If you see someone walking around the market outside, he is most likely not really raising a group of dogs.
On the contrary, he may not have a single dog, but is just working -
specifically helps others walk their dogs.
Image source: pinteresttml4
For dog lovers, "professional dog walker" is obviously a job with a very high happiness index.
can not only get proper exercise to stay away from cervical spondylosis, but also rub the dog's head to make it clear the negative energy in the heart. By the way, you can also get to know a few girls.
What diplomas, attendance, KPI, and workplace PUA do not exist in this industry.
And if you do well, walking your dog can bring you considerable income and earn more than senior white-collar workers in office buildings.
Image source: pinteresttml4
On the streets of Long Island City, New York, Ryan Stewart is a strange sight.
Passers-by will keep staring at him, the driver honked his horn, and tourists will take photos like paparazzi.
But he didn't care much about all this, he couldn't be busy.
Video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make It
In fact, walking a dog is not what we imagined. It is a waste of money by listening to AirPods while walking. It requires 100% of human attention, both physical and technical.
Stewart is one of the top professional dog walkers in the United States today.
With 15 years of experience, he can lead 6 dogs out for a walk at one time, knowing their defecation time, and while shoveling poop, he can also pay close attention to the every move of squirrels 50 meters away.
This job, which some people think is undecent, can easily bring him six-digit after-tax income every year, but unexpectedly, this high-paying profession is also accompanied by countless unpredictable huge risks.
video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make Ittml4
"Compared with people,
I am better at dealing with dogs"
Stewart has been playing with dogs since he was a child.
As a child adopted by a military family, his childhood has been traveling across Asia, Europe and the United States. Growing up, he always felt like a "unliked stray dog" and could never integrate into the group. He was often bullied at school. It was not until the dog walking at home became his housework that he finally had his first friend in his life -
that brown fieldhound, Casey.
When I was young, Stewart
When I grew up, Stewart loved dancing and wanted to go to the top performing arts college in New York for further studies. But my fate played a joke on him at this time:
19 years old, he was diagnosed with lymphoma.
Stewart stayed in the hospital for more than a year, completely ignoring his dream of becoming a professional dancer.
He was depressed for a while, until his chance encounter with a dog trainer in 2006 made him rethink his life -
When he was a child, more than one person said that he was very good at dealing with dogs. Perhaps, he could also try it in the pet industry.
video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make It
Since then, a weird man staring at a dog for several hours often appeared in the local park. Long-term observation and reading related books have allowed Stewart to develop some skills:
For example, he can tell whether he loves to bite people through the smell of a dog;
From the pace of a dog walking, you can see how his personality is and whether he is obedient;
This insight also helps to avoid potential crises, and you know exactly what 6 actions a dog will do before a fight.
Video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make It
Because of this, he realized that he could really take dog walking as a serious career, and the industry was just starting out at that time.
So, Stewart began to distribute business cards on the street and slowly began to build a customer base among local dog friends.
For the first half of the year, he could only lead 1 or 2 dogs at once. For every extra one, the difficulty would increase a lot.
In order to allow dogs to walk in an orderly manner, they must be carefully designed to arrange and group, and also consider various factors such as breed, size, age, personality, and defecation frequency.
Image source: pinterest
Do you think walking 6 to 8 dogs at the same time will only cause the trouble of entangling the ropes and unresolving them?
A few years ago, a dog walker was accidentally killed by several uncontrolled dogs.
It is very dangerous to tie it to your waist like Harry Potter
After years of hard work, Stewart's dog walking skills have become more proficient, and his income has continued to grow through reputation and service quality.
Nowadays, he has become an Alpha-level dog walker in the local neighborhood, and he enjoys what he has to do every day:
"I can't say that I love dogs very much, but I refuse to live a life without dogs."
video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make Ittml4
Earn 500,000 yuan in annual income,
seductive economics of dog walking
With the rise of emerging consumption, the niche market for helping people walk dogs is becoming a big business.
In 2021, its market value has reached US$979 million, and it has grown steadily at a rate of nearly 2% per year even during the pandemic, thanks in large part to two major trends:
first, although the global fertility rate continues to decline, more and more people are raising dogs. Now 53% of American households own dogs — an increase of 22% since 2000.
Especially after social distancing has become the norm in recent years, dog sales and adoption rates have soared, and human emotional needs are increasingly placed on pets.
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Second, pet owners spend more on pets. Living expenses on this item have increased 2 times over the past 10 years, especially those with professional pet care services that can save time.
Especially during home stay, the more time you spend with your pets, the more likely you are to spend money on them.
According to statistics, there are now 89 million pet dogs in the United States, and about 40% of dog owners cannot walk their dogs in person regularly.
These numbers mean that the pet industry still has greater potential.
Image source: pinteresttml4
In 2020, the average annual income of companies engaged in pet care and dog walking services was about US$236,000. If it is self-employed, the profit will be more than imagined.
