599: Standing Out in a Saturated Market with Natalie Durack
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How do you take a pet sitting business from one city to two, grow a team of 30+, and develop a thriving brand? In this episode, Natalie Durack of Happy Hounds Pet Services shares how she expanded from the Gold Coast to Brisbane, navigating market differences and competition. She discusses the importance of client communication, onboarding team members, and building a recognizable brand. Natalie also explains how she introduced wedding pet attendance and proposal services, creating new ways for pet parents to include their furry friends in big life moments. Tune in to learn how she sets herself apart in an industry filled with hobby sitters and temporary dog walkers.
Main Topics:
Expanding from Gold Coast to Brisbane – Challenges and market differences.
Standing Out from Hobby Sitters – Competing with backpackers and low-cost providers.
Wedding & Proposal Pet Services – How Happy Hounds includes pets in special events.
Client Communication & Onboarding – Setting expectations and ensuring quality service.
Hiring & Training a Team – Finding reliable staff and maintaining high standards.
Main Takeaway:
“It’s more than just a dog walk. It’s about communication, reliability, and making sure our team provides a truly professional service.”
Social Media Post Expansion:
“It’s more than just a dog walk. It’s about communication, reliability, and making sure our team provides a truly professional service.”
When you trust someone with your pets, you deserve more than just a warm body holding the leash. Professional pet sitters bring experience, training, and a commitment to high standards. At Happy Hounds, every dog walk, pet sit, or wedding service is handled with care, attention to detail, and a focus on your pet’s happiness. Because great pet care isn’t just about showing up—it’s about showing up the right way. 🐶💙 #HappyHounds #PetCarePros #ProfessionalPetSitting
About our guest: Natalie Durack is the owner of Happy Hounds Pet Services, a thriving pet sitting and dog walking business operating in both the Gold Coast and Brisbane, Australia. Since starting her business, she has grown her team to over 30 sitters and offers a range of services, from daily walks to wedding pet attendance. Natalie is passionate about professionalizing pet care and creating a trusted brand that pet parents can rely on. When she’s not managing Happy Hounds, she’s fostering strong community relationships and finding new ways to serve pet owners.
Links:
Previously on: https://www.petsitterconfessional.com/episodes/community-with-natalie-durack
https://www.happyhoundspetservices.com/
https://www.facebook.com/happyhoundspetservices/
https://www.instagram.com/happyhoundspetservices_
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Pet sitting, branding, community relationships, business expansion, client communication, team management, service differentiation, market saturation, professional services, wedding pet attendance, pet proposal, dog walking, pet first aid, social media marketing, client portal
SPEAKERS
Natalie Durack, Collin
Collin 00:00
Announcer, welcome to pet sitter, confessional and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Today, we're brought to you by our friends at Tyne to pet and pet perennials. How are you working to set yourself apart? As the industry grows and expands, it matures and more businesses enter the market, and businesses last for longer and longer. Meaning there are more businesses now than ever. Today. We're really excited to have Natalie Durack, owner of happy hounds and pet services, back on the show. She was previously with us, back on episode 57 She joins us today to talk about how she has grown and expanded her business, how she's focused on her branding and her community more than ever, and what it looks like setting yourself apart in a saturated market. Let's get started.
Natalie Durack 00:47
Hi everyone, yes. So we have, yeah, we spoke. I think it was 2020, something like that during COVID. So it's been a while. Yeah, a lot has changed since then. I'll go into in a minute. But yeah, we operate on the Gold Coast, but also Brisbane, which is the east side of Australia in the state called Queensland. We so I think when we were talking before, we were just kind of Gold Coast space, whereas now we're also Brisbane, which is our second city. It's about an hour from Gold Coast up north. So yeah, we cover both cities now. So we have grown quite substantially during that time. To be honest, the business is quite unrecognizable since, you know, 2020, to now, just given, you know, the expansion that we've had, number of services that we do, and just the bigger team that we have. So yeah, it has grown quite a bit. And we do all the standard services, like the dog walking, pet sitting. We do weddings now as well, which we weren't doing five years ago. So yeah, that's definitely a new addition to what we do, which is great, yeah. So we have grown quite a bit in the past five years.
Collin 01:53
When did the expansion into Brisbane take place? And kind of, what was your thoughts behind
Natalie Durack 01:58
that? I think that probably would have been about 2022, we just yeah, we saw a bit of a potential there. There was demand. There weren't really too many big pet sitting businesses. A few like Hobby sitters and whatnot, as there are generally in most areas, but no larger businesses that were kind of taking it to the next professional level. And Brisbane as well, there's a lot of professionals like, I mean, people that work in offices and do nine to five work because it is a city, so they do need someone to pop by and check on their pets during the day and whatnot, while they're out. So there was definitely demand for it. So yeah, we made a decision to kind of advertise our services up there, take on some staff, and it's definitely been probably grown more than what it has on the Gold Coast. I'd say we maybe have a, you know, some more clients in Brisbane that we do Gold Coast now,
Collin 02:50
wow. What was it like expanding an hour away? Because that's, that's a pretty big jump, right? That's not just 10 minutes down the road, no?
Natalie Durack 02:59
So, yeah, you've got Gold Coast, and then you've got, yeah, Brisbane, about an hour north, about an hour drive from city to city, but there's a huge amount of houses, residential areas between those cities. I live in the middle, so I'm halfway between them, which is quite handy.
Collin 03:16
Strategic there. Now I like this. Okay, yeah, so
Natalie Durack 03:20
that has definitely helped. But no, it's been, it's been quite easy, to be honest. We Yeah, it's not too far. And like living in Australia as well, you're used to driving distances. Is a very big country, so an hour drive, it's not really too bad for us living here, yeah. Well,
Collin 03:38
that's true, right? When it's kind of just the name of the game. And if you're you making that drive for whatever reason it's, you know, and if you have that demand too. And I think that's interesting that you made that note of, hey, there was some other people doing kind of what we do, but not what we do at all, right? And you found that opening in the market, and knew, like, were you getting requests from businessman, or did you just launch in and say, hey, here we are. We were
Natalie Durack 04:04
getting some, yes, not a huge amount, just because we weren't advertising at all in that area. We didn't have a Google presence there either. So you know, when people typed in pet sitting, dog walking on Google, we weren't coming up. So it wasn't a huge amount. But I mean, a lot of the Facebook community pages for Gulf Coast and Brisbane, and I did see people, you know, wanting our services up there. So that's why we kind of made a decision to move up that way a little bit as well.
