Bella In Your Business: Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Podcast

If you've been watching pet business owners post in groups about closing their doors and wondering if you're next... this is for you. Because there is a wave coming. And the line between who survives and who sells out is being drawn right now — and AI is the divider. Timestamps [0:00] — Cold open: $80 billion just bet on the future of AI [2:00] — Why this affects YOUR pet sitting business [3:30] — The Google + Anthropic deal explained simply [6:00] — OpenAI just announced agents are replacing GPTs [7:00] — Magai: how to access every major AI model in one place [8:00] — The listener message I had to read on air [9:30] — Three reasons the selling wave is starting RIGHT NOW [11:00] — A line in the sand: who this episode is NOT for [12:30] — How the AI gap will split this industry in two [14:30] — VC and private equity are circling pet businesses [16:00] — The 3-layer survival system: SOPs ? Brain ? Agents [19:00] — Why you cannot do this alone [20:00] — Mastermind invitation + your one action this week In This Episode You'll Discover Why a wave of pet sitting businesses are quietly closing or selling in 2026 (and the three reasons converging at once) What the $80 billion Google and Amazon investment in Anthropic actually means for small business owners The line in the sand: who is positioned to survive this shift, and who will get left behind The 3-layer AI survival system — SOPs, AI brain, and agents — and why skipping any layer guarantees failure Why first-mover pet business owners will be the BUYERS in the consolidation wave, not the sellers About This Episode Bella Vasta is the CEO and founder of Jump Consulting and the host of Bella in Your Business — the longest-standing pet business podcast in the industry. She has coached pet sitters and small business owners for over 25 years, and is widely recognized as the go-to voice for AI integration in the pet industry. Her Jumpers Mastermind has helped pet business owners scale, hire, and now adopt AI in ways their competitors haven't even considered. Resources Mentioned in This Episode The Jumpers Mastermind — Monday-Friday access to Bella, two live monthly meetings, free monthly coaching call, and 8 years of archives — the room where Bella teaches the SOPs, AI brain, agents' progression in real time. Magai (30% off, all major AI models in one place) — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok in one subscription — so you're not locked into one vendor as the AI landscape changes. How to Set Up Claude in Your Pet Business (Bella's recent blog) — The step-by-step companion to layer 2 of the survival system — building an AI brain that actually knows your business. Free 20-Minute Call With Bella — Bring one problem. Bella helps you think through it. No pitch. Connect with Bella Website Sessions with Bella The Jumpers Mastermind Subscribe to Bella in Your Business Bella's Website Find Bella on Instagram and Facebook — search Bella Vasta Frequently Asked Questions Q: Why are pet sitting businesses closing in 2026? A: Three pressures are converging at the same time. First, many of these businesses launched 15 to 20 years ago and the founders are ready to exit. Second, profit margins are getting squeezed by rising wages, insurance costs, and taxes. Third — and this is the one nobody is talking about yet — AI is creating a competitive gap where businesses that have adopted it can serve more clients with less staff, and the businesses that haven't are watching their bookings drift to competitors who can. Q: Will AI replace pet sitters? A: No. AI cannot walk a dog, give a cat insulin, or sit with a senior pet. What AI replaces is the back-office workload — the inquiries, scheduling, care notes, hiring, marketing, and admin work that eats your evenings. Pet sitters who use AI well will have MORE time for the actual care work. Pet sitters who refuse to use AI will burn out trying to compete. Q: Should I sell my pet sitting business? A: Only if you've decided you're done — not because you're tired of the admin. The pet business owners who sell out of exhaustion in 2026 will likely sell low, because consolidators and venture capital firms know the seller is desperate. If your real problem is overwhelm, the answer might not be to sell — it might be to learn AI, document your business, and let the systems carry the weight. That's what the Jumpers Mastermind exists to teach. Q: What did Google's $40 billion investment in Anthropic actually mean for small businesses? A: It signals that the company building Claude — which most pet business owners haven't even tried yet — is about to get faster, cheaper, and more powerful, with Google's compute and data center infrastructure behind it. Practically, that means Claude will likely show up inside Google Workspace, Gmail, Drive, and Calendar over the next 12 to 18 months. The small business owners who already know how to use Claude will be ahead. The ones still using only ChatGPT may find themselves on the wrong tool when the shift happens. Q: How do pet business owners actually start using AI without getting overwhelmed? A: There is a specific order. Layer one: document your standard operating procedures (SOPs) — every process in your business written down. Layer two: feed those SOPs into an AI like Claude to give it a 'brain' that actually knows your business. Layer three: build agents that can run pieces of your business for you. Most owners try to skip to layer three and fail. Get the SOPs done first. Everything else builds from there. Full Episode Transcript Google just dropped $40 billion to Anthropic. $40 billion! That brings the total that Google has put into the company that builds Claude, Anthropic, to over $55 billion in two years. Billion with a B, okay? And Amazon is in for another $45 billion. So the company that makes Claude and the AI tool I literally use every single day in my business and life. just had $80 billion walk through its front door by the two largest cloud companies on the planet. Okay? The number is bigger than the GDP, gross domestic product, of most countries. And here's why this matters to you. Because while everyone else is still asking if they should bother to use AI or a prompt for chat GPT, the biggest company in the world, they're telling us exactly where this is going. with their checkbooks. And in this episode, I'm going to tell you what I think happens next and why a wave of pet sitting businesses and small businesses across the whole country are about to sell clothes or get swallowed up and what the people listening to this podcast need to do right now so that you don't become one of them. Hi, I'm Bella and this is Bella in Your Business. Let's get into it. Real quick before we dive in, if you haven't subscribed yet or hit like or subscribe or any of that, wherever you're listening, this episode is one that you're wanna come back to. You're gonna wanna save it, you're gonna wanna share it with your friends. And if you know one small business owner who is overwhelmed by all this AI stuff, share the episode with them. Don't let them get left behind and let them understand what's going on on a higher 30,000 foot view, all right? So let's... Let's get into. And if you know one other small business owner who's overwhelmed by all of this AI stuff, share this episode with them. Please don't let them get left behind. It's gonna be a very big overview so that everyone's gonna be able to consume this and then percolate on what they should do in their own business. I cannot wait to get into it. All right, so you've been hearing about all these AI investments and your eyes glaze over because honestly, who can even comprehend billions of dollars, right? and like 40 billion, 65 billion, 80 billion, it sounds like monopoly money. But here's what's actually happening underneath those numbers and why I want you to pay attention. All right, so most business owners scroll past these headlines because what does it have to do with you, right? Like you're trying to fill a schedule, hire a sitter, get out of the weeds. You don't have time to track what a tech company is doing and who bought out who or whatever. Like I get it, I do, and that's why I'm here. I saw a really sharp breakdown from Jonathan Maas this week and I wanted to pull a few pieces out of it because what he laid out is something that every business owner needs to understand. So here's what's going on. Google has been quietly building a stake in Anthropic for a couple of years now. 300 million here, 200 or 2 billion there. They were already around 14 % ownership and now they just took another 40 put another 40 billion on the table. With performance milestones attached, like you get more if you perform X, all right? Google doesn't write a $40 billion check to companies that they plan to sit back and watch. This is what Jonathan says. Performance milestones mean that Google has a seat at the table for what Claude becomes next, how fast it moves, what it builds, which is just mind blowing because Google also has Gemini. Are you staying in here with me? Okay? I mean, And then on the other side, Amazon is also up for 25 billion running Claude through Amazon AWS, through AWS. AWS is like what like holds the cloud compute for so many companies, all right? So putting it inside Amazon Bedrock, so any developer building on Amazon's cloud has Claude right there in the cloud already. So the company that already makes Claude, has the two biggest cloud providers in the world elbowing each other to be their preferred provider. Are you with me? Okay, and this isn't an accident, it's leverage. And here's where it gets really interesting. Right now the most well known tool is ChatGBT by millions on the numbers, okay? And most of you have probably tried it, you probably have a subscription to it, but Claude, the one Google, like,

Your clients are not searching the way they used to. And if your website is still built for the old rules — you are invisible in the new ones. TIMESTAMPS: [0:00] — Someone booked a call with me from ChatGPT. Here is what that means for your business. [1:30] — The Google problem: why clicking and backing out is exhausting your clients [3:00] — What SEO is and why it still matters (but is no longer enough) [6:30] — What AIO is and the one line that explains the difference [8:30] — The 12% stat: why 88% of websites are invisible to AI right now [10:00] — The three things your website needs for AI to recommend you [13:00] — The villain: the business owner who keeps saying 'I'll do it later' [15:00] — What it actually looks like when it's working [16:30] — Your 3-minute self-audit: do this before the episode ends IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL DISCOVER: What SEO is and why it still matters in 2026 What AIO (AI Optimization) is and how it is completely different from SEO Why 88% of small business websites are invisible to AI search right now — and how to check if yours is one of them The three things your website must have for ChatGPT and Perplexity to recommend you A 3-minute self-audit you can do tonight to see exactly where you stand ABOUT THIS EPISODE: The way your clients find you has changed. They are not Googling and clicking through ten links anymore. They are having conversations with AI — and AI is recommending someone. In this episode, Bella breaks down the difference between SEO and AIO, explains why 88% of small business websites are invisible to AI tools right now, and walks through exactly what you need to fix it. No tech degree required. This is strategy, not software. A NOTE ON THE STATS IN THIS EPISODE: Every statistic Bella cites has a source link in the show notes below, along with who funded the study and what their potential bias is. Bella believes you deserve to fact-check her. Click any link and see for yourself. RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED: Magai — All the major AI models in one place — 30% off for 3 months Website Sessions with Bella — 6 focused sessions to rewrite your website for AI search The Jumpers Mastermind — Where Bella works with business owners on AI, hiring, marketing, and more Eight Oh Two 2026 AI Search Study — The 37% stat — who did it and their bias (self-funded marketing agency) Seer Interactive ChatGPT Conversion Study — The conversion rate data — one B2B client, 6 months Schema.org Structured Data — The 12.4% stat source — neutral standards body, no commercial bias Xponent21 AI Overviews Analysis — The 60% Google AI Overview stat Search Engine Land AI Referral Traffic — The 527% growth stat — owned by Semrush, editorial independent CONNECT WITH BELLA: Website Sessions with Bella The Jumpers Mastermind Subscribe to Bella in Your Business Bella's Website Find Bella on Instagram and Facebook — search Bella Vasta FAQ SECTION: What is the difference between SEO and AIO? SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of structuring your website so Google ranks it in search results. AIO (AI Optimization) is structuring your website so AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews can read, understand, and recommend you. SEO gets you found. AIO makes you the answer. Both matter in 2026 — but most small business websites have only been built for one of them. What is AIO and why does it matter for small business owners? AIO stands for AI Optimization — also called AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) or GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) depending on who you ask. The industry has not settled on one term yet. What they all mean is the same thing: structuring your website content so AI tools can read it, trust it, and recommend your business when someone asks for help with the problem you solve. As more people use ChatGPT and Perplexity to find services, businesses that are not optimized for AI are losing referrals they never even know about. How do I know if my website is visible to AI? Open ChatGPT or Perplexity. Do not search your business name — search the problem your ideal client has, the way they would actually type it. If your business does not come up, that is your answer. Other signals: your website has not been updated in over a year, you do not have a blog, your homepage is vague about who you serve and how, and your site does not use structured data (schema markup). All of these reduce how findable you are to AI tools. What is schema markup and do I need it? Schema markup is code you add to your website that tells AI systems exactly what your business does, who you serve, what questions you answer, and why you are credible. Without it, AI has to guess — and AI would rather recommend someone it does not have to guess about. As of 2025, only about 12% of websites use any structured data at all. That means the businesses who add it now have