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Global Pet Expo 2015 - The People

  • Mar 27, 2015
  • 3 min read

By Jamie Damato Migdal, CEO and Pet Industry Entrepreneur

Now that I’ve unpacked all of the goodies from my Global Pet Expo swag bags, I can talk about some of the people I met and the things I learned.

Kathy Ireland was the keynote speaker at Global Pet Expo 2015 - she was amazing.

First, the people. I will preface this list by saying there are a lot of really smart, energetic, and innovative people in the pet industry. If you ever get bogged down in the day-to-day of working with/for/around pets, going to one of these big expos will remind you how impressive these folks are.

Mikkel Becker – Mikkel is the resident trainer for Vetstreet.com. In addition to her work as a trainer and animal advocate, she works with her father, Dr Marty Becker, to bring the Fear Free message to pet parents, groomers, trainers, and veterinarians.

Mariana P. Castro – Mariana is THE pet blogger in Brazil. She’s also an advertising and design professional, and that experience really shows when you look at her ItPet blog. It’s gorgeous. Even though I don’t read Portuguese, I enjoy the heck out of her blog.

Beke Lubeach – Beke took her impressive credentials to the pet industry back in 2011, and now she runs Dog Bone Marketing Solutions, which focuses on marketing for small to medium-sized pet industry businesses. She counts DOGTV, Dog is Good, K9Fit Club, and Kristen Levine Pet Living among her clients.

Nikki Moustaki – Nikki is an award-winning freelance writer, pet industry and pet product development expert, animal trainer, parrot expert, poet, and urban dog guru. She has published more than 45 non-fiction books, and her more recent book is a memoir called The Bird Market of Paris. Go to her website; you won’t regret it.

Emily Phillips – Emily’s blog, Give a Dog a Bone, is such a wonderful resource. Along with her top-notch testing team, she evaluates all sorts of pet products so that you don’t have to.

Amy Tokic – Amy is the editor of PetGuide.com , which is the place to go for just about all pet-related stuff – events, supplies, insurance info, health tips, products, and breaking news. PetGuide.com even has a feature called Ask the Hairy Dogfathers, which pretty much wins the internet for best advice column name.

Now, the things that I learned (and rediscovered):

Network. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for you to attend expos and networking events if you’re thinking about starting your own pet business. You should always talk to other people about their experiences while building a business or a product, and the more diverse your conversations, the better prepared you will be. Don’t just talk to the big guys who have been around for decades, talk to the people who are just starting out. The business landscape changes rapidly, and the conditions experienced by the early adopters aren’t going to be the same as the people who opened a similar business ten years later.

Practice. A big part of starting or running a business is being able to relate to other people. I know that lots of folks get involved in the pet industry because they prefer pets, but you can’t help pets without being able to deal with people. And if you’re starting a business, you’ll need connections and investors. Guess what? All of those people will be at these expos. They’re there to do business, and you should be, too.

Inspiration. Nothing makes me happier than seeing someone with an idea who made the leap and became an entrepreneur. Heather Norris of Tea for Spot is someone who really stands out in this respect. She had an idea years ago, but had to put it aside because, well – life happened. But the idea for her product was always there, and when the time was right, she started her business, and launched it at this year’s expo. It’s a good object lesson in keeping your dream alive. You may not be able to do something about your great idea this year, but you might be able to do it next year, or the year after that. You don’t need to rush your idea to market, and most (if not all) product or service concepts can benefit from an extended gestation period.

My overall takeaway from the Expo – the pet industry is fueled by some of the most amazing people you’ll ever meet. So many of them started small, and got big, or came into the industry as a career changer, and what that diverse, broad range of experience means is that the conversations are vibrant, and interesting, and inspiring.

 
 
 

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