Collin 04:30
So what do you, you know? I mean, so as far as you know, that expansion that you did, other than that, how has, how has business been for you since we last spoke?
Natalie Durack 04:39
Well, yeah, it's been, yeah, busy. To be honest, I'm very busy. I, yeah, my first holiday in years was last year, just because I haven't been able to get away in since before COVID. So yes, you know, owning a business, it's, it's a challenge, and going away is hard. Just. Just trying to manage it while you're away, or have someone available to manage it. So yeah, it's definitely been busy. We have over, I think maybe close to 3000 clients now across both cities. We have a team of over 30 sitters, two, admin, three, including myself. So we're definitely at a substantial size. And yes, I still do a lot of the dog walks myself, just I want to, I don't have to, but I do have a lot of regular clients, some dogs that I've had for about eight years, so I'm not quite ready to give them up just yet. But yeah, no, we've definitely grown just with a number of clients, obviously the staff that we have. So it's a lot of managing these days. Yeah,
Collin 05:48
that's quite a lot. That's a lot of growth there. Natalie, is that? Is that what you wanted? You know, when you started your business,
Natalie Durack 05:57
to be honest, it's, it's grown very organically, and I didn't really, I'm not one of those people that will kind of put together a plan or a goal for the business. I never did that. It's just been a case of going with the flow, seeing where it takes me so and, you know, it's been great, like I have loved the fact that we've, you know, can sit back now and go, Wow, this is where we were, especially during COVID, when we lost, you know, a lot of work, a lot of clients, just because of everything shut down, and then to see us here, it's, it's quite a big change. It's a good change, definitely. But yeah, there's been a lot of blood, sweat and tears that have gone into that, that's for sure. Yeah,
Collin 06:41
well, and, you know, you said that phrase, going with the flow and organically. And I think that's that is really important, because at each step, you kind of go, Okay, well, what do I What? How would I solve this? And how would I solve this? And that's kind of, that is how we work our way towards this growing business. And then, you know, again, I'm sure when you started over eight years ago, you weren't thinking, oh, one, I'm gonna have a team of 30 and 3000 clients and admin, and I'm gonna have all this stuff, but you found yourself there just through trying to solve problems and continuing to work to make the whole thing continue to function.
Natalie Durack 07:17
I know some people like to have goals, and I do encourage that in your the business space, it's good to have something to look forward to and to try to achieve. But yeah, with us, it's just been, I feel like we've just been so so in the day to day of things that sometimes it's hard just to sit down and go, this is where I want to be. And we try not to to be too strict with that, because we don't want to, one, set ourselves up for failure. But two, it's just, yeah, when you're so in the thick of things, sometimes it's hard to see beyond the beyond, and especially with COVID as well, we didn't really know what was happening there, so we didn't want to set two strict parameters of what we want to, want, wanted to achieve. So yeah, again, it's just seeing where it takes us, and now we're at a point where we can start to put future plans together, whether that's expanding to new areas around us, or sales targets, and that we're not and that we are trying to do that, but yeah, we're just gonna sit down and try and plan ahead a bit more.
Collin 08:21
Were your admins previously dog walkers or pet sitters that you raised up into those roles, or did you find other people for them? No,
Natalie Durack 08:29
so yeah, we did find other people externally, just because, yeah, we needed a little bit more experience on the admin side of things. One of my admins really great with social media as well. So she comes from a creative background, doing website design. So if you have seen a bit of social media, that's probably done by her. So I'm not great with all that stuff. I'm not really the creative type. So No, it's great that she can do that. So, yeah, that's one less kind of thing we have to source outside of the business. She does a lot of that social media as well as the admin work.
Collin 09:08
Yeah, I think that's fantastic to try and do as much in house as possible, because it means you have a tighter feedback loop. You have a better relationship with people. And it's also people who really understand, like, the feel and vibe of the company versus somebody who's just kind of going off with some basic script and what they think is going to work, right? I think it's a much better fit for a lot of companies than many realize.
Natalie Durack 09:36
Yeah, no, it has been good, and it's yeah with both. I mean, they both come to the table with their different strengths. So I, like a lot of our team that are out dog walking and pet sitting, that's what they enjoy doing. You know, they wouldn't be doing this role if they didn't like being out with their dogs. They don't particularly want to be sitting in front of a computer screen all day, like a lot of them have gotten away from that work already being like a. Computers doing nine to five. So, yeah, they don't want to be doing admin either.
Collin 10:04
I know we ran into that with our team as we grew we were like, hey, hey, I've got some administrative work for you to do. You want to fill out some paperwork? And, you know, like they were just backing. Some backed away slowly and politely. Others just turned and bolted, you know, and ran away and was like, Oh, right. Like you didn't, I think it's okay to have that conversation with your team, but to not feel like overly disappointed, if nobody really wants to step up into that and go, Okay, well, that's, you know, that people are here for their own reasons. And then I have to then take that feedback and do something with it. And, you know, like, what you did of going, well, I have to look external now and figure out how to bring these people into my company. Did want to go back to how you said that there was an opening in the market in Brisbane. What? How has the market? What has the market been like in Gold Coast and in Brisbane? Kind of where you are since COVID?
