Jamie Ruden: Master Connector and Community Builder
Jamie Ruden is a born and bred Manhattanite, long-time dog lover, and the founder of Dog Spotted. Obsessed with helping dog parents be the best they can be, she couldn't help but build what is now the Dog Spotted community. She brings in experts from the dog space, small businesses and rescues to one place to bring them together to be educated, make friends and build community. In today's episode, Michael and Erin learn some of the magic that went into building this thriving community.
Show Notes:
Join the Dog Spotted Community:
Transcript:
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
dog, community, people, spotted, small businesses, business, website, called, rescues, foster, build, events, pet, la, weird, airbnb, parents, day, friends, local
SPEAKERS
Erin, Michael Benatar, Jamie Ruden
Erin 00:06
Hey guys, welcome to call me crazy. I'm Aaron massive Pietro soon to be Benatar and I'm joined alongside my co host Michael Benatar and call me crazy. This is the podcast where we interview amazing and inspiring business owners like our guest today, Jamie Rudin, who is the founder of dog spotted, which is an amazing pet community that she built from the ground up, including an amazing team all while working as a career counselor. So she's actually phenomenal. Jamie, welcome to the show. We're stoked to have you. Thank you for having me, Aaron. And Michael. I'm so excited to be here. Yes, we're I'm actually really excited because you are in the pet space. And we've been doing this podcast for a while interviewing tons of business owners, but never anyone in our space. So we're you're at home with us. And I'm going to cheers to you because we realize we're drinking the same coffee across the globe. Jamie's from New York and I'm drinking a lot Calum. And so she So cheers. And we're excited. Because I can't see which is basically everyone. Yes, they're in LA with a nice coffee and I'm with a hot coffee. So
01:13
get the visual.
Michael Benatar 01:15
So Jamie, tell us how or tell us what dog spot it is. And then we can kind of get into like your previous work and how you ended up doing dog spot it totally so dog spotted came about honestly, from personal experiences. I grew up with dogs, tap cappuccino and Taz. And then when we fostered a dog back in May, during the pandemic, we realized, you know, maybe we aren't as prepared as we thought we were because on the second day when we brought him home, covered in fleas, head to toe, and we're like, what are we supposed to do? And so both my boyfriend I had never dealt with fleas before. So we're searching high on the internet, one website saying, Oh, you should do this. Another thing? Oh, you should do that. And we're like, how do we know if this is a legitimate reliable source? So I thought to myself, why is there not a space where we can bring experts together, whether that's bats or groomers, or trainers or walkers or even long time dog parents, small businesses in the pet space like you guys, and kind of bring those answers to one easy, digestible space. So that's part one. The other part was when we did finally adopt our amazing dog Lucy. She really opened our eyes because we had an orientation and the trainer there was like, these are the good toys. These are the bad choices, good treats. These are the bad treats and I'm like what?
Jamie Ruden 02:39
Totally and we go to Petco and all I see are these bad toys and these bad treats. Petco doesn't really sorry, Petco doesn't really care. As much not sponsored by Petco doesn't as care as much about the dog itself, I think they kind of care more about, you know, the bottom line. And companies like dope dog and other small businesses really showcase the detail and care they put into their products to make sure they're safe for dogs. And I've seen that across the border. My other favorite stories of small businesses, I found this woman who has this company called princely pup, and it's a dry shampoo for dogs. And I was like does not exist. And she goes Yes, but they always say they're all organic or all natural, really. So she went out to make her own product for her dog. Because the groomer told her she has to get phased off in between groupings. But you have to blow dry the dog and the dog blow dryer is its mortal enemy. Oh my God, oh, she avoids it at all costs. And that leads to the dog having to shave. So she created this solution that was safe for her pet. And that's something I've really seen as a trend across small businesses is they didn't see something in the market. So they solve the problem. And they have extra passion because they did it for their own pet. So why would they make it you know, just to make a buck, they want to make sure it's right, safe and healthy. So we connect small businesses like you guys platform through on discount codes, because who doesn't love a discount on their wallet, and exposure to small businesses. So it's really a win win. I love it. And it's almost like, this seems to be an issue with