685: Would You Wear a Body Camera? Real Talk on Liability with Stacy Aguilar
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What does it really take to protect your team, your clients, and your business as you grow? In this episode, Collin talks with Stacy Aguilar, owner of Abby’s Animal Sitters and Dog Walkers, about how safety and accountability shape every decision she makes. Stacy shares how her background in marketing helped her scale quickly, why her entire team is Fear Free certified, and how body cameras became a cornerstone of her operations. They discuss hiring for teachability, building trust in clients’ homes, and setting non-negotiable standards. This conversation challenges pet sitters to rethink what professionalism and protection really look like.
Main topics:
Business liability and safety
Body cameras in pet care
Fear Free team standards
Hiring for teachability
Scaling with accountability
Main takeaway:“If safety and accountability are your standard, you can’t lower that just because a client asks you to.”
That’s easy to say—but much harder to live out in real business situations. Especially when you’re trying to serve people well, keep clients happy, and grow your business. But the truth is, your standards are what define your business, not your exceptions.
In pet care, we’re entering homes, handling keys, and caring for living animals. Cutting corners—even once—doesn’t just create risk, it erodes trust. And trust is everything in what we do.
Strong businesses don’t bend their values based on convenience. They build systems that protect their team, their clients, and the pets in their care.
Sometimes the most professional thing you can say is: “We’re not the right fit.”
About our guest: Stacy Aguilar is the owner and founder of Abby’s Animal Sitters and Dog Walkers, a team-based pet care company serving southern New Jersey. With a background in marketing and public relations, Stacy scaled her business from a side project into a multi-employee operation. Her company is fully Fear Free certified and is one of the only pet care businesses in the region using body cameras for accountability and safety. Stacy is passionate about systems, risk management, and building a business that serves both clients and staff well.
Relevant Links
Abby’s Animal Sitters and Dog Walkers – Website
https://abbysanimalsitters.com/
Abby’s Animal Sitters and Dog Walkers – Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/abbysanimalsitters
Abby’s Animal Sitters and Dog Walkers – Google Business Profile
https://g.page/abbysanimalsitters
Fear Free Certification (Pets & Professionals)
Camp Pro Body Camera (as mentioned in episode)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08K7H4ZQF
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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
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Pet sitter confessional, business liability, sitter safety, Abby's animal sitters, dog walkers, fear free certified, body cameras, marketing strategy, client referrals, COVID impact, office manager, social media, team training, client satisfaction, professional development.
SPEAKERS
Stacy Aguilar,, Collin Funkhouser
Collin Funkhouser 00:00
Collin, welcome back 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 dog co launch. Sitter safety and business liability are a big topic as we look to grow scale and add people to our business, and there's a lot of ways that we can go about controlling and monitoring and keeping track of how things are going. And so today I'm really excited to talk to Stacy, owner and founder of Abby's animal sitters and dog walkers on the show, to talk about measures that she goes through and the importance that this has to her business. Stacey, I'm really excited to be talking with you today and have you on the podcast for those who aren't familiar with you, though, could you please tell us a little bit more about who you are and what you do?
Stacy Aguilar 00:49
Yeah, so, so my name is Stacy Aguilar, and I own Abby's animal sitters and dog walkers. We are located in Washington Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey, which is just outside of Philadelphia, we focus on mostly dog walking. We do do some pet sitting. And the three things that set us apart in our area is that we've won a lot of awards locally, which is really exciting and it's lovely for our team. We're also, our entire team is fear free certified. And lastly, we're the only company in the area that use body cameras. So we'll be talking about that, I think, in a
Collin Funkhouser 01:35
little bit. Yes, I'm very excited to dive into that. But the most pressing question is, I noticed your name is not Abby. So where'd the name come from?
Stacy Aguilar 01:45
The funny stories? So I we my daughter, Abby, when she was 12 years old. She, as most teenagers do, she started becoming very expensive, you know, liking a lot of you know, wanting to do a lot of things. So we decided to get her babysitting certified and CPR certified so she could babysit. And then she found out pretty quickly that she, at that time, did not like babysitting children, so we had to pivot. So we pivoted to pet care. So so she started to do have a pet care business, and at that time, I was actually interviewing for like, 18 months. My background is in marketing and public relations, and I was just so tired of interviewing and not landing a job, that when she we started this adventure together, it was very obvious that this was a needed service in the community. So, so we just, we just started growing it. And so that's why it's called Abby's animal sitters, because it's named after Abby, because she kind of really started it. Oh, that's
Collin Funkhouser 02:52
that is really, really fun as a way to offset some of the expenses as she was growing up. That's and so you were your background, you said, is public relations and marketing, though? Is that right? Yes, yeah, yeah. And now, how does I mean that sounds pretty important into running a business, though, right?
