Are you investigating the pet franchise industry and wondering how a pet sitting franchise might compare to a dog walking franchise? Are you wondering which might be best for you?
Here's a quick and easy overview on how to compare the two so you can determine which may be the best choice for your particular situation.
First of all, it's important to note that many consumers use the terms "pet sitting" and "dog walking" interchangeably. However, from a business owner's perspective, these are actually two different types of services and often have different objectives. Let's take a look at both of them.
Pet Sitting:
"Pet Sitting" would typically be defined as providing a service where you'd visit a client's pet(s) at the client's home while they're away. It does not entail the client bringing their pet to you (this would be more of a "pet boarding" service). How many times you vist the pet would depend on how long the owner is away. If they were gone for a 24-hour period, dogs typically would receive 3 or 4 individual visits. Cats, fish, and other similar household pets might only need 1 visit during that same amount of time.
Dog Walking:
"Dog Walking" is also a service where you'll visit the client's home. Owners are typically away at work, school, or another place during the day that makes it difficult for them to get back home easily and quickly to tend to their dog. So, they'll have you come and take the dog out instead. You'll usually visit just 1 time during the day and it will probably be somewhere around the lunch hour.
So, Of The Two, Which Is The Best Type of Business?
The "best" opportunity is largely dependent on what you're looking for in a business. Here are some things to keep in mind when determining which might work for you:
- There are generally more internet searches going on for "pet sitting" related terms than for "dog walking". So, there are many sitting clients to be had out there.
- Sitting clients typically only need you 1, 2, or 3 times a year since they're not often away from their home for more than a day. This means that you're only working for them a couple times during an entire year.
- There are lots of peaks and valleys in pet sitting demand. You'll be very busy a few times a year, like for holidays, but not very busy at all during other parts of the year.
- When providing a sitting service, your activities will typically be related to pet care, such as feeding, medication, bathroom breaks, and ensuring the general safety of the pet.
- Dog Walking clients will generally use your services all year long because whenever they're at work (or wherever they are during the day), they'll need your help.
- Walking clients might use you 2, 3, 4, or even 5 days a week.
- Because walking clients use you multiple times per week all year long, walking services generally provide a more stable and predictable revenue stream. This also makes scheduling for you (and your staff) easier because you know far in advance of what visits need to be made.
- Walking visits are typically less focused on feeding and care and more focused on letting the dog stretch their legs, providing some exercise, and breaking up an otherwise boring day with some love and attention.
- Some walking clients might be especially interested in the exercise aspect of things and may even prefer a dog running service.
There really is no "best" way to go because both types of businesses have their pros and cons. For our dog walking franchise opportunity, we focus more on the walking/running service because it fits our particular business model best. As long as you know what you're getting into and why, either can work for you.
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Comparing and contrasting why you might want to join a dog walking or pet sitting franchise versus why you would "do it yourself" is a big topic. A book could probably be written on all the things you might want to think about. But, to keep it brief, let's look at two of the biggest things we think you'd want to consider:
- Your pure, natural entrepreneurial drive
- Your appetite for risk (aka: losing it all)
No matter if you invest in a pet franchise or start it up yourself, we'd consider you an entrepreneur and congratulate you for taking the road less traveled. Where we see a difference in "levels of entrepreneurial drive" is in how much you love the challenge of facing the problems you're sure to encounter when you start something completely unique. So...
You might want to do it on your own if:
If you have a passion to constantly reinvent the wheel, even when the wheel works perfectly fine as it is, then there isn't ANY franchise that will be a good fit for you. You're probably born to do it on your own. A franchise's rules and guidelines will probably drive you crazy and make you feel constrained.
If you love running into a brick wall head first and think it's fun to figure out how to climb over it, doing it yourself is for you.
If you dig thinking through problems and enjoy the process of always trying to build a better mousetrap, you'd be better off starting something on your own. The process of inventing as you go is part of what makes this route fun.
Some people love finding themselves in a deep hole and having no clue how to get out. Figuring out a solution usually takes a lot of time, money, patience, and effort.
These same people are also generally OK with the possiblity that they won't figure out a solution. Or, at least won't figure out a solution before they run out of money or time. They are willing to accept the fact that they might lose everything they put into the business. They're willing to lose it all. Yes, all of it.
