Pet
Sitting Don'ts
1. Pricing
- Do NOT low ball other sitters-
The
most common mistake almost all new pet sitting business make is once
they find out what everyone around them charges they decide to
CHARGE LESS than everyone else thinking they will
get all the
clients-------WRONG.
There
are several reasons why you do not want to make this
mistake.
First,
some pet owners may wonder why you are the cheapest service in
town?
Second,
you will generally end up with the clients most sitters do not want
to take.
Third,
this is still a “low dollar” industry. No one is getting rich at it
and if you price yourself below the norm you might as well go flip
hamburgers for a living, you will probably make more
money.
If you are
a legal business with the following, fictitious business name, city
business license, bond, liability insurance, business checking
account, service contract, member of professional organizations,
taken this classes, taken additional educational seminars, taken pet
first aid classes you should price yourself at the TOP because you
are in the top 10% of all the pet sitting businesses.
If you are
a certified veterinary assistant, technician or registered
technician DEFINITELY price your service at the top due to your
training.
2. Over printing of forms &
brochures-
Another
common mistake new pet sitting business owners make is printing
zillions of brochures thinking they are going to wallpaper
the world with them.
Please be conservative when you print any forms. Generally 100 of anything is
enough except business cards that come in 500 or 1,000 and I highly
recommend getting 1,000.
Also do
not go in for expensive high gloss, full color brochures that can
end up costs you $1.00 or more a piece. You do not want to blow your
whole start up budget on printing.
#Tip
- Do not put flyers in mail boxes without stamps, it is illegal and
PLEASE do not put flyers under car windshields in parking
lots.
3. House Sitting
–
This
is where you stay at someone’s home the ENTIRE time. You may want to reconsider
offering this service because you would have to charge at least
$100.00 per day minimum to earn a living and most people are not
willing to pay that. It is O.K. to offer overnight services
say from 7pm to 7am the next morning. This way you can go out
and do your drop in jobs during the day to make a living.
4. Do NOT take pet sit
assignments anywhere other than your office
–
Do
not use a cell phone or pager or retrieve business calls when you
are out making rounds.
ONLY take reservations for pet sits in ONE PLACE. If you don't you could make
a mistake, forget a pet sit --and God forbid a pet could
die.
5. Overbook pet
sits
–
In
the beginning of our industry, some unethical sitters would over
book their sits.
I have
heard of sitters booking 40 sits in a day. Since they could not
possibly do them they let most of the animals go and went every
other day or every third day of the job. NEVER do this, besides the
fact that you will get caught by a client who returns home early it
is FRAUD.
6. Independent
Contractors
- I would advise against hiring workers and calling them as
Independent Contractors.
The reason is that unless you go through a lawyer and
certified public accountant and pay for them to set it up you are
probably asking for BIG trouble. Calling them
Independent Contractors is still a very, very RISKY
proposition because most States will fight you to classify them a
employees. A
#Tip
until things change --- stay with being a sole proprietor, no
employees.
7. Three most common
mistakes
- Drove too far, promised to do too much, charged too
little.
8. Refer an Aggressive dog,
non-paying client, filthy house or bizarre client or
situation
- If you run into any of these problems PLEASE do not refer
them to another sitter to get out of the job. You will not only ruin your
reputation in this small community but you could put another sitter
in danger.
9. Do not forget to
advertise
- Please do not take your business cards to a couple vets, groomers
and pet stores and then go sit by the phone. If you really want business
you will have to plan and strategize an "advertising
campaign".
10. Public email forums
- With the increased popularity of the internet for
communication many "public email " forums have popped
up that pet sitting business owners can join to talk about
our field. Many of the postings may be from honest legitimate
pet sitting business owners. However, many sitter email forums
have deteriorated into sessions where criticism, gossip, bullying
and even libel seem to be the rule. PLEASE- if you do join one of these email lists
refrain from publicly criticizing another persons
business. Hopefully there will be some ethical
controls instituted for industry
related boards in the future that engage in this type
of conduct but for now there is not, so steer clear of perpetuating
it.
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