Stacy Aguilar 03:14
It's so helpful. Let me tell you, it is, it is helpful. So I, you know, I just find that, because of my background in marketing and communications like I I'm very fearless when it comes to marketing, so it does very much come in handy, for sure,
Collin Funkhouser 03:32
well, so those early days you said you saw you felt like there was that need for this business. What? What were those early signs that you were seeing
Stacy Aguilar 03:42
$25,000 the first year in business.
Collin Funkhouser 03:45
Okay, that's a sign that makes sense.
Stacy Aguilar 03:48
And Collin, I was a serial entrepreneur. I hadn't I have not worked for another person since I was 28 years old. And so to make that much money that quickly, it was like, oh yes, this is a necessary, yeah, service. And so we just ran with it, yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 04:05
Oh my goodness. Now I know you mentioned kind of where you're located, what's the market like for where you where you're serving, kind of what the needs, the demands of the clients there?
Stacy Aguilar 04:15
Yeah, so I did a little research before our time together, Collin, so I was like, Well, that's an interesting question. Let me find out before come on and Washington Township, we're actually like a upper middle class area here where I live, specifically in turnersville, I found that the average home income is $150,000 which was very surprising to me. So then it became clear as to why the need was so great, because people work really hard for that money, and they're out of their house for a long period of time. So, so they need pet sitters and dog walkers, and they have the money to spend, right? So, yeah, it's been, it's it's been awesome to
Collin Funkhouser 04:56
market here. So you made 25,000 The first year, how did you continue to connect with those clients and grow
Stacy Aguilar 05:07
the first years? Collin was really word of mouth. I mean, as you know, as we started, people just started passing me around. So Abby was still very much involved with the business, but, you know, she was doing a lot of like, in home care, like, you know, people would, would bring their dog, like, a friends and family and stuff like that. And I was doing a lot of the boots on the ground dog walking, and people were just just passing us. So referrals back then were really and word of mouth were really how we we started well,
Collin Funkhouser 05:41
and they are, they're so essential. Because, I mean, it's, it's a very powerful thing to be recommended from one person to the next. And I know I, I often take that for granted. Of well, just tell me to your friends, right? Just why aren't like, but it's like that person's putting their reputation on the line. Yeah, about this? Because if you have a bad experience about something they recommended that reflects on them, right? And so that's just something that we really need to to remember that it's not easy for everybody to do that.
Stacy Aguilar 06:11
Yeah, yeah. I have very generous clients, and, yeah, and, you know, we would leave marketing materials behind. I was would leave a lots of cards and stuff behind. So of course, I made it easier for to recommend me. And yeah, so yeah, that's how we started. But it kind of evolved over the years. When we got into the years of covid, I started in 2017 and when we got into the years of covid, our business flatlined. We never went down. We just flatlined, which is interesting, because people weren't working outside the home and they weren't traveling. So at that time was a lot of medical workers and a lot of police officers, but we just we flatlined. And it was at that time that I hired an office manager. I've learned being in dog dog CO that most people do office manager later on. But I just, I did that right away. And I just told her to to build me some build me a Google page. And I told her to build me a some social media. And she's amazing at it. She's so good, holy smokes. And now, you know, we tracked where all of our leads come from, and most of them do come from Facebook now, and second place is Google, and third place, and which is still heavy, is, is the referrals.
Collin Funkhouser 07:35
It's, you know, you mentioned, you mentioned Facebook, and Facebook and Google kind of go back and forth for a lot of you. Why do you think, what is it about Facebook that you believe that's connecting with people for you? Yeah, so
Stacy Aguilar 07:47
my office manager, she's, first of all, she's amazing. If I highly recommend going on our Facebook page, and I'm not just shooting it the way, and she is really, really good. She's funny, and people just, we have 11,000 followers. I don't even know how that happens. She's so good and she's so funny, so but, but she's also, her name is Donna, and Donna is also very active in the neighborhood groups, the Facebook neighborhood group. So she's always, you know, posting our little ads in the neighborhood groups, and also looking out for folks that are saying, hey, I need a dog walker. Do you know anybody so you know? So the Facebook is awesome, and her advertising is proactive, and her looking for people that have a need is super proactive. So that's why I think we do so well on Facebook.
Collin Funkhouser 08:43
What was it about, about the office manager position, that you decided you wanted to hire that first? Because, like you said, that seems to be something where people get later down the line, and you just went, nope, I need this right now.
