Topic – How to Start a Pet Care Business?
Hi everyone. I mainly wanted to welcome you to the post. And the other thing is that we give you a little roadmap as to what we are going to do.
So basically, I’m going from the point of view of someone obsessing about dogs. You really want to start a business walking dogs, but you don’t know where to go business wise.
You do not know what you have to do about marketing that you need any kind of legal formation of your company.
How You Are Paid You know what the best methods are and all the other considerations they actually take when starting a business. don’t worry.
Thousands of people like you are in the same boat. And congratulations on taking the first step. So we are going to go through all those steps that do not concern anyone because it is not as difficult as you are probably thinking.
So said that once we get the next few introductions we will dive right in and learn how to start our business.
Starting Your Dog Walking Business
Why do you want to start your Business?
The first step in starting a business before you start it is you need to ask yourself why you want to do this.
You would be surprised that many people have different reasons why they want to start a business. Now you clearly know why you want to start it.
Now I am assuming that you are fond of dogs and animals. Also a means of earning money. You know you have idle time. You have time when you can be a walking dog.
You have a way to go to people’s places so that you can go so that their dogs can walk them and bring them back.
But still, you really have to ask yourself why you want to start your own business. So many people want to start their own business because they think it is an easy road to get rich or to easily make a lot of money. And I am telling you here that it is not so.
There is no such thing as easy money, especially starting your own business requires a lot of effort and a lot of work to start your own business.
And essentially what has to happen is your passion for business meets all the hard work. You do not hesitate to work hard because it is fun and exciting for you.
You know you will love being. You like what you know walking with dogs and playing with them and you are okay with the fact that you know that you have to drive and get them and you know that maybe one day you have the next day Have eight appointments.
You only have two or you don’t have any. Or maybe you have to drive an extra five miles for the next appointment, because they are a bit ahead. Whatever the case may be a passion for your business or satisfies any inconvenience you may feel.
The other thing that you have to consider is that you have to do some work, apart from that only the walk dogs have to handle the business side.
Things like marketing that you know to do a little accounting to promote the business out there that you know how big your operation is.
This may not be a big deal, but if you are walking an overdose of a dog then it is essentially a business that requires you to keep track of your records etc. as well as your expenses such as travel expenses Are going to be You know that your auto monitors your gas at your mileage, so there is a whole business side to any business.
And as it is the same for the dog walking business, I encourage you if you are only there for this money and you think it will be easy again.
This is certainly not the case. If you are into this because you are passionate about the animals you love that you want to walk dogs.
Then you came to the right place. Your head is in the right place. And I am excited for you. So long as you are honest with yourself and you are in it for the right reasons.
What Name will you Choose?
The next step and starting your business is a name. This is part of the fun part of starting a business. So you definitely want to keep a lot of ideas in it for some reason.
Obviously you want something attractive. You know that you want to stand out from your competition.
So I would encourage you to look at your competition to see what kind of names they are using and it might be something simple, I mean maybe it’s just Jane’s dog walking business or maybe it’s something like that Have someone you know has some fun or they catch it.
You know that it can be a twist on whatever words. I am not here to tell you what your business name is, which you should definitely put some thought into because once you name it, they are going to use it to brand your business This is going to revolve around you.
If you create a company, which we will see later in the lecture, you will know that the name you are using is et cetera, et cetera.
We want to make sure that this is something that you are proud of that you make people feel comfortable talking about any such strange guess. So keep some ideas in the name of your business.
Again it can be as simple as you know that you went out as if you are doing it on a part time basis, maybe your student knows that you are in high school right now, You know and you just want dogs to walk in your neighborhood.
You know that you probably do not have to go through all the stages of knowing how to set up a company and you know how to do an accounting etc. But on the other hand these days there are a lot of people who do walking dogs on a full-time basis and they take it seriously in the sense that they set up a company.
You know that bank account is etcetera. And a part of it is also coming with the company name, so I encourage you to really think through it.
You know many times that people fall into two categories. They either have an idea for a name and they are just ready to go.
They have already received the name and it is the name and it is great. You know that if you really like it and it’s fair and perfect, then there’s another group for people who can’t decide if they either have too many ideas or don’t have an idea that they Cannot come up with a catchy name.
He probably has some ideas, maybe his friends are pitching ideas for the name and nothing seems to really stick.
I would encourage you to give it a little more time. You know even though it takes just two to three more days to get through it.
Put yourself in a different position. Now if you feel like you are at home or you say that you are on another job or you are in school and you just can’t get a big name, then try something different.
Go to a park Go to Dog Park and think about what kind of names. What do I ask or ask different people or ask a stranger if you can run into something creative?
So, there are lots of ways to come up with your name, other than that you are just trying to come up with one off the top of your head. So put some thought into it.
You want to be something that you are proud of and also be excited about as its brand.
