317: Celebrating Your Wins with Janie Budnick
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Summary:
What does it mean to fail forward? Lessons can be learned from our own mistakes, as well as through reading and engaging with others and new ideas. Janie Budnick, owner of 4 Legged Kids, shares how she has continued to learn and grow over the past 25 years in business. Janie’s passion for well run (and fun) businesses is evident in how she describes the importance of good role titles. She encourages us to read more and dives into what it means for her and her team to stay on mission in everything they do.
Topics on this episode:
Some people are doers
Failing forward
Being a reader
Staying on mission
Servant leadership
Main take away? You’re failures don’t define you, so learn from them and always be looking for new things to read and learn from.
About our guest:
Janie Budnick founded 4-Legged Kids, Inc in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1997 after nearly a decade of animal education including pursuing her Bachelor’s in Animal Science at Mizzou and veterinary technician training. 4-Legged Kids provides dog walking and pet sitting services as St. Louis’ largest staffed in-home pet care service. 4-Legged Kids exists to maintain and support the connection between pets and people because Life With Pets is Life Well Lived ™. The Company’s mission combines love for the amazing pets and families of St Louis with the social responsibility necessary to provide for those homeless animals not as fortunate. Their One-for One business model provides a meal to a local homeless pet for every service provided. Janie has spent the last two decades working directly with local rescue, from personally pulling dogs and puppies from death row and preparing them for fosters, to serving on the governing board of Open Door Animal Sanctuary, the largest no-kill shelter in the State of Missouri. She is also mama to four cats and four “2-legged kids”.
Her expertise in the industry has led her to develop online education and strategic business planning through the PetBizHIVE podcast and Facebook group and the PetBizMBA™ Membership. She is a Certified Professional Pet Sitter through Pet Sitters International, was the first veterinary Fear Free Certified in-home caregiver in Missouri, and is the first in-home provider in the world to receive the Certified Professional Animal Care Operator designation through the Professional Animal Care Certification Council, the only third party independent testing and certification for the pet care services industry. She also serves on their governing board and her mission is the standardization and professionalism of the in-home pet care industry.
Links:
4-Legged Kids: https://4leggedkids.com
Janie’s 50 Favorite Books: https://petsitterguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Reading-Guide.pdf
The Pet Sitter Guru: https://petsitterguru.com
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/petsitterguru
The Pet Biz Hive: https://www.facebook.com/groups/petbizhive
Their rescue partnership:https://4leggedkids.com/rescue/
EntreLeadership: https://amzn.to/3bnXn9V
EntreLeadership Podcast: https://www.ramseysolutions.com/shows/the-entreleadership-podcast
The Ideal Team Player: https://amzn.to/3PV6a2e
Brené Brown: https://brenebrown.com
DISC: https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc
Short Circuit (1986): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091949/
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
business, people, pet, book, company, clients, hiring, Janie, day, mission, read, lock boxes, lockbox, started, situations, years, personality assessments, key, life, important
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Janie 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 sitters International. What does it mean to fail forward? And why is reading as a business owner so important? Today, Janie Budnik, owner of four legged kids joins the show to talk about her 25 years in business. She shares what she's learned about how to be an excellent communicator, and what it actually means to stay on mission for you and your business. Let's get started.
Janie B. 00:43
Oh, my goodness. Thank you, Collin and Meghan for having me on the show. Yes, my name is Janie Budnik with four legged kids. We are a business in St. Louis, Missouri. And we just celebrated our 25th anniversary in July. So I am an old dog officially.
Collin 01:04
So 2025 years ago, Janie, what was it about petsitting industry that you were like, that's that's what I need to be doing with my life?
Janie B. 01:15
Well, I got fired from my job. How does that sound for a starter?
Collin 01:18
It's pretty good. That's pretty good.
Janie B. 01:22
Oh, my goodness. You know, I had been in the pet industry. Since I was 14 years old. I had the love of my life, Sonny man, he was my orange tabby cat, I'm soft spot for Orange tabbies. And he was my buddy. And he passed away. Actually, diabetes went into DKA. And the vet clinic was not able to save him. But it was that one of my life that I decided my purpose was pets, and actually started volunteering at that same veterinary clinic when I was 14. I originally plan on going to vet school. But when I tried to get into Mizzou, in Columbia, Missouri, and they said, No, we want you to take some more science classes, I moved to St. Louis, I met my future husband, he was here that school was there. And so one of those big changes in life was working at a vet clinic. And actually I did get fired from my job. I was in between positions had been doing some pet sitting on the side for clients of clinics that I worked at and managed and one of them from California, told me I should start my own business. And at that time, I let what I mean, who wants to be a business owner that sounds so incredibly boring. But look at me 25 years later, I am still married to the same person. And I still have that same business. So I'm doing something right.
Collin 03:03
Well, I think there are two foundational things there. One, you touched on the fact that after Sunday, man you found that your your purpose was pets. And then it sounds like you had a mind shift in my mind shift change around what it meant to be a business owner. So what what was it? How did that grow on you over time, because I know many people are in the same boat of they want to work with pets, but you say the word business or company or feel or owner and they kind of bristle a little bit doesn't quite fit them they feel awkward saying those things. So what how did that change for you?
