|
Because Dogs Don't Wear Glasses
By Heather Gaghan
When you sit down and ask a business owner how their company
got started and you hear the words, “animal communicator,” you know it’s going
to be a good story. …So let’s begin.
The story of Katie’s Bumpers™ began one sunny day in
New York when Jill’s mother, a Newfoundland breeder, asked an animal communicator to
come and speak to Katie, a beautiful and smart Landseer Newfoundland. Having 15
dogs at home, there were a lot of questions that Jill’s folks would have for
their dogs and they would often have a very good animal communicator come and
speak with them. Specifically, a Newfie water judge had asked Jill’s mom if she
could ask Katie why she and the other Newfs were having so much trouble jumping
off a boat for water rescue.
For this Newfoundland, water rescue was a daily job and for
Katie and the others, it seemed a somewhat daunting duty. According to the
communicator, Katie told her that “We don’t know where we are going. And, by
the way, the bumpers should be striped.” (Don’t you just love a dog with an eye
for patterns?!)
A couple months after the meeting with the animal
communicator in the fall of 2001, Jill was home visiting her family where she was
told the story. She recalls, “Without taking a breath, I knew that I could make
these bumpers. Within two weeks, I had found a manufacturer in the states who
could make checked and striped bumpers for me. I thought I was only going to do this for a few months, make
them for Newfoundland water training, and get a “real” job by late spring. Well,
that never happened!”
What did happen was a woman who was previously making six
figures a year in computer sales had now discovered a business idea that
combined her three loves—sales, creativity, and her true affection for dogs.
As an ardent supporter of domestic small business, Nazimek
found a local manufacturer for her products—a short 30 minutes drive from her
home. In her first year, Jill introduced 3 new products; Katies Bumpers ™ Originals,
the Heave Hose ™ and the Sqwuggie™. According
to Jill, her philosophy is to make products that are fun, unique, practical and
well made for both the dogs and the people. “We make great, durable,
interactive toys for dogs and their people who love to get out and play.”
Traditional bumpers that are used in field and water rescue
training come in white and orange. So once Katie made it known that patterns
are better, Nazimek designed her products with bright colors and patterns to
make them stand out better in the water. Jill says “the dogs overwhelmingly
preferred our patterned bumpers over the plain ones.”
When Jill speaks of her creative process you can almost hear
the wheels turning in her head. “I always wake up around 3AM and have to draw
whatever has been floating around in my mind. Then, I take some fire hose and
webbing or whatever the medium is and get out the stapler and tape.” Once at the manufacturers, they sit at the
sewing machine and test out different concepts and designs until they get a toy
that looks like it might work. Jill is
always able to find ready and willing participants to test out the new
products. As she says, “What good is any product unless you know it works as
intended? If it is a success, I always broach it with my best clients and see
what they think. After all, they are going to have to buy it and sell it and
they know what sells. I never want to work in a vacuum. That is just a recipe
for potential disaster!”
Nazimek may not work in a vacuum, but sure does work with
plenty of hose—fire hose that is! She says they “must buy about 15,000 feet of
fire hose a year, not to mention the 25,000 squeakers we go through!” Why
squeakers? Well one of the many unique products Katie’s Bumpers ™ offers is a “Sqwuggie™.” These dog friendly, durable, fetch and
floatable tug toys “have a strong sewn-in loop tug handle for tugging and a
muffled squeaker so they are quiet for the 2 legged ones among us but perfect
for the sensitive ears of every dog!”
Both the Sqwuggies™ and the Heave Hose™ are made from pre-consumer
recycled fire hose material. The Heave Hose™ is another unique product that comes
in four sizes: Puppy, Medium, Large and Big Mouth.
After many trials and tests, Jill and her partners realized
that not only do dogs come in different sizes but so do their mouths and
sometimes it’s not what you would expect. “We thought that really big dogs like
Newfies would be able to use the Big Mouth Heave Hose™, but they have softer,
smaller mouths and can only use the Medium or Large Heave Hose™.”
The artist recalls her disbelief when watching a four month
old Golden pup pick up a Jumbo Original bumper and carry it around forever like
it was a stick! As she says, “So now I know that retrievers have really big
mouths and they can practically pick up a house!”
Another unique idea to come from the creative mind of Jill
Nazimek is the Oval Office™ Tote. As the website claims, “Where all the
important stuff goes!” This tote is great for any trip, any location, is
available in seven colors and is made of washable fabric as are all the Katie’s
Bumpers™ products.
The artist says her family is an integral part of the
business. “This crazy business is totally a family affair. The katiesbumpers.com site is critical to
the success of my business and I have my sister, Julie, to thank for its ease
of use and great look. She has spent an enormous amount of time building my
website. My husband, Greg, ties ALL of those knots on the toys and packs all of
the boxes that ship out to the many places around the country and Canada that
can’t seem to get enough of the bumpers! My folks raise Newfoundlands and Katie
gets to put every new toy through the Newfie ringer.”
When asked how she feels about the pet industry compared to
her previous line of work, Jill responds, “I love what I am doing. I work 80 or
more hours a week. It is worth every minute of what I am doing. When you own
your own business, you eat, sleep and breathe it. If you don’t, you won’t be
successful. It is very creative and very satisfying. The great thing about the
people who buy our products is that everyone loves their dogs. I don’t care if
the dog is a three-legged mutt or a Westminster Champion. Everyone loves their
dogs. It’s a happy industry.”
And what better than to see dogs happy at play! So we say
thank you Jill for making such wonderful and unique products that our dogs love
to fetch. You can check out all her wonderful products by visiting our All Labs Store.
|
