508: From I to We, Fears of Growing A Team
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What fears do you have about hiring employees? Many business owners find themselves needing to hire to achieve a better balance, grow their business, or both. However, several fears can prevent them from moving forward. Today, we share the three biggest fears and challenges associated with hiring employees and how to overcome them. It all comes down to having a process that isn't just about getting the right people in the door but also about training and managing the right people well to maintain high standards.
Main topics:
Overcoming hiring cost fears
Maintaining control with employees
Training for quality standards
Client communication and trust
Effective hiring strategies
Main takeaway: If you hire the right people, you can train them to do what you do.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, employees, pet sitter, people, pet, business, hiring, hire, visit, pay, team, trainable, costly, fear, sitters, confessional, control, train, great, shadow
SPEAKERS
Collin, Meghan
Meghan 00:00
Oh, hi, I'm Meghan, I’m Collin, and we are the hosts of pet sitter confessional and open honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you also to pet sitters associates for sponsoring today's episode. And also our Patreon people who have found value and love the podcast and want to see it keep going. So they give a little of their hard earned pet sitting and dog walking money back to the podcast every month. If that sounds like you, and you enjoy the show, as well, you can go to pet sitter confessional.com/support, to see all of the ways that you can help. We see a lot of people looking to add employees. And this is great. I know that the United States government has kind of helped this along as well, because they are very much discouraging the use of independent contractors. We a few years ago, we actually did an entire podcast series on hiring and our approach to it and our interview questions and, and everything that's important with hiring. So if you would like to listen to that, you can go to the show notes for all of the episode numbers. But today, we wanted to talk about the three most common fears people have when they start to hire, and really how to overcome those. The first one that we most often see is that it's too costly, or the perceived notion that is too costly. But here's the honest truth. Will you make as much money from a visit when you pay someone else to do it? No, of course not. But it's a visit that you didn't have to do and you still made money from it. Yes, you have to pay taxes, and you should be paying for workers compensation, mileage training supplies, and nice surprises for them. But at the end of the day, it's a visit that you didn't have to do, you didn't have to get out of your pajamas and go do it, you just had to do the admin part and route plan and get them to there. But at the end of the day, it isn't a visit that you had to do. So
Collin 01:45
ask yourself Is your goal to replace yourself or to duplicate yourself, if you're trying to duplicate yourself, meaning you're trying to do twice as much work while you are still in the field doing work, you'll continue to work your usual workload and you'll still get your same income level. And anything beyond that is gravy. If it's to replace yourself and get you out of the field, yes, you will work less and you will need to grow to make the same amount of money. But the fact is, employees never cost you money. They do nothing but make you money. We just as a business owners have to understand and put our mindset into that mentality of making money by having somebody work for us and understand what costs are we actually trying to account for? Is it a financial cost? Is it an opportunity cost? Is it a time cost? Is it a mental health cost? All of those are what we sit down and go? What am I actually getting? What are the benefits from this that I receive as the business
Meghan 02:46
owner, because ultimately, what you are getting back when you are paying for that employee, you're you're getting back your time to do boots on the ground marketing, going to networking events, trying to drum up more business for your employees, or even just do admin work route planning, taxes, payroll, all these other things that you can't do when you're in visits.
Collin 03:06
And I think what this actually comes from is that when we look to hire employees, we realize just how cheap we had been all along. And it puts it into stark contrast with what we thought we were doing that when we look at Oh, if I had to pay somebody for the to do this, I couldn't because my prices aren't actually high enough. And we realize just how under much undercutting we've done to our own self and how much higher we need to raise our prices, which then a lot of stress comes from that because now we've got to talk with our clients. And we have to do marketing. And we have to message our clients about why we're raising prices. And this dredges up a whole lot of other anxieties along with it. Because we're sensitive about this, we don't want to be told that we're too costly, and we want as many clients as possible. And so this really touches on a huge nerve, and a huge pain point that a lot of us carry around as far as burden of I'm sensitive about pricing, and I don't really feel comfortable with this. But then when we look to pay somebody to do this, it throws it right in our face and we go oh, I have to raise my prices.
Meghan 04:11
Yeah, one of the biggest ways to curb the it's too costly myth is to actually run the numbers to sit down and go, Okay, I'm going to be paying them at this hourly rate at this mileage reimbursement and I want to allot this budget for extra goodies. And this first applies and when you actually do an Excel sheet of this is what I currently charge and this is what I need to charge. Then you go oh, well, okay, I can support this or I can't but you have to then mentally go well, if I'm already burned out. If I can't handle any more clients, if I just want to close up shop, then you don't really have another choice other than to Yes, either close up shop or to hire employees in which case well, would you rather keep your business or not?
