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Need Direction PLEASE!!!
I have been grooming for 5 years now & I am feeling like it is a hopeless case. I want to appologize in advance for the leangth of this venting, but I would really appreciate some advice from some experienced groomers who have some wisdom they could share. Here's my story:
I absolutely love grooming have a client base of about 700 of which most have followed me everywhere I go. I started out @ a corporation, but not as a bather & I had no schooling. They were in need of a groomer & the grooming manager said she thought I could just jump right in since I had the experience of shearing sheep & worked 1 summer helping my grandmother out in her shop. They actually hired me & told me I had 2 weeks to prove myself. So, the manager taught me in 2 weeks the bare basics & I ordered some videos, asked my grandmother for guidance who was by the way in a different state, & gave it my all! I took to grooming like a fish to water! I Lived, breathed, & loved grooming! Well all until about 1 year later when my grooming manager started blowing our plan out of the water (which means she was making us groom at least 12 dogs/day all of which were full groom dogs) & I was working 70+ hr/wk & got down to 90lbs, I'm 5'3 & usually weigh 135, I actually passed out @ my grooming table w/ a dog on it! The next day I put in my 2 wks notice, I was 19 @ the time. I fortunately came across a trainer who had a connection w/ a vet who needed a groomer. I was so excited, I thought to myself thank you God you never close a door w/out opening a window! I started that job right when my 2 wks was up. And since it was a corporation I couldn't tell my clients where I was going. But to my amazement, I had 150 people who "found me!" They seriously called every groomer in the phonebook to find me, did I mention I moved to a different city! I was so touched by the loyalty of these clients to call everyone to find me then drive further just so I could groom their babies. I wish my happy ending ended there. When I arrived I was so excited & all rearin' to go, until I met the lady I would soon have nightmares about. This woman was so amazingly "old school", it was ridiculous! She had the oldest clippers I had ever seen, actual kitchen scissors for shears, she used this "concoction" of a shampoo that seirously consisted of: Dawn, Downy, Flea & Tick Shampoo, & Somethinf else in an unmarked bottle - she put all this into a 5 gl bucket filled it w/ water & then poured 1 cup into each bath that had a pump, not a hydrosurge, a pump that we were supposed to bathe the dogs in (recirrculating dirty water - nothing worse!), she had glasses so thick I couldn't brake them if I ran over them w/ a car! This woman had been grooming for this same vet for 30 yrs. ! I tried to see to up side to this as, "at least there's job security!" Later on I would find out I was wrong about that.
Ok I am sorry about this whole long speil, this is the main reason why I have waited so long to register b/c I basically write a novel anytime I type. Well if anyone is still reading this I really have way too much to say & if you are at all interested in knowing the rest of my story &/or helping me my problems, I would be much apprecitive! Please help me figure out if this grooming stuff is for me, I am still young & reall have a lot of drive & passion for grooming but I feel burnt out - not w/ grooming but, w/ the working enviorment & I am too young & not confident enough to open my own business, which is what everyone is telling me to do! Long, long, long, story short I have worked for a corporation for 1 year, a vet 1 year, was a boarding & grooming manager for 2 years at a vet that I took the monthly gross from $800 to $16,000 in 1 year, implementing new release forms, report cards, a sign off system for the kennel techs who were high school kids who have no work ethics, my mother instlled wonderful work ethics in me by showing me the meaning of volunteer work & helping others. Gosh there I go again!!!, SORRY! Ok so a corporation comes in & buys out the vet I had built up in the grooming & boarding dept. & brought in an "office manager" & said we don't need a grooming & boarding manager, but you can stay as a groomer. HA! I don't think so! I took my stuff & left the next day. There were 2 vets that left that same day corp. took over & they partnered up & opened their own clinic & asked me to come w/ them, boy was corp. every sorry they cut me as manager, they had no business after I left I had clients follow me like you wouldn't believe. The 2 young vet weren't dumb, they knew with me & the other groomer I asked to follow would bring them all the business they needed to get them started onto something huge! So here I am new job & new promises. These vet promised me 70% (which I know is unheard of, But they really wanted me) & they said I would own the business in a year. Of course I got none of this in writting being young & nieve!!!! & 2 months later they cut my commission to 60% due to not being able to afford the overhead costs at 30% - did I mention that the 1st year of opening their business they bought a $80,000 cars & so many luxuries you wouldn't beleive me. & then 1 year later no business offered to me just a "that a boy, keep up the good work!" Can you believe the nerve, I only get 60% to manage the place, actually put in 70+ hrs/wk & only