From Matchbox to mobile dog grooming, Amy Peller has parlayed her business strategy career into a life built around where she finds the most joy. Building culture and community on her own terms, she still relies on what she learned about brand management over the years. Find out how sometimes teaching a dog new tricks doesn’t require one to forget the old ones.
Guest Amy Peller, Dartmouth '96, could always be counted on to find the fun in a moment, whether meeting people on the way to the snowboarding lessons or performing magic in the campus pub. Throughout her career in consumer marketing and brand management, she tried to always keep that sense of fun and joy.
Some employers, such as Mattel (where she worked on products from water guns to Matchbox cars), made it easy. Others, who wanted her to move too far from family or deal with layoffs, not so much. Luckily, the skills she built at all of them allowed her to envision her own path, an entrepreneurial venture that some may say is for the dogs—a mobile dog grooming company.
In this episode, find out from Amy how sometimes teaching dogs new tricks doesn’t require forgetting old ones…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley
About This Episode's Guest
Amy Peller is founder and president of Wag & Shine, a mobile dog grooming company in the greater New York metropolitan area. Find Amy and her grooming friends (including her Labradoodle and Chief Happiness Officer Benny Hana) at WagAndShine.com.
You can follow Benny Hana on his official Instagram @bennyhanadoodle.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Edited by Worth Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Amy Peller: I'm not someone who normally operates based on a quick gut feeling, so I had been thinking about this for quite some time, but I just some part of my body said, this is not the right thing for me to be doing. And the next morning, I called my boss and I told her, I've decided to resign. And they couldn't have been nicer. The people said, well, why don't you take it, take a few months off, make sure this is really what you want to do. And I was like a little bit of me. It was like, damn, I just made this big decision. And now you’re like, oh, why don’t you think about this some more?
Leslie Jennings Rowley: From magic to Matchbox to mobile dog grooming, Amy Peller has parlayed her business strategy career into a life built around where she finds the most joy. Find out how sometimes teaching a dog new tricks doesn’t require one to forget the old ones....on today's ROADS TAKEN...With me, Leslie Jennings Rowley.
I'm here today with Amy Peller, and we are going to talk about the magic that happens when you put joy together with all of the things that you've learned and think are really neat. And so I'm so excited to have you here, Amy.
Amy Peller: Thank you, Leslie. I'm excited to be here with you.
LJR: I should say Amy was my first Roads Taken interview. She was so kind to be my proof of concept to see if this would work. And then we decided to hold it, because she was on the cusp of starting a business. We're going to talk about that today. But since then, I have this patter and we begin…I think I did ask you these questions: when you were in college, who were you, Amy? And when we were getting ready to leave, who did you think you'd become?
AP: OK, so I think when I went to Dartmouth, I was a pretty bright eyed and bushy tailed about excited to be a college. I was excited largely to explore, to explore classes and extracurricular clubs and just to learn also all sorts of new stuff and new types of people. So everything was very new. I was amazed by the role that students had in running different parts of the school and the ownership they took, and so that was all exciting. But I was also a bit nervous about embarking into the world of becoming a grown up and making a lot more choices on my own. Unlike probably some people at Dartmouth, I didn't have a passion for one specific area as much as I did for exploring lots of stuff. So the liberal arts aspect of Dartmouth was an awesome fit for me. At times it was also a struggle. Being there, I took a really, really tough classes freshman year. I think it was like Japanese, an introduction to Russian literature and was what was the third one? It was, oh, some crazy math class that was like the continuation of AP calculus. I wasn't sure how to survive the first term. I ended up getting mono, which was really, really hard, I was running like 104 fever and I genuinely wasn't sure that I was going to make it through the first term. But professors were really kind. I got extensions on a number of classes. At one point, I think campus police was even driving me to my classes because I just didn't have the energy to walk after I was recovering. So I think this type of place where you look around, everybody seems really exuberant, really happy, and that, you know, pretty quickly into the first term, that wasn’t my experience? So I, I, I struggled with that. I think I also looked at other times like