‘I quit my 60k lawyer job for a pet mental illness – I make more money talking to dogs’
Many of us have dreamed of getting fired from our corporate jobs for a little more obsolete and fun things.
One woman drowned and did just that – Nicki Vasconaz gave up her £ 60,000 salary to work as a top lawyer to become a pet psychologist.
The 33-year-old began researching how to talk to animals in September 2020 while working as a full-time property lawyer.
After discovering her passion, Nikki quits her job a year later to become a full-time animal communicator and now says it’s her dream job.
In September of last year, Nicky launched her pet mental business on Facebook, Instagram and Tikto – and booked for the next four months.
Nikki was sad to work as a lawyer (
Photo:
Nicki Vascones / SWNS) found her talking to her niche animals (
Photo:
Nicki Vascones / SWNS)
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Nikki, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, says: “I was miserable at my previous job, I worked long hours and was just dissatisfied but very afraid to change.
” Until it comes. I started free practice with family and friends pets and some unfamiliar animals but as soon as I created a social media account, I started following a constant and it wasn’t too long before requests started pouring in.
“When I set up my TikTok account, I gained 175,000 followers in a few months and by January 2022, I had to stop taking bookings because I was so overwhelmed!
“Business has started. I’ve been working on backed up orders for months.
“I couldn’t believe it – I had to make a waiting list in which a total of 4,000 people asked me to talk to their animals.”
Nicky, who manages Nicki Vasco da Gama’s Animal Communications, lives with personal evolution instructor Michael, 34, and their two tea-cups, Poodle Donald, Seven, and Marilyn, eight.
He taught himself to communicate with animals by doing his own research and reading a few books on practice.
During a general lesson, Nikki will sit in a quiet room in her home where she will study a picture of the animal and telepathically ask them multiple questions.
Psychic records his questions and the animal’s ‘reactions’ on his phone so that the owners can hear the entire exchange.
Nikki insists on looking at the animal’s eyes in the photo and is told the pet’s name, gender and the names of the people in the house.
But he has revealed that he does not want to know more about animals to prevent his ‘human brain’ from interfering with messages.
Nicki explains: “When I interact with animals, sometimes I see images across my eyes or I hear certain phrases.
You will be amazed at what they say to him.
Photo:
Nicki Vasconage / SWNS) She can talk to late pets as well as live (
Photo:
Nicki Vascones / SWNS)
“I can’t hear their accents or voices, but I can always feel their personality.”
Nicky charges £ 280 for one hour sessions and limits her contacts to two per day to ensure optimal quality readings.
Pet Psychic also offers services for talking to dead animals – which makes up about half of his requests.
He said: “All the animals I’ve talked to are cut off, they never get annoyed, angry or upset.
“In my experience, they were just happy and free and talked about how their body parts were restored and the ailments were gone.
“I’m sure they go wherever we go. It has changed my whole outlook on death because it’s a change, a change because I’ve never found an animal that is sad.”
Most of the animals that Nikki works with are domestic pets such as dogs and cats, but she has also worked with geckos, bearded dragons, horses, cows, pigs, various birds and donkeys.
Among her clients are pet owners who want to communicate with their pets, as well as barn owners and rescue owners who want to understand what causes their animals pain or distress.
About 98% of pet owners who have contacted Nikki are women.
Nicky added: “In my experience, husbands were much more skeptical, but after they got the recordings from my contact with their pets, they were surprised.
“I was talking to a dog, Peter, who told me about a door in his family’s kitchen that was sticking out and driving my mother crazy.
“When they play the recording later, her husband’s jaw falls to the floor because it was completely perfect. It’s so funny when it happens!”
His reading is terribly accurate (
Photo:
Nicki Vascones / SWNS)
Recalling another successful lesson, Nicky described talking to a cat, Finnegan, whom he later discovered was experiencing a toothache.
He recalled: “The owner asked me for help when they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him because he was just lying in his owner’s bed, doing nothing.
“The vet ruled out any dental problems because the X-rays showed no signs of problems, but I got this pain in my own mouth while talking to him so I believed he was telling me he had pain in his lower jaw.
“It turned out that he had an abscess and needed to have a tooth extracted.”
During another reading, Nikki heard a pet dog, Audi, constantly repeating the phrase, ‘You are the best thing in the world’.
He said: “It was so funny, when I told the owner it, he laughed and said, ‘I tell him that every morning!’
In addition to her reading, Nicky offers workshops to train others to talk to their pets.
He said: “Everyone can do it, I believe it 100%. I didn’t start doing it but I learned to do it.
“Animal communication is not a gift, it is a skill and a muscle that needs to be developed. We are all innately emotional animals so we need to practice for it.”
‘My date cooked her dogs better than I did – so I moved out.’
Although many were interested in her services, Nicky also received online criticism from TickTock users who were skeptical of her claims.
He said: “There are many people who are very skeptical and say that I am a fraud.
“I understand that this can be confusing because we believe that interracial communication is not ideal.
“Criticism bothered me at first but I don’t care anymore.”
Because of the success of his business, Nicki now supports people to follow their passion.
He said: “I was very sad as an attorney. My days were long because I had to travel 90 minutes each way.
“I would leave my house at 6 in the morning and not return until 6.30 at night.
“I even got into a car accident because I was so bad physically and mentally.
“I had a lot of student loans so I was reluctant to leave the law firm at first, but I decided to take a leap of faith and I was very happy.
“I can’t be happier now doing what I love the most.”
Do you have a dog story to sell? Email nia.dalton@reachplc.com.
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