Amanda VanTassel spent months building the perfect course. Every lesson polished. Every video edited. Every worksheet designed.
Then she launched. Nobody bought it.
Here's the thing about starting a dog training business in 2021 with zero following: you have a lot of time to overthink things. Amanda came from the energy efficiency industry. No Instagram presence. No email list. No audience.
But this past summer, something changed. Amanda attended Stu McLaren's membership workshop and heard advice that flipped her approach upside down.
"It doesn't need to be ready, it doesn't need to be perfect. Just go out and do it."
So she did. Amanda launched Pet Business Mentor with 4 founding members who helped her build the membership as they went. No perfect course. No massive following. Just messy action.
Six months later, she hosted a 10-day Leash Walk Summit with over 2,000 attendees. She's running webinars with hundreds of people showing up. And she's planning her full membership launch while managing both a pet mentorship program and a complete dog training course on one platform.
Here's how a solopreneur with zero following built something that's already changing the pet business world.
Amanda didn't have the advantage most membership creators talk about. No existing audience. No thousands of Instagram followers. No email list.
"I had nothing," Amanda explains. "I actually came from a completely different industry. I was in the energy efficiency world."
She started her dog training business in early 2021, right in the pandemic chaos. She took her customer service skills and presenting experience and built a local dog training practice from scratch.
The Instagram following came slowly. "I like to call it a bit of a slow burn," Amanda says. She's at a couple thousand followers now on her main account, with a couple hundred on her newer mentorship account.
This matters because most case studies feature people who already had audiences. Amanda built everything from zero.
When Amanda attended Stu McLaren's membership workshop this past summer, she heard something that challenged everything she believed about launching.
The message was simple: You already know more than someone a few steps behind you. Your knowledge is worthy of sharing right now, not after you've made it perfect.
"Four and a half, almost five years into dog training, and I was like, you're right. I do. I have a lot. I've learned a lot. Tech skills, dog training skills, business," Amanda reflects.
That realization shifted everything. She didn't need to be the world's leading expert. She just needed to be ahead of the pet business owners in their first year.
But first, she had to overcome her perfectionism.
"I made the mistake to start with, of preparing everything right and having this whole course ready to go and perfected, or what I thought was perfect," Amanda remembers. "And then nobody bought it."
Amanda decided to try something completely different. Instead of building a perfect product and hoping people would buy, she would launch with founding members and build WITH them.
"Let's try it the messy way," Amanda decided. "As much as that was hard for my perfectionism and my anxiety to just like, it's not ready, it's not prepared, it's not perfect. We're just gonna dive in and go for it. And it was honestly worth taking that chance."
She started with 4 people who were just getting into their own pet businesses. Dog training. Dog walking. Pet sitting. People in that crucial first year when everything feels overwhelming.
Here's what made this approach different: Amanda wasn't just delivering content. She was co-creating with them.
"I allowed my members to help me form what this course or membership is going to look like, too," Amanda explains. "So it's even more beneficial for them."
This is the opposite of the perfect course approach. Instead of guessing what members need and building it in isolation, Amanda was taking imperfect action and letting real members shape the direction.
The result? A membership that actually solves the problems her members face, because they helped identify those problems from day one.
Pet Business Mentor serves a specific audience: new pet businesses in their first year. But Amanda brought something unique to the table.
She's Canadian.
Most pet business advice online comes from Americans. Different tax structures. Different business regulations. Different market dynamics. Canadian pet business owners were getting advice that didn't quite fit their reality. Amanda's membership fills that gap naturally.
The membership structure combines what works:
Amanda also manages her dog training course on the same platform with different branding. "I've got different branding colors," she explains. "Really easy to build different-looking sites and platforms."
This past summer, Amanda went all in. She organized a 10-day Leash Walk Summit featuring 20 experts from around the world. Free attendance plus a VIP option.
Over 2,000 people registered between the free and VIP versions.
"The amount of balls it took for me to host that summit this summer," Amanda says. "That was a lot. It was six months' worth of work getting all the things together and selling it and getting everybody jazzed about it, just as excited as I was."
Think about that. A dog trainer who started with zero followers in 2021 convinced 2,000+ people to attend her virtual summit just a few years later. That's not luck. That's building a community that markets itself.
The summit did more than generate leads. It validated that Amanda had something people wanted. It proved she could reach and serve people at scale. It built credibility before her full membership launch.
"It was so eye-opening to have to host my first-ever summit," Amanda reflects. "To know that thousands of people were interested in what I had to offer. And then on top of that, we're buying the VIP package as well, which was just... that was amazing."
