Finding Your Authenticity As A Dog Biz With Tori Mistick

On this episode of Mind Your Own Dog Business, Kristen Lee sits down with an extraordinary guest, award-winning Tori Mistick from Wear, Wag, Repeat.
Tori is a powerful leading influencer, community builder, and multimedia brand for dog businesses, dog moms, and much more. 

Tori and Kristen sit down to have an in-depth conversation about women in the dog business industry, finding their authenticity, voice, and authority as dog trainers, dog walkers, pet sitters, groomers.

Tori shares her experience and journey around stepping into her real power, finding her voice, and claiming her expertise. They also discussed why it's important for dog trainers, dog walkers, and pet sitters to use their platforms to genuinely believe and attract the right dog-owning clients by being authentic. 

Kristen and Tori also give dog trainers, dog walkers, and the Mind Your Own Dog Business listeners the beginning steps to find their authenticity and be okay with trading likeability for that authenticity.

Shout-out to Tori for making time to connect and chat. 

How To Connect With Tori:

The Wear Wag Repeat Website 

Courses For Dog Biz Pros 

Tori's Top-Rated Podcast on iTunes & Spotify 

Wag, Wear, Repeat IG

Links:

Check out more episodes of Mind Your Own Dog Business

Connect with Kristen & Grassroots:

Online: www.dogbizschool.com

Instagram: @dogwalkercoach

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GrassrootsDogBizSchool

Transcript

Kristen Lee: 0:02

You're listening to the mind, your own dog business podcast. I'm your host leading expert in dog business. Strategic Kristen Lee guys. Get ready for your journey to cutting edge marketing and sales, creating a standout kick ass dog business grant, along with mastering your mindset. That's going to smash. All this glass ceilings that have been holding you back and catapult your dog business to the next level with actionable steps, you can take right away. We're going to empower you. We're going to grow you as you step into your authentic self. Not only as a dog trainer, dog Walker, or what ever slice the pet industry, you find yourself in. But as that bad-ass entrepreneur, my mission is to disrupt the current norm. Cut through the noise, cut through the bullshit and empower the incredible women of the dog business industry to step into the spotlight, reclaim control and transform not only in their businesses, but their lives. It's real. It's raw. It's uncensored. And it's what this dog

Tori Mistick: 1:00

business industry

Kristen Lee: 1:01

needs. Let's do this

Tori Mistick: 1:02

guys.

Kristen Lee: 1:26

All right, everybody. Welcome to today's episode of the mind, your own a dog, a biz podcast, guys. Super exciting. I have an incredible guest. I always talk about my guests are incredible. I think you guys are annoyed by saying Kristen, you always have an incredible guest, but I have an absolutely. Fucking a fantastic guest today. Her name is Tori mystic from wag where repeat. And there's a few things that's really freaking cool about Tori first. She isn't a ward winning pet lifestyle influencer like homegirl is sponsored out the motherfucking ass. Secondly, she is APR queen. She's been on good morning, America, Buzzfeed style X-er and despite. All those achievements that she has, which are so cool and respectful. She is a mama to two chocolate labs, and I have this really unhealthy attachment to her dog Burt because he reminds me of my old lady, Bella. So Tori officially welcomed my drone dog was his podcast.

Tori Mistick: 2:28

Hi, I am so excited to be on your show and be like in your pack to

Kristen Lee: 2:35

all things. Cute. Thank you. So guys, Tory's going to talk about today. We're going to have a conversation, a deeper conversation around finding your authenticity as a pep is brand something that I've noticed in tornado. I've chatted behind the scenes on Instagram. Is, there's a bunch of discussions around authenticity around pet business brands, but it really lacks the more transparent conversations about taking the stage store speak, and generally stepping in your authority with a vulnerability. So that's why I'm super excited and honored to have Turi here to talk about it. So Tori officially. How long have you been in the business of dogs and pets?

Tori Mistick: 3:14

Oh, man. That's a complicated question for me because I'm speaking of stepping into your authority. I didn't really feel like I was in the pet industry until last year, really. even though I've had my blog for seven and a half years, it was a hobby blog for many of the beginning years. and then I gradually. Took it took over my life. I used to do social media management for other businesses, and I ran a local chamber of commerce and I do acting on the side. I do a lot of things. And over the years I started dropping off those yeah. Things and doing more and more with where wagger Pete and I only went full time with wagger Pete in February of 2019. Like I like last year, I just remember very clearly, like literally like one day I was like, I work in the pet industry.

Kristen Lee: 4:08

Welcome to the shit show.

Tori Mistick: 4:12

I'm just

Kristen Lee: 4:12

kidding. I'm just kidding. Of course.

Tori Mistick: 4:15

yeah, so I think this is like a, such a great conversation to have about, stepping into, to your authority and into your expertise and, talking about. Self doubt and like those kinds of things. I'm just excited to dive into

Kristen Lee: 4:28

it. Awesome. Have you here for this? So what would you say is your super power.

