009- Interview with the House Sit Diva!
On this episode we interview the House Sit Diva! Kelly Hayes-Raitt has been traveling to house and pet sit for 10 years and she has some things to share! From how the industry has changed over the last decade, to some of her best memories, you do not want to miss this one!
Kelly Hayes-Raitt admits she sleeps around. Usually with animals.
As a full-time housesitter and traveler for the past decade, she’s learned a thing or two about housesitting and shares her knowledge and experience in her popular book How to Become a Housesitter: Insider Tips from the HouseSit Diva available in soft cover or Kindle at Amazon (http://amzn.to/2hlj7UP) or ebook on her web site, www.HouseSitDiva.com
Before nomading, Kelly reported live from Iraq during the early weeks of the U.S.-led invasion. Her journalism has won several literary awards and has been widely published in anthologies.
Lately, she’s turned her energy toward helping other writers get their books jumpstarted. Her coaching clients call her “inspiring,” and students in her workshops rave about her unique teaching techniques. Learn more about working one-on-one with Kelly at www.JumpStartMyBook.org.
Or join her in Cape Town, South Africa, February 1 – 10, 2020, for a magical writing retreat to jumpstart your book! www.JumpStartMybook.org/writers-retreat/
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
Collin 0:16
I'm Collin. And I'm Megan. And this is pet sitter confessional.
An open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter.
Hello, and welcome to episode nine where we interview Kelly Hayes rate and I have a head cold. Don't worry, the audio for the interview is a lot better than my voice currently sounds. I did want to give you a brief background of who Kelly is, and just the immense knowledge that she's bringing to this interview. She's a full time house sitter and traveler and has been for the past decade. And she's definitely learned a thing or two about housesitting, and she shares those experiences and a lot of her knowledge and her very popular book how to become a house sitter insider tips from the house at diva which conveniently you can get off of her website. house it diva.com. In today's interview, we cover everything from how she got started some of the biggest surprises that she's had along the way, as well as some challenges and some of her favorite stories. I can't tell you guys enough how excited we are to be sharing this episode with you and can't wait to get your feedback and continue to learn more from Kelly along the way. So how did you get started in pet sitting?
Kelly 1:22
How did I get started in pet sitting? Well, I didn't wake up one morning and say, I'm going to be an International House sitter. It was more of an evolution. I was a political consultant and activist all my life during my career and then I ran for political office myself, got my butt kicked and decided I needed to take a break from politics. And for me, the way I could afford to do that was to rent out my home while I lived elsewhere for free. And I sort of stumbled into pet sitting and house sitting when a cousin of mine asked if I would I would live in her home for the summer and take care of her Two Kitties and and then I I realized that there were websites out there that would allow me to post a profile. And homeowners who were looking for pet sitters would post profiles. And it was an opportunity really to, to travel elsewhere and basically live without cost, so that I could rent my home out. And that's how I was able to keep afloat. I do want to emphasize that at that house sitting is not a freebie for the house sitters. There's work involved. But but it's no cash out. And that's what was what made it work for me. And that's really how I fell into it. And now for the last 10 years, I next January will be my 10 year anniversary of traveling full time and being a house sitter full time, and I've had some adventures. Let me tell you.
Collin 2:45
I bet I bet. Wow. So So after 10 years, what's kind of been the the hardest part that you would say of keeping this going? Or, you know, being being a travel sitter?
Kelly 2:58
Oh my gosh, saying goodbye to path, you know, you it's a, it's a very intimate kind of relationship to be a house sitter when you're actually living in someone else's home with their things and their routines and certainly their pets. And, and so it, it can be very easy to fall into just falling in love with the animals that you're with, because they're in their comfortable environment. And so they oftentimes very readily acceptable of someone else who's there in their home. And, and it's it is it's tough saying goodbye to the pets. And I think beyond that, for me as a full time sitter is the logistics are involved. My life is much more logistic heavy than it ever was before. A lot of thought goes into how I get from point A to point B now I'm an International House sitter. So I think a lot about airfares and how to get from the airport to the home and Trying to find the new grocery store and maybe learn some new phrases in a different language that are not accustomed to. So there's a lot of logistics of my life. I think Collin the way you do pet sitting is more in your local community and so there's probably not as much but just new logistics involved in that right in my life. And that's something that I find challenging and draining frankly, over time. But the benefits of my lifestyle so far outweigh that challenge that it's not something I want to give up anytime soon. I really enjoy my life.
Collin 4:36
Sure. I'm sure your your background in campaigns and that kind of stuff has really helped in that logistic planning and getting all the the details lined out.
