PawTree Independent PetPro Trisha Deming – Interview

Kim Kuhlman (00:04):

Well, hello there. Hi, Trisha.

Trisha Demming (00:06):

Hi.

Kim Kuhlman (00:07):

This is something new for me. I am trying to show a spotlight, shine a spotlight on other local pet businesses because I believe in collaboration. I believe, you know, all our rising tide floats, all boats. So I'm, I'm trying to show off my friends. This is Trisha Deming from Paw Tree. We ran into each other at a holiday boutique last fall at our gym, and I stopped to say, Hey, what have, what have you got here? And so I learned that Trisha helps pets with nutrition or through nutrition. And this is the first of, I hope, many interviews with my local friends.

Trisha Demming (01:03):

What an honor. Say

Kim Kuhlman (01:05):

Thank you

Trisha Demming (01:07):

As your very first, like what a, what a blessing and gift that is. So I appreciate that you're doing this for sure, and thanks for,

Kim Kuhlman (01:14):

I appreciate you being here.

Trisha Demming (01:15):

Yeah, that's cool. That's

Kim Kuhlman (01:17):

Cool. My little experiment.

Trisha Demming (01:19):

Yeah, yeah, it's great. I love experiments, <laugh>.

Kim Kuhlman (01:23):

So please tell my audience who you are and why you do what you do.

Trisha Demming (01:31):

Yeah. Okay. So, yes, my name's Trisha, and I've been in the industry, the pet nutrition industry for about eight years. And I started with no experience with animals, just the love of animals. That was really my main, my main criteria, you know?  So I had another business before this and I just didn't love the direction it was going and felt like I needed to part ways and so looking for something different but didn't want to give up the flexibility.  I work from home.  I've got five kids, so I like being at home and being able to be with them and their first and foremost, my number one priority.  But being able to have something that was flexible work from home was what really appealed to me.  So I just jumped in eight years ago and focused on, we focus on animal health and wellness, so cat and dogs specifically, and I just focus on healing from the inside out, right?

Like we believe in, in proper nutrition foods, the foundation of that.  And then supplements to help because we don't have raw food.  We get asked that a lot.  Do you have raw food?  And we have raw products like salmon oil and some things, but we do have, our food is kibble.  So we're saying if you do a kibble food, this is fantastic.  It's the best that you can get.  But we do recognize it as minimally processed, and so we have supplements to help add other nutrition, to just give them those key benefits.  So it's been a really fun journey over the last eight years, just helping pets, helping people, and then changing my circumstances because the, the business I had before was kind of capped.  I had a ceiling of, of how much income I could earn.  And this has been something that I can earn.  I'm unlimited, you know, the more pets I help, the more income I make.  And so, so I've been able to see a, a definite financial benefit to changing, completely changing gears, you know, eight years ago.  So, I hope that answered your question. I feel like I went off the rails a little bit, but..

Kim Kuhlman (03:13):

Oh no. I'm in my second career too, so I totally get it.  Looking at my questions here, what's your why? You said that you talked about it a little bit, but yeah, what's your why?

Trisha Demming (03:33):

Yeah, like a deeper dive. It's interesting because the I feel like I, like I said, I love pets, right? I love pets and that's what drew me to this business initially. But I'm very driven by fi being financially secure. That's like one of my core values is being financially secure and feeling like I have enough for my future, that I'm saving for retirement, that my kids will have enough and that we can pay our bills. That's just something that's always been very, very important to me. And so my why started with, I really want another avenue. I don't want to do this business forever.  I want to stay at home.  And so that's really the, the gist of it is being able to make a really great income from home.  But now it's shifted a little bit to help others do the same.  And so I, the way that my operation works is I'm able to help mentor other people that can do the same thing that I do and, and they can earn income just like me.

And so my mission is to help at least ten other people, ten women. I prefer women because that's who I work really well with.  But some men, you know, I'm not gonna say no to a man too, but I really love working with women who are currently stay-at-home moms and just want something different, want something more. That's really my passion. So whether it's through this avenue of pet nutrition or whether it's helping coach and mentor them in their own business, what they already have, that they're starting, I just am very passionate about helping others change their circumstances as I've changed mine. Cuz my life is entirely different than what it was eight years ago, financially, but even, even emotionally and in my reaction to different things happening around the world, because I just am better equipped and better prepared through all the self-development I've done and, and learning to own my own business and run my own business. So it's just changed me in many, many ways. So, long answer, yeah, that was a long answer to your question, but it's truly to just help at least ten others change and transform their life as it has mine through owning their own, their own side business from home. Oh,

Kim Kuhlman (05:27):

That's really, that's really cool.  My why is kind of the same thing, but I have five dogs instead of five kids.

Trisha Demming (05:35):

Hmm, hmm.  So supporting them and giving them the best life, and you, I know you already do that. I know that you're already here.

Kim Kuhlman (05:41):

Giving them the best life and, and letting them do what they were bred to do. Mm-Hmm.

Trisha Demming (05:46):

<Affirmative>

Kim Kuhlman (05:47):

Giving them, they, most dogs need a job of some sort. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and ours are field-bred Springers. Their job, the job they were bred for is to hunt birds.  I know some people probably won't, won't like that.  Appreciate it.  But watching these dogs do what they were bred to do is just an amazing reward and they're amazing.