Janie B. 03:36
Wow, that was that was a paradigm shift that happened over a period of time, it certainly was not instant. I found out after working for myself for a period of time that I was a lousy employee in the first place. So it was probably good that I became a business owner, which probably a lot of us if we really look back we see that you know there there's a certain type of person that is meant to be the you know, doer. And there is another type that is meant to be the like I'm Sayer I create what there is to do. And I always was looking for making improvements wherever I was. So you know, that was probably why, you know, my last position didn't work terribly well for me is because I was always trying to make my own process improvements. So it really you know, it was a paradigm shift that I had to go through especially as quickly as I had to hire in as I was growing. And everything that goes with that being the one who is of course telling somebody else what to do, how to do things, how you want things done, so you really start getting into a whole level I have personal development and growth, going from the position of I love pets, and I'm going to do this so I can actually pay my rent, to wow, this is a business. But I love pets, and I know nothing about business. And now I have to learn. So it is it is a huge shift. And you really have to have a growth mindset to tackle that head on.
Collin 05:26
Yeah, that growth mindset, knowing that everything is not static, that it can change. And that's where that creative part comes in. And it's really interesting that you touched on that date, because I noticed that more and more of that there are the doers. And they're the creators, just as you said there have it when we are in our business, we are creating something that never had existed before it kind of came, it feels like it comes out of nowhere, but it comes from within us and for the people that we surround ourselves with. And that is a very interesting process does take to start as you go through this paradigm shift, as you said, of like, well, I'm just somebody who loves pets. Now I'm creating something around that passion, and I'm shaping and molding what that looks like. And then you can step back, and you get to look at what you've made. And I think many times we forget to appreciate what we have, and that the work that we pour into it. Oh, yeah, I mean,
Janie B. 06:19
that's one of the most important things to me is celebrating my wins every day. That's, that's part of my daily process. Sometimes when you're just in the messy middle of all the crap that can go on in our business as each day, you don't take the time to really step back and say, Wow, okay, like, look what I actually did, instead of focusing on those negative aspects of, you know, oh my god, I just hired somebody, and they turned out to be a complete donkey. And, you know, just the day to day flyers that we put out, we have to take a step back and look at that and really switch in our minds how we approach the things that that are in our business every day to find that positive and find that when even if something was totally crappy, wrong, yeah, okay, I'm gonna learn from that. And next time, I won't do it that way. To me, that's a win. Because now you've been able to make make a decision and push the needle on your business to move it forward. And instead of focusing on oh my god, I was a total failure today.
Collin 07:23
But be able to be able to rebound from those lessons those those hard won battles in our in both our personalized and our business. So for people who may struggle for that, with that kind of thing, what kind of advice would you give them to learn? Well, from lessons that and mistakes that they make?
Janie B. 07:39
Oh, my gosh, yeah, um, you know, I've got so many like little things, the little sayings out there that I just can, yeah, almost like my mantra, fail forward, fail forward is like a mantra that I had some times, you know, understanding that failure in every failure is, of course, an equal opportunity, that we can always learn something out of the failures, I could probably almost write a book on failures, like the top 20 things to not do in your business, you know, Hey, maybe I will write that book someday. So because I have I have checked them off. That's, that's why I enjoy helping other people in their businesses so much, because I've, you know, pretty much written the book on on how to screw up and rebound from it. So it's, you know, it's really just a transition to be able to take all of those, you know, screw ups and realize that you might have failed, but that does not make you a failure. You know, I don't know if any of the listeners follow Brene Brown, but I love her, I love her work on you know, talking about shame, and things like that in your life, and realizing, you know, from that perspective, that you know, what, what you do, you might have done something that was completely stupid, but you're not a stupid person. So it's separating, separating the decisions that you make, and the failures that you have from who you are and not letting them actually define you. Hmm,
Collin 09:21
so for you, you mentioned the top 20 maybe could you give us one that was most impactful to you and your business? You know, a lesson that you feel like, was the hardest lesson that you've learned in business? Oh,
Janie B. 09:32
you know, I mean, I really have SO SO, SO MANY. Yeah, I will totally throw my myself under the bus on that one. So, one that has been it was a reoccurring theme for quite a long time, of course, remember 25 years so this, you know, we're we're talking at least over a decade here of this being a problem. And it's something that happened very early on, back in, of course, I started my PhD. Isn't this in 97? Back in 2000, I had purchased another business. And, you know, I mean, the hubris born of success, I had a successful pet care service. And so I bought another business and just figured, hey, I'm gonna be successful in this one too. And so I had chosen one of my top go getter pet sitters and told her, hey, I want you to manage the pet sitting company while I get this other company running. And instead of providing her with the tools that she needed, and the resources that she needed, and very specific loving instructions on how I wanted her to do her job, I did what is called leadership by abdication, which meant I essentially threw it at her and ran. And that was a complete train wreck. I could go into that whole story, but it did not end well. And over the years of hiring other people into my company, trying management levels back at the beginning, assistant managers, schedulers, I had quite a long period of time, you know, sometimes I have to be hit upside the head with a frying pan before I realized that I need to change the way I do things. But instead of leading with integrity, and bringing on an employee into a position where they are very clear on expectations, where they understand what they are supposed to do and what winning looks like, in their position, I would think that I had explained it well. And I would just turn it over to someone expecting them to read my mind. So really developing myself over the years with my own education and understanding myself and understanding better how other people operate. I have had to course correct. And learn how to lead. So that has probably been one of the you know, if I would say the 20 top things that would rank up there in the top three is understanding how to lead, motivate people, to be clear, to be clear as to be kind, and making sure that you don't have expectations that other people aren't clear on.
