In a world full of information, it can be hard to navigate what is true and helpful in taking care of our pets. We at BSM Partners want to help demystify some of this with The Pet Industry Podcast and bring you people we think are also on that mission.

Today, co-hosts, Dr. Mary Cope, PhD & Dr. Megan Sprinkle, DVM talk with a pet industry game-changer who is passionate about pets and is making the pet industry better for pet families. In this conversation that was recorded at the 2023 SUPERZOO, you will learn about many aspects of the pet industry including some of the biggest challenges.

About the Guest:

Jamie Damato Migdal is the CEO and founder of FetchFind, which is a platform and service that is revolutionizing pet care education. Jamie has been innovating within the pet industry for over 25 years. A sought-after consultant and public speaker, Jamie has built four national pet service companies and has wide-ranging industry expertise in education, technology, business development, sales, marketing, and management. Her fourth and current company, FetchFind, provides staff training and engagement, as well as digital marketing and other business solutions, to pet care services and pet-friendly companies around the globe. Jamie has been a pet radio host and in 2018/2019 was on an expert board for Pet Smart to help uplevel their grooming and training services.

Show Notes:

(01:47)  How a passion for animals created several successful and inspiring business opportunities

(13:15)  Exploring the human-animal bond

(15:59)  How the human-animal bond became the basis of a business

(20:25)  Striking the balance between passion for animals and business decisions

(23:15)  Why the pet industry retains top talent

(24:24)  The magic that happens when you bring passionate people together

(27:02)  How business relationships start to fracture

(30:08)  The biggest challenges for the pet industry

(32:11)  The intersection of technology, education, and the pet industry

(34:28)  What the ideal pet industry looks like

(35:59)  How to create the ideal pet industry

(39:00)  How pet parents can benefit from a unified educational system

(41:59)  Jaime reveals her pet family

(45:00)  Who is Jaime’s role model and why?

About BSM Partners: 

BSM Partners is a multidisciplinary team of PhDs, board-certified veterinarians and nutritionists offering 400+ years of cumulative technical experience, supporting the development of thousands of products per year. From R&D to replenishment, we have you covered. 

BSM Partners offers a wide range of services including research, product innovation, FSQAR, nutrition services, veterinary services, transformation, operations support, and engineering. 

Learn more at https://bsmpartners.net/ 

BSM Partners on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/bsm-partners/

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Welcome to the Pet Industry Podcast, connecting you with the people behind the passion, the leading experts in the pet industry. I'm your host, Dr. Megan Sprinkle.

Dr. Mary Cope: And I'm your other host, Dr. Mary Cope.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Have you ever thought about starting a pet business? What about four? You are about to meet an individual who has done that. Are you ready to uncover the secrets behind building businesses that truly speak to the heart of the pet industry? Today on the pet industry podcast, we have a true industry expert.

For over 25 years, Jamie has been a driving force of innovation within the pet industry, from education to technology, business development, to marketing. She's a powerhouse who has built not one, not two, but four national pet service companies.

With an uncanny ability to bring businesses to the forefront of the pet world, Jamie's vision has transformed the landscape for pets and their devoted families. Jamie will share the captivating story behind the creation of Fetch Find, her expertise in the pet industry, and the unwavering love that fuels her passion for all things pet.

No really, thank you so much for spending some time at SUPERZOO with us. We are really excited about all of the amazing news that you have coming out with Fetch Find, and we just think this is a huge moment for WPA and the whole industry.

So I'm excited to hear more of your backstory and how you got here. So do you mind just taking us a little bit on that journey on how you got into the pet industry and established your multiple businesses?

Jaime Damato Migdal: I'd love to. Thanks for having me, and I love being here and I love BSM and everything that you all stand for.

We're really excited to be at SUPERZOO with our WPA partners. But also with our other extended family, which we would consider BSM a part of our extended family. So I got into the pet industry somewhat purposely by accident. I was a social worker out of school and decided that I would want to look into becoming a veterinarian.

I had a passion for animals. I worked in animal shelters. I worked at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago and thought that would be a career path. So I started exploring what it would take. I was 20, 22, 23, I started exploring what it would take to get into veterinary school. And everyone told me that it was just so competitive with 27 domestic veterinary schools that you really needed experience that went beyond doing some basic volunteering and so forth.

So I started a dog walking company on the side. And so I was working my full-time job. Actually, that's not true. That's the second step. Let me move this backward. Hold on. There's even a better story. That actually took me to the dog walking place. As a social worker, I actually worked in group homes for duly diagnosed women.

