Listen and learn from Izzy's inspirational story by clicking on the image below...

Dom: Right. I'm here with one of my Platinum clients, premium puppy trainer, Isabelle Vialla. Izzy, why don't you start by telling everybody a very quick version of where you're from and how you got into the pet industry?

Isabelle: Hello, Dom. My name is Isabelle. I am French. I come from Paris and I used to be a pastry chef for 20 years. And one day I have decided, "Okay, it's enough cooking for me. I want to have a better life, more connected with nature, more healthy, and moreover, spending more time with my dog." And so this is how I have started to come into the pet business industry. And I have started as a dog walker.

Dom: What year was that?

Isabelle: It was in 2018. And I have started some dog training courses in 2017 and then I never stopped studying dog training. I became a dog trainer as well. Well, my business was developing quite well, I thought, but I was just succeeding, paying the bills and doing my life, but not really being able to save money, working a lot. And then the pandemic has arrived and I realised, Oh my God, I'm not so safe.

 

So a friend of mine from the dog training heard about you. And then she told me about you. I had a look at what you were doing. And I signed up for your 33 Ideas. And everyday I was reading your emails I was thinking, "Oh, but that makes so much sense. Oh yes, this is a good idea. I have to try that."

 

At the beginning I was very, very sceptical because I don't like when people are trying to sell me something, but in that case, I wanted you to help me. So I was interesting in what you were offering, but honestly, after a few emails, I was convinced, totally convinced.

And this was an amazing challenge because I wasn't thinking that I would be able to do that. And I love it actually. All these things have the result that my sales have doubled, compared to last year. And I am amazed from the result of everything you suggest and I have apply and it's definitely working, amazingly working.

Dom: I think you hit the nail on the head there because I know that this stuff works and it's worked for me and it's worked for many others, but it only works best when people take action. And like you've said, you've applied it, you've taken action. You did that from day one, practically. I think one of the first things that you read in the ledger was about creating a membership, or you heard me talking about it on a podcast or something, and you just straight away, you went and did it, and you created the membership. Your clients have to pay a membership fee every year. That kind of, it hooks them in, doesn't it? They buy so many more things from you now. The lifetime customer value is enormous now isn't it? We're tying these people in, we're making them feel like they're part of something really special, that's built just for them.

Isabelle: Yeah. And it's really a way to increase your income without working too much. I mean, you still work because obviously, if I have created a membership, I have developed new services and I give more to the customer, but it's such a great idea, honestly. I wouldn't have done that. I would never have thought about doing that in the pet business. I already saw it when you subscribe at the gym, for example. You have a membership, things like this, but for the pet business, I said,  But yes, if you do it, it's possible. It's totally possible.

Dom: Absolutely. Yeah. You've proved it's possible. And other people have proved it's possible as well.  So how do you feel about the future now and what kind of difference does it make to your confidence, the clarity that you feel about where you're going and just your general, how you're feeling about your business now, compared to how you were feeling, say, maybe 18 months ago?

Isabelle: Well, I feel totally confident.

Dom: That's a big part of what I try and instil in the coaching programmes, isn't it? That it's not just about chasing more money and chasing more clients. Yes, we have to do that to keep the pipeline and to build a waiting list and to have security, but what are we building it for? And we want to have other things in our lives and we want to fill our lives with other things that feed our joy don't we? And you just had your holiday recently, and I know you're looking forward to some more holidays next year.

Isabelle: Exactly. A bit of quality of life is so important. So I'm working on that with hiring staff. At the beginning I was thinking, oh, I need more time. So I'm going to stop with some services that I do, like daycare, boarding, and then you changed my mind, because actually I would have lost a lot of money doing that. So, yes, now I am in a process of having staff.

 

Dom: Systemising.

Isabelle: Systemising. Exactly. And so nice things to come.

Dom: Yeah. 100%. I totally agree. I've been super proud, Izzy, with the action taken that you've, really from the start. I get a lot of people, sometimes when they first come into Dom's world and they're full of enthusiasm, but when they realise that they have to do some work and they realise that it isn't going to happen by magic, often, their enthusiasm wanes or sometimes their enthusiasm wanes. But with you, you came in full of enthusiasm and then you just, we did a call and you sent me a big, long list of things you wanted to talk about. And I said, "Okay, well, let's narrow it down. Let's do this, this and this." And boom, you went away and did it, and the results follow. So I think if we continue in that vein, we'll build this dream business of yours.

Isabelle: Yeah. Yeah. And thank you so much for your help because you are here really to guide us. And there are a lot of mistake we can do every day.

And it's really helping me to not do the mistake that are going to block me to go further and working on the goals we have together, help us to focus and clarify everything. And then we get results.

Dom: That's right. And hopefully we'll get there fast. And I've made a lot of these mistakes in the past and I've guided other people through it as well. So we want to get you where you want to go faster. And so Izzy, the benefit as you just said, of the more intensive private coaching programme, the Diamond and the Platinum that they are. So Izzy, thanks so much for your time and for sharing your story. Where can people go to find out more about you and what you do?

Isabelle: So more about me is on my website, at izzypuppytraining.com. And I am an expert in puppy training for first-time dog owners. So if you are first-time dog owner, please contact me. I can help.

Dom: You certainly can, with a range of services as well. So Izzy, thanks so much again. Thanks for watching you guys. If you want more help and advice with your own pet business, to implement some of the things that Izzy's talked about, then click on one of the buttons below and apply to join the coaching programme.Thanks again, Izzy.

Inside the Diamond Coaching Program Dom can  help you maximize your results.  Dom's  Diamond Coaching includes: