669: Keeping Quality Consistent When You Grow a Team with Mikayla and Aaron Anders
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What does it look like to grow a pet sitting business without losing safety, consistency, or your sanity? Mikayla and Aaron Anders share how Adventures in Pet Sitting evolved from offering “everything” into a focused set of services built around what they love and what their community truly needs. We talk about building a team with a rigorous hiring and onboarding process, including certifications that prepare staff for real emergencies. They explain how boundaries, policies, and case-by-case flexibility protect both the business and client relationships over the long haul. The conversation closes with how networking in a rural market drives referrals and expands awareness—especially for specialty care like farm animals.
Main topics:
Safety-first hiring and training
Refining services for focus
Team consistency and handoffs
Policies, boundaries, and fairness
Rural referrals and networking
Main takeaway: “Knowledge is what protects us.”
This is a standard that shapes how you hire, how you train, and how you operate when things go sideways. Safety isn’t only about avoiding worst-case scenarios; it’s about building a team that can make smart decisions without panic, even in weather events, lockouts, or unfamiliar animal behavior. The more your business grows, the more your systems have to carry the load—because the stakes get higher with every new client, pet, and employee. Training, clear procedures, and ongoing education aren’t “extra,” they’re what create consistency. If you want a business that lasts, build the kind of knowledge that keeps everyone safe.
About our guests: Mikayla Anders is the founder and “Head Adventure Leader” of Adventures in Pet Sitting, where she designs and oversees enriching, compassionate care for a wide range of animals. With a background in biology and hands-on experience across animal care environments, she’s built a safety-first business known throughout her community. Aaron Anders supports the company through marketing and operations, bringing his experience in business, photography, and brand-building to the behind-the-scenes work. Together, they’ve grown a trained team, refined their services, and built strong local partnerships to better serve clients.
Links:
https://petsittingadventurescom.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/PetSittingAdventures18
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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, Adventures in Pet Sitting, Mikayla Anders, Aaron Anders, team growth, client services, safety protocols, employee training, community partnerships, business expansion, marketing strategies, client relationships, emergency planning, AI integration, networking.
SPEAKERS
Aaron Anders, Mikayla Anders, Collin Funkhouser
Collin Funkhouser 00:03
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 kind to pet and pet perennials. Today, we are super excited to have Mikayla and Aaron Anders, owners of adventures in pet sitting on the show, to talk about how they got started, how they serve their clients with excellence, and how they continue to push the envelope. What's possible, grow their team and grow their business as well. Mikayla and Aaron, I am super excited to have you both on the show today. For those who aren't familiar with you or what you all do, could you please tell us a little bit more about yourselves?
Mikayla Anders 00:37
I am Mikayla Anders. I'm the founder and head adventure leader here at Adventures pet sitting, my role is to design, design, oversee and lead every part of our journey, from developing new services to ensuring every pet receives an enriching, compassionate care.
Aaron Anders 00:57
And I'm Aaron Anders. I am the marketing and I also do pet sitting as well, but I do a lot of the behind the scenes. I am a professional photographer by trade, and I help assist with the business in all marketing efforts.
Collin Funkhouser 01:14
Makayla, I want to touch back on your title, head adventure leader. How'd you come up with this title for you in the business?
Mikayla Anders 01:22
So I really contemplated this, actually a couple years ago, when we started adding employees as well as we did some rebranding and such. And because we don't do like, just dogs or just cats, we do all types of animals, I had to think really hard of something that would connect all of it together. Because, you know, a lot of people do like the Alpha leader or something like that, when they just do dogs and so. So, keeping with the concept and theme of my business, I thought that the head of venture leader really connected with that whole aspect,
Collin Funkhouser 02:07
ties everything together and displays, again, your role, because it's important to define those, those roles. Now, how did you both get started in the business and kind of, why was it important to start a dog walking vetting business for you.
Mikayla Anders 02:24
So it's kind of a funny story, in a way. I originally was not looking at this type of job. I initially graduated from Kansas Wesleyan University here in Salina and was supposed to be going off and doing Tiger conservation, and lo and behold, that wasn't an option in the middle of Kansas, moving wasn't an option as well at that time. So we really had a strategically think, Okay, we just got married, I just graduated, we'll probably be starting a family soon. Like, what can we do? And I worked for a dog sitting company while in school, and Aaron kind of came up with this idea of offAarong in home services. And so I did my research as being a biology major research is a big deal in that field. And found out that my community actually needed this type of service and stuff, so three months of research and looking into what I needed to even start a business, because business was not in my forte. That's actually Aaron's side. And I just kind of like, okay, we'll try it for a year and see how it will work, if it would be something. And you know, by 2019 it just flew so fast and grew so fast and that it became a trusted name through Slane County and the surrounding areas within a 20 mile radius. And since then, we've expanded from solo visits to a fully trained adventure team. We've added new systems, built community partnerships, and we even earned a vetAaronarian endorsement just a few months ago. So every milestone that we've done from the beginning has been a wonderful adventure for us,
Aaron Anders 04:41
and we both, we both have loved animals and have loved always being around nature. And Mikayla grew up not too far from a zoo, so she was a grew up being a junior Zookeeper, and she did an internship at the. Cedric, Cedric county zoo while she was in college, and also while she was in college, worked at a doggy boarding facility and a doggy daycare, so she had the background, and it was kind of my idea, after she had a position with kennel and as the enrichment coordinator. And she found out right before she was supposed to graduate that that position, they had her, they gave her a t shirt, and she was all set to go, but the day before she was supposed to start, she was told that there's a family member who wanted her position. So she unfortunately lost that position, and she was really devastated at that point, because she thought she had the job and was ready to start. And who is at that point in time where I'm like, Well, maybe you should just start your own business, just, you know, I thought, I thought it would give her something to look up to, something to do for a little bit. I didn't have any idea that it would really grow into what it is today.
