Opening a Dog Daycare Little Paws Daycare

¶ … Opening a Dog Daycare

Little Paws Daycare is a dog daycare/kennel that I created a business plan for opening. I saw the need for a kennel for dogs in my neighborhood and conducted the market research about the field. In this paper I will address the process involved with opening a kennel and some of important lessons that was learned during this process, as well as some things that would be done differently in my next project.

The first thing that I learned about opening any business is the importance of market research. I had never worked in a kennel prior, so I needed to learn about how a kennel operates. I went online and began researching the dog daycare business and the process involved in opening a business. Getting information about the steps involved in opening a business if fairly simple, especially since a business lawyer could to help with the legal details. After speaking with the business lawyer who advised me that my lack of experience with working in a kennel is a major negative factor. I decided that speaking with successful kennel owners would be a good alternative. I learned that as the owner of the business you should know all ends of the business operation. It is important to understand every angle of the business and to be able to manage the office.

This project of creating a business plan for Little Paws Daycare was difficult mainly because I have no background in working with animals. There are a lot of laws at the state level and the federal level pertaining to animal care. There are certifications that are needed and many other training that the owner of kennel must take prior to opening a daycare. A dog CPR course is required, along with some other classes. Many decision had to be made; such as what services would be provided and the cost for these services. I also had to make decisions about holiday and weekend rates. Since most reputable kennels are opened during the holidays and weekends, Little Paws Daycare would also be opened on holidays and weekends.

I learned that working with other people could be difficult task, when your success depends on the reliability of others. One of the toughest things that I had to do on this project was creating a marketing plan for a business with a small budget. After a lot of research I found some inexpensive techniques that can be utilized for marketing a small business.

What would be done differently?