Story of My Pet: Inspiring Stories of Animal Rescue, Fostering & Adoption

Shark Tank Success: Frame Your Feline's Journey to Fame

• Julie Marty-Pearson • Season 4 • Episode 2

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Brian Vermeire and Kristina Hughes, founders of Frame Your Feline, return to the podcast to share their journey from creating innovative cat furniture to landing a spot on Shark Tank.
• Frame Your Feline offers wall-mounted frames that cats naturally jump into, becoming "living masterpieces"
• Traditional cat furniture takes up floor space and often looks unattractive in homes
• Their frames provide cats with vertical space while maintaining home aesthetics
• Only 100 businesses out of 50,000 applications make it onto Shark Tank episodes
• Both founders actively support cat rescue efforts through fostering and fundraising
• The Shark Tank episode featuring Frame Your Feline airs April 18th at 8pm on ABC
Check out their Shark Tank episode airing April 18th at 8pm on ABC or streaming on Hulu the next day. Follow Frame Your Feline on social media- Instagram Facebook & YouTube. Visit the Frame Your Feline Website to see their products in action!

TURN YOUR #CAT INTO A LIVING MEOWSTERPIECE!
Cats are magnificent creatures. They are works of art. 
So what better way to marvel at their beauty then to have them framed on your wall? Frame Your Feline where your cat becomes a work of “living art”.
Once they jump into the Feline Frame Ensemble they are immediately transformed into a masterpiece!



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Speaker 2:

Hello and welcome to the story of my pet podcast. I am your host, Julie Marty Pearson, and I am so excited to be here with you today to share this new episode and share with you a returning guest. Back when I started this podcast in 2021, I put it out there, didn't edit, didn't really do a lot. I just got on Zoom with my friends and we talked about our pets. People started listening. Then people started reaching out wanting to be on the podcast and some of those people were Brian and Christina. Back when I met them, they had started their business, Frame your Feline and they were still new and they were looking to grow. And it was a great conversation because we bonded over our love of cats. We had lots of fun and we followed each other.

Speaker 2:

Ever since then, I always feel like and we followed each other ever since then. I always feel like you know they're my friends after I have them as guests on my podcast and then we follow each other. We're on each other's email and newsletters and all of that. So, even though we haven't met on Zoom again or even in person, we feel like we're friends and we get to catch up. So one day a few weeks ago, when I got an email from them about how they got to be on Shark Tank, I was like what? This is huge. I have to get them back on the podcast, and that's exactly what I did. So Brian and Christina joined me again to talk about what's been going on over the last two years since our first interview and about their experience about applying to and actually getting on Shark Tank. I was so excited to watch their episode two nights ago and, even though no one bought in during the show, I know there is more to come. I can't wait for you to hear my conversation with them, hear us catch up and hear about their journey and how being connected into the Shark Tank world has changed their lives and their business, and then soon I will have another follow up where we get to talk to them post episode. In this interview they could only tell us certain things because they have a contract with ABC and Shark Tank, so there are only a lot to talk about specific things. They can't give a lot away until their episode is live, so we will definitely bring them back again, but until then, enjoy this episode. Go check out their episode on Shark Tank. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Speaker 2:

Hello everyone, Welcome back for a brand new episode of the Story of my Pet podcast. I am super excited to welcome back an old friend returning guest, which I really love that I get to do this right now. I've been doing this long enough. I can bring people back and have updates. So well done, Brian and Christina. Back to the story of my pet, Thank you. And here's Poppy. Hi, Poppy, what a cutie.

Speaker 1:

It's so good to be back. It's been a couple of years, Julie. It's been a couple of years, Julie. It's been a couple of years.

Speaker 3:

You're dead.

Speaker 1:

I hope you missed us, because it was expecting an invite earlier than this.

Speaker 2:

You know, what I have realized about the online world Is because we see each other's posts and videos and we comment and we feel like we get to see each other every day.

Speaker 1:

My name is Brian.

Speaker 3:

And I'm Christina.

Speaker 1:

And we are the followers and the owners and the entrepreneurs behind what's behind us, which is called Frame your Levi.

Speaker 3:

The cat shelf reimagined.

Speaker 1:

That's right. Your cat jumps into the frame and they become unwitting works of art. They become measter pieces. A living measter, a living measter. That's not. That's a live cat, that's a live cat.

Speaker 3:

Poppy. She's a rescue from the Holmdale Animal Care Center. We got her and another cat at the same time Asked if it's named Mojave. They're named after where we live in the Mojave Desert.

Speaker 1:

That's correct.

Speaker 2:

I love that. I love that. I always love hearing people's pets' names in this story, because there's always a story. There's always something there, just like when I spoke to you guys about William the Possum, there was a story there.

Speaker 1:

Well, since our last meeting, Julie, have you named any pet after me? Ryan the Turtle.

Speaker 2:

I have not. I'm sorry.

Speaker 1:

Never mind.