Collin Funkhouser 06:07
Now, Aaron, when did you start to become what were you involved with the business from the very beginning? Or was that something that came in in later?
Aaron Anders 06:16
Well, I was involved from the very beginning. Yeah. Like, say it was, it was kind of my idea, mainly to get her focused on to something, because she was devastated at that point, and I knew that that that would kind of give her an incentive, and I knew she would be great at it. I didn't know, like I say, it was going to really take off like it did. So I have a business administration minor. My major was graphic communications, management, so I've been doing photography and business, and I knew it would be a good venture for both of us. I just didn't expect it to really take off like it did.
Mikayla Anders 06:53
And he slowly graduated into working more and more into the business, sure. So we kind of kept it separate for a little bit, but then once we realized it was taking off, he got more into, oh, we need a website. Okay, I can create that. Oh, we need photos, we need videos, we need marketing. So he really got into that side of the business, because that's not my forte at all. I have the ideas, but he's the one that can put them together.
Collin Funkhouser 07:23
You said you started with that kind of one one year timeline. I mean, was that something that you like? Why was that one year important to set when you first started?
Mikayla Anders 07:35
It was because, to me, we figured we wouldn't know if this would be any good, even though data tells us, like our community needed it, we figured if we can see how it goes for one year, that would give us a very good insight on if it would be sustainable for us compared to, well, you do it for a month or so, it's like, well, doesn't give you as much data. And it also worked out, because within the next few months, we found out we were expecting our first child, so kind
Collin Funkhouser 08:21
of gave a little bit more incentive, in that instance, to see really give it some legs and timeline. Because ideas like that, they do take time to get traction. That I know I am really guilty at becoming very, I'm not a very patient person at times, and having to remind myself of that, of hey, I need to give this time to work. Okay, I posted the thing. I'm starting some marketing efforts. I'm growing my client base. I'm going like, I need to be okay with this, taking 3456, months before I can start reaping the rewards of that. So setting that kind of long distance time horizon. I mean, that's really good that we can do in our businesses anytime we change anything or want to start something new or different.
Mikayla Anders 09:08
Oh, definitely, I am very similar to you. I'm not a very patient person. I'm learning that kind of the hard way with kids, but I also knew with my biology background, like data takes time and stuff, so it's like, Okay, we got to give it time. But like I said, we expected our first so it gave me that flexibility to say yes or no and be able to stay home for a little bit, rather than trying to dictate at another job. Like, you know, Oh, you don't have maternity daily because you're only part time or whatnot.
Collin Funkhouser 09:49
When you launched into this, were you like, how did you decide on what services you wanted to start with? And then, how have those changed over the years? So.
Mikayla Anders 10:00
So like many small businesses, we started by offAarong nearly everything from pet sitting, potty breaks, pet taxi rides, training and even overnights and nail trimming. But after roughly the third year, we kind of discovered what worked for our community and what fueled our own passion. So over time, we realized that what truly excited us were the adventures so daily, pet sits, pet taxi trips, dark Park outings. That's what really fueled our passions for this job, compared to like training and nail trimming didn't quite spark that same joy for us, so we decided to retire those services. And then we also started phasing out our overnights because our community is kind of small, so it wasn't as a high demand as like Kansas City areas and stuff might have a higher demand for overnights, So we decided to phase those out as well, but at the same time, we were starting our family. So me being gone from 6pm to 6am was not an option with having an infant at home. It made a priority for us to be home with our family. So after roughly the third year, we kind of figured out our passion and our drive. So the services that we offer now is kind of what keeps us fueled.
Collin Funkhouser 11:55
Well, I think that's a really important thing that you said there was like, What do I actually want to do, because there's an infinite number of things we can do. I know Megan and I, we kind of, like, we're looking for ways to how we can grow the business and what we could do. And we really looked at like doing, trying to do poop scooping for a lot like our business. We're like, oh, yeah, this is, this will be great. This is what we can do. Because everybody poops like, I've read the book, like I I've done, I did my market research. Boom. Like, done. So this is sure to be good. And just as we got more involved in it, it was like, I don't like this at all. Like, not that. It's just like, oh, there's just poop all the time. It's like, this isn't what I wake up in the morning excited to do. And so it could have made money and grown in that capacity, but because it wasn't something that we were passionate about, we just had to say, I don't want to do that, because I know I'm not going to do it with excellence, and it's not what fits us. And I think that that's a trap that we fall into a lot with business owners of going, well, it's something I can make money off of, so I could offer it, or I should do that instead of realizing what do I actually want to be doing with my time?
