643: Balancing the Hustle with Miguel Rodriguez
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What does it really mean to educate your community while running a thriving pet care business? Miguel Rodriguez of City Dog Pack returns to share how he balances content creation, training, boarding, and walking services—while staying grounded in his values. He opens up about recognizing the value of his time, setting clear policies, and learning to say “no” without guilt. Miguel also explains his shift toward video and course-based learning, and how gratitude reshaped his approach after COVID-19. This conversation is a powerful reminder that being an educator starts with empathy, boundaries, and knowing your worth.
Main topics:
Educating clients through social media
Balancing business with personal life
Setting and enforcing client policies
Creating content with real-world value
Recognizing and managing burnout
Main Takeaway: “I’m so lucky to even be burnt out.”
That mindset shift changed everything for Miguel Rodriguez of City Dog Pack. Burnout used to feel like failure—until he reframed it as a sign of demand, trust, and impact. Now, when exhaustion creeps in, he remembers the days he waited by the phone, hoping for one client call. If you’re tired from helping others, it might just mean you’re doing something right. Just don’t forget to take care of yourself too—gratitude and boundaries can go a long way.
About our guest:
Miguel Rodriguez is the founder of City Dog Pack, a dog training, walking, and boarding business based in New York City. With over 15 years of experience, Miguel blends practical dog behavior knowledge with a deep commitment to client education and community support. He publishes the “Everything Dog” newsletter on Substack and is expanding into YouTube and TikTok to share even more free and accessible content. A former Marine and lifelong educator, Miguel is passionate about helping people build better lives with their pets. His work emphasizes empathy, gratitude, and practical advice for real-world dog challenges.
Links:
Email: citydogpack@gmail.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, dog training, content creation, social media, educational content, client communication, work-life balance, business growth, customer service, policy setting, gratitude, burnout, personal development, community engagement, business strategies.
SPEAKERS
Collin Funkhouser, Miguel
Collin 00:00
Collin, 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 tying to pet and the peaceful pet music, call music for pets. YouTube channel, being an educator is a major component of what we are as a business owner, and it's something that we can contribute to our community as well as our clients, how we balance that with our other obligations as a business owner, and how do we walk through that? And so today, I'm really excited to welcome Miguel Rodriguez, owner of city dog pack, back on the show. Miguel, I looked and it's hard to believe that was back in 2022 whenever we had you on the show last but this makes so I'll have links to the previous episodes. People can go back and listen to all three of those. So this makes the four peat for you. And so super excited to have you back on Miguel and touch base with this. For those who are listening and haven't listened to those episodes or aren't familiar with all that you're doing, Miguel, please tell us a little bit more about yourself and what you do.
Miguel 01:02
Yes, my name is Miguel. I own a business called City dog pack. I do dog boarding. I do dog walking and dog training. I've been doing this for about 15 years now, and this past April, made 15 years. I also make online content on Instagram. I write a blog on substack called everything dog, and be getting into YouTube and Tiktok sometime soon as well. I've been a boomer lately, and when Instagram changed their algorithm and changed, like, what they want from content creators, I was kind of like, I don't want to do all that, you know, short, short, short form video and and editing, but I realized that I probably should,
Collin 01:45
well, you know, that is something that comes up a lot. I mean, you've been in business, been doing this for 15 years. We do, how do you, how did you work through that process of kind of breaking out of that rut? Because I'm the same thing. I'll go and, like, try and edit something on our website, and they'll move the button, and then I'm, like, raging against the clouds all of a sudden, because they change something. So, like, you know, how did, how did you work through that process of breaking out of that? Well, I don't want to try that new thing.
Miguel 02:11
Um, well, I realized, like, early in my career, I found, like, a lot of early success on Instagram, and it helped me grow my business big time, and once I kind of stopped getting involved online and creating content like videos and such, I realized that I'm missing out on a lot of opportunities, and I see other people growing, and I have a lot of people that I know that Create content online in different topics, and they're constantly telling me, You got to get on Tiktok, you got to get on YouTube. And I find that Instagram is a really difficult platform to grow on. Now, people tend to use it as a way to promote their content other on other platforms. So what a lot of people do is they create content on on YouTube, and they'll just take clips from that YouTube video, and they post it on to Instagram to help promote their YouTube page. And I'm realizing what I'm doing now is by just solely posting on Instagram, I'm just not using on on, you know, online platforms properly. So, you know, I've made that realization recently, so I'm going to switch things up now. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 03:19
well, there's a lot more interconnectedness than there's ever been. You're right. There's a lot of that shared content, and there's sometimes where I'll see a video and I'll go but I've seen this before. Was it on the same platform, or was it over on Instagram, or was it over somewhere else? And and that kind of sharing it helps it reach different target demographics, and people see it start seeing it multiple times while they're spending time online,
Miguel 03:41
it's true, and different platforms will give you opportunities to reach different demographics of customers, potential customers and potential viewers. Like I think, the younger crowd we all know uses Tiktok, the older crowd probably uses face, Facebook. More people around that that millennial age is probably uses Instagram more. So if you could utilize all the platforms, I think that's when you'll be reaching your full potential online. So smart to do that, and
Collin 04:13
you described yourself as a little bit of a content creator, but a lot of the stuff that you share is very educational. So how do you how do you walk that line between just generating content versus helping teach and educate
Miguel 04:26
people? Yeah, so what I do is the information that I offer online to educate dog owners how to take care of their dog or train a dog or do some behavior modification with their dog, is pretty broad. So if you just follow my content, there may be some questions that you may have that aren't answered just by looking at my content. So what I do is I get pretty broad information online, and if something wants someone wants something more specific, that's when they can contact me and have a training session with me online, or if they're in New York City on. In person. So what I do is I offer broad information online, as you know, and I try to make it as good as possible. I share a lot, you know, whatever I can share for free, I'll share for free. But the difference is, when someone wants information that's specific to them, their situation and their dog, that's when they have to pay or and what I want to do now is I want to create courses that is very specific. So if I create a course on, say, how to house break your dog, I'm going to try to cover any scenario that a dog owner may, may may encounter while they're trying to raise their dog and trying to train their dog in housebreaking. And then what I want to do also is, if you do purchase a piece of like content that I created, or like an online course, maybe, like twice a month, I'll offer, like a free webinar, so I'll have like, a big group of people who can join in and ask me particular questions that perhaps the course can answer for them, so that way, I can give them as much value as possible.
