Episode 377: From Dog Walks to Dreams. The Unleashed Success Story of Randa Clark

Ever dream of diving into the pet business ocean but don't know if you're diving into calm waters or a whirlwind? In the ever-evolving and competitive landscape of the pet industry, understanding the journey to success through firsthand experiences can be incredibly enlightening. This week on "Bella in Your Business," we have an episode that you simply cannot afford to skip, especially if elevating your pet business is at the forefront of your goals. This week I  am joined by Randa Clark, a veteran in the pet industry with over 20 years of experience. Randa’s narrative from initiating a dog training venture to diversifying into pet care services is nothing short of inspiring. We unpack the layers behind Randa’s strategic decisions. The pivotal moments (including an accidental email that led to a substantial business opportunity), and the challenges faced in enlarging a business foundation. If you are thinking about franchising or want to expand your business, these tips are for you.  Randa’s got the lowdown on picking the best growth routes, nailing your branding, and making your clients feel special. If you’re after tips on how to grow your business smoothly, this episode is like a GPS for success. Topics & Key Points: Entrepreneurship and overcoming fear Starting and growing a pet business Transitioning from home-based pet care to a brick-and-mortar resort  Growing a pet resort business Branding, marketing, and work-life balance Timestamps: [0:08] Overcoming fear with Randa Clark [1:19] How Randa started Tailchasers [6:17] How she transitioned from home-based pet care to a brick-and-mortar resort [10:46] How Randa began her pet resort business [17:30] Tips on branding, marketing, and work-life balance Notable Quotes: [08:46] "But it made me uncomfortable to leave my clients somewhere that I wasn't sure they were going to be well taken care of and that the focus was going to be on them being comfortable in their, their mental health. So we wanted to be able to provide that service because these dogs are part of our family" [13:50] "So it was like I got to start over from the beginning and create everything the way that I should have where I document every single thing that I do." [25:26]  "It is, it's really important for our brains to like, get out of that workload and that stress mode, because that also is where we're able to, like reset and be creative. You know, like our brains can't like it's like a car, it can't operate at six RPMs all the time, it needs to shift out of gear." Resources: Podcast: Bella in Your Business: Pet Industry Business Podcast Join Mastermind Email Bella: bella@jumpconsulting.net Sign up for a 20 mins call  Better Marketing with Bella Connect with Bella Website Facebook YouTube Did you love this episode? If you liked this episode, please head on over to iTunes and leave a five-star rating and review. Every single review helps get this community bigger, stronger, and better. It gets other jumpers just like you into the community. Always remember when life gets down, Always Keep Jumping. Transcript: Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta. I got so much great response and feedback from when we had our clients that I thought I would give you another inspiring business owner who I've known for years. Her name is Randy Clark out of Barrington, Illinois, and many other locations, which we will get into today with tail chasers. Randall, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, Bella, you guys are gonna love her whole evolution of what she's been doing. It's been really exciting for me to watch her grow. And, also, you know, of course, I'm sure you've been scared through it all, but I like the way that you deal with fear and just push past it. And one thing you told me a long time ago is you just work at putting yourself out of a job. And I think you guys are all going to see that and hopefully take that away with many other things. But before we get into it, Randall, why don't you just give everyone an intro of who you are and how you originally started? What were your past lives that led you into this maybe even a little bit about your family I know this truly becomes like a family business for you. Well, my name is Randa Clark. As Bella said, we are approaching our 20th year in business. So it's our 20th anniversary in March. So we got like one more month. And so before owning up pet business, I went to school to be a band director and I still have a passion for music. Our children are very musical Matt's a songwriter. But I just didn't fit in in the school system. So I ended up going to school to become a dog trainer because I had a horrible dog. No arm, I mean, like I loved him very much. And he is still my favorite dog of all time. But he was very naughty. And he bit several trainers and we got kicked out of every obedience school that we went to. So I ended up going to school to become a dog trainer just so I could keep that dog. So his name was Max. And he kind of was the whole reason that tail chasers were started. So as a dog trainer, and I'm sure many of your listeners are dog trainers, the dog training industry, ebbs and flows, especially in the Midwest, no one wants to take their dog out and work on loose leash walking in January when it's 10 below zero and icy. So I learned quickly that I needed something that was going to ebb and flow opposite of dog training so that I would have a steady income and would be able to support myself. So I mean, everybody has to pay rent and eat. So I started the dog walking business, I thought it was a good complement to dog training because it also gave us a nice funnel of new dogs coming in as training clients. Because when you're the dog walker, you learn quickly what behaviors the dogs need some work on to be polite family members. So I started the dog walking business on March 1. What was it in 2004? So it started with just me but it quickly grew, I ended up about six months in I had to have surgery that was going to put me out of dog walking for eight weeks. So I had to hire I kind of didn't have a choice. So it kicked me into gear and I said okay, how do I duplicate myself because I'm very particular about how the dogs are handled? How do you know how response time is with customers, how do you speak to customers to make sure that you're making them feel comfortable not making them nervous about the person who's caring for their pet? So I kind of got thrown into growth because of the surgery but I mean, it was a blessing in disguise anything that has happened to us business-wise and in our life. We've always taken it as a lesson and tried to find the positive spin on it and think okay, what, yes, this is a struggle. Yes, it's unfortunate, but why did this happen? And what am I going to learn from it? So I learned how to expand because I was forced to hire. As a dog trainer, you still get to work with dogs as a dog trainer as a dog walker too. But what I started to learn is I enjoyed dog walking or dog training requires a lot of thought you have to be on your game whereas in dog walking, you get to have all the fun part of the pet you're not working so hard. So I enjoyed dog walking is still have a huge passion for behavior and dog training. But so it was pretty easy to hire people because dog walking is fun. I mean the schedule is a little difficult. It's not a full-time job, but it's a very enjoyable job so yeah, our dog walking grew, and then pets came along with dog walking Because when people go out of town, you're the person that they trust with their pet, you already have access to their home. So it was, you know, just kind of organic. That's awesome. And I remember like when you had, it wasn't even called till chases back then it was called something else. It was called Tail Chasers in the beginning. And then we thought about franchising. When we went to look into the name, there were some other tail chasers we were we were the first ones, but there were some other ones that were going to cause it to be a little bit more difficult to franchise. But as we got deeper into franchising, I didn't want to give up, not that I didn't want to give up control. I just know how hard I work and what a struggle it is. And I know that most people just don't have the grit to be able to do it. And I didn't want the tail chasers' name on another business when they might be like, You know what, this sucks, I don't want to do it anymore. And just kind of let it go by the wayside. Tail Geezers is like my third baby. So I'm I just didn't want them to degrade my brand by not taking it up to the high level of care that we do offer. So we pulled from franchising and ended up expanding on our own. I love the thought that you put into that because I think a lot of people don't give it the care and concern that it deserves. And those examples that you gave are so true, you know, and it's something that you've got to think about if you're ever thinking about franchising. So I think we met maybe in like, 2017 2016 or so and you had the dog walking in the pet sitting in the dog training, and then all of a sudden, you were like, or at least it was all of a sudden, to me, I'm sure it wasn't for you. But you're like, I'm gonna buy a resort, and I'm gonna move into it. And and and I was like, holy cow, this woman's amazing. So how did that transition from, from, you know, service-based business in the home to an actual brick and mortar, which I think is a lot, like a lot of our listeners start off dreaming about that, or might have that dream right now? So what was that tipping point that made you go from, alright, we're operating this in our house, we have sitters and trainers and dog walkers out there to we're going to buy a place and move into it and you know, do the boarding and make this a big business.