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Networking is intimidating.

Especially if you are not comfortable around strangers and you’d rather stay at home with your own pets and read a book, watch a movie, clean the closets – anything to avoid going to a networking event.

The good thing is though, YOU’RE NOT ALONE!

Seriously. I’ll bet that the majority of people in the room have some level of “I know I just got here but can I leave yet?”  You can use this can be your ice breaker:

“Hi, I’m Laura, and I’m really uncomfortable at networking events”.  If you say this to anyone in the room you are going to have 1 of 2 reactions

1. OMG ME TOO!  (fellow introvert)
2. I understand and there is nothing to be worried about.  Let me introduce you around.  (extrovert)

Many of us in the professional pet care industry hold ourselves to a high standard and work ethic.

We take great pride in the care we provide, the job we do, and the business we run.

We are professionals.

Since there are no exams to pass or degrees to obtain in order to open up shop and call yourself a pet sitter, the line is sometimes blurred between a professional pet business owner and someone simply attempting it.

Pet Sitters International (PSI) published a wonderful blog article recently about professionalism in our industry. [Read it here: The Most Important “ism” for Pet Sitters]

In it, they presented several specific questions that every pet parent should ask the pet sitter who she is considering to hire.

Presented here is the other side of the coin detailing how the pet sitter must position herself well before a potential client makes contact.

Much of the decision to contact you is already made in the mind of the pet owner within a few minutes of viewing your website.

Therefore, you as the professional business owner must present yourself in the most professional manner at the very first point she comes across your brand in order to even get the chance she’ll consider hiring you.

In other words, if your website design, look, feel, layout, colors, images, photos, content, articles, videos, and reviews do not quickly set the visitor at ease she will leave and look elsewhere.

So how do you position yourself as a professional before your potential client ever makes contact with you?

There was a recent thread in the PetSittingOlogy group on Facebook where Josh asked the question:

“How would you answer a friend who asks “What does PetSittingOlogy do?”

When I summarized the more than a dozen responses, do you know what the core theme was?

NETWORKING.

Google defines networking as a verb.  “To interact with other people to exchange information and develop contacts, especially to further one’s career”.

Networking opportunities within PSO that you should be taking advantage of and being active in:

Like it or not, networking is an important part of growing your business and building your brand within your community.

We talked last week about the HOW of networking, but now WHERE do you start?

As a pet sitters of course you want to talk to and get to know other pet professionals in town such as vets, groomers, trainers etc; but they are only one piece of the puzzle.  You want to be involved with other business professionals who can help network you to their clients as well!

Where do you find networking opportunities?

1) MeetUp.com 

You may have used MeetUp.com to look for social events.  Have you ever thought to put “business” or “professional” into the search box?

Do you cringe when you have to go to a networking event and give a 30 second “elevator pitch”?

Do you avoid networking groups all together?

Don’t!  Networking is one of the best ways to build your business and build a relationship with other professionals in your community.

Networking has changed too!  It’s not passing out your business card to 50 strangers and never hearing from them again.  It’s sharing your story and listening to other people’s stories.

First thing you can do is change your perspective.  Instead of walking into the room and thinking

“What do I need to say to get these strangers to refer me business?”

change it to:

“I can’t wait to meet all of these people and learn how they can help me and my clients”.

Networking isn’t about you.

It’s about being helpful to other people.  The most important people that networking can help with is YOUR CURRENT CLIENTS.

Think about it.  If you are pet sitting at someone’s house and a water pipe bursts – wouldn’t it be nice to call on a plumber that you have built a relationship with through networking vs picking one at random through a Google search?  Wouldn’t it be nice to tell your clients “I know Plumber Bob through my networking group, I see him every week, I’ve gotten to know him personally and I trust him”.

That adds VALUE to you because it brings VALUE to your clients.

A lot has happened over the past 12 months both personally and professionally.

Personally, I’m beyond proud to have welcomed my son, Harrison Grant, to the world on May 28.

Professionally, I’m beyond lucky to have found our new PetSittingOlogy Communications Manager, Amy Mattison (click here to Friend her on Facebook and say hello!). https://www.facebook.com/amy.mattison.2

Titles are weird and I don’t think her title does her justice.  Simply put, Amy works 10-feet from me in our office and among many other things she manages our social media accounts, runs our Client Services division, and helps me remain sane, focused, and on track.

Something I’ve quickly learned while in the film industry is that it truly takes an extraordinary team around you to create, produce, and share anything of value.

Aside from Amy, 2015 has also brought me closer to our colleagues Laura Capra, Anthony Mucci, and Cindy Vet.  Much of what is listed below would not have been possible without them. Literally.

Here are our Top 10 Posts from 2015.  Feel free to bookmark this page so you can refer back to it throughout the year.