057- Community in the face of Covid-19 with Natalie Durack
Summary:
What can supporting your community and bringing others together look like in a pandemic? Natalie Durack, owner of Happy Hounds Dog Walking and Pet Sitting, joins us on the show to discuss how businesses on the Gold Coast have joined together to support each other in the midst of the chaos.
Topics on this episode:
Australia’s response to Covid-19
Being a pet sitter in Australia
Guiding her team and clients
Supporting the community with other businesses
Importance of social media
View of 2020
Main take away? It doesn’t take much to support your community, but it has a massive benefit.
About our guest:
We are a dog walking, pet minding and house sitting service operating across south Brisbane and the Gold Coast. We have been operating in the pet industry for approximately 6 years, with our focus being to provide reliable and affordable pet care. We have a team of 7 amazing animal lovers who love and care for all our client’s pets, as they would their own.
Links:
Happy Hounds on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/happyhoundspetservices/
Article about Natalie and other local business owners. https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/coronavirus/free-meals-and-services-on-offer-to-thank-healthcare-workers/news-story/d17e9b2cd81dcf17cc419ae6180b6e5c
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
Check out our Covid-19 resources
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Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, business, dog, community, pet, promoting, support, clients, services, bit, goodie bags, australia, bush fires, pet sitter, gold coast, essential, offer, experiencing, jobs, cafes
SPEAKERS
Collin, Natalie
00:17
I'm Collin and I'm Meghan. And this is pet sitter confessional,
00:20
an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter.
Collin 00:29
Well, hello and welcome back. Our Friday episodes have been to focus on how pet sitters have been doing around the globe as the global pandemic has unfolded. Some of the stories that we've been hearing have been about the importance of community, not just to us as businesses but to us personally. Today, Natalie, direct owner of happy hounds pet sitting joins us to tell the story of how she's contributed to the community on the Gold Coast and what it's been like experiencing this pandemic in Australia.
Natalie 00:58
Hi, guys. Thank you for having me. So basically I have had the hound dog walking and pet sitting and we are on the Gold Coast of Australia. So that's the eastern side of the country, and just under Brisbane, so we offer dog walking, pet sitting and house sitting. So that's daily visit and overnighted stays, we occasionally do longer drop in. So we kind of call that daycare, but it's around like two to five hour visits. So we come in and sit with the dogs, especially the ones that have a separation anxiety and they need someone there. We tend not to do that too much. So we mainly focus on the dog walking daily visit and nice days.
Collin 01:39
So I know we're talking about COVID-19 today, so I was curious if there's anything about Australia or the Gold Coast specifically that maybe the international the US listeners should know about help us understand how COVID-19 has been with you guys.
Natalie 01:53
Yeah. So from what I understand our what we've been experiencing is different to what you guys in the US have been experiencing and also the world. So I think our government was really onto it quite early on. So we actually haven't had that many cases compared to a lot of countries. I think all up we've had about 7000 cases, and just under 100 people pass away. So that's Yeah, not too much compared to Ansel what the United States and UK going through, so we've kept it quite minimal. And so we did have quite an early on response. So that involves a lockdown, but not that, like we couldn't go out. People could still go to work, if they couldn't work from home, and you could still go out for exercise and whatnot still go to the shop. So it wasn't that strict, but people did really well, in terms of adhering to those laws and really rallying behind the community, and nurses, doctors and anyone in the healthcare sector? I think they did really well with that. So I don't think we've had too much of an impact as to what some other countries have had. Is that early response, I think
Collin 03:11
now one of the things that I know is been a big discussion over here in the States has been whether pet care industry is considered essential or non essential. Did you guys have that debate? And how did that impact you?
Natalie 03:24
Yeah, so again, it's it's actually really different here in Australia. From what I've heard from your podcast, the pet care industry is huge in the United States. I think one of your previous podcasts I think it was from the city dog walker.
Collin 03:39
Yes city dog pack,
Natalie 03:40
though, something that he said it was like you can't be on one street in New York and not like see another dog walker. I think that's what he's whereas here, it's completely not like that. It's not a huge industry over here. There aren't that many people. I don't think that do it compared to the United States. So a lot of people in mind Industry weren't really sure I didn't hear anything. We weren't even considered in the list of like businesses that couldn't, could not operate. So a lot of us were just kind of winging it. I there was one point where I was trying to just find a list of people who could travel and because their place was occasionally pulling people over on the side of the road, just to like, see where they were going. And I just wanted to double check that, you know, if you get pulled over, we were on the right side of the law. And yeah, we weren't in the list of people that could or could not travel. I think the closest one to us was the zoo or a vet clinic. We obviously have those things, but that was the kind of thing and they were essential. So we just kind of assumed that we were I mean, we're caring for animals and we have a lot of health care workers as our clients and so they obviously still need somebody to come in and check on their pets. So yeah, we come It's classed ourselves as essential, but still obviously taking you all the precautions that we need you.
