93 – Ty the Dog Guy: Tom interviews Ty Brown

Episode 093 – Ty Brown
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody it's Tom here with episode ninety three of screw the commute podcast oh we've got an old buddy of mine here Ty Brown he's the dog trainer extraordinaire and more than that he's figured out how to make a high touch business operate without his full time presence and that's something a lot of us want to do now your last episode Oh my goodness Robert Siciliano number 92 this guy hates fraud and he loves personal security he's he's the guy when he was a little kid got totally ganged and beat up and his first little girlfriend when he was 12 told him that she was raped and he not even know what sex was let alone rape and so he he started a lifelong quest of taking care of people and keeping them away from violence and fraud and that's what he does today. So you don't want to miss that our podcast app is in the iTunes store but you can go to screwthecommute.com/app and you can learn all about it all the cool things that'll do on your tablets and cell phones and I mean you could be you know on a phone call in your car listening but listening to a podcast phone rings podcast pauses do your phone call podcast resumes all automatically so just a lot of cool things like that and you can keep your favorite episodes on there everything. And we have full instructions on how to operate all the cool features over there at screwthecommute.com/app. Now our youth program is in full swing and once a month we're going to highlight a youth and entrepreneurial youth and when I say young it's up to about twenty two years old or early 20s if they're older than that they might be eligible for our regular podcast but if you know anybody have them email me at orders@antion.com and I'll tell them how to apply to be featured on one of our monthly youth episodes.

[00:02:25] Our sponsor today is screw the commute Private Facebook group where you can interact with me. My staff and with other great entrepreneurs and like minded people and it's a place where my staff and I put in training and business tips several times a week. You can ask questions and get feedback on things that you are doing. I'll tell you more about that later. But you can check it out at screwthecommute.com/Facebook and of course all the things we mentioned today all Ty's great stuff and my stuff will be in the show notes this is episode 93.

[00:02:59] Now let's get to the main event. Ty Brown is an internationally recognized dog trainer author and speaker. And I know his effectiveness because he's helped me with my dogs when he was here in Virginia Beach helping me out his dog training company. He's called Ty the Dog Guy is one of the largest in the nation and helps dog owners around the world to solve dog problems. Ty are you ready to screw. The commute. So before we get started here I heard some dogs in the background there. How many dogs you've got around you right now.

[00:03:35] You know I've just got one dog. I got a little female cattle dog.

[00:03:38] A cattle dog you going into farming or what.

[00:03:42] No I imported her from Portugal really rare breed a cattle dog out. She's she's a lot of fun.

[00:03:48] Yeah that's cool. So tell everybody about the business you got going because it's it's really prolific.

[00:03:56] Yeah. Thanks. So we help primarily we do two things we help people solve problems with their dog and then we help people solve problems with dogs. And so what I mean by that is people come to us when they've got dogs who are aggressive or dogs who need obedience training or dogs with behavior problems. And you know anti-social stuff and we help them solve that. And then the other part of what we do is we train service dogs. And so we help people that have disabilities to lead a more full life and to do more things by by training service dogs for them. So like I say we help people with dog problems and we help people with problems using dogs.

[00:04:34] Well one thing I'm thinking I'm hearing that you're missing a little bit but I want to ask you what what percentage of those problems with the dogs are really problems with the owners.

[00:04:46] Ninety nine point something.

[00:04:48] Yeah I thought the dogs though can can handle about anything it's the owners you've got a train right.

[00:04:53] I always say dogs are the easy part getting the owners on board can be tough.

[00:04:59] What are some of the biggest issues that you see owners do that are hurting their goal of having a nice well-behaved dog.

[00:05:07] Most owners just don't follow through. You know they ask the dog to do things and they put themselves in a position where they can't follow through and following through might be having a leash on or you know being able to reward being able to correct something like that. And so they're telling the dog sit come here do this do that. But the dogs just wandering around doing whatever he wants. And so people say oh my dog just does something if he wants to and I'm like well it's kind of what you trained him to do. You know he's. You've given him commands and you haven't followed through and as a result he picks and chooses whether or not he feels like he's going to do him.