Now, on the other hand...
You might want to join a franchise if:
If you don't have the time, money, inclination, or patience to make lots of expensive mistakes and learn as you go, then joining a dog walking franchise could be a much better option for you.
Any GREAT franchise, no matter what industry they're in, gives you the proven processes and procedures to get you rolling in the right direction on day one. A GREAT franchise gives you the templates to avoid mistakes and do the right thing immediately.
Now, before we go any further, we have to mention that we're not going to generalize about all pet franchises. There are lots of them and they're all different. Some may be a fit for you and some might not. Instead, we're going to stick to what we know and give you details specifically about how Dogs Love Running! works.
So, assuming the franchise route sounds better to you than the risk of reinventing the wheel, then what can we specifically give you?
To begin with, this business is not rocket science. However, it's WAY, WAY, WAY more sophisticated than most people would expect. If you're looking to build a full-time business with lots of clients and a full roster of staff members, then our sophistication will come in very handy.
Not only do we help in getting you started in the right direction, but you'll also get continual support. Inevitably, you'll have questions on what to do in certain situations. That's when you call us. That's when being with our franchise is worth it. One of those situations is when to do certain types of marketing and the biggest marketing question we hear is:
"how do you get clients?"
We have the answer to that. And our marketing knowledge is another reason to join our franchise.
On marketing "experiments" alone (before we were a franchise company and were just doing it by ourselves), we wasted a ton more money just on things that didn't work than what our entire franchise fee is. We can save you thousands in trial and error. Even if you're a marketing person yourself already, do you know specifically what works for this type of business? We do. That's what we can help you with.
Don't forget about all the money you will cost yourself in lost time trying to figure things out in all areas of the business, not just marketing. There's a lot to know.
So, in summary:
If you already know how to run a pet business or would enjoy taking the time to figure out what you don't know, starting on your own might be the way to go.
But, if you don't have a few years and tens of thousands of dollars to play around with while you figure out how to scale things up beyond yourself and 1 or 2 staff members, we could be the right choice instead.
There's a lot more we think you'd want to know about the differences in starting on your own vs. joining up with us. Contact us and we can talk about it.
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As a dog walking franchise, we get lots of calls and emails from people inquiring about joining our team as franchisees. Part of our job is to help guide and educate them about what this business is all about so that they know if it's really what they're looking for or not. From that experience, we can tell you that the #1 mistake that people make in buying a dog walking franchise (or in trying to start a dog walking or pet sitting company up on their own) is:
- They want to play with dogs all day and that's it
Now, don't get us wrong. With our franchise, you definitely get to play with dogs for a living. And it's a heck of a lot of fun. But, it's also still a business. And there are a lot of "un-fun" things that go along with being the owner of any type of business. When you talk to us, we tell you what those "un-fun" things are so that you know what you're getting into.
If you're considering buying a dog walking franchise partly because you love dogs, that's great. In fact, if you don't have a love for our four-legged friends, I'm not sure we'd even want to talk to you.
But if 100% of the reason you want to start this kind of company is soley just because you're a dog fanatic, owning a business may not be for you. You'll find out very quickly that marketing, scheduling, accounting, and hiring have nothing at all to do with dogs.
Some people hate those things.
If that's you, we'd suggest thinking very carefully about if this is the right type of opportunity or not.
What we look for are these types of traits, in no particular order (if you don't have all of them, that's fine, but this should give you an idea of the "right" type of person for this job):
- You're a dog lover (and animal-lover in general)
- You have a passion for animal welfare
- You like working with people (it's the people, not the dogs, that are hiring you!)
- You enjoy the outdoors
- Living a healthy lifestyle is important to you
- You are organized and at least somewhat detail-minded (scheduling staff to make client visits is a part of this job)
- You understand that this is a business and that marketing, accounting, and hiring (and other related tasks) will be a part of your weekly routine
Note that we didn't exactly specify that we're looking for runners (our company name is Dogs Love Running!, afterall). That's because your staff will be the runners/walkers/sitters, not you. What we're just hoping to find are people that enjoy and live a healthy lifestyle. This can come in many forms.
