Pet Boss® Podcast with Candace

Candace D'Agnolo of Pet Boss Nation®
  • 5.0 (75)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Weekly

This is a podcast for the local pet business owner. Get foundational business tips mixed with the latest secrets of what’s working now, especially in this challenging world. Hear honest conversations from industry peers working the streets of Main Street, where dog business is BIG business. So, if you’re a pet supply store, grooming salon, dog daycare, boarding facility, pet sitter or dog trainer - we welcome you! What really sets this show apart from others in this space is that your show host, Candace D’Agnolo, the CEO & Founder of Pet Boss Nation® - has started, scaled and sold successful pet businesses in almost every niche of the pet industry. Not only that, but her business had multiple locations, a team of 30 people, and annual revenue hitting multiple 7 figures. What this means for you is that you’ll get a holistic approach from someone who’s been on your biz journey from start to finish. Intrigued? Press play.

  1. 4d ago

    How to Use Your Numbers Before Making a Big Business Decision (With Virginia Gearhart)

    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

  2. Oct 24

    The Weekly Wag, Pet of the Week, and 5 More Treats

    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.

  3. Oct 17

    2026 Holiday Trends Pet Businesses Can Cash In On

    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

  4. Oct 10

    Say Yes to the Trip: Why You Should Leave Your Store When a Vendor Invites You

    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

  5. Oct 3

    The Last Quarter of Our First Decade & What’s Next

    Q4 is here, and for most of you that means holiday prep and chasing down year-end numbers. For Candace it means something else entirely. This is the last quarter of the first decade of Pet Boss Nation. 🎉 Ten years and thousands of clients through our programs, and a number Candace shares on this episode that she still has a hard time saying out loud. She also gives podcast listeners the first look at two things launching for the next decade. One is rolling out to current members this month. The other one has not been announced anywhere until now. Tune in to hear: ✅ The revenue estimate Candace calculated across a decade of clients ✅ What is replacing the current member platform and the thing inside it she is most excited about ✅ The brand new program she is announcing here first, and who it is for Plus the part of all of this she is proudest of (it is not the money), and a small ask that would mean a lot to her. IF YOU ARE A CURRENT MEMBER University members watch your inbox this week for your login to the brand new Pet Boss Hub. All your videos and templates came with you, and your old platform stays live alongside it while you get comfortable. IF YOU HAVE BEEN SITTING ON THE FENCE Go to petboss.com and get on the waitlist. Doors open to everyone else once current members are settled in. EVERYONE: SEND CANDACE YOUR STORY If Pet Boss Nation has been part of your journey in any way, there is a button on the petboss.com homepage to share it. A win, a friend you met, a hard year you got through, the moment it clicked. A quick voice memo counts. It does not need to be polished. These stories are going to be featured on the podcast and in the newsletter through the rest of the year. Transcript Show Notes Join our Free Pet Industry Facebook Group Follow us on Instagram Read our Blog

  6. Sep 26

    A Love Letter to the Independent Pet Business (Happy Neighborhood Pet Store Day)

    This one is a love letter. 💌 It is Neighborhood Pet Store Day weekend, and it is also the one-year anniversary of Dante and Dory's!  So Candace is doing two things at once: celebrating the independent pet businesses who decided their community deserved something more personal than a box on a porch, and pulling back the curtain on exactly how she built a three-day birthday bash around the holiday. If you have never participated in Neighborhood Pet Store Day, she covers what it is, who created it, and why participation has exploded since 2023. If you did participate, she covers the part most owners skip entirely, which is everything you can still do this week! And if you sat this one out because you were not sure what to do, there is a whole list of things that cost almost nothing. Tune in to hear: 💌 What Indie Pet is reporting from stores that really leaned into this weekend 💌 Everything Dante and Dory's built for their three-day birthday bash, from $1 buckets to a dog beer toast 💌 Why the week after the event is worth just as much as the day itself Plus the one thing you will never beat Amazon at, what to do instead, and a reminder for the day your P&L is not saying what you hoped it would say. Transcript Show Notes Find us on Facebook Join our Free Pet Industry Facebook Group Follow us on Instagram Read our Blog

  7. Sep 19

    Safety, Empathy, and Running a Brick and Mortar Pet Business

    It was a normal Tuesday, around 7 in the morning. Candace pulled up behind the building to get a head start on the day. Before she could unlock the door, she had to step around someone sleeping against it. Notice what that sentence does not say. Not some guy. Not some homeless guy. Someone was asleep against the building, and she had to step around them to open her own business. That sentence is the whole episode. Two things are true at the same time. Someone out there is living through a chapter Candace is not living through. And she still has a store to open, a team to keep safe, and customers who need to feel okay walking through the door. Neither one cancels out the other. This is heavier than what we usually do here. It is not a list of bad behavior and it is not a “those people” conversation. It is one owner talking to other owners about what is happening outside our four walls, what it costs us, and what actually helps. Tune in to hear: ✅ The one thing your local police cannot do on your property unless you have told them something first ✅ Why one owner's story gets filed away, and six owners' stories change what a city does ✅ The piece of paperwork the police wish every business had printed and sitting in a drawer Plus the thing about panhandling that surprised Candace (and surprised the officer too), and the local resource she did not know existed until two weeks ago. ⁠Transcript⁠ ⁠Show Notes⁠ ⁠Find us on Facebook⁠ ⁠Join our Free Pet Industry Facebook Group⁠ ⁠Follow us on Instagram⁠

  8. Sep 12

    Our 1.6M View Reel: Swipe this Strategy

    Many of our videos get hundreds, maybe a few thousand views. This one got 1.6 million. 🎉 It was a video of a filthy self-wash tub getting rinsed out. That is it. A German shepherd had just been bathed on opening weekend, the tub looked like it was growing hair, and Candace told Morgan to film it before anyone cleaned it up. Three weeks after posting, it hit 1.6 million views, 8,623 likes, 128 reposts, 215 shares, and brought in around 400 new Instagram followers. Morgan pitched this episode herself, and she walks through the six editing decisions behind it. None of them require a fancy camera or a big budget. Tune in to hear: ✅ Why the first three seconds of your reel should almost never be the first three seconds of your footage ✅ The "plant the payoff before the setup" rule that stops the scroll ✅ Why the 1.6M reel does not use its own audio (and what Morgan used instead) Plus how a question turned into days of local engagement, why branding belongs at the END of your video, and the one thing you should go do with footage already sitting on your phone. Transcript Show Notes Find us on Facebook Join our Free Pet Industry Facebook Group Follow us on Instagram Read our Blog

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5
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75 Ratings

About

This is a podcast for the local pet business owner. Get foundational business tips mixed with the latest secrets of what’s working now, especially in this challenging world. Hear honest conversations from industry peers working the streets of Main Street, where dog business is BIG business. So, if you’re a pet supply store, grooming salon, dog daycare, boarding facility, pet sitter or dog trainer - we welcome you! What really sets this show apart from others in this space is that your show host, Candace D’Agnolo, the CEO & Founder of Pet Boss Nation® - has started, scaled and sold successful pet businesses in almost every niche of the pet industry. Not only that, but her business had multiple locations, a team of 30 people, and annual revenue hitting multiple 7 figures. What this means for you is that you’ll get a holistic approach from someone who’s been on your biz journey from start to finish. Intrigued? Press play.

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