5 Steps To Break The Holiday Hustle Cycle For Dog Biz Owners

In today's episode of the Mind Your Own Dog Business Podcast, Kristen Lee discusses the way to STOP the insanity of the holiday season.

The big push. The final massive cash injection.

Feast time, baby. Hustle and grind.

If you're not "hustlin'" you're not a good business owner, right?

The other hand – that this is finally it.The finale to already burned out a schedule and overly stressed out dog business.

More expectations to perform, to push personal needs aside. Even less time to set aside to FOCUS on business operations. More staff to manage.All you want to do is survive and get through this. So what if it means another year of reheated holiday dinners or cutting family time short? 

You repeat in your head "just get through this.. just get through this". 

Even if it means waking up to 20 dogs in your house barking vs. the excitement of presents…Every year, you tell yourself it's the last year.

As fast as the holidays came, January hits. Welcomed silence. Rest.

Then scary silence. Crap! Fewer people are spending money.

Then, the Marketing Hustle Trap sucks you in its seductive vortex.

Here's the thing – IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY.

You can have a steady, sustainable, growing dog business without the insanity end of year hustle. A strong, healthy dog business that enables you to have the financial resources year-round without the final push.

It is possible.

Links:

Impactful Marketing Guide

Check out more episodes of Mind Your Own Dog Business

Connect with Kristen:

Online: https://thekristenlee.com 

Instagram: @dogwalkercoach

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristenleegrassroots

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

You're listening to the mind your own dog business podcast. I'm your host leading expert in dog business, strategic Kristin leave guys yet ready for your journey, your journey to cutting edge marketing and sales, creating a standout kick ass dog business grant along with mastering your mindset that's going to smash all of this glass ceilings that have been holding you back and catapult your dog was us to the next level with actionable steps you can take right away. We're going to empower you. We're going to grow you as you step into your authentic self, not only as a dog trainer, dog Walker or what ever slice the pet industry you find yourself in, but as that bad-ass entrepreneur, my mission is to disrupt the current norm. Cut through the noise, cut through the bullshit, empower the incredible women of the dog business industry to step into the spotlight, reclaim, control, and transform not only their businesses but their lives. It's real. It's raw, it's uncensored, and it's what this dog business industry needs. Let's do this guys.

Speaker 2: 1:15

[inaudible][inaudible].

