We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jen Kanzenbach. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jen below.

Jen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I honestly didn’t plan to do what I’m currently doing, but the universe had its own ideas in mind! I’ve always loved dogs! I decided to go back to school to get a business degree in hopes of one day owning & operating a 24/7 dog daycare. I didn’t like that the ones that were currently in operation near me did not have staff available & on-sight at all hours of the day in case there would be an emergency and so forth while my dogs were in their care. I would go on vacation & find myself worrying most of the time because I knew they would be left alone from this time to this time. My daycare would have staff available for a 1st, 2nd, & 3rd shift so that there wouldn’t be a time where they would be left completely alone to fend for themselves. (more than likely sleep, but you never know! I’m a worry-wart! All kinds of scenarios cross my mind & wreak havoc!) They were going to have little bedrooms set up with beds and options for add-ons of toys and treats for an extra charge if the owner wanted. I even had a cute name all picked out, SaPpEtIcAl, (a personal leave of sorts for dogs) but it wasn’t meant to be… During this time at school, recalls in the pet food & treat industry started to become very common. It became so common that it scared me. My dogs were my kids. We always bought whatever treats and food were popular at the store. At that time, I didn’t know any better. Now those treats and food were the ones being recalled! I started doing tons of research on what’s good, what’s bad, what’s toxic, and what’s beneficial for dogs and one day I just started to make my own. My treats were not going to have additives or preservatives in them. I had read too many bad things about them and what they did to dog’s bodies! I later read that based on the preservatives that are used in some commercial dog treats and foods, they will last up to 30 years!!! (How is having something like that in your body healthy is my thought…) I also wasn’t going to use anything that couldn’t be easily pronounced and I was going to dehydrate them to get rid of their moisture content. Maybe I would try to freeze dry the treats too at some point, but my plan was to start with dehydrating them at first. My dogs loved it and as I knew exactly what ingredients were in them, I loved it too! My 2 labs were my taste-testers and I made all of their treats from that point on. There were no more trips to the grocery store for treats, no more guessing as to what they were eating, and no more worrying about recalls and whether what I was feeding my pups was going to make them sick or worse!!!

A few weeks later, I decided to bring some of my treats into class for anyone to take home that had a dog or dogs. In the beginning of class days later, my instructor made a comment that his dog really enjoyed them and that I “may have something with these!” Around the same time, I had made some to bring to a friend that volunteered at an animal shelter. That animal shelter happened to be looking for someone to help them raise funds for the shelter. The animal shelter had a spot in a section of the mall on the weekends where they had dogs trained to fetch envelopes that individuals could put monetary donations in for the shelter. I would be able to set up my treats at a table and sell them with a portion of the funds being donated to them. They offered this to me and I happily said yes! I did this for a few years for them.

At this point, my business plan slightly changed from wanting to own a daycare for dogs to making homemade dog treats with ingredients you know. Either way, I was destined to own my own small business and it had to involve dogs! I just didn’t think it would involve me making dog treats! I went ahead and registered under the name that combined two of my loves, coffee and dogs! Beans ‘N Bones seemed to be a fitting name! I had plans of trying to do a coffee shop where dogs would be welcome, homemade dog treats would be on hand, couches and a lounge area would be set up for guests to sit, relax, read, and have some coffee. I have A LOT of friends who own dog rescues too, so I thought that they could bring their adoptable doggos in from time to time to get them more exposure and maybe help them find their new, loving families! I definitely had a lot of ideas in this head of mine!

Sadly, after 3 years in business, everything changed one day. We had owned 3 dogs at the time; Salem, Fynn, and Remington. 1 that we had rescued, Salem, did not get along with others. She had at first, though. When we had adopted another as a puppy, they got along perfectly until he got to be a little bigger than her. His high energy mixed with his size and the fact that we really didn’t know how well her former owners had socialized her led to us having to keep baby gates up throughout the household to keep everyone separated. I, unfortunately, went to let 1 dog out of one room not realizing another was in the kitchen and a fight immediately started.

