Your Most Expensive Problem: People | Ep. 140

Building a team can unlock tremendous growth, freedom, and opportunity in your pet care business. It can also create some of the most expensive and complicated problems you will ever have to solve as an owner.In this episode, I break down the real risk and reward of moving from a solo business to a team-based model. We talk about labor costs, protecting profit, the revenue required to support an owner who is fully out of the field, and why your people systems become increasingly important as you scale. I also share why, despite the challenges and a few hard-earned war stories, I still deeply believe building and leading a team is worth it.🧠 Key TakeawaysYour people can be both the highest-risk and highest-reward part of your businessLabor will likely be the largest expense in a team-based pet care companyHealthy labor costs often fall around 40–60% of revenue, depending on your modelA fully owner-independent business typically needs significantly more revenue to produce strong take-home payScaling a team means giving up a larger percentage of revenue in exchange for greater capacityTeam growth introduces risk around profit, reputation, and operationsThe upside is scalable revenue without permanently tying income to your own time or physical laborA strong team can create true time and location freedom for the ownerData and solid training systems help identify and correct expensive problems earlierCulture, leadership, mentorship, and learning from people further ahead can dramatically reduce the cost of scaling mistakes🚀 Join Me at the DogCo Business SummitIf you're ready to build a stronger team, improve your leadership, and scale your pet care company without becoming the center of everything happening inside it, I'd love to have you join us at the DogCo Business Summit, October 2nd–4th in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In-person and digital tickets available 👉 dogcosummit.com-M