Hey dog trainer!
Hey, I’m Erin!
I help dog trainers build ethical businesses that don’t burn them the fuck out.
Aside from D&D (that’s Dungeons & Dragons for you non nerds) I know a lot about 3 things:
1) The best way to simplify a dog training business model;
2) How to get people to buy your dog training services;
3) How to help you do the hard and scary things that seem too big to do.
I was a dog trainer for 13 years and made every single business mistake you could make. I burnt out and left the industry for a year (which was a different kind of soul destroying). When I came back, it was with the knowledge that I had to learn how to do things differently if I was going to not just survive, but thrive.
So I did. I hired coaches and copywriters and marketers and facebook ads specialists and I learned a way better, more sustainable way to:
Set up my business (because I was so tired of working all the damn time, and never seeming to get the kind of results with my clients that I knew they could get with me);
Market and sell those services (because I was so tired of “hoping” that enough clients would find me every month and wanted to be in charge of my money);
Manage my itty bitty shitty committee (because I was so tired of my fears being the thing that made my decisions and allowing external factors to control my business and my life).
And I walked away from my huge dog training facility, added an online component to my business, went from $8k/month working all the damn time to $23k/month working 30 hours/week (yes, consistently) in under 6 months. Because I wasn’t trying to find more ways that I could just work harder, I was finding ways to make my whole business model and how I worked with people BETTER. For them AND for me.
But as I basked in my new business (and tried to figure out wtf to do with my newfound free time) I realised something.
There were (still are) so many fantastic trainers, struggling like I had been, thinking it was their fault, not aware of the fact that it’s actually a business model issue and with some tweaks and changes, they could be thriving instead of sacrificing their everything to do the job they loved.
And I knew I wanted to move to working with trainers and helping them move from working all the time for inconsistent money and okay-to-good client results, to a proper work-life balance, while having consistent $10k plus months and majorly upleveling their client results.
Because here’s the thing:
You don’t need to be working harder. You really don’t. Dog trainers are some of the hardest working people on the planet (often to avoid their feelings but that’s a whole different subject).
You don’t need to be spending a gazillion fucking hours a day on social media to market your services.
You don’t need to offer ALL of the things to ALL of the people (in fact that will often do the opposite of what you want).
You don’t need another certification.
You don’t need to lower your rates to “compete” with Joe Blow dog trainer down the road.
You don’t need to fight with people on Tiktok to grow your following.
You don’t need to work evenings and weekends.
You don’t even need to offer group classes or private sessions! (Wait, what? Yeah, I said what I said).
You just need a couple of things:
1) The outline for a better business model that isn’t reliant on your time being the thing that holds everything together;
2) Knowing how to market and sell that so that you are in charge of your money and can bring in clients whenever you want or need to;
3) Some tools to help navigate your itty bitty shitty committee telling you why you can’t or shouldn’t or it won’t work.
