We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tonya Freeman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tonya below.

Alright, Tonya thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
In the pet sitting industry there are a lot of hobby sitters and other professional sitters as well. In order to stand out and make your business successful with so many other in the same industry is to grow your knowledge of pet care. You must continue find ways to increase your learning . There are pet first aid classes to help handle an animal injury or an emergency if it arises. Training in animal behavior so you can deal with pets who have many different behavior issues whether its from anxiety or aggression. Read and under stand each breed you may be watching so you know how to understand the pets personality. In this industry you must have patients with the pets and clients as to everyone is different. Always go above and beyond and offer consistent quality service to help your clients . You can help by training there there dog to do tricks or in obedience, if the client may have rushed to go out of town and forgot to take trash out or left dishes, take care of that so when they return they wont have nothing to do. Small things can set you apart and they will refer you to others and that helps you stand out and be successful. Network, network , network is the key to success too! Most importantly always take time to yourself. In this industry it can be very stressful at times and everyone gets burned out. Many pet sitters get stressed when there fully booked, and don’t know how to turn down clients, Working all day on holidays and missing time with family and friends. You must take days off and plan days for a get away so you can recoup . If your stressed and burned out you will not be able to stay successful because you health may go down, your too tired to take on new clients, or just get to where you no longer want to stay in the industry. Never loose your passion and always be willing to learn new ways to stay successful in your business.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I have loved animals all my life even as a child. There is nothing I am scared of. I would bring home all kinds of creatures home and wanted to care for them all. Now I am 47 and i still want to rescue anything I find hurt or lost from bats to dogs. I don’t know anything other than pet care and don’t want to do anything other than it. I work for animal control for years and saw so many hard cases of animal cruelty and it tore me up emotionally . After that I went into rescue , I was a vet tech, then learned grooming, next i learned dog training, then I was hired as a pet sitter in 2012 and from the 1st day I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life! I started my own business in 2014 called Heavenly Creatures Pet Sitting. I love each and every animal I care for and my clients have become like family to me. I am always doing my best to offer my clients the best of the best in pet care and trust with there pets. I love the excitement when I walk in a clients home and I see those cute little faces all happy because I am there. The loves and cuddles they give you is the best feeling ! I don’t see myself doing anything else so I give my life to this business and strive to make it the best successful pet sitting company I can.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
In the pet sitting industry , one of the most effective ways to build your business is word of mouth from clients. If you build trust and give great services they will refer you to anyone they know.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
In 2020 when covid hit was a very hard time on many of us pet sitting companies. I was not sure I would be able to stay in business. Everyone couldn’t travel, people staying home, and no vacations, I had a few clients who still let me come while they were home working or still had a job to go to, but it wasn’t enough to pay my bills. I was on the verge of loosing everything I worked so hard to build. Thankfully I stuck it out and made it through.

Contact Info:

• Website: heavenlycreaturespetsitting.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heavenlycreaturespetsitting/