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Tag: pet sitting business tools

Is Pet Sitting Software Worth the Business Expense

Today’s Business Growth Video asks if pet sitting software is a necessary business expense.

The answer to this question is a resounding yes. This is something that I wish I had invested in so much sooner in my business.

The number one reason is that I used to have the night sweats and spheres of me missing a pet sitting visit. When you use a pet sitting software, that worry goes away because everything is tracked online through the software.

Is Pet Sitting Software Worth the Business Expense


All of your clients’ pet care plans are nice and organized inside the software, and you can keep client credit cards on file and then charge them before the service begins. It also streamlines and organizes everything. So no more chasing payments. It is just an absolute must and something like I said, I wish I had done sooner.

I recommend Time To Pet software. 99% of my students use it and love it. I have a coupon code that I will link to below this video. It will help with the starting expense.

Other options are Precise Petcare, Leashtime, PetSitClick, Scout, and Power PetSitter. There are lots of options out there. So check those out as well. If you were on a super tight budget, look into something called PocketSuite, it’s about $9 a month, and it’s a great starter software. It’s not pet sitting specific, but it’s a great starter software for scheduling and accepting client payments. So if you’re on a tight budget, start there, and then you can always upgrade to a more expensive pet sitting software in the future.

Coupon code: timetopet.com/r/petnannycoach

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Create a Meet Your Pet Sitter Automation

One of the first things that I teach my students in my Launch and Grow program is the importance of creating the know, like, and trust factor with your pet sitter prospects and your customers.

People like doing business with people. In the in-home, pet sitting industry, you are going into clients’ homes, or your team of pet sitters are going into clients’ homes. These people need to fully trust you and your team before they’re going to raise their hand and say, “Yes, let’s do this.”

I have each pet sitter record a video introducing themselves.

One of the easiest ways I’ve done this when I grew my team is I have my pet sitters record a video of themselves, introducing themselves. They share why they join the Pet Nanny Team and explain what their pet care values are.

When I assign the pet sitter to a client, they receive an email with the video and a full writeup before their registration meeting. So that will immediately create the know, like, and trust factor with their assigned sitter and break the ice before the sitter even rings the doorbell for the meeting.

Create a Meet Your Pet Sitter Automation

 

Sign up for an automation tool.

You want to sign up for an automation tool like Active Campaign or MailChimp or Infusionsoft/Keap which I use. There are lots of different options out there for creating automations. We go deep into that in my multiply mastermind program. I give six of my most used automations, three of my best marketing, three of my best hiring automations in the program.

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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Create a Weekly Scorecard for Your Pet Sitting Business

In my Multiply Mastermind Program, we have a monthly book club. We read a fabulous one this past summer, and it was called Traction by Gino Wickman. I love this book so much because he dials down how to get a business where you are not the person that’s doing the client work. How do you do that in your pet sitting business?

Create Systems and Processes

The system runs the business, and the person runs the system. If you’ve heard me say it once, you’ve heard me say it a million times. This is how you create a turnkey system for your business without you actually being the one doing the client work.

Create a Weekly Scorecard for Your Pet Sitting Business

In this book, one of the strategies that he suggested to create is a weekly scorecard for your business. This puts your data into a quick and easy snapshot that you can look at every week.

 Create a Weekly Scorecard for Your Pet Sitting Business


Every Monday, my manager fills out the scorecard from the week prior. She sends me an email. I can open the email first thing Monday morning and see exactly what happened the week before. It immediately put this into action with my pet sitting business.

I will go through and tell you what we are tracking in the pet sitting business at Pet Nanny. I absolutely love this tool.

First, we’re doing weekly revenue, then payroll, then how many client prospect phone calls we had. How many new clients have we enrolled. How many surveys were submitted. How many business review requests were made. How many testimonials have we received.

How many customer problems we had. How many refund requests did we have, or how many refunds were given.

Then we move on to the sitters. I want to know the total number of sitter applications, and then I dial down that number even deeper into how many applications are in the service area. We could receive many applications, but if they’re not in my actual service area, they’re useless.

Then I want to know how many interviews were scheduled. How many were completed. Then I want to know the total number of pet sitters currently on our roster and how many are still needed.

Then I dial that number down even deeper to the specific service areas where we need sitters. How many sitters do we need in Malvern? How many do we need in Wayne? How many do we need in Berwyn? So on and so forth.

That way, we’re clear on what we need to be working towards.

Use the Scorecard Yourself if You Don’t Have a Manager

This is something super simple that you should start right away for your business. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a manager yet. You can be filling this out. Then when you do hire your first manager, this will be something you will delegate to them.

