Invest In You with Amy Hillis

Joe Zuccarello (00:03):
Hey everyone, this is Joe Zuccarello, your host of the Hey Joe Pet Pro Podcast, and here we are. We promised you right back by popular demand, Amy Hillis, my co-host of this building business series that we started last month. So if you didn’t watch episode one, I would encourage you to go back and watch episode one. It sort of paved the path for what we’re going to be working on together, which is sort of our pun intended pet project with this podcast platform and just helping you, specifically you the business owners, the business managers out there of pet care facilities and pet retail facilities. So without further ado, Amy, welcome back to the podcast.

Amy Hillis (00:46):
Thank you so much for having me. As always, I’m happy to be here.

Joe Zuccarello (00:51):
One thing that I’ve always appreciated, Amy, about you and your husband Bill, and really the tone or the culture that you’ve set at Social Pet is continuous growth, right? Continuous evolving of your skills, of your expertise. But what’s really awesome is that you also then participate in podcasts like this and other platforms, speaking engagements and such, where then you’re giving back because you also, because of your experience and your expertise that you’ve picked up along the way, I mean, it didn’t just poof, you were landed here as one of the most awesome people I know and one of the most awesome pet care service provider owner operators, but that’s been built over, excuse me, built over time. But here you are giving back, which is an element of what we’re going to talk about today, which is investing in you, not invest in Amy Hillis, although if you want, I’m sure she has some kind of fundraising platform, you can send money,

Amy Hillis (01:55):
We’ll figure something out.

Joe Zuccarello (01:56):
Yeah, we’ll put a Venmo QR code up at the end. No, but Altman in all serious, is really truly making a commitment of investing in you. So here’s my first question to you, Amy, is when I say the word invest, without getting too specific because we’re going to kind of tear into maybe some ideas are and very specific methods, but just that word invest, what thoughts do I conjure up in your brain?

Amy Hillis (02:23):
For me, investing is giving back to yourself and just kind of in its simplest form, making yourself a priority, giving back to yourself and doing what you need to do to fill your own bucket. And then that way you have more to give to others. And so there’s lots of different ways that we can do that. We can invest in ourselves that we’ll talk about in terms of education or physical health or mental health, but it’s really just prioritizing yourself and putting yourself first to give yourself what you need.

Joe Zuccarello (03:05):
Here’s what I really love about that. I’m sure somebody in your path, and again we’re talking, this podcast talks most specifically to owners and operators and managers. At some point, somebody in your path said, invest in yourself.

Amy Hillis (03:26):
Yeah, there’s a few layers to that. I mean, my background is in teaching and then I have a master’s in school counseling. And so through my counseling program, it was made very clear that you have to invest in yourself, you have to take care of yourself. And then as a teacher, I’ve just always believed we never stop learning. As soon as you feel like you’re the smartest person in the room or you feel like you’ve learned everything there is to know, then it’s time to move on and do something else. And then I think too, as women, there’s been so many mixed messages about we have to put everybody else first, but you need to take time for yourself, and at some point you just have to do it and just go with it. And so I’ve really been passionate about investing in myself and encouraging other people to do that for most of my adult life because I’ve seen the benefits. I know it can take time to do certain things to make that investment, but what I’ve found is that you end up spending more time on the backend by dealing with the repercussions of not taking care of yourself or feeding yourself in that way. And so you might as well just be proactive about it and just create a better environment around you so that you’re able to help others around you and then also feel good about yourself in the process.

Joe Zuccarello (04:52):
And I know that, and you’re getting really great at this, as well as being an advocate for the listener of this or the watcher of this, whether you’re watching this on video or you’re listening to the audio version of this podcast, being the audience advocate, because I would bet that there’s a large number of people out there that are listening right now that are like, yeah, well, you know what? It’s really easy to say, Amy, when you get to that level of success or when you have that level of income or when you have that amount of time, or obviously it didn’t happen overnight, but our job in this particular episode is to offer some first steps, some very practical considerations so that people can just grasp on to one or more of these steps to get started. So when I think of the word invest, I do think of very similar as you do as the time, money, resources, effort, energy, whatever going in. But one element that I think about a lot is what do I get out of it?

Joe Zuccarello (06:02):
What’s my ROI? What’s my return on investment? And so whether you’re investing in a mutual fund or you’re investing in one of your staff members who are going to be key people on your team, whatever that looks like, but this return on investment in you, R-O-R-O-I-Y, I guess. So when I think about that, to your point, to your point before it, three years goes by and you’re doing the same thing, experiencing the same headaches, having the same stress level as you did in what seems like just a blink ago. So by investing, I love, there was so many very wise, and I know the quote, but I don’t know who said it. If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.

