Kim Davenport || Free to Roam
Picture this:
Best friends (Gus & Jolene)
You're starting a new job with a company you've longed to be part of for quite some time. You nailed your interview, and they finally call you back! Their offer is outstanding and, much to your surprise, they mention you get to travel for three weeks out of the year! You're about to accept the offer when you look over at your sweet dog laying at your feet. What about him? Who will take care of him while you're gone?
No worries, Free to Roam has you covered!
Free to Roam is a local pet-sitting business which is owned and operated by Kimberly Davenport. She serves mainly the Greenville, Taylors, and Greer areas of South Carolina, and she can help you out in any situation! She's been local to Greenville for over twenty years and has loved every minute of it. Her journey into pet sitting didn't start right away.
Originally, Kim was in school for nursing. After she landed in Greenville, her friend who owned a small marketing agency needed some help with his company. Kim changed her major to graphic arts in order to work with him. While in school, she continued to make various connections to help her graphic designing know-how grow. During this time, she had her son at the age of 23.
What a sweet boy! World, meet Galappino.
Graphic design opened doors for her to find something she enjoyed and excelled at. On the side, Kim was pet sitting for friends and coworkers. Her last job at a large ad agency involved her knowledge in graphic design but, unfortunately, she was part of their second round of layoffs. After the layoff, she decided she didn't want to look for another full-time job. Instead, she began using her graphic design skills in a freelance position and continued taking care of pets for others.
While walking a dog on a pet sit in Montebello, she met a guy walking his puppy who struck up a conversation with her. She gave him her number in case he needed a pet sitter to which he responded, "This is great! We were talking to someone else for pet sitting but she's so busy that she can't take anymore clients!" Kim decided to take this as a sign to get her Facebook page up and running as well as make business cards. Since then, Free to Roam has been continually expanding.
"I really haven't done much in the way of marketing," Kim admits, "But it's getting to the point where I need to jump into it full force and market myself because I can't see myself doing graphic design forever! I initially thought pet sitting could be my retirement plan. I planned on doing it on the side, build up clients, and when I get sick of graphic design completely, I'll do this full-time."
Spanky enjoying his time outdoors!
Kim's transition into the pet sitting world has truly helped her in more ways than one. She mentioned the best thing about pet sitting is the lack of stress she experiences in day to day life. "It's almost like therapy to me! When I was working at my previous job, I was having panic attacks from the stress and demands of the job. But the pet sitting has taken away a lot of that stress. When you walk in and see the dog, they're just happy all of the time! Once I moved towards pet sitting, the panic attacks stopped."
Her newest adventure in Free to Roam is to be able to host dogs at her own home in a "private kennel" setting. Several of her clients don't want to take their pets to a public kennel while they're away, and Kim acknowledged that people are more willing to have their animals stay in a home to have more care and one-on-one time with their caregiver.
With all the ins and outs of her services, Kim's favorite and most important service is keeping in touch with her clients during her visits with their pets. This allows her clients to know how their fur babies are doing while they're away. She regualarly sends photos to show her clients that their pets are safe and happy.
I asked Kim who her ideal client might be to which she laughed, "Well...wow I'm not positive! I do enjoy working with people who travel a lot because their pets are usually the ones who are left alone most often, and I don't want them to be lonely. I feel as if I develop a special relationship with those pets."
For more information about Kim, Free to Roam, and her schedule, follow her on Facebook, Instagram, or email her at info@freetoroam-gvl.com.
