631: Building a Business that Feeds Your Soul with Sam Erbaugh
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What does it look like to run a pet care business with heart? Sam Erbaugh, owner of Paw Beach Pet Care, shares her journey from interior designer to pet care entrepreneur. Sam shares how she rebuilt her life in Florida around joy, service, and sunshine—and how her business is a direct reflection of her personal values. Together, they discuss how to create a culture of genuine customer care, why team communication is critical, and how to grow a business without losing your soul. Sam’s story is a reminder that growth isn’t always about numbers—it’s about purpose, balance, and people.
Main topics:
Building customer-focused culture
Transitioning from solo to team
Emotional intelligence in leadership
Balancing personal fulfillment and business
Encouraging open employee communication
Main takeaway: “We show up & we put on that great attitude that this is the only dog in the world we’re going to see today.”
Every pet should be treated like the only one in the world—and that mindset changes everything. It’s not just about walking dogs; it’s about showing up with purpose, presence, and pride. When your team embraces that level of care, your clients feel it—and your business thrives. This episode of Pet Sitter Confessional is a masterclass in heart-led leadership. Tune in and get inspired to bring intention and joy back to your daily work.
About our guest: Sam Erbaugh is the owner of Paw Beach Pet Care based in Palm Beach County, Florida. After a career in interior design and a major life transition, Sam discovered her true calling in professional pet care. Since starting the business in 2017, she’s grown Paw Beach into a highly respected local brand focused on client trust, personal service, and cultivating a team of pet advocates who lead with empathy and excellence. Sam is passionate about restoring true customer service in the industry and supporting both pets and people with intention and care.
Links:
Paw Beach Pet Care website: www.pawbeachflorida.com
Pet Sitters International (PSI): www.petsit.com
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Pet Sitter Confessional, its hosts, or sponsors. We interview individuals based on their experience and expertise within the pet care industry. Any statements made outside of this platform, or unrelated to the topic discussed, are solely the responsibility of the guest.
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Pet sitting, team culture, client relationships, personal growth, mission, customer service, hiring process, employee communication, business balance, happiness, managing team, client satisfaction, business growth, support networks, industry advice
SPEAKERS
Sam Erbaugh, Collin
Collin 00:00
Welcome back 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 the peaceful pet music, calm music for pets. YouTube channel, how do we build a business that is founded in joy and rooted in service, balance and integrity. Today we're really excited to have Sam erbaugh, owner of Paul beach pet care, on the show to talk about how we hire from the heart nurture client relationships. Sam shares her honest insights on team culture, personal growth and staying true to our
Sam Erbaugh 00:38
mission. Let's get started. Well, thank you so much, Collin. I appreciate it. I'm so happy to be here as well. I do own Palm Beach pet care. I'm here in Palm Beach, County, Florida, South Florida, little bit above Miami, and had the business for about eight years, and started on my own, and then it's grown and grown. So every day, I'm learning new things and challenges, but lots of happiness.
Collin 01:10
You said you started, what seven, eight years ago in the business? What was, what was Sam doing before then? What was life like before Paul beach?
Sam Erbaugh 01:20
Well, it was a little bit of everything for a moment. I had recently changed my life. Moved to Florida, brand new life after leaving my ex husband didn't know what I wanted to do. I used to be an interior designer, so I kind of started that down here. I had lived all over the United States with my ex husband, but I knew once I got a chance, I wanted Florida, so I did interior design for a while, and I realized it's not really fulfilling me anymore, because I live in South Florida, and I moved here To be outside and I looked on some local pages, and I started working for a woman in the pet care business, and I realized, hello, this is my second love of life in my little chapter of the season of timing in my life. And it's just was the greatest decision I ever made down here. So it sounds like it really
Collin 02:23
helped kind of shape around the life that you were wanting to lead, then it fit in with the style and what you were wanting
Sam Erbaugh 02:30
to do. Yes, it was outdoors. It was being around animals, especially dogs. It was just enjoying, you know, the outdoor world, the reason why I came down and helping other people at the same time. So it was just kind of a new way of living. It didn't matter about finances at the time, everything would work out. I just wanted to be happy, and this was the start of my happiness journey.
