You love furry friends. You’ve always wanted to start your own business. It’s the perfect synchronous moment leading to creating your own pet-care-based business. With the pet industry slated to grow to over $200 billion by 2025, it’s as good a time as any to beat out the competition and establish yourself as a key contender. Excited to get started? Here, Paws 2 Purrfection shares a step-by-step guide to starting your very own pet care-based company.

Step 1: Determine Your Niche

This is arguably the most crucial step of the business process, as it determines operations and revenue down the line. When you’re figuring out which area to specialize in, break it down by:

• Passion/hobby: You could opt for a business that you are personally super passionate about. For example, that could be improving the foster care system in your local area or developing toys for special needs pets.
• Interest/learning potential: For example, if you want to get fitter and go on long walks in your personal life, a dog walking business could be the one for you.
• Financial potential: This is, of course, a variable you will need to consider no matter which route you go down. Your business needs to make economic sense to pay off in the long run. An example would be launching an eCommerce venture selling pet products, as this has low overhead costs but high returns.

Step 2: Develop Your Plan of Action

According to the WSI Franchise, a business plan is an invaluable document every company needs to develop. This document offers guiding principles to follow throughout your business journey that you can always look back on to find your way back to your goals. The key to developing a successful business plan is in the details. Sort out elements like finances, branding, long-term strategies, short-term strategies, and everything in between. Having this document handy will also be helpful if you decide to pitch to investors when expanding in the future.

Step 3: Launch

Getting started may seem intimidating, but there isn’t that much to it. Once you’ve figured out critical elements like finding the right vendors, distributors, and website hosting platform, you will need to simplify your daily operations. Depending on the size of your venture, this could mean hiring a capable team or investing in the right tech tools and resources for proper support. Be sure to tell everyone you know about launch day to ensure maximum success from day one.

Step 4: Market Your Venture

Having a solid marketing strategy is the quickest way to get the word out about your venture, Venngage reports. Your plan will likely span verticals like social media, outreach, email marketing, and flyer distribution. Outline everything you’ll need to take care of for each vertical to ensure you’re putting your best foot forward. For example, if you’re networking to increase outreach, you will need to develop a personalized business card. This leaves a lasting impression and offers an easy way for people to contact you. Use an online business card maker for the task, as this is the easiest and most straightforward way to proceed. All you’ll need to do is choose from pre-made templates, which you’ll be able to customize with your own text, images, colors, fonts, and more.

If you love helping animals and humans live their best lives, this career path is for you. Not only do you get to combine your passion with your entrepreneurial instincts, but you also get to do so when the market is primed and ready for the taking. So get out there and conquer the pet-business landscape. You’ve got this!

Looking for promotional pet supplies to help with brand recognition and advertising for your new pet themed business? Check out the Paws 2 Purrfection website for all your custom printed logo-branded pet grooming, treats, feeding accessories, toys, apparel-related swag and more, to really get your new business off and running today!

*This article was a guest submission by Jessica Brody of ourbestfriends.pet