Why I’m always reminding people about referrals.
The title sums it up, but I felt it was important to explain the behind the scenes of K9K. When I left my full-time, pretty good paying management role nearly a decade ago, it was to do what I genuinely loved doing. It came with about a 50% pay cut, and that was nothing short of terrifying when I was already living pretty paycheck to paycheck. That was in September of 2016. This coming year, I will have been training full-time for a decade. In that time, my rates went from $20 a lesson as a newbie with a dinky client base, to what was the market rate of $85 in 2018.
While the rest of the industry has raised their rates to double that, I have not. I have always wanted training to be within reach for anyone, regardless of their income. I have done no-cost training, bartered, exchanged services, payment plans… I have done what I’ve needed to do to ensure that anyone can have quality dog training from a highly experienced professional dog trainer.
But I’m feeling the pinch. I’m watching other trainers scrambling, panicking, leaving the industry left and right because they can’t afford to do it anymore. One of my colleagues recently quit to do dog grooming, staying adjacent to the industry, but unable to afford to keep training. It broke my heart, because they were a fabulous trainer and someone I loved working with, but I know they also have bills to pay, just like me. Just like you.
We don’t close because we want to. We close because we can’t compete with the people who are in it for the profit, greedily collecting clients like Pokemon and always hungry for more, more, more, with no concern for the long term results, the health of the dog, the well-being of the owner. We can’t compete with massive ‘one stop shop’ facilities that outspend us by the thousands for visibility. We can’t compete with the franchises that run ads left and right. We can’t compete with the internet famous who have an entire staff devoted just to making them look good online.
We can’t compete with money. We’re reliant on our work to speak for itself, but that means a little something back from our clients if they want to keep us around: spreading the word. It’s well-known that someone is ten times more likely to talk about a horrible experience than they are to talk about a good one. And hey- we should be protecting our communities from people who don’t care about our communities. But we also absolutely must sing the praises of the people who’ve done right by us. We must speak, loudly, about the small businesses, artisans, indie workers, who do a good job and who do it because they love it, care about it, and care about the people they work with and work for.
When someone is having trouble keeping up with their dog’s nails, I’ll refer to Linda, up in Highland Park. She has a cute grooming shop called Furry Finesse, and she’s the best dog groomer I’ve ever known. When someone needs a new dog food, I send them to Sarah at Peppo’s Pets in Hoffman Estates, because she cares so deeply and is a truly honest business owner. When someone needs a new veterinarian, I know one nearby. When someone needs auto repair, I send them to my independent mechanic. When someone compliments my tattoos, I hand them the card for my artist. My coat? Here’s the indie shop I got it at. That pin on my bag? This cool store, it’s right up your alley.
We MUST speak loudly for our indie workers, because advertising is big business, and it is designed to crush anyone who can’t buy in. Don’t let us drown, please. We count on our clients and customers to say ‘hey, I know this cool thing that you should check out’ and keep us alive. We die without the support. We need you, genuinely.
Take our cards. Put them up at your coffee shop, gym, doctor’s office, library, community boards. Give them to others in the industry; partner trainers with walkers, grocers with nutritionists, photographers with DJs. Post on social media, post in your groups, post in local chats. Spread the word and get us connected, because it really means so much more when someone who has used our services can say we did a great job than when we say it.
I love hearing ‘thank you for all the work you’ve done’. But the greatest compliment I can ever receive is from someone I’ve never met before calling me up and saying ‘hey, my friend gave me your contact info, do you have a second?’
Those make my day. Those pay my bills, feed my family, keep me going. Being self-employed is anything but easy, and this time of year comes with intense fear as people overspend at big box stores for the holidays, and stop spending with independent shops and workers. Far too many of us have to close out the year with a goodbye post and a website that will go dark sometime in the following twelve months, and it’s only getting worse. Please, save our small businesses, save our indie workers. Spread the word, keep us going. We love you for it <3