I’m happy to announce that the AUDIOBOOK version of 30 Days to Start and Grow Your Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Business is now available starting TODAY! Woot! ?

This book is now available in audiobook on my website and on Amazon, Audible and iTunes!

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the audiobook:

Q. Where can I get the audiobook? A. You can click here to get it sent to you immediately from my website: 30 Days To Start and Grow Your Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Business audiobook.

Q. Is the audiobook available on iTunes, Audible, and Amazon? A. Yes, it’s also available on these three sites and you can click to get the audiobook from Audible.

Q. Does the audiobook come with a checklist or a booklet of any kind? A. Yes. It comes with a 71-page booklet to accompany the audiobook version and contains checklists, recommended resources and so much more.

Q. Kristin, was the audiobook recorded with your voice? A. I hired a professional voice artist named Kara to record the audiobook. Her voice is great. I think you’ll like it a lot. My husband even thinks she sounds a lot like me and he would know. 🙂 Here’s a picture of Kara:

Kara B. / Audiobook Narrator

Q. How long is the audiobook recording? A. It’s 6 hours and 20 minutes.

Q. Will I receive the audiobook right away upon order? A. Yes, you’ll receive the audiobook within 30 seconds of your order. It will be in mp3 files and you can listen from your smart phone or your computer, and you’ll also receive the 71-page accompanying booklet too.

Q. What’s the audiobook website page? A. Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy

Happy listening and starting or growing your pet sitting and dog walking business!

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Want to hire pet sitters and dog walkers to work for you? Or have a dog training, pet grooming or dog daycare business and want to hire so you can work less – and make more money?

Even though this book was written with pet sitters and dog walkers in mind, it’s really for any service-based pet business owner who wants to find, hire and keep good staff members.

Kristin Morrison’s newest pet business book is almost here!

The Hiring Handbook for Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers by Kristin Morrison is coming this summer.

Hiring high-quality, right-fit dog walkers and pet sitters is one of the most essential steps to creating more money, time, and freedom in your pet business, but you’re not alone if you find this process daunting… or even downright frustrating!

Pre-Order This Transformational Pet Business eBook and You Will:

-Easily navigate the hiring process and attract the staff you want.

-Understand how to financially prepare to hire.

-Learn the personal and professional benefits of hiring excellent employees.

-Stop stressing over paperwork — this book explains everything you’ll need!

-Receive expert advice on how and what to pay your employees.

-Get tips on how to delegate and release your fear of letting go.

-Know what to do if you need to part ways with a staff member.

-Strengthen your pet business reputation and professionalism.

-And so much more!

Regularly $24.95, this eBook is only $19.95 when you pre-order it today.

($5 off pre-order price offer expires at midnight on May 1, 2019. You’ll receive your eBook via email hot off the press in August 2019.)

Click to find out more and save $5 now on the pre-order price for The Hiring Handbook for Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers eBook.

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Did you know that the 8th Annual Book + Pet Photo Contest is happening now?

Entering is easy: Take a picture of your pet with one (or all!) of these four books from now until March 31, 2019:

Post your picture on Facebook and tag Kristin Morrison

OR

Post your pic on Instagram and tag Kristin Morrison

Here are the prizes for the winners of the Book + Photo Contest:

First Prize:

50-Minute Pet Business Coaching Session with Kristin
$250 worth of your choice of Pet Business Products
2 Pet Business Webinars of your choice

Second Prize:

$100 worth of your choice of Pet Business Products
2 Pet Business Webinars of your choice

Third Prize:
1 Pet Business Webinar of your choice

All kinds of pet pictures are welcome including:

I look forward to receiving your book + pet photo contest entries. One entry per person, please. 🙂

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We are so happy to have Pet Sitters Associates as a Platinum Sponsor for our 2018 Prosperous Pet Business Online Conference and I wanted to interview them so you could find out what they do!

Don’t know who Pet Sitters Associates is and what they do?

