Starting up your home-based dog spa

Become your own boss, in style! <3

Becoming Your Own Boss

Are you dreaming of becoming a home-based groomer but don’t know where to start? Maybe you’ve already begun setting things up—like choosing a business name, designing a logo, or building a website—but want to be sure you’ve covered all your bases. Or perhaps you’ve been grooming a few pups here and there and are ready to make it official.

This checklist is your ultimate guide to kickstarting your home-based dog spa.

Whether you’re setting up shop in a garage, an office shed, a laundry room, or a spare room, this checklist will help you create the foundation for the most exciting chapter of your working life.

Switching to a home-based grooming setup allowed me to:

“Do what you love, love what you do,
and you'll never work a day in your life”
Confucius

While the list may seem a little long, most of the tasks are one-and-done. Think of it as your final “job application” for a career that offers mind-blowing raises, bonuses, and unmatched flexibility.

1. Business Setup

Business Entity, Permits, Licenses, Certification

• Check your city’s/state’s rules for licenses for operating a grooming business.

• Check your city’s Code of Ordinance for rules and regulations on working from your home within city limits (and for industrial purposes or mobile grooming) if you plan to work from a store with multiple employees or from your grooming van.)

• Check the HOA (Home Owners Association) rules in your area (if applicable)

• Get training to become a dog groomer. (some states/countries do not require official training, though it is highly recommended to get quality training to avoid injury and provide quality work.)

• Get training to understand dog behavior in more detail.

• Find an accountant.

  • Can help with choosing a business identity

  • Answer questions about accounting and taxes.

  • Helps you pick a software to pay yourself and Uncle Sam. (Like Gusto)

• Find an attorney (not a must, but nice to have if you have the budget for it) for advice and to set up an LLC.

• Decide your business identity. (Sole proprietorship/LLC)

• Choose a business name. (Check the availability of domain and SM names before a final decision!)

• Register your business name. DBA in case of a sole proprietorship, LLC name if an LLC. (An accountant can help.)

• Decide if you need/want to get an EIN number. Apply if needed. (An accountant can help.)

• Get a business license from your city (if applicable).

• Get a business bank account *with a custom login and “read-only” access to your accountant*.
  (for example, Frost Bank offers custom login, but UFCU Bank DOES NOT.)

• Get a Business phone and phone # (this will help you feel like you “clocked out.”)

• Buy the domain name for your website

• Get a business email address

• Separate business expenses from the beginning; purchase only from your business account; do NOT use your personal accounts or personal cards if at all possible.

• Keep and organize expense invoices.

• Find business insurance

• Find health insurance

• Register at the local Comptroller to Pay Sales and Use Tax if applicable. (In my case, I had to pay quarterly until I started making above 10k a month for three consecutive months, and then they switched me to pay monthly.)

2. Dog spa location and set up

• Pick a location for your spa (a room in your house/office shed/garage/separate building, etc.)

• Get the basic grooming tools

• Get a washer and dryer for the spa (or set up laundry services)

• Prep the room for wet dogs and loose hair

  • Tile, no carpet or wood floors

  • Hot and cold water access

  • Drain for the tub and washer

  • Grooming table

  • Grooming tub

  • I don’t even have a checkout counter or a place for my clients to sit down. :P I do the meet and greets outside anyways to enjoy the fresh air.

  • Furniture for storage - just the bare minimum, and you’ll upgrade/add later

• Organize the room (so dogs will be entertained, more still, and more cooperative)

  • grooming table in front of a window

  • tub in front of or close to a window (or in front of a window if you have multiple windows

  • washer and dryer out of the way but close by for comfort

  • storage

  • etc.

2.1. Track Your Progress

• Get a basic calendar for your business (or do it online)

• Mark business management appointments (with your accountant, attorney, bank, etc. it’ll be only a few.)

• Make quick notes, and mark milestones on what you did on which day.
  This will help you feel you are making progress until you transition from the employee mindset to the entrepreneur mindset.

  • What you planned to do

  • What you accomplished (Celebrate and cut yourself some slack if your inner educator comes after you! You are exploring new territory, and it takes time and research and make a decision. So kudos!)

  • When your first client came

  • Holiday Greetings and newsletters to be sent out

  • When your 100th client came

  • When you first hit $100 a day in revenue

  • When you first hit $500 a day in revenue

  • When you first hit $1000 a day in revenue

  • etc.

