Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Escudero.
Hi Daniel, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My story as a company began in February 2015. I had just married my wife in August the year before, and we were establishing our lives together as a married couple. We had met back in 2009 at a conservatory for TV/Film/Theater called KD Conservatory in Dallas and had been on the performance grind for almost 6 years. However, as anyone in the film industry can tell you, providing a substantial living as an actor/performer can prove to be a long, arduous, almost impossible task. Don’t get me wrong; we both had our fair share of success booking roles in commercials, films, and countless industrials. However, the expenses life threw at us often outpaced the income, and we found ourselves just able enough to keep our heads above water.
One February night in 2015, I lay awake late at night next to my wife with my heart racing and my mind spinning wondering what I could do to help us build a better life together. Our bills were past due, our gas tanks perpetually a quarter full, our fridge was empty, and our pantry was void of anything except for a few packs of instant Ramen that we would sometimes split for dinner. I mean, we knew the path we chose together was going to be a difficult one, but the light at the end of the tunnel was beginning to fade. My wife was always the better actor than I was, and she was consistently bringing in more work than me, so I started brainstorming on how I could change trajectories in order for us both to succeed.
One night, my brother from New York called me and told me about this website called Rover where people can set up profiles to do all sorts of work with pets. Back then, the site was offering basic services like dog walking, in-home visits, and boarding. I’ve always been drawn to pets of all types. I competed for almost a decade in equestrian in the NTHJC (North Texas Hunter Jumper Club.) Like so many families, I grew up with countless dogs and would often rescue dogs from the street and just bring them home, much to the dismay of my parents. I had Anole lizards and two Persian cats named Pumpkin and Mafia. I also had two Redtail boas, a Burmese python, and a Puebloan milkshake, again, much to the dismay of my parents. My parents were amazing, though. They’ve always been supportive of my alternative lifestyle choices and endeavors, and they’ve always pushed me to be happy in anything I do. Anyway, I decided to act on the advice of my brother and start a profile on Rover and see what I could do.
I started my profile with Rover in February of 2015, and at first, nothing really happened. Days passed and then weeks and then months, and nothing really came of it, so I grew to forget about it. In acting, I learned to compartmentalize failure and rejection, so I just thought “Another one bites the dust” I suppose. But then came April. Ding. I got a notification on my phone with a request for dog walking. Then another one. And another one. Slowly but surely, requests started coming in for both dog walking services and dog boarding, and I tell you what, I was over the moon. I felt like things were happening and that this venture could really be the start of a new purpose for me as a man, a husband, a provider, and hopefully, a future father. I know that sounds ridiculous to think after just a few Rover requests, but I was dreaming big and feeling inspired. My wife’s grandfather used to always say ‘Aim high and hit your mark,’ and I felt like that’s what was happening. Requests kept coming in month after month followed by reviews and the reviews were all top-notch! It was an exciting time. I was working with dogs, and my wife was working the film circuit. Don’t get me wrong here, the money wasn’t piling up, but we were gradually catching up on our bills, asking for less help from our parents, our gas tanks were now half full, and we had more than Ramen in our pantry. Our fridge was still empty, though. Perishables were still a luxury if you know what I mean.
Come 2016, and I had been working in the pet industry for roughly a year. However, Rover was no secret anymore. People from all over and all walks of life were starting profiles to try their hand at a new, burgeoning powerhouse of a market. Business was cutting back, and that newly found light was once again beginning to fade. How was I going to stand out in a super-saturated market? Go solo and start your own pet service, my wife said. Start my own? Like start over? I’m not going to lie; that was a terrifying thought considering I just spent a year building a resume through Rover, and I couldn’t reach out to Rover clients independently. But something had to change, or the well was going to dry up, and we’d be right back where we were a year prior. “Aim high and hit your mark.” So, I took my wife’s advice and took the leap of faith, and in February 2016, we started Animal Ventures Pet Services. I created an e-mail (animalventurespetservices@gmail.com), and since all small business is done through social media, I created our official Instagram, @animalventuresdallas. And then I waited.
