002: Ana Allison – Project Manager to Mobile Pet Grooming Entrepreneur

Title: Ana Allison – Project manager to mobile pet grooming entrepreneur
Host: Peter Wilson
Guest: Ana Allison

 

Peter: Welcome to the Biz and Life Done Well podcast, where we explore what it means and what it takes to do business and life well. I’m your host, Peter Wilson. If you’re like me, you’re intrigued by stories of common people who have achieved uncommon success in business and life. Join me as I interview fascinating people about how they got started, their successes and failures, their habits and routines, and what inspires them. Alright.

So today, our guest is Anna Allison. I’ve known Anna for about five years. We are in a networking group together, BNI, Business Networking International. And we’ve known each other for about five years, worked pretty closely for about the last two and a half years. We do some marketing for her business.

And so Anna, you wanna say hi?

Ana: Hello Peter. Thanks for having me.

Peter: You bet.

Ana: Bye, thanks.

Peter: So we’ll see how it goes. So Anna tell us the name of your business and what do you do?

Ana: Aussie Pet Mobile Puget Sound. We are a mobile pet grooming service.

Peter: Okay. And so, you’re located in the Seattle area?

Ana: Our our office is in Edmonds but we service, the Greater Puget Sound area. Okay. So Snohomish to Kent and Puget Sound to Snoqualmie Pass. Cool.

Peter: So how many, so it’s a mobile business. So how many, vehicles or how many vans?

Ana: We have seven vans. Okay. And nine groomers and we work seven days a week.

Peter: Why don’t you just explain what, you know, what your business model is and you know, what is, what’s it like if I’m a customer?

Ana: So we, our vans are all, Mercedes Sprinter vans that are completely outfitted with everything that we need to do full grooming services at your door. We have hot water, we have AC, we have heat, we are very comfortable. So as a customer, it’s a great experience for your pet. Senior pets or senior people or fearful pets that don’t do well around other pets, this is a great experience because we’re gonna come right to your front door. The groomer is the only one that’s gonna be there.

They take your pet from the front door to the van out to the truck and groom them up. Mhmm. If you as a customer are concerned about anything that’s going on, you can see in the van. You can, if you’re good with your pet, we’ll allow you to come in the van and be a part of the grooming process. Sometimes that’s necessary because the pet just isn’t comfortable without them.

So that’s something that you can’t do a salon situation at all. It’s one on one time with the groomer. We can do most grooms in about an hour and a half and it’s the least amount of stress that you can put on a pet. Most pets aren’t thrilled about the process but they’re usually very happy after the process. And that’s what I say that our clients buy is that moment of happiness right after the pet gets groomed, comes in the house, is doing the zoomies, licking the groomer’s face, you know, wagging their tails.

Even the kitty cats are not running and hiding and angry, know, they’re right there rubbing on their legs and such. That’s what mobile pet grooming’s all about and that’s what the customer really is buying is that moment and I try to explain that to my groomers as I’m hiring them that that’s really why customers come

Peter: to see

Ana: is moment of happiness that they see in their pet. Pets aren’t struggling to get out the door of this whole Right.

Peter: Well, yeah. The other thing that I think about is just the time factor involved in, if you are going to take your pet to a boutique or you know, worse if you’re taking the pet to a you know big box warehouse

Ana: Mhmm.

Peter: Pet store. I mean a, it’s time consuming. You don’t know how the pet’s gonna be treated. Well and it just the whole time factor

Ana: alone Yeah. Driving them there Yeah. Picking them up. Usually it’s an all day event.

Peter: And then they’re they come home and they’re just freaked out.

Ana: Yeah. They’re totally exhausted.

Peter: Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. So that’s cool. So that’s, and you know, we you know, disclaimer here, we use Ozzy Pet Mobile.

So we’re very happy and Rosie is extremely happy with the groom she gets from winter. So how long have you, how long have you had this business, Ozzy Pet Mobile?

Ana: A little over eight years now.

Peter: Well I didn’t realize that. Good for you. So one of the things I’m curious about is, so, just let’s make sure we cover your pets. So any pets?

Ana: Yes. One, Cosmo. He’s a little terrier mutt. 13 years old. He was my first victim as a groomer.

Peter: Okay. And your spouse is?

Ana: Tom.

Peter: Tom. Mhmm. And how long have you been together?

Ana: Hold on, I’m counting. Twenty six years?

Peter: Congrats. Congrats. That’s married in ’91? Yeah. That’s same ’20.

Year I was

Ana: Okay.

Peter: Same year I was married. Good deal. Cool. And you live live here We in

Ana: live here in Edmonds. Okay. Have for, eight years actually.

Peter: Okay. Yeah. I’m gonna,

Ana: I’m gonna edit. That was Rosie. She wants to have her say.

Peter: Yeah. We may be editing out some barks here.

Ana: How

Peter: did you get into pet grooming? I mean mobile pet grooming. I didn’t even know mobile pet grooming was a thing until I met you. So how did you what was the journey like? How’d you get there?

Ana: I was laid off from my other career which was construction project management in 2009. With the downturn of the economy, all of us construction managers were pretty much out of work. And I was introduced to a gentleman that was a business coach who focused on franchise, sales but not only sales but he also, was able to spend quite a bit of time with me determining what type of business would be good for me and whether that was even a franchise or not. He he spent a lot of time we spent a lot of time looking at interpersonal type questions and life considerations and just a whole bunch of stuff you should really do in your twenties probably. Don’t.

