In this episode of “Bella In Your Business”, Bella talks with Kristie Glazer from Philly Pet Care, a family-owned pet-sitting and dog-walking company in Philadelphia. Kristie talks about how she got started and what changes she made that really helped her business grow.
After graduating college, Kristie and her husband moved to Philadelphia which is near where she grew up in South Jersey. She was a teacher for a little while and then a sales rep for a shipping company. But she wasn’t happy. She sat down and thought about what would make her happy….the answer….dogs! She figured she lived in a city now and people probably needed dog walkers. Before her husband got home that day from his job as a chef, she had a full business plan worked out. She told him she planned to quit her job and start this business. He told her to go ahead and do it!
{Don’t you just love that?}
So Kristie did it. She started a website. She started cold calling and giving people her card. She would take any job that came along (which she says in retrospect is a mistake many new business owners make). She did start to grow the business though, which at the time was called “Personal Pet Care by Kristie”, and continued on for four years adding clients as she went.
Bella notes that having that moral support from our loved ones really can help catapult our businesses from the start. Maybe not necessarily our business numbers, but it certainly helps us with our tenacity.
Kristie continued by saying that when she first started the business, the ironic thing was that they lived in an apartment where they could not even have pets. So they naturally had to refuse requests for overnights or doggie daycare. But they eventually moved to a place where they could have pets and started offering both of those services.The business got so busy that they moved to their own home and Dave quit his job as a chef and joined the business!
Kristie said they had some major bumps in the road along the way. In fact, she wishes in retrospect that they had had a “team” (lawyers and accountants) early on as it may have helped them avoid some of the roughest bumps.
One bump, she points out, was a failure to secure all the licenses needed to board dogs in their home. It led to a neighbor calling Licensing and Inspections on them resulting in them having to cease doing the boarding for two years while they worked out all the necessary issues (including getting their home zoned to be a kennel).
Kristie talked about a point in time when they were working constantly in the business. It was just her and Dave and trying to juggle the business and their three year old son got to be too much. She came across Bella and Jump Consulting and as a result made some changes. They rebranded to “Philly Pet Care”. They revamped their website and added professional photos and higher quality business cards.
They raised their rates, which caused many customers to go away, but with the higher rates they still made that money back. They cut out the doggie daycare which Kristie said drove her nuts anyway. They made those changes four years ago and Kristie said doing all that gave them back their sanity and the business has been humming along smoothly every since.
Bella says what she is hearing is that they now have a clean system and process and that their business works for them and not them working for the business. Bella paints the analogy of the bow and arrow. She said that, at that time, Kristie and Dave were like a bow that needs to get pulled back a little bit so that it can get released and send that arrow soaring forward. But notes that it really stinks when you are going through it.
Kristie agreed. She says it is difficult and a lot of work but it is so worth it in the end. She notes that you have to grow though, because if you don’t grow your business will fail.
Bella then asks Kristie about the future of Philly Pet Care.
Kristie says they are still doing the dog walking services in Center City (Philadelphia). They do still do overnights, but only for dogs they have a walking relationship with. Dave and she hope to remove themselves more and more from the business. Not remove themselves completely because she and Dave like to make sure they personally know each and every client. In fact, she believes that is what really helps set them apart. They have two employees now but hope to have more in the future so they can have more time off.
Kristie also said they are starting to plan for retirement. They are at a point with their business where they are making enough money to really start saving for the future. So that, maybe in 10 years or so, they could be in some form of retirement. But she notes that she doesn’t really see herself ever completely letting go or selling the business. She has even pictured their son ultimately being the owner of Philly Pet Care.
Bella compares a successful small business to having built your own beautiful home. You can live in it until the day you die. You build yourself a quality life with the luxury of having options.
Bella wraps the episode by telling Kristie how proud she is of everything Kristie and Dave have accomplished.
You can find out more about Philly Pet Care and Kristie and Dave at http://www.MyPhillyPetCare.com or to hear about the rebranding experience Kristie had with Bella a few years ago, you can watch the video here.
Transcript:
This is episode 19 of Bella in Your Business.
Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where Bella will discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready—Bella’s got your chute. Let’s jump.
Welcome to Bella in Your Business. I am Bella Vasta with Jump Consulting, and today I am joined by Christy with Philly Pet Care. Christy, how are you today? Doing great, happy to be here, thanks for having me. Absolutely, Christy, I am so excited to hear you. We were just talking and it got so exciting that I said, wait, wait, let’s record this. So, for those who maybe aren’t familiar with Christy, she runs Philly Pet Care, a family-owned pet sitting and dog walking company located in Philadelphia. It’s run by her and her husband, so they’re a husband-and-wife team.
In 2006, they started based off their passion for pets to turn it into a whole business. They started right in the heart of the city. They do a lot of dog walking and they’ve got one dog-loving little one who just started kindergarten. He was just a baby when Christy and I first started talking and working together. But you have been through so much, and I say that in a really great way, in an exciting way. I really wanted to showcase your story to help inspire, motivate, and challenge our listeners. But it hasn’t always been ducky and roses.
In 2006, I graduated college in Atlanta, Georgia, but I’m from South Jersey. My husband and I were living down in Atlanta together and decided to move back home closer to family. When we got home, I was teaching at the time and couldn’t really find a job that I was in love with. Substituting wasn’t providing enough funds, so I took a step back. I did a little bit of sales, worked for DHL for a little bit, and learned how to sell. But I was so unhappy and not making any money. I call it an Oprah “aha” moment—I really sat down and thought, what could I do that would make me happy every day? What would make me want to get up? And I just thought, dogs. It just came to me—dogs. I’m living in the city now and I’m sure people need a dog walker, right? I thought, I can do that.
