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514: The Tech Revolution in Pet Care

514: The Tech Revolution in Pet Care

Collin

How are you using technology in your business? Technology continues to evolve, profoundly impacting the pet care industry. Staying adaptable is essential for integrating new tools like online booking systems, GPS tracking, and smart pet feeders, which enhance our services and client transparency. Beyond using technology in our business, we must guide clients in appropriately using these innovations with their pets. Automation of routine tasks allows us to focus more on socialization and personalized care, improving pets' well-being. Embracing these changes elevates the quality of service and strengthens the bond between pet sitters, pets, and their owners.

513: Navigating Client Expectations with Heather Scott

513: Navigating Client Expectations with Heather Scott

Collin

Heather Scott, owner of Heather’s Pet Care, delves into the challenges of managing unrealistic client demands and the impact Covid lockdowns continues to have on their expectations. She shares her journey of phasing out overnight services due to financial and legal constraints, highlighting the importance of setting boundaries and clear communication. Heather also discusses her refined hiring process and the significance of realistic job previews for new staff. Finally, she emphasizes the value of community engagement and local networking in building a loyal client base and adapting to industry changes.

299: The Key to Great Communication with Chrissy Neumyer Smith

299: The Key to Great Communication with Chrissy Neumyer Smith

Collin

Are you great at communicating with your clients? Chrissy Neumyer Smith, host of the Creating Great Grooming Dogs podcast, sheds light on what it takes to ask great questions of our clients. Chrissy explains the importance of using the right words and definitions for clear communication so we can give the right care. She also gives us the four questions we should ask everyone before we start services with them, and how it's ok to assume the dog may have issues that need to be addressed. Chrissy shares the relationship between behavior issues in dogs and burnout in the pet care industry, and what we can do about it!

173: Investing in People

173: Investing in People

Collin

Why is it important to invest in the people around us? How does it benefit us? We focus on community not for the benefits that come from it, but from a selfless mindset and motives. We share why investing in your clients helps them connect with, and believe in, your business. We also discuss what it means to grow your community and give them the most value possible in all we do.

172: Nomadic House Sitting with Eden Rudin

172: Nomadic House Sitting with Eden Rudin

Collin

Eden Rudin and her husband, Danny, have been nomadic house sitting across the globe for the last 6 years. Eden shares how to get started in house sitting, setting your expectations, and how the industry has changed. She also discusses how Covid has impacted the availability of sits, and the growing ways people are adapting. Eden also took a leap of faith and launched her own house sitting connection website, HouseSit Hawaii, as a way to solve the problem of connecting quality house sitters with home owners in Hawaii. We talk about what she’s learned from that experience and what makes a good house sit platform.

162: Client Education

162: Client Education

Collin

Did you know you’re an educator? As a pet care professional, you’re perfectly positioned to educate your community on being awesome pet parents. We’re also able to educate our clients on the range of pet care service options and the problems they solve. We discuss the importance of first educating ourselves and how to be supporting and loving to the clients we may disagree with. Natasha O’Banion answers, “How do I sell myself be

148: The Extra Mile

148: The Extra Mile

Collin

Going the extra mile means something different to everyone. From making clients happy, to settings ourselves apart, going above and beyond can meet various goals in our business. We discuss ways to go the extra mile while maintaining healthy relationships. On the Ask a Pet Biz Coach segment, Natasha O’Banion answers, “How do I set my pricing if I’m looking to hire?”

139: Leading the Way with Kylie Holliman-Rivera

139: Leading the Way with Kylie Holliman-Rivera

Collin

Kylie Holliman-Rivera, owner of Fire Hydrant Pet Sitting, has been a leader in many arenas. This past year she led her team through Covid while also leading the conversation on the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the pet care industry. Kylie shares what caused her to move to full-time, what it’s like working with her husband in the company, and the success of pack walks in 2020. We also have a great conversation about BLM, staying engaged in the conversation, and how to speak your beliefs as a company.

101 - Elise Proctor with Canine Company

101 - Elise Proctor with Canine Company

Collin

On episode 101, Elise Proctor, owner of Canine Company, shares how her experiences with her own reactive dogs shaped her pet care business. Elise started her own training groups to be more inclusive and welcoming to owners of reactive dogs, and works hard to meet and set proper expectations with her clients. She also wrote a book about her best stories of being a dog walker to help shine the light on the life a pet sitter.

048- Dog Training Skills with Khara Schuetzner

048- Dog Training Skills with Khara Schuetzner

Collin

What are some dog training skills pet sitters can be working on right now? Khara Schuetzner, Chair of APDT, joins us to discuss some basic skills we can all be working on. She also encourages us on the importance of these skills, even if we don't plan on offering training as a service.

040- Auntie M's Professional Pet Care

040- Auntie M's Professional Pet Care

Collin

Mary Beth joins us this week to tell us her story of starting her pet care business. With a background in horses and animal care, when the opportunity arose she dove right into working with a friend in pet care. She shares how to handle working closely with a friend, and respecting both the friendship and the business. Plus, she gives us her process for staying organized and being prepared for emergencies.

017- Sitter Safety

017- Sitter Safety

Collin

How do you make sure you and your clients stay safe while in your care? From reflective clothing to dog fights, we talk about some best practices for staying safe!

014- Grooming with Leia Georgiadis

014- Grooming with Leia Georgiadis

Collin

This week we're learning from Leia Georgiadis about life as an in-home pet groomer. Leia covers a wide range of topics from getting to know clients to tools of the trade. Whether you're thinking of becoming a groomer, or adding it as a service, you don't want to miss this weeks interview!

010- Daycares

010- Daycares

Collin

This week we sit down to talk about doggie daycares! Collin and Meghan have differing views on them, but how can you make them work for you? From having the right toys on hand, to being covered by insurance, we talk through it all!

006- Interview with Alex and Beth

006- Interview with Alex and Beth

Collin

We are super excited about the episode this week. Alex and Beth join us to talk about their journey into no home based pet sitting, their philosophy of caring for someone’s home, and why the phrase “bubbles and nuts” perfectly describes life as a pet sitter.