Do You need to start a formal Company?
The next part in this lecture we talk about is that you really need to start a formal company so that you know and I am assuming that you can find out more about the companies or not, but you know Whether the business starts.
They usually have to decide on a name that we talked about in a previous lecture. Then you have to decide what kind of company is going to be formed.
There are many types of company structures now. Some will probably not be so applicable to the dog walking business. The former is called a sole proprietorship and is where you run the business and the advantage is that you don’t really have to do anything.
You really don’t have to find the paperwork. You just decide that you just know whether you want to go by a name or whatever it is that is x y z dog walkers.
That’s your business. You are not setting up a formal company. The downside to this is that you will not be able to open bank accounts in your company name or anything else. You are basically just operating yourself.
Then whatever money you had, you will just deposit it in your personal account and you have to keep a record for that. Conversely if there is no legal protection for your business, then we are now talking again about a dog walking business, we are not talking about a multinational dollar corporation.
Therefore, you have to weigh the pros and cons. Being a sole proprietor there is no legal protection. So, if someone has decided to sue you, they are not suing the business they are suing personally and they can go after all of your assets.
If you own a car, So you own a house that you know you know about your savings. For him. Now I can’t think of a lot of situations where you are in a dog walking business and you know of a multinational company suing thousands of dollars.
There is not much you can do. But there are things you know what will happen and if these are terrible things to think about then what if some of these dogs were freed and you lost your dog and they wanted to see you. Now they are suing you personally.
So it is negative to be a sole proprietorship so it is cheaper because it is free to install as there is really no set up. The downside is that there is no form of legal protection. Therefore, the next step will be like a limited liability corporation.
Now there may be some different twist on a partnership if you have a partner that you are buying and assume that it is working for a limited liability corporation just for you then maybe my recommendation would be.
Now I am not a lawyer so I can advise you legally but personally if I wanted to start a business like I actually have a consulting business. Most types of single-person type businesses will establish a limited liability company or corporation. Why do you do this now? So be afraid of some professionals first.
One is now legal protection. So now you have a business although x y z dog walkers is a real institution that it is a company.
If someone were to sue you. They are not technically suing you. They are suing the business. And they can only sue for the property of the business so that the money is in the bag. If you have a vehicle under the business name, which you probably can’t do, etcetera.
They can only go after business, so definitely a pro you are personally safe with. The biggest cone is going to cost it in money as well, it will cost a couple hundred dollars to install it.
There are many ways to set up a company. You can go anywhere by doing it yourself. And honestly guys it’s not hard if you go to your state government business web site, how to set up an LLC, it’s a limited liability corporation. Download paperwork.
There is a little bit of it and if you have never felt uncomfortable before, you have not completed it. On the other hand, though if you are comfortable with it and I set up my first LLC and since then I have made myself as many companies as I can tell you.
But if you do not feel completely comfortable with it, there are quite inexpensive services. Web sites such as Web Site Legal Zoom are the only ones that come to mind and I am not affiliated with Legal Zoom.
I know that there are some sites that are similar where they offer good legal advice and legal services are quite affordable.
Therefore, one of the services they will provide is the establishment of an LLC. Then you will pay them. So, you are going to pay them about $ 100 to set up your LLC, but they will prompt you.
They will ask you all the questions that have been done in this line. You do not have to talk to anyone, they will ask you things like what is your company name, what is your address.
You are going to use your phone number. You know how many employees are all types of goods. Then they all fit with the state Ghazi will take care to complete the action.
When all is filed and accepted usually takes a maximum of one week. You will get all your official documents in the mail and greetings, which you have company with. So talk about the costs even if you do it yourself.
Each state has its own fees that you will have to pay. Now it varies by state. I would say focus on paying in the region of 100 to 200 dollars to set up an LLC and that is just an estimate. After that if you pay a legal zoom that is going to pay you another hundred dollars to help you.
You might be looking somewhere in the neighborhood of $ 300. Your business The good news is that this is the only expense that is really going to motivate you to get your business. We will talk about marketing later.
I mean you can definitely dump money in marketing but you definitely don’t have to. And I would say most likely. Definitely not needed in the early stages. Everyone has said that people go and Google is the only proprietorship Google LLC.
My recommendation is just an LLC for you. If you are going to take it seriously then we are going to do it on a consistent basis and invest your time and obviously But time is taking its course now.
I would encourage you to go about it properly and set up some type of corporation. There are a lot of benefits to a slight downfall of upfront costs.
Do you need a Company Bank Account?
So next is bank account, after all you are making money. congratulation. So many times people get confused that I have to open a bank account of the company.
Well the answer is no, you don’t. Surely you have no reason. But let’s talk a little bit. So first in our last lecture we talked about a sole proprietorship and an LLC.