Collin 03:04
I think that that's something that motivates a lot of us to get started in running a business, is we're looking for something that we're missing. We're looking for the thing, or trying to find a new balance, or trying to get out of something that we were doing previously, that we knew or realized, Oh, this isn't what I want to do, like for me, like when we I was working with the Department of Conservation, and quickly realized that, oh, this lifestyle isn't what we want, isn't what is going to fit for my me and my family, and we want a different do something different, and launched into doing this and and For you, you're going, Okay, well, it ticks off being outside. I get to be with pets. I get to help people. Was sounded like it was kind of a no brainer to go to go into it,
Sam Erbaugh 03:51
yeah. I mean, it was all happenstance too. I just didn't know what I was doing with the next chapter of my life, and I was kind of at a standstill, kind of, what do I do? And then I saw this, and I maybe it was a god wink or something. And, you know, it started out so small and fun, and then it just grew and grew. And then I became professional and certifications and licenses and all this kind of stuff. And I really knew this was my passion, to really work on and build trust and continue to help others in every moment of the day. That I think is the key to my happiness is just helping others in this world. And I kind of just thrive on the happiness and security and trust that embodies my company.
Collin 04:46
You know that that aspect of helping people, it is a very underappreciated aspect of what we get to do? Of Yeah, we get to be with pets. We get to provide excellent pet care. But there's a person at the end of the. Us and what I have found, and you know, what I hear from you, too, Sam, is like, that's what we connect with. Like, there is a person that I am helping. I'm helping them live their life. I'm helping them have peace of mind. I'm helping them go see their grandma. I'm helping them, you know, go out on that date, or whatever that is. And that is just this massive aspect that we too often forget about what
Sam Erbaugh 05:24
we do. Yes, yes, it is. You know, unfortunately, some people out there in this world take others for granted, and customer service has unfortunately gone by the wayside. So when you are served well in life, whether it's at a restaurant or a supermarket, you kind of realize that that's a wonderful thing, you know, and you have gratitude for that. So we're trying to bring back customer service, like back in the year 2025, and like, we thrive on that, because it is a great thing to do, not just to help someone, but do it so well, and we it's a great I don't know what I'm saying. Oh,
Collin 06:11
well, but you, you said that. You linked that, and I've never heard it put that way before. Sam, of people take others for granted, and so it impacts the customer service. I've never really thought about it. Of like, well, when my customer service is lacking, it's an indication that I'm kind of taking the person on the other end of the line for granted. Of like, yeah, of course, you're here. Okay, whatever. Like, okay, let's move on. And really going, No, you're a person who has value and is valuable. And this is important, and I need to focus on this. So when you say you're bringing back customer service and you're making it cool again, what? What does that look like for you? And Paul beach,
Sam Erbaugh 06:50
we show up, we dress up, you know, we put on that great attitude that this is the only dog in the world we're going to see today, that you are our only client of the day. That's how we want our clients to be treated. You know, just because you have a 20 minute walk doesn't mean we aren't going to be there for 45 minutes chatting with you or something like that. Like my I've grown a team to where, yes, they make really good money, but at the same point, they enjoy so much what they do, and they enjoy all the clients as well. So it's a great personal experience as well. It's not that, oh, I have to walk a dog at eight o'clock in the morning and at 5pm and at 3pm and at 1:30pm It's a I get to, I get to see Mrs. H today. I get to see, you know, bear the dog today. This is so cool. I wonder how this client's doing, you know, things like that. It's I get to, and they see the impact that we are giving, and they their attitude changes like they may. I'd have a rough day. Let's say the client's home and we're walking the dog. They look forward to the seeing us take care of bear the dog and coming back and having a report and a rapport with each other. It's just wonderful to say it's no longer a job. It's a lifestyle that we are leading just a true, just genuine relationship, lifestyle everything is just nurtured and taking full course of just responsibility as well as just performance and just caring about another human being. And we just think that's lacking these days, just the caring of normal, everyday human nature, just it's lost cause. People don't say hi to each other anymore. On the street, we say hi to everybody. So, I mean, it's just little things like that. We try to just Hi. And it's not to grow my business. It's just to just promote like you're a happier person inside every day, if you look forward to what you're doing every moment of the day, and come to me, if you're not, how do, how do
Collin 09:12
you make that culture, though? Because you know, if people view like, Oh, it's just a job, or oh, I have to show up. It's a drudgery. What are you? What's the magic sauce, Sam, of making that culture, of wanting to spread that joy and communicating people the importance of what what you do, and making it a get to, versus they have to,
Sam Erbaugh 09:35
um, I guess when upon a hiring in the hiring process, it's it's they go through kind of mirroring me and following me and things like that, shadowing me, and they see the care that I'm providing. And I don't do a sub standard care. So I set the bar pretty high, but nothing's unachievable. It I make it come like it's. So natural and at ease that, you know, let's say they'll meet me at their first client. It's 8am I'm like, You're going to meet me at this house? Blah, blah, blah. So I get out of the car. They get out of the car, and I'm like, Okay, this dog is pretty rocking. You're going to love this dog. This is these clients are XYZ. Of course, they've already been told on their app who they are, how they are. There's all different notes, but it's like, power up, let's walk to the front door. So it's all just kind of educating and just kind of mimicking, and just, let's do this in life. This is fun, this is not a pain. And they kind of see how I report on the app, and it's a story. We tell a story like we learn our storytellers, and we add in little jokes and have fun with it, and they see how light hearted a job can be, but yet we're really doing someone a service at the same time. So everybody in tune is giving away a little piece of happiness, and then it just takes on from there. So the people that work under me truly enjoy and have gratitude for this job. I've been fortunate, but I think I set precedent the day they start for with me. Let's do this.
