Why I Started a Dog Training Mentorship: A Mentee Interviews Me

Sean, one of my mentees, came over from Australia for the recent mentorship weekend and grabbed twenty minutes with me. He asked some questions I’d never been asked before, so I gave some answers no one has heard before, about why the mentorship exists, why I coach the way I do, and where Yorkshire Canine Academy is actually going. Here’s the conversation, tidied up.

What made you start a dog training mentorship?

A couple of reasons. First, I’m big on leverage and priorities. Part of the reason this place has done so well is that we figured out how to be profitable. I was texting Kirky yesterday: remember when all we wanted was a shipping container with some French doors in it? That was the dream facility. That was about three years ago. Not even that long.

It’s no secret we’ve done well in marketing and social media, so I thought: how do I leverage that skill set? Initially the mentorship was just teaching trainers how to plug their services a bit better on social media. It’s since grown into something with a lot more layers: paid ads, what emails to send, how you deliver to clients, and pretty much everything in between.

The second reason is a gripe I have with our industry. There are brilliant dog trainers out there not helping anywhere near as many people and dogs as they should, because they’ve got a natural opposition to marketing and sales. On the flip side, there are a couple of snake oil salesmen who are very good at marketing and not so good at training dogs. I was sick of seeing people stuck in one camp or the other.

I’m not going to virtue signal. It’s also an extra revenue stream that funds the growth we’re planning over the next couple of years. But I do want to support people who have a passion for dogs, through business coaching, because you’ll help far more dogs when you have more revenue. Revenue is oxygen to your business and your life.

Trying to make more money isn’t the devil. And once you turn yourself into a charity by trying to help absolutely everyone, you run yourself into the ground. You end up serving 40 or 50 clients a week on pennies until you give up, because you were too stubborn to learn how to market yourself.

Why do you take it so seriously?

Sean pointed out that I’d just come off a client call, seen him, and said “yep, I’ll give you ten minutes”, and that I don’t stop. That’s because I see it as a responsibility. You can’t mess around with the advice you give people. It’s their livelihood.

The same goes for my staff. This place puts bread on the table, pays their mortgages and lets them have great lives. I take the responsibility people have placed on me very seriously. This place is my baby. Why wouldn’t I give it 100%?

For what it’s worth, I’m not in the facility that often. I work from home most of the time, on calls in a private office. The intensity is the same either way.

How was the move from training dogs to training trainers?

Honestly, it’s been rejuvenating. There’s only so long you can do the same thing before anyone gets bored. It’s not that I got bored of dogs, but seeing the results my team gets, and the results my mentees get for their clients, adds a whole new layer of passion.

After a weekend like this one, hearing trainers talk about how well they’re doing in their personal and business lives because they’re finally figuring out business, and knowing you were part of that, is exceptionally fulfilling. Some of them are retiring their partners.

It also has a domino effect. There are only so many dogs we can train here. But if I equip talented dog trainers with the skills to reach more people, I’ve helped more dogs than I ever could myself. I see that as mission fulfilment. Without getting too deep, I think the meaning of life is to serve something bigger than yourself. If you’re only serving your physical self, I think it leads to a miserable life.

Where does the “friendly bullying” come from?

Sean described my coaching style as friendly bullying: hard truths wrapped in enough humour that you take them. Here’s where it comes from.

As I coach people, I’ve realised a lot of adults have never had their neck wound in since school or college. They’re self-employed, with no one to hold them accountable. Part of my job is to be that person, and I think a lot of adults actually find it refreshing.

It’s just like dogs, really. You can put pressure on a dog, but you get a good read on it first, because too much pressure will ruin it. A dog trainer is a human trainer, and I’ve been doing this for about a decade, so I know people inside out and I know the level of pressure each person can tolerate. Humour is the release. You use push and pull, negative and positive reinforcement, the same as you would with a dog, so that they do the work reliably and keep their attitude.

So yes, I will negatively reinforce you into the behaviours you need to be successful. And I’ll be there celebrating when you get there, because I gave you the kick that got you moving. Sean’s had that himself: “don’t hire anyone, don’t be stupid”, then a check-in a week later to see how he’s doing.

Did you always have this vision?

Truth be told, yes, we set our aims high from the start. You need reasons to behave a certain way in life. Mine was leaving a company I had a love-hate relationship with and wanting to be bigger than them. They were pretty big. We did that. Then it was: how do we take it a step further?

What I really want is for this place to be a central hub. I always joke, and I’m sorry if it offends anyone, that I want it to be a Mecca for dog training. I want people to make a pilgrimage here and say they’ve experienced it.

I’m from a sporting background, and the thing I missed most after retiring from sport was camaraderie. I try to build that here, across the staff and across the mentees. This industry can be toxic and cannibalistic, so having a place where people can come, see the work the training team does, and feel part of something matters to me.

It’s also why the online presence has to be backed by real substance. The last thing I want is to be remembered as a social media dog trainer. That’s why I put pressure on the training staff to deliver the results they do, week in, week out.

It doesn’t come without pressure, either. On your way up the ladder you live in a constant state of “must do more, must be better”. Then once you get somewhere, that gets replaced by “I could lose all this tomorrow with one wrong step”. The drive anxiety turns into loss anxiety. It doesn’t get easier.

Would you change anything?

No. There have been a million mistakes, but those mistakes were the lessons that pushed us into being successful. Kirky and I have been through the lowest of lows. But sometimes that’s what’s required to give you a compelling reason. A life without problems isn’t a purposeful life and it isn’t a fulfilling life. I wouldn’t change a thing.

That’s the mindset we try to pass on inside the Vantage Pro Mentorship, alongside the practical stuff. If you’re stuck, the problem in front of you is usually the thing that makes the next stage possible.

What’s the dream for YCA?

I genuinely don’t know what it looks like. I just want to help more people, help more dogs and make more money. Again, I’m not going to virtue signal: money is oxygen. My dogs live a significantly better life now. A lot of my reasons revolve around my dogs and my partner, and I want to give them the best life possible.

Beyond that, I want the people around me to have their boxes ticked too. I want Kirky to buy himself a big truck and move into a big house. I want Chloe to have whatever she wants in life. Same for Suzanne and all my staff. My own boxes are ticked. I’ve got my partner, my dogs and a great set of people around me. Now it’s about serving beyond myself, and we’ll get there if we keep our foot on the gas.

Key takeaways

• Great trainers who refuse to learn marketing end up serving 40 to 50 clients a week on pennies and burning out. Revenue is oxygen.
• The mentorship exists to close the gap between trainers who can train and trainers who can sell.
• Coaching people works like training dogs: read the individual, apply the right amount of pressure, use humour as the release.
• Self-employed people often have no accountability. Being that accountability is the job.
• A life without problems is not a purposeful one. The mistakes were the lessons.

If you want that level of accountability on your own dog training business, apply for a call. We’ll have an honest conversation about where you are and whether Vantage is the right move for you.