[00:05:39] I mean I always say that there wouldn't be any shelters if it wasn't for goofball owners because a lot of the dogs in there are just perfectly wonderful dogs but it's the human that screwed them. So how do you work with people. How does the work you bring him do you take their dog or do you go to their house. How does that work.

[00:05:59] Yeah. Good question. So a couple of different ways so we help people all around the world through. We've got some online training products some DVD product stuff like that. And so that's one way that we help people just all over in our local market of Utah. We service Utah but we also get people sending us their dogs from around the country and I end up traveling quite a bit you know helping people around the country. But yeah people send us their dogs and they actually stay in our trainers homes and so they have a nice you know they have they live nice they're not often some dirty boarding kennel right. They're living in our trainers homes and we train them that way and then we teach the owners how to maintain that training or yeah we'll even go to their homes and teach them what they should change and how they should implement our system and. And yeah. So a variety of different ways.

[00:06:49] So if people want the fastest way would that be where they let you take over the dog and be able to train at multiple times a day. Is that is that the fastest method.

[00:07:00] Yeah we call that boot camp so the dog comes and stays with us and in a few short weeks we can. And it's not saying hey look how great we are but in a few weeks we can get done what most owners are going to take months and months to do. Even with help you know even with some coaching. So yeah.

[00:07:16] Because I always wanted you know come in once a week or something especially if the owner isn't really really diligent you know once a week is not a lot to train a dog you know.

[00:07:27] And you know I found over the years the more that I highlight that the better we sell. You know when you when you pull back that curtain and show look you've got some work ahead of you. People like this guy's real you know he's not he's not trying to you know sell us this this super simple way.

[00:07:41] Unicorn dog. That instantly is the perfect little gentleman or female so. So you've got an interesting. Well let's take it back before we get into details of how you run a company like this. But did you ever have a job. How did this transition start out.

[00:08:04] So Well I started out when I was 14 I begged a dog trainer for a job.

[00:08:09] So you've been into dogs your whole life pretty much right.

[00:08:13] Oh yeah. I just I open up the phone book and started calling dog trainers until one agreed to work with me now. It turned out to be more of like an apprenticeship like I would. I would work for free so. So I still needed money. So during high school years I did the high school stuff. You know fast food and I got fired from most fast food jobs.

[00:08:30] I would have eaten all the profits.

[00:08:32] So I did that while I was learning the dog training trade into my early 20s I was doing college wasn't for me. I tried it and didn't really care for it. And so I was doing I tried real estate I tried I was doing telemarketing stuff and I was doing that until about 23 years old and I got a job training dogs out at protection dog company out in Boston. So I did that for a couple of years and use that to teach me more about the skillset of how to train. And then I was about 25 or so when I started my own business so that was 13 years ago I'm 38 now.

[00:09:10] So how'd you end up Boston to Utah.

[00:09:13] Well I had lived in Utah I have a lot of family in Utah. Originally from California moved to Utah because that's where I originally went to school at BYU for that shining semester that I did. And then just stuck around you know because I had brothers and sisters living there and stuff and so I went out when we went to Boston we went from Utah. I was married at twenty five I was married so my wife and I moved to Boston and then we were there for two years. Well I know at twenty three we moved there and then at twenty five I moved back to Utah and we started this company and now here we are.

[00:09:54] We ask you though the trend at the time the transition like were you planning and saving up money to start your own company or do you just quit one day and leave. Or how did you make the transition.

[00:10:04] Oh that was tough because we were. So the reason we left Boston was because my wife got pregnant and she was always her goal that she wanted to stay home when we had kids and raise the kids. And so working as a dog trainer in Boston I knew there was no way I was I wasn't gonna make enough money as a dog trainer employee and so we moved back to Utah and I was gonna give up dogs because I had no idea how to start a business.

[00:10:31] So you know I didn't have money saved up and ready to start as soon as you got there.