Being a dog walking franchise owner can be the best job ever, as long as you know what you're getting into. We try to be as informative as possible when talking to prospective franchisees because the worst thing that could happen to both of us is that you join our team and then realize that this isn't really for you. We'd rather just tell you straight up what this business is all about before you commit to being a franchisee. If it turns out you're a match, that's great. If not, that's fine too. Maybe we can point you in a better direction once we know what it is that you're really seeking.
If you're thinking about buying a dog walking or pet sitting franchise and want to know more about what it takes to make it, just ask us. You can contact us about the Dogs Love Running! franchise here.
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Congratulations, you've found a great dog walking franchise that you'd like to join! You've investigated everything and are ready to commit to it. Only one thing remains...
how to finance and pay for your new pet franchise?
Let's first clarify that this article will talk about how to pay for a lower-cost franchise such as a dog walking and/or pet sitting or a dog training business. What we're NOT talking about is a doggy daycare, pooper-scooper, or pet retail store where you'll typically have a higher investment to cover vehicles and/or physical property and inventory.
A typical dog running/walking/sitting franchise is generally going to require an investment of somewhere between about $12,000 and $25,000 to get started and cover operational costs for a few months. Even if you needed to get 100% of those funds from someone else, this is considered a relatively small loan for a business, especially for a legitimate franchise (there are plenty of "business opportunities" that cost less, but many of these are suspect at best and outright scams at worst).
So for that amount of money, what's the best place to get your initial investment? Answer: Your own wallet.
Yep, that may not be the answer a lot of people want to hear, but your own funds are really the best place to find your start-up capital.
But what if you don't have it (or not all of it, anyway)? The next best place is...
Friends and Family.
With a loan from friends or family, you're probably going to get a better "deal" than you would from a lending institution. You should expect to still pay interest on your loan, but hopefully you'll get a better rate and more flexible repayment terms. Getting money from them (assuming they have it and want to lend it) is also going to be a lot easier than going through the whole application and interview process with a bank. On the downside, what happens if something goes wrong and you're having difficulty making payments? Are you willing to cloud your personal relationship with this person over money?
Next up... an Angel Investor.
An "angel investor" is generally a person (or group of people) who makes investments in start-up companies with hopes of getting a return when that business takes off. That return might be 15, 20, 25%, or more. Generally speaking, an angel investor is probably going to be looking at bigger companies than what you want to start, but it never hurts to ask around and see if you can find someone who's interested in helping you. Look for connections to these investors at the business department of local universities, at your local chamber of commerce, your local SCORE chapter, and through business networking groups.
How about a Home Equity Loan?
These loans are based on the the equity you have in your home. It's basically the difference between what you owe and what the house is worth. Rates are generally pretty good for this type of loan. It's also a very flexible option because you have more control about when and how much money you take out. The potential downside here is that you're putting your house on the line. Now, if we were talking about a doggy daycare franchise that was going to cost you $300,000 to start up, we would not recommend a home equity loan because it would probably be too much risk in losing your home. But, for a relatively small $10,000 - $20,000 loan, a home equity loan can be a good option for many people.
Banks, Credit Unions, and the SBA, Oh My!
Don't forget about banks, credit unions, and the Small Business Administration. Of these three, banks are typically thought of first, but may actually be your lowest chance for success. They're often the most stringent in their review process, can be very picky, and have the worst "deal" for you. Check out the SBA first. They have a variety of loans and grants that you might be able to use for your franchise. If nothing else, they have a ton of useful business information you can get for free. And, if you're not familiar with Credit Unions, this may be a good alternative for you as opposed to a bank. These are not-for-profit institutions that typically have a high focus on community development through business ventures. They want to see businesses succeed in the community and sometimes have very attractive loan programs.
Last, and probably least, Credit Cards.
Broadly speaking, we wouldn't endorse using credit cards to start up a business. But because a dog walking/sitting franchise can be a very low-risk business to start, we'll add them to this list. Don't put your franchise fee on a card that's costing you 24% interest because that's just dumb. But, if you just need a few thousand dollars for supplies, marketing, or something like that (and don't have a high interest rate!), that magic plastic card could get you through. Again, it's not our recommendation to use one, but in the right circumstance, it wouldn't be the end of the world to charge it.
Starting your new dog walking franchise can be a ton of fun. Don't let the lack of money hold you back because there ARE options out there to get funding. Your commitment, combined with the relatively low risk of this type of business, can lead to a quick repayment of the loan, not to mention a lifetime of doing what you love for a living.
