561: Exploring New Chapters with Aimee Thomas
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What would it take for you to step away from your business and start a new chapter? In this episode, Aimee Thomas, former owner of Leashes to Leads Pet Care, shares her journey of transitioning from a thriving pet care business to an exciting new role working on a 100-acre farm. Aimee reflects on the challenges of leaving her business behind, the power of a strong pet sitting network, and how she ensured her clients were cared for during the transition. She also discusses her passion for high-end pet care, live-in services, and how staying open to new opportunities led her to a fulfilling new path. Whether you’re considering a career change or simply curious about what it takes to close one chapter and embrace another, this episode offers valuable insights and inspiration.
Main topics:
Transitioning from Business to Farm
Networking Supports Growth and Transition
Providing High-End, Specialized Care
Embracing Change with Open Possibilities
Ensuring Clients Transition Smoothly
Main takeaway: "Don’t limit yourself to possibilities. Sometimes, stepping into something new can bring a whole new light into your life.”
Change can be intimidating, but it holds the key to growth and fulfillment. Whether it’s leaving behind a career, pursuing a dream, or stepping outside your comfort zone, new opportunities have the power to transform your path in unexpected ways. By staying open to change, you might discover a journey that aligns more deeply with your passions and values. Trust in your ability to adapt, and remember that every step forward—no matter how uncertain—can lead to something extraordinary
This week, Aimee Thomas shares her inspiring journey of stepping away from her successful pet care business to embrace a new chapter full of challenges and rewards. Her story is a reminder to stay open to change and trust the possibilities ahead.
🌟 What’s a new opportunity you’re ready to embrace? Let us know in the comments!
About out guest:
Aimee Thomas is the former owner of Leashes to Leads Pet Care in Ocala, Florida, where she built a successful business specializing in high-end pet care services, including live-in pet sitting. With a background in sales and customer service, Aimee found her calling in pet care after overcoming a traumatic brain injury, creating a network of trusted pet sitters in her community and providing exceptional care to her clients. Now, Aimee has transitioned into a new chapter, working on a 100-acre farm with a variety of animals while continuing to share her knowledge and support with the pet care community. Aimee is also a certified Magna Wave practitioner, using her skills to improve the lives of animals through advanced therapeutic techniques.
Links:
Contact Aimee Thomas at Aimee@leashestoleads.com
Learn more about Magna Wave therapy: https://magnawavepemf.com/what-is-pemf/
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pet sitter confessional, career change, traumatic brain injury, independent contractor, mentorship, client referrals, live-in pet care, high-end clients, car wrap marketing, social media presence, Magna wave therapy, exotic animals, business transition, client relationships, new opportunity
SPEAKERS
Collin, Aimee Thomas, Doug
Collin 00:00
Music. Welcome to pet sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Today, we're brought to you by our friends at time to pet and the National Association of Professional pet sitters, or naps. What would it take you to step away from your business and start something new, do something different. One of the amazing things about being our own bosses, owning and running our businesses, is that we can decide when to start something and when to end something. Today, we're really excited to have Aimee Thomas, former owner of leashes to Leeds pet care, about how she decided when it was time for a career change to pursue an opportunity that she just could not refuse. She shares what that was like for her personally, and how she made sure to make that transition as smooth as possible for her clients. Let's
Aimee Thomas 00:51
get started. My name is Aimee Thomas and I own Leisha salads pet care in Ocala, Florida, for those of you that do know I'm part of the crazy Ocala group, huge group of pet setters that that network. So that's, that's my thing. Really, I absolutely love my business. I'm really, really proud of it. Today is the official last day, though, for now,
Collin 01:24
yeah, and I want to talk about that for now here in a little bit. That sounds very, very interesting. I'm sure. You know, there's a lot going on, but you know, how long have you been running your business?
Aimee Thomas 01:33
My business started January. I think it was January. 3 is the official day of 2019 so I'm almost ending it exactly. So I'm
Collin 01:50
gonna say, I'm gonna say it is exactly five years because that that's a distinction that doesn't need to be there. But what got you started? What back in January of 2019 or December of 2018 kind of what was going on at that time?
