What if switching careers could give you more freedom, better income and a lifestyle you actually enjoy?

In this episode, Bill speaks with Amey and Matt, who made the bold move from working as electricians to building a successful dog grooming business.

Their story will sound familiar to many groomers, starting fresh, learning on the go and figuring out how to turn a skill into a profitable business.

They share:

• Why did they decide to leave their old careers behind
• The reality of starting out in the grooming industry
• How they approached pricing to make the business work financially
• What they did to attract and retain clients
• How they’ve created a better work-life balance by working smarter, not harder

One of the biggest takeaways from this episode is that grooming doesn’t just have to be a job – it can be a complete lifestyle upgrade when done right.

Amey and Matt’s journey shows what’s possible when you’re willing to take a risk, adapt quickly and build your business with intention.

If you’ve ever thought about changing direction, growing your current business or creating more freedom in your life, this episode will give you both inspiration and practical insight.

As always, I'd like to thank the podcast sponsor, Lopay, the low-cost payment platform that helps you keep more of the money you earn.

You can find out more and sign up for Lopay here:

https://merchant.lopay.app/ref/PETPASSION2500

Listeners of this podcast get £2500 of fee-free transactions.

And if you’d like support building a stronger, more profitable grooming business, visit:

https://petpassiontoprofit.com/

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you subscribe and share it with someone who’s thinking about starting – or reinventing – their grooming journey. 🐾

Welcome to the Pet Grooming Business Podcast with me, Bill Betts, where we give practical business advice to help you grow your pet grooming business.

This podcast is sponsored by Low Pay, the low rate payment app that gives you more.

So without further ado, let's get going.

Right, then.

Welcome, everyone.

Welcome to our next episode of our podcast and this one is a little client interview.

We are joined today by Amy and Matt of Hazel Ground, Hazel Grove Hounds and Feline.

Welcome, Amy.

Welcome, Matt.

How are you?

Good morning.

All good?

Yep.

You had the weekend off.

You didn't go to crafts this weekend, did you?

No, we worked Saturday, so we had.

We had yesterday off and then we have today off, start back tomorrow.

Nice.

But you.

You weren't tempted to go into the big green halls of crafts?

No, we did it last year and it was pretty full on and.

Yeah, couldn't face taking a year out.

Yeah.

Excellent.

So I was just looking over the.

I worked it out.

So just over two years.

And I thought we could start off just by diving into a little bit about the past.

Like, how did you get into pet grooming?

How did you end up working together?

Pet grooming?

How mean is Matt's bathing skills?

But they're just like, just examining your journey really into the industry and then like, how it's been for the last few years whilst you've been doing it.

So let's sort of, I suppose, start off with like, what were you doing?

What were you doing before pet grooming?

Sorry, the dog walk has just turned.

Well, we were both electricians before and I'd had enough of crawling around lofts and getting.

And being electrocuted every now and again.

Does that mean you're not great electricians?

I was a very good electrician.

Just the previous wiring wasn't very good.

You know, things were wired wrong and sometimes you would just make that mistake and.

Yeah, I've seen it.

And I had an electrician in once and we're in a Victorian flat and he took the architrave off the wall to try and find a wire and we found a wire.

The power was completely off.

We found a wire in the wall and maybe he should have checked it, but it was completely live and he got a massive whack of electricity from it.

I actually thought he was about to storm out the house because he had to go and sit down for quite some time to get over it.

The last one I had that was it.

I was just done after that.

Yeah, that was.

That was kind of whilst I was learning to dog groom but still doing electrics at the same time.

And I. I kind of came off that ladder and I went and sat in the van.

I cried my eyes out and I was like, I'm not doing this anymore.

Yeah, one with it.

So that was that.

We finished that job.

I think we just.

We did a couple more.

Because you said that by yourself, because.

Yeah, that's probably why I electrocuted myself, because I was too busy not really thinking about stuff, trying to get the job done.

Yeah, exactly.

So I started that in November.

And then.

Yeah, so I was gonna do that.

And then Matt was gonna carry on doing electrics because he was quite happy doing it.

And then at the end of 22, literally, like the 31st of December, we went to London for the day Daisy's wheelchair broke.

And then Matt ended up pushing her in her electric wheelchair halfway across London back to the car and then retort his meniscus in his knee and did a ton more damage and ended up needing more surgery, which meant then I was training to dog groom, trying to set up a new business and doing electrics all at the same time.

Finishing off the jobs that you had already outstanding.

Yeah.

And it just.

It just became a nightmare.

And then your surgery just took over, didn't it?

And it was.

It took over miles of.

Well, I didn't do any electrics for a year.

Yeah.

And then it came to the final meeting.

I said, it's not getting any better.

And the surgeon basically turned and said, well, you better have a career change.

Yeah, it's not us, it's you.

Well, it's you.

So 20 years of being an electrician, it was time to try something different, shall we say.

Yeah, you had no choice.

What made you sort of think dog grooming then?

Obviously, we had the cockapoos already, and I've been doing them myself for a.

While,.

And I didn't mind doing them.

I used to do them on the kitchen counter because didn't have anywhere else to do them and.

Yeah, because they hated going to the groomers.

But, yeah, I just kind of just got on with them.

And then, you know, I was kind of in the wardrobe moaning that I had nothing to wear and I didn't want to go to work and, I don't know, everything else.

And Matt was like, why.

Why don't you look into dog grooming or something?

Just try something different.

