565: How Metrics Transform with Corinne Moore
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How do you transform your business into one that works for you? In this episode, Corinne Moore, owner of Paws and Claws Pet Service and founder of Pawsome Metrics, shares how data-driven decisions helped her streamline services and reclaim balance. From navigating the challenges of purchasing a family business to making tough choices like cutting underperforming services, Corinne opens up about the power of metrics in creating a sustainable and fulfilling company. She emphasizes the importance of aligning business operations with personal and professional goals while empowering her team to thrive. Whether you’re looking to refine your services or improve work-life balance, Corinne’s story is a reminder that change starts with knowing your numbers.
Main topics:
Using Metrics for Business Decisions
Balancing Work and Family Life
Streamlining Services for Efficiency
Empowering Staff Through Delegation
Overcoming Burnout as a Business Owner
Main takeaway: "You own your business so you can make it your own. It took me a long time to realize that I could make changes for myself and my staff to make us all happier.”
Running a business isn’t about following someone else’s formula—it’s about creating something that works for you, your team, and your clients. Corinne Moore shares how she used metrics to make bold decisions that aligned with her values, simplified her services, and prioritized her mental health. By taking control and shaping her business to fit her life, Corinne created a company that’s happier, more efficient, and truly her own. Her story is a reminder that real transformation starts with knowing your numbers and staying true to your vision.
This week on the podcast, Corinne reveals how metrics empowered her to reclaim balance and build a business she loves.
🌟 How do you make your business uniquely yours? Let us know in the comments! 🎧🐾
About our guest:
Corinne Moore is the owner of Paws and Claws Pet Service in Madison, Wisconsin, a company specializing in dog walking and cat sitting. With a passion for both animals and numbers, she also founded Pawsome Metrics, a tool designed to help pet care professionals harness the power of data to make informed, confident business decisions. Corinne’s journey in the pet care industry began at a young age and evolved as she took over her sister’s business in 2019. Through resilience, adaptability, and a data-driven mindset, Corinne has transformed her business while prioritizing work-life balance and creating a supportive environment for her team. When she’s not running her businesses, Corinne enjoys spending time with her family, including her daughter and two cats, Bella and Lucille.
Links:
Paws and Claws : https://www.pawsandclawswi.com/
Pawesome Metrics : https://pawsomemetrics.com/
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Pet sitting, business transition, data importance, family business, communication, work-life balance, staffing challenges, revenue tracking, time management, burnout, niching down, client satisfaction, business growth, mental health, delegation.
SPEAKERS
Corinne M., Collin Funkhouser
Collin Funkhouser 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 time to pet and our friends at Pet perennials, how do you run a business and make a transition with family members, and what's the importance of data in making good decisions? Today. We're really excited to have Corinne Moore, owner of paws and claws and pawsome metrics, on the show to talk about these and a whole lot more here that we'll cover. I'm sure Corinne super excited to have you on the show and get to speak with you today. For those who aren't familiar with you, don't follow along with the stuff, and shame on them for not doing that. Tell us a little bit more about who you are, and I'll let you do.
Corinne M. 00:44
Hi. Yes, my name is Corinne Moore, thank you so much for having me. By the way, I'm very excited to be here. And I own paws and claws cat service over in Madison, Wisconsin, which is a dog walking and cat sitting company. And I also own possum metrics, which I believe will go a bit more into, but basically, we help people in our industry find their metrics and their data and give them some confidence to make data driven decisions in their businesses.
Collin Funkhouser 01:16
Yeah, really excited to dive into that, because I know that that's a part of running a business that a lot of people don't, don't consider, but about paws and claws. When did you start pet sitting? And what's your background there?
Corinne M. 01:29
Yeah. So unofficially, my first client was when I was eight years old. Okay, nice. Pablo, the the orange tabby, but he was the best. But officially, I actually worked for paws and claws when I was 18, my sister founded the company back in 2009 I worked for her for a little bit, and then went off, did my own thing, and I actually bought paws and claws from her back in 2019, right before the pandemic. So
Collin Funkhouser 02:06
a wonderful time for lots of business decisions. When you were working for your sister, what was that like?
Corinne M. 02:14
It was actually really great. We get along really well. We're close. She was pretty new. We were very new, very small. But it was that, you know, when she wasn't available, I would go and walk the dogs or play with cats, and it went really well. She was a great boss.
