073- Heidi and Hope Pet Services
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Summary:
Heidi Lewis, owner of Heidi and Hope Pet Services, joins us to share what moving to a new city and starting a dog walking company is like, what Covid has looked like in Naples, FL and some of her all time favorite resources.
Topics on this episode:
Where her name came from
What she spent her summer vacations doing
Why she decided to go full time
Naples, FL and Covid-19
Caring for exotic pets
What keeps her going on the not so good days
Heidi’s favorite resources!
Main take away? Never stop reading and learning!
About our guest:
Heidi Lewis is the owner of Heidi & Hope Pet Services in Naples, Florida. Heidi is a native Ohioan and made the full time move to Naples, Florida in 2016. Having a variety of animals growing up inspired her to start working with animals professionally over 10 years ago by volunteering with veterinary hospitals and animal shelters. This led to many careers in the animal field and motivated Heidi to open Heidi & Hope Pet Services in 2018 with her business "paw"ner, Hope the Corgi. Heidi provides care for a variety of animals through visits and overnights in clients homes as well as pet transportation and puppy training.
Links:
Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
Anything by Kristin Morrison
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
clients, pet, business, people, dog, exotic pets, services, naples, love, animals, care, community, humane society, owner, offer, feel, walks, struggles, visits, resources
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Heidi
Meghan 00:17
I'm calling and I'm Megan. And this is pet sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter.
Collin 00:29
Well, hello, everybody and welcome back. I hope your week has been wonderful. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Heidi Lewis, owner of Heidi at home pet services out of Naples, Florida this week. On today's episode, she talks about how COVID-19 has impacted her business and the rest of the industry in Naples. She also talks about her backstory and where her passion for pets came from, as well as how she's been able to grow her business after moving to a brand new area. We ended our discussion with Heidi giving us a ton of her favorite resources for her business that had helped her be so strong accessible. Let's get started.
Heidi 01:02
I really appreciate you having me on. You guys are awesome. So I feel really honored to be interviewed by you today.
Collin 01:07
I've got to ask Heidi and her pet services where did that name come from?
Heidi 01:12
So hope is actually my dog I have a Welsh Corgi and her name is Ko. My family has pretty much grown up with corgis their whole lives. And I had another Corgi growing up and she passed away pretty suddenly when I was in college. And it was pretty devastating. She was kind of kind of went in a hospital and then within like a 24 hour period, she was gone. So my family was pretty, pretty devastated. And shortly after we started looking at possibly getting another four people. And that's what we did. And I got to choose her and named her and I named her hope because that's exactly what she was doing for our family. She was bringing hope back in our family after a devastating loss and that's she's pretty much my best friend now and it makes sense for her to be my business partner too, so
Collin 02:03
yeah, I think there are some really adorable photos of you too on your website that
Heidi 02:09
she's my little peanut. Oh,
Collin 02:11
yeah, they're just so cute. I love corgis. We've we've never we set I set one to one Corgi one time and his name was turtle. And I've been ever since I was a
Heidi 02:24
very very unique breed and you know people that have Courtney's we're pretty we I'd say we're crazy, quirky people because we really enjoy corgis. Usually we have like a ton of Courtney stuff in our house. We just we love corgis. We love the little legs. I mean, yeah,
Collin 02:41
it's true. Do you can always there's there's usually there's like the rest of the dog people know those Corgi people, they tend to be one notch or two above where the rest of us are. So now that's good. So part of that is you know, you've said you've family had corgis growing up from for a long time. So as part of that, I was also curious where your passion for your animals in for pet care comes from.
Heidi 03:02
Yeah, so I grew up with a lot of animals. My family and my parents especially they were very nice and letting my sister and I kind of have different unique pets besides even just dogs. We had a rabbit. We had fish at several points. We even had a hermit crab. That will be my sister and I were going through our little mermaid phase. So we had a hermit crab named Sebastian. Unfortunately, he didn't make it very long. But we did have a hermit crab. Yeah. So you know, and all of my family members, my grandparents, they had dogs growing up, so I was just always around animals. So I think that passion kind of led to wanting to do more. When I was 18, I will so I'm originally from Ohio. And when I was 18, I started working with animals in a professional setting at my local veterinary hospital. And then I went to college and after I graduated, I do got a job at a humane society in Columbus and then I also started working for a pet setting company as well. This also led to a job at my own personal vet, they had an opening for a receptionist or receptionist and a part time veterinary assistant. So I was kind of working in the front end in the back. And then what my family and I have been vacationing in Naples my whole life. So even when we were coming down here to Naples, I would volunteer at the Naples Humane Society in the summers with the shelter bed tech. So at the end of 2016, I decided to move permanently down here and I started my own pet sitting company in May 2018.
Collin 04:41
Wow. Well that's worth the background. And one of the things that really stuck out to me was you would go on vacation and you'd volunteer as a vet. Yeah. What what what spurred that on for you?
Heidi 04:52
I just so I love our Humane Society down here. They also like they have all types of pets. There are no kill animal shelter. They do a lot of work in the Community they're completely donation based. So they have a lot of volunteers and a lot of people from the community that help out. They originally had me in cat care. So there was one summer I just did cat care. And then once the volunteer manager found out that I had been volunteering at a veterinary hospital, she was like, well, would you be interested in shadowing our shelter vet tech? And I was like, absolutely. So he really got me started and showed me a lot of medical procedures. As far as all of these intake coming, all these intake animals coming in, they were rescuing from different shelter situations and stuff like that. So it was a lot of fun. You know, my parents would go to the beach and on the way dropped me off at the Humane Society and then pick me up on the way home so I loved it. Like I just I loved it so much. Oh,
Collin 05:48
yeah, no, that's really unique. And I love I love that because it just speaks to where you want it to be right you're you're able to continue and pursue that passion and I'm all also curious because I'm listening through your volunteering at a vet hospital your experience as vet techs and vet positions. How do those experiences play into the care and services that you provide? Currently?