So it's kind of your idea, really, wasn't it?

Don't blame this all on me.

It's all going on Matt's shoulder.

So you're like.

You got to a point where it just sounds like you're just.

You were done with it being a sparky.

You're just.

I just don't want to get up on a Monday morning and carry on doing the jobs.

Regulations were becoming ridiculous and, yeah, I mean, I know we need them, but they were just getting beyond ridiculous.

And the assessments were stressing me out and, you know, I knew my stuff, but anxiety would get in the way and, yeah, I just.

I could pull out the answers, but I couldn't stand in front of someone and do the testing.

That was the last straw for me.

And the guys said, look, you know everything.

I know you know how to do it, so I'm going to pass you, but, you know, you need to kind of look into this a bit more.

And that was kind of it.

I was done.

I think I remember chatting to you one day and you're like, you had to finish your last exam just so you could finish the work you were doing, I think.

And you just like, thank God this is the last time I'm ever going to be doing this exam.

You're, like, studying to get through it.

Yeah.

And I'd applied for other courses within electric, so we'd done electric car chargers.

And, um, I was about to go on and do, like, solar panels and things like that.

Um.

But, yeah, just in the end, I was just like, you know what?

I don't care if I don't even get my money back.

I just don't want to do it.

And it was probably the best decision I ever made, to be honest.

But you're.

You're obviously a practical person because you've gone from using your hands with electrics to then the dog grooming.

So it must be that sort of side of your brain on that part of your brain that wants you.

You don't want to be stuck in an office.

That kind of career change.

Did you sit in an office?

I wouldn't have a clue what to do.

Rewire all the plugs and change all your.

We worked in plenty of offices and people just look bored.

I was the same when.

When I worked in insurance.

I was on level seven of this big, big building and I remember looking out the windows and I used to see the police cars racing around the one Way systems and stuff like that.

And I. I felt the same.

I was like, staring at a screen, just going, there must life.

And, you know, sit in an office.

And I think a lot of the dog groomers out there, especially when they have career changes later in life, probably feel the same.

There must be, like, more to this than.

Than just doing what I'm doing over, over and over again.

Yeah.

Everyone, when people are listening to this and they're going like, wow, they're electricians.

You know, we have this impression.

And I, when I met you both, I had that.

I remember saying to Emma, it's like we have this sort of maybe a preconceived idea that Sparky's, you know, they.

They go and they command whatever money they want.

They earn lot and stuff like that.

And I was like, they're going to replace the electrician job.

And yeah, obviously I understood that Matt couldn't do it because of his knees and you were getting like, fed up with it.

But I was like, it's going to be.

Is that going to be a challenge to replace their income with dog grooming coming from electricians?

So I thought it was a really interesting challenge.

It was to begin with.

Yeah, it was really hard.

We kind of.

Because we did have a really good income being electricians, but actually I have a better income now being a dog groomer.

Yeah.

That's amazing.

So, like, our profit in dog grooming is like 98%.

Our profit in electrics, I think, was about 45 compared.

You know, once you've got all the outgoings, all your insurances and all the other bits and pieces.

Yeah.

And also, obviously, with the dog grooming, I get paid.

I pay myself weekly, I could pay myself monthly, I could pay myself daily.

But with the electric side of things, you got paid at the beginning of the job to buy materials and possibly cover a few months of bills.

And then you would get paid in the middle of the job to buy the second part of materials and get paid for a little bit.

And then at the end of the job, you get paid kind of just to cover the rest of your outgoings and stuff.

So it was never like a regular income.

It was always like, you know, we might.

We might get like 15 grand at the end of three months, but we were still kind of living hand to mouth in between.

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Yeah.

So sporadic cash.

I Think I always say this, like cash flow wise dog groomings.

If you work like five days a week for say you, you're getting paid like four days, aren't you?

But you know, you don't get paid on a Saturday or a Sunday but the money lands in your bank on the Monday and, and carries on, doesn't it?

So it's cash, cash flow rich, I suppose.

Yeah.

So, yeah, so it definitely, definitely works a lot better.

Obviously we work at home so we barely leave the house now.

It's quite nice because we were like, we're traveling everywhere, weren't we?

For, for electrical work.

We were kind of down south or up north a little bit and yeah, it was it all over the place.

Sort of leave your house and then on a Monday morning sort of kids out and then straight onto M25 to sort of sit there for a bit.

Yeah.

And Friday nights for the worst.

We, if we were kind of headed towards like south of London, we, we wouldn't leave until like 6pm because we get stuck and there'd be no point.

So we like go and have dinner somewhere and then join the madness and come home.

But we wouldn't get home some nights till 10 o'.

Clock.

So my mum was here.

My mum used to do Thursday and Friday.

She possibly stay Thursday just so we could get off early Friday as well.

Yeah.

And yeah, we, we wouldn't see the kids.

We didn't really have much of a family life.

It was just work, work, work.

Let's go.

Yeah.

And the pressure's on with the contracts and stuff.

You're getting paid, like paid well for, for doing a job and.

But that job might last a few months.

So the pressure is on to get it done and get it done on time and, and I suppose for me that kind of work, I would perhaps get a little bit bored, maybe be like, oh, his job is really like really dragging on and oh, we've got to do this now and now we've got to do this fix and whereas again, dog grieving, you know, the maximum you're going to have is a dog on the table for perhaps an hour, two hours and it's gone, it's out and it's like on to the next one.

