Episode 101: Goal Crushing From 0 To 15 Dog Walking Employees With Pam Curry

When Pam joined the Mastermind, she was working IN her business non-stop. Her to-do list had a to-do list. But with the guidance and support of Bella and the Mastermind team, Pam was able to break down her goals into smaller tasks and take action every single day. This prevented her from feeling overwhelmed and allowed her to focus on what was truly important. Fast forward six months, and Pam is now completely out of the field and has FIFTEEN dog-walking employees! This is just one of the many success stories of pet sitting business owners who have taken their business to the next level with the help of Bella and the Jump Mastermind. One of the key strategies that helped Pam was writing down her goals and ambitions and keeping herself accountable. Instead of being reactionary, she was able to be productive and achieve her goals. Another important aspect was conducting interviews, which may seem daunting at first, but with practice and experience, it becomes easier and helps with confidence. So, if you're ready to take your business to the next level and achieve the success you deserve, join Bella and the Jump Mastermind today! Pam Curry is the owner and operator of Toronto Dog Walking. She and her dog, Holly, moved to Toronto in 2012 with the sole focus in mind of working with animals. In 2015, she founded Toronto Dog Walking and Pam has continued to grow the business at a rapid pace ever since. Currently, she has 15 dog walking employees and is continually adding more. Pam is also one of the most active members in the Jump Mastermind, along with her accountability partner Kristen Corral. In fact, they have been the reigning champions of our monthly accountability challenge for 5 months in a row - wow! Learn more about Pam at torontodogwalking.com Biggest Takeaways Who is Pam Curry & what is Toronto Dog Walking? [2:00] Pam's Mastermind Success Story [4:00] How did you get rid of your "to-do list" and turn it into long-term goals? [7:30] How do you keep goal-crushing when you have bad days? [9:00] What piece of advice do you have for business owners that feel overwhelmed? [10:50] How did you go from hating video to now having your own talk show? [14:50] What does the future look like for you and Toronto Dog Walking? [22:00] Where can you follow Pam on social media? [24:00] Links: The Jump Mastermind: http://jumpconsulting.net/jump-mastermind Remember to use coupon pamc25 for $25 off your monthly membership! The COPE Method For Social Media: /episode-68-the-cope-method-perri-collins/ The Bark Show: https://torontodogwalking.com/the-bark-show/ Pam's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travelwithmydog_/ Share The Show: Did you enjoy the show? We would love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link – Bella In Your Business Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section Click on ‘Write a Review’ Transcript: This is episode 101 of Bella In Your Business. The next series is going to be a bunch of interviews with amazing pet sitters that I know will also motivate and inspire you and your business. From time to time, I interview incredible pet sitters who have been through or faced some really amazing challenges that have inspired me, therefore I know will inspire you. If you know of anyone who has an amazing story to share, who is a pet sitting or dog walking business owner, I'd love to hear from you. Just go ahead and email me at [email protected]. Until then, enjoy this next episode. 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. My name is Bella Vasta, your host with Jump Consulting, and today I actually have the most amazing dog walker located in Toronto with me today, Pam Curry. Pam: Thank you, Bella. I'm absolutely shocked that I'm here. Bella: Why are you shocked? Hopefully by the next 20, 25 minutes, you're going to understand your greatness because I love to pull in the most amazing, inspiring pet sitters and you're definitely one of them on my list. You are the owner of Toronto Dog Walking and I've just been witnessing this miraculous explosion. I don’t mean just your bottom line or your profits—I mean you personally as a business owner. I have been so excited over here that I wanted to shout it from the rooftop. Before we get ahead of ourselves, I want you to tell us about your business. Where is it? How long have you been in business? How many people work for you? Give our listeners an idea of who you are. Pam: I will start off first by apologizing. I'm Irish and I talk really fast. Myself and my Irish dog, O’Holly, moved to Toronto back in 2012. We moved here to work with pets because in Ireland it's not as big as it is here. In Toronto, people's dogs are their children. They don’t even think about having human children—the dogs are their kids. So