So I was a case manager for women's houses of 13 or 15 women who were struggling with diagnoses around personality disorder, but then also they would have potentially a substance abuse issue. So lots and lots of strife.

Just maybe, maybe four or five weeks old meowing at the back door. And this was a no animals allowed, of course. It was run by a nonprofit organization that ran many houses and no animals, of course, was the rule. And I thought, well, I'm getting off in like six hours or five hours. I'll just take this kitten in and I'll bring it home.

I was already very much involved in the animal world and had pets at home and so on and so forth, and so I did that. So I brought in this little guy; his name became Jerry. The reason I remember August 9th is because it's the day Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead died. So he, we named him Jerry.

Anyhow, so I brought him into the group home and hid him in the office, in the case manager's office, and set up a little makeshift litter box with papers and what have you, and a little saucer of whatever I can find - I think it was actually tuna. And the women in the morning would wake up and they woke up about five in the morning. I would get all their medication ready and they would come to the case manager's office and you doll out them, their medication. Whatever their morning meds were.

I had this cat there, and I knew if I got busted with a cat, that would be bad for- just bad, right? Who knows? People have allergies. Plus it was against the rules. And plus I was a young, new person on the totem pole. I'm not supposed to be breaking rules by bringing live animals into a no-animal group home situation.

About an hour later, all 13 women were sitting in the living room passing this cat around. And talking about the impact of animals on their life at different points in their life. And it was a really monumental, meaningful moment for me because I realized that I had these thoughts of wanting to go to veterinary school, so that was already there. And I watched these 13 or so women having no, there was no animosity, there was no, there were none of those interpersonal dynamics that typically are or at work from the moment they wake up.

And they were just engaging. And not, and every single one of them, a couple of them didn't even like cats, but it was such a unique moment that everyone participated.

And at that point, I thought, you know what? I definitely wanna continue to pursue veterinary, but I also think that there's probably something more with social work and animals and let me see what I can do. So I introduced an animal therapy program into that organization, where we had animals come and visit.

And then from there, I got the advice about you need to do more for your application for veterinary school, not just the MCATs, but you need to do more for that. So I started a dog walking company thinking if I could be in people's homes and have a relationship with people and their pets, learn more about just what it is to have a pet in different environments, and also be a part of their decision making and be a part of their family and be a part of what I just saw happen and be a part of what I experienced as a pet owner, as a young person.

And, at that point, I just stopped pursuing anything related to veterinary school because I was so engrossed. So I quit working at the group home. I was also working, sorry, part-time at what was a pet practice, which is now a VCA, at very part-time. And so I quit that job and I started running this dog walking company seven days a week, 18 hours a day, and hiring people and running it. And then I decided at some point it was very successful. It still is in business by the way. I decided I wanted to pursue... There's this clinical thing - I love science and I like to solve problems and figure things out - and so I decided that maybe becoming more involved in dog behavior was a good path.

So I found Purdue University, Dr. Luescher, who has since retired, and Julie Shaw, who I think is also retired - but they ran an amazing animal behavior program as a part of the veterinary school. And they ran some programming that you can go for three months or six months and just be a part of the Purdue World. And go through weekend - and so it was a weekend based program, so I enrolled. It was called DOGS ironically enough. I would go every weekend for I think it was for six months to work with Dr. Luescher and we would - and their clinical staff all focused on behavior. And so I sold my dog training company to one of my clients' sons actually and started a dog training company.

But before I did that, I found a mentor. Her name is Dr. Yel s . She has a practice in Oak Park, Illinois. And I went to her and said, I'm in your community, I own this dog walking company. I think I want to pursue animal behavior. Can you help me?

And long story short, a year later I opened up the dog training company that I started called Animal Sense in her clinic. And so she, we redid the back of her clinic to make a school. And so then I ran this dog training school in her clinic for 11 years.

And through that, we also expanded throughout Chicago and had different locations around the Chicagoland area. One of the things that happened with her mentorship and then she took me into the clinic, I was their staff trainer and their staff behavior consultant. And so I was exposed to behavior in the veterinary world and behavior - and then I also did some part-time work as a shelter manager during this whole stint. That was another whole piece of my experience in education. But having that exposure to animal behavior in the veterinary space was a very big eye-opener for me as far as what people really struggle with, that you hear only in the confines of a closed-door veterinary environment.

