Am I Crazy!

[muddypaws]

started my own business last year right out of school. MY mobile was running for about 5 months before opening a shop about 25 miles from my home. My thought was because I was in such a small town that I could pull more business between the two. Summer was good but then Sept, Oct was slow and now Jan is dead! I think I started a tad to fast! So between the two there's not much profit. Total business debt is about $30,000. Does everyone think I lost my mind.

[pamperedpups]

Whoa... So you started a mobile AND a shop right out of grooming school and within 6 months of eachother? (What school did you go to?) Did you intend to work both operations alone? Do you drive your grooming van or pull your grooming trailer to and from your shop every day, or...? Were you able to write up a realistic business plan for all of this before you started? Have you read From Problems to Profits? What about having a consultation with Stephen? This is interesting and I have so many questions! You certainly took on a lot!

[Mo-N-Me]

Opening a business, much less two in such a short period of time, is risky.

I recently opened my second location, but only after making sure location #1 would take care of itself even with my absence. It allows me to build up location #2. I waited 2.5 years between openings. You can usually tell if you're going to make it or not, by keeping on top of your repeat customers.

When we slow down I always go back through client cards and make phone calls to those who've not been in for awhile. Or I'll throw out offers of free toothbrushing with full service groom. Gotta stay on top of them...don't wait for them to come looking for you...especially so early in the game.

Keep your thinking positive. Early on, there were many days where I was working basically for nothing or to just keep the roof over my head. It WILL get better...but get on top of it!

Good Luck!

[Meesh]

I started mobile straight out of school myself, August 2004. Took off pretty fast too. It cost me about $28K to get started, thankfully self-financed so I started without debt and have even managed to pay myself back a lot of it. So your $30K is right in line in my opinion.

My thoughts on your difficulties:

1) Are you prebooking your appointments, especially your mobile ones? I try to never leave the client without prebooking their next couple of appts. Actually, I'm at the point where if they do not prebook they are not my client. I ONLY accept people willing to prebook, with appointments no longer than eight weeks apart (most are 4 or 6). Prebooking is THE KEY to avoidding any slowdowns.

2) I'm not so sure having a shop and mobile so quickly is a good thing. Are you spread too thin?

3) Small town: You can't do anything about your town being small, except perhaps to move, which may or may not be a possibility. While I think one of the keys to my success is a tight service area (five to six miles from my house, max), in your case you may need to spread out. If you do so, do it smartly. Identify a good area that you should be in -- is there an area with a reputation for having money? dogs? Park you van in that neighborhood, perhaps in a strip mall near where you want to be, in the late afternoon (rush hour) and weekends to be seen. Advertise in that area's local paper. When you start getting calls make sure you book appoinments in that area for the same day or two per groooming cycle. The idea when you have to travel to an area to groom is to stay there and not spend many days driving out to it. I have one area that I kept that is greater than 5-6 miles (this is 8-9 miles) and I am there for two full days every "cycle." One at six weeks and one at eight weeks. My clients in this particular area know that rescheduling is not likely. They have an option to come to me on a Thursday, a day I work park at a vet's office.

4) Have you considered partnering up with a vet? When I started advertising a vet called me and asked if I'd like to work for him. As I just purchased my van and WANTED to me mobile I said no thanks. He then asked if I would think about working at his clinic once a week. It's worked out very well for me. When I started out it was a day I could count on and they scheduled for me. I got a discount for my own pets vet needs (at the time I had four, we've since had to put the cat down ). While my mobile biz is now frequently overbooked the vet day is hit or miss. But it's been great when I have gotten too booked to accept new clients right away. I have them start out at the vet clinic and then get them onto the mobile schedule. I have a lot of elderly dogs on the schedule so things tend to open up, and I work in an area where it's kind of transient.

Don't give up. I would concentrate on the mobile grooming and perhaps give up the shop (or vice versa ... which one is doing better?).

Meesh

[Gracy Rose]

Crazy :-)

You are NOT crazy provided you do something about it to turn it around.

[PAWS]

I don't think you are crazy, but maybe just unresearched?? Do you have employees? What have you done for advertising? Is your shop in an easy to get to area? There are lots of great advertising ideas on this site, just search! If you have some specific questions or problems, just ask

[muddypaws]

Okay I run my mobile 2 days a week doing around 5 dogs about 7 in the summer. My shop is next to a vet and I rent the building from her. I work that 3 days a week and one evening. I work it all myself. My trailer leaves from my home address and I try and stay in a 25 mile area. The village in which I live has only around 600 residents. Summer was great being in a tourist area I do a lot of marina's and camp grounds. I am the only mobile in this area so I know my prices are far lower then they should be. I think I am just having a winter melt down and things will be fine. Please tell me they will be fine. I hope the tax man is good to me next month.

[Pawsitively Purrfect]

Did you start with a business plan?? It's never too late.

Also ask for help, maybe there is a network of business women in your area, a small business administration office, or a groomer in a nearby town that could mentor you?

[diamienono]

Don't feel bad. I have nothing booked for this week. I was not able to get in the phone book. So, what I am doing with my free time is posting a free ad on yellowpages.com and also a free ad with the online merchandiser.

