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

Shada, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?

When I first opened up my dog grooming business it was just me. I was a one man show answering phone calls, booking in clients, cleaning, grooming , bathing, ect. It was very hard doing everything on my own and definitely a learning process. When it came to hiring employees, I first wanted to look for a bather to help me with the dogs. I put ads out and job descriptions on what kind of person I was looking for. I interviewed quite a few people but still could not find what I was looking for. I started to panic because I really needed help. The shop was booked out for 5 weeks for grooming and I was continually accepting new clients. I started to ask some of my close friends and one of my best friends wanted to help me as she had a passion for dogs. She didn’t have any experience bathing so I taught her everything she needed to know to become a successful bather. She worked for me for about a year and helped me grow my business to what it is now.
I hired my first groomer and ran into some challenges. My clients didn’t want anyone else to work on their dogs, only me. After four years of being open I finally found my perfect groomer to join my team. She has been with me for over two years and has been a true blessing. This past year I just brought on another groomer who has made our team nearly complete. These ladies are not only my employees but having these three work side by side with me day in and day out, they are more like family. Currently we are booked up for two months for grooming and continue to bring in new customers everyday.
When I interview I have a lot of questions that I like to ask. I want to get a better understanding how they like to work and what kind of personality they have to make sure they are the right fit for my staff. I also like them to come in and meet my team and let them ask each other questions so they can get an idea on how we run the shop.
If I had to restart my business from scratch, I would have done some things a little different but overall, I love this place. One thing that was especially tough was putting in the time. I would give myself more time off, it’s exhausting running a new business. I wish I would of hired a groomer right off the bat to help me out . I was so nervous about bringing on another groomer as I wanted things to be perfect. In the near future, I would really like to find a larger place to open a grooming and dog daycare as the business continues to grow.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Shada Ghatrehee I have so much love and passion for animals. My husband and I currently have 4 horses, 3 german shepherds, 2 donkeys and 20 hens. I got into dog grooming for the creativity part. I love coloring and doing free style haircuts on pets. Some of my clients come in not knowing what they want. I try to provide pictures and ideas what we can do to help them make a choice. I think what sets my shop apart from the others is that we really listen to what the client wants and try to help make their vision come to life. We treat every fur baby like our own. I am truly proud of the fact that I opened up this business at the age of 24 years old and believe I have maintained a great relationship with clients and employees which have made this operation successful. I was truly blessed to have my family support and the help to guide me in the right direction. If it wasn’t for my parents to help give me that push, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I truly love what I do everyday and can’t wait to see what the future holds.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I used Facebook as my platform to build my business. I would take photos of clients dogs sometimes before and after pictures to show the change. I also would add new updates on my page to let my followers know what new items arrive in the shop such as, paw balms and milk baths. When I do my annual donation drive I always post pictures and sayings to get people involved. Another thing that has helped me build my business is reviews. Clients would write recommendations in their reviews which helped bring more attention to my shop. The biggest advice I would tell a new business owner is, try not to worry about the negative reviews. Everyone will receive a bad review eventually but it should be looked at as more of a learning tool/experience. You can’t always make everyone happy and if you take what that review says and learn from it, people will continue to view you as a great business owner.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Referrals from existing clients and multiple vet offices. We also have doodle breeders that refers us for grooming.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thedoghouseoffrisco.com/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/thedoghouseoffrisco/
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/xftEa9aj9mb
• Other: The Dog House 7258 Main St, Frisco, TX 75033 (469) 980-7530 https://g.co/kgs/FDYV89