I haven’t been coming up with many personal finance blogging ideas lately. My dog sitting business is going extremely well. Last year, as vaccines happened and people caught up on travel, I made twice as much as I had ever made in any other year. This year, I’ll make around 80% more than last year. Overall, it’s more than four times what I made pre-pandemic.
When I started dog boarding in 2015, it was just about making a little extra money, maybe $500 a month to complement my blogging income. Now, it is my blogging income that complements my dog boarding income. Make hay while the sun shines, right? The only issue is that dog boarding doesn’t scale. Every extra dog adds exponentially more complexity. Also, there’s a limit to how much people will pay to board a dog. That means there’s a ceiling to how much I can make.
One way that I’m trying to raise that ceiling is to add other services. Some suggested I should offer to bath dogs, groom dogs, or get into dog training. I’ve thought about all these, and they can be challenging to do when we’ve got a fairly full house. I’m looking for other ways to grow. For example, I’ve seen a mobile dog grooming truck come down my street. Maybe I could partner with them and get some money for the referral. I got a tip on a dog photographer. We might be able to work out something where she photographs dogs for an additional fee.
One of the easiest ways for me to grow is to eliminate Rover.com’s service fee. I think Rover.com is excellent and provides great value with booking software, escrow and merchant services, etc. They even do all my advertising and client acquisition. However, if I create a brand and advertise myself, I don’t want to send people to Rover.com to book me. Actually, I don’t mind booking Rover for the first stay, but when I’ve had a regular client for more than five stays, I’d like to manage that myself. Rover typically keeps twenty percent of the booking fee for itself, but I’m grandfathered in at fifteen percent. If I can transition a customer to my own website and booking software, I can give them a discount and still keep more money for myself.
My Kid Adds a Business Idea
My wife saw a thing about a local business doing a small business Saturday at a local restaurant. A table is $20, and she’s going to promote the dog boarding business as well as sell some high-end clothes she acquired over time – whatever hasn’t sold on Poshmark. The $20 also includes unlimited Bloody Mary’s, which may have been a draw for her.
My 10-year-old son has decided he will put his cooking skills to good use and make dog biscuits to sell. It’s a perfect fit for him. He got a recipe from the local animal shelter’s summer pet camp. Another of his favorite summer camps is cooking camp.
He’s picked a name for his biscuits, and we’ll co-brand them with the dog boarding business. The individually-wrapped bags will have a coupon code that will give the customer a dog boarding discount. I’ll also give my son a cut of any dog boarding sales that come from it.
My 8-year-old is contributing as well. He designed the logo for the business. It looks like an 8-year-old designed it, but that’s the point. He’s one of the best artists in his class, so it’s not bad.
I love these little experiments. Try a little tweak here and there and see how things go. Of course, I’ll keep you updated on how it goes.
I love the idea that the entire family is involved in different aspects of your dog boarding business. Good luck to all of you, and if you ever decide to do mail order dog biscuits, I would be interested in purchasing some for my mini-Labradoodle (as long as they’re fairly low cal — she’s on a diet).
Hey Lazy Man.
A few ideas for growing your business:
– Sell dog food: since you already have the customers, make a spreadsheet of which is the two or three foods that they buy the most. Buy it in bulk, and resale it to your customers slightly cheaper or at the same price where they normally buy it. They’ll be thankful, and you’ll earn a direct commission.
– Sell dog treats: same principle as above.
– Charge for delivery / pickups: I don’t recall if you pick up the dogs, or the owner drops it at your location. But offering this service is a win/win.
– Partnerships: you said it best in your post. Photographers, or grooming services. Maybe you drive the dogs to and from the groomers, and they give you a discount on volume, which you keep.
Hope it helps. Good luck!
Luis Alberto
(Long time reader from Peru)
I love the ideas. Thank you!
I like to keep dogs on the same food. The owners all have their favorite foods for their dogs. There are so many that only one dog eats what my dog eats and no two ever eat the same.
The dog treats is a great idea. My son is working on that. I can’t do too much at home, because dog treats can inspire fights unless they are given out all at the same time.
Pick-up and delivery. Rover.com allows me to add that service easily. I am heavily thinking about it. When I drive to pick-up a dog, I can’t work on blog stuff so I have to weigh the time. I will probably give this a try!
I appreciate the comment and how to see more in future posts!
Brilliant!! I hope all these ideas take off!
Wow, that’s amazing growth. Great ideas to help expand the business too.
I need to find something like that to do. Dog boarding sounds like the perfect fit for your area.
I’d like to try it too, but our home just isn’t right for that business.