Collin Funkhouser 02:40
Well, it's interesting because I hear a lot of things that, you know, don't go into business with family members, stay away from entering these kind of ventures. How did you guys make that work? Or, you know, did you have some rough patches that you
Corinne M. 02:53
have to work through? So I won't pretend that it's always been, you know, sunshine and rainbows, but I would say that we've done a really great job of respecting each other's boundaries. And when I was working for her, it was very much a Okay, she's my boss. I'm the little sister. I'm the the the staff member, you know? But when I did go into the role of actually purchasing paws and claws, and we were kind of equals in that, and she was handing me the reins. Um, it's been really great. We had a lot of, you know, interactions with giving each other feedback and having these great discussions where we dove into just everything. And so honestly, I think that it's been, it's been good,
Collin Funkhouser 03:47
yeah, well, it sounds like that, that one, that word communication, right? Is really important there. And I think often when we get involved as a family member in business, we cannot communicate at the level that we would if it were, you know, a quote, unquote stranger, right? Or a business partner, because, well, they're family, right? They'll understand, or their family, so it's going to be just fine. And we make all these assumptions, and then all of a sudden you can go, oh, that's actually, oh, I guess I should have brought that up. I'm sorry. Like, okay, now that's that's and that's where that mistake comes in, and where we go, oh, I don't need to communicate because, oh, it's just you know my sister, it's just you know my spouse. Like, it'll be fine, but we need to remember that when we do have those business hats on, when we are working in this together, that there is that level of communication that we really have to maintain otherwise things fall through the cracks.
Corinne M. 04:32
Right, absolutely. And I think that something that I learned, that was hard for me to learn at first, was that, yes, you have your own opinions, you have your own feelings and and that's valid, for sure, but sometimes other people may have perspective and experience that you may not and although they might not know your specifics, they may be able to give you some feedback. Fact that you might need to hear so just taking what they say, digesting it, maybe taking it with a little bit of a grain of salt, and understanding that they don't know your specific situation, but just being able to hear and listen to others that have the experience is really valuable. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 05:19
that's really hard, too. That's really, really hard, because to take that step back and have to be honest with ourselves and go, Okay, I don't, I don't know everything. And this person also believe, you know, has their their viewpoints and their perspective and their background and their history, I need to, I need at least be open to listening to that, so just immediately shutting it off and going, Nope. Well, I thought of this. So we're here. We go like and then down the road we go,
Corinne M. 05:48
Yes, I am happy that we have not gotten, you know, we've we've been pretty good about it. It's not like we bring up fights from, uh, 20 years ago, we were children so
Collin Funkhouser 06:01
well. So what made you what was that decision like to come in and buy the business from your sister, kind of what was going on around that time, and why did you think that that was what you needed to do?
Corinne M. 06:12
Yes, so it was actually a win, win for both of us. I had, you know, I worked for her when I was 18. I went off, did my own thing, I joined the Marine Corps. I was on active duty for four years, and then I went to college, and then I was blessed with a beautiful baby girl, and that was back in 2019 when I had my daughter, and I had not finished college, I didn't have a degree. I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. And my sister said, hey, I want to pivot into doggy daycare and go that route, and I want to sell the dog walking and pet sitting side of paws and claws. Are you interested? And I said, Absolutely, it was a win. Win. It gave me a career. She has five children, so she keeps busy, and she was doing something that was, you know, it was not smaller, it was just different. So it went from paws and claws being this all encompassing everything pet care to being just dog walking and pet sitting, and she took the daycare side and did her own thing, um, and that's been great for both of us.
Collin Funkhouser 07:34
Yeah. Well, it's nice. It allowed you to have that, that focus right of of just this opportunity that was going well, here's where I am right now. I already have a little bit of background in this. I have experience in this, and why not move forward basically at that at that time, yes,
Corinne M. 07:51
and allowed me to move back closer to my extended family, so I had that support network with my daughter, and it was just a win, win, win all around we
Collin Funkhouser 08:01
mentioned your background with the Marine Corps. I was, I was curious how that's shaped or influenced, kind of your approach to to business operations or things like that.
Corinne M. 08:12
Yes, I send all of my employees through boot camp. No, I'm just kidding.
Collin Funkhouser 08:17
Nice. Just kidding. Oh, come on, Karina. I No,
Corinne M. 08:21
honestly, it has, it's, it's made me more resilient, for sure. Um, I think that it's given me some quick thinking skills to be right on my feet when there are issues that arise in the company, as they do. Unfortunately, and I think that it definitely makes me a timely person, which is good for the most part. So
Collin Funkhouser 08:56
that quick thinking, I'm reminded this almost on a, let's say, every other day, basis of how, in running a business, you're kind of just doing your thing. And especially whenever you have employees out in the field, or you have managers stuff, the business is doing stuff, and you're focused on other things. And it's kind of unpredictable, as when things are going to pop up and all of a sudden there's, it doesn't even have to be a major fire. It's just, hey, here's a new thing that we've got to tackle right now. And that ability to stop, pause, pivot, get in the right mindset, focus, ask good questions, and then move forward. That is really invaluable in running a business at any scale. Really,
Corinne M. 09:38
yes, absolutely. And as you and I and everybody listening knows there is always something that will shock you in this company, you cannot be prepared for everything. So it is really important to be able to just adapt and overcome.