Collin 12:43
Who who abdication. Yeah. How many times in life, do we do things through abdication, either failure to act or not acting in fullness on what our ability actually is. And I think that's part of recognizing, when I decide to bring somebody on, I have inherent responsibilities that our my part and role to fill. And if we don't think through all of those responsibilities, we are going to simply abdicate them away to the person that we hire. And then you know, as I look back and go, Well, I don't understand what's going on. Well, you didn't give clear education didn't give clear guidelines. Sometimes it happens with staff, sometimes it happens with clients, especially new clients, and onboarding and educating them on your policies. If you just leave things kind of up in the air, you do find yourself in situations where they're not doing what you expected, and you're confused and frustrated, and they're confused and frustrated because nothing was ever nailed down.
Janie B. 13:37
Yeah, it's I mean, it's all about communication, right? The difference between abdication and actual delegation, when you're talking to your team members that maybe there are some people out there that they are gifted in that and being very clear in communication, but I think for the majority of us it is a learned lesson.
Collin 13:57
Have you heard of time to pet player from acting critter sitters has this to say
14:01
time to pet has honestly revolutionized how we do business. My sitters can work much more independently because they have ongoing access to customer and pet information without relying on me. I save hours upon hours of administrative time on billing, processing payments and generating paychecks.
Collin 14:18
If you were looking for new pet sitting software, give time to pet a try. Listeners of our show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confessions. for you other than that, other than the hard lesson of having to experience with that, how have you learned to hone those delegation skills and learned how to communicate specifically what you're looking for.
Janie B. 14:43
Most of that has probably been learning about myself more than anything else and learning and understanding my own communication style and how my communication style is not everybody else's communication style. Might be a no brainer for some people but it It was it was honestly a massive realization for me, I probably, oh, I really probably started involving myself in business about 10 years ago, I would say, I don't know exactly 10 to 12 years ago, through understanding the different types of personality assessments that are out there, you know, I've, I've said this in some of my videos before, but I had met a dear friend who's his company, he actually works with companies to get their management teams working better together. And he takes them through the DiSC Profile assessment, which is a personality assessment. That's much like your Myers Briggs, or your strengths finder, that people have you go through, I mean, goodness, in middle school, my kids, they sent all my kids through the Myers Briggs, which I thought was fascinating. So you know, at least in school systems, now they're teaching personality assessments, I wish I would have had this when I was in middle school, I might have started things out in life, very different. But with the, with the company that we worked with, and had the management team went through that process, and I found out what my DISC assessment meant, and what my strengths were. And it was stunning to me, actually, to find out that people don't process the way I do. I know it's intuitive to many of you, I'm sure, but for me, it was a real shocker. And my assessment style, art, that was the man that did did our company work, he said I was the equivalent of Attila the Hun, which was a little bit, I don't know, I think I was offended initially. But now it is just a joke between art and I that, you know, at least I started as Attila the Hun, but I've been able to understand through a lot of growth and development of myself how I can better listen to my people understand my people and love on my people to have a better team. So that is really where all of my work got started was with myself and growing myself a lot of intense reading, I'm a voracious reader, and being able to not just read not just, you know, buy every course out there, but actually assimilate things into what I am doing. You know, like pulling a code out of a closet, try it on, if it fits what you do, and you know, keep it otherwise discard it. So you know, I am constantly out there trying to find more input. I don't know. I'm an 80s. Kid. So you know people, people see my 80s References all the time, but you know, short circuit love that movie and I'm like Johnny Five need more input. So. So there's my official 80s reference for this episode, the pet sitter confessional
Collin 18:02
link in the show notes for Johnny Five. Okay. Everyone will be very confused by that movie, mostly because it's a very confusing movie.
Janie B. 18:15
But you know, that's the part I remember need more input.
Collin 18:17
But you say you read broadly, and unfortunately, a lot of us aren't big readers, why is explained a little bit about what that you read? Why is it important to read and read broadly for you?
Janie B. 18:31
Wow. You know, it's funny because I have to stop and think when I actually read something that was actually fictional. Anything I would have read fictional reasonably would have actually been a business fable, which teaches you business principles through, you know, a narrative story. So I don't really call that fiction. But to me, I've always loved reading. I was an only child. So I grew up with books as my best friends. I mean, along with Sunday, man, Sunday, man and I were always sitting in a corner somewhere reading books. So I've always enjoyed that. You know, that was the basis of, you know, just all my education in general and just has stayed with me. I am constantly looking for new things to read new subjects, new perspectives. I do have, you know, some of you that might have already downloaded a link to my 50 favorite best business books, we'll put a link to that in the show notes. And, you know, those are, gosh, I mean, those are 50 of my favorites, but my bookshelf is insane. Between the actual physical books that I have, and the books that I have on Audible, I love you know, I am out doing something just popping on an audible and catching up on some good information. So there are a lot of opportunities out there for you to absorb that type of information. And there are just so many to For some subjects, I probably started my reading in the business arena between 10 and 15 years ago, with the book entre leadership by Dave Ramsey. I was reading some business books before then. But that one really turned me on to the just breadth of subjects, material and amazing authors, and helped me with that process. And also the entre leadership podcast, I don't even know if you can access some of the original podcasts that they did years ago anymore, but they would go through and they would interview authors, and I would hear oh, wow, that's, that sounds like some great information. And so I grabbed that book. And typically, you will see anywhere from four to six different books that I'm trying to absorb at one time between audible and physical books on my desk.
