, like, just coming into something is it's a lot of self discovery aspect for ourselves to have, oh, gosh, like, this is right in alignment with me, right. And all of a sudden, I know, like, Ah, this is, I can't believe all this is out here. And it really is such a huge wave right there can get swept up in and I think it's really important that we never forget that right? whether we've been in business for one year, five years, 10 years, 30 years, this feeling of what we get to do each day, and that we are living with what we know in alignment with ourselves because it is it is important that we do that. And with your with your corporate job, I know that you are kind of in this position of going, I'm sure you were you know, this my question of like, how did you know when it was time to step out and go full time and prove those people? Right, who were in your workplace?
Lori H. 18:35
Yeah, so the important part is to definitely like keep an eye on your finances. Like I don't think this would have been possible had I not had a firm grasp on like, where my money was coming from and where it was going and like, so I use like a tracking a budget tracking platform called every dollar and you basically like, enter how much you make. And then like, you literally list out every single expense you have and like things that you're saving up for. And like, it tells you at the top, like whether you've overspent or whether you have money leftover and it's almost like a game I love to gamify like you see that number go up, up, up, up, up, up, up, you're like, oh my god, I was like, okay, okay. Like getting excited, like, oh my gosh, I stick to my budget. I'm gonna have $2,000 left over at the end of the month. I could throw up my Dad this is awesome. Um, but yeah, definitely you have to have an idea. You need to know where your numbers are at before you can make such a leap like that. And at the time, my company was being like, acquired by another company and like a lot of things were changing. You could just kind of like feel the energy shift. And my position at the company was kind of being like dissolved and they didn't flat out. Fire me but they did say like, if you want to keep working here, we're going to need you to go do this over there. And that was not something I had any interest in doing at all. And so I, I had been thinking about quitting. Anyway, probably closer to the end of the year, when I was done being in dead, but when this happened, I was like, This is it. This is the time I need to do this. Now if I'm going to do it, like, I don't want to like go through training and learning something new just to like quit five months later. Like, that's kind of crappy. I didn't want to do that to them, either. You know what I mean? Yeah. And so I checked in with like, my family and made sure everyone was in supportive it. I have this awesome mentor, Mark McLean. And he's been helping me a lot, too. I talk to him all the time. Um, yeah, he was one of the people that really was very instrumental from the very beginning, when I was starting out on rover, because he has a course, mastering rover that really helped me out a lot with getting like putting that white glove touch on how you speak to clients. Because as I'm sure you know, like, you see these Facebook groups and people will be like, can you believe this client? thought that that, that that and like, they screenshot like how they responded to the client, and you're just like, Hmm, maybe you could have said that a little bit different response. So I've gotten into the habit of being like, hey, here's the situation, here's what I'm thinking about saying, What are your thoughts? Like, like, let's tweak it a little bit. So like, having people like that, in your corner are super helpful to deliver that, like top tier customer service.
Collin 21:48
It is so important to have a kind of a screening someone to bounce those ideas off a really is because I know like, I have that gut reaction of like, I'm just gonna pound this out. And I'm gonna hit send. And then, you know, Megan will come by and she'll read it and go, are you sure that's what you want? That's what we're, especially when you're you realize, like, okay, no, I'm representing our company, right? I'm going to put my company before me and I'm going to go, how would a company respond? And right, and that's exactly what you're talking about Laurie of like, No, we need to, kind of we need to not, not be. It's not that you're you're not being truthful, but you are presenting it in a way that you hope will be easier to receive on the other end. And at the end day, that when we talk about communication with clients, that's what we need is we need this to be received. If we're just blasting stuff out there. That's harsh, abrasive, that that people bristle at that and they just push it away. But whenever you take the time to make sure that it's going to be received in a more positive light or hopefully, right, that's where real communication can take place. Yeah,
Lori H. 22:54
that's the whole leading with empathy thing. Oh, that's,
Collin 22:57
that's huge. And everything that we do. Yeah. And
Lori H. 23:01
I call it sandwiching. Like, if you have to deliver bad news, you kind of like sandwiched between like, two good things. Like, I really love your dog, we love having them. But there's this troubling behavior that we're just not really sure about. And we want what's best for your dog? Oh,
Collin 23:19
my gosh, yeah, I feel better after that. Thanks. Is because if we, if we just throw out harsh and brash, brazen information or facts, it's not actually going to change that person or like not that it's not that we're trying to change them. But it's less likely to be received to have the impact that we want. So we have to we do have to sit there and go, How could I send this so it wouldn't have the most likely to impact this person. And just taking a few beats, and I found that sometimes it means I have to sleep on it. And I've got to I've got to just push this up, push it aside. I'm gonna have a good night's rest and then redress it in the morning.
