Becoming a groomer

[LisabethBrooke]

Hello;

I have been debating on becomming a certified groomer. I have looked at the in home program offered by this site ( refered to me by NDGAA). But I was wondering if anyone could tell me what a groomer actually makes. I have been told that I would start at $30,000/year. But when I tell people that they highly doubt it and tell me how stupid I'm being (more or less).

I called petco and they told me working for them I would take home anywhere from $400-$1000/week all depends on how many I can groom. But when I tell poeopl this they say the same thing.

The plan That I have so far is to get certified and work for petco/petsmart for about 3 years to save up money to start my own buisness. And then open up my own grooming buisness - in the same town that has a petco and a patsmart.

I really need to know what my fanancial outlook is. I'm a single mother.

[auroralights]

i've been out of "grooming school" since january, started out about $400/week, now i CAN make $800/week but i like to take it kinda leisurely so i dont hate my job lol, so i make about $700/week right now, still getting faster all the time! it feels so nice to make as much in one day as i did as a bather for the whole week!

[SpikeyTheYorkie]

Well, you can make as much as you want. You can work at Petsomethings but it's hard to last that long, from what I can tell. They are a corporate, and they run things like a corporate, so that makes it hard sometimes.

I always made around $20K, because I was exhausted all the time. I got up to $25K, and burned out. I am now working from my home making about $40K. I do 5 dogs a day and though I'm still pooped, I can do it and make a living at it comfortably. I take plenty of time off, too.

The problems groomers get caught in are here:

1. Get stuck at a shave shack and never learn to do anything but shave dogs bald---but you can potentially make a decent living but you'll have to work fast and non-stop a lot.

2. Undercharging for their services. If you work from home, that is NO excuse to "charge less." You are charging for your skills and abilities.

3. Not learning anymore. Groomers learn a few basics and think that's all there is to it. But if you really want to be a successful groomer, YOU get out of it what you put into it. I was one of those---I decided I did NOT want to be "average," and I didn't want to live from hand to mouth, so I have put in my time. I spent HOURS on here, I bought DVD's, I went to dog shows, I started competing, whatever I could, I would do. I sacrificed by saving all of my tips. They went in the "sacred" envelope, not to be spent on lunch, junk, or anything else except the best equipment and seminars.

So...grooming is what you make of it. Groomers are their own worse enemies, notoriously bad business managers, just like...DOCTORS! So be business smart, and prepare first!

Tammy in Utah

[schnlove]

The most I have earned in a year is 45k. That was working for someone else six days a week. I'm thinking 30k would be average, but again, it all depends on the area and how many dogs you can groom. Of course, if you are Mobil and own your own business, I think 100k would be possible.

[Briarpatch]

The average groomer out of school probably does 3-5 dogs a day. Call your local grooming places and get an average price of the dogs they do (just ask how much it is to do a basic short all over clip on a shih tzu or something like that with a bath, nails, ears). Use that figure to figure out what you might make, but keep in mind that that price is on the low end. Larger dogs and more complicated clips could be more than double that price. The average groomer makes about 50 percent commission. The larger corporate places offer more benefits than the smaller shops. Once you've been grooming for awhile, it's not uncommon to do 10 or more dogs a day. Just depends on the person.

Keep in mind that the corporate shops have you sign a clause that says you won't compete with them, so check this out before you make your mind up! Good luck.

[LisabethBrooke]

I wasn't aware that they made you sign something saying you wouldn't compete with them. In that case it might be smarter to work for one closer to home - that would have me at about an hours drive. I'm getting that it is completely possible to be a groomer and have money. I have no idea where he was getting his infor mation from, but he gets strong headed about stuff and is absolutely positive that he is right all the time. I think I'll call the groomers closer to us and see if I can apply for a job with one of them, while I am getting certified. Maybe put together a buisness plan and let him look at it for any flaws that I might have missed or didn't think about....

I was also thinking this morning of making a blog or a newsletter, preferably one online. Does anyone know how to make one of those and make money off of it?

Also thank you for all your replies. It helped me feel better about my choice. I was feeling lost again, but now I'm not.

[Debbiedogs]

Find out about it. I think there is one thing where they send you to school but require you to work for them as a groomer for a year, and if you don't, you owe them a set amount of money. At least one person who has posted here bought them out on purpose so they could leave earlier and open their own place!

The other clause would be regarding working as a groomer and then leaving; non-compete agreements usually say that you can't work within X amount of miles for X amount of time after leaving. I imagine the corporate ones are in agreement with the law so you shouldn't get the stupid stuff that some small biz owners could try to make you to agree to (such as, can't work within 15 miles for 5 years - THAT is not sensible, and it is not legal!). A reasonable agreement might state that you can't work within 5 miles of THAT store for a period of 6 months, for instance.

So don't let this scare you from working at a corp store - they send you to training, you get paid holidays, benefits - some are really good to work for, others may have yukky managers/groomers; don't rule it out.

[auroralights]

Keep in mind that the corporate shops have you sign a clause that says you won't compete with them.

i would just ask the areas corperate salons around you if they actually "inforce" this. the two here do not persue anything if you do go to their direct competitor or to any of the mom n' pop shops either

[OntheBRINKofDisaster]

I was also thinking this morning of making a blog or a newsletter, preferably one online. Does anyone know how to make one of those and make money off of it?

So, do you want to blog or groom? I'm confused? At any rate, blogging has been less and less popular, and you need a massive amount of readership that you can prove to investors before anyone would even put any money forward to fund you. I'm thinking that it would take less time to build up a clientele than a readership.

[moonlight]

I work for a corporate something and most people here make about $300-$400 take home a week being a groomer. Occasionally some of the faster people make $800 (before taxes) in commission, because they can do more dogs and we were having a busy week etc. I don't know what they end up taking home after taxes. You have to think at 50% commission you have to do like $1,600 in sales per week to even get that $800 before taxes. If you are doing 5 dogs a day then that's 25 dogs a week. Each dog needs to be $64 per transaction. Around here that's either a lot of big/med sized dogs or add on services. The average smaller dog groom is like $40 or $47 before add ons. I've seen some people catch on really fast out of school and move up to a higher number faster. Others take longer. I don't work full time so I make less. However, four groom dogs a day is about my limit. I can't fit more in unless it's a super easy hair cut etc and I am four years out of grooming school (will be 5 in December). I am too caught up in trying to be a perfectionist ha and getting every last hair.

When I worked at a private shop the main groomer (she did bath only dogs too) took home $800 during a lot of weeks. However, she worked long days (5 days a week) and did a lot of dogs. I was always amazed at how fast she was.

Also in my experience I haven't seen the corporation actually pursue people for breaking the contract. Though I also haven't witnessed anyone go to grooming school and then immediately leave either.

Good luck