Providing the safest and most comfortable groom at your home or office.

It's not just a "tagline" - it's our philosophy.

Vanity Fur Mobile Pet Salons is dedicated to your pet's safety & comfort. Our state-of-the-art mobile salons have all the amenities of a grooming shop and are specifically equipped to accommodate extra-large breeds and senior dogs. Once our groomer arrives, your pet’s specific needs will be discussed. Once your pet steps in the salon, our groomer will take a few minutes to get familiar with and help your pet relax.

Vanity Fur's mobile groomer puts your pet's safety and comfort first. Always.

Hello everybody.

I am so excited that you are here.

I want you to meet my guest Jean Marie Ariano, who I met at My Friend's

Christmas party last December.

She has over 12 years of upper management experience in the hospitality industry,

having worked with popular concepts like the old spaghetti factory yard house

restaurants, and improv comedy clubs.

In 2010, they started vanity, fur, and steadily expanded their mobile

pet grooming services each year until they began franchising in 2022.

With two successful franchisees and an exclusive builder for

their specialty designer vans.

My client's priority is the safety and comfort of every pet.

They strive to provide a fun and straightforward business model for pet

lovers who seek reliable and comfortable pet grooming services for the their furry.

Their ultimate goal is to expand nationwide and become a leading

name in the pet grooming industry.

So Jean, I'm so excited that you are here because I love what you're doing and

I think that, Your model is gonna be a total home run, so welcome to my podcast.

Thank you, Phyllis for having me.

I appreciate it.

Great bio.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Oh, thank you.

It's just me.

And chat.

G b t.

If you, if you haven't heard of chat, G B T, you should because.

It is a total game changer in today's world.

So why don't we start?

I always love for people to understand why someone would decide to start a franchise,

and I've helped several people like yourself get started in this business, and

I would love to hear what changed in your life that made you decide to go down this.

Well, so the first change was coming out of the hospitality industry.

Mm-hmm.

And although I was working in fun concepts and doing really well

there, something was continuously telling me I, I wasn't fulfilled.

Mm-hmm.

And so the first step out was to.

Learn dog grooming.

I mean, I really researched it and just decided I wanna do something.

I love working with pets and have fun doing it.

And mobile grooming found me.

I went to school and got the first mobile built, so that was.

That first, you know, where I stepped out.

And then once I started the business, just realizing the

demand for mobile pet grooming.

Mm-hmm.

Honestly, even when I was in, pet grooming school, I had asked the, the

owner of that school, why, why are you building vehicles for other people

in creating your own competition?

Why don't you just franchise?

Mm-hmm.

And she thought that was ludicrous.

Like, do you, you have no idea.

How much it takes to, to have a franchise and the investment and all

of this, and, and I probably, she sparked that Entrepreneur in me that

said, well, then I've gotta do it.

So, exactly.

Yeah.

It was really the demand.

It was honestly the demand.

When what we say, when people go mobile, they never go back.

And that's true for groomers and it's true for, owners of pets.

It's just such a low anxiety experience.

And I thought this has to be everywhere.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Well, you know, I've got two little furry animals that are not here

right now because they're in their favorite place, which is my car.

Which is where they sit while I do my podcast cuz they think it's kennel.

So, hey, I'm good with that.

Yeah, because, and you should be too, cuz they're not gonna be barking.

the one has long hair so she definitely needs grooming and

brushing out on all of that.

And, I.

Love what you're doing and I can't wait for you to open one around here so I can

have you have them come visit me so I can let my dogs enjoy that experience.

Yes.

So tell us about the journey.

you expanded, you became a franchise, but you wanna be cautious that you don't find.

Franchise owners that are just groomers because they're gonna be so busy grooming,

they're not gonna be growing the business.

Mm-hmm.

So we want our audience to know that while it's okay to own the business

and do the grooming, and that's where your ladies, I believe, have started,

and you're gonna share that story.

But it's also important for people to realize that we're

looking for business people.

That see a need in the market and they're good at managing teams, so they'll

be good at making sure the scheduling is done and the marketing is done.

But they're not gonna be doing the grooming cuz they can't groom and build

a big business both at the same time.

Correct.

it is possible.

But just like you said, we are looking for business minded folks

that love animals, wanna enjoy.

Semi absentee.

There's not a lot of, investment with the home-based business

in terms of time, and money.

And so, you know, that's the owner that we're looking for with Vanity

Fur that really understands that everything we're doing is about

safety and comfort, for the pets.

