Paws In Time Celebrates 22 Years In Business
Check Out How We Have Evolved!
Thanks to you, our clients, Paws In Time is celebrating 22 years in business! We couldn’t have done it without you, our loyal clients, your special dogs and, of course, our amazing staff. For those who may not know me, my name is Julie Nelson. I am the founder and owner of Paws In Time. I had some time to sit and reflect on these past 22 years. No business can stay in business without evolving, improving, keeping up with the times, etc. Here’s a fascinating history of our organization. I hope you enjoy it!
- On day one Paws In Time had 3 employees, now we average 34
- Opened in a small 3000 sf building with 200 sf of outdoor play space. Now we have 20,000 sf of play space in both West Chicago and Oswego including indoor and outdoor space
- Originally when I opened, I had furniture for the dogs to sit on as well as soft, plush toys to play with in addition to balls etc. These both quickly went away but not until I personally sat and repaired 100’s of torn apart soft, plush toys with needle and thread in my office. What was I thinking!?
- When I first opened, I thought I would be filling a need in the Fox Valley if I could play with 25 dogs per day. We now can accommodate 100 per day in West Chicago and 75 per day in Oswego.
- Originally, I would write all of the dogs names that were there for play in an appointment book. When I got to 25 each day, dogs would be put on a waitlist to come play.
- I prayed hard that maybe I would someday get to 25 dogs per day. We were playing with 40 per day within 3 months. I struggled to turn people away and I was going to have mutiny on my hands if I didn’t figure this out fast.
- I didn’t have grooming facilities in my first building. So we would bathe dogs for people on the floor in the bathroom and I would dry them on one of my grooming tables with my own dryer.
- For those who know me, you know I don’t make changes easily. Eventually I HAD to go to a software system to run the business. I invested in Kennel Connection when it was just a baby system and my business was just a baby business. We still use the Kennel Connection software as it really accommodates all facets of the business. The transition from index cards and the appointment book was tough for me but it was well worth it.
- Originally I ran the entire business on my personal laptop. At first it was only the accounting portion but then I put Kennel Connection on it. That poor laptop gave me all it had until it finally crashed completely 3 days prior to moving to our big building in West Chicago. Can you imagine the stress?????!!!!!
- I would handle all of the accounting myself at first until things got way over my head and I sought out the services of a very capable CPA. Following that was a team of attorneys and then the addition of my wonderful bookkeeper, Paula.
- Initially, I would hand write my staff’s paychecks. I would deduct the payroll taxes and make the payments to the Federal government and the state government by check in an actual envelope with a stamp on it. Finally after a few years of these shenanigans, my tough as nails first CPA said she would not work for me one more day if I didn’t employ the services of a payroll service.
- Remember change is hard for me? Enter ADP. WOW! I was really adulting now. Tough to make the change but again, well worth it. I remain a loyal fan of my relationship with ADP and I think my employees appreciate all of the services they provide.
- Initially the only service we provided was daycare, simply daycare. There was no shuttle, no boarding and no grooming (except the rudimentary baths I would do). I did, however, do dog’s nails for $5 but I would do them myself because, remember, I was pushing my staff to the point of mutiny by letting in more and more dogs every day and they didn’t have time to also do nails.
- I bought my first shuttle van for $2,000. It was good enough for me to try out the idea of doing shuttle and it worked. I have had several vans since then and they have all been purchased brand new (with fully functioning heat and air conditioning). The idea of shuttle was a success! Now you see our vans running all over the community.
- I had a new dream of building my own building. So I bought land and through the generosity of many loyal clients in the Fox Valley, I raised almost enough money to build my dream building. I couldn’t find financing anywhere to finish out the total amount needed to build so I gave everyone back their money after a year of doing some of the hardest fund raising I had ever done. Paws In Time was going to have to close its doors because my initial lease was up in 6 months and I had nowhere to move the business to. This was 3 years after opening. My dream was coming to a close before my very eyes. I was devastated and felt I was letting so many people down. Through the assistance of my friend, Steve Morken commercial real estate agent, he located the building on Fabyan and took me to see it. I knew the minute I walked in that it was perfect. Through lots and lots of miracles six months later, we opened.
- I ran the front office every day for the first 3 years and couldn’t imagine having someone work for me that would be only in the office.
- My first front office person was Jo and she was amazing. She was a client looking for a job and I was an employer drowning in the explosion of growth in the new building but I still could not imagine how to afford paying someone to only be in the office. She started only part time. After 2 weeks, I hired her for full time and couldn’t imagine life without her. She was amazing and set up many of the same procedures we use today.
- Now we were ready to offer boarding and it was just before Christmas when we moved to the big building. Though we didn’t have the kennels installed yet, we had every space filled to the rafters and we sailed through that first Christmas smoothly.
- Catherine, my first groomer, began in March of 2006. Grooming really took off right away and just in time for spring break. No more bathing the dogs on the bathroom floor. Now I had an official bathing system installed and an official bathing room. But I hadn’t developed the grooming room as it is today.
- Catherine would bathe the dogs and then have to walk all the way through the building with a wet dog, past all of the daycare dogs to what was the original grooming room – the spa room now as we call it in West Chicago. This was cumbersome and we needed more boarding space and a quieter environment for Catherine to be in. Through the help of my faithful friend, Joe we built out the formerly large kitchen to a break room separated by a wall to a nice private, quiet grooming room in the back of the building right next to the bathing room. This gave me room to develop the small dog (spa room) into 14 additional boarding spaces.
- We have gone from one 2-drawer file cabinet for client files to many large 2 drawer metal cabinets that get thinned out on a regular basis.
- Website and Social Media- Thanks to my husband Mark, who ran a web marketing agency for 15 years, we have a first class website and he also created our Facebook and Instagram accounts. Gail now handles the social media accounts for us and we are always amazed by her ability to come up with new, fun, topical and funny material. The photos, videos and more, she’s a star.
- I had always dreamed of what it would be like to have 2 locations and I wondered if I had systems that could be replicated. Enter Oswego 10 years ago. Set up of the building went quickly and smoothly since I had already learned so much from West Chicago. Initially it was just Lyn and myself there running it every day. Now Oswego is fully sustaining on its own with a full staff including grooming, shuttle, boarding and daycare.
What are some things that have not changed from the beginning?
- The staff of both Paws In Time in West Chicago and Oswego are some of the most amazing people on earth.
- We serve our amazingly loyal clients from all over the greater Fox Valley every day.
- We love your dogs so deeply – as if they are our own.
- We have all day play… every day. We do not put the dogs away in crates or kennels during the day. You know they are playing.
- We do not charge for the 6 hours of wide open play the dogs get when they board with us on Sundays.
- We do not charge you to pick up on Sunday.
- Our star staffer Gail has not changed. She joined us after 6 months in business. Gail has been our poster girl, Facebook/Instagram girl and all around promoter of all things cute and funny that happen at Paws In Time.
I have not changed. Me, Julie Nelson. Ownership of this company remains 100% mine. I take
tremendous pride in being able to serve you every day and your loyalty has meant everything to me over these 22 years. Thank you simply doesn’t seem to be enough but I want you to know how grateful I am for you and our fantastic team. Cheers to 22+ more years!
We truly appreciate dog owners who bring their puppies in at about 12 weeks of age for grooming. At this point it’s more about training them that grooming is a good thing. A basic bath, light blow dry and clip with a little nail trim goes a long way towards helping them learn to trust a groomer. In order to make sure every grooming experience feels like a spa day; your dog needs to learn to tolerate grooming when he/she is a puppy.
