Wedding Day Pet Care Service Business – Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Hey there entrepreneurs. My name is Sushant and welcome to Treptalks. This is the show where I interview successful e commerce entrepreneurs, business executives, and thought leaders and ask them questions about their business story and also dive deep into some of the strategies and tactics that they have used to start and grow their businesses.

And today I’m really excited to welcome Ilana Karcinski to the show. Ilana is the co founder of FairyTail Pet Petcare is a wedding day pet care company. And today I’m going to ask Ilana a few questions about her entrepreneur journey and some of the strategies and tactics that she has used to start and grow her business.

Now, before we dive into this interview, if you enjoy this kind of content, please make sure to hit the like and subscribe button. And for more content like this, please visit our website, triptalks. com. And with that, Alana, thank you so much again for joining me today at Triptalks, really, really appreciate your time.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: [00:01:00] Absolutely. Happy to be here.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So as we were just discussing, you know, it’s such a unique business idea, concept, uh, maybe that’s where we can be. And can you describe what, what is the service that you’re offering?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, absolutely. It’s definitely something that kind of throws people off guard. We’re the first wedding pet care company ever.

So it can make people a little confused as to what exactly we offer. So just about 10 years ago, uh, my best friend and I were in the hospitality industry, seeing this problem popping up All the time as lifelong dog lovers. We jumped at this opportunity because our clients, our friends, our family, we’re all struggling with what to do with their dog on their wedding day.

It’s a day where you’re in this crazy time planning this very important day. And everyone that you would normally trust to pets at your dog is unavailable because they’re attending your wedding. Let alone all the logistics that goes into trying to include your pet in your wedding day. There is such a skill set of pet care and [00:02:00] understanding the wedding industry to incorporate them in a way that is safe and comfortable for your pet, but also makes sense for your big event.

Um, and so we kind of jumped at that opportunity, doing it for a couple of friends and family members, realized how much really went into this service and could not believe there was not another company in the United States doing this. And so we started. Practicing the services, kind of figuring out what it would look like from literally nothing.

Um, and over the next two to three years, we really were able to, you know, coin that wedding pet care company industry and also learn exactly what couples were needing so that we could provide that service for them.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So this is not just a pet sitting business. I’m assuming because you’re targeting this towards this, you know, specifically the wedding day, you’re doing a lot more, right?

You, you’re pet sitting, but at the same time, I think I saw on your website, you’re also providing photography services. You are, you know, maybe providing some sort of a dress, uh, dressing for the pet and so forth. So [00:03:00] what, what can you describe, like, how, how do you prepare for someone’s wedding day? Let’s say they have a dog and they hire you.

What, what is all, all the things that you would do on their wedding day?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, for sure. So basically, you know, they start by just feeling overwhelmed on what to do. Whether it’s just like you touched on that pet sitting piece, or they actually, you know, want them to be a part of everything. I’d say half our couples do want their dog to walk down the aisle, mingle at cocktail hour, be a part of everything.

The other half, they’re really just looking to, you know, have them in a couple pictures and know they’re taken care of. So the big piece is the round trip transportation. You know, even if you do have someone that you trust with your dog on your wedding day, they have to leave typically when the reception starts as food is being served.

So someone’s going to have to miss. part of your event to go take your dog home. So we provide that round trip transportation. There’s a lot of planning that goes into it. So we’re working with you and your whole vendor team leading up to the wedding day to put together a timeline for your dog, because we need to make sure they’re where they need to [00:04:00] be for all these different events on the wedding day and make sure that they’re safe and secure and comfortable all day long.

So there’s a lot of planning that does go into it. On the wedding day itself, we don’t actually take photos. We work with your wedding photographer that you’ve hired to help include them in pictures when they’re needed and go explore and get exercise with them when they’re not so that, you know, you’re still able to get all those photos and then just pop your pet in.

in the photos you want. We do offer a dog of honor video service, which is a video service of your entire wedding day, all from your dog’s point of view. So that’s a really fun add on. Some of our couples will use that even with their wedding videographer on top. And some people will do it in lieu. Um, and then we do provide attire rentals included in all of our packages.

So little tuxedo bandanas. Black harnesses, black leashes. That’s something people don’t think about. And the one their dog has is like neon green with flowers and doesn’t quite go with their theme. So we provide just kind of all of those little logistics and moving pieces that you may not think about or are feeling stressed [00:05:00] about so that you’re getting that professional pet care and our hospitality experience to create an experience for your pet on your wedding day so that it’s their best day ever too.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So it’s almost an experience kind of a company. And,

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: uh,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I would assume that there’s a lot of people who have their wedding and they would just like hire their regular, I guess, you know, uh, pet sitter. Right. I guess the only difference would be that the pet would not be a part of their wedding. Right.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah.

So what happens there is a lot of people, you know, we’ll work with their pet sitter even to like pick them up from their pet sitter’s house. And then after the wedding, bring them back. But for pet sitters, there’s a lot of liability around transporting pets, including them in the event with all these other people where your traditional pet sitter just doesn’t have that experience with events and with the nature of weddings on top of that liability.

So a lot of, some pet sitters will, you know, we’ve had some people who they, um, have their pets that are attending their wedding even so they [00:06:00] can kind of help out here and there but it’s that experience specifically in events that kind of makes us different and sets us apart because a wedding is such a unique event and you only really get one chance to make this day perfect so you want to make sure the person handling your pet understands all aspects of the day.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So, of course, when you started out, you had this idea, you had discussed this with your co founder. Did you kind of like try it out with someone before and charge them even before starting their business? Like, how did you know that this could be scaled to like a full, full, uh, Yeah.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: And we definitely didn’t know.

