633: Leadership Starts with Listening with Abby Strong
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What does it take to transition your team from independent contractors to employees? Abby Strong, owner of Auntie Abby’s Professional Pet Sitting, returns to share how she nurtured a strong, supportive company culture while navigating major changes. She discusses the motivation behind dropping overnight services, onboarding employees with intention, and creating space for growth within her team. Abby also talks about the importance of feedback, both from clients and staff, and how being vulnerable as a leader builds trust. This episode is filled with practical advice for pet business owners ready to scale with purpose.
Main topics:
Transitioning to employee model
Building team communication culture
Letting go of overnight services
Leading with vulnerability and structure
Using client and staff feedback wisely
Main takeaway: “I walked into it thinking, can I afford to make this transition? I walked away realizing I can’t afford not to.”
That’s how Abby Strong describes her bold move from independent contractors to employees at Auntie Abby’s Professional Pet Sitting. With a growing team, a commitment to consistency, and a deep desire to protect her staff, Abby knew something had to change. Making the leap came with risk—but also with clarity. Sometimes, leadership means trusting your gut, listening to your community, and building the structure your business truly needs. If you’re at a crossroads, maybe it’s time to ask: can I really afford not to make this move?
About our guest: Hello! I am Abby Strong, owner and founder of Auntie Abby’s Professional Pet Sitting Service in Des Moines, IA. I opened my business in October 2019 as a solo provider driven by my profound passion for animals and their welfare. I quickly realized there was a tremendous need for quality, trustworthy pet care providers where animals are most comfortable: in their own homes! I truly feel pets are best served by staying in their regular environment while maintaining their normal routine. Turns out I was right, as I also quickly booked myself 7 days a week from 6AM to often 10PM with walks, visits and overnight jobs in clients homes. 1.5 years later, I reached a point where I needed to make a big decision: I could either continue working as a solo sitter, working at a crazy, unsustainable pace and having zero free time, or I could hire. Despite some initial trepidation that no one could do the job as well as I did, I took the plunge and starting interviewing job candidates. I never looked back!
As of today, we have grown to a team of 21 phenomenal pet sitters and dog walkers. I aspire to continue that growth. It’s hard to articulate just how proud I am of this team. We’ve had amazing success due to our incredible attention to detail, stellar client communication, professionalism and true love, adoration and respect for each animal entrusted to our care. Our sitters truly take the time to meet each pet at their level and provide an enriching, enjoyable experience. It is immensely rewarding to know my passion is shared by so many others. We believe that a carefully tailored care plan makes each pet visit highly enriching and highly anticipated. We are met with much joy and excitement by each pet and the feeling is reciprocal. Tail wags, leaps of joy, wiggles, monetary tips for exceptional service, repeat business and heartfelt client testimonials fill our hearts and let us know we are indeed in the right business!
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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
Team culture, employee recognition, client trust, leadership, Slack channels, community building, transition from contractors, employee benefits, client feedback, business growth, team communication, employee training, service offerings, community involvement, business strategy.
SPEAKERS
Abby S., Collin
Collin 00:00
Abby, 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. What if we have a goal of building a robust and strong team culture? How do we go about doing that? Today, we're really excited to have Abby strong back on the show. She's the owner of Auntie Abby's pet sitting and she shares her transition from independent contractors to employees, how she's building a thriving team culture through leadership and employee recognition. Abby also shares how she's building client trust while also scaling her business so she never loses what it's all about. Let's get started. Hi
Abby S. 00:41
Collin, I am so excited to be back here. My name is Abby strong. I own Auntie Abby's professional pet sitting service. We're based in Des Moines, Iowa, and we offer pet sitting dog walking a pet nanny service. We do a little bit of it all.
Collin 01:01
Yeah, and I love so you're a fellow, fellow midwesterner. So hello, yes, good to you know. Let's see how things are going. So one thing that I know that you've been working on a lot, and your focus has been, is a lot on your your team and your team aspect. So how have, how have you personally changed how you approach your team, or how you think about your team and lead them.
01:23
Oh, gosh. Well,
Abby S. 01:25
for those of you who haven't listened to my original episode, we started in October 2019 and I was a solo care provider, and we've now expanded to a team of 25 which is really exciting. And I have always been big on creating a sense of community, and we made a big transition recently. We transitioned in January from independent contractors to employees, and one of the reasons behind that was just wanting to have a greater sense of community and helping everybody to feel connected and on the same page. And so we do a variety of things. We utilize slack, and I have a kudos channel in Slack, and we send out shout outs all the time to team members who've really gone the extra mile, or dealt with something difficult, or when a really great Google review comes in, we celebrate them, yeah, and we get we have lots of team get togethers, and they're just fun, like monthly drop ins. If it works for your schedule, come join us. We'll do something fun. If it doesn't, we'll catch you next time.
