年度報告

June 2011 marks the first year anniversary of Cat Sitter Hong Kong. It has been an invaluable experience from getting my first client to handling the demand over the Christmas period. While some might consider cat sitting as a simple and basic job, I take it seriously. I genuinely want to create a service that could help cat owners and their cats in Hong Kong. I am confident to say that I have achieved this goal and created a dependable and reliable service for cat owners in Hong Kong. Most importantly, being a cat sitter has reconfirmed my love for cats. I love being around with cats and nothing beats the sound of a purring cat.

The future of Cat Sitter Hong Kong rest upon my time in juggling between my career in the aviation industry and a career in establishing a prominent cat sitting service in Hong Kong. I am driven by passion and this has led me to become a cat sitter. The costs of transportation and cost of living in Hong Kong has made cat sitting in Hong Kong difficult. However, this does not deter me from continuing to provide a cost effective service for cat owners in Hong Kong. I am continuing to explore opportunities to grow Cat Sitter Hong Kong.

During this year, I have met with amazing cats and their very loving cat owners from around the world. I have to take this opportunity to give my thanks to all of you who have given me this opportunity and given me your trust to look after your cats. Thank you!

Also, I have to give my appreciation to those who has given me their support and reassurance that I am doing the right thing. Thank you!

I look forward in continuing my services to you and to any future cat owners who decide to use my service.

Calvin – Founder Cat Sitter Hong Kong
June 2011

Operation Financial

Cat Sitting Hong Kong has recorded a steady revenue stream for most of the year. Our peak season is during the Christmas holidays and Easter holidays period with noticeable increase of business during all long weekends holidays. Transportation costs which includes fuel, tunnel fees and parking remains the highest costs of the operation which accounts to around 70% of our revenue. Cat Sitter Hong Kong will continue to explore ways to decrease operating costs and reinvest our profit in expanding our service exposure through advertisements and other promotional activities. Other revenue streams will also be explored such as selling advertisement space on our website and developing our own cat products.

Operation Statistics

We have over 40 clients and have taken care of more than 60 cats in this past year. This accounts to more than 700 visits in our first year of operation. It has given us the opportunity to take care of different cats all around Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories.

Advertisements and Press Coverage

In October to December of 2010, Cat Sitter Hong Kong has invested a large percentage of our profits in advertisements and promotional activities with Google Adwords and Facebook Ads. Moreover, we have published our first print advertisement on the Chinese Cat Magazine “Cat’s Life”. This was to increase our exposure in the Chinese cat community.

In December, Cat Sitter Hong Kong was interviewed by South China Morning Post and the article was published on their March 6th Issue of the “Sunday Post Magazine”. In March, a journalist from a Japanese Cat Magazine “œNeko Biyori” has also interviewed us and the article was published in their May 2011 Issue which is for sale around Japan.

Charity and Public Work

Cat Sitting Hong Kong has donated a small amount to SPCA in January from profits received during the Christmas period. Also, Cat Sitter Hong Kong will hopefully start to engage in more public work to promote animal welfare in Hong Kong.

Using Technology

Cat Sitter Hong Kong believes that using modern technology could benefit cat owners immensely. In January, Cat Sitter Hong Kong has developed its first Client Login portal for cat owners to check on the status of our visits and their cats online. In the future, we are planning to include more features in the portal. We are constantly brainstorming new ideas to give cat owners a peace of mind while they are away from home.

June 2012 marks the second anniversary of Cat Sitter Hong Kong. During the past year, we have continued to provide reliable and affordable cat sitting services all year round for cats all over Hong Kong. We strengthen our relationships with existing cats and their cat owners and at the same time forged many new relationships. The growth during this year has been steady and at the same time creates its own challenges.

Cat Sitting Hong Kong has started as a project in 2010 out of my love for cats and my desire to assist cat owners in need. Stepping into our 3rd year, we would need to expand our services scope further in order to survive as a sustainable business. We are exploring to add additional members to our team in order to cope with our planned expansion and to explore other services we could provide for cat owners.

My vision is for Cat Sitting Hong Kong to be a reputable household name for cat owners in Hong Kong. This brand would migrate into other areas of cat products and cat services. We are exploring opportunities to partner with existing establishments. However, our core focus will still be to provide reliable Cat Sitting services for cat owners.

The upcoming year will pose many challenges for Cat Sitter Hong Kong. We are determined to provide the same level of service in 2012-2013.

I look forward in continuing my services to you and to any future cat owners who decide to use my service.

