457: The Art of Compassionate Leadership with Ruby Ballesteros
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What does leadership mean to you? 💪 Ruby Ballesteros, owner of RubyReds Pet Care, discusses her transition from a corporate background to pet sitting. Ruby emphasizes professionalism and leadership, and stresses the importance of viewing and presenting yourself as a business owner first, rather than just being a pet lover. She highlights her military background as influential in shaping her values and practices. Ruby also speaks about the art of building strong, trust-based relationships with clients, going beyond mere services, to ensure their complete peace of mind.
Main topics
Client relations
Staying on mission
Business owner mindset
Contributing to community
Main takeaway: Dig into what brings you inner strength and you’ll find the courage to do things you never thought possible!
About our guest:
In 2019, after 20 years of a corporate career in business management, human resources, training, and development, I changed my career path drastically. Little did I know that this decision would lead me to a new endeavor in pet care. My only regret is not starting sooner!I started RubyRed's Pet Care in January 2020 with only grocery bags for poop bags and "borrowing" Athena's spare leashes and treats. Being a fur mom and using past pet care services, I knew what type of business I wanted to create and what kind of service I wanted to give my pack members.I am blessed to be in a service-providing business that allows me to bond with these special kids and connect with their paw parents.No words can describe how thankful I am to be offered such a wagnificent opportunity.
Links:
https://www.rubyredspetcare.com/services
https://www.facebook.com/rubyredspetcare
https://www.instagram.com/rubyredspetcare
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
business owner, pet, clients, business, ruby, people, service, hire, litter box, work, give, meet, dog, today, pet sitting business, walk, life, pretty, red, core values
SPEAKERS
Collin Funkhouser, Ruby B.
Collin Funkhouser 00:03
Welcome to pet sitter confessional today, we're brought to you by time to pet and pet perennials. What does leadership look like for you? Is it leading a team of sitters in your company? Maybe it's being a leader in the business world, in your local community, or being a leader in the dog walking and pet sitting industry? Or is it leadership of yourself, and sticking to your commitments and staying true to who you are? Today, we are super excited to have Ruby Ballesteros, owner of Ruby reds petsitting to talk about leadership as a business owner, embracing that as part of who we are and living that out in everything that we do. Let's get started. Hey,
Ruby B. 00:46
good morning. Thank you so much for having me. First of all, I am first of all, well done on my last name. Thank you. So So folks, if you are a golf aficionado, it's the same as seven by yesterday, it was a famous Spanish golfer. So those golf, folks, ah, yeah. No, no relation that I'm aware of. But it's pretty much the same, same advice that was reviewed by your sales. But thank you for that. My name is Ruby Ballesteros. I can also go by ruby red. I am the owner of Ruby reds Petcare servicing the irmo Valentine shape and areas of South Carolina. And I'm really excited to talk to you Colin about all things pet care. And as you mentioned, why it's so important to be a professional in your in your, in your business. So what else can I What else can I answer for you?
Collin Funkhouser 01:42
We're talking about names here. Ruby, reds. Where did the name come from from your company?
Ruby B. 01:48
Well, you know, when I first started the business, I was I had like pages and pages of like cute puns and whatnot. And, um, you know, I had ruby red as the beginning. And it just kind of stuck. And for whatever reason, people seem to love it. So they're like, Oh, I really like ruby red. Oh, I really like reprints, I'm like, well, then I'm just gonna stick with review. Even though I was like, survey says ruby red. So I just ended up sticking with ruby red. And I think it kind of differentiates myself. We know from other you know, kids, I love the other names, don't get me wrong, I think they're so creative and funny, and I love puns, but I think it kind of stick out like a sore thumb. And that's kind of what I want in my business. So
Collin Funkhouser 02:37
in a good way, or at least be a good way. We get that too. With, with with ours and, and it's one of those things of like, if you're trying to come up with a name for your business, like, don't like, don't spend years and years trying to come up with the perfect name, at some point, you kind of do have to go with it. So you can make it mean what you want it to mean. But you can't have it be be unique. And I think that that is definitely something to strive for.
Ruby B. 03:03
Absolutely. And it just kind of molded into a branding. So you know, even with my sign off, I say ruby red. When I introduce myself, I say ruby red, so and it just you know, it's just like marketing. The more you hear it, the more it sticks to people's mind. And then all of a sudden, it's like Ruby, red, Ruby, Ruby, red ruby respite care. So it seemed to work out. So I was pretty lucky in that respect.
Collin Funkhouser 03:27
So So you said that you had pages and pages of notes and stuff, I guess, was that how did you get started in your business?
Ruby B. 03:36
You know, how can I make a long story short? Um, I actually entered the picture industry by accident. I have a pretty heavy corporate background of 20 plus years. And it was mainly in the medical transportation field. But somewhere down the line, I had decided to take a different different path in my corporate career, but life had different plans. I while I was struggling to find employment, I had found an ad about dog walking. And I was like, Well, this is interesting. Is this even real? So I signed up and I started walking dogs and fell in love with it. And of course, my little corporate brain just can't help itself I start thinking about the different things of what I can do to enhance the experience beyond just walking a dog and then leave alone back at the house. So I decided that I would give myself six months and if I still was in love with the biting that scratching to get and poop on and bird on and everything else that rainbows take care of. I still loved it after six months that I was start my own business. And here we are. So yeah. The only regret I have is that I wish I had started sooner. But you know life is the way you know it plans out and are And I'm grateful that I had an opportunity to start where I'm at, because from all the life experiences that I've had really brought me to where I am now and have the ability to start and run a business, a fantastic business the way that I want. So that's kind of how it started.
Collin Funkhouser 05:21
And I was I've read a little bit about about you, and I know you talk about it in other places, too, but how you've, you know, pets have been part of your life for quite a long time. And even your grandpa, your grandparents had a kind of pretty impactful part of that as well.
