At a Glance

Angela Ardolino is the Founder and Owner of CBD Dog Health, a vet-approved, lab-tested line of full-spectrum CBD products to promote overall health and wellness for dogs.

Who is Angela Ardolino?

Meet Angela Ardolino, Founder and Owner of CBD Dog Health.

About CBD Dog Health

Angela’s journey to creating CBD Dog Health actually started with her own journey, when she was able to heal herself of rheumatoid arthritis using a full-spectrum hemp extract. As an advocate of cannabis use, Angela decided to create her own formula in an attempt to help herself feel better, and when she found that it worked, she decided to go all in.

Angela went back to school and jumped into the industry headfirst, looking at the current market for hemp and cannabis products. She found it lacking when it came to therapeutic doses for people who were looking for the type of help she had found. Instead of just accepting things as they were, she decided to formulate and release her own line of products, starting in 2016.

As a serial entrepreneur, Angela knew that she was going to create something, but she found it exciting and fun to create this one in particular. From sourcing seeds and strains to finding manufacturers for her products and more, it was a journey. And moving from creating the first formulas in her garage to reaching over 100,000 customers was an amazing experience as well.

Angela’s Journey

What does it look like to work at CBD Dog Health? Currently, the team is made up of 12 full-time employees and three part-time employees, all of whom work remotely. While most of the team is based in the US, there is one who’s based in Canada and that’s something that Angela loves about the business.

Being able to source the best talent from all over the country through remote work is a way to make sure that she’s doing the best she can for her brand and her products. And while everyone has to work in several different roles and ‘wear many hats’ she knows she’s got a great team behind her this way. Because Angela acknowledges that if she was a brick-and-mortar business she could only work with those who were right around her.

Business Growth and Revenue Strategies

When it comes to running the business, Angela loves that she gets to come up with the marketing plan and the ideas and then can hand things over to her team to make it happen. Delegating the arrangements, organization, and implementation of her plans means she can focus more on the higher-level parts of the job.

What really energizes her though? It’s the ability to combine two things that she loves, dogs and cannabis plants, to create a natural medicine that can help pet parents and their dogs. She knows that what she’s doing and what she’s creating is really making a difference and that means everything.

It’s all about helping animals and also helping those pet parents to feel like they’re doing what’s really best for their pets. And even then, it’s not just about cannabis and the medicine, it’s about teaching those pet parents about nature and diet and how everything works together to help their pet. And making sure that those pets are getting better when they may have been suffering or struggling for a long time.

Making the Most of Time

There’s always more that needs to be done in a business and especially when you’re running a business with a small team. For Angela, the area where she wishes she had a little extra time to work on is actually her protocol book. Creating a book that lays out all of the things that need to be done so she’s not the one running everything firsthand would be great, as would working on some passion projects and creating additional content to send out into the world.

With so much work to be done and so much competing for her time it can feel like the creative aspects can get pushed back and Angela would love the opportunity to work on them even more.

CBD Dog Health’s CX Philosophy 

Rather than just being a company that makes products, Angela considers CBD Dog Health to be more of an education company with products. Because she launched with something that was completely new and not known in the marketplace, she had to do a lot of educating people on just what the product was and how it could help.

At the beginning there were a lot of questions. There were a lot of people, even vet techs, who were calling in to make sure the product was safe, to understand proper dosing, and so much more. There were plenty of people who were even concerned about the product and that meant customer service was an essential part of the introduction of the product.

In order to make sure that customers feel safe and confident with the product Angela is more than happy to offer plenty of educational content, to answer any questions, and to even offer a 30-day money back guarantee. That way, customers feel less of that hesitation and more open to giving it a try.

Creating an Ideal Customer Experience

There are always going to be times when a customer isn’t happy, but Angela wants to do whatever she can to fix that problem when it occurs. When a customer purchases the wrong product, she makes sure they get the right one. It’s all about going above and beyond for the customer every time, making sure that they get what they need and they know how to use it.

She doesn’t mind letting customers keep products when they purchase the wrong thing and she makes sure to support and donate to rescues wherever she can. Whether that’s products (including sometimes offering free product for a year to dogs that are adopted from a rescue) or monetary support for the facility itself.

Innovation and Adaptability

Fostering innovation helps the company to grow, and at CBD Dog Health that’s even more of a factor, because they’re a disruptor in the industry, creating something entirely new. But Angela didn’t initially set out to create products. She set out to educate doctors and veterinarians and everyone she could about the potential and about the opportunities available for natural health. Except there wasn’t a product out there that she thought was made right to recommend.

One big reason for the improper dosing or improper formulas that are out there is that it’s completely unregulated. Anyone is able to put something in a bottle and sell it, which means there’s a whole lot of products that just aren’t doing what they need to do. Where they’re focused on making a profit, Angela is focused on making a product that really works.

For those who want to know more about the specific products she has available there are QR code labels with certificates of analysis for every product. It lets you know what it is and that it’s free of any contaminants. Why does she do it? Because her dog is part of her family and she knows that other people feel the same about their pets. By ensuring her products are safe and effective she’s providing the high-level quality that she would want for her own pet, every time.

Creating the most powerful, therapeutic products for pets that literally change their life and bring them back to health was the motivation for Angela, and it still is. And as a result, her business is flourishing and she’s always looking to do more.

Taking the Next Step on Marketing

What does marketing mean? It means getting your name out there in as many ways as possible to make sure people, in this case pet parents, know about the product and how it provides more. Angela does this by getting involved with advertising on social media and also having her own podcast.

By harnessing these opportunities she’s able to get the educational aspect out to more people and she’s able to talk about success stories, research, and more about natural medicine and helping pets. She travels and goes on tour talking to people in stores, vet offices, conferences, and more so she can share as much information as possible.

While the beginning was hard, getting her product out there and getting people to understand the benefits, she’s seen how customer retention and the proof of a high-quality product with excellent results, has reduced some of the marketing needs.

The Future of CBD Dog Health

The future is looking bright at CBD Dog Health as word of mouth continues and customers keep coming back. But there are always ways to keep driving that innovation. For Angela, she’s looking at hiring a CMO to help with the marketing that her whole team has been dividing amongst themselves. And then she’d like to start reaching out to more countries.

The process could mean finding a strategic partner that can help with that distribution into other places and help build on the success that CBD Dog Health is currently having in promoting health the natural way.

Becoming a Strong Entrepreneur

What about for those who are just starting out and want to make sure they’re on the right track? Angela says the number one thing they need to do is find their niche. Find the space where no one knows your business or how to market your business better than you and then be willing to take risks and push harder than anyone. The reward at the end will be worth it.

Through your greatest suffering comes your greatest lessons. Sometimes it’s going to cost you something, even friends or opportunities, but you can keep pushing through and keep making something of yourself and your dreams.