[00:10:36] You know we were we were so we were so close to bankruptcy at that point because you know we'd been living in Boston we'd accrued some debt because it was expensive it wasn't making. I'm just a dog trainer. And yeah I moved back to Utah shortly thereafter she has the baby. She's working from home. I got a job at a factory working making drill bits or something. So I was working a graveyard shift and I got that job because they had insurance and they did they paid for school. And so I was like well I'll try school again another semester. And I was like Oh yeah I hate this a lot. So so anyways yeah I was really pushed into dog training I had no idea how to run a business. I had no idea how to start a business. No idea how to do marketing but I just started studying it. In fact I ran across your stuff way back then. Way back 2004 2005.

[00:11:35] Because I think I remember I ran across you when I was starting to get into dogs and then you have heard of me. Yeah. Wow small world. And then you know that they got prompted how you came out we help each other out on some stuff. It was great. But yeah I was I was very surprised when I contacted you and you had heard of me.

[00:11:57] Well yeah. Because you bought one of my DVDs. And I'm writing this out on the envelope and like Tom Tom Antion I know who that is. This is awesome. So yeah I gave you a call and came on out but yeah so worked at that graveyard job for a little bit just to have enough money to pay the bills.

[00:12:19] Health insurance is always a big issue for people especially new baby and everything.

[00:12:24] Yeah. I was making twelve dollars an hour. My wife did side jobs like babysitting and and helping out but we were so poor so literally getting started my business ten dollars a month for web hosting was the max that was the most that I could do. And that's what I did. Ten dollars a month put up a Web site wasn't that great. Went out started getting some press. And actually you know that it took me a few months to be able to quit the job but once I did that first full year we did over 100 grand. And I was I was thrilled. No college education. I'd been making twelve dollars an hour to go up to 100 grand doing something that I really loved was unbelievable feeling.

[00:13:07] Exactly exactly. But but you struggled and you paid your dues for sure. I mean you kept going and kept the family gone and everything in the midst of it. So when I hear people nowadays crying the blues about oh you know I can't do it can't do it well these kind of stories mean yes you can do it if you get off your butt and do it. Graveyard shift to do it even at 12 bucks an hour.

[00:13:30] And that was the worse. You know working all night and then you can't sleep during the day I don't care.

[00:13:35] Yeah. And then the one with the baby in a family and all that. Wow I didn't know all that. Tell us a little bit about it. Now I understand you made a personal move in your location and your big company is still in Utah right.

[00:13:51] Yeah. So we've got all of our trainers and staff still in Utah they all work from their homes and help out you know clients all around the area.

[00:14:00] The giant virtual dog training business. So there's no physical one place like Big kennel kind of place.

[00:14:09] Exactly. Yeah. We used to have a building we got rid of that. I realized how much I hated having a building it really tied you down and you got to go to work every day. I didn't want to do that but yeah. People don't know this but Utah has some of the worst air in the country it's very polluted. Not to mention you know the the snow.

[00:14:30] Why is that. I mean is there industry there that there what makes the air so bad.

[00:14:35] It's called inversion. And so Salt Lake's a big city but it sits in a valley. And so this inversion comes which traps the bad air. So a storm will knock it right out in the air's super clean for a few days but. Oh yeah. It's like I mean I had pneumonia three times in the twelve years I was living there. And every year sick and our kids were starting to get sick every year. And like real sickness not just a little cold. And so yeah we. And I still go back and forth a lot. But yeah we're in South Carolina now. We live in Charleston.

[00:15:13] And so you're running a major business out of well. Well you are right. Doing a worldwide business because of your online stuff which we'll get to but it just amazes me someone can run a high touch business like this remotely because you must have some great trainers and good people with you.

[00:15:32] We do and it's taught me so much about how you can how you can live away from your business. It's 100 percent. Well not a hundred percent but the people that you have are so critical and I think everybody knows that in theory but in practice I've come to realize just how unbelievably important having amazing people is.

[00:15:54] What are some of the tips that that allow you to choose such people.

