677: Setting Strong Foundations and High Standards with Malaysia Speaks
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What does it take to grow a six-figure pet sitting business while raising two young kids? Malaysia Speaks, owner of Paw Time Favorite Pet Sitting in San Antonio, shares her journey from working in the veterinary field to building a family-run business rooted in professionalism and heart. She and her husband intentionally structured their business from day one with strong policies, team support, and faith at the center. Malaysia discusses hiring early, trusting her team, maintaining client relationships, and ensuring quality care for every pet. Her story is one of perseverance, balance, and doing business the right way — for her family, her employees, and her clients.
Main topics:
Building a family-run business
From vet tech to owner
Hiring early and trusting team
Establishing professional standards
Client connection and community care
Main takeaway: “I wanted to do it the right way from the beginning.”
That mindset set the foundation for Malaysia Speaks’ success. Instead of rushing into business, she focused on structure, education, and integrity—making sure every system reflected professionalism and care. From hiring her first team member to building strong client relationships, her focus on doing things right created long-term stability and trust. For Malaysia, excellence isn’t about perfection—it’s about intentionality, faith, and consistency. Her journey reminds us that when you start with purpose, growth naturally follows.
About our guest: Malaysia Speaks is the founder and co-owner of Paw Time Favorite Pet Sitting, based in San Antonio, Texas. A former veterinary professional with over eight years in the field, Malaysia turned her passion for animal care into a thriving family business alongside her husband, Jonathan. Together, they lead a ten-person team providing dog walking, pet sitting, overnights, and pet taxi services. Malaysia is a UTSA graduate, a proud mom of two, and a strong advocate for professional standards and family balance in the pet care industry.
Links:
Website: https://pawtimefavoritepetsitting.com
Email: pawtimefavoritepetsittingllc@gmail.com
Phone: 443-561-5466
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pawtimefavoritepetsittingllc
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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, business growth, team support, professionalism, client relationships, work-life balance, maternity leave, pet care services, business structure, client satisfaction, pet safety, employee training, business awards, local market, premium services
SPEAKERS
Malaysia Speaks, Collin Funkhouser
Collin Funkhouser 00:02
Collin, well, hello and welcome to pet sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Today, we're brought to you by our friends at time to pet and pet sitters International. How do we grow and run a business while keeping our priorities front and center? Today, we're really excited to have Malaysia speaks owner of Paw time favorite pet sitting on the show, to talk about her journey from being in the vet field to building her family run business rooted in professionalism. She shares how her and her husband intentionally structured their business from day one to have strong policies team support and faith at the center. Her story is one of perseverance, balance and doing business the right way for her family, her employees and her clients. Let's get started.
Malaysia Speaks 00:49
Hi, yes, good morning. Thank you. My name is Malaysia speaks. I'm the founder and co owner of Paul time favorite pet sitting along with my husband, Jonathan, we're parents to two amazing little boys that are ages one and three. So between that alone, we have our hands pretty full. We are based here in San Antonio. Although I'm originally from Baltimore, Maryland, and I'm proud to be a UTSA alumni. I graduated earlier this year in 2025 and Paul time favorite provides a full service pet care, from dog walking to pet sitting, overnight stays, adventure walks and even pet taxi services.
Collin Funkhouser 01:30
Yeah, you've got, you've got a lot on your plate with those services. My goodness, yeah.
Malaysia Speaks 01:37
And so we're definitely team based, because it's absolutely necessary. Yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 01:44
So okay, so you graduated from UTSA this earlier this year. Is that right? What were you going for with that?
Malaysia Speaks 01:51
I So, um, I was juggling everything at once, at one time. Um, so I started, we're we just hit our two year anniversary with the business, wow. And our first year, we got awarded our first award, which was the 2024 you know, on the next door app, they vote for your favorite businesses. Our clients voted for us, and we that was our first award we had won. So that was very exciting. That gave us more exposure. And then I kind of moved along into wanting to go back to school, because I had already received my associate's degree when I lived in Maryland. And then I was like, I just want to go back to school. I I was doing, um, on top of trying to work on getting my bachelor's, I was also doing Michelle Klein's Mastermind course, and I had the two babies and the business and juggling marriage and all the pets and everything in between. So, yeah, that was a lot, yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 02:58
Well, congratulations, because that's huge, right? So, big round of applause for that, that, because that's, that's not easy. But so you, you're two years into business. How did you get started? What was it that made you go, Oh, I need to, I need to do pet sitting right now. Yeah.