Collin 04:55
And here's the trick to running the numbers. Remember that people are paying you for let's say a 30 minute visit, well, you're not just going to have an employee do one of those, you're going to have them possibly do two of those, let's say, Okay, well, how many 30 minute visits? Can we fit in the course of an hour? Well, depending on Drive times, its averages out to about one and a half. Well, if your price if you were charging $30, a visit, and now you've haven't half of that, again, that's $45 an hour that that person is generating by doing those visits. Now your hourly rate is 20 bucks an hour, you can see how quickly well actually, you're, you're still making quite a bit of money here. And then obviously, you'll do with taxes and worker compensation and buy them a latte once a month. You know, there's a thank you and all those things. But remember, it's at the one and a half, where you really start getting a lot of power. And then you as the business owner, your real stress comes into how do I route plan so that it is efficient, so that I'm not doing one visit every hour, because everything's 30 minutes apart?
Meghan 05:56
The general rule for payroll is that it should be between for employees should be between 45 and 55%, anything above that, and you really need to start cutting costs and anything below that you should really be paying your people more. The second biggest struggle that we see with people potentially hiring or not is how do I have control? People don't want to lose control? And I agree, I want my business is my baby, how do I possibly let it in the hands of somebody else? How will I ensure that my clients trust this person? How will I be able to trust them in my precious clients homes, these people have entrusted me over the years to care for their pets in their nice homes with all their stuff around and I'm sending somebody that I don't really know from Adam into this visit. How can I trust them? The fear
Collin 06:45
here, the real fear is that you don't think that they're going to do it like you, you don't think there's any way that anybody could love the pets as much as you do or scoop to the cat litter as well as you do. And so you need to train them to work on overcoming this fear, you have to train them. And the only way that you can do that is if you hire employees, Megan mentioned is not only is it using trying to legitimately use independent contractors, basically impossible these days, but you couldn't control what they do. Anyway, if you have them in your business, you're in years using them, because they're their own business with their own SOPs, their own policies. Because you hire employees, you can control what they do, because you're training them, you have oversight, you're managing them, you're giving disciplinary actions, you're giving feedback, you're giving them supplies, you're telling them exactly what something has to be done. And then you train them to that specification. It's not just and this is where, again, a lot of our fears come in. And we tend to think it's just going to be a handshake, and we let them go and our clients, we give them all the door codes and all the lock boxes and alarm codes and we say okay, well you go walk the dogs, I'm gonna be over here on the couch. No, there is an there's a huge amount of of work and effort on your part, bringing this person into your company, to train them to the quality standards that you desire for your clients. There is effort, there's an intentionality there is shadowing and managing that goes into place here. But we do that, so that we can maintain the standards that we hold ourselves to.
Meghan 08:15
And that really is the misconception here is that your right, we just turn them loose, and we cross our fingers and hope at the end of the day that they've showed up at the right time at the right places sent the right updates and all this stuff. No, actually, as an employer, you have a ton of control. Legally, you have a ton of control with an IC, you don't. And that's why it is important to have your field manual and your employee handbook that says this is exactly how you should operate in our business. This is not an autonomous thing. Sure, there are some aspects of this business that you can write an update the way you want, and take pictures the way you want. But ultimately, you need to go where we say when we say and do this, how we say to do it in
Collin 08:58
our company, employees don't start doing solo visits until everybody's on the same page and agrees that they are ready to do solo visits. And then it's an entirely other step for them to do visits without us there to shadow them for a first time client. It's all about comfort level, gauging what that person is ready for and equipping them with the right tools with the right knowledge and with the with the right support to make sure that there are going to thrive in that because being a manager isn't easy. You have to work on believing in yourself and speaking up when you see problems. One of the biggest things that I know, we have had to overcome and me personally is going No, when I see somebody holding a leash incorrectly when I'm shadowing them, it's my responsibility to tell them that they're holding the leash incorrectly. Otherwise, that person is never going to know. But I can sit there in my head and go, Oh, well, I don't want to I don't want to tell him how to do that. I'll just let's just continue to talk about his childhood story or we went kayaking or you know, whatever. Whatever. Uh, but no, I'm there to make sure that they are progressing towards excellence in everything that they do. And they don't know if I don't tell them, I have to know that I have good things to say you have good things to tell people,
Meghan 10:14
because you can train them to do what you do if you hire the right people. And that's why that interview process is so important asking the right questions getting a feel for how this person is, are they going to be professional? Are they trainable, we can teach how to scoop a letterbox. That's super easy. What we can't teach is the attitude, the personality of someone, are they going to be teachable and trainable? Or are they get going to get their feelings hurt when we say, well, we actually need it done this way instead of this way.
