553: How Clear Communication Builds Client Trust with Cathy Duvall
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Ever wonder how a few thoughtful words can make or break a client’s trust? Cathy Duvall, owner of Goin’ to the Dogs Pet Sitting, explores the power of clear, proactive communication. From setting expectations at the very first inquiry to handling unexpected issues with honesty and empathy, Cathy shares how consistent follow-through and transparency help her build long-lasting client relationships. She gives practical tactics for training clients to respond promptly, ensuring both parties stay on the same page—because when clients feel seen, heard, and valued, trust naturally grows. Whether you’re dealing with an unsure cat, subtle behavioral shifts, or the curveballs that come with caring for living, breathing pets, this conversation is packed with insights on turning everyday communication challenges into opportunities for deeper connection.
Main topics:
Proactive, Consistent Communication Strategies
Setting Clearly Defined Expectations
Handling Unexpected Pet Care Challenges
Nurturing Long-Term Client Relationships
Prioritizing Pet Safety, Well-being
Main takeaway: “Things happen, mistakes are made, but it’s how you handle it and communicate through it that builds trust.”
In a perfect world, every visit would run smoothly and no detail would ever be overlooked. But the real measure of professionalism comes when life throws a curveball. Being upfront, honest, and proactive in how you address challenges can turn a rough situation into a chance to deepen client confidence.
Clear communication isn’t just a courtesy—it’s an investment in trust. Whether it’s sending a quick update about a delay, checking in after an unexpected issue, or apologizing when something goes wrong, open dialogue transforms misunderstandings into mutual respect.
In the pet care industry, trust is everything. You earn it not just by being perfect, but by showing clients that, come what may, you’ve got their pet’s best interests at heart—and that you’ll keep them informed every step of the way.
About our guest: Hi! I am Cathy Duvall, the sole proprietor of Goin’ to the Dogs Pet Sitting. Certified Professional Pet Sitter (CPPS), Elite Fear Free Certified Professional (FFCP). I started my business in March 2015 when I lived in Cumming, GA (in the metro Atlanta area). I relocated in 2018 to Mineral Bluff, GA in the beautiful North Georgia mountains, and I had to start my business from scratch when I relocated.
Before March 2015, I was a radio news reporter in my younger adult years and a technical writer in the mid-1990s. I grew weary of the grind and politics of corporate life, and I retired from it in 1997. I then became a happy stay-at-home wife and devoted dog mom! While living this wonderful chapter of my life, from time to time I would take care of my neighbors’ pets when they traveled and couldn’t take their fur kids with them. One of those neighbors suggested that I start a pet-sitting business. So I did!
My pet-care services include drop-in visits, vacation visits and overnight stays. I also offer dog-walking services on a limited basis. I continue to recover from three ankle surgeries since September 2021, so I must be selective about the dogs I can walk.
When I am not devoting my time to my pawsome pet clients, I enjoy spending time with my husband, Garland, and our two mixed-breed rescue dogs, Atlas and Aspen. I also do a weekly cat of the week write-up for my local newspaper when I am not tending to the duties of my pet-care business.
Links:
Previously on: https://www.petsitterconfessional.com/episodes/499
phone: 770-883-4644
https://www.facebook.com/cathy.duvall.31
https://www.facebook.com/gointothedogsga/
https://www.gointothedogsga.com/
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clear communication, client expectations, proactive approach, text updates, client training, pet safety, behavioral changes, client trust, communication challenges, pet sitter responsibilities, client feedback, professional pet sitting, client education, service reliability, client satisfaction
SPEAKERS
Collin, Cathy D.
Collin 00:00
Music. Welcome to pet sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. This episode is brought to you by our friends at time to pet and pet perennials. Clear communication is important in our lives in general, but it's even more important in our business. I know one thing that we talk a lot about, for just us personally, is how to be kind is to be clear. To be clear in our communication is to be kind to those around us. And so that's the topic that we want to cover today. And to do that, we are super excited to have Cathy Duvall, owner of going to the dogs back on the show. She was previously with us back on Episode 499 but she joins us today to talk about clear communication with our clients, how we handle situations well and delicately and communicate throughout that and some moments where maybe this has been beneficial to her throughout the years that she's been doing this. Cathy, super excited to have you back on like I said, for those who haven't listened to the previous episode with you? Can you please tell us a little bit more about who you are and all that you do?
Cathy D. 01:06
Yes. Collin, thank you so much for having me again. I am really excited about speaking with you. I really enjoyed the last podcast we did, and I was hoping you would invite me back, and you did so yay. Hello, everyone. I am Cathy Duvall. I am the sole proprietor of going to the dogs pet sitting. I live in a little town called mineral bluff, Georgia. It's in the northern most part of the state of Georgia. If you've heard of Blue Ridge Georgia, I am one town away from that. Blue Ridge is a big tourist destination. I have lived in mineral bluff Since 2018 I started my business in March of 2015 when I lived in metro Atlanta, and so I'm coming up next march on my 10 year anniversary, and I'm really excited about that. And it's a very rural area where I live, mountains, the beautiful North Georgia mountains. And I relocated in 2018 up here, and I had to start my business over. And so I am have more than six years up here in mineral bluff, running my business.
Collin 02:21
And I know throughout that one thing that you focus on a lot Cathy, is communication. I know when we talked about having you come back on that was one topic that kept coming up. So for you, how do you start setting those, those clear expectations, those expectations for communication with your clients, and when do you think it's important to start that in that process of them coming on board.