a significant early advantage in AI search visibility. Does my website need a blog for AI search? Yes. A blog is one of the highest-value things on your website for AI visibility. AI tools favor content that is specific, answers real questions, and has been published recently. A blank or outdated blog page gives AI very little to work with. You do not need to publish every day — consistent, specific, question-answering content matters more than volume. If you have not posted in over six months, that is your most urgent gap. Full Episode Transcript Someone booked a call with me recently and I asked what I always ask. How did you hear about me? And she said, chat GPT, not Google, not Instagram, not like I saw you on my feed or I was on your email list or I listened to your podcast, podcast, what you're listening to right now It was chat GPT. She had been mid conversation trying to figure out a problem and was asking what top consultants could help her with the problem. And chat GPT told her me. and proceeded to explain more than just my name, but the reasons why. That conversation stopped me cold because what I realized is what if my website had not been set up the right way? That conversation would have ended with someone else's name. And then I started thinking of you and your website and whether AI even knows you exist. Welcome back to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta. I've been doing this podcast since 2014 for you, my small business, pet sitting business, dog walking business, dog grooming business, dog training business, all of you, since 2014. Your clients are not searching the way that they used to. And if your website is still built the old way, then You are invisible in the new way. And so today we're going to talk about SEO, AIO. There's a couple of different forms of that, AEO. And there's a couple others, but for the sake of the show and today, March 20, 26, I'm going to call it AIO. And what to do in the next 90 days will determine whether your business is findable or just existing. OK, I want you to think about the last time you Googled something for your business. So you typed it in, then 10 blue links came back. You clicked one, it wasn't quite right, so you hit back. Then you clicked another one and shoot, it was an ad. Clicked back, you scrolled, you got distracted, you got overwhelmed, and then you gave up. That's what your clients are doing when they Google you. Or the problem that you solve, or the service that you offer. They're clicking, they're backing out, and they're clicking, and they're backing out, exhausted. Because before they have even found you, they're just overwhelmed. Now think about what it feels like to have a conversation with Chachi BT when you're trying to figure something out. It's different, right? It like listens to your whole situation. You feel heard. It asks follow up questions sometimes and it gives you one clear answer instead of 10 options that you have to sort through yourself. And when it says you should go talk to this person, you go because it felt like advice, not advertising. All right. Before I give you some numbers, I want to be upfront about something. A lot of statistics in marketing worlds are produced by companies that have a financial interest before believing in them. All right. So for every stat in this episode, I have put the source in the show notes. You want to go to JumpConsulting.net, click on podcast and you could find that so you can know who did the study, who paid for it, what their potential bias is. And I want you to go fact check me, like not because I'm hiding anything, but because A business owner who makes decisions based off of bad data is worse off than a business decision being made, like no business decision being made at all. And so here's what the research says with full context. A marketing agency called 802 surveyed 500 people who have already used AI tools. 37 % they say that they now start their searches with AI instead of Google. And here's what I want you to know. 802 sells AI search strategy services. So they do have a financial interest in what you're carrying about with this number. I'm telling you that because you deserve to know, but the finding really does line up with what I'm watching in my own business and what I hear from all the other experts that I follow. Okay. So take it with context and decide for yourself. But here's the question that I want you to sit with while you're reading this right now. Someone's having a conversation with AI. about the exact problem you solve. my gosh, I wanna go to Las Vegas this weekend and shoot, I need a dog walker. Who do you know near me, okay? It doesn't show a list of links unless you pick. It reads the website behind the scenes. It reads it and it crawls it for your structure, your content, your copy, the unique value proposition that you have. And it decides whether you're credible enough to

How do you switch Ai platforms? With the recent events of AWS centers being bombed, the Department of War threatening to label Caude as a "supply chain risk" and Open Ai stepping in and "saving the day" there is a lot that you need to consider with your Ai strategy. In this episode, I’m stripping away the politics and the drama to give you the facts you need to protect your workflows. I’ll show you why you are the operating system, and why being "AI literate" is the only way to thrive when the tech landscape starts shifting under your feet. In This Episode You'll Discover Why Anthropic refused military access to Claude and the two specific lines they won't cross. How Sam Altman signed a military deal hours after Anthropic was blacklisted. The first time a U.S. tech data center was knocked offline by military action. A high-level breakdown of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and the autonomous agent Manus. My 3-step process to export your custom GPTs and replicate them across any platform in 15 minutes. Takeaways AI is transforming the business landscape and requires attention. Military involvement in AI raises ethical concerns and operational risks. Data center outages can significantly impact business operations. Understanding multiple AI platforms is crucial for business resilience. AI literacy is more important than loyalty to a single platform. Switching AI platforms is easier than perceived; it's about mindset. Your expertise is the core of your operations, not the AI tool. Practical steps can simplify the transition between AI platforms. Staying curious and flexible is key to thriving in uncertainty. The future belongs to those who can think critically with AI. Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction to the Current AI Landscape 06:08 – The Impact of Global Events on AI Infrastructure 14:59 – The Importance of AI Literacy 21:01 – Practical Steps for Transitioning Between AI Platforms Notable Quotes "AI literacy beats AI loyalty every single time." "You are the operating system. The AI is just an app." "The future belongs to the people who learned how to think with AI, no matter which tool they're holding." Resources and Links Blog Post: This post includes the exact prompts, step-by-step screenshots, and markdown instructions mentioned in the episode. Jumpconsulting.net/magai: Use this link for 30% off your first three months. Mastermind Intensives Transcript Hey, so I need to talk to you this episode and it's gonna be a little bit different from what we normally do. And I want you all to really listen. I understand that a lot of you are probably doing laundry, driving around, walking dogs, like getting the kid from school, but like I want you to listen up because I'm gonna throw a lot at you today. It's gonna feel a little bit doom and gloomy, but it's not intended that way. It's actually intended to be very empowering. So stick with me all through this episode and I promise to give you a direction. The world is shifting right now. And if you're a business owner who uses AI, which if you're listening to this show, you probably are, then what is happening is gonna be directly affecting you. And I'm not gonna be dramatic, okay? I'm gonna literally tell you the facts and then I'm gonna distill it, strain it down to exactly how this is gonna help your business, okay? So let's just... paint the picture right now, the state of the world. So let me like that. We'll set the stage here. Okay. And I'm going to also keep it at high level. I'm not going to get into politics. I'm going to give you the facts that matter for your business. And if you're listening to this in the future, I am recording this in March of 2026. I am so interested in what my future self thinks about this episode and how things are going to develop over time because it is the most exciting and wild time to ever have a business. I've said that before and I keep, I will keep saying that. All right, so let's go. So Anthropic, they're the company who makes Claude, all right? And it's one of the AI tools that I use every single day. If you follow me on my Facebook page, you'll see that I am like, I wanna marry Claude. Not really, but, and I feel like Claude is talking to an intentional adult and I feel like ChatGBT is like an ADHD, five year old, okay? And they're very, very different. That's not to say that they both don't have their strengths and weaknesses. But listen, this week the Department of War, that's what we're calling it now, wanted Anthropic to give military unrestricted access to Claude's AI technology. And the Anthropic CEO said, no, he drew two red lines. He said, one, Claude cannot be used for mass domestic surveillance on American citizens. Bella Vasta (02:23.424) And two, that it cannot be used to fully power autonomous weapons that make targeting and firing decisions without the human in the loop. It was also said that that was actually used in Venezuela back in February when we did that. I think it was February. And that didn't go over well. President Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using anthropics technology. They have a six month period to phase it out and the... the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth went even further and he said that he's designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk. That label is normally reserved for foreign adversaries and has never been applied to an American company before. Now hundreds of tech workers from companies like OpenAI, IBM, Salesforce, Slack and Cursor have signed an open letter urging the government to reverse this decision. And so there's a lot of pushback that's happening. And on top of that, Claude went down today. That was this morning when I'm recording this on the second of March in the morning. A major global outage. The company says it's been dealing with unprecedented demand, which makes sense because after all this news broke, Claude actually shot to number one on the Apple App Store. People are rallying behind all of this, all right? Now this is just, this is what's happening right now, okay? Right now, it's really important. to not necessarily react, but I want you guys to understand this information. so, Claude could get harder to access, whether it's because of governmental pressure, demands from outages, or infrastructure issues, which I'll get into a second. It's a real thing, no matter what, it's a real thing and it impacts your business, which is why I'm here today, okay? So now, here's where it gets interesting, and honestly a little messy. Earlier this week, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI actually came out and praised Anthropic for taking a stand. He wrote a company memo that was seen by the BBC and it wasn't just an Anthropic issue. It was an issue for the whole entire industry. And that was important to clarify because it's where everyone stands. And then literally hours after Anthropic got blacklisted on Friday, OpenAI swooped in and signed a deal with the Department of War. Bella Vasta (04:43.64) to deploy its models in a classified military environment. So on one hand, OpenAI is saying we stand with Anthropic, and on the other hand, they're signing a deal that Anthropic just refused to sign. Altman himself said that the deal was quote, definitely rushed, and that he did it because he wanted to deescalate things between the government and the AI industry. Bella Vasta (05:10.914) I used to watch all my children with my mom when I was little. This has got nothing on this. Now in all fairness, OpenAI says that the deal includes the same red lines, no mass surveillance, no autonomous weapons, and they asked the governments to make those same terms available to all AI companies, including Anthropic. So they're framing it as we took one for the team by trying to fix this for everyone. Now, Sam says that the deal includes some same red lines, no mass surveillance, no autonomous weapons. He says that OpenAI's contract is actually more guardrails than the previous agreements, and they'll keep control of their safety systems. And they deploy through the cloud only, and they have cleared up OpenAI personnel in the loop. Yes, I am reading this, you guys, because this is a lot of facts, and I need to make sure that I'm getting them correctly for you. But like, literally, let's be real. A lot of people are not buying into this. There's been significant backlash. Some people have literally started campaigns to boycott Chachi BT and switch to Claude and protest. And critics are pointing out that saying we support you and then making the contract you just refused is a choice. So both of the two biggest AI platforms are now tangled up in military contracts, government drama, and public controversy. That's the landscape that we're living in, in March of 2026. All right, so the war and your data centers. This is something else that gets really real that I want you guys to understand. Now as you probably know, the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran this past weekend. Guys, I have never talked about any of this on the podcast before, okay? But this is all laying the foundation for what I need you to understand as a basis of what I'm about to tell you. Okay, so Iran's supreme leader was killed. Iran retaliated with massive drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, hitting targets in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and more. And one of the things that got hit, it was an Amazon Web Services data center in the UAE. Objects struck the facility, caused a fire, and knocked it offline. A second data center in the same region went down after that. AWS centers in Bahrain, I hope I'm saying that right. Bella Vasta (07:30.71) are also experiencing connectivity issues. Now think about that for a second, because I know you guys have all lived through when AWS goes down. It affects like a lot of websites that we use, okay?

