This week, we are super proud to feature an amazing pet care business and business owner in our Client Spotlight. Meet Stephanie Brown and Happy Trails Professional Pet Sitting and Dog Walking! Based in Long Valley, NJ - Stephanie is one of our industries most experienced and passionate pet care professionals. Happy Trails is based on the foundation of building meaningful relationships with all of its customers. The Happy Trails team is highly trained and fully committed to the highest level of care and professionalism.
Happy Trails offers a range of services, including dog walking, pet sitting, farm sitting, dog hikes, pet taxi, wedding pet attendant services, and more! To learn more, check out the Happy Trails website and be sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
What caused you to get into pet sitting/dog walking?
Over twenty years ago, I came home from college thinking I wasn't too into my major. I was lost and unsure what to do. I followed my passion for horses to work with my equine vet and became a vet tech! Over the years, I just started caring for pets who needed a little extra care as they may have been post-surgical or recovering from an illness. My knowledge gave those owners peace of mind when they had to be away!
Well, how did we get the name HAPPY TRAILS? It was all because my late Aunt when visiting, would sing the Roy Rogers song "Happy Trails" whenever I had to leave to go care for a horse in recovery or a small animal that needed that extra care! BOOM, my first business cards came out of Staples, and I was one of the first Professional Pet Sitters in our area. I created a tax ID number, took out liability insurance, created a reference sheet, and started creating policies and contracts to protect myself and my clients!
After many years Solo, I realized it was too much responsibility on my own, and this all became a harsh reality when my youngest, Patrick, had a medical emergency. I will never forget leaving his side in the ER because I had to call 7 clients to let them know I wouldn't be able to walk their dogs that day. Thank God no one was traveling, and the owners would come home a little earlier from work. They were all amazing, and many are still on the schedule to this day
The TEAM was born, and my first hire was Nicole, our Team Manager, for the past two years after working with me many years prior. My team is handpicked after countless hours, looking over applications, phone interviews, sit-down interviews, and ride-along interviews. If we find a good one, background checks, weeks upon weeks of training, and LOTS of attention and care go into anyone wearing an HT T-shirt! They represent me, my family, and EVERYTHING I stand for!!
This has been my whole life: advocating and networking with true professional pet care providers, helping pet parents navigate amongst the less-than-stellar kid next door. We are proud to be here after 23 years and will continue to do so as long as our amazing community supports us!
What is the most fulfilling part of owning a pet sitting/dog walking business?
I give our clients peace of mind. It goes from hesitation about how this company can work for me to OMG, how did we go so long without you guys. I take pride in my community's providing such a great service and employing some of the BEST team members ever!
What is the most challenging?
The never-ending PRESSURE to be the best. It's a real struggle because everyone makes mistakes, but when you own a small business and care for people's beloved pets, you really don't have too much wiggle room. It gets to be heavy at times, but through continued education to better my company and, crossing every T and dotting every I, we do our absolute best every day! Having an amazing team helps, and having open communication with clients is very helpful, too!
Where do you see your business in 5 years?
5 years… wow, looking back 5 years, I'd have never seen a shutdown coming or a whole new concept evolving of what a pet parent looks like. I guess I hope and pray that my business keeps evolving and is relevant in my community in 5 years and beyond (I have another 25 years on my mortgage so not sure I want to do anything BUT this). This is truly my whole heart and soul (as well as my family, lol), and I hope to leave a legacy and continue to be the leading pet care company in my area, showing our pet parents that their pets deserve WAY more than just anybody caring for them.
What has Time To Pet changed the most about how you run your business?
I look at Time To Pet and think, wow, how did I get so lucky to randomly pick off of Google, the PERFECT software for my then VERY small solo company? Back then (2016), I wasn't in any Facebook groups or chat rooms to hear too much about software, and people in my area did not have such a futuristic way to keep track of EVERYTHING! Clients thought we'd have drones coming to walk their dogs next!
I looked into software when my pencil calendar failed me, sadly more than once, and a pet was missed. This was simply human error, and after it fell between my car seats, I had to find a better way. And I did—I found the best software!!
I can easily manage 500+ clients and 15+ staff members from anywhere, and my managers can easily check in if there is ever an emergency. You just can't get better software for this business, and it only gets better and better every month!