Speaker 1: 1:27

What is going on? Everybody? Welcome to today's Epic episode of the mind. Your own a dog business podcast hosted by your favorite sailor mouth, dog biz, a strategic Kristen Lee guys. This is one of those episodes that we need to have a talk. We need to fucking talk really quick before this because I want to help you with something. I want to help you get the fuck out of the holiday crisis hustle cycle that is coming up very quickly. You know the one, the feast and motherfucking famine cycle of the holiday seasons because that shit is rapidly approaching and I know every year you say the same thing. This year I'm not going to get sucked into it this year. I'm not going to do it this year. Somebody else is going to do it for me. And what happens in the next few weeks? You find your fucking asses in the same cycle. So what I want you to do is to listen to this episode carefully to start making these changes because it's not too late. And to make a commitment, a promise to not only yourself but to your family that this is it. No more feast and famine cycle because a sustainable business, a sustainable dog training business, sustainable dog walking business is possible where you don't even need to fucking worry about the holiday season where you can actually use your boundaries and no to people and still have a growing healthy, profitable dog business. Now, what am I talking about? The holiday season, you know that little cycle from November to January, so it's like, yes, yes. The big push, the massive final cash injection, and you usually welcome it on both hands. One is with resentful welcomes. It's like, okay, cool. I know I'm going to make more money. This is my feast cycle. I'm going to have more people come to me. I'm going to be boarding dogs at my house, or maybe I'm going to be doing pet sitting visits and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'll make some tips and whatever. And then on the other hand you're like, fuck God fucking dammit Jesus. It's like, I can't handle this this year, but you're going to do it anyway. Because of course if you're like most of business owners, you have a problem setting boundaries. So it's like, okay, cool. FaceTime, baby hustle and grind, hustle and grind. Cause if you aren't a hundred X in your business, you are fucking loser. Yo. You gotta show up every day and scream into the microphone that you are the fucking best dog trainer. Yo, I'm just kidding you guys. I'm just making fun. That's some bro marketing that I'd been noticing, but I'm going to be talking about in the next couple episodes, but it's, it's the massive cash injection. It's like, okay, I can do this. I can do this. I can hit my goal of 250 keg and hit my goal of 500 K this year. Okay, I'm right there just a couple of little bit more hustle seasons and I'm good. I'm good at these next couple of weeks. Yes, it's going to suck. Yes, I get it. Yes, but I'm going to hit my goals. But then on the other hand, like we were just hitting on, it's like fuck, I already have a burnt out schedule. I'm already stressed the fuck out. I already put all these unrelenting standards and expectations on myself to push, push myself perform and to push my personal needs aside. And it's like you even have less time to set aside to focus on the dog business operations and then you have more staff to manage. And I get this right, so all you want to do is to survive this, make a little bit extra money and who the fuck cares? So what if it means another year of reheated holiday leftovers or cutting family time short. So you just repeat yourself. I just got to get through this. I just gotta get through this. Even if it means waking up to 20 dogs in your house, barking versus excitement of, you know, your kids opening presents or the excitement of having family in your household. That's not really exciting sometimes. I mean, trust me, I get that one, but every year it's like you have this broken promise that you tell yourself and it's like first and foremost, your business goal should not be resolutions because that's bullshit. But every year it's like you tell yourself it's the last year. And then as fast as the holidays come on upon us, which they are, they're almost here is January hits, right? January hits December or January 3rd hits, and then it's silence and it's like, ah, I can actually have some rest. It's quiet. It's not quiet quiet, but it's kind of silent. But then it gets super scary, silent, like really creepy silent because you're like, fuck God damn it. Fewer people are spending money and then the fucking famine cycle hits you. And then all what happens is we start the repeated hustle cycle, hustle crisis cycle. I always mess that up because I do have dyslexia. I'm going to be vulnerable in meant that I do have dyslexia if you haven't heard me before, but it's the truth. So it's it. The thing is guys, it starts to select, suck you into like a mud marketing hustle trap, and then everything else starts to go. And then you're gonna be sitting here. You're later in the same fucking exact spot. So what I'm telling you today is with this episode, creating awareness around it. And I want to let you know and I want to smash your mindset. I want to smash it into a million fucking pieces that it does not have to be this way, dog trainers. It does not have to be where if you don't want to bore dogs, if you don't want to pet said just to earn a couple extra bucks in your pocket for the end of the year. It doesn't need to be this way. Dog walkers, same thing. You don't have to do the pets. It's if you don't want to do it, you don't have to do the no running around like a crazy person. You don't have to do the holiday visits if you don't want to do that. You don't have to bore dogs in your home if you don't want to do that. Okay? Pet sitters. I'm talking to you guys. If you want to be able to take off the holiday season, if you don't want to work your staff to their bones, you does not have to be this way. The thing is, the fucking thing is guys, you can have a sustainable, steady growing dog walking business dog training business without the insanity of the end of year hustle like it's fucking possible because what happens when we try to get prepared for the holiday season? What do you normally do? So you go, you start to say to clients, Hey, we're filling up for the holidays really quickly. Make sure you get right your reservations and sometimes you hire some unreliable holiday help. Sometimes it's in the form of personal friends and family and when you start to scramble and try to do all these things, it doesn't allow for growth at all and it just keeps you stuck and dog business fucking purgatory. The thing is a strong healthy dog business that enables you to have financial resources. Your long, you don't need that fucking hustle crisis cycle at the end of the year, the strong final push, that shit goes out the door because you're already hitting your goals every fucking quarter. You're already tracking your KPIs, your benchmarks to know that you don't have to fucking rely on the last year so you can buy fucking presence. Guys, it's possible and this is the transformational strategy you need and you fucking deserve because I'm sick. You guys working and crying and fucking freaking the fuck out every year. Last year, last year around, I think it was early December, I did a Facebook ad and I said, listen, doesn't need to be this way, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I connected with a lot of dog sitters out there. I think for every 10 people I talked to, six people cried. 