Are you still climbing ladders to clean gutters at 6 p.m. because your "reliable" hire ghosted you? Or maybe you’re the dog walker getting called in for a shift because someone bailed an hour before it started. I know you’re exhausted, and I know you feel like you’ve tried everything even praying about it or putting it out into the universe. But the truth is, you’re likely hiring on a hope and a prayer because you’re desperate for help, not work. In this episode, I’m pulling you off the hamster wheel. We’re moving from chaos to a proven system: the 10-Step Jump Hiring Method. I’m breaking down how to stop hiring "anyone with a pulse" and start building a team that actually values the opportunity. We’ll talk about why your gut feeling is lying to you, how to write job ads that read like love letters, and why investing in your people from day one changes everything. Stop guessing. Start building. In This Episode You'll Discover How to stop looking for "hard workers" and start defining your dream team member. Why your boring job ads are attracting people who don't care and how to write ads that hit emotional buttons. Using "anti-questions" to make the wrong people self-select out before they waste your time. Why hiring off a "gut feeling" is like getting married on the first date (and how to fix it). The simple math equation to know exactly when you can afford to hire without the late-night anxiety. A simple trick to ensure you talk only 20% of the time during interviews. How to make a new hire feel like a human, not a cog in a machine, from day one. Timestamps 02:29 – The reality of ghosting and why "hiring on a prayer" fails. 04:54 – Why hiring based on a "gut feeling" is like getting married on the first date. 07:17 – The math of hiring: How to know if you can actually afford to grow. 09:38 – Phase One: Defining your ideal candidate avatar beyond just a "pulse". 12:01 – Using knockout questions to make the wrong people self-select out. 14:24 – Building a phased process and using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). 18:49 – The "Drink Test": How to master the 80/20 rule in interviews. Notable Quotes: "Your hiring process should make people work for the opportunity to work for you." "When you hire based off of a gut feeling, you're hiring someone you liked, not someone who's competent." "Hiring is not a panic decision. It's a math equation." Resources and Links Get organized and stop the resume chaos. Click here to try my favorite applicant tracking system: Breezy HR (ATS): bellavasta.com/breezy Want to stop losing your best people? Grab the book that changed how I look at retention: Never Lose an Employee by Joey Coleman Take the guesswork out of personality and honesty. Use these assessments to vet your next hire: Assessments: Orion Test or Predictive Index Ready for a personalized audit of your system? Book a session and let’s fix your business together: Strategy Call with Bella: bellavasta.com Have a specific question or need a partner hookup? Shoot me a message directly: bella@bellavasta.com Transcript Welcome everybody to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta. Today, we're going to talk about something that almost every single one of you are affected by. And that's how we feel about our hiring method. Are you the one that's still climbing ladders to clean gutters at 6 p.m. because your reliable employee ghosted you? Are you the one answering emergency HVAC calls at midnight because you can't trust anyone else with your clients? Are you the dog walker that's getting called in because someone decided to call out an hour before their shift? If you're stuck on that hamster wheel, alright, spinning and spinning and spinning, working in your business instead of on your business, we're gonna fix that today. We're gonna talk about it because you're not alone. You're actually very similar to a lot of other people there and I'm gonna help give you all the information you need in this episode to help get you over that hump once and for all. Because here's the thing, like I know that you need help. I know that you can't scale like all by yourself, but like every single time you try to hire and you have, you really have tried to hire properly, okay? It's a disaster. You've given it your all, you've done every single thing you know how to do. Even prayed about it or put it out into the universe, okay? But today we're going to move from chaos and hoping for the best to a proven system, the 10 step jump hiring method. And by the end of this episode, you're going to know exactly how to build a team, all of the steps. And I would even maybe recommend that you record this episode. Here's a quick little AI hack. Record what I'm about to tell you right now, or go grab the transcript from the show notes and then put it into Chat Sheep E.T. to give you all the Cliff Notes. That being said, please stay with me for this whole episode because you're not going to want to miss out on the inspiration that you're going to get from hearing what I have to say. Okay. Can we actually talk about ghosting for a minute though, before we get into all of it? Like you've posted a job on Indeed. You maybe get like three responses. You schedule the interviews, you arrange like your entire day just to be available for this meeting. You are hoping that they show up and it's amazing. but then they don't show up. There's no call, there's no texting, nothing. Or worse, they do show up for the interview, you hire them and then maybe one day they're cleaning houses and poof, they vanish into thin air. You text them, nothing. You call, straight to voicemail. And then like two hours later you get some halfway email saying, sorry, I had something come up. Does that sound familiar? I'm pretty sure that every single business owner has experienced a version of that at some point during their career. But here's what's happening. You're hiring on a hope and a prayer and you're so desperate for help, not work, and those are two different things when someone works for you versus helps you. But you're so desperate that you'll take anyone with a pulse. Your job ad probably says something boring like, pest control technician needed or dog walker with a list of requirements that sounds like a corporate robot wrote it. And you feel great because you're like, hey, AI helped me write this. And then you wonder why you attract people who don't care. Let me bust a myth right now. The problem is not that good employees don't exist. And that's what everyone wants to say because that takes it away from being their problem. or they're them as a part of the solution. I've seen it happen countless times. The problem is that you don't have a system. You don't have hoops. You don't have filters. So when someone could just walk right into your business and get hired after one conversation, they have no skin in the game. They didn't earn it. And they also don't want it. They just kind of need the paycheck right now. So therefore they don't value it. Is this starting to like, it might rub up against some of you a little harshly right now because it's stuff that you kind of know is already true, you just don't want to hear. But don't worry, because I've got solutions for you today. Your hiring process should make people work for the opportunity to work for you. And we're going to talk about exactly how to do all that. What about the gut feeling though? Any of you guys, you know, like hire off of your gut? You interview someone for your service. They seem nice. They smile a lot. They tell you they're really good with details. You like them. So you hire them on the spot. You're like, my gosh, something just, I just feel so connected to you. It's like being on a first date and like getting married. It's not gonna work. Here's the analogy. Like literally like you go and you want a first date with someone and you meet them and you decide to get married that night. That's never gonna happen. But in hiring, one interview, you're basically handing them the keys to your business and your clients homes. But the danger is massive here. When you hire based off of a gut feeling, you're hiring someone you liked, not someone who's competent. Those are two completely different things. Now, you definitely have to like them, but you don't know if they're competent yet. And that friendly person who seemed really great turns out they don't know the difference between a flexy lead and a hornist. But hey, they made you feel good. And the fix? You need a process that forces you to date around. You need to interview multiple people before making a decision and go on multiple dates with that person. You need to test their skills, their reliability, their attention to detail. Your gut is great for some things, but hiring? You need data and you need a system. Here's another big thing that I see happening. And I'm asking you all of these things because I really want you to understand I know exactly where you are, okay? Like the fear of investing in the late night worrying, okay? How many of you lay awake at night, and I'm willing to guess this is everyone listening right now, saying can I even afford to hire someone? Or what if I invest all this time in training and certifications and education and then they quit? What if I buy them uniforms and equipment and they disappear? I get it. Like I've been there. The fear is real. And what happens is this makes people say, well, after you've been with me for 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, then I'll get you the certification or uniform or whatever it might be. And the counterpoint to that, this is gonna change your business forever. You don't invest in them. If, no, sorry, if you don't invest in them. They have no real reason to be loyal to you. Like think about it, you get a new hire, right? And you don't give them a company shirt.

What is it going to take to finally get your social media reach and engagement back? This episode answers that exact question by revealing why your current strategy might be failing and what specific shifts you must make to thrive in the 2026 landscape. I am coming at you with news that might be hard to hear: if you are still doing social media like it is 2023, you are doing it wrong. You are wasting time and money on tactics that the algorithms no longer understand. In 2026, the landscape has shifted drastically because of AI, and if you are not evolving, you are invisible. I am breaking down exactly what is OUT. People want authenticity. They want to see your face, not just your logo. It is time to build momentum with authentic consistency so your clients can finally feel a real connection with you. In This Episode You'll Discover Why educational tip lists and infographics are no longer capturing attention. The truth about hashtags and why Instagram has limited you to just five. How to use "edutainment" to teach your audience while keeping them engaged. The power of keywords and social SEO over traditional discovery methods. Why unpolished, "FaceTime style" reels are winning in 2026. My "just press post" mindset to overcome perfectionism and build momentum. Timestamps 00:00 – Welcome and why 2023 social media tactics are dead. 03:42 – What is OUT: Boring educational posts and hashtag overload. 06:37 – Stop using over-polished graphics and "bait and switch" content. 12:24 – What is IN: Edutainment and leveraging Social SEO keywords. 18:00 – Why casual carousels and FaceTime style reels perform better. 22:22 – Adopting the "just press post" mindset and signature series. 24:47 – Your 2026 action plan for authentic consistency. Notable Quotes "If you're still doing social media like it's 2023, you're drastically doing it wrong." "Hashtags are out, SEO is in. Hashtags alone do nothing now for reach." "The more unpolished you are, the better. You will be rewarded for it." "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. The new game is momentum." Resources and Links Jump Consulting Calendar: Get a verbal audit of your social media at JumpConsulting.net/20. Email Me: Send your feedback or questions to Bella@JumpConsulting.net. YouTube: Watch video versions of these episodes at my YouTube channel. Jump Mastermind: Learn about our strategy and AI systems inside the mastermind. Transcript Welcome back to another episode of Bella in your business. Happy New Year. It is January 6th, 2026 at the drop of this episode. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and got to do everything that you wanted to or it was a big awakening and you realized some things need to change. And with some of that change might come your social media because I've got news for you today that's going to be a little hard to hear. If you're still doing social media like it's 2023, you're drastically doing it wrong. You are wasting your time and you are wasting money if you are paying someone who is doing your social media the same exact way that you were doing it in 2023. That also goes for all my previous better marketing with Bella clients where we were serving 40 companies a month and we were giving you lots of graphics. Today I'm gonna give you actual statistics straight from the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri. I am going to tell you what you need to stop doing and what you need to start doing. Things are changing. AI has literally changed the landscape of so many things drastically in 2025 and we're now in 2026. It's imperative that you understand the differences. How many of you have been focusing on Instagram or posting on Facebook and doing all the things that you've been told to do and your reach is like crickets? Your engagement's probably down. You're wondering why the algorithm hates your business. You're using all this AI stuff thinking finally I know what to post and now your volume has gone up, but your attraction has not. Well, there's a reason for that and I'm actually really excited to deliver this whole message. I went through that in the summer. I was like, what is happening? I never teach about stuff that I don't know about, that I haven't tried and tested myself and I haven't done it with my clients. Part of the reason why I switched from a one to many model with better marketing with Bella where we were doing 40 companies to only half a dozen companies where I get to customize their content is because it doesn't work the way it used to work anymore. I am not about taking anyone's money without an ROI, without a sincere desire to make their life better. Meta has been making major, major shifts in groups, your personal page, and your business page. If you're still doing what worked in 23 or 24, then you're speaking the language that the platforms don't even understand anymore. You might as well be talking Japanese in Russia. Today I'm going to break down exactly what's out and what's in for 2026. I've been talking about this on my own socials for months and no one's been listening to me. If this stings and you don't know where to go, reach out, let's talk. Not everyone is a fit for Marketing with Bella and this is not a pitch for Marketing with Bella. I could still get on a phone call with you for 20 minutes, give you a verbal audit of your social, and give you some tips or tricks or ideas on how to do it. If you're gonna hire someone to do your social, that comes with a huge responsibility for you. You need to be a good leader. You need to tell them what your keywords are, what your strategy is, what your lingo is, hopefully have a GPT so they can talk just like you. You have to have your pillars. If you hire someone for a lower cost, you have to tell them what to do. If you're gonna hire someone for two, $3,000 a month, then they're gonna be a strategist and they're gonna know and that's it. But a lot of pet companies don't have that kind of budget. This is why I have to give you this knowledge and educate you. Here is the first thing that's out: Boring educational posts with a hashtag overload. Those purely educational posts, the tip lists, the infographics with bullet points, they're out. And while we're at it, those 30 hashtags that you've been adding to every post are also out. Instagram just limited it to five hashtags now. I still see you guys doing that wrong too; it's like national hashtags instead of local hashtags. People aren't scrolling Instagram and Facebook to learn. They're scrolling it to be entertained. According to Brock Johnson, if you're reading a script straight from a camera about the importance of something with no story or emotion, the viewers are gonna tune out. Even if you put that script onto a carousel or onto a graphic, nobody cares. The five reasons to hire a professional pet sitter post with the stock photos and the bullet points makes your audience's eyes glaze over. Instagram has pivoted from hashtag based discovery to keyword and AI based search. Every single one of your posts has to be like a micro blog and a micro blog has to have certain keywords in it in order for the search engines and for AI to pick it up. Instagram is now officially recommending using only three to five relevant hashtags. Hootsuite ran an experiment that posts with keyword rich captions got 30% more reach than posts stuffed with hashtags. Hashtags are out, SEO is in. If your hashtags are coming over from Instagram to Facebook, you really look like a pilgrim in a fancy ball. The number two thing I need you to stop doing is over polished graphics and bait and switch content. Those perfectly branded Canva templates with matching fonts and colors are not performing like they used to. Research found that audiences crave authentic perfection more than polished perfection. People have grown tired of the perfectly curated magazine-like aesthetic. Posts with human faces are 38% more likely to get likes and 32% more to get comments. People want to see people, not just graphics. I want to know what your team looks like. I want to know what you look like. Who am I hiring? Do not hide behind the logo. We are inundated with more information. When you're a pet business and you have pets, entertain the people. You need faces. I'm constantly harping saying I need more videos and more pictures of people in them. Those "read the caption" reels and the five second video of people saying to look below for info need to die. These are Instagram equivalents of click bait. Research shows those reels have a low watch time and poor completion rates, which kills your reach. The number three thing is overthinking, random posting, and chasing every trend. Mindset is way more powerful than any tactics. Always think as a journalist. Everything is content. People want to see those behind the scenes kind of things. Overthinking your content is out. All you perfectionists, you're not cool anymore. Posting random disconnected content without a strategy is out. Chasing every viral trend is out. If I go to your feed and all I see is graphics, you look like a newsletter for pet information. It's boring. Instagram's analysis found that accounts going from one to two posts a week to three to four posts had more than doubled their follower growth rate. If you don't post consistently or if it's all over the place, the algorithm doesn't know who to show your content to. Unless you're constantly posting about dog walking and pet sitting in your city in the caption, the algorithm's not gonna be able to follow you. Let’s switch gears to what’s in. The first thing is edumtainment—education plus entertainment blending so your audience learns without it feeling like a chore. Figure out how you're unique and present it in a funny way, whether it's a funny picture or story, and tell them that's why you're different. Instead of a boring five tips for preparing your pet for vacation,