Malaysia Speaks 03:13
So I actually worked in the vet field for about eight years. I worked in Maryland, and I also worked in Texas when I moved here, and then I actually moved here right before covid hit. So I guess you could say I kind of got stuck here, but I loved it, so I stayed and I worked in the vet field. You know, through covid, I was a essential worker, and I got burnt out. Veterinary industry wasn't meant for curbside service, so I was there to help, like, navigate through it. And it was tough. I kind of eventually, you know, got pregnant, and then I was like, this is just, this is too much, like, mentally, physically, The pay wasn't there, not that you know you do what you love, but also it seemed more rewarding to have my own business and be flexible, so that I could focus on watching my babies grow and not having to work like such a nine to five and pay as much as daycare costs of what I'm I'm actually making at the vet. Yeah, to have that,
Collin Funkhouser 04:24
to have that flexibility, is really important, and not just for a hey, I want my time back, but I want my time back for my family, for my kids. Like, very specific mission with that, which really, how has that shaped? Like, decisions that you've made then, like, because you step you made this for kids, for family. I mean, what does that do to your decision making process when you have to work through stuff?
Malaysia Speaks 04:50
Um, so because kind of everything just hit, like, back to back to back. Um, it was like, either all in or nothing. Yeah. So my husband was like, Yeah, okay, if you want to start your own business, let's do it. You'll have more time, you know, with the family and and then we'll see what happens. And and having his support really helps so much, because I didn't have, like, a village here, so just having him, you know, support me, like, Okay, if you want to do this, or let's figure it out. And I started learning while I was doing it, about like other people in the industry. And then I kind of had more of like a guideline to follow. And then I was attending the yearly conferences and just continuing to learn more and more and put more into it. So then I was getting more out of it well.
Collin Funkhouser 05:40
And one of those, one of those hard things to do, though, is, you know, we, I hear a lot of people go, Okay, I'm going to start my business so I can have my own time. And we like to joke, I quit my nine to five so I could work 24/7 and now, all of a sudden, this, this time that I thought I'd get, get sucked back into the business. How have you maintained that boundary? What that's, what's that been like?
Malaysia Speaks 06:01
Um, it's been kind of touch and go. But as I mentioned, I had a goal to focus on building the family and as well as building the business. So with our second son, i i It was really important to me that I was able to take a maternity leave and not like a six week, eight week maternity leave, like something that actually helped me nurture the baby and spend more time together. So I knew from the beginning, like that having a team was so important. Um, and that's kind of, that's kind of what happened. It was like I was building intentionally so that I could take this maternity leave. And then after that, a couple months later, we had, we had attended the Texas Pet Sitter Association Conference, which was their 10 year anniversary, on a cruise. So not only do we have to leave the babies back on land. We also had to leave our team to facilitate everything. And that was another huge test. And we're so young, you know, into the business, and it was like, either you're gonna do it or it's gonna just fall apart, and it will really show where you're at, unfortunately, but thankfully. Like, you know, it worked out. We had policies and procedures in place. We had backup plans and and really, that's, that's what it was about, being professional, was having everything together well,
Collin Funkhouser 07:30
and that when you have that kind of burn the boat mentality, not talking about the Texas Spencer Association Conference, but like, like, the the all in or nothing, like, there's no going back from this. Because, you know, when you can say it like, I am building this for this, right? I, the only way I get this extended maternity leave is if I have a teen in place, is if i So, did you? Did you still struggle with some of those uncertainties, of, of the hiring, of releasing, you know, control of that, like, was that still a struggle, or were you pretty focused on, I don't have any other choice, so I got to do this.
Malaysia Speaks 08:03
It was a little bit of both. But having my husband there, like having his support, he had, he was actually in construction, and started his own business in construction, and then I was back before we were married, like I was two feet in, let's do it, whatever you need to do while I was working the vet field. And so we had built that up together. And then once I kind of was like, All right, I think I'm going to get out of that Med and create my own business. That's when he was like, All right, my turn to support you. And so as I was we were growing our family and building our businesses. It was so scary because, like, we're trying to navigate both businesses sustain, you know, a family on being small business owners and oh, wow, that was a lot. There was there was nothing guaranteed, and so we knew that the pressure and everything fell back on us, but we had each other's back, which was most important. So if I had to, like, go to maternity leave, I had to go to doctor's appointments, or whatever it was I had to do, or even if I was out training a client, my husband was there to help support along the way, and because he was also a small business owner, he had that flexibility too. So really, both of us, we just kind of got pushed into be professional. We got to get this together. Straight from the start, fall apart,
Collin Funkhouser 09:31
you know? And no, I 100% like, I'm just like, rocking with everything you're saying, because Megan and I were not quite in that boat. But when we when I left my full time job, it really was, well, I don't have anything else to go back to once I step over this line, like it is, it is all in or nothing. And so there definitely were times, though, for us, where it was like, I don't have any other option but to make this decision. I don't like i Sure, I'm scared, I'm nervous, I'm anxious, but if I delay this, it's really. Going to hurt us. Like, when we hired our first employees, like, in our remote area, was like, okay, like, we need to expand to get into a larger market. I don't live down there. I don't have any other option to serve people unless I'm running people down there. So it kind of became just the like, well, that's just what we had to do. Like, okay, I just, I this is what we need to do to make the life that we want to have. And when you have that focus of like, this is the reason why. Behind it, it makes it it doesn't take away that fear, but it makes it a little bit easier to keep stepping forward.
