20 Things I’ve Learned in 20 Years in Business

This month  marks the 20th anniversary of my opening Wags to Riches. What was going to be a one-woman, part time business I could work at while my kids were in school has turned into a 7 employee thriving business. The things I’ve learned along the way have changed my life in more ways than I could ever have believed. Here are my “Top 20″ most important lessons:

1. Listen to your inner voice

2. Make time for yourself-you’ll actually be more productive and relaxed if you regularly schedule time away from your business

3. Be a leader and a mentor

4. Get to know your employees and genuinely care about them

5. Someone can be a great person and not a great employee- you can love them, but if the fit is wrong, they need to move on, for their sake as well as yours

6. Everything gets better if you give it time

7. Don’t be afraid to do things your way (after all, you are the boss)

8. Let your business tell you when it’s time to grow

9. Delegate!

10. Value your time

11. Don’t forget your family and friends

12. Attitude is more important than experience

13. Hire people with great potential and invest in their success

14. Celebrate and reward your staff’s accomplishments

15. Invest in your own professional growth

16. Get the word out – set your business apart from others

17. Make your business a “Gossip Free Zone”- create an environment of support and encouragement

18. Don’t take yourself or things too seriously — even the worst days need a little perspective!

19. Give yourself a break!  Develop systems for the problems that arise repeatedly

20. Have fun- laugh, play music, bring in cupcakes, have a pizza lunch break

And, most importantly…

Don’t forget the things you Love about your business—I know that’s 21, but hey, I’m going to be in business next year, too!!)

Attending a High-End Workshop with Your Staff

Recently, Heather, Kerice and I were fortunate enough to attend a wonderful seminar given by Nancy Han and Tomoko Hirokawa. This is one of a series of terrier workshops  being held, and the one I’m going to discuss in the article today was “The Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier”.  The seminar took place at Nancy’s shop on a Sunday. It was from 8:30 am to 5 pm.

The morning began with continental breakfast, and we received our own beautifully designed notebooks that we can use for years and years to come.

After everyone settled in, we started with a discussion forum on the new licensing laws.  We were able to discuss the topic and come up with some ideas and opinions about how to handle the changes taking place in our industry.  I was very thankful to have the opportunity to engage in this discussion with other professionals and hear what their opinions are.

Then, we got into the actual grooming part of the seminar.  Nancy went into detail about the Wheaton Terrier standard, it’s purpose, the difference in coat types and ideal conformation.  The dogs she they used for the demonstrations were beautiful examples of the breed, and all very well behaved on the table (don’t we wish all our dogs were that way!).

Nancy is gracious and approachable, and very willing to help people and share her knowledge.  Tomoko is wonderful to watch. Her style is queit and efficient with minimal movement.

After a fantastic homemade vegetarian lunch (I’m still waiting for that chili recipe!), we launched into a discussion and demonstration of some more detailed aspects of grooming.  Nancy and Tomoko demonstrated their abilities with patterns, textures of coats, and showed us how to work with each of the various types.

Several Wheaten Terrier breeders were in the audience, which meant we had an opportunity to network with potential future clients.

In addition, we went over the muscle structure and bone structure of dogs, which helped us to better understand how grooming three dimensionally can improve our overall look.

We also talked about some of the behavior issues we face with pets in the shop, and ways to handle situations that come up to keep our animals and staff safe.

I want to re-emphasize how fantastic this workshop was designed, and how well organized it was.  Nancy and her staff’s hospitality, beautiful shop, grooming skill level, and the quality of dogs was amazing to witness and an incredible learning experience.  I highly recommend attending a workshop such as this.  Here are some additional resources to contact to find a workshop:

Check with the NDGAA , IPG or ISCC  for groomers near you who put on seminars. Trade shows also have a variety of seminars to choose from.

If you’d like more information about the seminars, you can contact them at KeenExpression@gmail.com.

