1. Im in charge of my time
This is truly eye-opening for most entrepreneurs. Its about changing your mindset from working in your business to working on it. And to establishing your non-negotiable terms for your working hours no one else will do it for you. Its easy to believe that you have to work all the time in order to be successful, but dont buy into that. Create a business that works with your life. 2. I set the hours
Any business or service that I purchase has set hours. As a consumer I can take them or leave them. But most often, ifs a company Im eager to work with Ill work within their parameters. Youre a business owner that customers love to work with so set your business hours and stick to them. If you dont want to answer the phone during dinner dont. Let your clients know your hours and then dont work during non-working hours. 3. I can take time off.
Not only can I take time off its imperative to the well-being and long-term success of not only my business, but all my personal relationships as well. Again, by setting the limits on your time, creating time-off on, alerting your clients and sticking to it, youre doing a great thing for yourself and your business. 4. Help is essential.
Not just of the pet-sitter variety (although thats critical if you want to make money and stay in business) but you also need help of the professional and personal variety too. Make sure you outsource the responsibilities that you are not capable of handling such as legal tasks and bookkeeping. You also should find other entrepreneurs (and preferably pet-care business owners) with whom you can commiserate when you need a shoulder to lean on. Finding a mentor or coach has been a key factor in my success as well. No one can do everything alone so know when to ask for help and then be gracious when receiving. 5. Outsourcing is easy and necessary.
These feeds off of #4 Ive learned to outsource administrative tasks, filing tasks, billing and invoicing and many other tasks. By doing so, I have the time and energy to concentrate on the tasks that Im uniquely qualified to do such as focus on the long-term direction of the company. When you outsource you find yourself reinvigorated with the reasons you started the company in the first place. Think you cant afford outsourcing? How about a trade? Trade pet-care for some personal organizing by a professional organizer or provide vacation cat care for the woman who will do your filing. The ideas are endless. 6. All advertising is not equal.
Any advertising sales representative is going to assure you that you are going to get great response from their product. They will show you testimonials of other businesses that have had success. Thats their job. Your job is to know your key demographic so well that you can determine whether or not your perfect client is going to respond to the mode of advertising your being sold. If the answer is no then no matter how many views your advertisement gets, its not going to attract any great clients. If you serve a small geographic area, why not invest your advertising dollars in a way that will reach ONLY that area? 7. Building relationships is more important than collecting business cards.
Okay, I knew this one going in, but its important for me to remember. Whenever networking or attending events the goal should never be to hand out my cards and collect them. The goal should be to start a few good relationships with people who are just like my golden client. Having a ton of business cards in my rolodex is useless if I dont know anything about the people who gave them to me. Take time to build and nurture relationships each day and your business will reap the rewards. 8. I can only be one place at a time.
Youd think that the laws of nature had taught me this before I started my own business, but somehow Id been overlooking it. Make sure you have ONE central place that you keep your schedule. If someone asks you to care for their pet, or attend an event and you dont have the calendar dont commit. Youll find yourself overbooked and frazzled. 9. Everything takes longer than I expect.
Im a fast-moving person with lots of energy. Patience is a virtue that Ive spent 40 years trying to cultivate, so I know how hard this lesson is to sink in. Over time Ive come to recognize that simply wishing things would move faster doesnt work, so Ive resigned myself to building in lots of extra time to complete projects and service visits. For example, if I think it will take me 30 minutes to enter deposits, I set aside 45 minutes and then am relieved when it gets done in 40 rather than frustrated. 10. Money comes to those who believe in it
At a certain point in my life I started to notice that things I dwelled on came true. Whether I was obsessing about not having money or worried about getting sick before some big event. So, I tried a few experiments and have come to realize that when I focus on having all the money I need to grow my business and live a great life, thats whats happening. I choose to believe it works, and I choose to believe that theres an unlimited supply of money out there making its way to me. In my vision it honors hard, honest work and fun and it hasnt let me down yet! 11. Saying no to bad fit clients makes you a better business owner.
In theory I knew this before starting my business. In reality, I was afraid that if I didnt jump through hoops, forgive payment indiscretions and ignore my better judgment when it came to certain clients, I would never make money. Come to find out, nothing could be further from the truth. Clients that are not a good fit for me take much too much of my energy that should be spent finding, nurturing and serving great clients. Whenever I let go of a difficult-for-me client I felt free and unburdened to continue to serve and grow my business. I know those clients felt freer and lighter too and they were able to find a service that better suited their needs. 12. No one buys on rate alone.
