297: From Mom Problem to Thriving Business: Building a Babysitting Agency with Beth Heyer

Camille 0:00

Welcome back, everyone, to Call Me CEO. I am your host, Camille Walker, and today we are talking about how to elevate your mind and your mindset and also how to do this and build a business in a life you truly love. This is something we talk about every single week with women, particularly mothers who are doing this, and that adds in some complications in terms of balancing it all. We know that it ebbs and flows. There's never a perfect balance. But if you are looking for someone to be a strategic partner with in terms of finding a life coach, a business strategy that helps you to move the needle, I am here to help you to think bigger, move smarter, and to create results that actually help you to feel aligned. That is what I do and I love it so very much. So if you've been craving clarity in your next steps, confidence in your decisions, or support as you grow, that is exactly why I help women with their businesses and how beyond this podcast, I work one-on-one with women to help them achieve intentional action in both their life and in their business. So today I am thrilled to introduce our guest, Beth Heyer. She is the founder of Babysitter Connections, a business dedicated to helping families find trusted, reliable childcare while creating meaningful opportunities for sitters. Beth has built a powerful community-driven brand that solves a real problem for busy families, and she's done it while navigating the realities of motherhood in her own life. So I'm so excited to dive into what it looks like for her, the lessons she's learned along the way, building leadership, and how she has uh walked into her own shoes of being a CEO. So let's get started. So you want to make an impact. You're thinking about starting a business, sharing your voice. How do women do it that handle motherhood, family, and still chase after those dreams? Listen each week as we dive into the stories of women who know. This is Call Me CEO. Beth, thank you so much for being on the show today.

Beth 2:13

Thanks for having me.

Camille 2:14

Of course. So tell me a little bit more about Babysitter Connections, your background, how did you get this idea, and what led you to deciding that this is a business you wanted to start?

Beth 2:26

Yeah, so um I worked in the corporate-ish world. I worked for a medium um family-owned business, and I was a recruiter um doing recruiting, sales, and training of industrial maintenance and repair salespeople.

Camille 2:41

So totally related.

Moving Away And Losing Your Village

Beth 2:42

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Same thing. Um, and I had my son, Grant, and I decided um I was gonna stay home. I had an opportunity to stay home and be with him. Um, so I got out of that business. I became a stay-at-home mom, and I got really, really passionate about moms and working with moms, and I helped lead um and kind of revitalize a mom's group um in my neighborhood in Ohio, and just got really passionate about supporting moms and connecting moms and providing community for moms. Um, shortly thereafter, 20 months later, I had my daughter. Um, and we were just cruising along, have having a great time, tons of community and connections. I had a really wonderful roster of babysitters. This was back in Columbus, Ohio. Um, that was just a great network that we could always use. I was a stay-at-home mom who had a part-time nanny. I am number one advocate of moms asking for help and taking help. Um, two under two is no joke. And um my partner at the time took a job in Austin, Texas, and it was time for us to move. Um, and I lost my whole network. I lost all of my community. I lost all of my babies that are, I was a thousand miles from my nearest family member. And it was really hard. Um, I helped bring back a mom's group here in Austin.

Building Honest Mom Community

Camille 4:18

Let's pause, let's pause just for a minute right there because I feel like one of the loneliest times of a woman's life is when they become a new mom and they feel trapped in their home. They're in a beautiful place of perhaps maybe things are going really well with baby at home. Maybe they're not. Maybe you're having postpartum. I mean, what however you shake it, things are hard because it's new. So talk to me a little bit about those feelings of seeking and needing that connection. Because the fact that you were able to find that need and create it is very unique. I feel like that's can be really scary. So tell me a little bit more about how you were able to do that for yourself.

