Name of your website?Pet Parade
Your name?
Jo Ogden
Your Location (city, etc)
Sauget, IL
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Custom made pet supplies, such as dog coats, beds, neckwear. Several items for your home or yourself if you want to match, or are jealous that your dog has a better wardrobe.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
Taking care of elderly mother, needed to work at home, and love to sew. Combined love of animals with sewing. Prefer to sew for the dogs instead of the brides.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
this is the only site I have had. It continues to grow as I learn more about HTML and as I sew more products.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
At first I was just making dog coats, then it starting growing from there.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
I let people choose the fabrics, colors and sizes. There are some items are are made ahead of time and kept in stock, but I try to allow for individual pet fashion sense.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Continue to grow products, add other stay at home people to do sewing for me.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Life is a constant battle with balance, especially when you are taking care of an elderly parent that gets you up several times at night. I would love to have an investor to help with balancing more things for me to be able to grow the way I would like to.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I would employ other people that need to stay at home to raise children or take care of parents, and enable them to be income producing from their home. So not only would I be helping others to develop their sewing skills, but helping them improve their life and their family. Overall, we wouldn't have to see "naked" dogs and cats. As the business grows, I would like to give back to more pet rescues or agencies
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes, I woulds make it work somehow.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Hard to get money to develop a business when you have poor credit. I have had to take in sewing for bridal alterations and things to keep a roof over my head when I would really rather sew for the dogs and develop products that would overall increase sales and income.
What has been your biggest challenge?
General balancing act of taking care of parent, time managment. Knowing I have been given these gifts of sewing, and that somehow, someway, someday it will all work out. I didn't realize that when I quit my job as a nursing home administrator since I didn't want my mother in a nursing home, that 12 years later, I would still be taking care of her.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
word of mouth. I haven't had much funds available for advertising
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I have had to learn a lot more about HTML and how to do it since I haven't had money to do things right in the beginning
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
several years, but it has only been a few months that I have had the access to do whatever I wanted to it since I owed a huge balance.
Is it all worth it...
Yes. I have been given the gift of being able to sew, and the fact that my mother drives me nuts at times, will be missed when she is no longer alive and able to do so.
What is your website address?
Pet Parade
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