Episode 142 : How Connections In Your Community Can Produce Tens Of Thousands in Revenue

Want to learn how you can build a 6-figure business without using social media? In this episode, Bella is going to share exactly how she was able to do this in her business, prior to Social Media along with all the tips and tricks that still work today. Get ready to learn how relationships will last longer than likes on Facebook! Biggest Takeaway You Don’t Want To Miss Making connections and networking with local veterinarians, community managers, and other business owners in your area can create free advertising for your business and help with personal development. Building relationships does not happen the first time, it happens with consistency, so pick something in your area and just start showing up. Show Highlights How did partnering with a new veterinarian in Bella's area help her company? [3:30] How can working with community managers help your pet sitting business? [5:45] Why should you join community networking groups? [8:15] How do you start a dog walking club at an apartment community?[11:40] How can you network at yard sales? [15:45] Links Jump & Scale Webinar: jumpconsulting.net/scale Yard Sale Freebie: jumpconsulting.net/yard-sale/ 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 142 of Bella in Your Business. This episode is brought to you by my free webinar Jump and Scale Your Business. It's my three-part training series all dedicated to finding and attracting the right kind of people that will scale your business. Did I mention it's free? Listen, you have to attend this if you want to grow your staff, you feel like you're being held hostage, you have high turnover, you feel burnt out, or you're just not seeing the results you want. Join me for this three-part free webinar series. Register now at jumpconsulting.net/scale. That's jumpconsulting.net/scale. I'll see you there. 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 and pet sitting and dog walking business consultant and Facebook group expert. Today, I am here to tell you all about how I was able to build my six-figure pet sitting company not using social media. You guys, this is going to be a fun episode. But first, I want to give a big shout-out to Nanny Donnelly, who left us a five-star review on iTunes. She said, if you're someone who can take a tell-it-like-it-is, straightforward, honest, and transparent delivery, this is the podcast you want to be subscribed to if you're in the pet industry. She's upfront with her tough love approach and will have you and your business thriving if you take her advice and implement it. I recommend listening one at a time, doing that one thing or implementing that strategy into your business plan and routine, and then going on to the next. You will start seeing results snowball, and all of this advice is free. She gives it up to you, and it's up to you to do it. Reach out to her for clarification on anything. She's very much down-to-earth, easy to reach, and responds with the best advice she can. She will always meet you halfway, if not more, as long as you're willing to put in the work. This stuff really works. Thank you, Bella. You guys, I love that review. It makes me so excited. And every single time you leave a review on this podcast, it just really helps me realize that my doing all of this effort really works. So today, I am going to talk all about how I was able to build my business offline. Since so much of this podcast has been talking about social media — in fact, our very last episode was all about social media and staying sane — I kind of teased you a little bit that I was going to teach you and show you how I was able to build my six-figure pet company just based off of basically something I didn't tell you yet. But today I'm going to tell you it's how community connections can make you thousands of dollars. So if you could leverage your community, what would that do for your business? I know a lot of us say, I want to be talked about by everybody and I want everyone to think of us as the best business. I want to be top of mind. But how does that actually happen, right? How does it happen when you're like isolated all day? You're in your car, you're in your office, you're walking dogs, you're not even out there really that much with people. Well, it comes with a little bit of intention. And today I'm going to break it down for exactly how I did this. I want to take you back to a time where Jerry Bianco was the project manager for a shopping plaza that was going in in my area. He was in my networking group — a little local neighborhood networking group, a very small one. And he pulled me aside one day and he's like, “Psst, Bella, guess what?” And I was like, “What's going on, Jerry?” And he's like, “Did you know that there's a new veterinarian going in on that new shopping plaza?” “No, Jerry, I didn't.” “Well, Bella, her name's Dr. Casey and she's really amazing, and I really want you to meet her. Do you want me to introduce you?” “I guess I do. Thanks, Jerry.” That was basically how the conversation went. And from then on, Jerry had done an email introduction and kind of broken that ice. He basically got my foot in the door and sold me and my company to this new vet and also let her know that I was a good connector, that I knew a lot of people already around the area. And what was the one problem that this Dr. Casey had? At the time, she was a brand-new business. There were five other veterinarian companies around her, probably like a stone's throw — quite honestly, about five of them in a couple-mile radius. And so she wanted to make a big splash on the scene. So what better way to do it than with a pet sitter, right? I obviously had her ideal client. All of my clients could technically be her client. So we did that, and I was touring her veterinarian clinic when the studs were up. The walls weren't even up; it was all steel. And she was like, “This is where the exam room is going to be, and this is where our operation table is going to be.” I got to know her and she was a darling — the nicest person ever. And wouldn't you know that I was able to help her with her grand opening and get the word out there. I was all about give, give, give. And that's the thing that you got to do when you're meeting people — you’ve got to figure out what they need and how you can help them. And if you start relationships off like that in anything, people are going to be listening and wanting to help you with more of an open palm and an open ear. So Dr. Casey and her grand opening was a really cool time for me because I saw what the power of networking could do. Another one in the same community — in fact, it was called McDowell Mountain Ranch — I made it a point to check in to the office. There was a community manager, and her job was to put together the newsletter and round up people for different events in the community. They had a big grassy lawn and they would have a spring fling, they would have wine and music nights, kids’ crafts, and just things to make this 4,000-person community a better place to live. These community managers — I loved them — because I always felt like I could help them with their job. So I approached her — her name was Karen — and said, “Hey, Karen, why don't we do a Wolfstock?” She took it to the planning board, they approved it, and we did it. The way we presented it was Wolfstock presented by Bella’s House and Pet Sitting. It was amazing, you guys, because every piece of marketing material had my name on it. I went to local groomers, veterinarians like Dr. Casey, pet stores, trainers, and pet-friendly restaurants and gathered everyone up. They all had a booth. The community did all of the marketing. At the time, they had a local TV channel, a website where people would pay bills and see events — and everywhere around there was my company's name. When six out of ten households have pets, that means more than half the community could come, right? And it was a great way to get my name out there. My goal wasn’t that people would see the ad and call me immediately — it was to get my name everywhere so that when people started looking for a pet sitter, they’d go, “Yeah, I’ve seen her everywhere.” That’s how you get top-of-mind awareness. Something else that really helped me: I joined a local networking group — not the small neighborhood one, a bigger one called APRO. I became friends with the guy who ran it, Mark, and started going to lunches. I know lunches are hard for pet sitters and dog walkers, but I made it work — sometimes breakfast, sometimes evening mixers. Each was different. The lunches were my favorite. This was before social media really took off — around 2005 or 2006. Facebook for business didn’t really explode until 2008. These tried-and-true methods still work today — maybe even better. At these lunch-and-learn meetings, members would get up and teach. There was this guy, David Sherman, whose badge said “The Professional Icebreaker.” He taught sales. If you’ve ever read my downloadable book Networking for Pet Sitters: Barking Up the Right Tree, you’ll know I suggest writing “What’s your dog’s name?” instead of your own name on your badge. People will come up to you and start talking — it breaks the ice. I learned that from David. I also learned from Lloyd Barker — he was the one who listed my business for sale the first time I tried to sell it. He taught me that you can’t sell out of emotion; it comes down to numbers.