Heidi 06:16
Yeah, so I specialize. I would say specifically in exotic pets and any kind of pets with special needs or senior pets. It's really given me kind of a background with all of that nary medicine in general. So if anybody you know, if anyone needs insulin shots or rescue fluids for their pets or their pets for like your kidney failure, or any kind of any kind of things like that, I think that's really helpful because owners really like to have someone that's experienced and knows what they're doing. You know, if they're sticking a needle in your pet, I also typically, you know, I have, I can typically see something that like a normal person can't so if something's seems kind of off with their pet, You know, I notice it, I can usually notice it right away and I can, I'm usually like the designated person to take them to the vet. Usually my clients know that I have that background. So if they think I think something's wrong, or like no questions asked, like, just run them run into the vet as soon as possible. So I think that's really helpful too, because I think not only do I know what to look out for, but my clients really trust me it's like an extra kind of boost in the trust level between my client and I
Collin 07:25
absolutely, especially if they do have a special needs pet or an elderly pet. The medications like your kind of experience is really needed for that kind of pet care, you know, in that background really lends itself to providing that comfort and and assurance to the pet owner. Yeah. You mentioned you made the move to full time in 2016. What was it that pushed you to make that switch into full time care?
Heidi 07:50
Well, my parents they were teachers in Ohio and they decided when they retired they wanted to move to Naples full time and they kind of we've had like a condo my whole life and they were Wanted to upgrade to like a little bit bigger replace since they were going to be here full time. And they were actually going to sell the condo that we had been coming down and vacationing in and I was like, No, you're not. That's the family. That's a family place. And you know, I've always wanted to live in Naples. That's always been the goal. And I really thought this was a great opportunity to kind of, you know, take over the condo that my family used to own and buy it from them. And then they were able to move actually very close and upgrade to their townhome. So it was just a good opportunity with everything that was going on to move down here full time. And Naples has really allowed me to grow my business in a short amount of time as well. I don't think I would have been able to do it as quickly as I have if I would have stayed in Ohio,
Collin 08:45
talk about that a little bit moving to a new area and starting a brand new business, you know, one that you frequented growing up but didn't live in full time. What was that way?
Heidi 08:54
Well, it was kind of helpful because I knew where everything was and I mean, I didn't know anyone So that was kind of hard. No, I kind of moved down here way before my parents did. So I was down here for a few months just totally on my own. And like didn't have a job and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do and try to get adjusted. So it was a little scary I didn't know the area so I knew where I was going. So that wasn't scary but trying to figure out you know, what kind of work I wanted to do. I did part I did pets it just part time you notice something on the side, just privately and then that person kept referring me to other people, and then those people would start referring me to other people. And it just like turned into this huge thing where I was just getting calls all the time and I was like No, Mona my goals has always been to have my own pet sitting business. I never thought I'd be able to do it. And you know, just getting all of these calls from all these people. It was just like validation to me like oh, like maybe this is something I should be doing. So I was able to transition into pet sitting full time and then having finally having my own business. Yeah,
Collin 09:55
no, that's really cool and to you know, to hear that. It just happened kind of unexpectedly Almost of like, well, I've got this dream that I want to do eventually, and then to look up all of a sudden go, oh, oh, it's actually right here, I can just go ahead and do that.
Heidi 10:08
Right, like not only do I get to live where I used to vacation, I mean, how many people are able to say that, um, but I'm able to pursue the dream that I've always wanted to do. And I feel like I'm, I'm still I'm younger, I'm still in my 20s. And I've been able to accomplish one of my biggest schools that I've wanted to do. So I'm just super thankful that and lucky that I was able to move down here and seize that opportunity. What kind of services do you offer currently, so I offer all services in my clients homes, I don't offer any kind of boarding or anything like that. I also do services for all pets, including exotic pets. Typically, it's short or long visits and then I also do overnights and clients homes, and also pet transportation and I also do offer puppy training classes. Oh,
Collin 10:56
yeah. What kind of what kind of services you start off offering then
Heidi 11:00
It was mostly just visits, like pop it in visits. And then overnight, like overnight is probably my most popular service like everyone wants someone to stay in their home overnight with their pet, which I totally understand because I'm the same way when I have to leave my pet So
Collin 11:15
yeah, I think I think a lot of people are too. How did the puppy training come about?
Heidi 11:20
So the puppy training, I just got a lot of experience just working one on one with animals in the animal shelters. I used to be in charge of doing the behavioral assessments. So we would do a lot of testing for animals before they would go on the adoption floor just to make sure that they were properly socialized, they didn't have any aggression issues. Last thing we want is for them to get rehome and then sent back. So I would be in charge of that. And I just got a lot of just like my training and everything just working at different hospitals and a lot of the vets that I worked for would offer behavioral classes and puppy training. So I just have a lot of knowledge just for puppies in particular. And you know, it's a lot of fun. Because you're kind of you know, you're starting, that's when you're first starting to show the puppy like, this is what you want them to do. You know, they're always looking towards their owner, you know, it's just wait ready to get involved in the start of a dog's life. I love doing it.
Collin 12:14
Well, it really is. And it just sets them on such an amazing trajectory, whenever you get some foundational training and behavior in there. I know when we run across dogs that maybe they're a year old or a year and a half, and they haven't done any sort of socialization or basic training commands, all of a sudden, it's like, I don't even know where to start with this dog and I've got to care for it for a week or two or something like that. So it's great. It really just makes it so much better. And especially when you're coming from the idea of, I don't want this dog to get back here in the pound or I don't want this dog to get you know, you know, get dropped on the side of a road kind of mentality like it is it is just so essential. And unfortunately I don't feel like a lot of owners really get that they just go over Puppy is going to be fine. Yeah,
Heidi 13:01
I agree. And I it's those years are you know, they're super important for socialization not only with other pets but with other people. And you know, just the socialization part, you know, you want a social dog, you want a dog that's friendly to other animals and other people so you don't get frustrated when, you know, an accident happens or, you know, something bad happens. It's, it's so important to get all of those foundational things corrected right from the start
Collin 13:26
was wondering what kind of advice you would give to a pet sitter dog walker, that maybe as a dog that has missed out on some of those foundational issues and training, and now they kind of have this dog that doesn't really have those kind of support. How could they work with a puppy? Maybe that needs some training? or How could they address that with a client?