Collin 02:44
I love that the community aspect is really hard to get. I mean, we know that this is a very lonely, solo business, like, you know, people always we get people apply. Well, hey, what'd you like about your last job? I love my coworkers. I love getting to see people I loved. I'm like, well, welcome to probably one of the loneliest jobs that you're around. Like, and it's not because we get to play with pets and we're around that, you know, that's really fulfilling, but as we look to build a strong team and like, like you were saying it to in order to do that, you have to have employees, because then you can have these facilitations. You can bring them together. You can require things. You can push for things. You can allow the communication like that really starts building this cohesion. Because, you know, one of the things that we work for is the continuity of care, right? The consistency of care, the team approach this aspect of we're all working on this together, and that kind of piece is we have to facilitate that. And you know, to know that you've taken like this is important. I have to make what you're doing it sounds like Abby is you're making opportunities for these things to take place.
Abby S. 03:56
Yes, yes. And you know, you're so right that oftentimes the team members are doing jobs independently. You know, it may be that two or three people are cooperating on a travel job, but they don't get to interact directly with the entire team, or come to the office and stand around the water cooler, that kind of thing. And so having ways that we can all work together and get to know people that are in different regions. You know, we cover a wide area of the greater Des Moines Metro. It's really been a really positive experience for everyone, and they like to, you know, be able to share fun stories from the job and cute pet pictures. We have a kudos channel, or, I'm sorry, a community channel in Slack, where we can share all these things as well. So yeah, and it's, you know, the switch, like you were saying to employees, it's so great to have policies and procedures where everybody is on the exact same page. And the experience for the client is consistent, and we were fortunate. You know, almost every one of our ICS transitioned over as an employee, and they were excited about the opportunity, but everybody really did phenomenal work previously, but this has just allowed us to tighten things
Collin 05:22
up. Yeah, I think that's where you find is like, okay, there's no real, major problem here, right? There's no pulsating or bleeding wound that I'm trying to cover here. I just want to try and do something better, right? And take this further. And you know those kudos channels, the the team get togethers, the Fae photo sections, like when you slack, which is that team communications app that's kind of allows you to share documents and photos and chat and have group chats within it, and kind of organize and manage all of that. It really allows that outlet, because when we get together as a team, I love seeing how people go, Oh, you took that great photo of DAX or man. You took man, when you were on Baxter, they have these stories and connections with the team that they don't have a way of expressing otherwise or reaching out in that way. And so it just allows this, this cohesion. Because the other thing, when you have that team approach, like, it's real simple things like, okay, it's noon, I should probably think about leaving a porch light on for the people coming over at night, so it's light on for them. And it's easier to for them to be in that mindset when they know the person, they have a connection with the person. It's easier for because if you don't, if it's just this nameless thing, it can kind of slip, and you're like, Well, why help why you don't think of helping people if you don't know people, and that's really what can help build a lot of that too,
Abby S. 06:47
right? And while you know it is independent work, you know where you're at a job and you don't have another person with you, it's also teamwork, because we're cooperating together with multiple clients, and so it's so important to be on the same page and to know the individual that you're working with. Another thing we're getting ready to do Collin with our kudos channel is integrate something called assembly. I don't know if you've heard of this.
Collin 07:17
I have not, but you look very excited about it, so I'm
Abby S. 07:20
super excited. So it is an employee recognition system, and you pay a monthly fee to the company, and then you can create awards, incentives, all sorts of things. You can recognize people on their birthday or their work aversary. It's a very fun system, and you can use it to kind of gamify things too, like if we have some challenges, you know, within the team. And so I'm super excited about that, to be able to do some things, some little extras for people and peers. Can send recognition to one another. We already have a pretty good group of people who are good about that in the kudos channel, but this allows them to take it a little bit further, which is nice, so I'm excited to get that going,
Collin 08:12
Yeah, well, again, finding those ways to recognize that work that goes unseen, right? A lot of what we do again, because we operate independent and solo, not independent contractor, but like by ourselves, it is hard to make sure that our employees feel that sense of recognition, because it's like, man, they worked their butt off, but nobody was walking by the cubicle and say, saw the great thing. Great job. We're at the water cooler, or whatever. They get together. So, you know, that's when. So when you're integrating that assembly, you're you're working on that one thing that you mentioned was you have a people who are already really good about sending kudos. How do you nurture those kind of culture builders in your in your in your company?