So I suppose it kind of refreshes your day every sort of couple of hours.

Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah.

So no, it's.

So yeah, that's why we, we gave it all up and became dog groomers.

But we're kind of better off now for it.

What's it, what were your Initial thoughts, Matt, when you were like, right, my knees are.

My knees are screwed.

And that would.

I know that could be quite, like, disappointing and disheartening, can't it?

Like your career is.

It took a while to come to terms with it.

Yeah.

When it was.

I can tell you exactly when I kind of realization set in.

It was with you and Robin up in Birmingham, saying about himself and coming to terms.

I can't remember what it was that happened, but he said something that resonated with me and it was from that weekend that I kind of.

The realization was, I've got to do it now.

I've just move forward and not dwell on the past.

Yeah, yeah, I was.

It was.

It was kind of grieving it.

Yeah.

It's a.

It's a.

What I've done.

It's a loss of identity, isn't it?

Because, you know, your family and your friends and your kids know you as electrician.

And I was.

I felt very similar when I was in the police, you know, and I was coming to the end of my policing career and some of that concern was like, well, what.

What are people going to think about me?

You know, am I a failure?

What are the kids going to think?

You know, will they still look up to me?

It's like changing identity, isn't it?

And then I suppose, I don't know how you felt about telling your mates you're going from like a Sparky to a dog.

Dog groomer.

Whether did you get any stick or is there any, like, giggles or is there, like.

Good on you, mate.

Well done.

Good work, really.

I want to say that'll be.

They'd all been pretty supportive, to be fair, because it was such a rubbish situation.

They were kind of all very spoiled.

Yeah, go for it.

They're always void.

And yes, the people that gave me stick were the kids, were they?

I still get it now.

Oh.

Used to be off getting all dirty on a site.

Now you come in all hairy.

Right.

How's your calluses, dad?

They all worn away now is.

Yeah.

Silky soft hands.

Yeah, you've got nice, nice, nice conditioned hands now.

And great nails.

Oh, lovely.

Yeah.

You can't be a nice bit of.

Hand cream after the whole thing, but.

It is like these are some of the decisions, aren't they?

I mean, that change in identity and losing that, you know, that career and then having to restart a new career, it's.

It's daunting at times, isn't it?

Have you always worked together?

Because I know you've been together for a Very long time.

Yeah.

So I was 17.

And you were 19?

Yes, I was 19, yep.

And Matt worked in a sandwich bar and I worked in the hairdressers with his mum.

And then I put my phone number on his car.

In lipstick?

No.

No.

I don't know.

It wasn't that romantic.

Or by key.

Did you key into his car?

Yeah.

You won't forget me?

Yeah.

And then.

So you.

You worked for your dad's business, didn't you?

Sold it to another person and worked for them.

And then your dad said, I'm gonna open another business for you to.

For us to both work at together.

I don't.

I don't even know how that came about, but it did.

Yeah.

So we ran a sandwich bar and.

Three years, I think.

So we started working together then.

And then I had Joel, so that kind of worked well because I could go in on the odd day if I wanted a day off from Joel and you would stay at home and that kind of started working well.

And then.

I don't really know.

I then kind of just stopped working, having the kids.

And you went into electrical work?

Yeah, we closed up shop.

And you just retrained and I just retrained, is there.

Yes, we've done it a couple of times.

We just.

Yeah.

Change.

We like a bit of change.

Will change.

Change only years.

Because you've been grooming now for quite a few years.

So are we coming up to a change period?

Do we have to, like, renew in and.

And say, right, think about this.

Do you really want to change what you're doing or are you quite like.

We're quite settled now.

So I've actually been grooming three years.

February, just gone.

And then you joined me full time last February.

Yeah.

And.

Yeah, so it's going well.

I mean, like, we're actually at a point now where we have enough clients.

I don't need any more clients.

And the new clients that come in are a kind of a bonus.

And then obviously, we've had.

Because we work Saturday, we've had Sunday and Monday off.

But now I'm thinking, actually, I'd like that every week.

So I'm kind of thinking that we might go down to four days a week.

Awesome.

With the one Saturday a month that we still do because, you know, there's people that need it or want it and I don't mind doing it.

So that's kind of like the next change.

We just started putting prices up again for April, so they're going up.

And you gave much pushback on that how much have you decided to put them up by?

Most of them gone up by a fiver.

There's a couple have gone up by 10 pounds.

And then we have a few clients that I'm trying to start getting to have their teeth cleaned alongside their grooms.

I'm basically just saying, you know, if you come like at your eight, six or eight week appointment, we do teeth cleaning on those appointments then.

So the standard groom is like 75 and you can add the teeth cleaning and we'll make it a hundred pounds.

That's around 100.

Yeah.

So I think so far I've managed to get two people onto that, but I'm choosing them or advertising it to everybody because I have some people that already do teeth cleaning with their dogs and they pay more already.

I'll work that out yet whether, you know, I need to change them down a little bit or whether I just need to work out whether this is going to work first.

But these are like regular clients and their teeth are already good.

Yeah, loads and loads of work to bring them up together.

So, yeah, so that's kind of the new plan.

So we've got the 100 pound groom and then we've got the 75 pound basic groom and my smallest dog start at 70.

I don't really do anything under pound 70.

Incredible, incredible.

And you know, I wonder if there's people listening to this going, right, 75 pound, that must be for a big dog.

Sure, it's for a big dog.

