We were lucky to catch up with Amelia Paulson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Amelia, thanks for joining us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?
Rebel Paw started in August 2019 with our first event at Yappy Hour, our booth included a folding table and clothes line of about 30 bandannas. We were so excited when we sold our first bandanna for $15 to an adorable miniature Australia Shepherd. We sold a few others that night and at the end of the event felt inspired to grow our inventory and participate in a few other festivals that year.
Over the winter we started making a few dog treats and tried a birthday cake for our 15 year old dog. With the help of social media we were able to build a small following and started preparing to be a vendor at the Wheeler Farm Farmers market. During the summer of 2020 we grew like a wild fire! The Wheeler Farm Sunday market was a huge success, we had a 10×10 tent set up with bandanas hung on clothes lines and a small bakery case with a select few treat options. So many dogs and their humans discovered our unique style of bandannas and small batch treats, our booth was often full to the brim with dogs and their humans. We made great friends, met a few future employees and really started to grow our customer base. We participated in a few pet specific events and festivals throughout the rest summer and started to feel that our small business concept was something people were excited about. We ended 2020 with big plans for the next market season.
Despite the pandemic in 2021 we continued to grow through the winter, our birthday cakes for dogs quickly became very popular and our unique cake style was developed. We had requests for Barkday cakes, gotcha day cakes, baby shower cakes and gender reveal cakes, all for dogs! Even with the pandemic the farmers markets were still busy and successful. During the winter we turned the front room of our home into a pop-up shop and would open for a few hours on Saturdays. A few people would stop by to shop bandanas and buy a few treats. It was a way to stay connected to our customers and help make money to buy materials for the next season. We ramped up our bandana production, doubled our booth space and added more treats to our menu. We continued to meet new customers and watched our products gain in popularity. Out treats started to really take off and each week dog parents returned to get a variety box so their dogs had treats all week. We started to make plans for the next market season and came up with the idea to make a food truck for dogs. We purchased a small custom made foot trailer and worked towards finding other larger events and markets we could attend the next year.
In May of 2022 our trailer was finished, we were beyond excited at the possibility this little 10ft trailer held. Our market season started off with ecstatic customers, they had never seen anything like our food food truck for dogs and it rapidly became a market favorite. Almost every person that walks by exclaims that it’s the cutest thing they have ever seen. Our bandana selections had grown as well. We’d gone from a couple clothes lines of bandanas to a tent full of grid wall lined with bandanas. The trailer proved to be a great addition to our business, the aesthetic of the trailer really drew attention and helped our barkery grow. We decided our next step in growing our business was to purchase another trailer so that we could add another Saturday market to our lineup. We sized up our next trailer to a 12ft and picked it up in the spring of 2023.
With a new trailer and the 2023 market season approaching we hired some extra help, applied to every pet event, local festival and market we could. We started participating as vendors at the Ogden farmers market every Saturday and again at Wheeler Farm on Sundays. We developed working relationships with several of the local animal shelters and small rescue groups and realized we wanted to help support them as much as possible. We started collecting tips, matching the amounts we were generously given and donating to a different organization each week. At the end of the season we had donated $3500, to help all kinds of animals in need of loving care. We decided this was definitely something we wanted to continue and to become a bigger part of what Rebel Paw is about. We also realized it was time to start looking for a storefront. So many of our customers would ask where we are located, how do they get treats during the winter and where do we find you during the week. After hearing this repeatedly over the market weekends we started to feel that a brick and mortar shop could become a reality. We started casually looking and talking about where we would like to be located.
For the 2024 summer we applied to the Salt Lake downtown farmers market as well as Ogden and Wheeler Farm. We were accepted to all three, this would put both of our trailers heading out on Saturday and one on Sunday. We hired another person and double our baking time. We settled into a nice rhythm and the summer has flown by. Again we are asked all day long where we are located and how to get treats in the winter. In early July a space on Historic Midvale Main Street became available, we jumped and started talking to the building owner right away. It took two months, lots of paperwork, several late night discussions and signing our lives away but did it and got the keys September 1st. We have miles and miles of work ahead of us to get the shop opened, we are set to have a grand opening on November 2nd. This is a huge step for Rebel Paw and has been a goal from the beginning. We are beyond excited to have our customers be able to visit and get treats and bandanas all year long. Besides our treats and bandanas the shop will also have a carefully curated selection of high quality dog food, toys, leashes and gear. We will have products from other local businesses that we have met through our years of markets and events. We also plan to have a bandanas design lab where a customer can bring their dog, select fabric styles and have a custom bandana made on the spot. Our bakery will be located in the shop as well, fresh treats will be made daily and we are going to introduce a doggie soft serve ice cream bar. We want to create an experience for pets and their humans rather than just a retail space. We will continue working with local shelters and rescue groups donating and we hope to be able to host small adoption events. We also hope to hold a few fun events throughout the year, possibly a pet portrait day with local photographers, cookie decorating, a visit with Santa Paws and anything else crazy and pet centric we can come up with.
We will still take our food trucks for dogs out to the farmers markets in the 2025 season and will continue to attend as many of the pet events that we can. We are very hopeful for the future of Rebel Paw and so very thankful to all of our amazing supportive customers, families and friends.
Amelia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
We made our first bandana in 2019 for Nick’s 15 year old pointer. He was a dapper stylish dog and always had a bandana of some sort on. I had been making dolls for kids for the last 7 years and was ready for a new venture. Nick was passionate about dogs and had thought of starting a dog related business for awhile. I don’t think we thought Rebel Paw would grow as big has it has but we absolutely love the business we have created. We believe part of the reason Rebel Paw has been successful is because we truly love our K9 customers and want the best for them.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Rebel Paw has been funded completely by us. When each put in a few hundred dolls to buy our first round of fabric, once the bandanas made from that sold we bought more fabric and continued on that way. Over the first year we both would put money in when needed but for the most part was able to operate off the funds we were making. Our first trailer was purchased with a personal settlement and we were able to save enough money to purchase our second trailer with cash. Since we grew slowly over 5 years we were able to operate without debt. Now as we take the leap into brick and mortar shop we will need a little help to purchase inventory, some new bakery equipment and display items.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
We believe that we have built our customer base by being out in the community markets and events. Every event we do we are out meeting people, loving on dogs and really trying to get to know them and their likes. We are much better at remembering the dogs names then the human names, the dogs really are our customers and keep them happy is our main goal.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.rebelpaw801.com
- Instagram: Rebelpaw801
- Facebook: @rebelpaw
- Twitter: Rebel_paw
