Pet Sitting Coach

Podcast Episode #111: Dealing with Depression and Anxiety as a Pet Business Owner

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In today’s coaching session, I’m working with Cora, a pet business owner who sometimes struggles with occasional bouts of depression and anxiety. When it hits her, it causes her to suffer – and her business to suffer.

When she’s not experiencing depression and anxiety her energy level is high, her response time to clients is quick, and she’s able to bill clients in a prompt manner as well as other necessary business tasks.

When she’s going through a challenging time, things look very different: it can take her a week or two to return client calls, it can be like slogging through quicksand to bill her clients in a timely manner and she has very little energy to run her business.

She feels physically and mentally stopped.

Now, you know this (but I have to say this to protect myself and to protect you listeners): I’m not a therapist nor a medical doctor. I’m a business and life coach.

If you are suffering from depression or anxiety, please see a medical professional.

In today’s coaching session I’m not trying to diagnose Cora, nor cure her anxiety or depression. I can’t do that nor would attempt to do that.

I am simply having a conversation with Cora about depression and anxiety and how it impacts her business and her life. I’m not trying to fix Cora’s depression or anxiety but rather to help her navigate her business during this time.

Again, if you’re struggling with depression or anxiety, please get help from a medical professional.

I want to say a huge thank you to Cora for having the courage to come on this podcast and be a voice for those of you who suffer from depression and anxiety and are also trying to run your business, raise your kids, and/or navigate your personal and work life.

Even if you don’t experience depression and anxiety, you may know someone who does, and this episode may help you feel more empathy and compassion for this often silent illness that can be crippling in ways that cannot be seen.

Click to listen to Dealing with Depression and Anxiety as a Pet Business Owner.

Links mentioned in the podcast:

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Podcast #97: Automate Your Pet Business

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My coaching client today is Kelsey who runs a pet grooming and dog kennel in Nevada. Kelsey is experiencing a lot of stress with employees who say they will do something but then don’t do it. She’s also struggling because she’s short staffed and is having a hard time finding quality people.

Kelsey reached out to me for a coaching session that she agreed could be recorded for the podcast. Like most pet business owners who have employees, Kelsey’s staffing issues have become magnified due to being short staffed during this pandemic and not having quality staff she can depend on. It becomes clear that automation can be her best friend with her current staff and you’ll hear the coin drop for Kelsey when she starts to realize she does have the power to change her business for the better! You’ll hear exactly how she can do that – and how you can do it too.

Click to listen to Automate Your Pet Business.

Apply what you’re learning on the podcast with online courses that help you start and grow your pet business.

Links mentioned in the podcast:

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Seeing Your Pet Business As a Spiritual Teacher

Kristin Morrison, Pet business as spiritual teacher, pet business coach, pet sitting business as spiritual teacher, Pet Sitting Coach / /

Owning a business (especially a pet business) can be one of the most rewarding experiences in life and can also be among the most challenging experiences.

I often tell my new pet sitting coaching clients who are experiencing growth spurts or dry income times that owning a pet business has the power to bring us to to our knees in pain and to create some of the greatest joy depending upon the day (and sometimes the hour!)

A business is like a living, breathing entity in the way that it shifts and changes and rarely stays the same. There are often challenges to deal with (even after 18 years of owning my pet business I was still surprised by some of the odd things that would happen in regards to a pet, home, client or staff member). If you’ve owned your pet business for many years you know exactly what I mean.

 

Because it can be challenging it can be helpful to see your business as a spiritual teacher. I’ll be the first to admit it: besides my close relationships, owning a business has been my greatest teacher.
And I don’t mean great as in, “You are a great teacher. You deserve an apple, teach!” Nope. I mean great as in, “Whoa, you are a tough teacher! I’m really learning here. I’m even learning what I’m resistant to learning. Oy!” 

