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Do You Remember Your Very First Pet Sitting Client?

Do you remember your very first kiss? Or the first job you ever had?

What about your first car, or the first house you bought?

Our lives are filled with a long series of firsts.

Sadly, as life moves from one day to the next, we give less thought to our firsts of the past, and focus more on the issues we personally face today and tomorrow.

Working in our pet sitting business is no different. In order to survive and grow, we constantly find ourselves looking for the next client to serve.

Long gone is the day we celebrated the success of gaining our first client ever.

Maybe nostalgia is kicking in because Summer is coming to an end, kids are heading back to school, or the hot air is beginning to cool.

Whatever the case, I began thinking back through all the clients I’ve served in my pet sitting business and remembered Snickers.

Snickers the BeagleSnickers was our very first pet sitting client.

He was an adorable Beagle, whose family was visiting the great Big Apple for the week and needed a place for Snickers to stay while they spent the days sightseeing, catching a Broadway show and wandering the streets of New York.

I couldn’t actually believe this was happening. A strange family from Michigan trusted us after a couple of phone calls to drop off their sweet Snickers for the weekend.

And they were paying us for the opportunity to do so.

Our pet sitting business was officially born. And little Snickers was the start of it all.

Who Was Your Very First?

What can you share here about your very first pet sitting client?

How excited (or nervous?) were you setting up service with your very first pet sitting client? Do you remember the whole situation? How it came to be? What the job was? How long it was for? Do you still follow the same format when bringing on a new client, or have you adjusted your process along the way?

Celebrate and re-live the moment that started it all for you in the comments below.

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. . .

Josh Cary is a respected and well sought-after speaker and business consultant within the professional pet care industry. Since 2009, having grown his own pet sitting business, Josh provides his industry with the tools, support, and resources to build and maintain a thriving and respected pet business.

With a strong focus on digital marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and website development, Josh’s one mission is to help you Get Found First through a professional and effective website.

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This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. Being the new girl on the pet sitting and dog walking block, now into my 8th week of trading and seeing signs of business picking (fingers crossed) it’s quite easy for me to remember my first client at http://www.isispetcare.com.
    She is called Wispa the chocolate Labrador puppy who is 10 months old and was starting to destroy her owners house out of boredom and being couped up all day!  Luckily for me and Wispa we now get to play out every week, twice a week and I’m happy to say her destruction has curbed on the days we walk and play together 🙂

    1. Congrats on the start of your new pet sitting business, Tracey.  Wispa is gorgeous.  I never get to see enough Chocolate Labs in person – they’re a special breed.  And I bet Wispa’s owner is more than grateful to have you cure some of that boredom.

  2. Great Story – I remember my first client like it was yesterday, I will never forget her even though she is no longer with us.  Maggie was a beautiful Golden Retriever with the sweetest temperment ever.  She probably spoiled me at bit as … well we all know not all or our fur clients are going to be that well behaved.  She was full of life and love and just a big suck who loved her tummy rubbed.  At the time when I started my business life was not easy and she put a smile on my face every day and seemed to know when I was having a bad day and needed a hug.

    Not only was Maggie my first client but my 9-11 dog.  After watching the horrific events unfold live on TV that morning and my soon to be husband living in the USA, I was scared, upset and Maggie knew it.  I didn’t want to leave the TV or the phone but knew Maggie needed taking care of, so off I went – and she greeted me at the door, not with the vim and vigar that she usually did but as if she read my mind just gave me a big kiss and rolled over for her tummy rubs – she will always be very special to me. Thanks for bringing back the memory Josh.

    Morag
    York Professional Pet Sitting
    Newmarket, Ontario
    yorkprofessionalpetsitting.com

    1. Wow, Morag, that’s certainly a special first client!  And a dog being a dog.  They always seem to be able to know exactly what we need when we need it, don’t they?!

  3. Josh – Great question – I think of my first client often. I was hired by a husband and wife that needed my help with 2 Airdales in Spetmeber of 1999. I did mid-day walks, overnight care and what ever was needed. The husband had brain cancer and even though he was in good health, they needed some extra help. The dogs were great and the clients were even better. They paid me well and treated me like family, I was able to pay the rent. The husband did pass away and the dogs not long after.
    I want to think that I am a much better pet sitter now than I was than, but my caring heart will always be what drives me to do this work and that has not changed,

    Jody Smith
    Lake Minnetonka Pet Sitters
    Minnesota

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