And then you've just got him blown that out of the water like, like, oh no, we started 70.

So tell us about that journey because you've been grooming for three years now, so perhaps we can wind it all the way back to when you started and from your horse trailer.

We'll call it a horse trailer.

The AI.

When I do like any sort of graphics around your stuff, I always put.

So it's a caravan, but it's a, it was a horse trailer, wasn't it?

Yeah, there's a horse box and, and yeah, so that was, that was, that was good.

It was very stressful towing.

I'm not a very good tower.

And then, I mean, luckily we kind of got rid of that just before our car that used to tow it.

The gearbox went.

It was kind of like, luckily we'd moved to working from home from that point.

But yeah, I used to, I did because I was obviously trying to do electrics as well.

I used to do like one or two days in brook at my in laws on their driveway and Then I would move it down the road, down the green in Fernhurst and I would do two or three days, depending on how many days I'd booked out.

And I would do it in the car park down on the green, which was.

It was a really nice setting.

And if I shot down there, I would.

But they don't have any shops down there.

No.

When you, when you sort of set up your business and, you know, I've been at Crufts and over the weekend and talking to groomers and talking about pricing and we hear the same.

You hear it as well with, with new clients that come onto the program, the fears and the, you know, people won't pay that around here, that kind of, that kind of stuff.

What were your kind of.

What were your prices when you started and what were your fears when you, when you first started?

When I first started, my prices started at 50 pound.

And I again just did that for all dogs.

I've never had like a small dog, big dog, medium dog.

It's always been the same price until now.

And yeah, and then I did like a leaflet flyer thing that said if you come with this leaflet, you'll get 10% off that.

What.

And so that brought in a few clients.

Yeah.

Getting overly busy from that.

And did you think like, I need to replace.

Did you have the pressure to replace your electrical income?

And did you think, how do I, how do I do that?

Were you like working like dog after dog after dog after dog to get them through.

Through the day so you could start sort of getting in towards that income?

Yeah, so I, I would like, obviously I'd set my.

If I had one or two days booked, I'd book out a day and then I'd work that day.

Whether I was in Brook or if I was in Fernhurst, I would just book that day out.

And then if I had enough dogs to do another day in either area, I would book that day out.

So I wasn't kind of like consistently there all the time.

I mean, I left the trailer in one place or the other for a couple of days at least.

And so people kind of saw it around and then that definitely helped because obviously that had all the advertising and everything on it and.

Oh, sorry, can you pause for a second?

So, no, it took a while to build everything up.

It's only one of.

Now that I feel like we've actually got enough clients to warrant putting prices up.

And I mean, I have put prices up over the last couple of years, obviously 50 to 75.

It doesn't matter if you lose a.

Cat, it doesn't matter.

Yeah.

And how have you done that pricing?

Did you just rip the plaster off and go from 50 to 75 or has it been incremental over the last couple of years?

I just did.

I went.

Because we.

Obviously we got the trailer went.

Because that was just.

Obviously I couldn't tow it.

It was just.

It was causing me more anxiety than anything.

So I was like, it's just stopped.

Stop the trailer.

We have the cabin in the garden.

Daisy was boarding at school at the time, so we had the wet room before I had got the bath and everything else.

So we were kind of skipping Daisy's room out on a weekly basis and then putting it back together at the weekend when she came home and I would work in her bedroom for a while whilst we did the cabin up and that.

From like the November to the February.

March one.

Yeah.

Right.

Over Christmas.

It was carnage.

Daisy was obviously quite annoyed that I'd taken over her bedroom, but I had.

Taken over the house.

Yeah, it was.

It.

Yeah, it was getting a bit.

Bit annoying.

But, you know, it was.

It was kind of quick.

But I think as soon as I kind of got rid of the trailer and bought them home, anyone that came in just went straight up to £60 and then.

Yeah.

Over.

So when was that?

That would have been 20.

That's kind of when I first joined you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because I.

When I had the trailer, I was sat at that grooming show.

I can't remember which one it was.

I think it was an Arding lie.

And I remember you sitting there going, anyone with a three in their price?

So you just gotta up it now.

You can't.

You can't do that.

And I, that morning had put out a post because I was trying to get clients.

I was like, all grooms are sweet.

35 Pound.

Did you delete the post?

Click it.

As soon as.

I think that was probably the October time when I first met you.

Then.

Yeah, it would have been like Groomfest around then.

It was the one in Wal.

Yeah, I didn't like.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I sat there and I deleted that.

And then I came and spoke to you and then I was.

I don't know, you said something and I was just like, yeah, okay, that makes sense.

So I went out and I tried to just kind of do what you'd.

You'd said to do and then got through Christmas and I was like, I can't do this.

I don't.

I don't even know what I'm doing anymore and I saw someone have posted on the program on the WhatsApp group saying that they'd like doubled their income or something in the last six months and I was like, I'm done, I need that.

Yeah, but you were still doing electrical work as well, weren't you at the time?

So it's like it was probably a.

How do I, how do I move from being an electrician to a dog groomer?

You know, there must have been a bit of like I just can't see how I can earn as much or more.

I was still trying to do electrics because I was trying to balance out that income, I think.

Yeah.

So yeah, now it's.

No, we don't have that.

So it's, it's so much easier.

But yeah, so I joined you in 24, I think it was.

Yeah, January 24th and then I put my, I put my prices up again in April and then April.

