745: The Minimum Viable Business Owner with Morgan Weber
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What does your team actually need from you as a business owner? Morgan Weber joins us to explore why one of the most important things we owe our employees is our own capacity—the time, energy, and resources necessary to lead well. We discuss how owner burnout quietly changes company culture, why delegation should never mean simply transferring your overwhelm to someone else, and how leaders can support employees without becoming their therapist. Morgan also explains the importance of protecting employees who struggle to hold their own boundaries and creating enough breathing room in the business to handle unexpected challenges. Ultimately, sustainable leadership means caring for your people while remembering that you are one of the people who needs care, too.
Main topics:
Protecting Your Leadership Capacity
Preventing Employee Burnout Cycles
Creating Healthy Workplace Boundaries
Leading Through Overwhelming Seasons
Building Sustainable Team Culture
Main takeaway: “Our team deserves our capacity.”
Morgan Weber makes a powerful point in this episode: taking care of yourself as a business owner isn’t separate from taking care of your team. When we’re exhausted, overwhelmed, and operating without margin, that stress inevitably begins showing up in how we communicate, make decisions, and support our employees.
But the solution isn’t simply handing everything on our plate to someone else. If delegation only replaces our burnout with an employee’s burnout, we haven’t actually solved the problem.
Sustainable leadership requires enough capacity to show up, provide resources, hold boundaries, and take care of the people who depend on us—including ourselves.
About our guest: Morgan Weber is the founder of Luckypup Adventures, a pet sitting and dog walking company in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which she started in 2013 while working as an architect. She is also the founder of Memory Flame Candle Company and co-owns a multi-location pet supply business with her husband. After more than a decade of building businesses in the pet care industry, Morgan also provides coaching to fellow pet business owners. Her work focuses heavily on sustainable business growth, leadership, team development, and building businesses that support the people inside them.
Links:
Luckypup Living: https://luckypupliving.com
Instagram: @luckypup_pod
Factor Meals: https://www.factor75.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
Welcome to Pet Setter 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 Tiny Paws Bookkeeping. What does your team actually need from you as the owner? Really think about what they are looking for and what they need. It all boils down to our time, energy, and resources that we can provide, and that's what I'm really excited to be talking about today with Morgan Weber, owner of Lucky Pup Living. Morgan shares how it's not just about offloading our overwhelm onto somebody else. It's really about protecting employees who struggle to hold their own boundaries. That we need to create enough breathing room in the business to handle unexpected challenges. And ultimately, as a sustainable leader, when we look to lead well, it means caring for our people while remembering that we're one of the people who need cared for too, we dive right into this conversation. So break out your pens and papers and get ready to take some notes. Let's get started. I had somebody yesterday. She's kind of struggling, and it's on the team. I can tell there's some overwhelm building. Like I can see it in the reports. I can can see it remotely, so I'm just, hey, let's do a quick call. Jumped on, and it was just this like pressure release valve of just like for 35 minutes, and she said she said some things that were like, okay, yeah, the eye kind of hurts a little bit. Understood. Okay, and then at the end, I just went, "Hey, I just want to tell you thank you for telling me all that. And she got real quiet, and she was like, "So you like care? I was like, "Well, yeah, and she's like, "I've had so many jobs before, and they always say the same thing. I always say, "Open door policy, open door policy, open. And I would come to them, and then I would just be told that I was doing it wrong. And man, Morgan, like she's not the only one that I've heard that from, and I don't know. Like we talk, like a lot of this is coming from like the role of the owner, the role of the business owner in the business of like, what's my responsibility? What's on them to fix themselves? Also, how much work do I have to spend undoing the the past experiences of my team, and really understanding, I think first and foremost that they do have a history, and that when I say something, they're not interpreting that through my lens; they're interpreting that through their idea and past experiences with a boss who said, "Open door policy. Come anytime you want, and then we have to deal and walk them through that,
Morgan W. 3:01
and the and the part that it's hard because you have to do it so consistently, and you can't just say like the hardest part is I can write it in my employee handbook that says there is no problem that is not fixable as long as we know that it's a problem, and it's another thing to follow that up consistently, day in and day out, and not get mad when they make a mistake, and not get mad when they bring something that you might think is an inane question, or that you think is like, well, why are you, why are you interrupting my day with this question or with this, you know, thing that you think is a challenge, and I like oh, obviously just do this, this, and this, and to make them feel supported when they actually come to you with those questions is really, really hard, and also the most like one of the most important things, because yeah, you have to follow it up.
Collin 3:59
Well, I should probably introduce who we're talking to today. We are talking to the one and the only Morgan Weber. Morgan, I counted. This is the fifth time that you've been on the podcast, so you're. I love this. You're reaching an upper echelon of guests on the show, and it just it just means that just there's just so much to talk about. So for those listeners who haven't listened to the previous episodes and aren't familiar with you and the work that you do. Tell us a bit more about about who you are and and all that you're involved in, because it's a lot.
Morgan W. 4:28
Well, it is a lot. Yeah. So we're gonna start. We'll start at the beginning. So I started a pet care business in 2013, and I started it alongside my architecture job. So I went to school to be an architect. I always thought I would become an architect, and then I got into the field for about six and a half years, and decided walking dogs was way more fun. So, I quit my architecture job and ran my pet care business full time. So, pet sitting and dog walking. We're called Lucky Pup Adventures. We're in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and I started hiring people and. It just has kind of grown from there. I also started Memory Flame Candle Company. I had the really tragic loss of one of my dogs very young for behavioral euthanasia, and I was heartbroken. And so I started these memory candles, kind of to honor her and to help honor other people's pets. And then almost two years ago now, my husband and I bought the pet supply store that he had been manager of for about, or had been working at for about 10 years, and was manager of for a few years. And then we opened a second location for that pet store this year in this last March. And so, our lives in the pet care world have kind of grown and shifted over the years. I also do some pet business coaching, and so we're just kind of in all of the places now. And it's been really fun to realize that this thing that started really on happenstance because my husband had donated bone marrow and got fired from his job. He started working at Petco of all places, and like that's really how we started. And my one of my coworkers at the architecture firm needed a pet sitter, so we started helping out. And so literally, this entire I call it like our dog empire grew out from kind of two happenstance activities that we never thought we would be here. Like I was going to be an architect, he was going to be an engineer, and here we are, pet store, pet sitting people. So it's been a wild ride over the last like 15 years.