This information below will help you get to know this GREAT company:

Q What is Pet Sitters Associates?

A. We started Pet Sitters Associates in 1998. Our philosophy has always been to help individuals throughout the United States start up their pet care businesses at the most affordable rates possible. Pet Sitters Associates proudly offers membership benefits that include pet business insurance administered by RPS Scobie Group and underwritten by an AM Best rated: A (Excellent) Insurance Company.

Q. What is the cost of the basic membership, which includes liability insurance?

A. The cost is $190 for membership and insurance through Pet Sitters Associates. The membership and insurance is good for one full year from the time of joining and can be effective immediately at www.petsitllc.com.

Q. What are the member benefits?

A. You will gain access to a library of resources including our customer checklist and archived newsletters, quarterly newsletters, and the option to be listed on one of the largest online pet business directories and pet business liability insurance.

Q. What is the cost if we have additional partners/spouse/employees?

A. The cost is $90 for each additional person on your policy.

Q. What type of pet care business does the basic liability cover?

A. It covers pet sitting in the pet owner’s home, pet transportation, pet walking, and pooper scooper services.

Q. What if I bring animals into my home?

A. Members need to purchase the optional pet daycare coverage to extend the liability insurance to cover incidents at their home or pet daycare operation. The cost for this additional coverage is $155 and can be added for up to 3 employees/ICs.

Q. Do you offer a bond?

A Our Broadened Property Damage/Bond coverage costs an additional $100. This coverage provides $10,000 per occurrence or $25,000 of insurance coverage annually for the theft, breakage, and mysterious disappearance of the personal property of the pet owner while under the care of you, your employees, your independent contractors, or your incidental helpers. Please note if you do not purchase this additional coverage, there is no coverage under your basic membership policy for loss, damage, or theft of the owner’s personal property.

Q. What if I do any housesitting without animals?

A. You would then need to add the house sitting coverage for an additional $100. House sitting without pets present cannot exceed 45% of the total pet care business revenue.

Q. What about grooming?

A. Pet grooming coverage for an additional $50 would need to be added. This coverage provides basic insurance for individuals who cut hair or nails while pet sitting. If you are only bathing and brushing pets, there is no need for you to purchase this.

Q. Do you have any type of coverage for Obedience Training?

A. Yes, our dog obedience training coverage costs an additional $155. If you are only offering basic dog obedience training (sit, stay, come) when provided in direct conjunction with your pet sitting work, you are already covered under your basic membership insurance. This coverage is for those who offer training outside of their pet sitting work. This policy does not provide coverage for protection, guard, fighting, attack, or police dog training.

To find out more and sign up for membership today visit Pet Sitters Associates online: www.PetSitLLC.com

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Are you signed up yet for the 2018 Prosperous Pet Business Online Conference?

This is a free online event that you can attend from wherever you are in the world. All are welcome!

Transform your pet business by attending this year’s free online pet business conference. You’ll gain access to expert tools and techniques and learn from industry experts. This year’s conference contains 25 top experts who provide their insider knowledge in these strategy-packed conference segments.

This is an event that brings together pet sitters, dog walkers, dog trainers, pet groomers, dog daycare owners and many other pet-service providers from all over the world to receive fresh inspiration to grow their pet businesses in an all-new way – and those just thinking about starting a pet business will find helpful guidance, too!

This year’s conference is different from all the rest because we’ve curated the top selection of speakers from the past four years — including more speakers than we’ve ever offered before at prior conferences.

These 25 experts who received the most rave reviews in years past will bring their wisdom and their “hot topic” pet business segments for this year’s event.

The focus of the conference is business success – and it doesn’t stop there!

We’ll also be providing tips and tools for your body, mind, and spirit so you can completely transform your business and your life at the same time. Prepare to be amazed.

Need more information and want to sign up now? Click here to find out more and to sign up now for the 2018 Prosperous Pet Business Online Conference.