Speaker 2:

We do have turtles, we have tortoises, we have two currently One is the lethal and one is Spike.

Speaker 3:

I did not see either of them.

Speaker 2:

I do not. That was not my doing.

Speaker 1:

Julie, you got to get a third and then call Brian.

Speaker 2:

Maybe when I finally get to have a dog again, it can be Brian. I think that's appropriate. Like Brian on Family Guy.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it sounds good. And I I know you're gonna hold me to that oh, game is trademarked, so you're gonna have to pay me a royalty if you do it in your oh, oh, here we go, okay, so why don't you tell everyone listening a little bit about how Frame your Feed Line came to be?

Speaker 3:

We were living in an apartment in LA and we were looking for homes. We had just had our first and only silent Jackson, and we had cats. At the time we wanted to do some kind of feed line enrichment on our walls, but we didn't really know what we wanted to do and what we were looking at was just a bunch of like shelves or things with rope and we were like that's not really the aesthetic that we want. And so when we moved into our home, we were hanging up some fancy art that my dad had sent to us that had been framed and batted, and I was like how can you get this kind of an aesthetic, but with a cat? And Brian said you mean, frame our cat? And I said, yeah, frame our cat. Oh, you know, I'm not here on Earth, I was down in the hell. It's great. Well, you knew we wanted to do something for us, but that they would get exercise with.

Speaker 1:

Vertical space means something aesthetically pleasing. Don't catch those cat shells. No, don't do that to yourself.

Speaker 3:

Cat trees are dusty. We had a powder bloom like three foot tall on the carpeting cat tree, while our cat's frosting would just hang in the bottom of the box. Anytime we'd have to go to the vet. They'd have to like physically pick it out and shake him out and be holding on for dear life. The thing was so dusty. If anybody threw up on it, brian would bring it down the back stairs, hose it off, let it air dry, wring it in, and it would have this smell from down behind where we. So we're like we're not wringing that big one and let me move.

Speaker 2:

The struggle is real for cat poo and I totally get it. Like I had just come in here yesterday to record or get on Zoom for something and I hear the throw up sound. I can hear it. I run in there and of course, charlie is on the ground now, but he threw up on the comforter before he got down. We're constantly doing laundry, but also so much of what you guys are talking about, like cat trees. They're great but they take up a lot of space floor space, room space. So what you guys created is something for people, which a lot of us are limited on space. It gives your cat somewhere to hang out, but it also is pretty or cute looking to see.

Speaker 1:

Even when the cat is not in the frame, it doesn't look like cat product. Screaming ugly, yucky product.

Speaker 3:

And you had it stuck in your said down Popping junk. I think she was shaking Get off the table.

Speaker 2:

I didn't mean to get down. Also, I think it was good because that shows people how easy it is for the cats to get in and out of. Sometimes we have to put them places into something, but the little kitties can just jump in and out.

Speaker 1:

And they tend to do it on their own. You don't need to put them in. They don't like our studio lights when they're on, but they will spend a crazy amount of time in the frame because they feel like they're in a box like a little bit hidden what's the cool thing that we discovered? Because when we put our first version, our first beta version, on the wall, we didn't know how the cats would react to it, and it was.

Speaker 3:

I mean, it was like a magnet immediately and we picked them up and put them in it. We just sat back and ignored it and would walk around for the first couple days and be like they're on the shelf. They're in the front. Okay, this is good.

Speaker 2:

You know, because that's the thing I think any cat person knows you cannot force a cat to use something. It is up to them. No matter how cute or fun or exactly what you think they want, it is toy bed. Whatever they will decide if they want to use it.

Speaker 3:

So I think prior to our conversation the initial line with you we had sent out the Bane and Vernon Ophiranger feline to four cat families throughout the US that had fat cats, small cats, fancy cats, regular cats, indoor-outdoor cats and we asked them to install it. How was the installation process? We made it stupid. It'd be heart-friendly. Oh, that happened. We decided if you have a cat and your cat's not like it, you know, go in. Oh my gosh, they all like it and they're like we need more. They're in it, they're on top of it, they're on the shelf next to it, they love it. And the vine is carpeting, so like they had to get that tree feel scratching. And and right on top of it they can fly through three ways that usually they climb from left to right.

Speaker 2:

They couldn't jump in, so they had lots of meat. That's even around this. Yeah, I was just thinking she was here earlier but she hasn't joined. Pumpkin made an appearance an hour ago. Sometimes she's been jumping on my file behind me but there's not really space for her. I'm thinking, oh, I think I might need to rearrange something.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what would be really cool is if you had one behind you and you put some of those pictures around it. It would really look like I'm gonna walk I'm gonna have to. Now you can put your logo.

Speaker 3:

This will probably be back on.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, so we do it actually looks the right way to me.

Speaker 1:

Okay, we do customize work panels. Can you get the other one, so that one?

Speaker 3:

No.

