Six-Figure Pet Sitting: The Book

by Kristin Morrison on July 15, 2011

in Dog Walking book, Six Figure Pet Sitting Business Book, Six-Figure Pet Sitting book, pet sitting book, six-figure pet sitting business

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I’m one of those people that is a bit old-fashioned when it comes to books.

I know, I know, Kindle is the hottest rage and I will admit it would be nice not to be lugging 50 pounds of books around with me on this trip that I’m currently on.

But, for me, there is something about holding a book in my hands that makes me very, very happy.

Which makes me also happy to announce that, in addition my book being available in eBook format, Six-Figure Pet Sitting: Catapult Your Pet Sitting Business to Unlimited Success book is now available in printed format through Amazon.

Yay!

You can do the writing exercises in the book. You can fold down the corner of the pages that you want to come back to next time you pick up the book (I won’t tell anyone).

And for those of you high tech pet sitters who want to read the Six-Figure Pet Sitting book on your smart phone and Kindle–it will be available for purchase in those formats soon too.

Enjoy and happy pet sitting!
-Kristin

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Self-Authoring Your Pet Sitting Business

by Kristin Morrison on June 20, 2011

in How to Start a Dog Walking Business, How to Start a Pet Sitting Business, Pet Sit Coach, dog walking business, pet sitting business tips

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Recently I was in a yoga class and the teacher said to our class: “Even though you might think you can’t do a pose, TRY. Don’t just assume you can’t do it. Attempt it. Find out.”

So many pet sitting business owners run their businesses from the place of NO.

No, I CAN’T DO IT.

No, I’VE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE.

No, I’M AFRAID.

It takes a lot of courage to feel the NO and turn it into a YES. To run your business from outside-the-box. Which might be very different from how you think you should run your pet sitting business or how your competitors are running their pet sitting businesses.

As I’m traveling I’m even more aware than I was back at home of how we create our own reality.

I’m not getting woo-woo on you here.

What I’m talking about is that most people put limits on what they can and can’t do in their business and their life which ends up becoming their limited reality.

Where are you putting limits on your pet sitting and dog walking business?

Here are some common areas that pet sitters put limits on their businesses:

1) Your Schedule: You don’t like doing early morning or late night visits and yet still you do them.

2) Hiring: You are afraid to hire pet sitting and dog walkers so you don’t. Or you need to hire more staff yet you keep putting it off even though you are getting more and more stressed by having to do the work yourself.

3) Your Income: You have a mental ‘cap’ on what you think you can make in your pet sitting business each month. You say to yourself, “Oh, I can’t make more than $________/month” which becomes a self-imposed glass ceiling. You don’t imagine or believe you can make more than you’ve currently made and thus live out that reality from month-to-month.

4) Your vacation: You haven’t had a vacation in years and you feel burned out. You are afraid of leaving your pet sitting business. You don’t know what to do with your business when you go away and don’t investigate options.

5) Business Duties: You really don’t like (or aren’t good at) a certain aspect of your pet sitting business and yet still you do it because you feel you ‘have’ to. You don’t allow yourself to think creatively or ask for help in thinking creatively for how to delegate specific tasks or jobs that you really don’t enjoy.

Guess what?

YOU are the author of your pet sitting business. You get to make up the rules for how you run your business and what jobs you do or don’t do.

So many pet sitters that I work with forget this. They let themselves be swept away by the whims of clients or their own fear of doing something differently than they (or another pet sitter) has done before.

It’s the halfway point through the year here, folks: June 2011.

A perfect time to honestly access what works and doesn’t work with the way you are currently running your business.

You really are the only one who creates the stoppers in your business and your life. Not your clients. Not your family. Not your staff.

YOU.

And you can also take that pen and start self-authoring your pet sitting business!

Try this bit of self coaching:
Get a piece of paper and a pen. Set a timer for 15 minutes. For one minute focus on an area that is clearly not working in your business or is causing you discomfort or unhappiness.

Then, with the remaining time, write down all the possible solutions that come to your mind.

Don’t censor.

Don’t edit.

Don’t spell check!