Amy Hillis (07:01):
Yeah, exactly

Joe Zuccarello (07:02):
Right. So to your point earlier, right, the moment, these are those things that you get to feel as a gut check when you are sitting in that room and you’re like, am I the smartest person now in my family? It’s like, if you don’t know who the crazy uncle is, you might be the crazy uncle. So it’s sort of the same thing. But when I think about that, I think, okay, what types of investments can we share with our audience on this very just a minute in their day, a few minutes of their day, what types of investments can we share with them that can make them navigate their future and really in the future of their business better? So let’s talk first about skills. Let’s just talk about the overall skills necessary to thrive in this business. So when I say, okay, we’ve got the, alright, it’s time to invest in myself, but I don’t know how to do that. Joe and Amy, give me something. I can start with what, from your opinion, what from your platform, what from your experience would you say are the skills necessary that they can help hone in themselves to thrive in this business?

Amy Hillis (08:19):
The first skill I think is being open-minded and being flexible. And those two things kind of go hand in hand. As business owners, we know that our business is our baby and it’s really hard to let somebody else take care of our baby. They’re not going to do it the same way. Is everything going to be okay? We have got to be okay with things maybe not being done exactly as we would do them and have that be okay. And of course the flip side of that is they may not be done how we would do it, but they may be done better. But even if they’re not being done better, let’s say we are the owner and we’re stepping away and letting a manager run the day in our absence, if that manager can do 90% of the job that you would do, that might be okay.

Amy Hillis (09:15):
And I would encourage people to think about that. No, it’s not going to look the same, but it might actually be better. So I think that’s the very first skill. And when I was really starting to try to step away from social pet early on, I was there 13 hours a day, seven days a week, no paycheck for months. So I’ve been there, I completely get it. And we’ve dipped back in and out of that throughout the years we’ve been open for 11 years, we’ve had to dip back in and out of that, I would go away for an hour. There was a yoga studio across the street from Social Pet and I wanted to take this yoga class. It was like 11 o’clock in the morning and I was like, okay, this is good. It’s not a super busy time. I would go to yoga and it stressed me out to no end because I could see the parking lot of social pet while I’m in class.

Amy Hillis (10:12):
I could see if somebody would come in, I’d be like, why aren’t they coming out? It would be really, really nerve wracking. But starting small, if that’s something that you’re not comfortable with, to build up that flexibility and that that acceptance that it may not be done your way, those are just things that we have to do. We have to set goals, have a goal in mind. What is your goal for the end state of this business or for a year from now, five years from now, we have a three year strategic plan. And so we definitely didn’t get to this place overnight where we can go on vacation for a week and have no phone calls, but we’ve intentionally worked up to this with all of these little baby steps. And that I think starts with that open-mindedness and being flexible that it might not be done your way, but it’s still going to be alright.

Joe Zuccarello (11:08):
So those are great leadership personality traits, right? Leadership traits. So what you’re describing is some of the skills we might need to hone sort of fall in under that umbrella of leadership. Because one of the things, and listen, in February I just started celebrated 40 years in this industry, and I have met some. I know, right? I’ve met some. Awesome.

Amy Hillis (11:35):
How old are you? No, I’m kidding.

Joe Zuccarello (11:36):
Yeah, I’m 42. I started when I was in diapers, but I wish, but one thing I know is that a lot of the businesses that we do, I mean let’s face it, these are not necessarily always the most glamorous roles, owning a pet care facility, owning a pet retail business. There’s a lot of professionals that are in this or business owners that do this because it’s a passion, it’s a profession of passion. But that doesn’t always mean you’re a good people leader.

Joe Zuccarello (12:12):
So would you say part of open-mindedness is just sort of being honest with yourself to say, I kind of stink at this. I mean, if you have high turnover, if you feel frustrated, if you are the smartest person in the room, if you feel like you’re reinventing the wheel or having to answer the same question over and over and over and over and over again, it might be you, right? Even if at the very least it’s, it all starts and finishes with you. Because if you’re a good leader, then maybe you get better at selecting the right people to work in your business that can actually do those things that you need them to do. So I do a whole presentation on if things aren’t going your way in your business, give yourself the finger, and it’s not that finger, but go to the mirror, go to the mirror and point the finger at yourself because ultimately, Amy, you, it’s your signature on the paycheck. You have ultimate control over your business, even though sometimes it may not feel like you’re in control of your business,

Amy Hillis (13:27):
Right? Well, and we’ve all heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and again and expecting different results. And so if you’ve been on the Facebook groups at all, there’s a lot of people, we’ve all been there where you’re hiring, you feel really good about who you hired, and then six months later you’re back in the same spot where you started, where your employees aren’t listening or they’re coming in late or things aren’t getting done properly. We’ve all been there and at some point sooner than later, hopefully you have to again point that finger at yourself and just say, okay, the common denominator here is me. I am the common denominator as the business owner or the manager or the supervisor, whatever your role is in the business, I’m what all of these people have in common. So what am I doing that’s creating this environment?

