Giving Up Full Term Emploment For Own Business - When?

tangochick

hi, i've been involved in dog walking/ petsitting for 11 years, not doing much at the moment as i have young kids.
Firstly, you wont get anyone wanting their dog walked at evenings or weekends. Everybody wants them done at lunchtime if they're at work all day, so unless you have a special van, you can only do so many between 11-1 or 2pm.
Re injections- people dont expect you to have qualifications to give their pets jabs or tablets, they just show you & you practice with them there, as most are different- giving a cat a pill is fun as i'm sure anyone who's tried it knows !

pet grooming is skilled, but you can do courses at agricultural colleges, ours does a 1 day basic one to see if you like it, to me its time consuming & not that profitable

cat & small animal feeding/plants etc is ok, but depends where u live, you can spend alot of time driving around & trying to park

also, 2 of my local dog walkers have told me they've had alot of cancellations due to people losing jobs & walking their own, in the summer hols, they get students to do it.

its a great idea, you could start by sticking some biz cards up in shop windows or on trees in dog walking places & see if you get a response,

i would say dont give up the day job. it takes quite a while to build up a clientele.
good luck tho

xx_lucy_xx

chickmug wrote: »

You obviously love dogs so have you approached local kennels re dog walking or working there part time so you can do your own dog walking thing in the other part of yuor life?

I already do that ive been volunteering at a local animal rescue for the past six months every weekend.

paulwf wrote: »

My "gut feeling" is that you need to be offering more services, more strings to your bow. Dog walking seems too restrictive, can you also do pet sitting services for cats, dogs, rabbits etc in peoples homes whilst they are on holiday and also offer dog boarding in your house?

Could you offer to do basic pet grooming, flea treatment, take pets to the vets for routine visits and perhaps even affiliate with a pet food supplier?

This is something i would 100% offer, especially when starting to offer as much as possible, then if customers build, to niche then.

tangochick wrote: »

hi, i've been involved in dog walking/ petsitting for 11 years, not doing much at the moment as i have young kids.
Firstly, you wont get anyone wanting their dog walked at evenings or weekends. Everybody wants them done at lunchtime if they're at work all day, so unless you have a special van, you can only do so many between 11-1 or 2pm.

cat & small animal feeding/plants etc is ok, but depends where u live, you can spend alot of time driving around & trying to park

also, 2 of my local dog walkers have told me they've had alot of cancellations due to people losing jobs & walking their own, in the summer hols, they get students to do it.


i would say dont give up the day job. it takes quite a while to build up a clientele.
good luck tho

Thanks for your advice, i think ill stick where i am, and focus on getting a part time job working with animals (if possible) ie kennel work, then in my spare time i can see if the business would work, it would give me more time and a guaranteed income! Thanks for your help guys, brought me back to reality a little, these things sound so plausable in your head.

It will be something i always think about, im a big beliver in fate, and when the time is right and all that.

Thanks again

EagerLearner

As others have said, I would keep the day job and see how you do in your own time, plan and set something up.
If the recession hits badly, people may not use as many luxury services, so that would be my only thought. Otherwise, enjoy and I'm a dog lover too, sounds like a great extra income!