Collin 6:30
Well, and the core of what you do now, Morgan. I mean, you it's you talked a lot about it's people, right? You hired people, you work with people, you serve people. We as businesses, like we have this culture that we are trying to develop and maintain for people, and a big aspect of that, and why I wanted to have you on today, was really talk about the the the balance of like my responsibility as a business owner towards my employees, while also recognizing signs of my burnout, while I'm trying to be an example and lead, so like from your perspective, like what do what do I as a business, what company, because again that's a different kind of mindset. Like what does the company actually owe their team when it comes to their mental health and well being?
Morgan W. 7:18
Oh, you know, there's a lot of answers to that question, but the thing that popped into my brain first is that we owe our team members our own capacity, and capacity you can look at that in different ways. But if we are completely burnt out and exhausted, we cannot show up for our team members in a way that is helpful to them, and we're only going to put more stress on them. We're going to make their lives more difficult. We're not going to have the room to be a good steward of them and for them. So for me, so much of business ownership comes down to capacity. We can have time capacity, meaning we actually have time. Either we have too much time or not enough time. We've got money capacity, which is either we have you know too much money or not enough money, and then we've got energy capacity. Again, too much or not enough energy, and when at least two of those things are depleted, it's usually not good, and that really gets us kind of into this slippery slope of burnout. And our our team deserves our capacity. Our clients deserve our capacity. And so, when we get to be under capacity in one or more ways, it really starts to take a toll on the people around
Collin 8:31
us. You say that, and I this year, Megan and I, capacity has been a word for us as well. In that, like, is what I'm doing growing capacity, consuming capacity-is it maintaining? Like, what am I? What my? What are? What decisions am I making to make sure that I'm always growing the capacity? And and I love how it's it's not just capacity to take on new clients because I think that's often what we think of first, right? Oh, it's staffing capacity. Am I how many walks can I do in a day? How many cats can I see today? How many whatever? But it's really about ourselves, and as you were talking, it reminded me of some times where I have shown up to employee quarterly reviews and just been like, like completely dead of like there is nothing that I have to give to talk about to to share to discuss, and I get off the call, and I'm just like, ah, what, what, what even happened there? Was that why? Like, what, what, and is is that the kind of thing that you're talking about? Where it's like, I need to show up and be here, but I've got nothing left to give to this employee of mine.
Morgan W. 9:36
Yeah, and I think there's definitely times where I have been in my office, or I've been running around, and it's been a long day, and I'm doing a whole bunch of pet sitting. And a team member asks me a question, and I have this moment of like, "Oh my God, can't you just answer that yourself? Like, why are you bothering me? And then I realize that that is not one supportive, two helpful, and three. It's a check on myself to know that when I start to feel that way, it means I am creeping closer to burnout, and I need to reevaluate myself and what am I taking on? What am I carrying that maybe I shouldn't be carrying because somebody else could be helping me with these things? But it's a reminder that, like, as the business owner of a somewhat, I think this is true no matter what size your business is, but especially as a slightly larger business, it is my sole job is to help provide for my team. Like it is my job to be available for them when they need it. It is my job to get them the resources they need, whether I get them that give them that resource personally, or I find a resource for them. But it's my job to provide for them and to be a good steward of them and for them. And if I don't have room because my brain is exhausted and my body is exhausted, well, I can't live up to that that that job for myself, and so it's a good reminder that we do have to take care of ourselves first. And it's really easy to say those things when you have some capacity, and it's really really hard to do those things when you you have no capacity. And I had recently a very busy month where I was basically MIA for the month because I had travel and I had like we were getting an audit and all these different things, and I just had zero capacity for anything outside of the minimum that I could possibly give. And I know that when that happens, it puts extra pressure on the team because now they have to pick up the places that I am not, and and I can tell that it starts to affect the rest of the team in certain ways, and so then it's like my turn to reevaluate and say, okay, if I need to disappear for a little bit, what other systems or what other you know people, what other supports need to be in place to make sure that everyone else is not just picking up my job and absorbing that stress, and that can be really hard as well. So it's especially hard when you are feeling burnt out. You are feeling way overcapacity to understand how and that you could even do something differently. Like one, that it's even an option, and then two, how do we actually make this happen? Especially if you feel like you've got no money, you've got no time, you've got no energy. It's pretty hard to feel like you can make impactful decisions about your business,
Collin 12:25
and I, I want to make sure I touch on the framing here of where you're approaching this, Morgan. Of many times during a discussion like this, it comes down to, well, I need to delegate more because I need more time back in my day, and that's a perfectly fine framing. But by you taking this and shifting it a little bit, and going right, but your team needs things, and from whom are they getting those things? From how are they to operate? How and and it's it's this shift back towards the team, back towards the people to go. Do you have what you need? And it's that admitting of I can't be the be-all, end-all. Sometimes I'm either my my business is at a size where I can't, or I'm in a life stage where I can't do and provide in that way. And so, what do I need to have in place to make sure that they are successful? Successful. That's a very different way of looking at this same problem that we all encounter.
Morgan W. 13:23
Yeah, I think if we look at ourselves as a business owner again, regardless of business size, whether you are solo or you've got this massive business, in my opinion, as the owner, as the CEO of the business, your job is resource management, and your job is to be a good steward of all of the resources, and that includes your people, and it includes yourself. And so, yeah, how do we make sure? I think it's also a really tricky conversation. And I was actually having this conversation with my manager like two days ago, which was, "Hey, I know I have not been here as much because I've had these other things going on, I know that this has you know put more pressure on you, and then you know other things get missed because you are now absorbing not only what you were currently doing in your full time job, but now you've been having to absorb some of the responsibilities that I normally am there to to take care of, and I understand that that adds extra stress, and the goal of myself of growing the business is not to just say, "Oh, hey, I'm overwhelmed right now. Here, other person, take all of these things that are the overflow of my plate and just add them to your plate because they are probably also pretty close to capacity, and so that's also not fair. So the goal is not for me to replace my burnout with another team member's burnout and be like, you just take it, like you figure it out, because that's also not fair.
Collin 14:50
Have you heard of Tide, Bet? Sarita with exclusively cats has this to say.
Sarita Eckhoff 14:54
Oh, absolutely, do it. I love it. I think it's absolutely from the get go. If you're just thinking about. Starting a business, do this. It's it's so inexpensive. It's it's kind of silly not to do it. It organizes everything for you. It's so amazing. I think there. I think it's it's invaluable. I think especially for a new business owner, just kind of sets you off on the right foot, and makes you look like a true professional, not like a fly by night pet sitter.
