had an idea, now what?

[verp]

After being a stay at home mum for many years, now find myself a divorcee and need to feed myself and 3 dc.

As I've not worked for years, have no experience or references I know that getting a job will be hard, to say the least! So I've decided to perhaps look at starting my own business as a dog walker/daycare thing.

The question is, now what? Do I just send out flyers etc, do I have to register anywhere, what about tax? I have no idea what I'm doing, please help!

Hi verp.

A good idea would be to approach your local council, many of them will licence dog daycare facilities and dog walking services and will say how many dogs you can house/walk at any one time. It will be a department of the environmental health services at your local council. They may be reluctant for you to home board dogs depending on the age of your children. Under 5s aren't seen favourably - big dogs eat them

Do you have your own pets? Your vet will probably put up a poster or hand out your cards. I would mailshot all the local vets and petshops. Also carry cards with you and hand them out to anyone who seems even vaguely interested.

It may be a good idea to look at your local agricultural college or similar to see if they run any relevant courses to give your punters more confidence in your service.

You can get your car signwritten or magnetic signs made up to put on.

It's a fairly competitive area with a good demand I'd think.

Tax, I have no idea!

Good luck.

Also you'll definitely need insurance.

Public liability for people being on your property, some sort of third party in case the dogs cause an accident while out. Not really clued up on insurance but there are insurance companies who deal with various pet company insurances.