The Flywheel Effect

How a stupid selfie can save a dog's life

Every Wednesday, I help at the local dog shelter. The shelter has a tight budget and relies on volunteers for 95% of its operations.

Initially, I focused on walking and cuddling the dogs. When I saw there wasn’t good content for social media, I began taking photos and videos during the walks.

Many of the shots turned into selfies because the dogs would rush to me as soon as I knelt down. Those selfies performed so well that they became the standard.

I’m not fond of being in photos, and I dislike it when dogs lick my face. But I’d do anything to help those dogs find a forever home.

If I didn’t already have two little dragons with a manual at home, I would have had ten dogs by now 😅

Picture of Roxy and me during our first walk. She loves to cuddle, and she’s way more photogenic than I am.

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Every week, I created new content featuring the dogs that had just arrived. But it could take weeks before it was posted on social media or the website because there was no efficient process in place.

It frustrated me. I watched the dogs change as they stayed in the kennel longer. Some were abandoned on the street, often with puppies. But most had lived in normal homes until their owners fell ill, passed away, or could no longer care for them.

Those dogs struggle the most because they aren’t used to the constant noise and stress. They struggle with getting rest and sleep, they lose a lot of weight, and some even die while waiting for a home.

The longer they stay in the shelter, the more traumatized they become, which makes it harder to adopt them out.

What’s really needed?

One idea from the volunteers was to provide extra care for the traumatized dogs. They would undoubtedly benefit from this.

But the main issue is that the dogs spend an average of 1.8 years in this shelter. If we reduce that as much as possible, the dogs would be less traumatized, there would be more room for dogs in need of help, and more money would flow in from adoption fees.

So we’re putting systems in place to get the dogs adopted more quickly. This includes software that organizes all information in one place, prevents costly mistakes and miscommunication, and automates manual tasks.

Together with my husband, I’m also building a website that’s connected to the software. This setup ensures there’s no delay or outdated information online.

It creates a flywheel effect: the dogs get promoted faster, adopted sooner, and fewer develop the anxiety that makes them harder to place.

That’s Roxy running in her new garden. She was adopted nine days after our selfie was posted on Instagram.

What’s the flywheel for your business?

There’s a bottleneck that is blocking your growth.

You might be spending a lot of time creating content, running ads, or doing outreach. But if your message doesn’t attract the right people, you’re wasting a lot of resources.

You might attract the right people. But if they’re not becoming clients, the focus shouldn’t be on generating more leads, but on increasing the conversion rate.

Or maybe you have happy clients and are making good money. But if you feel exhausted and on the verge of burnout, that’s the bottleneck that deserves all your attention.

Take some time next week to identify where your most energy, joy, or money is slipping away. Create a plan to fix it, so the flywheel can start turning.

Enjoy your day,

Yvette