Collin 11:21
Yeah, that first day is, is a lot rides on that you're right every time that we show up to do training with a new employee, right? Like, I have to make sure that, like, Am I in a good spot, right? Because if I show up and I'm like, Well, welcome, okay. Well anyway, this is back, sir. Okay, let's go. Come on. Like that sets the tone of like this is the expectation of you show up. Grumbly. You show up, not that we don't have bad days, not that we can't be frustrated or angry at times. But what does this pet deserve? And I love how you phrase that of we make our clients, our pets, feel like they're the only one in the world, and that's very special, and it's really hard, because it's so easy to let the sleepiness creep in, to let the red light creep in, to let the frustration about the off leash dog that just came at us creep in. All of these little things are just trying to hew away at the happiness we're trying to give away. And we have to be the bulwark against that and say, No, here's what this is. And really going like this, this allows us to reminding us why we're there right at the end of the day, like this is here, and helping our teams connect with that is, it's just so critical.
Sam Erbaugh 12:32
It is. I mean, these people have chosen my company and then entrusted us and entrusted me to let another person other than me come into their house and take over. So to me, there's a lot of responsibility there. So each time I have a new person, a new team, a new pet advocate, I have to ensure that this is a true representation of me and Paul beach. Otherwise, I truly am failing at what I'm doing and taking on that responsibility of that client. So I have to have lots of little mini me's with their own little special sauce too. You know, they have their own flair. They don't have to be little me's truly, like everybody's unique, but they find their little way. It takes a while, but they find it. I haven't known anybody that really hasn't in a couple years, so I've been very fortunate. That was
Collin 13:40
hard for Megan and I in the beginning, when we brought on team members, we did think, no, you have to be mini me's. You have to do exactly as we do. And any variants, we were like, no, no, that's not the way. That's not the way. No, come back over here. And when we were able to let go and basically give guidelines, right? Like, this is what we expect, and there's here is the gray areas in between where you can have your personality, man, that that unlocked so much for both the team and the clients. They got to see a variety of reports and see how people express themselves and how they interact with people and our our team felt freedom to have agency and control over something like we we do have standards for how we send reports, obviously, but it wasn't like, no, every word must blah, blah. They were, oh, I can express myself in this way. And yeah, we have some team members. They tell lots of jokes. So they tell different stories. Other people are a little more fact based. Other people, it's just, it's adds such a variety and beauty to what we do throughout the day that it really becomes invaluable.
Sam Erbaugh 14:39
Yeah, the one thing I learned through this, all through different employees, was there were times I was micromanaging to have little mini me's, and then it took a little bit to be like, is the client? Is the client complaining? No, that is their little flair. Let them do this. And. Sitter's gonna do that and blah, blah, blah, is the dog taken care of? Are they still meeting all their contract requirements? Yes, let them do their job. Let them have fun. That's where it comes down to letting go, and that is a really hard thing to do. But it takes time. It takes. There's certain days I still struggle with, believe me, I'm like, Ah, but at the end of the day, everything's okay. Yeah. It depends on what my where my headspace is too, where that micromanaging comes back, like, Ah, no, no, no, they're fine.
Collin 15:37
Have you heard of time to pet? Doug, from bat to the bone? Pet Care has this to say,
Speaker 1 15:41
time to pet has made managing my team and clients so much easier. Our clients love the easy to use app and scheduling features, and our sitters love being able to have all of their information organized and easily accessible. My favorite feature is the instant messaging. By keeping conversations on time to pet, we are able to monitor our team and ensure nothing ever falls through the cracks. If
Collin 16:01
you're looking for new pet sitting software, give time to pet a try. Listeners of our show will save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confessional so that process of you taking on and building a team, I mean, was that in the cards when you first started? Did you envision, oh, yeah, I'm going to have people that I'm managing and overseeing, and there's going to be multiple people out in the field, or did that just kind of happen, and you were just rolled with it?