Collin 21:03
Well, reading broadly does a lot of things, it keeps you plugged in to changing information, it also helps expand your knowledge and ability to make connections and see him put yourself in situations that maybe you would never have experienced before. I think, you know, traditionally, it's, oh, I'm gonna, you know, I'm in a fairy land with castles and ogres and things. But in it from a business perspective, oh, I can read a story now about somebody who ran their business in a particular way. What if I were in their shoes, you start relating and getting access to different situations and scenarios, and ways of thinking and modes of operating than you would have never come across before. And so it really does help kind of start engaging those creative juices in your business. Getting back to those who create the you need to pull from somewhere and getting access to more information, like 25 is important in in doing new things.
Janie B. 21:54
Yes, and just expanding your possibilities, that is so important. You know, yes, we, we do take care of people's pets, but we don't want to limit what we can do with that, you know, we don't want to be stuck within, you know, some Oh, I just want to be a six figure business? Well, you know, why not be a seven figure business? Why not have that be your goal? Why not, you know, think of expanding into different areas of that care, or, you know, there are a lot of people who, just in growing their businesses or going into real estate investing, i There are just so many possibilities. And I really think that being a reader takes you outside of your mind long enough for you to see what other possibilities there might be.
Collin 22:43
One thing about you Janie is that you have a very strong personality, and you see it in everything that you do. And I think one of those areas is the title that you've picked for yourself and running your company. So love to you describe the history and the story and meaning behind that. Cut.
Janie B. 22:59
I love this. You say strong personality? No, my title is not the tip of the Hon. But you know, hey, and I'll just kind of comes full circle, doesn't it? Well, you know, I, whenever I started expanding into a management team, probably about 10 years ago, I just didn't want to have boring titles, you know, oh, yeah, I am the CEO. Yay. That's so exciting. So we ended up actually creating a format at the beginning for the management team and the Office team. Where at that point, I was the I was the dog. I was the D O G, I was the director of greatness. And my husband who also is self employed and works with me. He was the cat. He was the chief of all technical because anytime somebody could not get into a house and that was a jam, or somehow the GFI had tripped and the freezer in the garage was a complete disaster because it had been off for 48 hours. You know, he was the one that everybody would call he chief of all technical. And then at that point, we also had a bird that was our billing and internal records director. She dealt with basically, HR and the finances of the company. And then we also had our fish who was our first impressions and schedule handler. Of course, she was the one that was answering the phone and was onboarding clients and was dealing with the scheduler for staff. So we've evolved that a little bit over the past year, my manager, really I've elevated her into the general manager position. She does run the company for me on a day to day basis. And so I bequeath to her the D O G title because she truly is my director of greatness. She is amazing. She is As my right hand and my left hand, I don't know what I would do without Melanie and I appreciate her so, so much. And I have moved myself into the cat position because you know, deep down in my heart, I love dogs. But at the end of the day, I don't want my cat next to me. So it's that's me well, which has been molded a little bit to being the chief of all things, which I think tends to fit me well. So my current position title is the cat, the chief of all things, and four legged kids.
Collin 25:36
I think words are important. And titles are super important in our businesses as we view ourselves and the role that we play in them, and to not be afraid to have our personality and have that come through in not just how our businesses formed, but how we talk about our business, the language that we use to refer to one another in the business, because it does start creating that culture in the company and the people we're interacting with. Now, when it comes to four legged kids, I would like to describe what your mission is as a company and why we need to have a mission in our businesses.