Natalie Durack 11:01
So, yeah, definitely, with Brisbane, we've seen it grow quite substantially. As I said, just a lot of professionals working in the area, they need dog walkers and pet sitters. A lot of them live in apartments as well in the city. So if they're out from it could be eight till five, 6pm at work, they need someone to stop by during the day to let the dogs out of the toilet, because I don't have access to a garden. So we do see a fair bit of that in the city, Gold Coast. We're still, you know, one the, probably the biggest company on the Gold Coast, but just with the nature of the Gold Coast, I'm not sure how familiar you are with what that's like, but it is quite, you know, a beachy, touristy area versus the city. Brisbane City, as I said, a lot of people go there for work, whereas Gold Coast people go there for surfing, for just enjoying the beach kind of lifestyle. So we do get a lot of backpackers, people just on working visas that come here from all over the world. And as we know, dog walking can be seen as a, you know, just something that you do as a bit of a side hustle, hobby sort of job. So a lot of those backpackers, they do advertise their services for quite cheap, quite cheaply to pet owners. So I'd say it's a little bit more saturated in that. In that area, people don't need our services as much because they might just have a backpacker that's happy to do it for, you know, a handful of months for half the price that we charge. So that can that is, I do see that a fair bit. On the Gold Coast, obviously, there's some people that want to create a more long, lasting relationship with a business like ours, and they're happy to pay those fees. But yeah, we are quite laid back country here. So yeah, people are happy to have those just younger adults, backpackers walk their dogs as well, whereas, yeah, Brisbane is a little bit different.
Collin 13:00
I think that is, that is a dynamic that I have not encountered before, and so I find that really fascinating, heavily, of of being able to pinpoint, you know, one of the reasons it's saturated, as you said, is these people coming into the area, either on vacation or traveling, you know, and they're just going to be there. You specifically said they're just going to be there for a couple months and then they're going to leave, but that so they're coming in and advertising their services as, you know, dog walker, pet sitter or whatever, because they're needing to make some money while they're in that area. And that is interesting to see how kind of the lower end of the market, as far as pricing wise, kind of gets sucked up by a lot of those. You know, Here today, gone tomorrow, kind of, kind of services for sure.
Natalie Durack 13:46
Yeah, there's a lot of people, yeah, on Facebook, some will always post, I need a dog walker for it could be a temporary basis, maybe just like a week or two, and then you'll just see a bunch of people saying, I'll do it for $10 for an hour. So there is a fair bit of that that we do see, but yeah, at the end of the day, if that's what they want, those clients that may suit them, it's not what we're looking for in the clients that we want. Like, as I said, we want people that want to be with us for long term. They can see the value that we offer. Just you know, our team are are great. They're professionals. We use time to pet as well. So you know, we are professional compared to someone versus someone who's just going to come by for $10 walk the dog and maybe for a week and then disappear. So yeah, it depends on what the person's looking for
Collin 14:36
as well. And as a business owner, though, I know that can be frustrating, right? To go like, no, like, no, no. That's make a different decision. But we can't like, I can't like we do a lot of vacation visits. I can't make people go on vacation and use us. I can't make people decide that our services are more value versus somebody who only wants to do it for 10 bucks, or, you know, nine there was somebody. In our area that was offering like, dog walks for seven bucks. And I was like, oh, okay, right. And yeah, it is, it is frustrating. But I think at the same time going okay, it gives me a lot more reason to go. I need to do everything that I can then to clearly distinguish what we do versus what other people are doing. And so to really drive home that point for why we are we are more costly, and to tell people why that
Natalie Durack 15:28
is, yeah, exactly differentiating yourself. So if you've got the checks, like background checks, I think what you guys call them, pet first aid insurance, all of that that you're going to have that versus someone that's charging $10 $7 as you said, an hour. So they're definitely not going to have that. So yeah, whatever it depends on what the client sees as value as well. So they might not be too fussed with that. They might just want somebody by, as I said, just for a short term week. They're not fussed. If they don't have insurance or whatnot, they're prepared to take that risk. You can't, obviously, force them to see the day, see the lights, and have someone that you know if there is a problem, they are covered by insurance and they do have the skills necessary to deal with emergencies, they Yeah, they might not see the value in that, and that's nothing we can do about that. We can just put our best foot forward. It's up to them if they want to choose us or not.
Collin 16:24
How are you attracting those kind of clients that you're actually after?
Natalie Durack 16:29
So we do again, very the go with the flow type business. We do a lot of like Facebook advertising. We don't it's all organic. We've never paid for paid marketing. We've never gone to a marketing agency or anything like that. It's very much just Facebook. We have the Google presence, and as you said before, just like doing social media posts, differentiating us from other people, emphasizing on the insurance, the pet first aid, the team that we have as well. So we do try and share our team as much as possible, so our clients can, you know, get a feel for who's coming in to look after their pets, put a face to a name. Essentially, we find that a lot of people prefer to see people in our photos as well, of the photos that do the best, or those with people in them, versus just a dog photo. So yeah, they do like see our stories, so we try to use that to advantage as much as possible. Yeah, definitely a lot of Facebook on, as I said, on all the community pages, if someone's looking for a pet sitter, will always pop our name down. But these days, to be honest, we don't really have to do too much of that, because word of mouth is huge. People will often put our name down before we've even seen the post, which is great. And yeah, just having that Google presence is huge. Between Facebook and Google, it's about 5050, of you know how people find us? 50% for each Wow. Yeah, I often
Collin 17:58
forget, or at least discount the importance of having when our current clients share about us on social media, or they answer those questions, right? Who's Who's a good dog walker, who's a good pet sitter or whatever? And I forget that that's word of mouth, sometimes, honestly, because, because it's not them going and telling their neighbor, like directly or at the workplace or on a walk, it's and so I it is. It is really beneficial when that happens, right? Because people want to know who's already being used. That's one of the first ways that that trust starts to develop, if somebody else can vouch for you, and in whatever way that is, whether it is on a social media post or whether it is a face to face conversations, that's what people are really looking for to know how what, how to move forward with this? Yeah, for sure.