Malaysia Speaks 10:29
Yeah, absolutely. And And honestly, like, we would pray about it. There were times that, like, we had no idea how we were going to get through the next month. And it's like, let's just pray about it. You know, God does everything for a reason. And actually, so we had been pets international members from the very beginning, like, even before, maybe, like a few months before, I think, I was a pet center international member in 2023 like, May 2023 and I didn't file for the LLC until like, August or September that year, and I was just really, like, catching up on everything that needed to be implemented before I'm just, like, implemented and then put everything into place. So I just, I wanted to do it the right way from the beginning, and as soon as, like, we started to have our website and everything get exposed about, like, having our LLC and everything out there like that, our first employee found us. I wasn't hiring. I We had only been in business like, about a month, and she reached out. She was like, Oh my gosh, this looks like an amazing business. I would love to work for you and I, I was kind of taken back. I was like, what's like, you want to work for me? Like, but also trying to compose myself like, oh yes, I'm professional.
Collin Funkhouser 11:53
Let me. Let me direct you to our hiring department here. HR, step in.
Malaysia Speaks 11:59
So I consulted with my husband, like, okay, hiring manager, think about this. And he was like, I think that this is what we need. Like, we can't carry every all the weight on our shoulders. And I was nervous about it, because, of course, then you're trusting someone, and the people that trust you, you know it's, it's, it's a lot. So she actually was with us. We hired her on, and she was with us for almost, almost, like two a year and a half to two years, so almost our full time until she her schedule changed and she couldn't do anymore. But she even attended the first Texas pets Association conference with us and and it was really great just to, like, grow the relationships and having that positive first experience with an employee helped me as a business owner, grow and I know it was very fulfilling on her side too
Collin Funkhouser 12:50
well right at the beginning there, you said this phrase. You wanted to do it the right way from the beginning. And I definitely see that there are two types of businesses that get started. There's the quick slap dash. I'm going to just go as far as I can, kind of running under the radar, not really paying attention to standards or legalities or anything, and and it can be. And then there's the other side that goes. What are the best practices? What's the best way to put this? What are the structures I need? And what you unfortunately tend to see is the kind of slap and dash run as you go, businesses like they can definitely accelerate. They can grow fast. They can go because there's because they don't have any structure, and so they could, but the problem is, is that they kind of go crazy and going to go off the rails, versus that, let me get all the structures in place. Sure, it's going to mean that maybe I move a little bit slower, or I've got a little bit more upfront costs, but those are the ones that really stand the test of time and are going to be built on something that are going to last. And I, you know, I know a psi just released their their global pets or standards. I mean, did you get a chance to look through those things? Like, I was curious.
Malaysia Speaks 13:55
I just wrote a blog on it, actually, because it was so exciting. And I just shared a post. I was like, we have standard like, I was excited about that because, I mean, there's a lot of pet owners that know the value of having a professional and and know the difference between, like, a hobby sitter or, you know, something like that. So really teaching and putting that information out there, and having like a guideline is so big because it helps us grow like who we are and what we do across the board, and then also, just for the betterment of our clients, for the betterment of the pets, safety and happiness.
Collin Funkhouser 14:35
Also, have you heard of time to pet? Chris Ann from reigning cats and dogs, has this to say,
Speaker 1 14:42
becoming a time to pet client has been a game changer for us. We can give our pet services clients real time, cloud based information they never imagined they'd be interested in. And most importantly, to me personally, I can better manage my company and look forward to more and not as. Small thing, time to pet is responsive to my request for new features and modifications to existing ones.
