Lianne Shinton (00:01)

Hey, hey, welcome everybody. I'm Lianne Shinton from Automation Dogs. And thank you for joining me on my podcast where I generally speak to dog trainers and I bring guests on that can help dog trainers more from the business side of things. And one of my mentors, longtime friends, Grant Reeves, is joining us today. Welcome, Grant.

Grant Reeves (00:27)

Good to see you. It's been a while.

Lianne Shinton (00:29)

Yes, and I am really excited to talk to you today because of your creative business mind, all of the things that you have built, but I have some great fun questions too. I'm hoping we can kind of take a deep dive into Grant so we can, you know, kind of get inspired by you. Sound good?

Grant Reeves (00:54)

Absolutely. I mean, listen, even in our personal lives, the conversations you and I have usually end up being somewhat very creative. So I I'm excited for this. Yeah, I'm excited to be a part of this. I've looked at some of the other podcasts and I think they go in a very unique direction sometimes. So I th this is gonna be fun. Yeah, let's do this.

Lianne Shinton (01:14)

Okay, as a good icebreaker before we really dive in, if Jurassic Park were a real place, like a real park that you could visit, would you go?

Grant Reeves (01:28)

Without a doubt one hundred percent. Without a doubt.

Lianne Shinton (01:31)

Okay.

Me too. Me too. We'll be out there clicker training velociraptors. I might need a a beverage.

Grant Reeves (01:38)

⁓ ex that that that's where my mind went to. Why? Because

I would want to have a connection with the animals. As much as I love the people, I would want to have that connection with the animals.

Lianne Shinton (01:49)

Love it, love it. All right. Do you want me to dive into some questions or do you want to share a little bit about yourself? Maybe I guess a little bit about Canada to the US, any of that good stuff?

Grant Reeves (02:03)

Yeah, I mean we're you and I are fellow Canadians, ⁓ imported to the US. ⁓ I've been working down here for going on thirty-eight years. ⁓ I'm soon to become a US citizen, which I'm very excited about after all this time. Yeah, I'm ⁓ just at the the final stages. So I expect with the way politics works and the government moves in its slow way, it'll be ⁓ probably by December, but I'm excited about that. ⁓

Lianne Shinton (02:20)

Congratulations.

Grant Reeves (02:32)

But I still have my roots in Canada. I still have family in Canada. my sister's out ⁓ up in the Toronto area, just outside of Toronto. And ⁓ yeah, I'm Floridian now. I'm a very, very happy Floridian. ⁓ as you can see in the background, living in Florida full time, still still team up. I love the palm trees, love the boating. Tampa is on fire.

Lianne Shinton (02:52)

See the palm trees?

Grant Reeves (02:59)

Anybody ever wants to move to Florida, Tampa's the place. And we still have a place in Ohio, but ⁓ yeah. My my eighteen year old, soon to me nineteen year old daughter is killing it at Florida Gulf Coast University. Just so proud of her. And Teresa and I, for those people that know my wife, Teresa and I are, you know, on the semi retirement train. So that's about that's that's me in a nutshell.

Lianne Shinton (03:22)

Love it. Well congratulations on almost becoming a United States of America citizen. You're getting there. Do you have to take the test? Will you have to go in and take the test? I took the test. Yeah.

Grant Reeves (03:34)

I'm excited for that. Yeah. I'm excited

for that. I'm excited to raise my hand. Listen, I the United States has been so, so generous and I'm s I have so much gratitude for what the United States has has been able to offer and how successful we've been. ⁓ and I'm looking forward to the opportunity. We already are, but I'm looking forward to continuing to pay it back and pay it forward.

Lianne Shinton (03:38)

Mm, yes.

well that'll be awesome. They have such a great ⁓ naturalization ceremony. And I get to go to a ceremony soon. Brett's little brother is in the Navy and he's in the boot camp. And so in Chicago, I get to drive up there and see his graduation ceremony and I'm just gonna cry the whole time. I'm so excited.

Grant Reeves (04:14)

Especially this year, I mean, two hundred and fifty years and all the celebration that's going on, it's just amazing. And I mean, the patriotism is at its absolute peak right now. And I I you know, the one thing about United States, Canadians are very patriotic to an extent, but when you drive around the smallest town, the largest city, I mean the patriotism just is it's incredible. And I I I thrive on that. I love that.

Lianne Shinton (04:40)

Yeah, yeah. Canada's very patriotic as well with our Tim Hortons and you know Tim Hortons. That's good stuff. All right. So my first question for you. If money were no object, what would your dream job be?

Grant Reeves (04:46)

It's addictive. I still think they put something in that coffee.

⁓ if money were no object, what would my gene job be? It's pretty easy. I would think keynote speaking, motivational speaker. I I love to bring high energy to everything I do. And I'm actually kinda leaning into that a little bit right now, ⁓ in small ways, but I think being able to be a motivational speaker and help people through trials and tribulations, solve problems that people say are unsolvable. I think it stays hand in hand with what I've done my whole life, so

Lianne Shinton (05:08)

Hm.

Grant Reeves (05:33)

If money were no object, travel the world delivering incredible messages through keynote speaking.

Lianne Shinton (05:40)

I like that answer so much and that suits you so well. All right, what's a small thing that makes life way better?

Grant Reeves (05:45)

see.

That's a good question because as of late, I've been doing a lot of personal work on myself over the last couple of years. And I used to think that, you know, the the big wins were what you needed to focus on. ⁓ but it's funny how the small wins stack up if you're actually paying attention to them. And for me, ⁓ not just feeling appreciated, but recognizing how

how somebody else feels when you can show gratitude and appreciation to them. So recognizing the time or the opportunity and actually acting on it to show gratitude. That's very, very important. It didn't used to be in my life for many, many years. I realize how important it is now.

Lianne Shinton (06:42)

Yeah, two things that stood out for me with that statement. The the gratitude and and being thankful. It's such a great way to live your life. And also it's I you hear that saying, it's not what you say to people, it's how they they remember how they felt when you talk to them. It's not what you said, it's how they felt and that's what they remember.