Ruby B. 05:35
Yes, I have always had a connection with animals. I think it's just innate, I can't really explain it. I think any pet lover can, you know, can attest to that, that it's just an innate natural thing that someone has with animals. My grandparents have, or had rather, a small ranch in South Texas. I was born and raised in Houston. So I have that I cos I tell people I have the big city farm life. The best of both worlds I grew up in Houston was a ginormous city. And then down in the summer times, we went to go see grandma, grandpa and the ranch. But I tell people, the whole grandma spoils me does not exist in my family. We were there to work. We had to work, which for me being on the ranch was a lot of fun. So you know, I got to tend to, you know, the chickens and the goats in the in the pigs and the cows. So um, and while we had to work, after chores, it was fun time for me. So, you know, after we were able to, like make sure that all the animals were attended to I as a kid, I would go in a chicken coop and pretend I was the queen of the chickens. Why I had a broken burrito. And I that was my staff and I was the queen of the chickens. So I didn't care if I had chicken coop or anything on me. I was not afraid. I just felt like they were my friends. And you know, that carried on with me. You know, even even today that, you know, I just, I just absolutely love animals. And that's just how I've always been. So why I never really thought about that, you know? Well, I take that back as a kid. I've always wanted to be a veterinarian, and I don't know, life just happened and and kind of you know, I went on a different path. But I think life said no, you're not going to be a veterinarian or gonna be a pet sitter at some point down in life. Yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 07:35
Better late than never, you know, that's what
Ruby B. 07:38
I wasn't ready yet. I wasn't ready in
Collin Funkhouser 07:41
that lesson from grandma of like, no, there's work first. And then we can have downtime. Like, what a great lesson to have, especially when you're running your own business where you go, yeah, no, I've I got to work. There's work to be done. Now we're going to set that yeah, we can be clean of the chickens later. But right now we've got to focus on the work in front of us.
Ruby B. 08:01
That's exactly right. And I funny enough, but I actually instill those disciplines, even in my business, when I go into a client's house, its workforce. First, we got to do chores, we got to make sure everything's clean water, cooked pizza, and everything else. And then we'll go belly wraps. And if you do belly rubs, that same concept, well, and it's
Collin Funkhouser 08:24
so interesting, whenever you I know you have a team that works for you, as well. And I know when we're hiring and like we start shadowing with people, you do get that sense of, of okay, what's their first instinct is their first instinct to drop down and lay down and cuddle with the dog and take care of not that that's not important. But we've got other stuff to do and redirecting back to that. And that's, that shift is hard for a lot of people have going, No, we're not just going to lay down and cuddle with the dogs in the field of daisies. We've got to go do we've got to go pick up the poop first and then go do that. And
Ruby B. 08:57
then we can then we can snuggle. Absolutely.
Collin Funkhouser 09:03
Well, and I also know that you have a background in the military. I know you're proud military owned own business. And I was curious kind of where or how that influences the way you run your business and kind of any lessons that you have from them.
Ruby B. 09:18
Um, yeah, I um, I joined the service at a very, very young age. I was like, nearly 20 and the military had a huge hand in shaping me into the woman that I am today. I was in the army and they have seven core values in the acronym is leadership. And that stands for loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. And those values are have been instilled in me since the military and they still are even today. And I implement each of those core values in my daily life and in my business, because I believe in them. And, you know, and I mean, if you, if you read along what it is, you know, loyalty, loyalty to my clients duty, I have a duty to care for their, for their pets respect, I have to respect, you know, their livelihoods and how they care for their pets and in respect my relationship with my clients, selfless services going beyond just, you know, the dog walk in and offering those selfless services to my clients, that's what kind of builds a relationship, you know, between, you know, me and my clients and their pets, you know, and so on. So, you know, those, you know, the military experience really taught me the importance of structure and discipline. And, you know, without it, I don't think that I would be able to do the things that I do in my daily life, or to run the business that I how I run my business today. So it really has made a huge impact in my life. And I'm was very, very, I still am proud to serve. So
Collin Funkhouser 11:03
yeah, what are you hearing that Ruby is this? Because this is where a lot of people struggle is in the Okay, the individual tasks might not be hard, are they the middle individual, administrative tasks are hard, but it's the execution of them perfectly every day, right? Like it's going out and conducting these visits, doing these tasks, and having to, you know, that that discipline that you said, to do that, and, and when we think about a lot of that, where this with a heart comes in for our business, is that kind of in the middle of that word of leadership is the service, right, we are serving other people. And that's kind of this a lot of the foundations that we that we build on in in the what we do for our clients and their pets.
Ruby B. 11:46
Absolutely, I agree. I mean, it's, you know, I'm a service provider by nature. Um, you know, and, you know, I've, I've always enjoyed helping others and trying to figure it out, figure out a way of how to enhance that experience. So, you know, a lot of what I've, you know, experienced in life really, you know, brought me where I am today on how how I can better service my clients, I'm, if I can understand what they have going on in our lives, not that I need to know the details, but how can I alleviate just a small piece of their life and make it better? And it's, you know, a big piece of their life is their pets. And a simple walk is great, but what can I do beyond that to make them feel they come home? And they're like, oh, I don't have to worry about anything else. Fluffy is good to go. Ruby is great. I need her again tomorrow. That's the goal, right?
Collin Funkhouser 12:38
Well, it is because then because then we become invaluable to them, we can help them live their life that they want to leave. Because that's where a lot of people a lot of clients struggle with, well, I have to work or I need to go away, or gosh, I need this vacation for my mental health. But I, I can't because of my pet or I worry about this or worry about why. And so to hear us talk is talk about how you approach that of going okay, well, what I do is more than a dog walk, it's more than just a potty let out. Like, there's so much more that I can do not just for the pet, but for the owner as well, that I can I can improve their quality of life, even when they're not in the home.