If you have any questions on getting the money to start a franchise, just contact us.
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This probably sounds really basic and obvious at first, right? I mean, how hard is it to respond to a new dog walking or pet sitting customer when they contact you?
Well, in our opinion, it's not hard at all to respond. What's hard though is how to respond well and in a way that leads to a sale. That's the hard part. So, here are a few easy steps on how to approach a new client so that they go from a "just looking around" prospect to a brand new, loyal, and happy customer.
- Welcome Them: Have you ever called a business and the person who picked up the phone sounded like they hated their job, just wanted to go home, and/or made you feel like you were the biggest problem on the face of the earth? Yeah, us too. That's why the very first interaction you have with a prospective customer is to make them feel welcomed in calling you. Super-simple words and phrases such as "thanks for calling", "we appreciate you considering us", and "we love hearing from new people like you" can go a long way if they're said in sincerity right when you start talking with that new pet client. And don't forget about email, either. Without the tone of voice that goes with a phone conversation, sometimes it's hard to get emotion across in an email. That's why you have to write out your appreciation in having a chance to email and communicate with them.
- Ask About The Hot Button: Every buyer of every product on earth has a "hot button". This is the item that's most important to that person at that exact moment. Sometimes it's price. Sometimes it's quality, reliability, or date availability. Sometimes it's something you'd never ever guess. That's why you have to ask about what it is. This step is crucial because if you just start blabbering away about how cheap your rates are and you happen to be talking to someone who expects to pay top dollar for a high-quality service, you just blew it. An easy way to get into this question is to ask at the beginning of the conversation "What exactly are you looking for right now?" This super-easy question will likely bring out the "hot button" and it lets you know exactly what you need to talk about first.
- Tell Them What Happens Next: If they've never used your dog walking or pet sitting service before, they don't know what the process is to get started. So, you have to tell them. After you've completed the phone conversation and they've told you they don't have any other questions (and you believe them), tell them very specifically what the next step is. Is it to meet in person? Do they have to fill out any forms? Do they need to put down a deposit? Even if they don't commit to anything right then and there, still let them know exactly what needs to happen next for you to be able to help them.
These are pretty basic, right? Well, most of your competitors aren't doing all of them, if any. So, focus on these 3 simple steps and you'll have a big advantage over the other services in town.
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First of all, what exactly is a press release and why would you want to write one for your dog walking or pet sitting service? Well, a press release is basically a semi-news story that aims to get information out about you and/or your product/service. The goal is to get your name out onto the internet to be seen by readers as well as, hopefully, get picked up by reporters and journalists who will want to contact you to do a story of their own for their respective news outlet (like a newspaper, radio station, etc). The more your story spreads, the more people hear about you and the more people that take action (they contact you, buy from you, learn about an issue, etc).
Entire books have been written on writing press releases and doing publicity, but let's break it down into 5 simple steps that you can do right now:
- Every press release for your dog walking business needs to have a STORY component. That means that, instead of writing about your brand new lower prices (boring!!!), tie your new pricing into a story that makes it interesting to read about. For example, you could relate the current struggling US economy to why you're lowering your prices. Make it a story about how you're helping the American family by making your service even more affordable than ever before. Creating a story behind your announcement makes it much more interesting to the reader.
- Create an appealing headline. Your goal here is not to drive traffic to your site or sell something. It's to interest someone in reading the story. Hopefully one of those readers will be a journalist who will find your information to be appealing enough to write about for his/her own audience. Keep your headline short, to the point, and interesting. Here's an example of a bad headline: Jeff's Fancy Pet Sitting, Inc. Introduces New Lower Prices. This is too flat. There's no appeal - nothing to make you want to read more. To give it a little more pizazz, let's change this around and say "Expert Pet Sitter Saves Americans Big Money" or "Pet Sitter Rescues Both Dogs And American Wallets". There are a gazillion ways to go about writing a headline. Just remember to make the reader curious to read more.