Tori Mistick: 4:36

I like I've done a lot of polls for my audience. Cause I think that, that's one of those questions where if you're in a job interview and they're like, what are your weaknesses? Or what are your strengths? And you're like, I don't know. or, what are three words that describe you as the hardest question? and the easiest way to figure that out? I think it was just an ask. Other people, what they think of you. So I've actually done a lot of polls with my audience and, and appropriately. So what they came back with was that I'm really good at yeah. Creating a community and being authentic and being positive. and those are all things that are really core values to my brand is, supporting other people like I'm here help you be the best dog mom or. The pet printer or whatever. and together we can rise up. I don't think that by helping other people, anyone's going to be ahead of me or I'm going to be ahead of them. It's like we're all in this together. So that sense of like community and support and positive outlook, those are my superpowers.

Kristen Lee: 5:32

Yeah. community is super important, especially in the industry that we're in a safe. I want us to also say safe community too, because. At being in the pet industry, it's hard industry. I came from corporate America and I thought that was hard back in the day. I've never seen anything like it in the last, five to six years, I have been heavily involved in the backend operations and strategy of it. So I think it's incredible that you are building such a sense of community. Interesting. Cause I was talking to Daesh from Jason poppy and that was one of her goals was like, I need to build a community for these dog eating moms because everybody needs community, especially in today's like crazy political climate, by the way she's doing, Tory's doing amazing wag the vote, I believe it's called, right? Yes.

Tori Mistick: 6:16

Yeah, hashtag wag the vote,

Kristen Lee: 6:18

hashtag wag the vote. I see her pups modeling a little bit. Anna, the bananas. Oh my God. The Indiana's I had a smoothie before this, my mind's on bananas right now. Tori

Tori Mistick: 6:28

Nana's are Lucy's favorite food. So yeah.

Kristen Lee: 6:32

Mama. She's a mama bear. I love all chocolate labs or mamas or bears. That's what I call them. but I think it's so incredible that you are using the community that you've built so far to have such a good political message and to really encourage people to go out and vote and change and make take actionable steps. So good on you for using your platform for good. I absolutely love it. I absolutely love it.

Tori Mistick: 6:54

Thanks. I've got like a really good response from people. I, a couple months ago when I was like, Figuring out my place in all of this, I had some family members say, Oh, you really shouldn't take a stance. Cause you're going to alienate people. And that just lit a fire within me. And I was like, I'm doubling down.

Kristen Lee: 7:16

You're like, bitch, you didn't say that your family now that's so true because as entrepreneurs too, and like what you're saying, it's like, it's We've been taught and people have taught us as women too, especially it's don't rock the boat. you don't want people to be eliminated. I'm like, and I don't know if you've ever heard me say this. It's no, go fucking Titanic with this type of stuff. It's like rock the boat.

Tori Mistick: 7:39

Yeah. I think that, you can't please, everyone. If you're going to try to please everyone. It's there's not going to be anything memorable about you. So you need to take a stance, and it can be whatever stance you want, but you should lean into it and just go all in. And it doesn't mean that you can't change later. you could take a different. You could totally go to the other side or you could just take a different platform that you want to speak about. but I think as long as it's just something that like you really believe in, and that aligns with your personal values and your brand values, like being bold mold is a really good thing. I had a client years ago. one of my, it was actually my very first social media client. I remember. Like I hung the checkup on my wall. It was like my very first client. And he told me, he's if I'm not like mad at you, then you're not doing a good job. Like I'm paraphrasing. But, and at the time I was like, what are you talking about? but now it makes sense. Cause if you're not taking any risks, It's you're just living in the safe zone and you're not upsetting anyone and not that you want to upset people, but, you do have to be bold and just take a stance. And if you're going to offend some people, don't do it maliciously, but like it happens, we can't all agree. It would be very boring world if we did.

Kristen Lee: 9:00

Yeah, absolutely. Especially, it's just so it, cause I can go on this conversation for like hours around it, but it's as an entrepreneur and as a woman in business, a successful women business, like you are and everything like that. It's one of those things where, when it comes to issues going on in the world, issues that affect our clients that are issues that affect our communities, it is your obligation to draw that line in the sand and stand for it. And, it's one of the things, cause grassroots has been doing a lot of that stuff. we fully support our. Our BiPAP clients. we have a lot of scholarships for them. And also another thing too, is we're very vocal on sexual harassment and sexual assault in the industry. Sorry, I should've said trigger, but something it's alienated, it's not alienated, but it's delineated. The people in the communities we truly want to work with too. So I'm glad you're doing it. And it makes me, it gives me a little bit of a proud moment. Cause I know so many people are so afraid to be bold, like you were talking about. And I'm like, Us as women in the pet industry, we need to be bolder and step into authenticity with it. Okay. Yeah, exactly. A conversation. Yeah.

Tori Mistick: 10:06

I think that, yeah, especially as women, we are just culturally taught to be nice. be quiet, do what you're told smile, be pretty all, all these things. and if you don't really take the time to figure out who you are and what you stand for, you can just get lost in this, was like wave of just. People who all look the same and act the same

Kristen Lee: 10:30

basic bitch stuff, basically. All right. So what was the last thing that you've accomplished that made you so incredibly proud?

