Heather Lehrman enjoyed her work as an office manager with Vivaldi Biosciences, a Manhattan biotech start-up company.
But when that work interfered with the care of her Boston Terrier puppy, the Great Neck resident was presented with the opportunity to create her dream job – a pet care service business.
Lehrman opened In Home Pet Services of Nassau’s Gold Coast franchise in November after using the service for her dog Herbie.
“I found this company and they were wonderful,” Lehrman said. “I was just researching their Web site and (Elman) was selling franchises. I just started researching it and speaking to the owner about it. It just happened to be that the area that I lived in was still available.”
The Great Neck franchise was the fifth location for the pet care, which was started in 2003 by Long Island Native Robyn Elman.
“I always wanted to have my own business, but I never really knew what I wanted to do,” Lehrman said.”It worked out perfectly because I knew my company was going to come to an end by the end of this year anyway. I just wanted to start my own business and I love animals.”
In Home Pet Services is a Queens-based company, which specializes in dog walking, pet sitting and pet taxi services. Lehrman’s Gold Coast location will serve Great Neck, Manhasset, Roslyn, Port Washington, Plandome, Sands Point, Glen Cove, Locust Valley and Matinecock.
“We come to them for visits, either pet sitting or dog walking,” Lehrman said. “If they’re on vacation, they can either be boarded with us or we can go to their home and stay overnight. We have pet taxiing service if they don’t have time to take their pets to the groomer or the vet.”
In the month since opening her home-based pet care business, Lehrman has already gained three clients.
“I’m off to a good start,” she said. “I opened in November. I have a couple of clients and I have a couple of overnight pet sittings for the holidays.”
And Lehrman is hoping for the same kind of growth the other In Home Pet Services franchises have undergone over the past eight years.
Elman opened her first location in Northeast Queens in 2003. That location now includes over 1,000 clients and 12 employees.
“We try to be practical for everyday people,” said Elman, who is a former zookeeper with the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo. “People can go on vacation and pets can stay at their houses.”
Lehrman is hoping to have gained 10 clients by this spring, which will allow her to expand and hire an employee to help grow her business even further.
“I know that it’s going to really boom,” Lehrman said. “I’m being patient because its been open a couple months, but the other franchises are doing great. I just hope that I grow within the next year or two and become a big success and know a lot of the animals on the island.”
“I’m trying to be realistic,” she added. “I think the winter months are a little slow with this business. A lot of people go out and buy and adopt dogs in the spring and the summer.”
To help gain new business leads, Lehrman has relied upon Internet advertising through the In Home Pet Services Web site. She has also created a Facebook page and has distributed flyers at local veterinarian offices.
“You never know with this business,” Lehrman said. “A girl that opened last January, had three clients until about April or May, and then all of a sudden in one month got 13.”
Anyone interested in contacting In Home Pet Services of Nassau’s Gold Coast for pet services can do so by telephone at 516-829-0707 or on the company’s Web site at www.inhomepetservices.com.
“I love it,” Lehrman said of her new business. “I just got a new client that has a nine-week-old puppy that I go see everyday. How can you not love that?”
