Side Gig – Dog Sitting
Side Gig – Dog Sitting
Sometimes side gigs can make enough Dorothy Dollars to become a full time job, pay for a vacation, supplement retirement income, or you can just enjoy doing the task in the side gig. I like side gigs that I can make some gay money, and do very little work, especially if it is incorporated into my daily life.
Dog Sitting is my latest adventure to getting a little extra gay money.
Pros:
– Can do easily while working from home. Requires minimal extra work through the day (meet and greet ~20 min, first hour of dog, bath). Most other things like walking, feeding, and playing can be done in concert with your dog so their is little to no extra time.
– Save money on day care by becoming the day care. Helps socialize your own dogs. Dog socialization has become a kick lately. I do not really understand the importance, but my dogs seem to like being around other dogs.
– Relatively low skill level required, very little specialized equipment. Almost anyone can dog sit and the start-up cost to get started is relatively low if you own dogs already.
Cons:
– Not a stable job. Everyone will want a dog sitter for 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. After the holidays are over few people will need a sitter compared to the amount of people offering sitting services. Getting a regular client base takes time, but keep in mind this is just a side gig.
– Dogs temperament/training varies. Hyper destructive dogs will make you give up on sitting quickly and question why you even thought of sitting.
– Dogs stink and make messes. You will have to clean up all sorts of nasty messes. If the dog smells just give it a bath on the house. Living in a not smelly house is worth giving away the free bath. Or offer free baths with sitting to stand out from other sitters.
– Money is not very worth it if the dog guest is a handful. Avoid handful dogs if you can the money is not worth it.
Tips for an awesomely awesome gig:
– Dog proof your house. Assume that everything of value not put away will be a chew toy and anything poisonous will be eaten at first chance. Preparing for the worst will prevent heartache and vet bills in the future. Further, this is suppose to be an easy source of money that fits into your everyday life, extra hassle or damaged property eats into profits defeating the purpose.
– Always do a meet and greet prior to commitment. This will let you weed out aggressive, hyperactive, and destructive dogs. You want the dog that will sleep most of the day. The less effort you put into containing a disaster, the more attractive dog sitting becomes. For me, I love to sit older dogs and have no problem giving medications with written instructions. Older dogs normally are mild tempered and willingness to administer medicine helps them stand out.
– Use the web to assist in bookings but some web services take %15 (but provide insurance) and another portal to sling your services. I have used Rover, DogVacay, and Craigslist. Rover and DogVacay both offer essentially the same services (insurance, site, 24/7 helpline, accepting credit cards) and take 15% of bookings so jack up your prices to make the customer eat the fee. The only major difference is that Rover offers a coupon code that may be used 20 times to give new customers an opportunity cost versus a competing site, and $20 and you $20. Rover also offers referrals for new sitters. DogVacay gives a unlimited URL which allows $10 off a first stay. I have used Craigslist and think it might actually be better because the future dog to be sat does not need to make a profile and there is less competition. Rover and DogVacay will encourage you to post your profile on Craigslist to collect fees. I place no value in that because you are doing all the advertising for a company that should be doing it themselves.
– Do not compete on price, there is always some person that needs tiny amounts of money more than you, compete by making a better profile and by being responsive. There are people who will watch a dog for $15/night and still pay 15% to rover. I want to make some money, so I set my fee at $28/night. Why $28/night? Well it is less than the $30/night sitters who normally are pet CPR certified yet not too high from the $25/night people that flood the market. In a way it makes you stand out but is not too off-putting. As for your profile, develop a theme and stick to it. My theme is writing from my pets perspective and playing up me working from home (24/7 care) and the large fenced back yard. Responsiveness will let you seal the deal before the customer shops around too much.
– Document the guest dog. Remember it’s not personal, it’s business. This goes for personal notes on the dogs like (overly hyper do not sit again) to Dog Report Card given upon a completed stay (dog was playful and happy). Always make the notes to the dog’s owners nice and fluffy. The owner believes their dog is an angel and it is not your job to upset their perceptions, just do not re-sit the molding chewing, golden shower, vomit dog again. Doing this will also allow you to get good reviews and avoid bad reviews.
Do you have a big yard an want to make money? Would you dog sit? Why? Why not?
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