After Three Years....

Wow, three years in business. My how the time flies. As we approach our third year in business, I traditionally write a nostalgic year wrap of whats happened over the last 12 months of Bigwag history, what we've learned, what we've forgotten, how we've grown, and what this year has meant to me.

Being a business owner is definitely a life changing experience. It's definitely been by far one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever taken on. Being a part of the community, seeing all of the testimonials roll in for our Year of Free Treats Contest as today is the deadline to enter from our friends and customers makes me feel good about the work we do at Bigwag. I've always felt like we were more of a health food store for dogs than anything else - even though I think our clothing line is really cute. Uploading all of the photos from our Barkday Cake collection, thinking about how many dogs we have made happy over the last three years.

Lets see, what did I learn this year? I learned that when you do the best you can, run your business with integrity, building a community (Not just being in business, but being a part of the community you do business in) you build lasting relationships with your customers - relationships that can weather a recession.

I learned how to actually get some fans on our Facebook page.

I've learned that you don't spend 7% of your gross sales on marketing and advertising, you spend 7% of what you want your sales to be. That is easier said than done.

I learned that you need a CAPTCH code on your online submission forms or else you get SPAM bots submitting erroneous Pet Calendar entries.

I've learned that Twitter CAN be a viable marketing channel for your business as long as you post interesting content and actually listen and interact with the people online.

People are surprisingly generous even when things are tight. Our Pet Angel tree at Christmas and our Puppy Shower yappie hour this spring were tremendous successes for the Humane Society of Rogers.

Persistence pays off. People may walk by our store 100 times before they come in. Sometimes you just need a flashy LED sign in your window with the right message.

I've learned that I love IPOD. I've resisted for years, but finally broke down - now I rarely leave home without mine. (My wife thinks I'm a goober). This has nothing to do with the business, but it shows that when you really find a quality product you fall in love with, you become a fan. I'm a fan. Our customers are our fans. Thank you.

Baking salmon treats actually smells worse than baking our liver treats. Might be why dogs go crazy over them. They like liver treats too - but holy cow.

I've learned that if you have never designed a logo for a real business you should leave that to the pros. We learned that the hard way. It's been a year since I redesigned our logo, and it has definately made a big difference. I wish I knew then what I know now, as I am still working on getting the logo switched over in various places (Leslie - how can I bribe you to update your website!?!).

They really do make an all natural cleaner that will take stains out of your carpet that are over a year old. It's not a myth. I was amazed and shocked.

OK - that's probably more than anyone will read, so I'll stop here. If you've read this far - thank you. Thank you from the entire Bigwag family. Without you there would not be a dog bakery in Northwest Arkansas!