The 3 steps to success

byMaddy55

2.5K followers

7 years ago

Back to what I was saying about why I believe my home business thrived and so many don't...steps to starting a new business...

#1... I started very small and built my pet boarding business up from the ground so to speak. I always kept in my mind, the fact that I shouldn't count my money before I even made any money. Basically, 'don't count your chickens before they are hatched', kept me on my goal, one step at a time. Sometimes for encouragement, I stopped to count the money, but I did not count what I did not have. Get it? It seems to me that when a would be business owner starts to borrow money, expecting a large return and does not build up the base first, the house will come crashing down or the building of it won't be finished. I did not have the money to build a Pet Hotel, our household was dealing with a mortgage, my husband was basically the only earner (I had a small cleaning job at a car dealership) and we used our overdraft regularly.

So what to do? I used what I had available. We had a spare room in the basement, my husband had some carpentry skills and a willingness to help me. I planned, he built. With a little more expenses added to our overdraft, he built 4 kennels 3 1/2 feet wide by 6 feet or so long. Then realizing that it would take time to build up business, I also used our credit card to buy $1,000 worth of grooming supplies and also opened a grooming business. I had no training, only some experience at grooming my own dogs, a natural affinity for grooming, and lots of determination. I bought some grooming books and a couple of videos and very hesitatingly began to groom dogs. There were many times I had to call my husband home from his office to help me hold a dog in order to groom him or her. It was the 'school of hard knocks' for me.

The first 3 years, I gradually built up my business boarding dogs in our home, grooming dogs in a spare bedroom. Our whole family was involved, all of us walked those dogs, 4 times per day, up those basement stairs and down the roads, being chased by neighbour's dogs, then back home, down those basement stairs... and so on. In the evenings, we would allow many of those dogs to spend time with us upstairs in our home, on our couches, on our laps and had to endure the barking of some anxious dogs too. Whew! It was stressful but also fun too. Business was booming after the first year, word was getting out, and by the 3rd year, it was time to move the business to a spare barn we were no longer using. More carpentry skills from my husband, more planning from me, I did my fair share of carpentry, mudding, painting etc. too. Those were exciting times!

From that point, every 3 years, we made another change, an improvement, an addition etc.. I went from 0 dollars to $37,000 yearly (at the peak), a lot of money for someone who started off with virtually nothing, no training, just a dream, a goal and a lot of guts. I did wind up with a small loan of $15,000 to build on my south wing and some fencing for two dog parks but that has been paid off many years ago. The moral of #1 is 'build a base first, then build as you go. Keep your eyes and ears open to what your clients need. Some of this advice can transmit over to online business here, build your base.