All tagged house

505: The Importance of Empathy in Pet Care with Lori Holt

505: The Importance of Empathy in Pet Care with Lori Holt

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How do you transition from a corporate job into full-time pet care? Lori Holt shares her journey from working in customer service to founding Stow Road Pet Sitters. She discusses the challenges of administrative tasks, the importance of empathy and trust in client relationships, and how her family plays a crucial role in her business. Lori also highlights the lessons learned from a dog bite incident that led to stricter client screening processes. Join us as we explore Lori's inspiring story of passion, growth, and dedication to exceptional pet care.

411: Transitioning from International to Local Pet Care with Kelly Hayes-Raitt

411: Transitioning from International to Local Pet Care with Kelly Hayes-Raitt

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When making big decisions, it's important to gather new information and seek out novel experiences in order to fully understand the situation before moving forward. In this episode, Kelly Hayes-Raitt, known as the HouseSit Diva, shares her experience of using international travel house and pet sitting to find a new place to live. By experimenting across different cultures and lifestyles, Kelly emphasizes the importance of embracing each step as an opportunity to grow and learn. She also discusses how she transitioned from being a free house and pet sitter to offering a paid service in her new hometown, and how this change has affected client expectations. Whether you're planning a business shift or a major life change, new experiences can teach you a lot!

405: Thriving Through an Emergency with Amy Sparrow

405: Thriving Through an Emergency with Amy Sparrow

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What kind of emergencies are you prepared for? While we may focus on natural disasters, lost pets, or medical emergencies, what about you? After going through a severe medical emergency, Amy Sparrow had to make drastic changes to her business, Fur Kid Sitting & Services. Amy shares how having a multi-year business plan allowed her to accelerate a brand new business structure. From growing a network, to addressing your personal risks, Amy stresses the importance of getting a plan in place today. She also explains why it’s critical to give back to the community.

402: Planning the Perfect Visit

402: Planning the Perfect Visit

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How do you plan your visits? While not every visit is the most complicated, every detail still matters. To ensure you don’t miss a thing, and that the client’s expectations are met, preparation is key! We break down the 5 big buckets of information you need from each client. We then walk through the process of turning that information into a well organized (and time budgeted) visit!

321: Meeting Pet Parent Needs with Eleanor Oates

321: Meeting Pet Parent Needs with Eleanor Oates

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What are you willing to do to make your business run exactly how you want? Eleanor Oates, owner of Sitter4Pets, went as far as developing her own software to run her business. Eleanor shares how her corporate background helped her get off the ground in pet care and the importance of time management. After a car accident left her out of work for 7 years, she decided to do something new. She shares how she moved through those dark times and shares have she uses videos to connect with clients.

315: It's Personal with Scott Black

315: It's Personal with Scott Black

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How do you grow and keep clients as a solo business owner? Scott Black, owner of Personal Touch Pet Sitting, shares why pet care is so personal to him. Scott shares stories from the past 17 years to give insight into how to set boundaries, excel at customer service, and get clients that work for you. As a solo-preneur, Scott focuses on keeping his business streamlined and simple so he can provide top tier customer service. He also recognizes that how he operates his business isn’t for everyone, but by focusing on the basics of professionalism we can exceed our client’s expectations.

313: Troubleshooting Cat Behavior Issues with Molly Kelsey

313: Troubleshooting Cat Behavior Issues with Molly Kelsey

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How do we empower our clients to live better lives with their cats? As cat care becomes a larger part of pet services, more clients are looking for help. Molly Kelsey, The Cat Counsellor, joins the show to give us insights into feline behavior. Cat communication is all about body language, so not only must we understand it, but we also must be willing to teach out client’s about it. Molly has advice for troubleshooting common cat issues but ultimately, we have to realize it’s up to the owner to decide how much work they’ll put into it.

265: Finding What Motivates You with Jane Torok

265: Finding What Motivates You with Jane Torok

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What motivates you? We don’t operate in a vacuum and there are both intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors that influence and drive our decisions. Jane Torok, owner of Paw Prints Pet Services, joins the show to explain how her motivating factors drive her to keep working through tough times. As a one woman show, she also shares how to stay content in your business and be thankful for the opportunity and balance in your life. Jane is also extremely passionate about community in pet care and helps operate the largest Facebook group for dog walkers. She talks about why community is so critical and how to avoid fears of rejection and competition.

216: Successful House Sitting with Kylie Fuad from Aussie House Sitters

216: Successful House Sitting with Kylie Fuad from Aussie House Sitters

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The house sitting industry continues to change and adapt to the world of Covid. With new lockdowns and vaccine rollouts across the globe, home owners and house sitters alike are trying to see where the industry will go. Kylie Fuad, co-owner of Aussie House Sitters and House Sitters America, joins the show to discuss the current state of house sitting. She gives us some great advice on preparing for life as a house sitter and how home owners expectations have changed. Kylie also shares her optimism on the future of travel and how we can be prepared to take advantage of new opportunities as staycations become more popular.

