Being understanding is part of being a good leader. But what happens when the grace you keep giving one employee quietly becomes extra work for everyone else?

In this episode of After the Last Dog, we’re talking honestly about the employee you care about, worry about, and may be afraid to lose, even though her lateness, personal struggles, or workplace conflict are beginning to shape the entire day.

This is not about becoming cold or expecting people to leave their lives at the door. It is about noticing when your dependable employees are skipping lunch, taking extra dogs, staying late, and carrying problems leadership has been postponing.

If there is a conversation that keeps following you home, this episode is for you.

The question is not whether you should care. It is: Who is paying for the understanding you keep giving?

Legacy or Liability?

Every grooming business has an official operating manual and an unofficial one. The unofficial version is revealed through what gets rewarded, tolerated, questioned, or ignored.

In this episode of After the Last Dog, Dara examines what business owners inherit from former employers, mentors, industry traditions, early survival decisions, and even earlier versions of themselves. From booking and training to equipment and communication, familiar practices can quietly become liabilities as a business grows.

Follow one dog through an ordinary workday and ask: What did this appointment require that the way we currently work did not make room for?

Ever wonder why you can't find just one good person to run your salon while you're gone? It's not just a tight labor market or a run of bad luck. In this episode, Jennifer pulls back the curtain on the hiring blind spot almost no salon owner talks about: the subconscious patterns — low standards, over-responsibility, scarcity panic, and what she calls "crap fitting" — that quietly sabotage good hiring decisions long before a job post ever goes live.

Jennifer gets personal about her own years stuck in freeze mode, the burnout that followed, and the discernment she gained on the other side of it, then breaks down exactly what "qualified" should mean for your specific culture, whether you're hiring for leadership, artistry, longevity, or growth. If you've ever hired someone on confidence, beautiful photos, or a loyal client following only to watch it fall apart in ninety days, this episode names exactly why, and gives you a real system to fix it.

Resources & Links Mentioned

• Hiring and Onboarding Masterclass — 25% off with code HIR25
• Schedule a Call with Jennifer
• Sign Up for Growing Groomers Emails
• Growing Groomers Website
• Missouri Pet Grooming Apprenticeship Program
• Growing Groomers on Facebook
• After the Last Dog Website

Mentions & Affiliate Links

• The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
• Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker
• Lavela WS 1265 Lavender Supplement — for sleep & stress
• Tim Fletcher — Understanding and Overcoming Complex Trauma

email - Jenniferoppel@growinggroomers.com

Growing GroomersWebsite https://www.growinggroomers.com/

Apprenticeship Website https://petgroomingapprenticeship.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/growinggroomers/

Hiring and Onboarding Masterclass

With 25% off Hiring and Onboarding Masterclass

Introduction to the Salon https://www.growinggroomers.com/offers/qPF5DrfV

Schedule a call for more info: https://calendly.com/growing-groomers/better-training-in-salons

“I just need one solid person.”

But when a table or van is sitting empty, it is easy to hire for fast relief instead of the real support your salon needs.

In this episode, Dara talks about why filling the open spot does not always fix the pressure inside the business. A new groomer may know how to groom, but still not know how your salon handles check-in, notes, bathing flow, client updates, nervous dogs, cleanup, handoffs, or the way the day is supposed to move.

This is not corporate language. It is not buzzwords. It is the work of showing someone how we do things here before expecting them to carry the role. Because sometimes the problem is not that you cannot find one solid person, the problem is that the role has been built around an empty table instead of the help the business actually needs.

Stats Disclaimer for Show Notes

Statistics shared in this episode are for education and context. Your actual hiring costs, turnover, and business impact will depend on your market, pricing, payroll model, team size, schedule, and training process.

Sources used include Gallup workplace research on replacement costs, Pew Research Center data on why workers quit, Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting on pet care productivity, and the DaySmart Pet staffing infographic, “Beyond the Shears: Building and Retaining Your Grooming Talent.”

In this episode, Jennifer explains why salon owners should stop investing heavily in applicants before they demonstrate basic reliability, communication, and follow-through.

Learn how to reduce applicant ghosting, protect your time, improve grooming employee screening, and create a more structured hiring process for groomers, bathers, assistants, and apprentices.

Ready to create a stronger, more structured hiring process? Get the Hiring and Onboarding Course through the link below and use code HIR25 at checkout to save 25%. The course helps grooming salon owners screen applicants, reduce wasted time, set clear expectations, and build a more consistent onboarding process from the first contact forward.

Hiring and Onboarding Course

Another resource mentioned in this episode was the Introduction To The Salon course:

Hiring can feel a lot like dating.

