323: Increase Commitment and Compensation from Clients with Kathryn Burge
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Summary:
How do we secure both commitment and appropriate compensation from our clients? Kathryn Burge, owner of Lake Oswego Petsitting, joins the show today to share her onboarding process and what it takes to get a commitment from clients. Kathryn breaks down how to take a hard look at your business and ask, “What’s changed?” to make sure we are getting the most out of our business. She has learned the power of setting boundaries, and why charging for your time helps set yourself up for success.
Main topics:
What does ‘concierge’ mean
Finding balance
Valuing your time
Shifting services
Handling price increases
Main takeaway: Your processes and procedures will either increase, or decrease, the commitment your clients have with you.
About our guest: Kathryn has been a Lake Oswego resident for over twenty years. Kathryn spent over fifteen years in the advertising and telecom corporate world. As a long time pet parent, she has an incredible way with the animals she's around. Kathryn is a proud mother of five, 3 humans, and 2 pets. She has a beautiful dog, River, and a rescued cat, Bowie. Her love of photography began at a young age and is cultivated through her petsitting business. Since the beginning of her business in 2013, she has grown a large and diverse clientele. Kathryn offers a variety of services including boarding, portrait pet photography, and dog training. Kathryn is an active member of Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce, Pet Sitters International, International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, and International Association of Canine Professionals.
Links:
Give her a call: 503-309-4000
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https://www.canineprofessionals.com.
info@lopetsitting.com
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https://www.facebook.com/lakeoswegopetsitting
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, business, pet, people, dog, work, pet sitters, service, pay, consultation fee, day, commitment, process, pet sitter, recognize, invest, catherine, talking, thought, months
SPEAKERS
Collin, Kathryn B.
Meghan 00:10
Hello, I'm Meghan. I'm Collin. And this is Pet Sitter confessional and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter
Collin 00:17
brought to you by time to pet and pet perennials. What does it mean to run a pet concierge style dog walking and pet sitting service? And how do we do that while also maintaining healthy boundaries. Catherine Burch owner of Lake Oswego petsitting joins us today to talk about her nine years in the industry, why it's so important to go above and beyond for her clients, and all while maintaining those healthy boundaries. Let's get started.
Kathryn B. 00:46
Oh, hi. Thanks for having me. Of course. I started my business about nine years ago. So I'm celebrating nine years to September and can't believe it right, you know, time just goes by. So I started the business. It was the name was cat runs dog. Okay, so I launched it with a big poster at a dog event. It was like a dog run running event. And about two months later, I changed the business to like, name to like a speaker pet setting. So what I discovered was that there was a need for pet sitting. Duck, of course could still do my dog running intertwine into that. So I did name change, which was very interesting. So what what happened and how I started the business was I started volunteering at Oregon Humane Society, walking the dogs. And they had a also a program where you could volunteer your time to just sit in the kennels. And so what I did is I just sat in the kennels with these dogs, I had thought about starting a business, right, but I was really wanting to make sure is this really for me, you know, to really be with different types of dogs that were, you know, troubled, troubled, and very sad dogs. So it was, it was interesting. That was when it really resonated with me that this is what I should be doing. I worked in advertising and a lot of us would, you know, fantasize kind of about what business we would start if we could start a business. I remember good friends, and I'm talking about this. Usually pretty creative people that I was with, and talk dog dot pet sitting dog walking wasn't on my radar, but I was always thinking and trying to decide if I could start a business. What would that be? And I think it was because we're working with new businesses every day in the work that I was doing. Um, I worked for the Yellow Pages, just just if anyone was curious what kind of advertising which of course is no longer, you know, the big yellow phonebook so? Nobody, lots of people are too young to even know, right? So I'm dating myself there. But so and then I ended up having three kids super proud of that, and stopped that career after the third child. And so yeah, so it just I ended up I think a lot of people do trying to figure out how you can maximize your time with your family and still have you know, something in your life that's hopefully generating revenue, and doesn't get, you could have a work life balance. So I was able to succeed with that over these past nine years. You said that word
Collin 04:00
sit around and fantasize about? He would do and I think that's something that I know I personally don't do enough of, of kind of go. If money was no object, you know, if sky's the limit, what would I actually want? And what would I want and start kind of busting down some of those barriers to ourselves, when we start trying to create things or do things even in our own business, even if, you know, once we've started to sit down and go, How do I make sure I don't get in the way of myself. And I think that starts with just going anything's on the table. Let's just throw it all out there and then we'll let rational brain kick in and try and take over on the, on this process and bring us back down to earth.