everybody else seems to have everything figured out. Why don't I? And so that was tough at times as well. But I mean, I love the liberal arts education. I majored in economics largely because I saw it as a pathway to a career in business, which was an area I thought interested me, but just loved all the other stuff. I minored in art history and study religion and literature. And I loved connecting with a very broad range of people, much broader than I previously had ever met in my entire life. So that's kind of what I think kind of coming in kind of how I was thinking about things. When are we getting ready to leave? Who’d I think I’d become? I don't know. I don't know that I knew. And I don't know that I had a clear and precise vision. I did do a bunch of internships while we were at Dartmouth. So I worked at a law firm and learned pretty quickly that I wasn't going to become a lawyer. I worked in the back office of financial services firm and learned pretty quickly what that was. I did work in an advertising agency for an internship, our junior summer, and kind of really liked that. And thinking about brands and about how people made decisions about brands and how a company could affect that process. And so I think this kind of reinforced to me that I was interested in business, that there was something in the marketing world that also was of interest to me. And so that was kind of something I tucked away in my head. But I like business. I like analyzing businesses, thinking about businesses and about businesses. And so after Dartmouth, it seemed like I would just go wanted to go and pursue the liberal arts education in business, which seems to be a strategy consultant. And so that's what I did. I joined a strategy consulting group within Andersen Consulting, now Accenture, and just kind of continued to learn about broad based business. And I definitely worked my butt off a lot of late nights. And it wasn't always easy, but I learned a lot. The people that I worked with there were amazing coaches and mentors. And I admired them. And I think that that probably had a big impact on some of the kind of future choices that I took.
LJR: Yeah, So you're steeped in this consulting tradition. And yet. And I don't think you're doing a lot of marketing, but you are working with companies and brands and things. And so how is it that you find your pathway from kind of the business operations to marketing?
AP: So actually I was really fortunate in that the company I was working for straight out of Dartmouth, they actually sponsored me to go back to business school, which was wonderful. And all these people that I saw around me, they'd all gone to business school. And I thought, oh, like, they seem to have a really cool body of knowledge and seem really effective. And so I decided to go and do that with the expectation I was going to go and return to something afterwards. But I graduated business school in 2001 and there was this crazy downturn in the economy. And I think I just went on, a couple of months right after I graduated, one month trip around the world, all excited to come in and be a strategy consultant post MBA. And I think it was that September before 9/11. But that September that, I got a call from the folks and they're like, oh, you think you're starting in October? Just kidding. We're deferring your start date by about eight months. And there's no real guarantee that we'll be able to bring you on because we're laying off tens of thousands of people. And so, you know, it was at that point that I was like, oh, well, I think I mean, I was excited to start working. And I just didn't want to kind of wait for something that may or may not happen. So at that point, I kind of used it as a chance to pursue some other interests, which I did know I was interested in marketing. And so I started talking with companies where I could work at a marketing role. And that was when I made what I made that change. I, I ultimately, I, I did a few of the other things. I was originally thinking I was going to do consulting in the retail space. And I was like, there was one problem. I never actually worked in a retailer in a while. I was toying around with that. I should look at a job like, look, I've got a job at a toy store. And I was working on the floor for, like, you know, $10 an hour or $12 an hour. And it was great, actually. It was great. I learned a ton. But it was also around that time that I interviewed with Mattel for a marketing job. I was kind of interested in the toy business. And they ultimately made an offer. And I joined them in March of March or April of that year for a job focused on marketing on the Matchbox brand new line of water guns. And that was kind of my introduction to the marketing world.
LJR: Yeah, I remember running into you at that point. And your business card was so cool, like, oh, my. It was very fun and Mattel and its iconic brands, so talk to me about kind of the evolution of your coming to understand what brand management was, either through that job or the next few years.