Collin 15:18
If you're looking for new pet sitting software, give Tie Into Pet a try. Listeners of our show will save 50% off your first three months by visiting tie into pet.com/confessional. But yet we get the immediate relief, and so it tends to then just vanish off of our plate entirely, doesn't it? And that's that's where some of that toxicity can come in because well, I don't think it's a problem. I don't have. I don't. I'm not worried about it anymore.
Morgan W. 15:43
Yeah, look at me. I've got my weekends off. I got a day of the week off. I can go travel. I can, you know, I can build my own really fantastic life where I get to go and enjoy my own life. But hey, employees, please be working for underpaid, overworked. You know, you're going to work all day, every day. You're going to work every weekend. You're going to have no set days off. We sometimes get we we can really easily slip into a place where we just replace our discomfort with their discomfort, and and not think anything of it because especially in the pet care world, it can be a really toxic place. Of, we work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We don't take vacations. We don't have sick days, and it can be really easy for us as the owner to apply. If we've been living that life, it's really easy for us to apply those same standards to our team, and not realize that it is unsustainable for the long term, and so if you have a business model where you don't mind what I call the churn and burn, where you get a new employee, you underpay them, you overwork them, and they quit in three months, and no big deal, you just start the process over again because you can afford to pay a team member to be your full-time hiring manager because you have to burn through so many employees, that's one way to do pet sitting. That's not the way I choose to do it. Doesn't mean that that way is necessarily wrong. It's just that's not the way that I do it. I focus on long-term team members. My shortest-term team member right now has been working for me for about three months, but she has been working for my husband for about two years, so I help. I'm like, hey, you want to come do some pet sitting too? And but other than her, I think my next shortest person is three years, and so we are. My longest person is going to be nine years coming up in October, and so we are very much focused on long-term employees, and I would rather pay my employees well. I'd rather take care of them and provide long-term stable jobs, and we do our best to help make that happen. We're still working within the same limits as every other you know pet sitter out there, which is there's a maximum amount money amount of money our our clients are willing to pay, and we have a set of expenses that we also have to pay, and so we're still working within those same limitations. But we are focused as much as we can on creating long-term viable jobs for people if they want to stay and they want to do this for years. That we can provide them a place that it is comfortable to do that.
Collin 18:19
You mentioned the toxic aspect of the industry, and I think well, a lot of that's just rooted in the well. It's for the animals, it's for the pets, and and we we tend to capture these people who love pets, pets, pets, pets, pets, and we take that energy and that passion, that dedication, and now I can, if we're very honest with what we do, we extort that for my purpose and my ends, and what ends up happening is it burns through that person because they do take on and will work 1420 days in a row. Because what else are we going to do? Someone has to care for, and we can take we we justify it in well, yeah, I'm just serving the client, but I'm serving the client through taking advantage of my employee. We we had a conversation with an employee recently where they had come from a previous job, not in the pet care space, but they were talking about what the schedule was and all this stuff. And I was like, oh, okay, you don't you don't want to work weekends? That's fine. We'll just work you Monday through Friday, and they were actually like, "Oh, so I'm not going to work on weekends. I was like, "Do you want to work on weekends? Well, no. Okay, cool. We'll just put you. I was like, "This such foreign concept that there would be this level of respect and boundaries. But that again, that's being held by me, the owner. From your perspective, like how does how does owner like when I'm not operating well, when I'm burned out, how does that impact the culture where maybe I don't even notice it?
Morgan W. 19:51
Yeah, I think it can come in a lot of different ways, and one can be when you're short with your employees, it's easy then for them to. Recognize that you're not a safe person anymore. Like I can't bring this person my concerns. I can't bring this person issues that I'm having. In my again, I try hard. I'm not always like we all have our faults. Where none of us are perfect, but I try really hard to accept things that are like my team members have to say, and not get defensive or upset about it because that's not helpful for anybody. And so it's hard when we get into that place to, you know, to say like, well, it's not, it's not worth it, and you can't, you know, you can't do these things. And so when we have those situations when we ourselves are not in a good place, it it only goes downhill, right? Like as the phrase says, you know the shit runs downhill, and so it only it only affects everybody else, no matter the no matter how much we try to prevent it, no matter how much we try to you know like guard it. It's only going to leak out, especially when it's being stressed. And all of us have default stress responses, and it's only going to come out in those uncomfortable ways that we might have to say, "Hey, I know that wasn't my best. You know, "Hey, can I get a redo? Or, "Hey, I was I was thinking about this the other day. You know, can we revisit this? And it's hard, especially when, like I said, if you've got no capacity, and you're always exhausted, it's hard to be there and and not let those more negative things pop out. You know, especially you know around people's time away or you know around like, hey, I've got this, you know, personal thing I need to do on this day, so I can't work the shift that I normally work, and it can be really hard when we are the one who has to, you know, pick it up. And a lot of us, if we don't have kind of that middle level management to say, like, hey, can we spread this out? You know, if we don't have enough team members to spread these things out, it becomes a place where we ourselves have to pick it up, especially if we've already committed to a client. Like it's one thing if you know well in advance, and so then you can, you know, we just say, hey, we're going to limit the number of bookings we can take for this time frame because we got team members who are away, and it's another thing when it happens shorter notice, and you know that you yourself are going to have to pick that up instead of telling the client, "Hey, sorry, I know we said we're going to pet sit for you this weekend, but we can't do that anymore. You know, most of us are. That's not part of what we accept as as service, and so that yeah, that can be really hard when you know that you're already tired, and also you're going to have to be the one to pick it up because like the buck stops with you.
Collin 22:38
Well, I've also seen it with with myself when an issue or a problem comes up that maybe I need to deal with, and when I'm burned out, I maybe I might not hold that standard as tight as I did the day before, and I know from a culture perspective that can be really demoralizing to the rest of the team, because if I'm over here just banging the drum and it's in, it's in. I'm on social media, and I've got the videos of us, and I've got all over the handbook about these high standards and high regards, and all that we're a profession, and blah blah. And then I just kind of hand wave things away, like I just can't even today. I really have to be mindful of what does that tell the rest of the team is acceptable. And again, this is like this sounds like it's putting a lot of pressure on us, but I think we need a little bit of that back pressure to recognize we need to do something about it. It's not oh, I just got to pick myself up here and I just got to gird my loins and go forth here. It's a hey, if I don't have that capacity. Where does that need to go? Where does that need to live if it can't live with me right now?
