Pet Sitting Do's

1.  Pricing your service

You must first do a survey of the pet sitting business that are already around you to price your service appropriately.

     To find sitters in your area check your Yellow Pages.  Also check your zip codes from Pet Sitters International web site www.petsit.com, National Association of Professional Pet Sitters www.petsitters.org

Call pet stores, veterinary hospitals, groomers within a 5 mile radius of your home and ask if they recommend any local pet sitting businesses.

Go to local pet stores, vets, groomers and see if they have any cards on display.

    Once you have collected business names from all the sources call them.  When calling say                                                                                                   "I am a new pet sitting business owner and I do not want to price my service too low would you mind telling me what you charge?"  Also I would like to network with someone in my area to refer to when I am taking time off or am booked up, would you be willing to mail me a business card?

     Some of them may be cool to you but others will be happy to talk to you.  Hang on to the cards of the ones who are happy to talk with you because you will want to network with them in the future.

#Tip – please do not pretend to be a client asking about services when you call be honest and let them know why you are calling.

2.  Network with other sitters, yes sitters

Pet Sitters report at least 15% to 35% of all their clients come from referrals from other pet sitting companies they have networked with or met through professional Associations.

3.  Area you cover -

Start with no more than a 10 mile radius from your home.  Once you have been in business a year start pulling in your radius by 1 1/2 to 2  miles every year and refer the clients on the other edges to other sitting services that cover that area.       #Tip- Your profit is directly tied to how far you drive. The more you drive, the less you make!

4.  Be a legal  business –

If you want to earn a living at this business you MUST be a legal business.  That means have a fictitious business name, publish it in a trade paper,  business license, business checking account and service contract, insurance, etc.

5.  Be a professional business –

Have a business phone number & answering machine separate from your personal.  Veterinary authorization for treatment forms.  A business email address and web site, advertising brochure & business cards. Have a bond & liability insurance.  Create a consultation reference book to show at consultations.  Belong to professional organizations and go to educational seminars in your field.

6.  Maximum number of sits –

If you are a full time sitter, in a big metropolitan city the MOST you could possibly book in one day is 14 individual sits.  But this would be only on very rare occasions and they would all need to be within an 8 to 10 mile radius of your home.  If you did that many for long you would exhaust yourself.

Generally a full time sitter has 10 visits during the busy season and 4 visits a day during the slow season.

If you are a rural business where the nearest neighbor is 5 miles away a pet sitting business may be problematic for you.

7.  Take time off, close business or you will BURN OUT -

This is a 7 day a week job.  You do not have weekends or regular days off. 

Your first year in business you should schedule 7 weeks on 1 week closed.  Your second year in business take 7 weeks on 2 weeks closed. 

We say "closed" rather than "off" so our clients do not think we are on a vacation all the time.  You should put the dates you will be closed for a 6 month period, example January to June and give them to your client at EACH consultation and at the end of every pet job.

#Tip - we lose many pet sitting businesses every year due to not taking time off and burning out.

8. Find sitter to cover for your days closed –

This is the best reason to network with other sitters in your area.  Since we  really do not make enough money to pay employees yet you will need to network with another reliable business to take your clients when you are closed and visa versa.

9.  Be patient -

Your business will take time to grow.

Most businesses will take 1 to 3 years to become full time incomes depending on where you live in the Country.

#Tip - If you are only planning on giving it a couple of months and giving up my best advice is not to start. 

10.  Advertise - 

You MUST advertise in order to get business.  It takes more than just dropping off your business cards at a few Vets & Groomers to get work. 

If you do print advertising be careful, only do it in a very small local newspaper but it must run consistently.  Do NOT advertise in a big paper because you will get calls from all over and end up referring most of them out.

11.  Advertise your business through booth events - One way to get your name out in front of the pet owning public is to go to local events like Street Fairs, Dog Walks, Pet Expos, Pet Store Grand Openings, Vet Hospitals shot clinics etc.

12.  Join professional organizations - Like Pet Sitters International, or National Association of Professional Pet Sitters.

13.  Take industry classes & seminars - Like Pet First Aid Classes or seminars through the Pet Sitting University, A Pets World Academy or the Pet Sitting Center.