073 – How to Grow Your Business in a “Dog Eat Dog” World with Janet Domrase

Janet Domrase works with her husband at Alden’s Kennels. The business is a full service kennel offering boarding, training, rescue services, and other creative programs such as a children’s vet camp! Janet’s husband, Alden, ran the business for 15 years literally through word of mouth and phone book listings. Meanwhile, in 2010, after a 28 year career in the postal service and six rotator cuff surgeries, Janet needed to make a change. She joined her husband at Alden’s Kennels and approached the business with a mission to bring it up to date from a marketing standpoint. Without knowing a thing about computers, much less website construction or social media, Janet started the process of learning and creating. Google became her best friend. Today, they have over 2,000 videos on YouTube and over 2,600 Facebook fans. Janet can equate the growth of their business to the visibility gained through online search. Business Inspiration The growth and evolution of Alden’s Kennels [2:49] Candle Flickering Moments The event that caused Janet to make the pivot to working at Alden’s Kennels [8:41] Business Building Insights Analyzing Alden’s Kennels versus their competition to create change [9:17] Hiring for website development and her strategy for future site development [10:37] Janet’s experience and advice for getting started on YouTube [11:22] and [15:07] Outsourcing services for additional business growth [15:40] Alden’s Kennels multi state mixer – a winning event! [23:42] How to start an event that brings in hundreds [28:34] Success Trait Janet’s success trail is her fear of failure. Listen to her explanation. [32:43] Productivity/Lifestyle Tool Networking at Chamber of Commerce and BNI events is her most important activity to bring in business and get exposure to the kennel. Being shy, Janet shares how she pushed herself into the networking scene. [34:16] Valuable Book Building the Ultimate Network Contact Links Website Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube LinkedIn If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue