Pet Boss® Podcast with Candace

Can indie pet stores really out-compete Amazon, Chewy, and Petco? Pearce Tibbles, CEO of Wholesale Pet, says yes - but it takes strategy, technology, and intentionality. In this interview, Pearce walks through how Wholesale Pet spent over a year gathering feedback from retailers and vendors before completely redesigning their platform. The result? AI-powered search, curated collections, new vendor tools, and a focus on helping independent stores compete on their actual advantages—not by trying to be Chewy. You will hear: ✅ Why Pearce is optimistic about indie pet stores ✅ The structural advantages indie stores have over big box ✅ The new AI-powered search that solves the "finding a needle in a haystack" problem ✅ Collections: how to curate products by season, pet type, or customer (and share them with other retailers) ✅ How retailers can find trending products across US indie stores in real time Plus how to avoid the financing trap, why changing your store layout bi-weekly drives foot traffic, and why inventory is your ATM. ABOUT Pearce TIBBLES CEO, Wholesale Pet Pearce Tibbles loves brick & mortar small business and believes it plays an indispensable role in local communities. He's passionate about finding new ways technology can help independents compete against ecommerce and big box stores. Pearce has spent most of his career with a foot in each world: he was a partner in a company that built an app for training restaurant and small retail store employees, owned and operated his own brick & mortar service business for many years, and has worked in software and technology for the past 8 years. When he started at Wholesale Pet in 2024, he brought with him a mindset focused on staying really close to customers, learning their businesses intimately—how they operate, what they spend money on, what their competitive challenges are—and figuring out ways to help them not just survive but succeed and outcompete ecommerce and big box stores. The new Wholesale Pet site is the first really big step in this direction, with more exciting developments coming in the months ahead. Transcript Show Notes Join Us Online Find us on Facebook Join our Free Pet Industry Facebook Group Follow us on Instagram Read our Blog

It's 4am and Candace's toddler just woke her up. So instead of lying in bed hoping to fall back asleep, she's recording this episode. Because sometimes leadership shows up tired. Sometimes it's messy. Sometimes you just get it done anyway. In this quick episode, Candace shares: ⭐ Why sometimes responsibility shows up at inconvenient times ⭐ Global Pet Expo announcements - where you can find (and celebrate!) with PBN ⭐ New keynote booking - she's speaking at the ODD Ball (Owners of Dog Daycares Conference) in January 2027 in Albuquerque, New Mexico ⭐ SuperZoo talks and in-person events at Dante and Dory's in Galesburg The real message: Your brain doesn't clock out as a small business owner, and that's okay. Don't feel guilty if it's not perfect - just get it done. Whether you're listening to this early in the morning or late at night or in between everything else you're carrying, you're not behind. You can get ahead whenever you can. Sometimes building a business starts before the coffee even kicks in. And P.S. She was able to go back to sleep after this recording and a few Slack responses to the team, lol. Transcript Show NotesJoin Us Online Find us on Facebook Join our Free Pet Industry Facebook Group Follow us on Instagram

How many times have you corrected the same mistake this month? What if a 3-minute coaching conversation could stop it from happening again and actually make your team stronger? Amy Castro, communication and leadership expert who's been training pet business owners at Global Pet Expo and beyond, shares why communication skills matter just as much as knowing pet nutrition and behavior - and how the right words can cut the drama, stop the misunderstandings, and make your standards stick. She shares: ⭐ How a 3-minute conversation now prevents the same mistake from happening 12 more times this month ⭐ You can't coach what isn't clear - and how to limit misunderstandings with your team ⭐ How the correct feedback is a gift, not a punishment ⭐ The way coaching helps you keep good people Plus, hear Amy's personal journey from Air Force public relations officer to discovering her love for coaching communication and teams! Whether you've employed 300+ people like Candace or you're managing your first team member, this episode proves that becoming a better communicator transforms EVERYTHING in your pet business. ABOUT AMY CASTRO President, Triad Communication, LLC Amy Castro is a communication and leadership expert who helps pet business owners lead teams that actually listen, communicate with customers without the constant back-and-forth, and run calmer, more profitable operations. She's a regular education presenter at Global Pet Expo, and she's all about practical tools that cut the drama, stop the misunderstandings, and make your standards stick, without burning out the people doing the work. Amy is also the host of The Pet Parent Hotline and a longtime rescue leader, so she brings a real pet industry lens and a zero-fluff approach to everything she teaches. Her background includes serving as an Air Force officer in public relations and earning a master's degree in human communication theory, where she had a lightbulb moment realizing that communication skills are like a toolbox full of tools - the more tools you have, the more choices you have in the moment. A carpenter can't build a house with just a hammer, and you can't handle every conversation with the same default style either. She took that lesson forward into everything she did next, leading as an Air Force officer, then spending 20+ years training leaders and teams, and working in the pet world where emotions run high and conversations can go sideways fast. The more tools you have, the calmer you stay, the clearer you get, and the better your outcomes are, at work and in every relationship. Transcript Show Notes Join Us Online Find us on Facebook Join our Free Pet Industry Facebook Group Follow us on Instagram

Are you trying to build momentum, growth, and sales without a solid foundation underneath you? If hiring feels scary or too expensive, if training lives in your head instead of being documented, if growth feels stressful instead of exciting - it's not because you're doing anything wrong. It's because your foundation is wobbly. In this episode, Candace breaks down the exact framework Pet Boss Nation is teaching clients in 2026 to build their team and systems FIRST - before running ads, doing marketing, or increasing customer volume. Because momentum needs something solid to stick to! She shares: ✍🏻 Why you need to build the foundation before you build the momentum ✍🏻 The 9-week Dream Team framework breakdown (one week at a time) ✍🏻 Why reactive hiring keeps you stuck (and how to hire with purpose instead) ✍🏻 The Train the Trainer in-person workshop at Dante and Dory's (February 25th!) This isn't about doing more. It's about building what lasts - systems that don't fall apart when you step away, teams that feel supported, and training that's repeatable. If you're trying to grow without this foundation, you're building on sand. And when the momentum hits, everything crumbles. Join Pet Boss University before January 20th to be part of the Dream Team cohort - a live 9-week program where you'll build this foundation alongside other pet business owners (and Candace, who's building it for Dante and Dory's at the same time)!