The changes I am currently making in my business include going back to what I was doing for ten years–working by myself. The last few months of 2021 were somewhat traumatic and it stemmed from issues arising with the person I had working for me since 2015. Most people have experienced difficulties that cannot be overcome with a co-worker or an employee, and there are differences that sometimes cannot be worked out. I have to claim responsibility for my own business, and yet I took the hit when I was honest with a client last November who had a very disparate way of caring for her animals. Being honest with clients is something I will always do, although my way may not be perfect. None of us is perfect and I don’t even know if that is the goal; perhaps the aim is to keep growing and changing in a positive direction. Being accused of not doing a job or being responsible for an animal’s issues is something I had never encountered in my business, as I do the work I am committed to doing for each client, and I almost always go above and beyond what I am hired to do (sometimes time prevents me from doing more).
So, with respect to the current Google listing of my business, I am no longer able to manage the listing. It is a skeleton of what it was. Google is such a monolith that one has to figure things out on one’s own, and by researching–I don’t have an assistant and technology is not my area of expertise. It was not out of my own guilt or needing to hide a bad review that I tried to remove the Google listing; it was a review that cannot be substantiated, that slandered me and my business. Google will not intervene when facts are in dispute, only in two specific egregious instances. It is important then to remind anyone who is reading this, who has ever had anyone write inaccurate information about you or your business online, on various platforms:
“The First Amendment protects virtually all speech. Over the course of the past two centuries the Supreme Court has identified only a few types of speech not protected by the First Amendment. One type of speech not protected is false statements of fact. A statement of face is one that is readily understood, is objectively verifiable, and when considered in context, signals that it has factual content. Solaia, 221 Ill.2d at 581. Conversely, the First Amendment protects expressions of pure opinion. However, a defendant cannot avoid liability by prefacting a statement of fact with the words “in my opinion.’ A court will have to decide if a statement is a statement of fact or a statement of pure opinion.”
Given that, with all the work I do, I can prove I was there. And I often document what is happening via photos to the client. There are statements of fact that can be disproven, and there are opinions which are sometimes deflecting the mistakes or terrible care he or she has given to their own animal(s), and that person needing to find a scapegoat when confronted with the truth.
Perhaps it gets back to the name of my business–it isn’t Unconscious Pet Service–it is Conscious Pet Service, and I chose that for a reason. It is about the KIND of care I am able to offer to clients and their animals and other creatures, which is not just mediocre care, but being full present, researching if need be, being respectful and caring for each animal in a way that reflects the animal and their issues, if any.
I will be starting over in a sense, in 2022. In the next month or so, I will be changing the name of my business to ConsciousPetCare.org.
I have new testimonials up on this website and I will have more to come. Sadly, there were many separations last year due to clients losing their jobs, some changing jobs and moving out of state, and one beloved client dying.
If you want to look at my work, the best place is on my YouTube channel: ConsciousPetService. I was on Facebook, Instagram and I have some presence on Twitter but I mostly post about other animals and lost dogs….social media takes time and effort and I am working with animals….which is what I love. I will try to post as many videos as I can on the YouTube channel.