literally everything in business where you I don't know, maybe you get a new utensil to cook with and you're like, well, is this the right one? Is this the best one to cook with? Or should I have gotten this one because then it just goes down this like loophole of like, well who do I trust. And that's something that a lot of businesses need. It's like a place a resource that you can go trust because I can't think of a place that I can go like, I mean, I don't cook a lot but I also buy a lot of cooking utensils, but if there was a website, where am I? Of course I go there and I actually do I I do go to bone appetit their website to get the recipes because I like the recipes and I like trust the recipes. Yeah. So it's something like that where you know, having a place like dog spotted can really help new dog owners or existing dog owners that have
05:00
A lot of questions in literally everything because everybody always has questions, then you just Google it. And they're like, well, do I trust that random website that just popped up? Yeah. And there's a lot of crappy content out there. And what I love about dogs spotted is it's specific to your dog based on their age and what they're up to in that time period. I think that's really smart to be so specific, because you know what my 10 year old dog with arthritis needs is not what my three month old puppy needs. And the trainings different than treats are different. The food is so different. So being able to get it curated through dog spot and kind of have your own hub. I think it's a need. It's something I don't have. And you know, God knows Zoey is on board. So
05:37
yeah, yes. That's our dog. Sometimes people I feel like we're just talking about like humans. Over there, but yeah, dogs in James. Well, I it's a really interesting the psychology of dog names when I walk Lucy also person name. Almost every dog I meet is a Charles a max a Steve Alola. You don't really need a spike or a bow. Right? Yes. Your dogs is our children. Exactly. Yeah. So these both both the dogs that we had came with names already. Yeah. And they were luckily human names.
06:10
Yeah, well, Zoey sister. One of them was like Zelda. Well, no, they're all z. They were all it was like a litter of girls. And they named them all z names is fun. Yeah, I liked it. Fun. Lucy had a terrible name before and it's like who did this naming because to be removed from the process, it was BB.
06:30
I don't know. It's weird for me. When I got James. I just figured like, this is his name. I'm not gonna change it like somebody else named him and I'm just gonna keep going with it no matter what it was. Yeah. Like his name. BB. I just think bb gun and then I can violence and weird I immediately thought that weird clothing brand in the mall be even worse than that. Babe, it
06:55
was the 90s I definitely shop.
06:58
In the mall today. I haven't been to a mall a long time anymore. But we do as well is we help people navigate rescues because there's actually a lot of scams out there. So it's New York City focus. And as I mentioned earlier, when we were fostering the dog, we later learned that we weren't allowed to adopt her that the rescue only permitted people that had pre been approved for adopting and I'm like, but we have the dog. He has severe separation anxiety, like for the three weeks were sleeping on the floor on yoga mats playing ocean music, and he would cry in the crate. And so we were devastated to give him away. But they were very, very resistant and letting us keep him. So these were the foster. And they said no to keep it. That's right. It's ridiculous. But surprised is actually a good amount of rescues that do that which teach their own. So we have a rescue portal for New York City dog parents. They can actually filter by does the organization allow you to adopt if your foster foster
08:02
Foster and breed specific rescues only focus on certain breeds? And what what is something to look out for when you are going to rescue the maybe foster or something like that? Because I think a lot of people don't know what the scams are. And I think there was maybe one or two in LA that was like weirdly, you will hear stories about some and you're like, oh, okay, that's kind of weird, even what was going on? I mean, Michael sister recently fostered and just some shady stuff going on with like surgery and see I like it very weird. But yeah, how do you what do you look for when you're going? Because I think that's a big issue. Oh, 100%. The first thing that I think you can just learn off the bat is if you go on their website, if it's difficult to find their social, like their Facebook and their Instagram, that's a red flag just because people are trying to get these dogs out there. And social is easy and free way to do that. And most very reputable organizations will at least have a Facebook or Instagram. And if they don't, it's usually pretty sketchy because they're probably hiding something. So I'm not a fan of them. If they don't have any social presence. I think that's very bizarre.
09:07
And then a second thing is if they're kind of like, yeah, you could have the dog, they should be asking you questions. They should be asking for references. They should be asking what your lifestyle is, like they rescues really take care and ensuring they go into the right home. Like another time was when I was looking at pet finder, I found this dog that was just absolutely adorable. And I was speaking with the rescue about the dog and they said, This dog needs a yard the sock has special needs and I don't have a yard I live in Manhattan. So they want to get these dogs to the right home versus just getting it out of their shelter. So they're really careful about it where I feel if they were legitimate, they would just give you the dog without a cat. Yeah, I know my friend Lindsay had tried really hard to get a dog and she was filling out all these applications that were really thorough and they're like, Oh, you have a job. I don't know about that. Like you're not going to be with the dog eight hours a day and be like who does it
10:00
Have a job like this is la but come on. Yeah, they are. Some are very thorough, which is good.
10:07
And they Yeah, they even do some do home visits. So yeah, if there's no process I would Yeah, definitely agree. That's a red flag get out of there.
10:16
Yeah, I mean, it is weird because you hear stories from Annie never think it's gonna happen to you. But when it does, you're like, That was weird. Like, why did they do that? Or why did they do that? They're just like my sister, for instance, she had like a weird story with her dog and surgeries. And they've ended up just taking the dog back, because there's like some weird legal stuff. But yeah, there's a lot when it comes in. There's issues and the vet bills. And it's kind of like, you know, the foster parent kind of helps with that. But then it's kind of we're going down a rabbit hole, just dog talk. Yeah. All right. So
10:46
tell me I know, dogs spotted a brand new business. It's launching? February 27. Correct. We're recording this a little early. So this should be out by the time it's live. Tell us the future vision of dog spotting. Because right now, tell us I think we talked about we I mean, if people want to know the real story, we recorded this podcast three weeks ago, and I accidentally deleted it. So we're redoing it. So I'm asking you questions that I honestly forgot what? So tell me about the business model of dogs bought it? Because I think I remember correctly. There's no real business model yet. It's just like a passion. And I think those are the best business. The best businesses. Yeah, it's funny. I've been applying to accelerators and different grants. And they always ask like, well, what's your financial model, and I have one, it's there. But it's going to be in phase two, which is probably going to be a year from now. But my goal really is to build the community and build a place where people can connect. So my business model is eyes. As weird as that sounds, just getting the eyeballs on my website, and the eyeballs on my email, getting eyeballs on my social because I think once people recognize the quality of content and the space, we're building, that once phase two happens, they'll organically come and see the value in the product we're building. And the events have been super fun. And we're so happy to have you guys on for our new year new challenge where we tested dog parents to be the best they can be with different experts. And we do one every month. So for example, next month, we're actually not next month, we're in February, we're doing a Valentine's Day event where we're inviting krishma, the founder of calm canine Academy, who does positive reinforcement training to talk about how to best introduce your dog to a new dog. So if you're going on with dogs, then attraction can go smoothly. Because we all know if the dogs don't get along relationships not gonna work. I did go on a date once that I had to bring my dog to like mesh to see if their dog was okay with.
12:43
Obviously, I didn't continue dating, but because of the dogs are you guys? I think it was just like, let's see the dog because I feel like if you have a dog, and then you're dating somebody with the dog, if the dogs don't get along now that the relationship won't work that foreshadow of what's to come. They know. Yeah, they really do. And you just don't want that hassles like well, who's gonna really? Yeah, does end up working out like this. The dogs aren't gonna we're gonna tune in, but I think people listening might not be able to tune in. So I don't know if you have next month. Oh, yeah, we have perfect. Oh, you have a recorded two. Okay, good. So everybody can go check out dog spotted and watch it. But that is a big one. I think that's a big issue. If you had if you had a dog would we have dated? And we're like, oh, come over do this. Or let's go out. Yeah, two dogs stuff.
13:27
things. But yeah, no. Next month, I'm super excited. We're doing a virtual walk a THON to raise money for dog rescues. And it's going to be three days so that people have the flexibility to go when they have time because we all know the world. And it's called walk two miles to save dogs.
