Let's Talk Dog Business

Building a successful pet business takes more than passion: you need to choose the right work, charge properly and actively work to build a business that supports the life you want. In this episode, we sit down with Tatum Brown of The Social Dog Company a strategy and marketing coach that enables dog trainers to finally charge what they are worth.

Tatum shares how buying a puppy-mill dog led her to advocate for animal welfare and start her first business, and how she rebuilt after a string of personal and professional setbacks before finding her focus.

We get into undercharging, people-pleasing, pricing, and knowing when to change your offers or let go of clients. Tatum also talks about mindset, boundaries, mentors, imposter syndrome and why the reps matter, because confidence comes from doing the hard stuff.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

- Don’t Accidentally Recreate The 9-to-5: Many people start a business to escape the stress and low pay of the 9 to 5, only to end up working harder for less. Build profitable offers, systems, and boundaries so your business gives you more freedom instead of a new version of the Sunday-night dread.

- Get The Right Support: A mentor or coach will help you identify blind spots, work through resistance, and follow through on business changes. Advice from people who understand the kind of business you’re building is game-changing.

- Leaning into Self-Sacrifice Keeps You Small: Caring about dogs and clients doesn’t mean you have to put everyone else first. Undercharging and saying yes to everything can leave you stressed and financially stretched, making it harder to care for yourself, your family, and your business.

- Target The Right Clients: As your expertise and interests grow, your ideal clients will likely change too. Clear positioning helps attract the right clients.

- Build Confidence Through Reps: Trying, learning, and adjusting helps you get better at the hard parts of business. Notice and celebrate your progress. Don’t move the goalposts so fast that you forget how far you’ve come.

BEST MOMENTS

“You have the capability to build something really freaking big for yourself, for your family, and in service of others.”

“Putting everyone else first also just creates a really s**t version of you.”

“Either you need to increase your prices, you need to repackage them in some way, or you need to delete them.”

“There's a way out, and through the reps, you build the confidence. I promise you, you get more resilient when you do the hard shit.”

IMPORTANT LINKS

https://www.caninebusinessacademy.com/gsd-buisness-accelerator

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.caninebusinessacademy.com/buy-the-book



Email: hello@caninebusinessacademy.com

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 Awards

They’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/

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

Website www.caninebusinessacademy.com
Community Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/caninebusinessacademycommunity

Let´s Talk Dog Business Strategy Book - https://www.caninebusinessacademy.com/buy-the-book

Email: hello@caninebusinessacademy.com

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 Awards

They’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/

In this episode we sit down with Dr. Isla Fishburn from Kachina Canine to explore the inner work that quietly drives your dog business. We talk about the pressure to have perfect dogs, the wobble when a heart dog dies, and how much old family stories about money, success, and being “too much” become your beliefs and shape your prices, boundaries, and visibility.

Until you look at this inner stuff and do the soul work, no amount of strategy will make your business feel stable or satisfying. Your dogs (and clients’ dogs) are constantly flagging your issues up for you. Today, you will finally know how to notice and take the right action. If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing “all the right things” but still don’t feel solid, this conversation is for you.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Soul Work Runs Your Business: The beliefs you carry about not being enough, needing to be perfect, or fearing judgement quietly drive your prices, your marketing, your boundaries, and how heavy your work feels.

Your Dog Is A Mirror: The behaviours that most trigger or embarrass you in your own dog often point straight at your own fears around control, competence, and being seen as a “proper” professional. Learning how to notice and address this really helps you with your soul work.

Grief Hits Your Identity And Income: When a heart dog dies or your role changes, it’s not just sad, it can shake your sense of who you are, why you do this, and how you show up in your business.

Old Family Stories Shape Your Choices: Messages you absorbed about money, success, and not being “too much” still dictate what you charge, what you invest in, and how visible you allow yourself to be.

Inner Work Before New Strategy: Until you start looking within and naming these patterns, no new offer, niche, or marketing plan will give you the ease and confidence you’re really craving.

BEST MOMENTS

“If we're not doing our soul work, then that spills over into our dreams, our desires, our passions, what we want to create in our businesses, our professional life, our personal life, the support we want to give to animal guardians."

“We have to go within to identify our soul work and really what's at the core of it is our separation. We feel so lost, which is why we are constantly seeking better - Better results, better achievements.”

