Josh Cary

This author has written 284 articles

Pet Sitting in Your Own Home: How to Prepare

This is a guest post written by Ashley Spade.

open doorFor the past few months, I’ve used the extra cash I earn from pet sitting to support myself and my dog, Sir Winston Pugsalot (known as Sir WP by friends and family).

I decided to start a pet sitting business as a way to make money on the side while I go to law school in Chicago. I started by mostly sitting for professors or other students, but soon branched out to nearby residents — even some in my own pet-friendly apartment building.

If you love pets, have a fairly flexible schedule, a place to pet sit, and clientele prospects, then you might consider starting your own pet sitting business.

And, obviously, the extra cash is a perk. Did I even need to mention that?

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Your Dog Is Fat: The Secret To Confronting A Client With Uncomfortable News

Here’s a wonderful question I received from a pet sitter.

It addresses something we all have to deal with at one time or another in our business: Confronting a client with an observation we think is not in the pet’s best interest.

Joshua, I have a question about how to handle a situation with a client.  The first time I sat for them in the spring, their dogs were healthy and large but not obese.

Sitting for them this past couple of days I’ve seen one dog extremely overweight and his collar was obviously too tight around his neck.

He coughs occasionally and I wonder if it’s the tightness of the collar. I loosened the collar one notch but he really needs a whole new collar to be comfortable. Also, it seems as if he is not getting the exercise he used to since the fat and skin flaps hanging from his collar just seem to me as cruel.

How do I tell this guy in the most tactful way possible about my concern for his dogs weight problem and snug collar? I’m not very good at delivering uncomfortable news and I’m asking you for some suggestions on how to approach this matter. I’d really appreciate anything you can give.

I really don’t want to loose this client.

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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.

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How Do Pet Sitters Respond to Last Minute Bookings? [video]

hourglass photoAs most pet sitters know, the longer you’ve been in business, the more familiar you become with your own steps and processes.

Typically, a call or email comes in, you connect with the potential client, you spend time discussing all options.

Then you would set up a mutually convenient time to meet, receive the keys, get forms and agreements signed, work out payment, and the ball is rolling.

But what happens when a potential client contacts you in dire need for your services NOW?

As in right now. Like, tonight.

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All About The Pet Sitter In-Home Consultation [video]

How do you handle the initial in-home free consultation?

There are truly many ways to go from the first phone call with a potential client to the first day of service.

Many details need to be worked out including receiving payment – do you collect before, during or after the consult?

Do you get the keys at the consultation? Or do you have to make a second trip for them?

How and when does the client fill out your service agreement and forms? Is it on paper, or a digital copy on your computer?

(It’s all about efficiency and streamlining your day-to-day business operations.)

Inside this video, I show you the way my pet sitting business handles the initial in-home consultation.

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WordPress for Pet Sitters: Plugins

The Anatomy of a WordPress Plugin

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.

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Pet Sitting – When Your Pet is the Lead Mischief Maker

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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The Easiest Way To Help Your Competition While Hurting Yourself

This is a guest post by Bella Vasta of Bella’s House & Pet Sitting and Jump Consulting.

bella vastaPop 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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Yahoo Tells Search Users to Stay Away from Pet Sitter’s Website [video]!

caution signPicture 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.

Then Nothing. It All Just Stops.

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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