13:45
And anyone can participate. Even if you don't have a dog. And all the money will go to the rescues and a portion does go to the platform running it just for the costs. But it's going to be a great time. And it's actually on March 30 is the last day of the walk upon it's the 27th to the 30th The 30th is National take your dog on a walk through the park day back then inspired so we hope to have everyone and anyone across the world join I love it waffled on, you guys have nailed the events. I mean, I went to her zoom event. First of all, it's virtual, which is tough to plan but the dog spotted the dogs. But yeah, so I really want to get into a little bit about community and building from the ground up these events and community because you haven't been at this for so long. And the turnout that I saw on your zoom event. Not only was there a quantity of people, the quality was great. Pete there were some synergies, like I even knew someone from a previous thing. So the community was real. It was built and you can't do that overnight. Seems like you did so. Can you talk a little bit about how who your first key people are like, what's your theory on building community and you're, I mean, you obviously are a great connector, like you can just tell but like you're, you know, you build a great team and a community and it's like, I'm really impressed with
15:00
You're, what's your take on that community? How do you kind of start with dogs spotted? Yeah, absolutely. So I have to give credit number one to Sarah, who is my community manager. If you go to our website, you can see more information about her. But she is our community leader, as well as Yolanda, who actually has her own virtual assisted pet business. And she has been an ambassador for us. And she's actually the one that set up the challenge. Um, but Sarah introduced me to this really great book called get together. And it's about building communities. And I always understood it, but never really implemented it, if that makes sense. For my career counseling experience, I've really learned the value of networking, and the pet space is just so warm and welcoming. And everyone's really open to sharing their friends and their connections and their resources. And every time I meet someone in the pet space, they're kind enough to share a contact with them. And then it just grows organically over and over. And I found that partnerships have really been helping because of the same audience, right dog parents. So when we collaborate, we're each sharing each other's audiences to grow. And once they see the value in our community and our events on our resources, we're lucky that they stay and keep coming back
16:17
with the fire content and events. And I think that also keeps them coming back. I just finished that book. And then you're reading it. Yeah, that's a Sarah did recommend it to us too. So I think it's a it's a great book. And it really does open your eyes to kind of how to build it and the steps to get there and understand why they're becoming a community. And really, once you make the community it kind of breeds on its own kind of like, continues to grow. And I think that's the nice part about it. The hardest part is actually starting it. And I always talk about this, like, you know, we in every neighborhood we live in, I always want to have communities like oh, we should have this or we should do this. And I know no one's ever gonna start it. So this like in his past life was like a cold lead. No, I just
17:03
I always just feel like, you know, you're in your neighborhood. And it's like a hyper local, like, wouldn't it be cool if a, you know, Monday night, so it's like a run club that was just run on the path or do this. And those are the things that I want. And now with the book, obviously, I can understand how to build it and do it and I want to do something like that. Sometimes it just starts with one person in your riding club to start like starting small, I gotta have some other buddy somebody else there. So it's like some kind of community. People I don't know, but I think it is small. It's something that you can take you know, into your personal life or your business life with that book and understand how impactful community is and everybody wants community everybody, you have a sports team because you have community and you have all this and I think for me when I was growing up, I never really like my parents never like put me into communities so I always tried to like find them myself. And so I went to Jewish camp as a kid camp Shalom, shalom in Ocala
17:58
woman's land Connecticut called why I could talk about your camp all day long. No, but I think there you made a lot of really close connections and community and you're friends with people to this day, I'm sure from going to Jewish camp and like you know, doing all this like stuff together and like every year you're there and it's something that everybody wants but doesn't realize it a lot of times I think in business and in whatever you're doing, it's really important and you've built a great community right and dog spot it is so fresh and the community's still there and in growing and I think if anybody can like go read that book and understand how you can grow your community what was the book called again? Get together get together but yes, another one was um, I've read called go to the go to market and it's talking about like being the go to or you go to markets v go to Yeah, and one interesting anecdote about if you guys are familiar with VR Bo, yeah, like yo brb oh actually came pre Airbnb
18:58
I didn't know that but i i could see that but then get
19:04
an Airbnb was successful was because of their community aspect. Think about it when you look at their websites so community focus with community events and community programming and more homey we're vrb o feels more business a rental service or something yeah, that's a word that's what it is right? It's a vacation rental very like yes services Yes. But I feeling we're Airbnb is much more warm and inviting, like you would want a home. Like
19:30
I was a Airbnb host. I rented out two rooms in my place. And I did feel like I had a community because all these people that came through, I actually ended up sometimes going out with like, Oh, yeah, I'll show you the town. Like we'll go out. I bring with my friends. And I'm still friends with people that stayed at my one of them's coming to our wedding. Like, that's
19:50
crazy.