Stacy Aguilar 08:56
I'm lazy. Oh, there's a lot of stuff I didn't want to do. I think she was willing.
Collin Funkhouser 09:03
That's fair. I think, I think too often we think, what's the logical progression of what I'm supposed to do, versus that real assessment that you did, Stacy of like, I don't want to do this. So who else should, could, could I do? And and that sounds like that at least freed you up and allowed you to not carry that mental burden around to do.
Stacy Aguilar 09:22
Yeah, she does so much for me. And as I had mentioned, I was a I have not worked for anybody since I was 28 years old. I was a serial entrepreneur. So she This is not the first time she's helped me. Okay, okay. She's been traveling with me over the years, and she, I hired her as my office manager again, because I'm very lazy and I don't, there's a lot of things I don't. And she's very good, she's she's very detailed, and I am not. So that's why I chose to do that first.
Collin Funkhouser 09:56
Well, something I love you can let her know, something I love about your social media is. Is the face shots that you post of all the dogs and pets that you're caring for. They're the most engaging, like, charismatic shots. I don't know how you have so many of these, but it's just like, it's so pleasant to scroll through and look at and just makes you feel good as you're scrolling. And it's like, these are, these are cute dogs, but it's the up close the face, LIKE it fills the frame and really makes it captivating from that. So I
Stacy Aguilar 10:26
honestly that's just our team. They just they they clearly love what they do, and that is how they show that they love what they do, by just taking these amazing photos, and then Donna takes those amazing photos and creates super funny photo functions. And that is our Facebook page.
Collin Funkhouser 10:47
Yeah, yeah. No, that's so you, you hired office manager. When? When did you have field staff at that time that you were bringing on? What? When did you when did, when would that process come
Stacy Aguilar 10:58
into play? So 2020 is when I hired Donna and 2022 so All right, so we flatlined during covid, and then when covid, the travel restrictions lifted, we got clobbered. I did not see my husband for three months. We just got clobbered because a lot of the smaller dog walking companies, you know, decided to do other things. And, you know, and I was one of the last dog walking companies standing after covid. So after I got clobbered again, I'm lazy. I didn't want to work 24/7 so I made the choice that we were going to let the business grow as much as it wanted to. So anytime we started turning people away because we didn't have enough space, we would bring on more staff. So so now it's anytime that I'm out in the field too much, then we bring them because, again, I'm lazy. Collin, so anytime I'm out in the field too much, then we start bringing on new stats. And right now, we just hired number 12 yesterday. Yes, Amy, I'm very, very excited for Amy, yeah, number
Collin Funkhouser 12:06
12, that's really exciting. You said that phrase. Just decided to let the business grow as much as it wanted to. I mean, what was it about that time where you just said, Okay, rains off. Let's see where this goes.
Stacy Aguilar 12:23
I was just, I was having a lot of fun. It it was clear that we were making a difference in the community, that this is something that people needed. You know, we had a lot of really just awesome clients, like this. One client, her husband, was deployed for a year they had small children at home, and, you know, they just needed help. And you know, a lot of different stories like that. It just, you know, it felt good that we were clearly making a difference in people's homes. And then as the business grew, it became clear that we were also making a difference in the community by hiring, you know, women that needed money and men were equal opportunity employer. We just happened to have a female staff at this time. But so, yeah, so, so it was, it was clear that we were spreading a lot of positivity, a lot of joy, and fulfilling a need with the community and fulfilling a need with our staff, and it just works out nicely for everybody.
Collin Funkhouser 13:28
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Collin Funkhouser 13:54
If you're looking for new pet sitting software, give time to pet a try. Listeners of our show will save 50% off your first three months by visiting hide, Comm, slash, confessional, that mindset that you have about your business, right? You've said, let it grow, and we're doing these things. I mean, is that, did that develop for you at all? Or have you always viewed your business as this other thing that you're just you're there for?
Stacy Aguilar 14:20
Yeah, and our business is a living, breathing entity, and we and it brings, I feel, I hope this doesn't, of course, I'm biased, but I feel like our business brings a lot of people joy, like it just it helps a lot of people. And, yeah. So it just comes back. And when you think of your your business, like that, it just comes back to you.
Collin Funkhouser 14:49
No, it really, it really does, especially when you just take that step back to think of the impact that you're having. And I love that perspective Stacy, because I know, like the first. First month, I'll never forget this, where we where we wrote our payroll check was more than like I had ever made in a month with a normal job, a job, it was like, wow, oh my gosh. That this is like, what, like, what is, what is happening? Like, what, what is, what have we done?
