The Human-Canine Alliance (TH-CA)

Real Life Business: Discoveries & Growth Within THCA

• Stacie J. King • Season 1 • Episode 5

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This is Episode #2 of the "Real Life Business" live documentary series, offering an unfiltered, behind-the-scenes look at the evolution of The Human-Canine Alliance (THCA). In this episode, Stacie shares the realities of building a purpose-driven brand, revealing the challenges and breakthroughs in podcast production—from structuring compelling episodes to implementing marketing strategies that drive engagement and impact.

Beyond content creation, she dives into the operational backbone of THCA, exploring the intricate balance of social media management, budgeting constraints, and the integration of AI tools to streamline workflows. More than just tactics, Stacie unpacks the strategic mindset behind these decisions—demonstrating how innovation and adaptability are essential in scaling a mission-driven initiative.

At its core, this episode highlights the bigger vision: leveraging digital platforms and business acumen to elevate the societal value of rescue dogs, while fostering a dedicated community that champions pet adoption and advocacy. This is real-life business in action—where passion meets strategy to drive real-world change.

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Hey everyone, this is Stacie and this is episode numero dos of real life business in an ongoing series of business updates for the Human Canine Alliance or THCA. 

My goal with the Real Life Business Series is to create a transparent and live documentary of THCA's journey from a big idea to a real thriving organization.

So as a refresher from our first episode, the Human K 9 Alliance was formed when I used the idea as a guinea pig in a product and market strategies course hosted by Cornell School of Business and discovered stats that I just couldn't unsee.

I don't think the average person is aware that almost 400, 000 dogs are euthanized annually in the U. S. and about 80 percent of them are healthy. There's nothing wrong with them. We just have no place for them in our society, which also isn't true.

And I know I was shocked to learn that almost a million dogs are relinquished every year in the US by their owners for a variety of legitimate reasons, but also illegitimate reasons. 

And there are ways of closing those gaps. There really are. The further you dig into this, the more I have learned about this.

It just feels like there's so many problems within this industry that the only people talking about it are the ones actually working in the industry of pet rescue but they don't get the support. We're not getting the support. This industry does not get the level of Time and investment from our society because we haven't put a value on it in that, in my opinion, from a business perspective, from a marketing perspective in the US, if it doesn't have a value, right, our society doesn't really care about it.

Right? So that's what I'm trying to do here. I feel like that's the niche that the Human Canine Alliance is creating here is we are creating the niche of value for our society. Rescue dogs. Specifically. Okay. A little off topic there, but that just came to me and I wasn't letting it go. 

And then also, thirdly guys, learning that $2 billion of our taxpayer money has been contributed, and I'm saying has been, because we all know the political spectrum right now, we have no idea what's about to happen.

So this money could very easily have already been cut for all I know, for all we know. and maybe pet rescue isn't getting a dime in 2025, but up until now, we have been spending $2 billion a year, and this is what our taxpayer dollars are going to.

The animal control, the animal shelter maintenance, and then also the euthanasia and disposal. I'm sorry, but, if we had any choices, couldn't you add training in there? I would love for my taxpayer dollars to contribute towards shelter and maintenance and training. Maybe euthanasia if the dog is sick, and if it's a humane thing to do, but that is not the third thing in that list of items I would hope to be paying for.

I don't know about you, but that's how I feel about it. We literally euthanize a living resource that is proven to have the ability to improve human lifestyles, enhance local economies, and offset it. Medical expenses, 

So back to the whole reason I just listed those things, is once I started connecting the dots, I just, I couldn't turn back.

And so here I am, this is what I'm doing here now.

As I've said, the Real Life Business series is meant to be a live documentary of the growth of the business side of the Human Canine Alliance. While the overall podcast is an education tool and a marketing strategy to create awareness and maximize reach. 

As of this recording, THCA has been in business six weeks and a couple of days, developed five episodes for the podcast, including this one. 

And just to get further insight into what it means to create five episodes for a podcast, because to be honest with you, before I did this, I didn't really know, 

Because I'm doing this all by myself right now, I would be lying if I said this took me less than an average of 12 hours per episode to write, record, edit, and publish these first five episodes. I realize That I am new to podcasting and I'm a beginner in audio editing. I'm admittedly a novice at each of the programs I'm using to produce.

So I do expect my time to decrease as I continue to become familiar with each program and, find my groove. but I just want to acknowledge that because it. It's something where if you're somebody who's like, Hey, I want to do a podcast.

I want to be a podcaster. Awesome. There's a lot of work that goes into it, unless you want to really spend the money to have other people do it for you. If you have the money, good for you. Go for it. You save yourself a lot of time. But I just want to put that note out there. 

