647: Grassroots Growth: How Collaboration Keeps the Texas Pet Sitters Association Thriving
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In every industry, true leadership isn’t about recognition—it’s about service. In pet care, that spirit shows up in those who give their time, share their experience, and create space for others to grow. Few embody that better than Deanna Schaar and Cathy Vaughan of the Texas Pet Sitters Association. What began as a small meet-up in a boarding facility has become one of the most beloved conferences in pet care—an annual, volunteer-led non-profit event that draws attendees from across the country. They share how early chaos and tech mishaps shaped their approach, how they find and support speakers, and why community—not competition—is their secret sauce. From health and wellness sessions to industry-wide collaboration, this conversation celebrates the heart and humility behind real leadership.
Main topics:
Starting a grassroots conference
Building a non-profit association
Learning from early mistakes
Finding and supporting speakers
Creating community and belonging
Main takeaway: “We don’t have egos—this isn’t about getting on stage. It’s about doing whatever needs to be done to help others.”
That line sums up the heart of the Texas Pet Sitters Association. Deanna Schaar and Cathy Vaughan didn’t set out to build a conference for recognition—they built it for connection. Over 11 years, they’ve created a place where pet sitters learn, laugh, and lean on each other. Their story is a reminder that the best leaders lift others first. Because in both business and life, anything worth building takes time, energy, and people. Setting aside your ego and letting others shine is what truly propels whatever you’re trying to grow.
About our guests:
Deanna Schaar is the owner of Deanna’s Dog House, offering in-home dog boarding in Texas. A founding member and current Vice President of the Texas Pet Sitters Association, she is passionate about community education and support for fellow pet sitters.
Cathy Vaughan owns Cathy’s Critter Care in San Antonio and serves as President of the Association. Together, they lead a volunteer non-profit that hosts an annual conference fostering professional development, networking, and friendship for pet care providers nationwide.
Links:
🌐 Website: https://txpetsitters.com
📘 Facebook: Texas Pet Sitters Association
🐾 Cathy’s Critter Care: https://cathyscrittercare.com
🐶 Deanna’s Dog House: https://deannasdoghouse.com
Give us a call! (636) 364-8260
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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
Texas Pet Sitters Association, pet sitting conference, nonprofit organization, affordable conference, grassroots event, speaker selection, vendor partnerships, sponsorship, community involvement, health and wellness, online conference, networking, professional development, pet care industry, volunteer-led
SPEAKERS
Cathy Vaughan, Deanna Schaar, Collin
Collin 00:02
Hey, this is 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 pet perennials. Let's get started. Coming into their 11th year of holding the conference, the Texas pet sitters Association is a phenomenal state based Association teaching pet sitters and dog walkers, not just from Texas, but from around the country, a little bit of the history of the association, how they make all this work and how all the magic comes together. We're excited to have Deanna and Kathy on the show. Deanna and Kathy, I'm super excited to have you both on the podcast. For those who aren't familiar with you or your involvement with the conference and association. Tell us a little bit more about who you are and what you do.
Cathy Vaughan 00:45
You bet. I guess I'll go first. I'm Kathy Vaughn. I am the owner of Kathy's critter care professional pet sitting and dog walking in San Antonio area in Texas, and I'm the president of the association only by name, only because our nonprofit status required us to have a president. I, by far, do not do the most work. I do not have the most prestige. I give that to my friend and colleague, Deanna. So yeah, that's me and Deanna.
