Boosting Pet Businesses and Rescues Through Strategic Partnerships

In this episode, we unlock the secrets to thriving pet businesses and animal rescues when host Amy Castro is interviewed on the  "Off the Leash with the Pet Business Coach" podcast hosted by Pet Business Coach Eliza Burr. Amy and Eliza reveal strategic insights on forming powerful, mutually beneficial partnerships between pet businesses and animal rescues. Learn how these alliances can drive both business success and rescue efforts, with Amy sharing invaluable tips on generating income, handling donations, and leveraging merchandise sales. Discover the critical importance of shared goals and how to create win-win scenarios that elevate both your business and the welfare of animals.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Essential steps for establishing successful business-rescue collaborations: From conducting thorough research to ensure alignment with your brand image, to the pitfalls of partnering with poorly managed rescues.
• How to create alliances through a well-prepared proposition, effective social media collaboration, and event hosting. 
• The importance of formalizing these partnerships with contracts to ensure clarity and commitment. 

Tune in for actionable advice on maintaining open communication, holding regular meetings, and adapting to evolving goals—because when businesses and rescues work together seamlessly, everyone benefits, especially the animals.

For more information about starting or growing your pet business, check out The Pet Business Coach services at: www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog

To learn more about Starlight Outreach and Rescue, visit their website at: www.starlightoutreachandrescue.org

CHANGES ARE COMING TO THE SHOW! We'd love to have your input as we rebrand the show over the next month- take this one question survey and help us pick our new show name! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6LJWJK9

Chapters

• 0:00 Partnerships Between Pet Businesses and Rescues
• 10:38 Building Successful Business-Rescue Partnerships
• 16:36 Effective Partnership Communication and Evaluation

Transcript

Amy Castro: 0:00

You're listening to Starlight Pet Talk, a podcast for pet parents who want the best pet care advice from cat experts, dog trainers, veterinarians and other top pet professionals who will help you live your very best life with your pets. Have you ever walked into a pet store and seen an adoption event and wondered how does that work between the store and the animal rescue? Well, in this special episode of Starlight Pet Talk, I'm excited to share with you my conversation with my good friend, eliza Burr, the pet business coach, when we spoke on her Off the Leash with the Pet Business Coach podcast. We dove into how pet businesses and rescues can build powerful partnerships that benefit everybody involved, especially the animals. So stay tuned to hear that full episode and learn how pet businesses and animal welfare organizations can collaborate to make a difference in the lives of everyone involved.

Off the Leash Announcer: 1:00

Hello and welcome to Off the Leash with Eliza the pet business coach. Eliza is an entrepreneur, coach writer, pet industry expert, recovering corporate junkie and pet mom. After fleeing her 9 to 5 of 30 years, she launched her own pet sitting and dog walking business, growing it from nothing to six-figure revenue and a dozen employees in less than two years. If you love animals and have ever dreamed about making a career out of working with pets, eliza has your back. She'll give you a practical look at the mechanics of starting and running a pet business, mixed with a no-holds barred look at the ups, downs and sideways of making a huge change in your life and finding your true self, with a lot of slobbery kisses along the way. Life is short. Don't spend a chain to something that doesn't bring you joy. Here's your host, eliza, helping you live Off the Leash.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 1:57

Hello everyone. This is Eliza, your pet business coach, coming at you with another episode of Off the Leash. Today on Off the Leash, we're going to be talking to Amy Castro, president of Starlight Outreach and Rescue. Amy will be sharing with us how pet businesses can partner effectively with rescues in your area to benefit you, your business, your clients and the rest of you. A little bit about Amy. Amy has spent more than 25 years helping organizations just like yours develop leaders, build great teams and provide best-in-class customer service through her customized training, speaking and consulting programs. She's the lead management columnist for Pet Age magazine and is also president of Starlight Outreach and Rescue, a 501c3 nonprofit animal rescue in Houston, texas. Amy also hosts the popular podcast for pet parents, starlight Pet Talk Amy welcome to the show.

Amy Castro: 3:03

Well, thank you for having me.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 3:07

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your organization?

