I'm less confident I can get hired based on getting this certificate than I was prior to watching your video, but how would you say the plan to at least learn the skills they teach, work from home with clients of my own and get experience *that* way that I may then be hired off of, is a good plan?
Do you think it's reasonable for me the renter to basically pay the entire rent when the owner of the business also grooms dogs? the rent is 550 and I pay 500 and she only pays 50$ I'm paying the 500 because I thought that was my half and she pays the other half, but they told me how much the entire rent is and I understand if I was the only one working, but the owner of the business is also working the same amount of time as I and owner of the business doesn't own the building I don't know what to do about this thank you!
Hey, that's a great question. We do not answer questions on this youtube channel but free to join our free facebook community! facebook.com/groups/SavvyGroomer
I've been a groomer for almost two years now and just had a neck injury putting me out for two weeks and I feel like from this I have lost all my emergency fund and need to learn business ASAP so I'm not put in this situation again I want to be able to succeed with my business and grow and not feel like I'm just grooming dogs and not making anything. IT sucks that no body in school teaches you financing/business management and just learn as you go. I'm so happy that I found your page because everything you have been saying has been to the dot. I think it's time to revamp my business not just by the dogs, but also financial wise. I wish every groomer gets a chance to learn about your page :)
I quit grooming dogs when all the places went to hourly rate. I used to be able to support myself grooming dogs, my entire life until they ruined it, being GREEDY. It's greed. I've also owned my own salon for years and would never think of doing that to anyone that worked for me either. The 50/50 commision was always fair. I was always motivated to groom more dogs too, when i made more money for it. Slave drivers pay hourly and its always a rip off. Greedy shop owners usually dont even know HOW to groom a dog. We are Paid for a skill most people cant do. It takes years to learn and we are worth it. Pay the hpurly rate to kids you have to train. Dont be GREEDY or you wont have anyone to work for you either. My business plan NEVER depended on other employees, so if i had some that were reliable, they got to keep their jobs, and their extra 50% income was unplanned exrta income.. if you cant pay your employees, you shouldnt be in business. Simple. Not only that, but I hated working for places with mumtiple locations. Corperations suck. If i liked working jujufor someone where im a number, not my name, I would gladly go to work for petsmart, where their reputation suffers due to high turnover and inexperianced employees that hate their jobs because they arent apreciated. On the smaller scale, you need to concentrate on running one or two shops, or else they are ALL gonna suck. People were compensated fairly. Until shop owners decided they deserved to be rich instead of just making a comfortable living providing a solid good service to.ypur community doimg what you love. Get over yourselves.
Thanks for your opinion. :) The truth is commission is not a pay rate, 50% can be (and often is) less than minimum wage. It seems like by your response you don't treat your business like a business, more like a hobby or a job you own. That's ok! Its absolutely a value to say that someone who wants to earn a profit is greedy, and it seems like you enjoyed your rant. :). That said you're no longer a groomer and not part of the industry, so you're not willing to be part of the solution. All the best!
As a client, this was entirely fair to us as well. Honestly I think most ppl just want to get heard and respected, and pets can escalate our emotions quickly. No one should be verbally abused, but sometimes both sides mess up and respectfully managing conflict and moving on from it really just creates a more loyal client if done right. I see a lot of negativity towards pet owners, and I know people are difficult, but they're the people who love their pets and bring business, and customer care is unfortunately a part of the pet industry that doesn't seem to be more than an afterthought unless a vet office manager.
Faster grooming is not better; just because you don't work fast doesn't mean you aren't working hard. I wouldn't work hourly. I can't imagine a dog looks all that great if it's done in an hour or under. Power groomer or not. I have people who ask for me to do their dogs, and giving them to another groomer is wrong.