Trisha Demming (06:14):

That's so cool. I love it.

Kim Kuhlman (06:20):

As a business owner, what do you do when you get discouraged?

Trisha Demming (06:27):

Oh, that's a tough one. I would say it's actually not that tough in the beginning.  In the beginning it was tough because I got discouraged quite a bit.  I was always like, man, what do I do?  I don't know what to do next.  So I really linked arms with my mentor.  She became so she's the one that brought me into the business.  She's one of the corporate staff members at PawTree, and she became my link.  You know, I would reach out to her when I got discouraged.  And then it evolved from there and I got a coach, I got a business coach that helped me. I got, I went to a group coach first, like a group coach environment and kind of a mastermind group, which was so incredibly helpful.  That got me through that discouragement period.  And then it was kind of onto the next level, which was individual coaching.

And now I always have a coach.  I always am working with a coach.  And I have been for, let's see, since 2017, is that right?  So for the past five years I've been working with the coach, and I invest in coaches to help me, different coaches.  It's not always the same person.  I've hired 1, 2, 3, 4 different coaches over the last five years to help me just because I'm in different spots, right?  Like, I need a coach for this, and then I need a coach for that.  So that's the main thing of what I do.  And then daily to help me daily, this is a daily practice.  As I practice gratitude every single day, that really gets me out of a funk because we all can let that creep in.  Like our minds are wired to kind of be in self-preservation mode and kind of like shut down mode.

You know, like, I'm just gonna, this is, this is hard.  I'm gonna walk away.  That's kinda what we're wired to do.  And so getting out of those, like acknowledging where I am and, and then just expressing gratitude and reading good books.  I've got stacks of good books I'm looking at right over here that just help me get out of these funks when I get in them.  So reading and practicing gratitude and connecting with a, a business coach or mentor of some sort has been the most important part of my business and how I'm here today. So,

Kim Kuhlman (08:20):

Well, following question to that would be where do you find your business coaches?

Trisha Demming (08:26):

It's really through networking with other people. My very first one that I found is someone that I've known for years. I've known her 20, 21-ish years. So anyway, I've known her quite a long time and I knew that she was successful. I knew that she had a coaching business. And so I just reached out to her and said, Hey, do you have anything that you're offering or doing? And, and she had a mastermind group that she was putting together. And so that was one of the first I joined, was this mastermind group. And she had a retreat, a a retreat she went to, and then it kind of morphed, oh, there's my doorbell, you can hear that I have a dog. So I, I practice what I preach, right? I have a dog that I love very dearly. That's part of my life. So and now I forgot where I was going with that. Oh, where do I, so it morphed from that because while I was in that my mastermind group, I was able to meet many other women that were on a similar journey to me, which was so essential because you could learn from them and say, oh, you have frustrations too. Oh, you didn't have instant success. Like, I thought everybody just had instant success. So being able to talk with them and understand where they were on their journey, and then learn who they follow, what books they read, what, what groups they're a part of. And then it just kind of morphed. So each, each one came as a result of people from that original mastermind group and just kind of going from there. So yeah.

Kim Kuhlman (09:44):

Relationships. Mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, it's all about relationships.

Trisha Demming (09:46):

Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Yep. Yeah, very much so. But great question.

Kim Kuhlman (09:55):

So what's been your biggest failure in business, would you say?

Trisha Demming (10:00):

Oh man. My biggest failure, there's two that come to mind immediately. Two pretty bad failures. But the one I wanna emphasize the most was the most pivotal because I, you know, we started out as a party plan. Like, I had to have a party at my house and bring people over and say, Hey, come learn about these products. That's how we began eight years ago. We don't do that anymore. We learned it did not work. <Laugh>. So one of my first, I mean, I had never done anything like this. I told you I was not familiar with the pet world. I was definitely not familiar with the sales world. And so I, I just was like, ignorance, ignorance on fire. Let's say it that way. I was really wanting change. I really wanted to change my circumstances. I really loved pets. I thought this is the perfect thing.

(10:40):

So my first real event that I had, it was a party that my mom was willing to host for me and went to her house and, and sent out all the invitations to people that I knew that she knew. And I thought it was gonna be the smashing success. And I had zero sales. I had a few people there that came and some people that said like there's not a chance I'm spending this on my dog, so clearly they're not my ideal client, right? Because they're not willing to invest in their dog's health and wellness. They're just like, no way. This is like I'm not doing this. And they started help. I started doubting like, oh my gosh, what have I done? Like, are they right? Are these products, is this, is this not good? I, I ha I was just so new and I didn't know anything.

(11:20):

So long story short, I, it was an epic failure. I mean, nobody bought anything. Nobody even considered buying anything. And to me it was every contact I had had. Cause this is a direct sales model, so the only people really, it's like, if my friends and family aren't buying who's net, like who, who buys it? I don't know who's gonna buy it. So I left that event and was just so devastated, just like, I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go from here. It was one of those really discouraged moments and it's probably easier to quit. I think I should just quit. So I contemplated the drive home. It was about a 20 minute drive home. And I really did think, like, I think I, I don't think I'm cut out for this. I don't think I'm meant to do this.

