Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Keegan.
Brittany, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In the summer of 2012, I was home for the summer from Business College & my sister and I were searching for a dog collar for my mom’s dog for her birthday.
We stumbled upon Etsy & couldn’t find exactly what we were looking for. At the time the dog collar options online were 90% plastic buckles & cartoon/superhero-themed… which wasn’t quite my mom’s style.
We found a polka dot option & ordered it, but when it arrived it was cheaply made & the wrong size was shipped.
I remember thinking “I can do this better”.
So one summer day sitting at my parent’s dining room table I started sketching logos and ideas.
I landed on the name Zaley (a combination of our two family dog names *Zeus & Bailey* (don’t ask me where the ‘i’ in Bailey went when combining the two names… oops!)
With the name, I sketched some logos, and went upstairs to raid my mom’s sewing room to see what I could pull off.
I cut apart a pillow case, stole some hardware from a camera strap & made my first dog collar…using my mom’s embroidery machine… not quite what it was made for, but it worked!
From there I ordered 10 sets of metal hardware and hit the fabric store.
I was still in college & didn’t own a sewing machine, so when I came home for weekends I’d sew what had sold out & take them back to school with me as inventory.
I graduated in December of 2012 & moved home.
I had gotten a business degree to pursue photography, but one thing led to another & to keep the story short, I buckled down and decided to give dog collars a real chance in the spring of 2013, I launched my first real collection that late spring & the rest is history.
One tiny goal after another was met & now we run a dog collar business both on Etsy & our own website! I have two seamstresses that work for us & an assistant. God has immensely blessed me with this business & the women I get to work with! The ladies that work with me are the biggest blessings & we are all so thankful we get to make dog collars for dogs around the world, literally!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think any business or pursuance of a goal is free from obstacles or challenges.
I think part of it is perspective. Staying positive & keeping an open mind to see clearly is hard, but so important. It’s so easy to be clouded seeing only the opposition vs the creative solutions to persevere through those challenges and come out ahead.
I have walked the path of being so busy I literally remember crying and putting my business into vacation mode to catch up… thinking that would be it, that I couldn’t handle it & that by taking a break I was ruining all the hard work I’d put in.
In Hindsight, I worked my tail off to get caught up and then opened my shop back up and didn’t truly take a break. At the time I was working full time for a photographer and running my growing business all by myself.
It took some time for me to learn that true leadership was allowing others to help, and hiring my first seamstresses.
It was a HUGE challenge for me to give up a little control in letting someone help in the process of making the dog collars we do.
However, if I hadn’t walked those paths it wouldn’t have led to the growth of where we are now!
There are the big challenges that are all-encompassing, like needing more help, or sometimes not having enough orders coming in…and then there are the small challenges in days like customer service, or just plain not wanting to work that day but having to.
I do want to touch on the fear of failure. Business ebbs and flows. No business, no day really is free from challenges.
Being a retail business it all comes down to how many products are ordered each day, each month or each quarter. It’s a daunting number to watch and worry about. It can be ALL consuming. I’ve learned over the years to let it breathe. I keep an eye on it, but not a constant eye.
I used to be able to tell you every single day how many orders came in that day, but it quickly became an obsession, where my mood and self-worth was literally dictated by how many orders came in that day… which I think we can all agree isn’t healthy and isn’t a fair representation of a business anyways. Some days are better and some days are slower.
Either way, I’ve learned (and am still learning) that I am a human separate from my company. I can be happy, and I can be me, even on a day where I only got x amount of sales.
Fast-forwarding to now, a year ago I became a first-time mom, running a business with a baby has definitely had its challenges, but it’s also made me better at what I do.
I am more intentional with my time, both when I’m working and when I’m not.
Moral of the story here: challenges breed opportunity to solve problems and breed success… but don’t fake yourself out that overcoming one challenge will protect you from the next.
Life is a series of challenges, and if you choose to look at only the challenges you’ll be miserable. If you choose to solve problems & focus on the good over the struggles, you’re going to have a much easier & fun time. 🙂
You can’t avoid them, but you can change how they affect where you’re going. 🙂
I couldn’t do what I do without God, prayer, and the support of my family & friends.
We’ve been impressed with Zaley Designs, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We make dog collars as awesome as our customer’s dogs!
All dogs & families are different, so we have a solution for every kind of dog and lifestyle; from the couch potato dog to the rugged adventure dog who somehow always finds a mud pile.
We have options ranging from waterproof & extra tough, to classic collars, & fashion-forward prints in countless styles to keep owners smiling & dogs looking their best!
We offer a range of collars in addition to matching leashes, human apparel, and a curated selection of toys, treats & more.
It’s cliche to say “made with love” but truly everything we do is for the loved pups that will be in our collars & providing a collar in a design or color that will bring joy to their humans too. 🙂
Zaley Designs was founded in 2012, we love what we do and spreading joy to dogs & their owners.
What matters most to you? Why?
Most important is our customer. That sounds cliche, but stick with me. If we aren’t bringing joy into our customers’ lives with our products, then we aren’t doing our job.
Lots of purchases aren’t made to bring joy, paying an energy bill isn’t fun, paying medical bills isn’t fun. Buying your dog a new collar – that GETS to be fun!
Picking the design, having it made just for your dog, it arrives in the mail & then getting to see it day to day.
You’d be surprised, but dogs KNOW when something is just for them! Showing your dog something you got just for them… lights up their world! It’s amazing the excitement they have for a new collar, a leash, or a new toy.
It is so important to us to create and deliver a product that is a piece of our customers’ day that’s fun. Not only when they receive a collar made just for their dog, but when they catch a glimpse of it as they go about their daily lives.
It’s a tiny moment, but a moment that matters so much. A hard day when your dog snuggles in next to you and you catch a glimpse of the fun collar you picked just for them… it even makes me smile when I see or feel my dog’s collar knowing I did that just for them & it’s special.
Contact Info:
- Website: zaleydesigns.com
- Instagram: @zaley_designs
- Facebook: facebook.com/zaleydesigns
Image Credits
Heidi Borden Photography
Ashton Leigh Photo
@hearthandhowl
