101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers What You Need to Know about Starting and Succ.

What You Need to Know about Starting and Succeeding in a PetBusiness of Your OwnPETLOVERS101BESTBUSINESSES FORJOSEPH NIGRO & NICHOLAS NIGROBEST BUSINESSES FOR PETLOVERS101NIGRO &NIGROIf there is nothing you love more than animals,then 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers willhelp you turn this love into a real money-maker.Whatever your special talents, monetary circum-stances, or dreams for the future, this book willgive you the information you need to start yourown successful pet business.Pet food and supply retailerPet photographerDoggie daycareCat furniture makerProfessional pet sittingPet party hostProfessional dog groomer Pet relocation servicePet artistPet greeting card makerAquarium maintenance Pet masseusePet talk radio show hostAnimal party choreographer ISBN 157248634-1ISBN-10: 1-57248-634-19 7 8 1 5 7 2 4 8 6 3 4 85 1 8 9 576 0 7 8 9 2 1 7 7 60ISBN-13: 978-1-57248-634-8UPCEANBusiness/Pets $18.95 U.S./ $24.95 CAN/ £9.99 U.K.WWW.S PHINXLEGAL. COMTurn your passion intoyour careerThis book will tell you what you need to know to startthese and many other businesses just for pet lovers: 101 BESTBUSINESSES FORPET LOVERS 101 BESTBUSINESSES FORPET LOVERSWhat You Need to Know about Starting andSucceeding in a Pet Business of Your OwnJoseph Nigro and Nicholas NigroSPHINXAN IMPRINT OF SOURCEBOOKS, INC.®NAPERVILLE, ILLINOISwww.SphinxLegal.com®PUBLISHING Copyright © 2007 by Joseph Nigro and Nicholas NigroCover and internal design © 2007 by Sourcebooks, Inc.®Cover photos © Digital VisionAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic ormechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of briefquotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from itspublisher, Sourcebooks, Inc. Purchasers of the book are granted license to use the forms containedherein for their own personal use. No claim of copyright is made to any government form repro-duced herein. All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registeredtrademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebooks and the colophon are regis-tered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc. First Edition: 2007Published by: Sphinx®Publishing, An Imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.®Naperville OfficeP.O. Box 4410Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410630-961-3900Fax: 630-961-2168www.sourcebooks.comwww.SphinxLegal.comThis publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to thesubject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged inrendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistanceis required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.From a Declaration of Principles Jointly Adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and AssociationsThis product is not a substitute for legal advice.Disclaimer required by Texas statutes.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataNigro, Joseph.101 best businesses for pet lovers / by Joseph Nigro and Nicholas Nigro. -- 1st ed.p. cm.ISBN-13: 978-1-57248-712-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)ISBN-10: 1-4022-2134-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Pet industry. I. Nigro, Nicholas J. II. Title. III. Title: One hundred one best businesses for petlovers. SF414.7.N54 2007338.4'76360887--dc222007026787Printed and bound in the United States of America. SB — 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Introduction: A Pet-pourri of Entrepreneurial Opportunities . . . . . . . . . .ixThe Pet Entrepreneur ProfileBusiness Planning ABCsThe Business Plan in ActionMaking It All LegalLaws and DisorderA Checklist for Starting Your BusinessPet Food for ThoughtChapter I: Services for the Four-legged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Professional Dog Groomer • Mobile Dog Grooming Professional Dog Trainer • Mobile Dog TrainingProfessional Dog WalkingProfessional Pet Sitting • Fetch! Petcare FranchisePet MasseuseChapter II: Services for Pet Parents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19Professional Pooper ScoopingPet MinisterPet Grief CounselorPet Relocation ServicePet-Parenting TutorPet Health Insurance ConsultantCONTENTS Animal Party ChoreographerPerfect Dog Locating Service • Perfect Cat Locating Service • Perfect Pet Locating ServiceChapter III: Pet Careers: Full-time & Part-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47Veterinary Technician • Veterinary Assistant • Veterinary Physical TherapistVeterinarianAquarium MaintenancePet Food SamplerHome Delivery ServicePond Design and MaintenanceInvisible Fence®InstallationPet Talk Radio Show HostPet Party HostReptile BreedingBird BreedingSmall Animal BreedingAquarium Fish Breeding • Tropical Fish • Marine FishChapter IV: Pet Product Manufacturing & Inventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77Premium Dog Food MakerDog Biscuit and Treat MakerPremium Cat Food MakerCat Litter InventorCat Toy InventorDog Toy InventorBird Toy InventorAquarium Ornament InventorChapter V: Throwing Your Special Talents to the Dogs,Cats, and Birds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105Doggie Fashions Designer • Dog Jacket and Coat Designer • vi101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers Dog Sweater Designer • Dog Shirt DesignerPet-Themed