And, and so somebody that's passionate for animals as well is, is the owner for us?

Oh, definitely.

I'm sure they have to have a dog because That would be one of my reasons.

Well, I my own business then get groomed all the time.

Yeah.

It's a perk.

Yeah, for sure.

Definitely a great perk.

Okay, so continue on with your story as I keep interrupting you.

Yeah.

So, okay, so I started the business in 2010 with my first

mobile, I was the groomer.

so the next year.

I Realized that the mobile that was built for me wasn't really conducive to the

large, most senior dog or the groomer.

Mm-hmm.

Because they had to jump in and out of the vehicle and I had to

lift and that wasn't working.

So then, I found a builder and I customized the second, my second

mobile and got a, got a great groomer, and then did the same thing.

Year three.

Found I always was improving upon the build of the vehicle

because I wanted it just right.

I wanted it to solve problems for the large, most senior dog with hip dysplasia.

The groomer, you know, had a good experience as well and didn't

have to, lift the dogs So I kept that going for year 2, 3, 4.

and then we did have trucks and trailers.

so I realized we really need to get into the vans.

Mm-hmm.

And so then I spent, 15 months, I found a great, and I always believe

everything comes to you for a reason.

I met the builder at a groom expo.

He'd never been in any grooming expo ever, and I, I wasn't going to them either.

Mm-hmm.

I happened to go to this one.

Because I had somebody interested in the franchise opportunity and I said,

well, why don't you come to this, this crazy thing that is this groom expo

where all are, all these groomers are doing these coloring and all this fun.

And I met this, this builder, and we've developed a great relationship and him and

his son started their business as well.

They've been building.

vans for a different part of the dog grooming industry.

Mm-hmm.

And wanted to get into the mobile grooming industry because

they realized the huge demand.

Mm-hmm.

And so then we've developed this, and now he's an exclusive builder.

We've built the most amazing van with lithium batteries,

solar power wrap system.

The table goes all the way to the floor.

It solves every problem for the groomer and the dogs.

So it's fabulous.

Yeah.

So now do you have one of those van.

At home now that is out being used.

Oh yeah.

We've been, testing it out for well over six months and, and

we tested it out during a cloudy covered California month, which has

been a lot recently, as you know.

Right.

Wow.

Yeah.

Crazy.

Yeah.

And so we actually didn't plug that van in for 30 days and we

were running it, six days a.

All, all day full-time, and we could never get our batteries under 75%.

So Wow.

It's been really, yeah, it's been fabulous.

So, a lot of mobile grooming, vehicles rely on generators.

Mm-hmm.

And generators require a lot of repair and maintenance costs.

and we had propane on ours, so there's propane costs, you know,

associated with that, we've eliminated all of those costs with these.

You know, so that's a thing that people don't take into consideration

and they don't think about.

So first of all, we know when people think franchising, at least

in my experience, they think food.

Nothing wrong with food, just you didn't go into food, you just spent all those

years in food, didn't go into food.

Funny how that is.

But anyway, it's a lot of work.

It's, but I'm not saying you didn't, you're not a hard

worker cuz you clearly are.

But the thing that I love about franchising is look at all the time

and effort and research and all the things that you've been doing along

the way that brings you to today.

And that's one of the things that's so great is that you have.

this business model that is all perfected and ready to go and you've

gotten all the kinks out of it.

So people aren't gonna have to spend that time and money

like you have to this point.

Absolutely.

And you know, think because I was a groomer for so long, not only does it

resonate with the groomers that I hire, you know, I was talking to a candidate

yesterday and she said, I really respect that you are somebody that knows grooming.

Mm-hmm.

Because that's, that's really important.

So I think when we teach, Our, franchise owners.

Mm-hmm.

and we can give them the perspective of what the groomer goes through so they

understand what their groomers Yep.

Are going through.

But had somebody come to me in 2010 and said, I have this pretty little

business and it's called vanity Fur, and all of the kinks have been worked

out, you're not gonna have to spend thousands of dollars learning something.

Mm-hmm.

You know, I might not have understood it at the time, but boy do I understand

it, it now, like the value of it.

For sure.

Is that the truth?

Yeah, no, that's fabulous.

And you know, it's interesting, one of the words that we use in

our industry is train the trainer.

So it could be that you will find that you will have to teach your owners maybe

some of the basics of, of grooming, right?