Collin 06:06
Well, it also saves a lot of time on your end too, right? If you're having to answer questions from 100 people about a very specific thing that needs a lot of context and background information and in depth knowledge, well, you would spend all day doing that and and people do, but trying to balance that out with, well, I've got other stuff in my life, and this is your are actually asking, and it, it comes from a good place, from a lot of people. Of Hey, quick question, what if my dog doesn't like to go into the grass anymore? And you're like, Well, gosh, this could be an eight hour project, just trying to figure this out. So we've that, I like how you're saying, like, that's where you kind of know, that line of No, you're asking a lot more of me and my time at this point, that that is valuable, and that does, that does need to be compensated in some
Miguel 06:52
way. Yeah, absolutely. Like, so that's because some people do tell me, you know, you probably offer a little bit too much information for free. But I disagree, because the thing is, people are people don't have much time. People are so busy today, so I may have someone who DMS me on Instagram, asks me a question, and what I'll do is I'll probably send them a link to an article that I wrote on that particular topic. And it doesn't take me any time. It takes me, like two minutes just send the link, but they link. But then if they want more of my time after that, then I have to charge because time is the one. And I'm getting older. Now. I'm 42 now, as I get older, I realize how valuable time is, and you don't get time back. So for me to just offer my time for free all the time, it's just, it's just not worth it.
Collin 07:39
Where did this all start for you, Miguel, as far as being an educator answering people's questions, was this something that you like sought out of wanting to do, or did people start naturally coming to you based off of the other content that you were creating?
Miguel 07:53
Um, I think it comes natural to me. I grew up in a family of teachers. My mom was a teacher. I grew up with five sisters, some of them were teachers as well. Also was in the Marine Corps for six years as well. And in that time, I used to love to teach, like newer Marines, some of the knowledge that I that I knew, and I enjoy teaching. I like to teach people. I like to see whenever the light bulb lights up in their head and they realize that they've they've learned something that they didn't know before, like, for example, if someone's asking me a question about their asking me about their dog, and I'm sharing information with them, they're just kind of taking it in. And I'll offer that little nugget that I can see that, oh, I need to get down to try, never try that. And when that happens, it's very rewarding. And when I get a email or DM or some kind of message online from a dog owner who I was able to help without even working with them professionally, as a client I love that makes my day.
Collin 08:53
A lot of personal satisfaction just seeing people, you know, living their best life and and because you also know there's just a lot of bad information out there too. So it sounds like, oh, oh, great. I have an opportunity to correct this misunderstanding. I have to, kind of, I can't, not let this pass by, right?
Miguel 09:08
Yeah, exactly. And there's a lot of gradient information online too, regarding like caring for your dog or training your dog. There's some bad information too. So what I like to do is bridge that gap and help customers realize what's true and what's not true, and also what applies to them in their particular situation. Because, again, you know, as a dog owner, you know, I empathize with them. You know, they get this new dog, and sometimes they can have a really, like, tough puppy to raise, and they feel complete. They feel completely confused, like they I don't even know how to, like, take care of this dog. I don't even know how to train the dog. And if you know, if I can help them, it feels great. I like it a lot.
Collin 09:50
Well, you mentioned that that knowledge you've been at this for, for many years. From your perspective, are you seeing pet owners being being more informed? Or talk about that gap of knowledge that you mentioned of trying to help
Miguel 10:03
bridge? Yeah, I definitely think dog owners are more informed now than they were, say, about 10 years ago. In fact, a lot of times I get a new customer that hires me for, say, dog training. And before, before I start working with a dog, I'll have a consultation with them, and I'll ask them a bunch of questions, figure out, try to figure out what they know, like, what's their level understanding. And I'm pretty impressed. Sometimes I ask them, Have you worked with a dog trainer already? They say, No, I just looked online. I found this information. But sometimes, you know, they're still a little bit confused on something. And I'll just tell them, just add this, maybe subtract this, and just a few little adjustments can make a huge difference. In in their dog training
Collin 10:43
Well, or, like you said, it's that it's that individualized, or, you know, personalized program that you're able to put together and help them of going, okay, you've got the general gist of what's going on here, but for your particular dog, for where you specifically live and what your particular goals are. Here's how we apply that, and that that really is where that that value comes into their life. Of you can't get that kind of specificity online, like you have to be talking to an expert at that point,
Miguel 11:10
exactly because, for example, what happens very often is, I'll have a dog owner that has, say, an Australian Shepherd that's super high energy, super high drive. But then they have a lot of friends and family members that have, like, little golden doodles that are very like, calm and submissive. And what they do is they try to apply the same training and the same like maintenance. So they're like high energy dog that their friends apply to their little golden doodles. And they realizing they have a really difficult time. What I explain to them is that, you have a different dog from them, and you know different dogs require different types of care and maintenance and training as well. Yeah,
Collin 11:49
you've mentioned several times about trying to make sure you're giving value at every level. And I think that is another distinction of the difference between just a content creator versus an educator is there's help, right? There's value. There's information there. One of my, one of the blogs that I love, that you did, it was, what was, it was so your dog hates your boyfriend, you know, now what? I love, the specificity of this. And, you know, where do you, where do you go for these ideas of writing these things and putting that stuff
Miguel 12:18
out there my customers? You know, I've been doing this for 15 years, and I've worked with hundreds, if not 1000 different like customers and couples and and, and also, because I I'm always online, I get a lot of the answer people asking like these, these strange questions that are not very strange, because I know so many other people who have asked me the same question. So when there's a common question I'm getting, or there's a scenario that I see a lot of people struggling with, with their dog, I always figure, let me write, let me write something on this, or let me, like, make a video, because I know this will help a lot of people. And something, you know, like, like, a piece of content like that, like, my dog hates my boyfriend, what do I do? It seems silly and it seems funny, but then I get so many comments, it was, oh my god, I was going through the same thing. I didn't know what to do. And, you know, I tried what you told me to do, and it worked so well. So it helps
Collin 13:09
well, and I think it's a reminder of, just sometimes we can think of, well, obviously we'll do the same thing. We'll look to write a blog or put something together in an email I'm going to send to my clients. And it's like, well, Surely no one else has had this because it's only come up one time. But I think the beauty of saying no, I can make this as hyper specific as possible, because it's going to really, really help that person, or those couple people who come across this, and then it also gives you ways to mine, you know, different information, and apply it to different scenarios. And so you kind of keep that content, to keep that ideas and things coming, instead of kind of reaching that block of like, Well, I I wrote just one generic article about relationships, and now I'm done. It's like, no. It's like, okay, here's all these individual
Miguel 13:59
steps. Yeah, because when it comes to, like, you have a dog, it's like a lifestyle being a dog owner. I mean, there, there's certain things that dog owners go through that, that people who are non dog owners go through that, like, you know, handling significant others. Like, if you have a dog and you date someone who comes from, say, a culture where they don't like having dogs in the house. Like, how do you handle it? How do you deal with that? You know, if you don't, if you're not a dog owner, you don't have to worry about those type of things. So I try to create content that's not only about like taking care of your dog and maintaining and training your dog. It's about anything that a dog owner may encounter in life in general.