You place the ad. Someone looks great on paper. They say the right things. You get hopeful. Then they start working in the salon, and the person you met in the interview is not the same person showing up on a busy day.

In this episode, Dara talks about why a good interview is not proof of a good fit. You will learn why applicants may present their best version, why owners often hire from hope, and how to slow the process down before giving someone time, trust, and a spot on the team.

We will look at the difference between grooming skill and real salon fit, why words like “experienced,” “reliable,” and “team player” do not tell you enough, and how to use your job ad and first follow-up message to learn more before the interview.

Because you are not just hiring someone who can groom.

You are hiring someone into the way your salon works.

In This Episode

• Why the interview is often the “first-date version” of a candidate
• Why someone can sound great and still not be the right fit
• The difference between experience on paper and how someone works in real salon life
• Why your job ad should help people decide if they belong in your salon
• How a short follow-up message can protect your time before the interview
• What to listen for before you give someone a place on the team

Do This Today

Before scheduling your next interview, add this section to your job ad:

This role may be a good fit for you if…

Then list three real things that matter in your salon.

For example:

• You speak up when a dog needs help.
• You complete your part before moving on.
• You can take feedback and use it.
• You care about the dog, the client, and the team.

Start with the free three-part YouTube course linked in the show notes to look at the Culture, Structure, and Team patterns that may be making hiring harder than it needs to be.

Strengthen Your Grooming Business Seminar Series: three one-hour trainings designed to help you build a salon that is easier for the right people to join, work in, and stay with.

Quick note on stats: The numbers shared in this episode are meant to give helpful context, not exact predictions for every salon. Hiring costs, turnover, productivity, and employee behavior can vary by market, business size, role, and source. Use these statistics as conversation starters and planning clues, not as a guarantee of what will happen in your own business.

We look at why treating your recruitment like a high-stakes emotional investment is destroying your operational focus. Discover the exact framework that forces bad applicants to self-select out before they ever waste your time. If you are ready to take off your worry hat and put on your HR manager hat, this episode reveals how to transition from a chaotic job hunt to a structured grooming salon onboarding process.

Sponsored by our Hiring and Onboarding Masterclass.

Use this direct link to the Hiring and Onboarding Masterclass to get 25% off

Introduction to the Salon Course (1 hour course to onboard new employees to your company and your first expectations)

Every salon owner wants one solid groomer. Someone who cares about the dogs, shows up, communicates, and helps make the day easier.

But good groomers are looking too.

They are not only looking at pay, schedule, or how many dogs they can take. They are paying attention to how pets are handled, how the team works when the day gets busy, whether people help each other, and whether the salon feels like a place where good work matters.

In this episode, Dara talks about why generic help wanted ads are not enough. If every salon says the same thing, the right groomer has no reason to see why your salon is different.

You will learn how to start describing what your salon is really like, what you protect, and what kind of person does well there.

In This Episode

• Why every salon feels like it is looking for the same “unicorn” groomer
• Why good groomers are evaluating your salon before they ever accept the job
• What the bathing room and back-of-salon spaces can reveal about how the day really works
• Why a busy salon is different from a salon with no rhythm
• How to make your job ad feel like an invitation to join your salon, not just fill an empty table
• A simple reset to help you name what makes your salon worth choosing

Do This Today

Before you post another job ad, finish these two sentences:

At our best, this salon is a place where __________.

The person who does well here is someone who __________.

Use your answers in your next job ad, interview, or team conversation.

Two Questions to Ask

1. If a good groomer walked through my salon today, what would they learn about how we work from the spaces and people they see?
2. Does my job ad explain what we are asking someone to join, or does it only say that we need help?

Reflection

You are not just hiring someone to take dogs.

You are hiring someone into the way your salon works.

Next Step

Start with the free three-part YouTube course to look at the Culture, Structure, and Team patterns that may be making hiring harder than it needs to be.

Then explore the Strengthen Your Grooming Business Seminar Series for deeper implementation around building a salon that is easier for the right people to join, work in, and stay with.

In this episode, we are dipping our toes into problem-solving on a slightly higher level. We dive into a simple, 3-part mission blueprint from Donald Miller’s book, Business Made Simple, to show you how to take the rules out of your head and put them into your team's hands. You’ll learn how to frame your salon's mission as an inspirational counterattack against employee burnout, giving your staff the exact guardrails they need to manage themselves confidently.

Ready to step past the table and get everyone on the same page? Head to the Growing Groomers Offer Page and use coupon code HIR25 to get 25% off our signature Growing Groomers Hiring and Onboarding Masterclass today.