19:52
That's the kind of stuff that you never realize, but like, Oh yeah, that was like a mini community like people coming in and out of my house and
20:00
I was kind of friends with the menu for that moment of time, that was like a little command, I think there's an important element of what are you bonding over, which you can't really overthink. But like everybody, you're bonding over maybe the city that the person is visiting, let me show you around the common thread of like enjoying a city. And, you know, obviously dogs spotted the common bond of loving your pet and wanting what's best. So, yeah, that books great. There's a lot, I just, I just downloaded it on my Kindle. So I'm gonna read your go to market one. But I think community can be kind of fuzzy sometimes. And there's a lot of businesses that are like, oh, or like, even larger corporations like, Oh, crap, we need a community, you can't just get a community. You have to build it all to the store and buy one. Oh, yeah, that's my thing. Yeah. It's hard to because I think for business, it might be a little easier, because you can kind of like shape stuff around it. But say, for us, you know, personal Instagrams, or whatever it is. building that is really hard to, and I've, like, tried this year, I'm like, trying to focus on it a little bit more to be like, yeah, your build, like, I can tell you real the community, they're like, yeah, I'm getting text for my friends, like, what are you doing? Why are you posting all these videos, and I guess I'm trying to like, find people that are interested in the weird stuff I'm interested in. But it's really hard that I'm actually understanding now it's, it's hard to come across and be like insightful, but also like, work with the algorithm. And like, there's all these little things that make it work and like want people to follow you or like your video. And honestly, the ones that are the best ones are like the funny ones, when we like, stop each others butts or something with those like Justin Timberlake song, or, you know, those are the ones that seem to work better. But I think for me, it's like I want I like, find all this weird tech stuff all the time. So I start posting about that. But that's the stuff when you start looking at it closer. How like detail that really gets to build a community because you need to know, you need to offer people something. So they want to keep hanging out. And that's so hard. Yeah. And you never know what content is going to succeed. Like we watch the tires, just thinking of we watched the guy shopping at Costco on YouTube. It's like, that is our entertainment, like, pandemic too long. His name is Bobby, slave city, shout out to him. Great. If you ever want to go shopping at Costco and need some, like, a quick understanding of where everything is and what the by watch that guy. It's so good. And like, I don't follow his community, but I follow him on YouTube. So I can just like quickly see what the sales and healthy food is this? Yeah, it is really funny. That's amazing. All right, let's talk back back to business. I wanted to see. So what is phase two of dog spotter? What do you think the next step is? After the community after the eyes? Yeah, after the foundation is built? What's next? Oh, if I tell you, we might have to release this a little bit later. Yeah. Just be vague about it. Like you don't have to give us like super details. But let's say it will be a database to connect you in a more valuable way to local businesses. Okay. Okay. I like that. And are you going to go you're going to eventually be beyond New York, right. I mean, you already have partners ever. I mean, we're across the country, obviously. But I know, you have a lot of tight community in New York right now. And then going beyond that, probably Yeah, the hope is to go from New York to other dog friendly cities, which really is every city, but really starting with the core ones like la Austin, Boston, Seattle, and just really hyper focus on them. It's kind of like a hammer read the infatuation. No. Evil. Yeah, that's more or less to Yes. Is Okay, though, if like, if your best friend was a really good restaurant review critic, and they super comprehensive reviews like and they'll write in the language that we would talk like, this is the place you take when your parents are visiting from out of town or This place is great for like big groups, because they let you split the bill. You know, 12 different ways are more specific. A lot of places don't let you do that.
24:03
Well, thank God. But yeah, so we hoped in a sense to be like that, or like thrillist or timeout where we can have different focuses different cities, starting from New York, because that's where I'm based. And what what's the idea to expand because I was just thinking I'm, I'm in this like, text thread. I don't even live in San Francisco, but it's called the nudge and the nudge text text. They text me like weekly like hey, Michael this weekend, once you go explore these things in town, and it's all text based. I've literally never been to the website, maybe once the sign up, but it's all been text and I get text them like, okay, they sent me a text this weekend. Hey, we're doing virtual wine tasting. I bought the wine and I'm doing virtual wine tasting on Valentine's Day, when I was just Yeah, and I was thinking for for dogs spotted. Why? Why not just be centered around New York because I think they'll be the hub of New York is almost as good as being like, then people will want you to be like, hey, expand
25:00
out here, because it is something like this nudge thing is literally just in San Francisco. But they know everything about San Francisco virtually on some stuff. And they get you virtually and yeah. So it is like this very hyper focused. And you know, these people are from New York because they know like, Oh, yeah, don't go this way. Or don't go over here and like, this is the good one. And to know all that, that's hard. What's the website? Is it is it a bone appetit to where I'm like, all the spots, like the top spots in each city? What's that website here?