Amy Hillis (14:22):
What am I doing that’s not making this work? And you, you have to be very honest with your skillset and know when it’s okay or when you should hire somebody to fill those spots that either you just aren’t good at or you don’t want to do. Typically what I’ve seen is that if you’re not good at it, it’s because you’re not putting in a lot of energy and effort to really try to be good at it. And I mean, that is kind of a blanket statement, and that’s not true all the time. But I know at least for me, if I’m not good at something, it’s because I’m prioritizing other things and learning other things. And so I’m never really mastering this other skill. And so if that’s the case, if you aren’t good at it or if you don’t like it, then hire somebody to buy back your time where you can go work in the area that is your strength and that is your passion.

Amy Hillis (15:23):
And it can be really hard financially. Again, we’ve been there. We’ve not paid ourselves for months. Even a few years ago, we’ve had to not pay ourselves for months at a time just because of the growth that we were in. We’ve sold a car to make payroll, been there. And so there is that pivotal point that can be a point of tension really of I need this person to grow, but financially I can’t afford it. What do I do? You have a decision to make there. Where can you bring in more revenue? Where can you lower your costs? And how can you make that happen, that position happen or that person happen if that’s what you need to do. So definitely reflecting on yourself, your own ability, your own strengths and weaknesses and filling in those gaps if it’s something that you’re not able to do or something that you don’t want to do, but it absolutely comes back to us as a leader. We are the common denominator in the whole situation.

Joe Zuccarello (16:29):
I love that. I want to surgically extract and highlight something that you said that I thought was just a moment of brilliance for everybody to just latch onto. And that is sometimes we have to hire somebody to buy back some time for us. That is, if that’s not one of the most profound statements I’ve ever heard, and it’s so spot on, correct, sometimes our investment in us is getting somebody on board that we can, then we’re essentially buying that time back for us. So we’re talking a lot about leadership and really having an open mind, being flexible, but also being humble and vulnerable enough to recognize our own inadequacies and someplace that really shows up. And in most cases, this is free. This is the only investment is your time.

Joe Zuccarello (17:38):
And that is networking, right? Networking. Now, what might pop into your brain out there if you’re listening or watching this is networking means I’ve got to talk to people that are doing the same type of work or the same type of business I’m doing. And that is absolutely, in fact, I would actually encourage you not to do that, not to only do that. That’s important, don’t get me wrong, but that’s almost a give me, that’s almost easy, right? What I’m saying is I have a networking circle in my community of professional men and women that I make a point, I put it on my schedule, and I keep that schedule. I make a point of getting together with these people, not as maybe always as a group. Sometimes it’s onesies and twosies. If somebody’s got a specific superpower that I don’t have and I’m facing a challenge or even looking at maybe an opportunity, can I buy you a coffee? Can I pick your brain? Now? Be prepared. You need to reciprocate that. So you need to grow better. You need to grow bigger. You need to grow wiser so that when somebody asks you the same question, you even with no hesitation are happy to do that. Amy, I got to believe you’ve got people that you network with outside of our industry.

Amy Hillis (19:05):
Oh, absolutely. I’ve got three different groups that I network with on a regular basis, and they’re located, they’re focused where around each social pet location. So our South Charlotte location, I’ve got a women’s networking group there where we meet every other week in our central Charlotte location. I’ve got one there that meets every month or so. And then I’ve got one up in North Charlotte, and it’s, again, it’s just a small business networking group. We just go, we talk, we have coffee share announcements, things like that. Nobody is in the pet care industry in any of them except for North Charlotte. There’s a pet sitter and a pet photographer, and that’s it. And so you are, you’re learning these really great just skillset sets and insights and little tidbits of advice and things. And then at the very least, you’re opening up your client base to new people.

Amy Hillis (20:12):
You’re getting your name out there. And so it’s one of my favorite things to do every week. It’s just fun to talk to other adults your age, where you’re not talking about dogs all the time. There’s just so many benefits to it. And so it takes a while to get to that point. Me going to our North Charlotte networking event every week, that’s not going to be feasible for a lot of people, but put it on your calendar, schedule it like a meeting. That’s what I have to do. And that is your meeting for that day. You’re going to this networking event, you’re going to spend an hour, and then you’ve expanded your network. You’ve made new relationships. So I think it’s one of the most important things that we can do. Check out your Charlotte, or not Charlotte, your local chamber of commerce if you’re a woman, any women’s groups or just any area groups that want to get together.

