In order to be in business for the long-haul, you need to shift your thinking—and perhaps shift the way you run your horse business.

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!
Of course, your business started with a love for horses. Am I right?
And then maybe you saw an opportunity to get paid so you charged for your products and services. All of the sudden, you’re a business! But there’s more to being a business owner than just an exchange of money.
Do you ever wonder why you feel like you can’t keep up, not just with money but with texts, calls, messages even? Or, if you like the idea of hiring help but you don’t know if you can swing it or if you have a process that can be replicated by someone that’s not you.
Maybe you’re not sure how much money it costs to acquire new customers or what your monthly or annual profit is. Or, you’re using social media as the sole means to market your business and have no other way to reach your potential customers and existing clients.
These are all signs that you might not be treating your business as a business. And the reality is, somewhere down the road, it’ll catch up with you.
If you’re going to keep doing what you love, you’re going to have to make a profit doing it. Yet many of you listening are saying “I just want to do what I’m good at—build saddles, coach riders, train horses, etc. I don’t want to do all the other stuff.”
I hear you! And there are definitely people out there who can do some of these tasks for you. But if you don’t first shift your mindset then I’m going to guess you won’t even hire someone to help you out.
Here’s the reality. If you don’t decide up front that you’re going to treat your business like a business and not a hobby, then you run the risk of either burning yourself out or even reaching a point where you just can’t do it anymore financially.
As the saying goes, “Treat your business like a business and it'll PAY you like a business. Treat your business like a hobby and it'll COST you.”
So, how do you do that?
What’s the difference between a business and a hobby? And how do you know which side of the fence you’re sitting on?
That’s what we’re diving into in this episode.
3 Ways to Treat Your Horse Business As a Business
Operations This is basically the day-to-day running of your business. Do you have a system in place for onboarding new clients? Do you have a scheduling system or an easy way to get in touch with existing clients?
Finances You should know your numbers and have a way to create reports to help you dive into what’s most profitable in your business on any given day. And, you should be making a profit – that’s how you’re going to stay in business!
Marketing Marketing yourself as a business doesn’t have to mean you spend a bunch of money on ads. It really has more to do with making the choice up-front that you have a product or service that is valuable and will help horses and their people. So, why wouldn’t you want to share about it?
Of course, you'll want to listen to the full episode to dig into each of these applications and strategies and discover how you can apply each one in your horse business!
Rest assured, running your business as a business doesn’t mean it has to lose that personal feel.
That’s where you come in. One of the best things about the horse industry is that it is a community.
You can create that community feel while still treating your business as a business. That’s actually the best thing that you can do to create a sustainable business which will allow you to keep serving your community for years to come.
And you don’t have to do it alone! You should not be expected to be an expert at everything.
My Social Stride monthly coaching program was created for this exact purpose—to help you fill in the gaps when it comes to marketing your business, to give you practical tools and education that you can take and apply. So, every month, you get a new batch of templates you can customize to create engaging and consistent social media posts that’ll connect you to the right people.
Plus, with a community of fellow horse business owners cheering you on, quarterly challenges to keep you motivated and monthly coaching to give you practical marketing help, you’ll have all you need to build that know, like and trust factor online that’ll help you make sales.
(Landing here after May 6? Make sure to get on my email list here so you don’t miss the next window of opportunity to jump in and join Social Stride!)
Links Mentioned In This Episode
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