Natalie Durack 18:45
That's huge. And even with me, if I'm looking for someone, like, the other day, I was looking for a plumber to come by and saw something out of my house, I'd post that on the community page, and it'll be, you know, a heap of people commenting, and I'll generally look for the one that's, you know, recommended the most people saying, Go, this person, this person, and then I'll go to their website, check out their Facebook reviews and everything. So it is huge, especially for us in the industry that we work in where we have people going to people's homes. It's a very personal job. It's, for example, the plumber situation it's very different having someone coming in and just, you know, clear the drainage in your house, versus someone coming into your house when you're not there, who has access to your keys, looking after your pets and your home. That's very different. So you do want somebody that comes highly recommended, versus just, you know, choosing a random person that's here on holiday says they can do the dog walk that comes highly recommended, ideally by people that you know in your community or family friends. Have
Collin 19:48
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Speaker 1 19:52
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Collin 20:09
you're looking for new bet, same software give time to better try. Listeners of our show will save 50% off your first three months by visiting hard to bet.com/confession Yeah, you mentioned too. This is a people business. People want to have that connection to other people. And you said that the best posts that are doing or performing are the ones with people's faces in it. I think that's really important to remember that people are looking for that connection and and as a business, it can be tempting to only post the cute dogs, the cute cats, but that, then what we're doing is we're actually competing with like, the specific dog and cat social media pages. I don't know if you like, I see those all the time where all they do is post cute dogs and cats. So those, those accounts are, are one in a million. And what really people are looking to us for a service. They're not just looking to see cute dogs and cats. That's just a bonus, right? But what they're actually looking for is a connection to people, a connection to somebody, and so making sure to share out those posts with your team or yourself in video. I know that's one thing that we've been trying to do a lot more, is just like, really short videos, and it's terrible and it's never good, and I'm just like, whatever I have to I just need to post this and move on right and go do something else, right?
Natalie Durack 21:25
Yes, I agree. The videos can be really challenging. I'm also not great at them. I Yeah, don't like seeing myself on social media. But yeah, like our team as well. They're happy to be posted on there. We occasionally do little photo shoots. The last one we did was on the beach with a number of our dogs and our team. So clients really love seeing those photos. Yeah? We just try to personalize it as much as possible, but a face to
Collin 21:52
a name, yeah, yeah. And especially I, that's something that we have yet to do is get a whole team photo together. I know that's what like. One of my bucket list for this year, is to find some way Photoshop in the rest of the people, I don't know, but like, I feel like, like that just gives people a whole lot more of going, Oh, wow. Like, I don't know if you get this now they wouldn't be if people tell you, like, have that conversation, and they go, What are you doing? You know, I run a dog walking and pet sitting business. You know, I've got for you. You know, I got a team of 30 people that worked for me. It's like what I think it just, it's way more impressive to see them all there on the faces. So I think that's a really, a really good thing to do.
Natalie Durack 22:29
Yes, I do recommend it. If you can do it this year, do it, and it's also you get a whole heap of content as well. So we've got over 100 photos that we can use. So it's definitely beneficial. And you can, you know, spread those out across the year posted. Okay,
Collin 22:43
I put it on my to do list. Thanks. Well, you mentioned one of the new services that you're offering. I think you're doing wedding pet attendance, but I also saw a proposal assistant talk to me about this and kind of where the idea came from, to put these together and out there.
Natalie Durack 23:05
So the weddings we I feel like a lot of pet sitting businesses are doing that now. It's quite popular, at least here, so that was definitely no brainer for us. We do love doing that. It's one of my favorite services to do, and we've got a fair few booked in already for this year, wedding season starting up now. So we definitely love doing that, the pet proposal. So that I can't remember where exactly that came from, but it was just if people want to incorporate their pets into a proposal. So generally, one of the individuals in, say, couple, will hire us to bring the dog along for the proposal after it's happened, and have the dog there as a surprise. So that's kind of one way that they hire us. Or sometimes it's just for engagement shoots, so photo shoots and they might want to bring their dog along. And we've done that, it is hard for them to, especially if the dog's a little bit more of a handful and not exactly one, to sit still. They can't always get photos just with them and then have the dog sit and wait patiently to the side. A lot of dogs won't do that, so they need somebody to come and, you know, wrangle the dog while they're getting the photos between them, and they will bring the dog in and out of photos as a photographer needs. So it is quite beneficial to the couple and the photographer as well, because they don't want to have to be dealing with that while trying to get these good photos. Oh,
Collin 24:34
and I like that. It's a kind of a niche within a niche, right? Going, okay, there's the wedding pen attendant, but also there's the what happens before the wedding, right? A proposal. So I just, I thought it was so neat that you're like, you're coming both ends of that event. And I think that's so special. Because if somebody, what I like about that is, if somebody wants their pet in their wedding, well, they're going to want their pet involved with everything, right, as much as possible. So why not? Offer that to them to be there for that event too.
Natalie Durack 25:04
Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, they can use us for that, and then for the wedding, and then we've also recently, which is also really great for us to do. We did the baby gender reveal as well. That was a really big for us. That was our first time doing that. So the client, her and her partner obviously didn't know the gender of their baby, and so they gave us an envelope, an envelope before the baby shower, to let us know what gender the baby was. And then so we dressed the dogs up in either blue or pink and brought them to the baby shower. And it was a surprise for them and all their guests, which was really lovely. So yeah, that was definitely a highlight of last year.
Collin 25:47
That's really cool. And I think we're going to see a lot more of that kind of involvement with people and their pets in the years coming for as as they want them, not just as an also and to their life, right? I feel like we're still have a lot of that kind of mentality of they love their dog, it's means more to them than most things in the world, but it's also just can be still some of a burden to them. And I think as people try and just live their complete life with their pet and have them involved in everything, it's services like that that are really going to stand out as people go. I never knew that was there. And if you can get somebody for that service, right, how much more you're gonna be able to get them for a dog walk and have them integrate you into the their life in all these different facets,
Natalie Durack 26:35
for sure? Yeah, we do get a lot of people saying, Oh, didn't know that was a thing. Or, you know, we're so glad we were able to do that and not have the stress of, for example, bringing those dogs to and from the wedding, from the baby shower, all their guests were at that event, so they didn't want to have to get somebody to go pick the dogs up and then help with them at the shower and then take them back home. Same thing for the wedding. So, yeah, a lot of people don't know that it exists, and when they do is like, wow, that was such, you know, one less thing for us to deal with, and while still, one less thing for us to deal with having the pets there, wrangling them and then taking them home when all family and friends are already at said event. You don't want to have to send somebody home being like, Hey, can you drop the dog back now, please, and then come back later for the, you know, reception. That would be great.