Amy Castro: 3:11

Sure, yeah, I mean you kind of covered the gamut. I wear a lot of hats but I do work with pet businesses and pets are my thing. I always feel like I'm at home when I'm working with pet people, but also as a you know, a founder and president of an animal rescue, I can kind of see both sides of the issue. When you have a pet business that's trying to, you know, do the right thing by their community to give back, to get involved with rescue, but I always look at it that it's a business proposition for both parties. And so I try to look at it from, you know, when I am negotiating those deals as the president of the rescue, but also when I'm advising clients and things like that. So yeah, I keep very busy. I actually just came back from running into town for a. I live on a seven acre animal rescue ranch. I guess you call it, we call it the rescue ranch, but by Texas standards, which is where I live, it's not. It's not a ranch, it's too small.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 4:14

But like everybody's dream.

Amy Castro: 4:16

Yes, it is a dream, but it's a lot of work. That was one thing I did not anticipate is how much work it is to maintain. But yeah, running into town to collect a check where somebody had done a fundraiser for us do the little check, picture running back doing a podcast. So we're always running and gunning around here.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 4:34

That is so fantastic and I love the idea. You're going to talk to us today about partnering, and I love the idea of partnering. I always have clients asking me where do I look for partners? Who do I want to take on as partners and work with? And we always tend to talk in terms of other businesses, other for-profit businesses, pet sitting and dog walking owners reaching out to vets or pet food stores or groomers, and we're really missing a whole chunk of amazing partners on the nonprofit side. So I'm so excited to hear more about that and how pet businesses can do that for their own businesses. So tell us about that.

Amy Castro: 5:15

Yeah. So I mean, I kind of look at it from a couple of different perspectives. I think that when we think about rescues, we don't necessarily think about them as businesses. And, yes, they are nonprofit. At the same time, they need to generate traffic, just like a regular brick and mortar store or an online store, might. They need to generate income in the form of donations? They oftentimes have merchandise that they sell, so they like to sell that as another way to bring in donations, and so I think it is important to remember that, yes, they do have business objectives that may not be exactly the same as yours, but you know if a good relationship or a good partnership would be looking for somebody where you can meet each other's needs.

Amy Castro: 6:06

For whatever those goals might be, I think that many times, businesses look at it as an opportunity just to give back, like I'll have this rescue group come in and I'll let them have some space in my store or whatever the case may be, and just kind of giving you some perspective from the rescue side. And maybe this is just the New Yorker in me I am beyond the point of just wanting exposure for my rescue like to go sit in a store, have nothing happen? Have not too many people come in because certain things didn't happen to make that event a draw for people? And you know, looking at it as an opportunity, it's kind of like as a 30 plus year speaker and trainer when people call me up and they don't want to pay me, which is I speak and train. That's what I do for a living. That's my job. So I don't think anybody else out there does their job for free. I'm not going to do my job for free either.

Off the Leash Announcer: 7:05

And then they'll say things like yeah.

Amy Castro: 7:07

They'll say things like well, it's good exposure. Well, exposure for what and to whom you know. So I think that's a primary conversation, that too many times the rescue and the business don't have that conversation. Why are we doing this? What's the objective here? How can I support you in your goals from both sides of the relationship?

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 7:33

Yeah, and that's a way of looking at it that I hadn't really thought through, because, you're absolutely right, rescues are businesses. They have to make money to survive and I know in my own business are businesses. They have to make money to survive. And I know in my own business, many years ago we had a program where we would collect donations from our clients our pet sitting and dog walking clients and deliver those to our local rescue. And that was nice and it was some exposure, like you said, but we never truly had a conversation with the rescue on you know, had a conversation with the rescue on you know and us how that was benefiting both of us beyond just the surface. So I feel like we could have gotten more out of that relationship than we did.

