DogCo Secrets

In this episode of DogCo Secrets, I’m walking you through 10 money strategies that will keep your pet care business winning. We’re talking about everything from bookkeeping must-haves to daily money habits, mindset shifts, and practical systems you can put in place this week. If you’ve ever felt stressed about cash flow, profit margins, or paying yourself confidently, this episode will give you clarity and actionable next steps.

These are the exact strategies I’ve seen transform struggling businesses into thriving ones. Whether you’re running a dog walking company, pet sitting business, or any service-based pet care brand, this countdown is packed with tools you can use immediately.

🔥 Key Takeaways

• 10 tactical tips to set your pet care business up for financial success
• How to separate business and tax savings to avoid painful surprises
• Why hiring a bookkeeper early is a growth accelerator, not an expense
• The mindset shift that turns money management from stressful to empowering

⏰ Timestamps
0:00 – Welcome and episode overview
0:42 – Why finances are the foundation for scaling your business
3:00 – Tip 1: Hire a bookkeeper and why you can’t afford not to
5:30 – Tip 2: Learn to read key financial reports
8:15 – Tip 3: The three-bank-account system for clarity and control
10:50 – Tip 4: Automating savings transfers to build wealth over time
13:45 – Tip 5: Identify a “free spend” category to prevent burnout
16:30 – Tip 6: Understanding labor costs and employee retention
19:10 – Tip 7: Course-correct quickly when you make financial mistakes
21:30 – Tip 8: Protect “future you” with smart decisions today
24:00 – Tip 9: Check your finances daily to remove fear and shame
26:20 – Tip 10: Make money management fun and rewarding

DogCo Summit

Want to take these strategies further? Join us at the DogCo Business Summit in Winston-Salem, NC (September 26–28) or grab a digital ticket to attend online. This event includes Joey Coleman’s exclusive 4-hour workshop on client and employee retention — a must if you want to scale your pet care business in 2025. 👉 Get your ticket: https://dogcosummit.com

👉 Subscribe for more weekly business insights
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts & Spotify
📲 Follow @michelleckline on Instagram
💬 Comment below if this resonated with you

This episode is a repost of Episode 11 - one of THE most listened to and implemented episodes to date. Resurfacing because I believe this content is valuable enough to share twice.

💸 Want to make more money on your pet sitting services?

LFG.

In this hot-take mini episode, I share one powerful pricing strategy that helped a pet care company I work with go from $35,000 in net profit to $150,000 in a single year, without increasing staff or adding complexity. (and yes - I said NET PROFIT.)

Whether you’re deep into pet sitting or just dabbling, this shift can dramatically improve your margins on this service line.

Inside this episode:

• The hidden costs within your pet sitting services
• A simple pricing change that adds pure profit to your bottom line
• The truth about after-hours fees (and how to roll them out without backlash)
• Real answers to your biggest FAQs - like whether to pass the fee to staff and if you need to announce it publicly

📊 This model isn’t about nickel-and-diming clients. It’s about protecting your margins and turning a high-effort service into a high-reward revenue line.

💥 Key Takeaways:

✅ Pet sitting often carries hidden operational costs

✅ Charge based on time, not service labels (IMO)

✅ Add $5–$10 after-hours fees for visits outside 9–5

✅ Clients rarely push back - and often shift to easier daytime windows

✅ Keep the fee - don’t pass it to staff

✅ No price increase announcement needed

✅ More money for the same labor = a win

📢 DON’T MISS THIS:

Join us at the DogCo Business Summit, Sept 26–28 in Winston-Salem, NC! Learn how to scale smarter, price better, and grow sustainably.
🎟 Get tickets at www.dogcosummit.com 

🐾 Subscribe for weekly episodes that help you build a more profitable, people-first pet care company.

💬 Was this tip helpful? Let me know - tag @michelleckline on IG and share your takeaway.

🎯 Like + share with a pet sitter or solopreneur who deserves to keep more of their earnings.

Want to scale your pet care business to seven figures and beyond? In this episode of DogCo Secrets, I talk with Rachel Eaton, founder of We Let The Dogs Out, about how she transformed a small pet care company into a thriving, community-focused empire.