Mikayla Anders 13:06
So ironically, we actually looked into that service as well. Okay? And we just started hiring employees during then and stuff, and they're like, I don't want to do this. But at the same time, there was a lot of red tape that we had to go through to even offer that service. And I was like, yeah, no, I don't want to go through that headache. Well.
Collin Funkhouser 13:32
So I mean, for I mean, when you two sit down to discuss those kind of things, what's that like? As far as, is this a good fit? Is this not how do you have that conversation about the way the direction the business needs to go?
Aaron Anders 13:46
We can kind of look at that. I mean, sometimes too, like the customers will let you know too. And also the numbers kind of are obvious. So when it comes to, like, the nail trimming, it was kind of obvious that we had a few here and there, but it wasn't like, really taking off like we wanted. So that was kind of an obvious like, okay, it, you know, there a lot of our clients are already going someplace to do that and and that seemed like it just wasn't as popular as what we thought it would be. So there's some obvious things like that. But when it comes to who has the final say, Mikayla is technically the owner, so it is has the final say in it,
Mikayla Anders 14:25
yeah, but I also look towards Aaron, because he has that business marketing side, so I always look for his two cents, even if I don't agree with it and stuff. But like you said, like I do have the final say, because in reality, it is my business. I'm the one that runs it and stuff. So he understands that, and that's our mutual agreement and understanding and respect for each other. Just like his photography side of the business, he has the. Last day on that, I don't but I can give him my two cents and what I think he should do and stuff. So it's kind of a good balance for each other.
Aaron Anders 15:10
There's one thing I guess we forgot to mention. So like, I am owner of Aaron's photography, which is my own photography business, so we work together and collaborate on different events. Like, for example, this last weekend, we were at the line a vetAaronarian hospital. They had an open house, and so she had her booth with adventures in pet sitting. And then I also had a photo where I was taking photos of people and their pets. And so we kind of worked together with both of our businesses. Sometimes in that situation, yeah, yeah, it's a nice
Collin Funkhouser 15:45
little crossover and complimentary. In instance, you have a lot together, because that's was actually something that we had looked into trying to offer as well. Oh, we'll do pet photography. Which cool we can offer pet photography. And then it was going, oh, man, how do we, you know, how do we have trained somebody with this who's providing the camera? Like, are we actually going to be going this long term? Is this something the market wants so that at the end we went, No, that we don't need to. We can't offer this. We can't go down this road. Because it's just, again, not where a passion is and not where we see signs of of growth or good, you know, synergy with our business, who we actually are. I mean, when you guys are putting those things together like so your services that you offer, what's it like for, for you to train your employees on that consistency. Because, you know, when we look at services that we offer, we want to make sure that whatever we offer is is really good all the time. As you built your team, how have you maintained that for, for what you're offAarong?
Aaron Anders 17:00
Yeah, so we have a pretty, pretty rigid hiring process, and it all starts when they first apply. And there's a bunch of questions that we ask so that we know right away, if you know, if they answer the wrong, wrong question, if they if they don't have a driver's license, they automatically get kicked out. And so it kind of is like a it's very line. We've got it streamed now to where they can start filling in, and we'll know right away whether it's a good applicant or not. And from there, you know, through the interview, throughout the entire interview process, we get to really know the app. We don't just hire somebody off the street, and so it's really about making those connections with our staff that's really, really important. As far as when it comes to making sure that we have standards, and we do have, once they do get hired on, there's, you know, an onboarding process that we have. They get two different certifications. So they do take classes. So before they even start, we make sure that they're certified, and we do spend time with them on several of the first visits as they get to work with our clients and their pets.
Collin Funkhouser 18:21
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Collin Funkhouser 18:46
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Mikayla Anders 19:11
So that is one that we have outsourced to pet team Pro. So they do the pet certification for pet care as well as pet CPR, and then our actually, our county offers a disaster relief training online, and it's hilarious, but it's through Florida. Okay, so anyone who goes through the hiring process and joins our adventure team has a chance of being triple certified, and we're the only ones in Salina County that are actually triple certified. Yeah. Wow, that's
Aaron Anders 20:01
pet CPR and and pet safety and then emergency management. Wow.
Collin Funkhouser 20:08
Why was that important? Because that's not just gonna say this. That's not common to have people certified in why was that important for you?
Aaron Anders 20:15
For you all, I can tell you. I can tell you why that's important. It's because we live in Kansas, okay, so so we don't know if there's going to be a tornado or if there's going to be 12 inches of snow, and so our priority is that pet so we have to know in any situation what, what the protocols and what, what we're going to do, yeah, yeah.
Mikayla Anders 20:40
I think it's good as well, because in those situations, we have a lot of clients that actually travel overseas and stuff. So for example, this January, we had a huge blizzard to where I'm only five two, and the snow drifts were going past my hip and so so I'm almost chest deep in snow trying to get to clients houses and stuff, if it was a situation to where we had to go to a disaster plan, to where we had to go to Take the client's pets to a place to stay warm and safe, my team would know what to do and how to handle that situation, rather than blowing up our phones and be like, Okay, what do we do? Do we need to do anything? They know exactly what to do in those situations, because safety is always a priority for us, and so having those background training sessions was a very important part of when we decided to switch over to employees and build our employee culture well.
