Looking back, the first hire in my company should have been an office admin.
Hiring an office admin is key to getting days off when running your business. A good office admin can help out with pet sitting and dog walking tasks as well as taking sales calls, relaying messages from clients, making notes in your online scheduling system, and handle the bulk of your hiring process.
In short, having an office admin can help you focus on growing your company again.
Hiring an Office Admin Might Be Easier Than You Think
An office admin job tends to be more desirable than just pet sitting and dog walking. The office admin portion also attracts very talented, detail oriented applicants.
The main thing that held me back from hiring an Office Admin was the cost. I could not stand the idea of paying someone to sit by the phone in the case it might ring that day. But later I found out I could set up the job so the office admin would only get paid for the hours they worked. I advertised it as a remote position where the office admin would be responsible for taking calls that came in on certain days, I also explained in the hiring ad that we only get a few calls per day, but there are some busy days.
Currently my office admin works about 5-10 hours per week with office tasks and taking calls. I also handed off the much of our hiring process. So they handle all of the initial screening and a quick phone interview. My office admin sends a paper application to applicants and complete a formal phone interview with candidates that look good.
The Office Admin Schedule
My office admin works Monday – Friday because most sales calls happen on the weekdays.
Looking back at our sales data, Tuesday turns out to be one of the busiest days for the office — as many people like to make their weekend plans early in the week.
If you want to know more about how to schedule your team, be sure to check out this article, How To Schedule Pet Sitters.
Routing Calls to Your Office Admin
One of the main things you need to consider when hiring an office admin is how you will route your calls to your office admin.
When you first get started you can simply forward your cell phone calls to your Office Admin’s phone number.
But in the long run, I recommend using a PBX-style business phone system, such as Ring Central, Ooma, or 3CX. Personally, I use 3CX because it the best price.
Office Admins - Help With Scheduling
Office admins can be a huge help when it comes to scheduling, but I do not recommend having an office admin handle scheduling tasks until they have 4-6 months of pet sitting and dog walking experience because it takes a while for anyone to wrap their head around how to schedule.