Collin Funkhouser 09:52
How do you do that in that moment? I mean, I know that's that's a skill that you learned and honed. You know, years in the Marine Corps. So for people who are listening to this, who may struggle with that and always feel really, I know what happens is that feeling of being flustered and unable to focus and kind of it takes a long time to kind of get in the groove. Any tips for how to start, you know, speeding up that process?
Corinne M. 10:15
Yeah, and it's actually something that I think I learned almost as a mom, which is kind of funny, but you know, you have a toddler, right? And and she's having these big feelings, and it's similar to the big feelings that we might encounter when something out of our control is happening and we need to figure out how to react to it. So really, it's just like being able to ground yourself, to take those deep breaths, calm your body, which will calm your mind, and then from there, make an action plan. Because if you're in this space of these big, giant emotions, you're going to act you're going to act out of those emotional spaces which might not be the most logical thing to do, and you might make a decision that you would regret if you had calmed your body down first. So as simple as that sounds, just taking those few moments to just digest what's happening, process it, take those deep breaths, rest ground yourself, and then from there, make an action plan.
Collin Funkhouser 11:18
As you're talking I'm reminding myself of all of those times with our kids, of when those big emotions come up and you're going, hey, just take a big breath, right? We're gonna do five breaths. And how much more do I need to remind myself of that in the moment where you get the email or you get a phone call or you get a Slack message, and you go, Oh, and you just, know, breathe five breaths, and I'm going to focus. And sometimes you have to verbalize, kind of what you're feeling, to start processing, to get it out of your head, so that you're not just running through kind of unrestricted of just these multiple cycles of how bad things are. I need to just say out loud how I'm feeling right now. And then I can start going from there, really those that simple step of, just take some breaths first in order to refocus. Yeah, absolutely. Because we've had to coach, we've even had to coach a few employees through that process of, I get a phone call kind of, and there's a panic, and you hear that panic in the voice, and it's just like, Okay, first off, like, are you okay? Okay. Now I need you to take five breaths, and then I've really helped getting people to talk about grounding, like being become trying to find themselves, find a way to become more present. It's like, tell me what you see, tell me what you smell, tell me what you hear, then you can see there, as they're touching on all their senses, they start to think more logically, think more rationally, and kind of calm themselves back down so that we can have that conversation of how to overcome whatever they're encountering. And sometimes it's not even a big stress, like an injured animal. It could just be they got flustered because the door lock was being weird that day or whatever, right? And it's just taking those few moments. Yeah, absolutely.
Corinne M. 12:55
And it there's so many grounding techniques that that's I love the like, the tactile things. Like, you know, what can you feel? How does it feel? But if you look up grounding techniques, you can find a ton. And I think they're really, really useful.
Collin Funkhouser 13:14
Yeah, yeah. Because, again, we never know what's going on, and we that's just a little bit more exerting that intentionality and control over our world around us. But sometimes we feel like it's kind of spinning, or, I don't know, sometimes spiraling out of control. It's like I need to get on to, I need to latch onto something so that I know how to, how to move forward with this.
Corinne M. 13:32
Yes, absolutely
Collin Funkhouser 13:35
you've in, you said you took over the business in 2019, is that right? That's correct, yes, right. Right before the pandemic, what was that process like? Because you're coming, you're taking over an existing business, you know, when did you start to change it and make it your own? And kind of, what was that like? Oh, yes.
Corinne M. 13:56
Well, the pandemic kind of, you know, shifted that, yeah, um, but even into 2023 I still felt like I was running my sister's company, if that makes sense, yeah, um, which is, which was great, but I Think I wasn't. It wasn't what I exactly envisioned. And so at the end of 2023 is kind of when I decided that I wanted to make some changes and figure out what was best for myself for the company. And from there, I made it a bunch of really big decisions that were scary but paid off.
Collin Funkhouser 14:44
Have you heard of time to bet Chris and from raining cats and dogs? Has this to say?
14:49
Becoming a time to pet client has been a game changer for us. We can give our pet services clients real time, cloud based information they never imagined they'd be interested. Stood in and most importantly to me personally, I can better manage my company and look forward to more and not a small thing. Time to pet is responsive to my request for new features and modifications to existing one. If
Collin Funkhouser 15:14
you're looking for new pet sitting software, give time to pet a try. Listeners of our show will save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to bet.com/confession what was that process like? Of kind of, I was gonna say, finding your voice in the business, but expressing that direction that you wanted to go.
