Targeting the Mix of Pet Services You Provide

Filed Under Pet Business Tips | 1 Comment

One of the great things about owning your own business is that you get to choose the jobs that you take and the types of services that you provide. I have a clause in my service contract that if during our initial interview visit we find that a dog is displaying aggressive behavior then for our safety we have the right to refuse service for the pet.  For the first couple of years I also chose not to offer overnight pet sitting services. I’m married and I don’t like to spend time away from my family overnight.

However, in the last year I have begun to advertise overnight service on my website as I have had a couple of contractors that are willing to perform this service.  This week I thought I would try out a job myself as it was very close to home and just one night.

Well last night I did my very first overnight pet sitting job for 5 dogs.  I loved the dogs - they were all great - only trouble was I didn’t get much sleep being in a strange place with different noises etc.  Today I felt lack lustre and tired - just not my best. I have pretty much confirmed my suspicion that these jobs are not my cup of tea!

I wanted to use to this to illustrate that when setting up your business it’s important to be careful to offer only the services that you are comfortable performing.  Choose to offer only the services that you think that you can perform to the best of your ability and enjoy. As you grow your business and add staff you may feel that you can offer additional services, but it’s always best to start out small and concentrate on a more targeted market. For me when I started business this meant targeting vacation and business travelers that wanted morning and evening pet sitting visits.

Some other examples of targeting are:

1) the dog groomer that chooses to groom only particular breeds of dogs.

2) the pet photographer that photographs only cats

3)  the dog walker that specializes in day treks and adventures

There are also many pet professions that can be mixed and matched - for example a pet sitter could add grooming to their list of services to enhance owner convenience.  For a  full range of pet career options that you can consider providing as part of your service take a look at my ebook Your New Pet Care Career.

Avoid The 5 Pet Care Business Mistakes I’ve Made

Filed Under Pet Business Tips | 2 Comments

Steve Pavlina has a great blog on personal development and one of his articles last month inspired me to think about the things I would do differently if I was starting my pet care business today. Steve’s post “10 Stupid Mistakes Made by the Newly Self-Employed” highlights the mistakes that he has seen many of his coaching clients make and some he too has made as a new business owner.

Here are 5 of what I feel have been my biggest mistakes - I hope that by sharing them that you can avoid some of these pitfalls:

1) Not taking full advantage of networking and learning from others - when I initially started my pet care business I did reach out to other pet sitters via online chat groups and met several other local pet sitters for lunch. This one networking event resulted in an introduction to a sitter in my area that was interested in getting my help with her clients over the busy holiday season. This worked well for both of us, I learnt a lot from her, and we have been working to support each other ever since.

Unfortunately although I made a good start, as my business progressed I let other commitments stand in my way of continuing to meet other sitters. I think that had I persisted with networking that I could have learned many other lessons from my peers, could have opened up more opportunities for my business and would have had more support through the busy periods.

I would recommend that anyone starting a new pet care business do all they can to reach out to other pet professionals in person and via internet forums to create a network of friends that they can rely on for help and support.

2) Spending too much on website development and hosting - when I set up my first pet sitting website I had plenty of ideas for what it would look like and say but no skills in web design and no knowledge of how to get a site online. I wanted someone who could make it easy for me and ended up paying around $35 per month for the setup and hosting. Relying on someone else to modify my site it was always a challenge to make regular changes and improvements.

After researching web site hosting and design over the past 3 years I realize I could have got a site online for a much lower monthly expense and had more control. There are several do it yourself website builders that you can use to set up a great site and also get tools to help promote your site. The one I recommmend is Simple Web Site Builder.

If you have some technical skills and want to set up a site yourself using a private host and writing your own web pages you can host your own site for as little as $4-6 per month at Hostmonster. A great ebook to get you started is nuts and bolts of setting up the site is Create A Website by Bina Omar. She explains all aspects of the process of design, getting a domain name and the transfer of files to your web host.

3) Not having a marketing plan - When I started I printed fliers and business cards, put up my website and advertised in the yellow pages. I also spent on advertising dollars on local clipper magazines, neighborhood welcome services, and school directories and not all of these yielded great returns. I didn’t have either a marketing budget or a marketing plan. Spending some extra time planning your marketing will allow you to define your ideal customers, find out where to find them, and be more efficient and consistent in your marketing efforts. Some great tips on marketing can be found in Fabienne Fredrickson’s weekly ezine - Client Attraction.

4) Not developing a business plan - when I got started my plan was to escape my day job by building a pet sitting business. This was my vision but I didn’t sit down and plot out what my business would have to look like to achieve this goal. Having a clear vision of what you want your business to look like will bring you closer to the goal and give you realistic view of the challenges you will face on the way. A business plan is also essential if you plan to borrow money to finance.

