Do you believe that it takes a team to have a successful business?
Mentors, colleagues, friends, industry professionals – it’s how you learn and grow and succeed.
We couldn’t be more excited that Dr. Andy Roark recently joined our team here at PSO and subsequently, your team as well!
Editor’s Note: This is a post written by pet sitting business owner, Julie Fredrick, of The Pet Sitter of Boise. If you have an article you’d love us to consider for publication on the PSO blog, contact us!
“What is the image I want for my pet sitting business?”
This is the question Julie Frederick of The Pet Sitter of Boise addressed early on when she was just starting her business. We want to thank her for sharing her story:
While in the process of creating my first website, I searched Google for things like “New York City Pet Sitters.” and studied them, searching for ideas to apply to my website.
I really wasn’t interested in Mayberry USA Pet Sitters, even though that’s basically what I was!
I wanted to learn from and gain ideas from the biggest and the best pet sitting businesses out there.
While I searched for biggest and the best, I did not exactly want to copy them. My town is not New York City, it is Boise, Idaho. Boise is a mix of small town and big city. It is safe and people know their neighbors here. I wanted to look professional, but not too corporate.
I purposely made sure my website had a home-made look to it.
Over the years, I’ve tweaked my website over and over, thinking about my image each time.
Does your pet sitting business have a mission statement in place?
Simply put, a mission statement is a formal summary of the aims and values of a company, organization, or individual.
Here at PetSittingOlogy (PSO), our mission statement has always centered around YOU.
We are consistently guided by these questions:
How can we help you be a successful business owner in the pet industry?
How can we help you build your ideal and dream business?
In terms of marketing your business I can think of 1 quote: “These times they are a changin’.”
I would actually say they have already changed and to successfully market your business you need to adapt to the new marketing landscape. You’ve heard us talk about adding content, blogging, posting videos etc to up your online presence.
What about the other side of the marketing coin? Is it still important to pound the pavement and get in front of people? Definitely!
But that has changed too! When is the last time you called a number that was printed on a pen?
There are many moving parts to an effective, SEO-ready website that consistently ranks high in Google and inspires more of your visitors to take action and make contact with you.
When you choose to have a website built with PetSittingOlogy, you receive a fully done-for-you, WordPress-powered, SEO-ready, mobile-friendly and ready to go website.
We take pride in the sites we build for the industry, because we have found them to work well. And by “work well” we mean that they are carefully crafted both behind the scenes and on the front pages to make Google happy and to make your ideal clients happy.
So, how exactly do we achieve a website that works well for you?
When we published this article here about 2 things to help you come up with a pricing structure, we knew that it didn’t cover the whole picture. It was just 2 trees in the forest of price. It was even mentioned in the article that there are other, variable factors that can help you determine price and that that particular article would only address 2.
Today’s article, however, delves into the forest and we will talk about other things you need to take into consideration when determining your answer to “how much do you cost?”.
The original article started a wonderful dialogue with Anthony Mucci, owner of Daily Dog Walkers in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. and he had much to add to the conversation about what to charge pet clients. He has coached many pet sitters, both new comers to the industry and established companies.
Do you cringe if you get a bad review? Do your hackles go up? Do you worry that it is going to ruin your business and prevent you from getting new clients?
What if it is actually a good thing to get a bad review?
While everyone wants their business to have perfect 5-star reviews, studies have shown that what works best is a mix of high AND low reviews.
Think it’s possible for your business to reach one million dollars in pet sitting services?
Think it’s possible hit that milestone year after year?
We didn’t think so either!
While I’ve heard of many successful pet sitting companies breaking the six-figure mark (over $100,000), I’ve never heard of one breaking seven-figures (over $1 million) is services.
That is, until I met Beth Greenberg, co-owner of All Friends Pet Care (serving Northern Virginia). You could imagine that I would welcome the chance to sit down with Beth and pick her brain on all things “HOW”!
One of the most common questions we get from potential clients is of course “How much do you cost?”.
It’s a question that we often ask when making a purchasing decision. How many people sort their shopping list on Amazon “from lowest price to highest?” . I don’t know that I’ve ever bought the lowest priced item but I definitely compare the VALUE of my options.
One of the most common questions pet sitters ask is “How much should I charge?” $10? $20? $22.50? $45.00?
One of the brilliant parts of running, owning and managing your own pet sitting business is that you can structure it any way you wish.
You can set your own policies, you can care for the pets that fit perfectly with your lifestyle, and you can offer a variety of services that are in line with your overall goals.
In home boarding, or caring for pets in your home, can be a lucrative part of your business services.
Allowing your client to drop off their pet to run free in an area of your home can be an attractive service, but like anything else, you must approach this with proper care and consideration.
Your area may have specific laws and permits you’ll need to obtain, and you’ll want to make sure your home is set up in the ideal way to host pets to begin with.