What Pet Sitters Can Learn From Amazon.com

Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos recently put out a video announcing his excitement at his recent purchase of Zappos.

Yep, Amazon now owns Zappos. Purchased for over $800 million.

As intriguing as that may sound, it’s not the part of his 8 minute video that, as pet sitters, we can learn something from.

Mr. Bezos, casually standing in front of his home and a big board for visual effect, reveals everything he knows (his words). He then states that everything he knows “is a very short list.”

Just 3 things, in fact. Imagine that; Jeff Bezos just knows 3 things and credits those things as the success for his multi-billion dollar company. The same company that started out of his home. How cool is that?!

What Does Jeff Bezos Know?

OK, so what are the 3 things Jeff Bezos knows and how can we learn from them to wildly succeed in our own pet sitting business?

1) Obsess over the customer

Jeff Says: He credits this one concept as the only reason Amazon even exists today in any form. Pretty bold statement.

As Pet Sitter: Your customer is your client. How are you obsessing over your clients? How are you making certain that you are giving the best experience possible so they will come back to you over and over, and tell all their friends about you?

Are you making it easy for them to find your website? To make contact with you from your website? To reach you anytime they need to?

Are you asking for a review or feedback so you know how you can improve? Are you going out of your way to make the entire experience an absolute pleasure?

How are you obsessing over the customer?

2) Invent

Jeff Says: Whenever he runs into a problem, he’ll never accept ‘either – or’ thinking. This means if you run into a problem, you need not sacrifice. You can invent your way out of any situation if you believe that you can.

He also states you need to invent on behalf of customers. It’s not a customer’s job to invent for themselves.

As Pet Sitter: When first chatting with a client, you need to listen closely so you can offer the absolute best solution for her specific situation.

It’s not the client’s job to know all services you offer, how you offer them and which is the best for her needs.

Be creative. Be inventive. And always be on the look out for new opportunities to grow or enhance your pet sitting business.

3) Think long term

Jeff Says: Any company that wants to obsess over their customers, and any company that wants to invent absolutely must think long term. Nothing happens overnight and thinking long term allows a willingness to be misunderstood.

As Pet Sitter: Learn to invest in your pet sitting business. You need not only invest money, but more importantly, you need to invest your time, you knowledge and your resources into your business.

I assume you want to be a successful pet sitting business owner. Perhaps even a pet sitting business owner who makes your entire income through pet sitting.

It is certainly possible. My wife and I were lucky enough to do just that. We started small and have now grown our pet sitting business into a six figure per year operation, with more than 20 independent contractors on our team.

We got there by thinking long term. The weeks before we officially opened for business we mapped out our growth path for the next few years. We knew where we would start, where we wanted to go and how we planned on getting there.

We even wrote plans to replicate our business model into various cities throughout the U.S. That’s one example of thinking long term. Make sure you have a plan.

Let yourself envision a bigger, and more profitable, pet sitting business for yourself. Let yourself dream and really picture how you can continually expand your business to sustain over the long haul.

Remember this: Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com out of his garage.