Collin Funkhouser 14:38
I love that the lifestyle of, okay, I've got a dog owner. What are the problems that they're going to encounter, not just right now, and not just around training, but around all sorts of scenarios and situations and and the more specific it gets, like, again, the more helpful it is, and the more easier it's defined by that person actually looking for because that's what they're typing in, right? They're typing in. Dog doesn't like my boyfriend. Help, right? That kind of stuff. And boom, that information is right there for them. If you if you're making that, yeah.
Miguel 15:06
And when people, the thing is that when those situations come up, it's not people asking me, Hey, my dog hates my boyfriend. What do I do? Miguel? I need help with that. What happens is, I'm usually helping a customer with something else, and then, as I'm getting to know them, when we're having conversations while I'm helping their dog, that'll come up, they'll say, oh, you know, so So Charlie, my dog, Charlie, he's walking a lot better on the leash, which is great. But now I'm being this guy, I like a lot, and they just, you know, my my boyfriend's afraid of my dog. So then I think, Oh, really, are you going through that? Also asking them questions? And then I'll notice other people going the same, going through the same thing, and that's when I say, let me just write a blog like for example, one of the most important, one of the most popular blogs that I wrote was about how being a dog owner can make you a better parent. And so many people love that blog that I wrote, and because I learned so much on how to be a dad from raising dogs and helping other people raise their dogs for so many years, I apply some of that to my daughter,
16:09
not the sit stay stuff, not but, but anyway.
Collin 16:14
But, you know, it's pulling from those, those those life circumstances and those lessons, I think that also gives it things that genuine feel of in a world awash with AI garbage, that kind of thing is so important and critical. That's true. I thought about that because people can it makes it so human. It's so relatable that it's not just this bland text or whatever that has no connection to anything outside of that like and that's what people are looking for. And in the world of of AI versus human generated content, when we find those kind of topics of how being a pet owner helps, you know, prepare, prepares you to be a parent, that is something that really connects with people, and they find a lot of value in that.
Miguel 17:01
Yeah, that's a good point, because AI right now is just it's being imposed in our lives so much. And people use chat, GTP, GPT, whatever it's called. People use that for everything now. And I think that, you know, maybe some somewhere down the road, AI can catch up to us when it comes to those small details. But right now, I think there's certain things and certain questions that we have about life, and even about, like, raising dogs that at GPT and AI just and compares to, like real life experience. Yeah, at least for now. I have no idea where that thing is going. It's kind of scary. Yeah, yeah.
Collin 17:40
Well, I think we just have to understand, what are we trying to provide? Are we trying to provide information or value? Are we trying to help with specific situations? Like, where do we fit in? And I know when we, when we sit down to, like, write blogs or put together emails, I always have to ask, like, is this just a general purpose information article that 1000 other people are probably going to want to write and like, how is this actually helping my clients with their problems? And really pulling from that? And then once you have that, like you already mentioned, Miguel, when that problem comes up again, you get a new client, and they say, Hey, I have help. I need help with my dog adjusting to my new boyfriend. You go, Ah, hey, I'll send you a link really quick, because I already wrote that, and then it helps that process of building trust with those clients just accelerates that time over
Miguel 18:27
time. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. And as far as business too, like, when it comes to hiring someone to take care of your dog, it's very personal. Like, you know, we see our dogs as members of our families. So when I write content like that, it shares with my customer, potential customers like me as a person who I am, and it does start to build trust before they even start working with me. There's some people who they read all my blogs, they see all the videos I post in the pictures that I post, and they consume all the information that I've offered for free. And by the time we have a consultation, it's like, if they already know me before I even, like, get to get to know them. Which is good, which is good for a customer that's seeking someone to take care of their dog has a lot of trust involved in that, and kind of like, helps me share with them, like who I am, this person. How
Collin 19:22
do you stay fresh in those situations? I mean, I'm sure you encounter the same problem with different clients over and over and over. You know, it would be easy for some people to become kind of jaded and come across as condescending or frustrated when the somebody asks that same question again. You know, how do you make sure that you don't how you're educated without being condescending or overwhelming them with all the information and knowledge that you have?
Miguel 19:48
I just try to put myself in their shoes and empathize with them, because, like I said before, sometimes you could have a well intentioned dog owner really loves their dog, but it's going through a really hard. Time, you know, managing and taking care of their dog, and the dog is getting to a lot of trouble. So even though I've been through that situation 1000s of times, I realized this customer is with this customer doesn't doesn't have my experience. So I got to put myself in their shoes, empathize with them, and share with them my knowledge, because they're coming to me for help. So even if it's a question that seems redundant, and I've always that I've answered 1000s of times, not for them, like you know, my experience isn't there. So I try to put myself in their shoes to help them, and then when I see that they become more confident with managing and training their dog. That's rewarding for me. So I just try to empathize with them. I listen to them, and then I offer advice. And when I offer my advice, I don't offer it as this is, you know, the gospel truth. And you just have to listen to everything I say, what I say to them, like from my experience, 15 years of experience, everything that I've, you know, the dog training schools that I've went to, the seminars I went to, I think with your particular situation, this is what will help you the most. And I don't put any pressure on them to listen to me. I say to them, This is my information. This is what I recommend you do. If you're uncomfortable with any of this, that's fine. You'll go find yourself a dog trainer that maybe matches what you want more. And if that doesn't work out, you can always come back to me so and sometimes they do that, sometimes they do, go to another trainer, and they come back to me. And when they come back to me, I'm not like See I told you. Told you, it's just like, all right, you know, you try that. Now let's, let's get to work. Let's figure this out together.
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Collin 22:06
Well, it's kind of like, you know that things are low hanging fruit for a reason. They're common problems that everybody encounters, and that's the entryway into us being able to help them. And so we shouldn't be offended when they ask, well, how you know, what's the leash reactivity? Or why doesn't my dog, you know, bolt outdoors? Or why are they afraid of how do I like, okay, yeah, a lot of people do that, but then it's our job, your job, to come alongside and, like, help lift them up to the higher and higher fruit as they encounter more and more problems, encourage them to be lifelong learners. Because if we kind of squelch that at the beginning, that's not going to be a dog owner who goes to the next level or who's going to ask more advanced questions. They're just going to think, well, I don't know. Well anyway, I guess this is just what the way it has to be, and I'll just go live with, you know, by myself on this. And we don't want that, right? We want people. We want well educated and continuing educated dog owners for the lifetime of their pet and then their next pet, and then their next bet, and being a gateway and helping them through that, like, that's what a wonderful job to have.