To License or Not to License, That is the Question

Currently there is a bill proposed in California to license groomers.  This shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us, as this has come up before. It has been unsuccessful in the past, but this time things look more serious.  Here is the link to the actual proposed bill .  I find myself on the fence about this topic.  I know a lot of groomers don’t want any form of regulation or licensing, and look at it as a bad thing that can be over-regulated, expensive, and a form of control, but I think it could work to the advantage of reputable groomers who suffer from the bad press caused by abusive, neglectful and unprofessional groomers.

California is one of the most regulated states in the country, and, given the current economic crisis, the state government is looking for any new source of income they can find. It is naive to think the grooming industry is going to escape some sort of regulation as a way for the state to increase revenue. The question is not when, but how. We’re missing a huge opportunity if we don’t get involved in how we are regulated and leave it to others to decide.

I believe this proposed law comes out of our own inability to address some very serious problems in our industry. We need to face the fact that there are some groomers out there who should be in another line of work. Let’s face it, pet owners are scared when they hear that a pet died while in a groomer’s care. Every groomer I know has customers who have come from other shops where there were injuries to their pets that were not handled properly. These things undermine the trust we need to be successful. Licensing won’t eliminate abusive or neglectful groomers but it will let pet owners know there is an industry standard we all need to follow, and someone to contact if we don’t. We all know that even the most careful groomer will have an occasional nick or cut, and unfortunately worse injuries do occur. We need to take responsibility, own up and cover any care that is deemed necessary for the pet’s welfare. If you can’t afford to cover the costs associated with any mishaps that happen while someone’s pet is under your care, you shouldn’t be in business (I’m not talking about problems that have occurred due to some neglect by the owner- that’s another blog!).

A standard set of safety, cleanliness and equipment guidelines will only help those of us who are reputable groomers gain the respect we deserve.  The pet grooming industry has had our fair share of mishaps without some kind of regulations and the public has had no way of protecting themselves against the “Bad Apples” – unsafe, unsanitary, or abusive groomers continue to be able to stay in business without any repercussions.  Licensing, while not eliminating those problems, would allow the public a small measure of peace of mind, knowing that there are standards we have to meet to be in business.

However, this proposed bill has a lot of problems. We would be overseen by the veterinary board, who would be in charge of setting up our testing and examinations, requires fees that are considerable more than other licenses (including vets), prohibits things like cage dryers, caging animals from the same family together and groomers under the age of 18. The fines and penalties, including jail time, for any infraction are harsh and over-zealous. There are a lot of good ideas but we can do better. It is going to take groomers and pet owners  in California to band together to defeat this bill and create one that makes more sense and will standardize our industry without jeopardizing our ability to do business.

This past weekend at Nancy Han’s Wheaton Terrier Seminar, we were able to discuss this topic and find others that were interested.  If you are interested in getting involved and learning more, please leave a comment below and let me know what your opinion is!!

Helping Your Staff Set and Achieve Their Goals

One thing I really love to do is to encourage my staff (and myself!) to learn new skills.  This keeps them excited about learning, and the new skills that they learn enhance the overall business.  However, with everything going on, sometimes it is difficult to remember what it is that everyone wants to work on. 

Keeping track of our goals:

Because of this, I invented this exercise to assist in reminding us all what our goals are, and it has been helpful for me to remember exactly how I can help my staff achieve their specific goals.

At our monthly meeting, I give everyone a 3 x 5 card.  I went around the room and asked them to come up with a goal for learning a new skill for this month.  We wrote them on a 3 x 5 card, and I put them up on bulletin board where everyone can see them on a daily basis.

It was an easy choice for my finish groomers, as we are going to a Wheaton Terrier Grooming Seminar next weekend.  Some of my other groomers and finish bathers are working on things like having a better “finish” to their grooms, creating better golden retriever feet, and poodle topknots.  My new bathers didn’t really know what they should be working on, so I came up with some ideas for them such as trimming nails, or finishing out “easy” bath dogs (like labs, beagles, etc.).

We’ll review our progress during next month’s meeting, share what we’ve learned, and set goals for the following month.  This gives me a chance to congratulate them for their accomplishment and encourage them to keep learning even more.

Don’t Hate, Delegate!

We can begin to create systems in order to free up our time, and in today’s post, I’m going to give you some ideas to get you started.

