583: Creating a Trusted Name in Pet Sitting with Justina Allen-Yancey
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How do you build a pet sitting business that becomes a household name? Justina Allen-Yancey, owner of Justina’s Pet Sitting, shares how she turned her business into an award-winning, community-trusted brand. She dives into the power of team management, setting clear client expectations, and why networking is key to sustainable growth. Justina also discusses how proactive planning, volunteer work, and local recognition have helped her business stand out in a competitive market. Whether you’re looking to refine your policies, grow your team, or strengthen your community presence, this episode is full of valuable insights to help you build a thriving pet care business.
Main topics:
Building trust through community engagement
Setting and enforcing client expectations
Managing a growing pet care team
Leveraging awards for business growth
Proactive planning for pet care
Main takeaway: “We’ve in the long game to earn the trust of the people around us, and we’ve done that just by getting really involved in things that are going on in the community.” – Justina Allen-Yancey
Trust isn’t built overnight—it’s earned through consistent actions, clear standards, and a genuine presence in your community. 🏡 Justina Allen-Yancey reminds us that being actively involved, setting high expectations for service, and staying engaged with clients creates long-term credibility. Whether it’s through networking, volunteering, or maintaining strong business policies, every touchpoint with your community reinforces your reputation. When people know they can count on you, they don’t just hire you—they recommend you. 🌟
How are you strengthening trust in your business?
About our guest”
Justina’s Pet Sitting Service, LLC was founded by Justina Allen-Yancey in 2018. Justina’s love of animals is immediately apparent to anyone who meets her, which is why she decided to ditch her day job and start a pet sitting business. After years in Corrections and Non-profits, Justina knew it was time to get out of the office setting as she hated leaving her own dog, Neville, home alone all day. It felt natural to switch gears and follow a career she is completely passionate about. Justina now runs the company with her husband, Drew Yancey.
Justina has lived in Prior Lake since 2014 and Drew joined her in 2020. Their fur family consists of dogs, cats, bunnies, guinea pigs, and lots of fish!
Justina and her carefully selected team of employees are here to ensure all of your pet’s unique needs are being met. We understand how important it is for your pet to be cared for and loved while you are away. We also strive to keep your pet’s routine as normal as possible so they are comfortable and happy while in our care. Our own pets are our family members and we will treat your babies like they are our own!
Links:
previously on: https://www.petsitterconfessional.com/episodes/343
https://justinaspetsitting.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justinaspetsitting/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinaspetsitting/
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Pet sitting, community involvement, business growth, client trust, team management, on-demand services, cancelation policies, rabbit care, volunteer work, marketing strategies, business awards, bookkeeping, employee training, client expectations, business legacy.
SPEAKERS
Justina, Collin
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 tying to pet and the National Association of Professional pet sitters, monitoring understanding how our business changes allows us to make good quality decisions, and part of that is understanding how our markets change and how the demand for different services that we offer changes as well. And so we're really excited to have Justina back on the show. She's the owner of justinas pet sitting, and we had her back previously, back on Episode 343 and I was a little bit shocked. I couldn't believe it been that long, Justina, since we've had you on the show. So for those who haven't listened to the episode, just go ahead and pause and then come back after you've listened to that one. But Justina, could you tell us more? Just get a little bit more about who you are and what you do.
Justina 00:56
Yeah. Yeah. So I'm Justina, and I own Justina this PewDiePie service in prior like Minnesota, I started this company back in 2018 when I just saw a need in our community, because it was a need that I had for my own dog, and I realized pretty quickly that I just really wanted to help out pet owners. Being away from our animals can be really hard, and if I could put them at ease in any way, I wanted to do that, so I kind of dove in head first to help the community feel better about leaving their pets behind, whether that meant going to work or going on vacation or anything like that. And we have grown from just me back in 2018 to we've got 10 employees, and my husband and I running the company and just having a lot of fun in our community, and I
Collin 01:39
love as the introduction there, Justina, you talked about kind of that community first aspect of your business. How does that impact how you operate, and the kind of services that you, that you offer
Justina 01:52
to me, being a part of the community is really important. I grew up in a small town, and even though Prior Lake is a lot bigger with, you know, 25,000 people instead of 2000 people, like my small town, it feels like a small town, and that is so important to me, because that feels comfortable. And one thing about our business that I really noticed more recently over the years is that we've kind of ended up playing kind of a long game to earn the trust of the people around us, and we've done that just by getting really involved in things that are going on in the community. So whether that's like volunteering or some of the different organizations that we've joined, we've kind of become a household name because of it. Everybody knows, just seen as pet sitting service, not necessarily because they've used us, but their neighbor has, or their brother has, or their sister has, or they have, and they've recommended all of their friends and family to us. And just the other day, I gave a presentation at our chamber of commerce, and somebody who I've been in this group with for now almost seven years said, you don't see a post on any of our Facebook community groups asking for a pet sitter without your name being mentioned over and over and over. And I'll go look at some of those. And I don't even know half the people that are recommending us, but they've heard good things about us, and so that's just so huge to me, because these are our babies, and we don't just leave them with anybody. So it's great to know that we are we've earned that trust in our community.
Collin 03:18
Yeah, and really have the voice of the community behind you, right? Like that. That speaks volumes when you especially when you have basically complete strangers being like, I've never used these people, but they look amazing. You should, you should, right? It's like, oh, wow, that feels so good.
03:34
Yes,
Collin 03:37
well, you mentioned a little bit about the growth of your business. There. What are some of the biggest changes that you've seen in just your business recently?
Justina 03:46
Some of the biggest changes are really nothing big. I wouldn't say we have grown our team, which is really important to us, because part of trusting us to take care of their pets is that clients know that we're going to be there. So I would just say, like, one of our biggest changes is that we're just, like, constantly growing, and we're evolving, and we're figuring out, like, how to meet the needs in a way that makes the most sense for our business and makes the most sense for our employees. And that's just that's just important to us, because when we talk about the fact that we have a team approach, it can really scare some people off. They're like, ah, there's going to be more than one person coming in. I don't know if my dog's going to like that, but here's a great example. We have a big we have a big snowstorm coming tomorrow. So they say, you know, like I said that in quotations, because this is Minnesota, we could get two inches. We could get 12 inches. And I see in some of our pet sitter groups, a lot of people are worried, like, what if I can't get to all my pets and they're so low they don't have a team? Well, we have so many people that are working for us, we can kind of split that up, and we can spread that out. And I just love that about us. If somebody's car breaks down, if somebody's grandma's in the hospital, if somebody has any kind of emergency, we've got to. Backup plan. We are your first plan. We're Plan A, we're Plan B, we're Plan C, and we're going to get people taken care of.
