We were lucky to catch up with Tiffany Dnaka recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tiffany, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Hi pet lovers, my name is Tiffany, owner and founder of Custom Pet Portraits by Tiffany Dnaka. I turn your pets into custom watercolor artwork. My brand’s mission has always been to help as many dogs as I can find their forever home. I often team up with rescues and donate custom artwork for pups in desperate need of adoption. To date, I have helped various rescues throughout the US.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I officially started Tiffanydnaka.com in 2021 and I have seen massive growth due to the customization behind my artwork. I started my artwork around loss. First, I lost my (fur-baby) Moxey, and then I lost my job. Both hit very hard. As a way to remember Moxey, I wanted to find a specific style of a custom-made pet portrait. Long story short, I couldn’t find what I wanted so I decided to create my artwork to give back to animal rescues. Fast forward to 2020, Covid hit. Like most people, I decided to pursue a new hobby and soft-launched my custom artwork on Etsy. Then in 2021, I lost my job, and I decided it was time to turn my hobby into a full-time business and launched Tiffanydnaka.com.

Looking back at my journey, losing my job was a blessing in disguise. I find that pursuing my own business has been extremely rewarding! How awesome is it that I get to create artwork of dogs? Not only that, I get to use my artwork to team up with rescues all around the country, to help animals in need get adopted.

I often reach out to rescues and create a custom pet portrait of a dog that is in desperate need of adoption. One of my biggest accomplishments is that I have helped over 20+ rescues, though donating custom artwork. I think that’s what separates me from other pet art brands, is that my mission is to always give back to dogs in need.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I would say the best thing I have learned about owning my own business is knowing when to pivot and being able to adapt to it. Because I don’t have any outside investment, which for anyone reading this, I am not opposed to it! I just haven’t had the opportunity yet to expand on that area. I have had to pivot many times.

For example, at the beginning of my business, I attended many vendor events where I displayed my artwork. But because my art is custom-made to order, people usually want something tangible to walk away with. More often than not, vendor fees were out weighing the return on profit. So, instead of spending hundreds per month on vendor events, I decided to use my time to focus on other areas of growth, such as writing this interview!

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

When I started my Tiffanydnaka.com, I knew I wanted a business with low overhead. I am naturally conservative with my finances and to this day, every dollar I spend on my business is well calculated. With that being said, I was actually able to start it for under $1000. As a solopreneur, I don’t have any external funding. I tried launching on Kickstarter, but I didn’t get far with that. Honestly, I am not sure how other business do it with finding external funding such as “angel investors”. My business has been built off the model of “bootstrapping” where I am 100% funding it myself with minimal upfront costs. I would love to be able to have more external funding to help support my business, but for now, until I scale, I don’t foresee any extra money magically landing on my doorstep!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tiffanydnaka.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiffany_dnaka_
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/tiffanydnaka
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/custom-pet-portraits-by-tiffany-dnaka-dana-point?utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)
• Other: Google Reviews: https://g.page/r/CUl5jQ5qaxwjEBM/review