So having my own business had been something that Tom and I had talked about for years but we both were employed and it was a lot easier just to collect that paycheck than figure it out. And now that I was unemployed and not likely to get rehired in that, profession again, I went down this road of figuring out if I was a good candidate for a business, to be a business owner. Having never done so, never been anywhere close to owning a business in any profession I’d worked in. So it was, quite a journey and we did, it did take about five months of answering a lot of personal questions and determining what type of business would be right for me. I’ve always loved pets, always had dogs, volunteered at shelters.

So I kinda knew that something in the pet industry would probably be a good fit for me. And so when this business coach and I got together, finally we came, he brought a number of businesses ideas to me. All of them were related to my past work history which was interior design or construction management. I happen to be going through a Valpak coupon mailer one day and came across an Aussie pet mobile coupon in it. I am not joking.

And I never look at these things ever. Yeah. They always just go right in the trash but for whatever reason I opened it up that You

Peter: can recycle.

Ana: Yep, recycle. And there was this coupon for Ozzy Pet Mobile. It was a cute logo. It caught my attention. So I immediately thought, I wonder if that’s a franchise.

And I went and I Googled it and sure enough it was. We kind of I looked at other franchises very closely, was very close to another I actually went down to California and visited another type of franchise and so it was between that and Aussie Pet Mobile and finally I just decided that if I was gonna just go into business without any apprehension or any preconceived notions of what might or could go wrong and just be, I’d rather just go totally blind than bringing all this past history with me. Mhmm. I opted for the pets and it’s been great.

Peter: Wow. That I, you know what, I’m glad I asked you that question because I really had not heard

Ana: that story. Wow.

Peter: That’s that’s incredible. So you get the Val pack, you open it up, you look at Ozzy, Pet Mobile. Now obviously there must have been a franchise operating in your market

Ana: or That’s funny, there wasn’t. The closest one was over on the East Side and why he, because this came to us in Edmonds, Richmond Beach and there, he wasn’t. So I mean that’s the thing about Valpak sometimes.

Peter: Got his money’s worth. Yeah. Interesting. Okay, cool. You did look at some other, that was one of the questions I was gonna ask you because I know you’re in a franchise business was why Aussie, Pet Mobile.

Was there anything about that opportunity versus other franchise that you looked at? Was it mainly because it wasn’t in the space you’d worked in? It sounds like that was the answer but was there anything Was there anything else about Ozzy Pet Mobile in particular that looked like it was I I look at it. I’ll answer the question myself. I mean I look at it seems like businesses are mobile.

That seems like where the economy is going is mobile. I mean did that have anything to do with it?

Ana: Well it did but more for personal reasons. For me, it was I knew that I was going to be taking care of my father and mother-in-law. And so I knew that I was gonna need something that was flexible. So that right away ruled out any sort of brick and mortar The type of other business franchise that I looked at really closely was Assertapro Painters, and they have a very good business model and really nice, seemed like quality people in the corporate office. Good reputation.

And the only reason that I didn’t choose them was because I already had a lot of knowledge about what that type of business was gonna entail. Mhmm. And it, and like I said, I was just like, I kinda wanted to be a little bit done with that.

Peter: So, yes. Yeah.

Ana: And it and it is a market that is much more volatile to economic chain. Right. Where the pet is pretty dang stable. It does not have its Right. It might stabilize but actually grew during the recession.

Peter: Right. Right. That’s true. A market like Seattle is one of the top pet Yeah. You know Places Yeah.

In The

Ana: USA. Yeah.

Peter: Interesting. Fascinating. Yeah. I’d never thought about that. The, one of the things that I think about in terms of what interests me when I look at this and maybe this part of your thinking too is I kinda like to be on the bottom of the learning curve sometimes.

Mhmm. And so that’s like why I play squash because I’m at the bottom of the learn, I’m the very bottom of the learning curve.

Ana: Kinda like go challenged.

Peter: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. As long as I’m making some progress.

Ana: Yeah right right.

Peter: If not, it kinda sucks. So, so when you started, did you start with one vehicle or how did you grow the franchise?

Ana: Yeah. Started just with one vehicle and myself. So I groomed, I answered the phone, you know, scheduling and marketing and did everything from the ground up. And then my plan was in about three years I’d add another van and I’d grow my business annually, know, hopefully adding a van as I went. And my goal from day one when I signed my contract with Aussie Pep Mobile was to have 10 vans in ten years and be doing a million dollar 1,000,001 in revenue.

So that’s that was my plan at the beginning. Before knowing anything about whether that was Wow. Even possible. Okay. Okay.

Peter: Cool. Ambitious goals. I like that.

Ana: Yeah. Yeah. There at the time I signed, there was one, franchise in Southern California and he was at the top of the list and I I probably said it right to the guy sitting at the table as I’m signing the contract, said I’m beating him. That’s who I’m beating. Awesome.

Peter: And? I

Ana: almost beat him before he retired.

Peter: So so you’ve gone from one one vehicle and how soon did you order your next, vehicle and how’s you know, what was the progression like?

Ana: So, let’s see. I started in 2010 in June and February 2011, no, of 2012, I bought my second vehicle and had a small staff. I think I had two employees at the time and I was still grooming part time. And then, so that was ’12, so 2014 came along and I was definitely ready for a third vehicle. Mhmm.

But another opportunity came along where I could buy my neighboring franchise who already had five vehicles.

Peter: Got it.

Ana: And I jumped on it. Okay. Because, you know, I could more than double my business overnight. This was gonna be great. I’d have seven vehicles.

