607: Sustainability, Stress, and Success with Wendy Mackay
Time to Pet. Go to timetopet.com/confessional for 50% off your first 3 months.
Pet Perennials- Visit: https://petperennials.com/pages/register-for-a-business-account.
What does building a sustainable pet care business look like? Wendy Mackay, founder and owner of Pet Sitters Nelson, shares her 20-year journey from backpacking traveler to thriving business owner, offering a fresh look at how community involvement and flexibility can drive success. She dives into how she developed her signature services like “doggy day outs,” and the power of group walks in rented paddocks. Wendy also opens up about facing burnout, overcoming serious health challenges, and reimagining her business to prioritize her well-being. Her story is a heartfelt reminder that pet care is about more than just animals—it’s about people, purpose, and balance.
Main Topics:
• Building a business from scratch
• Community events and outreach
• Group dog walks in paddocks
• Burnout and stress management
• Flexible service pricing models
Main Takeaway: Business is business—it shouldn’t be your whole life.
We started our business to serve others and build something meaningful, but it’s easy to let it consume every part of our identity. Late nights, constant notifications, and always feeling “on” can slowly crowd out everything else that matters—our families, health, friendships, and rest.
Your business is important, but it’s not ultimate.
You are more than your productivity.
You are not defined by your to-do list.
Build boundaries. Set your hours. Take your days off. Let your business support the life you want, not replace it.
About our guest:
Wendy Mackay is the owner of Pet Sitters Nelson, a pet care business based in Nelson, New Zealand. Originally from Nottingham, England, Wendy moved to New Zealand 22 years ago and discovered her passion for pet care after a friend introduced her to the concept of pet sitting. What started as a novel business idea in New Zealand has grown into a comprehensive pet care service that includes pet sitting, dog walking, and innovative "doggy day out" services. Wendy has been instrumental in building community awareness around professional pet care services in the Nelson area, organizing events and maintaining an active presence to connect with pet owners. As a business owner, Wendy has navigated significant challenges including market changes during COVID-19, increased competition, and personal health challenges including a breast cancer diagnosis. These experiences have shaped her approach to business, emphasizing the importance of work-life balance, setting boundaries, and building a reliable team to support service delivery. Wendy is known for her flexible approach to pricing and services, adapting to meet different client budgets and needs while maintaining high-quality care standards. Her journey demonstrates resilience in entrepreneurship and a commitment to providing exceptional pet care services to the Nelson community.
Links:
https://petsittersnelson.co.nz
ProTrainings: For 10% off any of their courses, use CPR-petsitterconfessional
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
Follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, & TuneIn
Email us at: feedback@petsitterconfessional.com
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Pet sitting, sustainable business, stress management, community events, dog walking, pet care market, client satisfaction, team growth, work-life balance, health challenges, business flexibility, customer service, pet boarding, business expansion, employee management
SPEAKERS
Wendy Mackay, Collin
Collin 00:00
Announcer, welcome to pet sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter today, we're brought to you by our friends at time to pet and pet perennials.
Collin 00:18
How do we build a sustainable business. We manage our stress and we seek after sustainable success. Running and operating a business is not a sprint, it's a long term marathon that we have to have an eye towards. So today, we're really excited to have Wendy McKay, founder and owner of pet sitters, Nelson, on the show, to talk about her 20 year long journey in pet sitting, how she's overcome obstacles, both health and business along the way, and how she maintains an attitude of positivity and looking towards the future and expecting the best. Let's get started.
Wendy Mackay 00:51
Sure. Thank you for having me. It's a privilege to be speaking with you today. So I'm originally from Nottingham in England, and I fell in love with Nelson the top of the South Island in New Zealand about 22 years ago, and decided this is where I want to live, and made it happen.
Collin 01:20
How did you how did you find that place of all places in the world? Were you vacationing there? Have you just heard about it? How did you land in in Nelson?
Wendy Mackay 01:28
Yes, I was backpacking. So I did like, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and, yeah, and I just got to this spot, a little small city, and some, you know, lots, lots of sunshine, beautiful climate, lovely people. And it's like, yeah, this is better than where I currently live.
Collin 01:53
So you you settle down in New Zealand, 22 years ago, when did you start doing pet sitting and running, starting your
Wendy Mackay 02:02
business. It wasn't too long after that, so basically, I was working as a horse track guide, and with Nelson being a very seasonal city, I needed to find some additional work, and I was flushing with a girl at the time who showed samoids and also told me that she feeds the neighbors pets for about $6 when they go away on holiday. And because her showing dogs was taking up a lot of her time, she didn't really have time to do the pet sitting. And would I be interested in taking it over? I thought, yes, absolutely.
Collin 02:46
Oh, that's fantastic. I love that. You know, it takes, took, took an outside person to say, you know, kind of loop, you loop,
Wendy Mackay 02:53
you into this? Yes, well, it was really new, like it was, yeah, nothing like this was happening in New Zealand. Back in England, I'd done a little bit of house sitting for my friends and their pets. But yeah, once I started researching pet sitting, it was amazing. There was suddenly in the whole industry that I was unaware of, like in America. So I just took it from there. Not one of her clients booked with me. So it was really a case of, you know, starting from scratch with creating flyers, business cards, going out to the local vet clinics and groomers and just getting my name out. There was it
Collin 03:38
was it widely received pretty quickly back back when you started,
Wendy Mackay 03:43
I did have some immediate interest because of the novelty, I believe. But there wasn't, you know, kind of enough to, you know, suddenly, you know, take it to that stage where I didn't need another income. So I did actually take a job as a conference organizer, and after a falling out with my boss about a year later, and quit my job, I started to think, what am I going to do now? My husband wasn't best pleased with me, and then I thought, well, you know, I've got this sitting business. It's just, you know, a bit here and a bit there. What if I was to dedicate 100% to it and maybe would give me enough to get by on?