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How We Handle Bookkeeping & Payroll in my Pet Sitting Business

I started using my bookkeeper probably about ten years ago for my pet sitting business. I remember just thinking like, “Oh my gosh, this is such a huge investment.” but I read the book Profit First, which completely changed how I view money, and finances, and systems.

I ended up finding a bookkeeper who specialized in Profit First, and she was located in Pennsylvania. So it just seemed like a perfect combination. We’ve been working together ever since.

Have your pet sitting business set up in Quickbooks Online.

You don’t have to use QBO. You can use software like Xero or Wave apps; there’s a ton. We use QuickBooks Online, and we have all of my Profit First bank accounts connected to it.

They go in there every week, and they categorize all of my expenses to make sure that everything is organized.

At the end of the year, make sure everything is balanced. Then send to your CPA to do the taxes.

People ask me often, “Colleen, is this something that you think I should invest in?” If we do not have the budget for it, as of now, it’s absolutely something that you can do on your own.

But when you do end up getting an influx of cash that you will justify that expense, I highly recommend it. It just makes everything so lovely, neat, and organized.

Move your payroll over to a software system called Gusto.

My manager, Sue, runs the payroll every two weeks. All the visits from the first of the month to the 15th are run on the 16th. All the visits from the 16th to the end of the month are run on the first. It’s simple to use.

I use Employees, and it calculates all of the taxes and whatnot, and then sends all of the employees their paperwork at the end of the year, 1099s are for independent contractors. If you use independent contractors, it will do that for you.

Back in the day, I used to sit every two weeks, and I would write the checks to 20 some pet sitters, and it took forever. It was a giant waste of time. So I had put these fantastic software systems into place.

So with QuickBooks Online and Gusto, and using my team, my bookkeeper, and my manager, it’s not part of my duties anymore.

How we Handle Bookkeeping & Payroll in my Pet Sitting Business

 

Again, freeing up my time to focus on money-generating activities, marketing, and getting new clients. So that’s how we do things here at Pet Nanny and Pet Nanny Coach.

I use a Profit First bookkeeper who keeps my QuickBooks Online completely neat, organized, and categorized weekly.

My CPA does my taxes, and my manager, Sue, the Pet Nanny manager, runs the payroll every two weeks. So hopefully, you guys found that helpful.

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How to Read More Books in 2021

This is a challenge that I’ve extended to my students in my Multiply Mastermind Program and my Scholars Program.

But one of the big things I hear when I suggest different books to members of my pet sitting community or my students is “Colleen, I do not have the time to read a book. I don’t have time to do anything for myself, let alone sit down and read.”

Start listening to books.

I use an Audible app through Amazon, and it’s given me the ability to take in at least one book a week.

Realize you have plenty of time when doing other things.

You might not have time to sit down with an actual hard copy book, but my second tip is you have plenty of time when you are loading and unloading the dishwasher, cleaning your house, doing laundry, and you’re walking the dog. If you put your earbuds in and listen to the book when you’re doing these things, you don’t need a lot of mental concentration when doing these types of tasks. You can consume more.

Speed up Audible.

You don’t have to listen to it at the exact speed that the author is reading. You can go up to two times as fast and that way you can get through more books.

How to Read More Books in 2021 - ver02

 

I highly suggest trying to read more in 2021. Please start with The Big Leap, which is my all-time favorite. I recommend it to everyone in my pet sitting community. Get Audible on Amazon, put your earbuds in and listen while you’re doing housework, and speed it up if you need to, and that’s how you’re going to get more reading in this year.

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2 Ways to Manage Your Money in Your Pet Sitting Business

When I started getting good at business doing marketing and the money started coming in for my pet sitting business, it was a super stressful time because I had no money management in place.

I’m super excited to chat with you today about my two favorite ways to manage your money.

#1 Hire a professional.

An accountant can guide you by setting up budgets for your business that can help you write things off for your business, keep track of monthly numbers, tell you if you’re on point, and can do your tax returns at the end of the year.

It is hard to figure this out all by yourself. Being an entrepreneur is like a full-contact sport. You need to know so much, but this is not one of those things.

2 Ways to Manage Your Money in Your Pet Sitting Business

 

#2 Create simple money systems.

When you do this, your business will scale quicker. A simple money system I suggest doing is checking your income daily. What you track grows. It’s a universal law.

Another system you can do is do your weekly allocations. Each week you’re going to allocate a percentage to your operating expenses, your tax account or the governor’s money accounts, to your profit account, and your owner’s pay.

You already know how much money is coming in percentage-wise, what you’re allocating to each of those accounts. And then guess what?

At the end of the year when taxes are due, you’re not going to have the midnight sweats like I used to have. “Oh, am I going to be able to pay the taxman?”