So it was definitely a leap of faith. Uh, Kelly’s brother actually was our first wedding. So he loved, they love their dog so much and we were able to kind of do it for free. Try out the video aspect, see how it all kind of played out. Cause you know, when there’s no one else doing it, it seems like a need in the market, but is there really enough to make a business out of this?

And so doing that wedding, we did [00:07:00] another friend’s wedding. Um, One of her other brothers actually got married. So we did his as well. And just those couple first weddings really helped us piece it all together and see what this should look like. So our packages are, you know, what our package includes really evolved over that first year or two, as we were kind of figuring out what wedding pet care is.

Um, and some things we thought were really important and should be part of it ended up not being important. And people really weren’t looking for that. So it was just kind of a constant evolving to understand. What our ideal client is looking for and how we can fill that need. And then after two years, you know, word started spreading without even really doing much just because it is such a unique idea.

People were really excited about it. And re and every wedding, you know, you’re getting that free marketing just by booking that client. You’ve got 50 to 300 guests watching you in action. While you’re doing this wedding and seeing how amazing you are with their dog and telling everyone they know who’s engaged.

So word just started spreading naturally the vendors were loving it because not only do we help our couples But we’re [00:08:00] also helping the vendors the wedding planner was getting stuck watching the dog The photographer has so much on their mind trying to get the couple to look good and beating the sunlight Now they have to manage a dog and try to get them to look at the camera So we’re making everyone’s lives easier and it just made it so easy for that word of mouth to start to spread because everyone wanted us there.

And in about two years, we were both full time.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Wow. So you were able to leave your job and you basically go full time with your business.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yes. And, and in the beginning we did offer, um, traditional pet care services. So just, you know, in home pet sitting, things like that, because it took a while for people to understand exactly what we did and for us to even, you know, craft that wedding pet care service and what it looked like.

So we knew we needed to get a little more traction to make this a full fledged business. And so we kind of had extra offerings in those beginning days when we were trying to get our feet off the ground. And then once the weddings really were, you know, our primary. source of clientele. We were able to sell the [00:09:00] pet sitting side of the business and just exclusively do the weddings.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Okay. Um, now to me, it seems like, you know, when you started out in terms of investment, like this business at least seems like it doesn’t require a huge investment up front. Was there a monetary investment that required from you and your co founder? Like did you put some money in up front on this, or it was pretty much, you know, uh, kind of, um, you know, because of the pet sitting, you know, you’re basically using your time.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, I mean, it’s very, very low startup costs here. So I think between the two of us, we put in 2, 500 to get up and running. Um, just the cost for those supplies. Cause we provide the attire rentals that we just keep on hand. So the black leashes and tuxedo bandanas, things like that, the business licensing, you know, the bare minimum website maintenance, operational things.

Um, but really it is, It was such a low startup that it made it a lot easier to take that leap. And really kind of, we had played with a couple of different pet business ideas and thought of different ways that we could make that shift because we [00:10:00] always knew we wanted to work with animals. So when this idea came to us and we knew it was such a low risk investment that we could really see where it goes and, and it definitely delivered.

We were very grateful.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Is there a bottleneck to this that, you know, where you, you’re two people, you can only do so many weddings right in a week, I guess. Um, do you have to, or did you hire more pet sitters who can kind of accommodate more medic? I know you have created a franchise model as well. And I want to talk about that, but is there a bottleneck to your business or anyone who’s creating a franchise where if they want to really scale.

They have to, I mean, they have to accommodate more weddings. They need more people.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Absolutely. So we have a really, really wonderful team of contractors that work for us. Um, they, we’ve taken, I think the most weddings we’ve ever had in one day was nine. Uh, we provide one handler per pet. [00:11:00] So, you know, a lot of households only have one, we’ve done seven dogs in one wedding before.

So I need seven, Handlers for that one wedding. So it really can vary. Every event is totally different. Um, and we touched on, you know, weddings are our focus for sure, but we do occasionally get other events too. We’ve done birthday parties and quinceañeras and, uh, bat mitzvahs, all kinds of events where you want your pet present, but you don’t really have that person to take care of them.

So it’s kind of like that special event pet care service in general. Although weddings are 99 percent of what we do. Um, so we have a really awesome team. Pretty much everybody that has come on has stayed with us because they just love it so much. It’s such a fun job. That is very, um, part time or can be part time because every market has seasons in weddings where you’re super busy times of the year, slower other times.

And we’ve had a really, really great team that’s been able to support us so that we can scale in our market here.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Um, [00:12:00] uh, The question that I was going to ask completely skipped my mind, but let me ask you this. Um, Yeah, so your target market to me, it seems like Um, do you, would you consider your service to be more of a luxury, um, service like people who are a little bit more high end or planning a little bit more of a high end wedding would be more inclined to use this kind of a service?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, that is something that we kind of were wondering in the beginning. We were like, is this a luxury service? Cause it is something of course you don’t need necessarily. But what we’ve learned is that really, I mean, we do see those luxury weddings. Absolutely. But that’s not really our client. Our client is just someone who loves their pet and considers them part of their family.

We had a wedding once where the only vendors they hired, it was, you know, a very low budget wedding. It was just the photographer and us because they wanted to elope, but they still wanted their dog there. So it doesn’t matter what. kind of scale what budget [00:13:00] you have. If you love your dog, you’re going to pay for this service because you want them there.