- The beginning of your pet sitting press release needs to start with a bang: WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, AND HOW. These are the essential components of your story. The reader needs to know the answers to these 6 questions. It tells them the basics of what the story is going to talk about all in just 1 or 2 sentences. The rest of the release should be roughly 500 words (give or take a hundred or two). It should support the who/what/when/where/why/how with additional interesting details. Keep in mind to write in the third person (don't use "I" or "we") and don't make it sound like an advertisement. It's a "news" story, so write it as if a newscaster was going to read your release word for word on a TV news show. If possible, use quotations, too. Bottom line: keep it factual, entertaining, and informative.
- The end of the story should contain a couple sentences about you. Again, keep it factual and not a sales pitch. For example: "Jeff's Fancy Pet Sitting was founded in 2002 to help vacationers with an affordable and reliable solution for their pet care needs while they're away. Jeff can be contacted at [fill in contact information]."
- Publish your release to internet press release services. There are 10-bazillion out there, both free and paid. The free ones are generally worthless. If your release is done correctly, the paid ones will often get you lots of internet listings for your story and bring eyeballs and journalists to your front door. Of course, also send it out (via email, fax, etc) to journalists that you've identified as having a possible interest in what you're writing about. You can find these journalists by looking in your local newspaper, contacting local TV and radio outlets, and searching for local blogs and other local internet news and entertainment sites.
There are lots of minor details we're skipping in this article (like proper formatting procedures, etc), but you can find all that easily in an internet search. The 5 steps above though are the essentials you need to create an appealing press release that gets read.
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No one really likes going to the post office, do they? I think this quick story exemplifies one of the reasons why. It's also a good example of what type of customer service your pet sitting business should avoid if you want to stay in business for very long:
I snuck through the doors of my local post office the other night at 5:57pm. Whew, 3 minutes to spare before they closed!
After waiting in line (there's always a line, of course), I walked up to the post office dude who was going to help me. By this time it was about 6:03 - a whole 3 minutes past when the doors officially close. Just then, a guy walked in from the parking lot hoping to get inside. But, the doors were locked. Mind you, the doors are glass, so the unlucky patron could plainly see myself as well as about 8 other people still in there. He politely knocked to be let in. No response from the post office staff. He then proceeed with a litle more force and shook the doors a little to try and plead his case. Again, no response from the staff in blue.
As I'm standing there looking over my should at him, the post office rep says to me
- "Well, you snooze, you lose. And shaking the doors isn't going to make me feel any worse for you, buddy."
Ok, so I get that every business has to draw a line in the sand for when they close. Otherwise, they'd probably stay open for hours trying to accomodate every last late-comer.
But, the attitude of this worker was surprising none-the-less.
Really? You hate us as customers sooooo much that you have no problem telling your other customers that you have absolutely zero interest whatsoever in putting forth the slightest bit of extra effort give someone the service they're paying for?
What kind of service does your pet sitting service provide? Do you treat people like the post office sometimes does? Or do you actually welcome your pet customers to do business with you and make them feel special?
If you're annoyed by your pet sitting customers, maybe you should find another job to do. If you don't, your attitude towards the people paying you may put you on a path towards bankruptcy, just like with the post office.
If you like your customers, let them know not by telling them, but by showing them. For example, answer the phone 3 minutes after you "close" once in a while. People will notice and appreciate it. And keeping doing business with you.
First off, I really couldn't care any less about Kim Kardashian. But, if you shop for groceries, you pretty much can't avoid seeing her face and the headlines on all those magazines as you're waiting to check out. So, I have a brief understanding that a lot of people believe her marriage of 72 days was a total sham.
Let's say that it was. What can we, as dog walkers, learn from this?
- #1: Don't fake it. People can see right through it.
People are smart at figuring out when they're being lied to. So, if your dog walking website and social media efforts are about nothing but over-hyped promotion and faking an image of something you're not, you may want to reconsider your strategy. 
People buy from those they know, like, and trust. So, in all aspects of your business, be yourself. Be sincere. Be real. Be a human being.
Talk in your "own" voice. Don't say what you think people want to hear. Say what you truly feel instead. You'll connect with some people and not with others, but that's fine. You can't be everything to everyone all the time.
- #2: If you fake it and get caught, you've turned neutral opinions into negative ones.
If you think people won't like you (or buy from you) when you're just being yourself, wait until you try to fake being something else and then get caught doing it. It's always way worse! At worst, people have a neutral opinion of you and your dog company because they just don't know much about you. But if you get some negative publicity because of some shady tactics, you've turned those neutral opinions into negative ones. Plus, you've probably also created some new negative opinions in the process.
