699: The Power of Saying Yes to the Right Clients with Maria Estes
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What does it look like to build an entire pet care business around cats? Maria Estes, founder of All About Cats Pet Sitting in Tallahassee, Florida, shares how a side gig started for income and joy grew into a thriving cat-specific business with over 900 clients. She explains why specialization matters, how feline behavior and medical needs have shaped her services, and why trust and communication are central to client peace of mind. Maria also talks about learning to let go, building a team, and finding the right people through rescue work, clients, and community relationships. Her story is a reminder that going deep into one niche can create stronger care, clearer boundaries, and a more meaningful business.
Main topics:
Building cat-specific services
Trust through client communication
Medical and behavioral care
Growing beyond solo sitting
Finding joy through specialization
Main takeaway: “It’s okay to be specialized in one area.”
Maria Estes built All About Cats Pet Sitting around a clear focus: cats. Not every pet care business has to serve every pet, every client, or every possible need. Sometimes the strength of a business comes from knowing exactly who you serve and committing to serving them well. Specialization allows us to deepen our education, improve our communication, and provide care that truly fits the animal in front of us. For Maria, that means cat-specific care rooted in trust, behavior knowledge, and peace of mind for the people who love them.
About out guest:
Maria Estes is the founder of All About Cats Pet Sitting in Tallahassee, Florida. She launched the business in 2010 with an exclusive focus on cat care after a 20-year career as an ultrasonographer specializing in high-risk pregnancies. Maria is a Certified Professional Pet Sitter and is also certified in cat training and bereavement support. Through her work, she focuses on specialized feline care, client trust, medical needs, behavior awareness, and helping cat guardians feel confident while they are away.
Links: Her website: allaboutcatspetsitting.com
Find her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allaboutcatspetsitting/
Pet Nanny Coach: https://petnannycoach.com/
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Pet Sitter Confessional, its hosts, or sponsors. We interview individuals based on their experience and expertise within the pet care industry. Any statements made outside of this platform, or unrelated to the topic discussed, are solely the responsibility of the guest.
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Pet sitting, cat care, feline behavior, client relationships, specialized services, cat training, bereavement support, cat-specific business, medical needs, behavioral issues, volunteer work, client communication, business growth, professional development, cat guardians.
SPEAKERS
Collin, Maria Estes
Collin 00:01
Collin, welcome to pet sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Today, we're brought to you by our friends at time to pet and pet sitters International. Today, we are super excited to have Maria Estes, owner of all about cats, pet sitting on the show, to talk about her journey into pet care, how she serves her clients with excellence, and what's it like running a cat specific business? Maria, I'm really excited to have you on the show to talk about this. For those who aren't familiar with you, could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little about what
Maria Estes 00:36
do. I am thank you so much for having me on my name is Maria Estes I'm the founder of all about cats pet sitting here in Tallahassee, Florida. I founded all about cats pet sitting in 2010 with an exclusive focus on cat care. I'm a certified professional pet sitter, also certified in Cat Training and bereavement support. I'm also currently continuing my education on feline behavior.
Collin 01:10
Now you found it in 2010 what was Maria doing prior to 2010
Maria Estes 01:18
Well, prior to 2010 I was working in the healthcare field. I was an ultrasonographer, so an ultrasound tech, and specialized in high risk pregnancies, and so I was doing that for 20 years, and then in 2009 during that time, I had a personal change in my life, and I needed to supplement my income, and also was looking for a way to bring more joy into my life. And I don't know, cat sitting just kind of popped in my head. I was like, I didn't even know it was really a thing, but I have had a love for cats my entire life. I've always had a cat growing up, I had one. My first cat lived to be 21 years old, and so that gave me a lot of experience and caring from her as a baby all the way through her senior years, and so I thought it would be quite rewarding to be able to do that on the side. So that's how that started. And I just didn't know that what I was doing, this little side gig, would blossom into something that was, ended up being a whole full blown business.
Collin 02:46
Now, being an ultrasound tech, especially specializing in high risk pregnancies, that's that's a really intense kind of environment, isn't it? Like there's a lot of subtleties, a lot of communication you go through, I mean, talk about what that was like for you and what you brought into your business from that.
