Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/how-nyc-dog-walker-makes-100k/
If you love animals, you may have considered becoming a dog walker at some point or other. I know it’s something I considered growing up, but I didn’t think it could ever be much of a career. Instead, I thought it’d be fun to walk dogs as a side gig or hobby.
Most people who want to make money and work with animals at the same time likely go into the veterinary field or something similar.
However, a man named Ryan Stewart is proof that you can make big bucks with something as simple as walking dogs – and you can do it without a college degree!
Ryan runs his own dog walking business in Long Island called Ryan For Dogs and he makes 6 figures each year working just 6 hours per day.
In an interview with CNBC, Ryan explained that he’s been working with dogs for over 20 years and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
When he first started his career in dog walking, Ryan worked with just one of two dogs for the year. It was more of a side gig for him at that time, but his business slowly grew as he added more dogs and offerings to the mix. He currently offers dog walking, training, and boarding.
“I can easily pull in six figures after taxes walking dogs. If I really wanted to push it and hire more people, I could easily probably make half a million a year doing this,” he said in the interview. While his earning potential is high, he prefers to keep things simple and lower stress, so he aims to bring in just $100,000-120,000 per year and leave the rest of the money on the table.
On a typical weekday, Ryan will walk dogs in two 3-hour blocks, one in the middle of the day and one in the evening. With the two dog walking shifts per day, he puts in around 6 hours of work and makes an estimated $60 per hour.
The job sounds easy enough, but it doesn’t come without challenges. Ryan explained in the interview:
“Personally, the greatest challenge for walking dogs is handling some of the difficult owners because owners are getting increasingly more demanding, and there are more cameras, there are more dog trackers. So you have people looking over your shoulder all the time…I think every year, there’s more money invested in pets…what I think is happening is we are becoming more technologically inclined there’s less human interaction …so they start investing more money on their pet.”
Check out the interview below:
[embedded content]
You can keep up with Ryan on Instagram or check out his website here!
Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog
