Social Media Strategist Bakes Pawfect Dog Treats

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Most people who start side hustles don't start only one. They might begin with one, but eventually they're gonna do something else. One side hustle can lead to another. Sometimes these projects can be totally different, completely independent, and other times one can support the other. Welcome to Side Hustle School.

My name is Chris Guillebeau, and today's story, which by the way, every day I'm bringing you a story, every single day, a different story of someone who's creating an asset for themselves, making more money, but also building their own future. Today's story features a social media strategist, someone who works for startups and corporations, and on the side, she is a dog lover. This dog lover learns to bake and sell super food dog treats, earning $3,000 a month with just $3,000 in startup costs. This is a very new project. It just started a couple of months ago, and it's already seeing that big success.

Now, by the way, an article by Adweek published in 2017 claims that millennials have become the largest demographic of pet owners. Not only that, but 71% say they would take a pay cut if it meant their pups could come with them to the office. 71%. I wonder if 71% of millennials, or maybe even 100% of millennials, could benefit from having a pay increase in the form, perhaps, of a different source of income. That is my mission on the show.

I hope that you'll learn through these stories, perhaps get an idea for yourself, or if you already have an idea, get a little bit further along in making that idea a reality. The show is completely free, so as we begin a new week, let's say thank you to our sponsor, and then we'll jump right in. [Music]

Tess Roussel is a self-confessed crazy dog lady, so much so that she's launched not one, but two side hustles tailored for people just like her. For over six years, Tess has worked as a social media strategist for startups. As someone with a love of learning and a willingness to hustle, the environment suits her well.

Working in startups can be a great way to hone your business skills, and for Tess, that's exactly what she's been doing. She's watched her founders closely to see how they test different aspects of their business, deal with setbacks, and navigate their way through competition. Tess used those lessons in her social media skills to start her first side hustle four years ago. She was the owner of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, so it began with an Instagram page, suitably called CavLife. She posted pictures of Cavaliers, the dogs, not LeBron James, and built up a sizable following of nearly 80,000 people.

The page has spawned doggy meetups all over the world and even has its own brand. It now sells t-shirts and other merchandise so owners can show off their Cav love. While this CavLife project was a success, it wasn't big enough to become a full-time gig, so Tess kept her job. But every dog has its day, and Tess's day was fast approaching. That day finally came in January of this year with a new idea.

The idea was born out of her own frustrations with all the low-quality dog foods available. Many of those dog foods have terrible ingredients that make you wonder if they're the reason for the expression sick as a dog. Tess was after something better, something more that she could provide for her four-legged friends. She decided to take the problem to her kitchen. The plan was to bake her own yummy and healthy dog treats for her pet Cavalier.

The only problem was, in her words, she was a terrible baker. After hunting for a treatment, she could bake herself, she found none. That day, she devised what would become Wagadoo. Wagadoo, which is fun to say, is a super-food-packed bake-it-yourself line of dog treats. Isn't it fun?

Just say that. Wagadoo, Wagadoo! If there was no option to bake your own treats, then Tess was gonna create one. Did I mention it's called Wagadoo? She decided to start where it mattered most to her target demographic with healthy ingredients.

Tess had identified that target market as millennials. She knew they were more concerned with what they eat than any generation that came before them, and this mild obsession stretches to their pets as well. Some of them treat their pets as if they were their own children. In fact, recent studies show that 44% of millennials see their pets as exactly that, their starter children, or perhaps their only children. Tess began to explore important questions.

What is most healthy for a dog to eat? What's best for their wellbeing? And do they prefer Taco Bell or KFC? Tess then took her list of ingredients to a local pastry chef to fine-tune some recipes. She believes this was the most important part of the process because she was able to delegate it to an expert.

She knew if she relied on her own skills in this department, the resulting recipes would be pathetic. The chef was also able to give her valuable insights on creating packaging and show her efficient ways to create mixtures in large batches. With recipes firmly in hand, it was time for market research. She invited 30 dog-loving friends and family to try the product. They each completed a survey and baked up a batch of her newly created recipes.

This focus group gave her direct, honest feedback and also pointed out some things she'd overlooked. With that feedback in hand, she took two more weeks to develop the product. She offered a pre-sale discount to that focus group, which allowed her to recoup the cost of ingredients even before an official launch. That pre-launch gave her confidence. And because of her first side hustle, she had the perfect audience ready to market to.

That audience was her CavLife social media following. And posting to that following was ideal for barking up interest. So much interest, in fact, that sales of Wagadoo have been between $2,000 and $3,000 a month since its very recent launch. Many of our listeners would be howling at the moon in happiness with those kinds of numbers after only a few months. And with startup costs of less than $3,000, she's already well profitable.

The next step is to take things to the streets and get local. Soon she'll hold retail trials at several local pet supply stores and vet offices. Wagadoo will also be seen at farmer's markets in her hometown of Austin, Texas. Tess believes that starting local before branching out is the best way to build a business. She plans to drive to those farmer's markets, pull into the barking lot, and raise the rough.

However, that local focus might not last for long as she's recently been approached by Shark Tank and may be featured on the program soon. Between that feature and her new exposure on side hustle school, who knows where the business could go? Tess Roussel is not just chasing her tail around, she's working doggedly to build a new future. My friends, I hope you enjoyed this story. Just a reminder, as we're kicking off a new week here, my hope is I share these stories with you every day so that they will be somewhat motivational, they'll be entertaining, you'll be able to listen and say, "Oh, wow, that's interesting what that person did." And you might not connect with each person, of course, but over time, at least once a week, my hope is you're gonna hear somebody and say, "They have a skill that was similar to mine," or "They applied a thought process that I can learn from "and adapt in my own way." I really, really believe there's something out there that everybody can do.

This is a question I get a lot on interviews, like can everybody have a side hustle? And I always say, "Well, I don't think everyone "could do each kind of project." Like the whole point is to understand your skills, understand your interests, figure out how to leverage those characteristics in the right way. But yes, at a fundamental level, like I do believe everyone's an expert at something, everyone is able to get a job, everyone is able to have some sort of career. So if you can create enough value for a company or an organization that they're willing to pay you, then surely you can create that kind of value yourself in some way. So as I said, I hope you find these stories to be motivational, but I also hope that they help you kind of build your tool set, like your set of resources, your worldview, your approach to solving problems.

If you've got a problem you need to solve, like you need to get out of debt, or you want to save for something specific, well, how are you gonna do that? I believe, and in fact, it's not just a belief, we demonstrate day after day that there are all kinds of ways to make money, some of which are really fun and interesting and meaningful. So those are the values of side hustle school, just wanted to throw that out there as we begin a new week. Don't forget, inspiration is good, but inspiration combined with action is so much better. And if you would like to check out Wagadoo one more time, Wagadoo, just try saying it without a smile, I bet you can't do it.

If you'd like to learn about them, come check out the show notes at sidehustleschool.com/527. That is for episode 527, we are rolling along strong, I'll be back again tomorrow, and I hope you'll join me for it. My name is Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School.