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Professional pet sitting is more than a career—it’s a lifestyle. PSI launched its #petsitterlife initiative to highlight the unique joys and challenges of the pet-sitter lifestyle, and the #petsitterlife feature series has that same goal. Each month, we’ll feature a different PSI member in a Q&A blog post and an Instagram “takeover.”

This blog post will help you learn more about this business owner’s #petsitterlife and provide you with some tips and advice for your own pet-sitting business.

PSI members, if you are interested in being considered for a #petsitterlife feature, please fill out this online form.

Meet Daniel Reitman, owner of Dan's Dog Walking and Pet Sitting in Port Washington, New York.

Name: Daniel Reitman

Business name: Dan's Dog Walking and Pet Sitting

Location: Port Washington, New York

Year you started your pet-sitting business: 2009

Why did you decide to become a pet sitter? People always ask me how I started this business, and to be completely honest, when I am asked I always find myself explaining how I never planned on starting a business; it just happened. Growing up with animals my whole life working with them was almost second nature. I always had dogs in the house but that was never the only critter we had running around. I have had frogs, lizards, fish, scorpions, chinchillas; basically anything my parents would allow through the doors eventually became a pet. The passion for working with animals was always there.

In 2008, I took a semester off of college to figure out just what I wanted to do with my life. My search quickly ended when I started working as a vet assistant at the Manhasset Animal Hospital under the guidance of Dr. Robert Henrickson, to whom I will always be grateful for giving me my start. Through my work at the animal hospital I was able to learn about all aspects of caring for animals, beyond just pet ownership, but also the symptoms of countless diseases, emergency care, and countless other valuable skills. As time went on I decided to continue my education and enrolled as a part time student at Nassau Community College.  

At NCC I began to hone my skills as a business owner, and after coming to the realization that what I had thought was simply just a part time job, my dog walking was a service that had a real need in the community. I wrote my first business plan and was able to continue to grow and develop the company. As time passed and the business began to grow, it came the time to hire my first employee. This was one of the hardest things I had to do up until this point in my business; trusting someone other than myself to care for these animals that I have been caring for and have formed such a strong bond with. I quickly learned that when you find people who are equally passionate about working with animals it can lead to something wonderful.

The needs of Dan's Dog Walking and Pet Sitting continued to grow and unfortunately I had to step down from my position at the Manhasset Animal Hospital but was able to maintain an incredible relationship with the entire staff to this day. We expanded our service area as well as the menu of services we brought our clients. The great thing about a business like this is when you are able to build an amazing team of employees it becomes easier to grow and improve. I continued my education at Hofstra University where I graduated in 2013 with a degree in Entrepreneurship. This business has also allowed me to pursue my passions by allowing me to start a non-profit organization, Hope For Hope, as well as a tech start-up, SmartLine and CharityWait. I am also currently the CEO and Co-Founder of High Performance Edibles as well as a Partner at Corigem. For more info about my other work visit my website.

Today I am incredibly grateful and amazed to look back on the journey that this business has taken me on. I have been fortunate enough to surround myself with an amazing team of staff and I have been able to create wonderful relationships with my clients. My mission with this business has always been to provide pet owners with someone who is reliable, trustworthy and caring to care for their pets, and I am incredibly honored to have been given the chance to do so for so many people within my community for so many years. I look forward to many more years of providing the best quality pet care for pets.

Number of current clients: Client Base: 1,800. Current Active Clients: 950.

What does your typical day look like? We are currently doing about 140 visits per day on average. We do our client meetings in the evenings and do staff meetings monthly.

Is your service area urban, suburban or rural? Our service area is primarily suburban. We service the North Shore of Nassau County on Long Island. Our service area for Nassau County, New York, includes Port Washington, Sands Point, Manhasset, Plandome, Roslyn, Roslyn Estates, Roslyn Harbor, Roslyn Heights, Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Kings Point, Glen Cove, Glen Head, Sea Cliff, Old Brookville, Brookville, Upper Brookville, Greenvale, Locust Valley and Oyster Bay. We are gearing up to expand further east on the island and planning on a large expansion over the next two years.

