148: The Extra Mile
This episode is brought to you by our awesome partners: Start Scale Sail, & Texas Pet Sitters Association
Summary:
Going the extra mile means something different to everyone. From making clients happy, to settings ourselves apart, going above and beyond can meet various goals in our business. We discuss ways to go the extra mile while maintaining healthy relationships. On the Ask a Pet Biz Coach segment, Natasha O’Banion answers, “How do I set my pricing if I’m looking to hire?”
Topics on this episode:
Adding value
Focusing on the little things
What’s a “standard” service?
Not getting taken advantage of
Ask a Pet Biz Coach with Natasha O’Banion
Main take away? Going the extra mile is going above and beyond the expectations of your client.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
client, extra mile, services, business, pet sitters, pet, house, dog, sitter, pay, home, provide, clean, walk, employee, expectations, owners, care, people, run
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Natasha
Meghan 00:17
Hi, I'm Meghan.
Collin 00:18
I'm Collin. And this is pet sitter
Meghan 00:20
confessional and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Welcome to Episode 148, the extra mile Hello, if this is your first time joining us, welcome we have over a year and a half's worth of podcasts available 147 other episodes that you can go back and listen to anytime you want. And we also want to thank our sponsors, Texas pet sitters Association they're putting on their annual conference this year. And our awesome patrons,
Collin 00:55
thank you so much to everyone who is supporting us every month for less than the price of a cup of coffee. To find out more about what that means and what that looks like, head on over to pet sitter confessional.com, forward slash support.
Meghan 01:08
So this episode is all about the extra mile going the extra mile for our clients many times in business, we look at ways to add value to our clients and make our services more appealing. Sometimes we do this through changing our services offering different services or offering additional services on top of what we already offer. There's also been a big push into VIP services and all inclusive pricing. I've even seen some companies do vi D or V IC have very important dog, or very important cat.
Collin 01:44
Right? You know, we know some senators who have these everything is included kind of packages, their monthly packages, that the client plays one price, and they can get any of the services that they need, or whatever they need during that month. It's kind of like the gym memberships that we go and you pay 100 bucks, or however much it is. And you use it if you want to. But if you don't use it, you know, you still pay that same price. But what's important here is that it gets you access to everything you could possibly want.
Meghan 02:12
But that may not be for everyone. Because you know, I'd worry that I get that one client that literally wants to get more than their money's worth out of it. And kind of being stressed about them. I feel like I can be that way. Sometimes if I want to get as much as I can my money's worth out of whatever I'm buying. So I'm going to use it to the max, I think I did that with a yoga membership a couple years back,
Collin 02:33
yes, I'm sure at the end of their sale period, they're like never again, we're never offering that.
Meghan 02:39
But anyway, that's not going to be the majority of the clients. And obviously, it's going to balance out your clients that may do that versus a client who just use it once and either forget about it kind of like a gym membership, or just don't use it as much as others,
Collin 02:54
right. So there's that side of this. But there's also focusing on the little things and our businesses that we can do this this going the extra mile so we can start trying to add some value to our existing services. Now, when that phrase going the extra mile, it conjures up a lot of different meanings for people. And I'm sure it's conjuring up different meanings for you listening right now.
Meghan 03:15
Yeah, so I think that going the extra mile is not just providing care for their pet, but for their home as well. And it's noticing the small things like if the dog's poop is running that day, and it's not usually running or if the dog is walking differently on a walk, it's noticing the little things. That means going the extra mile for me,
Collin 03:37
I like to think of it as meeting the needs of the client before they know that they need it. So it's about going above and beyond the expectations that our clients have. So obviously, one client's expectations will be totally different from another, which can lead to a lot of frustration when we do everything we possibly can. And we don't feel like the client even notices I see posts and comments like this all the time where people feel their clients are ungrateful for the services they're providing. And it may just be that the client has a high expectation for us maybe even higher than our own expectations.
