We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kimberly H. a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kimberly , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
So why did I become a dog trainer?
Because I want to help people have a better understanding of their dogs. Many people don’t have the time or skill set for that, and I want to share my knowledge – the more knowledge I can instill, the better dogs are understood, and the better life they have alongside with their humans.
I became a trainer because as a volunteer at a local shelter, I saw kennels filled with dogs that owners didn’t understand. Dogs surrendered for things that could be easily prevented like “couldn’t be house-trained “ or “jumping on people” or “nipping”. All preventable or fixable problems that could be taught and learned.
I became a trainer because I saw people like Cesar Millan teaching people on TV how to “train” their dogs, with total disregard for the dog’s mental health. The dog’s mental health is just as important as the handler’s, if not more so.
Kimberly , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hey, Denver! My names Kim, I’m a certified +R dog trainer and own Tails & Trails LLC. I provide an array of dog services here in the Denver/ Denver Metro area including: 1:1 training sessions, dog walks, weekday group hiking excursions and private weekend hiking excursions. I’m currently enrolled in grooming school and will be extending my services as a paw-fessional groomer in Fall of 2023. In addition, I’m in the midst of earning my certification to become a pet first aid & CPR instructor. I’m working towards being a one stop for all your pups needs and becoming their life long best friend :)
I’m a big advocate for incorporating mental stimulation in a pups daily routine. Training, walking & hiking is a great start. Providing your dog mental stimulation has many wonderful benefits including:
🐾 Builds confidence
🐾 Lowers Stress Levels
🐾 Curbs Boredom/ frustration
🐾 Allows them to engage in natural behaviors
🐾 Overall increases happiness/ well-bing
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Yes! My side hustle turned out to be my full blown career. I was about 19/20 years old with no direction in life. I signed up with Care.com to offer in-home petting sitting and dog walking services to earn a little extra money on the side m. I really loved working with dogs and having the opportunity to create my own schedule. While working as a sitter and walker, I faced a lot of problematic behaviors that would frustrate me and I remember wanting to learn how to “fix these problems” and have an overall better understanding of dogs. From there, I signed myself up to attend dog training school and graduated from Animal Behavior College as a positive reinforcement trainer in 2014. After graduation, I was able to expand my services which greatly helped grow my clientele.
I had a successful pet care business in my hometown back on LI,NY for many years. I moved to Denver, CO in September 2021 and have been rebuilding and reinventing myself. It has been challenging starting over from scratch but in the same breath, very rewarding.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Networking with other local, small pet care businesses and word of mouth has been the best source of new clients.
Building a successful small business takes a lot of time and energy, so it’s good to have a network of friends and associates to draw support from and help grow your business. When you surround yourself with like- minded people who share a similar drive and ambition, you are more likely to move forward as a business and as a group.
If I’m unable to take on a client, I’m able to refer them to someone who possibly can-Vice versa.
“Collaborate with others, compete with yourself”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TailNTrails.com
- Instagram: _TailsNTrails_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089144207992&mibextid=LQQJ4d
Image Credits
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