Start a Pet Sitting Business from Home
If you are an animal lover and have experience working them, then starting a home pet minding business could be the right business for you. Pet sitters offer an important role to pet owners and help keep the one hundred and forty-five million pets in this country healthy and happy. As a pet sitter, you’ll offer a valuable service to busy pet owners who are on vacation or who need someone to take care of their pets during the day.
Getting started as a pet sitter is very simple. To begin with, you’ll need to decide if this really is a business that you want to pursue. First off, ask yourself if you really love animals? If you are considering pet sitting just because you think it will be an easy job, then it is not right for you. You must enjoy spending time with animals and have at least a little experience in being around them. While most pet sitting jobs involve dogs and cats, you may occasionally be asked to care for rabbits, birds or reptiles. Make sure you are comfortable with these pets before accepting assignments involving them.
Start your business by becoming legal. Obtaining a business license doesn’t cost much and will give you a professional edge when getting new clients. You’ll also be able to take advantage of many tax write-offs, including your costs for mileage to and from your customer’s homes and any necessary business supplies.
Speaking of business supplies, all you’ll really need are business cards and an appointment book to keep track of your assignments. Unlike other work at home businesses, the start up necessities for pet sitting are relatively low.
Next, you’ll need to decide on what services you offer and how much you are going to charge. Play detective and find out the going rate for pet sitting services in your area. Try to stay in the same range. Offering lower prices may seem like a way to beat the competition, but it also makes your services appear less valuable to potential clients. You can print your rates on the back of your business cards, or make up a small flyer with prices listed on it.
Getting clients for your pet sitting business may be the most difficult part of running the business. However, with a little effort you can build a client list rather quickly. The best way to get clients and assignments is by word of mouth. Offer to pet sit for neighbors and friends to help build your reputation. Once you’ve done a good job for them, they’ll tell their friends and so on.
You can also use a few free and low cost advertising methods to get the word out about your business. You can distribute your cards at local pet shops, or post a flyer on their bulletin boards. Ask your vet if they would put some of your business cards on their reception desk, or recommend you to other pet owners. A small ad in your local paper can really help get the ball rolling for your business.
Once you have clients calling you for pet sitting appointments, make sure to keep them by treating them with great customer service. Always arrive on time and prepared to watch their pets. Respect their home and their property. If you do a good job you could be on the right path to earning a new regular customer. How To Start a Pet Sitting Business from Home
How To Open & Operate a Financially Successful Pet Sitting Business: With Companion CD-ROM (How to Open and Operate a Financially Successful…)
by: Angela Williams Duea
publisher: Atlantic Publishing Company (FL), published: 2008-09-22
ASIN: 1601382294
EAN: 9781601382290
sales rank: 404102
price: $18.99 (new), $16.99 (used)
The pet sitting business is booming. In the United States alone there are more than 63.2 million individuals who own a pet or even two. Reports tell us that, in America, there are roughly 64 million dogs and 76 million cats in households. The pet sitting business has been earmarked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor as a small business industry that will thrive in the coming years, with pet sitting services located throughout the states. According to a recent Iams Survey, 76 percent of pet parents use some type of pet care when traveling. There is big money in this business. This guide provides readers with an understanding of the basic concepts of starting their own service business. This new book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the business side of pet sitting. You will learn everything from the initial startup decisions to working with clients. If you are investigating opportunities in this type of business, you should begin by reading this book. You can build a highly successful business using your talent and understanding of animals while providing a much needed service to their owners. If you enjoy working with people and animals, this may be the perfect business for you. Keep in mind that this business looks easy but, as with any business, looks can be deceiving. This complete manual will arm you with everything you need, including sample business forms; contracts; worksheets and checklists for planning, opening, and running day-to-day operations; setting up your office; and dozens of other valuable, timesaving tools of the trade that no business should be without. While providing detailed instruction and examples, the author leads you through every detail that will bring success. You will learn how to draw up a winning business plan (the companion CD-ROM has the actual business plan you can use in Microsoft Word) and about choosing a name; getting started; the who, what, when, why, and how of pet sitting; equipment; selling your other services to your present customers, such as pet walking, training, nutritional items, photography and portraiture; pet accessories; how to attract and bid on new jobs; contracts and billing procedures; advertising; insurance; legal matters; basic cost control systems; market research; getting new clients; tax laws; zoning laws; pricing; leads; sales and marketing techniques; and pricing formulas. You will learn how to set up computer systems to save time and money, how to hire and keep a qualified professional staff if necessary, how to meet IRS requirements, how to manage and train employees, how to generate high profile public relations and publicity, and how to implement low cost internal marketing ideas. You will learn how to build your business by using low and no cost ways to satisfy customers, as well as ways to increase sales and have customers refer others to you. You will learn the basics of accounting and bookkeeping procedures, auditing, successful budgeting, and profit planning development, as well as thousands of great tips and useful guidelines. This manual delivers innovative ways demonstrated to streamline your business. Learn new ways to make your operation run smoother and increase performance. Successful entrepreneurs will appreciate this valuable resource and reference it in their daily activities as a source of ready-to-use forms, Web sites, operating and cost cutting ideas, and mathematical formulas that can easily be applied to their operations. The companion CD-ROM contains all the forms found in the book, as well as a sample business plan you can adapt for your own use.
