The Secret to Continually Growing Your Pet Business (Stop Learning Only From Pet Businesses)
The Secret to Continually Growing Your Pet Business (Stop Learning Only From Pet Businesses)
In this article, I explain why one of the smartest things an established pet business owner can do is stop learning exclusively from other pet businesses.

I'll share why I deliberately bring experts from outside the pet industry into my Dog Daycare Success Academy, what pet business owners can learn from specialists in labour, wealth, marketing and leadership, and why outside expertise becomes increasingly important as your dog daycare, boarding business or pet resort grows.
In This Article
Why Successful Pet Business Owners Need to Stay in Their Lane
Something I believe in VERY strongly is staying in your lane.

See, without blowing too much smoke up my own ass, I know what I'm good at.
 
- Multi-channel marketing.
- Premium pricing.
- Offers that sell.
- Promotions that get eyes on your business.
- Creating a Disney-level client experience.
 
Business development that builds assets, creates additional revenue streams and makes your business more profitable, valuable and less dependent on the owner.
 
I've spent a decade studying, testing, implementing and teaching this stuff.
So, in my humble, honest and accurate opinion, if you want me to help you create a premium pet business, attract better clients, make more money from the clients you already have and build a business that doesn't rely entirely on YOU...
 
I'm your guy.

As I showed in Tim Jackson's story recently, it's possible to go from working seven days a week and constantly putting out fires to running a very different kind of pet business, with big profits and freedom. Click here to read more.
 
That's what I am REALLY good at helping dog daycare owners achieve.
 
But there are also LOTS of things I'm NOT the world's greatest expert on.
 
And I'm not afraid or ashamed to admit that.
 
I'm talking about things like:
- Labour management.
- Investing.
- Financial planning.
- Copywriting.
- Leadership.
- The latest changes in social media content strategy.
- Building and operating multiple locations.
The Danger of Industry Myopia in the Pet Care Industry
I think one of the most dangerous things you can do when you become reasonably successful is start believing you're supposed to know everything.

You aren't.

I certainly don't.

So, rather than doing what a lot of gurus do, reading two and a half books on a subject, knocking together a PowerPoint and suddenly proclaiming themselves an expert on everything, I stay in my lane.

One of my values is that I don't teach or coach using theories.

I only ever teach something I've done myself in my own business, OR something I've helped someone else successfully do in theirs.

In the book Scaling Up, Verne Harnish backs this up when he talks about something he calls inside or industry myopia.

This is basically the danger of spending so much time looking inward at your own business and your own industry that you forget there's an entire world outside it.

I talked about this back in SOT #8, Four Books in Boston, when I explained why so many of my best business ideas come from books, Disney, hotels, restaurants, museums and marketers OUTSIDE the pet industry.

I think that's a HUGE danger in the pet industry.

You go to pet business conferences.

Listen to pet business podcasts.

Join pet business Facebook groups.

Talk to other pet business owners.

And eventually everybody starts swapping versions of the same ideas.

This gets you, at best, to the level of best practice.

Truthfully though, in this day and age, and despite what industry organisations will tell you, best practice is the bare minimum.
Why I Bring Outside Experts Into the Dog Daycare Success Academy
This is why I deliberately do the opposite inside DDSA.

I stay in MY lane when it comes to what I teach...

But I don't want me, OR my members, staying in theirs when it comes to what they LEARN.

I know what I'm bloody good at.

And I also know there are things my members NEED to understand that somebody else can teach them far better than I ever could.

So, I go and find those people.

I'm often connected to them already.

People with genuine experience.

Depth of knowledge.

Battle scars, if you will.

People who've spent years, sometimes decades, becoming exceptionally good at ONE particular thing.

And most importantly...

People who can expose my members to ideas they didn't even know they needed to know.
What Pet Business Owners Can Learn From Outside Experts
Already this year at my Immersion events, we've had Sean Felty, creator of Labor Lens, join us in Boston to dig into one of the biggest expenses in any pet business...
LABOUR.

We had Stephen Inala-Reedy join us at Lumley to help my members think differently about content.

Two weeks ago in Annapolis, they were expecting one special guest...

My good friend Vance Morris, AKA the Disney guy.

But I had another one waiting in the wings.
My good friend Leonard Raskin from Raskin Global.

And Leonard brought something completely different to the table.

Leonard is another buddy of mine who has spent almost 40 years advising business owners, executives and professionals about money, wealth and financial planning.