Collin Funkhouser 21:57
And you mentioned a very key aspect that I think a lot of people who bring on teams want, right you mentioned, well, they'll know what to do, so they're not blowing up my phones and so, I mean, sounds like you're building these, these, you know, with that, with the training, also with the competency, with the comfortable, you know, nature in these different situations, it means that they're able to act and respond consistently across all of them without having to check in with you. And I'm sure they still have to alert you if something's going on or if they have to change certain things. But it's that questions of, what do I do? What do I do that a lot of people with teams go, why just just do the thing right? It gets it's easy to get frustrated in that moment when they haven't provided the correct training or structure for them to operate in,
Mikayla Anders 22:43
very true, and that whole concept is still changing and improving every month for us. I mean, as everybody know, like AI, is becoming a huge thing now, especially in the pet sitting industry, and so we've incorporated that into our business. So we use AI sometimes to make our service reports more fluent so they can't quite tell that it's somebody else doing their service, compared to me, yeah, and stuff. And that gives a peace of mind to our clients and stuff, that it's a detailed report and stuff. Instead of, oh, they went outside and went potty, we played fetch for five seconds, and now they're inside and doing a snack. You know, as well as we're incorporating like a bot to where they have a question like, Oh, hey, we can't the keypad is not working. What do I need to do? And so they can ask the bot and answers their question instead of trying to go through the handbook to find that answer to the question. It's a very quick reference. Or, like before, you would have to be blowing up the lead adventure. Or me of, okay, what do I do now? Right? You know, so we've been really incorporating those new changes and stuff into our employee culture.
Collin Funkhouser 24:26
What if you don't mind me asking, What are you using for that? Is that a custom built thing, or is that a chat GPT thing that you're having access to for the team?
Mikayla Anders 24:35
So the service report is chat GBT. Our bot isn't quite up and running just yet, but that is a process that I'm working with. Our business coach with she's helping me kind of build that up, and it kind of goes through Chachi. BT too. But it can also go through Magi as well, sure, so, but she has a way of interfacing it with everybody, so it's really nice.
Aaron Anders 25:11
Yeah, every single client we have has a description and, you know, has a detailed, you know, what? What type of food, how much or two different way. We always have two different ways to get in the house, in case one way doesn't work. So it's a lot of the time. It's just going back to those, to those references to those from the client.
Collin Funkhouser 25:35
Yeah, yeah. I know that that is consistently a problem where we want all this detail, we want all this detail. We want all this detail, and then we have to find ways to surface that and make it easily accessible for the team so they're not having to hunt and pack in five different areas of well, did you read the private note? Did you read the home notes? Did you read the pet profile? Did you watch the walkthrough video? Did you like all of the all of a sudden, it's like, there's gonna be too much, too overwhelming, and then we've got to figure out, how do I streamline this so that my team have exactly what they need, but also know where to go in case it gets a little bit too complicated or something comes up unexpected,
Mikayla Anders 26:14
yep, and that's why I'm looking forward to our bot being up And running hopefully by next year. So it's a quick and easy reference, instead of trying to scan through our adventure system with the client's information to try to find that what they need and stuff. So yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 26:34
or like you said, Oh, man, you know we Oh, my training manual is 180 pages long. Isn't this wonderful? It's like nobody reads that. Nobody's gonna be sitting there going, Oh, I can't get the garage door open, flip, flip, or scroll, scroll, scroll, nobody's doing that. So being able to have that information is really nice.
Mikayla Anders 26:54
Yeah, you just throw in. How do you open the garage door when it's not working on the bot and it just pops it. Have you tried a, b, c, d, yeah. And none of that works. Then let's go to E, and that's contacting us.
Aaron Anders 27:09
And every, every, I think, every pet sitter's been through that situation where you're like, trying to, for some reason, the lock is stuck, you know, and so you're just trying to scroll through and try, try and find that, that second way to get in,
Collin Funkhouser 27:24
yeah, yep. And when you're a team member and you're an employee, it's like, well, I could scroll through 180 pages, or let me just jump in Slack real quick and ask the boss, or ask the team lead, because that's going to cut my time down, and it's going to make my life easier. And that's we understand. Hey, we need to get this all. We get it solved now. So what can we do to free up either my time or my team leads time so they can be working on other stuff instead of answAarong these kind of, not necessarily common questions, but stuff that we go, I have this written down already, like here, you know, here's just an easier way to access it.
Aaron Anders 27:57
Yep, yeah. Anymore our clients, almost all, most of our clients, have cameras. So it's almost embarrassing when you're sitting there on their porch and, you know, like the cameras on you, and you're trying to struggle,
Collin Funkhouser 28:10
yep, you're just sitting there watching. And like, I'll have conversations with the cameras, being like, hey, just so you know, I'm working on this right now. Anyway, I hope, hope your day's going well. We'll get this figured out in a minute.
Mikayla Anders 28:20
Yeah, yeah, where they're watching you try to go through the doggy door to get into the house. Yeah, yeah, that was interesting.
