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Michelle Smith saw a need in her community south of Traverse City, Michigan, for dog grooming. As a recent graduate of the Paragon School of Pet Grooming, she opened her own business and dove right into working. Shortly, she gained a heavy workload, and Michelle found Learn2GroomDogs.com to be a lifesaver. “Learn2GroomDogs seriously saved me big time, it saved me anxiety and stress, it was exactly what I needed.”

In the past, Michelle has worked in multiple professions, including jobs in corporate America, and owning a horse farm. She became interested in grooming because of her love for animals and a desire to work from home. She then started her profession of dog grooming at the age of 55 and opened her in-home shop, Boardman Bath and Brush. She found that the close, home-like environment also works to make the clients feel comfortable in a safe and personal environment.

“I wanted it to be more of a family feel,” Michelle said. “I’ve been booked solid since I opened in November after graduating from Paragon. People are loving it.

“Many people in my area love the home shop more than corporate shops,” She continued. “People like the smaller, in-home and clean feeling. It’s also easier to build trust. I honestly haven’t even advertised; it’s been word of mouth and recommendations.”

The Paragon graduate found that being involved with the horse community before starting grooming helped find a community of people who also loved animals, making it easier to spread the word about her home business. Through this community she found herself grooming many farm dogs and educating people on grooming needs of the many breeds who run around farms.

“Farm dogs are a big [client for me],” Michelle said. “People wouldn’t probably consider bringing their farm dogs into a groomer. Because I’m smaller, I try to go all-inclusive and take care of them the best I can. That really draws people.”

Michelle said that jumping into a business so soon after completing Paragon’s program made her hesitant to start working. However, the resources Paragon offered in their program and Learn2GroomDogs.com has eased that pressure and given Michelle a new confidence in taking care of dogs.

“I’ve gone through [Learn2GroomDogs.com] for hours,” she continued. “It is a huge reliever and confidence builder. It’s continuing education to the MAX. You can select your level of expertise, and if the customer wants something special, I have the option to learn more in depth things.”

Michelle said her favorite part of the job is the dogs. Even with more energetic clients that are tough to groom, she finds joy in loving on animals and building trust with the pet owners.

Check out this great story from Misty Gieczy, she is a Certified Master Groomer that has used Learn2GroomDogs as her source of education since it first launched!

Misty Gieczys’ is a lifelong learner. She is heavily involved in the dog grooming and competition communities, and any chance she gets to learn new techniques or styles, she jumps on the opportunity.

Misty’s introduction to working with dogs started as a PetSmart dog trainer, but eventually transferred to a groomer. She said she was hooked ever since.

Now, nearly 15 years later, Misty is a Certified Master Groomer, owns two salons, teaches upcoming groomers and still furthers her education to become better at her craft.

“Education is my favorite part,” Misty said. “I also love being able to teach someone my skills and my passion and watch them make a living and trade out of it. It would make me giddy if they surpass me.”

Misty, owner of Designer Paws Salon in Ohio, has been going to seminars and expos to learn more for her business since 2009, has been a subscriber to Learn2GroomDogs.com since it launched. At first, the site became a tool to use for her own education, but eventually became an integral part of her own business and training operation.

“I use it for everything,” she said. “Every time we hire a new hire, I have a list of videos they need to watch before they come to me to train.”

Her passion for learning and teaching does not just extend to her business and new hires. Misty said she is a part of multiple Facebook groups that help with grooming education and consistently tells people that Learn2GroomDogs.com is an important and valuable tool for groomers of all levels.

“I always suggest people get a membership,” she said. “It’s less than a DVD per month, and we get close to 900 videos now. I push that quite a bit for people who want to get into the industry, or people who need to know what to look for. There are so many different videos that people who don’t actually groom can get education from.”

Misty said a reason she recommends educational tools to other people is because she believes it is hard to find education readily accessible to groomers to refresh their skills or learn new things without going to Expos, back to school or potentially learning the wrong technique from a YouTube video.

“I don’t think a lot of people in our industry know where to get our education from,” she said. “Some think it’s just the expos, but there are seminars right at the tips of their fingers on Learn2GroomDogs.com”

Realizing there is a need for accessible education, Misty makes it a point to host seminars at her salons and continues to spread positive quality education to groomers who are looking to get into the industry and are experienced in grooming.

Misty falls into a routine of watching videos before competitions or grooming new breeds, some videos she says she has seen a hundred times, and still seems to glean extra information that she didn’t catch before.

“With repetition, you soak it in,” she said. “I recommend Learn2GroomDogs.com to literally everyone. [Learn2GroomDogs.com makes] it a lot easier for people to access that education.”

Misty is continuing her education by pursuing more certifications within the grooming industry and continuing to take her competition grooming to further levels.