The much anticipated series…How To Make Money Online with Your Dog Business is officially open!

Woof Woof!

We are going to take you through a simple step by step process of making your first $1000 online.  If you don’t have a website yet - no worries.  This is really simple stuff.  You won’t have much of a learning curve at all.

The most important piece of this lesson is to just do it.  Once the money starts coming in you will be free to tweak and learn and refine.  For now, it is all about getting started online fast.

The very first step is to find something you want to sell. I know that might seem obvious, but the internet is full of websites people built to make money with that have absolutely no monetization strategy at all.

First, pick a product you want to sell.

It can be some information product like a “how to groom your dog” book or video (it doesn’t have to be your own creation! It can be a video or book you have created or something you intend to create in the near future or someone else’s product - we’ll talk about that soon); or it can be some physical item, like a dog toy,  dog food or a dog bed.

All that matters is that you choose a product people want to buy.

No rocket science here!

Do not be afraid of choosing the wrong product. This is all about getting started fast.  It is more important to start making money than it is to pick the perfect product or create the perfect video.  Besides, there just isn’t a thing as perfection.

Getting it done.  Making the decision is the most important step here.

So, pick something you know something about, something you use, something you purchased that you can recommend to someone else.  Which means, a product you actually like and can feel good about endorsing.

That is all for step one.  Decide what you want to sell.  Tomorrow, we will discuss step #2, you’ve picked a product, now what?

IF YOU WANT TO EASILY AND EFFORTLESSLY PUT VIDEO ON YOUR WEBSITE -This is the camera I currently use to quickly and effortlessly take video and upload it to my blog.

IT IS SO SIMPLE…YOU POINT, PUSH THE RECORD BUTTON TO START AND STOP, PLUG THE ENTIRE CAMERA INTO YOUR COMPUTER’S USB PORT AND YOU HAVE A VIDEO!

THERE IS EVEN A BUTTON THAT ASKS IF YOU WANT TO SEND YOUR NEW VIDEO TO YouTube. Say yes, and you can immediately go to YouTube and grab a link to your video and put it on your blog post just like I have done dozens of times on this blog.

Unity dog strategies are always focused on strengthening your dog care business and the pet owner simultaneously.  This strategy adds a community component as well.

Client education is an extremely important component of business stability and should be an ongoing project for your business. Whether you hold monthly or quarterly educational classes or provide ongoing education through a regular newsletter…just do it.

Part of that educational training should be dedicated to the safety and care of pets in the community.  Your clients aren’t likely to be the target demographic to talk about abuse, neglect or risky behavior but they may witness it if you can raise awareness.

Even though our clients are the most dedicated pet care owners, they don’t always know some of their actions that may put their animals at risk.  Educate your clients about the potential for abuse when advertising to give away puppies or dogs for free.

Our well intentioned clients may be putting animals at risk if they advertise free dog or puppy to good home in the local classifieds or with a sign in their yard.

The risk is quite high that a less than caring and loving person will take the dog and neglect them.  An even worse fate if an unethical breeder (puppy mill) or dog fighting enthusiast gets ahold of the animal.

By keeping your clients informed and always increasing their pet care knowledge you are creating a healthier community for animals. The more your clients know about pet care, and about your expertise, the less likely they will be to take a shot on the new, inexperienced kid on the block or opt to allow their neighbors to be their defacto pet sitter.

Healthy pets and wise clients make profitable business.

Want to get into one of the lucrative Dog Businesses?

One of the easiest ways to break into the pet care business is to start a dog pet sitting business. Dog businesses are big business - and without financial resources you can’t directly compete with the established dog businesses in your market.

Ease of entry, low financial investment, makes small, owner/operator dog businesses like dog walking businesses and dog sitting business ideal.

Before you consider dog walking, pet sitting or any other dog care business there are a few things you need to do. I do not recommend that just anyone get into the dog care business. It takes the right temperament and energy.

In addition, you will absolutely without a doubt, need good transportation and a back up plan if something happens to you or your vehicle. People put the safety and care of their animals in your hands and it is not to be taken lightly.