Collin 27:22
Yeah, yeah. Well, again, they want to, it's kind of they want to have their cake and eat it too, and they they want their dogs there, but they don't want to inconvenience their family members and have their family members not be there for the event. So what's the other option? Hire professional to take care of it, right? And that's really where we can insert ourselves. Are you also finding those clients through Facebook, social media, organic, or are you doing anything special for those particular people?
Natalie Durack 27:49
So yes, it is a bit more of Facebook and again, on Google as well. If you just type in dogs, wedding Gold Coast or Brisbane, we do come up. Another thing is just making connections with a lot of the wedding coordinators, wedding celebrants, but also the venues. Venues are probably one of the bigger people to be speaking to if you want to be doing this sort of thing, just because a few of the venues around here, they won't allow dogs to be brought to their venue unless there is a professional looking after them. So they won't let you know family and friends look after them and say, if you want your dog here, you've got to have someone reputable. And so we've connected with them, and they'll be the first to be like, Hey, I know we said we needed someone, a professional, to do it. Check out. Happy hounds. They'll be able to help. So we get a lot of work from those venues, which is great, because they will do that marketing for us. So yeah, definitely establishing relationship with your wedding venues. I recommend,
Collin 28:51
yeah, and that's it's a little bit different having talking points for them, right? Because when you approach businesses like that. Now it's a business to business kind of transaction and introduction, where many times our language is geared towards our clients or potential clients. So I'm not talking to the wedding coordinator about peace of mind, and you know all of this stuff. It's like, I can do the task that you want, and I have insurance to do it. So like, let's go. It's, it's, it's more of a, like a professional introduction at that point of like, I have skills that can help you and I can meet your clients needs in these ways to solve their problem, right? It's, it's a little bit more one one removed. But I think it's absolutely essential that we make those kind of introductions, like you're doing,
Natalie Durack 29:39
yeah, for sure. And like all those people, the celebrants, the coordinators, the venue operators, they have worked with us before a number of times, so they know that we are good at what we do. And yeah, they're more than happy to recommend us to people versus just again, someone that they choose off Google. They'd obviously prefer to work with somebody that they have done previously. Yeah.
Collin 29:59
Yeah, well, then you too, like you're not being just thrown into all these random different events or different places. You get familiar with the layout and kind of know, and it helps increase the professionalism on your end to kind of the more, the more times you're able to be there and experience it. And sometimes that those experiences we discount as important, but being familiar with an area is just critical. Think of it as we do adventure hikes. You know, we take dogs out to different parks and different trails. The more I walk there, the more it's like, okay, I know how to pace through this portion, or I know how to do this, and that leads to a better experience for everybody involved, and to really play into that with those kind of relationships, of like, yeah, it's been five years that I've been doing this, or whatever, like that really gives peace of mind to the clients to know that they're in good hands.
Natalie Durack 30:52
Definitely, yeah. And when we speak with the clients as well, we do like a conversation beforehand, just to go through all you know, the logistics of the day, make sure we have all the timings right, and they know what to expect from us and vice versa. Yeah, definitely goes a long way in letting them know that we know the venue and the coordinators there, and that we've already established a relationship with them. For example, some of the venues up the mountain, they might have like cattle, cows around the property, some have donkeys. So letting the clients know that, you know, just in case you weren't aware, there are cows around the acreage property. So does the dog have any issues with that? Also, kangaroos are another thing that sometimes we have to deal with. Oh, right, yeah, sorry, yeah, because you can't, obviously let the dogs off leash if they're around that area. We don't generally, but sometimes people want the dogs running down the aisle, so that's just another thing to think about. Just in case they decide to have a bit of a wander. Hopefully there's no kangaroos around. So those sort of things will let the clients know before, and they'll be like, oh, yeah, we didn't think of that, you know. Thank you for letting us know we didn't see that when we did a tour of the venue. For example, having that prior knowledge is really great.
Collin 32:07
Yeah, again, it makes it smoother for everybody. And can really get ahead of a lot of problems. And I we often encounter that of is it it can be hard? Is it always my responsibility to be the one that thinks of these things, and do I always have to problem solve? And on one hand, yeah, right, because that's what the client want. The client's paying for a professional. They want the person who's thinking 345, steps ahead. That's what they they're they're eager for. They if they wanted somebody who was just going to show up real quick and disappear the next day. We know where they can hire those people, but they're standing in front of us talking to us. So it is they get everything, and that is something that we just have to be prepared for. It's kind of that is a little bit of mental fatigue. That's where a lot of burnout comes. I'm always thinking about the problems and trying to get ahead of them, and so we can manage that with a team of admin and other people around us, and good boundaries, but that is an immense benefit and value that we bring to our clients. Yeah, 100% you
Natalie Durack 33:08
always have to be asking all the questions, and, as you said, thinking ahead, trying to problem solve before they've become problems. And just again, that comes back to also having having a good chat with a client beforehand, and just getting a feel for what they want. Ask you all the right questions, like, is your dog good with all the guests? Is there anyone they particularly aren't fond of? Or if any of the guests aren't fond of them, is there are they more toy or treatment motivated? Are they going to listen when you squeak a toy, or if you've got a treat or treat in your hand, is there parking available on site? Do I have to walk a kilometer to get to the venue? All those sort of things are really important to be asking because for any service, but especially for the weddings, because it is such an important day for people, and you don't want to be stressing out the bridal group if you can even get a hold of them, because most times they don't even have their phones on them during the day. So you do have to ask all these questions just to make sure you're minimizing the chance of things going wrong on the day. Right. I
Collin 34:16
know one thing that's kind of a conversation that we're having over here in the States is kind of not necessarily impending legislation and regulation of the industry, but kind of the thought of how it's going to impact us. How is that climate in Australia and where you're operating? Do you see, you know, calls for legislation and regulations of the pet sitting and dog walking industry? No, not really, yeah.