Collin 05:06
Man, that that's so cute. You said, you know, they trust that we're going to be there. And that's quite the mindset shift to make in our business. When we go from they trust that I'm going to be there to we're going to be there because that's the promise that our business makes at that point of, it's not just that one person is going to be there, it's everything's going to be cared for. And that's a big like, that's, that's got a lot of weight to it, and it does mean you've got to have all of these things in place and understand exactly who you're bringing on and kind of what your processes are for each person too.
Justina 05:39
Yeah, exactly. It's, it's huge. And our clients, they just really love it and appreciate it. And even, like, I reached out to everybody on vacation this weekend, and I'm like, listen, I know you're in some tropical, amazing location in 80 degrees, and you're basking in the sunlight, and I'm so jealous, but it's gonna snow here, yeah. So do you have someone coming to plow like, we're kind of just trying to plan for those things, right? We're thinking ahead, thinking of the worst. What if we can't get to you? Do we need to do, like, some really late night potty breaks tonight? Because maybe we can't get there till eight or nine tomorrow, depending on the weather and that sort of thing. So we're always trying to kind of be proactive. And I think everybody just appreciates that,
Collin 06:19
yeah, and especially whenever you have people who are like, we have clients who are in the Bahamas or on their nice, like tropical retreat. And at first, I remember being frustrated whenever I wouldn't hear back from them, when they wouldn't respond to those kind of messages, and I'd be like, Why aren't they? But now more, now more than ever, I go, Well, I think it's a testament to the trust that they have in us, that they don't respond, that they're not blowing up my phone because they're just like, oh yeah, they've got it, right? They're gonna Why would I? Why would I insert myself here when the professionals are handling it, and when you can get some clients like that, it really is a nice confidence booster, especially what you know through some struggles where you're like, I don't know. Why do people use me? Why are they here? And then you get some clients who are just like, Yeah, whatever you guys get it, I'm gonna go enjoy my vacation. It's like, that's actually a huge compliment these days,
Justina 07:11
absolutely. And we all know we're getting enough messages and emails anyways, so if we can just limit that down to what we need, we'll take it Right
Collin 07:20
exactly. It's like, I've actually, you know what, if you could just not respond, then, great, thanks. But it is that, is that that proactive nature? And I think many times I have seen some business owners who kind of get resentful about that, of going, am I always having to think about this, right? Do I all is it my job to have to and in some respects it is because they did hire us to think through those reminding them, hey, you might not have thought about it because you're on vacation, but guess what do you have the snow removal company coming over because it's about to be here?
Speaker 2 07:57
Yep, exactly, exactly. Yeah. Well,
Collin 08:01
as far as what you've seen, you know, your business there, you've you're growing, you're building that robust team. What about just maybe starting your in your local area, or, like the industry in general, kind of like, how you are seeing the shifts and expectations change there? Um,
Justina 08:17
just from, like, our clients, yeah, yeah. I think so it's kind of interesting to think about this. I think that I see less changes in expectations from clients, less as we go on, because I have been better about knowing exactly how I run my business. I set the expectations. I set the boundaries. We're really clear and upfront. When we start like, this is what we do, this is how we do it. And if it doesn't work for a client, oftentimes that's okay, then, like, maybe we're not right for you, or they'll be like, well, that's not really what I was expecting. But actually I like that a lot. And so I think it's pretty rare that we would lose a client because they have a different expectation, because more than likely, we've just opened their eyes to kind of like you said a little bit ago, like you're the experts, like you, you tell me what you need, and I see more and more of that in recent years when I go meet a new client for a meet and greet and I'm like, okay, these are, this is what we do. Right for dogs, we have a minimum of three visits a day. If you are adamant that you want less than three visits a day, we're just not your pet sitter. There's somebody else out there that's okay with doing two visits a day, or whatever it is, but this is kind of our rules, and when we like explain it and say, you know why, in almost seven years of business, dogs need at least three visits a day. They need that socialization, and then they just trust it. So, like, okay, like, you've been doing this, you've done 1000s of visits, right? You've, we've serviced and just did the math, I think it's like 750 clients over the last almost seven years. And so they just, it's kind of like what I was saying, like, we're kind of that household name. People are like, Okay, well, if, if, Justina. Says this is what we should do, then maybe this is what we should do. Like, there's a reason that what she's doing works. So I think that little bit of like knowing our reputation and just also knowing, like, we have their animals best interests in mind, right? Like, we don't want them having accidents in the house. We don't want them to be stressed out to the point that it's causing accidents. And so if we need to adjust things along the way, we'll do that. So to kind of answer the question about, like, what are clients expectations? I think that just more and more they trust us to make the right decisions, usually at the meet and greet, once we've talked things through, if they did have a way different idea, they've maybe circled back around to, you know what? Actually, what you're saying makes sense. I have so many clients that are just like, whatever you think. Justina, I'm leaving on this date, and I get back on this date like, you know, my animals, how often do you need to come? How long do those visits need to be? And we just kind of go with that, and we'll make changes if we need to. But that's typically how it goes, which is really nice. Wow. Yeah,
Collin 11:01
so much there. You mentioned, you mentioned the, have the trust in mind. They have where we have the we have the clients, the pets, best interest in mind. I think often as business owners, we can get hung up with trying to hold to standards because we feel guilty about the that it costs, right? Like you mentioned, like the three visits a day. It's a great standard. It's a great thing to say. I believe in this. Some people may kind of squirm at mandating my clients pay more, right? Because it's like, well, I'd mandate this. Yeah, I also make more money when you do that, but it's for the clients. But you know, it's best interest at heart. Did you ever struggle with that? You know, mandating those kind of standards, knowing that you would again, you get paying for this. So like, Was that ever a struggle for you?
Justina 11:46
It was a huge struggle in the beginning, I would say, the first couple of years, I had a really hard time with it, and I would often just do whatever the client wanted me to do. All my dogs find just going on twice a day. And I'm like, Okay, well, I mean, it's your your pet, and you're paying for it, so I guess I'll just do what you want me to do, or or you only need to stop by and see my cats every other day, or every third day just fill the food dishes. And I'd be like, Well, I mean, if you're okay with the fact that your cat is lonely, I guess that's on you, right? But then as time has gone on, and I would say a combination of just our experience, um, thinking about my own pets and what I would want for them is a huge part of it. And then just trainings that we've done over the years, I've come to realize that, like, even though you're okay with that as a client, I'm just really not, and I don't feel good about it. So it took some time, and I think it was a combination of, like, growth in clients, but then also growing a team, and realizing that we just need set standards and policies across the board that make sense for everybody and that we'll never waver from. Because what would happen is I'd be like, well, actually, maybe this cat would be okay with every other day visits but, but this cat's really not okay. Like, how do you justify that? And you're like, Okay, we just need some SOPs. We just need something like, Okay, here's our policies. This is what we do. And it became easier and easier to stand behind them, because I would just say, this is our policy. And then it's no longer just, you know, wavering and wondering and trying to figure out the best plan. It's just straight up, these are our rules, and we follow them for everybody?
