Are you thinking about buying a pet sitting business? Then you NEED to hear what Crystal Hammond has to say. She's been through the process a number of times, and is an expert in making deals. Listen as Crystal & Bella to discuss:

Crystal Hammond - Sitter

For Your Critter

WHY people sell their businesses

The 3 things you MUST know about a business prior to purchasing

HOW to transition the businesses clients to the change in management

Crystal Hammond has been in the pet sitting industry for almost 10 years. She started her first pet sitting business, Sitter for your Critter, back in 2008 with a handful of clients and have since grown her operations to service over 4,000 clients. She’s acquired several of  our competitors companies over the years and started new pet sitting businesses to expand our service areas.  Last but not least she’s the proud mama of an 80 pound adorable English Bulldog named Capone.

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Transcript:

This is episode 69 of Bella in Your Business. Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where Bella will discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready—Bella's got your chute. Let's jump. Welcome to Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta, and today I have Crystal Hammond with me. Crystal's been in the pet sitting industry for almost 10 years. She started her pet sitting business, Sitter for Your Critter, back in 2008 with just a handful of clients, and since then, she’s grown it to over 4,000 clients. She’s bought five companies and she just keeps going. Like, there is nothing that can stop this girl. And not only that, but she has become literally like my sister from another mister. Crystal and I have become very close this year, and I am just so excited by her. I’ve been begging her to come on this podcast because you guys, your tails are going to be wagging. You're in for a treat.

Crystal says she’s so excited to be here. Bella says she’s excited to have her and explains that buying and selling a pet sitting company is something that’s seldom talked about. While Bella has a class on everything you need to know about buying and selling a pet sitting company, Crystal has actually bought other companies—not once, not twice, but five times. Bella says she’s never heard of anyone else buying that many pet sitting companies, and Crystal laughs. Bella says she’s not some major investor or retired corporate person with all this money. She’s an average person. Crystal says she’s 34. Bella says, “There you go, you’re 34 and you bought five businesses and built your own.” She asks Crystal to take her back to the very first opportunity that came for her to buy a company—what it looked like, what intrigued her, and what scared her about it.

Crystal explains she started her business back in 2008. The first time she was approached was about a year and a half in, by someone she’d known for a while. The woman was moving to Florida because her husband had a job opportunity and asked if Crystal wanted to take over her business. Crystal said yes but had no idea what it would look like. The first one she did, she actually didn’t pay for. The woman was just so excited to have someone to refer her clients to because in this business, as pet sitters, it’s so intimate. They become close with the pets and the clients. Bella adds that she wants business owners to understand that every day they work in their business, they’re building an asset—it’s like building a house. If you just walk away, you lose something valuable.

Crystal continues that the second business came from a couple she knew in her network who had broken up. They wanted to get rid of the business they started together, so they approached her. She knew a little more by then—it was her second acquisition. She knew she’d need to hire someone, and that went well overall. She learned that clients are not guaranteed to stay. When you buy a pet sitting business,