Kathryn B. 04:43
Exactly. And I remember consulting with friends that are entrepreneur and you know, just people that have found success in business. And, you know, sometimes I would use their advice sometimes I would say Oh, it was and here I sit nine years later. So I'm super proud of it. I think it takes a lot of family support. And, you know, my kids and just, we know, we know what it takes when you're a professional pet sitter with the holidays, and and I would love to have them on an interview right? And just did it really? Did they survive? My last just graduated from high school and you know, there's a lot of time I gave to this business. So I'm, I think that's where we come. Started little baby in a way. So
Collin 05:40
there's a lot of sacrificing that we put on the tip put on the line to make it happen. And you're right, it having that support system, whether that's brands, families or even other businesses, is what helps keep us going through the really tough times. So for you what was what was that support, like, whenever you were just starting out and trying to make this thing grow?
Kathryn B. 06:04
You know, I, I knew there was enough business for everybody. And I knew there, there would not be competition, right? Because I always tell my clients to have one or two or three, ideally, pet professional pet sitters, so that if they don't become disappointed if I'm not able to serve them for some reason. So what I found, there's a pet sitter in Portland. So I live at in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. And there's a pet sitter that started almost 30 years ago. And I'm connected with her, and then just have a lot of support through pet Super Friends. And, of course, I know that's where Colin may be talking about all the different organizations like I think some people think, Oh, it's okay, I don't need to be in this organization or that organization. But I've found that being a member of pet sitters International, was pivotal from the beginning, one of my first, second or third clients, I think it was came from pet sitters International, where they were they had gone on and got my name there.
Collin 07:21
In your business, you describe yourself as a concierge style spa, full service,
07:28
pet business.
Collin 07:29
What does that mean to you? And how do you make that work
Kathryn B. 07:33
with your clients? I think it's, it's a little less than the way it sounds. And I think I originally think I thought it was a good idea to maybe name my business, something along cons hairstyle. But it turns out with the relationships, you end up having with this personal work that we do, you end up doing a lot more for the clients, if you want, right, and I've had some very close clients that have me help them when they have surgeries, and it's not just the pets, but on a just the level related to the pets, it's just taking them to the vet, very often I'm doing that, and the groomer, those types of things,
Collin 08:15
really investing in that person's lifestyle with their pet, you said it's that we build relationships through personal work. And that's something I keep thinking about so often is that this is personal work, there are people involved at a personal level that we get connected with. And they have fears, anxieties, they have things that they need help with. And sometimes they don't know who else to turn to. And through that relationship. And I do appreciate that you added you can do these extra things, if you want to, right, like if that is something that you feel you need to do, you can but it's not a requirement of this kind of job. Now, through all of that. You mentioned, you've you're been a mom to three, three kids, you've raised them and you have dogs and cats and you are running your business. How do you find and strike a, I guess, a balance or a more understanding between everything that pulls on you in any given day?
Kathryn B. 09:15
That's a tough one. So when for me being that I'm solo, and don't have employees, which certainly I've thought about which would take the load off of right my, my day if I was to hire. But what I've, what I've done is just really looked at how how was my work life balance when I had 13 or 15 or 17 visits a day? Did I have a work life balance? Nope. It's impossible. It was for me impossible to have a work life balance with that many visits. So I've kind of gone down that road where what's the perfect sweet spot for me, and making sure that I don't, you know, go over those amount of visits. It's there's this, I just found it again, it was impossible to have a good work life balance if I'm gone from 6am till 11pm. It's not gonna happen.
Collin 10:20
Exactly. And what that the first step of that sounds like being aware that more of a balance is something that you want, right? I think we can get so focused on the work in front of us, that we end up forgetting everything else around us. And we kind of push that off to the side that we feel like we can't say yes to these other stuff because of the business. But I think really empowering ourselves to take a step back and go, actually, no, I don't have to work like that. If I don't want to
Kathryn B. 10:57
write and I think it took I'm serious, nine years for me to realize that. Wow, it wasn't the pandemic that taught me that it was just the amount of time I've invested in the work and just, you know, realizing, you just cannot take care of yourself. If you're gone in your car all day. Personally, I can't I know other people may have other best practices that they do, whether in their car or going from visit to visit to visit to visit. But I just couldn't find that sweet spot unless I, you know, really cut back, basically.
Collin 11:41
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Susan 11:44
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Collin 12:02
if you're looking for new petsitting software, give time to pet a try, listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting time for pet.com/confessional. Well, that you mentioned spending time in the car. I think that is definitely an aspect of becoming a dog walker or pet sitter that I don't hear many people really talking about it all of just like the immense amount of drive time, because I know some people love to drive some people in they don't mind it at all. What does drive time do for you in your day? Are you one of the people who gets motivated by it? Or does it really drag you down?