And so, that really intrigued me and I wanted to go further with that, but I knew I couldn't scale that on my own. I really wanted to develop a business as part of our regular dog training. We had 50 classes a week. We did private lessons. I really wanted to get more involved in this sort of clinical aspect of behavior.

So we started a school called, Animal Sense Academy. So we went to the University of Chicago and we said, listen, we have all this pet parent content. How do I take this pet parent content and make it into something I can train someone how to become an animal behavior consultant or a dog trainer?

I mean, we really did this. I'm really very proud of it, the most robust, hands-on, and multifaceted educational experience for a mom who wanted to get back in the workforce or a lawyer who no longer wanted to be a lawyer, but wanted to be a pet professional. And we just were bombarded with all of these people who, as I found out, really wanted to follow the same path, but it was a trail of breadcrumbs.

They didn't wanna go to veterinary school. They didn't wanna get their master's. They didn't wanna just be working - they didn't wanna have a job just working in a clinic or in a boarding and daycare facility. They wanted something that was structured and clinical and research-based that they could follow, and then they could do something that they wanted to do with that education.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Before we go on to FetchFind -

Jaime Damato Migdal: That was a lot, right? You're asking like the whole -

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Yes, I did. Very open-ended. There's two couple questions that came to my mind. One, do you mind elaborating a little bit more on what you found was unique about the clinical behavior that you - what was unique about that that kind of intrigued you?

And then also, before I forget the question. Can you also speak more on to the people who came to the school and were taking this education? Because it sounds like even from the very beginning of your story, there was something special about that human-animal bond.

And I'm glad you started describing the types of people that were interested in this program from lawyers and, moms who wanted to have a job. Can you speak more of what you were witnessing with this very diverse group of individuals, all with a passion for animals and fulfilling that passion?

Jaime Damato Migdal: So I have to give so much credit to my mentor, who, in fact, when we were looking through pictures a few minutes ago, Mary and I were going through them and I almost stopped and said, look, this is my daughter riding a horse last weekend. My mentor, her name is again, Dr. Seddon and she, just bought a horse a few months ago, and so we were out at her house in the Chicagoland area and met her horse.

And so the fact is that this person is so influential in my life and is still such a big part of my life and she's probably the smartest veterinarian I've ever met in my life. She's actually probably the smartest person I've ever met in my life.

She's got this keen sense of everything and has such a very deliberate way of condensing information to the point that when you're working with her, with a person and their animal, in a clinical environment, the way that she's able to interpret what's happening, I have never yet seen anyone else able to do it in such a significant way.

So much of what I'm about to share comes from my experiences with her and how fortunate I was to be able to work under someone with her overall approach. Something she taught me, and this is answering your question about what happens in that clinical setting, is that she taught me about the fragility of the bond between a person and an animal.

And I feel like I always to the point, you think about someone with an animal that walks into a veterinary setting, and so clear that person loves their animal so much. Their baby. They love that animal. And so you can identify these people very clearly, right? They're the ones that are just, they're just over the top, but not in an obnoxious way.

But you just know they're gonna have that dog, they're gonna keep that dog and extend its life as far as it can go, right? That's what's happened. And I've just had that belief, and I've always held that belief and she taught me that's not true. That you never know. You never know. You cannot make a determination based on what someone's presenting in a moment. Because at the end of the day, the bond that we have with animals has such a tremendous fragility to it. It is shocking. And I've seen this now so I know it's true. It's shocking that an animal making one bad choice, and I'll just use that as a terminology right now, right?

That an animal who makes one bad choice, that bond could be dissolved so quickly in a matter of moments that you think would never happen. And I learned that through her. And so it impacted me to such a degree that for the hundreds of thousands of animals that myself and my team, would interact with for those 11 years, I always taught them never take for granted that this person's gonna do that this person's gonna always make the right choice, or always be there at that animal's side because one thing can happen or there could be something going on in the background, and it could be something that's, they had a baby and the baby's allergic.

It could be anything. But at the end of the day, the fragility between a pet and - that bond that we think is unbreakable and you witness somebody is not necessarily unbreakable. So my job, I believe, and what we always train people on - the moms or the lawyers - is that your job is to be an advocate for the relationship and to do everything you can to identify any potential breakages. And that's what you focus on, because you have training and you are looking at this relationship between a person and their pet with a different lens. And if you see that there is some integrity issue there, if there's something there that could be challenged later, whether it's in 10 years or in 10 minutes, that's what you work on.

And that is, I think, made us a really strong, I think that made me a very strong dog trainer and a very successful behavior consultant and I think it made our company a really strong company. And I think it's really what I've based my entire career on. And I think about that now in terms of pet professionals.