I quickly separated those 2, Salem and Remi and got Salem back behind the baby gate. That’s when the 3rd dog, Fynn, ran up from downstairs. We have a tri-level home. Fynn chased Remi downstairs and started attacking him. Remington was the sweetest black lab that wouldn’t hurt a fly and I couldn’t sit back and listen to him yelp and cry. I quickly grabbed a baby gate and ran down to our family room to try to get them apart. It took a little bit longer than I thought it would. I made sure to never stick my hands in the mix, just the baby gate. When I finally got them apart, I thought it was done and that I would just have to carefully bring each to a different room. Unfortunately, Fynn wasn’t done. He latched on to my right ankle. Remi had run off by then. Thank goodness for that! 2 out of 3 dogs were safe at least! Some parts of what happened next are still a blur, but how he ended up grabbing my left arm, my dominant arm, mind you, I’ll never know. I was at home alone, my husband was at work for another half hour, and the Plott Hound we had had since he was a puppy was biting and shaking my arm back & forth. I screamed at him, “Fynn, why are you biting your momma???” in hopes that somehow the sound of my voice would snap him out of his anger and rage, but it didn’t. I remember grabbing a dull axe we had by our fireplace at one point and striking him as hard as I could on the head with the handle with my right arm even though he had taken a few bites out of that arm too. The whole attack probably went on for about 20 minutes to a half hour or so. Luckily, I went into shock by that point and I didn’t feel any pain. I hit him over the head enough that he finally let go of my arm. (It was absolutely horrible having to do that to him, but it was the only thing I could do to get him to let go of my arm…) I was able to drag him into our bathroom and shut the door as best as I could. The baby gate was laying on the floor in the doorway, so I couldn’t close the door the whole way. I just hoped he wouldn’t get the strength to get back up and come after me again. It’s amazing what superhuman strength you gain when you go into shock!

I went up the stairs to our living room, moved the baby gate, sat down, and looked at my arm. I remember shaking my head and thinking, “well, a band-aid is definitely not going to do much on that!” I called my husband. I knew he wasn’t going to answer, but I wanted him to know that I was going to be at the hospital. THEN, I called 911. Sounds silly, but I didn’t want him to come home to that scene and not know where I was. When the paramedics and the police showed up, they knocked at the front door. I opened it and stood there. They looked at me, my mauled arm, and just shook their heads. They wouldn’t come into our home to get me as Salem was standing next to me barking. I yelled to them that she was not the one that had attacked me and that he was downstairs, but they still wouldn’t come in. I eventually walked down the hall towards our kitchen, moved the baby gate, and went through the kitchen to the garage where they put me on a stretcher and finally got me into the ambulance.

Fynn had bit through all of the tendons in my arm except for 1 that day. The hospital I was taken to performed my first surgery. They found in doing it that I didn’t have any major blood flow in my arm and they agreed that my best option would be to have my arm amputated stating that further down the line, the lack of blood would cause the tissue in my arm to die and amputation would happen anyways. I wouldn’t agree to it as 1 of their nurses found a pulse in my arm (upon my family’s request for her to try to find one, not something one of the surgeons or doctors had asked…) and my fingers still moved. I also still had feeling in them. I decided to go for a 2nd opinion 3 hours away from home. My amazing surgeon and his team were able to reconstruct my arm completely and save it after 9 surgeries! There aren’t enough words to describe how thankful I am for all that they did and for the fact that I still have my arm. It has taken quite a while to relearn how to use it, writing with it is so-so, (I’m ambidextrous now, but I’ll always be a lefty at heart!) and I still have a hard time typing with it, but I remain hopeful that maybe someday it’ll come back to me. One’s body is truly remarkable in not only how it can relearn skills, but its ability to heal. I’m not sure if my arm will ever be what it once was, but I’m a huge believer in advocating for yourself and; of course, 2nd opinions!

That happened 7 years ago. Luckily, my husband stepped in from the moment I got hurt and took my place with rolling out the dough and making certain treats when I couldn’t or didn’t have the ability to. He still does to this day. I have also tweaked our treats so that more are made in silicone molds instead of needing the dough to be rolled out. I have gone through a lot of physical and mental therapy to get to where I am now. My arm may get tired a lot quicker these days, but I’m still chugging along!

