BUCKS FOR BUSINESS

Stinky Dawg and Everyday Zen awarded $10,000 grant

Two worthy San Marcos businesses have received a $10,000 grant from American Express and Main Street America. The Backing Small Businesses Grant was awarded to Everyday Zen and Stinky Dawg along with 498 other small businesses across the entire United States and Puerto Rico.

Everyday Zen and Stinky Dawg heard about the grant from the San Marcos Downtown Manager Josie Falletta.

“Downtown San Marcos regularly keeps our eyes open for grants that downtown businesses could be eligible for,” Falletta said. “We routinely share these opportunities in a monthly newsletter with downtown businesses.”

Married couple and co-owners of Every Day Zen Wen and Bryan Carey are no strangers to the wellness industry. Bryan taught yoga classes in North Carolina, and when his studio moved, Wen helped with the design of the new space and added a shop with supplies that would supplement the yoga practice. Wen has family in Austin and San Marcos, which is why the pair came back this way and started another similar business — Everyday Zen. Wen said the purpose of the business is to bring everyone in San Marcos some beauty and tranquility.

“You can purchase a candle and a water fountain — the water fountain in the back — and that helps bring relaxation, or burning some incense or reading a book on how to be happy. There’s different things that we carry that help instill calm in the store and then also beauty. Bryan’s the calm. He’s all the calm. He’s the yoga teacher. He’s the meditation teacher. I’m all about the beauty part. I bring that beauty to the space because I’m a Libra, so Venus — [the planet of] beauty — that is what motivates me,” Wen said. “Life can be stressful. … People can just have this little bit of refuge even if it’s only for 15 minutes. …That’s the feeling that we want to share that you can have a little bit of Zen every day.”

Stinky Dawg owner, Maraya Dunn, said she provides a one-stop shop for all fur-babies.

“We are a self serve dog wash business,” Dunn said. “For anybody that comes in and wants to wash their own kiddos, we provide the shampoo, the conditioners, ear and eye wipes, brushes, combs, towels, everything that we use when we’re professionally working on the kiddos that are in our care. We do professional grooming and bathing. We have a boutique, toys, pet deli and gourmet treatery. We do custom cakes and cupcakes for all occasions.”

Everyday Zen is heavily involved in the community as well. The Carey’s host a mindfulness meditation from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. every Wednesday at the San Marcos Public Library. The business also participates in the annual Mermaid Festival. Texas State University students have benefited from Everyday Zen as well; They were a part of a student fashion show, were the featured business in a student marketing class project, film project and photography projects.

“We love assisting Texas State students with school projects,” Wen said.

Dunn said the community’s support has been the encouragement she needs to assure her that Stinky Dawg is on the right track.

“We have a very loyal and amazing clientele, and they truly do appreciate what we do for their kiddos,” Dunn said. “They do feel the love, and they see that they put [the love] into their work — from the front desk to the styling part of it. Our clientele really, really do see it, and I think that means the most out of anything.”

When the announcement came that Everyday Zen had been awarded $10,000, Wen said she was elated.

“I was kind of in disbelief… [We are] feeling very humble and just extremely grateful,” Wen said. “There were 5,000 applications they had to cap it at and only chose 1% out of the 5,000. And they chose not only one [business] in San Marcos, but two.”

Dunn had a similar reaction.

“I still am in shock. … It’s amazing,” Dunn said. “One of the questions that they had asked was to talk about your team and how important would this grant be to Stinky Dawg, if awarded. Seeing what my amazing stylists and girls go through as groomers, to me, they’re first responders. So seeing all the hard work, the patience, the love — it takes a very special person to do what they do. It’s just a reassurance that people see that we are doing something right, and that they believe in us.”

Falletta was excited that two San Marcos businesses were honored with this grant and that she was able to inform them of those resources.

“It is incredibly exciting and rewarding to know that our work is having an impact on downtown,” Falletta said. “Much of the work that our program does is incremental; we keep our eyes open, share grant opportunities with businesses, and support the businesses as they apply and hope for the best. We never know which of these opportunities will bear fruit, and it feels amazing to know that we had some small part in helping Stinky Dawg and Everyday Zen gain access to funding.”

Bryan said that Everyday Zen would like to use the grant money for online advertising in order to benefit the business but also the whole of San Marcos.

“I’ve believed this my entire adult life that community is so important,” Bryan said. “Being on this I-35 corridor, it is so important to us for folks to know that there’s this really charming town called San Marcos, with this beautiful river [and] vital college life, with this historic courthouse downtown on the square and a place where you can come and explore and spend an afternoon weekend or beyond.”

Dunn said there are improvements that could be made at the Stinky Dawg that could take it to the next level, so the grant is going to be a massive help in moving the business forward.

“We are in the works of getting a beautiful sign on the top of our building right now,” Dunn said. “It’s just dated. It’s definitely from the original owner when we were established, so definitely more of our old branding. And then we’re actually getting the floor redone hopefully. So we’ll see what we have left over. My main priority is to get the sign done.”

Falletta said there are other opportunities that downtown businesses can take advantage of.

“The city [of San Marcos] has several grant programs that are available yearround for downtown businesses to apply for, as funds are available,” Falletta said. “These include the Main Street Incentive Grant and the Business Improvement and Growth Grant.”

Everyday Zen is located at 165 S Guadalupe Street Suite112, and Stinky Dawg is located at 151 South LBJ Drive.