Sam Erbaugh 16:28
I never thought I would have people working for me, underneath me, with me, anything. I was doing it myself. I was learning lots of things through the years, and then there came upon a time where I was never home, and I had my own dog, and there was a lot of guilt set in. I was always staying at other people's homes, and my dog was staying at another home, and I was never seeing my dog. And then I started questioning, am I supposed to be doing this in life like and I started questioning so much, and I was tired. I was so tired, and I was people pleasing too much, and I was getting upset for reasons that I never set boundaries things like that. And so I had to reassess everything, and I could either leave this business and just give up, or kind of make small changes. So I decided to hire one person, and that was very hard for me to do very hard, and I was fortunate enough to meet someone, and that was actually a male, which I thought was looking back very good at the time, because females and males work differently together, and he saw things that I wouldn't have seen, and he had a different take on things, and we complimented each other honestly. He was a grown adult, and he was excited about the business, things like that, and he was everything to me. He was and it was he and I for a long time, and then I had to evolve and grow a little bit more because, you know, he was evolving in life. So I grew more people. And then there was, you know, give and take, and there was movement and shifting between new employees, and there was trying to find out what I really needed out of more and more employees. And that took a couple of years, and now I'm at the point where these people have been with me for a while, and will they do this forever? Likely, no, but they're with me right now, and we do have assessments and evaluations, and we try to stay all on the same page, and I want to make sure they're okay. If there's any issues, they communicate with me, anything like that, communication has always been my biggest thing, and I learned a lot in my last marriage that there was lack of communication, so I'm always trying to get communication in my life with everybody around me. I'm not saying I'm perfect at it, but I strive to be better at it. So as long as there's communication in all parties, then life can be pretty good, and things can always be worked out whether it's the outcome I wish or not. But things can work out,
Collin 19:47
well, I think too often we get caught up, or at least our employees or team can get caught up in whether I'm communicating the right thing instead of am I communicating? And too often we have that block of Well, I don't know how to say this or I. Don't know what to say the situation, so I'm just not going to say anything. Or I'm just not, I'm just going to avoid this. And it's like, no, if you would have just come to me, we could have talked about this and that that has been something that we've had to impress very much like it's been we had to feel, we felt like we've had to go way more outward than we expected, to convince people like, it's okay to come and talk to us if you have a problem. Yes, I'm in your employer. Yes, I have standards, yes, we have policies and procedures. But if you need something, if you're struggling with something, if you're like, you come and talk to me first. And it's surprising to me how so few people are, they don't think that that's how they've encountered things. That's not how it's operated in the past, right? They have employers who are like, don't talk to me, don't bring up bad news. If you if you speak up and say bad things, you get punished. So people are trained to not communicate and not talk and not speak up when there are issues and it can snowball. And so we're trying to have like, like, we're breaking all of these habits from people. Of, like, No, I want to know if something's broken so we can fix it together. Like, let's do this.
Sam Erbaugh 21:08
Yes, yes, absolutely. And people need to be unlike, the same playing field, also with those kind of expectations, you know, like, I just went through a bunch of all reviews again and went over a new set of expectations, because I thought some of us may not be on the same playing field. They may assume things. I might be assuming things I thought I wrote it out in their contracts. But let's revisit all this again, and one of my employees was like, I said, Is there anything bothering you? Is there any like client that disturbs you? He's like, I really don't want to go to that one house again. I said, okay, yeah. I said, May I ask why? He told me why. And I said, done. I don't want to make you not want to go to a house you can do all the other I said, is there anybody else? He said, No. I said, Great, thank you for letting me know. Yeah, I wish I had known before. I wouldn't have put you on that job, you know, like, you know. So it's just basic things, like, what poor guy was like, dreading working at this place. I had no
Collin 22:21
idea we had that come up where we had our a client who took we took on we were excited to meet him. Blah, blah, blah. He was a smoker. And I grew up with family who smoked and all this stuff, so I didn't think anything of it. And we're going in, there goes up, and I sat down for review, and I asked that same question, any client that you're not happy with. And one person said, Well, we do have that guy who smokes, and I really, I hate that. I try and spend as much time outside as possible. And was like, oh, oh, okay. And so we went to the rest of the team, and we're like, Hey, does anyone else have problems with smoking? And boom, all these hands came up and was like, Oh, wow, I've been making like, eight people really unhappy from no doubt now I know right, like, Hey guys, that's the kind of thing you need to come and talk to us about. Because I, I we're good. I'm not, Mind reader good. And if you don't tell me, like, I don't, and I don't want you to be unhappy, and telling people that back to that happiness aspect of going I genuinely, genuinely believe this is the best job in the world, and if you're unhappy, we need to talk about that so we can make some changes. And that kind of feedback, it just makes everybody
Sam Erbaugh 23:32
better, yes. And I think the guy, the employee, was like, Oh, that was an option, not going back. I could tell you that. And I think in turn, he kind of like felt better about the job itself, like this job, and I'm like, yeah, just you guys tell me stuff. Like, I don't, I don't know. I don't know what bothers people. I don't know if you're allergic to something. You never told me something. Tell me so funny, like things that we wouldn't think of, because everybody thinks differently, right? Yeah, well, and you know, the the
Collin 24:11
aspect of what you mentioned there, of the you set the bar high, but it's not unachievable. And I you know, so this aspect of what you're doing, of you have these ongoing conversations, and you have these aspects like that that really is a nurturing it's it's it's it's managing its oversight. It's also showing a direct interest and involvement with each individual that's part of your team. And that aspect really helps cultivate that we are in this together, and I might not be at this level now, but you know, so I mean, what's that conversation like? Sam, have you ever had to say, Hey, you're not meeting these expectations, but here's a plan, and so let's work through that. What's that process like for you?