Amy Hillis (21:12):
And then even if you don’t have that, even I’ve reached out to my Pilates instructor, for example, and she and I get together and we talk, and just other small business owners, if there’s a small business that you frequent who you have a similar communication style, you can tell that they’re very focused, they’re positive, but they’ll challenge you. Build those relationships, like you said, offer to go to coffee and just start the relationship from there. It can feel really scary, especially as dog people, we don’t always want to make that first step. You’re nervous. It’s like, what if they say no? Well, what if they do say no? It’s not the end of the world. So just try. And I think more people are going to be open to that than we would expect.

Joe Zuccarello (22:02):
I will tell you that I do not remember a time when I have either even just a Google search in your area for masterminds or networks, and you can even do a Google search for different types. I want to find a mastermind or a networking group of business professionals who are of maybe even a certain age or a certain service. You could say service businesses or retail business, whatever circle you can. Just remember, the more filter elements you provide a harder, it’s going to be able to find that group. But I cannot remember a time Amy, when I’ve either hopped into a group of complete strangers, which takes even for me. I mean, I’m kind of an extrovert, but I was even a little nervous. The people, I don’t know. What if they’re smarter than me? What if I look like a dummy? What if I don’t look professional? What if they think less of me? You know what? Those are stories I’m writing in my head. Those are stories I’m writing in my head because I will tell you, I cannot remember a time or any of those were true when I hopped into a networking circle.

Amy Hillis (23:21):
Same. Yep. It’s always in our head.

Joe Zuccarello (23:23):
I don’t know that I’ve ever been told no or get out or You don’t belong here. And you know what? And if you are told you don’t want to be there anyway, that’s not your crowd anyway. So in the pet industry, sometimes, Amy, we go in saying, well, we’re just a dog kennel. We’re just a grooming shop. We’re just a kennel owner. We’re just a groomer. Well, listen, the only one, your greatest defeatist is you at that point. So hop in, try. You have to some degree in order to invest in yourself and network, which this is, I’m telling you, this is one of the most important things as a listener or a viewer out there. Some of the most important things you can do is just start talking to people. You want to be the person that doesn’t have all of the answers. You want to meet with people that are smarter than you. It’s okay. Just go in knowing you’re in the right group. If they’re smarter than you,

Amy Hillis (24:26):
If they’re wiser than you. For me too, I’ve been nervous going into groups like that too. And so if possible, I will do research for who’s try to see who’s going to be there, what professions they’re in. Just maybe some questions I can ask. I think that’s a really good icebreaker is just to ask somebody, oh, what do you do? Or Tell me about your business people and that setting. Always want to talk about their business. That’s why they’re there. And just do that research. And we have an advantage because we’re in the pet industry. And so it’s not like we’re selling insurance, no offense to that population, but it’s fun to talk about and Oh, let me see your dogs. And it’s just a very easy, fun conversation and it can lighten the mood. So we do have an advantage in that way too, which I think is great.

Joe Zuccarello (25:19):
I mean, really, what’s the litmus test there? Right? Next time you’re on a plane, a train, whatever, a bus or whatever, and somebody sits next to you and they say, what do you do if you say that you’re in the pet industry? Oh, I’ve got a golden retriever, and his name is fancy. And he does. Now sometimes, I dunno about you, Amy, but okay, so just a comedy break here just to offer. Sometimes I don’t want to talk to her. I’m exhausted. I’m coming back from manning a booth at a conference and I’ve talked myself pure into exhaustion. And somebody will say, oh, what do you do? And I say, well, I work for a pet crematory.

Amy Hillis (25:55):
Oh my God. And they’re

Joe Zuccarello (25:57):
Like, oh, okay. And then I just take a nap. Or sometimes I’ll say, I sell life insurance. I just pick something that nobody wants to talk about.

Amy Hillis (26:05):
I just put in the earbuds. I go that route. But that’s definitely another option.

Joe Zuccarello (26:10):
Try it. It’s actually, it’s actually kind of comedic. So anyway. Yeah.

Amy Hillis (26:14):
Love

Joe Zuccarello (26:14):
That. Yeah. Anyway, okay. So we’ve talked a little bit about some in-person opportunities, but let’s talk about now, okay, what can this networking happen? Where can this learning happen? Where can this investment in yourself happen? And I got to tell you, I’m a huge fan. I work remote, but a lot of people, they’re brick and mortar. They’re in their business. So when you can pull away, or maybe you’ve got your earbuds in right now and you’re listening to Amy and I, right on a podcast, so you could listen to audio versions, you can listen to us in your car, you can do all of that. So just audio. I love that transit time to and from wherever you’re going. I think that’s a golden opportunity not to turn on the radio and get all mad about the current economic or political situation out there. I mean, really, truly, what are you going to do about it anyway?