Heidi 13:45
Absolutely, yeah, it's kind of you don't want to approach with a client. When you can clearly see there's some issues with the puppy you don't want to come off accusatory towards the client. It's a very delicate balance of you know, suggestions versus being too late. aggressive with the client because the client is going to feel guilty and they're already embarrassed that their puppies not behaving correctly. So you don't want to come in with a mentality of you know, the, this is what the owner is doing wrong, you know, X, Y and Z. But it's going in and just like making suggestions, just being very careful, like the words that you're using, and just keeping it positive. And you know, working, making distressing the porn, the point how important it is to work with your dog, one on one to keep it up every day. I think that's the other problem, too, that a lot of owners faces, they're really involved in the beginning, and then it kind of trickles off. So just like coming at it with an open mind, just be very careful with what you're saying to the client. And the advice that you're giving isn't coming off accusatory, or like attacking the client because that, like I said, the clients already embarrassed if your dog's not doing what they want it to do. So, yeah. Just keeping that in mind when you're kind of showing them and giving them some advice.
Collin 14:57
Right. I found statements Have you noticed? Or write does this bother, you know, maybe even bother you When this happens,
Heidi 15:06
it just usually do this yeah does
Collin 15:08
usually do this just to get a gauge in a sense, maybe they're not even aware that it happens or, or maybe they, they are fine with it, but they don't want or maybe they're not fine and they don't want to speak up about it. And that's a good foot in the door to go. You know, there's some things that maybe we can work on, if that's something you'd like to do like just to, again, because they It is a very sensitive topic sometimes and you don't want to offend anybody or make them feel bad. Right. You are in Naples. And so I am curious about what the market is like. And I think we've got to break that into two parts of a question is pre and post COVID. So,
Heidi 15:43
right so pre COVID. Naples is a vacation town and it's typically a wealthy city. November through May is typically the busiest time for Naples. People who are visiting here are on vacations or they typically have multiple things. homes and are here for several months out of the year. So business is booming. I would say between November in May after that people start you know, traveling back up north or you know, they don't vacation here in summers because it is extremely hot and extremely humid. So summer season is kind of the slow time. So COVID kind of came at the worst time possible, because I would say like March, April, May are the busiest times for us. So it was it was kind of came at the worst time. I think for businesses down here.
Collin 16:31
What did that look like down in Naples as far as the is the area reopening? Or where are they? What's the status of businesses?
Heidi 16:38
I would say within the past couple of weeks, things have started to open restaurants and gyms and everything. They're open now at 100% capacity bars just opened on Friday. So I think people are eager to get out and you know, they're doing that and things are slowly getting back to normal. Or as normal as they can be.
Collin 16:56
Right? Whatever, whatever that actually is. Yeah, exactly. Did you ever Officially close services or did what did that look like
Heidi 17:03
I never officially closed. So pet sitting was seen as essential since pets needed care. You know, for essential workers they need care for their pet. So we were seen as essential as well as like doggy daycares and things like that. So I never shut down. I may have only had two or three visits a week for a couple of months. But I was open the whole time. I also really pivoted my services, since a lot of people obviously weren't traveling and a lot of my full time clients were working from home so they no longer needed my services. So I really pivoted my services to try and serve the most amount of people and what the needs were during the time for the community. So I did offer a lot of like errand services so any kind of grocery shopping medication pickup pet transportation pet supply pickup I was even offering pooping scooping services even like grooming so even if you know your pet desperately needed a bath and blow drying and a brush out and nail trim I was even doing
Collin 17:59
wow yeah. That's that's really great. And and I think we were all in that phase of going okay, what do I do now? How can I continue to serve and provide care for my clients? And so that idea of going, you know, about an emergency, a grooming service, you know, that kind of thing, right? Really cool here.
18:16
Anything anything you want me to do?
Collin 18:21
Since starting your business, I was wondering maybe what's something that you were most surprised by?
Heidi 18:28
I guess the most surprising thing was how many people have a like variety of pets. What people consider pets, they, as far as like exotic pets. Yeah, so like that was really surprising because like pets you wouldn't really normally consider like something you would want in your house and people have that down here. Which you know, no judgment or anything. It's, it's actually pretty cool. Like, for example, I have a client that has a house pig, and she's she's awesome. I love going over there. For I don't know if he likes me very much, but I can't believe when I got that call. I was like, I'm sorry. You have you have a what? Do you have a pig you want me to take care of that lives in your house? And she was like, yeah. And she's like litter box trained. And you know, she walks around like a dog walker on a harness, you know, she's great. So I guess that was probably that's probably one of the most surprising things just from starting my business. I'm especially since moving down here, just a lot of people have a lot of different kinds of pets. So
Collin 19:26
what is it like caring for such a wide variety of pets? How do you prepare for those visits?
Heidi 19:32
Well, I know people will think that since it's not a dog or a cat that actually the meet and greet and the information I'm getting isn't going to take as long or it's not going to be as much information but if anything, I feel like the meet and greets longer and the instructions for care are a lot more because there's so many things that you have to look out for, especially with sensitive animals like rabbits and hamsters and stuff like that. They can stress out really easily they can overheat really easily. If they're not eating that's, you know an emergency If not going to the bathroom within, you know, just like a 12 hour period that could be considered a emergency situation. So if anything, it's I am more careful and more cautious with exotic pets because I know they are, they have very specific types of care and what their needs are. And their clients are obviously they want the best person possible that has experience with that kind of pet and trusting them with their pet when they're gone. Because they know that it's it's hard to leave your pet in general, but I think it's harder when you have an exotic pet that requires a lot of care. It makes it even harder.
Collin 20:33
Yeah, I would think that especially when it comes to dietary needs or feeding. It's a lot more complicated than dogs and dog food generally in most cases.
Heidi 20:44
Right and but it gives me a chance to learn more like I may have like a general idea how to care for certain animals, but it gives me a chance to kind of research and read and kind of look up and even consult some of my veterinary friends you know, just making sure they're, you know, I have everything that I need here. You know, If anything, it's awesome to learn more about these kinds of animals and it's super cool to be able to take care of exotic pets in general, like, not everyone needs to say that, you know, they take care of a pig or you know, they take care of turtles like you know, it's it's really awesome to care for exotic pets
Collin 21:16
really was one of the first ones that we did, actually the same owner of that Corgi named turtle. He was a herpetologist at a local university and he bred Ball Pythons and hinge back tortoises. And when I say he bred he, like, had like 25 Ball Pythons in different ages, and his whole basement was basically like a hinge tortoise corral. It was so cool. But yeah, that those feeding regimes I remember just like reams and reams and reams of paper of this turtle is on this thing and you must be at this proportion of diet and these these additives and these ballparks you know I was just like, Okay, well, it took out those were long visits. And you know, I was like this is not just a simple, quote unquote drop in visit. This is all was an all day event.
