We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jacqueline Sharp a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jacqueline , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?

Being your own business- owner and operator and sole proprietor means you are the business. Taking a vacation means planning weeks in advance but that is also the key to running it as well, choose something you love and you never work a day in your life. So there’s no need for a vacation. And with dogs, everyone loves dogs so there’s plenty of people who want to help.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I run Arizona K9, a small dog trainer in central Phoenix. I grew up in agriculture, as a family business of horse trainers. I showed cattle and dogs as a child. As I grew, I spent a lot of my first working years out of High School in restaurants where I became manager and learned a lot about customer service and communication. While I worked, I completed an internship under a herding dog trainer, learning, Competing and eventually moving back to Phoenix. I continued learning by taking lessons with a retired cop and another type of working intern with service dogs. I moved to Texas to train at a private facility for pet dogs. I knew I wanted to grow so I again returned to Phoenix, hoping to compete in different areas. By this point, I had my AKC certification in CGC and many titles in Rally and CGC with at least 4 different dogs while in conformation shows. This is how I built my name, the more dogs I competed with, the more people I met, and thus the more I showed off my well rounded dogs, a variety of breeds. I finally put a name to myself and started advertising. I’d done it before but I was then ready, rounded enough myself, to teach others how to teach their dogs. I have a border collie, German Shepherd, Belgian Malinois and a Dalmatian.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Everyone loves a friendly dog! I’m quiet so it’s easier for me if people approach me first. If I take a cute, exceptionally behaved dog, people start to ask questions and I can offer all The information, and the upside is, this is proof of my training before they even spend money! All it takes is a few dogs and word spreads on social media, and I boost posts. I can also video new dogs with permissions and it’s easier to sail. It’s not easy, competition is tough but going out with the dog makes it easier.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I did the ground work alone… dog training doesn’t come easier or through a book. Dogs are so individual and all learn differently so there’s nothing like hands on…. Finding my “partner” was actually really smooth. I was teaching a new client, she wanted to expose her niece… well her niece loved it. Asked about classes all the time, so I took her to a competition. That was all it took, we were on the road. She had her own lessons and went with me to other clients. She is now able to start my lessons and will soon be ready to move around to learn other styles but right now she’s part of Arizona K9 and when I can’t schedule a beginners lesson, she goes in my place. With dog training, it’s all about the love of dogs and more importantly, the owners!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://marketplace.akc.org/trainer/malndal-dog-training
• Instagram: @arizona_k9training
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/azk9dogtraining/
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/09c65S-DZ-M

Image Credits
Nonni Lee Photography Lucid Lens Photography Arizona K9