Emily Rusnak is a 19-year-old entrepreneur from Bellingham, WA. She is the founder and owner of Bham Pet Sitting. She is an aspiring vet tech with a passion for animals of all shapes and sizes–from the smallest gerbil to the biggest dog!
Here is her Under 25 story!
“I run a pet sitting and dog walking business out of Bellingham, Washington. I care for pets in their owner’s homes, walk them, or drive them to appointments.
I started 6 months ago, in March. Originally I was hoping to just earn some pocket money, but my business sure took off. I’ve always been passionate about animals and was going to school to work with them. I didn’t expect it to be in pet sitting, but I’m not complaining, either.
The biggest challenge for me has been paperwork and taxes–it was hard to figure it out at first. That, and things like SEO and building a website. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into running a business that I didn’t expect. I was just in this for the puppies!
Also, when you’re young people think they can take advantage of you. I’ve had clients try to bully me into lowering my prices, offer me work for “experience,” and more. It’s especially prevalent in a service business, but I believe a lot of it is people thinking they can tell me how to do my business. They assume that just because I’m young means I’m inexperienced and don’t know what I’m worth.”
At 19 years old, Emily has shown that fear is something you need to get over and put in the back of your mind. Being so young and starting your own business is something very few people think of and even fewer achieve. This story should be a testament to all who are thinking about getting started in business but are too scared to do so.
The Under 25 section of 1PRCNT is meant to showcase to everyone that there are plenty of young entrepreneurs out in the business world making strides to better themselves and the world around them.
If you are an entrepreneur under the age of 25 and have a story you would like to share then please feel free to email us and we would love to interview you!