Collin 04:31
I love that, because that's exactly where, okay, well, it wasn't exactly where my Megan and I found ourselves, but we had that same question of, What if I dedicated 100% of my of my time to this, and because we were doing hours of business on the side, and kind of doing it a little bit before and after my full time job, and really started to have those questions of going well, instead of me dedicating eight, 910, hours a day to somebody else, what if I dedicated. That to me, and that was the first time ever really had that kind of frame of reference, of going, well, what if, what if I just did something in it. I don't, I don't really know what got me thinking about it in that context of going, what if, what if I re kind of reclaimed my time,
Wendy Mackay 05:18
absolutely, you know, there's a lot it's, you know, very rewarding. You know, having your own business, and you've been, kind of been in control of your own schedule. I know that probably tricky for pet sitters, but the reality is, yes, we are in control. Sometimes just forget that
Collin 05:38
I need reminding on a daily basis. Sometimes I put the things on the schedule. What did I do to myself?
05:46
Blame anybody else?
Collin 05:48
That's the one downside of going into your own business. Have no one else to blame you. So you're you decided to go go full time and dedicate yourself to to this. How did what did that time look like? How was that different from when you were going and putting up flyers and going and talking to vets and stuff? What was different about the intentionality that you were doing when you decided to do it full time
Wendy Mackay 06:18
like it was possibly a mindset change? Basically, now I had to earn an income myself. There wasn't any there was no option to not succeed. I had to do it. So I continued going around all that, you know, making myself more known out there, making sure that if I met people when I was walking dogs as I'd talk to them, give them a business card. I was involved in community events as well back then, and actually set up some of my own fundraising events to get my name out there, including a pet parade and fashion show. That was the days when I had a lot more time and energy. But it was good fun, really good fun. And there was, there was just more community events with animals at that time. So it was quite easy for me to be able to get on board with that, and, you know, just getting out there in the community. But I do recall it just started with one dog that needed walking at midday. I wasn't even really offering dog walking services. It was just the lady contacted me and said, Hey, can you walk my dog Mac twice a week for me, Tuesday and Thursday? It's like, Sure. So I do that in my lunch break, and then, you know, I just get another one like, oh, hang on. I could walk these two dogs together because they lived near each other. And it kind of just grew from there. And then people would ask me, they'd see me walking, you know, kind of four or five dogs. And like, Are they all yours? Like, no, no, I'm a dog walker. And people would say, Do people actually pay you to walk their dogs? So, um, yeah, it was quite, um, quite a new thing in New Zealand, for sure,
Collin 08:03
well, and I love hearing the organic nature of that, and really the foundation of it being let me go talk to people, right? Like, let me go get involved in the community and have a presence. I know that's a really, that's something that we struggle with as a service based business. Like, we don't have a brick and mortar. We don't have a place that people drive by. We don't have that kind of physical presence in our communities. And so we can often struggle to go. How do I get people to remember me? How do I get people to know who I am and that I am here? Go to community events. I love that you started your own right? So you were doing, did you started the fashion shows for the for the dogs?
Wendy Mackay 08:39
It was just the one. And it was, yes, it was a real it was, it was a lot of fun, and quite a good turnout as well. And then I've had one of the local vets like and see the events as well. And then we got, you know, the radio station down, the press down. And then we have this annual Santa parade for all the kids. So we took part in that a couple of years. Yeah. So it was real good. We hope to, like do it again in the in the future, but at this stage, yeah, there was just yeah, we want to have our own float so we can have a big stage with all the dogs and doing it that way, rather than just walking a load of dogs down the road. Yeah? Lots of people around, yeah,
Collin 09:25
well, and you even mentioned how you know you had, you could, you couldn't do that kind of thing with your time and energy now. And I think that's important to remember that our business has this ebbs and flows, and we have to know what we can commit to and what we can really say yes to and that it's really important that we we are cognizant and hyper aware of our limitations. I know that it's kind of one of those things going, Oh, hey, it's a slow time, man. I can really dedicate myself to my my marketing and going and talking to people, and you can really pick, pick up that pace. But then when you get. Busy. You know, at least I feel bad whenever I'm not out talking to people and doing that stuff when we're busy. But I have to remind myself of going well. I have to choose one or the other. I can't be 100% for everything that's on my plate. I do have to ebb and flow and know what I can commit to.
Wendy Mackay 10:18
That's right. Otherwise you end up, you know, not being, you know, not doing anything great. You know, you can't split yourself. You know, in so many ways, you've only got 100% and so you can't give 100% to everything. That's the way I see it.
Collin 10:33
Oh, yeah, we just, we just had to sit down and make a decision was whether we were going to commit to a few of these little events this this year in our community, and we have some ideas of what we want to be doing. And at the end of the day, Megan and I were going, we just can't, I cannot guarantee 100% for this event. And because I can't show up at 100% and guarantee 100% I can't do it like we shouldn't show up at 80% or 50% as a business, because that's not how I want to represent ourselves, and I also don't want to overextend and end up not being able to show up at all. And that was a that was a tough decision for us, especially when we're in this mindset of, oh, we've got to grow. I need to be more presently, be doing all this stuff to also realize, if I can't do this at 100% I shouldn't be doing this at all.
Wendy Mackay 11:25
Yeah, and sometimes it's just giving yourself that bit of room to breathe, you know, instead of trying to take everything on, and which can have, you know, the opposite effect of what you want if you, you know, burn yourself out. And, yeah, it's easily done. Yeah.
Collin 11:41
Did you have you ever struggled with with burnout and being over committed?
Wendy Mackay 11:47
Yes, many times I you know, I think a lot of, like a lot of people in this industry, we find it hard to say, No, we don't want to let people down so therefore. And you know, we've got our favorite clients as well. And it's like, oh, I just, I, oh, yeah, I can just squeeze that one in, you know, some is my favorite. It's just another, you know, half an hour here, and this one's a little bit further in this direction, but that's okay, you know, they've been a customer for a long time. It's yeah, I'll just do that little bit of extra here and there. And before you know it, you work in, you know, seven days a week you're not seeing as much of your friends or family. And yeah, that can be a real, real bummer. And you don't, sometimes, don't realize until you get sick. Yeah, that's when.
Collin 12:40
And then it's kind of your body forces you to stop right, like you can't outwork your body and its wellness. And there will always be a limitation. And I have those moments of going, Oh, I don't have the time to stop and rest right now. And then I remember, right, right, but my body is going to force me to rest. And those never happen at convenient times, right? Like,
13:06
Oh, absolutely, you can guarantee it.