Collin 13:21
Yeah, I mean, just how you said at the very beginning of you set the expectations right of not just what you do, but how you do it. And that's been thing that I've been seeing more and more often. Of it's not just, oh, they need a cat sitter, but do they need a cat sitter for how we provide cat sitting, right? And is that the proper expectation there? And are those aligned and putting that all out there in the front, in the forefront, at the mean greet, or even beforehand, if you can, so you're not, you know, wasting your time of, oh, did you have an expectation that this was going to be an every third day thing? No, like, that's not what we do, and here's why. And that really does help a a educate on that standards do exist. But also B helps make sure that you are cultivating a culture and a clientele that are in support of you, because if they're on board with you from the beginning, thinking or believing, Justine has got my best interests at heart, and she's doing this for the for the benefit of the pets when you need to make additional changes or change or add new policies, right? It's easier to get people on board for that than us just serving them and however they want to be served.
Justina 14:30
Yes, yeah, people don't like it when things change, when, when they have, like, a certain idea or expectation, and then all of a sudden that, like, is a huge overhaul, so it is a lot easier to start from the beginning. And that's one thing that that we've always done, is when somebody reaches out to me and they want information, I send them an email, and it is a lot of information, and it probably turns some clients off, and might be a little bit overwhelming, but to me, I just want it to be clear, like, this is. What we do. This is how we do it. This is how much it's going to cost. I don't want there to be any surprises, so that when we get to the meet and greet, nobody is caught off guard, like, Oh, this is costing per visit, not per day, or, Oh, you're, you're not going to come every third day, because, like you said, I don't want to waste anybody's time. Let's, let's not even go to a meet and greet unless you know that we are a viable option for you, and the only way that maybe you would choose not to use us after a meet and greet is because you just didn't like me.
Collin 15:32
And I can take that right. Don't like me all you want.
Justina 15:35
I can handle that. I can handle that. At least it wasn't because of the price or because of our policies or anything like that, because he already knew that. Yeah, it wasn't because
Collin 15:43
of a miscommunication, right? That it gets very frustrating, and you're right and going, I we want to front load that as much as possible. You know, we have our clients sign the the terms of service right before the meet and greet. Like it's just, it's just all there. And we had one person say, Well, I'm not signing this. Or, or why would you make me sign this? It's like, look, this is actually just for your benefit, because I am going to hold you to this. And if you're not okay with everything in this document, it's not going to be a good relationship. And because I don't want you to say we are going to, you know, especially the cancelation policies, that's one where, for the longest time, Meg and I, like, would really pull our punch because, like, oh, I don't want to say that I'm going to keep some of your money, because that makes me feel, ah, I just, I'm just going to pretend like they're never going to cancel, right? And that never works. So,
Justina 16:35
yeah, that's actually something I had jotted down and was thinking about earlier was, yeah, cancelation policies are probably one of the biggest ones, and we really like push that information over and over, from the get go, from that first email to talking about it at the meet and greet to it being on their confirmation of services in their invoice. Like there should be no surprises that if you canceled the day before, you're going to be charged,
Collin 17:03
well. So I know one of the services that you offer, at least, I think you offer, you kind of offer some on demand services. So kind of leading from that, then how do you make those work for your clients and for your employees and scheduling and everything? So we do offer on demand
Justina 17:18
services for any clients that are already set up in our system. Our system, so that they can just go in and schedule things. What we actually have done. So we've had, we've had our cancelation policies in place for quite a while, but we created a new policy this year, so we kind of reevaluate everything. At the end of the year, we send out an email to our clients. You know, if there's going to be price increases on anything. Here's a reminder of our cancelation policy. It has not changed same policy. It's always been and then we added a new policy for last minute bookings. What we were finding was we have a lot of like midday dog walks, for example, many of them that are just set they know they need us Monday through Friday, or Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We just have those automatically set up, but we have a lot of people who schedule changes. Sometimes they work from home, sometimes they go in. They don't know necessarily, weeks in advance what that's going to look like. So we've started sending out a weekly email. Hey, this is your reminder to book anything that you need for next week. If you don't book by Friday at noon, there is a 10% fee for anything booked next week after that. And my biggest thing was when I told clients is, I don't want that 10% I would prefer that nobody ever have to pay that. What I was trying to do is just encourage them to plan ahead and think ahead. Because, as you know, and most pet sitters who have a team know that the schedule takes up a big part of your day, and if somebody adds things last minute, one person's not a big deal. But when you have three or four last minute additions and maybe a cancelation on top of it, now you're redoing the whole route, and you're trying to figure out which pet sitters on this side of town, which is on this side of town, have they met those three Rottweilers? Like, are we? We can't send them in blind like, you know, so you're doing just a lot of like, revision and revamp. And I think most people just don't realize that, right? Like, they're not thinking about that. They just know that we show up and we do our job, and we do a great job, and and they're not thinking about the back end, which is kind of the beauty of things, right? We don't want them to stress about that, but it really has encouraged clients to get things booked. And it's been so nice because then on Friday, I'm kind of finalizing things for the following week, and for like, our midday dog walks, our cancelation policy is a 24 hour notice. If they cancel 24 hours in advance, they won't get charged. But if they cancel less than that, they will be charged because I'm going to pay my team for it. They knew their schedule for the next day. They were planning to be there. They planned their day around it. I want to make sure that I pay them for that. So we we really adhere to that, and stick to that pretty strongly now. So that was, that was kind of a good change. I've noticed that people are planning ahead a little bit better on. Um, even people who are planning their vacations better in the past, they would just go in and, like, book us starting the next day for their, you know, four day vacation because they knew that we would be there, because we will be there. And I was like, Okay, we have to do something different here. We will be there. But will you please book earlier?