Collin Funkhouser 28:33
I we had a, we actually did have a garage door fail, and the client had put out the lockbox before they had left, but had failed to put the key in it whenever they had left. So our second mode of entry was kind of not, I mean, the lockbox worked beautifully, just no key. So I remember, like, the spring on the garage door had had failed, and so I'm having to lift it up a little bit wedge, a brick under, lift it up a little bit wedge, a brick under, so that I could, like, scurry underneath. And yeah, it was all on, it was all on camera, and all the neighbors were kind of watching. And I'm just like, I'm a professional. All, all is fine, right? Go about your day.
Mikayla Anders 29:09
Yep, I've actually had a similar situation occur, and I was eight months pregnant trying to squeeze myself through a doggy door to reach the lock in the back to unlock the door to get in, and so, so it was a doggy door they don't use. They didn't use at all, but it was just there and stuff. I mean, their dog couldn't get to it anyways, because there was another door from that entry and stuff. So that was fun.
Collin Funkhouser 29:41
I'm sure, sure sure that was, that was great to report on later.
Mikayla Anders 29:44
Was Oh yeah. They call it. They're like, is everything okay? Like, we saw this going on. Like, Yeah, we're good. I just got locked out, right? And, of course, it was a rental and stuff. And they're like, Oh yeah, our landlord was. Supposed to fix that key, and they did it before they left type situation, which, I mean, life happens, yeah, and stuff, and we just find a way to get the job done.
Collin Funkhouser 30:12
Now you you mentioned you've been growing a team. Are you Is it a fully team based model, or is it still, is it a one for one model? How do you have that structured.
Mikayla Anders 30:22
Um, so I've been trying to phase myself out of the field a little bit. Um, so more focusing on employees and having the team work in the field. Um, so I want to say it's more of a team based model.
Aaron Anders 30:46
And we've had, I mean, it really ranges anywhere from two, three, we've had up to like six hires that have been working all part time. Yeah, how
Collin Funkhouser 30:59
do you go? How do you go about making sure that from visit to visit, things stay consistent? Because I know that's a big thing of, okay, I'm gonna have a team. I have multiple people in this home, like, what? What's that like, making sure that you're setting your team up for success, so that no matter who walks in, they're able to perform and do well,
Mikayla Anders 31:19
um, so, I mean, it's been a struggle, but I think we've kind of found our flow a little bit. I mean,
Aaron Anders 31:30
it really starts with that meet and greet session, because we don't have any of them do anything unless they've done them, you know, a meet and greet with
Mikayla Anders 31:40
with us and the client, yeah, well, and if they don't do the meet and greet with the client for their original meeting and for safety reasons, they do have to go through a review with me or our lead assistant before they are left on their own. Like I said, safety is a huge thing for us, so introducing somebody new to some pets is never a good idea, um, just because they're either, you know, protective of the territory or stranger danger concept and stuff for some animals, so it's a lot easier to just do a review with that person, so they know where everything's at, even though it's on the system, the pets are familiar with you, and then they get familiar with them, and they feel calm and safe, and that's what's important to us.
Collin Funkhouser 32:38
You mentioned a couple times now, safety being really important to you. Where does that come from? Did you have an incident early on? Or is this kind of how both of you are wired to just make sure that all those things are taken care of?
Aaron Anders 32:55
It's always been our one of our main priorities is safety for both the pet and and ourselves that our employees, we strive and we're pretty proud that never had any major accidents happen, and we've celebrated this last summer, we celebrated our seventh anniversary of the business, so we're pretty excited because I had a friend of a co worker, friend of mine, she pets that just, you know, for fun or just to help out a neighbor, and she came to work and had This huge, huge injury on the back of her leg, and it was because the dog had bit her, and the neighbor didn't really tell her that the dog might be a little aggressive. So for reasons like that, we always, we always, you know, think of safety when dealing with animals no matter what what pet is, because you got to keep in mind, we do, we do farm animals. So we've done chicken we do chickens, ducks, done horses, I mean, any hoop stock. We've done goats, you know, a lot of different
Mikayla Anders 34:29
farms, green tree frogs. We do almost all types of animals. So and like most people should know, even the calmest animal can be dangerous, and that's why we take safety so seriously. Because, I mean, I worked in an environment where it wasn't safe for me to work with the animals by myself. You had 20 plus animals to take. Care of on your own, on top of everything else, and it's that's not safe. Ready? Okay, perfect.
Aaron Anders 35:08
I'm good. I'll be back. So they know.
Mikayla Anders 35:15
So that's why, when I created this business, I wanted to make sure that safety was on the top priority and so so I just didn't want to take that chance. I mean, even then, you know, there's always those chances of having close calls. From the seven years I've had two close calls of being bit
Mikayla Anders 35:43
or attacked by an animal, even the calmest animal, because,
Mikayla Anders 35:51
you know, you wore sunglasses and you forgot to take them off, because they didn't see your eyes, you know. So, yeah. Well, I've always made it a top priority. Knowledge is what protects us.
