You know when you see a product online and your first thought is, “How can this not already exist??”
Well, that’s what went through my head when my good friend, and pet sitting colleague, Tori Lattig of Endless Pawsibilities introduced me to Lisa Flynn, inventor of the Harness Lead.
As you’ll see, the Harness Lead is a 3-in-1 harness lead, slip lead, and collar lead, that can truly transform the way you walk dogs for a living.
If you spend any amount of time chatting with other pet sitters online, you quickly to hear similar stories, questions, issues, and frustrations.
One big overriding theme I see all too often has to do with the public perception of a pet sitter.
Sure, the pet owner who winds up hiring you understands and respects the service you provide, but this may be the exception, not the rule.
Dialogue of pet owners sneering at your fair pricing structure, making absurd requests, and expecting you as the service provider to be thankful that she is giving you the opportunity to be hired has got to stop.
But it starts with you.
In order to consider whether or not pet sitters are taken seriously (and why), we need to take a step back and understand what it means to be professional first and foremost.
Since 2009, PetSittingOlogy has been providing pet sitters at every stage of their careers with tools, services and resources to build stronger businesses.
You have seen everything from our “Start a Pet Sitting Business” course, IC Toolbox, and training webinars to the SEO master classes and WordPress-powered website system.
As part of the upcoming conference in Las Vegas on Oct. 7 and 8, we are proud to announce the PetSittingOlogy Scholarship Program.
NOTE: Visit petsittinglive.com for all details on the conference.
Simply put, the aim is to find, discover and promote pet sitters that bring something different, incredible and unique to the table.
There is no one correct way to run a pet sitting business, and so many professionals today have amazing stories that need to be heard.
You know when you get a song stuck in your head and it cycles through your brain over and over?
Well, it’s like that, but instead of having lyrics and the tune of a popular 80s hit on my mind, I have a handful of pet sitting thoughts, projects and new ideas fighting for head space at any given time!
Luckily, serving pet sitters is a passion of mine, so it’s no bother.
(I can’t say the same had it been, say, “Oh Mickey you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey!”)
Winning the fight for head space this week is our upcoming Las Vegas pet sitting conference.
We are coming down to the wire, with just about 40+ days before the big event.
Now is the time to get your tickets, come on board, and plan your trip.
This week, I offer you a variety of ways to make your decision to join us in person this October 7 and 8 even easier.
It’s time to hire.
The typical approach is to put the word out for pet sitters to join your team – either as ICs (independent contractors) or employees.
You may find yourself doing any of the following:
Regardless of your success in any of these areas, there comes a time when you may find yourself with higher turnover than you’d like, and you need to go back to the drawing board to replenish your staff.
One of the things I love most about our pet sitting industry is the varied way pet sitters run, operate and market their businesses.
Success comes in all shapes and sizes.
For example, some pet sitters find great success using Craigslist to hire staff, while others do not.
Some have had clients find them through pet directories, or had a Google Adwords campaign pay off, while others lost money though those forms of advertising.
I was recently speaking with pet sitter Rachel Muhammad, of See Spot Run, LLC, who mentioned that she successfully uses lawn signs to market her pet sitting business.
It makes sense Rachel was influenced by the real estate industry for this method. According to the National Association of Realtors, 48% of homes that are for sale by owner successfully use yard signs to market and promote the sale of their home.
I was intrigued by this form of promotion and wanted to hear more. Here is our Q&A session on the topic:
Every successful business owner understands that they need to learn from others.
Whether it’s in the form of following their journey and reading their work, or having a mentor, success rarely happens without some influence of others.
Marcus Sheridan is someone outside of our industry who I personally follow, learn from and admire.
More importantly, the main reason I’m so excited to bring Marcus into our industry is because the way he succeeded is something that pet sitters can replicate.
Marcus began as a pool guy. He owned a pool company that installed fiberglass pools to his local community. He’s a local small business provider.
And so are pet sitters. While looking bankruptcy in the face, Marcus changed directions and used his website as his biggest form of marketing and now his pool company makes over $4 million a year!
The nuggets he provides in this insightful video can and should be used by pet sitters starting today.
Grab a pen and paper and take notes. He discussed things you can take action on right now to make huge progress. (Some pet sitters already have!)
How amazing is that?
That definition is incredible on so many levels especially considering the true definition of the word:
1. The state of being seriously mentally ill; madness.
2. Extreme foolishness or irrationality.
What makes the Einstein definition so good is that he took the word and put it another way that we can all relate to – especially in business.
How many times do you consciously or subconsciously do something over and over while hoping for or expecting something to change this time around?
As a new father (just five weeks in!), I continue to learn this fact in an interesting way with my baby girl, Danica.
When Danica cries for her pacifier, I would find it laying near her body and pop it back in her mouth and all would be quiet again. But only for a brief moment until it fell out of her mouth.
You can see how this process quickly becomes *insane* – Danica would cry, I would put the pacifier in her mouth, moments later it would fall out, she would cry again, I would put the pacifier back in her mouth.
(Was I expecting a different result? That’s insane!)
How embarrassing and disappointing is that?
Especially if you never received it…
Knowing how hard you work to keep all your ducks in a row, the last thing you need is technology getting in the way.
At this point, you sheepishly (and frustratingly) check your email spam folder and, wouldn’t you know it, the woman’s email is right there.
Not good.
So outside of driving yourself crazy and remembering to check your spam folder every 2 hours, how can you prevent this from happening in the first place?
This is how!
While it’s advisable and recommended to have a “Service Area” page that lists the towns, neighborhoods, zip codes and/or areas you serve, it can also be helpful to include a visual reference for your visitors.
Did you know that Google Maps makes it simple enough to create your own custom map that defines your own service area?
Side Note: I made a video like this over a year ago, but since that time, Google has updated the maps method so that video is no longer relevant.
Google is always keeping us on our toes and you can be sure I’m always keeping up.
Watch this short video to create a custom map for your pet sitting business.