Grant Reeves (07:10)

Yeah, I've I've come to realize that you know there there's there's different approaches. People have different personalities, but you can sometimes the subtle approach. I you you I mean, Lianne, you and I have known each other a long time. I if it if somebody told you or me it couldn't be done, we would get it done. We just that's the personalities we are. But you can still have that approach, but you can be subtle about it sometimes. And I've learned a lot over the last couple of years about that, which for me is

As I get older, as I'm I'm I'm as I'm in the first third of the last third of my life, as they say, I'm realizing that slow is steady, steady is smooth, and smooth is fast in everything that you do in life.

Lianne Shinton (07:55)

Awesome. Great answers. This is very gonna be very inspiring, I'm sure. What is something most people don't know about you?

Grant Reeves (08:09)

Something most people don't know about you. That's an interesting one. Well, I have activity-wise, I race cars. I love racing cars, I love motorsports, but I don't know how many people know about me. And I and I love to go fast. I'm an adrenaline junkie. But on a personal note, something people don't know about me.

Lianne Shinton (08:19)

Mm mm.

Grant Reeves (08:33)

I have a hard time showing vulnerability in front of strangers. ⁓ but I'm getting better at it and I'm realizing that ⁓ it's actually a better way to communicate with people sometimes. So but that's something a lot if you met me on the street as a complete stranger, ⁓ you'd think like there's no way that guy's ever gonna open up in front of me.

Because it's hard for me.

Lianne Shinton (09:00)

Is it that you don't want anybody to know you're not perfect and things aren't perfect?

Grant Reeves (09:10)

Yeah, I think it's I think it goes back to, you know, we all we all wear these masks in front of strangers most of the time. And it you really, you know, just take the mask off and be yourself. ⁓ it's a very small circle of people that I can be myself in front of, actually both in business and in personal. And I'm learning that the more that you can be yourself with anybody and everybody, the more you reap the rewards. It just be you. And it's pretty cool.

But for the longest time I had a hard time doing that. I always thought, yeah. I always thought, you have to put up this show, this wall, this image and nah you don't. Doesn't matter. People accept you for who you are. And if they don't, guess what? They're not important. You can only offer to help them.

Lianne Shinton (09:53)

Yeah.

Yeah, I totally get that. ⁓ just, you know, that kind of fake it till you make it act like you got it all together kind of thing. But really just opening up about, you know, some of the struggles can help inspire other people and help other people learn from those, you know, the that journey.

Grant Reeves (10:13)

Well, the struggles we've been on, not just personally but professionally. I mean, in in in the world and the circle I run in now, we share those struggles with each other. And by me sharing struggles and challenges and hurdles and obstacles have overcome in business, other businessmen benefit from that. And they might not see it because you know sometimes you can't see the light for the sun that shines directly in your eyes, and these challenges are pretty bright sometimes. But if you just open up and aren't afraid to share the

challenges that you went through and the and the pain that you suffered through some of these and the way you solve them, that's just paying it forward and helping other people. So I think that's kind of part of being vulnerable, and especially in front of other business people. I mean, who wants to let your guard down? I have to be perfect. Well, guess what? Not it not any one of them out there are perfect. There's nobody perfect.

Lianne Shinton (10:59)

Exactly.

Yes. All right. What is a hill that you're willing to die on? Meaning something that you believe in so strongly, you'll argue for it every time.

Grant Reeves (11:18)

Honesty. Honesty. I was gonna say my family, but everybody knows I would die. I would go to the end of the earth and back. ⁓ but honesty. It's really I I have had over the years a lot of trust issues. I've had a lot of issues trusting people and I've had a lot of issues when people didn't trust me. And again, being on this personal journey and doing the work that I'm doing, I've come to learn that trust is really important.

And trust is earned, don't get me wrong, but as long as people are honest all the time, if you're honest with people and people are honest with you, there's really nothing that can't be acc accomplished or achieved between parties.

Lianne Shinton (12:02)

Awesome. All right. This is a good one. And this one might fall under honesty, and I know you're probably working on some amazing things, but what is a goal that you're quietly working towards?

Grant Reeves (12:21)

Well, I should be saying full retirement, but I've been told by my wife and others that that's never gonna happen. on a personal note, I am looking at ⁓ a business opportunity right now that would afford me goes along with, you know, the keynote speaking, but would afford me the opportunity to do a lot of traveling. ⁓ Teresa and I have made a lot of sacrifices.

Lianne Shinton (12:27)

Yeah.

Grant Reeves (12:49)

in the last twenty-five years and since we've been together and I before that for you know fifteen years and I wanna I wanna reap the rewards. I want to travel four to ten four to eight times a year with two or three times of those times being like travel, travel, not working travel. I mean back in the day we would travel 35, 40 weeks a year, and it was always work.

Well, now I want to go and explore the rest of the world. So I'm quietly in the background putting a plan together to allow for the opportunity that I can travel and still in still work instead of always work for travel.

Lianne Shinton (13:35)

That sounds like an amazing plan and just such a great fit for you. I ⁓ I was hired once by a professional speaker to bring a dog so that when he went on stage, he could have the dog. And whenever he traveled around to these different venues to speak, he hired a local animal actor. And sometimes it was a basset hound that just like laid on the stage. My dog, of course, did all these tricks.

And so I showed him, you know, in the green room, hey, here's what you do. And he took my dog out there on the stage and everything. And I thought that was just such a really sweet, you know, kind way to present yourself is just having a dog. Everybody's like, ⁓ so maybe that's something you can do as you're out there speaking.

Grant Reeves (14:23)

You know, that it it's interesting that you say that 'cause in a different conversation in a different arena, somebody asked me what I do what what I've done for a living, and it boils down to I've been involved either with dogs or families, kids, in every career thing I've done for most of my life. It's either been pets in the pet space, dock dogs, dog wizard, training dogs at an early age, or motor sports, i.e. family and

It's interesting because I think I can relate to the dogs better than the people, to be honest with you. Unless I'm in a business setting. Now I haven't had a boardroom full of dogs trying to sell them or pitch them, but I relate to the dogs better than the people most of the time.

Lianne Shinton (14:57)

Ha ha ha

Yeah, I know you love the dogs. You've put together some amazing events that include dogs, ⁓ dock dogs, badass dash, things like that. Just amazing to help people to have relationships with their dog and have experiences with their dog. You've you've made a lot of memories for people, including on my wall there, my hall of fame ⁓ picture there of Rex and me.

