There is nothing worse than paying an employee to Loose Business for you!

As crazy as this sounds it happens all the time, I would have to assume without the business owners knowledge. I guarantee at least 90% of my readers employee someone whose performance, behavior, personality, attitude or hygiene is costing them business.

The responsibility lies squarly on the shoulders of leadership. Management must know how its employees are impacting business for practical reasons like evaluations, training, pay raises, bonuses, benchmarking and of course termination.

The surest way to prevent employing someone who is a risk to offend your client base is to perform “on the job” type interviews. Once you get down to your short list of potential new staff - use their services yourself as if you were a client.

If you are hiring a new dog walker or groomer - take your own beloved pet to the potential new hire. Would you pay for her services? Do you feel like your pet is safe with this potential new employee. How comfortable was the dog? Notice if you felt at ease or anxious. Of course evaluate the actual job performance. How detailed was she? Did she check in with you to get feedback on the job as she was working with your dog?

Let some of your most trusted and even some of your toughest clients do the same. How do they rate your potential new employee?

I am writing this article after spending several hundred dollars at one of my favorite spa’s - and walking away completely disillusioned. If I were the kind of customer, like most of your customers, who walks away without complaining - you may never see me again and you would never even know why you lost my business.

If you don’t have a system in place to notice my spending has significantly dropped off you might not even know you’ve lost me as a customer because I might pop in now and again for an occasional quick product or service.

If you had a follow up system in place to elicit my feedback on the service of this new employee you very well might have heard back that I was horrified that the nail technician had dirt under her nails.

As it stands now, five days after my spa service, I am thinking of all the reasons I never want to go back to that spa…and the spa owner has no idea and probably never will.

Start pre-hiring practices as I described above and put systems in place to connect with your clients after their service and at regular intervals. Always monitor your clients monthly spend and track for patterns so that you know immediately if there are irregular spending habits.

These irregularities should be a trigger to contact your client and check for the causes. It may not be a problem with your services or staff. You may find that your clients’ needs have changed and you discover new opportunities to service your clients. Ways the customer might never have imagined and therefor, never looked to you for her pet care needs,

Monitoring your staff has extra benefits to the organization. When you manage under performing employees it shows the entire staff you value quality work. Leaving a poor employee to enjoy the same pay and benefits as your best employees de-values the great employees.

Manage your new hires as if you were the toughest client this employee would face. If you don’t, you may be paying your new staff to drive away business!

What were your reasons for starting your own pet care business?

Most business owners include love of animals, personal freedom, financial independence and time with family as their top reasons for starting a pet care business.

Whatever your original reasons for opening your own business, take an honest inventory of your success in the area of each goal. How do you define personal freedom?

If it is simply calling your own shots - not answering to a boss then you can probably pat yourself on the back and put a check mark next to that one. However, if your goal was deeper than firing your boss - if it included creating a meaningful life outside of work - how would you score?

Are you taking the trips you always dreamed of?
Is your personal life as fulfilling as your time at work?
Do you spend quality time with your loved ones?
Have you set and achieved personal goals in the areas of fitness and health, travel and adventure?
How would you rate your financial goals? Are you still trading time for money?
Do you have systems in place so your money is working for you?

Don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t achieved more than one or two of your primary goals you had set for yourself when you started on this entrepreneurial journey. You are certainly not alone - as a matter of fact, you are in the majority.

Most people fail to achieve even their most passionate desires and goals because they allow life to get in the way. The one defining difference between the most productive and successful people in the world and everyone else is the ability to focus time and attention on a specified goal until its completion.

The single most important action you can take each and every day is upon determining your most pressing goal(s) - devote a specified amount of time solely dedicated to that goal until it is completed.

Depending on your goal - it may look like two hours in the late afternoon when you lock yourself in your office with absolutely no interruptions. No phone calls, no e-mails, no interruptions at all. It may mean you get up an hour earlier in the morning or stay up an hour later in the evening to work on your fitness goals or your intellectual or spiritual goals.

It takes consistent action toward your goal to accomplish anything worthwhile. Don’t imagine that you are too busy to accomplish more. The wealthiest, most successful people in the world are arguably the busiest people in the world as well.

