4 Tips for Hiring Pet Sitters During the Pandemic

4 Tips for Hiring Pet Sitters During the Pandemic

I have four tips for hiring pet sitters to represent your business during/after this pandemic.

I’ve received a flood of questions from you guys saying, “Colleen, oh my gosh, I have more clients than I know what to do with,” as probably you’re experiencing. You’re seeing that people want to go away. They want to vacation, and they need their pet sitter.

The problem is with companies like myself that employ a staff of sitters, many people are being paid not to work by the government. So people don’t want to come back to work. They’re going to make more money on unemployment than they are than coming to work.

So it’s been challenging. And part of this problem too is that part of the process for them to stay on unemployment is that they have to apply for X amount of jobs. So I’m sure you’re receiving a ton of applications through Indeed or Craigslist because that’s part of the process of being able to keep their unemployment. So you think you have all these excellent prospects, and then none of them pan out.

So I decided to get creative and think about ways outside of the box for hiring pet sitters for my business.

1. I reached out to all of my friends, family, and current pet sitters and asked them to post for me inside their Nextdoor apps.

We have a large service area. So as you know, if you have the Nextdoor app, you can only utilize the app if you live in that area. So, my friends and my family all offered to go in there and post for hiring pet sitters for me. Awesome.

2. Reach out to past pet sitters and inquire if they want to come back.

I reached out to all of the past sitters that I loved working with and said, “Hey guys, we are hiring pet sitters. Do you have any interest in coming back?” We got a few interested parties from that one email.

Reach out to the current customer base and inform them you’re hiring.

All the clients that have come to work for me have always panned out to be the best pet sitters on my staff.

4 Tips for Hiring Pet Sitters During the Pandemic

 

So I reached out to the current customer base saying, “Hey guys, we’re hiring. This is why we’re so awesome. This is why you would love to join our team.” And we got some interested parties that way.

Go to local Facebook groups to post for pet sitters.

This is one of the easiest ways to find people. I found a girl in my neighborhood that’s going to do house sitting during August.

Go to Facebook, type in your service area, look under groups and all the different groups that have your service area name in them. Join them and ask the admins if you can post for pet sitters.

Some will say no, and that’s okay, but there will be some that will say yes. And then make that a regular part of your recruiting plan—a great, great way to find sitters.

I also want to let you know this is coming to an end. All of this unemployment stuff will be coming to an end shortly. I know in Pennsylvania, it’s going to happen in September. I can’t wait. So just so you know, it’s coming to an end, but in the meantime, try to get creative, try to think outside the box, try these four strategies. And I wish you the best of luck.

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How to Conquer Overwhelm

This week, we are focusing on how to conquer overwhelm, getting all of those dastardly tasks and things we need to do out of our heads and start taking action on them so we can move our pet sitting business forward.

I’ve been noticing a very common denominator among the pet-sitting business owners I speak or work with.  And it’s something that most business owners struggle with at one point or another.

It happens when you’ve got so much going on that you can’t see through the trees! Most likely, you’re out still walking the dogs, taking care of the pets, and you don’t really have a whole lot of time to work on the business.  That’s when overwhelm kicks in.

When you start feeling overwhelmed, you might want to give up.  But don’t do that!  I’m going to show you how to push through to the other side and avoid burnout.

Here are some concrete tips on how to overcome your overwhelm, conquer that overwhelm, really start focusing on moving your business forward and reach the goals you’ve set for your business.

#1 Brain Cleanse

The first step is to get everything out of your head. You want to do a total brain cleanse. Just go ahead and dump everything. Every single thing that you can possibly think of – get it out of your head and get it on paper.

Below this video, I’m going to link to some awesome dry erase sheets that you can put up on a wall and write everything down. If you have a whiteboard, use it. If you prefer doing it on your phone, or in your notes, do that.

You can use a mind-mapping tool like MindMeister if that works better for you. A notebook works great. However you do it, just get it out of your head and onto paper.

#2 Organize

The second step to conquering overwhelm is to organize everything you wrote down into projects. Then beneath the projects, list out the steps that need to take place for you to complete the project.  You might end up with five or six projects in front of you.

#3 Prioritize

Next I want you to prioritize the projects you created.  What are we going to do first? What comes second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth?

#4 Schedule

Now that you have everything that used to be floating around in your head written down, organized and in order, you are going to actually schedule these into your calendar.

