Terri Entler: Networking in your community is really, really important. And you'll be amazed how much people are willing to help you for nothing.

James Lacey: Meet Terri Entler, the founder of Healers Pet Care, who turned her engineering expertise into a mission to improve pet wellness. Find out how Terri turned a personal challenge into a trusted brand.

Terri Entler: I am an engineer. I was, I started my career years ago as a, actually was in banking. I started as a teller and work my way up in banking, was assistant cashier. Started having a family, need to be a stay-at-home mom for a while. I didn't go to college right out of high school cause I got married and then kids started happening.

So I always wanted to, and when I, remember when I was searching for colleges right out of senior people, the college professors who showed me the colleges, have you ever thought about being an engineer? And I was really good at math. And I said, An engineer, I didn't even know what an engineer did or anything.

And I was in banking, I was working my way up the bank. I said, nah, I'm going to go into business. So, I did that and I, and then, you need to be a stay-at-home mom and you just can't, you can't, live on one income. It's really difficult. So I started a, I'll play things, a janitorial company so I could work at night and so I always had that entrepreneur spirit inside me when my youngest hit first grade.

I went back to college and, got my engineering degree. And I was very excited to do that. It was challenging. I loved, and having four kids and going to college was a interesting concept. why they, we all studied at the kitchen table together. They did, you know, they, they did their homework. I did mine.

and then from there I got my MBA and I went into high tech. So when my dog got injured and tore every pad and every paw, I thought the product's on the shelf. The vet didn't really have anything but gauze and vet wrap. And it was just a nightmare 'cause it was like losing a fingernail. And you had to bandage it and unbandage it twice a day, soak it, clean it, re-bandage it. And it was all four paws. And you know, it was just like, Oh my God, I was going through gauze. I was going vet wrap and it wasn't it. I said, there, there's just going to be a better way than this. So I created what we call a medical dog booty.

And it looks kind of, it's just real simple. It looks something like this and it has gauze inserts that fit inside that won't stick to the wound when it heals. So just super easy. You unwrap it, clean it, rewrap it, bandage it. and I told my husband, because I, made these in my basement, I said, other people take crazy ideas to market.

Why don't I? You know, and I was lucky enough at that time that my husband was, supportive and he was making a good living and we didn't, I could cut back. So for, so I started looking for manufacturing and like you say, going from that concept to, okay, now what do I do? How do I find, so you network in your community.

There's a lot of communities have, entrepreneur neworks, different things. So I just started talking to people. I need to make this. How do I make this? Do you know of a company that can help me make it? Do know anybody in the area that might sew? Because you can sew these. And I hooked up with some people from Nike, because we're in the Portland area, that knew about apparel. Because I knew nothing about apparel.

I was in high tech. I knew how to build a computer, but I didn't know how to build anything. So I just started networking. I found some local companies that work with small businesses that would sew it for me, even at small volumes. And I created a website and I just started selling them. Then I started talking to people, going to some trade shows and showing people what I have.

And the vet market going around the veterinarians and showing them and they got excited. And when I went to the retail, this is so easy. It's so simple. It was a simple idea and it just started the grassroots. and it is expensive, but every dollar you made, you put back in and you make another dollar and you pick and you just build from there.

And that's how. How you get started, but networking in your community is really, really important, and you'll be amazed how much people will are willing to help you for nothing,

James Lacey: That was something I was just about to follow up on, is, you mentioned networking a few times there, and I was going to ask, what is the value of simply getting to know people or conversations.

Cause I think a lot of the time today, people are behind the screen more than often, or more than they were, 10 years ago. What would you say is the value of networking and how could somebody go about getting started?

Terri Entler: Most cities have a chamber of commerce. That is a great place to start. Chamber of Commerce, usually have meetings with various business owners. There's, there's other business associations, in your neighborhood. A lot of times your politicians, that if you check with your city, there's an economical development group. There's, pretty much every bigger city, has such a thing.