Corinne M. 15:35
Yes? Well, for me, it kind of was decided. For me, I had a bit of a health scare at the end of 2023, I ended up in the ER, and it was for what I didn't know was just a big anxiety attack, and it manifested as like, almost like stroke like Symptoms, which was very scary, because I thought I was having a stroke, and that was just the world telling me, you need to slow down. You cannot do all this all the time. And I decided that I was going to make this company a little bit different for something that worked for me. And that's when I kind of started listening to some of Michelle Klein's webinars where she talks about niching down and making you know her company just dog walking. And that was the craziest concept to me. I was like, There's no way that could happen for my company, but it did make me think that there was probably a way that I could niche down my services, my hours, and get a bit better of a work life balance than what I had, because my mindset at the time was I need to work more so that I can make more money, and it was really, really hard to break that.
Collin Funkhouser 17:04
That is a trap that we fall into of, especially when running our own business. We think logically, the only way I make more money is if I do more and then all of a sudden my schedule is completely full and I don't get a break, and I am working 6am to 10pm seven days a week, 365, days a year, because that's the only way that I can make more money. What are you talking about? Talking about instead? And it does make sense, like that is certainly a way to do it, and too often we think it's the only way and and instead going, there is a balance that I have to have. And you had that shown to you in a trip to the hospital, right? Of going, that's not okay, right? And going, and we all have those things that come up. It could be all of a sudden I'm really, really flustered, and everything is just sending me through the roof, and I'm not a good person to be around, or whatever that is. Or we're not sleeping well, or we do have these health scares that come up and going, those are signs we need to pay attention to those to go, how I'm operating is not how I can continue to operate. So I have to do something different. And that's sometimes the kick that we need to start thinking a little bit differently,
Corinne M. 18:14
right? And I think that the way that it was run before was great, but I think after the pandemic, I panicked, and I was like, that's when I was like, I need to keep working and working and working and working. So rebuilding the business was just so hard on my mental health, and I am really glad that I pivoted and made some big changes that I needed. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 18:38
so you right now you're doing dog walking and cat sitting. Only, is that
Corinne M. 18:43
right? Yes, yep, we dropped dog sitting, we dropped overnights. We dropped a lot of things, and now we are just seven to seven dog walking and cat sitting only nice
Collin Funkhouser 18:55
well, and then looking at your brand too. A lot of the language that comes out of there was that, was that something that you put in there, or did you find that that attracted the right clients? You know, you have a lot of, you know, paw rents and possums kind of thing, kind of kind of thing in there. Was that something that you were like, oh, I need this personality, or did you just find that connected with the kind of people you were looking
Corinne M. 19:17
for? So that was a lot of that was pet marketing unleash. They did a fantastic job. So I really wanted to connect with my target client avatar, and they did a great job just piling on the puns and the bright colors, which I think is great. So a lot of that is attributed to them, but it is definitely the tone that I love for our company, because I want it to be not that we're not serious, but seen as a little bit less serious and more playful, and, you know, accommodating
Collin Funkhouser 19:57
that that is such a fine line. To to walk as a business owner of of, how do I still have personality in here, while also conveying the professionalism and the serious tone that we take this because you don't want to just be, you know, finger guns guy coming into a room going, hey, everybody you know what's going on. Nobody, nobody wants that. But, like, how do I how do I have more of a tone that people, you know, respect and they understand, but also it speaks to them specifically, and that is just a balance that we have to walk as we decide who our client avatar is and what they are looking for from a business, right?
Corinne M. 20:33
Yeah, and I would totally just be finger guns guy, so I actually have a T shirt with finger guns on it so see,
Collin Funkhouser 20:46
no, I we, we think of that too, because just going, Man, I want people to get that fun sense. I want them to get that passion sense. But I also want them to make sure, make sure that we are also conveying the professionalism and choosing your words are important. That's where that, that copy editing and the copywriting and the colors, all of that is what we go. How do I want somebody to feel when they think of pause and claws? How do I want somebody to feel when they think of my business and and that takes a little bit of of trial and error working with a professional or, you know, getting feedback from your existing clients
Corinne M. 21:19
too. Yeah, and they did a fantastic job. I was so pleased with it. It was a total tone shift and and just everything shift from our previous website and branding. But it was really, really great, yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 21:32
well, especially whenever you're going into the the dog walking, right? Because that does convey more of fun, enrichment, exercise, exploration kind of thing. And not, you know, it's kind of big over looming, you know, dog care, you know, for multiple days and all this stuff like it is a little bit more light hearted, I guess.
21:52
Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 21:55
how was that pivot for you? You mentioned how you were kind of struggling with that and but you saw a way to move forward. What was it like deciding, okay, I can, I can do this, or were you just like, No, I have no other option. I have to do this. Um,
Corinne M. 22:09
some of it was, I felt I had no option. And some of it was, I like a challenge. I am somebody that kind of thrives on just meeting a challenge and but I knew that I wouldn't be able to do this unless I knew my numbers. Because as much as I love a challenge and these big, lofty goals, I also am somebody that needs to know that it's possible. So I really dove into my numbers, and from there, I felt confident to make the decision to cut basically half of our services that we provided.
