We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Raimo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Kids will bring balance if you didn’t have it to begin with. I could dig in and work day and night, but truly, I want to see my kids as soon as they get home. I don’t always make it right away but it is much easier to prioritize my work life when I need to. I may have to review some financial reports – but not before the Little League game. If anyone has a problem with it they can… oh, it doesn’t matter does it? Because that’s why I did this. For the freedom to live my life and do the things I want to do when I want to do them.

What should our readers know about your business?
The obvious differentiator is that we occupy this cat niche virtually all alone. The differentiator that no one knows about – until they experience it is our commitment to happiness. Unreasonable hospitality as Will Guidara puts it. We believe in people, service, growth and happiness. Those are our core values and they light the way to success for us. If we’re not 100% completely invested in people – both our team and customers, this will never work. Even with that, we’ve had challenges. Covid most notably and lean beginnings when we started. But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and that’s why we’ve just kept going. We get smarter with each mistake, and get better with each new attempt. We are showing the world that happiness wins, whether it’s our cats, our customers, our team, or our franchisees.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would 100% show them the Happy Cat Hotel and Spa. People hear about it but can’t really envision it until they see it. It’s like nothing else they’ve seen before.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents. My father was an entrepreneur and went through struggles in his business at times but he never wavered and no matter what happened, always provided for his family. My mom stood by him and raised us kids in the same way, good or bad times, they did everything they needed to so that we had the best life we could. In that way, I should shout out to my wife Meg for much the same. Standing by and having faith that we would build this thing.

Website: https://happycathotel.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happy_cat_hotel/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/happy-cat-hotel/?viewAsMember=true

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/happycathotelfranchising

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/happy-cat-hotel-and-spa-alexandria?osq=the+happy+cat+hotel

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thehappycathotel4385

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutDFW is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.