Maria Estes 03:09
Well, it definitely is a very specialized type of type of work. I went graduated right out of ultrasound school and started working for maternal fetal medicine. So right away, I was given that opportunity for that specific specialty. You are looking at things that are, you know, so in depth, you're looking at all the structures of the baby, the heart. We saw mothers that were high risk, like high blood pressure, diabetes. We would see the multiple pregnancies, the twins and the triplets, cleft lip, any any abnormality was always sent to our office. So I was used to really being very focused and what I was doing, and I think that has transitioned into the world of pet sitting and cat care, because we are very specialized in what we do, and I'm very in tune to the special needs of the cats, just like I was with our patients and then and their babies.
Collin 04:34
I can imagine too, there'd be some level of ability to control your own emotions in situations, because, I mean, if you're looking if you're in that high risk pregnancy, and you're doing the ultrasound, you're looking like you're looking for problems, and so the moment you see something that might be an issue, not going ah, and freaking out, and being able to control and guide and be comforting all in that situation too, like that, that's a big. Part of dealing with anxious pet parents, nervous cats and specialty cases too.
Maria Estes 05:07
Yes, you're, you're absolutely right. Yeah, it does take, it takes a lot to be able to process that and and make sure to keep your patient, you know, calm and not in a panic. And kind of you know, not alert them and worry them especially, and because you are the one doing the exam, the doctor still needs to come and evaluate and and so having that calm nature is it's the same, like for cats and pet sitting, if we see, you know, an issue, we try not to worry the pet parents by just, you know, sending all these alarms and whatnot, when also, it could be normal for fluffy to, you know, vomit every now and then. So we are trying to keep things calm and and not worry the parents, just like we wouldn't worry the patients.
Collin 06:13
Now, when you started out, you said you were exclusively cat. Said it cat only from the beginning is that right?
Maria Estes 06:20
Yes, that is right, yeah, we were always focused on cats. They're just so different than dogs, and that was my passion. And yeah, they're just so different. So the specialized care was something I was very interested in pursuing.
Collin 06:35
Was that easy to communicate with potential clients in the in the in the early days, did people, were people actively looking for that? Do they understand what you did? Or was there a little bit of No, no, I only do cats and trying to differentiate yourself that
Maria Estes 06:51
way. It's interesting, because people, and still they're surprised that a that a cat focused pet sitting business actually exists. So when it's more they're just, they're just so excited to hear about us and almost confused that, wait, there's something that's really a thing that you just take care of cats. We do have a very small handful of dogs clients, but they're they are usually ones that have were already established cat clients and ended up adopting a dog or referrals from you know that circle. So we keep those at a minimum, just because we are so busy with just providing cat care that we would have to open up a whole nother business for dogs, because we do get a lot of referrals, and we have to refer them out, but
Collin 07:55
talk about how that's helped you. I mean, you talk about referring out, and I'm sure you've had to say no to a lot of clients too. Has that been easy to stick to over the years? Or have you been tempted to just start saying yes to more dogs?
Maria Estes 08:10
I used to be a lot more tempted, especially when I was worried about growing the business. And so early in the days I would there would be one here and there that I would take. And when it comes to referrals or current cat clients that do adopt, it is hard to say no. So oftentimes those are the ones that we do agree to keep. But I think because we are so busy, it has been easier for me to say no, and because we're so cat focused, I feel like that is my specialty. And I probably, you know, probably wouldn't be able to give the level of care to a dog that I can a cat just because of my intense understanding of feline behavior.
Collin 09:01
Yeah, it really does change that, that level of care, and I'm glad you pointed that out. Maria of hey, I sure I can do anything and everything. This is a conversation that Megan and I have a lot of, yeah, we can take on whatever. But is it the best care? Is it the best for the animal and or the person? And I think that's a great way to help us figure out, what do we say yes to versus what do we say no to of can I actually give the quality of care that I expect of myself or would want, or am I going to have to be cutting corners and kind of cheapening things out and just kind of vibing my way through through a visit with an animal, because I don't have the education and we never want to put ourselves in that situation.
Maria Estes 09:51
Yes, I totally agree. And the dog clients that we do have, I have a couple of sitters who have dogs. And they are, they are very well in tuned with dogs. So those are the sitters who take those dog clients, the few that we have, because they're the best ones suited for it. So we try to, you know, have this special care provided by our team members who are, you know, I would say more qualified. But do you have that understanding of dogs that I might not particularly have?
