509: Creating Connections with Cats with Zara Willmott
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What’s it like running a business dedicated to cat care specifically? Zara Willmott, owner of Cat Sitter Toronto, shares her journey from cat sitter to business owner, highlighting the unique challenges and rewards of her niche. She discusses how the pandemic accelerated her transition and led to innovative operational changes that ensured both client and staff safety. With a deep passion for feline well-being, Zara emphasizes the importance of specialized care and open communication with clients. Her insights into team management and growth reveal the dedication required to provide exceptional cat care.
Main topics:
Transition to Business Ownership
Pandemic-Induced Operational Changes
Specialized Cat Care Focus
Team Management and Growth
Client Communication and Education
Main takeaway: Open communication with our clients is crucial. It’s important to share our observations about their cats’ health and behavior.
About our guest:
I have always been an animal lover, growing up on a farm instilled this love from an early age. We always had cats at home growing up, I’ve even assisted during some difficult kitten births. My grade school graduation gift was picking my own kitten from my aunt’s litter. He was a handsome grey kitty named Charlie; this was my first of many. Currently, I have 2 fur babies and 3 human babies, I’ve even managed to corrupt my husband into a cat lover!
I’ve had many different careers in my years from Canadian Armed forces Reservist to Early Childhood Educator to secretary and now owner of Cat Sitter Toronto Inc. When I was given the chance to become owner of CST Inc., how could I possibly say no? This is the perfect job and business for me. I truly have a passion for cats and strive to bring more recognition to being a professional pet sitter.
Links:
https://www.catsittertoronto.ca
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
cat, client, visits, pet, staff, litter box, care, job, litter, cat sitter, grown, pandemic, company, service, previous owner, business, work, lockbox, sitter, put
SPEAKERS
Zara W., Collin
Collin 00:01
Welcome to pet sitter confessional. Today, we're brought to you by time to pet and our friends at the peaceful pet music calm music for pets YouTube channel. We are super excited to have the winner of the furthest traveled to the Texas pet sitters Association Conference making it an international affair, Zahra Wilmont, from cat sitter Toronto on the show, to talk about her journey into pet care how she runs a cat specific business and she connects with those particular clients. Zara, it's wonderful to get connected with you again after having met at the conference. For those who haven't been able to meet you or know about your business. Can you please tell us a bit more about who you are and all that you do? Of
Zara W. 00:40
course, Thanks, Colin, for having me on today. So obviously, the title of the company pretty much says it we're cat sitter Toronto means we run a cat sitting company in Toronto, Ontario and Canada. I became the owner of that company in 2020, just before the pandemic, I had worked for the company from 2018. And at the beginning of 2020, the previous owner and founder had approached me about purchasing part of the company as she was relocating provinces. And the pandemic just kind of sped up the process. And then I became a business owner and learned a lot about policies and procedures and health and safety. Everything else you can imagine becoming a business owner at the beginning of the pandemic.
Collin 01:26
But perfect time to do it. There's there's a lot more added to your plate there. But you said you had started with the company back in 2018. What was life like for Zara prior to 2018.
Zara W. 01:38
Prior to 2018, I actually worked for the school board. But I needed to take some time off to focus on my kids, my sons are both autistic. And they just needed a little bit more flexibility and mom's schedule to get to appointments and an advocate for them and things like that. So then I started looking for a part time job came across this ad for a cat sitter and went well I could do that I love cats, I could take care of cats, I could do that. And then really fell in love with the company, the business model and the way that the previous owner and founder created this amazing company. So
Collin 02:16
was it the was the cat care specifically or what was it about it that you looked at and went that's that's for me?
Zara W. 02:22
The cat care absolutely is a big thing. I grew up on a farm. My very first pet that was mine alone was a cat. His name was Charlie. A great kitty barn kitty but he was he was my cat. In my first official like, pet that was there a specific and only zeros pet so
Collin 02:44
well and to have a niche like that. Right? I'm sure that it was kind of nice to be able to focus right back in 2018 going it's cat only it's cat specific, I can really dive into this. Absolutely.
Zara W. 02:58
And having had experience with cats and I've been around for the birthing of cats I've I've looked up on the farms, I've seen it all with cats every kind of injury you could think of I've encountered. But to then be in the city and have this job opportunity that really like touched a part of me having always owned cats as well. It was nice to see that somebody was looking out for the needs of pet owners out there, cat owners and specific fun
Collin 03:27
with with with your two kids looking for that flexibility, you know that that must have been really appealing as well Have you have you been able to maintain that as your business has grown. And as you took ownership of it?
Zara W. 03:40
I have, I've really lucked out. Because I've grown the team. When I inherited the company, I say inherited. When I got the company in 2020, I had 10 staff, I now have 24. So with that I have a team of three what I call team leaders. And so they are people who I can leave in charge so that I can still take time away from the business, I can still have my days off that I need. I can focus on the appointments, I need to focus on my children or for myself. And know that there's somebody who's got the right mindset in mind and Ken who's who can support the younger staff. Younger meaning not in the job as long as they could support them in the field if something should go wrong, you know, frozen lockbox or can't find the cats can't get the keys in the concierge. Let us take them or whatever the case may be there is somebody available to support those staff. So I'm really lucky with the team that I have. Well,
Collin 04:38
that's really important to many of us start our business because we want that flexibility it's very appealing to us of all I can I can pick this and not this and I need that my life and then as it grows, we look at this like homunculus of this, you know this beast before us and we're like no, I can't let this thing loose. I can't I'm strapped to this 24/7 And it Really, it can become very confining to us, when we started off for something that we wanted flexibility with, and can kind of sometimes I've heard from a lot of people can kind of resent that aspect of the business as it grows. Yes,
Zara W. 05:13
there is that work life balance that comes into play. And that is really hard to maintain. And I think I learned rather fast because of the pandemic, because at the beginning, there wasn't a lot of work for anybody. But there was also a lot of policies, there was a lot of procedures, there was a lot of navigating how to safely go back to work when we're going into somebody else's home. What do the clients want to the client or the clients comfortable with us unmasking in their homes? Do they want us mask? Do they want us sanitizing like crazy? What's the steps involved. So even though there was a lot of visits to manage, there was a lot of policies and procedures to figure out in that first year. So that was a lot to manage. And then the second year, when we started to pick back up, that's when I realized I really need to get this team leader thing in place, it is something that the previous owner had been toying with. So I had the idea of already how to get it into place. And then it kind of took off with it. So I can have a break.