Sam Erbaugh 24:54
I have learned that you don't know what another person is going through unless. You ask, and there's usually a reason behind certain behavior. So it's up to, let's say me to ask certain questions, and they can be uncomfortable questions, but in some situations with employees, something's up, whether you know a worker is late, consistently starting to be late for something or not sending the report that that person used to do. So you never know what's going on. My immediate thought is they don't want to work for me anymore. That's not necessarily true. Maybe there's home life issues, maybe there's family life issues, maybe there's mental health issues. You just don't know. You just have to, kind of, I approach it in a very casual a way. The first time, like, is everything okay? Usually I get an answer, yeah, all is good. But I'm not that doesn't really it's not sufficient enough for me. So I kind of prod carefully a little bit more, yeah, and I prefer an in person or a zoom call or a FaceTime call at this point, because usually you have to see people's body language when you're talking about things like this. Nine out of 10 times it's usually something in their own personal life, is a distraction, and it's taken over all aspects of life. They don't know how to just set something apart, and that's not my responsibility to do. So once I know what's going on, I can understand. I can breathe a little bit more and be like, I understand. Do you need time? Do you not want to work for a little bit? Are you able to perform how you have been? Because I am concerned about the clients. So once there's a little bit of that communication going on, it seems they're right back up to where they were before this little, you know, slope, that's nine out of 10 times, there has been an instance where, you know, things didn't work out, but you gotta have those honest conversations. You do, and I like them, but I don't like
Collin 27:42
so how do you work through those conversations? Because, likewise, like, I've had those moments where I'm going, I do not want to have to tell this person, this I don't like, and it can eat away at me, but I know, like, Okay, I've got to do this. But man, how, how do you work through that then,
Sam Erbaugh 28:00
um, I Well, the good this time around, I said, kind of, how would I put it repercussions into place? So there's new like, if x happens, so if ABC happened, XYZ might happen. I didn't say they would, but they might, any one of those could happen. So that gives me liberty and range of kind of a discipline, rather than okay, if you do this, that's going to happen. If you do that, that's going to happen. So there's a little bit of leeway for me, that I don't have to be the mean boss, but yet, there's a chance that I'm gonna the reckoning is gonna come, because there has to be repercussions in life. Like i i get the business for you, I pay you. I do all the background stuff that you don't see. So they use a privilege to work for this company. So we have to set some boundaries here. I have only had to do the one repercussion once, and they snapped out of it. So I let them teeter a little bit, but I have had to fire people before. I really have, and I don't like doing that, but it's hard. I just Yeah, but if you really communicate, usually don't have to get to those things. Usually people are like, Oh, she's willing to take the time. Like she does care about me, like, I'm just not a number. Like, you know, she understands there's an off day, an off week, but she's also telling me, if I don't get my. Act together that might happen. So I don't know. Usually I don't have to have the really trying Conversations. I'm very fortunate. I have to have just the beginning ones, if that makes sense,
Collin 30:17
yeah, just starting those initial and I think it's enough to just say, Hey, I'm noticing. I think that's a big part of it, of like, I'm seeing some things, and I've, we've had to go to some employees and say, Look, this is not a big thing right now, but what we're worried about is this could develop into something. So I just want to sit down with you, talk about this to let you know, hey, I'm seeing some things about the reports. There's been some weird stuff going on. It's not a huge thing now, but this isn't a good trajectory that we're on. So let's talk about what's going on and what we'd like to see, and kind of see where we can head with this and readdress this. And we sometimes will say, hey, let's, let's look at this again, and let's, I'm just gonna go ahead and schedule another schedule another sit down in 30 days and and that way this is out there. Now, if something goes really haywire, you're going to get a meeting from us a lot sooner. Yeah, at least it's like, okay, that at least lets them know and like, what you're doing. So like, I have concerns, and we just need to be on the same page about this, and whether it's a big thing or a little thing, a lot of times we don't know about what's going on. And I had this lesson was taught to me when I was an undergrad, and I was taking an Intro to Psychology class, and I knocked out that first exam, and I aced it, and was so awesome. I was like, Oh, this is easiest class ever. Then my life got busy throughout the rest of that semester, and I almost failed the second exam. And the teacher pulled me aside after the exam, after she was passing him back, and she said, Collin, is everything okay? Because I noticed that this exam didn't match what I thought you would get. And I I remember, at the time like being shocked and horrified that somebody had pointed out to me, but looking back, I'm like, what a kind thing that that instructor did, because I was able to say, actually, I'm overwhelmed with all of my schoolwork and I'm concerned about XYZ, and I don't know what this is going to happen, and I haven't been able to focus. And she said, Okay, that makes a lot of sense. I understand come to me for help next time, and it was like, wow, oh, I was it was okay. I feel seen by this and somebody who cares about my well being