Morgan W. 23:48
Yeah, absolutely. And it's hard when if you're holding a different standard, maybe for different people on the team or at different times, it can be super hard for the rest of the team to say, "Well, like, but what's the real expectation here? Like, this is-is it just because it's a personal thing, and you maybe you like that person more? Is this like, where is this, you know, breaking apart? And if they don't know, they're, you know, they're going to have a hard time, or your best team members are going to leave because they're like, I don't have time for this. I don't have time for the drama. I don't have time for the, you know, whatever. I just want to be able to do my job and and not have to deal with all this other stuff or deal with you as the owner if you're having a hard time. They might say I don't want to work for a person who, you know, doesn't hold equal standards or who every time I bring a frustration or a concern I get blown off. So we have to think when we think about being a good leader for the team, we have to consider what are the ways that we show up. And so I, you know, there's always posts in groups, and it's like, well, I can't understand why my team members are not lasting long, or I can't, I don't understand why I keep hiring the wrong people. And unfortunately, the. Answer is often that it's multifactorial, and we have to dive really deep to figure out what exactly is not quite working. And it can be hard to, because we all want an easy answer, and very often the answers are not cut and dry and super easy. And and we have to recognize well, how am I showing up? How am I doing all of these things, and how is that then, you know, leaking out into the rest of the team?
Collin 25:26
Well, so if I'm showing up, let's say, okay, I'm I have some systems in place for me. How do I actually start talking to my my team about how they're doing? Because I can tell you how I want to have that conversation is like you good good good good and then we we jump off like is that Morgan is that okay can I do that please
Morgan W. 25:50
you know that might tend to be my default as well and I also know that that's not helpful to it okay I know right if only it was that easy I think one of the things too that I have found, especially like you were talking earlier about the team members who are super excited and who they've got so much passion. Sometimes people are not good at holding their own boundaries, and sometimes we have to hold those boundaries for them. And there have been times where, like, so we've got a a channel in our our group communication. We use Pumble. It's a lot like Slack, and we've got a channel called Pickup Visits, and we'll post in there. We're like, hey, I got this person who wants to you know have pet sitting this weekend or want to add a walk later this week. Who would like to pick it up? We try very hard that once a schedule is assigned for the week, we don't change it. We might swap some, you know, if somebody canceled, we try to like replace it with something else. But I try not to add to people's schedule for the week without asking first, because I want to recognize that they also have a personal life, and they might have plans. They might be, you know they might have you know whatever they scheduled a doctor's appointment that they didn't put in our time off section of the of the program, and so I try really hard to recognize that that's a thing, and so we try to ask people, but sometimes I have team members who will put themselves at over capacity because they want to help, and they want the business to succeed, and they want things to go well, and they would like the clients to be happy, and so they are willing to overextend themselves if they don't see anybody else picking it up, and so sometimes I have to be more careful, and I maybe have to reach out to team members individually and say, "Hey, would you like, you know, hey, I see you're already working. You know, this shift. Would you like to add one more visit? And it might take more time for me to do that, but it might be better for the well-being of other people on the team to not just throw it out there and let everybody, you know, jump on. Or there have been times where I said, "Would anybody except team member X like to take these visits, and it's kind of everyone kind of giggles and like, yeah, okay, fine. Because sometimes we have to help. Like, you have to be good about your own boundaries as a business owner, but sometimes you also have to recognize where your team needs help to hold their own boundaries, and that can also be hard, especially again if we're tired and we're feeling overcapacity, and we're like, "But I really want to say yes. Like, I really want to say yes to this client. I can cover half the visits myself. Can I find somebody else? And oh my gosh, they're not doing it now. And you know, now I feel upset. You know, that's not a a good work culture either. So yeah, it's really easy, especially in a business that does run 24 for most of us. You know, for a lot of us, some people are you know Monday through Friday dog walkers, but even then we can still say, well, I don't need a lunch break. I'll just pick up that other dog, you know. Oh, pee breaks. Who needs those? That's that's unnecessary. You know, I can just keep working all day every day, and so it can be hard to to not let that toxicity leak out into the rest of our business and the rest of our team.
Collin 29:03
Well, it can feel really nice though because the team and the business are taking care of themselves. They're filling in the gaps. It's running, and and this is something that Megan and I have been doing a lot of putting putting a lot of brain power behind this in our own business of what's the difference between an independent employee and a siloed employee, right? What's the difference here, and and and how do I make sure that I have independent people, but they're not siloed away from the rest of the business and the work, and they're not operating totally disconnected? And that's really that that thing there. Of you could you again, you reach that capacity, you check out. You can't even anymore, and people will step up to fill the void. There will be one, maybe two. That now has become a siloed employee because now they are operating on their own accord, own objectives, own needs, no with no regulation around them, and it can feel like oh, finally the business is running on its own. No, like that's not the same thing as having employees who are independent and operating under systems that help protect them, that guide them, that have boundaries around them. And when when we don't recognize what's happening, it can it really does lead to that that burnout from the team members, it learns that we get become so disconnected from what's actually happening, and we do get a lot of those questions. Like, well, I don't even know. Well, I don't even know what's wrong here. Are you supporting people? Do they know what success looks like? Are they have some connection? And really making like focusing on that. Like this, just over the past couple months, I know that that's been a thing that we have been really really taking a second look at our business of that independent versus siloed nature of what can happen in what we do.
Morgan W. 30:49
Yeah, I think that that similar duology applies to a lot of different things. So it's also the difference between a team member who uses their resources and a team member who's afraid to reach out when they have a question, you know. So, I think sometimes when a team member asks us a question, we have to be mindful of how we answer that question. And it is one thing to encourage our team members to be independent and to use their resources, which is like, hey, did you do? You know, one, did you read the profile? Two, did you maybe like search our previous conversation? So within Pumble, there's a search feature. Hey, have you did you search that pet's name to see if this thing has popped up before? You know, okay, yes, we've done both of those things. Great, thank you. I'm so glad that you asked me this question. Here's what I know. You know, and and that's a completely different answer than like, oh my God, why are you asking me this? Haven't you figured it out yourself? You know, and and both of those approaches lead to a team member who's going to be more independent, but one of them feels a lot safer and a lot more supported in the business. And yeah, there's just so many things like that. Of yeah, do you have a team member who's overstepping their boundaries all the time, or do you have a team member who's happy to, you know, show up and and help the business be successful? And again, there's like everything's on a spectrum, and and we have to be careful about how we are approaching things to make sure that we're not unintentionally creating responses in our team members that we don't realize that we are and we don't want to have, and it can be hard.