Heidi 22:01
Right? Because you're not looking you're looking to make sure everything's okay and like just you have to kind of stay a while to make sure that that is indeed okay as well as their typical routine but I will say I do draw the line at snakes and like pet spiders, I cannot I cannot do it. I tried and I've ended up having this was when I was working for a pet sitting company end up having to call my boss and I was like, I'm sorry like I'm here. I can't I can't do this. So that's Yeah, what snakes and then like pet spiders, everything else is fair game. I've done like you did dragons lizards, like that's totally fine. Yeah, just snakes and spiders.
22:38
That's a line for a lot of people. So that's understandable. Yeah,
Heidi 22:40
I'm not saying they're not cool animals because they definitely are, but it's not great.
Collin 22:46
Well, in part of that, too, is you get to choose your clients and who you want to take on and be, you know, be open with people as far as what care you're wanting to provide. And when you know, okay, that's that's too much, right. So through all of those, what's been your most or who Who's been your most memorable client?
Heidi 23:02
So I don't know if I really have a memorable client. But this story is a way that I got a client in the most memorable way. This actually happened somewhat recently, I was doing daily morning walks for one of my clients, she has it like an 80 pound German Shepherd. And I was walking him in the morning down this tree, and I happen to have a couple of clients on the street as well with and I walk their dogs. But I was we were coming back from our long walk, you know, everything's fine. And all of a sudden, I hear this like, jingling sound coming towards us. And I'm like, What is that? It's like, you know, 630 in the morning, like, what is what is going on? And shortly after I see one of the neighbor's small dogs has obviously gotten loose, and is running towards us, and it's not a friendly running towards us. It's he snarling he's foaming at the mouth, like even before he gets to us. So he, he was he was ready. And he starts charging at my 80 pound German Shepherd that I'm walking thankfully, my German Shepherd was very Call for getting attacked by a small dog. And this dog was like going after his legs is barking in his face. And as I'm trying to hold back this 80 pound German Shepherd, luckily, I knew the dog that got loose and I was able to kind of crouch down on the ground while I'm holding back my big dog and talk to the small dog one on one and to get him to calm down just like was like, okay, like, I knew his names, I was able to say, you know, it's all right, like, everything's gonna be fine. And like, you know, like it's just calmed him down. And he was able to come over to me and start sniffing my hands. So I seize that opportunity to kind of slowly put my arm around him and scoop him up. So I'm coming down the street with holding an 80 pound German Shepherd, and this little small terrier and his owner, it's just like, so grateful. He's like, Oh my gosh, I thought he was a goner. And then he I guess they did hear the barking and they were really concerned. Needless to say that client is now a client officially of mine and a lot of neighbors decided to call me after that. Because they were like, We must be a dog whisperer. But I think it was just the circumstances, I was very lucky that I had a very well behaved large dog. And I knew I'd already met the dog that was attacking him prior to this event. So definitely the most memorable way of getting a client
Collin 25:16
for sure, oh my goodness. That's the of the of the two way the most or least desirable things to happen on a walk one the dog getting away and to being attacked by a leash, a dog off leash, so that can have an experience.
Heidi 25:31
Right, and a lot of people think that, you know, my first priority is to protect the dog that I'm walking, but I've been in other fight situations before with dogs and I'm always I've always had more success addressing the dog that's attacking my dog, like addressing that dog one on one, like, instead of like, putting my body in between them or you know, yelling for help. I've always had a lot of success just like trying to communicate with the dog, one on one, trying to calm that dog down. Then we can proceed. Cuz usually by that point, you know, the owner showed up or someone's come out of their house, but it was definitely, definitely an experience I wasn't expecting, especially that early in the morning.
Collin 26:11
Right? Oh my gosh, do you typically carry any sort of spray or deterrence on you during walks for those kind of scenarios?
Heidi 26:18
Yes, so there is a spray. I forget what it's called off the top of my head, but it kind of just makes like a really high pitch sound. A lot of my clients have it or really barky dogs, I have a client that has free dioxins and they bark a lot. And they're like the house alarm which I love when I'm staying there. It makes me feel super safe. But sometimes when it gets out of hand, you just press this, the spray and it just like it lets out this really like rush of wind and a high pitch sound that kind of like, you know, that kind of gets their attention and they usually stop. So I do have that. And then I try to carry my phone with me. Obviously I'm not looking at my phone when I'm on walks but just having your phone on you all the time like in advance pack or like in a pocket or something has been really helpful because if you're an emergency situation and there's no one around you like, what I like how I was in like, you need to have some kind of backup
Collin 27:10
Yeah. And and at least doing some sort of planning and practice for those kinds of scenarios. You never want to have to use that equipment or, or use those skills, but refreshing and going through your mind every now and then what are the steps I'm going to take? Is there kind of is a training or just through experience that you would recommend people to to learn about that kind of thing.
Heidi 27:31
I mean, if there are trading classes, I would definitely recommend that but it's kind of like how your inclement weather policy is like how I kind of see it, you want to weigh out what you would do in that kind of situation and like what's gonna work and what's not gonna work just having a plan going into it because you never know when it's gonna happen. And you always think like, Oh, it's not gonna happen to me like we're fine. Like I'm a responsible dog walker, but it has nothing to do with you. You know, a dog can get loose in there can be just like a small accident, and could be like potentially very good. So just having a plan in place, kind of like I said, like with an excellent inclement weather policy, having a plan in place, so you know, what you would potentially do in a situation like that?
Collin 28:09
Well on that we're entering into hurricane season right now as we speak. So how have you How have you developed your inclement weather policy? And is that something you regularly share with clients? Or what what does that look like for you and the kind of services you provide?