Collin 05:05
Yeah, I was gonna say, and I thought we had it confusing over here where different states in different areas were declaring it essential versus non essential, but you were just completely in the dark because you were weren't even considered in all of those discussions. So that would make quite interesting place to be.
Natalie 05:23
Yeah, we would just, um, yeah, we had nothing. That was you know, everyone's kind of focusing on the cafes and the restaurants, the gyms and whatnot. So, those are kind of the bigger industries over here. So um, yeah, we didn't really know what we haven't. But I'm just trying to go everyone doesn't no one's really sure. Like, I pulled up the local council and the local MP and he wasn't sure either. So, you know, it's a first for everyone. So you just got to kind of make it work.
Collin 05:51
But you haven't had any problems moving about the city are continuing to work up until this point.
Natalie 05:56
No, not at all. I've haven't had anyone No one said I shouldn't Working over but please little, no one's done anything. It's been quite a bit most people have been supportive.
Collin 06:07
Speaking of support, I was also curious what kind of government support has been available to you or or not during this time?
Natalie 06:16
Yes, as I mentioned the beginning, the government's been really good and like that early on response has been amazing. And a lot of our tourism industry and our cafes, hotel orders, tourism, cafes, restaurants, they're all quite negatively impacted. Obviously, they're not getting much business. We rely quite heavily on tourism, especially up north in the Great Barrier Reef. And we also had the bushfires earlier in the year so down south, so I'm just I'm in Queensland on the border kind of, and New South Wales is just below us and that area down the bottom in New South Wales was quite badly hit with the bush fires and they relied heavily on tourism itself, but that's now stopped as well. So they kind of had, you know, double whammy, bushfires. And nowadays, yeah, they've suffered through quite a bit down there especially. But the government has been pretty good. In terms of the COVID response with the government. It's called job Kiba. And there's another one called job seeker. It's like them, the welfare payouts to people and businesses that have experienced 30% loss of income over this time. So anybody that's any small business, you got to meet certain criteria, obviously, but most businesses that experience a 30% loss in income are entitled to a sum each fortnight or we are about how much it was 750 I think a week or a fortnight $750 I'm not quite sure what that is in US dollars. Pretty good. I mean, I think quite a lot of businesses, I think over 150,000 businesses. I think this is have applied for that one. Yeah. Overall, I think the government's doing a pretty good job and they've had a lot of praise for that. He's been good.
Collin 08:09
You mentioned that just south of you has really had a double whammy with those brush fires. And now COVID-19 so what's the conversation been like, in the community wise, as far as coming together and supporting each other, you know, time and time again this year?
Natalie 08:27
Yeah. So, actually, after the bush fires, we had a initiative that kind of went round. It was like bringing your eskie Mahara. What you guys call that you call them s keys in the United States that I phrase the boxes and I don't know if that's what you call them. Just in cold in like, cooler,
08:49
yet called the coolers.
Natalie 08:51
I guess that's it. So that was kind of the initiative going on, straight off in the bushfires in that people were just to drive down from from wherever you are. Australia for me, it's probably at least like a 12 hour drive. And we have a very big country. And so just taking your call boxes and supporting those local businesses down there and you're buying about by locals and then but then COVID that's kind of put a stop to all that because we've closed our state borders. So I can't get from Queensland and New South Wales unless I have a permit, because I'm working on something down down in New South Wales, so we can't do that anymore. And but, you know, we can still order things online from their websites, which we've been doing and giving a shout out on social media. But I mean, there's also tons of businesses around my area that also suffering because of COVID. So it's really hard trying to find a balance between supporting your local businesses and then people a little bit further down south, you know, also had it worse, I guess, because of the brightest Everyone's in need at the moment. So striking your balance for me. Everyone's a little bit tricky.
Collin 10:05
You've have some team members alongside you. So what's it been like communicating and leading your team through this crazy time?