Natalie Durack 34:42
I haven't heard any chatter about that. It is, yeah, as you said, largely unregulated here as well. Anyone can call themselves a pet sitter, adult Walker. It is getting a bit stricter with the dog training sort of sphere. I. Um, there are obviously certain qualifications that are recommended, not required, just yet. I like to see them one day, hopefully. You know some nationwide legislation that does you are required to have in order to call yourself a dog trainer. Currently not, but I wouldn't be surprised if that changes in the next few years, because they are cracking down a little bit more on that side of things, but not with the pet sitting, dog walking space. Yeah, we
Collin 35:27
feel like it's still a few years off for anything that really comes through. But you're like, we're seeing it in the trainer space as well, of a few of like, what techniques are allowed or not allowed, or what they will, you know, kind of be to be certified, whatever that is. And so it is interesting to see how that, and that's something that we're trying to watch really closely, of going, how could this potentially impact our business, and are we, are we set up to to be able to operate in those conditions? And you know, that's just always one of those bigger, bigger looming threats out there of, okay, we've got this competition and we've got these market conditions, and then, oh, yeah, there may come some time that regulations that start dictating exactly what we must do during our operations, and are we going to be able to make that work
Natalie Durack 36:11
for sure? And again, that's just another one of the the risks of running a business. You know, there's things can change, you know, like, at the moment, just with the weather, we've got this cyclone happening. You're always, always going to be something that happens, whether it's that or legislation changes, it's Yeah, just one of the risk of owning a business, managing a business, and this, yeah, just what it is.
Collin 36:37
Well, growing a team to 30 team members, plus your admin. And you like, that's no small feat, and then you did it in a really short time. How, how were you growing your team? And kind of, what's that been like for you, specifically, you know, hiring, training, onboarding, or, you know, kind of your, how you put that all together.
Natalie Durack 36:59
So, but yeah, basically, we just hire according, obviously, to demand. If we're entering a new area, then we'll find people in that area before we do any sort of marketing, instead area, like on the Facebook pages or whatnot. We don't want to be advertising in that area. Have clients that are interested in our services and then be like, Hey, sorry, we have to wait because we don't have any staff in that area yet. Yeah, so, yeah, it definitely does depend on the demand. Sometimes, if we've got one of our team members moving out of that area, then we'll obviously try and find a new person who can take on those jobs that we can no longer cover from the other person moving. We do have just a rolling advertisement online for a dog walking and pet sitting role, and people can always apply on our website. We prefer just to have that constantly open, even if we might not be hiring right at that said time, just because we still like to have applications coming through. And as I said, it might be fine one day, and then the next day, one of our staff is like, hey, yeah, I'm moving to this area. I can't do these jobs anymore. So yeah, it can be a constant evolving situation just with where we need people. Yeah, so it's always open. We are pretty strict with who we bring on board. It is quite an extensive onboarding experience for them, just because we obviously don't want to just be hiring anybody. So we are pretty strict with the application process. There's a number of questions they have to answer first, and then we send through a more extensive packet that's like long answer questions, so they have to be quite detailed with how they answer those. And it does say in the instructions, please be detailed with your answers. And if they're not detailed with their answers, straight away, it's a no, because if they can't read that instruction, I can't expect them to be detailed on a day to day basis when they're informing clients, you know how their pets are, so they need to be able to follow instructions. And then obviously, we meet them in person a number of times they do some walks with us. And yeah, it's quite extensive, but I make no apologies for it, because, as I said, it's a big responsibility having people come into your pets and homes and that at the end of the day that falls on me, I need to make sure that we're hiring the right people
Collin 39:33
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Natalie Durack 41:11
you do weed out the people who are maybe just throwing in an application and hoping for the best versus people that really want the role. So yeah, it does pay to have an extensive onboarding process. And even though it is dog walking, you know, people would just be like, it's just a dog walk, you know, how much is there to it when, you know, matter of fact there is, it's more than just a dog walk. You know, it's the communication with the client that becomes before the dog walk, during the dog walk, you know, what happens if there's an emergency, if you get a loose dog run out at you, or if the dog starts limping or eats something that it shouldn't, that's dealing with that. But then there's also the communication after the dog walk. You know, it's not just a case of, hey, the dog walk went fine. She loved her walk. I'll see her again tomorrow. You know, it's that's very basic that I'd maybe expect from someone who's charging $5 an hour versus us, you know, charges obviously a bit more professional service we expect. You know, at least a few paragraphs with you know, how the dog walks, gone, photos and whatnot. So, yeah, it's more to it than just a dog walk well
Collin 42:18
and just client instructions. Honestly. Now, while we're talking, I just looked over and I have an email from a client. They're a dog walk client, and there are five bullet points with very specific things that they want done and how they want the house left. And it's like, if we don't follow that, like, that's an upset client. And so it's simple thing, like, be as detailed as possible, or do this by Tuesday. If that doesn't happen, these, these quote, unquote little details, they add up. And what we, what I know, is that very rarely, especially passionate pet parents, which is who we tend to attract, is very people who are very detail oriented. And I love helicopter pet parents. They're fantastic, but they very rarely give you a second chance. And if they do like you, better knock it out of the park. And so it's kind of a high stakes game in a lot of cases, for those kind of clients who want these things. And if they're that detailed, they're not telling it to you just for fun, right? They're telling you these things because they want you to do them. And it takes a special person to be able to look at that and go, I think it's ridiculous that you want me to turn out your, your, you know, blinds a half turn, you know, on Wednesday, but whatever, if that's what you need me to do, like, Fine, I'll do that on my way of the house, you know, or whatever it is that the client's asking,
Natalie Durack 43:37