Collin 06:16
It is fascinating to see how the business ebbs and flows with like busy with visits and then busy with administrative stuff. I know for us, we'll kind of go through this period where it's like, I don't feel like we're doing any visits. But my goodness, why is there so much paperwork in emails and stuff, and then take that moment to go, you know what, I'm really thankful that I'm not slammed with visits, because if I was, I wouldn't be able to look at this form, right and read it appropriately, or go through the policies and
Zara W. 06:46
stuff, or do the bookkeeping, or do the scheduling, all the other things, it's nice to have the ebbs and flows. And with being a cat specific company, we absolutely have those ebbs and flows because we're we don't typically do daily visits, unless it's a cat that's kind of recovering from a surgery and the client wants them to be visited. We do daily visits when people are on vacation, but not normally like a daily dogwalk. So we have a lot more ebb and flow in the company, which is very helpful for those things. Well,
Collin 07:15
how do you how do you manage that then because I know there are a lot of people out there who get really frustrated with the with a really big highs and really low lows and feel like I can't live like this or that I can't, how do I manage this or staff appropriately when I may have three visits today and then 14 tomorrow.
Zara W. 07:34
So that's why I have such a large team, I have a team of staff who are very aware that the schedule fluctuates, and that it ebbs and flows. I have a lot of students actually a lot of college and high school, not high school, sorry, college and university students. And they they enjoy the flexibility because it seems to match up with when they have their exams is kind of when we are slow. And then when they when they don't have their exams, and when they're out of school is when we're really busy. So that helps for sure with managing the schedule. And the expectations as long as the staff know what to expect, like you're not getting full time work, because things fluctuate. We also aim to have a larger client base, that way, we can always have visits on the schedule, we're not dealing with a small group of clients, we're close to 500 clients for the city so far. And that that keeps us at a steady pace almost every day. Yeah,
Collin 08:32
there's those two different strategies, you're right of love, how do I get some consistency, either A, I need to have a service that is offered on a consistent basis where people could use that more regularly. Or I need to take my more infrequent service and grow my client base so that it starts kind of just, you know, statistically filling the gaps and patches and those holes there, you're still going to have a variation during the around the holidays and round breaks and stuff. But you're hoping that it's going to fill everything in. And that's, you know, it's really just understanding what we how it goes, how we want to operate and what services were offering and how
Zara W. 09:13
they're best gonna fit. Absolutely. And during the pandemic, we introduced litter care service. Oh, as a way to check because people weren't traveling. But if people felt comfortable having you come into their home, why wouldn't they have somebody come in and clean their litter boxes so they don't have to?
Collin 09:29
What? How has that been working out for you? Oh, it's still
Zara W. 09:32
very new. We have three clients who use us regularly. So we go in every month to clean all of their litter boxes and refresh their litter area. They rave about it. They say it's the best service ever because really, who wants to clean the litter boxes? It's a big job. And we did have a woman who was pregnant during the pandemic and we went and cared for her litter boxes three times a week we went in scooped clean To say that she wouldn't have to run the risks of like toxoplasmosis and things like that. Right?
Collin 10:05
Well, again, that's that's a service of going by finding those pain points, and again going, how do I find some baseline here? And for a lot of people who are do petsitting, they go, Okay, well, let me do dog walking, or let me do poop scooping, or let me do you know, whatever that is nail trims are some grooming aspect. And what we're trying to do is, again, find a higher baseline elevate that up so that it's not quite so peak and valley through everything. But also having a large team like you have, you're able to make those adjustments on the fly, right? And so it sounds like you're also not maybe correct me if I'm wrong here. But you know, you're not guaranteeing hours and making sure everybody has a full plate you're going there may be nothing today, and there'll be a lot tomorrow.
Zara W. 10:49
That's exactly I don't guarantee hours, but I let people know, to expect that it will fluctuate. And they let me know their availability. So even around Christmas, I asked the staff, what are you available to work? How many visits Do you want each day? And then I use that as my baseline for making sure we don't overbook and end up with too many visits on the schedule and not enough staff.
Collin 11:13
That's never fun. No. And it's a great conversation to have with staff of going, Hey, your availability lets us know what we can take on what we can say yes to right. You may there may be some minimum expectations for stuff, but even then you may go, if you're not available, I can't give you any visits, which means I have to decline these clients and being okay with that, as the business owner is also an aspect of that I'm sure going well, okay, if I don't have anybody available for this day, I can't do anything that day. It's giving
Zara W. 11:44
yourself permission to say no. And I think as business owners, we all have a hard time. And because we're going to service industry, we want to help people, we want to provide solutions for their problems. We want to say yes, we want to say absolutely, we can take care of your cat for the next three weeks. But what if I don't have the staff for two of those weeks, then it runs the risk of not meeting our company standards. And I would much rather you find somebody else who can care for your cat with what they deserve. And to go in and do it haphazardly, and not to the standard that I would want my company represented. Right
Collin 12:17
to go in there and rush through this just to do a checkbox, right like that's, it's really tempting to just do bare minimum and do checkbox kind of work when what we do is not that right, it's very much personalized, individualized, it's very attentive, it's way premium. And to think, well, if I can just squeeze in another one, actually, that's that's a mentality that starts to get a bit dangerous when you think about the quality of the work.
Zara W. 12:43
Absolutely, and and the pets that were caring for they, they are somebody's family member. And that's how we look at it, like we're going into care for your family. And I wouldn't want anybody coming into care for my family and not doing their 100%. So I wouldn't ask that of my staff to go and be like, oh, yeah, just go in and do 10%, because then it's one more visit on the schedule. We don't need one more visit on the schedule, if it's not going to do well for that cat. And I think there's a bit of a misconception too, with cat visits that people feel that they can do a cat visit and under 10 minutes and move on. Because maybe cats don't need socialization, but they 100% do. It's just not the same way that a dog would approach socialization. The cats are very independent, but they are very human oriented. They don't meow to each other in the world. They meow to us, they have created a language for humans. And they don't talk to each other that way.
Collin 13:38
Which which you're right, it's very important to remember this is especially for the cat centric care of going okay, what are the requirements here? What is required of me to begin here, and also recognizing that spending extra time in that visit, you know, going okay, well, I've got everything done in 10 minutes, I guess I will leave that well, some quiet time sitting there, you know, playing some calming music or watching you to Cat YouTube on your phone and playing that you know that you're helping get that cat accustomed to being there, right. So you maybe you can start working on them where they're going to be a little bit more presence at the next visit. The next is as you build that trust. And if we're so focused on just getting through today and getting this done, we stop thinking about those long term relationships that we're building and that trust that we're building with that pet.
