# A career change - Any advice?



## kirstyh (Feb 4, 2012)

So i have been mulling this over for quite a while now....... Starting up my own dog grooming business. A light bulb came on when i attended a day grooming course 

I currently have a sucessful career in the care field which comes with a good salary and i am very lucky and grateful that i am in the position i am now however this comes at a price......long hours, stress, big pressures....unfortunetly i tend to bring this home with me and i have got to the point where i have had to face up to the fact that i don't feel i can continue long term in this field, for my own sanity as ultimetely i'm not happy and money certainy isn't everything!!!

Anyway enough of the self pity!!

As i said, i have been on the day course and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Previously i had tried to get my dog into a groomers in my area and all of them had at least a 3 week waiting list.....which got me thinking, there is obviously high demand out there. I am not oblivious to the fact that starting your own business would be very hard work plus i would need to attend some futher training. I have been looking at the city and guilds qualifications as they are run not to far from me. These are very expensive plus i would have the expense of all the necessary equipment so i plan to stay in my current job until i have saved up enough to cover all the overheads.
I am already swatting up on buisness books (the one for dummies!!)

I wondered if there are any professional dog groomers out there who could give me some advice, i.e.

what qualifications you have?
How did you build up a client base?
Advertising methods?
Where do you groom from?
Do you go mobile?
How did you manage when you first started out? equipment etc..


I would be working from home initially so would be interested to also here from anyone who does this too.

Any advice would be very much appreciated


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## wilfiboy (Sep 18, 2010)

My job sounds similar and have also looked into City and Guilds, but more from an interest point of view rather than taking it further....I'm very good at procrastinating....
I ve had groomers come to the house but have a fully equipped van that I'm sure costs, I've been to people who have an equipped shed in the garden another who has converted her garage these sound more cost effective. 
Could you do the training then groom part time to build up your clients, after all many people would be happy for someone to groom evenings and weekends and you could fit some in around your shifts.
Get fliers made and post them locally spend time outside pets at home, vets andRSPCA may put your flier up. Do your friends cheap for practise, tell everyone you meet while walking. Maybe offer a loyalty card after so many you get a free bath !! Or lower price groom. Do an introductary first groom at a lower price,slightly under cut your competitors, offer OAP special deal.
There certainly sounds to be the business . If you go for it good luck, good for you xx


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## kirstyh (Feb 4, 2012)

Thanks for this Karen, i was planning to start up around my day job to begin with, this will be tiring but will be worth it i'm sure particulalrly in order to establish a client base!
Thanks for those tips they all sound very practical to me and certainly worth giving a go if i start out


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## janee (Mar 25, 2012)

I love grooming my dogs and have thought about going into as a job, I often get asked who grooms them and I have groomed other cockapoos as a favour. I would enjoy doing it and I have most of the equipment table, clippers etc. The one main thing that stops me is that I have arthritis in my spine and thumbs so leaning over a table and a dog wouldn't be good for me and the brushing isn't good for my thumbs. The other concern would be if you are doing it in your house the risk of fleas and the constant clearing up of the hair that get everywhere.
The best publicity would be word of mouth so you could parade your newly groomed poo around and talk to people.
Good luck if you decide to go for it.


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## Muddypaws (Jul 9, 2012)

Hi,

I'm self employed, not as a dog groomer but as a photographer ! It would be worth contacting your local business link and finding out if there is any free training that you can do that covers the running the business side of things such as budgeting, accounts and the legal side.

90% of start up businesses fail within the first year and with many of these it is due to poor financial planning....

With any business your success will be down to 80% business skills and 20% "trade" skills...

Good luck !

Lisa


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## TraceyT33 (Jun 25, 2012)

this is very interesting..... i hope you find a way to get to this dream job....

i have been thinking about learning how to groom mainly because it would be a useful skill to have when Millie grows, but have also thought about grooming and dog walking services.

Lots to think about, hope all things work out


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## kendal (Jul 16, 2009)

Grooming is fun. but its hard work. its not all fluffy happt dogs. alot of them are in a mess because the owners dont brush them. 

you need to be fast to make money or charge high prises but you need to do a good job for the price. 

When starting out you looking at 2 maybe 3 dogs per day depending on how late you work till and what condition their coats are in. i can do my 4 in one day starting at 8am finishing around 4 or 5pm if their coats are not to matted. 
i had to bichons round the other day they normaly take me from 9am till about 2 or 3pm but this time i got them done for about 12:30. so was very pleased because they were alot less matted than normal. 

im still saving up for my training corse but work at a kennel so already have some hands on exsperience plus im now doing friends dogs and some friends of frinds dogs( always informing the. that i have not traind yet but exsplaining my situation) the training class iv spoken to encourege you to ha e doga on your books before starting the class so that you have dogs to practice on and to help pay for the class. 

i have a head start on my equitment as most i had baught to do my girls and habe just went for good quality. i groom in the living room where i do my girls. im more comfertable hear than at somone elses house as i know how much hair comes off the dogs and can hover up myself before the come to get the dog and after iv put all my equitment away. 


another thing is in grooming you are prone to repetitive strain in your hands and wrists along with back and sholder problems. the groomer at my work suffers baddly with her back sometimes think she has been grooning for about 8 years or so. we bath and dry the dogs for her and she clips them. at work we normaly have 7 dogs a day. some days we can have all easy dogs then next all hard dogs. today we had 2 cats, 2 lahasas, a wier fox terrier, a cocker, and a poodle. We aim for an hour to bath and dry(depending on the dog) and some breeds have an hour worth of scissor work on them.


so grooming can be streasfull depending on the dog. as it can take twice as long to do the simplest task .


