We were lucky to catch up with Megan Beirne recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Megan, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

Growing up my parents had my brother and I do chores in order to earn money. From there, they required and encouraged us to get a job as soon as we were old enough, so for me that looked like babysitting as a teenager and then landing my first “big girl” job at a retail store after getting my license. It didn’t take long for me to understand and realize what money could offer me – a feeling of independence and self respect. Having that mindset led me to becoming a workaholic after high school, where I found myself picking up extra shifts and working double on the weekends. I knew work = money which in return provided me with more independence to choose what I did with my money. Although it’s been something I’ve been working on for years to try and balance better, I do believe the way I grew up and was raised by my parents allowed me to be able to have the courage and drive to start my own business. It takes a lot of effort, energy, and hard work to make it happen – which I already had within me from the positive impact my parents gave.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Growing up my parents had my brother and I do chores in order to earn money. From there, they required and encouraged us to get a job as soon as we were old enough, so for me that looked like babysitting as a teenager and then landing my first “big girl” job at a retail store after getting my license. It didn’t take long for me to understand and realize what money could offer me – a feeling of independence and self respect. Having that mindset led me to becoming a workaholic after high school, where I found myself picking up extra shifts and working double on the weekends. I knew work = money which in return provided me with more independence to choose what I did with my time and finances. Although it’s been something I’ve been working on for years to try and balance better, I do believe the way I grew up and was raised by my parents allowed me to be able to have the courage and drive to start my own business. It takes a lot of effort, energy, and hard work to make it happen – which I already had within me from the positive impact my parents gave me from a young age. These values led me to joining a network marketing business shortly after I graduated high school where I had the opportunity to dip my toes into entrepreneurship. I absolutely loved the time flexibility and freedom it provided! It was that experience that gave me the desire to have a business of my own some day. I always wondered why none of the jobs I had worked out or made me sad… turns out I don’t like being told what to do haha. I never truly felt satisfied working for someone else either – feeling like I was providing for somebody else’s dream besides my own. After college and around the age of 24 I moved to Colorado and started working part time for a gal who owned her own pet care business. I was a volunteer with AmeriCorps at the time so needed extra money. After my year with AmeriCorps was up, my boss encouraged me to start my own pet care business because she saw many qualities in me that would help me exceed. She thought I was the perfect fit for it! Which was such a coincidence to hear because in the back of my mind I always knew I wanted to own my own business, I just NEVER thought it would be in this industry! Without her encouragement, I probably wouldn’t be here today doing what I do. I started my own pet care business in a small mountain town in Colorado for about a year before moving back to my home state of Minnesota and starting it all over again. I only lived in that area for 8 months before moving to the Twin Cities Metro and starting over AGAIN. So at this point I’ve started my business from scratch three different times, and I’m still standing here today to tell the tale!

My current business, Metro Pet Care LLC, is a registered LLC located in South Minneapolis, MN 55417 serving dogs (& cats) within a 7-mile radius of South Minneapolis, MN 55417: Richfield, South Minneapolis, Mendota Heights, Nokomis area, Uptown, Longfellow, Hiawatha, Tangletown. Services offered are daily walks, check-ins, almost overnights, cat boarding, photography, pooper scooper, etc.

This business is solely run by me, I do not have any staff. I am 30 years old and have 5 years of professional experience working with pets who need medications, are visually impaired or deaf, need extra TLC, are reactive, etc. I’ve been around dogs and cats my entire life and have two cats of my own. I began dog walking and doing overnights 5 years ago part-time and now have the opportunity to share my love of animals with pet owners full time! I pride myself on the high standard of care and services that I offer and understand that people’s pet are like their child, wanting the best care for them while away. When people book with Metro Pet Care LLC their pet will not be treated like another number. Since it is just me running this business, their pet will have my full one-on-one attention.

I truly want the best for pet(s) and think of them as my own when taking care of them. Because pet’s safety, well-being, and comfort are my top priority, caring for them is a privilege, never a burden. My main goal in spending time with them is that they are happy and well taken care of. I have two cats of my own who I love more than anything, and so I always joke around saying that it’s funny I now own a pet care business where the primary client is a dog, and I’ve always considered myself a “cat lady”, having grown up with them and never a dog. I absolutely love what I get to do day in and day out and feel so grateful to have been able to walk this journey!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I love speaking on this topic, probably because I’m a millennial! But I was able to build my audience on social media a few different ways. When I first created my Facebook and Instagram business profiles, I searched for other local businesses in the area and followed them. Mostly pet care related businesses, but also any in general. Since I followed them, I would see when they’d post and would always make sure to interact and engage with their profile. This helped grow my pages immensely! In addition, I would post to a few local FB groups weekly, doing an intro post and tagging my social pages. This allowed even more people to follow me. When I did this, I would make sure to include photos of me with pets to make the post more personable 😊 I do have LinkedIn and a profile on the Nextdoor app, but don’t use those as often. On my website I have my social pages connected as well. My advice to anyone starting to build their social media presence would be to do exactly what I’ve shared above as I believe it truly helped immensely! Be interactive and engaging on your pages, too. Ask questions, share photos, etc.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

What I think helped build my reputation within my market is simply just helping as many people as I could, and making sure I did the best job I was able. The more people I was able to reach/help, the more I would get referrals online and in person. I started out with a larger radius for the areas I serviced, but as my business started to grow I lowered that number by over half. Showing up and doing the right thing and a good job matters! The little details matter. Being consistent, trustworthy, and honest – matters. If I ever made a mistake or wasn’t sure about something during care, I’d bring it up. I could tell the clients really appreciated that attention to detail! Asking questions, especially at a meet and greet, shows that you’re listening and care. By deciding to not take on anymore new clients, I’ve been able to focus my attention on deepening relationships I’ve already forged.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.metropetcarellc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metropetcarellc?igsh=MXV1eXZvN2N2Y3ZpYw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1AjcEaY6Ns/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/metropetcare/

Image Credits

Megan Beirne