Starting A Dog Business

Small dog leaping over a hurdle

Starting A Dog Business

5 Things Successful Dog Pros Do

What makes the difference between dog businesses that thrive and those that only survive? Here are the top 5 things we teach our clients to do:

5 things successful dog pros do1. Actively market
If you’re not willing to market your business, you’re running the race with your shoelaces tied together. These days people have lots of dog businesses to choose from; if they don’t know you’re there, they can’t choose you.

Put together a simple marketing plan, outlining one new project per quarter if you’re in growth mode, and at least one new effort per year once you’re where you want to be. Keep track of how people heard about you and what made them decide to call so you know which projects to maintain.

2. Value yourself and your services
People respond to confidence and quality. They will value what you have to offer only if you do. The first step to valuing your services is pricing them well. Low rates undermine a message of value. They attract bargain hunters who will likely jump ship as soon as they see an even lower price. To attract serious clients who choose you for who you are and what you have to offer, pick a price point that shows them you’re worth it. These are the clients who will reward you with years of loyalty.

3. Act like you’ve already made it
Be clear with yourself and your clients about your services: What exactly do you do, and how? If you’re a dog walker, decide what that looks like: How long will the walks be? When and where will they take place? What equipment will you use? What are your policies for weekly minimums, payment, and cancellations? Make these decisions clearly and communicate them clearly, then implement and enforce them consistently. Not doing so leads to decisions on the fly, ethical dilemmas, and a business that runs you instead of the other way around. Don’t mistake good customer service for letting clients dictate your business.

It’s tempting when things aren’t going well to make compromises—lower a price here, bend a rule there, accommodate a client with a half day of daycare when your service model is full day, or pet sit a dog 20 minutes outside your service area when you promised yourself you wouldn’t. But letting fear dictate business decisions will leave you with a number of problems that will require fixing down the road. The way to build the business you want is to behave as though you already have it.

4. Keep and work with a schedule
You have a lot to do for your business—marketing, taking care of dogs and clients, paperwork, the list goes on. And a lot you’d like to do for yourself—time with family and friends, for hobbies, for your own dogs. There are a few superheroes out there who calmly, easily balance work and life, but most small business owners are either workaholics or given to procrastination. Both create problems and stress.

Finding balance requires structure, and that’s hard to come by when you work for yourself. You can create discipline with a master schedule, in which your work week is broken into discrete chunks of time for each category of items on your to-do list. Assign specific blocks for marketing, appointment slots to offer clients, desk time for administrative tasks, desk time for returning phone calls and emails. Equally as important, set aside the time to walk and train your own dogs, visit friends, run personal errands and tidy the house, and to take that yoga class.

5. Work ON your businesses as well as IN it
Marketing, systems development for smooth daily operations, and service creation and improvement are just as important as time on the daycare floor or training the dogs and their people. If you don’t tend to behind-the-scenes tasks, you’ll likely have fewer daycare dogs to monitor or private training consults to head to.

Your master schedule will help make the time to work on the business, but success also requires a perspective shift—an understanding that taking care of the business is part of taking care of clients and their dogs. It’s part of taking care of yourself, too—by creating a successful business you reduce your stress and ensure a long career doing what you love.

A Dog Walker’s Checklist

Professional dog walking has grown rapidly over the last ten years, and the collapse of the economy has sent a new flood of dog lovers into the field. Because walking is a young business, there is currently no regulating body to dictate the standards of care or qualifications for the work.

But walking dogs, particularly in groups, takes more than the passion we all share for them. There are specialized knowledge and skill sets, as well as ethical business practices, necessary to ensure the safety of the dogs in your charge, as well as yourself and the other dogs and humans who share the beaches, trails, parks, and sidewalks.

Here are ten questions to ask of yourself, whether new to walking or already enjoying your career with the dogs.
[Read more…] about A Dog Walker’s Checklist

Dog Walking For a Living

By Veronica Boutelle, dogbiz Dog Walking Academy co-founder and Oakland Dog Walking Academy instructor

Gazing outside from behind the dreary landscape of our desks, few are the people who can say they’ve never given a thought to a career change that involved working outside–river guide, perhaps, or a rancher or deckhand on a luxury liner. For many dog lovers, those rosy-tinged, outdoorsy dreams concern dog walking. A life of easy days, surrounded by nature and happy pooches—but in reality, there’s much more to the job.

dogbiz runs a certification program for dog walkers, called the Dog Walking Academy, and over the years we have seen people from every thinkable vocation—lawyers and computer programmers, sales reps and accountants, nurses and writers, ex-military personnel and classical musicians—give up their previous, often very successful, careers to walk other people’s dogs. [Read more…] about Dog Walking For a Living

Going Pro

Do you dream about working with dogs full time, but can’t see how to get there? Do you struggle with a part-time dog business, telling yourself you’ll keep the other job just until the business takes off? It’s a common refrain. In our work we’ve seen every kind of dog business model and every type of dog business owner, from wildly successful full-timers to weekend hobbyists.

Years of experience supporting dog professionals have taught us the key differences between dog pros who make it as full-time entrepreneurs and those who don’t. Read on to see if you have the temperament, skill set, and drive necessary to go full-time dog pro. If so, you absolutely can bring a new or current part-time business into the full-time realm and make a living doing what you love.

Temperament
How comfortable are you with taking risk? Starting a dog business generally takes far less capital than most enterprises, but you still run the risk of losing money. And any small business person faces the possibility of failure. It takes tenacity and perspective to face such prospects and still work hard and enthusiastically. We’ve seen many dog pros quit or go back to part-time work long before their businesses could reasonably be expected to succeed, thus depriving themselves and the dogs in their community.