Collin 10:26
Yeah, and I think that's important too, of going who's who is the best here. And so who do I have in my network to hand off to, to refer out to, to say, Look, I am an expert in my field and and sometimes I know I can get like this it. I want to be perceived as an expert in everything. I want to be perceived like we know and can do everything. And so there's a little bit of my ego that kind of gets caught up every time I have to say, Ooh, I can't help with that, but it's hard for me to admit when I don't know something, especially in the pet care and Animal Services world, instead going, I'm not for you, you need to go over to this person.
Maria Estes 11:10
Yeah, it definitely has been difficult and but I have been able to get to that point. It's just taken a while to say, okay, you know what? It's okay not to know. It's okay to be specialized in one area, and the more I can educate and and build upon that is great. And that's, that's my focus. So I can say, Okay, I'm 100% in this, and I can help in many ways, and not just, you know, just the basic pet sitting,
Collin 11:38
yeah, you said that phrase. I'm 100% in this. What does that mean to you?
Maria Estes 11:44
Well, you know, honestly, a lot of it is continuing education. I am, I am big on just continuing to learn and to be able to bring my knowledge into my business. I've, you know, like I said, I've, I'm a professional, certified professional pet sitter. I've become a cat trainer, certified cat trainer, but that's more kind of, you know, a fun side thing. But I'm trying to get into the more behavior aspect of it, because a lot of my clients come to me with cat behavior issues like elimination issues and scratching and just conflict between cats in the homes and introduction to New cats and that. So I'm trying to just learn more and more and more, and that's that's what I mean, about 100% in and volunteer work, just giving back as much as I can to my clients and to the community.
Collin 12:52
Are you volunteering with cat specific rescues and organizations, or in other ways,
Maria Estes 12:58
I volunteer at our local humane society. And the building where we where I do volunteer it, it is cats, cats only. So I do volunteer there a couple days a week, if possible. And I am connected to other feline rescue groups, and we just more bounce things off of each other, or help each other with finding homes for a, you know, a cat, or with trapping so that, yeah, that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 13:35
Why
Collin 13:36
is that important for you to be involved in that way?
Maria Estes 13:42
Well, I just, I'm just very, very passionate about cats, and that's just in my nature. I'm just a very caring person. And I just, I want to just help as much as I can to make everybody happy and coexist and help save lives.
Collin 14:00
I think it's really important that we find ways to do that outside of our business. I think that finding ways to give back is because we, I we can get so caught up in our business of business and numbers and routes and planning and forecasting and revenue and profit and all in the expenses and all this stuff, that I think it's a great way to just do something with no pressure, right? I think that that it's it's one, it's one aspect of that of I can use my skills, my experience, my expertise, and do it out of my joy to to help others without any pressure back on me to do any of the other stuff, and it's such a wonderful outlet for that aspect of who we are.
Maria Estes 14:50
You are exactly right. You couldn't have said that better. It's I, you know, it's like, I'm so invested in the business and, you know, as pet. Sitters. We work seven days a week, and I I'm on, finally, on more of the management, administrative part of because we have a team of about 20 sitters. So I'm trying to move towards that. I do have my special cases that I take care of, and my clients that have been with me for a decade, but I also found when I started working at volunteering at the Humane Society, I would just disconnect for two hours, and it was like a breath of fresh air just to just be invested in that and take the time to socialize with the cats, because I volunteer as a socializer, to work with the shy cats and work with the special cases. And it's just it was like just a relief to be able to do something again that I found joy in, just like when I started the business. So, yeah, it's definitely, it's definitely refreshing.
Collin 16:02
Have you heard of time to pet? Doug from bad to the bone? Pet Care has this to say,
Doug Keeling 16:07
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Collin 16:27
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 time to pet.com/confessional you've said you have 20 sitters that are working with your business. Maria, when did you in this journey start realizing, Oh, I can't do this all by myself.