I think that if you can figure out what made a pet professional interested in our industry, what brought them here? Was it their love of animals? Was it their love of a specific animal? Was it because they wanted to be an entrepreneur? Is it because they're innovative? What is it that brought someone to our industry in any way?

Are they working in a daycare? Are they working in retail? Do they wanna start a company? Are they - who knows - anything. If we can isolate what that is, and we can teach to that, and we can motivate them around that, and we can empower them to believe in themselves around that thing, then we have longevity for that person.

That means thats how our industry really grows and sustains itself. And that's how we build truly the future of the workforce, is by thinking about what's the fragility that they have? And it translates perfectly because people come to the industry with this love or this fantasy sometimes of what it means to work with an animal.

And then they get into it. And that's not necessarily what they experience. And I think that it's on the, I think it's the responsibility of the business owner, or the mentor, whomever, to not ever forget what was the thing that brought them to the industry and to really lean into that.

And so there's this really interesting parallel between a person and their pet and as a clinical person working with animals, making sure and there are people and animal - that pairing what you look for and what you focus on. And I think it's the same path that you think about with education, or career development, career training is what's the thing that brought that person to this industry?

And how do we maintain that passion that they have for the industry through content or through education or through exposure? So that's - that hopefully answers both questions in this maybe unnatural way, but that's what I saw.

So when people would come and say, "Hey, I wanna go back into the workforce. I've been a stay-at-home mom, but I've always loved animals. Or my law practice, my law job is killing me. I don't wanna do this. Or, I'm a Marine. I'm thinking of so many students. I have a degree in marine biology, but I live in Chicago and I was gonna be living in California, but that's never gonna happen. So maybe I can apply my stuff to pets. There's just so many different people. So people come from all walks of life. But the thing that brings them there to the industry, that made them students of our in-person school is that they had this one thing that bonded them to the industry, even if it was something they didn't even understand.

Or it was something that when I was a kid, my grandma used to have a farm and there were golden retrievers. And I always have this fantasy of running through the poppy fields with golden retrievers. Is that a career? And we're like, yes, it's a career. Let's figure out how we get that to be a career for you.

Dr. Mary Cope: I think you addressed how we maintain that business between, or the balance between determining business solutions, so also having that love of pets because it sounds like they're really not too dissimilar.

But with Fetch Find, how have you been able to really grow, multiple businesses around this love of pets, and still be able to make smart financial business solutions?

Jaime Damato Migdal: So for me as an entrepreneur how do I not just go down the path of let's just give everyone everything they want for free, because we want everyone to love animals and be happy in their career?

That, trust me, it's still a struggle for me. I was just in a meeting before this where I'm like, don't worry about the money part. Let's just see what we can do to help you. Literally, I said those exact words like an hour ago. I'm not even kidding.

And it is a struggle. Because I'm also a social worker at heart, and I also want everyone to be happy and I want everyone to find their passion. I want everyone to have a fulfilling life and I think if I jump off my hippie bandwagon for a moment, I'm also extremely ambitious. And so I have this like good balance. I do have a tremendous amount of ambition. I'm a single mom. And I am a sole provider for my child, and no one ever gave me anything. No one ever paid for my school. No, my parents, they're fine people. It's not like they didn't. But like I really am totally self-made and so I find a lot of motivation in wanting to lean into true success.

So as much as I'm like, don't worry about it an hour ago, trust me, like I have another meeting in a few minutes where it's gonna be like, all right, how big is the check gonna be?

There's just - so that exists. So I don't know if I have a perfect answer because I think it just, it's super situation-dependent. I'm always industry first, which means people and animals first. But also it really means industry first.

I also am very clear that like our industry, we are riding a very powerful wave. But also we can't forget that it's also a wave and waves are subject to disruption and to changes in climate and to, there's a lot of things.

So I think that again, that workforce piece, making sure we have a really stable workforce, and a really empowered workforce who want to do the next thing, and that takes money to build.

Dr. Mary Cope: Yeah, I don't think that passion is necessarily lacking in the pet industry.

I think everyone you talk to definitely has an enormous drive and passion for this. The vast majority of us, SUPERZOO is huge. I don't know how many people are out there, but ~ 20,000 people you can walk up to just about any one of them - whether it's reptiles, birds, dogs, cats, they have a passion for something pet-related out there.

That's why we're all here.