Deanna Schaar 01:17
Hey everybody. I'm Deanna Shar owner of deanna's dog house. I do in home dog boarding, and I am the Vice President of the Association, and like Kathy said, we don't really have set roles or rules about what we do. We just kind of do what we need to do, which is kind of the the amazing part about it, I've kind of
Collin 01:41
picked up that that's a general theme for your story, and how you get this to put together, just kind of do what's necessary at that time. I mean, but take us back to the very beginning. I mean, 11 years ago, you're hosting your first conference. What was it like? What Why was that done? And kind of, what were you trying to accomplish with it, yeah,
Cathy Vaughan 02:02
for sure. So I was talking with a friend, Michelle Romano, who was actually the co founder of the conference with me, and we were talking about, just in general, conferences and the price of conferences and things like that. And I told her, I said, you know, I really love conferences, and I get why they're they're priced where they are, but I really feel like we're missing something with maybe some of the newer companies, or maybe the solo sitters who can't really invest that much time away from their business, or who are so new and need this information. And she looked at me, and she was like, well, let's just do something that's a little more economical. And I was like, what like me and you? And she's like, Yeah, why not? So I was like, All right, if you're serious, I guess let's give it a shot. And so she also lived here in San Antonio at the time. I owned a boarding facility, and that was the cheapest place to do it because it was free. So the first year like we literally had our conference at the boarding facility with dogs barking and staff members going through. But we really wanted to do something that was really more grassroots and affordable, a short conference that was maybe two days long, something like that, where we could just get people from the area to come. And we were both really nervous that it wasn't going to be well received, like, you know what, if only 12 people show up. And, I mean, I'm the, I'm the biggest fear of failure person that I know. And Michelle, thankfully, was not. Michelle was like, I don't care if 12 people show up. I don't care if four people show up, we can do it, and we'll make it great for those four people. So that first year, we just kind of, we met at the library, the public library meeting room, and we put it all together. We hosted it at the boarding facility that I owned, and we had, think somewhere around 40 to 50 people show up. And we were astounded when we opened up ticketing and people were registering that were from Illinois and Georgia. And we were like, This is amazing. So yeah, that's where it started.
Speaker 1 04:21
And I love that that focus of of making it accessible and more more easy, to make more approachable to people, because, I mean, I mean conferences, they can be really like, overwhelming and really like, there's just a lot going on along with those conferences,
Cathy Vaughan 04:39
right? And a lot of us are introverts, you know, like we're pet people. And so to think about going to Las Vegas to a conference where 300 other pet sitting businesses are going to be there, I do think sometimes that is a little overwhelming. So I'm really glad you brought that up, because one of the the things that I've heard from people over the years is like. Like, the Texas pet sitters conference is so family feeling like, when I come, I feel like I'm just there with a bunch of my family. So I think that's, that's probably spot on, yeah,
Speaker 1 05:11
well, that was actually a question I had for you, because I know Megan, I had the opportunity to attend a couple times, and it's, it's still like, it's grown a lot, but it still feels small, like, but in all the best ways. Like, I think that's really important to stress. It's not like, how do you protect that though? Like, how is that something that you've maintained over the years? Because you could go in many different directions with a conference, but making it feel warm and welcoming and personal. Like, that's, that's very unique.
Cathy Vaughan 05:40
Yeah, I think, you know Texas our state motto, or Yeah, our state motto is the friendly state, and so we just like to maintain friendliness. And you know, everybody that walks in the door, whether you're from Texas, Illinois, Georgia, Oklahoma, wherever you're coming from, you're an honorary Texan, and we really mean that. I mean that's not just something, Oh, haha, you're an honorary Texan, but Deanna has such a great personality, and we just love seeing people come back year after year, and they really do feel like family to
Speaker 1 06:13
us. So yeah, Deanna, when did you start getting involved with the Association and putting on the conferences?
Deanna Schaar 06:21
Well, I went to the very first conference, and it was in 2016 and I had just started my pet sitting business, and it was affordable, so it wasn't some like, you know, $600 conference, plus hotel, plus meals, plus I'm not working, you know, I just couldn't do that as a solo sitter and even with my business partner. So went to the very first conference, and it was such a breath of fresh air. I so needed it in so many ways, just because I was new and new to the industry, and, you know, just being there with other pet sitters and then networking that happened was just tremendous for me, and that's why I do what I do today. Was because of somebody in our network doing this, and me talking to her, and I'm like, Hmm, and I'm telling you, it's been such a blessing. I mean, I love what I do. I'm a homebody. I get to stay home. And all of that was because I was involved in this little network of Texas pet sitters and somebody else just happened to be doing this. So after the first year, I was just beyond grateful, and I wanted to do whatever I could to ensure this kept happening, because it was so so needed and so just right at a great time for me and my business, and I knew there were other people out there that we could reach and could help in the same way, so I pretty much stalked Kathy, and I was like, Look, I'll clean bathrooms. I will, you know, get toilet paper for people. I will clean up afterwards, like, whatever you need me to do, like I want to do what I can to help this keep going, because it's that good and it really helped me. So after a lot of convincing, Kathy agreed to let me help the following year, which was our second year, and I've been in the organizing committee ever since then.
Collin 08:44
I mean, I mean, it's a lot to put together, though. I mean, like, why? Like, for you both personally, like, why is it important to you that this thing exists and continues to exist?