3. Day-to-Day Operations

• Choose and sign up for a CRM software for home-based groomers to schedule your appointments and manage and invoice clients. We highly recommend petgroomerapp.com.

• Decide your accepted payment methods. (You can expand this later.)

  • cash

  • check

  • Apple Pay

  • Venmo

  • Zelle

  • PayPal

  • Stripe for card payments, digital currencies

  • precious metal if you want to go fancy, etc.

• Sign up/Create accounts for your accepted payment methods

• Set up your accepted payment methods in the CRM.

• Set up your services and products in the system.
  (Comes ready to go at Pet Groomer App - wink wink :)

• Decide and set up your business days and hours

• Decide and set up your days off/vacations/holidays

• Decide and set up your hourly rate (or flat fees, but that is not recommended)

• Choose and set up what fees you’ll use (supply fees, late drop-off/pickup fees, Skip the Line! Fee, etc.)

3.1. Business Management 101

• Figure out a client intake workflow for new and old clients

  • How are you going to accept appointment/estimate requests?
    Like email only, contact forms, how to manage phone calls, text messages, etc. (I do email only for new clients and don’t even pick up the phone at all. For old clients, I guide them to client portal/email/text messages mostly so I don’t lose my mind over admin work.)

  • Spa Rules

    1. Drop off/pickup

    2. Fees (supply fee, late pick-up/drop-off fee, urgent appt/Skip the line! fee, etc.)

    3. How to drop off the dog (on a leash)

  • Liability Waiver/Client Release Form

    1. To cover you legally in case of an injury to the dog

  • New Client Intake Form

    1. To know how tricky the dog is

    2. Signing spa rules

    3. Signing waiver

  • Decide what paperwork you require from clients

    • Rabies only or

    • Other vaccination records

• Have your clients sign a waiver form before you put them on the schedule.

• Keep track of the daily/weekly reports and see how did your business do

• Check in with yourself (and ideally with a mentor as well) about how you feel about your

  • Milestones

  • Business setup

  • Progress

  • Roadblocks

  • etc.

3.2. Day-to-day Ops - Scheduling and checking out your clients

• Start accepting clients

• Send beautiful itemized estimates for clarity, and to weed out the bad-fit clients and prevent no-shows

• Schedule clients

• Sit back and relax, automated booking confirmations and reminders are sent out automatically (instead of sending out reminders manually)

• Open the door for the client, groom doggies

• Send a fancy invoice

• Check out clients

• Deposit the cash revenue at the bank/make transfers in the apps. (The digital transfers post in 1-3 days.)

• Pay yourself weekly/biweekly/monthly/as you need money and have the funds in your business bank account. You can transfer money as you need it. Your accountant will take care of the rest. (You can automate it in Gusto if you want to go fancy, your accountant will help you with this.)

• Put aside the money for the sales tax (weekly). (Run a report or ask your accountant.)

• Ask your accountant about your projected income for the next year and put aside/pay the money for federal/state tax (monthly/quarterly).

• Rinse and repeat.

3.3. Admin automations

• Set up keyboard shortcuts for texts and missed calls

• Set up canned responses for email (e.g., for new clients about the client intake flow, what paperwork is needed, etc.)

4. How are you different? - Positioning

• Are you 1-on-1 only?

• Do you specialize in something?

  • Tired of being a bather for someone? Open your “Essentials” Dog Spa, where you offer Face, Feet, Fanny trims, nail care, baths, brushes, and blowouts. (the very same services that you did as an employee but for premium prices.

  • Don’t want to go down the fancy/competition haircuts trail? Offer hobby trims only. (No, it doesn’t mean that you should charge lower prices.)

  • Have a favorite breed/breed group? Specialize in them, and don’t take any other breeds.

• What services do you offer, and what do you not? (Check the built-in list at the Pet Groomer App, use what you want or create your brand new list!)

• What makes you different from other groomers in the area?

• Decide your business philosophy and mission.

• Any specialties you bring to the table? (dog training experience, vet tech experience, small dog specialty, breed specialty, dog massage, organic products, natural products, no cages, no cage dryers, etc.)

• Share these on your website and social media platforms. (next section)

To really nail the positioning of your business, here are a few books to listen to/read.