If you are a sole proprietor, you cannot set up a bank account in the company name to set up a bank account and a company name that you must officially legally set up a company and be sole proprietorship And just calling yourself XYZ Dog Walker doesn’t make you a company that you’re still a sole proprietor of who you’re still operating as yourself.
In that case it is quite easy that you will use your personal bank account. Now if you want to be somewhat diligent in treating it like a business then what I would recommend in that case is to set up another bank account if you become a full owner.
It will be in your own personal name, but consider it as a bank account of the company so that all the money you earn goes to that account and then all your expenses go out of it. It is very easy to track if you are profitable or not.
It was nice to see that money. And then when you want to ask for withdrawal and use that money for your own personal use then you will actually physically withdraw it or transfer it to your personal account.
In that regard it is sometimes very easy if you have a bank account to buy accounts in the same bank. So your personal bank account is called Bank of America.
Royal Bank Wherever you are in the world, whatever bank it is, just open another bank account with the same bank. Now if you have formed a limited liability corporation or any other type of corporation.
We didn’t just come across different types because they get more complicated and more expensive and I don’t need this type of business too much to get something more complicated.
Say that you have formed an LLC limited liability corporation with those papers, which you will also see in the mail that you have a limited liability corporation in existence, which is approved stamped.
You can also call some articles as incorporation and bye-laws. Don’t worry what they are. This is just more paperwork that goes along with the rules governed by your company. And just formally establishes your company.
You will take those people to the bank or set it up online and you have to mail these and you will show them and they will set up a bank account in the name of the dog walker’s former wives and you will be just one of the people on the bank account.
Obviously there is a small reason to re-cash the company’s bank account that you can ask people to write a check to write the company name, but some people pay by check that they pay a dog walker Will practice If you have sole ownership, you certainly do not want something that needs to be mentioned, they need to be right on the money or a check for you personally.
We’re going to talk about the ways that people pay you later. But first things like setting a mobile payment or things like Pay Pal or Swipe or Square. If you are not familiar with them or we will talk more about them on paid lectures, then these are all paid services.
But there are ways that people can pay with your credit card, you can literally hook up a reader on your phone.
A credit card reader will swipe their card and the money will go to your bank account. If you have a corporate or corporate company bank account that you can link to those then it will be of a slightly more formal and professional type.
When it comes to bank accounts there is not really much profit. I mean a bank account is a bank account. At the end of the day honestly friends I would basically say that if you are a SOL fryer ship then you are kind of stuck.
But I will just open a second personal account. If you are a limited liability company then I will go ahead and open an account.
Keep in mind that there may also be bank fees, so compare the various options you may have. There may be something that can give you for free. You know that check the small business.
You know that you get a debit card so that you can pay for any expenses. You know that maybe your gas is running through all your appointments, etc. So things to consider.
But long story short. No, you do not need a bank account of the company but there are reasons you want it.
What hours will you keep?
All the right people. We have to proceed on our trek to think about our business to establish our business.
You know that when we run our business, you know that these are small things that you would not have thought of All you know about you is that you know that you decide that you want to start a dog business and It wants to learn what it is and we are learning today.
There are a lot of small things that come in such a way that you will keep how many hours. So now I cannot tell you clearly because if you are doing this then everyone’s situation is unique.
On a part-time basis you know that maybe your student is. So you obviously have to work around your school schedule.
If this is your full-time job, perhaps you are looking for something you can do that has flexible hours You can work for yourself compared to the right dog, while it is perfect, but you really have to set your In a situation like this where you have all kinds of freedom and you get to set Own hours.
I would encourage you to try to maintain some type of regular schedule such as 8 to 5. Or if it can be your cup of tea, it may be at night at 8:00 pm, five days a week.
Try to schedule some time. You will find that if you know that you should walk, then you will tell people that you are very burnt Their dogs and you have people you have an appointment with at 7:00 am. You have 9:00 at night. with you A bunch spreads through the day.
Basically your whole day is over. Now you don’t have time to fit in. Anything else in between if you leave yourself open to work seven days a week.
You are about to burn with time. And I have seen it come for the first time. I have a friend who runs a different type of business. But it is a small business.
I would say in a fashion similar to a dog walking business but that just works. For any independent moment she considers herself available to work.
But he has no time for a social life, to really enjoy the money he is making and just Burned. Like how many times have I heard him know in the past how he wished you knew him the point will cancel the cetera.
This is how you want to be with your business. You want to get excited about it. Really think about setting a set schedule that you follow it to do the best job with you Schedule.
You also need to consider working best with your customers. You know that many of your customers probably want their dogs to walk during the day, because when they are At work and they want you to come in about noon.
The dog gets a break. You know it’s stuck in the house all day, etc. Whatever the case may be, everyone’s situation is unique.
But I encourage you to really think about your schedule as to what you’re going to keep and what you’re trying to do. To set in stone.
How to Pet Marketing and The Market?