What if I told you the best clients are already looking for you, but your message is accidentally pushing them away? In this episode, I dive deep into the psychology of pet owners, showing you how to build a 'Customer Avatar' so accurate, they feel like you're reading their mind. Discover the simple, emotional language, and your 'transformational messaging' that instantly turns curious leads into lifetime clients. Plus, the AI tool that makes this all effortless In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Your marketing may be costing you clients. Focus on customer pain points, not just credentials. Create detailed customer avatars for effective targeting. Transformational messaging is key to connecting with clients. Emotional connection drives trust and loyalty. Your homepage should address client worries first. Use AI to streamline your marketing efforts. Generic marketing fails to resonate with potential clients. Understand your ideal client's fears and desires. Marketing should reflect the transformation clients seek. Timestamps: 00:00 The Cost of Ineffective Marketing02:39 Understanding Customer Pain Points05:45 Creating Effective Customer Avatars08:31 The Importance of Deep Understanding11:44 Transformational Messaging in Marketing14:27 The Power of Emotional Connection17:05 Crafting Compelling Content20:01 Navigating Change in Marketing Strategies22:44 The Role of AI in Marketing25:37 Final Thoughts on Effective Marketing Notable Quotes: "If you talk to everyone, you talk to no one.""Your marketing will basically write itself.""Stop talking about yourself." Resources & Links: Join the Mastermind – Get instant access to Bella’s custom avatar-building bot and start speaking your client’s language Marketing With Bella – Done-for-you marketing that actually converts If this episode lit a fire in you, reach out to bella@jumpconsulting.net Follow on Instagram – Watch how real pet businesses are implementing this in real time Watch all our Podcasts on YouTube Previous podcast episode: ? Transcript: Welcome everybody to another episode of Bella In Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta, and today I'm here to talk about something that is costing you clients every single day, potentially. I see this online and I finally had to do a podcast on it, and you probably don't even realize you're doing it. I'm talking about your marketing—specifically your website, your social media, your emails, all your intake forms, everything. Let me take a guess at what they probably sound like. Does this sound like you? “We have been in business for 10 years, we're insured and bonded, we love animals, we go above and beyond, we give you peace of mind, we're experienced and professional.” Yawn. Blah blah blah. Everyone can say that. It’s not unique and it's not something that's going to make people stop their scroll and get their eyeballs on your content. And if you're spending time or money creating and publishing this content, then you want it to get traction. The truth is they only care about their problems. They don't care how great you are until you get their attention. It's their fears and sleepless nights worrying about how their pet is at home while they're away. And if your marketing isn't speaking directly to those pain points, then you're invisible. And I don’t want you to be invisible. You work too hard and you're too amazing to be invisible. You're just another pet sitter in a sea of pet sitters. That’s why they don’t understand the difference between you and Rover. You end up competing on price because you haven't given them any real reason to choose you. You haven’t made them feel anything. You should be making people feel something online. In this episode, I'm going to show you how to transform your marketing by creating deeper customer avatars and speaking directly to the people you want to serve more. We're going to narrow that down. I know this sounds crazy, and yes, there's still work you’ll have to do after this episode, but I know many of you grab these transcripts and make SOPs, so let's go. We're going to talk about the avatar creation bot I've created for everyone inside the mastermind. We're going to talk about how to use the information you know about your clients to create content that converts—not just gets likes, not just looks pretty, but actually turns browsing into bookings. Fair warning, this episode might make you uncomfortable. Don't come for me. Don't hate me. This is me inspiring you into greatness as we go into 2026. It’s almost December 2025. Discomfort is where growth happens. Anytime you feel uncomfortable, lean into it and ask: “Why am I uncomfortable? Am I being triggered? What can I learn? What does this make possible?” Let’s be real. Go to your website, pull it up on your phone. Look at your homepage, your about page, your services page. How many times does the word we or I show up compared to you? I’ll wait. Actually, you can pause me. Most pet business owners write their marketing like a résumé—credentials, pats on the back, reasons they're great. “We’re certified through Pet Sitters International. We've been doing this since 2015. We're bonded and insured. We have five-star reviews.” I'm not saying there isn't a time and place for that. I built my business off a solid reputation. Those certifications matter. Those reviews matter. You earned them. But your potential client is doom-scrolling at 2 AM Googling “pet sitters near me.” She doesn't care about your credentials yet. She’s freaking out about leaving her anxious rescue for the first time. She isn't thinking, “I hope they’ve been in business 10 years.” She’s thinking, “Will they understand my dog’s trauma? Will they know what to do if he panics? Will he think I abandoned him?” Those are the questions in her head. Most of you are not putting “pet sitters in Scottsdale” or whatever your location is in your captions or titles. So you won’t show up in her scroll. If your copy says things like, “We're experienced and professional pet care providers,” instead of: “I understand your rescue has been through a lot. I will move slowly, speak softly, and give them the things they need to trust me,” you're losing her. She's clicking back. She’s moving to someone who sees her. I see this constantly in pet businesses I coach. That’s why people work with me in Marketing With Bella—because there is so much fluff out there. Anyone can claim they do marketing for pet sitters. Do they actually know what gets conversions? Maybe your homepage has a beautiful photo and your headline says, “Premier pet care services in Scottsdale.” What does “premier” even mean? Then the paragraph says, “Welcome to Happy Paws Pet Sitting. We’re a family-owned business providing love and care for 10 years.” I’m sorry if this is you, I swear I’m making up this name, but that copy could be on ANY pet sitter’s website. There’s nothing unique. Nothing speaks to a specific person or problem. In a world where clients look at 5 websites in 10 minutes, you cannot afford to sound like everyone else. And honestly, many people aren’t even clicking websites anymore. The number of searches ending in “no click” is skyrocketing because AI summarizes everything. Is your website worthy of being summarized? Agents and AI are taking over. We're in a drastically different place than we were in January. Thankfully many of you are embracing AI. So how do we fix all this? One thing: AVATARS. If you talk to everyone, you talk to no one. I’m not saying you can only take one type of client. You will serve many. But I want you to create ONE really good avatar first, then expand to three to five. People try to make avatars based on their existing clients, but existing clients can be the wrong compass. A bad avatar is: “Sarah, 35, two dogs, works in marketing, likes weekend trips.” That tells me nothing about her soul, her fears, her emotional drivers. You need avatars so deep that when you write an email, you think of her like a best friend whose brain you live inside. Inside my mastermind, I interview people for over an hour to create these avatars. We build their voice. We build their heart. It becomes a living character. Let me read you an example from our bot. Maggie is a 48-year-old part-time librarian, full-time rescuer. Her home is cozy chaos. Two adopted cats, three fosters, a heart too big for words. She’s compassionate, thrifty, community-driven. She pours herself into rescue. She believes animals are souls. Her fear is being misunderstood or that her rescues won’t receive the same kind of loving care she gives them. Her primary objection: “Can I really trust anyone else to care for them the way I do?” Her deeper fear? That her cats will feel scared or abandoned. Before your service: overwhelmed, anxious, hesitant.After your service: supported, relieved, connected. Messaging for Maggie: “You don’t have to do it all alone. I’ll care for your rescues with the same heart you do.” That’s deeper than “We love animals.” Now imagine your website and socials start talking like that. Maggie screenshorts your website and sends it to her rescue friends saying, “Finally someone who gets it.” That’s the power of specificity. You can have Maggie the rescue mom, Corporate Chris who travels weekly and feels guilty leaving his dog, First-Time Fiona who just got a puppy and is overwhelmed. Different fears, different needs. Stop posting graphics. People don’t want graphics anymore. They don’t stop the scroll. They look like ads. They look generic. Use stories. Use hooks. Use emotion. Your homepage should speak to your avatar's pain from the first line. Not “welcome.” Not “premier pet care.” Start with THEIR problem, not your solution. Use “you” more than “we.” Flip every sentence: instead of “We offer customized care tailored to your pet’s needs,” say: “Your dog has quirks, routines, a specific way of doing things.

? Do you feel like you're constantly re-explaining the same things to new hires and still crossing your fingers they don’t mess it up? If you're nodding, you're not alone and it's not your fault. Most pet business owners were never taught how to train people, and now you're stuck in a cycle of “watch me and hope for the best.” But hope is not a hiring strategy and it’s definitely not a training plan. In this episode of Bella in Your Business, I’m breaking down exactly how to build a pet business staff training program that actually works, without you having to micromanage every detail or babysit your team. You’ll learn how to create a 2-day training program that’s rooted in psychology, supports every type of learner, and makes your business run like the legit brand it’s meant to be. And spoiler alert: good training isn’t about hand-holding, it’s about creating clarity, confidence, and culture. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The truth about how people learn Shadowing isn't a strategy Build a 2-Day powerhouse training The psychology of a good training program How to use your training process as a marketing and hiring advantage Timestamps [00:45] – The harsh truth about shadowing and why “hope” isn’t a strategy [02:20] – The 5 learning styles your team may be missing in training [07:10] – Why shadowing alone causes confusion, ghosting, and stress [09:40] – How to build a two-day training system that actually works [14:20] – The emotional psychology behind confident, loyal staff Notable Quotes “Shadowing isn’t training. It’s saying, ‘figure it out’ without actually saying it.” “You’re not just training a body. You’re training a brain and a belief.” “Clarity is kindness for your staff, for your clients, and for you.” Resources & Links Pet Care Team Training – (Bella’s co-owned platform for quick, effective pet sitter certifications) Book a Coaching Call – 20-minute no-pressure strategy session with Bella Join the Mastermind – Where hiring and training support gets real Bella’s 10-Step Hiring & Training Process – Everything you need to build your dream team Watch all our Podcasts on YouTube ? Transcript Welcome everybody to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta. Today we're gonna talk about something that literally keeps so many of you up at night wondering, how am I gonna get through this? And it's all about how to train staff for a pet sitting business. And I'm just gonna say it, this episode might sting a little, but I say all of this with my mama-bear love for you. If your pet business staff training is basically just “shadow me and we'll see how you do” or “just go off with one another sitter and see what they do,” then you're living on a hope and a prayer and you know what I always say, hope ain't a strategy. Okay, so let's be real for a second. I know what you're thinking: “Bella, I don't have time to build all this out,” or maybe it's like, “If I invest the energy into all of this, they just leave.” And when I hire someone, just like hope that they're gonna stay with me. Okay, but here's the thing you don't have time not to do this. And let me just tell you this too: we're in 2025 at this recording, soon to be 2026. It has never been a better time to devise an entire training program for your company because you can do it in a day using AI the right way, all right? Right now, you're probably spending more time fixing mistakes, re-explaining things, getting stressed over whether your staff is going to mess up a client's dog. And that's not sustainable. It's not scalable. And it's definitely not the business you've been dreaming of. You're probably in this stage right now where you're like, “I got into this business because I love pets.” And now you've realized that you need to be a trainer of people. Wait—what? Yeah, that's the harsh truth. But today I'm gonna help support you, gonna come alongside you and I'm gonna give you some things to think about and ponder about. Some of this you might have already done, some of this you might not have even considered. So sit back, relax, and let's get into it. We're gonna talk about the real transformations that take your team from “I think I've got it” to “I've got this,” and excited to represent your brand and you are proud to have them wear your t-shirt or your sweatshirt. Okay, so we're gonna talk about a lot of the psychology—one of my favorite topics, by the way—of how your team actually learns, why shadowing alone is going to set everyone up to fail, and how to build a powerful two-day training program that actually works. Let's go! So the truth about how people learn—let's talk about this, because I don't think that we really think about this too much. We just write a whole bunch of stuff and we're like, “It's in the SOPs or it's in the training manual.” And then we're like, “Why didn't they retain it?” We gotta see what part of our side of the street we can clean up because chances are you might've done your best job at trying to put it out there, but in order of them retaining it—and not just retaining it, but getting excited about it—is a big deal, okay? What most pet business owners don't realize is that you're not just teaching someone how to walk a dog. You're reprogramming habits, you're reshaping expectations, and you're teaching attention to detail in ways they've probably never really thought about. People don't all learn the same way. They don't. Some of your staff learn by doing—they need hands-on experience with a leash in their hand and a dog on the other end. Some learn by watching—they need to see you do it. They need to see it demonstrated: the harness, the buckle, the three times before it clicks, the lifting up on the key and turning the lock so it doesn't stick. Some people learn by listening—voice memos or audio walkthroughs stick in their brain better than a manual ever would. Case in point, my daughter actually has an IEP, right? But she retains information a lot better when she hears it than when she reads it. Some people need to read it—step-by-step handbooks, outlines, checklists that they can refer to later. And some actually need to write it down. I'm one of those. I'll always take notes, but I'll never really look back at them; just the act of writing the note down helps me retain the information. That would be like quizzes or fill-in-the-blanks, reflections that help them process what they're learning. And you know what the most powerful learning tool actually is? Storytelling. This goes for anything, not even just your job. It's not just what to do, but why it matters. Storytelling always has a beginning, middle, and end—and a why. There's a moral of the story. So I used to do this a lot in my orientation when I went through the handbook and manual. I would pick out certain sections that were really important and tell a story about it. Tell them about a time that a dog slipped a harness because it wasn't double-checked. Tell them about a client who left a five-star review because their walker sent a photo update at just the right moment in just the right setting. When you train your pet business staff, you're not just dumping information; you're delivering a transformation. And that's the difference between someone who shows up and just tries to do the job and someone who owns the job—who really takes leadership and ownership over it, who represents your business like it's their own. That starts with understanding that every person on your team needs multiple ways to absorb what you're teaching. Sometimes having multiple ways of learning things helps reinforce it. So the first reflection question I want to ask you—and of course this is rhetorical unless you want to shoot me an email at bella@jumpconsulting.net—tell me how do you administer your training, and which of those methods do you? If this topic is really exciting to you, you're gonna wanna join us in the Mastermind in November, because we're gonna be talking all about hiring and training. You really, if you wanna successfully scale your business and achieve your dreams, need to have this down pat. Let's go into one of the biggest problems I see—and I'm gonna call some of you out, but again, I'm doing this with love, so please remember that. Your pet business staff training—if it's “shadow me and watch what I do and we'll figure it out”—then we definitely need to talk right now. Because shadowing is not training. Shadowing is overwhelming. They don't know what to focus on. At one point it's just overload. There's only so much information a person can retain. It's like saying, “figure it out,” without actually saying “figure it out.” And what happens is their anxiety and stress also grow. You are producing anxiety and stress in their body—and in the trainer's body too, because they're like, “My gosh, am I gonna get all of this information out?” A new staff member follows you around. They watch you unlock the door, greet the dog, hang up the leash. Maybe you explain a few things, maybe you don't. They're overwhelmed. They're trying to remember everything. Maybe they're writing it down or making voice notes. They're wondering if they should be taking notes. They're not sure what's critical and what's just your preference. And then the next day you send them out solo—they're terrified. That's the problem with leaving pet service staff training up to chance. You're not just creating confusion for them, you're creating a liability for you. You're creating inconsistency—that's a big one—for clients. And you're putting the emotional weight on someone who's trying their best but hasn't had their best chance to succeed. This is stressful. It's also where some ghosting happens—“My gosh, I just thought this was a dog-walking job. I didn't realize it was all this stuff. This is overwhelming.

