Mary E. Poppins the Pet Nanny

Mary E. Poppins, The Pet Nanny

[00:00:00] Welcome to Topsail Insider, where you can hear all about the businesses and events in the beautiful coastal towns in the Greater Topsail area of North Carolina. 

Coming up: we are chatting with Mary Mika, the heart behind Mary E. Poppins, the Pet Nanny. Whether you're heading out of town or working long hours, leaving your pets behind is never easy.

But with Mary on the job, you can relax knowing that your furry family members are getting top-notch care, and lots of love. Stick around to hear how the pet nanny brings comfort, reliability, and a personal touch to pet-sitting, today on Topsail Insider.

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Hello everyone. My name is Christa and I am today's host of Topsail Insider. We have Mary Mika joining us today. She is the owner of Mary E. Poppins, the Pet Nanny. Welcome Mary and thank you 

for joining [00:02:00] me today.

Good morning.

 I love the name Mary E. Poppins, the Pet Nanny, how did you come up with the name? I know about Mary Poppins. It makes sense and then you're the pet nanny.

I get that. But what made you lock onto that name and then what is the E for in the middle?

So I love Mary Poppins. I grew up watching that movie. I've probably seen it a billion times. And I just remember dancing around the living room to one of my fondest memories as a kid. But the E. Is for Elizabeth. My first full name is Mary Elizabeth, but as the years have gone by, I've kind of dropped the Elizabeth and just went by Mary.

 So you're taking the Mary Poppins and putting your own personal spin on it.

I love it.

 Also I heard about you a couple of years ago. We have a neighborhood Facebook page. And so I asked because our dog Matilda had some anxiety when we left.

 So I was asking does anyone know of a pet sitter that would come into our home and not their home. And you were recommended then and I've been watching you, but your business has grown, and I see [00:03:00] you're getting a lot of great reviews online. First of all, congratulations because I think you're having a very successful. Go with , filling a need in the community for people who don't wanna drop their dogs at a boarding facility.

 For people who aren't familiar with exactly what you do, why don't you go ahead and just give us a nutshell version of what it is that you provide?

I am pet sitter, but I go by Pet Nanny because I do a little bit more the client wants. 

 I come into your home. I do short-term stays, long-term stays,

drop-ins, 

Drop ins, meaning someone wants you to stop by every so often.

, maybe one to times a day. If they are just going outta town for the day I will go to their home in the morning, let the dog out, play with them for a while, 

lots of cuddles. 

leave. Come back maybe a couple hours later just to make sure he is okay again.

But I can do that up to four times a day.

But with the long stays, I've been at someone's house for a month before.

So there are the people that go out of town, go to Europe, or, go [00:04:00] overseas. It's very nice having someone come in your home. I switch the lights , I'll put down the upstairs lights or the downstairs lights.

I take out the trash. I bring in the mail and the parcel boxes that come to your door.

 Cleaning your fridge or , organizing the pantry, the linen closet.

Do you charge extra for that stuff? Yes, I do. I was about to say, 

So it's, it's pet sitting, but you don't do house sitting without a pet though, right? 

I have done both.

You've done both. Okay. 

If you've booked out a whole month for a particular family, do you have other people who can step in or do you leave the home and go do other, other jobs, like drop-ins maybe?

I've actually started hiring people. Gotcha.

That's awesome. Okay. So you're growing.

I'm growing, yes.

Awesome. 

Also, , tell me about your Topsail's Top Choice Awards experience.

 I won second place for Topsail's Top Choice.

Congratulations. Thank you. I'm very proud of it. Honestly, I look at it as, the first place winner was a boarding facility. Mm-hmm. I am someone that comes into your home and pet sit that way.

[00:05:00] So it's a different, way of running the business.

And if we 

were 

to separate out the categories, which I don't, I know she's shaking her head Yes, let's do that. I don't think, I think if anything, we're gonna, , shrink the category list down a little bit this year because it was, it was over 120 categories. But, so adding at this point doesn't seem like something we're gonna do, but I get where you're coming from.

I understand it's a very different service that you're providing. I was just wondering if we developed that into a category, would there be enough participants?

Oh, you 

think

so? A hundred percent.

Well we will consider that. 

All right, let's talk about where you're from. 

EARLY YEARS

I was born in Illinois.

Illinois, um,, Chicago, , Evanston, which is part of Chicago. 