Who is your target Market?
All the next rights you have to think about who is your target market. This is getting very serious right. I don’t know Hopefully you are realizing that there is a lot that is going on to start a business and really thinking through these decisions.
Who is your target market? It is one thing to say that you know what I like to see dogs. I know it is popular as if there are enough dogs in the neighborhood that I can do business of it.
I have people who ask me to walk their dogs and they offer to pay me whatever the case may be. You know there is money in it. But now you really need to think.
Who is your target market? First of all you know how far you are ready to go or are you only looking at work in your own neighborhood or are you ready to drive 15 miles to walk some of these dogs when the money is right.
You need to think about those things. So firstly how far geographically are you ready to go. What is your target market that the five mile radius is 10 20.
I think it’s not too much because you’re probably getting a point of return where it’s like you’re spending more time driving there and you’re spending your dogs wandering than going back.
The money is not worth it right now. So keep that in mind as well. In terms of your target market it is that you know people who are at work all day and you want them to know that I can come around noon.
You know that I have access to your house or your backyard can walk your dogs for half an hour or whatever is appropriate and go from there.
Or do you know people who travel a lot. Maybe you market for them. Or maybe it’s people who like to go out in the evening.
They have a busy social life and you will say that you know that you walk the dog at 8:00, so the dog walks out because you are about to go out late at night.
Really just the side and it is not just being one of those people who can be one of those three, which can be that which sets your pick market, that is what you think for hours now.
Is going to tie in About keeping right. So if you are thinking of working more days, from morning to afternoon, you are probably targeting turkeys, then professionals who want to walk their dogs while working during the day.
It’s not a bad market, honestly enough. Which honestly looks quite attractive. So obviously there is going to be a level of trust and at the same time you know that you have to reach your dogs.
I am assuming that most people want someone to take their dogs because they are not available to do so. There is probably a small section of the market that just does not want to walk their dogs.
They are super busy. They can be home but they do not have time. You know they are busy cooking. Maybe they know you. That you two are children too. Husband of work.
Whatever the case may be they do not have time to walk their dogs. But they feel bad and they want someone to do it, so that you are going there while staying at home.
But then there are the subsets that are busy now and they are out. And I hope you will have a bigger share of the market.
Start thinking of those things. Who do you want to target because that too is going to be included in your marketing plan.
Really think about the specific type of client you are dealing with. And then there is also the geographical reach that you are ready to reach.
Doing Pet Market Research
Doing some market research ahead. Once you think through those decisions like how far you are willing to go, who are you who is looking at a goal, get a bit of market research online, just spend time with other dog walkers.
Look at how they market themselves, what kind of things they say about things. They say that you know that only five miles from my house would have to go within 10 miles, etc. which is what these hours Is our only job.
Then it is precisely looking for other people who are looking for a way to walk their dogs, so say you decide that you are ready to drive 10 miles in circumference where you live and You are ready to do the work you know 9 at 6 pm Just google if you can find someone in your area who is actually physically asking if I need my dog to walk somewhere else.
Now there are a lot of places you can do that. You can see that I would take a look at a lot of free forums so that you are completely dependent on where you live but people like Craigslist offer services and people services.
Let’s see how others see the competition you have and you are looking at it as part of your market research. How much they are charging. You know what kind of service places they have.
How many hours do they work and then look for those on the flip side, who are looking for a dog walker and what they are saying, they are saying that you know how to pay X amount of dollars a day.
Three times someone is needed. Whatever the case may be that will help you structure how your business looks.
Then apart from sites like Craigslist which are classified online as well, if you are free, you can also look at sites like next door.
Based on where you live next door, there is basically a social networking site for a neighborhood. So you will find people in your neighborhood and if you are not familiar with the person next door then this will actually be a free tip for you.
Do check it out This is a great way for people to market themselves in the neighborhood. So for example I needed someone to paint my fence last year, the homeowners association requested that it needed to be done.
The house is 10 years old. I just looked at the person next door and I found people who were recommending that this guy put up my fence was great.
Definitely should call her. I call them and I use them as prices. So he is doing business through referrals at this point next door.
That is definitely along the same lines as yourself where you are probably looking to work in your own geographical area. And if you can get referrals to get some happy customers who are ready to recommend you that is definitely going to be a part of your marketing strategy.
Line on Hope does some market research to see what others are charging for how far they are willing to drive, what are their conditions. See what people are looking for. And all this will also be part of your market research.
Will you spend money on Pet Marketing?
When it comes to starting a business, the next consideration is given a lot of consideration as to whether you will spend money on marketing. Now I mentioned a little earlier in this post.
You really don’t, so if you have money to spend on marketing then you have saved money to start this business.
I don’t discourage you from doing this, but I encourage you to spend it wisely and talk about it in a second. If you do not have the money to do this or you just do not want to spend money on marketing then this is very fine.