 

Here’s why owning a pet business can be your most powerful spiritual teacher:

 

You never know what is going to happen in your pet business. Right?! 
Not knowing what’s going to happen can help you cultivate acceptance. But only if you relax and surrender to not knowing what’s going to be coming your way. If you are internally or externally fighting against not knowing that will make you bat sh*t crazy. And miserable. So you might as well groove into acceptance. And your pet business will give you lots of opportunity to practice acceptance because you. literally. never. know. what’s. going. to. happen. (It’s enough to make you crazy but remember: pet business is one of the greatest spiritual teachers and many would even consider it to be their greatest teacher. And spiritual teachers -the good ones anyway- kick your butt into shape in order to make you into a better human being. And we can use some better human beings on the planet right now. So thank you.

 

You have to learn to trust. Oy!
Yes, trust. But here’s the bizarre paradox: trust is super hard for the control freaks that are often the very ones most drawn to self employment. (You know who you are.) I’m one too and I write this from experience. Ahem. So… it’s a set up for disaster because here’s the deal: the control freak starts a pet business thinking they get to control their domain (and they do–to a point) but once they get clients, pets and staff members then that control often goes out the window (much to the pet business owner’s dismay). That lack of control sucks, yes. But it’s a great opportunity to practice trust.

 

Self employed people have to trust that the calls and emails from new clients will come in to keep the business going going (of course, the marketing has to be done to get them but once that’s done, it’s about trust, baby.) If hiring has happened, trust needs to be given to that staff member (after you’ve done a good job vetting them of course).

 

Then there’s the trust that’s needed in yourself that you’ll be able to handle the endless odd situations and circumstances that come with you caring for hundreds (if not thousands) of pets and homes. It’s a numbers game, folks. When you are dealing with that many pets, humans and (if you are a pet sitter) homes, then strange things are bound to happen. Trust that you can deal with whatever arises. Because you can and you will.

 

Patience is a virtue (and most pet business owners need to cultivate it).
It’s not just self employed people but so many people want things to happen right here, right now. We’ve lost the art of patience and our pet businesses can help us gain it back. Aren’t we lucky?

 

There are countless ways to cultivate patience in a pet business so don’t worry, you’ll have lots of opportunity to work on this one.

 

Here are just a few ways: dealing with a neurotic client who goes on and on about her Fido, trying to pill the kitty Fluffy who is hissing at you from the top of the fridge, hearing a client’s dog piercing bark (and bark and bark) on the way to the dog park, when said barking dog eats your seat belt or poops in your car, when you’ve forgotten your poop bags. Oy, oy, oy. The list goes on. Patience is one of the highest spiritual qualities and lucky you, you’ve got a wealth of opportunity to practice it in your pet business (and if you resist patience, that resistance will make you bat sh*t crazy. Patience is a bit like acceptance in that way).

 

Lovingkindness (it’s not for sissies).
This can only be learned through the daily practice of lovingkindness for self and for clients (pets and human). However, the only way some can begin to even practice lovingkindness is through noticing when its opposite pops up: hatefulmeanness. Some of us are pretty skillful at hatefulmeanness (to ourselves if not others) and if so, it’s often a big stretch to go immediately to practicing lovingkindness. Some of you who are super adept at hatefulmeanness might need to step toward cranky or bitchy and then go to neutral before you can make the big leap to lovingkindness. The public can be challenging to deal with, cranky staff can be tough to deal with, house alarms going off at 2am can be tough to deal with – it’s all an opportunity to go toward love rather than anger or fear (fear is what’s often under anger).

 

Meditation can set you free. (In your pet business and in other areas.)
Regardless of what you call it: prayer, meditation, mindfulness – it’s all good. And practicing it (whatever the “it” is for you) will help you deal with your greatest spiritual teacher.

 

Try this: practice five minutes of meditation every morning. That’s it. Just five little minutes. Don’t go all guru on me but simply set the timer and breathe in and out and watch your thoughts as they arise. Really that’s you need to do to begin to untangle the resistance that will inevitably arise when you own a pet business. Soon you will be beaming like a light bulb and will feel ommmm-tastic while you run your pet business like the Buddha that you are.

 

 

About the author:

Kristin Morrison started her pet care company in 1995 and it grew to be one of the largest pet care companies in the United States before she sold it in 2013. Kristin assists thousands of pet business owners from across the United States, Canada, UK and Australia to create profitable businesses and empowered lives. Kristin is a nationally recognized speaker and has taught workshops at pet business conferences around the country.