Cathy Vaughan 08:55
Wow. So it is a lot of work. And there are times throughout the year where I'm like, oh my goodness, I don't know if we can pull this off another year, and then the next week, I'm like, Oh heck yeah, we're doing this, and we're we're planning for the next one. It's important to me, just because now we have so much longevity. So we've created this baby together, and it creates, it provides value to people like Deanna said, it provides value to her, and that is something we hear from our attendees. So whether they've been in business for 20 plus years, we have long term pet sitters who are coming. They're coming to learn, but they're coming to see their friends from all around the country too. Or we're just, we're, you know, meeting somebody for the first time who just started last year. They tell us that they get so much value from it and so much learning. And I just don't want to stop, I don't I would never want to give that up. So, yeah, it is a lot of work. We are both of all. And tears. It's not something where we get paid to do this at all so, but I just don't think I could ever see not doing it.
Deanna Schaar 10:09
And I just to piggyback on that. Our first years were, you know, touch and go and figuring things out and what really works and what doesn't work. And I think we've kind of streamlined everything to where we have best practices that we follow, so we're kind of in the groove now, you know, we kind of know it works. We know it doesn't work, and so it just it's not it's still a lot of work, but is not as labor intensive as it once was, right?
Cathy Vaughan 10:39
And do you remember those times, Deanna, when we would like put together breakfast ourselves for everybody
Deanna Schaar 10:46
and go get coffee? And I'm just like,
Cathy Vaughan 10:50
we really learned the value of catering services, because that's a whole lot of work. We're trying to get coffee and breakfast and get lunch and run out and who's gonna have enough room in their car so and
Deanna Schaar 11:02
making sure, and making sure the speakers are introduced, making sure we're on time with the conference at all the same time answering questions from every you know, it's just like, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 11:14
Well, Kathy, you mentioned the catering thing. I was curious, kind of, like, what? What some moments that you had with the like, the true like, oh my gosh, we have no idea what we're doing, what is going on. And like, how have you have you learned from those over the years?
Cathy Vaughan 11:26
You know, tech is always the crazy part. Technology, audio, visuals. So those first few years, because we were on such a shoestring budget, and we were keeping things like so low cost, my husband was our IT guy. There were times when he's like, this is beyond my scope of knowledge, what's going on here. But he fixed it. And, you know, there were moments we were like, great, we're not going to have any AV at all. We're going to have to wing it with with post it notes and pins. But we pushed through and we made it. That was one time when we're like, what are we doing? And why are we just not hiring professionals? But at the time, we didn't have the money to do that. And then the whole breakfast and lunch things too, like trying to order box lunches and keep them straight without the caterers having to deliver them, you know, just those little things like that, making sure that, like Deanna said, our speakers are introduced. Did our speakers make it in from the airport? Wow, has anybody heard from them? Like, you know, maybe we should put some kind of policy in place where we actually pick them up from the airport, or they check in with us. So, yeah, just those kinds of things,
Speaker 1 12:39
you know, those like, it sounds like some of those moments of going, Oh, I guess we got to cover that.
Cathy Vaughan 12:45
Now, right? Exactly what's great, though, you know, being pet sitters, we all run into those moments where we're like, I guess that is something that I need to add into my policies. You know, like, never really thought that would happen. I should have thought about that, but yeah, just making sure people could see a presenter, hear them and get fed. You know,
Deanna Schaar 13:10
have enough toilet paper in the back. That's right,
Cathy Vaughan 13:13
yeah, yeah. At the boarding facility, we had a whopping two bathrooms for 45 people, and had planned, what a 10 or 15 minute break, so we had to modify that schedule a bit, because 45 people cannot go to the bathroom in 15 minutes with two bathrooms. So yeah,
13:32
plenty of candles, though, so that wasn't anyway.
Deanna Schaar 13:39
Now, you know, we talked about people being friendly in Texas, and all our attendees just fit right in. And anytime that we do get in a bond, it's so refreshing to know that we can pull on a lot of our attendees and they'll help us like they're kind of like our volunteers sometimes. So we that's, that's just another great thing about kind of the relationships that we've built over time and and just the whole, you know, family feel of the of the conference, yeah, because
Speaker 1 14:14
you I mean, if you have, if everyone feels like a, they feel welcome and B, they can feel like they can contribute in some way. And, you know, having that atmosphere of kind of like we're all in this together, it's not like a show up to the production. It's a hey, we got to make this work and kind of involve more people. Sometimes it's very much,
Cathy Vaughan 14:31
I love that you guys brought that up. Because when you have family over, you have guests over, and they're like, Hey, can I help you in the kitchen? Or can I do this? It leads to a lot of camaraderie, to let people help and to, you know, have them be a part of what's going on. So I definitely think that that's super important. I never really thought about it that way, but that's a great way to put it.
