We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tracy Zipay a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tracy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

As a business owner, at this stage of my life, I am extremely happy! I started my business at age 60, and I wish I had done it sooner. I had regular jobs working for other people all of my life, and never thought about having a business of my own. My parents had run their own businesses from the time I was in my late teens, so I was not really around much when they were first getting started. I was on my way out of the household. Working for other people was great, they took the business risk, I got paid.
Until I started this business that is a passion. Now I get it! It’s not work. It’s challenging, but challenges I’m excited to face.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started my business, The Pawsitive Pets Sitter LLC, just as we were coming out of quarantine. I had been not working during that time, caring for my aging dog, who sadly passed in August of 2020. I didn’t want to get another dog, but I didn’t want to be on my own – so I started fostering dogs (puppies) again. I have been involved with dogs all my life, having been a Labrador exhibitor/breeder for a time, a field dog trainer/exhibitor, and my family/kids have always been involved in either fostering or pet ownership. I was so happy working with the pups, and a friend challenged me to make animal care a career. Why not, I needed a job, right? So I asked a friend who was a pet sitter if she needed help. As people were starting to travel again, she did. Long story short, she trained me, and I ended up purchasing her dog client list as she moved to being a cat-exclusive sitter.
As a 60-year old first time business owner, I was determined to do it right from the start. My mentor gave me as many resources as she could to make sure I was insured, bonded, created an LLC, had proper business structure, and, very importantly, knew the basics of caring for other peoples’ pets in their homes.

In addition, I sought out as many professional credentials and affiliations as I could. Pet Sitters are not generally known as being professional – they’re often considered hobbyists making extra money by feeding/cleaning up after their friends’ and neighbors’ animals. My goal has been to both learn, and unlearn, the best practices of pet care. As I started researching and training, I learned that a lot of the things we’ve been used to doing over the years with our pets may not be the best things. I learned so many new things that just blew my mind regarding animal/human relationships, how important they are, how to nurture them.

With trainings and certifications, especially Fear Free, I’ve learned how to work with pets on their terms, using the “considerate approach.” I’ve also learned a great deal about Pet Enrichment, based on the Five Pillars of Enrichment. These help allow animals to express themselves as animals in activities designed to give them mental and physical challenges. These activities help strengthen the human/pet relationship, and it is so rewarding to see!

Three years into my business, and I now have 3 employees who are also highly trained and certified. We all find joy in enrichment, and love what we do! As all of my sitters are trained, pet first aid/CPR certified, insured, bonded, and background checked, my clients can trust that their pets and homes will be exquisitely cared for in their absence.

I’m most proud of our sincere desire and ability to improve our pet clients’ lives through introducing enrichment and new experiences, and to give peace of mind to our human clients, knowing how much their pets are loved while they are gone. Not only do we care for them physically – making sure they are fed, cleaned up after, properly given medications (as needed), etc – but also emotionally nurtured.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I was so lucky to start out with the good reputation of the person I purchased my business from. She took the time to introduce me to each client I was acquiring, and made sure all were comfortable. I then was able to advertise as having been a part of her business, having been trained by her.

From there, I took it to the next level through seeking more education, certifications, and technology. I sought out those things that would make it easier for clients to find us, contact us, communicate with us, trust us. Then I worked very, very, hard and diligently to provide excellent service. I have to note, I started promoting as a Premium service from the start, adding extra value through enrichment, providing toys and games. This set me apart from other pet care providers.

My reputation continues through my and my team’s desire to communicate effectively with our clients, and to exceed their expectations in pet care.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Advice? I need it more than I can give it! But I’m answering this question because one thing I’ve learned from my team is that if you hire the right people, you don’t have to manage them. Train them well, let them know your expectations, train them more, give them what they need to succeed, LISTEN to them, and send them off! Pay them as well as you can, and let them know they are appreciated. Get their input when you’re considering changes. I’m a terrible manager, I worked as one before, and really – I was not good. In this business, as the owner, however, I have more control over interactions, and I try to stay out of my team’s way. We report to our clients via journals at every pet care visit. I stay on top of my team by reading their journals. If I have questions, suggestions, I contact them. I trust them!
Also – we have team meetings. We have team trainings. We talk, we learn from each other. We’re in a really good place!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yesspet.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepawsitivepetssitter/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YessPet