Pet Boss® Podcast with Candace

Every pet business started with somebody who decided to bet on themselves.  Somebody who stayed up past midnight doing the books. Who figured out payroll the hard way. Who thought about quitting and then did not. Those are the stories Candace wants to tell in 2027, and she wants one of them to be yours. This episode is different. No marketing strategy. No 2027 prep. No AI walkthrough. She is asking for your help, because the next season of this show is being built with you. Here is what is shifting. More voices in the room. Longer conversations. Less “here is how to do X” and more “how did you become the person who could do it.” Because this industry is full of these stories, and almost none of them ever get told. WHO CANDACE IS LOOKING FOR ✅ Family business stories. Second, third, even fifth generation. Couples running it together. Siblings. The parent who handed over the keys to the kid who changed everything. ✅ Ideas and innovation. You built a service your town did not have. You made a product in your kitchen that is now on shelves across the country. You figured out a better way to run a grooming schedule, or you built the tech for it. It does not have to be new right now. It just has to be something you did. ✅ The hurdles. The lease that fell through on your dream space. The fire. The flood. The employee situation that kept you up at night. The big box that opened down the road. What knocked you down, and what got you back up. ✅ Mindset. What had to shift in your head to make the difference. What you believe now that you did not believe when you started. You do not need to be industry famous. You do not need a giant operation. Some of the best stories come from a single location shop in a small town, or from someone who has already retired. If you have a story and you are willing to be honest about it, you are who she is looking for. NOMINATE SOMEONE ELSE Some of the best people in this industry would never raise their own hand. You know at least five of them. Send us their names. THERE IS MORE THAN A MIC IN IT In 2027 the Pet Boss Clubhouse became an extension of this show. Guests will connect with the community there to keep answering questions, some episodes will be recorded live in front of a virtual studio audience, and you will get to meet owners working through the exact things you already survived. This show is ranked in the top 2 percent of all podcasts globally and gets downloaded in more than 80 countries, so those relationships reach a lot further than you would think. SPONSORSHIPS ARE OPEN FOR THE FIRST TIME People have been asking for four years. The door is finally open for 2027. If you are a brand or service provider who wants to be in front of independent pet business owners who are actively looking to grow, let’s talk. There are several projects in the works beyond the podcast itself, and plenty of ways to partner. HOW TO REACH US Email [email protected], message us at @petbossnation on social, or submit through askpetboss.com. Guest pitches, nominations, topic ideas, and sponsorship inquiries all welcome.Transcript Show Notes Join our Free Pet Industry Facebook Group Follow us on Instagram Read our Blog

You had a great Saturday. 💰 So now you are thinking about hiring that groomer. Or buying the equipment. Or finally giving yourself a bonus. Candace has watched a lot of pet business owners make a big decision off a good feeling, and she has coached the ones who made it off bad advice too. One client went to a seminar, heard “hire for the business you want, not the business you have,” hired an entire team, and nearly drowned in payroll. So this week she brought in Virginia Gearhart, founder and CEO of Gearhart Bookkeeping, who works exclusively with pet businesses. Groomers, daycares, boarding facilities, trainers, retail, and veterinary practices. Virginia’s whole thing is that she does not hand you a report and disappears. She walks you through what it actually means, and she will tell you plainly when something is out of line with what she sees across every other pet business on her books. Which is exactly what this episode is. Tune in to hear: ✅ The commission split Virginia says to never agree to, and the number she recommends instead ✅ The report most owners have never laid eyes on, and why it matters more than profit when you are making a big call ✅ The client whose revenue stayed exactly flat while her profit dropped 20 percent, and what was really going on Plus the true cost of a new team member beyond their hourly rate, a labor percentage our industry has decided is just normal that absolutely is not, and the year-end moves you cannot make once January 1 hits. ABOUT VIRGINIA GEARHART Founder and CEO, Gearhart Bookkeeping Virginia Gearhart is the Founder and CEO of Gearhart Bookkeeping, where she and her team work exclusively with pet businesses. Their goal is to help business owners understand what their numbers mean and use them to make better decisions. They do not just hand over reports and disappear. They walk clients through the numbers, share insights, and help make the financial side of the business feel a lot less overwhelming. Virginia grew up on a mini farm surrounded by dogs, pigs, ducks, chickens, turtles and bunnies, and she has four dogs of her own today. She also happens to love math, which she will admit makes her a minority in most rooms. When she had her first son and wanted the flexibility to work from home, bookkeeping let her combine both things she loves. She saw that almost nobody was specializing in the pet industry, and she filled the gap. Gearhart Bookkeeping celebrates seven years in business this month. FREE RESOURCE FOR PET BOSS CLIENTS Virginia is sharing her Profit Per Pet Calculator with us. Enter your revenue, how many pets you saw, and your expenses, and it shows you what you are actually making after everything is said and done. It is built for service businesses, though retail can use it too. Pet Boss Nation clients can grab it in the freebies section inside the hub. Go to hub.petbossnation.com, enter the email your membership is under, and a magic link comes straight to your inbox. Transcript Show Notes Join our Free Pet Industry Facebook Group Follow us on Instagram Read our Blog

