Run a Great New Pet Business From
Home...or Add Income Streams to Your Existing Pet Business
Love animals and want to help pets and their
guardians? Consider running a pet business part-time or
full-time. Many of the following businesses can be run out of
your home, or can be added on to an existing pet-related business or
veterinary practice.
The first choice to come to mind might be
petsitting - taking care of pets in their homes while their owners
are away. If there's a heavy demand for petsitters in your
area and not an oversupply, great! Read on, however, for a few
more ideas.
How about dog walking or doggie day care services? More and more people are also springing
for dog obedience classes, and not just the one-time,
one-hour doggie-be-good training. You can offer the full range
of dog training services, from low-level behavioral modification to
teaching dogs, and even cats, parlor tricks, both in groups and in
private homes. Dozens of DVD's
exist that can teach you how to train animals, such
as Train Your Dog - The Positive Gentle Method
and Your Family Dog - Leadership & Training.
Plus, check out the following books on teaching tricks to
animals: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Dog Tricks , Dog Tricks for Dummies, and Show Biz Tricks for Cats: 30 Fun and Easy Tricks You Can Teach Your Cat. Get
a quick start with this article containing a few
simple tricks you can teach your own dog.
If you're serious about training, however, you'll
want to pursue industry education and accreditation. You'll
need this eventually to compete with the big-box pet retailers who
also offer training services. Then, you can make and sell your
own dog or cat training videos!
Pet bathing and grooming is another area of
hot demand in some locales. If you could get the knack for bathing
other people's cats and living to tell about it, you could build a
successful business specializing in cat bathing. You probably
would not have trouble convincing people that their cats need
bathing occasionally. People just don't
bathe their cats because they prefer less dangerous undertakings,
such as jumping off tall buildings into water glasses. Cat
guardians are also hesitant to take their felines to grooming
businesses that are teeming with dogs - making an already traumatic
experience even more distressing for kitty.
If you're really ambitious, you could combine
several businesses - rent a
commercial warehouse with water service, and convert it into a
combination doggie day care, training center and spa.
If you can handle the less than pleasurable smells
involved, you could offer pooper scooper services, charging
$35 to $55 or more per month to clean up yards of homes and businesses on a
weekly basis. You'll spend 10 or 15 minutes per site on
average, per visit. To start up, get yourself some plastic
bags, long-handled shovels or scoops, gloves, garbage cans with
lids, and rubber boots. Be sure you have a reliable vehicle and a cell phone with good coverage.
Pet photography can
also be a lucrative part-time or full-time undertaking. You'd be amazed at how
many people display professional portraits of their cats, dogs,
fish, horses, reptiles and birds in their workspaces and homes. You won't learn pet photography
overnight, but there are numerous books that'll set you on the
right path, such as Professional Techniques for Pet and Animal Photography
by Debrah H. Muska, How to Photograph Pets by Nick Ridley, and Creative Canine Photography by Larry Allan.
Friends will line up to volunteer their furry family members as test
subjects as soon as you put the word out. In addition to
prints, offer key chains, greeting cards, T-shirts, calendars, mugs
and hats. You might also offer video footage on DVD set to music
with custom menus. One of the more popular DVD burning
software packages is Roxio Easy Media Creator.
If you have or are willing to operate a retail
storefront or Web site (click here for Affordable Web Hosting) , you might consider selling dog clothing
and accessories, as well as gourmet doggie treats. If you
are creative enough (or can find someone to hire who is), you can
offer your own line of doggie-ware and/or treats. Americans
spend upwards of $30 billion a year on their pets, buying everything
from Santa hats and Halloween costumes to sungoggles, hats and
booties.
Another up-and-coming retail business is alternative
medicine products and vitamins for pets. You can learn more
about natural health care for animals with books such as Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats by Richard H. Pitcairn and Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs: Small Doses for Small Animals
by Donald Hamilton.
You can sell your wares on your own Web site, on
auctions sites such as eBay Stores , through your own
brick and mortar business, other pet
stores, or dog and cat shows. Word will travel fast among dog
owners if you offer great products.
You'll definitely want a Web site (click here for Affordable Web Hosting) for your pet
business, and once you have one, you might want to consider
affiliate links. One item that may be "the next best
thing" is pet insurance. A handful of companies offer it already, including QuickCare Pet Insurance,
which has a Web affiliate program, offering you the chance to pick
up extra money from your Web site .
They offer a very basic plan for kitties that covers only certain
accidents for $8.50/month. The plan for indoor cats for
$9.95/month looks very appealing, covering selected accidents and
injuries common to indoor felines. They also have Gold,
Preferred and Senior plans that start at $17.95/month and go up from
there. Dog plans start at $9.95/month for a basic plan that
covers selected accidents. Gold, Preferred and Senior plans
start at between $22.95 and $34.95/month.
PetCareRx
is the most visited pet pharmacy on the
Web, and also offers a Web affiliate program. They offer both
prescription and non-prescription medications and other pet items at
steep discounts.
Here's hoping these tips bring you happiness and
success in working with animals. Don't wait - start today!
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