3 questions to answer before you start a pet business

So, you’re thinking about starting a pet related business. Great! But before you go down that road, take a minute to answer these three questions.

What’s your why?

Do not start a pet business because you love animals. That is to say make sure that’s not the only reason. I know you love animals, that’s a given, but do you love people as well? As the owner of your business, particularly in the early stages, you’re going to be working with people as much as or even more than you work with animals. You need to enjoy both. If you don’t love working with people, that’s okay, but don’t start a pet related business. Instead go volunteer at your local humane society and spend all of your time hanging out with the animals without the people.

You also need to ask yourself if you enjoy (or at least tolerate well) sales, marketing, human resources, accounting, operations and administrative work. You will wear all of these hats in the beginning and possibly well into your business’s life. If you can’t stand doing these things you shouldn’t be starting a business of any kind or you should be finding a partner who loves this part of the business. Don’t worry though, you don’t need to love these things or even do them forever. Your business will grow and as it does, you’ll be able to outsource and step back to focus on the parts of running your company that you do love.

What is your financial goal?

Answer the following question:

I want to make:

1. Gobs of money to buy a mansion and a yacht
2. Spending money for fun extras
3. Enough to support your family and live like you have been

The good news is that there is no wrong answer. However, depending on what you answered the type of business you’ll want to start will vary greatly.

1. If you answered “Gobs of money” – This is absolutely doable however you won’t be able to do it alone. If you are the only employee in your business, there are not enough hours in your day to service enough clients to make “Gobs” of money. That’s okay, it just means that you will be bringing other employees on board to deliver your services and will need to deal with the management responsibilities and costs that come with having employees.
2. If you answered “Spending money for fun extras” – You should start a business where you are the only employee or as some people like to call it, be a solo-preneur. You will make enough for those fun extras but will not have to deal with everything that comes with having employees.
3. If you answered “Enough to support my family” – This is a tricky gray area. You will likely need to bring other employees on board or you may decide to go the independent contractor route. In this case though you can keep the number of others employed or involved in your business low thereby minimizing the activities that come along with having them.

What is your risk tolerance?

Answer the following question:

I am comfortable:

1. Jumping blindfolded off the cliff into the ocean (High risk tolerance)
2. Sitting on the beach and watching the waves (Low risk tolerance)
3. Swimming out to sea a good distance (Medium risk tolerance)

Again, the good news is that there’s no wrong answer but again, depending on what you answered the type of business you’ll want to start will vary greatly. Not surprisingly your level of risk tolerance correlates directly with your financial goal. If you want to earn gobs of money to buy that mansion, you’ll need to have a high risk tolerance. Conversely if you have a low risk tolerance level you may want to aim for simply earning some extra spending money. 

Starting a pet related business is an amazing thing to do. Just make sure you go into it eyes wide open. Spending a few minutes thinking through these three questions can save you a boatload of stress later on!

About Eliza

Eliza is the owner of two successful pet related businesses; Preferred Pet Partners, a pet sitting and dog walking company, and The Pet Business Coach, offering coaching and resources to aspiring or current pet related business entrepreneurs. She maintains two awesome blogs. One for pet parents https://preferredpetpartners.com/blog/ and one for pet business owners https://thepetbusinesscoach.dog/blog-page/.  Eliza also supports various animal rescue and shelter organizations. Eliza and her husband have three furry family members. Visit her websites: www.preferredpetpartners.com or www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog.