As I’m sitting here writing this year 2020 year end review, I’m looking outside of my window and see a light snow falling. The yard is covered in a thin layer of snow and the sidewalk looks wet and slippery. My dogs are curled up on their dog beds and the cats, well, they’re cats and some are snoozing while others are meandering around the house, looking for mischief and picking fights.
2020 has come and gone, it’s Jan. 1, 2021 and a new year is upon us.
Looking back at my calendar from 2020 there’s a significant decrease in the amount of pet care services we provided, close to 60% actually. However, in-home nail trims and pet nail trim events were two big winners of 2020.
I’m going to use the duration of this post to highlight some of the memorable things that happened here at sit-stay-play…
Pet Nail Trims Saved 2020
Yup. Pet nail trims were a major ROI for sit-stay-play in 2020 and honestly, without them, things would’ve been a little rough for me.
Looking forward to 2021, I already have a full calendar year of pet nail trim events scheduled and hopefully covid doesn’t screw them up and I can continue to have my regular events at the Tractor Supply stores. If not, I’ll have to come up with another pivot. Pivot is a word many of us may be familiar with after surviving 2020.
Emergency Pet Care Increased Significantly
Just off the top of my head I remember 5 separate incidents where individuals contacted us for immediate pet care assistance.
One was a truck driver, two were older people that had unplanned ER trips, another was a wind turbine professional that was coming to the area (with dog in tow) and another client had to fly out of state quickly to help a family member sick with covid.
Out of those 5, three found us on Google, one just typed in pet care help in Muncie in her browser and the last was already a current client. And surprisingly, only one was covid related.
Google My Business and Social Media Wins
As stated above, Google is a big source of our referrals – thank you Google! And our social accounts Facebook and Instagram have been instrumental in building and staying afloat in 2020.
I’ve seen more traffic to both of these this year and am working to build better connections with consumers on those platforms.
Lots and Lots of Kitten and Cat Adoptions in 2020 and Kitty Clients
In my capacity as the Volunteer Coordinator for Action for Animals at PetSmart, I’ve seen many deserving kittens and cats get adopted. In line with that, I’ve also had an increase in cat clients. I give AFA adopters a discount on cat sitting services and many have taken me up on that offer – yay!