OverDog: Dog Daycare & Boarding Business Tips
156 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 days ago - ★★★★★ - 24 ratingsThis is where dog daycare and boarding businesses can learn the top tips and business strategies to grow. Discover what the top dog daycares are doing to overcome challenges, improve everything they do and keep their staff and customers happy. Learn the latest in marketing pet businesses as well as creative ways to increase your brand's image and move your business farther, faster. Running a pet business can be difficult and often leave you feeling like an underdog. Not anymore - together we'll make you the OVERDOG.
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Episodes
101: Boosting Daycare Numbers On Slow Days
May 30, 2023 14:00 - 23 minutes - 16.1 MBMost dog daycare businesses find themselves busy the same days every week, while the other days are consistently slow. As a business, the obvious opportunity for more revenue is to get more dogs in on those light days, which usually tend to be Mondays and Fridays. Today we'll discuss some different things you can do to get those off day numbers up and even out the flow of dogs coming for daycare every week.
100: How To Improve the #1 Asset To Your Business: YOU
May 23, 2023 13:00 - 41 minutes - 28.4 MBAs you grow your dog business I'm guessing you spend lots of time and attention on how to improve your facility, your services, your operations and everything else in your business. However, you probably neglect the single biggest influence on the success of your business - you. Everything in your business is affected by you. So it would make sense to take really good care of yourself and do things to improve yourself and how you show up for your business each and everyday. Let's look into...
99: 7 Key Factors For Long Term Growth
May 15, 2023 21:00 - 32 minutes - 22.3 MBAfter working with dog daycare businesses for the past few years I've noticed a few things that are consistently done by the top players that lead them to amazing, long-term success. In this episode, I share what those key factors are and how you can implement them in your own business to help you grow bigger, better and stand the test of time.
98: My Top 5 Marketing Campaigns For Dog Daycares
May 04, 2023 18:00 - 26 minutes - 18.1 MBI run a lot of different marketing campaigns throughout the year for my clients. A few of them I run again and again because they always produce big results and help the dog daycare businesses that I work with grow their customer base and out pace their competition. In this episode, I share my five favorite campaigns that I use across all my client accounts.
97: Financing Options To Fund Your Business
May 02, 2023 10:00 - 38 minutes - 26.4 MBIf you're looking to start a dog daycare, are interested in expanding your existing space or want to add an additional location, finding the money to fund your dreams can be a big obstacle. There's good news though - you do have options to make it all happen. In today's episode the folks at Live Oak Bank (who specialize in helping pet business) join us to fill us in on all the financing possibilities you have available to you.
96: Exploring Buying Into a Franchise
April 25, 2023 11:00 - 34 minutes - 24 MBIf you're thinking of jumping in and starting a dog daycare business there are two main ways to do it: create your own or buy into a franchise. Both options have positive and negatives and which one is best for you depends upon the kind of person you are and the kind of business you're looking to create. In this episode, I'm joined by Steven Parker from K9 Resorts to explain the ins and outs of being a part of a franchise.
95: How To Price Your Services
April 18, 2023 12:00 - 25 minutes - 17.4 MBSetting a price for the services you provide can be tricky and difficult to decide upon. Should you put your prices lower than the competition? Should you just charge what everyone else is? Or do you go luxury and set your price at the top. What you choose to charge should be well thought out and reflect the kind of business you have, as well as, the market you're in. In this week's podcast we'll go over some pricing strategies and talk about the psychology behind it all.
94: Rolling Out New Services
March 28, 2023 10:00 - 42 minutes - 29.4 MBTo see your dog daycare business succeed long term you need to continually evolve your service offerings and add in new ways to take care of your customer base. There are a lot of new things you can implement, however introducing it to your clientele and integrating it into your existing business model can be tricky. Learn how Wag Days of Philadelphia was able to roll out 3 new programs into their business successfully. We'll discuss how they were able to set things up so that everything r...
93: Text Message Marketing
March 21, 2023 14:00 - 28 minutes - 19.5 MBIf you want to reach people for your business (whether it's customers or prospects) you need to do it in the way that's easy for THEM. In todays very digital society, text messaging is the number one way that people communicate, so it makes sense that you should be utilizing it for your dog business. In this episode we'll discuss how you can use text message marketing to take better care of customers and convert more leads. You'll learn the best practices, as well as some ways you can use ...
