Many of us have dreamt of sacking off our corporate jobs for something a little more unconventional and fun.
One woman has taken the plunge and done just that - Nikki Vasconez gave up her £60,000 salary working as a top lawyer to become a pet psychic.
The 33-year-old started researching how to speak to animals in September 2020 while working as a full-time property lawyer.
After discovering her passion, Nikki quit her job to become a full-time animal communicator a year later, and now says it's her dream job.
In September last year, Nikki launched her pet psychic business on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok - and became booked out for the next four months.
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Nikki, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, said: "I was so miserable in my previous job, I was working huge hours and was just unhappy but was too scared to change.
''Until this came along. I started out practising on family and friend's pets, and some stranger's animals for free but as soon as I created social media accounts, I began to gain a steady following and it wasn't long before requests started pouring in.
"When I set up my TikTok account, I gained 175,000 followers within months and by January 2022, I had to stop taking bookings because I was so inundated!
"The business just took off. I was working on orders which were backed up for months.
"I couldn't believe it - I had to set up a waitlist which had a total of 4,000 people on it requesting me to speak with their animals."
Nikki, who runs Nikki Vasconez Animal Communication, lives with personal evolution coach Michael, 34, and their two teacup poodles Donald, seven, and Merlin, eight.
She taught herself to communicate with animals by doing her own research and reading a series of books on the practice.
During a typical reading, Nikki will sit in a quiet room at her home where she studies a photo of the animal and telepathically asks them a series of questions.
The psychic records her questions and the animal's 'responses' on her phone so that owners can listen back to the full exchange.
Nikki insists on seeing the animal's eyes in the photo, and she is informed of the pet's name, gender and the name of people in the home.
But she revealed she prefers to know no more details about the animal to prevent her 'human brain' from interfering with the messages.
Nikki explained: "When I'm communicating with the animals, sometimes I see images flash across my eyes or I'll hear particular phrases.
"I don't hear their accents or tone of voice, but I can always sense their personality."
Nikki charges £280 for a one-hour session and restricts her communications to two per day to ensure the best quality readings.
The pet psychic also offers services to speak with animals who have passed away - which makes up around half of her requests.
She said: "Of the animals I've spoken to that have passed, they are never upset, angry or hold a grudge.
"In my experience, they've only ever been happy and free and talk about how parts of their body have been restored and ailments that have gone away.
"I'm convinced they go where we go. It's changed my entire perspective of death because it's a shift, a transition because I've never had a single animal that is sad."
The majority of the animals Nikki works with are household pets such as dogs and cats, but she has also worked with geckos, bearded dragons, horses, cows, pigs, several different birds and donkeys.
Her clients include pet owners wanting to communicate with their pets, as well as barn owners and rescue owners who want to understand what is causing their animals pain or suffering.
Around 98% of the pet owners who Nikki has been approached by are women.
Nikki added: "In my experience husbands have been much more sceptical but after they get the recording from my communication with their pet, they are amazed.
"I was speaking with one dog, Peter, who told me about a door in his family's kitchen which kept sticking and was driving the mother mad.
"When they later played the recording back, her husband's jaw dropped to the floor because it was completely accurate. It's so fun when that happens!"
Recalling another successful reading, Nikki described speaking with one cat, Finnegan, who she later discovered was experiencing tooth pain.
She recalled: "The owner had asked for my help when they couldn't work out what was wrong with him because he was just lying in his owner's bed, unable to do anything.
"Vets had ruled out any teeth issues because the X-ray showed no signs of a problem, but I just kept getting this pain in my own mouth while speaking with him so I believed he was telling me he had pain in his lower jaw.
"It turned out the X-ray revealed he had an abscess and needed a tooth pulled out!"
During another reading, Nikki continually heard one pet dog, Odie, repeat the phrase, 'you're the best thing in the world'.
She said: "It was so funny, when I told the owner this, she laughed and said 'that’s what I tell him every morning!"
In addition to her readings, Nikki also offers workshops to train others to speak with their pets.
She said: "Everyone can do this, I 100% believe this. I didn’t start out being able to do this but I learnt to do it.
"Animal communication is not a gift, it's a skill and a muscle that needs to be developed. We are all innately psychic beings so it just requires practice."
While many have taken interest in her services, Nikki also receives criticism online from TikTok users who are suspicious about her claims.
She said: "There are a lot of people who are very sceptical and say that I'm a fraud.
"I understand it can be confusing as we are raised to believe that interspecies communication isn’t the norm.
"The criticism initially bothered me but I no longer care."
Due to the success of her business, Nikki now advocates for people to pursue their passions.
She said: "I was so miserable as an attorney. My days were long because I was commuting 90 minutes each way.
"I would leave my house at 6am in the morning and not get home until 6.30pm at night.
"I was even getting into car accidents because I was so physically and mentally drained.
"I had a lot of student loans so I was initially reluctant to leave the law firm, but I decided to take a leap of faith and I’m so glad I did.
"I couldn’t be happier now doing what I love most."
Do you have a dog story to sell? Email nia.dalton@reachplc.com.