Meghan 04:14
But yeah, and a lot of times those are unspoken, either on the client's part or on our part. And they may those expectations may have carried over from a previous sitter, they may have had a previous sitter may have done things a certain way or done extra things that now that client is expecting of you but they haven't directly told you that but that's why having a what to expect section of your contract or on your website is such a great idea and really needed so that there is no misunderstanding on either parties part. When the client comes to you they know this is exactly what I'm going to get. And you can you can stay on your website you know I bring in the mail or I check on the plants. I check all the windows in your house just to make sure they are secured, obviously not going into rooms that you shouldn't be going into. But saying those things stating those things on your website or in your contract, so the client knows up front that these are the extra little things that you do.
Collin 05:17
Right? I think you as a business owner listening, you know that not every service not every business owner services are created equal. Whenever somebody says I take my dogs for a walk, that means something different to you versus somebody else. So line out exactly what your walk includes, do you provide chilled filtered water and after walk massage, custom booties and essential oil, aroma therapy, whatever you do for your services, whatever you think your services are, as standard set that expectation so that the clients immediately know that and they have that expectation going into it. Those things that I mentioned those sounds like a lot.
Meghan 05:55
Yeah, we do not offer custom booties,
Collin 05:58
or after walk massages. But if that's how you want to run your walks or your boarding, great do that and let your clients know about it too. Again, we're trying to set and manage those expectations. This, this topic is kind of about raising the bar on our services and finding ways to bring added value. So is
Meghan 06:18
this to make you stand out from other sitters, or how to make clients happier.
Collin 06:24
Both, I think that's important to see here is that we can accomplish both of those at the same time. While we strive to go the extra mile, it is a possible way to set yourself apart by making that extra mile standard for your packages. Kind of like just like I just alluded to there, you know that saying, the extra mile is never crowded, because as we all push to make ourselves better. We you know, not everybody in your industry and everybody in your market is going to be doing that, too. As we push our services to be better than think of those little things, we naturally start to set ourselves apart.
Meghan 06:58
But it's also about making the clients happier as well, obviously, so I kind of like to think of it as bringing them delight and amusement to their day. So they wouldn't normally think that a pet sitter would check on their plants and make sure they have enough water. But you do that as a standard practice of your drop in checks.
Collin 07:17
Yeah, when we're able to do something unexpected for the client that makes their day and I love that word delights them. That's always a really, really great feeling. Because you've surprised them, you've made their day better from doing these little things in your service.
Meghan 07:33
Yeah, maybe you leave a note at the end of a stay. We used to do that when we did a lot of drop in checks and house settings, we would leave a note every time a little description. Now we obviously do text messages. But still a little handwritten note of our stay with Fido was great. And we didn't have any issues. You know, just a little handwritten note that shows the client that you took the time to say thank you, and that you were appreciative of them trusting you to care for their home and their pet,
Collin 07:59
right. And they were on little custom letterhead, note style pieces of paper that we had made for our business. So kind of fit in with all the branding and stuff. But again, it was just this extra thing that we could provide at the end of the service.
Meghan 08:11
Unfortunately, though, sometimes it can really feel like a duty and like we have to go the extra mile sometimes, because we're not confident in our pricing as an example. So we add all these little extra things to justify it. But honestly, you don't have to add these services at all. You don't have to change anything about how you do your walks and drop ins. Everyone should be raising their prices regularly and consistently. So hear us loud and clear, you are enough and you're doing great work. This conversation is just about how we can find ways to do more for our clients.
Collin 08:47
So beyond just changing up our services, we can think about these little things in our days, these little moments that we have available to us. And there's a great example of this. If you know that you're checking on a pet in the afternoon, and the client won't be home until 10pm or later, turn on their porch light or leave a light on the inside of their apartment for them or close their blinds for them. This little courtesy that is speaking to security, safety, that you're thinking about them and not just their pet. It shows this holistic care that you're bringing to these people's lives and you're solving more problems than just making sure their pet is cared for.
Meghan 09:28
Or if you do boarding. I know a lot of groomers like to give bandanas out but maybe if you do boarding you can send the dog home with a little bandana as well.
Collin 09:37
Yeah, again, just these little things. I know people will charge extra to water and care for plants while they're taking care of somebody's house. But that's just something that we've decided not to do. So we will include plant care as part of it. Well, of
Meghan 09:53
course we've never come across someone with a greenhouse or acres and acres.