Heidi 28:23
Absolutely. In my policy agreement, I actually have a whole section about implement weather policy and what that looks like and the procedures that I follow and how I'm going to let the client know that if they're out of town, honestly, if I was responsible, if I had a lot of pets and there was hurricane coming, I knew best believe I would be evacuated with all those animals. There's not one of my clients animals, I would not take them so I would be loading up the car with everybody's animals. I was actually here when Hurricane Irma hit and I worked for I was working for a pet sitting company when that happened. And we had a lot of calls just with people that were like we take my pet Will you take my pet Because a lot of people that were evacuated, find anywhere that was pet friendly, outside of the state of Florida. So it's a potentially scary situation. But if you have a plan in place, and you're very upfront, like at the meet and greet, we discuss this. This is the this is my implement weather plan. This is what I'm going to do, we're going to make sure we try and contact you. But this is what the plan is going to be having also an emergency contact that's not a sibling or like a spouse, like someone that they're not related to, because they're most likely going to already be with them having their information as well. So maybe like they could take over if there's a problem. If I would ever actually stay here for hurricane, that person also, who lives close, that's an emergency contact would be good because they may be they may be able to get to them quicker than I can. Because usually after a hurricane, you can't drive anywhere and it'd be hard to get to any of my clients. So having someone in place and designated someone that could take over the care of your pet after the hurricane to is also
Collin 29:57
really important. It is you mentioned like that stuff. That's right up. rent that the owner knows that the owner is also planning for and you are asking for that information to where your emergency contact and and working through that together so that you can provide the best care you can and those are scary situations.
Heidi 30:13
Yeah, it's very scary. But hopefully, you know what, enough preparedness and discussion with a client it can be a little less scary. Sure.
Collin 30:21
Well, yeah. And and that part of that is just just being prepared as much as you can reviewing those procedures. And then if you need to do it, you already have it all in your head. And you can just work through those systems that you have in place thinking a little bit more about kind of current stuff with COVID. Does the bulk of your services are going into people's homes? How are you managing what kind of guidelines or policies do you have in place for safety of yourself and the owners?
Heidi 30:47
Yeah, so I feel like I already take a lot of precautions even before COVID just working in a veterinary hospital in different Humane Society. I know how easy it is to spread things around. So I you I'm always calling Obviously, but with COVID, I'm just adding all of these extra precautions not only for the pets, but for myself and my clients. So obviously wearing masks, loves having hand sanitizers and sprays, disinfectants and just being really mindful of what I'm touching and not having the animal that I'm taking care of coming in contact with other people or other pets. But I'm ultimately leaving it up to the owner as far as me coming into their home. So most of my clients have been fine with me entering their home, they know I'm doing everything that I can, and they want my services. So I'm leaving it up to them. Ultimately, for meet and greets, I'm offering when new clients call and they want to set something up. I am offering virtual meet and greets. So if they don't feel comfortable with me coming into their home, they can at least you know, hop on here with me. And they can kind of take me through their home with their computer and kind of show me what all the pet supplies are and I can still communicate with the pet so I've done that and then I've also kind of done mutual locations. So if there's like a, you know, like a park or something That's not crowded. I've met with people there. But I would say overall, everyone's been fine with me entering their home and maybe confining me to a certain area like just the entryway or like just the bedroom that the pet sleeps in or something like that. That's probably about it for like regulations for clients. Most of them have been pretty open and supportive and they kind of know that I'm doing everything that I can.
Collin 32:22
Yeah, and part of that is because you've been communicating with them and they already know you know, or have heard about the services and in how you prepare for those two, thinking through kind of how some of the how 2020 has been so far and how we've had a really ups and downs what keeps you going on some of these not so good days.
Heidi 32:40
So I always say and I've heard this many times, no, my worst day in pet sitting is still better than my best day in any other job. No, I I love this job. It is extremely difficult, but this is one of the best career choices that I ever made. And honestly, what keeps me going the most is my first clients. I just think it's such a privilege, knowing that I'm the only one that can care for them, and they're relying on me personally to care for them. Like, it's such a great and incredibly fulfilling, you know, responsibility and makes me feel like I have a purpose. And just, I just love all of my clients so much, you know, it just, they really keep me going. Also, I have a lot of really great human clients as well. And you know, I think it's always great to have boundaries with your clients. But I do have a couple of clients that they're, they're like a second family to me, they're, I know they would do anything and everything for me, I would do the same thing for them. They want me just to kind of come over and just visit with them and or ladies want to take me out to dinner like, they call me their second daughter. So like, I know, like I said, it's always great to have boundaries with your clients, but there's just a couple of clients that I have that they're honestly like second family to me, and I know that I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing today without that kind of support.
Collin 33:55
Yeah, no, I mean, you really do get to know maybe not all of your clients Like that there's always a small handful or one or two that, gosh, you just really become a member of their family. And it's not something that you're like, I'm going to make them love me or I'm going to do this kind of thing. It just, it just happens, right? Because the kind of services that we're providing and taking care of their, their for child, right, like, that's something that they really means so much to them. And when you do an excellent job, and when you provide excellent service, those kind of relationships just build naturally over time,
Heidi 34:31
right? It's not something that you ever expect, but it just kind of happens over time. And just I just can't imagine not having these these clients. You know, if I ever get discouraged, or you know, I get a, like, nasty call or text from a client or like even like a new client that calls like, I just remember these clients. I'm just like, you know, this is what I'm doing. Like I'm doing it well like if I need any kind of reassurance, I know I have these clients in the back of my mind that like, you know, I do know what I'm doing, but just their support, just you know, so it looks like solidifies. The fact that I'm doing everything right.
Collin 35:02
It really does mean that I can't express how important that that is, is to take those moments and remember those kind of clients that have your back those kind of clients that are rooting and cheering for you and want to see you succeed. Because on those bad days when you do get that bad review or somebody doesn't like something that happened, you that self doubt, as you said, that creeps in, you're like, I don't even know like, what am I? What am I doing? Like it was this is this, what I should be doing is to know those people on the other side of that spectrum are like, go get them. You're awesome
35:30
rock
35:32
really does. It's like, Okay, I've got cheerleaders in my corner. I can do this. Yes,
35:35
definitely.
Collin 35:37
How has the broader community of Naples come together or been during COVID?
