We recently connected with Ciera Chang and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Ciera thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
The key to being successful is perseverance. As a business owner, creative, and entrepreneur, you will face plenty of challenges that make you want to quit or give up. You have to have faith and believe in yourself that everything will work out, even if it doesn’t happen exactly the way you hoped or planned. Be flexible and open to new ideas—don’t be afraid to take challenges as an opportunity to pivot or change things up.
Ciera, 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?
I started Puppy Picnic Co. in the midst of the pandemic after adopting a foster fail dog Kenzie. With restaurants shut down and a new furry friend by my side, I planned her first outdoor birthday party complete with charcuterie for people and pups, dog cake, dog wine, photo ops, and more. This led to the start of Puppy Picnic Co.—the original dog-friendly pupnic and event company based in San Diego.
Puppy Picnic Co. is the very first pop-up picnic company to cater toward pups. Each of our pupnics comes with a bag of dog treats and a dog bowl, along with optional add-ons including pupcuterie, dog beer and wine, boho bus backdrops, photo sessions, and more.
While we started with just dog-friendly picnics, we’ve since expanded the business and opened up a retail storefront where we sell dog & picnic items and host larger pop-up events. We recently moved our storefront at Liberty Station to a new location in Encinitas, and couldn’t be more excited to grow our community of pups and pawrents in North County (and beyond!).
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Puppy Picnic Co. started off as my side hustle and recently turned into my full-time career. When the pandemic hit, I was furloughed from my digital marketing agency job and began fostering a puppy (who I quickly adopted her once I went back to working remote indefinitely). I started the business after planning Kenzie’s first birthday, and began planning dog-friendly picnics on weekends and weeknights when I wasn’t working. A few months later, I opened up a pop-up storefront at Liberty Station where I would host events on weekends and take appointments during the week.
I was able to work my full-time job and simultaneously build up Puppy Picnic Co. for a little over a year and a half, where I began scaling up with more pupnics and bigger events—but it finally came to a point where I was balancing too many things on my plate. When the opportunity popped up to open a new storefront in Encinitas, I decided it was time to leave my full-time job and put all of my energy into my business. We recently hosted our Grand Opening Pawty during the first weekend of November and are now open every Tuesday through Saturday from 12 to 5 PM and by appointment. I can’t wait to see where this new full-time career takes me!
How did you build your audience on social media?
In a little over a year and a half, we’ve built an incredible online community on social media. My background is in copywriting and social media marketing, which gave me a leg up getting started. We’ve partnered with a few local influencers, participating in some giveaways, and done a few boosted ads here and there, but most of our growth has been through organic engagement and online connection. As Puppy Picnic Co. is very visual, we’ve built our audience mainly on Instagram and TikTok, reaching dog parents in San Diego and around the world who love to treat their pups to the best.
The best piece of advice I can give to those starting out is to find your niche and create content that is authentic to you and your community. When you find something you’re passionate about, it makes it easier to create and connect with others. With the constantly-changing algorithms, it can be hard to keep up, but try to stay updated and consistent with your posting schedule.
Contact Info:
- Website: puppypicnic.co
- Instagram: @puppypicnicco
- Facebook: @puppypicnicco
- Twitter: @puppypicnicco
- Yelp: yelp.com/biz/puppy-picnic-encinitas
- Other: TikTok @puppypicnicco
Image Credits
Erin Wiese Photo