Mud, Sweat & Tails - A PMF Masterclass

*Trigger warning - this post contains lots of adorable dog photos!

You might not know this but my wife's business boasts an 18-month waitlist, consistently receives 10+ red-hot (ready-to-buy) leads every week, has been rewarded with nothing but 5-star reviews, and has even been featured in the local news.

All from a standing start 20 months ago, with no background or experience in the industry.

This impressive growth is something that everyone who finds out that I work from a dog hotel finds fascinating. I see their eyes light up as they proceed to ask me loads of questions about what it's like and how it would be their dream to spend all day with the animals they love.

After speaking about it again last week over lunch in London I decided it was a story worth sharing with you all, the magnetic leaders reading this right now. Not just because I am proud of her and what she's achieved.

But because of what she's done and how she has gone about achieving it offers such a wonderful and relatable masterclass in achieving product-market fit (PMF) that any business can learn from.

It's not been an easy journey, which you'll read all about in a second, but she's got to a point in her business now where she has the kind of demand, reputation, and customer loyalty that every business in the world dreams of!

P.S. Dog lovers, you're in for a treat! If pups aren't your thing, you might want to skip this one.

The Beginning of the Story

Our tale starts in January 2022 in Italy, Umbria when we (her, myself, and our little Cavie Rusty) were living there for 3 months while our apartment sold and our new house purchase went through.

You see my wife was working full time when she had the idea for her business.

And she realised that with a garden she had access to facilities with the potential to home a doggy daycare business.

The only problem?

She'd never visited one before, let alone build and run one herself!...

Here are 10 lessons you can take from her story from idea to PMF.

Lesson 1: Setting up the Right Way.

• Anyone can start a doggy daycare business in the UK.? As long as you turnover less than ￡1,000 per month there is no law that prevents you looking after other people's dogs for money.
• But she wanted this idea to earn enough to replace her full-time income from work so she could quit her job and go all in on this idea.
• So she had to do things right, and not half-ass it.
• To be able to become a licenced boarder you need to complete studies, get certifications, and work with someone from the local authority to get that all signed off before you can get your sign-off and star rating.??
• This process took 3 months of working 5 nights a week from 7pm to midnight.? She did it all outside of her normal working day.

Lesson 2: Fixing the Underserved Need

• I was asked last week why this has been so successful.? My answer is that the number of dogs in the UK doubled during lockdown.
• There was already a need before, but with that demand doubling it became hugely underserved.

• What people need is a place they trust to leave their heart and soul.? A place that’s safe, that they know their dog will love, play, be walked, fed, and cuddled.? Just as they would at home.
• In this market that's called a "home-from-home" boarding business.

Lesson 3: Knowing your target customer

• There are three distinct types of customer problems she solves.
• People going away on holiday who need a place for their dog to stay, or better still have their own holiday.
• Something customers often tell her, and even make reels from all the videos and photos they get sent!
• People who need to go in to work a few days a week and need daycare.
• People with nervous, anxious, lockdown dogs that need socialisation and to regularly spend time around other dogs to build their confidence.

Lesson 4: Creating the right environment

• We had a great garden, resin and artificial grass giving a “no muddy paws” USP.? But it wasn’t safe for dogs.
• So we had to invest upfront to fence off the back garden, creating a double gate, dedicated places for them to rest and sleep.

• There are criteria you need to meet to get your licence, and then to get the different star ratings.
• And she did all of this to such a standard she was awarded 4 stars in her first ever review with the local authority.?
• A rating they’d never given before to a new business. (you only get 5 after proving it over 2 years with zero complaints against you)

Lesson 4: Finding market fit and ICP.