Heidi 35:43
I would say just the community of Naples in general and even the business community has been extremely close. I mean, we're all going through the same thing. We're all experiencing the same thing. So if that means, you know, sharing another business's post, if that means promoting their product, if that means for Just seeing their product, you know, whatever we can do to support one another during this time, like we all are, all of our same goal is to make sure that the Naples business is thriving and you know, pre COVID I felt like it was booming more than ever. I mean, we have several breweries. Now we have several coffee shops and just like pet friendly places, especially which I love. So we all have the same goal at the end of the day, like it's not competition, you know, it's definitely community over competition. We all want to see each other thrive. We all love the Naples community. We love everyone that visits here that lives here. So we all have the same goal at the end of the day. So we all want to see each other succeed. So I feel like we have really come together as a community, especially in the business community.
Collin 36:40
That's, that's really great to hear. And to know that again, it's like, Okay, I've got my clients that have got my back and then the community at large is also here, for me, and it gives you, as you mentioned, of like, this kind of sense of purpose in this bigger, bigger place and everything going on and that isn't really imminent. Because when you're in the grind of, Okay, I've got these busy days, I'm getting up and doing really early walks, and I'm not going to go to bed till really late at night. And, and you can kind of lose sight of, of that connection that you have with the community and that there are people that are there supporting you. And I do hope we remember that it six months from now, right? rain comes comes comes back. Yeah.
Heidi 37:26
Like I've said many times, I will never take a busy day for granted no matter what. Because, you know, like, just not from a financial standpoint as far as the struggles with COVID. But just like it from an emotional standpoint, you know, I feel like I finally found the job that I'm supposed to be doing, like what I was put on this earth to do and when that's taken away from you, you kind of feel like your purpose has been taking, like taken away from you a little bit. So just like from an emotional standpoint, you know, we want to keep this going. So yeah, definitely the community support has been great. I've had some great clients, they've purchase gift cards. They're my pet city. software, they've just like left me huge tips like they've, you know, just called him like wanted services and they just like, there's like, Oh, just keep up like you left me too much money do you want me to put down your account? They're like, No, just keep it. And you know, I even had one client that bought me a grocery gift card, she was concerned, she knows that, you know, I'm on my own, and she wanted to make sure I could afford groceries for a couple weeks. So she's like, here's a grocery gift card. Like, that's just like, that's not something I ever expected or even really wanted, you know, just knowing that your clients don't see you, as you know, just someone providing a service there, they see you as like a human being and they want you to be around. And like I said, that's kind of how I felt like with the business community in Naples, you know, people see us as actual people and they want us to stick around and they're willing to do anything that they can, even if they don't have any money, you know, just sharing a post or leaving a review. That's all those are all free resources that you can do to help promote a business in your community.
Collin 38:51
Yeah, and you said it there's, as you saw that your clients were seeing you as a human being right, not just somebody that was taking care of a dog and and when when when that hits tone that really just like who you got to wipe some of those dust out of your eyes Reno for a minute, too, because you're like, I didn't know that you you saw that or I didn't know that you really you know you hear it and it has been very uplifting to see. So I'm that that's really heartwarming. Yeah, absolutely. Through all that, what advice would you give to other pet sitters who maybe are struggling to see a light at the end of this tunnel?
Heidi 39:24
Yeah, I would just say that you've survived all the bad days before this, you know, this is a long time to kind of go through and I know a lot of businesses are still not up and running yet. And my my best advice is, you know, you've worked so hard to get to where you are. And just to not give up. I know, one of the best things that I've ever done is join a professional pet sitting group in my community. So we all have our own businesses, and we all have similar policies and even pricing and we kind of all do our own thing as far as pet care, but just we meet quarterly and We just have discussions and I like see what else is going on in the pet industry, you know, share client stories, and any answer any kind of question. So like, I would really, really encourage someone that's having a hard time to reach out to another, even just another business in your community because they're, like I said, they're going through the same thing that you're going through. And our job can be super isolating and going through COVID where we're all quarantine. Now, it's super isolating, because you're not even seeing that your first clients, I mean, not only not seeing human being, but we're not even seeing our in our pets that we take care of. So I would really recommend getting involved with professional pet sitting group. Like I said, it's not competition, it's community. And not only are you gaining friends and getting advice and sharing resources, but ultimately, if these professional pet sitters happen to be booked, or they need help with a client or they need to refer someone, they're going to talk to you first and they're not going to recommend one of their friends. They're gonna say, hey, like it Are you available on this day I have this really great client, we might contact you them, you know, we can share referrals. So like I said, it's not competition, there's plenty of services to go around for everybody. So not only are you getting that support that you need, but you're also getting potentially more clients as well.
Collin 41:16
And they just, they just go hand in hand, right? Again, you're showing up not in expectation that they are going to start referring tons of clients to you, it's, you're showing up to be part of that community to invest in, share your knowledge and share your struggles and to help each other and then that other stuff comes on the back end as things happen and you find yourself I'm booked here, clients go to these people. And because we want to be able to refer people to someone that we know and trust if we're booked right because that's can be because we hate saying no, I know I do.
41:48
I was just gonna say
Heidi 41:51
that it's probably been another huge struggle is you know, saying no, especially to our like, really amazing clients and we're like, oh, no, like I'm only one person. I don't have any You know, anybody working for me, I'm already booked for overnights already, like, what am I going to do? So it's nice to refer them to someone that I know personally and that I trust, like I would trust any one of these people with my own pet. So I feel comfortable recommending them to, like you said to like really close clients that when you get in a bind, you need someone to refer them to
Collin 42:20
it just that that mental burden starts being lessened. And you don't have to that that worry starts to go away and you don't feel like you're caught up in this. I have to say yes, all the time trap and you accelerate your approach to burnout, you're able to pump the brakes on that and live a little less cluttered, least mentally, for a while, right. You mentioned kind of an air horn or something to get the dog's attention while you're on. What are some of your other favorite resources or tools that you use and you'd recommend to others.
42:49
Well, how much time do you have?
42:53
I got a lot of resources.
Collin 42:56
Well, I'll say this too, for our listeners that I'll have links to these in the show notes, so you can go and check those out in the show notes or on the website. lay him on us.