Miguel 23:05
Yeah, like, some some cost I have some customers who I started working with, like, year one, and they had an issue with the first dog that they had. And, you know, after 15 years, maybe that dog has passed on, and they apply the same knowledge I shared with them with their first dog, onto their second dog, and then they're and then they'll have a family member or friend that's struggling with something that I help them with, and they can share that knowledge. So it just it causes like this, this cascading effect that that helps them throughout their entire life with dogs and the people in their lives as well. And and I do find that many dog owners, when they ask questions for, like, some kind of pet professional, because it's a dog trainer dog border, they do tell me, like, you know, I talked to his other dog trainer. He just seemed frustrated when I was when I was asking him questions, like, like, if I felt, I felt like I was asking stupid questions. And I do, I have met dog trainers that do get kind of impatient with dog owners, but I I try to explain to them, like they don't know what you know, and that's your job to educate them. So like, How are you, how are you getting upset and frustrated with someone that's coming to you for help, and that's your job to help them.
Collin 24:15
Yeah, I've encountered that in in, you know, outside the industry as well, of the people who are kind of almost like gatekeepers or so of the knowledge, right? Of like they determine who gets to come in and who's worthy of that information. And if you don't already know it, that that's kind of your own fault. And it's like, No, it's my first day. What are you expecting? What do you expect of me? I don't know this information, and how isolating for that pet owner. And again, if you, if you cut them off there, you're cutting them off from access to a lot of other information and a lifelong journey of just, of learning more about their pet, strengthening that bond over its life, and really just kind of relegating them to a kind of shoulder shrug. And we should want more for all the people who.
Miguel 25:00
Reach out to us. Yeah, it's true, and that's how you build relationships, and you know when, and that's how you build a big customer base. Because then they'll tell other people, Hey, this guy, you can ask him whatever question you want. He has a lot of patience. He'll explain to you in detail, like what exactly you need, and that's how you build a business. But I think some, some people in the pet industry kind of get burnt out sometimes, and they start to become a little jaded, and they can kind of like, take it out on their customers. But yeah, I guess we've all been through that,
Collin 25:30
yeah. Well, that comes and goes right that have certain seasons of being over, overwhelmed ourselves, and it feeds right back into before I should be helping anybody else. I have to make sure that I'm personally okay first and foremost, right? Like, if I'm already on edge, jacked to 11 because I've been frustrated. I'm not sleeping well. I'm burning both ends of the candle. What? Insert whatever metaphors else you want here to explain this part. But, and then somebody comes and asks me a question that I've answered 1000 times. Yeah, I'm going to be spicy and react, but that's not we shouldn't want that for people, so before we put ourselves in that situation, make sure that we're taken
Miguel 26:08
care of first. Yeah? And when it comes to someone who is not seeking to be a customer, but they they just want some help, or they have a particular question, yeah? I think that if in any industry, not just like dog training or like dog hair, if you contact or DM someone, some kind of professional in any field on a particular piece of a particular topic, you should at least scroll through their content and see if, and see if they've already offered information that topic, so that you're not just, you know, imposing on their time. So if you know, if I if I know there's a particular say on, like leash reactivity, I've made so many pieces of content on that. And if I know that you've been following me, or you tell me you've been following me for a long time, you should at least kind of do some research on your own before you you ask me a question. But even then, if you just ask me a question, I'll just send you the link. And if you don't want to like, read a read a 10 Minute blog that I wrote about, and then you want to like, ask me another question, and that's when I'll say, okay, you can either pay me and we have a session, or you can read this blog, right?
Collin 27:19
Well, you know you've talked about blog, online video, you're getting into YouTube, and you're getting into Tiktok, how? How? What's your process like for knowing what information to share across what medium and in what format?
Miguel 27:36
Well, I'm doing something new now. So what I'll do is I'll just have because, you know, I have so many dog training clients, I try to first make content on certain topics that a lot of dog owners struggle with. So a lot of dog owners struggle with separation anxiety and their dogs. So I'll make sure to write, to make like a good video on that, and also a blog as well. So what I usually do is I like to write like I articulate my thoughts much better when I write than when I speak. So always starts with a blog. For me, like some kind of article that I would write, and then off of that article or that blog, I'll then create a video, and then from that video, that long form video that's about 10 to 15 minutes long, then I'll take snippets of that big video, and I'll make I'll just post like small Instagram reels on my Instagram. So always starts with with writing, and then I'll make videos, and then, and then, what I also like to do is I like to offer free webinars. So I'll do a free webinar on a particular topic. I'll have like 20 people in the room with me, and hopefully these people have already watched the video that I've made on that topic, or read a couple blogs, so they've already kind of educated. And then if I have 20 people in a room, one person may ask a good question on something that didn't cover in my content, and that may help like five other people in that room. Yeah, that's what I like to do. Starts. It starts with something I wrote, then I'll turn that into a video, I'll turn that into small clips, and then I'll use all that information to share with my customers in a webinar
Collin 29:15
that I'll offer. I love that flow, because it's the same questions, it's the same information, but you've got to, you have to have a starting point. And, and if somebody's listening to this and writing is not their thing, well, you may start do the video, and then pull a transcript from that and edit that into a blog to share, or or you do start with the writing, and then you can divvy up that content into various aspects. And, and all along, you're catching people in different places in their lives. You're putting in different avenues and areas across the internet, and you're also helping different kinds of learners too. That's what I love about that, too. Miguel, it's not just blogs, it's not just videos, it's both. And so you can have people who are more visual learners versus really, it helps so many different people in various aspects and attracts them. To you,
Miguel 30:01
yeah, you just, you touch up on different demographics. Some people don't like to read very much. People like video. Some people like, you know, one on one chats. But that's what the webinars for. So I try to hit all of them.