Cathy D. 02:43
Oh, communication is a biggie. It is the primo thing, in my opinion, that keeps my business running as well as it does I start good, clear communication from the very first time I hear from a client, actually, when I'm out in public, if I'm talking about my business communicating, it doesn't matter if you're communicating with a client, if you're communicating with a potential client, if you're just talking to people out in your area, communication is so important, And when a client, a potential client, reaches out to me. For instance, they will either call me, text me, email me, I immediately will get back with them if I can, if they contact me while I'm at a pet visit. Then I don't call do call backs or write them back while I'm at a visit, because that's my client's time. But what I will do is, if I get that voicemail, and I know it is a cell phone, and you can tell if the area code is a different area code than yours, I'm pretty, pretty sure that's going to be a cell number. So what I will do is I will quickly send a text to that client. Hey, Mrs. Smith, this is Kathy Duvall from going to the pet dogs pet sitting. I just received your voicemail message. However, I'm not where I can call you back right now. I will be done with my pet sitting rounds around two o'clock. May I call you then? Or is there another convenient time that I can get back with you, and they'll write back and go, Oh, thanks so much for getting with me. Yes, two o'clock this afternoon is fine. So when I get back home, I contact the potential client, and we have the phone consultation if I'm going to be later getting back with that client. And that happened to me yesterday. I was supposed to call her at five o'clock. I didn't get home until 545 I sent her a text message. I was delayed. I thought I was going to be home by five o'clock. Is there a good time to call? And so we're going to speak this afternoon. So from from day one, I believe. Safe in being proactive. If a if a potential client contacts me, if a client contacts me, it's my job to get back with them as soon as I can. I don't like to leave people hanging that. That's a huge problem here, where I live with service providers, contractors. They don't call back, they don't show up, and people are shocked when I called them back and they go, Wow, you called me back. Well, yeah, you called you. You're interested in my service. Yeah, I'm going to call you back, or I'm going to get back with you if I have to send a text message or whatever. And it's a shame that people are shocked when you are prompt in calling them back. It should be a shock when you don't get back with someone, but yeah, from from the minute I get a request for service, if it's a potential client to schedule the meet and greet I get with them, we have the phone conversation. We set up the meet and greet. When clients contact me, I get right back with them as soon as I can. And I know there are some sitters, if they have larger companies, they can't get back with the clients as soon as they want. But with me being a sole proprietor, I do. I will stop what I'm doing and at least let the client know, hey, I got your communication. Yes, I can do the visits this state to this state. I'll get back with you when I have more time to talk. And so that's how I firmly believe communication is just so important. You
Collin 06:36
know, you started off by talking about even how when you're on the side of the street, and if somebody sees what you're doing or asks questions or something, it's not a, oh, I always have to be in sales mode. But it is a, I need to communicate what I do well, so that this person understands. I want them to know what I do, so that maybe if they do need me Sure, that's fantastic, or maybe then that way they can tell other people about this. But it's, it is a process of going, how can I think through this situation and and distill this down so that it is is as straightforward as possible? And then when people do reach out, I know that is something where it is very easy to get that phone call or that text from some for from a client, and they, they ask you a question, or they, give you a statement about their needs, and we'll go, well, I'll get to that later. Well, what happens then is that the client is left going, Well, did they see this exactly right? And that's not a good place to leave somebody, because then they feel left out and in the dark and something like you do. Cathy, going, Hey, I got this. I can't address it right now, but I just want to confirm that this is on my plate. Like that goes a long way to taking the burden off of somebody's, you know, mentally, when they're worried about things
Cathy D. 07:50
exactly. And I'm a pet parent, I'm a consumer. If I reach out to a service provider, and that service provider does not get back with me in a reasonable amount of time. That tells me, well, I guess my business is not that important to you, and I don't want potential clients thinking that their business is not important to me. Now, I do have people who contact me. I'm not able to help them, for whatever reason, if there are other people that I can refer them to, I absolutely do that. Or if, if they need, you know, boarding services, i Hey, you know, I don't board in my home, but I do know of a few boarding facilities that I could highly recommend, because people you can't assume that the public knows what you do. All about professional pet sitting. It's still a pretty novel concept up here, as we talked about novel concepts in episode 499, it's still novel. So when you're out in public, yes, I'm talking about my business, but it's not necessarily a sales pitch. It's to educate people. Hey, this is a real thing. Professional pet sitting is a real thing. This is what I do for a living, just to try to educate and I even tell people, Collin, look, if, if I can't help you, if you don't need my service, but if you ever have any questions, please contact me. I'm happy to help. If you have questions about pet sitters in general, whatever, I'm happy to help because I want your pets to have the best care possible. If it's not from me, that's okay. I want you to be educated so you can make the best decision. And when we're out in public, we're just not representing ourselves and our businesses, we are representing our industry. So if we go out acting like fools, then all of a sudden people are going to think, well, all pet sitters act like this. And that is not true. That is absolutely not true. So we always have to. Try to put our best foot forward when we're out in the public eye, because we never know who we're going to meet. You don't know they're going to tell their friends and they're going to tell their friends. You're hoping they're going to say good things instead of going, Oh no, I saw this lady out oh my god, stay away from her. You don't want that, you know. Oh, please. So yeah, for me, and it's been that way from day one, when I started this business, it's like, Look, I'm not just representing me, I'm representing my business, I'm representing my industry, I'm representing the organizations that I am a member of. And because that's just the way it is, it's not just me, and I don't, and I have a great reputation. I'm very blessed to have a good reputation. People in my community know me. They know that what they see is what they get, and I like that
Collin 10:54
well. And there is that image, perspective of this, of going I need to be project, professional upstanding, above approach kind of thing, that kind of image for so that my potential clients can see that, and then my existing clients know that, and they know what to expect. But also just very practically clear communication helps us manage and helps us run our business better. When you were talking through a response that you can give back to a client, you know, you even said, May I call you? Then how many times do I as a business owner go play phone tag with a potential client because or they called me and I couldn't respond, so I just waited to call them back when I was ready, but they weren't ready. And then we just go back and forth, and it's going Zach like, if I would have just taken a moment to message and say, Hey, I got your your thing. I was busy at this time, I have availability at XYZ. Is that okay for you? That way, both people are expecting to make and then receive a phone call, and it really helps that process go a lot smoother. That way, the client isn't saying they're frustrated that they, quote, unquote, can't get a hold of us. Because I see that a lot of I tried calling and I couldn't get they never got back in touch with me, and I don't know what's going on. Well, we can avoid that entirely, and avoid the headache for us, of them continually calling when we're in visits or not available, if we just tell them I'm available here that way, that's clear and to the point, and it's beneficial for everybody, exactly.
Cathy D. 12:18
And the other thing on the flip side, there have been times when I have communicated to another person, and that person will not call me back and will not respond to me, and it's frustrating. It has to be a two way street, but I have to do my part. On my end, at least I can say, well, I communicated. I didn't leave you hanging. I didn't, you know, keep you waiting a day or two. I just don't, I try to call within an hour if I can, and if I, if it takes a couple of hours, I get back with a person, I go, I'm so sorry. It took me this long to call you back, and they'll say to me, Wow, it was you called me back. This is awesome. And I'm thinking, oh my gosh, because I'm thinking, Oh, they're thinking two hours, why didn't you call? And so you just have to let people know they don't know. They don't know I'm at a pet visit. They don't know if I'm out in the car and I'm losing cell service, you know, as I'm driving along, they don't know where I am and what I'm doing. So just letting setting those expectations, hey, I got your message. I will give you a call back or text you back, or however they want to communicate. As soon as I can, it should be around this time, so that they that way. They they know. Okay, around five o'clock I should get a get a call from her, because leaving people hanging, I just think that's unprofessional. For me as a consumer, I don't like to be left hanging, and so I'm not going to do that to potential clients or my own clients. And again, if somebody contacts me and I can't help that person, well, at least I did try to call them back if they're leaving a message, and I know right off the bat, okay, I can't help this person. I'm not going to be able to provide service. I'm not just gonna not call the person back. I'm going to get back with that person and go, I got your your message. I really appreciate you reaching out to me. Unfortunately, I don't board in my home. It says that on my website, but some people just don't see that. And I'll go, I don't board in my home. I don't know of any other in home? Boarders? You know pet sitters that board in their homes in my area. However, here are a few boarding facilities that I'm familiar with. I know the owners and that I can highly recommend. Would you like me to give you their number? And a lot of times, the boarding facilities will refer to me if they can't help it. They're full and well, you know, try to call Kathy Duvall. She comes to your home. And I've gotten a few clients that have called me because the boarding facility was already full and there was no space for their pets. So, you know, but Communication is a two way street. I can't control what the other person. And does I can only control my reaction to that, but I try not to keep people waiting, because their time is valuable.
