443: Being Serious About Business with Kerri-Ann Griffith
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How do you help potential clients see the value you provide? Connecting with the right clients is an art form as you refine who you are for, and who you are not. More than simply selling yourself, it’s about connecting at an emotional level with a client’s needs. Kerri-Ann Griffith, owner of Nashville Kitty Sitter, joins the podcast to explain how she runs a boutique business, while also finding clients who have never used a professional service before. Kerri-Ann shares why emergency planning is so important, and how it helps you become a better business owner. She also talks about how she uses her show business background to make the most of her meet and greets.
Main topics
Boutique style business
Referring out requests
Handling emergencies
Bringing value to your clients
Main takeaway: You run a serious business, so make sure potential clients are serious about working with you.
About our guest:
Kerri-Ann Griffith is the proud owner of Nashville Kitty Sitter, a premium pet-sitting service that specializes in providing top-notch care to cats. Before starting her own business, Kerri-Ann spent 11 years as a full-time singer on Broadway and toured extensively throughout the country. Though she now focuses her attention on caring for cats, Kerri-Ann still sings from time to time and is highly regarded in the music industry.
Despite her demanding career in music, Kerri-Ann always had a deep love for animals, especially cats. She rescued two female cats, Jaeda and October, who have become her constant companions. Jaeda is a playful and inquisitive tabby with a unique personality, while October is a sweet and affectionate tabico (tabby and calico mix) who Kerri-Ann rescued from a car in her apartment's parking garage.
Kerri-Ann's love for her cats is evident in the way she cares for them, and she extends that same level of care to every cat she looks after through her pet sitting business. She understands that cats are unique creatures that require specialized care, and she takes great pride in ensuring that every cat she cares for is happy, healthy, and comfortable.
When she's not caring for cats, Kerri-Ann enjoys spending time outdoors, exploring the beautiful Tennessee countryside. She is also an active volunteer at local animal shelters and rescues, where she works tirelessly to help cats find loving homes.
With her extensive experience in the entertainment industry, her passion for animals, and her dedication to providing exceptional care, Kerri-Ann Griffith is a truly remarkable individual. Her clients trust her implicitly with their furry friends, knowing that she will always provide the very best care.
Link:
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https://www.facebook.com/nashvillekittysitter/
nashvillekittysitter@gmail.com
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
clients, cat, pet, business, greet, cats, gift, vacuum, talk, service, litter box, good, year, people, meet, feel, newsletters, lockbox, fee, love
SPEAKERS
Collin Funkhouser, Kerri-Ann G.
Collin Funkhouser 00:00
Hey, welcome to pet sitter confessional. Today, we're brought to you by time to pet and you run a serious business. But are your clients and potential clients serious about working with you? How do you vet clients appropriately and to make sure that all expectations are set up front and understood by everybody. Today, we are super excited to have Kerri-Ann Griffith the Nashville kitty center on the show to talk about how she creates and crafts her boutique. Cat care business connects with the right clients and helps them see the immense value that she brings to them whether they know it or not.
Kerri-Ann G. 00:40
Sure, I am Kerri-Ann Griffith, and I am based in Nashville, Tennessee, and I am the CEO and the sole proprietor of Nashville kitty Center. We're based in Nashville, Tennessee, and we have a two mile radius, but I do also travel fees for clients that live outside of my service area if they are interested in that, you
Collin Funkhouser 01:05
know, I know the travel fees is something that comes up a lot in discussion with pets, or how did you How did you land on on travel fees versus, you know, expanding your service radius or just saying no to people who are further away.
01:20
Um, I think I did it for kind of, not to weed out people, but just there's some people that just really, really wanted pet care if they had a diabetic cat, for instance. And they lived 30 minutes away, and they haven't been on vacation in three years. And they couldn't find anybody watch their cat. And they didn't care how much the travel fee was they wanted to use my company. And I said, you know, that's fine. We can do that for you. And it just kind of started happening more often. And so if they are serious about that, then I'll then I'll take them on as a client. Is
Collin Funkhouser 02:03
that is that? Is that a set fee? Is it an extra mile mileage rate? Or how do you calculate what that charges after they go beyond that 10 mile?
02:12
So I do a mileage fee on it.
Collin Funkhouser 02:16
It really does help weed people out for sure. And I think that that's that's part of what we get to do is is go okay, the client has asked me to do something like, how serious are they about this? Are they serious enough to pay money for it? Okay, that's one thing. Are they serious enough to pay more money for this extra service? You know, I tend to say something like, you know, ridiculous asks get ridiculous prices? Because it's just, you know, we got to make it worth it.
02:45
Yeah, and I've had clients reach out to me that are, you know, an hour away. And I have to say to them, Well, this is how much it would cost. And I really don't think it's, you know, feasible for either of us, it doesn't really make any sense. It would just be you know, an outrageous amount of money. But I do know, some professionals that live in your area and service area that I can send to you. So that's kind of how I help them in a way.
03:10
So how did you get started in this area?
03:13
Well, I had been doing a little bit of pet sitting here. And they're probably like, the year prior to me starting. And after the pandemic, things that just kind of, for everybody gotten kind of different. And a lot of people were adopting pets, and we're going back to work in the head there. Even cats were very upset that their parents had to go back to work. And we're very needy. And so I started pet sitting for a lot of people in my apartment building their cats. And they were like, hey, like, do you ever think about doing this like as a side gig? And I was like, I don't know, like, maybe? I have no idea. I'm sure. Why not. And so when I started my company in January of 2022 I had done it for just like a part time business up until November of last year, and I just started getting busier and busier. And I was like okay, this could be a thing. Like this is really awesome. I really love this.