Abby S. 09:01
Yeah, well, you know, I do kind of a monthly check in with everybody on our team, and it may just be five to 10 minutes, unless it's a time where we really need to sit down and have a conversation. But I try to go over, you know, different areas in Slack, in the different channels we have, and, you know, kind of touch base on how things are going, what we ask of our people in Slack, not in the kudos channel, but in the we have a team briefing channel, we have a training channel, a couple like mandatory ones to drop an emoji, you know, just acknowledging any team communication we've sent, and so I really just chat with people, and you know, say, hey, you know, it just means so much that you participate in this and that you throw these shout outs at people. And you know how appreciative
Collin 09:54
we are. Just simple recognition, right? How do you build this up? You recognize it, you encourage it. And. It takes, it takes you being aware and watching and being present and right. Because we, you know, we have a few people on our team that they're, they're the ones reacting to things before even, like, Megan and I can get there, and I'm like, yeah, like, that's so I'm so thankful for for you. Like, it's, it's nice, and because you want to be seen and recognized, it's the thing that people want and to be seen by, by peers and coworkers and people giving encouragement and, you know, kudos, that kind of it is. It really helps, again, build that, that that cohesion well. And
Abby S. 10:32
one more thing I'll add that just popped into my head. We have a very strong social media presence on Facebook and Instagram, and maybe about a year ago, I started looking through reports, and we had sitters that were taking selfies with pets, and I thought, these are so wonderful. And so I posted, and we got on a single post, so much engagement from clients and new people who are interested. We turned it into a regular thing. It's sitter selfie Sunday, and our sitters just love that, and they love to share the pictures of pets with each other, and then when they see that we've shared them on our social media, they love to share them, you know, with their friends and family. And that's been really good engagement, too.
Collin 11:18
Oh, I love, I love when our employees, like, moms share, we share our photos. They comment on it too. You're like, oh so nice. I guess. Really, yes, like, it's, it really brings that sense of togetherness. And again, it's one aspect of going, Okay, does this immediately translate into tons and tons of bookings? Well, no, but it's, you know, it may down the line. But what this really is, this is way, this is what you're doing. This is that culture building, that our values what it means to be part of our team, and that is, is way more important than most of us really recognize or really even try to invest in, right? And I think that comes from a lot, unfortunately, a lot of, like, past history of, well, the last job that I worked at, because, let's be real, like, my past jobs culture, what are you talking about? I showed up in a job like, yeah, and I, and I complained a lot like, Oh, hey. I wonder if there's a correlation here, yeah. So, you know, we bring that into a lot of what we do, and wonder why sometimes things don't work out. Yes, what other challenges did you have in making that switch? Abby, because that's that's not a small thing to work
Abby S. 12:39
so it seemed very daunting to make this big transition with as large as we had grown. And I enrolled in Michelle Klein's mastermind over the summer, and was really connected to this amazing group of business owners across the country, you know, specific to our industry. And was listening to several of them who had made this transition themselves, and started entertaining the idea and the reasons how this could just, you know, kind of propel us to the next level, and all the benefits for our team members and I decided to make a trip to Winston, North Carolina, Winston Salem to meet in person with Michelle and kind of go over, what would this look like, what are the steps we need to take? You know, what do the numbers look like? And walked away from that, realizing this is this is the move I need to make. And I walked into it thinking, can I afford to make this transition? I walked away realizing I can't afford not to. And I was so excited, but I was also very anxious, because I wanted to do everything correctly, because I wanted to keep our awesome team together, you know, I wanted to be able to convey to them why this was a good switch. And yes, the relationship is changing a little bit, but, you know, and so what I did was I was very intentional about my communication with the team, and I sent out in January a very upbeat, positive note about, you know, the trajectory of the company. You know, how this is change. And change can be difficult, but I was here to hold their hand through every step and walk them through and make this as easy as possible. And then I sat down with 20, well, 26 different people that week, I outlined the differences between the two arrangements. The you know, the benefits, workers comp, you know, equipment, provided you know that the company would now pay for their insurance and bonding, taxes, all the great things. And I. Happy to report that almost everybody made the transition and signed their offer letter. From there, we had an awesome team orientation. We gathered everybody in my office, we looked over our handbook and manual. You know, we had treats. We just really pumped it up.