My husband came home from work that night—he was a chef at the time—and I said, I’m going to quit my job and start this dog walking business. I had laid out a business plan for him before he got home about how I was going to build a website and make it happen. He said, okay, if you want to do it, we don’t have kids and we’re free, so go ahead. And I did. I started a website from GoDaddy.com, bought a domain with ads on it, and hit the streets. I would cold call and give people my cards that I made off VistaPrint, telling people I was a dog walker and to call me if they needed one. In the beginning, I would take any job. That’s really how I got my start.
Back then, it was called Personal Pet Care by Christy, which was a mouthful and hard to remember. My website wasn’t great, my cards weren’t professional, but it got me those first few clients. I always joked that I should write a book because I would take on anything. That was probably one of the biggest mistakes pet sitters make—taking on anybody just to get business. That’s how the company started, and I went on like that for probably four years, building and getting clients.
Okay, first of all, I know our listeners are getting excited because I’m getting excited just listening to you. You’re so enthusiastic—it’s so impressive. I love that you created a business plan for your husband and that he was so supportive and believed in you. Having loved ones behind us can really help catapult the beginning of our business or not. Not even necessarily the business numbers, but our tenacity, which is what I hear in your voice, helps us stay excited because they want to see us fulfill our passion. So kudos and high fives to Dave for being such an awesome, supportive partner.
He became a partner in the business eventually. When I first started, we lived in a tiny apartment and couldn’t even have pets. People would ask if I could take their dog overnight, and I couldn’t. As the business grew, we decided to move to a bigger apartment where we could have pets. The landlords knew what we did and welcomed us to have a few dogs at a time. Dave was still a chef at the time, but the business grew so fast with overnight and doggy daycare requests that we saw an opportunity. We sat down, crunched some numbers, and thought, what if you quit your job and did this with me full-time? So that’s what we did. He quit his job, joined me, and we moved into a house where we could really do it full-time.
We had major bumps in the road legally. I wish we’d had a team in the beginning—an attorney, an accountant, and proper representation to know the laws. When we moved into our home to board dogs, we didn’t realize you need a license to run a business in your home. One of our neighbors eventually called Licensing and Inspection on us, and our community shut us down for two years while we legally battled the state and city. Now we actually have zoning in our home to be a doggy daycare and kennel, which is pretty amazing.
Thankfully, we’re okay now. We have our licensing and proper representation. It was a good life lesson and business lesson to learn. And you know what, Christy? You’re not the only one—this happens to many people. That’s why it’s so important to have a team of professionals around you, not just opinions from other pet sitters. It’s not even a state issue—it’s a city and township issue, and it gets that specific.
Getting back on track, you and your husband had been building this big thing, and I’ve already heard three mistakes so far: taking on anyone, not having a team, and boarding without a license. Let’s take it back and talk more about taking on anyone. It was great because you were so tenacious, started taking on clients, and growing, but there was a point where you said, “My gosh, it’s snowballed.”
Exactly. We took a step back and regrouped. At that point, Dave was on board full-time, we had a three-year-old, and our lives were chaotic. The business was running us. We were completely exhausted, had no employees—it was just the two of us. Then I came across Jump Consulting, which was really an alignment for us. A perfect match. A couple of big mistakes we made early on were branding—we rebranded from Personal Pet Care by Christy to Philly Pet Care, cleaner and easier to remember. We completely redid our website, got professional photos, real business cards, and started to consider what was worth our time.
That turn in our business was what we needed. We got rid of a lot of clients, raised our rates to what our time was worth, and that dropped off a few people. But it didn’t matter because we made up the money. We cut out doggy daycare, which drove me crazy, and took back our sanity. We shut it down, raised our dog-walking rates, and revamped everything. Since then, things have been ridiculously smooth.
We’re at the point where our clients fully rely on the software, we charge credit cards, and we don’t deal with crazy requests. If you don’t have a key, you can’t be a client. What I’m hearing now is that you have a clean system in process and your business works for you instead of you working for it.
At the beginning of our call, you said you and your other entrepreneur friends are the last ones at the playground because you’re not rushing off to work. What a beautiful picture. I love that. Something else stood out to me—the analogy of a bow and arrow. You were like that bow being pulled back so you could soar forward. When you’re going through it, it sucks—you don’t know if it’ll work—but it’s worth it.
It’s hard to rework what you’re doing, especially when it takes so much effort and you have 200 clients behind you. It’s really hard, but worth it. You have to grow—if you don’t, things get stale.
So talk to me about the future. What’s next for Philly Pet Care? We’re in Center City and surrounding areas. We still do dog walks and overnight stays for clients we know. Going forward, I see us removing ourselves from the business more and more, but still staying involved. I see more employees—right now we have two, but as time goes on, more employees and more time off. We’re finally to a point where we’re making money, planning for retirement, and saving. I don’t know that I’d ever really let it go. I see my son running it one day.
That’s the beauty of it—you’ve built yourself a quality of life and the luxury of having options. You’ve built a beautiful home that you can live in as long as you want. I’m so proud of you for getting out of your own way to make that happen. I can’t wait for that next podcast when we talk about the boarding story.
It was dark. We didn’t think we’d make it—we were looking at other options, but we did it. You’re a survivor story and an achiever. It’s funny how God kind of comes in and topples up our lives.
Thank you so much for being here. I know you’ve inspired someone today. Go ahead and subscribe, leave your comments, or message Christy. Check out her website at myphillypetcare.com—not Personal Pet Care by Christy. See how easy that is?
Christy, thank you so much for being here and keep on kicking butt. Thank you so much and thank you for having me and all your help. If anyone’s thinking about it, I always say make that jump with Bella—you won’t regret it.
Thanks for jumping with Bella in Your Business. For more information, free articles, and coaching, go to jumpconsulting.net—and remember, Bella’s got your chute.