Collin 20:21
I felt that in my soul, Justina, when you said that, it's like, I really appreciate all of the faith and trust that you have in us and being able to handle this, but you just caused an hour and a half of a headache and turmoil in my life. So yeah, and that is, that is, you know, what I You're doing really, there is, yeah, you're trying to encourage the behavior, but also it's you're counting the costs too, because it's like, if you did have to have an emergency rescheduling thing with if you had admin or if you had overhead for this stuff like that is a cost to you. Yeah, there's the mental burden and the stress from getting everything done last minute. But just financially too it's like, no, you're taking up more of my time to get this done and to fit you in. So from that perspective, it makes sense. And then from the behavior perspective, it also makes sense of, look, there is this thing, and literally, all I'm asking you is for three to four days, right? Like, at the end, like that just three or four days of advanced understanding like, that's all we're asking
Justina 21:22
here, exactly, exactly. So it's going good for 2025 we're gonna we're gonna keep doing it. So
Collin 21:30
have you heard of time to pet? Dan from NYC, pooch has this to say? Time
Speaker 3 21:35
to bet, has been a total game changer for us. It helped us streamline many aspects of our operation, from scheduling and communication to billing and customer management. We actually tested other pet sitting softwares in the past, but these other solutions were clunky and riddled with problems. Everything in time to pet has been so well thought out, it's intuitive, feature rich, and it's always improving. If
Collin 21:55
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/confessions Well, good. And I guess I know that that that kind of on demand, that that as needed, stuff like that. We do want to be there for our clients when they need us, but then we also have to balance that with the realities of running a business of it, we just can't drop everything that we're doing to go rush over and meet this need. And you mentioned the Yeah, one is probably fine to fit in, but when you get five boy, howdy, have I learned that there's a subset of our clients who 7:33pm is when they sit down to schedule it. It's like, like, it's, my goodness, the amount of requests that come in at like, this very specific time window. And I'm like, okay, and you're right, it's just because they go, this is that's when they're planning, and we've got to set that expectation to go. I understand when you're planning, but I need some planning too, and this is how we need to be moving in this direction together, right, to benefit everybody, exactly.
Justina 22:59
And obviously there are things that happen, right? You get called into work, you realize you're going to have a late meeting, or or your boss said you're traveling this weekend, and you and they can't plan ahead. And so we understand that. And like I said, we will be there no matter what. But when they can plan, I think even though it's just like 10% it's enough to be like, oh, you know what? I need to get these in to Justina, get it done. And then if they can't plan ahead for it, because life is life, that's okay, we'll still be there. We're still gonna figure it out. Those are the days that maybe I'm out in the field a little bit more, or I'm texting the employees and saying, like, Hey, can I shuffle you around? Can I add one? Can I move one? And that's just having such a great team that's willing to to take that on and be like, yep, you just tell me where to be. Update. Time to pet. We'll be there,
Collin 23:48
right? Well, you mentioned your your team there. I know you've been growing your employees. How is that process been like and and kind of, what's been, what's have you? How has it been learning to to train and onboard those, those quality team members.
Justina 24:03
It's, it's really interesting being a boss when you weren't planning on being a boss, okay, like, I'm just gonna walk some dogs until I figure out my life right, not, not be a boss to 10 employees. And it's, actually, it's really fun. It's, it's so interesting because I have employees that are 18 years old, and I have employees who are retired from really, like, high demand, stressful day jobs, you know, and so they've probably had every kind of boss. And being a little bit younger myself, sometimes that can be a little unnerving. Like, okay, well, now you're old enough to be my mom and and I'm your boss, so I have such a good relationship with my team, and that is huge. Like, that's number one right there. We're communicating with each other, everything from the very beginning, just like with my meet and greets and meeting new clients, everything is so transparent. Like, this is how the job works. There's going to be times where it looks like you're scheduled to work four hours and half of it got canceled. There's going to be. Be times where you I didn't need you on the weekend, and now I'm texting. You're like, oh my gosh, we just had six clients book like, can you help fill in? And so I think that transparency and staying in communication is so important. We've also done some like streamlining to our training processes that I think is really helpful. You know, obviously we meet and they learn how to use our software and that sort of thing. They do some field training we've incorporated on pet sitters International. Does they have, like, their pet sit Pro, where you can do online training, and I've been a psi member for a long time, but this is the first time that we've started this past year, we started utilizing those I love it, because I have this, like, baseline of everybody's gonna do this specific training, everybody's gonna be on the same page. And then when we have, like, our bird clients, you're gonna do the bird training, you're gonna do the bunny training. You know, we can really, we can very confidently say we are experts in our field, like we are going above and beyond. We're not just walking your dog like there's a lot more to it than that. And then what I found, too was This is a weird job, right? Collin, like we don't see other people.
Collin 26:09
Tell me more, Justina
Justina 26:11
jobs, so especially for my employees, who maybe went from being surrounded by people and hustle and bustle and maybe getting constant feedback from their co workers or their peers or their bosses. We I found because I'm the kind of person that needs positive feedback. I need to be told, Hey, Justina, you're doing a good job, and I don't have a boss anymore to do that. So I have found my own ways of getting that, through my peers, through networking and through things like that, but it's pushed me to make sure I'm giving that to my team. I could go months and months and months and not see some of them. So after they start, I try to schedule a one on one time with them, just to, like, check in. How's it going? Do you understand what is happening in time to pet What are you confused about? What do you need help with? And then for me, I'm a 39 year old millennial. I love text messaging, so I will text and check in with them. I will try really hard to make sure that I'm letting them know that what they're really excelling in. But I'm I'm a genuine person, so I'm not someone who's just gonna like, blow smoke, like, if I'm texting you to say, like, Hey, you did awesome at this, or I appreciate this. I really, truly mean it, and I think that my employees know that like, I think that's probably why we have such a great rapport. Now, when something happens and we have to fix it, maybe there's some, like, training deficiencies or something went wrong. It's not just, Well, I haven't heard from Justina in months, and now she's mad at me. It's we've had this report going, we've been talking, we've been staying connected. And I don't know, like, knock on wood, I, over the years, have had really amazing employees. They have stuck around. They've done a good job, they've cared about this job. And it's been more than just them caring about the pets, I think that they truly care about me and my company and what we're doing,
Collin 28:03
