Bella In Your Business: Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Podcast

Beth Green from Paws Pet Care in Louisville KY shares with us her lawyers interpretation of her pet sitting business with Independent Contractors. Listen in as she shares with Bella about the flow of the money, the suggested guidelines, the question about which is the right way to go.

This episode is great for those pet sitters who have Independent Contractors. Beth is an incredible role model who demonstrates all the proper care and thought that it takes to run the business the correct way. I applaud her self reflection to constantly be checking if her business lines up to her personal needs and desires. I admire the way Beth doesn’t just follow the masses and really investigates the law, the risk, and the control in which she desires in her business.

Listen in to these bullet points:

In June, the Feds came out that they are putting more money in the budget to audits. Beth wanted to get confirmation from her lawyer that she was still doing everything right. What I loved about what she did was that she sent her lawyer EVERYTHING she had. She paid a retainer. Beth’s lawyer took 4 weeks to review Beth’s info and research the industry!

This is such a huge point because she didn’t run in for a “free consultation” and tried to jam everything into 30 or 60 minutes.

Link to the audits. http://jumpconsulting.net/2014/05/12/recap-learned-pet-sitting-audit-case-studies/

Your decision to have IC’s will depend on your comfort level of risk. How much risk do you want to take? Beth’s lawyer wrote this in her three page recap she got in return of her research. 

We talk about operations. How the assignments are accepted flows. Contractors decide when they work.

A very good point here is showing that those who like to TELL people when to work, shouldn’t have ICs. 

Beth talks about the GPS feature and if she uses it or not.  

We discussed what supplies supplies she could supply.

We talked about how she uses her CMS, Leashtime, to assists in ICs 

“Do not buy your contracts online” -Beth

We talk about one thing that businesses shouldn’t have on their ICs contracts

There is just so much great information in this podcast and well worth your listen.

If you listen to this and decide that it is time to switch from ICs to Employees, check out the industries largest resource on employees. Learn about the pricing structure, employee manuals, interviewing, hiring, and becoming a manger. 

Employee’s are the easier way to go. -Beth

The very last major point that we talked about was workmans compensation. Her lawyer says workmans compensation would be great to have for her ICs. It was because of our industry and bites happen. So then she went to her insurance broker and he told her NO. He suggested she goes to the State and check with the NCCI to get the document for them to exempt themselves. It can’t be copied, etc. It was a really important point. Here is the answer that I mentioned that my insurance broker wrote about businesses having workmans compensation on independent contractors.

All in all, I think they biggest take away from this interview is that a business owner MUST do their homework. They MUST have a team of professionals around them that they can have open and honest discussions.

Beth Green from Paws Pet Care in Louisville KY shares with us her lawyers interpretation of her pet sitting business with Independent Contractors. Listen in as she shares with Bella about the flow of the money, the suggested guidelines, the question about which is the right way to go.

 

This episode is great for those pet sitters who have Independent Contractors. Beth is an incredible role model who demonstrates all the proper care and thought that it takes to run the business the correct way. I applaud her self reflection to constantly be checking if her business lines up to her personal needs and desires. I admire the way Beth doesn't just follow the masses and really investigates the law, the risk, and the control in which she desires in her business.

Matt asks the question:

Hi Bella, I guess [my question]  would be some actionable best practices for breaking thru that wall in business. IE. Going from a 40,000 pet sitting business to a 100,000 + business.

 Without further ado, here is your answer all laid out:

Your Pet Sitting Business Is Like A Car Engine

You have to think of a car with an engine. In order to get up to those higher speeds the engine needs to be efficient. The way a business works when making 40K typically isn’t going to be the same way when it is making 100K

In Order To Have a Breakthrough, You Must Control Areas Of Your Business So It Doesn’t Control You.

Control is a big part of it. It rarely every happens just because. You have to be intentional about it. You have to control every

aspect of your business and make decisions that line up with your 100K goal. Each decision that comes into your business you have to ask yourself, “Will this help me get closer or further away from it?”

Here are some areas where you can control the outcome and put in place systems that will help you achieve the system that it takes to take it to a six figure business.

As a warning, I want to say that the biggest difference between a 40K business and 100K business is that the more volume that comes in, the less of EVERYTHING a business owner can do. They can’t possibly do it all anymore because there is too much to do. Those that attempt end up being burnt out of not good at a lot because they are stretched too thin. This, is where creating systems comes into play and learning how to control them. Here are areas that you can control and create systems for:

Control the marketing.

Control the leads and sales process

Control the follow up.

Control the sitters schedules

Control the quality

Learn to delegate more. small and big tasks. website, graphics, social media,

It is like that car that is coasting along the freeway. You can let your foot off the gas. Someone else can take the steering wheel.