Collin Funkhouser 22:56
So when you say, would you say numbers, what are you talking about there? Because I do, we do. I do see a lot. You know, we know your numbers. Know your numbers. What kind of things were you looking at? Yes,
Corinne M. 23:06
so I was looking at, how many overnights do I book a year? How many dog sitting visits do I book a year? How many is and then, just like the percentage of revenue of my entire company and now and then, just like comparing that to what are my pain points, my pain points, my biggest one was always staffing for those bedtime, bed, bedtime, dog sitting visits, which I know is a big thing in this industry, that's a big pain point. And staffing for overnights, and figuring out staffing when your overnight saver is sick, what happens then? So really diving into not only the numbers of visits for these overnights, the revenue these overnights, but what was my cost of labor for these overnights? What was the average client spend of my overnight clients over an entire year, versus my dog walking clients over an entire year? How long did I retain these clients? How happy were my staff with these visits? Just diving into a lot was numbers, but then there was also a lot of like emotional components as well, that though they shouldn't be your biggest decider, are important to consider well,
Collin Funkhouser 24:30
and a lot of those emotions are surfaced when you look at those numbers right? You have to emotionally process those because you come in with a lot of preconceived notions, biases about what kind of business we think we're running, and go, Man, I I'm maybe doing fine. And then you dive into the numbers, and you go, Oh, I'm actually not doing as fine as I thought I did. Oh, man, what does that mean? And you can, you have to, you have to process that. But looking at what is the composition we Megan, I have this conversation a lot. Yeah, what kind of business are we running now? What kind of business do we think we're running? And those two are different. Sometimes, of Yeah, we think I'm running a pet sitting business, or I think I'm running a dog walking business, but, man, most of my revenue is coming from XYZ, or it's only coming from two or three clients. I'm not actually a dog walking company. I'm a company servicing these two people,
Corinne M. 25:20
right? And what I had found, which I thought was very interesting, was that a lot of our dog sitting visits that I thought was like the we needed it. We needed to keep these dog sitting clients. Most of them were not dog walking clients. It wasn't the same. I thought there was more of an overlap between the dog sitting and the dog walking, but there wasn't for us, and it was also a much smaller percentage of our revenue than I thought. And so that's when I decided to cut that service. Because I was like, Well, that's it actually is our lowest performing service, and it's keeping us having these business hours until 10pm and that's just not worth it to me, to have to staff these additional hours, to have to figure out coverage if somebody's sick. And you know, it's three hours before the bedtime let out. I was running into the field after my daughter was in bed, my husband was home, and I would just be like, I'm sorry. I gotta go let out a dog. And it was just not, not worth it for our company. Well, that
Collin Funkhouser 26:36
gets back to that mindset of, I've got to work all the time to make all the money. I've got to be doing this. This this is just what I have to do. And when you can actually look at the numbers and starts to peel back a lot of those assumptions away, especially whenever you overlay it with now, where are my problems? Like you mentioned? Okay, let's look at revenue. And now let's look at percent of problems and pain points and frustratedness. Oh, wow. The one that brings in the least amount of money is causing me all of my headaches. I wonder what would happen to my quality of life if I didn't have that anymore. Now that's still a scary decision, because at the end of the day, money is money, right? Revenue is revenue. But if you take it from the perspective of, if I could reduce 80% of my headaches in whatever this is, what would that allow me to do in the other areas of my business?
Corinne M. 27:26
Absolutely, and I think it I think it was a hard lesson for me to learn, but I'm really grateful that I cut those services, because having the seven to seven is so much better for me, and I think my staff and my company well,
Collin Funkhouser 27:43
and you layered on the staff too. Of that's critical to this. Of, we will ask, we'll send out surveys periodically. Of, of, you know, just asking, like, Are there any clients that you don't enjoy seeing? Are there any clients that you don't or any types of work that you're doing that you'd rather not just to get a pulse of what, what are, what are some of the expectations of our staff and and that really can give you a lot of insight into the things that maybe you personally enjoy but your team may not personally enjoy, right? And and going well, then maybe that's why I'm having so much just you staffing, and why my turnover is so hard, because I'm asking people to do stuff that I love but they really actually hate.
Corinne M. 28:27
Yeah, absolutely. I thought that my team loved overnights, and that's why we kept them. Turns out we only had like two people that actually like to do that, so Wow.
Collin Funkhouser 28:38
Yeah. I mean, that's huge. That kind of information is really huge. And so when we talk about gathering data, we do have to sit and think about it from a couple different perspective, because it's way more than just revenue, right? It's, it's it's both. It is both qualitative and quantitative. Whenever we're collecting that,
Corinne M. 28:56
oh, yeah, and staff makes or breaks your company, for sure, I think that that having happy staff is probably one of the most important parts of a company,
Collin Funkhouser 29:07
yeah, especially whenever you're looking for that more balance, and as you're looking to grow, you know what? One staff to 100 employees? Like? It's it there. They matter, and they are important and critical to running the kind of business that you're looking at. And even if you don't have employees make sure that you're touching base with yourself. Of going, Okay, I took this visit on, or I took this poop scooping on, because that's what they asked of me. I'm gagging the whole time that I'm out here. I don't why did I accept this for $30 this is I know nothing. No, thank you however much. Charging like you have to check with yourself too.
