Montana woman left her policy advisor job to raise $175K guard dogs. How to turn your dream business into a reality

Kim Greene ne'er thought she would enactment connected an “entrepreneurial hat,” arsenic she told CNBC Make It, due to the fact that that meant leaving her beloved vocation arsenic a argumentation advisor successful Afghanistan for what was initially her husband’s passionateness project.

But Greene, 51, present leads Svalinn, a Montana-based institution that breeds, raises and trains elite extortion dogs, which is an absorbing concern for idiosyncratic who says she wasn’t adjacent a canine idiosyncratic (1).

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After moving to Kenya with her hubby galore years ago, Greene discovered she was large and became “very hyperaware of [her] ain idiosyncratic information successful that benignant of environment.” The mom-to-be didn’t privation a weapon oregon a bodyguard, and alternatively decided that a extortion canine was the adjacent champion option.

As she searched for a canine that could beryllium some her protector and her champion friend, the effect for a concern thought had been planted, and that thought turned into a institution that has been operating for 20 years.

Much has changed since those aboriginal days, including moving backmost to the U.S. successful 2013 and a divorcement from her hubby successful 2019. But these days, Svalinn — which charges well-heeled clients $175,000 per canine — turns a respectable profit. In 2024, the concern brought successful conscionable nether $3 million, and gross for 2025 is projected to bushed that.

However, the roadworthy to occurrence has been a agelong and bumpy ride, arsenic Svalinn lone became profitable successful 2017. Before that, Greene and her household were “broke arsenic a gag for a batch of years” and were “hanging connected for beloved beingness for a precise agelong time.”

The determination backmost to the U.S., coupled with the divorce, was a accidental to rebrand the company, which she says was similar “starting over.” Now, Greene proudly declares “this is my imagination life, and it’s wrapped up successful my imagination job.”

According to statistical analysis, midlife seems to beryllium a bully clip for those feeling the entrepreneurial propulsion to instrumentality the leap.

As Business Initiative reports, the mean property of a thriving entrepreneur is 42, portion highest occurrence rates thin to hap successful the 40s and 50s (2). In fact, according to figures published successful December 2025, concern owners who flourish person typically started their businesses aboriginal successful life.