Understand that if you are trying to do everything, you won’t get anything done.  If your goal is to get some control over your time, your life, your money, and your business, you must give some tasks away so that you can begin to get more done.

One way to get started is to identify the things you hate to  do or procrastinate on that never get done.  When we don’t enjoy doing a task, we put it off.  After awhile, we begin to feel bad or guilty about not getting it done, and this sets us even further back.  It is better to determine what it is you don’t like to do and delegate these tasks to others.

You can accomplish this with a combination of outside professionals or your staff.

Hired professionals can help with:

• bookkeeping
• website issues or support
• payroll services
• laundry service
• cleaning service
• Human Resources service (to help with employee handbooks, labor laws, etc.)

Existing staff with a knack for jobs such as:

• monthly newsletters
• customer service
• maintaining social media
• training
• events
• inventory
• ordering
• training new staff

Don’t be afraid to spend a little more money on getting the help you need.  In the end, it becomes more valuable for you to spend your time on aspects of your business that will make you more successful and profitable.  Taking some of these “hats” off is energizing and allows you more time to build your business and have more time for yourself!

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Bad Apples

In The Miooddle

In our own natural state of being human, sometimes we are our own worst enemies.

Welcome to 2012, Now Let’s Get Moving!

Happy New Year!

Now that the holidays are over and life is getting somewhat back to normal, it’s a great time to put together your resolutions for the new year.  Some of the ways I like to refocus Wags for the coming year is to have a shop meeting and ask my employees what their personal and professional goals are for the year.

Find out What’s Important to Your Staff

I find this to be important in building our relationship, but also so I understand what is important for them.  I ask them to share any New Years Resolutions they might have made and how they are doing. I also ask them to share any goals that they may have professionally, such as learning to groom a new breed, learning a new skill, or taking a course.  I try to find out about improvements they’d like to make in the shop, equipment they’d like me to buy, and trade shows or seminars they’d like to attend.

Share Your Goals For the Year

I share my goals for the year for the shop, incentives I’d like to add, and go through the calendar for the coming year.  We discuss holidays, holiday schedules, and review the year that has ended and discuss what worked, what didn’t, and what we’d like to change.  I take time to review the past year’s financials and explain where we are at for our financial goals for the year.

Tracking Your Goals

I have a binder where I keep track of my meetings and keep notes from the goals we’ve set so that we can check our progress.  This helps to remind people what their goals were, check to see if we are hitting our goals, or see if we need to change or adapt our plan along the way.

Take a minute to Download My Meeting Schedule so you can Start Your Year Off Right!!

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you a happy holiday season!

I’m Making a List and Checking it Twice!

It was never ending and always there. It was never all “done”, so it wasn’t really very helpful and just added to my stress.

Lists are good, like journaling, they get thoughts out of our heads and onto paper so we can stop obsessing and get on with things. Entrepreneurs have a million different things to do all at once, but if all those things keep spinning around in our heads we can never focus long enough on any one task to get it done and move forward. We’re in crisis management, dealing with the issue that screams at us the loudest and never getting ahead.

The List of 7

This was the situation I kept finding myself in with lists.  Then, I read a tip online that said “Limit Your To Do List to 7 Items a Day”. The premise was that you really can’t do more than 7 “must-dos” in a day. Of course, you do a lot more that that, but by prioritizing the things that absolutely have to get done and leaving the rest for another day, you actually get more things done in the long run. The list of 7 helps you focus on the really important tasks.

Since I’ve been doing this, a lot have changed.  Here is what I do:

• I make my list of 7 starting with the Top 3 Things that absolutely have to get done.
• Then the next 4 items that need to be done.
• I’m then able to focus on the most important items first, and get them out of the way.
• By getting the difficult things out of the way, I move on to the other items on my list and when the really important things are http://youtu.be/Pg-4z9sytxcdone, I am free to stop obsessing about them and Move On!
• Lastly, If it’s not on my list of 7, it can wait for another day!

In this busy holiday season, when you are making your list and checking it twice, make sure your list is do-able by having a list of seven!

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