In your own words, what does your company do?
Diva Dog Bakery is a dog treat business education brand. Our flagship product is the Diva Dog Bakery course, which has helped almost 2,000 aspiring dog treat bakery owners turn their bakery dream into reality!
We also run one of the largest online dog treat bakery communities, which allows dog treat bakery owners at any stage of their business to network, share tips and cheer each other on.
In September 2022, we held our first in-person dog treat bakery conference in Nashville.
In 2023 and beyond, our goal is to grow our course and community as well as introduce more digital products – and hopefully another conference too!
📈 Monthly revenue: $33,000
📈 ~% Churn: 6% (community only)
📈 ~% Net profit: Do not wish to disclose
📈 Funding: N/A
📈 Initial cost/investment to start the company: $2,500
📈 Number of team members: 3 consistent team members (customer service and community management); additional independent contractors on an as-needed basis
📈 Number of founders: 1
📈 Started: 2020, November
How does the company make money?
💰 Dog treat business course ($299): Our flagship course is packed with information to help aspiring dog treat bakery owners start, launch and promote their dog treat bakery.
💰 Dog treat business community ($19/mo): Our students-only community is a thriving online space for dog treat bakery owners at any stage of their business.
💰 Various other digital products ($19-$59): We offer a few other digital products, like a wholesale guide that helps bakeries establish wholesale relationships with stores.
3 strategies that have worked to attract and retain customers?
✅ Email marketing: We switched to Flodesk recently and love it. Rather than our old text-heavy emails, we’re now able to send highly visual, bright-and-happy emails. When it comes to dogs and dog treats, photos go a long way!
✅ Affiliate marketing: Our affiliates have been instrumental to our success. We offer a generous 30% commission and have been lucky to onboard some fantastic affiliates who share the Diva Dog Bakery course with their large audience.
✅ 30 days free in our community: With the purchase of the Diva Dog Bakery course, students receive 30 days of free access to our community. We’ve found that once they experience how helpful and supportive the community is, they don’t want to leave.
3 things that you’ve learned about hiring and retaining great talent?
✅ It’s okay to have a small team: There is nothing wrong with having a big team, but it’s just not for me. I hire strategically and take advantage of independent contractors as needed.
✅ Hire people who truly care about your company: This should be a no-brainer, but it doesn’t always happen. I care about my team members and I want them to care about Diva Dog Bakery, too – not just the tasks they work on, but the brand and the mission as well.
✅ If a team member is great at a task, let them run with it even if you didn’t plan for them to work on that task: Sometimes I have to let go of what I thought that person ‘should’ be doing if I discovered they were great at something I hadn’t imagined for them.