Sam Erbaugh 32:30
absolutely, absolutely, I've known that exactly, that feeling that you're talking about someone's taking time out for me in the past, and like, you're not just a number, you're not just a you know person. You're like, you are an important person, you know. And I think that's very we need to do that in today's world. People are just lost sheep in this world. So you want to feel valued, you know that, and you want to hear the positive things that you're doing, too. I try to lead with the positive, because not always Are there that many negatives. It's maybe just one thing like, so, yeah, the care and just, hey, you're doing a really good job. So what's up with this? You know, I'm just noticing this, x, y, z, and it's usually, honestly something I would have never thought of, that their reasoning is, and you're like, Oh, well, my brain didn't come up with that. Thank you that you told me this. Because, wow, I might not be okay either. You know, yeah, and life on, life serves, and we all have stuff, and, you know, I know they can sense when I'm going through things, even though I don't want to show it. But sometimes, you know, I can come across a little and I'm like, I have to later, go back, not necessarily apologize, be like, but hey guys, I was a little abrupt before, because I was doing something. I'm back now. What I meant to say was blah, blah, blah. They don't need to know all the ins and outs about me, but they might need to know I wasn't meaning to say a certain word or say a certain manner or text you in a certain attitude, things like that, because life is going on in my world too. So at times I have to learn the word pause, take a moment, to whether it's an employee or a client. Don't respond yet. I like with the client. One is the 24 hour rule, yeah, let's sleep on it and wake up the next day with employees like I get back to them sooner. But. Take a pause, take a lap around the block or something, because our first reaction isn't always the greatest, and we're all going through something. And
Collin 35:12
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Collin 36:10
Well, so you're talking about, we've talked a lot about how you're there to support your team and encourage them. Where do you go for that? You know, you're the business owner. You're the business leader here. I know it can be awfully lonely at the top to feel like, Who do I go for this stuff and support in my community,
Sam Erbaugh 36:27
I have fellow pet sitters that I talk to if they're going have ever gone through certain things. I get advice from them. We have a great group around here. And then I go to fellow business women, actually women itself, because we handle things differently than men. We tend to be a little too emotional at times. And so I know a lot of women own business. You know, they own their own business, whether it's, you know, in pottery to they own a bookstore, things like that. So I asked their advice. Some of them can help me at times. Some of them can't. And honestly, believe it or not, I find a lot of information on pet sitters international their chat to, believe it or not, they, I mean, we're all going through different things, and I can always do a search for something. Someone in this world, since it is international, has likely gone through something that I'm going through, and maybe find some chats there, or if I can't find ask a question, if I have the time frame to have those response times come in in the next 24 hours, because we need to use each other. You know, if I'm really griping about something, I might gripe to my mother or a family member or a friend, but if it's a business situation, I usually go to another person in the industry so I can get rather than, well, you don't understand the industry. Well, that's, you know, I mean, that way I'm initially going into someone who kind of knows what I'm going through. Possibly, that's kind of how I get my answers and my serenity. I I'm a Christian woman, but, yeah, I just kind of seek help from other people that are like minded.
Collin 38:35
And I love the multifaceted groups that you have, and I think that that diversity is so important. Of I have this group for this. I have this group for this. I have this group for this. I got my mom, you know, over here, right? Like, what a wonderful resource and person to be cheering you on and go great to I know, yeah, but it just shows like, how, because you said, there's always something going on in somebody's life, including our own, and we are there's a it's complex, right? It could be a business thing, a personal thing, an interrelational thing. It could be an all three things going on, and we have to finding good outlets and resources and people and communities to get connected with. Gives us those resources and tools that can help support us, and allows us to continue to to thrive and to continue to show up, to have all of these different, you know, supporting structures around us, the more rich that that is, the better off that we're going to be.
Sam Erbaugh 39:31
Absolutely just want to be better. You know, better attitude. Handle things better, being more capable. But I'm not afraid to ask for help. Now, even though I love being, you know, a single, independent woman, I'm not fearful of asking for help.