Beth 4:58

Um, well, you know, the I we found this mom's group that was kind of um moms group seems to kind of have waves. You know, there's a big group that comes and their parents, the kids get older, and you got to kind of bring it back. And um it was just like a Facebook page. And we started um doing meetups and events, and it was one of those things. Like, I remember my son was like six months old, and we would go to like zoo play dates, right? And that's when I realized, like, you know, we'd all be wearing our babies, like showing them a monkey. And it's like, this isn't for them, right? Totally for us. Like, our kid is never gonna remember this. It is for that community and that connection with those moms, and being able to show up how you are. We, you know, we were not, we did not have our hair done, we did not have our makeup done, we had spit up on our shirts. Um, and just being able to have really honest conversations. And I think it is hard to find um a group that you can find that doesn't necessarily judge you, and that you can have those honest conversations with about how hard things are, not only with a baby, but also a lot of us were stay-at-home moms. We had a lot of um partners who worked a lot. We were responsible for that baby from you know, morning to night and preparing dinner and you know, keeping the house in order and doing all those things. And a lot of us, you know, had additional support and did have supportive partners, but it was just like it wasn't just the baby, it was like, what are we making for dinner tonight? And how are we doing this? And not only would we have those play dates during the day with our babies, but we also would have meetups in the evenings for just moms where we would just sit and talk or have a book club or play games or go to a movie. And there was just so much community and knowing like you weren't alone um in the in in this adventure. And you know, it's I think it's gotten harder over the last 10 or 15 years with social media where you see these mommy influencers whose hair and makeup is done, and their kids are in these cute outfits, and you know, they're doing all this great stuff, and you know, going on airplanes and doing all these things that it's at some point as a new mom, you're like, I'm never gonna get to that point, and they make it look so easy, and being able to just really firsthand have an honest group of moms who can share, like it isn't easy, and there are good days, and especially when your baby is little and like it's not rewarding, right? Like, no one's patting you on the back. I mean, you're patting on the back. And then that baby's not like getting up at three and mom. Like you, it's just it's really hard. And I I just am so thankful for it for that group of moms that I had early on. And there were there were a lot of us, there were probably about 20 of us who who really got together a lot, um, and and just had that community where we could share and be honest and show up exactly how we were without judgment. Um, and you know, there were moms in that group who had older kiddos. Um, and then you know, we became the moms of the older kiddos, and just being able to share um insight with them, um, you know, like I always say, like, it gets better, and then it gets worse, and then it gets better, and then it gets worse. Like it's just always, you know, now with an 11 nine-year-old, it's it's so much easier and it's more fun. But then there's also just different struggles now that we're dealing with.

The Childcare Problem Worth Solving

Camille 8:41

Trust me, yes. Yes, I have a graduating senior this year, and it's you know, they just say bigger kids, bigger problems, and thinking back to like, oh, when potty training was like the worst thing in the world. Right. Which it is, it totally is. But then you get to like those real world, like big life decisions, and you're like, dang, I miss those potty training days. Like, it's funny that you it definitely ebbs and flows, and the problems are just different. Yeah. So I would love to know what uh gaps you saw in the market and what need for babysitter connection, like kind of explain to us what it is and what is the gap that it fills.