Donald Miller Business Made Simple

Hiring and Onboarding Masterclass

When you are grooming, you need to focus on the dog in front of you. But the business does not stop moving while you are behind the table. Staff are making decisions, clients need answers, and the same issues can keep coming back because nobody has decided how they should be handled.

This episode looks at the different roles salon owners move through every day: groomer, business owner, and the person responsible for where the salon is going next. Dara talks about why being busy is not always the real problem, how “I’m too busy” can become a way to put off decisions, and what to do when something has been discussed but never actually handled.

You will leave with one practical question to use this week: What is one issue that needs a real decision instead of another conversation?

Host Jennifer breaks down the hard truth: your team isn't failing because they are inherently lazy. They are failing because your operational standards only exist inside your own head. When you rush in to finish their chores just to keep the peace, you aren't acting like a CEO; you are acting as an overqualified, unpaid safety net. Tune in to learn Jennifer’s 4-Question Operational Framework and a foolproof, visual accountability system that will transform your daily triggers into explicit standard operating procedures—so you can finally step away with absolute peace of mind.

Report Covers: https://amzn.to/4akygQP

ZenZap https://try.zenzap.co/8f7dg13bps5j

Can we fit this dog in? What do I tell the client? Should we charge for this? What do we do now?

If your business seems to run smoothly only when you are standing in the building, this episode is for you.

Dara names the invisible pressure many grooming and pet care owners carry: becoming the place every unfinished decision lands. You may not have a team that cannot do the work. You may have a salon where too many answers, standards, and next steps still live only in your head.

In this episode, you will learn how to spot the one repeat question that keeps finding you and why it may be the first place to create more consistency without trying to fix the entire salon at once.

The goal is not a business that does not need you.

The goal is a salon that still knows what to do when you are not standing right there.

Your grooming schedule is full. Clients are calling. Dogs are booked. From the outside, the business looks busy and successful.

So why does the money still feel tight?

In this episode of After the Last Dog, Dara talks about the difference between being booked and actually getting ahead. A full calendar shows demand, but it does not always show whether the work is priced, timed, and supported in a way that protects the business.

You’ll learn how to use the Booked But Not Ahead Check to look at one full day and ask three simple questions:

What came in?

What did it require?

What did it leave behind?

Because the goal is not to add more dogs to an already full day. The goal is to understand whether the work you are already doing is supporting the business you built.

But what happens when the schedule is full and the business still feels tighter than it should?

In this episode, we look at the difference between being busy and actually getting ahead. We’ll talk about why a full calendar can still leave owners questioning where the time, money, and energy are going — and what may be happening underneath the surface.

Because booked does not always mean the business is working the way you think it is.

Jennifer has spent 35 years in the grooming industry, including 25 years as a salon owner. Her work focuses on helping grooming and pet care businesses make training clearer, expectations easier to communicate, and daily salon operations more practical for real working businesses.

Jennifer is the sponsor of Missouri’s first state-registered pet grooming apprenticeship, a Master Canine Stylist, and a Certified Feline Master Groomer.

In After the Last Dog, Jennifer brings the training, team, and salon operations perspective, looking at the parts of the business that affect employees, standards, workflow, and the owner’s day-to-day decision making.

Links / Resources

https://www.growinggroomers.com

https://petgroomingapprenticeship.com

email: jenniferoppel@growinggroomers.com

So why are they still coming back to you with the same questions?

In this episode of After the Last Dog, Dara talks about one of the most common owner frustrations in grooming and pet care businesses: repeat staff questions that should already have an answer.

Using a simple cleaning checklist example, Dara breaks down why this may not be a “they don’t care” problem. It may be that the team has learned to use the owner as the final answer instead of checking the standard first.

You’ll learn how to use the Before You Ask Me to help your team know what to check, what they can decide, and when they really do need to come to you.

Because the goal is not to stop your team from asking questions.

The goal is to stop solving the same question over and over again.

When Everyone Is Responsible, No One Is Responsible Companion Blog and PDF

In this episode of After the Last Dog, we look at why being booked out does not always mean the business is actually getting ahead. Sometimes the problem is not a lack of clients. It is unclear roles, uneven skill levels, developing staff being scheduled too far ahead of their ability, and work that keeps getting stuck before it reaches the finish line.

Jennifer breaks down why “bather” and “groomer” are often too broad to be useful, how to think about the middle ground between learning and fully independent, and why adding another person does not automatically fix a salon where nobody is clear on who owns what.

This episode is for salon owners who are busy, needed, and trusted — but still feel like every slowdown, question, and unfinished piece lands back on them.

You will walk away with a simple way to look at your team, identify where the day is getting stuck, and decide what each person is actually ready to own right now.