• She started like most of us do with a new business, accepting anyone!? Because at the start there was a need to replace the income she would lose from quitting her job (something she was able to do just 3 months after starting the business).
• But that lack of a clear ICP or client acceptance criteria caused problems!
• Dogs are very much like people.? There are a bunch of things that make them compatible or not.
• And every dog affects the dynamic of the group.? You could have 4 dogs are perfectly playing and relaxing, and you add in one who’s got a different energy / style of play and the whole group gets unsettled.?
• Conflict can happen and they get frustrated with each other.? Which makes it challenging for my wife to manage.
• She’s learned over many months what works, which dogs will never fit into the environment, things that are non-negotiables like the level of training, the requirement to be on a lead etc, and which dogs will work with which other dogs.? There are so many similarities I can make to building a team of people with how she’s learned the criteria of what makes a good fit, and what needs to be avoided.

Lesson 5: The Power of Partnerships

• She built a great relationship with the owner of Dorset Friendly Dogs, a facebook group with over 22k highly engaged followers.?
• She volunteered at events with with, helped with designing flyers and built a personal relationship with the team.

Lesson 6: Customer Love & Reciprocation

• She spent hours making personalised Christmas baubles for each of her clients filled with dog treats and with the dog's name written in glitter.? This year she made custom Christmas cards with gift vouchers for her best clients.

• In return for all of this love she puts in.? Her clients absolutely love her back!
• They often bring flowers, chocolates and wine (that’s more for me!) to show her their appreciation for taking such good care of their furry family members.
• It's a great acid test of a business right, how people show you their appreciation for what you do and how you make them feel!?

Lesson 7: Qualifying out, by Helping out

• When she can’t take a booking because she is fully booked, or the dog is not a compatible breed she always offers to send a list of the licenced dog boarders to people to help them find a good alternative.?
• Every single time she rejects someone they leave the conversation feeling gratitude for her help.

Lesson 8: Communication on steroids

• She takes 200+ photos and videos every day of the dogs and sends the best to the owners to show the dogs are having fun and are safe.? The owners absolutely love this visibility because if they don’t get updates or see that their dog is doing well, then they worry and the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt builds).

Lesson 9: Refining Market Fit and ICP

• She’s learned a huge amount about which dogs are compatible with others.? Things like play style compatibility are a huge deal to create the right environment.?
• And 99% of the time we’ve had challenging days and nights is because the dog did not fit in to that criteria that works for our environment.

Lesson 10: The irresistible truth of love and passion

• My wife loves dogs, absolutely and wholeheartedly.
• It was her dream to work with them, not a desire to make money and find the easiest route to success.
• That bleeds through in everything she has done to build the business.? Her care for the environment, the cleanliness, the toys, beds, communication, customer love - everything is driven by the care she has for dogs.? And owners feel that and love her for it.

What you might takeaway from this example:

My wife's journey to creating a successful doggy daycare is a walking-talking demonstration of the power of understanding your market, a genuine passion, and the importance of meticulous planning and execution.

She's exemplified how identifying and delivering for an underserved need, combined with an "all-in" commitment to quality and customer love, can create a thriving business.

This case study is a lesson for any leader or entrepreneur across industries. Proving that with the right approach, finding, learning, and refining, product-market fit is entirely possible. Even when the odds are stacked against you succeeding and the stats tell you that it's likely to crash and burn.

Questions to Pawnder:

1. How can you apply the concept of identifying and fulfilling an underserved need within your own industry to create a competitive edge?
2. What strategies can you employ to enhance customer engagement and customer love in your business?
3. How can you leverage your own passions to innovate and grow your business, regardless of the industry?

Her business is called Rusty's Dog Club and Hotel. And whilst she's fully booked until late 2025, she'd love you to follow her on facebook or instagram.

What did you like most about this story?

Thank you for reading growth magnets. Until next week, stay magnetic!

p.s Are you looking for some help with attracting your ideal talent to help you scale?

If you're planning to hire talent from SDRs to Execs next year, I'd be happy to talk it through with you on a call to get the thinking and playbook right.

Book a call with me here, or DM me on LinkedIn.

I'm Richard Washington, Founder of Tick Talent and the What Makes You Tick podcast.

#StartUp #ScaleUp #PMF #ICP #Dogs #Founder