It depends on a lot of factors. It depends on the grooming businesses brand, what types of dogs they generally groom (breeds, mixed breeds, elderly, aggressive etc). If the dog is at the groomers every 1-4 weeks, if the business has invested in high end products / high end equipment to make things go smoother, an hour is more than enough time for a finished groom. What “looks good” is also subjective since it’s both an art and trade. It’s like what is a good burger is subjective based on your palate and your preferences. The most high end / technical isn’t always the one people want. Ultimately you are working hourly you just have a fluctuating hourly rate. If you broke down from the time you walk in the building, set up, finish all your dogs, do all your work (if you check out / clean up/ book appointments etc) and take your commission what’s your average hourly rate? How consistent is it? Paying an hourly wage based upon an agreed upon production forces business owners to charge appropriately for grooming, groomers to agree how many is too many and how many is too little to groom per day. It creates a healthy balance for both the business owner and groomer. The amount of groomers burned out, injured, etc because they are on a never ending hamster wheel of commission is unfortunate. We need to create a sustainable livable wage that a groomer is promised. If you don’t want to that’s fine but hopefully you’re calculating every day your average hourly wage, especially since if you’re doing overtime you’d be entitled to time and a half. The truth is we create bonds with the dogs, that’s great but the truth is at some point a groomer will go on vacation, be injured, need surgery, become pregnant or need time off to care for a loved one. It’s inevitable you will retire, die, move or get out of grooming. Even if you die at the grooming table at some point the dogs in your care will be out of your care. We know dogs need to be socialized and part of that socialization is them being used to being groomed by other people. Nothing is worse than an elderly anxious dog who has never been groomed by anyone else and becomes a danger because they were not given the opportunity. The goal is always sustainability. As an industry, what do we need to do to create a long lasting, financially, emotionally, mentally, physically sustainable career.
Right now I get 60% commission, so they would have to pay me at least $40 to $50 an hour to make it worth my while, otherwise it's not worth it.@@SavvyGroomer
Don't. Ever. It cones out to less then min wage because your hourly pay usually puts you in the higher tax Brackett. Listen to this woman talking like she's so nice to consider that someone could afford a one bed apartment. With commission I was able to afford a house with a yard and pleanty of moneybfor all the animals I had and went anywhere I wanted, I made more then I could even spend. Now I would be lucky to afford a studio apartment in Rubidoux. Scarry. No thanks. And it makes me fume when I think of how they doubled all their prices when they started paying us $25;an hour ten-years ago too. Commission was always fair because a slower groomer can't do as many dogs, but if they were a quality groomer, they made up for it in tips.. Now these greedy shopnowners want to steal those too. And all my motivation to work for them too. Still a private contractor.
This might sound really silly but I cried at the part where you start talking about animal books because the one that came to mind was rainbow fish and I thought that was silly and basic but as you talked about how this relates to who you are I realized that has always been my personality even sometimes my downfall and it made me realize I'm a good person and I felt so much appreciation for who I've been even though I feel so imperfect. Thanks for that. ❤
I think that's exactly the point! Thank you for being brave and sharing <3 Too often we overthink it but when we are honest it lets who we are as a person shine. The best part of Rainbow fish is not only was he different, but he was fundamentally a generous soul. At the end of the story the rainbow fish learns to share and is still special. It's a beautiful example of exactly why this is a great opportunity to let someone share who they are without trying to explain. :) I bet you wouldn't share in an interview those feelings of who you are but I get to know them by you sharing your favorite childhood book. <3 thank you again for sharing.
The salon should be rotated funds its not supposed to be profitable. Its a hairstylist service profession and we can easily leave and find grants for starts ups. Their is a groomers drout and many are going back to corperations because of greedy small business employers.