They have websites, they have seminars. So that's really a great way to start is just going down to see what your city has to offer. Cause they really want to promote small businesses and I'm not sure. And there's also the SBA. Oh my gosh, just go to the SBA website. There's so much information and there's a, there's a program called score and score is retired business people that you can get free mentorship and free help with that, I'm pretty sure it's still around, that you can just go like they usually have ex-accountants ex-manufacturing ex-engineers. And so they, there's just so many resources out there that you can tap into, but go in person, don't do it always online.

Try to find it local because getting to know somebody is, and having that relationship, is really, really critical and you can't do that over the phone.

James Lacey: So true. My dad used to say, your network is your net worth. I always loved that. That's

Terri Entler: a good saying. I like that. I'll put that on a t-shirt.

Yeah.

James Lacey: It should be. Yeah. Totally. That'd be great. wow. Okay. So that is, I feel like you should write a book. That is one of the, that is such a fascinating journey. I haven't spoken, I don't think to anybody that has had such a journey of life prior to and young life prior to actually then diving in and having the opportunity to get going.

And you mentioned something else, which I think is very pertinent to the average young aspiring entrepreneur right now, which is You don't necessarily make money at the start and you got to keep reinvesting and it takes time and I don't think people like to hear that so much at the moment. But, what would you say to those that are excited and they're ready to get going or they, I mean, you touched on it, going from concept to an actual business and a product, there's a process. What would you say to that person that just needs a little help and patience or persevering through those steps?

Terri Entler: You know, you're going to be working two jobs because most people can't quit their job and just dive in. So you get, so I did that for probably a good three or four years before I felt like I could do just that.

So be prepared. It takes a lot of time. But again, there are resources out there to help you. And once you focus on your local market, let's say you have an idea for, let's just, I, one of my employees started a t-shirt company. just making t-shirts. He was creative and he learned how to print and he made some t-shirts and he just started selling them.

just at their local market or just locally, they went in around and talked to things and they started selling those and then getting some online and they just start slow. you're not going to go into a Walmart the next day with your idea. It takes a long time to get into the bigger stores.

And so you, if you can win, one of my mentors told me when your local market first, and then from your local, you can go to state level and from state you can, you can build it out. And, because for one thing, you're not going to have a ton of money to, to do it. And so you, you have to just keep reinvesting now, once you get enough concept together, then you can go look for investors, you can start getting people to say, Hey, this is cool.

And you can sell stock and you can get some investors, but they're not going to do it till you really prove that there's a demand out there for it. And that type of thing. So

James Lacey: I was just about to ask the question. Okay, when, should that person start looking for investors? But yeah, I've heard that many times when they, when there's some level of, data or metrics that they can have, Okay. I guess something to go off and it's proved that it's a valid concept.

Terri Entler: Yep. Yep. And you've got to, you got to be that salesperson. as much, I think that's been one of my hardest things is I'm an entrepreneur. I'm an engineer. I think very, A to B, how to get from step one to step two.

I'm not a marketing salesperson. That's not my, everyone's got different brain waves. And you might have to bring in a partner that's good at things that you're weak in. You know, you're not going to be strong in every aspect. And so when investors start looking, they're going to look at your team.

What kind of, who's going to be there to help you? So it's, you don't. And one thing about engineering that you learn, you don't work in a silo, everything's done by a team. And that's the same thing with building a company. You need a team. You just can't, it's just not something you do by yourself.

So find people that believe in what you're doing, that might be willing to, work for free for a while because they see something, they see the vision that you present and that can compliment your skillset to create that whole picture.

James Lacey: That's, I love that. There's, a, it reminds me of, there's a scripture that says, about, many members, coming together and that forms a body.

And it's some people as a hand and some people as a foot. And it's not everybody is a finger or a hand. And it's, you need. For everything to work well together, you need these different limbs. and so I love that. I think it's brilliant. You mentioned, when we get into nurture that prior to jumping in, you mentioned about, you used to do blog and used to share about, the day in the life of an entrepreneur business owner was actually just about to ask, are there any daily routines or hacks that you've learned over, over a decade or well, More in, in business, but specifically with Healers Petcare, is there anything that you've learned to how to stay consistent, how to stay focused?

