Grow Your Pet Business with Tori Mistick

In this episode I'm talking to Vasi Siedman, a Florida based pet photographer and founder of PetPix Academy. Vasi got into pet photography because she believes that everyone should have beautiful photos of their pets to remind them of the wonderful memories they created together. While working on pet portraits for private clients over the years, many people asked for tips to take better photos whe...

In this episode I'm talking to Nicole McKay of AugiDog about creative ways to give back to animal rescues while growing your business. She told me about how she volunteers with adoptable dogs and actually paints with the dogs to help them find their furever families. Nicole also shares how a life threatening accident with her dog Augi inspired her to create custom pet portraits so that pet parents...

In this episode I'm branching out beyond dog moms to talk to Emily Hall, a cat adventure expert and the founder of KittyCatGO. Emily has built a highly engaged audience of cat parents with her Facebook Group and Adventure Challenge - over 200 cats around the world participated in the last challenge, many of them completing over 50 tasks to earn certificates and prizes. Emily shares how she made th...

This episode features one of my favorite pet blogging friends, Jen Sotolongo of Long Haul Trekkers. Jen recently released her first book about hiking with dogs, published by Falcon Guides. As a blogger, I've heard people say for years that writing a book is just like writing a whole bunch of blog posts. Is that really true? Jen told me all about the process of writing her first non-fiction dog boo...

I'm someone who likes to do "all the things", as Marie Forleo affectionately calls a multi-passionate entrepreneur. And even though she doesn't believe that we need to pick one thing in order to have a successful business and life, we do need to simplify our passions so we can amplify our impact. One of my favorite takeaways from Marie Forleo's B-School is "Simplify to Amplify." This advice is esp...

In this episode I'm talking to Carly Liedtke, who you might recognize from her own podcast called With a Dog. She recently went solo with the show after co-hosting it with her fellow dog loving friend, Issy. We talk about the pros and cons of working on a business with a friend and how the two of them decided to pivot when Issy needed to step back from the podcast. Dog podcasting isn't the only th...

In this episode I'm talking to Dawn LaFountaine. She started her business, Cat in the Box, about 3 years ago after realizing that there was a need for fun, safe and stylish cardboard box playhouses for cats. We start by talking about her inspiration for this product and the science behind why cats love cardboard boxes - which is fascinating! Then we dive in another area of Dawn's expertise, which...

In this episode I had the pleasure of talking to Tara Robertson, the founder of PupStars Pet Care in Chicago. Tara first started her business walking dogs on her own back in 2006. With increased demand from her customers for boarding and grooming, she hired help and moved her operation to a brick and mortar facility in 2014. Right before the pandemic hit, she upgraded to a larger space where she c...

In this episode, I'm talking to Jessica Abernathy who is a pet sitting industry expert and current president of the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters (NAPPS). Jessica has a ton of great stories to share about getting started as a pet sitter and what she wishes she did differently from the beginning. One thing she wishes she knew about sooner is NAPPS! I was so interested to hear abo...

I'm talking to the founder of  Dog Bakery Academy , Minyoung Morita. While launching and growing her own dog bakery business over 7 years, Minyoung saw the huge demand for healthy and fun bakery-style dog treats. But there literally weren't enough dog bakeries to supply the stores! So she had the idea to create an online course to teach others how to build their own dog bakery business. Her course...

In this episode I'm sharing my best advice around batching content for your pet business. If you're creating blog posts, reels, Instagram posts, Pinterest pins, podcast episodes or anything else to market your business on a regular basis then you know how time consuming that can be. Batching your content by doing many similar tasks at the same time can make all of that content creation more effici...

In this episode, I'm talking to Jessica Bay who says she's found her calling with her current business, Templates for Pet Pros . After years of experience in a variety of different aspects of the pet industry, she's using her knowledge of what pet business owners need to help them with their online marketing. We got to talk about how great Canva is and how Jessica's unique templates are geared tow...