There is a groomers drought and part of that is the fact that grooming business owners aren't profitable enough to invest in training more groomers. I think if groomers feel that they need to go to a corporation because of "greedy small business owners" we need to take a step back and think about that. If you honestly believe in greedy business owners, why would you think small owners would be more 'greedy' than a corporation. The truth is corporations use grooming as a loss lead, they lose money on their grooming to bring customers in to purchase food, toys and treats. The average small business owner has no hope of competing with a corporation with deep pockets who don't care if they lose money. Hairdressers and groomers are nothing alike except they cut hair and wash living beings. Hairdressers are licensed professionals who (depending on the state) are required to do 1500 hours of school which takes 9-15 months to complete and costs an average of $15,000. At that point, they often work as an intern or as a base employee of a salon, learning their trade using their own money. OR they work for a corporate chop shop like Supercuts, which pays an average of $8.35 - $17.65 nationwide. As groomers who are not licensed, we have a very different path. If I hire a groomer I do not know what they do or do not know, I can't ask them for a cut and get the same exact haircut as everyone in the industry. If the groomer does something wrong, there is no governing body that can revoke a groomer's license. There is no way for me as an employer to get an accurate record of any grievances against you, I have to hope you give me an accurate list of past employers. If owning a business is your dream, I suggest you get the financial materials and go do it! Grants are only part of the equation which is why most business owners start reaching out to services like mine after 2 years. They've burned through their start-up costs, they are starting to realize the math they want to work, just doesn't work. I LOVE people starting businesses if that's in their heart but I do think opening a business is not for the faint of heart, and it takes a lot of work. If that's something you're going to do, I honor that and wish you the best! I'm sure your employer wishes you the best and wants what's best for you. There are more than enough dogs to go around. I think if anything, the opportunity for you to build a business just the way you want, charging the prices you think is appropriate seems to be the best solution for you individually so you can live your truth. The goal is always to talk the talk and walk the walk. :)
Or just charge table rent and do a fair split. Why is it always a non groomer opening a grooming salon then wanting to not pay 50% mininmum with no benefits. You are reaching a crowd of business owners who know nothing. And theyre taking this idea and rolong with it. You lack the indepth knowledge that employers, dont all have benefits, or allow tipping out. This only benefits the employers and disreguards customers and employees. When the key should be consistency and another way to make a profit. Groomers are hairstylist not regular employees its litterally a benefitial relationship only. Employers are not working on these dogs, they should only be replenishing the salon; budget, shampoo, etc... your profit should come from things you sell. My employers uses us to pay, payroll for the hourly employees and that is not ok. Cheap business owners. And we cant do baths so we are straining on full service haircuts daily and are require to take or do more so we can get a small 200 bonus. We physically cannot always take a certain amount of dogs daily, there are bad days due to poor scheduling decesions from the receptionist and the employers not being aware and people pleasing. Pay your groomers what they need not for the profit. Its not a profitable relationship, its not supposed to be that why people talk about petco and petsmart because you as the employers should actually make profit off selling items and things like doggy day care, baked treats Nd etc... you can not open a salon and expect a profit. Its a dis service to customers to raise pricing especially during inflation. You are no longer here for the pets or the employees,or the customers when you insert yourself into a serivce you never completed you only provided the space and pay roll. Onwers like this use cheap shampoos and usually have a hard time handling dogs. Dont get into a business you dont consistantly work in. Selfish. Your the reason im quiting my job bc my boss wanted to tell me she couldnt do 50% bc she couldnt afford it after she had promised me id be paid 50%. That is not my problem as the employee that is due to the employer poor decesion making skills not ours.
