We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessica Rucker. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessica below.

Alright, Jessica thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your business and how did you resolve those issues?

I started my business, Milly & Me Handcrafted Pet Products in 2016. Since starting my small business, there were several unexpected road blocks along the way that I have had to overcome to reach this now 8th year of business.
2017, my second year in business took a screeching halt when my community and several other parts of BC canada were affected by wildfires.
where I live my entire town was evacuated and many other surrounding communities were as well, which meant no in person markets, no post offices to mail off online orders. I was stuck not being able to sell anything for a couple months.

That winter however, my amazing customers were extremely generous and really showed up and supported my small business which helped me make it into my third year of business.

Then came 2020-2022. A pandemic. that was a couple years of uncertainty for everyone and this was unexpected for all of us im sure, and for my small business, this once again meant no in person markets and having to rely on the online world. I love connecting with my customers and their pets in person and getting to learn more about their pets needs and love their feedback, so when things changed so suddenly, I was left scrambling to quickly learn how to find that same connection with my customers online. It felt so disconnected to me, and not having much experience in this area I was failing to speak to them as I would face to face. That personal connection just was not there through a screen.

But with much help and research and continuing to show up online for my customers, this hurdle was quickly overcome and I like to give full credit for that to my amazing customers and their pets for helping me and showing up and supporting my small business continuously through anything! They showed up online through social media and in my ambassador teams that were a new thing for me, and through sharing with their friends, families, and fav pet stores which helped my business to continue to grow in such a rough time.
I always say the pet community is the kindest most supportive group i’ve ever known.

Then came 2023, this time it wasnt the world around me posing a road block it was my own health. I wont go into the personal details here, but the summer of 2023 I was facing some serious health problems which made it impossible for me to attend in person markets and to even complete online orders.
My business once again made it through because of the incredible friends and family and customers.

My family and friends showed up and would help me to get orders out when I couldn’t and customers were so incredibly kind and patient and understanding and so were the stores that are kind enough to stock my products. Because of their patience, I was able to get out orders slowly and with the help of family and friends that showed up for me , they not once asked for payment or anything in return. They jumped in and learned what they had to to help and went above and beyond for me and my small business and my customers. I am still a small business unable to hire yet, so for them to show up like that and truly believe in my business like that meant so much.

Now into 2024, my 8th year of business, I am back at in person markets connecting face to face with my amazing customers and their pets and still growing online and connecting with more and more stores around Canada.

I am very blessed to be apart of such an outstanding and supportive group of people who have helped my business grow and make it through what I think is quite a lot for only 8 years. And although my business is still very small today, I look back at where it started and how many people believe in me, my business and products and get to see how I am helping their pets everyday, makes everything worth it all!

I would not change a single moment of this business journey for it has shown me the best parts of owning a business and the absolutely best parts of people and pets and how that connection with our pets really does bring out the best in all of us.

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.

Milly & Me Handcrafted Pet Products began in 2016. My name is Jessica, and I am the creator and owner of Milly & Me Handcrafted Pet Products! I handcraft natural dog and cat treats and fun pet bandanas for happy,healthy dogs and cats.
I am a pet parent of several wonderful animals. My one dog Milly, the namesake of my business, was the one who helped me to em”bark” on this incredible journey.

As a pet parent, I of course want what every other pet parent wants for their fur babies, to make sure they live the happiest and healthiest lives I can possibly give them!

In 2013 I adopted our sweet girl Milly. Shortly after adopting Milly I noticed that she had an extremely sensitive stomach to a lot of foods and treats I was feeding her. After doing my research I quickly learned how misleading labels can be and that it was not food but simply the hidden, nasty chemicals, fillers, preservatives, and all that extra unnatural junk in the dog treats I was feeding her that caused her to have a constant upset stomach.

With further research and a mission to create healthy and safe treats that my pets would enjoy, I created my very own recipes for homemade natural pet treats making sure our fur babies are no longer being fed any unnatural ingredients!

By combining my mission with my love for animals, gardening, baking, and crafting, Milly & Me Handcrafted Pet Products was born!!

All of my natural pet treats are made using only 100% natural ingredients that come from my own home garden, farms and ranches in my community and carefully sourced ingredients in canada.

I believe sourcing high quality ingredients makes a huge difference for our pets health, and by combining specific foods together into my very own recipes, I am able to offer our pets a treat that is tasty AND full of many health benefits.

Alongside my natural pet treats, I make fun pet bandanas using eco friendly fabrics so our pets can all look and feel their best and it makes us all smile to see how cute and happy our pets are. Through my bandanas, I am able to support many creators and artists who make a commision when I purchase fabric with their art on it. So not only are my pet bandanas stylish, they are literal pieces of someones art work worn by our pets.
So you are not only supporting me, but many creators around the world when you purchase any of our pet bandanas.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

I make all my products myself out of my home. I always had a passion for animals, baking, gardening, and crafting. So learning what I had to in order to create my products came naturally. I had some knowledge of pet nutrition but that was an area where I dived further into to fully understand what I needed to in order to create my recipes for my natural pet treats because I wanted them to be more then just a treat, I wanted them to help improve our pets health.

I learned along the way how hard it can be to keep up with growth when making everything yourself, however , I dont think I will ever out source making my products because I think part of the reason my natural pet treats are such high quality is because of the attention to detail and the handcrafted process of every single treat helps with that.

Ive also learned the value of great baking equipment haha! One day I hope to be in a position to open my first commercial kitchen for my products with a great team of pet lovers who believe in the importance of our pets health as much as i do.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson i had to unlearn was fast growth does not equal success.

I struggle with comparing myself and my small business to other small businesses and owners i admire. I would watch how quickly many of them grew their business and would be so happy for them, but felt so behind thinking I need to be where they are to in order to be successful.

But I unlearned that when I looked back at my business journey and how far it really has come in these many years and felt excited again about the challenges and new things to learn each day and excited about where it will all be in another 8 years.

Fast growth does not equal success and in fact, I’ve learned that it often leads to being yesterdays news so to speak. Slow growth has allowed me to really understand every part of my business and have the time to always focus on the quality of my products and I get to have my amazing customers right there alongside it all cheering me on whenever I hit a new goal, and helping me with their feedback. It has really helped keep the personal touch behind the business because it allows me to have the opportunity to really be present for every part of it so as my business grows, I am always able to keep that connection.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.millymepetproducts.ca
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/millyandmepetproducts
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/millyandmepetproducts/
• Other: email: [email protected]

Image Credits

Mandy McLelland Photography