Are you dreaming of being your own boss? If you’ve always wanted to run your own company and you have a passion for animals, now is a great time to start your own pet-care business. During the pandemic, nearly 23 million households adopted a new pet. With more families than ever needing pet care, you can take advantage of this new demand for services. Here’s how to get started.
Choose the Right Niche Service
First, pick the right niche pet-care service. Focus on providing services like dog walking, grooming, boarding, dog training, or selling pet products in your own eCommerce store. Focusing on one type of service allows you to put all of your efforts into one concept and deliver a great experience to your customers.
Start With Market Research
Next, think about your target customers. Before moving forward with a new pet-care business, do preliminary market research to figure out what potential customers need. If lots of families are going back to the office, maybe you should open a dog walking business. For people who travel often, a boarding facility may be a good option. If your neighborhood doesn’t have good pet store options, opening a retail store may make sense.
Create a DBA Name
Another step in starting a business is choosing your company’s name. Also consider choosing a DBA name, or a doing business as name. Having a secondary DBA name gives you more opportunities to branch out and sell products with a different brand name. You can also get more flexibility with domain names if your preferred business name isn’t available. Additionally, you can market different pet-care services with a DBA name. Click here for a guide on how to do this from Zenbusiness.
Write a Business Plan
A new business needs a blueprint or a detailed business plan. Before opening your doors, you need to plan out the way you will run your new pet-care business. Write up a business plan that goes into detail about your employees, products and services, and customer base.
Design a Promotional Strategy
Something that is key to your business plan and your eventual success is your promotional strategy. Depending on the type of pet-care business, you’ll need to develop a strong promotional strategy that reaches your customer base. This may be a combination of social media marketing, word of mouth, advertisements, and networking with other pet-care businesses that provide different services.
Raise Capital
It’s vital to have enough money to open your business and pay for startup costs. In the first few months before your pet-care company starts, you can seek different types of funding sources to help with various expenses. Raise capital through investors, friends or family, small business loans, grants, or special programs for certain demographic groups.
Decide on Location and Structure
Other decisions that you have to make before starting your pet-care business include the location of your company and its structure. Some pet service companies don’t need a physical location, such as dog walkers, online retail stores, or pet sitters. Other types of companies, like groomers and boarders, need a location. Additionally, your business structure is also important. Determine if you want to operate as a sole proprietorship, LLC, partnership, or corporation.
Opening a new pet-care venture is a great way to take your passion for animals to the next level. You can have a successful and satisfying business if you use these steps to help get your idea up and running.
For more valuable pet advice and products, Canine Mobility is your source!