But if you're a hard worker and you're somebody who's just like, yeah, I can put in 12 hours a week, into something that I'm really passionate about, then you could build a podcast. 

 Okay. I'm going to take you even further inside THCA. Just give you a little bit of insight as to the fact that I've also taken the time in these last six weeks to create a preferred formatting, both internally and publicly for the podcast itself. And, what do I mean by that, right?

I have created internal documents for each episode which house everything I need to know about that episode. 

And each document is literally named the episode number, the episode title, and then final. And, What those documents enclose is title, because you don't usually, at least I don't usually start with something and end up with the same thing.

I usually start with an idea behind a title or a description or any kind of content I have to write or build. And then I do a little bit of research as to, popularity behind it and angles I can use. And then I also will use, Of course, Chachi, BT, AI, bots, that sort of thing to help me really like flush out the best way of presenting what I'm trying to present.

Right. So usually I have quite a few versions before I have my final. 

In this final doc is my final title, the final length of what the podcast ended up being because I get a lot of organic stuff here that I didn't write about but I talk about, a lot of the writing, when I say I write, I'm really just making sure I don't miss Topics, and I don't miss things that I want to say but believe me, I usually go completely off topic from what I actually wrote and then I'm able to bring it back which is really helpful.

That's what the writing is for in my mind and then also the transcript itself and the original goals I had for the actual episode. So I have an actual topic that I'm working from and then I have goals for each of those topics of things I want to get across and a message I want to get across to you and make sure that it's accurate.

as I said, this is supposed to be a marketing tool. So I'm really trying to be mindful of how the content I'm building can be used in the future and not just in the moment, right? It's not just getting content out, just to have content out 

 I usually record. Probably close to an hour worth of actual audio recording. And you guys usually see anywhere between 14 minutes and 35 minutes of it. So, a good amount of time goes into creating the content and then editing it down to make it make sense for you.

I'm only going on this rant because this is, the business side of the THCA podcast. And honestly, I've been in the business side of the marketing world for the last 20 years. And I feel like I have a lot to share. 

  And then externally, from a formatting point of view, I have also committed to each episode having timestamp chapters, keyword tags, a full transcript that you can read, and all of the resources used just to be very mindful that, I'm not making this up. I'm pulling information from the Internet from many resources, and I'm cross-checking things, and I'm making sure I'm using the most legitimate resources and the most newest resources I can find just to make sure I'm not sharing misinformation, right?

Those are commitments I have made to myself because I want to make sure I come across as professional just like I want my company to come across as professional. And so again, that is a strategy of mine to really give ownership and trustworthiness to my company and my brand. 

 I know this sounds like a lot of work and it really is, but honestly, one thing that's really cool is the day and age that we live in with A I O M G, is Seriously, there's a lot I am able to do with AI that makes this doable, right? This makes this doable for one person. And I'll be sharing more of that later with the programs that I have officially settled on now that I'm six weeks in.

I've been juggling a few there for a little bit to try to figure out which ones I wanted to continue with. And so I wanted to share the ones that I have decided on, and I'll be doing that later in the podcast. 

 Okay, just to bring us back to what we were talking about as of this recording been in business six weeks, developed five episodes. We have now created our first THCA commercial. My lovely boyfriend is the talent because he's amazing and super supportive and said yes when I asked him if he would do it.

So Our first commercial for the THCA podcast ran in the last episode and it will be running again in this episode. You'll hear that commercial a little bit later. 

And then we've also opened two social media accounts. And when I say we, guys, I really do mean me right now. However, I like to say we because I, Again, thinking about the future and tend to have a team behind me and with me and working with me.

I'm very much a team player kind of person. I love to play sports. I'm a very athletic person. And so, I just you might hear me say we a lot and I technically mean me. 

Okay, anyway, so open two social media accounts and shameless plug, we are now on Facebook and Instagram.

If you'd like to give us a follow, you just have to search for the human canine alliance on both of those platforms. Now, of course, when I say I open two social media accounts, I'm going to go into a little bit more detail on that because we are in the business episode here. That means I created a profile. I created biography content for both of the Facebook it also means I had to create a header image for Facebook. Once those were established, I went into Buzzsprout and in combination with Canva, I created a 30 to 60 second visual soundbite for each of my published episodes.

And then I create a social post that can be used for Facebook I tweak them slightly for each one. And then I'm scheduling them out on the social media pages. 

So having this very intentional process allows me to make sure I don't miss anything, and it also makes me feel a lot less overwhelmed when I have pretty much a checklist to just go down and make sure I get it all done for each episode, right? So I'm just inserting this information here because again, it's a business episode and I feel like this is helpful information if it's something you haven't done before.