FAQ:

Date: September 12 – September 25, 2018

Where is the conference located? It’s a virtual event so it’s located in your home, car or office – wherever you want to view the conference speakers!

How long has this pet business conference been happening? This will be our fifth consecutive year of offering this free online pet business conference!

Okay, so I realize I can watch it from my home or office but how do I actually attend the conference? And will I be able to access the speakers from wherever I am in the world? Yes, because it’s a virtual, online conference, so you can attend from wherever you are in the world. When you sign up for the conference, you’ll receive daily conference videos via email from us between the two-week conference period (September 12 – 25, 2018). Each daily conference email from us contains 1-3 conference speakers. There are 25 conference speakers and a total of 28 videos that you’ll receive over a period of two weeks.

What if I can’t make some (or all) of the conference dates? You’ll have access to each day’s video selection for a total of 24 hours to watch the daily videos that you receive from us. If you need or want unlimited, lifetime access to the videos, you can purchase the conference video package for a low price.

How much is the conference? It’s free for 24-hour viewing to each daily speaker selection. But if you want unlimited, lifetime viewing so you can watch whenever you want in the future, you can purchase the speaker package for a low price.

Sounds great! How do I sign up? Signing up is easy! Just click this link to sign up now.

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Before I had an established morning routine practice, I used to fly out of bed in the morning, grab my tea or coffee and get to work! But… then I realized that I needed to be deliberate and intentional when I started my day in order to set myself up for success. Taking specific actions in the morning has helped me so much personally and professionally, so I wanted to share more about my morning routine with you today.

(You can also read more in-depth about my morning routine and now to create one for yourself in Chapter 11 of my newest book: 30 Days to Start and Grow Your Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Business, as well as my book for dog trainers, pet groomers and dog daycare owners called Six-Figure Pet Business.

Three Basics to Know Before Deciding What Your Morning Routine Will Be:

1) Start the Night Before. Set aside a few minutes at the end of each workday to look at the following day: what you most want and need to get done. This will help you hit the ground running in your business after your morning routine.

2) Wake Up at the Same Time Every Day. I realize this may not always be feasible for everyone, especially if you have kids or pets who may not adhere to a time schedule! But, if you can do your best to to create a schedule for yourself as consistency in both what you do for your morning routine, and when you do it, will set you up for success.

3) Get Moving. Putting regular exercise in your schedule can both help you sleep better and be more focused when you’re working. Both of these benefits can really pave the way to help you establish a good morning routine!

It’s important that your morning routine is able to shift and change as you and your pet business shift, change and grow.

My husband doesn’t like this picture because he’s squinting from the bright sun. But I love this pic and him, squinting and all. 😉

When I was single and living alone my morning routine was very different than it is now! I’m married now, and though I still have an established morning routine to set up myself and my business for success, part of my morning routine also includes spending some quality time with my husband.

My Morning Routine

Besides spending a few minutes of quality time with my husband in the morning, here is my morning routine on most mornings:

-Wake up and make tea
-Go to a quiet part of the house and write my Morning Pages which also becomes my To-Do list (more on this in a bit)
-Write my To-Do list (usually no more than 5 “must do” items)
-Look at my To-Do list and text that day’s action steps to my “action buddy” (more on this in a bit too)
-Meditate with my husband for 5 or more minutes
-Eat a healthy breakfast
-Check email and phone messages and respond to those most urgent
-Work out at the gym for one hour (3-4 times a week, yoga 1-2x a week on the days I’m not working out)
-Shower
-Work

From the time I wake up until the time I check email and phone messages, my morning routine takes about 60-75 minutes. I wouldn’t give that up for the world and when you establish a regular morning routine, after awhile you won’t want to give it up either!

Now, here’s the thing: each person’s morning routine can and should be a little different. What works great for me may not work great for you. You will have to find your ‘sweet spot’ morning routine and that includes how long and what’s involved.

