Episode #9 - Pivoting Isn’t Failure: What Changing My Dog Wear Business Taught Me

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;21 Unknown Ever feel like you're spinning your wheels in your business? Like you're trying everything, but nothing's quite clicking? I've been there. And in fact, I went through four different business models before I finally found my sweet spot in the dog wear design space. And trust me, each so-called wrong turn taught me something I needed to learn. Actually, I don't believe in wrong turns anymore.

00;00;30;27 - 00;01;03;12 Unknown Each stage builds upon the last. I needed to go through all those different stages in order to feel confident in creating dog wear patterns and teaching others, and and selling dog wear patterns and creating courses, all of them built upon each other to bring me to the place that I am here today. So I really want to walk you through the twists and turns of my journey, not just to share my story, but to help you reflect on yours.

00;01;03;14 - 00;01;36;12 Unknown If you're feeling stuck, unclear, or questioning your direction, this one's for you. Hey there, it's Jill Bartlett, and welcome back to the podcast. I want to talk about something. We all go through at some point in our creative or business journey. That feeling of being stuck. Knowing you want to be in a certain space, like dog wear design, but not being quite sure how to show up in it.

00;01;36;14 - 00;02;07;10 Unknown That was me for years. I tried multiple approaches before landing on the one that finally made sense for me. And while it might look like a straight line in hindsight to me, it sure didn't feel like it at the time. While I was working through each of those twists and turns, I was learning. Each new chapter taught me something about the industry, about my audience, and most of all, about myself.

00;02;07;13 - 00;02;43;16 Unknown I started out making custom fit dog coats for individual clients, and honestly, the reason I went that route was because I didn't trust my measuring skills. I didn't really fully understand the anatomy of dogs, and I wasn't 100% confident in my patterns. So customizing each coat gave me a level of control and confidence that I could make the adjustments on the fly and ensure I was giving a good dog coat with a great fit for each of the dogs that I worked for.

00;02;43;18 - 00;03;20;06 Unknown Or I didn't really work for the dogs. I worked for the people that had the dogs, but you know what I mean. Anyways, it worked. I mean, people loved ordering for me because their weirdly sized dogs finally had something that actually fit. But scaling that kind of work, well, that's nearly impossible. I was spending hours on each piece, and I wasn't charging enough to reflect the time and the skill and the attention it took to create a custom fit dog coat for each client.

00;03;20;09 - 00;03;46;26 Unknown I was stuck in the cycle of trading time for money and it just didn't add up. I mean, I was I was really working around the clock and I wasn't making enough money. So I want you to think about if you're in the custom fit work area, if you're making custom fit dog coats or working on a client by client basis and making each one specific to dogs.

00;03;46;28 - 00;04;22;29 Unknown Ask yourself, are you doing it out of a lack of confidence in your measuring skills, or your understanding of dog anatomy, or uncertainty about the base patterns that you're working with? If this is the case, maybe you could consider specializing, making coats just for the small breeds or for poodle mixes. I mean, poodle mixes are notoriously hard to find off the rack clothing for because they have these really deep chests and really long backs, and there are a lot of poodle mixes out there right now.

00;04;22;29 - 00;04;49;01 Unknown Poodle crosses, as we know, the doodle, the doodle world is big there. That's a really viable business path. But even more importantly, focusing on one area allows you to create your own niche, which is so much easier to manage than trying to accommodate all sizes and all breeds. I did that. It was impossible. Trust me. Not a great path to go down.

00;04;49;03 - 00;05;19;19 Unknown So if you can look at how you can niche down into one area or a couple of different areas, then you become a specialist in that area and that gives you more of a notoriety and people will start to follow you and buy from you because you are a specialist in that area. Once I realized that I didn't really want to stay in this custom dog wear area anymore, I pivoted to teaching.

00;05;19;21 - 00;05;49;10 Unknown I created a membership model with dog wear sewing courses, and it felt like such a great natural next step for me. Earlier in my life, when I ran my e-learning company, I loved creating video and training that could educate and inspire people. And I also realized how much I enjoyed mentoring my staff. So stepping into a role where I could teach people how to make dog wear themselves, it felt like coming home.

00;05;49;11 - 00;06;13;27 Unknown Like it really felt like a good fit for me. From a business standpoint, it made sense too. I could create the content once and have people access it on demand. But with a membership model, you kind of need to be constantly bringing in new people to keep the numbers healthy. You must consistently add new content to retain those members as well.

00;06;14;00 - 00;06;34;26 Unknown It was at this point that I realized, well, makers only want to make a certain number of coats for their dogs. I mean, at one point you've got enough dog coats for your dog. And that model I had, which was creating a brand new pattern every month with all the training and everything around it. It really wasn't sustainable for me.

00;06;35;00 - 00;07;00;07 Unknown But that said, I came out of it with six full courses and six solid patterns that I can continue to sell. So it wasn't a loss. It was a foundation for me to move forward. So if you are in this world, if you are considering a membership or you have a monthly subscription or you're thinking about it, I want you to think about it long term.