Stacy Aguilar 15:20
But, you know, it's stupid, because you're like, you're giving that like, Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm a very bad business owner, but I love when the payroll is so big, because it's like, it's helping people, you know, and
Collin Funkhouser 15:33
to, like, you said, Stacy, it's, it's helping people, as in, it's helping my team, but it's also helping my clients, and, yes, and having that, keeping that forefront in everything that we do. It's also important for the team too. I've noticed is we're continually keeping them connected to the importance of their work. And it's, yes, I don't like, I don't know how you do this. I know how we do of, like, reminding things of, hey, such and such, just booked, just so that you wear. We're getting on a schedule. She's needing to go to, you know, you know to fly to go see her dad, who's in the hospital, will be taking care of their pets, like, like, just these little things. Because I know from my time working a jobby job, it's, well, I walk I walk in, and there's just work for me to do. And I never want it to feel like I'm just putting things on your plate, because it's more and more work for you to do.
Stacy Aguilar 16:22
Yes, yes. Did you go to the Joey Coleman thing I did? There's a lot of that,
Collin Funkhouser 16:29
yeah, no, at that, like, they're really impacted me to think about of of, what were we doing? Okay, what were we needing to do better? And really, just like, what I know Megan, I have focused on a lot of is just like, connect them to the reason. Connect them to the reason. Because when I can walk in there, and if I've got all the backstory and history of this client locked up in my head, I You can't, I act differently. But if somebody doesn't have the history back, knowledge and reason for why we're there. Like you kind of great. Collin slept off and, and so we've worked really hard to, like, connect them to the person, because it's a, it is a people business, as much as we play with pets. And yes, and that's what that's about. That's great.
Stacy Aguilar 17:14
I love that you do that. That's awesome.
Collin Funkhouser 17:17
And, and so you're, you're growing, you're growing this team. When did the when did the fear free start entering this equation? Because that's, you know, that's not common either.
Stacy Aguilar 17:28
Yeah, so I, I have this built inside of me that I'm very safety minded, super duper safety minded. And, you know there's a lot of safety issues when you're working with animals, when you're going into homes, and you know they mom and dad are not home, and you know the animal might be meeting you for the first time. So So I personally did the fear free and certification, and then after that, I'm like, No, we need to have everybody do the fear free certification keeps everybody safe, for sure.
Collin Funkhouser 18:05
It does, especially when you're acting on the same page. I think that's what's also really powerful. Of when that pet knows, okay, new people will just XYZ, XYZ. It just It also makes that bonding and relationship happen a lot faster for all because, are you, are you fully team based? Are you doing more primary person with secondary backups and that kind
Stacy Aguilar 18:31
of stuff? No, we're fully team based. So yeah. So if any, if any client says, I must have this person, I said, Oh, let me, let me, let me refer you out to somebody that could do,
Collin Funkhouser 18:44
yeah, and that that kind of like we talk about, like, standardization of what we do and how we do it, but that animal behavior is also that has to be dialed in and nailed for our interactions, especially when you're fully team based, because we we are as well, and it's like any one of us needs to be able to walk in and and safely do this. So there's like, the pre screening process to make sure that they're comfortable with that. But then that does fall to us, because you just, we're dealing with living, breathing animals like you
Stacy Aguilar 19:14
just don't know, yeah, it's true, and just for them to have that knowledge and what to look for and the signs and symptoms of fear, stress and anxiety. It's super helpful, because then they kind of know, and I see the progression, like when we we don't do the certification until a team member has been with us for three months and and you can see the evolution, because, you know, they're meeting dogs for the first time, going, oh yay. And oh my god, you Oh, you see, and you know, and once they've had, you know, a few months of experience, they're like, oh, I should not do that. And they kind of learn where their mistakes are, yeah, well, we have
Collin Funkhouser 19:53
to remember a lot of cases, a lot of people who, like, we hire and work with, the only pets that they've interacted with have been their. Own pets. They're wrong. That's true. Oh, of course, you just come in and, you know, rub the belly and get in their face. Is that great? Yeah, just stand there real quietly. I need you to step back and remember, that's not how we do because, yes, people just fall back to what you're what you're accustomed to, what's my default, what's my what's what, what's my foundation here, and then we have to kind of suss that out and go, Okay, how's this person interacting? What's this here's the base layer. I mean, have you ever, I mean, you have a lot of training that you have your employees go through. Have you ever gotten pushback from an employee saying, Hey, I you know I already know all this, or this isn't necessary for me.
Stacy Aguilar 20:40
They probably wouldn't stay very if that was the case, because we, you know, I mean, we, you know, we do things with safety and care in mind, and if you know a potential employee is resistant to that, then it might not be a good fit. It's good to know that early on.