Again, as a pretty consummate shopper Id known this all along. But I had to get out of my own way and get laser clear on what my clients were really buying when the selected us for their pet-care provider. I realized that clients Im meant to serve dont shop on price alone, and that while my rate may not be in the budget of everyone, it was well within the range of what my best clients could afford. Once I got clear on what my perfect clients really wanted, I got focused on delivering it each and every time. 13. Be professional at all times
Whether your driving down the road, in line at the grocers or going to a client registration meeting, youll want to ensure you look and act like the kind of person who can be entrusted with the keys to someones home (and heart as you are being entrusted with the care of their furry or feathered family). 14. Get involved dont just join a group.
Joining groups is nice. It can give you a long list of names to add to your website and your marketing materials. But what brings you business is your ability to participate in the groups you join. People who work alongside you have the opportunity to observe your work style and to get to know you personally. Thats a great way for people to determine if theyd refer you or not. 15. Establishing expert status is a key to pulling in clients.
Being an expert is easier than you think. Focus on your niche and start publishing some articles either in your local paper, or on the web. Create some useful information for your target clients and provide it in a newsletter. Offer to speak to groups in your community. The more youre referred to as the expert on your topic, the more clients will seek you out. Theres lots more ideas and step by step tips for becoming the expert in my Ultimate Pet-Care Business Home Study System due to be released in fall 2006. 16. Invest in yourself.
You set your own value, and one of the ways to ensure your value continues to expand is to invest yourself. Investments include purchasing and reading books and magazines on business and your pet-care niche, attending industry conferences and seminars, attaining certification, and setting aside time for your education. 17. Its okay to push the envelope.
Doing things the way everyone else does is fine if you want to be lumped in with everyone else. Sometimes youre going to have to take a stand in order to stand out. Just make sure you stay true to your vision of who you are and youll know when to push that envelope. 18. The differences between a 1099 consultant and an employee.
This is a topic I cover in greater detail in the Ultimate Pet-Care Business Home Study System, but let me tell you I wish Id gone in with more knowledge about the differences. Now Ive got a handle on it, but I still rely on an attorney and a CPA to keep me in the right realm as far as this information goes. 19. Protect my time less time on the lists and more time marketing.
In the beginning I spent upwards of 5 hours a week on the Yahoo group lists. I could have gotten away with about 15 minutes each week. I got caught up in what lots of peoples opinions were about issues and ideas rather than being out in the field running my business and creating a marketing plan. I still check the lists once a month or so as I always find a few golden nuggets of information, but Ive learned to set the timer so I dont get sucked in to long, drawn-out dramas about topics that dont involve me or my business. 20. Build alliances with competition.
One of the smartest things I did was join the local professional Petsitting network. In the beginning it gave me a good feeling to know that there were others who had been in the business for a long-haul and lent credence to my vision of a sustaining company. It also allowed me the ability to advertise in many places where I couldnt afford it on my own because the network advertises itself in many area wide publications. Now Im still pleased with my membership as it provides me an opportunity to run ideas by others in the same boat as well as provides me a wonderful, professional referral source for clients who arent a good fit for me. 21. Giving stuff away is fine.
Ive learned to always give more than people expect. So I give away lots of information for free. My clients let me know that Im their pet-care search engine, and Im happy to provide them resources that they can use. Mostly I do this through my e-zine, but occasionally I leave coupons or gift certificates for clients. Once in a while I find a perfect gift for a client or their pet and I give it away too. Oh, and Im happy to share my secrets with pet-sitters long and far too. I find that whenever I share, more comes back to me. Im pretty certain thats why my life is so cool and fun. 22. Finding a mentor increases in the bottom line.
About 6 months into my business, I hired my first coach. I was afraid about the money it seemed like a lot at the time. I had clients, but not nearly enough to validate the investment in my head. But my gut said Id make the money back quickly with the help of a coach. My gut was right. I tripled my gross income during the 7 months I worked with my coach. I recouped my investment by the third month. It wasnt a magic pill. It was a lot of work. But I made the investment in myself, adjusted my attitude about money and benefited immensely. 23. Dont let it go to your head.
Some days its easy to feel like were really on fire. When you get glowing testimonials, or win client appreciation awards and recognition its pretty awesome. Ive learned to really appreciate those moments but to keep my feet grounded on earth. Resting on my reputation can hurt my clients and keep me from working to be better and more effective for my clients, and thats a ticket to extinction. 2006 Peggie Arvidson-Dailey |