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. In five years, yeah.

Peter: Bit of a challenge?

Ana: Yeah, was a bit of a challenge. That might’ve been a mistake. Okay. But we can talk about that later. But anyway, that’s how, so that’s how we grew.

And then we’ve had some we’ve had a little bit of setback because of the condition of some of those vehicles. And so we’ve shrunk a little, but then now we’re back up to our seven vehicles. And and looking probably next year, we’ll buy another vehicle.

Peter: Great.

Ana: You know, we’re we’re at capacity now as it is.

Peter: Wow. From a, like, a macro perspective, the pet business just seems pet businesses alone just seem to be growing. Have you No. Seen any research on that or just kinda looked at that? Or you just know it implicitly?

Ana: I remember when we first started out, I mean, I had not ever heard of mobile pet grooming before I’d seen that flyer either, to be honest with you. And all of the pets that I had owned, honestly, disclaimer here, never have taken them to a pet shop. So I would be one of my worst customers. Yeah. But I noticed after I started getting involved with it and started the business that there wasn’t any mobile pet grooming service in my territory which at the time was Edmonds and Shoreline.

Mhmm. There was none. So people didn’t even know to Google search for a mobile pet groomer because that just wasn’t a thing.

Peter: So you had to educate the market.

Ana: Yeah. I didn’t realize in the beginning because I don’t know. It just didn’t know. Right. Right.

So that took more time to get my name out there than I had anticipated. Over on the East Side where we live, were a few more, independent owner operators, but still was kind of a scarce thing. But the other franchisee had been over there for five years at the time. So he had got an established market for his business.

Peter: Mhmm. But Got it.

Ana: People that live on the East Side don’t come to the West Side. Right. Right. Right. It’s not surprising.

Peter: Right. So so let’s talk about just business in general. So you know, you said you didn’t really have a ton of business experience when you started. I mean you obviously been a professional, project manager. So what happened, what what are some sort of, you know, what what was the biggest surprise with respect to owning a business that, you know, once you bought this business like a year in, you’re like, holy crap.

Okay. I own this business and I gotta do this. I didn’t expect that at all. Is there anything that really stands out?

Ana: There’s probably a lot of things. Let’s see. I know I had this thought that, okay, I’m gonna be the business owner and I have this mobile business so I can work when I wanna work. Yeah. Yeah.

That would have been true if I didn’t have any debt or any bills to pay. Right. Right. So thinking thinking that I would not you know have more flexibility than I did. And then certainly after I hired employees, that became so not true.

Now I really was tied to the business because Mhmm. I had to be there to support my employees.

Peter: Right.

Ana: You know, answer their questions. You know? So it that’s been really, something that I I was a total surprise to me. I I somehow thought that I would be able to be a more hands off person. That’s not true.

Yeah. Run itself. Yeah. It would run itself. Surprise.

Woo hoo. So that definitely was it.

Peter: Got it.

Ana: And still continues to this day to me. So and and over time, my role in the business has changed and evolved. And you know, now I have a good staff of groomers, I have a good staff in the office, so what do I do with all my extra time? Well, now I’m a mechanic Mhmm. And I service all my vans.

Right. So it’s always evolving into something. Know, I think, oh, if I get these many people in here, I can step back and actually, you know, have a weekend. Right. Right.

Yeah.

Peter: So, that’s, yeah. That’s that’s good to know. What, with respect to the oh, I know what I was gonna ask you. I’m gonna do a little editing here. So, you have a lot of folks working for you.

So what have you kind of learned along the way with respect to hiring or who makes a good team member? Like what what do you look for in somebody when you’re hiring? I know right now it’s kinda tough to find folks. It seems to be in the market. But, just kinda curious when you do, you know, interview somebody, what are the things you’re looking for?

Ana: Well, I might be surprised for some people, but I actually hire people that don’t have any grooming experience. Okay. And prefer it that way. Prefer to train them the way that I want them to groom and treat my customers. And so what I look for is somebody who’s got great customer service skills.

Somebody who’s a people pleaser, wants to do the right thing, loves pets but actually maybe loves people just as much because I always tell them they don’t issue credit cards to dogs yet. So he better

Peter: I’ve make few friends stories

Ana: about dogs getting credit cards.

Peter: That’s what it was for.

Ana: They don’t. The dogs could actually care less about their bath than We’re doing this for the human in a lot of respects, not for the pet. So definitely customer service is really high, on my must have list because I can’t teach somebody how to be nice to somebody else. I can teach you how to groom, but I can’t teach the So other I definitely have learned that that’s a big priority. And secondly, to be part of a team.

Okay. My groomers are out working on their own, but I really tried to create a team atmosphere even though they do have a lot of independence and they don’t see their coworkers all that often. But they do, I think, feel like a team because of the way that we try to interact with everybody and things that I’ve put into place in the business to make sure that I’m trying to create that team out.

Peter: So how do you do that? I mean, I think that’s a great point, especially if you’ve got kind of a virtual workforce. What are the types of things that you do to?

Ana: So we do have monthly staff meetings where everybody has to get together in a room. So we all see each other for at least one hour a month face to face. Right. I use Google Hangouts and we do it in such a way that our groomers are assigned to certain areas. So usually there’s a couple of groomers that work the same areas so they’re on the same Hangout.

So when we have communication between the office and the groomer, both of them are seeing it. And so that creates some continuity so that, you know, there’s been instances where maybe the one groomer’s running ahead of schedule and the other one’s got some problems and they’re close by each other and they can help each other out. Or, you know, lots of different such scenarios can come up. But it creates, then they know that there’s somebody else out there that’s working alongside them. Right.

