Don’t Let Your Pet Business Overwhelm or Burn You Out this Christmas

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Overwhelmed Cat Do you find that the holidays are a stressful time of year? Each year it seems like we have more and more to do and less time to do it. Before we know it the holidays are upon us. For many pet business owners this time of year is one of the busiest as pet owners are travelling to visit family and friends and leaving their pets in our care.Â Pet supply retailers are also busy selling Christmas gifts - the pets need treats too!

Here are some tips to help ensure that are don’t feel overwhelmed or burnt out this holiday season.

1. Determine early which staff members are available to work over Christmas and New Year. If you work with contractors you may need to offer them incentives to stay and help out. One idea for an incentive is to offer them extra pay on Christmas and New Years day. You can pass this back to your customers or choose to take less profits yourself for these two days.

2. Work out how many hours or visits you will be able to do per day and write this in on your planner. Have this plan in place before you start to take bookings and do not be tempted to take more bookings or work than you know that you can reasonably achieve.

3. Write a list of everything you plan to or need to accomplish by the end of 2007. For example writing and sending cards to customers, writing a newsletter, sales calls you need to make, getting new business cards printed etc. Having this list down on paper will let you prioritize tasks, relieve your worry about unfinished tasks, and let you plan to spread the important tasks across the remaining weeks.

4) Work out what on your list can be done NOW to prepare for the holiday rush. Can you order cards or write and address them today, print forms that you will need, or make other preparations that will make the busy times less hectic. Getting something off your list right away will give you a sense of accomplishment and relieve stress.

5) Organize your Christmas celebration with staff or customers early. Keep it simple and hire caterers to relieve you of some of the planning and last minute work.

6) Prompt your clients to make sure they book early and warn them that you can only accomodate so much on your schedule before you start having to turn down orders or bookings.

7) Discuss your holiday business commitments with family and friends so that know not to expect you to attend an 8 hour family celebration. Make sure you make plans together so that you can spend time with them and also complete your work tasks. Talking with them upfront can avoid misunderstandings and expectations that can lead to tension and stress.

Just a few tips to help you enjoy the holidays while you grow and manage your pet business! My inspiration for this post came from an article on Lynn Terry’s blog - 3 Simple Ways to Relieve Stress When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed. A good read to keep on hand!

Please leave some comments with any other advice that you can give based on your holiday experiences.

Pet Cancer Awareness Month - Warning Signs to Look for in Your Pets

Filed Under Pet Events, Pet Products | 1 Comment

This month VPI Pet Insurance is holding it’s third annual pet cancer awareness month to benefit the Animal Cancer Foundation (ACF). ACF devel0p and support research to advance the prevention and treatment of cancer in pets and people. They give pets that are not responding to conventional therapy opportunities to take part in clinical trials that could save them or extend their lives.

This month VPI are selling dog collars with the cancer society lavender ribbon logo and donating all proceeds to ACF. Click here to view the 4 different sizes available.

Approximately half of all pets over the age of ten die of cancer. Here are some warning signs you should be aware of so that you can detect cancer early :

A growing sore or lump that won’t heal

Discharge or bleeding from any body opening

Weight loss despite normal appetite and activity

Going more than a day or two without eating

Demonstrating an unusually excessive appetite

An overconsumption of water, followed by frequent urination

Difficulty in chewing or swallowing

Unusually bad smell coming from your pet

Tiring easily and unwillingness to exercise

The best defense against cancer in your pets is to detect it early and seek treatment immediately. Help the Animal Cancer Foundation to find a cure for cancer by supporting them either by purchasing a collar through VPI or donating directly to Animal Cancer Foundation at their website by mail or by using Paypal.

Virtual Pet Business Toolkit Officially Released Today for $39

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Would you like to start an online pet business? Maybe you have a pet business but would like to learn how to make passive income with your current website so that you have more capital to invest in your offline business? The Virtual Pet Business Toolkit will tell you the insider secrets to creating an affiliate pet site that attracts customers that are ready to buy pet products.

The tookit is now available and I have reduced the price for the toolkit to just $39.

