So you want to work with animals?
The past two years have given us all much time for reflection. For many, it has given us time to really determine if we are happy in our chosen career path or whether we would like to look at being our own boss in a sector we love.
This is what happened when I started Pets 2 Places – a bereavement that took me to the very inner depths of despair, also gave me the courage to say I wanted a change. I wanted to work with people that respected and valued me, I wanted to work with animals and I wanted it all to work around my family.
Working with animals
Picking the right service for your area
When it comes to working with animals there are so many options – pet sitting service, dog walking business, an animal behaviourist. I am sure you will have already thought about all of these – after all, they are services we are familiar with. BUT, they are also pretty saturated so you need to do your market research. Is there already a number of people offering this service? How will you compete?
What about a pet taxi service? At Pets 2 Places we receive so many calls from all across the UK (and even overseas) from people who are looking for this service to use on a regular basis – in fact in our founding town of Milton Keynes our recurring revenue accounts for around 80% of the monthly business.
What you need to consider when starting your own Pet Taxi business
Knowing how to start a pet taxi could be a real time and, more importantly, money saver.
But here’s the thing…
It is not easy! There is a LOT that you need to consider.
What vehicle do you need?
It is easy to assume that your existing car could work – after all, you take your own pet to the vet quite comfortably. But is that right for your customers? Is it suitable for larger breed dogs? Do you have the appropriate safety equipment to meet legislation and reassure your customers? Do you actually want to use your existing vehicle if it going to be used to transport pets all day? (trust me, not all pets travel well!)
Will you transport pets and their owners? This is all about comfort and security, would you use a van and just say one owner allowed? Would you have crates in the van to secure dogs? Will this limit what breeds you can take – after all a St Bernard and a Chihuahua have very different needs.
Then there is the minefield that is insurance…
Insurance is tricky. You want to make sure you are fully covered should anything happen but there is a lot of small print when you are transporting both animals and humans. Finding the right policy for you, your business and your customers is not something you want to scrimp on. You could land yourself in seriously hot water if anything were to happen.
And all of that needs to be in place BEFORE you launch the business.
But then the real costs start to kick in.
Promoting your business costs money. Honestly, whatever you are thinking of investing, both in time and money, you should probably double it. Promotion is expensive and it is time-consuming. Putting out adverts, flyers, attending shows, writing letters to people that could benefit from the service – the costs can easily spiral, and you need to make sure you are carefully monitoring both the investment and also the return.
There’s a lot to think about when you want to start a pet taxi. It really isn’t as easy as you think especially when you consider that 60% of new starts up will fail within 3 years. IN 5 years that figure rises to a staggering 80%.
On top of that, starting your own business can be scary – and lonely.
Headlights at the end of the tunnel
If you really want to become your own boss and carve out a career you love it is worth exploring the franchise route. Yes, it may well feel that that is a lot to invest – but with good reason.
Whilst starting a business on your own has an 80% chance of failure in 5 years, a study undertaken by the British Franchising Association and Natwest showed that when buying into a franchise, 80% of franchisees were still going after 5 years.
When a business is available as a franchise it means that a LOT of the work has already been done for you. The franchisor has already created a brand and is actively marketing the service, they know exactly what you need in terms of equipment, insurances and how to position the business and they are invested in helping you succeed.
Pets 2 Places was established in 2014, has gone from strength to strength. Not only surviving the covid pandemic but actually thriving.
With little to no competition now is a great time to be thinking about joining an industry-leading company with both ethos and passion for delivering outstanding service. As a franchisee you will be given full training, a marketing package to get you started and the tools and training on the systems to help run your business smoothly. Moreover, we constantly research the market and keep on top of the latest legislation and guidelines to ensure that you are kept up to date on the safe transportation of pets.
If you would like to know more about being part of this award-winning service and building your own Pet Taxi service head over to our franchising page to download the prospectus:
