Our Second Shift series features people working more than one job and finding creative ways to make money. This week, meet a Brooklynite who loves her cats so much that they inspired her to launch an entire side job. Want to be featured? Email Emily.Laurence@metro.us. Name: Aja Badame What are your two jobs?
I work full-time as a music publicist and on the side I run a cat sitting company, Cat Call.
What inspired you to start your cat sitting business?
My husband and I were going [on vacation] and we had to find a pet sitter to watch our two cats. I did a lot of research and eventually found one, but I really thought I could do it better. A lot of the pet sitter websites seemed kind of old and weren’t really speaking to people my age. My husband is a designer, so he came up with a great idea for the [logo] design and we made the website together. Is it just you doing the cat sitting?
Yes. I can handle about five clients at a time. I’m typically busier on the weekends because that’s when people go out of town. If I have [cat sitting gigs] during the week, I get up at 7 a.m. and go before work. I try to keep my clients close to my neighborhood to make it easier. What is the hardest part about working both jobs?
Definitely the travel time. When I first started, I thought I’d be able to take care of four different cats each morning, spending half an hour with each cat. But what I didn’t factor in was the [roughly] 40 minutes of travel time needed for each trip. Do you have any future goals for the company?
I would love to grow the company and split the jobs up by neighborhood, or just have somebody working with me.
Do you do this for fun or do you depend on the income it generates?
A little bit of both. I like working in PR and want to keep that as my main job, but having this side business has been helpful in terms of being able to save a little money.
Age: 33
Residency: Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Lives with: Her husband
Number of jobs : 2
Provided