Speaker 1:

Edgy Big logo right, and then we also do it like this yes, oh, that's cool like a wallpaper kind of repeating you can take pictures. Your cat will never cover all of your logos. That's what. This is what we learned from hollywood here and the. This is the red carpet.

Speaker 2:

That's why they do this and the thing is for someone like me who has multiple podcasts, I can switch it out depending on which podcast I'm recording an episode for.

Speaker 1:

We can stop.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 1:

Julie, after dark. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2:

Boy, I think you're going to get me starting more podcasts.

Speaker 1:

You mean because you want to choose the side fat? Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Right, that's a new eye to her.

Speaker 2:

I love it. Yeah, it's so funny because it doesn't seem like it was two years ago, but I've seen you guys grow and expand. You guys do a lot of great things in the cat community. You go to a lot of events, but you also really rally around, utilizing your business and your platform to support cat rescue. And so, before we get into the big talking point of why we decided to record again, I would really want people to hear like how do you, how have you guys gotten involved, more involved, with your local community and also the wider Cat Rescue community since starting your business?

Speaker 3:

So here locally, we live in the Antelope Valley where standard resources are really expensive and then the low cost ones or no cost ones are really hard to find. And although in Elling County, if you take a cat that you find in the shelter, they're going to tell you to put the cat back on the street and they're free roaming. Yeah, that's, it 're free roaming.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's for people listening, that's a california law, because I've seen it myself and people get so mad at the shelter workers they do not make those decisions. Cats are considered free roaming in california, so unless they're sick or injured, shelters typically will not take them yeah, sick, injured, an owner died or somebody's spending money as an owner surrender.

Speaker 3:

But it is sad that we can. I think the system is faulty there because they'll say put them back outside, they're not fixed yet, what do you think's gonna happen? So they should stay near that they're gonna do, but but anyway. So we were, as we've been, going through our company, growing it, dealing with expanding our manufacturing. We've had some we're always working but we've had some like lulls with doing appearances and stuff. So they have to make stuff locally.

Speaker 3:

So I surf on the Nextdoor ad. I don't really go on Facebook because there's plenty of people who can't. They're moving to Mars. I say I can't remember my town, I'm moving, you can bring your cat with you wherever you go. So anyway, or somebody died or somebody's terminal or whatever. So I was able to connect with the woman who connected me with a middle woman who has a rescue and they pre-screened people and I feel like the placements are really accurate. They'll take the cats back if it's not a good fit.

Speaker 3:

So through our home we've had like over I think it's like 84 and 5 cats so far, cats and kittens that we've fostered for a few days and then brought them to adoption events. We've created adoption flyers because we get beautiful adoption photos of the cats in the frame. So people are on headphones and they're like, wow, I just saw a picture of a beautiful cat, or a picture of maybe not some beautiful cat, but it's eye-catching right. So it works. And then we've also called some cats from the shelter. I've helped with transport, but right now they're not here. We had three feral cats that were doing an experiment on what's ready to be adopted. The other one that had made appearances while we've been doing media, we should pick him up. Yet he's. He plays all the other cats, but he's still feral. And the other cat is fluffy black cat. He sleeps in the frame on the opposite side here all night long. He's a foraging. But we hadn't really been able to get a lot of progress julian, julian, julian.

Speaker 1:

Just I gotta let you know I think wannabe sparrow cats is a possum. I'm just telling you it could be.

Speaker 2:

Maybe william really connected with you guys when I had you on last time and he's I gotta go find them forget it's spot on and when we had those listening that don't know why we keep bringing up a possum named William. You can go back to their life. My husband rescued a possum and we had a fun time talking about it when we spoke before. But I will say possums, we learned, are a lot like cats. William liked to clean his face with his paws it was so cute and he used a litter box when he was inside. My husband got him to do that. So yeah, they're a lot alike.

Speaker 1:

Um, I will say half of your cats and oh my god, but just you'll bleed out.

Speaker 2:

So friendly, I'm glad now I will say for anyone listening, william was always in a cage. He was never given free access in any way in our home and then he graduated to a house outside and then eventually one morning when my husband went to feed him he wasn't there. So we think that he just went off to find other possums. He was ready to live his possum journey somewhere else. We never saw him again. We never saw signs that he was hurt or was injured. So that makes us happy and for all we know he's out in San Bernardino with some cool possum friends having a great time.

Speaker 2:

I think so much of what you were talking about, christina, is so important for people to realize that there are a lot of ways you can get involved in your local community. Cats, dogs, horses, whatever the animal is that you want to support. There are rescue, shelters, organizations working to help them and with cats, fostering is so important because it allows the foster and the group organization or rescue to learn about the cat, to see how do they act in a home, how do they act with other cats, and the pictures when you said that people don't realize how much a photo of a cat changes how easily that cat or dog or any animal can get adopted right that's so cute.