Aimee Thomas 02:02
Um, well, it's actually kind of started happening in December. Well, first of all, I have been, I would be this in sales and customer service my entire life, and I suffered a traumatic brain injury back in 20 now. I'm sitting here going, oh shoot, when was it 2013 and I just didn't fit in anymore into corporate America. I was really unhappy. I bounced around a little bit and was just frustrated, and I stumbled upon a website. It was actually a cow pet settings website Shannon handon, which you've had, and found that she was looking for somebody to help out. So an independent contractor. So I typed up, you know, did my whole thing and and I heard back from her, and she asked me to meet with her. I think we met at paneras, and just really hit it off. And so I actually started as an independent contractor with her in december 2018 So, and she told me, not too far in she said, you're really meant to do this. And we had a little bit of at that time, there was kind of a hole in the area where I lived, in northwest Ocala and Marin County. And she encouraged me to start my own business, and was my mentor. Wow,
Collin 03:48
that's what a wonderful influence to have, and have somebody like that in your life, to be able to not only like to be able to like, see that kind of thing in you and really help foster that, right?
Aimee Thomas 03:58
She, she was amazing. I always tell every, every now and then, I just go, thank you so much. So, yep, I still did independent contracting with her while I built my business, and it just took off from there.
Collin 04:19
Yeah, and that's, that's one just, just really wonderful thing to be able to have that and then to give that to other people, right when you can have that kind of influence, to help educate others, to help encourage them, and like we need that more often in our life than many of us really ever believe, because it's kind of easy, I don't know, for to start thinking, Oh, I now we've got this, we've got this all figured out. We don't need anybody's help. And then you run into problems. You run into issues, or maybe you've got that really down day where you're not feeling the best. To have somebody else rooting in your corner really makes all the difference.
Aimee Thomas 04:51
Absolutely, absolutely the ladies that in my network I could not do without them. It i. Still in the, you know, texting it with them all the time and keep up with them, and told them that I am still going to be involved in in the network, and helping train any new people that come on, and helping mentor so, because we need more and more. I mean, it's, it's not, it shouldn't be a competition.
Collin 05:22
Yeah, well, I know that's a big thing that that for for you in that group, the crazy Ocala, talk about the role that that was over the years for you, and kind of why, why that was necessary for you, or you felt you needed to be involved.
Aimee Thomas 05:38
Oh, definitely. Because I hate to tell people No. So when somebody would reach out to me and can you do this, or do you cover this area? And it's like, I don't like to say no. I like to say, Well, I'm not able to I'm not available, or I don't actually cover that area, but I can recommend somebody else to you that does so that was a huge part. And also, you know, just nobody understands some of the stuff that pet setters go through, except for other but setters. So you know, whether it was having a difficult client, the death of a client's pet, you know, just weird things that come up. And you could reach out to him and say, Hey, this is going on. Has anybody else been through this? You know, any recommendations?
Collin 06:35
So, yeah, I know when a lot of people think about having a group, right? I think a lot of us think, Oh, I just need to get a referral network. That's what I need to build. I need so, so they don't have to say no. But you guys really took it to that next level where I mean genuine friendships, support, encourage, like it was, it was kind of an everything group for
Aimee Thomas 06:57
you all. Yes, yes. I've cut I've called Shannon more than once in tears from, you know, a client's pet passing, or, you know, just something happening, as she's called me once in a panic because she was having problems catching a cat that was showing signs where it needed to go to the vet. So I was able to get over there really quick in between clients and help her catch their cat and get it to the vet. So we reach out for all kinds of, all kinds of reasons, even if it's just, you know, send each other a joke to, you know, make each other laugh. Or, you know, hey, heads up. Big accident here, you know, at this intersection, guys, avoid this area
Collin 07:45
that alone is worth its weight in gold, right? Avoiding traffic snarls. Sign me up. Now you as far as the services that you were offering, what kind of what kind of stuff were you doing for your clients?
Aimee Thomas 08:01
I did regular drop in pet visits, the dog walks or play for those that that had jobs where they couldn't come home for lunch or whatever. Also for clients, older clients that really couldn't go out and give their dog the the same amount of exercise that they used to also my really big thing that I got into was live in pet care. I offered what I called 2420 hour pets pet setting, or I ended up changing that to almost all day pet care. And it's really where my I was trying to always be there 20 out of 24 hours so I could, you know, leave to go do other things. I was very, very careful about what clients that I took on for that particular service, yeah, but ended up having absolutely amazing clients that I loved, and it was more relaxing to be able to hang out all day and take care of their animals, take care of stuff, you know, there, plus I could take my computer, get caught up on computer things and so postings and all that. So for me, it was much more relaxing. I had my husband at home taking care of our pets, so it worked out perfect for us.