Collin 09:57
Now that's something different but this is just the standard Normal run of the mill, everyday house plants, right. So while we're checking on the pets, we're also checking on the plants and seeing if they're bone dry or not in watering them. And obviously, if the client has left special instructions for their plants, we followed those to the tee.
Meghan 10:16
And then also bringing in the mail for your client as well if you have access to their mailbox, and then especially taking a picture of it as well, once you get it to verify that all the pieces are there so that nothing ever comes back on you if you if they claim that you took a piece of their mail or something. And this is especially important during the holidays. And for elderly, elderly clients bringing in packages maybe that are too heavy, or just anything that's on their porch that could be stolen is important as well and obviously taking a picture of the package. So to verify that you did put it inside on the counter, and you didn't open it or you just left it alone.
Collin 10:52
right in that to have that where I have that picture. I think that is so huge. Have I brought in the mail. Here's a picture of it on your counter. And for heavy packages. If it was too heavy for your client to bring into the house, don't lift it up high on top of a counter, leave it down low so they can get access to it again, thinking about their needs as well as the pets needs. When you're doing we're doing these services.
Meghan 11:15
There are less than three weeks left to get registered for the Texas pet sitters conference, you can go to TX pet sitters.com and get registered. It is completely free. It is all online so you don't have to travel anywhere. And they have some awesome speakers lined up. Kate McQuillan is the keynote speaker, there's going to be people talking about cat behavior, and horses and exotic pet care, finances. Everything you really need to run your business. So you can go to TX pet sitters calm and get registered today.
Collin 11:46
And if you signed up for the VIP package several weeks ago, you can expect a goodie box headed your way really soon.
Meghan 11:52
And the dates for the conference are February 19 through the 21st. Another big thing for us is cleaning the house before we leave. So when we are house setting, before we leave, we do a lot of different things to clean up and to make sure that it's our philosophy is to make sure that it's cleaner than when we found it or at least as clean. We're not here as maids. We're not here as dust fairies, we well, House Cleaners anyway, our primary care is for the pets, and yes for the home as well. But we do lots of different things. When we're cleaning up from a house sitting we pick up all the poop in the yard. Within reason. Of course, if the poop has accumulated for months, and the owners don't pick it up, we only clean what the dog has done. While we've cared for him or her. We're not an official pooper scooper. So we are not contracted out to pick up all the poop in the yard, just what the dog has done. We also collect the trash in the house. And we collect the bedding and towels and either started in the washing machine or at least place it in the laundry room. We also dust and vacuum either the entire house if we've been utilizing the entire house or just the main living areas, because sometimes they've closed off doors to other rooms where we're not supposed to go. And then another one is we make sure all of the dishes are cleaned and put away particularly the ones that we've used. I don't think we've come across a house that has just been overrun with tons and tons of dishes. But I know we haven't Yeah, I do know that those happen, though. So use your judgment there. Again, you're not a cleaning service. So use your judgment. And then we take the trash and the dog poop with us and throw it all away at our house.
Collin 13:30
Yeah, I know that sounds like a lot. But we want our clients to come home and not have the burden of cleaning up after us.
Meghan 13:37
Yeah, we want to make it so it looks like we have not even been there.
Collin 13:41
Yes, yeah, it's just as somebody who travels, it's a much nicer experience to come home after a week or so way to have a clean home. And know that you have that one less thing to worry about instead of having to come home and worry about Okay, got to clean up after the sitter that was here, I've got to do this, I've got to do that just it's one less thing that they've got to worry about. And it honestly in the grand scheme of the time we spend at somebody's house doesn't take up that much time out of our day.
Meghan 14:08
Now. And obviously, this is different because of COVID. A lot of house sitting has not happened. And a lot of people are just maybe doing a little bit of drop in checks here and there or some dog walks and these things won't necessarily apply. You won't be collecting bedding and towels if you're just doing drop in checks. But just keeping these things in mind of for when and if you do a house it and just some niceties along the way.
