Petsitting: Should You Specialize or Generalize?

Don't roll the dice to make your decision about your petsitting approach. Examine the pros and cons, and make the decision yourself!

As a petsitter, you can essentially operate your business two ways: one, you can offer a broad range of petsitting services for different kinds of animals (kind of like a jack-of-all-trades) or, two, you can specialize in a particular type of pet or service. So which is best?

The short answer is neither. Whichever is "best" is whichever works well for you in your particular local area with your particular potential clients. But, we'll take a quick look at the benefits and drawbacks of each to help you make an informed decision.

BENEFITS OF GENERALIZING

• You'll have more opportunities to find more petsitting jobs.
• You'll enjoy a wide variety of jobs and animals.
• You won't be limiting or pigeonholing yourself in the petsitting field.
• Clients with more than one pet or more than one petsitting need (pet taxi, dog walker, housesitter, etc.) will be more likely to hire you.

DRAWBACKS OF GENERALIZING

• You may feel like a jack-of-all-trades, and a master of none.
• Some clients, especially those with exotic pets, may shy away from hiring you if they don't think you're qualified enough to handle theiur specific pet needs.

BENEFITS OF SPECIALIZING

• Clients may be more likely to hire you if you're an "expert" with a particular pet, breed or service.
• You have a unique marketability to potential clients.
• You may notice an increase in your confidence, since you feel so comfortable and knowledgeable in a particular area.
• If you're already familiar/experienced in a particular niche, specialization makes life easier.

DRAWBACKS OF SPECIALIZING

• You'll limit yourself.
• Clients with more than one type of pet may prefer to hire a generalist.

HOW TO CHOOSE

Our advice? If you're a petsitting novice, start out as a generalist (since you technically don't have a choice). Take tons of petsitting jobs and learn all you can from your different experiences. If at that point you'd like to start focusing on a niche of petsitting, start limiting your jobs to only those that you'd like to specialize in.

Another option, as one of our fabulous Sittercity readers suggested a while back, is to make it clear on your profile that you are comfortable working with all types of pets, but also state those you have the most experience with. This allows the client to decide for you whether they'd like to hire you for general petsitting or for a specialized job that aligns with your specific skill set.

If you'd rather not default to the client to make the decision for you, then consider your goals. Is petsitting a hobby or your career? Which method do you think will take you further? Do you want to build a reputation as an expert? Will being an expert still leave you with enough jobs, especially if petsitting is your primary business? Do a bit of research in your local area to better understand the supply-and-demand when it comes to general versus specialized petsitting needs.

Whichever you choose, good luck!