Joe Zuccarello (27:17):
To some degree. So you just going to put you in a bad mood. So maybe listen to Amy and I and set or something else that really geeks you. So I think that’s a very valuable, a very golden opportunity when you’re driving. Another one really truly though is like masterclass. I’m a huge advocate of masterclass. It’s so little money for a whole year for a membership. And there are just brilliant, brilliant people, celebrities, successful Fortune 50 company, business leaders on their Fortune 500. So that’s one way. But one area I want to really talk about are conferences, right? I mean, I don’t know where I tried to figure out where you and I first met, right? And I’m like, I’m scratching my head. I can’t remember. And the only place I could think that makes the most amount of sense is at some point you and I met at a conference,

Amy Hillis (28:15):
It would have to be, it would to be I-B-P-S-A or one of the Barkley shows. That’s all I can think of too. Yeah,

Joe Zuccarello (28:23):
It had to be. But, so let’s talk about the investment of going to a conference, because this is, now we’re talking some dollars in decimal points right now. This is something that doesn’t cost a hundred dollars. This might cost two or three nights in a hotel. This might cost the entry fee, the education seminar fee, your meals, I mean, all of things travel, all of these things. And you’re away from your business for a few days. So talk to me about, go back into your earliest days of social pet, when to your point, I mean, gosh, you had to sell your car to make payroll, but you went to conferences in those early days.

Amy Hillis (29:10):
We did.

Joe Zuccarello (29:11):
Did we justify that? How did you make that a priority and why?

Amy Hillis (29:15):
Yeah, the industry’s definitely come a long way. So there are a lot of virtual opportunities now, but nothing beats in-person networking. There’s just nothing that compares because the relationships that you build, and a lot of us know this, but the relationships that you build, you may not see an initial ROI on that, but just to your point, Joe, I mean, we’ve known each other for years now, and the just continues to evolve. And it’s been that way for you and I with lots of other people as well. And so I think we went to our first conference after about a year and a half of operating, we went out to pet boarding and daycare west when it was in Burbank, and we hadn’t taken a vacation in about two, two and a half years. And so we combined that three days at PBD West with a trip up to San Francisco and Napa.

Amy Hillis (30:14):
And so we were gone for about a week. It did cost money, but we always try to not spend, we try to invest. And that’s what we saw this as. We were investing in our education. We had a manager that we trusted that we knew the place wouldn’t burn down, nobody would get hurt. It would be fine. It might not be as good as how we would do it, but it was okay. So you got to balance the good and the bad, of course. But we invested in ourselves with education and we met new people, and then we took a couple days on the back end and gave ourselves just a couple day trip just as a husband and a wife. And so you need to have that time. If you’re getting burned out personally, you’re not doing any good for anybody, and you’re at risk of making yourself sick, you’re going to come to resent your job and you’re people and the customers and all of that. And then you have to keep learning. Even if you know everything there is to learn about dogs, there’s always something new. There’s just something new. Even if you’ve heard the same thing before, you’ll pick up a new tidbit out of that, or you will meet new people and you’ll meet really, really great people that you want to know. That could be an accountability partner or somebody just to have in your network. So

Amy Hillis (31:43):
You do your budget and you plan for it, and you just do what you can to make it happen. And at some point, again, yeah, we could have used that couple thousand dollars or however much it costs, but what we got out of that was just so much better. We got the professional knowledge and then we got the personal time off and it was amazing. So at some point, just pull the trigger and do it.

Joe Zuccarello (32:08):
And to your point, so I want to focus on a couple, just again, just some profound elements in there that was, to your point, sometimes you just got to do it, pull the bandaid off and do it. To your point, sometimes the reward doesn’t come during or the day after the conference. However, again, I’ve been in this for over four decades, and every conference I go to, I meet someone new. Every conference I go to, I learn something new. Every conference I go to, I am validated in something that I’m already doing correctly. That has incredible worth. It does. And in every conference, I’m giving something back to somebody else who needs it, who doesn’t have what I have. So what you’re saying is look at conferences. Well, first off, let me, before we figure out the usefulness of a conference, I love the fact that you said, listen, and a lot of the conference, you guys out there might not realize this, but these show promoters, these conference hosts, purposefully put them in places where you can use it as a small getaway, as a vacation, as a respite or respite for your current lifestyle, your current life, or outside of your business.

Joe Zuccarello (33:30):
So consider, man, you can write it off, but consider investing and not looking at it as spending. So if you’re, again, back to that word, invest. It’s funny because you have a perspective on the word invest, and then I have that complimenting perspective as, okay, what am I going to get out of it, right? What’s that return? I know you do too, and I know you see that as being very important, but what are your expectations? Going to conference conferences. And here’s the thing. I’ve seen a lot of people go to conference and they squander their time away.

