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by Valynne | Oct 9, 2011 | Caretaking / House and Pet Sitting, Chickens, Simple Living |
Rosie Gives Paul a Tour of the Back Yard
All of our Caretaking Couple facebook friends know that we have added chickens to our sitting repertoire, but I don’t think it has been mentioned here on the blog. Many a Portlander has a chicken coop out back. Not only are chickens entertaining (no, really ~ these chickens crack us up), but they lay eggs. I know! Bonus. And look how pretty the eggs are…
Breakfast, Compliments of Toops and Rosie
We can pick up whatever we need for the chickens at the nearby Urban Farm Store, and the owners have even written a book on chicken keeping. I love visiting the chicks whenever we go to pick up feed, etc. for the girls – they are seriously adorable.
Coop, Sweet Coop for Rosie and Toops
We are going to miss these girls when we move in to our new digs. Luckily, they will only be a few blocks away. Thank you, Toops and Rosie, for months of laughs and yummy breakfasts.
P.S. If you decide you want to raise chickens, be sure to find out what the regulations are in your neighborhood (some hoods don’t allow roosters, some have a limit on how many chickens you can keep, etc. etc.).
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by Valynne | Oct 7, 2011 | Caretaking / House and Pet Sitting, Heath and Wellness, Writers and Readers |
Six-Figure Pet Sitting by Kristin Morrison
I recently purchased a copy of Six-Figure Pet Sitting by Kristin Morrison. It took me a week or two to actually take the time to sit down and read it, but once I picked it up, I could not put it down.
In Chapter 5, Kristin discusses the concept of Inner Value, or the lack thereof. Although this book specifically covers pet sitting, what she has to say about inner value is pretty universal and worth pondering, whatever your occupation.
The following is an except from Six-Figure Pet Sitting:
“Do You Lack Inner Value?
A symptom of the lack of inner value is often under-earning. This lack of inner value can be made to look productive through marketing and activities to increase your business, but often there is little or no follow through to ‘close the deal’. Remember the sabotaging techniques you previously wrote about? A lack of inner value can also sabotage all of your efforts and often will feel as though you, once again, have your foot on the gas and the brake at the same time.
Having a lack of inner value that sabotages your business and financial success is often expressed through:
- Not raising client rates for two or more years.
- Being afraid to say no to a client request.
- Working too hard and not having a lot to show for it.
- Not holding clients to terms outlined in the contract.
- Not having clients sign a contract.
- Giving discounts without clients asking for them.
- Not keeping orderly and accurate business records.
- Being afraid to hire people and/or saying no to new business.
- Returning client calls too late: 24-48 hours later.
- Marketing a lot but feeling too tired to call new clients back.
- Not spending enough time doing revenue-producing activities.
List all the ways you notice that YOU lack inner value and sabotage your business and profit…”
She then goes on to have you list positive actions you can take to stop sabotaging yourself and provides a series of “action steps” that seriously encourages follow-through.
If you are a house and pet sitter, or are considering becoming one, please buy this book. This is just one of the excerpts that resounded with me. Thank you, Kristin ~ I SO needed to read this guide right before launching Phase II of Caretaking Couple! Here’s to Inner Value,
Valynne
PS You can find even more tools and resources (including business coaching, teleclasses, forms and a blog) at Six-Figure Pet Sitting Academy.
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by Valynne | Oct 4, 2011 | Caretaking / House and Pet Sitting, Dog Walking |
Rusty Rests After a Sunday Morning Social at Laurelhurst Park
Paul and I get a lot of questions regarding the future of Caretaking Couple now that we have decided to call Portland, OR home. There is no doubt in my mind we will continue to house and pet sit here in the US and eventually beyond…we will just be doing it with a “home-base” from now on.
This will allow us to only take the sits that we really want to take. It will allow us stay put when we feel like nesting, and to hit the road when the wanderlust returns. AND it will allow me to take on more clients. That is right, I will be dedicating the hours of 11am – 3pm each weekday to walking local dogs. And I can’t wait to get started.
