Why we got started in pet care.
10 years with the best job in the world!
We started pet sitting as a way to earn extra income 10 years ago. We were attending Texas Tech University (TTU) in Lubbock, TX and had been married for all of 4 months before we realized we needed help getting our finances in order. The church we were attending at that time was putting on Dave Ramsey’s ‘Financial Peace University’. To two newlyweds who had never worked through something like this, it was game changing. A big part of his ‘Baby Steps’ is to earn extra money if you can, to either stay out of debt, or pay it off. To avoid going into debt for our degrees, we each challenged the other to come up with a side business we could run while at TTU.
Collin’s big idea was to set up an aquarium maintenance business. He has past experience as an aquarist for Bass Pro Shops and thought he could apply that to his own business. Meghan landed on dog walking and pet sitting. While we only ever cleaned two fish tanks, the pet sitting exploded. Since it was Meghan’s idea, we called ourselves, “Dog Sitting with a Woman's Touch.” Not a very good name, at all. Despite the name, 10 years ago in Lubbock, pet sitting was new to the scene and we were busier than we ever imagined. We were doing predominantly drop-in visits and house sitting, many times wondering why we even kept an apartment, because we would go weeks without sleeping in our own bed.
We loved our time in Lubbock, and for two years had a blast caring for a variety of pets and learning so much about running a business. You learn real fast to respect others' space and never take the trust given to you for granted. We eventually moved to Arlington, TX and kept the business going there, only slightly scaled back with the arrival of our two kids. Mainly doing walks and house sits for a select few clients, we continued learning about pet care.
When we moved to Sedalia, so Collin could take a job as a Biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, we realized pet care was where our true passion was. We had looked up, and realized it had been around for almost our entire marriage and couldn’t imagine a life without it. We changed our name to ‘Funky Bunch Pet Care’ and brought Collin on full-time to help run and manage the business, so Meghan would have more time with the kids.
It’s a bit crazy to think back 10 years to those two people who started pet sitting as a way to earn extra money, who never saw where it would take them. We’re beyond grateful for the opportunity to care for the pets in the Sedalia and mid-Missouri community and plan on doing so for the rest of our lives. In order to meet a growing demand for quality pet care, we will soon be hiring and expanding services to the Springfield, MO area this fall and into Spring for 2022. We are super excited for this next stage of Funky Bunch.
As part of our experience, we recognize the immense importance of getting connected to a broader community of business owners and pet care professionals. We are working on organizing monthly meet-ups with the pet sitters and dog walkers in our community to network, build relationships, and continue to raise the bar on pet care in Sedalia. If you know of a pet care provider, or someone interested in getting started in the Sedalia area, send them our way! We’d love to network with them.