I must have kept them the same for about a year but everyone that was new was coming in, they were going up and up.

So I was kind of, eventually I was at 65 and then last year we went from 65 to 70 and now we're doing 70 to 75, 110 depending on their size.

Yeah.

And then you've got the add ons, you've got the teeth cleaning and the muds and things like that.

And I have a couple of Labradors that come every eight weeks and they come in at about £270 with mardan teeth.

Incredible.

Maybe not two hours.

Is that each or between them?

Between them for the two, yeah.

Incredible.

100 Pound lover doors.

Yeah.

You know and it's nice being able to speak to people like yourselves because you know, I go to the shows and I sit down with people and I do the seminars and obviously I do the Facebook lives and talk to, talk to the groomers and say about the hundred pound Labrador and stuff like that.

And I think I sometimes wonder if people just look at me and go, you're just making it up, mate.

You know.

But everything that I talk about I do base it around what we've done in our pet groom business or like clients like yourself that are doing it are out there.

But you know, did you have the same sort of fears like.

Or people won't pay this round here or people won't pay like going tipping over into the hundred pound mark.

You know, some groomers find that really difficult to go to the over £99 sort of thing.

Yeah, I think I, in the beginning Yeah, I was probably quite worried about it, but now I've kind of set myself apart.

So obviously, I don't know who listens to this, but there's groomers that are just down the road, and I know they don't charge anywhere near as me.

And then obviously I have a few of them going.

I had a message the other week from someone asking me how much I charged for my teeth cleaning, and I have kind of just blanked them and.

Not replied because I'm like, from another grooming salon.

Yeah, that's what I mean.

When I haven't replied to them because I'm like, but that's my price.

You know, you need to set in price.

It's not.

I can't tell you what to charge, you know.

Yeah.

If they asked me and I.

And I said, well, we charged £110 for the initial clean, a lot of them would be like, well, I can't do that.

Yeah.

So it's like, it's hard to get that advice.

Don't have it.

Then.

I'm kind of on that kind of par now that someone phoned the other day for a spaniel, and I said, oh, 75 pounds.

Actually, Matt said it.

I didn't say it.

And, you know, he'd already done all everything, and he was happy.

And then he said, how much is it?

And I was like, well, 75 pound.

And he goes, oh, no, it's far too much.

I can't pay that.

And I was.

And that was like, well, it's fine.

Yeah, let us know if we can help in the future, you know, and that's it.

It was done.

And we, like, I don't care.

And then you mentally have to sort of say, next.

Yeah, you know, next one.

Yeah.

And I find now, like, I listen to a lot of podcasts of, like, kind of like leadership podcasts.

And so I didn't realize, actually, one of my clients, I can't remember his name, bought a dog the other week, and he's quite high up in the leadership world of, you know, CEOs and random people like that.

And then I'm like, listening to his podcast, and then I've got to come down here and tell someone that they're having a price increase.

And I find that really encourages me and gives me that confidence to do that.

I don't know how, but, yeah, I just.

I just come down and I'm like, oh, yeah, that's all done, that's all paid, that's all booked.

And just let you know, we're Having a five pound price increase in April and I found that like the people of like our age group are like, yeah, that's fine, don't worry about it.

It's the older people that are like, oh, okay.

But then they don't say anything and they come back and they carry on.

Yeah, that.

And then if anyone doesn't want to pay it, they can, they can leave.

I don't care.

And I think, you know, you do care, but it's having that mindset of like, you, you.

I don't know if it's.

I don't care.

It's like you understand now that it's okay because you understand and you have that trust for your business now.

The, that there will be another inquiry that comes along and there's potentially different customers out there that you've not met yet that will pay £100 for your services.

But it's, you know, it's our job as a business owner to go out and find those people and speak to them sort of thing.

So I don't think it's a.

You don't care.

I know you care, but it's just a different way of like you, you come of it not from a scarcity mindset where like, I need everything, I need everything to.

Okay, they've said, no, that's not a problem, we'll go and find the next one.

So, yeah, so what else?

Obviously pet grooming.

And you came, came to us and you know what, you wanted to improve your, your business.

I think one of your main goals really was to give up the electric, electrical work, wasn't it really?

Yeah.

So that was that.

We shut that down completely in February last year.

Don't do any of it now, although I'm in Midway doing my brother's house.

But I told, I'm not doing any chasing.

That's down to him.

And now he's like, he's delaying it.

So I'm too busy with dogs now.

Yeah, so that's his, that's his problem, not mine.

So when you came to us, what services were you offering?

You're obviously dog grooming, but were you offering any other kind of services at all?

So we just had the dog grooming and the teeth cleaning because I learned that at my course that I'd done.

So I did that straight away.

How are we.

Very confident with that in the beginning.

Yeah, I was gonna say, how were you getting on with teeth cleaning?

Was it.

I find some groomers, they, they, they invest in it and then when I ask them about it, they're like, yeah, it's sitting on the shelf behind me and gathering dust.

I've not really done a lot with it.

Yeah, I mean, the first, obviously, obviously I qualified in 23 and I joined during 24 and I probably didn't do very much at all in 23 with it.

Kind of once I joined you guys and kind of learn really how to approach the pricing strategy of it as well, because I didn't feel very confident with it.

I was like charging, I think about 20 quid or something for a deep clean.

That's now like 95 pound.

Wow.

Incredible.

You know, I think I know what I'm doing with it now.