People ClothesPet Leash Designer • Pet Collar DesignerPet Bed DesignerPet Carrier DesignerCat Furniture Maker • Cat Scratching Post MakerPet Casket MakerBird Feeder Maker • Birdhouse Maker • Wild Birds Unlimited Franchise •Wild Bird Centers of America FranchisePet PhotographerPet ArtistPet WriterPet Reference Book AuthorChapter VI: Merchandise for Pet People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143Pet Button MakerPet Bumper Sticker SellerPet T-Shirt PeddlerPet FadPet License Plates and License Plate FramesPet Coffee MugsPet Collector PlatesPet Greeting Card Maker • Hand-painted Pet Greeting Cards • Pet Postcard MakerPet Candle MakingPet Memorial MarkersPet Memorial PlaquesChapter VII: Brick-and-Mortar Pet Retailing & Franchises . . . . . . . . .169Pet Food and Supply Retailer • Pet Shop • Bird Shop • Aquarium Fish RetailerPet Hotel ProprietorviiContents Doggie Daycare • Central Bark FranchisePet BakeryPet BoutiqueDog Wash • The Pooch Mobile FranchisePet FranchiseePet Business Franchises Chapter VIII: The Truth is Stranger than Fiction: More Unusual Pet Care Business Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211Catnip Farmer • Catnip Merchandise MakerGeese Away • Geese Police FranchiseHoliday Pet Merchandise SellerDoggie Summer CampCricket FarmerAquarium Plant FarmerDog StarPet Cemetery ProprietorPet Identification Tag MakerChapter IX: The Virtual Truth: Online Pet Business Opportunities . . .241eBay Pet Merchandise SellerOnline Pet NewsletterOnline Pet-Dating NetworkPet Merchandise Catalogue: Mail & OnlineAfterword: The Sky’s the Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .257Appendix A: A Crash Course in Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259Appendix B: Professional Associations & Informational Websites . . . . .273Appendix C: Additional Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .283viii101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers I made my entrepreneurial debut at the tender age of nineteen. The year was1979—a simpler snapshot in time. A peanut farmer with a toothy smile wasthe president. Bill Gates was an inconspicuous Windows®salesman. And thephrase pet care wasn’t ever uttered in the same breath as big business. As fate would have it, my fledgling business endeavor found me the co-owner with Rich Covello of a mom-and-pop shop called Pet Nosh. Locatedon a well-traveled boulevard in the New York City borough of Queens, theplace sold pet food and supplies. The business soothsayers of the day deemedit a grungy way to earn a dollar; a monetary dead-end that catered to a smallclique of pet fanatics.Despite all the doomsday analysis and dire predictions about my chosen busi-ness path, I nonetheless set out after my slice of the American dream withconfidence. My partner and I were hell-bent on carving out ours by servicingpet owners and their growing legions of pets. We sensed that the people/petconnection was on the cusp of something big—really big—and that Pet Noshcould share in its bounty if we played our business cards right. To make along story short, the Pet Nosh ownership bid adieu to the retail sliver of thepet care trade in 1996. That is, we sold Pet Nosh’s eight superstores in theINTRODUCTION A Pet-pourri of EntrepreneurialOpportunities tri-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to retail behemothPetco for $19.1 million! And it’s no stretch of the imagination for me to saythat the relationship between people and their pets had evolved—and ratherdramatically at that—during my seventeen years as a pet retailer.The modern-day business of pets is a cradle-to-grave affair. Entrepreneurs ofall ages, backgrounds, and talents are diligently working to fulfill every needand cater to every whim of the contemporary pet owner. But these aren’tconventional pet owners that we are talking about, but pet parents who lookupon their cats, dogs, and birds as children, albeit of the four-legged andfeathery variety. The astonishing by-product of this increasingly intimate people/pet relation-ship is an innovative and intriguing assortment of pet-specialty businessesthat are at once omnipresent and multiplying in numbers. Long a malodorousfootnote in the world of commerce, the pet care trade is currently a mega-billion dollar colossus that is forecast to reach even loftier heights in thecoming years. The dollars spent on pets has more than doubled since 1994(when pet care spending totaled just $17 billion)! The business of caringfor—and, indeed, pampering—pets is now more potent than the human toyindustry. It is sweeter than the candy trade. Believe it or not, more cat foodis sold in the United States today than baby food! The humanization of the present-day household pet—now called a companionanimal—has fashioned a very lucrative industry. Cats, dogs, birds, and anassortment of other pets are indulged as never before. More and more of theirdiets are premium in ingredients and taste appeal. Everything from pets’choices of playthings, health and beauty products, and fashions are growing innumbers as well as varieties. There is a mammoth welcome mat out for existingand, of course, prospective businesspersons on the pet care frontier. There areinfinite profitable avenues to venture down in satisfying today’s incrediblydevoted pet parents and their mollycoddled menageries of animal friends.x101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers Between