AP: I mean, I was there about two and half, when I was working in a satellite office that Mattel had in southern Jersey. And the company was headquartered out in California. And it was it was a really great learning experience because a lot of my job was working with our international markets and helping to ensure that we were representing their best interest in the products that we brought to market. And so, you know, there are worse jobs in traveling the world, talking about toys and visiting toy stores and talking with all our international subsidiaries. So that was a really, really great. And kind of seeing what it took to kind of bring an actual product to market, because I have been before but on the consulting side and everything was a bit more. I mean, it wasn't that I didn't have any appreciation, but it was a bit more academic. I don't know that I totally understood, like all the kind of political factors also that come into play in an organization that actually makes that happen, you know, and beyond kind of what should happen, but how things actually happen. And all the challenges. And so for me, this was a great course on new product development. And I started to understand consumers. And I was like, I really liked it, but I did. And that was when I experienced my second layoff, which was Mattel decided to close the office where I was working in south Jersey to move it out to California. I didn't want to make that switch. And so I was like, but I do like this marketing thing. And so I started talking with companies about where I could kind of move forward in that direction. What I realized working at Mattel at times was that culture is really, really a company. Culture is really important to me. And I wanted to really be in a culture that was really consistent with my values. And so as I talked to the company, that was something I thought about and ultimately decided to join an organization called Wythe, its a consumer health care drug company they own brands like Advil and Robitussin, Chapstick, in a brand management kind of role. Interestingly, I mean, when I was in business school, I had worked in a startup for an internship. I really love that. And I just I wasn't really ready to go join a small company, we could probably risk or the fear or what have you. I really loved it. I loved the excitement about that and feeling like we were building something from the ground up and left the mark in my mind. But I wasn't really ready to do that. And so kind of stayed in the big company world. And I joined Wythe where I worked in a bunch of areas of marketing, management and innovation strategy. And I spent about the next 11 years until they went through a restructuring plan and my job was eliminated. But at that time, it kind of felt like the right thing, to be honest. And people told me. I look like the happiest laid off person because it was just like I was ready to make a change. And so at that point, I started thinking again about the entrepreneurial stuff. And I guess It was 2015. So I started thinking about that again.
LJR: Yeah, and yet when you're thinking about entrepreneurialism, you're still thinking companies are really interesting. And I like being in them. So how did you navigate yet again? I feel like you're so good at taking these. What other people would say is like, oh, my gosh, I've been laid off and I'm so scared now. You're just like, OK, how am I going to use this opportunity? So what did you do?
AP: I mean, severance is like the best time to explore anything. So, I mean, I also felt lucky, lucky about that. But yeah, I had some ideas because I often find myself like this any time with experiences of my life, I'd be like, oh, there should be a different type of company and we could do something differently or better. And so I often find myself talking to small business owners about their businesses would be really cool if I could do something like this myself. And at that time, I thought about actually starting a company in the caregiving space based on some of the challenges I had had, finding great caregivers for my mom. And I kind of played around with that for probably about four or six months and then kind of ultimately decided that I didn't see a good way to make the business model that I was thinking about really work effectively. And and so I was like, well, you need to work and find a job. And and so I started looking again. And actually, as much as I love kind of being inside of a company, I was kind of open to, do I go back to consulting? Do I continue in the marketing world, and I came across a small consulting firm that had about 150 people at the time, and they are actually helping other companies become better marketers, either building skills or organizational structure or putting in place processes, things like that. This is kind of interesting to love the people at this company. It had a bit of an entrepreneurial feel to it because it was a much smaller company. And it just felt right. I mean, from a cultural perspective, it was awesome. And so I made the decision to ultimately join them and spent about two years with them. In that time, they were actually acquired by Accenture, which is where I started my career. So like 20 years has passed and I'm back in the same place I was straight out of Dartmouth, but I think it also kind of came to a realization that. I really liked the people. I was working with good clients, but I just, I wasn't passionate enough to be working as hard as I was, and that was the only way that I knew that I could do this job at this particular job and client service. And one day I came back from a business trip in Ohio. I just had this realization, this isn't what I want to be doing anymore. And I'm not someone who normally operates based on a quick gut feeling, so like I say, I had been thinking about this for quite some time, but I just some part of my body said, this is not the right thing for me to be doing. And the next morning, I called my boss and I told her, I've decided to resign. And they were shocked. And they thought we were in a really happy marriage. And and I just came in one day and said, I want a divorce because I felt valued and it was a good, good gig and they couldn't have been nicer. The people said, well, why don't you take it, take a few months off, make sure this is really what you want to do. And I was like a little bit of me. It was like, damn, I just made this big decision. And now you’re like, oh, why don’t you think about this some more? But I did. And I'm glad because I think I knew I wanted to do something different, but I wasn't sure what that thing was. And it was actually in those two months that I took that I took off or I kind of figured that figured that out. I actually hired a professional coach in that time period. And then that individual was really helpful for me to work with, to help me get back in touch with some of the passions I had and some of the things that really excited me. And then also, I think, have the courage to go and pursue them and. And that was kind of what led me into starting to build a mobile dog grooming company.