Collin Funkhouser 36:08
It really is. And I think I don't know there are, there are times where I can still start to go, man, are we? Are we going overboard on this? Like, is this? Is this too much. Am I being, am I being a stick in the mud about this situation? I don't know if you've ever had those thoughts. Mikayla, but I know I have. And Megan, I have talked about that and and we keep coming back to I'm not being a stick in the mud. I'm holding I'm upholding high standards, and we're not willing, and we're not willing to to waiver from upholding those standards that we know are are beneficial to us and the safety of everybody involved,
Mikayla Anders 36:51
that that is true. I mean, there's been a few times where Aaron's even like, you probably need to lay back a little bit and I'm like, No. Like, he's been in those situations growing up with cattle and pigs and stuff. It's like you have to be on your A game almost all the time with animals, because they're unpredictable. Yeah, I mean, I mean humans can be too, but I mean, just like us, animals have bad days too, and most of the time the ways they communicate is to bite, scratch, attack and so so Being able to read their movements and how they're acting, because that's their language. Is what keeps us safe.
Collin Funkhouser 37:48
Yeah, it is and and it becomes even more important as we add employees, as we bring on brand new clients, it just, it just all compounds on top of one another. And I know you offer, like, same day cancelations for certain services. And like you're you seem, you seem pretty flexible with your services, and when people can book and can and cancel them, how has that been offAarong those?
Mikayla Anders 38:21
Um, that's been a trial and error, actually, okay, yeah, okay, um, I mean, I still try to be flexible, even though I have those in place, because I know life happens. I mean, there are some things that you can't control and stuff, but at the same time, I have to have those boundaries and balances and stuff. So there's times where, like a regular client that I have weekly, or, for instance, I have this client that I have there overseas right now. I've had them since the beginning of me starting, and I give them a little bit more leniency sometimes, because I know they're good for a payment or a booking later on or whatnot, compared to a new client who's used us a couple of times and they're always flaky on payments or always asking for a last minute request and stuff. So I try to be lenient but fair at the same time to both my clients and my business,
Collin Funkhouser 39:43
you can't automate compassion, but you can make it easier to deliver pet perennials is built just for that. Their sympathy and milestone gifts are designed for grieving pet parents, and they take care of the fulfillment from start to finish, so nothing falls through the cracks for. Busy pet business owners. It's a simple system to scale kindness, nurture long term client loyalty and respond meaningfully in those difficult moments. Sign up for their free gift perks business account to receive discounted pricing with zero fees or minimums. Learn more at Pet perennials.com Yeah, you really do have to make sure that it's it is fair too, right? Like, I think that that's important. But also, like you said, when you have that trusted relationship with a particular client, it makes it easier to to, you know, maybe flex those rules one time versus another. Like you said, if you said, if you have a client who's been with you for 567, years going well, they've always paid on time, or they've never this isn't the habit of theirs. They canceled last minute. It must have been really serious. And you do that, and then you kind of watch and because we don't want bad habits to form with clients, and we have to have policies and procedures to protect our our business, to protect our income, to protect our our employees as well. But it is a I definitely view it, and I know Megan. I do too, like kind of a case by case basis of, here's the general rule, and then we do decide when exceptions are made and why they're made when we need to make them,
Mikayla Anders 41:21
yeah, and I have it stated in our like terms and conditions, like any call that is made, especially when it comes to late fee, payment cancelation, fee type stuff, it it stays that It is the owner's responsibility to make that call if something changes,
Collin Funkhouser 41:45
yeah, and then knowing, okay. And there are times I know when we are upholding our policies, where I don't I we have all these things in place. And there are still times where I'm like, Oh, I don't want to have to enforce this, but because the client chose to do X, Y, Z, I have to do this so that I'm consistent and it's applied fairly to everybody. And I don't ever like being in those situations. And the same thing with employees too, of like, I don't want to have to write you up for this, but you broke this policy, and so I have to go through this, this process and explain it to you, and those are the decisions sometimes that we just have to do. Have to do certain actions because we said we would, and then if we don't, it's like, well, what's the point of having them in the first place?
Mikayla Anders 42:35
Very true. Um, I think that's part of something that people don't think about when they decide to start a business, either it be small or big or whatever. They don't think about, okay, if I have an employee, if I'm growing and stuff like, if there's a consequence, how do I handle it? Can I handle it? You know, Aaron's the type of person. He hates confrontation, and so he might not lay down the law in a lack of a better way of saying it when needed. As for me, I also hate confrontation, but I am also one that will be okay. You did this. That wasn't correct, so I have to do this. Yeah, and what did we learn? Yeah, and stuff I don't like having those conversations. I don't, but at the same time. I know I have to and stuff where Aaron will have those conversations, but he will avoid it if he can.
Collin Funkhouser 43:51
It is, it is so hard, and I've even had to sit down with some of our employees or even with a client, and gone. I didn't want to have to have this conversation today, and I just want you to know I'm not happy to be here, and I'm not happy. It's not because I'm angry that you did this thing. I'm angry that I'm having this conversation right now, and it ends up being like but when I do that, everybody understands, like, the importance of it, and I've built a little bit of extra muscle in actually following through with my policies.