Collin 32:29
How do I, as a boss, as an employer, how do I walk the line between being supportive and being somebody's therapist?
Morgan W. 32:37
Oh yeah, you know sometimes, especially if you have team members who've been with you for a while, so like my longest-term employee will be nine years, and I've been in business for 13, and so she has really helped build this business with me in a lot of ways. And there are definitely times where I say, "Hey, I need a friend conversation right now. Like, like I need to vent not as your boss, but I need to vent like as a friend or as a peer, and she does the same for me sometimes. And sometimes it's like, hey, I need to have a boss conversation right now, like, or hey, I need to have a boss conversation with you in the like sometime this week. What works for you? And it can be really hard sometimes to to to cover that because it can be, especially when you care about your team members, and some of us, I sometimes ask myself like, do I give off therapist vibes for some people? Because there are definitely some things where I'm like, this is maybe a little bit of oversharing to be sharing with your boss, and and it's hard. I I think it's hard to hold that line. At least for me personally, it can be hard to understand. Okay, like what is important for me to know as a person who is, you know, this person's boss and trying to create a work environment that's helpful for them. And where are we crossing over into like this is a little bit, this is beyond what I can help you with.
Collin 34:00
Yeah.
Morgan W. 34:01
And sometimes it's just recognizing like where we need to recommend other resources, perhaps like you know, hey, this one of my favorite lines is that sounds really hard, and I empathize with how hard this is. I don't think that this is something that I can help you with. You know, this sounds like maybe this is something that you know a therapist might be able to help you with. This sounds like something that you know you need that that does need to be addressed. But I think it's outside of our realm of control here within the business.
Collin 34:33
I think that's a really healthy route to always have front and center. Of they may have come to me with the problem, but that doesn't mean that I'm the one that needs to solve it. And man, that's hard because I'm here. I've got some life experiences, and I also need you to show up to work tomorrow. So let's kind of just work through this real quick. And good, okay, boom.
Morgan W. 34:58
And I think this applies to our clients. Too, you know, how often do we feel like we're a client's therapist because they're, you know, they're separating from a partner and they're trying to figure out what to do with the pets, or you know, they have a somebody important to them just died, their their parent just died, and now they've got all these things, and you might be one of the only supportive people in their life,
Collin 35:18
yep,
Morgan W. 35:19
and you might be one of the only people who they feel comfortable sharing that stuff with, and especially if you're a person like me who has a tendency to be an emotional sponge for those around us, we have to realize again what our own energy capacity is. And if I absorb too much negativity from other people, and it not like I'm trying to do it, I just like passively, you know. I've had to be careful what I look at on social media because I realize that my empathy has a tendency to affect the rest of my life. And so, if I'm around too much negative stuff all the time, it starts to affect me personally. And so, that's something that I've realized recently, and tried to to be better about setting some of those boundaries for myself. Whether it's clients, team members, social media, friends, whatever, that we can't just soak up everybody's stuff and still expect ourselves to always be the happy, well-capacityed person who can show up for everybody else.
Collin 36:23
That does take recognizing again that capacity in us and being aware of those warning signs for how we're going to make sure that we are taking care of ourselves. And I don't cross that line into, oh, now I'm here. And I will say something that that I have worked on a little bit is trying to do some self coaching through that. So I we record all people have opinions on AI and whatever, but like I've been recording a lot of my one on ones with my employees, and I'll throw this transcript in there and I'll say from an you know from an from an HR healthy boundary good perspective like how do I do? And man, it it's all tends to come back being like you may have like like you may need to make like got a little personal on that or like you empathized too. I've gotten this. You've empathized too much with that, Collin. There, you you could have drawn the line here and been perfectly fine supportive. You didn't need to take that next step to like internalize this now and share back with them a personal story you had from your childhood, and but we we want people to feel seen, known and heard, and like I want to connect, and and but recognizing that I can do that in a professional manner and in a much healthier manner than feeling like I do need to take on everybody's personal burden and now carry that with them as well.
Morgan W. 37:48
Yeah, and I think it's different to give somebody like you mentioned. You know, hey, I've got life experience. Hey, I've got like I have had this thing happen to me in the past. It's one thing to say to give somebody like a snippet of a resource or a snippet of. I actually just shared with one of my team members the other day my one of my absolute favorite sayings, which is, those who are convinced against their will are of the same opinion still.
Collin 38:11
Yeah, like
Morgan W. 38:12
I can't convince anybody of anything. Like it's their job. I can share things with somebody. I can give them resources, but it's like it's their responsibility to to implement things and to do the work and to to set up their own boundaries and and things like that. And so you know, it's one thing to give somebody say a piece of advice, and it's another thing to walk them through it or to get deep into the details or how you know try to convince somebody that something is a good idea, or to put a lot of effort into helping them realize that something is in their best interest. Like that's not our job. Our job is to provide them the resources, provide them the opportunity. But you can't want something more than somebody else, and you can't convince somebody of something that they are not ready to be convinced of, and whether that's, again, it could be with a client. You know, like we see a client's old pet is suffering, and we think it's time for that pet to to move on, and the person is not ready to let that pet go yet. They're not ready to make that vet appointment, that euthanasia appointment. I cannot convince them that this is the good time. They have to come to that decision on their own. I can provide them resources. I can provide them opportunities. I can have a conversation with them, but I cannot invest my emotional labor into convincing, cajoling, walking them through, and then being disappointed if it doesn't work out the way I think it does, like that it becomes a really tricky place to to figure out again where those boundaries are, and you kind of just have to experiment, and you try something out, and you realize that was too much, that was not enough, but you can't you can't do that effort for somebody else, and I think especially if. You are a person who likes to problem solve, or who likes to be the person who has the answers. That can be really hard, and a lot of business owners do tend to fall into those places in terms of being a problem solver, liking to have all the answers, being the one that people rely on, and it can be hard again to recognize what do we truly have capacity for, and what is just going to drain us, and then we are no help to anybody.