Yeah. So that’s been good. I also, you know, we create team goals, business goals every month. That’s sent out to the team. Everybody’s got their own part of that that they’re responsible for.

And then they’re rewarded on that on a monthly So that helps create team and the, and working for the better of the whole whole rather than just of individuals. And that’s very different concept from your salons that are very, individualistic and,

Peter: you

Ana: know, they they don’t work as a team.

Peter: Right. Right. So are the are the incentives both personal and team based? Mhmm. Okay.

So so I could get a chunk. If I was a groomer, I could get a chunk that was a personal piece and then a a team

Ana: Mhmm.

Peter: Piece. But if we don’t achieve the team goal, then Yeah. We’re not getting it Yeah. Obviously. Right.

Okay.

Ana: Alright. So

Peter: So cool. That is amazing that you’ve been able to do that because that’s that’s actually good something to think about, in terms of the way that I’m setting up my own team. So are there any other things that you do with respect to team building?

Ana: We try to do an event every quarter that’s fun, unrelated to grooming and Okay, that sort of yeah. We’re trying to implement some more continuing education type things within our own little group utilizing the groomers that we have because they all have different strengths and abilities. Even some of the newer groomers have come up with some great ideas on, one that comes to mind was how this one person restrains a kitty cat in the tub, you know, that was really brilliant and we’re like, hey, we gotta share all this stuff.

Peter: Got it.

Ana: You know, teaching, letting the other groomers teach each other is really a huge thing. I’m trying to figure out how to get them to share more because they don’t even think of it. You know, they don’t think they’re just doing their job and da da da da. And I’m like, hey, what are you doing? That’s great.

What did you do? Right. Why don’t you share that with everybody?

Peter: So the sharing, yeah, that’s powerful.

Ana: Yeah.

Peter: So in terms of, you know, so o nine, it’s not that long ago or 2010

Ana: Yep.

Peter: Till now. So what what would you say is your strongest sort of leadership trait or skill that you’ve developed? You know, like you came from zero to, you know, 90. Where where what you feel real good about?

Ana: I guess I just have, I have the big picture in mind and I also write it out. I have it on a board that I see every day. And I try to make sure that all of our decisions will get us to that end goal. How do I So I do a lot of, like in the office with my staff there, the schedulers, you know, changes that need to be made. We discuss them and talk about them as a group and then we’ll decide.

Either as a group or I’ll say, no, we’re gonna do it

Peter: this way. So you make decisions.

Ana: So we make You don’t decisions. Try.

Peter: Don’t don’t let things just

Ana: Fester too much.

Peter: Yeah. Yeah. So you make a decision.

Ana: Yeah. You have to you have to make a decision Right. And then live with it. And then if it’s not the right decision, then you figure out how to fix it and move on.

Peter: Right. Right.

Ana: And don’t do it again.

Peter: So any, any particular skills that, that came from your project management, construction management background that have really translated?

Ana: I’d say planning.

Peter: Oh, there you go.

Ana: Thinking ahead. Mhmm. Trying to anticipate the problems and have a plan for a backup. So definitely planning. I think the other part of that that I did a lot of in construction management was, you know, I was there to bring the team together and sort of keep the big picture in mind for the customer and make sure that all of our decisions that we were making was to get to that end goal.

And so keeping the team on track to do so, it was a little bit easier in construction because it was much more defined. You were gonna build this building or you were gonna build something. So

Peter: Well, and you had an architect drew up the plans. You got the plans.

Ana: We’re with the We don’t really have plans. We really have, you know, an end goal in mind Yeah. And what that looks like. Yeah. But it’s much more abstract in a lot of ways.

Right. Harder for me to make sure that we’re on track.

Peter: Yeah. That’s That’s that’s that’s that’s really good. So, so I wanted to talk a little bit about your hobbies. I know you have, I know you’re involved. I know you’re boating is what I know about you.

Mhmm. Edmunds Art Festival. Yeah, Art Festival and some other things. So, what what are your passions outside of work?

Ana: Probably family and friends and then passions, I would say boating, traveling.

Peter: Okay.

Ana: Definitely.

Peter: And so what got you into boating? How’d you?

Ana: My dad. Okay, cool. Dad had, we had a boat when I think our first boat we got was when my brother and I were nine ten ish, somewhere in there.

Peter: Okay.

Ana: Yep. Little cabin cruiser out on Lake Washington. Cool. Broke down every time we went out. And but dad was he loved it.

He loved boating and such. So he continued to have boats all through when we were growing up. And then, yeah, then eventually my husband and I went in together to buy a boat with my dad and then, we’ve just continued to have boats.

Peter: What’s your favorite boat that you’ve owned or, you know, been a part of?

Ana: My favorite boat that I’ve owned, probably the one that we have now.

Peter: Okay. What

Ana: is that? It’s a 30 foot Carver aft cabin. Oh. Very nice. So lots of space for two people, very open boat, easy to cruise on.

Okay. My favorite boat that I’d love to own is a Okay.

Peter: Tell us about a Hinkley.

Ana: Hinkleys are like a floating piece of furniture. The woodwork in them is just to die for. Just gorgeous. And they do sailboats as well as powerboats. And both are just they’re beautiful.

Peter: Amazing. So are they built today?

Ana: Is it a Yeah. Modern amazed.

Peter: Okay.

Ana: Yep.