Seven treats and the tricks that make each one actually work. 🎃 Everything Candace and Morgan cover is already running in our pet business right now. Some of it is powered by AI and the point of sale system. Some of it is just getting consistent about something you already knew you should be doing. So this one is about getting into action, even at 70 percent, because 70 percent beats zero percent. Tune in to hear: ✅ The automation Morgan switched on that brought 17 customers back and generated over $1,000 in its first run ✅ The rewards Candace hands the team and why you should steal this idea too  ✅ The Pet of the Week twist that grows the email list instead of just filling the feed Plus the grocery store idea another retailer saw, copied, and had printed for $30, how a one hour weekly meeting unlocked everything else on this list, and the name of their team newsletter that you are welcome to steal.

Are you ready for the holidays? 🎄 Do you actually know what your customers are going to want this year and how they are thinking about spending? Candace has been digging through the 2026 holiday trend reports and there are some interesting shifts happening. People are being more selective, but they are not abandoning Christmas. They are approaching it more intentionally. If you hear “shoppers are cutting back” and your first instinct is to slash prices, this episode is for you. Because customers are not asking for cheap. They are asking for worth it. Those are two completely different problems to solve. Tune in to hear: 🎁 The $50 purchase customers will happily make that five separate $12 purchases will not 🎁 The Etsy search category that has doubled and the one product most of us gave up on that is suddenly back 🎁 The $10 event that turns into a $60 shopping trip Plus the five words to write down before you touch a single display, how your signage can do just as much selling as your staff is, and the one thing Amazon and Chewy genuinely cannot do. Hit play to hear the six trends that can help you this holiday season! Transcript Show Notes Join our Free Pet Industry Facebook Group Follow us on Instagram Read our Blog

This episode is a special treat. It’s an impromptu recording around a hotel fire pit in Perham, Minnesota, with wine in plastic cups, a train going by, and a surprise guest who walked up mid-recording and got handed a microphone. 🔥 Candace drove 9.5 hours each way from Galesburg, IL to spend two days inside the NutriSource and KLN Family Brands factories, and by the end of day one there was too much to say to wait for a studio. So she gathered everyone around the fire and hit record. What came out of it is a conversation about something most owners never prioritize: leaving your store. When a vendor extends an invitation like this, it is not a perk. It is a real investment they are making in you, and it does not come around often. Tune in to hear: ✅ What a brand is really telling you when they let you walk their production floor ✅ The thing their VP of Sales said that Candace did not expect from a company with 900 employees ✅ How the episode ends, which is unlike any ending we have done before Plus the Willy Wonka-like epic moment, what to say to your own rep to get invited to something like this, and a tease for a future solo episode you will want to hear. WHO IS AROUND THE FIRE Zachary Giles, co-owner of Reese's Barkery & Pawtique Matthew Taylor, manager (AKA Top Dog) at Reese's Barkery & Pawtique Tracy Werner, Illinois Territory Sales Manager for NutriSource Pet Foods Stephanie Hall, Pet Center Director at Dante and Dory's Pet Emporium Jane Adamson, VP of Sales at NutriSource Join our Free Pet Industry Facebook Group Follow us on Instagram Read our Blog