Collin 10:45
We have run into that before where somebody is eager to get started with us, very confident in their ability, but not humble enough to receive correction. And that really will kneecap you at every single stage because you have standards, you have policies, you have procedures, you know how the litter is needs to be scooped up. But if you tell somebody how that they're doing it wrong, or how they could do it better, and they shove you off, or they just go or whatever, this is ridiculous. It's just cat litter. Okay, well, you know, that person is on a good foot. So that's a question that we ask ourselves at every stage of our hiring process, is this person teachable? Will this person accept correction, and specifically accept correction from us when necessary.
Meghan 11:27
So when you are going through the interview process, think about the people that you're interviewing, they do have different skills and different viewpoints. And that is a huge strength for your business. You know, different eyes, ears and hands on the pet, when they are trained. And when they're trainable, your company will be offering an equally as high or even higher level of care than you can provide. Because you might not be having a good day, or may not be feeling the best or just having an off day. But knowing that you have a team around you or other eyes and ears really is helpful to the pet, they may catch something that you don't and so knowing that you have trained them and sent them off to go spread their wings, knowing that ultimately you have control over them. And what they do is a good feeling. You know, you create the box for them to be it. You say how big the sides are, where the sides are. And they must operate within that box, but they have they have freedom they have agency, but you have control over the size of the box. Something that you need. Whether you are a solo or a team is pet business insurance. As pet care professionals, your clients trust you to care for their furry family members. And that's why pet sitters Associates is here to help. for over 20 years, they've provided 1000s of members with quality pet care insurance. Because you work in the pet care industry, you can take your career to the next level with flexible coverage options, client connections and complete freedom in running your business. Learn why pet sitters Associates is the perfect fit for you and get a free quote at pets@llc.com. You can get a discount when you join by clicking membership Pet Sitter professional and use the discount code confessional when you go to checkout, check out the benefits of membership and insurance once again add pets@llc.com
Collin 13:05
far and away the strongest argument that people have against hiring employees for their business is their concern their fear of all of their clients wanting me, you've worked hard to build trust, and you're the face of the business, everybody knows you. And then all of a sudden you need to hire and you worry about clients that they won't be okay with someone new, we find that this bleeds into the other issues that we've mentioned earlier, you're worried about people not doing it like you because they're not like you. If that's your concern, you need to have you must have a training plan in place. You need to be able to say to everybody who asks you questions or calls you on the phone or reaches out to social media, you need to be able to say everyone on my team does it like I do, because I've trained them to do it like I do. And honestly, what we found is that some people will even do it better than you. And that's okay, that's great, because they can take the skills that you've given them, and they can run with it. It's all about communicating to the clients and realize that at the end of the day, almost every client almost all that they want. They just want their pets cared for. They don't really care by whom. So if you couldn't do it, I mean, astor's, if you couldn't care for that client, they just find somebody else anyway. So they're looking for their pet cared for, you can present them with a well qualified, highly professional team of people and go, This is what we do. This is how we do it. And that little word, we, when we integrate that into, when we integrate that into everything that we do, it becomes very powerful in the mindset of ourselves and of the people that we are talking to, because all of a sudden, it's bigger than us. We can present a unified front and as the business owner, as the representative in your community and to your clients. That's what this is a unified front of professionalism, of skills of training of attitude and attention. In all things of how do I know that I have competence to send this person into your home, because they've passed everything with flying colors? How do I know this person has passed everything with flying colors, because I've been there at every step of the way, assessing them at giving them quizzes, getting them certified in XYZ, or whatever that is, and making sure that they will be somebody that I would hire for my pets.
Meghan 15:23
But I don't want to sugarcoat this because there are some clients that aren't going to be a good fit for a team even more than one person. Even if you have just two people. Some dogs are not going to be okay with that. Some owners just want one person. And that is a hard thing for us to reconcile with, because we have grown to love these clients. But you have to realize that your mental health and your well being if you are just at the end of this and really needing to hire, then some clients may fall off, that just means they are not a good fit for you anymore.