Jaime Damato Migdal: Every single person in that show floor. That's such a great way of putting it. Every single person. Even if they're just even if they're very much on the business side, even if they don't have a background in pet necessarily.

What I've heard, and I'm sure you all hear it all the time, once people get into the industry, oh, I think that's the interesting thing. People who take a job working for a pet business - people don't leave. Like they come to pet and they do not leave 'cause we're awesome.

Because we are awesome people. This is the best industry. People have been like, "Do you think maybe you wanna try another industry?" And I'm like, "Why? What?" "Well you like to challenge yourself." "Yeah, I do. That's why I'm in this industry, 'cause it's very challenging. This is the most challenging."

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: I think, along with this, and it's something I've been very impressed watching you. You're very successful and good at forming relationships with organizations and key people in the pet industry. So why has that been such a big focus for you and what have these relationships taught you about just the industry in general?

Jaime Damato Migdal: Oh my gosh, that is honestly such a hard question. It's like at the core of who I am. But I don't even know. I saw that on the notes and I thought, I'm gonna just not even think about that right now, but you're making me now.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Oh, sorry.

Jaime Damato Migdal: No, I love it. I. I'm the person in my family - it's funny, we just had my dad's 77th birthday and my sister-in-law's 52nd birthday the same day. They have the same birthday.

And as their birthday was coming, I sent out the group text, "What are we doing to celebrate?" And Sunday we had this amazing party at my dad's house. And that's just what - I'm the person who does that.

I'm just the, I don't know, there's something about I love just the, I love being. I don't know. I love the togetherness. But not but I'm also not one of these people who have to always be going out and doing things and what have you. I just like the idea of, and the feeling and the outcome of bringing people together. I just love the outcome. Like even at this party, if I had my phone, I would show you like I, I was a photographer for the day. I took so many just candid shots, right? Where I just love seeing two people leaning in and having this like moment where I think, and I didn't think about this until now, but I'm like, I did that. Like my aunt and my brother are sitting at my dad's counter having a moment and there's a picture I took.

I'm like, it's 'cause I sent that text out. So I think, I don't know. I don't know. I don't think about it very much 'cause I don't know how else to be. I'm sure for some people it's super annoying. I just had a meeting this morning with a potential partner for Fetch Find, and she was like, "You're relentless."

She said to me, "You're relentless. This is year two and you're still here asking me how we're gonna do this." And we reached such a great place, but she was like, "What's your angle?" She said that to me. What's your angle?

I'm like, there is, the angle is that we, rising tides and ships and bigger pies, smaller peas. I can give you all your little cliches. I don't have it. My angle is that I think that we can all just be better together. And I think, and I like to watch that. Like I'm definitely more, people think I'm a super extrovert, but I'm actually like a pretty significant introvert.

In many ways. I know it's shocking to say that, but it's true. I like to watch, I like to witness the people that I put in the same room have great outcomes.

Dr. Mary Cope: And I think the pet industry is a great place for that too, because at the end of the day, like it's a massive industry.

There's tons of opportunities and everyone can find their own little niche within this, big playing field. But it's also very small and close-knit and you see a lot of the same faces at these conferences that you go to and, "Do you know so and so?" "Oh yeah. I worked with them a while back." And so relationships are really at the core of the pet industry.

And so the ability to build strong ones is vital for success here.

Jaime Damato Migdal: I think that the longer that you're in an industry like myself, you also have lots of hiccups along the way and lots of repairing to do as well, right? Because especially because our industry is so young, right? So if you think of 10 or 15 years ago, as folks like myself who were trying to innovate and be like, think outside the box, or try to bring like pieces that don't necessarily go together.

A lot of people get their feathers in a. Or they're whiskers in a or they're fur a whatever. Pick your animal. And so there's also a lot of smoothing that goes on, the longer you're in the road. That's life in general, right? There's always in every relationship, business, personal, even just walking by someone on the street, fragmentation happens. Or I'm sorry, fracturing. Fragmentation is our industry. Fracturing, so relationship fractures happen all day long, every day, right? Like even me walking in two minutes late, right?

There's always like people fracture all the time and there's sometimes there's significance. Sometimes they're like little teeny things. And the only way to repair a fracture is to be, is to show up and to take ownership and to be accountable.

Dr. Mary Cope: And spend like, how long do we spend half an hour, 45 minutes comparing pictures and bonding over shared pets and yeah.

Jaime Damato Migdal: But like you, you build all of that up so when a fracture does happen.

Dr. Mary Cope: Yeah. it's not a big deal.