Kelly 4:48
It has because there are a lot of details. I think for anybody who goes into someone else's home and takes care of their pets. You know, we want to be diligent about it. We want to follow the routine we want to make sure the pets are safe and happy. We want to make sure the home is comfortable and safe. So there's, you know, a lot of attention to detail and a lot of attention to the things that aren't said sometimes, just to make sure that those routines are kept comfortable.
Collin 5:15
Right? Yeah, those those routines, and a lot of times you feel like the owner, they may feel like they've covered everything, but it's those little things that they may leave out of, oh, oh, by the way, this is the subtle cue that the dog or the pet leader has that says they need to go outside or those kind of things, or that they're scared or those you know, that you don't always think to pick up on initially.
Kelly 5:40
Exactly. And as you've stressed in your past podcasts, the most important part of I think the whole relationship with a homeowner is to have that initial interview. There's just a lot of questions asked, and discussion about what the pets routines are what pets triggers are what makes the pet happy when it sets the pet off where the pets Sleep, where it eats. I mean, all of those kinds of questions are really critical. I, every single headset I seem to add a new question onto my iPad sitting agreement from from if I leave my glasses out, will they be eaten? too? What are the things that your pet does that indicate that she or he is under stress? You know? Yeah, it's just, it can't be perfect. I mean, that's the other thing too. I think that it's really important for pet sitters to give themselves a little bit of a break, they're not going to be perfect. They're not going to know everything no matter how long they're there with a pet and that's okay to knowing 85% of the information is is going to take you pretty much home and and usually the homeowners will be available by text or Skype or whatever and and can answer any other questions that come up while they're gone. So I think Sometimes people get into a almost a paralysis because they feel like oh, there's just, I couldn't do that because there's so much information I'd never be like the owner and, and that's okay. That's okay.
Collin 7:11
Right now, you know on that meet and greet for us, as you mentioned, it's it's a little easier for from our life and I tend to meet and greets because people come directly to our home house or we go to there's just down the street. How do you handle that process as you're traveling internationally, and making sure you stay organized through that?
Kelly 7:31
Well, I love traveling internationally. And so I like the challenge of the newness. And you know, as I said, it gets old I one of my outages is even new gets old. But, but I do like the challenge and I like the change of routine for me. So that's something that's very interesting. And one of the ways that I handle it is I ask, I just asked her certain things, so I asked the homeowner to send a driver to pick me up The airport when I first arrived, or cab drivers so that I can easily get to their home. Oftentimes, I'm arriving after a long flight. I may be arriving in a country where I don't know the language, I don't have the currency. I may not be able to understand the streets. I mean, literally, you know, when I landed in Hanoi, I couldn't understand the streets and then my
Collin 8:21
goodness, how to navigate around.
Kelly 8:22
So the homeowners generously sent a driver to pick me up and to bring me to their home. So that's one that's one little thing that I've learned is important, really helpful for me is the homeowners to leave a map with the local grocery stores marked the local vet the local people hospital or clinic in case I need medical help or support. And, and that's very helpful. I also ask them to leave the name a number of emergency contact a friend of theirs who's local, who could help me out if I have an emergency and sometimes that person is also just become a friend where we've gone out for dinner or drinks or been sightseeing together a pal around together and that's really lovely connection really sweet thing that a homeowner can do for me when I'm traveling internationally to stay in their home and just help some helps me feel very welcomed. Yeah,
Collin 9:19
yeah, whenever they you do kind of just start
not only living in their house but being exposed to their life and their surroundings. You know, it is I'm sure that can feel very immersive when you're over there. doing those kind of travels.
Kelly 9:33
Exactly. Like for example, this past summer I how sat in radio know, which is a French island in the Indian Ocean just east of Madagascar. And the homeowner introduced me to one of her friends a woman named Ana and Ana had recently retired and had a lot of time on her hands. She's bilingual French English, and really wanted to just show off our island and so we did a lot of sightseeing things together. Things that I wouldn't have experienced on my own are known to experience on my own dragged her to some of the more touristy stuff that she had never been to and that was for her and then we also went scuba diving together and we went whale snorkeling together circle to the baby wow well it was amazing so it was there was a six week house it so it was a nice long opportunity to get to know the island get to know and and have just a lovely time and this homeowners home with her six rescue animals that they were lovely pads. I cried when
Collin 10:37
I left. Oh my goodness. Wow. Wow. Wow. That's that's that's quite the experience. I'm sure when you started out 10 years ago that you kind of had certain expectations and thoughts of how things would turn out. What's been a pleasant surprise about how sitting here nationally and pet sitting that you didn't do Expect
Kelly 11:01
what's been a pleasant surprise?