Table rent isn't legal in most of the ways groomers want to do them. Beauty businesses often get caught and fined by the IRS for breaking the law. Many hair salons are switching from chair rental to W2 employees earning hourly or hourly plus commission because laws are being enforced. There is a great Facebook group called Groomers Misclassified / 1099 to learn more about that. To create a sustainable business with consistency in an unregulated business an owner needs to be very involved, if they're grooming or not. They should ideally be the ones checking in and out the dogs (or hiring a receptionist) not the groomers to maintain consistent communication, they need to be setting pricing, making sure that pricing is consistent and not what someone "feels" is fair. When you have 5 groomers, with 5 different grooming styles with 5 different pricing beliefs and 5 different communication styles there is zero consistency. The owner's job is to set the standards, make sure everyone is living up to the standards / qualities and making the business profitable. By the owner taking responsibility for this they must be prepared to take responsibility for poor planning, this means having a system in place to make sure they are being fair scheduling and make sure the groomer is part of the decision of how many dogs they groom and fit that into the overall system of the grooming business. These should be mutual decisions, and they can be tweaked as a groomer starts to slow down, is injured, etc. This is also why an hourly plus bonuses is important so if a groomer needs to go slower you have a minimum and maximum on their schedule and they aren't encouraged to burn themselves out. Too many groomers overbook themselves, hurt themselves or strain themselves, and then struggle to get that balance. Agreeing on a liveable wage at the time of hire with quarterly reviews allows the owner and groomer to be in communication about the best decisions for all. This means the owner can't be grooming full-time since that would force them to put these on the back seat.
So the problem with the belief that grooming salon owners must have retail or things to sell is, if I'm not making any profit on the grooming part of the business, then my grooming portion of my business is either a hobby or a loss lead. Having a service-based business with lots of risk (sharp objects, little bodies) as a loss lead only works if you are doing an extremely high volume of selling retail products. The average grooming salon is not making enough on retail products to pay their overhead. That would be a boutique that also offers grooming, not a grooming salon that happens to offer some retail products. I do not teach people to sell retail since it requires a lot of upfront costs, it generally takes a long time to turn the product and for the regular, everyday mom-and-pop grooming salon it's just not profitable enough to invest in that way. SO if grooming is not a loss lead (a service you lose money on to get in the door so they buy things like dog food, toys, treats, etc) and my business goal is to sell retail... and grooming can't stand on it's own as a service... it's a hobby. I don't suggest owning a hobby business if you need the money to support your family, especially when you can easily get 4.5% in saving account with zero risk on your money. Owning a doggy daycare, selling treats, selling retail in general is not owning a grooming salon, it's owning a boutique who happens to offer grooming or a doggy daycare who happens to offer grooming. If grooming is not stand alone profit, why offer it? WHY own a business that isn't profitable? It doesn't make any sense, you should absolutely expect to make profit off a business investment unless it's a hobby and most of us do not own a grooming business as a hobby.
Customers can absolutely go and learn the trade of grooming. They are more than welcome to spend the time and effort we do to learn the grooming trade to groom their own dog if they cannot afford grooming. If they did, it would take a lot of pressure off the grooming industry and allow those who can afford these services and do not need charity to support our industry. Some of them may even like it and decide to open their own business or come work for one of us. I think thats a win-win. What is a lose-lose is keeping prices owner with rising costs of products and overhead. Being able to raise prices allows a grooming business owner to make sure they can pay their employees a livable wage so they can feed their family. Just like on an airplane, you have to learn to put your oxygen mask on first. You can't say "you're not there for the pets or customers" when if my business doesn't breathe, they have no where to go. Without a healthy, thriving business the groomers are out of a job, the pets have to find another salon and the customers will need to find a business in an ever increasing groomer drought. Assuming owners use cheap shampoo and have hard time handling dogs is a value statement. I know the quality of shampoos I like to use but different owners have different ideas of what to use, as a groomer make sure you're aligned with the products the shop uses. If you don't like it, don't work there. I don't think it's our responsibility as groomers to handle hard-to-handle dogs, I think that is up to dog trainers to work with owners to train dogs to learn how to be handled them. OR I think the owner must pay us for the extra time, care and attention, coming in on a regular 2-4 week schedule to get their dog used to grooming. Unless you personally traumatize dogs, it's not our responsibility as a professional to fix dogs.