Subscription Model And Vetted Sitters

Early Launch Stress And Boundaries

Beth 9:18

Yep. So I was, you know, you you go on Facebook, I'm looking for a babysitter, and then you wind up with eight people who message you, and then you got them in your DMs, and then you get this person's phone number and you're trying to court. Tell me about your experience and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And who have you sat for before? And then there's also, you know, I went in a mom's group and they're saying, Well, I used this girl once, and I used this girl once. And then you become you're just managing text messages and trying to find, you know, a sitter who can who can do Friday, but then you also need someone next Saturday, and your kids are little and trying to figure it all out, right? And it was just, it was silly. And the people that I was, even like my connections that were referring to me to sitters are like, these sitters are not that. Like, I've had such I was in Columbus, Ohio by Ohio State, and we had like this whole class of nurses like on our roster. We had the best babysitters. Wow. So it was just, I was really just disappointed. And it got to a point where my partner at the time was gonna change careers, and it was kind of time. I I never intended to intended to stay home forever. So it was kind of time for me to start getting back to work. My kids were getting to the point where I wanted to start sending them to some kind of preschool, and I knew I didn't want to work for anyone else. I'm not, I'm not a girl who loves bosses. And I said, you know what, there is such a need for this, and I think I can create something better and easier. And I did a lot of research on what was out there, you know, care.com, some different agencies, agencies that I had tried to use and really took a look at like what was working, what wasn't working, um, and built my own. Um, so over the course of about four or five months at the end of 2019, um, I put in tons of work and tried to figure out the best option. And that's where Babysitting Connection was born. We have a monthly subscription model, which I think is the key. Um, I think it's really great. It's a very low cost of entry. You can join as a member of Babysitting Connection for $35 a month. You can book three sits a month for that $35. A lot of agencies have really high registration fees or annual fees or booking fees where you're paying $30, $40, $50 of booking, or the sitters' rates are $40 an hour and the agency's taking a cut and then they're paying the sitter a lesser amount. And to me, this membership model was just real clean and easy. Um, I think when we launched, it was two sits for $25. COVID happened six weeks after we launched, which changed a few things. And um, and then you paid the sitters directly. I think when we launched, our sitters rates were $15, 16. Now they're $20 an hour, a very competitive rate. Um and you pay the sitters directly. I'm, you know, I'm making $35 a month. I'm not taking a cut of every booking. If you want to book more sits, you can. If you want to book less sits, you can. Um, and all of our sitters on our roster background check, driving record check, CPR certified, 18 and over, the whole thing. And guess what? They show up every single time, right? They show up. And if that sitter wakes up and they're sick, they send us a text message and I send a few clicks and you have a new sitter already registered for you. It is you're no longer playing that text message game, DM game, getting ghosted at coffee shops, trying to interview sitters. We take care of all that work for you. And now, six and almost six and a half years later, we have 75,000 sits under our belt. You know, we have um 280 some vetted sitters. Um, like I said, we're in the biggest, we're in the big four cities in Texas and recently in northern Ohio, which is where I'm from. Um, and I just feel like we've really streamlined the process and took a lot of the um legwork out of it that it's typically the burden of the mother to find that. And we take that off their plate and just make it really easy and provide uh trustworthy and reliable and fully vetted staff on demand.

Camille 13:35

That's great. Can you take us back to those early days of launching the business? What did that look like for you?

COVID Pivot And First Hires

Beth 13:41

It was terrifying. I was working so much. Um, I had a couple part-time jobs at the time. I was working as um doing some fundraising for my kids. Oh, preschool that my kids then wound up going to, which was a blessing. They went up going there part-time. I was doing some, I had a bunch of odd part-time jobs. And then I was also working for babysitting connection full-time, more than full-time. I'd work all day. I'd put my kids to bed. I'd work from eight to midnight. I realized, you know, I wasn't eating healthy. I was, you know, at 11:30 at night, I'd open a bottle of wine. Like there was a lot of bad things happening then that I've since kind of writed. Um and it was just constant. Like, you know, you're just constantly obsessed with your business. And every single, I struggled a lot with boundaries. I would, if I got an email, I had to reply to it. I had to reply to a text. It was just this is it. Like, if I don't reply to this text message, they're gonna find someone else or they're not gonna trust me. Um, and I was working a lot and I was doing everything. I was accounting and social media and marketing and all of these things. And pretty quickly, within well, within six weeks, COVID hit. Um, and what was kind of great about that is people really needed safe, reliable in-home child care during COVID. And we were able to very quickly pivot. We adjusted our packages a little bit. We set up a more consistent care program to have one sitter consistently. Um, and within I think two months, I put out of, I had maybe 12 sitters, I sent an email to all of them and said, I don't want to do social media anymore. Does anybody want to help me? I said, I'll pay, I'll pay you, you know, $15 an hour, five hours a week. And I hired my first employee, Nikki, who is still with me today, who now runs a social media conglomerate, just amazing. I'm lucky she still keeps me on at this point. Um, but I knew early on that I didn't want to be the expert at everything. I didn't have to be the expert at anything. And I wound up hiring two people on my team and paying them before I ever really paid myself. I knew, I knew from the beginning that I was all into this, that it had to succeed. There was no plan B. Um, I pulled money from my 401k to launch it, and I knew that I had to invest in the business, and investing in the business meant investing in the right people to help kind of help me find some balance as well.

