Founder Visibility is an interview series that highlights founders that inspire us and shares how they found their firsts: co-founder, customer, capital, and confidence.
Meet Sandy, entrepreneur by day and TikToker by night. Sandy is the Founder of WROOOF, an e-commerce boutique specializing in pet accessories. She also created Small Business Tips, a community that empowers small business owners, helps dreamers become doers, and connects founders with external opportunities. At 22, Sandy has two well-established and successful ventures, so we sat down with her to learn more about her startup journey and how she managed to do it all.
I started my first business, WROOOF, at 19 as a sophomore at Northeastern University. It’s an e-commerce boutique, and we specialize in pet accessories, specifically collars, leashes, and bandanas. The motivation behind WROOOF was pretty simple—I wanted to start something of my own. I love dogs, and I love fashion, so WROOOF naturally came about as the perfect intersection between those two aspects.
I came to the United States to discover who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do, so I started dabbling into the YouTube world to learn how I could start a small business without a lot of prior financing and learn all about dropshipping. I started to gain some traction, which led me to actually hand-making the dog accessories for my store. After that, we were able to grow big enough to start manufacturing and building that momentum.
The motivation behind WROOOF was pretty simple—I wanted to start something of my own. I appreciate the traditional 9 to 5 experience, but I don’t see that for myself in the future at all. Plus, I love dogs and I love fashion, so WROOOF came about as the perfect intersection between those two aspects, and it gave me the autonomy I wanted with my business.
My second business, Small Business Tips, started solely because I got on TikTok to share my entrepreneurial journey with my audience. I saw that there was a huge crowd that badly wanted to break out of the ordinary and pivot to a new career path, so I created Small Business Tips, an empowering community for new business owners.
Initially, I noticed that lots of entrepreneurs on TikTok and other social media platforms, in general, tend to glamorize their experiences and don’t showcase the hardships and struggles that come with starting your own business. People don’t realize how difficult it is to start your own venture, which is why I wanted to step in and share my journey to shed light on both the positive and negative aspects of running your own business.
Imposter syndrome. I was 19 when I started my first company, and it can get very difficult to dodge negative thoughts at such a tender age. At the time, and even now, I would think things like, “Who am I to do this? There are so many people out there who are probably more competent than I am.” But then I have to remind myself that I am unique; I bring different perspectives to the table. Additionally, it’s all about constant practice and working on self-confidence. A few things I do that have helped me jump through all sorts of hoops are mirror practice, affirmations, and self-awareness.
I was in the small business world with my e-commerce store, and everyone I knew was going that route. But then I pivoted to the tech space while building out our e-learning platform for Small Business Tips and joined the On Deck No-Code Fellowship (ODNC), a great program for founders interested in using no-code tools. However, everyone in the program was way older than me—I was the youngest there. No one understood what I was doing on TikTok, and I was completely new to concepts like UI/UX, coding, funding, etc., which everyone else seemed relatively familiar with. I realized that there was so much knowledge out there for me to consume before embarking on my new venture, and for me to conquer my imposter syndrome, I had to keep learning.
I found my first customer for WROOOF through Facebook Ads. He was from Arizona and was looking for a hiking backpack for his dog and used my platform to make the purchase. At the time, I was dropshipping via AliExpress, so it took a long time for the orders to come in. The backpack itself took about 30 days to get to him, and I was freaking out because it was my first big sale. He had paid $45 upfront, and I simply didn’t want to let him down, but he was incredibly patient; I vividly remember writing him a ‘thank you’ note for how accommodating and understanding he had been.
On the other hand, the nature of Small Business Tips is so different in that it allows me to interact with my community every single day. I would say the most memorable “customer” was a girl from Africa with whom I hopped on a quick call. She had won a giveaway that I did for 30-minute consultations. She was 16 years old and was trying to sell a pillowcase company, and that was when I felt my platform and presence were validated, and I was convinced that I was headed in the right direction—helping people from all around the world integrate themselves into entrepreneurship, and break barriers at a young age.
I had $2,000 in my bank account, and my rent at the time was around $1,000. I practically took out a huge portion of my savings, around $500, and invested it in business—I was bootstrapped.
Looking back, my risk tolerance was much higher at 19, which enabled me to take such a huge risk of investing half of my savings into WROOOF, and I’m beyond thankful it worked out.
If I could relive my younger years, I would start later. I would tell my younger self, “Hey, just enjoy two more years of your life,” because I haven’t seen a work-free day since I was 19, and sometimes, that is not so great.
The hustle culture in the digital world tells you that you need to accomplish an unreasonable amount at 22 — you don’t. It’s okay if you’re not the best yet; take your time and figure out what brings you joy, and that’s how you’ll succeed.
