In a previous article I gave 20 good reasons why you should start a dog walking business. If you were convinced by those reasons (and I hope you were!), then this article will show you how you set it up. The dog walking business is a great way for someone who loves animals. It gives you the opportunity to earn money doing something enjoyable – getting exercise, being outdoors and caring for your favorite pet. But exactly how do you set up your dog walking business? The answer to this depends entirely on you and what your goals are and what you want to get out of it. To make it easy for you, I’ve broken things down into 10 easy steps for setting up a dog walking business:

1. Decide which services you’re going to offer – before starting your dog walking business, you need to decide what you’re going to be offering to your future customers. For example, do you want to start out with walking one dog or will you walk several at a time? Will you be offering pooper scooper services or will you charge extra for that? For many dog walking services, cleaning up after the dog is included in the rate. But to make extra money, you can offer to clean your client’s yard (if they have one) for an additional fee. Also, you can offer dog running services to customers who want their dogs to have additional exercise.
2. Set your rate – after figuring out what kind of services you’re going to be offering, you need to set your rates. Some dog walkers charge for every 15 minutes that they spend with the animal. So, for example, a 15 minute walk is $10, while 30 minutes is $20 and so on. This rate would be for as many dogs that your client has in one household. It may not be a good idea to charge additional fees for more than one dog as this might be a turnoff for many people. Instead, the customer with more than one dog can purchase a longer time slot because you’ll need to spend more time to get the job done properly.
3. Come up with a cool name for your business – let’s face it, the name of your business is the first thing that you’re customers may encounter so you need to come up with something that will get their attention. The name you choose should let people know exactly what you do and the things you offer. Some  people choose to include their personal names in the name of their business name. For example, Steve’s Dog Walking Services. But if you’re going to be offering more than just dog walking, you might want to include that information in your name too. So, Steve’s Dog Walking and Pet Grooming Services may be a possibility for someone who will be offering more than just dog walking.
4. Decide if you will run the business solo or if you’re going to team up with some of your friends – if you think you’ll have to deal with a lot of customers, then you may want to work with some of your friends to get the job done. In this case you would work out a schedule with each of them walking two or more dogs per day. Also you would work out the routes and areas that your dog walking business will cover. If you’re not going to be working with other people then this makes it simpler, and you only have to decide these things for yourself.
5. Make a service agreement – to give your business a more professional image, you may want to offer customers a service agreement. For a service agreement you can type up a simple form on your computer that mentions the details of your services and the cost. Your service agreement should also contain the name of your business, phone number and any other important information you want your customers to have.
6. Get some business cards and flyers – spreading the word about your services is an important part of your business. But you don’t have to spend a lot of money on these things. You should be able to make cheap flyers at your local neighborhood copy shop and you can get business cards for free online – you only pay for shipping.
7. Set up a website – having a website is an excellent way of generating more business for yourself. A great example is Lindsay Stordahl’s website where she advertises her dog running and dog walking services. You can set up a simple blog for free and you can even have a myspace page to reach out to even more people.
8. Start a marketing campaign – after getting your business cards/flyers, and setting up a website, go on a marketing blitz to spread the word about your business. Tell as many people as you can, and put your flyers and business cards under your neighbors doors. Go out side in the early morning and late evening and see who is out walking their dogs and go up to them and introduce yourself and your services to them. For even more ideas, check out 3 Surefire Ways Of Landing Your First Dog Walking Customers.
9. Continue to research and grow your business – beyond learning the basics, setting up your business and growing it requires constant research. Visit the websites of other people who are in the same business as you to get ideas on how you can improve your business.
10. Have fun and enjoy what you’re doing – setting up your business is hard work  but it doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Don’t forget to have some fun and enjoy the  experience.

About Steve: I'm 18 years old and my goal is to one day become a millionaire! I’m really into business and entrepreneurship. I love being independent and having my own money so I'm always finding ways to earn more. In between school and homework, I write articles and maintain pages on facebook, myspace, twitter and youtube for TMMI! Continue reading here.

How to Set-up Your Dog Walking Business in 10 Easy Steps, 4.4 out of 5 based on 5 ratings

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