Today we’d like to introduce you to Wende Matejek.
Hi wende, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have always loved animals and wanted to work with them, but my start as a pet professional was not exactly planned. Life pushed me in different directions. my path led me to working as a project manager with an IT company. It was a business that was growing and evolving, but also often restructuring. Unfortunately in one of the restructurings, the team I worked on was eliminated.
While struggling to find work in a fruitless job market, in the aftermath of what is apparently now called the great recession, I thought in the meantime I might as well do something I love.
I started with Care.com. It focused mostly on babysitting but also had pet care searches. It was free at the time so a great service to get started. Then after speaking with my local (and personal pets’) veterinarian, I was added to their recommended pet sitter list. My schedule started to fill up. I wondered if I could really make this work. I truly did not expect ‘in the meantime’ to be forever but am thankful for it. And more importantly, i didnt expect to cultivate the belief that I could actually be happy at work and do something I love.
Now Premier Pets is providing dog walking, pet sitting and client stays for community pet owners as well as other services like pet taxi for example.
I have built an amazing customer base and feel so lucky to have started this. I love my clients. Its often like i have dozens of pets. I love them all as if they were my own. I get to do something that i love and makes me happy. Pet owners can trust in the best care for their pets.
Alright, 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?
Every business has its challenges. There have definitely been ups and downs. Overall I feel lucky to have built what I have, but there were definitely two major hurdles that almost derailed everything.
Soon after getting started, I was in a major car accident. It seemed like such a difficult climb to reach to a point where i had reliable clients then a lady t-boned me on my driver side. I ended up with broken ribs and needed disc replacement surgery in my neck. I tried to avoid the surgery but physically was not able to keep up. I ended up having to get a double disc replacement in my neck. Then to add insult to injury, one of the replacement discs just surgically placed failed and I had to go back in for an emergency fusion surgery to correct it. Bottomline I was out of commission for a long time. It was a stressful time managing everything while recovering and being physically limited. But you heal and you keep climbing.
Then of course there was Covid. Everything shut down. In-person contact with anyone was on hiatus. No one was leaving the house. No one was traveling. No one needed help. Everything was so unsure at the time. Then workplaces even evolved and the work from home culture changed the market even more. Many people would now be with their pets and no longer need assistance. Thankfully over time things began to return mostly to normal. And even better, many people who added new best friends during covid started needing help when workplace requirements shifted back again.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I didn’t just randomly pick dog walking though. Aside from loving dogs! I have always wanted to work with animals. I just wasnt sure how. Originally I thought I would be a veterinarian. Until I got to high school I was sure that would be my profession. But over time the downsides of the job seemed overwhelming and I realized it was not for me. It left me feeling a little lost. I wasnt sure what to do so just continued to college and then off to jobs. Really any jobs I could get. My degree in psychology wasnt doing much.
I worked in restaurants, a printing company, a real estate company, a data storage company, as well as dozens of part-time jobs; even working on a boat, which admittedly was a lot of fun. Basically I was all over the place. But it was all just jobs and I constantly thought about what I really wanted.
Eventually I decided to attend animal behavior college. I had years of experience as a pet owner but wanted to expand my knowledge and learn more about dog behavior. I obtained a certification in dog training as well as got pet first aid certified. It was really rewarding working with the dogs but at the time I had a great job (even though it wasn’t exactly what i wanted) and it didn’t seem like leaving would be a good idea.
When I was laid off it was almost like the universe made a decision for me, a little this-could-be-your-chance push. I was suddenly in a position with nothing to lose. Dog walking was something I could do and I could handle dogs well. Getting immediate jobs for pet sitting was also easy in comparison to training so thats what I did. Try to get jobs and see what happens.
And it just so happened to be something that I loved and it grew.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up I remember just wanting to get outside and play. I guess it makes sense now that I work outside 90% of the time. Loved to be active and I still do.
Its also always been important to have fun. Life is often hard and you have to find the little bits of happy that fill the small spaces between everything else. Get out and have fun. Go on an adventure or to a concert; just something you enjoy. We should all give ourselves a little joy to look forward to in life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://premierpetsnj.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/premierpetsnj/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/premierpetspetsitting
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/premier-pets-summit
