“It’s time for a chance,” you told yourself on New Year’s Eve. You want to make a big, bold move and improve your life. You have been thinking a business—a pet store franchise or maybe you were thinking it and now you are doubting yourself. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you contemplate opening your own pet store franchise.

1.Do I like animals?

Given that animals are the nature of the business, you should make sure that you enjoy the company of animals, even if you do not plan on selling them.

2.Do I want to be my own boss?

One of the best perks of opening your own pet store franchise is being your own boss. Do you like responsibility? More importantly, do you like setting your own schedule? Do you enjoy choosing when to go to work and when to spend time with your family? Sounds like a silly question, but you may be surprised.

3.Am I business-minded?

You do not need a business degree or background in business to start your own pet store franchise, but you do have to have the desire to run a business. Learning the how-tos is an easy follow-up.

4.Do I have the drive?

There is a certain level of desire needed to start your own pet store franchise. Do you have the ability to keep yourself on task? Do you have the desire to succeed?

5.Do I have a good location in mind?

Think of pet store franchising as a sort of experiment–like all franchising is. This is your chance to try something new out, but in order to succeed when it comes to sales, you must have a location with plenty of foot traffic. There is nothing worse than opening an excellent store only to find out it failed because it was out of the way or in a small neighborhood. Land a good location and success is nearly a sure thing.

6.Am I ready to commit?

Opening a pet store franchise is not a small decision and you should be sure that you can and will follow through. While Splash and Dash can make it easy by setting you up with training and all the information you could ask for, just like any relationship, you will still have to put in the time. If you take out the time and the money, be prepared to follow through.

7.Do you want to make money?

Pet store franchising is an extremely lucrative business. The projected spending for 2014 on pets was a hefty $73 billion and it is only assumed to grow in the coming year. More and more families are opting on purchasing pets and treating them the same as their human counterparts. Starting a pet store franchise is a worthy investment if you are looking to make money.