Well, housesitting has changed so much in the last 10 years. And I think one of the ways that it's changed is that more people are feeling comfortable about it. More homeowners are hearing about it and hearing about what good experiences it can be. And so there's, for me, there's just a much wider variety of houses out there to choose from. And by variety, I mean, type of pets length of house it the locations of houses. I mean, when I first started, most of the houses were in Europe, the United States and Australia. But in the last just few years, I've have sat in four different locations in Africa, throughout Southeast Asia, where you know, which was you know, really out there. Gibraltar, I mean it so I think it's the word has grown and And the house sitting community has grown. That's been a really interesting and pleasant surprise. For me. It's just the variety of places that I can go as a house.
Collin 12:09
Yeah, yeah, I'm sure
as it's kind of a mind shift to for the people who are looking for house sitters of, you know, I didn't even know that was an option to have some somebody come and stay here while I travel. And while I leave. So I'm sure more and more people are come open to that, that that plays into that as people are more comfortable to the idea and realize that it is such a value service to be added while they're away. And people can come and watch their home and their pets and all their belongings to make sure they're all safe.
Kelly 12:40
Absolutely. I mean, homeowners are just sometimes they just can't believe that I'm willing to travel to their community and to live in their home and take on the responsibility of taking care of their pets and they're so welcoming and so gracious and so grateful. Most of them and and that's just that's just really long. It's a really lovely introduction for me to a new community or to a new country. And can I talk about my book for just a moment?
Collin 13:08
Yeah, absolutely. I was. I was just getting there. I know you've you've written you've written the book on on how to become a house sitter. And I want you to talk a lot more about that.
Kelly 13:19
Yes. And the reason why I wanted to bring it up now is because I think as housesitting has grown, both the number of homeowners who are interested in in having house sitters and engaging house sitters, and the number of house sitters who are interested in testing out how sitting I think there's an opportunity to really sit back and take a look at what makes that relationship work well. And so this is why I wrote how to become a house sitter insider tips from the house it diva. It's available on Amazon, as a softcover or Kindle and it's also available on my website is an ebook at WWW dot house. Sit diva calm. Now I'm going to say you know how Sitting isn't brain surgery. It's not anything you need to sit down and study. But I have learned a thing or two and 10 years. And I think my most important tip for both homeowners and house sitters is to think about the kind of experience you want to have. So as a homeowner, a homeowner should really think about the type of person they would like to have in their home. Do they want somebody there full time for their pets? Or do they want somebody who's going to be maybe a little little little user friendly in their house for they're not going to be doing so much I'm on Skype. I once got a house it because I had posted on my profile that I don't do a lot of cooking. Okay, and then what I really liked the fact that I wouldn't be in her kitchen.
That was this. I never thought that would be a selling point.
Collin 14:52
She won't touch my things. This is great.
Kelly 14:55
Exactly. You know, and I think, I think for homeowners to think about You know, what, what would make what kind of person would I feel really comfortable living in my house and leaving my pets in their care. Just think about what that kind of person would be, is really helpful. And for the house sitter, I think it's important to think about what kind of experience you want to have while you're housesitting. And that of course changes over time. There are times when I want to go to a new city and I want to I want to have a chance to explore the city as well as as taking care of the pets in the home. So I might be less interested in taking on a house that has a lot of
dog walking responsibilities throughout the day, for example.
On the other hand, I have deliberately taken houses where I had to walk the dog four times a day, because I wanted an experience where I would be pretty homebound to be able to get a writing project on and I wanted the dog to force me to Leave for a little while to get out away from the desk and go take a walk. Yes, very different types of experiences that I wanted. And those are just two of many possibilities. To think about that ahead of time is really helpful. Because then you know what kinds of how sets to apply for the homeowner knows what kind of home house sitter to look for. And it can just be a better match there because there really are a lot of possibilities. And I think sometimes house sitters haven't bought that all the way through. And I think sometimes homeowners just don't believe that there are people out there that would come to their home and take care of their animals. They just kind of put feelers out. And
and then that just, it just wastes a lot of time.
So I always encourage people to really think about the type of experience you want to have. Yeah,
Collin 16:52
and recognizing it's a it's a two way street. It's not just the the owner, the client, looking for somebody. It's as you as you mentioned, there It's it's you you have such a big stake in this entire process and absolutely making sure it's a good fit for you and not just saying yes to whomever context you
Kelly 17:10
Yes, absolutely. And because when I have been less conscious of the kind of experience I've had, I've had less good experiences. So it really takes a level of of being conscious, it's a little bit like dating, right?