Mm-hmm.

So that if, if their groomer calls in sick, that they can

maybe do something about.

So I got a funny story for you.

I owned a printing business in downtown San Francisco and it was 10 o'clock

at night and I'm at the shop with our counter girl, her name was Nadia.

She was amazing.

And the phone rings and I pick it up laughing and it was my

husband and he said, Now remind you, this is a long time ago.

We didn't have cell phones.

My, the phone was, you know, on the wall.

He says to me, do I hear the press in the background, who's running it?

I said, I am.

He said, where's Randy?

He's not here.

So he said, what are you doing?

I said, well, our best customer came and they needed the

job done, so I did the job.

And, so he, but the point of the story was that I was resourceful

because I've always been resourceful.

It's kind of part of being a female entrepreneur.

I think we, we make things happen one way or the other, right?

Yes.

And.

It wasn't the best job we'd ever done, but I got the, I had him shoot the plates that

shows you how old I am, shoot the plates.

I could put 'em on the press and we ran the job and the customer was happy.

So the point of that is that sometimes brands will train

the owner how to do that.

Now, the trainer at Sir Speedy came in during the two week training

they would have, and he'd say, okay, today you're gonna learn how

to use the press, but I don't want to get a whiny call on the phone.

And so you're not making any money and come in and find

out that you're the pressman.

That's not why we're doing this.

Yeah, we're doing this for that emergency time when the pressman gets

sick and you've got your best customer and you know, maybe you can do a wash

and a little bit of a trim, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

Although we would never expect our owners to jump in as a dog groomer

because there is a lot there.

but the beauty about our business being a home-based

mobile type of business is that.

If, let's just say, you know, a groomer will be sick one day, we,

we can reschedule those clients.

That's correct.

And we don't actually have to go to the building and open up regardless

of whether or not we have clients.

So no employees, no clients, its the same with the sales if we know how much

business we have going forward as well.

So I just want the future owners to understand, that, they wouldn't

have to jump in as a dog groomer.

That might be a little scary for them.

Nice.

So, that brings me to a really good point.

So tell me about while you're new, but tell me about what your

training is it gonna be all about and how long is your training?

Yeah.

So first of all, we've developed all of our training into a

learning management system.

I don't know if I can say the name, but it's pretty, well known.

So, they're not just looking into a book, the groomer or the owner.

It's very interactive.

it's all on your device.

so, you get to learn, that way.

So it makes it easier to follow.

we have that for the groomers as well as the owners.

and everything that we train in that period of time is how to hire the

groomer, how to get that groomer in, how to support the groomer and, and

how we keep our culture together.

As well, while everybody is working in their own vehicles separately, so

we are always apart, but together.

we train them on how we're gonna market this business and, set them up.

We have, our marketing, team that, that is outsourced and, so they'll, be with them.

And then we have career plug they help us with, hiring.

And then we have other, vendors that we have in place to help you with

your bookkeeping and everything.

We are here.

For you.

So we're gonna teach you all of that.

You don't have to learn that stuff on your own.

That's fantastic.

Yeah.

It's, a business in a box, as they say.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Which is terrific.

So, how has this changed your life since you decided to start this business?

So I don't know it, but I bet it is the truth and you hear it,

and it sounds cliche, but I don't ever really work because I do

what I love every aspect of this.

When I was a groomer, talking with the clients, going to your home, like when

we're in your area, we're going to come see you and your dogs, Phyllis,

every two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, we become family.

So I love that part of it.

The groomers love that.

how it's changed my, I mean, man.

I love what we do and I love that we're providing.

Safe and comfortable grooming for the pets.

Mm-hmm.

That is so important.

I didn't mention that We have cameras in the vans, protecting them.

Oh, right.

Yes.

Yeah.

And, and that's really what I want because I think that anything out

there in the world that can't speak for themselves should have eyes in the sky,

protecting the, the groomer as well.

making sure that, I wanna, make sure that every dog and cat gets a safe

and comfortable grooming experience.

And I work from home and, you know, when I was just running the

mobiles, it was semi absentee.

I was on vacation while the business was still working.

I mean, it's changed my life in that.

A hundred ways.

I, you know, franchising is hard.

It is difficult to become a franchisor.

It's a whole nother business that, we're coming into.

And, that's even amazing.

And all of the people I've met in the franchise industry, how

helpful they are, including you.

So, let's, let's segue over there, because you just went

to the, if a convention mm-hmm.

