A Time To Give Thanks To Our Pet Professional Community

Danica and I were recently enjoying an episode of Sid the Science Kid together.

A joke was told that can serve as a great lesson to all professional pet care providers.

This is the joke:

What do you give a 900-pound gorilla for his birthday? I don’t know, but you better hope he likes it!

It’s cute for a child and can serve as an important reminder for business owners like us who offer a local service to our community.

This joke makes two assumptions.

1. The gorilla better like the gift you choose to get him for his birthday, or else…

2. The gorilla is grumpy and picky (“he better like it”) and might retaliate if he deems the gift unacceptable.

So what does this very analytical approach to a seemingly innocent joke tell us?

Too often our actions in business are dictated from a place of FEAR instead of a place of CONFIDENT service.

Your business is run the way you CHOOSE to run your business, not the way you believe will cause the least amount of resistance and outrage from a pet parent.

Have you ever adjusted a service or policy you have in place before you even offer it simply because you THINK the client will kick, scream, or leave a bad review? Do you ever feel guilty or scared for asserting your more-than-fair price because you think someone MIGHT challenge you on it?

We all have been there, sadly. And it’s a scary place to operate from and a very difficult place to gain momentum and achieve success.

I used to undercut and apologize for my web design services quite often. If I could achieve a certain task for someone in a short amount of time, my gut would prevent me from putting a fair price for service on it and instead think, “Well, it really took me no time at all, so there’s really no reason to charge anything for it.”

Little did I realize what that was doing for my mental health, my confidence level, or my bottom line.

Everything we do for clients in business has a VALUE on it.

Whether it’s value for:

Our time
Our energy
Our expertise
Our actual service

You must confidently stand proud and remain true to your knowledge and ability.

You are WORTH every penny that you value yourself at. And often, you are worth even more!

How did I manage to overcome my own fear and insecurity about the value and fee for service I provide?

From YOU!

Yep, slowly but surely I began to see our peers and colleagues responding positively to what I was doing.

I took each and every piece of positive feedback I received and printed it out. I would collect these notes and would refer back to this pile anytime I needed to remain confident in my own value and ability.

Eventually, that became my strength. You became my strength.

I have found comfort in the industry that I serve.

Knowing that I have a SUPPORT GROUP who value what I do allows me to leave fear behind. Doing what we all do is extremely vulnerable. We expose ourselves to be judged and critiqued on many levels.

This holiday season, take major COMFORT knowing you have a solid and loving network of professional peers who value what you do. And we are all here for you. Anytime you need us.

This is what I am most THANKFUL for this year.