I've just got back from Annapolis, where I hosted the latest DDSA Immersion event.

What an inspiring experience. These Immersion events really do get better every time.

My members celebrated some amazing wins.
One facility owner increased their prices by 50% (not a typo, I said FIFTY percent...).

Another introduced grooming into their facilities and is on track to have a groomer in each of their six facilities by the end of September.

Another member has written a book about cat care, and they're due to open a luxury pet care facility in 2027.

And another family is packing up their lives, relocating from Seattle to Tennessee, and transitioning into absentee ownership.

Not bad for a couple of days' work, eh?

But as I sat there listening to everyone's updates, something occurred to me...

No business owner in my mastermind is competing against anyone else.

Nobody cares who has the biggest facility.

Or the highest turnover.

Or the most dogs.

They're all competing against one person...

The version of themselves who walked into the last Immersion event ninety days earlier.

Each set of goals builds on the previous ninety days.

Each quarter lays another brick in the canine cathedral they're building.

That's how successful businesses are built. Not in giant leaps, but through consistent, measurable progress.

Which got me thinking...

There is a song in the musical Rent called "Seasons of Love." It goes:

"Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes...

How do you measure a year?

In daylight?

In sunsets?

In cups of coffee?

In laughter?

In love?"

Now, it is a little cheesy, but I love this song because it reminds us that not everything that matters can be measured with a spreadsheet.

I genuinely think we should measure our lives in experiences, adventures, and the things that make us happy, not just the passing of hours, days, weeks, and months.

In fact, this is why one of the very first things we do at every DDSA Immersion event is celebrate our wins. And not just business wins either.

We stack up victories in family, fitness, fun, and all the other things that make our lives worth living.

Then again, perhaps we're a little too obsessed with measurement.

We measure everything:

- Miles
- Calories
- GDP
- Blood pressure
- Football league tables
- GCSEs
- Michelin stars
- Rotten Tomatoes scores
- TripAdvisor ratings

The airport toilets I just passed through even wanted me to measure how clean the experience was.

Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not touching toilet buttons with my clean hands just to help you with your cleansing metrics...

The point is, everything important eventually gets measured.

But how do you measure the health of a pet business?

Most people would probably say revenue.
Or profit.

Maybe occupancy.

The number of dogs.

The number of staff.

The size of your waiting list.

How many likes your latest Facebook post got.

The problem is that NONE of those things, in isolation, tells you whether your business is actually getting healthier.

See, I've coached businesses doing seven figures that were hanging together with duct tape and positive thinking.

I've also coached much smaller facilities whose owners had built incredibly robust businesses that generated fantastic profits, had loyal staff and amazing clients, and gave them a life most people would envy.

I've learned that bigger doesn't automatically mean better.

And being 'busier' certainly doesn't...

While profit is probably the best lagging indicator of all, it's still exactly that... a lagging indicator.

It's the result of hundreds of decisions you've already made.

So, I started asking myself...

What's the one thing that tells me a pet business is becoming stronger long before the accounts catch up?

Well, after coaching more than 3,000 pet business owners over the last decade, I think I've found it.

It's something I call Pricing Power.
Not pricing, per se...

There's an important difference.

Pricing is what you charge.

Pricing Power is your ability to charge more.

One is a number on your website.

The other is a reflection of the business you've built.

Because businesses with real Pricing Power can raise prices and increase cash flow, profits, and recurring revenue seemingly at will.

They do this through better marketing.

Better communication.

Better client experiences.

Better systems.

Greater authority.

A stronger reputation.

More valuable offers.

Which raises another obvious question...

I think you can.

That's why I've created the Pet Business Pricing Power Index.

It's a simple score out of 50 that helps you assess the overall strength of your pet business.

You do this by looking at the handful of things that almost always determine whether a pet business can command premium prices.

Think of it like a doctor's health check.

Your GP doesn't decide whether you're healthy based on your weight alone.

Or your blood pressure.

Or your heart rate.

They look at a range of indicators because it's the combination that paints the real picture.

I think businesses deserve the same approach.

The Pricing Power Index measures five key areas of your business:

   - Pricing Strategy: How intentional are you with your pricing? Do you review it regularly, or only when rising costs force your hand?
   - Offers and Upsells: Are you maximising the value of every client relationship, or leaving money on the table?
   - Communication: Do clients regularly hear from you, or do they only remember you when their invoice arrives?
   - Client Experience: Have you built an experience that's genuinely worth paying more for?
   - Revenue Model: Have you created predictable, recurring income streams, or are you constantly starting from zero each month?

None of these areas, on its own, tells the whole story.

But together, they provide a remarkably accurate picture of the health of your pet business.

Just like in golf, the total score only tells you how you played.

It doesn't tell you why.

Was it the putting?

The driving?

The bunker play?

The same is true here.

The overall score matters.

But it's the individual component scores that tell you where the biggest gains are waiting to be made.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing more about the Pet Business Pricing Power Index.

I'll show you exactly how it works.

How to calculate your score.

What each of the five areas really means.

And, most importantly, how to improve them.

Before the next article lands, I'd like you to do something.

Forget your turnover.

Forget how many dogs you've got.

Forget how busy you feel.

Instead, ask yourself...

Write down every answer that comes to mind.

Because I suspect very few of them will actually be about price.

They'll be about the experience you provide.

The offers you've built.

The way you communicate your value.

The systems holding the whole thing together.

Or whether your business has enough authority to command premium prices without you breaking into a cold sweat every time someone asks how much it costs.

And that brings us back to Annapolis.

The wins I shared at the beginning came from owners stepping away from the daily doggy chaos, looking honestly at where their businesses were getting stuck, and deciding what needed to be built next.

Then actually building it.

That last bit is where most business advice falls apart, by the way.

You don't need another folder full of clever ideas gathering digital dust.

You need the right assets.

Installed in the right order.

With the coaching, accountability, and occasional kick up the backside required to get them finished.

That's why I created the Dog Daycare Success Academy.

Inside DDSA, we take an infrastructure-first approach to growth.

Every month, you build and install one high-value asset designed to strengthen your marketing, pricing, client experience, recurring revenue, team, or systems.

Then, at our quarterly Immersion events, you step out of the warehouse-style grind, look at the business from the CEO chair, and set a clear track for the next ninety days.

No multiplying the mess.

No reinventing the wheel every Monday morning.

And no adding another twenty dogs just to make the numbers work.

So, if your Pricing Power exercise has exposed a few cracks in the foundations, good.

Now you know where to start.

And if you'd like my help installing the assets that will make your business stronger over the next ninety days and beyond, you can find out more here: DDSA

Every Sunday, I deliver the unfiltered marketing and operational blueprints I've used to help 2,500+ frustrated dog daycare owners, to stop running a low-margin facility and start building the most expensive (and most wanted) pet destination in town.