Collin 15:17
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Collin 15:38
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Abby S. 16:23
multiple reasons. One consideration was the workers comp, and the consideration, if something were to go terribly wrong, you know, somebody falls and they They shatter their ankle, or there's a dog bite. You know, we already had great contract about, you know, that outlined what the client responsibility was, etc. But if there's something catastrophic, how, you know, does that hold up? You know, we're talking tons of money there, and how important that protection is. So that was one thing, you know, after I explored that more and talked with other business owners, that was keeping me up at night, I wanted to make sure our team was protected, and I was doing everything I could to ensure that happens. The other thing, you know, quite honestly, I'm not much of a numbers person. And, you know, I came into this business as a solo provider, I realized, you know, a little ways under that, there's a huge need. I could grow a team. You know, this is great, but I didn't necessarily have the financial knowledge of, you know, okay, as you grow a team, these are the extra expenses you take on, you know, these are the different things. And in looking at numbers closely with Michelle, I realized that what I was making per hour, if you calculate it by the number of hours I was working, wasn't a whole lot. And I kept wondering, why am I not, you know, getting ahead here and having this mindset of we just need to generate more business and realizing there was much more strategy to it, so making sure that, you know, I was looking at my financial future, yeah, and then also, you know, the client experience. And like I said, we have always had fantastic people on our team that are eager to please and go the extra mile and leave amazing reports, but just wanting to really, really, really fine tune that and make sure we're doing our absolute best,
Collin 18:29
because you can only growth only covers up so much right and when you're looking right. And I think that aspect of I can outgrow out scale a lot of my concerns, or my fears, my anxieties, problems, yeah, that only takes you so far and to know like what you're saying of going, Okay, well, let me actually backtrack this and find out where the root is so I can start building on something and make it look different, right? And, and it's kind of one of those of, would I? Would I rebuild this, knowing what I know now, would I rebuild this the exact same way as I did, and going well actually, whenever I layer in the well, no, I want my team to be protected, and I want more peace of mind for my clients, and I want these things. Where do I go for that? Right? And that, that sounds like, that's really what you know motivated you to make those
Abby S. 19:20
decisions. Yes, and you know, it's been a learning experience, realizing that things are not set in stone. You know that we can make changes and that they can be successful, that we can we can grow and make all these changes. And you know, sometimes we get stuck in well, this is how I know how to do things, and I know, for me, there was some fear there. This is what I know. And now we're going into some new territory, and that's scary, but being willing to do that,
Collin 19:50
well, so in with that transition from independent contractors to employees and everything else that, how did you have to change, like how you led the. Team and manage them absolutely,
Abby S. 20:03
absolutely, because it's a different role in a different relationship. You know, whereas before, we certainly had a standard for the level of care for our clients and, you know, making sure that we had quality individuals. Now I was really able to, you know, have an outline for how the job should be done and to level set. You know, when we're working together, we want to make sure we're doing XYZ and at a meet and greet with a client. You know, these are the things that we need to cover after the meet and greet. I'd like you to fill in this form so that, you know we have all the info we need if we need to follow up on anything. And those were things that felt they helped create a sense of security and knowing for the team, knowing what was truly expected of them, and helping to make sure that, you know, there weren't things that fell through the cracks.
Collin 21:01
That's both of that the team gets security, because, to be clear, is to be kind, right? You're able to be very you were able to be kind to them. And going, when I say that we provide excellent care, here is the definition of excellence and how you know you're successful. And then on your end, going, I know that. I can tell them. But what comes with that is, all of a sudden, when you set standards, somebody has to hold that person accountable, right? And all of a sudden that falls to us. Right now, I have to have the hard conversations. I have to help motivate, encourage, nurture, grow, you know, oversee this progress and these changes, and I have to be the one who ultimately will have to make some hard decisions. Sometimes do this Yes, and
Abby S. 21:50
I feel like I was at a point where I was really ready to step into that role and confident in what I knew helped us to be successful as a team and what the client experience should be, and all of those things. And so I felt very ready to step into that role. And, you know, it's been a transition, especially with people who've been on the team for a while as a contractor. You know, there's, there's a role shift there, and there are different expectations. But I was also very good about outlining, you know, this is, these are the things that we're doing. Here's how to successfully navigate a shift. This is what I'm needing. And, yeah,
Collin 22:31
I'm sure there may, may have been some awkward points of, you know, yes, did you ever feel like you were retraining people and that kind of felt like it was a little waste, because, oh, well, I already know. You already know this. I know I just kind of have to go through the motions here, right? I will
Abby S. 22:45
say so when we had our orientation, you know, prior to that, I had ever, I had given everybody a paid hour to read the employee handbook and the hand and the manual, and then, you know, we gathered and looked over them, and, you know, I read through everything, and we discussed if there were any questions,
Collin 23:02
etc. I I now know
Abby S. 23:06
that I would have chosen to actually build in some additional training hours with that. I it's kind of a fine line, because, as you're saying, you know, the people know how to how to do the job, and they've been here for a while. And so, you know, you're not wanting to, I don't know, it's just it's a little bit of a balance. And I realized, though, you know, it is a big change. And so we did have to kind of go back and say, Okay, this is what this actually means. This is why this is important. So we did some additional training. I wish I had just built that in initially.
