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DISCUSS: You don’t NEED all those asshole customers…..

January 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below :)

You don’t NEED all those asshole customers you hate to make money, you need to CREATE better customers… Peter Drucker said: “The purpose of a business is to create a customer” What we have done that has doubled the business every year for the last 5 years is be MORE and MORE selective about who we want, who we market to, and who we will NOT deal with – take this Drucker quote literally in your business and CREATE the customers you want – it’s not about reacting to who comes through the door its about DEMANDING and CREATING a better class of people – CHOOSING! SO what do you choose? Discuss?

Source: https://www.facebook.com/saleswarlord

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Filed Under: Business Hints Tips Advice, For Pet Sitters Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Being a PROFESSIONAL Pet Care Business (not just a pet carer)

January 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The latest update as someone who is renovating her pet care business and hopefully taking it to new heights.

How’s my VA via oDesk working out ?  She’s now a very integral part of the business for me.  Would my business survive without her – yes. It survived without her for years however the feedback I’ve received from clients is overwhelmingly positive.  Not to mention, since she’s taking care of the administration side of the business I have been able to take care of a lot of other areas that were being neglected.

Would I recommend this option ? Yes.  Overwhelmingly yes.

How’s my business coach working out ?  They have been on holiday for a month at the time of this post which is more than okay by me as their holiday coincided with my busiest time of year without fail. I have implemented a lot of the changes that they have suggested and mentioned.

It is due to some of the changes that they have suggested that I decided … new year… let’s renovate the website !

Well, let’s see.. the last time I renovated my website was around 2008 or 2009.   So whilst I have been able to change the content and various other aspects… the look… it needed an update.   With thanks to using the WordPress platform, this has been relatively easy and quite affordable. I commissioned Cas McCullough.  I opted for her “Re-jig” package.

I’m also impressed with her work as she re-did the header banner and made quite many of the images that are used on the site.  She also worked night and day as such to try to get the work done sooner rather than later.  Since my website for me personally is an integral part of my business – it was very worthwhile for me to invest in it.  This small investment will pay in the long term.

Now that she has done the “re-jig”, it’s up to me to fix the “fiddle-ly little bits” :) easy done as I enjoy website stuff ;)

Was this part of my new year plans ?  Hell yes !  One of my plans is to increase my subscribers on my mailing list (for Gold Coast Pets).   Now that the website “re-jig” is finished, I can concentrate on now keeping my “list” subscribers happy.

Another of my new year plans is to increase my Facebook liker count and “people talking about this” aspects… not to mention to encourage (convert) as many of the likers as possible to join the mailing list.   For me to do this, I’ve been concentrating less on other pages that I’m also administrator.   I realise I had lost my focus.

Time to re-invest in my own Facebook page and especially my exclusive (secret) Facebook group for my clients.   I’m going to encourage a lot of my clients to give me permission to add them to the secret group so they can get to know everyone in my business better (and also hopefully get to know each other better – have our own little micro community).

To that effect, all this is working up for me to be able to launch something that I have not seen any other pet care business do yet (which surprises me a little).  Most businesses or business people get their businesses up and then start to want to franchise them.

No thank you.

Couldn’t think of anything worse.  It’s no different to having sub-contractors or employees in my opinion.  My whole “gig” is to keep my “team” small.  To focus on quality versus quantity whilst keeping my profits.   One of these ways is through strategic alliances…  yet that takes TIME… I have to meet with everyone first.   Not to mention, some of the people I’m meeting for the first time so I need to work on my relationship (business-wise) with them first to see even if they are the right fit for such an alliance.

At the moment, I’ve already met with a few people this year (yes and it is early in the year).. which has been very worthwhile.

Can’t wait to see what the rest of the year holds for me :)

 

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Filed Under: Aunty Vanessa, Featured Member (Dog Walker), Featured Member (Other), Featured Member (Pet Minder / Boarder), Featured Member (Pet Sitter), News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Pet Carers can be Social Media Superstars !

January 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Wordify – Social Media Ghost Writing for businesses….

English: Data from April 2011 Editor Survey th...

English: Data from April 2011 Editor Survey that lists Social Media activities (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is the highest compliment when someone writes to one of the Social Media pages that we handle the writing for, with absolutely no idea that it isn’t the business owner doing the posting :)

We work extremely diligently to ensure we capture the essence of our clients. Many have even told us that their customers have said directly to them “loved that post you put up”, and they smile and nod, because they know that it was relevant & business-specific, but aren’t really sure which one it might have been. They can just focus on doing what they do best…. their business.