[00:15:58] All of the people that work for us used to be clients and so that just happens to be I don't know if that's specific to my industry but we've hired lots of people over the years that were just good dog people or maybe had experience training or you know from a lot of different backgrounds but really the only people that stayed and have done well have been clients that love the results that they got. And are dog nerds and they're into the whole thing.

[00:16:25] You taught them how to how to train being a dog parent and you know maintaining is different than training from scratch.

[00:16:34] Yeah. And so these are people that just got so into it we kept seeing them out at our group classes and like hey why don't you come work for us and so. So having just motivated people is huge. But I've had motivated people before and they were they were awful. And so having a system where we can pay them really well is is the only way that I can live on the other part of the other side of the country. Because really it keeps them super motivated and most dog training business is dog trainers are gonna make 15 20 twenty five dollars an hour if they're lucky and there's no loyalty at twenty five dollars an hour you can go. There's a lot of things that you can do and go make more than twenty five dollars an hour. And so yeah we've been able to develop a sales and marketing system where they just worry about training. We do all of the sales the marketing the admin the billing all of that stuff and everybody makes over six figures and so they've got a lot of incentive to hang in there.

[00:17:34] All they're doing is what they love.

[00:17:37] They don't have to worry about the junk or the garbage parts of running a business and they just do what they like and they get paid really well and probably more than they could make if they went off and did it on their own. So yeah they're great people that are highly motivated and that's what allows it because I travel a decent amount and I'm out of the state quite a bit. So yeah it allows for hands off management.

[00:18:01] Now I kind of remember that you're pretty good at publicity and I think you've mentioned you've got some press. So tell us about how publicity and press has worked into your success in your business.

[00:18:12] Yeah. So in the very beginning like I say I had nothing I had ten dollars a month for a website and that's it. And so I knew I had to make money or I knew I had to get people looking at this Web site and at least knowing who I was and I was a twenty five year old kid. I didn't know a whole lot of people. I didn't have contacts. So yeah. And to be honest I don't remember who I learned this from. But maybe it was from reading your stuff way back when but I just found the first thing I did was found it. It was some you know every month has its thing it was like national prevention of cruelty to animals month. Or something like that and every month. Got something to do with something that you do.

[00:18:54] Every day actually there's places you can go to see what is like it National Potato day. And I mean there's all kinds of you can actually start your own to get publicity. Yes. So. So there's bound to be a dog or a bunch of dog related stuff.

[00:19:09] Yeah. So this was Prevention of Cruelty to Animals month and there was a radio station it was the top station. It is still the top Station in Utah and I'm still friends with the deejays but I knew that they were animal lovers because I listened to them and they talked about it online about their dogs and cats. And so I basically just started calling and emailing them over and over saying hey did you guys know it's National Prevention of Cruelty to Animals month. We should really do a segment on this. And so I'd love to come in and talk about tips for training and and sure enough I got one of the hosts on the line and she's like that is a great idea. Let's do it. And so I came in and brought my dog and it was fun and I answered questions and I came home and there was 10 e-mails in my inbox which was unbelievable. You know it was crazy. And that got me started and it was it became so popular that for several years I was going in every week and I had a segment which if you were to pay for that kind of exposure. I don't know how you I don't know how any business could.

[00:20:16] You know not even possibly do it and let's recap a little bit what you did. You researched the place and pitched them what you knew they were interested that was the really brilliant part that you did there. Yeah. I started my whole career with what I call media marketing which you know I couldn't stand cold calling and I made one cold call and almost puked just you know just like you in college and I couldn't stand it. And so yeah I would do anything possible to get seen on radio TV or in print. And that's how I started my speaking career. So that's really important for the listeners out there see what he did with no money was able to kick off a business just by paying attention to the media. So that was brilliant.

[00:21:00] Well I found that every media outlet and so right after that I went to the biggest TV station in town or the biggest morning show. You know there's a Utah morning show kind of like the view but it's a Utah based one. And I just pitched them an idea and I said hey this this coming month is whatever how about we do this how about we do it before and after one of your viewers that loves your show. You know that's got a Naughty Dog we'll you know we'll do it before what the dog's like and then we'll do an after after I've been able to do some free training with them and they're like this is fantastic. And so so I got free you know free TV spot. Well not one I parlayed it into two.