Collin 40:27
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Morgan W. 42:00
Yeah, I think that's a super hard balance, and I think part of that is also not running your business at full capacity all the time, which is also hard. You know, especially you got bills to pay, you've got people who want hours, they want to be working, and it can be really tempting to always be completely full all the time. And I have found that the biggest problems tend to happen when we are completely full. Whether because it just simply feels like every problem is a giant problem when you're completely full, or because it just truly happens, or it's you know a more stressful situation for everybody. But again, I think sometimes it's like, okay, thank you for sharing. Can you tell me more about what that looks like? And I think that's that's a line from my therapist friend. You know, you know, thank you so much. Can you tell me more about what that looks like? You know, so for them, one person that might mean I'm I can't show up to anything today or all week, and I need to completely disappear. For some people, it might be this one client is really stressing me out, and I just I would really like either if somebody can come do this visit with me, who can help give me tips, who can maybe do this visit for me and maybe do a video to help me figure out how to you know make this better. That because I think everybody has their own interpretation. Many years ago, I was speaking at the Pet Sitter Texas Pet Sitters conference, and I was talking about clear communication. And in the Midwest, we have many different kinds of salads. Okay, we've got vegetable salads, lettuce salads, and then we have things called Oreo salad and Snicker salad, and it's Jell-O and Cool Whip and pudding, and so the first holiday I spent with my husband's family, his grandma said, "Hey, can you bring a salad? And I use my little spidey senses to say, "I should ask a clarifying question. And I and I so I was like, "Yeah, I would love to. I would love to bring a salad. What kind of salad are you thinking? She's like, oh, you know, cherry salad, Snicker salad, whatever you like. And I said, okay, perfect. I'm not bringing a vegetable.
Collin 44:10
Caesar is off the table. Got it.
Morgan W. 44:14
No lettuce, no green beans. I am bringing something else. And if you don't know to ask that question, if anybody who is not from the Midwest heard that, they would say, "Yeah, I'll bring a salad, you know. And the two different versions of salad meant different things depending on where you're at. And so I think sometimes asking those questions of, and I think that's a question to ask yourself too when you have your own moment of like I cannot do it right now. Like life is lifeing because we all have a personal life outside of work. Life is lifeing right now, and I just can't. I try to ask, okay, like what is the minimum viable product? So whether that's for yourself, whether it's for your team members, like what does this? What does I can't? Right now, mean to you and or to your team member, and deciding like what is the most important thing that is going to keep the ship running, and what is stuff that it can just go on the back burner, and it'll just churn away. It might bubble over a little bit, but it's not going to explode, and I can come back to it when I can. I think those then that sometimes also takes experience and experimentation to figure out which of these things can I drop and they're going to shatter, and which of these things can I drop and they're going to bounce. Neither somebody else will pick it up or I'll pick it up later, and that's also a really hard thing to understand.
Collin 45:37
Well, having that understanding and that grace of there is a minimum viable owner mode that I can shift into, and going. Hey, I. But but you're right. It does take some pre thought and some pre planning to know. Hey, for me and my business, what's that minimum viable option? Maybe I should probably still have payroll and taxes that probably should not be that I'm not that's not just going to go away right maybe maybe I or or whatever or
Morgan W. 46:07
what penalty are you willing to pay? I will admit I just did my this is I just did my taxes that are like a month and a half overdue. I it just that's just what happened, but I knew that when I did not do them on time. I'm going to have to pay a penalty for that because in my stay we got to pay sales tax every month. So I knew that there was going to be a sales tax penalty fee, but I was willing to pay it in the moment because of the other circumstances have happening in my life. So yeah, there's always going to, always usually will be a penalty for something being dropped.
Speaker 1 46:39
Yeah,
Morgan W. 46:40
whether it's a relationship, whether it's a you know a client maybe doesn't have a perfect experience, you know whatever that thing looks like, you might have a penalty or a fee that you have to pay, and you have to ask yourself, am I willing to pay that in this moment? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, or what is the trade off worth? Because almost everything is a trade off. Very little is it you know black and white, or you know like that? There's everything's good or everything's bad. There's usually some kind of trade off somewhere, and you have to decide which thing you're willing to to pay for.
Collin 47:15
I was just thinking of those moments where you've got to shift into that minimum viable owner mode, and sometimes that means like for us, like we have had those seasons where I know I said I would be there at the event with the table and booth giving away pup cups or whatever. I I do not have that capacity right now, so I will need to back out, and I'm deeply sorry. And I that penalty may be I might not get invited back next year. I might not, you know, I might not get the priority whatever whatever that I had, but at some time we just have to say what's actually more important to me in the business. And fundamentally, it's if I cannot show up tomorrow, and we have to coach our employees through this so many times. If you cannot show up tomorrow the same way you showed up today, we need to make different decisions. And so, yeah, me going doing doing three events, two on the same day because I did one in the morning, one the night, and one the next day. While I completely had like that, is that worth it, or do I have other things I need to focus on, including I don't know, maybe getting sleep and breathing?
Speaker 2 48:17
Yeah,
Collin 48:18
you know,
Morgan W. 48:18
not being horribly stressed because you're feeling guilty about all the things you left behind that didn't get done, you know. I think one of my big everyone has their own opinion with if they've got a team on whether or not you should read every visit report, whether somebody on your team isn't responsible for reading all the reports, etc. On my team, that does not happen. But usually, I get you know I get my notifications on my phone, and I can kind of, you know, I see like the first two sentences. Sometimes that's enough to like kind of catch. Ooh, there might be something here that we forgot, or like, oop, maybe something could have been done better. But we do not read every visit report. Does that mean that there is a chance something's going to get missed? Probably, because you know we do however many visits a day. We're at like $275,000 of revenue in a year, just for people's reference. And so, you know, that's a lot of pet sitting and dog walking visits. That there's going to be a mistake, right? Like we are not perfect humans. There is going to be a mistake somewhere, and that mistake might not get caught until later. It might be caught by a client, etc. However, is it worth the both the money figure and the time figure for either me or somebody else to read every single report? For us, it's not because we don't make that many mistakes where it is worth perusing every single one, right? But for some people, they might need to do that. For some people, they might, or they feel like they need to do that, regardless of whether or not they're actually catching any mistakes. So when I think about things like minimum viable product, do you have to read every visit report? Do you have to check in and? Read every single thing from every single client, or can somebody else help you with that? Or does it even need to be done at all? So I think there's a lot of versions of what a minimum viable product looks like for us as an owner or for a management team. Again, that idea of well, I'm not going to read every visit report, but somebody else on the team is. You know, again, we're we have to be careful of what we're just pushing off onto somebody else, and is it worth the time, the money, the energy to make it happen?
Collin 50:26
Because if it's not, because we get caught in that trap of well, I we fall into that, I did it, and I got this far, and so in order to continue moving forward, I must continue to do the same thing that I've done, like it becomes this like magic talisman in our business. Of well, this is just the lucky rabbit's foot that I keep around, and that could be you read every report, you you sign in every day at six, or you do it. It's like this is my ritual for making the business work, and if I misstep in this dance that I try and make, it's all going to come crumbling down. So I just have to have somebody swap it immediately. You know, do a hot swap with the new manager, and they've got to keep the dance going. And then that's the incantation that keeps the business operating. Like
Morgan W. 51:12
this one time, I caught the one thing, and therefore I have to deal with it forever.