Ruby B. 13:15
Absolutely, yes. And that's, that's what we're in the business for is you know, you know, work first and then we snuggle with the client, but the pets. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 13:24
you know, that's, ya know,
Ruby B. 13:28
that's a different type of service.
Collin Funkhouser 13:33
What kinds of services are you currently offering Ruby. So
Ruby B. 13:36
right now, I serve I offer your dog walks, your pet sitting services, and pet transportation, those are my main three type services. But coming in January, I am expanding a little bit on some of those services where I've gotten a lot of kitties in my pack, and I have a thing about litter boxes. I cleaned out a litter boxes. So I mean, I got to be on to scooping i It's ridiculous. And I decided to kind of start a litter box service where you know, I used to have cats, and I hate cleaning the litter box. And I know that's not a fun job to do for my clients. So going back to servicing the clients and alleviating some of that stress. I want to offer a you know, a weekly type litter box service where we come in and don't have to worry about a stinky litter box. You know what I mean? So that's something that I kind of want to implement and offer to my clients. So those are the kind those are the basic services, you know, that I offer. And of course, you know, whatever the client needs, depending on their lifestyle, you know, we always discuss it during our meet and greets and you know, we go beyond we go beyond you know, just the basic service,
Collin Funkhouser 14:54
the litter box is that something where you just you were seeing consistently with your clients that their litter box were in such poor condition, or were people actually asking you for this? Um,
Ruby B. 15:06
a little bit of both. Actually, there are some, you know, my clients are busy individuals they have they work long hours. And I respect that. And I understand that so, and being a former cat mom, I understand the stress of planning a litter box. So I never judge whenever I come in, and it's like, Holy guacamole, what is going on with this litter box? I just get to work. And you know, and when my clients see, oh, my God, this thing is shiny. And there's not even one little desperate anywhere around it, you know, that makes them feel good. And, you know, it only happens when I'm there. So I want or when they when they hire me if they're going on vacation, or whatnot. So I want to kind of go beyond that and saying, Hey, you don't have to hire me just when you're on vacation. Actually, I can actually offer the service whenever you need to. And keep that litter box fresh. And it doesn't smell like Oh, yeah. Here, no, but, but you know, hey, life happens. And we're busy. And I get it. But that's why we're here is to kind of help, you know, alleviate those stresses. So, um, yeah, I did see that a lot. And you know, and sometimes it takes me a little bit of time to just kind of get it to how, what I feel is the standard of a clean litter box. And some of them are like, Oh, this is nice. This is nice. Can you do that again? Absolutely. I can
Collin Funkhouser 16:36
go, oh, it hasn't looked like that since I brought it home from the store. Yeah.
Ruby B. 16:43
That's a new box. No, I just blanked it.
Collin Funkhouser 16:46
But that is where we can find those pain points. And I like how you linked it back to, to who your client is. Busy individuals, busy professionals. What pain points that because it's a lot more than just because we tend to think of like, oh, emotionally, they're going to miss their pet or emotionally like, we tend to go to the emotion side of stuff. A lot of times, I'm going no, they're just like, their boots on the ground like physical things in their life that I can help with there's there's there's pain points that are right in front of them, that I can help alleviate, more than just giving them peace of mind. Like no, this is a task that they can't do or, or or just don't have the time to do that I can take over. No, absolutely.
Ruby B. 17:27
It's all about you know, that client experience enhancing that enhancing that client experience. I'd like to share an example. I had a during the heat advisories over the summer know if you guys got those heat advisories over in your neck of the woods, but we definitely did in South Carolina, we had to cut walks, because it was just excruciating. And, you know, just because we cut walks doesn't mean we can't do something for the client. While you know we're indoors. So you know, while we're out partying and taking breaks inside, you know, I noticed that my clients bedroom, which is kind of the primary area where the pets are, the bed was unmade. So during the time of heat advisories, I would spruce up her bedroom and make her bed I have a thing about making beds too, that's probably military related. But I have a thing about making beds you know that right angle with the sheet. So, so I would make her bed I would make her bed I would flip her pillows and lay on her blankets and then the dogs will go out and party we come back in I mop a little bit where the you know, the kid the kids would you know, have accidents. And then she'd come home and oh my god her bed is made. So you know, what a what a relief. I have a cleaning service that comes into my house and oh my god, what a relief it is to come home. And us mostly couples. So that's how I want my clients to feel like, oh my god, this is great. So, so that's what I mean by you know, enhancing that client experiencing, you know, going beyond you know, that dog walk in, you know, going beyond that belly rub and then we can snuggle? Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 19:08
well, it I'm sure there's a lot of also like, you know, again, like you said, we have to meet the pet's needs. And then we find out what other places can we fill in the gaps, then especially if we are cutting walks, because it's so hot. Well that means that we're also not going to have a lot of time for intensive outside play either because it's too hot for that as well. So how can we make sure we're meeting some needs here while also making this time valuable for the client so they see exactly what they're getting at the end.
Ruby B. 19:38
You know, and in these kinds of, you know, services it really, in my mind I feel like that really builds a stronger relationship with my clients. Because at some point I start becoming Mom, mom number two for their pets. And you know, they don't even have to think twice about me coming in there. They know that their pets and their house is it'd be well cared for because of the relationship that I've had with my clients. Have
Collin Funkhouser 20:05
you heard of time to pet Dan from NYC pooch has this to say time
20:09
to bet has been a total game changer for us is helped us streamline many aspects of our operation from scheduling and communication to billing and customer management. We actually tested other petsitting software's in the past, but these other solutions were clunky and riddled with problems. Everything in terms of test has been so well thought out. It's intuitive feature rich, and it's always improving.