Collin 39:51
Well, that's a lot of self reliance on that too. I mean, you mentioned like you started your own business. You're doing this on yourself. You know, there's a lot of so. Self pride and self worth that goes into this of like, you know, how does, how does, how do you view that and still know that you can reach out for help, because those are, you know, some people would view those as polar opposites of you can't be this self reliant, independent person, and you can't also ask for help. So how do you, you know, you know, walk that.
Sam Erbaugh 40:19
Um, I think you have to just kind of swallow your pride in a sense, and know your limitations. And if you're not furthering your knowledge and growth and your capabilities in life, then you're kind of standing still. So how do you do that? How do you learn and grow and move on and take another step forward? You might need to ask for help. You know, we have certain limitations and certain preconceptions in our mind about certain things like and how we should approach things. Well, there's always a different perspective out there, and I've learned to kind of seek another perspective, because my way is not always the greatest way to do things, and when I keep doing something over and over and I'm getting the same result, but it's not the result I want, that's not really great, so I gotta shift things, and that's usually I can't do that by myself. That's pretty hard for me to do. My mind wants to just be stubborn and just do it my way, and it'll work at some point, but it's not, it's not working. So I'm trying to stop that little bit of insanity going on, and taking a pause and looking into other ways people think, and try not to judge them for it, because when you do look outside the box and it's so different than yours, You're like, well, that would be silly to do that, because you're thinking your way is the only way. And then you kind of read on more why they made that, why are they are doing that and operating that way, and why they made those decisions. And you're like, I don't necessarily have to choose to do that, but I see it a different way, why that person decided to do it. So it slowly opens your mind to possibilities, and there's options in life, and there's different avenues you can do, and wow, choices. So that's kind of how I evolve through things, when I start to see myself doing something again and again, and it's not working. I gotta seek outside help, because, you know, my other my workers aren't listening to me, or, you know, my clients not paying on time for a certain reason, there's something I need to change for it to work better, so I look for the answer. If I might not get the answer for a while, but at least I'm looking
Collin 43:10
well in that process of, you know that you describe that process of, when I hear something new, I you have to do something with that. Okay, you just learn something. Let me ask some of these questions, like, what motivated them to do that? What would that look like in my business? How would all those questions that you just outlined there like a I'm able to immediately empathize with somebody else, because I'm putting myself in their shoes, and I'm I'm broadening my scope a little bit more, and then I'm also going, huh, I'm applying it directly to what I'm doing, and going, well, this wouldn't work, but also I could adapt this, and I could like and that process that really helps expand everything that we were doing before. And like you said, going, Man, I didn't see a way through this, but now that I've thought through this, this is, this is obvious. I don't can't believe I didn't think this before, but we don't know. We don't know. And and seeking that out, whether it's through, you know, the communities or the books or reading or whatever that is. You know, it all that good. And I think the part that I struggle with sometimes is I can, I can too easily tune things out, because I'll go, oh, I don't need that right now. Or, No, I don't have that problem. So I don't even listen to boy boy, howdy. How often is it like? One month later, I could have used that now, because I'm in that position,
Sam Erbaugh 44:26
absolutely. That's why there's a search
Collin 44:31
bar. Where was that post?
Sam Erbaugh 44:36
I'm gonna find it now. Let's hope it's still there.
Collin 44:44
Yeah, Sam, when you, when you started your business, I know you were seeking after a lifestyle. You were seeking after happiness, you were seeking after these things in your life to simplify it and kind of be this certain way. You know, how? How do you continue to maintain that? Because I know. As people get in business, things often become way more complicated. We kind of like new levels, new devils, kind of thing, and all of a sudden, I'm running a business, but it's not how I wanted to when I got started. How have you continued to maintain that and continue to stay true to your purpose?