Amy Castro: 8:16

Yeah, and I think it's something that you do after. I know we try to do that at any time we have an event, especially if it is with somebody new. You know, a coffee shop wants us to come do coffees coffee with kittens and it's like, okay, you know what I mean. It's working out, the logistics is one thing, but what? What's the objective? Because from a rescue, from a rescue standpoint, if I am not going to bring in donations, if I am not going to attract volunteers, if I'm not going to attract potential adopters, then why would I do it? What's in it for me, as selfish as that may sound, but I think it's also important that the business like you said, you're collecting donations and you're giving it to the rescue it makes you feel good. They might say thank you. You're collecting donations and you're giving it to the rescue. It makes you feel good. They might say thank you.

Amy Castro: 9:06

But in the long run, is there something that you could be doing that, would you know, that would pull more business to that business, depending upon the rescue.

Amy Castro: 9:15

I think, and one of the first pieces of advice that I would give somebody that said you know what's, how do you go through this process, is to really look closely at the rescue organization or the animal welfare organization, because in any given community you might have a, you know you might have one, and you know it's the local city shelter, depending upon where you live, and and that's going to have different parameters as far as what they can do, what kind of activities they can be involved in, what kind of activities it can be involved in, just as an example, many times a municipal, you know, a city or a county shelter in many states they can't take donations.

Amy Castro: 9:55

Or if they do take donations, like one of the shelters that I worked at, if somebody came in and they said, here, I want to give you $20 for the dogs, they would take the the twenty dollars. But that twenty dollars didn't necessarily go directly to the shelter, it went into the city's general fund and so the shelter might never see that twenty dollars and so yeah, so um, and is that?

Amy Castro: 10:16

because of the type of of non-profit they are, the their designation yes, it's, it's because they're not a non-profit, it's, they are, they're, they're a city department, and so it'd be equivalent to I want to donate to the water department or I want to. You know they don't do donations like that, or if they do, they go in a certain direction and then the city has the discretion as to what happens to those funds. So I think, knowing doing your homework as a business person, doing your homework as to what organization do I want to partner with? You know, not only from the standpoint of what limitations there might be as far as the activities that you could do together, but also I like to look at the reputation.

Amy Castro: 10:57

You know there's a lot of rescues that you know that have great reputations in the community and have a strong following, and there are some that maybe nobody's ever heard of, and so you know that have great reputations in the community and have a strong following. And there are some that maybe nobody's ever heard of. And so you know what is your goal in supporting that organization. If your goal is to get more people through the door of your business, then you know, maybe you want to work with that organization that has a huge following, that has the 7,000 Facebook followers or the 200 volunteers or whatever it might be, but maybe your objective is to help a smaller rescue grow, and so you might do the exact opposite and work with that smaller rescue and work together to kind of build the following. So it's really important to know who are you, who are you working with and then what's what's the objective when it comes to creating that relationship or doing events with that organization.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 11:52

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. It occurs to me too that and you know, there are amazing, amazing rescues out there, but there are also some that aren't amazing. I hate to say it, but you know not well run rescues and you know as you're deciding if it's a good fit for you. It's not only the number the partner you pick personifies your brand in the way that you want them to and exactly with you, right, because they're your partners. So you know I can see how making the wrong choice there, with a rescue that is not projecting the image that you want to personify, can also be detrimental.

Amy Castro: 12:37

Right, yes, it definitely can, because you know, and the rescue world in and of itself, you know, not what the public sees, not what adopters sees, but the people in the rescue. It's a weird world Like. There's a lot of weird stuff that goes on in rescue, maybe because you have to be a little bit crazy to get involved in rescue, and so, yeah, there are some that not only you know is it a reputation thing? But they might be more difficult to work with than they're worth. So that's also part of part of the homework. You know it's like how, how cooperative is this, is this organization, how demanding are they? You know, I know for for us when we we are affiliated with a local pet store, and it was as soon as I knew that store was being built. I was already digging, trying to find out because I wanted to be the first foot in the door.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 13:30

You're in there.

