In case you missed the announcement, registration is OPEN for the 2025 NAPPS Conference in Tempe, AZ! If you haven’t heard of NAPPS before, check them out! They’re the only national non-profit, professional pet sitting association, and they’re run completely by volunteers. Aka they’re passionate about pets and helping support small businesses, which are both things we ❤️️ too!
Are you thinking about attending the 2025 conference but still on the fence about it? Here are 5 things we loved from the 2024 conference. Over the next few months, we’ll be delving into each of these topics in more detail, so stay tuned for more!
- Marketing 101. Michelle Kline from DogCo Launch spoke about how you can grow your dog walking business by focusing on your branding and better identifying your ideal client. Michelle introduced the idea of creating an “ideal client avatar,” a persona for your ideal customer to better understand how they think, what they need, and how you may be able to fulfill their needs – all while maintaining your desired schedule (goodbye overnight visits)! If you’re interested in learning more from Michelle, check out her website and join her Facebook group!
- Knowing your numbers. It sounds pretty simple, but how many dog walkers and pet sitters started their business because they love accounting? Probably none, if we had to guess! Anne-Marie Kaden from Tiny Paws Bookkeeping kept us engaged throughout her session – no easy task when you’re showing us how to calculate profit margins and labor costs! As Anne-Marie explained, every business has goals – whether that be growing your business, hiring a team, selling your business, or something else. Knowing your numbers can help you achieve those goals.
- Hiring like a pro. Doug the Dog Guy shared hard-learned, practical tips on everything that goes into making your first hire – from mindset, to defining your ideal team member, to the difference between an independent contractor and an employee, and more. If you’re thinking about hiring but don’t know where to start, check out his hiring course or watch the recording of our last PetPocketbook roundtable, Hiring Crash Course with Doug the Dog Guy!
- Crushing social. Social media and content creation doesn’t have to be a chore and doesn’t have to take hours either! Huge shoutout to Skarlet Rockwood from FUR Social who led a fun, productive social media workshop –we all walked away with 30 days worth of content ideas in less than an hour! And the content itself? Try using Canva and other AI tools like Google’s Gemini to help you write more efficiently.
- Networking. Lastly, what’s a conference without a little networking?! Since most pet sitters and dog walkers spend their days with pets and not humans, it was nice to connect with other like-minded people and learn from one another. The unique thing about this industry is how kind and supportive everyone is! When we support one another and collaborate, we can create a sense of community that not only benefits ourselves but also our clients! Special shoutout to the amazing board members and volunteers at NAPPS who helped make us feel welcome for our second year attending and did an amazing job organizing the conference.
Another noteworthy mention was Lennox Armstrong from Canine Care, who led a session on canine body language. We learned how instead of directly approaching, we should approach or pass dogs by “curving.” Not only is it polite, but curving can make the dog you’re approaching less reactive. If you’re walking a dog, let them curve too! When stressed, your dog will show signs of trying to calm themselves by turning their head, sniffing, yawning, licking their nose, sitting, or laying down. Keep an eye out for these signals! We wrote this haiku to summarize Lennox’s session:
First impression, hi.
Stay quiet, curving is cool.
Turn head, be polite, bye.
Overall, the conference left us feeling inspired, recharged, and ready to tackle our to-do list. It was wonderful getting to know like-minded humans who love and care for pets just as much as we do, and we can’t wait for next year! If you’re thinking about registering, make sure you sign up before September 30 when the early bird rate expires!
See you in Tempe for NAPPS 2025 Conference! 🏜😎