Zara W. 14:25
That's 100% True. I say when we go in to do a visit, I always say get the chores done first because the chores, they don't take that long. Once you have a routine done in a home you can be done in 510 minutes, you've got the cat fed, you've got the litter scooped, you're cleaning up and then after that engage the cat and how they want it's not about what we want. We want to cuddle with the cat but they might not want to cuddle with us. So you got to think about what the cat wants if their body language is telling you that they want to sit across the room and stare at you because they're not 100% comfortable with you. That's okay sit down at their level and be there and talk awfully to them and build that relationship because you got to think about what this cat is going through as well, if they aren't a shy cat, or an easily anxious cat, they're human isn't home, they're not seeing they're human. We are the human that they're seeing. So they need to build a bond with us. And they're not going to do that, if we're approaching it the way we want to have to approach it on the cat's terms, right
Collin 15:20
and forcing ourselves into that situation, right? I just finished doing, you know, a big dog walk and it was in this MultiPad household, I come in all stinky and gross. And I'm like, No, love me, Pikachu. And they're like, how about No, how about I don't know, you, I'm gonna sit over here. And so I'm getting hurt and offended by that going, Wait, I got to slow down. And too often, I love how you said how you break that up of like chores first than engage. Because too often we can get the mindset of the chores are the visit, right? The chores are the point of the visit. And that is where we start shortchanging our clients. And because cheapens our service of what we can actually provide. And the quality that we bring to everything, thank you top of mind of chores are actually I can bust through those. So that I have all of this time to do what I'm actually here for.
Zara W. 16:13
Exactly it when people are paying the premium prices that they are for a pet sitter to come in, they want you there for a reason. And the reason is not to feed their cat because there's automatic feeders, there's automatic litter boxes, there's automatic water fountains. Were there for the cat, not for the chores. And that's the way I tell my staff to approach it.
Collin 16:33
Well, so how are you finding? Or what do you look for in a good cat sitter for your team?
Zara W. 16:38
That's such a good question. So first and foremost, you have to love cats. I don't require that my staff own pets, because not everybody has the opportunity to have a pet, they may be in a living situation where they're sharing with somebody with allergies. I've had staff in the past who came to work for me because they had lost their pet. And they found that this was a good way to open their heart to a pet when they weren't ready to bring a new one into their home. So I'm always looking for people who love animals, but also have a passion for providing service because again, this is a very service based industry, we're here to to help solve solutions for our clients. So I'm always looking for staff who have that same passion to help others is really that's what we're doing. And then obviously, somebody who has a flexible schedule is really handy to put in the schedule. But first and foremost, I look for the passion and the kindhearted people who love animals, because you can
Collin 17:39
train the skills later, right? That's an important aspect of that going, but I have to grow from the passion, the only way I know this person in front of me is going to do that hard work is going to listen and learn is if there's a passion and a compassion for that pet in person. Because otherwise I can talk till I'm blue in the face. And this person is just going to shrug me off because they're just wanting to a job or a skilled job. And they think they know everything. When really it's like I let's take your passion. Let's grow it into something more than that.
Zara W. 18:10
Exactly. I have a multi step application process so that I weed out the people who are looking for a fluffed job looking for a gig job, because that's not who I'm looking for. I am looking for somebody who truly wants to help pet owners, cat owners, and truly wants to just have more cats in their life. Because really, all of these client cats become our cats. And we love them almost as much as their humans do. And so making sure we have somebody who fits that mold is really
Collin 18:40
important. It and and really listening to when that person is talking, right of going like what is this person actually saying when they're when I'm asking them these questions. And because I've found we've had some people who, you know, they've worked at, like, we have these things called edible arrangements. They're the companies that you know, make fruit baskets and stuff together. We had a lady who applied and she had said, I love getting to make people's days special when I get to make a really good fruit basket. And I was like, okay, this person understands taking a simple act, doing it really really well to make somebody's day better. Like okay, that's cool. I like that connection that they were able to make that with that work. Now let's see if they can make that connection in our line of work and build from there. Have you heard of time to pet Dan from NYC pooch has this to say
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Collin 19:54
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Zara W. 20:05
Oh, absolutely. I mean, I provide all kinds of training, I provide training, first aid training and body language training, all that wonderful stuff before they even go and do a solo visit. They've got all that training under their belt. But if they don't have passion, and they don't have love for animals in their life, I can't teach that. And they're not going to, it's not going to carry through, I have had people who apply for the job and say, Oh, I don't have any cat sitting experience. So I don't know what to answer for this question. And I'll say, Okay, but what did you do at your other jobs, because a lot of skills that you have in another job can be transferred into the service industry that we are all service industries. So if you've had, you know, for instance, I have an ECE background. So I have like this early childhood education. So I take a lot of pride in providing care for anybody in my life, whether it's my kids, or my cats, or my lizards. So if I had somebody who had Eazy E on their resume, I would totally look into them further, because I would know that they already have that caring instinct, because they're willing to take care of people's kids. And for a lot of people, their cats are their kids.
Collin 21:14
Right? And that's something that we can't train, like, I can't put together a course curriculum to make somebody care, because that's, and that's really frustrating. I don't know, if you ever get frustrated by that, when you're like, I just, why doesn't this person care? And it's like, because they don't, they don't, there's nothing I can do. There's no motivation that I can give this person to make them care about this aspect. And for somebody, for people who run and operate a business, who kind of in this industry for our passion for our drive to serve people? Well, when we don't see that it can be kind of confusing as to like, what's going on? Like, why why? How could you not, this doesn't make sense.
Zara W. 21:51
Oh, it's so true. Or when you see a bad review from another pet company, and or another pet sitter and you think, how could you do that? How could you let them down in such a way that they left this such a bad review, I don't understand how you could do that, like, I these are living animals that are in our care. So you have to care 100% And if any of my staff ever showed me that they didn't care, we've definitely been having conversations and, and trying to figure out why they didn't care. Sometimes stuffs happening in our life. And we need to step back from work. And I get that. And so having that conversation with somebody who might not be fitting in the mold is important to to know how you can support them to become the best center that they can be. Right? And that
Collin 22:44
takes being in tune with with your team. And I know as your team grows larger, that's, that's harder to do to be able to see those little things and catch that early. So what kind of things do you have in place? Or how are you working with your team leads to make sure that everybody is, is working at
Zara W. 22:59
that level? So we do staff check ins twice a year. And that's really just to check in to see what's going on in your life? In your you know, has has your schedule changed? Do you have you picked up another job? Are you still in school, so that we can support them? Sometimes things come up in there, like right now it's exam time, and I'm really stressed. Okay, so do you need a letter workload? Like, let us know those things? I have an open door policy. I say no question is a silly question. Because when anxiety hits or panic hits, and you're on a visit, you need to have somebody who is going to calm you down. And that's where our team leads come into play. So we tell our staff like you can reach out the, I can't find the lockbox, I'm so frustrated, and then we'll just kind of help you calm down. And then you find the lockbox. It's all okay, right. It's all about supporting and having an open conversation, even though petsitting is a very solo job. Not all 24 of us are going into the same house, take care of the cat, I think that'd be overwhelming for the cat. Right? So we're not we're not seeing her coworkers on a daily basis. But we are communicating on a daily basis, I use Slack. I don't know if you know of that app. But we use that as a way to communicate the staff. And we have different channels in there. We share awesome photos, we share comics fun stories that happened during visits. If anybody's having a problem with a certain cat, we start like a group chat of all the sitters who've been in there so that we can problem solve the behavior of the cat. Sometimes cats just don't like one of us, but they love everybody else. There's a couple cats who kiss at me when I go in, but everybody else can have some porn on their lap. So I say well, they just don't want me and that's okay. We'll save the backup when nobody else can make it.
