Turkey

Blogging, pet sitting blog / /

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Last November I was riding my bike down a busy street in my town when I saw a turkey walking down the street.

Yes, a turkey.

He was on the sidewalk and so was I. I got off my bike so I could pass without scaring him.

As I passed, he began clucking at me. (Yes, turkeys cluck. I know that now.)

Then he began running toward me.

He came up close and looked up at me. Looked me deep in the eyes.

No joke.

He clucked.

He looked.

He clucked some more.

He was about a foot away and his head came to my knee.

It was like he knew me. (I’d never seen him before.)

To my untrained eyes he appeared to be a teenager turkey.

I said hello and then I began walking my bike away.

He clucked excitedly and ran after me.

He walked beside me. He became obviously distressed if I got too far ahead of him. The clucking would increase and he would pick up the pace so that we were walking side by side.

People in cars stopped and stared.

People across the street stopped and stared. Camera phones came out and I’m sure I appeared on many local Facebook pages last November.

I noticed the turkey would stare intently at me with his little black eye on the side of his head.

He was truly LOOKING at me. He was present in a humans rarely are.

He wouldn’t let me out of his sight.

There was something oddly comforting about him.

Each time I would stop, he would stop. When I began walking, he would walk. It was the avian version of Simon Says.

I walked to a park to get him away from the speeding cars. He found a worm or something in the grass and promptly forgot about me.

I noticed that I felt more than a bit disappointed that food could get in the way of our connection.

I got on my bike slowly. I hoped he’d see me leaving and come running toward me as he had all the way down the street.

But no.

He was busy looking for food.

I felt oddly alone as I rode my bike home.

🙁

I told a few friends about the experience and I thought about the turkey from time to time, wondering how he was doing.

I wondered if he’d gotten hit by a car. That thought made me very sad.

So I tried not to think about it.

Last Tuesday I was riding my bike on the same street and low and behold, there was a turkey on the sidewalk.

I got off my bike and sure enough: he came running up to me, making a slightly deeper clucking sound than I remembered from last year.

It was him!

Same turkey. I’m sure of it. Unless all turkeys like me this much.

He was a tall adult now and last year’s drab brown feathers shown iridescent.

I’ve never thought of turkeys as beautiful before but he was so beautiful.

He clucked excitedly and followed me as I walked my bike down the street.

People stopped and stared.

“I’ve never seen anything like that! A wild turkey following a person,” one guy said. “He really likes you.”

“Yes, I met him last year,” I replied, as though I was talking about an old friend. “Perhaps I’m the turkey whisperer,” I mused.

“Perhaps you are,” the guy said in wonder.

He took a picture of us. I smiled. Turkey looked up at me with adoring eyes.

Other people lined up on the opposite sidewalk to stare at me and Turkey walking down the sidewalk. Cars stopped and iphones came out.

We are probably on Facebook again this November. Me and Turkey.

We walked beside a retirement home and a woman who worked there came out. “That turkey peers in the window at the residents sometimes. They love him. They become animated and alive when they see him.”

“Oh, that’s sweet.” I stared at Turkey and he stared back at me, clucking.

“There are a few wild turkeys around here,” the woman continued. “One got hit by a car last year and we had a funeral for him. A lot of people came to the turkey funeral. Everyone who came was quite upset.”

“I’m so glad it wasn’t this guy,” I smiled.

“Yes, he seems to really like you.”

We walked away, me and Turkey. We stopped at the red light and then when it turned green we walked through the crosswalk.

People stared and pointed, pointed and stared. I felt a little embarrassed. Like we were famous or something. Turkey looked intently at me as we crossed the street.

We reached a patch of grass and he began rooting around for worms or bugs or whatever it is that turkeys eat.

I kept going.

I looked over my shoulder at one point, hoping he’d run after me.

But he didn’t. He was deeply focused on whatever was in the grass.

Turkey Read More »

Pet Sitting Business Book!