Collin Funkhouser 20:29
If you're looking for new petsitting software, give time to kind of try listeners of our show save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confession. A lot of us go we I will love your pet like you love them. Right. But what is what is and I think we really need to think about what does that mean? Okay, what take that to its logical conclusions? And where where's that going to lead to? What are you willing to do? If that's true to you? If that's the values that you have as a company? Where what what tasks? What things? How are you going to interact? How are you going to message all of that needs to be considered when we when we approach it with that mindset? No,
Ruby B. 21:08
absolutely. And you know, sometimes, I like to claim they love me more, but I think, right, I have some that if I walk if I drive up and open the car door, they have no questions about going in my car. But it goes to show that, you know, I have a bond with their pets, and you know, that their pets, you know, trust me, you know, as a human that I'm going to take care of them. And that's also important. And when the clients see that, you know, it's what a huge relief, you know, for the clients and that they're not having to worry about looking at the ring camera every five seconds to make sure that their pets are getting well cared for. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 21:53
that inherent trust starts developing. And I know, it can be that can be a slow build for a lot of clients, though. So how do you how do you encounter those clients who are kind of standoffish or not not trusting at first of
Ruby B. 22:06
all, absolutely. And I and I completely understand because I you know, was that, you know, very worried. Were like, no, no, no, no, no, with my, with my own baby. And because I have that understanding, you know, I, you know, use methods to ensure, you know, communication methods to ensure that they are staying in the loop about what's going on with their pets. It's always scary when there's like silence, like what's going on what's happening in my head, okay. So, you know, whenever I have a first client, I communicate with them, hey, I'm here, you know, hey, we're doing good, we'll send a couple pictures to kind of, you know, get them accustomed to the processes and learning what, you know, meeting their expectations and what they should expect when we come in to service their pets. And then at the end of the visit, you know, they get a fun report card of what happened during the visit. So with, you know, tons of pictures and maybe videos. So that kind of, you know, gives them like, Okay, this is what's going on. All right, this is what I should be expecting. All right, this, this is kind of cool. Like this, again, the ultimate goal
Collin Funkhouser 23:16
with the clients, they're wonderful, but we've had those clients where we show up and, you know, we they get an alert that we've arrived, and then they start texting, how's it going? What's going on? Is everything okay? I was like, okay, okay, I need to, I might not be able to communicate that level for every client, because I know, we send our updates at the very end of the visit of, hey, you know, this is what's going on. But for some of those clients who are a little more concerned or worried, rightfully so, we will give them kind of a progressive update of, you know, spiders doing great, or pastures really warming up to me, I'll send you a full report here in just a minute. But it's that it's that communication of things are coming, things are happening, you know, we're we're in this together kind of thing.
Ruby B. 24:00
Yeah, communication is such a simple concept, but it's so important in our business, is that communication, because you don't, I always feel like never leave your client wondering or asking questions. So and that's kind of, you know, when we've got and I've even, you know, told my my pack leaders is, you know, whenever you're doing your report card, make sure that there is no room left for questions. And it could be as simple as you know, you know, did you give, you know, my pet the medication, put it in the report card, I gave them medication, no problems. We were good. You know, so, you know, it's that simple stuff like that can go such a long way. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 24:39
well, it's interesting. You mentioned the medication because that's one that comes up with us quite a bit of sometimes they have the other medication regime is pretty complicated. And so they may take certain medications in the morning, which are different than the afternoon which are different than the evening and there's complicated labeling and all this stuff. And it doesn't take but a couple extra seconds to instead of saying, Oh, I gave meds to I gave XYZ meds. And I gave like being explicit with them. Because especially if it's a client that is particularly concerned about them getting their medications.
Ruby B. 25:11
No, yeah, absolutely. I have some babies in my pack that have those strict regiments that they have to have it at a certain time. Yeah. And, you know, we make sure that, hey, we've given it to them, this is what we gave them. And we're good. They did. Alright.
Collin Funkhouser 25:29
Ruby, a little while ago, you had posted some brand photos that you had done. And I can't say how much is enough how much I love the photos that you that you did with these. And when when Megan and I saw them, we immediately went, like, that's it. Like, that's me. She She nailed this, as far as the imaging of this and the the photos that you did, I do want to have you explain kind of like, what the concept of these photos kind of why you wanted to do these and what you're trying to communicate to other people.
Ruby B. 26:01
You know, when I first entered this industry, something that I learned very quickly on is how people view this industry. And, you know, whenever I would get introduced or if I introduce myself, the you know, the first thing they will say is Oh, you walk dogs, oh, you're a pet sitter, which is true when I'm in the field. But in my mind, first and foremost, I'm a business owner. And I felt like okay, you know, when I'm out in the field, I'm in my you know, I mean, my active gear, my yoga pants covered in for looking crazy, right? Yeah, that's how most of us look when we're out in the field. So it doesn't exactly it doesn't exactly offer a professional look. So what I decided to do is whenever I go out and network and market is to demonstrate that I am a serious business owner, because that's what I am. First and foremost, I'm only a pet sitter, when I'm in the field doing the duties of a pet sitter. And so that's when I decided that I really need to change the mindset of folks to see me as a serious business owner, and this is the services that I offer, that if I if they take me as a serious business owner, then they know that I take my services seriously, and I'm going to take them seriously. So so that's when I decided, you know, I should really, you know, focus my branding into a professional look. And being you know, coming from a professional background, you know, it's kind of standard of having a professional photo, even when you're going to a university at school, you have a professional photo for your school ID it's not a selfie in a car. Your LinkedIn profile should be professional, not a selfie in a car. So that's kind of where, you know, the you know, professional headshots came from is, you know, I, you know, met a amazing artist photographer, and we kind of got together, and I knew exactly what kind of image I wanted for my business. And we got to work and I think the results were absolutely amazing. So and that has helped, it has helped to change the mindset of like, okay, this is Ruby, the business owner, not just the dog walker.