Janie B. 26:11
Oh, my goodness. Wow, mission is such a big thing for us, I was always very involved in rescue, I've done every part of rescue from you know, literally going to animal control and pulling the ones on death row and driving home with, you know, six adults and two litters of puppies and betting them myself and calling the Fosters to come pick them up. You know, I've been from that all the way to being on the board of the largest tri state animal shelter. And there's so much that you don't really doesn't have to be focusing on local rescue, but having some sort of a purpose in your business that is bigger than you, removing your self from it. And having your team and your community united behind something that is is beyond just the day to day services that you provide. And in our case, our giving program, every service that we provide to our local community provides a meal to a sponsored rescue this year, we have two different rescues that we are working with. One is Second Chance rescue, which is an amazing group that deals with elderly and hospice dogs, they have their own adorable building where they all live together, they've got you know, some that are, the bigger ones on one level have a little designer on another level. And they of course do adopt, but their commitment is to care for them through the end of life if necessary. So love that group. So happy to support them this year. They're a fairly new organization in St. Louis. And then we also have temp live Cat Rescue, that has an amazing little place that they do have their cats available there. They have fosters, and we just love supporting those groups, we like to rotate it around because St. Louis is such a vibrant rescue community. I mean, we kind of have to be because of all the stupid puppy mills in Missouri, worst known state in the United States for puppy mills. So you know, we, we work very hard to combat that and you know, work with spay and neuter programs. But, you know, Mission wise, that is what we do. And having that unifying factor in our company is super important because we track those numbers with our community on our website. And we track those numbers on a weekly basis with our staff, I want to make sure that the community is connected to what we do, we do have a lot of people who choose us because we are a one for one concept company, every service provides a meal. And we have people that do choose us as the company for their pets because of that. But we also do want to make sure that our staff feels very in tune with that mission. So not only just letting them know what the numbers are every week, but making sure that just as our company culture, we're always reinforcing to them that like you didn't just go out and take care of a dog walk today. Because you did that service. You also helped provide a meal to a local homeless pet. And with our clients, we always leave them a thank you card when they come home from a service to let them know that not only did you use our service to have amazing care for your pets, but you know, let's say they try Hold on for a week, and they had us come three times a day, you also provided 21 meals to a local homeless pet. So we always bring everything we do back to the mission and the purpose of why we do things. And every decision that we make, is really, we make sure that it's always on mission that all of the decisions that we make, are on mission and and that we understand what we are really doing and what our
Collin 30:32
purpose is. And you have quite a few staff members that that are on board with four legged kids, how do you organize them and keep them focused and on mission? And what does that mean, when they are doing their daily tasks? For some for a pet sitter to be on mission working for you?
Janie B. 30:49
Well, you know, I could always say it's like herding cats, right? Well, you know, I mean, having the team being on mission, well, I guess the team right now that we have, you know, I do have my general manager, I have an HR manager, I have our outreach and branding manager. And then we also do have an assistant scheduling manager in the office. And then the rest of the team, we have three full time people and that it's embarrassing to say, I don't know exactly how many because I'm not in the day to day hiring because you know, our mission is always be hiring. We probably have 36 to 40 in the field. Actually, it's kind of embarrassing. You should have told me ahead of time to look that up. So I would know actually, how many actual number will be in the show notes? Yeah, well, it's entirely possible because I am currently on vacation this week that people have been hired while I am on vacation, I, I have completely not abdicated, but delegated the hiring to my amazing managers, they know what is required in our company, they worked at it day to day, so they know the kind of skills and the kind of person that is going to be an amazing representative, a four legged kid. So I do give that to them, I give them the power to make those decisions. And empowering them making sure that they have the right tools to do it. And we have an amazing HR system too. So So you know, really with our team, it's so hard because there's probably very few and home pet care services that have a central location where employees come to on a daily or even weekly basis to maintain maintain those normal connections that you would have in a regular company or you're, you know, in the break room chit chatting. So it's it's hard to take that autonomous team, we cover a 45 mile diameter service area. So taking that autonomous team and being able to connect to them that is super important to us. So one of the ways that we do it is making sure that they are very well connected to what our mission is, and we're encouraging them when we bring people on board, we want to find out what their love languages we have them fill out personality profiles. So they do you know, let us know kind of what their favorite things are. We like to acknowledge people in the way they want to be acknowledged. So you know, if they like things to be public, we absolutely will acknowledge them and that way you know, some people are more private and they just want you know, just a little bit of of private and current arrangement. I send people you know if anyone's read the book by Gary Chapman, The Five Love Languages, you know, it's not like we physically touch people or anything like that. That would be awkward. But you know, we do have some employees who really their love languages gifts, so we do find out like do they have a favorite Starbucks drink, I had an employee who was having some medical issues and on her little profile form. She said she loved Lemonheads, which I did, too. So that spoke to me. And so I dropped jobs shipped Amazon container of Lemonheads to her to cheer up. So, you know, we're always trying to find ways to even though we are so separate in our work environment to bring the team together. And then always make sure that we have a focus on what our purpose is and, and that really is servant leadership. I personally, I serve my managers, and my managers understand that their purpose is to serve our team and our community. And our team understands that their purpose is to serve our clients. So we just want to make sure that we have you know, everybody focused in one direction so you know This, the goal ship is is rowing in the same way because that's the way to really grow and and move your company in one direction is to make sure that everybody is speaking the same language.
Collin 35:14
Well, servant leadership is a way of doing that by not by but not by force, right, not exerting power over somebody. But by coming alongside and leading by example, and setting good authority in the company versus trying to wrench people in one direction because with, with the ship and size that you and complexity that you are helping here, you wouldn't be unable that would be a constant struggle for you to do and would just be exhausting at
Collin 35:40
the end of the day.
Janie B. 35:42
Yeah, we do. And, you know, we did have some situations where you know, managers will, we'll talk about it, where we're really trying to get somebody to row the same direction we are. And, you know, part of that is making sure that we get people that are on board with our mission in the first place. That's a lot of our entire hiring system is making sure that we're intentionally hiring for the ideal team player, which you know, nod to one of my books on my 50 list, the ideal team player by Patrick Lencioni, you can never have a conversation with me without me recommending a book. So if you're not a reader, I will get you to read through it. I know that just sounds a little like it, then it is just so important to me. You know, I also do have, of course, my hiring series, where I talked about, you know how important it is to make sure that you find the right person, for your values in the first place.
