Most dog trainers get into their own businesses fueled by a desire to help dogs, and help people.

Unfortunately that means starting a business without the knowledge or experience of what running a business actually takes.

And that leads them to working way too much, for way too little, with the wrong kinds of clients and wondering why they are so tired and stressed and have no fucking time for anything except their business.

It doesn't have to be that hard.

Learning how to build, run and scale a dog training business that has systems in place that allow it to operate like a business is vital to being able to stay in business and continue to help dogs and help people.

This podcast is for dog trainers tired of running their business like every other trainer and ready to step into building a fucking dog training empire without it taking over their entire life.

Real talk? None of those things mean shit if you aren't able to deal with your own personal demons. Your shit IS going to show up in business. Your shit IS going to show up in your personal life.

We live in a society that tells us to avoid all "bad" feelings and numb them or avoid them with food, alcohol, binge watching tv, over exercising and a gazillion other ways to run and hide from how we feel.

We don't ever get taught how to just feel our fucking feelings. And so it's hard and scary!

But it doesn't always have to be. And the more we practice it, the easier it gets. The healthier we get. And the more successful and happier we get. (Plus feeling all of our feelings includes all of the ones that make us feel GOOD and the more we feel all of them the more we feel the ones we want to feel).

Learning how to be in our shit, and work through our shit, and show up Authentic AF has knock on effects you can't possibly imagine.

This podcast is all about teaching you how.

Music credit: Awesome People by RimskyMusic

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

You probably got into your dog training business to help animals and help people, but running the business side can be really overwhelming if it’s not set up right.

There’s so much more to running a business than just finding clients. In this podcast I’ll discuss some core ideas to get you started:

1. More behavioral education and certifications aren’t what you need to grow your business.
2. Adding an online component is the only way to be sustainable and scalable without burning yourself out with more 1:1 clients.
3. Rates. We’ll be diving deep into this one.
4. Not everyone with a dog is your client! 
5. My top solutions and tips for growing your business and how I can help you

If you’re fired up and ready to take your dog training business to the next level, book a chat with me at dogbizcoach.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Music credit: Awesome People by RimskyMusic

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Mentioned in this episode:

DogBizCoach.com

Getting fired up to implement some of these ideas in your business? Book your spot to have a chat with me at dogbizcoach.com!

DogBizCoach.com

Time to talk about certifications. Now, I’m not anti-certification. I believe that training is very important when it comes to working with dogs and you should be very proud of them. 

However, certification, education, knowledge, and skills are not the same thing.

It’s a MYTH that putting extra letters after your name means that more people will work with you, and that you’ll make more money. Clients care that you can fix the problem they’re having with their dog.

What will bring in clients, if certifications won’t?

• Marketing
• Niche
• Program design
• Sales

Word-of-mouth is fine, but that can’t be your main form of marketing.

How much money did you spend on behavior education and keeping up with your CPUs over the last 12 months? Can you directly correlate and calculate how that helped you make more money? I'll explore these questions and more in this episode.

If you’re fired up and ready to take your dog training business to the next level, book a chat with me at dogbizcoach.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Music credit: Awesome People by RimskyMusic

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Mentioned in this episode:

DogBizCoach.com

Getting fired up to implement some of these ideas in your business? Book your spot to have a chat with me at dogbizcoach.com!

DogBizCoach.com

Adding an online component to your dog training business can really help you be scalable and sustainable. And no, I’m not talking about an online course! 

A lot of businesses are set up to rely on one-to-ones, group courses, and board-and-trains. These are okay, but not the most effective. I see a lot of trainers waiting for things to go “back to normal.” 

This standard approach doesn’t work because:

• Group classes don’t work well for focus or concentration - for anyone.
• Your clients probably won’t retain much information from a group class and be able to effectively take the training home.
• In one-to-ones, the dogs may get uber focused on you and your treat pouch, and not focused on their own person.
• If there’s fear issues, the dog may not want you in their space.
• You know you have limited time with these people so you can’t spend all the time that they need to really understand what you’re trying to teach.
• There’s a lack of support between sessions, no matter how many emails you send.
• The wasted travel time!
• There’s a cap to how many people you can help, and therefore it’s not scalable.

