Business Ideas

Starting a business is always tricky and challenging, but the challenges are often even greater when you’re starting a manufacturing business in particular. It takes a certain set of skills and priorities to make a success of a brand new manufacturing business. It’s something that you need to think about and plan out now rather than later if you can help it because you’ll regret things if you don’t.

If you’re really serious about making all this happen, it’s important to know what to prioritize and which steps to make as you grow your business early on. You can’t just make things up as you go along because this definitely isn’t the kind of industry that rewards that kind of strategy at all. So read on now and find out all you need to know about getting your manufacturing startup off the ground the right way.

Research First

You should always be sure to carry out research before doing anything else because this is when you find out where your gap in the market is going to be. You can then start to think in more detail about how you’re going to exploit it. But you can’t do any of that stuff if don’t first carry out research and find out what the situation looks like right now. So don’t be tempted to skip past this.

Don’t Skip Past the Legal Details

There are lots of legal hoops you have to jump through when you’re starting a business, and that’s even truer than every if you’re starting out in something like manufacturing for the first time. You don’t want to break laws that help to keep everyone inside your company safe. Even if you think you’re being fully compliant with the law, it doesn’t hurt to check for sure and act accordingly on that information you find.

Create an Unbeatable Team

The team of people you have working for your business will be the single most important factor you have going for your business. They’re the ones who are going to be doing the work on the shop floor, so you want them to be happy and paid very fairly so that you can keep that team together. Get a mix of good characters in your team, as well as a mix of other things. It’s important to have people willing to work hard and show commitment.

Don’t Skimp on Components or Equipment

The components, machinery and equipment your employees use each day will decide how good your final products are. You want to make sure that you buy the best machinery, whether that means huge lathes and production lines, as well as smaller but still as vital components, such as gauges or flow meters from places like FlowMeters.com. It’s up to you to find the very best so you don’t lose out big time later.

If you’re an animal lover and your dream is to spend all day playing with animals, being around animals or doing things that will benefit your furry friends, then why not build a business around them?

There are lots of interesting animal-based startup ideas that could see you earning a good living in your own terms while doing what it is that you love the most. Sound good? Check out these great animal startup ideas and see if anything suits you:

Pet Photography

If you’re the creative type, you know your way around a camera, and you love animals, starting your own pet portraits business could be just the idea you have been looking for. All you need is some basic equipment like a decent DSLR camera, lighting and a backdrop – all of which you can obtain for as little as $1,300 – and you can start advertising your services online and with some cheap business cards. You’ll need to be patient because dogs and cats won’t always just sit still and do what you want them to do, but it will allow you to be creative and meet lots of beautiful animals – what could be better?

Open Your Own Dog Park

If you happen to love dogs and you either already own some suitable land or you are able to raise the capital to buy some, setting up your own dog park could be a lot of fun. You can charge upwards of $39 for a membership, so if you open in an area that is home to lots of dogs, it could be quite lucrative. Of course, you’ll need to but various pieces of dog park equipment and you’ll have to set up a website and do some advertising, but it should be fun. It’ll certainly be fun when you can mingle with the local dogs at your leisure.

Pet Sitting

Pet sitting is a good option for those of you who are looking to build a startup on a small business of less than $1000. It’s good because basically, all you need to get started is an insurance policy, a website and some business cards and leaflets. Once you’re up and running, you will actually get to play with and care for animals for a living!

Pet Subscription Service

Another affordable option – again under $1000 – is to start a pet subscription service. Think of Birchbox, but instead of beauty products, you’ll be selling dog treats, toys and grooming products. This is a great way to pamper pets without getting too involved with them and while using your sales and marketing experience. You may also want to use your cooking or craft skills to create homemade gourmet treats or unique toys and accessories that won’t be found elsewhere. Doing so will give you a competitive edge.

Pet Baker

Baking gourmet treats for pets could, of course, be an excellent startup idea in its own right. People love their pets, and many of them are willing to spend lots of money pampering them, especially when it comes to foods. If you can develop recipes that are luxurious, healthy and attractive to pets, then there will be a market for it, and you will be able to start your own pet bakery online for as little as $1000. If you want to open a bakery offline, you could be looking at between $10,000-$50,000 to get things off the ground.

Pet Groomer

Setting up your own pet grooming business will put you in regular contact with lots of animals, which is the animal lover’s dream. You will need to undergo training to offer this service as well as paying for grooming equipment and a van. If you want to open a parlour rather than just being a mobile groomer, you will also need to factor in rental costs or the cost of buying an appropriate space, so it is not the cheapest option, but it is one of the best in terms of time spent with animals.

Pet-Matching Professional

If you’re good with technology, but you want to spend some of your time with animals too, you could become a pet-matching professional for around $100. What is a pet-matching professional? It’s someone who visits animal shelters, boarding kennels and pet shops and then helps to create a service that matches people with pets or pet owners with products and services that are likely to be suited to them. You only really need a computer and some programming skills to get started too!

Found an animal-based startup idea that you like? Start researching it and you could be living your dream much sooner than you think!