I was born there. 

I was adopted as a baby. Couple days old. My biological mom, 

her name was Sue, 

she was homeless at the time and wanted , to give me a better life than she could possibly at that time. So I had two amazing adoptive parents. , my dad was a pharmacist, [00:06:00] my mom was a nurse, and they both wanted, , kids that came from a hard situation.

And two years later they adopted a little boy and his mom and dad were younger. They were like 14, 15 years old, , but they raised us till I was seven, my brother was five, and my mom passed away. She had cervical cancer. She passed away and my dad raised us. When I was 13. My dad got remarried and she had two kids from her previous marriage. 

How was that? integration?

I would say that it was good at first. Okay. It was nice having a, a woman around. Yeah. 

It got different down the line, but , I won't go into all that because it's a whole nother story. Yeah, yeah. A whole nother part

Totally understand. What about the siblings that you gained? Did you get along with her two children?

I did for a while, but it was very much. Like

a part of this thing that you don't wanna talk about. Sorry.

[00:07:00] It's okay. . A lot of therapy over that, but, it's okay. So

about your brother? Did he feel the same way that you felt at the time?

He did. At first he was really glad that he had, one of my stepbrothers was very, very close in age. They were like a week apart, so they got along really well for a while. And then there was a, her youngest son, he was probably like eight years younger than me, so it was a big gap.

Mm-hmm.

 And then they got divorced. 

How long were they together?

10 years. Okay. 

how did you feel about that?

I, I was glad, honestly, you were, yeah. . I felt like my dad wasn't happy. After they got divorced, it was just my dad, me and my brother, and, which was honestly amazing.

We , took little trips together. 

DAD'S DECLINE AND PASSING

I wouldn't say that my dad was a heavy drinker in the beginning, but I know that he started drinking, like around the divorce, he passed away in [00:08:00] 2008. He had esophageal cancer.We found out in May that he was sick and there was some signs of him being sick, but then in September, , he passed away.

. So was it just so far you didn't catch it early enough? He

catch it early enough. Okay. So it had spread. I have family in San Diego and my aunt , she was like the rock of this whole entire thing. The day that my dad passed away. She flew into Chicago to make sure that me and my brother were okay and she stayed with us helped out with everything, like funeral arrangements, the wake, , and she was like, well, why don't you guys come out for Christmas? 

We went out to San Diego, hung out there for about two weeks 

 We came back and my brother was telling me that he wanted to find out who his real parents were, his real mom and dad. And from what I had [00:09:00] heard, the stories I had, my dad had told me growing up is that my brother would probably never find them because 

The adoption. It was closed. And so he wasn't gonna be able to find his parents when he told me that. He also said that he did not wanna be here anymore.

 He just told me he didn't wanna be on this planet. He was in a deep depression.

were 

there any signs of that before your father passed?

I wouldn't say so. Okay. so what you're saying about your brother is the adoption was closed, meaning the envelopes were sealed. He was not going to find anything out. but you, you were able to go find your birth mother, correct?

I did not look for her. She found me. So I was around 21 and me and my brother at the time were living, in a college town . And I get a letter in the mail saying, are you Mary born on this day. And my parents always told us we were adopted. My parents explained it to us 

and [00:10:00]  I get this letter in the mail asking me these questions, and I knew from , the emblem, the seal on the envelope and the seal on the paper, like I knew who it was coming It's an adoption agency. And so we were talking about it and he's like, maybe that's your mom writing you. 

He was excited for you. 

He was. , she had sent me all these letters in the mail. , I get an envelope, like this thick envelope full of all these papers cards from all these holidays, from when, like when I was a kid but I didn't know who these were from.

And they said they kept 'em in my file and they were all addressed to Sarah Lynn. I was like, who is Sarah Lynn? So I called them back and I said, Hey, I got the wrong envelope in the mail. My name isn't Sarah Lynn. That's what my mom had named me. . , it was, I was like, well, I feel like, I wouldn't say that I'd never felt like loved, but like it's a different kind when you're finally meeting, like the person [00:11:00] that gave you life, you know?

And

, I called and I was like, I wanna set up an appointment to meet her.

 And we got to know each other , and we traveled together. 