Lori H. 24:00
Yeah, my fiancee is the Yang to my Yang, because he's like, such a chill, calm person. And sometimes I'm like, can you believe this? He's like, Alright, how about we take a second?
Collin 24:10
Taking a walk, that's what we do whatever we get frustrated when we're just going like, going after it. And also it's like, okay, we need to we need to go take a walk and just breathe through this. So that we can think clearly, because we want to be, we want to have a good customer service. We want to treat people well. And at the end day, it is a business. And it's hard for us sometimes, especially in this industry to not take things personally, to not jump to that and just think Oh, nope. From the clients perspective, they're just dealing with the business. So I have to keep my business hat on through this. Once a year, you're talking about how you were not necessarily forced into making this transition, but it was you saw that door open before you and you left into that. What was that like for you to go from working in a corporate job working in the office or sometimes from home and Now you're a business owner, and you are doing this for everything.
Lori H. 25:05
Yeah, I mean, it's definitely scary to take the jump, but honestly, much the day to day didn't change too much because we already had a very thriving, you know, boarding part of our business. I say our it's me, but you know, my family is a part of it too. Um, but essentially I am a big fan of like, go all in and just jump into my, my mantra for the year. Is it okay to swear a little bit? Okay, yes. Let's just do the damn thing. That has been my mantra this past year, because I just I talked myself out of things so often, you know. And sometimes you just have to believe in yourself. Like that person I worked with, he sought me before I saw it in myself. And I am very proud of my business. It's like my fourth child, really. I just got a sign made for up front of my house. Like I felt like I was like, even though my business has been around for a while, you know, a while ish. Putting that sign up front was just like, such a big stuff. It's like, this is where I am. There's a business located here. Like I got like decals put on my car. I'm getting like artificial turf put in outside like I'm trying to make my home be this like destination that people bring their pets to. And I'm just so proud of every every little thing that I do for my business, like installing the fence out here. Like people are always Wow, you have a fenced in yard. Oh my god. Like I didn't I never realized how many people didn't have a fenced in yard until it's apparently a hot commodity. Well,
Collin 26:55
you know, I'm sure it is. It is it is, it is so fun to sit back and watch the business. Go right in. And it is something to be proud of to go. Yeah, that's that fence. Like, that's part of my hard work and my family being alongside and supporting me and this sign and the clients and the marketing and joining chambers of commerce and being part of this up and doing it the business is doing stuff. And as a as a service based industry, it's hard sometimes to really see that impact to see kind of how much it's grown because, you know, we don't have a I have a room full of boxes, and my garage isn't filled with shipping material and I'm not you know, doing orders or products or inventory. But to see things physically like happening is like, wow, that's it's so cool to see that and it's it is an amazing time to like just to to appreciate the business. I know the business gives us a lot of headaches sometimes right and just be honest, but but to go, man, this is this thing's doing stuff. And it's it's neat to see that.
Lori H. 28:06
I mean, I ordered stickers the other day and when they came in it was like Christmas morning I was like oh my god, it's my logo on a sticker.