Collin 14:31
Sure. But if you're also doing drop ins, are you tracking in mud? Is the dog tracking in mud? Did you clean that then once you clean that, what did you do with those towels? Did you just leave them in a pile or did you take them to the laundry room or someplace that's more centralized and out of the way, these common courtesies that we're able to put into implementation for our services play a big role in how our clients view us. And we've talked a lot about branding and what that means to live out a brand. This is part of that these common courtesies become part of our brand. That's how people start viewing us viewing you coming into their home? How do they How do they think you take care of their property and view their home whenever you help clean up, and whenever you take care of it clean up after yourself, that speaks volume to your personal character to our personal character, and that that is something we should all take very seriously.
Meghan 15:26
And then one more I just thought of so many house sitters, particularly those that are international and doing a free exchange of service and lodging will make a meal for the owners that are coming home, if they've been away for weeks or a couple months, they stocked the fridge. So the owner doesn't have to worry about that when they get home. If you've traveled for any length of time, you know that grocery shopping is one of the first things you do when you come home, but a client is going to love the fact that you've stocked their fridge obviously, this, you know, as a business, you would want to charge extra for this, right. But a lot of house sitters who do it internationally for free, do this exchange as a nicety to say, Hey, welcome home, here's a home cooked meal, you don't have to worry about dinner tonight, and your fridge is stocked, so you don't have to go to the store for a few days. So you can just come home and relax.
Collin 16:13
Yeah, I love that as an added service, an added bonus that you're able to to, to provide to them of if you would like me to go grocery shopping for you before you come back, I'll do that for you. You know, these are the terms and conditions and blah, blah. And then that's another service that you're able to provide them and solve that problem for them.
Meghan 16:33
So as with anything, sometimes things can get out of hand. And with going the extra mile is definitely one of those situations, it can get out of hand really quick, where we as pet sitters and house sitters start to get taken advantage of which is really easy in this industry. Because we are all bleed heart pet lovers willing to really do anything to make them and their owners happy. Yes, yeah, we also have a, I think chronic problem in this industry of not really feeling like we're legitimate businesses worthy of the same respect other businesses get, you know, how many times have you been asked, but seriously, what's your real job? I know we talked about this on a few episodes ago, just not many people think that dog walking and pet sitting is a legitimate industry. But obviously it is yes. So because of all this, it's really easy to get drawn into situations that are not just going the extra mile, but it's getting taken advantage of.
Collin 17:31
Yeah, have you ever had a client approached you about needing to surrender their dog for whatever reason. And while they don't explicitly state that they want you to take it, they try really, really hard and start laying on some guilt trips about how you know them so well. And you have this connection, and all of this stuff. Or maybe they want you to pick up their order of takeout food on the way to their house. But don't mention anything about paying or x asking anything extra for that. Or something commonly that happening, unfortunately, more and more recently as clients who consistently book an hour before they need our services.
18:08
And we tend to let it slide because we want to go that extra mile, we want to be there for them and accommodate their needs
Meghan 18:15
and not let them down.
Collin 18:16
Right not let us know. And some senators say that as long as the client pays, they'll essentially do whatever,
Meghan 18:22
well. And that's fine. That's up to you. Obviously, if a client is willing to pay $75, because they want their dog walked within an hour, you know that? That's up to you.
Collin 18:34
Right, right. And in those instances, at least make sure it's worth your time and have things in your contract. If If you booked me within an hour, I will absolutely do it. But there is a $50 late fee or last minute, literally last minute booking charge for this. And we did see a lot of sitters pivot to this style of service because of what happened last year, last year hurt everybody. And we were hurting for business. And so we know sitters who went grocery pickups, and did errands, pet taxi services, all sorts of things. Because if the client had the need and they were willing to pay, sometimes we have to take advantage of that. Because that's what's good for business at that time.
Meghan 19:15
It makes us look good. You don't need to bend over backwards and do something that you don't feel good about. But also it's nice to keep our clients coming back and have repeat clients, especially when things are kind of tumultuous right now.
Collin 19:28
Right? So how do we balance going the extra mile versus just having disrespectful clients that take advantage of us?