Collin 09:31
Did you have certain criteria? I mean, you talked about you were very selective, right for those kind of clients. Was it more of the kind of people that you're working with, or was there a target kind of pet where I hear that kind of service, you know, I immediately think, Oh, it was a special needs pet, or they were just, you know, post op, or they were needing some sort of continuous monitoring, or and how, what did you What did you find that niche filled?
Aimee Thomas 09:59
Well. One thing that I started right from the very beginning is I targeted more high end clients so, so it was, you know, clients that didn't have any problem paying that service, because it's not an inexpensive service, of course. And I just, I wanted to make sure it was someplace that I was comfortable being felt safe and comfortable to stay there for that long, and just had the right click with both the client and the pets. I only ever had one client that I did that for, that only had two, two animals they had, they were actually the one I started doing it for, because they had a dog that has medical issues and it has to eat a little bit every, like four hours so but then after that, I had clients that had a lot of pets and a lot of different pets.
Collin 10:55
Yeah, I could easily see how that would be. Would be attractive to those kind of clients, because there's such a diversity of needs, and kind of even just aligning that to a standard three visits a day or four visits a day would be really hard to get everything done and make sure each pet gets the attention that they really need or that the client wants, not To
Aimee Thomas 11:17
mention four visits a day. I was exhausted.
Collin 11:22
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Aimee Thomas 11:26
You know, I could take a nap in the middle of the day with the clients pets, so worked out better for me.
Collin 11:33
Yeah? Well, you know, again, this these pros and cons that a lot of you know. It takes you don't really know what you don't know until you experience it. Then all of a sudden you're like, Oh yeah, I don't like that, because it is amazing. How big of a difference one visit makes, like, three, oh man, all of a sudden that's like, yeah, I can do that. And then four, it's like, for some reason, there's like, a mental blockage in my brain, of like, I'm over there all the time, like, I've never it becomes overwhelming at that point, right? Right? Were you, you know that again, for that kind of high end service, were you marketing? You know, how are you attracting those particular clients?
Aimee Thomas 12:11
Um, I am one of those that I did the car wrap. So I got so many amazing clients from doing the car wrap. Of course, I had to mind by P's and Q's,
Collin 12:24
no speeding, no
Aimee Thomas 12:26
speeding, no inappropriate hand signals. You had to watch sign language. But it was, it was wonderful. It was great for me. It was that was probably my, my best
Collin 12:46
value for anything
Aimee Thomas 12:48
that I did was that and but, and the clients would see me, I mean, other people would see me in those particular high end neighborhoods all the time, and then I'd get a phone call, and I also, so again, I didn't worry about the, how some people worry about the the wrap on the car, letting people know that this person is gone. Well, I was in gated communities, or I also was doing farms. So I was in, you know, gated individual farms. So there was never, I never had a client. Have a problem with that,
Collin 13:29
yeah, and to have something that is literally parked outside, like it is a mobile billboard that's just stationary for, you know, 20 of the 24 hours a day, of course, that's going to be seen by the neighbors, right? Like that is something that they can't help but see, and then that builds that notoriety, that builds that familiarity with people of as far as just name recognition,
Aimee Thomas 13:51
right? And I also, I'm very, very active on social media. So that was, I was posting daily, sometimes multiple times a day. And I didn't really post about specific services or, you know, book me for this, or I I tended to post fun stuff, funny things, educational things, different fun photos of client pets. So I have a really act or had that I did close down already had a very active social media account. People were reaching out to me and people, you know, they felt that they they knew me. I was constantly getting recommended by people that I didn't know, I'd never even heard of, but they were recommending me to other people because they were actually following me, or seeing my car,
Collin 14:52
or following your car that they were there.
Aimee Thomas 14:55
I have gotten some of those. Hi, I'm driving behind you. Oh my gosh.
15:03
Yes, have
Collin 15:05
you heard of time to pet? Doug from bat to the bone? Pet Care has this to say,
Doug 15:09
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Collin 15:29
looking for new pet saying software give time to pet a try. Listeners of our show will save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confession well, all over, right? Well, and I think that is important because, you know, the car wraps. I know it is. It's a financial investment, right? And it does elevate you all the more, as far as kind of putting a spotlight directly on you. We don't just get to blend in, into the background anymore, but we do need to think about from our clients perspective. And we all could, could sit here and go, Yeah, I probably have three, maybe five, clients who I might have to have a more in depth conversation about this, or maybe more. But you kind of you get a sense of your clientele, of whether that's something that would be a fit for them, or it may be a sign that you can need to attract some different kind of clients if that's the direction you want to go to, because direction you want to go to, because it is not going to be for everybody exactly. And so you're, you're running your business. You're, you're, you know, I don't, when did, I mean, did you ever think that you would stop running your business?
