"We believe that if an idea comes to you, then you definitely have enough potential to realize it" with Olga and Natasha Vernev

Olga and Natasha Vernev are a married couple from Vancouver, Canada. They left Russia eight years ago due to the active persecution of LGBTQ + people and spent three years in Southeast Asia before Canada accepted them as refugees. They both arrived in Canada hardly knowing a couple of dozen words in English, with one suitcase and their Scottish Terrier named Spielberg, to start a life there from scratch. They settled in Vancouver in March 2017 and opened their company The Great Canadian Dog Cakes in 2020.

1.     Can you tell our readers about your background?

I, Olga, am a former journalist and illustrator of children's books. After leaving Russia, I had to forget about both of these jobs. Today, my role in our company (The Great Canadian Dog Cakes) includes being responsible for media, contacts with clients, and the press. I also manage our workflow and procurement.

When we lived in Russia, my wife Natasha independently created a large distribution company for two years, which supplied the East Siberian region with dairy products. While we were living in Cambodia, awaiting confirmation of our Canadian refugee status, she managed to open and develop a successful vegetarian restaurant. There, she found her calling as a passion for cooking. Now in our company, she is our chef, taking full responsibility for baking all dog treats and cakes.

That said, our roles are interchangeable and we both feel confident completing each other’s roles as needed.

2.     What inspired you to start your business?

Shortly before the initial lockdown, we planned to open a small restaurant for people, but the pandemic completely changed our plans and financial situation. We had to decide what we can do optimally well using as few resources as seed funding as possible. Ultimately we were inspired by our dog Spielberg, who traveled with us around the world from Siberia to Vancouver. Moving from country to country, we often had to change brands of his food, which gave him a bad stomach ache, and for the past few years we have been preparing homemade food and goodies for him. This saved us from regular visits to the veterinarian and the constant increase in bills for his treatment. At one point, we thought it would be interesting to do some cooking and treats for other dogs, and it worked!

3.     Where is your business based?

We are right at our home on the East Side of Vancouver and use our kitchen, which is legal for dog bakeries in Canada, and our landlord is just as supportive of the idea. Our neighborhood is very enthusiastic about our business, and many of our neighbors who have dogs became our first clients and remain so to this day.

4.     How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

Rather, it should be said that the first step itself came to us. In the fall of 2019, I was looking at small business support programs and accidentally registered on the Futurpreneur website to see the terms of participation. The next day, I received a call from a Futurpreneur business development manager who asked me in detail about our plans and offered support terms that were perfect for us. We immediately started working with Futurpreneur and after a short time our business plan was approved. This is our first experience with business loans and it was great – it went so smoothly and easily.

5.     What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Initially, we used Instagram and new clients were quickly attracted by our products, then they began to transmit information about us to their friends and acquaintances. This was very unexpected for us and spread like wildfire. We also often arrange distributions on Instagram and offline events, when people can come to our house with their puppies and get a free cake or other goodies. This has helped us retain many of our customers and improve the popularity of our products.

6.     What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge for us was technology. We could not afford a specialist to create and promote a website and we went this way on our own. The biggest challenge was getting the site to the first page in the search. English is not our first language, we learned it on the spot literally out of thin air and reached a relatively good level, but not good enough to know the linguistic subtleties that are required for perfectly correct keywords.

Our clients helped us in an amazing way. They started posting reviews of our work on Google and the website took off by itself. Eventually, we plan to hire a web specialist who can help us take it to the next level.

How do you stay focused?

We arrived in Canada with six hundred dollars in our pockets and for a long time, we had to, literally, survive in a new place. It helped us stay focused because we know that our business is our chance to reclaim a comfortable and stable life – our livelihood literally depended on it. With this in mind, we found our inner strength, vigor, and concentration to succeed. This is what we do best.

7.     How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

We truly believe that dogs deserve what humans have. And given how short their lives are and how much absolutely unconditional love they give to their humans, they deserve even better. Our mission is to completely spoil all the puppies around and give them treats that are as luxurious looking and tasty as ours but take into account the peculiarities of dog food.

We immediately entered the market with an idea that became our slogan — DOG FOOD, AS WHOLESOME AS YOURS, and we try to match it. Not condescending to dogs as less evolved creatures, but extolling them as choosy and fastidious clients.

8.     What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

So far, we are small enough and larger than we can afford this diversification strategy. Every season we try to offer new products that match the mood of the season or present some of our new culinary inventions. But in the future, we plan to look for new points of sale for products, such as pet shops and pet-friendly restaurants.

9.     What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

We believe that if an idea comes to you, then you definitely have enough potential to realize it. And if you start looking for opportunities to do this, you will probably be surprised by the result. We were scared to take the first steps with The Great Canadian Dog Cakes, and you will surely be scared. But you know, as they often say in the movies, brave is not the one who is not afraid, but the one who overcomes fear. Please try to be optimistic and never despair. Yes, sometimes it can be difficult, but this is the only way to move forward.

10.  What's your favourite app, blog, and book? Why?

For the last couple of years we have been obsessed with the MyFitnessPal app. We spend a lot of physical resources in running our business, and we need to be in good shape. Also, with the beginning of this business, we practically lost the ability to read, so we listen to tons of audiobooks using the Storytel app. Natasha said that she could not choose her favorite book, but said that she was most influenced by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Two of my most favorite books (I also find it difficult to choose) are Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng and blending literature and memoir This is the Story of a Happy Marriage Ann Patchett.
And we both love the blog Roar Cat Reads, this is our local queer nerdy blog with a lot of stories about new books and games.

11.  What's your favourite business tool or resource? Why?

We use Futurpreneur because they have provided us with the support of a wise experienced mentor for the next couple of years, who literally has answers to all our questions.

12.  Who is your business role model? Why?

It may seem strange, but our business role model is my wife Natasha Vernev. Before my eyes, she established a huge company in Russia out of nothing, with only a tiny startup capital. She knows how to clearly see the goal, think globally and make decisive leaps forward. I am more focused on details and communication, so she influences me well, and we are a pretty balanced team thanks in large part to her power.

13.  How do you balance work and life?

Frankly speaking, we don’t. The management of this business takes up all our time, because it is growing steadily, and there are only two of us here so far. It is a great fortune that we have a dog that walks us three times a day, and good friends who do not allow us to spend all weekend at work. Other than that, we are not specifically balancing life and work. Experience shows that the first few years of business development is a rather hard process, and this time you just need to withstand it.

14.  What’s your favourite way to decompress?

Natasha and I have different ideas about relaxation. She loves active sports, I prefer solitude and creativity. But we found the perfect balance. When the weather permits, she goes on a long kayak trip, and I wait for her return in the park, listening to music on headphones and sketching the surrounding nature.

15.  What do you have planned for the next six months?

We plan to create subscription products like weekly boxes of treats and homemade dog food. We are currently trying to adapt the website for these purposes, and we hope to launch this part in the coming months.

16.  How can our readers connect with you?

It is very easy! We have a website thegreatcanadiandogcakes.com and our Instagram handle is @thegreatcanadiandogcakes. If you are outside Greater Vancouver but have friends with dogs in our city, you can surprise them by ordering a treat for their pet through us and asking us to write a greeting card for them!