From "Ready to Sell" to 40% Growth: How Stephani Cotton Reinvigorated Her Pet Business
Running a successful business is one thing. Running a business that makes you excited to wake up every morning is another.
For Stephani Cotton, owner of Fairview Boarding in North Carolina, the journey from corporate fundraising to pet business ownership was a dream realized... until the daily grind began to take its toll. After six years of seven-day work weeks, Stefani found herself successful but stale, questioning if it was time to sell it all and walk away.
Then one day, she hopped on a plane to Vegas, sat in on one of my seminars, and, well.... let's let the numbers do the talking.
The Challenge: A 'Barely Running' Facility and a Pricing Identity Crisis
Stephani didn't take the easy route. In 2014, she left a corporate nonprofit career in Dallas to follow her passion. It took her four years to find the right property, finally landing in the mountains of North Carolina.
In late 2019, she bought a facility built in 1975 that was "barely running" and in horrible shape. Over the next six years, she worked tirelessly to:
- Rebuild a Reputation: The previous owners had left the business with a horrible reputation in the community.
- Layer in Income Streams: She slowly layered in grooming, training, and daycare.
- Survive a Global Lockdown: COVID hit just five months after she took over, though she managed to keep the bills paid by hosting local campers and used the downtime to paint and clean the facility.
By early 2025, the business was technically successful, but Stephani was stuck. She knew her prices weren't right, but she couldn't put her finger on how to change them without the right strategy.
"I was kind of getting bored... I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. There were days where I was like, 'I'm just going to sell it.'"
— Stephani Cotton
One Seminar Helped Her Completely Changed Her Mindset
Everything changed when Stephani hopped on a plane to attend my seminar in Las Vegas.
Like many of you, Stephani knew she needed to raise her prices, but she was "toying" with it—stuck in that awkward middle ground where you know you're good, but you're afraid to charge like it.
" I already knew that I needed to raise my prices. I had been toying about what to do and how we have it priced already. I knew it wasn't right, but I couldn't quite put my finger on the change I needed to make and how to make it. What resonated so much with your seminar was when you talked about putting yourself in that elevated position.
I know we have a great product. I know we have customers who are so excited and love us and love everything we do and want us to do more and offer to fund us to do stuff. So, I mean, we have a really great product. But I wasn't looking at it like we're the Ritz-Carlton of the area. And it took that for my brain to switch over and be like, 'You know what? We are.'"
Despite her facility being a converted 1975 breeding kennel, her clients were already telling her they'd rather cancel their holidays than take their dogs anywhere else. She realized she was already providing a Ritz-Carlton service, but she was marketing it like a budget motel.
"I have customers who go other places when we're full, and they come back and tell me, "Don't tell anybody to go to that place. We will put our trip off and wait for you to have an opening because our dog was not happy at all when it came home".
And, you know, some of these are really big-name franchises or places that have million-dollar facilities. And I've got a 1975 breeding kennel that has been converted to a boarding facility—which, make no mistake, still needs updates. But they know that we're hands-on. We take care of the dog like it's our dog, and that's what they're looking for.
Hearing your seminar and looking at it that way kind of flipped the switch where I realized, "Okay, I need to talk about it differently in the marketing". We need to change the website to make it look more high-end, talk about it more high-end, and tell people how much we're doing, because we weren't good at that. And that's my fault as far as not marketing.
You made it very clear: "You're doing all this stuff, but you're not telling anybody what it is. So how do they know if I'm not telling them?" And that just flipped the switch."
What set this experience apart for Stephanie wasn't just the inspiration; it was the actionable nature of the advice.
Stephanie noted: "The thing I like about Dom is that he tells it like it is... he doesn't sugarcoat. He wants your business to grow and he wants you to grow in it.
With a lot of other speakers that I've gone to, it's more generalized; it's more of a 'pretty picture.' Dom gives you the tools to actually do it. And you know, he's accessible, so if you have questions, you can ask. Certainly, being a part of one of his marketing groups, you get more access, but he gives you the tools to do it.