Collin 13:12
So when you started, you were offering, you said you weren't offering the dog walks. When did you start regularly promoting and you're trying to grow those group dog walks that you
Wendy Mackay 13:25
do. I did some kind of separate advertising, just at, again, vet clinics and things like that. I, at that point, I started to do, you know, some video clips. And just it was because Nelson's a small city, as well as a lot of word of mouth. Or there'll be neighbors that will see us picking up their dog, and they'll be interested, and then probably sign writing on the vehicles. Was a big one. You know, people were just, it was all such a novelty. And people were like, Oh, wow, this is, like, really cool. What's a good idea, and it just started to grow and grow. And it started with just having dogs on half an hour walks and and then we eventually got to people wanting one hour walks, so then we'd actually put them on two half an hour walks, like morning and afternoon and and we'd be driving around picking up the other dogs in the meantime, and now we're at the stage where it's nearly mostly one hour walks that people do want.
Collin 14:30
And are those your doggy day outs? Is that what those one hours are? Yes,
Wendy Mackay 14:35
that's right, yes. So we'll do Yeah. So now the way we structure it is we'll do the one hour walk in the morning and and then we'll drop the dogs back home, and then we'll pick up the dogs for the half an hour walk in the afternoon. And that works quite well, because a lot of people here, you know, they've perhaps got young, got families, so a lot of people, you. Might be finished work by three o'clock. So they kind of want the dogs back by then, you know. So it's kind of a bit tricky to fit all the dogs into that, you know, time frame. And, you know, in those times when, yes, things have gone a little bit sideways, and then we, you know, the dogs aren't back. It's four o'clock and we're getting phone calls? Is everything okay? Where's our dog? Like, yes, it's fine, you know, it's just we're running a bit behind schedule. You know, something's happened. So, yeah,
Collin 15:31
I love that setup of your so you're picking the same dog up in the morning as you are in the afternoon, but you're splitting their day with that activity. And I think that's really ingenious, because it means that, you know, you don't have to have a place to keep the dogs at during the day and be doing a doggy daycare or a dog sitting kind of thing in another location or facility. The dogs can go, be back home, rest up, and then they get another out, you know, excursion in the afternoon. I think that's
Wendy Mackay 15:58
really cool. So, so with that, it's mainly so usually different dogs we have going in the morning to the afternoon, but we do have a full day option as well, so that's where we will keep the dogs in the van, and they'll be with us to drop off dogs and pick the next group up, so they're with us. So it's like a mobile kind of doggy day chair. Ah,
Collin 16:21
okay, okay. So I had misunderstood. I think, Okay, that's cool, too. Right? Where you're you're kind of keeping the group together if they want that second outing. It sounds like, yeah, okay, that's cool. So it really is. It really is a full day out, exploring and having
Wendy Mackay 16:35
fun, yes, yeah. And it could be quite a lot of logistics. Get, you know, with the with where the different dogs live, and different walkers, and then you have, you know, situation like, oh, this dog doesn't like this one, and this dog can't go through, you know, a grassy area because it has allergies. So there's a lot of logistics involved as well. In all of it challenging
Collin 16:59
well, and you're, you're taking these to a third party, a location right where you're taking them, and are they running off lead, or are you doing on leash
Wendy Mackay 17:06
hikes? Yeah. So they're all off leash. We, we do have, you know, like younger dogs, we have on long leashes and things like that. So in the paddocks we rent, so we rent two paddocks so we can take bigger groups of dogs. They're fully fenced, so we have that added security, of them not disappearing on us, without them having to be, you know, have 100% recall, which means we can take those dogs that are younger and, you know, not, maybe not even that well behaved, we can put them in a safe area, and then we can work with them and really work on that recall and just help with their training and behavior management.
Collin 17:48
Yeah, yeah, without that extra stress of whether they're just going to disappear into the
Wendy Mackay 17:54
woods, right? Yep. So we do go to the beach and some Fox as well. You know, with the dogs that sort of have good recall. But, you know, being in an environment that's, you've got the public to deal with their dogs, all sorts of animals to deal with. It's, it can be quite stressful. And yeah, so the products are a great way of just getting that the dogs off leash, running around, having a great time without all the stress of being in the natural environment, in a public space
Collin 18:32
well, and I love the development of this service too. Of how you said you started off with the standard 30 minute and people were asking for more, and then it developed into something completely, else, entirely, right, with this new doggy day out, with this doggy day out, concept of what you're doing here, you know, was that, did you develop that through feedback from your clients? Or is this an opening or thing that you thought would be interesting to offer?
Wendy Mackay 18:58
Yeah, it's just kind of, you know, it's one of those situations where it's like, what can what can I? What can I do? You know? And it's sometimes, you know, this, this is what I'm dealing with. And, you know, so sometimes it's just even stepping away, I have enough, you know, and all of a sudden you just start to get some ideas when you're not actively trying to think about it, you know. You sometimes, if you're too bogged down and try to deal with the situation. You're just not getting any answers. Sometimes it's like stepping away, getting outdoors, have some fresh air, and then letting the ideas kind of flow. And what? What if we what if we were to try this? It could work, you know? What if we're to do this, and then you just sell it to the customers, and off you go.
