Episode 441: AI Mindset Shifts for Pet Sitters: 5 Beliefs Blocking Your Growth

AI mindset shifts for pet sitters are no longer optional—they’re essential. If the idea of using AI in your pet business feels intimidating or overwhelming, you’re not alone. But here’s the truth: it’s not the tech that’s holding you back, it’s your mindset. In this episode, I’m opening up about the invisible blocks I see so many pet sitters carrying when it comes to AI—beliefs that keep them stuck in busy work, burn out, and creative paralysis. I’ve been having more and more conversations with business owners who are watching others use AI to their advantage, but still feel hesitant to jump in. It’s not because they can’t. It’s because they think they can’t. This episode is your invitation to shift those thoughts. I want to help you stop waiting for perfection, stop fearing that AI will dull your creativity, and stop assuming it’s only for “techy people.” Because once you embrace the right mindset, AI becomes a powerful tool—not a threat. You don’t have to be perfect to start. You just have to be willing to think differently. If you’ve been second-guessing yourself or stuck in analysis paralysis, let’s change that together, starting now. In this Episode, You'll Learn... Why waiting for AI to be “perfect” is costing you time and opportunity The false belief that creativity dies with automation How to use AI without sounding robotic The difference between information and instruction—and why it matters What makes AI better with your unique voice and guidance Timestamps 00:01 – Why mindset matters more than tools05:18 – The perfection trap with AI08:42 – “AI will kill my creativity” myth14:36 – Why your input makes the output18:50 – Using AI to sound like you Resources & Links Ready to stop playing small? Upgrade your tools and start working smarter, not harder. If you’re still using the free version of ChatGPT, it’s time to level up. Try Bella’s custom pet sitting GPT. Learn how to build your own AI assistant. Connect on IG: @bellavasta Book a complimentary 20-min strategy call. Join Bella’s Mastermind. Did You Love This Episode? Share it on Instagram and tag @BellaVasta with your biggest takeaway using #BellaInYourBusiness. What’s one AI mindset shift you’re ready to make in your pet sitting business? Watch all our Podcasts on YouTube Previous podcast episode: ? Transcript Welcome to another episode of Bella in your business. My name is Bella Vasta. You know, I'm gonna go in a lot of different directions today, because there's a mindset thing happening, and it's starting from some of the leaders in our industry. I'm gonna keep this pretty anonymous. But without saying names. I had 2 people share with me the same exact message that was in a group by someone who is positioning themselves as a leader in our industry. And it came to me because these people paused after reading this message, thinking, “Wait, Bella, is this true?” And so I read through it. And it was this message that was like alert: Google has made an update. You need to know what this update is. And it was talking about AI, and it was basically saying Google is now specifically directing their quality raters to identify pages where main content is created using AI tools and automated generators. Okay, if you just read that part, you're gonna be like, “Oh, my gosh! I can't use AI on my website.” And then it goes on, and it says, if your content is mostly AI generated with little original value added, it gets rated as lowest quality, which means it basically disappears. And then it went on to say, like what this means — AI content that shows little effort will not get ranked in the searches, and that Google’s doubling down on their reward content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Okay, this thing got like 31 comments when I saw it. 36 likes and stuff. But here's the — and then a lot of the people that started talking in it, it was cackling. Yes, I said it. I'm not sorry if I just offended anyone. It is things like the stinking thinking that gets perpetuated in everything that you read. Your brain doesn't know the difference between fantasy and fact. It doesn't. Whatever you tell your brain, it believes it as truth. So whatever you read continuously over and over again, getting notifications coming up on your phone, having it come across your feed — all of this — “Well, I just can't get ahead, and I'm not a marketer, and everyone else is doing it, and if I can't… oh, poor me! I'm a poor business owner.” I could read you some of the comments, but I'm not going to, because I'm not going to perpetuate it. But the thing is, this leader — while they kind of came in and talked about “You need to have quality AI content” — he wasn't clear enough, because a lot of people were still wondering what's going on, and I was getting tagged. And so I just want to set the record straight. And