In my last post, I shared my successful pet-sitting experiences in Vancouver. While I’m working on a part two, I want to talk about how I became a professional pet sitter and dog walker in Long Beach. Instead of diving into my entire journey, I’ll highlight the key steps I still use to attract my ideal clients. My approach leans a bit more towards the metaphysical than practical, but I aim for balance. These methods can apply to anything you want to succeed in or simply want to feel successful at.
Know Your Ideal Client
Look around—everything you see started as an idea. With conviction and care, it became a reality. To truly feel satisfied (something we all strive for), be crystal clear about what you want! Grab your journal and list the qualities of your ideal client. Are they wealthy, students, or retired and traveling? Knowing who your perfect client is will guide where you focus your energy, whether it’s website design, flyers, or services. But this is just the start; the real work begins in Step 2—releasing resistance.
Release Resistance (Saying Bye-Bye To Your Old Self)
Once you’re clear about your ideal client, it’s easy to fall into self-doubt and think you can’t have what you want. It’s a common habit, but remember—you’re so much more than that! You deserve to embrace this truth. Today, we have access to experiences we might not have been ready for before, not because they didn’t exist, but because fear held us back. Use this lifetime to truly discover yourself. How? After years of navigating confusion, I’ve learned that stillness and tapping into the subconscious are powerful tools for transformation—essentially, letting go of your old self.
Stillness (Relaxing into your body)
I’ll share a personal example: my body used to react in fear at the thought of providing for myself as an animal caretaker—sound familiar? Accepting that lifestyle felt like trying to push a raging river through a straw. I had to create space in my body to embrace these new experiences. This meant practicing stillness, which is simply holding relaxed attention on one thing without judgment. As you focus on one sensation in your body - like the feeling of your pelvis sitting on a chair or mattress - you'll start to perceive a relative stillness. As you relax, your mind calms, and your awareness grows. This helps you let go of your old self-concept and see beyond your past programming. It’s crucial because when a trigger arises, you can separate the physical sensation from the story you’ve built around it. Instead of getting caught up in the narrative, fully feel the emotion without judgment. Your awareness of that feeling is what transforms it.
Updating Your Subconscious Mind
You know that thing that keeps your heart beating and lungs breathing without you even thinking about it? It’s also what makes you overeat when you’re nervous or bite your nails at the thought of doing something you secretly love. For a long time, I believed my subconscious was my worst enemy, leaving me feeling powerless and convinced the universe was against me. But here’s the truth: your nature is change, and you are changeable! When you consciously agree to an idea—whether it’s yours or someone else’s—you signal to your subconscious how you want your reality to operate.
Your thoughts, feelings, and actions stem from this “darkroom” of the mind. So, what can you do? Stillness helps you let go of old beliefs—the old self—making room for new ones. Now you can fill that space with the thoughts, feelings, and actions of your desired self. For this article, ask yourself: how would the successful pet sitter version of you feel, think, and act? Use your imagination and the power of pretending to embody that now. Go wild! Then, hold onto that state of being with Step 3.
Have Faith & Conviction in Your Visions
When I started dog sitting, I had just moved from the Bay Area during COVID. I lost my job as a barista, and my dream partner left me (but I’ve become my own perfect partner since then!). I was living in my mom’s living room in Huntington Beach. While I believe in communal living, she was moving out of state, and I wasn’t going with her. Inspired by Joe Dispenza, I began to visualize, feel, and act like a successful dog sitter with my own room, complete with a bathroom and patio.
Every night, I deeply visualized my ideal scenario. One day, my mom questioned my approach, wondering how anyone would rent to me without references or income. I stayed committed to my vision and declared that the perfect room was available to me, even though it felt scary. Less than two weeks later, a couple found me on Rover to watch their dogs. Just a month later, they invited me to move into their stunning 1.5 million-dollar home! My room was beautiful, fully furnished, and I had the entire bottom floor to myself, along with my own bathroom and a lovely patio for my plants.
Faith isn’t inherently religious. I repeat—FAITH IS NOT INHERENTLY RELIGIOUS. It’s simply the conviction in something beyond the limits of the human mind and Newtonian physics. For some, it’s a deity; for others, like me, it’s a deep belief in your subconscious or a cherished thought. Whatever it is, engage with it and trust it like you would a good friend. Trust life as you trust your dog to greet you excitedly when you come home.
This ongoing choice to co-create with life is what I see as faith. To sustain your new state of being—truly becoming the successful pet sitter of your dreams—you need to have conviction in your visions. So have fun with it! Pretend you’re a millionaire dog sitter for celebrities if that inspires you! (Clearly talking to myself here..)
Love yourself enough to think, feel, and act in this way, no matter the outcome. When you stop letting the outer world dictate your inner state, your circumstances will start to shift and reflect your new way of being.
Put Yourself Out There
Now that you know your ideal client and your ideal self, it’s much easier to show the world who you are and what you offer. You’ll have a clearer sense of how to promote yourself—whether through Rover, your website, or flyers. To me, these methods are secondary because it’s not just about what you do; it’s about how you feel while doing it. If you’re charging $40 for an hour of dog walking but don’t believe in your worth, the results will differ greatly from when you feel confident in the value you bring.
This is just my personal experience, and you can choose your own path. For me, it’s been about recognizing my ability to change and being part of the living fabric of life and love. I’m choosing to give my experiences that meaning. So remember to have fun! (That might be the most important part of all.)
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