groom 30 hrs/wk & oh yeah, did I mention the mold problem! OSHA shut them down fro 2 weeks after I called them b/c of the fact there was no drin in the bathing room floor for the first 4 months we were open & the walls were standard sheetrock! There was much more wong with the place that the vets were cited for & all b/c they wouldn't listen to me in the first place b/c they opened it too fast w/ not enough preperation & skimmped on the money & materials whereever they could, so they could afford those car payments if you ask me! So anyway my bather came down w/ bacterial animonia & a collapsed lung, I was having horrible migrains & allergies & asthma, now I have a corporation who just moved into this town recently, the same corporation I started working at, & they are begging me to come work there, of course so I'll bring my clients! & now I'm w/out a job & need to get one soon, but not sure what to do!?! There are so many options: Mobile grooming, own shop, corporation, private small business owner, I actually have 4 job offers on the table - none of wich I aplied for, they are all trying to recruit me & I know I could say highest bidder wins, but it's not that simple. I am getting married in Sept 07 & have no kids, but want them someday, & I want a stable job where I can grow in my careeer & work around the idea that one day I want a family & I just want to be happy. I just sometimes find myself doing something completly different like the zoo or something, but I have so many clients that I run into everyday & ask me where I'm at (grooming) & I tell them I'm thinking of quiting grooming & these people cry, I mean real trears. & know what, I applied @ a corporation for a pet care manager position & they called me in for an inerview & told me I had the job, grooming job that is - I replied I didn't apply for the grooming job, & they said yeah but that is where your experience is, & we have heard you're the best groomer in town. What do I do? I feel I bening forced to groom, but I can't quite say forced b/c I still love grooming, it's just ALL THE POLOTICS!!!!!! I just want something that will make me happy, my customers happy, pay the bills, & still have some energy & love left for my soon to be husband. Thank you so much for listening to my problems, if you're even still reading this long bunch of **** I call my life. I just don't feel like anyone knows what I'm going through & if it will ever get better. This is so hard for me to be depressed b/c I a ussually always optimistic & Bubbly Happy all the time.
I'm also a little bummed out about not being able to go to Hershey this year b/c of the wedding, I always look foward to it, I've saved up every year & have gone the last 3 years, I also want to try competitions but I guess those are 2 more completly different problems.
Thanks Again
God Bless
I absolutely love grooming have a client base of about 700 of which most have followed me everywhere I go. I started out @ a corporation, but not as a bather & I had no schooling. They were in need of a groomer & the grooming manager said she thought I could just jump right in since I had the experience of shearing sheep & worked 1 summer helping my grandmother out in her shop. They actually hired me & told me I had 2 weeks to prove myself. So, the manager taught me in 2 weeks the bare basics & I ordered some videos, asked my grandmother for guidance who was by the way in a different state, & gave it my all! I took to grooming like a fish to water! I Lived, breathed, & loved grooming! Well all until about 1 year later when my grooming manager started blowing our plan out of the water (which means she was making us groom at least 12 dogs/day all of which were full groom dogs) & I was working 70+ hr/wk & got down to 90lbs, I'm 5'3 & usually weigh 135, I actually passed out @ my grooming table w/ a dog on it! The next day I put in my 2 wks notice, I was 19 @ the time. I fortunately came across a trainer who had a connection w/ a vet who needed a groomer. I was so excited, I thought to myself thank you God you never close a door w/out opening a window! I started that job right when my 2 wks was up. And since it was a corporation I couldn't tell my clients where I was going. But to my amazement, I had 150 people who "found me!" They seriously called every groomer in the phonebook to find me, did I mention I moved to a different city! I was so touched by the loyalty of these clients to call everyone to find me then drive further just so I could groom their babies. I wish my happy ending ended there. When I arrived I was so excited & all rearin' to go, until I met the lady I would soon have nightmares about. This woman was so amazingly "old school", it was ridiculous! She had the oldest clippers I had ever seen, actual kitchen scissors for shears, she used this "concoction" of a shampoo that seirously consisted of: Dawn, Downy, Flea & Tick Shampoo, & Somethinf else in an unmarked bottle - she put all this into a 5 gl bucket filled it w/ water & then poured 1 cup into each bath that had a pump, not a hydrosurge, a pump that we were supposed to bathe the dogs in (recirrculating dirty water - nothing worse!), she had glasses so thick I couldn't brake them if I ran over them w/ a car! This woman had been grooming for this same vet for 30 yrs. ! I tried to see to up side to this as, "at least there's job security!" Later on I would find out I was wrong about that.