The average cost of a dog walking for 30 minutes is about US$22. If the customer source is stable and you can walk 2 or 3 dogs at a time while ensuring safety, an independent dog walker can earn about US$100,000 a year, and even more powerful ones can earn 200,000.
hiring more people can double the number. Some dog walkers who run small-scale businesses can earn more than $500,000 a year after removing expenses.
Image source: pinteresttml4
As a well-known industry veteran, Stewart has the opportunity to expand his business, but he chose to control his team to less than 3 people.
"I like to deal with dogs," he explained, "not humans."
video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make It
Not wanting to put too much pressure on yourself is also a big reason.
Since dogs need continuous attention, if you are not careful, it may break free from the rope and run to the road and be hit and killed by a car, so it will be very difficult for dog walkers to work for too long.
Video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make It
Stewart's best condition is to work 6 hours a day (3 hours at noon + 3 hours at night) and work 6 days a week - this workload only takes about 36 hours and can bring in more than $100,000 to $120,000 a year.
In comparison, American financial managers work hard for 60 hours a week, and their average salary is only $134,000 (2020 statistics).
Dog walking is obviously an industry with a very low threshold, with almost zero cost except for dog leashes and toilet bags. However, these tempting numbers are accompanied by many strange and unique challenges.
video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make Ittml4
Terrible competitors, paranoid customers
and mobile phones that cannot be connected
First of all, the competition is becoming more and more intense.
When Stewart just became a professional dog walker, this was still a niche industry that just emerged, and now there are about 29,000 professional companies in the United States that provide dog walking services.
As more and more people are eyeing this piece of fat, the streets and park grasslands in the city have become cruel arenas. Peers sometimes engage in unfair competition in order to compete for customers:
For example, some newcomers will bribe community properties to attract business, and will give up to $100 introductory fees as long as they get a new order.
Rover
American dog walking app
It is crucial to ensure service quality in this industry. If you make a mistake once, customers will be lost immediately.
"If you mess up someone's dog, the news will be out soon," he explained.
Dense dog walking calendar
Video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make It
In recent years, Stewart has had to deal with the "unhealthy attachment" shown by some dog owners to their pets.
According to a survey in the United States,
81% of dog owners believe that their pets are "comparable to the children at home";
78% think that they are the "parent" of pets, not the "owner";
58% call themselves the "mother" or "dad" of dogs;
Picture source: American drama "Big Bang"
This situation has become even worse during the pandemic.
In particular, after multiple incidents of dog death or loss caused by mistakes by dog walking services, the dog owner became increasingly nervous, and taking extreme surveillance measures is one of the manifestations.
Most of Stewart’s dog walking services start from picking up dogs at the customer’s home. He found that at least 50% of dog owners now have cameras installed at home and wear trackers on their dogs to monitor their walks in real time.
What's more, he will ask him to report the detailed defecation status of his pet's defecation, such as quantity, location and time.
video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make It
Objectively speaking, compared with some other dog walkers, Stewart's service can be called meticulous and responsible:
For example, even if the weather is very cold, he does not wear gloves because his fingertips need to feel the traction of the dog leash in real time;
sunglasses never appear on his face, he believes that it is very important to let dogs and dog owners see his eyes;
He has a strict prohibition on mobile phone policy at work, so that he can maintain a high degree of alertness to deal with possible problems on the road, such as observing traffic conditions, preventing dogs from fighting each other, and they accidentally eat rat poison or chicken bones on the street, etc.
Video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make It
Such concentration has helped this dog walker build a good reputation. His worst mistake so far was to get the dog's tail clipped by the door.
For this reason, Stewart paid $2,000 in treatment, and the price of making mistakes in this industry is obviously extremely high.
Video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make Ittml4
survived the pandemic,
is the most important thing
During the pandemic, some people lost their jobs and some people had to stay at home, which greatly changed the market. Many dog walkers and companies that provide this service closed down.
In the first half of the year, Stewart's business also declined, but now it has returned to almost full capacity.
"Only those with the best reputation can survive," he is still full of confidence in the path he chose.
Image source: pinteresttml4
However, Stewart occasionally gets frustrated by the many shortcomings of the job.
For example, you need to pay insurance yourself, you don’t have paid vacations, spending almost every day outdoors in the cold winter, heat, snow, rain, and the most unpleasant thing:
"I should have been an excellent dancer, standing on the stage to shine, why do I pick up shit here every day now?"
video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make It
Whenever he falls into this mood, what he can do is look at the deposits in his card, which makes him feel relieved to a large extent. After all, the economic benefits of shit are quite considerable.
Therefore, most of the time, the excrement in the grass is vivid and shiny in Stewart's eyes. After all, no one can escape the true fragrance law of "image is born from firewood".
Just like a friend of his once enlightened him:
"You are just picking up dog feces, you are not going to eat, be content with you."
video screenshot: YouTube @CNBC Make Ittml4
Reference:
What it’s like to make $100k+ walking dogs
https://thehustle.co/what-its-like-to-make-100k-walking-dogs/
PS: The pictures in this article are from the Internet. If you have any copyright issues, please contact us in time.
Written by/planning: Li Wenjing, the layman in the ground and
Typesetting: One red
Producer: GaGa
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