Have you ever considered owning a pet sitting business? Well, maybe it’s time you begin to give it more thoughts. Over time, the potentials in this business have grown beyond what a lot of people imagine. Unlike in the past, people have become more aware of the benefits of taking proper care of their pets. This is a sector you’d want to tap into, especially if you love pets. First, for the financial potential, it offers, then for an opportunity to provide care for your favourite animals.

Pet sitting businesses are specialized centres opened to offer pet owners different animal care services ranging from feeding, to health care and exercising. Pet owners rely on these services for the wellbeing of their animal while at work, vacation, or on business trips. 

This business may be the new way to make cool money, but you can’t just jump into it without knowing a thing or two. In this guide, we will discuss everything you should know before starting a pet sitting business, as well as how to get one going smoothly. There’s a lot to learn in this field, but first things first, let’s talk about the basics.

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Who is The Business For?

This business is profitable, but you would not be successful in it if money is your only drive. For a start, you need to be an animal lover that enjoys walking and keeping pets active and happy. It is also an ideal business for people that love to lower their stress level since numerous researches already point to the fact that spending time with pets greatly reduces stress. Responsible and compassionate people that are self-driven towards success would also be able to make a good career out of this business.

What Does a Pet Sitting Business Owner Do?

If you’ve decided to venture into this line of business, then you should be ready to handle the following during a typical business day:

•   Reviewing and following specific instructions from pet owners
•   Animal-proofing your work environment of work to ensure the safety of pets
•   Capturing and storing clients information to a database for future references
•   Bathing and grooming of the pet
•   Feeding, exercising, and socializing of pets
•   Security responsibilities
•   Booking veterinary appointments
•   Administering prescribed medication
•   Billing and advertising.

Growth Potential and How Profit is Generated

Pet sitting businesses make their money from charging pet owners for the pet care services that they offer. Different services adopt different pricing methodology. While the pet sitter may price on an hourly basis for some services, other services may be priced daily or even weekly.

On growth potentials, pet sitting businesses have enormous potentials of growth, but it all boils down to how much work the business owner is willing to put into growth. We’ve seen some pet sitting businesses cover different parts of the country, employing hundreds, if not thousands of workers.

Getting Started With Pet Sitting Business

Having talked a lot about the basics, let’s now dive into what to do when starting. Like in most other businesses, there are skills and experiences that you need to have if you desire to succeed in this business. The question is what they are. Communication skills are fundamental if you wish to go far in this line of business. Because you would need them to negotiate with customers and to run your advertising campaigns. In addition to being able to communicate, you need to have a basic knowledge of software used in this kind of business. There’s are amazing software already available in the software market that is designed specifically for this business. Things like database creation, inventory, scheduling, invoicing, and record-keeping should be done on this software.

Additionally, a few basic business skills and excellent personal characteristics will do your business good. Characteristics like patience, flexibility, consistency, reliability, and trustworthiness are all good for the business. Note that most pet owners are emotionally attached to their pets and as such would expect you to reciprocate the same care they give to their pet. It is up to you to try to understand their level of attachment, as well as how they would ordinarily treat their pets. The more you can handle their pets as they would do, the more they would trust you. 

Cost Involved

As expected, opening a pet sitting business costs money. Of course, you can run a pet sitting business from your home if you have enough space for it, but you will still need money. We must state here, however, that opening this kind of business would not cost as much as most other businesses. Since, you would not need more than a personal computer, flexible schedule, professional software, love for animals, and money to handle small expenses for a start. 

If you are looking to extend your services to other areas, then you will also need a car and insurance to go with it. Talking about insurance, experts recommend that starters purchased general liability insurance specifically designed for pet owners.

Step by Step Guide to Start a Pet Sitting Business

Starting can be difficult if you don’t know what to do at what time, but the steps in this guide should help ease the process so that you can avoid time-wasting.

1. Planning

The use of having a clear plan before starting any business can never be overstated. In pet sitting, the rate of success you get to enjoy is proportional to the amount of work you can put in at the planning stage. Take time to ask yourself vital questions like; what you plan to spend; the market you plan to reach; how long you expect to take before you begin to earn customers; and what strategies you need to set in place to reach each goal. Furthermore, you should have things like your business name, type, and web domain all planned out before venturing into pet sitting. You don’t have to be scared about the whole planning process. There’s nothing complicated about it. Just do your researches, develop alternatives, and know what options are best for you.