Maria Estes 16:50
Realizing and doing something about it are two different things. Yeah. Okay, so how many years was it before you actually did it? Exactly? I did almost everything for almost a decade, and we're going into our 16th year. I when I started, you know, of course, it was slow. I wasn't really advertising and marketing. It was just word of mouth, little blurbs on social media, because Facebook was sort of kind of newish at the time. And then my daughter was actually the first person who started helping me, and she started helping me at a very young age, so she she would help. And then my my husband, who is now a full time cat sitter. We actually got divorced, but then we got nine years later, we reconnected, and now he's growing this business with me, but backing it, backing it up. He, he started helping me a little bit, and then I didn't bring on my first contractor until 10 years later. It because the job, the work is so trust based. It was hard for me to let go and say, okay, it is okay for someone else, except for, you know, myself and my immediate family, to go into a home and provide the care that we, that we give to clients.
Collin 18:35
It's it's one of those we get into it, and we know our reasons and our motives for why I'm here, why I show up, why I do what I do, and then when we need to get bring in more help, I think for Megan and I, it was well, what are their motives? Are they as? Are they as? Are they what I what I want? Are they here for XYZ? Are they just here for a paycheck, or they just here for this and that, and then that and it. Then we push off, because we we start to question again. We start to question their motives. And why are you, why do you want to do this, and you don't like him as much as I do, and you're not going to invest as much as I do? And how did you let that go and kind of embrace that? Or were you forced to? I don't
Maria Estes 19:21
know. It was getting to where I was, I was breaking down. You know? It was like, Can I do this anymore? But I want to do this, but I don't want to do this. I need help. And actually, I joined pet nanny coach, Collin Sedgwick mastermind group, and I think she was my saving grace. She helped give me the confidence I needed to she's like, Maria, you can't do this on your own. You're gonna have to let go. So just having her as a coach and the other people in the group, I. As support, I was able to start letting go. Yeah, and my first sitters were actually clients. That's how I started. My sitters was reaching out to my clients and saying, okay, you know, I need help. Anybody interested? So I figured, what better people can I bring on initially than people who already know how we work and the care that we provide? So that's how that's how I started.
Collin 20:31
Wow. And so how do you find cat centric people? I mean, that are like that now, because not only it's not a generic job or business thing. It's not a generic position. It's a, you know, they have to have the a passion for a very specific thing. I mean, how are you bringing those people in and working with
Maria Estes 20:52
them? Well, I A lot of it's through rescue work, through the main society, through veterinarians. It's just the relationships that you build. It just seems to come naturally. When it comes to specializing in cats, it just seems like cat sitting groups tend to form quite naturally, for some reason, that's how I explain it.
Collin 21:28
Yeah, no, I think it's one of those really powerful things that we tend to not recognize when we find a niche or do something specific in our business. I tend, I know I'm always thinking of, hey, this is going to attract the right clients to me, and they're going to find me and see me on the other side. When, when we look to bring on a team and build that out, it also attracts them to the business too, because they can immediately see, ah, I get that. I know that. And so it does happen a bit more organically than when things are just kind of generic and bland,
Maria Estes 22:01
right? And people do like, they'll find us on social media, or they'll find us through Google. And instead of cat sitting, they they're like, oh, wait, this would be perfect for me. So a lot of it is online presence. They'll be like, oh, you know, what? Are you hiring? Are you? Are you interested in and and and our clients, word of mouth, they'll be, oh, you know what? So I'll put in the newsletter sometimes that we are looking for people. So a lot of it's word of mouth too, on how, you know, we find people.
Collin 22:33
You mentioned earlier about how you're getting into more behavioral stuff, because you're seeing some more behavioral instances, I was curious if you saw more. It's like, if the kind of clients that came to you were more medically needy or behavioral needy, or do you see them more as more kind of larger part of the bell curve, healthy. Don't need a whole lot cats and kind of, what mixture you have in your business.
Maria Estes 22:59
It's pretty pretty even, but over the years, I have seen a big increase in medically and medical needs. Cats seem to be living longer lives with chronic conditions. So and you know, people are realizing, oh, there's a service that a cat centered service, and when they realize that we're able to give medications at home. So instead of cats being boarded, now we're getting more business because we can give medications and injections and even subcutaneous fluids. And so we have seen a lot more medical needs than we used to, probably for those reasons that were accessible. Maybe there wasn't a group before that could do these things.