Tip: Know thyself
Are you comfortable taking risk for something you’re passionate about? Do you enjoy solving problems? Do you stick with your plans over time? Could you see yourself doing this in five years? Do you enjoy a variety of tasks? Are you willing to engage support when needed to keep yourself in the game? If you can answer yes to these questions, you’ve got a leg up right out of the gate.

Skills
Running a small business requires wearing many hats. You may be an excellent dog trainer or dog walker, but are you ready to be a bookkeeper, accountant, marketing manager, and office manager? A key to successful full-time business ownership is recognizing weaknesses and contracting out tasks that confound you, take up too much time, or require expertise you don’t possess.

Tip: Assess your skills
List the skills required to run your business. Then ask yourself: What are you good at? Where do your interests lie? Which tasks can you readily do? Which will stress you, weaken the business, or possibly be left undone? For those, be ready and willing to seek help.

Know where you’re going–and how you’ll get there
Most dog professionals love dogs far more than business development. When dog trainers, walkers, etc. decide to set up shop, they generally do the bare minimum: think up a name, file for a business license and other paperwork, have business cards and maybe a brochure printed, and post a few fliers around town. And then wait eagerly for the phone to ring. Which would work well in an ideal world with endless demand for our services and next-to-zero competition. But the reality is that setting up and marketing a new business, let alone building a profitable one, requires sustained focus, attention, and action. Simply hanging out a shingle rarely does the job, especially if there are other dog pros offering similar services in your area. It’s critical to develop a marketing plan, including actively build relationships with other dog service providers (vets, supply stores, groomers, etc.).

Tip: Hatch a plan
Trainers often plan to work part time until the business takes off. Sound familiar? The problem with this strategy is that it doesn’t provide a framework for making anything happen. For that, you need a comprehensive business plan. It doesn’t have to be fancy or formal as long as it helps you assess viability and provides guidance as you move forward. Your plan should include goals for the business, a numbers assessment, a marketing plan—your niche and message, image, services, materials, and how you will get the word out—and an overall checklist of tasks and due dates. If you’re moving from part to full time, decide on a clear set of success indicators (number of clients per month, amount of income, etc.) to help you determine when it’s time to leave your other job.

Tip: Get organized
Scribbling notes on the backs of envelopes doesn’t often inspire confidence. Worse, it hinders the organization that distinguishes a professional business. As soon as you have more than a few clients you need to keep solid records, notes, and training plans. Consider purchasing a ready-made set of tools (client contracts, intake interview forms, etc.) to save start-up time and effort, and choose software that helps you organize client information and scheduling.

Tip: Establish a schedule and routine
One pitfall of self-employment is the lack of a routine. If a flexible schedule without a boss and specific deadlines makes you feel rudderless, working for yourself can be a challenge. It’s easy to do too little when you have unlimited time. We’ve seen dog pro clients struggle for months to do what could have been done in weeks or even days, pushing back their ultimate goal of becoming a full-time dog pro. For others, it’s easy to work far too much, not taking the downtime necessary to avoid burnout. To keep yourself working toward your goals with balanced focus, make a realistic schedule and commit to deadlines. Structure your workdays strategically to make the most of your work time and your down time. What days will you see clients? When will you work on training plans? When will you take care of administrative tasks? When will you spend time growing your business? When will you enjoy time to rest, play, and recharge?

Cultivate a professional image
A person hunting for a dog pro might look at the cards pinned up on her vet’s bulletin board or at the local dog park. She might do a web search. But how does she choose? As mentioned, a business that specializes in filling a particular need or speaking to a preference is an obvious route. Another vital decision-making factor is the professionalism (or lack thereof) of your marketing materials. Given a choice, clients will pick the business card or web site that looks professional and established rather than homemade. The adage ‘it takes money to make money’ applies here. Investing in the development of a professional business image—logo, message, website, and marketing materials—goes a long way toward building a broader client base.

Tip: Dazzle them
Spend some start-up capital on a professional look. This includes your name and logo design, website, marketing materials, and any materials you leave with clients—contracts, homework sheets, client instructions, etc.

Nurture relationships
One hallmark of most successful dog pro businesses is prioritizing, cultivating, and maintaining relationships. This includes relationships with clients (past and present), fellow dog pros, and referral sources. Relationship is a key component of marketing a small local business. Many dog pros find this aspect of running their businesses stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. Building and maintaining relationships isn’t about selling yourself. It’s simply about being there for others, and using your skills and expertise in their service.

Tip: Invest time in people
Follow up with former clients. Take an interest in the progress of their pooch beyond your own involvement. Cultivate relationships with fellow dog pros in your area—how might you be mutually supportive? What do you each do differently, and might you trade referrals? Take the time to find creative ways to offer referral sources your support and expertise, and your gratitude when referrals begin to flow your way.

Passion
Perhaps the most important ingredient in dog pro business success is passion. Loving dogs is the easy part. Wanting to serve them comes naturally. Being so passionate about doing so that you push through the fear, doubt, and challenges that arise when starting and growing a business takes real commitment. Some people are naturally driven and confident. Others must dig deep to cultivate a mindset of determination and belief. Do that, and you’re halfway there.

A parting thought: It absolutely is possible to start a successful dog training business, dog walking business, or other dog business of your choice. In our work supporting dog professionals we’ve had the pleasure of watching thousands do so. You can, too.

dogbiz University classes to help you go full time:

Dog Walking Academy