2. Register Your Business

Of course, the legal statute of your business is not recognized until you’ve registered your business with the authorities involved. Like most other businesses, you will have to decide beforehand what you want from your business in terms of type and size. Whether as a sole proprietorship,  partnership, or corporation, you need to have the company registered with the right authority. What this does for you is that it helps to make the business a legal entity, preventing you from being personally liable whenever the business is being sued. The registration process should also cover registering for taxes and every other payment due, both at federal and state levels.

3. Open Business Accounts

We will classify the business account as being talked about here into two:

– Bank business account 

– Social media business account

Both business accounts are essential for the growth of the business. Bank business accounts are essential for keeping accurate and detailed records of your financial performance. As your business behind to grow, you also expect to incorporate different payment methods like credit card and bank transfer. You need to prepare for this beforehand by opening a business account with any bank of your choice.

You need a social media business account, on the other hand, to increase your reach of potential customers. We are in a century when social media has become a must-know for business growth, and the earlier you are willing to incorporate it into your business, the better for you.

4. Obtain Necessary Permits and Licenses

 This point should have been tied to business registration, but for emphasis, we’ve separated them. You don’t want to be paying all the hefty fees that come with not acquiring necessary permits. In fact, there are even worse case scenarios where businesses are shut down because their owners fail to obtain necessary licenses and permits.

5. Get Insured

The importance of insurance to any business can never be understated. It is highly recommended for you as a pet sitter since you would need to deal with customers, their pets, and employees. Research and know what insurance policies are available in your state and subscribe to those that are best for your business. Insurance will save you from unexpected damages that may arise in the future.

6. Animal Prove The Location

Now that you are ready to start, it’s time to make your location good enough for pets. This includes buying the right facilities, as well as making the place free of infectious pests and other harmful substances. Understand the individual needs of the particular type of pet you intend sitting and create an environment they will thrive in. Note that different animals have different preferences when it comes to environmental preference. 

Running Your Pet Sitting Business

Once you’ve gone past the hurdle of starting, the next challenge you are faced with is to keep the business afloat. This stage is even more complicated than the starting stage and needs far more care. If you’re able to do the right things, however, then this is the stage where you grow your business beyond bounds. Here, take a look at these few things to have in mind that can help you ensure the smooth running of your pet sitting business.

•   Promotion and Marketing

You didn’t come into the business as a pet sitter to sit your pet. No! You need customers to grow. But you don’t just sit in the comfort of your home and expect customers to flow in. You have to work for it. In today’s competitive business world, the odds have become even smaller. You need well-planned strategies to reach a wider network of people because with increased reach comes more conversion. One of the easiest business tools available to you is fliers that contain relevant information about your business. Create these fliers in bulk from time to time, clearly stating out the services you offer. Either distribute the leaflets or place them in strategic places where people can see it. Once the first set of customers begin to trickle in, the next task for you is to offer satisfactory services. This will help in building and maintaining a good business reputation without so much struggle.

Other popular advertising mediums include social media,  email marketing, etc. Study your target market to understand which of these medium fits it best, then throw your weight into it until it succeeds.

•   Build a Team

As your business begins to pick up, you will soon realize that you can’t attend to the needs of every customer alone. Apart from excess work burden being on you, you can also fall sick or be faced with an emergency once in a while. You can’t just shut the whole business down at such points, and that’s why you need backup. You can start by creating a team with your family members, then as the business and finances grow, include independent contractors. While hiring members of your team, keep in mind that pet owners want top-notch care for their pets, so experience should count as a significant criterion for bringing anybody into the team.

•   Maintaining Good Standards

While it is very difficult to gain the trust of customers in this line of business, it is unfortunately so easy to lose it. So, you have to constantly be at the top of your game to maintain your customer base. Remember they are always watching and would withdraw their pets from your care at the sight of any red flag. It is therefore important that you maintain the standard with which you started or even add to it where possible. It is better to increase cost in relation to the inflation rate than to drop the quality of your service so that your present price will accommodate it.

There you have it, a complete guide that will help you start and run your pet sitting business. This business has a lot of potentials, but you need all the knowledge possible to succeed in it. Now that you’ve read this guide, you are ready to take your first baby step in pet sitting for people.

Want to grow and scale your ‘Pet Sitting’ Business ?? Then you need to apply right targeted strategies & an Automated System which can bring a lot of Pet owners as your customers!! Click here to know more!