Look, you don’t know what you don’t know. Everyone has a learning curve when it comes to starting a business. Our founder, Shelley Beyer, wasn’t immune to that. There were plenty of things she did right, but there are still a lot of things she wishes she could have done better. What are those pet sitting business mistakes, you ask? Read on to find out!
Build Your Brand Right Out the Gate
You don’t want to throw things together, mix them up, and hope for a successful business. To reach your future goal, you need to put some thought into what you’re building. When Shelley designed her brand, she accidentally boxed herself in by naming her business Happy Tails Transport. Now that her business is thriving, it doesn’t feel right. Transports are such a small part of her business. Your branding also includes your logo, colors, fonts, elements, and a voice. Be sure to consider these things carefully – they are difficult to change once you get going since making a change can undo everything you’ve built up to that point.
How to Do It Right:
To achieve the desired result, you will need to get very clear on what your brand stands for because if you don’t understand what it stands for, no one else will either. A brand is how every business communicates with its audience, customers, or clients. It’s the complete picture of your business.
A strong brand can create greater customer loyalty. It allows more focus to your marketing efforts and helps attract more customers and more talent. By being consistent with the colors, fonts, elements, and voice you use, you will achieve the desired results.
Marketing Pet Sitting Business Mistakes
When Shelley started marketing for her business, her marketing was all over the map. She sent out flyers, dropped off pamphlets and brochures to every pet-related business, and paid for online ads. While most of them panned out, she eventually realized she didn’t have a clear purpose for everything she was doing. Check out our playlist on Social Media Marketing and Email Marketing on YouTube for more information.
How to Do It Right:
Everything you do for marketing should have clear intent and purpose. You need to be clear on what type of clients you are trying to reach and create your marketing material to attract that type of client. If you are trying to get more puppy clients, then your content should be centered around puppies. Whatever you focus on is what you’ll attract, so be sure you know what outcome you are trying to reach. We also cover this topic in-depth inside the PetBrainy Circle!
Price Check Yourself Out of Pet Sitting Business Mistakes
Pricing your services is a delicate balance. Too much, and you scare away potential clients who can’t afford your services. Price too low, and you attract the wrong type of clients and don’t make enough money to stay in business! Shelley set her prices too low and has been paying the price. Big price jumps lose customers, so she has had to increase it slowly. It is especially true if you are planning on hiring employees.
How to Do It Right:
Know your numbers. Don’t just go by your gut or merely undercut your competition. We know; It’s tempting to shave a couple of bucks off your opposition and call it good. By pricing your services too low, you may attract the wrong type of clients, and your expenses may be too high to cover. Do the math, and you’ll thank yourself. Make sure you don’t price yourself out of the market, though.
Watch Your Time
There are a lot of little things for you to do to make your business run smoothly. Be aware of your time and where you are putting it. Dedicate your time to money producing activities. Free yourself up to work on productive things that will help grow your business. So, for example, inputting receipts. There is probably someone you can pay minimum wage to handle that task. Being too perfect is another time waster. Many business owners fall into this trap. Sometimes “Good is Good Enough!” You need to know when it’s time to move on to something else.
How to Do It Right:
Evaluate each task you have to do. If it is a job that someone else could do for a fair price, then delegate it. You’ll be able to focus on improving your business. If you can find a way to automate a process? Even better! Those systems will free up your time, and that is the one thing you can’t replace!
Pet Sitting Business Mistakes Can Disrupt Work/Home Life Balance
Being a business owner means you never really have a day off. That doesn’t mean you have to be available 24/7. You’re only one person, and you have to have a personal life, or you will go insane. Eventually, it will happen. Shelley left her phone on all the time because she was worried her employees would need her. Then clients would text, and her sleep would be interrupted. If you let your clients reach you on your phone at all hours, it also makes it hard to allow assistants to help.
How to Do It Right:
Set office hours, and do not respond to work calls outside of those hours (except for emergencies). Set it up so that your clients primarily contact you through the software portal. This way, you can choose to respond or wait until your next office hours. Once it’s all set up on a portal, your employees can participate, as well. Those boundaries between work time and home time won’t set themselves. You have to do it manually. Make sure that these expectations are laid out clearly to your clients.
Pet Sitting Business Mistakes Aren’t Forever
None of these mistakes is business ending, thankfully. They’re just little things that Shelley discovered, and once she adjusted them, it made a big difference in her business. Hopefully, learning about her experience will help you on your journey.
Click Here to schedule a 30-minute call for us to speak if you feel stuck in your business.
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