We recently celebrated 9 years in business! We started with making treats for around 30 dogs per month to close to 200 now! It’s amazing to hear how many love what we make and I’m proud to give the owners the peace of mind that what their pups are eating is something they know and trust! I’ll never get tired of hearing those compliments! They make me smile every time knowing that I’m doing something good for my #1 love: DOGS!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Jen and I’m the owner of Beans ‘N Bones. At Beans ‘N Bones, I make homemade dog treats for dogs of all sizes with ingredients you know! My treats are made without any additives or preservatives besides honey, which is a natural preservative. The treats also do not contain any dyes. We are located in Green Bay, WI and are made up of 2 people and a pup, our 14 yr. old taste-tester, Salem. We just celebrated our 9th year in business! I started Beans ‘N Bones because I wanted to know EXACTLY what my dogs were eating! Recalls were becoming too common and I didn’t want my dogs, my family to get sick or worse from treats I had just bought for them at the store! I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if that were to happen! They were my world! So, I researched and researched and researched some more, found out what’s good, toxic, beneficial, what to always stay away from and just started to make my own dog treats one day. What started as just a hobby for my own dogs turned into so much more! We (my husband and I) make grain and gluten-free treats; as well as, regular, cater to dogs with specific allergies, make doggy birthday cakes, training treats, doggy bug spray, and toys from time to time to keep your pups busy, and Monthly Dog Treat Subscriptions!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I’ve already shared my story about the dog attack incident, but I didn’t mention that I also have Multiple Sclerosis. This year actually marked the 20th anniversary of my original diagnosis. Although, I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones compared to some, I do have my fair share of difficulties to deal with too. To be completely honest, I would say, more of my hardships came from the dog attack than from what I have dealt with so far with MS. That’s not to curse myself or anything. (knock on wood!) Doing vending events in warmer weather was really difficult for me. On these warm days, I often have a hard time walking. I do have a really, really old wheelchair (I think it belonged to my great-great aunt. Yeah, it’s that old!) that I will only use on rare occasions, but normally not at a vending event where the set up is out on a grassy surface.

The funny thing is that we had 1 event mid September & it was 80 degrees that day! Ugh! So, I finally decided that we will not be doing anymore outdoor vending events from now on! Luckily, my husband said he would just go & do that 1 because it was too warm for me, so I stayed home that day. (What we will keep doing; however, is sponsoring/paying the adoption fees for the dogs that are elderly/have been at the rescue the longest/have disabilities/have been overlooked, etc. in hopes that that will help get them a loving home quicker! At least that’s what we hope will happen!)

Vending events are A LOT of work btw! Getting enough made ahead of time, getting everything packaged up, labeled, treats sitting out in the sun are a big no-no with the moisture, so you try to do what you can to prevent them from being wasted.

I don’t want to just sound like a big complainer. I’m really not. There’s a lot that goes into small businesses that a lot of individuals don’t really know about. We work really, really hard for not all that much money considering all of the time we put in. Why? Because it’s OUR business & we want it to do well! Because it’s our passion! Because we’re trying our best to make a difference in some way! (Despite rude customers, the people that just snap a picture of something you made & say “oh, I can just make that myself!” or say “my dog won’t eat those fancy treats!” & walk away…people that walk up, laugh & say “dog treats…” like it’s the funniest thing they’ve ever seen…) We’re still there selling what we make even though we have disabilities, even though we may not be feeling our best, even though we may be ridiculed over what we make. We’re still there, trying our best to sell what we spent a lot of time doing. To us, it matters. To the dogs, it matters!

I could easily have given up many times and I had plenty of reasons to, but I had just as many reasons to keep going too!

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Honestly, the best source of new clients for me has always been word of mouth!!! Lucky for me, I have a lot of dog-loving friends! For the 9 years I have been in business, only 1 family member consistently bought treats from me on a monthly basis. Was she the only one in my family that had a dog? No. I’m not a big company and they have their reasons. My friends have always been my greatest supporters and I love them for that! People I’ve never met have also been huge supporters. Once they tell 1 person that their dog or dogs love this treat or that treat or the treat subscription in general, their friends are normally quick to sign up too! We like to provide a little thank you gift for the dogs (extra treats) and a small gift for the owner too (a home fragrance simmer that a friend of mine makes through her small business) for spreading the word about our treats and that their referral meant so much to us. Spreading the word about a small business really does matter!

We also provided our business flyers to our friends’ animal rescues or to friends who foster dogs regularly to pass out to the new owners of any dogs that got adopted.

Both of those ways really helped; but above all, word of mouth for sure!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.beansnbones.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beansnbones