Dog Walking Business Book, Pet Sitting Business Book, six-figure pet sitting business / /

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Horray!

The business book for pet sitters is now available for preorder.

Two years ago I began writing this book.

Then I decided to go on my trip to India and Bali so I put the writing of the book on hold.

I came back from my trip clear that I wanted to finish the book before I left on my next sabbatical (my next trip will be for four months and I’ll be leaving in February 2011–more to come about that trip in a future blog post!)

My business book for pet sitters was about 85% complete but I was having a hard time completing the final 15% of my book.

Have you ever climbed a really steep mountain and experienced that last little bit of hiking to be the hardest part?

That was what I was going through with the book.

Anyway, I told my business coaching (yes, I have a business coach!) about my fits and starts around completing the book. She gave me a firm talking to about my book that was (metaphorically speaking) sitting in the corner and not getting enough regular attention from me.

She asked me what it would take to finish it. I told her I needed weekly and perhaps daily support around completing it.

She suggested I get a writing coach and so I did. Within 3 weeks of hiring my writing coach the book was nearly complete!

Amazing what happens when we business owners (and writers) get support, eh?

We are now doing final editing of the book and will be laying the book out in a beautiful and easy-to-read ebook format. The ebook will be ready in December.

I’m so excited to share my secrets for pet sitting business success with all of you pet sitters. This book is a culmination of the knowledge I have gained in my 15+ years of owning and running my large pet sitting company as well as the many years I have coached pet sitters to business success.

Many of you have already preordered the book–if you have ordered your ebook you can be assured that you will receive your copy hot off the press in December!

If you haven’t yet ordered the book and you’d like to: you can preorder the book now and save $5 by going to this page: Six-Figure Pet Sitting Book.

(Please note the $5 off special is only good through November 2010.)

Wishing you much pet sitting business success!
-Kristin

Pet Sitting Business Book! Read More »

How to Protect Your Precious Web Copy from Theft

Blogging, Pet Business, Search Engine Optimization (SE0) / /

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It’s funny.

I wanted to write this blog post because I recently had a coaching client ask me about how to deal with her competitor that had copied her website text word for word.

I told her what to do (as I will instruct you below).

What I haven’t done in a while though was check my OWN pet sitting website against plagiarism. So just now I did what I’m going to instruct you to do and you know what?

I found 3 pet sitting websites in various parts of the country that had taken a lot of my pet sitting website home page text and used it word-for-word on their home pages.

Uggh.

It’s not a good feeling to see the words you worked hard to come up with on another pet sitter’s website.

And not only that–here’s a little-known fact: web copy that is duplicated word for word on two or more sites results in lower search engine optimization for all of the sites that have the duplicate copy. This is the search engine’s way of making sure the playing field is wide open for all of us and not just inundated with multiple, duplicate sites. (Nice of them, isn’t it?)

So when someone copies your website text not only have they stolen your words but they’ve lowered your search engine optimization ranking (and their own).

Here’s how to check your website to see if your text is being copied and what to do about it if it is:

1) Go to Copyscape and put a banner at the bottom of all the web pages that you want to protect against web copy theft. Even though I have this banner at the bottom of my site, I still get pet sitters copying my text. However, fewer pet sitters copy my text now versus when I didn’t have the banner on there so get this on your site as soon as possible.

2) Enter your website address into Copyscape’s search bar to see if anyone has copied your website text.

3) If someone copied your text, send them this email:

Dear ________
I noticed that you have copied the text from my pet sitting website on
your home page (or whatever page was copied).
Please change your text immediately. Having the same copy on your
site makes us BOTH come down lower on the search engines and it’s
stealing. Please email me to confirm that you’ve made the changes by
____________ (a week from the date of the email). Failure to do so will result in legal action.

Thank you,
Your Name
Your Business Name
Your Business Website

4) If you need to take legal action you can search for “Prepaid Legal Services” online. Prepaid legal services are available in most states and offer inexpensive legal service for $30-40/month.