LJR: I know, and I so wanted that story to be “And then I became a magician,” because I remember, you like in the Lone Pine Tavern. You had been the one that hired all of the fun novelty acts to come through the programming board. But then you did a little magic act once. And so I was so hoping.
AP: But if it was done this, it would have been street performing magician,becoming a street performing magician for sure.
LJR: Because what better if, not a magician, than a mobile dog groomer. So I just love the story because it really is like, OK, I've learned how business works. I have learned how to build a brand. I've learned how to help companies launch things. And now I have to find the thing that brings passion and joy to me. So before you talk about your business, talk about your dog.
AP: So I have a seven-year-old Australian labradoodle named Benny Hana and he goes by Benny mostly.
LJR: But he's like a male model. He's a little famous.
AP: Yeah, he's a little it's a little he's a little famous. He I mean, it wasn't like we set out to do, but he’s got an awesome demeanor. He's done a little bit of modeling work. He was on the cover of a Banana Republic catalog. He was in another clothing retailer called Soft Surroundings. But I think kind of the best is The New York Times did an article on dog modeling, and he was he was kind of like the feature. So I got into the New York Times entrepreneurship section because of Benny. And I do that. You get to tell people I live with a male model. Yes, I got Benny 7 years ago, just under seven years ago, and I always wanted a dog. And I was like, finally like, what am I waiting for, you know, like, am I waiting to have like everything else in my life be 100% perfect before I go get this dog that I've wanted? Like, like it was one day I was like, I need to do this now. And then I made this decision. And he really changed my life. I mean, I lived in Hoboken for probably like. 8 or 9 years before that. And now all of a sudden I'm meeting all new people and other dogs and I'm outside more. And I just love him so much. And so I just became really passionate about everything in the dog world. And so when I started thinking about what type of business I'm interested in, what type of business could I potentially build, I wanted to do something that I was passionate about. And I wanted to think where I saw big growth potential and also where I thought that the skills I had could add something unique. And so very quickly, I started to think about all things dog, the pet services space, and then very fortuitously had met up with a friend of mine who is visiting from California. And she told me that her ex-husband was running a mobile dog company. That's interesting and kind of got me thinking about my experiences with and getting him groomed. It’s been a real challenge to find a groomer. And then once, finding an awesome groomer, I couldn't recommend them because they weren't taking new clients. And I just felt like the dog grooming world wasn't operating in a way of delivering its awesome customer experience. And what if we could really do that. And build a very different company? And that was kind of a decision. I kind of I mean, I really analyzed it and did a lot of research because even though I guess I'm not that risk-loving. So I dotted a lot of I's and crossed T's before I decided to go forward with this. And then back in 2019 made the decision to move forward and start a service company, which we launched in June of this year called Wag and Shine mobile grooming. And our whole mission is about making grooming happy: happy for the dogs and for the people.
LJR: Yeah, and so you you told me before that you did a lot of research, both kind of everything, dog and pet, to kind of getting the right truck. Right like, this is not an easy like, let's make a widget. This is there's a lot going on. And the HR piece which seems to need a great groomer. So talk to me about all the things that you have to think about.
AP: Yeah, I mean, there was the biggest challenge that I had about after I decided I wanted to build the dog grooming company, was that other than my dog to the groomer, I really didn't know anything about the algorithm. And I was like, well, if I'm going to do this, I really need to learn about dog grooming. And so, I mean, I interviewed hundreds of people from people who were bathers, dog bathers to people who are leading some of the companies in this space. I went to trade shows. I signed up to go to a dog school myself for three or four months, which was awesome. I mean, I'm not a good dog groomer, but I, I felt like I got like a basic learning to understand how hard it is. And that gave me a much bigger appreciation of the industry. It also gave me a herniated disk and a frozen shoulder, which said, I should stick to the…
LJR: And have a really good workers’ comp thing.