Joe Zuccarello (34:04):
They just exist. They flow through the trade show, they walk through, they may sit in on a thing, but then it’s more personal time than it is professional time. And I think there’s a real balance that’s really needed there, especially if you’re going to, it’s not spending money, it’s investing money. So that’s what you can hope to get out of conference. But here’s the part that just floors me. If we can help one person out there get past the notion of, oh, that’s $500, that’s too much. That’s a thousand dollars. That’s too much. That’s $3,000. That’s too much. Too much. Based on what, right? If I were to tell you, give me 5,000 and listen, we’re talking to business owners. You guys have already written big checks. You pay the rent because it’s part of doing business. You pay salaries because it’s part of doing business. You’re already doing this. But what I’m going to encourage you to do is based on what might that be too much, if you don’t think, if the education circuit, if the show promoter, if the conference host can’t demonstrate to you, what if you took full advantage of that conference, what you could take away and repay and just really flourish from,

Joe Zuccarello (35:38):
Then shame on that host. And maybe that’s a conference you don’t go to, that’s on them. But what’s on you is to say, I’m going to take that thousand, 2000, 3000, $5,000, whatever it’s going to take, and here’s what I want from that.

Amy Hillis (35:54):
Yes, you need to go into it with a plan, for sure. And if, let’s say it’s May right now, let’s say there was a conference in, let’s say Hershey, it’s coming up in November. Let’s say it’s just not feasible for you to go to Hershey next this year, make that a goal for next year, and start thinking about that now. What do I need to do to get myself to at least one conference next year? And then when you are able to go sit down, look at the vendors, the education, the different people who are going to be there and make a plan. What are the three things you want to get out of this conference? Who are the people that you want to talk to? What do you want to talk to them about? Don’t just walk up and say hi, and then, okay, well, I talk to them. What is the purpose of that conversation? So be very intentional with your plans to make the most of that experience. And if you do that and then take that knowledge and come back to your business, you should be making way more money as a result of being there than you did if you would’ve stayed home and just saved that money without going. So have a plan, be intentional and you can make it happen.

Joe Zuccarello (37:07):
And to your point, put the money to work for you. Right? Alright, so we’ve got a little bit of time left, but I want to make sure we cover just a couple of other things. The very first one is, you had brought up a term earlier, not know that everybody knows this term, right? This term called Accountability partners.

Joe Zuccarello (37:26):
Accountability partners. Right? Now, by definition, what that means is that you’re going to commit to doing something, but ultimately you’re hoping somebody else holds you to it. That’s an accountability partner. Somebody that’s going to say, Hey, Amy, did you reach your goal last week? Hey, Amy, did you read that book last week? Hey, Amy, did you fulfill the promise that you made to yourself? But I have no skin in the game, right? If I were your accountability partner, and you said, here’s a simple example. If Amy Hillis said, Joe Zillo, I am making a promise to myself to do whatever it is. I’m going to read this book this week, and I’m going to say, Amy, are you sure you can do that? Is that a fair goal that you’re setting for yourself? And you say, yes because of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I say, grit, let’s get a time next Wednesday. Let’s talk at this exact time. I can’t wait to hear about the book. And then probably about halfway through, I’m pinging you and I’m saying, Hey, you better be knees deep in that book by now. You got a lot of catching up to do, right? And you’re going to be like, oh, yeah, yeah. And then maybe you procrastinated, right? And you’re like, oh, I’m not doing it for myself. I’m doing it because he is going to make, he’s going to say, did you do that for yourself? He’s my accountability partner.

Joe Zuccarello (38:59):
But in business, accountability partners might be, maybe it’s a member of that networking group. Maybe it’s a colleague in the industry. Maybe it’s one of your business friends you just met at the last conference that you agree to trade accountability for with each other multiple times throughout the year. Absolutely.

Amy Hillis (39:20):
What does it mean you? It’s got to be, yeah, I agree with all of that. I think it’s somebody who’s holding you accountable or supporting you and staying committed to your goals and encouraging you along the way. And I think what you said is important is it needs to be somebody who really doesn’t have any skin in the game. So even though my business partner is my husband, he is an accountability partner in some ways, but he is not the one, he’s not the accountability partner for me. We’re married. If I was partnered with a friend, it would be the same. There’s just too much personal that can kind of get in the way. And you need a neutral party. So somebody who is going to be honest with you, who’s going to be positive, who you can trust, because you will need to open up and be vulnerable and be clear with what’s really going on.