Collin Funkhouser 20:59
Yeah. I mean, how are you screening for because that's a being teachable is something that is so foundational. What are, what's your what's your secret here, Stacy, I'm taking notes. Thank you.
Stacy Aguilar 21:10
No. So, so we for the first thing we do, and we bring a team member on, is we do a phone interview, and that's really like a gut check, like, you know, if you know just based on how that conversation goes, then we'll move them to the next level. And for us, the next level is doing a ride along job interview. And basically they just hop in the car with me. They don't go inside people's homes with me, but they do join me on dog walks, you know, in the public space, you know. And that really does give you a good idea of how they are around animals and and if they are teachable and trainable, you can, kind of, you can only put a mask on for so many hours,
Collin Funkhouser 21:55
wear down Stacey,
Stacy Aguilar 21:57
so usually they're with me for like, two or three hours, and I have a pretty good idea who they are after that, but before we invite them to be a part of our team, we do ask for professional references. They can't be family or friends. They have to be people that they work with. And we do ask those references very specific questions about the teachability, about how they, you know, respond to coaching that kind of thing because, because we want to find out early on if it's not going to be a good, you know, good match together, and usually with those three phases, we have a great team. And I think it's because we do all that work.
Collin Funkhouser 22:36
I absolutely love that I know earlier in our very early in our hiring, we thought, okay, well, we just need to have somebody who has got all the skills already, and they just will just hire the skills. But boy, howdy, that really, that was tough to work through for us, because all of a sudden it was a oh no, no, I need you to do this. Oh no, no, no, actually, you need to do it this way. And Oh, could you? But that's Megan, and I really trying to understand, like, know what? What is it about us and what we do? And I just need this other person to be receptive. And, right, yes, that's it. That's I just need you to be receptive. And this is what excellent looks. Excellence looks like. This is the standard that I'm holding you to, and I'll bring you to that. But let's, I do need you to be along for the ride and not just dragging your heels in the whole way.
Stacy Aguilar 23:24
Yeah, for us, that's checking those references, because that will come out. Yeah, we, we asked them the same question differently, somebody's gonna tell on you.
Collin Funkhouser 23:38
So, yeah, yeah. And that's a step that is is easy to like, checking references. That does take time, right? You gotta call people, track them down, get them on the phone. You gotta like, but it's another example of this little bit of in the in the context of the employer employee relationship, that little bit of time spent doing the pre checks will save so much on the back end.
Stacy Aguilar 24:05
Yes, hiring is expensive, and it is not an expensive, you know, process. So, you know, I after doing, you know, some research, I found that it costs our company about $1,000 for every employee that we hire, you know, because I have somebody, I have a senior team member doing all the training, so there's paying, you know, for that, and and all of the equipment and all of the fear free certification. So it's not an inexpensive investment. So, so just taking that little bit of time to check references, you know, is is is going to help you on the back end of that.
Collin Funkhouser 24:44
Now, when did you start adding in the body cameras that
Stacy Aguilar 24:49
actually, I started as a solo when I was a solo dog walker, you know, I kind of like looked at a lot of different dog walking Facebook groups. And I noticed that a lot of dog walking companies in the UK were using body cameras. And I was like, why is that beneficial? Like, why would anyone use a body camera, you know? And then, as I was working my day, I had a dog. I had a dog for three years, a client dog that snapped at me, and when I talked to the owner about it, I was made to feel that either it didn't happen or maybe I did something to deserve it. Do you know what I'm saying? So it was, it was, I was like, at that moment, I was like, that's why those people have those body cameras. And then, and then we had another experience where we were, I was servicing a client, and she would hide a key for us, and it was a shared key that other folks were using, like, you know, housekeeper, the mom, whatever, and it went missing one day, and I, you know, I had to re key her whole house because I couldn't prove it wasn't me. So anyway, so after, it was after that experience that I actually got the body camera. And now everybody on our team uses the body cameras.
Collin Funkhouser 26:13
And now a word from Michelle with dog co launch.
Michelle K. 26:16
What does it take to scale your pet care business? My name is Michelle Klein. I'm the founder of dog co launch where pet care companies come to grow and scale, and I want to send you a case study of how one of my clients took his monthly revenue in just one year from $17,000 to over $73,000 and yes, that is monthly revenue, not annual. To get this case study and learn more about dog CO and what we do and how we help companies go to dog CO, launch.com forward slash case study.