Camille 16:20

That's really helpful. I love that you invested in it immediately, knowing that you couldn't wear all the hats, or you went from doing that for a short time and then saying this could not take me long term. What was one of the biggest you mentioned the social media piece, but what was another big piece is in terms of like making it feel like, oh, this is a legitimate business and this is working? Like what was that moment for you?

Beth 16:46

Oh my gosh. I think it was just when you start to get that feedback from the members and the sitters that it's working and that you're helping people. And I I try really hard still to really create a really good balance between a great place for a sitter to work and a great place for a member to be a part of. And I think that there's whether they be babysitting businesses, Danny E businesses, or just general businesses that really lean in one way of the member or really lean in one way of the employee or whatever. And I tried really hard to make it fair for everyone. And there's there's certain policies that lean a little bit more in the sitters' favor or lean a little bit more in the member's favor. But overall, um, you know, being able to provide consistent, reliable, fair wages for these sitters. These sitters are no longer playing the text message game either. They're no longer meeting random families at Starbucks, they're no longer doing free meet and greets at someone's house to see if they're fit and bringing them the work when they want it. They they never have to take a job if they're not available for it. I'm not making anyone work on weekends. You pick and choose when and where you want to work. And then for the families, getting their feedback that it really was easy, that I was providing great sitters and great care. And I think that was when when you start to kind of get that feedback. Um, you know, I remember saving early voicemails and text messages from families just being like, oh my gosh, this is such a lifesaver. Thank you so much. This was so easy. And I told my friend about you. Um, and once that started happening, you're like, okay, I think we're not as big or growing as fast as I want, but like I think we're doing things right. And I think that this is going to work, is when you when I started getting that feedback.

Feedback That Proved It Worked

Camille 18:47

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think a lot of times things going really slow in the beginning is a blessing. Cause if it goes too fast all at once, maybe there's a policy change you need to work out or a customer service review or something where you're where you think, oh, I didn't even think about that. Was there so I'm curious for the people who are the babysitters, are they paying a fee to be a part of this? Or no? Okay. You had mentioned that you help other women now to build businesses like yours. Yeah. Has that been more or less fulfilling than building your own?

