By Cyndi Ingle
The good news is that Hamilton and Halton are entering the red zone after immerging from a second provincial lockdown, which started on January 14/21. The bad news is that many are wondering when and if life will ever return to “normal.” Those who love to travel are suffering extreme withdrawal and hoping that eventually we’ll be able to board a plane and experience other locales and visit our friends and family.
For local businesses that rely on travellers for their livelihood getting back to “normal” will be the deciding factor in whether they survive the pandemic. Happily, when we are able to travel, local small businesses such as award winning Little Paws Cat Sitting will be waiting to take care our beloved cats with love and affection.
Ready for you when you can travel again
Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Jill Johnson, the owner of Little Paws, who explained the toll that the pandemic has taken on a once thriving business.
Little Paws offers premium in home cat sitting while families are on holidays, covering Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Grimsby, Ancaster, Dundas, and with limited service in Burlington, Oakville and Milton.
Not only does Jill and her team expertly care for her clients’ feline friends, they offer free services such as mail/paper retrieval, plant watering, home security checks and daily photo updates.
Jill, along with several of her staff members, are able to accommodate caring for pets with medical needs, and can administer insulin injections, pills, and topical medications. Their outstanding service has won the business the Hamilton Spectator’s Readers’ Choice Award yearly since Little Paws began in January 2015.
Life before Covid-19
Pre-Covid Jill employed between five to ten staff, depending on the volume of work, and with close to 700 clients on the roster they were all very busy.
“It was incredible how wonderfully we were doing and the rate of growth was phenomenal, however, with Covid and the intense travel restrictions, we went from 100 to zero overnight. It was a heavy hearted day when I received my first cancelation due to the travel restrictions and then the cancelations just continued to flood in after that. I was most worried about how all of our sitters were going to survive. My heart broke every time I had to reach out to one of them to let them know one of their clients had to cancel.”
Although other businesses have found a way to pivot by offering different types of services, there was no safe way for Jill to reinvent Little Paws in the short term. Instead the business had to weather the storm, with the aid of government funding.
Government support has helped
Luckily Little Paws sitters were considered self-employed subcontractors so they were all able to collect CERB once benefits to people who were self-employed was extended.
Jill collected CERB which helped to cover business expenses such as insurance, website, car payments etc. and her wife was still working throughout the pandemic which helped out immensely. Not having to pay rent on a brick and mortar building was a distinct advantage.
“Aside from the CERB I did not seek out any other funding. I often thought about it, because to be honest, my personal income was poverty level, but I never did pursue anything because I had a roof over my head and food on the table.”
Advice for other small business owners
A champion of other local small businesses, Jill encourages business owners to take advantage of grants or other funding available. “I have full confidence that if you are strong and show resilience, we can get through anything! And we will do it together as community, family, business owner to business owner. Be kind, stay strong, stay healthy and love one another. We are stronger together!”
How can we support local businesses?
Jill is hopeful for the future and believes that once people can travel again Little Paws will be a thriving and successful business again. In the meantime…
“For Little Paws, it’s the support on social media, the likes, the loves, the shares, they all go a long way. It keeps people engaged. I love the feeling of being able to stay connected with our existing clients and it keeps us in the back of the minds of potential clients for future travel. We all really miss seeing our furry friends and it’s a nice opportunity to share photos and stories, keeping us all connected.”
You can check out Little Paws on Instagram and Facebook for an abundance of fun memes and photos! Visit their website for information on rates and services.
Little Paws provides amazing and excellent service. I would recommend them to anyone!!!!!