New business. Clients are becoming clingy.

[CaptFinnBad]

First off I have a passion for animals especially dogs. Litrerally love em.

Decided engineering isn't for me after being in the aerospace industry for a long time. I thought **** it I want to get paid for something I'm passionate about. I train dogs in my spare time sports dogs, protection stuff, tracking and advanced obedience.

So I've started a business dog walking, completely unrelated but my logo is basically heavily inspired by the pornhub logo. People recognise my brand but can't quite think where hahaha

Anyways walking is just a foot in the door and money in my pocket , I'm going to transition to dog trainer, long term goal to set up a big training / daycare facility in my city (doesn't have one ).


Small steps right now. Absolutely loving life. Playing with dogs all day, visiting nice places and getting paid a decent amount money for something I love and absolutely doesn't feel like work.

I digress...


Most my clients are women. The industry is mostly women, women trainers, women groomers , women dog walkers , women pet sitters , mostly women clients.


So I stand out a bit. Decent looking , mid 30's , following his passion, truly doing what he loves , charming, dogs love me, I'm awesome at what I do, the obedience stuff I can do and my protection background really makes me unique .


The problem is my clients are becoming clingy. Crossing boundaries, I'm not their friend , I'm not trying to date them (I have a girlfriend), I'm payed to do a service, that's it!

I never actually had the foresight to see this when starting my business and in struggling how to handle it.

I've got customers being over friendly, wanting my attention, texting me all the time (not not appointment related), wanting me to come in to chat after appointments, it's basically feels like "give me attention, give me attention" e.t.c.

Obviously I want to keep great customer relationships but I don't want these women thinking they have a shot with me. Quite a few clearly have the tingles for me.

I want to keep the relationship with customers friendly but mostly business related.


I feel like it's becoming a minefield. Women wanting my attention and one wrong move on my part and one of them could blow up and start unnecessary **** for my new and up-and-coming business e.t.c.

Need advice on how to enforce healthy customer boundaries. Keep my business friendly but enforce a clear divide between work and friendships.


They are all GREAT customers and bring in good money.

 

[CaptFinnBad]

You sound a little uptight bro. Prob the engineer in you. Relax and have fun.

Perhaps this is an engineering problem that needs to be solved!!! Haha might have been looking at this from the wrong perspective.

Maybe some sort of communication automation system lol.

 

[threeforfree]

Humblebrag thread

 

[The Duke]

Stop replying to things that are not business related.

They feel like its ok to cross boundaries because of you. You opened that door.

Remember men lead. You set the tone as to what is acceptable and what is not.

Stop caring so much about what others think and you will solve your problem.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I couldn't imagine trading the income I make as an engineer to that of walking dogs but it's great you don't seem to mind the loss of money too much and are more concerned with loving what you do.

Luckily I have the best of both worlds as a software engineer since I got paid both a crap ton of money and love what I do.

 

[Barrister]

When you work a small business like this you have to expect that your clients are going to demand your time at weird hours. You also need to embrace this kind of role to truly be successful with it. You get to know your clients very well and many times they can turn into friends (sometimes more if you let it - not that I recommend that).

Also, if you are very good at the job, confident, and sure of yourself you can be assured female clients are going to find you attractive. It just comes with the territory. You can easily stay engaging without giving them the wrong idea. Nothing usually needs to be enforced with female clients because women in general will give strong signs of interest but are almost never going to come out and be inappropriate all on their own. For the very few who DO that, just tell them you are in a relationship. Case closed.

 

[Smok1nAce]

fellow engineer here.

I actually got into engineering later in life (in my 30s) so I'm a little better at not coming across as the typical engineer type.

engineers tend to get horse blinder vision, and want to see if and what things can be done with an absolute in mind, while most other people see things with a broader mind with a bigger picture, but no absolute in mind.

But it makes sense as engineers we are trained and schooled to see things in the detail AND WITH ABSOLUTE.

Like you say the woman are calling you on odd hours and you say they need attention. Contrary to what you might find on this website most sane woman are generally still romantic and its not just attention they want from you. If you where single you be in a perfect spot.

This isn't and absolute thoe, I wouldn't say you have to play the "gigalo" part but like another poster said you gonna have to lighten up, and be comfortable with being flirted with. You own a business, so its a 24/7 job, either hire a secretary or you have to deal with the lonely animal lovers that is your clientele at the moment.

The most your gonna be able to do is wear your weeding ring and tell these woman the moment they start flirting with you that your married. Other then that there is really nothing you can say that's going to change how they act, besides not taking their business. I almost guarentee that alot of the woman who are overly crossing boundaries have issures and may or may not target "male" dog lovers as romantic partners. It could be a "thing" for these type of people. Who knows, who cares.

And that brings me to the solution, build your business, network and find new clientele.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Are you the typical software engineer I see every day in my job as engineer as well? I work on production engineering and all those software engineers are weird looking nerds, fat, with nerd glasses and with no people skills.

We call those backend developers haha. Nope, I used to talk with clients all the time and was in sales prior to becoming a software engineer, I'm all good there.

 

[threeforfree]

We call those backend developers haha. Nope, I used to talk with clients all the time and was in sales prior to becoming a software engineer, I'm all good there.

Hey now. I'm a backend developer.

But actually, I have people not believing that I'm a software developer at all because I go against all the stereotypes.

 

[CaptFinnBad]

I couldn't imagine trading the income I make as an engineer to that of walking dogs but it's great you don't seem to mind the loss of money too much and are more concerned with loving what you do.

Luckily I have the best of both worlds as a software engineer since I got paid both a crap ton of money and love what I do.

I'm a mechanical engineer airframe and propulsion. Worked in the aero space industry mostly fighter jet stuff.

It was alright. Great money and pretty fun. Got to mess about with some pretty cool stuff.

That said working for others and the "normal" work thing makes me feel like I'm in a cage.

I earned my money, bought my own house outright in my 20s, have a decent chunk in the bank.

Now I'm doing what I love and feel truly free.

I earn a living by visiting somewhere that's beautiful in nature everyday , and playing with a pack of dogs which I absolutely love and adore.

It's insane, I often can't believe I actually get paid for doing what I do. I feel truly blessed.

 

[Bokanovsky]

This isn't much different from what attractive women who work in the service industry have to deal with (i.e. being hit on by their male customers). So why not take cues from them? String your customers along, be friendly but always have an excuse ready for why you can't hang out or go for coffee. In your line of work, it shouldn't be hard to come up with one. "Coco the Poodle just got attacked by a neighbor's pet gorilla, we have to rush him to the vet!!!"