Starting a Pet Business
Pets have a great deal of money spent on them each year by their adoring owners. People feel an obligation to take care of their pet and will spend money on their pet that they would not spend on themselves. These well known facts create a business need that can be very lucrative and easy to get into by those that possess the knowledge and the skill.
Pet shops, pet salons, pet grooming, pet babysitting and pet care are all potential businesses for a new owner. The new owner can buy an existing business or start one up on their own. Many pet groomers get their start grooming part time and then go full time when they have enough clients. Pet shops and pet care are booming businesses as there are always new pet owners and new pet needs that an owner must take care of.
Many of these pet businesses have a very loyal clientele and buying an existing shop can be tricky. If it is strictly a grooming shop, part of the reason for its success has to be the groomers that work there. If it is for sale, make sure that the seller is not going to open another shop in the area. This can be accomplished by making a non-compete clause part of the sales contract. The advantage to a buyer is there is a built in cash flow and a client list. This is one of the reasons that many experts say that a new owner should buy an existing business if they want to gain an edge on future success.
If the shop sells pets and supplies, then that is a different story and the business can be evaluated like any other retail business. In this case, the buyer would be buying reputation and location as well as the business has some following from existing customers.
A good groomer can start a business in their home and as they grow move into a shop. They then can further expand by adding other groomers to the staff. The profit margins in this business are pretty good as the grooming skill is what is being sold and not a product. This opens the door to a start-up business and a groomer with little capital can grow the business from home.
Where to find a business or grow a clientele
Look on the Internet for brokers that handle this kind of business. Or ask around locally if there is a broker in the area that specializes in buying and selling businesses. Once you find one to talk with, they will help you or lead you to a broker that handles the type of business you are looking for. This is a very good way to start your search for a pet business of any kind. You can also ask groomers if they know of a shop that is for sale or a retail outlet.
One way to get a feel for the business is to work in one for a few months and check out the pluses and minuses. A real hand on experience is an eye opener to a potential owner. Working in the business for a few months will let the possible buyer of such a business see if the business is for them or not. They will see the day-to-day frustrations and small victories that make up a retail business.
Special features such as pick up of pets and delivery will make your business different than other groomers. Special prices on certain days of the week and deals if the customer uses your service three out of every four months are incentives to keep your customers returning to your business. Referrals are worth a discount to the customer that refers a new customer. New customers will return again if treated right the first time they use your service.
Using the Internet to find businesses
A person that is looking to buy a specific type of business can enter the business type in a good search engine and the results will be amazing. The search engines will find many brokers that deal with the buying and selling of businesses. With this information, a buyer can find great information about the businesses for sale and the location and the price in some cases. This is a quick way to gather pertinent facts about the businesses the buyer is looking for. The more precise the input in the search engine, the better the results will be. The modern search engines do a marvelous job of ferreting out the needle from the straw. If you were interested in Pet Shops for sale, you could enter that and you will get a list of places that have such listings. The same would be true with any business related to pets or their care. You could also limit the search to areas of the country or even cities. The point is you can use the Internet to do some of the work and investigate the possibilities.
Arranging financing in advance
If you have good credit and a reasonable down payment, you can arrange your financing of a business before you find such a business. This could easily save you money on the purchase price as most businesses for sale have a lower all cash price than one where the old owner has to take back some paper. Cash is king when negotiating the sale. Your own financing will also give you a quicker look at the financials of a business. Owners like to deal with serious people and a person with their own financing in place will be taken seriously. There are companies that do nothing but finance business purchases. These are easily found on the Internet. You would not do yourself any harm by checking out some of these companies, just in case they are needed. Money talks when negotiating and having the ready cash available will give you a leg up in this discussion.
Conclusions
There are many positives about the pet business. There will always be a call for the services and supplies that these businesses offer. The grooming aspect of it can be started from your home with little start-up money needed. This will allow a person to grow into a full time business and continuously make money. This fact makes the grooming part of the business very attractive if a person has the requisite knowledge to do the grooming.
The supply part of the business is like most retail enterprises. Location and following will make an existing business more valuable than another. The terms of purchase are important and may make or break the deal. A thorough financial study of the existing business is needed to see if the price to be paid is justified or not. These facts are easily documented through sales records and bank statements. A potential owner would like to see a steady growth pattern over several years. Growth curves and a study of how the business is being run, from an efficiency standpoint, are worth the look-see How does the business respond to marketing campaigns and have they been successful. The point is a study should be made of the business in question..
Bill Henthorn formerly was principal broker and owner of a resort / commercial real estate brokerage in Honolulu which specialized in representing sellers in transactions up to MM.He currently serves as the marketing director of http://www.acquireo.com