Collin 15:10
Well, it is a two way street, and so how do you go about setting expectations for what you expect from the client, or how do you have those conversations with them, because I know for us as a business, sometimes it's we sit there and we feel as though we are, we are always the proactive one, and clients are never proactive. They're always reactive to when things change or when they go, oh, yeah, actually, you're right. I completely forgot that everything about the care is completely different. That's a good, good point is there a way that we can start training our clients to be better with that? If
Cathy D. 15:44
you can figure that out, Collin, you'll make a million dollars. It's it's interesting. We all live in our own little world, but with the business that we're in, we have to be proactive. We have to make sure all the eyes are dotted and the T's are crossed. The thing that is just very frustrating is when I do visits, at the last visit, I ask, and usually it's in text, because I communicate via text, written word for the most part, because that way you've got that paper trail, so there's no misunderstanding. So what I do is, on the last visit, Hey, Mrs. Smith, I'm having a wonderful time with fluffy. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to take care of her this week. Please text me when you get home so that I know you made it home safely. And so it's frustrating when okay, it's the last visit. The next visit would be the next morning. I'm waiting around that evening. I'm not hearing from I'm I'm texting, I'm calling, Hey, did you make it home? Oh, yeah, sorry, got busy unpacking. Forgot to let you know, and I thought, Okay, well, what I have to tell you is, if you don't let me know that you have arrived home safely, I'm going to assume which I don't like to do, but I'm going to assume something has happened to you, and I'm going to continue taking care of your pets until you do get home. So if I don't hear from you and I show up for a visit and you're home, you're going to owe me for that visit. And usually that kind of, that kind of gets their attention, because money talks, because I explained to them, please understand, I don't know that you made it home, unless you tell me there have been times, Collin, I'll be honest, I'll ride by a client's house. I haven't heard from this person. I'm worried. What if she's on the side of the road, cars broken down, or she's hurt, and I'll ride by and I'll see the car in the driveway, then I know, okay, she made it home. She forgot to tell me, but I will still write to her and go, Hey, please. You've got to let me know when you make it home. The other thing that just trying to train clients. I live to my two hours from Hartsfield Jackson airport in Atlanta, and so you have to drive the two hours to get to the airport. You have to drive the two hours to come home. So clients will land at the airport, and they will text me, hey, Kathy, we just landed. Thanks so much for taking care of Fido, and you know, it's been great. And so I'll write back. Well, I'm so glad you landed in the ATL. I'm glad you had a safe flight, but could you please let me know when you walk in the door, because a lot can happen in that two hours on that drive from Atlanta to Blue Ridge, Georgia, things can happen. I would have no way of knowing that anything happened, and so it's very frustrating for me to try to go. You know, please text me when you get home. I've started, I started a while back. If I know that somebody is flying and supposed to driving to wherever they're going, I will ask for their flight information. That way, if the flight is delayed, and for some reason, coming home, they cannot get in touch with me, I can go check and see if that flight has been delayed. That has helped. I feel like a stalker. Sometimes I don't want my clients thinking I'm stalking them, but I have a very good reason for wanting to know where they are, because I'm still responsible for their pets until they get home, just because my last visits at eight o'clock on Thursday night, and that's it. No, that's that's the last scheduled visit, but if the client has not made at home, let's say their flights delayed and or canceled, and they're not going to be home till the next night. I'm going to continue taking care of those pets until that client gets home. And so it's frustrating. I try to be proactive. And you're right. A lot of clients are not because they're not thinking, we're not on their. Radar, 24/7, like they're on our radar. And so just trying, you know, hey, and I'll even start leaving messages at the house. Hey, welcome home. Don't forget to text me, let me know you made it. And I feel like a broken record, but it just trying to get through. And I have trained clients that I'm very proud of them. They have learned Hey, I say, all you have to do is say two words, I'm home. You don't have to go into a, you know, big novella about how you made it home. Everything's great. Just let me know we're home. And then I've had clients who say, Well, I'm not going to get home until midnight or 1am you know, I'll just text you tomorrow. No, why don't you text me when you walk in the door? I will check my messages first thing in the morning, yeah, and that way I will know that you made it home. Because also, honestly, Collin, I worry about people. I worry it takes a lot out of me, because I'm sitting here going, oh my gosh, are they hurt somewhere? What has happened? I'm starting to get frantic because I'm worried that something bad has happened, and it's Oh no. We just go. We were just got so busy unpacking, okay, and we forgot to text you, okay. Please just try to remember, understand that I have to know that you're home, because you I'm technically responsible for your pets, until you walk in that door, and so, but if you can figure out a way to get people to to respond like they're supposed to, you know, ding, the light bulb goes off, let me know, I'll start using that tactic, because I don't, and I tell my clients, look, I'm not trying to bug you. I'm not trying to be a thorn in your sod, they just don't they don't understand it because they don't live it like you and I do.