Prepaid legal services will draw up a ‘cease and desist letter’ and mail it to the party that has copied your site. If that doesn’t resolve the matter you can retain legal counsel at a discounted rate for attorney fees. You can cancel the monthly membership after the issue is resolved and start it up again when/if you need additional legal services. Using a prepaid legal service is a very cost-effective solution for pet sitters needing to resolve this and other legal matters.

5) Check Copyscape every couple of months to make sure your text is not being copied. Again, this will protect your search engine optimization ranking as well as your text.

How to Protect Your Precious Web Copy from Theft Read More »

Best Web Hosting for Pet Sitting Websites (and why)

Pet Sitting Business Marketing, pet sitting marketing / /

kristin-006173Okay, as most of you know I rarely endorse products and services but I just have to tell you pet sitters and dog walkers about this one…

As a pet sitter you may think that all web hosting companies are the same but that just isn’t true.

If you have a website that is hosted by Go Daddy or Vista Print you will find that it is very difficult to change the wording in your site to make it search engine optimization-friendly.

Even if your website is not hosted by the hosts above you may find that you will gain so much more than you can imagine by switching your hosting company to Blue Host.

I have been using this hosting company for my website for 5 years now and here is what I absolutely LOVE about it:

1) You can reach a live human being at any time-day or night! If you have an issue with your website you can call them anytime. They answer the phone! So unheard of these days…

2) You can see how your clients find you online. This hosting company has a cool features where you can go behind the scenes and click a button and boom! You get the inside peek into how your clients/competitors/trawlers are finding you. It is so revealing and will appeal to the detective in you that wants to find out what people typed in to find your pet sitting company. I love this feature!

3) You can transfer to Blue Host in less than 24 hours. Just contact them and within 24 hours you can easily and effortlessly transfer from your current host to this fantastic hosting company.

4) It’s one of the cheapest hosting companies on the web. You get the most bang for your buck and it is one of the least expensive hosting companies. How is this possible? I’m not sure but I appreciate the monthly savings.

If you are a new pet sitter in the midst of creating a website or an ‘old dog’ pet sitter that is looking to create an even more powerful website at a reasonable price then check out Blue Host today.

You will not be disappointed!

Best Web Hosting for Pet Sitting Websites (and why) Read More »

5 Tips for Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Business Success

dog walking business, Dog Walking Business Marketing, Dog Walking Business Start Up, Dog Walking Success, Pet Sitting Business, Pet Sitting Success / /

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Creating pet sitting and dog walking business success can be easy.

Really.

Here are 5 simple steps you can take TODAY to create more success in your pet sitting and dog walking business:

1) Begin to accumulate business savings. Even the act of starting with $10/month is progress. Your business savings account will help get you through the lean times, especially when you are first starting out.

2) Create an action plan to ensure that your pet sitting business bookkeeping records are clean, orderly and accurate. Get accounting help if and when you need it. Pay someone to help you learn Quicken or Quickbooks. Knowing how much you make each month will help you set financial goals which will keep you focused and intentional in your business actions.

3) Develop a yearly business plan and create goals and visions for yourself and your business. Review it quarterly and adjust as needed. Having a map will help you get to where you want to go in your business.

4) Budget your time realistically and focus on income-producing activities. Get clear on how many minutes it takes to actually takes to drive to your dog walking/pet sitting jobs. This will help you get clarity about how many clients you can take in a given day and how much time you spend driving. Setting a timer for those business tasks that are challenging can help keep you on track. Focusing your daily actions on income-producing activities such as marketing and answering the phone directly will cause your profits to rise.

5) Let go of difficult-to-work-with clients and staff members. Difficult staff and clients can eat up as much as 95% of our energy which leaves only 5% left for the majority of our (easy) clients and staff. If you notice your thoughts consumed by a particular client or staff member then it might be time to let them go. Talk it over with someone whose opinion you value and once you get clarity about how challenging they are, be willing to let them go sooner rather than later.