There is a useful article at Thinking Home Business - Helpful Tools for Writing a Business Plan that gives you some online sources of templates and worksheets for putting together your first plan. The book E-Myth Mastery: The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company is also a great resource for business planning.

5) Not Knowing my Tax Deductions - there are so many great tax deductions available for small businesses and of course it’s hard to know them all when you first start a business. I know I missed many deductions on my first couple of tax returns.

Do some research when you are starting your business and make sure you keep records of all your expenses. A good book to give you some tips is Home Business Tax Deductions: Keep What You Earn. I would also recommend talking upfront to your accountant about the best structure for your business to make sure you keep more of your money at tax time.

Pet Product - Home Pet Health Testing Kit

Filed Under Pet Products | 1 Comment

A couple of days ago I stumbled on a unique home health screening kit for pets that can be used between vet visits for early detection of disease - ThePetCheckUp. I have never seen this type of product before and imagine that most pet owners are not aware of it either.

Petcheckup advertises that a monthly urine analysis using the kit can pick up early warning signs of diseases such as kidney disease, diabetes, kidney infections, bacterial infections, hepatitis and liver conditions. If these diseases are detected early the treatment can be much simpler and less expensive and can reduce the pain and discomfort of the pets.

This product would make a great add on product for pet care professionals to recommend or sell to their customers. Has anyone used it?

Here is an article by PetCheckup that describes development of the product and it’s benefits:

The Story of ThePetCheckupâ„¢

(How This Home Health Screen Came About)
by Bev Allen

The other day a man named Jim emailed me to say how grateful he was for ThePetCheckUp. With this home health screen, Jim was able to find a urinary imbalance in his eight-year old dog, Sammy, and get veterinary care for Sammy before the problem became serious. In his email, Jim said, “I’d be curious to know how you ever got the idea of a home health screen in the first place.” Well, I got the idea from my black cat, Oliver.

My love affair with black cats began with Oliver. Always a playful fellow, I often thought Ollie must have some pony in him, as I watched him zoom around the house. He loved to run down the stairs at full speed, leap onto a throw rug at the bottom of the stairs and sail across the floor. Evidence of his many wipeouts appeared on my newly refinished floors. Ollie made me laugh every day and taught me not to take things so seriously.

When Ollie was four years old, lab work at an annual veterinary exam detected a kidney infection. I was surprised because I thought he was perfectly healthy. He went on antibiotics and was completely cured in a couple of weeks.

I thought of myself as a caring and observant guardian to my animals, and so it was unsettling that Ollie could have a kidney infection without my noticing any changes in him. I did a little research and found that almost two thirds of all dogs and cats will have a serious illness at some time in their lives. It got me thinking.

More research turned up another disturbing fact: that a dog or cat can lose as much as 2/3 of their kidney functioning before symptoms appear! I realized that if Ollie’s kidney infection had not by chance coincided with his annual veterinary checkup, it could have become quite advanced before I noticed anything was wrong.

Everything I read emphasized that catching an illness at an early stage could make all the difference in the chances for a successful treatment. And Ollie’s veterinarian wholeheartedly agreed.

An idea came to me. What if we could use traditional urine tests at home to supplement regular veterinary exams? And not just for Ollie, but for everyone’s dogs and cats? I found that the standard urinalysis dipstick can detect imbalances that are indicators of over 12 very common illnesses. I talked with veterinarians and people who I knew to be caring pet guardians. They were enthusiastic about the concept, and I proceeded.

A fellow animal lover with a marketing background joined me. We ran focus groups and asked people: “How often do you think about your animal’s health?” I saw we were not alone in our concern for our dogs and cats when the number one answer we received was “everyday”.

I knew that testing animals at home is a new concept, and therefore people were not even looking for this product. But, those who found it were overwhelmingly supportive. Soon we were getting reports from people who used ThePetCheckUp and discovered potential imbalances, such as early stages of diabetes, kidney infections, urinary tract infections, bladder infections, and others. They were extremely grateful for the early warning ThePetCheckUp gave them—and the ability to get medical help at the most promising stage of treatment.

Sometimes we get heart-wrenching calls from people who tell stories of their animals going from what seemed to be perfect health to a life-threatening illness, almost overnight. One caller said his dog went blind from diabetes, when he’d had no idea she had it. We got another call about a cat who had been healthy and carefree a week ago, and now was fighting for his life with crystal blockage in his urinary tract.

These people wanted to know if ThePetCheckUp could have averted the extreme health problems and suffering their animals were now experiencing. There is no guarantee, of course, but if ThePetCheckUp is used monthly, as recommended, the odds are certainly high that an abnormality would have shown up on a test.

