Pet Sitting Business Goals

Read This Post (Only) If You Want To Create Your Best Year Yet In Your Pet Sitting & Dog Walking Business

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Warning: If you don’t want to create the best 12 months you’ve ever had starting now, do NOT download this FREE 11-page workbook. woman best year

But… if you DO want to create your best year yet… then definitely check this out.

Pet sitting and dog walking business owners who set clear, measurable goals are more likely to achieve them. (And pet business owners who have used this workbook have reported remarkable shifts in their businesses and their lives…in only 12 months!)

Click to download the FREE Create Your Best Year Yet Workbook for Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers now.

 

 

 

Creating Pet Sitting Success on PURPOSE

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Best years sometimes get created without our doing much of anything special.

But success by accident isn’t a very effective way to live (nor run your business).

Ready to create success on purpose in your business and your life?

I recently did a  ‘Create Your Best Year’ Coaching Session with Pamela Batson:

Pam is a pet sitting and dog walking business owner who lives in Illinois. She came equipped with the goal of wanting to relocate to another state in 2013 as well as numerous other big and little goals. We also discovered some personal and work goals that Pam secretly desired but hadn’t yet clarified until doing her Best Year Coaching session.

It was exciting to have her goals unfold in a clear and powerful way and to see which goals most wanted to be on her Best Year Yet plan. Through our session she realized she wanted to move much sooner than she’d originally thought. Creating a definite plan in order for her move as quickly as possible (by the first quarter of 2013) was exciting for us both!

After our 3-hour session I asked Pam (see her picture below) some questions about what the session was like for her. She gave me permission to use her answers:

Kristin: Describe your experience of what it was like to create your best year plan with me.

Pam: It was powerful. I didn’t think it would take the whole 3 hours to go through the questions, but you were very thorough with me and helpful in working with me to set specific, attainable goals.

Kristin: Were there things that surprised you when you created your Best Year Plan?

Pam: I was surprised at how much of a difference it made to get specific with income amounts, time frames, etc.

Kristin: What would you say to others who were thinking of creating their Best Year Plan but hadn’t yet taken the leap?

Pam: I would say that it’s important to make the investment in their future and to have someone to be accountable to. There is something special about having all of the goals in writing rather than just having the idea in your head.

Kristin: Anything else you’d like to share about the process or your reflections after you did your Best Year Plan?

Pam: I have a renewed sense of motivation. I am confident that I will be able to make a smooth transition and build up my business again in North Carolina, making 2013 my best year yet!

Click if YOU want to find out more and create your Best Year Yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Year Yet Software Demonstration Webinar: Nov. 27 (Two Time Slots Available)

Goal Setting, Pet Sitting Business Coach, Pet Sitting Business Goals, Pet Sitting Business Software / By /
Curious about how Best Year Coaching works?
Here’s your chance to check it out.

I’m offering two 30-minute demo webinars on Tuesday, November 27 to demonstrate the amazing online goal setting/tracking software that I use with my Best Year Coaching clients.

The software + my 3 hour goal planning session will enable you to immediately begin living into your best year ever.

I’ll be doing a 30-minute demo on Tuesday, November 27 at 3pm PST/6pm EST:

Click this link at 3pm PST/6pm EST:

https://www4.gotomeeting.com/join/378187271

Access Code: 378-187-271

 

And I’ll be doing another 30-minute demo at 6pm PST/9pm EST later that same day (Tuesday, November 27):

Click this link at 6pm PST/9pm EST:

https://www4.gotomeeting.com/join/764528223

Access Code: 764-528-223

 

If you haven’t yet used Go to Meeting, I’d encourage you to click on the link above now in order to download the software (it takes only 2 minutes) so you can dive right in at one of the times above.

If you wanted to attend but aren’t able to, no problem. Shoot me an email and I’ll happily send you the replay link so you view the demo at a time that’s convenient for you.

Also, if you have a friend or family member who may be interested in creating his or her Best Year ever, please forward this blog post. All are welcome.
Looking forward to showing you this incredible software that helps you create -and live into- your best life!

Warmly,

Kristin Morrison
Certified Best Year Yet! Coach

PS–Please note that there are limited slots available for the above demos so please login early to insure your spot.