So it’s been very, very special to see the wide range of weddings. We’ve been able to be a part of from the very, very low budget and to the extreme luxury wedding. Um, we kind of fall all throughout it. As long as you just love your pet and consider them family, then this service is something that you’re going to want for your wedding day.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Well, that’s, that’s so interesting. Um, In terms of, uh, getting your customers, uh, I, I know that you have a website, uh, do people, but I think on in the wedding industry side of things, because it’s kind of a whole ecosystem, right? You know, you have the wedding planners, you have photographers, you have, you know, the, the catering people, you have all sorts of people who are kind of part of this industry is, is more of your clientele kind of driven by, uh, Mutual referral kind of a thing, you know, if there’s a wedding, um planner, you know, they you know Do you kind of target the wedding planner rather than the people who are getting married?[00:14:00]

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, I would say honestly, our number one referral source is word of mouth. So whether that’s past couples that, you know, someone in the wedding party got to see us in action, someone like I talked about earlier, one of the guests got to see us, but it is a lot of vendors. So wedding planners, photographers, videographers, you know, we’re making their lives easier too, because if we’re not there, they’ve seen how chaotic it can be when.

A pet is a part of the wedding without a professional handler there to make sure everything goes smoothly. Venues have been a huge resource for us because a lot of venues don’t allow pets and they’re seeing that couples are going to get married somewhere else if their dog can’t be a part of their wedding.

So having us on hand to cover that liability, to make sure we follow their rules, we’re not in the certain spaces that they don’t want us in, you know, knowing they can rely on us rather than their aunt, um, has been a game changer for them. And so the vendors in the wedding community have Taken us in with open arms and are truly our number one referral source, which is wonderful.

And then of course, social media, we have a pretty decent [00:15:00] following on Tik TOK, Instagram. I mean, dogs and weddings, everybody loves our videos. And that has been really great at reaching the right audience, which. Is easier said than done before we had franchised social media can reach people that can’t really use your services when you’re in a certain area, since we’re not a product.

So that was a little challenging. Um, but as we’ve scaled to now have franchise locations across the U S that has been really helpful because. Pretty much anyone that our videos are reaching, we can service or offer some sort of travel package to hopefully come to them if they can make it work.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Very interesting.

Very interesting. Now, talking about franchising, you know, anytime, I guess, uh, someone finds that perfect, you know, product, uh, market fit. You know, then they start talking about thinking about scaling and for you, scaling means really means either, you know, building your own team or, or franchising. Right.

And you went the franchising way. Can you talk, talk me through the process of how [00:16:00] you decided that franchising was the right way for you to go? And what, what kind of steps did you take, uh, in order to kind of build that franchising structure?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, that’s a great question and something that we took very, very seriously.

I want to say we spent almost four years, uh, researching and deciding whether that was the route for us. Um, we kind of started because we saw, like I talked about with social media, kind of really spearheading that movement of just, we are getting inquiries all over. I mean, we were going to California two, three times a year.

We had weddings in Zion National Park and just all these places that people were willing to pay, you know, pretty exorbitant travel fees for us to come to them because there was no wedding pet care company in their area. So we knew the need was there, but how to do it in a way when, you know, if you’re hiring us, your dog is your child.

And so that level of service means everything to us. And we had to make sure that standard was being held because we don’t want anyone to be trusting us with their pet and for something to go wrong. And so we take [00:17:00] that super, super seriously. And We tried kind of every other route first, because franchising is a huge choice.

I mean, there is a lot of legal that goes into it, a lot of financial commitment going into it. Um, it’s, it’s a huge decision. And so we kind of tried the slower growth route of expanding and hiring a team. So, you know, here in Tampa, we’re not too far from Atlanta. And so we were getting a lot of interest in Atlanta and ended up hiring someone to see if we could kind of manage it where we’re close enough that it wouldn’t be dire or something were to go wrong.

And we needed to get there, but just far enough that it could be its own market. We tried it for about a year and just realized that that liability was so much, nothing went wrong. We just, we didn’t feel comfortable not having more, um, responsibility over the way that they ran the business. And so that’s when we kind of officially decided that franchising was going to be the only way we could really hold.

our brand accountable hold that trust factor with our clients. And so we met with several attorneys. We, you know, reached out to our local entrepreneur group [00:18:00] here to set up some free meetings with mentors and try to pick their brains about, you know, other companies that have franchised and the best ways to go about that, to make sure that we, Had those processes and systems in place before we took that leap.

And so after a couple of years of really doing that work and mainstreaming everything and getting those systems built out, we took that leap during the pandemic, actually, um, that was when everything shut down the event industry completely disappeared. And we had that extra time to think about it and say, you know, we’ve been wanting to do this.

We now have months of time on our hands to really get this going. And we know weddings will come back. And so that is when we took that leap and really put in the work and officially launched in 2022.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So what is the, the big benefit for someone to franchise with you? I mean, to me, it seems like, you know, this is a need in the market and you’re filling a need and [00:19:00] someone in a different part of the country, they can start the same business with a different name.

And, uh, you know, I’m sure if there’s a need there, they would be able to fulfill it. What, what is the value that they get, um, when they’re franchising with you?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, so that is something that, you know, as the first wedding pecker company back in 2015, when we started, there was nobody else. Within a couple of years, we started seeing more pop up.

