Ever feel like you’re on the edge but don’t know if it’s burnout or just the next level? In this episode, I get personal. I’m pulling back the curtain on some of the hardest seasons of my professional life, from my years in social work to the aftermath of the pandemic while running my pet care business. We’re talking real burnout: the signs, the sneaky symptoms, and the mindset shifts that saved me.

I also walk through what I’ve learned in my journey as a founder and business coach: how to spot the difference between healthy overwhelm and burnout, and how to make empowered decisions before you’re deep in the crash zone.

If you’ve ever had the thought, “Am I just tired, or is this unsustainable?” this one’s for you.

And hey, if you’re a pet care business owner wanting to level up (without burning out), make sure to grab your ticket for the DogCo Business Summit, happening Sept 26-28 in Winston-Salem, NC. Digital tickets are now available!

👉 Get your ticket: https://dogcosummit.com

📝 What You’ll Take Away:
• How to recognize the early signs of burnout
• Four ways I knew I had hit my personal wall
• Tactics to recover without blowing up your business
• The mindset shift that changed everything
• How to build sustainable rhythms at higher altitudes

⏰Timestamps:
00:00 – Welcome and intro to burnout
01:00 – When burnout feels sneaky
02:00 – My two major burnout seasons
04:00 – Burnout after the pandemic
05:30 – The line between growth and collapse
07:00 – Four signs I was burning out
10:00 – Emotional reactivity as a warning
13:00 – Four ways I now manage burnout
15:30 – The glass vs. plastic metaphor
18:00 – Better strategies for handling stress
19:30 – The power of mindset and choosing your life

👉 Subscribe for more weekly business insights
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts & Spotify
📲 Follow @michelleckline on Instagram
💬 Comment below if this resonated with you

Welcome back to your Friday Hot Tip! In this episode, I’m breaking down three of the most practical, boots-on-the-ground marketing strategies that helped me (and my clients) saturate a specific service area with brand visibility.

If you’re running an in-home pet care company, you know that location matters. That’s why today we’re talking about how to make your brand pop in the exact neighborhoods you want to dominate.

I’ll walk you through how to use flyers, yard signs, and car magnets in strategic, intentional ways to get the most out of your print materials. These aren’t just nice-to-haves - they’re powerful, proven tools when deployed correctly.

We’ll also cover design principles, location tips, how to avoid wasting time and energy, and how to convert eyeballs into long-term clients.

Whether you’re new to physical marketing or want to optimize what you’ve already got going, this episode is loaded with tactical tips that will give you more traction in less time.

💥 Key Takeaways

• Keep it simple - people only glance at flyers for 3 seconds

• Don’t overload your signs - make your message instantly readable

• Car magnets are low-cost, high-visibility tools when used well

• Hyper-target one area at a time - don’t scatter your efforts

• Always loop your offline efforts back into your social media presence

🎟️ Come meet me in person (or online!)

Join me at the DogCo Business Summit in Winston-Salem, NC - September 26–28, 2025. We’ve just launched digital tickets!

Grab yours here: https://dogcosummit.com

📌 Mentioned Strategies

• Flyers (where to hang them, how to design them)

• Yard signs (minimal copy, high contrast)

• Car magnets (addressing common hesitations and risks)

• Social media synergy with local businesses

• Picking one neighborhood to saturate at a time

💬 If this episode helped you, consider sharing it with a fellow pet business owner. A rising tide lifts all boats. Cheering you on, always!

Hey friends, Michelle Kline here. Today’s episode is a vulnerable one. I’m pulling back the curtain and talking honestly about several realization I’ve had in my own business (I’ve been the one in the way).

This isn’t just a strategy conversation. It’s a personal check-in. I’m sharing what it’s looked like for me to confront habits, mindsets, and leadership patterns that were unintentionally holding DogCo back. If you’ve ever felt like your business can’t grow unless you do, this one’s for you.

My hope is that this episode gives you permission to pause, reflect, and course-correct with compassion, and to realize that change doesn’t always mean doing more, it means thinking differently.

🎫 Tickets are still available for the DogCo Business Summit!
Winston-Salem, NC | September 26–28, 2025
Now available both in-person and digitally
👉 dogcosummit.com

💥 Key Takeaways 💥
• You might be the most influential limiter on your business’s growth
• Change is less about doing more, and more about thinking differently
• Leadership isn’t just delegation, it’s transformation
• How you might be unknowingly limiting your business’s growth
• What it actually looks like to lead differently
• The subtle behaviors that point to bottlenecking
• How to shift your internal script and free up momentum
• Encouragement for the overwhelmed pet care business owner

💬 If this episode sparked something in you, let me know. Share with a fellow business owner or tag me on Instagram. I’m cheering you on every step of the way.

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you tune in.

Take a breath. We’re halfway through the year, and this episode is your invitation to pause and reflect. I’m walking you through how I’m setting aside two full days to audit my business, pull real data, and intentionally map out the next six months. This is your sign to slow down, zoom out, and move forward with clarity.

👋 I’m Michelle Kline, founder of DogCo Launch and host of the DogCo Secrets podcast, where I help pet care companies grow and scale without burning out. Today’s episode is about how I personally approach mid-year planning and how you can use this time to recalibrate your own goals.

If you’ve been running full speed since January, this is your invitation to press pause, reflect, and re-align.

💥 Key Takeaways:

• Why planning time must be scheduled to actually happen
• What kind of data I’m pulling to guide decision-making
• How I’m using AI to evaluate performance trends
• Why I don’t mind changing goals mid-year

🎟️ Come to the DogCo Business Summit

In-person and digital tickets are available now for the DogCo Business Summit in Winston-Salem, NC, September 26–28.