Collin 17:26
It is, I we refer to our meet and greets as speed dating because it is you know, when we when we meet clients through their in their home or our home, it's like there is basically a 30 minute window where we're going to decide whether this is going to move forward or not. And you get all those questions all those awkward conversations all those awkward laughs I'll you know I'll get all that out there and see what sticks and then you can decide to move on or not and it is it is very much like like
Kelly 18:00
Very true. That was a good question.
Collin 18:03
So, you know, after after 10 years in traveling and doing all that, what do you kind of see, you know, long term goals moving forward, as you look ahead to how the, you know, looking at how the industry has changed up into this point. What do you guys see moving forward in this?
Kelly 18:21
But I see a greater expansion in third world countries, frankly. And the reason I say that is because I think one of the biggest pools of homeowners likely to us how sitters are teachers who are teaching in international schools, in third world countries. And they have, first of all, they all talk to each other. So when one person gets a house sitter, the whole school knows about it. Oh, and everybody hears about how sitting and they hear about the good, the bad, and names of good health centers get get passed around from teacher to teacher. Secondly, those teachers have set times off and they have usually long periods off. So I'll summer or three weeks during the, during the winter break. in Southeast Asia, they'll be a month off in February for Tet, Chinese New Year. And so usually those teachers want the opportunity to go traveling someplace else. And they have the means to be able to do that, or they want to travel back to their home country to visit family. And thirdly, they usually have rescue pets, because in those countries, there just isn't the network of shelters and spayed neutering that we have in the United States and in some of the more first world countries. So there's those three things I think, combined to make a great market for how sitting and so that's one of the things that I do is that when I what I'm how sitting for an expat teacher, you know, I'd get into that network. And so if I want to go back to that community and make sure that I get a chance to meet other teachers who work for that same school don't, that's really just a great opportunity to network and to find out about other house set opportunities. So I think as, as more and more teachers find out about how sitting they'll be more housesitting opportunities in the third world countries. I think the other thing that that helps excuse me with third world country housesitting is that we're seeing such an increase in where Wi Fi is available, which is invaluable to most health centers. And we're also seeing an increase in in traveler style infrastructure, things like Uber or other kinds of programs that help people who are there temporarily, and those are expanding of third world countries. So I think that's one of the ways that house sitting is going to change is that it was going to continue to grow in in third world countries.
Collin 21:00
Wow, there's a lot of growth potential there and a lot of a lot of opportunities for people willing to take those on. So we are definitely going to have you back on for sure. To cover a lot more topics. I know, you know, you, you wrote the book on this kind of stuff. So there's a lot of there's a lot of information here. So I'm going to encourage our listeners to definitely check out your website. That's how sit diva.com and check out your book how to become a house sitter insider tips from the house at diva. That's going to be a great resource. And if any of our listeners have questions for Kelly that they need to, they can reach out to us or her directly, so we can cover those on future episodes. But, Kelly, is there anything else that you'd like to leave our listeners with right now or to sign off with?
Kelly 21:51
I just want to say well, first of all, I say thank you very much to you and to your audience, for allowing me to come on and share this passion I am so excited about the opportunities that house sitters have and that homeowners have I've, I used to meet so many people who would say to me, oh, we can't travel, we have big dogs, or we can't travel, we have an elderly cat who needs medicine. And I think that i think that's Noble. But I also think that's limiting. And I love the idea that I'm able to help other people travel as well as expand my travel. Oh, how sitting. So it's a great service. And it's a great opportunity for people to really make a difference in the world in addition to traveling. So thank you for letting me spread the word.
Collin 22:39
Absolutely. And thank you again, so much for taking your time and coming and sharing that and we look forward to having you on again soon.
Unknown Speaker 22:47
Thank you. Thanks, Kelly.
Collin 22:49
Wasn't that an awesome interview? I'm serious guys. She's so great. Really appreciate having her on the show and we hope to have her back again soon. And so if you have any questions or follow up with her, you can reach out to her on our website and house@diva.com or you can email us at feedback at pet sitter confessional calm. Make sure you've joined our Facebook group and page so that you can get any updates there and that you're subscribed and wherever you're listening to podcasts so you never miss a new episode.
Keywords: homeowners, house sitter, pets, home, travel, house, people, sitter, routines, sitting, questions, life, opportunity, Kelly, interview, teachers, website, pet sitter, logistics, country