Collin Funkhouser 15:07
If you're looking for new pet sitting software, give time to pet a try. Listeners of our show will say 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confessional and I know is kind of you scroll and you look at those, and, you know, for a lot of people, you look at that and it's like, oh, great, I'm already doing all of these things. Great, wonderful. And it gives you a sense of, okay, like, because, because there are no standard, like, things are so wiggly woggly, it's sometimes you just question, like, Am I doing? Is this the right thing about how am I operating? What does this mean? And I think it just kind of gives, again, those guidelines and those posts, and you can go above and beyond that. Like, that's just, it's like, no, this is, it's not a ceiling. And I think that's what's really important to know about those it's not so this is the this is floor, right? Okay, this is the line. Now you are free to go above and beyond, especially depending on what kind of services you offer, how you run your business, and who you're, you know who your clients are, but like, this is where we need to be meeting, and it takes a while to build there. You have to be very intentional about that. I know you used that word earlier to get to those things, to think about every aspect of this. But when you have that robust, strong business, it, man, it really helps in so many ways. It's like, okay, not just so that you can have maternity leave, but you can go on a cruise, and you can do take vacations, and you can rest easy at night, and, like, a lot of benefits come from
Malaysia Speaks 16:25
that absolutely, like I, of course, and that's also what we are big on, not just having the balance in our life, but also our employees lives and and so, um, I, of course, we, you know, adhere to labor laws, but also I want, I want to work as a team, so that they don't get burnt out, yeah, and so that we can provide that quality, consistent care. But also they can reset. They can take a vacation, and it's not like a client, just solely focused on so and so, but we have a whole team that can provide those services and and that's what has really, like, made me proud and excited about, like, what we do and, and then along the way, I mean, it is the checklist that you have of these standards, but then it's also of what individually sets you apart from the next person. Yeah. And then, if your clients, like, find that value within your company. So it's finding that right fit for not only the employees, but also the clients.
Collin Funkhouser 17:26
Yeah, well, you mentioned your your team based there. So you're, you are fully team based. Are you more of a one for one model there?
Malaysia Speaks 17:34
No, we're fully team based. We, we have about 10 of us on our team right now.
Collin Funkhouser 17:39
That's awesome. And so, you know, how do you, how do you make that work with some of your services? Is everybody eligible to do all of the services that you offer, or do some kind of pick and choose what what services they offer?
Malaysia Speaks 17:50
So most of the most of the services that employees do them, I would say, maybe like, except for the pet taxi service and the overnight stay, which they're not, like, booked all the time, but when they are booked, like, that's something probably my husband does. I'm more so on the back end side of things, I do the the admin, the payroll, like, all the background side of things, I'm the the wizard behind the curtain, and my husband's more of like the boots on the ground implementing the training in person, but then we coexist. So we're making sure everything needs to be done, and everybody else out in the field is also on the same page of things.
Collin Funkhouser 18:34
Yeah, that's a really good balance. That's what Megan and I do in our business as well. She's the behind the scenes computer. She's doing the schedule, she's, you know, doing the kind of the initial higher run through hiring run throughs, and then I'm doing the in persons, or the in person training and some of the meet and greets, that kind of stuff. And I think it's really helps us just lean on the other person and their talents. And I There are many times where I'm like, Thank thank God that I don't have to do those tasks, because a they would never get done, and if they did get done, they'd be done horribly. And so, you know, it's like, it's very nice whenever you have that, that kind of balance that you can rely on.
Malaysia Speaks 19:10
Yeah, I definitely agree. I'm, I'm excited to also, like, have our boys see what we do. Like, like, we asked, we say we're going to work, but we more so say we're going pet sitting and dog walking. And so our three year olds like, Oh, we're going, you're going pet sitting and dog walking. It makes me feel good. Like, it's not like, Oh, I'm just going to clock in, or I'm going to a desk job, yeah. And then, you know, I show them, like, maybe some, some dogs that I've seen. And we actually had a client who, he was elderly and and unfortunately, he he had a medical issue. He got sent off to a nursing home, and he he wasn't able to go back home. He's he's getting transferred to assistant living. And then his family had to step in and do the whole real estate sale planning. And he gave our boys some of his like he had stuffed animals, and he gave them some of the stuffed animals, and it was like a dog and a lion and just some things he had. And we went to go visit him at the nursing home. And he had never met our boys before, but we wanted to, like, say thank you, of course, in person, and just spend some time with him. And he was just so happy that that, like, of course, the cat care we provided, and then on top of, like, just having that extra relationship there, that he's like, you know, come back and see me. I'm just here by myself. I'm glad your your kids got to play with the stuffed animals, because I'm not gonna be able to do anything with it. And and just, I don't know it's, it's more than just a career. It's definitely a lifestyle.
