The Art & Science of successfully starting a pet sitting business.
Here’s a question I want to pose to you…
I received an email service request from my pet sitting business website, and it got me thinking.
DO you ever adjust your fees (give a discount) based on specific client situations?
Watch this quick 1-minute video to see what I mean.
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When you hear the word WordPress, what comes to mind?
For some, it’s complete dread, confusion and frustration. For others, it’s a time-saving platform that is used to power their entire pet sitting website.
I’ve been using and recommending WordPress for many years now, with its power and flexibility only continuing to grow.
As we move forward, there is plenty we’ll be covering in regards to the major benefits of using WordPress for your pet sitting website, but this article is all about the WordPress Plugin.
This is a guest post written by Ashley Spade.
During my undergraduate years I lived in a dorm, but when law school started I decided it was time to strike out on my own and find an apartment. Accordingly, I found an apartment close to campus that was okay with pets, and I moved in with my dog, Sir Winston Pugsalot the First (Sir WP for short), just a week before classes started.
I soon discovered that money was exceptionally tight, so much so that I started looking into starting a business that would work around my class schedule. After a little brainstorming, I decided to start a pet-sitting business. I whimsically called my business Pusgalot’s Pets and started looking into getting my business up and running. After a lot of research and some trial and error, I ended up using email marketing and word of mouth.
Due to my class schedule, I pet-sat mostly in the evenings and on weekends. Since I live in a college town, I had many students as clients, and quite a few professors, all of whom traveled and visited family often enough that I was confident I’d be able to support myself and Sir WP easily. Due to the fact that I requested that I be allowed to bring Sir WP along with me, I had a few people turn down my services, but overall, my requirement was accepted and even encouraged, as the pet owners felt it would be good for their pets to have the extra company.
My first appointment was a weekend stay at my Constitutional Law professor’s house. He and his wife were celebrating their anniversary and didn’t want to worry about Bruno, their Yorkshire terrier, while they were away. They had just gotten him a week before and were uncertain how he would react to being alone. I arrived an hour before they were to depart and took copious notes about Bruno’s schedules and routines. I found my professor to be every bit as detail-oriented as he was in class, and my notes covered two-and-a-half pages by the time he and his wife departed for the weekend.
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This is a guest post by Bella Vasta of Bella’s House & Pet Sitting and Jump Consulting.
Pop Quiz: What do you think is the absolute best thing you can do for your competition (and the worst thing you can do for yourself)?
Give bad service? Under appreciate your clients? Destroy their personal property?
While all those are obviously bad, there is something even worse.
And the reason this other thing is worse for you and better for your competition is simply because it can easily happen without your knowledge or ability to prevent it before the damage is done.
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Picture this scenario:
You’ve worked long and hard to get your pet sitting website to the top of the search engines.
Your site ranks high for excellent search terms (for example, when someone searches for ‘pet sitter [your town]‘)
Visitors are on your site, impressed with your services and the emails come in and the phone keeps ringing.
But all of a sudden, the emails aren’t coming in quite as often, and the phone isn’t ringing nearly enough.
It’s almost as if someone pulled the plug on your website.
You visit your own website and confirm it’s still online. You test your contact form and email address, and everything works.
So what’s the problem?
You wonder if your search engine ranking has dropped (which could easily explain the lack of new leads coming in).
You head over to Yahoo and type in ‘pet sitter [your town]‘ to see where you currently stand.
You were always in the top 1 or 2 position, and interestingly enough, you still are.
However, there is one big difference with your search result – It now looks like this:
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Picture this: You head over to your favorite pet sitting client’s home for a routine visit.
On the counter is an envelop with your name on it.
It contains $1000 cash with a note for you that reads: ‘Use it well.’
Excited? Yes. Ready to make it happen? That’s the big question.
Could you take your pet sitting business to the next level, and beyond, with a $1000 head start?
Barbara Corcoran is a top New York real estate agent who did just that. She took a $1000 investment and went on to build a $70million empire.
You also may recognize Barbara from the ABC hit TV show, Shark Tank.
In this incredible 5-minute interview, Barbara shares a bunch of insight and wisdom on how she went from next to nothing to almost everything.
You’ll quickly see that it can all work for us pet sitters, too.
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When it comes to growing your pet sitting business with staff, there are many questions that you need answered.
Subjects like “Where can I find sitters to hire?” and “Should I use ICs or Employees” are popular.
One question that I received recently was “Can I pay pet sitting employees a percentage per job, or must it be an hourly rate?”
Who better to answer the question directly than Bella Vasta?
Bella, of Bella’s House & Pet Sitting and Jump Consulting, has a team of employees and took some time to discuss the exact way she pays her employees (and the answer may surprise you).
In this 12-minute phone recording, you’ll discover:
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Here's how to get your pet sitting website visitors to take action and get in touch with YOU!