Corinne M. 29:38
Yes, somebody once told me that you own your business so you can make it your own, and that, I don't know why it took me so long to actually digest that and be like, Oh, you're right. I can, I can make changes for my staff, for myself. Yeah. And make us all
Collin Funkhouser 30:00
happier, right? You're it is a mindset that we fall into of, of, well, I guess this is like we this is what I have to do. I just have to do this. I just That's because that's what I'm to do. I somebody asked me, I guess I have to do this instead of going, well, do I want to? Is that actually beneficial for me? Like we can ask questions about what we take on and and so that we know that at the end of the day we are running that business, that we want to, that we actually have a balance. We have a life outside of it, and we are actually happy about what we get to do.
Corinne M. 30:32
Yeah, isn't the concept of having a life so like crazy to US business owners, sometimes, let
Collin Funkhouser 30:39
me take a note about that real quick. I'll get back to you current. You're tracking all these numbers. How much, how much time does that actually take you? And how, what is there? Should we be doing this weekly, monthly, annually, or kind of, what's, what's
Corinne M. 30:53
the mix there? Yes. So I am a number scale. So I am, I do it weekly, but I would recommend at least doing it monthly or quarterly. I would say quarterly if you're a solo company, and monthly if you are team based company. And the reason that I say you could probably do it less quarterly is less if you're solo, is because there's just less metrics to keep track of when you're not accounting for, like, your labor cost and staff retention and everything
Collin Funkhouser 31:33
like that. Yeah, because staying on top of of wages is really important and making sure that you're still have a healthy margin there to cover your business expenses, and you can make money off of that, because that does change as as people, you know people, a lot of people hire they go, Great, I hired somebody. And then they go, Oh, wait. Do I need to give raises? How do I know if I give raises? What if I want to keep this person? If the person works for me for seven years, are they going to be making the same amount now as they did? Uh oh, I need to figure this out and see how those change over time, right? That's, that's a big thing where we get excited about hiring and we bring them in, and then we go, Oh, now I need to keep this person and make sure they stay happy.
Corinne M. 32:11
Yes, yes, for sure.
Collin Funkhouser 32:15
And it's, what, what kind of numbers do you wish more people tracked than than you see now,
Corinne M. 32:22
oh, that's a great question. So I think that cost of labor is definitely something that every business owner should know. I think that more companies should track the breakdown of their visits. So how much of your company is cat sitting, how much of your company is dog sitting, how much is poop scooping? Because I think that the breakdown of visits, revenue and and everything is some of the most eye opening things that you can see. Because, like we discussed earlier, you may have some previously notions, but when you see the numbers on the paper, it might not match what you think. Another thing that I think is really important for business owners to track is actually their time, and just looking at what percentage of your time is spent on X, Y, Z tasks. And you can even, you know, assign some emotional component to that, like, how happy are you doing payroll? How much time do you spend on payroll? A week? How happy are you doing,
Collin Funkhouser 33:39
you know, marketing, how much time is spent on that week, and really figuring out how much you work and what you work on, yeah, well, I love you keep using this word track, and I think that's really important to highlight in that these are not a one time calculation, and you don't just calculate the Number and go great, 13% and then delete, right? No, we're gonna go put that number somewhere so that I can do what I can compare to it later and see if I'm going up down or staying the same like that. That really gives you a lot of power to see what direction your business is
Corinne M. 34:15
heading Absolutely. And I think that looking at historical numbers can really be eye opening, and will give you a good sense of, Am I head in the right direction? Am I headed in the wrong direction? And what do I need to do to pivot and fix things? Well,
Collin Funkhouser 34:32
especially whenever you set those goals of, okay, maybe I want to bring on X number of dog walking clients this month or this year. Or maybe I want to expand into this new service area. I want to do X, Y, Z. Like, how do you know whether you're making progress? Like, the last thing you want to do is wait till the end of the year and then look at your you know, your revenue, and go, great, cool. We did it. Like, there's so much more time for course correction. If you do, if you do it way, way more regularly.
Corinne M. 34:57
Yes, absolutely. Um, so i That's why I'm a fan of the weekly check ins, but I know that not everybody wants to do it that often,
Collin Funkhouser 35:10
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Corinne M. 36:24
Oh, yeah. And I also just finished my degree in 2023 so I went back to school during that. Well, congratulations
Collin Funkhouser 36:31
on that too, because you went back for biology. Is that right? Yes, yeah. Awesome. That's really, that's, that's really fun.
