We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Angelina Lontz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Angelina , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

When I think about success, I like to remind myself of a quote from Elliot Fletcher, “It’s important to have your own definition of success rather than someone else’s so you can fulfill your dreams, not someone else’s expectations of your dreams.” My definition of success is creating something that I’m proud of, and that others love as much as I do. Whatever your definition of success is, as long as you are consistent you will reach your goals. No amount of talent or luck will take you farther than consistency. You can only get so far before your luck runs out, but staying consistent guarantees you will continue to get better and better. When I first started Barkley’s Bakery, I was spending 12 hours in the kitchen baking two dozen treats for The Pet Pawlor Grooming Shop. Baking treats for The Fountain Community Metcalfe Park Market every week has helped me get down to nine hours of baking to make four dozen treats! If I wasn’t baking so consistently, I wouldn’t have found all the new ways I use now to produce treats faster. Consistency is the key to success, no matter how you define it.

Angelina , 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?

If you’ve known me for more than five minutes, you know I LOVE dogs! Growing up, I always did tons of dog sitting in my neighborhood, when I became an adult working in doggy daycare was one of my first jobs, and last year I wrote a children’s book titled Vinny Visits Venice based in my real dog, Vinny! I was working at a doggy daycare when I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease in 2020. I had to quit my job and move back home with my parents because my body was not able to keep up with the physical demands of the job. Being back home with extra time on my hands I decided one day to make my dogs their own treats. The first batch made a lot more treats than I was expecting, so I decided to sell them to my neighbors that had dogs. Their dogs all loved the treats and they asked for more and more. Soon enough, Barkley’s Bakery was in full swing! After a while, I started doing wholesale orders to The Pet Pawlor Grooming Shop. I recently had a Barkley’s Bakery fridge put into their front space for people to see fresh all-natural treats! The Pet Pawlor stays fully stocked with Barkley’s blueberry, pumpkin, strawberry, carrot, and banana treats in large, small, and training sizes! Recently Barkley’s Bakery has also introduced cat treats. Same all-natural ingredients with some organic cat nip added to the pumpkin and carrot treats. Aside from the delicious flavors of the treats, there’s lots of reasons why people keep coming back for my treats. I’ve had so many people say their pets loved my treats when they are usually very picky and don’t take them well. All of the treat flavors have great health benefits for dogs too! Pumpkin is great for sensitive tummies, blueberry helps keep shiny coats, carrots keep their eyes sharp, bananas provide potassium, and strawberries are a great source of antioxidants! Not only will your fur baby love these treats, but they will be getting a healthy little boost with each snack! Something I get the most compliments on is how soft the treats are. They are easily breakable, and so soft that dogs with little to no teeth can eat them with no problems! One of my favorite parts of my job is going to The Fountain Community Metcalfe Park Market on Saturdays! Every week from 8:00am – 2:00pm I get to see wagging tails walking around. I am also a photographer, and I LOVE taking pictures of pets! Any dog that stops by my tent and buys a bag of treats gets a free picture wearing a blue Barkley’s Bakery bandana! Spending time with dogs and taking their picture makes my day so much brighter.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I spend at least nine hours a week baking treats, so I am constantly listening to audiobooks and podcasts while I’m in the kitchen! The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz is a great book that has helped me a lot with a success-driven mindset! It’s all about how to add value in the things you say and do, how to keep your mind thinking creatively, and how to move forward to make your ideas and goals into reality. Some of my favorite podcasts are Achieve Your Goals with Hal Elrond, Creators are Brands by Tom Boyd, and The Mel Robbins Podcast. All three of these people have amazing advice on how to grow as a business and as a person. I love listening to them because it has a little bit more of a personal feel to hear them talking rather than a book being read to you. Some other great business books I’ve listened to are Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, The Six Habits of Growth by Brendon Burchard, and See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar. This week I am starting another book by Napoleon Hill titled The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons. I love spending my time baking listening to things that will help push my business forward and give me new ideas!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

One thing I do while I’m at The Fountain Community Metcalfe Park Market is keep a bag of free samples for pups to try. Pet parents get to see that their fur-babies enjoy the treats before they commit to buying a product they haven’t had before. So far I have been pretty famous with picky eaters, but I have had a couple pups that didn’t love the flavor their parents got them. I sent them home with a new flavor to try, and they both came back saying their dogs loved those ones! This year at the market I have also started a punch card system. Buy nine bags of treats, and get your tenth free! I love seeing returning customers with their cards because they are always so excited to get closer and closer to a free bag of treats! I try to remember the names of the dogs that come to see me regularly, and that always puts a smile on their parent’s faces. If for some reason people cannot make it to the market or to The Pet Pawlor to pick up treats, I do offer a delivery service of fresh baked treats right to your doorstep! Customer satisfaction is a top priority for me, and I think a lot of people appreciate that I am willing to go above and beyond to get to know their pets and bring them their favorite tasty treats!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/barkleysorganicbakery?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarkleysOrganicBakery?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@barkleysorganicbakery?_t=8ej7DgKjN1v&_r=1

Image Credits
Angelina Lontz The Friendly Lens Photography