I was back at square one waiting for that ‘ding’ I had come to love when I had my Rover profile. But nothing came. Again, days passed, and then weeks and then months. Anxiety and panic slowly started to creep in. And then, wham! My first request as an independent pet service provider! It was for the cutest little French bulldog puppy named Walter. Two visits per day, five days per week. I can’t adequately express the euphoria I experienced getting that first request as a small business owner. From that very first request, everything began to grow. Since I was essentially running the business through Instagram, had little to no followers to start and had a marketing budget of absolutely zero, all of our potential clients would have to come by word of mouth. And, as any small business owner knows, if you’re gonna be a word-of-mouth type of company, you better do a damn good job! I’m talking $20 worth of work for $10 worth of pay. And that’s what I did. For years. My wife was there the whole time as my support team making sure everything was running like a well-oiled machine. This company would be nothing without her. And together, we worked towards building a reputation of being the most affordable, dependable, and trustworthy pet service in Dallas.
How did I graduate from becoming a dog walker/boarder to a dog trainer? That can all be traced, again, back to Walter the little French bulldog puppy. Since I had just a handful of clients at the start of Animal Ventures, I was able to spend significantly more than my scheduled amount of time at people’s homes. And, since Walter was just a teeny young pup, I started spending time training him the same way I had trained so many of my dogs growing up. I would send videos of Walter’s progress to his parents, who apparently, were impressed enough by what was going on that they started recommending me to their social circle as a dog trainer along with the services we already provided. So, one by one, training requests started accumulating. At first, the balance was about 80/20 dog walks to dog training, with a few boarding requests dispersed here and there. But, as the years went on and the more people that were elated with the results of our training programs, the more training requests flooded in.
That brings us to today, seven and a half years later. Today, due to the immense demand, Animal Ventures is now solely a dog training and dog boarding company, and my wife and I are loving every minute of the wild, furry ride this has been so far. We even have a waiting list of people wanting our training and boarding services. My wife and I now have two beautiful boys, aged five and two. A disclaimer, training kids is A LOT like training dogs for all you parents out there. My wife now stays home for most of the day with the dogs who board with us while I go out and train dogs in and around the Dallas area. I have been so lucky and blessed to do a job that truly is the best job in the world and get to provide a beautiful life for me and my family. Getting to see the relationships between owners and their dogs evolve into these amazing partnerships has been rewarding and humbling beyond words. We truly have the most incredible clients who trust us and let us be such huge parts of their lives. We’ve worked with people from all walks of life from Dallas Stars players to stay-at-home moms to oil tycoons to elementary school teachers to CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. We’ve trained dogs in basic house training all the way up to Canine Good Citizen training. I get to walk around White Rock Lake, marvel at the homes in Highland Park and Preston Hollow, get my steps in up and down the Katy Trail, and admire the quirky architecture of the Tudor homes in the M streets. If there is one thing I’ve learned from all of this, it’s to trust in God’s plan for you, no matter how chaotic or daunting it may seem. If you let God guide your life and go where the wind takes you, you will always end up exactly where you’re meant to be.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not smooth! But rewarding. Every ounce of energy, time and effort that has gone into building this business has come back to us tenfold.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a professional dog trainer and boarder specializing in house training and relationship building between dogs and their owners, as well as providing a home away from home for their pets where they can be treated like family… I am best known for my communication skills with clients in helping people understand their dogs like their people. The aspect of my work that I’m most proud of is seeing how much more confident and fulfilled people feel in the relationship with their pets at the end of a program than when they started training. People have literally told me they were on the brink of giving up their dog before calling me, and then after we are finished, they now think their dog is one of the if not the, best part of their lives. I live for that moment where we see an owner take control and gain the confidence to take the reins on their own and not just survive but thrive in their relationship with their pets.
Our dependability, affordable prices, and communication skills in making the information easy to understand using relatable analogies is definitely at the heart of what makes our company stand out. We work around people’s schedules to ensure as much convenience as possible, and we do all of our work in from of the parent and explain every aspect of what we’re doing to allow people to absorb as much of the process as possible while at the same time being completely transparent in the process.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking.
Risk is inherent when starting a business. Changing your entire life trajectory to dive into something new without any assurance that you will succeed is the essence of risk. But with great risk comes great reward. You just have to believe in yourself. Believe that you can do it and listen to God’s voice. Follow the signs that present themselves to you on a daily basis, and like trail markers, they will lead you to where you should be.
Pricing:
- $60/Basic Training
- $90/Advanced Training
- $130/Off-Leash Training
- $65/night Standard Rate
- $75/night Holiday Rate
Contact Info:
- Instagram: animalventuresdallas