Speaker 1 14:54
I was also curious, when, when did you make the formal organization? Association of the association,
Speaker 1 15:08
barking doggies, barking doggies. When did you decide to make that a formal Association and go through the organizational stuff?
Cathy Vaughan 15:17
Yeah, we were about, probably I'd have to look at our documents, but we were about four to five years into it before we realized, okay, this is something that is really going to probably keep going. And we need a formal structure. We need a way not to have any kind of implications on us as individual business owners, as you know, individual people you know, protecting ourselves from liability, protecting ourselves from tax implications. So about four to five years in, we decided we needed to become a nonprofit organization, and Michelle and Jessica, I believe, were both involved in those you know, they were key roles in making that happen. Jessica had a lot of information about how to get that done. I looked it up. I'm like, hey, it looks like we can do it. Great. Now somebody else take care of that. That's, that's just generally my personality. I'm like, All ideas and rainbows and unicorns and everybody else gets to implement. So yeah, about four to five years in we realized we needed to do something.
Speaker 1 16:23
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Speaker 2 16:27
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Speaker 1 16:48
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Cathy Vaughan 17:07
No, that. I mean, it was like the four of us at the time, Jessica, Michelle, Deanna and myself, we were just able to get the paperwork. We're a 501, c6 which is an association nonprofit. And we just had to go through the steps of, you know, getting that approved with the IRS, and getting our paperwork filed, getting it signed off, things like that. There was a waiting period that we had to go through which we didn't realize was a thing. So it was a lot of steps, I would say. But definitely we were all on board with that. The four of us were on board. And then anybody that joins our organization or our association is, you know, in the association, but they don't get to use the nonprofit status, per se. They're in the association, but the association in itself is the nonprofit.
Speaker 1 18:00
Sure you have your membership is based off of whether you're attending for that year. Is that right? That makes you part of the Where did that idea come for you? Because I think that's very
Cathy Vaughan 18:11
unique. It is unique, and it's kind of weird and backwards. But in order to have nonprofit status as an association. You have to have membership, because we're all volunteers. None of us wanted to go through the whole rigmarole and paperwork of making sure somebody was a member in the association in order to claim that. So we were just like, You know what? Let's just keep it simple. If they attend the conference each year, their membership is included in their
Speaker 3 18:40
conference fee, yeah, yeah. I
Speaker 1 18:43
love it. Also, it also is a involvement based, I think, structure too, which kind of gets back to the hey, we're all here doing this thing. Of you only get to get that if you're showing up. And I think that also, again, changes the relationship people have with the Association, what they get out of it? Because it's very easy to, I mean, we've done it in the past of, hey, I'll just pay for this membership, and it's just going to sit out there, and I'm just going to copy the logo and put on my website and look at me. I'm a member. I'm a member. But to be like it just it changes the amount of personal investment each person has in the success of the association, too.
Cathy Vaughan 19:21
Good point. Yeah, I definitely agree.
