This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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One of my first inspirations when I was writing the $100 startup many years ago was when I put the word out that I was looking for accidental entrepreneurs. And I said that an accidental entrepreneur was kind of anybody who ended up working for themselves, starting a business, operating a business, without following a traditional startup path. They didn't write a business plan, go to the bank, look for investors, all that kind of stuff. And I got back a ton of responses, many of which turned into stories and case studies, and then formed the basis for the research I did for the book. Now, one story in particular was from a dog walker in Minneapolis, who at first wrote in and I was like, oh, dog walker, okay, whatever, you know?
And then she was like, well, I'm making $80,000 a year. I thought that was interesting. I was like, I don't know a lot of dog walkers who make $80,000 a year, or at least I don't hear of many of them. Thought about that while I was working on today's story. By the way, this is Side Hustle School.
My name is Chris Guillebeau, welcome, so glad you're here. Every day I'm telling different stories of people who find a way to make money without quitting their job, using a skill they already have, not going into debt, not spending a lot of money, et cetera. So today's story features a dog walker. This guy isn't making $80,000 a year, but he's also not trying to. As a full-time student in New York City, he was able to earn an extra $2,000 a month and fit his work in around his studies.
Now that he's graduated, he's continuing the business with a number of contractors. So I'll tell you how he does it, and if you're interested in starting a simple service business, whether it's dog walking or something else entirely different, at the end of the episode, I'll give you a four-step plan. Stay tuned. Here's a quick message from our sponsor. [Music]
A few years ago, Richard Sayama's dream of going to college in New York City came true.
He began to work toward a dual degree in business and dance. Like many students, his schedule was packed. He struggled to find a job that could fit within his day-to-day life. Richard longed to be able to work an hour here and there between classes, but he wasn't sure how to do it. But the longer he lived on the Upper East Side, the more he noticed how widespread the need for dog walkers was.
There were dogs everywhere, and they all needed to be walked. He thought about it and realized this could be the perfect side hustle for him. As a long-time animal lover, he wouldn't have to learn any new skills, and he could create his own schedule. Richard knew that there were dog walking services available online. He could sign up for with an app.
And so he started there. He signed up for one called WAG. WAG has an exclamation point, so you have to be really enthusiastic when you say the name. He signed up for one called WAG, but was quickly disillusioned. There were many more dog walkers than there were clients.
Every time someone posted a request for a walk, it was taken within seconds. Soon he had developed an unhealthy habit of constantly checking his phone for notifications. After a while, he was sick of being glued to his phone and exhausted by the constant competition. Then, after walking a dog one day, the owner asked if Richard had any business cards. Unfortunately, he didn't, but this got him thinking.
What if he could start his own dog walking business? He was already tired of using WAG. Wait, sorry. He was already tired of using WAG. And after thinking about it, he realized that his startup costs could be very low.
All he needed to do was get some business cards printed and buy some dog treats. So Richard decided to try it out. He started by designing his own cards, which he gave to dog owners he passed by on the street. Most of the people he gave cards to never contacted him, but the five to 10% that did became his first clients. Now, as a side note here, five to 10% is a pretty amazing conversion rate in a lot of industries.
So if you're trying to do this and you go out and you talk to a hundred people walking dogs, which is not impossible to do in a relatively short period of time in a place like New York City in the right neighborhood, to do it in a day or two, if you talk to a hundred people walking dogs and you have that five to 10% conversion rate, you've got five to 10 clients. So not long after Richard actually had too many clients to handle on his own, especially during exams. So just after its creation, what he called gotta go dog walking services was already ready to expand. He asked some fellow students to work as contractors covering his shifts whenever he needed. And that way he could continue to build up a larger base of clients and his schedule would have even more flexibility than before.