Speaker 3:

I think I would love it if we could do like a trial with the la county shelters or the la city shelters, if they would give us space to have a feline frame in every cat area. And I would love to do an experiment where we have pictures of the cats in those little nest boxes where they're scared and you can bleep this out, shibboleth. I just feel so comfortable on this frame. I'm just moving around and it's just. It's hard because if I was going to adopt a cat, I'm like I'm not that cat, that's all scared or what, and I think that when you see a cat inside something like that, there is an assumption they're scared, they're hiding.

Speaker 2:

No, they're being a cat. Cats like to go inside and feel some sweet bed, which is why I'm sure that aspect of the frame your feline they like, because they don't feel exposed, they feel like they're in something and they get to be above and look down and have a view of what's going on. So there's a safety to it, right.

Speaker 1:

There is. Yeah, I feel safe and secure in a feline friend and I'd say it's a match.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and some treats never hurt. True Holly is with me today and I've had like I've already groomed her, her, but she's just like all over me. It's the time to shed.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh my cats are shedding. My cats are shedding so bad right now, I'm just like no one all over my feet people really need to understand.

Speaker 1:

I think one thing that rescues don't explain well enough is what does it mean?

Speaker 3:

I need to go on time. People really need to understand. I think one thing that rescues don't explain well enough is what does it mean to be a foster? It's obvious to us, but do you have a backer? Do you have a guest room? We'll set you up with litter. We'll set you up with food. We'll set you up with toys. It doesn't have to be two months long, could it be Right? Maybe it's just a few days, maybe it's just being we foster a puppy for 12 hours. Two weeks ago that puppy was found in a den there.

Speaker 3:

someone had arranged for transport, but the transporter could not have the puppy in her cartman for the night, and I said I don't know, it's been a long time since I've had a dog or a puppy but I'm a toy than a cat. We had one of our cat kennels in the kitchen. We jumped out for a walk like 12 times in 12 hours and I had an adoption when our son Jackson, with some cats was O'Brien, was home and the transporter came and picked up the puppy. And then the puppy was transported and is now living in Steph's life. He's a she, we thought it was a he. He's a she, we thought it was a he. It's a she In Oregon. So you know, sometimes just do you have a day, do you?

Speaker 2:

have a day, and that's so important to say because so much, especially for us in Southern California. Like San Bernardino, Kern County is horrible. We are so overcrowded. We have two high kill shelters and it's not getting any better, and the current economic crisis probably is not going to help anything Right. But sometimes we shelters, rescues just need an overnight, a day, a couple of days or a transport Right. They're constantly trying to move animals to area where there are more homes, and so one night or one day can make a huge difference in saving an animal that needs it.

Speaker 2:

So do what works for you. I used this room my home office when I was fostering. We're not doing any more for now Our oldest cat. We're letting him live out his golden years in peace and harmony. But it's also great fostering because if you've thought about getting another pet or your first pet foster to adopt, is a great way to see if you're the right fit for that animal and if they're the right fit for you and your home and your family. It's a really great way to introduce pets as a possibility.

Speaker 3:

And then on a bigger scale, brian and I have taken on leadership roles with the Mission Meow organization. Missionmeoworg will give them a follow. We are now board members. We're also business partners, so we contribute quarterly financially to Mission Meow. And then Brian and I do a lot of other social media work and Brian will do a lot of editing of these videos. A few weeks ago we were part of a huge event in Southern California, in Wilmington, which is just north of Long Beach and has benefited the people who work for the people of the Pacific Palisades who lost their homes, so they lost their jobs, and so we had a big food pantry 91 Penceworth, spade and Neuter, like a really. We just went and covered it media-wise. We spent the day talking with people in the community, interviewing some of the rescue heads, and just were able to see it all in action, since it was two hours from us.

Speaker 2:

And that's so great. I saw Sally from Mission Meow posting about that and if you don't know Sally or Mission Meow, I will link in this episode her episode. I have two episodes with her on the podcast because Mission Meow is really doing a lot of great things on a larger scale that some of us locally feel like we can't do anything. But we can tap into other organizations or networks and really join a movement for whatever it is that you care about within the animal rescue world, and I think people also need to hear that. So you guys were there to cover it, to talk to people, to share information, to learn to put it out there on social media for people to know about it, and little things like that make a big difference, especially to the small rescues or overwhelmed shelters, because they just don't have time to do that. It's amazing what you can do with your phone.

Speaker 3:

You get to reach people and the big thing is like a lot of companies. They were able to donate products to the event for the food pantry, which also included toys and bedding. Give a shout out cat ball and manalo and wild cat. There were a whole bunch of people. And then there were people like the two crazy cat ladies that were able to make a financial donation to help win the event because there were expenses related to it. But some things were donated. But it's if everybody should know, then it's not so hard to do something.