What I would encourage you to do in those cases that free marketing is on the way. Things like the ones I mentioned on previous lecture web sites like the ones next door promote themselves Hey guys I’m starting a dog business.
I live in the area. If anyone needs their dog, then you know that I work in these hours. The same thing with Craigslist promotes itself for free.
Social media marketing is huge. And if you do it correctly then you can actually harness its power. So things like setting up a Facebook page for your dog walking business.
You do not need a formal company to name it. A former lawyer for a dog-run company, you are still the sole owner from a legal standpoint that people don’t care for.
If you are a corporation or sole proprietor, they do not care. But if they see XY Dog Walking Company then you know that you put pictures of your dogs.
Join other dog walking groups for roach or business. All of that is free. Just takes time. Instagram is another way and it is growing.
People with integrity make way to promote their business. Pictures of Dogs Again You are walking dogs talking about your business walking with other dogs that will pay off over time.
Now it takes some time. It does not happen overnight but you need to build a business. And then you also have other avenues.
Create a LinkedIn page that you know you have a snapshot of which you know send proposals to dog owners to send pictures of their dogs as they are driving them.
All these things combine. So definitely look in the free way. Now if you have the money then you really have to consider how to pay or where to spend.
There are lots of ways to spend money on marketing that do not pay. So things like Google ads or Facebook ads they like very much that you know that you write an attractive ad.
It is going to reach thousands and tens of thousands of people. The reality is that those people do not have huge payouts in advertisements unless they are very carefully scripted.
If you are going to do this then you want to be careful. I would encourage you to do a test run. Just spend a little money on marketing and get out of there.
The other thing you can do and I would encourage it to spend a ton of money on Facebook and Google ads. It does not cost much and honestly there are free templates out there as it can be as easy to go to a hosting company as Go Daddy is very popular.
I use them for any web site created in the last 20 years. You know you are paying for your domain like you are talking like 10 bucks a year maybe 20 tops.
Then you can use one of their templates for hosting, maybe another 20 bucks for $ 50, you are spending a hundred dollars and that will happen if you also get a custom email address And you know that your check out includes a website so that people can pay you through their web site.
How cool would that be. So consider that setting up your own web site adds a new level of professionalism to your business.
Now when you are promoting your business you say hey x dog walkers visit us at pet market. You know that someone is probably going to investigate this.
When you have your own web site you stand out in a lot of competition, it just adds legitimacy to the people in your business, so I encourage you to make a web site you have to be a professional, There is not much to do there.
You can just talk about who you are. Your passion for animals is how many hours you want to travel. And that’s about it.
Way for them to contact you and then a link to your social media pages that are free. So this is what I consider for all your marketing efforts.
Accounting and Money
How much will you Charge?
What are the rights and now we are going to step into things like money situation and pricing et et cetera. So first we are going to talk about how much you should charge.
I am no longer a dog walking business expert. I am more than a general business expert, I know how to help people start their businesses and ask them the right questions.
How much should you charge. I honestly cannot tell you that I can tell you that we are already doing some market research, so you should have a pretty good idea of what other people are charging.
You already understand that you know whether you are walking the dog for 15 minutes or you have been watching them for half an hour.
Do people have to charge a service charge to drive a car. You know that you know five miles ten miles away etc. Do you know that you have to bring your equipment as the case may be.
You have the best you can charge. Now obviously you need to compete with other people for pricing.
There are definitely web sites out there and I’ve noticed some of them where there are dog walking websites where you can actually join a community where you can learn a little more about it in that lecture. But you also need to pay attention to their pricing as there is definitely a type of credibility that goes with that if you are as part of a dog walker community that is completely on your own.
So you need to be competitively priced with everyone you know reasonably. And then it is up to you if you want to go a little cheaper to try to trade.
If you want to have a slightly higher premium pricing it is called. You know that perhaps you provide additional services, you are not only ready to walk their dogs, but they know that you brush them for 15 minutes.
I personally know that I am something like this. Okay. Let’s be really nice because I don’t know that there’s something I don’t want to do and I’d be willing to pay a little bit of extra money that you know you brush my dogs every day to learn more about things.
To think about you. One can also think of them in terms of addons if you know that you will walk dogs for X amount and you will also clip their nails or you know how to brush them or whatever or with them. Play 15 minutes later, you walk them in or basically make sure they are spoiled.
whatever the case may be. Make sure your pricing is competitive and fair. And then the other question you have to ask yourself is really think if you are going to make enough to sustain the business and we’ll talk about that a little bit more in the upcoming point.
Free Accounting Software
Are IT people in this lecture so we are talking about counting software. This is not a cup of tea for everyone.
Like many people that you know that you are really looking just like you know you will be able to track your income basically through your bank records.