Collin 23:44
Yeah, yeah. Well, because you don't you're right, you don't want to come across as being, you know, demeaning, or, you know, you know kind of kind of thing, however you're going, but also Right, right. This is just checking in and redefining this and making sure, but to have confidence in that right to go, Hey, I know where you've been doing this a long time. I just want to make sure that everybody's on the same page, and here's how we're going to move forward and and to really not, not discount that, that aspect of kind of using that as a nice reset point for the team
24:17
Exactly.
Collin 24:19
Now I know that you've Did anything surprise you when you went through this process, or maybe surprised about yourself as you made this transition.
Abby S. 24:29
Yeah, that's a good question. Um, you know, I wasn't sure how things would settle, right with our team. You know, in making this transition of who was going to choose to go on this journey with us and who might decide, you know, I just don't know if I'm on board, and I was very pleasantly surprised that almost everybody moved over as an employee we had, I. I think two people who were very part time who it just wasn't going to make sense for them. But otherwise, everybody you know decided that they wanted to go on this journey. And you know, there was uncertainty, and I just was very, you know, encouraging and letting them know that, you know, I'm here to walk through this with you as you have questions, and there are going to be things that I will need to adjust to as we, you know, navigate this new this new normal together. And so I think we just had grace with each other, yeah, and I've just learned that I'm very adaptable. You know, as things happen, we address them, and we look at, you know, how can we make this a smoother process for next time?
Collin 25:47
I like that, being open and honest about kind of where you're coming from, and basically being like, Hey, I've never managed employees before, and you've never been my employee before. So guess what? Right, everybody's learning, and I think that that's just really healthy. I think that really helps set those expectations, and does allow that space for grace in that relationship. Whenever you just come to somebody, and it takes being vulnerable, right? And it's, I think too often we think, oh, I need to be a strong leader, which means I need to feel, or I need to project like I have everything under control. Everything's perfect and fine, but when we're going through something like this, where you genuinely needed their response and their interaction, their feedback, their encouragement, like you were working together with both of them, right? Both, both of you were working together through this process like you have to, to put that out there
Abby S. 26:48
well, and Collin. The other thing is, you know, this wasn't something I entered lately. I spent months making sure that we had absolutely awesome policies in place, that I had worked through the financials that I had, you know, payroll set up with my bookkeeping team. I worked with an HR attorney, you know, I did all the things to make sure that walking into this, I could say confidently, you know, I know what I'm doing. Yes, there are going to be moments where we're going to realize we need to make some changes. We need to tweak this a little bit, or, you know how we're doing things in Slack, etc, but I think our team also felt like they knew that I was really taking this seriously and doing everything I could to make sure this was a successful
Collin 27:36
transition. Yeah, when you have the team backing you right? That really, knowing that it's not just you pulling and dragging people screaming like you're able to walk forward together and like that, must have felt really nice. It did.
Abby S. 27:56
It did, yeah, and you know, people had all sorts of questions, and, you know, there's a learning curve. And, you know, the way that we structured things, we switched to hourly pay versus per piece, you know, people had to kind of wrap their mind around that and what that would look like. So there was a lot to talk through.
Collin 28:17
Yeah, and I know, you know, a lot of everything I know that you do and you work on is really focused on, you talked about that peace of mind, both for you, for the team and also for the client. How have you worked to build that, that culture of of trust, of comfort, of peace of mind for your for your clients, through this, right?
Abby S. 28:37
Well, what I do is you know, as through the hiring process, okay, as I'm meeting with people and, you know, going over all the different things. One, I talk to our new hires about how I vet our clients for them, so that they are not walking into a situation where they need to be concerned about their safety in the client's home with the clients pets, you know, and all the things we do to onboard new clients. And then I say the same to our clients. I thoroughly vet our team, you know, I run a background check. I speak with multiple references. We train everybody's insured, you know, all the different things. Because I do want to create a sense of, not a sense of, I want people to know there is huge security in working with a professional team. And we use time to pet and, you know, I I am able to see that everybody is where they need to be we're constantly monitoring the portal from 7am to 10pm nobody's going to miss a visit. You know, no pet is going to go without care. All the different things I tell our clients on the phone when I do my initial intake call. You know, I want you to have peace of mind. I want you to go on. Or trip and be present and enjoy it, and know that we will follow up with you each time we're there with a report. You do not have to contact us and pepper us with questions or wonder. You know, what time we were there, or, you know, is your cat using the litter box like they should? All those different pieces.