Collin Funkhouser 28:16
Yeah. You still have there still some the touch of petsitting in them, I know what a few of them you're holding, like, you know, a ball or a fetch toy or things like that. So it still has that aspect of it, but it flips the percentage of what we're trying to do that what you're trying to do. They're not going business owner first and foremost. But what am I a business owner of a pet sitting company? And here's that little bit there. That's
Ruby B. 28:39
exactly right. That's exactly right. So, you know, they, it's I don't know what it is about this industry that you know, folks view us, you know, a certain way. And you know, when I first started it was like, Oh, cute, you know, you pet dogs? I'm like, no, no.
Collin Funkhouser 28:59
Yeah, I was kind of triggered by that word. Cute that you said I was like dog like, Because? Because that is that is that is a lot of perception. And not necessarily not necessarily our clients, but a lot of other business owners in other industries, right? Yes. When you go to business networking events, it is kind of like that, they pat you on the shoulder and they go, Oh, that's cute. Nice. How nice of you anyway, and you're like, No, like, it's it is very frustrating.
Ruby B. 29:27
You are absolutely right. And I and I did in the very beginning, run into that a lot when I would go to these conferences and these networking functions. And you know, in it, I really had to present myself a certain way for them to take me serious as a fellow business owner. Yeah. And when I started doing that, you know, the mindset change, the conversations changed. So you know, there was a lot more respect for the industry, if you will. So and I think at some point I kind of made In my own personal mission to change that on behalf of my fellow, you know, petsitting, you know, business owners.
Collin Funkhouser 30:10
It's not saying that we're trying to or you're trying to, you know, justify or explain. But really, at the end of the day, it's education, right? It's the people at these networking events at these business functions where they have no idea. No idea. And as you explain and share of like, here's what we tackle, here's what we do. Here's how we do it, that people will go, oh, that's a lot more than I thought, or like, that's oak. Oak. Okay, right. You can
Ruby B. 30:39
just grabbing the leash. Got it?
Collin Funkhouser 30:41
Yeah, I'll never, I'll never forget, there was one time I was at a kind of a business networking event. And there was a guy who, who was kind of hanging out in the background as I was explaining what we do. And afterwards, he came up and he goes, what an operational nightmare. And I was like, there's like, yes, yeah. It's beautiful. But yeah, exactly, like.
Ruby B. 31:08
But yeah, I encourage, and I've seen a lot of our, you know, colleagues out there with those professional headshots, and it just makes it so it brings a tear to my eye, when I see that, that, you know, they are taking the time to invest in their business with, you know, promoting themselves as a serious professional business. So, and I encourage anyone, you know, to do that anyone have to hire, you know, a high end professional photographer, you know, a simple, you know, business suit, and a good camera, and, you know, good lighting, and you're good, you know, so, but if you want to go fancy, by all means go fancy, but you know, it's, it's so important. If it's important to you, I want you know, let me say if it's important to you to have that image in part of your branding in your business, then, you know, I highly encourage you to do that. Well,
Collin Funkhouser 32:01
because you mentioned that you're also going to these networking events, these other conferences and things like that, why is that important for you to do as a business owner. So,
Ruby B. 32:11
one is to kind of, you know, immerse yourself in your community, what's going out there in the community, you know, I belong to two different chambers of commerce, and, you know, I have met so many wonderful people, that are also business owners themselves, and because of that, a lot of them have become my mentor, and, you know, helped me with my own professional growth in me, you know, personally, and in my business, of course, as well as marketing your, your brand out there, as well note, you know, letting people know that you're out there, and you're in business, and, you know, you're here also to contribute to your community. So, for me, I think it's important to, I may be small, but I don't have to be a million dollar company to go out there and contribute to my community. You know, I'm a part of the small business, you know, small business community. And, you know, as we all know, in the statistics, small businesses, you know, hold a huge percentage in our economic growth in the United States. So I'm a part of that. So what can I do as a business owner to further contribute to my local community? So for me, I think it's, you know, important to get out there and show what Ruby reds Petcare can do beyond the belly road, so and like I said, you meet so many wonderful people out there and help you with your own professional growth. And it's, I mean, and that's what it is, is kind of supporting each other as a community, even beyond, you know, the pet care industry. So, it's, it's been, it's been exciting and, and has had a huge impact in my, you know, in my business growth, so I'm pretty grateful for it. But
Collin Funkhouser 33:56
it starts with viewing ourselves as legitimate, though, right to show up to a business networking event. We have to view ourselves as a business as someone as someone worthy of being there, amongst other business professionals.
Ruby B. 34:13
Yes, absolutely. And I know I'll admit when I first started going to these networks, networking functions, I was very intimidated because you have these you know, longtime you know, business owners that you know, make gazillion dollars or these huge corporations they have, you know, folks were presenting them and I you know, I was very nervous about it and I had to take a moment and say okay, wait a minute, I belong here just as much as anyone else here I may be, you know, a one person show right now, but you know, I may be a little bit I am fierce taking it from the dodo, but I am fierce so, so I went out there with a have the confidence and it's just like, you know, when you shoot, you know, when you show your confidence people will see it. So I had to change that mindset if I want people to take me seriously as a business owner, and I need to take myself seriously. So I went out there, that head held high. And you know, here we come
Collin Funkhouser 35:17
watch out world is very intimidating to think I know, when when we started going to some of our local events, it was, oh, well, here's the third generation business over here. And here's the multinational corporation headquartered over here. And here's this banker. And here's this lawyer. And here's this. And here I am, right. Yeah. Um, but but those words of I'm here I am, I'm just a pet sitter start creeping into my head, right. It's like, it's no like, No, I, I have I love how you said that. Ruby's like, I have every right to be here, just as anybody else like I, I'm here, because like, there's also help here, right? There's like, there's help here. There's resources, the networking, and sure the marketing and the branding aspects come with that, too. But it's like, no, I'm a small business. This is a group for small businesses. Yeah, I should be here. Yes.