Every Sunday, you can print off your weekly planner and schedule time to work on each project.  You've got Monday through Sunday - what step of which project are you going to work on each day? Click To Tweet

Take the time to write everything down.  Walking around with everything competing for bandwidth in your brain means you are much less likely to get it done. Get it out of your head and start working on those projects that you’ve wanted to get done for a long time. I know you can do it!

And if you like this video, like it, share it, and subscribe to the channel!

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My Secret Sauce to Building a Lucrative Pet Sitting Career

My Secret Sauce to Building a Lucrative Pet Sitting Career

I realized that I had been making videos for members of the pet sitting industry for many years. Some of you may not know who I am if you’re new to the industry. So I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know a little bit about me and how I was able to make millions was in the pet sitting industry, and how I became to be a coach to help others create lucrative pet sitting careers.

Flashback to 2001. I was a special education teacher teaching Down syndrome children, and I was completely unhappy in my career. As much as I loved the children, I did not feel like I was supposed to be doing this. I felt like I was trapped in the classroom all day. I wanted to be out in the fresh air, and I didn’t know what to do. I graduated from Ohio State with a special ed degree. So I had just assumed that this is what my path is supposed to be, to be a teacher.

After a heartfelt conversation with my parents where they asked me, “Colleen if you could do anything, what would it be?” And I said, “Well, I wouldn’t mind playing with dogs all day.” I said it as a joke, but it ended up being the sentence that changed my life. I decided at that moment that I was going to create a business based on my love of animals. That was how Pet Nanny started.

The problem was I knew nothing about business. Back then, I think there was like one book on the market. I read the book, and I followed the instructions, but that’s pretty much all I knew about business.

I didn’t know about business, marketing, team building, systemizing your business, and managing my finances. I spent a lot of years spinning my wheels. I did not get very far with the company. I ended up creating another job for myself, where I was working a lot.

I had clients, but non-ideal pet-sitting clients who didn’t respect me. They took advantage of me, called me all hours of the day and night. I had no free time. I’d never spent the night in my bed because I was always at my client’s houses, and it got exhausting.

To me, it was like I was maybe making a little more than I was when I was teaching, but I had no free time whatsoever. I completely lost my freedom. So at that point, I was trying to decide, do I want to do this? Or do I want to start something else? Maybe pharmaceutical sales, go back to teaching. I didn’t know.

Then again, I made the decision. I’m going to give this a go. I’m going to try to create a business that can run without me being an integral part of running it.

Create a business that can run without you being the integral part of having it run.

So I hired a business coach. I attended events, read books, and did everything. I implemented, and I got results.

How I've Made Millions in the Pet Sitting Industry 2


Currently, I have three managers that manage the company and a staff of 40 pet sitters that go out to take care of my client’s home. On average, we make around $75,000 a month in revenue, and I only have to work one hour a week in the business.

I started knowing absolutely nothing to get where I am today. It took me a lot of years to get to where I am today.

That’s how you will market your business, how you’re going to get new customers, how you’re going to wow your customers, and how you’re going to nurture your current customer list.

Have support. Find amazing pet sitters.

This is how you’re going to assess to make sure they’re going to be a good fit to work with your company, and it’s how you’re going to onboard them.

So by the time they’re ready to get started with your customers, they’re going to do a fantastic job.

What systems do you need in your business for it to run like a well-oiled machine? How to document them and build out your online business hub so that your business can run without you. That is how you know you have a true business.

Have the freedom to continue growing the business and doing things you love.

Guys, money is a good thing. Think about all of the things you can do and all of the charities you can commit your time to if you have extra money.

And freedom. You’re not stuck working like I was seven days a week, 365 days a year. You can have the freedom to continue growing the business on the backend. You can have the freedom to take part in hobbies that you love. Horseback riding, tennis, and paddle tennis. You like to travel. You want to work from different areas. You can do that when you build this type of business.

How many pet owners and pet lovers in your community can you impact with your amazing service?

So by you building this awesome pet sitting business, you’re going to be able to service so many more pet lovers and their furry pals and provide them with stellar pet care. And become a standout in the pet sitting industry.

Hey there, Newbie Pet Sitter! Are you feeling stuck or overwhelmed with starting your pet sitting business? Fret no longer, my friend. I’ve got ya covered!