Collin 21:45
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Collin 22:07
for new pet sitting software, give time to bed a try. Listeners of our show will save 50% off your first three months by visiting tied to bed.com/confessional. They don't they're not obsessing over the care, the quality, the control. They're not constantly waking up wondering and thinking about this stuff, because that is our responsibility at the exact day. We are the ones that have to be proactive in this. And while it can be frustrating of going, Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you do this, there are things we can do. Like, you know, those fees of well, if I have to come by like that's an extra charge, if this, if I have to do that, if you don't follow these rules, those go a long way to letting clients know just how serious this is. But we are the ones that go, Well, I'm the one always reaching out for information because it's important to me, and I'm the one thinking about it. And just from that mindset of going, I need to communicate and ask these questions, and I forget that a lot too of part of communicating is sometimes asking questions to get more information. If I have questions in my head and I never ask anybody, that's poor communication, because then we have unmet expectations and unknown information that's actually going to impact us, the pet and the client, and we can do a lot to take that off the table,
Cathy D. 23:25
because we're not, we're not in their heads, and they're not in our heads. And so we do, I mean it, sometimes it feels like it's lopsided, that we're having to do all this communication, but that's our job, that we That's our job. We have got lives depending on us. We've got these little creatures who cannot fend for themselves. They are totally dependent on us and the clients. It just it you try to train them, you know, just keep, you know, feeling at broken record. Please text me when you get home. Please text me. And eventually they get it, and it's wonderful when they do when when they they've learned, they go, Oh, I get it. And they understand. Every once in a while, they'll slip and that's okay, and they will follow over themselves, apologizing. Oh my god, Kathy, I got home three hours ago, I forgot to text you. I'm so sorry. Hey, that's okay. I'm glad you made it home. Because especially like with cats, you know, if I do one visit per day, and my last visit was around, you know, noon that day. And so I'm thinking, all right, oh, if the client's not home by noon the next day, that's when I'm going to go back over and check on that cat. And so if it's a delay of a few hours, telling me that's not a huge, huge deal, but it's just so refreshing when, when you get the message, oh my gosh. I meant to text you, and I got busy talking to somebody on the phone and I forgot, oh my gosh, and they're mortified, and I go, that's okay. I'm just glad you made it home. Thank you for letting me know. Enjoy the rest. If you're weak, and I look forward to taking care of fluffy the next time you need me
Collin 25:04
well, so you're communicating over text. And you mentioned specifically about just written, some sort of written context there. Why is that so important to have, especially as a business owner? Well,
Cathy D. 25:18
written is important, because that way you know and the client knows everything that was said. You can't go and say, Well, I didn't say that. Well, yes, you did, because here's the proof. In a phone call, you don't have that proof. You might think you told a client something, maybe you didn't. The client might think he or she told you something and didn't, but with that written word, it's there in black and white, and it's that way you have a paper trail so that there are, it's not a he said, she said. And it's not that that clients would intentionally, you know, well, you didn't tell me that. It's just, it's a CYA, you know what? That stands for cover here, you know what? Because that way, I mean, we're covering ourselves. Liability wise, there could be liability involved. And so if you've got all of that stuff sitting there in black and white, you can go back to that. And if the client said, Well, I didn't say that, well, here's, I'll show you the text. Here it is. You don't have to be rude about it, but just say, well, here on this date, you know, this is what you communicated to me. Or I can say, you know, oh, did, did I tell you that? Well, yeah, here, okay, you know, I make mistakes. I'm human. News flash. I'm not perfect. So that written word keeps it keeps everybody honest, and it keeps everything more cohesive. And that way there are no there are no questions, because you don't want to have more questions. You want to have more answers
Collin 26:54
well, and it helps us too of going, did I say that? When? What? When did I have that I find myself doing that whenever people are are, and this is why we don't take reservations over the phone when people call, and even when we did, we would then immediately respond back to them of going, Hey, thank you for the phone call. Just to confirm, these are the dates we discussed that you'd be needing us with, you know, and these are the times that you were wanting visits. Because otherwise, I mean, I like to say my mind is like a steel trap. It may be rusted shut, but at least it's there, right? And I can't pack open all the time, so I've got to, I have to go to make sure that we are protected and that I know what's going on. I need this in front of me in black and white so that, yeah, have I done the take a screenshot of a conversation and text it to the client to let them know what we had previously discussed. I have, but we needed to, when they said, Well, you know, that's not what we discussed. And I can say, actually, here's a previous conversation. And you know, we're not trying to just throw things in people's face, but it does let the client No, no, this is we are following what was done, and that way everybody's on the same page with
Cathy D. 28:06
this exactly. And like you, I'll get communications on the phone. People will call me to schedule a meet and greet, and so I will, I will say, okay, yes, we're, we're set for these dates. And then I will send them a message, text message, usually, hey, it was so good talking to you on the phone this afternoon. I'm looking forward to our meet and greet at three o'clock on, you know, Thursday, October 24 I look forward to seeing you. Then the other thing I do is, if someone calls me several weeks ahead and we have scheduled a meet and greet that's going to be several weeks later. I will immediately respond, hey, it was great talking to you. I'm looking forward to the meet and greet, date and time. I will contact you a couple of days before the meet and greet to make sure that it's still a go, because people again, they're living their own lives. Everybody's busy. They've got all this stuff going on. They may forget that, oh gosh, you know, but I had this meet and greet schedule, and they've made other plans, and they didn't tell you, and here you come driving up for the meet and greet, and they're not there. I've had that happen in the past where clients like, oh gosh, I'm glad you called. Look, I forgot to tell you we had something come up. Can we reschedule? Absolutely, but that's what I do, and I feel like I have to do a lot of the work, but that's just, that's the nature of the beast. I It's my business. I want to get their business. So I do that. I will immediately. I will communicate, hey, if anything comes up between now and the meet and greet, please let me know if you need to reschedule. We can do so sometimes that happens, but it just lets them know I haven't forgotten that we have this appointment, and it reminds them a day or two before. Oh, yeah, that's right. Right? You know, Kathy's coming over so and then with clients too, if you know they schedule, I have clients who will book me six months ahead because of a year ahead, especially if they're going cruises, because, you know, you have to book those trips way in advance. And I will continually keep in touch with them along the way. And then about a week before. Hey, you know I'm looking forward to the visits. Here are the times I'm coming, the dates. Here's the balance due. If you have any questions, let me know that way, because it's been six months since they booked. And so, because you never know, things can come up, just like you know, if there's an urgent matter or a very emotional matter, a past, you know, a family member passing away, or something really critical that happens, the emotions are taking over, and people aren't thinking about, Oh, I've got this appointment coming up. And so it's just to help them keep on track. I have to keep on track, and so I can help them keep on track. I can't expect them to to do that work. I do it, and I don't mind doing it because I am the business owner. I'm providing the service, and I think that's part of it. Just got to keep pro at be proactive. Be proactive. Keep in touch and be clear about you know, spell it out. Hey, if you've scheduled this date to this date to do visits, put that in that reminder, so that sometimes people have changed the dates. Oh gosh, we're not leaving on october 22 we're waiting until october 23 Okay, wonderful. I will adjust my calendar, and I will adjust. All right, here's the new balance do because things do happen and people forget. To let you know it's not that they intentionally. Are doing it on purpose. People get busy, they got stuff going on, they don't remember. It's my job to do that, to remember for them, it's I don't like to do it, because I have a hard enough time remembering stuff for myself, but that's what I have to do. It's just that's the way I run my business, and it works well for me.