In this episode, I'm talking to Kerrie Fitzgerald about the secrets of growing a 6-figure pet product business. One of those secrets is to focus on customer acquisition in places other than Instagram. As Kerrie grew her high-end pet subscription box she focused on things that brought free traffic from Google like an affiliate program, blogging, and SEO. Kerrie also shares some actionable examples...

In this episode, I'm sharing a delightful conversation with Leda Akyuz about her journey to grow her dog accessories brand Woof + Wonder. If you ever get stuck in a comparison trap or have anxiety about how fast or slow your business is growing, this conversation is going to get you unstuck! Leda and I talk about a bunch of forbidden topics like fear, money and where to find inspiration without fe...

In this episode, I'm talking to Tennille Teague who launched a cruelty free pet accessories brand called JUST FRED. She shares some great examples of how to write product descriptions in a visual way to elicit an emotional response from potential customers. Tennille also shares how she's simplified inventory management and fulfillment with strategic partners and reveals what has surprised her in g...

In this episode, I'm excited to share a conversation with a pioneer of the pet CBD industry, Julianna Carella of Treatibles. She shares stories about the challenges she's faced as a female business owner in a male dominated industry, how she's kept up with the ever-changing cannabis laws and regulations, and more. The rest of the shownotes can be found at wearwagrepeat.com/podcast

We all know from spending time on social media that your reach matters. But it's frustrating to post on Instagram or Facebook and see that your post only reaches a small percentage of your followers. In today's episode, I'm sharing two strategies that you can use to expand your pet brand's reach. I'll tell you how I've used Pinterest and Podcasting to grow my brand, increase my revenue and find mo...

In this episode, I'm excited to introduce you to Dr. Lisa Lippman. You might already be one of her 156,000 Instagram followers or you might know her from her podcast We Don't Deserve Dogs. In this interview, we touch on how she's been keeping up with the podcast, with the help of her partner, during the pandemic and how she uses her Instagram influence to share honest and authentic advice for pet...

In today's episode, I'm talking with Kalina Stormer. Over the course of 2020, she and her husband focused on growing the online store for their brick and mortar pet boutique in Nashville. When they found out some big family news, they listed the online store for sale on a whim! Within weeks they found the perfect buyers who are continuing on the brand values that Kalina and her husband worked so h...

In this episode, I'm talking to Chaz Olajide about her fashionable online dog shop, Sir Dogwood. After working in marketing and communications in the art world, Chaz decided to pursue something that allowed her to be more creative as an entrepreneur. Inspired by her dog at the time, Winston, she launched Sir Dogwood in 2016. In this conversation, we talk about how she finds unique brands to carry...

In this episode, I'm talking to Beth Miller to learn about the research she does at Wagtown about dog friendliness, how to define what that even means and how we can make our towns more dog friendly. Beth shares her insight into the complications of working with local government and regulations. We discussed how a lot of laws surrounding pets are related to public health and safety and don't addre...

In this episode, listen in on a conversation between myself and one of my earliest Instagram dog friends, Sonia Jones of Huskies in the Hatch. Sonia and I talk about storytelling and why she's creating long-form video content when everyone else is rushing to make 15 second clips. It's inspiring to hear about how she's collaborating with creative friends to turn dog and adventure videos she's been...

Katie Ast of Just Dog People joins me to talk about building a community of dog lovers, treating your staff like family, keeping your team members trained and knowledgable, and how you can continuously raise the bar at your business. The rest of the shownotes can be found at wearwagrepeat.com/podcast

In today's episode, we're back on the topic of TikTok with Chelsea Barstow of Willow Bee Goods . Chelsea's advice helped me create a viral TikTok video that's reached almost 1 million views so I'm excited to share her expertise with you here today. We talked about a content strategy to get started with a new account, how to create fun videos even if you're a total introvert and what hashtags to us...

In this episode, I'm excited to share a great conversation with Liz Illg, a business consultant and the owner of Puff and Fluff Grooming & Pet Sitting in Phoenix. Liz shared with me her entrepreneurial story of going from an in-debt student pet sitting on the side, to buying her first grooming shop and growing it into a 6 location business that practically runs itself. Liz shared that the hardest...