ThePetCheckUp, like any urine test, does not detect signs of every illness. While it tests for many of the most common illnesses that can affect our dogs and cats, it cannot test for heart problems, tumors, respiratory illnesses and many others. And it does not diagnose an illness. But used monthly, in addition to routine veterinary visits, it can help you know that something may be off with your pet and that he or she requires medical attention.

The length of our pet’s lives, like our own, is not guaranteed from one day to the next. One of the gifts our pets give us is showing us how to appreciate the moment. Even so, some day my pets will pass from my life. But when they do, I think I will have the peace of mind of knowing that I gave them the best care I could.

Bev Allen
http://www.thepetcheckup.com/
ThePetCheckUp—the at-home, early detection health screening kit for dogs and cats.
Now there is something you can do in your own home to help your dog or cat live a longer and healthier life.

Naming A New Pet Care Business

Filed Under Pet Business Tips | Leave a Comment

In a previous post I discussed how to choose the pet care career to suit your life and skills. Once you have determined the pet care business that is a good fit for you the next step is to choose a great name for the business.

Naming your business seems like an easy task but don’t take this decision lightly, you will be living with this name for many years to come and believe it or not a business name can make or break a business.

Naming a business is the first and most critical piece of marketing for your new pet care business. A well chosen name can aid marketing efforts by communicating the business purpose, creating a good image, and forming the first emotional connection with customers. A strong business name will help build a strong brand that customers recognize and trust.

The name of your business must reflect the structure under which you will operate your new business - you will need to determine if you want to operate the business as a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company or corporation. The implications of each structure is described in an article in the Business Owners Toolkit.

A good place to start the naming process is by writing down the answers to the following questions:

1) How would you describe your target audience?

2) What problems will you business solve for this audience?

3) What are 5 benefits that your business will offer to your customers?

4) What are the names of 4 competitors in your local area?

5) What characteristics will differentiate your business from these competitors?

Use these prompts to put together a list of 4-5 potential business names. Make combinations of words that you listed for characteristics, benefits, problems etc but avoid making the name too long as a shorter name of 2-4 words will be more easily remembered by customers.

Next test the names you have against the following criteria for a winning business name:

1) Is the name meaningful? Does it communicate the services provided by your pet care business?

2) Is it easy to understand and pronounce? Easy pronunciation is important as you will want people to be able to easily pass on your business information to other via word of mouth.

3) Can the name grow with your business? It’s important that your name isn’t restricted to a certain city or location - if in the future you choose to franchise or expand you will want to retain your existing business name.

4) Will the name work in print? Experiment with different fonts and logos with the business name to make sure you are happy with the way it will be written.

5) Does it spark interest and express a desirable image?

6) Is it authentic to you and your vision for the business?

Once your new business name has passed these tests the next step is to ensure that the name is not being used by another business. You will want to ensure that your name is unique and avoid infringment on the trademarks and rights of other businesses.

The first place to check if any trademarked names are similar is at the US patent and trademark office. At their website you can search the database to check if you name has been registered by another business. Make sure there isn’t a very similar or identical name in use by another business.

Another place to check is on the internet. Many businesses will register a domain name that is the same as their business name. Using a search engine such as Yahoo.com or Google.com check that there are not any businesses that have websites with similar names or that you can find any businesses with similar names.

Finally take a look at your local yellow pages to make sure that there are no local businesses operating under similar names that have not registered trademarks or are not listed on the internet.

After you have finished these checks you can be confident that you can use your new name without problems.

A good final test of the name is to run it by family and friends and solicit their comments. Ask them how they feel about the name and if the name gives them a clear description of the services that you will be providing in your new business.

Once you are happy with the name you are ready to start preparing marketing materials such as business cards, fliers, and brochures. Look out for my next article on marketing for pet care business. To ensure you don’t miss it subscribe to my weekly updates at the top left of this page!

Unusual Pets - Annie at Arkaba Station Austalia

Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Annie at Arkaba Station We have just returned from visiting my parents in Australia for a couple of weeks and I wanted to share with you this photo of me with Annie the sheep. Annie is an unusual pet that we met at Arkaba Station in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia.

Arkaba Station grazes approx 6000 sheep and each year they have lambs that are orphaned that need to be hand reared. Most return to the rest of the sheep within a year but Annie decided that she was going to stay with the Rasheed family as their pet. She roams between the Homestead and their two bed and breakfast cottages and will even sneak into the cottages if you are not careful! She has a bad habit of eating the pot plants around the homestead but she makes a great greeter and walks right up visitors to say hello. The Rasheed’s also have 5 dogs (some working sheep dogs) that roam the property and will also mix with the bed and breakfast guests.

We had a great vacation but it’s back to work tomorrow!

« go back