the covers of 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers is a cornucopia ofbusiness and career ideas on which you can pitch your entrepreneurial tent inthis incomparable trade, which, by the way, exhibits no indications ofgrinding to a halt or reversing direction. In addition, you’ll be supplied withinformation and incisive counsel on the things you need to know to at onceinitiate and prosper in a strikingly broad range of moneymaking possibilities. Whatever your special talents, monetary circumstances, or dreams for thefuture, there is something for you in 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers. Infact, many of the business and career prospects chronicled on the book’spages can be commenced on a shoestring budget or, in some instances, withno out-of-pocket investment at all. Potential pet entrepreneurs will learneverything from what a pet-sitting business entails to what you need to knowto be a pet-parenting tutor to the legal and logistical ABCs involved in manu-facturing premium pet foods and gourmet treats from the comforts of home.My brother, who labored in every conceivable capacity during Pet Nosh’sexistence—from teenage stock boy to store manager to editor of the customernewsletter called Nosh News—and I have put our combined decades of expe-rience in the trade to work for you, unfurling an eclectic and entertaining mixof profitable pet-related undertakings for you to consider.If you are in any way, shape, or form skeptical that the pet care trade ischock-full of genuine opportunities, here is a representative sampling ofsome of the pet business and career possibilities found in 101 BestBusinesses for Pet Lovers:H Pet food and supply retailerH Pet photographerH Doggie daycareH Doggie fashions designerH Cat furniture makerH Professional pooper scoopingH Pet-parenting tutorH Veterinary technicianH eBay pet merchandise sellerH Cricket farmerH Pet cemetery proprietorH Pet food samplerxiA Pet-pourri of Entrepreneurial Opportunities xii101 Best Businesses for Pet LoversH Premium dog food makerH Professional pet sittingH Pet party hostH Doggie summer campH Pet bakeryH Professional dog groomer H Professional dog trainerH Dog washer H Pet relocation serviceH Pet artistH Pet writerH Pet greeting card makerH Online pet-dating network for the two-leggedH Catnip farmerH Geese awayH Pet candle makingH Aquarium maintenance H Reptile breederH Cat toy inventorH Pet masseuseH Pet ministerH Aquarium plant farmerH Pet talk radio show hostH Animal party choreographerH Perfect dog locating serviceAnd there are many more where they came from….—Joseph Nigro The Pet Entrepreneur ProfileRegardless of the pet care business enterprise you ultimately choose asyour own, it behooves you to do it right—right from the start. To increaseyour odds of realizing genuine business success, each and every pet entre-preneur needs to go into battle with four key guns ablazing: H Nerve H Brainpower H Resources H PassionIt’s an indispensable quartet that combines formidable personality character-istics with access to ample financing (if required). NerveFor starters, inaugurating any kind of business in any field of endeavorbrings with it a degree of risk, particularly if a sizeable investment of dollarsis involved. There is no such thing as a sure thing on the entrepreneurialplaying field. Entrepreneurs are called risk takers for very good reasons. Andthis is precisely where nerve comes in. The meek may in fact inherit theearth, but the strong will have to run businesses for them. Beginning in the idea stage, your principal task as a pet entrepreneur in themaking is to minimize this built-in risk. While risk comes with the businessterritory, you largely determine its magnitude. In other words, you shapeyour level of risk by the particular business you choose to call your own andby the decisions you subsequently make in both getting it off the ground andmanaging it on a day-to-day basis. You can’t avoid decision-making in anykind of business—be it a pet shop on Broadway or a pet-sitting venturewhere you call on your clientele’s homes. It comes with the territory. xiiiA Pet-pourri of Entrepreneurial Opportunities BrainpowerOnce you’ve exhibited the all-important resolve to launch a pet business, it’stime to let your smarts assume center stage. Nerve meet brainpower! Let yourintellect arm you with the most vital quality a businessperson can have: goodsense. No, you don’t need a college degree to be a successful pet entrepreneur—except in a few select careers—nor a genius I.Q. What you do need—be youa high school dropout or a charter member of Mensa—is a genuine feel forthe business or career landscape that you tread upon. That is, you want bothyour heart and your head firmly grounded in the reality of your particularsliver of the pet care market. You also want to be fully aware of the trends inthe overall economy and consumer culture. Simply put, you have to appre-ciate what you are up against in both the short-term and the long-term. Every single day is a new battle with new challenges. Nothing stays the samein business and you can’t either. A successful businessperson is always arealistic and flexible individual. You have to combine a strong work ethicwith an ability to make crucial decisions on a recurring basis and often at amoment’s notice. In other words, you have to have a plan, but it has to be onethat can change quickly