A lot of the others give you information, but it's not necessarily actionable. You can't just go and do it like you can with the information that Dom gives."
The Results: 40% Growth and a Fired-Up Team
Stephani joined my Diamond Coaching program before she even left Vegas. She went back to her room each night, transcribed her notes, and started throwing everybody's world upside down.
Here's what happened next:
- She updated the brand to look and feel high-end.
- She stopped selling "walks" and started selling Adventure Walks, Scent Space sessions, and Bedtime Tuck-in Services (complete with a story and a cookie!).
- She hiked her prices across the board... and guess what? The affluent clients loved it.
The Result? Revenue is Exploding
If you're worried that raising prices and getting fancy will scare people off, look at Stephani's numbers in May 2025 (a few months before this interview):
- Daycare Revenue: Up roughly 40% in July compared to the previous month.
- Lodging Revenue: Up approximately 14%.
- Overall Growth: She's already blown past her 10% annual growth goal and is on track for 15% or more over last year.
- Staff excitement is at an all-time high because they're actually having fun reading stories to dogs instead of just cleaning runs.
"We incorporated lodging packages. Like I told you about my bulldog client—she now upgrades them every time they come, and they come a lot. She gives me a hard time, but she loves it.
We're selling more of the luxury package, which I was a little worried about at first, but it's selling great now. Our VIP package is doing great, and that's kind of mid-range.
People are adding extras like crazy. We had bedtime cuddles, additional walks, playtime, and frozen Kongs. Now we've got the scent space, adventure walks, and bedtime tuck-in service—which is cuddles, a story, and a bedtime cookie.
Everything you said would happen is happening. They are buying all of it, even on top of what they normally would do."
Are You Ready to Stop Reinventing the Wheel?
It's important to remember: The results you've just read about (the 40% daycare spike, the 14% lodging jump, and the total business rebirth) all happened after Stephanie attended that one seminar in Vegas, and implemented the systems from Enrich U and my coaching program back in 2025.
"I got so much out of just a couple of hours at the expo. You know, when I was still in Vegas, I went and I signed up for his Diamond Group after I had the one-on-one call with him.
Then I signed up for Enrich U. I figured if I got that much out of just a couple of hours, then two days was going to give me a lot of projects and a lot of things that I needed to look at and change, perhaps. So it was an easy decision to make."
If a single seminar and a 90-day sprint could spark this kind of radical transformation, imagine the sheer force of a 12-month blueprint. By moving into the DDSA,
Stephani isn't just fixing her business... She's installing a permanent, asset-building engine that will scale her success for years to come.
What's Waiting for You Inside the Dog Daycare Success Academy?
I've taken everything I taught in my previous coaching programs and my Masterminds and turned it into the ultimate "Growth S.O.P."
When you join Stephani and our global community of winners, you get:
- The 12-Month "Asset Building" Curriculum: We stop multiplying the mess and start building one high-value business asset every month. This is a 12-to-36-month narrative designed to create predictable, scalable infrastructure that your team can actually run.
- Quarterly International Immersion Events: You get access to six intensive training events a year across the UK and the USA. These events pull you out of the "warehouse-style" daily grind and force you to look at your business from a macroscopic, executive perspective.
- A Specialized Board of Directors: You aren't just getting my brain; you're getting a multi-layered specialist network. From "Dom Hodgson" approved coaches to world-class guest specialists in marketing and wealth building, you'll have the accountability to ensure you never feel stuck.
Are You Ready to Follow Stephani's Lead?
Stephani Cotton went from being "ready to sell it" to being the most excited she's been in a decade. She stopped winging it and started operating with a proven system.
If you're tired of working 7 days a week for a business that feels stale, it's time to stop guessing and start building. The results Stephanie achieved in 2025 were just the beginning. Imagine what you could achieve with the full weight of the Dog Daycare Success Academy behind you in 2026.
Join the Top Dog Top Dollar Dispatch: My Weekly Sunday Briefing to Help You Command Premium Rates and Dominate Your Local Pet Market.
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.