Aimee Thomas 16:36
No, no, I had no intentions of shopping. Okay?
Collin 16:43
Yeah, completely was, when it happened, it was kind of,
Aimee Thomas 16:51
I actually, I now work for a client that is somebody that was a client of mine. They were actually my number one client. And, they were having some issues with employees, and kind of tossed it out there about, I don't suppose you'd want to and then hahaha, and I'm like, well, and then I kept thinking about it, and then kind of tossed back and forth. And
Collin 17:21
next thing you know, you're signing some employment papers. Yeah, so what, what was that process like then, I mean, going from a lot of people, a lot of people from, you know, I feel like, you know, we're five, six years into this. We've been doing this for full time for about that time, and then we've been doing it part time even longer than that. There's a sense for like me, personally, I know other people get the sense of like, Oh man, I could never go work for somebody else, or I could never do that kind of thing again, because I'm kind of spoiled now. It's kind of been ruined for me. So for you, what was going through your head? Of, like, what you know, how did it go from, you know, laugh and chuckle to signing on the dotted line and, you know, showing up for work the next day? Well,
Aimee Thomas 18:08
honestly, I just, I love this client, and I've been with them since 2019 and I was doing the live ins there. And every time I've gone to a conference and heard the amazing Janie but Nick speak, she would start talking about, you should never have a client that is the biggest portion you know, like, you should never have a client that's like 20% of of your business. And every time she said that, I would go, Oh, god, she's talking to me, because this client actually was, they were 20, and then crawled up to they were 30% of my business. Wow, so, and everybody's like, well, if you lose them, that's, you know, that's a huge that's, that's hard to come back from this particular client. I wasn't worried about that with. You know, I can't really get into everything. They're very private, but I absolutely love, love they. They're they, if I wasn't at home or on vacation in the Caribbean, my favorite place in the world to be was at their farm. It is beautiful. It's I love their animals. They actually, they have 100 plus acre farm. They have horses. They have cows, lots of miniature cows. They now have pigs and sheep and Great Danes. And it's just, it's amazing place, and they are wonderful people. So it just when I started thinking about it and thinking that, wow, except for when they travel, I'll actually have weekends again. And, oh. I was off Christmas Eve and Christmas. I haven't been off Christmas Eve and Christmas. The last time I was was 2017 I'm off tomorrow. So it that is, that's a nice thing, but I'm still getting to do so much of what I was already doing, just the same animals every day.
Collin 20:28
So it really does sound like a, I mean, a one in a million kind of opportunity, yes, of Oh, I'm sure, you know, when you're like, Oh no, I'll never quit this. Because what could possibly be better than what I'm doing right now. And it's like, well, you know, I found it. It really sounds like,
Aimee Thomas 20:46
yes, yes, could I have gone back to working in an office? Absolutely not, right?
Collin 20:52
Yeah. And I think that that is something that we tend to think about again. For me, of like, yeah, I Oh, man, I could never go back to that old life. But I, yeah, I think if you if I sat down with pen and paper, I could probably imagine a scenario that would would be too good to pass up if it came across my my path where all of a sudden went, you know what given it sounds like for you, too, Aimee going, you know, yeah, weekends, nights, less of the stress and not so I'm not all on me like they're all of a sudden, there are there do their ads. Things add up to where you start going. Man, in this scenario, I this, this, this decision makes sense. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Aimee Thomas 21:35
I just kept, I kept going over and over in my own mind, and then I kind of threw that to my husband and and then the next person I talked to was actually my accountant and bookkeeper. We've actually my husband, and I have actually become really good friends with them, and we met for dinner one night, and I'm like, Okay, let me tell you what's come up? And he was really able to go over, you know, some ideas with me. You know, he knew how big a portion of my business that they were, yeah, and, you know, started taking, okay, well, what clients would you have to give? How you know, what are you looking at, as far as finance wise, you know, what are you losing from each of these clients? Because I did do it slowly. I accepted the job, but I didn't close down my business completely. I handed all of my clients that I was doing the live ins with off to other to other pet sitters that do the live ins as well in my network, and I found the right fit for each client and worked with them. I Those were personal phone calls to each client so and then once I talked to everybody that I was, you know, that are active clients, and then I posted on my Facebook page. And at that time, I was still keeping like cat clients, where I could do a stop before before work and a stop or a stop after work, some of my farm clients with horses that would have me either do one stop a day or two, and again, I could do it before work and after. And then also I do Magna wave, and I kept my Magna wave going as well.
