10 Tips to Starting a Service Business Side Hustle Online

A few people, including myself and my husband, are honestly surprised that my pet sitting side hustle is taking off the way it is.  I went from no pet sitting business to making $1000+ a month in less than 2 months.  I figured I could list out what I did to start my work from home careers so that we can all remember, lol.  I search this site all of the time for the recipes I posted and to refresh my own memory about dates that we did stuff…so here this is for posterity. 

10 Tips to Starting an Online Business Side Hustle

1. Choose a service that you enjoy doing.  For me, it was pet sitting. We talk about home business ideas in another article.
2. Think of a good name.  It may help to include the general service in the title too.  I like alliteration, so I chose “Crystal’s Cozy Care Pet Sitting”
3. Create a website for your business using the best blogging platform to make money.  Include a bio that clearly states what you will be doing and why you are a good choice to do it.  Add the most requested info on that site since it does seem more professional.  I wrote out my intentions, experience, and general rates at https://www.dogslifeforme.com/crystals-cozy-care/.  Then I bought the domain and forwarded that page to https://www.crystalscozycare.com/.  I edit that site any time I come up with more info, update my Happy Campers page, and update my travel/black out dates. Learn more about how to start blog posting.
4. Choose an image that you will associate with your side hustle.  People like pictures even when it comes to side jobs from home.  They enjoy being able to see a picture and associate it with a place or person that they know.  I chose a picture that my sister sent me of me at their home with their parrot on my head.
5. Advertise that you are available – clearly state where you are willing to work and any other details that should be known up front.  I posted my services on Craigslist and clearly state the area I will work in, what my services include, my experience profile, and my very general rates.
6. When you use Craigslist, remember to post in ALL of the categories that your competitor’s are posting in.  For me, I made sure to have at least one post under “Pet Services”, “Community – Pets”, and even “Sales – Animals” because that is where everyone else was listing too.  I also chose my prices based on the going rates too – I wasn’t the cheapest or the most expensive.
7. Highlight how you are special. I did this when I designed my business cards online.  For me, I need to highlight that I prefer to pet sit in the owner’s home since that is what I am getting the most interested calls about.  Pet parents know that they are happier at home and are willing to pay me more to come to them.
8. Update your advertising when things change.  When I decided to mainly concentrate on pet sitting at their home, I stopped advertising that I offered pet sitting in my own home.  I also have raised my rates since a pet sitting client pointed out that they were too low and simply paid me more.  Now I know that staying the night with someone’s pet is worth at least $60 $75-$85 in my area.  If I am simply doing one 30-60 minute visit a day, that is worth $20-$25 depending on their location.
9. Under promise and over deliver.  I let my clients know what I will be doing at a bare minimum and then I do more.  With pet sitting, I take care of the pets as we agreed, then I step it up.  With the Boxers, I played with them outside way more times than I promised.  In my current job, I am playing with Buster even more than I promised, AND I also cleaned the whole kitchen including the stove and microwave.  Just a happy surprise for them when they get back.    I also have a “Pet Sitting Summary” for all of my clients where I record everything we did, when they ate, and any additional notes.
10. The final tip is to DO IT NOW!!!  No one ever made a penny with just an idea.  They either had to put the idea in motion or sell it to someone who would.  Good luck!!!

Am I missing any obvious tips?  What do you think about the ones above? Read more about how to make money online and even get more ideas than what we’ve talked about here. See on you on the other side of success