Earn Money At Home With Your Own Pet Sitting Business
The pet industry is one that is expected to grow rapidly as people continue to pamper and treat their beloved pets as members of the family. And with an increase in two-income families, there’s an ever growing need for pet sitters and caretakers. If you have a love for animals and are thinking about starting your own home business, why not combine the two into a profitable venture that you will enjoy doing?
There are numerous benefits for pet owners by choosing an in-home sitter or pet walker as opposed to boarding or kenneling their animals. This gives the potential for plenty of clients for the budding entrepreneur. For example, many pets experience stress when they are out of their familiar environment. And there are also dogs and cats that are traumatized by a ride in the car, making it necessary for care right at home. Also, some are even worried about boarding their animals and risking exposure to illnesses.
So how do you go about launching your own pet sitting business? Advertising is the very best way to get the word out there that you've started your own service. It's easy enough to make your own flyers to post around town, and you can also buy blank business cards and print them up yourself.
There are community bulletin boards and grocery stores and several small business who let others post their advertisements. Word of mouth is an excellent, not to mention free, method of advertising your new business as well. Once you've got a few clients established you could also consider creating your own website and expanding your advertising via the internet.
A pet sitter can offer many different types of services to their clients. Decide if you would like to offer vacation services in which you would visit homes for an agreed upon number of times while the family was away. And some sitters even offer overnight or live-in services for their vacationing clients.
A pet sitter can also base their entire business simply around dog-walking or even cleaning the yard or litter boxes for an extra fee. There are many elderly or disabled people who require these services as well. Other special touches you could add to the services you offer are bringing in the mail or newspapers, watering the plants, taking care of the trash and giving the home a "lived-in" look while your clients are away or at work.
A good idea is to research other similar businesses and see what their rates are so that you can be competitive, especially when just starting out. You'll also have to decide how you want to charge the client, either by the visit or by the hour and also what the variances in price will be depending on the number of pets that are in the home.
You may also want to enroll in a first aid certification course for pets and look into becoming licensed to increase the value of your business. A professional pet sitter will want to consider getting insurance and becoming bonded as well. There are a few nationwide insurance providers who specifically cater to pet sitters and tend to offer better rates than other local insurance providers. By doing these few things you will project a sense of professionalism and trust to potential clients.