Kathryn B. 12:38
Well, you know, I live in a small town. So we always all of us pet sitters officers have a maximum amount, you know, distance that we're willing to drive those. It's critical. I know the coaches talk about that. It's very important. So I'll have a special client that I'm going to drive 15 minutes, sure, to their home. And you just I don't charge more, but I'm not doing any other clients that are 15 minutes away. Wow. Five, five minutes. 10 minutes. So it just, it's tough. And I have one of my best petsitting friends, she walks to all of our clients. So and out of the all of them, but she preferred to Yeah. How do you?
Collin 13:32
How do you stick to that? Because I know we have ours are our service radius is something like six miles. So it's a little bit wider than a 15 minute easy drive from client to client. Now, how do you stick to that? Right? Because I know I cuz I still have after all these years, I look at that somebody and they say I pull up the map and says 6.1 miles and I'm so tempted every time to say yeah,
Kathryn B. 13:57
I think I'd like to even answer and I apologize that I'm not always answering entirely your questions, because that's Do we like being in the car, you know, I mean, I listened to the spa station or your podcast or something to make that time a little more interesting. I tend to honestly turn towards that spa station. So I can just pretend that I'm maybe doing something really relaxing and it seems to help. It seems to really help but just really limited. You know, like you I pull up that map. That's one of the first things you know, is I need to understand are they in the city? I say Are you do you live in like a suite though? And if they say no, I live in you know, that's just town 1520 minutes away said I'm so sorry. I cannot cannot service your view. So and that's where it ends.
Collin 14:58
Yeah, exactly. That's where it is. That's right, there's no back and forth, because that's the boundary that we have drawn. And now we are, we are sticking to that. And, you know, we've can feel bad because we want to help it, quote unquote, everybody. But as you've experienced, and I think most people experience, after a while they go, I can't physically do that, like, that's actually not helping me help the people who I need to be helping.
Kathryn B. 15:23
And that's if you need to be at home, right. Like, if you have a, your own pet you're caring for or your family you need to get back to. It's just your your time, and just making sure that you're calculating that time. And when you accept a client,
Collin 15:44
and really understanding everything that's entitled to that commitment to that client of, Oh, I feel bad that they have nobody or their previous sitter canceled on them last minute. And I feel bad that they're not going to be able to do this. But I think stepping back and looking at that 30,000 foot view of what all that commitment entails what that does to your day, your time your sanity wear and tear on your car, rushing you around your schedule, like it really does have a personal impact on us when we start to go outside those
Kathryn B. 16:18
boundaries. Well, and if I can, I'd like to just address to like when you get a call with a client that is last minute, which for me, last minute would be anything under a month notice.
Collin 16:31
Oh, really? Wow.
Kathryn B. 16:33
Yeah. And I can I can explain kind of how I treat the last minute client, if you want. would love that. Yeah. Yeah. So I always want to understand kind of what the reason is, right? Because you could end up with a in the nine years, of course, I've ended up with the ones that various things. I don't know if I want to go through all the reasons, you know, except the last minute client, and it's absolutely one of the worst things you could have done because they the pet could be sick, meaning diarrhea. In some cases, I've had that. I've had all kinds of things. And they're just, it's just make I like to ask the client to be honest about why they're searching for a pet sitter last minute. And then, you know, when they share the truth, I think them and we go from there. And if it's a say it's within a week or less than a week, that would probably be more normal, considered last minute a week, wouldn't you say? Yes, I
Collin 17:38
think a week is probably when, after most people tend to get fully booked.
Kathryn B. 17:44
Yeah. And so I'll again ask what happened and why. They're asking for last minute petsitter. And I just basically have them go through a process with me for that onboarding. If they can get through I say to them, if you can get through this process, that I have that specific, then I you and I will work together?
Collin 18:07
Yeah, I definitely want to dive into your your process. But I do want to touch on the fact that you have a conversation with the client about their needs like that. When you ask why are you needing a pet sitter? So last minute, it's not being pushy, it's an it's an honest question. That is going to dictate a lot.
Kathryn B. 18:28
Right? There's Yeah, transparency about it. I found that people when I started using this, which I'm not even sure when I started maybe, maybe only a couple years ago, I started asking that very important question. You know, to understand what happened, because I think we would think, Oh, it's, they're ditching another pet sitter. And actually, no, that's not always the case. Sometimes it's just a boarding situation, or one of our boarding facilities is no longer allowing senior dogs to stay over two nights, there's off people, some of the vets have stopped boarding dogs, all kinds of reasons.