With the toolkit you will receive:

The 70 page Virtual Pet Business Manual (see contents page below)
Copywriting for the Web E-book
Maximizing Your Website Traffic E-book
Word to Web Software - help you to create HTML webpages from Word files in seconds
My special report listing 50 Pet Affiliate Programs

This toolkit has all you need to launch an online pet business or add affiliate sales to your current website to boost your business profits and offer your customers great quality pet products.

Don’t forget if you are not completely satisfied you have an 8 week full money back guarantee.

Take a look now at http://www.virtualpetbusiness.com

Take a sneek peek at the Virtual Pet Business Manual
contents page:

Introduction
What is Online Affiliate Marketing?
Business Marketing
About Online Marketing
Search Engine Basics
Conducting Market Research
Keyword Research
Building your Website
Choosing a Domain Name
Choosing a Hosting Service
Creating Your Web Pages
Word To Web Software
Microsoft Frontpage
Online Site Builders
Using a Wordpress Blog
Uploading Your Files to Your Host using FTP
Tips for Effective Website Design
Choosing Your Affiliate Programs
Finding Affiliate Programs in Major Directories
Choosing Banners and Links
Protecting your affiliate commissions
Getting Traffic to Your Site
Building Traffic By Trading Links
Using Email advertising as an Affiliate Marketing Tool
Building an Email List
Writing an Autoresponder Message that Gets Results!
Tips for Getting Started
Popular Affiliate mistakes & How to fix them

To see what else is included in the toolkit jump over to http://www.virtualpetbusiness.com to check it out for yourself. You can also pick up my FREE 5 part e-course on affiliate marketing.

Regards

Danielle

Is Your Pet Business Listed in Yahoo Local and Google Maps?

Filed Under Pet Business Tips | 1 Comment

Google Maps I have many customers who say they found me online using the Yahoo yellow pages or on Google. I’m not really sure how I got onto these sites but I am very grateful. Today I went a step further and investigated how I could update my listing to make sure potential customers get more information about my pet sitting business.

The best part is that getting listed on Yahoo Local or Google Maps is FREE and can give you great exposure. I know I use Google maps every day to get to and from the places I need to go.

To add or update a basic listing on Yahoo Local click here

To add or update a listing on Google Maps click here

You will need a Google account for Google Maps but setting this up is easy and you can then access free gmail, Google Adsense and other Google services.

Both of these listings will let you add your contact info, display payment options, describe your services, and display your service area. Having a more detailed listing on these sites that your competitors will give you an advantage in attracting customer attention and getting them to click to your website for more information.

You can never get too much exposure to new customers so take the time to get these listings up and working for you.

If you have any other ideas for free listings please leave a comment and share with other pet business owners.

How to Become a Dog Trainer without Quitting Your Day Job

Filed Under Pet Business Opportunity, Pet Business Tips | 4 Comments

Dog on Leash Are you interested starting your own pet business as a professional dog trainer? Wondering how you can get the training you need without giving up your day job income?

Today I found an interesting topic on the Off Lead Discussion board that gave reviews about the at home study / instructor mentored program offered by the Animal Behavior College (ABC). Their program combines an at home study course and exam work combined with hands on instruction and mentoring by an ABC trainer in your area. The course is designed to be completed in a 52 week (1 year) time period and costs significantly less than other available dog trainer certification courses. Their fees vary from $2700-$3500 depending on your choice of payment and financing options.

Their coursework includes the following modules:

Dog learning theory, training tools, basics of teaching obedience, problem solving, safety, public speaking and teaching, and business building.

ABC will help you find a local mentor that will allow to gain experience by observing training sessions and work with dogs on skills that have been learned during coursework under their supervision. This portion can last between 7-21 depending on the regularity of training sessions.

ABC also have a relationship with PETCO stores to provide trainers for their in-store classes and will give you assistance finding work after graduation from their class.

This course receives some great recommendations on the discussion board and also lists many success stories on their own website. As a full time worker myself I see the huge benefits that being able to gain dog trainer certification on a part time basis from home offers.

Dog training can be a full or part time profession and is a business that can be started with very minimal start up costs. All you need is the training tools and some money for marketing. Dog training experience is also a great skill for pet sitters, groomers, and day care owners as they can offer training as an add on to their existing service. I may even consider looking into this myself!

Please share your experience with the ABC course or other experiences as a dog trainer by leaving a comment…

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