You're quitting your job because you're mad that the industry must change. I am so sorry you're unwilling to be prepared to move with the industry. 50% is not a pay wage, it's a percentage of gross profit. I'm sure if you let your employer know an hourly wage you'd like to work towards or a yearly goal salary that's easier. Just like we often start our industry journey promising our owners we can groom 8-10 dogs a day, as we get older or more run down, that number goes down to 5-6... things change. I'm so sorry you're having a hard time, I'm really sorry your anger has decided to come at me. There isn't anything I can do when the math doesn't work. Being profitable doesn't make you greedy. You're right, it's not your responsibility to make sure she's profitable, its hers and it sounds like she's making some really hard decisions to make sure her business stays open for the long term.
thanks wish me luck! :D. He's totally worth it, and what someone mentioned and I didn't realise is I can teach him in the evenings, I can teach him on the weekends... I can take him with me to shows... it'll be great!
Hi thanks so much for your thorough advices which is very helpful. We do have pets and seems like a good business as it takes 2 -3 weeks to get an appointment even for a small dog. There is a running business up for sale and thought of trying out luck. So I have some more questions for you please. What about insurance? Besides standard business insurance, do this business carry a separate one? Does employees are paid benefits as well? Does groomers are bathers and receptionist too or have to have separate for each job? What happens if accidentally dog gets hurt or gets cut/scrape his body with shaver? Petco checks the immunization records and updates yearly, but some doesn't. How important is it? Thanks so much
Hey! These are some awesome questions. I would seriously consider joining our free facebook community so you can look up these questions and ask other pet professionals. :) facebook.com/groups/savvygroomer In the meantime, I would check out my other videos on my channel. You can search about employees, insurance and accidents! :) If you're looking for business coaching or other resources you can check out my website www.savvygroomer.com. Thanks! <3 The Savvy Groomer
😂 When you "most of us started a grooming business by accident." We did because we were desperate. I think that very well might be true. Now we are trying to figure how manage/run this business.
it's so TRUE! I think most of us were desperate and I think it's so sad. I hate that we are getting stuck in this cycle of suck where we are basically just trying to keep our heads above water. My goal is to get us all to a place where we create long-term stability and strength. :)
I'm saying that the average grooming business owner does not see ABC pet grooming school as a "real" certificate. That said, we need more groomers and would REALLY appreicate having more! How is your grooming journey going? :)
@SavvyGroomer ah OK I gotcha this, I agree. This is my 1st experience in a college setting. I previously went to a private groming school and got a certificate but ended up losing it and also losing experience in the grooming field. But so far, I am just waiting for my equipment to begin my classes
I'm in the process of signing up for the Zookeeper Assistant program through ABC, It's a new program so you can't find anybody posting about their personal experience on that. I've been trying to do as much research on ABC as I can before I put down my down payment.
You are arrogant. This program has been involved in training and placing thousands of pet groomers into the industry during their existance. Many are now business owners and not BOZOs off the street as you referred to them. Your video has 436 views in 5 months. You are hardly an influencer and should not be speaking on this unless you have researched the program. Good luck making your videos. I am sure you are killinmg it in the real world LOL
Absolutely. I used to groom (bath, brush, nails, ears, haircut all over) small dogs in about an hour, some of them even 45 minutes start to finish. Lots of groomers are fast and powergroomers, I've seen employees who can hand scissor an entire doodle, bath/dry, etc in about an hour. That said, they learned from doing 4-h cows... I feel like someone who can bath/blow dry and hand scissor a cow is just a special kind of groomer. :)
I like your wording on the 4 week schedule. It's to the point & easy for client to understand. Then how you explained going forward if it's 6 or 8 weeks. The price is higher....its more work. You help us so much with direct, easy communication to clients.
