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

Timothy, appreciate you joining us today. One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

Well, as an avid (some say crazy) animal lover, it’s a dream come true to be trusted with so many family pets! To show my appreciation, I make sure that each pet is given tons of love, treats, positive reinforcement while socializing/desensitizing to more than their family life. My rates vary, and I love to give discounts. I just feel lucky to do what I do. My military pension gives me latitude to accommodate anyone’s budget or schedule – it’s kind of a karma agreement to let me keep doing this as a career. Each day, I snap beautiful group and individual photos to send to owners. Either when they’re on vacation or at work, a beautiful happy dog picture brightens their days!

Timothy, 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?

Growing up my family had always owned pets. While I loved them in their own way I did not really grasp the connection until I owned my own dogs in Germany & England.

After arriving to Alaska, with two dogs adopted in England, my love for nature kept expanding. Towards the end of my military career I decided to take an obedience certification just to have the knowledge. After retiring from the military I worked at a local daycare center (which I really didn’t get a great feel for). One day my wife said, I’m buying a website under the name that tested best. After that, I just started with friends as clients doing what makes me most happy, being outdoors with a pack of dogs! Soon, referrals and exposure on social media increased my client base dramatically.

I am grateful beyond words for this opportunity, for the ability to do what I do, and for my wonderful clients in beautiful Alaska!

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

During the first 1.5 years I felt invincible! Nobody ever seemed upset or complained but, to the contrary, were so excited to see a group of 8-15 dogs eagerly ask for affection!

Obviously, as with many passions or hobbies, there are people who do not appreciate the same. Sometimes it seems these minority of interactions have the most impact. Complaints, inflated tales, wrongful accusations sent me for a loop. All this did teach me a lot. I’m much more patient and accommodating as a business owner. I learned more about parks permits, insurance, LLC processes through small business bureau.

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

As stated earlier, my military career spanned close to 21 years living in 4 states & two separate countries. My skillset was in Tactical communications, then IT installation & repair. My job, the last 7 years, required a Top Secret so my options after the military were great to transition to a 150K-250K contract position somewhere working for DoD. For whatever reason, though scary, I decided that wasn’t my path any longer & that I wanted to do something I truly loved…to see if it was even a true concept that people did look forward to their “work”. Honestly, that probably saved my family, and a huge part of my life by letting me explore who I was or wanted to be as my own boss.

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