Collin Funkhouser 20:55
Yeah, I'll never forget the first time my daughter, we were Megan, and I were talking about some of our employees. And she was sitting in the room with listening, reading a book, and she went, she just said, oh, oh, do they do? They work for us. And she used that US language. And I was like, oh, yeah, yes, yes, they do work for us. Like, it was a like, she saw herself as part of, like, the business. And like, kind of knew what we were doing and how we were operating. And like, it was, it was, it was, got me really excited to be like, yeah, we're doing this. Like, this is a family thing. Like, everybody's involved in this, and this is, for you, well, that it kind of, like, reminded me of kind of that purpose, like you said, like, No, it's not just a I'm here and then I'm gone. Like, it is, it is kind of an all the time thing, which has problems with boundaries and, you know, time and things like that, but I do enjoy our kids getting to see both Megan and I working in places that we're skilled, that we're good at, you know, talking through struggles, but also our wins like that was something that we really worked hard on, because it's easy to sit at the dinner table and, like, complain about how the day was, instead of being like, man. And, you know, Sarah really knocked that visit out. And here's this cool photo. And look at this person doing this. And like, man, like, that's really where I get excited to kind of share in those wins too,
Malaysia Speaks 22:12
absolutely, and, and also, like, just showing, I just feel like giving him, giving them the exposure of, hey, look how much we've grown. Like, look what you could be and look what you can do. Like, literally, just yesterday, it's vet tech week right now. So I took the boys and we went to go to a few local vets, and we dropped off muffins. And of course, they love receiving, you know, things to eat, and seeing the baby and dropping off our cards, and then my three year old, Saul, our we have a sign. We're actually endorsed by a local veterinarian as well, and and it's one of the vets that I used to work at, and we just have a really great relationship. A lot of our clients come from there as well, but my son saw our sign there that's posted out front. It's like a yard sign. And he was, like, he, like, recognized, I mean, read yet, but he definitely recognizes the logo. And he's like, can we take that with us? Like he was ours. Like, that stays here.
Collin Funkhouser 23:17
Oh, that's, yeah, I, I, it's very exciting to see that that kind of reaction, and to be like, yeah, look at this thing that we're doing, and to see that recognized. And, you know, you talk about that connection that you have with your clients, especially that that elderly, elderly client there, how has it been, you know, maintaining a connection to the clients even as you've grown and now have multiple team members and, you know, and expanding your services.
Malaysia Speaks 23:45
So our intentions with our clients is to have, as well as our team members, like I want, I want to have team members intentionally that we don't want a lot of turnover. It is a very there's a lot. There's a lot to this job or go we're doing in home services. So it can be very intimate going into someone's home that you've never met before. It's also the security, and we don't we just don't want a lot of turnover. We want to build those long term relationships. We want to be the go to person that that the clients rely on. And we grow, we all grow together. Like, I've, like, some of my clients have given the boys, like, Christmas presents, or, you know, they're excited for our wins within the business, even just like how we won that, that award, they'll vote for us on the next one, a lot of word of mouth. Or even they'll just try to, like, help, like, hi. I also had another client who is kind of going through some medical issues with her husband. He's actually looking through he's look, he's needing a liver right now, and so they've been spending a lot of time in the hospital. They've been spending a lot of time, like, getting to know the nurses that care for him. But. She also kept us in mind along the way of how we while she was in the hospital, they were having long nights and days there. We were also tending to her dogs at home, so that we were giving her that peace of mind so she could focus on caring for him. And while she got to know the nurses, she was like, I want to give them flyers, because they work 12 hour shifts, and you know, they could put it in their break room. And she even drove like, I've had her she was this was nothing that I suggested. It was her idea. She's like, I'm going to drive to your service area, because she's on the outer skirts of our service area. She's like, I'm going to drive to your service area. I'm going to give my testimonial to the pets the pet store. They need to have your flyers there too. And it was like, wow, like you're spending this extra time like that meant. That meant so much to us. So just having those extra relationships, and it's, it's learning about their families, it's, it's learning about their pets, it's relating to them, even if they don't have kids. Like, maybe it's like a trip that they went on. I have another client, she loves to go on cruises, and after we went on our first conference cruise, I was like, I understand now. See how this isn't an easy vacation. Like, you just go and they feed you and you just get dropped off and rendezvous on the island, yeah, yeah, I get it. There's, there's a lot that I learned from my clients, and there's a lot that that we get to share and grow together. It's very, it's a very unique experience.
Collin Funkhouser 26:34
Do you share those kind of personal anecdotes with your team, you know, like the client that you were taking care of while they were in the hospital? I mean, do you go to them and say, hey, the reason we're caring for, you know, Patty this week is because XYZ, yeah.
Malaysia Speaks 26:48
So we actually have, within our within our employees, we have a Facebook group that will share like updates. And we also, we also do team meetings. We just had our team meeting last month, and I took everybody bowling. Of course, we touch base on like, maybe about 1520, minutes of updates within the business. But it's also to have that team team like building exercise. I feel like the work culture, having that positive work culture is big because we don't get to work together, but we work we still work together. So the way we do scheduling is like, say, for example, fluffy had a visit in the morning and, you know, or three times a day, someone did the visit in the morning and someone else did the midday and evening visit. It's like if fluffy had diarrhea, you know, that person that's doing the morning visit, you know, should be cleaning it up. We're not leaving that for the midday or evening person. And having the report cards that we use. We use time to pad. We always use them. So we're all on the same page. And having that teamwork along the way. It shows it shows big and if there is anything that comes up, then we can see, like, oh, okay, well this, let's backtrack to this time period, and let's go from there. So I really, I really, really enjoy our team.