Collin 28:19
Wow. But as you also said, how often we talk ourselves out of stuff to not taking that step or not doing that thing. And I don't I don't know about you, Laurie but for me, it's often a fear of I mean it's it's truly a fear of failure of why don't want to do that in look stupid because it didn't work out or I don't want to do that. Because what if, what if what I thought what if what my understanding was wrong? And I'm actually I actually don't understand what's with this is so a lot of that self doubt creeps in.
Lori H. 28:49
Mm hmm. Yeah, I honestly feel like this is the first thing in my life. I've like never given up on like, as weird as that sounds, you know, I just, I historically speaking, I'm someone who has a history of not following through with things like Oh, I'm gonna start going to the gym. Oh, I'm going to start eating better. You know, like, I always quit, right? Like, every year. I'm like, I'm gonna give something up for Lent. And I make it like two weeks and I'm like, Nope, can't do this. Yeah. I can't even stick to something like that. How the heck am I going to stick to something that is so like, huge, right? Why do you think that is? I don't know. I just want to say like Harley just like unlocked a part of my heart that just I didn't even know was like, I didn't even know I had this passion in me for pets. And now it just like pours out of me. It's it's so hard to put it into words but like my, my mother in law was like, wow, you're like the dog whisperer. Like just people can see it when I'm interacting with with pets like it's just a gift. I guess you could say. I'm not trying to like brag but I just I do truly feel like it is I guess I didn't know that I had. And I'm so glad that I know that I haven't know,
Collin 30:03
when I that was probably a silly question, because I'm sure people were going, What do you mean? It's just, it just it fits right what she cannot do it. And that's that that's what's so cool. And what's what we get to do each day. And the struggle and blessings of being your own business owner or being a business owner is that you, you get to guide and drive and lead where you want to. So it kind of it should always stay in your passion. And that Why wake up and do it was like, because this is kind of part of who I am, right? This is this is an outpouring of how I view myself, right? And that, and that I need to I need to do this, to give back to support to help people and to have this to do something with his passion, because otherwise I just sit in my room and go crazy without an outlet for the
Lori H. 30:55
Yeah, I mean, it got to the point when I was at my corporate job, or like, I felt like I could feel my brain cells dying. I don't know if you've ever felt that way. But like, it just wasn't doing anything for me anymore. Like, I didn't find it as because, you know, I did the customer service part for like the first four years of working there. And then I moved into a different role for the last two. And I was very good at that job. And it took very little brain power, at a certain point to be good at that job. I wasn't feeling like I had any like, future to work towards. I felt very stuck in the role that I was in. I wasn't really sure like what my career path was I kept asking and not getting a clear answer. And after getting like one new boss after the other after the other, I felt like I was just kind of like bouncing around and I just got like tired of it. I was just like, Oh, where am I going? What am I doing? Like I was just kind of getting antsy and bored and like, and this part is part time job of mine was like filling up all of my buckets, like this little thing on the side that I'm doing, right like, and it got to be real. Like, I felt like I wanted to spend more of my time doing it. And it got to the point where I had to make a decision of either dialing it back, or like going all in, because the demand was getting higher and higher. And I'm like, Well, I have to still work my full time job. I can't like not do that. So I either need to like, quit and do this full time or like, put it on the backburner and like, you know, and that's where the numbers really came in for me. Like, if I were to do this full time, and I had eight hours a day to devote to this, could I make more money? Could I make the same if not more money doing this something that I love versus this other job where I just kind of feel stuck and like mentally bored? You know? Yeah, no, I
Collin 32:58