Feeling stuck in your dog walking business? You’re not alone, and this episode is your permission slip to finally move forward. I’m pulling back the curtain on what actually happens inside my business coaching intensives, specifically tailored for pet industry pros like you. In just six sessions, we tackle everything from hiring systems and scaling strategy to rewriting your website and crafting SOPs. These aren’t cookie-cutter sessions. They’re custom, one-on-one, done-with-you experiences that help you cut through the noise, finally take action, and build a dog walking business that grows with you. If you’ve been spinning in circles trying to scale, hire, or rebrand, this episode will show you exactly what’s possible through powerful, high-impact coaching. In This Episode, You’ll Discover… How dog walking business coaching intensives deliver massive clarity fast Why mindset—not just mechanics—is your biggest growth block Real client examples: from building websites to fixing broken hiring systems How to turn SOPs and phone scripts into scalable systems What makes these coaching intensives different from DIY courses or masterminds Timestamps: 00:00 – Why everyone’s asking about coaching intensives lately 03:35 – Website paralysis? Here's how we write your copy together 06:15 – Starting your biz from scratch? Don’t go it alone 10:00 – The mindset (not mechanics) that holds you back 13:00 – Fixing hiring systems that are… well, poop 16:10 – Building SOPs, phone scripts, and training with AI support Notable Quotes: "Dog walking business coaching isn’t just about tactics—it’s about transformation." "You don’t need more how-to. You need mindset, clarity, and structure." "Energy is contagious. If you’re stuck, get in the room with someone who can shift it." Resources & Links: Want to see if we’re a good fit for a Coaching Intensive? Book a complimentary 20-minute call with me: jumpconsulting.net/20 Website Examples: peppyspets.com pawsaroundmotown.com animaladmiration.com JazzHR (hiring software): jazzhr.com Watch all our Podcasts on YouTube ?? Transcript: Welcome back to another episode of Bella in Your Business. Today, we're going to be talking about something that happens a lot behind the scenes, and I've been asked this question a lot because my schedule's literally getting eaten up right now. I don't know if it's the fall is in the air, or what. But so many of you have been inquiring about these intensives. Intensives is just another name for coaching, and I really want you to hear what actually happens in them. Not even as a way of… I'm not promoting them. I'm letting your brain expand onto how you can actually move forward in your business in just 6 sessions. Seriously. I'm gonna tell you the story of a couple of my clients and what we're actually working on, because the things that we're doing, I talk about them on my Instagram stories sometimes, but I don't actually go into detail, and today I want to go into detail, because I guarantee that you will see yourself in one of these scenarios, okay? But first, before we get started, I humbly ask you if you could like and subscribe to the podcast. And even leave a review. That would mean the world to us, as, you know, I've been doing this for you guys since 2014! Non-stop. Maybe the pace is adjusted, the pace is recently adjusted. Last week, we featured 3 episodes that had all to do with finances, so saving money on taxes, how to figure out your profit, and a couple other things. It was absolutely awesome. And so we're going to keep doing that. If there's a topic you want to hear about, feel free to email me, bella@jumpconsulting.net, and I'd be happy to feature that as one of our round-offs that we have, okay? So, let’s get going. The very first scenario that I want to tell you about is something that I know every single one of you can relate to. You’ve made the decision to invest in a new website. The next problem you have is: “Oh, shoot, what do I put on the website?” You stare at that cursor blinking on your screen, wondering what to write. You want to be unique and have people fall in love with your business when they land on your website. They’re not just looking at yours—they’re looking at many others. The words on your site are so important. I have a whole methodology for this. Sure, you could send it off to a copywriter, and they can create words for your website. That’s possible now with tools like ChatGPT and Claude. But my method is different. My method includes creating your entire brand voice—something you get to take away and use forever for care notes, client emails, social media, and more. You basically walk away with a “bot” that is specifically your voice. That alone is normally valued at $695. Once we’ve created your brand voice, we use it to build each page of your website together during six 45-minute sessions. Not only that, you also get the recordings, and you get to see how I use multiple AI tools—not just one—to accomplish this. If you did three sessions a week for two weeks, you could have all your website copy done in two weeks. Wanna see examples? Go to Anne’s company, PeppysPets.com. Then check out PawsAroundMotown.com. Then look at Brooks’ company, AnimalAdmiration.com. You’ll see how drastically different each is. Read them, feel them, and you’ll understand. If that’s something you want help with, I can get you out of the overwhelm that comes with not knowing what pictures or copy to put on your site. The next thing I want to tell you about is starting businesses. Many people come to me after considering buying a franchise or after losing a job, and they decide to start their own business. Now, this is 2025—the age of information. You already have access to the “how-to.” ChatGPT can tell you how to start a business. What you need me for is not the “how-to,” but the mindset, the strategy, and the clarity. For example, I’m currently working with someone who was laid off. He’s very into ChatGPT, to the point where it became too much. It kept giving him more and more ideas, but without a strategy, it was overwhelming. Our conversations focus on self-worth, future goals, and how decisions support or hinder those goals. When you work with me and purchase a six-session package, you have six months to use them. You have time to process and percolate, plus you get recordings, AI summaries, and anything we create together. That flexibility is so valuable for people who are starting or wanting to get serious about their business. The “how-to” is easy—it’s out there. What you can’t get from AI is 20-plus years of my industry knowledge, or the mindset shifts that are necessary. That’s why some people don’t like me. Sometimes I tell them things they don’t want to hear, like “You can’t charge $18 a visit if you want to pay your mortgage and your employees.” Coaching often challenges deep beliefs about money, communication, boundaries, and worth. Another scenario I want to share is about expanding. I’ve worked with a multi-million dollar company built from the ground up. She started with dog walking and pet sitting and grew to 50+ employees, stores, and more. Recently, we’ve been redoing her entire hiring, training, and review processes. The employee life cycle has at least 15 steps, from job descriptions to ads to hiring stages. You need multiple hiring ads to test performance, so that when you need someone, you can pull the lever and hire quickly. This is why I recommend JazzHR—but not the basic Hero plan. That plan is too limited. Without reporting, conversions, and advanced tools, you’re wasting money. Cancel Hero unless you’re willing to upgrade. Beyond the ads, you need a hiring process with at least six stages. People often resist this, saying it’s too much. But years later, they return desperate, realizing they should have listened. The right process prevents you from hiring out of fear, crossing your fingers, and hoping people don’t ghost you. With a proper system, by the time you hire, you and the candidate are both excited. Responses I’ve heard include: “That interview process was so amazing, I’m so excited to work for you,” or even “My husband stole your questions for his own job interviews!” That’s the impact of a strong process. And when we build it out—onboarding, training, review, employee love—you end up with a backbone that sustains growth. To illustrate: imagine two wheels. One is hiring, one is marketing. If you focus only on hiring, your business spins in circles. If you focus only on marketing, it spins in circles. But if both are moving forward together, your business moves forward. Intensives are a chance to work on exactly that—to ensure your foundation isn’t shaky, to make your SOPs strong, and to scale with confidence. This is not about me sitting and talking at you while you take endless homework. These sessions are hands-on. By the end of 45 minutes, you’re walking away with documents, strategies, KPIs, forms—done. That’s why I love these intensives. Most of my business model is one-to-many, through masterminds and the podcast. This, however, is one-on-one. Because my time is limited, I only accept clients after a 20-minute call at jumpconsulting.net/20. We’ll talk about your goals, what’s failed you before, what you’re good at, and what you’re not. Sometimes I tell people they’re not ready for coaching yet, but they’re perfect for the mastermind. That honesty is important, because coaching requires mindset readiness and commitment. Takeaway: I love working with you one-on-one. If you want to finish 2025 strong, if you want to learn AI while it’s integrated into your coaching, reach out. Instead of taking a class on AI, you’ll watch how I use it live, and you’ll walk away with finished outputs. If you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, if you need tweaks but don’t know where,

Wondering why your pet business blog isn't driving leads or sales even though you're posting regularly? You're not alone. Most pet sitters, dog walkers, and pet care pros are wasting time on blogs that look good but don’t work. This episode is for you if you're tired of creating content that disappears into the internet void. I’m going to break down the exact pet business blogging strategy that actually grows your local authority, drives traffic, and gets your ideal clients to take action. Whether you've written 40 blogs or haven't started yet, this episode will give you the mindset and method you actually need. In This Episode, You’ll Discover… Why your blog needs to be more than a “random tips” article How to use a pet business blogging strategy that builds authority The power of interlinking and visual formatting for higher engagement How to repurpose one blog into multiple content pieces Why a good blog strategy will outperform Google ads every time Timestamps: 1:04 – Why I’m switching podcast formats (and how that benefits you)4:55 – The truth: More blogs ? more traffic without strategy7:12 – How to turn blogs into hyperlocal, conversion-ready content8:44 – Smart interlinking: The most overlooked SEO power move11:00 – How to promote your blog so it actually gets seen Notable Quotes “More blogs do NOT equal more traffic—especially if you’re not being intentional.” “You’re writing from the heart, but your audience needs a map to follow you.” “If you’re paying for Google Ads but not blogging with strategy, you need to call me. You’re wasting money.” Resources & Links Connect on IG: @bellavasta Free Consultation: jumpconsulting.net/20 Email: bella@jumpconsulting.net Marketing With Bella: Email Bella for details! Marcus Sheridan’s Big 5 Content Strategy – Google it or ask AI, seriously. Watch all our Podcasts on YouTube Previous podcast episode: Transcript Welcome back to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta, and welcome to Episode 451. Okay, so I took last week off, as some of you may or may not know. And one of the things that I've decided, if you saw the email that goes out on Friday, is that I'm gonna start going to every other week. Now, that doesn't mean that there's not going to be a podcast or I'm not going to be still feeding you guys. What that means is in the off week, since we have 451 podcast episodes, what I'm going to start doing is serving you up like series. So let's say you're starting with employees. And I'm gonna say, "Hey, if you're starting with employees and you want to learn about employees, listen to these 3 episodes." Or "Hey, you want to learn some content marketing hacks? I have 3 episodes on it here." And so that's kind of how we're going to do this on the off weeks, and it'll also give you guys a little bit of a chance to catch up, because I know some of you are in the middle of a major... Something else I want to talk to you about before we actually get into the topic today, which is about blogging with a strategy — which I do not see a lot of people doing — I want to share with you a clip and let me set this up for you. I alluded to it on the last episode. This is a coaching session with Becky from Paws Around Motown. And she wanted to take her entire phone script, and she wanted to build it out — and build it out with like, why are we saying this? What is the impact psychologically? You know, like, all of it. So it's not just a bullet point script that her office staff follow and they don't know why. So we really went into it, and it ended up being more than 30 pages. And what I said to her was, I wonder if we can get AI to do this with us to role play? Because guys, you want to role play, or you say you're gonna practice, but do we ever really practice? No. What are we gonna do? Hand the script to someone, and then kind of feel awkward and be like, "Hi, um ring! Ring! Thanks for calling." Well guess what — now that we have created all of that foundation for her, we can now give it to AI and tell AI to role play with us. And not only can they role play with us, but they can also follow this script and understand what their role is. And we pretend that we're literally answering the phone and talking to them. Not only does the AI sound completely realistic, but it also can critique you at the end and tell you like, how you did based off of the script that you give it. How amazing is that? So wait, wait, listen. Right now. I'm gonna play it. Okay Chris, right there. Why don't you put that in there? Alright. And so what do you