Collin 32:09
And I'm glad you mentioned the the cruises, because we had a couple clients over the over the years who would book cruises out basically every 18 months. So yeah, we only saw their dogs every 18 months, like so much changes, and the client isn't thinking, oh, I need to tell them that the food bowls are now underneath the counter. When they were in the laundry room, they made that change nine months ago. It's not even new to them anymore. Exactly when we get those requests, we sit down and go, when did we last see this client? And then, yeah, we've got to reach out to them. And basically it's just a hey, it's been a little while since we got, got to care for Baxter last. We want to check in and make sure that you know our information is up to date. Has anything changed that we need to be aware of to make sure Baxter gets his best care. And that way, we've just got to prompt. We've just got to push just a little bit to get that person thinking, and then we can get information back from that. But until we push out or we send those reminders, hey, three days before you leave for your big trip, please remember to stock up on this and do this and do this and have this out for me, because that's not where their mind is. And so we're actually setting them and ourselves up for success when we are doing that exactly.
Cathy D. 33:23
And just like you said, there are clients that I don't take care of their pets on a regular basis. It might be like you maybe once or twice a year, and a lot can change. So I will say, Hey, have Are there any changes to your pets care since I last took care of them, and I will list the date in a year, if it was like last year, and they'll go, Oh, yeah. You know, Fido's only eating once a day. Now, he used to eat twice a day, or now he's on medication. I'll leave you a complete, you know, instructions on the medication. Beautiful. The other thing, people will change veterinarians, and will forget to tell and that's kind of hard. And I'm going, Okay, are you still with the same vet? Now, where I live, we don't have a lot of veterinarians. We have, I think four, so you know, there I got a 25% chance of being right. But yeah, if you live in a bigger area, like a big city, and there are vets all over the place. People will change vets and won't think, oh, I need to let my pet sitter know that I'm I'm with this different veterinarian. So if I haven't seen a pet in a while ago, Hey, are you still using, you know, XYZ Animal Hospital? Oh, no, no. We changed with them, you know, a couple of months ago. Okay, glad to know that, because I'm hoping I won't need to use the vet while you're gone, but I want to know if, if I do have to, I'm going to the right place, because I don't want to have to spend the time showing up at that that, oh, they're not patients here anymore, and I'm going and here I'm having, it's inefficient for me, because I'm having to. Take my time to go figure something else out when I should know up front, okay, this is the vet that person's using now, but they will, they things will change. And they were not on their radar. We're not on their radar day to day. And so they'll just forget to tell us. And so we have to ask those questions, hey, any new medications? Any changes in the food, the quantity of food, the number of times that you feed, especially for those clients that you don't see on a regular basis throughout the year. So yeah, it's, it's you just, it's you just having to think of all the questions you can and get those answers so that you can do your job to the best of your ability, and you're not spending all of the time at the visit trying to figure things out when, hey, it's right there. I know what I'm doing that way I can get my tasks done and then have some quality time with those pets for the remainder of the
Collin 36:00
visit well, and it just goes a long way of building trust with a client too. Of when they can, they begin to rely on us to make sure that those details are covered. And it's not all on them either, right?
Cathy D. 36:14
Exactly, exactly. It's a compliment when people tell you, and I'm sure you've had this happen to you many times, Collin, that you're told you are the best pet sitter that I've ever had. Boy, does that mean a lot. I've had some clients tell me that, and I am a very, very detail oriented person. Some people that kind of freaks them out. But for me, the more I know, the better I can do my job. I guess you could call me, I call myself anal retentive when it comes to my pet sitting business, and that's a good thing, and because the more I know about the care that I'm giving, the better the job I can do. And so I love it. I know some pet sitters hate this, but I love it when a client leaves me more information than maybe I need, because that way that client has covered all of his or her bases, and that way everything is spelled out. If those notes are sitting there. I don't have any questions. I can do the job. This is great. They might have post it notes, especially new clients. I love this. When I'm brand new to them, they they know that. I don't know where everything is, so they'll put post it notes up. Like, okay, here's the silverware drawer. If you're in a big kitchen and you've got like, 20 million drawers, and you're trying to find a fork so you can get the wet cat food out of the can. Hey, that's where the silverware and then once you learn the house, then you know where the silverware drawer is or where the garbage can is. I cannot tell you how, how many places you can put a garbage can in a house. Usually, most clients will either put it under the kitchen sink or there might be one that's actually sitting out, like one of those nice metal cans sitting out. Some people put them in their laundry room. Some people will put them in the pantry. And so I will ask at the meet and greet, if I don't see the garbage can, I'll ask, so where do you keep your garbage can? Because I'm going, and I feel like I'm intruding because I'm looking through cabinets and doors, and if they've got cameras on in the house watching me go through their stuff, I'm like, I'm just trying to look for the garbage can. Where is it? And if I can never find one, I'll take a plastic grocery bag in, and I'll take whatever I use, and I'll take it with me. But that is frustrating. I mean, I did not know how many places you can have a garbage can logically, you know, put it under the kitchen sink, or you put it in the laundry room, but I have found garbage cans in some funky places, and so just it just the time, because the quality of the visit suffers if I'm having to go and Do a lot of things that that were not spelled out for me to start with. And so unfortunately, sometimes you have to ask, hey, where do you keep your garbage can? And you get the funny look. It's like, well, you know where it is. You live here where I don't see it. Oh, we keep it over. This is one of those cabinets that you pull out where the can is hidden. Okay, cool, great. Good to know that. But it's just so I'm like, Okay, I got and there was one house I never could find the garbage can. I don't know where they had it. I might have been out in the garage. I don't know. I looked everywhere for that thing and I couldn't find it.
Collin 39:34
They, they're like chameleons. I You wouldn't expect something so, you know, boring and so, like, it doesn't fit in with any really home decor, and yet, they're the hardest things in the world to find. There's so many unique ways to hide them and and when we can go I need, I need this information again, asking those good questions so that the client can tell us because they're not thinking about that. I know one question that I'd love to ask at the end of a meet and greet is, is, um. Well, is there anything else you need to tell me about the house? Like a door that I have to hop on one foot and hold my tongue in just the right way to open?