This episode is part of our new series highlighting 7-Figure DogCo businesses and their path to success. If you want to get more connected to leaders like Rachel - grab your ticket to the DogCo Business Summit now at dogcosummit.com to learn directly from leaders like Rachel.

🔥 Episode Takeaways
• How Rachel grew from 2 employees to a team of over 38
• The pivotal leadership and delegation shifts that allowed her to step out of day-to-day walking
• Why community involvement drives both trust and long-term growth
• Evolving pay structures, onboarding, and culture for a scaling company
• Key lessons for entrepreneurs building resilient pet care brands

⏰ Timestamps
0:00 – Welcome to the Seven-Figure DogCo series
1:02 – Meet Rachel and We Let The Dogs Out
3:04 – From law career to pet care entrepreneur
5:18 – Rapid team growth and lessons in hiring
8:00 – Learning to delegate and lead effectively
10:45 – Acquisitions and building leadership within the team
15:00 – Leveraging community events for brand recognition
18:30 – Pay structure shifts and improving company culture
22:00 – Evolving training and onboarding processes
25:30 – Mindset growth and embracing discomfort
30:00 – Rachel’s vision for the future

🔗 Resources and Links
• Rachel’s company: https://thedogsout.com/pet-care-team/
• DogCo Summit Tickets: https://dogcosummit.com
• Instagram: @weletthedogsout

🐶 Join Us at the Summit
If Rachel’s story sparks something for you, do not miss the chance to learn from her in person at the DogCo Business Summit. This event brings together the best minds in the pet care industry for two full days of strategy, connection, and growth. Reserve your seat now at dogcosummit.com.

Hey friends, it’s Michelle Kline, host of the DogCo Secrets Podcast and founder of DogCo Launch, where I help pet care businesses grow and scale. Today’s Hot Tip is all about the underrated, often-overlooked power of in-person connection.

Whether it’s your marketing, your client retention, or your own growth as a business owner, in-person experiences will always outpace digital. In this quick but loaded episode, I’ll walk through three specific areas where showing up face-to-face gives you an irreplaceable edge:

✨ Getting better testimonials and driving new leads
✨ Building deeper, longer-lasting client relationships
✨ Hypercharging your own business education and personal development

From dog park meetups to professional summits, I’m sharing personal stories and tactical tips you can apply this month to build trust, deepen engagement, and grow with intention.

🎟️ Don’t miss your opportunity to be in the room

The DogCo Business Summit is coming to Winston-Salem, NC, from September 26-28, and we now have digital tickets available for those who can’t travel. But if you can get there in person, do it. Your brain and your business will thank you.

→ Get your ticket

🔗 Links and Resources:

• Connect with Michelle: www.dogcolaunch.com

• Subscribe to the podcast for new Hot Tips every week

If this helped you rethink your next marketing move or inspired you to get out from behind the screen, do me a favor - share this episode with a friend or colleague who needs a little push to go in person.

Let’s build something real.

-M

Welcome back to the DogCo Secrets Podcast! In this special episode, I sat down with financial educator and profit strategist Jamie Trull to talk about all things money, mindset, and mastering your business finances. Whether you’re just getting started or trying to get control of your cash flow at scale, Jamie breaks it down with practical, empathetic insight. This is a must-listen for every business owner, especially those of us in pet care who often fly by the seat of our QuickBooks.

💡 Spoiler: It’s not about being “good with numbers.” It’s about systems, support, and shifting how we think about our role as financial leaders.

👇 Want more help in building your business with clarity and confidence? Check out the links below.

🎟️ DogCo Business Summit with Michelle Kline & Jamie Trull
Join us in Winston-Salem, NC from Sept 26–28 or grab your digital ticket now:
https://my.cheddarup.com/c/dogco-business-summit-tickets/items

📘 Jamie Trull’s Free Finance Resources & Courses:
 @JamieTrull  
https://jamietrull.com/
https://jamietrull.com/book
https://www.instagram.com/jamie.trull/

💥 Key Takeaways:
• Why profit is a decision, not just a leftover
• The mental blocks business owners have around numbers
• What it really means to pay yourself as the owner
• Understanding cash flow versus profitability
• When to outsource bookkeeping and financial support
• Building systems that don’t rely on willpower