Tori Mistick: 10:40

Oh, recently, in August I did a. Five day challenge that was to help people learn how to set up an on demand online store for their pet business. cause a lot of people in the pet industry, we're not really super set up, no virtual, this year as we have had to, just like if you're a dog Walker or a dog trainer or something that like really relies on you being physically in a location, it was hard. It was hard for people to. Do anything virtually. so I thought that it would be really beneficial to teach people what I've been doing with my online store, which is, on demand products. So that's stuff that you don't have to carry any inventory. You just upload your designs. And when a customer orders it is magically made and magically sent to them and you don't have to. Touch it. so it's really nice and it's very scalable. cause you don't have to have inventory, I've had things in the past where I ordered t-shirts and different sizes thinking like, Oh, I know I always sell a lot of size, large and. Then the event comes and nobody buys the size large. So with on-demand products, you don't really have to deal with that. So I put so much effort into putting together this five day challenge and I was blown away by how many people signed up. I had over 200 people sign up for this free challenge. That was five days. And the best part of it was the engagement. During the challenge. I had a popup Facebook group, daily emails, daily live videos in the Facebook group. and then people were like, tagging me, like crazy on Instagram when they were sharing their stuff. Just the way that I designed the tasks of the challenge. It was like very interactive and community driven. So it just. All worked out so great. And I think everyone who did it, loved it and learned a lot. and, I, it enabled me to reach new people, all who now look up to me as a, a business expert, which is really great. And, and it was just such a great experience. it fed into a launch of a masterclass that I created about setting up a whole online store. With these on-demand products. and that launch was also really successful. I had 20 people or actually 28 people I think, signed up for it over the course of four days. so that whole thing was like super exciting. And now I'm trying to replicate that later this month with something about Pinterest.

Kristen Lee: 13:15

Okay. Congratulations on your successful launch too, by the way.

Tori Mistick: 13:18

Thank you. Yeah. like how much work goes into all these things behind the scenes.

Kristen Lee: 13:24

Yeah. it's funny because it's your fingers. I'm thinking, I think too, it's like when you do a launch around stuff, it's like there, like you said, there's so much work behind the scenes and what sometimes people don't realize, especially like in the pet industry, like if they're not doing the things that we do. Is, we have more failures and success too around it. I can't tell you how many watches have literally gone down the dumps. Yeah. So

Tori Mistick: 13:46

four people sign up or no people sign up. yeah,

Kristen Lee: 13:49

yeah. and then also too, I love that you have an on demand shot because it's such an easy source of passive income for anybody to, you always have that little. That little income stream you got going on? Yeah. What's your favorite quote?

Tori Mistick: 14:02

my favorite quote is, Y I love pretty much anything my Angelou has ever said. Nice. but one, one from her that I really loved that resonates with me is, once you it's, I can't remember exactly how it goes, but once better. You do better. and I think that relates to our industry really well, really great as well. for me, like I just think of it with dog, mom stuff, maybe not business stuff, it applies to that as well. But the example I'm thinking of is like with dog, mom stuff, I'm just a regular dog mom. I. A behaviorist. I'm not a nutritionist. I am not any of these things. So I've had dogs for 20 years and I didn't always feed them what I feed my dogs now. but once I knew better, I did better. and I just, I think that's like such a great thing to think about. People can be so hard on others, especially on the internet. I can send you a lot of messages. I can't believe you gave them that treat it's poison. You're a horrible person. you just, yeah. Once you know, better, you do better, I've fed my dogs a lot of things over the years. I just didn't know any better. I didn't know they were bad. I just think that's a really a great mindset to keep in mind, we can, I learn things every day. we're always getting better. Yeah.

Kristen Lee: 15:20

Yeah. And I think too, it's like giving like the dog moms. Cause I consider myself a dog mom too. I'm not sure dog trainer or nutritionist. I just happened to be in the industry and I am married to a dog trainer husband and my business partner is a fantastic dog trainer too. Yeah. But it's we all have to give. The average dog, mom, some grace too, because people like we don't need to beat up the market is what I'm saying. So it's and the market of dog moms now are so well educated and they actually want the very best. So it's we need to like, Not Taylor or kiss their ass, but be open, have a focus on education versus shaming when it comes to that type of stuff as well. And I see it a lot. I see it a lot when people, shame owners and I'm like, no, don't beat up your market, please. Don't beat up your market. They love you. They love you. They want to give you money. Don't beat them up. No,

Tori Mistick: 16:06

Yeah. And I've just, I've been working, into a lot of like my, just so my social media captions on Instagram lately. I'll put whatever cute little blurb at the beginning, but then sometimes every once in a while, I'll delve into a deeper story telling people like, Hey, I didn't always take my dog paddle boarding. like I know, like there were years when I didn't do any kind of. enriching, adventurous things with my dogs. I just didn't know. we all start somewhere.

