We recently connected with Anna Vermeulen and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Anna thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Almost every entrepreneur we know has considered donating a portion of their sales to an organization or cause – how did you make the decision of whether to donate? We’d love to hear the backstory if you’re open to sharing the details.

As a Pinehurst local, finding new ways to give back to our community has always been very important to me. I personally hold the belief that growth shouldn’t stop at the person who gained it. I believe that if we are blessed to grow, wether financially or knowledge based, it’s our responsibility to share that growth or knowledge with those around us. Perhaps the best visual example of how this can be significantly impactful is a thriving community.

When we choose to give back to the community that once nourished us, and enabled our growth, it is our responsibility to give back to it. Through our small business charities, that’s exactly what I aim to to each day. While some contributions might not seam worth your while, or even to have little impact, each and every contribution counts. Though may small business (YPCC/ Your Pet Care Connection), we have been blessed to start out making those small impacts, and expand on our giving opportunities each year as our business grows.

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

My name is Anna, and I’m proud to be the small business owner & operator at YPCC (Your Pet Care Connection). I’m blessed to be a mother to two beautiful children (Ella & Ollie), and two fantastic fur-babies named Spencer (Maltipoo), and Terra (Sphynx).

As a pet lover from a young age, I’m fortunate enough to say that I can’t remember a time without pets in my life, and see them as a part of the family. I have over 15 years of experience in caring for pets, and have loved every minute of it! My love of animals first led me to a degree within Biology. After graduating and spending several years in management within the pet industry, I set forth to complete my vision of providing quality in-home pet care services to the Pines.

Over the years my passion for animals grew into a passion for providing a high quality standard of pet care for those within Moore County. My vision, YPCC, became reality in 2017. For the last 5 years and counting YPCC has been proud to offer quality in-home pet care services from daily dog walking, to pet sitting and in-home overnight care services. I’m now proud to lead an amazing team of pet care professionals, and am excited to be able to welcome new pets into our YPCC family every day!

As a Moore County native, I have a strong connection with our small hometown. I grew up watching Moore county grow, and am excited to continue growing with our community. I can’t wait to see what each new year brings!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Covid-19 is something that undoubtedly hit all small businesses hard, and the service industry particularly so. With the drastic reduction in travel, as well as the newly instilled hesitancy in personal contact, the financial impact on YPCC was equally profound. While only a few years into running a new small business, and a 2 year old as well as a new baby in September of 2019, I was hard pressed to keep things running when our numbers hit an all-time low since we started in 2017. With over a 50% reduction in income and no financial relief options for businesses with our income level and “mortar-free” business model, we were left with a hard decision. Stick it out, or shut it down? We decided to stick it out. With the support from the amazing clients who held to their daily visits, and the fantastic employees who stuck with us through the downturn, we are blessed to not only have survived the last few years but to have flourished.

Have you ever had to pivot?

My personal carrier was heavily influenced by the brith of my children, and the current job opportunities within Moore County at the time I was looking. While a MoCo native, I had left the Pines for a short stent of about 5 years to live within the Triangle. There I met my partner, and was blessed to start our small family. After the brith of my son (Ollie), my partner and I looked back to MorCo in order to be closer to family who still lived there.

Having moved back to the Pines, my partner was quickly able to find a job within his field of work. However, I was presented with the new challenge of finding a job that helped provide for our family, while still allowing me to be present for our 1 year old son. I kept coming up short. Having an extensive background in animals, biology, and retail management wasn’t’ quite fitting the bill for the current job market. I near expiration, I found myself looking towards the opportunities that in-home pet care presented. I found that there was a large window of opportunity for personalized in-home care services, and knew I could help meet that need. In 2017, I opened Your Pet Care Connection (YPCC), and started providing in-home pet care to the Pines. I was my self-made dream job, and YPCC was blessed to flourish!

In 2019, I was blessed with the birth of my second child, Ella. Once again, as a working mother, finding a job that also allowed me to be at home with my children presented challenging. In order to keep YPCC running and still continue to provide for my family, I decline to make a job shift once again, and moved to hiring and managing employees. Though with Covid-19 that quickly followed, and the inevitable ups and downs of any small business, we were blessed to continue to grow and flourish to the small business we are today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yourpetcareconnection.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/your_pet_care_connection/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/petcareconnection/
• Other: https://poplme.co/yourpetcareconnection

Image Credits
YPCC Photos