Collin 15:58
And that's a good good point, we keep saying this team approach and play at the team approach and talk about your team. There are actually two different ways to implement a team of employees with you. The first way is a one for one model. This is where one employee takes care of one client for all of their care needs for the duration of the vacation or the walking around schedule, whatever that is. The other one is more of a shift based work. And that's that's the model that we have been using in operating in our business if morning, afternoon, evening, weekday weekend shifts where people get a small subsection of the totality of visits for a particular client. This does mean that yes, over the course of a client's vacation or a course of their walking service needs, they may encounter four or five, six different employees. So particularly skittish or reactive dogs are just not going to be a good fit for us. And they are going to be somebody that we have to say no to so we screen clients for our kind of team approach. Meanwhile, we are reinforcing to the clients and in our marketing messaging, where we play up that we lead into what it gets the client and why it's such a benefit. Because your clients again, they want somebody to show up and take care of the pets. They don't care that you the owner that you get more time back in your day. But they do care about guaranteed service. They do care about expanded reliability and expanded availability, they care about their pet getting exposed to new people for motor socialization, so that their pet is more well rounded as an individual. That's what we can sell and what we can approach to our clients. When we look to build on the team of hey, I understand that you I've been serving you diligently and reliably over the past eight years or five years or 10 years. As I look to expand, I am really excited about bringing on Kathy, because Kathy falls in line with everything that we do. She's excelled at all of our training, she's shadow me, and she knocks it out the park every single time. And she's gonna take care of Buster, just as I do, if not better. So
Meghan 17:57
unfortunately, there may be existing clients that challenge you on this, in which case, you have to decide, are you going to continue caring for just that one client? Are they a super special client that you're only going to make the exception for for this one? Or are you going to say this is how we operate now and this, you either basically get used to it or here's a recommendation for a different pet sitter. It's not a fun conversation to have with a client. But if you need to do this, for your mental health and the betterment of your business and your personal life, this is something that you need to do regardless of anybody else's opinion. The top three reasons why people fear hiring the most are that it's too costly, you don't have control, and that everybody just wants you and nobody else. But we also wanted to include where you find people, if growing a team is your true desire, and you're ready to hit the ground running and you don't have these fears at all. You can go to Facebook, you can blast it on social media or your email list to your existing clients and say, Hey, I need to hire you are great people find me some great people to work in my company. We also love indeed, it's the platform that we have used for the past few years, the organic reach has gone down as with any platform, but it is still a great way for finding employees, you can also choose the paid sponsored ads as well. And
Collin 19:14
that is important to know there is still a free option. It is very confusing when you set up a job post, they will make it seem like you can't do it for free, or that it's not available. But it is so pay very close attention to exactly what you are clicking. But it is also one of the places where most people default to go and look for a job. And that's still why it is so beneficial because it's so large in people's minds of I'm looking for a job. Where do I go? I go to indeed. So that's why it still continues to work well,
Meghan 19:42
well. And Google surfaces those job ads as well, because we've had some people contact us saying that they saw us through the Google ad but we've never done that before. It's only been through indeed. So Google will surface that and pick that up as well.
Collin 19:55
Especially if you have a hiring page on your or website, you can actually set up a Google schema, the Google tag for that particular page so that Google, whenever they crawl your website, they'll go, oh, this page is actually a job ad. So when somebody searches, dog walker job, and you know, I can surface this page directly to them. So it's another way to get in front of people, while they're just searching.
Meghan 20:20
You can also look at local hiring groups. So again, Facebook is great for this. Or if there are other networking business groups that you are a part of, you can blast it there, the Chamber of Commerce is great for that, too. They've got a weekly email newsletter, at least ours do. But the key isn't where you're posting, it's what you're posting, just like in attracting clients, you want particular messaging, in particular wording and phrases. Same thing here, figure out that particular employee that you are trying to target and use language that goes after them. Just
Collin 20:48
as an example, a lot of our original job ads talked a lot about having a flexible schedule and a lot of about independence. But the fact is, is that the way we were scheduling with our shift work wasn't flexible at all, we needed people to show up when we expected them to show up or when they were scheduled to show up, there wasn't a pick and choose your own adventure kind of scheduling model that we were going after. So we had to remove that because we had people who we were hiring because they said they were excited about the job. And they were looking forward to the responsibilities. But they wanted the flexible scheduling options, and they wanted the independent nature of this. And that wasn't what we were actually wanting to offer how we were wanting to operate. So be very careful of the kind of language that you use and be aware that it will have messaging to people that they're going to pick up on.
Meghan 21:32
If there are specific fears that you have regarding hiring that we didn't touch on here and you'd like some advice or input on those. You can email us at petsitter confessional@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook and Instagram at petsitter. confessional we also have a Facebook group that you can ask lots of other sitters, your questions. It's called sitter confessionals, and it's on Facebook as well. Thank you for listening today. We hope you found this valuable. If you have and you would like to get back to the podcast. You can go to pet sitter professional.com/support to see how you can help out thank you also to pet sitters associates and we will talk with you next time. Bye
