Product Description

The pet sitting business is booming. In the United States alone there are more than 63.2 million individuals who own a pet or even two. Reports tell us that, in America, there are roughly 64 million dogs and 76 million cats in households. The pet sitting business has been earmarked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor as a small business industry that will thrive in the coming years, with pet sitting services located throughout the states. According to a recent Iams Survey, 76 percent of pet parents use some type of pet care when traveling. There is big money in this business.
This guide provides readers with an understanding of the basic concepts of starting their own service business. This new book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the business side of pet sitting. You will learn everything from the initial startup decisions to working with clients. If you are investigating opportunities in this type of business, you should begin by reading this book.
You can build a highly successful business using your talent and understanding of animals while providing a much needed service to their owners. If you enjoy working with people and animals, this may be the perfect business for you. Keep in mind that this business looks easy but, as with any business, looks can be deceiving. This complete manual will arm you with everything you need, including sample business forms; contracts; worksheets and checklists for planning, opening, and running day-to-day operations; setting up your office; and dozens of other valuable, timesaving tools of the trade that no business should be without.
While providing detailed instruction and examples, the author leads you through every detail that will bring success. You will learn how to draw up a winning business plan (the companion CD-ROM has the actual business plan you can use in Microsoft Wordâ„¢) and about choosing a name; getting started; the who, what, when, why, and how of pet sitting; equipment; selling your other services to your present customers, such as pet walking, training, nutritional items, photography and portraiture; pet accessories; how to attract and bid on new jobs; contracts and billing procedures; advertising; insurance; legal matters; basic cost control systems; market research; getting new clients; tax laws; zoning laws; pricing; leads; sales and marketing techniques; and pricing formulas.
You will learn how to set up computer systems to save time and money, how to hire and keep a qualified professional staff if necessary, how to meet IRS requirements, how to manage and train employees, how to generate high profile public relations and publicity, and how to implement low cost internal marketing ideas. You will learn how to build your business by using low and no cost ways to satisfy customers, as well as ways to increase sales and have customers refer others to you.
You will learn the basics of accounting and bookkeeping procedures, auditing, successful budgeting, and profit planning development, as well as thousands of great tips and useful guidelines. This manual delivers innovative ways demonstrated to streamline your business. Learn new ways to make your operation run smoother and increase performance. Successful entrepreneurs will appreciate this valuable resource and reference it in their daily activities as a source of ready-to-use forms, Web sites, operating and cost cutting ideas, and mathematical formulas that can easily be applied to their operations. The companion CD-ROM contains all the forms found in the book, as well as a sample business plan you can adapt for your own use.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64617 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781601382290
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

Very Helpful!
This is something I do on the side; pet sit. When I began reading this, I found it a very interesting and useful tool for people who want to actually move their part time, or extra cash making pet sitting business into an actual full time career. It explains how to go about getting a lawyer and how having one can help you through not only legal matters but even just registering your business' name. This book goes through many different ways of setting up ways to be paid, so you have many options on how large or small to make your bill. In later chapters it also explains on how to care for each type of animal in order to further educate people so they can become good pet sitters.

This book is packed with so much information, but is not excessively long. If you're an animal lover and wanting to open your own business dealing with them this is the book for you. It is well worth the $39.95 price tag. This book defiantly deserves a 5/5.

Guide to a Doubly Rewarding Opportunity! ~
In today's economy, nothing is certain except change. Change can come in any form be it the cost of items increasing, local attractions closing, or businesses downsizing. For most, a change in their current work situation would dramatically impact their financial stability thus making life even more complicated than it already may be. Now is the time to think of other options. What interests or hobbies do you have? Have you ever considered the possibility of making money while doing something you already love?

"How to Open and Operate a Financially Successful Pet Sitting Business" opens the door to one money making opportunity that is just starting to take flight. Are you a pet lover or better yet a pet parent that has plenty of love to share? If you answered yes, than perhaps this is an outlet for you. Of course, there is much more to pet sitting than meets the eye. Step one is the love of animals, but steps two three and so on require research, dedication, business savvy, and guidance. Author Angela Williams Duea provides all of this and more in this handy how-to guide. Within these pages, you will learn how to develop a service that will be valuable to both pet and owner, and still turn a profit for you. From determining if the preverbal shoe fits you for the job, to laying the law on the types of animals you will sit for, to writing a business plan, she has you covered.

The conversational style of this book makes it easy to follow while providing valuable information on all aspects to consider as a professional pet sitter. Although there are a few grammatical errors and one of the true-life experience stories is duplicated on two separate occasions, this book will prove to be an all-in-one reference for those seeking this field. The author even includes sample forms, a blank business plan outline, and a resource section listing various organizations and websites to further your knowledge before starting out. Any new endeavor can be intimidating, but with a well-founded interest in the task you choose and the supportive wisdom of those that came before you, the sky is your only the limit.

Comprehensive guide to pet sitting
"How to Open and Operate a Financially Successful Pet Sitting Business" by Angela Williams Duea guides the reader on how to turn a pet passion into a pet profession.
Duea's book is designed to provide instructions and advice to aspiring pet sitting business owners on everything from creating a business plan, naming a business and managing personnel and clients to giving information and background on the types of pets one may encounter in the job.
The author goes above and beyond, including helpful resources with her book such as appendices featuring a pre-written business plan, sample business forms and contracts, employee hiring agreements, marketing materials a pet sympathy card for an owner who recently lost their animal and even pet bakery recipes for making homemade dog biscuits and kitten cookies.
This is backed up with a companion CD-Rom that contains all this practical material on a disk.
Duea explains why a pet sitting business is important to pet owners and why it is a good time to start one: there are more than 60 million pet owners in America meaning a high potential client base, people pamper their pets and treat them like family, and it is a relatively new industry.
Interviews with experts in the field offer valuable insights from accomplished professionals who have learned from experience about budgeting time, the best types of accounting and client software, the importance of liability insurance and sensitive subjects like how to handle difficult customers/situations and delinquent accounts.
She takes the reader through the step by step process of an average sitting appointment and shares recommended do's and don'ts.
Where Duea's depth and breadth of knowledge and research really shine through is in the section where she gives tips on caring for a wide range of animals.
She begins by discussing basic guidelines on feeding habits, proper handling, health monitoring and how to detect signs of aggression in common animals like dogs, cats, birds, fish and reptiles.
Then she goes on to cover both exotic animals such as hedgehogs, chinchillas, monkeys, wallabies and pot bellied pigs; and farm animals (her husband is a cattle rancher) like cows, horses, sheep and goats.
Duea imparts a wealth of information and although I may never work as a professional pet sitter, I feel like a learned a lot about the trade, as will others who pick up this book.