Jaime Damato Migdal: You have collateral, right? You build up stuff. And so I think that one of the things that I - I always am aware of this - where I fracture stuff and what I need to do to fix the fracture. 'cause I'm so imperfect and I say the wrong thing, I do the wrong thing, and it's not because I'm not thoughtful or because I don't care, it's just because I'm so like three steps ahead of myself all the time.

And so I'm always very aware of where my accountability needs to be. And so I think that's where some of my success comes from because I do show up and hopefully hold myself accountable.

And not just lip service accountability, like taking a step back, learn - are my values aligned with my actions? No, they're not. So I fractured. Now I have to realize that I've gotta be accountable for the fact that my values were not aligned with my actions. Or my actions were not aligned with my values.

And so it's just, it comes down to that. And I think that is hard work and that's something that's a lot of therapy and a lot of self-help books and a lot of weekend seminars and like a lot of stuff that I just, I don't know, I just really try to do my best to be, to have the highest degree of self-awareness and ownership and accountability I can.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: I think you know that honesty and being genuine is helpful as well when it comes to relationships because we're all human.You started going down, some of the challenges already that we may have in this industry and I would love to hear more on what you have experienced.

We love this industry. But they're like everything. There are unique challenges in the pet industry. So what are some of the most significant challenges you have seen?

Jaime Damato Migdal: I think so yes.

Everything you said yes. And then yes and more yeses. I think there is, it's human nature stuff. I think because our industry is young, and it's opportunity-rich, that creates a lot of lack thinking and fear-based thinking. And I think fear-based thinking is really where all the challenges come from.

That's literally all the challenges. Like I can look at every situation. And that's my fear-based thinking too. That's not, I'm not, that's me as well. Less so of course now, but over the years, I think for every fracture situation or every challenging relationship, I think it's always been that the other party or this side of the table - myself is because it feels like, I don't, it's a FOMO. It's a fear of missing out. And I think that honestly, I haven't thought about this like this, but I think that the sizable opportunity that we have in this industry creates a lot of anxiety for businesses and organizations because they wanna get there. And they wanna base get their first potential or get their best.

And I think that it creates a lot of isolated behavior and a lot of isolated thinking and a lot of selfish thinking. I think it's just human nature. I think the industry is ripe with it.

Also, I think our industry, if I, one more thing here on that is that like we're the only industry that we're dealing with so many different species. And I don't mean like small, but I think that like when you're, like, you're always having to consider so many different audiences when you're thinking about a solution for something, it's very complex.

Honestly, being in digital learning and being in technology. So I think having, I think the intersection of learning and education, technology, pet industry - I think the biggest challenges have been to prove out, also I think imposter syndrome around that too, which is another thing that women, we especially deal with. But I think the biggest challenge is, showcasing that the intersection of technology, education, and pet industry actually has a space.

And that there's something that we can actually create. And I've had to sell that story to everybody. So my biggest challenge is, I just signed that WPA contract five years after the first conversation, five years. I met.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Congratulations.

And they brought me in and they had me do a whole presentation. And we just signed our agreement, right? And so to do what I had proposed, literally like the agreement we signed is what I proposed five years ago.

So the challenges are more like these, like heavy lifts, right? It's a heavy lift to say, I've got this vision and I want to do it with you. I know we can do it, we can be better together. Going back to the earlier part of our conversation and it's that, what's in it for you and how much is this gonna cost?

And it's the long game. It's the long game. And I don't have a long-game mentality. I have a like, let's do this today mentality. And so I'm constantly at battle. I'm struggling with my own, like I wanna get things and I wanna get them done. I'm a let's do this now person.

And I'm playing these long games with everybody, right? The entire industry I play a long game with.

Dr. Mary Cope: It's such a contradiction of you have the fear of missing out mentality. This is like a quick-moving industry, like trends come and go and like the tides.

But with that in mind, what would the ideal pet industry look like for you?

Jaime Damato Migdal: I think it's what we're building. The ideal pet industry is that there's a decrease in fragmentation. I think there needs to be some fragmentation 'cause that's why - that's how this industry is so cottagey and fun. Unique in that you can go build a pet care business in your own vision. But I think there needs to be some, I won't use the word regulation 'cause I think that's a really heavy word that gets misinterpreted, so I won't use that. But I think there needs to be some consistent information delivery through a centralized digital education hub, perhaps?

Dr. Mary Cope: Just an idea, just this idea off the top of the dome here.

Jaime Damato Migdal: I think that is what the industry needs is a place where people can go and get good information that's not coming from one source - that is dangerous.

