We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Holly Baker. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Holly below.

Holly, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Pet Grooming can be misunderstood as just giving a pet haircut. Many Pet Groomers will give a pet a bath and haircut; however, our business has taken grooming to the next level. We are truly a holistic groomer in the way that we believe pet grooming is essential to preventive care for pets and can provide a higher quality of life. Groomers are the first line of defense when it comes to detecting health issues in pets. We have an opportunity to educate our clients and bring awareness to certain health issues like tartar building up on the teeth, sudden weigh loss or gain, soreness in joints, lumps appearing, hot spots that are forming. At our salon, we put our clients and communication first. We search for the products to cater to every skin condition and improve symptoms like itchiness, foot chewing, chronic matting, and know when to refer to a veterinarian for more serious conditions. Not only are our products exceptional in quality, but our team members all complete seminars and attend conferences that discuss the industry’s latest innovations and techniques. We offer creative grooming and I compete in this category. It is all pet safe products and can create a fun look for a pet that brings a Pet Parent and their pet closer together. We offer hand stripping, which is not a very available service in our area. This is the technique of stripping a wire haired coat by hand, which keeps the integrity of the coat. We have Stylists that are certified in Fear Free Grooming which allows pets who are extremely fearful or stressed over the grooming process to overcome their anxieties or triggers. We offer aromatherapy and use massage techniques to reduce anxiety, relieve muscle soreness, inflammation, or arthritis. As a salon, we do not just simply give a bath or haircut, we are offering a truly customized experience for every pet. We build relationships with our clients and are grateful for the trust they put in us to care for their pets. These pets mean the world to them, so we always look for the newest and best possible way to provide the exceptional service they deserve every visit, every time.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