If you aren’t sure if you are cut out for a dog pet sitting business or other dog care business, take a few minutes to visit my friend and business coach, Steve Little, at The Perfect Biz Finder. You will get a ton of invaluable, free information on how to select the perfect business - guaranteed to bring you abundance and joy because it is a genetic match to you!

If you already know that dogs are your passion and it is your purpose to be in dog care business but lack the funds…start small. Starting a Dog Pet Sitting Business or dog walking pet sitting business is relatively easy.

We have plenty of resources on this site to help ensure your success. Keep us posted and please comment with any challenges or questions. We are here to help you help dogs.

There is nothing worse than paying an employee to Loose Business for you!

As crazy as this sounds it happens all the time, I would have to assume without the business owners knowledge. I guarantee at least 90% of my readers employee someone whose performance, behavior, personality, attitude or hygiene is costing them business.

The responsibility lies squarly on the shoulders of leadership. Management must know how its employees are impacting business for practical reasons like evaluations, training, pay raises, bonuses, benchmarking and of course termination.

The surest way to prevent employing someone who is a risk to offend your client base is to perform “on the job” type interviews. Once you get down to your short list of potential new staff - use their services yourself as if you were a client.

If you are hiring a new dog walker or groomer - take your own beloved pet to the potential new hire. Would you pay for her services? Do you feel like your pet is safe with this potential new employee. How comfortable was the dog? Notice if you felt at ease or anxious. Of course evaluate the actual job performance. How detailed was she? Did she check in with you to get feedback on the job as she was working with your dog?

Let some of your most trusted and even some of your toughest clients do the same. How do they rate your potential new employee?

I am writing this article after spending several hundred dollars at one of my favorite spa’s - and walking away completely disillusioned. If I were the kind of customer, like most of your customers, who walks away without complaining - you may never see me again and you would never even know why you lost my business.

If you don’t have a system in place to notice my spending has significantly dropped off you might not even know you’ve lost me as a customer because I might pop in now and again for an occasional quick product or service.

If you had a follow up system in place to elicit my feedback on the service of this new employee you very well might have heard back that I was horrified that the nail technician had dirt under her nails.

As it stands now, five days after my spa service, I am thinking of all the reasons I never want to go back to that spa…and the spa owner has no idea and probably never will.

Start pre-hiring practices as I described above and put systems in place to connect with your clients after their service and at regular intervals. Always monitor your clients monthly spend and track for patterns so that you know immediately if there are irregular spending habits.

These irregularities should be a trigger to contact your client and check for the causes. It may not be a problem with your services or staff. You may find that your clients’ needs have changed and you discover new opportunities to service your clients. Ways the customer might never have imagined and therefor, never looked to you for her pet care needs,

Monitoring your staff has extra benefits to the organization. When you manage under performing employees it shows the entire staff you value quality work. Leaving a poor employee to enjoy the same pay and benefits as your best employees de-values the great employees.

Manage your new hires as if you were the toughest client this employee would face. If you don’t, you may be paying your new staff to drive away business!

I am hearing it everywhere I turn - gas prices are killing our pet sitting business….day care has slowed down by as much as 50%…I have had to cancel 1/2 of my scheduled obedience training classes.

If you too are feeling the pinch I would like to hear from you. What are your greatest struggles and needs?

If you have figured out ways to grow market share - congratulations! If you are of the prosperity mindset - please leave comments below with your best strategies.

Some of the greatest fortunes in the world are accrued during a recession - do not become of the doom and gloom mindset.  Not only is there opportunity for massive growth - the opportunity to grow while benefiting others is upon us.

There is only one way to true prosperity - and that is to take the path that carries others along with you.  Help others achieve that which you desire for yourself and you will both prosper.  Think of ways to contribute to the animals and their families in your communities.

When you are in service of a cause greater than yourself, ideas…inspired ideas begin to come to you.  Ideas are what are needed during times of lack and so called recession.

If you struggle with this it is probably because your focus, your mind is still on the problems.  Change your thoughts!  Move your attention from the bills to the vision of the business you desire.

The only way to solve a problem is by thinking about the solution.  Focusing on the problem only allows problems to grow.