Amy Hillis (40:18):
I think the other thing that’s important is a compatible communication style. You have to be able to understand each other, not just on the surface, but also what’s really going on there. So someone you can trust doesn’t have to be in the same city. I think someone at a networking group that you meet can be great, or somebody in a conference that you met from across the country is amazing too. And there’s different levels of that. I mean, you can get from accountability partner all the way up to consultant and then coach even if you want to. But that relationship is critical. You just need somebody. You need a person. You just need your person to be there for you and to talk through things with you and to keep you going, especially when it gets really hard. And then you should try to be that for somebody as well. Once you have the capacity to do that, don’t overcommit yourself. If you’re in a messy, chaotic time, you probably not cannot be an accountability partner for somebody. You do have to put yourself first as part of investing in yourself, but make sure you find that person who can keep pushing you

Joe Zuccarello (41:29):
Forward. Well, and I’ve done this a lot of times, I point out where I fail or where I’ve failed before so that others are just comfortable with it, right? Because I mean, so I’m going to open up to the entire world and just say where I have failed with establishing an accountability partner. So for example, I might have an accountability partner, and that person says, did you do this? And I said, no. And I said, did you do this? I said, no. And either I procrastinated or whatever, and I failed, right? I didn’t hit the goal. And the accountability partner says, well, what happened? Not just keeping you on track and encouraging you and being positive, but sort of doing that postmortem of saying, okay, well, what happened? I’ll tell you my number one failure. I bit off more than I could chew. I made a promise to myself that was just too big, right? I’m going to lose 20 pounds. Great. It’s too big. How about saying I’m going to lose a pound?

Speaker 4 (42:39):
Yep, absolutely.

Joe Zuccarello (42:41):
And then when you lose two, you’re ahead of the game, right? I’m going to increase my doggy daycare numbers by one dog per day on average for the next 30 days. Great. Day one, it might not happen. Day two might not happen. But on day three, maybe you have three new ones, you’re like, woo, I just satisfied all three days. So my average, I’ve been maintaining my average, but most of my failure in the past is that I’ve set goals for myself that are just too big a bite for me to,

Amy Hillis (43:22):
That’s the same with me. You want to, if you are a consultant or a coach, you want to kind of be everything to everybody sometimes, or if you have a lot of knowledge that could be really useful, you want to get out there and make it happen. Or if you’ve got a lot of personal goals, you just don’t properly allot a realistic amount of time. And I think the other thing an accountability partner can do as well is work through that. How can we set better goals next time? How can we have a more reasonable timeline next time? And then also, okay, maybe you didn’t accomplish that, but let’s look at these other things that you did accomplish that are really important. So you don’t want to beat yourself up. And so that person can help you with that to see what is going well, but then also moving forward, set more realistic goals and timelines. That way you can be successful and continue to move forward.

Joe Zuccarello (44:22):
A good accountability partner might need you to also tell them what you want from them as an accountability partner. In that case, if I fail, if you were my accountability partner, I would want to give you some permissions in the beginning. Listen, I’m going to fail. It’s going to happen. I may fail 100%. I may fail only 10%. I’m might be 90% successful. I might fail 10% of the time, whatever the reality is, somewhere probably between those, right? But there’s three things, right? Review, refine, and reset. Review, refine, and reset. Okay, listen, if I choked on a bite of hamburger that I took, you think I’m going to take that size of a bite the next time? Probably not. If I do, maybe I deserve the consequences that I’m going to get. But maybe it was a near miss. Maybe it was a near fatality. In that case, I hate to be dark about something, but I’m using an analogy to make a point. What I mean is that no, next time I’m going to take a smaller bite and

Amy Hillis (45:28):
I

Joe Zuccarello (45:29):
Might even commit to chewing longer.

Amy Hillis (45:31):
Yeah, I think setting expectations are great at the front. We can’t, even if you have a good relationship with this person, or it might be a brand new relationship, either one, you do need to be clear on the expectations, what you’re looking for. And then throughout the relationship too, saying, this is what I need. I need a solution. What can I do? Or I just need to vent. Just let me vent. Sometimes you just have to be clear like that. And we know that if we’re married or if we have a partner, we have to remind sometimes of what we’re looking for there. And it’s the same with this relationship too. Set the expectations and then remind them throughout what you need in that moment.

Joe Zuccarello (46:14):
And it’s okay if you are the accountability partner to say, I think my best response for you sounds like this, but do you feel like you need more from me? It’s okay to ask for permission to pour in a little bit more sometimes. And I learned this with grief counseling. Sometimes if you’re close to somebody who’s lost somebody that they love, sometimes they don’t need you to come up and say things like, oh, I’m so sorry for your loss, or they’re in a better place. Or Now they’re not experiencing pain. You know what The best sometimes thing you can say is, I’m here. I’m here.