Terri Entler: I love, when you first. You go through your, like everybody in every business, you go through your emails, what questions do maybe your customers have, staying in touch with your customers is critical. So if it's, even if it's a business to business or business to conserve, direct to consumer, having that touch base with your customers.

If it's a little more challenging with e-commerce because you really are only reaching out to them through email or text messages or stuff. But having, I really, I always encourage my customers to call us because I'm usually the one that picks up the phone. So having that direct, that direct link to those customers is one of the, most important things on my day is looking at, how our customers respond in to my product.

Where can I, and then where do I grow? Where's my next step? So always looking forward. on what I can, what, how many retailers should I call today or doing some sales, talking to my team right now, obviously I have employees, so working with employees, making sure they have their day planned out.

But so that's kind of your day. And then of course, you never forget about your money. Where's your money for the day? So you look at your bank accounts every day. This first thing you look at, what's your finances. If you have a CFO or somebody that's handling, have a run now, what's your cashflow like?

I mean, do you need to create any additional POs looking what's your forecast? All those things are what you're looking at every day to make sure that you have product in the warehouse to sell when the orders do come in. There, there's just a lot that you're going through on a daily basis to ensure that you're on top of it,

James Lacey: which, again, alludes to what you mentioned earlier about the need for collaboration or team, because you don't want to be managing that all yourself.

what, keeps you inspired or motivated during the tough times or, during, when you feel like you're in the trenches a little bit, whether it's just something challenging in the business or whether it's. Tough, just to keep going. what keeps you inspired or motivated?

Terri Entler: Whenever I get a little down, Oh God, why am I doing this? My kids will say to me, mom, once you've done better, if you just stayed working for a big corporation, why did, I said, I'm looking at, At the end, game had this one, but what keeps me inspired when I get a little down like what, I'm not reaching people.

Is I'll get a call from a customer and they'll tell me their story about their dog. I had 1 yesterday that said, I can't get. She's got a hot spot on her paw. She's constantly looking at the vets, giving me this. Nothing's working. I'm so frustrated. I, they told me that my vet told me to call you and, check on your, get your product to help cover the, hotspot and learning.

They're, hearing about their stories and then being able to offer them. Cause we do a whole line of health products now. So I can say, you know what, I know the vets tried that, but have you tried our, our hotspot? Have you tried our, room cleanser? If you use this every day on your dog, You may not need a covering for it because it's going to stop the problem.

So I've been in this long enough. I'm not a veterinarian and I, I try not to give, but I know what works on basic injuries for pets and being able to communicate that to a customer. That's what keeps me going because I know I can help. Those pet owners with basic pet problems, because right now there's a huge veterinary shortage in it and it's expensive.

You can't go to a vet and get out for less than 300 bucks, for every vet visit, you're spending so much. And so over the counter, having solutions like you do for humans, is becoming so critical because people, it just gets too expensive. And knowing that I have things that can help those customers that gets me going every day.

James Lacey: Yeah. It's like having a, it's like having the magic bullet. And if you, when you are reminded of the impact that has, it really, keeps you inspired and motivated because often I think we can forget that you, built a solution that is valuable and then you When it's challenging, sometimes maybe it's easy to forget, Oh, this is actually really helping people.

Or if I stopped doing this, then others wouldn't be helped. and so I, that's beautiful. I, such a powerful reasoning is that you are impacting people's lives and that's incredible. And their pets lives, which means a ton to people. Do you have a favorite quote or any favorite advice that you've been given from a mentor over time?

Terri Entler: Just persevering every day is just continuing to take one step. You might take one step forward, two steps back, that type of thing. There's a good one, but you're going to keep, just keep moving forward. And, if you're passionate about what you believe in and you're helping people, you're going to be successful.

You've just got to turn that passion into action. And I think that's just so important is you've got to be passionate. My husband tries to help me with the business because he was in sales and different things and I've fired him so many times. And, and it's, not that he doesn't mean, he's great and he gives me great advice and he's creative.

That day in day out stuff, that passion has to be there to really get dig down and get into it. So you've got to have people on your team that are super passionate and that's the way you're going to be successful.

James Lacey: I love that. I completely agree. especially when you start working with, yeah, working with either a new company or you start your own company, or you're helping other people with their companies.

