My Musings: From Fur to Fin

In the fall of 2016 I was let go from my job. While it was a shock and not the greatest experience, I was so unhappy in that job and it really was time to move on to something else, I just needed a little push to get me out the door. When considering my next career move, I knew for sure I didn't want to just jump into another corporate office job like I had been doing for the last several years. Those types of jobs were so unsatisfying and I hated office politics and the constant drive to climb the corporate ladder, that just isn't my personality.

So I took a year off, to really give some thought into what I wanted to spend my life doing. I traveled a lot with family and friends which was amazing to see the world and strengthen bonds with those most important to me. All the while I kept trying to come up with a job idea that would make me happy to go to work every day.

During my travels, I always needed to find someone to care for my pets while I was away. This was a struggle, it was hard to find people available when I needed them, and I always felt like I was burdening them, especially when I would be gone for weeks at a time. I knew of some pet sitters in Salt Lake so I tried to find some in my area, and I couldn't find any, so I figured, I should go into pet sitting! This idea solidified in my mind while at a cooking class in Milan and our teacher's pet sitter came to take her dog for a walk in the middle of our class, it showed me this was a universal need and that people all over the world are using pet sitters.

When I got home, I looked into what I needed to do to become a professional pet sitter and how to set up a business. I found an online certification course that outlined how to set up a pet sitting business, as well as some useful information about the three most common pets, dogs, cats and birds.

I began the course in January of 2018 and spent the next two months taking copious notes, this online course taught me so much about all the steps I needed to take to set up my own business. I also learned so much about how to care for dogs, cats and birds as clients.

Sometimes I studied late at night ...

... Sometimes I studied in bed ....

... sometimes I studied on the couch, but no matter where I studied I always had fluffy company. Can you spot Harley the bunny...?

There were three sections to the course and after each section, I would be tested on what was taught in those lessons.

At the end of February I had completed the entire course!

And was awarded this certificate completion

Next, was the hardest part of the entire process, coming up with a name for my business. I definitely didn't want anything cheesy, which is pretty common in the pet service industry. I asked so many people for their thoughts and ideas and was constantly brainstorming. Some ideas I thought about in the early stages were:

Hound and Home

Magical Menagerie

The Pretty Pet

Beautiful Beasts

I'm obviously really into alliteration. Out of those I liked Hound and Home the best and thought of doing an old english vibe for my website and marketing. But I got lots of feed back that it would be confusing to potential clients, and they would think I only pet sitted dogs. Which was a very valid concern.

So, I circled around the idea of creating a name that would encompass all types of pets. I originally wanted to come up with a name that included Fur, Feather and Fin, but there are already sooooo many businesses that have names with all three of those words in them. So I dropped the feather and decided on Fur to Fin. I sat with this time for a while, I liked the concept of it, but I felt like it sounded like a pharmaceutical name when said quickly. I also had a lot of people not understand it at first, but when I explained it they thought it was cool, but I wasn't going to be able to explain my business name to potential clients, if you have to explain it, it's not a good name. So I added "From" at the beginning, so it became From Fur to Fin, and that was the winner!

Now that I had a business name, I could move forward with getting a business license, getting pet sitter insurance, and designing my marketing materials and website.

I did some research on the best website building sites and decided to use WIX. I loved how my website turned out and I get so many compliments on it all the time. While sifting through their different types of business templates, I found they had one for pet sitters, which made my job so much easier. They also had tons of beautiful stock photos I could use, that was one thing I was worried about, finding quality photos to use.

I didn't really have any sort of color scheme or direction in mind when I started creating my website, but these were the colors that kind of just appeared as I was playing around, so they became my brand colors by chance.

I played around a lot with different pictures, layouts and looks and here is how it ultimately turned out:

Next came creating an instagram page which I linked to my webpage so potential clients looking through my website can also see all my insta photos.

Then came creating a google page so I would pop up when people searched for pet sitters in Lehi

Next came designing business cards and other marketing materials. I worked with a designer at Alphagraphics to get them just right.

This was the thrown together sketch of what I wanted my logo to look like that I sent over to the designer.

He sent back a couple of different ideas. I really liked the top two, for the front and the back. I made just a couple of tweaks to it and then ordered a whole bunch.

I love how they turned out!

I got my first piece of business mail! It was such a thrilling and rewarding experience to open my mail box and see my business name printed on an actual piece of mail! It made it all seem so official.

After I had everything set up and in place, I took the plunge, on Monday March 19th, 2018, I announced to the world that I was opening my pet sitting business. Up until this point I had only told those close to me what I was planning and it was so nerve racking to go public with it after months of doing so much behind the scenes work.

I know pet sitting is a unique career choice and not everyone understands why it would be a rewarding job since it isn't prestigious, high ranking or even that high paying. But everyone who is close to me and knows me super well have all said it is the perfect job for me. To me, making a difference in the lives of animals and their owners is the most rewarding career out there. This job feels very service oriented, at the end of the day I know I have made the lives of pets and owners happier, and less stressful and I love that feeling.

I obviously have a love for animals, I am drawn to their innocent, forgiving, loving, pure and sweet energies, those aren't qualities you find in most office jobs. I have also been told by several family members as well as new clients that I have a gift of gaining animals trust and admiration quickly. So many clients have told me their animals never act the way they do around me upon my first meeting with them with other people. So I like to think I have choosen a career that speaks to my true gifts and talents.

But it was so scary announcing the opening of this unique business that I had put so much of my heart into, I felt pretty vulnerable. I announced my opening on my personal instagram and facebook pages as well as on Canyon Hills' and Traverse Mountain's facebook pages. The support and validation I received from friends, neighbors and strangers was unbelievable. So many people commented on how a business like this is needed in Lehi. I was so excited!

While I was taking my certification course, I had read an article by a lady who had started a pet sitting business in California, and she said it took about 3-4 months for her to get her first client. So, that is where I set my expectation. I was over the moon when I had a client in just a couple of days!

Walter was my first ever client, and I could not of asked for a more perfect animal to start off with. Walter is the sweetest Golden Retriever ever. All he wanted to do was snuggle and soak in all the pets. I only had him for one day, but it was the perfect introductory job with which to start my business!

Within two weeks of opening I had 4 more clients. I couldn't believe how well things were going! I tear up a little bit every time I think of these first few clients, who took a chance on me without any reviews to back up my service. They let me into their homes and trusted me with their sweet fur children and I will be forever grateful for them for helping me get some good experience under my belt and to build up this business.

Bailey and Tris

Pearl and Jinx

Autumn

Sheera

I wanted something to make my business stand out and to make my clients feel like they are treated well. I know I love coming home to a little surprise after a vacation, so I came up with the idea to leave a couple of drinks and a welcome home note for all of my clients who book for a vacation pet sit. (I originally wanted to leave a little treat of some kind, but I had to think of something that pets wouldn't be able to get into or tear open so I came up with Izze Sodas)