We recently connected with Chelsea Oats and have shared our conversation below.

Chelsea, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Ever since entering the work force I have always worked for someone else and would hit these walls with my jobs where I did not agree with how things were ran or just was not happy where I was. That did not change when I began my grooming career in 2017. I hopped around from shop to shop to mobile to then shop again to just to find my happiness in my workplace. I never seemed to find that. So October of 2020 I got to a point where I was no longer happy where I was working and I wanted a big change. A big contributing factor into why I even started my business is that my husband is Active Duty Air Force and at the time that I wanted that change we potentially only had a year left at our current duty station and I did not want to continue shop hopping until I was happy. So I decided to start my own grooming business. Since I have worked in a mobile unit a few times before I knew I loved it and that was my next goal. At the time of being unsure what the future held with my husband’s Military orders we decided to hold off on the van. The idea of House-call came along. There are actually a lot of groomers that offer house-call, but only a couple in San Antonio. I hit that ground running and within three months I had a full clientale and was booked out for at least 6 weeks.

Chelsea, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hey y,all! My name is Chelsea. I have always had a passion for animals ever since I was a child. Growing up my parents always had a ton of animals. I grew up with everything from chickens, ducks, ferrets, iguanas to of course the more usual pets like cats and dogs and guinea pigs. I have had it all except big farm animals. We did have a pig once that was more like a dog than anything. She was the best! So my parents most definitely began my passion. I always knew I wanted to work with animals, I just never knew how or what. Everyone always suggested I become a Veterinarian, but I never was interested in the Medical field, for humans or for animals. Back in 2016 one day I went back to my previous job to get some food and my old coworker and I were chatting and I told her I wasn’t happy at the Bank I was working at and that I wanted to work with animals. She said to me “Why don’t you become a groomer, my friend just started a mobile grooming business and she loves it.” That right there was what really lit the fire for this profession. I couldn’t just jump ship at the job I was working, but I began to do my research. Grooming school was too expensive for me at the time so I was really trying to figure out the best route for me. I figured the best bet was to began at PetSmart. They send you to school and you have to sign a contract to work for them for two years. So I applied and was hired. However the manager at the time lied to me, I’ll spare those details, but he put me in their Petcare department. One day I went to target and there was a truck and trailer mobile grooming company in the parking lot. I decided to stop the woman going to the truck and ask her some questions. She was actually looking for an assistant at the time and she said she would train me while I worked for her. So I decided to work for her on my days off. That unfortunately didn’t last long because she had to close her business and sell her trailer to help her husband with his business. So skip ahead a few months I went to grooming school. Skip ahead a few more years and here I am. On October 7, 2022 I officially hit two years of filing my LLC and owning my business. House-call was never the end goal for me. With the unsurities of my husband’s military career it was not a good idea to get a mobile unit at the time of opening my business. However, now that there has been some changes it was time for me to take that next big step. I ordered my grooming van in December and due to a ton of supply and demand issues there was a backlog, but I should finally be getting it in the next couple of months. My absolute dream business venture is having a tiny grooming salon on my property in the future so when I have kids they can be with me or if they’re old enough they can be at the house while I’m working.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I opened my business during peak covid when many were still very scared of it all. In the beginning I was really unsure that people would even want house-call services and a random stranger entering their home. In January of 2021, only two months in of really starting my business I almost quit it all. I was so slow and I thought it was going to fail. I got a lot of no’s due to people’s fear of covid. I was defeated. This business that I just started was already over. Instead of giving up I switched my marketing gears and started advertising on other avenues. Then things started to come together. I am so happy I did not give up and I put my faith in myself and my business.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Ever since I began grooming I have always groomed on the side at my home for those that just wanted to come to me. When it came time to starting my grooming business that was the original plan, to groom from home. However, as I went through the research and processes I quickly found out it is actually not allowed to conduct a grooming business out of one’s home in the city of San Antonio. Thus the concept of house-call was my next step.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cccgrooming.wixsite.com/groom
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chelseascaninecreations/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chelseascaninecreations