Speaker 3:

But if people are waiting for other people to do the work, then it's hard, but it'd be awesome to have a feline like all over the place, like we need one like every week. Man, it's. It was great. It was a little challenging. I spoke to one woman and she was like I don't know, this is all these cats in my neighborhood. I just hear them all the time and I'm like what are you doing about it? Right, strap them and you gotta talk to g and the rescue head and I guess call and make appointments. We all have to wait in line and do this, but they're it's not in your situation. I'm not gonna get better one.

Speaker 2:

One thing I have learned through this podcast and meeting so many different people that are volunteering or working in some aspect of animal rescue is that the biggest factor to helping animals is education. People don't know. They don't know if they've never had a cat. They don't know what feral cat means. They don't know what high kill shelter, non-kill means. They don't know what how to find free vaccination clinics or how to get spay and neuter discounted rates right. So what you could do in your community is help educate people on what's available. So many communities have pet pantries for food, have low-cost vaccine and spay and neuter, but there's so much limited info getting out to help people in various communities to realize what they can access. So follow all your local rescues and shelters and comment and reshare, because that's what they need.

Speaker 3:

We look forward to, as our company grows, being able to also sponsor some of these Spain and urban, Especially where we live in the Antelope Valley. We need materials that are translated into Spanish. We need people on foot going to the east side, like talking to people in the community Don't complain about the cats, don't injure the cats. They're just doing the best that they can. But we would like and love to have Antelope Valley something we do an experiment on and see hey, we got 20 people out there and we'll give you $5 for every cat or dog you want to bring in. Just be a neuter and let's make this happen. Let's really refresh the feral community here.

Speaker 2:

I will say where I live. In Kern County. I'm in Bakersfield. There is a local county that created recently, in the last year, called Kern Safe, and it's got both shelters as well as several organizations like Marley's Mutts Dog Rescue. So they literally built a coalition together and so, because it might be a good like example, they've been doing that. They've been walking the streets of areas. That Is that me, I don't know. Oh, yeah, it's me. Ok, sorry about that. Someone's decided to call me through Facebook. That's a new one. But anyway, the current safe coalition.

Speaker 2:

I am not involved with them at this point. I want to get more involved. But they've been doing that. They've been on the ground people walking house to house with pamphlets in English and in Spanish explaining to people the resources available and how they can tap into it. They've done several huge vaccine clinics, like hundreds of dogs and cats, so, but that's also multiple organizations coming together to make that happen. And, like you said, with the big event you had, it takes a lot for something like that to happen, and so I'm sure there are ways for us to do it, but we have to get support from other people. We can't do that kind of stuff alone.

Speaker 3:

Right, and we're the big companies that have a lot of money. It's nice when they donate product or they donate money and then the smaller businesses can donate manpower.

Speaker 2:

See right how it was how you guys are utilizing your business and the platform to help cats as well as to make them look pretty in people's homes. So back to frame your free feline. One of the reasons I we reached out to each other to do a new episode was because you guys have something very big coming up which is you're being featured frame your feline on shark tank. So so I wish I got a shark emoji. Do I have a? I might need to find that. Okay, so tell us how that happened and then also how people can watch. Okay.

Speaker 1:

Let me start. When we created this product, this product, when we created this product, when we saw the cats being magnets to this Fringer feline, we knew we had magic. We knew we had something and we looked at each other. This is fit for a shark. We just knew it. When we did our first big outing for Finger Feline, which was at CatCon in 2023, when people came by our booth at first, they didn't know what they were looking at, because we can't have live cats at CatCon. They won't let us, so we would have these. We had these like animatronic.

Speaker 3:

Stomps. Well, they're therapy cats.

Speaker 1:

Therapy cats and they're in the frame, and when people were walking by, they were looking like is this an afterlife product? What is this? And then we have a monitor that's over here.

Speaker 2:

I'm sorry.

Speaker 3:

I just realized an afterlife Do you need to put your text into a ring pet.

Speaker 1:

So we're like, yeah, we'll look at the video so they can see the video and they would see the cats jumping in the frame, posing in the frame. As soon as they clicked, people's brains were like what? Oh wait, I didn't. Why didn't I click this Everyone?

Speaker 3:

You can't see the monitor because we had so many people in our rooms. Now we're gonna change that around. We learned as you go, but we had it at a lower level. Now we're like it's here and they're not dead and that's.

Speaker 1:

And everyone was like you're gonna be on Shark Tank, this is a Shark Tank, this is amazing, this is amazing, this is amazing, this is amazing. And then we would do other pop-up events for Best Friends, for Pantheon.

Speaker 3:

Pantheon's Association.

Speaker 1:

Association. Yeah, and we would, cause it was just every person would say you should be on Shark Tank. And when we started the process, so let me tell you so we initially they were having an open call for Shark Tank in December of 2023. I'm sorry, january 2023. I'm sorry, it was December, no December.

Speaker 3:

January 2024.

Speaker 1:

No, it was for December. I'm pretty sure of it. I'm pretty sure of it. Okay, we'll say January 2020.