Collin 23:38
So what was that conversation like with those clients. You said, you know, personal phone call and and because, again, I think it's important to note, like, just your the kind of care that you were providing, like this really necessitated a phone call. And I know phone calls tend to be very scary for a lot of people, but if you've built this kind of long term relationship where you are providing almost all day, you know, 20 out of 24 hour care, that's that's a level of connection that you don't get with most clients. So what was that phone call? Like, um, it what?
Aimee Thomas 24:09
Because of the network that I'm with and the way that I am and what I did with these clients is I had already gotten a lot of clients to get set up with somebody else as a backup network, because you just you never know, you never know what could have either one. I was getting crazy busy, so I had actually stopped taking new clients for the last year or so, um, so, except for an occasional one that would fall in. And I was like, Okay, well, that'll fit still. But most of them, I wasn't taking new clients, so a lot of them were already set up with who I got them to transition to as their backup. So that helped a lot. And they just. They understood, you know, I talked to him about, you know what I was doing, and you know why I was doing it, and, you know, yeah, they were upset. They were sad to see me go, but they were really excited for me, and they love knowing that I'm, I'm like, I'm here for them. If they have any problems, the pets that are that's taking over, they know they can reach out to me, you know, as that I'll be here, and they can reach out. And that has already happened. Some, you know, call with a question, or, you know, one of them's like, Okay, I cannot read her handwriting. I can't read the Wi Fi. Like, oh, here it is. I couldn't read it either.
Collin 25:44
Oh my gosh.
Aimee Thomas 25:49
So, or, you know, something fighting. Well, this dog is doing this, and I'm like, okay, that's normal. Let me show you. Let me tell you. And you know, so they like still being able to have that so and that that was just something really important for me to provide
Collin 26:07
for them. Did you get any counter offers for them to go work for other clients? But you know that being able to, you know, this is where a lot of this, the groundwork that we lay in our business, we don't always see or understand how it may impact us down the line, having a backup sitter on hand that you've already done an introduction to, that's already maybe used they've had to use maybe once or twice before, like that's that's prudent in business, so that if we have an emergency or something comes up, our clients are still cared for. Like, that's that's a really good best practice for how we're to operate. And now, in this scenario, how much more beneficial is that to be able to say, look for you, technically, the client, like, nothing's really changing because you've already experienced this, and it's just going to be on a more permanent basis now, and there's not it's a much in that case, it takes away so many of the unknowns for the client to figure out. Because you could imagine if you weren't able to do that, all of a sudden, this client's thrown back into the pool of possibilities, way more stress, concern. You know, it's, it's just a whole ordeal, and you're able to go, nope. Here's this person you've already met, literally, like everything. Now, just go forth and contact them directly, right? Yeah, so, and some of
Aimee Thomas 27:33
them, you know, maybe the person that I gave them wasn't going to be available for a few things that were coming up in the next six months. So I got them set up with a second person as well. So we all know, you know, work really well together, and can tag team. And, you know, a lot of us were already sharing, you know, because I had them set up too, we were already kind of sharing clients, you know, they, they, whenever I was available, they they would book with me. And if I wasn't available, you know, they would book with Shannon or with Rosie or Tiffany or Ashley or and they knew that they were at their own business, had their own insurance, had their own method of of getting paid. And so they they were already set up and doing that.
Collin 28:25
Did you ever think about selling your business? No, from me,
Aimee Thomas 28:31
I know I that was something that was brought up in a lot of the pet setter conferences that I've been to. It wasn't something I wanted to do, you know, this is, it's my baby, something I'm proud of. I also, you know, took a step that most people don't. I actually had my business name and my logo trademarked so and it's, you know, trademark for a few more years out there, and I may go ahead and do all the stuff to keep it going once we hit that point.
