Episode 364: How to Get 150 Applicants a Week For Your Dog Walking Business With Becky Lea

Hey Jumpers! If you're a business owner in the pet industry or any industry for that matter, you know that finding the right team members can be a real challenge. But today, we've got a treat for you. We're about to dive into the world of the hiring process, employee retention, and creating a thriving company culture.  Welcome to another episode of "Bella in Your Business: Pet Industry Business Podcast," Today, we have a special guest, Becky Lea, the owner of Paws Around Motown. Becky is here to share her experience and insights on improving the hiring process for her business.  Becky starts off by sharing her initial struggles with hiring. Like many business owners, she found it challenging to find the right candidates and wasted a lot of time on the wrong ones. But she didn't let that discourage her. Instead, she decided to revamp her hiring process and make it more efficient.  Becky managed to reduce her hiring time from a whopping 10-14 days to just five days.  She explains that implementing a thorough hiring process was key to this success. By carefully screening candidates and conducting multiple interviews, she was able to find the perfect fit for her team in a shorter amount of time.  Becky's story is a great reminder that continuous improvement is crucial for any business. She encourages fellow entrepreneurs to always be on the lookout for ways to refine their hiring process and create a better experience for both the business and the employees.  Topics & Key Points: The struggles of hiring Transitioning to a new hiring mentality The significance of a systematic hiring process. The steps to a successful hiring process Building a strong company culture Focus on enhancing the onboarding process and creating a positive first-day experience Efficiency in hiring The importance of continuous improvement Why you should surround yourself with important people in business Timestamps: [06] Introduction of Becky Lee and her pet business, Paws Around Motown [02:08] Becky's initial struggles with hiring and flawed criteria [03:29] Transitioning to a new hiring process and finding quality candidates [06:58] Importance of community and support and Mastermind program [08:52] The need to continuously evolve the hiring process to adapt to the changing job market [10:56] Enhancing the onboarding process [16:04] Mistakes in hiring [18:41] Why post your employees on social media? [20:38] The hiring process and the power of networking [21:28] Constantly making changes and assessing for the future Notable Quotes:  [02:09]” I was investing a huge amount of my time at a time that I did not have. And was spending a lot of time looking through candidates, setting up interviews, and then they wouldn't show up.”  [04:12] “Everybody that we hired during that hiring blitz, they're still on board. So not only did we find quality, but they have lasted and been happy employees.”   [07:36] “I feel like I never feel isolated in my business, which is a huge part of being an entrepreneur. But it's because of the tribe I've built and the people that I have around me to support me who you surround yourself with is everything. It's everything in business.”  [08:52] “I think it's important to realize that the climate in hiring has changed. And so it's important to always evolve to what that climate is. People are not just looking for a paycheck anymore.”  [16:43] “You really need to hold your new employees hand through the early stages so they're trained, but you got to check in with them. You've got a status with them.” Resources: Podcast: Bella in Your Business: Pet Industry Business Podcast Join Mastermind Email Bella: bella@jumpconsulting.net Sign up for a 20 mins call  Better Marketing with Bella Listen to Becky back on episode 322  Joey Coleman's Never lost an employee again Connect with Becky Paws Around Motown Connect with Bella Website Facebook YouTube Did you love this episode? If you liked this episode, please head on over to iTunes and leave a five-star rating and review. Every single review helps get this community bigger, stronger, and better. It gets other jumpers just like you into the community. Always remember when life gets down, always keep jumping. Transcript: Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta. And today I'm joined by Becky Lee, the owner of a dog-walking and pet-sitting business called Paws Around Motown. Becky, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Good. For those of you guys who have not met Becky before, why not? She first got involved in the pet industry in 2014 and quickly made a name for herself by working hard and soaking up as much information as possible. In the summer of 2021, I traveled to Chicago for an intensive session to work on improving our hiring process and building community on social media. during that session, we created a 10-step hiring process and worked on setting timelines to help Becky find the best candidates for her business. After implementing the strategies she learned from the intensive Becky was able to improve on her hiring process and build a strong community on social media. As a result, her business has been significantly growth and success. I wanted to have Becky on here today because I know that one of the biggest challenges many of you guys have is hiring. And it has not always been easy for Becky. And I'm sure there are still times when it is not easy. But there are many things that she has done to systematically create a system that essentially she's been able to hand off to other people to help her with it. And then also be able to understand where she needed to tweak or expand on it as time evolves because things do evolve. And so I think you guys are going to love this episode. And if you want to hear more from Becky back on Episode 322, she came on and talked more about marketing and, and how she's been able to also systematize her marketing. And so you're probably going to want to keep hearing from Becky because she's an amazing success story that will help give you the motivation, honestly, because business is tough. Business is tough. So Becky, take us back, like explain to our audience. What was hiring, like, what did you do when you started, and what mistakes would you tell your former self if we were talking to her right now? So I was investing a huge amount of my time, a time that I did not have. And I was spending a lot of time looking through candidates and setting up interviews, and then they wouldn't show up. Or, you know, so I'd be sitting there waiting, or I would hire people and they would last anywhere from like one to 60 days, which was a huge expense. And then you know, a big mistake was looking for people that had a pulse that loved animals. And that was my criteria and that does not work. I feel your pain because so many of you just described so many people out there even listeners, you know, who are just banging their heads against the wall. And they're like, Okay, like just Do you have a car and will you show up? You know, because the job markets are hard. So like when was the first like how did you transition out of that mentality? Was it scary? And when was the first time that you realized like, Okay, this is working like this new shift like talk to me about the shift and like how you felt about it because it I'm sure it wasn't just as easy as jumping. No, no, it was super scary. I know that a lot. Have the steps in the process that we outlined and that I kind of continue to implement. You know, I thought people wouldn't do them, and it would take me too long to get somebody on board. And that's not, it's not true. So I would say about 12 to 15 months ago, we did a hiring Blitz. And it was easy. So we need this as a little clip. Hiring was what was easy. And, and everybody that we hired during that hiring Blitz, they're still on board. So not only did we find quality, but they have lasted, and then happy employees. And so when we have people leave now, it's more for life-changing events than it is because of the job. Right. So, and in all honesty, we can onboard clients more seamlessly and quickly, because we have the staff to always be able to take them on. And so the, and also it helps because we can, like, show how we that our staff, and how people continue on and that this is, you know, we've always we have quality for them, we can kind of showcase our hiring process to those potential clients. Yeah, that's fantastic. We talked about that a couple of episodes ago, about systematizing it and then also talking about it, because not only is it great for the clients to see what you go through for your employees, because, you know, they have a big trust question. But it also builds trust with that new employee when they're like, Oh, this is what we got to go through. It's not just like, Okay, I did this next thing, okay. Now do this. Okay, did that. Okay, now do this. Okay, I did that. And it's like, when does this end? You know, and when people comment on Oh, my God, I can't believe that you're having us do all our air having me do all these things. It kind of solidifies the process to me, because if you, you know, our clients trust us with everything. And if they can't hop on camera and talk for 60 seconds about why they're amazing, or why we should or should not hire them or fill out a questionnaire, then they're not somebody that I want on my staff, you know? Uh-huh. Yeah, I think that takes a lot of confidence to say that because I think when you haven't done that before, it's often very scary. So let's talk quickly about so we had the intensive, but then, I mean, this month in the mastermind, we're going to be talking about hiring the whole month of November. And so what, how has that helped you not being isolated with that hiring thing? Okay, Bella,