Illness allows paws for thought on pet project

Mar 16 2010 by Karen Dent, The Journal

A FORMER call centre worker whose entrepreneurial idea originally emerged while she was on long-term sick leave from work has taken the plunge and started her own pet care business.

Dog lover Angela Lowery had always wanted to work with animals but went down the call centre employment route because she thought it would be more secure.

Houghton-le-Spring-based Ms Lowery now heads up mobile pet business Wag ’n’ Tails Pet Services, which offers everything from grooming and dog walking to house-sitting with pets and day visits.

She said: “It was while I was on the sick that I first started giving the idea of working for myself a lot of thought and, when I was ready to go back to work, looked at how I could go about setting up a mobile pet business.

“I also worked voluntarily at a dog grooming salon to see if it was what I really wanted to do, which only made me more determined to go for it.

“I love animals – I have two dogs and guinea pigs myself – and to be able to now work with them as my job is fantastic.”

She worked with Sunderland-based Sustainable Enterprise Strategies (SES) to help put her business idea into practice.

“My dad’s a self-employed photographer but I didn’t know much about setting up a business, which is where the expert help I received free from SES proved invaluable, in helping me to secure funding and get the mechanics in place to launch my business,” said Ms Lowery.

SES provides business start-up support through the European Union’s ERDF Competitiveness Programme 2007-13’s Working Neighbourhood Fund.

Kevin Marquis from SES said: “Angela is an example of someone whose career plans have come to an abrupt halt, which prompted her to use her initiative and drive to launch her own business.

“Angela chose a pet service as she loves animals and has a lot of personal experience of working with them. Quite often, a personal interest or hobby can be the ideal platform from which to go self-employed.”