DogCo Secrets

Have you ever felt like you're putting everything you have into your business, but somehow you're not getting the results you're working so hard for? I've absolutely been there. My natural tendency has always been to put my head down, push harder, and find a way to get it done. But I've spent a lot of time this year recognizing that sometimes working harder isn't the answer. Sometimes we're simply...

At some point in growing a team-based pet care business, the work is going to outpace what you as the owner can, and should, continue doing yourself. But how do you know when it's financially responsible to bring on administrative or management support? And how do you make sure that investment actually moves your business forward? In this episode, I'm breaking down three ways to evaluate whether y...

What if your pet care business is growing, but your life as the owner isn't actually getting any better? One of the biggest misconceptions I see among business owners is the assumption that more revenue, more clients, and more volume will automatically solve the problems they're experiencing. I've learned firsthand that this isn't always the case. In fact, growth can make your business significant...

There are a few things I think people misunderstand about DogCo, and I wanted to take some time to address them honestly. From what we actually do inside the program to who it's designed for, how our support works, and what it really takes to get results, I'm pulling back the curtain on some of the assumptions and misconceptions I see when companies are considering joining DogCo. In this episode,...

Sometimes the biggest thing standing between you and the business you want to build is yourself. In this episode, I sit down with Sam Evensen to talk about a year of significant change in her business, including transitioning from independent contractors to employees, redefining her role as an owner, and developing the confidence to make decisions that once felt incredibly uncomfortable. One of th...

Business coaching can be an incredibly valuable investment, but it's not automatically the right move for every business owner at every stage. After working with more than 300 clients and investing in coaching for her own development, Michelle Kline shares three mindsets that can prevent you from getting the full value out of a coach or business coaching program. In this episode, Michelle explores...

With roughly eight working weeks left in the year, there's still time to make meaningful improvements to your pet care business's profitability. But rather than trying to overhaul everything at once, Michelle Kline shares three practical areas to focus on before the end of 2026: holiday pricing, reengaging former clients, and improving operational efficiency. In this episode, Michelle explains how...

If you're trying to grow your pet care business but keep hitting a wall, your first instinct might be to focus on getting more leads and attracting new clients. But what if lead flow isn't actually the problem? In this episode, Michelle Kline explains why many dog walking and pet sitting businesses struggle with hidden operational bottlenecks that prevent them from growing, increasing profit, or c...

We're coming off the DogCo Business Summit, opening enrollment for 2027, and heading into the final stretch of the year. In this episode, Michelle Kline shares a different approach to finishing the year well: instead of chasing another big goal or launching something new, what if you focused on the small, consistent actions that actually move you forward? Michelle breaks down her approach to build...

Running a pet care business can be so independent that we get used to working without much connection to other owners. As the DogCo Business Summit begins, I’m sharing why bringing people together matters to me beyond the visibility or business opportunities a conference creates. In this short episode, I talk about the community gap I see among pet care business owners, how meeting in person can d...

Should you pay your dog walkers and pet sitters per visit or by the hour? I’ve used both models, and while I prefer hourly pay for most team-based pet care businesses, there are situations where I would leave a working per-piece model alone. In this episode, I explain how pay structure affects labor costs, the applicants you attract, and compensation for training and additional responsibilities as...

Getting your money’s worth from business education doesn’t mean consuming every lesson or implementing every idea. I’ve seen pet care companies get more out of a program by focusing on a specific problem they need to solve, rather than trying to absorb everything at once. With the DogCo Business Summit approaching, I’m sharing three ways to get more value from conferences, coaching, and workshops:...

In this throwback episode, I am sharing three honest truths that I wish I could tell coaching clients when they are deep in the struggle. These are insights I hold closely in my own business, and they shape how I coach, how I lead, and how I navigate hard seasons. Some of these truths are not always easy to hear in the moment, but they absolutely transform how you show up in your business long ter...

Every meaningful goal comes with a trade-off. That does not mean we should assume success has to be painful, exhausting, or destructive, but it does mean that the time, focus, money, energy, and attention required to build something meaningful have to come from somewhere. In this episode, I’m sharing something I’ve been sitting with in my own journey as a business owner: learning to acknowledge th...

When I owned my pet care company, I put a lot of energy into bringing in new clients. Looking back, I would have focused much more on keeping them. A new booking is only the beginning of the relationship, and the real opportunity is becoming the company clients turn to again and again. In this episode, I break down how to build client retention systems that help your dog walking or pet sitting bus...

Growth is usually treated as the obvious goal in business, but sometimes pushing for more revenue, more clients, and a bigger team is exactly the wrong move. If the foundation underneath your pet care business isn't healthy, adding more volume can amplify the problems you already have instead of solving them. In this episode, I break down five situations where I would recommend easing off the gas...

The more I’ve learned and grown as a business owner this year, the more clearly I’ve been able to see everything I still want to improve. What I didn’t expect was how easily that awareness could turn into insecurity, hesitation, and even a desire to become less visible inside my own business. In this episode, I’m peeling back the curtain on one of my biggest lessons from 2026: learning that two se...

If you want to grow your pet care business, you need to know exactly how much additional work your team can handle. Staffing capacity is one of the most important metrics in a team-based pet care company, yet most owners are still estimating it based on instinct instead of tracking it. In this episode, I break down how to calculate staffing capacity, why available team hours represent potential re...

Most business owners collect feedback reactively. Something goes wrong, a client complains, or a team member brings up an issue, and suddenly everyone starts trying to fix the problem. But feedback can become one of your most powerful growth tools when you turn it into a consistent process. In this episode, I break down the exact framework I use for collecting and analyzing client feedback, includ...

Should you run paid ads to grow your pet care business? In this episode, I’m breaking down what I’ve learned from testing paid ads inside DogCo, why paid acquisition is not the easy lead-generation shortcut many business owners hope it will be, and what needs to be true before you start spending money on Meta or Google. I’ll walk through the reality of testing creative, monitoring performance, inv...

Dave Peterson bought Bethesda Dog Walkers at the end of 2023 and quickly discovered that the business had major structural problems. Payroll was too high, pricing was inconsistent, services were overly complicated, and despite strong revenue on paper, the company was not actually healthy. In this episode, Dave and I unpack what happened next: simplifying the business, restructuring payroll, losing...

Building a team can unlock tremendous growth, freedom, and opportunity in your pet care business. It can also create some of the most expensive and complicated problems you will ever have to solve as an owner. In this episode, I break down the real risk and reward of moving from a solo business to a team-based model. We talk about labor costs, protecting profit, the revenue required to support an...

If this year has gone a little sideways, or if you simply want to make the most of the final five months of 2026, this episode is about resetting with clarity instead of forcing yourself to stick to goals that may no longer fit. I’m sharing how I’m personally reassessing the year, why some goals need to change as your business evolves, and how to tell the difference between being productively off...

Growing your pet care business doesn't always require more leads. Sometimes the biggest opportunity is already sitting inside your existing client list. In this episode, I share the thinking behind DogCo's first-ever New Dog Walking Client Bootcamp, why August has consistently been one of the strongest seasons for recurring dog walking growth, and one practical strategy you can implement immediate...

When I first became an entrepreneur, there were a lot of things I didn’t understand yet, things that only come into focus after you’ve carried the weight of the business for a while. In today’s episode, I share five lessons I wish I had known earlier in my entrepreneurial journey. These are not tactical shortcuts or growth hacks, but hard-earned truths that have shaped how I lead, make decisions,...