Care to Your Dog!

There’s nothing an animal lover enjoys more than getting to spend time with their favorite furry friend and with a pet franchise you can spend plenty of time with animals while making great profits for yourself. There are quite a few new and exciting business opportunities for the animal lover these days and regardless of your business experience, if you have a love of animals and the drive and desire to own your own business, then you have what it takes to startup your own pet franchise. Here’s a quick look at seven different pet franchises that not only serve to help out pets and their owners, but have also been proven to be very successful businesses.

Dogtopia

While Dogtopia is labeled as a Dog Spa, they also offer an upscale day care for your furry friend. Rather than a series of kennel runs, Dogtopia provides a supervised open environment where the dogs can play and the owners can even check in on their dogs via the live webcam. As a franchisee you’ll spend plenty of time playing with the dogs and providing a safe and stimulating environment for them through the day care, training classes, spa services and retail sales.

Kennelwood

Recognized as on of the finest pet resorts in the world, Kennelwood pet resort provides a safe and healthy “vacation” for your dog in a truly amazing environment that makes ordinary kennels and dog boarding services seem like animal cruelty. From their award winning grooming services and professional training to the doggie day camp and personalized play times, dogs love Kennelwood so much that they often pull their owners into Kennelwood on return visits.

Doo Care

Although it may not seem glamorous, the dog waste market is rapidly expanding in metropolitan markets and is a relatively untapped area of the service sector. Doo Care provides waste removal for busy families, the elderly or any of the nearly 50 million dog owners in America. With such a high demand and very few businesses stepping in, it’s easy to see how a Doo Care franchise could really clean up.

Pet Depot

With the slogan, “Where animals come first” Pet Depot is a retail pet store chain that provides customized, personal service to their customers and with nearly 60% of all households owning at least one pet, the retail pet market has never been bigger. Unlike many retail establishments which may see the average customer returning 5-6 times per year, pet owners will buy pet food along with other supplies every 2-6 weeks, and most pet owners will buy their food and supplies at the same location every time, giving you a high level of repeat business and steady income.

Wild Bird Centers

We’ve looked at quite a few franchises that cater to dogs, but if you’re a bird lover you may want to consider a pet franchise with Wild Bird Centers. With the highest average sales and lowest cost of goods in the specialty birding industry, Wild Bird Centers is by far the winning choice in this niche market. If your knowledge of birds is lacking, but you’re still interested in this unique franchise, Wild Bird Centers will provide you with comprehensive training about the ins and outs of their franchise businesses and they’ll also teach you everything you need to or ever wanted to know about birds.

Bark Busters

Bark Busters is a home-based franchise that gives you the training to be a skilled, on-site dog trainer in very little time. With Bark Busters’ proven method (which has trained over 300,000 dogs worldwide) you can tap into the $36 billion dollar pet industry with confidence knowing that Bark Busters is the #1 pet franchise (as ranked by Entrepreneur.) With many unique qualities such as a “Life of the Dog Guarantee” and the ability to change a dog’s unwanted behavior in a two to two and a half hour session, Bark Busters is a great franchise for the working mom, and a must for any pet lover.

Camp Bow Wow

For a high-class, upscale approach to doggie day care, consider a franchise with Camp Bow Wow. Camp Bow Wow’s “four-paw” service has earned them national recognition in newspapers, magazines, television shows and all over the internet, and if you think humans like Camp Bow Wow, you should see the reaction your dog will have when he’s pampered by the Camp Bow Wow staff. Camp Bow Wow is the first and largest franchise in the doggie daycare and boarding industry and offers a fun, safe environment for dogs to play while also promoting good health and socialization with every aspect of the camp tailored around what is best for the dogs. This business model attracts the more upscale, high-income clientele and makes this franchise a great moneymaker for any dog enthusiast.

If you love pets and love the idea of running your own business, you can’t go wrong with a pet franchise. Not only will you receive all of the training and materials needed to start your business from scratch, you’ll also be able to rest easy knowing that each of these pet franchises has built their business from the ground up and found the right formula to run a successful business without making any sacrifices to the well being and care of our furry friends. Even if you’ve never owned a business before, these pet franchises make it easy for anyone to start and run a successful business by providing extensive training as it relates to their business and many will offer general business and management training to prepare you to run your new business successfully and make a lot of pets and owners your satisfied customers.

Most everyone at one time or another has dreamed or thought about owning their own business; being their own boss; setting their own schedule. Most legitimate or franchise businesses take a lot of capital to start with and these get rich opportunities are nothing more than throwing your money down a black hole.

Most everyone has a passion and love for animals and most everyone has some type of animal for a pet. In today’s society where two-income families have become the norm and young professionals delaying marriage and/or children, many own pet’s and taking better care of them than ever before. This is a great opportunity for you to tap into this growing market and start a pet sitting service business.

Why not take your love for animals and turn it into a profitable business. With over 120 million dogs and cats in the United States there is a huge market for this type of service. This number doesn’t include other types of pets such as fish, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, birds, ferrets, rabbits and other pets that require care and attention.

As a pet sitter you’re your own boss. With being a pet sitter comes independence and pride in being your own boss. No time clock to punch; no boss looking over your shoulder. You decide when and where to work. Having a business will not only give you a sense of confidence but the self-satisfaction you’ll receive in your abilities to run a business.

Most pet owners will be more than happy to pay for this service if they know their pets are well cared for while they are away.

You can either start out on a part-time basis, full-time basis or only occasionally. You can generate additional income with either of these options.

In the past when pet owners had to be away they either had to leave their pets at unfamiliar kennels or impose on a friend or neighbor to care for them. With a pet sitting service you can provide them with the best alternative in caring for their pets in their own environment enabling the pet owners to travel and knowing their pets are in good hands. People don’t mind paying for a good service that allows them to be worry-free when away from home.

