How a Dog Fetched Its Owner a New Career

A fresh new small-business series, Trading Places will take a look at entrepreneurs who have successfully transitioned from working in the corporate world to founding their own business. If you have such a story you'd like to share, please email me.

At 30, Amber McCrocklin was an accomplished medical sales representative working for a cancer-diagnostics company in Indianapolis. She was young, successful and seemingly living the American Dream, but underneath it all, McCrocklin was bored.

For a few years she considered different possibilities for starting her own business, but was uncertain as to what field she should venture into. "Eventually, I knew it would come to me," McCrocklin says. And she was right.

One year later, McCrocklin got Bo, a yellow Labrador dog. When he was a puppy, Bo loved coming out on her speed boat, where he would scamper in and out of the water with McCrocklin's help. As he grew, however, the process of lifting him onto the boat became increasingly difficult.

"When he was full-grown and 100 pounds, I couldn't get him back into my boat," she recalls. "Lifting him became a real hassle and it was exhausting and dangerous for me. I came home bleeding every time I went boating because the dog was scratching me so badly."

McCrocklin searched everywhere for a dog ladder for her boat, but quickly found such a product did not exist -- a great opportunity a new business.

McCrocklin then hired an engineer and together, they worked on a prototype. Within five months McCrocklin had patented her dog ladder and opened up her new company. She had found her niche.

Previous job: Cytotechnologist and medical sales representative

Now: Founder and owner of Paws Aboard

The transition: "It was really hard to leave the financial security of the corporate world, but on the other hand, it was very refreshing to be able to do my own thing, be my own boss," McCrocklin says. It was easier "because I came from the sales side," she adds. "I was able to get out there, make people aware of my product and raise money." When McCrocklin first started Paws Aboard, she continued to work at her medical-company job for a year before quitting to devote all her time to Paws Aboard.