Grant Reeves (15:32)

Well

earned well, well earned. I mean, listen, I we always talk about the good old days and Doc Dogs and stuff and remember when it was a tight group and we were all so passionate. I mean, again, I've stepped out of the doc dogs world and the community now, but my God, some of the best memories, the best memories of my lifetime come from Doc Dogs.

Lianne Shinton (15:56)

Yes, agreed. Me too. Yep. And yeah, you've you've been the base of all that. So thank you.

Grant Reeves (16:04)

Twenty Teresa and I were twenty two years. Longest I've ever been at anything in my life. And almost including marriage.

Lianne Shinton (16:14)

Awesome. All right. If you could press a button and become world class at one thing overnight, what would it be?

Grant Reeves (16:25)

That's a tough one, 'cause that's gonna sound like I'm bragging.

I would be a race car driver right out the gate. Yeah, but world class, I'm a long way from it. I'm out there spending money having fun. But ⁓ honestly, ⁓ if I could press a button.

Lianne Shinton (16:36)

Are you already a race car driver?

Grant Reeves (16:50)

I think listen, if I could become world class, I think I would want to be involved in something like something with Elon Musk for the next chapter of the Earth's life. I would love to be I would if I could press a button right now and fast forward to, you know, twenty thirty, twenty thirty five and be on his team in some way or or some form or fashion that I could have an opportunity to travel off this planet, I would go in a minute. That would be huge opportunity.

Lianne Shinton (16:59)

Mm.

Wow. See, I turned that question on myself and I was like, I would really just like to be a good cook, you know, be like chef quality or something. Like but that answer is like light years. I couldn't imagine anybody else thinking of such a creative and just forward thinking response to that question. That's cool.

Grant Reeves (17:31)

Sure you are.

That's that's true. It's what that's where my brain goes. I just I think it would be I think it would be a huge opportunity.

Lianne Shinton (17:52)

Yeah, for sure. All right.

Grant Reeves (17:55)

But they're

they ain't sending sixty one year old gentlemen up into space anymore these days. I that the last Canadian was William Shatner and he got the opportunity to at least look back at it, so that was cool.

Lianne Shinton (17:59)

Ha ha ha ha.

⁓ if you had to start over in a completely different career tomorrow, which I think you kind of do this all the time as you move, you know, your life into these different businesses, this different plan, but if you had to start over in a completely different career tomorrow, what would you pick?

Grant Reeves (18:30)

It's interesting because, you know, while the nucleus has always been motorsports, the pet space, or family for me, which is three different directions. I was over in ⁓ I was over in ⁓ Amsterdam in Holland for ⁓ a week with some fellow businessmen, and one of the gentlemen that I was with is a stockbroker, but he is a

current stockbroker, like as in the way they trade now. There's no more on the floor yelling and screaming type of stuff. and I always thought that would be cool to do that. But what he does in finance now and the way that he does it, ⁓ I really got a chance to peel back the curtain with him. And it is a wizard of oz type of thing. So I think if I hadn't if I was to start over, first I would have gone to school and graduated properly and not just learned how to drink beer and party.

Lianne Shinton (19:26)

Mm-hmm.

Grant Reeves (19:26)

Second,

I probably would have gone into something along the way of finance where I could have knowing again, hindsight's always twenty twenty, but it's so it's such an adrenaline rush and challenging. So I would have been in finance and something on Wall Street probably.

Lianne Shinton (19:43)

Yeah, I could see that for you. You never know, maybe, maybe still.

Grant Reeves (19:48)

What is that? The Wolf of Wall Street? Is that that movie with ⁓ with Leonardo DiCaprio? Yeah. Wi without the partying. Without the partying.

Lianne Shinton (19:52)

Y Yep. Yeah, I think so. I haven't seen that one in a while.

Yeah.

All right. If your life had a warning label, what would it say?

Grant Reeves (20:07)

⁓ That's an easy one.

Lianne Shinton (20:10)

Ha ha ha.

Grant Reeves (20:12)

Slow down, workaholic. Not allowed. Something else. Slow down workaholic.

Lianne Shinton (20:14)

⁓ hmm.

Yeah, that work life balance thing stuff.

Grant Reeves (20:21)

Yeah.

I'm getting better at it. I'm getting a lot better at it. But yeah, that would have my life would have definitely been yeah. Were that that's it. The term would have been work life balance. That would have been the warning label.

Lianne Shinton (20:26)

Yeah.

Yeah. I I've been thinking, you know, I think about this because I have the same problem and I was thinking, I'm gonna put it in Chat GPT and just say, you know, this is ⁓ give me tips on having more work-life ballots, like put my phone down or whatever it might be, but I think we can probably just use AI to at least start implementing some better habits because I know the feeling when it's just nonstop.

Grant Reeves (21:01)

friend of mine has challenged me as of late and ⁓ he does this. I did not I don't know if I I haven't tried it yet, but eight o'clock the phone goes in the drawer. Eight o'clock at evening. You know, I think I c I my schedule now is I'm done at three PM. I take personal time and at three PM I'm not supposed to work. But with this damn phone sitting beside you or in your hand or commercial breaks or you know, my wife gets up to go to the restroom at a restaurant, I check my messages. So you really don't check out and

Lianne Shinton (21:20)

Yeah.

Grant Reeves (21:30)

I thought that was a cool challenge, but could you I don't know, could you actually put your phone in the drawer at eight o'clock at night and not look at it until after you work out in the morning? That would be tough.

Lianne Shinton (21:41)

Yeah, I'd ⁓ it'd be really tough. I'd ⁓ yeah, sometimes I to fall asleep, I'll put headphones in and I'll listen to like a psychological thriller, ⁓ because that's really calming for me. ⁓ so I'd have to find another device to be able to do that. ⁓ but I I think, you know, the yeah, the thing is like you wake up in the morning and the first thing you do is check your phone. If I could break that habit, that would make me happy and this would be a solution for it. Be tough.