92: Swimming As A Service
March 14, 2023 10:00 - 44 minutes - 30.8 MBMany dog daycares have small splash pools that the dogs can play around in but what about offering swimming as an additional service? Not only is swimming great for dogs with injuries and physical limitations, it's also tremendous fun for the dogs, as well as a great additional revenue stream. In this week's episode learn how Pawsitively Pooched in Calgary, Canada has developed a swimming program that is bringing in profits and creating a buzz throughout area.
91: Timing Your Marketing Campaigns
March 07, 2023 13:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MBFor your marketing to be successful, you not only need the right message going to the right target market but it also has to be delivered at the right time. Timing is everything! In this episode we'll discuss what kinds of marketing campaigns you should be running and when is the optimal time of year to launch them so that you see the most success from them, while spend the least amount of money.
90: Handling Dog Fights In Daycare
February 28, 2023 12:00 - 38 minutes - 26.3 MBWorking with live animals can often be unpredictable and no matter how careful you are, eventually dogs are going to get into a fight. When it happens, it can be frightening and leave you, your staff and the dogs shaken. In this episode, we'll discuss what to do if the dogs get into it and, more importantly, the things you can do to prevent something like this from ever happening in the first place.
89: Should You Get Your Staff Certified
February 21, 2023 02:00 - 54 minutes - 37.2 MBAs the dog daycare industry evolves, gets more crowded and attracts more attention, it becomes more important to showcase that your business operates at a high level. There are many ways to do this, one of which is to get your staff certified by a 3rd party organization. That can be a great way to show potential customers that your business is better than the rest but is it really worth it and how does it work? Learn all this and more on this episode.
89: Should You Get Your Business Certified
February 21, 2023 02:00 - 54 minutes - 37.2 MBAs the dog daycare industry evolves, gets more crowded and attracts more attention, it becomes more important to showcase that your business operates at a high level. There are many ways to do this, one of which is to get your business certified by a 3rd party organization. That can be a great way to show potential customers that your business is better than the rest but is it really worth it and how does it work? Learn all this and more on this episode.
88: The Magic of Memberships
February 14, 2023 19:00 - 48 minutes - 33.4 MBThere's a trend in every industry that's become one of the most popular and successful business models available. Very few pet businesses, however, are taking advantage of it and I think that needs to change. We're talking about membership programs. Offering your services for a regular fee that is automatically charged to the customer every month. There's just so many advantages to offering memberships and you'll learn them all, as well as how to implement them, in this episode.
87: Utilizing Your Unique Selling Proposition
February 07, 2023 18:00 - 23 minutes - 16.2 MBOne of the first questions I ask new clients is "what makes your business different and better than the competition." It's a question you need to have a very clear answer for because it will dictate all of your marketing and is usually the reason why someone will do business with you instead of everyone else out there. In this episode we'll go over what a USP is, how to discover yours and how to use it to bring in more customers who love what you do.
86: Increasing Client Retention
January 31, 2023 17:00 - 21 minutes - 15.1 MBEveryone is alway so focused on getting new people interested in your business that sometimes we forget to take care of our existing customers. Yes, bringing in new leads is important, however if you do an amazing job with the customers you already have, they will stay with your for longer - making your more money in the end. Today we'll talk about some strategies to help your customers stay with you longer, become more loyal to your brand and spend more money with you over time.
85: How To Manage Your Staff Better
January 24, 2023 11:00 - 47 minutes - 32.9 MBOne of the hardest part of running a dog daycare business is dealing with the many facets of having employees. It's difficult to get good people, train them properly, create an environment that they will enjoy and to help them work together as a team. By far, staffing issues are the number one pain point in this industry year after year. Today you're going to get some great insight on how you can better your understanding and your management of your staff. Scott Greenberg joins us and shar...
84: Day Training and Board & Train Programs
January 17, 2023 00:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MBOne of the most in demand services in pet businesses right now is training. And one of the biggest opportunities for revenue growth for pet businesses is with day training and board & train programs. These are not only be a great value add for your clients, but they can be a big profit center for your business. The problem is how can you effectively structure those programs so that they are useful and appealing to the client, while still being manageable for you and your staff? Today's g...