Kristen Lee: 16:33

Exactly. Yeah. We all, like you said, we all learn from what we've done, and I know I've made mistakes, we all made mistakes. Yeah. So yeah. I want to really connect with you. And I think we actually started getting into this topic around authenticity, the courage around it, especially. when your identity is display for the world to see on social media. So one of the biggest learning lessons, I don't know if you had this experience too. I'm just going to share a quick story is when you are quote unquote an influencer or when you're a quote unquote and authority figure something that grassroots learned a really hard lesson over the last year is people sometimes forget you're human too. So at the end of the day, after you learned those lessons, like your quote, You have to still show up with courage and whatnot. So

Tori Mistick: 17:19

that

Kristen Lee: 17:20

being said, as somebody who I consider a very pet, like a powerful influencer pet brands, I love to hear your take on authenticity. What is that? What does it look like for you and what do you feel? It looks like for the pet industry.

Tori Mistick: 17:35

Yeah. So this is such an interesting topic. And, I think that, like you said, at the beginning of the episode, like authenticity is such like a buzz word that we just throw around and be like, you have to be authentic. but no one really describes what it means. It's it reminds me of, in terms of Instagram marketing people, like you need engagement and all these people are like,

Kristen Lee: 17:55

what does that mean?

Tori Mistick: 17:56

Exactly. I'm so sorry. In terms of authenticity, I think it's like. you do have to really know who

Kristen Lee: 18:04

you

Tori Mistick: 18:04

are. and also kind of balance start with what the view of you is as a public figure. and stepping into both of those, like one shoe on the left foot. Once you went the right foot, maybe, I mentioned at the beginning that, I've had self doubt as myself being an expert, or even being. An authority in the pet industry, but then actually through doing that five day challenge that I did back in August, I really got such a confidence boost. And I had so many messages from people saying Tory, you are the authority, you are the expert. I look up to you. and I just never. I hadn't really realized I hadn't thought about it in a long time. Just I think because this year has been very trying. I just hadn't thought of it about it. that people look up to me in that way. and that, even though I might, be. Analyzing all my numbers and my traffic and this and that, and getting down on myself about it. I have experienced so many things. I have built something great and people do look up to, my expertise and my experience. So I think it's you have to be humble. You have to Be yourself, but then you have to realize that there are people out there who look up to you. So I think like finding your authenticity, it's like a responsibility of being true to who you are, but then also showing up for who people see you as, which is difficult, to balance I think. But, I think that if you do have kind of some level of expertise in something, you almost have an obligation to share that with people and, and help others achieve their dreams. That's how I view what I do. so if I can help you. You set up a Pinterest account and get more traffic to your blog or to your shop or something like that, why shouldn't I do that? I, I think that it's beneficial to all of us, but I can be authentic. By telling people, I don't know everything there is to know about Pinterest, and the nature of social media. Like these things change all the time. the settings might change next week and then, what am I going to do with my, the materials I've created? So I just, I have to just be honest with people and say I. This is what I know this is what's worked for me. and, and just being honest and transparent in that way, I think that, we don't have to be like the best at anything. everyone who's listening to this, I know some, more about something than someone else out there does. So what is that thing and how can you use it to educate people?

Kristen Lee: 20:45

Yeah. Yeah. Authenticity is like you said, it's an extreme buzzword. We see a lot of now. And I don't know if you, because you've been in social media for a while. You've probably seen like a lot of the quote unquote, bro marketing. that's got to do this brow, and we make fun of it a lot at grassroots, but

Tori Mistick: 21:01

that's like a video where a guy, it gets out of Lamborghini and he's wake up and make.$25,000

Kristen Lee: 21:09

from the guy who isn't made 25,000.

Tori Mistick: 21:11

She rented that Lambo.

Kristen Lee: 21:13

he did it. We actually did a, funny, we haven't really, we haven't released it yet. Cause it's just 2020. We did a parody video, like music, video, grassroots of us doing stuff like that. The women team it's, it hasn't been released to the world, but it's like one of those, like you said, it's a buzzword and. From my experience. So if you look on the external of me and do Tory, like you're a little bit, you are very, you're very clean brands. Okay. I'm not going to say that it's not an insult. You're very positive. Like you have the certain demographic and the psychographic that goes to you. And then if it's you look at Chris and Lee or grassroots or whatever, like total direct opposite. And it's, that's why I love authenticity because people can have. Different external appearances and words and content and everything like that. But it just, it really just, it enhances your own natural personality too. And something that I struggled with when I started like really stepping into authority and authenticity. Was the whole pendulum swing. So like over here I was like super polite, super quiet. I'm like, you're probably like, Oh my God, Christmas quiet. And then the other pendulum of I was a raging bitch and like just cutting people with my words. But it's now that once you have that kind of grit under your nails, you start to find that really healthy balance. So authenticity is very subjective, but I feel like a lot of people just need to understand, okay, who are they versus? Like who they really like in the inner side? cause I know you probably know this language. Like when I think of grassroots, when I think of my market, And everything like that. And like Maggie, my business partner, we always act on the person we want to become. So what is our higher self saying? however we showing up and I find there's a lot authenticity in that versus that adapt itself. the one that you create for the patterns and like what we've been told as children and whatnot. Yeah,

Tori Mistick: 23:07

there's a good, there's another, there's another quote that I have written on a post it note on my desk that I've looked at every day. He says, how would I behave if I was the best at what I do? So if I was like, my dream of being like the Martha Stewart of the dog industry, if that, if I am filling up those shoes, How would I act? and that can help you get to where you want to be in and figure out what authenticity feels like. Cause I think authenticity is like a feeling, not necessarily like the words that you say or it's just like, how does it make you feel. Deal.