I am anxious to hear from you.  Let me know how you got your creative juices flowing and ways you were able to grow your business while being a blessing to families and pets in your community.

Happy 4th of July to all!

It is especially important for pet care business owners to take extra measures to care for their pet sitting, kennel and doggy day care dogs this weekend.

Any time dogs are going to be left alone - whether in a day care, kennel or in their own homes we need to take precautions to be sure the animals are safe and comforted. Dog Kennels and doggy day cares should know whether fireworks will be shot off in the vicinity and take care to shield their dogs from the noise.

Pet sitters who are caring for dogs while their owners are traveling out of town need to rally the troops and do their due diligence to identify homes where pets are especially sensitive to the noise or whose homes are close to a fireworks display.

Fireworks can be dangerous and scary for dogs.

Please take extra precautions this weekend - go above and beyond what your clients expect. Think of ways you can reduce the dogs stress. Pet sitters should get permission from the owners to leave a radio or CD with soothing music playing during the peak fireworks hours.

Doggy day cares and kennels can pipe in soothing music and even schedule extra staff time to occupy the dogs with play and activity to get them through with the least amount of stress.

Pet sitters, If you can - stay with the pets that are at risk of the most stress. If you don’t already know if a dog is afraid of fireworks - it is something you should be asking owners.

Don’t be afraid to call an owner you are scheduled to sit for at this late date. They will appreciate how conscientious you are.

Ask if there is a particular place in the home the pet goes to when frightened and be sure the dog has access to this area. For example, my beagle, Bailey hangs out in my walk in closet. I have a doggy bed in there for her.

Any loud noise and she heads for the closet where she feels safe. She gets all snuggled in and falls asleep in her bed in the corner of the closet. If someone, like a cleaning crew, accidentally closed the closet door - she would be unable to get to her safe place.

Getting to know your clients and their pets is the best way to identify ways to go above and beyond in service. Communication is key.

Have a safe and tail wagging fun 4th.

What were your reasons for starting your own pet care business?

Most business owners include love of animals, personal freedom, financial independence and time with family as their top reasons for starting a pet care business.

Whatever your original reasons for opening your own business, take an honest inventory of your success in the area of each goal. How do you define personal freedom?

If it is simply calling your own shots - not answering to a boss then you can probably pat yourself on the back and put a check mark next to that one. However, if your goal was deeper than firing your boss - if it included creating a meaningful life outside of work - how would you score?

Are you taking the trips you always dreamed of?
Is your personal life as fulfilling as your time at work?
Do you spend quality time with your loved ones?
Have you set and achieved personal goals in the areas of fitness and health, travel and adventure?
How would you rate your financial goals? Are you still trading time for money?
Do you have systems in place so your money is working for you?

Don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t achieved more than one or two of your primary goals you had set for yourself when you started on this entrepreneurial journey. You are certainly not alone - as a matter of fact, you are in the majority.

Most people fail to achieve even their most passionate desires and goals because they allow life to get in the way. The one defining difference between the most productive and successful people in the world and everyone else is the ability to focus time and attention on a specified goal until its completion.

The single most important action you can take each and every day is upon determining your most pressing goal(s) - devote a specified amount of time solely dedicated to that goal until it is completed.

Depending on your goal - it may look like two hours in the late afternoon when you lock yourself in your office with absolutely no interruptions. No phone calls, no e-mails, no interruptions at all. It may mean you get up an hour earlier in the morning or stay up an hour later in the evening to work on your fitness goals or your intellectual or spiritual goals.

It takes consistent action toward your goal to accomplish anything worthwhile. Don’t imagine that you are too busy to accomplish more. The wealthiest, most successful people in the world are arguably the busiest people in the world as well.

If the busiest people in the world make the time to achieve their goals - and we all have the same 24 hours in a day - it is a good indication that we too can achieve our goals.

Whatever you are saying to yourself right now, whether affirmations or excuses - those thoughts are the fuel that will drive your future. Excuses will keep you stagnant. A year from now you will not only not have achieved any of your goals but you will have lost footing in your existing business.

