We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael O’Donnell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.
Michael , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
My wife and I took a huge risk starting our business. I was working for corporate America and had a good job but, didn’t love what I did. I was dog training part time on the side and absolutely loved it. I went to my Wife in our 1st year of marriage and while she was 6 months pregnant and asked how she would feel about me quitting my job and opening our own dog training company. She was extremely supportive and told me to do what I was passionate about and she would support me along the way. We then decided to take out my 401k, get a small loan, and open Sit Means Sit Dog Training Apex. Since opening in March of 2016 we have grown from 1 single employee to 11 full time trainers in apex and have open a second location in Charlotte North Carolina where we have another 10 full time trainers and continue to grow.
Michael , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
At Sit Means Sit Apex and Sit Means Sit Charlotte we help our clients with their fur babies. We work with all kinds dogs from puppies, to anxiety, and aggression. We help our clients with basic obedience and off leash control with their dogs. I tell all our clients we teach their pups to be part of the family instead of a nuisance. Our business really started to grow though when my dog Ripken became the official bat dog for the Durham Bulls and the official tee retriever for The NC State University Football team. We have also been featured in the NHL outdoor series hockey game the Carolina Hurricanes vs the Washington Capitals where we did the ceremonial puck drop.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Covid was a very trying time for all small businesses. During this time I saw a lot of dog training companies close their doors because training dogs is normally an in person service. After laying off 4 employees I sat down to figure out how I could not only keep my doors open, but how I could bring my employees back. That’s when we started offering zoom lessons and contactless drop offs at our facility. This was a game changer for us that not only kept the doors open, but allowed us to hire all 4 employees back as well as hire 2 new employees!
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
My favorite marketing story is my Dog Ripken! He has become a viral superstar. We approached the Durham Bulls AAA Baseball team with the idea of having him be the Bat Dog for their team. I thought this would be a fun way to market our training and show people how well behaved we can help them make their dogs. what made this take off though was when I strapped a GoPro to his back and started a TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter for him. On his social accounts we post his bat retrieves from his point of view. We have since taken that to the Football field with NC State University. Ripken now has over 260,000 followers on TikTok and over 117,000 on Instagram. This marketing venture has turned into way more than just marketing for us. It has really given us the platform for different community outreach events. It truly has been a crazy journey. 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sitmeanssit.com/dog-training-mu/apex-dog-training/
- Instagram: RipkenTheBatDog
- Facebook: RipkenTheBatDog
- Twitter: RipkenTheBatDog
- Youtube: RipkenTheBatDog