Collin 30:19
I like that both, excuse me, I like the both vetting the the clients for the team and the team for the clients. I think that that is what. That was a an aspect that I it took Megan and I a while to really appreciate the vetting our clients for our team. Yes, that safety aspect of of Do they really trust or are they really going to be safe in ensuring them? And it was one reason why we wanted to train all of our employees on what the mean greet process was like. So I knew like, this is what everybody goes through, and the better questions you ask, right? The better questions we ask as a company, the better we can perform and make an informed decision on how to move forward. And this is why this process is important, and whether the that employee ends up doing a ton of Meet Greets or not, at least they've been exposed to that so that they have confidence. And it builds confidence in the rest of the team to know that they're all of these little pieces. There's all these little processes working kind of in the background to ensure that everybody's set up for success, right, right? Yeah. Now, I know, you know, as far as your your company culture, have you ever had to fire a client for not being a good fit for
Abby S. 31:38
I have, you know, the larger that you grow, the greater the number of people that you work with and interact with. And one, one lesson I've learned over the years is that we can't be everything for everybody. When I first walked into this, you know, you're, you're wanting every different client. And yes, I can do this. Yes I can do that. And this has been the year of me saying yes, you know, we, we did away with our overnight care, where sitter would sleep in the home. You know, I realized that service was no longer serving our team. It wasn't serving me. And so kind of niching and with that, you know, there are certain clients you might not be able to serve, or there are clients, you know, we've had a few that have not treated our team with respect, and that's something that I won't tolerate. Overall, we have had such a wonderful client base, and I think we weed out through our onboarding process, a lot of people who would not be ideal to work with, because, you know, they've they've got to go through the steps, they've got to do an intake call with us. They fill in their information. I mean, you have to want our service, right? But, yeah, you know, occasionally you get, you get a situation where you think, this is not, this is not what we thought it would be, right, you know, the overnight pet and house sitting that was a large piece of our business, and it was a service I had a very love hate relationship with. It was something I did myself for years and years, and I thought there were a lot of wonderful pieces for the pets and the clients. But there's also the time away from your own home and your own family and pets. There's the aspect of, you know, if a sitter is signed up to do this and has some sort of emergency themselves, finding coverage which would oftentimes default to me, and I was really frightened to do away with it, because we had so many people that use that service, and realized that with the way that we can customize our services between 7am and 10pm really, most clients do well with that. And we already had plenty of clients booking that way, you know, where we we didn't stay overnight. So I reached out individually to each client that had utilized overnight services, explaining the transition. You know, what that looked like, the reasoning behind it, you know, coming up with what I thought would be a good plan for them going forward and the you know, while we had some questions overall, it was received pretty well, and many of our clients did continue on with our new model. We had a few that I referred out just because I knew for various reasons, their pet really needed someone there overnight. You know, maybe they needed to go out during the night frequently, to go potty, that sort of thing.
Collin 34:49
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Abby S. 35:25
Oh, yes, I thought you meant canceling a service we honored everything we had. Oh,
Collin 35:30
yeah, no, no, yeah, no, but yeah. How was that phone call to say, hey, you've been booking overnight. We're no longer offering those what was what was going through your mind when you made that first call?
Abby S. 35:42
It felt scary and on a personal level, not wanting to disappoint people. And you know, having these relationships that we love, and then suddenly, you know, doing away with something that had a lot of value to them, but also knowing that we had this great relationship, and we're still able to help, right? We're just taking out this one component of what it looks like. And so the more I reached out to people, the better and more confident I felt about it. And I'm happy to say that, you know, we had our last overnight in November, 2024 and it didn't hurt our our finances at all, you know, we continued to grow. Like I said, a lot of people booked, you know, this new way, and it worked really well, yeah, and what, a load off of of my mind to not be worrying, you know, what if something happens? What if I need to step in? And all sorts of situations would pop up? You know, there would be instances where, you know, a sitter was at somebody's house for 10 days, and we realized the pets would not let them sleep through the night, and they were miserable and couldn't sleep, and then, you know, trying to complete their walks the next day, or just various things that would pop up, and never quite knowing what that would look like until you were doing
Collin 37:09
it. Yeah, well, you mentioned that that you don't want to disappoint people. That's a big part, right, of our we're such a heart based business, we want to serve people. Want to serve pets well, and that kind of defaults to in whatever way they want, whatever you want. I'll do, although I want to make sure that you're happy. I want your pets are cared for, and that this goes off really well, but to ultimately, know, hey, we're I've got to move in a different direction. I've got to do this for for all those reasons that you listed, Abby, of like, right? Sometimes these are just horrible to go through. It's not a vacation. And, no, I do not care if you have a hot tub and cable. It's not like, no, wow. Like, it just stops being worth it. And to know that, I think, also to to know that, oh, it's not just impacting me, it's impacting my team, right? And it's how they're feeling, and I really got to protect them and make sure that this is working right everybody. And so how do I make that happen? And that's one of those, those tough decisions and phone calls that we have to make sometimes,
Abby S. 38:15
right? And I will say another piece with the overnights is it was limited to the people on our team that wanted to offer that service, right? And so in doing away with that, what we've done is open up with our travel clients the ability for every member on our team to help with that job. And that's been huge, too.
