Cynthia Rogers (call her Cindy!) is one cool cat! Not only is she a full-time nurse, animal lover and scuba diver enthusiast, but she is also the proud owner of 8 Cool Cats Jewelry Shop, a business that advocates for animal rights and donates part of its profits to animal sanctuaries.
Established less than a year ago in December 2021, Cindy’s business has quickly grown in ‘paw’-pularity racking up over 3K+ followers on Instagram and raking in weekly sales online. 8 Cool Cats Jewelry Shop features a wide array of animal and vegan-themed jewelry in addition to a line of screen-printed t-shirts that are a hit among all animal lovers.
Where it all ‘vegan’
Long before she considered starting her own business, Cindy was an advocate for animal welfare.
“My husband and I, once we got chickens, ended up becoming vegetarians because there’s a lot more to animals than we were led to believe.”
Cindy currently has 8 cats, 12 chickens and 2 dogs. Through her Instagram account, she discovered the Loving Farm Animal Sanctuary in California, USA and Home for Hooves in British Columbia, Canada. Cindy’s business (and switch to being vegan) grew out of her relationships with these two sanctuaries – she wanted to support their efforts to look after animals in need.
During her travels, Cindy collects animal jewelry. After being offered gigs as a brand ambassador for a few different jewelry places that turned out to be scams, it hit her – start her own animal-inspired jewelry store that gives back to animals she cares about.
Cindy’s vision became a reality; her online business donates 25% of all net sales to the two animal sanctuaries she supports in addition to a bonus 50% on select items.
Finding a .CA & hopping online
Cindy spent no time ‘horsing’ around when it came to choosing a domain name. Her business name, 8 Cool Cats Jewelry Shop, doubles as her domain name, 8coolcatsjewelry.ca, which Cindy said she had no trouble securing.
With an audience that’s approximately 75% Canadian and 25% American, choosing a .CA domain made the most sense for Cindy. “I wanted to be recognized as Canadian. To me, that’s a great selling feature for a business whether you’re servicing Canadians or all of North America. There is a feeling on the international stage that Canadians are people that can be trusted.”
For her website, Cindy used Square when she first started her business. Shortly after, she pounced on an opportunity to participate in a program through Digital Main Street that enabled her to move her website to Shopify in addition to receiving funding and one-on-one support for the transition.
Since September 2020, CIRA has been providing free .CA domains to Canadian businesses and artists that are building websites through Digital Main Street’s ShopHERE powered by Google program.
Participating in the Digital Mainstreet program has already paid off in many ways.
“There hasn’t been a week since I launched that I didn’t have sales. If I hadn’t done Digital Main Street, I don’t think I would have made it to where I am.”
Entrepreneurship
Being an entrepreneur is no easy task, especially when you have a full-time job to juggle.
“What I didn’t anticipate was how much has to go on behind the scenes of running a business.”
Like all new entrepreneurs, Cindy has experienced challenges in her journey that she’s had to adapt to and overcome. When jewelry sales weren’t as high due to flexes in the economy, Cindy started a line of t-shirts to boost sales. Learning how to make her inventory profitable without losing money was a learning curve at first for Cindy who does her best to source handmade jewelry from reputable North American wholesalers.
Although she has a successful website, Cindy states “I’ve found that its connections through social media that are the drivers of sales … it’s about those relationships with people and them trusting you enough to be able to purchase from you.”
Cindy also sells products in person at events like Mississauga Veg Fest where they are well received by the crowds.
MOOving forward
Looking toward the future, Cindy intends to expand her products to include vegan chocolate bars from a brand called Dirty Cow Chocolate. Cindy also plans to continue looking for opportunities to sell at in-person events and has been invited to be a vendor at the Canadian Pet Expo taking place in September.
“Having a business is a marathon and not a sprint.”
Cindy continues to leverage her business to do her part for the animals she cares deeply about.