Collin 24:45
I still get hurt. Let's be honest, but it's fine. I recognize. You go. I'll be over here at the corner.
Zara W. 24:50
Don't take it personal.
Collin 24:55
But having something like Slack really helps get people in integrated into it. And that's, that's an aspect of going, what are people contributing? How are they contributing? Again, not everybody's the same. And we have some big social butterflies in our Slack channels where it's like godspeed you go forth and some people are a bit quieter, because that's just how they are. So not taking these as positive or negative single sync signals. But you're just monitoring like, what is this person doing? How does this person want to be engaged? How do they want to engage with others. And knowing that that support there is so critical in in that there's an institutional knowledge from other people that helps people see, oh, this is a lot bigger than myself, right? There's a lot of support here. And I don't have to know everything. And it can be really comforting for a lot of people. Absolutely.
Zara W. 25:43
Knowing that you're not alone, even though you're in the house alone there. And I employ a lot of women. This is a women centric field as we know. And we're doing visits at late at night. And if somebody's feeling unsafe, they're feeling insecure about the street that they're walking on, they can reach out to somebody and somebody can be on the phone with them until they get into a home, just to make sure that they feel safe that they're, they feel supported in their job. That's my goal. And recently I started, I started a monthly thing that I've labeled pause and percolate, it's coffee with the boss, I pick, I pick a local coffee shop, and I just say come and like dish work stress, life stress, just to sit around and talk with your co workers. So we do that once a month now. And it's been pretty good.
Collin 26:32
Oh, that's awesome. And again, just providing that platform and that opportunity, I think what's what's really important is, is going okay, nobody may show up. And that's fine with me, at least there's an option for them. And the more options we can provide our teams for ways to engage, right, the better because then we're meeting people's needs, because we've had people on the team who are like, I love being on the team, I really not interested in engaging much of anything, I've got my own life going to do my own thing, but they do reach out for help. So okay, I understand. Other people want to be those social butterflies want to show up to everything want to do everything that they can, and going, okay, I can, as the as the as the as the business owner, try and bring people together in different situations so that they feel as supported as they can be.
Zara W. 27:24
Absolutely. Twice a year I do a staff event. So we've done knife throwing archery, we've made ceramics and then I do a barbecue in my backyard so that it's very whatever people are socially comfortable doing, they can come in my backyard, we always have fun because I create a game where we have to do like a litter Olympics, and we scooped through a litter box to find a key to then put in a lockbox. all the wonderful things that we love about our job. Yeah, all in the same thing to try and see who can do it the fastest. It's it's loads of fun.
Collin 27:59
That's great. For secondary like knife throwing and archers, like what are you preparing? Oh, my goodness, this is a really intensive team you have Oh my god.
Zara W. 28:10
That's Toronto, people were kind of crazy.
Collin 28:13
Okay. Well, so you, you took over the business, you inherited the business, as you say back in 2020. What was that process like going from working as a senator in it to being approached and then kind of assuming the role of a business owner.
Zara W. 28:31
So I had a bit of experience with Office Management for the company about six months or so before I took over. So the staff had already kind of seen me as a authority figure, let's say, and so had the clients because I had been communicating to the clients about their invoices and such. So they there was an easy transition when it came to me taking over the previous owner sent out a message and said, you know, there's gonna be taking over and you guys all know her. So it made it much easier than I think if I was coming in as a brand new person that nobody knew, the staff were given the opportunity to stay on or not, and they all chose to stay on, which I was really thankful for. So yeah, that was kind of the process. It was very quick. It was supposed to be a slower process. It kind of like get my feet wet and learn more about the bookkeeping and all the wonderful paperwork that goes into owning a business. But the pandemic kind of sped things up.
Collin 29:31
Why did you why did you take that opportunity to take
Zara W. 29:34
over the business? Well, when I was approached with the opportunity, the first thing that popped into my head and I know it's gonna make you laugh was I can't lose this job. It's amazing. Of course I have to buy this business because what's gonna happen if I don't? Yeah, that was my job. My my thought process was I just love the job so much that I wanted to keep doing it. Yeah, and I'm glad that I thought that way and went that way because This company has definitely done wonders for my family and wonders for me, and still fits into my hectic life with my children. So that's working for me.
Collin 30:11
Well, yeah, when you see something, when you have something that you have an opportunity like that being able to see, yeah, I don't know, it sounds like you were pretty much able to immediately see yourself in that role doing these things. And that really helps whenever you can go, right. That's what I see so much here, I can do all this work. There's a lot of opportunity here. And diving right in, you know, even though it is, it was scary and terrifying. A lot of times, it's still going, there's an opportunity that I don't want to miss.
Zara W. 30:39
Exactly, I didn't want to pass up the opportunity I and I felt an obligation to the clients to continue to provide care for them. So I think that really helped to to kind of put me in the right mindset that right away, I was concerned with making sure that the clients knew what was going on that the staff knew what was going on. And that everybody felt comfortable with the situation, everybody had the opportunity to go find other care if they weren't comfortable. But on a side note of that, toot my own horn, I did have an old client, they're no longer a client of ours now. But they reached out to the previous owner to tell them what a great job I was doing, and that she had handed the company off to the right person. So that always made me feel really good. That kind of feedback. Because, you know, I took somebody's baby that they had invested their life into for so many years, I believe it was five years that she owned it before I took over, I took over her baby. And now I'm like making sure that this baby's growing up to be a teenager. So I want to make sure that I'm doing a good job for her because she puts so much into it as well. And then also doing a good job for me because now it's my baby too. Yeah.
Collin 31:50
Yeah, there's that that, that responsibility, that weightiness to have, especially having worked so closely with the previous owner and knowing everything that went into it and kind of what what they were wanting out of the business and their own goals and you going, Okay, I have to honor that. And be respectful to that of how it got to this point. And then now that now that I am the owner, I can do my own thing with respect to what has already come before me and recognize all the work that's already been put in?