 She asked me if I wanted to go to, Ireland and Italy with her. And my dad was so sick, like I just, . I didn't wanna leave. When my dad was really sick and he was on hospice, like it was the day before he had passed away. She took the train down to the hospital and. I will never forget this, but she, she's like, can I talk to your dad?

And I said, yes, he can hear you, but he can't  And she said, thank you for giving Mary the life that I could not.

And She did the same thing for the day that we had the wake and the funeral.

She took the train down to

be with you during the

to be with me. During that process,

You guys became very close then, it sounds

[00:12:00] very close. And she passed in, 2011.

. For my birthday, I decided I wanted to go to visit my aunt again. So I talked to my best friend into it, and we did la, we did San Diego Disney and just had fun.

It was a good girls trip. My friend decided to fly back after a week. And I stayed the extra week because my aunt said, let's, go to Napa for her work. And I was like, well, I'm gonna go to Napa. Yeah, that's

It's 

 The day that we got in, I went down and booked a massage and I booked like, to get my hair done and I went back up to the room and I get a text message saying I'm leaving.

From, from,

from my brother? Yeah. And he said, come get the dogs. And I was stunned. I like, didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say. My aunt was in her, her business thing.

Mm-hmm.[00:13:00] 

And I kept calling her and there was no answer.

I called my best friend, I said, can you go over and see where he's at? See if he's okay? I called the police. As I was on the phone with the police, my aunt walks in the room I just handed her the phone. She didn't even know what was on the other end.

She could just tell, and she's like talking to the police officer. They're like, can we break in the house? Can we get in? Can we check on this gentleman? And they. went in the house and told my aunt that he was no longer with us and I lost it.

Mm-hmm. I remember every emotion went through my body, of course, in that moment. but once again, my aunt stepped in and was the strongest person. And I, I've talked to her about it before. I said, you just did this, you know, you were so strong.

And she's like, you know, I had my moment when you went to sleep. 

She held it together.

Yeah. She held it together for me. Yeah.

me. Yeah. Okay.

[00:14:00] And we flew back to Illinois and took care of what we needed to take care of.

Okay. 

 So you and your aunt , is that you ended up moving to San Diego,

I did. . 

It sounds like you have a lot of respect for her.

I do.

Yeah. 

She's hard to get along with sometimes, but I mean, she's an Irish Catholic woman. Okay,

Okay. So you go back to Chicago, how long before you moved out to San Diego?

 Me and my best friend drove out there and then she flew back to Illinois.

But we drove into San Diego on my brother's birthday. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

On May 31st. Okay. And. I was so glad to be there. I was so glad just to be out of Illinois. Yeah. And just starting over

Yeah, I get that. So how long were you in San Diego 

So I was there 2009 to, 2023.

Okay. That was a good long stint. So tell did, what [00:15:00] were you doing out there in San Diego?

So I did everything. I, I worked at a pet store for five years. I did

surprised,

It was probably my favorite job out there. Honestly. 

 What made you decide to leave San Diego?

, if you know California it's, and you do?

I do. Yeah.

It's different. It's a whole different world. It should be a different planet.

Honestly. I've heard it should be another country. I've never heard another planet. But you know what, I think I can agree with you on that.

It's just different. And it was a culture shock going from, you know, Midwestern girl to California and then from California coming here to like small town.

So how did you choose, I, I'm assuming you went straight from, San Diego to Hampstead.

Yes. 

Why did you pick Hampstead?

 Two of my good friends live here. Okay. And they're both military wives

so was just talking to my best friend and I said, Hey, , I kind of want a break.

 I want something different. I love traveling, I love trying new [00:16:00] things and. So I wasn't originally going to come out here and see how it was, and I was just gonna make the move and

Oh, you were not gonna just check it out? No, you were just, I'm moving there. Period. Wow. Yeah. They must have sold you hard on Hampstead. I love Hampstead. But that's, that's quite the, the choice there.

So originally I had moved to Holly Ridge. My best friend and I were talking and she's like, well, I'm just gonna put it out there in my neighborhood page and see if anybody needs a roommate.

 And one of her neighbors was like, sure. So I moved in with her neighbor

Oh. It happened really fast.

Yeah, because I knew I had to be with the company that I was with for six months in order to move or transfer.

 I was working Alzheimer's and dementia care.

 I knew they were nationwide, so I just went up to my boss and I was like, Hey, what could I do to put it for a transfer?