Simply write fast, without thinking, for 14 minutes.

You may be amazed at what may emerge.

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Hello from Coach Kristin

by Kristin Morrison on June 8, 2011

in Dog Sitting Business, Pet Business Marketing, Pet Sit Coach, Six-Figure Pet Sitting book

About 3 years ago a friend invited me to do an exercise which involved imagining that I had six months left to live and what I would do with my life in those last six months.

Before I did the exercise I assumed that if I had six months left to live I would spend my last six months with my loved ones. Duh. It was a no brainer.

But still I did the exercise and was very surprised to see, in my mind’s eye, the image of me wearing a travel backpack and a big smile on my face.

It shocked me.

Is that really how I would spend my last six months on this planet?! Exploring it? What about my loved ones?!

In spite of the inner questioning I let that image sit with me for a few weeks and I could feel that, indeed, travel with a backpack was a heart’s desire of mine. A heart’s desire that was not being fulfilled.

It was hard to imagine leaving my business (and my life) for a few months. However, I knew that was what I had to do otherwise this heart’s desire that was clearly expressing itself to me would act out negatively in my business (and my life).

It’s been my experience that when we know that we have a heart’s desire and we aren’t taking active steps to make that desire happen, the ‘not taking action’ affects every area of our life, including our business.

It’s not pretty when that happens.

So 2 years ago I began to plan a 2.5 month trip for 2010. I had a lot of fear about leaving my pet sitting business even though my managers are so very competent and amazing. I knew my business would be in good hands but still I had the fear.

I’m so aware that the real goodies in business and life come from feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

Knowing that didn’t ease the fear though!

But still I took the actions to make the trip happen. I went on my trip and I had an incredible time and everything went well in the business. I even extended my time for an extra month.

When I got back last year I knew I wanted to do it again. This time for 5 months.

So here I am!

I’m in Bali writing this to you now. I’ve been traveling for nearly 4 months and have 5 weeks left.

It’s been an incredible journey.

I’ve been doing a little work while I’m traveling: I’m writing my second book for pet sitters and dog walkers. I’m planning on having my second book available in December 2011. More later!

I will be offering coaching sessions again in early August and will be offering a teleclass in August as well.

In future blog posts I will be including some tips to getting to your own heart’s desire and how your business can support.

Wishing you a wonderful month of June. :)

Warmly,
Kristin Morrison
Founder, Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy

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Pet Sitting Business Tips for February

by Kristin Morrison on February 5, 2011

in Dog Walking Success, Pet Sitting Business, Pet Sitting Success

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Want to start off on the right foot in your business this month?

Here’s how:

1) Take one marketing action a day to ensure that the calls come rolling in by the end of February. Drop your business cards off at vets, groomers and pet stores. Begin listing your business on as many websites as you can (links on other websites will help you come up higher on the search engines). Join a networking group. Get out there and market. Soon clients will be calling you saying, “I see your business everywhere!” (When that happens you know you are doing the right kind of marketing.)

2) Do you have an accountant ready to help you with your 2010 taxes? If not, February is a great time to find one before they get booked up at tax crunch time. Ask your business-owning friends for a recommendation.

3) Make self-care a priority this month. Put yourself in your appointment scheduler. If not now, then when?

4) Were you short-staffed in 2010? Spend the month February hiring even more people than you think you will need. Having an overflow of staff members will help you say YES to all the clients that contact you this year. Be clear in your communication with new staff members about how much work is/is not available; Let new staff members know that you may not call them for a few weeks but that as business grows their workload will grow.

5) Set a clear financial goal for February. Put your goal on your computer where you will see it daily. Write it on a sticky note in present tense: “I earn $_________/ month easily and effortlessly.”

6) Write your top 10 goals for February 2010 where you can see them. What do you most want to accomplish this month? What did you want to do in January that still needs to be done? You want your Top Ten Goals for February to be where you can see them daily as that will help you stay on track. In goal setting it’s especially important to remember: ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Put those goals in your car, in your office, on your bathroom mirror…wherever you will see them each day.