Peter: Got it. Which which particular one are you thinking of?

Ana: Oh, I’ll say I go back and forth a little bit. Okay. The Hinkley Picnic boat which is sort of a Maine lobster Style. Looking style

Peter: Oh, I

Ana: get boat. And they’re just beautiful, beautiful. I would love to have one of those. Then I do love their sailboats are also, they’re just, they stand out. Anybody that, even if you’re not into boating, you would notice this.

It’s kind of like a, you know, Maserati going by.

Peter: Do they have a price tag to come

Ana: up with? Yes, oh yes, they do. Yeah.

Peter: So what is I probably

Ana: won’t be owning one in my lifetime.

Peter: Well clearly I can’t afford it by the next question I’m gonna ask which is how much do they

Ana: cost? Yeah. Exactly. Millions.

Peter: Oh really? Yeah. Oh wow. Okay.

Ana: Yeah.

Peter: Scratch that. Yeah. Alright. So, boating adventures, what what what’s your favorite boating adventure you’ve had?

Ana: So Your favorite trip? Yeah. My favorite trip was my trip with my dad and Tom and we took our boat. This was in 2010, right after I started my business. Like literally

Peter: Good timing.

Ana: A month after I started my business. Great timing. We had already planned this well so before, but we were going. And my dad was aging and it was now we’re probably not gonna happen. So we traveled from Seattle to the up to Canada, up to Desolation Sound, which is on our boat and we went quickly and we were covering a lot of ground.

We did it in like fourteen days up and back.

Peter: Okay.

Ana: Which is not really spending a lot of time in every place but we hit a lot of places. So, definitely there’s, some beautiful places to go back to for sure.

Peter: Cool.

Ana: But it was wonderful.

Peter: So were you just anchoring in like Mhmm.

Ana: Marinas anchor out in bays and

Peter: Mhmm.

Ana: Yeah, there’s just some gorgeous places to visit on that.

Peter: Lots of wildlife. Yeah. What time of year did you you went in summer.

Ana: Went in July.

Peter: Okay. Cool.

Ana: Went in July and yep.

Peter: That sounds like a

Ana: That was a good trip.

Peter: That sounds like an amazing trip. Mhmm. Yeah. Knowing a little of that territory myself, I think that would be that would be rock and roll fantasy.

Ana: Mhmm.

Peter: Right there. Mhmm. So talking about, you know, you’ve obviously had a lot of success in in what you’ve done in your business. What, you know, what do you attribute that success to? And I wanna draw drill deep into a couple things.

So have you had, sounds like you’ve had a few mentors along the way. Who, are there any mentors that have kind of stood out in terms of, you know, you know, where you’re at in your business now?

Ana: I would probably say when I started this business, the gentleman that I worked with, his name’s Jeff Levy, as the business coach. He really made a huge impression on me and I went to him for a lot of questions after I started the business too. He was always there to provide some advice and ways to think about things that I hadn’t. So definitely him in the beginning. Probably a little bit of Leon Fierberg too.

And then now it’s probably mainly Steve Pitcairn, my business coach that I have now and I’ve had for a couple years, three years now, four years, three years.

Peter: Yeah. So you advocate for business coaches?

Ana: Yeah.

Peter: Tell me about that.

Ana: Yes I do. Well, you know, I don’t always know what questions I don’t know.

Peter: You don’t know what you don’t know.

Ana: I don’t know what I don’t know. And I don’t know how to analyze things maybe the correct way. And like I mentioned before, you know, buying this other business, as I looked back on it, I made a lot of mistakes in that process. And so don’t know if I would do it again that way. I’ve seriously said to myself, I don’t think that would be a good idea.

Mhmm. You know, I in some ways wish I would’ve just continued on my slow slow slow slow

Peter: Organic growth.

Ana: Yeah. Yeah. Other than instantaneous. Yeah. Yeah.

So I think that if I had had that sort of help during that period, which I didn’t reach out to, things, it could have changed the way things are now. But like I said, you just gotta live with your decisions and figure out how to right the ship and move forward. So, you know, here we are three years later from that takeover period, four years later. And, you know, we’re we’re growing you know, we’re getting out of that. We’re getting the ship uprighted and the path is getting easier.

But it’s taken, you know, it set me back to almost the beginning. Wow. Okay. Where, you know, I was already four years into it. Right.

You know, but at different points though.

Peter: Yeah.

Ana: It was like start all over again. Yeah. Anyway, so as far as other mentors go.

Peter: How about books or,

Ana: know, Yeah, I everything read a lot. I read a lot.

Peter: Okay. So what books have stood out, you know, that The you read E Myth.

Ana: Michael Gerber.

Peter: What was it about that I

Ana: reread that book all the time. The E Myth Revisited, I think it’s called.

Peter: Okay.

Ana: I just like the way he presents the material in a story sort of fashion and using supposedly a real life situation. It’s not like my business at all. It’s about a pie baker or something. I can’t remember. But it’s easy to understand concepts and I’ve been reading it for years and years.

It was given to me by Jeff Levy, my original businessman. And I read it probably every other year or so because I’m at a different point in my business every Right, time I read So I pick up on different things each time I go through it.

Peter: What’s the gist of the book or what’s one thing that you wanna

Ana: It’s about how and why businesses fail.

Peter: Okay.

Ana: So, and about how to prevent those things. Mhmm. It’s also about how do you position your business as a product to sell.

Peter: Right, okay.

Ana: At the end of the whatever. Which has been my goal since day one. Said ten years and I’m either gonna sell this or I’ll, you know, I can choose to continue on. But at that point, I hope to have a saleable business.

