Things You'll Need:
- An Understanding of the following:
- dog
- pet
- dog walking
- pet sitting
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Step 1
Dog Walking/Pet Sitting is a pretty good recession-based business to start with very low overhead. Now it's not the kind of business that you are probably going to make $100,000 a year from...but you can make an additional $100 a day or $40,000 a year from a pet sitting/dog walking business. So How Do you start a pet sitting/dog walking business?
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Step 2
Step 1) Decide upon the pet SERVICES you are going to provide. Are you going to just walk dogs or will you take care of cats as well? What about spiders, hamsters, and snakes--do you want to take care of these pets? Will you also water the client's plants, give the pet medication, and pick up dog poop when you're at the client's home? These are all questions you need to decide upon before embarking on a pet sitting/dog walking business.
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Step 3
Step 2) Decide upon your pet RATES. The national average for pet sitting/dog walking rates per visit is $17 dollars. Obviously, if a pet owner has multiple pets that need to be taken care of, give the owner a discount on the additional pet. Nonetheless, make it worthwhile to proceed in this pet sitting/dog walking business venture.
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Step 4
Step 3) Draw up a pet sitting/dog walking BUSINESS PLAN. In your annual business plan (which is broken down into 12 monthly business plans), you need to set your financial projections as well as your business expenses. Then, compare your actual financial projections and business expenses with those you listed on your Business Plan. If they don't match up, make modifications to your pet sitting/dog walking business as necessary.
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Step 5
Step 4) MARKET your pet sitting/dog walking business. Guerrilla marketing for this type of business is the best method. This includes mailbox flyers, bulletin board flyers, craigslist, backpage.com, email blasts, and especially a classified ad at the back of your local newspaper.
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Step 6
Step 5) Remember: You need to have a REALLY CATCHY NAME for your pet sitting/dog walking business. This is not a serious business like banking or law so have fun with it and pick out an eye-catching name for your pet sitting/dog walking business.
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Step 7
Step 6) I hope this has been a helpful article on how to start a pet sitting/dog walking business. For more information, check out the tips section below. Good luck!
Comments
chrisanimelo444 said
on 8/7/2009 I've always wanted to pet sit. I'll try it now! Thanks. :)
JeannieKerns said
on 6/17/2009 Great article :-)
dorigillman said
on 6/17/2009 there is also a great demand for these kind of pet services.