that makes it really, really wonderful to have people who are really on mission and focused in the company. And again, that whole phrase, like, oh, being on mission, like, what does that mean? It means that people who believe in what's going on. It means people who are passionate about not just the work, but the purpose behind it. And you touched on an aspect there of giving that kind of feedback that is something that I have struggled with and have had to get a lot better at, because I know I'm I get really like, Oh, don't. Don't tell me how good I'm doing, or don't tell how I'm bad I'm doing, because I just, I just want to do my work. And don't like, don't pay attention to me. Don't look at me like, I'll just, and I brought all of that anxiety into managing other people, and so I can go a whole training session, and I have in the past without saying anything about what that other person is doing good at or needs improvement on, and I'm just like, Well, okay, anyway, move on and and that is so detrimental. And And recently, we've had some new hires who have called that out of me again, and will reach the end, and they've looked at me and they'll go, Okay, well, what do I need to work on? And in my head, I'm like, Oh, don't say anything bad. You'll hurt their feelings. And then I have to remember, they just asked me. They just asked for feedback, like, just give it to them. They can receive that. And the amount of trust that that builds between people of oh my gosh, when Collin says things it's not going to be the end of the world and and it's okay for Collin to say that, because they that's what they need. The only way they're going to improve is if we have this dialog and this conversation so that when a meeting pops up on their schedule in three weeks, they don't think it's the end of the world and they don't freak out because they're panicking. It's just part of our routine and what we're
Justina 29:45
going to do, it's exactly it. And I, too, would be just so anxious about, like, when I had to reach out about something and and I don't want my employees to feel that. I don't want them to see my name on their screen and be like, Oh, no. What is just, you know. And usually, you know, what Justina wants is, hey, somebody called in sick. Hey, we have some extra visits. Like, Hey, can you help out? Hey, can you treat that's usually what I want. But yeah, I just want everybody to be comfortable. If they're happy, the pets are going to be happy. And that's the bottom line. The pets are going to be happy. The clients are going to be happy. We're going to keep doing what we're doing, keep serving the community
Collin 30:25
the way that we are, yeah, and have that and have that team focused. And what that also helps too, is if you have that culture of feedback, it helps them work together, right? Is that what we've really noticed is as we've kind of worked on that with us freely giving feedback and positive advice and and, you know, encouragement in certain areas, it emboldens other people to to help other people get better too, if, if they're struggling. And we've had some really great team members step up a couple times and say, Hey, is it okay if I reach out to so and so, because I I'd like to give them this tip or this pointer on this client, because I saw that they kind of struggled with that. And I'm like, absolutely right? And like, go knock it out of the park, like, and then it the whole thing kind of starts working just a little bit better, because everybody's working and helping one another. And then you kind of like, Oh, wow. This is look at this thing, right? And
Justina 31:21
that kind of goes back to this whole like, this is a weird thing, right? We don't see our co workers. We don't see other people. So we actually use the group me app as a team, and that's where I communicate if everybody needs to know something. So hey, for this specific client, we're changing the feeding instructions. I'll update the notes too. But it's kind of just like, here's a little trigger, don't forget to look at that. And I know the team has used that to communicate with each other. Or sometimes somebody will just, like, type in the app, like, does anybody have any pointers for like, getting this particular harness on? Or things that they could come ask me directly. But maybe it's nice just to get a little bit of feedback from everybody and hear what everybody else has to say. And even though I would say, for the most part, most of my team has not met each other, they at least like see pictures, see a name, and then you feel like you're a part of the team.
Collin 32:10
Yeah, we actually have a few people that are like hardcore gamers, and they do like online gaming, and they're part of that. And what they've been able to do is turn that collaborative mindset with the team and get everybody kind of on that. Because when you're playing a game long distance with somebody in Australia or in Great Britain or in New Zealand, it's like you you're never going to meet these people in real life, but you can foster that relationship through how you communicate with one another, the tips and advice that you share. And I like seeing that kind of work. It's going, I'm going, Oh, wow. Like, I never would have thought that that aspect would come in and influence it so much. So it is so wonderful to see that camaraderie build so that when we do have those few moments where we can't have a team meeting or a Christmas get together, or whatever, it's like, they kind of, we've heard it a couple times where they're like, Well, I've never met any you, but I do feel like I know most of you, and it's like that that does feel good, and I'm glad that we can kind of have just a little piece of that in what we do.
33:15
Yeah, a little piece of normal,
Collin 33:18
or whatever normal actually is. I don't I Yeah, well, I'd be remiss Justine, if I didn't ask you about one of the services that I know you offer, as far as the with rabbits and guinea pigs and those niche things that you're offering there. How is that going?
Justina 33:36
We love our rabbit and guinea pig clients like I think that outside of obviously, the community knows us and what we do. The community knows that Justina is a rabbit person like they just like when they have rabbit questions, when they need a vet recommendation, things like that. So we have a lot of rabbit clients. I can't remember if, at the time of our last interview, if I was boarding rabbits at that time, you were just starting
Collin 34:03
to do just a little bit of that, I think, or you had talked about getting more into it, yeah.
Justina 34:09
So we used to board rabbits before my kids were born, and then we transferred, kind of all of those clients to in home, basically. So we have a lot of rabbits where we go twice a day, and this is one of our standards of care as well. With rabbits and guinea pigs, we go twice a day. I know how important it is that they are eating and they're drinking and their bowels are moving, and once a day just isn't enough for those little critters, because if you've gone 24 hours and something is wrong, it's too late, typically. So we're really strict about that. We've made a few exceptions with clients who I know have like camera monitoring systems, and they're able to monitor that way, and those are usually the clients who are just as nervous and worried about the rabbits as I am. So we can usually wear something out there, but we went twice a day to make sure that everybody is doing good. And we just love it. It's such a it's such a happy break when it's. 20 below outside, you have been walking dogs and doing breakfast visits and go, go, go. And then you get to just go like pet and hang out with a rabbit and feed it treats, or when it's 100 degrees in July. And now you get to hang out with the cute little bunny for a little bit. My team has really become bunny bunny experts because of my own rabbits. I have three right now, and two of them are 11, and one of them is like, seven or eight. And all of my rabbits have lived a really long time, so they've seen like, health issues. I say it's like my little geriatric wing. Two of them are in Gabapentin because they have arthritis. One gets eye drops. So my team just like, they know how to handle rabbits. Because I'm like, You're gonna medicate my bunnies, and this is what you're gonna look for, watch for, and it's kind of cool. I have a couple employees who already knew about rabbits, so they kind of came on as experts, and that was really nice for me to know. Like, I don't need to, like, train you in on the nuances. And then it's really fun for the new people who are like, Well, I had rabbits growing up, but we kept them outside. It was way different than this. And I love educating, so that's kind of where that little piece comes in. I get my chance to educate, and then I get my bunny fix.
Collin 36:12
Well, so what was that? I mean, how was, How was that received by your clients when you went from doing the boarding to then out call, only because that, you know, obviously they wanted the boarding for a very particular reason. What was that transition like?