– [ ] When I was 16 years old, I knew I wanted to work with animals. I wasn’t sure exactly how and knew I wanted to help them in some capacity. I was hired at a corporate company that offered grooming, training, sold animals, and pet products. I became a Professional Bather and was taught mostly about the basics of washing, drying, performing nail trims, and such. The truth was the company’s drive was around us becoming something called Power Groomers. They wanted us to groom as many pets as possible with add on services. What I realized about the add on services was how much better of a result I would get for the pet even though it took me longer. These packages typically had teeth brushing, conditioners, and allowed me to customize the shampoo. This made me curious and I wanted to understand a deeper level of this. My surface understanding was the coat would feel better just like mine does if it is conditioned and it would help remove more dead coat from the pet. I craved to know more about all pets as I started to contemplate my college choices. I started working in other areas of the pet store and became certified as an Avian Specialist and I studied all of the pocket pets, reptiles, fish, and birds. As my Senior year approached in High School. I decided to go school for Veterinary Technology as so I began my spring semester while still attending high school. The Monday after I graduated, I started full time at a veterinary clinic. During the next four years, I graduated Grooming Academy, worked at the pet hospital, and travelled around the Twin Cities as a Pet Stylist and started grooming cats. Working at the pet hospital was great, but I realized the emotions of my day would affect me at night. I participated in helping with a charitable trust and putting events together to organize proceeds to help families who couldn’t afford medical care for their pets. These types of things made me feel like I could do so much more, so the corporate store offered me the opportunity to manage a grooming salon. I started there and quickly identified that I loved teaching others to lead and succeed. This lead me to a Store Management position and I would consult up to 18 different Salon Managers to help aid their businesses. I loved helping people reach their goals, so this setting appeased me for most of my twenties. I always found ways to give back and volunteer to continue my passion for wildlife, rescues, and people. After I moved to Big Lake, COVID-19 hit and it seemed to change customer service. To me, it felt like it died. I was constantly being told to do more with less and I fell into a dark space. I separated from company and took a moment to reflect with my husband on what we wanted for our family. My husband, Alex and I had met in the pet industry and both are passionate for pets and people. We had been joking for a while about opening our own pet store and how we would do it so different. After much prayer, we decided over the course of a weekend that we should start with just a grooming salon first. I wanted to take all of my years of experience working with rescue pets, fractious animals, pets experiencing skin issues, nutrition education, natural products, exotic pet experience, and turn it into an educational and exceptional experience for our clients. Some Groomers I spoke to, still had this mindset that grooming should be getting a dog to smell good and a haircut. It was literally skin deep. I had big dreams of competing in grooming, learning to become a true stylist with hair coloring, taking my hand stripping skills to the next level, and I found that some Groomers shared this dream. Since we opened with just Alex and I, we now have a total of 15 full time employees. I actively compete in Pet Grooming, own three different Grooming Salons, and we offer a large range of different pet services that create a unique experience for each pet. We have taken my science background and my love for natural products to create a grooming experience that sets puppies up for success, helps aid aging seniors, and every condition throughout the pets life time. When we run into an issue, like anxiety we approach each pet uniquely. We discover the pets triggers and work with them to provide a positive grooming experience. When we run into hair loss or itchiness, we utilize techniques that promote skin healing, coat growth, use medicated or supplemented products to meet the needs of the skin, recommend nutritional needs, and refer to veterinary care when needed. We offer a Cat and Exotic salon to allow these pets a quiet environment to relax with no fear of being approached by a dog. In this space you can find us grinding a Bearded Dragons nails, trimming bird wings or nails, dying a Guinea Pig fun colors, and more! Cats are very prideful creatures and being well groomed resolves not just health issues, but behavior issues as well. As our industry continues to grow and expand, so will our service options. My passion for learning is stronger than ever and everyone on our team shares this goal to be the very best grooming salon.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Coming from a corporate company, I was taught that to keep morale high, giving high fives, buying food, and complimenting were great ways to keep up morale. I have been grooming 19 years, managing for 13 years, and today’s climate is much different then when I started. There has been a shift in this mindset of being money hungry power groomers to quality over quantity. When I separated from my corporate job, I could barely recognize myself. I wanted to be a manager to be a servant leader. To help those succeed around me. When ever I put their needs first, it feels the best for me too, but I also discovered how important self care was. Always putting others needs above of mine own was actually unhealthy and lead to many mistakes I have made in my career. So, my first tip is to fill your cup first. If you are in a positive space then you are going to positively impact others. Hurt people, hurt people. So, once you are in the right frame of mind, you can influence your workplace to succeed. What gets recognized gets repeated. Creating unique and fun moments that are genuine and organic will allow for more connection. Contrary to many corporate beliefs, I would encourage fraternization. A sense of work family and belonging is so important. This old belief that you can’t be respected if you attend your employee’s child’s football game is crazy. Obviously, know your setting. Going out for drinks, gossiping, and over sharing is not how to be respected by your team. Food is always good, but recognition in the form of gifts is good too. In grooming, I gifted high quality scissors to my bathers who were helping me train in new team members as a thank you. Their job description isn’t to be trainers of new employees. They showed initiative and I rewarded it as it helped me. It showed me where they were in the understanding of the skill and it was helpful to build relationships with new employees. Learning and developing skills is a key point for many of us. Creating opportunities for people who do not like traveling to learn and those who do is very helpful. My cup is very filled when I get to travel and meet people as an extrovert. For some of my staff that are introvert, providing a zoom call or webinar is a great way to invest in their learning. When teams realize that you care about them personally and professionally, it creates a family like vibe.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

Before I started Groom My Friend, I started another business called An Empty Cup. It is a creative business that allowed me to host craft classes, work parties, and birthday parties. I enjoyed watching people step out of their comfort zones and try something new. It was during COVID-19 and I felt like people need to experience something new and exciting. I started off traveling, but then had to table it due to Groom My Friend taking off so quickly. I decided at one point to take a step back from grooming. I reduced my schedule, opened a store front, and tried to pursue this business idea I had. It struggled. We promoted someone to a manager and it was stressful for them and slightly overwhelming. I was exhausted trying to run two full time businesses and realized I had lost my quality of life. Alex and I went on vacation, but I was trying to work on my phone and stressed nearly the entire time. When we were full time together, we had a flow. We kayaked out to this little island, prayed, and reflected on the fact that I could lose all of our business and my sanity if I tried to proceed this way. I love creating and it felt horrible to come to the decision to have to let go of the non-profitable business. In order to survive I had to transform the store front I had for An Empty Cup. We closed it and remodeled it to be our Cat and Exotic Salon. I was able to feel fulfilled by having my first ever space with cats that I could groom freely. When you groom cats around dogs it can be unpredictable. Dogs bark, they get excited seeing a cat, and cats can have dangerous behaviors around dogs. Good came from bad. I was sad to see my first business have to be out on the back burner, but we not only survived that near death experience. We thrived.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.GroomMyFriend.com
• Instagram: #GroomMyFriend
• Facebook: @GroomMyFriend
• Other: @PetStylist_Holly is my TikTok and instagram for my personal

Image Credits
Holly Baker