[00:21:40] And the anticipation for the second spot was know big I imagine because you know they want to see that he do it or did didn't he.

[00:21:49] Mm hmm. Yeah. And so that first year I got on I think every major. Well not every major outlet. But like I got on two or three TV stations I got on the the big pop music radio station as well as like the big news radio station and I got in the two major newspapers like that first year to doing all that same type of stuff. Just coming up with an idea and the funny part is I never had to push very hard. You know I had to like sometimes push hard just to get through but once I got through to the person I supposed to talk to like as long as my idea was halfway good. They're like Yeah let's do it. And so it was it was kind of like. So these days I don't do a whole bunch. Like if I ever want to I can go do it. But but I was amazed at how how easily you can get press as long as you come up with a good idea.

[00:22:44] Exactly. Exactly. Because you're doing that. I mean a lot of people say well why would they listen to me. Well they need you. They've got to fill up that airwaves every day all day long. And so if you make their job easy by coming up with a great idea you're on period. So so yeah that's where. Now lead to. When did the online courses and books come along.

[00:23:07] Almost almost immediately.

[00:23:09] And you could see bigger than a local area. You're thinking you were thinking pretty much globally rather than just local dog trainer.

[00:23:20] Yeah. And looking back I really should have focused on the local stuff more and really sussed out my program and sussed out my identity. But I don't regret also trying. You know going out right away and doing some you know some DVD courses and some stuff like that because it taught me so much but yeah almost right away and I look back and I think Man that kid was arrogant. You know he was twenty five years old who was who was he to be writing e-books and doing videos.

[00:23:48] But well guess what. I used your video and I still remember even though I slip like every owner does you give one command and that's it. Right. One command and then they go to do it or they don't do it. You don't just say come on sit sit sit.

[00:24:04] Exactly. Yeah. And so but yeah it was. It was. I always wanted to do something big and this was a guy who's now my friend who I didn't know at the time. He was making a lot with the dog training e-book. And that was back when a lot of e-books could make a lot of money. And he was doing really well with that. And I saw some write ups on him so I was like Well let me try that. So yeah just gave it a try and started going.

[00:24:31] Now you have a physical book though and you promoted it and I believe an interesting way was the shipping only one of those deals or not I can't remember.

[00:24:39] Yeah yeah it was it was a shipping only type thing. What is it five ninety five. I'm testing it right now with just digital copies. And so I don't even have. Well I do have the physical copy but I'm testing the digital copy stuff and so yeah. And then afterwards you know it's just it's a it's a sales funnel that a lot of people are familiar with hey get this book and afterwards say as long as you've got the book why don't you try this. You know and this is try my DVD course or try my monthly course.

[00:25:06] It should lead to something else. Right. So tell us more about the online course. What if somebody had it. What could it do for them and what how does that work.

[00:25:17] So I mean I'm obviously the guy trying to sell it. So take that for what it's worth. But what I found that's different about it that's unique about is it's a very comprehensive course where it takes you by the hand and says Do this first do this second do this third whereas most dog training information out there whether you buy a course or a book or a video course is all conceptual like here's concepts around how we get the dog to be obedient and here's how you can do it here. And here's concepts about how to stop aggression or concepts about how to do this but nobody puts it together and says OK here's the concept. Now do it this way. On this week. And do it this way.

[00:25:55] Yeah. You just laid out on the first week do this second week and I think you have a section on what equipment you should have and all that stuff the nuts and bolts that actually make it work.

[00:26:06] Yeah. And so it allows people to really just I want them to understand the concepts. But even if they never understand concept super well they can just you know connect the dots fill in the blanks and get good results to great results. You know somewhere in there as long as they're putting in the effort now because it's systematic. That does leave room for losing some some nuance for well my dog kind of does it like this or my dog kind of does it like that. But but even still as long as people kind of follow the course they do really well.