Collin 36:39
I think it's really, really good to have those nailed down. So that you know, like you keep saying, like, you know, we make sure that we stay on mission that our decisions stay in line with that. And the only way that we can do that is if we have thought through them. And we have them and we are looking at them and updating them and revising them and making sure that we are aware of what they are because it is easier to go through life just picking and choosing and deciding and kind of going with the wind. But that's not what's going to give you longevity or give you the lifestyle that you want from your business.
Janie B. 37:13
Yeah, and I really think that, you know, that conversation of mission, vision and values, it has gone in and out of, quote, style in the business community, you know, seems like every 10 years, somebody's like, oh, well, those are crap, you should do something different. Oh, no, you've got to have your mission, vision and values. Well, to us, it is really important because it does keep us united. It used to be that, you know, I would decide the mission, vision and values, but it's so important to involve your team and that because that does empower them in making that decision and creating the values of the company. Because if they have input into that, they are going to own that more so. And you know, we just recently went through this process again ourselves and created a visual for it for our team. And you know, we actually have it on our About Us page on our website. Also, because we want our community to understand what our values are in our company and what we hire for. And, you know, as I say, you know, you want to have, you want to have values that you you know, that you live by, as a company, of course that you hire for, you know, if you have a certain value in your company, and you're not hiring for that value, you need to create specific interview questions around that value to try to peg down whether or not that is the right person for your team and your culture. So you know, you need to hire by that unifier by somebody is you know it, if team player is one of your values and your company and you have somebody that is all about myself, and it's about my schedule, and it's about my life, and it's about what makes me happy and they're not a team player, then you need to reconsider that as being the right person for your company. You know, promote by it. If you've got somebody who's a complete Rockstar and hits every single one of your value points. You know, you need to make sure you acknowledge that person. You want to hold up the amazing things that your team members are doing, that are values that you hold for your company, because you want to put that out there for other people to see what is important.
Collin 39:34
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Janie B. 40:37
And I feel like I've turned into like the cheerleader for lock boxes. I had put out training, which you know, I'm actually revising over lock boxes, we had probably made the transition, I guess, six or seven years ago. And it was only because we have a specific subdivision that when it floods, you literally have to get to the subdivision by boat. And thankfully, we had a terrible flood. And we didn't have anyone traveling in that subdivision at that time. But there was one of our other subdivisions we did. And thankfully, there was still a rear entrance where we could get to the clients. But at that point, I said no more. Besides the fact that I was still horribly annoyed by having over 500 keys in the office. And like, oh, well, I've said I went out of town and took the keys with her. So now I have to run a key from the office to my sister who lives you know, 15 miles away and take my time to do that was always such a huge inconvenience. So we decided that lockboxes, were going to be our way to be able to provide that consistent service without worrying about implementation how we were going to get those little keys around. Plus, there was nothing like that final day, when we took all the key tags off and throw away all the rest of the keys that we had leftover in the office. I mean, that was like the angels were singing the heavens opened up. It was rainbows and unicorns, because we have not had a key in the office sense. So you know, it's wonderful if you are looking into having a form of automated business to have those keys there on site at the owner's home where no matter what even if you have a subdivision that you can only get to buy boats, you can contact their emergency contact, and someone can still take care of those pets. So it is just another step in creating a business where you can ensure that no matter what goes on that those pets will be well taken care of.
Collin 42:47
So whenever you if maybe we've decided that that's something that we'd like to do, how do we go about communicating that change to clients and letting them know that this is in their best interest as well?
Janie B. 42:58
Ah, you know, in our situation, I, I transitioned over very soon after that flood. So you know, with our situation, and it was a very timely decision that we made. So when we first announced our clients, we were going to be doing that we were able to point to that specific instance as to, this is why we're gonna make this decision now because it is going to guarantee that we can provide the, you know, regular, uninterrupted services to you. So, you know, framing that conversation that is going to be a benefit, and a safety and security feature for their home and their pets is is huge when you're first communicating. And so in our situation, we did have a series of emails that we had sent out to communicate, of course, the purpose behind it more than anything, what the benefit was going to be to the client, having this lock box service. There are so many different ways that you can roll out a service like this. Some companies choose to retain a secondary key in the office, some do not. You know, some have lock boxes that they tell the owners to purchase. So it's owner lock boxes, some companies will have lock boxes that you can rent. Some companies who already have sales tax licenses will sell lock boxes. So you know so many different ways that you can have a lockbox program. But the great thing is always having the ability to access especially if you are team pet care based where you you know, do have a team that services a specific house that you can ensure no matter what the schedule is what kind of a malfunction you might have in your schedule on that day that you can send someone over there and they can access the home
Collin 45:00
doesn't have access and that peace of mind. And I think also communicating owner keeps control over that they keep it stays on property on site. So I know when we've had those conversations with clients, we haven't made that transition over to lockboxes. Yet, but when we have that conversation with clients, and if you ever gotten pushback from them, we're going, Oh, I feel uneasy giving you a key. A lockbox is a nice solution at that time to introduce and say, Hey, if you don't want me to have the key, that's fine. Here's another option that you can do, and start making the transition that way.
Janie B. 45:30
Yes, I will get you to lock boxes, Colin.
