Notes from Chris

Episode 1592

Lisa Bast never had enough Kleenex or waste bags when she walked her dog, a Goldendoodle named Micah. Because she has bad allergies, her nose runs whenever she’s outside, so she needs Kleenex and she got tired of stuffing tissues into her pocket. She wanted a carryall not only for bagged waste but with separate pockets for other stuff she had to carry.

Lisa did a focus group with friends and family member who have dogs to get their input. She noticed there was no good solution. She didn't see anything that had compartments for everything in a compact style, so she saw a market opportunity and decided to launch the Woofpack dog walking accessory bag.

In fall 2015, Lisa started prototyping. She worked with a young Amish man through a connection with her SCORE counselor. (In case you don’t know, SCORE is a network for volunteer business experts and mentors.) The Amish man made boat tarps and had the type of material and expertise needed to make her prototypes. She purchased about six different handbag designs at Macy's and integrated the best features of each until she was happy with the design.

Prototyping was ruff at first. In fact, it took seven prototypes to get it right. Lisa needed to find a material that was moisture resistant and contained odor from bagged waste for the inner compartment. Still, she knew she was barking up the right tree, so she did a lot of research and finally found an antimicrobial material which is used in hospital settings to line the inner compartment.

Lisa used about $1,500 of her savings to launch in summer 2017. Of that, she spent $1,300 on a digital agency for help with website design and marketing. A hundred dollars went to inventory and $75 went to prototypes. She also spent $25 on basic website hosting. She used the basic plan with Shopify.

The first sale was from a friend who purchased through the website. Lisa was so nervous about getting it right that instead of printing out the prepaid postage, she went to the post office to mail the package herself. She’s now worked out the kinks of order fulfilment and brings in approximately $1,000 per month, which for now she’s putting back into the business.

Growing the business is a passion for Lisa and she hopes to take it full time one day. She’s gotten her product into two small pet stores in the Cleveland, Ohio area and is hoping to bark into bigger pet retailers.

For now, many of the chains have told her they are holding off on introducing new products into their stores because of Covid. As they say, don’t stop retrieving.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Looking for your own utility pack for walks with your best friend? Check out Lisa’s website, WoofPackTrails.com.
• SCORE is a network for volunteer business experts and mentors.

SEE ALSO:

• Electrical Engineer Rides Demand to Dog Collar Empire: A short-term holdover project between jobs becomes a seven-figure empire, all built on dog collars.
• Dog Lover Fetches $250,000 in Canine Clothing: A Minnesota woman turns her design hobby into trendy duds for the whole family, including furry companions.
• Teenpreneur Skips College to Build Pet Care Company: EA young animal lover goes from walking dogs to owning a multi-city pet care company.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work! Yours in the revolution,

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