Beth 19:28

Oh, that's hard. So I think now six years in, I hate to say this, but like the thrill of a of a new member kind of dwindles, right? So we're we're in six cities now, and and our newest cities or sorry, we're in five cities, our newest city area is northern Ohio. And then I just hired a director in San Antonio to kind of get that growing a little bit more. And there's a lot of excitement that I have for them. So we celebrate when they get a new member, right? When Austin gets a new member, it's it feels like old news. That's just what's supposed to be happening, right? But I love, you know, we have a group text, and every time we get an Ohio member or a San Antonio member, we send a text and we're all excited because it's it's for them, it's it's for those directors, like that's important for them. Um and I kind of don't have that thrill anymore, like I said with Austin. It's it's exciting and I love it. It makes me happy every time we get a new Austin uh member or Dallas or whatever, but I've really at this point, it brings me a lot of joy to um help other people grow and to help other people have wins, even the wins on my team. Um so I think at this point I get a lot more um joy out of seeing my clients grow and my employees have wins. Um, so yeah, we have a Brittany in DC launched cherry blossom sitters, and it's you know, you talked about in the beginning when it feels so slow. And and going through that again with her, where you know, that first month she launched in in December and it was rough. I wouldn't do that again. It was just too tough with the holidays. And she really struggled and she really questioned, like, what am I doing? Am I sure I do? And I'm sure on the back end she was like, I can't believe I hired this girl and I'm not doing anything. And I was like, you just gotta be like, stick to what we decided to do, like stick to the plan. And then after those holidays were over, it's just been great for her. And I love now, she'll text me and say, Oh my gosh, I, you know, just got a new member that's blah, blah, blah. And seeing her wins. And I'm so excited for the Sitter Bridge to launch in the Pacific Northwest. Cause I I know just like the same, like, I'm now I'm really prepared for that. Oh, what am I doing? This is so I can't believe I did this. And then just being like, stay true to what you built. And keep leaning in. And there's a couple of things people told me early in my career that I always think about. And one of them is you're building a bonfire, you're not setting off fireworks, right? So every time, even still, you know, you send a promo code out for you know Black Friday or something, and you think, hold on tight, everybody's gonna join, right? And it it's never that, you know, it just isn't. And you you want when you launch, you want it to go crazy and you want to be slumped and all this money coming in. But ultimately, to build a really true and sustainable business, you want to build a bonfire, you want it to just continue to burn and burn and burn forever and have it be this sustainable thing. And I think that's so hard to remember when you launch a business because you just want it to go wild and ultimately to be sustainable and long term, it needs to be really steady and yeah.

Scaling With Team And City Directors

Camille 22:55

Yeah. What would you say in terms of key turning points that helped you to grow babysitting babysitter connections? Like what were some of those fire building things that you once you got it going, it was slow, but it helped you ultimately to get where you wanted to go.

Beth 23:12

Growing my team and and putting a lot of faith in my team. My my first higher S up was my social media marketing person who was it was really just her and I for in the thick of it for a while. And she, like I said, Nikki's just incredible. And um, then it got to a point where I was um I was burning out on interviews. I've been a recruiter, you know, I was burning out at interviews, and I brought in Frances, who took over our sitter side of things. And that's when it really started to feel like, okay, like we we got a team here, like um, and and she really is just wonderful at the job and is so keen to um uh reading people and and interviewing them and and managing them and keeping an eye on them and knowing, you know, who's who's doing great and who's maybe, you know, we have a lot of conversations where it's like, well, you know, I think so and so struggling a little bit. I think they're a little stressed in their life right now. Let's keep an eye on them, make sure they're you know, we're sending them, you know, kudos and um it's she's just been wonderful. And I think that handing that off to someone um allowed me to kind of focus on other things with the business, and that's when we really started to be able to grow in other locations. Um and then my latest kind of like, yeah, we're doing we're doing this right, and I think we got it figured out is hiring directors in our cities. When we launched our first couple cities, we were just like, it's just let's just say we're in Houston now and we'll hire some sitters in Houston. Um, but what I've learned over the years is that you really need that person on the ground and that local mom and that local face to really get to know people. Um, and that's what we did with Katie in Ohio, and she has just done phenomenal. Um and then recently we we realized San Antonio used to kind of have uh one of our team members used to be there, and she has since moved um to a different location. But we realized our membership had really dwindled since she left. Um, so we just brought on a director in San Antonio, and it's just amazing to see just within a few short weeks the growth that we've already had there, just having that real person in the city talking to people. Um, so that's been really fun to be like, okay, I think we cracked the code, I think we know what we're doing now when it comes to new cities and how we can replicate that and how we can grow that. So that's been really fun to see too, like, okay, I think we can maybe add some more cities or grow within some other cities now as well.

Stepping Into The CEO Role

Camille 25:52

Yeah. Now, a question that I wanted to ask, and we had a little chat about this before we started talking today, was when did you step into your CEO role or see yourself as a CEO?

Beth 26:06

I hate to say it, but I do not call myself a CEO.

Camille 26:09

Oh, okay. So, you guys, I'm going to start asking all the women that I interview because you would be surprised, I am, that this is so common when women are running these amazing teams, amazing businesses, literally four years, and you don't consider yourself a CEO. So tell me a little bit more about what that looks like for you.