yeah, this, yeah, you definitely get some quite that, quite particular with what they're after, that's for sure. But then that is understandable. Again, you're inviting someone into your house you don't know, to look after your pets in your home. And that might be the case you know the first couple times that you go there, but once they've established a relationship with you, they know that you're, you know, responsible. You're going to be doing this every time. They're instantly a lot more relaxed. Initially might be that little bit more higher maintenance, but then as the time goes on, they're a lot more, yeah, calm with how things are going. They're happy with the quality of services that you can bring. And as I said before, it's like that communication factor being in constant communication with them, then providing instructions us, being detailed with our reports and time to pet that's all important for the client, but also for the team as well, just as much as what it is for the client, because as we have 30 staff, it's very Easy for communication to go you know, just not work out as we intended to, so we have to be detailed with our responses. Say, for example, we're looking after a dog for a week, doing overnight stays. Maybe the dog hasn't eaten for the first two days, which can be somewhat normal for some. Some dogs, especially if they're a bit more anxious. It might be the first time that they've been left with someone other than family. The client might say, don't worry too much about it. But then if we have one or other one about other staff popping by on the third day and the dog still hasn't eaten, then we don't want them to be putting their report through and time to pet being like, hey, the dog hasn't eaten today, just letting you know, we'll keep an update. Like, that's the third day. By that point, that's a bit more of a worry. So they should have read the updates from the previous sitter and being like, Okay, this is the third day, not the first day. Maybe that might be a vet trip by that point. So it's just being detailed with those reports, reading the reports from previous sitters and team members as well. Because, yeah, things, it's not just the information is not just in one person's brain. It's in multiple people's brains. So communicating that is really important for both the team and
Collin 45:56
the clients. Yeah, there is such a wealth of knowledge and head knowledge of our team, and especially when we have a team approach for multiple people, maybe taking care of a client, really laying out a process for continuity of care is really important. And because that's that's something that we've had to work on with our team, too. Of going, hey, when you show up, it's probably not the first visit. So look at previous reports. Here's a process for that, because you don't want to come in and be like, did you know this plant is doing this? It's like, Yes, three people previously mentioned that the plant was doing that, just like you're saying, Natalie have, like, people have already talked about this, and you should know that, because it's in the report. And so yeah, it Yeah. And that because that's not a good experience for the client. That's that shows that there's not a cohesion here, and the more we can smooth that out with our teams, it really is just better for
Natalie Durack 46:48
everybody. Yeah, we don't want a client being like, Hey guys, you obviously weren't communicating between each other. We never want a client saying that because, you know, that just shows us being, you know, not on Twitter, not responsible. So yeah, that communication between team members is really important, being as detailed as possible in the reports and also reading the reports. But also time to pet is good in that you can go and update the notes on a pet as well. So if a client says, before they go away in person to one of our staff, hey, just letting you know the dog's getting different food now, and maybe they forget to update that in the pets portal themselves. We can then go and update. We encourage our team to Hey, just make sure that's up to date. So then the next person goes, because otherwise they're not going to go and not going to know, sorry if that food has changed. You need to be the one to update that in the portal, right?
Collin 47:40
You also have in your job application. Not that I was applying Natalie, but I was kind of applying to your app because I was wondering if I could get in. But I noticed that you have this really cool Like About You section during the application process. And I absolutely love this. Of you go through, you read the job, you read some information, and then there's, it's, it's YOU the company saying, Hey, you the applicant. This is the about you part. And it goes through each of these little bullet points and stuff. And I really thought it did a great job of kind of, kind of lifting up a little bit about just the company culture, the qualifications and everything. When did you always have this implemented or kind of, what's the thought processes around you doing this for your applications?
Natalie Durack 48:29
Yeah, it's always been there. It's just again, everything listed on that page about you, they are non negotiables with what we need to have in a team member. So being a good communicator, as we've already discussed, how important that is for both the client and other team members, being independent. We know this is pretty much a solo job for the most part, unless you're doing you know, pack walks with other team members. It's generally quite solo doing all the the holiday visits, overnight stays, being able to problem solve if a key gets jammed in a door or one of our lock boxes don't open, trying to figure out ways to do that. Sometimes you've got to work it out by yourself. At the moment, we've got this cyclone on our doorstep, going outside, securing things stand on. You need to be able to do that work independently. Again, try and foresee problems before they happen, and reliability for us is huge as well. So that's definitely mentioned in that About You section. As I've said multiple times, we're looking after people's pets and their homes. So it's not a case of one day you can just wake up and be sorry not coming to work today, just because, you know, my friends invited me out for lunch or something. That's it's any job is important. If you don't show up to your job on a daily basis, weekly basis, you're quickly going to get fired. Your boss is going to get a bit over it. But with us, there is that added risk. Responsibility, because we are looking after people's pets, a living thing, and if that pet requires medication, that can be a life or death situation. So yeah, it's a bit more important. Sometimes I would argue versus other jobs, because, yeah, something is dependent on you, so the reliability for us is huge, and that's why we've mentioned it in that About You section. It's, yeah, a non negotiable, being reliable, yeah. It
Collin 50:25
sets those expectations from before they've even applied right? It lets them know, hey, if this is not you, then you can go find employment elsewhere. And I think that's that's really, really important, because if they come in with the wrong expectations, if they come in with the wrong thinking about what they need to do, it's just going to be friction after friction throughout the entirety of their time with you as the business, and that that's part of the culture, right? That's also part of, really the outward expression of your brand as a business, too. Because ultimately, if we're hiring people, they represent our brand and what we mean and what we stand for. And I did want to ask you, Natalie, about how you have been changing your brand, or how you've been strengthening your brand since we've last spoke, and kind of how that's worked itself out.