And now there’s, if not dozens, I would say of wedding pecker companies in the U S and even across the world. And what we were seeing is that even in these areas where there were really great companies popping up. Yeah. People were still paying for us to travel there because they wanted our brand. We have the brand recognition now with Shark Tank, especially in having Barbara on our team, I mean, just having that credibility and the reviews behind us and the backing is definitely a huge, huge benefit to someone starting this off.

On top of that, you know, having that skillset, I kind of touched on earlier of Pet care [00:20:00] and events and weddings is a very unique skill. There are some people who totally understand dogs and pet care in that world, and there’s people who are really great at weddings and events and customer service, but having both of those is not something that many people have experience in.

It’s a unique background that both Kelly and myself, the co founder have. And so being able to train you on those unique industries, um, and kind of all the systems that we’ve put in place from an industry that didn’t exist when we started it is such a headstart. I mean, it took us probably realistically five years to put together these services, figure out what clients need and the best way to package it and sell it to them.

And you’re kind of getting to skip all of that and just get started with the brand that kind of started the whole thing.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So, um, How do you kind of onward people when somebody is, uh, is getting your franchise? What kind of support do they get as part of that experience?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, so, you know, someone would inquire with us on our website.

We have lots [00:21:00] of information, so if anyone listening is interested, if they head to our website and go to the franchise tab, there is tons of resources and FAQs about what it looks like to be a franchisee in our system. Um, but essentially, you know, we would have a couple video calls, make sure it’s a good fit.

After we get through all of that, they would actually come to Tampa, Florida, and they shadow us. for a weekend. So we attend a wedding together. We volunteer at the shelter because that is a really big piece of our business is giving back and our mission. So we kind of get to interact with each other, make sure we get along, make sure it’s a good fit and that this job actually lines up with what they think it is.

And then as long as all that goes well, then they’d actually come back once everything is signed and official to train with us here in Tampa for anywhere from three to five days, depending on, you know, exactly we have going on at that time. They get office training, they get on the job training, and then they have us indefinitely through the term of our franchise relationship.

So, you know, they’re coming into our existing franchise system, which has several locations across the U. S., which has really been wonderful to see how they’re able to kind of [00:22:00] work together and refer each other, and that piece of it, kind of creating that community around the brand, has been very special.

Um, but of course, they have access Um, and they have access to our operations manual that details out every single step of the business from inquiry to working the wedding day and even following so they have access to every single one of our workflows and systems that we use, and of course, our help with any questions that come up along the way.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: How do you, um, how do you judge that someone would make a good, you know, would make a good franchise owner. Um, is this like, um, Do you sell this as kind of like a full, you know, a business that will become full time for them? Is someone looking to do this part time? Like what, what kind of, uh, traits or qualities that you look for in a franchise or a potential franchise owner that, that can become, uh, successful?

Doing this.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah. So we, our franchise is a lifestyle [00:23:00] franchise. And so what that means is it, you know, work from home, you can really make it what you want it to be. So absolutely it can be full time if you want to put the work in and really get going. I mean, we’ve been full time, like I said, for years, but it also can easily be a part time business.

If that’s all you’re looking for, it is very low startup costs. So the risk to come in, it is very minimal. And then you really are going to put it. Get what you put into it. So weddings are primarily on the weekends. So really the, the physical commitment is primarily on Saturdays. Uh, the weekday commitments are very flexible.

It’s responding to emails, attending networking events, but again, you can really do as much or as little as you want. We do have, you know, minimum brand standards that we require. Um, but there is a lot of flexibility there. So it can be a part time job that fits in with your Monday to Friday, as long as you have that Saturday availability, uh, since that is primarily when the weddings are.

Um, or you can work really hard and put in the time to make it full time. You know, we are still a fairly new franchise only about two years in. So we’re still [00:24:00] kind of waiting to see how it all pans out with our, our franchise locations that we have right now and kind of how it looks for everybody. But we definitely think that you have the option to really go either way with it.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Now as a business owner, how do you, um, you know, of course, franchising is one way, but, uh, to me, it seems like, as you said, weddings are on the weekend, right? So. What kind of metrics are you looking at to scale, you know, I’m assuming that every building there’s like a, uh, there’s a certain amount of money that you can make, right?

So it depends on number of dogs. It depends on number of hours. Um, what kind of things do you think about besides franchising that can help you kind of drive that revenue, uh, more?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Or is it

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: that, or is it that, you know, in a season, you have your targeted number that I’m going to do, you know, 150 weddings this wedding season, and [00:25:00] that’s going to bring me X dollar of revenue.

And that’s, that’s the, uh, That’s good enough. And next year, I’m going to add 10 percent more. Like, how do you think about, you know, growing your business?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, that’s definitely one way of looking at it. And that kind of touches on what you said earlier about building a team. Because we might have some franchisees that are, you know, willing to not grow their team super large, only take one or two weddings a day.

So then you’re kind of capping yourself. Where if you grow your team, you can take up to nine weddings a day, or however, you know, big you decide to scale it. So that’s definitely one way of looking at it. Um, another piece we’re always looking at new ways we can add on and make our services even better.

So like I touched on, we have that dog of honor video that we offer. We recently made that a little bit bigger and added some social media content. So now you get to reels or tech talks alongside your full length YouTube video. So there’s a lot of unique ways we played with, you know, custom attire or like custom signs for your dog.

There’s different ways that our locations can really kind of amp up their services to offer more. Um, and then there’s other [00:26:00] services we offer like in bringing your dog to your rehearsal dinner the night before so that they can practice helping include your dog in your engagement photos or your maternity photos.

