My name is Jessica Karim and I’m a native St. Lucie County resident. A lot of you know me from my mom being one of her over 70 foster children, teaching you or your kids here (infamous Mrs. Alsager) or my 8 brothers and sisters (6 she adopted) and over 20 nieces and nephews. We’ve all made an impact in our community and now it’s my time to shine. I’ve raised my 3 children here, have always lived in Saint Lucie County and even gotten my Associates and Bachelors from IRSC. I’ve always worked my butt off and given my heart to others, never asking for a thing back. I love my city and aim to give back to the Treasure Coast with a new unique business that isn’t available in the area.
Over the past year I have been working on something big. I’ve been silently working in the background to start our Veteran and Family owned small business servicing dog owners in the area. We have an investor, we have a plan, and we have the website being built. But we’ve hit a snag. We are short some start up funds.
I have put my whole heart into this idea and my goal is to start this summer. My van alone will take up to 3 months to build so we are on a tight schedule as I want to have it ready by June. My husband has blessed me with the opportunity to be a stay at home parent to care for our newborn who’s now coming up on his big 1 year. I’m so proud of my husband for providing me the opportunity to not work for the first time since I was a teenager. He is a disabled Veteran working full time and traveling 75% of the year, coming home to still support me with the kids and doing everything in his power to make sure that we are comfortable and safe. But with a single income household, starting a business can be complicated. This is why I’m reaching out to my friends, family, and community. To help us with the last bit and get us rolling with as little start up debt as possible so that we can thrive and make this a lifelong career.
So what is my business? It’s called Slat Pack LLC. We are a mobile dog gym providing self driven and safely guided exercise through professional grade slatmills in a temperature controlled van.
What is a Slatmill? The slat mill is similar to a treadmill, but is run solely by the natural power from the dog. It goes as fast as they want to run or it goes as slow as they want to walk. There are safety mechanisms in place to help slow them down or stop them if they try to push too hard as some dogs get very confident and excited so they don’t want to stop. It’s beyond safer than a treadmill as there’s no forced exertion. For 15 to 30 minutes they get to pick their own exercise pace. Away from the Florida elements like high temperatures and heavy rains, free of reactive dog parks, bustling traffic, avoiding allergy risks; all while in AC and supervised by pup fitness coach, me. There’s so many benefits to this exercise and it’s an amazing service for those who work from home, live in apartments with no room for their dog to run, for those with busy schedules, or for those who just want to give their high energy breeds the proper enrichment to avoid behaviors that put them in shelters through no fault of their own. I will be donating time to local rescues as well to help lower stress, which will aid in helping them find their forever home.
Why am I doing this? I’ve always been an animal lover, I’ve been working in shelters or rescuing animals since I was a child. Recently, I got to spend time as an Adoptions Counselor and Community Outreach Coordinator with Furry Friends Humane. I only left due to my pregnancy and in my time I noticed a trend. So many dogs were surrendered or returned due to not having proper enrichment. Because of this lack of exercise and enrichment, dogs had too much energy, destructive behaviors, reactiveness, obesity, joint problems and a multitude of other issues that were out of their control. I wanted to find a way to help these dogs avoid the shelters and help owners provide a healthy, loving, and fun life for their furry companions. That’s where I started thinking of Slat Pack.
Why am I asking for your help? Like I mentioned before, I’ve been working on this idea for over a year. These past few months have been all about creating a solid business plan. Crunching the numbers, meeting with people in the industry, and understanding financially what this will entail. Our investor has covered a large portion of the start up, however we are short about $10,000 This will cover equipment, marketing, safety gear, and much more.
With this business I hope to provide amazing service and connections with our canine community. There are only a few of these businesses in the state of Florida, almost all regions covered, except for the Treasure Coast. We aim to reach customers from Indian River County to Martin county. We have hopes to add a second van within the first 2 years and move into Palm Beach County as well.
I am reaching out to my dog community to help get this business fully operating by this summer with no SBA loans, or debt that will create a struggle for my family. The strongest start up will help us in creating a solid and successful future and provide amazing opportunities for our dog owners and their furry friends.
Please help us spread the word, any donation big or small is appreciated. I’m so unbelievably grateful and blessed to have had all of the support from my family and friends as I find my place in the Treasure Coast, which has been my home my entire life, and I’m hoping you all see why this is so important to me. I can’t wait to meet all your pups and have fun with their fitness journeys!
Here is what the interior of the van will look like to give you an idea! ❤️ I’m free to answer any questions or interest at info@slatpackllc.com