Collin 38:37
Now there's this decision you've made to craft your business around the direction you want to go to. Have you ever, you know, let's say you get feedback from a client. Have you changed policies about your business based off of feedback in that way, moving in the other direction?
Abby S. 38:54
Yeah, I love client feedback and regularly encourage our clients. You know, after they've had a travel booking, I send out communication, you know, how did we do, you know, let it, let us know what, what went well, um. And overall, you know, we've, we've gotten really positive feedback, but we've had clients suggest different things, you know, like, gosh, it would have been helpful if we had added on a little time to some of the visits during the trip. And I'll say, you know, going forward, if that's ever something you'd like to do, we can always pivot, you know, in the middle and change our plan or, you know. So yeah, I'm always very open to feedback and looking at what we can do to make a more positive experience.
Collin 39:42
And it's not to say that when the client sends in that feedback form that you go, Great, I'll stop exactly what I'm doing and I'll just do whatever they say, right? Because that's a that's not a good way to run a bit, you know, we send out client feedback, and we certainly do get the you know, oh, the one change I would make is that everything would be 30% cheaper. Like, right, cool. That's not, like, I can't do that one. I hear ya, but also going, you know, what's what's reasonable. And I think just being open to all feedback, that doesn't mean that you implement all feedback. And that's a very fine distinction that sometimes we think, Oh, if I'm asking for feedback, it means that I'm promising that I'm going to do whatever they say. And right? You take it under advisement. You look at where you're headed, what your mission, vision, values and goals are. You look at what your team culture is. You look at how you want to serve people. And you go, does this fit? Yeah, and it work. And then you decide,
Abby S. 40:36
well, in that feedback, you know, it can be hard for any of us, like you were saying. You know, this business is full of heart. Everybody that operates a pet care business comes from a place of really caring for pets and really caring for people. And when we receive feedback, sometimes we can take things personally, or at least, I know I can, and feel like, if there's something that isn't as positive as you would like. It's a little bit of a, you know, a criticism that you internalize. So I think I've done a much better job, as we've grown of when feedback like that comes in, really examining it and saying, Okay, this, you know, we need to look at why this feedback was given to us, and what could we possibly do, you know, going forward in the future, and that that's valuable because it's helping us to ensure we have other clients who don't experience that feeling, you know. So it really all, all feedback, even if it feels, if it feels, you know, critical or that sort of thing is really, really valuable. Yeah, it's not just the accolades and, you know, the praise and that. It's all very valuable,
Collin 41:49
yeah, but sometimes it can point to more underlying problems, right? More underlying assumptions. Sometimes it does. It's all it's never a bad idea to revisit previous decisions, to revisit assumptions and things that we have and just look at them and reassess and go, is this still true? Is this still what we believe? Is this still how we want to operate? And and that that helps you strengthen convictions, it helps you refine a lot of language, sometimes, because that's what we've done, a lot of of we've gone, man, that makes perfect sense. And then you get feedback, you're like, Oh man, they were unhappy. Why? Oh, well, because here it says one thing, and here it says another thing. So let's right rank in this
Abby S. 42:31
right? Yeah. And, you know, a lot of times it's feedback where we realize we need to clarify something with the client that they didn't quite understand about the way that we operate, and so it's, you know, our chance to have that conversation and make sure there's clarity going forward.