There’s different photo shoots. And like I touched on other types of events that we can include them. So there’s lots of ways to kind of fill in those extra days with other types of events or other ways that you can upsell the current wedding package. It’s really just up to each location and how they want to scale and what, what, what matters to them and what looks like a good schedule for them.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I want to talk a little bit about your Shark Tank appearance. Um, can you talk a little bit about how you got the opportunity? And yeah, what, what was the experience like? I’m assuming you have a working relationship with Barbara. And, uh, you know, what is it like working with her? Yeah. Maybe talk, uh, generally about your Shark Tank experience and what is it like after that?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, happy to. So that whirlwind is of course the main word we’ve been using to describe that experience. It [00:27:00] was definitely a whirlwind. Uh, we actually were found by a casting producer on our TikTok account. So we got an email that she had seen us and thought we were a unique business and would we be interested in applying?

We thought it was spam because We didn’t even know that that was a thing that happened. Uh, luckily we responded and it was not spam. It was a real casting producer for the show And so we went through the whole application process which took I want to say six months I mean, it’s very very in depth and we did get to those final stages of getting to fly out and record for the show.

And it was very intense. The due diligence phase leading up to pitching to the sharks was absolutely another full time job. Um, but we were so grateful for the opportunity. We were so happy with how it all went. The show was everything that you see on TV, like a hundred percent true to the show. And when we got the deal with Barbara, it was really a dream come true.

I mean, she was the best. Our ideal shark who we went there hoping for. Uh, we, we have the wedding pet care [00:28:00] nailed down that service. We, we know what we’re doing, but franchising is a very new venture for us. And so with her experience in the franchise world and her amazing team, we knew that she was the.

Perfect fit. And since then we’ve had a couple of calls with her team. We’ve had video calls with Barbara and her insight when, you know, things come up and like any business, you know, you come up with challenges and hardships and you don’t know what to do. And you try to talk it through to be able to go to her team and have this resource with a portfolio of franchise businesses that have probably already had this problem and here’s how they overcame it.

And here’s what we would recommend has been a game changer for us. We are so, so grateful for the experience.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: And I think your business is kind of, I would call it more of a safe business rather than a risky business because, you know, uh, there isn’t really a huge amount of risk involved, you know, as long as you can, you know, You know, get weddings and book weddings.

It’s really an upside kind of a [00:29:00] business. You know, you can only grow, I guess. Yeah, we’re very,

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: oh, sorry. We are very intentional about our locations as well. So we pay for market research that tells us how many weddings are happening in a metro area. How pet friendly that area is so that way, you know, we’re selling these markets and these franchisees based on knowing that there is an opportunity there for wedding pet care to really take off in their market.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: What have you learned about weddings in America through to attending all these weddings? Are there like, um, different parts of America have different kinds of wedding? You know, what have you learned about? What is something unique that you’ve learned about? Uh, weddings and, you know, people getting married and, uh, something that’s right.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, I like that question. It is so vastly different one wedding to the next. It’s honestly one of my favorite parts of this job is I never get bored when I go [00:30:00] to work to a wedding. I truly have no idea what to expect. The nature of events is there’s always going to be something that doesn’t line up with the timeline or something that’s unexpected.

And I live for that. I love that thinking on your feet and just kind of going with the flow and making the best of every situation. So every wedding is so, so unique. Uh, the one thing that Sticks out to me is that a lot of weddings, um, couples kind of just get carried away with the event itself. And it’s this big party and they forget kind of what it’s all about.

And it kind of just runs away from them. So my favorite weddings are the ones where whether it’s small budget or big budget, they know that this is about them celebrating their love and they just are so happy to be there and to be making this commitment to each other in front of all of their favorite people.

And those weddings are just the most warm and wholesome. And, you know, I’m just so grateful to be able to. step into this beautiful moment like as this stranger and get to be a part of this incredible day for them. When I show up with their dog, you just see everyone’s faces. All the stress is gone.

[00:31:00] Everyone is so happy to see them. Um, and those are just the moments that I live for. It’s, it’s the best.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I mean, it’s so interesting that you are kind of sharing so many people’s touch. You know, I guess those are some of the happiest moments in their life. And, you know, the associations that you’re making with that memory, I would almost, almost say that you have, you should have like some sort of a follow up, uh, service that you can offer.

Maybe, you know, People ask us all the time

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: because that’s the hardest part. We spend, we say we spend all day becoming best friends with your dog. Truly like we fall in love and then we never get to see them again. It’s horrible. I think about the dogs that I’ve been plus ones to all the time. Uh, and we wish that we could have come up, you know, when we had the pet sitting, it was great because then now they can use us for that pet sitting whenever they need it.

But realistically, the logistics of being a pet sitting company was just entirely too much. I mean, having to manage a team that can stay at someone’s house for nine days while they’re out of town and [00:32:00] coordinating all of that while we loved when we had the pet sitting business and loved our clients, the logistics and the liability was just way too much when the weddings were always what we were passionate about.

So as much as we wish we could have that follow up service for them. It just doesn’t make sense, unfortunately. So we, we do occasionally get to see them again. I have one coming up actually in two weeks. We did their wedding back in 2022, and now they just reached out again. They want to do family holiday photos, but they have three dogs and they know it’s going to be crazy.