completely understand you're coming from before I went full time I was I would go into my office where I worked. And I would sit in my chair and just like spin in circles because there was nothing for me to do. And I was just like, this is this is and it is interesting part of that of going I'm really good at this, but it's not kind of challenging me anymore. And and I do I do need more in this. And I need something and boy, how do you let me tell you going full time in your own business. That's challenges galore. But, but all of a sudden, it's like, you know, the learning new things becomes fascinating, because it's fueled by this passion for this other stuff of okay, I really want to give the best pet care possible to these pets in my hometown. That fuels my passion to learn about SEO right and learn about marketing and learn about what it means to be a business and learn about all the different software's and like those all become little outlets for how do I now put this whole thing together? It's hard to believe that 2025 is so quickly approaching and our friends at the National Association of Professional pet sitters have just announced their enrich and elevate 2025 conference being held in Tempe, Arizona from February 28 through March 2. Their goal is to bring together industry leaders with session topics that are idea focus, and on a wide range of subjects to foster learning and inspiration for your mind, your body and your business. early registration is open right now through September 30 For only $205 conference registration includes welcome reception, coffee and beverage service snacks lunch on Saturday and a conference t shirt. The naps conference is the perfect opportunity to network with industry vendors attend valuable educational sessions and gain specific industry knowledge. That conference is a wise investment and will pay off for years to come. Learn more at the NAPS website pet sitters dot Ford and register today. Now I know one of the something I think that kind of shaped how you you work and kind of your mindset around what you do. You had a you had a pretty serious bite back in May was that was that last year? Yeah. 2023. Okay. Yeah. How did how did that change your approach to business? Yeah,
Lori H. 35:22
that was definitely a turning point for me. At that time, I was still doing it part time, I didn't have any like, protections in place. Aside from like pet sitters insurance, I didn't have a contract, or anything, which I now looking back, I'm like, What was I doing? But like, thankfully, I have really great clients, I have great relationships with my owners. And when the bite happened, they offered to pay for, you know, the trip to the ER and all that, you know, kind of paid me for lost wages and what have you, which I really very much appreciated. But, you know, the bite between me and the dog was a dog, I felt like I had a very good relationship with I had been working with him for almost a year at that point. And it really felt like a breach of trust to me. And it really kind of like made me question like, if this were to happen again, would I still want to do this? Right? Like, let's have it just be the one time and not have it happen again, like what can we do to like prevent this from happening in the future? And that's kind of the way I always look at things like, what is the learning moment here? And how can we make sure we don't repeat it? So obviously, having a contract in place was a huge thing for me. I'm a lot more selective with the types of dogs I work with now. If I encounter any dog that even remotely reminds me of that dog. My, my like spidey senses are like, no, no, not this one. We, when we have dogs that are interested in boarding or daycare, we really like I don't want to say we have three meet and greets, that sounds crazy. But like we will have, I might even just go over to their house on my own, meet the dog, meet the family, get a good feel for them. If that goes well, then I'll have that dog meet my dog at the park in a neutral location. Because my dog doesn't take too kindly to random dogs she's never met before showing up at our house. We always kind of meet in a neutral spot. And then I'll have them over for a trial run daycare or trial run overnight. Because I want to make sure that like not only me, but my kids like I would never I would never forgive myself if something happened to them. Like I want to make sure that everyone feels safe, including the dog that's so I just want to make sure everyone is happy. And everything's good.