Collin 30:13
Was there at any any point Miguel, where you were, you recognized your value, that the value that you had in your knowledge, because I know that is something that a lot of people struggle with. Of of well, you know, what value does my information have? I mean, was there ever a point where you realize that, or is that kind of something that you you held proud the
Miguel 30:34
whole time? I still suffer from from imposter syndrome, you know, and I've talked to other people who found success in their respective fields, and they go through that as well. They feel like, do I really, like, know a lot about this? Like, you know, should I even be charging for this? But when I see my customers struggling hard with their dog, and offer them some advice, I'll take the dog into my home, and I worked with the dog for a while, and and I see them put it together, and they're so much less stressed. Once I started to see that happening quite often. Then I then I realized I got something going here, like, I can really help people. And of course, I've always stay humble, because this industry will humble you. You'll come across a dog that's like, I don't know if I can help this dog or a customer is very difficult to communicate with, and like, I don't know how to help this customer, but, you know, I do realize I have helped a lot of people throughout the years, and I do have information that can help people. So that gives me
Collin 31:35
some confidence. Yeah, it's, it's looking back at your history too, right? That's what that is. It's going, No, I have helped people. I have helped dogs. And here's this example. In this example, too often I know we I tend to focus on all the failures, right? The things that didn't work, oh yeah, the bad stuff and the success. It's like, oh, cool. Anyway, on to the next thing that I didn't win at. And instead, sometimes it's like, no, I've got to write this down, because I know in another month I'm not going to remember this. And so something as simple as that, of going, No, I helped this client. Here was their journey. Look at this review and looking back to that, and those sounds like in those times of doubt, and reminding yourself and then being present too, of No, what I'm doing, it actually is working here and now for the client and the pet in front of me, yeah,
Miguel 32:21
but I think it's a good thing also too. You know, you don't want to focus too much on the failures, but it is important to recognize those failures and to realize that you are that you're not infallible, that you do make mistakes, and it are things that you should still learn. Because if you have the mindset that you know you're just awesome, you know everything you're not going to learn anymore, that's when you're learning stops. You're learning stops, and that's when you put a cap on how much you can help people. But if you're a person that you do recognize your failures and things you need to work on, it's just because you're a self aware person. Unfortunately, today, you know not many people are self aware and they just think they're perfect. Yep.
Collin Funkhouser 33:01
Those, those those failures, or those those learning opportunities, as we'll phrase them, they definitely do help remind you of, I don't know everything. I don't know all things, and I need to continue to work hard, to try to learn more and try something again, experiment and be open to that. And you're right, if we focus too much on the failures, whether that's in the training that we tried to work with with client, or the whatever, you know, the boarding that we were doing, or the content that we were trying to make that didn't fit. It fell flat. If we just focus on that, all of a sudden we become discouraged, and we don't try again. And instead of going, Well, okay, that that didn't work. So let me, I'll try one more thing. I'll try one more thing. And that kind of is just the general life of an entrepreneur and business owner, I've personally found of we kind of have this
Collin 33:46
unquenchable optimism of, well, I'll just try this one more time. I'll try something else. And that's the same process here.
Miguel 33:53
Yeah. What also helps you realize that the knowledge you have is valuable and it can help people is by watching other content creators in the same field, like I, you know, I've seen some content creators that are very successful, have huge followings, and I listen to their advice. I'm like, a lot of holes in that that I think I can, think I can fill. And, you know, you don't want to compare with yourself or others too much, but start to realize this person found a lot of success. And, you know, when I was coming up in New York City as a dog trainer, no one knew who I was at first. And there were other dog trainers in New York City that were like, kind of like, semi famous. They were an animal planet. And I had some of their clients, former clients, coming to me for help, and I was able to fix something that that was the dog trainer wasn't able to fix it. And I started to fix it, and I started to kind of believe myself, and I started to think that I can hang with these other people, and I can help dog owners who have worked with other dog trainers and didn't get the help that they needed. So that helped me build my confidence as
Collin 34:53
well. If someone's listening to this and they're kind of inspired to start monetizing their knowledge and. Information. What advice would you give to them who want to go down that road without feeling like they're, you know, selling out, or, you know, quit, you know, going, Oh, well, I'm out of I'm out of this for money now, instead of just my, just my passion,
Miguel 35:15
good question, um, what I've learned through the years of being in business is that people want to give you their money, if you can help them. And think about it like yourself, like you may have hired someone to do work in your house, like, say, say, for example, you know, you mentioned to me earlier, we were chatting that the AC doesn't work very good in your house, in your home, because you have, like, 100 year old home. You know, if you hired someone to come fix the AC, and they fixed it to where, like, it works perfectly. That's such a huge relief. And then when you pay them, you know, of course, if it's not, if it's a reasonable price, you want to give them your money, and you're happy to give them because it's, it's an enjoyable experience. When you have a problem that you can't fix on your own, and you hire someone else to help you, and you fix that problem, it's, it's an enjoyable exchange, and I enjoy like I see, I see paying people for services and goods as a token of appreciation. So when someone helps me with some an issue that I have, like, I want to pay them. I want to like, and that's the money that I've given them is a thank you for helping me with this and people like that. So if you have a particular skill or knowledge on a particular topic that can help people don't feel bad to charge for it, because they want to give you their money. With that said, you know, I grew up in a with a very humble background. I grew up very poor, so sometimes I'll have a client that's asking me for all kinds of services, and they're asking me for really long dog boarding stays. I'm training their dog, I'm also walking their dog. And when I send their invoice, it could be a pretty big invoice, and I kind of send it in, and when I hit send them, like, oh, like, that hurts. Like, spend all that money on me. Like, I kind of feel bad, but you know they wouldn't keep coming to you for services if they didn't want it so. And also, you know, life is hard and things are expensive, and you know, we have, you know, families that we need to take care of, and everyone needs money to take care of their family. So, you know, I see it that way.
Collin 37:17
Well, it all that circles around our heart and our attitude towards it right, like you're right. Like when our AC, when people fix our AC, AC. Thank you very much. You have made my life so much more enjoyable. Or, We recently talked to somebody who was going to redo our deck, and it's because, well, man, I wanted to spend a lot more time on our deck, and it's just not a nice deck, and so this is wonderful. Now we're going to have an opportunity to spend a lot more evenings outside of the family. Outside as family together and dinner and having friends over and like, yes, that is money I want to spend, and I know who to give it to now. And same thing with our services or with our knowledge, right when we're sharing that, we're connecting with the people who need it, who want it, and if we are putting out there, and we know it's valuable, and we know it's helping people, part of that value returned to us is that money that comes back and that, you know, that's just, it's part of that value exchange of I helped you solve a problem, and not that, you know, it's now, there's money that comes back to me for helping you with that, and being able to put your head to bed at night going, yeah, it was amazing content. I didn't skimp on anything. I didn't, you know, obfuscate or lie like it was really amazing, well researched stuff. That's the kind of content that we're talking about here, and I know that you put out there too, Miguel,
Miguel 38:30
yeah. And also, if you, if you're feeling kind of guilty to charge people money for your services or your knowledge or your time, if you have the mindset that it's my duty to do the best for my customers, to offer them the best product and services for the best price possible. And when you go home at the end of the night and you lay your head on your pillow and you're exhausted because you really gave it your all, then you don't feel guilty, because you know, I'm really trying my best to offer the best care for these people's dogs. I'm putting in the time to help them fix their problems with training their dogs, or, you know, when I take the dogs on a walk, instead of just like, sitting somewhere with their dog and just being lazy, if I'm like, working hard to give them a nice, solid walk, and they're going home nice and tired, so that their owners come home from work and the dog is sleeping on the couch nice and relaxed. I know that I did my best. So if you see it as a duty to do the best for your customers and the dogs you care for, then don't feel bad charge, right?
