Hello! I'm Kristin Morrison, the Business Coach for Pet Sitters. I'm also the developer of Business Products for Pet Sitters™ and the owner of a large pet sitting and dog walking business that is based in California.

I’d like to tell you what inspired me to start providing business coaching and business products for pet sitters and dog walkers…

In 1995 I began my dog walking and pet sitting business with the intention of doing the business part-time while pursing a ‘real career’.  After a few months of pet sitting, I realized that it was what I wanted to do. My business began to grow and I began to run the business full-time. 

I knew nothing about running a business; I just knew I loved animals and the job seemed like a good fit for me.  Like most of the pet sitters that I now coach, I made many mistakes along the way in almost all areas of my business including: (but not limited to!) marketing, business and money management, hiring, pricing, and staff management. Initially these mistakes were buoyed by my enthusiasm for my growing business but after awhile these mistakes began to really impact my business as well as my quality of life.

After a couple of years of running my business I was working 12-14 hours a day, often 7 days a week and somehow not making a profit. It was distressing to say the least!

The hectic work schedule and the responsibilities of owning my business made me feel that I had a leash around my neck and was no longer simply ‘Kristin Morrison’! I was ‘Kristin Morrison, Business Owner’. I was pretty exhausted and mostly consumed by my business. I didn’t have a life. Even though I was working so many hours a day, I wasn’t even making extra money that I could really spend on myself. I was only making enough to support my business. It was ridiculous!

It was when I began to think seriously about selling my pet sitting business that something happened which completely altered the way I ran my business.

I realized that though I wanted to quit, I now had a taste of being self-employed. I noticed that the thought of working for someone else seemed impossible! I also REALLY loved animals and, though I was working long hours, I enjoyed having a job that actually paid me to work with cats and dogs. 

I decided that I wanted to find a way to make my pet sitting business work for me instead of against me.

I decided to give myself one year to make dramatic changes in the way I ran my business.  I wanted to create a successful business in the ways that mattered to me: having plenty of money and time to do the things I loved (besides working!)

I decided that, if, in one year, my business began to generate a large profit and if I started to feel more freedom within my business then I would continue to run it.  (What is the point of lots of money if there is no time to spend it and the quality of one’s life is poor?) 

So I committed to a solid year of doing everything I could think of to turn my business around. If the changes I made in one year’s time didn’t substancially raise my profits in addition to giving me more time to just be ‘me’ then I would sell my business.

The race was on…

I began to immerse myself in my own ‘business school for pet sitters’. Through my self-imposed business education (reading books, classes, business plan workshops, etc.) and by using my business as a ‘testing ground’ to implement different systems and strategies, I began to run my pet sitting business in a completely different way than I had just a year prior.

I realized that it wasn’t my business that had been creating a negative affect on my finances and my life, it was the way I had been running my business that had really been the issue.

After that one year that I’d set as a deadline I crunched the numbers: my business had created more money in that single year than the prior two years combined! More importantly for me, though was the ease with which I was now running my business.  These changes were also reflected in the fact that, for the first time since starting my business years before, I had time to myself again.  

I was now ‘Kristin Morrison’ for more of each week than I was ‘Kristin Morrison, Business Owner’.  I began to breathe more deeply. I began to notice I was enjoying life more. The positive changes that I had made in my business in that one year had positively affected nearly every single area of my life!

My business began to grow even larger and yet I noticed I was still running my business with ease and even more financial success. It was wonderful.

It was in 2000 that I recognized that a lot of pet sitters were in the same distressing situation that I’d been in (no money, no time) and that many of them didn’t have a light at the end of the tunnel.

In 2000, I stepped into the role of ‘light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel’ for those pet sitting business owners that were challenged, overwhelmed, stuck and consumed by their pet sitting businesses. I enjoy showing the light to those pet sitters who are in a dark tunnel. Or, as one of my business coaching clients said to me recently: "Kristin, you are the Business Whisperer!"   I don’t care what I’m called; I just like helping people out of the same frustrating situation that I’d been in years ago.

Using one-on-one telephone business coaching, workshops and teleclasses targeted for pet sitting business owners, I teach pet sitters from all over the country the necessary business skills and cutting-edge strategic changes that are needed to alter the way their pet sitting businesses (and in turn, their lives!) are run.

I also developed and produced business products specifically formulated for pet sitters. Pet sitters from around the country have used my Business Products for Pet Sitters™ as a foundation for starting and running their own dog walking and pet sitting businesses.  Others have used my hiring tools as a way to grow their businesses.

I continue to run my California-based pet sitting company, which includes over 30 staff members, 2 managers and over 500 clients. My work hours have dramatically altered since I’ve made the changes in the way I run my business: I now work only 3-4 days each week. I love the balance of my work and personal life. I also enjoy the financial success I’ve created for myself through running my pet sitting business in a smarter (not harder) way.

Care to join me?

Contact me now: businesscoaching@woofpetsitting.com
Or call: 616-712-1426.