Collin 29:09
So for me,
Aimee Thomas 29:10
I want to keep it there. I one of the other people I contacted was I had my website was built by marketing solutions. So I reached out to Erica as soon as I made the decision that I was actually going to let the business go for now, and she was able to to help me out and and ask me some questions, answer some of my questions, and we've got everything backed up. And then, like I chose to keep, I'm keeping my email, still my business email. I still have it for now. I'm keeping the domain name locked down, so I basically got it if something happens, you know, in the future. Or in the future, or, you know, it just gets to the point where maybe I want to go back to, you know, doing that when I get older, and just take, you know, cats only, or, you know, something like that. Then, then I'll be able to step back up and roll with it.
Collin 30:18
It's hard to believe, but the 2025 naps conference is just over one month away, taking place from February 20 through March 2 in Tempe, Arizona. This year's theme is enrich and elevate, and their goal is to bring together industry leaders with session topics that are idea focused and on a wide range of subjects to foster learning and inspiration for your mind, body and business registration is still open. Tickets are still available as of right now. So visit pet sitters.org to get started. Yeah, man, I think that that's another good point here. Of you know, it's not just as simple as flipping a switch to turn to turn off a business, right? So did you go through, and I mean, file paperwork with the state to say, you know, LLC, or whatever, is no longer in function, or anything like that. Or are you just kind of quietly making it, most of the stuff non visible to to people in the public
Aimee Thomas 31:10
I am. Some things I'm doing non visible. Some things I close. Like actually, Facebook says, Whenever you whenever you close Facebook, if you completely close it and say you're out of business, you lose everything there. Yeah, I don't want to lose so you can actually do a temporary close to where you still have everything in the background. It's kind of a pain to get to it, but I can still get to it. Um, I didn't, you know some things. I didn't, you know. I didn't want to completely close that door and lose things. I wanted backups and more backups. So I've got a whole backup of my website. So,
Collin 31:56
you know, it's
Aimee Thomas 31:57
just, I had to approach each thing and just kind of list out, okay, what am I? You know, everything that I'm I'm paying out. What do I want to keep? What do I,
Collin 32:08
you know, it's, yeah, in that, in that sense, you're, you're, you're kind of rolling the pro cons of the of keeping it versus the pains of getting it back at that point and going, how, how valuable is this? And yeah, of Facebook page with reviews and all of your photos and all that history, pretty valuable. So you don't just want to throw that away unless you're really sure, right?
Aimee Thomas 32:35
So, and like I said, I'm really sure that it's closed for now, but there's always
Collin 32:43
I love, 100% sure for the time being.
Aimee Thomas 32:53
No, I can't, I can't see me starting it up at this time. I can't see me starting it up again for, you know, another few years. I am so happy doing what I'm doing. So I absolutely love it
Collin 33:09
well. So what was that, that first day like, where you didn't have any of your own clients, you know, they'd all been handed over, and you were to show up at that, at the job, ready to go, what was that day like?
Aimee Thomas 33:24
It was really, it was weird. It was really, I guess, kind of bittersweet, but because, you know, there are some animals you're used to seeing every day, and now I'm not going to see them, and, you know, but I can, you know, follow somebody else's Facebook one and see when they post pictures of them. And you sometimes they'll text me a funny picture or video or story or something, just to me directly, so I know what's going on. But at the same time, it was so freeing, too. So it's, you know, now the care of all of these animals is, you know, mine and my bosses, you know. So I can, if I see that there's an issue, you know, if I saw there was an issue, whenever I was head setting for them, I would let them know, of course. But sometimes you're not seeing an issue, unless you're there every day. So now I'm starting, you know, it's like, okay, I'm seeing this kind of issue with this particular animal, and I've done some research, and here, you know, here's some recommendations, or, you know, I've reached out to different contacts, and then I can kind of make some suggestions, and then we go from there, we work back and forth. And so I, you know, we just got a new calf that we have started on some electrolytes today, so she's still bottle feeding, but we put her on electrolytes too. So we're just working together to take care of them all, so making sure they've got everything that they need to be have healthy, healthy and happy.