Collin 19:46
I really appreciate that you talked, that you just spoke about the necessary, the necessity of finding breaks and stepping back. And I think too often we can think what I have to do in order to solve this problem. Is I just need to work harder, right? I need to think about this more. I need to dedicate more time to this. I need to lock myself in a room and really focus on this and force myself to be creative and come up with these ideas when nothing could be further from the truth, right? What it does take is stepping back and relaxing, clearing our mind, having some quiet in our day. How often do we not have quiet in our day and enough space to really think and or just not think? Right? It seems very counterintuitive, but having that time to step away from it, step away from the problem, get rest, regain focus, really does help when we need to step back in and re look at this problem, because I find it helps me show back up with fresh eyes and a fresh mind and go, Okay, well, after some rest, what do I see now and really going from there? Have you heard of time to pet Dan from NYC, pooch has this to say,
Speaker 2 21:01
time to bet, has been a total game changer for us. It helped us streamline many aspects of our operation, from scheduling and communication to billing and customer management. We actually tested other pet sitting softwares in the past, but these other solutions were clunky and riddled with problems. Everything in time to pet has been so well thought out. It's intuitive, feature rich, and it's always improving. If you're looking for new pet sitting software, give tie into pet a try. Listeners of our show will save 50% off your first three months by visiting tie into pet.com/confession
Collin 21:33
so how would you describe the you talked a little bit about how you know your services are novelty in the beginning, and you worked to grow the awareness, and a lot of that was from the community events and just being present in the community and being seen as something that was new and interesting. What's the what's the current pet care market? Like in Nelson in New Zealand,
Wendy Mackay 21:56
it's definitely growing. It's, I think because of the since COVID, it there's, it's, there's been quite a bit of a change. So there's lots more, like sisters and dog walkers out there and and that makes it a little bit more challenging trying to get that large, larger customer base, because, you know, people are trying to save money in, you know, in different ways that they can. And also low wages, if you call it sunshine wages here that people are paid because, you know, the wages are notoriously low because we live in such a beautiful area. So again, people, a lot of people, don't have that, that income away. There's lots of retired people that live here, or, yeah, family, so one person might not be working full time. So it's a little bit different to the cities where, you know, you're more career driven, where, where the pet care is. You know, number one priority like you'd have your dogs. You know, if you lived in Orkney, you might have your dog going out five times a week. Most of our clients here, they just have their dog going out once a week because that's all they can afford, or it might be twice a week. So it is tricky like that, but in some ways, I see that as good, because it means if you lose a client, you've only got to replace one or two days, not five days, right, right? And so that is one way to look at after it. And also, if you're also putting your rates up, it's like, well, that dog only goes out once a week, so it's not going to make too much difference, right to them. It's not going to be a huge jump compared to them going out five times a week. But yeah, I think definitely with the likes of, yeah, the market's been pretty saturated just recently. So everyone's, you know, thinks, Oh, what a great idea to be a dog walker or pet sitter and so and so we have seen like a bit of a reduction in our home visits and the home stays as well. But sometimes, you know, the pet sitting can be quite um labor intensive, and, you know, on sociable hours. So sometimes, you know, just having a bit of a break from that, having a slightly smaller schedule is a good thing. And I've been in this business long enough now to know that, you know, it comes in ebbs and waves, and don't freak out just because you have a quiet period. It's like, it will, you know, if you continue to work, doing what you're doing, providing excellent customer service, it will pick up again, and all of a sudden you'll be like, where did all my time go? How am I like this again?
Collin 24:58
Right? Yeah, because how it made it so. So how, how quickly we forget of what it can be like, and how we can go months of being absolutely slammed, and it'd be insane, and then we have a few months, a month or two of a dip, and all of a sudden it's the end of the world, right? And we go, it's never, never picking up. And then we go right back to being busy, and we're like, oh, okay, yeah. Wait, what? Never mind,
Wendy Mackay 25:22
yeah, absolutely enjoy the quiet times. You know, get that that's rest in for yourself, do the things that you know, fill your cup and you you know that you really enjoy doing, and get yourself ready for the next season. It's, you know, yeah, yeah, get organized. Get all that paperwork that have been you've been putting off and not dealing with, you know, do new marketing strategies, yeah, just wait for it to come back
Collin 25:53
well, and to hear that you describe, the market is saturated. People looking to save money, right? And, it really goes to show how you can build your business to be different and flexible. Right to hear that I love your mindset around the well, I don't have clients who are booking me five days a week, so that does mean that I have to have more clients on my roster, but any one of them is not a make or break to my business. And I really think that there's a lot of strength to that, of making sure that we as businesses are never wholly and reliant on 123, clients to the success of our business, and that the more that we can disperse, that the more we can have a variety of clients and frequency of use, the stronger will actually be, ultimately, when things do change. I mean,
Wendy Mackay 26:50
it's just working with people's budgets as well. You know, kind of having that flexibility for people that can also make you more appealing than perhaps some other businesses that don't have that don't have that flexibility. Now,
Collin 27:05
when you say flexibility, when are you talking about different pricing structures or different booking requirements? Walk me through that thought,
Wendy Mackay 27:14
yeah, kind of just different pricing structures. Like, for instance, you know, we have the half hour walk option because, you know, that's good for the, you know, the older dogs, the smaller dogs, and the people that just don't have the budget for a one hour walk. And it means, again, you're you've got a bigger customer base, and you also provide in a great outing for these little dogs. I love the old dogs as well, right? You know, we've got dogs that are 14 years old coming out, you know, lift them up in their car, and they just love it. And, you know, and the owners, like, I don't want to stop them coming out, because we think this is what he's actually holding on for, right? You know, he just loves going out with his mates and seeing you guys, you know. And, you know, they can just, we'll just go over to an area that's just around some a bit of woodland, and they can just toss around and have a little sniff and that. And that makes them happy, and makes the owners happy, yeah. So it's, it's really good just being able to provide that service, where sometimes it can be like, Oh, is it really worth doing it? You know, I think it is, yeah,
Collin 28:23
well, often times what we offer as a service, it's actually a very emotional thing for the client, right? As you said, as you just said, this, this extra, this outing and exercise, probably the reason they book it as often as they do is because they feel good about what they could give their dog, right? It's, an emotional attachment that they have is it's they view it as an enrichment for their dog, and they want that. And that's the kind of thing that we can lean into and talk about and share with other people, because that's how people really make purchasing decisions for their dogs, right? They they want, they want these things for it, whether it's a necessity for them or not, like, Sure, we can have that argument, but at the 30,000 foot level, it really is. What kind of life does the client want the dog or cat to lead? And how can we help them with
29:14
that? Yes, yeah.
