cleaner, dog walker, or all of the above?

carzymaisey

Hi all,
I have been wanting to start up as a dog walker.
I have also been thinking about becoming a house cleaner.
I am really keen on both ideas at the moment so have been trying to think which route to go down.
But as I have been thinking, both could take a while in getting on their feet while I gradually get more clients, so I was thinking, why not just do both?
If I did do both, would I need separate tax forms to sort out every April?
Would it be too much work having two completely different jobs?
What do you think? Is it a daft idea, or a sensible one?

sinizterguy

You can do both. As a sole trader just put both incomes/expenses in together ... So only one set of taxes.

carzymaisey

Thankyou for that sinizterguy.

Caroline_a

There have been other threads on here about becoming a dog walker, it's not quite as simple as it seems!

carzymaisey

Caroline_a wrote: »

There have been other threads on here about becoming a dog walker, it's not quite as simple as it seems!

I know Caroline I have been researching all about it for months now

Poppie68

A little effort maybe needed to get it all up and running but I think both are a good idea....There always seem to be a lot of negativity around when people mention dog walking and cleaning for a living....but in the real world people do use dogwalkers for various reasons and cleaners can always pick up work...You will never be wealthy with a small set up but eventually and with some hard work you will be able to build up a business that provides a living for yourself...
Good luck to you....

cr1mson

My friend does both. Her clients either use her for cleaning, dog walking or both. Most use her for both. She comes in does the cleaning which gives the dog company then takes the dog for a walk or the other way round whichever suits client best.

pinpin

Go for it! I'd go for it myself If I could drive.

Bean83

Does it have to be two separate jobs? I bet there are loads of people who would want a dog walker that could also clean their house - you would be able to keep their dog company for longer whilst you were cleaning and then take the dog out after. Sounds like a good arrangement to me! Obviously there would be some clients who would only want one service or the other, but keeping it as one business sounds like a lot less hassle.

carzymaisey

Thankyou very much for all of your very positive posts
I know it will be hard work, but I think these are both pretty good jobs that have very minimum start up costs. Which is exactly what I need as I am skint! Lol!
Once I get up and running, I'll be able to do so much more with the kids.
I just need to save now so I can get a little car that will get me out n about to clients homes
In the meantime, I'm going to concentrate on sorting some leaflets, flyers, adverts, etc.
What would I do though, am I best advertising both separately, or advertising that I do both on one ad?

GothicStirling

Are you DRB (police) checked? Just to be blunt, no way would I let someone I didn't know whether they had a clean police record into my home and leave them alone in it (or walk my dogs for that matter either).