Speaker 3:

It wasn't during pre-pandemic, I guarantee you.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so she's right. So she wanted to go to Vegas to do this open call. I was like that's ridiculous, I'm not going to stand in line and do an open call.

Speaker 3:

We were ready because we were transitioning from wood to mass production in the US. Transitioning from wood to mass production in the US Okay, he was like let's go.

Speaker 1:

Why don't we just go online? Let's see, oh look, there's a form we can fill it out. And we filled it out, so we did that and forgot about it.

Speaker 3:

You forgot about it. Forget about Shark Tank. Christina was in the email every day. Shark Tank.

Speaker 1:

Well, it was tied to my email and so it was the end of January 2024. And I got this email in my inbox. It said SharkTankTV, and it was like hey, we want to meet you, or whatever.

Speaker 3:

And I thought it was garbage, you thought it was sped up, I thought it was sped hey, we want to meet you, or whatever. And I thought it was garbage. You thought it was spit out. I thought it was spit, oh no, it was a fancy logo. And it wasn't like a letterhead.

Speaker 1:

And it wasn't Shark Tank, it was tv. I'm like how?

Speaker 3:

Sometimes you talk right on television and then you have ads for stuff.

Speaker 1:

Yes, oh, all the time I threw it into the trash bin, literally into my thing, and I went through a couple more emails and then there was something in my head. I was like we did send that thing through, let me see. And I pulled it back out, right, and then click here to make an appointment, and I had her name. She's a producer, and I checked out her name and I'm like that checks out. Then I went to the thing and I'm like what kind of spam is going to want to talk to me? Okay? So I scheduled it and we then had a conversation with this producer and she's like I think it's correct, can you send us a product, your product? And she's like I think it's correct, I pretty send a Sophronic, you're correct. And so we ended up sending it to Sony. That's where they tape is, at Sony Studio, and from there.

Speaker 3:

We're just getting phone calls and emails and videos and talking to people and everything. Every correspondence you would try to read into it or a period or information marker. They use Christina first or Brian first or hi, bye or hi, christina.

Speaker 1:

You never know when the road ends, and they just say thanks for trying and goodbye. The difference is 50,000 businesses apply to get on Shark Tank every year 50,000. Only 1,000 make it through to the casting process. From that 1,000 that go through the casting process and it gets whittled down week after week.

Speaker 2:

of the potentials, 120 actually make it to get in front of the potentials, then 120 actually made you get in front of the sharps and less than 100 actually air so there's no if you get on it and not air oh yeah, I wondered because I'm sure there is also an element of how does it actually go when you're in front of the judges, whatever they call them, like I'm sure some people show up in their flat. There's no energy, there's no connection, so why would they show that? They want to show the stuff that like there's good stuff that people want to watch and see what happens Right, stuff that people want to watch and see what happens right but a hundred from 50,000 you guys, I think we need to do a big old like that. I think we're gonna, we are gonna do some emojis for that one, because our emoji probably all right that is huge, and I'm a statistics person, so in my head I'm like 100 out of 50,000?

Speaker 2:

Wow, that is a very small percentage, so I am so excited for you guys. This is like bigger than anyone could imagine, I'm sure.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and we are airing out April 18th of 2025 here. This is season 16. Which is a lucky number. Yes, we love 16.

Speaker 3:

I go for 16. We look for 16. We see 16 in their life. It's season 16.

Speaker 2:

We're like fuck. So how long ago did you actually record your part of whatever show is coming out?

Speaker 1:

I think we're not divulging anything, okay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I know, I am sure that a company like Sony and a show like we recorded last fall.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 3:

And so we have been waiting since last fall. And then the season opened in Octoberth and there was something we got.

Speaker 1:

October through.

Speaker 3:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, we know they're halfway through the season, we haven't heard from them yet and we're just because we are plowing away behind the scenes. We're just the manufacturing and the logistics of everything with the business and updating the website, because we're watching your website and planning events and all that stuff.

Speaker 2:

And I will say, as someone who, before COVID, was not in a business world in any way, like people don't realize the thousands of little things business owners no matter what kind of business you have to do on a regular basis. By the end of each week I have a stack of sticky notes like this and I'm like, oh, I guess I should figure out what I did and what I still need to do.

Speaker 3:

So we always knew since X amount of weeks notice and that magic number was three because we found out two weeks ago. So we're like, wow, they literally were committed in three weeks of warrior air date. And so when shasta and spra says we can't change the edit, we don't know when the edit's gonna be. That is out of our hands. But we wanted to have some kind of viewing party with our friend. But how do you book something three weeks in advance on a Friday night In LA when it's traffic In.

Speaker 2:

LA it's freaking time when everybody's out doing stuff and going on. It's freaking late.

Speaker 3:

So we're like oh my gosh. So we went into the location. We wanted to support somebody local. A lot of spaces were already booked, so we found a newly renovated hotel. Spaces were already booked, so we found a newly renovated hotel. And the thing supporting local is we have a lot of local friends who have businesses and they're donating to the raffles. So we have their logo on our website and we're going to promote them on social media.

