Licensed vet tech puts her skills and training to use as a pet sitter
Stephanie Savy’s background puts clients at ease and helps her grow her pet-sitting business.
Some people may not feel comfortable caring for pets with special needs, but for Media, Pa., pet sitter Stephanie Savy, it’s all in a day’s work.
Savy always knew that working with animals was her calling. She started working for a small-animal practice as her first job out of high school, and she went on to obtain her associates degree from Harcum College to become a licensed veterinary technician. Now she has more than 15 years’ experience running pet-sitting businesses.
Her background as a licensed veterinary technician helps her stand out as a pet sitter.
“I think it makes my clients feel comfortable, even if they don’t have special needs pets,” Savy says.
She operates Steph’s Pet Sitting in Media, about 15 minutes outside of Philadelphia. Her business offers pet sitting, dog walking, overnight stays and care for special needs pets. That special care can range from giving fluids to a cat in kidney failure to administering insulin to a diabetic pet. She also offers “pet mani-pedis.”
Part-time pursuit blossoms into a career
Savy worked for about 15 years in small-animal practices before pursuing a pet-sitting business.
As a licensed vet tech, she could do just about everything except diagnose, prescribe medicine and perform surgery. She took a break when she was pregnant with her son and started pet sitting, which she thought would be temporary. She had done pet sitting part time to earn extra income.
“It just took off so well, I never went back to work (at the clinic),” Savy explains.
Savy ran her own pet-sitting business in Maryland for about five years before she sold it to move back to Pennsylvania to be near family. There she started working in a cats-only veterinary practice, gaining a lot of great experience with cats. But when she learned that the practice would be closing, she had to plan her next step.
So in 2006, she opened another pet-sitting business, and it has grown to about 200 clients. Two part-time independent contractors work for her, and she is getting ready to bring on a third.
Why PSI?
Savy says pet sitting was still in its infancy when she started her first business in late 1999, and there were not many people in the field. She learned about Pet Sitters International and joined.
“I figured I could use all the help I could get,” Savy says.
Her PSI membership provided her with resources and access to insurance and bonding at group rates. Savy said she had tried to get insurance on her own, but when she talked to an insurance agent, he didn’t even know what a pet sitter was and gave her an outrageous quote.
Savy reads every issue of PSI’s Pet Sitter’s World magazine. She likes reading the list of recent insurance claims so she can see the actual things that are happening to people. Another benefit she highlights is PSI’s Pet Sitter Locator.
Savy’s business evolves with the digital age
Savy’s first business required a lot of paper records and footwork, as she passed out fliers and business cards to get the word out.
But thanks to the Internet and search engine optimization, promoting and running her business has become easier than ever. She says most of her new clients find her online, and she is getting ready to launch a new website.
Savy’s business has also been boosted by recommendations from veterinarians and her clients.
Savy says the best things about being a pet sitter are getting to work with animals and having the freedom to run her own business and set her schedule.
And she has met a lot of interesting people and pets along the way.
“I always tell people I’m going to write a book one day,” Savy says.
Read more pet-sitting success stories.
Photo provided by Stephanie Savy.
Interested in learning more about becoming a pet sitter? This free Ebook from PSI will help you start your business the right way, with instructions on selecting your business structure, obtaining your business license and selecting your service area.
