What inspired you to take care of the business?
We were familiar with the business, having previously worked part -time in it, before assuming it in 2017. We were trying to keep the “home forever” for these cats, and that was the initial attraction for the business. It was never trying to make money.
I guess at the beginning we were thinking if we could break the equilibrium point, it would be good. That was always the goal of getting enough funds to cover the invoices of veterinarians, rentals, staff and things like that.
What work do you do with groups like the SPCA?
The biggest would be to encourage, so we provide homes to some of our cats. We are quite lucky for the design of our space; We can facilitate many different types of cats. One, for example, were a mother and six kittens that were essentially mountain cats in a colony in Beach Haven. They managed to catch them, so they brought them.
The mother was effectively quite wild, spitting and whistling initially. It is quite afraid when you get such a cat. But they felt that they saw signs that she could be socialized. With cats like that, they normally discourage and then release them again in nature so that they can live their lives and not produce more kittens. We wanted to keep mom and kittens together, and we could facilitate that for the rescue, which is really great. It has been a pretty slow progress, but Mom now lets us caress her better.
The kittens are of different degrees super kisses, they are really arriving there, and we have actually managed to adopt two of them, to their home forever.
How was the movement of the city center of Auckland to Birkenhead?
Our old location was a very high pedestrian traffic in Quay St, but both the Council and our previous owner had quite strict rules about signaling. So, although we had this fantastic location, it was very difficult for people to know where we were.
Now have a 13 m courtyard with an extension abroad. You can see immediately when we transfer the cats to the new location they love. We are on a relatively main road here in Birkenhead, but we are a little out of the road, which is a perfect balance because cats have a pleasant and quiet atmosphere on the back. They are not in front of the street, we have a small and lovely tree line that many birds and things will run that can see and look. They have a good type of quiet space.
What would be your advice for other budding entrepreneurs who want to start a business?
I think the most important thing would be to investigate what you want to do. In our case, we do not enter this with our eyes closed; We knew what the model was. Before we were even thinking about taking care of the business, we ask ourselves, how does this work? How can they earn enough money to pay a salary, and I always thought this is quite interesting?
Take talk to people who are already doing it. Discover if there is a demand for what you want to do, because ultimately, you may want to do something that is a great idea, but it is not the right space.
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for The Herald, which covers small businesses, retailers and tourism.