They say that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. No wonder so many of us dream of starting our own business based on something we’re passionate about.
For animal lovers, one of the most direct routes towards this goal is starting a pet care business. It seems like the perfect deal—people actually pay you to look after their pets, something you’d probably do for free!
Of course, it’s not as simple as that. There’s a lot to consider before starting any business, especially one where you’re responsible for the well-being of animals. At Calday, we’re frequently contacted by people starting small businesses who need help scheduling new clients, meetings, and more, and pet sitters are amongst our most frequent messengers.
That’s why we’ve put together this short guide on how to start a pet sitting business to help kick-start your entrepreneurial dreams. We hope that the information below will be helpful on your journey to business ownership!
Check local legislation and insurance requirements
Before you get started with your pet sitting business, you need to check the requirements of local legislation. This will ensure you’re fully aware of your rights and responsibilities, including whether you need to undergo a criminal record and background check. Additionally, you will likely need to be fully insured.
If you’re located in the United Kingdom, for example, and you’re wondering how to start a dog-sitting business, you’ll need to review the Dogs Act 1971 and The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953. In the United States, each state and county is likely to have different requirements, so we recommend checking Business USA to find your local business licensing obligations.
You’ll also need to ensure you have adequate insurance to cover your operations, including, but not limited to, liability insurance, workers’ compensation insurance (if you plan on becoming an employer), and pet welfare insurance. For additional guidance, you can access the American Red Cross’ 35-minute online course, which covers all the basics on setting up a pet sitting business.
Even a labrador knows that good scheduling shouldn’t be stressful.
Consider the services you want to offer
The next step is to consider the services you want to offer as a business, and it’s important at this stage to keep things simple. You may have lofty dreams of operating the best pet sitting, grooming, and daycare clinic in town, all under one roof, but it’s easy to overburden yourself in the early stages. As such, we recommend focusing on one niche—preferably something you already have experience in—and building your business up from there after you’ve gained more experience.
If you’re more of a cat lover than a dog lover, consider how to start a cat-sitting business focused exclusively on felines, as you’ll likely enjoy this more than taking care of dogs as well. Agree with yourself and anyone else you’re setting up your business with to focus on this niche for a predetermined period of time, such as six months, before considering expanding your services. If you decide to grow, make sure you’re using an appointment scheduler like Calday’s to avoid double-booking clients and missing connections.
Decide on which legal structure you’ll use
When considering how to start a pet sitting service, many people overlook the importance of the legal structure they choose for their business. This is an understandable oversight, as the average person might assume this is something best left to lawyers, but we want to draw your attention to this critical issue.
If you opt to become a sole proprietor, you will be the sole owner of the business, meaning your business assets are the same as your personal assets. This can be risky, as if the business fails, your personal assets may be subject to seizure.
Therefore, you might consider forming an LLC, which separates your personal and business assets, protecting them from potential seizure. However, this structure is more complex and costly to establish.
As your business grows, you might even consider reorganizing into a corporate structure, allowing shareholders to purchase shares in your business. This setup could enable you to benefit from favorable tax rates and other corporate advantages. However, this is typically a long-term goal and may not be practical when your business is just starting out.
Create a business plan
Now that we’ve got all the legal stuff out of the way and you know exactly what kind of services you want to offer, the next step is to create a business plan to start your pet sitting business. This plan should detail your objectives, target market, pricing strategy, and marketing techniques.
The structure of a good business plan starts with an executive summary that outlines your overall goals, including the services you plan to offer and the marketing resources you’ll need. You’ll also need to include operational checkpoints to guide you in achieving your goals, as well as a financial plan outlining your investments, profit targets, operating costs, and other financial considerations.
We recommend consulting a business planning expert while drafting your plan to ensure it is as detailed and comprehensive as possible. Additionally, seek advice from financial, marketing, and planning professionals to get well-rounded support. When scheduling meetings with these experts, you can use tools like Calday to keep track of all your appointments and ensure you stay organized.
Create market materials for your business
Now that you know how to start your own pet sitting business, the next step is to market your services and attract clients! Marketing begins with simple word of mouth: ask the people you may already be pet sitting for to spread the word about your new services, and encourage your friends and family to do the same.
There are many ways to market your pet sitting business using free resources like social media, so make sure you set up dedicated business accounts. Ensure that your business is listed in online directories for pet sitting services, and build connections with related businesses like veterinarians and pet stores.
You can also invest some money into printed advertising materials like leaflets that you can distribute around your local area, as well as ads in newspapers or magazines that are relevant to your target audience. Make an effort to stand out by using quirky, offbeat messaging and offering special discounts to generate excitement about your new enterprise.
You don’t have to take time out of pet sitting to manage your scheduling.
Use business tools to streamline your daily operations
Congratulations if you’ve already made it to this point! Our final recommendation, one that applies to both the planning and implementation phases of setting up your pet sitting business, is to use business tools that will help streamline your daily operations. If you can think of an essential business function, it’s likely there’s an app or software for it, and we recommend you use as many as possible.
You should use an accounting app to manage your finances, for example, as you’re going to be responsible for paying your personal and business taxes directly, which can be complex and stressful. Given the need to maintain a large amount of data about your clients and their pets’ specific requirements (time, toys, dietary needs, etc.), you should also use a high-quality customer relationship management system.
A scheduling tool that ensures accurate appointment management, prevents double bookings, and helps to organize daily tasks is absolutely essential as well. It should include features like calendar syncing and notifications to keep everything on track. There’s good news on the last point, as Calday includes all of these features as standard!
Sign Up to Calday to schedule your first meetings for your pet sitting business
Calday was designed with small business owners like pet sitters in mind, making it ideal for both startups and more established businesses. Calday is free to use under the basic plan, which includes key features like a calendar, booking page, and unlimited clients. The premium version is only $10 a month and offers unlimited integrations, schedules, services, and much more!
Make sure scheduling your clients isn’t. Sign up today and discover a stress-free way to manage your bookings!