The Poodle to Pitbull Pet Business Podcast

Do spooky spirits give you the shivers, or does blood, needles, small spaces or the dark make you fill your pants like a toddler whose had too many rusks? Course not! Well, did you know the pet business journey has more fearful and anxious moments than a Scream boxset! In this Halloween Special I'm sharing the five levels on the pet business scare-o-metre so you can see exactly where YOU are, and...

Do you want to know the easiest, best and fastest way to get on in life? (That includes business or anything else you crave success with?) It's to put some  skin in the game. See, talk is cheap and it's easy to simply 'say' you are serious about growing your pet business.  There's a MASSIVE difference between being a 'freebie seekers' and someone who has invested cold, hard cash in their personal...

Do you ever lie awake at night worrying about the money your pet business makes? Does tax planning turn you off and would you rather pick up dog poo than look at a spreadsheet? Fear ye not pet biz owner, cos this week Dom is joined by his accountant Lorraine Ellison of Simply Additions. Lorraine shares how you end the headaches and stress you feel about money, so you can take control of your finan...

How did dog trainer Annie Grossman go from teaching dog training classes in her living room apartment, to opening a School for the Dogs in New York City that included a puppy kintergarden, day school dog classes, a school dog yard run AND a store! Well, it wasn't easy, she had to contend with sky high real estate prices, a fire and then covid! Get the full inspirational story by checking out episo...

Tracey Oliver had the idea to start a dog business over a curry and a glass of wine (I approve of this kind of planning!) She got Cozy Canines off the ground while she had some time off from her main employed job, and worked to a deadline where she HAD to make a certain amount of money, by a certain date IF she was to turn her dog walking dream into a reality. Find out how she embraced premium pri...

Growing a pet business is bloody hard work! You need websites, leaflets and a social media presence but you don't know how to be interesting! You know you need to increase prices but you don't know how without losing clients. And you may need to take on staff but you don't know where to start! Well, in this weeks episode Dom shares how you can get all the answers in one complete, Dog Walkers 'Busi...

Do you ever feel like giving up, that your pet business will never take off or that you just aren't cut out to be a business owner? If the lockdown left you listless and you are worried about the upcoming recession, then this episode of the show will put a rocket up your butt and give you the boost you need to keep going. Alex the Video Guy is back and we have a plan to help you adapt and keep goi...

This week I'm going stateside and interviewing Colin and Meghan Funkhouser who run a family pet business in Missouri and they also produce the excellent Pet Sitter Confessional Podcast. They originally started a pet sitting business while studying their masters degrees in Texas, then they moved back home to be nearer family and started again from scratch. Dicover how they used online and offline m...

This week I'm talking to long-time PBIC member, 'The Collie Coach' Tam Wilson, who runs the award winning Born 2 Run Pet Care (a business that inspired me when I was setting up in 2011). Tam shares an inspiring, entertaining rollercoaster of a pet business story that saw her overcome relocating to a new town, loads of competition and running her pet business as a single mum, to create an award win...

Today I'm on the beach with Alex 'the video guy' Wardle, and we are talking about why now is the time to dust off the BIG pet business plan you shelved when lockdown hit. To keep growing and developing your pet business you need to embrace the growing pains that come with success. I share how you can keep growing AND build a profitable and fulfilling pet business. Also near the end of the pod Alex...

This week I'm talking to one of my PBIC Diamond members, dog grooming sensation Anna Pollard, who along with her business partner Selina, owns The Dog House Salon in Leicester. Anna tells how she went from doing no marketing (and having no clients) to implementing 80/20, premium pricing, upsells, add-ons and produced a kick-ass paper and ink newsletter which has transformed the business fortunes. ...

Todays guest is PBIC Diamond member Phil Houston. In 2016 Phil actually bought the dog wallking business he was using at the time. He grew it and last year added a doggy daycare business called Tails from the Lake. You hear how Phil used to be a busy fool who was sh!t scared about increasing his prices (but did it anyway), how 'follow up' has transformed his marketing, AND why now he concentrates...

