We were lucky to catch up with Jeffrey Henderson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jeffrey, appreciate you joining us today. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?

The biggest trend we’ve seen in the industry since we’ve owned this business has been the shift in daycare attendance versus boarding – it has dramatically shifted with the pandemic. In 2018 and 2019, daycare was usually fairly steady and boarding was predictable based on popular travel weekends and holidays.

Once 2020 was upon us and the pandemic hit, everything dramatically changed. Boarding was almost non-existent and daycare attendance was terribly sparse – it nearly did us in. Luckily, 2021 saw a surge in daycare attendance as the puppies people added to their families during 2020 came of daycare age. Boarding, however, didn’t experience the same surge as travel was limited and people were taking more road trips and in doing so, they’d take their dogs with them.

2022 saw a gradual decline in daycare attendance which we’re still experiencing in 2023, but boarding numbers grew a great deal. People returned to regular travel and that meant leaving their dogs in our care. Now, as more businesses are requiring their employees to return to the office, even part-time, we’re hopeful that our daycare numbers will improve.

Jeffrey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

After being laid off from my last regular job in the advertising industry I’d been in for 25 years, I was ready for a change. My husband came up with an idea while picking our dog up from daycare after his long commute. He ran the idea by me and the next thing I knew, we were looking for a dog daycare to buy. It didn’t take long and we found the perfect spot. We were definitely very green and spent the next couple of years learning everything the hard way, but it’s been worth it.

While our services are relatively basic, they’re essential – caring for our customers’ dogs. We choose to focus on our base services well rather than add a bunch of superfluous services that would distract from our main objective. Whether it’s for a few hours of daycare or a week while they’re on vacation, our goal is to make sure that every dog is happy and loved while they’re away from their humans.

We’re constantly proud of and amazed by our staff and their dedication to the dogs that come to us, we’re also very proud of our branding and how well we’ve been able to maintain the integrity of our brand all while providing excellent service and care for dogs.

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

When we purchased the business in 2018, we were well aware that within a year, we would have to relocate it because the building it was in had been sold and was being turned into townhomes. “No problem”, we thought… We were very wrong. The process was fraught with problems and issues. We had no choice but to push through. Our hope was to secure a new location and when our time was up at the old location, move over seamlessly. We didn’t realize how difficult it was going to be to find a new location and a landlord that would rent to a dog daycare.

We finally secured a location, but not in time to make a seamless transition. We had to close for two months in 2019 while we built out the new space. We had a terrible contractor who nearly bankrupted us, but we made it work and finished all of the necessary improvements to open the doors. Then, came the time to rebuild the business – that was another tough challenge because while we didn’t move too far from the old location, some of our customers didn’t come with us. By the end of 2019, we were starting to see some solid improvements and we felt that 2020 was going to be a strong year of rebuilding and continued improvement. Again, we were sorely mistaken!

Our first quarter of 2020 was pretty great, matching the first quarter of 2019 (while we were at our old location) so that was a relief. Then came Covid-19. We – like most other businesses – were forced to close. We remained closed for two months. When we reopened, we did so to limited hours: Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. No weekends and no boarding. After a month of that, we expanded our hours to normal and things continued to slowly pick up. Daycare attendance was improving and we were even booking boarding clients for most nights. But, by the end of 2020, we had exhausted our resources and couldn’t afford to keep pouring more money into the business to keep it afloat. So, against everything my PR-focused brain was telling me, we posted a real-life look at where we were with the business. We then sent an email to our clients linking to the blog and reiterating that if we didn’t have more dogs coming in, we would be forced to close by the end of January 2021.

It worked. The clients filled the business. We had a record-setting day the first Monday after the email went out. 63 dogs! But then, we broke that record two days later with 65 dogs. Our goal has always been 60 dogs with the current configuration of the daycare (we have another area that we can build out that will allow us to have 20 more, too), so beating the goal and continuing to see great daycare attendance throughout the year was great. We also saw a solid uptick in boarding.

The fact that we made it through a difficult move and build-out and then that we were able to persevere throughout the pandemic definitely illustrates our dedication and resilience.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

After a relatively long career of some great jobs and projects as well as some not-so-great situations and a general feeling of frustration, I landed a job I felt I had waited my entire adult life to get. It was with a small, digital ad agency in San Francisco. I loved it – we had some great clients, we had a solid team of people, and I had a boss I thought was amazing. There was a point at which I felt I was starting to feel a little burned out and I had a conversation with my boss. We came up with a plan to pivot my role and make it more suitable for me. Fast-forward a few months and we lost our agency’s largest client and with the way my new position had been structured – the writing was on the wall for me. After nearly four years with my dream agency, I was getting laid off. I didn’t know what to think or feel – I was numb. I was shocked at how it felt and it took me a while to rebound. Then the big search for a new position came, but the bar was high and it was difficult to consider a lot of what I was finding.

Again, a big pivot for me – I began freelancing. I found a few clients and it went well and proved to be a good pivot. The hustle wasn’t fun, but I was happy that I could find a way to leverage some talents. The next big pivot was a couple of years later when we purchased our business and I was charged with the task of overseeing operations.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gooddog-inc.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/good.dog.sea/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gooddoginc.seattle/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jahendy/
• Other: https://about.me/sfjeph