We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Evans recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

It all started with planning our wedding. It was important for me to have our dog, Mya, included in the day. She’d been a part of everything else from the day we got her so there was no way I was going to allow her to miss this. I started trying to figure out the logistics of having her there, most people don’t consider everything when they think about including their pet. I had to figure out who was going to keep her overnight the night before and after the wedding. I had to figure out who was going to make sure she had her food and water on the day of the wedding. Who was going to make sure she stayed clean and dry. Who was walking her down the aisle. Who was keeping her during the reception. Etc. etc. My main goal was to ensure she was cared for while also making sure all the other wedding thing a were being taken care of. All these questions lead me to google where I learned there are only a few companies out there who offer pet attendant services for weddings and the closest one to me was Florida. Fast forward through 2021 during all the wedding planning into 2022, I had lost my job and decided now is as good a time as any to start my pet service business I’ve been wanting to have for years prior. I had spent the next couple months setting up my website, marketing on social media to get clients, etc all while finishing up planning my wedding. I had my first client in February after launching my website and since then I have slowly been adding new clients and have a few regulars.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have had dogs and cats my entire life, there isn’t a moment I can recall to where we didn’t have a pet. My grandparents also had horses, dogs, and cats. I also have a couple aunts that live in farms that include livestock such as cows, pigs, sheep, and horses. To say I’ve been surrounded by animals would be an understatement. I have freelanced work for different pet service apps and watched friends and families pets all the time so making the decision to start my own business seemed like a no brainer. I started Mya’s Friends offering dog walking, pet sitting, and wedding attendant services. I’ve since added excursions, daycare, and home care. I also started making dog collars, leashes, scrunchie bandanas, and matching hair scrunchies.
We are here to help our clients give their pets the best little life they can. Whether they work long hours, have a work trip, a vacation, want a day out, whatever the case may be, we have various options that will help any one give their pet an opportunity to release some energy.
I want to let all of our followers/clients know that we pride ourselves on giving your pets the best care. Before every service we send out detailed forms to allow us to get to know the pet(s) and to help us provide the best service for them. We want to know what they do every day so we can recreate or keep their day as similar as we possibly can.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

At first, taking care of pets, dog walking and pet sitting were just last minute pick ups through an app called Wag! I had a regular, full-time job and was finishing my bachelor’s degree. In 2021, after losing my regular job, I picked up every request that would come in on the app just to be able to pay some bills while I worked on setting up my own business. While still in the early stages of start up, I found another regular full time job that allowed me the flexibility to also run the business. Being able to focus on building my online presence has helped me get to where I am today because I have since partnered with a magazine for one of our cities more affluent neighborhoods and have started becoming a participating vendor at pop up events. Both the magazine and pop ups have allowed me the chance to get my business name out to more people and has given people a chance to talk to me in person before booking their service with me. I think allowing people the opportunity to meet me with or without their pets gives them the idea of who I am and whether or not they will be comfortable with me caring for their pet(s) while they’re away. The business has since been my main “job” since the start of 2023 and I’ve even more recently been poring all I can into every aspect that I can,

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I built my social media audience by joining SO MANY Facebook groups and using hashtags on instagram. I like and follow many fellow vendors from pop-up events and I follow and interact daily on my platforms. My advice, stay active, engage often, make sure you are posting frequently. I make sure to react or respond to every comment and message I receive. This lets your followers know that you recognize their support and appreciate it. I always like, comment, share other people’s posts if they are also relevant to my business. I also utilize facebooks Business Suite app that allows me to schedule posts, stories, reels, etc. this allows me to spend a few hours one day planning out my posts for the upcoming month and then not have to worry about making posts daily for a month. All I have to do is post the pictures of the pets I am caring for that day. I have also used facebooks ads to help boost my business page to a larger audience on social media. I always choose the $1/day option and it’s allowed me to gain a few clients this way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.myasfriends.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myasfriends_ky?igsh=dWNlNjRqcDYyYTBh&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/pJZnWmvj37Q28fEg/?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Wedding Photo- Christora Osters @ Green Apple Photography