Cathy D. 40:11
I'm laughing because that's so true. Oh my gosh. And
Collin 40:14
at first people will go, oh no, no. Oh actually, yeah, over here, and here's this thing. And we just, we just, we just prompted. Because then, that way, when they are transparent with us, we, as you said, Kathy, we can do our job better, and then they can go, Look, I line item five things here, or this was all the detail we talked about, and this person knocked those out of the park, because we knew our expectations. We knew what we were walking into. So we set ourselves up for success. And the client can go, I told this person to turn on the light to the balcony, you know, at night time, and they did that. And I could tell, because I have cameras and I'm watching what the person is doing, wow, I know when I tell this person stuff, they're going to do it and execute it. That's that's where we really start building that trust of when they tell us to do something, we actually do it
Cathy D. 41:03
right, and I don't question it. I mean, if it's something, if that's what the client wants, they want it for a reason, then I do it. I will ask, Hey, do you leave your television on, or a radio on, or Alexa, or any of those for your pets while you're gone. Yeah, some clients do I go, okay, you know, where's the Alexa cube? Okay, great, I'll tell her to play, you know, call my cat or whatever. You know, call my dog. Some clients don't want anything being played. Me, personally, I like it. I love to walk into a house where there's a TV on or a radio or something, because it doesn't seem so empty and quiet, although it's not empty that the pets are there, but it just gives me a feeling of security. But if a client doesn't want anything playing, then I'm not going to play anything. You know, when I leave. I might play it while I'm there, but I'll turn it off when I leave. But clients have they want something done a certain way. I'm going to do it the way they want. I'm not going to argue with them unless it's something that could endanger a pet that I'm going to, you know, try to dig deeper and go. Why are you doing, you know, why are you doing in this way? But if they want the lamp and the den, on the far wall left on. I'm going to leave that lamp on. If they want me to turn off all the lights, I'll turn off all the lights. If they want me to turn on a light, a certain light, when I come in, I'll do that. I make a note of it. And if I'll ask them in the next time, hey, has anything changed? Do you still want me to alternate the lights? Oh, no, you don't have to do that anymore. But whatever the client wants, that's what I'm going to do. The client's paying me. They're paying me for my service. I'm going to do what they want me to do.
Collin 42:53
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Cathy D. 44:07
that just drives me insane. I'm sorry, I guess, because I'm, I will admit I have two dogs on my own, and I could be considered a helicopter parent. I if I have a pet sitter. I want I want details. That's who I am. I want to know, are my kids behaving? Are they causing you any trouble? How are the visits going? I like the details, but I don't have that many clients that just want you know either. Oh, no, you don't have to text me. I that just is foreign to me. That to me that says, Do you really care about your pets? You know, I guess they feel well. I know they're in good hands. You know, don't bother me while I'm on vacation. So I will ask clients. I'll go, okay if I'm doing let's say a vacation visit for dogs three times a day, for instance, I'll say, Okay. Do you want me to text you every visit? Or would you like me to send you a text one, you know, one time a day. And if they're on a cruise, let's say they go over to Europe, and Europe is what five or six hours ahead, they'll go well, you know, you don't have to text every visit if you want to do one visit a day. Well, in that case, I will do the updates in the morning, because they're they're ahead time wise. I won't do it at night because it's in the middle of the night for them. For cat visits. If I do one visit a day, then I'm going to definitely update every visit. I do have new clients, you know that don't know me well? You know, they don't know me well at all. If it makes them comfortable to get a an update every visit, that's what I'm going to do. It gives them peace of mind. I will say they go, do you mind texting me every visit? Absolutely, I'll be happy to do that. I will text you at the you know, toward the end of the visit, I'll let you know how everything's going. And then in that update, I'll go, hey, you know everything was great. I'll give some details. Looking forward to seeing your babies this afternoon. I'll I'll send another update to let you know how things are going. Because honestly, Collin with newer clients, they don't know me well. They don't they don't know how detail oriented I am. They don't know how responsible I am, so when I keep them updated on every visit, that gives them peace of mind, Hey, she's showing up. Because some of my clients don't have the cameras outside or inside, so they don't know that I'm showing up. But I do the updates. I send pictures, I'll send video if I can, to let them know, Hey, I showed up, because unfortunately, not professional sitters, but those who might be hobby sitters may not show up like they're supposed to, and say they did, and the client has no way of knowing whether they did or not. And so for me, it's you've got to build the trust, and I have to build it, starting on my end, building that trust that way they know from that point forward, Kathy says she's going to show up. She shows up. If I'm going to be delayed showing up, I will say, Hey, I know I'm supposed to get your house at three o'clock. But I have been at this client visit or this pet visit, and had diarrhea all over the floor. It took me forever to clean up. I'm behind schedule. Just wanted you to know, as soon as I get to your house, I'll let you know that way, they're not worrying that something has happened to me. I've had clients in the past because they know I am anal retentive about updating. Like I say I'm going to update. I've had them reach out to me. I will text, and it shows the text went through. Well, the client didn't get the text. Next thing I know, they're texting me or calling me. Hey, Kathy, did you do the visit at 1130 this morning? Well, yeah, I did. I sent you the text. It was around 1145 I showed you, sent these pictures. Oh, we never got the text. I said, Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. And they said we didn't doubt that you showed up. We just worried that something bad had happened to you, because they know I show up. Yeah? And I thought, Oh my gosh. Well, I'm so sorry you're worried. No, things are great, but I don't have control over text messaging systems, and that's where I started using WhatsApp, or trying to get my clients to use WhatsApp. Some of them prefer not to, but with WhatsApp, I know my message was sent, it was delivered, and I know when the client opens it, and they know the same when they send their communication to me, and that way there's no guesswork. But I do have a few clients for whatever reason they don't want to use WhatsApp. And I go, Well, okay, just understand with text messaging is not reliable. It will say on my end, yes, the text went out. It went out at this time. I don't know if you got it or not, unless you respond to it. And a lot of times, clients won't respond. You know, they'll get the text. Oh, that's great. They they won't do a thumbs up, or, Hey, I got your text. So that's something I have no control over. And I just try to tell people, okay, just understand. And the other thing I have found with texting, especially my area, some of this. I mean, good lord, the internet. It's just sometimes you get really poor internet. And so I have learned with text messaging, especially in some of my clients homes, to send the text, the actual text, the words, and do not attach the pictures to that text, because sometimes the pictures hose up and it will not go through. So I have learned send the text, press that's, you know, the Send. I see that it's been sent, then I will send the pictures. And if it takes longer for the pictures to go through, that's okay. But I had to learn that, because I'm like, my text did not go through. They're wondering, did you show up for the visit? So it's a learning curve for me. I'm not perfect, and I do make mistakes, but I try to, I try to fix those mistakes that that I make and but, yeah, communication, I mean, sometimes texting can be a beast, and, well, it shows that my text went to you, Well, I never got it.