Collin 19:09
Yeah. It's really humanizing that interaction. Because, again, it's recognizing that people come to you for with a need with a background with history, with those fears and those anxieties and I think is very reasonable to just take a moment and go, Okay, tell me what's going on what's your current situation and letting them be honest and trusting that they will and I'm sure some may try and conceal the truth and whatever. But the sound like those will get weeded out later, but just starting as an open book with everybody, I love how that kind of just brings them in and makes them part of that process. And it provides you with another connection point to the person as you're having that conversation with them. Alright, well, so let's say we have made it through the phone process. What is the rest of your onboarding process look like to bring on a new client
Kathryn B. 20:00
Well, honestly, again, this just started a couple years ago, I stopped doing the long conversation about, you know, why are you Yeah, you know how it can go. You can be on the phone for an hour couldn't wait about their trials and tribulations of their needing needing a pet sitter, perhaps. So what I've tried to do, again, I'm not always perfect on this. But as you know, find out the location, of course, to make sure that we can service them. That's the initial initial question on the phone. And I try to always answer my phone to do the best I can on that. And what I've done now is I've implemented a consultation fee, basically. And I wouldn't say maybe two out of 10 times, people say, Oh, my goodness, I can't believe you are charging to talk to me about pet setting. Unfortunately, you know, they were not going to be doing business because they're hung up on this consultation fee. Okay. But it is something I think you and I initially talked about, that really isn't happening in the industry. I at one point, I, when I talked to you, I know, when I made it was when I started doing this, I just don't think people are doing it yet I think some are. And so then what happens is the people, I text them the link to create account on my time to pet. And that's where I get the initial information. Because what I've also found is I could be in a conversation with someone this is prior to implementing this process. And I at the end, I have no idea. This is really actually early on in my petsitting career, who I talked to. And I absolutely don't want that to happen again. And honestly, sometimes it's for privacy reasons, because they may have asked me a lot of personal questions about my business. You see, and it's just as a professional, I felt feel just rising above and doing something different and taking that chance. And that really what it comes down to is now I'm charging for that consultation, which is not industry standard. And it's really been amazing, because you've got a commitment on the client side. If they
Collin 22:35
decide to not move forward with a booking, are they refunded that or is that non refundable in any way?
Kathryn B. 22:42
No, it's not refundable. No. Okay. And so And honestly, we've already established so much by the time I'm out there, you know, the commitment we give to our clients to get things started. So I basically say that it's a consultation, but also includes setting up your services, which is a lot make that happen through this process. But the paying for it is just what I think is new to our industry. Yeah, because what is happening is our time, it's still our time, I feel that we should charge for our time,
Collin 23:25
how you added that it's a consultation, but it's also setting up services. Because if we do take, if we do look at everything that you did, like you pointed it out, Catherine of like, we invest, so much of us are tired, if we do have staff, their time, you know, all these things go into onboarding one new client with the hope that they're going to be a repeat client from time to time again, because it's, it's very costly and expensive to continually bring in new clients, both from our time, the money that we spend with the gas to get to them. And everything in between, we have to recognize that that is something that that we can both limit, but also that by having them pay for it. That's, that's a massive commitment that they're now making to you. And you know, that's a weed out process of those two out of 10 people who say what, nevermind, I don't want to do this, they would have been a problem down the line anyway. And so now we're just moving that process right up to the very beginning. And we can move on together and not have to deal or worry about a potential headache.
Kathryn B. 24:32
Yeah, that's funny. I was just working when you said that. It's like, we don't want particularly that client that is, you know, not that kind about, about money. You know, so, you know, I don't want to pay for that. And I can't believe you're charging that you're right. It's just going to be a problem down the line. And oh, what a blessing that we don't have to work on that one. I will add, though people have thanked me for doing that consultation setup fee, because it makes them feel more comfortable that they're that they're able to take time with. And knowing that I'm paying for my time. It's it's really interesting. Just the psychology, but I guess because you're you're there and you've done all this forefront work to, to set up the client with your contracts and your information and making sure you have all the vet information. It's just like you said, it's it's a, it's quite a process. And once you raise that bar on showing that we're a true professional, because of because of this process that we have we onboard them.
Collin 25:53
You mentioned that and I have a flash of a memory of a client recently. So we currently do not charge the fee to set up for the console. But it's something that we are seriously considering and starting to implement. But we have had people who have insisted on paying us before we left. And we recently had a lady that we met with that, you know, she reached her reach for her person and said, Well, I'm paying you for this. And I said, Oh, no, no, no, please don't this is totally free. And she said it wasn't free. You're here, I know that costs money. Here. Here's your rate. I was like, I was like what and so while you were saying that if like people have thanked you for implementing this, I had that flash memory of that lady who she got it, like she recognized what all was going into this and, and I just can see how while implementing the consultation fee can be scary because as as business owners, small business owners, it is scary. Anytime we raise rates or charge for something new or do something that we feel like is going to put off more clients. But it comes back to that balance that we want and need in our life of I can't keep giving things certain things away for free, and still be able to run this business. At the end of the day, I do need commitment and compensation from my clients in order for me to operate. And it's those two things, commitment and compensation that we tend to struggle with a lot as business owners. And we do need to find ways to increase both of those, so that our business can be here tomorrow, and the next day, and however long we choose to be here.