And, and that was in Las Vegas.

Tell me about your experience at the I F A.

So that was my second time going to the I f A.

The first one was the, your previous.

And I just don't think that I will ever not go to an I f A.

You meet a million people out there, everybody becomes your friend.

We're all doing the same thing.

Even competitors, you know, I, they're friendly and they're in a different place,

so it's not even really like, Competition.

Mm-hmm.

It's all friendly competition and I just learn so much every time that

I, I go to an I f A and I get so many takeaways and I get new friends as well.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

You know, I think, franchising has a culture that nobody doesn't

understand because you can have, and you've experienced this, you

can have a table of franchise.

And like you say, they could be in the same industry and you're sharing best

practices because at the end of the.

Any good franchisor, their goal is for the franchisees to be successful.

So if they can pick up ideas of things that you can do that will

help the franchisees be successful.

So if they're successful, you're successful, then everybody wins.

Mm-hmm.

And that's one of the things that I've always loved about being in the world

of franchising it is a very different culture and it is exciting as well.

It, there's just so many different things in there, you know, in, in my

team that I have as well, you know, so long I was talking my vision about.

We're gonna franchise, we're gonna be, nationwide.

And they thought I was crazy, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, Jean.

And then now that they see it and they're like experiencing it,

they're excited about this whole franchising thing and all that is

gonna come with it as well, so, yeah.

so what has been the most rewarding moment that you've had since?

Started, you know, to begin with venturing out on your own, becoming a groomer,

and then turning it into a franchise.

What's been your most rewarding moment?

you know, I remember.

When, I was in year one and I started my Facebook, you know, the

vanity for Facebook, and I would look at the likes and I thought, oh

my gosh, I have a thousand likes.

I couldn't believe it.

But now I guess I didn't realize all that I was even doing in 2010, how

much it was going to, help me here.

Mm-hmm.

And that I, get to create fellow business owners that do my

same business that can give.

You know, more to what?

I don't know, everything.

And so my franchisees have like great ideas.

Mm-hmm.

And it, I think my, that, that we've even started and I'm just so proud of it.

I, can't wait to see what happens in the next five years.

I really just can't wait.

It's just, yeah.

Yeah, well you're, you definitely have picked a niche that is, and you

know, they say the riches are in the niches, and I, I really do believe that.

And you know, the fact that you've gone into the space with pets, it's

such a huge industry that there's.

The other thing I really like is I believe that you have an abundance

mentality as opposed to a scarcity.

So it's not like, oh my God, there's gonna be so many people.

Am I gonna have enough business?

No.

There's plenty of business for everybody and even locally, if you were to drive

around my neighborhood for the next day or two, you're gonna run into.

You know, competitors, people that have started their own, they're usually

sometimes just a groomer that just sure.

Started mobile and she's trying to muddle through and figure it out.

Mm-hmm.

Well, there's enough dogs to go around is what we say, you know, there's just,

there's enough business to go around, especially in the mobile grooming.

Mm-hmm.

It, I just challenge anybody that is watching your podcast, even if you

don't have a dog, But you know, you're gonna get one or, or whatever the

thing is, call some mobile groomers and find out how booked out they are

and find, you know, you'd be surprised we, that's why I franchise as well.

I never could keep up with business.

So I could keep growing a mobile.

But wow, there's something here.

And that is why Well, people don't realize that when a franchisor comes

into a market, the first thing they look for is competition because if there's

competition, it means it's good market.

So you wanna have a lot of competition.

Mm-hmm.

It's really validating the fact that there's a need for what you do.

you might find that you could, find some independence that decide that they

love what you're doing and convert.

That'd be great.

We welcome that.

Absolutely.

Keep that in the Back of your mind.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

A lot of brands have built that way.

so what are you most proud of at this point?, I mean just, just like

I said, just to even be at the ground level of beginning the franchise.

Mm-hmm.

nobody really understands all that goes into the two years before we even.

Came to the franchise market.

Mm-hmm.

There is a lot there.

We were building out, perfecting our systems and building

the, operations manual.

That is everything that we, so we have spent a lot of time to get here.

So, I mean, just all that, all the work that we've done and my team has helped

is what has me the proudest for sure.

Find my Instagram or Our, however, they wanna find us on social media

at Vanity Furs, plural, F u r S.

you will see all of us there.

You'll see our grand openings to our franchisees.

go on my LinkedIn, vanity for mobile pet salons.

okay, hold on.