Amy Castro: 13:31

Yeah, I'm in there right Because it was just. It was a perfect fit for us. As far as location, the fact that the majority of the animals that we rescue are cats and they actually have cat condos in the facility, which you know that means my cats are basically being seen seven days a week, you know, 14 hours a day, whereas as a foster based rescue, my cats get seen on Facebook and you know the occasional event that we go to. So that was a tremendous opportunity that I wanted to make sure that, a I got my foot in the door first and, b that I went in with a proposition that was very beneficial to the business, because the inherent benefit to us is kind of already there it's just having access to the physical facility but I wanted to make sure, in going into it, that there would be no hesitation on the part of that business owner to say, well, why wouldn't I want them? They're going to keep these cats cages filled. They're going to do all the work and cleaning and caring for them. They're going to facilitate all the adoptions. They're going to promote our products when they adopt animals out. It's a win um and we do a lot of mutual um. You know social media exchange and promoting each other's. You know we promote their specials, they promote our events.

Amy Castro: 14:50

Um, we do. We host a lot of events there. You know we did things like photos with Santa and we're going to get ready to. In June we're going to do a kitten shower and, um, you know it, it works out well because we're, you know, we've got, we actually have a bigger social media following than the store does, and so they're getting that benefit of our very strong social media following. I mean, our followers are very loyal and so if we say, hey, we're going to be doing this event and you can come in and they're going to set up this special table of items that are just for our kittens that you could come in and buy it's, you know it turns into a win-win and that's what you want. You know you want it to be something where you're not every month thinking, oh gosh, they're coming again. Or, and certainly from the rescue standpoint, oh gosh, we got to do that thing again because we committed to it.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 15:39

No, I love that and I like that. You said you went in with a proposition. You know that's professional, that's put together, that's approaching them with a goal in mind and I think that probably set you apart I know it set you apart from every other rescue or organization that approached them about sharing that space.

Amy Castro: 15:59

Yes, yes, and I think that's something that you have a right to ask. I mean, it's you know again, if you have the ability to pick and choose, because you're in a community that has either multiple rescues or you've got like the city shelter, the county shelter, you know, a rescue, a cat rescue, the donkey rescue, whatever it might be. I mean, I think it's okay to either create your own you know proposal and I highly recommend doing a contract. You know, beyond the proposal, to me the proposal was just a here's why we're awesome and here's how we're going to benefit you. Let's talk more. But when it comes down to, hey, this sounds like something that's going to work for us.

Amy Castro: 16:36

I think having a written contract is super important so that everybody knows who's responsible for us. I think having a written contract is super important so that everybody knows who's responsible for what. And you know we had that, I had that created, I had it done through an attorney, so that it was, you know, kind of has all that legal language and you know, at this point we basically just renew it. As a matter of fact, I just got it back yesterday. We renew it every April and you know, everybody's got the right to make updates and changes to it, but it kind of it like I said, it just clarifies the responsibility, so there's no question about that later on.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 17:12

Yeah, and that's huge. Yeah, you definitely want to go go into it with both parties understanding what, what's expected and what's going on, right?

Off the Leash Announcer: 17:24

understanding what's expected and what's going on Right. We'll be back to our show in just a minute, but first I want to talk to those pet sitting and dog walking business owners who feel like they can't step away from their business for a day, much less a week. You know who you are and I know how you feel, because I was there. I got to the point where I was ready to throw in the towel and quit my business, but I didn't. Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed and overworked in your pet sitting or dog walking business and not sure where to turn?

Off the Leash Announcer: 17:52

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Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 18:49

And it occurs to me too that a lot of the pet business owners out there probably have contact with rescues. You know they because we're all pet lovers. Right, we want to help, we spend our life helping animals. So in most cases, probably even before they started a pet business, they were involved with local rescues. Myself, for example, I was. Well, my point is that that can grow into a partnership. So so, for example, with myself, I was rescuing when I ran my business. Before I even started my business, I was, I was volunteering with a local rescue in Omaha called Muddy Paws wonderful organization, and I was a good name and I was doing home visits for them.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 19:34

So, you know I'd go in, I'd check out the prospective adopter's home and make sure everything was okay for the new pet. And I had done that for a couple of years before I started my business. And when I started my business I started being able to partner with them in other ways, started being able to partner with them in other ways. One way was that I, because I was a volunteer and I had been for a while I was on their. They had a volunteer Facebook private group where they where they.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 20:02

It was all their communication so, and there was hundreds of. It was a. It was a big rescue. There was hundreds of volunteers in this rescue. So they allowed me, because of my history and my relationship with them, to post on their Facebook group for new employees when I needed new pet sitters and dog walkers. And that was huge because it was a pool of pet caregivers that are looking for ways to be more involved with animals and, hey, earn some money while you're doing it. So it really does. It really did turn into a great partnership, but I didn't start out aiming for that partnership, right yeah.