I was like, “Oh my God, yes, this is where we need to go.” Myself, my friend, and Holly hopped on the plane in 2012. A couple of weeks later, I was already out there walking dogs, and I was like, this is the life. I could not go back. I was living the dream. Life did not get any better. Fast forward to 2015, I was like, okay, it’s time to do this for myself. Toronto Dog Walking was founded in the middle of 2015. We just had our three-year anniversary last month and didn’t even realize. We’re growing and growing. We went through stages where we couldn’t even handle the bookings—it was getting crazy. We’re coming up to 15 team members now, and finally, life is getting good. There’s freedom, business is going well. Bella: Fifteen team members and that’s six years from the minute you stepped foot in Toronto. That’s amazing because there are a lot of people who have had businesses for 10 years and are still stuck doing it themselves, dreaming to be where you’re at. I want to talk about goal crushing because I’m sure over the past six years you’ve had a lot of goals you’ve needed to crush. I’ve been witness to it in the mastermind. Pam is our reigning queen—she and her accountability partner Kristin in Vegas have won our accountability partner challenges five months in a row. They’re goal crushers. Talk to us about how you set and achieve goals. Pam: It was really rough at the start because the to-do list had a to-do list. It was a beast. I needed to do everything. I’m kind of an all-rounder. When I went to college, I studied e-commerce and e-business, so I knew the tech and business sides. I needed to get everything done. It was firefighting to start. I was literally putting out fires—whatever needed to be done, I was doing it. Bella: So you were reacting to things as they happened, letting the business run you. Pam: Exactly. There was no planning or direction. I wanted to be big and successful, but stuff just kept coming up. Starting on my own, then getting new people brought new challenges. I was just going, not knowing where it was leading. Fast forward, and in January this year, I joined the mastermind. We started off with our goals—where we wanted to go. You asked us to write them down, and I thought, “Okay, I’ll put down a big wish.” My wish was to not be working in my business because I was out there walking full-time and working nights. I was in a cycle of up, down, up, down. So I wrote, “By the end of 2018, I want to be out of the business.” Through our accountability and small tasks, I learned to break down goals into small pieces. By Easter, I was out of the business. Bella: That gives me goosebumps. So you spent five years doing everything, putting out fires, and feeling drowned. It took you putting your big wish on paper and having people hold you accountable for it to happen. Pam: Exactly. It’s like magic. I can’t even explain it. By June, my goals were happening without me even realizing it because of the structure. My accountability partner Kristin is amazing. When I see her achieve, it motivates me. You’re not thinking about the big picture—you’re just completing the small steps that get you there. Bella: You said your to-do list had a to-do list. What changed to make it manageable? Pam: I learned to break things down. For example, if the task was to create a messenger bot, that used to feel huge, so I wouldn’t start. Now, I break it down: write out what I want the bot to do, outline conversations, sequences, sign up for a system, learn the system, test it. Those small steps feel doable. Crossing them off feels amazing. Three small tasks a day is better than staring at an overwhelming list. Bella: How do you stay motivated through bad days? Pam: It’s all down to the mastermind. Kristin and I set small, manageable goals. If something doesn’t get done one day, it’s fine—it’ll get done the next. We don’t overload ourselves. When bad days happen, we accept them and get up to kill it the next day. Bella: Being a business owner is lonely, especially in pet sitting where everything’s virtual. Having a community like that makes a difference. Pam, your story is so inspiring—from walking dogs alone to having 15 people in just months. What advice would you give someone feeling overwhelmed right now? Pam: It’s normal to feel like that. Sometimes you have to go through it to get to where you want to go. Just take it one day at a time. Break everything into small steps. You’ll be shocked when you realize how far you’ve come. Bella: That’s so good. We often feel like we’re not going anywhere, but when we look back, we realize we’ve achieved a lot. It builds confidence. Pam: It really does. I have so much more confidence now than a year ago. I used to hate interviews—absolutely hated them. But practicing video and growing in the mastermind changed that. Even people close to me notice.