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The Importance of Having a Powerhouse Team

The Importance of Having a Powerhouse Team

We are now in 2021. I was very excited to close the books on 2020 because it was the worst year of my life as it was for so many. I was excited for 2021 to hit the ground running and start with a bang and throw myself back into my pet sitting business because business building makes me happy.

When out of nowhere, I received a positive diagnosis for COVID, completely unexpected. A family friend accidentally gave it to my entire family. We’re all fine. I had a horrific headache and exhaustion for two weeks—nothing where I had to be hospitalized or anything.

The reason I’m telling you this is that something unexpected happened to me. And I was once again reminded about the importance of having a powerhouse team to help with your business.

The system runs the business, the person runs the system.

My business could entirely run without me because I had everything from soup to nuts systematized, and then I have a team of amazing people who implement the system. So, therefore, I am not the bottleneck.

So I’m not even just talking about having a pet sitter team as the business owner. It would be best if you had somebody helping you on the administrative side because you might have people who can go out and do the walks but if you were sick like I was, I was pretty much narcoleptic fallen asleep every hour, I needed somebody to be able to manage things on the backend.

For my coaching business and my pet-sitting business, the managers were able to take care of everything. I was able to sleep and heal, and everything ran seamlessly.

Start thinking about the systems in your business.

Every single thing that you do needs to be documented with point by point outlined instructions so that you can easily delegate it to a team member and they can implement the system. I will repeat it.

The Importance of Having a Powerhouse Team

 

When you have a business that can run without you, you truly have a business.

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Become a Visionary of Your Pet Sitting Business

Become the Visionary of Your Pet Sitting Business

When I first started my pet sitting business, I was going through the motions. I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t have the slightest clue what I wanted to create. I would go day by day by day, and I pretty much flew by the seat of my pants for about a good five years… until this concept was introduced to me.

You think, well, of course, I know what I want to create, but most people don’t.

Today I want you to get clear on exactly what it is that you want to create in terms of your business.

#1 What is your vision for success?

It would be best if you get crystal clear on what you want to create in your business. You need to close your eyes, and you need to think about it.
– How much revenue do you want to generate?
– How many clients do you want to service?
– What services do you want to offer?
– How many team members do you want?
– What role do you want to play? CEO, Manager, Pet Sitter, Dog Walker etc.

Become a Visionary of Your Pet Sitting Business


Close your eyes and visualize in your mind what your successful business looks like.

For me, I created this business where I was the bottleneck, and I was working 7 days a week, 365 days a year, living in other people’s houses. I got clear on the freedom that I wanted, and I visualized the business to give me freedom.

And then I felt what that was going to feel like. That is part of it. It is not only seeing what you want to create in your life and your business, but feeling how it feels now and being grateful for it now, and trusting that it will come to you in the future.

#2. Create a daily practice of closing your eyes, painting a picture in your mind of what your future success looks like.

We are all creators of our own lives. What we think about and what we feel is creating the reality we live in. We’re manifesting stuff daily, and we can do it more powerfully, effectively, and intentionally if we connect with it and take small steps to get a little closer every day. Commit just 5 minutes every day to visualize what it is that you’re trying to create.

#3. Believe with the conviction that your vision for success is yours for the taking.

Trust in knowing that it’s on its way to you. Believe whole-heartedly that it’s on its way to you. You have to get yourself in a place where you believe that you can achieve your goals with absolute certainty, that it’s your destiny and your reality. Feel like success is already yours and on its way into your life.

Get clear on what you want, tune in with the vision every single day, and believe with conviction that it’s yours for the taking.


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How to Track the Effectiveness of Paid Advertising for Your Pet Sitting Business

How to Track the Effectiveness of Paid Advertising for Your Pet Sitting Business

About 15 years ago, I spent around $450 or more per month on Google Adwords advertising for my pet sitting business without having a single clue if all that money was even bringing me one client per month. That is not a smart marketing strategy, and I wasted a ton of money.

You need to track the effectiveness of your paid advertising

With paid advertising, you have to get into the mindset of knowing that you need to track its effectiveness. If you find the advertising working, you’re going to put the same amount of money or more into that advertising. Otherwise, you’re not going to invest in that ad again. That’s the basics of it.

I learned this a long time ago from Dan Kennedy, one of the world’s marketing gurus. He’s got these fantastic books, the BS Guides To Grassroot Marketing, and The No BS Guide to Networking, and a whole list of them. They’re short, small, and easy to read.

