Hello from a new sitter!

Welcome! To help you get sits: Make sure your sitter profile is strong, written to anticipate things that hosts will need to know to feel confident that you’re trustworthy, responsible, communicative.

If you want help with that, share your profile and ask for feedback in the forum, where there are many experienced sitters. This is how to add your profile to your forum bio: How to add a listing or profile link to your FORUM profile

Solo sitters who are older women tend to get preference for many sits, from my experience.

I sit part time while telecommuting and have had sits for nearly every month since joining in February 2023. I didn’t need to sit locally to get started — flew to sits across the U.S. and did a couple in the U.K. pretty early on.

What’s worked well:

• I don’t make compromises on any sits — I either really want to do them and the hosts seem great or I don’t pursue the sits.

• No matter how great the sit otherwise, the hosts are always the potential dealbreaker. If anything goes sideways, they’re the ones you’ll need to partner with to problem-solve. Sitting well is a partnership— don’t settle for crappy partners.

• Screening closely for the tone of their listings helps a lot — I apply only for ones that sound friendly and welcoming. I skip any that sound like they’re hiring paid sitters, with cold wording and a bunch of duties, like a job ad.

• I also skip ones that don’t mention things relevant to sitters, such as where food and other amenities are in the area. That’s because hosts who are self-absorbed and share only what they or their pets need aren’t in the mindset of being good hosts, thinking reciprocally.

• Hosts who think they’re doing sitters a favor or who are self-absorbed will tend to not reply promptly, change dates or have squishy ones. If there’s any sign of that, I skip the listing.

• I and many other experienced sitters withdraw our applications for sits if the hosts don’t reply promptly. In my case, if a host doesn’t respond within 48 hours to schedule a video chat, I’m out. If a host doesn’t reply promptly, that doesn’t bode well for their communications during a sit. What if there’s an emergency and you need to reach them?

• To me, better to risk missing a sit over a false negative vs. risking a bad sit by making compromises or lowering my standards.

• Typically, sitters who are confident communicators and who are comfortable upholding boundaries will do well. That’s because while many hosts are reasonable and hospitable, some are bullies and exploiters — like in life in general, there are bad eggs. Give no quarter to those people, because they routinely look for enablers and victims. They love folks who find it hard to stand up for themselves. Those sitters will tend to have much rougher times with sits.

• It helps to pay close attention to what others sitters have written in reviews for hosts. Look for what’s said, as well as what’s not said. Like if a review says nice things about the pets or location, but doesn’t say the hosts are great, that’s a red flag. If you value cleanliness, look for reviews that specifically mention that. If the host is missing a bunch of reviews, that’s risky. (Use the app to check for missing reviews. The website doesn’t show them.)

• When time comes for you to review hosts, please be accurate and help warn other sitters off, help them make informed choices about whether they might avoid a sit if you’ve had a bad experience. Some sitters gloss over or skip elements that could save others needless grief, enabling bad hosts. Again, most hosts are fine, many hospitable. The bad eggs ruin things for everyone else and we can help weed them out by not covering up for them.

With all that in mind, my sits have been overwhelmingly great and I’ve had gracious, appreciative hosts. I’ve done 18 sits to date, with all five-star reviews. To me, travel is terrific, but self-care is always much more important.

7 Likes