25:29
Right eater? I don't know if it's eater, but I think eaters out of LA, I think it's only New York now actually. Or somebody is, well, we, we have on the website, different categories, and one of them is called outings, and like places specific you can go and obviously they're initially focused in New York. Yeah, we are working with this woman called from weekly wine, she creates a letter focused on wine and dogs. I mean, is there a better combo?
25:58
Yeah. And she and I were talking, I was like, I would love if you could write content on your favorite dog friendly wine vineyards that you can go to.
26:09
Or I have another Ambassador Jonathan's journal. I'm obsessed with her Instagram account. And she's based in a story and I just the other day said, Hey, could you write a blog about favorite places you love picking your dog in a story, and she's been living there for a few years. So getting locals, parents to write pieces on specific neighborhoods, I think is really valuable. Because for sure, personally, when I visited place, yeah, I'll do the touristy things. But I also like to do the local things.
26:38
Food tours are my favorite. My favorite. Yes.
26:41
Yeah, those are a cause. Yeah, it is. It's something like when you can go do the stuff the locals do. It feels a little better. And now there's some stuff that like is in LA that even though we are locals, we still do the touristy stuff, like we go shopping at the grove. And I don't know if you've never been to LA, but it was like the mall. Like where all the tourists go. They don't prices right behind it. But we still go there. Because it's like, it's our closest It was our closest mall. So we would just go there and you can pop it in. But yeah, there is there's something to that when that community knows so well. And you're like, damn. Especially opinion, and especially when you actually end up doing it. And you're like, wow, that was like, that was great. Then you're like, Ben, you're hooked, then you're never leaving dog spotted, or? Yeah. And there's definitely websites that you know, highlight that. But I think the way they do it is more like a listserv where we're doing more from the comprehensive perspective from a local. I think that's what also differentiates us in that space. So, and then in terms of the small businesses, it's really been an amazing experience, because so many small businesses want to come join us. And so if anyone signs up for a newsletter, which is only sent once or twice a week, it's just advice and funny stories and 110 weeks, you get a free list of like 30 plus small business vendors giving promo codes. One of my favorite ones is obviously you guys, a dope dog. But another one local to New York, this company called small door vet, and they're so obsessed with rescues like me that they not only for your first exam with small door few rescue dogs at free, but you can get their free one year membership of their telehealth program for free. It's great. Our promo code if you have a rescue dog, so I there's just so many great things and different brands that to scarves or treats or beds that you would never think of. And again, they're so high quality and supporting small businesses is important when I get a discount out of it. That's true. I love it. And that's that's really good too. Because there's no Yeah, I just I'd like the community in the hub in the small businesses. And even the other day, like Erin has a side hustle she's doing and it's she does this thing called feeder cities where she has sprouted sprouting kits that she sells on Etsy. And she sells it on there. And she's like, really passionate about it. And she's getting out in the community and hold a big company the other day just purchased. I don't know, like 30 of these things from her. And welcome. Like
29:14
I said you're really spreading your seed. Exactly. Yeah, they were they did a little pun like that. Yeah. And it was nice because it It showed that these bigger companies that the one that purchased this was sending it out to like their employees as like a little gift. And it was nice, you know, it's like Etsy literally is like the anti Amazon like there is no like big hustlers like I'm going to the bookstore to buy these used books to sell them for 10 times their price at the on Amazon, like real people wanting to go shop. So I think it's something good that the companies are looking for and you know, something like that, where you're sending out newsletters for the smaller companies that aren't, you know, have millions of dollars to spend on advertising can go through a trusted community and they typically picked up la base, maybe women's la based brand
30:00
And to support and I was like, Damn, that's the kind of company you want to work with. Yeah, go Peter cities Go Go get some spots now. Oh, funny that you say that where we're thinking also part of phase two to do a small dog business shopping page like ecommerce. Mm hmm. And then you get the promo code to sign up for email, but you can shop through all these different businesses that we've partnered with through that. And hopefully we can get affiliate links with
30:29
that, yeah. And I was saying the curated list of like, the best spent, like being able to shop knowing like they're, they're hand picked. And you know, by dog spot, it would be nice to Yeah, it's funny, you know, a lot of websites pay to be, like, reviewed or be on someone's website. And there's this really great website I was recently introduced to, if you've ever heard of it, it's called wire cutter. Yeah, I've heard of it. I never heard of it before. But they're one of the top like, Review Product websites, and they will not accept anyone trying to like pay their way in. Are you looking to buy like a TV or something? No, I was just talking about this.