Collin Funkhouser 04:30
So how are you finding clients? Because you are Am I correct in understanding that you focus solely on cats
04:36
as a as a share? Do I share do yes, I'm a cat mom of up to rescue girls. And so it just made sense for me and I wanted to have like more of a boutique, sell niche business and learn everything I can about caring for cats. It was really important to me to be a source for my client So, a lot of times, I'll get texts or emails for them saying, Hey, this is going on with my cat, what do I do? And sometimes I'm like, Well, I'm not a vet. So I can't really give a straight answer. So you should probably contact somebody at your veterinary office, they might be able to help you better with that. But it feels good that they think that I can, I can help them with that stuff. But I really, honestly started listening to your podcast when I first started my business, and I've learned so much, so thank you. Yeah, it was awesome. I'm just really like, the boots to the ground marketing, and going to all the apartment complexes in the city and giving them my postcards with all my information on it. And I started just getting people inquiring about my business and asking me to come catch it for them. So that was kind of how it all started. There.
Collin Funkhouser 06:01
But just take some some little steps and a few good connections. And I think too, too often, I know especially I do have like, I've got to talk to everybody, I've got to get be everywhere, all the time and everything, it really pulling that back and going no, I just need to really focus on making one or two quality connections with like one or two good apartments, or one or two of that offices, or one or two. Not only is it more manageable, but the better the relationship with that person, the better referrals you get to I found when I can really sit and talk because we know all the vets in our areas, some of them know intimately what we do, because we talked to them all the time. Others have no clue. Like they're just like, I don't know, go talk to these people. You know, we get these referrals and they say so and so a vet talk to, you know, tell us to call you and I'm like why I don't do any of that. Why is what is
06:51
it? Yeah, you're like who? What? Yeah, we're like, we're not like, straight up boarding facility or doggy daycare, like, you know, just things that are totally off the wall. And you're like, No, like, I have people call me for cat boarding. And I'm like, No, it has nowhere on my I mean, has nowhere on my website that says that I do cat boarding. But, you know,
Collin Funkhouser 07:14
how do you handle that conversation? When people call you for cat boarding?
07:17
Um, well, I usually tell them. First off, that's not something that I offer. And then I will send them to either a actual cat boarding facility, there's one in town that I trust, or send them to a professional that does boarding in their home. But I don't always recommend it just because cats are so good at being in their own environment. And around their own stuff. They get a little stress, but say the clients, you know, going away for six months. It's kind of a hard thing to do drop ins for six months. So it doesn't really make sense. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 08:00
or sometimes we get phone calls with people, they're having their house fumigated, right? And they can't stay in or, you know, they're doing a big renovation. And so I for me a lot of times, my first reaction is when they call asking for a service I don't offer it's like, oh, gosh, don't they know like, oh, what? Like, I can't get upset. Yeah, and then having to take that moment to just go, No, I need them to tell me like, Okay, tell me more about why your name that service or you know, what would be an excellent outcome for you? And they say, Yeah, I have, I'm going over, I'm taking a month and a half long trip, or, you know, I'm gonna have to be gone for six months, or I'm having my house fumigated to renovate you go, okay, yeah, no, I can't, I can't help you with that.
08:41
Yeah, I usually go well, what exactly you're looking for, and sometimes they don't even know. They're like, Oh, well, I want my cat boarded. But then, when you talk to them more, it's like, I don't really think that's exactly what they're looking for, like, I think drop in visits would be a better fit for them. Yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 08:57
Yeah. That's, that's so powerful to ask that question and have them try and explain to you and define to you what they're looking for. Because then we can really go, okay, like they're saying some key words here. They're saying, so things that are a little confusing. So I've got some follow up questions. And now I can maybe guide them to and especially curious how you said, like, you want to be a resource to people. So, you know, if somebody calls you asking for something, you know, it's like, oh, that actually isn't a good fit. Here. Let me explain why. And then be okay with them going. At the end of the day, they may still go no, I don't want that and have a go. Well, I've, I've done what I can,
09:34
right. Yeah, I just had a a woman reach out to me and she had an elderly cat that needed sub q fluids. And that's something that I don't know how to do. And so I said to her, you know, I was just straight up with her and I said, that's something that I am not familiar with. I'm not the right fit, but I can recommend this person to you, that can do that for you. And I always try To recommend somebody else, I don't always, I don't like to leave a client and just say, I'm sorry, I can't help you and hang up. Like, I just think that's just not the best, I guess, practice. As a business owner, I just always want to leave them with somebody else that they can go to.
Collin Funkhouser 10:18
Yeah, be basically, I am either a stop sign or a guidepost. Right. That's, that's I, how can we can view ourselves of, I'm either the last stop for them, or I need to be able to point them to somewhere else. And sometimes the point to sources, you know, just, I might not have anybody specific in mind, but I can give some like, Okay, I don't know of anybody in your area. But here are three to four things that you need to ask anybody that you call, or here's good signs of accompany kind of, at least again, this more education a lot. Yes,
10:51
absolutely. Yes. And usually, they're very appreciative, and they're like, oh, my gosh, thank you so much. No one else has helped us, like, were, they called a million places, and they're just like, sorry, I can't help you. And so, you know, they have a problem and, and they want somebody to solve it. And so I try to help as much as I possibly can.