Collin Funkhouser 28:15
Yeah, well, we've found that when we are able to share, like, the reasons behind the visits, it adds a level of humanity that they don't typically get, all right, like you said, like, it's weird walking to a person's home who you've never met, that person you don't know. You couldn't pick them out of a lineup. You have no idea what this person looks like, or who they are, what they do. So being able to come to people and say, Hey, we're taking on these visits for this next week. We just had this come up. We had a client who kind of booked us last minute, and we were talking with them, and it was because they were checking themselves into rehab. And the basically, they said, The only reason I'm able to do this is because I know my pets are going to be cared for while I'm gone. And it's like, it's like, okay, that adds a level of humanity and like seriousness to the visits that that everybody needs to be aware of, like, to remind them of the importance of what we do. Like, without you showing up at 7am on Saturday, this individual couldn't get the help that they need. Like, it's we don't think about it a lot, and I lose sight of that sometimes. And so I know our employees who are even more removed from that kind of connection to the client are as well. So sharing those stories, I think, helps them see why their work matters so much.
Malaysia Speaks 29:29
Yeah, um, and it's unfortunate, but I can relate to that situation. We actually had a client who she doesn't have any kids. She just lived by herself, an older, elderly lady, and she was afraid she needed to go to emergency, and she was afraid to leave her dogs, because she was afraid of who's going to care for them. Oh, I don't want them, you know, getting into something and this and that. So we were like, We're going to keep you updated. We'll take care of them. And, um. Um, she felt so much better so that she could focus on herself and and she's only used us ever since, and showing that you know that that's a big situation. So to put someone's trust, it's they're very vulnerable, very vulnerable to the client, to say, Yes, I need to take care of my health, like, Please take care of my pets, and so we take that seriously. That's not that's not something that that we take lightly, like we want you to do what you need to do. We need to focus on your pets.
Collin Funkhouser 30:30
Yeah, we had an incident where an elderly lady just wanted to mean Greek, because she was kind of in poor health, and she was like, I don't know what's going on, but I just want to know I can call you guys if something comes up. And, you know, we typically are like, you must book through the app, through the app, through the app. And then she called me, and she was like, hey, Collin, I'm in the hospital with pneumonia. I don't know what's gonna happen. And it's like, at that point, it was like, Okay, right? Like, we'll take care of it. I'll just confirm. Hey, we're gonna go schedule you out one week, and then if you need to extend, you give me a call back and we'll take care of you. And it was, it was she knew with one call her problem was solved. And it was like, That's you, right, that that's what we want to be. Want to be the those people who you can rely on. Because it, it makes me so angry when people call us and they'll say, I thought I had somebody I could trust, but they didn't show up, or they didn't do this, they didn't like it makes I get rage, because it's like, no. Like, that's so unkind to people. I don't see how people can do that. And like, I will never do that to you. Like, it's one of our one of our promises that we have.
Malaysia Speaks 31:31
Yeah, yeah. I agree. I I know how important it isn't, and so I know we do share that with our team, though, like, we let them know about what's going on, and so they can build their own relationship with the clients as well, because that's important too. They're they're representing who we are also and and the client who the elderly gentleman who ended up going into assisted living, he he ended up giving his cat supplies to one of the employees, so she had just adopted a kitten, I think, and and he gave her some adaptal so that the kitten could better get like coincided at home. And it was just very thoughtful. I thought that was really nice.
Collin Funkhouser 32:12
And now a word from our friends at pet sitters International. Hi.
Speaker 1 32:16
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Collin Funkhouser 32:49
Now, I know you offer a wide range of services to meet the needs of your clients, and I did notice that you, you offer both overnights and almost overnights. And so I was curious how you, I don't know, like, sell the difference there, or what kind of clients are picking one over the other, and kind of the breakdown of that,
Malaysia Speaks 33:08
honestly, I feel like 90% of our clients are choosing almost overnights. There's not really a reason that we need to sleep in. The clients home, the clients that choose the overnights are more so choosing it for medical purposes, like maybe their dog needs an insulin injection at 9pm at night, and, you know, we just stay with them that whole time period. Or maybe it's just the security and peace of mind of that extra like time being there, but most of it is the almost overnight stays, and we only charge for pets, or charge I'm sorry, we only charge for our time to do the routine. We don't charge for extra pets. We don't charge for medication administration. So, I mean, of course, the more pets, the more time we would need, and that that extra time period gives us that cushion to tend to the pets, give them the extra companionship time or potty routine that they do. There's a lot of cleanup. That's something I tell our employees that, like, there's a lot of cleanup. Well, the cat litter, to the hairballs to the all kinds of things, you know,
Collin Funkhouser 34:19
yeah, that's something that we've had to work through, too. Of You know, I know if you're almost overnight, I think you do, like, two hours at night and one hour in the morning, and so it kind of makes sense with, like, with those extended time periods, to not charge extra for pets, because you do already have that cushion to clean up those stuff. But I mean, have you ever had employees who kind of balk at or aren't happy about the cleanup process for the pets.
