Beth and I just got back from a few days away in Spain. This was our second mini-break this month, and I returned feeling fresh and ready to deliver the new asset-building curriculum for my Dog Daycare Success Academy members.

As I was flying home, I was thinking about how most dog daycare owners don't take proper breaks. It is not because they don't want to, or don't deserve to. It is because they can't afford to.

While sitting in the departures lounge, I came across some comments on one of my social posts that backed up my point perfectly.

Over the last month, I've put out several pieces of content about marketing to affluent clients. I recorded two podcasts on the topic because I realized I had too much to say for just one episode. I also wrote an article for Pet Boarding and Daycare magazine titled The Affluent Attraction Strategy.

The content received some very favorable comments. Business coach Bella Vasta noted that this topic is going to be incredibly important in the next 12 to 24 months for many reasons.

She is not wrong. Marketing to the affluent has been a priority for me and my clients for the last ten years. Back in 2019 at my IMPACT Success Summit, I even delivered a full bonus day of training on this exact subject.

I believe transitioning your pet business from a "pile-em-high" warehouse model to a personalized, experiential, premium offering is the big shift smart business owners will make over the next decade.

However, not everyone is ready for this kind of thinking. Someone actually disagreed with me online. I had a few comments from pet business owners who did not think this was something they needed to concern themselves with.

 

One person replied:

I have no doubt the customers love them. Who wouldn't want to pay rock-bottom prices? While most people love a bargain, it is incredibly difficult to build a business that grows in value and survives rising costs if you operate at the lower end of the market.

 

Furthermore, as any experienced business owner knows, if your business has no employees and depends entirely on you, it is not actually a business. It is a job with no holidays.

There were a few other interesting comments. One person mentioned that their business was just their "retirement thing,...

While another suggested that a premium focus was just a "private equity mentality" that excludes everyone but the wealthy.

As someone who has coached thousands of pet business owners, I am used to people getting upset about pricing and positioning. I welcome these comments because they allow us to look at the reality of the industry.

 

If owning a pet care business is your retirement plan, you might think you can afford a long term view. However, you should not assume your business will be valuable enough for someone to buy when you are ready to retire just because you have owned it for a long time.

 

Without the right model, you may find that you have spent decades building something that has no market value.

At my recent IMPACT Success Summit in Florida in January, my keynote speaker Teija Heikkila warned the attendees that she sees this all the time. She meets owners who have spent 20 years building something they thought was valuable, only to find out it isn't.

 

These are businesses they have spent decades in, and sometimes they have to rethink their retirement and put off selling because there are serious structural problems with the profitability of the business.

 

As for private equity, there has been and will continue to be a lot of consolidation in the pet service sector. Because of that, selling to private equity remains one of the best ways to unlock the value of a business you've spent your life building.

 

I would argue that being premium and positioning your services as the natural choice for affluent dog owners is not private equity thinking at all. That is just future proofing your business for the changes that are happening in the market.

One of the best and most dangerous things about running your own business is that you get to do whatever you want.

If you want to be low-priced and undercut everyone, you can. If you want to be the refuge for all the difficult dogs that most facilities can't handle, that can be your niche. If you want to have an all-inclusive model where you charge a flat rate and include all the extras for free, you can do that too.

However, in business every decision you make has consequences.

- If you choose to underprice: You attract people who make decisions solely on price. They question everything, complain more, and leave faster. You end up working harder for people who value you less.
- If you choose to stay small and solo: You keep all the money on paper, but you also keep all the responsibility. With no team and no leverage, you have no exit. You've bought yourself a job with a dog theme.
- If you choose to be all things to all dogs: You dilute your service and become average at everything. Average businesses are forced to compete on price.
- If you choose to ignore rising costs: Wages, rent, and insurance go up while your margins quietly disappear.

 

Many of the clients I work with have been in business for 10, 20, or even 30 years. On paper, they have built super successful businesses with multiple facilities. But even they have recognized that the game has changed. They need a new pricing model and new promotional methods if the business is to continue to grow.

If you choose not to evolve, that is your call. But the market evolves anyway and it will leave you behind.

When I started my first pet business, Pack Leader Dog Adventures, back in 2011, I knew I wanted to be premium. I charged twice as much as my competitors despite having zero business experience and even less of a clue about dogs.

 

I did this because I knew from my previous role as a sales rep that expensive brands had vastly bigger profit margins and more loyal customers. The cheaper brands attracted price buyers who had zero loyalty.

 

These customers are constantly looking to save a penny and would switch to a cheaper brand without a second thought. You should not build your business around those people.

 

You can have a business that serves more affluent dog owners who are looking for value and personalization. These are people who want the best for their dog and are prepared to pay handsomely for it.

If you want to be known as the top-dollar, luxury-leaning, Disney-level daycare in your town, you must take these three actions:

1. Be Noticeably Different
Affluent buyers aren't looking for better than average. Slightly cleaner kennels or a marginally bigger outdoor space won't cut it. You must offer an experiential service that feels like something they can't get anywhere else.

2. Charge for the "Wow" Factor
You cannot offer premium services without charging top dollar. Making clients feel special requires personalization and a great onboarding experience. These things cost money. If you want to be the best, you must have the highest prices.

3. Focus on Profit Over Volume
Accept slower, more profitable growth. Initially, it may take a little longer to find those affluent dog owners. They generally are not sitting in local Facebook groups looking for advice. They run businesses and move in different circles, which requires different media to reach them.

 

By adopting a "make more with less" philosophy, I was able to offer better, more attentive care for my clients while my competitors worked twice as hard to earn the same money.

So, if it is better to have a premium business, why don't more people do it? The main reason is fear: fear of losing clients, fear of pricing yourself out of the market, or fear of looking like you only care about the money.

 

We will get into those psychological blockers in a future post. For now, consider this: the idea that you are making services "only for the wealthy" simply isn't true.

 

We all have guilty pleasures we spend money on. For some, it is wine or hotels. For many dog owners, their guilty pleasure is their dog. They will gladly find money in their budget for life-enhancing food, toys, and luxury boarding services. Affluent dog owners are already spending money in your town; they just are not necessarily spending it with you.

I know most pet business owners didn't get into this for money. You wanted a better life, more freedom, and you wanted to make an impact because of your love for dogs.

 

But somewhere along the way, that turned into constant high stress. You confused being busy with being successful. The real problem isn't the economy or your competition. It is the model.

 

You built a business around low prices and high volume, which leads to more dogs and more headaches for you and your staff. You don't have a marketing problem. You have a model problem.

 

You need a business model where you offer value-packed experiential services for affluent owners. This allows you to charge higher prices while clients buy additional services and add-ons.

We just wrapped up our first exclusive mastermind event in Boston, where our members went deep into this new "Profit First" model. The energy in the room was electric as owners realized they could actually make more money by working with fewer, higher-quality clients.

If you missed out on this intake, the doors to the Dog Daycare Success Academy are currently closed.

 

However, the market is evolving fast, and the owners who are implementing these "Asset Building" strategies right now are the ones who will dominate their towns in the coming months.

 

If you are tired of having a job with a dog theme and you are ready to build a real, valuable business, you need to be in the room for our next session.

 

Don't get left behind while your competitors shift to a premium model. Secure your place on the waitlist now to get early-bird access and exclusive updates for our May Intake.