If the busiest people in the world make the time to achieve their goals - and we all have the same 24 hours in a day - it is a good indication that we too can achieve our goals.

Whatever you are saying to yourself right now, whether affirmations or excuses - those thoughts are the fuel that will drive your future. Excuses will keep you stagnant. A year from now you will not only not have achieved any of your goals but you will have lost footing in your existing business.

There is no sitting still - you are either growing or dying. No in between.

If you believe you can achieve your goals with a consistent, focused effort - you will. And that achievement will foster more belief and power to achieve even greater goals. It is a law of nature - what you focus on grows.

Focus on the excuses and you will get more busy work and garbage to fill up your 24 hours. Focus on possibilities and a worthy goal and you will become the person you imagine yourself to be.

It is really very simple if you just allow yourself the opportunity to succeed. Take the time every day to fulfill the dreams inside of you. Before you know it - those dreams that once existed only in your mind will be a reality in your outside world.

Take consistent action today and every day and soar!

Warm Waggles,
Fran
fran@dogbusinessdaily.com

As pet care business owners we are not only obligated to care for and protect the animals entrusted to us by our clients. It is our responsibility to be alert for and take action on animal cruelty in our communities.

As a group The Humane Society, animal shelters, ASPCA and pet care business owners there is no one else as acutely aware of the animals residing in our communities. Dog sitters are out and about in the community, even more so than animal protection….just due to the number of sitters compared to the animal protection agency.

We can and must be the eyes and ears for Animal Protection in our community. In an effort to help support your communities animal safety efforts I have received permission to publish the ASPCA’s list of State Anti-Cruelty Investigatory and Arrest Powers.

Please refer to your state’s regulations and contact information and be aware of opportunities to protect the animals in your community.

Michael said it himself, this topic is his most controversial – I can see why. His super secret, how I accomplished all of my success in life, time management strategy – taking 2 minute showers…will revolutionalize your life and your business!

Now, that is said a bit tongue in cheek. Michael doesn’t claim that the 2 minute shower is the reason for his success and he certainly makes a good point for the value of time management. By the time his article is complete and the time saved using his strategies is added up – there is an additional 589 hours each year.

Sounds great…but, I suspect the life of a multi-billionaire (you are a multi-billionaire aren’t you Michael?) is quite different than the life of most small business owners. Places we can save significant amounts of time differ greatly from what Michael has left to tweak in his hectic schedule.

Rather than blindly following the arbitrary two minute shower rule (Ladies – I can almost guarantee you that Michael is not including shaving time in that 2 minutes. If he is, I would hate to be nuzzling that knicked up face) – look for areas in your life where you have significant time saving opportunities.

We need to find the biggest time wasters in our own lives. Everyone has to look at themselves first. You will be making a very big mistake by simply taking the advice Michael offers without considering the impact of other, more likely time wasters first.

For example, while managing our phone and e-mail time makes sense for everyone of us…most of us don’t need to manage so much when we reply to email as Michael suggest, although I agree it is a great strategy if you are already that advanced in your time management.

Most small business owners have bigger time wasters than when and how long it takes them to reply to their e-mails. Most don’t have the 100’s or even 1000’s of business related e-mails requiring our personal response like he does.

More often we find dog business owners might spend 90 minutes a day on e-mail – but it is not productive to begin with. Much of the time is spent on non-business related tasks such as forwarding jokes.

To my shock and dismay, many of my clients and readers admit they don’t even use e-mail marketing in their businesses.

Some of you need to spend MORE time on e-mail!

If you are like so many people who waste hours every day on e-mail chatting with friends, forwarding jokes or following the latest get rich strategy that takes us away from our goals (but helps fulfill someone else’s goals who knows how to use e-mail marketing) you can afford to change the way you spend your e-mail time.

And I am certain Michael doesn’t waste time watching hours of television or chit chatting, okay, I really mean gossiping with friends, neighbors, vendors and colleagues.

We have plenty of places in our personal and business lives to save time and get more structure. Just don’t allow an arbitrary time limit, like a two minute shower, to push you into a schedule that creates stress and a rushed feeling to your day.