Want more tips on how to create success in your pet sitting and dog walking business? Purchase the Secrets for Pet Sitting Business Success Recording now.

5 Tips for Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Business Success Read More »

Petz Check In

Pet Business, Pet Sitting Business, Pet Sitting Business Goals, Pet Sitting Business Software, Pet Sitting Software / /

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When clients call you while you are tending other pets it can be distracting, can’t it?

And it’s worse when they call you during your free time. What if you have pet sitters working for you, and the client calls you claiming your pet sitter did not show up for a scheduled appointment? It becomes a case of “he said, she said.” Worse yet are those moments when a client ‘thinks’ she called to schedule care but actually forgot to call and consequently her pets have not had food or water for at least 24 hours. This can be reality in the life of a Professional Pet Sitter.

Thanks to some cool technology, Pet Sitters can communicate with their clients automatically, letting them know they arrived at the client’s home in a timely fashion; this comes with the added benefits of limiting liability for pet sitters and the ability to provide a guarantee of service. This convenience also has benefits for your clients. You see, the truth is, even if unspoken, pet parents do worry about their pets when they are away.

In a survey over 120 people, pet parents were asked about which method of pet care they used and why. Of the most telling responses was “I only travel if I can take my pets with me because I’ve had bad experiences with boarding and pet sitting.” (Kelly B, Tucson, AZ).

Terry O. of San Francisco wrote, “ I had a friend use a recommended pet sitter for her cat when she had the opportunity to travel abroad. Fortunately her daughter went to check in on things about 3 days after she left. It did not appear that the pet sitter had even been there once……..When confronted she claimed she lost the key to the house….but never bothered to try contacting the homeowner who did have access to her vm [voicemail] while gone…..this gal has been doing pet sitting for years according to the info received…a fluke? took on too much business? I don’t know how you can protect your selves and animals from someone like that. “

You know you are not going to do something like this and you hope your clients know this isn’t going to happen. And while your clients do trust you there is an unspoken truth…we are all human. We get sick, we have car accidents, we forget and ‘stuff’ happens. And when it happens, pets and others in your care can be negatively affected. When you are upfront about the ‘what ifs’ and when you provide a solution, you will gain the trust and affection of your clients very quickly.

Managing employees is one of the biggest challenges of any business, especially when they work in locations that are remote. Your reputation is at risk each time you hire someone to represent you. Using a method to be alerted if they do not show, a method to provide proof to clients who question their presence at their location (no more ‘he said she said’), and a method by which you can measure their performance is just smart business.

The solution comes in the form of a new web service called PETZcheckIN.com. PETZcheckIN.com allows you to provide a guarantee of service (a true guarantee, not one in name only) plus automate your client communications, and provides a way for you to expand your business with little risk. You will have decreased fiscal liability when you can provide 3rd party proof you were at a client’s home and the duration of time you spent with the pets. Contact the folks at PETZcheckIN today and they’ll send you a code for a free trial of the service.

Petz Check In Read More »

Six-Figure Pet Sitting Success Story

Goal Setting / /

The Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy helps hundreds of pet sitters create successful, lucrative and ease-filled businesses each year.
Below is just one of our many success stories!

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Name: Lois Kelly
Business Name: Four Paws Pet Sitting Services, LLC
City and State: Raleigh, NC
Website: www.4PawsPetSitting.com

Do you remember the approximate month and year when you first called Kristin Morrison and The Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy for help in your pet sitting business?
Oh wow, I think almost 5 years ago.


What issues were you having in your business when you first contacted Kristin Morrison and the Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy?
I think I must have spoken to Kristin at truly the right time. I can’t remember why I called the Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy that first time but for some reason I called.

