Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Cortez.
Hi Emily, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Right out of high school, I moved 2 hours away to live with my boyfriend and his dad. I enrolled into a local community college and began taking pre-requisites to enter into the vet tech program. One requirement to apply to the program was at least 1 year of working with animals in a professional setting so I applied at PetSmart. That’s where my journey began.
I was hired as a bather through PetSmart by a fantastic team and fell in love with all things pet grooming very quickly. I signed on to attend the “PetSmart Grooming Academy” and worked my way up from bather to groomer’s apprentice and finally, professional groomer. I was taught by some of the most sweet and talented groomers that I know. I absorbed their same love and passion for the industry. I decided to drop out of college completely when I was offered a Salon Leader position with PetSmart. That was the best decision of my career.
At the age of 21, I was now a salon leader at PetSmart. I was in charge of an entire team of amazing groomers and bathers, most of which were years older than me. I had the sole responsibility of dealing with complaints, customers, and keeping the entire team on track with sales. This was SO intimidating in the beginning but I somehow made it work and our team had great success in the year that I was there. It was in that time that I learned the ups and downs and ins and outs of the grooming industry. I learned what worked, what didn’t work, what I liked and what I didn’t like. Most importantly, I gained the confidence in my career that I had never had before.
After a year, I decided it was time for another leap of faith. I missed my hometown. I wanted to own a business and be my own boss. I wanted to buy a house! My boyfriend and I set a goal of moving home and renting for a year and then buying a home of our own. I left PetSmart. We moved home and rented a tiny little house with a roommate for a year. I drove an hour to Missouri City five days a week to work at a local grooming shop. The other two days I groomed dogs from home in El Campo. In the beginning, it was 1 or 2 dogs a day. Once the word began to get out, it quickly turned to eight dogs a day. I worked seven days a week for about 4-6 months, only taking off a half day here and there. This is when I officially created my business, “Pawlished Groomery LLC” and began to promote and build my clientele. Before we knew it, ten months had went by and we had saved up enough and bought our house!
As the word was getting out that a new groomer was in town, I was contacted by the owner of a grooming shop in my hometown. She asked me to come by her shop to chat! To my surprise, she was wanting to wean her way out of the business at the very time I was looking to grow my business. Somehow, some way, we came to an agreement and made a deal. I would take over the lease on the building she was renting and be able to keep all of the grooming equipment if they could use the space rent-free, 1 day a week, for the remainder of the year. It was PERFECT timing!
From there, my boyfriend and I kicked it into high gear. He left his job to come bathe dogs for me. I left my job in Missouri City and began grooming from home full-time. We saved what we could and began planning our “Grand Opening” event that was now two months away for our new grooming shop! When the time came, we closed for two weeks, renovated, moved our equipment in and had the Grand Opening of Pawlished Groomery & Boutique which was a HUGE success.
After four months in business, we were voted #2 Best Dog Groomer in Wharton County! We have successfully hired and trained our first groomer to add to our team and she is doing amazing. We just passed our 1 year anniversary of being open and are looking forward to many more years in business!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My last answer probably made it seem like it was a perfectly smooth road with no bumps along the way but it has not been all sunshine and rainbows!
Working seven days a week for months on end definitely made me into a workaholic. It’s hard for me to take time off even now, a year later. I sometimes feel guilty for not working seven days a week.
To throw an even bigger curve ball, we found out just two months after Grand Opening that I was pregnant with our first child. Being pregnant and handling dogs all day don’t really go hand in hand… Seth, my boyfriend, helped me as much as he could but at the end of the day, I had to be the one to handle the dog on the table. I went into premature labor at 25 weeks pregnant. The doctors were thankfully able to stop my labor but this put us in the hospital for three days. After that scare, we decided to let go of all of our large dog clients and enforce a weight limit for the remainder of the pregnancy. That was a difficult decision because we didn’t want to risk losing clients so early on in our business.
The 3 days in the hospital hurt our pockets since there was zero income coming in those days. One of the downfalls of owning a business like this is when there is no work, there is no income. Because I no longer work for PetSmart or have benefits like most normal jobs, I didn’t have maternity leave or sick pay. All of the time off I needed while growing my child had to be paid out of our pockets. That’s a tough thing to learn.
That being said, we made it somehow! Our son is now a happy, healthy six months old and has come to work with us every day since he was 6 weeks old. I wouldn’t change this journey for the world.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Pawlished Groomery & Boutique is a pet grooming shop located in El Campo, TX. We believe in giving every pet the best grooming experience every single time. We only offer the best spa packages and use the best products on our clients.
We began on this journey to bring something special back to our hometown. After speaking with family and friends and vets in the area, we realized the “pet grooming” environment in our hometown was not the greatest. We wanted to bring a more modern, relaxing, spa-like experience with the pet’s comfort above everything.
We decided to offer appointment-based grooming, meaning more one-on-one time with pets and their groomer, versus the usual drop-off in the morning, pick up in the evening schedule that other groomers in our area used.
We did lots of researching and testing to find the best shampoos, conditioners, facials, perfumes, nail polish, ear cleaners, etc. to use on our clients versus the basic 2-in-1 shampoo or worse, Dawn Dish Soap that other grooming shops use on their pets.
We also decided to add the convenience of online booking, paying online, and automatic rebooking and reminder texts through pet grooming software that no one in the area uses! Our customers always rave about how easy we make it!
Besides all of the business talk, we are most proud of our reputation when it comes to the treatment of our animals.
We have always stood by the idea that our pet’s safety and comfort will ALWAYS come first. We have worked endlessly to make sure every single pet and owner that comes in feels comfortable in our salon. Our clients know that they can leave their pets with us and not have to worry about how they will be treated. Several of our pet clients have been turned away from other salons due to behavior issues and have had absolutely no issues in our calm salon environment.
I would like your readers to know that there are GOOD pet groomers out there that actually enjoy what they do and take pride in their work. There are pet groomers who love every single pet that walks through their doors. You do not have to settle for other grooming shops that make you or your pet feel uncomfortable! The grooming industry as a whole has had negative stories in the media plenty of times but we would like to shine the light on the other end of the spectrum and let others know that there are some great grooming salons out there, you just have to find them!
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
One lesson I’ve learned throughout this journey is that no success story comes without taking risks.
Every single step of my journey has been a big step. I was afraid of taking risks in the beginning. The second I decided to tell myself, “I CAN do this. I WILL make it work,” and took that first big step, everything changed for me. Once you see what you can do and what you are capable of, there is no turning back. The hardest part is taking that first step and taking the very first risk.
I have no idea where my journey will take me but I know that with every risk, there is success waiting for me on the other side.
Pricing:
- XS Dog Full Groom – $55+
- S Dog Full Groom – $60+
- M Dog Full Groom – $75+
- L Dog Full Groom – $90+
- XL Dog Full Groom – $105+
Contact Info:
- Website: https://booking.moego.pet/go/?name=PawlishedGroomery
- Facebook: Facebook.com/pawlishedgroomeryboutique
