Episode 102: After The Death Of A Partner, How One Pet Sitting Business Owner Kept Going

Laura Wright is the owner and founder of PAWright Pet Services. She started this business in 2012 with her husband, Erik, after she was laid off from an insurance company. Neither of them wanted to start over in the corporate world. Since they both had extensive experience with animals, they decided to begin a pet-related company. After Erik passed away, Laura struggled with finding the inspiration and motivation to keep going. Today, Laura describes how she was able to persevere and explode her business after such a tumultuous time. Biggest Takeaways You Don't Want To Miss How did you make your first leap from going solo to hiring empl0yees? [3:00] What was your first experience like hiring a bookkeeper and a CPA? [7:00] How did you deal with the death of your spouse in terms of deciding to continue on the business? [11:15] The transition from doing the job of one to doing the job of two [14:15] What kind of advice would you give to business owners that experience trauma? [16:30]   Show Highlights If you're just considering the idea of starting a business, seek out what resources are in your local town. Google "small business" and call up the Chamber of Commerce! There are tons of free and low-cost resources that can provide you with priceless knowledge While someone will never experience the exact same experiences as you, there will always be people that go through very similar events. Lean on those people and let them empathize with you. There will always be someone that can understand what you're feeling and help you cope. Don't isolate yourself or beat yourself up about things that you can't change.   Links Laura's Website: pawrightpetservices.com The Jump Mastermind: http://jumpconsulting.net/jump-mastermind Remember to use coupon bella25 for $25 off your monthly membership! 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 102 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, and 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. Welcome to Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta with Jump Consulting, and today I have a longtime client of mine, Laura Wright with Paw Right Pet Services. Laura, I just adore you. I cannot wait for you to come to Jump Into Paradise here in Arizona in the summer where I can actually just hug you because I just adore you. Right before we started recording, she had some music on in the background, and I was like, “Hey, Laura, can you turn that off?” And she said, “Alexa, be quiet.” And Alexa turns off. I think that’s the best thing ever because I don’t have one. It’s amazing. Laura, welcome to the show. Laura: Thank you for having me. Bella: I love that sweet-as-pie accent. Why don’t you tell everyone where you’re from, when you started your company, and give us a little bit of understanding of who you are and what your background is. Laura: My husband and I started our company six years ago. Before getting into the real job world, I worked with wildlife rehab and primarily with birds of prey. After I was laid off from a job at an insurance company, I didn’t want to go back to that. So I came home and said, “Hey, I’m starting a pet sitting business.” And he said, “A who?” And here we are. Bella: Incredible. How many years has it been? Laura: Six. Bella: When you started it, did you ever think you’d be where you are today? Tell us where you’re at now. Laura: My husband died in September, so that threw a wrench—a challenge—for me. I went through a phase of just not caring. I didn’t care for your cat; I didn’t care for anything. Luckily, I have a good group of sitters who work with me. They were able to pick up the slack and snap me around. I also have a good group of friends who were able to do the same. Bella: That was a really tumultuous time. I want to talk about you, the person, but how did you go from “I think I want to start this business” to building it and having people work for you? Laura: We went to a small business incubator here in town. We went to their first class called “So You Think You Want to Start a Business,” and they gave an overview of everything you needed to do. We met a lady there named Katherine who assisted startups. She helped us get our website and Facebook running, provided blog ideas, and offered general guidance. We got one client, then another, and before we knew it, Eric and I were both running crazy in separate directions. We found a girl in the neighborhood paper who said, “Do you need your dog walked?” Eric called her, and she ended up helping us. She had her own company, but when she was on vacation, I took care of her clients, and when we were on vacation, she took care of ours. It worked great. Then every few weeks we’d say, “Man, we need to find another pet sitter.” We had some bad ones along the way, but right now I’ve got three who are moving to employees. Since I recently bought out a pet sitter in another part of town, I’m looking for three more in that area. Bella: That’s fantastic. I love how organic that growth is and the lesson in community effort. You sought help and guidance and built from there. For those listening, if you’re just starting out, look up small business resources in your area. How did you find that incubator? Laura: I’d always known it was there, so I just went on their website and saw their classes. Most of them are free, or if they cost anything, it’s like $50. My QuickBooks class was one of the paid ones, but once I paid, I could go back for refreshers to stay updated. Bella: That’s dynamite. QuickBooks is such a pain point for many business owners. You’ve learned lessons about bookkeeping the hard way, haven’t you? Laura: We went through five bookkeepers and CPAs. We used QuickBooks Online, and a lot of CPAs don’t. My QuickBooks was never accurate. Bella: I think many don’t like QuickBooks Online because they want more control. Laura: Right. They would say it was up to date, but it wasn’t. It drove me crazy. I finally found one that did QuickBooks Online. They had a person in their office who did taxes. I was thrilled. Then she left, and a CPA in Minnesota took over. He messed up everything. The IRS said my business had been closed, even though I had just renewed my LLC. They said I didn’t file a partnership correctly when Eric died. Bella: You had a lot of things not being handled properly and were getting notices saying false things. That can be crushing. Laura: Exactly. One day I was listening to a sports radio talk show, and a guy was talking about his CPA firm. I called him. He owns the firm, and I talk to him every other day. His team is working with the IRS and handling payroll. I called him once crying, saying I was scared. He said, “We will take care of it. You go sit dogs; we’ll do the taxes.” It was an aha moment. Bella: It’s so important to have a team you can trust. Despite being burned before, you kept going. Even with Eric’s death, IRS issues, and all that chaos, you never gave up. Laura: They were even putting a lien on my house. It was insanity. And nobody ever wants to call the IRS because you wait two and a half hours for them to tell you they can’t help you. Bella: I want to bring this to something personal because I know our listeners have all faced struggles—substance abuse, divorce, death, mental health challenges. What I admire most about you is your perseverance. Take me back to when Eric died and how you managed your life and business. Laura: When Eric died, there were ambulances and police in the house. He died at home of a known cause. I had 10 or 15 policemen all asking me the same question in different ways. I finally said, “Why don’t you just ask me if I killed him? No.” That was hard. When everyone left, my neighbor across the street and another who does some sitting for me came over. One said, “Give me your schedule and keys.” I was in shock. Another called my sitters to let them know what had happened and that they needed to take over my jobs. Eric died of a drug overdose. There’s a stigma to that, and it’s hard. You feel like you’re admitting something wrong, even when you haven’t done anything. His mother and I knew it was going on, but you can only make someone go to rehab so many times. Bella: That must have been so hard on you as a wife, mom, and business owner. Laura: I’m still pulling myself together. It hit me when I realized I didn’t have money in my checking account because I hadn’t deposited checks. Eric used to do that. I had to learn to do a two-person job by myself. I have friends whose husbands passed away—one by suicide, one in a motorcycle accident. Talking to them helped. It didn’t make things easier, but it made me feel less alone. Bella: I think that’s key—knowing you’re not alone. What advice would you give someone listening who’s been through something similar? Laura: Don’t beat yourself up. Do things as you can. Not everything has to be done today. I make trips to Goodwill, tackling one corner of the house at a time. If it’s too much, stop.