You should start your own pet care business if you love animals and want to make a change in their lives. There are, however, a few things you need to do before you start.
1. Construct a Business Plan
Make a business plan before you start your business. This will help you set goals and figure out what might get in the way. This lets you make smart choices about how to move forward with the project and ensures its long-term success.
2. Select a Legal Business Structure
Now that you have an idea for a pet sitting business, you need to pick a legal structure that will protect your assets and keep you from being personally responsible for too much. There are many good choices, such as a sole business, a partnership, an LLC, or a company.
Corporations are a tax-friendly way to run a business because they protect owners from responsibility and let them deduct business income from their personal taxes. It’s possible for companies to be taxed twice, which means that you might pay more in taxes than your business makes.
3. Decide on a Service Agreement
Before you start working with clients, make sure you have a service agreement in place that spells out your services, prices, cancelation and damage policies, ways to pay, and other important information. By doing this, you can be sure that your clients will be happy with the results and help avoid future disagreements.
4. Establish Your Prices
You should look into the prices that other people in your area charge for similar services before you set your own. You can use online tools, go to pet shops in your area, or talk to pet owners to find out what they need.
5. Nich Your Business
Specializing in a certain area in your business is one way to make it more likely that you’ll get new clients. As an example, if you’re a dog sitter, it might help to focus on dogs with behavior problems like aggression or separation anxiety.
Making your pet sitting services stand out from the rest in your area will give you an edge and help you get the clients your business needs to grow.
6. Establish a Website and Social Media Accounts
A professional website lets people who are interested in your services see a list of them and make bookings online. On top of that, websites for pet sitting businesses let users post information about sales, new services, and company news.
7. Implement a Client Management System
Having software that keeps track of meetings, customers, and fees is the best way to run your business. FreshBooks, Xero, and QuickBooks Online are all popular choices.
8. Create a marketing plan and begin advertising
Once you have a business plan, you can start selling your services in pet shops, by leaving business cards at the homes of other pet sitters, or by making Facebook or Twitter accounts.