So they’re hiring us to help include their dogs and photos. So we’ve had a few of those where we can find ways to kind of still see each other and do those fringe services for them and still be a part of their family.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Now, you mentioned liability a few times. What, what, what are the liabilities? I’m, I’m assuming, I mean, one liability could be that, you know, uh, there’s some sort of, uh, The pet doesn’t, uh, damage anything in the venue or, or, you know, disrupt the wedding ceremony or anything like that.

I mean, other liability could be that, [00:33:00] you know, anything happens to the pet itself. What are the kind of liabilities that you have to think about a bit?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, the main liability consists of Concerns are, you know that you are taking care of an animal and so you’re bringing them, you’re transporting them in a car, which we know that that already alone is a an issue.

So we need to make sure we have liability for their pet while we’re transporting them, which isn’t really like in a basic pet care insurance policy. So you wanna make sure you have that transportation liability. Also, like you touched on the venue, you know, a lot of them have very specific rules and very expensive things in their venues, especially these nicer venues.

So making sure the dog’s not going to the bathroom in the venue or destroying anything in the venue. Um, you’re dealing with a lot of guests that are going to try to interact, children that are going to try to interact with the dog at the wedding. When maybe this dog doesn’t love strangers and you have to be really, really aware of the dog’s behavior and if they’re actually enjoying this experience or if you need to step away.

So a lot of it is again, that knowledge of dog behavior and pet care to understand kind of where the dog’s limit is. We [00:34:00] do a lot of background work when the client books of, we have like a whole questionnaire, their dog, we have an online software. where they fill out their dog’s profile. And I mean, it’s, it’s very, very detailed with every question you can imagine so that we can understand their dog before the wedding day.

We also offer in person meet and greets, which we highly encourage with our couples so that we can meet their dog or their multiple animals before the wedding so that they know us on the wedding day. And we can make sure that we can understand kind of. Yeah. Do they have separation anxiety? Are they okay around children?

Do they get stressed in crowds? Those types of things that are so important to know, but the couple may not think to tell us because they’re caught up in the planning process. So those are kind of all those things that we try to get ahead of so that there is no liability issues, but it’s all things you have to be prepared for, of course.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Now, when I talk to a lot of e commerce businesses and they go on Shark Tank, you know, it’s like before the show airs, they, there’s a whole preparation process, you know, they get all the stock like [00:35:00] filled up because they know that once the show airs, It’s uh, you know, the orders are going to come in. Um, have the, has it been like for your business, uh, you know, were you kind of ready with the phone?

Like, you know, or, you know, did, did you see a lot of new People inquiring about your business or phone calls coming in. Um, uh, did you, did you see anything, um, different once the show aired? Uh, your show aired?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yes. And because we’re not a product, of course, that is something, you know, most Shark Tank pitches or companies are product based.

And so it was like, what is this going to look like for us? We’re not sure. Uh, they, you know, we had a call with Barbara’s team of kind of what to expect best practices for that night to make the most of it. Um, the website traffic was insane. We on average would get maybe one or two inquiries for people that want to start a franchise in their city about a month, one or two that night, that week after we aired, we had 300 [00:36:00] inquiries for people that wanted to start a franchise.

And so it was a lot, uh, we learned a lot about better ways to kind of qualify people. Cause we used to set up video calls with everyone to get to know them and see if it’s a good fit. So that was a fun little practice for us, but it was incredible. Um, we’ve opened two locations. Prior or post airing, uh, you know, our sales process to opening a franchise location is quite long because there’s a lot of back and forth and building that trust before we sell the location.

So we did open in Sacramento, California and St. Louis, uh, post Shark Tank and they had watched our episode and that is how they found us.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I see that you’re, um, I think, I think I opened your YouTube video and I’m hearing the sound, but I’m going to talk about your TikTok. I see that you have a huge. big talk following and you know pretty decent Instagram polling as well.

Um, do you how do you I guess you know the the you [00:37:00] know pets make a good social media post. How do you like who manages your social media and what is your social media process like?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, so I manage all of our social media. Um, during the pandemic again, using that downtime for positive and trying to do my best.

I really finally cracked down and started working on TikTok. So leading up to 2020, you know, TikTok was starting to get really popular. I knew it would be a great social media channel for us based on what we do, but just didn’t put the time in to understand it and really figure out a strategy. So with that downtime, I really committed to learning and being better at posting.

And I posted every single day for almost two years, at least once. And that’s kind of how we were able to consistently build that channel and really see those results. I certainly do not post that often anymore. Now it’s, you know, I’m in a, right now in the summers, I’m a little even slower to post just cause I’m busy right now with Kelly on maternity leave.

Um, but I, I try to post at [00:38:00] least three times a week on Instagram and one to two times a week minimum on TikTok. Sometimes I’m posting more than that, but that’s kind of my bare minimum. And I really try to, you know, reuse content as much as possible. So when I make a video, I’m taking clips of it, sharing it across all of our platforms, including YouTube shorts, um, and then finding ways to kind of reuse it as much as possible.

I’m definitely, I try to be a batch content person where once a month, you know, you’ve the time, but it’s just not. So usually I am more of a like, as I go one day, I’m feeling inspired and I just do as much as I can. And then a couple of days later, I do the same thing. So I don’t have a solid strategy. I know people are always very curious to hear what my strategy is there.

Um, but it’s really just consistency, whatever that looks like for you. So if you are a batch person, you can spend one day a month and just, you know, Schedule it out for the month and that’s amazing. And now you’re going to be consistent for me. It’s like once or twice a week. I feel inspired. I schedule out what I can, and that has worked really well for me.