Amy Castro: 20:43

Yeah, and and, and it's often, you know, oftentimes it does. It does grow like that as you as you get to know one another, as you learn more about goals, as goals change along the way, you know you can have those. I think it's just important to have those conversations. One of the things that we have not done but I actually in the communication when I sent the contract renewal is that you know, let's sit down on a quarterly basis. Let's just sit down and talk about how things are going. You know, if the conversation lasts five minutes, great, if it lasts an hour, great.

Amy Castro: 21:14

But really, because we communicate but it's more on the fly about individual issues versus how are you know? How are things going from your perspective? How, how is the store? What are you struggling with? Where can we help? How can we, how can we better support you and vice and vice versa, to have those conversations so that you can plan for the future but also head off issues. You know, that's my, that's my concern is that sometimes, like we, we like to say no news is good news, but when it comes to like a conflict or something that is bothering somebody or a problem, sometimes people like to sit on that for a while, cause it's like, oh, I don't want to make a big deal about it, or, you know, it's really bugging me that this is happening, but I don't want to get anybody in trouble, or yeah, exactly, and so you know it's that meeting, I think, is a good opportunity to kind of sit down and just get any of those things out on the table that need to be need to be addressed, because the relationship changes.

Amy Castro: 22:12

I mean, it was very, very different three years ago when that store was brand new and we were newer and to the point where we are now, like we didn't have the podcast and it's like you know, maybe there's an opportunity where, in return for doing XYZ, we can do a spotlight on the podcast or a commercial or an ad, whatever you want to call it. I mean that just wasn't even an option back in the beginning. So I think having regular meetings, beyond the communication on the fly when you're dropping off a cat or facilitating an adoption, is important.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 22:46

Oh, absolutely, yeah, it's a marriage basically. If you're not having conversations and discussions in your marriage. You're going to get divorced pretty quickly, right, right and I think Monday, you know, Monday morning quarterbacking events.

Amy Castro: 22:59

One of the just brought me to mind so we had done one of our partners is a veterinary office and they, in 2019, they did an event called Dogtoberfest and it was a family oriented outdoor event with activities for kids, things like that. Of course, 2020, nobody did anything. In 2021, they started up again, and so we had also started an event in 2019 called Hallow Wine and that was at a wine bar. It was definitely geared towards adults and it was, you know, completely different event. Again, we didn't do it in 2020. We didn't do it in 2021. And then we kind of started partnering up with that, that vet's office, which she also at the time had a rescue as well. So, anyway, the point of telling that is that we ended up merging and doing this Dogtoberfest the last and doing this Dogtoberfest the last year, and it was really super successful with the combined efforts from the perspective of attendance. However, when it came down to really having conversations about what are our goals, we realized that, although we had good attendance, the objectives that we were trying to achieve were not achieved.

Amy Castro: 24:14

The veterinarian's office.

Amy Castro: 24:16

The goal of putting all that time and effort into doing this event was to attract more clients, right, I mean, that would be one of the benefits.

Amy Castro: 24:24

It's, yes, partly giving back to the community, because the money that was raised went to the rescue, but you know there's an underlying motivation there that hopefully, by being out there and by working on this event, that we will attract clients.