Speaker 4 (46:53):
That’s

Joe Zuccarello (46:53):
It. And that’s it, right? I had to learn that because I want to come in and save the day. I want to be able to pull them out of their sadness and make them feel like they’re a Disney world. I want to make them happy. I want to make ’em smile. I’ll inject humor sometimes into a conversation. And that’s more self-serving, I think, than it is serving them. So sometimes it starts with, Hey, I’m just going to start with telling you I’m here. What else though? If there is anything you need from me.

Joe Zuccarello (47:18):
Okay, last point I want to make, and really, you kind of touched on this earlier with the, it’s an investment, not necessarily an expense or a spend of the money. And the best way that we know if we’ve gotten our R-O-I-Y-A return on investing in you is keeping our eye on the numbers. What are the results? What are the results that are actually happening? Real life for that. And I’ve got a journalism that I throw out there all the time. What gets measured gets done. If you don’t have an eye on your numbers the way that you need an eye on your numbers, then you know what? Reach out to me. Reach out to Amy. Reach out to your networking group that you’re now establishing. Or heck, maybe you start your own networking group, but you have to have your eyes on the numbers.

Amy Hillis (48:07):
Absolutely.

Joe Zuccarello (48:08):
So if there’s something in your way, whether you don’t even know what numbers to have your eyes on, ever more reason to find somebody in a networking group to find out what should I be measuring or reach out to subject matter experts? If you don’t know what numbers, you’re probably not looking at the numbers that you need to be looking at. So ask, right? Reach out there. But I know you love numbers, and I know you love watching the numbers and hearing for me, it’s sort of like a game, right? I like to hear, I listen. I listen to the numbers. I want it through my eyeballs, but I want to hear, hear the story. The numbers are telling me what comes into your mind when I say what gets measured gets done.

Amy Hillis (48:52):
You can’t know what’s getting done unless you’re looking at them. You can’t just go off of a feeling. So take a look at your business and pick out those key things. And if you’re just getting started, can’t, there’s two schools of thought. You do need to know what’s going on everywhere. But at the same time, you do need to have some key areas of focus. So maybe it’s daycare assessments, number of new dogs per day. Maybe it’s revenue per dog per day. How much is the dog spending when it’s in your building? Are you taking advantage of all the services that you offer for that dog? The number of vet visits that you have each month, number of urgent care visits each month. And I think the other thing too is you want to look at the numbers, what they’re saying, and then also in a way, kind of look at the lack of numbers or maybe what they’re not saying. And what this means for social pet is we measure the number of reviews that we get. We usually get a few five star reviews every week at our facilities. When we see the number of reviews slow down or stop, we know that is a red flag for us. Nothing negative’s coming in. It’s not a, well, they didn’t

Joe Zuccarello (50:13):
Complain. Nothing’s positive coming in either. Yeah,

Amy Hillis (50:15):
Something. There’s nothing positive coming in, so they didn’t complain about it, so it must be fine. No, we didn’t wow them enough to have them leave a review. So that right there is a big red flag. We need to get back in the operation and see what’s going on. So look at what everything is saying. And then also, if something is not happening, you’ve got to measure that too.

Joe Zuccarello (50:38):
I love it. I love it. And again, there’s only so much of you to go around, start growing your people to measure some of these smaller things for you

Speaker 4 (50:52):
So

Joe Zuccarello (50:52):
That you’re being fed at first, you’re being fed the numbers, but the next stage of their education is have them tell you what they are hearing through their eyeballs with the numbers. And then

Amy Hillis (51:06):
Before we, yeah, we and our managers do that. Our managers track a lot of those key metrics for us. They’re pretty simple. And so it’s not difficult for them to do, and they need to know it for their facility as well.

Joe Zuccarello (51:17):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Amy. Wow. Right? I don’t know about you guys out there that are listening are watching this, but I mean, you just got two people that are pouring into you, but now you have a responsibility. Go pour into yourself. Go invest in yourself. Find a conference. Take that first step, find a networking group. Be brave. Be courageous. You’re a business owner. You’re a business manager. You’ve already been brave. You’ve already been courageous. You’ve already demonstrated that. Whether it feels like it or not, challenge yourself. And if you need an accountability partner, at least at first, reach out to one of us. We’ll be happy. We’ll be happy to give you a nudge. So Amy, thank you again for being part of the podcast. For everybody out there, listen, I don’t know if the reviews that we’re hearing the Amy and Joe show, I think it’s going to continue. We’re going to bring you another really great topic a month from now. So Amy, thank you again for being a guest.

Amy Hillis (52:18):
Thank you so much. Thanks everyone for listening.