And just making sure that every [00:39:00] day I spend at least five to 10 minutes, hopefully more like 20 to 30 responding to comments, you know, engaging with the other accounts we’re following, reaching out to vendors and trying to stay active on the platforms.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I see that one of your TikTok posts has 15. 6 million views.

Do you find social media to be really hit or miss, like it’s quite unpredictable, you never know what’s going to work or not, or have you kind of, um, figured out what, you know, what kind of posts get better traction than the other?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, I mean, it really is hit or miss, which is, is wild. Some of the videos I spend hours making, and I’m like, this is it.

It’s going to do great. They get 200 views. And then the one that is a trending sound that I’m like, hold on, I have an old clip that’ll work for that. Let me just throw it up there in 10 seconds. And that one gets millions. So it is very, very hard. One thing that I’ve realized is for me personally, the time of day, and like, I used to be really, really, um, I pay very close attention to the analytic of [00:40:00] what time of day should I be posting on each day that really bared no fruit for me.

I did not find that helpful. And I was wasting so much time trying to be intentional about that. So as long as you’re posting, you know, within normal hours that your clients are awake and using their phones, that’s fine. Works out all the same for me. I didn’t really notice any trends there. Um, but just consistency, you know, unfortunately, I wish I had a formula and maybe I do and it’ll work for like a month and then it totally switches again.

And now I have no control over which ones are, are actually going viral and which ones aren’t, um, tick tock used to also be, uh, much less saturated. So I was going viral a lot. And that, that 15 million video was, you know, Back in probably 2020, 2021, when it was much less saturated and I was going viral every couple videos.

Now it’s very, very rare that I’m seeing those numbers. Honestly.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: You know, I am always so, uh, intrigued that so many people create such great content. Like, you know, you almost need a [00:41:00] production to create the kind of content that people create. So I mean, it boggles my mind. And it’s intimidating as well.

Like, you know, if you’re a new content creator, like how, how do you find the time and the effort and the, you know, video editing and everything to kind of create like a beautiful piece of content?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, it’s a lot of work.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: How much time do you usually spend like on a post?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: It really depends. A lot of times because of the way I choose to do it, I will just scroll on TikTok, you know, and then try to open my notes app and just make a couple notes of videos that click with me that I’m like, Oh, I do.

Cause I know I have all these videos saved on my phone and this one would work for that sound. This one would work for that sound so that I’m spending 15 minutes scrolling and just kind of keeping in mind what trends seem are reacting with me and then I may end up doing the same trend with like five videos on my phone.

So that way I’m able to kind of batch in a different way and just not post them all back to back. Um, [00:42:00] so some videos really take me, you know, two minutes, but most of them are 10 to 20 minutes for if I’m doing captions and like really being intentional about editing the clips.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I mean, that’s, that’s still pretty, pretty fast to be honest.

Um, how do you, um, how do you see Your business, let’s say five years down the road, what, how do you see your business? Do you want to continue kind of like growing your franchise business organically? Like, do you see your business becoming kind of a national phenomenon? How do you see your business growing?

Do you have kind of a end game? Uh, to this or is this, you know, kind of like a lifelong endeavor?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: I mean, it’s definitely a lifelong endeavor. It’s, it’s rare to love what you do so much. And, you know, people ask Kelly and I all the time now that we’ve franchised and have this much more scaled business than we did when we started back in the day.

Are we just not really working the weddings anymore and just doing the stuff behind the scenes? And we are still doing the [00:43:00] weddings every weekend because I don’t know how to give that up. That is the best part of this job and I love it with my whole heart. And so does Kelly. So we’re very active in the business.

We have no intention on just like trying to scale as big as possible because we’re so intentional about this business and who we’re bringing on because we want to protect our brand and make sure that we’re providing That level of service that I talked about earlier, because it means a lot to us. So as I do see us continuing to grow, you know, we’ve had inquiries internationally of people that want to franchise in other countries, which is insanely amazing.

We’re just not ready yet. We want to really make sure that we’ve captured our market here in the United States before we expand internationally, but. I wouldn’t say that’s off the table. It’s definitely something we would love to consider and keep growing. We’re just going to take it day by day and make sure that we’re being really, really intentional about who we’re bringing on, uh, to protect that fairyTail pet care brand.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I guess, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s difficult to kind of, uh, uh, not attend [00:44:00] those, it’s almost like, you know, you, you’re invited to a new party every week.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: And it’s fun.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: It’s fun. It’s fun to go there. And that’s why you’re like, you’re still working. Blur. So like you’re attending a new party every weekend.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: It really is.

It’s very, very special.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Um, in every entrepreneur’s journey, there’s always mistakes made, lessons learned, failures. What has been kind of like, um, something that you consider to be a mistake or a lesson learned, um, in your entrepreneurial journey since you’ve been running this business? Uh, what, what did you learn?

What can other entrepreneurs learn from your mistakes?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, I would say the number one thing, it’s not like a, we’re very lucky that I’ve used the word intentional a million times, but we’re, we’re very intentional. And I think having a co founder who is also my best friend since we were 13, we talk to each other every step of the way.

And we can kind of catch things before they become a problem because we’re always looking out for each other. So we’ve been very fortunate to not have any major hiccups, [00:45:00] but that being said, we have certainly had our challenges. Um, my biggest advice is always, you know, To not be afraid to ask for help, because especially in those early days, you’re so focused on trying to make it look like you know what you’re doing and that you’re the expert.

