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By Rachel Doran, Tell Your Tails | June 2022

Even though self-care feels like a buzzword seen on magazine covers left and right, it’s actually an important topic. Self-care is simple; it’s taking care of yourself. And it’s important. Have you heard the phrase “don’t pour from an empty cup”? As a small business owner, your well being almost directly affects your pet-sitting clients. If you’re burnt out, stressed out, overwhelmed, and short on good sleep, your quality of work will, if not immediately, eventually decrease. That’s just the way things go. And as we all know, when it comes to taking care of living beings, there’s no room for error.

This is why it’s important to set boundaries in your pet-sitting business. Implementing self-care practices and boundaries will help you live a well-balanced, happy, healthy life!

Ways You Can Set Boundaries on Social Media

If you’re using social media to market your pet-sitting business, don’t forget that you can also use it as a tool to help set boundaries. Here are some examples of ways you can effectively communicate your boundaries and self-care practices to your clients using social media.

Services, Pricing & Scheduling

Owning a pet-sitting business means juggling a lot of different things. And that juggling act can certainly cause a lot of stress. Having clear services, pricing, and scheduling deadlines can help lessen the stress of managing multiple clients.

Remember that your clients have their own busy lives and jobs. They might not remember all of the services you offer or have your holiday booking deadlines memorized. That’s where you come in to remind them!

Use your social-media platforms to regularly share information on your services, pricing, and any deadlines or obligations that your clients need to follow. This helps to remind existing clients but also sets expectations for any new potential clients eyeing your social-media content.

Pop up Your Office Hours

We’ve all gotten texts at crazy hours of the night, phone calls while we’re out on walks, and emails during family time. While some clients will invade your personal time no matter what you say or do, many of your clients probably just don’t know your working hours. That’s why it’s so important to share your office hours with your clients on a regular basis.

You can create a simple graphic in a design platform like Canva. Title it [Your Business Name] Office Hours and add in days and times that your pet-sitting clients can expect you to be available and at your computer or phone.

You can use the caption of the post to elaborate by sharing what you are doing during office hours. For example, you may use your office hours as a time to respond to emails, reply to texts, send out invoices, and/or finish up next month’s scheduling. It’s important that you don’t assume your clients know when you’re doing what. Be crystal clear about the kinds of tasks you’re doing and when you’re doing them. This will teach them when they can expect things from you.

You’ll also want to use this post to address what your pet-sitting clients should do in the event of a question or an emergency outside of your office hours. What steps should they follow to ask that question or address the emergency at-hand?

Post a Vacation Time Notification

Everyone needs a vacation. We know that it can be really, really hard scheduling vacation time. There are always pets to sit and dogs to walk, after all.

A good rule of thumb? Plan at least one good vacation every year. And plan it early! The earlier you know, the earlier you can notify and prepare your clients and team.

Set yourself up for success by posting about your vacation time well ahead of time. And post about it multiple times! Use your social-media platform’s different content types to share. For example, on Instagram, share your vacation dates in a post, in stories, and add it to your highlights. You may even want to add the dates to your Instagram bio!

Share Policies & Expectations

Most people are good, well-intentioned humans. They aim to treat others with respect. But even with the best of intentions, they can offend or do something wrong. It’s human nature.

To avoid any miscommunication or overstepping boundaries, you need to communicate with your clients. We may think something is obvious or just plain common decency, but our clients may not see things the same way. That’s why it’s a good idea to provide clients with a ‘lesson’ on how to treat their pet sitter(s) and your business.

What does proper, respectful communication look like? What can they ask you to do? And what should they not ask you to do? How can they make you feel most comfortable as you care for their pet? What fits under your job description and what doesn’t?

For example, when clients go out of town, there may be times when they provide access to their home to another business or person. Maybe they have a contractor working on their bathroom. Or maybe they’ve told a neighbor that they can use their Peloton bike while they’re away. Whatever the situation, this access could make a pet sitter uncomfortable. As a result, many pet sitters will not allow others to access the home while the pet’s in their care. This is something that should be stated in the business policies, but it can also be shared verbally, in email, or on social media. You can totally create a social-media post, sharing this policy. You may want to provide some reasoning to give some context to the situation BUT remember that this is your business. You are absolutely not obligated to provide reasons for any of your policies.

In a way, setting boundaries is all about training your pet-sitting clients. You can’t expect them to be mind readers, so the more you share, the better your chances of them understanding and following your guidelines. Help them… help you!

When it comes down to it, you are a human being. Your personal life and health affect your pet-sitting business. So while it can seem difficult to set boundaries and stick to them, we encourage you to try these things out! Post about your office hours, book that vacation, do whatever you need to do to take care of yourself. Your ideal clients will respect your boundaries, no questions asked!