Kathryn B. 27:41
Okay, that's a good segue to want to hear what outside do then to get that commitment and compensation? Absolutely. It's fun, you know, I love that this is a confessional and I just, it's like, okay, I'll tell my state grants. So, somewhat I, again, I think it was about this would have been more like five years ago, that I implemented this and have never looked back. So I asked for, and I'm not the only one doing this, obviously, I'm certain I got the idea from from another amazing professional paths that are obviously right. So and got the confidence that we need, like you said, to get to be able to implement something, and stand true. So I do require by the time I start the pet sitting job, I require 100% payment. And some of that has to do with not the follow up that you would end up having to do to get payment after a job is done some of it I just thought, oh, you know, this will be more streamlined. And I'm just more comfortable with this. And that's, that's been great. Yeah.
Collin 29:11
Again, there's all these practices and things that people typically do in their businesses and go okay, well, we'll book the invoice I'm after the service. And then you're always running. It's just for me. Likewise, we, we looked at the way we wanted to operate and look at the headache that we were trying to avoid, and very, very much agreed Catherine of going, how can we limit the stress and strain on ourselves to this and I think that's where it started for us. Because prior to that we had never had any issue of clients late payment or no payment or tasting payment. We had no issue with that. What we recognized was it was a it was a pain to going backwards all the time. All the time. And instead this is going Nope. And then it's just it's a Peace of mind on yourself, because now you're not worrying is this the time I don't get paid, I'm doing this, I'm doing this work, quote unquote, for free, because they haven't paid me yet. You know, I'm worried what if they don't want to pay me at the end of this, you know, everything's all taken care of, and it's done. And you never have to bother them again about it. And I think it's a much more seamless process.
Kathryn B. 30:19
And having the contract, you know, really back, whatever you do in your business, personally, if a client comes home early, or they cancel their trip, or and I will kind of just again, just a little, another thing that I really find valuable is owning your own business is wonderful, I can make a decision to not honor my contract, if I want it, you know, and say, gee, you know, your reason for canceling your vacation is so incredibly sad for me to know about that I want to give you back 100%, or, that's the beauty of owning your own business, you can just make those decisions on whether or not you want to stick to because that's the sticky part is, you know, clients, again, it's probably one or two out of 10. That would say, not even that, honestly, Colin, I get I'm sorry, I kind of like, who knows what the numbers are. But every now and again, someone will say, I cannot imagine paying for services before they're performed. If I have a contractor come, I don't pay them first, I pay them after. And that's not a good fit for me. And I did give back the consultation fee on that one. You know, I'm thinking of a client that did that. So and oh, oh, my gosh, take your consultation fee, and I run down down the road. So, ya know, it's, it's, it's just, I really hope to raise the bar, you know, and how we can feel so proud about the work that we do in this industry.
Collin 32:12
Oh, the proud, that is a really important word of being, it's not prideful, but it's being proud, it's being confident it's being bold, in our work. And there's a lot of things that flow from that. And I know, one of those that kind of has been kind of dancing around everything that we've talked about of limiting, you know, kind of these barriers to working with you as far as clients and the fee. And then there's the being picky about clients. And then one big part of that in this industry is things like things like pricing, and I think you just recently went through, or maybe not. So recently, a price increase. And I was curious how you went about presenting that to clients, and what that process was like for you.
Kathryn B. 33:00
So I just basically said that my rate was going up to this amount effective the first of the month. And if some people hung on this, this was not. So my, let me go back a little that was specifically my dog outings that were called dog walks before, right. So I just decided to kind of do away with dog dog walks and and have it be more the outings, and then just gave a general rate on that. And I was wanting to kind of phase out of it, I'm focusing on some different things in my business. And there you go, that's the way you phase out. So you know, and I have some very tight relationships with those pets. So it was very hard for me that a lot of the clients work at home, to be honest. So things have changed. We just, I'm just trying to look deep inside my business and understand what's changed here. They were five days a week, and now they're they went to three and then then we're down to two, and then we're down to one, you know, I just really took a good look at do I want to keep going and doing these one offs. Or should I focus on my dog training and studying that in my in my, my, my pet setting, which is always there. The pet setting is always there, and people are always traveling right? So that's kind of, I think it was a unfortunately kind of a phasing out even though I had these wonderful relationships with the pets and the people. I'm talking about my dog walking. So that's what I raised and then with the pet setting, it's just the new clients. Okay. So I've kept that old rate with my long standing clients.
