In home, pet and home care while owners are away on extended vacations or other business.
Description:
Such a job can provide any amount of requirements depending on each individual job that you are asked to do. Pet sitting is an important job. Most pet owners dislike leaving their beloved animals in kennels, especially since the separation is likely to be anxiety inducing enough on the pet. Keeping their animals in their homes is much more convenient, especially if there is someone nearby available to also look after the house. Such requirements could include anything from feeding and walking a pet to cleaning up after a pet to even playing with a pet while the owners are away.
If the owners request it, the job could also include home care as well. Such requirements could include anything from watering plants to taking in newspapers and mail to simply keeping an eye on the house while the owners are away. Of course each owner is going to have different needs depending on how their home is run as well as how long they will be away. Ideally, the biggest selling point is that you are nearby to easily have access to the home. Considering your radius availability as well as density of a pet population in your area is the biggest consideration that will need to be decided before discerning whether such a job would be ideal for you. However, if anything happens to the pets, it could very well be your responsibility. But if you are successful, it is an amazing thing to stick on a resume. It shows exactly how responsible you are, and that people could trust you with their homes and pets.
How I got the idea / found the employment:
The idea wasn’t my own. It was plopped down in my lap. Our neighbor, who had a cat and a dog, frequently had to leave her home in order to attend conventions. She asked if I would be willing to look out for her animals while she was away as well as tend to her home’s general needs. It became a regular job and the pay was relatively good and actually opened up a few other similar opportunities. The dependability I was able to portray allowed people to trust me over other neighbors, friends, or family members.
Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:
There are a number of challenges in this job. It requires an extremely high level of responsibility, especially if there is an emergency that requires you to take action. Remember that this job involves people’s beloved pets. I once took care of a cat that had just recently had kidney surgery and was on medication that made it need to urinate frequently. The owners informed me that I needed to keep a sharp eye on the litter box, making sure that the cat was urinating. If the cat failed to have 3 or more urine samples a day, I would need to contact its veterinarian. If the vet instructed me, I would need to be able to take it in for some care. Luckily for me, I never had to do that, however, such a huge responsibility lay over me the whole week I visited the home.
This job can even require odd hours. My next door neighbor had a dog who liked to escape out the back doggy door. It didn’t seem to matter if I locked the doggy door, or if I shoved boxes in front of it, the dog would always manage to get out and bark in the middle of the night. Luckily for me, I lived right next door. I was awoken in the middle of the night to the dog barking. I had to get up on my own account, (without prodding from a parent) get dressed, and walk next door in the middle of night. The dog was just lonely, so I spent a good hour sitting with the dog until it calmed down enough for me to go back home to bed.
Another challenge is being able to demonstrate that high level of responsibility and prove it to other, potential new customers. In order to get new customers, they have to know that they can trust you, getting the word out on that is difficult. The best way to do that is to ask other people that you have provided your service for to give testimonials as well as their contact information. This way, people considering in using your services can check up on your credentials if they have any qualms about your abilities.
What I learned:
The best thing to do is to do your homework. Know emergency numbers, understand the animals you are tending for, be prepared to discuss with the owner possible actions to take during an emergency. Make sure that your parents are aware of each of your jobs and have contact with your clients. This will usually calm your client’s fears if they know that there is a responsible adult available if there is a problem. If the home owner fails to specify a certain usual home or pet task, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Ask them if there are any plants that you can water, or if there are any other tasks that you can perform as an extra service for them. Make sure that you negotiate price up front. Don’t leave payment to be a surprise at the end if you get a lot more or a lot less than you expected. You may decide to have a standard rate, but usually it works well if you allow the client to set their own price. This might mean doing more work for less pay for someone. Suggest making it a policy to contact the owner regularly to give updates. If the owner trusts you not to have to do this, this is fine as well. Request a time to go over to the owner’s home where they can give you instructions on what you should do. Take lots of notes and ask lots of questions. You may request that they create a checklist for you, if they don’t are unable to do so, make a checklist for yourself from your notes. The biggest benefit from having this responsibility is that it is a great item to stick on a résumé; it is also often a flexible job with flexible hours. And, depending on demand, you may not have to be working all the time.
Pet and House Sitting
Description:
When my sister, Ashley, was in High School she decided to pet and house sit for people when they went out of town. The area that we lived it was a more wealthy area and a lot of people would take long vacations over the summer. The reason this job worked so well was because she was able to house and pet sit for many different people at the same time and the money would add up to be large amounts without too much work and Ashley was still able to have an enjoyable teenage summer. Her responsibilities for house sitting were to bring in the mail and newspapers every day, check on the house everyday (this usually just involved walking through the house and making sure no one had tried to break in and all windows and doors to the outside were closed and locked), watering plants, and turning on the porch light and an occasional inside light to make it look like the house was being occupied, for this Ashley charged $10 a day and she spend, on average, about thirty minutes at each house every day. Pet sitting was a little more demanding but also made more money, Ashley was able to charge $30 to $40 per day, depending on how demanding the pet was. For all pets she would feed and refill the pets water in the morning and evening, and spend a little time giving the pet some individual love and attention. Dogs would get walked three times a day and a cats litter box would be cleaned out every couple of days as needed. Ashley did find that there were some dogs whose owners wanted them walked more and who needed someone to stay with them overnight and those animals are the ones who she would charge the $40 for. Ashley found that she could be house and pet sitting for multiple people at the same time and easily be making over $100 every day which is great for a teenager, and she was still able to have lots of time in her day to have fun, sunbathe, read, watch movies, shop and just hang out with her friends.
How I got the idea / found the employment:
A family that Ashley babysat for asked her if she would feed and walk their dog while they were out of town for two weeks, after coming up with a price she decided if she did this for multiple people at the same time throughout the whole summer she could make a lot of money. Ashley was able to spread the idea of her services through word of mouth and found that there was a large demand in our area.
Challenges I faced, and how I overcame them:
The biggest obstacle that Ashley faced was balancing multiple houses and pets at the same time. Ashley found that if she made a detailed schedule for herself everyday of what time she needed to be at each house and stuck to it then it would all work out well but if she just tried to play it by ear than some pets would be waiting longer periods between walks, or would be really hungry by the time she got there.
What I learned:
The most valuable lesson Ashley learned with this job was how to decide an appropriate price for your service and then to be firm to your price. It is not a good idea to ask people questions such as “What do you want to pay”, instead it is better to come up with a reasonable price and then sick to it. Telling people outright from the beginning how much you charge is always the best policy.