Speaker 2:

I'd be happy to provide something if I can. Anyway, I can support you guys. We will discuss after we finish this episode.

Speaker 3:

So sit down and watch it. I'm sure we'll re-watch it. We're excited to see how we know how it turns out. We're excited to see how the edit turns out. It will be very memorable.

Speaker 2:

We've called it that's a big dream moment, a big pinch me moment. I know both of you have been in ways of what is the word I'm thinking of. You guys are performers, the comedians, you do stuff in that world, and so a TV show at the level of a shark tank to be able to spotlight yourself and the business that you have been working so hard to create and build, no matter what happens of the outcome of the shark tank, that is a huge visibility boost for you guys and that is just so exciting to see.

Speaker 3:

As I think there's four entrepreneurs usually on every segment. So like around eight minutes of the air time that's like a million dollar ad, oh yeah. And then, thankfully, there are so many podcasts and blogs that are fans of the show. They're gonna go on and critique the pitch and what happened. So this it's been a live on for a very long time. So we're so excited for that and we're so excited to reach people like we couldn't reach, because it's really hard for us to tap up and go to every cat show. It's really exciting when we're excited to show something for cat parents, it's not gonna fall apart, it's the main thing you would say promise, we're a family behind the product, it's a product that's gonna last and your cat love it. And when they're not on the frame, they're eating or sleeping somewhere else one of the litter box. You have something beautiful to look at.

Speaker 2:

What I'm thinking about is I can't remember at least one person, but maybe more of people I've interviewed, who run rescues or foster that have set up live streams of the kitten area so people can watch them and engage. So many people could use this frame of your feline in a space, but you could see the kittens playing and moving around and sometimes you just want to watch a video of a sleeping cat. We got to do what we got to do to get through the day.

Speaker 1:

A hundred percent Watching. We have a 17 minute montage video of chats with music and you can literally just watch like watching a fireplace.

Speaker 2:

it's like the yule log on my beach and you hold on and it's when it's kind of addictive to just watch the cat and watch the cat do their thing in the frame and it's great yeah I think also, this is such a great story for anyone out there who has a dream, who has a business idea or has started a business and is struggling Like this really shows people to put yourself out there, ask, say hey, I want to do it. There's no, nothing bad will come from just asking or submitting yourself.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think there is no downside to it. I think people are afraid they're going to get ripped apart by the sharks, or they're afraid that they're going to oh, we didn't make enough money, why would they even care? So there's all. There's all these things that people want to put in front of them. That stops them from just crying and doing it we took ourselves out of it it doesn't happen.

Speaker 1:

It doesn't matter, it cares what's the worst that can happen. What's the worst? You nothing really. Week after week, you're going through the whole thing and then you finally get on the show. It doesn't matter. This is what my key advice for anyone is. It doesn't matter if you get a deal. It doesn't matter if you don't get a show, it doesn't matter. This is what my key advice for anyone is it doesn't matter if you get a deal, it doesn't matter if you don't get a deal. It doesn't matter if you make a deal and don't ultimately do the deal. It doesn't matter if you don't get a deal air. Or you get a deal and you don't air, like there's right zero downside to it. There's so many scenarios that can happen to your pitch in this universe of this bubble of Shark Tank that it's worrying if you can do it and then you'll figure it out.

Speaker 3:

Get off your butt and try it and you're going to update your website. You're going to start thinking about what your core values are. You're going to start thinking about your logo, your color, in fact, in a trade show on Facebook, like stuff. It's going to challenge you to bend outside your comfort zone. Take some action to grow your business.

Speaker 1:

And I will tell you this people behind Shark Tank, like the producers, the directors, the whole team, everybody. I have never met a more welcoming, nice group of people. There was one guy, a whole bunch of them and there were a lot of people, and every single one of them cared about your business, cared about you, cared about everything. And they are just on it and they're so great, a well-oiled machine, especially after 16 seasons. You'd care about everything and they are just on it and they're so great, a well-oiled machine, especially after 16 seasons you'd think Right, you are a well-oiled machine.

Speaker 2:

That's great to hear, because you never know, when you step into something like that or something unknown, you can be bad people and it can be an awful experience and make you want to give up. But it sounds to me like no matter what the outcome is, you guys got to experience something that not only helped you to get to the next level in your business, but helped you guys both grow within the thinking about things you maybe wouldn't have thought about without going through this.

Speaker 1:

It is business school. There's a lot of paperwork and there's a lot of thinking like OK, now we're really thinking about how do you widen your margin? How do you do this? What are the ways you can make your product even better for cat owners? It really does make you think more outside the box than in the litter box with your ideas.