We have made some cutbacks, grieved them and replaced with things we want to do that is a lot cheaper :). Like I am fermenting food at home more now rather than eating out
Yesss tell them. "Well my salon pays %50!" (Uses Dawn dishsoap, 15 year old dryers, 20 year old tables, no benefits, salon closes in 4 years). Groomers are stuck on the %50 out of principle. And dying on that hill will only be bad for them as the employee. What they like about that number (and 1099s for that matter) is the illusion of self employment. But they don't want the responsibility of being self-employed. As owners dawn on the fact they make more money WITHOUT employees, they raise prices and downsize staff.... The only places left paying %50 comm will be janky, non groomer owned, low quality salons. Annnnnd if those groomers will not make %50 self employed. Many groomers would rather make %50 on a $50 dog than %35 on a $200 dog based on stubborness. And that is the litmus test for employees at this point. Let's also address that many of those groomers are afraid to work at a salon charging that much because they will prioritize quality. As an industry we need to do what is right and that is to provide both a living wage and care for the longevity of the salon. I have been grooming for 20 years and always made 50/60%. But if you had told me "You can make 85k a year at this salon but it's hourly plus you get all these benefits and a receptionist etc etc" I mean who is crazy enough to pass that up. Why care what % you got? What difference does it make?
I am originally from Petco. Managed Petco salons for 10 years. Petco and Petsmart can only afford 50% comm because the store floats the salon's payroll. Typical corp salons make in one month what the entire store does in one day. They take a loss on the salons..... but have them to get people in the store. They are corporations, they are strategic, and they want to take business away from small businesses. It's scab labor. So when a groomer compares what a corp can offer to what a small biz can offer it's a very skewed reality. And let's be honest, corp are groomer destroyers. They create and foster terrible environments and terrible groomers I mean let's be real. They do not care about the needs of groomers and they are controlled by NON groomers. Yetttttt groomers think this should be the norm?? And yes the same pay scale for all groomers.... I always thought that was not fair to skilled groomers. Edit: I commented on this before I watched all your full vids LOL. You go right into it!
no worries and I totally agree! I think this is a great comment because it points out what a lot of groomers simply don't know! Thank you for such a thoughtful comment !!
Yassssss. All. All of it! Ugh the "how much should I charge?" Question in groups really grinds my gears. I fully believe the old school way of the 7 groomers in a salon era is going out of style. I've downsized us to 2 groomers and 1 bather with a full time receptionist.
Your delivery on how you communicate is spot on. I have heard you talk about Tony Robbins. Any books that you could recommend to help is communicate better & more efficient with our valued clients. I would love to incorporate that with all your RU-vid information & FB knowledge.
You actually can't tell if they are "taking less" or not. For instance, if I earn 50% of grooming 5 dogs at $50 (assuming 8 hours a day) that's a total of $125 a day or $15.63/hour. They could get a job that pays them $20/hour and earns more with a business owner who has healthy numbers so they can also offer things like bonuses or other benefits. :) Seems like a win-win to me!
Or we can not work for owners who don't have another way of making profit. We sacrificing increasing prices in a industry that needs to be affordable for normal everyday people. Just so the non working owners to make A profit? Grooming and employer are supposed to have 50/50 split. I missed out on 1800 a year bc my current employer pays me 48%. This is faulty and selfish, especially since tipping isn't cashed out its on my paycheck.
@@cibu8163 saying things are "faulty and selfish" are moral value statements. Math has no morals. In order to grow a business beyond a few employees, an owner must step away from the table to make sure their employees are taken care of. 50/50 doesn't work, it hasn't worked for years. It sounds like you should be your own boss so you can make these decisions about your business. :) 50/50 is not net profit, it's gross profit, which means that the employee is getting a much larger chunk of money since they do not have to pay 100% of their taxes (since they must legally be a W2 employee) and they're not covering things like workers comp, rent, utilities, business growth, employee retention, etc. That 50% on the employer side means they actually lose money and then they wake up one day and say "it would be easier to fire all my employees, groom full-time myself and I'd make more money"... which is true but it's bad for the industry as a whole. If that employer wants to fire everyone and start over, that's their choice and I support them. But if everyone did that, the industry would be very different. That will make it EVEN harder for new people coming into the industry since there will not be salons that can invest time and money into training them, so their only way of coming into the industry would be corporate stores or grooming schools.
Totally agree. I lost everything twice in the middle of success just before I felt so guilty for beautiful possessions I started to have… now figuring out how to change my mindset
