How does an analyst in medical recruitment also manage to run an award-winning online business raising funds for charity in her spare time? Caroline Grant of Canine World takes it all in her stride.
Starting her professional career in the hotel trade, Caroline switched to working for an international specialist recruitment firm in Skipton in 1999. Still happily maintaining that role as her ‘day job’, when she clocks off at 5.30pm she now clicks into entrepreneur mode, going home to oil the wheels of Canine World.
It’s this balancing act that enables Caroline to fulfil the key ethos of her micro business; ensuring that an impressive 15{afd41c4ab3623e68baffe29f6190c4c16e77cb65ef9a747ad10afe8b083b250d} of profit from every sale on her website goes straight to improving the life of a dog somewhere. Supporting regular donations to canine charities is made possible by the fact that she has an independent income stream outside the business and can implement her donation strategy.
Adamant that “It’s as much about raising money as it is about making it”, Caroline explains “It’s a win-win situation for anyone buying dog products for their own pet. Canine World customers enjoy shopping on the site knowing that not only are they getting what they want or need for their own dog, but that they are also directly helping a less fortunate animal through our automatic donation to a charity”.
So, how did it all start? Back in 2012 Caroline found online shopping for her own rescue dog, Indra, to be a frustrating experience. Although lots of products were available, she was struggling to find one definitive place to get everything she wanted. She also felt that most of the online shops were not providing much, if any, useful information for dog-owners. Caroline decided to test the water to see if she could provide a site that combined three key offerings; retail canine products, welfare information and fund-raising.
By the end of Caroline’s first year in business over £800 had been donated to charity, in line with her vision to com
bine the best products with the best service to help dogs enjoy their lives. She particularly supports the work of the Dog’s Trust in recognition of its policy of never putting a healthy dog to sleep and The Oldies Club which works to re-home older dogs that are less sought-after than puppies.
Just six months after it began trading, Canine World achieved its first award as a #WOW winner. Jacqueline Gold’s Women on Wednesday competition was won with Caroline’s tweet defining her business “Passionate about supplying info & quality products to dog owners whilst helping canine charities. Loving it!”
Not long afterwards Canine World was runner-up in the Keighley Business Awards New Business category, and in November 2013 Caroline again caught the eye of an entrepreneurial icon. Theo Paphitis, TV’s Dragon’s Den expert, re-tweeted her Small Business Sunday tweet to 400,000 of his followers and Caroline was invited to meet him in person for a Q&A session in Birmingham where she was presented with her winner’s certificate.
Despite these impressive celebrity endorsements, Caroline remains firmly rooted in the knowledge that it is her everyday site customers whom she has to thank for the success of Canine World, and she spends a great deal of time making sure that using the site is an interactive experience for them. The ‘Celebrate Dogs’ section features site user’s dogs, Dog of the Month competition and Tailwag Tuesday for the tweeters.
A monthly newsletter offers topical tips and advice on a range of topics later featured on the Dog Blog. The site is still very much a work in progress and still has that home-grown feel; because that’s what it is.
As she is offering advice to dog owners on the site Caroline has naturally made sure she knows what she is talking about and has undertaken distance learning courses in topics such as Canine First Aid, Canine Nutrition and Canine Psychology.
Juggling all that alongside a significant professional career involves a high-degree of self-discipline and it’s clear Caroline has no shortage of that, though doubtless before long there will be the need to take on employees for Canine World. Arriving home in time to start work on Canine World at 6.30pm she immediately processes the day’s online orders, logging, acknowledging and packaging them whilst fighting off the interest of Indra and latest canine recruit Charlie, who are always particularly interested in the food treat orders!
The social media accounts are checked and refreshed in her lunch-break and later in the evening. Choosing reputable suppliers also takes time, with Caroline preferring to use British producers wherever possible and smaller manufacturers where personal service cements the business relationship.
Fortunately Caroline’s husband, Colin, is also a dog lover and helps out with photography work and taking Canine World on location to dog and agricultural shows when required. Website changes and newsletter drafting is scheduled for either Saturday or Sunday, faithfully leaving one clear day a week for quality time with Colin and their two rescue dogs; ideally a walk on Ilkley Moor, she says!