Collin 39:30
And it's even if something, even if it comes naturally to you, right? Like, even if you're really good at that, even if it's super easy, and it's like, we don't feel like it's a lot of effort, it's what the client gets on the back end, it's what the client receives and the outcome that they get that we're focused on.
Miguel 39:44
It's true, because they say, if you make a course on like, how to take care of your dog, you work really hard on creating that course. And after you've done the work and creating that course, it doesn't require any work for you to, you know, email it to some. One that purchases it. But you know that you you work your butt off to make sure that, course, offers as much information as possible. And you know when you know that, then you feel confident to charge people
Collin 40:14
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Collin 40:59
Miguel, I know you've talked about how you're doing several new initiatives with courses and different content creations. I know, you know, with your own business and personal life and all this stuff, how, from your perspective, what is balance looking like for you? And I guess, really, you know, after over the last 14 years, how has that changed?
Miguel 41:17
Yeah, so I would say, prior to about 2020 when the pandemic hit, and you and I, like, we talked a lot around that time, it seems like the world was a different place just five years ago. But prior to 2020 like my business was going growing out of control, like I had a large team of dog walkers. We had so many dogs who were walking every day. I had a lot of dog training customers. I was also doing dog boarding a lot, and I was burnt out. I was exhausted, and I was always trying to figure out, like, the work life balance, how to achieve that. And I would like try to read books on it and find content online on how to achieve that work life balance. I came to the conclusion that work life balance as an entrepreneur is a myth, and what I've come to terms is that they're going to be certain times where there isn't going to be a balance, that I'm just going to have to just work my butt off all day for a period of time, like, say, for the holidays. For example, we're extremely busy for the holidays, and everyone that knows me very well, like my family members and friends, they know that Miguel the month of December, like, don't really plan anything with me. I'm not going to be very responsive anything. And my daughter knows that Daddy's going to be really busy around that time. So there is going to be a balance at that time so on, you know, particular seasons and times of the year that is not very busy. Then that's when I can, you know, find more time for my hobbies, for my friends, significant others, my daughter. So I just come to terms that there can be certain times that there's going to be an imbalance, and I'm okay with that, but just understand that that's going to be a short period of time, and once that time passes, then that's when I'll be able to pay attention to other things. So for me, it's just coming to terms with the fact that sometimes there is going to be a balance, and sometimes there is going to be a balance, and just be okay with
Collin 43:07
that, and and that just because I'm not able to dedicate equal time during the day doesn't mean that those other things aren't still a priority. And I think, I think that's what's really important to really focus on. There of time does not equal priority. In this case here, of saying, No, I do have to spend this time because this is my busy time, and I'm going to be focused on these things, but you are still priority, especially, you know, I'm just thinking like our kids, right? Like there are days where, yeah, we're working a lot, and that just happens. And we do that for them, and they know that, and it's part of this there. Then there are the slow times where, now you have what days, right? It's days and weeks during the slow times. And that's kind of the balance of that we find and still recognizing, though, that those priorities are central to all
Miguel 43:58
of that. Yeah, and you know family and close friends, they know they see you, you know they see you working hard, and they see what you're going through, so they can empathize with you, and they'll understand that you can't give them, you know your full time for that particular time period, so that you know it's the people that don't know you very well. And like new customers. Say, for example, when I have new customers that acquire my services around the holidays, you know, I send them an email saying, like, can we circle back after say the new year? Because at that time, I'll have a lot more time to service you do to the standard that I want to help my customers. Because, you know, I could squeeze you in right now, but I'm not going to be like available to you as much as you would like me to be, so I'd rather just wait just a few weeks. So the ability to say no, like sometimes you do have to say no to customers, or you do have to say no to people who ask questions and stuff like that, but if you explain to them why, I find that. You won't disappoint people too much, because when I first started my business, I wouldn't say no to anybody. But what I learned is that we have a very busy schedule where every minute is accounted for throughout the day. If you say yes to something, you're going to say no to something else. And I've learned that. So sometimes it's okay to say no, explain yourself, though, why you're saying no. So if you say no to a customer, and you explain to them why, they usually tend to understand, and then they'll realize too like that that does call cause some perceived value, because they figured this guy's very busy. That means a lot of people are looking for services. That means he's probably legit. So I probably do want to wait a few weeks to work with him. It's worth it.
Collin 45:44
It's worth it, isn't it, as long as you're explaining you're not just kind of waving them away. I'm like, No, I don't have time for you. Exactly. You know you talked about that. You know you struggle with that in the beginning of saying no, I know a big part of that I know that I still struggle with is I feel guilty saying no to those things, no no to the client, no to the you know, the personal invite that somebody, your friends, dinner or something, having to say no to that, any advice for helping work through that, that guilt that sometimes we carry of having to say no to those things.