Zara W. 32:19
Oh, absolutely, she puts so much work into it that I'm so grateful for because it showed the direction that I want to take it in. And there's a lot of legwork that was already done to make it easy for me to do that. I'm really grateful to her for that and for this opportunity to own this company. And so what was it?
Collin 32:39
How did you start making some of those initial changes? Because again, we have changes really hard. And I know that every time we kind of very humbly approach existing clients or staff about a possible maybe I don't know, we're still thinking about it change. Who knows, there's you know, you can see people start to their eyes Twitch like, never mind.
Zara W. 32:58
I think honestly, the pandemic help with that, because there was so many changes that happened right away. At first, we weren't able to do any visits unless they were absolutely necessary. Because everything was locked down. We changed our schedules to be 15 minute drop in visits. So staff would be in your home for the least amount of time possible to make sure that the basics were done food, water litter, and I Katie, how were you, and on your way, right. And then slowly move from that based on what the government was saying at the time. And every three weeks or four weeks, something changed. And there was a new policy that I was agreeing issuing to the clients and the staff, and retraining people on how to do it. We still have clients now who want us to wear masks and gloves in their home. And we totally respect that. And that's just become part of our day to day. So I think that first year, clients just got used to a lot of things changing from the pandemic. So when I actually started changing things, and we changed from being a primary secondary sector to being a team approach, and that happened during the pandemic, because everybody got sick, when somebody was sick, I wasn't sending them into your home. That meant I had to send somebody else who you may have not met somebody else who may have not met your cat before, because your primary and secondary might have both been sick at the same time. And so then we changed from holding keys to you have to have a lockbox or we pick them up for a concierge that way, no matter who needed to get in. It wasn't exposing a staff member to COVID by picking up keys from somebody who was sick with COVID. It wasn't exposing your home to COVID because I wasn't sending anybody in who was exhibiting any symptoms. I think it just naturally came from the pandemic, but then a lot of the things we did they made sense. And so we've stuck with them. Like we stuck with the team approach. We do still try to limit how many people were sending into homes. Right? But this way it's opened up our schedule, much more than it was before and it's allowed us to easily cover visits without stressing out the client and having to say oh, we're trying to find some We did cover your visit. It's just Oh, Heather's coming in today instead of Rhonda. And, and the client goes, Okay, thanks for letting me know. And it's just an easier transition for everybody. And then like I said, we do try to keep it to a minimum for the cat sake. But this way, we're not stressing about who can cover it.
Collin 35:18
From your perspective. I know like, that just creates like a huge just breathe a huge sigh of relief, because now I don't have to go to the primary and go, are you taking any vacation during this day? Are you busy into these? And this week's you know, we have, we have clients who they'll travel for three, four weeks at a time, and try to go like, Oh, one person, like they've got birthdays, they want to take their own trips and do their own stuff. And yeah, having that team approach allows you just go Oh, absolutely, we got you covered. We as a team, have you covered, don't worry about
Zara W. 35:48
exactly. And you know, it's good socialization. So if you've got a shy cat, we'll start off with two, maybe three sitters, and then eventually, maybe they've got four sitters going in there, but it's good for the cat, because they're being socialized with more people. And the more people that they trust, then they are more trusting cat and less anxious cat. Nobody wants an anxious cat, it's not good for them. So you're trying to give all the positives from our team approach? Well,
Collin 36:13
and that's really what it is, is, is anytime you make those changes, it's we have got to focus on the positives to the client, and not what it means for us, right? Like, every time we've made a change, it's like, we switched over to lock boxes, and a year and a half ago, or maybe two years at this point. And, oh, I've just wanted to be like, Look, I have no, we don't have to store them. I'm not up at night worrying about losing your keys. And you know, bla bla bla bla bla and was like, right, I've got to rewrite this email all about the client and why they care about this, right. And that's, that we've got, we do have to take that time to go, I'm making a change, it makes my life easier. Absolutely. I can't use that as my only justification, it has to impact the client, or I need to find a way that impacts the client in some way. So
Zara W. 37:00
I had a client, we switched to lock boxes to. And when we did, I explained to them that, you know, when you have the lockbox, you have control of your key, you have control over who has access. So if you want your neighbor to come over and check on your mail, or water your plants, or whatever the case may be they also have access to a key. And he was like, Oh my gosh, I never thought of that. What a great idea. Yes, this is gonna be perfect. And he was just so happy with the idea that we were switching the lock boxes, because I had taken the time to explain how it benefited him. Yep. And I think that's important. With any change that you make. Yes, you're right, you have to point out to the client, how it's benefiting them. Another big change we had to make is we had to increase prices. Because minimum wage has gone up. I'm sure it's going up for you guys too. But here in Ontario, we're almost at $17 an hour for minimum wage. So when that came in, I had to increase prices. But I explained to the staff that or not the staff, to the clients, I explained to the staff to what was going on. But to the clients, I had to explain to them that in order for me to continue to attract the kind of staff that they want in their home, I had to pay a higher rate. Because we don't want to just be paying people minimum wage to come in and care for your pet, we're not going to get the quality of staff that we want. Yeah, so that seemed to help win over some people on the price increase. Some people still had a problem with it. And I totally respect that. Everybody's budget is their budget. But you have to understand as a business, when you have staff, there's a whole lot more that goes into pricing and time to explain that. It
Collin 38:41
can be frustrating, again, because we have our heads so down in the weeds over what we do. And it's we live, breathe, eat sleepless, that when somebody has a question, I know sometimes my knee jerk reaction is like, what don't you just understand, like chance, you will just see as like, No, they haven't obsessively thought about this for the past five months, like they, they haven't been kept awake at night worried about this change for the last two months. Breathe and have an explanation and be able to walk them through that and at the end of it, like you talked about zeros, like some people are gonna kind of be okay, they're actually fine with that change. That's okay, though. You got to make that decision for themselves.
Zara W. 39:21
Absolutely, and, and it's okay, and we're not the right fit for everybody. And I think there's petsitter as we all know that some some staff do better with a solo sitter, or some staff, some clients do better with a solo sitter, and some staff would be better as a solo sitter than they would be as an employee. And that's okay, we all are who we are, and we all have our own needs. So understanding that not everybody is going to fit my mold of a perfect client. I'm not going to fit their mold of the perfect sitter and that's okay. But being able to have that open conversation and say we're not the right fit for you, or you're not the right fit for us is is perfectly allowed out. And I think it's should be encouraged more in our profession. So that clients know what they're getting. And senators know what they're getting as well, like that relationship needs to be an open street on both sides.