Beth 26:30

Oh, so I call myself the owner and founder. Um, I don't, I don't use the word president. I guess I don't even know. I think that's like a I don't know. Um CEO, and this is totally like I talk a lot about like men versus women and like things that men and women like a man would never say he had a side hustle. Like a mom, a man would never call himself like a daddy preneur, and I I don't call myself a mama preneur either. Um, but I feel like this is is kind of one of those things too where I think it's just a little bit of like I'm not big enough or good enough or smart enough to be a CEO. Um, and I think most of it boils down to how big my business is. Like I don't feel even with five cities and and you know we we generate a lot of income, and you know, I pay myself and I pay my team, and we're a successful business. To me, a CEO runs like a multi-million dollar, and there's VPs and executives, and like that's what I call what I think of as a CEO, and I don't think that's me yet, but I would love for you to challenge that.

Camille 27:51

I'm I'm over here, like you guys can't see me, but everything by definition that a CEO does, you literally are doing. And it's interesting to me because I think so often that that title has felt in many ways masculine, you know, in terms, or that we kind of imagine in our heads, like you just said, multimillion dollars, VPs, that it has to look this certain way. But I can tell you, even women I've interviewed that literally are making millions struggle with that term. So if you're listening to this and you identify with that, of like, oh, I don't see myself as a CEO, I would challenge you all to adopt that idea of even having a mantra of I am a CEO. Because everything you just defined, even someone that's running their life and running a household and running, you know, people's lives and all of really what it is is the operations of a business and having oversight over finances, management, everything that's happening in the growth of the business, that is what a CEO is. And so you are. I'm so I'm telling I am, I'm throwing it out there saying I hope that you will challenge yourself with that, get curious with that, because perhaps stepping into that will give you a little more power.

Beth 29:14

I will, I will, I feel like I need to like Google what's a CEO. And you feel like I need to have a little chat with Gemini. Gemini, am I?

Camille 29:21

Yeah, and get back to me. We should do a follow-up of that.

Beth 29:24

That would actually be as I you we show up, and my title on the Zoom is Beth Hire CEO.

The Hard Truth About Bad Reviews

Camille 29:30

Yes, I would love that actually. Okay, so what is a hard lesson that you've learned in business that you think more women need to hear?

