It’s estimated that the pet grooming market is expected to reach a staggering $14.59 billion by the year 2030. As you can see, if you have pet grooming skills, you can turn them into a lucrative profession.
While it might be easy to find employment at a grooming establishment, starting your own business can be another story entirely. Because renting out a space can be so expensive, entrepreneurs are turning to other types of set-up.
Specifically, mobile grooming businesses can cost you less overhead while allowing you to travel to your clients.
But how do you go about starting this type of business? In this guide, we’ll explore the answer to this question so you can start establishing yourself in the industry today.
Hone Your Skills
Honing your skills is important for multiple reasons. First, pet grooming professionally isn’t a hobby. Many owners take their pet care quite seriously and if you aren’t skilled, they’ll likely get made.
What’s more, you’ll likely be dealing with a wide variety of breeds and animal temperaments. No two breeds can be groomed the same way. And if you have an animal that’s untrained or scared it might react violently.
You need to be prepared for how to handle this. Lastly, when you hone your skills you’ll gradually build up a pool of loyal clients. The importance of this cannot be overstated.
You don’t want to start a business and just hope the clients will come. You want to be able to immediately start making money with the clients you already have.
Ideally, they’ll start talking about your grooming business with their friends which will bring in new clients. So practice until you’re both confident in your abilities and have a good base of regulars.
Consider Your Financial Situation
Starting a mobile grooming business is going to cost you quite a bit of money. At this point, you likely have grooming supplies like clippers, soap, shears, and brushes. However, you’ll also need to pay for a vehicle.
In addition, there’s also the cost of fuel, vehicle maintenance, insurance, permits, and phone bills. And that’s not even counting the marketing that’s necessary to get the word out about your business.
Most people won’t have the money for all of these expenses upfront. As such, they’ll likely need to take out a business loan. While this can be a necessary step in starting a business, you want to improve your financial situation as much as you can before taking this leap.
That means getting out of debt if you’re able and building up as much savings as possible. The more money you can put down as collateral the more favorable your loan situation will be.
We recommend putting together a comprehensive business plan. This should include plenty of information about how you’ll structure the business, the expenses you expect, and the profit/goals you plan on reaching.
The more effort you put into your business plan, the better your loan will be.
Legally Establish Your Business
Next, you’ll need to deal with the legal stuff. That starts with choosing a business structure. Business structures are important because they protect your liability if something goes wrong.
And when it comes to mobile grooming a lot can go wrong (hurt pets, runaway pets, etc.). For a mobile grooming business, we generally recommend choosing a limited liability company (or LLC).
Next, the fun part – choosing a name! Different states have different laws surrounding how you can choose a name so make sure to do some research. You want to make sure that your name isn’t already chosen or you could face legal problems down the road.
Next, you’ll need an employer identification number (aka an EIN) to pay taxes. The good news is that you don’t need to get a pet grooming license. The bad news is that you do need a general business license.
Make sure you open a separate bank account for your business. Lastly, you’ll want to invest in various types of insurance. Workers’ compensation is especially important in case you or an employee gets injured by one of the dogs you’re working with.
Get Your Vehicle and Equipment
In terms of equipment, you will likely need things like a power generator, wash tub, water heater, water tank, dryers, and grooming table. On top of that, you’ll want the floor of your vehicle to be easy to clean and ventilation or AC so that you and the animal don’t get overheated.
Now, if you’re a DIY person, you can purchase a regular van and convert it yourself. However, if that sounds intimidating, we recommend investing in one of these dog grooming vans.
These types of companies convert the van for you. That way, you can focus on your business plan and strategy.
Begin Marketing
Ideally, you’ll be able to bring some clients along from your last pet grooming gig. However, remember that a business that isn’t growing is dying. This is especially true early on.
So you will need to pay for some marketing to get the word out about your services. This starts with creating a business website and Google My Business profile. From there, you can engage in a cost-effective marketing strategy using things like:
- SEO
- Business cards
- Groupons
- Social media marketing
- Local advertising
- Flyers
Different businesses will have different marketing budgets. Do whatever is manageable to you, but remember that the more money you can put in, the better.
Also, if you can’t afford marketing then try to give excellent customer service.
That way, you can both keep your current clients and hopefully attract new ones through word of mouth and client outreach. This is also great for brand building with positive online reviews.
Appreciate Learning How to Start a Mobile Grooming Business? Keep Exploring
We hope this guide helped you learn more about starting a mobile grooming business. The most important advice we can give is to take things slowly. Build your skills and clientele while saving money and doing research.
If you dive into your business without being prepared then you have a much greater chance of failing. Need more business advice? Keep scrolling through our website to find plenty of similar content.