83: 8 Things Your Website Needs To Have
January 10, 2023 11:00 - 26 minutes - 18.5 MBYour website is one of the most important business assets you have. It can either draw people in and help them to become customers or it can turn people away, never to return. Think of your website as your digital storefront - it's the first impression people get of your business online so you want it to be good. In order to take really good care of people and move them toward a buying decision, your website needs to have certain things. In this episode I'll share what I think is critical ...
82: The State of The Dog Daycare Industry and What's To Come in 2023
December 20, 2022 15:00 - 26 minutes - 18.1 MBA lot has happened in the dog industry over the past 12 months. There were ups and downs, and sometimes all you could do as owners is hold on tight. With the new year upon us, it's a great time to look back at what happened in 2022 and then prepare to move forward. Today we'll discuss the current state of things and I'll make some prediction for 2023, as well as give you some tips so that you can make this coming year your best one ever.
81: Using Video To Grow Your Business
December 13, 2022 15:00 - 27 minutes - 18.6 MBOnline video consumption has been going up every year and even though it's such a powerful tool to grow your dog business, few companies are taking advantage of it. Today we'll talk about why you should be utilizing video in your marketing, what kinds of videos you should be making, where to put them and how to get it all done.
80: Creating Your Marketing Calendar
December 06, 2022 14:00 - 26 minutes - 17.9 MBYou've heard it before: "failing to plan is planning to fail." That's true for much about your business but especially when it comes to your marketing. In order to set yourself up for success you need to have a vision of what you want to accomplish, as well as a specific timeline of implementation. In this episode we'll discuss how to create a marketing calendar for the next 12 months so that you are less stressed, while greatly increasing the power of all of your marketing efforts.
79: Google vs. Facebook Ads
November 29, 2022 14:00 - 28 minutes - 19.9 MBIf you're looking to really supercharge your marketing efforts, paid advertising can help you reach more people and get more customers. Hands down, the best bang for your buck is using digital ads on the two big platforms: Google and Facebook. They are both powerful but very different, so which one is better? Today we'll discuss the pros and cons of both so you can better understand how, when and if you should use them.
78: Rescuing Lost Customers
November 22, 2022 11:00 - 19 minutes - 13.6 MBWhat do you do when you haven't seen a regular customer in a while? Do we just assume that they no longer need you or that they founds someplace else to go? No way. They might not be lost forever - they just might need a little help finding their way back. And that's where your lost customer marketing campaign will help you bring those people back into your business.
77: Choosing Quality
November 15, 2022 21:00 - 21 minutes - 14.9 MBIn every market there are low end service offering and their are high end businesses. There is an audience for every kind of business so it's up to you to decide what kind you want to create, the kind of service you want to provide and how you want to serve. In this episode I discuss why you should provide a high quality of service that will bring you better customers and less headaches.
76: Creating a Better Company Culture
November 07, 2022 14:00 - 32 minutes - 22.3 MBStaffing continues to be one the biggest issue in the dog daycare industry. Everyone seems to be focused on where to find good people, how to interview and the quality of the candidate pool. All that's important but also meaningless if you're not taking good care of people and have the right environment for them once they are hired. We just completed the first of a series of Staffing Masterclasses designed to help you improve your staffing issues and the very first topic was company cultur...
75: How To Only Work With Awesome Clients (and Eliminate Pain-In-The-Butt Customers)
October 25, 2022 14:00 - 24 minutes - 16.8 MBWouldn’t it be great if you only had customers you loved? People who appreciated what you do, were amazingly loyal and made your job easy. Discover how you can create a business that attracts great clients and a system for attracting the best people, while repelling those that will only make your life difficult.
74: Creating Disney Magic In Your Business
October 18, 2022 10:00 - 46 minutes - 32.1 MBYou can learn so much about how to improve your own business by studying and following what other successful businesses do. One the biggest and most impressive businesses out there is Disney. I think we can all agree that no one quite does it like Disney. Today we'll look at what makes Disney so special and how you can model some of what they have done to create some magic in your own business.
Creating Disney Magic In Your Business
October 18, 2022 10:00 - 46 minutes - 32.1 MBYou can learn so much about how to improve your own business by studying and following what other successful businesses do. One the biggest and most impressive businesses out there is Disney. I think we can all agree that no one quite does it like Disney. Today we'll look at what makes Disney so special and how you can model some of what they have done to create some magic in your own business.