Heidi 43:05
Yeah, say I love resources. The reason why I'm part of the reason why I'm so successful in my business is because of all of these resources I take advantage of. So I have a pet sitting software that I've had for almost a year now. And it's called time to pet. It has absolutely just been a lifesaver in my business. You know, before I was just, I was literally carrying around client paperwork in my car with all the information about like their home and their pet every day like and I would have to organize it for a day, you know, per client. So this just completely puts everything in one place as far as you know, pet information and client information. If your clients decide to use it, they can activate their portal and they can change their information they can request services from you so you're not constantly on your phone and getting you know client requests and client calls. They can just submitted requests, you can reboot, review it and accept it or not. I also love it because when you You can put all of your schedule in, and then it automatically generates invoices to your clients that you can then send off and you can, they can actually pay on the portal. So it's, it's just a great thing in one place. And like I said, clients can use it to and my, personally, my clients love it, they love being able to kind of take over their, you know, their own information and you know, communicate with me through the portal and you can send updates through there. It's just it's a great resource. And it's completely changed and saved me so much time. And it's completely changed the way I'm able to do my business as well,
Collin 44:30
that sort of saving time and keeping you more organized. Like as a business, you can't ask for any better than that.
Heidi 44:38
Right? So and especially, especially down here, we have a lot of gated communities. So there's a lot of codes that I have to know not only to like get in their house, but like to get through the gate. And there's nothing worse when you're trying to drive and get through a gate and you're like paging through all these pages like, okay, cool, what's the gate code and all you have to do is just pull up your time to pet app and go to their client information and it's right there. So that's been super helpful as well. Another one I really love is an app called mileage IQ. So I don't know about everybody else. But even track of my mileage was one of my biggest challenges when I started. I mean, there's nothing, you want to do less than when you come home from a super busy day, and then add up all your mileage. So, especially when you start getting busy and you have multiple visits a day, it's so hard to keep track of all of that, and then ultimately, you lose in the end because that's less mileage that you get to claim at the end of the year. So what mileage IQ does is it can sense when you're in a traveling in a car, and then you can identify those, those drives as business or personal. And then after a while, if it kind of senses that you're taking the same drive, it can it'll automatically classify that as a business drive so you don't even have to do anything. And then at the end of the month, it sends you a mileage report. So it just lays it out for you says you've driven X amount of mileage this month that you can, you know, put in your spreadsheet or whatever just added up at the end. The year and it's done. So it's just nice to know that, you know, something else is keeping track of the mileage except instead of by, like non math brain. So
46:09
that's been super helpful.
Collin 46:11
Yeah, well, I've noticed that with with the time to pet and mileiq. What we're seeing here is this, so many things are being automated and offloaded from you having to take care of it. And that's what really helps you grow and scale and be more efficient as a business owner.
Heidi 46:29
Right. And that's time that you're saving that you could be at another visit, or you know, communicating with other clients. So you know, it's a great time saver, and it's just a great resource that and something that kind of takes the burden off your shoulders as well. So another thing I really really love is I love monthly spreadsheets. I personally have five spreadsheets that I update at the end of each month. One is a spending business plan. So what I do is I estimate all of my expenses that are coming up for the next month. kind of break that down and see how much it's going to cost. So I kind of know how much money I need to make each month. I also have a spreadsheet for my all of my expenses. So it's all in one place for the month and total those up. I also have revenue comparison. So I keep track each month of how much I've made compared to other years. So I can kind of gauge how my business is growing or it's not growing. And then my favorite ones are tracking my revenue and marketing streams. So as far as the revenue streams, you're listing all of the services that you offer and how much money you've made that month, per service. So you can kind of see if you're looking at maybe adding a service or maybe taking a service away, it kind of gives you a good idea of Hey, the service isn't really making me a lot of money like it doesn't seem to be working, maybe I should get rid of it or offer something else. So I really love that one. And then my marketing streams is I keep track of all the different marketing tools that I use, you know, social media or Google or client referrals or you know, any kind of listings You're on anytime someone calls me or reaches out to me, even if they don't book with me, I'm keeping track of how they found me. So I can see what kind of marketing strategies are working, and which ones aren't. So I love doing that. Each month, it makes you feel a lot more confident about where you are in your business. Like you really know what's going on in your business when you're doing spreadsheets, like it may be time consuming at the end of the month, but, you know, you're you know, everything about your business, you know, what's working, you know, you know, what's not, you know, what your money is going towards, and everything like that.
Collin 48:34
So that when you need to make a pivot, or when you need to make those hard decisions, you can look back and go, Okay, I know this is working out. One of the things, you know, the marketing streams, that was been huge. I know for Megan, I have just a simple question of How'd you find us? You know, right. Where do you hear and if it's a referral, if you start knowing you get a lot of referrals, it's okay, like, how do I incentivize more referrals or how do I track those a little bit better, and you can just start, you know, taking away at these thoughts and ideas that you have but you if you don't have that you don't even know where to start them.
Heidi 49:07
Exactly. So I also read a lot I'm constantly reading either a book about business or animal behavior or dog walking you know, any kind of book that I can just gain more knowledge and you'll feel a lot more confident. I'll let you know where I'm at in the business. One of my favorite business books that I've read recently, it's called profit first by Mike mccalla wits. So it's all about allocating your income into different accounts, and then taking a profit first. So you're giving yourself the profit first instead of paying all of your expenses and then kind of taking what's left and sometimes there's nothing left. So it's all about taking a profit for yourself first by allocating all of your income into different accounts each month. Also, I am in love with Kristen Morrison. Pretty much everything that I know about this business is because of person Morrison. She has so many books and I believe she's working on another one right now. She has books about hiring, about selling Setting up your business, how to grow your business. I know she has, you know, social media pages and different workshops and classes that you can take with her and she's a business coach as well. So she's just an amazing person who's from the pet industry and has been super successful in what she does. And she just has a great way of personalizing it with you. So she, you know, she doesn't think that the way she did things is necessarily going to work for everybody. I feel like she really takes the time to get to know you as a person and you know about the different things when it comes to your business, like where you're located, what services you offer, where you see your business going, and she kind of takes that in consideration when giving advice so I really like that about her as well.
Collin 50:40
Yeah, and she has a ton of resources. I think if there's any almost any conceivable thing you can think about for pet sitting in a pet sitting business, she's probably written about it developed a form or PDF that she that she has available for it.