Natalie 10:13
Yep. So they actually were employees. But recently they've switched over to subcontractors, that with some legal requirements that they get more of the subcontract requirements. I'm not sure how different it is between our goals and your American laws. But that doesn't really change anything in my opinion. We're still as a team. And I still coordinate team members and employees even though they're really not, but they're not too bothered about that. And we're still operating the same way as what we were and for the most part, but just trying to let them know all the time now I am here that I'm, if I need any help with anything doesn't have to be business related. Trying to give them as many jobs as I can, whether it's dog walking, so you don't really have many pet sitting or house at the moment, people aren't going away. So just as many dog walking jobs as we can, passing them on to them, but also trying to promote the business as much as possible, because I think if you take this time to really reach as many people in the local community, promote the services that will benefit us later when people really need us. And when people go back to work, especially so just trying to build up the wareness about business so that we can come back stronger and give more jobs to our
Collin 11:44
so what's that look like for you? Is that predominantly on social media or those flyers or just word of mouth kind of things?
Natalie 11:51
Yes. So word of mouth, right. People in our industry rely heavily on word of mouth. That is definitely true. I think That's one of the best sources of advertising, I guess. Another thing would definitely be social media. So Facebook, especially in our local communities, like almost every suburb, every town, I guess, has their own social media page, like a community page. And then we also have some like support groups. And then there's one called the gold gold coast girls in business, and that's got your thousands of people on it. And by promoting what we're doing on there has been really good. And local businesses. They have shoutouts every week for local businesses on the radio, they're doing local shout out businesses as well. So yeah, I think that's the best thing and the social media for us. We have we've done some flyers, but we find that flyers on as effective as social media and word of mouth Sure,
Collin 12:55
well, yeah, they certainly don't have the kind of reach or permanence or sharing ability that social media posts can get, especially in this modern age. So that's exactly, yeah. But that's interesting that you, you had that group that came together and has been pumping each other up and helping to support each other through through those shout outs. I mean, that's, that's huge, because it's not just about your business. It's everybody else around you, as you mentioned early on, like, it's hitting everybody. So everybody needs help.
Natalie 13:27
Yeah, definitely. I'm actually quite proud of a lot of the little businesses around here we, um, yesterday, I just had an invite to join this app, someone created a sport, glucose businesses app and it's just got all these fantastic little, any kind of business, just that listing on it and any officer got going so anybody can download that and see what businesses have to offer. And now we've got other businesses helping other businesses like cafes, providing support for local businesses around them, giving them free coffees. So yeah, it is really nice to see I think, beside all the negative stuff that has come out of it, there's been a lot of positive as well.
Collin 14:08
It's been really cool to watch that happen and happen in real time of a lot. Previously. I think before all this happened, a lot of us felt kind of alone or isolated and by ourselves and this has really been I mean, a silver lining to this is just witnessing people come out of the woodwork to support each other and really be there for each other for the long haul. It seems as this you know, kind of stretches on and people need more and more help. It's been really, really cool to see.
Natalie 14:40
Yeah, definitely. I mean, when I like earlier in the year, I was working really long hours, like six to six quite often some days. And there wasn't really much time to do anything else. And when I do that time I was tired. So now it's just kind of definitely been not cheery to take my foot off the pedal. And relax. And also think about those other things like community how you can give back. So it's definitely been a time of reflection and trying to figure out other ways to support local businesses and other people within the community.
Collin 15:13
Right? If someone's listening to this and going, man, I would really love to do something with my local community. Do you have ideas for them to start with, or maybe kind of some pointers for them to kind of help motivate them to get started?
Natalie 15:26
Yeah, yes. So what we've done some people might see on our social medias is do offer free walks for healthcare workers who don't box. So at the moment, we've kind of capped it at two per dog or, sorry, two per healthcare worker, because we've had quite a bit of demand but hopefully we can offer some more interest today. So that has been absolutely amazing. Like I initially started that just, you know, just isn't something nice to do, but then it really took off. We actually got one of my friends, she works with a goalpost bulletin. So it's prominent newspaper around here. So she did a story on us and that was in the newspaper. And then the news caught wind of the other TV news and they we had a story of us on TV on our just seven o'clock news. That was really great. I never would have imagined that would have happened when I said that we were going off to do some free walk so that was really a surprise. And but really grateful for that as well. We actually got really lovely people reaching out to us saying that we would even like to help offer some free walks as in like we would work for you. I hope it says Well, yeah. And then we also got another lady from EZ dog, the pet product company and she sent us a heaps of new leads and leashes unleashes that was really generous of her. So really highly recommend just thinking about that as a potential option. And it's definitely been great for us to get our business on and help the community and with social media as well. It's not really like, appropriate I guess, always just go posting about your business and what you offer and all these pages every week. But if you come across saying, we're doing this free service, we really want to help out the community, people are a lot more likely to accept that on their community pages, like the admins are much more likely to let that be approved. And a lot of people you know, are more interested in sharing and engaging with that kind of post rather than you just promoting your services. So I'd highly recommend that just getting the word out a little bit more and what are the positive things that you were doing rather than just just advertising? So yeah, it's definitely been really good for us in a lot of things that Come out of it. And we've been really lucky to have help somebody help tonight area,
Collin 18:07
right? And all from something that seems so simple on the surface of a free walk like that to people who do that for a living, like we're like, oh, okay, cool, whatever. But like people who desperately need that service, especially when they are at the hospital for long hours or emergency service workers doing other stuff like that is a true lifesaver for them and their pet that they love and hold dear. And it is just a wonderful way to give back to the community in such a such a simple, straightforward way.