I think what kind of goal I am. You do not want to overburden yourself with a lot of complicated things like you know that setting up an accounting software and tracking each penny may not be for you and if it is not it is fine.
But if you are doing it on a large scale, then you find yourself very busy or working six or eight hours a day. You have a lot of expenses because you are getting frequent intervals because you are driving around the places you are tracking your mileage.
You are buying a dog treat and treating the dog with you. If your leash is not good, then keep extra leashes in your car.
You would rather use your own lease, whatever it is. Maybe you have a portable water container that you will bring with you and dogs or whatever, there are going to be expenses related to your business.
You may have all the marketing expenses we talked about setting up web sites that you need a way to track it.
if you want to take it completely seriously, then you have to do it through some type of accounting software. You no longer have to have an accounting wizard to do this.
There are lots of free accounting software out there. And when I say that the software belongs to more online host companies, many believe me now. Fresh books are still free.
Then I am not affiliated with these things. Fresh books can still be free. And I think one is called zero. It is free as well as check those people whether they have Ernster or I have names or I will just put it in one line for free account software.
Now of course companies like Quick Books of Quick Books have a great reputation. They have been around for decades and decades.
All my clients use cookbooks and this is not a lie. But it is going to cost you a little bit and now they have their own online version which is much cheaper.
I think it is about $ 20 per month. So you have to decide if you are ready to spend that money to keep proper accounting records.
On the other hand, if you are fine in the same way that the money you make goes to that business account or you know that the other personal account of the expenses you spend comes out of that personal account, then you track it.
If you are not worried about doing formal software then fine. But if you are then I would recommend some of those free sites or if you want to go to the next level then pay attention to something like Quick Books.
Forecast and Budget for your Business
So while talking about taking your business seriously, we are talking about forecasting and budgeting that we are really serious about the business side of it anyway.
Chris I just wanted to walk dogs and make money and you know play with dogs and that’s fine. But I encourage you if you know if you really train this series as a business then just invest a little bit of time and at least hear me out about the budget forecast.
Now you know that forecasting is a big part of the corporate world. I do this very often for my clients. So is it essentially that you are looking ahead over the next 12 months and say well that we have such income streams that you still know in your situation how many dogs you know.
I think I can walk. What is my hourly rate or dog walking rate against me? Although you charge what I have done, I think what I can do for him. And you will list them.
If you are great at something like Microsoft Excel then this is perfect. I suggest that you make it in Excel if you are not. Don’t worry.
Just write it on paper. Like you say you know from January to December or whatever you know for the next 12 months, I know you know to roam dogs, I can do five days a week, about six days.
Here’s how much I would make out of those you know that two people add ads that cost $ 20. You know that six days a week can be whatever.
I just add it up then you will list your expenses. So what I am thinking that you are marketing as if you know how to set up your web site.
Maybe a one-time expense is also for other things, such as if you do a Facebook ad or a Google ad that says you decide to go down that road, then whatever you are going to spend for it Huh.
You will budget for that. You have to budget for things like gas for your vehicle. You know to buy all those types of dog accessories.
If you want extra leash then you want to treat the dog. Maybe budget. I don’t know $ 50 a month for dogs maybe 100 I’m not very sure you are going to find out.
What you will have after you make, what will be your incoming money, what is your outgoing money and how much money do you expect to make. It keeps you honest.
This gives you a realistic idea of what business is for you. You know exactly how much you will be making. And then you may well decide if I should try to get more money or should I know that you are trying to cut some of my expenses or do I walk or dogs do I?
Can reduce my space so I’m not spending that much gas. Maybe a market close to home may suffice, or perhaps the business is booming.
You may have dropped out and you still have people coming. Maybe you give someone a job. I mean aspire to authority. Look for someone to hire.
You know that you pay them a set amount. You know maybe they are in charge of their own gas, maybe you pay.
You have to find out that apparently the road is down right now, we are just talking about getting set. But it is good to have fun thinking about those things down the road and where you want to take this business, you personally make timely efforts in terms of money and investment to get things like that How much are you willing to do, such as learning about business.
Think about all of that. If you have a knack for this then this is the budget and forecast. great. I highly recommend that you think about doing it, even if it is too rough and drafting on paper where you think you will be.
How will your customers pay you?
So next idea guys there is clearly a lot of them. Thinking about how your customers are going to pay you. You know that the last thing you want to do is set and you have it.
I mean the best thing that can happen is that you have a lot of customers right now. right. I think it’s awesome. Please walk the dog.
You are very good and they ask you questions about how much you charge. You know I don’t know that I ever think well how I can repay you.
I don’t know You need that stuff out. So speaking how they paid you. Here are your options. Obviously they can pay cash.
It is good if you want to keep it formally and keep that money in your business account or your other personal account.
They can pay you a check. And I imagine that a lot of people will do this, although it is much less common to examine a family.