Kristen Lee: 23:45

Yeah. It's not really a strategy. You can build a blueprint around. I'm a blueprint strategy, like data person. It's like you said, it's what makes you feel empowered and what also empowers your clients too at the same time? I think sweet-spot as, so I know you hit on this before. Did you ever. Struggle with finding your voice as you grew the business. did you ever have that imposter syndrome? And if you did, like how did you evolve over that? tell me that little bit of a process if you don't mind sharing.

Tori Mistick: 24:18

Yeah, sure. yeah, I definitely struggle with that all the time. especially working as an influencer, I have brands that I work with that. Never repost my photos and they can repost, like what feels like every, what else is voting, which isn't really true. I'm like, why don't they ever repost mine? My photos aren't good enough. I don't get enough likes on my photos and that's probably why they're not sharing them. And who knows? you don't really know what goes into their decision of why they're. Sharing certain things and not other things. they might have like certain products that are focused on that month, or they might have a really far planned out in advance photo grid for their Instagram. Who knows. So you can't really let that get to you. of course. Sometimes I'll look at the photos. Yeah. They do repose. And think about how could I take photos that are more like those, and learn from that and grow from that rather than like sitting in a negative space.

Kristen Lee: 25:14

I thought about it.

Tori Mistick: 25:16

So that's something that I work through, like all the time, I have other brands that I work with who, I feel like I have such a small follower account compared to other influencers who are also partnering with them. And I'm like, why did they pick me? But then you have to flip it around and think like they picked me.

Kristen Lee: 25:35

Yeah.

Tori Mistick: 25:38

Think that I am worth it. they're paying me money to talk about their products. they see value in working with me and, they see value in me. so you just have to kinda look at it and ask yourself, what's really true here. And what's just like me. Talking myself down. and I think that applies to so many different things. There's a book that I read years ago called the four questions. I think it's my Byron, Katie. I love

Kristen Lee: 26:09

Bonnie's work. I love her so much.

Tori Mistick: 26:12

And it's The four questions are like, is it really true? is it really true? Is it really true. Thanks. It's more complex than that. You have to get the book, but that was my takeaway from it. So like anytime that I start to feel like self Dowdy, I'll be like, is that really? Yeah. are my feelings really true about that? are they really trying to stop it? Taj me? no, they're not. maybe that's person just had a bad day or who knows? so it's just important to Get back to reality rather than what, what am I trying to say? Making the whole web of a whole story around something that's probably what you're making it too complicated. So

Kristen Lee: 26:52

I think too, I was, it was funny cause I was interviewing one of our, cause we have a couple of coaches and she came on to do an interview and she went from. very quiet, very meek because of the way her culture, the way she was raised, almost a doormat. And she started really developing the strong person and she's a fantastic trainer and coach for grassroots. And she said the one that, and that helped her overcome a lot of the self doubt and like what worrying about what people were thinking about her. Was the whole quote. And I don't know who called this. I do a poll. I'm going to look up the quote later so I can give them proper credit where credit's due, but what other people think of me is not my problem. Yeah, that's something I have to worry about in my head or something like that. And I was like, wow, it's insane. Nice.

Tori Mistick: 27:37

My older sister actually said something to me years ago. That was like, their emergency is not your emergency gate.

Kristen Lee: 27:45

Shut up. That is my favorite. Freaking saying not to be rude, but it's my, Oh my God. We say that all the time. It's yeah. Cause

Tori Mistick: 27:56

I get request. I got a request the other day that was like, Oh Tori. one of our influencers fell out. Can you do a blog post by like next Tuesday? And I was like, no, I can't. Hell. Yeah. I'm sorry that happened to you, but I'm not going to drop everything. And do you a favor when I'm, there's no, compensation for rushing it or anything like that, Yeah.

Kristen Lee: 28:22

Yeah. Yeah, I that's Oh my God. I always say that. I love that. It's your, their emergencies. Not yours.