Collin 40:12
It is so hard whenever you it takes us go looking at our business thinking about ourselves going, Who Who am I for? Right? Who am I supposed to serve? And I think too often when we ask when we try to answer that question, we can say things like, Oh, I'm for anybody with a cat, right? Or I'm for all pet owners. It's like, art, are you? Are you really for everybody? Really think that through, really think through what those implications are? Because then we don't feel so bad whenever somebody doesn't match up with who we're for. And that allows us to be stand stronger in our boundaries when we've clearly defined that line already. But when that line has kind of faded, or maybe we haven't drawn it yet, then how do we know who we're going to say no to and then we find ourselves in that, that cycle of continuing to say yes to that people that we don't or we should not be saying yes to. A lot of pet owners don't know how to react when their beloved pet is facing a bout of anxiety, noise sensitivity or depression. However, various studies have shown that animals react very positively when calming music is played for them. As a trusted Pet Sitter have your clients check out the peaceful pet music calm music for pets on YouTube, where they can give their pet the best chance for relaxing while they're away. From peaceful melodies to soothing nature sounds this YouTube channel is the go to spot when your client's pet is anxious and you don't know where to turn. come complete with beautiful and vibrant animations. Their videos will become your home for the tools needed to keep the client's pet in a state of peacefulness. Be sure to subscribe to the peaceful pet music, calm music for pets on YouTube and hit the bell. So you never miss a moment of calm.
Zara W. 42:10
It's setting boundaries and it's getting permission to say no. I think a lot of us get into this business. And then it's yes, yes. Yes. You started off. Yes, yes. Yes. Want clients? Oh, once the pandemic led up, and people were traveling? Yes. We'll take your cat on Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And then six months later, you're like I really shouldn't have taken that client on because they're outside of our service area. Or I shouldn't have taken that cat in because that cat is really aggressive and would do better with a solo sitter. There's all these things you think about after the fact. So giving yourself permission to say yes. And permission to say no, is absolutely okay. And it's something we should be doing more of because then the clients know, too. It does the clients no good if we go into see an aggressive cat, for example. And we go in and we're seeing this aggressive cat. And then six months later, we have to say, oh, sorry, we can't take care of your cat anymore because they're aggressive. And now the cat has to bond with somebody else completely, because they would do better with a solo sitter. Yeah, a conversation should have happened at the beginning. So that the cat and the client had the opportunity to find who's right for them from the get go. Right?
Collin 43:17
Yep. And knowing that, that they have a choice, and we have a choice. You know, I always try and impress that upon potential clients who call us and they're like, oh, when can we do the the new client meeting and consultation? I you know, my meeting might I'm not traveling for it until the four months from now. Can we wait till then? Oh, no, no, no, no, we need to do this as soon as possible so that everybody is okay with the decision to move forward. And if it's not, you still have time to find some support. Because if we wait too long, and we're not a good fit, you're really going to be put in a bind. And we are going to probably feel a pressure to say yes, when we really need to say No, exactly.
Zara W. 43:55
So making sure that exactly what you said the timing is right. We used to take new client requests up to four days in advance. Now we do two weeks, because four days was just too fast. And then we were encountering people who we probably shouldn't have been providing services for. But we had to say yes, because we felt obligated to at that point, because we'd gone through all those steps with a new client to get to that meet and greet. And then you're like, Oh, this is kind of a sketchy neighborhood. Maybe we shouldn't have said yes, because the staff are gonna feel comfortable visiting here. But now we're already to like they're leaving the next day to travel. So you kind of have to, if you feel obligated to I would feel obligated to. So yeah, it's making sure that the policies and procedures you have in place, match up what you want. If you just want to take everybody by all means have that meet and greet the day before you're willing to take on everybody but if not setting up that timeframe. See, yes, you know, if you're traveling in December, I still want to meet you in April to make sure
Collin 44:53
that, you know it really helps I love that of like no because a lot of times will say oh well I I'll have enough time to go through my processes to take you on. So it's not a good fit, but just having that rule of like no minimum of two weeks. So that's for us. And it's for your protection. You know, best of luck. Maybe next time, if you travel again, reach out to us beforehand, so that we can set this thing up. Because it's about making sure that we are connected with those right clients. And so how are you connecting with your potential clients who are good fits for your company?
Zara W. 45:23
Well, right now, a lot of the times we get contacted, or people who found us on Google, the name of the company makes it really easy. If you search for a cat sitter in Toronto, I love the top because the name is cat sitter. So we do get a lot of people through Google, we have a referral program. So we have clients who can refer their friends to us. And so we get some clients that way. And we get through social media, Instagram seems to be where were the most popular, I
Collin 45:53
did see your referral program. And I want to know more more about that.
Zara W. 45:59
So when a new client comes in, they fill out the intake form they can put on there who referred them to us, if they are an existing client, then that client would get their account flagged. And once the visits with the new client are done, they get a 10% discount on their next booking, it doesn't have to be the next booking the client can reach out and say, Can I use it on my Christmas booking and they absolutely can, it just can't combine. So if they have like three friends coming in at the same time, they can't combine and get 30% off. They have to use 10% on each booking. But it's a great way to encourage word of mouth. And I think that's a great way to get new clients because you have people who already know how you operate, who clearly liked the service that they're getting. And then they're telling their friends and family how much they love yous, and you're gonna get the right kind of people. Yeah. Well,
Collin 46:52
and I like how you had that, that little carve out there of once that once that bookings done, then that's when they get because what, you know, we may be thinking of like, oh, I'll just have a referral program, and they can just fill out who they heard from. And I'll just give them that discount immediately. No, no, they have to go through the whole process
Zara W. 47:12
to become new clients. So you know, we could get to the point where we find out that their cat would do better with a solo center, and they're no longer going to be a client of ours. So the whoever referred them isn't going to get the 10%. For that, I would still thank them for referring us, of course, because you still want to thank people for when they do something nice like that. But I wouldn't offer them the 10% discount unless we get a new client out of the referral. We also have a referral program for staff. So staff know of somebody who would make a good cat sitter, they can refer them and then they get a bonus if the person stays past three months.
Collin 47:44
So how are those programs working for you sounds like they are pretty, pretty healthy.
Zara W. 47:50
They are pretty healthy. The staff referral one is still hit and miss. I don't think my staff know enough about it. That's probably my fault. But the client referral one, it's definitely we're seeing a lot more client names on there, instead of just finding us through Google.
Collin 48:09
Yeah, we have a staff referral program as well. And it is it's it's kind of weird, I don't know, I find it weird to communicate to them. Like, yeah, you know, have a friend and then you'll get some money. And they also get some money after this. But they have to stay and like it, you know, can feel kind of like I'm not not saying it's your person who you refer as a bad person or like this other stuff. But I'm also saying that they're not a good fit sometimes. So like having some just an open conversation, again, making sure that everybody understands, it's not just about them filling out an application, they actually do have to become hired, and make it past that three month mark, and be you know, and be part of the team. Exactly.