Let us know if we can help you find more time in your business while we take care of the Social Media side of it (and yes, we cover ALL the majors, plus the new players as they arrive and make an impact, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Blogs & a mobile-device specific website – in one easy service)

It could just be worth you making the call to find out more. Elle – 0438 468 737

From Aunty Vanessa: I personally do not use Elle as I am as passionate and knowledge-able about all of this as her thus I really enjoy doing the social media side of my business. Yet I also understand for a lot of pet carers that you are time-poor and would rather concentrate on what you do best – look after the pets.  Please consider giving Elle a call because social media is here to stay. 

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Filed Under: Business Hints Tips Advice, Events, Featured Member (Other), For Pet Sitters, News, Social Media Hints Tips Advice Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

GOLD COAST PET CARERS – GCNCC Business Planning Workshop

January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment

 

Real Estate Business Planning by Diane Flannigan

Real Estate Business Planning by Diane Flannigan (Photo credit: Phil Sexton)

GCNCC Business Planning Workshop

 

When: 7th February 2013

Where: Hope Island Links Function Room

Time: 6.00pm – 9.00pm

Cost: $25 members; $50 non-members


CLICK HERE TO CONTACT GCNCC TO RSVP

 

This workshop is in part funded from community grants from GCCC Division 3 Councillor Cameron Caldwell. 

 

Most of us are familiar with the very high failure rate of small businesses with 50% failing within 2 years and 90% within 10 years. It’s scary and sobering. It’s also preventable.

Generally speaking, small businesses fail or don’t expand and grow for two main reasons – a lack of capital and a lack of planning.

Can you imagine how successful a wedding day, an overseas trip or building a new home would be without a plan? We all spend time planning events like these to ensure a successful outcome. Why is it that so many small business owners embark in business without a plan?

Many business owners are so busy in the day to day operations of their business that they have forgotten why they are in business, where they are headed and the key strategic goals needed to grow their business.

GCNCC will be conducting a training evening on February 7th to assist members and guests to write their business plan. It will be a practical, ‘hands on’ training evening with a tangible outcome. You will leave with a two page business plan that will help take your business to the next level.   

A business plan will give you clarity. With it you know why you are business, how this aligns with your purpose, provide you with clear vision of where your business is headed and know how and where growth is coming.

From your business plan you will have clear SMART goals and actions steps to achieve these. Having big ideas in your head is great but as you know, thoughts are also random, numerous and often confusing. Getting them out of your heads and on paper gives clarity and focus.

 

Like a map, a business plan has check points or key markers along the way to where you are headed. You need weekly, monthly or yearly ‘check points’ in terms of your staffing, marketing, operational and financial goals. Seeing where you are headed and passing the clearly signed check points ‘is a powerful motivator and confidence booster, knowing that you are ‘on track’.

 

Maybe you are like many people who think that business plans are a big waste of time because once written for a particular reason (usually to raise finance for an idea or interest) they get left on the shelf or in the filing cabinet, never to be looked at again.

 

Your business plan needs to be current and provide you with continuity. It also needs continual and constant reviewing and revising. It should be central to your weekly, monthly and yearly planning. If you are using this to build your business, Version 1 will become V4 (at least) by the end of 12 months. Doing this it will ‘force’ you to take time out to work on your business.

 

Think of your business plan as your business compass – it gives you and your business ‘true north’ and keeps you moving in the right direction – with confidence, focus and clarity. Many distractions will come your way and you will be tempted to move in different directions as you get nudged and pulled off course. Inevitably your spirit and mojo will be low on occasions too. When this happens go back to your plan and like a compass it will point you in the right direction. Knowing you are on track and passing your milestones is tremendously encouraging and keeps you on purpose!

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Filed Under: Business Hints Tips Advice, For Pet Sitters, News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Thoughts ? “most customers … were more forgiving of quality service …”

January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment

findings from a Gallup research study, revealing that most customers were not willing to forgive ‘poor’ service if it’s quick, and while they were more forgiving of quality service at a slower pace

( source )

As We Forgive

As We Forgive (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The way that I personally have translated the above is that people are more willing to forgive poor service if you offer quality service whereas if you were offering quick visits only (for instance) they would not be forgiving.

Personally, this is why even over the busy Festive Season (and we will again do this over Easter) my own business will not compromise quality time with the pets for the sake of trying to acquire as many new customers (and thus only do short visits).  It is also the reason why we concentrate on our house sitting clients during these busy periods (quality over quantity).

This is what works for me.

I’d love to hear your thoughts !  How do you interpret the above research ?

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Filed Under: Business Hints Tips Advice, For Pet Sitters, News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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