If you don’t have any money to invest in yourself, or into a business coach, or a program, start here.

How to Track the Effectiveness of Paid Advertising for Your Pet Sitting Business

 

Understand whether the money you invest is returning to you

You need to have a direct response marketing to understand where every dollar you are putting out for your business is coming back to you.

For example:

Let’s say I run a Facebook ad, and I say, “Oh, I have this great pet sitting business.”

Then someone says, “Oh, that pet sitting business looks great. Let me click on this link.”

I’m just sending them to my home page. There is no way for me to know if they saw my ad on Facebook if they came to my home page and became clients. I’m just sending traffic to my website, having no clue if it’s converting or not.

Create a specific Call To Action for each ad

You need to understand I’m going to create this ad, and I’m going to make a specific call to action for this Facebook marketing campaign.

Let’s say, hey, Facebook audience that I’m targeting. I’m going to give you $25 off your first service order.

They click the link and go to a specific landing page. Then we’re going to see how many people got to the landing page and how many people gave me their first name and email to get the coupon.

Then you’re going to track the effectiveness. The potential customers gave me their first name and email address. How many of those people signed up to become a customer?

This is how you track the effectiveness of paid advertising.

Send the paid traffic to a specific URL created for the offer

It is the same thing for print advertising.

You don’t just want to say, Hey, come check out Pet Nanny, this excellent pet sitting business.”

You need to send them an offer. Go to this specific URL, petnannycoach.com.

If I’m doing print advertising in a specific magazine, I’ll know if somebody opens the magazine app and says, “Okay, I’ll go get that coupon.”

They clicked on the coupon and gave me their first name and email. They enter the marketing sequence and become a customer.

I can see then that the advertising is worth it.

Track your paid advertising’s effectiveness and conversions

How many people saw your ad and clicked on it?

How many people hit the landing page and gave you their first name and email address?

Out of that amount of people, how many people became customers, and then you tweak from there?

A lot of people see my ad, and no one’s clicking on it. Maybe try a new ad, a new ad image.

They’re getting to the sales page, but they’re not giving me their first name and email address. That means the offer and the page copy is not going to be great. Maybe change some of the wording, change the color of the submit button.

They’re getting into the sales sequence, but they’re not becoming customers. What do I need to change?

That’s how you become good at marketing and know every dollar you spend is coming back to you in the form of a customer. Otherwise, you’re just flushing money down the toilet, and we don’t want that.

Howdy, Pet Lover! Are you struggling with attracting new clients to your pet sitting business? Would you like to have a consistent pipeline of new clients coming to your business? Well, wait no longer, my friend. Grab my FREE report, 125 Ways To Get More Pet Sitting Clients. This resource is 100% FREE and is my gift to you. Enjoy!

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TITLE - Avoid Perfection Paralysis in Your Pet Sitting Business

Avoid Perfection Paralysis in Your Pet Sitting Business

I had a great coaching call with one of my Multiply Mastermind students, and we were talking about automations. Automations are what I teach my students to create on the backend that will take the manual processes out of their business, so things are happening without doing every last piece of it.

The number one automation we need to get is a lead magnet on their website. That is something you can offer your customer prospects in advance that will give them value, that’s going to add them to your email list, to convert them into a customer.

My student created several lead magnets. A lead magnet for dogs, for cats, one for summer, and one for winter. They were all excellent lead magnets, but she doesn’t need seven of them.

She just needs one.

She needs one to get it up and to run within her automation to get the campaign going.

That is what this lesson is all about. You have to be aware and mindful of the rabbit holes.

QUOTE - Avoid Perfection Paralysis in Your Pet Sitting Business

 

My student is staying stuck because she’s focusing too much on the rabbit holes and perfection paralysis. She was afraid to get it out in the world before it’s perfect.

There’s always plenty of time to get it perfect and add the bells and whistles to make it amazing.

Right now, get it up, get it out into the world and get it running because that’s how you’re going to build and grow your business.

Howdy, Pet Lover! Are you struggling with attracting new clients to your pet sitting business? Would you like to have a consistent pipeline of new clients coming to your business? Well, wait no longer, my friend. Grab my FREE report, 125 Ways To Get More Pet Sitting Clients. This resource is 100% FREE and is my gift to you. Enjoy!

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10 Ways to Effectively Communicate With Your Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Team

10 Ways to Effectively Communicate With Your Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Team

Finding that sweet spot in communicating with your team is essential to your pet sitting business growth. Building a team of sitters that trust you and that you can trust working with your managerial team is a top goal.