If you don't have a passion that goes deeper, then just you're turning up for whatever reason. I don't think it's sustainable. I don't think you can provide value to people and, whether that's your customers or a client, like you said, B2B or D2C, it's, there has to be like a. That innate passion to, to turn up, to bring value and to impact.

I love that. Is there a mistake that you have experienced in business and a core lesson that you've learned from it? Whether it's one kind of main one or just, over time, just how you've learned from mistakes. Is there anything that comes to mind?

Terri Entler: Oh, I've made mistakes. Believe me. I think.

One of the big things that I've done is trying to grow too fast, too soon. I'm trying to reach those, my goal was, okay, I'm going to get in all the Walmarts or I'm going to get in all, and trying to get that spending so much money and effort trying to hit the, the big, light in the, window.

But, starting small and keeping it small and focusing on your limited dollars on growing that, that smaller market and then building, and that's what my mentor told me, but I, I didn't listen as well. If you don't have. The finances or the investors behind you, it can sink you we've been able to pull out.

Okay, but it was a, it's been a real challenge. You just think, oh, my gosh, I got into 4000 stores. That's awesome. It's just been really, really challenging to keep up with that kind of thing. So. you've got to have a really good, I think having your finance guy accountant really help you stay level headed and use and build on.

It's like building a house. You start with your foundation, you build the frame, you keep building and you build until you get that, and that's how you build your business. You've got to have a strong foundation and you just keep building from there. and you would just never put the roof on until you, okay.

Put the framing in and different things, there's steps you've got to take to build that house. And if you skip steps, you, it might, the house might fall down. So it, it's important to continue with those steps.

James Lacey: I love that. I think there's a, it reminded me, I think there's a saying that says something like quick money goes quickly and slow money lasts for a long time. Something like that. I'm butchering the saying, but it's, something like that. And I think it's, I think that's so true. And alludes to what you're saying. leadership can be a, lonely time, a lonely place at times. I think you can often get isolated as a founder, perhaps, you're thinking about a million things and trying to work it all out and leading the charge.

Is there anything that you have learned over time of how to stay, just connected to the outside world, stay at a place of just being level headed while maybe experiencing some level of loneliness or isolation in that leadership role?

Terri Entler: Again, it's, and it's so easy to be more isolated now, I think, than earlier, because we, don't leave our houses as much as we used to. We do so much, and everything's on the phone and texting. So it's one way conversation or emails and you're waiting. So I think one thing is one, take time for yourself, go out, have, enjoy your friends, take, do not, you may be working a 15 hour day, when that weekend comes or whatever, you take that time with your family or whatever, you Take that time and you've got to take breaks.

If you don't, you will get so burned out. Entrepreneurs have a real burnout issue. For me, it's having a weekend with my girlfriends, just something just to reset, you've got to reset yourself. I think that is so critical as you're building your business.

James Lacey: That's brilliant. Yeah, I actually very similar, a couple answers from people that I asked that question to as well, which.

I find fascinating is that the correlation for so many people of really just, pushing everything to the side for a second and resetting, being with people, not being focused on the business. even like you said, just for a weekend away, and how much that helps and just you come back refreshed.

That's, it's really interesting. are you learning anything at the moment? new and exciting that you would, share, obviously life is a kind of a journey of never-ending learning, but you've got a lot of experience in business. Is there anything right now that you feel like you're learning and excited to begin applying?

Terri Entler: Yeah. one thing about life in general, I always look at it. If you stop learning, you might as well stop living. You're constantly learning. So one thing that, for me, because I am in the older generation, all this, this social media stuff is just an AI to me is so fascinating. I am constantly looking at YouTube videos and watching, learning about how AI can help you grow.

I've been making videos using AI because one thing that's a small business is You can't afford to hire a huge videographer or photographer all the time. It's extremely expensive. So being able to take my content and going out or taking my messaging that I want and going create a video because everything is really video now.

It's not just text. So I'm, constantly learning about the social media and Tik Tok. Oh my gosh. I don't know about Tik Tok, but it's a huge platform that has millions and millions of viewers. And, but you've got to have good content for people to get excited about. I keep thinking, gosh, what does it take to have a viral video. 