Morning Pages are one part of the morning routine that I would really encourage you to try for at least three weeks, even if it’s not something you really want to do. They’ve had a profound impact with many of my coaching clients (including those who were resistant to doing them) and definitely have had a big positive effect in my own life.

Ever since I first read about Morning Pages in the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, I have been writing them and it’s now been over twenty years. I feel that some of my business success is in part due to the fact that I do this ‘brain dump’ every morning and come away with clear actionable steps that set me on the path for success each and every day.

What are Morning Pages?

The instructions for Morning Pages are simple: write three pages in your journal; preferably by hand on paper. Don’t edit, spell-check or critique yourself while writing. Simply write! If you can’t think of anything to write, then write: I can’t think of anything to write. Keep writing until you’ve reached three pages. You may get flashes of insight, clarity about a problem you’ve been struggling with or clear To-Do list items for that day. You may simply feel lighter and freer as you start your day because you’ve released gunk that’s been in your brain for awhile. Regardless of what you walk away with, it will most likely be GOOD. But it sometimes takes a few days or weeks to really see the profound results from Morning Pages so that’s why I always recommend that it’s done every day for at least three weeks, including weekends.

Why and How to Get an “Action Buddy”
An Action Buddy is someone with whom you connect with on a daily or weekly basis and share your action steps with or your To-Do list, or anything else that you need support and accountability assistance.

Connecting with my Action Buddy Sharon is a big part of my Morning Routine and I always text with her immediately after I’ve written my daily To-Do list with that list (and again, that list of actionable steps usually comes from the clarity I’ve received from my Morning Page writing). She texts me her To-Do list and sometimes we both “bookend” (check in) at the end of the day to say what we’ve accomplished and what we haven’t. Even if we don’t check in at that day’s end, there’s something incredibly powerful for both of us in having sent our To-Do lists to each other in the morning. I am more likely to get all of my items done because someone else knows what I have on my plate that day and I feel accountable to that person (and she to me).

If you want to get an action buddy, there are a number of ways to find that person. Ideally, it’s a good idea to get a fellow pet professional as your action buddy, someone who really ‘gets it’. Part of the Catapult Pet Business Program that I offer involves the action step of getting an action buddy and when you sign up for the program, you’ll have that opportunity too. There’s a supportive and private Catapult Facebook group that you’ll receive access to when you sign up for the Catapult Program, where you can request an action buddy.

If you can’t find a pet professional to action buddy with, I recommend reaching out to local business owners you may know, especially service-based business owners. Running a business can be isolating and having a supportive business buddy can make all the difference in the world!

Regardless of what your Morning Routine might look like, I encourage you to start one tomorrow – or even today if you are reading this in the morning. It’s never too late to set yourself up for success!

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1. Show Your Phone Who Is Smarter: This is one of the most important places to start when you are stressed because for most business owners (especially pet business owners), life revolves around the phone. Let’s stop that dance and get control over this inanimate object that is relentless in its need for your attention. Turn off your phone at night -and during the day when you need some peace and quiet- no more rings and text dings to take you away from what you need and want to focus on.

Move those notification reminders to somewhere other than your main phone screen so you don’t get sucked in. Commit to getting off your phone at a certain time every night – no matter what. (Two hours before you go to bed is ideal.) Warning: gaining control over your phone may not be easy initially. For a lot of humans, the phone is a drug with seductive superpowers. Take your life back by setting some boundaries with this puppy that up until now has probably been peeing and pooping all over the floor of your life. And one more thing: don’t bring your phone to the bedroom – commit to using it outside of where you sleep and rest.

2. Hot Water Healing: Put lavender or eucalyptus-scented essential oil epsom salts in a hot bath. Highly recommended an hour before sleep or during the day when your stress has reached a level that is making you feel batty. You’ll find inexpensive essential oil epsom salts at Whole Foods (365 brand). Give yourself the gift of 20 minutes of soaking. Just you, the water and the salts. Light a candle. Turn on some soothing music. Make it a ritual to connect with yourself and let the water take your stress. The water can handle your stress. You can’t. Let the water take it away.