[00:26:40] And both of them are going to be way better off than they would have been just hacking around trying to do it on their own.

[00:26:47] Exactly. And people people just love the fact that it just is clear you know it tells them exactly what to do and when rather than hey here's concepts behind obedience. Now go figure it out for your dog individually. Yeah.

[00:26:59] So I mean anything funny or bizarre happened in your travels with the dog trainer.

[00:27:05] Oh boy do I have some stories. Do you guys like name dropping.

[00:27:11] Oh I don't care as long as they don't suit me.

[00:27:16] So what am I what. One story I tell a lot because it just cracks me up was I train a dog for Shaquille O'Neal. So you're a sports fan.

[00:27:25] Yeah. Yeah. Well I mean I was I went to college on a football scholarship and so forth but.

[00:27:30] Oh. OK. Yeah. So even a lot of people aren't sports fans know Shaquille O'Neal. So it's your train a dog for him. And so another trainer friend of mine and I we go down to his place in Miami to deliver him this dog. This is a German shepherd a protection dog. You know this tough dog. And so we take the dog down. You know she's on a flight. And so by the time he gets there we want him to go to the bathroom he doesn't want to. And so some dogs struggle to go pee. You know after a flight. And so anyways he hasn't peed at the airport. We put him in the car we drive out to Star Island out there in Miami and we show up at Shaq's house the guy is I mean everybody you know he's big but there's nothing that prepares you for how massive a human can be. So I was and I'm a big dude. This guy is unbelievably big and he's just funny and he's weird and he's anyways. So we're still trying to get this dog to pee and so dog doesn't want a pee or in the house doing some training were there for like an hour too. Hey why don't we go out give the dog a pee break. So my friend Joe and I we go outside. Shaq comes out with all of his kids he's got a you know a whole nest of kids there and his wife and. And he lives on the Intercoastal where a lot of boats go past. Anyway so we're we're trying to get this dog to pee. Me and Joe go off to the side we're trying to get him away from the noise and see if the dog will pee. And then Joe like taps me on the shoulder and he's like Dude he's peeing. And I was like looking at the dog. No he's not. And he's like nudging me like Dude he's peeing and he like nudges me a little bit more. I look over and Shaq like right in front of a huge boat of like tourists. And right in front of us peeing right in the bushes for the whole world to see. And I'm just like I almost lose it at this point like how do you how do you respond to that time.

[00:29:29] He's trying to show the dog what to do.

[00:29:31] Yeah. You lead by example.

[00:29:34] Oh really good. You bet. That would be quite a few views on YouTube.

[00:29:41] Yeah. Shaq I'm sure to this day has no idea who I am. I have a line up but boy did I have fun at his house for a week training his dog.

[00:29:49] Oh yeah. So did you ever get screwed over in business.

[00:29:53] Yeah. I have. So two things processes and forgiveness. So what I mean by that is one way we've been able to sell a lot and especially dog training so dog training is something it's it's hard to measure it right. Because like my dog is now better how much better.

[00:30:20] Yeah. It's not exactly quantifiable.

[00:30:23] Yeah. So I mean make money like Hey I taught this student they made an extra fifty thousand very measurable or whatever you know so many industries that you can measure it dog training's tough to measure. So anyways where I where I'm going with that is is it's really tough to give guarantees to people on what things are gonna be like. So it's it can be a tougher sell because people are like well I give them all this money and then what happens. And so one thing that we've done in order to kind of make the risk less and make people feel more comfortable is payment plans. And so we're actually one of the only dog trainers that do it. We're so confident our system that we're able to do it but if we don't do payment plans where it's like well sign up for Pay Pal credit or sign up for us it's like No we'll self-finance it. And so we add some interest but you know we'll give people options over three months or six months so their dogs was trained months ago and they're still paying. They better be feeling pretty confident about this decision.