Not everyone also has an investigation especially for the younger generation. However, I would also recommend that there are some types of formal methods where you can charge a credit card.
People will like that. So I have also mentioned in previous lecture services such as Pay Pal or Swipe. I believe this swipe or square is definitely square pay or sometimes square square pay, in which they have a readers card reader that you literally plug into your phone to run the software, Obviously you have to sign up for the account that you link to your bank account.
People give you their card. You type in the amount they swipe it. There is a sign that with their finger on your phone and you are off and on.
How terrible that money is going directly to your bank account. Now of course, Pay Pal is square. They charge a small fee.
But for convenience and for the guarantee you provide, you know that the money in your county will now have to wait for the check to be emptied.
It is well worth it how much you will get from that business, as people who would prefer to charge it and you probably know that many people stay away from credit cards.
Let’s be honest and let a dog walk is an extra in people’s lives. You know this is not a copy requirement so that people can pay with their credit card.
Possibly they will have a lot of potential even if they have the money they prefer to pay with their credit card. So you have to offer it to them.
Therefore, definitely consider those services. Then there is usually no charge to install them so that the reader gets all that.
But you know that you are going to give a small percentage and it can be like only 5 percent of companies that you can physically swipe their card.
Apart from those people I mean what else could really happen. So definitely pay attention to credit card readers. Recommend Pay Pal or Square.
In fact it should be a bit more popular and go with them. Definitely recommend them.
Do you need business insurance?
So for the next consideration you need business insurance. I highly recommend that, especially depending on the nature of your business, so if you think about it from a higher level then you are in charge of taking care of someone’s pet which is a live animal that is probably very loving.
Used to be there for their pets while taking possession and taking care of it. You do not want to sue. how about that.
Things happen you know that even I walk my dogs. You know they can see where I live. We have wild rabbits that sometimes walk around us and we are walking together and suddenly my dog jerks me off completely.
Sometimes there is an opportunity that they pull out of their leash or leash or leash or I know that they pull the leash out of my hand. It just happens.
What would anyone do and his dog ran away. It gets hit by a vehicle. Know that we don’t like to think about these things just something bad happens.
Another dog runs away and bites your dog or your dog. Perhaps it is a bit aggressive and turns into a fight with another dog.
Maybe you are playing with it. They decide to take it to Dog Park to wear it. A quarrel ensues. And now someone is saying that I am going to sue the dog owner and the dog owner is going to sue you or it could happen. Do you want trade assurance? I would definitely say yes.
Now I can’t tell you specifically what to get or where to look for the best. I will doubt when I see the line on Google.
There are a lot of commercial insurance companies and there are different types of business insurance. So a general liability is a type of insurance so basically if anything bad can happen it will be covered when you are in the business of business.
That is basically what you are looking for. I honestly just go to Google Do you know what dog walker business insurance is and see what comes out.
There is probably special insurance that you can get. Now this insurance is much cheaper. So this is good news.
This is another expense for your business. I know it costs a little money to do business and run properly with all the bells and whistles.
Insurance is one of the things that you know that you pay for it, you hope you never use it. It seems like a waste of money.
But trust me if you ever need to use it you will be very happy that you have it. So I would definitely recommend that you pay attention to business insurance.
Just get out of there. Just ask other people if you really don’t ask other dog people what dog walking business runs and what they do.
Joining A Dog Walking Community or Pet Community
So next we will talk about joining other dogs walkers on their dog walker web site, so that all but a complex one.
Say you really want to get into the running dogs business, but you don’t want to deal with a lot of things that I’m talking about so that you don’t have to worry about setting up a web site.
You do not want to worry so much about getting insurance. You know bank accounts etc. that you really want dogs to walk.
Now there are communities there and I think there are web sites, so what I have seen was Rover.com. This is a core community of people who are ready to walk dogs and they correspond with those who need to walk their dogs. It is like an Air B and B for Dog Walkers.
Now these types of communities exist for any service under the sun. Now I have not used a dog walking service, but in the past they used one that was very similar to where it was people who would watch your dogs so that the length of time would increase so I traveled a lot and out of town.
Gone and I did. You want to know that I felt bad that I brought my dogs to call the pet hotel, because no matter how good they are, they play with your dogs, your dogs are still good for the day. Parts are closed.
The site was an African with the name, but it matched you with other people who were ready to walk your dog.
I found the woman who worked from home. He had a dog. He had a backyard with grass. And while he was traveling, he would basically baby my dogs.
They know you live in her house just to go out in the backyard, basically for a few days or even a week when I am traveling.
It was very good. I loved that about it. And honestly it was cheaper than bringing a dog to the hotel, where they would lock you up for most of the time.
It was very good. So there is a community that is exactly the same for dog walkers, where you are paired with people who are looking for someone who is walking their dogs.
Now this would definitely be a great way to get your foot to the door and maybe even to continue that way.
