How to start your own pet sitting & dog walking service

My name is Darlene Sawyer, owner of Aunt Darlene's Pet Sitting & Dog Walking Service, LLC in Middlesex County, New Jersey.  I started my own pet sitting & dog walking business in 2003 and now in 2008 I have 5 pet sitters/dog walkers working for me and my business just keeps growing.  Starting my own business was the best thing I've ever done for myself. 

Before I decided to become a pet sitter I was a legal secretary for almost 17 years.  Every day a little bit more I realized how much I really didn't like my job.  My boss was a nightmare and although I made a very good living I was miserable.  I knew I wanted to make a career change and I really wanted to work with animals, but I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do.  I did some searching online for jobs with animals and I found a book that said it could teach me how to start a successful pet sitting/dog walking business.  The book was about $40, but I figured if it was able to teach me how to start my own business and actually make money, it would be worth a lot more than the $40.  I bought the book, followed the really easy to follow business plan to becoming a pet sitter and in less than a week I had my first customer.  I was really excited!  It was just 1 customer, but even the longest journey starts with a single step.  A few weeks later I got another customer and a few weeks later another.  I just kept doing the things the book said to do, but business came along very slowly.  I didn't know what I was doing wrong so I asked my husband, Tom if he could help me.  Tom has been in marketing and has some e-commerce experience so he took over my website design and marketing and the changes he made had incredible results.  Tom knew how to redesign my website to get the best results from our visitors and he also knew how to get our website listed on the first page on Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and numerous other search engines without having to pay for clicks, or placement, or anything at all.  Before I knew it I had tons of website visitors and quickly had so many clients that I had to start turning people away.  My husband talked me into hiring more pet sitters, which I fought him on, but he won that one and thank goodness he did.  We now have 5 pet sitters that we pay a 2/3 commission of the  that there were more  started to that I was able to quit my job as a legal secretary and work at my pet sitting business full-time. 

Now it's almost five years later and I walk 5 dogs daily Mon - Fri and my girls each walk a few dogs daily and do the vacation customers during the week and weekends. I currently have over 160 clients and have provided my company's services to over 600 clients.  Some of my clients have been with me since their dogs were puppies.  I love watching puppies grow up as I walk them every week.  It's almost like they are my puppies because I get to see them 5 days a week and get to see them grow and learn new things and become an adult dog.  I really enjoy that part of the business!  The Boxer, Jake, that I am walking in the top left of this page has been a daily dog walking client of mine since he was only 10 weeks old.  Now he's all grown up and I still walk him 5 days a week.  I am very attached to him.  I love him!

It's a good thing that I had a guide to follow when I started my business.  I never had my own business before and had no idea how to start one.  Without the ideas that I got from the Pet Sitting Business Manual I don't think I would have been able to become so successful in such a short time, or even start my own business at all.  I really had no idea how to get started. 

I remember when I first started this business.  I used to think I would be really thrilled to make just a couple hundred dollars a week.  I thought that just being able to make a few hundred dollars a week from doing what I really love would be a dream come true, but I had no idea how great that dream really was. 

When I first started this business some people thought it was a great idea and some people laughed at me, or were very skeptical.  The idea of pet sitting wasn't as popular when I started and I heard some negative comments.  Fortunately I paid no attention and bought the book.  Now I walk dogs full-time and  on a bad week I make $600 - $700 between my own jobs and my pet sitters jobs.  I have had many weeks where I've made over $1300 and most weeks are in the $1000 range.  Being a pet sitter/dog walker is in many ways much greater that I ever thought it would be. 

If you are serious about starting your own pet sitting business than don't start out by making costly mistakes.  You can start your business and hope for the best, or you can go with a proven guide to starting your own pet sitting & dog walking business.  I am living proof that the manual works.  See for yourself by visiting the rest of the pages of my website. 

I use and highly recommend The Pet Sitting Business Manual for anyone who wants to get into the pet sitting business and start making money within a couple of weeks.  It's how I started and grow my business and it's how you can too.  Try it out for 30 days, if your not happy for any reason get a refund, NO Questions Asked!

To get your copy Click Here--> The Pet Sitting Business Manual

Best of luck in your pet sitting business,
Darlene Sawyer
Aunt Darlene's Pet Sitting & Dog Walking Service, LLC

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