Collin Funkhouser 11:11
Earlier, you described the your desire to run a more of a boutique style company, what is
11:17
what does that mean to you? Um, well, running about textile company doesn't necessarily mean I guess, when you go to a boutique store, sometimes they're very high prices, and very, like luxury goods. But that doesn't necessarily mean that for me, I just think, really going above and beyond and just really noticing all the really small details with their pets, and making sure that the client is like very well in the loop with me. You know, if I noticed something is off with their cat, I'm gonna say, Hey, this is something's weird. I'm not. I'm not okay with this, like, I think we might need to, you know, call a vet, or whatever, like, I'm just very overly attentive to, to all their their pets. Yeah, you know, when I think of that
Collin Funkhouser 12:14
word, it's, uh, you know, usually small shops. But what's really cool about them is that they're specialized right, they only carry a few lines of each item. So that kind of gets back to what you were saying earlier of going. Yeah, I wanted to specialize in cats, mostly because like you have a passion for them, you have to rescued ones like you, yourself rescued one from a little from a car. So like, if you're passionate about this, it makes the the information scope, a lot more manageable, and you can really become an expert in what's going on and the topic that you're that you're needing, you know, so it kind of helps bring it all all full circle to go look, this up, my my focus is narrow, but my my knowledge is deep in what I'm dealing with.
12:57
Yes, and I am always sending out newsletters, or I'll post a blog about, you know, these are great cat dishes, because you know, whisker fatigue is a real thing. And people go oh, my gosh, we had no idea like, you know, like, and that makes me happy that they're like getting all this information. And I even had a client say like we love when you send newsletters out. And you know, send us a bunch of information, we had no idea about like, it really just really helped us give a better care to recap. So your
Collin Funkhouser 13:28
newsletters? So are you sending those to only existing clients? Or do you have a lead magnet on your website. So you're kind of talking to a bunch of different people.
13:36
As of now I'm just sending it through, I use time to pay it. And so I'm just sending it through time to pet to all of my existing clients. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 13:47
it's so fantastic to do that, because you continue that conversation with them. And it really is just another touch point. Because I know for us like, we've got we've got a lot of clients that maybe only use us for one week, a year when they travel for Christmas. And so it's then like, how do I stay top of mind for 51 weeks out of the year? Like how do i Yeah. And so it's like these newsletters, direct clients. And also, I don't know about you, but you carry on, but like it kind of changes what we can talk about, of like, this is only to my clients, and you get some information and we can have a little bit of a deeper relationship here than what social media can convey. Or other avenues.
14:27
Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And they, they really appreciate all the different topics they they've told me so I think it's pretty, pretty awesome that they're loving those. Those newsletter newsletters that I send out, and
Collin Funkhouser 14:44
it doesn't have to be they don't have to be in depth. You're not writing a book each time it can be you know, how often are you sending out those newsletters?
14:54
I try to do one like once a month and then as far as like I'll put Put my blog like on my, it's at the bottom of my website, I'm trying to do one for every season and have like a different topic like flea and tick prevention for the summer because we're in the deep south. So flea and ticks are year round here. So I try to tell Hey, like, you could, you know, it could come from anywhere, even though you have an indoor cat. It happens, I seen it.
Collin Funkhouser 15:28
Yeah, and it's important to, to not get caught up with with, you know, oh, I've got to be doing, you know, I gotta do this daily or weekly, or I do this monthly, it's like, whatever, you know, whatever is manageable for you, right? That you can be consistent with is so important. Because if you pick a cadence where you start putting something out every week, or even every month, and you're really busy, the quality is going to slip, people won't be valuing these as much. And so kind of having a every season or every quarter sending these things out these blog, like you really have time to flush this out, make it really beneficial to people instead of just a throwaway piece of information.
16:04
Absolutely, yeah, I just I feel like if I was doing it, so often people would just be like, Oh, it's another newsletter. Like, instead of being like, wow, like, this is great. We haven't seen one in a couple months. Like, I wonder what this is about? Oh, you know,
Collin Funkhouser 16:17
so it kind of it has a little bit of scarcity to it, then doesn't it have it's something that people can look forward to have of Oh, I see this, I know there's going to be gold in this. And it kind of gives a little bit of intent. You mentioned that you're kind of running this this boutique, this this premium service, do you do you find it difficult to to sell that to potential clients when they call you?
16:41
Um, honestly, no. I, I feel like I am constantly learning and constantly trying to gain as much knowledge as possible. And then also like when I do meet and greets, I will always come in with I made a kind of a makeshift slideshow when I show them my liability insurance. And I'll show them my certificate for being a professional pet sitter. And I show them my background check and all these things so that like, they know that like I'm a serious business and you know, these, all these things are very important to me. And they should hopefully help the client feel somewhat a peace of mind. When they are hurting, you're hiring me for service. Some
Collin Funkhouser 17:28
of those things as we actually just got an email the other day of somebody who said, Hey, I see all these things on your website, like insurance and, you know, letters and surveys. What are those actually mean for me? And it was like going, Yeah, right. Like, people, people don't know why being pet first aid and CPR is beneficial. Like they see that and they go, Okay, what does that get me? What does that get my cat. And so us as the business owner going, Okay, let me translate this a little bit more into some information that you can you can work with, actually. So just throwing a bunch of acronyms at people.
18:04
Yeah, I actually had a client. So I didn't know you could give cats pet CPR. And I was like, yeah, it's very different than giving a CPR to a dog. So I was like, Yeah, you actually can.