Collin 37:51
Yeah, it makes an event like that really makes you take that big step back and go Oh, okay. How, how was I operating to lead me to this point? And then if I don't like where I am, which we wouldn't like you didn't do it. Okay, what do I need? What does that mean now for how I operate. And that's those those moments come throughout our entire business. But you know, for you is to take that step back going, Okay, what's my screening process? Like? What's my onboarding process? Like? How do I do these assessments? And and how do I learn about this pet behavior? And how do I like, all of a sudden, that now drives again, fuels that I've got to do something different, because I don't want this to happen again. And especially whenever you talk about like, the trial days, I mean, that is that is so important, like people for doing boarding and daycare in your home, like, trial days are a must, especially if that person is going on a long trip because you don't want that dog in your house with it with with an inability to do anything with them. Like it's you. We taught you okay, I need to keep my life simple and the stress of having a dog like that in my home for multiple days. Not Simple, right? That's not nice. So what do I do to prevent that? I'm
Lori H. 39:08
definitely more selective and basically everything's like probationary, right? Like, I never say like, yes, definitely. I'm always like, alright, well pending the trial run, like, if that goes well, and let's make sure that you're around and not going to be like, stuck in Boston all day. Like if I need to call you and say you need to pick your dog up because he's trying to bite everybody. Like, I need to know that you can be here soon and come home. So
Collin 39:34
well, and being being more selective is is is hard like because it does mean that we're going to tell people No, it does mean that now all of a sudden we've got a line that we've drawn a lot closer to ourselves for prefer our protective reason. And now we've got to have that that tough conversation of, of being more selective means that there is going to there's a potential for now more confrontation with a potential client by telling them no, that's just what that means. But if we are doing things like we, you and I just talked about as far as like reviewing what we send before we send it and like making sure it's presented in a professional and kind manner. They're hopefully going to receive that a little bit easier. But do you ever get pushback from people whenever you have to tell them? It's not a good fit?
Lori H. 40:20
These days? No. Like, even just this morning, I had to basically retract my offer to have someone over for daycare because I just had this feeling that it wasn't going to be a good fit. And I was like, Ah, maybe it'll be fine. And then I'm, so I had to message them and be like, actually, I don't think so. And they were very understanding about it. So I think it's on the way or don't really
Collin 40:45
know, after the bite Laurie, did you ever think about just stopping entirely and going, No, this isn't for me, let me just let me go do something else.
Lori H. 40:55
Um, maybe for like a split second, I spent a lot of that evening after it happened. Like just replaying it in my head? And was it me? Was there something I could have done differently? Like, Why and how did that happen? And basically, I just tried to take everything as a learning opportunity. I mean, aside from the bite, there was even like, one time where a cat like kind of attacked me while I was scooping their litter box, and that was wild. We come to find out, cats can and will do that some cats will do that. Because it's like, that's their like treasures and you're taking their treasures. It's interesting, but don't put your back to a cat when you're skipping their litter box. That's my fun fact for you for today. But like, even when that happened, I read online that you can buy like the feel of a spray and you can spray it on your clothes. And that releases like the, like the mother scent basically. Right? Like it mimics that. And so it's, I always do that before I go into any cats home now because, you know, like I was saying before one and done. We don't want that to happen ever again. I'm more selective now. I detest is, and just always trying to learn. Like I learned a lot from the buyer about dog body language. I misinterpreted what was happening in that moment. Actually, I think I learned this at the Texas pet sitters conference about like, when dogs present their bellies to you like there's like apparently different, different ways that they do that. And like when they only have like one leg up. It's actually like, Please don't hurt me. Yeah, yeah. And not like, I want belly rubs and I misread his cues. And that's when the bite happened. So like just not throwing in the towel when any little inconvenience happens, but like trying to learn from it and grow from it and do better for it. And like now, I'm always like, is that actually a belly rub? Are you actually looking for a belly rub or like, trying to signal me, you know, so? I'm just way more cautious now. Yeah, well,
Collin 43:05
yeah. And I know that some people can feel as though like, oh, there's, you know, they're too they're too cautious, right? They're too into this or whatever. But I know for us, me My thing is doors and like escape artists around doors. I watch how normal people open the door to a house and I'm like, Oh my gosh, what are you doing? Like it's just Eric goes wide, wide open and it just hangs there full for everything to come and go and even if I know that there's not an animal in the house like I can't help myself anymore like that door squeaks open squeak shut as fast as
Lori H. 43:39
I was somewhere the other day I was at my aunt's house for Easter and like I was bringing stuff out to the car and I just like left her door open I was like wow, I can't remember the last time I left someone's door wide open.