guys think? Isn't that absolutely amazing? I mean, it's truly remarkable what we can do with AI. And it's so much fun in these consultations that I — the intensives — that I do with my clients, because we're not just talking about things. They're like leaving with tangible, concrete tools that they can use in their business, and what else is better than that? Alright. If you're interested in working on that, or maybe there's a problem you've been solving in your business and you're not quite sure — I'm not literally just saying this, but like, for some reason, maybe it's because it's the end of the year or school's back in session — my intensives and my schedule are blowing up. So if you want to get on that by the end of the year, I would suggest that you get into it now and on the flow before I run out of time on my calendar. If you want to learn more about that, let's jump on a call. We could talk about your specific needs and how I can help you with the solutions so you can get a good vision of what that looks like. Just go to jumpconsulting.net/20 and you can get on my calendar so that we could have a conversation, and I'll tell you straight up what you need or if you're ready for it. Because there are different stages of things, and I think it comes a lot down to mindset. But we could talk about that later. Okay, let's get into the show today. So guys, I have literally been like racking my brain. Because what a lot of business owners don't understand is that people read one blog post, they get what they need, and they leave — unless you give them a compelling reason to stay and explore more. Okay, it's not just that compelling that it's your website, because nobody cares about your baby like you do. Most of you are treating blogging like throwing spaghetti up against the wall to see what sticks. You're writing "10 Tips for Happy Dogs" one week and "Why Your Cat Needs Exercise" the next — with zero connection between them. And you're wondering why your blog isn't driving clients or building your authority. But today I'm going to break down why blogging isn't about more content. It's about smart strategy. Alright. So I'm talking about turning each blog post into a hub that pulls the reader deeper into your expertise and actually converts them into paying clients. If you've been blogging for months or years without seeing results, or maybe not at all, this episode is going to be for you, no matter the game you are in right now. So let's start with the biggest lie in content marketing: "Just keep writing more blogs, and the traffic will come." Well, yeah, it could come. But is it gonna help you? For example, my most... In a 10-mile radius of me. And you want dog walking, and that's what brought you in. It's the fat chance that that's gonna happen. You understand what I'm saying? So it was just like — writing more blogs is wrong. It's like dead wrong. Okay? And so I see pet business owners publishing lots of blogs and then patting themselves on the back for being consistent — which is great, okay — but there's no strategy behind it. Their website traffic stays flat. Or they have the blogs, but they're not promoting them. Okay? And there's a lot to do with promotion. All right. More blogs do not equal more traffic, especially the niche of the niche kind of traffic you're looking for. You're not just looking for pet owners. You're looking for pet owners in your area who need a dog walker or a pet sitter who are going away or who are out of their home a lot, right? And so search engines don't care that you just published 47 blog posts last month. But you know what they do care about? Relevance. Clarity. Authority. Okay? And don't even get me started on AI with this. Let me paint you a picture. You write a blog called "5 Signs Your Dog Has Separation Anxiety." It's a great topic, right? But then what happens? Someone reads it, thinks that was helpful, and they leave your website. Why? Because you didn't give them anywhere else to go. And it wasn't pointed directly in your local area. So something that you could change that really easily would be like, "How to Know If Your Scottsdale Dog Has Anxiety and What to Do." And then that's a really great spot where you could say, "Use Bach Flower Remedy, and you can get it at XYZ Pet Store" or "The pet store owner says about that," right? Or maybe it's a blog about anxiety about your dog going to the groomer. And then you can quote groomers in your area, right? This is helpful stuff, but it's local. All right. But your blogs aren't libraries. Nobody — and I mean nobody — goes to your website thinking, "Gee! I wonder what other brilliant content this pet sitter has. Let me go search their blog." Like, that doesn't happen. Okay? They won't do that. People don't have time to consume it. They see it either in an email or on social, something catches their eye and it brings them in. Now we're going to move on to the second one, which is interlinking. Let's talk about the strategy that's going to come from your blogging results, which is smart interlinking. So every single blog should be linked to another blog of yours — and obviously have some outside sources too — but linking, interlinking about things is going to be really great. And in order to do that,

If you hate creating content… this episode is for you. I am not selling anything, rather blowing the lid off how EASY it can actually be to create a pet sitter content creation system that WORKS and doesn’t overwhelm you. In this episode, I am going to show you EXACTLY what I do… and how you can finally break the cycle of scrambling, ghosting, and giving up. We’ll talk about the mindset blocks that hold most pet sitters back, why “posting consistently” is bad advice without a system, and how to create intentional, reusable content that builds trust and books clients on autopilot. This isn’t theory—it’s the real, raw behind-the-scenes of how I plan, organize, and repurpose content across platforms without losing my mind. If you're ready to make content finally feel doable, repeatable, and actually strategic... this episode is your permission slip. Timestamps 2:02 – Why most pet sitters are stuck in a feast-or-famine content cycle 5:40 – My no-fluff rule: If you wouldn't say it in real life, don't post it 9:03 – The 3 stages of my pet sitter content creation system 14:20 – How to batch months of posts in a few focused hours 18:55 – The secret to repurposing content without sounding repetitive Notable Quotes "You don’t need more time—you need a system that respects your energy." "Pet sitter content creation doesn’t have to drain you. It can free you." "Posting just to post is like barking into the void. Let’s stop that." Resources & Links Connect on IG: @bellavasta Book a 20-min strategy call: Let’s build a custom local marketing plan together Surround yourself with other forward-thinking petpreneurs. Join Bella’s Mastermind. Watch all our Podcasts on YouTube Here is last week's episode: Transcript Hello, and welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. Today, we’re diving into how you're actually known in your local area. We’re going to cover a lot—my goal is to light your brain on fire and give you real examples from your fellow pet business owners who are doing this successfully. Thank you for all the likes, comments, and subscribes! I love hearing from those of you who book a call at jumpconsulting.net/20 and say you found me through the podcast. That makes my heart so happy, because honestly, I’m just sitting in my office talking to a ring light. Knowing you’re out there listening makes it all worth it. In my community, we’ve spent the past month focused on getting your name out there everywhere. Some of what I say might sting a little, but stick with me. This could be the difference between your business thriving or just surviving. Imagine having a bunch of unpaid salespeople out there working for you just because you’re known in your community. Are you actually known in your area? There’s a book called Known by my friend Mark Schaefer, a great read that ties into today’s topic. Being “known” isn’t about a logo or being online—it’s about walking into a room and people recognizing you and the energy you bring. If that’s not happening yet, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful, cost-effective tools in business. I get that networking can be uncomfortable. Maybe you don’t like being the center of attention, and your ego is blocking you right now. But this isn’t about you—it’s about your business. Local marketing for pet businesses starts with you being known in your community. It’s non-negotiable. I’m going to give you the blueprint that actually works. In my mastermind last month, we spent four weeks on tactical local marketing. One of our members, who you might’ve seen on my Instagram stories, had this moment: she walks into a coffee shop and hears someone say, “Oh my gosh! Are you the Wonder Pops person?” And that wasn’t even the first time that week. She was just wearing her business shirt—no flyers, no pitch—just existing. And her brand was recognized. That’s local marketing in action. She’s not just running a business—she’s becoming a local celebrity. People associate her shirt and her humor-filled brand with positivity. When people feel something good from seeing you online or in person, they remember you. And in her case, someone in line immediately asked about her services. Others around heard it too. So when someone later searches “pet sitter near me,” it’s not just a name—they feel like they know her. Data backs this up: it takes 7 to 11 touches before someone buys. If someone calls you without ever seeing your name before, that’s a missed opportunity. But if they’ve already seen you 10 times—at events, online, via referrals—they’re already convinced you’re the right choice. Visibility multiplies trust. You need to be seen in multiple places before someone reaches out. That’s the foundation of effective local marketing. Maybe they saw you at an event, then noticed your car decal, then saw a friend’s Facebook post, and finally saw you volunteering at a rescue. That’s when they think, “I’ve been meaning to call that dog walker.” Being good at what you do isn’t enough if no one knows you exist. If you’re hiding behind a screen, your growth is invisible. Many pet business owners focus on Instagram or Facebook ads but forget local visibility and keywords. You serve a local radius—maybe 20 miles. You need to be known by your neighbors. Check out my blog on guerrilla marketing at jumpconsulting.net. Episode 448 includes a free download. Guerrilla marketing is cheap, quick, effective, and often overlooked. One of the most overlooked local marketing opportunities is your business anniversary. Don’t dismiss it—it’s not just about cake and balloons. It’s about giving your community a reason to celebrate you. Chambers of Commerce love anniversary stories. Local newspapers need positive content. Other businesses want to partner with established names. For example, Michaela from Adventures in Pet Sitting partnered with a grooming salon for her anniversary. They offered free nail trims while she provided half-off pet taxi services. It was brilliant cross-promotion. Morag in Canada celebrated her 25th anniversary with a full event—vendors, staff reunions, and more. It doesn’t matter if it’s one year or 25. Celebrate it! Even news stories not directly about pets—like how new tax rules affect small businesses—can be great ways to get featured locally. The point is: this isn’t about you. It’s about your brand being visible. With holidays approaching, now is the time to plan. From Halloween parades to Santa Paws events, Q4 is packed with opportunities. Your business anniversary is a legitimate news story. It shows stability and community impact. Here’s your action step: start planning your celebration now. Reach out to your chamber, local newspaper, and potential partners. Make it an event—not just another day. But it doesn’t stop there. Local marketing needs to be consistent. Maybe you don’t like networking—I get it. I’ve felt that way too. Sometimes I’d show up to events just to let the room work me. The key is showing up. Effective local marketing isn’t about exchanging business cards in hotel conference rooms. It’s about being where your people are: galas, rescues, pet events, farmers markets, community mixers. Show up where dog lovers hang out. Be present. People don’t fall in love with logos. They fall in love with experiences and how you make them feel. Energy is contagious, and when you're face-to-face, people can feel your passion. That’s how a stranger becomes a client, a client becomes a fan, and a fan becomes a referral source. You can’t create that connection through a website or Facebook ad. You build it by being present in your community. Now, I know what usually happens. You get inspired, promise yourself to do better local marketing—and then nothing happens. Why? Because when opportunities pop up, you're unprepared. It gets stressful, and you back out. So, let’s fix that. Your homework is to create an event kit—a business-in-a-box. Include a branded tablecloth, business cards, pens, treats for dogs, sign-up sheets, promo materials, and more. Have conversation starters ready, plan your giveaway, and build a partnership list. Try a bingo game where attendees visit other booths for stamps. Other businesses will love you for it. And when you're prepared, it's easier to delegate to staff or even hire someone to represent your brand. This might push you out of your comfort zone, but remember—this isn’t networking. It’s community building. I always say: a relationship lasts longer than a business card. People want to know who they’re trusting with their pets. They’re lying awake at night wondering who they can rely on. You can be the answer—but only if you show up. So stop waiting for the perfect moment. Just start. Like Michaela, Morag, and Leia—you don’t need to be perfect. You just need to jump. This has been another episode of Bella in Your Business. If you’d like to join our community, head to jumpconsulting.net/mastermind. Next month we’re diving into leadership and company culture—often overlooked, but so powerful for retention and creating a thriving business. We’re coming up on 450 episodes, so send in your ideas! As always, keep jumping.