And so she told me six months and I was like, alright. So I. Had a place to live. I had a job I can transfer to. I talked to the people, [00:17:00] out here at the, at the, Alzheimer's place. Mm-hmm. And they,

the stars lined up. That's awesome.

I mean, the stars didn't line up as to driving from Holly Ridge to Wilmington, but, I mean,

 The drive, I

that's a drive. Yeah. 

How long did you do that?

 I moved here in January and I did it, till about April.

Mm-hmm.

Maybe even before that.

 Because I wasn't seeing people like the work ethic that I have mm-hmm. With. Helping other people and it, and if you know dementia care and you know, Alzheimer's care, it's not easy.

Yeah. It takes a toll on your mental health and I just needed to soul search a little bit.

Mm-hmm.

You started soliciting for other, like side gigs where you were working? Mm-hmm. Okay. How did that work out?

the doctor hired me to come to her house and organize her pantry for her.

Mm-hmm. her linen closet. other people that worked there asked me to come and do their kids' rooms for [00:18:00] them. Okay. And I just put it out there on Facebook that I can do all these things and the. I started getting more and more and I was like, I can't do this while I'm working full time

Mm-hmm.

and this is bringing me more joy than that job is.

. So

how did you, how did pets come into the situation?

I've just always loved pets.

Did you start pet sitting when you were saying, I can do this, I can do that.

Yeah, so I was petting, I was babysitting, I was doing a bunch of random jobs. I was always that little girl that when she was outside, if there was a random dog in the neighborhood that had gotten out, would find that dog and, 

 Take care of it. Until the owner came

Mm-hmm. And

 I found puppies when I was younger, I remember bringing them home to my dad, and my dad was just like, where did he find these? I was like, well, it's the same place I found the rabbit a few weeks

Oh, that's funny.

I always loved furry animals. You going to animals?

 And some not so furry too.

Yes, not so furry. I don't mind reptiles. [00:19:00] I, when I worked in the pet store, we had, terrariums with like snakes and stuff, and I'd always put like the snake in my apron. And so like, when I was at the register with like pop its head out I mean these aren't like huge snakes.

These are like little snakes. 

You're like the pet

word.

Okay. So you've, you've left a corporate job and now you're kind of doing these odds and end things on your own. And when did you decide that you're gonna turn this into a full fledged business?

On April 11th, which is coming up to be my anniversary, how, how many years? It'll be two years. Two years.

Two years here. I mean, I did it like randomly back in San Diego, like helping friends and family. but I, I love it. And, That's when you established Mary E. Poppins, the Pet Nanny?

It was, at first it was Mary E. Poppins, Help at Home. And then the cleaning and organizing kind of fell off the, I do that when I'm at people's homes, but I don't do it like [00:20:00] randomly

offer it on your website,

No, I

don't. 

The dogs have taken over.

After you moved here and you started to establish Mary E. Poppins, the business, what were some of the challenges that you faced initially?

I would say just being like comfortable and, you know, in what you're doing. And, I did go through a rough time last year. I found out in, April that I was sick.

I was having just stomach issues and I didn't know what was going on. I went to the doctor. I was at a client's house and I told, I text them and I said, Hey, I have to go to the emergency room. I'm not feeling well. And luckily I have a wonderful support system here and one of my friends who I dog sit for went over to the house to make sure that the dogs were okay while I was spending time in the emergency room.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I met with an [00:21:00] oncologist and they said that it was, that it could be cancerous, that what they had found. And they had done a CT scan on my, abdomen and found a tumor well cyst. They weren't sure what it was on my right ovary. Mm-hmm. On August 5th, I had a full hysterectomy and she came in and said it was cancer.

I had one of my, my good friends there at the hospital that had driven me to the hysterectomy. One of my amazing clients that was there the whole entire time by my side and. I went from September 11th I started chemo and I am now in remission from, from cancer, as of January 3rd.

Nice.

Nice. For you to say, I need to go to the emergency room. You must have been in a great deal of pain. Had it been coming on or did you, it just sort of [00:22:00] hit you all of a sudden

It had been coming on and I wasn't sure how to take it. , one of my good friends that lives here, she's a nurse. And I texted her and I said, what do you think I should do? And she's like, I've been telling you to go to the emergency

Oh, really? 