7) Set aside money for 2011 Q1 Taxes NOW. A lot of pet sitters that I’ve worked with the past few weeks have been surprised at the money they owed for 2010 and/or their 4th quarter tax payment for 2010. To avoid being surprised when taxes come due try this: split each quarterly payment into thirds and pay monthly so you aren’t hit with a large sum of money to come up with for your first quarter payment in 2011 (due April 15).

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How to Start a Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Business

by Kristin Morrison on January 1, 2011

in How to Start a Dog Walking Business, How to Start a Pet Sitting Business

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Is one of your goals for 2011 to start a pet sitting and dog walking business?

Are you thinking about starting a pet sitting or dog walking business but not sure how to get started in a way that will insure success?
Or are you in your first year of pet sitting and aren’t generating the kind of profits you’d like to be generating?

If you are new to pet sitting and dog walking or in your first year of pet sitting, this recording is for YOU.

In this 60-minute recording you will learn the steps needed to create a firm foundation from which to launch and run a pet sitting business that thrives from day one. You will also receive a 12-point tips and tools worksheet for pet sitting business start up.

It’s a myth that new business owners have to struggle, overwork and underearn in their first year of business.

Why reinvent the wheel? In this mp3 recording you will gain all the tips and tools you will need to get your business phone to ring! You will learn how to create a business that will be stress-free: from Day One. You will come away with being able to create a level of success that usually happens for most businesses after year three-all in your first year of business.

Click here for more information and to purchase the How to Start a Successful Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Business Recording.

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Pet Sitting Book Review

by Kristin Morrison on December 23, 2010

in Dog Walking Business Book, Pet Sitting Business Book, Six Figure Pet Sitting Business Book, Six-Figure Pet Sitting book

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Hello pet sitters,

I’ve experienced a few delays with the ebook production but come hell or high water, my book will be sent out as promised by the end of December to those who have preordered the book.

Debra Farrington, the book reviewer for the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters (NAPPS) recently reviewed my book and she emailed the review to me today.

I have to admit it was a bit vulnerable sending her my manuscript. It’s a little like, “Here, critique my baby, would you?”
:)

This review will appear in the next issue of the NAPPS magazine:

“If you’re a brand new pet sitter looking for a guide to pet sitting from A-Z, this probably isn’t your resource, though you’ll find lots of good advice here. But if you’ve been a pet sitter for even a little while and you’re looking to grow your business into something that not only pays the bills, but gives you the lifestyle you want and deserve, then run—don’t walk—to the nearest computer and order this book.

Kristin Morrison, owner of a very large pet sitting business herself, and coach to pet sitters for many years, shares her secrets and strategies to free your creative energies, imagine your business (and life) as you’d like to see it, set goals and then, as Jean Luc Picard on Star Trek would say, “make it so.” There are plenty of practical tips on how to run your business on a day-to-day basis here, but the largest percentage of the book is dedicated to out-of-the-box exercises and practices that will help you understand what may be holding you back from being outrageously successful, and encouraging you to be very intentional about creating the business you truly want—whatever that looks like to you.

Included in the book are chapters on creating a good foundation, creating a business plan, recognizing your own self-worth, removing roadblocks to financial freedom, getting organized, marketing and promoting your business, being an employer, providing great service, and so much more. Those of you who have heard Kristin on one of the mentoring conference calls, or worked with her personally, will hear her voice in these pages, which are written just as she speaks with coaching clients. Approach this book with an open spirit, and a willingness to really look at what you’re doing, and you will walk away inspired and ready to make whatever changes you need to make to have a business and a life—both!—that match your dreams.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
There is still time to save $5 by preordering your ebook now. It will be emailed to you by the end of December.

Click here to find out more and to preorder the book: Six-Figure Pet Sitting.

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Turkey

by Kristin Morrison on November 24, 2010

in 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.

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Pet Sitting Business Book!

by Kristin Morrison on November 20, 2010

in 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

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How to Protect Your Precious Web Copy from Theft

by Kristin Morrison on November 7, 2010

in 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.

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Best Web Hosting for Pet Sitting Websites (and why)

by Kristin Morrison on October 24, 2010

in 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!

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