Collin 19:26
Now, over the years, I'm sure, working together, though, on this, you've got multiple people making decisions, working on various aspects. I mean, how do you start? I don't know, like not necessarily resolving conflict, but like, anytime you get a bunch of people in a room with ideas, you're going to have frustration. Frustrations and differing opinions. What's that's been like for you at an association level to work
Deanna Schaar 19:47
through those things? I'll take this one, Kathy, I think that we're definitely unique in that each of us has have our own. Of strengths, and I think we do a decent job of using those strengths in what we do, in the association. So for example, like Kathy has wonderful ideas all the time, and I'm the one that says, Okay, how are we going to implement that? Does that make sense? You know, this is what that the implications are. And if there's anything that needs to be organized or we need to process for something that's me so and another thing I will say, Not to toot our own horn, but Toot, toot. We don't have egos. You know, this isn't about, oh, let me get on stage and get all the accolade. Trust me, it's quite the opposite for me, being a big time introvert. So it's a really unique has been a really unique leadership team in that we just rely on each other's strengths throughout this whole organizing the conference, and we've never had issues because we don't have egos about it. So that's that's been something, you know, I'm sure that is unique in something like this,
Cathy Vaughan 21:28
yeah, for sure. And to talk a little bit more about that, you know, life happens, right? And so the the previous four people that were on the board. We've all been through it. We've we've had issues with families, with health, with all of the things, and then the other people just pick up, you know, pick up and go. Because there is no ego. There is no oh well, you need to get this done anyway. You have this timeline. It's just been a very cohesive, supportive, cooperative group of people working on this conference. And I think that lends to the longevity, and that also lends to the let's just get the family together again this year. So
Speaker 1 22:17
yeah, I think that really speaks to that grassroots effort of everybody is involved, and we're here selflessly for the betterment of others. And again, like, I'm gonna keep saying this, but like, when you show up to the conference and the association, like, you immediately get that, like, it's, it's just right there, and this is for everybody, but everybody's involved, and it just, it makes it so much important, very approachable, for people. So, yeah, I just, I've really appreciated that. I know part of the conference is you have vendors that show up and you have sponsors. When did these enter the picture for you all? Yeah,
Cathy Vaughan 22:56
so our vendors were year one. They were friends, friends that we knew that sold different pet products. And then, because I owned my boarding facility at that time, I also had like contact with other vendors that may have been interested in selling pet products to people. So we had those folks. We had a dog trainer from Dallas that would come over and not only do a session, but set up a table and do some Q and A so we have vendors from the beginning, sponsors, not so much. Sponsors didn't come into the picture, probably until about year three, and we were like, Okay, let's make this a little bit better. How can we make this a little bit better? We need some more resources, and we need some investment. And our sponsors have always been great pet sitters, international time to pet business, insurers of the Carolinas, IB PSA, which is international boarding and Pet Services Association, naps. They've all been great. We, each of us, knew people from these different organizations. We reached out to them. They didn't even hesitate. They were like, Absolutely, we're on board. So getting our sponsors in place those couple of years into the process really helped us
Deanna Schaar 24:21
to step into that next level and to keep our costs to our attendees at a decent level.
Speaker 1 24:29
Yep. Was that? Were you nervous approaching the sponsors, or were you able to say like, yep, we have something valuable. We want to do this. Do you want to partner with us? I mean, did you struggle with reaching out to people like that?
Cathy Vaughan 24:43
I didn't struggle. I'll let Deanna answer for the ones that she spoke to. I didn't struggle because I've had a relationship with the sponsors that I was speaking to, pet sitters, international business, insurers of the Carolinas being in business as long as I had and. Being at other conferences that they were at, or that they even put on. I knew them personally, and you know, I felt that friendly connection with them. And I thought, I can ask if they say, No, it's not in their budget. That's okay, you know. But yeah, I just wasn't nervous.
Deanna Schaar 25:18
Kathy had far more experience in this industry and in her network, way more than I did. So I had to go out on a limb, and I talked to ibpsa, because I'm a member, and really got to know Carmen, the President and CEO, and she was more than happy to do whatever we needed to do. In fact, it makes me recall, there was one year early on where I can't remember if, like, something happened in the agenda or the timing was off. I can't, I couldn't remember, and it was lunchtime, and we, I, we didn't have lunch. We didn't prepare lunch on purpose. But for some reason, I can't remember what it was, but we, it would, really would have helped us if we would have had lunch there so people can eat. And I can't remember what what it was. But anyway, Carmen steps up and is like, what do you need? Let's order some pizza. I'll pay for it. I mean, she was there, and so that's just how the sponsors have responded to us. It's been really cool. Yeah.
Speaker 1 26:33
I mean, for your perspective, too, building this. I mean, are there, do you have a system of knowing who's going to be a good fit to sponsor, or do you kind of know who to reach out to and foster those relationships from year to year?
Cathy Vaughan 26:48
Yeah. I mean, I think you know, we all know those people that we utilize their services. They're really great advocates for our industry and setting the standards for what you know, a quote, unquote, good professional pet sitter and in home dog boarding person looks like. So we're not just going to go out to anybody who's not upholding those standards and upholding the values that we see in our industry. So we really like the people who put back into our industry, the software developing companies, things like that, who are giving us better ways to do things we like, the companies that give us products that, you know, make our jobs easier so and they see the value in attendees Coming and learning about those products and services.
Collin 27:41
Yeah, now, as far as, like, putting the conference together, you're partnering with vendors, you're working with sponsors. I mean, you also have to be selecting the topics and the people coming and submitting what? How big of a headache is that? Actually, I can't, I can't even imagine sifting through everything and putting together the agenda and schedule. I mean, how do you go about doing that?