Justina 36:27
It was a little bit tough because, yes, they wanted boarding because they wanted their rabbits closely monitored, which makes sense. But also, the boarding was cheaper than us going a couple times a day. So for a lot of them, their prices doubled or even tripled, depending on on what that looked like. So it was a little bit hard at first, but also they had that reassurance of knowing that the team was trained. The team knows what they're doing. So even though it wasn't me personally doing that hands on care, that they were still getting the best of the best. They were getting people that I trained, people that I felt comfortable taking care of my own rabbits, and for the most part, it was no big deal. As long as they lived in our service area, they remained clients, and we just started going in home, and then it just kind of has continued to grow. I think that with rabbits and guinea pigs, a lot of people think like, Oh, you just leave them, you know, I'll leave them some hay, leave them some food, leave them a big thing of water, they're going to be fine. But our clients who use us, and when we tell them that whole like, we we need to come twice a day, they're like, yeah, like, do. So I love that. There's always going to be people who have a different standard of care than what we do, and it's just one of those situations where we're probably not the right fit for you and and that's okay, yeah, man,
Collin 37:40
that that differential the standard of care. Do you ever have conversations with your team about that? Do they ever bring different levels or standards and expectations and that don't match the clients that you kind of have to manage through?
37:53
Yeah,
Justina 37:54
that can be really tough sometimes during training, I one of the things we often talk about is that you're going to meet clients who don't have the same standard of care as you, and that's going to be really hard. And so we talk a lot about, like, what's appropriate and what's not appropriate from an employee standpoint. If they ever have concerns about anything, come to me. Let me deal with it. If it's something that, like, needs to be followed up with a client, especially if it's like, a blatant like, you know, an animal is just being completely neglected, or we're really worried about Something's just not right or off. I don't necessarily want that coming from the team, but we talk a lot about if you notice something or see something that's like off, maybe, like a dog is limping, or you noticed a sore that we make sure that we're not like, accusatory when we talk to our clients, right? So it might just be like, Hey, I haven't seen Fido in a while, and I noticed that he was limping. You probably already know about it, but I just wanted to make sure you I just wanted to make sure that I pointed out in case it's something new. So we really talk about those nuances, like, how do we talk to each other? How do we talk to our clients? We're doing everything in text, right? So there's so much that can be left, you know, misread, misinterpreted. So I just often tell the team, and like, if you really have any big concerns, shoot me a text. I might already know about it, because maybe the client has sent me a private message about what's going on. Maybe it's an old thing that, you know, an old injury that's come back, and I might just already be in the loop. And then when it comes down to, like, some of those, like, blatant standards of care that are really a mismatch, we really, we have let clients go in the past because it's just not going to work for us anymore, like we're not comfortable with what we're doing that, you know, the team's not comfortable. I don't want to put them in a position. And those cases are kind of sad and they happen, and we just kind of talk through them as a team, and we have each other as sounding boards, and as long as they know that, they can talk to me, I think that's the biggest thing,
Collin 39:53
yeah, and kind of ascribing what giving people the benefit of the doubt, at least. Least a little bit, I think, is really important. What I hear in that of like, Hey, we're not going to ascribe malice or scribe any intent here. I'll just let you know, and then you can always judge from the client's reaction, right about how, when you show them something, when you present them something, how do they respond? And that's going to reveal way more than just coming out and going well, you know, in an accusatory manner, and that is a line that we do have to walk in and then trust our employees, because they may be in a client's home 10 times more, 100 times more than I ever will be, and going, Well, yeah, if you're we're all trained to the same standard. We're all trained to the same expectations. So we have to figure out a way to move forward with this. And you're right kind of having that one voice behind it of going, Okay, let I'm just going to talk to them about this, see where they are. And then we do have to decide at that point, is this something we as a company are okay with, or are we not? And then we may have to let them go. One
Justina 40:56
thing you said that is really huge to us is just that my team is in the field way more than I am they. You know, we've got, we've got team members that do our midday dog walks Monday through Friday, who see these dogs five days a week, every single week, and they're gonna, they're gonna be the ones that really know something is off, something is wrong, and I might just be completely out of the loop sometimes. So the more that we can communicate with each other. And then I give them that autonomy to kind of go back to them and be like, hey, what do you think you're there more than I am? Do we need to do something differently? Do we need to use a different harness? Do we need to talk to them about, you know, what's going on, health wise, that sort of thing? And because this is such a weird job where we are kind of isolated, I think that that autonomy is really important, and it's a good reminder to the team, like you're really valuable, your eyes and ears are valuable, and we need that feedback to make sure that we're doing the best job that we can do.
Collin 41:53
Well, just practically too it's way less stress on you if you're managing that like you can't micromanage to that level, like it's physically impossible and you're driving yourself in drive yourself insane if you don't, you don't trust, inherently trust the people that you brought into the company to do these visits. And you're right that empowering of them is so critical to satisfaction in the job, like we to know that their decisions, that they matter, that they that they are important and that we trust them. Like it's one thing to say, Oh, our clients trust you, but we've really been intentional recently to say, Well, yeah, but that means that I trust you, Megan, and I trust you. That's why you're here. If we didn't trust you, you'd never have made it through the door. So that welcome, right? Like, I think, I think we do need to remind our team of that as frequently as we can. Yes, I agree. Hey, there pet professionals. Are you a passionate pet sitter or dog walker looking to take your career to the next level? Join the National Association of Professional pet sitters or naps, the leading organization dedicated to elevating pet care with industry resources, ongoing education and a network of like minded experts. Naps empowers us to shine in our field. Whether you're expanding your business or building new client relationships, their community is here to support you at every step of the way. Visit pet sitters.org today to learn more and join the movement. Take the leap and let your career flourish. Naps where pet care meets excellence. I was curious, if you you know, since we last spoke, if you've done any different things with your with your marketing, or how you've been engaging with your community. I know you talked a little bit how you've become more of the go to the the standard, really. But have you changed any of your marketing messaging or any any of those efforts?
