Whether you jump, rein, trail ride, or race, this episode is for you because it has nothing to do with your discipline—it’s all about your horse business. You’ll discover 5 marketing takeaways I learned at a jumping clinic that will help you build an equestrian business you love.
Welcome to the show notes! Remember, this is a brief summary from the How to Market Your Horse Business podcast. You'll want to listen to the entire episode for all the good stuff!
One question is on my mind everywhere I go: How does this apply to equestrian entrepreneurs?
That’s why as I was taking notes on how to improve my jumping while auditing my first jumping clinic, I was also taking notes on how you could apply the same principles to your business.
5 Marketing Lessons from My First Jumping Clinic
1. Quality begets quality.
“The quality of your jump depends on the quality of your canter or trot. Quality canter, quality jump. Quality trot, quality jump.”
Like jumping, marketing has a lot of pieces and parts. But, one thing is for sure about all of it: the quality of your marketing depends on the quality of your messaging.
From email marketing to social media to print or online advertising and every other marketing element you can think of, if your messaging – the way you communicate and who you are trying to marketing to – is off, then every one of those marketing pieces will be off as well.
2. Keep your eye on your destination. It impacts everything else.
For you riders, professional or not, you know this to be true when you’re riding: where you look matters because it truly impacts the rest of your body, impacting how you ride and the instruction you’re giving to your horse.
So, let’s talk about the business and marketing application here.
When someone starts in my coaching program, we always start off defining the win. What are we working towards, what does success look like for you in your business and life?
Why do we do that? Because being an equestrian entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. And, being your own marketer in your business while wearing many other hats can sometimes feel overwhelming. But, when you know your why, you know what you’re working towards, then you use that as a filter for every other decision you make, including how you spend your time, energy, and resources.
If you don’t kept your eye on where you want to be in your business, what you’re working towards, and the people and horses your have a heart to serve, then it would be easy to get distracted or discouraged and give up.
3. The power of reset.
In one session, the coach stopped after the first canter exercise to come to the middle and do stretches together while in the saddle. The point was to loosen muscles, fine tune hand position, and give pointers to specific riders. Then get geared up for the next exercise.
Have you ever considered or completed a reset in your horse business?
Sometimes it’s a complete overhaul that’s needed. Sometimes it’s a breath you need to take. Sometimes you need to talk it out with another equestrian entrepreneur who can give you sound advice, hear your struggles, and maybe even challenge you in a few areas.
As equestrian entrepreneurs, it can be easy to just keep going and get the work done. Doing the work is never an issue for you.
But, if you’re feeling completely overwhelmed, near burnout, or just unsure of where to go or what to do next, consider an intentional reset.
4. Learning is lifelong.
She said this to each session on Saturday: “Riding is lifelong. 1/3 good, 1/3 ok, 1/3 not so good. If it’s always good, you’re not growing. If it’s always bad, you’re not growing.”
Isn’t that a true description of being a horse business owner?
Give yourself grace on the hard or bad days. And give yourself a little push to grow on the other side.
No matter what, always be learning.
There’s no shortage of opportunity for learning. Sharpen your marketing axe. Read books to develop yourself as a leader and business owner. Surround yourself with people that challenge, encourage, and inspire you. Listen to podcasts.
No horse business owner has arrived. And, there’s no such thing as stagnant. Learning is lifelong.
5. The value of a coach.
Over and over, I saw that when the participants follow her direction they see improvement.
They could ride on their own every single day and not make the same amount of improvement as they did in one day because they invested in themselves and their horse, asked a trusted expert, and then applied what that expert was teaching.
The same is true in your horse business.
There are areas in your business that you could improve on your own by watching all the free reels on Instagram or YouTube videos, getting those low-prices online courses, or copying what everyone else is doing.
But, you will be selling yourself short on the progress you could make if instead, you chose to invest in a coach who can help you see through the muck and mire to get clarity and make a plan of action that will help you to actually make progress towards your goals.
That’s why I love doing 1:1 coaching through my 3-month Take the Reins program. The progress that clients make in our time together and the confidence they have at the end when they have a cohesive marketing strategy to follow is why I do what I do.
Of course, you'll want to listen to the full episode to dig into each of the insights I shared and discover how you can apply each one in your horse business!
Links Mentioned In This Episode
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