Laid-Off Particular Training Aide Finds Fulfilling Facet Hustle as Canine Walker in Los Angeles
Picture Credit score: Kentaroo Tryman / Getty Photographs
It isn’t straightforward to make a profession pivot, particularly when a job change isn’t your selection. However generally, a recent begin is simply what the physician (or profession counselor) ordered. That was the case for Sofia Mastro, a particular training aide who acquired laid off and ended up discovering a aspect hustle as a canine walker.
A New Profession Path
As Mastro advised Quick Firm, the Los Angeles resident was laid off from her one-one-special training aide job within the fall. She job-hunted for a number of weeks however realized that not one of the gigs have been appropriate together with her training to develop into a speech-language pathologist. She wanted one thing versatile to assist her whereas she completed college. That’s when she determined to enroll on Wag, the dog-walking app.
Mastro now works part-time, about 5 hours per week, as a canine walker.
“On a typical day, I’ll examine Wag after I get up to see if there are any accessible walks and if they’re inside an affordable distance from me (I normally will drive as much as 6 miles for a stroll),” she advised Quick Firm. “So I attempt to hit one stroll within the morning, come again dwelling and prepare for the day, do homework, play with my very own canine, after which attempt to hit one other stroll within the afternoon.”
“Typically I’ll get to a extremely scorching space, the place there are loads of stroll requests occurring shut by and I can do about three in a row,” she continued. “I additionally get common requests from pet mother and father that I strive to remember for the day. I normally attempt to preserve my 1 p.m. open as a result of that’s normally after I’ll get requested by the common. On the finish of the day round 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., I’ll return dwelling, have dinner, and generally I’ll settle for a late-night stroll if it’s shut by. Like final evening I did a 30-minute stroll at 9:30 that was near me.”
The Professionals and Cons of Being a Canine Walker
Mastro says she enjoys her aspect hustle on Wag as a result of the method to develop into a canine walker, schedule walks, and become profitable is “fairly straightforward.” She had earlier dog-walking experiencing, and goes the additional mile by penning “cute blurbs” concerning the canine she walks and leaving feedback about them for his or her mother and father. These little touches have bumped up her rankings and elevated her suggestions.
As good as the flexibleness is, although, Mastro admits that the pay charge is missing. “Wag takes a fairly good minimize of your earnings and, general, I’m getting paid much less per stroll than I did at my final two pet care corporations,” she says. “Nonetheless, with just a little onerous work, you can also make up the distinction—there may be at all times a stroll accessible to take. “
So far as occupational hazards go, Mastro confesses that she falls in love with many of the canine she walks. Certainly one of her regulars is a Dachshund combine rescue canine named Felix.
“He’s tremendous candy and at all times joyful to see me, which makes the stroll enjoyable,” she says. “He’s about the identical dimension and age as my very own canine and lives actually near me, so he has a particular place in my coronary heart.”
Whereas earlier corporations she labored for included a meet-and-greet with the canine earlier than strolling commenced, Wag doesn’t work that method, which could be “just a little intimidating.” That’s why Mastro brings treats on walks and interacts with them cautiously, preserving her expenses away from different pups and folks simply to be secure. She additionally tries to ease pet mother and father’ nervousness about handing their fur infants over to a stranger by making them as comfy as potential and going above and past in her dog-walking work.
It doesn’t sound like Mastro plans to make dog-walking her full-time, everlasting profession, however so far as an additional gig to maintain the money flowing whereas she finishes college goes, it’s doggone “paw”fect.
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