[hairdevil]

wow..I would have never done both! talk about the stress...or hire a groomer to do the shop while you're out mobile..I think you're stretching yourself way too thin...you must be a very organized person lol I would be going bonkers...I dont handle stress too well. It literally makes me get sick...I mean physically sick lol

[Fur Elite]

Here is the problem as I see it. You are incurring most all of the expenses of running two full time, seperate businesses (trailer costs plus rent costs), but because you are only at each one of them part time, your potential income (at most) will only be the equivalant of one full time job (and currently not even that since you are not very busy at either location). Listen, it is hard for many people to be able to swing ONE new business off the ground...and that is working at that one business full time. You are trying to get two businesses off the ground, each of which has full time business costs but you are only running each of them part time. Most people wait until the demand is such that they need to add a business...in other words, build up one business to or near capacity, and them embark on expanding. Then you hire someone else to run one of the businesses so that you can have two fully operating businesses...not two part time businesses. Two part time businesses just isn't going to be as economically feasible as one full time business.

If I were guessing, I would guess that your logic was that since you live in an area of 600 people, there is really no way that there is enough people to support a full time mobile service. At least, it will take a long time to be able to support a full time mobile service. So, you might think, I need to find a way to get more business and capture the people who can't afford or can't logistically do mobile. For these people, I need a shop. The question of survival as I see it is...are there enough potential clients to support either, and then both together, of these businesses. This is where your business plan comes into play. Given your schedule.....twice weekly mobile. If you are to full capacity on your mobile days, is this enough to support the mobile side of your business? At X dollars per groom times 5 grooms per day times twice per week times 4.5 (weeks in a month)...does this cover your trailer overhead? If not...you have problems. In this case, you need to figure out how much money you must make to support your mobile business and work backward to determine your average grooming charge and reset your prices. If this all works out, can you honestly see that that your area has the population to support this number of needed clients? (5 grooms per day X 2 days a week = 10 clients per week X 4 weeks in a month = 40 clients a month for mobile. Lets assume they are on an 8 week schedule so you need at least 80 mobile clients to keep yourself busy mobile ASSUMING they are regular repeats of every 8 weeks....less often means more clients, more often means less. Now, figure out the same thing for your shop. How many grooms must you perform to cover your expenses (including your living and personal needs expenses). Do the same exercise as listed above for the mobile. I can tell you this....I live in a community of around 35K. It took me almost two years to build my mobile business to basically be booked up regularly 5 days per week, 5 grooms per day. I think you need to take a hard look at your numbers and make some decisions about what is doable, what is possible and what you would be happy doing. Are there enough hours in the day to support this arrangement? I think it is possible that this can work for you, but you have many things to overcome...and a big factor is the demographics of your area. I would be very concerned about that.

[fifi]

started my own business last year right out of school. MY mobile was running for about 5 months before opening a shop about 25 miles from my home. My thought was because I was in such a small town that I could pull more business between the two. Summer was good but then Sept, Oct was slow and now Jan is dead! I think I started a tad to fast! So between the two there's not much profit. Total business debt is about $30,000. Does everyone think I lost my mind.

Hi muddypaws,
I opened my shop a year ago (Feb 1) in a small rural town about 20 miles from where I live. This town has needed it's own groomer for a very long time. Business took off immediatly. I had all the work I could handle by May. Business started slowing down when school started and has been slower every month since. My phone started ringing again on Jan 3 and I've been booked for the last two weeks. Now my only problem is the ice storm we got over the weekend has knocked out the electricity to the entire town so it looks like I will have to reschedule an entire week.

Many of my clients who were regulars during the spring and summer said at their last grooming that they wouldn't be back until spring because they let the dogs grow out in the winter so they won't be cold. (rolling eyes) Obviously I have a lot of educating to do.

I have taken a one day a week job for an upscale boarding and daycare kennel not too far from my home. This helps to fill in the gaps.

I agree with the posters who have talked about pre-booking. This is very important and has been what has paid the bills for me this winter. I have had weeks when pre-books were the only appointments I have had.

I am also starting the planning stages of opening a second shop in the town I live in. This shop will be in my garage that my college student daughter currently lives in. She graduates in May and has until August to move into her own place. I plan to have my second shop open by February 1, 08 (maybe sooner if things go well).

Leslie

[pamperedpups]

Fur Elite gave some EXCELLENT advice.

muddypaws- I didn't read where you said you have or haven't read From Problems to Profits and/or gotten the first Grooming Business in a Box release for business plan help. I'm also still curious if you were able to write up a working business plan for running your mobile AND shop BEFORE starting out?

[plushpuppy]

wow..I would have never done both! talk about the stress...or hire a groomer to do the shop while you're out mobile..I think you're stretching yourself way too thin...you must be a very organized person lol I would be going bonkers...I dont handle stress too well. It literally makes me get sick...I mean physically sick lol

I second hairdevil I think I would have done the mobile 5 days a week as mobiles tend to be more profitable.

[pamperedpups]

I agree with hairdevil, too, except that I don't think it sounds like hiring another groomer would be feasible for muddypaws at this point...