And I wanted him there because the longer you're in business, the more you start thinking about this stuff.

Or the more you NEED to think about this stuff.
How the Problems Change as Your Pet Business Grows
When you first open your pet business, you're mostly concerned with making money.
- Getting clients.
- Filling spaces.
- Paying the bills.
- Hiring a team.
- Making payroll.
- And, hopefully, having a few dollars left at the end of the month.
 
But then five years pass.
 
Then ten.
 
Maybe fifteen or twenty.
 
The business gets bigger.
 
Your revenue grows.
 
Your house gets nicer.
 
You've got some money in the bank.
 
Maybe you've got investments, pensions, property, retirement accounts and a business that's worth something too.
 
And you start asking big-picture questions.
 
Am I actually building WEALTH here?
 
Am I keeping enough of the money I'm working so bloody hard to make?
 
Have I saved enough?
 
Is too much of my wealth tied up in the business?
 
Am I investing in the right things?
 
What happens to all this if something happens to me?
 
And perhaps the biggest one...
 
What am I actually trying to achieve with all this?
 
Because there are plenty of pet business owners who've spent 10, 15 or 20 years becoming VERY good at looking after dogs...
 
And almost no time learning how to become wealthy business owners.
 
That's why I invited Leonard.
 
I spend an awful lot of time inside DDSA helping my members MAKE more money.
 
And, if I say so myself, I'm pretty good at it...

But at some point, another question becomes rather important...

What the hell do you do with the money once you've made it?

And Leonard has some VERY contrary opinions about that.
Making Money Is Only the Beginning
During his session, Leonard challenged a lot of the conventional financial wisdom most of us have been fed our entire lives.

Stuff like:
- Pay your mortgage off as quickly as possible.
- Debt is bad.
- Cash is safe.
- Put as much as you can into your retirement account.
- Save, save, save and eventually one day you'll have enough to enjoy yourself.
 
Leonard's argument isn't simply that all those things are wrong.
 
It's that wealthy business owners need to understand the financial consequences and opportunity cost of the decisions they make.

Because the "sensible" financial advice given to someone collecting a salary for 40 years...

Isn't necessarily the best advice for an entrepreneur who owns a highly profitable business.

As Leonard puts it...

Money buys choices.

It gives you the choice to expand your facility, buy the building and the next one, hire the manager, invest outside the business, help your kids, take three months off or sell the business.

Or simply know that if the sh!t hits the fan tomorrow, you and your family are protected.
 
That's the point of creating wealth in the first place.

Anyway...
Turning Business Income Into Personal Wealth
Leonard's session went down so well that I decided a couple of hours in Annapolis wasn't enough.

So, I dropped surprise number TWO.

Leonard is now doing a monthly Wealth Masterclass exclusively for my DDSA members.

And the first one happened this week.
We started with CASHFLOW.

Not just what comes in and goes out of the business...

But what happens when the money leaves the business and lands in YOUR hands.

How much should you be keeping?

How much should you be saving?

Where should it go?

How do you become what Leonard calls a "world-class saver" and start deliberately turning the income your business creates into genuine personal wealth?

Then, over the coming months, we're getting into protecting your wealth, insurance, trusts and estate planning...
Investing 101...

And finally, a session I think EVERY established pet business owner needs to attend:

Do You Own Your Business or Does Your Business Own You?

Could you disappear for a week?

A month?

90 days?

Would the business continue operating and generating income without you?

And if it wouldn't...

What people, processes, systems and structures need to be put in place so one day it could?
This is something we've talked about before too in Top Dog, Top Dollar Dispatch #04.

Teija Heikkilä from Pet Vet M&A joined us as the keynote speaker at IMPACT 2026, and she explained exactly why a pet business with systems, processes and assets in place is fundamentally more valuable and more sellable than one that depends on the owner for everything.
Learning From Different Industries and Business Models
This is something I'm deliberately doing more of inside DDSA, AND it's something I am trying to fix in my own business too.

I believe one of my responsibilities as the world's leading pet business coach is to put my members in front of smart people who can help them solve the NEW problems that appear as they become more successful.

People like Vance.

People like Leonard.

People who know stuff I don't know.

And Leonard is only the latest.

Because this isn't a one-off.

This is deliberately how I'm building DDSA.

In October, we're heading to San Francisco, where we'll be joined by Mark Klaiman from Pet Camp.