Meghan 19:36
Well, I think the first thing is to know that going the extra mile flows from you and your desire to give them the best possible service when the request comes from the client and it infringes on you and your boundaries and they want you to pick up their Jimmy John's order but they're not willing to pay for it. That's just being disrespectful. going the extra mile means we're taking it upon ourselves to do so. Nice for the client, when the client starts laying it out like it's an expectation, and it doesn't fit with you or makes you feel uncomfortable and doesn't really work for you. That's not okay. So getting out of those situations can kind of be a little nerve wracking and difficult for us. But as always, with difficult conversations, we need to stick to the facts, we need to point them to the contract that they signed, and just say that you won't be able to accommodate them.
Collin 20:26
And this gets back to having exactly lined out what you will and will not do or what you can or cannot expect from each of your services, it's a really, really good idea to have that ironed out. That way you do have something to point back to if things starts to slide south, or people have expectations that go outside of what you're willing to provide. So as with all things, it seems like we're back to talking more about boundaries. It's almost like running a healthy business. You know, it all needs to be connected in some way in a holistic approach.
Meghan 21:02
Well, and that's the key, a healthy business, going the extra mile is part of a healthy business, it shows that you're engaged, it shows that you're looking for opportunities to help clients. And it also gives us an opportunity to expand services and try new things that we want to do. If you started grocery shopping for a client and you did it one or two or three times. And you found out that you don't actually like doing that no matter how much they're going to pay you, then you can stop that.
Collin 21:30
Or conversely, you notice that a lot of clients are consistently asking you to go and get groceries for you. But that's not something you currently provide. But you see that that's an opening or an opportunity for you to do that, you can add that to your service list.
Meghan 21:44
Another example is if you're consistently finding yourself noticing that clients don't have clean water and clean food bowls, because seriously, it's way too common in our experience. And we clean every single bowl every day while they're in our care. But this may lead to the idea to offer a hygiene service. So you could set intervals to clean bowls and scoops and toys and beddings and crates and whatever else for owners. And they would pay a fee for that.
Collin 22:13
Right? You may find that owners consistently have really poor quality harnesses or leads, and you could start offering your favorite items to them for sale, or maybe even require them to be purchased as part of coming in onboarding for as a client of yours.
Meghan 22:27
And obviously, this is going to look different for everyone. We I think we say this every episode,
Collin 22:31
every single episode.
Meghan 22:32
Yep. But it's so true now, especially after COVID or during COVID. Everybody's business is operating differently at a different capacity at a different location. And so this is going to look different for everybody. But hopefully, this has given you some ideas of how you can go above and beyond for a client and even if you want to are willing to
Collin 22:54
write and you may listen to some of our examples of what it means to go above and beyond and think a that's just ridiculous, that's just part of my service, I don't consider that going above and beyond or be, there's no way I would ever do that I just I'm going to stick to my own. Again, that's perfectly fine. Your definition of going above and beyond for your clients should and will inherently be different from every single other person running a business and listening to this podcast. That's what makes running our own businesses. so wonderful. We're able to set our objectives, our goals, and, and live and operate out of those for our clients to meet their needs.
Meghan 23:34
But hopefully, you can see that going above and beyond is not just worth it to your client, but also worth it to you as well. When you do those little things, it makes you feel good, it makes you feel like you have made a difference in your client's life and in the pets life. And that's awesome.
Collin 23:49
Right? It does give you this personal fulfillment that you did the absolute best possible job for that client that you know, possible that you know how you've poured everything into it, for them from start to finish. That's it. That's a personal achievement, a personal satisfaction that nobody else can give you. And so on those on those tough days for those or for those really hard clients. When you know that you have dotted all the i's crossed all the T's and done everything as best you know how from start to finish, you can at least walk away from that job, being satisfied in your ability in your skills, and knowing that you did the best service that you know how to do
Meghan 24:29
we would love to know if you agree with us or don't agree with us. And it how you go above and beyond for your client.
Collin 24:37
Yes. So how some examples that you put into practice that you would say this is going above and beyond for my clients and I love doing it.
Meghan 24:44
You can give us a call at 636-364-8260 or you can find us on Instagram and Facebook and everywhere at pet sitter confessional. This week's pet business coach question with Natasha O'Bannon is how do I set my pricing structure if I'm ready looking to hire?
