Mentoring to Raise the Standards
Following Helen Motteram’s 1:1 mentorship programme I became an Approved Coach in her Pet Professional Network.
Ushering In A New Breed of Sitters
Pet and house sitting in the UK is a service in it’s infancy. It is a service that has no current standards (unlike home boarding, kennels and other pet industry professional services). Right now, anyone can decide to be a pet and house sitter. This presents a huge risk to both the pet owners and the sitters themselves.
On the various pet related facebook groups that I frequent, I have noticed many concerns with pet owners and pet sitters alike.
Pet owners have concerns over topics such as:
- How to find a reliable pet sitter
- How much to pay a sitter
- How to prepare for a sitter’s stay in their home
- What information is required for the sitter to care for their pets and home
- What credentials should a pet sitter have
Sitters have concerns over topics such as:
- What to charge for their services
- Whether pet sitting will be the right job for them
- What insurance to have in place
- What policies to have in place
- Where to advertise their business
These are the concerns that I would like to address.
The pet sitting industry has changed a lot over the years and there has been a dramatic increase in pet sitters since Covid.
This can be a good thing if you are looking for this service but it can also be confusing as to which pet sitter is suitable for your needs.
With this in mind, I would like to dispel any uncertainty when it comes to choosing the right sitter for your pets and home.
The way in which I plan to do this is with my new business venture called Octopus Moon.
There will be more information about Octopus Moon on the website once it goes live. However, I would like to share some of my plans with you now.
I will be connecting with professional pet sitters that are looking for something different. My vision is to create a safe and supportive group and within this group, set the standards that I believe to be important.
These standards are for pet sitters to have insurance, a valid pet first aid certificate and another qualification related to this business such as a Pet Sitting Diploma, Pet Nutrition, Cat Behaviour or Dog Behaviour.
I will be personally vetting these sitters prior to them gaining access to the group. These pet sitters will still be running their own businesses, I will not be employing them.
Pet sitters that join the group will benefit from my mentoring sessions and my business management system. I will be on hand to offer advice and guidance on any topic that sitters are concerned about.
The business management system will greatly reduce the time they spend on administrative duties so they can spend more time with caring for your pets.
With encouraging sitters to have the same standards and similar procedures implemented into their business, this will inspire them to support each other and benefit from helping each other out in case of an emergency.
If you are a pet owner, you are also welcome to join Octopus Moon.
There will be a registration process and once this is successfully completed, you will gain access to these vetted sitters.
I am looking for pet owners who understand and respect pet sitters and the huge responsibility they bear when taking care of your pets and property.
You can feel rest assured that I will always be active in the group and making sure that each sitter adheres to their procedures and that their credentials are active and up to date.
This will be a huge endeavour and one that will take awhile to implement. There are likely to be some pet sitters that don’t wish to be a part of this and some pet owners that would prefer to have a free sitter.
I am still going to pursue my dream of having started the journey to standardising the pet and house sitting industry.
Hopefully, one day the government will introduce regulations so that this industry can be given the credibility that it deserves.