Collin 34:58
It does and it gets those decisions. Isn't that you mentioned of like, you can choose how you want to do this and make it work. And you said that phrase, you're looking deep inside my business and asking what's changed here? And not being afraid to ask that you have to? Would you ask that question, you really need to be prepared for a bad you know, or a hard pill a hard pill to swallow sometimes of, because it may be. It may be that you don't want to do that anymore. And it was kind of you were saying you somebody wanting to phase some of these things out, it could be that it's not a service that's needed anymore. And so kind of rendering the work and stuff that you were wanting to do as irrelevant or not as highly sought after, as it once was before, or any number of reasons. And so when we ask those deep questions about our business, it allows us to then take another take, take a step forward in a new direction, and go okay, because I found out that piece of information, what do I need to do, because I know that that is true now. And for you, it was, well, the next step for this is prices are going to go up, because that is going to meet all these different needs. As my business changes.
Kathryn B. 36:15
Yeah, I know, and people I see. And in our work, they'll do $1 increase or $2. And I just think we can't, it's hard to put our finger on like, you know, the dreaded gas prices or just valuing our time, and what's that worth and what we've invested into our education that we have to perform this work. I have a
Collin 36:45
recent recent reason to be being towed, and our car talk, I was talking with the, with the with the driver. And he recently started his own tow company. And one of the things that I was asking him about I said, so why did you start that he said, Well, I've got this history in it, and my dad used to do it, and I want to do it, but I want to do it better. And he said, I have the highest prices in town, and I was like good for you. And he said, Well, I just truly believe that professionalism,
Kathryn B. 37:14
costs.
Collin 37:17
And if we want to be better in different again, this is coming from a tow truck service, he was saying, I want to be better and different. And I want to be able to provide services that nobody else can provide. And that means I have to raise my rates. And I was just thinking of like, how true that is in pet care and pet services. And what we can do the the amount of training the amount of thought process and care and dedication and sleepless nights that go into pulling off perfectly executed dog walks and drop ins day after day, that costs that there is a cost behind that and that we don't fully recognize that most days,
Kathryn B. 37:57
I'm I'm in pet sitters International, like I mentioned, I love that it's a worldwide organization. And that I'm going to the conference at the end of the month. So I'm super excited about that. In nine years, I've never gone. And the reason why is because I'm always swamped with work. Okay, I never could block off that time. And when I did the virtual conference last year, the amount of information and how they run that conference, oh, my goodness, so, so well done, that I was not going to miss out this year. So I had to block off the time, which is a loss of income, right? Because I'm alone, I can't I don't have an employee. So any employees. And so I'm actually kind of proud of myself that I'm doing it but it's, you know, center location where I'm flying across the country. And if a commitment on my end financially to
Collin 39:03
yeah, there's a there's cost to those kinds of things, right, there was a cost to book, the flight and the hotel and the stay and pay for the registration. There's a cost for the loss of business, there's a cost for the time that you're dedicating to that. But there's a recognition that the benefits outweigh that, at the end of the day, and knowing that it's good for you to do that. And so whether it's going to a conference, whether it's downloading an audible book and listening to a to a book while you're doing the drives or when you're at home, investing in your education that way, or other additional courses, we recognize that all these things have cost and many times those wind up with us saying oh, it's I can't do that right now. It's I can't commit to that. But eventually we find the point where, oh, I need to do that or it's worth it and I recognize where that value is. And so we make that jump and we are better for it.
Kathryn B. 39:56
I think people you know, that's where we get that opportunity. If somebody has an objection to our rate, or the consultation fee or payment up front, or you know, on and on, and my marketing and advertising background could come into play, you know, when you get those types of objections, like, why this why that, you know, really, I, I'm proud to be able to say, you know, I'm a certified professional pet seller, you know, through pet sitters or national and, you know, I'm invest every day in, you know, studying things about this industry and going to that conference. So I'm not sure how I'm going to let clients know what I the reason why I blocked off that time, right, that I plan on, letting them know, this is what I did. I'm so proud. Because it's it's two full days of, you're just getting all the different speakers regarding various things that are so pointed to our industry and up to date, right? Exciting.
Collin 41:04
You already know that pet perennials makes it easy for pet sitters to send sympathy and other milestone gifts. But did you know they designed a new line of car air fresheners, their integrate long lasting carpooling scents with adorable animal designs and clever expressions to give you a little inspiration while you drive, and they're always releasing new designs, so there's something new, they sent Megan and I a set of these and we absolutely love them, I was just in our car smelling them today. And they're still going, I got the cat your perfect design and make it has the hamster enjoy the little things. And our kids absolutely adore them and still do the air fresheners make great client gifts to send them to new clients birthday or holiday. And you can actually order a case of your favorite designs for $1.95. Or have pet perennial, send it as a gift package to your client with that handwritten card and gift wrapped for 1275. And that does include shipping, check them out at Pet perennials.com. And be sure to register for that free business gift service account to unlock that all inclusive discounted gift package prices. And to access the wholesale catalog. Remember, you only pay when you own.