Collin 45:35
It's on my to do list for this year.
Janie B. 45:39
Yeah, you know, I mean, it's people, you know, I know a lot of people are really resistant. And there's so many things in our businesses that we have a presumption of how people are going to react, whether it's teen pet care, it's having lock boxes, you know, all these different decisions that we make in our companies, we, we presume that oh, my gosh, I'm gonna lose so many people, if I raise my prices, there's all these presumptions that we have. And it's amazing how often they're just presumptions if the market doesn't respond the way that we presume they will. So, you know, anyone that does have reservations, because perhaps they think that Well, I don't know that I would like that, well, you are not your client. So whenever you have a reason for a service that you know, is going to provide benefits to to the client, then you know, absolutely put that out there and give it a try. And definitely lock boxes are something that the market has shown is completely acceptable. It makes client's lives easier, it makes our lives easier. And above anything, we are there for the pets, and that does ensure consistent care for pets.
Collin 46:59
What would you recommend to somebody whose services a lot of like, apartments or private communities that limit or restrict the presence of lock boxes and incidents with a I guess they'd still have to have key access that they keep in one location versus using them?
Janie B. 47:14
Do you not I mean, we do serve us, the city of St. Louis, very large metro area. And we have not actually run across any situations where we don't have a workaround. You know, we do deal with concierge is in high rises, we in a lot of cases, there would be a location outside of complexes where we can securely locate a lockbox, you know, when we have FOB access, sometimes the lockbox will have a fob located in it. There are you know, some situations that sometimes you have to work around, we have, if there's nothing you can attach a lockbox to sometimes we have used a bike chain, there are the over door hangers that you can put lock boxes on, you know, they will give you an attachment hook to put it on. If someone has a lever door, there are lockbox modifiers, that you can use. So there are so many different options out there to find a workaround. I know in some metro areas, there are newer apartment buildings that are opening up that have caused, you know, some extra issues for people. But you know, in those situations, you know, really contacting management and figuring out the best way to work for it. And in our company, we just won't, we won't not, that's a double negative, we will not take on a client's that we cannot have keyless entry. So that that is just a decision for our company that we will have to have that. So it's a commitment for us for consistency of service that we will not take on a client that we cannot have keyless entry where
Collin 49:00
it's always an option to say no. And I think that's a really important info that you point that out but in all aspects of business, we can always choose to not take on that person or not serve them in the way that they're asking us to serve them if it doesn't fit in our operations because then we look up 510 years later. And we've got all these little tiny exceptions and different ways of doing things and operating and it's it's a mess. So Chang says part of as you mentioned staying on mission staying on purpose is staying consistent with how the company operates.
Janie B. 49:31
Yeah, I mean, it's really understanding your outbound markers and boundaries is such a huge huge discussion and in our industry because we just, we love people, we love pets, we want to provide the the service and the value to people and I totally speak from experience. I was like I was the yes woman I would do anything I would go anywhere and it took a period of time for me to start realizing well, I really need to establish my You know, like, if you're bowling the bumper pads, I need those bumper pads. So, you know, I have gradually developed my own boundaries over a periods of time. And honestly, one of my boundaries is having management. Because you know, I have my gifts, I know what my gifts are, and I know what they are not. So one of my own boundaries for myself is not trying to be what I am not in hiring for, for that gap. So, you know, I encourage people to really take a look into, like, who you are, and you know, what you stand for? And what, what kind of boundaries that you need to have in your company and stand for those. And don't you know, if you're, if you're working solo right now, like, you can make all sorts of excuses in the world as to why Oh, no, I can go ahead and do that, because it's just me. But go ahead and train your clients now for the boundaries that you want to have when you are at your goal. So always have that goal of where you want your company to be in your mind and be that company now.
Collin 51:10
Well, I think it's important to to set those boundaries of it is easy when you're solopreneur to go, well, I'll do this because it's me like just like you said, but what happens if you put somebody else in that situation? Would you want them to do that? Would you want them to be spoken to that way? Would you want them to go through those hoops? But why aren't you treating yourself better? Why aren't you setting those now and just kind of externalize those thoughts and processes. So that, as you said, whether you bring on somebody in the future or not, you're already setting up and you're treating, making sure you're treating yourself better today. For you. I know one of these things as far as being busy and having lots of things on your plate. Jamie, what is what does being productive mean to you? In your days? Huh? Yeah.
