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Note: On the first day of our
Becoming the Business Person That Grooms
Workshop (5 day version) we ask every participant some
questions. One is very revealing, and the answers reveal to us as
instructors how far along each individual is in their grooming
career and business management training. Participants are expected to answer
these questions verbally, sharing them
with the rest of participants. Of course some participants are shy;
that's to be expected when the majority of people strangers to each
other first gather in a public setting. We keep our workshop groups
to around 12 to 16 persons in order to maintain an intimate setting where
shyness is less a factor. It's excellent and necessary training. Whether
they intend to start a
new grooming business, or work for a
grooming business owner, all of them will soon have to convey their
visions of career and business plans in well chosen words either to the public that will patronize their
businesses, or to grooming business owners they hope to call their
employers. If we can get them to the point where they do this well
we have succeeded, and actually helped to uplift the profession
with such advanced training.
The
primary question we ask career seekers (preparing to enter a grooming
school, or already enrolled) is:
"What
is your grooming career plan for the next five years?"
I
can assure you that everyone is taken aback at such a question.
That's good; we've got them thinking. The most common answers
are:
-
"I don't know.
That's why I'm here." (Good answer)
-
"I'm going to get a mobile grooming van."
-
"I'm going to work for someone else. Someday I would
like to have my own business."
-
"I want to own a grooming salon (or shop)."
-
"I would like to groom pets in my home."
Is
there anything "wrong" about these answers? No, nothing is
wrong with them. They do communicate a basic intent, but they say
little about the ability of their owners to fulfill their vision.
They are rightfully the voice of beginners in need of grooming
career and business training, and we are pleased to be their
instructor. The key is that these brief, one dimensional answers
leave the listener questioning just how much
the individual really knows about the grooming industry? Do they have a road map of
where they are going? Is nothing
going to be different in the 3rd year versus the 5th year? Have they
worked out any finances for the business? Will they earn enough to
meet their
household budget? In a nutshell, these answers leave a
lot of room for doubt in the listener. Doubt can entirely block a
vision from coming true, invites expensive trial and error and
surely potholes in the path of the career seeker. Our workshop
goes to war with doubt by giving participants proven business
knowledge and a chance to experience it so they know it works, and
in the absence of overwhelming doubt you have growing
self-confidence. Then self-confident career seekers who are doing
the work start right from the beginning making a favorable
impression of family, friends, future clients and the world of
business. At
this time we also ask, "What do your friends, family and significant other think
about your plan." The answers range from funny to quite
serious. We have heard less than positive answers like:
"My friends said,
"You're
going to do WHAT !?"
My family said,
"But we've been saving for years for you to become a
veterinarian!"
"Everyone became totally silent when I told them I was going to
groom pets for a living."
"They smiled
and said nothing."
"You're kidding."
"So
far I get no support. No one
thinks you can make a decent
living as a groomer."
Fortunately
about half have moderate to strong support, or they're on their own
and don't care what anyone thinks. But don't they have to sometime?
Yes, when you start to acquire the money to open a business you have
to be confident and knowledgeable, and you naturally have to care
what the lender thinks. If you want to become an employee you may
have competitors for the same position, and you have to care a great
deal about what potential employers think of you and your career
intent. It makes a tremendous difference on your path to success in
grooming when you can clearly communicate that path to anybody.
Seasoned business owners know there is a great deal of
required preparatory work and experience in order to become self-employed.
The work entails more than grooming training but also small
business management. Paying the bills, keeping supplies in stock
and placing a Yellow Pages ad is not all there is to running a
stable grooming business. Not even close. It may good enough to
stay in business, but there will be heavy prices to pay in the
owner usually "burning out" on what they love to do
because they create stress, employee problems, and over work their
bodies, needlessly. Therefore, the vision of career seekers should
focus the management of their career and/or business, and
briefly mention their intent to master the art of grooming and
humane pet care, and maintain that mastery with continuing
education. Their management ability of their career as an
employed groomer, or as a grooming business owner, is what will
keep them in the industry with prosperity and well-being.
Unfortunately too many beautiful grooming artists eventually
describe themselves as "burned out" or
"stressed," and it doesn't have to be that way. Yet it
is because the industry standard today still doesn't include every
groomer and business owner learning career and business management
with the same importance applied to the art of grooming. It is
that simple. This is
where the fun begins! Okay, what if we can take our beginning
grooming career seekers, transform their common one line
replies noted above, and imbue them with keywords and concepts that model an
image of a "most likely to succeed" future groomer and/or
business owner? That's exactly what participants do at our Workshop,
and we call the results, "One Minute Presentations." Put to
use in the "real world" these one minute presentations are
helping to create extraordinary groomers and business owners that have more
direction and less stress than most groomers today. Anyone can do
it, it's just a matter of whether the new or veteran groomer
acquired the career and business management knowledge.
Commonly,
those career seekers facing resistance from family or friends often
report a major turnaround when they return after even a day or two
of the Workshop, and many have jobs or businesses waiting for them
before they graduate by using their "One Minute Presentations." In fact, there have been
a few situations where their spouses did a complete turnaround, joined
in and jumped into a new grooming business as joint partners! Everyone
reports improvement and more interest in their new career, and pet
owners waiting for them to open their new businesses.
Several
participants planning to be "somehow employed" after graduating from
grooming school were able to use their presentation to deliver a
proposal to a veterinarian or retail store owner to
build out a custom grooming department for them BEFORE They
graduated. Sometimes they were able to lease the new department so that they are actually owners, not employees. Then
there are those that take their One Minute Presentations and raise
funds to build new grooming businesses from more confident investors
and family. These are not just students becoming graduates, they are
new business
people that groom. They are next generation because of
knowledge. Teaching them is a rewarding experience. There's never
been any training in the history of pet grooming like the Becoming the Business Person That
Grooms Workshop and if we can get such training as part of the
usual and customary training in the industry, the profession will
forever be uplifted into a much truer sense of being an organized
profession. Here's
the proof. We are now going to share with you some One Minute
Presentations graciously donated to us by actual participants of our
Workshops. Anyone can learn this knowledge if they come and
participate. Many of come when it meant they were going against all odds
by traveling to California or
Reno, Nevada to attend and making a financial investment in the
fuzzy topic of "pet grooming management."
What's most remarkable is that
the first presentations you will read are by student groomers - and everyone in the industry
should support these people helping us all by breaking the barriers
of "just maintaining" the industry where it is now. We
honor them and know their presentations are generally astounding for
beginners. We thank
them for sharing them here for everyone's benefits. Keep in mind
that literally tens of thousands of
veteran groomers and business owners have yet to master such
knowledge and poise, and early business acumen. Please do for the benefit of our industry, pets
and people and most of all, you and your well-being for the all the
hard work you do to help make so many animals happier and healthier.
A
remarkable new world of grooming is coming, and many of them are our
Groomers - The Next Generation. Let's go to our first One
Minute Presentation.
Continued on the next page > > >
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