IAM1081- Entrepreneur Makes Cats Happy

Dawn LaFontaine makes cats happy.

• CEO Hack: Having dogs to improve my productivity
• CEO Nugget: Don't wait, just start
• CEO Defined: I only answer to me

Website: https://thecatisinthebox.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.cat.is.in.the.box/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecatisinthebox/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/thecatisinthebox/

Full Interview:

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Transcription

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00:18 – Intro

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:46 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Dawn Lafontaine of Cat in the Box. Dawn, it's great to have you on the show.

00:55 – Dawn LaFontaine

And it's awfully nice of you to have me on.

00:58 – Gresham Harkless

Yes. Super excited to have you on. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Dawn so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Dawn Lafontaine makes cats happy. I don't need to say anything more. I love that's what you do and so, what I wanted to do is just see if you're ready to speak to the I AM CEO community.

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01:17 – Dawn LaFontaine

I am ready to go.

01:18 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, let's do it. So let's dig in a little bit more. And what I wanted to do to kick everything off was to hear a little bit more about how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

01:26 – Dawn LaFontaine

Oh, sure. I'm not sure you can see this. I'm not your typical I'm a middle-aged former stay-at-home mom. I really knew nothing about founding and running a business, about e-commerce, about manufacturing a product, really nothing when I started Cat in the Box. The thing is at the start, I had never really planned to stay at home, with my kids as long as I did. But, you know, one day they're all grown up and you realize that a couple of decades have passed by. And, prior to becoming a mom, I was actually the big breadwinner in my family.

But in the intervening years, I'd really watched my husband grow in his career. And I realized that I didn't have enough working years left in my life to develop a career the way that he had. What really clinched it for me was that he was actually laid off from a job that he'd had for fifteen years. It was actually the best year of his career. He worked for a very large company, with tens of thousands of employees. He got the CEO award that year, and they laid him off a couple of months later.

02:20 – Gresham Harkless

Wow.

02:21 – Dawn LaFontaine

So, it really made me realize how, dangerous it is to put all of that into someone else's hands, and it made me realize that I had to take control of my own working future. And, you know, I got the idea for this business. I always have ideas, but I got the idea for this business after visiting my mother's cat sitter with her. And the woman had an impeccably decorated living room that was just filled with, you know, old Amazon boxes. And she saw me looking around, and she said, you know, quite sheepishly, they're for the cats. So I'm I'm a lifelong animal lover. I already knew that cats love cardboard boxes. You probably know that too. Their obsession with cardboard boxes is the stuff of, cat videos, and cat memes galore.

But it turns out there are some acts that are actually some pretty serious science that explains why cats are obsessed with boxes. But anyway, it got me thinking. Why do people put up with dirty, ugly shipping cartons lying around their homes? Why not something that is safe for cats and fun for their owners too? My boxes are made in the USA. They're eco-friendly. They're imprinted with human-grade soy inks, the very same inks that are on your pizza boxes. And, I mean, they're super cute.

03:32 – Gresham Harkless
I know if you don't mind my saying so.

03:32 – Dawn LaFontaine

Yes. I would love it.

03:33. – Gresham Harkless

Nice. Well, I appreciate you for sharing. Obviously, sorry to hear, you know, everything that happened with your husband, but I think that, as someone who has been laid off, I know that could definitely be one of those frustrating times, and I think that a lot of times, unfortunately, you know, you get that realization that there, you know, can be a better way and maybe not to put all your eggs in one basket or box or, you know, whatever we might be talking about. It's so important to make sure that you are able to kind of, you know, reach your goals and do whatever you hope to do with your family or in your life as a whole.

04:02 – Dawn LaFontaine

I agree completely.

04:04 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. So I know you touched a little bit upon, you know, you know, some of the science and the reason behind everything you built. Could you drill down a little bit more, and tell us a little bit more on how you serve the clients and customers you work with?

04:14 – Dawn LaFontaine

Sure. Well, obviously, the main mission of my business is to provide, unique cat-related items that meet both cat's, biological and psychological needs, while also meeting, I guess, the interests of their owners. But a secondary mission of mine is to educate cat owners about their pets. And there's an awful lot of misinformation on the web. I would actually go as far as to say almost deliberate misinformation on the web about cat needs and cat behavior. And I'm so I'm using the platform of my blog to educate and inform their humans.

04:46 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And what are some of the things that we can find about that as information? I'm curious to see, like, what is not what is being said that shouldn't be maybe be said that you're kinda, focusing on on your site?

04:58 – Dawn LaFontaine

Well, that's that's a really good question because, actually, there's a lot of research that's been done into dogs. And, cats are sort of secondary, and there's not a whole lot of research about it. And I think people fill in the blanks with what they believe to be true about cats. For example, there's a and I wouldn't recommend doing this if you have a cat, but, there are a whole slew of videos online showing cats being afraid of cucumbers. And if you look up why are cats afraid of cucumbers, you're gonna find an awful lot of people saying they're afraid of cucumbers because they look like snakes. And, actually, cats are predators as well as prey animals. And if you had a cucumber-sized snake, a cat would be super excited about that.

