February 6, 2026 | Read Online​

6,000 Wiener Dogs Can't Be Wrong

“I feel like I’m on a rocket ship and I’m having trouble steering it.” This was my friend Alex Hopes’ reply when I asked him how his business was doing.
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Alex is the founder of ZilkerBark. I met him in Zilker Park where he would roam and take photos of random puppies. He captured my dog, Taco, drinking from a water fountain on a scorching afternoon and a friendship was born. We’d occasionally meet for coffee and he’d share his journey growing his photography business.
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In 2019, he moved to Santa Fe. We lost touch until last summer when he told me his business had become a rocket ship. How? It was that super simple, completely brilliant thing almost every business owner fails to do. He worked his database.
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ZilkerBark photographed thousands of canines over the years. Each time, his team would collect the owner’s and dog’s names, contact info, and – this is the really smart part – the dog’s breed. When Alex wanted to explore doing events, it was easy for him to see where to start. The most common breeds in his database were Goldens, Pugs, and Weiner Dogs.
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For his first Weiner Dog fest, they had 200 attendees. All thanks to his database. They added more contacts at the event and got lots of press. Year two, they had 800 Weiner Dogs. The following year, they had more than double the Dachshunds! For 2025, they had over 6,000 RSVP! Did someone call Guinness?
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“I've never had more success putting in less work on the promotional side,” Alex shared. Instead of creating demand, he was finding demand he already had in his database. That’s when he said, “I feel like I’m on a rocket ship and I’m having trouble steering it.”
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The takeaway is simple. If you aren’t already capturing details about your clients, you are torching haybales of cash. When you know your clients, you can communicate and make offers at scale. You might be sleeping on a launchpad.
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This week I caught up with Alex again on The ONE Thing podcast. Give it a listen!

One question to ponder in your thinking time: What do I already know about my clients that I'm not using?

Make an Impact!
Jay Papasan
Co-author of The ONE Thing, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent & author of The Rookie Real Estate Agent

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