Tori Mistick: 28:28

No. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. I love it. I'm thinking of finding your voice. I realized that didn't really answer that question, but I just wanted to. You mentioned this really quickly is like developing your customer avatar. this has been a really great exercise that I did earlier this year, where I actually wrote like probably five to eight. Pages in Google docs of like journal entries from my ID real customer's perspective. what's she going through in life? what was her day? what's she trying to do with her business? And I just got into her character and just did like a creative writing prompt about how she was feeling and, Then, what I did was I went on like Google images, search and Unsplash and all these things. And I put together a collage of a woman who I call Amy and her two dogs. She's got one little dog and then she's got like a medium sized dog. And, and I have Amy. Yes. Saved as, an image on my desktop and whenever I'm recording, like a solo podcast episode, or I'm trying to write an email blast or something like that, I open up that image and just write it to Amy

Kristen Lee: 29:41

or, pretend like I'm

Tori Mistick: 29:42

talking to her. And, and that's really helped a lot. just with, with podcasting in particular. I think I have a tendency to do like a TV, like broadcast news voice. And if I'm, if I have Amy's picture up, I feel like I sound a lot more natural. Like I'm talking to an actress, one person.

Kristen Lee: 30:02

Yeah. That right there would, Tori just said to all the listeners is worth a lot of weight in cash. Speaking to that ideal client that avatar that niche client. that's where people pay a lot of money to learn that lesson is what I'm just trying to say. Yeah. And funny story. Have you ever seen our, we haven't done many of them. We're going to get back to them. Our dog is news update. It's like the grassroots spin on A dog is news. However, we do it with a lot of like humor. So you would see it like a late night on comedy, I think Tosh point. Oh, that way they like that type of thing. And we have a whole character list too, as well. So you gotta

Tori Mistick: 30:42

check that out. having on your TV, presenter voice from time to time. Hi,

Kristen Lee: 30:48

he does it really well, too. It's hilarious. So I'd love to gather your thoughts around, especially women in the pet dog industry that are a bit resistant. and I like to use the word resistance around this because I feel like resistance is a huge thing. And I know you've done a lot of personal work, so you're probably familiar with that word, of tapping into their real authority when it comes to their business. for example, like when they're showing up in their ID stories or their tech, or even like in their sales processes, like why do you feel that a lot of women are resistant to be bold? And I want to share a super quick story before you answer that. If that's cool. Yeah. Okay. So I'm going to be a speaker at a petsitter world conference. Tomorrow. And we were in the vendors.

Tori Mistick: 31:29

Keynote speaker, aren't you?

Kristen Lee: 31:30

Yeah. Yeah. I'm branding. I'm like, see, that's me not taking authority right there. And it was really interesting cause I wasn't, I wasn't able to attend the vendor shore show. We had somebody, one of our employees tend and I went back in there just to make connections and the other women that were. That were in the vendor show, like nobody was tapping into their authority and they're like, it would be awesome if you could do this. And I'm like, no bitch download that shit right now. So but that's just me. Cause I'm classically trained. Like our team is trained in like hot, like crazy sales, but it's just really interesting that a lot of people like even around their subject matter expert, aren't tapping into their knowledge and being bold with that and being authoritative. What are your thoughts? Why a lot of women, especially in the industry are really resistant to being like bold and just going for it and just being in their glory and their higher self and their feminine essence or whatever you want to call it.

Tori Mistick: 32:22

Yeah. and I think that's a great point. It's

Kristen Lee: 32:24

you don't have to be.

Tori Mistick: 32:27

masculine energy. You don't have to be rough with people. I think a lot of people are insecure that if they're going to sell something, they're going to here, salesy and sleazy. And I always tell people like, are you a sleazy person? And they're like, go, I'm like, then you, we are not going to come across sleazy when you're asking someone to buy the thing that you're really passionate

Kristen Lee: 32:50

about.

Tori Mistick: 32:51

just if you're not a sleazy person, They don't have to worry about it. If you are a sleazy person, then you probably have other things that you should be working. I think that like when it comes to, Instagram stories and like showing up in that way, the number one thing is like just a lot of women just don't want their face. They don't want to talk. They don't want to be the face of their brand. you look at a lot of people's Instagram accounts and you never ever see them. You don't know who they are.

Kristen Lee: 33:17

That makes me so sad.

Tori Mistick: 33:19

and I can't even talk about about pages, how many, horrible about pages as I have seen. Put a picture of yourself on your about page and put your full name on there and tell us about yourself and who you are because people want to know, it really changes my mind and it changes a lot of other people's minds about what businesses are doing support, especially. This year in the climate that we're in and, how, your brand values and your personal values are so important in people's decision making process. right now I, for any home improvement things, I will only go to Lowe's. I won't go to home Depot anymore

Kristen Lee: 33:59

because

Tori Mistick: 34:00

of the political opinions of the owner of home Depot. And so it's You should put yourself out there. obviously don't be. Don't put yourself out there. If it's a, I'm going to be hurtful to your reputation. but I think it is important to be honest. and people really want to know who you are. they want to know where you came, where you're coming from. how you got interested in dogs, like sharing that story and just owning it is really important. And I think it's something that you have to practice, You should have some kind of like origin story, like a superhero. you should have a little origin story ready about how you started your business, how you got into the pet industry, why you love pets, and practice that, write it out like 10 times, say it to a video and just rewatch yourself and just practice it and practice it until you feel really comfortable talking about it. and it's like fake it till you make it.

