We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zack Humphreys. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zack below.

Zack, appreciate you joining us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

I started training dogs five years ago. When I began training dogs, I thought it was going to be a stepping stone to make enough money to build my own gym, as this was my passion and goal in life. Unexpectedly, I had a real knack with dog training and as I continued to learn from my mentors in the training business I began to really enjoy it. After two years of studying and learning from my mentors, I started my business, Perfected Canine Obedience. It became an official LLC three years ago. After seeing how far my business has grown in the first few months of dog training, I decided to reinvest my future into my dog training business. As a result, the first two years I became known on Bark as the best dog trainer in the tristate. Bark is a website many dog owners use to find professional dog trainers. As the business grew, the harder it became. Some of the struggles I faced included: costumer complaints, not making my quota for the month, scheduling issues, marketing issues, and dog illness. These are only some of the struggles I faced during the growth of the business and continue to face presently. They created a lot of stress but I am ultimately happy I went through them so I could build off of them and make my business what it is today. I am grateful for these mistakes, but I am also happy at the end of each day due to the differences I can make with each dog and their families. There are many dogs that I have faced whom were aggressive towards people, dogs, or both. In the end of training these dogs, the came out smiling and loving animals. My training changed the lives of these dogs and the owners. This is the greatest payoff with my job and leaves me happy at the end.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When I was 22 years old, I was a sales associate for a local gym. A guest came in the gym one day and I asked what he did for a living. We began to talk and he asked me if I wanted to shadow him in the dog training business. Grateful for this opportunity, I accepted and before I knew it I found out I had the talent and capability to not only dog train, but to make my own business in the industry. Perfected Canine Obedience offers a lot of options for people to choose from regarding dog training. These options include: private training, board and trains, and video sessions. But we offer way more including: doggie daycare, a website with all the training equipment we recommend to use for your dog, and standard boarding. I am proud to be one of the three major dog trainers in the area regarding reviews. In the end of it all, I put my heart and soul into not only training the dogs, but to make sure the owner is satisfied and understands the steps as we go. Everyday I work to create a great experience for my clients and a better life.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Starting off my business, I used Thumbtack to gain new clientele. Once I started to gain a name for myself I used Bark and Google to gain more clients. As I continued to grow and became one of the leading dog trainers in the area, my past clients started to refer me and that is ultimately the best source I use to obtain new owners looking for dog training.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

I have created my own website for my clients to use. On this site clients can book training regarding their dog. In the long run it provides a beneficial aspect as I don’t have to hire as many employees to schedule new or existing clients. Not only does the website allow you to book, but it also provides our top choices of training equipment used for the dogs that can also be purchased.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.perfectedcanineobedience.com/
• Instagram: perfectedcanineobedience
• Facebook: Perfected Canine Obedience
• Youtube: Perfected canine obedience Business
• Other: www.perfectedcanineobedienceshop.com