Dog Walker Business Plan, Marketing Plan, How To Guide, and Funding Directory
The Dog Walker Business Plan and Business Development toolkit features 18 different documents that you can use for capital raising or general business planning purposes. Our product line also features comprehensive information regarding to how to start a Dog Walker business. All business planning packages come with easy-to-use instructions so that you can reduce the time needed to create a professional business plan and presentation.
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For many people, their dogs and cats are like their children. As such, many people now taken to hiring dog walkers so that their companion pet can be properly cared for while they are away or at work. Several studies have shown that people spend nearly 10 times as much money on their dog than they did 25 years ago. As more and more people have decided to start a career rather than immediately starting a family, dogs have become not only a companion pet also in many ways a surrogate child for individuals and couples that are waiting or have decided not to start a family. As such, a large amount of discretionary income is spent on the daily care of these animals. The demand for dog walking services is extremely high in major metropolitan areas – especially those that have a number of high income jobs available to people at own dogs.
The startup costs that are associated with the new dog walking service are very low. In fact, these businesses can be started for as little as $100 to $500. However, for the purposes of this discussion we are going to assume that the dog walking service is looking to develop into a large-scale business relatively quickly with a number of staff walkers on retainer. In this instance, the costs are associated with developing a dog walking business range anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 depending on whether or not vehicles are going to be purchased as part of the overall operation.
Given that there are a very low start up costs associated with this business, most financial institutions are willing to provide a very small business loan in order to get these businesses off the ground. This is especially true if the business is going to be acquiring vehicles that are going to be used by the owner or by staff dog walkers. Of course, a dog walking service business plan is going to be required if a small business loan is being sought. This business plan should include a three-year profit and loss statement, cash flow analysis, balance sheet, breakeven analysis, and business ratios page. As it relates to industry research, the dog walking and pet care industry generates about $1.5 billion per year and provide jobs to about 25,000 people. There are approximately 5,000 active businesses within the United States that render the services to the general public.
Within the business plan, a full discussion and development of the demographic profile should be included as well. This includes an overview of annual household income, median family income, population size, population density, number of families that own dogs, percentage of people that work from home, percentage of people that work in an office, and other relevant statistics to the local need for dog walking services. As it relates the competition, this is somewhat of a different difficult profile developed given that many individuals simply does provide dog walking services on an under the table basis. However, an examination of the number of known dog walking services should be included within the business plan.
A dog walking service should marketing plan should be developed as well. This marketing plan should focus heavily on the usage of referrals coupled with an online-based marketing campaign. Of special importance to a dog walking service is the use of popular social media platforms like FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+ in order to generate interest in daily dog walking services.
One of the nice things about using social media platforms to market this type of business is that these companies allow for reviews to be placed on a website. This is extremely important for dog walking business given that again many people consider these pets to be almost like their children and they are going to want to see stronger views from individuals that have used the service in the past that can vouch for the care and quality of service rendered by any dog walking employee. It should be noted that many of these businesses will also maintain pages on yelp.com in order to further expand their online visibility. Beyond maintaining a proprietary page on a number of different social media platforms – it is also important that the dog walking service maintain its own website. This website should feature information regarding daily cost, ancillary services rendered, contact information, location information, and the distance that staff dog walkers are willing to travel in order to provide service. This website is listed among all major search engines including Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
One of the other ways that dog walking services market themselves to the general public is by maintaining relationships with area veterinarians that can hand out business cards in order to further boost the visibility of the business. Although some veterinarians shy away from vouching from a third-party company, many are happy to do so especially in areas where the need for dog walking is significant. This can be an excellent source of additional revenue for the business given that many people trust their veterinarians as it relates to receiving opinion.
A dog walking service SWOT analysis should be produced as well. As it relates to strengths, dog walking services are almost always able to remain profitable and cash flow positive given the strong demand for these services among working professionals. The startup costs are low and the barriers to entry are considered to be very low as well. The gross margins generated from services are extremely high given that there are very few costs associated with providing dog walking services.
For weaknesses, these businesses face constant competition from individuals that simply walk into another persons dog for a small fee on a daily basis. Additionally, there may be some issues as it relates to liability if a third-party animal causes damage. However, these businesses can obtain a liability insurance policy that allows them to operate without this massive risk.
For opportunities, many additional staff dog walkers can be hired so that a greater number of clients can be serviced on a daily basis. Additionally, these businesses can establish secondary locations in other areas outside of the company’s target market radius.
As it relates to threats, there’s really nothing that is can impact the way that these businesses conduct operations moving forward. There is no risk of automation given that people want to trust another human being with their animal, and as such these businesses will remain strong in any economic climate. The most primary threat faced by these types of companies are ongoing competitive threats. However, once a strong relationship is established between the dog walker and the family of the animal there’s very little risk of them switching service providers.