“Pursuit wasn’t the first lender that I approached, but they’re the only one that got me the financing I needed,” says Renee Adsitt-Pettey, owner of Peak Performance Labradors, LLC, a business focused on dog breeding, training, and boarding in Chaumont, NY. “And their additional business advisory services have been outstanding, helping me improve operations so that I can focus on achieving growth goals.”
Here’s how Renee secured two small business loans to build the boarding facility and how our Business Advisory Services team is helping her position Peak Performance for next-level growth.
A legacy family business expands
“I’m the third generation of Labrador retriever breeders and trainers in our family,” Renee explains, citing the business, Van Lee Labradors in Marilla, NY, that her grandparents started. A love of dogs and skill-training led Renee’s mother, Tammy, to follow in her parents’ footsteps, opening the first location of Peak Performance in Holland, NY.
Renee also spent her childhood learning the art and science of dog breeding and training but, she admits, “When the time rolled around for college, my mother encouraged me to explore other fields. But dogs are such an important part of my life that it wasn’t long before I found myself back to working with them.”
While her mother continues training dogs at the Holland location, Renee headed to the Thousand Islands region, where she’d spent time when she was young.
“It was the perfect place to start a new location of the family business,” Renee says. “We have a lot of land – Peak Performance is located on 14 acres with trails and ponds – and we also have a great mix of year-round residents and summer visitors who can use our services.”
A need for boarding services creates a need for financing
Renee recognized an opportunity for boarding services that could meet the needs of locals while providing an important service to summer visitors who bring their dogs along.
“People love to travel with their dogs,” she explains, “and while that’s wonderful most of the time, it can also be limiting because there are a lot of places and parks that don’t allow dogs. Having the ability to board their dogs for a day or two during a week-long vacation means that vacationers can do all the things they’d like while they’re in the area and know that their dogs are safe and happy with us.”
To offer the service meant a need for a new boarding facility with many of the comforts of home, plus ample dog runs and play areas – and that created a need for financing.
“It costs a lot to build a state-of-the-art facility and I didn’t realize how hard it would be to get a loan for a longstanding business with an existing clientele. I spent a lot of time approaching lenders who couldn’t help me,” Renee explains.
She worked with Debbie Wilson of the North Central SBDC and together, they worked on Renee’s plan and financials. Soon, Renee tried another bank, and although they couldn’t approve a loan, they encouraged Renee to contact Pursuit AVP and Senior Business Development Officer Keri Pratico.
Renee says that Keri took the time to get to know her business, her experience, and her vision for growing Peak Performance further.
“Keri also encouraged me to apply for multiple loans to make the most of my time and all the information that I was pulling together,” Renee says. As a result, Renee received an SBA Microloan and a New York Forward 2 loan. Together, this funding helped Renee move forward with building the boarding kennel she envisioned.
“We have room for 22 individual dogs but since many come in pairs, we can take up to 30, so that dogs can stay together,” Renee says. “We take the time to get to know the dogs and what they prefer so that, for example, a dog who’s used to getting lots of physical affection from their family at home can get cuddle time from our team on the snuggle sofa.”
And for dogs and their people, special touches like these make a world of difference.
Building a stronger business for the long run
As a Pursuit loan recipient, Renee is eligible for free Business Advisory Services – expert consulting in high-impact areas like financial management, marketing, and human resources. Pursuit VP and Senior Business Strategist Christophe Pane leads the team helping Renee.
“Securing the loans was amazing,” Renee says, “but it’s the additional services that have blown me away! I’ve gotten so much help and it has had an immediate positive impact.”
Renee received expert help rebuilding the website and integrating software to make bookings and payments smoother. Peak Performance also changed to a limited liability company (LLC) for the additional protection it offers.
“With the administrative and marketing aspects so much more integrated and streamlined, I can spend more time growing my business,” Renee says. “We’re already running 20% ahead of projections!”
Be ready for success with funding from Pursuit
As Renee’s business grows, her team is, too. Her daughter, Nikki, is learning from Renee, just as Renee had from her mother and grandmother. And Peak Performance is already receiving accolades in its new location, including the Jefferson County, NY SBDC award for “County Small Business of the Year.”
Whether you’re looking to launch a new business or to expand a family legacy, Pursuit can help.
With loans from $10,000 to $5.5 million, we can help you secure financing for working capital, equipment, the purchase or construction of commercial real estate, to refinance business debt and more for businesses in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Nevada, Illinois, and Washington. And our Business Advisory Services are available to you as a Pursuit borrower to help you succeed.
Contact us to learn more.
