Ready to make money with your pet sitting business?

What services do you want to provide?

There are so many services that your pet sitting home based business can provide, that in the beginning you should select a few needed services to help you polish your procedures and get into the rhythm of how you will execute the tasks you sign up to provide. Remember, you can always expand beyond your initial service offerings. There are two main drivers in making your decision about what pet sitting home business services to offer potential clients: what is needed and what you can accomplish. Your options include:

• Mid-day walks for the pet left at home while its family is at work
• House sitting when owners are on vacation
• General pet sitting which includes feeding and attention once or twice per day
• Vacation or business trip pet care
• House sitting
• Pet transport to the groomer or vet

You also need to decide what species you want to work with and are qualified to care for in your pet sitting startup: dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles, and other furry little critters. Wow! Lots of choices. As discussed in my book, Pet Sitting Success, some services require significantly more time and effort on your part, so you will need to price them accordingly.

For example, if your pet sitting startup business offers house sitting when owners are away, you will likely be expected to pickup mail, newspapers and any packages left at the residence. This helps the home owner by not advertising their absence. If the owner’s absence is extended, you may also be asked to do some clean up of pet related materials such as emptying cat litter or taking out trash with empty pet food cans or cleaning pet bedding materials.

Although the most common animals your pet sitting business will be asked to care for are dogs and cat, you may be asked to attend to fish, small rodents like mice and gerbils, or outdoor fish ponds with Koi. Fish ponds services can also include cleaning and maintenance. I have found that the time required for outdoor ponds varies widely depending on the size and shape of the pond. So, do your homework. You will want to vary your prices for pet sitting business services based on the labor required to complete the expected tasks.

Owners may also want your pet sitting business to take their pets to visit a groomer or to the vet. I gladly offer this service, for a fee, to my customers. For pet transport, I charge by the quarter hour. When your startup pet care business practices are being solidified, this is the time to collect information on the cost to you in terms of time to meet the potential needs of your clients. When you sit down for your initial client meeting, this is the time to discuss options, your fee structure and the rationale for different fees matched to task type.