Pet Sitting Tips
Do you want to start a pet sitting business this year or create more profit in the one you have?
Here are some tips to help you get started:
1. Decide on the type of animals you want to care for in order to be crystal-clear when it comes to your defining your niche. This may sound obvious yet many new pet sitting business owners haven’t thought this one through. If you don’t really like cats or are allergic to them then you’ll want to focus primarily on dogs and other animals that you feel comfortable caring for (or hire someone else to care for your cat clients). If you really enjoy -and are experienced with- caring for horses and other farm animals then starting a ranch animal care service might really help word spread about your specialized service. And if you are a big time cat lover: start a cat-only pet sitting service–you’ll be amazing at how many cat-only clients will love that you specialize in felines.
When you focus your business primarily on the animals you enjoy caring for you’ll often be more successful because clients will know they are your Right Clients. Why? Because they have the type of animals you specialize in. Also that joy that you have for those particular animals will come shining through in everything–your meet and greets, your marketing materials and the smile that lights up your face when you are with the animal types you most enjoy. And joy for what we love brings more clients.
2. Decide upon the pet care services you’ll providing. This is as important as deciding upon your niche. One of the first actions I’ll take with new pet business coaching clients is to look at their website and do a quick ‘website audit’. I often see pet sitters listing 10 or more services on their websites and the page just swims with services! It’s too much. It’s overwhelming to clients. We are living in an age where overwhelm happens easily to us humans due to all the information out there. Keep things simple. Don’t list more than 5 services on your services page.
3. Create a marketing plan with daily activities in order to focus on income-producing activities. If you are used to working for someone else then it can be hard to know what to put your attention on when you are a new pet business owner. If you are a new pet sitting business owner or you aren’t seeing your client list (or profit) increase, I recommend putting at least 30 minutes a day into marketing, 5 days a week.
Marketing doesn’t just happen. You actually have to get out there (in the real world and online) in order to promote your services to the public. Create a list of all the marketing activities you can and want to do to promote your business and put those tasks on your weekly and monthly calendar.
Want more? Click for more start up tips for pet sitters.