And of course that is important. You want to be professional, but there are incredible resources in everyone’s market to help you, especially as a new business. We have an entrepreneur center here that’s run locally that has free classes at almost every day, whether it’s starting your business plan or getting help with trying to franchise or Talking about who to scale and what the best way is to scale.

And these mentors are incredible business owners or business professionals that are now volunteering their time to try to help grow their community and help other newer entrepreneurs. And so I think it took us a while. We were just trying to do it on our, on our own and doing everything ourselves and being able to have that resource and realizing there’s nothing wrong asking for help.

It will actually just benefit you and help you kind of get that head start and a [00:46:00] mentor that can teach you things that you would not know unless you make those mistakes. So to catch you before those mistakes happen. learn their insight, what they went through. Um, so just finding your local entrepreneur center, small business center, and reaching out to them when those hiccups come up, because they will guide you.

And that’s an invaluable, most of the time, free resource that’s available to you.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah, that’s, that’s a great, uh, great, great advice for sure. Uh, I mean, I think most major cities have, uh, some great resources for small businesses, uh, entrepreneurial centers and so forth. So definitely take advantage of that.

Now I’m going to move on to our rapid fire segment. In this segment, I’m going to ask you a few quick questions and you have to answer them maybe in a word or a sentence or so. So the first one is one book recommendation, uh, for entrepreneurs and why I think it’s

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Okay, um, I genuinely have been so busy that I haven’t been reading as much recently, which I do love reading.

I would say right now I’ve been listening to the podcast, How I Built It, and that has been really inspiring [00:47:00] to hear how these big companies started, um, and just kind of learning more about the ins and outs of their business.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. An innovative product or idea, uh, it could be in e commerce, retail, or technology that you feel excited about.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: I mean, AI in general, if that applies here, just kind of how that can help all of us, even as a service, we’ve been using it for some social media content and blogs, and that’s been very exciting.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: A business or productivity tool or software that you would recommend or a productivity tip.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: HubSpot we use as a CRM tool, and that was a game changer in helping us with inquiries and follow ups and making sure that we’re actually booking our leads.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Uh, another startup or business, uh, it could be an e commerce, retail, technology that you think is currently doing great.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: We work very closely here with, uh, Adam with a gold photo pet photography studio. He is an incredible business owner. We have a program with him at our local shelter called second shot, [00:48:00] where we help dogs get new photos to help them find their homes.

And he has been scaling in all kinds of cool ways. And we kind of started our businesses at the same time. So we’ve been able to really work together and, uh, are very inspired by his business too. Awesome.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Uh, a peer entrepreneur or business person whom you look up to or someone who inspires you. I don’t know if it was the same person as last.

Yeah, I guess we’ll just

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: go with the same as last. That works for both.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Um, final question. What is the best business advice that you have ever received or you would give to other entrepreneurs?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: I guess that kind of falls on before too is just don’t be afraid to ask for help because I know that was something I struggled with a lot and once you get over that hurdle and reach out you realize how easy it is and how much better it makes your life and you’re able to kind of more confidently move through your business and take those next steps.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Finally, I do see on your website you also have, you know, you’re helping homeless animals find their forever homes. Can you talk a little bit about what that is about and [00:49:00] how, how kind of, is that kind, is that part of your business? Is that something that you’re doing just to help other animals out? What is this about?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up. So that has always been a big part of our business since day one. Like I touched on, we love dogs. And so when we started this business, we wanted to make sure we had a mission that would actually give back to our local homeless animals and find a way to give back. So here in Tampa, we go every week with that photographer.

I mentioned a gold photo, pet photography studio, and we set up his studio at our shelter and take photos of the dogs who have been there the longest. If you look at my recent Instagram posts, the last three were actually three dogs who have been there that. really need to find homes and we create video content around that to kind of showcase their personalities and show why they shouldn’t be overlooked and why they are deserving to find their forever homes.

Um, we also have a program here in Tampa where we bring adoptable dogs or adoptable cats to your wedding. So we take a donation to the shelter and then it really helps those animals to socialize. They get to meet a ton of new people during cocktail hour. You get really cute [00:50:00] photos. Often they do find their homes.

Um, so that’s a really cool program we have here. We encourage all of our franchisee locations to give back in whatever way that looks like for them. So some of our locations are volunteering weekly. Some of them are looking to start partnerships where they can do similar things like what we’re doing here.

Um, and then a portion of all of the royalty fees that we collect from our franchisees gets donated to local shelters at the end of every year as well.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: That’s, that’s so much interesting. And, uh, yeah, I guess a win win. Or, you know, if people can find their pets and pets can find a home, I think that’s a really great way to do it.

Um, well, that was, uh, that was all the question that I had, Ilana. Thank you so much for sharing your story. If anybody wants to, uh, find your service or is looking to inquire for a franchisee, um, opportunity, what is the best way to, um, to, to, uh, get more information?

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Yeah. So you can find everything on our website, which is fairyTail Pet Care.

com. For anyone listening, it’s T A I L, not [00:51:00] T A L E, so fairytailpetcare. com, or you can check us out on any of the social media channels at fairytail underscore pet care.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Well, Ilana, thank you so much again for sharing your story, for sharing your business successes, some lessons learned. And, uh, yeah, thank you so much again for joining me today at Treptalks and wish you all the very best.

Illana Karcinski of FairyTail Pet Care: Thank you so much for having me. Have a great rest of your day.