business
Ask the Experts: Maximizing Your Training Space Veronica Boutelle of PPG corporate partner dog*biz responds to pet professionals’ questions on all things business and marketing
Q
: I finally have a facility! I am so excited. This dream has been a long time coming. I’m also nervous. It’s pretty freaky having this huge lease bill I have to cover every month. I’ll be using the space mostly for classes and will probably see some of my private clients there, too. But the space will be empty a lot, especially during the day. What are some ways I could make better use of it to help cover my scary new bills? Thank you! ‐ Excited in the Midwest A: Huge congrats! We’re so excited for you, and so glad to see you thinking about how to make the most of your space. There are lots of ways to set your space up to generate revenue during the day. Here are a few ideas: • Offer daytime classes for seniors and/or stay-at-home moms. • Hire local trainers to offer specialty classes outside of your expertise. • Rent your space to local trainers for classes or private training. • Rent your space for dog sports practice. • Offer day care services. • Offer a day care-and-train service like a half-day puppy day training program. • Run a summertime humane education day camp for kids. What’s most important in weighing all these options (and any others) is choosing the one or ones that make most sense for your business. Run the numbers (revenue potential and expenses) to determine how each option will contribute to your bottom line. Look at the operational implications of the various services. As you can imagine, some of these options are much more complicated and time intensive than others. Be sure to consider things like time commitment, oversight required, startup complexity, staffing needs, and admin load as you look at each idea. Choose services that match your locale clientele – there’s no point in running daytime classes if you don’t have the senior or stayat-home market for them, for example. And, of course, consider what actually fits your space. For example, you may be keen to add certain kinds of classes like agility, but not have adequate room. Or your space may require construction adjustments, like the addition of a doublegate safety area, before adding any services that involve dogs being off leash.
Make sure to use your space in ways that truly work for you. You’ve achieved your dream of having a facility. Be careful you get to enjoy it. That means passing on services that require you to spend time in ways you’d rather not (for example, tied to a day care floor instead of out day training, or overseeing a large staff when you’re really not comfortable doing so, etc.).
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BARKS from the Guild/July 2019
© Can Stock Photo/daliborsosna
There are a variety of ways pet professionals can ensure they generate extra revenue from their training facility, dog sports being one of them
Finally, and this is so important: Make sure to use your space in ways that truly work for you. You’ve achieved your dream of having a facility. Be careful you get to enjoy it. That means passing on services that require you to spend time in ways you’d rather not (for example, tied to a day care floor instead of out day training, or overseeing a large staff when you’re really not comfortable doing so, etc.). Again, congratulations on your new facility. We’d love to hear what you decide to offer and how things go for you—please plan to drop us an update email.n
Do you have a question for the business experts at dog*biz? Submit your question for consideration to: barkseditor@petprofessionalguild.com
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www.dogbizsuccess.com Veronica Boutelle MA Ed CTC is founder and co‐president of dog*biz (dogbizsuccess.com), and author of How to Run Your Dog Business and co‐author of Minding Your Dog Business. dog*biz offers professionally designed positive reinforcement dog training class curricula, including Open‐Enrollment Puppy, Open‐Enrollment Basic Manners, and short Topics classes built for retention.