Justina 43:46
I think I said, the way I put it was, we kind of play the long game, right, like we're trying to trust with the community and that sort of thing. And early on, we Facebook has always been like a great marketing tool for us, more so than other platforms, for whatever reason. Um, and we used to do a lot of, like, ads on Facebook and things like that, but we've kind of moved away from that. We still post on our socials a lot, because who doesn't love to see cute animals? Um, but to me, like being in the the prior like, Chamber of Commerce is such a huge thing. I do so much networking within this community. Within this group, there's over 500 members. We do some small group networking. We support each other's businesses. And this is just one of those places where everybody's if you mention pet sitting, anybody in the chamber is going to be like, Oh yeah, Justine. Is your girl. That's who you should talk to. We also did some long term like advertising in a magazine that goes out to some of the like, higher income homes in our community, so we're able to have an ad, and I'll write an article every month. So, like, I just wrote an article for March, and I am thinking spring and some safe dog walking tips, you know, just some simple stuff that's going to get the community, like, maybe kind of remembering my. Like, Oh yeah, I read that article that Justina wrote. We also recently started, or I recently started, volunteering with a local dog rescue, and I wanted to foster dogs for so long that I know myself. I will not get these dogs back. Ask me how I ended up with six rabbits at one point in time, plus foster like, I just I know myself, and we have a really amazing dog. We have a lot of amazing dog rescues, but there's one in prior lake called spots last stop, and they are doing such incredible things. And I reached out to the founder, and I was like, I want to help. How can I help without taking a dog and
Collin 45:40
I can't I have no self control,
Justina 45:43
no boundaries, and I will bring a dog home and just tell my husband I'm sorry. So I'm like, we have to, like, rein this in. So what I've been able to do is I help, you know, with different events. I can just go volunteer at events, volunteer with intake, and then we're doing some like temp fostering. So if a dog is in a foster home and they're going on vacation for just like the weekend, well, Tim foster that dog, it will go back to their foster so really, like taking that piece of separation to make sure that I don't get too attached is really important. And then another thing that I've noticed lately that I've been doing more of them. Maybe it wasn't even on purpose. Was that really showing more personal stuff in our like, marketing and social media and that sort of thing, I really was just kind of focused on, like, here's the dogs, here's this, here's that. But the more I show people like, who I am and who my husband is, and like, here's our kids, here's our family, and this is a small business that we're running to support our family and to support our community. People love that like people, and I think about what I like to see when I'm scrolling my social media, I really hone in on the people I feel connected to the new brewery that opened across town. Whenever they post pictures of their family and their dog and their kids like that. Those are the posts I'm reading, and I'm most excited about like, I'm I want to connect with them and and people love that. So I've been doing a little bit better about that of just kind of showing the world like, This is who we are, and this is what we do. And I started this company, but there's so much more to it than just me, and I love that, because then I think I'm getting a little bit of that feedback that I kind of said I was looking for too as well, right? I don't have the boss saying you're doing a great job, but I have my community saying, like, hey, Justina does a pretty great job. So So trust her.
Collin 47:33
Yeah, it is interesting how the the tone shifts whenever, at least whenever I'm on social media. And I go from seeing like, multinational, global corporation, multi, you know, Corporation of a corporation, and then there's the small, family owned business. I'm like, You. I want you to win. What do I need to do to help you win? Like, what? What is it? What do we need me to do? Like, I'm on this and that it is also a reminder that as we as businesses, as we grow, as we expand, as we become more matured, as the business and in the community, it is easy, regardless of whether it's just us or whether we have a team to become a little bit disconnected, or for people's views to think of us a little bit differently. And and I was really, I was really shocked by this when I was doing a recent, well, a spade of interviews last year, and I always ask, like, hey, what do you know about us and what we do? And someone said, Well, I don't know if you're corporate or not, or like, where are you? And I was like, Oh, well, I we need to do something different, because apparently something got off, and that was just a good reminder of not everybody knows your story, and everybody knows your why, and we need to tell them more about that.
Justina 48:52
I agree 100% I think about all of the businesses in town that I network with, and the reason that I like them and I trust them is because I have gotten to know them as people, as humans, as individuals and and it kind of goes back to that, like small town feel that we have here as well. We just all kind of stay connected to each other, take care of each other and support each other. Yeah,
Collin 49:14
well, I know you said you're a member of the chamber, and I think you won a pretty interesting award recently talk to me about that and how it's it's impacted you, and kind of the importance
Justina 49:25
of that. Yeah. So the prior like chamber, we're a pretty big chamber with over 500 members, and every year they give out an award to Business Person of the Year and Business of the Year. And in the past, I've been nominated for Business Person of the Year and I haven't won, which is totally fine, because being nominated for it is just amazing enough, right? Like it just feels great. This is the first year that I was nominated for Business of the Year, and that felt different to me, that I felt seen in that that I'm not just this one person doing this thing. But I am helping the community. I've got a team and helping sustain their lives, helping, you know, what we do is helping make their lives better. They're able to pay their bills, put their kids through college, like that sort of thing. But just the fact that I felt like the community saw that, like, this is, this is big. You know, it was really amazing. I'll probably cry if I talk about it too much, but they try to surprise you and have your family come if you win. And I was absolutely convinced that I wasn't winning. I was at the award ceremony, and my friend is the chair, so she's the one that announces it, and I knew she probably knew, but I wasn't going to ask her. And I was like, Well, I'm assuming that I didn't win, because when I left, my husband was like, you're going to a chamber thing at night, because they're usually at lunchtime. So he, like, played super dumb, like, What do you mean? And then he didn't, he didn't say, like, make sure you leave me the car seats or anything like that. Because we have little kids. We have a one year old. And so I kind of relaxed, and was like, Well, I didn't win. I'm gonna have a glass of wine and I'm just gonna relax. And then when she started talking, and I started to realize it was me, I was like,
51:07
like, I have chills just thinking about it.
Justina 51:09
But then I got really sad, because I was like, they didn't tell my husband, my husband doesn't know. And then my friend nudged me and pointed, and in walked my husband and my my daughter and my son, and it was just just waterworks, like, there was oh my gosh, so many tears. And of course, I hadn't thought about what I would say, because I was convinced that there were so many amazing businesses that were nominated for this award. So it was like, Oh, no brainer. Like, any of them could have won it, because they're just amazing. So, so it's really cool. It's just that it's cool to have that notoriety, it's cool to have that recognition. It gives me more of that feedback that I'm looking for, that like, hey, Justina, you're doing a really good job. Like you have found a need in the community, and you're fulfilling that need, and people are seeing it. And my two year old, she was so excited. She said, Mommy, did we surprise you? Daddy said we were going to surprise you. Daddy said, you won. Did you win? Like she just wanted to hold the award and see the award. It was a really awesome experience, and I'm so grateful for it, and just the community that I have within the chamber.
Collin 52:15
Man, what a wonderful experience, and what a wonderful job by your husband with that secret there. So I, I'm more surprised though, that your two year old kept the secret too, because our kids couldn't keep a secret.
52:29
Told her until they were leaving. Okay, good, good job.