There is no sitting still - you are either growing or dying. No in between.

If you believe you can achieve your goals with a consistent, focused effort - you will. And that achievement will foster more belief and power to achieve even greater goals. It is a law of nature - what you focus on grows.

Focus on the excuses and you will get more busy work and garbage to fill up your 24 hours. Focus on possibilities and a worthy goal and you will become the person you imagine yourself to be.

It is really very simple if you just allow yourself the opportunity to succeed. Take the time every day to fulfill the dreams inside of you. Before you know it - those dreams that once existed only in your mind will be a reality in your outside world.

Take consistent action today and every day and soar!

Warm Waggles,
Fran
fran@dogbusinessdaily.com

As pet care business owners we are not only obligated to care for and protect the animals entrusted to us by our clients. It is our responsibility to be alert for and take action on animal cruelty in our communities.

As a group The Humane Society, animal shelters, ASPCA and pet care business owners there is no one else as acutely aware of the animals residing in our communities. Dog sitters are out and about in the community, even more so than animal protection….just due to the number of sitters compared to the animal protection agency.

We can and must be the eyes and ears for Animal Protection in our community. In an effort to help support your communities animal safety efforts I have received permission to publish the ASPCA’s list of State Anti-Cruelty Investigatory and Arrest Powers.

Please refer to your state’s regulations and contact information and be aware of opportunities to protect the animals in your community.

You have studied similar dog care businesses, seen what the competitors are doing, developed competitive pricing strategies even joined forums and associations to develop your skills and best practices….

Sounds like a responsible and thorough strategy…So, why do I think it is a sure fire plan for business mediocrity?

“The greatest managers in the world seem to have little in common. They differ in sex, age, and race. They employ vastly different styles and focus on different goals. Yet despite their differences, great managers share one common trait: They do not hesitate to break virtually every rule held sacred by conventional wisdom.”

First, Break All The Rules, Buckingham & Coffman

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization conducted a comprehensive, massive study of leaders and managers across a wide variety of industries and found the only common trait in the most successful managers in the world - they didn’t play by rules.

It is interesting that as business owners our first and often times only education comes from studying other business owners in our industry. We think everything we need to know about running a doggy day care or dog sitting business can be learned by studying the business down the road.

While on the surface this strategy seems logical and almost necessary - it is by this very practice of observing the standards and accepted practices of other businesses that prevents us from creative innovation.

Once a concept of how a process should be performed is firmly established in ones mind - unless intentionally and ruthlessly examined - the process will rarely change, improve and certainly never innovate.

How do you know if your another me-too business or you are innovative and destined for greatness? If you don’t know…take a close look at your systems, processes, philosophies…ask your staff…ask your vendors, if you are brave enough…ask your customers and prospects.

How different is your pet care business from the one around the corner? Innovation doesn’t mean that you use pink bows after grooming and the competitor uses purple!

Ask yourself how many of these apply to your business:

• Do you service all of your customers and prospective customers as if they were your only client/prospect?

• Are your employees your most valued asset?

• Is it policy to always share the wealth?

• Do you focus on solutions and never on blame?

• Do you anticipate and act on industry trends and market needs?

• Is your work environment one of trust and honesty?

• Is every interaction with your clients viewed as a moment to prove yourself and your business?

• Do you have a goal for your business? One that all of your staff is familiar with and buys into? How else do you know where you are going?

These are not terribly innovative ideas - but they are a jumping off point.  Let’s say, a minimum standard when thinking about a great organization.  When you reach a place where you can view every circumstance, event and process and ask yourself if there isn’t a better way…you are on your way to greatness.

Don’t settle for the status quo. Don’t continue to do the same things just because they are the things you have always done. That is the most ridiculous reason of all.

I take that back, maybe it is not the most, maybe the most ridiculous is doing the same thing everyone else is doing. And certainly do not entrust your business to someone who has just been “winging” their own business.

It doesn’t matter if you are satisfied making $10k/ month or not. The bottom line is not the question. It is about living your life and running your business with certain standards of quality. It is about not being willing to compromise for the status quo.

