It has been a rough week, and I'm not sure why. I have been apprenticing now for about 5 months, and until now was feeling pretty good about the pace at which I've been learning. My grooms, though far from perfect, have been improving, and I generally feel like I'm turning out dogs that I'm proud to give back to their owners.
Then came this week. It began with the fact that I'm finally doing poodles and just don't feel like I have the scissor control to make them look right. Then there is my speed, or lack of. I know I should be doing grooms in less than 2 hours, but for me to put out a dog that I'm proud of, I just can't seem to get them done in less. That scares me, now that I'm ready to begin renovations on the garage to turn it into my shop.
Will I be ready when the time comes to open?
Will I enjoy it when I'm working full days?
Can I turn out quality dogs?
Will I be able to handle the more difficult/aggressive dogs?
Will my body allow me to keep doing this?
All these questions keep spinning around in my head. I just keep pushing forward, hoping that all the doubts and fears will melt away as I continue to do what I'm doing. Today is better. Of course, I slept better and didn't wake up in pain during the night for the first time in weeks. I suppose only time will tell. But I'm committed now, so I'll just keep trudging forward and looking forward to being self employed.
Am I the only person who faces such a staggering lack of confidence when they first start grooming?
Hi gipsiwriter,
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a great holiday with your family!
What you are feeling is SO normal.
If I told you how many times I found myself crying while grooming or at the end of the day, I might scare you away from grooming. That is the last thing that I want to do. We need good, caring groomers out there. :)
You have to give yourself time. You will always be learning. I am STILL learning new things, even after 28 years of grooming. I love when I read something new in grooming that I have not thought of before.
Will you be ready?
I will admit, you are taking on a lot opening your on home salon so soon, BUT it can be done. Don't be so hard on yourself. I don't know what your situation is, but if I were you, once I had my shop open, I would groom there a couple of days a week, while building a clientele, and still groom at your Mom's shop the rest of the week. I think that it will help you to keep soaking up as much information from your Mom as possible while you can.
Maybe your Mom would take off a day here and there and let you run the shop by yourself once a week to get a feel of what it will be like when you work along. The important thing is to book only the number of dogs that you are comfortable with.
Do you know how many dogs that you will need to do a day to cover your bills? Can you do that number of dogs in a day?
Will you enjoy working full days?
You were a Nurse, right? If you are like the Nurse friends that I have, you put in some long hours. Nursing is a physical job also, right? I think that you will do fine. And, yes, there will be days that you feel physically and mentally beat up, but if you really love what you are doing you will still enjoy it.
Will you turn out quality dogs?
From the pictures that I have seen, you most defiantly have the talent to turn out quality dogs. As long as you will be able to pay your bills on the number of dogs that you can groom comfortably, your grooming should not suffer. Even a rush job can be a quality groom, it just may not be perfection.
As for your timing, that comes with time. :) My 17 year old son is our bather. He is only a little faster than when he started bathing a year ago, BUT he doesn't do ANYTHING fast. It drives my daughter crazy because she is Mighty Mouse on speed. I would rather him be a little slow and do a good job than rush through and hand me a dog that is not clean enough. He does a great job cleaning the dogs! He is good and caring with them. That is the most important thing to me.
I taught my daughter this little trick when I was teaching her. I had her keep a notebook by her table. When she would clip a dogs feet, lets say, I would tell her how long I thought it should take her. Not my time, but a reasonable time for a new groomer. She would write down when she started the feet then when she finished she would write her finished time. Lets say I told her 10 minutes for a min poos feet. She would time herself and it would take her 14 minutes. The next time it took 12 minutes. It was a goal to work towards. She would time herself when clipping the body, then scissoring the body, then time herself for the head, the bath, the drying. This also helps You know how long it takes you to groom certain parts of the dog. So if a customer calls wanting to know when their dog is going to be done, and you only have the head left to do, you can think...okay, it takes me 15 minutes to scissor this type of head so I will tell the owner that their dog will be done in 25 minutes. I always add 10 or 15 minutes to a pick up time just in case I have to answer a phone, or something else takes me away from finishing the dog. Of course, also for those customers that walk in earlier than you told them. Keep that log of your time and it will help your confidence as you see it in writing that your time is getting faster.
Boy, you knew you talk too much when blogger tells you that you can't post your comment because you have too many words. I have copy and pasted the rest of this in a 2nd comment. :)
Part 2 of comment.
ReplyDeleteI just realized that I didn't even sign the first comment. lol
Difficult/Aggressive dogs?
You know what? You DON'T have to groom aggressive/difficult dogs if you don't want to. So many new shop owners think that they HAVE to take everything that walks in their door, but if you are not comfortable with working with these types of dogs than you shouldn't. I like doing them, I like the challenge, but I think that it is hard enough for a new groomer just to get used to grooming regular dogs that can also be little pains sometimes. As you get a few years under your belt and more confidence then you can decide if you want to deal with more difficult dogs. When taking new customers, don't be afraid to ask questions: Has your dog been groomed before?
Are they good for the grooming?
Have they ever bitten a groomer?
This does not always work, because I have found that a lot of biting dog owners will lie just to get an appointment. I have also found that a lot of dogs that I have groomed that have been thrown out of other shops, I have had no problem with. So much of it has to do with your attitude toward the dog. Earning their respect and trust that you won't hurt them goes a long way with a difficult dog.
Will your body allow you to keep doing this?
Hahahaha, I am the last person to answer this question. My feet hurt, my back hurts, I am overweight and out of shape. (I will be working on that this year, that is my goal anyway :/)
When my daughter started grooming I told her to start doing deep knee bends every night because of standing 12 hours a day at a grooming table. I didn't want her knees to go bad like mine. She said that it really helps. She also stretches at night. I have started doing a few Yoga moves in the morning, and have been very surprise how it helps.
Hang in there...don't give up...have a good cry when you need to. There where many times when I had to stop grooming a dog for a minute and just tell myself to breath and count to 50. It was my 3rd grooming job in a year. I worked by myself in the back of a pet shop. They overbooked me all of the time. I can't tell you how many times I cried as I was grooming a dog, or would see how many dogs that I still had to do and feel like I would never finish. I learned to give myself pep talks. "Come on now, you can do this. By 7pm you will be home and can read a book."
Those little conversations with myself really did help.
I am sorry that I have been so long winded. I really love grooming. I hate when I see a good groomer stop grooming because of stress or lack of confidence.
YOU WILL GET FASTER..YOU WILL DEVELOP MORE CONFIDENCE..YOU WILL HAVE A GREAT BUSINESS!! Say that to yourself every morning and night till you believe it. I am cheering you on!
Lisa, MFF
Thank you, LIsa. You rock! Don't worry, I wont quit, I'll just keep plugging along until I get better. Thank you for all your kind words and wisdom!
ReplyDeleteOh, I so understand that lack of confidence! 5 years after starting my business, I still find myself shadows of doubt here and there. Course, I hear that just shows that you really care about your work ... so, I will have to say ...
ReplyDeleteYOU CAN DO IT!!!! I know you can! And I am excited for you!