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Ask the Experts: Finding Longevity

Veronica Boutelle of PPG corporate partner dog*biz provides suggestions on how pet professionals can streamline their businesses when feeling overwhelmed

Q: When I first started building my dog training busi‐ness, I was pretty desperate for all income and every op‐portunity I could get. Now that things are a bit more established, I’m feeling overwhelmed. I teach classes in six, yes, six, different locations across town. The driving and set‐up are killing me. I volunteer at two local shelters. I do “Ask the Trainer” events at two different pet supply stores. I’m even still pet sit‐ting for some clients (though I have taken pet sitting off my website). I do day training (which I love) and coaching (which I don’t so much love) as well as classes. I’d really like to do some board and train (clients have been asking), but I don’t know where I’d fit it. My schedule is a mess and I’m worried I’m start‐ing to burn out. I know you’re going to tell me I should sim‐plify, but I just don’t know how. I feel bad pulling back from anything, and I’ve got some FOMO going, too. Help!

‐ Stacy, training down South

Making a small business sustainable is essential for longevity and avoiding burnout

A: Let’s start with some +R. Kudos for doing the legwork to build those referral relationships, and huge congrats on getting yourself established. Kudos also for being ready to now make your business work for you before you burn out, even though you feel a little nervous about doing so.

I’ve seen a lot of trainers in your situation wait too long to make the changes necessary for longevity. Change is hard, especially when you’re already stretched thin. And feelings of guilt and fear are challenging to wrestle with. It’s always painful to adjust a relationship or end an era, and the fear of missing out (aka FOMO)—of leaving a void for another trainer to step into—can be paralyzing. But the reality is that you can’t do it all forever. And here’s another reality—you don’t need to do it all to maintain (and even grow) your success. The trick here is to ask yourself two questions: What do you want? And which things contribute most to that goal?

Gaining Control If you could snap your fingers and have your business be exactly what you want, what would it look like? If you were designing it from scratch today knowing what you’ve learned from the process the first time around, which services would you choose to offer? What do you most enjoy doing? What is bringing in your best income? Where do you see the most growth potential?

From the bit you’ve shared with me, it sounds like your interest may lie primarily in day training and board and train. In that case, one option to get your schedule under better control and make more room for these services is to cut back on the number of classes you’re teaching. Assess each location. How much money do you make at each? What is the time commitment, including drive time? Who are the students, and what kind of conversion rate are you seeing from classes into private training? Keep the locations that best serve your private training goals and let go of the others. Let go of the guilt of saying goodbye, too; it really is okay to

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Veronica Boutelle MA Ed CTC is founder and co-president of dog*biz (dogbizsuccess.com), and author of How to Run Your Dog Business and co-author of Minding Your Dog Business. dog*biz offers professionally designed positive reinforcement dog training class curricula, including Open-Enrollment Puppy, Open-Enrollment Basic Manners, and short Topics classes built for retention. move on, and they’ll be fine. And if they replace you with another trainer, that’s okay. Remember that this location isn’t serving your goals anymore. Go through this same process to assess the other things on your plate, too, like the Ask the Trainer events, shelter volunteer work, and pet sitting. As you do, keep in mind that while everything on your plate likely has value, that value is not all equal. You know you can’t continue to fit everything in, so you must pick and choose based on how well each thing vying for your time and energy relates to and serves your vision for your business. Remember, too, to make sure you reserve some time for self care.

Kudos again for being ready to take your success to a new and more sustainable level, Stacy. We hope these tips help, and we’d love to hear how you decide to move forward and how things evolve for you. n

Do you have a question for the business experts at dog*biz? Submit your question for consideration to: barkseditor@petprofessionalguild.com

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can help your business: www.dogbizsuccess.com

…keep in mind that while everything on your plate likely has value, that value is not all equal. You know you can’t continue to fit everything in, so you must pick and choose based on how well each thing vying for your time and energy relates to and serves your vision for your business.

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