Collin 43:52
Oh feels we're starting to get into the summer months and we don't border to daycare as much as we used to. And most of the time we don't have anybody here and yeah, we'll leave that front door open when the weather's nice and have a breeze through the house and the I walk through the house and I kind of Jolt a little bit when I see that front door open because you know I Scott ingrains and and that is as we build those habits like that's what makes us you know the so excellent at executing our jobs right those reactions those those things those habits that we built into our day in our life allow us to go into those situations and assess them well and and do amazing work because when we when those little things become habits
Lori H. 44:37
Yeah, I always tell people meet and greets that I've got like Ninja quick reflexes when it comes to opening and closing doors. I know how to get in and get out real quick. I work with a lot of cats and you know how cats like to try to run out when you open the door so I'm always like
44:54
yeah
Collin 44:57
Laura, I know you said you know use the word we early You're in kind of, you know, your your family is involved in this too. What's that been like taking them on this journey has been awesome.
Lori H. 45:05
I think about this a lot. And like, I hope that when they're older, they'll look back on their childhood and be like, Oh, I was so cool. My mom was a pet sitter, we have dogs around all the time. It was so much fun. There was this one. He was so cute. Like, I just like picturing them talking about it. 10 years from now, you know? Yeah, they all have their favorites. It's so cute to see them make connections with like specific dogs that come through. And I love snapping pictures of them with the dogs and like sending it off to the owners, because a lot of my pet parents have kids, you know, and so I think they love knowing that I have kids because their pets will get loved on the way that they're used to getting logged on at home. So I feel like it's like an added bonus, right? Like, Oh, you don't just get me taking care of your dog, you get Chris, you get my kids, you get my roommate, like, there's like six people in this house that are just gonna love on your dog. You know, I feel like it helps us stand out from like, a, like a kennel or traditional boarding type of situation like this really is a family based business for us. So
Collin 46:10
we found some of our biggest proponents were grandparents who love seeing their cars who had you know, grandkids and then they could see their dog with, you know, our kids it just that they loved that because then they knew oh, it just they they love seeing those photos because it made them think about their grandkids and yeah, they really fell in love with that as a service to them. So cute. For so free for you, Laurie, what? You know, you've been on a just a wild journey. You know, it seems like everything's happened so fast. And you know, some things that you said, you know, you had to learn a lot from and grow from, what would you say that some of your biggest takeaways so far are from from growing and being your business.
Lori H. 46:53
Being a giant people pleaser, I definitely have a hard time saying no. So we are practicing using that word more often. I'm just really putting things in place to like make my life easier like I was when I was doing it part time was very much like using just Google Calendar, trusting that my brain would remember things. And it wasn't it got to the point last summer where like, I was almost forgetting to like show up to people's houses because like if it wasn't on my calendar, it didn't exist. And if I forgot to add it to my calendar, it definitely didn't exist. Yeah, I never I never forgot, thankfully. But there were I remember there was one part was like, oh my god, yeah. So does that resonate?
Collin 47:43
Were you just, everything's fine, everything's fine. And then whatever was whatever crusty bit of my brain finally broke loose. It was like, oh,
Lori H. 47:52
yeah, not being afraid to admit you need help. So like, you know, at a conference, for example, everyone is screaming from mountaintops. I'm like what everybody you guys talking about. But honestly, it has like, saved my life. And now I don't even have to worry about like, collecting payments, like I require pre payment at the start. Back when I first started, I would do like, oh, well, how about you payment? 100. About $100 deposit now. And then you can pay me the rest later? And then you're like worried? Are they actually going to send the money? Are they actually going to send the money when the service is over and complete? So like now, it's all just like, here's my policy outlined in my agreement you pay before you book like, I don't have to worry about everything's on autopilot. And I recently switched over to using lock boxes, which Thank you, Doug. That was amazing. You guys talked about it to one of your episodes. So like that kind of like got the gears going. And then I'm taking Doug's positive hiring course right now. And he's doing that in conjunction with Michelle and they're doing the solo to team thing, because I'm dying to hire because I would like some time back in my day, you know, it can get kind of crazy during like, we're about to have April school vacation week, and I'm already anticipating working like 1213 1415 hour days, that week, because it's just me. So I would love I mean, the whole reason this all started going back to when we started this conversation was for my kids, like, I want to create a better life for them. And if I'm not around, like, I'm missing out on their childhood, you know, I want to make sure that I'm home in the evenings and on the weekends and like having that quality time I'm working so hard. I want to make sure that like we're having a little bit of fun to you know, like go and take the kids for ice cream something simple. It doesn't have to be complicated, but it can be so hard to fit time in for something so simple like that when you're like bopping around, visit to visit you know?