Find the low hanging fruit of time management in your own schedule. If you don’t know where those opportunities exist, may I suggest you keep a journal of your daily activities.

You may be shocked at the time you are wasting on mind numbing activities like television watching. If you aren’t shocked – maybe it would serve you to add the time up and figure your monthly or annual total time spent on your greatest time intensive activities.

If you are like most of my clients and you ever have the thought, “there isn’t enough time to get everything done” you will definitely be served by examining how you spend your time.

We talk a lot about becoming the CEO of your business rather than the manager here at Dog Business Daily. This is the first critical step to take to make the move.

If you are the person opening the doors at your doggy day care or standing behind the register - you can definitely find better ways to spend your time. Marketing your business is far more productive and a wiser investment in time that running the cash register.

If you are already very productive and good at delegating – you should still make it a regular habit to look at your activities and find ways to create more time.

I suspect regular examination of his time is the only reason Michael ever came to the realization that he could take a 2 minute shower. It wasn’t foremost in his mind – it was through deliberate consideration and examination.

Make sure your actions and activities are serving your life’s purpose. When they are, even a 30 minute shower can be an investment in yourself and your business. I personally find my shower a source of inspiration.

If I am able to quiet my mind – I will get some of my greatest ideas while showering. I do admit I will cut those particular showers short. The ideas in my head are so powerful and inspiring – I am prompted to take immediate and massive action on the them.

Inspired action is different than rushing through life. Rushing always moves us farther away from our goals. Allow yourself the time, through healthy time management strategies, to hear inspiration. Then do whatever you have to do to make the time to complete the goal that bubbled up out of inspiration.

Thanks Michael – I found inspiration in your article.

From a loyal subscriber, client and fan. If you would like to subscribe to Michael Masterson’s ETR, the most popular health, wealth and success e-zine on the net - click here.

Have you attributed any business loss this summer to gas prices?

The truth about prosperity is that there are those who prosper during recession and those who fail in times of plenty. The mindset and creativity of the leader who refuses to accept the status quo….who finds opportunity where the majority sees problems is what creates true freedom.

True financial freedom is not dependent on the economy, circumstance, politics or even gas prices!

So how can you use the rising gas prices to improve your service to your clients? It is safe to be aware of the responses of the masses and choose an opposite strategy.

What are the most common responses of pet sitters and mobile pet care professionals to rising gas prices? Most pet sitting companies increase prices and justify it by increased fuel costs. Sounds logical right? Every industry does it.

What if your pet sitting businesses can set themselves apart from the competition by actually doing exactly the opposite? What if you could massively grow your business during a so called recession?

Here is one of our tips that can do absolutely nothing but improve your service and customer loyalty…review your logistics.

If you have sitters who are traveling more than a few mile radius - hire more regionally located sitters. Contact some of your best clients in your remote areas and ask if they can help by recommending a potential candidate.

You might be surprised that your client may be willing and anxious to work for you part time. Many of your clients are closet pet sitter wannabe’s. (Of course you must be as diligent as always when hiring these temporary or part time employees).

Once you get your team in place - market the poop out of the fact that you are not raising prices. Actually, to give your clients a break during these busy summer months - with gas prices raising…you are going to lower prices.

Offer discounted service….buy 3 get 1. Refer a friend and get a free pet sitting. Now is the time to grab market share. Your competition won’t know what hit them. This so called recession could see your business double.

What if you are a doggy day care, groomer, dog trainer - or any other pet care business where you clients come to you?

hmmm, what shall we do….

• partnering with some of the largest employers in your community and setting up temporary service areas? How many new clients do you think you might get from that business because you are on location? Do you think you might set up a long term remote program if you get enough response?

• setup drop off points at key areas in town where you have determined are most desirable for your client base. Basically, you are splitting the cost of the gas increases with your clients. Market the poop out of this too!

• offer several clients in key areas free services to “host” your services - make it a marketing event to draw new clients.