I was like, I can't leave the dogs. You know? I don't have like any days off, , 

and to this day, , I think the dogs figured it out

 There's three dogs that I watch. And they were

are regulars.

these are regulars. Some, some of my amazing clients

that I, yeah.

and they were like scratching at my stomach and like kept sniffing my shirt.

I was like, I just took a shower. My laundry's clean and. They kept digging and sniffing 

was this a new experience? Like you'd been sitting there and they didn't do that and then all of a sudden they start doing

Yeah, and it wasn't just them, it was another set of dogs too that did it, and they just kept like sniffing me , okay, this is, this is really [00:23:00] weird. But honestly, like I really think that they figured it out and when they like put two and two together, like there are dogs out there Yeah.

That sniff out cancer in people. Yeah. 

I heard about it on TV , but I do, I do know that that's , a documented thing.

It's,

It is

that's crazy. So how long were they doing that before? But you didn't, you wouldn't put that, you didn't put that together?

no. I just thought they were trying to make themselves comfortable. 'cause they, they always like to lay there when I'm like laying on the couch with them, or, you know, or we're just having, I call 'em little cuddle puddles, like with dogs, if there's like more than two dogs, a little

puddles, that's cute.

puddles, little cuddle puddles.

And so we'll all lay on the couch together. 

So I'm curious now, 'cause you still sit for the same person.

Mm-hmm. . So

Do they, how do they still do that at all? Or has it stopped?

No, they don't do that at all anymore. Mm-hmm. So crazy. And I feel like my bond with the dogs has gotten [00:24:00] stronger, like I'm sure you find out with your dog, there's just a bond there. Yeah, yeah.

Well, I mean, she, she, there's definitely a bond. She follows me from room to room and, I think it's just 'cause I feed her

like

I'm the one feeding her. So there's that bond. But that's, I, I think that's a very interesting story,and, and, something that I think I would wanna research and find out more about.

 All right, , , let's go back over again, the types of services that you offer.

So, I do offer drop-ins, I'm at the home in between, I would say like an hour or two.

Oh, that's longer than I

Some. It just depends on what the client wants. I recently had a client that said five and six o'clock or eight and nine. So I said, well, why don't I just come to your house at six?

I'll stay till eight. You [00:25:00] know, if you want it in between, then I can stay even until like eight 30. So I do drop-ins like that. It just depends what the client wants. A lot of, some people are like, just make sure they have food, water, let 'em outside and you can 

Mm-hmm. Do you, take 'em for walks if that's requested?

 Some will request walks.

Other times people just have a, backyard to let the dog out in. 

So I do that. I can do that up to four times a day. I do house sitting as well without the pets being there. And then also long-term stays with 

Okay. 

That can be anywhere from just one night to like a whole month or two months or however long you plan on being gone. 

So really you have to talk to the owner and really gauge what their exact needs are, and exactly. And tailor, your services to their needs.

Yes. That's wonderful.

And what types of pets do you care for? Where do you draw the line?

I don't think I really there's no lines.

I mean, unless you had like a puma at home or something like that, I probably would, [00:26:00] would say no.

 Tell me about the range of pets that you've sat for here in Hampstead.

Guinea pigs.

 Oh, Guinea pigs are one of my favorites. I used to have one when I was Little chickens. Chickens is probably one of my favorites besides dogs. But I pet sat for chickens a couple weeks ago.

so you just feed 'em, water 'em, and then collect any eggs. Is that your task? Okay.

That was the fun part , one of the days the chickens didn't lay eggs and I, I called them slackers and they like made noises at me. Like, we're like, you're making fun of

us.

I was like, well, you're slacking on the eggs, because I wanted them for breakfast.

Guinea pigs, chickens, goats. next week I will be with two horses. I am so excited

that would be fun. Yeah.

I don't have to muck any stalls.

I was about to say, that could be hard 

Just have to feed them.

, but I have mucked stalls before. I grew in Girl Scouts, so doing, that stuff doesn't bother me

all. Snakes, lizards, [00:27:00] birds. 

Love birds. . Working at the pet store, we had all kinds of animals. bunnies. Rats.

 They don't bother me at all.

Have you ever been bitten?

Yes, I have a couple times. Not to the point that I had to go to the emergency room or anything, but it's always the little dogs.

Oh, is it really? 

Never requiring a doctor visit or anything like

No. Okay.

are, are there any dog breeds that you avoid?

