
Get Back On Track By Getting Radically Honest About Why You are Running Your Dog Business
Let's Talk Dog BusinessShow Notes
Most dog trainers didn’t become self‑employed because they craved spreadsheets, tax returns, and late‑night admin. They started because they loved dogs, loved learning, and wanted to do something that wasn´t soul sucking.
Fast forward a few years and many are burnt out, under‑earning, and stuck in limbo – half in, half out – between a “proper job” that is pure drudgery and a dog business they don’t fully trust to support them.
In this episode, we strip back the glossy story and talk honestly about why you’re in business, how you got here (accidentally or intentionally), and why that is important. We discuss how to keep going when things get hard. You’ll hear our real stories of turning down safe promotions, taking redundancy, leaving big salaries, and redefining purpose after grief and major life events. Including, the ripple effect those decisions had on family, money, self-belief, and our entrepreneurial lives.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
How your business started shapes your mindset and expectations of what you can achieve.
Many trainers stay in “safe” jobs they hate because they don’t fully trust the business model or themselves to make it work financially.
Tough life events often act as forced turning points that push you to finally say, “there is no good time – I’m doing it anyway.
There’s a difference between the motivation to start and the motivation to continue and work your way through the drudgery.
If you’re constantly moaning about enquiries, clients, or cash, you eventually have to stop the moaning and change how you run your business.
What do you want your life to look like? – that is your first question, answer that question and change things to make it happen.
BEST MOMENTS
“What's the blocker here? Why are lots of people struggling to get those brilliant results?”
“I love that transformation; I love people getting brilliant results.”
“All the stuff that we're moaning about, all the things that we find difficult. What are we doing about it?”
“What is your motivation when it's hard, what's keeping you going? Where do you want to go with it? Where do you want your life to be?”
EPISODE RESOURCES
The Judgy Carrott episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/how-to-stop-unintentionally-telling-prospective-clients/id1727170978?i=1000768641524
SOCIALS AND IMPORTANT LINKS
https://www.tiktok.com/@letstalkdogbusiness
https://www.youtube.com/@LetsTalkDogBusiness
Website www.caninebusinessacademy.com
Community Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/caninebusinessacademycommunity
Let´s Talk Dog Business Strategy Book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lets-Talk-Dog-Business-Strategy/dp/1068791705
Email: [email protected]
ABOUT THE HOSTS
Jo Moorcroft and Vicky Davies are dog behaviourists, business strategists, and co-founders of Canine Business Academy—the UK’s go-to hub for dog professionals who want more than just a logo and a dream.With a combined passion for dogs and business done properly, Jo and Vicky have helped hundreds of canine professionals build sustainable, profitable businesses rooted in real impact.🏆 Their award-winning work has earned recognition including:– UK StartUp Awards: Business to Business (Midlands)– Small Business Awards UK: Most Innovative Small Business 2025– Business Awards UK: Most Innovative Pet Product 2024– Plus shortlists at the Women in Business and Great British Businesswoman AwardsThey’re also No.1 bestselling authors of Let’s Talk Dog Business Strategy, featured on BBC Radio, FOX, NBC, and more—with 63,000+ downloads of this very podcast.Their philosophy is simple:Give a shit. Get shit done. Get results.
This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
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In this episode we get honest about one of the biggest struggles facing dog trainers and behaviourists: knowing what to charge for your services and feeling confident enough to believe you deserve to earn a decent living. We look at why trainers can end up undercharging, separating training from behaviour work, and believing they need more qualifications or a more impressive title before they can charge more.We discuss why the value of your work isn’t determined by how “simple” a dog’s problem looks, and why the real thing you are being paid for is the impact you can have on someone’s life. Then, we explore how to stop comparing yourself to other people, recognise what you are actually good at, and build a business around the work you genuinely want to do.KEY TAKEAWAYSYou Are Solving Much Bigger Problems Than You Think: Clients aren’t simply paying you to show them how to train their dog. They are paying you to help them solve a problem that is negatively affecting their life, one that is maybe even making them think about giving up their dog. Understanding that changes how you see your value, your service and what you can reasonably charge.Stop Thinking of Yourself As Just a Dog Trainer: Most of the time dog trainers do far more than simply show a client a technique. They use their experience to identify the root cause of an issue and actively coach and support owners until their problem is solved.You Don’t Need a Bigger Title to Be Worth More: The pressure to become a behaviourist or collect more qualifications can come from a belief that you need external validation before you are good enough to charge properly. In reality, all dog owners are really interested in is whether you can solve their problem.Stop Trying to Be Someone Else: Just because you can work with certain types of dogs or behaviour cases doesn’t mean you should. Understanding what you genuinely enjoy, what you are good at and where your strengths lie will help you to build a business that actually suits you.BEST MOMENTS“I was making like £15, £20 grand a month in some months.”“You can be the reason they keep the dog, and you can be the reason they love their dog again, and you can just make that difference.”“That's what you're being paid for. That's why you should be earning a decent wage. That's why you do deserve it.”“To warrant that fee, I need to become a behaviourist. I need to have level five, level six, all the stuff masters. No, you f**king don't. No, you don't.”“Someone is not reaching out to you for you to show them what to do. They're reaching out to you for you to help them work through it.”IMPORTANT LINKS https://www.caninebusinessacademy.com/gsd-buisness-accelerator https://www.tiktok.com/@letstalkdogbusiness https://www.youtube.com/@LetsTalkDogBusiness