It is about creating something entirely new that serves others.  Ideas with these goals are always going to benefit the one who serves as much if not more than those being served.

Maintaining the status quo isn’t even an easier way to go. You are spending the same amount of time every day in your business - why not inspire your staff, entertain your own mind, serve your clients in unexpected ways. The same 8 or 10 or 12 hours are now a lot more fun…a heck of lot more valuable to the community and guaranteed to be a lot more profitable.

That is what we are all about here at Dog Business Daily….

Why don’t you start right now by catching one of your employees doing something right!

How to Get Your Articles “Out There”

Before you send out any articles to anyone, you must read their guidelines fully! Failure to follow the set guidelines for posting/submitting your article usually ends with straight out rejection.

Most people will want the following.

1) Article 500 to 700 words in length -Put the exact amount of words there are in the email to the ezine publisher/article announcement list.

2) No spelling errors

This is as simple as doing a spell check

3) Complete contact details of yourself and a short synopsis of your article.

What this means is that when you send an email to say an ezine editor, you include a brief introduction about yourself, your contact information if needed and a short run down of your article. Anyone else but the ezine publisher or article announcement owner doesn’t see this.

4) Word wrap

You will want to wrap your article to 65 characters for each line. What this means is that every line of your article has 65 characters or less in it. This is important for margins in email.

There is a free tool that will do this for you, that I love. It will also help you with your article writing as well. You can get it from <http://www.ezineassistant.com>

5) Article in the body of your email

Never send your article as an attachment in an email. Most people don’t open attachments for the fear of viruses, so send all articles only in the body of the email. This is a big stumbling block for newbie writers.

But the best advice I can give you is to follow any guidelines set to the “T”. If you are unsure, ask someone.

So what should my email look like to any publisher? Here are a few examples.

“Please consider this article for your website or ezine. Permission to reproduce if byline stays intact. Courtesy copy appreciated; not required.

TITLE: Business, Patti and Lucy are Opening a Doggy Day Care!

AUTHOR: Doggy Diggs, The Dog Coach

WORD COUNT: 627

WRAP: 65

URL: http://www.doggydiggs.com

Mailto: doggy diggs, 123 Bow Wow Rd.

"Article Title: Make your business Doggy-Friendly

Author Name: Doggy Diggs

Contact Email Address: lucy@yahoo.com

Word Count: 1216

Category: Pet Care

Copyright Date: 2008

Special Requirements For Reprint: You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the complete resource box is included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. Please send it to:

Send Your Articles Out To Thousands

Here are the best resources anywhere on the Internet to post your articles. If it’s not here, don’t bother with it!

Here are a list of ezine directories. You will find hundreds even thousands of ezines that are looking publish articles on all topics.

<http://www.published.com>

<http://www.ezine-dir.com>

<http://www.writerswrite.com/epublishing/mldirectory.htm>

<http://www.zinos.com>

<http://www.topezineads.com>

<http://www.directoryofezines.com> - The best, but it’s not free

<http://www.ezinesplus.com>

<http://paml.net>

<http://www.ezinesearch.com>

<http://www.marketing-seek.com>

<http://www.ezinelinks.com>

<http://ezine-universe.com>

<http://www.ezineseek.com>

<http://www.freezineweb.com>

<http://www.newsletter-directory.com>

<http://www.ezinedirectory.com>

<http://www.list-city.com>

Now not everyone of the mailing lists you find will accept articles, and not every ezine directory will tell you who does and who doesn’t accept articles, so it will be a bit of a process in finding out which ones do and don’t.

Make sure you write down all the details of who you submit your articles to and make a directory, so you know where to send them next time.

Here is a list of article announcement sites:

<http://www.websource.net/articlesub.htm> - The best of the best

<http://www.marketing-seek.com>

<http://www.ideamarketers.com>

<http://www.authorconnection.com>

<http://www.ezinearticles.com>

<http://www.makingprofit.com>

<http://www.clickz.com>

<http://www.bpub.com>

A final tip - use original content only for article marketing. It is absolute death to your article marketing if you are found re-using content - your own or any one elses. New, never before published articles are the rule.