One of the most frustrating things about being a pet business owner is when you have loads of passion for the job, you are destermined to make an IMPACT in your community with your amazing services....BUT....you haven't got a bloody clue where to start. There's so many things you WANT to do, but your lack of clarity leads to confusion, so you constantly feel stuck in the mud (and you HATE it!) I w...

This week I'm talking to one of my founding PBIC Diamond members, 'The Fairy Dogmother' herself, Kerry Lawson! Kerry shares an inspirational business story of how she gained the confidence to became a dog trainer, then niched down to helping fearful and reactive dogs, and how she kept going during lockdown to bounce back and have the best ever month in her pet business. Like ever! Find out how she...

Thats a question I've been asked a lot by pet business owners, who have suffered massively during lockdown, and who now face an uncertain future as the recession rumbles ominously towards us. The truth is YOU are the only one who can influence when you return (and exceed) pre-lockdown levels of income, with the marketing you do right NOW. Tune in to find out my post-pandemic pet business plan. Get...

Today I'm joined by part man, part machine, all awesome Alex 'the video guy' Wardle, and as we at the halfway point of the year we are discussing our half-term 'business' report. You'll find out how Alex and I PLAN for profit, and build a dream business. You can copy this system so you can recover all the lost ground from the lockdown, and smash the granny out of the second half of 2020. For more...

Discover how todays podcast guest, Nicola Davies went from being a skint, time-poor dog trainer, to having a premium pet business, and she is now known as The Puppy Nanny! Nic quickly built a business with staff and many clients, but found she was working long hours for little reward, she'd created a time-sucking small business MONSTER! Find out how she coped with anxiety and depression to rebuild...

Earlier this year I created INSPIRE - The online pet business success summit. I was joined by five special guests who shared everything from how to create effective video, to how to get your business featured in the paper, how to write a book to how to create an app to grow your dog training business. It was EPIC! And today I'm sharing the FIVE success secrets that you can implement in your pet bu...

Do you feel like you are busy fool in your pet business? Are you passionate but penniless and time poor? That's how this weeks guest Sally Cousins felt about her dog walking business too! Sally worked in Tescos for 21 years before she finally followed her passion and started Woofer Walkies. Sally shares how she went from being an average 'low priced' dog walker, to being a 'premium' pet business b...

The biggest cock up I made in my pet business journey was when I opened an online store in 2015. First mistake was having a 'build it and they will come attitude' They don't BTW. Next mistake was I 'outsourced' my marketing and trusted so called 'experts' with my hard earned cash. They spent it galdly but I got no return. In todays episode I lay out why your marketing should be the last thing you...

Alex the video guy is back, and we are fully into our 'post-lockdown' marketing blitz (as you should be too). Alex is putting together a documentary AND leverage his expert video making skills by creating an online course. Dom points out how super smart this is as what Alex is really creating are 'assets' he can use, and reuse over and over again to grow his business. Want to create similar assets...

How do you  turn a dog owning total stranger into a profitable customer for life? Well, it's not about how fancy your logo is, or how good your SEO is, OR how many times you post on Facebook....NO dear listener. It's actually about how you build a relationship BEFORE you sell your services, and it's much easier to sell to a warm lead than a cold lead. Whats the difference? Find out in this weeks e...

Today I'm giving you a sneak peak behind the INSPIRE curtain and you have a meaty snippet of my opening presentation 'Operation Re-think'. See, as we leave lockdown there's lots of talk about 'Re-starting' 'Re-booting' 'Re-inventing' your business, but the danger with that is you jump straight on the hamster wheel of busy-ness and end up no better of than you were before covid hit. The answer is t...

This weeks podcast comes to you LIVE from the beach where Dom and Derek are discussing life, the lockdown and Beth leaving school. I share how we managed to re-arrange our priorities and set new goals that would allow Beth to leave her job of 20 years and join the business full time here at Pack Towers. Want to change your life? Then listen to this podcast. Want to improve your pet business? Then...

The world is waking up from lockdown and most countries are tentitivley loosening restrictions so that businesses can start trading again. And whether you have started already, are slowly re-starting or just 'thinking' about starting back up,  you need a 'leaving lockdown' plan of action.  The key to success is to position your service as a 'must have' essential rather than nice to have 'extra'. C...