Some people might say that being a teacher is like herding cats, but for Laurie DeGirolamo of New England Pet Services, it was more of a gateway to walking dogs.
“I had walked dogs a little when I was younger, but after college, I became a teacher and I loved it. When I had my fourth child, however, I really wanted to have more time to spend with my family.”
Laurie decided to start a dog walking business with a few clients almost four years ago and it grew fast, even faster than she was expecting!
“It was great because people were recommending me to people they knew and word of mouth became the driving force in growth for the business.” That, and a personal touch that is hard to replicate.
That means being available to help in a pinch in myriad ways (like caring for lizards and giving subcutaneous fluids and diabetic shots to cats) and even having humans come along for the walk - or ride.
“I have some elderly clients who I work for and sometimes they need someone to go with them on an errand. So we’ll walk with the dog and person to get a prescription filled. I even have one client who always comes with us on his adult-size trike. It may sound weird, but I don’t mind at all!”
Prior to COVID, New England Pet Services had become a team of three, but like all pet businesses things have quieted down over the past year. Playgroups are on hiatus, meet and greets are done via Facetime (often with a tour of the house), and all pickups are done via handoff on the porch.
(Pictured above is Laurie’s dog, Patches, getting into the COVID online school spirit).
Even though the pace has slowed, Laurie really values PetPocketbook as a way to stay on top of things.
“I love PetPocketbook! For years I wrote everything down on paper. I would have to do the billing at the end of the month, so I would lock myself in the room for three hours and do it and then do it again because I wanted to make sure it was right and I didn't want to cheat my customers.
So this is like nothing. I love it. It's just so easy. I really love it. The scheduling is amazing because I can just schedule someone or reassign a walk with the flick of a finger and instantly and see the schedule updated. I love it. At first, it was a little tricky to understand, but after the training from the PetPocketbook team and using it for a month, it was a breeze.”
Laurie is hopeful about things getting back to normal soon even though she always has teaching to fall back on. But frankly, walking dogs (and sometimes their owners) is preferable to the cat-herding of the classroom!