These remote location strategies are ideal for massive increases in profits and market share. Brainstorm with your staff for a while and you will start getting excited. Think about all of the new services you could offer and introduce in a non-traditional setting. You could introduce agility training, fitness programs, a weight management program. Hold a retriever training clinic; a doggy wash open to the public. What if one of your remote locations were a state park or area where you could offer hiking….hey these all sound a lot like totally new services you could add to your business.

Think like a auto dealer tent sale on kibble. You are offering the same product but going out to the public. Your clients benefit because you are closer to them. You are making them aware of additional services and ways to enjoy time with their dogs.

You benefit because you are the only dog care business creating innovative solutions for your clients. The pr, brand exposure and high energy events generate huge momentum for your every day business.

These are just a couple ideas really just designed to get you to buy into the belief that gas prices, recession, economy….nothing outside of your creativity and imagination controls your business success. Take any apparent negative and ask yourself how you might think of the situation differently.

Before you know it - you won’t see problems any more…just opportunities. Its not cliche’ if it works!

Register for your newsletter at the above right to receive innovative marketing strategies and to receive updates about our upcoming book release: “Recession Proof Your Dog Business”

PS, Always confirm and update your insurance coverage for any new services you provide; including offering off site service.

Now more than ever Dog Care Business Owners are scrambling for ways to preserve profits. This topic is near and dear to my heart because it is too often a dog business owner chooses to cut corners to preserve the bottom line.

This strategy is so counterproductive I can not even begin to tell you the long term damage it has on your business and the owner’s reputation. Many pet care business owners don’t have measurements in place to put tangible numbers on their losses but would be stunned if they did.

One of the top dog sitters in my home town started out giving stellar service and seemed to truly care for the animals in their care. Gradually though as the pet sitting business grew, the home care provided dwindled drastically.

Instead of the 30 minutes of devoted loving care that was the standard service in the beginning the visits often consisted of 5 minutes - opening the door and leaving whether or not the dog went outside.

The client and the dog took a distant back seat to the goal of increasing the number of services per day - without hiring sufficient staff to maintain service levels. The service levels that were promised and the “sales pitch” when we first met were a distant memory within about 18 months.

If you have been with me for any length of time you no doubt know how I feel about “sales”. If not, please take a moment and read through the archive articles in the sales section of this blog. I called this a sales pitch because it was not a true demonstration of the services this company provided. This is a bit tongue in cheek because It was an accurate description of the service at the time the service was contracted but no longer holds true.

I suspect the proprietor has no idea what her reputation is in the community. The business is still doing well but the difference between what it is doing now and what it could be is astronomical. It is rare that a week goes by that someone from the community does not remark on their dissatisfaction with the service at this doggy day care.

It is a shame - because it was totally unnecessary. There are so many ways to preserve and grow profits without raising prices or cutting service levels.

And, when prices and service levels need to be changed - there is a professional way of doing it with complete integrity.

That is a topic for another article. Today we want to look at shrinkage!

Employee and vendor theft exists in at least 80% of all businesses - I suspect it is actually 100%. Between poor systems, inattention, carelessness and greed at your back door employee and vendor theft can very well add up to more losses than any price increase you’ll ever see.

If you suspect a particular vendor try inspecting the empties once in a while for additional theft or check the boxes for signs of tampering. Once you are fairly sure there is delivery theft going on - try setting up a test with your supplier. Have them ship the containers sort of booby trapped so you know for sure that they have been opened.

Have good processes in place for receiving your orders to minimize employees and vendors from walking out the back door with your profits.

Be careful not to make your work environment an uncomfortable place to work. Put systems in place and monitor your numbers. You won’t have to lead with a heavy hand to figure out who might be helping themselves to your products.

Once you have a good idea where the theft is coming from - come up with a plan to know for sure and make sure other employees and vendors are aware of the incident so they think twice about what they might be entitled to.

PS. A word about entitlement…it seems that even your most trusted and well paid staff often feel entitled to just a little bit more. It isn’t a bad idea to keep communication lines open and do regular check ins with your best employees to make sure they know how much you value and respect them. It is not just about the money they earn - when employees know how important they are to you and your business a sense of responsibility and leadership kicks in.

