Ask Yourself These 3 Questions Before Hiring an Assistant

Hiring an assistant can be a great way to expand your business and your services. While she’s taking care of the administrative portion of your business, you can focus on your clients and the money-making tasks. However, don’t jump into the interview process without first asking yourself these five questions:

1. What kind of person do I want to hire?

Do you want someone who is just starting out so you can train them in the way you like things done or do you want someone with experience who can just run with a job until it’s complete? Do you want someone who will work only for you or are you willing to hire someone who has multiple jobs?

2. Can you afford an assistant?

If you’re overburdened with your own work and business isn’t moving forward, hiring an assistant is a smart move. Look at your books and realistically determine a budget for this assistant and stick to it. Keep in mind, the more...

Procrastination is a dirty word when you’re a groomer, especially if you're a business owner. If you procrastinate over doing tasks, then no one is left to complete them, which leads to a feeling of overwhelm, which leads to you questioning why you started your business in the first place. Sound familiar?

Business owners who also groom in their businesses have the added pressures of completing their clients in a timely manner and then all the day-to-day background work. A business takes SO much time after the dogs are done to run smoothly.  Often in my case, procrastination is a synonym for laundry build up, paperwork over flow, growing list of clients to call back and stress at home.  I'm literally one person and I can't do it all.

Put on your bite gloves to wrestle with your procrastination habits and find your motivation.  I'd love to see your business implement these simple strategies. Just because they’re simple doesn’t mean...

Have you analyzed your customer service practices recently? It’s not enough these days to just be an outstanding groomer; if someone is unhappy with their groom, or can’t reach you with a question or for an appointment...  They will be quick to bash you on social media or online review sites. Often these bad reviews are what people notice over the good reviews.

If you want to develop a reputation for being the “Danelle German”, or "Sue Zecco" of customer service, here are three tips that will ramp up your reputation:

1. Be Responsive

Frustration will set in quickly for customers who can’t get a quick answer to their questions or new appointment times. Have a process in place for answering emails or phone calls quickly and how to handle weekend inquiries. If you are grooming alone or have crazy days, have specific office hours, make them public on your website, have them listed in your email signature, and certainly mention those hours on...

No matter if you are a salon or mobile grooming business owner, have employees or groom solo you often bemoan the fact that your to-do lists are miles long...  You wish you had more time in the day to get all your tasks done.  Now let's add in the number of clients vying for your attention, the long days of backbreaking groomings and the stress can become overbearing. Even though we all have only 24 hours in each day, here are some strategies for working more efficiently so it feels like we’re gaining extra time.

1. Use the Time Blocking Method on Your Calendar

For those of you grooming one a pet at a time (like I do in my mobile unit) already get the concept.  Time blocking simply means assigning a block of time to one particular client, project, or task. For instance, if you have to voicemail full of return calls, block that time off on your calendar and focus on those calls. If you need time to update your website or schedule out your month of...