One of the biggest business epiphanies I’ve had happened a few years ago and completely changed the way I ran my business. Let me share it with you…

I had a challenging phone interaction with a person who was the poster child for being a Bad Client. She was demanding, nit-picky with my staff, cheap (she had a huge fit each time I raised my prices) and was generally unhappy about the service we provided no matter how much we bent over backward to help her. This challenging phone conversation with her was one of the many that I had with her over the years of working with her and like all the others, it left me feeling socked in the stomach and depleted for hours afterward. I realized that nothing we could do would make her happy and that left me feeling very confused about what to do next.

Before I became a pet sitter and a business coach for pet sitters, I worked in the restaurant business where the old adage is: The Customer is Always Right.

This adage has served me well in my pet sitting business because it’s helped me cultivate stellar customer service and instilled in me loving kindness toward my clients even when I’m grouchy and don’t feel like being loving and kind. My clients’ well-being is very important to me as is my commitment to providing them with the best pet sitting and dog walking service that I possibly can.

However, after having this phone interaction with this Bad Client, I realized that 5% of my energy was going to 95% of my ‘well-behaved’ clients and 95% of my energy was going to the 5% handful of really difficult, demanding, and nit-picky Bad Clients that I had.

Read that again, please. Let it really sink in and see how that percentage applies to your business…

Whew. That epiphany changed the way I looked at my clients from then on.

With this lightning bolt of awareness, came the realization that I could actually do something about the quality of my business relationships. Here I was simply accepting that having bad clients was something every business must deal with and even cater to (‘the customer is always right’ adage) but what if this way of thinking was untrue?

Because dealing with the handful of difficult clients was taking up so much of my time and energy (and even causing me to spend less time with the 95% of clients who were easy to work with) I decided to do some Spring cleaning of my client list and let the Bad Clients go.

Here’s what I did and how I did it:

1. I looked at my client list with honest eyes and wrote down who the difficult clients were.

As I wrote down the difficult client names I would find myself rationalizing: ‘Well, this one isn’t so bad, they pay us $____ a month and the work really isn’t that hard.’ I had to keep bringing myself back to “Does having interactions with this client deplete me and cause me a lot of stress?” If so, they went on the list, despite my money rationalizations.

2. After writing down the ‘difficult client’ names, I then examined whether the money they were paying us was worth the stress they were causing to me and my staff.

Have you heard the term ‘golden handcuffs’? This term applies to what having a well-paying difficult client is like. I had to look at how much having peace in my business was worth to me and if I was ready to commit to that I had to let the truly difficult clients go. I also realized that I wanted -and was committed to- 100% of my client base to be clients I enjoyed caring for and working with.

3. Once I decided that having a peaceful business and harmonious client relationships was worth more to me than all the money in the world I was ready to take action.

I began to realize that I was spending a lot of money on ‘self care’ (massage, etc.) because I was needing to reward myself after feeling emotionally beat up by certain Bad Clients. So here I was actually spending the money that I had made from them to take care of myself because of my depleting interactions with them! Crazy, I know, and I imagine you know what I’m talking about here if you have any Bad Clients.

I began the process of calling the difficult clients and letting them know that we were no longer able to provide service for them. When they asked why I would say that ‘I just didn’t think our service was a ‘fit’ for what they were looking for’.

Some clients got angry that we were firing them. I stayed strong in the occasional emotional outburst from these clients because I had come to the firm resolution that my having a peaceful business was priceless. This made it easier for me to stand behind my “We aren’t the right fit for what you are looking for.” Also I was aware that the emotional outbursts from these clients were the last ones I would have with them and that made it much easier for my remaining detached! I can survive anything if I know it has an ending.

4. Realizing the truth of ‘one door closing is another one opening’.

As I weeded out my Bad Clients an amazing thing happened: I began to make even more money than when I had the Bad Clients and with less stress.

Within a couple of weeks of letting the Bad Clients go, new Good Clients ‘magically’ began calling and because I had more energy to deal with them (since I wasn’t depleted from 95% of my energy going to Bad Clients) I was quick to respond to new client calls, happy to be on the phone with those clients, and eager to take care of their pet care needs.

5. Being vigilant about not taking on any new Bad Clients.

I developed an intuitive ear for not taking on any new Bad Clients. I hear them coming from a mile away now! I can hear the whine in their voice and I listen when they say they’ve gone through 5 pet sitters and haven’t been happy with anyone. This is not the kind of new client I want.

I realize that due to my resolve not to take on Bad Clients, I occasionally may let some potential good clients slip through my fingers but I tell you what: I would rather let that happen than take on another draining Bad Client.