Malaysia Speaks 34:45
Honestly, no, we haven't really had pushback like that, and I think because they know they're doing it for the pets well being, you know, it's more of a passion. They're not the people that we choose on our team are not just clocking in and out for a paycheck. They are actually like wanting the. Pets to have a clean environment, to have a safe environment, or, you know, are they doing well and reporting what's going on so we can all keep an eye on it. Of course, there's been times where we have had to take the pets to emergency, but we work as a team to make that happen, and we're able to offer, you know, something like that. We're not just like, oh, well, I'll come back whenever, and he'll go to the vet in three days or something, right? You know, we figure it out together.
Collin Funkhouser 35:28
Yeah, addressing it now, I think, is the important part of that. And when you have a team base like that, it's a little easier to say now it's going to be addressed. And it may mean that we have to substitute somebody quickly to cover the rest of these visits while you're taking visits while you're taking the cat over to the vet clinic to be seen. And like we can move it makes it a little bit more complicated, but at the end of the day, it's what would the client want? How would the client want this addressed and handled? Would they want their cat to be sitting in pain or sitting in whatever for a couple days while we figure it out? No, no. And so then it does become our burden to figure out how to manage the rest of the operations while we address that medical need.
Malaysia Speaks 36:09
Yeah, absolutely. And that's also why we knew it was important to connect with our our local vets. One of our team members is a vet tech, and so we have, like her knowledge on top of my knowledge, and then we have our resources, of the doctors, of the local vets that we, that we talk to and connect with there. So there's, there's resources out there. It's just making that relationship. And then also, I mean, there's, there's sea world down here. So one of our team members also works for sea world, and she's, she's a teacher for, like, informing kids about the animals there, which I know that can be controversial Sea World, but she she's there for the animals, and she wants to work with training the animals. And I think that's important, like, for the because they have safe pets as well, and she's not there for for anything else, yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 37:07
well, and making sure you're connecting your employees to good, like, to that kind of purpose, right? It's really powerful in your own business, and making sure that they see the why behind it, like you said, yeah, the reason we clean up is for their well being. So if our mission is for well being of pets, cleanup is part of that. And that's kind of what that alignment means when we get everybody on board with that and they see the reason. It's not just like I think it can be easy for some people to think, Well, I'm just cleaning this up because the client's going to client is, you know, anal retentive about this. And they're OCD like, look, look at what they make me do. And it's like, no, no, like that. Aside, health of pet this, we got to clean up around the food feeding station. We've got to clean up around the litter box. We've got to clean the med we brought in. We got to clean up the vomit that we just found. We got to clean up the poop mess. We've got to clean up for their well being. And health like, if we can keep pointing it back to that, it makes it a lot easier.
Malaysia Speaks 38:02
I've and so the opposite of, like somebody, I guess, not doing it. I've actually had clients offering to do it, like going above and beyond and sweeping all the pet hair in the house and, okay, well, thank you so much. I'm sure they appreciate as well. Another reason that they like continue to book us because it's one less thing that they have to worry about, and they come home to a clean environment. They know their pets were taken care of too.
Collin Funkhouser 38:29
One thing I know kind of looking at your business and your pricing and structure there Malaysia is, you know, do you view yourself as a as a premium business, and in what you offer like luxury to luxury clients. Because, you know, with some of your your pricing, you know, it's like, okay, this is, this is no, you know, this may be higher than maybe expected. It has it always been that way.
Malaysia Speaks 38:51
Um, yes, I would say, I would say so, just because we put a lot of not only time and energy into the business, but a lot of education and training. We pour so much that we know that that we're worth it. And I don't want to, you know, sound conceited or anything, but we attend the conferences. We put policies and procedures in place. We, you know, have backup plans, we do background checks, we're insured and bonded, and it's like we have a whole list. We are now award winning services. So, so we know that we're what we're providing is worth it. It's an investment in your pets, like happiness and well being. But, I mean, you're going to get a happy dog when you come home, you're not going to get someone who was forgotten about, or, you know, didn't show up or didn't do this. That's not us. So that's, that's the difference. And when someone books with us, they see the value of of what we are.
