Episode 410: Value Over Market: Pricing Your Pet Services

  Are you uncertain about whether you’re charging the right price for your pet services? Do you ever feel like you might be undervaluing your hard work and leaving money on the table? If the thought of pricing your pet services makes you anxious or if you find yourself second-guessing your current rates, you’re in good company! In this episode, I’m addressing two questions from fellow pet business owners who reached out to me for guidance. One asked, “How do I know if I’m charging enough?” and the other shared their concern about “how to position my services without scaring off clients.” I dive deep into how to price your pet services with confidence, ensuring you're not only covering your costs but also maximizing your profitability. It’s common for pet care professionals to feel hesitant about raising their rates, worried about scaring off clients or not being competitive. But here’s the truth: if you don’t price your pet services correctly, you risk burnout, financial stress, and ultimately, your business’s growth. Have you ever thought about the REAL value of your expertise, time, and care? Whether you're just starting out or have been in the industry for years, this episode will help you shift your mindset from “what will my clients pay?” to “what is my service truly worth?" I’ll share key strategies and insights into how you can confidently set your prices based on the value you deliver—not just what the market dictates. Tune in to discover the simple yet powerful pricing strategies that will not only boost your bottom line but also help you attract the right clients who respect the value of what you offer. Let’s turn your pricing fears into a profit-making formula! Timestamps: [01:08] Benefits of the Better Marketing With Bella program [05:00] Client Question about raising prices for pet sitting services [09:41] How to focus on your profit margin and consider a one-price full service model rather than tracking time [14:03] Client Conversation around building a website and hiring employees, while struggling to find the time [20:00] Importance of building a website as the foundation before adding other systems and hiring Notable Quotes: "Not only is the marketing strategy that we employ with you on the 1:1 calls and the group calls helping you get new clients, but it's also helping you attract the right kind of employees." "What takes a long time with social media is when you don't know what you're doing. What takes a long time with social media is when you do not have a strategy." "And if you're scared about it, first of all, it's okay to be scared. What matters is what you do with fear, okay? And fear comes from not knowing. It comes from thinking there's a boogeyman in the closet. Until you put the lights on, you realize it's a coat hanger, okay? So you need to get the education wherever you want to get it." "If you have a crappy website, then you're the first part. If you have a great website, you're the second part. And guess what? People believe what they see online. Or if you don't have a website, what they don't see. Your website is a big part of your branding. It is the beginning stages of people cyber stalking you." "But we have to realize that we can now charge more than what we're really comfortable charging because there's only one of us." Resources: Better Marketing With Bella FREE 20-Minute Consult with Bella Erika @ Barketing Blog Did you love this episode? Make sure you never miss an episode! Head over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify to subscribe to Bella In Your Business. Transcript: Welcome, everybody, to an all new episode of Bella in your business. My name is Bella Vasta. Today we're gonna go off script again. So buckle up. We're gonna have a lot of fun. I have two different clients that are, they have some questions and I always tell you guys to submit questions and thus you have. And we're gonna have some fun today. But before we do, I wanted to say thank you. Thank you so much. It is so exciting to know how on fire you guys are for marketing. We announced last week that beta marketing with Bella, doors are open and a bunch of you guys flooded to sign up. And that was just, that literally made my heart so happy because the people that were signing up are people who are go getters. They're the ones that I know I can literally say my success is going to be your success. I know what we have planned for first semester next year, January to June. I know all of the emails that we have scheduled for you guys to go out. I know the types of engaging graphics and talking points that we have simultaneously. I'm also getting, if you guys follow me on my Instagram Stories, you've seen this already, but you've seen the engagement shoot up up to 1000%. That much. Okay. And that not only are the, is the marketing strategy that we employ with you on the one on one calls and the group calls helping you get new clients, but it's also helping you attract the right kind of employees. And because it's fourth quarter and there's so many events to be had, as we've talked about already, that you guys are easily able to break the ice with people in your community and start these events happening. So I'm really, really excited. We give you Facebook covers, we give you email, emails to send out, we give you graphics, we give you videos, we give you the strategy. We keep you up to date every single month about all the different changes. Do you know that there's ten to 15 changes that happen on social media every single month? Yeah. And if you're not sure on what's going on or you need a little direction, honestly, with our program, it is meant to do it for you, but also to teach you how to do it. And it's. It's meant to. To really empower you to be able to create the SoP, to then hand it off to someone in your company. And we show you exactly how to take our professional stuff that we give you and match it with your personal stuff that you have ready at your fingertips. It does not take a long time what takes a long time with social media is when you don't know what you're doing. What takes a long time with social media is when you do not have a strategy. And we're here for that. We're here to help you with that. And I love it. The results are, like, within weeks when people actually do the things we tell them to do. And it makes me so excited so that. That I'm going to leave that right there. And if you get excited by that, or if you're sitting there and you're like, oh, shoot, I hate social media, I have to figure out what I need to post on there. Okay, I'm going to post this picture, but now, shoot, what do I say for this picture? Or, oh, gosh, I don't want to look dormant. How do I actually use social. How do I get clients from it? Social media doesn't work. It's my area. No, it's not. I don't care if you're in, like, the cornfields of Ohio or you are in downtown New York City, all right? Social media works. And if you're not reaping the benefits of those three things, the trifecta, clients, partners, and employees, then you need to talk to me. Please jump on my calendar. Jump consulting.net, forward slash 20. Let's talk about it. I will be the first person to tell you, no, you are not it, and or you are not at the right place for it. Okay. Because I believe it or not, I don't want. I just don't want your money. Like, and I'm going to show you that. Actually, in today's episode, I've got two different clients that I'm going to talk to you about who came to me with questions. And you're going to hear the honest to God advice. The first girl is. The first woman, rather, is Carrie Ann. And I told her she knew that we were going to do it on the podcast. The second person I'm going to keep anonymous, but she is an avid listener. In fact, every time I hear voice notes from her, I hear myself in the background playing on Bella in your business. So. Which is pretty, pretty amazing. Okay, so let's first get into Carrie Ann. She said she's feeling so stuck right now. She knows she needs to raise her prices, not just for medication fees, but for her services, too. Because if she doesn't, she's never going to have enough money to actually work with me. That's what she said. She said she's closed out all her credit cards. So that's not an option anymore for covering expenses, and it's stressing her out. Well, first of all, I know how scary that can be, so I'm really proud of you for taking that bold step. But she continues on, and she says that it's not like most of my clients are simple either. I mainly have clients with three or four cats, and many of them need multiple medications. And it's a lot of work every time, and it's adding up quickly. Her prices are already on the higher side, but it's also extremely expensive in Nashville. And, you know, her apartment is, like, really expensive, so she has already adjusted the medication prices, but she's hesitant to finalize everything. And so she's scared, and she doesn't want to make the wrong move and regret it later. And she's like, do you have any words of wisdom on how to move forward with this? I know you've got all the math figured out, but I'm feeling so overwhelmed and unsured. So what I told her, and then she kind of. We went back and forth, and then she asked me again, and she said the only thing I had a question left is how to handle it if I set my prices to start at a certain rate. How do you manage clients who might try to manipulate the time, saying it will only take a few minutes so they can avoid paying full amount? I'm sure you have strategy for this in your program, but something is always stood out to me, as I know clients might try to downplay the time that it actually takes. That's a loaded question. Right. And I'm sure you guys all have felt the same exact way. So, um, give her a shout out wherever you see this. We would love it if you would leave us reviews,