Curious what you think the best way might be to get some farm sitting jobs… I am getting laid off in 2 weeks and have tons of experience in grooming/barn management and pet sitting/farm sitting. Use to run my own 20 stall barn, worked for top event trainer and dressage trainer who both currently have the help they need… I’m thinking doing farm sitting would help me make more money than just working in a barn… but only have a couple clients currently…
I’ve got flyers out and a facebook site… any suggestions?
You could try putting signs up in tack and feed shops, spreading the word with your former employers. There are web sites. I think that Wag.com and rover.com may have horses included.
Tell your farrier and vet. My farrier sends me more clients that I can cover. My horse vet also does small animals so she sends me all kinds of work—some easy, some not.
Do you have a local area facebook page? Post on there.
Care.com has sections for pet care and includes horses / farm animals as things you can check off. Let the local veterinarians and farriers know. I would love to be able to actually leave my farm occasionally. I haven’t found anyone with an actual business and insurance who can do it yet. I am close to just finding someone and subsidizing their insurance policy in return for a discount on services!
Definitely let farriers and vets know, if you are any good they will recommend you :yes:.
And search all the local FB sites for horses/pets. I see posts all the time of people looking for farm/pet sitters, dog walkers, etc, and people can post/PM/etc. I had a friend who was doing this and I tagged her in the ones I saw, so make sure your friends know too, maybe they will tag you.
I’ve actually been doing that, but when people ask for a farm or pet sitter, a million people respond and it seems like I never hear back from anyone…i do keep trying though.
Not at all sure where you are—but Farm sitting from someone with your experience as listed, and abiliity to schedule only your farm sitting jobs (not working elsewhere) should make you golden. I’ll tell you: the " ‘altermetoday’ could be concerning. Gives the impression there was a reason to have an alter in the first place. since you have a FB page for your business, can you share it for folks here and suggestions / interest back to you?
there is actually a reason for the alter. I’ve always had a full time job, however, I’ve been a part time realtor for 12 years. some years I do a healthy amount of business, some I do less. I’ve taken a lot of time this year to build a social media presence as a realtor and have a blog, facebook sites, Instagram, etc.
My fear is that going public with farm and pet sitting will be a negative for my real estate business. I have 3 closings coming up and expect to get some good referrals. I feel like my social media for real estate should take precedence over the farm sitting and pet sitting, however, these jobs will sustain me as I’m moving forward. I anticipate doing these kind of jobs for a longer term in case real estate does not take off so want to sustain some contacts, however, I worry that future clients may see my name attached to both and think negatively which will hurt my longer term picture.
So…I’m trying to market the pet sitting farm sitting with more of the company name. It makes it harder to get business though because people know me…and not the business.
I’m struggling a bit with how to handle this. I’ve got some money coming in from severance and these closings, but I’m used to a steady paycheck… so I’m hoping the farm sitting and pet sitting can help with the inconsistency of real estate closings…
I’m a professional (full time) pet/farm sitter and dog walker. First, get petsitters insurance and make sure it covers horses. Second, have a friend recommend you on any Facebook posts looking for a sitter. People trust referrals (even from strangers) more than they’ll ever trust you. I’m always looking for independent contractors to work for me so you may be able to link up with another established business.
Doing it as a real business is a great idea – I would have no problem with a Realtor also owning a pet-sitting business. (Especially if I were buying – someone I have already worked with can also farm-sit? bonus!)
As someone who needs a farm sitter, I would love to find such a person, with an actual business and liability insurance. Ideally it is more than just one person – what if they get into a car accident on the way to my place or their kid gets sick, is there anyone else who can pick up the slack?
(I wonder if anyone has come up with an app yet where your pet-sitter can check off visits and attach photos, so you can see that all is well while you are away…)
