“Owning your own business is great”

Amanda Hamilton, Rossland’s Business Person of the Year, enjoys owning her pet supplies shop and helping it grow

1 of 2Amanda Hamilton, Owner of Tails Pet Supplies and services in Rossland, demonstrates her love for animals and mountain life. — Photo courtesy Amanda Hamilton

2 of 2A new location has allowed Tails Pet Supplies and Services to also offer a dog daycare. — Kristen Mitchell photo

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“I think when people are passionate about their subjective work they tend to do very well,” said Amanda Hamilton, owner of Tails Pet Supplies and Services in Rossland. With a background in retail and the SPCA, Hamilton decided to open her pet-related business in 2007. She’s recently moved to a larger building allowing her to offer a dog daycare along with the popular U-bath where customers have everything provided to bathe their pets.

This year Hamilton is Rossland’s Business Person of the Year. The award is presented to a dedicated leader who embodies the spirit of entrepreneurship. Hamilton said that much of the feedback she received showed that the dedication of her business to the community was a factor in the distinction. She also believes that genuinely caring for an industry helps business owners have a positive attitude.

“Trust that what you believe in will work, and go for it,” said Hamilton when asked for advice about running a small business. “To a lot of people, owning a pet store in Rossland made a lot of sense because there’s so many dogs and cats here. But there was quite a few who said, ‘Oh, it won’t work.’ If I would’ve listened to them I wouldn’t have been in business for seven years now. So if you’ve got something that you truly think will work, and you’re passionate about it, then go for it.”

Hamilton started her business through Community Futures, a move that she said really helped her find her business feet through the first year. Today she has several staff who care about animals and can always provide informed help for customers with questions. Tails Pet Supplies is also slowly expanding to offer some farm supplies. Backyard chickens are becoming popular in Rossland and, with new storage space, Tails is using the opportunity to offer a new product.

Patience has been an important virtue in establishing Tails Pet Supplies and Services, said Hamilton. It can take some time to get a small business established, especially in a small town. Hamilton faced the challenge of changing habits and showing residents that she could do a good job offering a niche service and products. It’s been worthwhile, though. The biggest advantage of owning a business for Hamilton is that she can implement her own creative ideas.

“You know,” she said, “sometimes when you work for other people you can give them an idea and they’ll say, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea, but I don’t think we’re going to do that.’ But when you have your own business you can be like, ‘I think this would be great.’ Now sometimes that works, and sometimes that doesn’t work. But you get to find out that you were wrong as opposed to somebody just saying, ‘No. We’re not going to try that.’ I think if you’ve got creativity then owning your own business is great because you can go with it."