if necessary. ResourcesOkay, we can safely say that business is neither for the fainthearted nor thedimwitted. But all the nerve and brainpower in the world can only take you sofar without resources—i.e., money in the bank. Under-capitalization is the baneof countless entrepreneurs—many with very good business ideas but very spec-ulative and shortsighted business plans. If you doubt this cold hard fact of thebusiness experience, call on the entrepreneurial graveyard, which is teemingwith under-financed businesses that went belly-up before they knew what hitthem. You need to have the requisite financing in place to simultaneously getyour business off the ground and keep it afloat in the critical building years. xiv101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers PassionVery few businesses succeed without passionate ownership. Too many entre-preneurs establish businesses with serious doubts clouding their decision-making and without a genuine ardor for the task at hand. As baseball pitcherTug McGraw once opined, “Ya gotta believe!” Is your pet business conceptor career choice something you absolutely want to see through? Do you wantto be your own boss and chart your own destiny? Are you ready for all theresponsibilities that come attached to being your own boss? Business Planning ABCsIf you are on the cusp of inaugurating a full-time enterprise in the pet caretrade—or part-time venture where you’ll be investing both time and money—it behooves you to research and write a thorough business plan. Businessplanning is not the sole prerogative of big shots jumpstarting multi-milliondollar companies, as many aspiring entrepreneurs surmise. Business plansare desirable for all entrepreneurs—from the pet button maker to the dogtrainer to the proprietor of a pet food and supply store on Main Street. Thenuts and bolts of getting entrepreneurial endeavors off the ground—andmaking them long-term successes—are one and the same for Donald Trumpand for you. Business success always amounts to individuals or corporationsdoing the same crucial things right—i.e., prudent financial management,effective marketing, solid customer and employee relations, and so on.If you absolutely believe that there is an ample market for the product orservice that you intend on introducing to the pet consumer, you’ve completedstep one. Then comes the all-important soul searching on your part. Do youhave the gumption and the wherewithal to provide this product or service tothe marketplace (i.e., the requisite capital, marketing strategy, the rightpersonality, etc. to make things happen)? If you categorically feel that theanswer is yes, then put it in writing. Formulate a business plan that shows thexvA Pet-pourri of Entrepreneurial Opportunities world—and potential investors, if you need them—that you’ve done yourhomework and are sufficiently armed and ready for the challenge of oper-ating a successful pet care business of your own.Business Planning BasicsA business plan embodies the vision of your idea and of your firm. It is adocument that should be replete with facts, figures, and projections that vali-date your confidence in your business concept. A business plan should func-tion as a reference guide that choreographs your moves and anticipateseventualities, including the inevitable speed bumps on the road to riches. Simply understood, your business plan should serve as a blueprint for yourentrepreneurial success. Remember, though, that you are never bound by anystrictures in it. Both the natures of business and business plans are flexible—always works in progress that can be adjusted with changing circumstances.Nevertheless, a business plan details what you anticipate accomplishing atvarious milestones in your business life and conveys exactly how you plan onattaining your various objectives. A business plan articulates your strategiesin getting from point A to point B.Consider a carefully scripted business plan your reality barometer. The over-riding reason that the majority of start-up businesses implode is that they areborn and function in a separate reality—a false reality. For most businessper-sons, the human spirit is plainly willing, but it’s the marketplace reality—theflesh, as it were—that is weak. To emerge triumphant out of the businessscrimmage, you have to harmonize your dreams with your unique abilities,personality quirks, status in life, as well as the state of the economy, ever-shifting consumer tastes, and—most especially—market for your particularpet product or pet service.Organizing a thorough business plan compels you to see your idea throughand determine if it can pass muster in the bright light of day. And, when itxvi101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers does, the business plan then serves as an indispensable roadmap, enablingyou to establish goals and timetables from which you can continuallymeasure your progress.The Business Plan FoundationAnyone can write a business plan. With modern computer technology, youcan produce a nice looking document brimming with charts and colorfulgraphics. But, bear in mind: business planning is not about glitz and pack-aging. You don’t help yourself by inserting random numbers into marketanalysis, sales projections, and estimated cash flows. Many aspiring entre-preneurs fashion business plans that sparkle on the printed page, but aredevoid of any real substance. There are