Three Things I Wish I Had Known in My 20’s: Karen Scoggins

Before founding My Perfect Pet Food, Karen Scoggins had a very successful 25 year professional corporate career in science, engineering, and R&D. Then, in 2007, when her beloved yellow lab died, she decided that she wanted to pursue her passion. Right around that time, the largest pet food re-call in history took place.

It was the wake-up call she needed to act on her instincts and stress the importance of pet nutrition to people across America. Karen found herself driven by passion to form a company that put pet health over profits, and educate pet owners on how to make better food choices for their pets.

Her San Diego-based company, My Perfect Pet Food, does just that. The food is fully cooked, made with all natural, fresh, whole human-grade ingredients, frozen immediately to preserve freshness and to avoid the use of any preservatives.

Now that Karen has turned her passion into a career, here are a few things she has learned along the way:

1.      In my twenties, life seemed very compartmentalized:  career, family, social, play, etc.  While I feel I had an appropriate balance and focused energies on making each a successful part of my life, I wish I had realized the value of integrating them as a whole as I made life choices.   Founding and managing My Perfect Pet was not just a business opportunity, but a perfect merging of lifelong passion and career, becoming more of a lifestyle than a job.

2.      I wish I had focused more energy on improving communication skills.  My perspective then was much narrower, more cause and effect than relationship building.  Study hard, get good grades.  Work hard, make more money.  Ask, receive.  Be nice, have fun, make lots of friends, etc.  The older I get, the more I have learned to value the true art of communication, and the value in not just listening, hearing, and responding, but in respecting communication as a foundation for relationship building.

3.      I took engineering so I wouldn’t have to take English.  I loved math, numbers seemed easy, but while I have found math to be useful in every aspect of life (even shopping) I now wish I had taken advantage of opportunities to study art and creative writing.  I love reading a good book, and have great respect for an author who can make words come alive.  I am at ease with numbers and technical data, but I still struggle with expression of passion and appeal.And I wish I had paid more attention in chemistry class!