Collin 23:58
It's definitely something of I think about this a lot of, can I niche too much? Can I ever be too specific? And I think that this is a great example of how, no you're in cats like you don't take on any other species of animal, and yet, even within your own business, you're finding specific care needs and specific pockets of needs and ways to serve clients that didn't exist that clients I think it's fascinating to know, like clients really weren't asking for that 10 years ago, and now they are. Now that they do, they do see, oh, wow, here's I can Google. I'm more clients are more educated than ever. They have more information accessible to them than ever, and they're making these kind of informed decisions. So the question then becomes, am I going to be on the other end to pick up the phone when they call to talk to them about the expertise and let them know what their options are? Because I'm personally amazed by the number of people who do cat boarding instead of keeping the cat in their home like that is the. Number of calls we get. Do you do cat boarding? I'm like, why would you board? Like, it's just, it's inconceivable to me. Maria, like, it's so hard and and to then, when I explain what we do, you know, it's like, oh, I didn't, I didn't even know that was possible. I can leave my cat in my home. Yes, you can.
Maria Estes 25:21
Yeah, yeah, we get calls about boarding too, which is interesting, but it's not something where we're capable to do, capable of doing with all the cats we have in our home. But you did touch on the behavioral aspect of things, and I have seen a lot of getting a lot of people contacting me now that wouldn't years ago. So I think people are more Cat Guardians are becoming more aware of behavioral problems, or maybe they didn't realize that there is someone that can help them with those sort of things, instead of just surrendering to the animal shelter if a cat's peeing outside the box or scratching on furniture, that the answer is, you know what, we can't do anything about this. So that's that's something else I was wanting to dive into with my education is feline behavior, and hopefully to get certified as a consultant.
Collin 26:23
Well, you bring that up of Yeah, I think 10 years ago, there was a lot more of the well, my cat's just an insert word here, right? My cat hates me. My cat doesn't like XYZ. And now going, Oh, actually, wait a minute, there's things that we can do here. We're the cat's telling us something, let's figure out what to do. Your cat's not just a jerk, right? It has needs that either aren't being met or being met too much, or whatever that is. And so there are more possibilities, and I think that that's it's really neat to see that that this is, these are, this is a process of clients trying to fill this need, like they're trying to find this and solve this problem. Previously, they solved it by surrendering the cat. Now they can solve it by bringing in help and getting experts in to help them work through that problem.
Maria Estes 27:12
Exactly. Yeah.
Collin 27:16
Now you used a word earlier of Cat Guardians, and I was curious, is that something that you've always used, and kind of your thoughts around saying Cat Guardians versus cat owners, or things like that, or cat parents, that kind of stuff,
Maria Estes 27:31
think I use them sort of equally. But, you know, I hate to say cat that we own a cat, because I pretty much know they own me. We all cater to the cat's needs, and we I feel like we're their servants, and we do watch over them. We watch over them, we take care of them, we make sure they're happy and healthy. And so sometimes I will use Cat Guardians instead of owners and cat parents, we are, I have seven babies, well, six my son's cat's ears as well, but so they are my children, and so, you know, that's why I say that too.
Collin 28:15
Well, I think it also helps change the relationship of us to that person of hey, you have responsibility in this. You also have agency in this too. You're making decisions. You have the until the cats get access to the visa or the MasterCard. This person is still the one making the purchasing decisions. So let's talk to them and make sure they're on board and they're behind what we're trying to do and see why we're doing things the way we were doing them,
Maria Estes 28:45
exactly.
Collin 28:48
And now a word from our friends at pet sitters International.
Speaker 2 28:51
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Collin 29:19
I was also curious, Maria, how do you have your visits structured? Do you have different kind of visit lengths? Does it depend on the needs of the cat? Or how are your How is that structured? When somebody reaches out to you and says, Hey, I'm going on vacation for a week, I need you to do visits.
Maria Estes 29:39
Okay, our standard visits have always been 20 minutes in length. We do now offer 30 minute visits, 40 minutes and 60 minutes. It wasn't until after people started returning to work from covid and. Um, that they were like, really nervous about leaving their cats at home after being at home with them for so long. I don't know if they were more nervous about the cats being nervous, or they were nervous. I think it was more of a security for the owner.
Collin 30:14
I'm gonna go on a limb here.
