Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mimi & Mitch McComb. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Mimi & Mitch, thanks for joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
Success should not be a one size fits all.
When we first started, it felt like success was how many instagram followers we had and how many likes we got on a photo.
But it isn’t. Our success has not correlated to that at all. Sure, it’s helped with awareness but that isn’t what drives our success.
For us, being successful is being able to live completely off our business. We are fortunate enough to currently be employed at an incredible company that pays very well and takes care of its employees. So, we’d have to replace our income, replace the cost of health benefits and continue to make profit for us to truly feel successful.
We work towards this goal every day and the stairs to success are hard. It is a grind every. single. day.
It takes sacrifice, drive and resilience.
We are 30 years-old, working full-time in the tech industry and this was our side hustle turn full-time second job. We never thought this would turn into a full-time thing or even a thing that could replace our current jobs.
People ask us all the time how we make it work because they can’t imagine where we find the time.
It’s freaking hard is what we tell them and the fact of it is, is:
When you are getting off work, sitting down on the coach to finally relax with a glass of wine and binge a new show – we are working on the business.
When you decide to go out to dinner with friends on a weeknight – we are working on the business.
When you decide to sneak into the fridge for some ice cream at 10 PM – we are working on the business.
When you had a hard day at work and you need a break – we are working on the business.
It doesn’t stop and we sacrifice almost all of our time to make this dream a reality. We work from 6am-3pm in our full-time gigs and work on the business until 10-11pm Monday-Friday. On Saturdays’ we spend 7 hours at the market and on Sundays we prep for the next week.
During Christmas this last year we got wrecked (in all the best ways)! Business was booming and we were doing markets each week and a festival. We were making HUNDREDS of decorated treats which is hours and hours of baking and no matter what, our customers and our promise to our customers come first. So on days where we were running off 4 hours of sleep and couldn’t remember what day it was due to brain fog – we just pushed through because the drive for what we are doing overpowers our need for sleep. For us, it is worst to let our customers down (whether that is missing a week at the market, sleeping 4 more hours but having 40 less treat boxes, etc).
And you have to be resilient. There are so many dog treats companies out there that are homemade, local and local. So the competition is deep and that is intimidating in itself. Then you have to put yourself out there and there are companies that tell you no, people that don’t even bother to reply to you, customers that tell you you are over-priced, that your product sucks, people who think selling dog treats is dumb, people who copy you and pretend like they don’t – the list goes on.
You have to bounce back. The “Why” behind what you are doing has to be stronger than the rejection or whatever dumb comment someone makes.
In those moments we slow down and remind ourselves that we not everyone our target audience and that is okay, we don’t want to be in business with everyone and that is okay and, sometimes, we didn’t prepare for an opportunity and that’s okay. Learn, accept and bounce back.
It takes 5 years for the most deeply satisfying accomplishments to take life. Five years feels like a long time but if you can accept the slow progress, take the action now. If not, you will still be looking for a shorter, quicker way five years from now.
Mimi & Mitch, 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?
We are Mimi and Mitch, a dog-loving couple and owners of Desert Dog Treat Bar. We are located in Phoenix, Arizona and have four very large rescue dogs of our own that started this whole journey.
We initially started this business because we wanted to make dog cakes and we couldn’t find someone locally to do it! They all shipped from Etsy and we found it odd that no one was doing it in our area. However, we work(ed) full-time in tech and finding time to dedicate to the business was challenging especially with our 2 hour commute round trip.
Then COVID hit.
Once we all got sent home to work remotely, we gained 2 hours back in our day and we dedicated it to running Desert Dog Treat Bar! We’ve been in business since 2020 and we are so lucky to have grown each year thanks for our loyal customers.
Once we officially launched, cakes turned out to not be our bread and butter. Instead we shifted to biscuits and jerky. We were so tired of buying smelly ones from the pet store and seeing what the ingredients actually were.
We deeply believe that dogs deserve treats as fresh as ours. Just like human food, dogs should have fresh treats, not processed ones with ingredients you can’t pronounce. We believe that the longevity of your pup’s life starts with what you feed it so we are doing what we can help help your dog live a long, healthy life.
We all saw “Super Size Me” and sadly, some of the food and treats we feed our dogs are just as bad. Food made with ALL parts of an animal (bones, blood, guts), highly processed food that dehydrates your dog, and treats that shockingly are “fresh” for 6+ months.
Let’s be real, nothing is “fresh” if it lasts 6 months. If we wouldn’t want to eat a cookie that is 6 months old, why should your dog have to?
All of our treats are made fresh, each week. The definition of “fresh” in the dog treat industry varies, but our definition is: ingredients purchased each week (sourced locally when in possible and when in season), dough made fresh the week of the order and nothing ever frozen or sitting on a shelf for weeks or months at a time. This system allows our customer’s to be confident that their dog’s goodies are baked fresh with no additives or extenders.
All our treats are human-tested and human-friendly so dog’s gets the quality they deserve.
Today we sell: naked biscuits (without icing), jerky, cakes and decorated biscuits! We ship nationwide and popup each Saturday at the Downtown Farmer’s Market in Phoenix. We still work full-time in tech and dedicate every other waking moment to the dog business. Eventually we’d love to have a brick and mortar or even a food truck serving humans and pups.
How’d you meet your business partner?
I met my cofounder and now husband at Dutch Bros! For me, it was love at first sight. I was in my early 20s, bouncing back from a divorce (got married a little too young) and living with my parents. I had relocated from Utah to Arizona where I knew no one and I needed a community.
So I got a job at the friendliest place that I could and it changed my life.
It is a wonderful company and I wish everyone had to the chance to work at. Dutch was pretty short lived in my career because I was actively seeking a real estate job (my bread and butter that I had been in for 5+ years at the time).
We worked one shift together a week and we bonded over our interest in real estate: investing, buying homes, the process, how to do it. About 6 months into working at Dutch, I found a real estate job down the street and put in my notice. It was really bittersweet but Mitch and I stayed in touch. A few months later he was ready to buy a home so we met up to go over the details and have been inseparable ever since.
Today, we are married and going on five years of being together.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
We are genuinely curious people. We want to know how our customer’s day is going actually (not the pretend “good”) and what our customer’s do for work. We make an intentional effort to remember their names, kid’s names, dog names, allergies, what treats they bought previously, etc.
Some people might say they aren’t good at remembering names or faces — our advice would be to get good at it. Get a pen and paper, follow them on instagram or Facebook but make the effort. We actively engage with them on social media and share in the fun things they do in their lives. We’ve been invited to weddings, out to dinners, brought gifts from food to coffee to flowers – you name it! And what is even more cool is that this happens regularly.
Some of our customers have become some incredible, life-long friends.
Our customers keep us in business, without them we would not have Desert Dog Treat Bar so it is our responsibility to make them feel welcome, at home, and cared for each time they come to see us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.desertdogtreatbar.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/desertdogtreatbar/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/desertdogtreatbar
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mimi-rea-a0217398/