March 18th, 2002....a day I will never forget.
I had missed putting an ad in the phone book by two weeks. DANG IT! (What was I thinking?)I had spent all of the $750.00 that I had to spend. (What was I thinking?) DANG IT!! My, now Ex-husband, said it was never going "to fly", as he put it, "What the F are you thinking?" (What was I thinking?)
I was thinking....I have groomed dogs my whole life, since I was 10 years old (in my mother's shop.) I AM really good at it. I negotiated EVERYTHING perfectly, and didn't borrow a dime from anyone, and OWE no one. I was thinking...I'VE GOT THIS!!!
I knew I was on a budget. I had $750.00 from our tax return, last 4 years the EX had gotten to spend it how he wanted. It was my turn, period.
I set my plan in motion a year ago, almost exactly. I went to a local dog grooming shop that I knew needed help. I told the owner that I would take the job for a year. It got my face and name associated with the dog grooming world, LOCALLY. I had heard that a different shop had gone out of business. I seeked out the owner of the building, and set up a meeting. A commercial building that was already set up for my kind of business...Perfect!! I went to see the building and location. I talked to the owner. He wanted $500.00 Deposit and first months rent, AND A LEASE. (scary) I said, "Here's what I know . I have been doing this my whole life. I havnt got ANY confirmed customers. I do know I'm dedicated, but...I ONLY have one month's rent saved up, and I'm scared to death of a lease today. I can PROMISE to pay an extra $50.00 per month toward my deposit, and I will sign a 5 year lease in six months if this shop works." he said, "Sounds great!!" Don has turned out to be the best landlord, and friend, that I could have EVER hoped for.
I had a store front!! Yeah!! CHECK Now I needed stuff. I scoured yard sales for cages, clippers, a table, brushes, scissors, and blades. CHECK I painted the cages for the front of the shop and made cages out of $15.00 hog panels for the back room. CHECK I hand painted plywood signs for the front and back of my building. CHECK I placed an ad in the Wednesday newspaper. (Wed & Sun are best!) CHECK. Now I just needed people to show up!?!?!?
Monday morning...I showed up and guess what?.... So did CUSTOMERS!!! CHECK!! Success!! The first year I did about $30k....five years later it doubled. Not bad for a "Chick" with some "balls", Hua? (The Ex quit his job completely and I was our family's only source of income for 8 years of our 14 yr marriage)
Side note....I have watched several other dog grooming businesses come and go, over the last 10 years. I know of two in particular that just simply had too much overhead. One of them bought a $180,000.00 building and took out a $12,000.00 loan to buy ALL NEW cages and equipment. Just couldn't make enough money to pay the bills, let alone LIVE.
Be CONFIDENT in your abilities. Live within your means. NEGOTIATE. Do what you can with WHAT you HAVE. You'll do GREAT!!
