Pam Ahart and Beth Greenberg Cotell
lebrating Ce
OUR LOCAL
ENTREPRENEURS!
Owners—All Friends Pet Care Pam and I met in 1973 at the age of two, when my family moved in next to hers on Yellowwood Court in Reston. We became instant best friends. On any given day, we were scouring the woods behind our houses, looking for tadpoles, animal tracks, or other evidence of little critters. We had a deep love for animals from a young age and spent our days dreaming of what we would be when we grew up. It didn’t matter much what it was; we just knew we wanted to be with the animals. In 1988 we graduated from South Lakes High School and were apart for the first time since elementary school. Pam graduated from college, and I entered the workforce, working mainly for trade associations. By April 1998, Pam and I were once again side by side, this time as agent assistants at the Washington Speakers Bureau in Alexandria. Pam came to me after work one day and mentioned she had read a lot about pet sitting in New York and California, and thought that would be a great way to achieve our goal of working together with animals. It was perfect: we could do it part-time, while allowing our full-time salary to pay the bills. We came up with the name, Best Friends Pet Care, and a motto “your best friend is our best customer!” We asked our high school art teacher to create a logo for us, which we still use to this day, with one small adjustment! Nine months into the business, we had to change our name, as we got a “cease and desist” letter from Best Friends Pet Care, a nationwide company who had trademarked the name. So “Best” became “All”, and the motto still worked! Within six months, we had 50 clients and were burning the candle at both ends, trying to juggle pet sitting before, during, and after work. We had to decide: could this really be a full-time job? Could we pay our bills with just pet sitting? In September 1998, we attended the Pet Sitters International annual convention, where we mingled with dozens of other pet sitters from around the country, and got our question answered: YES it was possible to work full time as a pet sitter! In January 1999, we took All Friends Pet Care (www.allfriendspetcare.com) full time. I was living in Alexandria at that time, and Pam was in Reston, so we split Fairfax County down the middle, and we each managed our territory. We knew the only way to grow was to hire, and had our first ten pet sitters onboard by the end of our first year. 21 years later, AFPC is going strong. We currently work with over 65 pet sitters and are thankful for every one of the 1600 clients who are a part of the AFPC family. From toddlers growing up in Reston, to entrepreneurs following our dream to work with the animals, we couldn’t be happier with the paths this journey has lead us to follow—together!
88
AROUND RESTON MAGAZINE