From Pet Store Employee to Pet Industry Agency Owner: My Conversation on The Agency Growth Podcast

From Pet Store Employee to Pet Industry Agency Owner: My Conversation on The Agency Growth Podcast

I recently had the chance to join Jake Hundley and Cody See on The Agency Growth Podcast for a conversation about building Pet Engine Marketing, finding my place in the pet industry, and how both marketing and agency ownership have changed over the years.

It was also a good excuse to look backward for a little while.

I started working in the pet industry as a teenager behind the register at an independent pet store. Years later, after finding my way into sales and digital marketing, that same store became one of my first marketing clients.

I definitely didn't have some perfectly mapped-out plan to build a pet industry marketing agency from there.

Early on, Pet Engine Marketing was really just me trying to make a name for myself, learning on the job, helping businesses however I could, and slowly figuring out what I was actually good at.

Over time, that evolved into the agency we have today, working exclusively with independent pet businesses across the U.S. and Canada.

How Marketing Has Changed Along the Way

One of the things Jake, Cody, and I talked about was just how different digital marketing looks today compared to when I started.

The tools have changed. Google has changed. Social media has changed. AI is changing things again.

But my own approach to marketing has changed just as much.

Earlier in my career, I was much more focused on completing marketing activities: building websites, doing SEO, sending emails, creating content, and checking things off the list.

Today, we're much more interested in the bigger question:

What is the business actually trying to accomplish, and how can marketing help get it there?

That shift took years of experience, a lot of experimentation, and plenty of lessons learned along the way.

Why the Pet Industry Became Home

We also spent quite a bit of time talking about why I've stayed so focused on the pet industry.

Part of it is obviously personal. I've been around independent pet businesses since I was a teenager, and I genuinely enjoy working with the people who build them.

But it's also an industry where relationships and trust matter enormously.

Some of the most important growth for Pet Engine hasn't come from sending thousands of cold emails. It's come from showing up.

Going to trade shows. Having conversations. Teaching workshops. Speaking at industry events. Meeting other people who serve pet businesses. Building relationships over years instead of looking for an immediate transaction.

That has become a huge part of how I've built both Pet Engine Marketing and my own career in the industry.

Building a Business Is a Process

We also got into the agency side of the story: how Pet Engine grew from something I called an "agency" when it was really just me freelancing into an actual team and business.

And that process has been anything but linear.

I've learned a lot about pricing, choosing the right work, evolving services, trusting experience, and recognizing when something that worked a few years ago might not be the right answer anymore.

I'm still learning those lessons now.

That's probably one of my biggest takeaways from the conversation. When you're running a business every day, it's easy to spend all of your time thinking about what still needs to improve.

Every once in a while, it's worth looking backward too.

Listen to the Full Conversation

We covered much more than I can fit here, including niching an agency, trade shows as a growth strategy, changes in digital marketing, pricing and value, client acquisition, and some of the realities of building a business over time.

You can hear the full conversation on The Agency Growth Podcast, Episode 218: “The Trade Show Strategy Behind a Six-Figure Niche Agency.”

Listen to my episode of The Agency Growth Podcast

Jake and Cody also know the niche-agency world firsthand through Evergrow Marketing, where they specialize in marketing for landscaping and lawn care companies. Thanks again to both of them for having me on and giving me the opportunity to share a little more of the Pet Engine story.