Okay back to our list. I have sent over 50 emails to organizations, podcasters, and the like, in the industry, inviting them to learn about the Human Canine Alliance, 

And I've also been emailing any organization I mentioned here on the podcast to let them know that they've been mentioned in the podcast, right? 

I was so excited to receive my first response from someone last week. And it was from the Underdog Project in South Africa.

they listened to the podcast after I sent it to them and told them that I had highlighted them and their organization. The woman who responded to me was so enthusiastic she even plans to share the podcast with people in her community. 

That made me just, get a million times more excited and motivated to keep doing this. Cause I've only been doing this six weeks. And I love it. I'm getting responses that are positive from pretty much anyone and everyone around me when they learn about what I'm doing.

And I just don't see where continuing to move forward hurts anything, right? 

Back to the list. What else have we done? I have purchased. Two URLs thehumank9alliance. com and humank9alliance. com and set up a coming soon page. Now, this is something I wanted to just mention. I'm not really in a hurry to get my website up.

It's not a high priority for me at this moment from a business standpoint, and I'll tell you why. 

I have had some amazing bosses and one of them once told me, you have to focus on the tasks that will directly convert, right?

So, in taking that advice and being realistic with my time, I have established the podcast, the social media channels, and the app as my top three priorities right now. will the website become a valuable marketing and communications tool in the future?

Absolutely. That's why I bought the URLs, but right now, it can't directly contribute to my current goals, and therefore, it's not a high pry.

Okay. I have also officially registered the Human Canine Alliance name with the state of North Carolina. 

In the second half I break down the five programs I have settled on and the reasons why. Stick around so Sirenio can tell you about Toto and maybe you can help us find him a home. I hope you continue to listen.

--BREAK START-- 

Meet Toto, a true hurricane survivor with a heart big as his story. After Hurricane Helene, Toto showed up looking for shelter. And he never left. He's part lab, part pit bull, we think. He's a mid-sized dog with yellow and white coloring. He loves car rides. Short walks? Perfect. 

He is smart and likes to be challenged. We play hide and seek with treats in the house and he will sit, stay and wait until all the treats are hidden he's independent enough to chill solo, but will try to demand your attention when he's in the mood for snuggles.

It's hard to refuse, honestly. Why am I telling you this? Because Toto needs a home. His picture is on the Human Canine Alliance. and Burke County Animal Service Facebook pages, but you can also reach out to Stacy by sending a direct message through whatever podcast app you're using right now or at stacie, that's S T A C I E, at thehumancaninealliance. com.

--BREAK END--

Hello, and welcome back to the Human Canine Alliance podcast. I'm your host, Stacie. And as I mentioned earlier, we are only six weeks into the Human Canine Alliance being established as a business and me committing to making this a priority. 

Since getting started, my toolkit has fluctuated, I felt like a breakdown of which programs I have continued to use and why could be helpful and while I'm at it, I've got the cost breakdown for you, too. So let's get started. 

Number one, Buzzsprout. I found Buzzsprout through How to Start a podcast, which offers step by step action items, tips from real life experiences, and equipment and software recommendations that truly made me feel confident had to make in order to move forward. 

However, Buzzsprout's ability to help me didn't stop there. Buzzsprout is a podcast host. They are a publisher and an analytics provider. 

And I have now published five episodes of my podcast through their software. And in that time I have signed up for a add on feature, which is called Magic Mastering.

And this is how Buzzsprout works. Describes it, in quotes, magic mastering is the Instagram filter for your audio, your episode will sound better and perfectly match the industry's best practices for overall loudness and true peak. When it's put like that, how do you not add it? Right? And it was like six bucks a month.

So, like I said, doing all of this on my own, and while I do have a little bit of training in video and audio editing, it was a long time ago, and it wasn't with any of the programs I'm using now. So, while I might have a little bit of a knack for knowing what I'm looking for understanding how to get there is very time consuming, right?

To learn all the nooks and crannies of every program that you're trying to use. So, I will say that having some magic mastering kind of tools available to me has been a perk for sure. 

Number two, Descript. Descript is a robust recording, transcribing, and editing tool with built in AI that has a plethora of features and functionalities. One of my favorite parts about Descript is the AI functionality that assists with creating descriptions, chapters, and timestamps. Remember I was talking about that earlier, how I've made that part of my process for every episode. 

I've been able to use their AI to help me build of course, I'm tweaking them and I'm making them on brand and I'm making sure that they fit my message on my overall goals.

But having something to start from, right? Just literally saying to the AI chatbot. Hey, can you take this transcription and timestamp the chapters? 

I can ask it to create a description for me and I can even pop in my previous descriptions from previous episodes and say, make them sound like this. 