73: How to Keep Customers Longer
October 10, 2022 20:00 - 31 minutes - 21.6 MBIf you want to sustain your business over the long term you need continually bring in new customers, however it's even more important to make sure those customers stay with your for as long as possible. In this episode we'll discuss some ways you can increase the time that you hold on to customers, keeping them happy, loyal and spending money with you.
72: Enrichment Based Daycare
October 04, 2022 10:00 - 42 minutes - 29.3 MBI firmly believe that the dog daycare business model is changing. It's changing because we're learning more about how to take better care of dogs and the consumer is starting to want more for their dogs than just being loosely watched as they run around aimlessly all day long. Now we're seeing a new and improved breed of daycare emerge that structures the dog's day, provides them with useful activities and helps them leave better than when they started coming. That's what enrichment daycar...
71: The Power of Networking (And How To Do It)
September 27, 2022 14:00 - 27 minutes - 18.9 MBAs entrepreneurs we're built to put our heads down, working to move our businesses forward. Although I do believe that if you are smart and are willing to put in the work, you can accomplish anything, it doesn't have to be that hard and we don't have to go it alone. By leveraging the knowledge and resources of others we can greatly speed up our success and avoid many of the obstacles slowing us down. Let's expand your circle and discuss how you can use networking to help you and your busin...
70: Using Events To Excite Customers
September 20, 2022 19:00 - 44 minutes - 30.6 MBThe way to create a loyal, engaged mass of customers is to make sure they are excited about bringing their dog to daycare on a regular basis. One way to do that is to do different things to keep people coming back and give the dogs more fun while they’re with you. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how one dog daycare has been creating quite the local buzz by holding different themed events for the dogs.
69: Improving Your Communication Throughout Your Business
September 13, 2022 15:00 - 32 minutes - 22 MBA lack of communication is probably one of the major caused for stress and problems in any dog daycare business. Good communication across your entire business, however, will help the dogs behave better, keep customers happy and greatly improve your staff morale and loyalty. In this episode we'll discuss some key areas that you can focus on improving your communication and I'll give you specific tips on how to do it.
68: How To Outdo and Outlast The Competition
September 06, 2022 14:00 - 29 minutes - 20.6 MBThere has never been more competition in the dog daycare industry. More and more places are opening up all the time and you have new companies like Rover.com entering the marketplace, giving people a lot of different choices for their dog's care. If you want to separate yourself from all these other businesses and make you the obvious choice in a sea of similar services, you NEED to do a few things to make you stand out and survive the test of time.
68: How To Outdo and Outlast The Competition
September 06, 2022 14:00 - 29 minutes - 20.6 MBThere has never been more competition in the dog daycare industry. More and more places are opening up all the time and you have new companies like Rover.com entering the marketplace, giving people a lot of different choices for their dog's care. If you want to separate yourself from all these other businesses and make you the obvious choice in a sea of similar services, you NEED to do a few things to make you stand out and survive the test of time.
67: Tips For Assessing New Dogs
August 30, 2022 11:00 - 28 minutes - 19.3 MBMany of the problems that dog daycares have with the play groups is caused by having dogs there that are not a good fit for the environment. These dogs are labeled "problem dogs" and cause stress for you, your staff and the other dogs in the groups. To create a happy pack that's easy to manage, you need to better assess dogs as they come into your facility for the first time. In this episode, we'll discuss what to look for when a new dog comes in and how to determine if they will do well i...
66: How To Manage Play Groups
August 23, 2022 14:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MBOften the biggest issues in dog daycare facilities come from the dogs in the play groups. Managing a pack of dogs is not an easy thing to do and and requires some specific knowledge and skills to make sure that both dogs and staff are safe and enjoying their time there. In this episode, I'll teach you how to handle the play groups better so that you have less problems and stress, while creating a great environment for all.
65: Should You Hire A Coach?
August 12, 2022 18:00 - 27 minutes - 18.7 MBAs entrepreneurs we tend to think that we can do it all on our own. We can figure everything, overcome every challenge and don't need any helping hands along the way. Often it's true, we can do it all on our own, however we could move much faster and go to higher levels if we just had some guidance along the way. In this episode, I'll discuss why I think every business owner needs a coach and share some of my personal experience with the various coaches I've had over the years.