Corinne M. 36:38
I just like to throw stuff on there. So honestly, time management is a big thing, and also delegating to certain tasks to staff members has really helped. I have a lot of staff members that might have different strengths than I do, and so just being open to, like, maybe somebody on your team might do marketing a heck of a lot better than you. So being open to that, listening to their ideas, and then giving them, you know, the space to shine in your company is great. As far as time management for everything. On my end, I like to have three tasks a day, and I tell myself that that's what I'm going to do anything about. That is great, but I have three tasks that are doable within a day. I knock those out. Everything after that is gravy.
Collin Funkhouser 37:43
I love how you added that three tasks that are doable today. I think often I'm really bad about, like, read book, and there's no way I'm going to be able to finish a 300 page book in a day. But I'm like, it's on my list. So making those much more like, read a chapter, or, you know, work on email, like it's really about making it so that it's manageable, so it can be completed and and that's not to say you don't tackle big projects, but what it is is saying, I You're, you're making them smaller and much more manageable, so that you're also putting that time constraint of No, this is, this is doable. And how do you know that? Right? Because I think that's what a lot of people get. People get to the point where they're like, Okay, I'm going to make tasks. How do I know how long this is going to take for me? You know? Is it just a gut feel that you have? Or would you have a secret system that you'd like to share with everybody about being
Corinne M. 38:35
Yeah, so I actually use an app called to do it, which is also on the computer, and it's, it's really great, because you can, like, I label everything with a time frame that I think it'll take me, and then I'll look at all my tasks that are on my list and say, Okay, I have time to do these three things. But as far as estimation, that's just been trial and error, because I went through a really long period of being like, I can do 15 things in a day. That's fine, and then you get to a point where you're like, oh, I can do it for like, maybe one day, and then I'm tired and I can't do it next. So, yeah, just a lot of trial and error.
Collin Funkhouser 39:15
Well. And what I like about that too, Corinne, is it's adaptable, because those are three tasks that you have to get done, but it's also dependent on the day, right? So sometimes you may have three tasks, but the anticipated time is going to take to get them done. They may be really short. If you've got a busy personal life that day, or if you've got other things going on that are more important, you can still go, go down your list of, oh, this is a, you know, I've done it before, where you feel like, okay, this list, this, this task could take me an hour. I have, I have an hour to do things today. Great. I can do that, but it, it takes planning. And so do you do that on a on a weekly or monthly basis, where you're adding more tasks into that? Or What's that process like? Um. So
Corinne M. 40:00
I add tasks a second that I realize I have to do them, otherwise I'll forget, um, memory of a goldfish here. So, um, I, but I look at my tasks at the beginning of each day, and then I just once I'm done with my work day, I don't look at them again like I'm I'm done, I'm clocked out, in my mind, for the rest of the day, so I won't look at them again until the following morning. And
Collin Funkhouser 40:25
having that, that rest is really important, isn't it? I've, I we, I've gone through periods where just try and keep pushing through and pushing through, and you're always on at that point, and it's then hard to process new things. If you never get that little, even just that break of, I'm I'm done at seven, or I'm done at eight at night, or or whatever, give your brain a little respite to think of something else.
Corinne M. 40:48
Yeah, and that's something that Michelle Klein had mentioned in one of her seminars, or her mastermind, how they did, like she did, like a basically clocking out at 5pm and she was like, alright, like, all right, I'm done, done for the day. No more emails, no more nothing. And that, the concept of that was so foreign to me when I heard that, I was like, wait, you can do that. You can do that as an entrepreneur, but yeah, you can, and you probably should have those set hours. Is that
Collin Funkhouser 41:18
it's hard to stick to though I get those, especially if I don't turn off my notifications and I see a little email pop up and it's just sitting there. It's that client request and, oh well, it doesn't take me that long to approve that. It's just for one let me, oh, let me real
Corinne M. 41:32
quick. Yep. And then it's a slippery slope. And the next thing you know, you're running payroll attendee,
Collin Funkhouser 41:39
because you're trying, yeah, oh, you're trying to get ahead for the next day. I'll just do this one little thing, and then, well, while I'm here, you're right, I will just, oh, and what's this? And I, I've got it. It's and we think we're doing a lot, we think we're being really productive, but we're actually robbing from ourselves the next day because we're pre using that energy that we need for tomorrow. And if we don't wake up refreshed and ready to go and on our game tomorrow for who knows what's going to come up, we're already working out of a deficit, and it puts us that much further behind No, 100% it's
Corinne M. 42:13
all about that. You know, work life balance. We can have it too as business owners, and we
Collin Funkhouser 42:18
think it's pretty elusive, because it, it, it, quote, unquote, all depends on us, right? If I don't, if I don't, but I like how you started off the talking about being productive and doing everything by going it doesn't all depend on me. If there's somebody in my team who's better or maybe has more of an interest in this, why aren't they doing this? And then that way I can get a little bit more rest, and they can be doing something that they love, like that. That really is a win, win decision. Yeah,
Corinne M. 42:43
it is, and it's a total game changer, I think, when you're not in charge of everything in your company, because not only does it help your mental health in your time, but it also, you know, you can get some perspective that you would have never had just as yourself, and it can really help your company in ways that you wouldn't have thought of. Yeah, no,
Collin Funkhouser 43:05
I love that. That's really cool. What would you say was your biggest challenge over the last couple of years?
