Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Pape.
Katie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was 9 when we got our first dog (after lots of pleading!), Ginger and we had a strong bond right away. I loved helping to take care of her. She was the best secret keeper and playmate. I was in college when I got the call that she wasn’t doing well and I should come home to say goodbye. I remember my mom telling me how she had moved more during my visit than she had in weeks. She perked up just long enough for me to be able to say goodbye. That was the first big loss I ever experienced. Since Ginger, I’ve had Lola and now Mia. My life never feels complete without a dog in it.
It’s one of the most rewarding experiences for me now to be able to care for dogs in my career and teach my daughter how to be kind to animals.
Dogs were always a love of mine and art was another. I really cultivated my passion for art in high school and I pursued that in college at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!). I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in painting. Instead of becoming an animal portraitist, I got into sales after college. Being in sales taught me how to hustle, think on my feet and deliver customer service. It wasn’t rewarding but it paid the bills and I enjoyed the fast pace.
When I was let go from my sales position years later, I decided to go back to being with dogs. I needed to clear my head, plan my next career steps and do something that would make me feel good. I decided dog walking checked all those boxes plus I would get me outside and exercising. After about six months I realized I had more business than I could keep up with so I decided to hire another walker to help, and Windy City Paws was born.
We’ve been in business since 2009 and our mission is to be Chicago’s most trusted dog walking service!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has most definitely not been smooth! Every day owning a business is like you wake up and get a new road condition without any warning. I’m constantly adapting and reacting to things that are new to me. The smoothest part of my path in business growth has always been customer service. It’s natural for me.
Everything outside of service operations is a bit outside of my comfort zone. Leading an office staff of 7 and a Walker staff of 60+ is a privilege but also a challenge. As we’ve gotten larger, the resources needed to handle employee turnover is a struggle.
Accounting, payroll, legal and compliance issues were all new to me and are hard to stay on top of. Marketing is a major task to address regularly in finding new and creative ideas to grow my client base and attract the workforce to supply those clients. Operating a business from home is difficult at times and a dream other times. I love waking up and walking downstairs or being available for a walker to come pick up keys after hours but it can make having a work/life balance hard.
Please tell us about Windy City Paws.
Windy City Paws is a dog walking and pet sitting company that caters to busy professionals who not only want their dog to get out to go to the bathroom but receive one on one personalized care and love. The most common service we provide is our 30-minute dog walk.
We also provide vacation care in the form of cat visits and in-home pet sitting. During these services, we even do extra things around the house like pick up mail and packages and water plants. When clients are away, they have peace of mind knowing that their home and pet are being well cared for.
What makes Windy City Paws different from other dog walking services is that we provide a dedicated walker for every client. This allows our walker and our client’s dog to form a strong bond, and it’s also comforting to our clients to know who is coming in and out of their home every day. Finally, what sets us apart from competitors is our size. We’re equipped to handle growth and have never had to “waitlist” potential clients.
Windy City Paws has an office team that is dedicated to providing walker training, walker field support, and customer service. If you read the feedback our customers leave online, it’s clear that our office staff’s work to proactively communicate and respond swiftly with clients is what makes our services a delight.
We’re also very proud to hire and employee candidates regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, disability, or genetics… We are proud to be a safe space and employer for those who are more likely to face discrimination.
Windy City Paws is also the first dog walking company in the country to implement Fear Free principles in dealing with high-needs animals. Fear Free is a system of care (designed initially for veterinarians) to not only care for a pet’s physical well being but also their emotional well being by removing fear, anxiety and stress from environments and activities. Windy City Paws walker administrative staff is Fear Free Certified and trains walkers with Fear Free principles.
What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
I’m incredibly proud to be a working mom. I completely restructured Windy City Paws when I was pregnant so that I could take a maternity leave and ultimately have this career and still have enough time with my daughter. Because I have an amazing team, I’m able to set my own schedule and continue to be with my daughter on a regular basis. We work from a home office so she gets to see a business in action all the time. Every day my daughter sees me working on something I care about.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://windycitypaws.com
- Phone: 312-473-6466
- Email: info@windycitypaws.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/windycitypaws
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/windycitypaws/
- Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/windy-city-paws-chicago-2
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