It’s that time of year again. The crazy busy period between October and January when pet sitting businesses collect a large portion of their annual income. Or is it?
This year is going to be a little bit different. Many pet sitters had an amazing summer with more business than they could handle. This sent a lot of us scurrying to find more employees quickly just to keep up. People cooped up for over a year with the pandemic couldn’t wait to travel and the need for services spiked sharply.
Fast forward to Fall 2021. Things are not looking bright, pandemic wise. Many covid policies that were lifted or at least lightened are back, and people, while not as isolated, are taking steps to protect themselves. This means less travel and less time away from home.
As a small pet sitting business, it’s hard to know exactly what to expect this holiday season but chances are that there will be another slow down in business in the coming months. Here’s a few dos and don’ts this holiday period to stay sane and ride out the next few months.
Do – Hire conservatively
If you’ve been hiring like a crazy person for months now you may want to take your foot off the gas a bit. This is a delicate balance. You want to have enough people to cover your client’s requests but not so many that you are paying people to stand around waiting.
Do – Plan for cancellations
At the beginning of the pandemic many of us relaxed our cancellation policy to help our client’s out. Trips were optimistically booked, then cancelled, then rebooked, then cancelled again. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. The best businesses realized that the long-term relationship with their clients was worth waiving a few late cancellation fees. Plan for this to happen again.
Do – Accept the fact that you may have to turn business down
At this point it’s difficult to tell what will happen. It’s tempting to over hire but this is a large risk in these lean financial times. Eating employee costs for people that you can’t keep busy will be a burden on your business. The alternative is laying people off but the chances they’ll come back when you need them are slim and finding and hiring employees is expensive.
Don’t – Spend a large amount of marketing money
Many pet sitters spend the bulk of their yearly marketing budget around the holidays. This makes sense. Clients acquired during the holidays will stay on past the season and often become long term customers. This year however, is the time for belt tightening. Spend, but spend wisely. Target your advertising to your ideal clients rather than more costly shot gun style advertising.
Don’t – Ignore the elephant in the room
The pandemic is still here. Don’t relax your pandemic safety policies or get complacent. Now is not the time to back down. Take a deep breath and continue moving forward safely.
Don’t – Assume it’s business as usual
While we all want to be out of the woods and back to some sort of normal, we’re a long way from it. You will be okay if you have a solid plan. Don’t wing it and keep in mind, you’re not alone. We will get through this together.
Another great article you might enjoy
Mid Year Goal Setting
https://www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog/mid-year-goal-setting/
About Eliza
Eliza is the owner of two successful pet related businesses; Preferred Pet Partners, a pet sitting and dog walking company, and The Pet Business Coach, offering coaching and resources to aspiring or current pet related business entrepreneurs. She maintains two awesome blogs. One for pet parents https://preferredpetpartners.com/blog/ and one for pet business owners https://thepetbusinesscoach.dog/blog-page/. Eliza also supports various animal rescue and shelter organizations. Eliza and her husband have a growing pet family. Visit her websites: www.preferredpetpartners.com or www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog.
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