Here are ten tips on how to do this effectively.

#1 Conduct monthly video conferences.

My managers run these meetings for me via Zoom. We discuss what is going on in the business, what worked well, what slipped through the cracks, and what we can improve on. We also take the opportunity to answer any questions and get any feedback.

For those who can not make the meeting, the video is emailed to them and posted in our team Facebook group.

You can use a Facebook group to communicate regularly. You can post tips and tricks, things to remember, policies and procedures, report the need for a last-minute sitter, etc. This Facebook group is proven invaluable for bringing everyone together in one location, and you can quickly get a message out.

#2 Send regular monthly newsletters.

For those sitters that can not make the meeting, you can not trust all of them to watch the video. A newsletter is a great way to get any messages across.

A newsletter can be a letter letting them now, “Hey, this is what’s going on. This is what’s new with you.”

Enumerate all the things you would discuss in the video conference.

#3 Use Slack for internal communications.

Slack is an excellent tool to communicate effectively with your management team. Slack is searchable, so if you’re looking for something you want to discuss, you can use its search bar to find what you are looking for.

#4 Have regular check-in meetings and surveys where you encourage feedback.

Whatever time period you decide, you’re going to want to send out a survey. Ask your sitters, “How is it going? Do you have too many clients? Would you like some more clients? What would you like to be different about the position? How much longer can you see working for the company?”

You’re trying to get ahead of the game. You want to make sure you are keeping in touch with them. The last thing you want is a sitter who’s unhappy, quitting, leaving you with clients who don’t have coverage.

These regular check-in meetings and surveys help you deal with that. Don’t forget to encourage feedback, letting them that you are open to hearing what they have to say and that you’re willing to make changes.

Communicate your boundaries too.

“Hey, I only want to work mid-days, Mondays, and Fridays.”

That’s where you will discuss the job description, and say, “You were hired from Monday through Friday, 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. So, unfortunately, that is outside of the position that was offered.”

It goes both ways. But being able to communicate about it, especially now, when we have Zoom and don’t have to meet, it’s invaluable.

#5 Celebrate their great work and express your appreciation.

If somebody goes above and beyond for you, show them your appreciation. Send them a card in the mail, or gift cards, or an email.

QUOTE - 10 Ways to Effectively Communicate With Your Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Team


#6 Build comfort in talking about what is not working.

There was a time in my business when I was fearful of expressing things that I was unhappy about. I still struggle with that a little bit, but I’ve gotten much better.

You can’t be fearful of expressing things that you want in your business. You are the owner of the business. I’m here to remind you and remind myself that you have every right to express when you are unhappy about something.

#7 Create boundaries with methods and timing of communication.

Having people consistently go to you to fix their problems and communicate with you at all hours of the day is unacceptable.

Nobody should text you at midnight saying, “I am locked out of a house.”

What are you going to do at midnight if they are locked out of a house? They need to be trained and trusted to be able to handle a situation. They should know what your protocol is, to begin with, before they even go out into the field.

So it would be best if you created those boundaries with them, letting them know the best way to communicate with you, how you want to be communicated with, and between what hours.

#8 Respond to every team member’s email within 24 hours.

Letting emails sit in your inbox never has worked out well. Trying to communicate as quickly as possible is a great tip.

#9 Acknowledge special moments in their lives.

When people who for you and are having special moments in their lives, you want to celebrate with them and let them know that you care.

You can use sendoutcards.com, an easy way to send a greeting card and any gifts or gift cards.

#10 Make internal documents and knowledge easily accessible.

Once you have everything broken down into individual SOPs, you can easily share it with your team.

“Colleen, I don’t know how to send an email in Infusionsoft.”

“Okay, this is how you do it.” And you click the link, and you copy and send the link to your team via Slack, maybe.

And then they’re able to go ahead and follow the SOP. You can also include video links in those SOPs, and you are off to the races.

I hope these tips are helpful to you. You can also go to my YouTube channel where I’ve got tons of videos over there to help you build your pet sitting business. Or you can join our free Facebook group at petnannycoachcommunity.com. Don’t forget to say hi.

Hey there, Newbie Pet Sitter! Are you feeling stuck or overwhelmed with starting your pet sitting business? Fret no longer, my friend. I’ve got ya covered!

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