Yeah, I know I send people away so they'll, they'll pay like we do like a 30 pound trial session and then they have to buy the Orozyme if they want to go for the next kind of session.

And I charge out 20 pound a tube, so that's already given me another 50 pound minus the 7 pound of buying or whatever that works out at.

And then, so, like, two weeks later, then we'll put them in for a deep clean and then they may need another deep clean two weeks later after that, after that.

But, you know, and they just, they pay 95 pound until I'm happy or they don't want to pay anymore.

And then after that we'll go down to, like, maintenance where they can include it in their groom and that's 40 pound.

And then to help with the confidence, you're sort of obviously doing it with the dogs and you're seeing the, like, improvement in the gum health and the dog's breath and obviously your owners are happy, otherwise they would never keep coming back, would they?

Exactly.

So, yeah, it definitely works.

I know my dogs don't like having their teeth cleaned and I, I just tend to use the Orozyme and Stomidine on them and that obviously keeps them at bay as much as I can.

Yeah, but, yeah, so.

So you're offering the, the dog grooming, you've improved your teeth cleaning offer and obviously your teeth clean prices.

Anything else that you've moved on to.

So obviously now we do some cat grooming.

Some cat grooming.

I actually did.

We've done quite a few, Quite a.

Few this month, about five or six.

You did your, you did your cat grooming day and you started to learn and I think you're.

You're a bit unfortunate.

You got a lot of spicy cats to begin with and that sort of put you off a bit, didn't it?

Yeah, I Mean, I've done.

And also I've had cats coming for teeth cleaning now.

Wow.

And which I find they're a lot more happier to do than be groomed.

Interesting.

And else they can't do anything.

But.

Yeah.

And then again, I'll send them home with Orozyme.

And most cats I've.

I've found most cats.

Two cats I've done, they haven't really had any plaque buildup, they've just got a bit of gingivitis around their gums.

So I've just.

Laura's Lyman said, you know, just.

Just try this, see if it helps.

If it doesn't, then you might have to see the vet because there's not really anything I can do other than maintenance.

And.

Yeah, cats are kind of completely different to dogs, so.

Yeah.

How do you find in the old cat grooming, then?

Does Matt help you?

Yeah, he's.

He holds.

He's meant to hold them unless he doesn't go and they jump off the table, you know, as they do.

But I actually did a lion trim in an hour last week.

Good.

I've done that.

So I now.

I.

Now with my cat grooming, I just say it's an hour, it's £95 for the hour.

Unless it goes into like a lion trim or something, then it goes up.

But this.

This cat had been previously, so she knew it was going to be different pricing and.

Yeah.

So I did an hour.

I charged 130 pound for it.

Nice.

Happy with that?

Yeah, always.

One line shows the cat looks fine when it's kind of sat down.

The moment it stands up, it then looks a bit weird and you're like, oh, God, it's got, like, one leg higher than the other or.

And then it's like, well, who cares?

It's just a.

It's a completely different process, isn't it?

And catarinas are.

They're kind of like a different species in their own Right.

In a way, in the.

You're kind of.

You're helping, you're fixing the issues that's going on with the cat.

It's not so much like how.

How lovely they look, but it's more like that you've unlocked them from their.

Their matted coats sort of thing.

Yeah, exactly.

And I find the cats that, you know, they come in and they're quite matted.

The moment you kind of release one of those mats, they're like, oh, actually, yeah, you're helping.

I'll just calm down and let you do what you need to do.

Yeah.

I Mean, we try and do it so we don't handle them too much.

You know, sometimes there's a little bit of stretching and poking, but.

Oh, yeah, it's not too bad.

I suppose now I've got used to it.

Yeah, but you've got that diversification of income and, and also keeping your, like, your, your, Your mind sort of challenged as well.

So you've not just like a bit like this, the electrical, Electrical work, you know, doing the same thing all the time.

You've, you've now got a bit of variety.

You got your, Your dog grooming, your teeth cleaning, your cat grooming and actually just like coming up with ideas to run the business as well.

It sort of keeps you occupied, doesn't it?

Yeah, yeah.

And we always do cats, like, at the end of the day, so we may have done like three or four dogs and then we'll do a cat and I.

To me, a cat is a bonus.

If I don't get loads of them, I don't care.

You don't go out of the way.

To find them or out my way to advertise them.

If they come, they come and.

And that's it.

Yeah.

And I'm definitely getting more confident with them.

So if we just take it slowly.

I find if I take everything slowly, eventually it all just, it just works out for itself.

So.

So obviously you told us, like the program, the business program has helped you with your pricing.

You know, is there any other sort of areas of your business that is.

That you found it's helped you?

Yeah.

So obviously we've got the accountants now that they now do all my bookkeeping and my accounts, and I get quarterly packages to tell me what we've earned, where we're headed.

Like my first year, I mean, I didn't even get a tax bill in my first year.

And this year we're looking at like 70 grand.

Wow.

Turnover.

Yeah.

Amazing.

Luckily, that's now split between two of us, so that.

Yeah.

So you've gone from like.

Well, if you didn't get a tax bill in year one, that's like 12 less than 12 grand, isn't it?

And now.

Well, it's more.

I can't even do the math how much that.

The percentage that has increased.

Yeah.

So I think I paid ten grand this year in tax.

Yeah, but had you saved it?

Did you know it was coming?

You're aware of it?

Yeah.

So whereas before, see, Matt did all the accounts and stuff for the electrical side of things, and we spent most of the years paying the tax man Rather than paying us.