Grant Reeves (22:10)

I

don't know if you you you probably wouldn't be surprised, but I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is twenty minute meditation now. I absolutely do every morning twenty minutes of meditation. And it has been life changing for me over the last fifteen to sixteen months. The way I approach each day has been absolutely an incredible way. It just sets you up for the day. And again, two years ago, three years ago, I would have said this is all woo woo. But there's a reason that, you know

Lianne Shinton (22:36)

Yeah.

Grant Reeves (22:39)

that meditation and ⁓ the the different energy exploration of peoples and going into different energy positive versus negative negative energy. There's a reason this is taking hold on society. We live in a society right now that's so challenging with so much evil around us. The only way to combat it is to really, you know, look into oneself and then share that with the people around you.

Lianne Shinton (23:03)

So is it like a YouTube video or how d how would people get started to implement and learn about meditation in the morning?

Grant Reeves (23:11)

I

I personally I personally love Joe Dispenza and his meditation and he has it depending on where you're at in life and what stage you're at, he has something for everybody. But he also takes the time to teach you how to meditate properly. And that's very, very key. Because a lot of people just sit down and think it's, you know, the hippie stuff where you're sitting at the end of your dock with your legs crossed in a uncomfortable position, humming to yourself. There may be an application for that. But the reality of it is

⁓ I always I still live by this. Amateurs create professional steel, don't reinvent the wheel. He is one of the gurus of meditation, so go where the go where the where you know the right answers are.

Lianne Shinton (23:53)

Like that. And what was his name again?

Grant Reeves (23:56)

Joe Dispenza. If you look him up on YouTube, he's got hundreds and hundreds of not only instructional videos, but you know, pre taped ⁓ YouTube videos that you can just sit and listen to every morning, every evening. There's something if you're feeling happy, sad, glad, mad, there's something for everybody.

Lianne Shinton (24:13)

And you just like get up a little bit early in the morning and try to fit it into the morning.

Grant Reeves (24:19)

No, I make it a priority. ⁓ I roll over, put my ear pods in and I hit YouTube and play one of the saved ones that I have. ⁓ and I listen to it before I get out of bed every morning. It doesn't matter if I'm in a hotel, traveling on business or at home. It's the first thing I do. And I have to tell you, it literally does set your s set your day up. 'Cause you take a beat, you take a pause and you think about what you're about to do for the day.

Lianne Shinton (24:41)

Kind of

Oddly kind of what I do with my psychological thrillers, but maybe not getting the same result.

Grant Reeves (24:52)

I'm not sure how to interpret psychological thriller. Is there knives and guns and axes in that? Or is it like, no, I'm going to understand how I'm going to manifest this day into success?

Lianne Shinton (25:00)

It's

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just yeah, the who doneits and it just gets my mind off of everything because I'm like, who did it? So I guess I'm kind of meditating with that, but your way sounds much healthier.

Grant Reeves (25:18)

You are. You tr

no, I think I think your way challenges the the synoptic nerves in your brain a little more as well. I think that's pretty cool.

Lianne Shinton (25:28)

All right, the next one's kind of interesting. I'm curious to hear your answer. What's something you enjoy that most people would find boring?

Grant Reeves (25:42)

If you'd asked my wife up until a year and a half ago, she would have said Fox News. But we're not gonna go there. We're not gonna be political. What do that people would find boring? That's a really interesting. I would have to say

Lianne Shinton (25:48)

Ha ha ha

Grant Reeves (26:03)

As of late, I'm exploring a lot of things that have to do with the divine universe and the energy, you know, at a DNA level. So most people go like ⁓ but I find it I find it absolutely fascinating and interesting and I'm digging in deeper and deeper by the day.

Lianne Shinton (26:16)

Yeah, I'm bored.

Okay, tell us a little bit about that because I'm kinda curious.

Grant Reeves (26:30)

Well, I mean, I don't want to get into the ⁓ the whole God factor and religion and tell everybody what's right, what's wrong, or what's indifferent. Everybody has their own paths to follow. But if you if you believe in the divine universe and you believe that there's an energy within, then and I ⁓ I can find it. I can go there and find it. I and exploring it and understanding it is something that intrigues me now.

So I wanna understand, you know, where did life come from at a DNA level? What were how do we come here? Not in a biblical sense, but in a scientific sense. And that just intrigues the hell out of me.

Lianne Shinton (27:07)

Yeah.

I was listening to a podcast with somebody who really dove deep into that. I'm gonna look it up and and share it with you. You probably already

Grant Reeves (27:18)

If you're interested,

look at Greg Braden.

Lianne Shinton (27:21)

Okay. I wonder if that's the same guy that I was listening to.

Grant Reeves (27:26)

Yeah, he ⁓ sorry, Greg Brennan. He's he is fascinating.

Lianne Shinton (27:29)

Sounds like him.

Yeah, I think it might be the same guy. It was on a podcast I was listening to and it was fascinating. So

Grant Reeves (27:40)

I

would challenge anybody to not get interested after listening to his podcast or re or the book The God Code. It's pretty fascinating.

Lianne Shinton (27:49)

Yeah, that's

the same guy. Yep. Cool. ⁓ okay, so I really like this question because of your business mind. So I want you to pretend because most of my audience is dog trainers. If you had to, let's say, rebuild a dog training business from scratch in a new city, what would be the first things that you would do?

Grant Reeves (28:15)

Well, I have a little bit of a ⁓ this is a trade secret that's not necessarily confidential, but I have a little bit of an advantage in that in working through the Dog Wizard program and growing that company from very small, you know, thirteen, fourteen franchises to over a hundred plus territories, one of the things that we've been focused on is a thing called the seven pillars. And it's actually, if you look it up,

⁓ Rune Savadal wrote the book on how to market a new company and the seven pillars are important. And yes, we all know about the traditional SEO, GMB, Meta, blah, blah, blah. But what really drives a business is understanding your market and being able to market based on organic approach. You really have to become

If you're going to truly, truly launch not just a dog training business, but any business, you need to become the subject matter expert in that community. You need people need to know who you are. If somebody says to if I ask you what was the best ⁓ comedian show of the time of your time, for me, I know, ⁓ Seinfeld. But everybody knows if I say Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld. Well, if anybody somebody came to me and within just a few months, I just launched a brand new dog training business and said,

Who's the best dog trainer? They're gonna say Lianne, because you've been out there, your face is everywhere, your reputation is everywhere, your your knowledge is out there, the vets know you, the dog parks know you. And if you're not willing to go to that extent in the specifically in the dog training business, because everything else you can spend money at, and you will be successful, you'll make a living. But to truly be the best of the best in a small community or or a territory, you have to do the organic stuff.