Collin 29:18
And two to know that when you talked about having that the various and flexibility of the pricing options, I think that that's a really important strategy as businesses, that we don't get too locked into one way or of doing things. Of Well, I've always had this amount of time for a walk, and that's just kind of walks that I do. And there's one thing for consistency, right? And kind of, if we build a reputation around a certain kind of thing, sure, right? That's something. But to always have that question of, man, what could I do differently? Can I make a more expensive offering or elite less expensive offering to clients, to both attract and hold people? People's, you know, business and attention and loyalty to my to my business, and how can I attract people and not be because what we don't want to do, right is say, Well, my 30, my 30 minute was, you know, $25 Well, now it's going to be $7 right? We, we can't do that. We can't make that big of a difference in our pricing. But can we put together a package, or have something else like that to at least be in the ballpark, or an option for other more people?
Wendy Mackay 30:30
Hmm, definitely, something I did consider as well is, like, you know, some of the retirement villages as well. And, you know, because there's often people with, like, little dogs around there to see if I could, you know, get a group going somewhere, place like that. But then I kind of found that I just had enough pet customers anyway, without kind of adding those extra ones in. That could be, you know, a bit more, bit tricky, but it's also like the pet sitting side of things, you know, especially here, like we have to add, when we've got employees, you have to add public holiday surcharges and things like that. And it can get very expensive to have someone come in to visit your cat twice a day. So, so what we, you know, kind of saying to people is like, hey, you know, you can get these feeders. Now that you can, we can. We're happy to do it like one visit a day, and we can set a feeder so your pets can have, you know, a feed at night, and then we'll, you know, come back the following day. So again, it's saving their money. Again, it means we can have a bigger client base, because we're not doing the same animals, you know, multiple times a day. And it just comes again. It just comes down to budget and understanding that people don't have a lot of money these days. You know? It's expensive to live,
Collin 31:47
yeah, well, and being sensitive to that, and it is, it is, it is, that is an intersection, as a business owner, that is is difficult to navigate, because we have to be sensitive to the fact that cost of living is higher than it's ever been. It raises at such a rapid rate globally, with wages and things really not rising along with it in most cases, and we as a business owner, going, man, well, in order for me to make mo my, you know, more money for me to pay my expenses, I either need to get busier, or I need to raise prices. I can't really raise prices a whole lot, because people don't have an appetite for that. And so what else can I do, either cost cutting and savings or different kind of models with, you know, options for at least getting the client for the one a day visit, instead of the two, at least at something right? And going, Okay, let me get this in and let me focus on different marketing things to kind of grow the client base here, to make it more robust and secure, but really finding ways to still serve our clients with excellence, while also being sensitive to the fact that they are more price sensitive than ever. I did want you to talk to us. Talk to me about your your small pet boarding. I saw this on your website, and I thought it was a really fascinating but that you offer this,
Wendy Mackay 33:08
yeah, so that really came about due to me having a guinea pig when I first got to New Zealand, and when I when I called Tinker Bell, oh, and when I went away, I was like, What am I going to do with him? You know, this was before, while I was a student, before I started the pet sitting, and there was just nowhere, no one that could take him. So I ended up, you know, asking the vet clinic if he could stay there, and they were happy to take him. And they were like, This is the first time we've ever had a guinea pig to boarding, um, you know, and it was fine, but it really made me think, um, surely there's a market for this kind of pet care. Um, so when we, when we purchase, I've been doing the pet sitting for about a year or so, and then we purchased our first home. I got married, we had like a sleep out. It was my office. And then I thought, fantastic. We can actually put some cages for rabbits and guinea pigs in there. We can have birds staying. And it was just seemed like a great idea. So we so again, it's not a big service. We just have like five cages that we use for the nighttime, the indoor time, and then we've got like five runs for them for the daytime, so they can be outside and enjoy being on the grass. But and it's mainly rabbits and guinea pigs we care for, that kind of thing. So we have seen a growth in people with rabbits and their pet care, you know, really going off a couple of notches. But, yeah, we only have a small section where we are, so it's kind of pretty challenging trying to separate cats, dogs, rabbits. And keeping them all safe. So yeah, but it's, it's good. It's just a nice little add on, and again, providing that little bit of an extra service where it's and again, cost wise as well, it's not feasible for people to have a pet sitter come in twice a day to their home to look after their guinea pig or or your budgie, you know, eye watering at the price that would cost, yeah, but, you know, trying to keep people from using friends, family, neighbors, it's like, no, we can do it for you. You know you're going to your pet is going to be safe, well, looked after, and so you know your best to book us, you know, instead of just relying on your neighbor?
Collin 35:49
Yeah, we have a guinea pig client who, who does book us for two day visits. And every time I'm like, Man, I You are not like, this is, this is not me. I couldn't, I couldn't. That's not a service I would do. But, you know, he, he just, he finds it really valuable to have make sure that his guinea pig gets it's an older guinea pig. So I think that's another thing. He doesn't want it to be moved around too much and possibly stressed out. So he wants it to have his fresh veggies twice a day. But to know that, as you said, you know, for you, it's not a huge service. It's not, you know, you know, 5060, 80% of your of your business, but it's there, right? And I think that that's also really important as we look at kind of what our businesses are and can be of going, what mix of services can I offer that's feasible for me, realistic for me, still within my wheelhouse. No one of them has to be the big, you know, the big one in the room. Each little bit contributes and helps, and it also helps you build a reputation for your business too, of what you're known for in the community,
Wendy Mackay 36:55
yeah, absolutely. And the vets get to know you as well, you know, for being able to do this kind of service. Because often, you know, people, they will talk to the vets about, you know, I don't know what I'm going to do with, you know, snowy when I go on holiday and it's like, well, you know, there is this service available out there for you. So it's really, you know, keeping people informed about what's available, too. Right
Collin 37:24
now, you earlier, you mentioned about growing a team and employees. I was curious. When did you decide or realize, or were you forced to bring somebody on and start growing your team?