Miguel 46:17
Yeah, well, just know why you're saying no because if you're saying no because you're being lazy, then you should feel bad about that. But if you legitimately just don't have the time for it, you know, don't feel bad. I mean, we only have 24 hours in a day, and there's only so much we could squeeze in. And there were times, especially in the beginning of my business, where I would say yes to everything, and then I would notice that it started to compromise the quality of service I was offering to my longtime customers, and also compromise the quality of service I was able to provide to that customer. I said yes to because I was just so so busy and so in over my head, all the work that I had on my plate that I wasn't able to offer that, that service, that that I want to offer. So don't feel bad. Sometimes you have to say no to people you can't say you realize that when you say yes to something, you're always going to end up saying no to something else, and that makes you feel
Collin 47:12
less guilty. Well, and those change too, for why we say yes and no over time too. I know we used to offer in home boarding very early on, and as our kids got older, all of a sudden it was like for us. We went, No, this isn't something we want to offer anymore. We don't we. Our kids need a home, and we need a place that we can go, have a retreat and not have dogs around us. 24/7, and when we right, when we said no to people, it was really easy for us at that point to understand why we were saying no. Of nope, I'm saying no because I need family time. No, that's it like I can't do this. I need, I need family time. We're out call only right now so that we can focus on our family and be together. And, you know, 10 years ago, that wasn't the case. We weren't saying no because we wanted the family. You know, Megan and I were together all the time. We were happy. You know, it was great. Now we've, our priorities have been rearranged, and now we've sought out and changed our business to meet that different balance. And that's part of that process, too. Of Oh, I can change things to meet my own personal needs. What an What a novel idea. I just, you know,
Miguel 48:18
yeah, yeah. And also, you may have you may say no to a customer on a particular request, but you can offer them something alternative. For example, sometimes I'll have people who would tell me, Hey, I have this dog. He's a German Shepherd. He's a great dog, but he doesn't get along with other dogs. And I'm going on vacation this this week. I was wondering if you could stay with him. I look at my schedule, and I realized I have four other dogs I'm staying with, and I'll explain to him, I'll say, hey, you know I can't stay with your dog because he's not well socialized with other dogs, and that puts my dogs in danger, and it may put your dog in danger as well. So I'm just trying to look out for the safety for all my dogs, but I will offer you this. How about we work together for a while for dog training, and maybe I can learn I can help you socialize your dog better. Maybe your dog can join me in my pack on pack walk, so he can start to become socialized with them, get used to them, and then we'll see in the future, if I can stay with your dog. I've had that situation come up a lot, so as long as you try hard to help people may not be able to say yes to their particular request, but you try hard to help them that help, you know, mitigate some of that guilt that you may feel. And also, I think having it's really important, especially in this business, to have some some policies that you actually, you know, write down. So I have dog boarding policies, I have dog walking policies, and I have dog training policies. And whenever I have a consultation with someone before I take them on as a customer, I send that over to them, and I have them confirmed that they've read it so they understand this is how I do this and those policies, you know, when you write them up, you know it takes, it takes years for you to figure out what exactly. Are you going to add there? Because things come up as as, you know, as you work with dogs like, you know, there may be a situation where you charge your customers after the service has been rendered, but what was happening with me a couple of times is I'll have people who would request a two week long stay, and then I bring, I drop off their dog, and then I haven't received a payment, and I emails, you know, I received payment, and then I realized they moved, you know, and you get ripped off a couple of times. You get ripped off, and they say, All right, so now my policy is, is that you know, you pay for the service at the time you request it, so it just gets rid of that situation altogether. Or if you know you used to, that's it. I never really boarded dogs that were aggressive towards other dogs. But let's say if I did, and there was an incident that occurred, and now I know I can't stay with dogs like this, because, you know, it presents a danger to the dogs I take care of. So it's really important to have certain policies written down and share that with your customers, so they know right off the bat what to expect out of you and how you do business.
Collin 50:57
Yeah, those setting those expectations is huge, and really takes a lot of the weight off of our shoulders to lift and to push of like, No, you want to work with me? Here are the terms and conditions. And read those. If you're not happy with those, then it's fine. We've kind of right match. Yeah, we're not a good man. We have lost clients because they didn't like our cancelation policy, right? That is something that people did. Of they didn't, they didn't like the credit that they would get, or the, you know, the refund that wasn't they didn't think it was enough. They want to be able to cancel day of and get a full refund. And we went, No, no, that's not what we do at all, and it's there for reasons to protect us, to pay for our time that it took to put everything into place, come see you and get everything on the schedule. So No, and if that's what you're expecting, we're not a good fit, and that's helped us breathe a lot easier, I know in our own business with those policies and procedures, I'm really glad you brought that up, Miguel, because that is a really underutilized resource of freedom to use and have in our business.
Miguel 51:53
Yeah, and it saves a lot of time. So like, you know, going through the back and forth. Like, you know, can I do this? Can I do that? Is this allowed this? And we just send the policies. They read it, and they know everything. And it's like, and I do, if they have a question on particular policy, you know, I wouldn't, you know, answer whatever questions they may have, but it just makes things so much simpler. Like, if you got to have and it doesn't cost very much, I mean, you could write up. I got lucky, like when I wrote up all my policies, I was in college, and I was taking a legal documents course, and my professor was a judge, so I took down. I'm like, okay, so we had an assignment where we had create, like, an actual legal document, and he was going to grade it to see, like, if it's, you know, if it can be used in actual business. So I did one for dog walking, for dog training, for dog boarding, and I gave it to him, and had him grade it, and, you know, he made some corrections. And then after class one day, I brought over all three of them, and I said, Hey, I'm actually going to use this for my business. Can I use like, you know, and he'll tell me, okay, this is a little ambiguous. You need to make this a little bit clear. And I still use those same I've added and subtracted some things, but I use those same, those same policies, for my services. I still use them
Collin 53:02
today. That's cool, and just use your resources that are around you, whether that is a course that you're taking, or whether it's a business group nearby or a chamber of commerce that has these things like, there are resources to help put these together. Because I know many times we sit down with a blank page in front of us, and whether that's making content or whether that's making policies, sometimes we go, Where do I start? What do I What do I do? And having somebody to take something to is really helpful, and also to make sure, like, hey, is this, is this actually legally binding, or am I just kind of blow blowing smoke here?
Miguel 53:35
It's true. Yeah, yeah. That's what's cool about this business. You know, all types of people own dogs. So I've been able to make connections with people from all types of sectors and industry. So if I need legal advice, I have a bunch of clients that are lawyers. If I'm looking to purchase some real estate, I know some great real estate agents. So it's good, you know, it's good to work hard and to do right by people, because then you start to garner these great relationships with people that comes in handy in life,
Collin 54:03
when your business is going and running and all the ups and downs that are going on there. Do you have any sort of routines or habits that help you stay grounded through the tumultuous times?
Miguel 54:16
Yeah, so I've learned, especially last few years to wake up a little bit earlier than I have to, so I can give myself a couple of hours when I start the day to, like, take care of myself. So, you know, for me, like my faith, and I'm Catholic. I was raised Catholic, so my faith really helps me a lot. Like, so the first hour of my day, you know, I pray and make sure to give that time to God and that, you know, that helps keep me grounded and helps me, like, prepare me for what's, you know, going on in a day. And then from there, I go to the gym for an hour, I get a really good workout in eat a hearty breakfast. And then from there, it's like, okay, it's go time. Like, now I'm ready to go, and I could work my butt off the rest of the day. And. Um, because I know I've taken care of myself in like those first couple of hours throughout the day, and from there, I can just give myself fully to my customers and my dogs, and at the end of the day, I'm exhausted, I get a good night's sleep, and I just do the same thing over the next day. So you know, my faith, it helps me a lot. Taking care of my body and my health, it's extremely important. And also, like, in the beginning of the day, like, just make sure to recognize all the things that you should be grateful for. And that helps me get through the day a lot. It's been, it's been huge for me. I recommend it to everyone.