Cathy Vaughan 28:07
You can take on Deanna because you're the best one at finding great speakers. No, I'm not.
Deanna Schaar 28:15
You know, probably the most challenging part is getting our speakers in our lineup, and we pride ourselves in trying to find different and impactful speakers. And speakers may be that no one else has heard from before that can provide a different a different perspective on things like in, in we also, we also focus more, I believe, on the actual person. Because a lot of these pet sitters are business owners, and some of them may be so low, so things like how to improve your health. Because, you know, take me, for example. I had to have back surgery, and I was out for a long time, and there's no sick pay. So, you know, people get are unhealthy and get sick they can't work. And so we're like, Okay, well, let's, let's have somebody come and talk, you know about, you know, what are some small things you can do just to get a little bit more healthy? And that's what I like the challenge of finding people like that, and we've done that again. This year. We have three speakers that nobody's heard from before that are going to be phenomenal. So I can't wait. I can't wait for for everybody to to hear from them.
Collin 29:58
Yeah. And I mean as far as part, I mean part of that too. And I know, you know, the name is Texas pets Association. And how do you balance being a state level association with a national draw and making sure that you're meeting the needs of the attendees
Cathy Vaughan 30:15
who show up? Yeah. So I think that our needs, pretty much regardless of where we're from, we're all in the same business. We want to provide great pet care. We want to keep everybody safe and healthy and happy, whether that's the pets, the human clients, or our team, if we have a team or ourselves, right? Like Deanna was saying, we have to keep ourselves healthy too, physically, mentally. I think those parameters are across the board, no matter if you're in Washington State or you're in Florida, if you're in New York or you're in New Mexico, I think those things are pretty much standard. And then if we're going to be talking specifics about state laws, things like that, those can get a little bit tricky, and we've kind of steered away from that, just because during the first year, we really thought we were just going to have Texas people. We really thought we were just going to have like San Antonio and Austin. Maybe if we got lucky, we'd pull in some Houston and Dallas people. Little did we know everybody was going to be coming from everywhere. So we just decided, you know, we're not going to do state specific things. Will we talk about generalities, like, you know, employment issues, things like that? Sure, because I think that's pretty standard across the board.
Deanna Schaar 31:34
And fun fact, so most of our attendees come from outside the state of Texas.
Cathy Vaughan 31:42
Yep, it's so funny to say we're doing the Texas pet centers conference, with more than half of them not being from Texas. I think it's funny. I want to look at somebody's website, you know, that's in another state, and see if they have our little as they have our logo on there, like Texas pet sitters Association member, and they're in North Carolina, their clients go, wow. Okay, that's a weird association to the long tape. But yeah,
Collin 32:18
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Speaker 1 32:46
but so why do you think it's continued to be a focus for pet sitters and draw people year after year?
Cathy Vaughan 32:54
I think the timing is good. You know, it's February. Tends to be in most parts of the country, a little bit of slow time for pet sitters. We always do it the weekend after Presidents Day. So that's kind of a lull between like everybody spent all their money on travel and gifts at Christmas. January and February are pretty slow, and we're not quite to spring break yet. So I think the timing works for a lot of people. I think some people, you know, they're like Texas in February is great to be in Texas in July and August, not so much, but Texas in February is a great place to come get together with like minded people. Look at some things that you need to tweak in your business. Maybe just take that pause when things are a little bit slow, look at what you can do to improve for the upcoming year. I think that's all of those reasons are kind of key in keeping people coming.
Speaker 1 33:58
Do you have an idea, or, like, an ideal max capacity for the conference every year. Or do you just see how big it gets and kind of roll with it?
Deanna Schaar 34:09
Yeah, go ahead. Deanna, it kind of depends on our facility. So it's a, it's a kind of a big deal to find the right facility, one that we like one that's big enough. So, like, this year, we could have up to 200 people. I don't know if we will, but it would be great if we did, but we're not. We're not counting on that. And, yeah, I lost my frame thought, so you can look,
Speaker 1 34:45
but it sounds like it's, it's, it's finding the right facility, right lineup of speakers, and then seeing who shows up and who takes part in it, and really just kind of being open to it that way.