Now she's running webinars with a couple of hundred people attending at a time. Planning her full Pet Business Mentor launch. Already thinking about next year's summit.
"I'm excited for the next one," Amanda says. "I just can't wait to do it again. I'm so stoked."
Amanda started on Podia. It was fine. But when planning her leash walking summit and working with her business coach, she made a switch.
Her coach used Membership.io (formerly Searchie). The platform felt familiar. And when it came time to build something more sophisticated with multiple branded offerings, Amanda needed more flexibility.
"My biggest concern is always with onboarding," Amanda admits. "How easy it is for the non-technical folks to actually access the platform."
"Everybody I've spoken with has been, nope, no issues," Amanda reports. "It's been great."
Members are using the AI chat feature to search for specific videos and content. When you have a meaty 5-step dog training program plus business mentorship content, members need a way to find what they need when they need it.
"The flexibility when you're building the hubs, especially because I'm running a pet mentorship and my dog training stuff," Amanda explains. "I've got different branding colors. Really easy to build different-looking sites and platforms."
This matters because successful membership creators often expand into multiple offerings. Having a platform that can handle that growth without requiring multiple tools makes all the difference.
Amanda didn't start her dog training business to work 80-hour weeks. She started it for freedom.
"I started this business to have a balance in my life," Amanda explains. "Have a little bit more free time, a little bit more freedom, flexibility throughout my day."
Here's the problem with one-on-one dog training: there are only so many hours in a day. Only so many dogs you can work with. Only so much income you can generate trading hours for dollars.
Group coaching changes that math completely.
"Doing group coaching once a week, hitting any number of people as a group for one hour, and being able to offer 10 people the same course and make big impacts in their lives, but also free up some of my time as well," Amanda says. "Because I am only one person. I am a solopreneur. There are only so many hours in a day."
The membership model does something that one-on-one work can't. It lets you help more people while working less. Amanda discovered that the membership model isn't just about revenue. It's about creating the lifestyle you actually want.
"It's been really invaluable to be quite honest," Amanda reflects. "To have this course and membership, and of course, expanding my revenue as well. I need to make a sustainable income to be able to continue doing this."
Amanda's story offers clear lessons for anyone considering starting a membership:
Amanda started with zero followers. She built slowly over four years. She launched Pet Business Mentor with 4 founding members. That was enough to test, learn, and build something valuable.
Don't wait until you have 50,000 Instagram followers. Start with the people who are ready to work with you right now.
The perfect course approach failed because Amanda built in isolation. The founding member approach worked because she co-created with real members who helped shape what the membership would become.
Your members will tell you what they need if you let them.
"As much as that was hard for my perfectionism and my anxiety to just like, it's not ready, it's not prepared, it's not perfect. We're just gonna dive in and go for it."
Perfectionism kills more memberships than bad execution ever will. Done is better than perfect.
The Leash Walk Summit proved Amanda could reach people at scale. It validated demand. It built credibility. It generated leads for the upcoming full launch.
Events create momentum that passive content never could.
Amanda is planning her full Pet Business Mentor launch. She's already thinking about next year's summit. She's running regular webinars and building momentum.
"I honestly feel like it could grow even bigger," Amanda says. "So I'm just kind of along for the ride. I'm coming up with great ideas, I'm listening to my ideal clients and just running with what I've got right now because it's been fantastic."
This is what sustainable membership growth looks like. Not an overnight success. Not viral explosions. Just consistent action, listening to your audience, and building something valuable one step at a time.
Amanda started with zero followers in 2021. Now she's hosting summits with thousands of attendees, running a growing membership, managing multiple course brands, and building toward something even bigger.
All because she stopped waiting for perfection and started taking messy action.
Amanda didn't have it all figured out when she started Pet Business Mentor. She had four years of dog training experience, a failed perfect course, and a willingness to try something different.
She launched with 4 founding members and let them help shape what the membership would become. She took imperfect action even though her perfectionism fought her every step of the way.
Six months later, she hosted a summit with 2,000+ attendees. She's running webinars, planning her full launch, and building something that's already making an impact.
Membership.io is the dedicated membership platform built by membership owners for membership owners. We give you the tools Amanda needed - flexible branding for multiple offerings, AI search that helps members find answers, intuitive onboarding that works for non-technical folks, and support that actually helps.
Start your free trial today or email us at help@membership.io to learn how we can support your membership vision.
Your knowledge is worthy of sharing. The people a few steps behind you need what you know. Don't wait for perfect.
Take messy action and start building.