Do you offer any services besides basic in the client’s home pet sitting and dog walking (pet taxi, grooming, etc.)? Dog walking, in home overnight pet sitting, pet taxi, medical and post-op care, ear cleaning and teeth brushing, brushing coats, pooper scooper services

Do you use staff sitters, and if so, how many? 30

Can you offer any tips for recruiting and managing staff? Above all else, as a business owner you always need to remember that you work for your employees. The better you treat them, the harder they work for your clients. We have made our corporate culture one of the primary focuses of our business. We are always investing in our team to improve their overall job experience as well as how they get to engage with their co-workers. We try to get our team involved with all levels of the business, from asking them for their feedback to getting awesome ideas from advertising—your staff are one of your greatest assets. All of my management team, my content creators and writers all started out walking dogs for the company and grew into the roles that they are now in. When it comes to hiring we use Google Hire for our ATS (Applicant Tracking System) and post our job listings across all platforms including but not limited to: Facebook, Instagram, Craigslist, Ziprecruiter, as well as our client mailing lists. We are always on the lookout for a potential person to join our team! We even ended up hiring someone who was working as a delivery person for a local restaurant after we saw their amazing level of customer service plus how much they loved the dogs in our office. Just remember your employees need to know how much you value them as a member of your team.

What PSI resource have you found most helpful? When I first started I used a lot of the tools offered including marketing ideas as well as contracts. PSI is a fantastic resource for anyone in the industry from starting out to growing into a massive company!

What educational opportunities have you taken advantage of since becoming a pet sitter? I have invested a lot into improving myself as a leader but learned quickly to hire for my weaknesses. I use a lot of the awesome tools from PSI as well as other pet care professionals in the industry. I spend a decent amount of time on the Facebook groups as well. I listen to podcasts, read books, listen to interviews and books, but the main idea here is to never stop trying to improve what you do and how you do it.

What advertising methods have worked best for your business? We have seen a fantastic ROI from our social media content that we have created over the years as well as running ads on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. We also pay our staff to get their cars wrapped to help increase local awareness of our brand. We invest a lot into the company gear we provide our team as well—each employee gets t-shirts, tank tops, long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, winter jackets, beanies and baseball hats, just to name a few! We look at everything as a potential branding opportunity.

Are there any must-have business tools your business could not do without? We use Pet Check Technology and Power Pet Sitter for scheduling and tracking. We utilize Zendesk and Ring Central for client communication. I also don't think I could run my business without a good pair of Bluetooth headphones!

What steps do you take to practice self-care and prevent burnout? Clean and healthy diet, twice a week therapy, daily meditation, working out, float tanks and the occasional vacation. When I feel burnt out I find focusing my efforts onto helping others as well as focusing on rescue work provides a positive perspective. Here is the video to the rescue trip we did down in Texas two years ago: https://youtu.be/FJyUoo_-TDQ.

Do you set goals for your business each year? Yes. We set quarterly goals. Early on the focus was setting goals for quality service, now keeping that in mind the focus is on growth. We have been fortunate enough to build a strong digital presence over the last nine years so we have a steady flow of referrals and new business coming in organically. Right now our focus is mainly on growing a quality team of staff to continue to provide the high quality of services our clients are used to.  

Do you have any tips for setting and achieving business goals? Be realistic with where you're at and set actionable goals...not just results you want. Print goals and make them visible to staff. Reverse engineer goals—figure out whether it is a financial goal, number of clients, number of walks or whatever it is you want to achieve and then find a way to work backwards from that goal to step one. Double down on what is working but don't neglect other channels through which you can obtain new business. Always be looking for new ideas for how you can market your business. I am not the best at this but as you progress take a moment to look back on how far you have come with your business!

Share tips for connecting with other pet professionals (e.g. pet sitters, veterinarians, dog trainers, etc.). Always come to them with something of value before you ask for anything. Refer to them without asking for anything in return. Check in with local businesses from time to time to begin to build relationships. We are actually launching a pet friendly business feature on all of our platforms where we are going out and filming their business and featuring the piece on our social media and our website.

What advice would you give to other pet sitters who would like to grow their businesses? Be creative, be genuine, always think long term. Always do right by your customers, even when it costs you money. If you make a mistake, own up to it. Never get defensive; try to always see things from their perspective if something goes wrong. You are going to make mistakes. Mistakes are okay as long as you learn from them and pass that knowledge off to your team as you grow.