three key components that all business plans should include.They are:1. A meticulous evaluation of the product or service that you will beoffering consumers, and how it distinguishes itself from the existingcompetition.2. An overview of your potential customer pool, how you are going toattract clientele, and what you plan to do to keep them in the fold overtime.3. A complete and honest assessment of your capital needs in both theshort-term and the long-term, with a strict accounting of where thatmoney will come from.These three particulars tackle the most fundamental business concerns: thelegitimacy of the product or service for sale, the size and nature of thecustomer base, and both today’s and tomorrow’s cash flow. If you canpinpoint a ready and solid audience for your product or service, bring theminto your business tent, and develop a sufficient cash flow to sustain andgrow your company, you are sitting in the proverbial catbird seat. xviiA Pet-pourri of Entrepreneurial Opportunities The Business Plan in ActionYou’ve researched your market and know who your potential customers are.You know, too, where your investment dollars are coming from. You’vesettled on a most probable cash flow and have determined a break-even point.You’ve also looked into your soul and concluded that this is what you wantto do with your life. It’s time now to put it all down on paper. Remember thatwriting a business plan should never be approached as a press release or anadvertisement. Keep hype and flowery superlatives to a minimum. Instead,let solid research do the talking—facts and more facts along with realisticassessments based on them.There are nine areas that constitute most business plans:1. Executive Summary. This is a one- to two-page abstract of the entirebusiness plan. Make this synopsis short and sweet. Consider this yourpithy sales pitch and make it compelling.2. Table of Contents. List the sections of the business plan here. Thisshould be a simple listing—and nothing more. No descriptions of thesections to follow are necessary.3. The Company. A thorough description of the company that you arestarting is made here. Describe the principal factors that will distinguishit from the competition. Demonstrate in this section exactly why youfeel your success is probable.4. Market Analysis. Here you describe the industry and customer base ofyour chosen business. Identify the markets that you’ll be targeting andtapping into. Discuss where you see the markets heading in the future.5. Marketing Plans. Be very specific in this section about how you intendto compete in the marketplace. Reveal your advertising plans. Anddiscuss how long you feel it’ll take before you attract customers andgenerate sustained business.xviii101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers 6. Business Operations. This is your opportunity to present an overviewof exactly how your business will function. Describe your location andfacilities in detail. Address the matter of employees and how many, ifany, you will employ.7. Funding. Here you address the fundamental question of how much moneyyou need to open your business. Then, how many dollars you will requireover the next one, two, and three years. Follow the money, as it were, andvery precisely describe how it will be allocated along the way.8. Financial Data. In this very key section, you will need to make quarter-by-quarter projections of profit and loss, until you determine a break-even point. Then, you should make annual projections for the five yearsafter that. Back up your projections with fact-based assumptions andresearch, erring, if at all, on the conservative side of the ledger.9. Appendices. Lastly, you can conclude your business plan with pertinentmaterials that will enhance it in some way. Articles from newspapersand magazines, for instance, about your industry or particular business. This business plan foundation may be more formal and detailed than yourequire, particularly if you are self-financing your venture or if it’s a part-time affair with minimal investment required. However, if you are going to abank for a loan or trying to attract investors to your side, you have tocomplete a thorough business plan—there’s no getting around it. Making It All LegalWhen you establish a legal business entity, you must select from one of thefollowing forms of ownership:H Sole ProprietorshipH PartnershipH CorporationH Limited Liability CompanyxixA Pet-pourri of Entrepreneurial Opportunities Sole ProprietorshipEach one of these distinctions has its plusses and minuses. Nevertheless, thepreponderance of businesses exist as sole proprietorships. It’s the simplest ofsetups because you, in essence, are the business. There are few distinctionsmade between your business earnings and your personal income. You own thebusiness assets and all the profits that you generate (before the governmentgets its share). You can also become a sole proprietor with a minimumamount of paperwork and a pretty straightforward tax situation.The downside of a sole proprietorship is that you are wholly responsible forany of your business liabilities and incurred debts. In addition, you cannotdeduct various benefits as business expenses, which you could under acorporate structure. You are also without much flexibility at tax time.Corporations can plan for taxes vis-à-vis what salaries are taken by theirshareholders—i.e., you and your