Natalie 18:40
Yes, definitely the people that we have held us so so grateful, like they cannot stop thanking us for and yeah, it really is, you know, an easy task for us do we do it day in day out. So just being able to make some days is really good. I enjoy doing that. And yet, not To see them happy and thankful as well.
Collin 19:02
So through all of this, what's it been like communicating with your existing clients as far as how you're handling certain guidelines and restrictions or offering or changing services? How have you how's it been communicating to them?
Natalie 19:18
Yeah so early on we just kind of said that we were taking a precaution so no handshaking anymore on any mean great. We haven't really done any mean great, though To be honest, because we haven't been able to do any testing or counseling so we've greatly cut back on me in grief anyway. But we're also doing we're using all our own leads and harnesses now. So we are hand washing those every evening once you finish with the dog walks and using differently for different dogs. And so that's probably a couple of the main things that we've been doing. We don't really need to wear masks I find here like majority of people aren't wearing masks. That's quite different to what you guys have had open United States, just because we haven't had as many cases. I think there's only like two at the moment on the Gulf, which is, wow. Yeah. Yeah, it's really good. It was, it was like 400 at one point, but um, that was across Queensland. But yeah, just focus. It's only two and last week, it was zero cases for the entire week. So yeah, we're definitely decreasing our rates at the moment. Hopefully we won't get that second wave, but we don't so but yeah, just communicating to clients that we are taking those added precautions. And we've also just done up some little goodie bags for our clients. So unfortunately, didn't have a few clients drop out on service just because they don't have the funds anymore. Maybe one of the one of the household members wasn't working anymore and they can't they don't have Extra disposable income to afford dog walking. But we've still made up little goodie bags for them and all our current clients just as a thank you saying thank you for sticking with us during this tricky time or we look forward to having you back when things fall apart and just having a little treat in there so we bought so we this is another thing that we do for the community we we went around just messaging lots of little pet products services in our area and just saying Would you like to be part of our goodie bags and they've given us a little discount codes for all our clients and maybe Emily some otherwise a little treat for the dogs and bandanas so we've got heaps of little batteries for the dog and they're all like discount codes for our clients to use. The one is like they have a company called Winston coat bakery. They made a little treat for us and They printed our logo into all the treats, as we bought some of those of them and they'll go, go go all going in the goodie bag. So that's another good way to say thank you to your clients, I think but also support all those little businesses around as well and kind of shout out to all our clients, you know, here are these guys as well. You can support them as well. So yeah, that's definitely something that's really good to do, I think, for your clients, and also those other small businesses out there.
Collin 22:29
Yeah. And as you mentioned earlier, it's Yes, in a sense, it is marketing, but it's thinking way down the line right now it's just supporting each other. It just happens to also be bringing together the community and putting names and faces and brands in front of other people who might not have known about them before. And so it's it's a really, you know, it's a win win for everybody in those situations.
Natalie 22:53
Exactly. Yeah. It's not just promoting your property, what you're doing and those extra services, but Promoting the free services that you're offering and getting your name out there your brand. That's important as well. And you can't just really not really I know, it's tempting just to kind of sit down and relax for however many weeks and do nothing. But I think it's also one of the times that you can be most productive as well.
Collin 23:19
Yeah, it is and focus on some, you know, it may be productive, focusing on yourself and your mental health or focusing on investing back into the community and your clients and the people around you. One of the things that I hope that we all take away from this, is that, although we felt like we were alone, we never really were and the immense importance of community and that it is worth to invest in others and to put aside concerns over competition or whatever and just be in it together.
Natalie 23:51
Exactly. Yeah. I think that's really important, especially in times like these and we need to get behind as many people as we can, especially those people doing it. Yeah, so community is really big for us. I mean,
Collin 24:04
I'm curious what the next couple weeks look like for you. And then and then kind of extending that a little bit what you feel like the rest of the year is going to be for you. I know nobody has a crystal ball or can see the future, but just kind of how you're feeling right now how you see the business going in the next kind of weeks and next month.