Now I think it’s super fun. I love logging in. I love seeing it. I love that it’s all organized, I love that I have a great relationship with my accountant, who helps and guides me to create these systems in my business so that I can enjoy my life and all the money that I’m creating in my life.

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My #1 Pet Sitting Business Success Secret

Are you ready to hear my number one pet sitting business secret?

It’s something available to anyone starting a pet sitting business and was the one thing I did that really boosted my business and got me to where I am today.

So, if you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know that at the beginning of my business journey I was pretty miserable.

Working around the clock for clients that I hated, I almost quit. In fact, I almost went into pharmaceutical sales!

After having many long conversations with my husband and my parents, I decided not to quit but to go all-in.

A business coach is like a roadmap to success

Almost miraculously, just as I’d made that decision this person stepped into my life out of nowhere.

Her name is Fabienne Fredrickson, a business coach who came to speak at a pet sitting conference in Philadelphia.

Immediately I thought. “This is who I want to work with. I want to hire this woman to teach me how to have a successful business.”

I came home and told my husband that this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to hire somebody that has the business results that I want in my life. I need someone to teach me what it was that I didn’t know.

And he said, “All right, well that sounds great. How much is it?”

I think back then the program cost $15,000 and he about had a heart attack.

I don’t blame him, he didn’t know about business coaching or business building and it was a lot of money.

Finally, after discussing it long and hard, he said, “Fine, I believe in you. I trust you. But the deal is whatever she tells you to do, that is what you have to do. Every last thing she tells you to do.”

And I did. I joined the program, I learned, I implemented, and I got results.

Back then there wasn’t a pet sitting business-specific coach so I went with a general business coach. But she taught me all about marketing, all about ideal clients, and attracting your ideal clients.

She taught me all about systems and processes and how to have a website that converts. She taught me all about automation. I listened. I learned.  And then most importantly, I took action, and in one year I increased my business by 100%. It was a big year.

The $15,000 investment was absolutely worth it.

Make an investment in your future

The key was I hired somebody that had the results in their business and in their life that I wanted, and that could show me what to do.

It gave me a shortcut to success.

And that’s my number one pet sitting business secret. Hire yourself a business coach, whether it’s pet sitting specific, pet business specific or somebody else.

So, my advice is to find somebody that you connect with. Find somebody that you trust. Find somebody to show you the way and give you a shortcut.  Without a roadmap you can spend a lot of years spinning your wheels, not making enough money, wasting your time, wasting your freedom when you should be making money, enjoying your life.

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How I Raised My Family While Growing My Pet Sitting Business

Growing my pet sitting business while growing a family

As a business owner who is also a Mom, I get asked the question so many times, “Colleen, how did you build the business you did at the same time you were raising the kids?”

So I thought I would share my experience of growing my pet sitting business while raising a family and dealing with all the hundreds of tasks and responsibilities which come with both those jobs.

It almost started by accident when I was pregnant with my first baby, Lucy.

I really wanted to spend the first three months with her completely and not work at all in my business doing any pet sitting or managerial duties.

Working while the baby sleeps

So I hired my first manager with the plan that she was going to leave after three months, but I fell so much in love with my daughter and with mothering that I decided to make the manager permanent.

Having someone to take care of the day-to-day running of the pet sitting business freed me up, during the quiet times when the baby was napping, to work on business growth strategies and marketing the business.

The result: I ended up increasing the revenue by $53,000.

And that was when I realized just what a powerful tool it was hiring someone to manage the pet sitting team.  The more time that you take to work on your business and stop working in your business, the more quickly you’re going to be able to scale your businesses.

How I Raised my Family While Growing My Pet Sitting Business

 

Then, when our family grew to include my two boys, I still made business growth a priority.

The kids would go to a babysitter for a few hours a day so that I could still continue to work on the business. But that also meant that during the second half of the day I could completely focus on them.

And now, everyone’s at school until 4 PM, so unless I’m doing a coaching call at night that’s when I stop work.

I get to work from home, so whenever they’re sick, they get to stay home with me. We never have to worry about that. I’m at every school function, and I get to be with them during school vacations.

Hiring a team let me focus on my priorities

My pet sitting business has given me the freedom and flexibility to enjoy my family.

So that’s how I did it, guys. I had already hired my team of sitters before starting a family, but hiring a manager really made the difference in allowing me to focus my time and energy where the business, and my family, needed it the most.

That’s my advice to you,  you need a team to do the client work and a manager to do the administrative work so that you can have the time to grow and multiply your business.

With that strategy, I raised these three little kids (see video above) all the while growing a company that I love.

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