Free E-Myth Membership Trains You to Run Your Pet Sitting Business Like A Franchise

One of my favorite business books that I picked up in the first year of my pet sitting business is

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It.

This book shows you why if you are a business owner you must make the effort to spend more time working on your business (planning, marketing, customer followup) than you do working in your business (doing the actual caring for the pets). The book illustrates how developing systems in your business, as if you your pet sitting business were a franchise, can give you the freedom to hand some day to day tasks over to others so you can find the time you need for the working on your business activities.

In the past 2 years I have really tried to put some of the lessons that I learned from the book into action in my pet sitting business. I still love to do pet sitting jobs myself but have brought on contract sitters to free up my time so that I can to dedicate more time to dreaming up new ways to find new customers and also to serve my existing customers better.

I recommend that you buy a copy of the book. You can get a taste of what it’s about by reading the first chapter free at their website.

Unfortunately the book is not free - but my tip for Freebie Friday is to sign up to become a free member at the E-myth website. Free members at E-Myth get their tip filled ezine delivered to them by email and are able to download valuable business resources at their resources page such as their “Positioning and Differentiating Your Business” and “Cash Power” worksheets.

Go ahead and check out their blog too - all their past ezine articles are reprinted there. I loved their article this week “10 Ways to Prepare for the New Year”.

How are you preparing for the new year that’s just around the corner? In the spirit of the E-Myth sit down today and map out some ways that you can spend more time working on your business in 2009. Let us know what you come up with by leaving a comment on this post…

Owning a pet business does not guarantee you success, but it is generally not difficult to set up your own pet business adn many who own pet businesses love the hard working lifestyle and the closeness to pets. You will have to compete with those who may be better trained, may have lower cost structures and those who “pretend” to have your skills and experience when they do not. (eg not all those who advertise themselves as groomers are actually Groomers).

There are also key skills that all dog industry professionals should possess. Here are some of the most critical skills and abilities for those hoping to work with dogs professionally: Basic Dog Handling and Training Skills, ability to recognize behavioral signals.

Animals can be somewhat unpredictable when they are under stress or in an unfamiliar environment, like when they visit the veterinary office or the grooming salon, so it is important to be attentive and stay aware of the animal you are handling at all times.