Maria Estes 30:17
That's what I haven't said. I'm like, I think fluffy is okay with you going back to work, but it would they so I was getting requests, and I'm like, You know what this is? This is something that's needed. And so I would almost say our most popular visits are 30 minutes now. And then we do once a day, twice a day. We have some that are three times a day, and that's even without cats that have special needs. We even have a couple who want overnights without special needs. People just take care of their cats like like their children, yeah and yeah. So we definitely cater the time specifically to what the the pet guardian, cat Guardian feels that's necessary, whether it's a kitten who needs more social interaction, it could be a multi cat household, or there could be extra duties, because we do other things, like water plants and whatnot. So sometimes they'll, we don't charge extra, but we'll just lengthen that visit, so they'll be paying for a longer visit.
Collin 31:31
Hmm, I was curious about your opinion on the increase in like technology in the homes, because, you know, for we don't see it as much for dogs, like, Sure, you can get automatic feeders, but it seems like our cat clients, they really love all of the gizmos and doodads and whatchamacallits of the automatic feeder and the automatic water fountain and the automatic litter scoop and the automatic toy and the like. How. How does that change your visits and what are your thoughts on the increase of that kind of technology in the home?
Maria Estes 32:09
Personally, I am not a big fan of a lot of it because of the litter bots, the little robots. It's just they seem to be so temperamental, and a lot of times we're still having to go and scoop or recycle or reset, and we're still cleaning out trays. And I'm just like to me, it's just easier to scoop a box, and it's clean that way. Automatic feeders, if they're plugged in, we get a lot of storms here, especially during hurricane season. If they're not battery backed up, then they might not get fed a meal or two automatic water fountains. I'm just like, God forbid, something catches fire or, you know, or stops working, and let's say the cat doesn't have water for 24 hours or so. Technology, to me, has pros and cons. Sure, yeah. I mean, if, if, for some reason, you know something happened and you know that the cat needed food and we were running late or released, it's dispensed. But, yeah, so I think there's good and bad, but I'm not. I'm not, you know, I'm bored with all of
Speaker 1 33:30
it.
Collin 33:30
You mentioned the, you know, I'd rather just scoop a tray. I definitely like I I get it, you know, I we have cat owners and Cat Guardians who they love getting the little notification on their phone when their cat uses the litter box. I don't, I don't need more pings and pongs in my life. So I don't understand. I don't get it. But I think that part of that too is, you know, we can view it as, hey, I have more job responsibilities because technology still fails. Technology is going to break. Technology still needs to be reset and whatever, whatever. So I still am needed for this, also, if it's working properly and I can do a quick check of it, well, now I do have more time for the socialization that maybe I didn't beforehand. So there is that trade off of of, why am I there? And I think that as you have been elevating this and what you're doing of the more medically needy, the specialty cases, the behavioral issues, it's going when I'm in your home like I'm not just here to scoop the litter. And I think for a long time, a lot of clients just perceived us as glorified litter scoopers, and which is why a lot of people may have said, yeah, come every three days to scoop the litter or whatever, and having and going, No, I'm here for a lot more than that. And. Kind of helps free up a little bit of our time when we're in that visit.
Maria Estes 35:04
Yeah, that's definitely true. Definitely true. When things go right, it does give that, you know, the cat, a lot more of attention when things go right and often. You know, I would say they do often. But yeah, if it's not, then it's then it is more work. And then you do get a little frustrated that you're, you know, that they're saying, well, it on my app is, it's saying this, and I'm like, well, on the little robot, it's green, it's okay. So there is that, that time, you know, sucker there sometimes. But yes, you're right. When it works, it can work well.
Collin 35:41
It does also mean that I have to read up on more and watch more YouTube videos for how to troubleshoot things like
Maria Estes 35:49
us and as sitters, we've had to do that too. We'll be watching YouTube videos and trying to, you know, problem solve on the job,
Collin 35:57
which just again, parts of that, like, well, this is, this is what's required of me right now. And I guess, I guess gotta, gotta roll with it.
Maria Estes 36:06
It's part of the I always say it's part of the job. And no matter what, it's part of the job. We're there to take care of them. And if that means googling or YouTubing, and that's, that's what we do.
Collin 36:16
You've been, you've been doing this for what you're coming up on 1415, years of business. Is
Maria Estes 36:24
that right going into 16th? You're
Collin 36:27
sorry I can't do math in my head over the years. Maria, what is it? How do you help clients feel secured while they're away?