Collin Funkhouser 18:18
Have you heard of time to pet Claire from acting critter sitters as this
18:22
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 Funkhouser 18:38
if you're looking for new petsitting software, give time to put a try listeners a fire show can save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to bet.com/too often, you know we can get caught up with well I know what this means for me right and not and not be customer focused in they have no idea like I don't know, like when people contact you. What's their typical background? Have they used a pet sitter before? Or do they you know how to use friends and family kind of where where do you find people meeting you
19:11
so a lot of people haven't used a professional pet sitting service before or they've used you know, sister or brother or they bring their cats to their grandma or you know, something like that and or they've used another service in town and they don't like they don't want several different people coming in their home. Yeah, at the same time because my cat is very skittish and the consistency with knowing that I'm the owner and the solo sitter. They're gonna get the same person every single time and that that has really been a huge deal to a lot of my will say helicopter cat moms like myself. It's been a huge game changer for them that like we just we love that like that is just huge. For us, so that's really, really important for, I guess people have the same mindset as I do with their pets. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 20:08
and being able to find those. I mean, I call them pain points, but their concerns for that client and really being able to speak to that directly. And that's why those early questions are so important to get to know that client before you even start talking about pricing or anything like that, or service, like, get to know why they're calling you. It's, it's sometimes it's like, no, sometimes it's, well, they just googled the first thing, you know, and call the first person and they don't know, they don't know from Adam. They're just calling somebody and you picked up and so it's like, okay, like, I can work with that. But when you find people who go, Yeah, I used another service, or I used to use my mom and I'm really looking for something more. Right? That's, that's at the end day. That's what they're trying to convey this morning. And then we can step in and go more like, let me tell you,
20:56
like, possible here we go. You're ready. Like, like, I have clients be like, please, please don't vacuum. You don't have to vacuum like, we're gonna have to vacuum. Like it's gonna happen. Like, sorry. Even yesterday, my client was like, and you vacuum all the time. Please don't do that. I was like, it's fine. This is how I roll.
Collin Funkhouser 21:22
Do you love to vacuum curio? Do you have a favorite vacuum? Or maybe one that you when you see in a client's home? You like grit your teeth and despair because you don't like it? Well,
21:31
I'm kind of ridiculous. I just bought a shark. One vac specifically for my business to bring to client's homes like I love. Yes, I was like, Okay, we're stepping up our game. No, I mean, sometimes they have the big clunky like vacuums. And like, I had a client that was like, I'm so sorry, like, we're about to leave the vacuum doesn't work anymore. And so I just kind of made that decision. It was like, I'm just going to start bringing my own. Yeah, well, that's consistency
Collin Funkhouser 22:00
too. Like, I'll go to you go to use a vacuum. And you're like, oh, there's no suction to this. Oh, a it's crammed full of hair. And we had, like, it's like, I know, I've gotten really good at breaking down a vacuum and finding all the hidden filters and stuff you're like, This thing has never been they don't even know this exists like, oh my god, this is terrible.
22:20
Yeah, it's like, this is like 10 years of like, you know, filter gunk. And it's like, yeah, we're just, I'm just gonna go ahead. And
Collin Funkhouser 22:31
that's part of that refinement process of where my services do, what am I services, because at the end of the day, you don't want to have to be spending 15 minutes breaking down, scrubbing out, emptying out some nasty old vacuum cleaner to try and desperately, you know, tepidly, vacuum up litter, you want to be able to do get that done so you can focus on other things. And it's about what are my priorities in this visit. And so if my priority is quality time with the cat, everything else needs to be shaped around my ability to do that, including, right bringing my own vacuum. So I know when I plug this in, it's gonna work and I don't have to sit there and futz around and find the backup and empty it and like, yeah, it's because then it's like, I'm not here to be a vacuum repairman. Like, I'm not. Right. Yeah,
23:13
no, and like, you're, you know, time is valuable. And if say you only have a 30 minute drop in visit, and I'm spending 15 minutes trying to fuss with the vacuum like that's not that's not good for you know, what the clients are expecting you to be there for. So yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 23:27
in meeting those client expectations, again, this back to what does it mean to be you know, premium to be boutique, it's, there's some high expectations for the service that you're getting here. And when you walk in, and, you know, it's, it's even things down to, you're asking a bunch of questions that I'm sure they've never thought that would be asked of them of their during the onboarding. And you're like, oh, it also I bring my own vacuum.
23:49
Why don't like, it's fine. I got it. So like, yeah, it's sitting there with a dustpan and whatever. Like it just it made more sense to just to do that for for my company and save time. So when
Collin Funkhouser 24:09
when clients come on board with you, and you're going through the onboarding process, you're at your charge for meet and greets, talk to us about kind of how your decision to landed on that?
24:18
Well, I charge for meet and greets solely because I wanted to make sure that people were really serious, because in our area in Nashville, we do have a lot of people who use you know, a neighbor or friend or whoever, and I just thought that would help me once again, kind of get to the people who are really serious about hiring a professional center. And then I also do I include a lockbox with the fee and they love that they're like, oh my god, a lockbox. This is for me. I like they tried to give it back to me and I'm like, No, that's for you to keep in they're like, they think they won the lottery or something sometimes I'm really funny. And I'm like, it's just a lockbox. But okay. Whatever. Yeah, it's really it's cute. Like, I love that they get excited about a lockbox. But yeah, I'm like it's, it's included. And I think it's important because it I think also shows like your professionalism and seriousness about your business. And it's it, you take time to plan. I was I know, we probably both do your day around like, Okay, I've got a meet and greet like yesterday, I had to do a quick Meet and Greet because a client that I have had moved to a different apartment, and I wanted to make sure that I knew where everything was with whoever they were leaving again. So I just, I just decided that that was a good thing. And plus, if I have trouble clients, you know, wear and tear on your car and gas and all those things. It just helps kind of cushion that. You know, car issue, as well. Yeah. Well, I
Collin Funkhouser 26:06
know a lot of people do get frustrated of Oh, I'm just getting price shoppers coming through my doors, and I do all these meetings, I do all these meet and greets. And then, you know, 1% booked me or I don't know, or they say Oh, I found somebody else and they change their mind and going Well, one way to get around that is to have them pay to have that fee there as as a barrier to your when we have that mindset of oh, I don't know, barriers, right? I want to everybody, I want everybody I want it easy to come into my company. Yeah. While that is true of we want to make sure that it's not like, like, terrible, a terrible experience. Yeah, having some small barriers to people that they have to jump over does speak to that level of commitment and intentionality of using our business. And it acts as a filter and screening. So we're not wasting our time. Right? That's right. That's a huge aspect of why that kind of thing is important.
