Ep 161: Diversifying Your Training Business
Training horses is a service, and as a service provider, your income potential is often limited by the amount of hours you have each day to perform that service. That’s why time is one of your most valuable assets as a trainer. In order to maintain a profitable training business, you not only have to provide an excellent service, but you also have to master the art of enhancing the efficiency of your day-to-day operations.
The more efficient you can be with your time, the more pockets of opportunity you can build into your day. These pockets of opportunity can look different for everyone. Your pocket of opportunity may give you the time you need to spend a few extra minutes on a customer's horse; it may give you a window of time to season your own horse at a jackpot; or it may simply give you a few minutes in the evening to spend with your family and wind down for the day. These small pockets of opportunity can not only increase your profit potential, but they can also create more time and space for you to do your best job, both at home and in the arena.
Doing your best doesn’t always mean you have the best of everything–it means you make the best of everything you have. When I first started taking customer horses, I didn’t have an arena at my house. At my parents’ place in Williston, North Dakota, I had a small dirt patch in a square pen where I had some space to do some groundwork on colts. Once Bridget and I moved to Oklahoma, the first place we bought was a trailer house and 10 acres for $27,000. This was back in the 80s, and although it wasn’t much, it was a slight upgrade from what I had been working with.
We have since moved to our current home in Weatherford, Oklahoma, and I would be willing to bet that even this place is not what most people expect when they pull into our yard. We don’t have a “show place” – we have an old Amish farm that we have slowly renovated over the years. Granted, we are now incredibly fortunate to have built multiple stall barns, an outdoor arena, and a covered riding area on our place; however, this is definitely not what we started with. It took us nearly 40 years to build the facility we have today.
My point in sharing this is to illustrate that your value does not come from the facility that you have–it comes from how well you take care of what you have. Even if you are starting with a small dirt patch, take pride in that dirt patch. Keep the ground worked. Clean up after your horse. And, as you can, make those small improvements that can optimize your training facility.
Those small improvements, while they are an investment, often appreciate in value. As your facility improves, your opportunity to create additional revenue streams can improve as well. When it comes to diversifying your training business, there are many ways you can use your facility to generate revenue. Whether that is hosting lessons, renting out your arena, or even using the space to pursue a trade like horse shoeing or equine dentistry, your facility can be a viable income stream for years to come.
Your facility, however, is not the only avenue you can use to diversify your training business. Even after nearly 40 years in the business, I am still continually looking for ways to diversify my skillset as a trainer. Recently, I have been focusing on developing my skills in new disciplines, such as reined cowhorse. After spending some time with Jess Morgan and co-hosting a clinic with him, I’ve learned that many of the foundational elements of our programs are the same; they’re just applied to different disciplines. My point here is that you don’t always have to reinvent the wheel to diversify–sometimes, it’s just as simple as gaining a different perspective on what you are already doing and presenting it in a slightly different way.
If you are looking for guidance on building or diversifying your training business, we’d love to hear more about your goals, challenges and questions. Reach out to us at info@philhaugenhorsemanship.com and let us know what information we can share to help you as you continue to develop your training program.
For more information about mentorships with Phil Haugen, click here.
“Be Your Best Horsemanship” is brought to you by Silver Lining Herbs, Classic Equine, Martin Saddlery, Better Horses Network, Purina, Healthycoat, CINCH, Starbar, and Clarifly. These brands have been part of the Phil Haugen Horsemanship team for many years, and their products continue to play an integral role in the success of our performance horse training program. To support these brands, visit our Sponsors tab.