Mikayla Anders 44:27
Yep, I've actually just recently had to have that conversation with the client and stuff. It was kind of one of those. It wasn't unusual for them, and then it became a usual thing, a routine Yeah, and so I had to sit down and have that conversation, which then it, in turn, turned into, oh, well, this life thing happened, and this life thing happened, and I'm trying to play catch up and stuff. I'm. Like, Oh, well, I'm the type of person if you tell me, like you don't have to go into detail or anything, but if you communicate with me, I will do my best to work with you, yeah, and stuff. And she goes, Oh, so having that conversation, we were able to figure out a plan to get her caught up so that we didn't have to terminate her as a client because of something that was kind of out of her hands that occurred, and then
Collin Funkhouser 45:37
again, then that builds, hopefully, some mutual respect and trust between you and the client of how things were handled, and also keeps to your professionalism of I have standards. I uphold them. We have policies, we uphold them. We do flex them as needed and on a case by case basis. However, we are the kind of people who are going to uphold what we said we were going to do. And I've we've had to do that several times, and ultimately it's always in our cases, garnered more respect from the client and ended up turning out pretty well for us in the end.
Mikayla Anders 46:15
Yeah, we've been the same way. I think we might have had maybe one or two where we had to go separate ways. But, I mean, that's just part of the business too. You're not going to be the flavor for everybody and vice versa. Like, I mean, we talk about that in this pet sitting industry of not everyone is going to be your client, and you have the right to kind of pick and choose who fits into your client profile,
Collin Funkhouser 46:50
you know, and then you're able to that changes over time. I know when we first started, we we definitely refined our client profile. I mean, what's that process been like for you both as you've started your business and grown and expanded. I mean, how have you decided or found who your ideal client is?
Mikayla Anders 47:12
Um, I think it changes. I mean, through the years and stuff, it's changed quite a bit, and also finding our boundaries. And I'm really hard to say no to people. I'm always kind of like, well, let's give them a chance and see how it goes and and now having a family and having a team and wanting to be there for the kids now that they're older and in things and stuff, it's like,
Mikayla Anders 47:46
okay, who are the clients that I want that can fit what we need and that I shouldn't Have to say no to because it's planned ahead,
Mikayla Anders 48:03
in a sense, like, do I want the client that's consistently last minute booking? For example, I had a client like that where they were literally on the road and, oh, hey, we forgot to book you. You got the pets this weekend, right? Compared to a client who books us two years in advance because they're going on a cruise, so they have it all planned out, minus, perhaps when they're leaving and returning and stuff like, who would be my, our ideal client there. And so we've kind of figured out in that aspect, like we prefer those that kind of plan ahead and get things done, but at the same time we know things happen, so having kind of an emergency type client to where you know a family member passed away, and they have to leave unexpectedly. That's why we kind of call ourselves on call call animal assistance, because the schedule changes in a blink of an eye. In that instant instance, you might have the day off, and then it's like, oh, well, we have an emergency call. You're booked, yeah, and stuff. So it's definitely changed throughout the seven years, and I still struggle with the no word, but I'm realizing that I do have to say no sometimes, like being fully booked on the holidays, no, I'm sorry we can't squeeze you in, even though I really enjoy your pipes. You know, like, it can be a hard balance.
Collin Funkhouser 49:59
Sometimes. Yes, it can, and it doesn't, like a lot of people think it gets easier, but in some cases it doesn't, because I start thinking of, oh, but the possibility, right? Like, ooh, the potential, or what happens if, and as you become more known in an area, more people reach out to you in those circumstances, because you are the reliable, the dependable, the professional, and they go oop, I'm in a pinch. I know who to go to, and it's like, Oh, two weeks ago, I could have taken you on, but I can't. And it's, it still gets hard. It's hard. I don't know. It's never easy.
Mikayla Anders 50:37
It's not, yeah, so because I I'm a people pleaser, so I want to be able to please everybody and help everybody in their time of need and stuff. When there's times where it's like, I can't I need help myself. Yeah, yeah. And that's
Aaron Anders 50:58
why we do do networking, and we've, we've focused hard last few years tonight work, so that way we have other options if we're unavailable. And, okay, well, you know, go to this line animal hospital. They have smoke things or or, you know, try this or that, and it just, it makes it nice when you have a another option that you can give them, instead of just flat out saying
Collin Funkhouser 51:21
no, no, right? Well, you guys operate in a more rural part of Kansas, right? What's, what are some challenges that you faced growing an In Home Pet Care Service business in your area, in your market?
Mikayla Anders 51:36
I mean, like I mentioned, like we're the only ones that cares for all types of animals. So really showcasing that we can care for, like the farm animals, has been bit of a challenge because, you know, farmers and ranchers, even ones that have small livestock where they don't have hands helping them, they don't realize that we're even here, no matter how much we market and word of mouth, and it says it's been kind of difficult to reach those types of people, because that's one service that we Want to try to increase in the next few years is to really showcase that we do take farm animals like it's just not dogs and cats like we've done aquatics, reptiles, you know, pocket pets. We do a little bit of everything.
Aaron Anders 52:40
And we have had several community members and farmers or ranchers, and, you know, they say, Well, I wish I would have known you sooner, you know, because I haven't had a vacation in 10 years, you know, or whatever. So it is. It is rewarding to hear some of those, those comments from our clients.
Collin Funkhouser 53:00
Do you feel like it's a general just lack of awareness of that it's possible to look for this kind of thing, or they, you know, they're they're not sure of the service and how it works. Where do you think that that that barrier is for people in coming into your business?