OK, so let's play devil's advocate and say that Kim's wedding was, indeed, full of the best intentions. 'Till death do us part and all that. What can we learn from this same situation?
If you get divorced after just 72 days, you haven't done enough research. When you're making a huge decision that will affect you for a long time to come (such as buying a scheduling software system for your pet company), you want to make sure it fits your business. You don't want to go from one to another to another because there's a ton of time and money wasted in doing that.
- #2: Make sure you like the situation you're getting yourself into.
Just like marriage is a partnership, so is the relationship you have with your dog walking staff. You don't want to hire someone just to have to fire them in a very short amount of time (like, let's say, 72 days). With each person you hire, you're creating a new situation. It can either be a good one where your new staff member is responsible and does a great job. Or, it can be a bad situation where you're dealing with problems all time. Either way, you get to make the decision. So, make it a good one.
I hope these tips have been helpful. And I also hope I don't have to see any more magazine headlines with the name "Kardashian" in them.
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As a dog walking or pet sitting company, who is your audience? Who are you trying to attract as a client? Do you have a "target market"?
If you know who you're trying to market to, you've got a much better chance to attract the "right" type of customer who will be a loyal and enthusiastic part of your tribe.
And the first step in figuring out who you want to attract as a customer is to figure out who you DON'T want. Case in point:
The video above is a new commercial I've seen on TV recently. Dr. Pepper is doing their best to appeal to a male audience by specifically stating that this particular product "Is NOT For Women." Well, if I'm a guy and I see that, it catches my attention because I know they're specifically talking to me.
Who does your dog walking company speak to in your marketing? Here are a few ideas in case you don't really have a target market in mind yet:
- people in a specific geographic area (that's close enough for you to cover)
- people looking for a specific service (dog walking vs. pet sitting)
- people looking for service during a specific time (ex: early mornings, late evenings, holidays, etc.)
- first-time pet service users (who are potentially scared/unsure of using a service like yours)
- people looking for convenience (so they don't have to drive their dog to a boarding facility)
At Dogs Love Running!, our target market is dog lovers who have energetic dogs and see the value in us trying to help their pets live longer and behave better through exercise.
Do we have customers that have less-than-energetic dogs that still see the value in our philosophy? Sure! Do we have pet sitting clients that just need us to do some basic bathroom break stops? Sure! Just because these clients don't necessarily need a "dog running" service doesn't mean we can't help them or that we don't want them. We love all our customers!
The point here though is that we try to "talk" to a specific kind of customer first. We stand for something unique and provide an uncommon service. We try and tell people who could use this type of service what we do and how we do it. You'll have more success with that type of method over trying to be everything to everyone all the time.
Who is your target audience and what can you offer them?
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I took a trip to Las Vegas recently for a few days away from the office and decided to still do a little "work" by attending a Zappos Culture Tour.
If you're not familiar with Zappos and their company, the short story is that their success as an internet shoe retailer is built upon the service they provide and the company culture they develop which enables that great service.
One of their mottos is to create fun and a little weirdness in the workplace. And, as soon as we walked into their company headquarters, this was immediately apparent. We visited in late October and the welcome lobby was strewn with Halloween decor and people were buzzing about like it was a total party. It was 10am on a Thursday.
While touring the company, it was obvious that "having fun" at work is not just a slogan made up by top management. It genuinely looked like there was a party going on everywhere we went.
Their suggestion throughout the tour was to have a specific culture within your own company that matches what you do and how you do it. Whether that culture is similar to Zappos' or not, decide to develop one that fits YOU.
So, does your dog walking company have its own unique culture? Do you (and your staff) encourage it to grow and naturally take its own shape? At Dogs Love Running!, we try to first and foremost make this an attractive company to staff because it's a rewarding place to work. Where else can you get paid very fairly, train for your own marathon (or just stay in shape), plus hang out with dogs all day? We make that possible and encourage people to have fun with every pet they visit. Trying to develop and grow this type of culture is always a work in progress, but it's our goal every day.
If you can create an effective culture in your company, it will most surely result in better service to your customers and more success in your business.
Leave a comment and tell us what the culture at your pet company is like.
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