Laura started a new business after she adopted a rescue dog and realized she needed someone to look after him when she was busy.
“Paw It Forward creates communities and matches local pet owners to exchange petsitting on a pay-it-forward model.”
Listen to Laura’s submission featured in Episode 60 of How Cool Is This? and read a transcript of the full episode below:
Laura: Hi, I'm Laura Kagawa, and I'm going to tell you about my idea to make owning a pet easier. It's called Paw It Forward.
I had the idea when I adopted my rescue dog and had to figure out who would look after him while I was busy. He doesn't really enjoy doggy daycare, and it can get pretty expensive. And I'd heard some scary stories about some of the petsitting and walking apps.
So I was really having a hard time finding care that would suit us. I needed something flexible that wouldn't cost hundreds of dollars a month. It occurred to me that I’d be happiest leaving him with another pet owner in my neighborhood, someone who I'd met walking him or in the elevator in my building or who was a friend of a friend. So that's the idea.
Paw It Forward creates communities and matches local pet owners to exchange pet sitting on a pay-it-forward model. So I sit your pet and then you pay that forward to someone else. You just set up when you need help, maybe to cover you while you go to brunch or to the gym or for a long stretch of Zoom meetings and also when you can help by having a pet over at your place.
It’s a nice way for your pet to make friends too and get socialized while you save some money on setting. So, check us out. We’re at www.pawitfowardpets.com
Leave us a voicemail @ 848-863-9917
to submit your idea to How Cool Is This?
Nick: Brian, how cool is Paw It Forward?
Brian: You know I love a good pun, and not only is this a good pun, but it's a cool pun. And it's a cool pun that creates a community that saves people money.
Nick: Yeah. Often, I feel like puns are trying to cover up for what is fundamentally an uncool idea, but this pun just takes a cool idea to another level.
Brian: It saves the business owner, which is the dog owner, money, and then that can go toward toys and other fun things for the dog.
Nick: Do you consider owning a dog a business opportunity? You're setting up an LLC with Fido?
Brian: If you are employing a dog walker, then you could be considered an entrepreneur. So this is a community for entrepreneurs who want to meet likeminded entrepreneurs. And that's pretty cool.
Nick: It's almost like a tech company. They're a disruptor, right? They're coming into a space where a certain way of doing things is existed for a while, and they've decided that there's a better way to do things.
Brian: I think it also helps where the dogs can make friends. That's cool, thinking about dogs having friends. It's not cool to think about lonely dogs.
Nick: When you think about dogs making friends with other dogs, the amount of coolness that can happen in that situation is pretty much…
Brian: Exponential is a good word for it. I like the idea of a dog owner social credit, where if I watched my neighbor's dog five times while they go get brunch, then I can then go on a vacation and say, ‘Hey, I've got five DCs, dog coins.’
Nick: You always been very interested in alternative forms of currency…
So does this work on the honor system? Like if I watched your dog five times, does that mean I get five days of vacation that I can kind of cash in and hand my dog off to someone else?Brian: It sounds like there's some type of a way to measure pawing it forward, and if there's not, I guess you're just trusting the Goodwill of the people
Nick: I don't trust anyone to do the right thing, but for some reason, dog owner just seem more likely to follow the rules. And I guess that's just because they care for dogs, which inherently, doesn't have a very high ROI.
Brian: Yeah. Even if you are an entrepreneur, if you are a business owner who owns a dog, you’re not really seeing much scale in that. Dogs don't scale.
Nick: And if they do, you have to put them on a diet.
So, Brian, you have been paid to watch someone's dog before. How do you feel about this shift towards community collective action and not the traditional model of paying someone to do that work?Brian: As a member of that business community, I'm a little nervous that the jobs are disappearing, but I also understand that I'm not as good at taking care of their dog as a fellow dog owner might be
Nick: Right. You're no expert, unfortunately. This group, Paw It Forward, seems like something that I would want to be a part of.
Brian: It makes it more affordable to own a dog, too, because you don't have to pay for a walker every day.
Nick: Yeah, I think that's great. I think everybody could benefit from a few paws on their lap.
Brian: Please don't press paws on your podcast player because we love doing this and we like it when we see that you listened.
Nick: If you have an idea of your own, preferably one with a good pun, leave us a voicemail at (848) 863-9917.
Brian: And when he says good pun, he means one that doesn't cover up for a bad idea.
Nick: Brian will call you out if that pun is bad.
If you know the top hacks to make 10x your investment on owning a dog, get in touch! We can’t guarantee that scaling the love of good dog will be cool, but we will feature you on the show.
Listen to a 5 minute episode of How Cool Is This? on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else you find podcasts.