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101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers furnishes readers with a comprehensive roster of the finest and most unusual entrepreneurial, career, and moneymaking opportunities in today's colorful pet care trade. The authors provide current and prospective entrepreneurs with user-friendly and tested counsel on starting and succeeding in each one of the businesses presented. With a wealth of resources it provides invaluable information on initiating and prospering in these endeavors: -Pet photography service -Doggie daycare -Dog fashions designer -Cat furniture manufacturer -Gourmet treat maker -Dog walking -Pupperware parties -Pet grooming -Pet party organizer -Dog training -Pet-specialty arts and crafts -Pet affiliate website -Vet technician -Importing/Exporting pet products -Catnip farmer -Pet grief counselor -Aquarium maintenance -Breeders (fish, small animals, birds, reptiles, etc.) -Pet shop (live animals: birds, tropical fish, etc.) -And many, many more Appendices offer concise information on key business start-up issues, fundamental business planning tips, and numerous selling and promotional resources.

Cat Toy Inventor Through the years at Pet Nosh, our most reliable seller in the packaged cat toy department was—hands down—the Cat Dancer. For lack of a better description, this “toy” consisted of a coiled steel spring with a few petite strips of rolled-up cardboard attached to its “play” end. The Cat Dancer was designed for humans to wave at felines in their company. That is, this unpretentious product was crafted to encourage cats to do what countless cats relish doing—batting at objects in their inimitable and endearing styles. And, naturally, such swatting and boxing at tiny cardboard pieces attached to a spring causes the spring to ripple to and fro—and to and fro some more—thus instigating further feline flailing.

You could be the next cat toy inventor. Before assuming this vaunted title and getting to work, there are a couple of key questions to chew over. What do cats enjoy playing with? What truly excites their “inner kitten”? Granted, the answers to these queries are not clear-cut. Feline aficionados will tell you that their cats are one-of-a-kinds—true originals all. In other words, there is no single cat toy that will win over the hearts and minds of the entire feline species or even the preponderance of these individualistic and hard to please companion animals. So, perish the thought of inventing a product that every cat will endorse—it’s not going to happen. Even the ultra-popular catnip doesn’t interest and affect every single cat. Feel free to lower your inventor’s bar a bit.

How Much Does It Cost to Start This Kind of Business?
To invent a cat toy and successfully market it will require a sizeable investment when you feel you have a product that can sell in the marketplace. Inventing most toys can be done on the cheap—often under $1,000. Mass producing them and marketing them will cost you a fair chunk of change—$5,000, and perhaps way up depending on the piece of merchandise and strategies to get it in stores and such.

What Qualifications Do You Need for This Kind of Work?
Foremost, you have to have a good idea and the capacity to turn that idea into more than that. You have to also be committed to manufacturing a quality and safe product. Essentially, an inventor’s charge in this dynamic merchandise arena is to ascertain what an ample portion of the general cat census will take a shine to. The inventor of the Cat Dancer did just that. And, you might have noticed that there are various Cat Dancer epigones on the market. Toy mice of all varieties—from faux-leather to felt to catnip-filled cloth—are also coveted cat playthings. Another toy product worth mentioning here is the Crazy Circle, which appeals to a lot of cats—but hardly all and definitely not most felines—as they bat at an excitable ball cozily tucked inside a rounded track made of plastic. This attention grabbing—but again, rather unsophisticated—product consistently sells well. This is precisely where you want to take your invention—to the market and reliably in demand today, tomorrow, and next year.