Create Your Best Year Ever! (Here’s how…)

Dog Walking Business Goals, Dog Walking Success, Goal Setting, Pet Sitting Business Goals, Pet Sitting Business Plan / By /

I’m so excited to share this news with you… 

In 2011, I became a certified Best Year Yet coach and now, one of the primary focuses of my coaching with pet sitters has been to provide Best Year Coaching in order to help my clients create and experience powerful shifts in business and in their lives.

What that means is simply: I help you create the best year you’ve ever had in work and in your personal life.

In a nutshell, here’s how the Best Year process works:

1. Together we explore your roles, goals, values.

2. In 3 hours we create your most powerful annual plan.

3. We work together monthly to keep you on track.

4. In 12 months you’ve lived your Best Year ever!

Want to find out even more information and create your Best Year ever?

I’ve got a new website that explains everything about my Best Year Coaching. It’s for ANYONE who wants to create the best year of their life.

Click to find out more and to sign up for Best Year coaching today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FREE workbook for Powerful Goal Setting

Dog Walking Business Goals, Pet Business Goal Setting, Pet Sitting Business Goals / By /

6470778473_58a6e95dff_m-1Hello wonderful pet sitters and dog walkers,

I’m offering you a FREE goal setting workbook that I created for myself a few years ago (link below).

I’ve personally used this workbook year after year to set and achieve my own business/life goals.

My desire to take my long sabbatical arose after doing the exercises in this workbook in 2009! If you have read my book you will recognize this workbook as the one I detail in my chapter on goal setting.

I hope you will find it as valuable a tool as I have in setting goals for business and life.

On another note: I’ve got some fantastic new 2012 teleclasses that I think you old timers and newbies will benefit greatly from and also a new coaching modality that I’ll be unveiling soon for new and existing coaching clients who want to step powerfully into the New Year to create a life and a business beyond their wildest dreams!

Details to come in a few weeks….

Happy New Year!
Kristin

PS-Here’s the Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Business Goal Setting Workbook.

Petz Check In

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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.

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 / By /

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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!

January Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Business Tips

Pet Business Marketing, Pet Sitting Business, Pet Sitting Business Coach, Pet Sitting Business Goals, Pet Sitting Business Plan / By /

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It’s usually pretty slow in the pet sitting industry in January. After the hustle and bustle of the holidays that have just passed this can be welcome relief. For others you may be wishing/needing new business now to keep up with expenses that ocurred over the holidays.

No matter where you are: busy or not busy, glad it’s slow, not glad it’s slow, there are some very specific tasks that you can and should do this month to insure business success all year long.

Here they are:

1) Pay your Q4 2009 estimated tax payment by January 15 for both State and Federal taxes. It’s important to get in the habit of keeping current with taxes for each calendar year or you will be faced with hefty penalties and interest if you have not paid enough for 2009 taxes.

2) Begin to set aside money now for your Q1 2010 estimated tax payment that will be due by April 15, 2010. How do you do this? Put an envelope on a bulletin board in your office. Get in the habit of putting a minimum of 10% of whatever total from checks that you receive into that envelope. Next create a tax savings account and every month deposit that money into your tax savings account so when it comes time to pay your quarterly payments you will be breathing easy because guess what? You have the money.

3) Place an ad for staff now and spend leisurely time hiring the perfect staff members. This time of year is the best time to hire people–you are not in a hurry and probably don’t desperately need staff members the way you did, say, over the holidays. You want to hire people when you don’t need them. That way they will be ready to go when you do get busy and your judgment will not be impaired by an intensity of need to fill particular pet sitting jobs.

4) Get those 1099s out in the mail to your staff by January 29, 2010. The government will charge you $50 for each and every 1099 that is not sent out by the end of January.

Next make sure to send your information to the government no later than the end of February or same thing: you will be charged $50 for every 1099 that is received by the government after the end of February. Ouch!

5) Write your goals for this month and for the New Year. Setting goals is one of the most powerful actions you can take in your business. It sounds simple, right? It is. The simple act of writing your goals will help you take actions that will enable you to create what you want this year.

I did it last year at this time as I do every year. But last year I wrote:

I will go on a two month trip in 2010.

I saw that goal there day after day on my bulletin board (it’s very important to post your goals where you can see them) and I began to take big and little actions to support that vision.

A year ago taking this trip was just a pipe dream.

Six months ago I started seriously considering it.

And now I’m going.

You can read more about setting and achieving business goals in my goal setting for pet sitters blog post below.

6) Take the word ‘recession’ out of your vocabulary. That’s right. I know…you turn on the news and it’s recession this and recession that but STOP. Don’t allow yourself to go there or engage in conversations that take you into a downward spiral about the economy.