Collin 35:13
Well, and it takes that phrase that I know a lot of pet sitters have of you know, I want to build a relationship with these clients. I want to build a long term relationship with their pets takes that all to a whole nother level, right? Of, like, nope, like, literally every day I'm in here and I'm focused on these particular animals. And so it definitely still takes that aspect of that I know, I know you you loved and you enjoyed in your own business, and now going, I can apply it now in this new, more direct and concentrated way. Yeah, absolutely. So I love
Aimee Thomas 35:46
it. It's so much fun. And my father in law keeps telling me he goes, You know, I knew you were, you were happy with, you know, with your business and everything, he goes, but there's like a whole new light in your eyes. Now, you know being able to to work specifically one on one, with each of these animals and and you know, one of the guys that works with me, he he'll, he'll be driving by, and he'll see me with, you know, one of the calves, or with the horses or whatever. And he just calls me, and he starts laughing and shaking his head and going, animal mama.
Collin 36:28
That's right, don't forget it. And I think, I think that's just so such an important point of you know, I think many times when people think about, what's it going to be like leaving their business or stepping away from their business? It like, what? What scenario would that happen? You know, we kind of joked about, like, Yo, that perfect, you know, Goldilocks scenario kind of thing. But like, you know, to have to know, like, yeah, I could step away from this and not be suffering from massive, massive burnout, or not be suffering major loss of revenue, or not be all these negative reasons, but to be able to go, man, what I'm doing I love this is amazing. I still am really happy with what I'm doing here, but there's an opportunity that I need to pursue and and it might, who knows where that's going to lead, right? But like, I to leave a business in that way, right? That's, that's such a wonderful way to kind of just take a step out for the time being, right? Yeah, I want
Aimee Thomas 37:27
to, you know, I want to make sure that everybody's taken care of, and I've got everything locked down and closed for now, but I've still got that there for me, you know, for the future, right? So if, if I choose to, you know, who knows? Maybe I won't. So, but it's my baby, and it's just tucked away for now. It's
Collin 37:51
down for a small nap, right? It's, that's fine. I did want to circle around because I know you mentioned the the Magna wave that you do, and I was curious how you're you're using this in, in your work, in your business, and kind of like, why that was something that was interesting to
Aimee Thomas 38:11
you. I got it originally. Well, first of all, I had found out about PEMF, which Magna wave is a brand of PEMF. In my previous life in sales, I helped with advertising for a company here in Ocala that does PEMF, a different brand from Magna wave, and so I already knew it. I completely believed in it. I'd had it done in myself and my dogs as well. And knew somebody that was a Magna wave practitioner, had her cards, had all her contact information. And when I some of the client pets that I was taking care of, when I saw where Magna wave could be a benefit to them. I talked to them about it. Clients were interested, and I would give them her information. Not a single person that I gave her information to ever contacted her. And I was actually planning in the future I was going to invest in Magna wave, and she and I kept talking back and forth, and she goes, they're not contacting me. She goes, they already, even though they're interested, they have a relationship built with you. They're comfortable with you. She said, since you are already planning on doing in the future, do you have the ability to step in and do it now? Well, it was 2020, and I had, I still had a lot of clients, because I did have a lot of clients that were first responders, so they were working insane hours, so I was going to their homes once or twice. A day taking care of their pets. So I decided, You know what? What the heck I've lost, you know, all of these vacation clients and so on. So let me go ahead and make the investment. And I did it. I got set up with it, and all of my clients that I had made recommendations to, all got me to start doing Magna wave with them, and some of them are still doing it today. So they absolutely others, you know, they they did as long as their pets were around. It was something that was wonderful. It, really
Collin 40:40
helps older pets
Aimee Thomas 40:43
with just getting the discomfort, the joints and stuff, as they start getting sore. It keep it kept them going. And so many of my clients said I felt like I got months more, you know, with with our pup, because you were doing that mag to wave, and they said, You know, I got more time. And he or she was still felt good. You know, we we knew when we needed to make the decision, but I felt like we got months more than we would have
Collin 41:14
without a bit. So that was wonderful
Aimee Thomas 41:18
to be a part of, plus it's great for, you know, wounds and stuff, when they, you know, have an injury or have a surgery or something, helps them heal faster,
Collin 41:30
right? And be able to come alongside that, that client, and either while they're traveling, be doing that, or while you're doing your normal visits. Or would you do stand alone, Magna wave visits for people, or were they in combination with other things? Mostly,
Aimee Thomas 41:45
I was doing in con. You know, it was either. It may have been I was just doing Magna wave, but it was that client for the den, pet sitting with I did have a keep it a few that were Magna wave only, but I only took those really, if they were kind of in the area that I covered, and there's was potential, maybe in the future, that they could go beyond Magna wave.