This is our first official announcement…stay tuned for more details on a separate page I am adding to this blog in the next week or so. My goal is to fill these hours walking dogs right here in the Alberta District. I am meeting with other walkers in the area and brainstorming ideas regarding cross-promotion, covering for each other while on vacation, and other important stuff.
Please let me know if you have any comments/questions/suggestions for us while I work on revamping our business model. It doesn’t matter if you are a homeowner, a sitter, an aspiring sitter, or simply a supportive friend ~ we always appreciate hearing from you.
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by Valynne | Sep 30, 2011 | Photography |
This sunset photo was taken from our deck at the lovely SeaQuest Inn (Oregon Coast)
The homeowner here in Portland was recently back for a couple of weeks between jobs, which allowed us to do some wandering (we do love to wander). Since attending WordCamp, I have been following The Daily Post, which has weekly photo challenges : ) When I read the latest challenge, I was taken back to this one particular evening along the Oregon Coast in Yachats. Sigh.
I will be posting a lot more photos as soon as I can. Our two weeks off were spent not only along the Oregon Coast, but in the Northern California Redwoods as well, and I did my best to capture some of the magic. What an amazing trip we had. What an amazing part of the world this Pacific Northwest is. So happy to be here!
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by Valynne | Sep 26, 2011 | Friends of Caretaking Couple, Writers and Readers |
Katy, Bethany, Me, Sara, Michelle, Jeremy, Kristen, and Andrea
WordCamp PDX was a great experience for me. I met so many friendly, creative, and SMART people! Allow me to introduce a few new blogging friends, beginning at the back row, left…
Katy blogs here at the Non Consumer Advocate. Her motto is “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.” Katy will be proud to know that Paul and I have been “thrifting” all week for gently used items to fill our new old rental home with (stay tuned for pics).
Bethany and her husband are known as the two oregonians. They will be traveling the world starting in January 2012 (first stop, Peru). No, they aren’t independently wealthy ~ you will just have to read their blog to find out how they are pulling it off. So.Exciting.
And just in case we haven’t actually met, I am the shorter one in purple towards the middle. I’m not very short…just surrounded by taller women than myself at present : ) Anyway, that is me. Valynne. Or “V” for short. AKA Bloggess of Caretaking Couple.
Next we have Sara, the one who invited me to join this fantastic group. We met first thing at WordCamp PDX last weekend (great job on the SEO talk, by the way!). Sara blogs at Go Gingham, where simple living is “frugal, fancy and fun”.
Michelle and Jeremy recently got rid of most of their belongings and are embarking on a travel journey. They ventured west a few weeks ago and are loving Portland (it all sounds a bit familiar…). Check out Michelle’s blog Feed Your Skull for some serious raw gourmet greatness.
Jeremy is a developer and (to my delight) a writer as well. AND to everyone else’s delight – he is working on a recipe app for the group (in other words, Jeremy is Mr. Popular). Maybe said app will inspire me to actually put food on the table for once, instead of always relying on the Brit.
Kirsten’s claim to fame is that she rarely washes her hair. Yes, you read that correctly. But her hair looks great, you say. Exactly! To find out why hair washing is for sissies, click here. And to find out more about the good life, click here.
Andrea is a Dot Organizer for Automattic. I will have to find out what that means, exactly. More importantly to me at the moment is the fact that she blogs about her love of all things wine here. She is pregnant, which explains why her posts are fewer and farther between as of late.
But wait…there is also Monica, the taker of the picture. Monica has fifteen years experience with professional marketing, strategic planning and business development. She blogs here and is working on a new blog that I will be introducing to you all soon. Monica, it was so nice to meet you, and thank you for thinking to record this moment and send us all a copy.
And to everyone else I met at WordCamp and/or at Tabor Space (a delightful community coffee house and more), it was a true pleasure. You put the social in social media : )
V