Collin 49:55
No, it is you know, I we were at a networking event and some But he asked me, how big are you going to grow your business? Right? How about what growth, growth growth? What are you gonna grow? And I just say no, I just was thought for a moment, I was like, you know, whatever gets me more time with my kids at the end of the day, like, I don't know, like, that's really what I want. And we want our business to give us that that's what the point of the businesses is to serve people well, in our clients give them exceptionally high quality pet care, service and peace of mind. And have a home life right and have time with our kids. Because that's time you don't get back. Right. And that is so like, central to what we do. And so absolutely, you know, see that and how you're growing and everything and taking those small moments. It's like, because we take can feel like, I gotta go on a vacation, and I gotta go do this thing. And we got to travel, we got to say, No, get an ice cream bar and sit in a park. Like, that's all like, that's all they want. And it's like, that's what I need to so keeping things again, simple, and it's hard for me.
Lori H. 51:00
Yes. I'm so proud of my business. And I want to be around to serve everyone all the time. And sometimes it's just really important to like, I'm going on a retreat this weekend, and like, I had to turn business down. And that's really hard for me, I don't like doing that. And because he you worry in the back your mind, are they gonna go find somebody else? Because this one time, occasionally that happens. Okay, well, I guess that's that, but I gotta take time off to support. Yeah. Laurie,
Collin 51:31
I want to really thank you for your time with us today. And for taking that away from you know, things and talking to us about your story, talking about as to the importance of investing in ourselves, how you pay close attention to those finances, and how that impacts our ability to make those good decisions, and to just do the damn work and get ready to go all in. So I want to thank you for that Laurie and encouraging us in that way. For those who want to follow along with all the cool stuff that you're doing and reach out and get in touch. How best can they do that?
Lori H. 52:02
Sure. I'm most active, I would say on Instagram. So that would just be Stow road pet sitters on Instagram or Facebook. I I'm not super like busy on my socials because I'm busy taking care of dogs. But when I do have the time, I get on there. And I try to post some fun, cute content for you guys.
Collin 52:20
Yeah, cool. Well, I will have those links in the show notes and on the website. So people can click right to those and start following along with all the cool stuff. And just get to know you more, Laurie. So thank you again, I really, really appreciate you coming on the show and sharing and I it's it's an immense blessing. So thank you. Thanks for having me. During my interview with Laurie, she talked about how she learned empathy from working in customer service and how that was crucial to understanding and meeting the needs of both the pets and their owners. This is often an overlooked secret sauce. In our business, we focus so much on the pet care, which is obviously extremely important. But when we forget about or when we push aside or relegate customer service to secondary or tertiary issues, our business actually does suffer the experience that people have when interacting with our business. When speaking with us. What are the cancellations like what are bookings? Like? What are special requests like? And how are those handled? How are concerns received and dealt with? Every aspect of those shows our level of professionalism and concern for both the pet and their owner. Your clients want to be felt and seen and heard when they have concerns. It's not saying that they're always right. But it is saying that you have taken time to at least hear them out and then make a decision. That little step as things come up, or the extra detail that you show to the words that they're using when they mentioned a concern shows your level of professionalism shows that you care deeply for them and their pet. And at the end of the day. That's exactly what we want. We want to thank today's sponsors time to pet and the National Association of Professional pet sitters for making today's show possible. We also want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