AP: Exactly and find that the best people. So, I mean, I really kind of immerse myself in the industry, you know, and I started meeting lots of people who are now friends of mine in many cases, but I. Yeah, so I so I just I really immersed myself. I mean, I had to do a ton of research about, you know, about, well, why are why are dog groomers not happy where they currently work. If I am going to build a mobile dog grooming company, one of the best areas, geographic areas to go into, I'm probably the only dog that's looked at had spending indices to the side to help decide kind of where we're going to where we're going to launch. And we ultimately will launch in a couple of affluent towns in it in New Jersey and Morris and Essex County area, to learn about the vans and a couple different options. And while I had worked on Matchbox cars, that was very different than purchasing a $100,000 vehicle. Those are the types of things I was looking into, regulatory considerations. I mean, I worked in a drug company for 11 years. And so kind of questions around risk and regulation and compliance. I mean, these were all things that also were on my mind. So, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of research. But I also kind of once I kind of got to the place of like, yeah, I'm doing this. Not that everything always went smoothly, but in many cases, I found that some of those things kind of sorted themselves out.
LJR: Yeah, so with all of that preparation, what has been one of the big surprises for you as to whether it's leading the business or some quirk of the business? What's been a surprise since launch?
AP: I think, in some ways, I knew this, but in some ways, it has it's been super fulfilling to kind of have something that was an idea, kind of like I thought it, actually now have it be like a real business that's existing in real communities, that people in their Facebook groups are talking about. And hence the role that we play in the lives of our clients has been also like just in terms of how. much are we really, in many cases, love us, and that's been really, really cool in terms of building a brand. And we're only in a couple of towns right now, but kind of seeing the role we play in our clients' lives. And meaning we have them. That's been, I think, really positively surprising on the positive side, I think a surprise for me. I knew would be hard to find the right stylist. I mean you wouldn't know this unless you were in the dog business. But there’s this crazy shortage of dog rumors. But we have a really different type of company with great compensation plan, a really good culture. I thought, OK, we're going to be fine. Like our first hire I made is amazing. And we just actually just hired a second person who I'm super excited about. But it's been even a lot harder than I even anticipated to find those people. And I expect that that will continue to be something that remains a top priority for me. Just finding that the best people. Yeah, I think those are a couple of things that come to mind.
LJR: Yeah And I guess along with the building community and seeing the fruits of your labor actually change people's lives, has it given you a different perspective of, you know, your relationship with Benny or something about the dog space?
AP: So, I mean, so Benny is our company's chief happiness officer. So he has he has a very significant role in the business. I think I learned that the way that I used to groom Benny, which was like, wait for him to kind of a disaster until I got him groomed, is like every groomer's worst nightmare. It's been very good, actually, do I have a lot more flexibility in my life. So I could be actually with him quite a bit, quite a bit more when I'm kind of always on call in a lot of ways as somebody who's running a business. But I also have a lot of flexibility in my day to day life. So I'd take him out for a walk and a nice day, like I feel like I can make those choices. And so I think that's actually been really good for our relationship, too.
LJR: That's great. Looking back at that Amy that was getting ready to leave college, what would either you tell her that would have made some sort of difference in your life or what do you think she would say about you. Now or both?
AP: Looking back, I think I would tell that Amy to take the time to really ask yourself, what you want to do versus maybe what this judge sometimes thinks that she should do. And I think some of the soul searching that I've maybe done a little bit later on, it could have been valuable to do sooner. So I think kind of taking that time to really kind of step back and be like, what really brings you joy? What really could make you happy and kind of almost disconnecting that from what is your image of what should bring you joy? That's something I think I could have that I would have told her. And if I think about, you know, like what that Amy might have thought of Amy, fast forward 25 years later. This is such a weird construct. She might have been a little bit disappointed that I didn't become a street performing magician, but I think she would have been very enthusiastic. I always loved dogs and to kind of find a way to combine love of business with a love of dogs, with a love of building teams and something new, I think she would have been, I think she would be very happy about that for sure.
LJR: Well, there's still time, Amy, and I think Benny would be a good draw to your street corner. Well, it seems like you are happy in this, knowing all the challenges and knowing that it is it's a tough road that you've chosen, but one that is definitely imbued with joy. And I'm so thrilled about this. And we can't wait to kind of see the empire grow, if that's what your plan is, or just to watch you grow. So Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
AP: It has been a lot of, it is a lot of fun. It's a lot of hard work. And I'm curious as well to find that out.
LJR: That was Amy Peller, owner and founder the mobile dog-grooming company WagAndShine. Find her and her grooming friends at WagAndShine.com. And find me, Leslie Jennings Rowley, with another friend – well groomed or not – on the next episode of ROADS TAKEN.