A one source delivery, one source for education or information is really a dangerous. What we were talking about before, right? Like well-rounded information from thought leaders in our industry.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: You mentioned that there's a danger in information coming from one place. I completely agree. So how can Fetch Find being a company, bring that diversity, but uniformity of this education and this ideal world that you're talking about? The intersection of technology, education, this industry, collaboration. How can we do that?

Jaime Damato Migdal: I know we can't have a visual, but it's, I would bring up that piece of paper I showed you a few minutes ago. It's by having the best of the best in class thinkers, best in class organizations, and representatives from all verticals that come together and provide the content.

So when you bring together, in this case with Fetch Find, we have our partners at WPA, our partners at the IBPSA, the International Boarding and Pet Services, our partners at National Association Professional Pets. There's our part, our partners at Fear Free, our partners at Kong. When you start thinking about the diversity of partnerships, our partnership with BSM, right? How we think about who are best in class, and how do we, and what's their audience and what are they trying to accomplish? How do we pull all of that together and build a marketplace of information that people can come to, business owners or independent folks can come to and it's many voices, but there's unified delivery.

The difference is that it's the same look and feel. You're, it's the, it's really the, it's the UIUX component that is missing from this industry. It's that user experience and user interface, right?

It's that whole idea of: I can get good information from all of these organizations. That's different logins. That's a different - whether it's microlearning, mobile-first - you end up getting a binder of logins and then you never do it. So Fetch Find's whole approach is we want everyone to win.

We wanna, but let's have a place that like, that person who I used to be as a business owner who had 2, then 10, then 40 employees to train. Can you just give me something easy? Please don't make me follow a trail of breadcrumbs just to teach my person how to put a leash on a dog.

And then another place I've gotta go to learn about whether corn is a good ingredient in dog food. And another place to understand about litter box safety, another place to learn about bird care. And this is literally what's, that's what's going on, right? That is the deal. And so what you end up having is you have employees then who are like, you know what? I'm not doing any of it. And then business owners who give up on it. And then no one knows anything.

So really the Fetch Find deal is that, it solves the problem of having a one stop shop log in, go get your BSM stuff, go get your IPSA stuff. Go get your nap stuff. And by the way, go out to the naps, go out to these other platforms and go out and do that.

But at least have one place that if you don't wanna go anywhere else, you can get their stuff here. But it's gonna be delivered consistently. It's gonna have consistent look and feel. You're gonna get your badging. You're gonna get your points. You're gonna earn your stars. It's all gamified. So that is the, but that is what we're building and that's really what WPA is, our partners signed on for, to be a part, to own that with us.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: You talked about employee training and, a lot around the industry. How will the pet parents benefit from this unified educational system?

Jaime Damato Migdal: There's two answers to that. One is they'll benefit indirectly because their providers, whether it's their veterinary staff, their daycare and boarding provider, the retailer, whoever they're getting quality information and passing on quality information.

That's just the, that's the most scaled, immediate way that they're getting consistent quality information. And they can have that same conversation with their groomer, their dog walker, and their vet. And everyone has said a similar thing about how to put a generator.

If everyone or understands what a generator is, right? Or understands that, the differences between a raw and kibble diet. If there's just some basic consistent understanding so the pet parent feels as though they're being supported by an industry - because there isn't that right now they go to different places to get different information, including, the internet.

And so if our industry, the people who are in the industry getting paid to take care of people's pets, have some consistent language, then people get more pets, by the way. That's our industry grows by the way. People get more pets because they feel like they're being supported.

Remember, during Covid, when people couldn't get in for grooming? Still today, by the way. I have had more than one person say to me, I would get another animal. But you know what? It's so hard to get a veterinary appointment. It's so hard to get a grooming appointment. And forget about the expenses. Like it's not even that. And it's changing now, but like a year ago, people, I mean for us to we want people to have more pets. That's what our industry needs people to do. Get more pets that are appropriate for your life in your home and everything else. And people feel real easy to do that when people feel supported. And that they're, all of the professionals in their world have aligned.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Or even keep their pet, something you said earlier, right? I loved so much about, training back with your training business that I saw this bigger mission of it's really about maintaining that human animal bond. And so if you have an industry that's working together to support that human animal bond in the end, sorry, full circle, right? I think that's really where everybody truly wins.

Mic drop. I'm just kidding.

Jaime Damato Migdal: No, literally I just, I think that's really what it comes. Oh my gosh. You just did that. You just did that.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: That's your full circle. Yep.

