About

I'm Rachel, a pet business coach and former national newspaper journalist, helping pet business owners plan their content and feel confident being visible.

I have ILM Level 5 and 7 and Emotions Coaching Practitioner certifications, and support clients, through my planner, The Planner Club and one-to-one coaching.

It started in 2009 when I adopted my first dog Daisy and turned into a Crazy Dog Lady. I discovered so many people making a difference to pets and their humans.

I wrote about them in newspapers and magazines, then started a pet blog, which led to pet business owners asking to work with me.

Along the way I trained as a coach, first to ILM Level 5 and then Level 7, and became a certified Emotions Coaching Practitioner. These days a lot of my best ideas and thinking happen on walks with my dog Patch.

I hear "my business is boring" all the time, and it never is. My journalism years taught me to find the story in anything, and I love helping you find yours.

My coaching qualifications and Emotions Coaching training mean we look at how you feel about being visible as well as what you post. I break promotion down into small, doable steps that fit your business, your energy and the way you like to work.

I hosted the Your Pet Business, Your Way podcast for 271 episodes, interviewing pet business owners about how they built their businesses.

The episodes are all still there in the podcast archive.

Whatever getting noticed looks like for you, I’ll help you get there. It might be a double-page spread in Woman and Home, a holiday cottage review in Coast magazine, an expert comment piece in Edition Dog or The Guardian, or appearing on your favourite blog or podcast.

These are your options if this sounds good and you'd like to work together.

The Pet Business Content Planner. A hardback A5 planner I wrote specifically for pet business owners, with a full year of awareness days, monthly content prompts and twelve Words for When coaching exercises.

The Planner Club. Monthly Q and A, planning and coworking calls to help you stay focused, get visible and do the things you say you want to do.

One-to-one coaching. Time with me to work through whatever is holding your business back, from confidence to planning to getting in the press.

If you're thinking, "Agh, I don't know where to start," pick the one that fits where you are right now, and we'll take it one step at a time.

Oh, and I have my own pet business.

In May 2023 I opened Sunnyside Cottage, a dog-friendly holiday home in Robin Hood’s Bay. I use everything I teach to promote it.

It has been featured in The Guardian, The Sun, iPaper, Coast Magazine, The Yorkshire Post, York Press, The Warrington Guardian, Your Dog Magazine and Dog Friendly Magazine. In February 2024 the Yorkshire Post named it Yorkshire’s most dog-friendly holiday cottage, and it’s now the most booked cottage on the Baytown Holiday Cottages site.

Qualifications and memberships • ILM Level 7 Certificate and Diploma for Executive and Senior Level Coaches and Mentors • ILM Level 5 in coaching and mentoring • Certified Emotions Coaching Practitioner • Pet Professional Network approved coach • Kids Around Dogs approved coach • Small Business Sunday winner • Pet Industry Federation member