Collin Funkhouser 26:50
That's a, you know, I think a lot of people may think, well, I'll just take a photo of something with my phone right to document. But like for the key missing, well, there's a whole lot of information and time that that one single photo can't and will never be able to capture, right,
Speaker 2 27:06
everything the dog's snapping, yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 27:09
like, there's no way that you can get that in real time for that. So, I mean, how is that? How does that work into your your policies that, as far as, like, training employees on that to be comfortable wearing that kind of thing, gotcha.
Stacy Aguilar 27:22
So, I mean, I thought about this a lot Collin, because, you know, I've had this as, you know, body cameras as a solo you know. So when I interview people, I introduce that right along in the phone interview. So it's if they're if they're not okay with it, then that's part of the screening process for us, you know, so. But I was spending a lot of time thinking, because I know a lot of your listeners do not use body cameras, and maybe they would want to introduce it. So I was trying to thinking, think of some ways that might make it comfortable for for an existing team. And you know, one of the things that you know, I have found that surprised us about using the body cameras. Yes, it does reduce liability, and yes it does increase our security. But one thing that's was a surprise benefit is it is a major marketing tool. Like people. We advertise it when we are on those Facebook groups that we use the body cameras and and even when I go to like networking groups, and I do talks for you know the folks there. Like, as soon as we share about the body camera, like, you see people's expressions change. Like, when I'm at the meet and greets and we talk about the body cameras, you see their expressions change. So it is I have found it to be most beneficial as a marketing tool, because when you're in people's homes. You know, you're working with their animals. You're among their personal, you know, their home, and it shows that you are super accountable and and super trustworthy, that you're willing to use a body camera to prove it.
Collin Funkhouser 28:56
Yeah, you know, there is that mindset of that I know I'll have, well, of course, I'm not going to take anything. We would never take anything. We'd never touch anything, yes, but yeah. Client, the client doesn't know that, right? The client, the community, doesn't know that. And especially if you're going into a fully team based approach, where you're going to have multiple people, do I know for us, when we're fully team based and a full in a pet sitting company. So there may be 678, different people on that visit, if you're traveling for an extended period of time. And that's how do we start getting peace of mind with that client, give them confidence in us. And there's only so many words I can say, right? Like I can only say no, just trust me, bro, like, that doesn't, yeah, that's not gonna work. And so I just, I mean, so is as far as, like, policies with those cameras, is it they start it and stop with, like, when they start the visits, do they leave it running the entire time they're out in the field? I mean, how do they use the cameras? Yeah, so these
Stacy Aguilar 29:59
are, these are our cameras. Know the folks listening, and can't see them, but
Collin Funkhouser 30:02
what kind are they? I know people are going to
Stacy Aguilar 30:05
ask, Oh, that's a good question. I put the Hold on. I have to take the sticker off. We number them because, you know, there's so many, so but it is Cam Pro, can Pro? I get them right on, on Amazon, yeah. So there's, you know, there's, there's some that can hold up to two weeks worth of, you know, of data. So, but the staff members, they put it on in the morning, and when they start their day and they turn it off in the afternoon, and of course, they are, they're easily able to start and stop, you know. So if they have to, you know, visit a restroom or something like that.
Collin Funkhouser 30:43
So, but yeah, yeah. And is that something like, now, the recordings? I just gonna, I have a very practical question of this, because, okay, you've got 12 team members. They're out there doing stuff. They've got the storage on the camera. Do they turn it into an office, upload to the cloud? What's that process like?
Stacy Aguilar 31:01
Gotcha? So I actually have a cooler on my porch, because the cameras, they the batteries, get wonky when it's too hot or it's too cold. So there's an indicator that tells them that it's getting full. So when that indicator, you know, is telling them that, then they just come to my home and they throw it in the cooler, and then they can pick up their poop bag. Their poop bags, because I have a because I have a bunch of supplies in there as well. So and then my husband, we have an external hard drive. My husband is, that's his part of it. He's that's the only part of the business that he works in. But he he empties everything into our external hard drive, and we only keep the footage for 30 days. After 30 days, we purge it. We don't keep it forever. But yeah, so and then, and then the staff member, they'll either come and pick it up the next day, or if I'm out and about, then I'll just deliver it to their house. But yeah, so that's a system we've built
Collin Funkhouser 31:55
around it well. And I think it's important just to really think through this about, you know, things that we unintentionally say yes to of the Okay, if you want to get a body camera, you're going to have to be able to store the footage. Do you are now, I've got to buy someplace to store the footage. I've got to have a process for bringing that in. I've got to get a process for purging it and getting it put back out and back into service. Like this just becomes one of those little process loops that sometimes we may think, I know I'll do, I'll go, oh, that's an absolutely brilliant idea, but I don't quite link all the things together. And just understand, yeah, there's a little bit of back end work to have this out there and operating in the field.