Zara W. 48:45
Once they become part of the team, then it's like thank you for finding this person and making them be part of our team because our team is now complete with them in it. That's the kind of referral program I want to have. It's not just I'm just handing out money because your friend is filling out an application know this person that you've referred, you're so you're 110% sure that they are going to jump through all of my interviewing hoops and make it to be a staff member.
Collin 49:15
Yeah, it does take it kind of does make that person pause and go okay, yeah, I can't just throw people at this, I really need to think about the kind of people plus it's a teammate perspective to have of do I really want this person also doing visits if I have to come and help them or like what's their work ethic and you hope that all that kind of works its way out through the system.
Zara W. 49:36
I've had two very successful staff referrals. And what's funny about both of them is that they've worked with in their other job so they work together now as Cat sitters and they work together at their day job will say as well so it's clear that they like this person. They are a good teammate because they are okay with working with them pretty much 24/7
Collin 50:02
She CFHC people
Zara W. 50:04
all the time, by release, you're helping somebody you're like, if you're gonna work with them all the time. Yeah. And
Collin 50:09
that helps improve company culture and helps improve people's engagement and it kind of commitment level to, to the work into the company.
Zara W. 50:20
Absolutely. Like, if you think about if your friend puts you up for a job, you're more inclined to put 110% effort in from the get go, because you don't want to let down your friend. So even if it turns out that you're not okay with the job, you're still going to do it to the best of your ability until you make that decision to say no, I don't really feel like this is the right job for me. Because you don't want to let your friend down. So it's not like you're gonna lop off on the interviewer and, you know, not show up for the interview, because that happens sometimes to where people just don't show up for interviews. But you know, you're not going to do those things if your friend has referred you because it's going to make them look bad to their boss.
Collin 50:56
Right, right. And then they also have to talk to their friend after the fact of Why did you do this should show up. So it's a little bit a little bit of good social pressure there to make it
Zara W. 51:04
extra costly. It's a good amount of social pressure. But it has turned out really well for the few staff who have referred and work together outside of working for me as well. So it's a good
Collin 51:16
reminder of as we look to try and tackle, you know, staffing problems that are just that plague businesses in the in the, you know, the modern time right now, how do we just what does it actually mean? Going? Okay, if we have referral programs for our clients, because we want the clients that we like to refer other people who are hopefully kind of like them in their circles, so that will continue this propagation of people that we like, working with. Same thing to with our staff, and going, they know what this job takes really intimately well, they also have friend circles, who they'll be able to make a quick judge of character and knowledge of whether this person is capable of that level of work. So in some cases, it's also kind of pre vetting that person in that application to some extent that we know, okay, these people have probably talked a lot, right, they know what this other person does very well. So they're, they're already kind of like, one or two steps into that process already, when you get that kind of referral.
Zara W. 52:16
Absolutely, they've already kind of understand the job, when they come to the interview, anybody who's been referred, they come to the interview, and be like, so tell me about yourself a little bit, they'll go on and on. And then they'll be like, and so and so said this about the job, and I'm so excited that I would make it to meet these cats. And you kind of skipping steps in the interview, which in a way is great too, because it does show their character right off.
Collin 52:38
the get go is there as prepared for this interview and talking with you. One of the things that I saw right off the bat on your website, dead smack dab in the center of it was this phrase, caring for cats isn't what we do. It's who we are. And I love that phrase. And I want you to tell us more about about that kind of how that works its way out in what you do.
Zara W. 53:00
So being cat specific, it means we know a lot more about cat behavior. So it's not just about we're not going in and just carrying the cats is to put their food, their litter and water and make sure you know, they haven't thrown up around the house. It's more about their social aspect. It's about their behavior. It's about understanding and bonding with this living creature. And cats are just so great to do that with because cat my daughter says it best. She says that cats are very much like humans, they have a lot of different personalities. And they set boundaries, where dogs are more like, Love me Love me Love Me, I love you as soon as you walk in the house. That's my perspective on it. I like that though, because it does say that we have to care for the whole cat and not just their physical needs, but also their emotional needs, their behavioral needs. And to do that fully you, you have to look at it more than just a job. It has to be part of like we said earlier, you have to have a passion, you have to want to care for these animals in order to do it to the level that we would like. And honestly, and I set it to near the beginning. All of our clients, cats become our cats. They become a part of us as well because we care for them. We have regulars who you see once a month when they travel. Those cats even if I haven't personally visited with them, they're still a part of like, my caring My heart has that little spot for that cat. And that's kind of how all my staff are and I think that speaks to the company culture. We are very much in it for more than just a paycheck at the end of the day. We are in it because we love cats and we want to see what's best for them.
Collin 54:51
You know, one one thought that I know people have about specializing in something is they can get better at it. And I think it's it's really important To know that it's it's not just getting better at to this point of something where you can do it really fast right? Like as you were talking I was like Yeah, right. They're not just world record litter scoopers, right you don't just have we got the fastest litter scooper team in the north, like that's not the pitch there is. Right? It's, it's, we are a team of passionate people that that sure we can expertly scoop a litter box. But that's not what it's about. It's about the relationship there. And keeping that first and foremost of as we if we choose to specialize in something, not losing sight of the bigger picture of what we're doing and not getting so focused on I can really do this skill really well I can do this really fast or I got this down, it's because then We've really lost sight of of why we're in it in the first place.
Zara W. 55:48
Absolutely, we want to make sure that the cat's wellbeing is first and foremost, it's not about being the fastest litter scoopers and I love that I might actually like incorporate that into our next stuff, barbecue, litter scrapers and like have cowboy hats on or something really make it fun. But as I was saying, though, with cats, it's about caring for their whole well being. Whether it's socially, emotionally, behaviorally, we have clients who reach out to us and ask our opinion on things, I have clients who reach out to us when they have to make the tough decision to rehome their cat, and they want to make sure that they're going to a reputable place. So it's, it's about knowing what the client's and the cat because the cats are our clients too. But knowing what, what they need, what they expect, and knowing when something might be off. Oftentimes, when a cat starts losing weight, their owners might not notice it, because it'll be such a gradual dip. But if we don't see them every day, and we go in and see them once a month, we might notice it. So bringing that to the client's attention, it's helping them make sure that their cat is getting what they need in that moment in time. Yeah,
Collin 57:05
that whole cat care, right? It's not just those tasks, and really keeping in mind to have have I have a I have a obligation to the client, the human client, to report to talk to be honest with them, when we have concerns when we have frustrations when when things don't go right. And, and that's the credit part of our job is that things don't go right all the time. I don't know if you've experienced that zero. But sometimes things don't go as we pointed to, and we've got to talk to the client about that, or we see something that is concerning. And we have to bring that up and and what's been really helpful for me is to understand like, the client is yes, they're they're paying us to care for their pet while they're away. They're also in some aspect, paying us to be honest with them, and brain problems and bring things to their attention, that that's a service that we provide to them of being honest when things aren't going the way that they should. Because a lot of people don't do that. A lot of people just go, well, not my problem, I'm fine. I'll show up tomorrow and collect my paycheck instead going, No, I have I'm here. And I have responsibility to make sure that this this is that everything is laid out on the table.