00;07;00;11 - 00;07;28;18 Unknown How will you grow? How will you sustain it? Think about how you'll bring in new members and keep your current members engaged. And always ask yourself, are you building something that you can realistically maintain and evolve over time? So the next stage for me was I turned to something I loved since forever as far back as I can remember, which is knitting.

00;07;28;19 - 00;07;53;19 Unknown Knitting is my happy place. It is my meditative state. I love knitting, I knit every night and I am fully admitting I am addicted to it. So creating knitting courses felt like a really great thing for me to do. It really felt like a good next step. And honestly, I still actually run these courses from time to time because I really do enjoy doing it.

00;07;53;21 - 00;08;23;17 Unknown It gave me this knitting area, gave me another outlet to connect with makers, and it pulled together so many things that I enjoy, like designing and teaching and working with yarn. But again, unless someone's planning to sell what they make, they're eventually going to have enough sweaters, and snoods, and scarves for their own pop. If your ideal customer avatar, or your ICA, is a hobbyist, your market has a ceiling.

00;08;23;17 - 00;08;52;09 Unknown And I realized I was attracting people who wanted to make a few fun things but not build a business around it. So the takeaway from this if if you're unsure where to go next, look for what's consistent across everything you've done. For me, that thread was teaching. But also ask yourself who are you really serving and whether their needs match your business goals.

00;08;52;12 - 00;09;15;20 Unknown Once I finally stopped trying to make things work for the wrong audience and started to think about what I love doing and who I really wanted to help, that's when things began to shift. It wasn't overnight. It was far more gradual than that. But it was at this point where things kind of clicked for me and I could see a pathway forward.

00;09;15;22 - 00;09;43;12 Unknown I was outlining a lesson on grading dog patterns and I felt totally in flow. I couldn't type fast enough to keep up with my ideas. I was that excited. I was waking up each day super excited about what I was going to do, and brimming with ideas. I couldn't wait to get to work. And I got to film and edit video, which brought me back to what I loved most from my e-learning company.

00;09;43;14 - 00;10;14;05 Unknown Suddenly, everything felt like it was kind of coming together for me. The teaching, the tech, the creative process it all felt like it was gelling into a business model I could really get behind. And that's where I am now. Teaching courses to aspiring dog wear designers, helping them create digital patterns they can actually sell, and helping people to envision a future in the dog wear design area.

00;10;14;07 - 00;10;46;17 Unknown I've also really leaned into this podcasting and blogging arena, as I really find this is a great medium for me to share my ideas and connect with other creatives and give people real tools they can use. It feels like such a natural fit for me. Like all the previous stages were preparing me for this exact direction. But what's interesting is that before that moment, I was overwhelmed.

00;10;46;19 - 00;11;11;03 Unknown I had long lists of things I wanted to do. So many ideas, so many directions I could take. But I felt frozen. I felt like I couldn't see the path forward. It was like standing in the middle of a foggy field with no kind of map in front of me. I just didn't know which way to turn and that overwhelm just freezes you.

00;11;11;04 - 00;11;33;09 Unknown You just don't get anything done. And that's where I felt like I was at. And then one day, it was like the fog just cleared. The path was suddenly visible, and I felt it. I really I really felt this shift. Everything just started to make sense to me. I didn't overthink it. I just started doing the next right thing.

00;11;33;11 - 00;12;07;11 Unknown And looking back, I now realize it was because I finally landed on the right direction. Everything felt right, and it was that gut sense that it was right. And once that once that realization came through to me, I just got super excited. The path cleared for me and I just started moving forward. And when that kind of feeling happens and that that fog lifts and you can see the clear path ahead of you, that's when you know you've really landed on the right thing.

00;12;07;13 - 00;12;33;08 Unknown So take away from this is if you're in that place of overwhelm where nothing is clicking and everything feels so hard, it might be a sign that the path that you're on isn't the one that's meant for you. When you find that right path, you'll know because things just start to feel easier, not effortless, but aligned. You won't have to force every step.

00;12;33;08 - 00;12;56;03 Unknown You'll feel excited. You'll feel like you know in your gut that this is the right thing. You may be waking up excited like I was, to just do whatever you have on your list that day, and you're checking things off on the list. You don't feel overwhelmed. Have you ever had that sense, that feeling where everything just makes sense all of a sudden?

00;12;56;06 - 00;13;25;26 Unknown What were you doing at that time? What would it look like to follow that feeling? Now, there's one part of this journey that still feels like a challenge for me, and that's marketing. I've always had a hard time showing up on social media. I'm a perfectionist. I fully hand on the heart. I admit I am a full card carrying perfectionist and creating Instagram Reels takes me forever.

00;13;26;00 - 00;13;50;08 Unknown They always feel like they just vanish into that algorithmic void. Let's be honest, I am not out there creating viral videos and and in this day and age to that whole perfectionist thing where everything looks really polished and perfect, it's not what people are looking for, but I have a hard time creating things that aren't polished and perfect.

