After I finished school my parents welcomed me home and let me set up shop in their garage. It was a garage like any other, full of gardening stuff, quads, paint, tools etc. It was a mess. I remember feeling a little unsure about the prospect of running a salon in the garage. I think at first I felt a bit like my parents weren't taking me seriously. Like I had just gone to school for a really expensive hobby that I would do on the weekends. In the early days after graduating grooming school (and honestly, even a little now) I struggled with feeling like people judged me for my choice in career. I know some did. I know that some people looked at me and saw someone who was just too dumb for university that she had to go into the dreaded "trade", and not even an important trade. My parents, however, were not these people. My Mom and Dad went so far beyond what I ever imagined they would do for me.
By the time The Unleashed Boutique's one year anniversary came around, my Dad had completely refinished the garage / salon with a new floor, new walls, a raised tub for grooming and two new grooming tables. Almost all the usual garage stuff had been relocated and what was left was hidden inside some fancy new cabinets. People are always asking my dad what it's like to have been kicked out of his own garage. Dad just chuckles and smiles and I know every time I work on those tables he built me, and every time I use the tub he raised perfectly to my height, that my Daddy loves me and that I love him.
Though my Dad did have the difficult job of turning the garage into a working salon, my Mom perhaps had the more daunting task of teaching me book keeping. Not easy to do when your student is a grumpy dyslexic who has no idea of all the crap that goes on behind the scenes when running a business. She and I have this on going joke of how the devil comes upon me every time I do book keeping. It's not that its particularly hard, I just hate it. Thinking in numbers doesn't come naturally to me. Thanks to Mom's efforts though, I now have a pretty good handle on Simply Accounting and all the annoying things that must be done to run a business well.
At the end of year one I was doing 4 dogs a day and had almost 100 clients. By spring of year two I had over 100 clients, was servicing almost 200 dogs, and had to stop taking on new clients because my schedule was full. Year three came around and I hired a good friend of mine to come and be my grooming assistant so I could take on more dogs. We are now half way through year four and things are busy and crazy and great.
Honestly, I can't believe that it has only been four years since I started up. It feels like this is what I have done all my life. I set out on this journey looking for a career. What I picked up along the way was passion. Passion for nature. Passion for nurturing. Passion for dogs. Learning for learning sake never made sense to me until I went to grooming school. Suddenly now I want to learn everything I can about dogs just because I can. I learn about how their bodies work, how their brains work, about their body language, about their behaviour, their origins. Anything, everything, I want to know it all. I realize it is a strange thing to be passionate about, but I've found out that there are a lot of us out there. There is a whole community of people who see the unique beauty of these creatures and are equally as serious about learning about them, nurturing them, and protecting them.
I could never have guessed that this is the path God would have taken me on, but even now looking back I can see that point A led to point B which led to point C. This is where I am supposed to be, and along the way He has taught me many things. Just like my Dad working hard to turn the garage into a salon, God does not set me up for failure. He wants me to succeed just like my Dad does, and he provides me with what I need to be successful. Just like my Mom's endless patience, God is patient with me, teaching me through my mistakes. Just like I am with the dogs I groom, he never gives me more than I can handle. He will never stress me too the breaking point, and just like some parts of the groom are unpleasant, when I come out the other side I will be happier and healthier for it. God has shown me much much more then this and I hope to share it all with you, but for now, you ask me how I got here? I suppose I will have to answer in overly dramatic fashion that it was written in the stars; it was meant to be and so it was. Some people may find the idea that there is a design to our lives disturbing. I find it incredibly exciting. Knowing that the only person I can ever truly trust, the only person who will ever love me truly and deeply has everything under control. "'For I know the plans I have for you', declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future''' Jeremiah 29:11. I'm sure these are the first of many whirlwinds I will have to weather during my lifetime, but I look forward to the surprises and unexpected possibilities. C. S. Lewis said "There are far greater things ahead then any we leave behind." I would have to agree!