I wasn’t having any trouble but I think the reason I called was that I just wanted to grow and not do it myself. I was at the point where my business had grown and I would have to service a smaller area or hire. I had a few people working for me at the time. I would have been one of those business owners with burn out but I talked to Kristin before that ever happened! Lucky me. I was very fortunate and learned a lot immediately.

What is one of the ways that the Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy helped you in your business?
I always knew to set goals and write them down but in the Catapult! Pet Sitting Business Success class Kristin had us write down the exact figure of what I wanted to make in 2009. I had that figure in front of me on my desk in a little frame. I looked at it often. Next to it I had my basic steps of what I had to do to get to that goal.

I had a plan and stuck to it. Even if I only took 10 minutes working on the computer I did something towards working on my goal.
I love that Kristin can pinpoint issues and implement a plan so quickly. She does not waste any time.

What was your yearly gross total in 2008?
$72,000

What was your yearly gross total in 2009?
I grossed $168,00 in 2009.
My goal was $123,000 after being in your class in 2008.

In one year you grossed over double of what you’d grossed the year before?
Yes.

What has been the most important change you have made in the way you run or manage your business?
I have a purpose in mind. I have not been doing visits myself for a few years thanks to Kristin and I am proactive in my business. I think one thing I did was hire and then go after finding business in the area where I hired.
I am now truly having fun and loving this business.

Is there anything else about your business success that you would like to share?
I did not immediately buy into what Kristin was saying but I followed what she said and I am so happy I did.
I hired an office manager. It is really hard to let go but oh so worth it! I learned that I did not have to be tied down.
I now have 27 sitters.

Attention pet sitter: Are YOU ready to create six-figure pet sitting business success in YOUR pet sitting business? Click to find out more and to sign up for coaching sessions with Kristin Morrison, founder of the Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy.

Six-Figure Pet Sitting Success Story Read More »

Secrets for Pet Sitting Business Success Teleclass-Save $10 in next 24 hours!

Dog Walking Business Marketing, Dog Walking Business Start Up, How to get dog walking clients, How to get pet sitting clients, How to Start a Pet Sitting Business / /

SecretsforSuccessfulPetSitting

Hey Pet Sitters: there’s still time to save $10 on the July 27 Secrets for Pet Sitting Business Success Teleclass if you sign up by July 20.

After July 20 the price will go up to $30 (still a steal for the amount of information you will get that will help you rocked your pet sitting business to success!)

Click here to find out more and to sign up for the Secrets for Pet Sitting Business Success Teleclass.

Secrets for Pet Sitting Business Success Teleclass-Save $10 in next 24 hours! Read More »

Passing the Leash: 5 Tips to Make the Hiring Transition Easier

Dog Walking Business Start Up, how to hire pet sitting staff, Pet Business, Pet Sitting Business Goals, Pet Sitting Startup / /

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I got an email today that inspired me to write a blog post.
Thanks Emi!

Here’s the email I received:

Hi Kristin,
I purchased your online product Business Hiring Kit: For Hiring Pet Sitting/Dog Walking Staff ™ two days ago and have been very pleased with the content.

One of my main hurdles is how to tell my current clients, that I have been taking care of myself for the past year, that I am going to transition from being the owner/dog walker/pet sitter to just the owner with hired staff to cover the pet sitting and dog walking.

Do you have any suggestions on how to make this transition smooth and professional?

Thanks,
Emi
Sniff and Go Dog Walking and Pet Services

Here’s my response:

Hi Emi,
Nice to hear from you. 🙂

I’m so glad you are happy with the Hiring Kit. I developed it years ago to use in my own pet sitting business and it has helped me hire top-notch pet sitters and dog walkers in my own pet sitting business. I currently have 30 great pet sitters on staff, all of whom I’ve hired through using the Hiring Kit. I have heard from lots of other pet sitters that my Hiring Kit has helped them hire great people too. I love hearing that.

Yes, I do have 5 suggestions for making the transition easier:

1) Share the jobs for awhile with your new staff. If you are hiring dog walkers continue walking on M/W/F and having your new walker walk T/TH.