 

Introduction: A Pet-pourri of Entrepreneurial Opportunities
- The Pet Entrepreneur Profile
- Business Planning ABCs
- The Business Plan in Action
- Making it All Legal
- Laws and Disorder
- A Checklist for Starting Your Business
- Pet Food for Thought

Chapter I: Services for the Four-Legged
- Professional Dog Groomer - Mobile Dog Grooming
- Professional Dog Trainer - Mobile Dog Training
- Professional Dog Walking
- Professional Pet Sitting - Fetch! Petcare Franchise
- Pet Masseuse

Chapter II: Services for Pet Parents
- Professional Pooper Scooping
- Pet Minister
- Pet Grief Counselor
- Pet Relocation Service
- Pet-Parenting Tutor
- Pet Health Insurance Consultant
- Animal Party Choreographer
- Perfect Dog Locating Service - Perfect Cat Locating Service - Perfect Pet Locating Service

Chapter III: Pet Careers: Full-time & Part-time
- Veterinary Technician - Veterinary Assistant - Veterinary Physical Therapist
- Veterinarian
- Aquarium Maintenance
- Pet Food Sampler
- Home Delivery Service
- Pond Design and Maintenance
- Invisible Fence Installation
- Pet Talk Radio Show Host
- Pet Party Host
- Reptile Breeding
- Bird Breeding
- Small Animal Breeding
- Aquarium Fish Breeding - Tropical Fish - Marine Fish

Chapter IV: Pet Product Manufacturing & Inventions
- Premium Dog Food Maker
- Dog Biscuit and Treat Maker
- Premium Cat Food Maker
- Cat Litter Inventor
- Cat Toy Inventor
- Dog Toy Inventor
- Bird Toy Inventor
- Aquarium Ornament Inventor

Chapter V: Throwing Your Special Talents to the Dogs, Cats, and Birds
- Doggie Fashion Designer - Dog Jacket and Coat Designer - Dog Sweater Designer - Dog Shirt Designer
- Pet-Themed People Clothes
- Pet Leash Designer - Pet Collar Designer
- Pet Bed Designer
- Pet Carrier Designer
- Cat Furniture Maker - Cat Scratching Post Maker
- Pet Casket Maker
- Bird Feeder Maker - Birdhouse Maker - Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise - Wild Bird Centers of America Franchise
- Pet Photographer
- Pet Artist
- Pet Writer
- Pet Reference Book Author

Chapter VI: Merchandise for Pet People
- Pet Button Maker
- Pet Bumper Sticker Maker
- Pet T-Shirt Peddler
- Pet Fad
- Pet License Plates and License Plate Frames
- Pet Coffee Mugs
- Pet Collector Plates
- Pet Greeting Card Maker - Hand-Painted Pet Greeting Cards - Pet Postcard Marker
- Pet Candle Maker
- Pet Candle Making
- Pet Memorial Markers
- Pet Memorial Plaques

Chapter VII: Brick-and-Mortar Pet Retailing & Franchises
- Pet Food and Supply Retailer - Pet Shop - Bird Shop - Aquarium Fish Retailer
- Pet Hotel Proprietor
- Doggie Daycare - Central Bark Franchise
- Pet Bakery
- Pet Boutique
- Dog Wash - The Pooch Mobile Franchise
- Pet Franchisee
- Pet Business Franchises

Chapter VIII: The Truth is Stranger than Fiction: More Unusual Pet Care Business Ideas
- Catnip Farmer - Catnip Merchandise Maker
- Geese Away - Geese Police Franchise
- Holiday Pet Merchandise Seller
- Doggie Summer Camp
- Cricket Farmer
- Aquarium Plant Farmer
- Dog Star
- Pet Cemetery Proprietor
- Pet Identification Tag Maker

Chapter IX: The Virtual Truth: Online Pet Business Opportunities
- eBay Pet Merchandise Seller
- Online Pet Newsletter
- Online Pet-Dating Network
- Pet Merchandise Catalogue: Mail & Online

Afterword

Appendix A: A Crash Course in Marketing

Appendix B: Professional Associations & Informational Websites

Appendix C: Additional Reading

“101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers answers every question you might have about starting your own pet-related business or career.” --Fido Friendly Magazine, September 2007 Issue

 

101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers is the book for all of us who’ve had some version of the following scenario —I’m sitting in a meeting with clients and as another client flunkie makes another inane comment about marketing all of a sudden I’m wondering if there isn’t something I could do that would keep me away from these kinds of humans and let me spend more time with dogs and other doggy humans. I bet you’ve been there too, haven’t you? Authors Joseph Nigro and Nicholas Nigro have put together an excellent overview of pet business possibilities. They give nice sketches of each business including what it takes to start it, initial investments, required education and more. How about raising crickets to sell to pet stores or selling pet products on ebay? you could run an online pet dating service or make pet caskets. Are you one of our marvelous Dogster admins and want to take those skills offline? Try becoming a pet party host. Maybe I’ll just take copy of 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers with me to the next client meeting. When the meeting gets too boring or too stressful I can just pull out my copy and daydream.