Maria Estes 36:40
Well, we it really does come down to trust and communication. We want them to know that their visits have been completed, that their cat is safe and everything's been taken care of. We do give daily or every visit, updates, pictures, videos, and just we and we try to keep consistency with sitters that way, that relationship has been established with the sitter and the cat so they feel confident and safe with, you know, the same sitter, if possible. So we just keep an open line of communication, but we also use time to pet so that helps, you know, keep things streamlined and the sitter is on time and and it gives, you know, our clients, that peace of mind too, that everything's being taken care of appropriately.
Collin 37:43
You said those two things, trust and communication and the communication, I don't think we can do enough. And I think it's important to note like it's not it's not just that I'm communicating, communicating to somebody. It's what I'm communicating, it's how I'm communicating. You mentioned earlier, if there's that multiple throw ups and on the floor, and we're freaking out and blowing up the client's phone, and I'm calling them and calling their emergency contact, and I'm sending up the red flag, and I'm, you know, rushing off the emergency vet. Okay, maybe we could do that differently,
Maria Estes 38:17
exactly. It's all about delivery, you know. And in the past, we have had, you know, a sitter or so, you know, just, and you know, it just, we've, we've all learned that, you know, some of these behaviors are normal, and we try to figure out what those we try to find out if, if there are certain behaviors that are normal at the meet and greet before service begins. But then, you know, my sitters know now that it's best to just say, you know, even take a picture. You know, this is what you know, fluffy did. Is this normal for her, without just panic? Oh, my goodness, look what happened. And just because it could be okay, it could be normal, or if it's not. And the clients, you know, out of the country, yeah, we need to be able to problem solve this without panic.
Collin 39:12
Yeah, I love finding out what's normal first, you know, of just a question we ask all of our cat clients. Of, hey, if we come in and find throw up all over the you know, throw up periodically. Is that normal? Because, you know, hairballs aren't normal, but some cats have them more than others. And so we need to know, if I walk in and I find something on the floor, do you expect that to happen? Dear client, like, is that? Would that concern you? And I think that's what we try and do. It sounds like you know what you're doing here, of going, if I find this, would that be concerning to you client? And that helps us know how to handle that situation, doesn't it? It gives us a lot more clarity, and it lets the client know, ah, they'll be on the lookout. Because we don't. We always say, Oh, let us know if it's different. You know, I know. We tell our team, hey, if something looks off, let us know. Know. Well, if they don't know what normal is, they can't tell me what's off. Can they right? If they're walking in, they're going, I don't know it. Should the cat be coming over to me? Should the cat be hiding? Should the cat be over here? Should the cat be eating? I don't, and that's that's really that, that trust and that communication that comes into play, of we have to know those things that that becomes our responsibility
Maria Estes 40:26
Exactly. Yeah, we try to get as much information on our intake form, and we review all that. And then when we go to the personalized meet and greet, we go over their intake form and we try to ask as many questions as possible regarding behavior, where are their hiding spots? Is she usually shy? Yeah, just what their normal behavior is, just in case, you know, something seems off, and it might be normal, but we just wouldn't know without asking those questions.
Collin 40:57
Now, sometimes clients will forget you forget to tell you things, and we have to roll with that. Like, I'm trying to remember, there was a client who the cat just completely dug out all of the litter from the litter box randomly one day. And we're like, whoa. What happened? What changed? What's this? We're taking pictures sending and the client responded was like, Oh yeah, they do that every now and then. Okay, that's going in your profile. There we go. Sometimes, just so things like that. And I, my initial reaction is sometimes to get frustrated with the client and be like, Why didn't you tell me? And realizing, hey, they they can't think of all of the little eccentricities and nuances like and sometimes it happens infrequently enough that they're not going to think about that. So we just okay. We learned something new today,
Maria Estes 41:48
right? Yeah, and I'm sure my crew would throw, you know, a sitter off without me remembering little things that are normal for me to see every day.
Collin 42:00
You know, you know you you talked about how you started this journey back in 2010 with two goals, right? You needed to replace some income, and you were wanting to find something that brings you joy. How do you continue to find joy in your work, especially as you've grown and your business is more complex than ever.