[00:31:21] And so there are probably a you know in the beginning before we had our systems down we had people take advantage of it and we lost money and I took some people to court and you know but I very quickly learned that whole going to court business makes me feel disgusting even though I won every one because we had contracts and you know we fulfilled and the dogs actually did well. You know we won and we were right. I didn't feel like I won.

[00:31:56] Did you ever have to take the dog into the courtroom and show that he could do stuff.

[00:32:03] No. But I do like that idea of the old the old ante trick put the dog in the middle and since it goes to the owner or the trainer that would've been nice and right. But no because it was just a simple contractual thing like look you promise to pay this. You didn't. So give this guy money. And so like I say we would win but I felt gross and so yeah really we worked on systems meaning sale systems so that I would feel more comfortable about people because looking back what I sold training to people that screwed us I kind of knew going in that they were dirtbags like you can kind of get that feeling and there was something off. But you know running a company and having employees you're so desperate to sell to make that revenue. But in honing our training in honing my sales systems that comes up so much less and you know just questions that I asked that kind of weed people out and you know the way that I promise things and it really weeds people out so that we have a really great clientele these days.

[00:33:03] And I know that there's a product right there. How to pick your clients. Yeah that is the product. And then one small point that we do because we sell finance lots of things too. But what I do is I say OK here's the price and we'll finance it for you with zero interest and no credit check. That's how I couch it. And but we'll give you a cash discount so that way. Oh when they hear the word zero interest. Oh that's great. And no credit check. That's great. And so that has sold way more on our finance options because of things zero interest people love that. And then giving them a cash discount. A lot of people do take advantage of it if it's significant enough and pay it all upfront so. So that's how we do that.

[00:33:51] I like that because often people ask that they're like Well do you do a credit check and I'm like No I'm a dog trainer I'm just. Yeah you know you give me your credit card I'll charge it every 30 days. And they're like Oh no credit check. And yeah. That actually makes a lot of sense. And that even makes it less risk.

[00:34:10] Well yeah. And but I've been hearing them say no credit check also would be maybe a red flag in your choosing.

[00:34:18] They're like wait a minute what am I going to find if I do credit.

[00:34:22] So. So OK well we got to take a little break for our sponsor. When we come back we're going to ask Ty about what's a typical day look like for him and his work and how he stays motivated.

[00:34:36] So let me tell you about the screw the commute private Facebook group folks where you can interact with me my staff and with other great entrepreneurs and like minded people just like you. And it is the place for my staff and I put in training and business tips a couple of times a week. And you can ask questions and you get feedback on things that you are doing. And I also give you a quick tips on things that have saved and made me tons of money over more than 40 years in business and myself and my staff also give you more in-depth postings on all kinds of business topics. So it's a really good bargain. Check it out in the show notes at screwthecommute.com or you can go directly to screwthecommute.com/Facebook and we even have a lot of times we have a thing running worth a dollar trial for seven days and then you can pay monthly or you can pay by the year and get a big cash discount. So that's screw the commute Private Facebook group.

[00:35:35] All right let's get back to our dog trainer extraordinaire Ty Brown from it's called Community Care right. Is that the name of the actual company.

[00:35:45] It's Ty the dog guy is now the company. Yeah we used to be communicanine which I thought was so clever because it makes communication with canine. But no one can ever remember it. When I got a store front you know the first time we got a building I was like I can't put communicanine up here people are gonna drive past and have no clue what that means. So. So that's when we switched to ty the dog guy.

[00:36:13] That was a good as a good move everybody out there see the what he thought was cool in the beginning and worked for a while didn't work out in the long run with. We do. We teach Ty what we call glanceable marketing. You can't glance the community canine Utah. Yeah I can barely say it when you're trying to say it ty the dog guy. Perfect. Everybody gets that's great for media. Hey Ty the dog guys on next hour. Not the guy from communicanine utah and you know it's just like Oh so that's a great idea. So. So now that you're you're moved away. Sounds like you said you still travel back and forth but what's a typical day look like for you running a big company like this remotely.

