My Career Plan for the Next 5 Years

Jonathan Plummer - California, Summer 2000

"I plan on using The Madson Management System to operate my grooming business. I plan to have measurable goals for operations, personnel, client relations, marketing and finance in order to achieve the goals of a successful business with the guidelines of my written business plan."

"My objective is to become self-employed establishing an upscale all-breed and cat grooming salon. At present, I am completing the Professional Pet Groomer Course at Madeline's Institute of Pet Grooming."

"I am planning on developing a clientele of 200 pet owners in my first year of operation, 500 in my second year, 1,000 in my third year and up to 2,000 in my fourth year of operation."

"I plan to target my marketing in the (city area withheld until business doors opened). This target area has a population of 80,000. I will market this area with the Madson People and Pet Marketing Program. One needs to analyze the potential neighborhoods the business will serve and find out the population, the number of households and pets per household. Also, there are demographics for the people's average incomes and lifestyle factors to consider."

"I plan on expanding into a full-service grooming salon implementing the 3 step Madson Business Plan. I will execute my action plan to focus on making as many consecutive grooming appointments for each client for the benefit and future of the business (Ed. note: Jonathan is referring to the Preferred Client Program in both From Problems to Profits)."

"I plan on hiring a full-service staff including pet bathers, receptionists, assistant pet trimmers and myself as the master pet trimmer. I will offer entry level positions available to those who are willing to learn and work toward the future growth of the business. I expect to have at 6 or more employees by my third or fourth year in operation. Presently I plan to have one staff member in the Client Relations, Trimming and Bathing Departments."

"I project that the business will earn about $120,000 a year in grooming services after it reaches its goal of 500 regular clients in the first year. I derived using an average service fee of $30 overall, and an average appointment frequency of 8 appointments a year per client. Once I reach 2,000 clients the business will average up to $500,000 a year from grooming services. Operating expenses including payroll will be budgeted and managed to stay at around 70%, and the net income will then be my salary from the business."

Webmaster Commentary: What an excellent presentation by a confident young man in his 20's. His strengths are many. He has vision not only for his immediate future but nearly 5 years from now. That's a key to success in any trade. A five year view ahead is expected by all startup businesses today, not only grooming businesses. In fact, 5 year pictures of the future for a new or expanding business is required by banks making business loans, and these are more formally called 'business plans." Most banks will not loan money without one to present or future business owners even when they have plenty of collateral. They gain confidence in you and your vision knowing you have prepared one for their scrutiny, and they are right. Without one you may have the skills of the trade you sell, but you likely don't know all that it takes to run a stable business and stay growing and profitable. If you are not out to grow a business, they usually don't want to make loans either. Jonathan says right at the start he is willing to do whatever it takes to write a formal business plan. That alone makes him one of the Next Generation.

Jonathan clearly states client base goals. Great, now we have something to measure his progress towards achieving the goals of his business plan. How can you measure success if you score yourself and your business solely by measurements of money only, such as how much you rang up on the register? Such scores may be misleading, and remember the old adage, "It's not how much you earn, but how much you keep." Setting and measuring client base goals for as long as you own your business helps bring you into being as one of the next generation. It is rarely done by grooming business owners unless they are followers of The Madson Management System, and yet all of all corporate America uses similar measures in addition to adding up revenues.

Jonathan states he is wisely going to study the demographics of the areas he is considering for his business, and it sounds as if he knows how to figure average number of pets per household. We train that, and I know very few other people in the entirety of the grooming industry that are adept at such calculations. Ah, next generation thinking. Why invest thousands of dollars in an area that has not yet proved to you that it is a viable location for your dream career or business?

As with other presentations, it's fantastic to hear Jonathan talk about the various job positions. There are more positions in grooming businesses than Groomers and Bather/brusher, but you wouldn't think so if you listen to past generations. Saying this is not our criticism, it's an observation we have experienced helping hundreds to operate grooming businesses that succeed in becoming stable and profitable, and provide physical well-being to all of its workers. All of the leading grooming businesses today have several job descriptions and titles. In fact, we know some with 12 different job titles! Even a 2 to 4 person business uses all 7 job titles in From Problems to Profits. It's just that some employees work regular full time hours but perform duties of more than one job description.

Jonathan is right on with annual gross revenue projections, and every next generation will prepare an annual budget projection. Way to go Jonathan! You know this young man is going to open a successful and intriguing business if he maintains his motivation and determination to go from problems to profits in grooming. As long as his performance shows that management is just as important as the art of grooming, he is very likely to fulfill his vision quest.

Does it get better? Yes. Next up is the "Perfect 10" One Minute Presentation.

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