We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kathrine & Megan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kathrine & Megan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Any thoughts about whether to ask friends and family to support your business. What’s okay in your view?

For us, it was a no-brainer that our friends and family would be on board to support our dreams. Sometimes, it can feel awkward or create a sense of pressure to feel like you HAVE to support a friend or family member’s small business, so we were very mindful of that at the beginning. As it turned out, we didn’t even have to ask them to purchase anything. They all knew what we working on because we talked about it nonstop and bounced ideas off of them frequently, so they were excitedly anticipating our launch date with us. Once we launched, most of our first orders came from names we recognized. We were so grateful for that initial support. Their purchases and reviews at the start allowed other potential customers to trust in our products, our business, and ultimately us. We are grateful to be surrounded by people that believe in us. Even some of our friends who don’t have animals bought in as gifts for their loved ones. Needless to say, we owe a lot of our initial success to all of them. There is a definite line we draw between our business and our personal relationships. Our biggest philosophy is that we maintain our professionalism above all else and do not take anything personally. If someone we know is unable or simply doesn’t want to purchase from us or interact with the business, then that is okay. It is not for everybody nor a requirement for us. We recognize that everyone is doing their best, and we respect that without allowing it to cross over into our personal connections. At the end of the day, our business is important, but our friends and family are more important to us.

Kathrine & Megan, 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?

Kathrine and I are two best friends who spent a lot of time together trying new things and always planning for our next adventure. Over the years, we had both expressed our desires to ditch our desk jobs and do something we are passionate about instead. Through one brief discussion, we decided we were ready to take the leap and make this dream a reality. We came to the conclusion that our biggest passions were creativity and animals. There was no hesitation from us, and we were at the craft store later that day to see what we could turn this idea into. A few short days later, BarkBoisCo had its name and we had ideas and to-do lists forming all over the place. There was no hesitation from us as we decided to take the leap without any thoughts of whether or not it would pan out. We worked tirelessly for around 2 months to pull everything together and finally got our store off the ground. We have what we like to call a “rotating menu” of accessories made for pets. Our products started off as only bowties and bandanas that could be added to a pet’s collar. After our success with those, we ventured into actually making the collars for the accessories. This way, it was more of a one-stop shop and customers could get a collar that matched their favorite bandana or bowtie for a more cohesive experience. Our designs are always rotating in and out, so people with different tastes have a chance to enjoy what we make. We also always keep our best sellers available so no one misses out on getting one.
The first thing that we feel sets us apart from other similar companies is that our designs are all hand-selected by us and then created from start to finish by us in our office space. Each product we make is carefully thought about and handled with love from start to finish. We also make all of our purchasing decisions based on quality rather than quantity. We have compared our products to what you can find at major retailers, and there is really no comparison in the quality. Our products are made to be incredibly durable since we understand that most pets are wreaking havoc around the house daily like it’s their full-time job.
One thing we are most proud of is our determination to keep going and believe in ourselves and our business. Through the ebbs and flows of life, there were times when BarkBois had to take a backseat. Through those times, we never lost sight of our dream to jump back in. Despite me being a full-time Mom to multiple kids, and Megan working a full-time job, we have always still chosen to find and dedicate the time to nurturing this passion project of ours.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

This is a funny story, and people who know us don’t even believe it, but we actually met on Bumble BFF! We were both looking to make real friendships which can be difficult to do as adults, but we met up one day and the rest was history. It’s been over 5 years now, and we are still a part of each other’s daily lives and loving it!

Have you ever had to pivot?

There were two major times in which we as owners went through personal experiences that caused us to have to pivot the normal functions of the business for a period of time. The first was in 2021 when my (Megan) Father passed away unexpectedly. After becoming the executor of his estate at 25 years old, both my physical and mental energy was taken over by that aspect of my life. This made it difficult for me to contribute fully to my responsibilities within the business, causing us to have to lighten our workload during that timeframe. The following year in 2022, Kathrine welcomed a baby girl into the world! Since she is our production manager and the one who actually crafts our products, this meant we had to shut down production and the business completely. This was a decision we made together with no specific restart date set. This was tough because at the time we were at our highest momentum with increasing daily sales, but it was a necessary choice that neither of us questioned. After a year of acclimating, we made the decision that we were both at a place where we could reinvest in the business. Though it has been a slower start this time around, we are definitely getting back into the swing of it and ready to bring some new ideas to life!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.etsy.com/shop/barkboisco
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/barkboisco
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/barkboisco
• Other: TikTok: @barkboisco

Image Credits
Megan Smith