Speaker 2:

That sounds almost like a coaching program they put you guys through, which is so important because I've learned as a podcaster. I have to practice, I have to learn, I have to grow as a speaker. Like I've gone through a speaker mastermind where we spent a week working on our stories and our pitches. Like nobody goes through business schools and comes out and knows exactly how to pitch themselves and it's going to be different depending on who you're talking to and where you are and online in person. So it sounds like you guys really got a lot of growth and expansion just through the experience of it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, luckily for us, we are performers as well, so we are more comfortable with being on camera and talking in front of others and doing all this, and I could really see how some companies, when they go into pitch, would be like I see it, I just see it on my podcast.

Speaker 2:

When I have guests I've never met, it could be very different how they show up and how many questions they ask and how nervous they are. And I get it. But you got to. You have to start somewhere right. You have to try, and I think that works, for no wonder what you do in your life and career. Sometimes you just have to force yourself to try it because you don't know what will come from something.

Speaker 1:

And out of your comfort zone.

Speaker 3:

Yes, and there's a solution, like if you're like, oh my God, this short-term contract is so crazy, or how do I figure out the first pitch that you have to submit? You just have to sit down and just try it. There's always a solution. Get some of your friends together, see your cats, have your kid judge you. We talked about it a lot. We have a product and cats and reference. There's a lot going on, but really, at the end of the day, it's a beautiful product, it's a fun product, it's a quality product and we're really proud of what we've accomplished in the business for Shark Tank and we're really excited to see everything that's going to be happening while it's airing and right after.

Speaker 2:

So tell everyone again when, but also where and how to watch your episode of Shark Tank.

Speaker 1:

All right, kid, listen up, take out your number two pencil. This is how you're going to watch the Google show on Shark Tank. You're going to turn in to ABC 8 pm. East Coast, west Coast Figure it out. If you're central, okay. Okay, now you're going can watch the whole show. We don't know where we're going to fall in the lineup and that's going to be on April 18, 2025, 8 pm ABC. If you have Hulu, it will stream the next day on Hulu.

Speaker 3:

Just Google, because there's probably eight other ways you can pay. There's a tool.

Speaker 2:

You might even be able to tap into it on youtube. I've realized there are so many ways for people to watch things and only positive comments.

Speaker 2:

Okay, kids in the social media, so they're only not vibes, positive comments, positive energy, whatever it is, and I just know that, no matter what happens, it's going to be positive for you guys, it's going to get you to that next level and I love that.

Speaker 2:

I've got to be a tiny little part of your journey and I am so excited to watch this and to just watch it unfold, live with everybody else, and to just watch it unfold, live with everybody else, and I just appreciate both of you. I've met so many people through my podcast. I know I would have never met otherwise and I love just being able to see everybody else thrive and grow and get recognition for what you're doing, for not only for yourself, your family in terms of your business, but how you're using that to also help your communities. I'm just saying thank you, thank you for your time, thank you for being on the podcast yet again and thank you for how you're utilizing your platform to help cats. Which is why we bond is because we love cats and we just want to help them and you guys are helping in so many ways. I cannot wait to see what's next for you.

Speaker 1:

Julie, we won't see you for another two years, so I don't know what's going to transpire between now and then.

Speaker 2:

But we're going to see each other sooner. I am forcing myself to get to go to CatCon this year at the very busy time, but, yeah, we will not let another two years go. But the fact that it's been two years and you guys are here now like I just love seeing that, it's amazing.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for having us.

Speaker 2:

Here we go. I think this is a good ender. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

My hair oh my gosh, that was so much fun. I just that is what keeps me going, keeps me podcasting, connecting with people like brian and christina that are creative and exciting and have these amazing ideas and this incredible company. I can't wait to have a frame your P lane myself behind me, but also how people, how all of us can do our part and how all of us can show by example and lead through education. You know, it was so much fun to get to talk to them and hear how far they've come. I mean, being on Shark Tank is huge. That number he said that's really stuck in my head 50,000 people apply and 100 get on air Like 164, I think that's what he said actually do the pitch and only 100 of them even get on episodes.

Speaker 2:

So, even though no one bought into their company on Shark Tank, I was watching it and I will share that clip on social of me watching and when they said sorry, we're not buying, I just felt so bad because I know that that passion and excitement they showed on this episode of Shark Tank really is them and I really thought there was going to be a buy.

Speaker 2:

I will have them back to tell us what's happening now because I have a feeling things are still going to happen. That's a huge audience and market for them to tap into. It's a huge accomplishment to be one of only 100 to actually make it air, and so I'm really excited for Brian and Christina and for Frame your Feline and how they're also using this opportunity of being on TV to still help cats in need. They're promoting a fundraiser right now for Mission Meow, which helps cat and kittens all over the US. So check that out Link in the show notes, and we will be back soon with another update from Brian and Christina. Thank you so much for being here and listening to these pet stories. Make sure you're subscribing and following wherever you're listening, and I will see you in our next episode about some more amazing pets.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Julie Marty-Pearson

Host
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Brian Vermeire

Guest
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Kristina Hughes

Guest