⏱️ Chapters:
00:00 - Intro & why Jamie’s voice matters
03:12 - The power of financial language for women in business
06:40 - The mindset shift around profitability
10:15 - What most owners get wrong about paying themselves
15:42 - How to stop reacting and start planning with your money
20:07 - When to hire a bookkeeper or CFO
27:30 - The difference between revenue, profit, and cash
35:45 - Why micromanaging dollars can hurt your growth
41:02 - Budgeting for sustainability, not just survival
47:55 - Michelle & Jamie talk about real-life lessons
53:20 - Financial tools that work for small teams
59:00 - Wrapping up: permission to take control

If you got something out of this conversation, hit subscribe and share it with a friend in the pet care industry. And don’t forget to grab your spot at the Summit—live or online! Michelle and Jamie are teaming up to help you move your business from guessing to growing.

📢 Stay in the loop with Michelle & DogCo Launch:
http://dogcosummit.com/
https://www.instagram.com/dogcolaunch/

Hey everyone, Michelle Kline here, host of the DogCo Secrets Podcast and founder of DogCo Launch, where I help pet care companies grow and scale sustainably.

In today’s episode, I’m diving into one of the most important mindset shifts you can make as a business owner: stop chasing shiny marketing tactics and start going deeper into what you’ve already committed to. This episode is a call to action for pet business owners who feel stuck in a cycle of starting and stopping new strategies before they’ve had a real chance to work.

We’re talking about how depth creates mastery, how 90-day sprints can change everything, and why most businesses quit way too early. If you’ve ever said, “I tried that and it didn’t work,” this episode is for you. I’ll share what I’ve learned in my own business journey and lay out a game plan for how to go from inconsistent growth to building real traction with your marketing.

Let’s stop spinning our wheels and start seeing results by going deeper, not wider.

🎟️ Want to take your strategy even further?

Join us at the DogCo Business Summit happening September 26–28 in Winston-Salem, NC. In-person and digital tickets are available now at:

👉 https://dogcosummit.com

Key Takeaways:

• Why most marketing “failures” are just unfinished experiments
• The power of 90-day marketing sprints
• What happens when you stop switching strategies and start improving them
• How to analyze your data and refine your process over time
• Volume and depth: the secret combo most people ignore

Thanks for listening to this week’s Hot Tip. If you loved it, don’t forget to follow, rate, and share with a friend in the pet care space. I’m cheering you on every step of the way. Let’s do this.

Ever feel like you’re on the edge but don’t know if it’s burnout or just the next level? In this episode, I get personal. I’m pulling back the curtain on some of the hardest seasons of my professional life, from my years in social work to the aftermath of the pandemic while running my pet care business. We’re talking real burnout: the signs, the sneaky symptoms, and the mindset shifts that saved me.

I also walk through what I’ve learned in my journey as a founder and business coach: how to spot the difference between healthy overwhelm and burnout, and how to make empowered decisions before you’re deep in the crash zone.

If you’ve ever had the thought, “Am I just tired, or is this unsustainable?” this one’s for you.

And hey, if you’re a pet care business owner wanting to level up (without burning out), make sure to grab your ticket for the DogCo Business Summit, happening Sept 26-28 in Winston-Salem, NC. Digital tickets are now available!

👉 Get your ticket: https://dogcosummit.com

📝 What You’ll Take Away:
• How to recognize the early signs of burnout
• Four ways I knew I had hit my personal wall
• Tactics to recover without blowing up your business
• The mindset shift that changed everything
• How to build sustainable rhythms at higher altitudes

⏰Timestamps:
00:00 – Welcome and intro to burnout
01:00 – When burnout feels sneaky
02:00 – My two major burnout seasons
04:00 – Burnout after the pandemic
05:30 – The line between growth and collapse
07:00 – Four signs I was burning out
10:00 – Emotional reactivity as a warning
13:00 – Four ways I now manage burnout
15:30 – The glass vs. plastic metaphor
18:00 – Better strategies for handling stress
19:30 – The power of mindset and choosing your life

👉 Subscribe for more weekly business insights
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts & Spotify
📲 Follow @michelleckline on Instagram
💬 Comment below if this resonated with you

Welcome back to your Friday Hot Tip! In this episode, I’m breaking down three of the most practical, boots-on-the-ground marketing strategies that helped me (and my clients) saturate a specific service area with brand visibility.