I haven't so far. I never was a fan of. Aussies. but I love my Aussies 

Oh, really? 

Yeah. I just, they're just misunderstood.

 I feel like they're the most high strung dog. and my clients that have Aussies. I love 'em.

What about pit bulls? They get a bad rap.

They do, but they are such good dogs.

I've only had positive experiences with 'em too, but I, I've heard about some terrible experiences that do frighten me.

There's the, they're the biggest cuddlers. They just wanna be loved on.

I love all [00:28:00] breeds. Yeah. All breeds of dogs.

What areas do you cover? You're here in Hampstead. Is it Greater Topsail? Do you go into Wilmington? Like where do you, where do you draw your boundaries?

I,

I,

don't know what boundaries are. I, I've gone everywhere from Jacksonville to Wilmington and then from the coast all the way to Burgaw, Maple Hill.

I've gone to Where's This just popped in my head too, sometimes nannies will go on vacation with families.

Have you ever considered, or has anyone ever wanted you to go on vacation with them to, for the pet and also the kids? Would you consider that? 

Yes,

I would. And I actually have family in Maryland that has asked me to go to their house in Maryland and dog sit for them while they go on vacation. So I'm willing to travel Yeah.

If anybody wants to do [00:29:00] that. Okay. We

also have a lot of vacationers that come here. With pets and kids. So you could end up on the island as well with vacationers.

 If anyone wants to book your services, first of all, she said, I'm going to send you my schedule 'cause I, I need her help with my dog, Matilda.

And, I said, send me her schedule, , and she sent it me and she's really booked out through the year and they're, they're larger chunks of time. So if you wanna book The Pet Nanny, , and you want someone to sit with your dog and, and stay at your house,

you need to plan now. So if that's something that you're considering for a big family vacation or whatever, then I would definitely reach out to Mary right now and get the schedule so that you can, you can get fit into it basically. Although you, you have hired a couple of new people. I have.

Right. So if that becomes an issue, you do have other people that you can, you can put in your place, in those situations. And I would set up a meet and greet or have them call you and set up a meet and greet if I've [00:30:00] already met you and I've dog sat for you before, because I know how people are with their pets and I know that I wouldn't want some, you know, just by my word coming into your home.

Yeah. I mean, I can, I can definitely see that. So if I'm used to you coming in and I trust you in my home, it's a, it's a big deal to, to have someone trust you that much. It's just like with, with house cleaners, even like, you have a set house cleaner that comes in and she's like, I can't make it.

I'm gonna send someone new. You're like, whoa, what? Like, who's coming in my house? Exactly. Yeah. So that's wonderful that they can do the meet and greet and, and, and get a feel for the new person before you turn 'em loose. so how do people get in touch with you if they wanna set up a service with you and, and see that schedule?

So you can reach me on text messages, or a phone call. I love talking to people over the phone. my phone number is (630) 981-4942. 

And you can also find me on socials. I'm on [00:31:00] Facebook, Instagram, 

 And also on my website.

It's Mary Poppins Pet nanny.com.

Mary Poppins. So without the e. Mary poppins pet nanny.com. Also, listeners, you know that I always have the links in my show notes, so I'll have her phone number there and her website address as well as links that you can just click and go for her Facebook and Instagram pages. Are you still hiring or you're, you're set for now?

I do wanna hire maybe like one or two more people that would do overnights. Mm-hmm. I think I have the drop-ins covered for now, but people that will do overnights if they can possibly, which would probably most likely be a single 

Yeah. 

that doesn't have a pet 

or 

you can't really bring your dog with you to other people's homes. 

where do you see your business in the next three to five years?

I honestly see it really, I'm growing even [00:32:00] more. Yeah. I would love to have like an amazing team.

I would love to possibly, I. Maybe have like a boarding 

I was gonna ask you about that if you, if you ever thought about doing it.

I have, I have. But a lot of people, like obviously of the people that I it for , they don't wanna put their dogs in boarding, that's why they have someone come to their home.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

But I would love to have put that on, you know, just a small, maybe like six dogs at the most, and maybe like an outdoor area they can roam around in and. I've always wanted to kind of do that. I actually have a friend that, has opened a grooming facility and we talked about that a few, like, maybe like six months ago, like going in together and having her do the grooming and me do the dog sitting.

