Q&A: “I want to be the Zoom Dog Trainer!”

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Hey there, thanks for tuning in today. This is Chris Guillebeau, your host of "Side Hustle School." I have a really fun business idea for you here today. I love hearing all kinds of ideas from our listeners. Here's today's. They wanna offer dog training services by Zoom.

How else can you describe it? I mean, that's it. It's a pretty simple idea, dog training services by Zoom. These days, of course, all sorts of things happen by Zoom or other remote work platforms. Even as the pandemic has slowed down in lots of ways, many people are reluctant to return to work or at least to work offices.

In some cases, they're going back to work to have Zoom meetings. So they're like, why should we do this? In other cases, they have moved away from their primary city or relocated somewhere else and are just working remotely. So the point is there, we're all used to Zoom. We're all used to other video conferencing and such, but will it work for dog training?

I actually think this is a pretty interesting idea, but let's hear first from our caller and then we'll break it down. So glad you're here. Thanks for tuning in. Detailed question coming right up. [Music]

Hi there, this is Sophia from Madison, Wisconsin.

As more and more services went virtual during the pandemic, I started thinking about my skills as an animal trainer. In some ways, the idea of Zoom meetings came about due to the need of physical distancing, but I think the greater part of it is the chance to be less limited by distance from clients who are far away. I keep thinking there has to be a way I can use this skill to work with people anywhere. My day job keeps me tied down so I can't travel that much, and I also have to work normal hours, but I have plenty of time in the evenings and weekends to see a different dog owner every day by Zoom. Do you think people would go for this?

Thanks in advance for any tips or advice you might have. - Hey Sophia, thanks for calling in. I love fun ideas, and this is certainly a fun idea. I did some looking and I did find at least one virtual dog trainer who has good SEO, but of course there's room for more than one. So do I think people would go for it?

Do I think it would work? Well, one thing I read as I was researching here is like dog training is training the owner. So I don't know a lot about dogs. I'm much more of a cat person, but I thought that was an interesting idea that dog training is really teaching the owner how to train their own dog, right? If that is in fact the case, then at least theoretically the virtual training should work as well as in person.

I suspect what you'll find in practice is that for some dog owners who are looking for training, the virtual thing is an obstacle. Like they actually want a human to show up in person and train their dog, even if they are being trained alongside the dog. Others of course might be more open to it. So you might lose something and gain something. You might lose some potential clients in your city and gain some potential clients elsewhere thanks to the remote thing.

So I think Sophia was from Madison, Wisconsin, which is not a small town, but if you happen to be in a small town or anywhere that has a small market of dog owners, then the benefit might outweigh the cost. So do I think it's feasible? Absolutely, I think it's all about the details and the execution and the messaging of it as well, 'cause you wanna make sure you have effective messaging so that people understand like right away your response to the objection of, oh, but how does this work if the trainer is not present with the dog in the same room? So make sure you cover that in the messaging, but don't hesitate to give it a try. And of course, let us know what happens.

We will report back. Listeners, if you've got a question or comment, sidehustleschool.com/questions. We'll continue to feature them throughout the year, every week, along with a different episode, every single day. Thank you so much for being out there. My name's Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]

From the Onward Project.