You will find giving control and responsibility to your employees will reward you with loyal and creative staff.

If you’ve turned on a television or you work with people (I work from home with 4 dogs - many days - no people contact!) there is no doubt you’ve heard about the Britney breakdown and Lindsay lapping up the alcohol like a parched puppy!

Drug and alcohol addiction are not topics I poke fun at - but I wanted to take this opportunity to challenge your prosperity thinking! What in the world do addictions and mental breakdowns have to do with prosperity consciousness?

A lot actually - but I am not talking about the addict or the mentally ill. I want to talk about you….and your reaction to the Britney Spears breakdown news.

How did you feel when you heard the story about Britney? Did you think to yourself or say out loud anything like - “she’s got more money than brains” or “that’s what happens when all you have is time and money!”. What were your conversations like about the news? Did you and your friends spend 10, 15, 30 minutes talking about everything that is wrong with having too much money?

Don’t allow yourself to dwell in this place of mediocrity.

The sense of oneness and belonging you feel during a “yap” session (notice the doggy references everywhere in my writing ) is not worth keeping yourself stuck in mediocrity.

If you are not enjoying the business and personal success you desire - it is very likely that you have negative thoughts about money that are keeping you stuck.

The first step is awareness. Take honest inventory of your thoughts and words…just observe yourself like you would a stranger.

Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. When you realize that you have negative feelings attached to money - you can do something about it. Don’t think that you have to go to therapy for 15 years, do past life regressions, blame your momma and pop for you to heal and move on.

Awareness is the key!

Watch your thoughts and be vigilant to what you allow in your head…especially in the beginning when you are just learning to be aware of your thoughts.

Next step - be on purpose about what you do allow in your head. Be on purpose and be relentless. Surround yourself with music that inspires you…I just downloaded the song “I Believe”, by Blessid Union of Souls on iTunes..I’ll listen to it tonight before I go to sleep.

Read inspiring books, watch positive movies…and be careful about what you think is a positive movie. If a movie is a blockbuster - you can almost bet that there is a negative image of wealth and the wealthy. Don’t believe me? What was the message in Titanic? How were the wealthy portrayed? Who was the villain? Who was the hero?

The way you think is the reality you create. Your world is a mirror of your beliefs…what do you want your world to look like?

Prosperity Waggles!

Fran

There is only 1 thing I need to fix and that is me!

I hope you will hear this as “you”.

I have a very dear friend of mine who is involved in an unhealthy relationship - I won’t get into the details because I don’t want her situation to distract you from looking at yourself. What I want you to know about her relationship is that she is hoping, praying and searching for solutions to HIS problem…she just knows how great their life will be when he can overcome this 1 thing in his life.

Well guess what, we all do the same thing. If you honestly stand back and observe yourself today - you will notice how much energy and time we invest in judging other people and situations. When all we really need to do is focus on ourselves for the whole world to improve.

You’ve heard the saying from the New Testament, Matthew 7:5: “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye”.

If each one of us spent more time looking inside for the solutions to our problems the outside world would begin to change on its own. It is a proven fact that we get what we think about and what we look for. If we are constantly focused on repairing the problems of those around us (or repairing those around us) we will continue to attract problems and people with problems.

If instead we choose to look inside and start improving ourselves we will attract the improvement we are seeking. We start to notice change everywhere we look because we only see what we are looking for. Remember how you never noticed that Jaguar XKR until you decided you wanted to buy one (or whatever car you drive or fantasize about driving).

You can’t see what is not a part of your reality…so make joy and prosperity a part of your mental reality and it has no choice to become a part of your physical reality.

This translates to all parts of your life. In our businesses - if we are struggling with difficult customers or employees - don’t try to fix them. Look only within to see what it is we are doing to attract such a person or to elicit the behavior and work on cleaning up yourself. When you practice this - it seems like magic happens…trouble employees and clients either change their behavior or leave you and new, w wonderful people enter your life.

Try it - your prosperity and joy depend on you!

PS…Oh Yeah, You can’t change anyone else anyway - why not spend your time and energy on something you CAN control - YOU!

Waggles,

Fran

Are you making the same resolution today that you made January 1, 2007?