Collin 52:37
Well, and to know too, like that that that becomes part of of your legacy, right? Like, of this, like, Oh, I'm running this business, and now I'm, I'm a manager, and I'm hiring people, and I never expected to be that. And now I've got this, like, I'm, I'm also an example to, like my kids and to my community as well, and like how they view me now, like, and that's, it's really neat to see that, because like, that just kind of changes also, like, your why, too, and like, kind of changes your perspective on your business, and the impacts that it has beyond just doing dog walks and taking care of people's bunnies, right? Like, that's it just explodes
53:11
that all out,
Justina 53:12
and you get to sit and be inspired by other people who are doing something that you're doing, running their business. The person who won Business Person of the Year. He owns an auto body shop, and is in this transition of getting ready to retire while his son is taking over. And that's just so incredible, because then I look at my kids and I think, oh my gosh, are one of you gonna take this over maybe, maybe 25 years from now? You're up here winning this award? You know, like, I don't know. It's just so cool to think about all that. I
Collin 53:43
love that so much. And just just congratulations on that. Very well deserved. That's so cool. Well, when you when you think about kind of the what's next for you, like, what are you excited about coming up? What's you know, what's kind of on your on your radar there? So
53:57
recently, last year,
Justina 53:58
at the beginning of the year, we expanded into one of the cities next to us. We so we're in Prior Lake. There's also a little town next to a savage that we share school district. And then there's another little town, Shakopee, and we saw a lot of need in Shakopee. We were getting so many requests for the area, so we'd expanded into Shakopee. And one thing that I really want to focus on is our growth there. Now we have a lot of clients over there, but we could have a lot more, and we've done a lot of focus stuff in Prior Lake. So I joined the Shakopee Chamber of Commerce last year to start kind of get to know the other business owners over there, see what the need is, what are people looking for? And that's just been awesome to meet some new people. So I want to keep growing there. I want to keep doing my volunteer work with spots last stop the rescue here in town, I think that there's just a lot of areas that that I could help out in, and it feels good like that's so important right to to give back to the community in a different way. And then you see these dogs get adapted, and it just it, it warms your heart to be a part of that. So I want to make sure. Or I stay involved in doing that sort of thing. I am. I don't know if you're familiar with like, if there's a rotary in your area, but we have one in prior lake that's really strong and does a lot of great work. And I want to explore maybe getting involved in that, just getting again, getting to know new people, but finding ways to give back to the community that make the most sense for us. And this one's kind of weird, and maybe there's other pet sitting business owners out there who can really relate. But we, we, me, I say we, but I mean me, I have completely taken over our bookkeeping. So we had somebody hired out to do our bookkeeping, and I realized that I want to really feel good and know what's going on. I want my finger on the pulse. I want to understand the ins and outs. I'm not a numbers girl. My husband, he's a numbers guy, but it's been super, super good for me, and I just started. I hired someone to kind of teach me everything I need to know about QuickBooks and how to record things properly, and how to keep track of things properly. And it's been so incredibly empowering to feel like I have that control. And maybe someday I won't, I won't care, and, you know, maybe I'll hire out again. But right now, at this point in time, I just, I really love it. It makes me feel like I understand all of the ins and outs of my business, beyond just who's getting walked at what time and who's going to be there and who gets prescription cat food and who is on this medication. It's all important, and it's all an encompassing part of being a business owner. And when I think about the future of the business, and kind of like you said, leaving a legacy or empowering other people. I think that this is kind of the important part of it, to understand every piece of it. Yeah,
Collin 56:47
I love that of touching back on, like, well, let me it's kind of like we push things away, or we move past things, to focus on what we think is important. And then I think is really prudent of us to every now and then, just kind of do that sweep of my look back of, like, do I fully still understand, or is this still a good decision? And for you to go bookkeeping, ah, let me drill down in that, and let me get really comfortable again, right? Because I know, you know, in the beginning, that's what you were doing, like, you know, I'm sure, you know, was kind of juggling a bunch of stuff and, and you knew those, and kind of sounds like you grew a little distant and you know, like, what is exactly, is this? How is my business actually operating this? And go finding and we do that every now and then, and whether it's bookkeeping or whether it's scheduling or whether it's the training or the hiring or whatever, right, we have to go, let me, let me drill down into this and really get a good idea what's going on here.
Justina 57:40
There's so many different facets to what we do. When you own a pet sitting business, there's so many components. And sometimes I'll find myself like I've been out of the field for too long, like I need to go do these midday dog walks again, right? Or I need to do vacation visits, because I'll go do one, and I'll look at our notes, and I'll be like, those are pretty outdated. Just, you know, you need to. You need to do something different. And it's so great because think about the jobs that you've had in the past where your boss was so far removed, but was making policies and telling you how to do your job. I don't want to be that boss. So that's one of those things where it's like, okay, what do I have to do? I need to get out there. I need to do the work. I need to talk to the employees. I need to see what do we need to do differently? How can we make this more cohesive? There's just so many different little things, so many nuances within this business, and even though you maybe can't keep your finger on all of them at all times, which is why you have a team, right? And it's why I have such a great team, that I trust I'm able then to be like, Okay, this is what I'm going to focus on for the moment.
Collin 58:40
Yeah, I love that. I love that. Justina, thank you so much for coming on the show today, encouraging us to be good members of our community and growing those teams and growing those those raving fans, and investing back in the community and seeing ourselves kind of like this bigger, better purpose. Congrats on the win again, so well deserved, and so fun to see that for you. I know that you've got a lot going on, and so for those who want to get connected and see everything that you've got working there, how best can people get in touch with you? So you
Justina 59:10
can find us online at www dot justinaspet sitting.com we're on Facebook and Instagram. Pretty easy to find us there, too. Justinas Pet Sitting service. I'm kind of lucky that I'm Justina. It's kind of, you know, a little unique, so typically, pretty easy to find if you if you Google me or search for me, or you can email me at info, at justinas Pet Sitting com,
Collin 59:30
perfect. Well, I will have those people can get click those either on the website or in the show notes. Justina, I'm so thankful for the time to get caught up with you and see all the exciting things that you're working on. This has been so much fun and an immense pleasure. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I loved when Justina talked about being in this for the long game and building the trust of the people around us. And how did she do that, by getting involved in things and being a member of her community, giving back. Contributing being there for people. When we look to our businesses, we've got to remember that it's not just about what happens right now or even tomorrow, when we can have a 1015, 2030, or more year vision down the road of what we could possibly do and where our business will be. That really changes the game with how we run our business, the things that we choose to invest in, and how we shape our life around it. We want to thank today's sponsors to aint to pet and the National Association of Professional pet sitters for making the 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.
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