Mentors are the most valuable resources you can tap into when it comes to growing your career.
When I was first starting out, I sought out the wisdom of mentors. I was only 22 when I started my first business and was still in college. One of my first advisors was my college business professor. He encouraged me to open my original business after grading a final paper – a business plan for mobile dog grooming. I left college in 1983 before earning my degree to start Four Paws Mobile Grooming.
Whether you live in a climate where you have seasonal changes in the weather or you’re simply facing the post-holiday lull, there are ways you can boost your business in the new year.
For many groomers, the number of grooming appointments dips with the temperature. This can be a real problem if you rely on your grooming income to pay your bills! How do you combat that problem? Encourage pre-booking, and educate your clients.
Groomers will often ask us for sound advice on dilution, storage, and dispensing of our products. Occasionally we’ll receive a call concerning possible skin reactions from our products. More often than not we find a direct correlation between one’s particular sanitation protocol and any skin reaction occurrences. It's important to acknowledge that bacteria are the enemy of shampoo and conditioners.
For example, folliculitis is a common skin infection you may have come across characterized by small clusters of itchy bumps. These are typically caused by bacteria that amass in contaminated shampoo bottles due to unsanitary storage, dilution, and dispensing practices. Pseudomonas is another bacterium that’s responsible for many canine skin and ear infections. These bacteria are easily transferred in water and damp environments.
So we’ve put together some detailed guidelines, facts, and tips to help maximize shelf-life, improve your results, and minimize unwanted surprises.
By now, busy pet groomers are bracing for the holiday rush. Thanksgiving. Hanukkah. Christmas. Are you ready?
This isn’t only your busiest season, it’s also the end of the year. It can make or break your earning goals. Will you finish off 2021 with a bang? Will your books be full for January and February of next year?
Is scissoring becoming a lost art? I’m all for speed and efficiency but if you are proficient with your shears, you can trim a dog almost as fast without the shortcut aids of clippers and guard combs.
If you are serious about creating a quality in your finished trims, you need to master the art of scissoring.
It's been over 35 years since that first time. I still remember standing in awe, watching a talented pet groomer give a dog a haircut. She handled her clippers with ease. The long fur fell away like a hot knife through butter. The end result was smooth and gorgeous. And she was fast - super fast. She made the whole process seems so simple.
The first time I tried, I quickly discovered it was not simple.
This is the time of year the big shedding breeds come in. They’re often the ones that haven’t been groomed in FOREVER. You know the ones – Goldens…arctic-type breeds…Saint Bernards. They have that coat that totally trashes your salon – and maybe even you. There are tricks to getting this type of job done without too much agony. For anyone who’s missed this blog in the past – it’s a perfect time to revisit my blog on salvage work.
As many of you know, I’m a big dog person. Working on these large furry dogs is one of my favorite things to do in a grooming salon. Call me crazy – but I just love the transformation in this type of job. Over the years, the process rarely makes me cringe, no matter the size or condition of the dog – I see it as a fun challenge!
Education is Everything. It is at the very core of everything we do. Why? I see learning as never-ending. It does not matter what stage you are in your career. Or what stage you are in your life. Continued learning offers positive opportunities around every turn. I was never a great student in school. Traditional academics did not excite me. But once I got into dog grooming, now that was a different story. I became passionate about learning. About growing my career. I didn’t seek out traditional methods. Most of my learning was self-directed. Something much more challenging before the age of the Internet! I quickly understood the wealth of benefits continued education unleashed.
Eight ways to overcome anxiety and channel nervous energy to perform your best.
Whether you are looking to certify, enter a grooming competition or other highly visible display, the seasoned pros seem to have total control over their situation: calm, cool, and collected in their thoughts.
Looks, however, can be deceiving. Beneath the surface of total control, even the most seasoned, show-savvy competitors get butterflies in their stomachs. They experience the same sort of show jitters and performance anxiety that plagues those who compete at lower levels. But seasoned stylists eventually learn to use those gut-churning sensations to their advantage. They productively channel their nervous energy rather that allow negative thoughts and feelings to overwhelm them and interfere with their performance.
Everyone gets nervous. It’s normal - even the elite in the pet styling world become nervous - but they learn to work with it. You have to train yourself to like the feeling and see it as an asset.
Recently, I was giving one of my most popular lectures at a large tradeshow. It’s about client management through retention rate, rebooking and referrals. In the lecture, I talk about grooming businesses are about selling a relationship. It’s about trust. It’s about education. It’s about creating repeat business.
Who will survive and thrive regardless of what kind of economic factors are put upon our grooming businesses?