“Our animal friends love us regardless because they love themselves regardless. But we don't do that to ourselves. We have these conditions, these belief systems, these labels.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

https://kachinacanine.com/

https://www.facebook.com/kachinacanine

https://www.instagram.com/kachina_canine_wellness

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8hsAKAco_te9k5AL2t-ZQQ

IMPORTANT LINKS

https://www.caninebusinessacademy.com/gsd-buisness-accelerator

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.caninebusinessacademy.com/buy-the-book

Email: hello@caninebusinessacademy.com

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 Awards They’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/

In this episode we get honest about sales objections and what’s really going on when people say, “It’s a bit expensive” or “I need to speak to my partner.” We look at why this objection to buying is so often just the polite default excuse in British culture and how to respond in a way that changes their minds.

We discuss how your own fears about being seen as too expensive can actually help create the very objections you dread, and why your brain goes straight into panic, justification and people-pleasing on discovery calls. Then, share simple ways to turn things around – how to see objections as protection, not rejection, ask better questions instead of freezing or discounting, and why trying to fix your money mindset and how you handle money related objections on your own is practically impossible.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Money Objections Aren’t Always About Money: When someone says, “it’s a bit expensive” or “I need to speak to my partner,” it’s often an automatic performance, one that covers the real reason they aren't buying. It’s the easy, polite thing to say, especially in British culture.

Your Brain Helps Create the Objections You Fear: When you go onto sales calls afraid that people will say you’re too expensive, you expect it and are hyper focused on hearing that. You often end up manifesting it. The stories you tell yourself before the call really shape what you pick up on during the call.

Treat Objections as Protection, Not Rejection: Most objections are a safety mechanism, not a verdict on your worth. If you see them as defence and protection on the part of the would-be client, you are more likely to respond calmly and tease out what the real issues are so you can address them.

You Can’t Untangle This Alone: Shifting how you handle objections surrounding money is nigh on impossible on your own. You need someone to help you notice your patterns, challenge your stories, and keep you on track when negative beliefs creep back in.

BEST MOMENTS

“Work on your money mindset.”

“If you don't explore their objections as early as possible, mitigate them, expect them, anticipate them, and set the scene for those objections... It will bite your ass later.”

“We have to explore objections with an open mind.”

“I need to go and speak to my partner. It's a stall tactic.”

“It is incredibly difficult if you are trying to develop this skill by yourself.”

“Explore it a little bit more and find out where that comes from, why you think potentially that could be a reason not to buy.”

SOCIALS AND IMPORTANT LINKS

https://www.caninebusinessacademy.com/gsd-buisness-accelerator

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.caninebusinessacademy.com/buy-the-book

Email: hello@caninebusinessacademy.com

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 Awards They’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/

Most dog trainers still focus on selling their time in sessions. A well-used model that feels safe, but often it ends up holding you back and leaves your clients with only a partial solution to their problems. In this episode we unpack what can go wrong when you use a session-only model and how to change things to avoid those issues.

We cover why a session-only business often leads to, pressure to prove your worth in one hour, undercharging for all the support you quietly give, and that nagging feeling that results don’t match the effort you’re putting in.

We show you how to think beyond hours-for-money, how to make your support more effective and sustainable, and how to design offers that make you a profit while getting better results for your clients. What you learn today will really help you, even if you decide not to ditch sessions completely.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Just selling sessions isn’t necessarily bad, but it does quietly put the focus on time spent instead of the change you are working with the client to achieve.

When you only sell hours, you tend to feel pressure to prove yourself in that session. Your focus can end up on that more than on what the client needs and how they are doing.

It’s your job to guide your clients towards the level of support that fits their problem. They are not the best person to decide whether they need 1, 3 or 5 sessions.

A lot of the real value you provide e.g. answering questions via email or online, technique videos that can be accessed outside of sessions, emotional support, is given away for free. Moving away from the session only model provides an opportunity to change that.

Moving from a session mentality to outcome-focused offers doesn’t mean you can’t sell single sessions; it means sessions become one tool among many.

BEST MOMENTS

“So, the question is, how do we get out of session mentality? And do we need to?”

“You're helping them (the owner). They're the reason that they've reached out, not the dog.”

“I don't need to be a dog trainer. I need to be a support system for that person.”

“Selling sessions isn’t the problem. The problem is when we design our offers around our fears instead of our clients’ outcomes.”

SOCIALS AND IMPORTANT LINKS

https://www.caninebusinessacademy.com/gsd-buisness-accelerator

https://www.tiktok.com/@letstalkdogbusiness

https://www.youtube.com/@LetsTalkDogBusiness

www.caninebusinessacademy.com

https://www.facebook.com/groups/caninebusinessacademycommunity

Let´s Talk Dog Business Strategy Book -

https://www.caninebusinessacademy.com/buy-the-book

Email: hello@caninebusinessacademy.com

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 Awards They’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/