I can tell you this: for myself and those pet sitting clients that I drilled this into last year: we all had the best year ever!

In a supposed recession.

Why? Because we refused to engage in the conversation of the recession and instead focused on what tasks needed to be done in order to succeed in our businesses.

YOU can have a financially successful year no matter what the media says.

Here’s how: turn off your TV when negative economic news comes on, let friends and family know that you are committed to having the best financial year ever and that you don’t want to talk about a poor economy, when you do get discouraged remember that there are hundreds of other pet sitters across the country who had the BEST YEAR ever in 2009 and that you can create that experience for yourself this year.

Happy 2010 everyone!

How to Set (and Achieve!) Pet Sitting Business Goals for 2010

Dog Walking Business Start Up, How to Start a Pet Sitting Business, Pet Sitting Business Goals, Pet Sitting Business Plan, Pet Sitting Startup / By /

Businessman drawing Goal word isolated on white background

As I’m sitting here writing this blog post I’m reflecting on just how powerful setting goals has been in my business and personal life.

Writing goals each year has helped me:

~achieve (and often surpass!) the level of income I want to create
~work the kind of schedule I want to work (3-4 days a week)
~hire the right kind of people and the right number of people for my business
~run my business in a outside-the-box way that adds to my happiness, prosperity and well-being

Did you know?
In 1953, researchers surveyed Yale’s graduating seniors to determine how many of them had specific, written goals for their future. The answer: 3%.

Twenty years later, researchers polled the surviving members of the Class of 1953 — and found that the 3% with specific, written goals had accumulated more personal financial wealth than the other 97% of the class combined.

Do you have specific, written goals for your business?

If not, it is time to start:

Here’s how:

1) State your goals in the present tense.
An example of a goal for hiring would be: “I hire 3 pet sitters” instead of “I will hire 3 pet sitters”. Writing your goals in the present tense, as if those goals are already happening affects our subconscious mind in a positive and powerful way. The subconscious mind only operates in the now. If you create goals in the future tense, your subconscious will never support you in achieving your goals.

The subconscious mind is a powerful force and if it is not supporting us it can sometimes sabotage our success (and lack of success) in life. Get your subconscious in alignment with what you want to create in your business and your life this year–by writing your goals in the present tense so your subconscious can assist you in achieving what you want to achieve this year.

2) Set clear, specific and measurable goals for the year. When setting an income goal you want to be very specific about what that amount will be. If you want to make over six-figures in your pet sitting business this year, write the specific amount you want to make: “I gross $110,000 and I net $60,000” instead of writing “I make six-figures this year” .

Important: many business owners often don’t think about their net income when setting goals. Don’t forget about net! A reminder: your gross is the total amount your business generates and the net amount is the amount your business actually makes after all expenses are tallied. Therefore, your net is the real amount your business makes and it is the one to focus on as your net income is the barometer that enables you to know whether or not your pet sitting business is financially supporting you.

3) Set a date by which you will achieve your specific goal. Let’s go back the hiring goal so I can demonstrate what that will look like when you write your goals. Remember: you want to keep that hiring goal in the present and yet have the date by which it is due be in the future.

Here’s what the hiring goal will look like as a written goal: I hire 3 pet sitters by March 1, 2010. See that? Your goal is still stated in the present (not ‘I will hire’, but simply: ‘I hire’) and it has a specific date by which you are going to achieve that: March 1, 2010.

4) Break your goals into small steps and put those small steps in your calendar now. If you have the goal of hiring 3 pet sitters by March 15, 2010 your simple steps might be:

~my hiring paperwork is organized by February 10, 2010
~I put an ad on Craigslist by February 15, 2010
~I conduct face-to-face interviews between February 21-February 28
~I complete the hiring process by March 5, 2010

Putting small steps in your calendar now is a simple way to break down a daunting or big goal into bite-sized chunks.

5) Keep your goals where you can see them on a daily basis. This step is crucial. I’ve found that when I have my goals in clear view I’m much more apt to do the actions it takes to achieve them.

I’ve worked with hundreds of pet sitting coaching clients from around the country who are amazed at the simple act of power that setting goals in their pet sitting businesses can be. Will you be one of those amazed pet sitters next year?

Write out your business goals this year and let me know at the end of 2010 what you created in your business and your life as a result. I’d love to hear from you!

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