Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Leslie Paetschow. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Leslie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

In December 2013 when I adopted my dog Shiner he was estimated to be about 1 years old. I knew he had a lot of goofy dog energy but truth be told I didn’t realize just how much energy he really needed to burn. But I made a commitment to him and he to me, so we would jog for 6 miles and ended at the city dog park down the street. We would stay at the city dog park for an average of 2 hours each time after our run and sometimes even that wasn’t enough to wear him out. 6 days a week, this was our routine.

Early on in this routine I realized that I would pay every penny I had if there were staff trained to help me keep him out of trouble so I could just relax with a beer and know he was safe. One day it hit me that if I was willing to pay for this concept, surely others would be too. I began polling other dog owners and sure enough, I was onto something. There was a market for dog owners committed to their pups living a good and healthy life, but keeping them safe in a multi dog situation and having a chance to relax after a long day of work were both missing from city run dog parks.

What got me most excited about the concept was bringing balance back to dog owners’ lives by providing a place that pups could play safely, and therefore have time to socialize with friends or just relax while their pups got enough energy out to let their parents relax at home.

Leslie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Every now and then I am asked how I got into the dog park and bar business – do I have an MBA, how did I learn so much about dogs, etc. The truth is, I didn’t know myself well enough until I was already out of college to realize my love of business and dog behavior. All that I did know was that I hated math but loved dogs and craft beer. But that’s the funny thing isn’t it? As kids we are asked “what do you want to be when you grow up” and at that age we think we have it all figured out… until it’s time to grow up. So when I’m asked how I started a dog park and bar, the only answer I have is: I saw a business need that involved two things I knew I was passionate about and spent years learning everything I could to make it happen.

In the months leading up to opening the park I took a deeper dive into what I wanted the park to mean for both the dogs and the customers that would come. I wanted the park to be a place where dogs could have fun in a positive way (no negative reinforcement) and with staff that was proactive in monitoring dogs to avoid altercations before they even began. From my time watching and learning from other dog parks and bars one of the things I noticed that I wanted to do differently was that I saw staff were reactive, not proactive and I wanted The Watering Bowl to be different.

The thing I am most proud of is our regular customers. They are all so kind and welcoming to new customers who come in for the first time that they have created a vibe for the park and a community within the park that I alone couldn’t have done.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

Early on in the company, and even now at times, we struggle to get ahead financially as I’m sure most business owners can relate to. We are also a completely outdoor concept, so in our first summer after opening money was extra tight. The night before one payroll I went to bed thinking that we wouldn’t have enough to cover it and I could hardly sleep that night. Our payroll system works in a way that I knew my staff would be paid out, but when it tried to be reimbursed by our bank and there wasn’t enough we would be dinged and restrictions put on the account. The next morning when I checked our bank account we had .70 cents left and I had never been so happy.

How did you build your audience on social media?

When we first started our social media journey my business partner and I focused on trying to build excitement for our concept before we were ready to open. She and I are both huge fans of a good pun so we started there and then when we opened we did a lot of posts with the dogs in the park. We did events and started making reels and what we realized from the engagement statistics are that the posts where we were more authentically ourselves and transparent about any topic we were presenting, the more engagement we saw. Long story short, if you have a business that people can relate to AND relate to you as an owner you will find better success. The sheer volume of Ads that we are all flooded with all day long is overwhelming and I believe we are all looking for something that means more and isn’t there to sell you something whether you need it or not. Create a community with your marketing and the community will respond.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thewateringbowlatx.com
• Instagram: @thewateringbowlatx
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewateringbowlatx
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-watering-bowl-austin?osq=the+watering+bowl

Image Credits

BrodePhoto