Core Lesson for Small Business Owners

Paws on Grass is a single product company based in Dubai, providing real grass in a box for UAE pets to relieve themselves on. Being a small business that's only been around for 18 months and providing such a niche product, I always try and ensure every decision I make is in the best interest for all my partners and my customers.?

Founders of start-ups, just know that there will be all sorts of crisis and chaos around you but it's up to you to make it into organized chaos. Don't give up or let unfortunate situations dishearten you - if you really put your mind to it, you'll come out a winner at the end.??

Last Thursday was a wild ride for Paws on Grass, but we survived with composure and teamwork with our partners. We learned that our fulfillment center had been damaged early in the morning, preventing us from having useable cardboard boxes for our Pog deliveries. This meant we wouldn't be able to provide Pogs to our customers who's pets heavily depend on them.

I was determined to sort the problem, so I contacted Waqas from?Carton Pack Industries, our box vendor in Ras Al Khaimah. Waiting for our Paws On Grass branded boxes to be produced was out of the question as it would result in a 4-5 day gap in service for customers, which was unacceptable to me. By putting our heads together, we ended up finding a solution of using unbranded boxes since Carton Pack had an extra batch at their plant! Since this was so last-minute, Carton Pack was unable to bring the boxes to us because all of their transport trucks were already gone. Without hesitation, I got in my car and began the two-hour drive from Dubai to Ras Al Khaimah.

After an exhausting and stressful six hours, I handed the final Dubai Pog order from our fulfillment center to our courier partner, SwftBox, who had been on standby all day waiting for us to give them the go-ahead for the pickups.?

In the meantime, we also messaged our customers to inform them that they would receive their Pogs as per their original schedules. Our Pog families were very grateful for our efforts to avoid any disruption to their service.

There's nothing wrong with getting irritated when something goes wrong, but blaming the fulfillment center or box supplier for the delay was not the answer. Both of these would have resulted in the same outcome - there would be a service disruption for our loyal Poggers! Staying composed during the day allowed me to focus on being solution-oriented rather than being overcome by emotions. At the end of it all, from our fulfillment team to our box suppliers and delivery drivers, everyone showed exceptional cooperation and never lost sight of the goal: delivering Pogs!