Collin 42:15
I know that in addition to the dog outings and the petsitting that you do, you also provide and started gigging getting into more more training services. And so I did want to kind of explain why you feel like that's the direction you need to be going right now and what those services look like.
Kathryn B. 42:34
Oh, that's yeah, thank you for asking about that. It's a passion for sure. I totally, I think, early on a good being in the kennels at Oregon Humane Society, you know, with dogs that sometimes aren't friendly, right? Or have all these issues. It's just something that I'm very passionate about and helping clients in a different way that I hope then what? Maybe the next trainer does, I had someone asked me at the bank today, actually, he he said, Can I Can I ask you about my dog? I said sure, sure. And what he said, what's your process? And I certainly don't I don't do packages, I just I do a fee for the consultation, which will include you know, finding out what the issues are ahead and then coming out to your home, and then some support afterwards. So that's the initial typically, it'll take one or two or three sessions, I just do it differently. I don't do you know, 10 sessions, and I'm sure we'll get your behavior issue under control. I just, I just kind of basically have them pay as we go. And I found that that has been really great because and also, you know, maybe maybe they want to try a different trainer and they're not stuck with 10 sessions, right? That they've already paid for. So and I have a lot of network. People in my network that do other types of training that I'll refer to that is very specific. So I definitely have specialized in reactivity, and just helping clients get through reactivities on walks and anyway at the bank, I showed the guy three things for free just to be nice. So thanks are appreciative
Collin 44:38
why why why reactivity and where and what has that process been like for you transitioning into kind of putting more of a trainer hat on as opposed to dog walking and pet
Kathryn B. 44:48
sitting? It can be just when I'm doing the dog walking starting nine years ago, I realized that I wasn't a general dog walker, I was able to work with the bullmastiffs and the you know, really large breed You dogs, and somehow you gain that strength, I think that it takes to handle those types of dogs that other people just simply could not handle. So I, I'm not sure about you content you've been or how much you're doing with the blocking, but your legs become like blocks. I mean, they're, you know, they're like this. And with that comes the ability to handle, you know, larger breed dogs. Currently, I'm not really doing the larger breeds as much as just these initial consultations where I just work with people on what their, what their issues are within their home. And a lot of it's can be done virtually, which I'm not doing yet, but just over the phone, telling them how to handle different behavioral issues that they're having,
Collin 45:59
well, there is such a need for that and to focus on these things that are true quality of life impacts to the owner, or their ability to live a life with their dog that will prevent them from possibly surrendering them or taking them to a shelter because they can't get over these these things is reactivity on the leash or around dogs or other people in their homes. It is such a needed service. So are you are you Where are you going for additional education training for that? Or is that something that you've just been able to develop over the years or now actually kind of honing in on as offer as an offer
Kathryn B. 46:37
for your for your clients? You know, I actually paid for the CPD T training, which I do think is one of the better ways to get the designation for dog training. Yeah. And there's actually a Facebook group that goes through questions, getting people ready for the tests. And it's amazing, right? You're just, I try Of course, not to spend too much time online. But those questions will come over and then everybody answers, and it's a preparation for the test, right? And then I'm a member also of the the A P dt. And then the i a c p. So if people Google that though, those associations have so much educational information there, that once you're a member that's free, right? So it's, it's just really being entrenched in the dog world. But I will say I'm doing probably half cat sitting too. And I love that, you know, the insulin that somebody asked me at the bank, and I couldn't live today, I just went to the bank got all these people walking up, which you know, you don't have to network sometimes right? Now, if you come in with you. Well, if you've come in with a friend, I had my French Bulldog, which I adopted, I had him he'll always attract everybody. And I adopted him just three or four months ago. And then I was with pig Gordon setter, which they're just absolutely gorgeous. And so everybody was coming up. Then they said you didn't catch you didn't insulin shots. And so I I've really loved that I've diversified and it can help many people when it comes to the pet setting. Right. I think we're all trying to expand our just our services that we offer. I'm doing this coming week as Labor Day weekend, I'm doing a gakko in a hamster
Collin 48:50
wheel, and sometimes we might not have previous experience or prior knowledge about how to handle those. Yeah, it's it's that we as the professionals get to take the time to learn about them. I know an example for us was several months ago, we had somebody reach out to us and she has three mini pot bellied pigs that live in her house. There is a Chester Charlie in chief we had never cared for pot pigs before at all. And but we came in we had done a bunch of reading and searching before we showed up so we knew what Two good questions to ask. We took way more extensive notes than we probably would have before normally for a dog and cat visit. And then we actually typed up a big care sheet and sent it out back to her for her to review and had her fill out her profile with more information and really just was able to take the time to learn about that specific care. And it is exciting because we get to do that that's a word that I embrace more and more. I get to spend three hours watching YouTube videos and we Reading veterinary forums about pot bellied pigs like, that's something I can enjoy to do, and to share that back. And now we have that knowledge. It's made us better, and it's made our staff better. And we get to do that again. And again, now that we have,
Kathryn B. 50:16
right, I know gakko Aye. Aye. Got about the light. You know, he was talking to me about changing the light. So you're going to change this light for this Gecko. Yeah. Which is wonderful. And then the, you know, the hamster is an escape artist. So you know, I've got that to look forward to that client action as rapid as well, that bites. So let's think about that rate we were talking about, okay. Yeah, let's just think about that.
