Hard work is something Nuria Pérez knows well as a new business owner and a house-call dog groomer.
Her days involve traveling from her home in New Jersey to surrounding areas and into New York—and sometimes climbing stairs or walking a distance from her parking spot with her grooming tools and a table in order to set up in a client’s home.
And while not the ideal time to launch a new business, this past January, Pérez’s house–call grooming business, Tamed Manes, became official and has been a great success from day one.
Being a house–call groomer has its challenges, but providing a calm experience for her clients with her holistic approach is a specialty that both human and pet clients appreciate.
As her newly–launched website, www.tamedmanesgrooming.com, explains, every grooming visit Pérez makes to a client’s home involves total pampering for the dogs.
With a love for animals, Pérez always strives to provide the best for her clients. But how did she go from working in retail to becoming a business owner, professional groomer, certified pet esthetician, certified in reiki and even a volunteer for the Pandemic Pup Relief Tour?
The future path of a grooming career may have already been forming for Pérez. Her natural love for animals and especially dogs had her considering a career as a veterinarian at one point, but as she explains, life sometimes changes, and she found herself working in various retail jobs.
“I’ve always loved animals and was bored working in retail,” Pérez says.
With a less than satisfactory job and compassion for animals, a lightbulb went off for Pérez when she saw a commercial for Animal Behavior College in 2014. She didn’t know it at the time, but that commercial would spark a series of events leading to her current career as a groomer and her business.
“I believe I started ABC in the summer going into the fall of 2015,” Pérez explains.
Dog grooming was not the only area of study for Pérez. She also studied dog training and veterinary assistant.
Pérez started a job as a bather at PetSmart in 2016, and she soon moved on to the grooming training program. But at first, she was not sure it was going to be for her.
Her next job was at a private salon called Just 4 Paws, and this is where Pérez began to further hone her skills and enjoyed working with the dogs in a different type of environment, while also learning about pet Reiki.
“The owner of the salon offered this service and taught me how to perform Reiki as well. I furthered my Reiki education with Hae Lee (@stayandvibe) and she officially certified me as a Reiki I and Reiki II practitioner,” she shares.
When she was introduced to the app called Groomit, Pérez began taking her grooming on the road, and again realized the importance of the environment for dogs as she groomed them in the comfort of their own home.
Her journey into house–call grooming eventually led to the formation of her own business, Tamed Manes. Offering grooming services complete with facials, breath freshener and face masks, as well as extra options like color shampoo, nail polish, therapy baths and more, it’s no wonder her list of clientele keeps growing.
“It isn’t always easy, but I know my hard work will pay off,” Pérez says.
She has had many sources of inspiration throughout her grooming career and Pérez emphasizes the importance of continuing education. She takes courses to further her skills and always aims to improve and learn more.
“Personal development helps me to keep an open mind so I’m not holding myself back with negative or discouraging thoughts. I strive every day to do something better than I did it the day before,” Pérez says.
As far as other groomers that inspire Pérez, there are many, but one groomer truly standouts.
“My all–time favorite groomer that I look up to is Jess Rona,” she shares. “She’s amazing! She just came out with a course on grooming faces and I’ve already been implementing her techniques.”
Pérez has plans to grow her business and a unique plan for her brand of products (we will keep the details a secret for now) which will eventually have a campaign page for those who want to be a part of supporting the product line launch in the future.
Her reminder for other groomers is to value yourself even if others don’t know exactly how much hard work goes into grooming animals. And, we need to take care of ourselves the same as, if not more than, the dogs we groom. ✂️
