I received the following note from a new client the other day. We were one week away from doing the first visits for them. “Eliza, I wanted to let you know of a change as soon as possible. One of my son’s friends will be staying with the dogs while we are gone so I need to cancel our appointments with your sitters. Nothing against your service at all! This just came up today. Thanks so much!”
Have you had this happen? If you haven’t, you will at some point. You’ve been broken up with, or more accurately, dumped. The note sounds friendly enough, I mean he said it wasn’t my service, he simply made other plans, right? Well, what I heard him say quite clearly was, “I’m breaking up with you, it’s not me, it’s you.”. If you’re like me, and as professional caregivers many of us tend to be this way, you’re left wondering “What did I do wrong?”. I obsess for days or even weeks that I could have done this differently or that differently. Despite what the client says, I immediately assume that I did something that caused them to lose confidence in our service or our sitters or, let’s be frank, in me. We take things personally, it’s in our nature, as caregivers we tend to look at things in terms of how do I make things better for people and if I fail to do so, what did I do wrong?
STOP IT! RIGHT NOW! I want you to do two things for me; first, think about your interactions with this client. Is there anything you would have done, said or approached differently? If there is, great, make a mental note and the next time you’re interacting with a client and the situation comes up, modify your approach. Second, I want you to go to your file cabinet or your computer or your social media sites, wherever you store your client reviews. I’m talking about the ones that say, you are AWESOME, I love you and my pets love you! If you’ve been in business a while and you are still in business and you care about what you do, you’ll have them. Go get them, take them out and read them.
Now hit reset in your brain and realize that it’s not you, it’s them. People are fickle and unpredictable and sometimes irrational, especially when it comes to their pets. Sometimes you’ll make mistakes and you’ll learn from them, but more often, you’ll do everything right and still get the break up message. Don’t let these define you, they’re not who you are or who your business is and you’ll waste valuable time obsessing over how to fix something that isn’t broken. The truth is, you ARE awesome, choose to believe it!
How to Protect Your Business…From Your Employees
In the last article we talked about non solicit agreements and whether they were effective or worth it. The conclusion was that that are but they shouldn’t be used in isolation. What else can and should you do to protect your business from employees turned bad. I know...
Non Solicit Agreements – Are they worth it?
Do you have a non-solicit agreement with your employees? I do. It’s part of the employment contract that I have every employee sign before they start work. It’s not something I intentionally set out to do. Back when I was hiring my first employee, I purchased...
(Hiring) Tales From The Dark Side
My husband hates to spend money. Which is okay because I’m a little less frugal. The one thing he enjoys though is a biweekly massage. Every other Friday he goes to a massage therapist and comes home relaxed and happy. He recently called to book his next appointment...
Owning Your Own Business Stinks!
As I sit down to put my thoughts on paper it’s all I can do to remember why I started a pet care business in the first place. Most of us are coming off an incredibly busy couple of months. For pet sitters in particular November and December are the months that can...
Behind the Scenes at PPP – Part 2
In part 1 of this two-part article, I took you behind the scenes at my own pet business, Preferred Pet Partners. We focused on processes and what I do to insure everything runs smoothly day to day. Today we’ll be taking another look behind the scenes but with a focus...
Behind the Scenes at PPP – Part 1
I run a successful 6 figure Pet Sitting and Dog Walking business in Omaha, Nebraska. I live in North Carolina. You’re probably wondering how I pull this off without constant travel back and forth between states (which I don’t do). I thought I’d spend some time today...
We are NOT hiring – How to keep employees long term
You’ve found and hired a new employee, good job! Maybe it’s your first one, maybe you’ve hired several this go round. You might have had an easy road of it with tons of responses of really qualified candidates responding to your job posting. Chances are, though, this...
Dos and Don’ts for your business this holiday season
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...
Are you desperately trying to hire? Look Here!
The pet care industry is booming right now. Nearly everyone is hiring pet care professionals. In fact, nearly everyone in the service industries is hiring, period. There has never been a period in history so optimal for job seekers. This is great for those looking for...
Happy Birthday Preferred Pet Partners!
Hi! June 2021 marks the 4 year anniversary of Preferred Pet Partners. I’m so grateful to my amazing employees and our awesome clients, human and furry! It’s been such a hard year for everyone and I’m thankful every day for the opportunity to help pet parents. To...
