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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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Your Favorite Pet Sitting Client Just Handed You $1000 Cash – Now What?

puppy dogPicture this: You head over to your favorite pet sitting client’s home for a routine visit.

On the counter is an envelop with your name on it.

It contains $1000 cash with a note for you that reads: ‘Use it well.’

Excited? Yes. Ready to make it happen? That’s the big question.

Could you take your pet sitting business to the next level, and beyond, with a $1000 head start?

Barbara Corcoran is a top New York real estate agent who did just that. She took a $1000 investment and went on to build a $70million empire.

You also may recognize Barbara from the ABC hit TV show, Shark Tank.

Learn From Barbara Corcoran in 5 Minutes

In this incredible 5-minute interview, Barbara shares a bunch of insight and wisdom on how she went from next to nothing to almost everything.

You’ll quickly see that it can all work for us pet sitters, too.

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Should You Pay Pet Sitting Employees Percentage, Flat or Hourly?

pay your pet sitting employeesWhen it comes to growing your pet sitting business with staff, there are many questions that you need answered.

Subjects like “Where can I find sitters to hire?” and “Should I use ICs or Employees” are popular.

One question that I received recently was “Can I pay pet sitting employees a percentage per job, or must it be an hourly rate?”

Who better to answer the question directly than Bella Vasta?

Bella, of Bella’s House & Pet Sitting and Jump Consulting, has a team of employees and took some time to discuss the exact way she pays her employees (and the answer may surprise you).

In this 12-minute phone recording, you’ll discover:

  • The 3 possible choices you have when it comes to paying your employees.
  • The pros and cons of each choice of paying your employees.
  • How to keep your employees happy and motivated with your pay structure.
  • The break down of Bella’s actual payment structure.
  • What type of person Bella looks for in every employee.
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The Modern Rules of using Flyers and Door Hangers for your Pet Sitting Business [video]

do flyers work for pet sittersWhat is the number one reason to use flyers or door hangers in your pet sitting business?

In other words, what are hoping to gain from it?

New clients, right?

Whether you are a solo pet sitter on your own, or a pet sitter looking to bring on ICs or employees, the goal is exactly the same:

To bring on new clients the best way possible.

One of the most common questions I receive when it comes to working with ICs is “How can I bring on an IC or Employee without the guarantee of work?”

And one of the most common questions I receive from solo sitters is “How can I land higher in the search engines?”

Both of these questions address the exact same issue: Gaining more pet sitting clients.

This new video addresses the popular topic of using flyers and door hangers to promote your business.

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The Most Important Pet Sitting Question in the World

sky viewIf you could magically and instantly get one of your biggest pet sitting business questions answered, what question would you need the answer to most?

Very often, growing, starting or taking the next steps in your pet sitting business becomes challenging only because you don’t have the answer to that one all important question.

This important question is the one that keeps you up at night, frustrates you beyond belief and prevents you from moving forward.

Now, if you could be handed the exact answer to the question in a way that makes sense, you would be well on your way to greater success as a pet sitter, right?

So, what is this one important question that holds the secret to greater success in your life?

I can’t tell you.

It’s not because I don’t want to tell you, it’s simply because only YOU know what your most important question is right now.

Allow Me To Hand You The Answer

Whether you are just starting out, or managing a team of pet sitters, you have constant questions running through your head.

Introducing the Live ‘Mini Consulting’ Phone Q&A Session That ANYONE Can Attend

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Pet Sitter Pop Quiz: How do you handle ‘Email me your rates?’

crossroadsHere is a pet sitting lead I recently received:

name: Diana
email: [removed]@gmail.com
phone: 212-241-XXXX
Regarding: Overnight Sitting
location: Noho / Nolita
DepartureDate:
ReturnDate:
message: Please email me your rates for overnight boarding of a 5 lb dog.

Multiple Choice – What do you do in this situation?

Do you:

A) Reply to the email with a list of your overnight boarding rate.

B) Pick up the phone and call Diana directly.

C) Reply via email explaining that your services are custom tailored to each owner and their pet’s needs and a phone call is in order to properly quote a fee.

There is no ‘wrong answer’ as every pet sitter may have a different approach.

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Will I Go To Jail For Stalking My Dog?

How many times have you noticed your dog doing something so unbelievably adorable that you quickly call out to anybody else around so they can witness it too?

Only to find that all the adorable activity stops the moment the dog hears you or notices you watching.

That’s why I’m trying to master the art of (legally) stalking my dogs – tiptoeing around, crouching behind furniture, snapping pictures… whatever works.

But as much as I love my dogs, this time of year hits us over the head with a Hallmark-branded mallet and some red rose pedals. I’m talking about Valentine’s Day, of course.

Valentine’s Day has become the official day of romance, when we lavish our loved ones with flowers, treats, and presents.

The History of Valentine’s Day

Imagine for just a moment if our President of this great nation stepped forward and said, “My fellow Americans, this is a time of great need. Since we are at war, I am banning marriage. From today forward, it’s now against the law for any American to marry. Why? Because single men make better soldiers than married men.”

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Inside the First 91 Days with the Woman Who Would Become My Wife

It’s Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. and, like me, you’ve no doubt received plenty of THANK YOU emails from family, friends and colleagues.

It’s a special day. One where we go out of our way to show our gratitude to those who have made a difference in our lives.

My amazing wife Alitia has not been feeling physically well as of late.

You see, a few years back, she had spinal surgery (in her neck area) and now has two of her vertebra replaced with titanium.

You can imagine this might cause some additional pain and discomfort even though the operation was considered a success.

Alitia is, and always has been, an energetic, animated performer. She spent most of her adult life on a stage pursuing her dream as an actor.

Now, with titanium “holding her neck and head together” (as she likes to phrase it),

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