Calvin – Founder Cat Sitter Hong Kong
June 2012

Operation Financial

Similar to Year 2010-2011, Cat Sitting Hong Kong has recorded a steady revenue stream for most of the year. With 2 years of data, we are able to better understand the marketing trends and needs of our cat owners. This information is vital for us to plan and conduct a financial forecast for the upcoming year. Transportation costs remains to be around 70% of our revenue. The majority of this goes to gasoline costs which remains fairly constant this year. We strive to provide door to door service and provide free first consultation and free key return to our cat owners. To decrease costs, we have taken measures to reduce the key return frequency with our regular clients. One of our goals for the previous year was to sell advertisement space on our website. However, due to time we have yet to explore this area of revenue stream. We are still hopefully that we could find advertisers to advertise and support our operations in 2012-2013.

Operation Statistics

In two years we have taken care of my than 100 cats around Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories. Due to time and to further reduce costs, we could no longer provide services for some areas of New Territories and Sai Kung. It is our goal to again provide services to every district in Hong Kong when we could increase our resources.

Advertisements and Press Coverage

In 2011-2012, we did not have any advertisement campaign and press coverage. Our weekly Facebook and Twitter updates provide the only source of advertisement for our services.

Charity and Public Work

Cat Sitting Hong Kong has donated a small amount to SPCA in January and this will continue to be our annual donation to SPCA.

Using Technology

Cat Sitting Hong Kong will continue to explore ways to utilize technology to the fullest. We realized that utilization of our online portal is low mainly because we continue to send daily email updates to cat owners. However, the online portal will continue to serve its purpose and to allow cat owners and cat sitters to track their visits.

It is a feat of its own that Cat Sitter Hong Kong has been operating for more than 3 years. I still remember the day I have decided to start Cat Sitter Hong Kong and looking after our first cat. We have came a long way in these past 3 years. We have been providing cat sitting services to many cat owners across Hong Kong. I am also quite excited to see more pet sitting services pooping up across Hong Kong over these past 3 years. I sometimes question if we encouraged more people to start this service. Cat Sitting is quite a new concept for local Hong Kongers and when locals decided to use my services, it gives me an added satisfaction because they are starting to accept this idea. The percentage of locals looking for my services has been on an increase as well. For cats, it is a perfect solution because as cat owners we understand the need for cats to be in their own environment and to keep their daily routine discruption to a minimum.

If anyone ask me what defines Cat Sitting Hong Kong, it will be my personalized services. I can truly say that I treat every cat that I take care of like my two cats at home and I treat every cat owner as my friend. If I think I do not have the capability to look after any cats like my own for any reason, I will refuse the business. Many people would wonder why I wanted to do cat sitting. I usually tell myself these three reasons: 1.) Passion for cats. 2.) Passion to help cats and owners. 3.) Satisfaction when cat owners come home and finding their cats as if they have never left. These three reasons alone is pushing me forward even many might not understand why I am doing what I am doing. Without any one of these, I will not be doing what I am doing today. It is sometimes difficult to find what you truly love doing in life. If one day I do not love cat sitting, I will stop doing it. However, it seems like loving cats and loving to help is part of who I am. I just wish I could continue to write to you here every year.

Calvin – Founder Cat Sitter Hong Kong
October 2013

Operation Financial

Similar to Year 2011-2012, Cat Sitting Hong Kong has recorded a steady revenue stream for most of the year. We have 3 years of valuable data to fall on to forecast the financial picture for the year. Transportation costs remained to be around 70% of our revenue. The majority of this goes to gasoline costs which remains fairly constant this year. We still strive to provide door to door services to our cat owners. A major cost for this coming year would be the maintenance of the car that we use to cat sit. Because of the amount of additional driving, the wear and tear of the engines and brakes has been enormous. We presume that the servicing and replacement of parts for the car would be more than 50% of the total revenue for the past year alone. It will be a very difficult year for us because of this huge looming cost.

Operation Statistics

Operation has remained stable for the past year.

Advertisements and Press Coverage

Our website and Facebook page continues to be a strong advertising tool for us. The List, a free English local magazine, is kind enough to include us in their Pets Issue this past April. Also, we had a local Chinese magazine that interviewed us recently and hopefully we could share the article once it is published.

Charity and Public Work

Cat Sitting Hong Kong is looking for new charity organizations to donate to and partner with. We are especially interested in areas about controlling stray cats population in Hong Kong. Cat Sitting Hong Kong is thinking about starting its own charity or organization to help stray cats in Hong Kong. If you are one of these organizations, please contact us.

Using Technology

Cat Sitting Hong Kong is an advocate of using technology. Although, one would wonder how a simple cat sitting services could rely on technology but our operations rely on it every day. We are continuing to look for ways to use technology as a platform to better our services for our cat owners. We are looking at an online booking platform which would allow cat owners to see if we are available or not on the days that they require our services.