Kristen Lee: 34:57

I'm like Corey, Tory, did you look at my PSI presentation? There you go. I'm like, no, what you're saying? Oh God, I'm just letting you know. This is just so incredible that you're saying this and having you repeat it, because this is the stuff that people need to know. And this is I've been in the branding space. I've been in the brand space for a really long time. And I've always worked people privately with branding because I am like what you're talking about when I was like really vulnerable personal branding. And it's really refreshing to hear you talk about this because. I've been trying to word it the right way lately about, it's okay to show up online. It's okay to show up as you look, it's also okay to enhance yourself, not enhance, but you still use heroin, makeup artists and things like that. And it's you don't, if you're truly not the person that likes to be covered in dog hair that's okay too. You can still be a badass dog trainer or a petsitter or dog Walker, and you don't have to be, looking run down if that's. Who you not, if you are that type of person that likes some more comfortable clothes, like right now, I'm sitting here without a bra and without with a messy bud and everything like that, but it's okay to step into, who you truly want to be. And I think we've chatted like back and forth on Instagram about this. What pisses me the fuck off. And I'm going to go on a rant really quickly is when you know, women stepping into this and stepping outside their logo and stepping outside from behind the dogs, and then you have dudes like last week, tone it down. So that's why we got such a bug in her ass a couple of weeks ago about it because behind the scenes I've been working with women for a really long time on really stopping and embracing who they truly are. It doesn't matter if they're super feminine, doesn't matter if they're masculine, doesn't matter if they're purple or whatnot. And it's just, I don't know. That's a whole other story. It just really just disintegrated a lot of the work that I've seen happen. It just, I know a lot of people are like, Oh, just ignore them. I know for sure. In fact it hurt or it hurt one or two people like deep down and that's what pisses me off about it. Yeah.

Tori Mistick: 37:02

No. I agree with you. And I really admire and also was laughing my ass off. Why James, some of the stuff that you were saying about that and like laugh, laughing, and a way that I was like, yeah, I get a girl. Has. Because, and that's the reason why, like my podcast, I only interview women in the pet industry. And, I've been really passionate about that for a long time. And I've had people who just like jokingly asked me, what about the men? Or, yeah, if you've ever gone to like super zoo and you just see like thousands of men and polo shirts and khakis. Don't worry, everyone. They have plenty, they don't need to be on my show.

Kristen Lee: 37:44

Yeah. for an industry that's 80% women. The majority of the men are the leaders in the industry. Yeah, that's crazy. They're the spoke quote unquote spokespeople.

Tori Mistick: 37:54

Yes. Yeah. so I think it's really important. And I actually just, had a podcast episode come out with a young woman who is only 18 years old and she started her own bandana business on. See, sowing dog bandannas. She's also really into dog training and it has trained her dog, with the AKC trick dog title up to the advanced level. and she's so young and she reached out to me months ago and I had already had so many episodes like in the can ready to go out. So I was like, I'm sorry, like maybe try again in a couple of months. I just. We're not recording right now. And so she did, she emailed me back in a couple of months and said, okay, are you ready now? And I was like, okay, let me look. I didn't know that she was 18 at the time. and so I went and I looked at her Etsy and she had 200 over 200 sales in a year. And I was like, wow, this is really cool. And so we ended up doing the interview and I was like, you know what? that's what makes me happy is like being able to highlight women, anywhere they are in their journey like this young girl is really passionate about dogs. she obviously has. A lot of courage to reach out to me, to ask to be on the podcast. She didn't see any reason why she should be on the podcast. And I'm like good for you. I think that we all need to like tap into our 18 year old selves where you weren't afraid to do anything. And you would like, flash your fake ID and walk into places like, yeah, I belong here. I think you need to like tap into that energy.

Kristen Lee: 39:33

Oh, that's so powerful. It's happened to that 18 year old self who was cocky as anything, and just walked down with the big old energy. I absolutely freaking love that.

Tori Mistick: 39:43

I need to do that myself so

Kristen Lee: 39:46

well. And, thank you for giving her that space to share your platform because she's there's a whole new generation. That's coming into the pet industry right now. And she's one of those people she's already eating years old as an entrepreneur. That's incredible. So I know. It's amazing that you shared your platform and congratulate, like not congrats, but like good freaking you Tori for that. That's amazing.

Tori Mistick: 40:08

Yeah. Yeah. thank you. I just remember when I was starting my podcast and I reached out to some other, pod-casters asking if they were looking for guests and I just got a lot of really rude responses or no response. And, that's just stuck with me and I don't ever want to be rude or dismissive to anyone. who's reached out.

Kristen Lee: 40:28

Yeah. Good. That's awesome. it's humbleness. So for the woman that's listening to this right now, does it matter where she's at in her stage? That's trying to find her true self tap into her higher self as a passenger undersea professional dog trainer, dog Walker, pet sitter, but struggling with finding that authenticity and also struggling by stepping out and stepping into the lion light of being seen and heard. What would you say to her? what are your closing words to her?