Natalie Durack 51:16
With brand development, we try to connect as much as possible with other businesses, so other pet professionals in the area, whether that's local vets, groomers, we I'm quite close with a hydrotherapist who does some work with dogs. So she they come and go on her machine that's in water, and they it helps with the arthritis and other muscle and joint issues. And then we have another one that's she's a canine masseuse, so she does a lot of work with that. So she's just getting her business set up at the moment, so providing some advice to her, and then a lot of her clients that she recommends us to vice versa. So building those community relationships is really important for us and helping other local small businesses, given our size now, we are, you know, quite substantial across the Gold Coast and Brisbane. So we'd like to be able to supporting other small businesses as they come up. And yeah, it is a mutually beneficial relationship. As I said, they recommend us. We recommend them. So that's definitely one of the big ways that we're trying to build brand awareness, and we'll continue to do so as we grow in different locations. Go a little bit outside of the Gold Coast in Brisbane, we'll again be repeating that process of establishing relationships with other businesses that's trainers in the area, definitely big for those areas. Well,
Collin 52:44
I know community and community awareness and involvement has always been core to you, right from the very beginning, and got you through COVID and continues to grow your business. And it's really a testament to the importance of of that and of others and their help. And it's not just about referrals, right? It's it's support in all things, whether that's advice, right, and what they can tell us about what they're seeing, or just somebody to be there to have us whenever. Sometimes, Natalie, I don't know about you, sometimes I need a gripe day. I need a day to complain. And complaining to other small business owners is amazing, because they get it right.
Natalie Durack 53:23
Yes, no, it does pay to have other people that you can lean on, especially as a manager of a business or owner, it's you can't always go and complain to your staff and whatnot. So it's good to have somebody else outside of your business that you can ask for help or ask for their advice. And yeah, as I said, connecting with those other local businesses important, but also just providing advice to other pet owners as well is important. Just people asking for help on Facebook, it might be in regards to dog nutrition, or if you don't feel confident enough providing some expertise on that some people might be asking for recommendations on local dog parks, beaches, dog friendly areas and whatnot. So we always like to put our recommendations down for that and be seen as pet professionals in the area and someone that you can come to for advice. And that's also while we have on our website, we have our dog friendly directory, so we list a number of our favorite pet businesses on there, and also our blogs as well. So we do a lot of you know best speeches in the area. You can take your dog to best parks and whatnot. So we like to be that leading figure in all things pets. I guess across the Gold Coast in Brisbane,
Collin 54:41
I loved your directory whenever I was looking through that, because it was just, if I was a pet owner in your service area, like I had everything that I needed. And it wasn't just blog posts about different things, it was direct links. There was categories of everything I was like, I. I have literally so much work to do on my website. Natalie, is I? Oh my gosh, it's so cool that you're doing that directory and providing that for people is what I is really what I wanted
Natalie Durack 55:13
to say, yeah, no, that's it's great for don't even have to be a client to see that. You could just be anyone just visiting our website just to get recommendations. But if you are a client as well, they then have access to our client portal. So all those businesses that you see listed in our dog friendly directory, they if you're a client, you then also go and get discounts to all of those places as well. So it's a little bit extra, you know, as a client.
Collin 55:38
And I love that too, that. So what we've been doing something kind of similar of we've started like a faves, thing that we send out during our email newsletter, and we just want to kind of talk about local businesses. I don't have a directory built out because I've been busy, but what I have been trying to do is just asking them, like, Hey, I'm going to be I want. Is it okay if I talk about you to my clients, would you like to give them anything? And sometimes that's all it takes for them to go, Oh, yeah. If they use a special code from you, I'll give them a discount. And it does start to create this little inclusive network of of or resources just for your clients. And I like that kind of exclusivity that you can give them. And you're using, you're leveraging your business and your business connections for the benefit of your clients. And it really does make that seem like kind of a special, close knit thing that they get,
Natalie Durack 56:30
yeah, for sure, it is an exclusive, yeah, sort of discount that they get good for the client, but also for the business as well. Because I said, a lot of the businesses that we have on there are smaller, local, female founded businesses, so we like to be able to support them. We don't take anything from them. There's no kickbacks on our end. It's purely just for the benefit of the client. They obviously get a little bit of a discount, but also getting the name of that business out as well. They want to be included in that directory, just so they can establish relationships with other partners
Collin 57:04
as well. I love it. Natalie, I'm so excited to that I got to speak with you today and get caught up with everything that you've been doing. You've been really busy. And it's so cool to see everything that you've been working on and growing, to hear about your team and the community that you're building there, and hear a little bit of insight about kind of you're looking to continue this progress. So that's that's really exciting to hear.
Natalie Durack 57:27
Yes, definitely. I was gonna say we can kind of take off foot, off the brakes at the moment, off of gas, but I feel like that's not gonna happen. Full STEAM Ahead, it's rarely a moment of calm in this space.
Collin 57:43
Well, well, I look forward to the day when you're serving all of Australia with with happy maybe one day well, Natalie, for those who want to get connected with you and follow along with all of your amazing work, how best can they do
Natalie Durack 57:58
that? So there's a few different ways you can obviously reach out via our website, that's just www dot happy houndspet services.com There's also our social media, which is on Instagram, it's happy hounds Pet Services with an underscore at the bottom. Just don't forget that. And then Facebook as well, which is just happy hounds dog walking and pet sitting and yeah, any questions, everyone is welcome to reach out if they need anything answered or some advice. Happy to help.
Collin 58:27
Awesome. Well, Natalie, I'll have those links in the show notes, including that underscore at the end in the show notes and on the website. This has been just an immense pleasure, Natalie, I'm so thankful for your time, and really appreciate you coming on today.
Natalie Durack 58:39
No worries. Thank you for you too, to give a platform like this for everyone around the world to be able to listen to so thank you.
Collin 58:47
How are you making your services more than just a dog walk or just a pet sitting visit when we look to stand out and set ourselves apart from whoever it is, it starts with the communication, the reliability, making sure that we are providing that professional service. Just as Natalie talked about, we are have to be, we must be client focused at every aspect of what we do. When we lose sight of that, when we become more competition focused and competition minded. We've lost the plot. We've lost why we're in this in the first place. It is important to look around our industry and around our community and make sure we know what's going on, where the trends are, what people are needing and what's going on, so we can adapt and change. But it can't be our sole focus. Serve your clients with excellence, period, serve your pets that are in your care with excellence, and the rest will come. We want to thank today's sponsors, timed vet and pet perennials, for making today 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.