Wendy Mackay 37:39
Well, I've seen my parents run a business in the UK, and they could never go on holiday together, because someone always had to be there running the business. And I used to try and give them lots of business advice with my wise, you know, teenage head on me, and they never listened, but I knew that if I had a business, I was not going to do it like them. So, you know, I kept trying to encourage them. I was like, you know, your business has grown hugely. You've taken on contractors to to fit. They were in a flooring business. You've taken on people to do this. However. You haven't increased the Office, Office side of things. You haven't got any extra help. It's just my poor mum trying to manage everything, and being snowed under and behind with everything. And I could just say there was so much stress. You know, there was you couldn't get sick. There was no you know, holidays were very rare. So I know with pet sitting being seven days a week, if I wanted to have any kind of a life, because then I needed to get some help. And it just started off, you know, lots of people like, oh yeah, I'd love to go and visit a cat. And so it started off, very basic. And I wouldn't even really make any money on the visit. I would just even, you know, give them what I would earn back then. And then I was like, Okay, I need to, you know, now we're getting busier. It's not a part time job for me anymore. This is, this is my livelihood. Prices need to go up. You know, taking on employees is a challenge in itself, with all your paperwork, your payroll side of things, you know, tax holidays, sick leave. There's quite a lot to it, but, yeah, it's worth it, because it just mean it gives you that flexibility, again, that knowing if you can't do a, you know, some visits, and you've got someone else that can, and we also have pet sitters in each area. So we've only have a small radius that we don't expect anyone to go more than, really, five kilometers from where they live. So we have pet sitters situated in each different area, minimizing driving time, so they're not going to have to drive more than, you know, kind of five. Seven minutes to get to a visit, and then when I couldn't, I felt like, you know that again, it's kind of difficult to, you know, be competitive in the marketplace, but having trying to pay your staff a decent wage, and what people don't realize is you've then you've got you retire, you know, your Kiwi save, which is like your retirement. Things found that you've got your accident compensation to pay on top you've got your 8% holidays, then you've got your public holidays to cover, you've got your sickness to cover. So it all really adds up. So it was like, How can we kind of not and then, of course, they've got to pay lots of tax as well on all of that. So one idea I came up with, instead of increasing their hourly rate wage, was to give them a petrol allowance instead. So for each visit, they will get paid a petrol allowance, and that's not tax deductible. And so, you know, so things like that kind of really help keep staff as well. But yeah, I looked over our records, and I've taken on over 100 people in total. Wow. So it's a lot of time, a lot of time. But you know, we wouldn't be here today without them, you know,
Collin 41:30
well, and to have that example set by your parents of you knew what you didn't want your business to look like, I think that's really powerful. And you admitted that it's a lot of work. It's a lot of money, extra money. It makes pricing and competitiveness, on that end, challenging, and can be sometimes, I'm sure, a headache to manage with anytime you deal with people, you're dealing with relationships, and those are never easy, especially during stressful times. But as you also said, it's worth it, because it gives you back that life. It gives you an ability to not be on 24/7 365, days a year. It allows you to also have a life outside of this, and that really is invaluable at the end of the day.
Wendy Mackay 42:21
Yes, I mean, at the end of the day, it's, what are you working for? Yes, we love our job. We don't want to let people down. When it comes down to it, it's a job. It's you know you you don't want to be sacrificing time with your family and friends to keep you know this customer happy. So it's kind of trying to keep your customers happy, but look after yourself at the same time as well. And yeah, and just Yeah, because, you know, there's only one
Collin 42:51
of you, yeah, that's time. We don't get back, right? We never get that time back.
Wendy Mackay 42:57
Yeah, that's it. And then especially, you know, if you've got some difficult customers that never seem to be happy with your service, you have to think, well, what is the point of this? You know, if, if it's not working for you, then you know your best to get rid of, let that customer go to one of, you know, the hobby test, um, don't be, you know, you don't need to, um, bend over backwards and sacrifice your own time to try and please some people that aren't pleaseable.
Collin 43:30
What? Surely not, surely there's as pet sitters, we're there for the joyful moments and the heartbreaking ones too. When a client loses a pet, finding the right gift can be hard. That's where pet perennials comes in. They make it easy to send thoughtful sympathy and milestone gifts with a handwritten card, colorful gift wrap and shipping fees included in the US and Canada. You choose the gift, they handle the rest. Sign up for a free gift perks business account and get discounted pricing with no fees or minimums. Learn more@petpurnials.com today. I like how you frame that at the end of the day, this is, this is a job, right? This is something that we are committed to and that, but that doesn't mean we have to kill ourselves over it. That doesn't mean that we should sacrifice our lives for its sake. And so it is all about, how do I make this work for me, and what's the balance that I'm trying to maintain and the boundaries that I need in my life to live right and to show up refresh and to not wake up dreading the day?
Wendy Mackay 44:37
Yeah, and it's just having also knowing that you have people there if something is to happen to you, that it's not, it's not all dependent on you, you know that. And that takes a lot of a lot of pressure off as well. You know, just and yeah and that, and we just remove some of that stress. So yes, it can be hugely stressful dealing with staff. And you know, when they ring in at eight o'clock in the morning and say they can't work today, and you've suddenly got to, you know, reschedule 20 dogs. That is stressful. But the reality, the reality is, on all the other days they're out there walking all those dogs and keeping customers and dogs happy, and, yeah, providing, bringing in that income, right?