Stacy Aguilar 32:31
It's not, it's not that bad, though. I have the benefits definitely outweigh, you know, the what the process is, and, yeah, I mean, they just, they drop it off, and then, you know, within an hour or so, we can have it back out there. You know, for them, it's not that bad of a deal, yeah, yeah. So we just, you know, we plug it into our computer, and then it just does its uploading thing. And then once it's done, we throw it back outside. And then, you know, they can pick it up, or we can drop it off, whatever we decide works best for that particular camera.
Collin Funkhouser 32:59
Have you ever had any clients request that they not be on during a visit or inside the home
Stacy Aguilar 33:05
only once, and I, I told her that I would give her a referral for another business, because this is how we this is how we do things, yeah, because it's it. Like I said, we're very safety and security minded. And you know, something happens inside of her home, outside of her home, I'm not going to be held liable for that, and my staff is not going to be held liable for that. So it's clear that we're not a good match. Here's a list of, you know, other companies that might be a better match for you.
Collin Funkhouser 33:33
Yeah, it's that, what am I also part of this decision to Stacey, I'm hearing is like, what am I willing to what am I going to die on with this? Right? It's like if I really am the safety and security company over here, if that's really what I'm founded on, and a client asks me to not, oh, well, the client said, so, so it's fine. Or, like you says, No, then we're not a good fit for you. This is our standard. Yeah, we can't go below that and really going, this is, this is what it means to set those high standards and then, and then stick to them, regardless of what the clients are asking you to do, right?
Stacy Aguilar 34:08
And the funny thing is, in that particular instances, she had cameras,
Collin Funkhouser 34:15
it's fine for she wanted to watch you, right? Yeah, get it. I you know, whatever. So since, since having the you mentioned two examples of why you wanted to have them, since having them. I mean, have they come in handy? Yeah.
Stacy Aguilar 34:32
I mean, you know. I mean, you know, when you are out in the field, sometimes a loose dog comes at you. So you have, you know, documentation about that. You know, we had somebody fall and break our arm. We had somebody get a dog bite to the face, you know. So honestly, Collin, I, you know, I look at some of the Facebook groups, just the dog walking professional Facebook groups, and you know, some of the things that people are challenged with that they're seeking advice. It's 95% of the time a body camera would have fixed the problem. Like whenever I look at those websites, my my or the Facebook groups, my reply common is 1001 reason why I use a body camera,
Collin Funkhouser 35:15
well, I'm even thinking of you mentioned the off leash dog. This happened to us recently. We don't currently use body cameras, but I do have it pulled up on Amazon over here on the screen, and trying to dissect exactly what happened with that employee after the fact, and figure out is there, like, I'm just coming from a practical standpoint of also like this provides a lot of great training opportunities to team members. Hey, you I saw, you know, there was this incident, you know, you handle that perfectly, and according directly with training, oh, you I saw this incident, don't forget to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, like when they come up. It provides a lot of good opportunities with you
Stacy Aguilar 35:50
in that, yeah, I would add, though, Collin is that I do not use it for that purpose. And I think in my mindset, that if the staff thought that I was looking in on them, I think that there would be more pushback about it. Do you know what I'm saying? So, so I've been, I've been employing body cameras since 2022 and I have never once looked at the footage unless something happened that caused an expense to our business. And I think that for the folks that are listening and they're wondering how that they could, you know, work this with their, you know, introduce this to their staff members, I think the best way to introduce it is to make sure that they know that you're not going to be the eye in the sky, that you're not the big brother, that it's really, you know, To increase, you know, their security and to reduce liability issues,
Collin Funkhouser 36:45
yeah, yeah. And I think I was just thinking of in those instances where you do have something come up, you can look back at that footage and you maybe, if you know, if you are like you said, there's an expense, you can also Yes, talk about it
Stacy Aguilar 36:56
for sure, absolutely, yeah, yeah, yes, for sure. Or if you get a phone call you know from a client that you know something happened, you know, then you can quietly, you know, kind of look at it. But just, I don't, I don't just look at look at it randomly.
Collin Funkhouser 37:10
I've never seen screens just playing it around you in your office.
Stacy Aguilar 37:14
Okay, have that kind of time.
Collin Funkhouser 37:19
I don't. That makes no that makes a lot of sense. Stacey, what does Abby think of the business now that she unintentionally started all those years ago?