Are you scared AI will steal the soul of your pet business? If you’re a pet sitter or dog walker clinging to the belief that AI is cold, impersonal, or "not for you," this episode will rock your world—in the best way possible. I'm diving deep into how pet business owners can use AI not just to save time, but to get their life back, serve more clients better, and still sound exactly like YOU. I’m walking you through mindset shifts, real-life applications, and why AI is actually the most powerful way to keep your personal touch while finally getting off the hamster wheel. It’s part pep talk, part strategy session, and totally packed with love, truth, and a little kick in the pants (you know how I do). By the end, you'll either be running toward the future or realize you’re already getting left behind. Let’s fix that. In This Episode, You'll Learn... AI Doesn’t Erase Your Personal Touch—It Enhances It You Can’t Use AI Well Without a Solid Foundation Burnout Is Optional, Automation Is the Cure AI Isn’t a Threat to Your Business. It’s a Tool for Leadership You’re Either Using AI Or Competing Against Those Who Are Timestamps 2:35 – Why pet industry resistance to AI is rooted in burnout, not values 4:58 – What AI actually requires from your business before it can help 9:15 – The 2025 way to handle tough client convos without losing your mind 15:54 – How AI is a leadership move (not laziness or cheating) 22:55 – The truth: AI won’t take your job—but someone using it might take your clients Notable Quotes "AI is not here to replace your heart—it’s here to amplify your humanity." "Pet business owners can use AI to work smarter, not harder—and still be more you than ever." "AI is not the enemy of authenticity. Burnout is." Resources & Links Try Magai: My favorite AI dashboard. Use code BELLA25 for $25 off/month Jump Consulting on YouTube Connect on IG: @bellavasta Ready to talk it out and get unstuck? Book a complimentary 20-min strategy call. Surround yourself with other forward-thinking petpreneurs. Join Bella’s Mastermind. Watch all our Podcasts on YouTube Here is last week's episode: ? Transcript Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. First, thank you so much for all the subscribes and likes — when you hit that like and share button, it really helps. It's the best thing you can do for any creator. I've seen it in the stats and I genuinely appreciate it. Something new: you can now watch the video version of this podcast on Spotify and YouTube. We’ve created an omnipresence where you can either listen or watch. This shift was by request, and let me tell you — it’s a labor of love. It’s 7:01 AM, my daughter’s in the other room playing, and we just wrapped up birthday weekend — hers and mine. I’m exhausted and recording this in hair and makeup, even though pajamas with no video would be easier. I hope you appreciate the video and if you do, please like, subscribe, comment, and leave a review. We're coming up on 450 episodes — wild. I started this when she was in the hospital over a decade ago. If you have suggestions for the 450th episode, send them in — this podcast is as much yours as it is mine. Today I want to talk about AI and the concern around losing personal touch. I hear this a lot. But I want to go at a pace that aligns with where most pet sitters and dog walkers are. I’m ready to sprint, but I know we need to get on the same page before opening Pandora’s box. AI requires everything to be written down — emails, SOPs, handbooks, job descriptions — because it needs something to be trained on. You also have to understand that AI is just a tool — practically free — but not always right. You need to know when and where to insert personal, human touch. And here's the blunt truth: from July 22, 2025 forward, if someone you hire doesn’t know how to use AI, they’re falling behind. That might sound harsh, but this is like hiring someone today who doesn’t know how to use a computer or smartphone. This is where we can do 7x the work — faster, better. I’m going slow because I want everyone to get past their objections and mental blocks. When you’re ready, that’s when you join the Mastermind. In there, people are excited and proactive about using AI. In fact, today we’re doing an AI lab. They’re doing things I haven’t even taught because they’ve been playing and experimenting. Last week, something big happened — agents came to ChatGPT. Yes, agents already existed in Claude and others, but this is mainstream now. Think Kleenex, Xerox, Coca-Cola level. ChatGPT is used by 400 million people worldwide. This is where the world is going. I’m here to motivate you, maybe make you uncomfortable, because growth happens outside of our comfort zones. I say this with love and a swift kick — I’m not judging you. I’m helping you. You’ve likely been told that doing everything by hand sets you apart. That’s great — but now what sets you apart is AI that knows your voice, sounds like you, and is trained to reflect your values. Some pet business owners are spending 3 hours writing one perfect email. Others are using AI to handle 50 clients efficiently. Before, I’d obsess over writing emails — send them to friends, overthink for days, rewrite endlessly. Now? I talk it out while driving, paste the client message, speak my thoughts, and AI drafts it for me. I get home, review, and send. No stress, no ruminating. That’s how 2025 works. Using AI doesn’t make your message robotic. It helps you communicate clearly without burnout. Resistance often comes from those who are already overwhelmed — working nights, losing weekends to writing social posts, staying up late for email replies. That’s not sustainable. AI doesn't steal your personal touch — it frees up your time to give it where it matters. You're already using tech: scheduling software instead of paper calendars, QuickBooks instead of ledgers. AI is just the next step. If you think it's inauthentic, you’re not using it right. It's not here to replace your voice, it's here to amplify it. Clients who embrace AI become more authentic — because they’re no longer drained. When agents launched, I had ChatGPT write a post, generate graphics in Canva, and publish it via Meta — all automated. Would I recommend doing that fully today? Not yet. But the fact that it’s possible? Huge. Agents can go out, do tasks autonomously — log in, update service descriptions, refresh employee manuals, even check local laws. AI is your assistant, not your decision-maker. Of course, AI makes mistakes — just like Google searches do. It’s your job to fact-check. Don’t treat AI like a know-it-all — it’s a research partner. Ask it for sources. Cross-check. Be transparent. If you draft a contract with AI, let your lawyer review it. That saves time and money. It’s efficient, not deceptive. Real talk: remember Blockbuster? They passed on buying Netflix. Kodak invented digital photography, then buried it. Don’t be them. Don’t stick your head in the sand. AI isn’t all good — neither are cars or phones. But we still use them. Saying AI is “bad” is a scarcity mindset. And while it’s okay to be scared, it’s not okay to let fear hold your business back. Right now, others are already using AI. They’re creating better content, faster. Analyzing data. Using Gemini in spreadsheets. Knowing exactly what subject lines convert best. That’s leadership. That’s smart business. Let’s talk about using AI with integrity. Always verify facts. Don’t take AI’s word for it blindly. Use it to dig deeper, to research, to jumpstart projects. AI isn’t cheating — it’s a strategic advantage. If you don't adapt, you're risking being left behind. AI won't take your job. But someone using AI? They might take your clients. That's real. If you think “being personal” means doing everything manually, fine — but you're working harder than you need to. Train AI to reflect your voice. Use it to draft, approve, and publish. Some of my clients have won business because they responded faster and more professionally — not because they’re better sitters, but because they’re better at operations. Right now is your chance to be ahead of the curve — like 2008 when I told pet sitters they needed Facebook pages. Most people are still scared. That’s okay. Fear is just not knowing. That’s what we fix in the Mastermind. Pet business owners who will thrive in the next five years will be the ones who combine their heart and personal touch with AI efficiency. Are you going to be one of them? Or will you be stuck handwriting invoices while others are using automated onboarding? You could have agents pulling reports, tracking cancellations, giving you a dashboard every first of the month. Or you can pay a human and hope for accuracy. What if you could gain back five hours a week? Respond to clients faster? Create content without wasting your Sunday? I haven't even touched on how I use AI personally — maybe that’s for another episode. I want you to DM me. Book a call: jumpconsulting.net/20. Or join the Mastermind: jumpconsulting.net/mastermind. Want to play around with AI? Start with ChatGPT Plus — $20/month. Then go to jumpconsulting.net/magai for another $20/month. Magai gives you access to multiple language and image models. You can test the same prompt across different models and see how each one responds. You can build your own GPT or “persona” and use it in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini — everywhere. Magai is amazing for image generation too. I can create a 35-year-old woman walking a dog in Scottsdale, Arizona — then turn that into a video. Some models are better than others. It takes play and trial-and-error. It’s something you can do instead of doom-scrolling. Just play. Let’s do this together. I want to push this industry forward into the AI age — come with me, or don’t. No shame. But if you want AI, this is the place to be.