Janie B. 51:55
Oh, that's always always a great question. I work on productivity a lot, because I am a clinical procrastinator. I always, well, I still say, Oh, I work best under pressure, which yes, sometimes that can be the situation that, you know, I do my best work when I am really focused and under pressure. But you know, productivity, for me has been a complete process. Of course, educating myself seeing what different options there are out there. Of course, you will find some of those books on my 50 book list, like getting things done with David Allen probably got some other I think I have an entire productivity section on that book list. So that is a big thing. You know, anytime I see a weakness in myself, I you know, try to fill the gap by educating myself to learn better do better. And, you know, I really like to start my productivity plan on, you know, Sundays, I get everything together Sunday evening for the week, and I look at what my big goals are. And each day, I have a planner that I like to work through. And you know, each day I have my my big one thing, like, what is the one thing that I can do that will make everything else easier, which is the book called The One Thing, which is also on my 50 bequest
Collin 53:22
to the booklet a link to the book list and show that,
Janie B. 53:25
please, yes, putting that down there. And you'll love these paper link to book list. So yes, I think that's Gary Keller's book, the one thing so I do like to have that, like, what is that one thing that I absolutely no matter what has to get done today to really move my projects and the important things forward. And then I have my big three also that I prioritize that I do also want to get done that day. So you know, I go through my list and believe me to do lists, I love checkboxes, I love checking things off the list, you know, here lately, it's multicolored highlighters, you know, whatever floats your boat, right? So, you know, I love that process of crossing things out and seeing things that are done to completion. But again, you know, inside the busy days that I have because you know, I have kids ranging from you know, 20 years old, down to two years old next week. I have a lot of crap going on. So I will get so caught up in the day to day just busyness and the stuff that I do with with family life in general in the business that I get to the end of the day. And I'm like, What did I do today? Like the whole day seems like a complete blur. So I spend time at the end of my day, really working with you know that list, writing down my wins for the day, what did I income accomplish? I'm very focused on gratitude. So I write down the three things that I was grateful for that A that really blessed me, you know, even the small things that, that that happened during the day because we always have small blessings. It's whether or not we take the time to sit down and acknowledge them. So I like to write those down and review them throughout the week. And then I do my planning for the next day, you know, what, what's my big one thing for the next day, and what are my top three. So it's just really a cyclical process for me as far as planning and gratitude.
Collin 55:29
When writing it down and tracking it and keeping and being intentional about what those are, again, if we you just kind of go with Heather tetherin yawn, you'll never know where you're going or, you know, you'll wake up and wonder where you are. And, and so having that list and posting it somewhere, whether it's the sun visor of your car, or at your desk, or the background of your phone, or whatever that is to remind you, this is the purpose of what I'm working for today. This is these are these are these are things that are motivating me to get things done.
Janie B. 55:58
Oh, yeah. And being able to go back over those over the years, you know, it's like, you go home, and you're like, oh, my gosh, I thought as small back then, look how much I've grown. You know, myself, I've grown my business knowledge. I've grown my company. And you know, you can just realize how small you were thinking like, wow, you know, I mean, hidden, you know, back at the beginning, it was like, wow, when I hit $50,000 I really made it and then wow, when I have people working for me, I've really made it and just the evolution because I have I have notes from back then I have when I first started my business, I have business planning and writing than I did back then. And I go back and I look at what my priorities were and, and how things change. And it just brings you right back to the gratitude.
Collin 56:48
Jamie, I really want to thank you for our conversation and how you've encouraged us to look at those assessments understand who we are, work on growth mindset, and be grateful for everything that we have, and we're working towards, I know that there's actually a lot that you do, not just running a pet business and everything. So how can people get in touch, learn about everything that you have going on and get access to more information?
Janie B. 57:13
Oh, my gosh, yes. Thank you for this. Thank you for having me on. I mean, we covered a lot of subjects here. So a lot for people to go through. I feel like you know, we've been just going off on Channel tangents like chasing rabbits. So you know, I guess that fits with the industry, right? Squirrel. So yes, I of course have I have a Facebook page, the purpose Guru, I do, of course do coaching for the industry more so strategy not so coaching, I'm not going to be the person that's just cheerleading you, I really like to look into people's businesses and figure out, you know, where you are, help you unpack things, so you can move your business forward in a strategic way. Probably the best way to connect with me though, and find out what is going on is my podcast, the pet biz hive, where I have tips that I put out on Tuesdays to help you move the needle in your business. And also, I have the pet this hive private Facebook group where I do post weekly videos on a specific subject. I know coming up here on September the 27th. For those of you that have interest in lock boxes, I am going to have some specific training on how to implement lock boxes in your company. So you can keep an eye open for that just join the pet this hive on Facebook. And we can make sure that you have that information and get registered,
Collin 58:37
absolutely loads more links and show notes. This will be most probably one of the most diverse links I've had. We've covered everything from books, personality tests, short circuit and all sorts of stuff. And
Janie B. 58:50
oh my goodness. Now I'm just gonna be mad as the Johnny Five Jack, right.
Collin 58:55
Hey, you know, but yeah, I will definitely make sure those links are on there. And so people can get connected with you, Janie, I have thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to talk with us and definitely look forward to having you back on in future episodes.
Janie B. 59:09
Now I'm grateful for you, Colin, you and Megan are amazing. And this is such a great resource for our community.
Collin 59:17
My biggest takeaway from my conversation with Janie was when she said you may have failed, but you are not a failure. I think it is so important as business owners as we go out and we do things we create things in the world. And we try and adapt our businesses, our policies, our services, to meet people's needs, that it won't always be a raving success. But the success comes in the fact that we have learned a new way to not do something or learn a better way to implement a current policy and that it does not define us as a failure when something doesn't turn out the way we had hoped or expected. And that when we start reflecting on ourselves into finding ourselves by our successes or our failures, we drift further and further from who we are at the core. We want to thank our sponsors today, time to pet and pet sitters international for making today's show possible. And we are so thankful for you for listening for sharing the show for all of your feedback and for being part of our Facebook community. Thank you so much for all that you do. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