But then I wouldn't be able to go to other people's homes because I'd be watching the dogs there. But then I can always get someone that was very trustworthy [00:33:00] and could stay there while I do the overnights with

people.

Yeah. Yeah. I could, I could see you doing that. I, I have a vision in my head for the Mary e Poppins Pet Nanny service and boarding facility for sure. So one thing that I like to do is ask, everyone at the end of the episode, , what's the one thing, the one big thing that you wanna leave our listeners with today?

So I would like to leave you with my favorite quote. It is, be comfortable with being uncomfortable because that's where the magic happens.

That's where you, where the growth happens. And I feel like most of my life I have been, I wouldn't say like uncomfortable, but I like growing a business is uncomfortable because Absolutely, you have no idea what the next day is gonna bring. But[00:34:00] 

after

the whole cancer thing, nothing is uncomfortable after that.

It thickens your skin up quite a bit, huh? It has, but I think it with your, with your, your life experiences, Mary, I think you've been through a whole lot from birth and, I'm not surprised that you beat it. That you're in remission. You know, one thing that I forgot to ask you is, is how did it affect your business being diagnosed and going through chemo? How, how did that impact Mary e Poppins Pet Nanny?

I, it slowed down a little bit and I was really worried because I did put it out there on my pa on my Facebook that I was 

Mm-hmm. 

and that I was gonna take a little bit of a step back when coming back into it.[00:35:00] 

I wanted to hit the ground running, even though I still wasn't. I mean, with chemo, you're gonna not feel good for like a good six months to a year

, it feels like you were just diagnosed, you just went through everything and you just kept going.

I did. I had to.

I worry about you. I'm sorry, there's some No, it's okay. And you just tell me when to stop recording.

you're like, Oprah. You make everyone cry. 

No. Yeah. I just, I had, even though I had this, my business is my baby.

Yeah.

And I've never been proud of myself. Even like graduating high school, I've never been, I could never say that out

that you felt proud of yourself.

Oh. But I'm here. I fought cancer and I,[00:36:00] 

and I am doing it, you know, I'm doing life because. Because I can. 'cause I had to, you know, and because I wanted to. And if I was doing any other job, if I had any other business, I probably would stop completely. But

the

dogs are my life. I, I told myself this morning, I wasn't gonna cry coming in here. but no, I am fighting every day. And it's not easy after you come out of cancer because it weighs on you. Like what if it does come back?

Yeah.

And I had to throw myself into something because I had, I [00:37:00] had to do this, you know? I love what I do.

I love my clients. I love the dogs. God, people are never gonna hire me

No, they, they absolutely are. I can tell, I can tell that you and, and what you just said, like if this was, if I were doing anything else.

I would, I'd walk away and take, I'd take time for myself. But you're passionate about your animals 

and I feel like because you are so passionate about it, that's, that's a, that's a, a force that you're using to continue to propel yourself forward. And I think it's just an example of why it's so important to find something that you love, that you're passionate about, , that that gives you life.

And you should absolutely be proud of yourself for, overcoming a lot of stuff from your past, with the family and moving, trying to find a new space for yourself and [00:38:00] then landing here in Hampstead something completely new. And, and just that alone says a lot about who you are as a person.

 You're willing to go and do and find what works, what, what's right for you. And I admire, I admire so much about you, but then facing cancer is a scary thing. And I can't imagine, even in remission how that feels. or What goes through your head and through your heart on a daily basis. So , I admire you tremendously. I think you have a heart of gold . And I just wanna, say to people out there that if you want someone that will love your pet and take care of your pet. the same or better than than you do yourself, then Mary is, is someone that you really should reach out to. And,, I wish you the best of luck and I wanna see your business continue to grow.

the reviews are incredible , your regular clients love you to pieces and trust you. And so I, [00:39:00] I just, I, I adore you and adore your business and I, I do wish you the best , 

 so before we go, I'm just gonna remind everybody one more time that if you wanna get Mary's email address or phone number and the website address, you can go to my show notes and look at that and you'll also see her links to Facebook and Instagram.

thank you listeners for joining us today and thank you, Mary for coming on the show and telling us all about Mary e Poppins, the pet nanny. It was a pleasure chatting with you today and it was just a pleasure getting to know you. And I, I wanna thank you for sharing your stories with us. I really appreciate it.

So thank you. And I wish you all the best.

Well, thank you very much. It was a pleasure being here.

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