It’s ironic when a great business to start during this recession is unnecessary like a Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Business. Pet Sitting and Dog Walking–as a legitimate business venture–is only about 2 decades old. It capitalizes on a demographic that is very large; that demographic being pet owners. Furthermore, starting a pet sitting/dog walking is so simple that anyone can do it.
First, decide upon what kind of package you are going to provide for your clients. Will you just walk your client’s dogs? Will you take care of cats as well? Will you provide additional services as well like taking in mail, pickup the newspaper, watering the flowering plants, cleaning the cat litter box, picking up doodoo, etc. You need to spell out all the services you want to provide from the onset as your identity in the business. Leave some wiggle room though.
Second, decide how much you are going to charge your clients on a per visit basis. I would recommend charging $16 per visit–that seems to be the national average for pet sitting and dog walking. However, what are you going to do if a client has more than one pet that he or she wants you to take care of (which is great). Will you chage the standard rate of give that client a discount? That’s for you to decide.
Third, starting marketing your pet sitting and dog walking business. Send out an email blast to pet owners in your region, join forum and discussion groups, send out flyers–whatever it takes to get the business line ringing.
If you would like to find out more about pet sitting and dog walking as a legitimate business venture, check out the following ebook. Good luck everyone!
