Valued at over $60 billion , the pet industry is a lucrative opportunity for anyone looking to start a business. With technological advancements, new local businesses offering pet grooming, training, walking, and sitting services can reach customers, scale operations, and streamline processes. That’s why Nathan the Beach Cat would like to provide you with the following resources to help you with your future pet care business. Background One of the reasons the pet care industry is hot is that more than 35% percent of customers are millennials, who are adopting more pets than previous generations. More than 76% of millennials have adopted pets, and they’re willing to spend to pamper their furry family members. A survey by Mintel showed that 75% of Americans aged 30 to 40 own a dog, compared to just 50% of the overall population who adopted a dog. Among Australians, pet ownership is also extremely high, with almost half of Australian households owning a dog but a sizeable number owning a cat or a fish. This means you can get clients who will serve your business for the long term. Young people with pets also use technology to buy services, giving you an opportunity to explore e-commerce ventures or a subscription-based model with connected devices like pet wearables. What You Need Before venturing into the pet care industry, you need an affinity for animals. Some of the essential skills for pet care you need include knowledge of grooming techniques, an ability to spot behavioural signals, dog handling and training skills, and the ability to recognise health problems. Also, you need to market your business to reach new customers. Integrating technology in the business needs some proficiency in building apps and should work with an expert if you don’t have these skills. If your petcare business is offering a variety of different services, you may want to create a “doing business as” name. A DBA name allows you to sell your products or services under a new name that’s more relevant to your offerings. If you decide to run your business out of your home, you’ll definitely want to have a dedicated office for work. The good news is that certain home improvements have the added benefit of raising your home’s appraisal value, so make sure you keep those receipts! Barriers to Entry The barriers to entry can be low if you want to start a pet care business. Services like pet sitting and walking require little upfront investment, but training, grooming, and boarding will require capital to set up facilities, health and safety certifications, and to get the equipment you need. When you get started, understand that customer turnover could happen quickly, and it might also take a while before you build a loyal base. Also, running a business requires long hours, and you should provide an always-on-call policy. Often, you are required to be available on weekends and holidays as these are the times pet owners are likely to be traveling. Potential for Growth The pet products market size was valued at $9.9 billion in 2018 and is projected to grow at a steady rate of 5.7% up to 2025. This is attributed to rising pet adoptions and humanisation, driving an increase in spending on different pet products, including food, accessories, and grooming items. Throughout the decade ending in 2017, spending on pet care services doubled. This includes services like pet sitting, veterinary services, pet training, etc. All these highlights point to incredible opportunities in the future, showing great potential for growth over the long term. How to Start a Pet Care Business Now that you know the opportunity in the pet care industry, how can you start your business today? Here are the steps to help you set up your business. First, you must decide what you want to be. There are many things to explore, including selling dog care products or offering services like dog walking and grooming. Next, you need a business plan, and to also find a good location. With these ready, figure out your financing plan if you don’t already have the money. Also, you need certifications for pet care. Conclusion With more young people getting pets, there’s a growing market for pet care services. This would be the recommended time to set up a business in this industry. It’s an industry with great future prospects, ideal for anyone with ambitions. Nathan the Beach Cat is the best place for cat-lovers to shop ! Shoot us an email and we'll get back to you as quick as we can: info@nathanthebeachcat.com.au. Photo courtesy of Pexels

Everyone knows that it's tough to juggle running a business and raising a family. But no one ever talks about running a business and raising a cat! Cats have a reputation as low-maintenance pets, but even the most laid-back felines like Nathan need plenty of care and attention. Is it possible to give your cat the quality time it deserves when hustling to start a business, or are entrepreneurship and pet ownership inherently incompatible? We think it's doable — but don't take our word for it! Here's how four different types of entrepreneurs are making it work as cat parents. The Startup Founder Founding a startup is stressful, rewarding, and everything in between. However, that doesn't mean you have to rule out other responsibilities like adopting a cat. Pet ownership can actually be a boon for startup founders. Working alongside a pet reminds you to take breaks and is great for stress relief too. The challenge for founders is finding time to take those little breaks. When it comes to achieving balance as a startup founder, the number one tip is to delegate . That's tough when you're operating on a shoestring budget, which is why many founders opt to hire freelancers for their startup needs. Take building a website for example. Is fiddling with website builders really the best use of your time, or should you prioritize strategic development while letting website developers do what they do best? We think you know the answer. The Digital Entrepreneur Starting an online business often means the freedom to work from home. That's great for balancing work and pet care. The problems arise when your cat clamors for attention in the middle of a client meeting. As cute as an attention-starved cat can be, it's not ideal for your professional image. Digital entrepreneurs should set up a home office with cat perches, beds, cat trees, and other resting places that are more appealing than your keyboard. In addition to an enriching environment, a routine that includes scheduled play breaks minimizes distractions while working. The Brick-and-Mortar Business Owner Long hours come with the territory of running a brick-and-mortar business, especially when you're just starting out and don't have a large staff to rely on. Brick-and-mortar business owners should take note of the shop cats found in cities like New York and Vancouver . A shop cat's original job was as a mouser but these days, shop cats serve as mascots, morale boosters, and ambassadors for animal adoption. While we don't recommend letting your cat free-roam in a food service business or a company with heavy machinery, shop cats are at home in lots of places including offices, retail stores, and residential care settings. The Digital Nomad More entrepreneurs than ever are starting their businesses on the road. While international travel with pets is tricky due to pet quarantine requirements, plenty of van life solopreneurs travel with cats. According to these digital nomads, the key to van life with cats is to take it slow, starting with short drives and letting cats get comfortable with their new surroundings before going all-in. It's also important to microchip and leash train your pet if living on the road. While cats are happier in small spaces than other pets, you'll want to take your feline friend out for exercise and enrichment without worrying about losing them. Entrepreneurship comes in many forms — and so does pet parenthood (just ask Winnie and Nathan !). Instead of letting your entrepreneurial dreams hold you back from adopting a cat (or vice versa), consider these creative ways to balance business ownership with cat ownership. You never know — your cat just might turn out to be the secret to your business's success! Image via Pexels