Cathy Vaughan 34:55
Yeah, who wants to come see their family and join the party again? We. Just are coming off of our 10th Anniversary, which was a really, really unique conference, not the first time it's been done, but hasn't been done in a long time. We went on a cruise, and when we were planning this, it started at year six, and we were like, Oh my gosh, we're over the like, five year hurdle. And we were like, What are we going to do for 1010? Has to be like, something amazing. And Deanna said, Let's go on a cruise. I was like, what? And so it was her idea. So, yeah, we went on a cruise this last February. I expected to have somewhere between 20 and 40 people, and we had close to 100 people join us on that cruise, and it was amazing. So again, it goes back to just what we're doing that year. Each year we rotate around Texas, so we we've been at a few different places now, and this year we're going to be in Austin. In 2026 we're going to be in Austin. Can't tell you where 2027 is going to be yet, but that is in the works. So it does just depend on the venue. Once the speakers are lined up and we have our venue, then we open up tickets and see who wants to join the party.
Speaker 1 36:14
When you select that location for where you're going to I mean, do you start reaching out to local sitters in the area to get them involved and trying to build up some support. Or What's that process like?
Cathy Vaughan 36:28
Generally, we are thinking about that enough in advance that we're able to reach out to the people that are in the hospitality industry, and we start whittling away, like looking at different locations that way, and we'll do a site visit once we announce that location, though, then we start, you know, asking people, Hey, would you like to help? So we have a couple of Austin pet sitters that are going to be helping us out as we get closer to our date in February. And then we'll be reaching out to people who are in the area for our 2027
Speaker 1 37:02
Yeah, and we'll have to find out what that is later. But okay,
Cathy Vaughan 37:08
anticipatory drop, yeah,
Speaker 1 37:11
that's fine now. I mean, so thinking reflecting back over the 11 years, and we've talked about some some personal moments and stuff that you've had and things you've overcome, but like, do each of you do? I mean, do you have a moment of like, Yeah, this is, this is why we do this, and this is why this is important.
Deanna Schaar 37:27
I do so a couple years ago, again, in efforts to try to find new and different, but actually help the person sitting in the chair I got. I asked my personal trainer and nutrition coach to come speak to our group, and I was a little hesitant, because I wasn't sure how he was going to be received. And, you know, really spent a lot of time with him before talking to him about the group, kind of where we are, and just, you know, so it wouldn't be intimidating, and it would be things that everybody could do. And you know, he has a lot of, you know, science behind things, which is quite interesting, and sometimes people just need to understand the why behind things to really motivate them. So he got up and spoke, and when he finished, we had another speaker after him, and he was on the side of the room, and there was a line of people waiting to talk to him while the conference was going on, and we had, I know of at least one person who signed up with him to be coached and and trained. And, you know, she just told me, Deanna like Brandon spoke to me like I needed that. I needed it at this time, I needed to hear that. And I am so excited to be working with them. And she's not even from Texas, so it to me, it's, it's making things better for their lives, whatever it is, you know, if it's great tools or processes or whatever, or helping them be more healthy themselves, so they feel better, so they can do more and do it for longer if they wanted to, that's, that's what, that's what is special to me.
Cathy Vaughan 39:46
And you know another person that really comes to mind is when we talked about Chagas disease. So you're a veterinarian. Remind me of his name,
Deanna Schaar 39:57
Dr Madigan, Dr Madison. Again, Roy Madigan,
Cathy Vaughan 40:01
and he came and spoke to us, and there's like he is at the forefront of the research for this disease that is killing animals in our area, and to know that we had him as a speaker at our conference, and that was, you know, the beginning of where he got asked to speak at another educational organization, and just to know that, wow. You know, we really are making a difference in disseminating this information about this important disease. He's now working on a vaccine to fight that disease. So just being a part of that, and of knowing that he spoke to our group of people, and our group of people were one of the first groups of pet sitting people that knew about this disease. That was an aha moment for me. Another aha moment for me was during covid, when we really had to pivot. So February of 2020 we pulled off our conference. Right after our conference, everybody started getting sick. So not not everybody at our conference. I mean, in the in the world. So then everything shut down March of 2020 so in February of 2021, we couldn't get together. So we were like, well, I guess we could, you know, do what everybody else is doing. And just saying, Oh, covid, we're gonna pause. We'll see all next year. But we decided that we would step totally, step out of our comfort zones. And the four of us learned how to do something online. And at the time, Zoom wasn't where it is now. I mean, people were Zoom meeting, but to have a full conference on Zoom was going to be a little chaotic. So we all learned how to use an app that ran our conference for us, and we did a full online conference. Now today, in 2025 next year, in 2026 that's not so like, oh my gosh, but in 2020 we were really pivoting at that point to make that happen. And it was one of the best conferences that I think we've had. We had great speakers. We mailed all of our swag out to everybody. Everybody got a box they got to open. So I was really happy. And that was like a moment of Wow. We pulled it off. And that's why we do what we do. Because, you know, we learn too. We learn from our speakers, and we learn things about ourselves and about how to do things by running this conference,
Collin 42:33
I love to hear that because, you know, it's, it's it can be easy, I think, for things to kind of get stale and same old, same old, and we're just going to copy paste and we're just going to do this. I mean, it's not like, every single year the conference is completely different. I think that's it's not like, Oh, we're going to do it upside down this year, and we're going to do it, you know, whatever. But it's that it sounds like, you know, like that's really that commitment to like, that of freshness and of, like, actionable, immediacy, relevant content and stuff that people can walk away from. Yeah, yeah. Now looking ahead, I know you don't want to really, you know, can't talk about too much stuff coming up down the pipeline. That's fine. It's fine. But like, what are things that you're excited about moving forward with the Association, or things that you you see in the next in the next 10 or 11 years?
