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Regular HumbleDollar readers are likely familiar with my passion for dogs. I adore dogs and find I generally prefer their company to that of many humans.
Three years ago I retired. I had spent thirty years working in laboratories. I generally enjoyed the work but I was never particularly passionate about it. I spent my weekdays working in order to support my dog hobby on the weekends.
Right after I retired, my husband and I toyed with the idea of starting a dog training business. When we looked into the cost of leasing a building and paying for the various associated expenses, we decided against it. It seemed to me like I’d need to work at least forty hours a week just to make a small profit.
Two years ago I met another dog trainer in the Phoenix area who leased her own space. I started teaching a couple of classes for her and found it really sparked my love of helping people train their dogs. It was a nice way to bring home a little bit of money and I looked forward to teaching more classes at her facility. Unfortunately she decided owning a dog training business was too much work and not enough fun and closed the business down a year after I began teaching there.
In February of this year, I was ready to give up on my dog training business dreams. I’d already decided not to renew my website domain and my business insurance policy when they came due in April. I was disappointed, but figured it just wasn’t meant to be.
In March I happened to be on Facebook when a page for a local dog club popped up in my feed. The 55+ community we live in has over 100 chartered clubs, but I wasn’t aware there was one devoted to dog owners. I wrote a quick introduction–mentioning I loved to teach dog training classes–and walked away from my computer. Within an hour, I had a message from one of the club members saying they needed to talk to me.
As it turns out, the club had recently decided they wanted to begin to offer dog training classes. The only problem was that they didn’t have anyone to instruct them. They agreed to let my husband and I teach two classes in April and see what the response was. As it turns out, it was overwhelmingly positive.
I’m happy to say we will be teaching at least five classes this coming fall. It’s a three minute commute from our house to the training location. We get to keep all of the money the classes bring in. Most importantly, we get to share our love of dogs and dog training with other residents. It did my heart good to see our first class participants–dogs and humans alike–having fun while learning a variety of useful skills.
When you love what you do, it truly doesn’t seem like work.
I’ve read your posts about this hoped-for post retirement career path, and am glad it is working out for you.
I think that’s great. Live your dream!
Thanks Ben!
Kristine, so happy for you with this news. Sounds like a great setup with all of what you love and none of what you don’t (business expenses and hassles).
I have to admit sharing your sentiment that “I adore dogs and find I generally prefer their company to that of many humans.” Reminds me of Charlie Brown when he said, “The more I know about people the more I like dogs.”
Thanks Andrew.
I love the Charlie Brown quote.
My favorite t-shirt reads: “Sorry. Can’t. Dogs. Bye.”
I should buy seven of them and just wear them every day of the week.
Congratulations on beginning your new “living the dream” phase in life, Kristine! I love a good story where just as it seems all is lost, a door opens to the path ahead. The icing on the cake for me is thinking of the dogs (and their people) you will meet!
Thanks Jan! It did feel a bit like fate when I discovered the club was actively searching for someone to teach classes. We very much enjoyed all the dogs and humans who attended our first two classes and are looking forward to meeting many more in the future.
That’s great! I’m so happy for you and your husband. I have no doubt you’ll both be very successful at this and reap much joy from it. Plus you’ll undoubtably greatly expand your social circle with similar minded folks. Definitely a win-win. Thanks for sharing!
Teaching classes is a great way to meet other dog-lovers! Thanks for your encouragement!
Kristine, I’m in the Phoenix area also and would love to know where your training sessions are and how to learn more.
Hi Randy. Our training classes are held in Sun City West. Because we are offering the lessons as a club activity, attendance is currently limited to residents of our community.
Kristine, I think loving what you do is one of the secrets of a good life. Thanks for sharing this great story.
Thanks Dan. I was always jealous of people who had jobs they were passionate about. Now I seem to have one!
What a success, Christine! And that’s what you get for continuing to be involved and “putting it out there”, especially for an introvert:). How many out there wouldn’t have bothered to post an introduction? Or don’t know how? It shows how important it is to keep up with technology and know how important it is to stay in the conversation. I recently concluded that AI will be a big part of our future and I will not be left out. It won’t be just something people “do at work”. Whether it turns out to be a good or bad thing I want to understand it and use it as much as possible for my benefit and understanding. So I recently started a $20 ChatGPT subscription. Wow. Having your own subscription allows it to remember key facts about you that you want it to remember. Must try it and start a conversation about anything that has been troubling you or you have been wanting to do. Drop your next medical report into it along with your prescriptions and see what it says. Or ask it to compare two items you are thinking to buy. Of course you have to further research what it tells you if you intend to act on it, as for anything you read, but the information it provides is invaluable. It helps keep you “part of the conversation”.
I recently decided to ‘discover’ the power of AI as well. All I can say is “wow”. I started using it to help me write up homework assignments for our dog training classes. All I have to do is some slight editing to the documents in order to get them where I want them. It’s an amazing time saving help.
It’s also been useful for translating medical terminology. I recently used the prompt ‘tell me the results of this test in terminology designed for a high school student’ and suddenly three hundred words of medical-speak were turned into something I actually understood.
There is no way I am giving all that personal data to the owner of a chatbot. It is being monetized as you type, and is probably insecure.
This is wonderful news, Christine – Congrats! Your new venture offering dog training inside your 55+ community is strikingly similar to that of my wife.