 

Reading 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers, by Joseph Nigro & Nicholas Nigro, I was a little surprised to see such a big book of businesses. Even though I’ve heard of just about every business listed at one time or another, I hadn’t ever really thought of how many different pet businesses one could start. Seeing so many of them all in one place sort of drove home the size of the pet industry. While 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers is not a comprehensive manual for every pet business out there, it’s an excellent run down of what the industry has to offer and can be extremely helpful to potential pet business owners. In addition to some basic pet business startup and marketing tips, with each business listed there’s a description of what the job entails, costs involved, qualifications, and how to find customers. The authors have also include names of organizations, trade groups, schools, training centers, franchises, etc. that people can go to for more in-depth information. Some of the businesses listed are pet sitting, dog walking, dog daycare (I had to mention those for obvious reasons!) dog training, pet toy inventors, home delivery service, pond design, pet artist, pet memorial, and many, many more. They say there are 101, and even though I didn’t count them, I’m trusting the authors there are that many in their book…maybe even more! One thing that seemed a little out of place to me, is that some of the pet business titles included a franchise name. I can see how this may lead some people may think a franchise is the only way to go. It’s true that it may be the best approach for some, but for others, the best way to start a business may very well be to simply get things rolling on their own, from scratch. Either way, 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers provides an extremely helpful overview of the variety of pet businesses out there, and I’m sure it’ll be helpful to anyone who’s undecided about what type of pet business they want to get into. Reading this book makes me wish I had more time so I could start even more pet related businesses!

 

101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers What You Need to Know about Starting and Succeeding in a Pet Business of Your Own is a great reference for anyone who loves pets and is thinking about turning that qualification into a means for making money. The money spent on pets has more than doubled since 1994, creating a multi-billion-dollar industry that is even more lucrative than the human toy industry. 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers lists a wide variety of moneymaking opportunities from something as simple as dog walking, to careers which require education and training such as pet grooming and pet masseuse. Authors Joseph Nigro and Nicholas Nigro are well qualified to write about this subject. Joseph began his entrepreneurial career with pet shops which he was eventually able to sell to the Petco Company in 1996 for $19.1 million. 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers interested me on a personal level because I am one of those people who turned my love of animals into a business - Internet Pet Supplies - Internet Pet Supplies has been selling pet treats and pet supplies on the Internet since 1998. i-pets.com does not have a physical store, we sell only on the internet. I started very cautiously, selling only a few items, mainly USA rawhide treats, and have increased the products carried because of customer feedback. I would recommend this book, it is well researched, well written, and offers some very imaginative ways of making money.

 

To find other unique pet business ideas I recommend 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers As the title suggests this book has 101 ideas for pet businesses and many of them are out of the box ideas such as careers as a pet food sampler, toy inventor, pet radio host, pet party choreographer or catnip farmer. The details of each career are described with qualifications needed for each, ways to get customers, and other helpful resources

 

To find other unique pet business ideas I recommend 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers As the title suggests this book has 101 ideas for pet businesses and many of them are out of the box ideas such as careers as a pet food sampler, toy inventor, pet radio host, pet party choreographer or catnip farmer. The details of each career are described with qualifications needed for each, ways to get customers, and other helpful resources

 

Joseph Nigro is the cofounder of a northeastern retail chain of pet food and supply superstores called Pet Nosh. In 1979, at the age of just nineteen, Joe and partner Rich Covello purchased a mom-and-pop shop located in the New York City borough of Queens. Seventeen years later, national retailer Petco acquired the business lock, stock, and barrel—now eight superstores along the highways and byways of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut—for $19.1 million.