26:57
It's very important. Yeah, I feel like it's been a great tool for me, not because of the money or anything like that. I just think that people also value you as a company, when they know you're charging for a service upfront, and they go okay, these people are really serious about what they're doing. When
Collin Funkhouser 27:17
you when you talk to people about that process. Do you get pushback from from that fee at all?
27:22
I honestly never have, which is like shocking. But I've definitely got the price shoppers or people have called me and are canceled or canceled panic. And then I go back and forth with them. And we play phone tag and I try to help them out. And then I get oh, well my neighbor is gonna watch them. So I get stuff like that. And I'm like, that's fine, whatever. Yeah, you know, it's gonna happen, but really haven't gotten any pushback. You know,
Collin Funkhouser 27:50
I'd rather I'd rather have a few email conversations back and forth with somebody, and then they go with their neighbor than me get to do the meet and greet, go through that whole process. Do all the review the planning the scheduling around them go? I'm fine. Like I did.
28:03
Like, I know, I'm just like, okay, that's fine. Yeah, it's gonna happen. It
Collin Funkhouser 28:13
is it's never 100%. Right? That's the other thing of in business. And in life, there's never a 100% guarantee of anything working out perfectly, right? It's like, oh, yeah, follow. It's not the formula is not okay. If you don't ever want to have price shoppers or people wasting your time, implement, you know, charging for the meet and greet. And that will solve it completely. No, there are some people I know, we have the kind of clients who are like, okay, you know, 25 bucks for me and greet, you know, three, okay, fine, whatever, I don't care like this, let's make this work. And then they change their mind. Like, it's nothing to them. It's not that big of a deal. And, but so it's like, you'll never get you'll never fully vet those people out of of your
28:49
process. Right? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, it's just part of what we do in our business.
Collin Funkhouser 28:58
Well, I know with with cats, there's a lot of misconceptions around them, and the kind of care that they need, you know, honestly, you know, growing up, it was not uncommon for family and friends, you know, leave a cat for three days, or, you know, come over every three days or something like that. Thankfully, we have seen a lot of change in that over the last several years, just from our business perspective. You know, when Megan and I first started almost 12 years ago, like we got no calls for cats. Nobody wanted cats. And now it's like, wow, people want us to stay there for an hour or come over for twice a day for two hours to see that. This is amazing. Like, I'm really happy about it. But there are those misconceptions that people have about about their cats, do you? I mean, do you encounter that kind of stuff these days? Yeah.
29:41
So it's really funny. I have a great client and she's also a great friend, too. She she will actually have me come over for playtime with her cat. She's like, can you just I'm at work all day. Can you just come play with him? I'm like really? Yeah, like an hour. Just Come, like, play with him and make sure he's like happy and good and like, okay, like, Yeah, that's great. Like, and I love those. Those are the those are my people. That's what, that's what I would do and like, I mean, I, I tell people my my meet and greets to like I'm running this company, I started this company, as if I was hiring somebody to watch my girls. Like, that's my biggest thing. And so like, I would hire somebody to come and play with my cat. Just want to make sure they're happy. They're my kids. So yeah, I've definitely I've definitely seen a lot of that and you know, people really caring a lot more about leaving their pets for vacation and wanting the professional pet sitter and twice a day drop in visits, and, and all that. So yeah, definitely have.
Collin Funkhouser 30:48
Do you find it's because they emotionally want their pet taken care of? Or are they? Are they worried about emergencies and things that happen in their home? Or is it a combination of both?
30:59
It's more of a combination of both definitely. And a lot of my clients adopted caps during the pandemic. And so they're all like pandemic kitties. And they're, like, very attached to them. And so when they leave, they're like, you know, crying and freaked out. The cats usually are just very welcome to clients, maybe sometimes. Very upset, but that's also how I am so. Yeah, they, they just know they're cats. And then when I do the meet and greet, I'm like, Yeah, this cat could definitely benefit for an hour. They just, they just want to sit next to you and cuddle. And that's all they care about. So yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 31:40
you get a sense for that. I mean, that's why that Meet Greets so important, just get good temperament testing and figure out what this Kasko do. And then also, once you get to know that cat, like, I've had those where we're like, okay, yeah, we'll we'll do that. We'll come over for 30 minutes, and then I'll be fine. And then you open that door and that catches comes flying at you. Like, there's a person like, Oh, my goodness, and you go, okay, maybe we need to, you know, increase our time, our time here. And, and not being afraid to tell that to the client. If you know, it's because I know, a lot of times we stop, we don't, we may be fearful of recommending more services, because we don't want to come across as like, I'm not. I'm not saying this because I want more money from you. But yeah, I am saying this because I I really think the cat's gonna benefit and we kind of have I have those internal battles. I don't know about you, but of going Yes, I do. I feel like they could, but I don't want to come across as just, you know, money grubbing or you know, this kind of things. And so, but that's where that relationship comes in. So when you make those kinds of recommendations people have that have that trust in you that it's in their best interest. Yeah, absolutely. And
32:43
I that I'm the same way. I'm like, I'm not doing this because I want you know, more money from you. I just like, I really know that your cat would be so happy to have that extra time. And you know, sometimes I don't want to, like overstep my boundaries or like, yeah, like, you know, read a book an hour. It's like, it's not that it's, I want your cat to be happy. I know they love people, or if they're crying when I leave, which a lot of them do, I can hear them crying and I'm like, kills me I'm like so yeah, I totally get that.
Collin Funkhouser 33:16
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34:43
Sure. Yeah, I think I've always had somewhat of an emergency situation but not to that extent. I have always asked clients to leave carriers out whether it's accessible. If there is an emergency, I don't want to be looking for it and already in like a state of panic. And then I'll also ask them to, if they've got a neighbor or someone close by that they trust, and I can't get to the pet, that that's why I mainly implemented the lock boxes that if they know the lockbox code or whoever, they can also get to the pets and get inside and get them if there's, you know, a severe emergency like, like a fire. So it's someone that it's a local, local emergency person, not somebody that's not going on vacation with you. Right?
