The Best Books for Pet Sitting Company Owners
Every time I start a new book that I know is going to be great, it feels like I have one of the world’s best business consultants advising me on how to run my company.
A long time ago, I realized I didn’t have to re-invent the wheel to solve some problem in my business. There are literally hundreds of business books written on any given subject you can think of.
I have come to think of great business books as a framework I can use to build my company upon. Further, I have come to realize that for every issue I encounter in my business (or even in life in general), there is a subject matter expert who has developed a bulletproof framework about the topic, and then wrote a book on it.
Even better, with the popularity of Audible, the author can read the book to me while I am out walking dogs! It’s awesome!
So, let’s get started with The 12 Best Books for Pet Sitting Company Owners!
Building A Storybrand
by Donald Miller
This is one of the best marketing books ever written. There is a lot of talk about StoryBranding right now, and most people are getting it seriously wrong.
Donald Miller literally invented StoryBranding by developing the StoryBrand 7-part framework.
If you have ever had trouble explaining why your service is valuable to your customers, get this book. It explains how to clarify your marketing message so your customers know why they should buy from you.
However, it seems Donald Miller was not content with developing a revolutionary system that makes marketing easy and accessible for any small business owner.
His newest venture, Business Made Simple, is an online course that teaches you everything you need to know about running a business.
Don’t Shoot The Dog
by Karen Pryor
- Animal Behavior
- Clicker Training
In my opinion, this book is required reading for anyone working with animals. This is the book all other (good) dog training books are based on.
If you want to learn how to connect with dogs and train good behavior without using fear or pain, this book is for you. I give a copy to each new sitter we hire, and earmark some of the tables with examples of various good and bad training methods.
Karen Pryor invented clicker training. So, you could say this book is a useful resource.
You can buy the audio version directly from Karen Pryor’s website. Or, you can pick up the paperback on Amazon.
The One Minute Manager
by Ken Blanchard
I put off reading this book for years because I thought the title was silly. I thought there is no way a manager can direct a staff member in one minute.
I was wrong.
This book gave me a framework for being an effective manager. I had heard I should empower my team, but I didn’t know how to do that.
Here you will learn how to guide your staff members towards making their own decisions.
The Lean Startup
by Eric Ries
I’m a big fan of this book. Some of you might know, I went to school to learn how to run factories. Because of this, Lean Thinking is dear to my heart.
It is really easy to launch a service or a feature that nobody wants. This book teaches a method for prioritizing what you should be working on based on customer feedback.
This is another book I listen to at least once per year. I also give it a listen whenever I am trying to launch a new service or product.
Profit First
by Mike Michalowicz
There are a lot of business owners out there who really have no way of telling if they are actually making money or not.
Your business might have money in the bank, but what if that cash is actually already owed for future insurance costs, payroll, credited visits, taxes, or other liabilities?
How do you know if you are saving enough for a rainy day?
We follow the profit first method, and I am happy to show you how we track our finances using the methods covered in this book. Just reach out through our consulting page.
The Psychology of Selling
by Brian Tracy
This book is a classic, and it was one of my first audiobooks.
Whenever I need to hop on sales calls again, I always load up this book on my Audible app and give it a listen for a couple days while I drive to visits or when I wind down before bed. Each time, I get the inspiration and motivation to start selling again.
I also recommend reaching out to your local SBDC to see if they offer discounted Sandler Sales Training.
SEO Fitness Workbook by Jason McDonand PhD
Showing up at the top of Google is hard to do. It’s even harder if you are not following a good guide.
There is so much information about SEO out there, it can be hard to know what is signal and what is noise.
Jason McDonald updates this book every year to stay up to date with good SEO practices. He also teaches SEO at Stanford University, so you know he is a credible source!
I review this book each year in January, before developing my SEO strategy for the next year.
They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan
So many business books are written by some billionaire tech CEO who teaches strategies that don’t translate well to small business.
That’s why this book is so refreshing. Marcus Sheridan ran a pool supply company, and grew his company using a simple Content Marketing strategy.
I highly recommend picking up this book to get the full picture. The take away is to write content that answers your customers’ questions.
We really ran with this idea in our company, and now our website does most of the “selling” for us. Now, by the time clients call us, they are ready to book service.
Good Strategy / Bad Strategy
by Richard P. Rumelt
There are a lot of good ideas, and good intentions, masquerading as strategy in people’s businesses.
Strategy is not a buzzword. It’s more than a direction you have a good feeling about.
Rumelt spent his life studying and teaching how to create real plans with what he calls the kernel of strategy.
Which includes:
- A diagnosis
- A guiding policy
- And coherent action.
We used his methods to grow our company and even to build part of our hiring process.
Ever since we implemented the ideas taught in this book, we have seen a complete 180 in the right direction.