Tori Mistick: 40:56

my best advice that I give to everyone is just do it. you can always edit later. You can update later, you can get a new logo later. You can do all these things later, but you should just start, just do it. cause you never know. when I launched my online store, I didn't know what I was doing. and then part of it was like the thing that was stopping me and that I think stops a lot of people was like, how's the shipping gonna work? How's the fulfillment gonna work? Like, how do I print out a shipping label? And there's really no way to test that unless you just do it. I think that applies to a lot of things. Like you just, you don't know if anyone's going to hire you unless you just. Do it and try and ask. And if no one does, then you might have to pivot a little bit, and change things up a little bit, but, just try it and just do it.

Kristen Lee: 41:45

Pivot, like pivot. It's been the word of the year. Pivot. So Tory, now

Tori Mistick: 41:53

I know I should've said that. cheesy marketing buzzword. I'm sorry.

Kristen Lee: 41:56

no. I, I feel like the strongest entrepreneurs in 2020, I've been ones that have been able to pivot and be like, okay, move on. And being able to be like, consistently, Like nimble, like on the feet consistently, like that cat's always like CUPE Butte. Like the cat is screaming around the house, like Pew.

Tori Mistick: 42:13

Yeah. in my own bed and it's like last year, the bulk of my income was from sponsored content this year. Pretty much everyone halted that in March because they didn't know what was going to happen. I had some campaigns that I have like annual contracts with. but most people weren't taking on new. Things new partnerships. so I was able, luckily I have 8 million things going on and yeah. Given time. So I would say able to take my educational area with, a mastermind group that I run online courses, workshops, and that kind of stuff. And now that's it's not I don't know if it's like a pivot, more so of Scale like the scales of justice. and like one side, you're always eating, trying to even an out, but like one side's always like a little bit higher than the other. and so I was

Kristen Lee: 42:58

lucky to be able to do that. Where can people find more about your masterminds and all the good stuff you offer and even your online store for their pups and all that

Tori Mistick: 43:07

fun stuff. Yeah, thank you so much. everything is@wherewagrepeatdotcomwearwagrepeat.com. And there you can find my blog courses, mastermind, shop podcast, all the things.

Kristen Lee: 43:24

All the stuff, all the good stuff and the things that Tory's curated and hatched over the years of all her amazing knowledge. I know you have an Instagram course. I might actually sign up for that one.

Tori Mistick: 43:33

Yeah. I do Instagram strategy for the pet obsessed. and that's, if you go to dot com slash courses, you'll find it there. it's I look at it myself and I'm like, Oh my God, this is very comprehensive. It's there's a lot. Yeah. There's a lot in there. because anytime I learned something new, I record like a new lesson and add it in and add all these bonuses. And there's a lot in there.

Kristen Lee: 43:55

Oh, you're in your gear. Typical. Over-deliver hello? You're like, yeah, you're in good hands there without one. Tori, this has been incredible. Thank you so much for joining us today. I know you have a lot of things going on as any influencer does, and everybody I'm going to

Tori Mistick: 44:11

highly

Kristen Lee: 44:11

encourage you to go. Hanging out with Torian, Instagram, just, she's such a role model around Instagram community engagement. And then also go check out her website, the courses, because again, I think I'm going to put one of my team members into the Instagram course, and it's been an honor, Tory and guys, again, go check out her stuff, go buy stuff from Tori support. she's an incredible, and she's doing the Lord's work.

Tori Mistick: 44:33

I would say.

Kristen Lee: 44:37

That's what it is. You're doing that. You're doing bird. And you're going to support Burton. Lucy and bird is the most adorable chunk of chocolate in the world. And he's frosted too. So I'm like, yeah, again, full circle. It goes back to me being obsessed with chocolate Labradors

Tori Mistick: 44:50

only have me on here to get closer to Bert. I know

Kristen Lee: 44:53

it's a love affair. It's Lucy's cool. Lucy's cool. But. Burt just reminds me so much of BD. So thank you so much, Tori. It's been an honor and yeah, guys, again, go check out her stuff and support Tori and all the great stuff she's doing out there for all of you. Amazing women in the industry. Thank you, Tori.

Tori Mistick: 45:12

Thank you.

Kristen Lee: 45:13

Alright, take care. Bye. Hey there, thank you for listening. Me too. Another bad-ass episode of mind, Euro dog business. If you haven't already subscribed. What are you waiting for? Oh my God. Go and subscribe now. So you don't miss out on any of our content packed dog business jam sessions, plus special offers that I'm going to only be sharing with my amazing Doug business entrepreneurial podcast listeners. Now, if you've enjoyed this episode, Be sure to leave a five star kick ass review. So more amazing dog business owners, just like yourself, confine us, and starts to transform and disrupt their businesses and their lives unapologetically. And if you feel so inclined, feel free to tag me on Instagram with a screenshot of this episode and holler at your girl

Tori Mistick: 46:02

at

Kristen Lee: 46:02

dog Walker, coach, you can find me dog Walker, coach, and I'll pop up and I'll give you a special shout up. All right guys, til next time. Bye.