🛒 https://dogcosummit.com

🎤 Featuring Joey Coleman and other top-tier pet business experts

🧠 Resources Mentioned:

• Mid-year business planning

• Time tracking and goal audits

• Uploading your data to ChatGPT for insights

📬 If this episode gave you clarity or made you pause in a helpful way, please share it with a fellow business owner.

🤯 Are You Building Your Business for YOU or for Everyone Else? If you’ve ever found yourself stuck between what your team needs, what your clients want, and what you actually envisioned when you started your business, this episode is for you. I’m Michelle Kline, founder of Dog Co. Launch and host of the Dog Co. Secrets Podcast, and today we’re tackling one of the most important strategic questions every pet care business owner needs to answer:

Who is your business really built to serve?

I’ll walk you through how to clarify that answer, how to realign your goals when it’s out of sync, and how to start making decisions that protect your why, not just your revenue.

👇 Jump to what matters most using the chapters below and don’t forget, summit tickets are open!
🎟️ DogCo Business Summit: https://dogcosummit.com

💥 What’s Inside This Episode:
• Re-centering your role as the owner
• Redefining “who you serve” across clients, team, and self
• Spotting imbalance before it burns you out
• Practical frameworks for setting business priorities

📢 Ready for Next Steps?
💡 Join me at the DogCo Business Summit this September in Winston-Salem or virtually. This is where next-level clarity and community come together.
🎟️ https://dogcosummit.com

This Hot Tip Friday episode is all about Call to Actions (CTAs) and why they might just be the easiest, most impactful fix you can make to your website, social, and general marketing today.

Whether you’re a dog walker, pet sitter, or service-based business owner in the pet care space, a clear, compelling CTA can be the difference between someone clicking and someone bouncing. In this episode, I break down how to build strong CTAs, how to avoid common pitfalls, and how to use them across your website and social media to actually get more conversions without shouting or selling.

💥 3 Quick Takeaways

• Clear CTAs reduce brain fatigue and increase clicks

• Short, action-driven language always outperforms long descriptions

• Placement and contrast matter just as much as wording

🎟️ Come meet me in person (or online!)

The DogCo Business Summit is happening in Winston-Salem, NC, September 26-28, 2024.

Join me for three days of business growth, community, and strategy built for pet care professionals.

👉 Tickets available now: https://dogcosummit.com

🔗 Links & Resources

• DogCo Summit Tickets: https://dogcosummit.com

• Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelleckline

• Join the DogCo Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/917885736018212

In this episode, I’m diving deep into what it takes to professionalize your marketing as a pet care business owner. This conversation was inspired by a post I saw in a Facebook group, and it lit a fire in me to talk about how important it is for us, especially in the pet care industry, to step up and stand out. Whether you’re brand new or scaling fast, getting serious about your photography, messaging, reviews, and website could be the key to your next big breakthrough.

This is not just about aesthetics. It’s about clarity, credibility, and conversion. If you’ve been feeling stuck or overwhelmed when it comes to marketing, this is the episode for you.

🎟️ Grab your ticket to the DogCo Business Summit
📍 Winston-Salem, NC – Sept 26-28, 2025
🌐 In-person and digital tickets available now: https://dogcosummit.com

💥 What’s Inside This Episode
• Why marketing is your job
• The 4 cornerstone investments every pet biz owner should make
• A reality check on AI content and authenticity
• The mindset shift that can make all the difference

⏱️ Timestamps
0:00 - Welcome and story behind today’s episode
2:00 - The “it’s not fair” mindset and what to do about it
4:00 - Why marketing matters even if you didn’t sign up for it
5:15 - Cornerstone #1: The ROI of professional photography
8:00 - AI imagery vs real-life trust builders
9:45 - Cornerstone #2: Reviews and reputation as marketing
11:30 - Cornerstone #3: Your website is your conversion engine
13:20 - Cornerstone #4: Learning to write like you mean it
16:00 - The copywriting edge you can’t afford to skip

🧠 Key Takeaways
• Marketing doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be intentional
• Photography, reviews, a good website, and strong messaging are high ROI plays
• Excellent writing will always outperform average AI-generated content
• You don’t have to do it all—but you do have to lead with clarity

📍 DogCo Business Summit | September 26-28, 2025
Come meet other pet care entrepreneurs, grow your network, and sharpen your business.
🎟️ Tickets: https://dogcosummit.com

Today’s Hot Tip is all about workspace strategy. I’m walking you through how my home office upgrade completely changed the way I show up as a CEO, and the surprisingly small tweaks that gave me the biggest return. If you’ve ever felt scattered, distracted, or like you’re “just getting through” your workday, this one’s for you.

✨ Here’s what’s inside this episode:

• The one moment that changed how I view my work environment
• My top 3 high-ROI workspace upgrades (that don’t cost a fortune)
• A few bonus tweaks that help me get into deep work faster

💡 Key Takeaways:

• A dedicated desk can train your brain to treat your time like a business owner
• Dual monitors will level up your efficiency more than you think
• Noise-canceling headphones are a focus superpower, even in silence
• Simple tools like a timer and screen layout can multiply your attention

A good office setup isn’t about aesthetics, it’s about function, and building a space where you can think like the leader your business needs.

🎧 P.S. My current favorite productivity combo: a clean desk, two screens, a focus timer, and noise-canceling headphones with nothing playing at all.

🎟️ Want more strategies like this? Come to the DogCo Business Summit

September 26–28, 2025 | Winston-Salem, NC
Now with digital ticket options available! → dogcosummit.com