 

Kristin is the founder of Six-Figure Pet Business Academy and Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy and the author of three books: Prosperous Pet Business: Interviews With The Experts – Volume One, Six-Figure Pet Sitting and Six-Figure Pet Business. Her podcast “Prosperous Pet Business” can be heard on iTunes or on the Prosperous Pet Business website.  Kristin enjoys making business easy, fun and (very!) lucrative for pet business owners. You can find her at: www.SixFigurePetSittingAcademy.com

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2016 Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Business Success Story

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Hi pet sitters and dog walkers,

It’s so fun to get love letter emails like this from my pet business coaching clients and readers of my books. I wanted to share it with you thinking it may be the ray of hope that you might need if are feeling stuck in a rut and hopeless about things ever changing in your pet business. (I asked her for permission to share this email she sent.) The leap of success she made in 2016 didn’t come from her wishing it to happen. It came from her opening to what is possible and then crafting a plan to make it happen and going for it! You can too.

Want to share your own pet sitting success story? Share it with me here or create your own with pet sitting coaching or the books Six-Figure Pet Sitting or Prosperous Pet Business: Volume One.

I’d love to help you look back on 2017 having completely transformed your pet sitting and dog walking business from where it is now to where you want it to be.

 

 

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SOMETHING NEW Coming Next Week For Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers!

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surprised lady

 

Pet sitters and dog walkers:

I’m so excited!

I’ve got SOMETHING BRAND NEW coming for you pet sitting and dog walking business owners!

I’ll be announcing what it is on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook on March 2, 2016.

If you are signed up for my weekly newsletter you’ll find out about it that way also or check back on this page next week and you’ll find out what it is. I think you are going to like it. Stay tuned…you’ll find out what it is next week. 🙂

Doing my happy dance,

Kristin Morrison signature

 

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Pet Sitting Coach

Dog Walking Business Coach, Dog Walking Business Coaching, Pet Sitting Coach, pet sitting coaching / /

Got pet sitting or dog walking business issues, challenges or pain points?

I have helped thousands of pet sitters and dog walkers make more money, have more fun running their pet sitting businesses and create more time to do the things they love (besides running their pet sitting businesses). woman with many dogs

If you are a pet sitter or dog walker I can help you too!

Read what pet sitters and dog walkers have to say about receiving pet sitting coaching from me.

Find out what I work on with pet sitters and dog walkers and how I work as a pet sitting and dog walking business coach.

If you are a pet sitter or dog walker who is ready to take your business from where you are now to where you want to be, I am ready for you!

To your success,  Kristin4

Kristin Morrison signature

 

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My interview on the Feminine Business Model Telesummit

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I was recently interviewed on a telesummit called The Feminine Business Model Telesummit.

It was my first time doing a video interview (with no editing!) and I had a lot of fun being on a speaker panel with another female business owner.

The topic I spoke on was “Turning your passion into profit”. I think you will enjoy it (even if you are a guy I encourage you to check out this telesummit). 🙂

The Feminine Business Model Global Telesummit is a free series with video interviews of amazing women.

I’m so thrilled to be a featured speaker along with Ali Brown, Pamela Slim, Fabienne Frederickson, and Lynne Twist! This is rocket fuel for 2013, you don’t want to miss this. Click here to sign up for the free telesummit: http://www.thefemininebusinessmodel.com/

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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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pet Sitting Success Story

Pet Sit Coach, Pet Sitting Business Coach, Pet Sitting Coach, pet sitting coaching, Pet Sitting Success / /

TTPS New LogoWhee!

I love getting updates from pet sitters that I’ve coached throughout the years. I got this follow up email yesterday from Tanya Grant, a pet sitter in Pennsylvania who first contacted me to work with her around her business expansion about four years ago.

Since our initial coaching session four years ago, I’ve coached Tanya in her pet sitting business at various times when she was ready to make the next leap forward.  Tanya has been incredibly great at promoting herself and her business–she periodically sends me TV clips where she has been interviewed by various news channels!