3. Get CALM: Calm is a magnesium drink that can be found at Whole Foods or on Amazon. Taking a bit before bed can be a soothing nighttime ritual to relax your nerves and pluck the stress from your body – from the inside out.

4. Meditation, Baby. Get Mindful: Just 5-10 minutes a day can work wonders for a frazzled soul. Get the Insight Timer (free app) or simply sit and breathe. Inhale and exhale. In and out. There you go. It’s simple though not always easy. The hardest part is often just getting your butt in the chair or on the meditation cushion. But once you do? Ahhhh…

5. Morning Practice: Cultivate a gentle morning practice that focuses on you first; you with you – before giving yourself to the kids, your partner, your work, your pets. Ideally 30 minutes but if that time amount feels challenging, start with 10 minutes. Use the morning practice time to do whatever feels like the most self love for you: Morning Pages (journal writing), meditation, writing or visualizing how you want to your day to go and what you want to FEEL that day – and let yourself feel those yummy feelings. When you feel the feelings of how you want to feel that day, really feel it, you can already begin to embody and entrain yourself to set the energy and the stage to experience that feeling now and then it will be more easily accessible during your day and when business or life gets challenging.

6. Focus On Your Goals: If you don’t already have written annual goals, choose ten goals (5 for business, 5 for personal) that, if you were to accomplish them, would really make a difference for you. Write them down and (this is important), don’t stick them in a drawer or leave them in your journal. Instead post them where you can see them daily. Read them aloud each day. If stress is a regular challenge for you, have one of your personal goals be to give yourself the gift of one or more de-stressers a day. Use this list or create your own.

7. Love Your Body Through Regular Exercise: Exercise can often be the first to go to the wayside when our work consumes us and yet it will lead us back home to ourselves, to mental sanity and to inner and outer calm. Schedule your exercise ahead of time and schedule everything else around your exercise so it, and your precious body, come first. Your body is the vehicle that helps you do your work and live your life. Are you treating your car better than your body these days? Do you give your car regular oil changes, tune ups, gas? Keep doing that (it’s important!) AND also begin to turn that car love into regular body love. Our body shows up for us every day in magnificent ways. Give back by moving it regularly and getting it stronger. Plus, regular exercise clears out the mental cobwebs. I know you know what I’m talking about.

8. Kindness To Self Through Healthy Diet: When busyness and stress happen, the quality of the food we eat can sink lower than the Titanic. Raise it up with leafy greens, tasty vegetables, proteins that satisfy. Healthy food is fuel. If time is an issue during the week, do some meal prep on the weekends (cut up veggies and lettuce for on-the-go salads, prepare healthy soups or other easy meals ahead of time). When you are prepared, you’ll be able to more easily handle whatever comes your way in the coming week because you’ve got pre-made fuel that will serve you. Weekend meal prep will help you hit the ground running on Monday and help you love yourself through being conscious and thoughtful about what you are putting into your vehicle (your body).

9. Get Connected: Stress thrives in isolation – and pet business owners are often isolated when they are only working with pets and themselves. If that’s you and you feel isolated, schedule a hour or two of quality time with at least one loved one each week. Call a trusted support once or twice a week to stay in touch. Studies have been done that texting does not satisfy our need for connection. If you were to look at a “connection food chain”, you’d find texting or messenging on Facebook is at the bottom of the food chain and least satisfying, phone calls are in the middle (so-so in terms of our need for connection nourishment – it does satisfy but not deeply) and in-person time with loved ones is at the top and will most satisfy that crucial need for regular human interaction, sharing, and connection. Get yourself out of the connection desert and into the oasis. It will make a world of difference.

If you’d like MORE – reach out and book a pet business coaching session.

I’m looking forward to showing up for YOU and helping you manage your pet business, your time, and your life!

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