I want one that goes viral. So having that fun thing. So that is what, that's really fun for me right now. I love playing around with the new AI tools, chatGPT, learning, how to word things in a way. that's just been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of fun. 

James Lacey: I love that.

Staying, like staying on the cutting edge, staying in a place of innovation. That's, really impressive because I think a lot of people that have such experience in business. It can often go the other way where they're like, I don't really want to step into those things. I'll try and find somebody else to do that.

Or I love that. The fact that you're staying on it so much and saying, so cutting edge, I think that's going to probably pay huge dividends, for the business, and, personally, I'm sure, is there anything that's next for Hewlett's Pet Care, anything that's, coming up that you're excited about?

Terri Entler: I am excited because we, I, one of my customers. called me a few weeks ago and she's lives in Sonoma Valley in California and she's just a fun person. And she called me out of the blue. I never met her before in my life. And she said, Terry, I, just found your product online. I just, this is my dog. It's the first time my dog's ever injured his paw and my vet didn't have anything told me to go find some boots or something.

And I went and I searched, I found your product. This thing is cool. She got so excited about it. That she's actually investing in my company. She's had all this experience in various ways. And she goes, I just want to help you, grow this. And so she's not only going to invest, but she's going to be, coming in and help me with the marketing efforts for, and work for me.

it's just, it's gotten me all pumped up. It's like new life into the company to bring, get somebody who's. So excited about what we're doing that she's willing to put her money where her mouth is, right? so I am just pumped about working with her name's Carrie and we'll be doing some announcements soon, but I, with her connections and that she has in the California Silicon Valley area and other areas I just feel like my company's got a new life to it.

It's got a new, we're going to be moving into a whole new direction with what Carrie can bring to the table. So I'm very, very excited about that. 

James Lacey: That is super exciting. Wow. What a story as well. You guys will have to share that story at some point because they're the things that you read about, a customer.

So falls in love with the product that brings a solution that they want to be a part of the business. I just think that's awesome. Is there anything that you would like to share just off the cuff prior to me asking our final and favorite question that we'd like to ask you on the fulfilled podcast?

Anything that you'd like to share? before I close with that question.

Terri Entler: Just that I love talking to other entrepreneurs. feel free. I'd love, any time to reach out to me. I like to share my experiences and then I like to learn where they're at. you learn. It's not just a one way conversation. This, I want to know what how they're doing, what, what, their plans are, what their goals are and how, if any way I can help. 

I mean, that's, I just think that's part of life is you've got to share your experiences with others and help them as much and give back, So that's my last thought.

James Lacey: I love that. Just beautiful. Terry, we love asking this question. What does real fulfillment mean to you?

Terri Entler: After talking to you and learning, your fulfillment is fulfillment from within.

James Lacey: Yeah.

Terri Entler: fulfilling your life, fulfilling, your goals, that's what it means. And it can be a very personal thing, it can be a shared experience, it can be a spiritual one, it can be a lot of different things, but, you're, the most important thing in life is, Fulfilled, in your own life more so than in business or anything else is your own personal journey is where you get your best fulfillment.

And that's what, what, why I think about it now.

James Lacey: That's an awesome reminder. I think for all of us is. Yeah. It's like stepping away from, all of the other stuff and making sure that we have that fulfillment within, like you said, Wow, Terry, thank you so much for, sharing just a snippets of your life, your journey, story of Healers Pet Care.

And yeah, and just so much wisdom about what it is to be an entrepreneur. Where can people follow along either with yourself or with Healers Pet Care? yeah, just to make sure that they can stay connected with you.

Terri Entler: go to our website, healerspetcare.com, feel free to email or call us anytime we're here.

We're here to listen to any of your stories. and we want to be here, here to help. And then, we do have all the social media, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube channels that I'm trying to post more on. And, just be, we'd love it if you come follow us and learn more about what we're doing because we're here to help you and your pets.

James Lacey: Awesome. I love it. Terri, thank you so much for your time today. That is it for the Fulfilled Podcast, and we'll see you next time.