Cathy Vaughan 43:33
I'm just excited to keep it going and see what great new people we can meet, what great new speakers we have and just to keep things moving along and keep people learning, get to see friendly faces again this year. Being in Austin in 2026 is going to be so much fun. Austin is a great place to be. We've got a fun happy hour planned on Friday night that I just can't wait for people to take part in. So just those few things this year. And then, you know, long term, I remember thinking year six, when Deanna said, what are we going to do? Year 10? I'm like, year 10. Oh, wow, I can't even imagine year 10. Are we really going to do this 10 years that's going to be phenomenal. Now we're on your 11, and I know your 20s right around the corner, so yeah, your 20 is going to be here before we know it, and we definitely plan to be here. Okay, cool.
Speaker 1 44:33
Deanna, did you have anything I saw you kind of lean forward, excited about something.
Deanna Schaar 44:40
No, I just, I just want to continue impacting people's lives. And I think do in doing that, it impacts other people, and it impacts pets, and that's why, that's why I like to continue doing it.
Collin 44:58
Does it ever get overwhelmed? In with how big, like, how many pets you've impacted. Because, I mean, if you think about it, if you've got, like, 100 200 people showing up every year for 11 years, like, that's, you know, 1000 people, plus the hundreds and hundreds of clients that they have and their pets. Like, do you ever sit? Does that keep you awake at night?
Cathy Vaughan 45:20
I never thought of it that way, but that is amazing. Collin, I love that. That is really cool. Never thought of that.
Speaker 1 45:29
I just, it just seemed, you know, anyway, so it's really neat to see the impact that you, that you have, and the Association does, and that, like you said, Deanna, like pets, lives are better because somebody attended a conference that you put on, and it's really beautiful to hear that and hear that heart behind it, and everything that you both do, I've really enjoyed getting to speak with both of you and walk through the history and the purpose and meaning behind the association and the conference. I know, again, there's a lot involved in this, and you have a very exciting conference coming up. So if people want to get connected, get involved or learn more and join and all that kind of stuff. Where should listeners go?
Cathy Vaughan 46:11
We have a great website. It's TX, which is the abbreviation for Texas pet sitters.com, that's the best place to go and learn a little bit more, and you can register for the conference there. We are still taking registration, so, yeah, TX, pet sitters.com Easy to remember.
Speaker 1 46:33
Okay, well, I will have that link in the show notes so people can get connected and on our website so people can get registered and see all the cool stuff you have coming on. This has just been an immense pleasure and an honor to have you both on and talk about this. Thank you, Kathy, thank you, Deanna, for coming on the show
Cathy Vaughan 46:49
today. You bet. Thank you. It's been such a great time to be with you.
Collin 46:55
I love when Deanna said, we don't have egos. This isn't about getting on stage. It's about doing whatever needs to be done to help others. When we look to build and when we look to do big things in our business or our community, it takes setting ourselves aside and allowing other people to come in, and allowing other people to help and assist and give as well. The things worth building take effort. The things worth building take a team of people who are on the same page, on the same mission, know what they're supposed to do, and are equipped to do it, setting aside egos to make sure that in the end, people benefit, whether that's a conference, an event, whether that is building your business, approach it with an attitude of selflessness and allowing other people to help. We want to thank our sponsors today, timed pet and pet perennials for making this show possible, and we really want to thank you for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and we'll be back again soon. Oh,