It certainly has some benefits. And there are also some cons, but the advantage is definitely you have to mark yourself to build a web site that you are not going to spend all the upfront time that you will just join the web site in your Write a profile Write an attractive profile.
Actually talk about passion. You know your own pictures for dogs, etc. And then once you have got some customers then your thoughts will be with the people and this is the key to getting really good reviews.
People will only inspire more people to use you. I mean I also know that when I went to the web site I wanted to use one that was probably a bit cheaper, but had no reviews or that person had 30 great reviews and Probably cost $ 10 more per day.
I was willing to pay an extra $ 10 a day. So this is exactly what you want. So when you start with a website like this, promote yourself there as much as you can and ask your customers to review it as if physically asking if you can review me please.
It really helps me etc. This is a great way to grow your business, so definitely professionals for that easy-to-establish factor and once you get the business rolling well and You get good reviews.
Apparently, you’ve got to share some of your money with web sites that you’re probably making because you can’t afford the price anymore.
You just know that you are on this web site. If there is anything that you really need to be competitive with other people now and the web site itself is probably keeping 10 to 20 percent to 30 percent then I am not sure if the money.
I believe it was about 20 percent from the dog sitting, so you say that you are told that you are making $ 300 per week or maybe you are saying $ 300 per day.
I am not sure how much work you are doing but now they are keeping 10 or 20 percent. Now this is a big part of your money.
There is definitely its business there. They helped direct business to you. You are going to pay them for this. So just keep this in mind.
But consider it definitely as an avenue to go. If you do not want to deal with the business of getting established in the dog walking business.
Scheduling Effectively
So let’s talk a little bit about scheduling. So we talked early on the course about determining your availability.
Now also consider one thing as to what is scheduling, so you cannot always refer back to our schedules back to back appointments, until they are revealed to you within literally two minutes of each other. You need to give yourself time.
You know that dog walker is one of those things where you can easily say that you are going to walk your dog from 10:00 am to 10:30 am.
So you come back at 10:30. But now you know that at least the dogs probably talk a little bit to the person. Oh you know that dogs did very well on their walks etc.
So you definitely do not want to schedule yourself for a 10 45 dog walk that you know you are just not able to find at the time of 15 20 minutes.
You really need to give yourself time to breathe in between. Give yourself a little break and at the same time make sure you have enough buffer for those other things.
Like you say you stop and then talk to that person or the dogs just take a while. You know sometimes that just happens that you know that you walk in dogs and one decides that it is tired, it should sit a little two minutes before it goes on and I make my own dogs.
Speaking from experience with You know things that can delay you. So schedule yourself effectively. You do not want to get ahead of yourself and you will be much better off in the long run if you can set a schedule that is probably a bit too much and you complete all your appointments.
This is really bad business. So schedule yourself effectively. Be honest with yourself about how much time you need between appointments.
Doing the work – actually waling Dogs
All the right people. We don’t talk too much about it before we come to a conclusion, but what I really mean by roaming dogs is that business is perfect right now, I haven’t deliberately talked about it much because in reality This course is more about setting up the business of being a dog walker.
You already know how to walk dogs. I mean I am assuming that you want to get into this business because you love helping people by looking at the passion you have about animals and dogs. And you know that you want to make it a business.
Walking dogs. I leave you honestly you have to decide how long you run it. You know which way you are taking them.
When it’s too hot et et cetera. We are not going to be involved in all those decisions because it is really one that is very dependent on where you live.
The types of customers you have would also be appropriate for me to estimate how you made the actual dog a part of your business.
I will see the walker community of other dogs. Any suggestions they may have. It is always great for the Guru.
They are not necessarily as real as the vocal patrons, where you know that this person is my guru. Just search for people in the community.
You know that if you join one of the sites like Rover you realize that I am sure they have forums and you can talk to other dog walkers and ask any questions Do what you like.
Or how much I should charge or you know how far I should walk from them. You know what I do if you know that a dog gets a dog in a fight.
A dog just does not want to walk. You know all the questions that you can certainly get out of those researches and have structured the true nature of dog walking.
What is the best thing for you at the end of the day, though my one-off advice will definitely be fun. I mean you want to have fun in business and you are choosing to go into this business because of your passion.
Therefore, you are encouraged not to get overwhelmed by the business side of it, but rather to know how much of your work is to keep you on the upside.
All the business content you now get to do what you really want to do is walk the dogs and be rewarded for your efforts.
I will leave you to explore the actual dog walking part of the dog walking business.
So friends, keeping all these points in mind, you can do business of any kind of pet, no matter what it is.
For example –
- How to Start a Pet Care Business?
- How to Take Care of Pet Birds?
- Best Friends Pet Care Sudbury
- United Pet Care Insurance
- My Buddies Pet Care
- Pet Care Training
Any types, follow these same steps all types pet care business.
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