But yeah, I'm quite strict.

So we have a pot for the tax pot.

And so money goes into that every week, month, day, whatever it needs to be done.

Yeah, we have a pot tax.

We have a pot for like all our bills, our outgoing bills and stuff.

We have a holiday pot and we have a presents pot for kids and for time off and stuff like that.

And then we just have our general spending, spending pop.

So we always have money now we can pretty much do what we want when we want.

Yeah, lovely.

Love it.

You know, you're financially, like in the last couple of years financially, you've really kind of sorted everything out structurally, you know, you know where your money is, you know where it's coming from and you know what you can do with it.

It's like we decided recently we were going to join a gym, but we didn't want to join just the gym, so we joined Champney's Health Club instead.

And yeah, we paid for that outright and nice.

It was in the pot.

We paid for it.

And now we go.

We just literally will either go off to work or we'll just go and sit in the Jacuzzi or we'll go to the gym or take a class or something just to get out, forget out of the house.

Because we do need to get out of the house a bit more.

Yeah, me and Emma.

Sorry, switch off, Switch off.

Yeah, me and Emma went to.

Went out for breakfast this morning and I think this is.

This actually for me.

And I was talking to someone over the weekend about business and I think we grow up, don't we?

And we grow up and we're.

You're.

You're the same, you're grafters, you work, you work really hard.

And I think we've grown up in the generation where, like, parents have probably told us, you gotta go to work, go to work, go to work, you know, go to work.

But actually, now it's like we're starting to see that we can go to work.

But you're working a lot smarter, aren't you, with your prices and stuff like that.

So, yeah,.

So I was talking to someone about that the other day.

It was like, you know, when, when we finished school, it was like, you've got to get a job or go to uni and that's it.

And then, you know, you, you get married, you have a family, you get a mortgage and that.

That's kind of your life, isn't it?

Whereas now, like with our kids, we're like, don't settle down.

Don't go to uni.

Get out the education as quickly as possible.

Yeah.

See the world.

Go and experience things and then consider those things if you want to.

Yeah.

And I think.

But I think, like, business owners get to this point where they think, you know, I've got to be open all the hours.

I've got to work Monday to Saturday and I need to be open on Saturdays because people can't get to me at the weekend during the week.

And, you know, I've got to offer my services all the time.

Whereas you're like, tipping this on its head and you're like, well, actually, we're going to close.

We're going to go work four days a week instead.

And we're choosing, we're choosing to do that.

And I think that's the real sort of the beauty of running your own.

That must be the, the reason to run your own business, isn't it, to have that choice.

So it's.

Is it like, I don't live to work, I kind of work to live and enjoy myself.

Yeah, yeah.

He tipped it on its head, you know, and you, you're select, like, probably when you're electricians, you're probably, like, grabbing whatever contracts you could and probably gone, well, that's loads of money.

So we'll do that.

But it's a.

A horrible contract to do.

No one else wants to do it, but because it's paying X amount of thousands, we'll.

We'll just have to do it.

Whereas now, like you said, like, I don't actively go out for cats, but if I get it, fantastic, you know, or I'll choose the customers that I want to work with, I'll choose the hours that I want to work.

This choice, isn't it choice freedom, really.

Yeah.

Kind of free.

And if we decide, like, you know, in a couple of weeks, I don't fancy working Tuesday morning, let's go for breakfast, we'll go and do that.

Or if we want to do something, like we said the other day, we, we need to book off.

We normally go away in June for, like, a couple of nights.

So we're like, oh, yeah, we need to book that out and just go and get that done.

And obviously, still trying to book a holiday for the summer, but,.

But the, the empowering thing part, the empowering part of that is that knowing your numbers so that when you want to make those decisions, you know, that's okay, because X, Y and Z works out and we can do that.

Yeah.

And obviously having.

We work with Vicky now at the pet accountant.

And I know that if I need to know something I can just phone them or I talk to you and if, you know, if I've got something that I need to buy or something like that and try and work out how to buy it rather than just go and get it on credit.

Yeah, any debt, we have like no credit cards or anything like that, so we're completely debt free and that's all been paid off with dog grooming.

Yeah, it's incredible.

It was like learning about the pots and things like that and just putting everything aside and living within our means for a while and now we can just.

Well, yeah, I fancy that this week we'll have that.

Yeah, yeah.

New dishwasher.

Yeah, we're going to get that.

I'm going to get that.

Yeah, Joy, isn't it?

But, yeah, but this is, but this is it, isn't it?

Because we laugh like a new dishwasher.

But that can cause you real stress if something breaks and you can't, you know, have to go and get another loan or another credit card or I'm gonna have to do more hours in the salon just to be able to replace that or the washing machine.

But again it starts to remove that stress from you.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, yeah, we can just, we can just.

We don't have to worry anymore, do we?

No, we don't.

We don't have any financial worries.

No.

Well, Matt looks like he sometimes worries but.

New cars, but yeah, I do it.

I'll make my mind up.

So.

Oh yeah, we'll get, we'll get this Mercedes that we've seen and then it's petrol and then obviously everything petrol wise goes up and they think, oh, maybe we should get electric.

Maybe far maybe, you know, maybe that's the next way to go.

And then it's like, oh, there's just so much choice, isn't there?

There is.

And that's another.

Sit down and discuss it like.

Well, we discuss it on the program quite a bit, don't we?