Mark has built one of the most interesting and innovative pet care businesses I've come across, with Pet Camp, Cat Safari, the Ranger Station and a whole bunch of ideas around what a modern pet care business can actually look like.

And we're also bringing in Teija Heikkilä, who brings an entirely different perspective again.

Then in December, we're heading to Edinburgh, where world-class copywriter Mike Samuels will be joining us.

And I've already got some AMAZING guests and venues lined up for 2027.

Why?
Why Your Thinking Needs to Be Challenged
Because I don't want DDSA to become somewhere you spend the next five years listening to Dom Hodgson talk about how to make more money in your dog daycare.

And I don't want my members spending all their time talking to people who think exactly like they do either.

You need your thinking challenged.

You need to meet people who've solved problems you haven't encountered yet.

You need someone to occasionally tell you that the thing you've always assumed to be true...

Might be complete bollocks.

You need exposure to different industries, different business models, different expertise and different ways of looking at the same problem.

And sometimes...

You need someone to teach you something you didn't even know you needed to know.
That's exactly what happened with Leonard.

I invited him because I spend an awful lot of time helping my DDSA members MAKE more money.

But eventually...

Making the money isn't enough.

You need to know how to KEEP it and PROTECT it.

I can't teach them all of that.

Leonard can.

So THAT'S why I stay in my lane...

And invite bloody brilliant people from all the other lanes to come and help too.
What Members Get Inside DDSA
That's a pretty good description of what I'm trying to build with DDSA.

Yes, you get the new Asset Building Curriculum, which plugs a new money-making asset into your business every month.

Yes, you get weekly Mission Control Q&A sessions.

Yes, you get the systems, strategies, templates and support.

And with the quarterly Immersion events, you also get put into an environment where you're continually exposed to people and ideas that make you think differently about your business.

And that is crucial.

Especially if you've been doing this for ten, fifteen or twenty years.

Because the longer you're in business, the easier it becomes to surround yourself with the same people...

Have the same conversations...

Solve the same problems...

And keep looking at your business through the same lens.

Sometimes the biggest breakthrough doesn't come from learning more about dog daycare.

It comes from learning something completely outside dog daycare that changes the way you think about it.

That's been my experience, and it's a big part of how I've gone from little local dog adventure guy to ten-time author, international keynote speaker and industry leader.

That's what I want DDSA to give you.
And if that's the kind of room you feel like you need to be in...

then sign up for the waitlist and be the first to hear when doors open again.

Keep it unreal,

Dom
Frequently Asked Questions About Growing a Pet Business
Why should pet business owners learn from outside the pet industry?
Constantly learning from the same industry can lead to what Verne Harnish describes as industry myopia.

Pet business owners can often find better ideas around pricing, marketing, labour management, leadership, investing and client experience by studying experts and successful businesses outside the pet care industry.
What should established dog daycare and pet resort owners learn about besides animal care?
As a pet business grows, owners increasingly need expertise in areas such as labour management, financial planning, leadership, marketing, investing, wealth protection, systems and multi-location operations.

Being excellent at caring for dogs is essential, but it isn't enough to build a valuable, profitable business that can operate without the owner.
How can a pet business owner make their business less dependent on them?
The goal is to gradually replace owner dependency with strong people, documented processes, systems, automation, recurring revenue and management structures.

A useful test is whether the owner could leave for a week, a month or even 90 days without the business falling apart.
What is the Dog Daycare Success Academy?
DDSA is my coaching and business development programme for established dog daycare, boarding and pet resort owners.

It combines business growth strategies, weekly Q&A support, monthly asset-building systems and quarterly in-person Immersion events featuring specialists from inside and outside the pet industry.
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.
Click here to join the Dispatch
Author: Dom Hodgson
Dom Hodgson is one of the pet industry's most outspoken, controversial and influential business coaches, a ten-time author, international keynote speaker and founder of the Dog Daycare Success Academy.
 

Known as the Pet Biz Wiz, Dom helps ambitious dog daycare, boarding and pet resort owners escape the low-price, pile-em-high approach to pet care and build premium, profitable businesses through better marketing, premium pricing, remarkable client experiences and revenue-generating business assets.

After building his own successful pet care business, Dom has spent more than a decade developing, testing and teaching unconventional pet business growth strategies to owners across the UK, USA and beyond.

He is also host of the Pet Boarding & Daycare Podcast and a regular international speaker on pet business marketing, pricing, client experience and business growth.

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