Product Description

Do you love animals? Have you ever dreamed of making them your life's work? Have you ever imagined yourself as a groomer, a dog walker/pet sitter, or an obedience trainer? This comprehensive book contains all the necessary tools and success strategies you will need to launch and grow your own home-based pet care business. Author Kathy Salzberg, a successful home-based groomer, shares her experience and down-to-earth advice on every aspect of setting up and running a thriving home-based business. Throughout these pages she will show you how to develop a business plan, estimate your start-up costs, price your services, and stay profitable once you're in business. From painless record keeping to savvy marketing techniques, her step-by-step methods are realistic, innovative, and easy to understand. From advice on zoning and insurance to pet grooming and health issues, this guide can help you experience the satisfaction of building your won home-based business. Learn all about: what it takes to be a professional groomer, dog walker/pet sitter, or obedience trainer; attracting clients and gaining their trust; equipping your home office and shop; pricing competitively; setting your daily schedule; building your reputation; managing growth. The following special features as well as workbook pages are included: business registration form; sample business plan; sample client card; sample grooming menu; pet sitter's service contract; obedience trainer's contract; business opening press release; advertising and promotion checklist. (7 x 10, 288 pages, business forms, charts)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #296769 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From the Back Cover
Do you love animals? Have you ever dreamed of making them your life's work? Could you see yourself as a groomer, dog walker, pet sitter, or obedience trainer? This comprehensive guide contains all the necessary tools and strategies you need to successfully launch and grow your own home-based pet care business. You'll get practical, real-world advice on every aspect of setting up and maintaining a thriving business. From painless record keeping to savvy marketing techniques, author Kathy Salzberg's step-by-step methods are realistic, innovative, and easy to understand. Learn all about:What it takes to be a professional groomer, dog walker, pet sitter, or obedience trainer
Financing your business
Attracting clients and gaining their trust
Groomer and pet health issues
Equipping your home office and shopSetting up a realistic schedule
Advertising your business
Managing growth
Use these special features and workbook pages:
Expense analysis spreadsheet
Sample business plan
Sample client card
Pet sitting service contract
Obedience training contract
Sample grooming menuAdvertising and promotion checklist

About the Author
Kathy Salzberg has been involved in the pet care business for twenty-four years and is co-owner of The Village Groomer, a grooming salon and pet-related store in Walpole, Massachusetts. A nationally certified master groomer, she writes a monthly column in Groom & Board magazine called "Groomer Humor." Her feature articles also appear regularly in Cat Fancy, Dog Fancy, Dogs USA, Cats USA, and Popular Dog Magazine.

Customer Reviews

home base pet care business
self help book in starting a pet business. I was hoping for a little more information

Light on information
Salzberg's experience in the pet care industry comes from her work as a groomer, and her book reflects this. While she does briefly cover such topics as pet sitting/dog walking and obedience training with a chapter on each, there isn't a whole lot of information here for someone hoping to break into one of these businesses. There is much more in depth information for those hoping to start a grooming business, but even so about half the book covers general how to start your own business information with a chapter each on starting a business, creating a home office, accounting, insurance, banking and the basics of working at home - none of the information in these chapters was specific to the pet care industry. Some "fluff" on the history of pet grooming and the increasing amount of money people spend on their pets rounded out the information. This book probably won't prove useful to anyone who wants more than a brief overview of getting into the pet care business. Salzberg herself recomends the books Pet Sitting for Profitby Patti J. Moran and The Professional Pet Sitter: Your Guide to Starting and Operating a Successful Service Edition 2005 Newly-Revised Includes Business Formsby Lori and Scott Mangold and these would probably prove better bets for people looking for detailed information on getting into the animal care business.

Focus on dog grooming business
This book was informative however please note that it is very US focussed and will not be of great assistance with regards to regulations in other countries.

The book did not provide an all round knowledgebase for setting up a dog walking business - mainly focussed on grooming.