I think that starting a pet sitting business may be the perfect home-based business. I mean, where else can you hang out at home, play with dogs and get paid?
Another aspect of the pet sitting business also makes it very attractive --- it's a business in demand! In recent years, the family pet, especially the dog, have been elevated to valued family members. Combine their rising stature with an aging population of affluent "empty-nesters" who not only treat their pets like children but also have the financial resources to travel and other demographic trends like young married couples having children later in life and you've got the recipe for a booming business.
According to Ian White of pet-sitters.biz, "The Pet Sitting business is booming internationally. In the United States alone there are upwards of 63.2 million individuals who own a pet, or two. Reports tell us that in America there are roughly 64 million dogs and 76 million cats in households. These numbers support why the Pet Sitting Business is on an upward swing. It is fast becoming one of the best small business ventures that an individual can undertake. The Pet Sitting business has been ear marked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor as a small business industry that will thrive with the coming years, with Pet Sitting services located throughout the states."
Check Out Our 21 Tips To Starting A Successful Pet Sitting Business
Do You Have What it Takes to be a Professional Pet Sitter?
FETCH PET CARE FRANCHISE
This is a solid business opportunity with it's share of pluses and minuses. On the plus side, Fetch Pet Care offers a slick image and business concept, great logo and instant credibility and professionalism. What I also liked alot about Fetch's approach was the fact that the business is designed to be run by the owner without the owner having to do the actual pet sitting.
Why this is important is because the biggest problem with running a service business such as pet sitting is that it's hard to scale up. If what people are buying is you, personally, you're limited to how many places you can be at a time as well as how many hours in a day.
The key to Fetch's approach is to hire and manage a group of pet sitters to enable you to grow your business more effectively.
Another thing I liked a lot about Fetch is the relatively low franchise investment of $6,000 (price increased from $5,000 as of August 1, 2006; additional territories also increased from $2,000 to $3,000).
To price their services competitively, the company does a competitive analysis of local pricing in order to price their services accordingly. Most franchises break even the first year based on the volume of business.
My advice: do homework in your own market to see if Fetch's suggested pricing makes sense or if there's a need for pet sitting services. What are dog walkers/sitters charging in your town? How many are there? Because this will be your competition.
Fetch Pet Care Franchise
MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
If you already have a business plan or an existing pet sitting service you may be interested in automating some of your essential on-going tasks.
I found this software called PeTrax that is designed to handle all your customer records (the people and their dogs) along with schedules of appointments, employee schedules, billing, invoices and lots more.
The software costs nearly $500 and after the first year also charges an ongoing fee of $79 for tech support and updates. While you may or may not think this is pricey, it's a heck of a lot cheaper than a franchise and the 30 day "try before you buy" offer will let you test drive the software risk free.
I think that anything that saves you time and makes you more efficient is worth a relatively small investment. Minimizing paperwork and some repetitive tasks (like billing) will leave you more time to focus on more important aspects of your business like marketing, sales and, of course, the pet sitting itself. But decide for yourself.
PETRAX PET SITTING MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
CONSULTING SERVICES
Professional pet sitter Peggie Arvidson-Dailey offers several convenient email courses to help you launch your pet sitting career.
The first course, or "e-class" as she calls them, tackles the basic questions: "Is this the Career for Me?"
The course spans two weeks (every other day) and is aimed at anyone just pondering pet-care as the business for them. Priced at $35, this course is well worth the small investment.
E-Class: Is Pet Sitting The Career For Me?
Ok, you're commited to starting your own pet sitting business. But how much money can you make? Will it sustain your lifestyle? Professional pet sitter Peggie Arvidson-Dailey also offers a 30-day, 20-lesson eclass for $79 that will help you answer that and many other questions such as how to set goals and how to set up your bookkeeping.
E-Class: Building Your Pet-Care Business -- How do I make it work?
PET SITTING FORMS
Running a pet sitting business requires certain forms so you can keep track of your customer's pets and their individual details. You'll also need a basic sales agreement or contract as well as veterinary release forms and other basic documents.
Here are some resources, paid as well as free, that will get you started.
Pet Sitting Form Packages
HOME BUSINESS FORMS: I like this company because even though they're a "form" company, they started out being a pet sitting company. A pet sitting company that turned into a forms company --- I've heard of stranger things. So you know they know what they're doing when they develop a wide array of forms for every possibility from aquarium maintenance contracts to Pet Taxi services.
FORMS FOR PET SITTING
Pet Sitting Business Start-up Kit
Not only forms, but brochure templates, business cards, correspondence templates, press releases, flyers and more.
Pet Sitting Business Start Up Kit
Free Forms
Client Services Agreement
Veterinary Instructions & Release Form
Dog Information Sheet
Cat Information Sheet
Granted, these are pretty basic forms but you can either customize them to suit your specific needs or use them as is.
GET PET SITTING INSURANCE
While it probably makes sense to join some type of professional trade organization anyway, Pet Sitters Associates, LLC offers a million dollar general liability policy included with the annual membership fee of $159. That alone, makes it a no-brainer.
GET MORE PET SITTING INSURANCE INFO HERE
MARKET YOUR PET SITTING BUSINESS
Pet-Sitters.biz is an online clearing house and listing service to match pet sitters and the customers looking for them. In addition to a free trial membership, they offer an annual paid "Gold" membership to list your pet sitting business for $19. Again, a no-brainer.
GET MORE DETAILS HERE
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Start Your Own Pet Sitting Biz
This comprehensive handbook, part of Entrepreneur magazine's highly successful StartUp series, guides you through the steps of setting up and operating a pet-sitting business, covering both the business fundamentals and the specialized knowledge required for animal care and handling. Start Your Own Pet Sitting Business focuses mainly on dogs and cats, the most popular pets, but also covers barn animals and exotics.
GET MORE DETAILS HERE
The Professional Pet Sitter: Your Guide to Starting and Operating a Successful Service Edition 2005 Newly-Revised Includes Business Forms
The pet sitter of the New Millenium is no longer the neighborhood kid. Today's pet owners all want the best for their pets, and the Mangolds' guide is just the ticket for people wanting in on the growing professional pet-sitting business. After explaining in straightforward style what is expected from a professional pet sitter, the authors present an extremely detailed guide on starting and operating a pet-sitting business. Everything from acquiring a business license and planning marketing strategies to keeping records and making service calls is detailed here. Forms are included for client file cards, service agreements, and more. (The only criticism is that nothing is said about keeping records on the computer.) Otherwise, this is a succinct, easy-to-use guide that will help all pet sitters make a great success of their business.
MORE DETAILS HERE
Pet Sitting For Profit
Designed for people at all levels of experience—from the person just starting out to the person who has established a business and wants to make it more successful—the book also focuses on how to make setting up a business as easy as possible, so people can operate on whatever scale they feel comfortable with. Pet sitting continues to grow at an extraordinary rate, and this book is for everyone who wants a chance to work with animals.
MORE DETAILS HERE