Many of you are aware of the awesome outdoor adventures that Nathan and Winnie have been on. However, outside of our family adventures, these girls are actually indoor cats. When we adopted Nathan and Winnie from the RSPCA, it was suggested that cats (in general) should remain indoors only. I guess we hadn’t really thought much about it at the time, but we knew we couldn’t handle the stress of either of them roaming around outdoors without us for protection. At the time of adopting Nathan we were living in an apartment, so having her indoors was really our only option. However, we didn’t want to rob her of experiencing the great outdoors and hence Nathan the Beach Cat was born - but that’s another story! The girls essentially love being with us, whether that be indoors or outside in nature. We can really tell how comfortable and safe they feel with us. It’s really touching to see that we were able to create a safe space for them - a very different story compared to how they came into our care.

I’m sure we all can agree that our little fur-babies are certainly part of the family. As such, it’s vitally important to keep them happy and healthy. But how do you really know if your babies are healthy? There are many ways a vet can assess the “health” of your cat or kitten, but surprisingly enough there is a simple way the untrained eye can gain some insight also. How, you ask? Through a look at your cat’s poo. This should obviously not replace your frequent vet checks, however it does give us owners a window into our pet’s well-being.

Over the past few months, since setting up this blog, we are constantly trying to answer all the questions we are asked. Probably the most common question we get, in every language you can think of (thank god for google translate!!) is “How did Nathan and Winnie become Insta-famous”. We first set up our Instagram account for nathan_thebeachcat in September 2017. We had found our little Nathan only a few months before and she was well into the swing of amazing us with her water antics! This has now built up a following of over half a million people and still increasing! But how did it all happen? What are the tricks to building up an Instagram following? The truth is, this all happened fairly passively and it still surprises us to this day! Back in September 2017, Mel initially set up Instagram as a way of showing family and friends our beautiful little Nathan. We were both working at Bundaberg Base Hospital, and our cute little swimming kitten was famous around the Wards and Operating Theatre. We would be asked 10 times a day “how is little Nathan?”, and to show pictures and videos of her swimming and playing at the beach. This also came from both of our families (living interstate). So one day Mel decided to set up an Instagram for Nathan so that everyone could enjoy watching her whenever they want.

In the past Rian and I had never owned cats. Both of us grew up with dogs as family pets and I think this really shaped our expectations and the way Nathan and Winnie have been brought up. Before we found our little Nathan in 2017, we had been toying with the idea of rescuing a kitten. When discussing this, one statement from Rian sticks in my mind; he said “I’ve never owned a cat before so I think I’m just going to treat it like a dog”. He wasn’t wrong… It was a tortuous 5 weeks from the time we decided to adopt Nath till the time we could take her home – our little girl was still dependent on her mother and needed to reach 1kg to be desexed, as per the RSPCA policy. Once getting her home however she immediately claimed our place as her own. She was with us always! It was therefore early on that we decided if she wanted to be with us 24-7, we should bring her out and about also. So began our attempt at training baby Nathan to walk on a lead.

As the weather warms up and we move into summer, we love to venture out, taking our girls on trips into mid-north Queensland – after all this is Nathan’s old stomping ground. On this occasion we took a 3 day trip to Elliot Heads.

We didn’t plan on getting another kitten, however we both knew that if we did, it would definitely be another rescue. It was in late July that we decided to take Nath on a road trip up to the beach she grew up on – Elliott Heads, near Bundaberg. While up there, we decided to drop in to the Bundaberg RSPCA and take Nath along to show everyone how she’d grown over the past year. Obviously while there we had no choice but to play with the kittens currently being cared for. There were about 15 little kittens being housed at the time, and we made sure to play with all of them. It was here that we met a little black ball of fluff, confident and very vocal – pawing through the cage door as we walked past, calling out if we stopped giving her attention, and purring the minute she was picked up….. We spent time with all the kittens, and cats for that matter, but kept getting pulled back to this one little black female… it was Winnie…