Corinne M. 43:12
I would say burnout. I was because I'm somebody that likes to just throw everything on my plate, which I think a lot of business owners are like that, and because I was working such hours that I was equating hours in the day with money, which is not a healthy mindset to necessarily have, I got really burned out, and I think that I had a long time fighting that. So I believe that that was probably my biggest challenge,
Collin Funkhouser 43:53
especially whenever we do think, If I don't, something won't happen, or if I don't, it'll all come crashing down. And we get a lot of that comfort when we do start looking at our numbers, because then we can numbers, because then we can take that big breath and go, Oh, well, I don't have to, I don't have to take on that client. I can say, I can say no, I've met my financial goals already. Wow, that was nice.
Corinne M. 44:12
Yes, saying no is so empowering. But yes, and along with the staff. Thing is, you can look at what you're doing and say, You know what? I'm feeling really kind of burnt out and and just being able to say, I think that I cannot take this task on for myself. I am going to look to see if somebody else can, and honestly, they can probably do it just as good as you, or maybe even better. So
Collin Funkhouser 44:48
well, I know one of your employees, your daughter, did some, I think you had a post, but she did some graphic design work for a new logo. Possibly. What's it been like? Like having her along for this journey, and kind of, what are you what are you hoping to teach her through all this? Yeah,
Corinne M. 45:05
so she has seen, she's been part of paws and fluff since she was four months old. So it's been quite the road. She's now about to be six, and it's, it's just so cool because she sees the passion that I have, and just, you know, she loves animals herself, so she gets to see that. And she calls all of our staff members, my work friends, which is really cute. She knows a lot of them. And, you know, it's just cool that she's seen me through some difficult things, and she's seen me tackle some difficult things, but she also sees how passionate I am, how much I care, how and most importantly, she sees that I will always prioritize her and our family and protect our time, which I think is really important for a child of a business owner to see.
Collin Funkhouser 46:10
It's also really hard, isn't that too but, but that lesson of, hey, the business is important, and it can it can be. You can fall into that perspective of, hey, do you like the food, right? Do you like the house? Well, then I have to go do this work, and I've got to do all stuff instead going, you are important, yeah, the business isn't. It does need me from time to time, and we do have to make some sacrifices for that. It's going to happen, but the primary way that we're going to act right that is, is that that you matter, and that all this stuff is going to be and will be put aside to have time together, yes,
Corinne M. 46:41
and it is so, so hard. And let me tell you, the mom guilt, the dad guilt, it is real sometimes, but they see it. They see you working hard. They know that you're trying, and as long as you try to show that they are priority, they'll feel loved and important. I
Collin Funkhouser 46:59
love that. I love that. I love that Corinne, and it's really exciting to see all that you're working on and seeing your business, and you know what you share, and the possum metrics that you've got going on. I really want to thank you for for coming on the show today and sharing all that and encouraging us to be better about our numbers, and letting reminding us that we can own the business and that it's important to make those, those decisions when necessary. There's a lot going on here, and so if people want to get connected with you, follow along and check out possum metrics. How best can they do that?
Corinne M. 47:32
Yes. So we have a Facebook page called possum metrics, and we also have our shop@possummetrics.com you can contact me there, and yeah, I hope that you enjoy it.
Collin Funkhouser 47:50
Perfect. Well, I will have those links in the show notes and on the website so people can get clicked there and get connected and start seeing if that's going to work for them, and then just go check out all the awesome stuff that you're working on. Corinne, thank you so much again for coming on the show today. This has been a lot of fun.
Corinne M. 48:04
Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.
Collin Funkhouser 48:07
You own your own business, so you can make it your own. When we realize the complete and utter freedom that that truly gives us, we can embrace the challenges. We can embrace opportunities with a growth mindset and a look towards a brighter future, one where we're not involved in drudgery, one where we're not dreading the next dog walk instead, one that we can run into hearts open and glad to be doing what we're doing. In order to make those decisions, though, we have to know what kind of business we're running, and that's why our data, our information, our metrics, are so important. That truly is the transformative power, not so much for our business, but for our mindset. We want to thank today's sponsors, tied to pet and Pat perniels, for making this show possible, and 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
