Operational Strategies Episodes

Ever look around your salon at the end of a chaotic day and wonder why nothing works unless your physical body is standing in the room? Whether you are a groomer-owner or an entrepreneur managing a franchise, relying on your personal hustle to hold the salon floor together creates a natural ceiling. 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...

Are you trapped by the very business you built for freedom? If you feel like you can’t step away from your salon for a single day without your staff slacking off, sitting on their phones, or ignoring basic protocols—this episode is your wake-up call. 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 leave the salon for an hour, and suddenly your phone is full of questions. 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 a...

Why a full schedule does not always mean the business is getting ahead. 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 bus...

A full grooming schedule can look successful from the outside. The dogs are there, clients are calling, and the calendar is packed. 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. Becau...

In this short introduction, meet Jennifer Oppel, co-host of After the Last Dog and founder of Growing Groomers. 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 Canin...

A full schedule can look like success from the outside. Dogs are booked. Clients are waiting. The phone keeps ringing. But inside the salon, it may still feel like the whole day depends on the owner keeping every person, pet, and decision moving. 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 schedul...