Sam Erbaugh 45:18
I I basically look at my business as my baby. I never had children, but this is my baby, other than my dog, and I'm willing to have an open mind as of today, for many things, I'm very happy with the size of my company. I don't see myself as a multi million dollar company. I like the personal touch I can give to every single client if I choose to right now, we have about 300 clients. Some use us once a year. Some use us twice a day, things like that. So I like to jump in if I want to in my car, go see that client, and they know who I am, not just the owner of the company. I like to go to every meet and greet. I like to stay at random clients houses. Every once in a while, I like to take the dog for a walk, things like that. So I have, like, still that nice, those moments of I'm doing a dog walk, you know, I am staying in someone's house. I am doing service. Then I'm not just managing because that I can easily be like you guys do all the work. I'm just going to manage. To be honest, that's not where my happiness is. And I have a dear friend when I do get a little frustrated with managing, in essence, and I'm blaming my employees for life on itself, and everything is their fault. Nothing is mine, and I'm having none of those moments. She's always like worst case scenario, you could always just do this by yourself. And isn't that a nice thing? Yeah, would that be me make you? Would you be okay with that? And I, at first, I got caught off, and she, when she first said, I was like, what? And I took offense to that, and then I thought about it more, and I'm like, actually, that would be just fine. That would be just fine. We doing it, and I don't have to do it how I used to do it, I would be okay. I could pick and choose. I wouldn't have to work for every day. You know, I've grown up since then. I've learned a lot. I don't have to say yes to everything I you know, fear of economic insecurity, you know, is not there. You do good to another person. It'll come back. So Elle will be okay if I got rid of all this. I just don't want to get too big where, oh, my world will get blown up if I had to just do this for myself. So that's the only fear I have, is just taking on too much all of a sudden, the world in my little they all quit, and then it's just me, so that I'm able to just have that healthy balance. Because right now, I'm like the backups that are for everybody. So I could say, if there was an alternate dream, I would like to have a manager someday, and me be the owner, and I could do all sorts of things without doing total managing. But that may come, that may not come. I don't know what tomorrow will bring. Well, I love how
Collin 49:01
you pointed out that the you know, the managing is not where your happiness is. And I think, I think often we kind of go, Well, I guess I just excuse me. I think we often go, Well, I just have to, I just have to take this on, and I guess I just have to grunt through this, and I just have to deal with this. I just have to, I just have to, I just have to, instead of going, but wait. Like, wait a minute. Like, this is my business. Like, if I don't want to do it this way, I don't have to, and I can set things up the way that work good for me and and my happiness and my peace, you use that word earlier, my serenity. Like, what do am I working to preserve those things, because I think if we were honest with ourselves, nine times out of 10 we're making decisions that are in complete opposition to those, because we're seeking after growth and metrics and numbers and money and all this other stuff, and we leave ourselves far behind, and that's where we can. Look up in 10 years and go, Man, where's that person who started this business? Like, where are they? And we feel kind of lost, because now all of a sudden, we're operating and we're doing stuff we never want to get into in the first place. We're just doing it because it's what we, quote, unquote have
Sam Erbaugh 50:15
to do. Yes, yes, I catch myself. I'm able to catch myself at times and assess and think. And I don't have the answer right now, but I do have options. You know, I do have options at the end of the day, I can do what I wish. Things might crumble a little bit, or things might grow so well, I don't know, but I do have options. I can say yes and I can say no, and
Collin 50:47
that's a really beautiful place to be when we have that, because we know, like, there's some security there. There's also some there's optimism for what the future is going to hold. And there's also that belief in self, too. Of going a lot of times, I'm Meg, and I talk about this, a lot of like, well, if we had to, well, we just build it again, right? We just, we just start again. It just be us again. And, man, we were, we were happy. Then when it was just Megan and I, and we were doing everything together, we're still happy now. So if, if this go, all goes away, if something happens and we have to go back to that, oh, man, it's just another happy time in our life, and I think keeping that in perspective is what's important.
Sam Erbaugh 51:24
Absolutely, absolutely. It's all perspective.
Collin 51:28
Sam, I really want to thank you for coming on the show today, sharing with us your journey and reminding us to focus on ourselves. That's okay, to seek after happiness and design a business that lets us have that, and we can accomplish that with and I know that you've got a lot on your plate, so this means a lot for you. Take this time out. For those who want to get connected, follow along, reach out and get connected with you. How best can they do that?
Sam Erbaugh 51:54
The best way is just to go to our website, Paul Beach, florida.com, and you can find anything at all about us, contact information, anything you'd like. I'm always available to help a fellow pet sitter.
Collin 52:08
Okay, perfect. Well, I will have links in the show notes and on our website so people can get connected with you and start start that conversation. Sam again, this has just been such an immense pleasure, and I've enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you for coming on the show
Sam Erbaugh 52:21
today. Collin, you're the kindest and the sweetest. Keep doing what you're doing. You're a blessing to this industry. Thank you. Thank you.
Collin 52:30
I love when Sam said, when we show up, we put on that attitude that this is the only dog in the world that we're going to see today. Every pet should be treated like the only one while we are there. And this mindset really does change everything. It quiets everything else around us and makes sure that we are focused and present and giving
Speaker 1 52:50
100% to the
Collin 52:51
pet in front of us. What we do is not just about walking dogs. What we do is about showing up with purpose, presence and pride when we when our team embraces that level of care, our clients truly do feel it, and our business will
Sam Erbaugh 53:10
thrive. We
Collin 53:12
want to thank today's sponsors, time to pet and the peaceful pet. Music, calm music for pets. YouTube channel for sponsoring today's episode of making it possible, and we really want to thank you so much for listening, for showing up and for sharing. We couldn't do this without you. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and we'll be back again soon.