If you’re running an in-home pet care company, you know that location matters. That’s why today we’re talking about how to make your brand pop in the exact neighborhoods you want to dominate.

I’ll walk you through how to use flyers, yard signs, and car magnets in strategic, intentional ways to get the most out of your print materials. These aren’t just nice-to-haves - they’re powerful, proven tools when deployed correctly.

We’ll also cover design principles, location tips, how to avoid wasting time and energy, and how to convert eyeballs into long-term clients.

Whether you’re new to physical marketing or want to optimize what you’ve already got going, this episode is loaded with tactical tips that will give you more traction in less time.

💥 Key Takeaways

• Keep it simple - people only glance at flyers for 3 seconds

• Don’t overload your signs - make your message instantly readable

• Car magnets are low-cost, high-visibility tools when used well

• Hyper-target one area at a time - don’t scatter your efforts

• Always loop your offline efforts back into your social media presence

🎟️ Come meet me in person (or online!)

Join me at the DogCo Business Summit in Winston-Salem, NC - September 26–28, 2025. We’ve just launched digital tickets!

Grab yours here: https://dogcosummit.com

📌 Mentioned Strategies

• Flyers (where to hang them, how to design them)

• Yard signs (minimal copy, high contrast)

• Car magnets (addressing common hesitations and risks)

• Social media synergy with local businesses

• Picking one neighborhood to saturate at a time

💬 If this episode helped you, consider sharing it with a fellow pet business owner. A rising tide lifts all boats. Cheering you on, always!

Hey friends, Michelle Kline here. Today’s episode is a vulnerable one. I’m pulling back the curtain and talking honestly about several realization I’ve had in my own business (I’ve been the one in the way).

This isn’t just a strategy conversation. It’s a personal check-in. I’m sharing what it’s looked like for me to confront habits, mindsets, and leadership patterns that were unintentionally holding DogCo back. If you’ve ever felt like your business can’t grow unless you do, this one’s for you.

My hope is that this episode gives you permission to pause, reflect, and course-correct with compassion, and to realize that change doesn’t always mean doing more, it means thinking differently.

🎫 Tickets are still available for the DogCo Business Summit!
Winston-Salem, NC | September 26–28, 2025
Now available both in-person and digitally
👉 dogcosummit.com

💥 Key Takeaways 💥
• You might be the most influential limiter on your business’s growth
• Change is less about doing more, and more about thinking differently
• Leadership isn’t just delegation, it’s transformation
• How you might be unknowingly limiting your business’s growth
• What it actually looks like to lead differently
• The subtle behaviors that point to bottlenecking
• How to shift your internal script and free up momentum
• Encouragement for the overwhelmed pet care business owner

💬 If this episode sparked something in you, let me know. Share with a fellow business owner or tag me on Instagram. I’m cheering you on every step of the way.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.

Take a breath. We’re halfway through the year, and this episode is your invitation to pause and reflect. I’m walking you through how I’m setting aside two full days to audit my business, pull real data, and intentionally map out the next six months. This is your sign to slow down, zoom out, and move forward with clarity.

👋 I’m Michelle Kline, founder of DogCo Launch and host of the DogCo Secrets podcast, where I help pet care companies grow and scale without burning out. Today’s episode is about how I personally approach mid-year planning and how you can use this time to recalibrate your own goals.

If you’ve been running full speed since January, this is your invitation to press pause, reflect, and re-align.

💥 Key Takeaways:

• Why planning time must be scheduled to actually happen
• What kind of data I’m pulling to guide decision-making
• How I’m using AI to evaluate performance trends
• Why I don’t mind changing goals mid-year

🎟️ Come to the DogCo Business Summit

In-person and digital tickets are available now for the DogCo Business Summit in Winston-Salem, NC,  September 26–28.

🛒 https://dogcosummit.com

🎤 Featuring Joey Coleman and other top-tier pet business experts

🧠 Resources Mentioned:

• Mid-year business planning

• Time tracking and goal audits

• Uploading your data to ChatGPT for insights

📬 If this episode gave you clarity or made you pause in a helpful way, please share it with a fellow business owner.