Foreword

We are not here to "sell you" on the pet grooming industry. 99 percent of PetGroomer.com is free and the 1% represents the opportunity for groomers to place "bargain basement rate" advertising in the very popular PetGroomer.com Classified Ads. We are here to give you information backed by 45+ years of field experience, and leads to other industry-related people and companies. Some of these leads may be advertisers, others are not. Because we love our industry, and thousands of pet owners who helped us create a legendary grooming business, PetGroomer.com is all about giving back to our industry. We did well, my parents raised a family of 5 from selling grooming services including the chance for a paid college education. We know that you are potentially the future of grooming. We also know this industry needs to develop better ways to introduce career seekers to its eccentricities, drama, problems, art, joy and love for pets. Career Start 2008 is our way.

As leading grooming career and business consultants for persons like you with an interest in a pet grooming our first and foremost responsibility is to provide you with accurate information required to make an informed career decision. There's no shortage of opinions on careers in grooming, and diversity too! We hope that you tell others that PetGroomer.com served you well when you needed information. We also hope that you will build a long-term relationship with us at GroomerTALK Community, and don't overlook Groomer Pedia™ as a future reference.
 

There is another reason we would never sell you on a grooming career. You don't succeed as we did in this industry for 45+ years if you don't sincerely love pets and their owners. You will contact groomers that regularly complain about some clients and rarely acknowledge dozens or hundreds great customers. "Firing a client" is nothing to brag about. Pet groomers can be emotional artists, and artists are commonly weak in client services. In fact, that’s why there are art galleries instead of buyers negotiating directly with artists. Artists do what they do best by cocooning with the pets they groom.

The vast majority of great pet owners are overshadowed by a tiny minority of problem clients. You will hear what we mean. Is that why we never suffered "groomer burnout and stress" and we are still grateful for our first customers back in 1961? How could we turn our back on thousands of pet owners that trusted us with their beloved pets, and today's millions of other pet owners and pets that need well-suited groomers? We couldn't and so we are helping you now.

Use this free report and website discover if pet grooming is finally your answer to finding a job or business you sincerely love, just as we did. You can prosper in pet grooming. The financial limits of your earnings are few. You can enjoy a career as employee earning the best wages in your area, or you can grow a grooming business and even expand as some do into full-service pet care centers. You decide. The opportunities are there. No one is putting limits on you within the industry. Pet grooming is a unique, challenging and never boring industry if you have the right attitude and qualifications.

Stephen, Webmaster and Industry Consultant
Son of Madeline Ogle, author
From Problems to Profits: The Madson Management System for Pet Grooming Businesses

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Is it possible that you can earn a living working with animals, expressing your artistic nature and receiving praise every day for work well done? That sure doesn't sound like most jobs.

We've sold thousands of copies of our grooming business books to career seekers working in office cubicles looking for a dream career that seems hidden somewhere over a rainbow. Many have shared their story of how one day it dawned up them they would love to be a pet groomer!

What's left is simply for them to judge the viability of their ideas, and how to get to the other side without cyclones.

Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high

There's a land that I heard of Once in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue

And the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true

Some day I'll wish upon a star And wake up where the clouds are far behind me

Where troubles melt like lemondrops Away above the chimney tops that's where you'll find me

Pet grooming is not all lemondrops with clouds far behind you, but it's close. Better yet, the economic record of grooming has been favorable for decades past in the U.S., and today there are no signs of serious consequences from a recession in America.

If you plan to open a business and not simply become employed as a pet groomer we do advise that you first write a formal business plan. By creating a professional business plan, not simply a sales forecast, you must first do a market study of your business area, examine the local competition, organize a set of business goals for 3 to 5 years, understand "cash flow" and how much business startup capital will be required, and much more. It's all the more important during the economic insecurity that America seems to have found herself in now. While the outlook for grooming is good, you must have a plan, a road map, and understand the risks of becoming self-employed. That's why almost every bank requires a formal business plan before it makes business loans.

We've made the process incredibly easier with Pet Grooming Business Plan Helper & Sampler by Grooming Business in a Box®. Ahead in this report we will take a much closer look at the benefits of self-employment if you choose that route and business plans.

On the next page we will share evidence of the positive outlook for the pet industry in 2008 from business experts.