Collin 45:24
No, I had, we had exact same thought of it was four years ago now I came I was sick. I was really sick, and I remember having a day slammed of visits, and from 6am to 10pm I think I was doing 20 visits that day. Was over Christmas, and I was barely functioning. And I'll never forget sitting in the basement of a client's house as their dog ate with my head in my hands, going, I can't do this anymore. I cannot function. And if I go the business would, would, would crumble, right? And so we need to have a business that's set up to take care of our family, right? That that's there for them, and that is it will continue on. And really that's when we decided, oh yeah, we've gotta get we've gotta get help, not really just to duplicate, but really to to kind of replace me entirely, so that Megan nor myself are having to be out doing 100% of the
Wendy Mackay 46:24
work. Yeah, absolutely, it's, it's, I know a lot of people, you know, they are happy being solo sitters. And there's many times I've thought if I had to start this all again, but sometimes I just want to get rid of all of my stuff and let it just be me and the animals again. How did this happen? You know, you know it is just working with people who has different personalities, and you learn to manage those personalities and appreciate your stuff for the wonderful work that they do and and helping you not having to do everything right. You know, Christmas time is just crazy. In fact, I this year, I made it a decision. We closed down over Christmas was the first time we'd ever done it. And I was like, this is this business? Suicide, potentially. But I was like, You know what? I've had it, even though I've got a whole team to be able to do all these visits at the end of the day, it comes down to, if someone's off sick, then I'm going to have to fill in probably, or, you know, the suddenly, because the only casual staff, they if they decide they don't want to work Christmas Day, for instance, then they, you know, they don't have to. So it's very difficult to have people commit to these and people's plans change all the time, right? You know, they weren't going away for Christmas now, a week beforehand, they are going away for Christmas. So now you've got to reschedule all of those visits, and you've already loaded up all your other sitters. And now, well, someone's got to do it when you run, you know. So you end up taking on those extra ones, and like you say, working to from six o'clock in the morning to 10 o'clock at night, and just thinking I want to quit. So, you know, I can't do this anymore. And, yeah, so that's not a good place to be in. And I've probably once a year, I do think I can't do this anymore. It's too stressful. But then I quickly get over that. And, you know, I sometimes think, wouldn't it be nice to just stack shelves as a supermarket, not having to having all this pressure and stress, you know? But then I think I wouldn't last very long, you know, working, not even in a job like that, but just working for somebody else. I'd give it, you know, a couple of months before it was like, I can't do this anymore. I quit. I'm going back to pet sitting
Collin 48:48
months. I Give me hours. I don't know, I'd crumble real fast. Well, one thing that I know on your on your website, you've got this phrase, and I really like it. You talk about enhancing a client's life, and I wanted you to talk about kind of how you do that, and what that looks like when you're when you're working with
Wendy Mackay 49:11
them. Yeah, so basically, we were looking at doing a bit of rebranding, and it's like, what's the kind of phrase we can come up with our tagline to really encompass what we're about and what we can do for the pets in our care. So basically, you know, while the owners are at work or away, the pets don't have to be miserable or bored at home. We provide dogs with either a loving family to stay with while the owners are on holiday or, you know, we can get them out, like, say, on the doggy days out, providing them with lots of fun of frolics with friends. And just, you know, the owners just love seeing, you know, the photos. And while they're at work or whatever, or on holiday, they get to see their their pet having a great time, too. Um. Uh, cats, you know, they don't have to go to Kitty jail. You know, they can stay in the comfort of their own home, being pampered. And, you know, used to that their normal routines as well as closely as possible. And of course, then we've got the, you know, the guinea pigs, the bridges and rabbits that can come and stay with us, being, you know, in a nice setting where they've got their companionship of other animals and people as well. So, um, yeah. So we really feel like we can, we can, you know, add to add to the pets life and to our customers.
Collin 50:37
And I will say I absolutely love the landing page photo for your website with those dogs on the beach. I'm super jealous, by the way, that is so cool. Oh, I want to be there immediately. But I love how you phrase that. As far as it's a it's something that you you get to do, and it's something that you can provide you. You allow that dog, that cat, that guinea pig, that pet, to have an amazing life. Not saying that a life with their owner is not good, but it's, it's really saying, we can, we can help you take this to the next level, right? We can really elevate this, add that, that time out, add fun adventure in a safe and professional manner. And you know that just directly links back to how people, like we said, how people make those purchasing decisions. Pet owners want the best for their pets. They want to give them experiences and make sure that they have a good life. And so leaning right into that and going, Yeah, that's what we do. You want to know what you know pet sitters, Nelson is all about. It's that it's enhancing. It's making it, making your life, your in your life, and your pet's life the best it can be. And I just, I really love that, how it hits exactly on that, that point, and that, that that way, that people think about their pets and what they're looking for.
Wendy Mackay 52:04
Thank you. Yes, it's that. And guilt free. Yeah, you know, you know guilt free for the owners. You know they don't have to be thinking, oh, you know, I hope, I hope Fred's, you know, doing okay, and he's not barking away and he's all on his own. And, you know, they see the dog on the pet cam that's, you know, chewing a hole in in the wall because the owners left them all day. You know, there's options out there, and we can, you know, we can help with those situations, the dogs that don't like being left alone, or just, if, you know, they want to get out and make more be more social, have more friends, because we do get some dogs that are, you know, not that well socialized. And if we get them early enough, we can really work on that. And there's nothing more rewarding than sending the photos of people's dogs with another dog, and you know, that was once scared of dogs or something like that. Now, all of a sudden, they just love being part of a pack, and they've got all their little friends and their favorites.
Collin 53:12
Yeah, you're right. It's a gift to that owner, to that pet, right? Really, making that life a lot better. So you've been in business for coming up on, what, 21 years, over 20 years now of doing this, I was curious Mindy, what's maybe one of your your hardest lessons that you've had to learn?
Wendy Mackay 53:33
Oh, well, that would, that would have to be, I guess getting sick last year would be my hardest lesson. I basically was diagnosed with breast cancer, and things kind of really took, you know, a turn for the worse as I was battling with, you know, how I how I dealt with that? What was it? What did that look like for my business? And it was really a case of, I remember, so after I had to do chemotherapy, and after one round of chemo, several days later, I ended up in hospital, and basically it nearly killed me. And I remember being in that hospital bed thinking, What have I done with, you know, working like I have been doing, you know, trying to create this business to look after everybody else, and I've completely neglected my own health. I thought that I was fit and healthy, and obviously I wasn't, you know, I was, I was always under a lot of stress and pressure, and I guess I turned to alcohol as well to help me through those. You know, the. The long days, the stressful day, it's nice, and it's also kind of a New Zealand culture. You know, you have a beer or a wine at the end of the day after a hard day's work, but it got to be a little bit too regular. And so I realized that, you know, after this diagnosis and taking it, having to reevaluate my life. I was like, You know what? I'm actually quite dependent on alcohol. That's not good as you know, it's it's not good for your body and you know, and the stress, stress is a killer at the end of the day. So I've really learned to take a step back, like I say, closing the business down over Christmas. It was a crucial thing for me to do to spend time with my family. And I've got a five year old son, I want to be around for the long haul for him, you know. So that was a real wake up call. And it was like, You know what business is business? It's not your host shouldn't be your whole life. You know you gotta have that set. You gotta have that separation. Yeah, it's crucial.
