Starting up a pet supply business, What do you think of home/work delivery?

Hi there!
I am trying to get a homebase pet suppliy business going. Not only do I want to sell on E-bay ( a lot harder than it looks it may take me a while) but I was also thinking of having a delivery service. I was thinking of going no more than 40 miles from my home. And I would deliver to your work or home,. I think that I would have to have a delivery fee because of gas prices. I am not sure what that will be yet. Do you run a business where you deliver to peoples homes/work?? What do you charge?? How do you advertise???

I was thinking of advertising on my SUV. I would have a sign on my back window with the name of my company, phone number & Email address and saying Delivery available, How can I help you? . Do you think that I should have the web site too. Or do you think I am saying too much! Thanks for your help! Any ideas or suggestions would be great!
Jennifer
Cottonwood, CA

Pets are a passion for me and starting a bakery for them is pure business. Combine the two and you've got a business built on passion. This apart, pet bakery is actually a billion-dollar business -- In fact, it's one of the best kinds of core or side businesses that homeowners / animal lovers can have.

The advantages are clear. A pet bakery business is:

1. Low on risk

2. High in profits

3. Can be run from home (and done part-time if you wish)

4. Can be started on a shoestring budget

I run a pet bakery business myself (1st quarter in profits) and the resource that got me started was 'Pet Business 101' aka Bake-A-Dog-A-Bone. The site below has more on this with business plans, research tips, effective advertising methods, profit calculator and more.

It focuses on the hard 'facts' of the business rather than plain theory, which is why it's effective and gives you a clear picture of what to expect. Hope this helps.

Good luck. I tried prety much the same thing 2 years ago. I also had a pretty good web site. Two major problems:

1) Cost of doing business: gas, boxes, taxes, fees, advertising, freight, insurance, etc etc etc these never stopped and just got too high.

2) The big guys. You cannot even get close to their costs. They sell more and more of the premium stuff.

If you search the web you will find suppliers willing to sell to you. Also web sites that help you. My sales grew as planed, but my expensive just grew and grew.

Good Luck.... I did have fun but lost too much money.