Natasha 25:01
Okay, that's an amazing question. So, so many layers, so many layers to deciding number one, if you're ready to have an employee. And then number two, making sure you can pay them properly. And number three, making sure you don't bounce payroll. But once you've decided to do this, you want to make sure all three things align. Yeah. So the first thing I always say is, look at your services in your business. Make sure the profit is there, if you need to raise rates, or if you need to cut services, or cut travel time or mileage, I literally just coached the business on this just yesterday. Well, not yesterday, the day before yesterday, about this, right, making sure the profits are there. Because she was driving around town, for instance, I'm like, so if you're driving around town, you're spending tremendous amount of money on gas and mileage, but you have an hourly salary employee, so you're still paying them on the clock, guess what those clock dollars aren't giving you any investment dollars. So I'm like right now everything is just a liability for you. You're just kicking it all out, and not bringing it all in. So look at your business structure and see how many hours are we actually producing work, right? So out of all these hours in a day, how much income am I actually making, versus what I'm putting out, it needs to match. Okay, so all your numbers, and I always say this every single day, his business is a numbers. When you run your business based on numbers, your decisions get so much easier and clearer and faster to make, right. That's why we say bring an integrator into your business because they have the ability to look at what's happening on an open view, clear mind. So make sure the pay structure is there number one far is time versus miles versus what you bring into what you're putting out. Okay. Secondly, if you are in a situation where you are driving tremendous amount of time, you have to check with your state, you have to find out what's the minimum wages, you have to find out if you require to pay mileage, if you require to pay gaps, you know, sometimes they do charge you that because obviously that's an expense that your employee would have to take on. So figuring out what your state labor laws allow you to do. So a rule of thumb is that let's let's give an example in the dog walking fields, and this is pet sitter confessional talk about dog walking. If I have a client that I am servicing, say on a pack walk for dogs at once, okay, now I'm bringing in profit, it takes me 45 minutes to get all these dogs, that means collecting the keys, go into the concierge go into the lockbox getting going into all the homes which are requiring a 30 minute service, but it's going to take around 45 minutes at least. So that's the time you're making on the clock 45 minutes. But you have four different families paying you for that 30 minute service. So now you have an ability to bring in profit. But if you're doing those single solo services, where it takes you 25 minutes to drive to a house, and then 30 minutes to do a service, and then 25 minutes drive to your next house, you're losing a lot of money. So then it's like listen out of a full day and I just talked one of my clients do this. She does 10 dogs for full day, for instance. But she's working nine to four. And I said okay, so you're requiring your staff to be on shift from nine to four. So whatever you bring in, you want to make sure minimum wage is getting paid for those same exact hours. But she was wondering, like, you know, not all of us had this feeling. I feel like I'm doing so much work. I feel like I have so many clients, but I'm not seeing any profit. Why is this? Why Why am I feeling I'm at you know, find needles in my profit margin. And I said, Because you are, you know, the numbers are not making sense. So basically, in the pet care industry, we have piecework or we have hourly work. I prefer to pay hourly, because my team is going to be on the clock no matter what. And I believe in cross training your team, if you cross trained to do administrative work to do marketing to do sales, now you're providing a grand scheme of a full time employee that makes sense to work on the clock. So they really don't care what it is they're doing. Because they're doing a little bit administrative. They're doing a little bit of marketing, sales, growing their skills, and they're taking care of animals. But for instance, in pet sitting, pet sitting is a very much of a piece work type of job. I know tons of pet sitters previous to COVID that work start to close, like literally from seven to six, they were Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And so some of them paid by the hour because they're fully booked for the full way. But if you're not booked on the clock all day long, it makes more sense to provide peace work. Now I think the question that most pet care providers has is not really the pay structure if it should be hourly or piecework. They want to know if it should be the contractor or the employee. And so pet sitters for instance, will hire employees as well as they can justify keeping that employee on the clock for that entire time, or giving them additional tasks, or they're not conflicting with the Labor Board. Does that make sense?
Collin 30:11
Yeah, it does. Because I know that can be a pretty big gray area as to how much control they have and how much say they have and how you said how much they're able to keep them busy throughout the day.
