new business...input needed?

[shadoxkila]

Whats up guys. I wanted to get a little input on a possible business I might be starting and eventually growing into. Since I have always wanted to work with animals(specifically dogs) so I've been thinkin about starting a dog grooming business. I have a lot of unique ideas which i think could set me apart from many of the other crappy places around here. First off I love dogs more than i like people unlike many of these places which do it only to turn a buck. In order to start and hopefully build some form of clientell I was thinking about starting a dog walking business which I can do during the day to make a few bucks and get the word out. I know a lot of people here have dogs so i thought this would be a good place to get you ideas or thoughts on groomers , walkers, etc, etc.... If you would be interested or whatever? Post up, Thanks guys.... i appreciate any input you could give me

[John712]

i got 2 dogs you can walk, pitbull and german shepard. my wife puts them in the yard and cleans the piles of shit every two weeks. start a mobil grooming to, my neighbor has one that pulls into her driveway every month and takes care of her dogs.

[Onedwn5up]

The pet sitting business can never have a shortage of providers. My ex-stepmother was one of the first people in the wayne area to do that back in the 80's & 90's. She always had plenty of work. Aside from taking care of their beloved pet you need to be trustworthy since you have free reign of their household.

One service that is way overcharged is pet boarding. Sometimes when people go out of town they would rather leave the animal with a boarder and this is upwards to 30 bucks per noght per animal. So if you have 3 dogs thats 90 bucks a night. Ouch.

The grooming business can be challenging as it is like any other retail operation. A good way to go about it might be to find an existing pet store that does not offer grooming services. You can work out a deal with the pet store owner that while you are stating out you will contribute say 30% of your earnings to the establishement, not to exceed say, $600. Then once you have a steady flow of customers you can just pay a monthly lease. Just make sure it is always your name providing services "at" so and so's shop. That way if you move, you take your name and clientel with you. Because the second you leave you can bet the owner will look for someone else to fill it right away since you already created a customer base for the store.

I saw a Dodge sprinter that was all hooked up the other day in my parking lot. It was something like Molly's mobile pet grooming service. This way costs you money, but you are mobile and can travel from place. But again, a lot more than walking in to a shop and saying, hey, lets make some money together.

pet sitting requires a schedule that won't allow you to do too much else so think long and hard about that. Grooming on the other hand is scheduled work that you can adjust as needed and you get to have normal work hours.

Whatever your ideas are, think a couple steps up from there and focus on the big picture. What I mean is, don't think about being a dog walker today. Think about being a mutli-person operation with people doing your work and walking dogs for you tomorrow.

[sonny]

Good luck walking Southpaw's german shepard..