Your pet business, Your way

Do you find yourself worrying around how much engagement you have on your social media accounts? This is a topic I find comes up repeatedly on social media, in Facebook group conversations, and in the coaching calls I run in my membership. Pet professionals who are doing a brilliant job of caring for animals and supporting their clients, making brilliant products that make a difference. Yet they b...

Are you fed up with feeling awkward when selling your product or service? If so, I think you’ll love this episode with sales expert Sara Dalrymple, author of More Sales Please, where we’re talking about letting go of the discomfort you feel around asking for money. You started your business because you wanted to do good work and make a difference, and for this to happen, you need to earn a living....

Would you love to be an award-winning pet business? To gain recognition for the hard work you do and stand out from the competition? Whether you own a grooming salon, a pet shop, training or dog walking service, or you make products that make a difference, being involved in industry awards will boost your credibility and attract new customers. In this podcast episode, I'm sharing reasons you shoul...

What do you do when something happens in your life, and it means you have to stop everything in your business to deal with it? We live in an uncertain world, and the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic has shown that you don’t know what might be coming around the corner to turn your life upside down. And while your business is a huge part of your life, there are inevitable things that happen with your famil...

Each year Theo Paphitis puts on his Small Business Sunday winner's event in Birmingham to celebrate small businesses and give them a boost. It's a brilliantly inspiring day where Theo and his panel of experts give so much encouragement and line up fabulous speakers to educate and inspire you. This year, we had talks on using AI in your marketing from Google and a spotlight session from Susan Bonna...

Is your pet business marketing in need of some tender loving care? I’d love to invite you to my ‘Show your pet business some love’ challenge. It’s a free five day challenge taking place from February 12th - 16th 2024 where you shake things up in your pet business and remember why you fell in love in the first place! With Valentine’s Day coming, I decided to create a free event around showing the l...

What do you do when you see pet professionals who use aversive methods being given a platform to share their views? And when your kind, force-free training methods are challenged in the mainstream media? This podcast is in response to a recent story in The Times newspaper about ‘How man’s best friend became the master.’ In the article, positive reinforcement training was mocked and challenged, and...

What do you need to create a successful online dog training business? Caroline Wilkinson from Barket Place is a dog trainer, behaviourist, and online pet coach and created her digital business way before the world went online. Her background is in digital marketing and when her first dog Ezri came into her life she wanted to learn more about how our dogs think and feel. So she decided to study dog...

Are you ready to plan out 2024 for your pet business? Whether the start of the New Year has you brimming with enthusiasm or you’d rather ease yourself in gently, it’s likely you’ve been thinking about what you’d like to accomplish. And if you’d like some structure and support around this, I’d love to invite you to a 'Plan Your Prosperous 2024' workshop. It’s happening on Tuesday, January 9th, at 7...

Is raising your profile and feeling more confident when it comes to being visible one of your goals for 2024? If so, it would be great to chat about working together! As a journalist, pet blogger, and visibility coach specializing in working with small businesses in the pet industry, I’d love to help you get noticed. There are a range of options to choose from, starting with my budget-friendly Pet...

How was 2023 for you? Is it a year you’re happy to look back on or one you’d rather forget? This week’s podcast is about reflecting on the last 12 months because there will be high points and inside of the challenges there are always lessons. It’s also about looking forward to 2024 and thinking about what you want for your business for the year ahead. So that you can break your goals down into man...

Have you ever thought about the culture of your pet business? This topic came up recently during a discovery call with a client, and I realised I had never taken the time to define my own. Your culture is comprised of the values, beliefs, behaviors, and environment that shape your brand or business. It plays a significant role in how you operate and communicate with prospective customers and clien...

Tracey McLennan is a dog trainer specialising in working with dogs with high prey drive. After studying for a degree and a Masters, decided she wanted to have her work feature in a journal. It was a challenging process with her surveying over 2,000 dog owners and studying over 90 videos of dogs. And earlier this year Tracey had her findings published in the Journal of Applied Animal Behaviour Scie...

You know what you offer in your pet business makes a difference, but how do people know you’re there to help if they don’t know what you do? When it comes to creating content to effectively market your work so you CAN reach the people out there who need you, there’s so much conflicting advice. New platforms, different demands, the latest trends, it’s no surprise it leads to huge overwhelm and make...

Learn from Natasha Courtenay-Smith about how to keep up with the content monsters and what being visible means for a small business for the next three years. Natasha is a journalist turned digital marketing expert who has a string of businesses including Buddy and Lola, a pet supplement brand. She's a powerhouse with a capital P when it comes to marketing and we talk about content monsters and the...

Christmas is right around the corner and this is such an exciting time for you and your pet business. People love spending money on pets during the holidays, whether it’s treating their furry family members to new toys, tasty treats, fun accessories, and more. If you provide a service, you’ll likely be in high demand as a pet sitter, groomer, or trainer helping pets be on their best behaviour when...

When you're running a business, it often feels like there's never a moment to catch your breath, with a constant stream of tasks demanding your attention. This week's podcast looks into the significance of occasionally hitting the pause button. This allows you to assess what's working, take stock, and give yourself a moment to breathe! I'll be discussing how the concept of 'pause' functions in coa...

When you make a decision in your pet business, do you consider the impact on your physical and mental health, or do you tend to think about the money? I'm chatting about this with my podcast guest Jane Ardern, and whether you really do need to grow a huge pet business. Or whether it's ok to have one that brings in enough money to pay the bills, give you a comfortable lifestyle and the time to...

When you started your small business, did you think there would be a smooth path to growth, an upwards trajectory? This week on the podcast, I’m talking about the rollercoaster ride that is being your own boss, and why we need to talk about the lows as well as the highs. The highs are those moments of exhilaration, when you’re riding high at the top of the rollercoaster. Then there’s the lows, whe...

Can you grow a pet service business via in-person networking? Hayley Hilton, a canine massage practitioner and pet sitter says yes you can. Hayley has been in the pet industry since 2014 after she started her own Hotel for Dogs. Later, she studied to become a massage therapist and wanted to get the word out there in her local community. While online is often seen as the ideal way to reach people,...

Wondering if tools like ChatGPT and other AI platforms could help you with your pet business content? In this episode, we're looking at AI and how it can help you be more creative and more productive, while still sounding like you. Think of AI as your helper, streamlining content creation and giving you more time in the day. I'll walk you through various ways to blend AI with your creative ideas a...

When Sarah Jones launched My Anxious Dog, her business dedicated to selling yellow space awareness products, people said there was no point in them. At that point, eight years ago, the concept of a dog in yellow symbolizing anxiety and the need for space was relatively unheard of. Sarah knew the vital role these products played for anxious dogs and their owners, because of her experience with her...

Starting a business or managing one that's been operating for a while can make articulating what you do a challenge. As a business owner, there could be numerous reasons why you may lack confidence in promoting yourself. In the podcast episode, I'm focusing on why it's so important to feel comfortable and gain confidence when it comes to discussing how you support your clients. We'll define what c...

In this episode of the podcast I'm talking about how to navigate controversy in your pet business. It's in light of a situation that has emerged regarding Absolute Dogs and commercial puppy breeding with links to other pet brands including Tug-e-Nuff which has had a lot of coverage on social media. Because so many pet professionals have links with these organisations, from having trained with Abso...

What if the path to growing your pet business wasn’t following the latest trends on social media but involved listening to people instead? That’s what Hayley Bonwick discovered worked for her when she set up her handmade pet accessory business Handmade by Hayley B. Hayley found trying to keep up with the ever changing demands of platforms completely overwhelming. Yet when she went to events with h...