Maria Estes 42:23
It's just those client relationships, and just just the friendships that have been blossomed from those client relationships, and then just the reward. It's just so rewarding to sit, provide care for a cat, and have the pet parent be able to go away on vacation and relax, and it just feels good to be able to give them that peace of mind. So that's that just even that just keeps me invested in in it and receiving that joy. And then, even more specialized, working with the shy cats and seeing them come around, just, you know, seeing the progress that's made, and seeing the people be happy with our services and comfortable about going away. And I even had a client who her cat was diagnosed with diabetes, and she didn't think she would ever have a life again and be able to leave and to see her cat flourishing, and her being able to take trips and vacations and be able to breathe. It's just, I find joy in all those things.
Collin 43:32
I love that you know you started off with the people aspect of helping people, and we get to do that. You get to do that through a high level of professional and high quality care for their cats, but that in results that people then, I think when we lose sight of in you know, what it to? What end are we doing this? I think that's where things can get pretty frustrating, and it's easy to get really overwhelmed, but keeping those people at the center of what we do, that changes a lot about the perspective of our work.
Maria Estes 44:11
Absolutely. Yeah, and then I have clients that I will continue to take care of, even if I am doing most of the admin and running the business because of those relationships that I have, you know, established over time.
Collin 44:27
Well, I did want to ask that because you've, I mean, your relationship with your business has changed, right? You start off doing the care, helping the people, taking care of the cats, and now, as your role has become more admin and managerial in nature. I mean is that, is that what you thought of 16 years ago when you started your business, that you'd be you'd end up
Maria Estes 44:49
at Absolutely not. This isn't really what I signed up for. It wasn't what I had in mind. I just figured I'd be doing ultrasound until I retired. I. Yeah, so this was definitely not what I expected. I didn't know that a demand for cat sitting would even exist. So this whole process has been quite mind blowing. We have a client base of over 900 right now and growing. So it's, it's definitely, definitely something that I didn't see happening 16 years ago.
Collin 45:27
That's got to be wild to just think about, like, oh, this was my, my side hustle, part time. I need a little bit of extra money gig now impacting 900 people's lives. Like, that's, that's, that's a scale that's kind of that must be very humbling at times.
Maria Estes 45:44
Yeah, now that I'm sitting here thinking of it, I'm in, I'm in, I'm like, wow, you know it's just I'm so, since I'm so focused on one person at a time that sometimes I don't see the big picture. Yeah, my husband, like, I said, he's full time in it. And he he looks at the numbers, and he watches those things. The growth is we're growing at about 20% each, about each month, 20, about 20% a year. And so he's looking at the big picture. And so when, when I say 900 I'm like, Wow, that's crazy. When back when I was like, Oh, I have 10 clients, you know, now I'm like, whoa. Wait a second. So yeah, it's very humbling.
Collin 46:31
That's awesome. Maria. I've absolutely loved getting to talk with you about your business and hear your story, and hear how you're impacting so many people's lives through the high quality care that you give. If people want to get connected, pick your brain and learn more about your business or follow you along on social media and stuff. How best can they do that?
Maria Estes 46:50
Sure they can find me at all about cats, pet sitting.com, I'm also you can find me on Facebook and Instagram and our direct phone number is 850-364-0722,
Collin 47:09
awesome. Well, I will have those links and phone number in the show notes so people can click and get connected with you right away. Maria, this has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Maria Estes 47:19
Thank you so much for having me.
Collin 47:21
I really appreciated the reminder from Maria when she said that it's okay to be specialized in one area, your business, our business, does not have to serve every pet, every client, for every possible need. As a matter of fact, it's a stronger business when we know exactly who we serve and who we don't, because when we know who we serve, we can commit to serving them. Well, I can remember a time when McDonald's signs would say McDonald's, and then underneath would be some astronomically large number would say over 20 billion burgers served. But it didn't say served well or served deliciously or served professionally. It was just kind of done, and that's where we can find ourselves in our businesses if we're not careful, specialization allows us to deepen our education. We can improve how we communicate to the specific needs of the specific clients and the care that we provide now, we can provide something that truly fits the animal in front of us, and that's what I love about what Maria discussed for her, it meant cat specific care that was rooted in that behavioral knowledge, that trust, that peace of mind, then that she can provide to her clients, to the people who love those cats, and that, I think, is something that we should all strive just a Little bit more towards we want to thank our sponsors today, tied pet and our friends at pets 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.