Let me create a here.

So what is your Instagram, uh, at Vanity Furs

at?

Vanity Furs, show.

There you go.

That's it.

I don't know if you'll see it That's okay.

just go to our Instagram and, and what is your phone number so I can put it

up for people if they wanna call you?

so it's, nine five, well it's, it's 8 66 Own Pet biz.

Make it easy for you.

Own Pet Biz.

B I z.

I could spell?

Yeah.

Own Pet Biz.

8 66 Own pet Biz.

How's that?

That's it.

Cool.

Yeah.

And, and our website is vanity first.com, for, for the pet grooming

side and vanity first.com/franchising for the franchise side.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right.

So, anyway, okay.

Let me see if I have any other, what haven't I asked you that I should know?

I mean, we talked about a lot here other than, you know, we, we, so just so you

know, we are California based, but we are.

registered in Texas and Florida and, are willing to grow into any market

that you're willing to enter into.

and we're gonna support you from, from day one, and, and getting ramped up.

I do wanna say this though with my second franchisee because

we're really excited about this.

So she started, vanity for Manife, that's also in Southern California.

She started her business mid-January.

did, her marketing spend.

Her mobile is almost booked to capacity already, and we're April 4th right now.

Oh, wow.

That's fantastic.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

So what kind of marketing did she do to get to that point?

So she worked with our marketing platform, the company that we work with.

So they, they help provide her with the business cards, the rack cards,

and then she did a Yelp ad, some Yelp ads and a Google business ad.

And, you know, she's, Almost completely booked.

And then our clients recur.

So once you get that human client, we've been serving clients since 2010.

We're on second and third generation, unfortunately, of dogs.

But fortunately that they stayed with us.

But you know, unfortunately, that the dogs die.

Mm-hmm.

So, so, yeah, I mean, you know, it's a recurring thing.

So all she needs to do is get them to be the raving fans of her vanity

fur, and they're gonna market for her.

So when you think back of your career, I would feel that you

learned so much in customer service being in the hospitality industry.

How have you, brought that forward into your franchise?

And your business?

Oh my gosh, that is a good one.

And nobody's ever asked me this before, but I would would like to say, because

I come from the restaurant industry and lots of different concepts, the

one I liked the most were, was really improv because everybody was having fun.

So complaints were at a minimum, and I just knew when I started my business, I.

To work where people are gonna be happy and joyful.

it's so very rare that ever there is, you know, something where I have

to step in as a, you know, kind of putting the fire out, if you will.

But even when that happens, you know, because I have all that experience,

you know, people just wanna be heard and, and even if they're complaining

about because of what I learned in the restaurants, if, if the bread was.

Then you go over there and, and you say, I'm sorry, the bread was cold.

But then if, the, table's wobbly.

And then, by the way, the server now she has a scowl and

so it becomes a huge problem.

Whereas really it started with just the bread being cold.

So I think, making sure that it doesn't turn into that fire definitely

come with that set of skills.

All Righty.

Well, thank you very much.

This has been really fun.

You're my first franchisor on the show.

That's brand new, and that was my goal is I, I brought in a seasoned person

and then I brought in somebody talking about why it's important to love your

business and you love what you do.

So that fits right into what I, I really believe in.

And then I promised everybody that I would bring young, emerging Females onto the

show so that they could get a feel for what you did and why you did what you did.

So Jean, thank you so much.

I'll have to tell Cec that we had this podcast thank God for little things.

Who knew going to a Christmas party, I'd meet a future franchisor,

Thank you so much, Phyllis.

I did not know I would meet you either and that party was so much fun because I got

to talk franchising with you all night.

Well, we're in this world, we can't help ourselves.

Right.

We just gravitated.

It was a large party, I wanna say.

and Phyllis and I found each other, which was, was super amazing.

So anyway, yes.

I appreciate Well, thank you very much.

I appreciate your time.

and thank you everybody for coming.

I do wanna put in a little plug.

I did publish a book.

It'll be in the outro, but I'm super excited.

The itty bitty franchise book, 15 Keys, finding Your Perfect Match Franchise.

So with that, have a great day and thank you so much, Jean.

I really appreciate you.

Thank you, Phyllis.

Take care.

Bye.

Thanks for listening to Fierce Females and Franchising.

We hope you feel inspired by the stories and insights shared by our amazing female

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Don't forget to tune in next week for another episode filled

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