Stacy Aguilar 37:29
Oh, gosh, that'd be I have to ask her that question. She's actually, she's in college now, so she lives at school. She comes home on the weekends in the summertime, and she, you know, she works with me, but you know, I'm, I'm incredibly proud of her. And one thing that I wanted to share about what it's like to work with my my children, yeah, if that's okay, but so, you know, I don't, you interview a lot of folks. I don't, I don't know if a lot of folks do work with their kids like that. Have them as a staff members, not so much. Yeah, for us, it is just it has been so it's been such a blessing. It's been so awesome. And do you have kids?
Collin Funkhouser 38:10
Collin, yes, we have a we have an eight
Stacy Aguilar 38:12
and 10 year old. Okay, so do you remember that time when they were just like little meatloaf that just slept 20 hours a day, and then suddenly they created, they got to a certain age, and all of a sudden there was a personality, and you could kind of see the human being they were going to become in the future. Do you remember that? Yes, with your kids, I do absolutely work, working with your kids. It's like the adult version of that. Like, you know, you get this, this awesome perspective of who they're going to be as adult workers that you might not see otherwise, you know. So, so that's that's been an awesome part of working with my both of my girls work with me. They're both w2 employees.
Collin Funkhouser 38:53
Yeah, there's a lot of fun too. That's we. It is something to be able to watch them grow, like you said, into a full fledged person and individual, and see where strengths are, see where weaknesses are, see, see the personalities of the development that happens. Like, that's non stop, and I think about that too, of me watching my kids develop and grow into something and who they're going to be. And like, well, I'm still changing, I'm still growing, I'm still growing, I'm still learning, I'm still trying to figure out what on earth is I'm doing too, right? Everybody's in that boat, and it's, it's wonderful to be able to be do that together, right? With your kids. I think it's so beautiful.
Stacy Aguilar 39:32
Yeah? And you see, you see pieces of their professional personalities that you would not see otherwise, you know, yeah, it Yeah. So my one daughter, Abby, she is hilarious. She is so funny. Like, you know, the pictures that she takes is it are comical, I mean, and she does them to make the people laugh, you know. And then my other daughter, Sophia, she is very structured, you. You know, she, she wants to be on time. She wants to do it right. She wants to, you know, she's just very like she, if something goes wrong, she really takes that to heart. She really wants to do a good job. So, yeah, so it's just been really fun to kind of have them as co workers, to see, you know, those, those pieces of their, their personalities, that you might miss otherwise,
Collin Funkhouser 40:21
I love that that's so cool. Stacy and Stacey, I want to thank you for coming on the show today and for sharing with us your journey in business, how you keep safety focused and central to everything that you do, and encouraging us to look at our businesses in that same light. For those who want to follow along, see the cool Facebook and social media that Donna's got going on and those adorable photos of all the pets. How best can they do that and get connected with you and pick your brain on body cameras and all that stuff too?
Stacy Aguilar 40:50
Sure they can. They can hop on our Facebook page. Just go to Facebook, and they can search Abby's animal sitters and dog walkers. We'll come right up. And then also you can google us. We have a Google page, and you can come to our website and message us through there. So yeah, a few different ways.
Collin Funkhouser 41:06
Well, I will have those links in the show notes so people can get connected and start following along and get in touch with you. Stacy, this has been just an absolute pleasure and such a joy. Thank you for coming on the show today. Thank you, Collin, what does it mean to keep professionalism and protection and security central in our business. What does that look like for you, as we look to set ourselves apart in a radically different way from an ever increasingly crowded market? Where do we find our differentiation? And three things can be true at the same time, we can be differentiated from others. We can provide security and protection for our employees, and we can give our clients peace of mind. One of the secrets in business is that where there is the most overlap are the places where we have the most power and ability to make change, just as we look to cover ourselves and protect ourselves from liability, as well as giving clients peace of mind, as well as protecting our team, as well as differentiating ourselves and whatever that is for you and Your business, where you have overlaps and multiple benefits across various aspects of what we do. When we focus on those, that's where we have the biggest impact. That's where we can elicit and make the most difference in our business and our lives, and the lives of our team and the clients in our community as well. That's the power of this. When we think in that way, it really unlocks a lot of potential. So yes, it is about the body cams and those take some discussion and implementing well and the logistics and monitoring and all the oversight and everything that goes along with that. But also, where else can we do that in our business? Where else can we both maintain our professionalism push that envelope, while also focused on security and safety, we'd love to hear from you and get your feedback on how you are doing this in your business. You can send that to pet sitter confessional@gmail.com Also, we're everywhere on social media at Pet Sitter confessional, we want to thank today's sponsors tying to pet and dog co launch 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 talk to you soon. Bye. You.