Suggested reading

These are B2B resources but are fantastic for our dog spas as well. They contain much more advanced info and strategies than what’s available for the grooming industry.

They have audiobook formats. ;-)

April Dunford

Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It

Sales Pitch! - How to Craft a Story to Stand Out and Win!

Alex Hormozi

$100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No

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5. Branding

• Get a Logo

• Get a Color scheme for your business (pick 2-3 colors)

  • Look up local human spas for high-end design inspiration.

  • or ask Chat GPT!

• Website (See my website for inspiration: wholesomedoodlespa.com)

  • Contact Info

  • Address

  • About

  • Philosophy

  • GALLERY

  • Services/Pricing

  • Contact form (to avoid spam)

  • Social Media Links

  • Accepted Payment Methods listed

  • Decide Your Spa Rules

  • Write Up Your Spa’s Liability Waiver or Terms of Service and

  • Newsletter Subscription

6. Getting new clients - FAST

This topic has its own blog post here.

• Sign up for Social Media and Business Platforms

  • Google Business Account - critically important

  • Yelp - critically important

  • Facebook

  • Tik Tok if you fancy it

  • Instagram

  • NextDoor

  • etc.

• Post images, videos, and cute notes on these platforms (as often as you can)

  • Pick one, stick with it for a week's worth of posts, and then go to another to get a feel of it.

  • Once all platforms have a few posts, rotate them.

  • Posting the same thing on different platforms for a while is OK.

• Ask happy clients to leave reviews about their experience with you

  • Ask for a review on one platform per client so they won’t feel overwhelmed, and send a direct link to them so they can do it fast.

  • Have a keyboard shortcut for “rvw” on your phone so you don’t “type your day away.” (See handouts for keyboard shortcuts for inspiration.)

• Set up Digital business cards (*see images below!)

  • Save your business as a new contact in your phone and share it with your clients (so they can reach you and share it with others at the dog park)

• Post in local dog groups where allowed/asked (by breed, by location, “Pugs of Austin,” etc.)

• Get Printed business cards (nice to have, not a must)

• Share business cards with local businesses (vet clinics, dog boarding facilities, pet supply stores (without on-site groomers), dog-friendly places like Bark Park (bar and dog run in Austin, TX), etc.)

“Digital Business Card” AKA Phone Contact Example

7. Deductions

The fun part you didn’t get to do as an employee. All the hard work setting up your business will pay off year-round, but especially around tax time if you played your cards right.

Have a sit-down, face-to-face meeting with your accountant to discuss deductions, what applies, what doesn’t, and any loopholes for your exact situation.

Connect your Recurring Business Expenses (subscriptions) to your business account to deduct them as business expenses! Confirm with your accountant first!

Recurring Business Expenses (subscriptions) Examples

• Internet

• Health Insurance

• Business Insurance

• Phone Bill

• Phone Insurance

• Laptop Insurance

• CRM software subscription

• Spotify subscription

• Amazon Audible subscription

• Amazon Prime Subscription

• Car Payment (if applies)

• Car Insurance (if applies)

• Car Registration

• Domain Payment

• Accountant Fees for Bookkeeping and Filing Sales Tax

• Accountant Fees for Filing Tax Returns

• ChatGPT

• Lawn care

• etc.

Not Recurring Business Expenses

• Grooming Supplies (shampoo, clippers, clipper blades, grooming table, and tub, shampoo, conditioner, ear powder, etc.)

• New Phone

• New Laptop

• Office Supplies (anything from chairs and printers to printing paper or toilet paper, pens, etc.)

• Business Cards

• Website Designer Fees

• Curb appeal

• Room Decoration

• Grooming tools

• etc.

Home office reimbursement

If you are grooming from home, keep track of

• the sq footage of the spa

• the sq footage of your home

• Utility bills by month (Google Sheets will do) so that you can claim a deduction based on the size of your dog spa relative to the size of your home.

  • Water

  • Electricity

  • Trash

  • Gas

  • Etc.

You can do it throughout the year or a few weeks/months before the tax filing deadline so your accountant can work with the numbers to minimize your tax liability.

See the number by the Home office reimbursement? That’s the number I’ll write on the check for myself for the year for home office reimbursement. Grooming from home is FUN in so many ways!! :D