partners, if you have any. PartnershipIf you are entering into a pet care business with a partner, you can form alegal partnership, which is akin to the sole proprietorship, only there are twoor more parties involved. The key in these arrangements is a written partner-ship agreement between or among the partners, spelling out in precise detaileverything and anything that matters:H How decisions will be madeH How profits will be sharedH How disputes will be resolvedH How one partner can buy out anotherH How additional partners can be brought into the businessH How the partnership can be dissolvedH What happens in the event that one partner diesxx101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers There are countless large enterprises with substantial assets—partnerships andincorporated businesses—that do not have vital contingencies in their legalarrangements. For instance, they do not specify exactly what happens upon thedeath of one partner. If you are young, in particular, the furthest thing fromyour mind is shuffling off this mortal coil. But it’s been known to happen. So,make sure that every “I” is dotted and “T” is crossed the moment you becomea legal partnership. One day, you might be very happy that you did.CorporationIf you opt not to be a sole proprietorship or a partnership, then yourremaining option is incorporation. Corporations are chartered by the indi-vidual states. Assorted laws, regulations, and tax situations apply from stateto state, with some states more corporation-friendly than others (likeDelaware). Both federal and state law recognize corporations as legal entities,separate and apart from their ownership. They can be taxed, sued, and enterinto contractual agreements. Corporations’ owners are shareholders, whohave limited liability as individuals for debts incurred by the business—a bigplus for entrepreneurs. However, corporations are more costly to initiate(fees, lawyers, etc.) and maintain (more complex accounting and legalities),and they come attached to additional bureaucratic red tape. They also put youin the position of possible double taxation—i.e., your business gets taxed andso does your salary from the business. However, only your salary is subjectto the self-employment tax, which is 15.3% on the first $90,000 of income,and not your profits. In a sole proprietorship or partnership, your profits areyour income and hit with this very considerable self-employment tax. In otherwords, corporate structures enable you to take less in salary and do moreintricate tax planning to possibly minimize your tax burden. What form of business ownership you ultimately select should be based onthe type of business you are in, what kind of profits you anticipate, and whatassets you own (both business and personal). Talk with current businessper-sons. Consult, too, with an accountant and lawyer to discuss what is right forxxiA Pet-pourri of Entrepreneurial Opportunities you and your precise situation. You can always begin your business journeyas a sole proprietorship or partnership and then incorporate down the roadwhen it better suits your new circumstances. You may also consider the bene-fits of becoming an S Corporation, if you qualify, which enables you to betaxed like a sole proprietorship or partnership, but still receive the limitedliability protection inherent in the corporate structure. There is also theLimited Liability Company (LLC), which provides its members limitedliability for certain debts and actions in a less formal set-up than the tradi-tional corporate structure.Laws and DisorderNo matter what business field you choose to romp through, you won’t ever bealone. Government bureaucrats are guaranteed to be there alongside you thewhole time. There are all kinds of laws and regulations—federal, state, andlocal—that apply to businesses. Depending on the particular pet business youselect, your form of ownership (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation), orwhere you operate the business, these laws and regulations will vary. But, for sure,you will be at the mercy of bureaucratic edicts that run the gamut from tax respon-sibilities to building codes to insurance requirements to employment polices.The exact nature of your pet care business will determine the licenses andpermits—if any—that you may have to procure from government entities: federal,state, and local. Requirements for small business enterprises run a wide gamut,depending, of course, on what you are doing and where you are doing it. Beforeyou make a big move, contact the requisite government institutions and get thescoop on what you need vis-à-vis licenses and permits to operate a completelyaboveboard business. What follows is a roster of the kinds of governmentallicenses and permits that you may be legally required to obtain before hanging outyour “Open for Business” shingle or flying your “Grand Opening” bunting:xxii101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers H Business operation licenseH Federal employer identification number (EIN) or tax identificationnumber (compulsory for most business setups) H “Doing Business As” permit H Zoning permit, applicable to some home-based businesses H Health department permit, applicable to any kind of food productionH Sales tax license for retail and service businesses H Fire department permit, necessary for many retail and service businessesThe bottom line is tha...