And these are just some of those features that have saved me a ton of time because Remember I was talking about that earlier, how I've made descriptions, chapters and timestamps part of my process for every episode. 

So to be able to have some seamless content and do it over time, AI is really starting to help me and I'm absolutely loving it. You guys, I'm just absolutely loving it anyway. 

Okay, third thing, my microphone. So glad that I got the tip from Buzzsprout to buy the Samson Q2U kit for 70. It is absolutely The best investment I could have made into my podcast. 

The tangible features that I love are the USB capability. So it's fully remote and the mic stand that came along with it and the windscreen.

What more do you need? Seriously? It does also have the ability to plug into an audio board. It came with that cable but the USB is all I've used so far. 

It's compact, it's easily movable, transferable, it had a one time cost. And if you're one of those people who likes to really break down costs, I have used this microphone for five episodes, including this one, and it costs 70. And so if you do the math on that, I have paid approximately 14 per episode to use my microphone, right?

 Number four, Canva. So Canva is something I have on and off used, honestly over the years because in a lot of companies that I've worked for, they just already had graphic designers, right?

They already had people doing that kind of work. So I haven't really needed Canva. to use Canva a whole lot. I've just dabbled in it. I started using it more and more now, obviously for THCA because I've had to build graphics for the social and for the soundbites. 

So I've been messing around in the free version and getting good results. But now I've used Canva to create multiple versions of a Facebook banner that, oh my gosh, you guys, I could not get it right, or I just couldn't get it where I liked it. Have you ever been working on something where you're like, this is taking way too long, and I am being way too indecisive here. That's what happened to me in my Facebook banner, and so it had three completely different variations, but I'm really happy with the current one.

Happy to get any comments on that too, by the way, if you like it or don't like it. 

And then, as I mentioned before, Canva has integration tools with companies such as Buzzsprout, right? So I've been able to use Buzzsprout and Canva together. And that also is something that when picking my programs, it was important to me with any programs that I chose, I wanted to make sure that they had the ability to communicate with other programs and ideally programs I'm already using or programs I'm choosing to use. 

And lastly, Buzzy. Not to be confused with a Buzzsprout who I'm using for hosting and publishing. So with Buzzy, you're able to literally edit, like create the app and then edit the app with AI. 

I first learned about no code apps by watching a 30 minute YouTube video on the We Are No Code channel with Christian Peverelli. Super informational, highly recommend it. And at first, which I told you guys about this in my last Real Life Business episode, I was planning to use Softr to get started.

However, once I got into it, I realized there was more manual development than I was expecting and not that it was difficult a lot of drag and drop 

You go in and do all the manual customizing of the pages But I had been really sold on the whole telling AI what to do and AI does it for you 

And again, I'm trying to minimize my time here. So since I was testing out programs, I was like, well, Nobody said I have to use softer, right?

I just thought that was where I wanted to go with it. And so I was like, I'm going to go back to Peverelli, went back to his video, watched it again, got another program out of there. And that was buzzy. And that one has been more successful for me. 

Now I will say there are limitations and from what I'm learning, I will need to create an account on Figma or something like it, where I can build individual pages and then import them into Buzzy for integration into the app. 

But You guys, It will update the whole thing. You don't have to go in and do all of it. That's my point. So that was the difference I was hoping for and looking for because again, time right now is of the essence. And really when it came down to cost between softer and buzzy, 

Not a whole lot of difference. So I'm going with Buzzy. That's where I'm at. 

Once I get this app to a testing phase, I plan to release it to the THCA community members who are interested in seeing this come to fruition. So if you're interested in being a tester, please reach out to me. and Thank you very much if you are interested. 

And last but not least, I know you're wondering how much money I've spent so far. I get it. It matters. I am super proud to say I have spent a total of 190 so far. I'm going to go ahead and break it down for you.

Buzzsprout, 18 a month. 

Descript 35 a month. 

My microphone was a one time cost of 70.

Name registration in North Carolina was 41. one time cost. 

And Canva, I am currently on a 30 day trial. However, then I'll be on a 15 a month plan. And then Buzzy, I'm currently on a two week free trial, and then I will be on a 50 a month plan. 

This time next month, the free trials will all be over, and obviously, one time costs have already been paid, and so my monthly costs are leveling out at 118 per month.

It's not totally cheap, but it's not breaking the bank, either. 

On the next THCA episode, I plan to discuss the contrast between service dog investments and big pharma investments in the U. S. and theorize how if we did things a little differently, what that might look like.

Until then, once again, I'm Stacie and thank you for listening to the Human Canine Alliance podcast. Click your follow button so you never miss an episode. And be sure to follow us on our new Facebook and Instagram pages.

I hope you continue to listen.