00;13;50;11 - 00;14;12;12 Unknown I come from a long background in video creation and editing, and that's where I tend to do things. I want to make things perfect, so it's very hard for me to create something really quick, throw it up on social. It's just not something that I do very well. But this blogging and podcasting that feels different to me. It feels right.

00;14;12;14 - 00;14;46;12 Unknown I always wanted to explore these formats, but because I was teaching things that were so visual, like sewing or knitting and how do you do this and how do you do that? I just couldn't see the path forward for how to do either a blog or even, I mean, especially a podcast. Now that I'm teaching business strategies to dog wear designers, things like creating digital sewing patterns, identifying your niche, or building a pattern business, navigating trends, or figuring out how to sell your own patterns.

00;14;46;14 - 00;15;21;06 Unknown It all fits within this blogging and podcasting area. These are topics that lend themselves beautifully to conversation. And they give me a way to share deeper insights and connect with people in a more meaningful way that works for me. And I love that. I really do enjoy this whole area. But letting go is really hard. I recently listened to a Mel Robbins episode on a pod on her podcast, where she was interviewing Jay Shetty, and something he said really resonated.

00;15;21;09 - 00;15;52;20 Unknown He said that we need to let go of past versions of ourselves to step into who we are really meant to become. For me, that meant being willing to let go of business models I put a lot of work into, and to be honest, doing that always feels like I've failed in some way. I, as I just said, I'm a perfectionist and facing the fact that something didn't work out is really hard for me to do.

00;15;52;22 - 00;16;20;11 Unknown But when I take a step back and I look at everything I've learned, everything I've created, it makes it easier somehow. Because each stage gave me something I needed to take to the next step. It was... each of those stages were foundational steps, and it helps me to bring this next direction that I'm in right now. It really helps bring it all into focus and it really feels right.

00;16;20;12 - 00;16;45;15 Unknown As I said earlier, it's that path. And when suddenly everything looks clear, you really know you're on that right path and this is the right path for me. So if you're struggling with your direction right now, I want you to think about a few things. What are you holding on to that might not be serving you anymore? Or what could you release to create space for something better?

00;16;45;17 - 00;17;16;11 Unknown How can you pivot from what you're currently doing, knowing that you've learned from it, and whatever you've learned from that will still serve you moving forward? If you're interested in the podcast I mentioned, it's episode 282 of the Mel Robbins Podcast. It's titled “A process for Finding Purpose. Do THIS to build the life you want”. In it, Jay Shetty shares timeless wisdom.

00;17;16;11 - 00;17;43;11 Unknown I mean, just incredible wisdom on finding clarity, unlocking passion, and cultivating a deep sense of peace about where you are and where you're headed. I'll drop the link in the show notes below. And I have to say, it didn't sparked my pivot. I'd already made the pivot before I listened to the podcast, but it definitely reinforced for me that I'm on the right path. Now,

00;17;43;14 - 00;18;13;21 Unknown here's something I wish someone had told me earlier. If you're constantly fixated on what didn't work, on the failures, you're going to miss the lessons that each stage is trying to teach you. We weren't put on this earth to pick one perfect path and stick to it forever. You're here to follow your curiosity, to create, to tell your story, to build something that lights you up and brings joy to others.

00;18;13;24 - 00;18;40;09 Unknown And sometimes that path isn't a straight line. It's a winding road or a spiral, one that keeps bringing you back to the exact lessons you need until you're ready to move forward. If this episode resonated with you, I hope you'll take a few moments to reflect on where you are in your journey. What's working, what's not, and what's trying to emerge?

00;18;40;11 - 00;19;06;25 Unknown Let me ask you this. If you knew the absolutely perfect career or entrepreneurial path was right in front of you, how would that change the way you're living right now? Would you still be doing what you're doing? Would you feel fulfilled, aligned, and excited about your next step? If your gut is telling you there's a better direction, a different path.

00;19;06;28 - 00;19;46;00 Unknown Trust it. I fully support you in going for it because when you move in that direction that truly feels aligned, everything falls into place. And remember this. Nothing you've ever done is ever wasted. Every decision, every detour, every so-called failed attempt has taught you something and shaped you into the person you are now. It's all been building towards your next chapter, creating a wealth of experience and insight that will only make your next steps more powerful.

00;19;46;02 - 00;20;17;06 Unknown In next week's episode, we're going to build on this and talk about something every dog wear designer needs to understand: The customer journey. Because once you know who you're serving and how they're finding you, it's so much easier to create the right content, the right patterns, and the right messaging that leads them straight to you. I can't wait to share it with you, so make sure you check in next week on that one.

00;20;17;08 - 00;20;50;03 Unknown Thank you so much for spending this time with me. I'll catch you next time with more insights for building a business that you love, especially if it involves dogs, design and doing things your own way. Bye for now.