64: How To Get More Hours In Your Day
August 09, 2022 11:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MBAre you running around all day crazy busy but still feel like you can't get to everything you need to do? And after a long day of work, feel like you didn't get much accomplished? Running a dog daycare business comes with a lot of work that needs to be done on a daily basis and often it can feel like there's just not enough time in the day to get to it all. However, if you learn to better manage your time you'll find that you'll not only get it all done, but be much more productive as well.
63: The Cage-Free Boarding Business Model
August 02, 2022 10:00 - 57 minutes - 39.8 MBTraditional dog boarding has historically meant placing dogs in kennels and is still the most common method dog businesses use for keeping dogs overnight. Recently, some businesses have been taking a much different approach to boarding dogs. Instead of caging them, why not let them all sleep together in a group? Cage-free boarding is actually not something all that new. In fact, there are businesses that have been doing it successfully for years. In this episode, learn how one growing busin...
62: Strengthening Your Brand with Email Marketing
July 26, 2022 16:00 - 32 minutes - 22.6 MBThere's lots of new tools and channels that you can use to reach leads and customers in today's ever changing digital ecosystem. They all have value and can work but no matter what new tool comes on the market, there's one that's been around since the beginning of the internet that’s still a very powerful way to build your business . . . email. Yes, email. Today we'll talk about why email is still so important and how you can use it better to grow your dog business.
61: Using Surveys To Improve Your Business
July 19, 2022 15:00 - 22 minutes - 15.3 MBIf you want your business to be the very best you need to know how it's REALY doing and you, as the business owner, have a very one sided viewpoint. To know the complete truth about you business you need to ask both your customers and your staff for their opinion on things. Today we'll talk about how to use surveys to get gold nuggets out of your customer base and your employees that will enable your business to be world class. I'll also give you the exact questions you should be asking to...
60: How To Set Up Your Business For Long Term Success
July 12, 2022 17:00 - 27 minutes - 19 MBDo you want a business that's around 10 or 20+ years from now? If so, you need to do things today to set up that future success. In today's episode, we'll discuss some of the core things you need to be doing right now that will not only enable your business to stand the test of time, but also make the journey easy and enjoyable.
59: Becoming More Than Just a Daycare To Your Customers
July 05, 2022 17:00 - 26 minutes - 18.5 MBIf your customers (and prospects) only identify you as your main service, it greatly limits your business. If, however, you are seen as much more than "just a daycare" or whatever your main service is, you'll have no problem growing and remaining successful over time. In this episode we'll discuss 5 ways you can help you business be seen as the go to place for all things dog, keeping you top of mind and helping your business reach expand well past your customer base.
58: 10 Ways to Get Your Website to Rank Higher On Google
June 21, 2022 14:00 - 28 minutes - 19.9 MBWhen someone is searching the web for the services you provide you want your business to show up as close to the top of the search results as possible. If you're not up there, they may never see your business and head over to your competitors. In this episode, I'll go over some simple things you can do to help your business get ranked higher so that you get more people to find you online.
57: Why You Should Attend Conferences
June 13, 2022 15:00 - 26 minutes - 18.2 MBThere are a number of annual conferences that are specifically for dog daycare and boarding businesses. These events are an amazing way to learn new information that will help you move your business forward, as well as allow you to network with others doing just what you are. In this episode, I'll go over the main events in the industry and tell you how you can get the most out of them.
56: Better Communication With Your Staff
June 07, 2022 13:00 - 28 minutes - 19.9 MBSo much of the stress and frustration created by employees is in some way related to the communication within your organization. If you get intentional about how you communicate with your staff and foster an environment where open communication is encouraged, you'll see an improvement in not only your staff's productivity but create a better company culture all around. This episode will give you specific tips on how you can do that.
55: How The Dog Patch Created Massive Growth Over Their First Year
May 31, 2022 13:00 - 27 minutes - 19.2 MBEveryone wants to be profitable as soon as possible but very few have a plan on how to do it. If you know how to run and market your business, it's actually not as hard as you might think, as you'll learn from this week's guest. Discover how The Dog Patch in Florida went from just opening to looking for their second location in only a year and a half.