Cat Sitting Hong Kong celebrates its 5th anniversary in 2015. We are a Hong Kong registered company for the past five years. Although, it has been a great accomplishment, it is not without its trials and tribulation. Personally, I have grown throughout this time and learning how to run an “operation” and dealing with “customers”. Technically speaking, my customers are all the lovely feline friends that we look after but dealing with their parents/owners is a big learning opportunity for me. What I’ve realized is that when you believe in what you do, love what you do and genuinely care about what you do, dealing with your “customers” becomes almost like second nature.

The trials and tributions are the time and effort that we have put into this operation and going the extra mile if it requires. We have encountered issues and solved them in a professional manner. We always have to juggle between person time and “work” time; however, when you run your own operation, this line blurs to a point where it is hard to define. But again, how can it be “work” when you truly enjoy what you do. The reward is more personal than anything else. I’ve read somewhere that in life the true sense of happiness is when you give more than what you get in return. The retrun can be anything from monetary, social group acknowledgement or social status. When you get put these aside and gain happiness from what you give then you may have truly learned how to be happy.

I am extremely thankful for all the cat owners throughout these five years who have given me the opportunity to look after their cats. Our cats are like a children for many of us. It is with extreme personal pride that I have been entrusted with this task. When I get the opportunity to look after different cats with different personality, I sometimes feel like I am the luckiest person in the world. Cats are truely amazing!

From a business point of view, Cat Sitting Hong Kong will remain to be Cat Sitting Hong Kong. We love cats, we care for cats and we serve cats. Our goal is to provide the best personalized service for cats. Again, we have learned a lot from the past years in how to do what we do best and we will continue to do so.

Calvin – Founder Cat Sitter Hong Kong
October 2015

In 2018, Cat Sitter Hong Kong is stepping into its 8th year anniversary. My believe in such a service have never changed from day one. Day after day when I provide cat sitting services to cats all over Hong Kong, I always believed that I am giving value to all my cat owners. Not only am I able to give them a peace of mind when they travel but to have a simple and effective way in solving their problem. The reward that I gain from such an experience is knowing that I could help all these cats and cat owners no matter if they are going on a family vacation, a honeymoon or even attending a funeral of a loved one. I provided them an option and a solution to their problem. The thank you and appreciation that I’ve received over the years is truly priceless. They believed in me and gave me a opportunity to show them what I believed in. 

Over these years, I never thought that the biggest challenge as time goes by is myself. Many look down on me. A few people even said they pity me because I needed to do such a thing. Even among friends, many laughed and made fun of me. I always say to myself I am giving my love and care to so many feline friends. I chose to do what I do and I believed in what I do. I enjoy what I do. Isn’t that the most important? If you live to gain society’s acceptance then you will never be happy. Many do not understand the saracfice that one has to make for any company or services that they created or call their own. I’ve missed many family vacations or gatherings in the past 8 years because of operating my business. Time is the most valuable thing that someone could give and no one can attach a value to their own time. You can never get these time back in your life. This is not a job for me but Cat Sitting Hong Kong is me and I am Cat Sitter Hong Kong. 

Every night when I get home back to my own three cats; Bailey, Casper and Sophie, I know they thank me too because I am here to look after their feline friends. A head bud, a lick and a hug from them is really all I need to push me through another day. Damn, I love cats! 

I look forward in writing to all of you when we celebrate our 10th year anniversary in 2020!

Calvin – Founder Cat Sitter Hong Kong

August 2018

I started Cat Sitter Hong Kong back in July 2010. Time flies and it has already been more than 10 years since I have started my career in cat sitting.

This period is a tough time for Hong Kong as a whole. It has affected the business significantly starting from 2019. There were many cat owners that have relocated or returning home. With COVID-19, almost nobody is traveling thus business dropped almost 100%. I can understand where some businesses are highly disrupted and are forced to close due to this. Luckily, Cat Sitter Hong Kong do not have any significant costs to cover which means we could “hibernate” before hopefully we will again be of help to cat owners.

During this time, we have transformed our website. As some of you may remember, the design of the previous website has not been updated since 2010. I still remember back then in 2010, even WhatsApp was not commonly used. The old website was not designed for mobile devices. Now, this revised website is suitable for both desktop and mobile devices. Hopefully, we can build from this and bring a new era to Cat Sitter Hong Kong.

Looking forward to the next couple of years, we can only hope life will go back to normal. Cat Sitter Hong Kong will continue to look for other services we could provide for cat owners. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to drop me an email.

Wish everyone a healthy 2021!

Calvin – Founder Cat Sitter Hong Kong

February 2021