Ok I am sorry about this whole long speil, this is the main reason why I have waited so long to register b/c I basically write a novel anytime I type. Well if anyone is still reading this I really have way too much to say & if you are at all interested in knowing the rest of my story &/or helping me my problems, I would be much apprecitive! Please help me figure out if this grooming stuff is for me, I am still young & reall have a lot of drive & passion for grooming but I feel burnt out - not w/ grooming but, w/ the working enviorment & I am too young & not confident enough to open my own business, which is what everyone is telling me to do! Long, long, long, story short I have worked for a corporation for 1 year, a vet 1 year, was a boarding & grooming manager for 2 years at a vet that I took the monthly gross from $800 to $16,000 in 1 year, implementing new release forms, report cards, a sign off system for the kennel techs who were high school kids who have no work ethics, my mother instlled wonderful work ethics in me by showing me the meaning of volunteer work & helping others. Gosh there I go again!!!, SORRY! Ok so a corporation comes in & buys out the vet I had built up in the grooming & boarding dept. & brought in an "office manager" & said we don't need a grooming & boarding manager, but you can stay as a groomer. HA! I don't think so! I took my stuff & left the next day. There were 2 vets that left that same day corp. took over & they partnered up & opened their own clinic & asked me to come w/ them, boy was corp. every sorry they cut me as manager, they had no business after I left I had clients follow me like you wouldn't believe. The 2 young vet weren't dumb, they knew with me & the other groomer I asked to follow would bring them all the business they needed to get them started onto something huge! So here I am new job & new promises. These vet promised me 70% (which I know is unheard of, But they really wanted me) & they said I would own the business in a year. Of course I got none of this in writting being young & nieve!!!! & 2 months later they cut my commission to 60% due to not being able to afford the overhead costs at 30% - did I mention that the 1st year of opening their business they bought a $80,000 cars & so many luxuries you wouldn't beleive me. & then 1 year later no business offered to me just a "that a boy, keep up the good work!" Can you believe the nerve, I only get 60% to manage the place, actually put in 70+ hrs/wk & only groom 30 hrs/wk & oh yeah, did I mention the mold problem! OSHA shut them down fro 2 weeks after I called them b/c of the fact there was no drin in the bathing room floor for the first 4 months we were open & the walls were standard sheetrock! There was much more wong with the place that the vets were cited for & all b/c they wouldn't listen to me in the first place b/c they opened it too fast w/ not enough preperation & skimmped on the money & materials whereever they could, so they could afford those car payments if you ask me! So anyway my bather came down w/ bacterial animonia & a collapsed lung, I was having horrible migrains & allergies & asthma, now I have a corporation who just moved into this town recently, the same corporation I started working at, & they are begging me to come work there, of course so I'll bring my clients! & now I'm w/out a job & need to get one soon, but not sure what to do!?! There are so many options: Mobile grooming, own shop, corporation, private small business owner, I actually have 4 job offers on the table - none of wich I aplied for, they are all trying to recruit me & I know I could say highest bidder wins, but it's not that simple. I am getting married in Sept 07 & have no kids, but want them someday, & I want a stable job where I can grow in my careeer & work around the idea that one day I want a family & I just want to be happy. I just sometimes find myself doing something completly different like the zoo or something, but I have so many clients that I run into everyday & ask me where I'm at (grooming) & I tell them I'm thinking of quiting grooming & these people cry, I mean real trears. & know what, I applied @ a corporation for a pet care manager position & they called me in for an inerview & told me I had the job, grooming job that is - I replied I didn't apply for the grooming job, & they said yeah but that is where your experience is, & we have heard you're the best groomer in town. What do I do? I feel I bening forced to groom, but I can't quite say forced b/c I still love grooming, it's just ALL THE POLOTICS!!!!!! I just want something that will make me happy, my customers happy, pay the bills, & still have some energy & love left for my soon to be husband. Thank you so much for listening to my problems, if you're even still reading this long bunch of **** I call my life. I just don't feel like anyone knows what I'm going through & if it will ever get better. This is so hard for me to be depressed b/c I a ussually always optimistic & Bubbly Happy all the time.
I'm also a little bummed out about not being able to go to Hershey this year b/c of the wedding, I always look foward to it, I've saved up every year & have gone the last 3 years, I also want to try competitions but I guess those are 2 more completly different problems.
Thanks Again
God Bless
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