How do I know when its time to raise my rates?

Hi Lori! In my personal experience, I raised my rates twice after starting on Rover. I made my profile in November and started with a rate that was $2-3 lower than those in my service area (in order to get some clients, get my business started and get my name out there). After gaining about 5-10 clients, I raised my rates to equal other sitters in my area. I left it that way for about 5 or 6 months, but quickly realized I wasn't making as much as I wanted and I felt that my services were worth more than what I was charging. I raised my rates a second time and I have left them that way ever since. My rates overall are about $5 more per service/per pet than those around me, but I am comfortable with it.

Basically my answer is that you should change them as you see fit. There really is no standard answer on when to raise or lower them. Put your prices where you think they are fair but don't under value yourself. I personally felt that after Rover's fees and my gas, time and effort, that $12-15 per walk was just too little (not to mention taking out money for taxes), so I raised it to $20 per walk. I still get plenty of requests and I don't struggle for clients even though my rates are a bit higher.

It also helps if you have plenty of reviews and repeat clients (which I see that you do - awesome!!). For me, this really brings in the business because it keeps me at the top of the search results and it makes my page stand out compared to other sitters in the area who only have 5-15 reviews and even less repeat clients. Also, do the absolute best you can do when caring for pets. Something special I do when I leave each and every single one of my dog walks, drop in's or overnights is that I leave a gift bag (filled with treats, a toy or a gift, a business card and directions on how to review my page). Most people LOVE this extra special touch and it only costs me about $2 per bag (I get all my items from the dollar store). This shows people that I care and it makes a great impression, so I get much more repeated business because I go the extra mile.

Again, in short, base your rates on how well you think you perform your job and as long as you're comfortable with it, business will come.

As far as letting your clients know about the change - I never notified anyone. It's my business to run and I didn't feel like I needed to personally notify everyone that my rates went up. If you have repeat customers and they take notice that the rate changed, they might ask, but in my experience it didn't ... (more)