After my twelve year absence, Corporate America did not embrace my job applications with much enthusiasm. Or any enthusiasm. Those letters of rejection were downright dreary.
So, what next? I remembered the advice of my high school counselor from years ago. He said, "Imagine you are walking on a beach and find a lantern. You pick it up, dust it off, and out pops a genie capable of granting exactly the job you desire. What career would you wish for?" When a student answered the question by announcing his or her dream job, he suggested to the student they should pursue exactly that career.
While this is certainly a interesting point to ponder, it's also a helpful exercise in planning the next step down your life path. What do you want out of the work you do? Money tops the list, obviously. Freedom to come and go is a bonus. Something that brings you pleasure...work that feels more like fun. Independence from those hovering bosses, perhaps.
The answer seemed to be starting my own business. We've all seen the ads, "Attention Entrepeneurs: Be your own boss! Work your own hours! Accomplish your goals!" But, what about start-up cash? I didn't have money to invest in an office, an extensive inventory or even a satchel of cooking utensils for a party based pyramid scheme business.
Then it struck me. How about a pet-sitting business? Not a 'teenager across the street feeds the cat once a day' business, but a serious, adult operated, full-fledged pet care company. I did some research into where to begin, and threw myself into the proposition with
First off, I joined The National Association of Professional Pet Sitters. Yes, there really is such a thing, and they are tremendously helpful and worth every penny. Through them I was able to obtain insurance and become bonded--take that, neighbor kid! I set up a dedicated business email account through yahoo and utilized the super easy website creator through Go Daddy to make a professional looking website displaying all my pertinent information. My business cards came from Vista Print. (It's not my intention to sound like a commercial, honest.)
All these steps were a great start--but the crucial piece of the pet sitting puzzle had to do with advertising. Friends and relatives all suggested the usual things; pass out business cards to local vets and shelters, hand out flyers to neighbors, place an ad in the yellow pages and post a blurb in the hometown paper.
Sounds reasonable, right? Pah! What a bunch of hooey. Those ideas are old school and none of them worked. Think about it--where do you go to find a handyman, or a dry cleaner, or somebody to fix the sump pump? You Google it, right? So does everyone else these days. After a very slow start in the world of entreprenership, I wised up and started advertising through Google Ad Words. In no time I was getting half a dozen hits a day and business took off. In fact, I had to limit my hits to four a day and narrow the geography down to the limits of my hometown so people stopped contacting me to drive forty-five minutes to let Rufus out for a pee-pee.
Two years later, business is still going strong. In fact, there have been some weeks where I've been forced to turn ad words off because I was too busy to handle any more clients. Who knew pet sitting would turn into such a lucrative proposition?
Every day is a new adventure and there is no time for boredom. I have a million stories--most of them funny, some of them insane, and a few heart-wrenching ones thrown in for you reflective types. My plan is to share the best of the best on this blog. It's a crazy ride and I hope you enjoy it right along with me.
Doggy Duty Diva