60% of you guys cried about this, and I am going to be fucking damned if you guys reduce yourself to crime because you're that stressed out. Okay? So I want you to listen to this. I want you to listen to this because it's not too fucking late. You still have time to make changes and I'm going to give you the steps that you can take immediately. Now, if you enjoy pet-sitting, I'm going to have pet sitting. If you're a dog trainer or a dog Walker that enjoys pet sitting or for your pets or that loves to do this and you don't mind, you know, having your holidays kind of taken up and it's cool. It's like your something, it's something that you feel good about in your heart and you feel strong round and it's like, listen, this is just what I do. This is my joy. This is my passion. Cool. I'm gonna give you a couple of steps really quickly you could take, make sure your fucking shit's booked already in prepaid for. It's all I'm going to say, make sure your clients are already booked and prepaid for, for the holiday season and hold your boundaries when you say you can't take any more people in. Okay, cool. Moving on. Let's prevent the holiday hustle crisis cycle. So what is the first step, and this is not something that you're going to be doing during the holiday crisis cycle because you just aren't going to have time and these steps are going to be ones that you're going to just blow past your head. I'm not saying this to be facetious, I'm just saying this is good business practices that you can start implementing now and start taking the steps on now and year-round so you don't have to fucking freak the fuck out. So what is the first step? The first step is this one and it's an innately polarizing step in itself. Business always comes first. Yes. If you are a dog business owner, business comes first. Being a dog trainer, dog sitter, Walker, groomer, pack, hiker comes second. Guys, listen, your business and mindset must make a critical shift to C E. O you are a mother fucking business owner and you have to take a few minutes out of each day to identify where you are spending way too much time delivering your services, AKA if you are spending 90% of your time doing the work, spending time in your business versus on your business, we need to start to flip that ratio. Even if it's like, all right, I'm spending 9% of my time doing walks, doing pancakes, doing training sessions. Where can we start changing that out? So one of the most successful clients I have that are pet business owners out there have one critical thing in common. One common thing. 80% of their time, yes. 80% of their time is dedicated to growth and their business through marketing, through program design, through operations, through sales. 80% of their time is dedicated to that and 20% of their time is on actual delivery, giving dog training lessons, giving pack hikes, pack walks, uh, showing up to people's houses, doing consults or whatnot. Now you're probably thinking, what the fuck you are such a fucking bullshit or no, because when you have your programs designed where it actually fits you versus you just going out there and trading your time for money, that's where you can start shifting over into a CEO mindset guys, and to start running your business like a corporate fucking business. Now I know I get it. Like you don't want to run your business like a corporate business cause you are not a corporate person. But that is one of the most critical and important elements that all of my successful clients that have between a quarter million to$2 million business have is they fucking run their business like a CEO. Now again, I'm gonna remind you most of these people only have one or two employees. Most of these people might have a facility, they don't have a facility, a couple of them do, but when you start to sit into the driver's seat and understand you have control of the way your business operates, that's where the beauty lays. Now the next step, we're going to talk about this. We are always going to talk about niche, niche, and identity. Remember and conceptualize who your niche people are. Who are the fucking people that you want to work with? Who are the fucking people you want to work with? The quality people versus the quantity people? What are the differences between your current clients that might push your boundaries, your current clients that step over your shit? Don't acknowledge the expert that you fucking are and the and the clients that you want to be. Don't be afraid to go broad and to go specific. At the same time guys, quality will always win and sustainability versus scaling versus quality and everything like that. So that being said to the over-focus on the hustle to get all the clients all the time is fucking outdated. To sell your time for money is outdated. And the reason why most of you guys are stuck in the rock of the hard place of like, okay well I got to do the hustle, I got to do the holiday hustle, feast and famine cycle or I can't make, I can't grow my business cause I'm too busy and I gotta hire more clients but I need more clients but I can't do anything cause I'm kind of trapped is that you are just over focusing on getting all the clients in. So what I want you to do guys is to start to conceptualize who your niche clients are, how you can step up and connect with them, have conversations and convert them into high paying, high ticket dog walking clients, dog training clients. The next step, the step three that you're going to need to start doing and you can do it right. The second is strategic marketing. Fucking strategic marketing. Now I know I talk about marketing a lot. I know I talk about niche a lot, but we want to make sure you have control over your marketing. If you've been relying on the word of mouth referrals, your website reviews, SEOs, guys, I'm going to say this right now and I'm gonna say it once. I might say it twice, but I want you to get this down in your head. You do not have control of your marketing. If your, if your best marketing channels are your fucking referrals, remember that free member that what you need to start doing is you want to create marketing channels. You want to start putting different eggs and little baskets. It doesn't even have to be paid. Marketing could just be lead generation. It could be organic marketing. It could be stepping up