Were you able to actually achieve a goal you set for yourself last year? Congratulations if you were, 85% of those who make New Year’s resolutions don’t achieve them. If you are among the crowd that actually can achieve some of your resolutions or you can set goals and accomplish them - ask yourself, how good are you at maintaining and or improving after you reach your goal?

I know most of my readers are able to achieve some level of success beyond the norm-you started your own business didn’t you? Not many people are brave enough to even try. Most people are content to be miserable in their J.O.B, with their only goal to make it to Friday.

No doubt you have achieved some level of success…have you remained content with that success?

Many people set a goal and when they achieve that goal they put down roots and live there as if the goal was their final destination. The problem with that kind of thinking is that you are not fulfilling what your deepest desires are. The reason you started a business or a the real reason you had that weight loss goal was not to achieve some particular number. You didn’t want to be 135 pounds; you didn’t want to just make $150,000.

You wanted to feel better, have more energy…why? You wanted to be independent, you wanted personal freedom…why?

The reasons you set the goal in the first place - your core desire for energy and time to spend with your loved ones; to experience more out of life….to live more are not achieved when you reach some number you initially aimed for.

If you do not continually reset your goal and keep moving forward - you are not simply staying the same - you are loosing what you have already achieved.

We’ve all heard the saying, if you aren’t moving forward you are moving backward.

It is true…as life happens, if we are simply existing as we were before we are actually being worn away little by little.

The only way to move keep the lifestyle you currently have, to move forward and then to keep the momentum moving forward is little by little every single day - improve yourself.

Don’t remain stuck in your comfort zone or before too long you will start getting that sense of discontent that propelled you forward to start your own business in the first place. Keep improving yourself and your business and you will remain full of joy and energy.

Yes, make resolutions…be one of the 15% who achieve them and then keep going. Don’t start over year after year with the same resolution. Don’t keep loosing those same 10 pounds, don’t keep growing your business by 10%….keep that growth, keep that weight loss and keep moving forward so 1/1/09 your new resolutions will start from an even higher place.

Happy New Year.

Fran

It is no secret that highly successful people make goals (resolutions) and keep them over and over again. How is it that some people are able to set a goal and actually make it happen while most of us give up after a day or two - if we are really determined maybe a week?

There really is a magic bullet when it comes to success and achieving goals. It is all about getting to the core of the reason behind the goal. It will never be enough to catapult you to success to say you want more money or you want to loose weight or you want to start your own business.

You have to dig down for the deeper reasons. Once you know the deeper reasons behind your desires - you become a force that is unstoppable. That doesn’t mean that you automatically make a bee-line straight for the goal. Your journey will never be a straight and narrow path. The force behind your desire will keep you from straying too far off the path; and will always give you the strength and determination to get back on when you do stray.

Consider this - what if I told you that you had to climb Mount Everest? If you don’t have the slightest motivation for doing it - you would never even let the thought linger in your mind. What if I told you there would be a prize waiting for you at the top? Would that change anything?

Doubtful, you have no idea what the prize is - again, no real reason to even allow the thought to remain with you.

Let’s up the stakes….$10,000, $100,000, $1,000,000! What now?

I’m still convinced that while many people would make an attempt soley based on monetary gain - it won’t move most people to action.

How about if I told you your child was sick and the cure could be found at the top of the mountain. Absolute 100% sure your child will die without it and absolute 100% sure she will live with the cure at the top of Mount Everest.

Now, that rings a little different doesn’t it?

Your motivation has to move you to action in a way that absolutely nothing can stop you. Now, your desire for prosperity or a thriving business may not be as dramatic as that but there are life altering motivations that will move you to action. Find your burning reason for wanting a thing and nothing will be able to stop you from achieving it.

Your success is guaranteed when the force behind your efforts is powerful enough. Get specific, every time you think you’ve found the reason…ask why you want “that” and see if the onion peels a bit more.

One tip I will give you is that your life altering, goal seeking power always resides in a reason that benefits someone else….just like our example of the sick child. Find your power while helping someone else and we’ll see you at the top of the mountain.

Waggles,

Fran