Should you give yourself a raise? While it’s very tempting to do so, this isn’t as easy a question to answer as it is to ask.

Sure! You bet! We’d all love to give ourselves an instant raise, but there are several factors to carefully consider before making the decision to do so.

In most cases, as pet service providers, your income depends on your hourly rate. Of course, you’d love to make a better hourly wage. But how do you justify that increase? And how do you know what rate is reasonable?

Here are some tips on when you should (and shouldn’t!) raise your rate.

When You Should Raise Your Rates

1. Your skills or service have improved. If you can provide more value, raising your rates to reflect that is reasonable.
   
2. Supply and demand have changed for your service. If you’re booking yourself solid and turning away new clients, then you’re in an excellent position to charge more. Simply raise your rate until you’re getting the number of clients you want without having to decline new
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“Follow Your Bliss, and the Universe Will Open Doors Where There Were Only Walls.”

– Joseph Campbell

 After graduating with an MBA and spending nearly a year in search of the perfect job, I landed the job that was going to take my career to a whole new level.

The pay was good. The benefits were amazing. What more could I ask for?

And yet, after 18 months, I was so miserable that I’d cry the entire 50-minute drive to work.

Every. Single. Day.

I was in a deep, dark hole of despair.

A few years prior, I’d spent piles of money and nearly two years to complete my M.B.A. I’d finally landed the ideal job. My career was flourishing.

My family, my husband, and all my friends had all given me “two big thumbs up” and lots of congratulatory pats on the back.

But after a year of corporate relocations, 3 different bosses, drastic staff reductions, and a complete overhaul of my original job description and function, I was not only miserable, I was also fearful of losing my job due to an impe...