Episode 204: How Your Vision and Focus Can Scale Your Business Fast with Joanna Price

How have you separated your pet business brand from the rest of the pack (yes pun intended. )? Joanna Price is the Owner of Woofin’ It Pet Concierge. It is her vision, tireless work ethic, and passionate commitment to pets that has grown her business from the seeds of an idea to the best Dog Walking and Pet Sitting service brand in Frederick, with 5 team members. Additionally, her commitment to exceeding expectations and delighting clients is evident in their references (affectionately referred to as WOOFERENCES). She and her team truly have fun with your pets and the "work" they all do. Joanna and her team thrive on giving pet parents peace of mind, and are truly grateful for the trust their clients have in them to care for their fur-babies! Pet Business Vision Show Highlights Learn about how Joanna uses her own lingo in her pet concierge brand to make it special. Hear how she has stayed positive through COVID. Learn about how commitment to hiring helped her grow her business fast. Understand how her vision and why helped shape her pet business brand Links Joanna's website https://woofinitdogwalking.com/ Let’s Connect! 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’’ Are You New Here? Welcome, I am so glad you are here. If you are a dog walker, dog sitter, cat sitter, doggy daycare or kennel owner, then you found the right place. Jump Consulting is the one place on the internet to get all the resources you need for your pet care business. Can I give you some freebies to generate sales and increase revenues for your business? Grab your freebies below. Are you starting out? Been in business for less than two years? Get your startup resources here. Do you own an established pet care business and you want to take it to the next level.? Get Your builder resources here. Transcript: This is episode 204 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business. So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome everybody to Bella in Your Business. Today I've got one of my long-term clients with me, Joanna. And she is absolutely amazing. You guys, not only is she a kick-ass mama, she's also an incredible business owner. She is the owner of Woofin' It! Pet Concierge. And it is her vision of tireless work ethic and passionate commitment to pets that has grown her business from the seeds of an idea to the best dog walking and pet sitting service in Frederick with five team members. Additionally, her commitment to exceeding expectations and delighting clients is evident in their references, if actually known as woof-rances. We're going to totally talk about her vernacular today. She and her team truly have fun with their pets that they help and all of the “work” that they do. Joanna and her team thrive on giving pet parents peace of mind and are amazing at everything that they do. I've been watching her virtually and working with her personally for I don't even know how long, Joanna, but I've just been impressed with your tenacity, with your mindset, which we're also going to talk about today, and also your impeccable, happy branding. That's all I can really announce it as, I'm not even sure. But welcome to the show and thanks for saying yes for being on. Absolutely. So why don't you go ahead and fill in those gaps for me really quick and tell our audience how long you've been in business. When did it start? Why did it start? And what burns inside your belly to keep going, especially during this recording when we're in 2020, July 2020, and the whole world's falling apart. Yeah, it definitely is. Sure. So I actually launched this business in February of 2017 and it was just me and my idea of doing it. I had been in the corporate world for a really long time. There had been some things that happened, a position that I had been working in had been eliminated. And so I really allowed myself to take the time and figure out what did I actually want that next chapter to look like in my life. So after taking a couple months, doing a lot of research, kind of trying to figure stuff out, I launched this business with kind of a wing and a prayer and myself. So that was February of 2017 and then by May I brought on my first team member and we have really just expanded and grown from that point. And that was May of 2017? That was when I brought on my first team member in May of 2017, yes. Okay, so let's dive into that really quick because that was three months into your business you brought on a team member, which I think says a lot because I know a lot of our listeners out there, they've either just started or they've been in the business for a while and they either have tried to hire or they're just terrified to hire. So what made you want to hire that quickly into your business? Was it a perfect time? How did you know you needed to? And were you extremely successful your very first time? I mean, I wish I could say that was the reason. Basically, the truth of the matter is it just didn't make sense to me not to leverage my time. At that point, I probably had seven to ten clients a day that I was doing by myself, but my kids are 20 and 18 now. And so they were in high school when I started this and I was kind of like, you know, I want to start my own business so I have more time with my family, not less. And so that kind of just started the whole, what if I get sick? What if I fall and I break my ankle? What if I want to take a vacation with my family? I don't want to have to shut my business down because I myself am not available. I have to let people know this is a legitimate business. I'm not a lone person. We will have backup for you. We do have coverage when emergencies happen. And I think that just adds to the whole level of our clients having peace of mind that someone will always be there when we say we're going to be there. It was just kind of all part of the plan. So May I brought on my first person and then honestly in July I brought on my second one and those two pet concierges are still with us today. I love that so much. What I'm hearing from you, Joanna, what I want our listeners to pull from this is that you were connected to your why—you wanted to free up your time, not be bonded to the time. And I think so many of us get lost in that trap because we want to be everything. We want to do everything. We want to have control over everything. We want everything to be perfect. And we're terrified to let those reins go. And it's one of the reasons why in just three short years you have grown and established yourself so well because you went off running. You didn't start baby crawling or jogging. You started sprinting and figured it out as you went because you wanted to be there for your family. And I think that's really important, you guys. If anyone's listening right now thinking when's the perfect time to hire or how can I do it or when should I do it, I really encourage you to think about what Joanna just said. Go back to your why. Why did you start this business? Was it so you could be a slave to it or was it so that you actually could grow it into something that could be an asset that gives back to your life? Now, Joanna, you just mentioned pet concierge. I want you to tell me more about the vernacular. You're very strong with that in your branding from the very name of Woofin’ It Pet Concierge to woof-rances and all these other cute little things that you use. Did you come up with that? Did someone else help you with that? Why did you incorporate that kind of thing into it? And what kind of response do you get from the community or from your clients? Tell me more about that because I think it's very unique to you. I think the reason that I describe ourselves as Pet Concierge is we came into this market and I was very confident telling potential clients and our current clients we are an upscale boutique company. We're very consistent on our messaging that our relationships with our clients are what drives us. We are not in this to just do like a one-and-done kind of thing. We really work hard on long-term relationships with our clients and therefore I feel like we become each other's families. So the fact that I've never used “dog walkers,” we are pet concierges because we go above and beyond every single time for every single client, every visit that we have with them. When I launched my business, I had two teenage children, like we just talked about. And the fact of the matter is that was not who I wanted to bring onto my team. There's nothing against hardworking teenagers, but I was looking for moms, pet parents, seniors who were active, people who understood responsibility, integrity, customer service, and compassion—understanding that pets are people's family members. They're not just like, “It's just the dog,” or “It's just the cat.” We don't do that. And so that's why I dove into this market being like, we are an upscale, different company than what is already existing in our marketplace. And so I've just gone with that. You get me so excited because everything that you're saying, I bet a lot of our listeners right now are like, “Yeah, me too. Me too. I feel the same exact way.” But guys, this is the difference between saying it to yourself and actually living it in what she just mentioned—messaging. Her messaging says it all. Everything from everyone calls them dog walkers. It’s different.