It’s so soul-satisfying to receive reports from the pet sitters that I’ve worked with throughout the years. Thanks to all of you who check in to let me know how you and your businesses are doing.

I feel like a proud momma hen!

“Kristin, I always like to update you on my progress.  You deserve to know your efforts have made an impact in my business (aka my life). 🙂 Speaking of that…Top Tails Pet Sitting did well over six-figures in revenue in 2011.   I have told you already but will say it again – without a smart and informative entrance and introduction into the professional pet sitting industry plus a proper foundation my business would not be as successful as it is.  Of course, all of your additional support along the way has helped me stay on this path of wonderful achievement!  I will for sure see you in San Antonio next year <at the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters conference> and promise to do a video testimonial.  “See” you on your conference call on Tuesday night.  Even at my level, listening to your conference calls keep me motivated and striving to always be better in so many ways.”

Tanya Grant
Owner, Top Tails Pet Sitting
Pennsylvania

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The Magic of Commitment in Business

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This morning I’m reflecting on the power of commitment as it relates to business. And the ‘magic’ that gets created as a result of my coaching clients’ setting crystal clear intentions for what they want to create in their business and their life.

I often have the pleasure of witnessing ‘manifesting magic’ happen easily and effortlessly in my coaching clients’ lives and I know that it has everything to do with their commitment level. Commitment combined with their heartfelt desire to create the most fulfilling, enjoyable, and profitable business and life.

Here are just a few of the ‘manifesting magic’ moments I’ve witnessed lately in my coaching sessions with pet sitters:

-I gave an action step to the coaching client who wanted to start a doggie day care. The action step was to look for a possible location for the doggie day care. She hadn’t yet looked at locations but was having lunch with a friend two days after our session and mentioned her desire to start a doggie day care when that friend said, “I know just the place! It’s not on the market yet but the man who is selling it said -out of the blue- that it would be perfect for a doggie day care.” They looked at the property after lunch and my coaching client is now exploring the possibility of buying that property.

-A pet sitter I was working with stated to me, clearly and with much heartfelt emotion, her desire to work part-time while growing her new pet sitting business. She had a full-time job that she greatly disliked and was beginning (literally and figuratively) to feel her soul being sucked out her by this job that she’d been in for years. She was afraid to let go of her full-time job due to the income and benefits (I’ve worked with this a lot: pet sitters that are straddling corporate America and pet sitting and who are wanting to make the leap to full time pet sitting yet are terrified to let go of the job security for full-time self employment). Out of the blue (though I like to think of it more like ‘out of the commitment’) she was chatting with a woman who mentioned that there was a job opening in her company. Within a little over a week, my coaching client had a job offer from this company! She’s still working out the details but thinks it will be a much better fit (less soul-sucking for sure) as she makes the transition to eventual full-time pet sitting).

-A pet sitter I’ve worked with on and off through the years contacted me to help her get clarity about how best to create an orderly and accurate financial system for her income and expenses. We discussed different financial accounting systems and one in particular that I thought she’d find easy to use in her business. Still, she expressed fear around not knowing how to work with this particular system and we both felt she needed hands-on help. She placed an ad on Craigslist (commitment in action) and though that didn’t result in the right person, within a couple of days after our session, she, (out of the blue!) was talking to a pet sitting client who mentioned that she worked with the same financial software system that we’d discussed in our coaching session. This woman said she could teach my client how to use this system in order to get her ready for tax time. My pet sitting coaching client feels extremely comfortable with this person and it feels like the perfect fit for her!

Commitment creates success on purpose. It creates ‘out of the blue’ events and experiences. It creates magic.

And that magic starts with the simple words, “I want…”

“I want” is the rudder that faces your boat in the right direction to achieve what it is that you want.

And then intention, commitment, and action lead to the results you most want in your business and your life.

Allow yourself to dream this week of what you want to create in your life and in your work. And if you are crystal clear about what that is, notice your commitment level and take actions that support being fully committed to what it is you most want to create in your life and your pet sitting and dog walking business.

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