Collin 50:23
And, yeah, we've, we've and sometimes, whether even if we're using software or other forums that there things happen all the time, or sometimes maybe we get completely out of cell coverage. This is perfect.
Cathy D. 50:36
There's no perfect way. I'm thinking, we go back to carrier pigeons. You know, here's the message. Fly over there. I just don't know. I really don't know. And it's frustrating because, as I said, I'm a stickler for good communication, and when I'm told, Well, I never got your message, then I feel like that's a black mark on me, although I sent it, but I had no control over what happens once it says it's sent and it's floating around cyberspace somewhere. But that's frustrating for me, because, you know, I I want to make sure, yes, my clients know that their their pets, Yes, everything's going great, everything's according to schedule. There are no issues. I want them to know that, especially if they're if they're on vacation, they're going they I don't want them worrying about their pets while they're gone. Yes, they should miss their pets, but don't worry about them, because that's why you hired me. And when stupid technology gets in the way, sometimes that screws me up, and that makes me very upset, and I don't like that. I want things to go smoothly, so that my clients know everything is a okay while they're gone.
Collin 51:46
Well, you mentioned, I think, an example there of you know, when you send something and it doesn't go through, you know, that's a little bit of tension between you and the client. Something doesn't go quite well. I would like for you to talk more about those conversations during or maybe just difficult conversations that you've had to have with with pet parents and owners and your clients, and how you walk through those Well,
Cathy D. 52:11
nobody likes confrontation. Nobody likes to be told that they're doing something wrong. So you really have to you really have to tread lightly. You don't want to offend a client. You don't want to get offended. So if there's a situation that is going to be considered confrontational, it's the language and the tone that you use. I always try to put a positive spin when I can, because there things are going to happen, but it's how you handle the situation that sometimes make that will make a huge difference. Problems are going to happen, mistakes are going to be made. Sorry, that's the way it is. There's no such thing as perfect. It's how you address that problem or that challenge and how you how you go about fixing the problem. Difficult. Yeah, I've had, I had one new client that hired me over the summer, and she had used a hobby sitter, and the sitter was not showing up like she was supposed to. Was showing up 1030 at night, dashing in the house, dashing out of the house. The client calls me looking for, you know, new service. And she said, Look, I'm looking for someone. My cat was traumatized because this person was not spending time with him and was just and these, these people had indoor, well, they had outdoor cameras, so they knew exactly when the person was coming and going. And so that upset me one because I thought it, you know, made my industry look bad. But I told her, I said, Look, you know when I show up, you will know I show up. I communicate. I will send you texts, I will send you video. I show up when I say I'm going to so there was, I was supposed to do the visits through a certain date, and I did the whole thing, hey, please text me when you get home, no matter how late, so I know you made it back. Well, I never heard from her, and I was panicking, because I'm like, Oh my gosh, you know, I guess I need to go back and check on this cat again. The cat had turned over its food bowl one of the days, one of the first days that I showed up and food went between this, this table and the wall, and he couldn't get to the food. That's why I do everyday visits for cats. That's one of the reasons. So I'm telling her, I need you. Please text me. She never would text me. I had I tried calling her, could got her voicemail. Tried to call her. How? Husband almost decided to start calling her emergency contacts and family members to go, Hey, what's going on? Is she okay because she had traveled out of state, and I finally got her to write me back. She said, Oh, well, we're not coming home until tomorrow night because of such and such. And I wrote her back and I said, Well, I'm glad to hear you're okay. Why didn't you tell me? I can, I can definitely continue the visits. I will take care of your cat until you get home. And she said, Well, I really I didn't want to bother you with that. And I thought it is not a bother, and this is all in writing. I said, No, no, no. Anytime you're going to be delayed getting home. You need to let me know, because I will continue service until you get home. I am not just going to go, oh well, my last visit was that night. Okay, I'm done. No, I'm not done, because that cat's by himself, and when he turned over the food bowl, I'm afraid. What if he does that again, he has no access to food. What if he turns over the water bowl he has no access to water, so it was difficult trying to get her to understand my side of it. Look, I don't know that you're delayed. You didn't let me know that you didn't send me a message going, Hey, we're having car trouble. You know we're going to have to stay here for overnight. I will let you know when we get home if I had known that. Okay, then I know that expectation has been set. But I was frantic, and I was telling my husband, what do I do? This is late at night, like 930 10 o'clock at night. What do I do? Do I drive over there? And I thought, if I don't hear back from her, I'm going to get in the car and I'm going to drive over there and take care of that cat, because I have to that cat. I He is my responsibility until she gets home. So me, I don't like confrontation. I hate it, but I have to stand up for the pets. I have to be their voice, because they don't have the voice, and it's frustrating when people do things, I'm like, you just gotta let me know. You know, if, if, if there's a problem, I need to know I cannot fix the problem unless I know about it. And don't think you're ever going to be imposing on me to say, hey, we're going to be delayed getting home. Can you do another visit? Absolutely, I'll do another visit. And it's frustrating when people just make an assumption. Oh, well, that was your last visit. I don't want to bother you. You know, it's going to imposition. You know, it upsets me that I don't know what the plan is, because I need to know, because I'm taking care of a living, breathing creature who cannot take care of itself. I can't just leave. I just can't leave. I can't do it. And that's frustrating. Just trying to train people, you know, yes, there are difficult conversations. If I get into a situation where an animal starts getting, I don't know, aggressive, I can't do those visits anymore. I cannot afford to get hurt myself, because then I'm no good to anyone. So it's just things like, if a behavioral change, you know, I'll ask the client, Hey, I've noticed, you know, the cat used to really come out and see me all visits, and now the cat's hiding. Does something happen? Has something happened? Has there been a change in the household? Is it an isolated incident? Sometimes, usually it's an isolated incident. But if there is behavioral change, then I'll go, well, could it be medical? And I'll suggest to the client, hey, you know spot is is not acting the way that he has acted with me in the past. I don't know if there could be something medical. I think when you get home, give a call to your vet, take spot in just to make sure that there's no medical issue, because cats will hide things. They will. They don't show they don't want you to know if they're not doing well. They hide that. And so just trying to say, hey, just if, if I notice something, I'm going to say something, but I'm not going to offend the client. Oh, well, your cat's hissing at me. You know, what the heck? When did he start doing that? I'm going to try to get to the root of the problem and go, Okay, either it is a medical issue, physical issue, or it's a behavioral issue. With dogs, if it's a behavioral issue and the client is open to positive reinforcement training, we have a phenomenal positive reinforcement trainer in our area that I highly recommend. And I'll go, Hey, if you want to work with this lady, she she works magic. Here's her number, you know, if you want to give her a call, set up a consultation, you know, see how it goes. And I've had clients who have hired her, and she has helped. Them, but you have to tread lightly. Nobody wants to feel like they're a bad pet parent, right? And you don't want people, people thinking that you think that you just want to try to get to the root of the problem so that you can, you can come up with a solution.