Collin 55:34
Yeah, taking a few moments. I think that that's man beyond, beyond value, and there's a lot of stuff that we do take for granted. I actually, I just, just before we jumped on my go, I was actually talking to a person who's going to redo our deck, like, that's an actual thing that's happening. And it all started because my dad has been hearing me talk about getting this deck done for a year or more, and he finally got was like, whatever, he called the guy and sent him over to my house, because I've just been so busy. And we're walking out, and the guy said, you know, your dad's a good guy. You're lucky to have him. And he said, because my dad's not in my life, and I don't have anybody to have my back. And it was like a sledgehammer to the chest to like, Oh my gosh. Like, yeah, some something, something so, you know, impactful that I just kind of shrug off some days because, oh yeah, that's just, that's just there. And how other, however, 1000s of things in our lives do we do that? And when we can sit down regardless, no matter how the day went and whether it was the quote, unquote worst day ever, there are things still, still be thankful of and still to that that are worthy of being acknowledged as being, as being a gift to us, right, like that that exists and that really helps refocus and reshape us and our
Miguel 56:51
mindset. Absolutely, I learned that during covid, like I said before, prior to covid, you know, my business was just growing so much, and I was just I was burnt out, and I was starting to experience compassion fatigue. And I remember I learned about compassion fatigue in one of your episodes, and you had someone on, and they were talking about compassion fatigue. And compassionate fatigue is when you're so burnt out, you're so exhausted that the daughter even like, you know, helping other people, like, just like, pisses you or you get upset, and you start to get frustrated to other people, because you're so you're just so burnt out, and you had nothing left for anyone else. And I was starting to experience that, and then covid hit. And when covid hit, and like, in a matter of 48 hours, I lost about like 90% of my revenue. And, you know, I'm just, I just bought my house, I just had my daughter. It was extremely stressful time, and I got by it. So now, when I get exhausted, and I know I'm starting to reach that point where I may be feeling burnt out, I just have so much gratitude. And I think to myself, I'm so lucky to even be burnt out, because there are businesses that, you know, I remember when I was dying, she was looking at my phone, waiting for a customer to call me to, you know, to request some of my services so I can make some money. So if you're at the point, if you run a business and you are burnt out, and you have, like, all these customers that you can't even fulfill, you're in a good position. So when you have that mentality, that I'm lucky to even be burnt out, it helps you handle, you know, the exhaustion and being tired and you just handle a lot better, you have a lot more gratitude.
Collin 58:23
Yeah, finding those things that help you recenter right? Whatever that is, and it's everybody's going to have something that's just a little bit different, but that added that gratitude is so big to carry that forward in all things and recognize that it might not. This is a gift every day, every day waking up, is it what it would an immense blessing that that alone, in of itself, is to us and to then look around and every time that that pain, because I know we've been there too, when that phone pings and it's another client, another client, ah, they want me to do what? And that attitude, right? Oh, they will. Oh, they want me to do my Oh, okay, what? No, no. Wow. Thank you, right? Thank you for still, for continuing to trust me like that's something that I know we have done in our business of whenever we send a dog, or we're done with it taking care of a dog, or we're done with a walk, right, we end it with a thank you letting the client know. Hey, thank you for trusting us with this. And because it's like just trying to have this constant reminder of thankfulness and gratitude to what we're being given, and just bathing in that every day, because otherwise it changes our attitude, it changes our heart, and then that impacts everything that we do.
Miguel 59:38
Yeah, that just gave me an idea, like, I have some customers that have been with me for so many years, and know why I do appreciate them? You know, I haven't. They sent them an email just to let them know how much I appreciate them. So, so I should, you know, I should be doing that. I think that's a good idea.
Collin 59:57
It's just something that that I recognized in my. Self whenever I'm tired or angry or it's 10 o'clock at night and I get that request, and it's like, Oh, okay. Smile, smile, be thankful. Be thankful. And it's just, it is. It comes and goes in waves, though, with business during the busy times and slow times, and just trying to keep focused on we've talked about, like, the why? Like, what is this to? What end Am I doing this? And that helps refocus
Speaker 3 1:00:25
everything? Yeah, absolutely. Very true.
Collin 1:00:29
Miguel, I really want to thank you for coming on the show today and walking us through how you help educate your clients and your just community at large, and how you balance that out running a business, having that personal time for your family, and making sure that you're taking care of yourself, too, and everything that's tied up into that. I know that there's a lot that goes into this, so if people are interested in following along, want to be on the lookout for some of your new content, things that you have coming down the pipeline, how best can they do that?
Miguel 1:00:56
Yeah, so first of all, thank you for having me on again. It's always a pleasure talking with you, and it's a delight to see you doing well. You're thriving. I'm happy to see that. And if you have any questions about your dog you want to like follow some of my content, and you could follow me on Instagram. I'm there. I'm city dog pack. City dog pack on Instagram, and you could follow me on sub stack as well. I have a blog called everything dog and I'm going to be starting a YouTube page soon and tick tock page. I'm me offering a lot of advice. So if you just follow me on Instagram, I'll keep you updated on all that
Collin 1:01:31
cool I will make sure that those links are in the show notes, and especially that sub stack, because there's a lot of great articles there. Miguel, I've really enjoyed reading those over the years. So thank you so much for coming on the show today. It's been, it's been an absolute pleasure. I'm really appreciative of your of your time. Thanks, Collin, take care. God
Collin 1:01:46
bless Miguel's comment of I'm so lucky to even be burned out, really struck home with me. Megan and I are certainly in a time of our lives of extreme and intense busyness, and it reminded me of another quote that I've often heard of, what a privilege to be tired from the work you prayed for, what a privilege to be overwhelmed by the growth you once dreamed about. These are the life and times of a business owner, of an entrepreneur, especially in the dog walking and pet sitting world, with our up ups and our really down downs, what we have to do is make sure that we don't start to romanticize the burnout, though we acknowledge it, we recognize it, and we we are thankful and grateful for the busyness and for the growth that we've been working hard for, and then we get busy about the work of reducing the workload on us, building structures and SOPs and policies and procedures, working on the saying no in our lives to balance that out, hiring where we need to offloading the things that are burdening us. And then we work again about our business and maintaining it and growing it and investing in it. It's that cycle and that burnout is really key to us understanding where we are and what we need to do to keep moving forward. Burnout is not a place to live forever. It's a place we have to work through sometimes in our business, through the busy seasons, through the tough times, through the hard times, to get to the place that we actually want to be. But the key here, the absolute key focus, is being thankful for what we have before us, and recognizing that it could be very different at times, being thankful and then we continue taking one more step and one more step, we want to thank our sponsors today, time to pet and the peaceful pet. Music, calm music for pets, YouTube channel for making this show possible. And we really want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and we'll be back again soon. Applause, you.