Like buyer's remorse.

Oh, it's just another car, you know, what could you do with the, the monthly money anyway?

I just think, oh, but we could spend that in the garden.

I need to do some bits in the garden.

I Decide I spend 200 pound a month on a car or more.

Yeah, I think you're dreaming.

200.

Get some electric cars for under £200amonth.

Yeah, and then.

But then some of them look really space agey and then they have really random weird color effects like the Renault 5 has denim seats with yellow liners just like.

What are they thinking?

Well, you're not in your 20s anymore.

Come on.

Turned up with one a few months ago and I was like, oh, that's really cool.

But would it be really cool every day for the next four years while you're paying it off?

That's the thing, isn't it?

I think it would be.

And then I think, well, you know, like Fanny and Robin say, you know, just buy something that's maybe like 10, 15 grand and yeah, it doesn't matter what you do with it then.

So obviously we, we've got our, we've got our company car and then my son went and bought a Peugeot.

It's a 15 reg Peugeot 208.

We've been running around in that.

This morning we went down to breakfast and that.

It's like being in.

It's like me and Emma, like you, we met when we were in teenagers and stuff and it's like, it's like big.

It's like skipping school and going out for breakfast and resume in the countryside in the, in the Peugeot 208.

It was good fun, you know.

Right.

We like Zach's.

That's got the Polo.

That's got the Polo, Joel's got the Fiesta and I much prefer the Polo.

Yeah.

Like now you're not borrowing my car, whereas Joel's like, yeah, if you need to borrow it, it's fine, but you want to play that, William?

In a minute.

Cool.

So what do you think?

Where do you think you're heading in the next sort of couple of years then with Hazel Ground.

Hazel Grove House.

How would you choose that name?

When I, when I had the trailer and I started, because I just started in Brook and I hadn't kind of planned on moving around at all.

Matt's parents house called Hazel Grove Farm and I just thought Hazel Grove hand sounds quite posh.

So I kind of wanted that kind of clientele.

I wanted that upper class, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

Which most of them are, aren't they?

Most of them, yes.

Yeah.

The majority will turn up in Range Rovers.

Me and Emma were discussing this in the car this morning because we were talking about pet groomer names and we were saying like, I wonder if people ever, when they think of their name.

I wonder if they ever pretend to answer the phone and try and say their name because there's a few out there who are like, how do you say that on the phone sort of thing.

But then like Emma pointed out, a lot of them don't answer the Phone.

So actually you answer the phone now for me.

All right, I'll answer the phone.

I really hated answering the phone for a long time.

But yeah, I'm much better at it now.

I've do 80 of the course.

Oh, you do?

Because I'm normally busy now.

So where do you see yourself in a couple years time then?

Definitely only working four days a week.

Any hobbies?

This is what.

This is where we're getting to now with some of the program members.

It's like, right, you, you know, you're earning the money that you want.

You're working less hours than you need to, like, you know, going down to four days a week.

Some even going down to three days a week.

And then the.

And I could see it in these.

In the program members are like, you get bored, like.

And I.

So now we're starting to think about, well, what kind of hobbies would you like to do sort of thing.

So we joined Champney's and I used to really like swimming, but I kind of just never had the time to do it.

So now I've actually got back into swimming, which I really like to do.

You just like to paddle really, don't you?

I'll do a couple lengths.

I mean, going quite happy to sit in the jacuzzi.

Yeah.

Whereas I'd rather just like swim up and down for like 10 lengths and then get in the jacuzzi.

And I kind of really, kind of think that helps with my mental health and that going.

Have any hobbies.

We're like, we like traveling.

Like traveling, like trips away, Weekend breaks.

Yeah,.

More travel, more traveling, more traveling.

Kids are getting older.

Yeah, kids are getting older.

It just gives you that opportunity to go away and like long longer weekends away.

Working four days a week.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

We can leave on the Friday night.

Yeah.

Friday night, come back Monday night and you know, just jump on an airplane or jump in a car and just go somewhere nice and do some random stuff.

Yeah.

What we do anymore?

We haven't done any hobbies for so long.

I don't even remember what we did.

We're just too busy working, aren't we, at times?

Yeah.

The four children.

Cinema and go to pub.

Oh, we did do that when we were away last year.

Went to the pub and played pool, didn't we?

Pool, yeah.

So like doing that.

We might do that.

We might play pool.

Yeah.

Go to the pub and play pool.

Why not?

Make some new friends and.

Yeah, that was the hope of shamblings, wasn't it?

My meets and yeah.

New people in the Jacuzzi.

You'll be driving around in Range Rovers all sorts of.

No times.

No, you won't be having a Range Rover.

Well, I mean, you've.

You've designed the business that you wanted and, you know, when you first joined us and you said you're electricians, I was like, oh, w. We going to replace this income?

Like, because I just had this idea that your electricians would be earning lots of money.

But you've done it.

You know, you've done it.

You've.

You've smashed your income, you've reduced your hours, you know, you're designing that.

That business and that life that you want, so.

Yeah, yeah, no, exactly.

So, well, I'll leave you.

Leave you to your day off.

Thanks for joining me and hopefully catch up with you at Groomfest or something like that.

Nothing booked in till October.

Pet Expo.

Pet Expo.

We'll see you there.

Obviously see you on the calls as well.

Yeah, exactly.

All right, lovely.

Thank you.

Thanks a lot.

Take care.

Bye.

Bye.

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