How to start a pet sitting business

To start a pet sitting business, you must determine what type of pet sitting business you want to start, assess your local pet sitting business landscape, and develop a business plan. For more details on these steps you can take to start a pet sitting business, reference this guide:

• Determine what type of pet sitting business you want to start. This is the crucial first step in starting a pet sitting business.

  Are you going to be the sole member of your pet sitting business? Or are you planning on hiring employees to grow your business in scale?

  Also, what market is your pet sitting business going to serve? You can aim to just provide pet sitting services to traditional pets like cats, and dogs, but you could also extend your services to more exotic animals.

  You need to consider all of these factors to really hone in on how to make your pet sitting business fit a niche. This information is also crucial for another step we will touch on in a bit - developing your pet sitting business plan.

• Assess your local pet sitting business landscape. Before taking any steps to start your pet sitting business, you should first do some research on the pet sitting businesses that already exist in your area.

  You want to be sure there is enough demand in your community for a new pet sitting business, or if your area happens to have a lot of pet sitting businesses already.

  If you live in a large metro area, it is likely that your pet sitting business will succeed fairly easily, even if there are many already operating.

  Doing this research is also critical in terms of how you should market your business and how much you should charge your clientele.

  Since you are starting a new business you may want to charge under your community's market rate at first, in order to gain more clients.

• Develop a pet sitting business plan. All successful businesses start with a business plan. Even though pet sitting is a fairly simple business, it is still highly recommended that you craft a comprehensive business plan.

  Creating a business plan provides you with a strong framework for your business to follow. This improves how you strategize and market your pet sitting business, and is crucial to getting your business off the ground and having it flourish in its early stages.

  You need to also develop organizational plans for your business, especially if you plan on hiring additional pet sitters or any sort of administrative staff.

  Finally, a business plan should have financial projections for your pet sitting business. This includes the cost of your services, as well as the costs of your overhead, like equipment, employees, etc.

• Market your pet sitting business. Marketing is a critical component of any business and this holds true even with a pet sitting business.

  You might be able to get a few clients that are friends or acquaintances of yours, but you need to find a way to reach larger groups of possible clients.

  The great news is that marketing a pet sitting business is not very expensive. You can do this by creating flyers with your business' contact information and placing them around your community.

  You should be sure to put up fliers in places like parks, community centers, and of course schools, although you will need to get permission to do so.

  You might also seek out local child-related retail shops that will let you put up fliers in their businesses. The more exposure you have to parents, the better.

  Other marketing avenues for your pet sitting business include:

  • Social media

  • A business website

  • Word-of-mouth marketing