First Quarter Update: And Your Little Dog Too

It was three months ago this week that I first launched publicity for And Your Little Dog Too.  Thinking about it, three months is not long at all to start a new project like this and experience modest success.  Living it, however, has felt very long at times.  While it only took me a week to get my first lead, it took another month or so to seal the deal on that lead before it resulted in a real customer.

Looking back, a month isn’t that long to get my first client, especially when you consider that this was over the holiday season and I had just learned I was pregnant.  In fact, the day I got my first lead was the day I found out.  Needless to say, the timing was both slightly inconvenient and strangely perfect.  Adventure was looming.

I thought it would be helpful for me (and perhaps someone else thinking of doing the same) to commemorate this very modest milestone with a post on my first quarter in the biz.

My Approach to Getting Started

Despite the fun and casual nature of my endeavor to become a dog walker, I decided from the beginning to treat it as a serious career change.  I wanted to give myself the time and training necessary to ensure the best likelihood for success.  In theory, dog walking is a job that a 12-year-old could do.  In practice, that was not how I have ever looked at my business.  I looked at it as just that: a business; a void needed to be filled and I wanted to fill it, as professionally and as readily as possible.

From the day I decided to move forward with the business to the day I started publicity, exactly one month had passed.  Let me tell you, I wasn’t twiddling my thumbs.  I decided I had three major things to accomplish that month:

1. Write a business plan;
2. Research “the industry,” as thoroughly as possible;
3. Get my website up and running and print marketing material.

The Business Plan

I had never written one before, and soon learned that it involved doing a lot of due diligence.  The final product was certainly nothing fancy.  It was simply organized but it contained a great amount of detail.  Sure, it was for my eyes only, but I designed it as though I was pitching an idea to a team of investors.  I organized it into five sections:  Business Description/Objective, Operating Procedures, Marketing, Competition, and Pricing Structure.

Research

This worked hand in hand with developing the business plan.  I not only conceptualized my future business and what I hoped to achieve, I also researched the industry-at-large in great detail (insurance, licensing, and best practices, to name a few topics!).  This meant learning about dog walking and pet care on the whole as a profession, and also more specifically as I examined the Seattle market.

During this time, I started reaching out to members of the community, both online and locally, to become more educated and to network.  I researched local opportunities to volunteer with an animal rescue, I met with two different dog behaviorists, and started honest conversations with other dog walkers, hoping to learn from them.

Website & Marketing Material

Between my supportive and tech-savvy husband and my past experience with branding and social media, this part was fun and easy.  Through a friend I found an affordable designer to commission the creation of my logo, and it unfolded quickly from there.  Matthew and I worked together to create a company website (he did all the programming; I gave input on its asethetic).  I figured out all the forms and releases I would need clients to fill out and sign, and together we formatted three basic forms to make up “new client packets.”  I began set up to build a social media presence and had business cards and 4″x6″ postcards printed on OvernightPrints.com.

The First Month

Once the logistics were set in place, I announced the business to the world and began marketing the sh*t out of my new venture.  My modest background in PR and social media really came in handy here.

Marketing: The Old Fashioned Way and Online

The  connections I made in the previous month were developed into stronger relationships: I started volunteering regularly with Ginger’s Pet Rescue and met every Saturday with a behavior specialist in Progressive Reinforcement Training (positive reinforcement training).  I made it my mission to attend every dog-related event I could find: “mutt mixers,” “yappy hours,” and small dog groups I found through Meetup.com became my local hangouts.  I pinned cards to the boards of every local dog park and made the rounds to our vet, groomer, and daycare center to see what kind of support they could offer.  I reached out to local small business owners in the industry and eventually found one to let me sponsor a small dog playgroup at their facility.  For that, I baked homemade treats for the dogs and cookies for the humans in an effort to be remembered.

Building a following on Facebook and Twitter was the tip of the iceberg as far as establishing an online presence went.  I also began the process of getting listed with Google Places, Bing Business Portal, and Yahoo! Local Listings.  I created a company blog, a Yelp account, used some existing credits to pay for a few Google AdWords, and took advantage of any directory I could be put in for free: local dog publications, blogs, and Craigslist, to name a few.

Bookkeeping

I quickly realized that I would need to develop a decent system for bookkeeping and tracking expenses, as well a way to log client information, invoices, and referral information.  For this I currently keep separate files in Google Docs and have a dedicated binder for the business.  Hopefully one day I will have the demand and the resources for something more sophisticated.

How I’ve Done 

For all the work I did in the business’ first official month, I was a little disappointed in how long it took me to get my first five clients on the books.  As I said above, it took a month to get my first client.  The second client came a couple weeks later, and the third a few weeks after that.  My fourth and fifth clients were only signed in the last two weeks.

Still, I am proud that I recovered all of my startup costs by the end of the second month.  Each week brings more leads and I am confident that things will continue to grow, even if it is at a slower rate than I first hoped.

Helpful Resources

I have never met her and she doesn’t know me, but by far my biggest resource to date has been Lindsay of Run That Mutt.  Lindsay has a very successful dog running business in Fargo and clearly has a passion for sharing her knowledge about dogs and dog care with others.  She has published a very helpful ebook and runs a great dog blog.

Looking Ahead

I’m currently outlining some new goals for the year ahead, including getting certified in pet CPR and figuring out how a new baby will fit into the picture.  I am hopeful that baby and business will ultimately be compatible.

That’s it for my first three months!  Thank you to everyone for your support with this little endeavor.  I have never felt any judgment or criticism with this project, which has really helped me to pursue my plans with confidence and purpose.

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