Collin Funkhouser 35:39
Yeah, that's always you have to check that like, Okay, thank you for filling out the emergency contact, will that person be traveling with you? At All right? Yeah.
35:47
Yeah. Yeah. And they'll put their spouse and I'm like, No, I need someone that's like, actually going to be here. So yeah, it's been a lot of different little things that I think of every day to kind of up my emergency plan, but you can't really ever be fully prepared for some things that are out of your hands, you know, emergencies that happen in you know, the early morning hours. When you're only doing drop in visits,
36:18
you did have a client who had a fire at their home. Right. And it was, it was early, and you had checked on them the day before, you know, how did you learn about that, and I know that the fire had taken place. Um,
36:33
my, my client had texted me and like, I believe it was like six in the morning to let me know. And so I basically like rolled out of bed, like, instantly, like, I was still basically my pajamas and drove there as fast as I could and to be there. And she was out of town at the time, in a visiting family in a different state. So that's, that's the only reason why I knew it happened. I basically dropped everything I was doing to help that client. Because I knew that if I was in that situation, I would have done the same thing. Like I would have 100% done that for any of my clients. Like, if that was me and my cats like, I can't even imagine and I and my other cat and I did go through tornado here in Nashville and in 2020. And so you know, being in real life, emergency situation is never fun, and it's scary, especially when the clients not even close to home. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 37:40
well, it's so it's so it's so terrifying, especially when there's like, there's no control over that situation. Right? There's like, that's the, that's one of those like, worst truly worst case scenarios, you're at a client's home, fire overnight, pet inside and there's like, no amount of coulda, shoulda, woulda, maybe what if kind of stuff will make it like there's no, we talk a lot about like, okay, emergency preparedness when the emergency happens, like, review and make a different policy for next time. And it's like, right, for what, right? Like, there's nothing I could have done here. Yeah,
38:16
especially like having that severe of an emergency. And my first year of like, full time, petsitting was just like, oh my gosh, like, just this heartbreaking. Like, just, that's the worst thing ever. But yeah, I mean, there wasn't anything that I really honestly could have done. And and, you know, the client knows that. And if I could have I would have in a second. So, yeah. How
Collin Funkhouser 38:44
have you continued to process that though? You know, because in it walking into and out of visits each day,
38:51
it's hard. It's hard. It's still really stresses me out. I think my anxiety level is really gone up a lot. Just because of going through that and just thinking, oh my god, is this gonna happen again? Hope to God, it doesn't. But you know, it's definitely a real thing. And just being overly OCD about things about triple checking doors and triple checking the lockbox and just, I mean, I even put locks on my stove, so that my calves can't turn anything on. And just kind of trying to relay that to my clients to like, hey, like, you know, baby locks are great. Like, you've got a jumper like, they could turn appliances on things like that. So just trying to kind of take it from that angle as well.
Collin Funkhouser 39:41
Yeah, encouraging clients to do stuff like that. Yeah,
39:45
and I see things Yeah, then I'm just like, oh, yeah, this is not good. So like, I'll go and like fix it myself. Because I'm like this. This could be bad.
Collin Funkhouser 39:53
cords or a major one where like, you walk in and there's just like a rat's nest of cables on The floor and you're like, Hmm, well, let's make this disappear quickly. Yeah.
40:04
Or like, just like, oh, there's a bowl full of chocolates, like let's make this go into the cabinet. And it just stresses me out. I'm like, just trying to save you from a vet bill or like hair ties or anything like cats love all that stuff. So it's like, Oh, God. Yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 40:21
Well, that's, you know, sounds like a great, almost like a pre flight pre flight checklist to send to clients of like, hey, now you're going on a trip. Don't forget, here's these things. Here's Please have this on hand, please lock this away, please make sure this is a theropod lady that's like, that way, you know, like, we're doing everything we can at the end day, we still may have to accept that something may happen that just can't control. But what you know, is there something and then at the end, you have to break yourself from that responsibility and go, Okay, I have done everything I can. And it was still a terrible outcome. It was like, nobody wants that. I can't do any more. And and that's a, that's a tough place to be at with our business. And no matter what the situation is, it could be marketing, it could be losing a client, it could be whatever, but like, recognizing my agency only extends so far. And then it's be it's out of my control at that point, which is a small business owner is terrifying. Because we yeah, we kind of like control it, you know, and being able to do.
41:27
Yeah, I'm kind of a control freak. I really like to, like, be my own boss and, like, tell other people what to do, even though it's just myself.
Collin Funkhouser 41:37
But, yeah, yeah. Well, you started off by introducing yourself as the CEO, right of this. Because I am exactly yeah,
41:47
I'm like, I wear all the hats. I do all the things. There's nobody else that's me, myself. And I That's okay, though.
Collin Funkhouser 41:54
Right? Well, you know, because because, again, you said you mentioned that that's a huge benefit to a lot of your clients is having that consistency having that same thing and really going out that's a strength of mine. That is something that I pretty much you know, only I in my area can provide and a knocking tied up and you know, could again this coulda, shoulda woulda kind of thing going out here am, what are my strengths? How can I serve my clients best?
