Do You Have A Pet Sitting Business Plan?

To create a great pet sitting business you should dedicate time to create a well thought out business plan. The purposes of a business plan are to: 1.Define your vision of what you want your pet sitting business to look like in 5 to 10 years from today 2.Lay out the direction of your business and give you a path to follow. 3.Establish standards that you can use to measure your business success Your plan should define how you want to operate your pet sitting business and include a description of your support team, your marketing strategy, and the methods that you will use to interact with your customers. A business plan may be: 1.A formal document that you use to raise capital to finance your company 2.An informal document that is used internally by you and your support staff that helps you to plan out your strategies to make sure that your pet sitting business is successful You plan should be a work-in-progress and a document that you continually update as you business grows. The strategies within this book will help you to prepare a business plan for your business, or to update your existing business plan. You can find additional instructions and formal business plan templates at the US Small Business Administration website:

http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/plan/writeabusinessplan/

If you need a simple plan for your internal use my One Page Pet Business Plan Toolkit leads you though the steps to create your plan and provides examples from my own pet sitting business plan. It also includes a one page business plan template. You can get your free copy when you join the Circle of Pet Sitting Excellence for just $9.95 per month (the One Page Pet Business Plan usually sells for $10 by itself on the resources page of Working with Pets - so this is a great deal!). You can cancel your monthly payment subscription at any time with no hassles.

Owning a pet business does not guarantee you success, but it is generally not difficult to set up your own pet business adn many who own pet businesses love the hard working lifestyle and the closeness to pets. You will have to compete with those who may be better trained, may have lower cost structures and those who “pretend” to have your skills and experience when they do not. (eg not all those who advertise themselves as groomers are actually Groomers).

There are also key skills that all dog industry professionals should possess. Here are some of the most critical skills and abilities for those hoping to work with dogs professionally: Basic Dog Handling and Training Skills, ability to recognize behavioral signals.

Animals can be somewhat unpredictable when they are under stress or in an unfamiliar environment, like when they visit the veterinary office or the grooming salon, so it is important to be attentive and stay aware of the animal you are handling at all times.