It's time to begin.....

Kakiste · 7 October 2022 at 12:06PM

So we've got friends up for the entire weekend which will be lovely. Arriving this evening leaving Sunday dinnertime.

I've already rounded off everything I need for Monday's lessons so I've got nothing more to do for work until afterschool Monday.

Kakiste · 11 October 2022 at 8:41AM

Had a great weekend. One of my friends bought me a box of houseplants so I'm going to have another stab at keeping them alive. (I've got a very impressive money tree that she gave me as a tiny plant a decade ago that is now 2 ft tall but every other plant I've tried indoors I manage to kill- I'm fine with outdoor plants but not indoor ones)

One of our leather sofas in the living room is dying a death (I got it off fb marketplace 8 years ago so it's done well but the corner seat is now collapsing- however I've found someone on marketplace giving away a free leather sofa and footstool so that should do nicely to replace it- looks like they're moving house so getting rid of a massive amount of stuff free if you can pick it up before the weekend.

Kakiste · 13 October 2022 at 12:36PM

I've got @greensalad to thank but I've got a fairly decent additional side hustle going on at the moment. On recommendation I signed up with cat in a flat back in 2020 (pet sitting cats in people's own homes rather than them putting them in a cattery) and it was basically dead for a year. Then I booked one job back in the summer holidays and since they left me a 5* review I've had multiple bookings. Made £90 so far and just had another 2 bookings come in- one for this weekend (£25) and one for a full week in November which will get me £70. So thanks for that.

greensalad · 13 October 2022 at 12:59PM

Kakiste said:

I've got @greensalad to thank but I've got a fairly decent additional side hustle going on at the moment. On recommendation I signed up with cat in a flat back in 2020 (pet sitting cats in people's own homes rather than them putting them in a cattery) and it was basically dead for a year. Then I booked one job back in the summer holidays and since they left me a 5* review I've had multiple bookings. Made £90 so far and just had another 2 bookings come in- one for this weekend (£25) and one for a full week in November which will get me £70. So thanks for that.

Amazing! It's so good isn't it! Try Pawshake too. I was set up on both. Though weirdly Pawshake was bigger in my old area, but since I moved CIAF is much busier.

I no longer do it anymore, since moving to the countryside it's too far to travel to any worthwhile appointments, but it's a perfect side hustle. I think my best weekend was £800, for doing August bank holiday. I think I did about 8 cat visits in the morning and 8 in the evening for 3 days! But it's such a simple way to make a little extra cash if you don't mind a bit of graft (poop).

Glad it's worked out for you. It will really start to roll. My first was in summer 2019, and then I had nothing until Christmas 2019. From then on it just rolled and rolled. I had about 8 regular customers who came back every quarter or so, (sometimes more for the retired lot) and then plenty of new ones coming in again and again. It won't be long until you have a huge customer base.

Kakiste · 14 October 2022 at 11:11AM

The £70 one next month has said that if it works out and they reckon their cat is happier than being in a cattery they'll book with me when they go away to visit family in Australia next year.

greensalad · 14 October 2022 at 11:51AM

It's also worth remembering you could suggest they not book via the app and go direct, giving you 19% extra income.

You're paying for the insurance, which is really important when you are walking dogs obviously but less so for cats and small animals.

If they have their cats vet insured, then they are already pretty well covered. I'd always ask them that question at the first meet. The only thing you'd need the insurance for really is public indemnity, which you might be able to buy for yourself as an annual policy and have it work out cheaper than the 19% lost per booking. Depends on how comfortable you are. Personally any client that had only cats that were already insured I had no qualms going private with them.

Kakiste · 14 October 2022 at 4:08PM

I've already done that with 1 owner- she directly asked me if cash in hand was better for me and after checking she had pet insurance took her up on it.

The other two so far paid me through the app prior to meeting me so the conversation wasn't needed this time. (Though I've made sure we swap mobile numbers so we can communicate via text if they decide to rebook me in the future and I'll raise it then)

The lady who has made the November booking lives round the corner from me, so we've agreed to have a brew in half term to discuss everything including payment then.

Kakiste · 20 October 2022 at 12:31PM

Nearly to half term! Managed to get all my paperwork done and due to leading an activity offsite tomorrow afternoon I've only got 3 lessons between now and the end of term. Everything else is technically done though so I need to sort lessons and print off resources for the first day back, but other than that I should be finished.