How Fortunate Am I

Back in 1993, an acquaintance of mine invited me to her home to discuss a Community Television Network project we were working on as a community service, getting the word out about our Toastmasters meetings. I was more interested in playing with her animals than the business at hand but we did manage to eventually get a nice peice to CTN which was called "Community Cable Access" at the time.

Nancy was impressed with how well her 3 cats and little dog took to me. She later asked if I would be willing to stay at her home while she travelled to care for Bandit and friends until she returned.

At the time I shared housing with 5 other vegans and I was happy about the prospect of having a little privacy for a change.  Nancy wouldn't have needed to, but she compensated me financially for my work.

At the time I did not know this but my calling had found me. It took awhile to sink in, and it would be over 10 years later that I was to start my own full time service.

There has been and continues to be a large demand for dependable, skilled pet sitters in the Ann Arbor area. I naturally bumped into pet owners along the way as I went about my life. Many needed  my service and were more than willing to pay me for it. I continually built up clients without ever having to advertise.

It wasn't until 2003 that I placed my 1st advertisement in the Ann Arbor Observer. I only placed one ad for one month, but that yeilded me 2 repeat customers. By the time I started my full time service in 2008, I already had about 15 clients who called me regularly when they left for vacations.

In  2005, one of my overnight clients talked me into walking her dogs 3 times a week.  I reluctantly took this on but committing to this work was one of the best decisions I have ever made. The regular income made it possible for me to eventually leave my part time administrative job and work soley for myself.

Having and depending on my own business is a lot of work (another subject for a good blog entry). But I wouldn't trade my work with animals for anything. It is amazing to be appreciated for what I love to do.
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