Natalie 24:25
Yeah. So at the moment, the government has started this plan, I guess it's three stage plan, which will last over the next I think, three months, three different stages. And next month, they're starting to open a little bit more travel in terms of you can go up to 150 kilometers. Not sure what that is.
24:51
That's okay. We'll make people do the conversion. Don't worry. They can they can convert.
Natalie 24:56
Yeah. 150 kilometers from your house. And then includes being able to do overnight stays somewhere. They're not just day trips so people might go camping, caravanning out in the bush more penthouses coming through then Fingers crossed, I imagine I've heard quite a few people just setting up tents in their backyard. So maybe you're done elsewhere, we might get more jobs through, fingers crossed, and people are getting bored and inside their houses. And so yeah, hopefully a little bit easier within the next coming month. Long time I yeah, it just really depends on our borders as well. I'm not sure yet whether they're opening up our state borders, whether or not we can cross certain states and they're also looking at doing a bubble between Australia and New Zealand, so allowing travel between the two countries We are quite close in Zen. And so that might be on the cards as well. And so I guess if they do open up those international borders, it will also be a little bit more business. Fingers crossed. But um, yeah, not for a while off and that even if we don't have a second wave, but that's still quite big possibility that they can waive COVID in this crossword bit, but um, yeah, we really will see. And just doing some more things with the business we can offer some more offers, like book one book three doors before tacos, get one free. So we'll then do a couple of those is to try and pick up some more business and we actually did work on our website, we've solely relied on social media and word of mouth. The past six years I've been doing this. It's worked out pretty well for us so far, but um, I think Yeah, now that I have this time Like, come quiet time, it's probably the best time to be doing a website so we're going to hopefully get that up and running. We also before this happened we're looking at doing the pet wedding chauffeur, I think maybe some of your podcast listeners offer that. And so just going taking the dogs to weddings to their owners weddings to be part of that day for them. So we were really getting to that right before all of this happened. And then yeah, unfortunately, that kind of got canned because people weren't getting married anymore. allowed more than like, three or four people at a wedding so yeah, that quickly went out the window. So maybe we can start bringing that back in and promoting out on our socials and on our soon to be website. So yeah, that's definitely something that we can look into doing feature
Collin 27:59
Yeah. I do have to note 150 kilometers is 93 miles I'll do the conversion for people so, but it really sounds like you are looking around and going okay. What can I do to make the best of the situation? What are those things that have been on my plate or been on the backburner that maybe weren't as important or I didn't have time for okay let's bring all of that forward and let's start working through it
Natalie 28:27
yeah definitely I'm when this will happen I kind of made a pact to myself just to you know, we were going to take a bit of a hit being in our industry and people not traveling anymore those pet in house it bookings definitely not gonna happen the next however many months, I did make a pack just try and come out of all of this stronger than what we were going into it and it's working out. Okay, so far. Yeah, so I'm pretty happy without looking. But um, yeah, you don't really know what the future is gonna hold, so to speak. Preparing the business as much as possible for that
Collin 29:02
we all wish to be stronger on the back end of this, but we don't know. And so what can we be doing right now, to make ourselves as strong and build that foundation as thick and as robust as possible? It's, it's, it really is a good time to be doing all of those things. Well, Natalie, thank you so much for coming on the show today and sharing and giving us insights and how you are connecting and promoting your local community and giving back along the way. If people want to follow along on your Facebook or, or other social media outlets, how can they do that? And how can they get in touch
Natalie 29:35
so you've got those two socials, Instagram, we only started out two three months ago, so we don't have that much of a following on there. But you can find that@www.instagram.com slash happy hounds pet services and a little underscore at the bottom at the end or invite us on Facebook, which is www.facebook.com slash happy hound pet services and you're welcome to sign up. Just an email or just send us a message if you have any questions. That's more than okay.
Collin 30:05
Okay, wonderful. Well, again, now that we really appreciate you coming on today, and we'll be in touch and want to see how things progress for you throughout the rest of the year.
Natalie 30:14
No problem. Thank you for having me. Good luck to everyone stay strong, stay positive.
Collin 30:18
It really is all about community. whether we realize it or not, we are part of something much larger than just ourselves and our business. There are people around us that are being impacted that need help and are willing to help. Natalie story of sharing of how local businesses came together to help promote each other while at the same time providing services and meeting the needs of their clients really does just go to show how it can all work together. All of our experiences have been different and some of us might not have that support around us or might not think it's there. So if you have reached out to people in your community and have similar stories or something else that you'd like to share. We would love to hear about it. Join us on our Facebook group sitter confessionals and tell us about it or shoot us an email at pet sitter. confessional.com or, better yet, leave us a voicemail 636-364-8260