Lianne Shinton (30:07)

And the organic stuff, boots on the ground, go into the vets, drop off your cards, drop off some cookies, ⁓ put yourself out there. ⁓ let's think of some other tips to

Grant Reeves (30:21)

You know, A AI is changing the landscape on how we all compete in in any business we're in, but it's not going to be the only thing. And the funny thing about AI is if you want if you and I are going head to head and you're doing AI and I'm doing AI, how can I overcome? How can I be more competitive and more successful in the market? I can support it with those old traditional things.

I mean, how many times have you heard people say, I got the voicing machine? Well, you're not you're not going to get away from an automated voice answer anymore because dollars and cents dictate that. But if I'm going to the vet on a weekly basis and you're showing up monthly, who's leaving the organic impression? Who's going to get the call? And it's as simple breakdown as that. So the as much as we have all this new technology and we're getting faster and quicker and better, some of the old tools still work. And if you use those old tools, you're only bolstering what's going on.

Lianne Shinton (30:44)

Mm.

Yeah, some other old school tools. Answer the phone, talk to people. ⁓ wrap your vehicle. And when someone comes up to you and you're loading your groceries in the van and it's got, you know, your dog training business on the van, talk to them. Don't give them the stink eye. Yeah.

Grant Reeves (31:30)

QR codes. QR codes

on your van, on your business cards. I mean, don't everybody ⁓ I we still have some old school people, but put a QR code, it costs pennies on the dollar, it's the cheapest advertising. You're sitting in a stoplight and somebody tries to text in and write down the phone number or take a picture of the van. well, if they're gonna take a picture of your van, let them take a picture of the QR code, which will automatically light up and then it goes right to your website for you.

You just it's so there's so many unique ways in market research. Know your market. Know who your competitors are, know their price structures, know where the dog parks are, know where your shelters are. I mean, these are all very simple things that most people don't take the time to do. And by the way, just because you did it this year doesn't mean everything still exists from last year. There's new ones and some have gone away.

Lianne Shinton (32:20)

Yep. Yep. Things have definitely changed. We see ⁓ you know, old school stuff like put in an ad in the newspaper, the yellow pages, to now a dog trainer could have a video go viral and they're booked out three months. And it's just new stuff that, you know, us dinosaurs are like, What?

Grant Reeves (32:39)

Well,

you know surprises me is you you I don't have to tell you this, but for the for the audience aspect, you'd be surprised if you pulled the independent dog trainers or even the franchise owner, franchisee dog trainers, if you polled them at how many have current content. Most of them haven't even got content. And people don't realize SEO, GMB, Meta, that's all stuff you can spend money on, do incredible creative, and you're gonna pay per click. But AI is

Absolutely 100% pulling content. If you aren't putting even just a hello good morning on there, that helps you. But be surprised how many trainers just and you can leave the horse to water, you can't make them drink, but content, content, content. Now it's going to get to a point where quality content will be the one up, but right now it's just you can post 30 seconds of just yourself and training the dog, walking the dog, and that

will get you something more than somebody who didn't. And I'm surprised how many trainers don't actually step to the line and do content.

Lianne Shinton (33:48)

Yeah, one pushback I hear is they're more of an internal type individual who just doesn't want to put themselves out there and doesn't want to risk, you know, getting attacked or or anything. And so they just don't do anything, like feet in cement kind of nothing.

Grant Reeves (34:09)

Don't put political views or opinions on dog training or use tools that some people are say controversial. Just go out there and have fun. Show a handoff, ⁓ show show a take home, ⁓ show a pickup, ⁓ just show a dog sleeping on the couch and how relaxed and comfortable it is. Those are just simple things that that kind of content gets traction. People don't realize it. Listen, most

Lianne Shinton (34:11)

Mm-hmm. Yes.

Grant Reeves (34:34)

The good dog trainers anyway are all introverts. That's why they're with the dogs, 'cause the dogs understand them better than the people. But the reality of it is, you know, y if you wanna make more than a living, then you need to do more than what the average person would do.

Lianne Shinton (34:51)

Yes, well said. what is something that's felt hard in your business maybe a year ago? I know you've had s you know so many different businesses, but what's something that felt hard in your business, say a year ago that feels easy now?

Grant Reeves (35:10)

okay, well I can talk from two aspects.

Responsibility. I don't think the average person that comes in and punches the clock realizes the feeling of obligation or stress that comes with that obligation of making payroll every week for everybody. You know, in in our day we were feeding over fifteen hundred families collectively. And you know, if you had a bad week, there's a lot of stress that comes with that. A lot of stress. ⁓

So that that was something most people don't realize for me. But in the last year, what I've come to realize is a thing called founder syndrome. And especially with a company like Doc Dogs, because it was, I mean, 22 years of Doc Dogs was our life. I mean, we had our baby shower at a Doc Dogs event for Sydney. It was crazy at the World Championships.

And it was really hard to first and foremost for me to let go. And even I watched Teresa, I just didn't want to let go. But you know what? There are better people, not necessarily better people, there are better ways, better opportunities, and the next chapter of something's life. So founder and syn founder syndrome was hard. So when you hold work to one job, I see it all the time. People have worked for us for, you know, twelve, fifteen, in some cases eighteen years, they did they still show up and bring coffee to the crew at the event or

They just can't let go, you know. So it's I think that that founder syndrome is another tough thing.

Lianne Shinton (36:44)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I totally get that. Absolutely. All right, this one's a good one. What's a random experienced that a random experience that turned into a great story later?

Grant Reeves (37:06)

A random experience you can tell these questions weren't sent to me ahead of time because I have to think about those tough ones. A random experience. Yeah. can I go how far back can I go?

Lianne Shinton (37:10)

Yeah. And I'm firing at you and not giving you time.

