| Community Futures
Northwest
Prairie Pet Cremation Provides Quality Service
with a Personal Touch
When high school English teacher Doug Sevick
heard about a friend's pet dog being shipped to Winnipeg for cremation
he was "dumbfounded." He had never heard of cremating
a pet. When he retired from teaching in his early 50s, Sevick
traveled from his home in Maymont to attend several sessions offered
by the Northwest Community Futures Development Corporation on
how to start and run a business. He was thinking of becoming a
chimney sweep, but when a friend suggested he might be liable
if a customer's house burned down, he remembered his friend's
story. He decided to investigate pet cremation.
"With the help of (General Manager) Pat
Redl and the other staff at the Northwest CFDC, I produced a feasibility
study," Sevick says. "It showed that just about all
the requests for pet cremation in northwest, central and southwestern
Saskatchewan were going to Winnipeg. Business from the extreme
northwest was going to Edmonton. We're right on the Yellowhead
Highway in between, so I thought, 'Why not Maymont?'"
Feasibility study and business plan completed,
Sevick purchased the necessary equipment and erected a building
with a $75,000 loan from the federal government and a $10,000
loan from the province. "What the heck; retire and go $100,000
in the hole," Sevick says with a chuckle. In January 2004,
Doug and his wife Diane launched Prairie Pet Cremation.
Sevick knew veterinary clinics would be a big
part of his business. Using a mailing list provided by the Northwest
CFDC, he sent a letter to every vet clinic in the province. He
followed up by phoning every clinic within his natural geographic
market. "The CF office coached me on how to approach prospective
clients on what can be a sensitive subject, and also arranged
for a group of high school students in North Battleford to create
a website for the business."
While Doug handles most of the business operations,
Diane does the secretarial work and applies her fine handwriting
to the cremation certificates given to customers. They make financial
decisions together. After several months of scraping by, Doug
no longer has to decide which bill to pay first.
"I'm thankful for the help I received,"
he says. "I could have fumbled my way through, but there
were points where I would have had to seek out help anyway. It's
better to get help and keep the 'learning experiences' to a minimum."
For more information visit the Prairie Pet Cremation
website, www.prairiepetcremation.com.
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