Collin 42:14
So
Aimee Thomas 42:15
unless it was like a really interesting case that I couldn't, you know, help, but I stepped in and and helped with a savanna monitor lizard that had gotten egg bound. And, yeah, so actually, it was with a rehabilitation person, a reptile rehabber. So I, even, you know, did that at no charge, just so I could have the experience and be able to share it with other Magna wave practitioners. So I've also just, I'm, I'm the one that does all of the exotic animals. So everybody always says, Aimee will do it. Yes, I have cats and dogs. I have horses, I have cows. I've also taken care of emus and ostriches and a camel and
Collin 43:09
lot of different things well. And it's that kind of, you know, that, and you know, in your business, or, you know, even in a normal job, like there is this little bit of kind of trial by choice of, what do I want to try, what I want to do? And I think that kind of thing is really important to never stop doing right I'm sure, sure the Magna wave, you know, Reddit forums, they've probably never involved a monitor lizard or anything like that. And so to be able to talk about that and and take your experience from your other treatments and other things to bring that into this, and just when we run our own businesses, to go, what do I how do I stay fresh? How do I stay involved? How do I keep my skills and knowledge sharp? Well, I can't just do the same thing all of the time like I am going to have to try different things to see how I grow, to see how I need to adapt to these things as well. Yeah.
Aimee Thomas 44:01
And also, I always tell people don't, don't say I'm never going to, because when I started, I wasn't interested in doing overnights,
Collin 44:11
and that became
Aimee Thomas 44:14
a thing, and I loved them. So it just it depends, you know, it and it can change. I mean, some people it doesn't work, you know, it doesn't work out for them. It doesn't work for their particular where they are in life. So for me, it did, and I went from saying I'm never going to do overnights to, you know, occasionally having months where I was home five nights,
Collin 44:43
yep, so, but I always
Aimee Thomas 44:47
made sure i i took time to come home and, you know, spend time with my husband, spend time with my own dogs and stuff. So, you know, I made sure. I always did that, but I loved what I was doing. And I love what I'm doing now too. Yeah, right. You were never going
Collin 45:03
to sell your business. You were never going to get not be running a business right now. Here you are. And I think that's an important, is it is important to have a distinction between like, obviously, we need to have boundaries of the things we will never do like that are unacceptable to us. But what you're talking here, Aimee, is like, don't limit yourself to possibilities and and don't be afraid to try new things just just test it out and see and a lot of times we could be concerned about, well, if that really is successful, that means I'm going to have, you know, more work to do. Or if that really is or if that is successful, that means maybe I was wrong, but always having that attitude of, well, let me, let me learn something else here and really see if it's, you know, it's like my kids, whenever they're eating something and they're like, you know, what do you think of that? I don't like it? Well, did you try it? Well, no. Well, you can't say you don't like it, right? And so have a bite, and then we'll have another discussion, exactly. Exactly. Oh, well, Aimee, I'm really thankful for you coming on the show today and talking about this topic of your decision to step away from your business for the time being and explore this new opportunity and as it is such a wonderful fit for you, and how you did that with grace and still loving your existing clients and making sure they were treated well and setting them up for success. I think it's really, really important that you know for how you did that. So if people are interested in getting in touch with you, kind of picking your brain about this and kind of what that process was like for you, how best can they do that?
Aimee Thomas 46:41
Best way is you can still send me an email. And my business email is still up, and it's Aimee, and it's a i m e at leashes to leads.com so that's still going to be up and going for months at least. So you can always reach out and reach out to me that way. Well, I'll
Collin 47:03
have that in the show notes so people can get connected with you there. Aimee, absolute pleasure getting to have you on the show and talk about this. Thank you so much for your time. You're welcome. Thanks for having me as Aimee said, Don't limit yourself to possibilities. Sometimes stepping into something new can bring a whole new light into your life. We need that every now and then, don't we? We may be in love with our business, we may be happy with how things are going, but need to change things up. Need to do something a little bit new and just see where that possibility is and explore those opportunities that are before us. And that's what's so amazing about what we get to do. We get to have a business explore opportunities, and sometimes that does mean putting our business aside for at least a little bit, and at least for a time, so we can explore something else, learn something else, and bring that light into our life when we need it most. We want to thank today's sponsors, time to pet and the National Association of Professional pet sitters for making today's show possible. We really want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and we'll be back again soon. You.
