Nov
19
What are the daily tasks of a dog groomer/ pets store owner?
By
I am working on a project on what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a dog groomer, breeder and pet store owner. I need to know what the daily tasks are though. I know it has to be more than just cutting fur, bathing, cleaning ears, cutting nails and sanitizings the tub, clippers, sciccors and kennel.
3 Comments
November 19th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Grooming is the easy part, being self employed is not. Remember there is more to being a business owner, Paper work. Workman’s comp, licenses fees, pay roll, insurance, phone bills, rent, electric and water bills, book keeping, paying taxes, repairers. Paying bills, being a business owner there are allot of bills to be payed, along with allot of upkeep that goes along with being a business owner.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
First poster has it right. It is a business. You’ll also have to hire help. Ideally, you want one to two people helping with dogs (one bathes and one grooms for example) and one or two people at least working the front of the store. As for breeding, that is a separate issue entirely. Don’t mix breeding with your pet shop. Pet shops that do that do not care about the breeds. They probably buy from puppy mills. Breeding will be something that requires a mentor (the person you buy a show quality pup from to start your own breeding… after you get AKC papers and a championship for the dog) and support from your own family (spouse and… when they are old enough… your kids).
November 20th, 2009 at 12:21 am
Well, give up the breeding idea right now because you don’t want to be regarded as some kind of a puppy mill in your community. Leave the breeding to the people who show dogs and breed them to improve the breed. No decent breeder has ever made money breeding dogs. The ones who make money are breeding for the numbers are responsible for the horrible health problems that occur in the different breeds.
Call a local shop and ask if you can sweep up hair for them in exchange for exposure to the business. They might let you volunteer if you don’t do anything hazardous that would require you to be covered by their workers comp insurance which would then require you to be on the payroll.
There is a professional dog groomers association and you can find them online. They probably have educational materials.
Dog grooming business has pretty low overhead. You can tool up for around $1000 and rent a table from a decent shop for about $100 per day in the San Francisco Bay area, less in other parts of the country. Your last sentence summarizes your daily work load. Add paperwork. If you are self employed you need to keep up your profit and loss statement to do your taxes at the end of the year. If you own your own shop and have employees, you’ve got a lot more work ahead of you because then you have payroll, workers comp, etc. Figure 2 – 3 hours a day for bookkeeping.
You could have a shop and rent tables instead of actually employing people but you stilll have to make sure you have quality people around you as your reputation depends on it.
You’ll love it the first time you get an order to garnish one of your employees wages for back taxes or unpaid child support and it takes you an extra hour every time you do payroll.
With your own shop you are going to have to consider location, parking and rent/utilities. Then you, yourself, are going to have to pay for the holding cages, grooming tables, tubs, upgraded electrical circuits, computer, phone lines and advertising. Expect a 1/6 page ad in the Yellow Pages to run you several hundred dollars a month. If you have to equip the shop your self do not buy the cheapest cages and tables. Get a copy of PetEdge catalog and they have a service where they will help you equip a new shop. That’ll get you started.
My advice would be to work for someone for a while to get the lay of the land and a feeling of the business in the area. Are they all booked up or is there not enough work for everyone? Most groomers are paid a commission of 50% to 70% depending on their value to the owner and the local economy. Pet co hires them right out of grooming school and pays very little by the hour but you do get a lot of dogs. Decent groomers don’t stay long at Petco because of poor pay.
Save your money and go to a decent dog grooming school. They will teach you grooming skills and hopefully some business skills. Work yourself into a position of responsibility at a decent shop.
Most small pet stores have been put out of business by the purchasing power of the larger stores like Pet Co, ETc. You might be better off as a grooming shop that has a small retail section selling grooming products, supplements, ear cleaner, treats, etc. Give your client a health checklist with the bill after grooming because you have just had a great opportunity to check the pet over thoroughly. Make products that would be useful to them aavailable in your shop. Forget the food, leashes and collars.
You think you’re going to play with dogs all day and sell dog toys but, believe me, you will end up hiring people to do that while you spend 4 hours on a letter from the IRS telling you that you owe them a couple hundred dollars from last year. Get a decent financial program like Quickbooks and KEEP IT UP. Daily.