Animal lover Peta Thomson spent years in an unfulfilling job, following a career path that had nothing to do with her passion for pets.

It was only when she came across a former colleague who was flourishing just three months into his new Jim’s Mowing franchise, that she considered running her own business could be an option.

“It all came down to the lifestyle change he had made by working outdoors without the expectations of a large company and monotony of the everyday, he was now his own boss and he was living what he believed to be his best life.

“At that moment, I knew I needed a piece of that pie. I was seven years overdue to jump ship.

“With my pale complexion and ginger hair, mowing lawns wasn’t going to be my thing, so I sat down and Googled’ franchises for sale’.”

That simple act opened up a whole new world of opportunities for Peta, and she found herself signing up to a dog grooming business.

Dog grooming a new passion

“I researched all I could about the industry and the model of franchises. I made an enquiry to what I believed to be the best deal, lawyered up, spent all my savings and put myself into debt and jumped at this new opportunity.  

“Business boomed I went from a very small customer to full schedules very quickly.”

Peta set her benchmark high, viewing shop-based groomers as her competition rather than other mobile operators. 

Despite her growing business she was dissatisfied with the standard of her work on some dog breeds and started upskilling. 

“I lined up with grooming schools and breeders to train one-on-one to obtain a look good enough for competition,” she said.

It paid off. Peta began picking up clients from unskilled groomers in her area and business continued to flourish. 

The work mounted up and before long she was working long days, six days a week.

Peta was not just upskilling her dog grooming, she was also immersing herself in the business of business.

“Underneath learning to be a groomer I was also learning how to run a small business, how to repair plumbing in the trailer, completely disassemble a grooming bath repair and reassemble it, also making changes within that made it more efficient.”

Peta was a franchisee for a five year term, then looked at creating her own business based on her high standards of hygiene and professionalism.

Dolcey Grooming sets high standard

It started with the trailer.

“Things that annoyed me most was that textured surfaces would always look grubby, knobs and handles and shampoo bottles would grab hair and there was always a light coating of white powder (lanolin) that would come off the dogs while drying and any of these things on their own could create that doggy smell, it seemed it didn’t matter how much I cleaned it would still be just so-so in my eyes.”

When the weather got too wet or too humid the dogs wouldn’t dry, she says. 

Peta was confident she could produce a better working environment, with increased security.

When she discovered a well-lit, hydraulic table with a light on top Peta bought it and used it as the starting point to create her own van, upgrading from a trailer. 

“I found the dimensions of the inside of a Mercedes sprinter(used as ambulances) and drew the space I had to work with in purple chalk on my dining room floor.

“It took weeks for it to come out of the carpet but it took me one night to solidify the possibility and convince my husband that this was the next thing I was going to do with our savings,” she says.

The end result? A van with white fibreglass walls and roof with curved edges to make for easy cleaning, a black anti static floor made for easier hair collection, cupboards to stow away equipment including the dryer, fitted LED down lights, air conditioning and a secure, lockable door.

With the perfect vehicle set-up sorted, Peta turned to professionals to support her in the franchise-business-building process, including brand design, legal documentation and the operations manual.

Dolcey Grooming was born, and Peta couldn’t be happier, or more proud. 

Franchise opportunities

Peta also armed herself with qualifications from the National Dog Trainers Federation (NDTF) which she believes gives her an edge in know how to deal with her pooch clients. 

Now she’s spreading the love, and looking for people who are confident to work more with dogs than people.

“The job tends to be better suited to the introvert but does not exclude the extrovert.

Age is not a factor when we use to choose our franchisees however being fit and having some kind of outside exercise regime is really important to keep one’s self in shape with body and mind.”

There are eight territories available on a seven year agreement: Camberwell/Hawthorn area and the Caulfield/Albert Park are now on sale.

“Anyone joining the Dolcey Grooming family can expect a real change in lifestyle, by obtaining extraordinary dog skills that can be used to open many doors out and into the dog world.”