2) Go to at least 3-5 of the client interviews when your staff meets your clients. After that the staff member should be able to go on his/her own.

3) When clients call about particular sits and you are going to put new staff members in say, “I’d love to help you but unfortunately I’m not available for those dates. I have a wonderful assistant that is. Would you like me to set up a time to have you meet my assistant?” If you are sharing the job say: “I’m available for some of those dates. For the dates I’m not available I have a wonderful assistant.”

4) Have your clients pay you via mailing a check or giving you their credit card information. Don’t have them leave checks for your assistant to pick up. It creates more work for your assistant.

5) Be sure to use a client questionnaire when staff members do sits on their own. Mail it to clients with a self-addressed stamped envelope so they will feel compelled to return it. The Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy sells a client service questionnaire or you can create your own.

Have your questionnaire be simple enough that it will just take clients only a minute or two to fill it out the form and send it back to you with their comments. Having a self-addressed stamped envelope will compel them to mail back the questionnaire! I’ve found the online questionnaires to be less effective for client response so mail the questionnaire to them.

Sending out questionnaires will help you get feedback on how your new staff member is doing. It’s often easier for clients to write out their feedback than pick up the phone to let you know what their experience was like in using your new staff member. Keep it simple for them and for you!

A final note about the questionnaire: share the feedback, both good and bad, with your staff. The positive feedback will keep your staff motivated and the negative feedback will get them back on the right track.

Hope this information helps, Emi!

Passing the Leash: 5 Tips to Make the Hiring Transition Easier Read More »

It’s Not About the Money

How to get dog walking clients, How to get pet sitting clients, How to Start a Dog Walking Business, How to Start a Pet Sitting Business, Pet Sitting Business Coach, pet sitting marketing / /

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I’ve been on nearly a hundred pet sitting business coaching calls in the past few weeks.

It’s been really great to work with some of you after being gone for so long.

As much as I love traveling (and I really, really love it!) I do love coming back and diving into my life here. It is so gratifying to work with pet sitters from around the country who are hungry to grow their businesses so that they can lead rich, meaningful and fulfilling lives both professionally and personally.

I was talking with a friend the other day about money. We were engaged in a discussion about her recent business venture which resulted in a big profit. My face lit up with happiness over her financial success.

She smiled and said to me, “Kristin, you love money.”

I thought about it for a minute and then I said:

“Yes, it’s true I do love money,” I replied. “But money in and of itself would be so boring and unsatisfying. It’s flat and kind of an ugly color green. It’s what money gives me and my coaching clients that is really where the excitement is for me.”

Mostly it comes down to freedom. To me, having enough money equals freedom. The freedom to travel around the world. Money provides the resources and the time to be able to live my life in a way that feels really right for me. To live my life in a way that really suits me.

What about for you? What does money equal for you? For everyone it is so different.

Part of my coaching involves determining the WHY of money for the person I’m working with.

When I can help them see what they can create in their lives if they have more money things usually happen pretty quickly. They begin to do the action steps I’ve given them. Their bank account grows. They are able to hire more help and create more space in their life.

And what my coaching clients want from money isn’t more things. Sheesh. We all have enough things now, don’t we?

Some of my clients want enough money so they have more time.

Time to sit with their kid on their lap and eat cookies together in the warm sunshine.

Sometimes it’s all about taking the trip they’ve always dreamed of taking. Having enough money and time to go on that Alaskan cruise or that trek through the jungle in Peru which will inevitably bring them closer to their spouse or themselves.

Sometimes it’s about wanting to create stability: being able to buy a house or provide for their family.

It’s not about the money.

It’s what is created from the money.

If you want to make more money in your pet sitting and dog walking business to provide the kind of life that is meaningful for YOU there is still time to sign up for Tuesday’s teleclass: Get Pet Sitting Clients NOW: Marketing that Works.

It’s Not About the Money Read More »

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