Natasha 30:20
Yeah, overall, I recommend that pet sitters stick with a piece of work. I just think it's a better platform for them. For most business models, I think most business models are not sure where the business is coming and going. They don't have that recurring schedule, right that predictability. So when you don't have those numbers to predict, and we can go even deeper to market and sell and put you know, sales funnels in your business. So you can predict because you can actually predict your petsitting income if you put those strategies in there. But if you haven't done that thus far, I think piecework is the safest option. I have a lot of clients and Philadelphia friends and where they require that they're independent contractors are still employees, so they still have to pay piecework and they still pay employees, you know, they pay their income tax and everything else. And they're legit, you know, no issue, they're able to provide, you know, their staff employee benefits. But I think if you're doing like a pack walk structure, even like hiking adventure, off leash, all those things where you can provide bulk, you know, if you run a daycare center, if you if you run a grooming salon, all those things where you can provide both are best done by the hour.
Collin 31:32
Well, and on that on the piecework side of thing. I think that's where that question of do I pay 6040 or 7030 8020 split of that actual work? So what is a good place to start or lace recommend for somebody who's just getting into employee and they and they decide, okay, peace work is for me, how do I split that and get my employee paid?
Natasha 31:52
I think overall a good What is 5050 You're the business, you're the face, you're taking in your liability, you're marketing for them, you're bringing in business, if you're a business owner, the hardest job is finding business being a person who keeps the lights on the ones that's keeping the cycle, though, yeah, the person providing however, the job is equally as important. So I think a 5050 split is a good starting point. But there's so many variables that change that, for instance, I'm paying a few of my staff member on a 75 them. And I'm happy doing it because I have the cushion to do it. And we're in COVID. So I want to make sure their income is not affected no matter what I want to make sure working for me is worth it. And it makes sense. So I say hey, 75 goes your way. 25 goes my way, no problem and make sure everybody's taken care of. So there's always variables to why you would make a switch or a flip. But make sure you're flexible. And make sure you taking care of your people, right?
Collin 32:44
Well, I'm sure to if you're doing that cross training, depending on what they're being cross trained on and what the expectations are for that position, you may flex that percentage a little bit both ways, depending on again, like you said, like what they're doing and the circumstances around it.
Natasha 32:58
Exactly. And when you can cross train and it makes sense to pay by the hour. Everybody wins, right? Because they don't feel like oh I'm I'm kind of unstable not so sure job when they're getting different type of clients coming in and out. They're not they don't really consider it a job right. And now a lot of pet care providers and say, Oh, my staff don't really take my business serious like, you know, this dog thing or this cat thing is not a real serious job for them getting kind of these, you know tire kicker type staff. Well, that's because you're the way you're implementing your business as a tire kicker type staff. I'm like your business is designed for tire kickers, you know, throwing them bones every now and then and calling them every now and then and they're not really on a roll and all those variables why they would treat your business how you treat your business.
Meghan 33:55
Natasha owns her own dog walking business and she is also a pet business coach. And if you would like her to coach you, you can go to her website to start scale sale calm and use the code p sc 20 for 15% off her coaching.
Collin 34:09
Coming up on Wednesday we have Jill modjeski owner of Jill's next door dog walking and pet sitting on she talks about what it was like moving from being an academic advisor to being a full time pet sitter. why it's so important for safety and understanding canine emotion and cognition. And what her funniest experience was like as a pet sitter,
Meghan 34:30
we would like to thank again Texas pet sitters Association for sponsoring this episode. And we thank you so much for taking your most valuable asset your time and listening to us today. These episodes are so much fun to produce and come up with and we are just having a lot of fun and we thank you so much for supporting us and sharing these episodes and leaving us great reviews. We can't say thank you enough.
Collin 34:55
Yeah, honestly, it's a lot of fun to sit down and record these with them. Megan and it's something that we look forward to every single week to come up with topics and then get Tish and share and interact with you and get your feedback from them. It's It's a wonderful growing and learning experience for us getting to interact with this broader community. And we hope that you are getting connected and involved with other pet sitters as well.
Meghan 35:21
Thank you so much. Thank you