Unlike many other business opportunities, pet sitting can be started with limited cost. It is not necessary to spend a lot in starting a pet sitting service. There’s no inventory and a small investment.

Tips and Tricks to Enhance your Brand’s Identity

Many pet owners find fun and enjoyment in dressing up their four-legged friends. Whether they’re taking their pets for a walk or to a party, pet owners still love getting their pets all dressed up. Finding a stylish and reliable pet couture shop is a must for pet owners. As a business professional, you want your brand to be your customer’s one and only choice. However, with all the other businesses selling clothes for pets, how can you make your brand stand out?

•    Trade Shows: Participating in trade shows can give you the chance to show off your designs to prospective clients and interact with other business owners. Trade shows are the best venue for presenting your brand and products to a number of people. Bring sufficient copies of promotional materials like brochures, catalogs and business cards. These prints help you to create distinction from all the other pet couture shops in the trade show.

•    Press Release: If you have a skill in writing, you can try your hands on writing press releases to strengthen your marketing and branding efforts. Write a press release to promote your new design collection or announce sales and special events. Make sure that your press release provides valuable and interesting content to impress your readers.

•    Posters: Be very visible to the market by putting posters in places where prospective customers are most likely to be found. Ask the owners of pet salons, pet clinics and pet daycare centers if you can put your posters in their business establishments. Your business can benefit a lot if your marketing message is able to reach the right audience. Impress customers with professional-looking posters from a reputable online poster printing company. Professional printers print posters using top quality equipments and materials that ensure desirable results.

•    Online Promotion: Create your own company website or online profile to increase your visibility on the web. Supply valuable, informative and entertaining content to gain more traffic to your website or online profile. Talk about your company and your unique products to sell your business to the online community.

Quality products coupled by an effective marketing strategy give your business the chance to expand and get noticed. Provide excellent client management to earn your customer’s trust and loyalty.

Pet sitting and dog walking services can be the perfect way to launch a good income-producing business during tough economic times.  When start-up capital is in short supply and you need to get going with something fast, this might just fit your needs.  Most animal lovers already take care of pets for friends and family during vacations and short trips, so why not turn that skill and passion into the work you love to do?

While the idea of running a pet sitting business may seem like a piece of cake at first, there is quite a bit involved with it that many people don’t think of right away.  There is much more to it than simply showing up to feed, water and walk pets.  As a pet care business, you will develop relationships with clients, both human and animal, that are pivotal to the success of your business.  A basis of mutual trust, respect, and excellence in care giving is necessary. There is a need for organization, starting from the services offered and fees that will be charged, to contracts, forms, and the service area within which you will work.  Additionally, insurance, bonding, and safely carrying out duties so that pets are healthy, as well as the home secured, are neccessary factors.  Protecting yourself and your clients from liabilities comes not only with insurance coverage, but also in how you perform your work.

Here are the main points a new start up for pet sitting and dog walking should consider:

1.  Services and Pricing.  It goes without saying that the busiest periods for a pet sitting business is the summer months and holidays.  But there is an array of services that can be offered, including daily dog walking for those with long work hours, medical problems, etc., that can keep a pet sitting business busy during other times.  The average professional pet sitter with insurance charges anywhere from $15-25.00 per visit to a client home for pet care.

2.  Insurance and bonding.  As a professional pet sitter, securing commercial liability insurance, and when needed, a bond, is essential when taking on a service that requires entering homes and working with animals.  There are pet sitting trade organizations that offer this specialized insurance through membership that make this aspect of the business affordable for a new start up and for established businesses.

3.  Service area.  Knowing where your service area boundaries are as a new start up is very important, and must be determined according to your location.  A pet sitting service located in a compact, high population city is different from providing service in a rural or semi-rural area. Even the sprawl of some suburbs, and weather conditions for your part of the country can have an affect on choosing the service area you will start with.  Eventually, growth beyond the initial area can be pursued as your gain experience and are in a position to hire help.

4.  Advertising and marketing.  There are numerous traditional and more innovative ways that you can get word out about your pet sitting and dog walking business. As a new start-up, obtaining your first clients is the most important step to growth.  Most of these early clients will service as your initial references and often provide word-of-mouth referrals to their neighbors and friends.  However, keeping your business name in front of new clients throughout the year is also important, and the most important way to start is with a good website that can be easily found on the Internet searches. It has been recently estimated that over 80% of American households now have a computer and Internet access, and using search engines has become the standard when looking for products and services.  A website is not longer an option, but a necessity for any business.

5.  Management.  Every business has to have organization, whether is it scheduling services, collecting money, contracts, forms, record keeping, accounting, etc.  Pet Sitting and dog walking businesses are no different, and in fact, pet care can have some of the more complicated and changable scheduling challenges of all.  People change their travel plans, work hours, and have sudden needs (like a death in the family) that may require last minute changes and need for service. Having a good system in place to handle these events will go far in running a smooth and worry free service.

Now that the essentials have been discussed, how does one get started with a pet sitting and dog walking business?  Although a pet sitting and dog walking business can be started fast and easy, some guidance will make you more successful.  Having the resources in one place with everything you need is hard to come by.  That’s why Pet Sitter Boot Camp(tm) was created.  A one-stop online course that gets to the core of what it takes to operate an in-home pet care business.  Everything that is relevant to a new start up is covered and included, saving loads of time and research.  Most participants are ready to start in less than a month. Even ready to use forms, contracts, how-to’s for conducting new client consultations, daily visit routines – simply everything you need to know and have.

Wouldn’t it be great to have an acutal pet sitting business owner to talk to?  Pet Sitter Boot Camp(tm) provides this as well.  As part of your enrollment, you will have access by phone, email or chat room to your mentor for any questions and specialized guidance you need.