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How to Begin a Dog Walking Business
What do I need to do in order to start my business?
Well, there are many aspects that come together when trying to begin your dog walking business. One of the first things that you need to address is whether or not you have the love for animals. You will not enjoy what you do nor be good at it if you are not having a good time. I personally enjoy dog walking because you get to interact with all different kinds of dogs with different personalities. You need to have patience, because your business will be slow in the beginning! if you think that you possess these qualities then dog walking may be the right choice for you!
I know that dog walking is right for me. What do I do next?
Your next step is going to be doing a little bit of research and figuring out what the demands are in your area. Basically you want to take a look and see how much competition there is and also the amount of work that is being offered. If you look at some of the people that are offering the same services, you can begin to figure out how much that you want to charge and the qualifications that will make your potential customers drawn to you!
How much will I make?
On average a dog walker can expect to make around $13 an hour. So lets say that this is a part time position, working 20 hours you would make $360. This can be a very nice paying job, but the only downfall is that seldom dog walking becomes full time. Personally, I was able to charge $20 an hour because of my experience and the fact that I go above and beyond my client's expectations!
How do I get myself out there?
There are many options that will allow you to get yourself going. The amount of free marketing out there is so abundant. You could start off with sites such as care.com and rover.com. These sites were great for starting and they allowed me to build clientele so that I had a base to start working with. Once you begin to be established you could look into starting a Facebook page with a unique name! You can even pay small amounts of money to Facebook and they will advertise for you!