Whatever works for you.

Grant Reeves (37:22)

A random experience that turned into an awesome opportunity? Is that what the question was?

Lianne Shinton (37:26)

Or a great

s a great story later.

Grant Reeves (37:31)

So back in the day, I was involved in and orchestrated a thing called Lake Wow at the Toronto International Boat Show. It was the largest indoor body water ever made. And somebody said, Hey, I was at a meeting with somebody about doing a promotion, and somebody said, Hey, wouldn't it be cool if you could do an indoor boat show? I said, Well, yeah, it can be done. And

For me, everybody just laughed, except one person. Her name was Carol Bell. And she happened to be the president at the time of the National Marine Manufacturers Association. She said, Can we have a coffee? And that experience sitting down with her and feeling that she actually believed that I could do it set my events career on fire. It it it was the snowball or the catalyst effect. ⁓ and we built incredible

Trials and tribulations, but we built the world's largest indoor body indoor body water. And we didn't know what the name was going to be until we were building it. And I'll never forget it brought Carol through the vomitory in the arena and walked her up the stairs, and the entire arena had four feet of water in it. And the first word that came out of her mouth was, Wow. And we literally called the project in advance Lake Wow. So it was pretty cool.

Lianne Shinton (38:58)

That is cool. I have not heard that story before.

Grant Reeves (39:04)

Yeah, that was that was water skiing inside, sailing inside, boats inside. It was a pretty unique thing. And to this day they still have the the lake at the boat show, but they use it now in a different capacity.

Lianne Shinton (39:18)

Awesome. Yeah, I hadn't heard of that, but maybe I left Toronto before you did the Lake Wow.

All right. What is a small decision that ended up changing your life?

Grant Reeves (39:38)

A ⁓ small decision that ended up changing my

Asking, not being ashamed to ask for help, overcoming my fear of asking for help.

Two years ago I was stuck. Didn't know what I was going to do with the next chapter of my life. Thought I'd conquered the world and figured out that money wasn't everything. Success wasn't everything. And I picked up the phone one day and I asked for help. And just that little moment in time, like just making that phone call, opened up a whole new chapter. Hence most of the stuff we've been talking about. It was incredible.

The smallest things in life can give you the biggest return. You just have to look for

Lianne Shinton (40:29)

Yes, being open, not letting I love those stories where you didn't miss it. Like you s you were open, you saw it, and it took you down this path.

Grant Reeves (40:42)

Well, it goes back to the wins. Like I used to only look for the big wins. And, you know, just working t double, triple, you know, can't can't can't shut off, can't shut off. And all of a sudden, when somebody else from the outside looking through a different lens comes up and taps you on the shoulder and says, Look at your daughter's smile, or look how beautiful your wife is, or look at the success that you just had with this doc dogs event. It the smallest little thing, you don't see it because you're looking for the big thing.

And those little things, those little just taking a beat. ⁓ you'd be surprised what it feels like. Cause then you start stacking This is a somebody told me this quote. Did you know that the World Series for the life of baseball has only ever been won by singles? Nobody ever stepped up and hit a gr no i every hit a single, hit a single, hit a single. The winning team keeps keeps hitting singles to win the game.

Lianne Shinton (41:30)

World series.

The Dodgers say

Grant Reeves (41:39)

They don't go out and hit

home runs in all the time.

Lianne Shinton (41:42)

No. I think the Dodgers did a walk-off grand slam though, ⁓ last year. Freddie freddie Freeman. Us Canadians, man, we just get started on baseball. It's

Grant Reeves (41:49)

Yeah, but

⁓ baseball.

But I mean if you think about that, like you hit a single, you move everybody, you hit a single, you hit a single, and then you get a home run, and then you win the World Series. Versus, ⁓ I gotta swing for the fences every time and not be successful. So it's pretty it's life is pretty interesting when you stop and you know literally smell the roses.

Lianne Shinton (42:00)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes.

All right, if you this one's good. If you could relive one day of your life, which would you choose?

Grant Reeves (42:35)

Mm.

Personal or business?

Lianne Shinton (42:42)

Your choice.

Grant Reeves (42:48)

Day Sydney was born, I would love to feel that feeling again. Don't get me wrong, we're very fortunate, but she's an only child, and that day, as long as that labor was, and as painful as my ears were bleeding from Teresa yelling at me all the time, having as much fun as we did, I would that moment in time, I will never forget that as long as I live.

Lianne Shinton (43:07)

Ha ha ha.

Becoming a dad.

Grant Reeves (43:16)

It was life changing for me. Like it was scary as hell. Yeah. But just to see, like to bring that life into this world in the way that you go through it, because again, we were so stuck in our work.

There's a moment in time where everything stops. It's just it's that moment. Yeah. It's an unbelievable sense of responsibility. Listen, I've delivered puppies. It's the same feeling. It's a little different, but it's the same feeling. Like, wow, factor, right? I've delivered two horses in my life. But that's just like it's incredible. If you could just live in that moment all the time, the life.

The world would have no shame, it would have no guilt, it would have no evil. It would be pretty cool.

Lianne Shinton (44:10)

That is cool. That is cool. All right. So that is my list of questions. I just fired them off at you and thank you for answering them like back to back to back to back to back, like fastest ever. Is there anything else that you could share with us that might help dog trainers?

Grant Reeves (44:31)

Yeah, I think, I mean, if we were if we were to take an analytical approach about it, the pet space, if you look at the if you look at the data, the pet space is not going anywhere. With there's a lot of threats about AI. They're going to come up with software and apps and at-home do-it-yourself models, but you're never, ever gonna do away with the actual hands-on training in support of a real good dog trainer. So if you're good at your craft, you have a very, very strong career path.

⁓ so I would stop worrying about it. I would use AI to the best of your ability to help you run your business or to help you be a debt better dog trainer, help you organize your time. There's so many things that people can do. Scheduling, calendarization, answering the phone. Because every time you stop training a dog to answer the phone, you're losing revenue. So there's so many different ways that you could explore and benefit from AI. ⁓

The other thing is, and I've said this, I say this to our franchisees all the time, and I've said this actually across business. You need two of three things to be successful in dog training, or you need to be, you need to have two of three things to be successful in any business. You need to be able to have the be the trainer, you need to be able to be the salesperson, and you need to be able to be the business person. So you need two of those three skill sets. Sometimes with volume, you can get away with only having one of them.

