4 Secrets of Good Time Management for Pet Sitters
You’ve probably had a moment where juggling your clients felt as tricky as getting that last lick of peanut butter out of a Kong. You’re balancing your own schedule, your clients’ schedules, and even your clients’ bathroom schedules. You do it all—here’s how to make sure you make the time to do it well.
Sync Your Calendars
Do you use iCal or Google calendar to manage your personal or work calendar? From your calendar page, you can sync your Rover calendar with your iCal or Google calendar: It’s a great way to coordinate pick-ups and drop-offs—and make sure you don’t bite off more than you can chew. So the next time you accept a request, it’ll automatically update all your calendars. You can even choose to have pending requests and Meet & Greets show up on your calendar. Pretty slick, right?
Take 5 to Send Updates
At the Meet & Greet, we recommend asking your potential client:
- How often they want to be updated
- What kind of update they want (just a photo or a photo with a text update)
Take notes during a stay, and set aside five minutes to actually send them. Of course, remember to send all communication through Rover—we’ll even give you a search boost if you send consistent updates on top of delivering great service. And if you get that extra-sweet pic of a puppy snoozing after a long play session, we want to see it—and we’re sure their parent does too.
Stay Conservative with the Number of Dogs You Care for
Not sure how many slots to offer for each service? Start low. You may have heard the expression “underpromise, overdeliver,” and we recommend applying that same idea to your dog-sitting business. Especially if you’re offering a new service, or multiple services at once, starting with a small number of open slots will help you determine what you’re comfortable taking on. Later on, you can always expand the number of slots you have, but this way, you’ll have time to give each dog the attention they need—and give yourself time to breathe.
Be Transparent with Every Pet Parent
If you plan on watching dogs from different families at the same time, ask your clients in advance if they’re okay with it. Make sure they know who their dog will be interacting with and if anyone else will ever be in their home. If somebody asks you to only care for their dog, and you agree to book, don’t book additional business that overlaps.
Especially if you’re in the process of expanding your business by offering new services, now’s the perfect time to put these tips into practice. That way, you can spend less time juggling and more time, well…snuggling.