I wish you courage in letting the bad clients go and having 100% of your energy be used toward caring for your Good Clients.

-By: Kristin Morrison

About the author: Kristin Morrison is a pet sitting business owner and business coach. Kristin is a firm believer in working smarter (not harder) and has created a six-figure pet sitting business while working 3 days a week. She coaches other pet sitting business owners on the fine art of creating a successful pet sitting business while maintaining a fun and successful life. You can email Kristin at: businesscoaching@woofpetsitting.com

Her business coaching website is: http://www.woofpetsitting.com/biz_coaching.html

She also has developed pet sitting business agreements, client contracts, and staff contracts. You can visit her products website at: http://www.woofpetsitting.com/products.html

Keeping a pet is important because pets act as companions to human beings. In order for your pet to live long, you need to ensure that it is healthy and clean. You also need to know how best to keep your pets healthy and clean. For instance, your pet needs to be fed well and kept in a decent kennel so that it may live comfortably. You need to ensure that you know your pet well. Study it keenly and get to know what it likes eating most. Some pet foods may affect your dog or cat simply because it reacts with that particular pet food.

A healthy pet needs to be cleaned often. The factors involving how often to clean the pet include if the pet is allowed outdoors, and how active it is. If your pet is allowed to be outdoors you may have to clean your pet as often as once a week, while also cleaning its paws daily when it comes indoors. Cleaning your pet, whether with an outdoor hose or in the bathtub, will help reduce the chance of your pet attracting fleas and ticks. It will also help reduce the amount of bacteria your pet picks up so it will be less likely to be sick.

Make sure that it has had a decent complete meal. It is best to discuss your pets diet with your local vet. The vet will consult with you in regards to what type of diet your pet may require. Each pet is different. Some may require more fiber while others may require more protein. Packaged pet food is okay to feed most pets, but for the healthiest pet you may want to consider preparing fresh food for its meals. As long as you have the proper nutrients, such as carbohydrates and proteins, fresh food will always be better than packaged pet food.

In order to keep your pets healthy and clean, you can also opt to tame them on cleanliness behavior. For instance, you can take your pet for toilet training classes. This way, it will be able to adapt the cleanliness etiquette.

Bacteria exist in many places. You should therefore ensure that the bowl in which you feed your pet is spotlessly clean and bacteria free. Do not let old water or food sit in the bowl for very long. Ideally, clean the bowl at least once a day.

Having a pet is big responsibility. In order to keep it healthy and clean you will have to spend a significant amount of time learning about your pet. Throughout its life you will have to spend a lot of time caring for your pet.

-By: Christine Rafii

Christine Rafii is always looking to upgrade her current living room furniture. In her spare time, Christine has written a site with reviews of chairs and ottomans, as well as a review of a ottomans with storage.

How to start a pet photography business? You need the necessary skills to take good photographs if you want to be paid for your services. On top of that, the equipment that you have is also very important. Skills and equipment is essential if you want to succeed in the pet photography business. Although good equipment can be expensive, it is necessary if you want your pet photography business to thrive.

Having a professional atmosphere for your customers to bring in their pets is also another important factor. You have to find a location which is easily accessible, and once you find the ideal location, you have to spend time to do up the place such that pets will feel comfortable in it.

Keeping the place clean and freshly scented is absolutely essential if pets are going to be in and out of your place the whole day. Giving a professional impression is a great way to keep your customers coming back and they may even refer new customers to you! How to start a pet photography business is actually pretty simple if you keep to the rules. You can provide service that goes the extra mile by offering house visits to your customers. This is very rare as most photographers prefer to take pictures at drug stores or pet shops.

Once your pet photography business is up and running, start doing what others don’t do. For example, put advertisements on your car with your phone number, make yourself dirt cheap business cards with cute pets on it and pass them around whenever there’s opportunity for sales.

Once you build up your portfolio, you can create a little album out of it and carry it around with you. There are services with article content writing which will cost you less than $10 to generate a sales letter. You can generate one letter and make copies to distribute them around. Posting the sales letter on the internet will bring in sales too.

Hopefully, after all the above tips, you can have an idea on how to start a pet photography business. It is a fun and industry that’s full of love. Most importantly, it is also an ideal way to combine your passion to your career. You may start from a small business to a big one with this niche that you thought is small.

-By: Weis Ow

Weis is a media developer, keen to explore things from all walks of life, thus penning them down into articles. She like to do research on a lot of different topics and currently, she’s exploring on how to get make money doing simple photography! For more information on the researches, visit [http://www.earncameradollars.com]