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Matt asks the question:

Hi Bella, I guess [my question]  would be some actionable best practices for breaking thru that wall in business. IE. Going from a 40,000 pet sitting business to a 100,000 + business.

Without further ado, here is your answer all laid out:

You have to think of a car with an engine. In order to get up to those higher speeds the engine needs to be efficient. The way a business works when making 40K typically isn’t going to be the same way when it is making 100K

In Order To Have a Breakthrough, You Must Control Areas Of Your Business So It Doesn't Control You.

Control is a big part of it. It rarely every happens just because. You have to be intentional about it. You have to control every

aspect of your business and make decisions that line up with your 100K goal. Each decision that comes into your business you have to ask yourself, “Will this help me get closer or further away from it?”Here are some areas where you can control the outcome and put in place systems that will help you achieve the system that it takes to take it to a six figure business.

From time to time, I come across people that just inspire me. Joette White of Park Cities Pet Sitter Inc has been one of them and I just had to interview her for the show. It was about two months ago we first connected on this and I am finally able to bring it to you today. In this 30 min interview, you will learn a lot about your pet sitting business. I know I did! Although not only will you learn, I am betting you will be inspired too. Here are some of the things you will hear about in this short 30 min interview:

* Everything has a season. The ups and downs of the natural business cycle.

* Renewing your business vows. How a recommitment is always necessary.

* All about the audit that was appealed twice. You won’t believe the ludicrous things that the auditor tried to get Joette’s company for!

* I bet you won’t guess how many staff it takes Joette to run a seven figure business! You will be shocked.

If you would like to contact Joette, she requests that you email her at Joette at pcpsi.com  You can view her website at http://www.pcpsi.com I would like to publicly THANK Joette for her time with me and for donating so much of her time to help promote and better our industry. She is a true advocate and role model!

Subscribe To The Show:

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From time to time, I come across people that just inspire me. Joette White of Park Cities Pet Sitter Inc has been one of them and I just had to interview her for the show. It was about two months ago we first connected on this and I am finally able to bring it to you today. In this 30 min interview, you will learn a lot about your pet sitting business. I know I did! Although not only will you learn, I am betting you will be inspired too. Here are some of the things you will hear about in this short 30 min interview:

Everything has a season. The ups and downs of the natural business cycle.

Renewing your business vows. How a recommitment is always necessary.

All about the audit that was appealed twice. You won't believe the ludicrous things that the auditor tried to get Joette's company for!

I bet you won't guess how many staff it takes Joette to run a seven figure business! You will be shocked.

If you would like to contact Joette, she requests that you email her at Joette at pcpsi.com  You can view her website at http://www.pcpsi.com I would like to publicly THANK Joette for her time with me and for donating so much of her time to help promote and better our industry. She is a true advocate and role model!

Ever see Jimmy Fallon do his "Mean Tweet" segment? This is what I want you to think of when you listen to Ep 6 of Bella In Your Business.

There is so much negativity going on out there with pet sitters getting upset because someone wrote a negative review, told them their service was too much, said something "mean" to them, or just got their feelings hurt. I am here today to encourage you to be a DUCK and let it roll off your back.

Seriously! What you let into your head becomes your reality. It helps feed the stinkin' thinkin' and I want to show you that no business ever failed because someone said something mean. We all will get negative reviews at some point in time.

I even read what has been said about ME! Yes, me. Nothing online is private.... there are screen shots for everything. :(

Ever see Jimmy Fallon do his “Mean Tweet” segment? This is what I want you to think of when you listen to Ep 6 of Bella In Your Business.

There is so much negativity going on out there with pet sitters getting upset because someone wrote a negative review, told them their service was too much, said something “mean” to them, or just got their feelings hurt. I am here today to encourage you to be a DUCK and let it roll off your back.

Seriously! What you let into your head becomes your reality. It helps feed the stinkin’ thinkin’ and I want to show you that no business ever failed because someone said something mean. We all will get negative reviews at some point in time.

I even read what has been said about ME! Yes, me. Nothing online is private…. there are screen shots for everything.

In this episode of Bella In Your Business:

The impact that podcasting and Shannon Hernandez has had on me and fellow pet sitters.

How to get your motivation back and your staff!

My 4 tips:

1. Evernote

2. MeetEdgar.com

3.

4.

*You have to listen to hear #3 and #4

Subscribe To The Show:

Listen To The Show:

In this episode of Bella In Your Business:

The impact that podcasting and Shannon Hernandez has had on me and fellow pet sitters.

How to get your motivation back and your staff!

My top tips:

1. Evernote

2. MeetEdgar.com