Today we’d like to introduce you to Jasmine Sauser.
Jasmine, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Ever since I could remember, I have had an unrelenting love for animals. When I was younger, I aspired to be a veterinarian but the older I got, the more I realized I couldn’t handle telling pet owners their pet was in its final days. After I knew I couldn’t handle the emotional life of a veterinarian, I started looking for other fields I could put my passion for animals to good use. Even after I researched some alternative careers in the animal field, I thought I would need to go to school to get into them so I went to school on a basketball scholarship. I attended college for two years but I ended up losing my scholarship and having to return home, it was easily one of the most disappointing points in my life but I did not know at that time that it would be one of the biggest blessings I could ask for. I was home and I needed a job to support myself so I worked in an industry that was not my passion and in turn I became unhappy with the job quite quickly. The longer I stayed, the less fulfilled I felt, until one day I let my family know of my frustrations and they encouraged me to pursue my dream of working with animals. The disappointment of my first college go-around (I am doing excellent on my second try), the unhappiness from my job, but most importantly the love and support from my family is what gave me the push I desperately needed to create The Bark Brigade, a business I love whole-heartedly.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I cannot say that the journey of The Bark Brigade has been rough but I was stressed when I was first starting out. I often worried I wouldn’t accumulate enough clients to profit, or that a client would ask me something I didn’t know the answer to, or even that my peers would think my business was a joke. Once my business was up and running all those worries melted away, not because I was super successful, but because I was doing something I loved more than just about anything else and that my clients could see that passion too. As long as my clients and their pets were happy so was I and that is still the case.
Please tell us about The Bark Brigade.
The Bark Brigade is a business, I’d like to think, that specializes in providing people with love and care for their animals when they are not able to. Because I am the sole owner and caregiver at The Bark Brigade I believe I am best known for the personal touch that many business lacks. I provide pet owners with pictures and text updates of their fur babies because I believe people need that assurance but also enjoy seeing their pets happy as well as taken care of. My personal touch is not just what I am most known for, it is what I am most proud of about The Bark Brigade. My clients value how interactive I am but more importantly the personal aspect of the business is what shows my clients that I have a passion for pet care. I am different than most because it is just me who operates the business end but also provides all the services. Many other pet businesses are owned by people who do love animals but they hire others that sometimes do not share their passion for pet care. As these other pet businesses expand they often lose that person facet of their operation and that is something I know I will never struggle with even in the expansion of The Bark Brigade. The love I have for animals and helping their owners will always be the heart of why my business is successful.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would definitely market my business more but I would also have started my business later on in my life, after college to be specific. As I am not only The Bark Brigade owner but also a student-athlete in college, I did not want to market my business to my fullest ability because I knew that I would build a client base I could not keep up with while finishing my education. It has been a hard journey in that aspect but I do not regret one moment of it.
Pricing:
- One 30 min walk – $18
- One 60 min walk – $24
- Ten 30 min walk – $150
- Ten 60 min walk – $210
- 15 min Drop-In Visit – $15
- Overnight Stay – $50
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thebarkbrigade.co
- Phone: 7143362729
- Email: jasmine@thebarkbrigade.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebarkbrigade1/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-bark-brigade-whittier
Image Credit:
Jasmine Sauser
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