Peter: Right.

Ana: So he talks about, you know, the ways that you need to, things that you need to put in place so that you can take yourself out of the business. Mhmm. And, you know, writing down all your processes and your ways that you do things. And I do that. I I have you know, especially as you add on employees Mhmm.

Having everything in your head does them no good. And I know this.

Peter: They can’t read your mind?

Ana: They can’t. I know. So creating all kinds of

Peter: So systems.

Ana: Systems and processes and Mhmm. Documents to that we keep up to date on how, you know, if we’re changing things, okay, we gotta change this, you know. Yeah. So that when I do get to my ten years, I can say, here’s my book. Yeah.

Follow this. This is what we do. It doesn’t take me, you know. Yeah. Hopefully.

Hopefully.

Peter: That’s That’s great. I mean because I I’m a little lacking in that department myself. Yeah. That’s why I’m doing these podcasts so I can learn I can hear all this Any good other books along the way that have inspired you, you know, personally or professionally?

Ana: One other book, well Patrick Loxacone, I think is how

Peter: you Lencioni.

Ana: Lencioni, yep. Yep. I’ve read a couple of his books. Yeah. Really good books.

I can’t think of the names of them off the top my head. There’s also one about

Peter: I think one is called The Ideal Team Player. Yes. There’s one

Ana: of That’s really good. Yeah. I’ve read that a couple of times as I’ve gone through hiring and firing people.

Peter: Yeah.

Ana: What am I doing wrong? And

Peter: What are they doing wrong?

Ana: Yeah. What I’m majoring. I, also shoot. I can’t remember this other book now. It’s about a major department, it’s about customer service and it’s about this big department store on the East Coast.

I can’t even

Peter: remember. Is it

Ana: And it’s all about how they treat their customers.

Peter: Is it about a deli?

Ana: No. Okay. No, it’s a men’s, I wanna say a men’s department store. But sort of like, I equated it a lot to like the Nordstrom Mhmm. Way of doing business.

But they were I think long before the Nordstrom family.

Peter: Oh, really? Because they’ve around a while.

Ana: I know. I know. Okay. I might be wrong on that. But Yeah.

But anyway, it’s just a great book on how to treat customers, how to put yourself in the customer’s position Mhmm. And and ways to think about that so that you are treating them as best you can do.

Peter: I

Ana: mean, is my number one way to stand apart from anybody else in this business. Yeah. And I think that’s, everybody’s trying to do that now. Know, customer service, customer service. Well, how do you outdo somebody that’s already doing pretty good, you know?

So I try to take all that kind of stuff in.

Peter: Well, especially how do you duplicate it? How do you replicate it? How do you how do you make sure that it happens every time?

Ana: Mhmm.

Peter: You know mean? It’s one thing to set a standard Mhmm. But then it’s the other thing to keep it. Mhmm. You know, I think that’s like the story of Nordstrom where Yeah.

You know, there was, they used to sell tires in Alaska. You probably heard this story and some some person brought tires back and Yeah. They like took them back and it’s like what? Yeah. But they had obviously ingrained that

Ana: In their.

Peter: In their in their Employees. Employees or what’s the term we’re supposed to use now? Associates or team members. But at the end of the day, it’s, you know, people are working for you or working for the customer. Right?

Ana: Right. Yeah. And that’s something that I impress on my employees all the time. We gotta do right by the customer. By the business and by you, the groomer and the pet.

Know, if we say yes to all of those then that’s the answer to your question.

Peter: So what happens when you know, let’s say an issue or something happens, is there a certain amount of latitude you allow your folks to use to solve a problem like right on the spot?

Ana: Of course. Yeah. Yeah. They’re instructed to not argue and you know, be sure to ask the customer when you take the pet back in, does this look good? Anything I could do to touch up here or there?

Is it too long? Do you want me to take, you know, I can go right out now and touch it up or shorten it or whatever. Yeah. Take care of it right there. Right.

Inevitably the customer never takes advantage of that. They will call in or email usually Yeah. A day or two later or maybe even a week or two or three, you know, whatever it is. Mhmm. And say, well, it was just not right.

You know, whatever.

Peter: Okay.

Ana: I probably differ from most other franchisees in how I treat this. Okay. So I look at it as there’s the customer and then there’s the groomer. And the main reason that there’s a failure is there was a communication breakdown. Not a, you know, there’s no one to blame here.

Peter: Right.

Ana: Because the customer thought they were communicating what they wanted. Right. And the groomer thought they were understanding the client wanted. Know, there’s nobody to blame. Yeah.

So take care of the customer and that means refund them a 100% of the money if that’ll be happy because they feel or go out and fix it. So whatever they wanna do. So that’s how I take care of the customer. And then with the groomer, I just let them know this is what happened. This is what the customer said.

Know, just take that in. Yeah. Understand that that’s what, this is from what your conversation was with them and your understanding, now they’re saying this. Just understand, try to remember what was said in the beginning and can you figure out maybe where there was a miscommunication. Sometimes you can and sometimes you can’t.

Sometimes you’re just baffled. Most. That’s okay. I don’t penalize the groomer. I still pay them for the groom whether I had to refund the money or not and we move on.

Of course if I have a groomer that it’s continuing to happen and there’s a pattern there, then there’s an issue, another issue to be dealt with. But 99% of the time, it’s just take care of the customer and then let the groomer know what happened and see if there’s a way that they can improve their questions or ask more questions or use different techniques to try to get out of the customer what they want.