Collin 50:52
That's another thing. When I was talking with the, with the tow truck operator, he was like you, he said, I told him what we charge and he was like, you don't charge nearly enough, there's no way I do what you do for that mountain. And this is a guy who stands out the side of a road, you know, with cars and trucks passing in at 75 miles an hour, all hours of the day, pulling cars out of ditches, Boggs, Leno, all sorts of stuff. And he was like, oh, no, no way I do it, you
Kathryn B. 51:21
know, it's like doing what we do. But let's also count that drive time. That's a full drive. Yeah, on the way there. And however long that takes if there's construction all over the small city that you are working in, and it takes four times as long to get to the client. You know,
Collin 51:41
Catherine, I really want to thank you so much for coming on the show today for giving us some insight into how we can be better how we can encouraging us to get those commitments from our clients so that we can be compensated well for what we are doing, and to embrace that side of us and to try new things. Because I think that as a business owner is really important that we never stop trying new things. But I know that there's a lot from your past and from your from how you're operating that we haven't gotten to touch on in this conversation. So how can people get connected with you reach out to you and start asking you some questions?
Kathryn B. 52:23
So my website is the WWW dot L. Au, which is the city i i live in Lake Oswego. So it's www dot L O pet sitting.com. And then my Instagram is my name, which is Catherine, and then it's an underscore Burj. That's my Instagram and my business Instagram I have not been doing so by the time this airs, my goal would be to have, you know, not an embarrassing amount of followers, you know, try to get that try to get that going. Actually, it's, it's funny how we can focus on our business, and not do all the other things that I've learned that on this on this podcast, it's just, it's almost like, How could someone not do all of that in the forefront, right, get all your things perfect, and then do your business. But I'm kind of the other way, I've been chasing it a bit.
Collin 53:28
It is a process. That's true. And it gets back to balance and knowing where our priorities lie. At that time, right priorities change. And we are able to invest kind of differentially as we have more or less opportunities in our in our days and our weeks. And I think that's just kind of recognizing when we have those opportunities that we do need to jump on them and take advantage of them when we can. I've really enjoyed our conversation. And I'm definitely going to be reaching out to you to touch on some more things. Because I know that you focus on a lot of other things as well. We'd love to have you back on the show.
Kathryn B. 54:05
Well, I hope that anybody can call I always put my phone number on these Facebook pages to give me a call. And I'm happy to talk to anybody about starting their pet sitting business. I'm doing a little bit of consulting on that. that'll all be on my website.
Collin 54:21
Perfect. Well, yeah. And I'll have links to those on the show notes and on the website with your phone number. So people can get connected to you directly. Catherine again, I this has been such a pleasure. Thank you so much.
Kathryn B. 54:34
Thank you have a great day.
Collin 54:36
When Catherine looked at her business, she asked that serious question, what changed here? I think that's something we all need to do a little bit more of more frequently is to look deep inside of our business. Look at everything that's going on and ask ourselves what changed? It could be that our passion changed. It could be that the business itself has changed around us without a As paying attention, this is why it's so critical to be tracking how your services are booked and where your revenue is coming per service. I know for us, the business that we are currently running looks nothing like the business a year ago, even six months ago, and honestly, three months ago, because when we lift our finger from the pulse of our business, we lose track of what's actually going on. And we stop being able to make relevant, real time pertinent decisions for how the business should it needs to operate. We get caught broadsided by things that come up that we thought were handled, but because we're running a different business now, are actually never been solved before. What has changed in your business? And how do you stay in touch with things going on? Let us know. We want to thank today's sponsors, time to pat and perennials for making today's show possible. And we really want to thank you so much for listening for all that you do and we wish you all the best and we hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. We'll be back again soon.