Collin 42:49
Yeah, because you want that and to not be offended by the feedback, that's another important aspect too. Of I mean, sometimes the feedback is personal, like, okay, let's be very real here. Sometimes they mentioned me by name, and that's fine, like, we're just gonna Okay, but, but it's really going from a company perspective, right? Because I don't think, like, I don't think Walmart executives take feedback personally. I don't think that, you know, these multi, these big companies take things personally. They may, they may make them sad that somebody didn't have a good experience. But going right from a bit I want to put my business perspective on and as a business, how do I handle this feedback? And that's that kind of mindset is at least helped me get some separation between the feedback coming in. And instead of just feeling like I'm being stabbed in the heart over and over again, right, that kind of
Abby S. 43:37
feedback well, and it helps to Collin to be able to network with others in our business, right, and talk with them about how they handle feedback, or how they solicit that feedback with their clients. I think in our industry, we can feel somewhat isolated, because you know, where you may go out in your community, and you've got so so many different lawyers, or, you know, the different professions, right? This is more of a niche thing, and it's easy to feel
Collin 44:11
kind of isolated. Yeah, it is. It is because there's not one visibly on every street corner, or not one that you see all the time, you can just pop in, right and say, Hi. Yeah, we do. We don't have that. And so that's a different perspective. That's a different level here too. We talked about the importance of building that community and culture for our team, right, and making sure they feel connected. But then we, as the business owner, we have to find the circle that we're going to run in, who we're connected to for our benefit and ourselves too. And it's, it's different needs, but it is still necessary,
Abby S. 44:45
right? And it's also, you know, from the client perspective, we're the leaders here in this industry without having, you know, lots of other options for them. What should this look like? What is standard? You know, just perfect. Providing that for them as well. Yeah.
Collin 45:03
Well, you've changed your business a lot over the past year, and I know since we've spoken a lot, a lot where, where are you headed for the next five years? What are you most excited
Abby S. 45:12
about? Oh, gosh, I'm just I'm so excited about our future, which is just an awesome place to be in. One thing I'm working on right now is building out additional roles within our team, areas for advancement, for you know, team members who aspire to that, to help with management tasks, to take on trainer roles with new hires. And so I'm excited to be able to offer people a way to grow within the company. I'm excited to have that help myself. We are continuing to network with lots of different groups. One thing I'm looking at is joining the Chamber of Commerce near us and have a meeting with somebody about that next week on the membership committee. We do a lot of philanthropic work, and I'm really excited to be able to do more things with that. We, for the past several years, have sponsored the bailing out Benji annual gala, and we've helped to put on another annual event for them called following, that's at a local day spa. And so just looking forward to more opportunities. You know, ways we can help, ways we can grow. Are there new service offerings? So looking at a wide variety
Collin 46:36
of things. Oh, and I love, you know, when you, you know, hearing you talk about that, how it's, it's, it's person, it's personal, and it's, it's community focused, right? And I think you know that kind of mind shift from what is my business revenue going to be, to how can I contribute to my community, like, what's a larger role that I can play for the betterment of people and pets and, like, really, really thinking about that. Like, and I love that because it I'm constantly reminded of, oh no, I have a business. I can do things right. Like, I guess I can sponsor, yes, I can sponsor, right? And it's because it's like, when you have that perspective of my business is doing stuff all of a sudden. It just takes that to now I'm operating kind of at that 30,000 foot mindset of, what are we doing versus what am I doing?
Abby S. 47:33
Yeah? Oh, absolutely. You know, on the other piece I am enjoying is being able to provide a wonderful place for many people to be an employee. You know, as we grow our team, I'm so proud of what I've built, and, you know, the team culture that we have, and all those things, and I love that we can contribute to our community by being a really wonderful workplace.
Collin 47:58
That's awesome. Abby, I'm I'm so excited to have gotten to get connected with you again. Get caught up on all the awesome stuff that you're working on, and to hear you're encouraging to us to seek after find these things as well in our own business. For those who want to follow along, get in touch. Pick your brain on stuff. How best can they do that?
Abby S. 48:16
Yeah, so our website is www dot, Auntie Abby's pet sitting.com we have information about our team and our process and all our different services. There's a contact page, and anybody can also reach out via email, info at Auntie Abby's pet sitting calm, or by phone, 515-305-2221,
Collin 48:45
awesome. Well, I will have those links in the show notes and on the website. Abby, it's just been an immense pleasure, and I'm so thankful for your time today. Thank you for coming on the show. Oh,
Abby S. 48:56
my absolute pleasure. Collin, I always enjoy chatting with you, and your podcast has so much value for so many business owners. I tune in regularly. I love to hear what other people are doing, the challenges they're facing. You know how they overcome them? So just what a true pleasure, what an awesome thing you and Megan do.
Collin 49:15
Many times in business, we reach a crossroads and have to make a decision and a transition in our business, usually the first thought is, can I afford to do this many times? Though, it's not about whether we can afford it. It's about whether we can't afford not to. I know a lot of double negatives there. These take bold moves and decisive action to move forward in these decisions, whether it's to move from one service area to another offer a service that you haven't before raise your prices, or, like Abby here, moving from independent contractors to employees making leaps, come with risks all of the time, but they also come with clarity. Sometimes our leadership means trusting our. Own gut, either listening to our community or building the structure that our business really needs. If you're at a crossroads, maybe it's time to ask, can I really afford not to make this move? We want to thank today's sponsors, timed pet and our friends at Pet bernails for making the 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.