A longtime certified personal trainer and wellness coach, her niche has historically been with the 50+ age demographic, particularly those folks who might be intimidated by the idea of joining a gym. During the COVID lockdown, she joined the ranks of the self-employed, launching a virtual personal training business to support a number of her long-time clients who were now stuck in their homes. Five years later, this core group of original clients still trains with her virtually each week.
About 2 1/2 years ago, she received a call from her former YMCA manager. She was now the clubhouse manager / activities director at a growing local 55+ community. Knowing my wife’s talents working with age 50+ clients, would she consider teaching 1-2 group exercise classes a week onsite in their community?
What started as a 1-day “test” has evolved into 3 solid days of exercise class offerings. In truth, there is sufficient demand to justify a 5-day-a-week commitment (assuming that at 58, she could physically withstand the wear-and-tear associated with teaching so many classes; the short answer is no). Three days a week of classes plus her core of virtual training clients seems to be the sweet spot for her.
Similar to your own revenue deal, her 55+ partnership has the added bonus of her not having to share class fees she charges with “the house” (a 50/50 class revenue split is commonplace for trainers that instruct at local gyms). This added revenue helps her keep class fees reasonable for participants and helps offset her added business-related expenses, most significantly her business liability insurance.
The 55+ community she partners with has been extremely welcoming, with a number of class participants becoming good friends. Its a win-win-win partnership: the community management company adds a valued service for residents without added overhead / labor costs, class attendees stay healthier and more engaged in their community…and my wife makes decent money doing work she absolutely loves on a part-time basis!
Sorry for such a lengthy manifesto (clearly, I am very proud of my wife’s work). My fervent hope is that your own experience offering dog-training in your 55+ community plays out in a similar fashion. Please consider keeping HD readers abreast of how this thing unfolds!
Thanks for your comment–I love it! The similarities between your wife and me are eerily…similar!
I too am 58 years old. Thankfully the wear-and-tear of teaching dog classes isn’t quite as hard as teaching human fitness classes :-). And yes, I love that we are able to keep the cost of the classes truly reasonable ($70 for a six-week session of training with a limit of six dogs per class). Most group classes in our area have an upper limit of 10 dogs per class and cost between $160 and $180 for a six-week session. Since my husband and I both teach during the class, all the participants get some amount of individual attention.
It will be interesting to see how the endeavor grows. A neighboring 55+ community has seen tremendous growth in their dog training club over the past few years. They have about 400 members and offer at least 15 classes each week. For now, I’m happy to have it limited to a handful of classes.
Congratulations to your wife for following her dream!
That’s awesome, Kristine. Sounds like the perfect fit for you!
Thanks! It really turned out to be the best possible situation for us.
Congratulations! Thank you for sharing your wonderful news. How fantastic that after a couple of years of looking for ways to share your passion you found a venue in your community. Wishing you a fall filled with fun, community, and better-trained dog owners!
Thanks Cecilia. We are enjoying sharing our knowledge and love of training with other residents.
Kristine, thanks for a great story, it made me smile. I’m really happy for you and your husband. We had a pastor at our local church who said we all had talent, time, and treasure, and we should find ways to use them to make our world better. You guys are a great example of that.
Thanks for the kind words Rick. I love your pastor’s words of wisdom. Offering training classes has really made us feel connected to our community. There are so many talented people who live here and many of them do share their knowledge and passions with others.
Kristine, this was a real upper of a story I read first thing this morning. I am really happy for you. And the dogs. When I was reading your story, it definitely was a God moment to me that you were able to connect with the dog group. Chris
Thanks Chris. I’ve had a few events throughout my life I’ve attributed to some higher power–this definitely felt like one!
Looks like you found a sweet spot in your retirement. Enjoy.
We definitely ended up in the perfect situation.
I’m happy for you, Kristine. You’re being helpful to people who share your interests. For money!
Thanks Ed. It seems to be a good partnership. Because we are doing the classes for local residents, we charge about 50-60% less than what other trainers in the areas surrounding our community charge. We wanted to make sure we were affordable for any resident who wanted to attend. And, of course, we basically have no expenses. We teach the classes outdoors at a park the community recreation center staff manages.
Great post – thanks. Our local FB group is basically missing dogs and cats!
Thanks Greg. There is a ‘lost and found’ Facebook pet page in our community as well.
I’m surprised it took Facebook this long to start putting dog content in your feed. 😉
Congratulations. It sounds great for everyone.
Thanks Michael. It’s been a fun endeavor for us.
When I joined a fraternity in college we had to memorize a quote from Calvin Coolidge who was a brother. Part of the quote was, “Persistence and determination are omnipotent.The slogan press on has solved and will always will solve the problems of the human race.”
Well Kristine, your persistence didn’t exactly, “solve the problems of the human race”, but you have been rewarded for your persistence.
Congratulations!
Perge, David! 😉
Perhaps my persistence will solve the problems of the canine race…
That’s great, Kristine! Congratulations. And I’m sure there will be no shortage of dogs needing training….
Thanks Kathy. As I’ve recently discovered, it’s mostly the humans who need the training :-).
That is so true! And some, sadly, refuse to get trained. The worst are those who are convinced that everyone else will love their pet as much as they do.
That’s what I discovered when I went to obedience training. Should be called master or dog parent training. Big learning curve. My wife seemed to enjoy watching me learn and discovering I was at least mildly trainable.
It’s definitely 90% training the owner, 10% training the dog!
Like children in need of well-mannered parents?
Indeed!