Jaime Damato Migdal: You just brought that. You brought the thunder.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: It happens every once in a while.

Jaime Damato Migdal: Fun moment. But it was pretty amazing. Yeah. That's it.

And we have the opportunity as an industry to really embrace that and get aligned to it.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: I have a last few questions. I know before we started the call, you and Mary were nerding out over your dogs. But I think we should share with everyone how much you love your pets. Who are your pets? And you mentioned bird.

Jaime Damato Migdal: I do love a bird. I'll start with a bird who's not my favorite pet in the house. But I still love the bird, because, she lives with us. And my daughter - it's my daughter's pet. She lives in my daughter's room. I'm actually pretty proud of my daughter Sadie. She's gonna be 12 in a couple months, and she loves her bird. It's a cockatiel named Sweetie who's about, about two years old. And it's a lovely animal.

But birds they're loud and demanding and they're messy and they're very social animals.

And so there's a lot of, we're home and the bird's gotta be with us, which I don't always want a bird with me. And I'll be honest. I do love a bird. So our bird Sweetie, who's about two years old, or a cockatiel, I should say Sadie's cockatiel.

And then we have our seven and a half, oh my gosh, she'll be eight next month. That's crazy. Our eight year old. I did DNA test her, chihuahua, schnauzer, rat terrier mix. Wow. Yeah, that's exactly right. Wow. That's right. You all are thinking wow 'cause it is a wow. Wow.

Anyway, so she's amazing. Her name is Sassy. She's a hurricane survivor. She came with that name. So she was, when Hurricane Harvey hit, whatever that was, six years ago, they shipped a bunch of animals to Chicago. And I was on the intake side of the shelter helping to do behavior evaluations. She was the last dog off the bus. They're like, oh my God, this one doesn't have a foster home. What happened to her paperwork? I'm like, oh, I can't believe it. But I will foster her.

She's seven pounds.

I have my first dog I ever purchased from a breeder. I, in all of my years, I never purchased a dog. I always picked him up off the street always, or from the shelter I worked at or volunteered at or what have you. But I had two rescue Collies over the last 10 years. And I fell in love with a breed and I got on a waitlist for a breeder and was able to get my very first puppy.

I always got these rescues that were already like past that. So I had my first. My puppy, my Collie puppy, her name is Willow. We call her pillow. We really call her Piapia, and she's awesome. And she's two and a half. And I love Collies very much.

She's smart, kind. She's just, she's effusive enough. She's connected enough. She's independent enough. She's smart as whip. She's a great that breed. Don't get 'em, don't get no one get collies. We want, it's our secret - Collie people. Yeah.

Dr. Mary Cope: And for our listeners who don't know, I also have a Collie. And so Jamie and I spent, a fair bit of time prior to this geeking out over our shared love of the breed.

Jaime Damato Migdal: Because there's none of - there's not many of us.

Dr. Mary Cope: There's not a lot of Collie people out there.

Jaime Damato Migdal: And we're special and so are they.

Dr. Mary Cope: Yes.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Who is your role model?

Jaime Damato Migdal: It's for sure Dr. S, who I refer to. Yeah. Who's a veterinarian. So my role models are everybody who I respect and work with, and I take different pieces. Like frankly, your BSM leadership, and I, it is an early relationship, so it feels a little bit awkward saying this and a little bit odd, but I do find that the way that Nate and Seth operate is really unique. And I'm like really, intrigued by their leadership style and their business acumen. So I have like folks that I, my, like I have like business role models. And then I have personal role models.

And so if I see someone with integrity, accountability in a leadership role, but for role modeling, I think it's, I think it's people who, again, have that level of accountability and a set of values that, whether I agree with them or not, that they're living by.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle: Is there anything else we did miss though, that you want to -

Jaime Damato Migdal: No, this was great. I can't, I feel so honored that you are here doing this with me. Like I feel very seen and I feel very, I feel honored. Really, this is a true honor. Wow. thank you. Thank you.

Dr. Megan Sprinkle, BSM: Thank you for joining us on the Pet Industry Podcast, a BSM Partners production with editing by Cliff Duvenois. Thank you to the podcast team, Dr. Megan Sprinkle, Dr. Mary Cope, Whitney Russell, Dr. Stephanie Clark, and Michael Johnson. If you want to learn more about our family here at BSM Partners, please visit our website at bsmpartners.net. And please make sure you are subscribed to the podcast, tell a friend, and find us here next time.