Episode 323: The One Thing That Got This Pet Sitting Business Through 2020 And Still Thriving Today

Let's face it, 2020 was not a good year for most businesses. A lot of pet sitting and dog walking companies shut down - but did they ever think they would come back stronger than ever? This week's guest Stephanie is going to share with you her secret weapon on how she came back with a vengeance. How her has people in line to be hired and how her systems help run her business without her. Many of you have been exactly where Stephanie was. Or maybe you still are? Secretly thinking of throwing in the towel because the reality you chose to see is dismal and gray. Listen in to today's episode to hear straight from Stephanie from Chicago Urban Pets on how just exactly she went from her business as a dead standstill to thriving more than ever. On this episode, we meet Stephanie Surjan, owner of Chicago Urban Pets. She was facing the struggles of running a business alone and fighting for survival, desperate for support and a way out, Stephanie turned to Bella's Mastermind program, finding it to be a game changer for her business. With the structure and support provided, Stephanie was able to improve her sales and marketing efforts, hire and retain top talent, and streamline her business, ultimately leading to significant growth and a bright future for Chicago Urban Pets. Biggest Takeaways: 10:55 Showing up during uncertainty 13:17 Setting goals 14:33 Setting up systems 17:45 Jazz Hr 25:27 What kind of mindset do you need? Recommendations: Joining the Mastermind group has been a life-changing decision for many business owners like Stephanie. It is a group of like-minded members scaling and growing their pet-sitting or a dog-walking business, leaning on one another for advice and support. With Monthly HR calls, group coaching with Bella, a plethora of questions documented and answered, the Mastermind Group allows business owners the peace of mind they need to truly achieve the success they are dreaming of. Links: Better Marketing With Bella Bella Vasta Instagram Mastermind Group Transcript: Welcome, everybody to another episode of Bella in your business. My name is Bella vasta. And today I've got a really special guest for you. Her name is Stephanie. And we have known each other I don't even know, a year or two, maybe. But she has come in like a wrecking ball. Just like Becky we had on the episode last week. And and I really wanted you guys to hear straight from Stephanie's mouth, how the impact of having a community around her has helped change her mindset and her business. So without further ado, Stephanie, welcome to the show. Hi, thank you for having me. Why don't you tell our guests a little bit about your background and where you're from? What about your businesses and how they can stalk you on socials? And just give them a flavor of who you are. Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Stephanie surgeon. I own a dog walking and pet-sitting business in Chicago, the downtown area of Chicago, Illinois, and it's called Chicago urban pets. You can find us we're mainly active on Instagram, some Facebook to just Chicago urban pets. So pretty simple to find. And next year, we're celebrating 10 years in business. Whoo, that is amazing. Yeah, it's very exciting. That's absolutely amazing. And so being in Chicago, I'm sure you have your own set of highs and lows with the weather and things, things being snowy, and you also operate in the city. Something interesting about you is that, at least as of now, a lot of your staff they don't even have cars, right? Yeah, so we don't use they're actually part of our interview process. That has been really improved. Thanks to Bella and her mastermind content, we actually sort of red flag people who think they're gonna do this driving, because we are in such a dense residential area. Downtown, there's very little parking, so everything is by foot or public transportation. Yeah, so unique. I love it. And that's something else. I think that a lot of our listeners, sometimes all of us honestly, me too, is sometimes we get into that mindset of Oh, no, it's my area. That's the problem. It's my area. But the mindset to get you through that is figuring out solutions to things sure every business not going to be the same. But everything has to adapt. So why don't you bring us back to before he joined the mastermind? You had made a post I think last week you had said you were like almost ready to give up on your business or you're just so down and out about it. Can you bring us back to about that point? What challenges and woes and feelings were you having? About? I have this dog walking company. Yeah, absolutely. So as I mentioned, we're going 10 years so when COVID hit, we were probably you know already seven years in and I was pretty comfortable. I, I was you know, happy with what we were making. In terms of income, I sort of set it up to be a little bit going on its little bit of autopilot because I just had a baby. And when COVID hit I made was about two years old. And I had basically for two years now been involved but like marginally. And so when COVID hit, it took me for a ride because I wasn't so involved anymore. And it's sort of thrust me back in. And I wasn't in the best place because I hadn't slept for two years. Because of the baby. There's no toddler but anyway, so I was not in a good place mentally and I was sort of forced to take back the reins, and basically, We think the whole business. And I think the hardest part of that is that I was alone. And I do wish that I had known about the mastermind before COVID. had, I think that would have greatly reduced the amount of stress. And fear, honestly, I'm coming into it because I had so long like, this was the major part of our family's revenue. And we went from like, you know, what we were making to nothing. And I had to figure out by myself how to survive in many ways, in terms of the business side. And so yeah, I was in a very difficult place, we ended up closing temporarily over the 2020 winter months because there was no vaccine yet. You know, I had employees, and it was very hard to manage the ins and out of quarantining, and all those things. So it was just too much we weren't making any money anyway. And so we close it for a while. And honestly, I sort of advertised that we're just going to close for a few months over the winter season. But in my mind, I'm like, I don't know for sure I'm open again because I was just about, we did one thing led to another, we did end up opening again, and this is a year before I even met Bella, and your mastermind, that we were struggling and things were different, really different bundles, you end up opening up again. Okay, both like six months, like November 1 through April 1, and it's sort of lined up with getting the second round of PPP funding, a big incentive to try and push forward. Long story short, things are very different. My success initially was based on time, but also, there was no underlying structure that was strong enough to be able to take on this new big change. And I needed more support to make significant changes in the business. And the first red flag was hiring super hard to hire I came across the free week web, like the Facebook Live group that you did on hiring, and it just blew my mind. And I felt like maybe this is my, this is my safety. This is what's called my safety net, right? Like, this is my way out. Like, here's somebody who is looking at things differently. And I want and I want to, I want more of that. Basically, that is so good. I didn't even remember how we came about because there was just I feel like I've known you for a long time because you've been such an active member of the community. But during those six months, you were closed. I just I'm curious what did you find yourself doing? Were you trying to work on the business? Were you just like a sitting duck? Were you paralyzed in fear? What was going through your mind? And what was your life like for those six months that related to your business? Um, I tried to start a new business or an online business. I think a lot of people did. They thought they had just started. Products. Yeah, no, I started a mom blog and digital products. Oh, cool. Yeah. And the only reason I paused on that is that when I did reopen the business that needed a lot more of my attention, and I couldn't do both things. So I on that, but mama questions.com blog on dental parenting and do like digital products on affirmations, and stuff like that, because that's where we were my head was that you know, having a child closing the business, I was so burnt out from the business, I really didn't want to do anything pet related, during that, you know, that time of hibernation. And so I tried this other thing, and it taught me so much in regards to online, like content making and online marketing, like I learned, even though I'm not doing that blog specifically, I didn't even know what a blog was when I found out about blogging like I had something on my website, but I didn't understand why we had a blog on the website. And I learned a lot from that that I've been able to bring back into the business. But that's what I was doing basically trying to survive in a different way. But you know what? Yeah, survival mode definitely. But I want our listeners to hear this and think like, this is the kind of mindset like she was okay, I'm gonna pivot I'm gonna figure something out and she was still learning and growing. And I'm not just a sitting duck. She Of course, was terrified. She said that most of her family's income was from her business. And that's terrifying. But she didn't take it standing like sitting down, you know, and I think you guys, you guys, listeners, I would encourage you to think about, you know, how do you show up in the scariest moments of your life? And how do you show up when things are uncertain? And I think it sounded like this mama questions.com. Yeah. Podcast with,