As humans we’re not designed to work all the time. Once you understand the concept of a blended approach, your work load goes down and your quality of life goes up.

If you’re fired up and ready to take your dog training business to the next level, book a chat with me at dogbizcoach.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Music credit: Awesome People by RimskyMusic

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Mentioned in this episode:

DogBizCoach.com

Getting fired up to implement some of these ideas in your business? Book your spot to have a chat with me at dogbizcoach.com!

DogBizCoach.com

Dog trainers chronically under-charge. We want to be able to help as many people and dogs as possible, but the way to do that isn’t to take every client you see and lower your prices.

Undercharging hurts your business!

• The value of the industry tanks, as well as the value of what you offer
• The price range is too wide, so you’ll get bargain shoppers
• Undercharging feeds imposter syndrome
• More clients at a lower price means they’re not getting the best of you because you’re too busy

When you’re charging enough, you know you’re showing up at the top of your game. You can invest in your business education. You can charge the price for people who can genuinely afford it, then provide flexibility for those who need some help. 

• Work out what your financial needs are to build the life you want for yourself and your family.
• Price out the value of the different components you offer.
• Make sure that you have that 80/20 balance - Of your working hours, only 20% of those should be spent with clients.

If you’re fired up and ready to take your dog training business to the next level, book a chat with me at dogbizcoach.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Music credit: Awesome People by RimskyMusic

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Mentioned in this episode:

DogBizCoach.com

Getting fired up to implement some of these ideas in your business? Book your spot to have a chat with me at dogbizcoach.com!

DogBizCoach.com

Just because someone reaches out to you for help doesn’t necessarily mean they want help. Sometimes, they’re after a quick fix, like you’ll wave a magic wand and all their problems will go away. 

You can only help people who are willing to accept the help and do the work! A client coming to you expecting a quick fix won’t get the results they want, so they’ll leave unsatisfied, possibly with bad reviews, frustration, and your confidence will take a hit.

When you learn how to identify who your niche client is and where to find them, you’ll get better results for all of your clients because you can show up with the confidence that you know what you’re doing.

Here’s a couple tips to get started finding your niche:

• Commitment - Are they committed to the process?
• Capability - Are they capable of doing the work that’s necessary?
• Capacity - 
• What are 3 absolute deal breakers?
• What are 3 must-haves?
• What are some questions you can ask to help you figure that out?

People don’t hire you because of the dog’s behavior. They hire you because of how their dog’s behavior is making them feel. When you can make an emotional connection with your clients, then you can get to the bottom of what the real problem is. You’re not able to help the dog if you’re not able to help the person.

Join my FREE Facebook group and share your questions with us! https://www.facebook.com/groups/dogbizcoach

If you’re fired up and ready to take your dog training business to the next level, book a chat with me at dogbizcoach.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Music credit: Awesome People by RimskyMusic

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Mentioned in this episode:

DogBizCoach.com

Getting fired up to implement some of these ideas in your business? Book your spot to have a chat with me at dogbizcoach.com!

DogBizCoach.com

Now it’s time to start some implementation. But where to start? This is the process I take my clients through and if you want my help, let me know!

1. One of the first things I work on my clients with is raising rates. If you charge hourly, how many hours of work do you do for each hour of pay? 
2. Focus on your business structure. Make sure that things like refund and cancellation policies are solid so that your time is protected.
3. How can you add in an online component properly? That’s where I can help. It can be a total game changer.
4. Dig into your niche. What do your favorite clients have in common?
5. Sales and marketing. Your messaging attracts your clients. You don’t want to attract the wrong people.

My ideal clients, my niche clients, could figure out how to get to where I can get them on their own, but they understand that they don’t have to do it alone. They would rather learn from my mistakes!

When choosing a coach, it needs to be someone that you resonate with, who makes sense for you, whose values align with yours.  If you're still listening, maybe that coach is me!

Join my FREE Facebook group and share your questions with us! https://www.facebook.com/groups/dogbizcoach

If you’re fired up and ready to take your dog training business to the next level, book a chat with me at dogbizcoach.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Music credit: Awesome People by RimskyMusic

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Mentioned in this episode:

DogBizCoach.com

Getting fired up to implement some of these ideas in your business? Book your spot to have a chat with me at dogbizcoach.com!

DogBizCoach.com