209: Implementing Minimalism with Sandra and Paul from “Minimalist Journeys”

209: Implementing Minimalism with Sandra and Paul from “Minimalist Journeys”

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Have you ever felt overwhelmed by not only physical clutter, but also perceived obligations and expectations? Minimalism is more than just getting rid of “stuff” and decluttering. It’s a way of getting more connected with your “why” and acting in your values. Paul and Sandra, from Minimalist Journeys, share their journey into minimalism and travel house sitting. They help break down what minimalism is, and isn’t. They also tell stories from nomadic house sitting and how to get better at receiving feedback!

207: Learning from Mistakes with Christina & Jen

207: Learning from Mistakes with Christina & Jen

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Twin sisters in pet care share how they learn and grow together to solve problems and meet their client's need. Jen Adamo, owner of Jen’s Happy Pets, and Christina Ranaldi, owner of Scruffy Puppy Pet Care, discuss their experiences hiring and managing staff, and what it's like learning from mistakes. They talk about giving grace, supporting your team, and understanding that issues will happen. We discuss the importance of learning from others and sibling rivalry.

195: Large Animal and Farm Sitting with Ariah Transmeier

195: Large Animal and Farm Sitting with Ariah Transmeier

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Ariah Transmeier has been farm sitting for almost 18 years. As a horse owner and lover, she knows the needs of owners and how to communicate her experience into solving their problems. She describes what it’s like preparing and caring for 300 acres of farm, while making it worth her time, and still providing excellent care. Ariah shares what it means to know your strengths and weaknesses, and how it results in a higher quality of care. We also discuss some of her favorite resources and how to go about gaining experience as a farm sitter.

172: Nomadic House Sitting with Eden Rudin

172: Nomadic House Sitting with Eden Rudin

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Eden Rudin and her husband, Danny, have been nomadic house sitting across the globe for the last 6 years. Eden shares how to get started in house sitting, setting your expectations, and how the industry has changed. She also discusses how Covid has impacted the availability of sits, and the growing ways people are adapting. Eden also took a leap of faith and launched her own house sitting connection website, HouseSit Hawaii, as a way to solve the problem of connecting quality house sitters with home owners in Hawaii. We talk about what she’s learned from that experience and what makes a good house sit platform.

160: Our Firsts in Pet Care

160: Our Firsts in Pet Care

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Each day we experience some sort of ‘first’ in life and in business. We break down some of the most influential firsts we’ve encountered over the past nine years. We also share the lessons we’ve learned from them and how we’ve changed how we operated, from our first client, to our first time saying no. Then, Natasha O’Banion answers, “How do I prioritize what to cut back on?”

156: Safety

156: Safety

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Safety should always be a top concern for us as pet care professionals. This safety is not just for the pets, but also for you. This was highlighted recently by the brutal attack on Ryan Fischer, Laga Gaga's dog walker, and the abduction of her two French Bulldogs. While this is an extreme case, it should spark a conversation about safety in the pet sitting and dog walking industry.

148: The Extra Mile

148: The Extra Mile

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Going the extra mile means something different to everyone. From making clients happy, to settings ourselves apart, going above and beyond can meet various goals in our business. We discuss ways to go the extra mile while maintaining healthy relationships. On the Ask a Pet Biz Coach segment, Natasha O’Banion answers, “How do I set my pricing if I’m looking to hire?”

134: Back to Basics- House Sitting

134: Back to Basics- House Sitting

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What’s the difference between a value based house sit and a for-pay house sit? Should you eat their food? This Back to Basics episode is all about house sitting. From questions you should ask, to what house sitting looks like with Covid, house sitting is something you should consider if you love traveling. Also, Natasha O’Banion answers, “Is print advertising dead?”

128: Back to Basics- Drop-in Checks

128: Back to Basics- Drop-in Checks

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Up next in our Back to Basics series, we cover Drop-in checks. We discuss what we do during a typical visit and how to price it compared to your other services. We also share some small things you can do with a drop-in to really set yourself apart and provide an awesome service for your clients. Natasha O’Banion answers the question, “Do I lead or mentor my employees”

119: Back to Basics- Boarding

119: Back to Basics- Boarding

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On today’s episode we go back to basics and cover boarding! We break down how we operate boarding a small number of dogs in our home, how we approach cleaning and up keep, as well as dealing with the chaos of feeding times and schedules. Natasha answers the question, “How do I take my business to the next level?”

091- Coping with the Unexpected, with the House Sit Diva

091- Coping with the Unexpected, with the House Sit Diva

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The House Sit Diva, Kelly Hayes-Raitt, joins us for her SIXTH appearance on the podcast. Kelly shares how, not surprisingly, not every pet sit or house sit goes according to plan. Even though we screen and ask all the questions, unforeseen things can and do happen. Kelly gives us some awesome tips for overcoming the unexpected and how to avoid becoming overwhelmed in the midst of the let down.

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