Amy Castro: 24:39

From our perspective, from the rescue, you know it's the same objectives that I mentioned before. It's the donations, getting more volunteers, attracting more adopters, and what we realized after doing Dogtoberfest that although a lot of people came and had a good time, nobody's objectives were met. So it's like, should we do Dogtoberfest again? And we're actually now re-examining that and looking at how either we need to change it, Otherwise we're just putting a lot of time and effort into an event that really isn't having any of the outcomes that we were, we were hoping for. And that's why again, another reason why it's so important to have those conversations as to why are you? Why are you in this? Because I don't think that anybody I mean I knew why we were in it, but from the perspective of the business the veterinarian's office it's like I don't think anybody ever took a look back and said did we actually get any new clients as a result of Dogtoberfest.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 25:42

Yeah, and that's a great point. You really, in all aspects of life, you need to stop, reflect, re-examine and course correct if someone isn't working or meeting your goals.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 25:56

Wow, this is just an amazing amount of information. I'm so excited. I think this is going to be really really helpful for a lot of pet business owners out there who really it's an untapped area for a lot of owners. So you've given us some amazing tips and tools to how to go about that. Is there anything else, before we go, that you'd like to share with our listeners?

Amy Castro: 26:21

No, I just I think you know from the perspective of business, just it's okay to be philanthropic and you know if you want to make a donation, make a donation. But it's also okay to get some reciprocity for your business. If you're going to give up time, you know if you're going to commit employees, if you're going to give up space in your store. And sometimes you just have to ask because on either side of the relationship you know it could be that the rescue is super savvy about marketing and growth and achieving objectives, or it could be not like we're just we're just here to get cats adopted and that's that's kind of all we're about, and we hadn't even thought about you and what we might be able to do to help you. So I think opening up and just basically sharing what your needs and your goals are is is a huge part of that relationship.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 27:11

Awesome, awesome. Well, amy, could you tell us how our viewers and listeners can find you?

Amy Castro: 27:18

Well, it depends on what you want from me. It depends on your goal or your objective. My website for my consulting business and my training business is amycastrocom, so it's pretty easy. If you want to check out the rescue, it's starlight outreach and rescue all spelled outorg. And if you want to check out the podcast, starlight Pet Talk, where we give, we don't do pet business, that's your job, that's your podcast. But we do all kinds of pet care, so maybe you can refer your, your clients, to it. You can find that basically anywhere you know Apple, spotify or our website is starlightpettalkcom.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 28:01

Awesome.

Amy Castro: 28:02

You can find me everywhere.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 28:03

Awesome. I'll put all those links in the show notes for folks as well. Amy, thank you so much for coming and chatting with us today. I've really enjoyed it and I know it will really value our listeners Well, thank you so much for coming and chatting with us today. I've really enjoyed it and I know it will really value our listeners.

Amy Castro: 28:16

Well, thank you so much for having me. It was a good opportunity for me to reflect on the things I'm doing too. It's just an important relationship that you want to cultivate and maintain.

Eliza Burr, the Pet Business Coach: 28:27

That's absolutely true. Good luck with the rescue and I'll talk to you soon.

Amy Castro: 28:31

All right, thank you so much.

Off the Leash Announcer: 28:36

That's our episode for today. I'd also like to invite you to join your peers in the pet business community by joining our Facebook group. Just search for the Pet Business Academy to find a place where you can connect with other pet business professionals. You can also find me, the Pet Business Coach, on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I hope you enjoyed today's show and, if you did, I'd love it if you'd leave me a review. On whatever platform you're tuning in on, and if you're ready to take the plunge and launch your own pet business, or if you feel stagnated and want to take your existing pet business to the next level, then reach out to me for a free coaching session at tpbcdog. That stands for the Pet Business Coach, tpbcdog. And finally, links for all of these resources and any mention in the show can be found on the show notes page by going to the episode website on your phone, scrolling to the bottom and clicking on the show notes link. Thank you so much for tuning in and remember you always have a choice. Don't forget to choose happiness.

Amy Castro: 29:49

Thanks for listening to Starlight Pet Talk. Be sure to visit our website at wwwstarlightpettalkcom for more resources, and be sure to follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app, so you'll never miss a show. If you enjoyed and found value in today's episode, we'd appreciate a rating on Apple. Or if you'd simply tell a friend about the show, that would be great too. Don't forget to tune in next week and every week for a brand new episode of Starlight Pet Talk, and if you don't do anything else this week, give your pets a big hug from us.