Dreamers Club: Coopers Kingdom
September is an exciting month for me as it's been a whole year since I went full time in this amazing gig! I've been a photographer for 8 years, but never thought I'd be living this dream every. single. day. Another amazing boss babe that shares this anniversary with me is Terri from Coopers Kingdom Pet Co.
I've been photographing Coopers Kingdom goodies for a whole year now, and they would have to be one of Maxwell's (my fur baby's) favourite clients. Every time her products are in the studio, he whinges at the door and hovers very close by - waiting for me to turn my back so he can sneak a piece. He even manages to squeeze his head into some photos haha!
Terri is a crazy dog mumma of two beautiful doggos - Piper and Cooper. Cooper is a fun loving boy with boundless energy, he loves everyone he meets and will do literally anything for food (much like us really haha). Piper is a ball loving, water obsessed girl and there's not much she won't do for a full on snuggle with anyone who comes her way!
Terri's journey began with a What the F*ck moment. Sitting at her desk at an old day job, while her coworker worked on an import of pet treats from overseas, she heard ‘This needs to go for fumigation’. Terri thought to herself - sorry what?! Seeing the treats be sprayed with countless chemicals sparked Terri to want to do more! When she got Coopers as a puppy, he had severe allergies which meant it was SUPER important for her to know exactly what was in the treats he was given. Terri became certified in canine nutrition & canine herbalism - wanting to know as much information as possible to give Cooper the absolute best. And so just like that, Coopers Kingdom was born.
Coopers Kingdom can be described in three words - LOVED BY DOGS. It is an all natural, eco friendly pet treat company now specialising in holistic canine supplements. Their treats are Australian sourced, natural, with absolutely no added nasties or fillers. With a huge variety of tried and tested enrichment toys, your dog can live their best life. Terri's vision behind the brand is to encourage all pet parents to feed all natural treats that are biologically appropriate.
But like any small business owner, Terri has faced many challenges. When she first launched Coopers Kingdom in 2018, trying to juggle full time work and pursuing her business was tough, really tough. She lost a lot of her life to Coopers Kingdom but its also made it what it is today. Building such an incredible community of doggo's and now having more of a work life balance - learning to take time off and offload things that aren't her strengths - like product photography!
But as they say, hard work pays off and seeing all the amazing dog's she has helped since launching has truly made this whole experience worth it! But not just for our furry friends, but also our environment. Making an eco friendly brand was so important to Terri and it has been a high priority since day one so she said goodbye to plastics and has been using biodegradable packaging to deliver all the dog treat goodness.
After an epic journey into small biz, we asked Terri - what advise would she give other boss babes? And she said...
Don’t measure your success by what you see others doing as its so easy to compare yourself, stop that! ALWAYS believe in yourself, keep pushing keep dreaming because if ‘they’ can do it then then you can too, it just takes a lot of hard work and determination to push aside anyone who tells you that you cant make it. Surround yourself with people who encourage and inspire you its amazing the ideas that flow and what you can do once that happens!
But it's not just small biz tips we were after - as a dog mum, I wanted to find out her top tips for keeping Maxwell entertained and rewarding him in a healthy way! Terri said...
Enrichment is life! My advise is to start using enrichment toys or any DIY enrichment as soon as you can, enrichment is basically anything that encourages a dogs natural instincts so chewing, licking, digging etc. Our modern day lives have brought on less and less of this happening. I’m a firm believer that Piper and Cooper only destroyed one household object between them is from my love of food based enrichment. It can be as easy as scatter feeding ( throwing their kibble on the grass and letting them forage). To rolling or tying up treats in a towel or if you’re like me once you find enrichment you’ll never look back and keep building the collection of toys to help. The use of enrichment helps avoid boredom, raises self esteem and stops dogs from eating too quickly too! You can read more about enrichment here.
Terri's favourite product right now is Buzzing Bee Pollen - particularly with the spring allergies popping up! It’s a unique concept using the natural products to help stop environmental allergies. The feedback from customers has been AMAZING where they have managed to stop medicating their dogs with chemicals and use only the pollen, it contains a natural antihistamine and really has worked its magic for the dogs of Australia. You can read more about the benefits here.
Terri is such an incredible & inspiring person who has built a kingdom to be proud of - but it's only just begun. Her goal is to have her own balanced and fresh food (raw) meal range for the pets of Perth. Fresh food delivered weekly to their doors and to educate thousands more customers on the benefits of fresh foods and natural no nasties treats for their dogs!
If you'd like to follow her amazing journey and show her some support - you can find Coopers Kingdom on Facebook or Instagram!
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