They wouldn't be afraid of it. But you have to look a little bit deeper, into the research that is available, and I don't like to write anything that isn't supported by science. And, I think, you know, there's a lot of money to be made off of blogs. That really isn't my money. I'm making money off of products. And so, my interest is really in educating, not trying to get as many, you know, blog articles out there at any cost.

05:57 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And I appreciate you for doing that, and I think that you know, I've always said I'm a journalist at heart, and I think that looking at the industries, that's the way things are going to try to get as many eyeballs as possible at any cost. Right. So I appreciate you for having those, you know, the moral and the the the that North Star as your foundation and be able to kinda inform people and let people know this is the real information, not just in order to get more eyeballs or more clicks or whatever that might look like.

06:22 – Dawn LaFontaine

Exactly. Thank you for saying that.

06:24 – Gresham Harkless

Thank you so much. Absolutely. And so I know you touched on a little bit upon, like, the boxes and the and the product that you have. Could you take us through a little bit more than that and, like, how we can, you know, purchase and what exactly that does to kinda help support the clients you work with?

06:36 – Dawn LaFontaine

Oh, sure. Well, my products are available on my website, which is the cat is in the box dot com. But, a couple of them are also available on Amazon dot com and also Etsy. Is there something else you wanted to know about the boxes in particular?

06:48 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Like, what, kind of inspired you to with the design, and how do you what's your process like when you come to kinda create an actual, box?

06:56 – Dawn LaFontaine

Sure. It's actually harder than you think. I mean, you would think cardboard is so easy to but it's a very unforgiving material. And, I when I come up with a a design in my mind, I have to keep that sort of inflexibility of the cardboard in, you know, in the back of my mind. But, also, I work with, the box engineers. They're actual people who, I think they're actually called packaging engineers. They go to school for packaging engineering, And it's a real, real skill that takes a long time to develop. So I have something in my mind that I wanna recreate.

And, I don't know if you've you've seen my products, but, like, a couple of them have sort of a cat theme to them. One of them is a giant milk cart, and one of them is a massive wedge wedge of cheese. And so I'm, you know, trying to think of things that their owners would find clever or amusing, especially in this Instagram world we live in Yeah. And TikTok world, while also finding, something that a cat would enjoy would be the right, you know, shape and, and size for them and also something that can be made out of cardboard.

07:55 – Gresham Harkless

Right. That makes so much sense. And I think that, to me, that's when things, you know, really go to another level. Because I think so many times we can get siloed into thinking there's only one win. Like, it's great for the cats or it's great for the owners. But to create that synergy, where, you know, you have that win win win, and that, of course, can be created is something that's huge. That allows, you know, many different people to kind of, many different people or animals, to kinda benefit from, you know, everything you're creating.

08:19 – Dawn LaFontaine

Right. Right. Exactly. Thank you.

08:21 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for your business or yourself or a combination of both, but what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

08:31 – Dawn LaFontaine

Well, this one's really easy for me because my secret sauce is that I am my own customer avatar. I'm a lifelong animal lover. We've always had a small menagerie of pets in our home, and I've always designed items for them that I needed when I couldn't find what I was looking for in a pet store. So I know my customers because I have a lot in common with them. I know how they feel about their pets. I relate to them. I speak their language. And I do know that the pet business can be very attractive to sellers because buyers are very willing to spend money on their pets.

And you don't have to love animals, to sell to pet owners. But I really do love animals, and I think that sincerity, that genuineness, and that connection comes across, in my interactions with customers, on social media through my blog and even on one, by email and phone. And I do get emails literally every single day and sometimes phone calls. You know, my cat's peeing more than she usually does. You know, what should I do about it? So I truly, truly love, you know, connecting with people that way.

09:31 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I appreciate you sharing that, and I think that's the beauty of, you know, we talked a little bit about business and entrepreneurship is is being able to kinda create. I think this is and this is, like, one of the most beautiful times because you can have something you're truly interested in, and there are so many other people that we never would have been connected with, other than, you know, a time like this that are interested in it as well and are looking for the experts, looking for the knowledge, and, of course, looking for the products, that you have as well too. So to be able to kinda bridge that gap and be that connector and and and help, you know, be that expert, you know, for those people that are looking for that information is absolutely huge.

10:03 – Dawn LaFontaine

And that was actually one of the unexpected joys of starting this business, something I really hadn't thought that there are all these like-minded people out there that I would have no other way of of reaching. And so it's been a surprising, pleasurable aspect of this just to, you know, find other people who love pets.