Collin 1:00:20
And that really isn't right there. Of when we have to communicate in these situations, we have all of the facts in our brain about what happened, what the time was, what it was like, the severity of things and all these things. Just communicating the facts to the owner doesn't mean that emotionally they are ready to receive that. And so we've got to figure out, how am I going to tell this, this person, this knowing what I know about them and my history with them, if I have any, but also what's the right mode of communication? I have found consistently that while 99% of our communication with our clients is via, you know, written it's text messages. I have decided that just for us, when it comes to these kind of difficult conversations around behavioral health concerns, you know, whatever's going on in the home that needs to be a phone conversation so that we can hear each other's emotions, that we can have a better connection at the human level to make that actually happen, so that the actual communication can be happening, and not just defensive or arm's length kind of communication, right? And
Cathy D. 1:01:32
sometimes you do have to pick up the phone. Honestly, I'm not a phone person. I'm not one who really loves talking on the telephone, but there are times you're right that you need to make that phone call because it's a it's a time sensitive type matter, or you want to, you know, a lot of times you cannot, you cannot sense tone and a text or an email, but you certainly can in A phone call, and so sometimes it's best you pick up the phone, you say, Hey, I'm sorry to disturb you, but I just need to talk to you. Need to figure out what's going on with this. And sometimes it could be nothing, which puts my mind at ease. Okay, hey, this is something that he's done before. Okay, wasn't aware of that because he's never done it with me. So yeah, and it's just, you know, just to get to a solution. And I think clients appreciate that, that you care enough to to want to address any kind of issue, because you care about them, and you care about their pets, and you're not pointing a finger. Oh, you're a bad pet parent. You're like, look, I want to work with you on this. Um, got this situation, got this challenge. I want to help you figure out. How do we, how do we proceed with this? How do we help your pet? And yeah, sometimes you do, you have to pick up that phone and do the phone call. And if it's a difficult conversation, nobody likes that. I don't. I would rather not, yeah, but sometimes, you know that's just, that's just the way it is and and if you lose a client over it, then you know what? You lose a client over it, all you can do is the best you can do. And I always put the pet safety and well being first thing that's the top. I tell clients, you know, if they have indoor outdoor cats, for instance, I go, Well, if they're indoor outdoor they have to stay inside while you're gone, while I'm doing the visits. Oh, well, they won't be happy. They won't like that. I understand that, but something can happen to them while they're outside. I'm not there to take care of it. I cannot be held liable. I worry sick about them. I'll go home, going, okay, you know, I hope they show Oh, they'll show up at night to let for you to let them in. No, they won't, because I'm not you. I'm not I'm not mom. They know that. And so it's sometimes I have to put my foot down. And I've had some potential clients. Well, I've decided I want to go with somebody else, because she doesn't mind them being indoor, outdoor cats. I go, Okay, well, I understand if you change your mind you want me to provide service in the future. Please let me know, but please understand why my policy is the way it is. Because I do worry. I'm not a robot, you know, I'm not a machine. I have emotions. I have feelings. I care about these pets. I get attached to my pet clients, I can't help it, so I worry about them. When I do drop in visits, if I'm not doing overnights, that last visit of the night for dogs, I go, okay. I hope I will find everything is a okay when I come in the next morning, I hope I don't walk into something that you know happened because I do, because things can happen overnight. Thing things happen. Dogs get into things. Cats get into things. They just do and so, but yeah, sometimes, you know, nobody likes confrontation, but sometimes the you have to, you have to do it for the well being of the pets you're taking care of. You.
Collin 1:05:01
I really appreciate that and helping encourage us to take on that, that burden and that responsibility of clear communication, even in the moments where we don't want to, and being honest with clients and upfront with them at every stage of their process of becoming a client, and then for the entire time that they are a client with us so that they can learn to trust us and rely on us in every aspect. I really appreciate you coming on the show today, Cathy, and for taking your time to come on and do this for us. If people are interested in reaching out and maybe asking questions about how they could handle certain situations or ideas that you have for how to communicate better as pet sitters, how best can they do that?
Cathy D. 1:05:43
Okay, they can call or text me. My number is 770-883-4644, or if they would like to email me, my email address is going to the dogs. G A, that's G O, i n t, O, T, H, E, D, O, G, S, G a@gmail.com, and I do have a Facebook account. My personal page is Kathy e Duval. If they want to friend me, they're welcome to do that. And then once they go to my personal page, there's a link, they can go to my business page, page which is going to the dogs, and my website, the people can always visit the website that's www, dot going to the dogs, ga.com and those are the ways to get or you can do carrier pigeon if you want to do that. You know, if that's your thing. So if you want to get in touch with me, however you want to do it, feel free. I would love to come. I would love to have chats with with people who might be listening. And I did, I will say, the last podcast that I did. I did have a few pet sitters reach out to me that I had never met before. I would not have met if it had not been for pet sitter confessional. And one of them, we keep in touch once a month. It's awesome, and she lives in Connecticut, so I just feel like Pet Sitter confessional is a wonderful Gosh, Collin, I'm so glad you came up with it. You and Megan and great podcasts, very informative, and it's great networking. We get to meet other sitters that maybe we never would have met. So thank you so much for the time and effort that you and Megan put into to doing these podcasts. Thank you so much for that.
Collin 1:07:40
Well, I appreciate that very much, Cathy. That's amazing to hear. And yeah, we want more people connected and having conversations and working together to make the industry better. And appreciate you coming on the show today and being part of that today too. So thank you
Cathy D. 1:07:54
so much. Collin, so much. I'm so glad I got to talk to you again. What a treat for me. I
Collin 1:07:59
love when Cathy said, the more I know, the better I can do. Often, we think about this from the context of us being the pet sitter, being the business owner, leave the book of instructions. Tell me every minutia that I need to know about the proclivities of your cat or your dog and all their eccentricities. I need to know everything. Don't leave a single thing out. What we're asking for is clear, concise communication to us. How much more for our clients when we speak to them, whether it's the onboarding process, whether it's a change in our business policies and practices, or anything in between, we must clearly communicate and converse with them the way we'd want to be talked to. We'd like to thank today's sponsors, our friends at Tiny to pet and pet perennials, for making this show possible. And we really want to thank you so much today for listening to us, for sharing episodes and for being part of this. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and we'll be back again soon. You.
