A former paralegal who left her law career in London to start a dog-walking business says she now earns thousands more per month while working half the hours. Liz East, 30, from Horsham, West Sussex, quit the punishing 12-hour days in the city to launch her own dog-walking and boarding company last year.
From Law to Dog Walking
East had worked as a paralegal in criminal defence for four years from 2021 before briefly switching to consultancy when she began considering a career change. She had dreamed of becoming a criminal defence barrister and had poured six years of study into her law degree, but found the environment draining.
She said: "I was always very interested in law, I always wanted to be a criminal defence barrister. Working in criminal defence was a lot, it was quite draining. I did everything from admin to going to court and going to prisons and chatting with clients."
She added: "Sometimes I'd easily be working more than 12 hour days. I felt older than what I was, every day I thought 'is this my life now?' There's also this 'London life' where you're all expected to go out and have a drink and sometimes you're not getting home until 9pm or 10pm."
Building the Business
After purchasing a van, East began working part-time at her local pub while building up her clientele and soon noticed the high demand for dog-walking services in her area. One year later, business is booming for her company.
East takes out 20 to 30 dogs on around four dog walks per day, and claims she earns thousands more than she did in her previous job while halving her working hours. She now walks up to 30 dogs on an average day at £14 an hour, allowing her to take home £300-£400 a day.
She said: "My husband does dog-walking and dog-boarding and he loves his job. So being around somebody who's so passionate about what they did, I thought 'why am I dreading work every weekend and working these long hours?'"
Earning More and Loving It
East says her unconventional career move has divided opinion, with some wrongly assuming her occupation is low skill and low earning. But she insists her business isn't focused on income, but rather her love of canines and the outdoors.
She said: "I get some people saying 'you went from law to dog-walking? You did all that studying and now you're just walking dogs?' Some of them were judgmental and think I just wasted six years, but I learnt a lot in those six years that I still use in everyday life now. People presume dog-walkers are low-earning but I actually earn more now."
She added: "I'm on thousands more per month than I was working in corporate and do half the hours I used to. But if people do this job because they want to earn more money, they're not doing it for the right reasons. You should do it because you want to be outside and want to be with dogs. I love getting up and going to work. Life is short, don't stay in a job where you're unhappy. Just make the change and go for it, I've not regretted it for one single second."