Peter: Right. So that really changes the morale equation too for your employees.

Ana: I think so. It shows that I trust them. Yeah. That they’re doing everything that they can Yeah. To Well, you kinda have

Peter: to trust them, right? They’re out driving Absolutely

Ana: your do.

Peter: Million dollar van around or, you know, I mean, so there’s a ton of trust right away, right?

Ana: Ton of trust, yeah. And customers never see me. Yeah. So

Peter: So they’re the face of the company.

Ana: They are.

Peter: So any other any other, like, hobbies or interests you have, outside of work? Outside

Ana: Try of to golf. I try to golf. Alright. I I like reading. Yeah.

Peter: So you’re a fan of the Warren Buffett so called Warren Buffett five hour rule?

Ana: I hadn’t heard that, but I am definitely gonna

Peter: So the

Ana: try that.

Peter: The concept is, folks like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Oprah, and others, spend at least one hour a day. So five hours a week, one hour per workday, on education either reading or reflecting or experimenting. So that was the concept. Absolutely.

Ana: Yeah. That’s great. I had never heard of that, but I’m I I wrote that down. I was like, I’m doing that.

Peter: Cool. So, when you’re working in your business, what sorts of things do you, look for? Like, I know you have to work with different vendors. I know you have, like, auto repair and other folks. What are the sorts of things that you look for, when you are, you know, working with different vendors?

Ana: Well, just the same things that everybody likes. Customer service. Right? Yeah. I wanna be treated well.

Peter: You mean you don’t go for the cheapest?

Ana: Yeah. I don’t. Yeah. I, you know, I do have a budget, unfortunately but definitely for quality and, honesty. Mhmm.

People who say what they’re gonna do and do what they say. Right. You know, that’s all I can ask for. I actually just had, I got off the phone the other day with this company that I have no relationship with at all and said to my scheduler, Wow, they have really good customer service or at least this guy is really good. Because he just has helped me through something that’s not his problem.

Was my issue. I bought a product that’s not quite gonna work for me and now I need to return it and it’s a specialty item and blah blah blah. He’s been dogging it for me and he’s Yeah. I’m like, great, I’m using you. Don’t, you know, I wish, you know, I’m not gonna have a big, need for this particular product and then, you know, but I will here and there and I’d definitely use them.

Yeah. But yeah, so he made a good impression.

Peter: Well, the one thing is you never know like that guy doesn’t necessarily know. You know, so if he treats everybody great

Ana: Yeah. You

Peter: know. Yeah.

Ana: It’s just his job.

Peter: Yeah. He’s not cherry picking customers. No. No. Yeah.

She’s not gonna be a big customer. Yeah. It’d be like if you guys had a call from somebody, well, I’ve got you know, a little pug here. Oh, well Yeah. You know, we’ll we’ll get back to you and you know, you’re just looking for the people with you know, five bulldogs

Ana: or Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

But he doesn’t know that I might actually get a more business because I do have a whole franchisee that this is a product that some of the larger franchisees could probably use. Right. So

Peter: Cool. So any funny pet stories? I mean you’re out there just you know you know grooming pets, you’re working with pets all the time. I mean what Random question.

Ana: Yeah. I don’t None? Because I don’t do it anymore. Yeah. That’s true.

Okay.

Peter: We can scratch that.

Ana: I’m trying to think. I’ve heard any funny ones.

Peter: I know what I wanted to ask you. So, so earlier in your career before you were so, one thing we didn’t talk about, I might even edit this and put it back in there. So, so what was your, background? Schooling, that sort of thing?

Ana: So after high school, I went to University of Puget Sound for about two years and I was studying business administration and psychology. However, I had always wanted to be an interior designer. And I remember sitting in my sixth or fifth grade class and we were sitting in a circle and the teacher was like, okay, everybody tell us what you wanna do when you grow up. And that’s what I said. I wanted to be an interior designer.

So I always knew what I wanted to be. I don’t know why that always stuck. I had no influences in that area. I don’t know where it came from. Wow.

So anyway but I’m like, okay. Well, I can’t make any money at that. I don’t even know what that really means and blah blah blah. And so that’s why I didn’t do it. I went the traditional college way because

Peter: Got it.

Ana: But after about two years, was like, yeah, I don’t wanna do this. And my dad was footing the bill for college and I’m like, dad, this is expensive and I don’t wanna do this. And he’s like, well, then don’t. So I enrolled in the Art Institute of Seattle and got my associate’s degree in interior design there. And then I went to work doing, started off doing residential remodeling, mainly kitchens and bathrooms.

And then did a little foray into more commercial work and ended up working for an architectural firm and we did all sorts of remodels for Microsoft. Offices, you know, to conference rooms and labs and blah blah, back and forth. And then I got a job with another company that did project management, construction management, and was working as an interior designer. They had a small little department of interior designers and that work was kinda drying up and they had some construction management work available and they asked if I wanted to try my hand at that and I said sure because really my interiors work had really been more about project management than selection of furniture finishes. That wasn’t ever anything I did.

I did more space management and project management. Okay. So that came pretty naturally to foray into construction management. And then after about two years of working as an assistant project manager, I went to University of Washington, got a certificate at construction management. Okay.

So, I also, somewhere along the lines in there, also got a LEED certification too. So that’s been my educational background. Sort of Got it. All over the place but

Peter: So you’re a, sounds like you’re a lifelong learner.

Ana: Learner, yep, that’s what I do.

Peter: Lifelong.