Ruby B. 36:06
Let's, you know, let's meet let's network. Let's see no exchange ideas. I'm smart, obviously, because how else did I start this business? But I want to surround myself with other smart people to help me.
Collin Funkhouser 36:21
Please get a little closer. Thank you. Thank you. You're You're right. And that, that just that starts with us being able to view ourselves that way. And that's, that is really hard. I know that is it. Because it's it's just something we do, right? Oh, it's, oh, I just do this. I just, and we downplay a lot of what we do most of the time, because we think it's not that big of a deal. Well, the problem, the thing is, is that if you're in this business, you're in this business, because you're actually pretty good at it. Right? You are serving your clients, well, you have skills you have there is a degree of professionalism, otherwise, you wouldn't be here. And embracing those aspects, those attributes. And the problem is most of us don't see ourselves, we never thought we'd be a business owner. Right? That's like you gave yourself six months to figure out if it's something that you'd want to do. A lot of people kind of wake up and they go, Well, I guess I've been doing this for five years, I guess I'll continue or whatever. And we kind of have to figure out again, those it's like clothes that don't quite fit. If we go okay, well, I guess this is yeah, I can make I can make this work.
Ruby B. 37:24
Right. You know, you've got to, you know, have that confidence in yourself so that others can see it. And you know, when it's your right, and it does get very intimidated and you start downplaying it, but if you downplaying it yourself then so well, other people. Yeah, so and you don't want that, you know, so you're there you have every right to be there, you are a business owner, you know, you have knowledge to share with others, just like others have knowledge to share with you. So, you know, when people see that, you know, Hey, she's a serious business owner, and she's a pretty smart cookie. You know, they'll see it and I'll respect it, and they'll want to do business with you. Because they take you serious as a business owner. So it's, it's a little tricky playing field. But once you kind of learn how to play, you know, it's, you know, it's alright, you're, and you'll start exuding that confidence and, and when you exude that confidence is, you know, your, you have like this sense of pride of like, Yeah, I did it.
Collin Funkhouser 38:26
Many people may be intimidated initially, because they don't, we don't have business background. So I can't talk about you for results in forecasting things. Blah, blah, blah, like, okay, that's fine. You get to talk about running a dog walking and pet sitting business guess what's the most fascinating thing in the world to have though, a lawyer or a boring banker, a dog walking and pet sitting business like people want to hear your story. And the fact is, is that they're going to want to hear how you run that because whether you know it or not, you do a lot of operations you do you are in financing you are in marketing, you are in all these other aspects just that's just what we call them. Because it's we're not you know, with because we don't see ourselves that way. But we get we have a lot of fun things to share, then that attracts people to you just initially, right? And that's, that's that's something to bring it in with with confidence. No,
Ruby B. 39:17
so everybody, everybody. When I go to these networking functions, and they see pet care on the back of my T shirt, they're like, Oh, pretty new.
Collin Funkhouser 39:30
You get the is that really what you do? Do you do that?
Ruby B. 39:35
Can you do that? Yes. Do you have babies Give them to me?
Collin Funkhouser 39:37
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Ruby B. 41:14
You know, I think it goes back to that golden saying about it. When you do something you love. You never work a day in your life. And, you know, this is something that I absolutely love, I love all my kids in my pack and they eat and you know, as well as any other pet sitting business owner knows that these, you know, kids with their variety of personalities and quirks, they just bring so much joy and you know, what wakes us up in the morning, if we have our you know, our own personal babies, we wake up to make sure that they're taken care of, I feel the same way about my clients, I've got to go and take care of these kids. And, you know, it kind of you know, it has me focused on that. And, and I'm constantly trying to think of ways of like, how we can do it better, what can we do for the client? What's going on in the world today? And how can we adjust to that, you know, with what's going on in the world today. Um, it's just become a part of my life, you know, and with the, my team, you know, I think it's important when you hire, that you hire people that have the same core values that you do or agree with your same core values and standards as you do. And, you know, I give my team a lot of autonomy, you know, they're grown people, they, you know, understand the love and care of pets, they only just the only thing they need to learn is the ruby red standard. And, you know, when I trained them the ruby red standard, you know, we're good to go. And, you know, when, you know, going back to my corporate life, you know, one of the most important things that you can do for your employees is to be that support. They're, they're intelligent people. And you know, and I think sometimes we forget that they're intelligent people, they're, you know, they're adults, the only thing that they need is that support system, the right tools, and training that they need to do a good job. And when you are, you know, have that for them, and you leave yourself open to anything that they need, they flourish, they bloom in their jobs, and they want to work. So, you know, going back to like the great resignation a few years ago, when people just did not want to work. You know, something that I've learned in my own corporate life is like, just the limitations if you will of what you have in your corporate life that eight to five that one hour lunch, a clock in and clock out, you have to you know, sign for your PTO, what a restrictive wife, right. But when I hired my team, they pick their hours they work with they want to, I left I put the ball in their court of how they want to do this, if you want to work for me, this is the standard of how to care for my kids in my pack. But other than that you are a grown person, then you tell me what you need. And it has worked out beautifully. It really has because I respect them as an adult, they respect me as the owner of this business. And they know that anytime that they have any issues they can call me with ease and let me know that they need help. They know if they have trouble on their, in the car on their way to help them out. And you know that, you know, for me to you know, remember when I was an employee and I had some of those, you know, tough bosses. You know, I don't want to be that person I want I want my team to want to work to love what they do. You know what I mean? They I want them to love what they do. I want them to be like yes, I could get take care of fluffy and not have to worry about anything outside of that they're there to take care of the pets. And they love their job. And that's all they got to worry about, I get to worry about all the fun stuff of, you know, an unhappy client, or needy clients or whatever that you know, me as a business owner needs to take care of, I remove all of that from them, they can focus on what they love to do. So and you know, that's kind of what a business owner is all about, you know, removing those obstacles so that your team can do what they're meant to do. So, and so far, it's worked out pretty good.