Mikayla Anders 53:17
I think it's a combination. I mean, we're starting to work with our Salina animal shelter. They just changed directories and stuff, so they're actually welcoming us in as a networking opportunity. And so we're hoping that through them, we will be able to give that resource like a whole Resource List of you know what, groomers, vets, Animal Services and stuff that are offered in our area, because a lot of people don't know or know where to look to find those resources. I mean, you can Google, but then that doesn't always emphasize Oh, they have five stars, but they had bad reviews. Or, you know, like a lot of people relay more on what people say that they know and trust, like, oh yeah, my cousin told me about you, and she had nothing but good things to say. They would trust that person over what a review would say about a business and so networking with other community people, vetAaronarians, groomers like I said, the animal shelter, I think it's really going to help get the word of mouth out, because, for example, the vetAaronarian that we network with, she just endorsed us a couple months ago, and. She works with farm animals, and so that will definitely help us increase that side of our business, because once she has farm animals herself, but she's also working with farm animals so she can give them our information and stuff of who to call when they need something?
Collin Funkhouser 55:26
Yeah, I know a lot of people tend to rely only on Google listing Facebook, and they just immediately assume, well, people will search for what they want or what they need. And I that we definitely not, we don't see that. We have, we have two different service areas, one, and they're two hours apart from one. Another one's really rural. It's a town of 21,000 people, and that's we don't really serve much outside of that. Another one, it's, you know what, 300 400,000 people, kind of in a particular area. And this how we acquire clients in those is very, very different, but one thing remains the same is that if you can get a word of mouth referral from somebody who they already know, like or trust, it's way more powerful, and sometimes it just comes up in conversations. They're not going to Google saying, I'm traveling in three weeks, and I don't know what to do with my dog, but they are saying that phrase to their friends or family members, to their groomer, to their trainer, and the person, if they know of you, knows how to respond. And so it's just a very different way your problem sets bubble up and and that's why that kind of networking is still so powerful and way more relevant than it than than ever these days, especially as we already mentioned with with onslaught of AI and how we were found that way too,
Mikayla Anders 56:42
most definitely. And I think with especially small businesses in general, word of mouth is what grows you or destroys you. And I know that that is what had our business take off tremendously. Was just word of mouth. Guys before then, it's like we didn't have a Google listing, we didn't have a website. We might have had a Facebook page, but other than that, like our marketing was gorilla marketing in a sense, you know, putting flyers up throughout downtown Salina and feed markets and stuff like that, and just letting our family and friends know that we're offAarong this service and to share and stuff, compared to now seven years later, we're marketing on Facebook, on Google, we have reels going on on Instagram and sending newsletters out to our clients every month, and stuff like it's changed tremendously. But even then, the most constant thing is word of mouth.
Collin Funkhouser 57:54
Well, so where are you guys excited to be headed to in the next year or moving in the future with your business?
Mikayla Anders 58:00
I'm definitely excited to increase more of our employee culture, and that's been kind of our one of our bigger focuses. We want to make sure we grow our team more and be able to have that flexibility for everybody and just be able to have fun and have passion on what we do and share that culture. And we're also introducing being part of the community more. So we're going into classrooms and doing by prevention to like preschoolers and kindergarteners. Um, we're working with Slater Regional Hospital to showcase the benefits that we offer for their employees here in the next month or so. So really trying to emphasize what we can offer to our community as either clients or employees.
Aaron Anders 59:01
I mean, we just want to continue growing like we have, mainly, and we have some some different ideas that we want to try to keep growing and keep keep helping our community with their pets.
Collin Funkhouser 59:15
Very good. Well, that sounds like a lot of exciting things that you both are working on. I want to thank you both for coming on today, sharing your story, sharing how you are serving your community, and you're solving problems for people and making sure that you're building a strong team along the way who's prepared for whatever gets thrown at them. I know there's a lot here, and you guys are doing a lot and changing a lot all through this. So for those who are listening and want to get connected, pick your brain. Follow along with all the cool stuff that you're doing. How best can they
Aaron Anders 59:44
do that? Best way is you can reach out to Mikayla, or I you can follow us on our social media adventures in pet sitting. Or you can go to our website at pet sitting adventures.com
Collin Funkhouser 59:58
Well, I will have links in the show notes. Yes and on our website so people can click right to that and follow along. Mikayla, Aaron, thank you both for coming on the show today. It means a lot, and I appreciate your time.
Mikayla Anders 1:00:08
Thank you. Thank you for having us. Adventure awaits.
Collin Funkhouser 1:00:13
As business owners, we are constantly trying to understand where our liabilities lie, and do we have the protection and coverage if something goes wrong? One of those key aspects as a business owner, not just for yourself, but for every level in your team, is knowledge. I love when Mikayla said knowledge is what protects us. It protects you from being scammed out of an internet whatever happens or a weird phone call. It's what protects you in those moments with that dog or that cat showing signs of aggression. It's what protects you from those clients trying to pull one over on you. It protects your business in the hard times, protects it in the good times, protects you personally by having the right coverages, the right insurance, the right legal framework for your business. Knowledge is what protects us. As soon as we stop the pursuit of knowledge and then implementing it into our business and our life, we open ourselves up to a whole array of issues. We want to thank today's sponsors tying to pet and our friends at Pet perennials for making the show possible. And we really want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and we'll be back again soon.