into your brand experience on your social media and Facebook on, on, on Instagram with strong mesh messaging that connects people and that converts people. Now if you need help with writing your copy with actually creating something geared towards your niche person, go onto my website. There is marketing that connects on one of my blog posts. It's called a connections, conversations, conversions, and it's something that you can start doing right away. Just go on my blog. You can probably just type in the search button and it's like connections, conversations, conversions, and what I'll do too is I will link it in the bottom of this podcast episode as well. So you want to have control over your marketing. Stop relying on word of mouth. Oh my God. Oh my God. So I've already talked about this, but I'm going to go on a rant for two seconds because everybody goes, the people that are the most burnt out, that have barely any boundaries with their business, is my client, my best salesperson, or is my website and it's my clients. It's like word of mouth. It's how I grow my business. It's like, all right, cool. Yeah, that war, but there's a better way and I want you guys to start gaining control back over them. Now the next step, step four is adopt a sales process. If you are in dog business, if you are a dog business owner except own love and embrace the fact you are in sales, you are in sales for yourself. Now, if you're like, well, I'm in the business just cause I love dogs, then you need to get the fuck out of this business because if you aren't, if you are doing that and then you are burnt the fuck out. If you don't have at least 150 K in revenue in business, we have to start moving you into a deeper connection with your process, which means connecting with people, connecting with the humans, because those are the people that pay us. Those are the people that pay us. What do they need? What value can you start to provide? Stop relying so fucking much on automation, on contact forms, emails, and websites to be your best salesperson. I want you guys to sit down, think about and create a sales process that flows perfectly with your marketing system that feeds into that niche client. Now, the last and the final step guys before I let you off here today is I want you to start thinking about how you can redesign your services and offers. Remember that last episode I did about stop selling your time for money? This is where an important component of it comes in and you need to create high value services and programs. All right, stop the base sick bitch offerings where it's time for money and services for money. We need you to start thinking about creating out of the box on what you do best. If you're basing, this is another thing, if you're basing your prices to remain competitive, how are you standing out from others? All right, I hear this all the time. It's like, well Kristen, the race that you tell you tell me to charge and everything like that. You know like through the podcast and like when I had to connect with people on the phone, it's like I could never charge that. My market is in charge of, I have to be, I have to be in alignment with the person up the street that's doing the same thing the last few years. No you don't. No, no, I need a square bottle. I'm like, no, no, you don't. When you have your niche person to find and when you start to step into your own personal brand identity, you can start creating some pretty fucking dope ass shit. You can start. You can start stepping into what you want to do best. Like if you are a dog trainer and you'd like fucking Harry Potter for example. I always use Harry Potter because I have a client that's a Harry Potter freak. You can do a fucking Harry Potter fucking dog trading program if you are a pack hiker that likes to take off to go out in the woods and fucking be in the wilderness, fucking designed something around that. Fucking take your clients offline. If you know there's value in being offline, you can provide breakthroughs and values you that take your fucking clients offline, take them away, provide a VIP service. Don't listen to what the other person up the streets doing because chances are they are pulling from a broken business model and you know me, I'm here to disrupt that fucking model. I've been disrupting that model for years and we want to get you on the right path. So next year you don't have to fucking be doing this bullshit. You don't have to be sitting there with beating yourself up like, Oh God, I did it again. So to reiterate and to kind of go through this really quickly, one more time, first step, business always comes first. Always your time. 80% spend into growth and operations, 20% of your time actually delivering second step. Understand who you truly are, what you like to do, and who are the people that you want to work with. And the next step is strategic marketing. Take fucking control of your marketing guys. Stop relying on word of mouth. Shit's old. Yeah, like word of mouth is. It can be powerful if you have the right people in, but chances are if people aren't respecting your time, your boundaries, your values, and your rates and your expertise, you're just going to bring in more of those people cause their word of mouth thing. The next one is adopt a sales process. Guys, you are in sales as a dog, this as entrepreneur and the final one is redesigned your services, your programs and your offers. And if you need help raising your rates, go listen to one of my furiously raising your rates. All right guys. Well listen, this is what I want you to do. Go take these steps. Go take these fucking steps. Stop it right now. Stop worrying about the holiday season, implement these steps and step into your bad-ass race so you don't have to repeat this fucking process in the next couple of weeks. All right guys, have a great one and I wish you nothing but the best and be sure to tag your business bestie in this because more people who know this, the more you guys will all grow. I'll talk to you guys later. Bye. Hey there. Thank you for listening to another bad-ass episode of mind your Euro dog business. If you haven't already subscribed, what are you waiting for? Oh my God. Go and subscribe now so you don't miss out on any of our content pack dog business jam sessions plus special offers that I'm gonna only be sharing with my amazing dog business entrepreneurial podcasts. Listeners. Now, if you've enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a five star kick ass review. So more amazing dog business owners just like yourself can find us and start to transform and disrupt their businesses and their lives unapologetically. And if you feel so inclined, feel free to tag me on Instagram with a screenshot of this episode and holler at your girl at dog Walker. Coach, you can find me dog Walker, coach, and I'll pop up and I'll give you a special shout out. All right guys, til next time. Bye.

Speaker 2: 23:10

[inaudible].