(11:55):

And so the next morning woke up and decided, okay, what do I do next? And that's where I, I linked arms with my mentor that really brought me into this business and said, okay, I'm out of ideas. What do I do next? So connecting with her, and then here I am eight years later, just completely different life. So it was the biggest failure, also the biggest teacher to me that I can do hard things cuz I had, I hit rock bottom at that moment. I just thought, I cannot fail. If I fail then, you know, then I'm a loser. That's really the, that's literally the language I was telling myself. I'm, I'm a totally loser if I fail. And, and, and

Kim Kuhlman (12:30):

I, I totally resonate with the, with the words. I'm not a, I'm not cut out for this. I have used those on myself many times.

Trisha Demming (12:42):

<Laugh>, it's hard, right?

Kim Kuhlman (12:44):

Businesses,

Trisha Demming (12:45):

It's hard not to, and it's hard not to compare yourself to others or to have those conversations with yourself to say just like, man, because you see other people that seem to be having success and are doing really well and you're like, what, what's wrong with me? What am I doing differently? And so yeah, it's, it's painful.

Kim Kuhlman (13:00):

You just have to remember that what we see is curated

Trisha Demming (13:03):

Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. Exactly. Exactly. And that's why part of that mastermind group was honestly the best. So on the flip side, what's my biggest, my biggest success? I would say it was joining that mastermind because it was a huge investment. I was probably only making $800 a month at the time. Maybe not even that, and maybe a thousand. It was not a lot of money each month. And that investment to go to that mastermind was $3,500. Wow. So I'm like, that's like half of my yearly salary going to this one thing. Am I really, am I really all in? Or what am I doing? And it was the best decision I made because suddenly I was surrounding myself with people that had already been where I wanted to be and beyond. And some that were still just maybe a little bit ahead of me. I for sure was like on the lower totem pole of the people there.

(13:50):

As far as like business experience and success. But I, it helped me recognize that like, they're just like me. There, there's no difference. It's either that they've been here longer or maybe they implemented something a little bit differently or just had more self-confidence and their mindset was in a better place than mine was. So it really was the most, the most pivotal moment in my business where suddenly my beliefs thought it just shot through the roof. I had no belief in myself up until that weekend. And then I was like, I can do this. If they can do this, I can do this. So biggest failure, that was disaster. But then biggest success, I guess two biggest successes would be I kept going anyway, even though I failed and it was terrible, I kept going, that would be success number one. Success number two would be investing in myself when I really didn't have the money but was willing to put it out there and what it did for my confidence. And

Kim Kuhlman (14:39):

I just, yeah, I resonate with that too because I spent a, a chunk on my business coach last year

Trisha Demming (14:46):

And you're like, is do I have this? I don't really know if I have this money. I don't know if this is a good idea, but just having someone outside of yourself being able to look in is so helpful. So,

Kim Kuhlman (14:57):

And, and always, always keeping learn or always learning. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, keeping that open mind and always be willing to learn.

Trisha Demming (15:07):

Yep, yep. For sure. For sure. Yeah. Love it.

Kim Kuhlman (15:14):

Well, I don't think I have any more questions.

Trisha Demming (15:17):

Okay. Is

Kim Kuhlman (15:18):

There anything you wish that I had asked you that I haven't?

Trisha Demming (15:22):

No. I mean, I feel like no, I feel, I feel like it's great. I'm just, I really am appreciative of the opportunity to do this cuz I really do love to share my story for any business owner that's out there. You know, anybody that's starting a business. And, and I'm always quick to say, cuz I know that when people hear like, oh, network marketing or direct sales, like, I don't know about that, but you can attest like, have I ever arm wrestled you to buy a product or try a product? Like we've just created a great friendship. I am a big believer that I'm not for everybody. My products are not for everybody. And my business is not for everybody. But my passion is to help those that want the help with their pets and to help those that want to change their circumstances. So I just appreciate the opportunity to share that message cuz it's not always easy to get out there

Kim Kuhlman (16:05):

In our Well, it's a brilliant message.

Trisha Demming (16:06):

Well, thank you. Thank you. So I just appreciate the opportunity and thanks for having me on. It's your first

Kim Kuhlman (16:12):

Guest. I, I appreciate your, your your honesty about and, and how authentic you are.

Trisha Demming (16:21):

Well, thank you. That's truly who I hope to be. When I joined this business, I, I made a pledge that that's who I would be because I just, so that means a lot to me that you would say that because that's, that's what I wanna be, that's what I hope people see in me. So thank you. It's, that's the deepest compliment you could give me. So,

Kim Kuhlman (16:36):

Oh, my pleasure.

Trisha Demming (16:37):

Thanks Kim. Well appreciate your time and look forward to still staying in touch and connecting with you in many other ways. Absolutely.

Kim Kuhlman (16:44):

Thanks Kim. Thank you so much.

Trisha Demming (16:46):

Yep. All right, we'll see ya.

Kim Kuhlman (16:47):

Bye.