10:21 – Gresham Harkless

Well, I wanted to, switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have. But what's something you think makes you more effective and efficient?

10:32 – Dawn LaFontaine

Well, I may have a cat business, but my hack is that I also have dogs. So if you, work at home like I do and you have dogs, they're gonna pester you for a walk at the most inconvenient times. And left to my own devices, I would, you know, probably work all day, but dogs don't let you work all day. So you take them out. I can walk into a state park, from here, and that, like, forty-minute break in the woods in the middle of the day, like, does wonders for my productivity during the second half of the day. And now I'm not necessarily recommending that nonanimal lovers, you know, rush out and get themselves a dog, but you could still take yourself out in the middle of the day for a walk and see if that does anything for your productivity.

11:08 – Gresham Harkless

I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you happen to see a time machine, you might tell your younger business owner.

11:18 – Dawn LaFontaine

That's exactly how I think of it. Because if I was going to get into a time machine, the advice that I would give myself is don't wait. Just start. Don't wait until you have time to work on a business. Don't wait until you and I put, you know, like, time in quotes. Don't wait until you know all of the things that you, need to know before you start because you won't even know what you don't know until you start. And, you know, don't wait because everything's ever-changing. The only way to keep up is to sorta just slip into the stream and let it carry you where it's gonna carry you.

And, also for practical reasons, I just kinda wish I'd started my blog earlier. I mean, you know this. A blog needs time to marinate. You need to find your voice. You need to grow an audience. You need Google to find you and realize that you have something to say that people might wanna read. And you know, I kind of been building an audience for years and, you know, then sold something to them. So I just that that's my nugget. Start start now.

12:09 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely love that. Yeah. Yeah. Yesterday and the day before. Absolutely love that. And and I think so many times that, you know, we talked about, Instagram and and Tik TikTok and all these different social media platforms. Sometimes what they do is they give you a snapshot of somebody's success. They don't show, the journey that it takes to get there. And as you talked about, a lot of times, you don't have to start a business in order to start a business. You can start out with a blog or something to connect with your audience, get market feedback, whatever it might be, and it might manifest itself into something. But it allows you to kinda dip your toe in, so to speak, and you get to kind of adjust and change based on what you're finding out without having to have, you know, everything in mind when you get started. So I love that nugget.

12:51 – Dawn LaFontaine

Mhmm. Yep.

12:54- Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. And so I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is a definition of what it means to be a CEO, and we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So, Dawn, what does being a CEO mean to you?

13:03 – Dawn LaFontaine

Being a CEO, to me means that I only answer to myself. So the traditional working world has changed a lot since I belong to that world and, you know, I see now that employees can be pawn pawns and, layoffs are frequent willy nilly, and there can be an imbalance of power between employee and employer. But when you are the CEO of your own company, even if your own company is just you as it is for me, the future is all up to you. And it's yes. It's all in your lap, but it's also all in your own hands.

13:38 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That's so powerful. And I love, how that kinda ties in, at least from my transformational time where there's a lot of things that are changing. But I think that when you become, quote, unquote, CEO and whatever title we might use, it allows you to kinda take the bull by the bull strap, so to speak, and you get to kinda recreate that life and be like water, so to speak, and you get to be malleable. You get to change. You get to see what works and what doesn't. And I think it can be scary. It can be frustrating at times, but at the same time, it could be very, very exciting because you get to make the world, the business, and the life that you hope to have.

14:15 – Dawn LaFontaine

Absolutely. There's not a day that I don't wake up excited to go to work every day, and I can't say that was true when I worked for somebody else.

14:21 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that's one of the the biggest things is that you don't always have to choose something you're passionate about. But if you do, you'll find out you never work a day in your life as we've kinda been talking about.

14:30 – Dawn LaFontaine
That's exactly true.

14:33 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Don, truly appreciate that definition, and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanna do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, and, of course, how best they can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

14:48 – Dawn LaFontaine

Well, I would just hope that they would look for me on Instagram and Facebook. I love to chat with, other cat owners. So even if that even if you never plan to buy a thing from me and all you wanna do is talk cats, I'm I'm up for it. I'm down for it. So, please reach out to me that way.

15:03 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. We'll definitely have the links and information as well in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you and find out about all the awesome things you're doing. And your handle on Instagram is?

15:11 – Dawn LaFontaine

The cat is in the box with periods between all the words.

15:14 – Gresham Harkless

Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. And we'll have that again in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. But thank you so much for sharing your genius, your knowledge, and your passion with us, and I think it's definitely a reminder that, you know, there are opportunities and things that we're passionate about that sometimes may not have, you know, existed 10:20, thirty years ago. So I think we're able to lean into that and realize we don't have to have everything figured out on day one. It's one of the most powerful and exciting things. So thank you so much for representing that and telling us a little bit about that today as well, and I hope you have a great rest of

15:42 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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