Collin Funkhouser 39:46
How do you fit in into your local market? Are you more on the high end? Are you kind of in the middle? Kind of, what's that like? And how do you have those conversations with clients when they do say, Whoa, I wasn't expecting that. Um.
Malaysia Speaks 40:00
Yeah, so it's actually funny, because our so called competition is also like pet center International and Texas pet Center Association members, so but our prices are still on the higher side. We I mean, we do we do things differently than them. And I mean, yes, we haven't been around as long as as they have, but we still have, like, a passion and quality that we are able to offer. And I know one of the local businesses, they actually don't offer pet sitting anymore. They changed into only dog walking. So a lot of their old clients switched over to us, and they were like, even if you're a little bit more than what I was paying. Like, I I want to pay that for a peace of mind, knowing that my pets will be in good hands. And I love when we receive our reviews. We have five star Google rating reviews. And I love when we we send out the little surveys at the at the end of each visit, like, how did we do? And we always get, like, I don't want to suit our own horn, but we always get 100% on those. Yeah, I think only out of the two years, I think maybe one time we got an Okay rating when it was because, like, maybe the food bag was left open. It wasn't like, closed back after, after the dog was served food, or something like that, it was something that wasn't like, super big, but I mean, even those little things we do are like, Okay, everybody remember to do this, and we learn from it, and we go from there.
Collin Funkhouser 41:32
I love how you focused on the quality of service you can offer. Right when I you know, I said, Hey, how are you positioned in here? You immediately went to the quality and control over the service and the end user and what they experience. I think that's what that's all about, right? Okay, and you back up from there, if I want to offer this level of service that requires a level of training and oversight and understanding what's going on, which does then mean a certain level of pricing for me to make all of this possible. And I think too often we focus on, let me start with price first, and then I'll figure everything out downstream of that. And when we don't even understand the value that we offer, it means that our pricing structure suffers and our pricing doesn't make sense, and it's harder for us to stick to that and justify, quote, unquote, justify, our pricing. When people question it, instead of saying, No, I know I offer the highest quality service, and I know I've got the best this and the best this and the best this, and that's why the price is the way it is, like, that's a level of confidence that I think a lot more people can should be working to have.
Malaysia Speaks 42:38
Yeah, we, we've, I mean, we've had to build up our confidence along the way. I mean, back from the beginning of us being uncertain of what's going to happen or when it's like, okay, let's just stick with it. We're going to do it. And here we are now. We're we're confident in what we do and making these decisions. Of course, we're still, like, navigating like, the best marketing techniques and everything like that, but having that like already base of our clients doing the word of mouth and the relationships that we've built, I think that helps us tremendously.
Collin Funkhouser 43:14
When you started two years ago, did you did you think you were capable of building this and running this?
Malaysia Speaks 43:20
Um, no, I just kind of like, I know that sounds like crazy, but I just went with it. I i Just, and it's crazy, because we've already, we've already passed, like, we just hit our six figures in there, in our business. Wow. And, um, that was so exciting. That was so exciting because big round of applause. Not imagine that in, like, within two years, like, wow. And then we have, like, our team members, and it's, it's really awesome, what we've built. And I'm so excited for what's more to come.
Collin Funkhouser 44:01
Yeah, that's awesome, Malaysia. I'm so excited for everything that you're working on and that you're doing and how you're building and growing that with intentionality to meet your family needs, your desires, while also running that excellent service. It's very inspiring, and I'm very thankful for your time today to come on the show and talk and share with us. I know there's a whole lot more here, and you do an awful lot. So if people want to get connected with you, follow along with with you all's work. How best can they do that?
Malaysia Speaks 44:29
Yes, so we are the all time favorite. That's why we're Paul time favorite. And we have our website, Paul time favorite pet sitting.com our email is Paul time favorite pet sitting LLC at Gmail, and our phone number is 443-561-5466, if you want to reach out by
Collin Funkhouser 44:48
phone, awesome. Well, I will have those links and phone number in the show notes and on the website so people can get connected with you. Malaysia. Again, this has just been such an honor and pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on today. Thank you.
Collin Funkhouser 45:00
You. Instead of rushing into business, she focused on structures, education, the integrity of what she was putting together, making sure that every system reflected the professionalism and care that she wanted. It's a reminder that everything from hiring our first team member to building strong client relationships, our focus should be doing things right and creating these long term stability and trust that our business so desperately needs and that we ultimately want. Remember, excellence isn't about perfection. It's about intentionality. It's about consistency. It's a reminder that when we start with purpose, growth always naturally follows. We want to thank today's sponsors, timed pet and pet sitters International, for making this show possible, and we really want to thank you so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and we'll be back again soon. You.