Beth 29:38

Oh my gosh, I had a real tough Monday with this one. Um, and again, one of the mantras someone taught me early on is you can't make everyone happy, you're not pizza. And believe me when I tell myself that um I had a real difficult situation on Monday with with a woman that I just there was no way that I was gonna make this person happy. It didn't matter what I said or how I said it or what I offered her, she just it was not gonna work. Um and she was really mad. And it was, it just, it was, it was just kind of a it didn't make a whole lot of sense on my end. But anyway, um, she made it clear that she was going to ruin me and my community and leave, you know, a terrible review, and she was gonna come after me. And I said, okay. And um I I said, you know, I don't think we're gonna, this is a fit. I'm gonna get your membership cancel, I'm gonna get your refund. She told me don't cancel my membership. How after she, you know, told me I was called me and my sitters and everything about the business terrible, she still wanted book to book our babysitters and use our babysitters difficult day. Um and I thought, you know, I just I can't, I can't send a sitter into her home. It just it just didn't it didn't feel right. No, no, that energy is ruined. Yeah. So she she did, she posted on my community page and um it lasted about 20 minutes before luckily uh a lot of my friends and supporters and members were like, Yeah, are we talking about the same person here? Um, and she and she left a pretty rough review. And you know, it's just one of those things where you know, I had to sit down that night and and you know, go through our Google reviews, and we have 105 Google reviews, right? And I'm like, okay, we gotta we had a hundred and a hundred and two of these are five stars, you know. There's there's those three people out there that just really didn't like us, you know? And I I do my best and I try my hardest. And like I said, I I really try to bridge that gap between being a good place for members and being a good place for sitters and coming to realize that like I just can't be for everyone. I can't. And and the great thing is there that there's other agencies out there that she can go work with that maybe are better fit for her, and or maybe there's a better place for a sitter to work, or a better place for a member who you know has different ideas or requirements. And I really had to lean into, and this has been interesting to talk about with um my clients that are building new businesses, is like over the years, we've we've tweaked our policies, we've tweaked some of our cancellation policies and our rush and all that stuff. And they're there for a reason. They are there for a purpose, they are there to protect a sitter, a member, or the agency, right? And just because you don't like my policies doesn't mean that I should one change them or two that they're wrong, right? And that's been really hard too, where people will will ask for an exception or something, and I'll be like, no, you know, and I think that's really one of the hard parts about being a female business owner, being a small business owner, and also being so accessible about the owner. I often think, you know, like no one's calling the CEO of Domino's Pizza and questioning their coupons, right? Like, no one's calling the CEO of wherever, you know, uh Google and being like, you know, what's this fee for on my bill? But because I am the face of my business and very accessible, you can email me any day, anytime. You can call our number and talk to me. I feel like it opens up the door for people to feel like they need to express their opinions. And and I a lot of times that's wonderful, and I love to hear it and I consider it. Um but it's it's strange having people call you and like want to argue with you about how you run your business, and it's just like then like then like go go order pizza from someone else, you know? Like it's just it's tricky sometimes being kind of as accessible as we are. And I think that that's probably part of the reasons too why I don't call myself CEO. Like, are there people calling CEOs questioning their rates?

Camille 34:14

They have buffers. I don't have that many buffers, but you I mean, that's something that would develop over time, you know, because people who are making decisions for the business at that high level can't be the one answering that phone call. And partially that's to protect your mental your mental health, you know, because it's interesting about those Google reviews because I've had people say before, oh, don't trust the businesses that have purely five-star reviews. That's they're probably all bots, you know, because truly there are people out there that aren't going to be happy with anything anywhere, anytime. Look at social media. You can be the most lovely person in the world and someone will hate you. So I'm just here to cheer you on and say, You're right, not everyone is for everyone, and that's okay. Yeah. So would you say the lesson that you learned from that is what?

Beth 35:07

Stay true. Stay true to what you believe is is right. And I think in the beginning, I really questioned everything and wanted to consider everyone's ideas and make exceptions. And I think that's great for an early business. But at this point in time, like I said, 75,000 sits in. Like we think we really got it pretty figured out, and we think that our policies really make sense and kind of work for everybody in the most fair way, and um just really believing in like what you've built and that it is good and true and helpful, um, and just realizing that it there's going, there's gonna be one in a hundred people who just don't don't work for you, and that's that's okay. Um and I said to the first thing I said to my team when I talked to them that next day is I said, I didn't leave lose sleep last night. I didn't lose sleep over it. And in the beginning, I would have, it would have kept me up. I would have been what did I what could I have done different? What and ultimately I hung up on the phone. Well, she hung up on me and uh was like it was like I I did the best I could. And I I talked to her in in a respectable manner, and I did the best I could. And I'm not I can go to bed at night knowing that like I'm still running a good, honest, great business.

The All In Mindset For Growth

Camille 36:35

Yeah. I really love that you said tapping into those values and not deviating from that, because then you can go to sleep at night knowing, yeah, I went in with these intentions and I stuck to them. That's huge. Yeah. For someone starting from scratch, what would you tell her to focus on first? Because this is something now you're coaching other people to do. Yeah. So what's that first focus point? Is there, I know we talked about, you know, sticking to the course, but is there one belief that you believe that she needs to let go of to be successful or perhaps something that makes it more sustainable? What's that thing that you would say focus on this first?