I want to explain to you factually what actually is happening. Because anyone that's fear mongering your business right now, anyone that's deterring you from AI — and when I say deter, I mean not using AI in everything that they're doing — every leader… this is a call out to every leader right now. Every leader in our industry should not only be using AI, but they should be leveraging it in their teachings. We're leaders, we're supposed to be leading the way. AI is the way. Okay, maybe robots aren't gonna be walking the dogs. But most of our people — the people that we serve, that we help, that we want to help — they're burnt out. They're stressed out. They don't have enough time. And they're overwhelmed. They're maybe not eating right. AI can literally come alongside and help a lot of these people. Not only that, but they can also come alongside them and let them know that they're not alone, and that there's an outlet, and that there are ways they can talk through things. There’s so much, and I see it on a daily basis with all of my jumpers. I see them implement it into their personal life and their business life. I see them struggle all of 2024 trying to get their SOPs done and get their SOPs done in 2 weeks — in the mastermind — using the methods to get the SOPs done. SOPs are fun, said no one else ever. Right? And take it a step further. This person who is giving this information or allowing this information to be out there — they don't even have a blog on their website. So you're giving advice about things that you don't even have. For me, that doesn't make sense. Danny Sullivan, in 2023, Google search liaison — he was a prominent voice in clarifying the stance on social media and interviews. He's consistently reiterated that the method of content creation is not the primary concern. “I don't care what you write,” the content with… in a series of tweets, he basically explained, “We have said for years that the content created for the primary purpose of just ranking is spam. In search, it's spam.” It doesn't matter if it's humans writing or AI writing. If it's for search, it's spam. Which takes me to the next step of this, you guys. And this is like, really your wake-up call, okay. I am transferring to all of my listeners — in anything that you do, it should be valuable. So when I see these blogs that are like “Summer grooming tips for your dogs” when your pets are a dog walker — that makes no sense. Let alone that it's not even locally targeted or geo-targeted to your geographical area. When you're like “Christmas tips to keep your pet safe,” again, what you're doing is you're competing with everyone in the entire world. Okay. What it comes down to is strategy. And from the strategy, it's prompting into AI. And this is what I say all the time. Right? So we all — the whole industry hopefully, because I was loud enough — went through the whole Marcus Sheridan Big 5. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go look it up. Marcus is on a warpath again, but doing it like leveling up the Big 5 AI style, which is just so exciting. Like, go look it up. Watch it. I highly recommend it. But now I would say that it's even more than the Big 5. It's literally figuring out how you can provide value all the time. When you provide value, that means make them laugh. It means give them some information that they can actually use. Like, how about all the places you can get Santa Paws pictures in your area. Let's say this is like Christmas, right? And then also stamp the date on it — 2025. That means it's gonna expire in January. But right now, that's gonna be the hot like hotcakes. And I did this with my clients last year. It’s going to be the hotcakes on Nextdoor and in Facebook groups and get a lot of people onto your website. You add a strategy onto that where you're capturing all of their IP addresses so you can retarget Facebook ads or Google ads to them — you're like golden. That's what it means. Does it matter that AI did the research for you and created the blog for you? Absolutely not. And this is the same exact strategy and method that I'm using with my Marketing with Bella clients — the people that I'm creating specific, customized content for every single month. This stuff works. And so I want to spend a minute to just make sure that anyone that the sound of my voice is reaching is not being influenced by any of this stinking thinking. AI has never — it’s never been an easier time to run your business than in 2025. I will die on that hill. It is so much more exciting and easy. The problem that happens is that people just use only ChatGPT, and they only use it to reword an email or give them like generic ideas — without ChatGPT really understanding who they are. What do I mean by that? Go to your ChatGPT right now and say: Who’s my avatar? What makes my business unique and special? What do I worry about in my business?