42:19
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And they, and it's not even me like voicing that. Obviously, I tell them, like, you know, I'm a solicitor, it's going to be me that you're going to get every single time they voice it before I even say anything. Like we love this, just do like that you're going to always be with our cat, like, it's not going to be like some other person that's coming in. And I'm like, and that's really important, too. I feel like a lot of the cat people like are just very, into the idea of my company that I do that for my company. And that's what I stand for. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 42:49
it is. And it's about connecting with them like that. It's about bringing them into that experience. You know, one of the one of your recent social media posts, you talk about, you have a picture of a beautiful looking litter box, right, and you said, clean this litter always right. But I think that kind of thing is really important because like, like, clients don't know what they don't know, right? They disappear for a week or two weeks, and then they show back up. And that's like, I don't want them to only at that point, find out what an amazing job that I've been doing. I would like for them to know, the entire time that they're gone.
43:24
Oh, they get a picture of like, literally everything I'm like, you know, all the doors are closed, and the litter boxes are clean. And this is their, what their food looks like. And, like I'm very diligent when it comes to that. Like, that's very important to me. Like, I want them to know, this is what it looked like when I left so we're back I don't know what that's gonna look like. This is how I left it
Collin Funkhouser 43:49
is it's partly a part covering our but but to letting them know like we're doing quality work while you're away.
43:58
Yes, and I'm super sad about it. Like, like, I always clean off like the mats, like they have to be like very nice and clean. Like I want their bowls to be clean. Like, everything is tidy. And it's important. And I have a lot of nurses and doctors that are clients and a lot of them are like, hey, no shoes in the house. Like they're like that's, we're not about that life. And I'm like, I get it. We work in a hospital like Absolutely. So just anything that they ask of me. I'm going to do it I really I really don't have any reservations about it unless it's something crazy, but I don't know about that. But yeah, yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 44:37
not Yeah, well, yeah. Okay. Boundaries of like, now that's too much. I will back a little bit but that's again, part of what we decisions we get to make. Exactly, yeah. You have you have a background in entertainment. And I was curious kind of what tie ins if any, do you see between your background in entertainment and kind of how you make this Experience for clients.
45:04
It's quite the experience. Well, I mean, I feel like my strong suits really are like my meet and greets, because I always had to be kind of like I was the lead singer in multiple bands for years and years. And so I was always like the front person. And I feel like in my business, I have to be the front person and kind of like, lead, like the meet and greet, because it's, it's just me, but just honestly, I feel like even for music, it was kind of almost like a sales background. So in a way, I'm in sales still, but selling my my company, I guess, and my services. So I worked on Broadway for 11 years, and we work for tips. And so I feel like that really helped me get more comfortable with doing a meet and greet and talking about exactly what I do and what I can offer for our clients. And I sing to their cats and whatnot. And I'm sure they see me on the cameras, and they're just like, Oh, my goodness, make up songs. for them. It's really embarrassing, but I do
Collin Funkhouser 46:27
I do? Do you send them those videos? Or do you kind of just hope that that sometimes,
46:31
sometimes I do. Yeah, I'll and I'll always I always send them videos, like cute stuff that they're doing or like if they're, you know, cuddling with me, or, or whatnot, and they love it. They just, they love the pictures and all that. So they feel like one of my clients, I feel like I'm there. And I get to see like, what he's doing like, during the day when I'm not there. Like it's really awesome. We
Collin Funkhouser 46:55
love it. So that's probably one of the single highest praises you can get from a client. I know like I'm there, right? Like,
47:02
yeah, so she said, I love the updates you send and the pictures makes me feel like I get a little window into the day. And to his day while I'm away. Yes.
Collin Funkhouser 47:14
Well, because, again, like, our jobs are to be there when the clients aren't. And so yeah, they don't get to experience what we do. And, and I know it can be frustrating going, Ah, you know, they never say thank you, or I don't feel like they fully appreciate me, well, it is hard for them to do that. Because they're so remote because they don't get to watch you unless they're literally watching you on a camera, which is a whole other story. But thinking like, how can I make this here? And now? And how can I really bring them into my time because that's what that is? Like. They don't know what they don't know. And that's one of the hardest parts to get across to people in the industry. And you know, when we're when I'm training staff members of like, they don't know, the clients have no idea unless we tell them unless we show them the amazing litter box. And the number of people looks people go in, they want me to take a picture of the litter box, like your turn, right? I do. Because Oh
48:08
I do. I've always done that. Like I you know, I want to see a clean litter box at my house when I hire a professional. Like that's important to me. I don't know if anybody else cares, but they probably do. Well,
Collin Funkhouser 48:17
because we it's like, okay, I cleaned the litter box. But it's like, okay, but what does that mean? Did you did you? Exactly. And that's where we go. I don't I don't begrudge people for not for questioning that. Because I question things all the time.
48:33
Right? You can say you did this isn't this all day long when you come for a visit, but to you know, show people and pictures at every visit is a whole different game? Yes. They, you know, they really do appreciate that like, oh, wow, they are doing their job.
Collin Funkhouser 48:51
And find it and telling that story to and and bringing them into that and making them part of it. You know, like, it's it really is it's finding good action shots, it's finding and part of these, you know, some some of the photos that you that you post Karianne it's like, it's like, oh, here's this cat, you know, sitting by a faucet with a cup of water. It's like I guarantee that that's that that picture just made the client stay because they know that my cat does that all the time. You know, they know exactly. You know, that's their personality. And yeah, probably part of that story.
49:20
Yeah, that's that's Greta, she
Collin Funkhouser 49:24
knew exactly what I was talking about. I
49:27
know all of like, it's really crazy. But like, I know, all of like, my cats that I care for. I know all their names. Like it's insane that I know all of them. But um, yeah, Greta. She sits there and she waits for me to fill up her cup. And I put her like, okay, hold on. Yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 49:46
But that's that's the stuff that we get to do and bring that client into that and you know, you could have chosen to take a photo of something else Greta was doing but she knew that that was important because that's what it does. Right. That's
49:57
her thing. That's good. Yeah, yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 50:01
it's making it's making the humans part of that pet care experience that we know we're providing that amazing experience to their pets. We have to remember that the clients, the humans are there. They're just as invested in this as as we are, if not more. So. Absolutely, yes. You've been doing this for, you know, a full time for a full year now. Right. And so what are your What are your plans in the future?