But if you have two of three, you can pay somebody else to be that. So you don't have to be a dog trainer to own a dog training business. If you can do sales and run a business, you can hire a great dog trainer. You don't have to be a great business person. You can hire a business manager. Or you don't have to be a great salesperson. You can hire a salesperson. But once in a while, you'll get somebody that's all three. I'm looking at one on the screen right now. Great business person.

great salesperson, an incredible dog trainer. And the success, I mean, speaks for yourself. What you've done with your life is incredible. I've watched it. I've watched it from twenty years ago to where we are now. It's incredible. ⁓ and there are a few of you out there. There's a few gems like you out there. So I'm I'm I I have to say I'm pretty proud of what you've done and how where we are today and where you're at today. It's incredible. So it goes without saying you're an incredible person, an incredibly successful person. So

Lianne Shinton (46:50)

Thank you.

Thank you. One thing that ⁓ you you just mentioned having the sales skill, the business skill, and the dog training skill, and you have to do, you know, two out of the three. I think that what's important from that that a lot of dog trainers don't want to hear is that you do have to have all three covered. And you know, you're you are in

the business of training dogs. So you have to have some element, like Grant said, of the business there. You can hire somebody or you do it yourself, but it has to still be done. You can't just I know we do this because dogs are cool and we love dogs, but we still have staff to pay and you know ourselves and our families to feed. And you know, maybe that one sale you're helping that client is a new set of roughlands. Or

Giving your staff a raise. So having that business, the sales is so critical, in addition to being a good dog trainer.

Grant Reeves (47:58)

We we said earlier, like dog trainers typically are personality-wise an introvert. They don't they don't wanna mix with people. And and the irony now is why why I'm so confident that dog training as a whole, especially in the pet space, will be around for a long time, is because if you're a good business person, you don't have to do the work. You can now lean into AI and still be the best dog trainer you can be. And you can use AI assistance and AI different apps and my and and

modeling programs to run your business for you, really, if you want to be. And a lot of dog introverts, dog trainers tap into that. It's the same with sales. You can now use AI sales tools to help you with your sales. You don't necessarily have to be that high-end salesperson. The question is, is are you that type of dog trainer who can stay leaning edge in dog training technology and applications, different methodologies, and know enough to say, remember, look at the small things?

Lianne Shinton (48:39)

Yes.

Grant Reeves (48:57)

Okay, if I just played with AI a little bit here, would it help me in my sales? Versus, I don't want to do it, I'm just gonna make a living, or I'm not gonna do it at all and I'm not gonna be successful. It's the same with the bookkeeping and the business and I mean, there's so much opportunity. I listen, the pet space is one of the best businesses to be in right now. It literally is recession proof. We know that, we've proven it. So

Lianne Shinton (49:17)

Yeah, COVID

was a big one. ⁓ in two thousand and eight I was living in Las Vegas and we saw the great, you know, housing market crash. ⁓ you know, we we survived through that, no problem.

Grant Reeves (49:32)

It's it is literally the the the it's probably one of the safest industries you can be in. Now the question is you can make a great living at it, but if you want to be rich then it just becomes a numbers game. The more trainers you have, the more revenue produce.

Lianne Shinton (49:47)

I think from my past experience and what I know today, the thing that would be most most affect my business in a very positive way would be implementing like a membership program. When I look back at running like 12 group classes a week, driving all over town, and just people are showing up for these unlimited free group classes that were in included with their package.

And yeah, we're getting the vehicles out there, we're out there, we're getting exposure. But if we had those people paying, say, $30 a month, $147 a month to have access to something like that rather than just giving it away, that whole business model would have been so different because instead of focusing on like that next board and train or that next package we're selling, we're like, how many more people did we add to that? Maybe small membership.

But as it starts to grow, it's consistent and it's predictable. And I think that would be something I wish that I had have done back then. Nowadays, memberships subscriptions are very popular. So it's easy to implement. And there's no excuse not to implement it into your dog training business. The groomers are doing it, everybody's doing it.

Grant Reeves (51:04)

Well, I think recurring revenue models are the are the thing of the day today. I mean that's where they're at. and most of us don't even use them all. I can't even tell you how many subscriptions I have that are either duplicated or I don't use. But back then, woulda, coulda, shoulda, back then, that's what we needed to do to be the best at our craft and get the sale against our competitor. And it worked out very, very well. ⁓ I think at the end of the day, ⁓ one of the things for me

Lianne Shinton (51:07)

Mm-hmm.

Grant Reeves (51:33)

is the recurring revenue model, it's not too late to bring it into our business. So many franchisees, and listen, it doesn't matter if you sell in subways, smoothies, dog training, so many have these membership programs that are free. I think that a perceived value if you start putting even the smallest, it's a data game. Maybe you're not going to get to 3,000, 4,000 members, maybe you're only going to get 300, but how much money is that 300 bringing you and what are the rest of them

They're not coming anyway, or they're not paying you any money. So I think that's not too late. You bring up a really good opportunity for people to start exploring that.

Lianne Shinton (52:11)

Yeah, yeah. We teach that at Automation Dogs. We have a system, sales and system club for dog trainers where we teach, you know, how to make more from what you've already got.

Grant Reeves (52:23)

Well, I I mean the the the upsell is huge and so many trainers, again, being a good business person, being a good salesperson, having the opportunity as a great dog trainer for the upsell, they all tie in. They all do. And if you can't do it, you make the introduction to your salesperson and they do it. So

Lianne Shinton (52:40)

Yes. Awesome. And

Grant Reeves (52:41)

Yeah, you and I think

a lot alike. You and I have always we've always been in sync that way.

Lianne Shinton (52:46)

Yeah, it's you know, it's been tough. Like I get all these creative ideas, much like I'm sure you do. I remember you coming out to Vegas and we went to that tanked place where they built the fish tanks and you had this idea of, you know, instead of how far the dogs can jump or how high, how deep can they dive? And just all these creative ideas that you take action on to pursue. And that's been my struggle bus a little bit is I'm like idea, idea, idea.