31:05
I was like, I want to do that for dogs. Like I don't want I want to pay me to advertise it so that people know that it's legit. But once they're there, I can then take a cut because I genuinely believe in it. Hashtag not an ad. Yes. Not sponsored. Yeah. Do you buy it yourself? And you'll review it. And like, this is what I want to know about it. And that those are the best because you see, I watch a lot of weird tech reviews online. Aaron knows because it's just walk in the room and she sees me like how many iPhone reviews do we need? How many would you see you see them like talk about it. And like, if they actually bought it, they're a little bit more, you know, critical about things and they kind of go over it like, Okay, this is why but yes, I agree. Yeah. Um, I honestly don't we always ask our guests what their call me crazy story is, and I literally, I really don't remember your so hopefully you do or think of another one. So what you know, when were you called crazy by your friends and family as a business owner or person. So they all know I'm dog crazy. Obviously, think they've called me crazy in that way. But whenever they see me working on this, they get it. But I think they're crazy in terms that I'm working full time. And doing this on the side. And I really love my full time job. But this has become such a passion for me. And I think people think I'm a little crazy trying to start a side business when you're working full time. It is so hard. Most nights I'm working till midnight, just you know, making sure the website is ready to go uploading blog content from my writers, working with my web development team, my community and like it is non stop. And I think they think I'm a little crazy for doing this when I've worked so hard to get into the career that I'm in now I went and got a separate Master's to to do career counseling. But I just always loved dogs. My first job out of college, I worked at a Dog Hotel. And I loved it so much. But the pay is not like sustainable for any human being let alone a New Yorker.
33:03
I had to move on. But I've always had this passion. I even my parents always made fun. And when I was in between jobs, I was like, I'm gonna be a dog walker and I got a logo, I got a domain, it was called forever friends dog walking, because like I just want to be with dogs all day. And This to me is the best way to support dog parents to support small businesses to support rescues to get to do all of that in a fun and easy way and still be around dogs because once the world reopens, I'd love to do in person dog events. I couldn't be happier. And it's been such a joy meeting people like you guys and everyone I've met has just been so lovely. And I think you mentioned this earlier about you know, building this community and you know, when you get older it's harder to make like genuine friendships and through this process of building the dog swatted website, I genuinely believe I've made friends. And I know if I ever came out to LA I'd want to have dinner with you guys. Yes, of course. Airbnb Michael's open.
34:04
Exactly, but it's just so wonderful that even during such a terrible time, like the pandemic but positive things can come out of it. I think a lot of other small businesses are going to come up in the next month that will see that you know, unfortunately people were laid off but it led to a new door and I love what you've built and it's clear you're in your element and this is what you're supposed to be doing so thank you for sharing your story. That was awesome. Everybody needs to go to dog spotted dog parent or future dog parent This is where it's at dog spotter calm we'll put all this stuff in the description so everybody can go check it out. It will be launched by the time this podcast is out so no fears you can go there and check it all out and Instagram is great and already up and running now. Yes, Instagram is up we were on a live last month I don't is that save that people can go rewatch or like the I think it's maybe in renderings or something or is It's alright, well go back
35:00
Watch the video. Yeah, go watch the Valentine's Day one because we'll watch that one. And then March 30 you have another event the walking one. So all that dog spotted calm Jamie, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you so much for having me. It was such a pleasure talking with you both. You too. See ya.