? Are you pouring hours into social media but still struggling to attract the right clients? What if the real game-changer isn’t another algorithm hack—but a return to something more personal? In this episode, I want to share what’s working way better. I’m diving into how word of mouth marketing for pet sitters can completely change the game for your business. I’ll show you why it outperforms paid ads, how to tap into it without feeling pushy, and the simple steps you can take to start seeing real results from genuine community relationships. If you’re ready to stop chasing the algorithm and start building something sustainable, this one’s for you. In This Episode, You'll Learn... Why word of mouth marketing generates 5x more sales than paid ads The psychology behind pet parent trust and buying decisions How to become the go-to pet care provider in your community Real examples of pet businesses growing through vet, school, and PTO partnerships How AI can boost your referral output without sounding “salesy” Timestamps 03:00 – The data behind why referred clients are more valuable05:30 – What pet parents really want when they ask for referrals online08:15 – The real service you're selling (hint: it's not dog walking)12:50 – Using AI and creativity to scale your referral strategy20:10 – Real-world examples: how others turned partnerships into $600k+ businesses Notable Quotes “We're not selling pet sitting and dog walking. We're selling peace of mind, trust, and security.” “Word of mouth generates five times more sales than paid advertisements—and it costs less to acquire the client.” “What you do right now in July shows up in your business three to six months from now.” Resources & Links Are you ready to stop relying on social media alone and start becoming the most referred pet sitter in your area? Join Bella inside the Mastermind for done-with-you strategies and tools to grow your business through trusted relationships. Join the Mastermind Book a Free 20-min Call with Bella Bella’s Marketing Services Watch all our Podcasts on YouTube Catch up on last week's episode: Transcript Welcome to another episode of Bella in your business. My name is Bella Vasta. We spend so much time trying to figure out the algorithms on social media just to have them change on us. Right away. At the time of this recording, it is 2 days before Instagram makes their big change that I've announced in my mastermind, I've announced on my Facebook page. It is simply that all their postings are now going to be public. So that means every single thing that you post—and if it was already a business public page, it should have been because they could do it already—you should have your keywords in there. But now it's even more important. Every single time you post on Facebook or Instagram, it's basically like a micro blog. But what if I told you that there was something that was even better? That outperforms any day of the week than social media to help attract people to your business. Would you be interested? Because that's what today's episode's all about. I'm going to be throwing a lot of statistics at you because I wanted to throw the numbers really heavily into this episode so that you could hopefully be motivated. The topic that I'm about to tell you about is something that a lot of people are either really scared, or apprehensive, or self-conscious about. Perhaps sometimes they're even—they say they don't have time for it, which really, when you say you don't have time, it means it's not a priority, right? That's in anything in life. Or it's just something that maybe they've done before, but they don't feel like they got an ROI—a return on investment—therefore they're just like no. And so what that is is word of mouth marketing. It's getting out there and pounding the pavement. It's getting out there and being endorsed by the vet. It's by being endorsed by grooming shops, by trainers, by local community managers, realtors—anyone that will do that. Okay. Do you know that according to these statistics, it generates 5 times more sales than paid advertisements, while referred customers deliver 16% higher lifetime value and cost $24 less to acquire. What? That's incredible! Like, even if those numbers are off—because statistics are statistics—you cannot negate the fact that your referral will automatically spend more money with you, whether it's 16%, 13%, 21%. I'm not even going to debate the numbers because it's consistent throughout all the research I did. That's pretty powerful. Hey? Do you want me to give you a new client that's gonna pay you at least 15% more than what your other clients pay? Uh, yeah. Thank you. Oh, and let's not forget to talk about the thank yous at the end. Cause thank yous are really important even for the connections that are attempted but missed. And that's a really important part. The pet care industry is experiencing an explosive growth, as you all know. I mean, I don't even keep track of these numbers. I don't know if you're like me, where it just gets to a certain high number where you can't even really comprehend it. I think when I was in the game like 10 years ago, I think we were at like 80–90 million. Yeah. Oops. We're at like 2.7 billion right now in 2024, projected to be 5.1 billion—with a B—for boy—by 2030. Yet 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family above all other advertising. Can I bring up Facebook groups? How many times—I always wonder, and this is really important—I always wonder why do people keep posting, "Hey, do you know a pet or a dog walker?" At least in our local Facebook groups, multiple times a week. I'm like, "Girl, go back and look at the post from 2 days ago, you can get all your information there." It boggles my mind how and why people will not search. But it also makes sense if you think about it. They're not going to search because they want a personal recommendation. Because they feel that their experience, their pets, their need is unique. It's different from the other person who asked. And they want their own personal recommendations. They want that person to come directly to them. But unfortunately, what happens is a lot of pet sitters and dog walkers see that there’s 20 comments, and they go, “I’m not doing that. I’m not doing that. There’s all this competition out there.” But yet in the same breath they say they're the best, they're the most professional, they're the most all this stuff. Why is that? If we know that referrals can be more lucrative for our business, and we know the place or places like Nextdoor that people go a lot for those recommendations, then why don't we have any kind of program established to face-to-face talk to people and be like, “Hey, will you recommend me online? Will you recommend me to your neighbors?” Why are we talking about it? Why are we only, “Hey, if you refer someone, I’ll give you $25.” Or better yet, why don't you have a referral program that's like, “If you refer someone, you get $25 and they get $25.” Let's not be cheap here. I used to do that all the time, and so the giver and the receiver both got. You know, because sometimes that can feel a little sleazy. “Oh, are you only referring me to them so you can get a credit?” You guys say that about me sometimes when I'm referring stuff, which—so be it. So think about it. If you know the types of clients coming in will pay you more money, and you also know where they hang out, doesn’t that sound like a bullseye to you? Cause to me it does. But here's the other factor to this. And this is why it's important to not just be responding to people, but to be out there initiating conversations, initiating relationships, initiating common interests—ah! conversations—basically building trust. Because trust formation in pet care allows a really unique psychological pattern that's driven by emotional bond between pets and owners. We are not selling cogs or wheels or widgets. We aren't even selling pet sitting and dog walking. If you've been listening in this podcast for the past 445 episodes, my goodness—and no, I never set out to have 445 episodes. I had no idea I'd ever be here. Just goes to show what consistency and dedication and discipline… Anyways, back on track. Squirrel moment. We're not selling pet sitting and dog walking. We're selling peace of mind, trust, and security. And so when you sell peace of mind, trust, and security, now you're on a different playing field. Now it's not time for dollar. Now it's something different. And if you acknowledge that you're selling peace of mind, trust, and security, but all you're doing is posting pictures of Fido and Fluffy, and saying, “Oh, they're such a good pet,” or if you're only talking to people, and you're saying, “Hey, yeah, um, it's $35 for 30 min,” then you're selling time for dollar. You're not focusing your messaging and your campaigns around things like celebrating the bond between the pet and the parent. You're not doing that. You're not talking about local events where they can celebrate, enhance, build core memories of, you know, a pet at a parade and saying, “Hey guys, let's have a cheering station at the parade with all of our dogs,” kind of thing. It's the summer. There's so much opportunity to go out and build these relationships. Why aren't you doing it? I'm also gonna say this: I also found a repeated statistic, and it's from Global Pets. 53% of pet owners cite cost as their primary concern, followed by positive reviews and personal recommendations. And that was 53%, 51%, 49%. However, the decision-making process reveals a deeper psychological factor: that 80% of pet owners must trust their provider's competence. And while transparency, reliability, and genuine care for animals serve as the critical trust-building elements,

Have you ever thought, “I need to clone myself just to keep up”? I know that feeling all too well. In this episode of Bella In Your Business, I’m sharing how I, as a busy pet business owner, actually figured out how to clone myself with AI. I’ve trained tools to write like me, create branded visuals, and even replicate my voice and videos so I’m showing up even when I’m not “on.” This episode is all about real ways pet sitters can clone themselves with AI and still keep their business grounded in their unique voice. If you’re exhausted trying to be everywhere, this one will give you a new way to work smarter and scale without burning out. In This Episode, You'll Learn... Why You NEED to Clone Yourself The Writing Clone - Your Voice, Amplified The Visual Clone - Your Brand, Everywhere The Voice Clone - This One's a Game Changer The Video Clone - Show Up Without Showing Up The System That Makes It All Work Timestamps 0:33 – “I need to clone myself”—the moment it all clicked 3:05 – Why not using AI means you’re stuck in a hobby, not a business 7:00 – How I trained AI to write like me 13:05 – Visual branding secrets that save hours 22:00 – Cloning my voice and video for onboarding and beyond Notable Quotes "If you’re not using AI right now, you’re running a hobby—not a business." "I taught AI to write like me, so it’s not guessing—it’s echoing my voice." "Cloning yourself doesn’t mean losing authenticity; it means multiplying your impact." Resources & Links Imagine having more time without sacrificing your brand's presence. If you're ready to stop doing it all and start scaling with intention, join Magai and let AI do the heavy lifting for you. You don’t have to hustle harder just smarter. Magai Membership – Use code BELLA25 for $25 off/month Jump Consulting on YouTube 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. Ready to stop being the bottleneck in your business? Watch all our Podcasts on YouTube Previous podcast episode: ? Transcript Hey there, pet business owners. Bella Vasta here, and welcome back to another episode of Bella in Your Business. Y’all, we need to talk. I keep hearing the same thing from pet business owners in my DMs: “Bella, I’m drowning. I’m writing every email, answering every text, creating every post. I need to clone myself.” Well, guess what? You can clone yourself. And no, I’m not talking about some creepy sci-fi nonsense. I’m talking about showing up everywhere without actually being everywhere. I’m talking about your voice, your energy, your brand working for you 24/7—while you're walking a dog, sitting with anxious puppies, or actually getting some sleep. Here’s the thing: if you’re still doing everything yourself, you’re not running a business. You’re running a very expensive hobby that’s about to burn you out. But today, we’re changing that. I’m going to show you exactly how I’ve cloned myself using AI—and how you can do the same thing without losing what makes you special. So grab your coffee, leash up that energy, and let’s jump in. Okay, that intro? That wasn’t even me. That was my AI clone. It has come a long way since I first experimented with it in February. Back then, I used it for the first seven minutes of an episode, and it blew my mind. I can’t even keep up with how fast everything is evolving. Today, I’m going to show and tell you something really cool. If you're listening on audio, I highly recommend checking out this episode on YouTube—just head over to the Jump Consulting YouTube Channel and find Episode 443. I demonstrated something there that’s worth seeing, but I’ll also describe it as best I can here. We’re going to talk about cloning yourself—something we’ve touched on before when I interviewed George Thomas. Today, I want to share the different ways you can clone yourself, and I’ve got four of them. It’s kind of funny. People have been saying forever, “I wish I could clone myself.” Well, we’re in 2025, and you can. Now, that doesn’t mean clones are going to be walking the dogs anytime soon. But it does mean you can be in multiple places at the same time. And I want to show you how—through writing, visuals, voice, and video. Let’s be real: you probably started your pet business because you love animals. You love dogs and cats, caring for them, seeing them happy when their parents can’t be there. But somewhere along the way, you became a prisoner to your business. I call it being held hostage. You are the bottleneck. Everything in your business stops with you because you have to approve something, create something, write something, respond to someone. It’s endless, right? I see business owners doing everything themselves—writing captions, answering emails, filming every video, calling every client, doing every consultation. That’s what creates more jobs for you. That’s what makes you the bottleneck. And it’s probably not going to help you reach your goals. Being the face of your brand means your values and your voice are consistent everywhere. But it doesn’t mean you have to type every single word. I coach business owners making six and seven figures—up to $2 million—and they all have one thing in common: they’ve figured out how to multiply themselves. Traditionally, that meant delegation to humans. But today, you can use AI to do a lot of that—faster and with fewer mistakes. Now I want you to keep an open mind. Are you ready to scale? Or are you going to keep spinning your wheels under the guise of “being authentic”? I see this a lot: people who are exhausted and not producing, but hey—it’s authentic. Give the people what they want. Let’s talk about writing. This is where most pet sitters get it wrong. They ask ChatGPT, “Write a caption about dog walking,” and then wonder why it sounds robotic or not like them. It feels inauthentic. The way I actually cloned my writing voice is by feeding ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini tons of content—old emails, social posts, transcribed voice memos, even rants to my business bestie via Voxer. I didn’t just give it polished stuff. I gave it the messy stuff too. That’s where most people go wrong—they only feed AI the perfect stuff, or they type things in because they don’t feel comfortable talking. But when I gave it all that content, it learned my patterns, my inflection, my style. Now, when I need to write launch sequences, onboarding emails, or social posts, I don’t have to start from scratch. If you’re prompting it from scratch every time, you’re already behind. So instead of saying, “Write me a caption about the importance of dog walking,” say, “Help me write a post about why showing up for the same dog walk matters—the way I’d explain it to a new sitter who’s being wishy-washy about schedules.” Let me show you a comparison. The generic prompt gave me: “Consistency in dog walking isn’t just a routine. It’s how dogs build trust, burn energy, and feel secure in their day. A regular walk schedule equals a happy, healthier pup. And fewer chewed shoes.” It’s fine, but it could be anyone’s post. There’s no essence of you. Now, here’s how my branded GPT responded: “Unpopular opinion: Your dog doesn’t need a new chew toy. They need a damn routine. Consistency isn’t cute, it’s critical. It’s how trust is built, anxiety is calmed, and behavior transforms. If you’re all in one week and ghosting the next, your dog’s not confused—they’re stressed. Be a leader they can count on. Show up: same time, same walk, same love. Because consistency is where the magic happens.” That’s my voice, that’s my tone, that’s my energy. But you have to train your GPT. I still tweak mine, but it’s a huge difference when you’ve trained it versus when you’re just using one-off prompts. If you're still asking AI to write “in the style of Oprah,” you’re missing the point. That’s not you. And your audience knows it. Next up: visual cloning. I see pet business owners spending hours trying to get the perfect photo for their website. But your clients don’t need a million different photos. They need a consistent visual presence that makes them feel like they know and trust you. I use AI all the time to do this. One of my mastermind members had this challenge—she wanted new photos to match a previous shoot. I showed her how to train AI to replicate that style. It looked amazing. We do this with website redesigns too—words, photos, everything. Maybe you need a new headshot. You don’t like your old one. Cool—have AI do it. My current Facebook profile picture shows me in a pink jean jacket. I don’t own it. But it looks like me. You can even place yourself in different scenarios—walking in the snow, holding an umbrella in the rain—stuff that would be hard to stage in real life. It’s not about being fake. It’s about being strategic. Your website is your storefront. Would a department store keep the same mannequins in the window forever? Of course not. You need to update your visuals, and AI makes it easy once you train it. Next, let’s talk about voice cloning. You can literally clone your speaking voice, and it’s so good, it freaks me out. I’ve even used it to create potential new podcasts where two voices discuss a blog post I fed them. No one would know it’s not real. Maybe you don’t like being on camera, but you still want your voice on reels or videos. You can clone your voice, approve a script, and have your team pair it with video. 11 Labs can do this in 10 seconds. Finally, video cloning. I’ve been using HeyGen for 6–7 months now. It’s improved a lot, and it allows you to clone your face and body for video.