Zara W. 58:08
Absolutely. And we might pick up on a behavioral cue that the client might not have noticed. And then it leads to some, like discovery that could help the cat's help. It is important to share everything that we see in a visit, and not just go in and be like okay, so and so miss the litter box again today, I guess I'm going to clean it up, but not say to the client, oh, they're going in this area? Would you like me to move the litter box there to see if that stops them from going outside the litterbox? Would you like me to put down some puppy pads? Would you? You know, is this an ongoing problem? Have they just started doing this? You know, sometimes it takes somebody else's perspective to show something that's going on with your pet. And it's not that the clients don't love their pets, they 100% do. But when they see them every day, they might not see it's like when somebody comes over and they see your kid after not seeing them for six months. And they say wow, they've grown so much. They're so tall, you might not have noticed, because it was a gradual progression to get to that height where they've noticed because they haven't seen them in six months. So it is important that we share our observations. And we've had a couple of successful observation shares that we've shared with clients and they've taken their pets to the vet. And it's been like life saving. They've been put on medicine for kidney conditions that they didn't know they had. But we mentioned Hey, they're losing weight, and then it took them to the vet. We had a sitter once who found a lump on a cat. And it was non cancerous, but it was a tumor that had to be removed. So it grew rather fast. So it was important that we shared that we found that with the client so that the client can say what's normal and not normal based on what they know of their pet. Again,
Collin 59:52
those are things that we get to do we get to that's an opportunity that we get to bring and provide to the client where they wouldn't Have no otherwise and and being okay with that to have going okay, well, I don't know if I'm what should show us and we talked to our staff a lot about that of going, hey, you know, we're gonna do that we call it our hands on time with the pets as they are wanting and able and uncomfortable, we're going to feel the pet we're going to, you know, touch their ears, rub their neck grown under paws, get them use that kind of stuff. Don't be afraid to mention the little lumps, bumps or things that you find. Because you may go, well, that's stupid, I won't do that for clients surely knows about that. It's their cat anyway, I won't, I won't say anything about that. And just like you mentioned, you'd be surprised about what they're not used to.
Zara W. 1:00:32
And we can assume that they're going to know everything that's going on with their pet. Again, it's like if the pet will let us but sometimes, if it's a shy cat, the only thing that's going to indicate to us that something's up is their litter usage or their food intake. And we make sure to include that in every update, we send what's happening in the litter box, what's not happening in the litter box, and food wise so that the client can say, oh, yeah, sometimes it's three days before something happens in the litter box. Or sometimes they'll come back and say, well, that's not normal for them. And then we know it's something to be concerned about, we know to like, communicate with the vet and find the right information while they're away. Yeah, it's really about peace of mind for the clients while they're away, too. If they know that somebody is taking care of their pet, and making sure that if something should happen, it's taken care of and under control, then they can enjoy their time away, which is really what we want to do. We want to make sure that the humans go away and have a good time and the pet stay home and have a good time.
Collin 1:01:30
You mentioned the cat take three days before stuff happened and litter box. It's you know, it's sometimes clients, they live with their pets every day. So they don't think these things are weird. And so we may feel frustrated, like, why didn't they mentioned that at the meet and greet? Why didn't they put that down before? Why did they? Why is there they didn't think about it because it's just normal for their cat. Like we've had so many of like, oh, yeah, sometimes they won't eat for four days when we go on vacation that happens from time to time. And you're like, okay, that helps a lot. Thank you so much was, you know, or whatever that is, you know, it's just going, Yeah, I that. But you don't learn that and unless you communicate open about it. And it is that open communication that really helps.
Zara W. 1:02:11
We used to send updates only if the client requests for them. But we've changed that in the last year. So now we send updates all the time. And we include in there, like the urine count and a bowel movement count in the litter box. Because again, if it's a shy cat, we don't necessarily know if they're shy because that's normal for them, or are they shy because something's happened and they're not feeling well, as cats will go and hide. It's a natural instinct if they're not feeling well. So it's understanding the cat's behavior and communicating all that with the client, because then clients will come back and say, oh, yeah, you're not going to see them for three days. And then they'll come out, then you know, not to worry, so long as there's sugar in that litter box and foods being eaten. But if all that stuff's empty, and nothing's happening, then we know to be worried and try and find that cat that might be hiding. So it is open communication needs to happen. And I highly recommend daily updates. If you're not doing them for your cat clients, I would say you really should. There,
Collin 1:03:08
I want to thank you so much for coming on the show today and sharing about your journey and pet care and your your your love of the pets, the owners and your team as well. And how you're really working to build a business focused on that passion from the ground up. It was really cool to hear about that and all the cool stuff that you're doing. But I know there's a lot more to this and you're doing a lot of cool things and and everything. So how can people best follow along with with you or get in touch with you if you have questions or want to follow up about anything. So our
Zara W. 1:03:40
website has a good blog section. So that's WWW dot cat sitter toronto.ca. And if you're in Toronto, and you're looking for cat care, you can find all of our information there as well. We can also be reached at cat sitter at cat sitter toronto.ca. And it's really easy to find me on any social media because I'm either at cat sitter to or at cat sitter Toronto calling. Can I do a quick shout out? I have a couple of staff members who absolutely love the podcast. I could just shout out to them. Would that be okay? Absolutely. Go ahead. Okay, so, hi, Veronica. Hi, Rhonda. I know you guys are listening. And Heather. I know you're listening to but now get back to work. Take care of the cats.
Collin 1:04:20
Fast. That's great. Well, I want to thank you so much again for coming on. I've really enjoyed our conversation. It's been an immense pleasure and so thankful for it to have you on and yeah, for all the to share it. So thank you.
Zara W. 1:04:34
Thank you so much for having me on
Collin 1:04:35
today. How specific is your passion? In business we get to be as specific as we want to be. The trick then is communicating that passion to our potential clients and building a team if we want to that shares in that. I heard it once said that it is kind to be clear. And when we niche down we get to be kind to others because we can Clearly communicate exactly who we are for and who we are not for and what exactly our vision is. Everybody has something that they are uniquely passionate about. Make sure that you're bringing that forth in your business and letting other people know about it. We want to thank today's sponsor is time to pet and the peaceful pet music, calm music for pets YouTube channel for making today's show possible. And we really want to thank you for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