50:25
Oh, I have so many plans. I just need to get them all down on paper. No. I mean, I'd love to, in the future, hire some employees, I'm just know that I'm going to be very diligent about who I'm hiring. I'm not sure I don't have a timeline for that. But I am getting quite busy. And so it's a lot for one person to handle with as many clients as I have now. And I'd like to expand to different areas, Nashville is growing so much, and it's crazy. And traffic is crazy. And so it'd be a lot easier on me living in the city, basically, to have some other employees that I could send to some of these travel clients that I have that are there living closer to them would be very helpful.
Collin Funkhouser 51:22
Can I recommend maybe a Spotify channel with cat songs? Maybe? Maybe that's Oh, I would love
51:27
that. I would love it. Yes, yes. Yeah, and I mean, I would love to do to get into more fostering on the side, too. I, I worked for, or I volunteered at the shelter that I got my older cat at for a while, for about a year. And then when I rescued October out of a car, that's my little cat. I fostered her, because I wasn't really sure if I was gonna keep her neck because I was a little stressed. With my other cat. I was like, I don't think she likes her. I don't know. I really enjoy that experience. And I you know, there's never enough Foster's in the area, we had the craziest kitten season ever here. So if I could get into that as well, that would be amazing.
Collin Funkhouser 52:16
Lots of exciting stuff going on. And you know that that that growth phase deciding how you want to do that, when you want to do that, like that's, that's a lot of time. And it's one of those that you taking your time will be the biggest the single best thing you could do on that right and not want to trigger too early or jumping the gun or anything but going does your time in place. And I can do this in a in an intentional way. Right? Like you said, like, I'm going to be very picky about these people that I bring on. Yeah,
52:42
because it's, it's your company, it's your reputation. And, you know, I don't want to hire just somebody who isn't. I mean, nobody's gonna ever be as passionate about your company than yourself. But I want people that are also passionate about pets and cats in general, that are really excited to do this as a quote unquote, job, which I don't really feel like it's a job. It's, you know, petting kittens and playing with them all day. But it's, it's, of course more than that. But everyone always says, Oh my gosh, that's like, my, that's my dream job. That's amazing. So it would be really great to have a little team of people that I can really trust and rely on. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 53:27
it's not like, we don't feel like it's a job, but it is a lot of responsibility. That's sure that's, that's, that's hard to get across to not just potential clients of like, because I know people may say, Oh, you're just a whatever, whatever. It's like, no, let me tell you, let me walk you through this, but also to people wanting to come work for us or when we start talking to people about this kind of position of going out like it. I don't think it's a it's not a normal job, but it's a heck of a lot more responsibility than you probably expect and trying to communicate that in a good way is it's difficult.
53:56
It really is. And I don't think people realize how like sometimes you can be very mentally drained doing this because it's a lot of thinking about did I do this? Did I lock the door did I do this is the cat okay? Like did I you know, make sure and given them medication they do this like it's just a lot of that and you're like, okay, and return everything was done but you know, you just always I always second guess myself like, did I really lock that door? So that's why I started like taking a picture or videoing that I did lock that door so that I can look back later and go oh, we're good. Just like you know, freaking out at three in the morning going oh my God, I hope that cat's alright. I hope I hope really locked that door which I usually do but yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 54:40
it's it's it doesn't ever stop I just Just so you know, like, you'll always have those things where like, Did I did I so that's okay. It's a conversation we have our employees have like, Hey, have you had any dreams about Open Doors lately? They'll be like, Oh my gosh, yes, I have.
54:54
Like I do. I'm like, oh,
Collin Funkhouser 54:58
sorry. That's comes with the territory. I
55:00
know I know, just like, oh, here we go, that's fine. I guess we wouldn't if we if we didn't care, we wouldn't have those kind of, you know, crazy thoughts at 3am.
Collin Funkhouser 55:12
Well, carry on. Thank you so much for coming on the show today. I've really, I've so enjoyed our conversation. You know, I know we touched on some heavy stuff, but it's important to do that and to have that preparedness. have those conversations with clients and then us be prepared and making that business what we want. And for for the season that we're in, I think that's just so critical. So I'm so thankful for your your time today. And for listeners who want to follow along with your work, see some adorable photos of cats, and some really clean litter boxes. How best can they do that? Kurian Um,
55:47
oh, so they can visit my website, Nashville, kitty sitter.com. And they can message me on there. I also have Instagram, same name at Nashville, Kitty sitter. And then I also have a Facebook page, but I'm not as active on there. But Instagram, that's that's my spot where I do most of my communicating. But you can also email me, Nashville, kitty sitter@gmail.com as well. I also have a phone number. It's listed on my list on my website. That's my Google business number. Nice.
Collin Funkhouser 56:22
Kurian. Again, this is just so much fun. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming on today.
56:27
Thank you so much for having me. It's been awesome.
Collin Funkhouser 56:31
Oh, seriously, do you take your business? Do you take it seriously enough to input some policies and procedures in place to make sure that you vet appropriately the people coming into your business to use our services, whether that's cancellation policies, booking requirements, or meet and greet fees, you decide how you want to set that up? Because remember, we are not for everybody, nor should we be. And that means that our policies, our procedures, our onboarding process should be set up such that we filter out the people that are not good fits. And then once they are a good fit, and they do use our service, we can wow them over and over and over again. Because it's not just that we are exceeding their expectations. We're meeting them exactly where they are. We want to thank today's sponsor is tied to pet and pet perennials for making today's show possible, then we really want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and we'll be back again soon.