Heidi 50:54
Yeah, I tell her I'd say like he she's like the Steve Jobs. I just have so much respect for her. And you know, everyone, I feel like should strive to have a, you know, a six figure pizza setting business like she did. Yeah, yeah. Love her. So I also am part of an organization that is a large. It's a large community of pet sitters that are professionals. And it has a lot of educational resources. It's called pet sitter International. And it actually kind of set me up for my business insurance and bonding as well. They offer discounts if you're a member with them. So that was kind of really helpful. It was kind of like a one stop shop when I was first starting, and was kind of overwhelmed with insurance and bonding, and all of that, all of those things that I was like, Oh, I don't know anything about that. So it was kind of nice to not only get all of these resources as far as starting your pet sitting company or pet behavior, but just knowing that they also knew a lot about insurance and bonding and you know, they have a company all set up for you there as well. They also have free webinars. I've actually been listening to a lot of them during quarantine So, and it's like I said, it's just a huge educational resource. source it for professional pet sitters and they have something for everybody and you know where you are in your business or what kind of animals you care for. There's something there for everybody that you can learn.
Collin 52:10
They're not necessarily continuing education or just informational webinars that they've been putting out like that is that just keeps you learning keeps you thinking keeps you in the game of knowing something you don't know what you don't know. So just learn as much as you can.
Heidi 52:26
Right? And I feel like in this industry, you have to be on top of that you have to be on top of what you know, what's the next thing you know, what's what's popular in the pet industry right now you know, what our clients want to you know, you kind of have to stay on top of all those things and keep learning like on a continual basis and I feel like pets there's international is really good at kind of doing that for everybody. And then one of my last I don't know if it's a resource or just advice is to get a good accountant. That has literally been like I thought time to pet was, you know, a lifesaver this has literally been a lifesaver. So getting a good accountant that specializes in small businesses. Specifically is going to save you so much time, so much frustration. And you know, ultimately you can contact them throughout the year you know, they have, they're in your corner, they want you to succeed as well. So they're not just charging you this money, you know to do your taxes like they really want you to see us succeed, they can pretty much be like a business coach for you and kind of content to tell you where you're at and what your profit is and everything. So just getting a good accountant can kind of take care of all of those kind of hard things for you is really helpful as well.
Collin 53:30
Yeah, and the key there specializes in small businesses, because that it actually makes a huge difference how they approach your books and how they approach what you're going to pay in which you're not going to pay and if they don't know how to handle how you're structured, you're going to suffer in the long run or the or run depending on when tax rate I love every single one of those and like I said I'm gonna just because it's it's a it's a whole package as far as yeah how best you know tools to run my business and make me more efficient and best use of my time and setting myself up to succeed. And the fact that, you know, it's that some of you have just spreadsheets, what are you tracking? How are you thinking about this? How are you approaching this? And then What team are you surrounding yourself with? Are as coaches or, or even accountants to help you win the law in the long run? Right?
Heidi 54:21
Yeah, it's been, I could probably honestly add a lot more but but I just, you know, I, I just really think it's important to, especially with someone like me, that doesn't have a lot of business experience coming into this, you know, you know, I'm not gonna just say, Oh, I don't have any business experience. So you know, whatever. I'm just gonna wing this, like, No, you want to educate yourself, because just as important is to know how to care for animals and how to care for people's homes. It's also important to know how you're going to run your business in order to be successful as well.
Collin 54:48
Well, and that's where I would say the vast majority of us are coming from a business background and maybe we want to start we're interested in starting and so we start doing a few things and instead of trying to fumble around and figure out, you know, 10 years later that there was a mistake, set yourself up for success right from the beginning and get these processes get these things in place now, and you'll be better for it. Yeah.
55:10
Yeah, absolutely.
Collin 55:11
Well, Heidi, I am so thankful and so happy that you came on today and have shared your passion, you know, some of your struggles with COVID-19. And then these wonderful resources for our listeners. And so again, I want to thank you and if people have questions, want to get in touch with you and check in on all that you're doing? How can they do that?
Heidi 55:30
Absolutely. I would be happy to answer anyone's questions or to reach out to me. My website is H and H pet services calm. You can also shoot me an email at Heidi at h&h pet services calm. I also have a Facebook page which is Heidi and hope pet services. And my Instagram is also Heidi and hope pet services.
Collin 55:51
Well again, thank you so much for coming on today. Heidi,
Heidi 55:54
thank you so much calling and I just want to say that I just really appreciate all the work that you and Megan do. I mean Not only are you providing us with great resources as well and advice, but you're really, I feel like your friends like you're you're part of like this pet sitting community and I feel like super close to you guys and that your inner corner and that this is a safe place for everybody. And I just really appreciate all that you would make.
56:17
That means that really means a lot. And I thank you so much.
Collin 56:22
My two big takeaways from my discussion with Heidi were one being prepared for emergencies. Now, not all of us are caring for exotic pets in Florida. But there are things around us every single day that we can plan for and communicate that with our clients. I really appreciated the fact that Heidi was communicating with them and having them have plans on their own that she would know of as well. emergency contacts, emergency people to come pick them up. If they're out of state. Those kind of things have to be communicated beforehand. So whether it's tornadoes, inclement weather in general or earthquake spires, you name it, there are things that we can and should be preparing for every single day. And number two, for advice for pet sitters who are struggling, I'm not going to try and reword it or add my own two cents because I can't say it any better. But all I can say is, you're still here and you have a community around you whether you know it or not, that are cheering you on. And I want you to know that Megan and I are here cheering for you too. And we love seeing the increasing number of photos that everybody's posting. And if you are still struggling, please reach out to somebody. Megan, I included you've got our phone number 6363648 to six zero, give us a call. Let us know how you're doing we'd love to catch up and get to know you. Email us at feedback at pet sitter confessional.com or get in touch with us on any of the social media platforms. We're there. We want to hear from you. join our Facebook group sitter confessionals and start getting connected with other sitters As Heidi mentioned, getting connected with a professional pet sitting group in your area is one of the best things you can do. If you don't have that reach out to a group online, all sorts of people that are willing to help and Linden ear and help support you as you go through your business journey. We'll be back next week. Have a wonderful weekend.