Rapid Fire Favorites And Where To Connect

Beth 37:11

I think it's your mindset. I think just knowing, going into it from the beginning, knowing this is not a side hustle, this is not something I'm gonna use to, you know, uh uh cover my family's vacation this year, like going into it thinking this is going to be a real successful business that is going to pay my bills and help people and really just have that all-in mindset. I I just think that I have I have done stuff in my life while I had careers and part-time things that I tried to start and did things, and I never had that true all-in mindset. It was always just something a little extra I'd do on the side. It was a hobby. Um, and I think women don't give themselves the opportunity or the audacity to be like, no, this is going to pay my bills, and I am going to eventually, whether it's an hour later, be the CEO of this business. Yes. Really taking that mindset and thinking I have the ability, the skill, the confidence, the wherewithal, all of it to do this and to launch this. And no, and also kind of with that too, knowing like if I don't have the ability, I'm gonna find someone who does and bring them in to help support me. Yeah.

Camille 38:34

Ooh, I love it. Okay, we're going to wrap it up a little bit here with a fast fun round. So I did not prep her for these questions. So if it takes you a minute, that's okay. Okay. Morning routine or night owl.

Beth 38:48

Oh, I'm a night owl, 100%.

Camille 38:50

Okay. Coffee or matcha? Coffee. One non-negotiable in your daily routine.

Beth 39:01

Oh my. One non-negotiable.

Camille 39:07

Like, does the New York Times crossword puzzle? Absolutely. Crossword puzzle, that's great. How do you get that? No one's doing the newspaper anymore. How do you do that?

Beth 39:16

Oh, I have the New York Times app. Like, I just I have the app. Okay. Like, that's that's like my bedtime routine is like I crossword puzzle. Like it, it like that's a terrible option. I feel like I should be like dealing with it. I feel like spending time with my kids. No, it's literally you're like, I need to zen down with this. My my partner got me a espresso machine, like the whole setup for Christmas. So it is like my delicious homebrewed coffee in the morning, and then like ending my day with my crossword puzzles.

Camille 39:51

Oh, I love that.

Beth 39:51

That's like a full day for me.

Camille 39:54

That's a perfect bookend. Okay. Yeah. Uh, best business advice you ever received.

Beth 39:59

Like I said, you can't make everyone happy or not pizza. I think just remembering that, and that not every client and not every customer is your customer.

Camille 40:08

A book or podcast that changed your perspective. Oh man.

Beth 40:18

I just I just we moved and I was just unpacking, and I just I'm looking at Untamed by Glenn and Doyle, and I remember really, really loving that. And and there were several couple chapters that I remember just really resonated with me. And as I unpacked it, I thought I'm gonna have to read that one again.

Camille 40:34

Yeah, and explore that a little bit more. All right, that's so great. So, where can our listeners connect with you and learn more about babysitter connections?

Beth 40:42

Yeah, so BethHire.com, H-E-Y-E-R, is um my my coaching page, my consulting page. And then if you are in Texas or Northern Ohio, you can become a member or babysitter at babysitting connection.com. And then not to mention, we also have a pet sitting business, petsittingconnection.com.

Share Review And Coaching Invite

Camille 41:04

Oh, that's cool. Awesome, awesome. That's brilliant, actually. Gosh, so many more people are having dogs now than they are kids. That is like we can watch them for sure. Oh, cool. All right. Well, thank you so much, Beth, for being on the show today. I appreciate you being here. And to all of you who are listening, thank you so much for tuning in. If this was helpful to you, please share it with a friend, leave a review. Hopefully, it's a five star. And also no one stars. No one stars. And hopefully, if you're looking at building a CEO mindset, you need help with this. I am here to coach you one on one. I also offer a CEO mindset mastermind for successful entrepreneurs like you. So tune in, email me at callme CEO podcast at gmail.com, and I will see you next time. Hey CEOs, thank you so much for spending your time with me. If you found this episode inspiring or helpful, please let me know in a comment in a five star review. You could have the chance of being a featured review on an upcoming episode. Continue the conversation on Instagram at callme CEO Podcast. And remember, you are the boss.