Ana: Yep, I really enjoy that. I read a lot, I listen to podcasts a lot. I love the leadership conference that you turned me on to. That kind of stuff. Really do, really influences me a lot.

Peter: Does it inspire you as well? Do you find like

Ana: Mhmm.

Peter: Motivates you? So

Ana: Yeah. Definitely. Mhmm.

Peter: What, so what, do you have any athletic pursuits? Do you have like a workout regimen?

Ana: Do you

Peter: do any of that sort of thing?

Ana: No? No. I yeah. Jeff Miller would kill me but I have no time for that. Yeah.

Yeah.

Peter: I hear you.

Ana: You’re much better at it than me. Well, maybe. I need to but I don’t.

Peter: Got it.

Ana: I’m I’m a slacker.

Peter: Got it. Got it. So, let’s see. Okay. Couple of last questions I’m gonna throw in here.

Any, so burning desire. What’s your what’s your like burning desire? Lifelong rock and roll fantasy?

Ana: Well, my burning desire is to live on a sailboat and sail around the I don’t know if I’ll say sail around the world, but sail around in many parts of the world.

Peter: Okay. Fair.

Ana: Yep. Cool. For probably, I don’t know, five, ten years. Cool. Until, maybe until I die.

Okay.

Peter: Wow.

Ana: That is my burning desire.

Peter: Now you’re, now, so you you’ve actually been on a sailboat before so it’s this

Ana: A little bit. I’ve actually been mostly power boater.

Peter: Okay. So why sailboat?

Ana: Well, because power boats can’t go very far before you need to fuel up so Right. Okay. You can’t do very long hauls.

Peter: So it’s economics

Ana: at this point. Economics. Okay. Definitely.

Peter: Got it.

Ana: Yeah, so my husband and I last November took a sailing course out of Fort Lauderdale where we were on a catamaran for a week and took four American Sailing Association classes on this sailboat. So we were sailing and practicing all of the things that we were learning as well as we were taking exams every morning. So Oh

Peter: wow. How big was the It

Ana: was a 37 foot catamaran.

Peter: Oh nice.

Ana: And there was myself and my husband and the captain and then one other couple who were doing the same thing.

Peter: Mhmm. So

Ana: yeah. It was lot

Peter: of So you’re taking this seriously. Yes. I mean you’re not just

Ana: We’re going.

Peter: So you’re you’re you’re making your rock and roll fantasy come true here.

Ana: I’m trying.

Peter: Awesome. Cool. Cool. So any, is there anything you wanna say? Anything else that we haven’t covered that you’ve just think we might wanna know about you?

Ana: I find it really awkward Mhmm. To be interviewed about my This

Peter: sort of stuff. We’re just having a conversation

Ana: I know.

Peter: This is not an interview.

Ana: I know but so

Peter: I hear you.

Ana: Went to the in

Peter: front of

Ana: you for yourself. Yeah. No, but just like you said, you know, might think of you as successful. And I think, oh my God, I’m such a mess. That’s what I think.

That’s how I see myself. And I went to our regional meeting and I am definitely, we are like number two, number three revenue in all of Aussie Pup Mobile. So, you know, now I’m the one that the newcomers are coming in and saying, oh, I’m gonna beat her out. Yeah. And I, you know, been in there for eight years, so now I am the one that has the longevity.

Yeah. And now everybody’s coming to me and asking me questions about how do And I do this and I’m like, I don’t know what I’m doing, folks. I just am plugging along and learning every day. And so I it kind of freaked me out a bit, honestly, at the regional meeting. I was just like, I’m here to learn just as much as you guys are because I don’t have the answers.

And so, you know, and there was a couple of situations where I kind of put on the spot and I just felt really uncomfortable about, you know, I don’t know that I am any more successful than you are necessarily. You know, I just, I don’t feel like I’m, I just feel like, you know, I’m just fixing one mess after another. Think that

Peter: one of the things that I’ve heard in kind of studying folks success and things like that is that there’s sort of this imposter syndrome. I don’t know if you’ve heard of this. It’s, not even sure it’s called syndrome, but it’s this, like, if you talk to different, like, people who’ve been successful, or, you know, some actors who are very famous and things like that, they’re they’re, like, literally, if you sit down and talk to them, they’re like, I don’t feel like I’m this person. Like, you Okay.

Ana: That’s kinda what you’re talking about. Exactly what I’m saying. I that feels like, I don’t know who that person is. Yeah. Or you guys look at me, it’s that’s not me.

And I don’t know, you know

Peter: Right.

Ana: I don’t try to be anybody else and I just

Peter: But that in some respects that kinda creates this inner drive. Right? I mean, you obviously you’re not you’re not settling for you know, you’re not happy with a certain level of success or you know, a certain level

Ana: I have of my goal. Yeah. I have my goal. Right.

Peter: So until you get there. Alright. So when you get there

Ana: Right. Then will I be satisfied? I don’t know.

Peter: Well, hopefully you’re satisfied now but I mean, you know, will you think of yourself as a success?

Ana: That’ll be a question. You can ask me that in a couple years. Oh no.

Peter: Good. That’s that’s awesome. Well, Anna, thank you so much for agreeing to, you know, be exposed to the microphone and it’s been fun.

Ana: Thank you, Peter.

Peter: Thanks for listening to this episode of Biz and Life Done Well with Peter Wilson. You can subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and most of the other popular podcast platforms. Please tell your friends about us and leave us a review so even more people will find out about us. Thanks again. We’ll see you soon.