| Erica Kardelis is pictured in the play area with one of her guests at the Yawning Dog Ranch |
A new boarding kennel has opened in town.
Opened just before Thanksgiving, Kardelis is one of the many local small businesses graduating from the Nx Level program. Part of the program was to write a business plan which allows the owners of the new businesses to run the financial numbers for anticipated expenses and revenues for the first year of operation.
All the seven kennels were filled over Thanksgiving and rooms for Christmas were booked several weeks ago. “Most people seem to want weekends at this point,” says Kardelis. The NxLevel program gives new business owners a lot of basic business information.
As Kardelis develops her business she is creating a “Doggie Day Care,” a place where dog owners can feel comfortable leaving their pets.
“I am really enjoying this,” she said, explaining that her routine includes personal attention for each of the animals.
The Southeastern Utah Small Business Investment fund is an alternative source of funding that provides seed capital to new businesses for start-up. The objective of the program is to increase regional employment.
The program is made eligible to individuals residing in Carbon, Emery, Grand and San Juan counties in the Southeastern Utah region.
The classes that Lardelis graduated in has been offered several times in 2002. Since it began over 38 businesses and around 150 people have gone through the program.