January 2015

Cheap, Fast, Good. Pick two.

dog walking tips, pet sitting business tips, Pet Sitting Rates, pet sitting tips / /

pick twoA few years ago I contacted a web designer and told him I wanted a new website created in a hurry. He said, “I can do it cheap, fast or good. But you can only pick two. Which two do you want?”

Your pet sitting and dog walking clients may want all three too but guess what? It’s impossible to get all three in business…unless you want to go out of business because you aren’t making a profit.

If you are a ‘cheap pet sitter’ you are going to begin to get resentful (always happens when the pet sitter wakes up and realizes his or her price are well below market rate). If you try to raise your price too much, too fast then your clients will get resentful. (You don’t want that.) Raising your rates yearly (even by just $1) will help ease the resentment factor and bring your low prices to market rate sooner than if you wait years before raising them.

If you really need clients and some are cheap clients wanting discounts I recommend lowering the amount of time that you’ll spend with the pet. So if your regular 30-minute visit is $18 a visit, offer to do a 15-minute visit for $16. In this way the client will feel like they are getting something and you will have more time for more full price visits. (Obviously you’ll want to make sure that the pet who is getting less time will be well taken care of in 15-minutes. A 15-minute visit works well for shy cats who hide under the bed.)

If you are a sitter who says yes to last minute pet sits and dog walks you will also get resentful. So charge for those last minute sits. I recommend charging your clients a $20-$30 Last Minute Fee (LMF) for those clients who need to meet you or one of your sitters in less than 3 days. If UPS can charge for last minute delivery so can you!

And good? Well, if you aren’t good you won’t be in business very long. Good should always be a part of your business practice. And even better…strive for great. If you are great at what you do your clients will love you and thank you. (And refer you to their friends and neighbors.)

So the next time a client calls and says, “I need you to pet sit tomorrow. I need a low rate and I need you to do a great job with my dog” simply say, “Sure. You can have any two. Which two do you want? Cheap, fast or good?”

 

 

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Pet Sitting Employee Handbook

Dog Walking Employee Handbook, Handbook for Pet Sitters, Handbook for Pet Sitting Employees, Pet Sitting Employee Handbook, Pet Sitting Handbook / /

Employee Handbook Bigger ImageI’ve had a number of you pet sitters ask me for a pet sitting employee handbook and I’ve listened to you!

I get it. You are a busy pet sitting business owner and haven’t had the time to create an employee handbook. Perhaps you’ve recently converted your ICs to employees. Or…perhaps you’ve needed a pet sitting employee handbook for a very long time and it has gone to the bottom of your to do list because it’s such an ordeal to create one from scratch.  Whatever the reason, you just know you need one. Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy is here to help!

If you think it’s challenging to create a handbook and that perhaps creating an employee handbook from scratch is a BEAST to create, you are right.  (This one was a beast to create!)

Our pet sitting employee handbook is the perfect ready-made template. You can edit it as much as you like and insert your own pet sitting business, city and state information and offer it to your employees. Unlike most employee handbooks, this one is geared specifically for pet sitters and dog walkers.  It was created by two pet sitters and also HR team AND an employment lawyer.

Because each city and state differs in terms of employment law we recommend that with the purchase of any employee handbook or legal document that you purchase (whether it be from us or from somewhere else) that you have a local lawyer review it to see if there’s anything that your city or state might require.

This employee handbook contains 54 pages of policies and procedures as well as a lot of necessary information to help your employees do their job in the best possible way and with the least hassle for you. It’s for both dog walking and pet sitting employees and it comes in Word doc format so it’s fully customizable. You can edit the handbook to your heart’s content (though we predict you’ll be very happy with how thorough this pet sitting employee handbook is!)

And guess what? You’ll receive the handbook within 60 seconds of purchasing! How’s that for easy?

Click to find out more and to purchase the Pet Sitting Employee Handbook now.

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Got a Pet Sitting Business? How to Hire Pet Sitting GREAT Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers (Hiring Made Simple!)

dog walking hiring, Hiring Pet Sitters, how to hire pet sitters for business, pet sitting hiring / /

HiringTeleclassImageHi there pet sitters and dog walkers,

Got pet sitting or dog walking staff members?

If not, do you want to hire some great people this year? Or…do you consistently hire horrible people? (Don’t worry if you do, there’s hope!)

Guess What? Fear Is Normal. If you haven’t yet hired, you may be feeling some fear about hiring. If so, that’s normal when you are new to hiring (and it’s actually a good thing that keeps you on your toes about hiring the right person). But too much fear can lead to bad decisions or (eek!) no decision at all. And without staff you are working 24/7. Not fun.

 

Is Your ‘Picker’ Off?  If you do have staff members, are they GREAT staff members? Lots of pet sitters are just that…great pet sitters. But they have a hard time making the shift to picking the right people and hiring great staff members. And it IS a big shift to go from pet sitter to someone hiring pet sitters.

 

I Had a Bad Picker Too. Then I Made Big Shifts.  I had a lot of fear around hiring pet sitters too (kept me awake far too many nights when I was first hiring!) When I did hire early on, my staff choices were horrible. But then I discovered foolproof ways that made the hiring process nearly painless and helped me hire incredible people. I hired about 250 pet sitters in the 18 years that I owned my pet sitting business.

 

My Favorite Pet Sitting Staff Compliment Ever. The most common compliment given about my pet sitting company was: “I don’t know where you find your pet sitting and dog walking staff but they are ALL so wonderful.”  Ahh….music to my ears.

 

Hiring Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers. Made Easy. I’m excited to share with you proven ways that will help YOU hire great staff too. At the end of this month I’m teaching a webinar that will help you hire wonderful pet sitters and dog walkers. Click for more information and to sign up now for the webinar How to Hire Great Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers.

 

Looking forward to help you hire wonderful pet sitters and dog walkers so you can get a much-needed break (or just get some office work done!)

Kristin Morrison signatureKristin4

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