Collin Funkhouser 45:33
Fingers crossed fingers all across them for you to do. What I hear when you're saying of like, I need to hire people who are competent. And that's what my screening processes, then through my training, I point them towards the goal. And I let them run towards the goal, while I come alongside at periods of times, or struggles, and help them along the way. And this is a much different mindset, then I have to nanny them, I have to hold their hand, I have to babysit them. When you set the standard, what we found as well is nine out of 10 times maybe seven out of 10 times the person will step up to the plate. If you've done your screening process appropriately, and you've got those things in place. People like having it's it's like people finding people who like challenges by people, it's across age groups, across demographics, it's not Oh, you have to get this kind of person or this age or whatever. It's none of that. Everybody wants to work and feel valued and do valuable work. And what what more valuable work Can we can we as a society provide than caring for pets and giving pet parents peace of mind? Right now we have to come alongside them and show them how to do that. And then step back and let them flourish?
Ruby B. 46:48
Yes, yeah. Yes. And, you know, in my corporate background, I had held a role for a few years as HR training manager. So I have that background. Yeah. So Okay. Awesome. This mark? Oh, I did I, you know, I, you know, I was in a call center environment. And, you know, not only did I hire and train call center agents for the, you know, in this was still in the medical transportation field. Something that, you know, I learned along with the call center manager, is that hiring people, you know, yes, you have to have, you have to have key elements, in order to do a specific job. And in the customer service world, where we learned is people have to have that innate nature of being nice, they don't necessarily have to have customer service, you know, our call center agent experience. And what we found is, when we hire people that are outside of that, and then just mold them to the standard, show them the standard, they seem to flourish a lot more than someone who had a background in their kind of jaded about it, and they bring in bad habits. So we kind of changed the hiring process, I kind of brought in some of those concepts in my own hiring, yes, you have to have some experience as far as or an understanding of how to take care of pets. That is certainly valuable. I don't want to you know, someone who thinks all you have to do is pick up a leash. You know, what I mean? You got to have something, you know, in order to get there. But, you know, but for someone, if I know that they have an innate nature for love of animals, and I feel that they, you know, mesh well with my own core values, and I can kind of get a sense of people, all I have to do is show them the ruby red standard, and give them the proper tools and training. And they flourish. And it's worked out pretty good so far. And you know, so if I'm hiring someone who is pretty jaded from working at a doggy daycare, they may not do so well in my industry to because they're already kind of burnt out in that in there, they might be looking for something else, but just kind of based on my own experience. If they're kind of jaded out from that, you know, they may not do well over here because they're going to bring me in their bad habits. So, so someone that, you know, has that, you know, innate nature and has some good experience. You know, it's different, you know, one is a full time teacher. She also, her parents run a rescue. And she's a country girl. So she has that life experience. She's not jaded from a doggy daycare or from another employer. She's not bringing in bad habits. She's already got that inmate. All I gotta do is you know, show her the ruby red standard and give her a you know, space outside of her kids from school. Thank you.
Collin Funkhouser 49:59
Oh, yeah, fair enough.
Ruby B. 50:01
And she varnishes. So, you know, so I kind of look at those things. So you know, and then I offer, you know, training that will enhance her, you know, her skill set, like CPR and First Aid, and you know, all that fun stuff that we need to learn in this industry. So that's kind of how I've approached my own hiring is always hire slow and steady.
Collin Funkhouser 50:23
Yeah, don't rush it. We've reached that point. So many times, we've been like, well, I don't know, like, I guess we don't have a reason not to hire this person. And that's a terrible mindset to come from when you're like, well, I might as well like, you just know, be methodical be intentional, it's going to be painful. But but if you're not intentional, people start to come in who don't meet those core values who don't have those things. Because, you know, as you're talking, I'm, like, we, as the business owner, get going back to this, like, we are a business owner, and what do businesses do, they have the, the policies, the procedures, they have the ideal person outlined, and then they have the processes to mold them to that, and just envisioning the, here's the mold, here's a pliable person with all of the attributes that I need, I need to now have a system to make them fit the mold of my standard. And that is now one of our responsibilities as a business owner. And importantly, as an employer, I, this is what I have to do now. And if I don't like we see that, so happens, so many times have this person didn't work out, and they don't understand blah, blah. And it's asking, like, do they know the standard? Do you have a training process? Or are you kind of just throwing people at the wall? To see if they're gonna stick? Right? Don't throw people at walls? That's not I don't
Ruby B. 51:48
know, because it costs, it's a huge cost when you do that. And when you do go through the pains of hiring slow and steady, it, you know, you're investing in the long term. And you know, and that's something that we've learned, I've, you know, I've learned in my corporate background is like, when you hire slow and steady and you find you take the time to find those the right people, and mold them the way that you need to in giving them the resources and the support that they need to do a good job. Such a simple thing, training support, um, a lot of corporate companies don't, I don't know, anyways, let me not digress. But you know, it's just a simple concept, if you offer that they're going to do such an amazing job, and they're going to love what they do. They want to continue to do what they do. And they start taking ownership of what of their role. And you know, and it just becomes a beautiful thing. So, like I said, you invest in the long term, yeah, you kind of go through some pains right now. But it's gonna pay off. Well, so how do
Collin Funkhouser 52:48
you keep that long term in mind? Because we have a lot of immediate needs a lot of immediate pains. And so how, especially when you're bringing people on, like, are you thinking, oh, five years down the road, seven years down the road with this person,
Ruby B. 53:03
because of how I've, you know, people have lives and people change, and we live in such a different world today, we're in the past, you know, you have people that will be in an employer for 15 plus years, like myself, I was with an employer for 15 plus years. But I've learned that in today's world, that's really not the lifestyle anymore, you know, people, you know, change, change jobs, change industries to every two, three years, it seems like, so I have to understand that because that's who you know, who's in the workforce today. So I have to kind of work around that, around that new mentality. So we don't have that old school mentality, given away my age now, you know, that old school mentality where you stay with an employer for, you know, 20 plus years, or however long, you've got folks that are, you know, changing employers every two, three years, and that seems to be the norm now. So with that understanding, I have to kind of plan around that, you know, and you know, and even in the picture industry is always changing everyday. So I have to plan around that. So, you know, thinking long term, yes, you know, we definitely have to do that. But at the same time, as we learn with the pandemic, things happen. Yes, changes everything is so you know, so we just kind of, you know, make those quick adjustments and, you know, and plan for that future. So, that I think as long as you keep your people happy, and they're, they're keeping you happy.