Collin 56:12
Well, I'm, I'm glad to hear that you're doing well with that, Wendy, and I know that's a lot that's on your plate.
Wendy Mackay 56:22
Yeah? Thank you. It was, it was, it was a very challenging time. And actually, I remember being in the hospital bed with my husband on the phone to my admin person, trying to tell her all the things that she needed to do that I couldn't do. So I was literally still working while I went through all these machines, and I also remember thinking, you know, I trained her up, you know, as an assistant manager to do all the bits that I didn't think I'd be able to do, to manage the day to day operations. I hadn't traded trained, erupting payroll and all of that side of things. I was like, Why didn't I do that? Because now I've got to try and, you know, get all that side of things sorted. Well, I'm hearing the doctors telling me I need to stop working right now. Yeah. So, um, yeah, big learning experience.
Collin 57:19
Well, it really does put everything into stark perspective, right? Of going, what is important at the end of the day? What is important? What am I willing to stress over or not stress over? And it does get put that all into perspective. Of going, man, I was stressed over the drive time from this visit to that visit that kept me up for a couple days. And now, right? What am I stressed over my own life? Right? It really does help. It puts that into going there are important things in the world and there are not important things. And sometimes it takes us a little bit
Wendy Mackay 57:54
to find that out. Yeah, I like one thing I try and do is, if I'm, you know, I'm kind of stressful situation, and then I kind of remind myself, will this matter in a year's time? No, ah, let's forget it. It's not, it's not a major. Is not going to matter. It will, I will not remember this in a year's time. So therefore it's not a major. Stop stressing about it. You know, relax a bit and breathe. So, yeah, so definitely kind of trying to minimize my stress levels. I don't ever want to be back how I was working crazy hours, always filling in for people if they were sick. Yes, it still happens. I do have to do that. But again, it's you're having more getting more people on board that can be available if needed, because it's always, you know, everyone's sick at the same time, especially, you know, after COVID, you know, things just went completely crazy there, and no one can go and work. Now, if they've got a bit of a runny nose until you'll have to stay at home. And, you know, I'm like, you're working with dogs. You don't even really associate with people watching. You can get out there, you know, you're fine, hard enough. Yeah, unfortunately, and that's what we're like as business owners, right? Because we we're out there doing it. We don't have, you know, many sick days, right? If we're sick, we're really bad, you know, generally, we're out there just carrying on,
Collin 59:35
just doing our thing. How is your diagnosis now? Wendy,
Wendy Mackay 59:40
Oh, yes. So good. Thank you. So yes, mine, I had surgery. I decided not to do any more chemo, for obvious reasons. And now I'm just looking forward to the future, you know. And last year was, you know, I never imagined i. And my age, getting a diagnosis like that, it was, it was shocking. And for a long time, I was in a really dark place of despair. And, you know, my life's over. You know, the doctors give you all this bad news and life expectancy and all this and that, really, you know, words have power, right? Life and death are in the power of the tongue. And when words are spoken over you, from like a medical profession, professional, it's not good, and they sink down deep, right? And then I just got to a point where I was like, You know what? No one knows what is ahead of them. My days aren't any more number than anybody else's. And as soon as I adopted that belief, things started changing. I was like, No, I'm looking forward to the future. I've got an amazing family, an amazing business. I'm going to make sure that, you know, I, I eat even better. I train, you know, do strength training. I'm going to just be the best version of myself. I'm not going to drink alcohol anymore, like, you know, I, I'm just going to do everything that's in my power to lead a healthier life. I'm going to reduce that stress level. I'm not going to be working seven days a week. I have a team around me that's more than capable of taking over things when I need them to. And they did a they did a fantastic job. You know, everyone's replaceable, including the boss. You know, there is people that, you know, they just stepped up and they and they, you know, help run the business, as I would have, the future is looking good.
Collin 1:01:50
I love that, and I'm super excited, and it's really good to hear that. And where you're where you're headed with your business, and how you have that set up. I really, am really thankful for your time today. Wendy sharing us with your journey and giving us encouragement to to grab hold of what matters and build a life around that and not waste time with other stuff. And I just think that that's such an important lesson that more of us, myself included, need to remember and actually take advantage of for those who want to follow along with you, reach out, get in touch and see all the cool stuff that you're doing. Wendy, how best can they do that?
Wendy Mackay 1:02:29
Oh, so our website is pet sitters nz.co.nz, that's the best way to contact us. Or we do have a Facebook page as well pet sitters NZ, and you can see lots of photos of what we're doing out and about with the animals there. And I'm sure lots of you have got many, many photos yourself, all the different photos you may not need to see anymore, but no, hopefully you know, you might be able to get some inspiration or some ideas about how possibly you could implement other services or grow your client base to or, or, you know, make that leap and take on that, that staff member to help you out, To share the load. Yeah,
Collin 1:03:22
well, I've had your website pulled up this entire conversation, and I've just been so it's best. It's been mesmerizing to see all those dogs pulled up over here, looking at me on the beach. I'm again, imminently, miserably jealous, and Wendy again, I am just I'm so thankful for your time today, coming on and sharing with us. It's been an image pleasure and honor, and I'm very thankful for you, and thank you for coming on the show today. Well,
Wendy Mackay 1:03:44
thank you very much. It's been yeah, great to talk with you, and yeah and a privilege. So thank you very much.
Collin 1:03:51
Business is business. It shouldn't be. Your whole life as an entrepreneur and small business owner. This is certainly hard to hear. We usually quit a nine to five to then work 24/7 we eat, sleep, breathe, think about, dream about, have fears about our business. It's the only thing many times we can even conceive of in any given day, at any given moment, and yet my conversation with Wendy was a wonderful reminder of the importance that we are our whole selves. We are not just a business. We're not just a business owner. We're a friend to people. We may be a spouse to someone, a father, a mother, we have all of these other aspects to us, interests, hobbies, desires, things that we want to do, and those are equally and if not more so important than the business, running a. Sustainable Business means taking care of ourselves and seeing ourselves as worth it. We want to thank our sponsors today, our friends at Tiny to pet and pet perennials for making this 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. You.