Collin 51:16
Yep, and I know that sounds ridiculous. If I put it like that, of like this is the magical incantation dance that we do with our business, but that's like that's what where we find ourselves. You're right because I didn't do it the one time everything happened, so I must keep doing it from now until forever. Instead of asking, let me just like take one little brick away, let me take one thing down, let me try one deal, and like really start experimenting with my relation. What it is is it's experimenting with my relationship with the business and the work that I need to do to keep it going, and admitting maybe because there's big emotions around this. Maybe all of that work that I did wasn't actually necessary, and so by me admitting that it means that I wasted that time, and I can't do that, so I have to keep going.
Morgan W. 52:10
Yeah, it's the fallacy of like I already put all this effort in, and so I can't change it now. And so it's you know I put all the sunk cost analysis. You know, I've I've already done all of this stuff,
Collin 52:23
yes,
Morgan W. 52:23
and therefore it needs to keep going. Or I can't change now because we've already gotten this far. Actually, this is something that I'm working with in my business, which is how big do I actually want to get? Because we are not. It I would say, since I'm gonna say like 2021, 2022, we have put zero effort into growth and marketing. Yet we still grow because we have a really great community reputation, and so I don't have to put effort into growing. I don't have to put effort into marketing. We just keep doing what we're doing, and it is appropriate to continue growing. And so we are now at the point where we are-I would-I like to say it's like the messy, awkward teenage years where you're not really an adult, but you're not really a kid. Our business is at this point where we very easily could continue growing, but that's going to require doing things differently because, like anything else, what got you here won't get you there. And so it's like, okay, we've gotten to this point. We either need to decide that we are going to continue to grow, and we're going to con, we're going to make changes, we're going to add some management structures, we're going to do all of these things, or we're going to be really content where we're at, and maybe even dial it back a little bit. Maybe instead of taking on those new clients that just happen to find us, we're going to say no, and we're going to maybe add like one client a month, maybe because we are at a point where we are sufficiently capacitated, and so you know, we we are either going to have to dial it back to maintain a good, happy growth level with where we're at and the team that we have and the processes that we have, or we're going to have to change some things and continue to grow. And there's no right or wrong answer. It's just a matter of what's going to fit for us, what's going to fit for the team that we have, what's going to fit for the life stages that we're all in, and decide what that's going to look like. And there's no right or wrong answer. It's just a matter. I mean, we're doing this in multiple of our businesses, which is how much do we want to keep growing? Are the people that we have with us right now the people who are going to continue to grow, or are these the people who would like to stay where we're at? If we're going to continue to grow, do we need to add different structures? Do we need to add different roles? Do we need to add different people to continue to grow? Because again, what gets you to one point is not what's going to get you into the next point. Everything about business is always changing and evolving. One of the things I love about the. Work that I do is that the coaching work I do applies to any business at any stage, and it applies continuously because everything changes. So you might approach an exercise or a lesson one way, and six months from now you're going to look at it completely differently because your business has changed since then. You have different people. You've got different clients. Something you have different growth. You personally have grown. You know, maybe something that worked for you six months ago isn't going to work for you for you in another six months because you yourself have grown. You have different skills. You have different priorities, and those lessons will still apply because business, at its heart, is foundational. Like how you apply the different things are going to depend on the scale that your business is at. But the heart of business is still the heart of business, no matter what scale you're at. And and that's why I love that there's so many things that have a simple answer, but the application of that answer is not simple, right? So to say, well, how do I deal with the client who calls or the team member who calls out and can't do anything this week?
Morgan W. 56:06
Well, it's going to depend greatly on the size of your business, the scale of your business, what kind of team members you have, what kind of management structure you have, and so there is no easy answer. However, the heart of the answer is still easy, which is you got to take care of people, and if you don't take care of people, they're not going to be there, and your business is going to crumble and implode, and and that's not a good answer either. So,
Collin 56:30
well, one of those one of those people I think that often gets left to last is ourselves, and we've kind of been bouncing around this like caring for ourselves, caring for teams. So, so here, somebody I know there's at least one listener who is feeling underwater and overwhelmed. What's maybe one thing that they could do this week for themselves? For them, not anything about the team, but like, what's one thing that they could do for themselves to start start that process forward out of that feeling.
Morgan W. 57:04
I think one of the first things is one like a to give yourself a pat on the back for realizing that you're in a spot where you don't want to stay because that is hard. So to say like something about this is not working. I don't know what the answer is, but I know that what this is itself is not working, because then you can actually move forward. If you don't think anything's a problem, you're never going to make a change. So I think that's kind of part number one. But then part number two is like, are you eating like decent food? If you don't have time to make it yourself, like consider ordering from a food service. We happen to use Factor occasionally, where we kind of look at the week ahead and we go, "Oh my God, next week's gonna be crazy. There's no way I'm cooking food. Let's let's order some pre-made meals that I don't even have to. It's not like a Hello Fresh or whatever where they send you ingredients you have to make it. No, I just want a meal that is like from the freezer that I just peel back the plastic and throw it in the microwave. You know, like there's that kind of stuff. It's like, are you getting enough sleep? You know, if you're already overcapacitated, maybe you're looking at your schedule for you know the next month and you say, oh my god, this is insane. There's no way I'm going to get enough sleep. Stop taking on clients, you know, or taking on bookings, start saying no to recognize I can't. I maybe can't change the next two weeks, but maybe I can change weeks. You know, 345, and six. Start to pull back if you can. I think those are some of the basic ones. And just again, recognizing: Am I sleeping? Am I eating? Am I getting some kind of movement that is outside of walking a dog for money, yeah, and like, am I relaxing in ways that are actually relaxing? So often we have a tendency to maybe disassociate and scroll social media, but for a lot of us, that is not truly restful. So for some person, some people being truly restful might look like going to a yoga class. It might look like, you know, taking a walk out in the woods, whether it's with your own dogs or nobody else's dogs, just by yourself. It might be listening to an audio book. It might be cooking or doing a hobby. But you need to do something that is restful. And so often I hear I am a I'm an evangelist for hobbies, whether it's an active hobby, whether it's a sitting on your butt hobby. I don't care, but you need to have like I believe that people need a hobby, and so often I say that to people, and they say, "Well, I need I don't have a hobby. I don't even I can't even imagine what a hobby would be. And so that's also one of my challenges to people is to find a hobby that you enjoy that brings you, you know, your hobby could be going out with a friend to a coffee shop. I don't care what your hobby is, but you need to find something that gives you energy back, so that way you can go out. Into the world and tackle all of the stressful things that happen when you're a business owner.