And I had my coach actually tell me, like, stay focused on the one thing that you need to focus on. And that was actually good advice for me.

Grant Reeves (53:23)

Yeah, it's interesting because you get you get pulled in different directions. Like at times I'm the squirrel. squirrel, oops squirrel, squirrel. Like, you know, at times I'm that dog chasing the squirrel. But as you get older, as you go through tenure and with successes, and listen, you have to fail. You have to fail in order to appreciate what it feels like to win. And if you don't fail, you're not learning. ⁓ that's the reality of it. But one of the things is, you know, there's the people that

think about it. There's the people that talk about it and then there's the people that do it. Who are you? Who do you want to be? You know, that's as old as the Stone Ages. At the end of the day, you and I are in the same we're in the same car or the same bus. We're the doers. We when we when we put our mind to something, you we're doing it. And the rest of the people usually are, how did they do that? What happened? You know? So five percent of the world

is the doers. Everybody else is just coming along for the ride. And I like being in that five percent or I like to think I'm in that five percent.

Lianne Shinton (54:28)

Yeah, I'd say you definitely are. Yeah. It's been pretty amazing to see all of the different businesses and the things that you've accomplished.

Grant Reeves (54:37)

I love the challenge. I love when people, especially when I can help somebody now. That's what I'm thriving at. When somebody comes to somebody said to Lianne, you're never gonna be able to do this. Lianne said looks at me and I would sit there and go, Okay, let's go. We're gonna do this. That feeling of helping somebody do something that somebody else told them they couldn't, that I love too. That's awesome. That really gets that gets my juices flowing.

Lianne Shinton (54:50)

Okay.

And I forgot to ask, what kind of car is it that you race?

Grant Reeves (55:04)

I I had gotten ⁓ hooked on the antiquated but absolutely incredible Dodge Viper. ⁓ and there's still we're racing dodge vipers against portions and we're still beating them. So

Lianne Shinton (55:13)

Okay, I think I saw that car.

When's your next race?

Grant Reeves (55:22)

I am on a plane in two days heading up to Holland, Michigan area. Up go up to Gingerman track for a road race. Yeah.

Lianne Shinton (55:27)

Nice.

Cool. Okay. Well keep us posted. Awesome. All right.

Grant Reeves (55:33)

Yeah,

I love that. That's that's when I check out. That's my what did you call it? Psychological thriller. That's when I stop thinking about everything else and it's I'm just in that tunnel on the track in the car.

Lianne Shinton (55:38)

Yeah.

I think too we've got some actionable takeaways that folks can implement right away, like just you know putting that phone away, maybe listening to some meditations, starting to implement that in the mornings. I think those are some some great advice.

Grant Reeves (55:59)

Work life balance, that's the warning label. Remember that one. Work life balance. Yeah.

Lianne Shinton (56:02)

Yeah, yeah. Yep

it's a tough one. Awesome.

Grant Reeves (56:07)

Isn't it?

I know. Yeah. So I appreciate you having me on here. This has been ⁓ I was wondering I'm glad we didn't send the questions ahead of time 'cause I'm like, what is she gonna come at me with? And it you did not disappoint.

Lianne Shinton (56:20)

Awesome, awesome. Yeah, I don't like to be one of those boring podcasts. So I thought I've got to come up with some good icebreakers and some good questions that we can really go deep. And I don't ask these types of questions of everybody, ⁓ but somebody with your you know life and history and story, I think it's great to hear, you know, your responses to those questions.

Grant Reeves (56:41)

Well listen, I as always, you know where I am, you know how to get a hold of me. If anybody ever wants my input or insight, whatever little value it has, you they can always reach me through you. You know that.

Lianne Shinton (56:52)

Yep. Awesome. Anything else you'd like to add or share anything?

Grant Reeves (56:58)

No, I think ⁓ I'm excited for the years to come. I'm I'm really excited between now and twenty thirty to see what the world ⁓ evolves to. But ⁓ I I'm again I'm watching AI. I'm just fascinated. I use it. I know you use it every day, every way you can. I'm still learning. And as an old man that's diving into the computer stuff, it's pretty cool. It's pretty it's pretty nice how it helps us in everyday life.

Lianne Shinton (57:21)

Yeah, I'm excited to get my robot one day that can cook amazing meals for us and clean the house and

Grant Reeves (57:28)

It just reminded me of something. I have to tell you this story, Lianne, for the benefit of your listeners. So I was in Japan two months ago. I was over there for 10 days on a business trip. And I went to get a coffee in the morning, and I'm in the coffee line. Something catches my eye. And there's this lady, she's about five, two, five, three, standing there with one of those baby vests on. And in the baby vest was a robotic dog. I swear to God, it was a robotic dog. I have a picture of her. Mind me to send it to you. And I lost sight of her.

Lianne Shinton (57:56)

Please.

Grant Reeves (57:58)

And she went over and sat down and the dog is sitting there and barking. I don't know what the programming on it is, but the dog was literally her companion and she was talking to it and was barking back at her and it was in the middle of a shopping mall in Tokyo, Japan.

Lianne Shinton (58:12)

Like a service dog.

Grant Reeves (58:14)

I literally like a service dog. In a you know how some of the people have the dog carriers for their dogs over here, but I was just thinking myself, what is the world coming to? I see all the stuff on robots, but my God. So wow.

Lianne Shinton (58:18)

I do.

Wow. Okay, send me that picture, please. I'll share it. I'll share it. ⁓ Awesome. Well, thank you, Grant. It was wonderful to chat with you today.

Grant Reeves (58:29)

It was mind blowing.

Been great. It's been an honor to be on your podcast, I thank you. Maybe someday we can circle back and do it again.

Lianne Shinton (58:43)

Yeah, we'll we'll be heading to Florida in August, so we'll hopefully get to see your your new boat.

Grant Reeves (58:49)

you've gotta come in Tampa is on fire. I can't wait to get you guys down here.

Lianne Shinton (58:53)

I love Tampa. Awesome. Well, thank you, Grant, and thank you to our listeners. I hope that you got some good takeaways for today. And thanks for listening.

Grant Reeves (59:04)

Thank you.