He arranged his price so that clients will save money in comparison with other dog walk businesses while still increasing his revenue from what he was making on WAG. We're just gonna start saying WAG now, just gonna calm it down, WAG. That price was based on time. A 15 minute walk could be $12, a 60 minute full on romp through central park could be $23. And if you had a second dog, he or she could come along for only an additional $3.
Although it required some extra work, choosing to handle all bookings on his own was the perfect option for Richard. He found that he got three main advantages from it. The first was flexibility. Although he could choose the walks he wanted on the app before, by running the business himself, he's now able to speak directly to clients and schedule walks whenever it is most convenient. Not only that, but if something comes up, he's got those coworkers that are able to cover for him.
Second, he could make more money this way. On apps like WAG, the dog walker typically keeps only 60% of what the client pays. Now that he's working independently, he can keep 100% for all the walks he does himself. Finally, he can have more personal relationships with his clients. When he was doing the app work, he hardly ever spoke with the owners.
Now he can build relationships with them and walk the same dogs week after week. In addition, these connections have been a great way for him to network. By getting to know him and his passion for dance, one client asked for personal stretching lessons. Another, who knew about his business degree, asked for marketing help. Now, two years later, in working full time as a professional dancer, Richard still makes $2,000 a month from this hustle.
That's right, $2,000 a month just from walking dogs. He doesn't even do all the walks himself. He says that this is an ideal side hustle for someone with a busy schedule, especially if they work in a big city. And of course, if they love animals. In this dog eat dog world, it can be daunting to consider competing with a large corporation or an existing popular app.
But by understanding that there were aspects of dog walking that were even better as a smaller company, just as a sole proprietor, like being able to lower the price and have those long-term relationships with clients, Richard was able to create his own work with zero startup costs, all while earning thousands of dollars a month. For him at least, it's a barking business model. [Music]
All right, so if you wanna create a simple service business, here is a four-step plan. In fact, it's going to be a 4.1 step plan, also known as a five-step plan. I just realized I had an extra step once I started making some notes here.
So really quick, really simple, really easy. Number one, you wanna choose the right service. So this is probably the most important thing. Dog walking works because it's specific and practical. I'm a big fan of encouraging people to do specific and practical things, as opposed to really broad and generic things.
A lot of people want to be marketing consultants or life coaches, wellness coaches, et cetera, choose something that's really specific and practical. And I'm not trying to steer people away from certain industries. If you wanna help people with their lives, if you wanna help people with wellness, fitness, whatever it is, you can do that. Just be specific, be practical. And second, offer one service only.
Don't try to do everything. Don't even try to do a lot, especially in the beginning. Make it, again, not to be redundant, but make it really specific. Number three, focus on finding clients. In fact, once you've decided on what you're gonna do, this is pretty much how you need to spend your time.
A lot of people get hung up on all kinds of other stuff, administration, thinking about things that really have nothing to do with finding clients. And if you're trying to have a service business, it's all about clients. All right, so I liked what Richard did in this story. He designed his own business cards, printed them out, and approached something like 100 people who were out walking their dog. So early focus on finding clients is key.
Then you wanna create a process, step four. How will you fulfill the service? Once somebody decides to hire you or ask some questions, how are you actually gonna do what you promised to do? And then here's my 4.1 step or the fifth step, keep your startup costs low, which I always encourage everyone to do. Don't invest in your business until you know it works.
You can start a lot of projects without spending any money at all or by spending just really small amounts of money. So choose the right service, offer one service only, focus on finding clients, create a process, and keep startup costs low. Congrats to Richard as he moves forward in his career as a professional dancer. Still earning that extra money on the side, $2,000 a month is no small achievement. Friends, listeners, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better.
Today's show notes, including links to what was his business called? Gotta go dog walking services. Those notes are at sidehustleschool.com/840. We'll also have links to Wag Rover and the other platforms that are specifically focused on this type of business. So that's it for today.
I'll be back again tomorrow with the weekly recap. So much more is on the way and I hope you'll stick around. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is "Sight of Soul School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