Collin 1:00:06
You mentioned the meals and how overwhelming that can be. For years, Morgan, we this we would I'd go in clients' homes, right, and they had the what they had the robot vacuums. I'm like, oh, that's ridiculous. I could never have one of those. I could never. And then, but I also prioritize like I like having a clean home. We've got dogs. I have kids. There's a lot going on. We're in and out all the time, and I found myself getting overwhelmed and overwhelmed with trying to maintain and keep clean and whatever. And we had a a neighbor who was moving, and they're like, "Do you want this robot vacuum? And I was like, "Absolutely, I do. And it runs, and and and and and Roz the robot runs every other day. And the to to talk about like the peace of mind that that gives me knowing that like that's one thing that I don't have to do. The robot takes care of it, and my kids help empty the robot. And then it's like that's done. It's such a weird, ridiculous thing. But like the meals, it's like this is one less thing on my plate. I never have to worry or stress about this, and it can just be taken care of. That's worth an awful lot to me personally. And yeah, we've done the meal plans too, where you know where we're. It's like I know, and it's that kind of looking ahead, going busy season ahead, all hands on deck. Where you know the Claxon is warning, let's get the meal plan in in order so that those couple weeks we don't have to worry about that. And that's such a again, it's like find those areas in your life and in your business where you can look ahead a little bit, either take it off the plate, replace it with your decisions, and then now you can step through that just a little bit easier. And I think that that's just-it sounds so simple, like you said. It's oh, it's the simplest thing in the world, right? Just order meal plan. But when you're overwhelmed, like that's one of the last things because you don't think I need to eat. You think I need to solve the business problem in front of me?
Morgan W. 1:02:04
Yeah, or even like you can feel so overwhelmed. Like my husband's the one who usually orders the the meal things for us, and so he'll be like, "Well, what do you want? Like, what do you want to eat? Here's the link. I said, "I literally do not care. Just pick something, you know. And there's that like there's the analysis paralysis side of business ownership too, and sometimes we have to consider what is not worth my effort or my brain energy. Like, what truly can I leave to other people to solve? And maybe we'll talk about it later if it didn't work the way I think it would. But one thing I try to tell my team members when they're struggling with something, and again, this conversation of are they being independent or are they, you know, just like ignoring all of the things and making decisions that shouldn't be made? I tell people when they're struggling with something, or like they they've asked me, oh well, hey, what should I do here? It can be if you're a person who likes to answer questions, it can be really hard to say back. Well, what do you think I would do? What do you think I'm gonna tell you is the right answer. Well, you'll probably tell me, and I'll say, "Yep, you're right. Like, go ahead, like, do it. You know, especially when we think about you. You mentioned at the very beginning, Collin, about sometimes we have to unravel all of the knots that previous employers have put into our team members.
Collin 1:03:19
Yeah,
Morgan W. 1:03:19
and for people who have been always, they've always gotten in trouble for asking a question. They've always gotten in trouble for doing what they thought was right. We might have to kind of work to undo that and and be very clear on, like, yeah, that is what I think you should do. Or hey, I want you just to do the thing, and if it's not quite right, we'll talk about it later because this is not life or death. Like everything's going to be okay. This is not, you know, the Titanic sinking. This is just like, just pick something, and we'll discuss if, if you do. My big thing is like, if you know our values, you know who we are as a business, and you make a decision that you feel is in alignment with the way that we want to run business. I will not be mad at you. I might coach you on a nuance that you might do differently next time, but I will never be mad at somebody for taking the initiative and doing the thing that they think is right, as long as it is within alignment of our clearly stated beliefs, because that should be rewarded. Like, yes, you you use your initiative, you use your your common sense, you use your your context clues, and you made the decision that you think is right. Well, you know, like I'm going to reward you for that because I do not want to be the linchpin in my business. I've gotten to the point in life and the point in business that I do not want everything to run through me. I do not want to be the person who has to answer every single question all the time because one, I believe I've hired capable people who can answer these things themselves, and who you know I I trust their brain, I trust their judgment, but also I have enough other things going on that I do not want. To be, you know, tied to the business 24/7, and when you're first starting out, that can be hard, or for certain personalities, that can be hard. But that's my big thing right now is working on how do I be less needed in all of the places.
Collin 1:05:17
Morgan, I really want to thank you for coming on the show today and reminding us that it's okay to let go, be supportive while having healthy boundaries, and it's not just that it's asked for, but it's required of us in our business. And so, for those who want to get in touch with you, follow along, or maybe get some of this help for themselves personally in their business, how best can they do that?
Morgan W. 1:05:40
Yeah, the best way would probably be to follow me on social media, which would be under Lucky Pup Podcast. You can also find my personal page as well. If you, I believe, if you go to Lucky Pup Pod on Instagram, I think there's a link back to my personal page as well. But yeah, that's probably the best way. And luckypupliving.com is our website as well.
Collin 1:06:02
Awesome. Well, Morgan, as always, I'm just so thankful for your time and everything that you've shared today, and it's always just an immense pleasure. So, thank you for coming on.
Morgan W. 1:06:13
Oh, thank you so much, Collin, and thank you also for all of the work that you guys do to help make our industry the best that it can be because it's it's such a place full of passionate people who just continue to they just want to keep doing the best for their clients and for their team and I really appreciate all the work that you guys put in to help make that happen.
Collin 1:06:34
My favorite part of my conversation with Morgan was when she answered the question of what does our team actually need from us. She said that our team deserves our capacity. Taking care of ourselves as a business owner is not; it cannot be separated from taking care of our team. When I'm exhausted, when I'm overwhelmed, when I'm operating without any margin, that stress, that burden, inevitably begins showing up in how I communicate or make decisions, how I support the team in their day-to-day needs. The solution, though, is not just handing everything off. It's not just shuffling things from my plate onto someone else. If delegation only replaces our burnout with an employee's burnout. I haven't actually solved the problem. Sustainable leadership requires enough capacity to show up, provide resources, hold boundaries, and take care of the people who depend on us, including ourselves. We want to thank today's sponsors, Tiny DePet and Tiny Paws Bookkeeping 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.
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