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## Fiver (Nov 26, 2011)

Great advice from Kendal
A friend of mine started a grooming business about 18 months ago.She was very lucky with the premises as she lives on a farm and uses a converted barn.She too finds that the majority of poodles,shih tzu and bichons come to her very matted and can take hours to do.I think on average she does 2 dogs a day,not because the demand isn't there but because it takes an age to do each dog.
Good luck if you do decide to give it a go 

Val


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## wilfiboy (Sep 18, 2010)

I would never scrape a living ..... My forearm Killed after totally brushing Wilf out on the groom your own dog course...... You know why groomers want you to re book appointments every 6 weeks, it mean a much easier job x


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## kirstyh (Feb 4, 2012)

Thanks for all your advice guys, it's given me a lot to think about  I may be asking some random questions soon....... a bit of markey research!!


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## wilfiboy (Sep 18, 2010)

Are you near any of us ?????? A ready made clientele x


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## JoJo (Mar 2, 2011)

Kirsty. where are you in the country? I am frequently asked about dog groomers ...

If this is your dream, go for it, you only live once and you may love every second of it .... it will be hard work but anything you feel passionate about and do well usually is hard graff .. but wow it will be worth it, to enjoy it and forefill your dream ... 

I have 3 poos who would be good models for you .. good luck, and I really mean that xxx


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## KCsunshine (Apr 16, 2012)

The first place I looked for a local groomers was on line, (not found one yet, but just to say, that was my first port of call when looking for one) So some on line advertising may be good for you? 

Best of luck in your venture!


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## kirstyh (Feb 4, 2012)

Hi Jojo, i'm in Somerset, thank you for your kind words  I will be contacting you when i'm all set up!!


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## kirstyh (Feb 4, 2012)

Very true Karen!! i am willing to travel!! ha


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## Dylansmum (Oct 29, 2010)

I've worked for myself most of my life (not as a groomer) and I love it, but it's never easy to make a good living from any small business. If you are dependent on your salary then be very careful about when you give up your job, however if you are not relying on it to pay your bills then you are freer to go for it. There is loads of free support, training and advice around from local enterprise schemes and I would advise you to network as much as possible to build your clientelle. There are lots of networking groups around, especially for women and these will give you a lot of support. Some of the mobile groomers are franchises - these are good, but costly to set up and there is no good reason why you can't do the same on your own, but obviously you have to consider whether you would work from home or premises etc. You will also need insurance. Good luck!


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## Pollypiglet (Oct 22, 2011)

The groomer who does Hattie and eventually Minton did her training at Bicton College probably not that far from you. Hope you manage to change jobs life is too short to think if only!


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## JoJo (Mar 2, 2011)

kirstyh said:


> Hi Jojo, i'm in Somerset, thank you for your kind words  I will be contacting you when i'm all set up!!


Yes please contact me when you are ready to go, I will help you in anyway I can  as quality groomers are needed ... 

We have Kendal, Adam and Nicole on here who are all groomers .. I am sure they will help you .. and they all do the cockapoo cuts too lol


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## kirstyh (Feb 4, 2012)

Hi Helen, thanks for this advice....i am going to be looking at a buisness plan soon as i do rely on my salary to pay some bills. My partner has a good job and works full time so this will be of support. I will certainly be looking at when i could 'realistically' give up my job as i will need to start some serious saving first and start grooming part time around my job to build up a clientel. 
The more comments i recieve the more excited i am becoming, i know it will be really hard but i am willing to put in the effort and to be honest i couldn't be any more stressed than i am at the moment!!!


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## kirstyh (Feb 4, 2012)

thanks Jojo, Kendal has given me some really good guidance and it would be lovely to hear from Adam and Nicole 

I will certainly be posting some threads for a bit of market research


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## kirstyh (Feb 4, 2012)

Hi Kendal, appologies for some reason i thought i had replied to you. This advice is very much appreciated and it's great to hear first hand from a groomer. I too would be looking at grooming from home.

would you mind me asking what equipment you have; do you have a specific type of grooming table and a bath? It would be very useful to know exactly what you use so i can gage the sort of overheads i would be looking at. I could research online but your advice would be much more useful to me 

i was looking at the thread about how much they pay for grooming, it looks as though £30-£40 in the usual although i would need to research in my area for avarage rates.


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## kendal (Jul 16, 2009)

Im not actualy groomer ( or dont.propperly class myself as a groomer yet) i work at a kennel that dies dog grooming but im still just a dog washer and kennel hand. 
im saving up for a groomung class but wad taut how to clip my girls by a friend who is a groomer. i then did mt brithers girlfriends mums cockapoo as she was a mess and i knew any groomer in my aria would strip her bauld. 
i only have 7 regulars and three who have been to me once will need to wait and see if they come back. 

i have a fold away grooming table so its easy to store. a blast dryer but would love a standing dryer as thats what im used to using at work and it much easier as you have both hands free. 
i use out home bath just wash it out after. would love one that i could stand at. 
a desent set of clipper(not the ones out the pet shop) a silection of clipper blades. the most common used are 10, 7,&5. 
a set of comb gurds for clipping long coats. 
scissors strate, curved and thining.
A selection of brushes and combs. 
i only resently got an H bar for my table, so much more stable than a single grooming arm.
grooming noos and a belly strap(dont get the 2in one it doesnt work) 

then cleaning stuff for your blades etc. 
shampoos conditiners, ear powder for plucking. 
Oh there are so many things i want but cant justify the cost just yet. i started off only getting stuff i knew i would use on my girls, only now getting stuff like stripping knifes that i cant use on my girls. Oh i ciuld go nutts on the grooming sites i want it all.


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## kirstyh (Feb 4, 2012)

Thanks so much Kendal, this is so useful to me. If you don't mind i will be in contact with futher questions i expect!!

I will start pricing up some equipment now


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