[00:36:57] I'm embarrassed to admit it because it sounds but living in Charleston. I mean as we're as we're taping this right now it's February but it's 76 degrees out. Oh it's great. I'll go to the beach after this. So we'll take the dog we'll go to the beach. I it's a lot of what I do is phone calls. So I do my sales over the phone now. And so you know I'll head to the beach. I'll usually a four or five phone calls a day people who have signed up looking for more information want to talk about our programs or I might head fishing but I'm in a good place where I can go and being around water which is what I love be around water do my phone calls. Yesterday I went to the beach I had some copywriting I need to do some e-mail sequences I needed to do and was helping out some other dog trainers with their marketing. So I went and wrote some stuff at the beach while I did that.

[00:37:57] And so yeah you know most days I get up and hang out with my kids for the first couple hours eat breakfast hang out my kids my wife home schools that are for kids and then they go off and do their day. I do my thing. We meet back up in the evening and we hang out we go on walks we play we watch TV.

[00:38:16] Are the kids involved in the dog training at all.

[00:38:21] Not really they like it. They're interested in it but yeah they talk about maybe one day wanting to do it but you know they're they're doing their kid things now.

[00:38:34] So how does the sales call take you.

[00:38:37] So I block 30 minutes for a sales call most of them take 10 to 20 maybe 25.

[00:38:42] People know that in advance how long it's going to be.

[00:38:47] So when they book it I mean they they book it through acuity. So they book it through acuity and it shows like a half hour segment.

[00:38:55] So it's pretty obvious up front because I imagine some people could go on and on and on about their little fluffies to the point of let's train this little dog.

[00:39:05] Yeah. And that's a big part of my job is to try to direct the conversation a way that's helpful for them which is not rambling and rambling and rambling so yeah.

[00:39:13] All right. So how do you keep motivated when I mean you can go sit at the beach if you feel like it you probably a lot of times don't have to do anything if you didn't feel like it. So how do you keep motivated.

[00:39:24] Really it's my team it really is. And so I for me like the most like I don't want to sound weird like but the most sacred responsibility that that humans have is to take care of their family. Like physically mentally and financially. And so that was always taking care of my family financially has always been such a huge motivator it almost led me to kill myself driving myself into the ground working so unbelievably hard for you know a decade and a half and so this is the first time I'm ever kind of cared for myself in a really long time. But but now that now that we've got you know all these employees and team members that they've got families and they've got mortgages in so it is a big big deal to me like it's something I don't take lightly. You know the hiring firing process but just keeping people around keeping them happy and making sure that they can take care of their obligations and responsibilities is is enormously important to me.

[00:40:28] Oh good for you and your breathing decent air now.

[00:40:31] Oh I haven't got sick this winter it's amazing. Yeah. Been breathing good and I love it.

[00:40:37] Okay so. So they go to Tythedogguy.com and that'll lead them to the online courses the books. They happen to be a what service area do you actually service for actual training.

[00:41:02] So 90 percent of our clients are Salt Lake or within 70 80 miles of Salt Lake and then 10 percent are people that bring us their dogs from around the country or bring me to them you know around the country and so yeah.

[00:41:20] So what if Shaq needs some maintenance training on himself.

[00:41:30] So this was a long time ago when he played for Miami but yeah I'd go in a heartbeat I love that guy.

[00:41:36] It's so great it's so great catching up with you man. I really really appreciate the stuff you've done for my dog. When you were here so that short period of time that he's gone to doggie heaven now he had a you know a bad disease but I got a new boy here that's a good thing I practiced on Rubix because this guy is like a whole other level. I mean he's like a tank on with afterburners and no brakes.

[00:42:07] All right everybody. Thanks the Ty for being on make sure you check out all his stuff in the show notes and you folks in business there are some really great lessons here on hiring the right people grow your own. It sounded like to me if that makes sense for your business and being able to run a business remotely which is a lot of people want a lifestyle business like that. So make sure you listen to this again and you'll get a lot of Good tips for yourself. And also check out our app screwthecommute.com/app so you can be sure one of your favorite episodes you want to keep it with you and listen over and over and we will pitch you on the flip flop later.

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