Collin Funkhouser 54:37
Yes. It's, it's kind of it is not kind of it is redefining what that long term is, because you're right, 1520 years ago, that's what people did. Like they stayed in a job and that's what they did. There was we don't that's how they did and now, that is just so far beyond the norm. And for us to as business owners, it is frustrating when you're like, okay, so every six months, right, this is what we're doing every six months every year, okay? But that's the job market we're in. Now, as a business owner, what do I do? How can I streamline my processes? How can I make it so that it's not such a big headache? Every because I know, when we first started hiring, that was not scalable. I could not do what I did with the first two or three employees that I'm doing now, as we're bringing people on, as we've grown since then, of like, it's just we have to think about how can we change? How can we adapt to the people coming in, make them feel valued, make them see the value in their work, give them that support, and then as a business owner, understand, in six months, like they're probably going to move on to something else. But that's just because what people are doing these days,
Ruby B. 55:38
it is an in something that you've heard me thinking there for a minute, when you made a comment? Is, you as a business, oh, scaling, that's what I was like, what was the feeling? You know, you, as a business owner, have to understand what type of business you want, when you're making those plans? Do you want to have, you know, I always tell people, everyone, you know, the measure of success, you know, is defined by the, you know, the individual business owner, you know, if your measurement of success is to have a million dollars, and that's what you're going for, if your measurement of success is just to have a comfortable life where you're paying your bills, one or two people. That's a success. You know, I mean, so you know, so when you're thinking of that as like, you know, gotta hire gotta hire Well, what kind of business model, you know, what size of a business? Are you looking to have? What is your measurement of success? Are you looking to reach that million dollar, you know, pet sitting business? And if so, then you know, you definitely have to make those plans or are you just, you know, having something that you're comfortable with, that you can retire comfortably with? You know, that is a success in itself, then you plan for that. So when you're making those, you know, hiring plans and whatnot, you also want to hire based on what your business plan is, for the future. And the type of business that you're trying to have? It
Collin Funkhouser 57:00
is it is about looking forward thinking about that. And just going like, what am I comfortable with? Because you're right, it's not a one size fits all. It's not that, oh, you have to do this, you have to do that. It's a, what do I want? And that's one of the that's up of a beautiful thing that we get to do as business owners is decide what that is for us, and then shape and mold. Everything else
Ruby B. 57:21
to fit that? Yes, absolutely. So I think a lot of I've met some, you know, petsitting owners that it feel like if they don't have 10 employees and not bringing in a million, you know, a year they're not successful. I'm like, no, no, that's not true. Your measurement of success is your own you, you create that measurement of success, if your measurement of success is to be a solopreneur. Good for you, that is your measurement of success, you can make your goals to meet that if your measurement of success is to have a million, you know, dollars coming in with you know, 20 employees, then that's your measurement of success. Good luck meeting that. Yeah. So there are some people that do and yay for you. That was your measurement of success. But I don't think that anyone should compare their business model with anyone else, you should really think about the type of business that you want, and then make those goals for yourself in your business. That is your measurement of success.
Collin Funkhouser 58:19
Ruby, I want to thank you so much for coming on the show today. I can't tell you how much I've thoroughly enjoyed this and hadn't Haven't you encouraged us to take ownership of being a business owner, and that it's such a good thing that we can do and bring that professionalism into our business. And importantly, take that professionalism back out into the world and encourage other people and share what we do. But I know that there's a whole lot here that we didn't get to touch on and there's a whole lot more so if people are interested in following along, seeing your really cool headshots that you that you got and get in touch with you Ruby, how best can they do that?
Ruby B. 58:54
I am both Facebook and Instagram. We're Ruby reds Petcare is the tag and anyone can you know I'm happy for any emails, Ruby reds, petcare@gmail.com
Collin Funkhouser 59:06
I'm so thankful for your time today. I really can't tell you how much we appreciate it. Thank you.
Ruby B. 59:11
Thank you so much, Collin. I appreciate you.
Collin Funkhouser 59:13
Oh, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd. She was a vixen when she went to school and though she be but little, she is fierce. A quote by Helena and act three, scene two from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, talking about her friend, Hermia. It really is a great quote that encapsulate the mindset of determination and tenacity, regardless of not just our own physical size, but also our perception of who we are. It's about admiring the qualities of a person focusing on inner strength and courage to foundational principles when it comes to being a leader in no matter what you do, whether that's in your business in Your community, in your industry or to yourself. So ask yourself, Where does my inner strength come from? And what do I need to be more courageous about this year? We want to thank today's sponsors, time to pet and pet perennials for making today's show possible. And 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.
