Handling It
In each episode, Gavyn and Sierra share their expertise and provide tips on how to have a clear and positive perception to succeed in this industry. They aim to change the perception of what this career could be by introducing ideas to be held up to a higher standard.
Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out in the industry, the Handling It podcast is a must-listen. Tune in to gain valuable insights and knowledge from the experts.
Handling It
Handling It: Behind the Shears (ft. Jacob Robinson)
Meet Jacob Robinson, a fascinating pet groomer and competitor on Groom Team USA. This episode is a riveting journey through Jacob's unique path into the world of pet grooming, from his original aspiration to become an Ag. teacher to his unexpected plunge into grooming. Discover how Jacob navigated challenges, self-taught to excellence, and was led by experienced show experts to find his feet in this niche space.
Strap in for an emotional roller coaster as Jacob opens up about his recovery from a devastating injury that put him off the Groom Team USA competition. Experience the heart-wrenching physical, emotional, and financial strains he went through, and be inspired by his resilience that came shining through.
The episode concludes with a look into balancing life with contest grooming and managing a business. Hear about Jacob's own struggles with traveling long distances for shows, his excitement about meeting new people, and his infectious passion for the sport. It's a compelling exploration of the pet grooming world, its ups and downs, and a testament to the strength and determination it takes to thrive in the field.
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Hello, welcome back to Handling it. Today's guest is Jacob Robinson. Hello.
Speaker 2:Hi, jacob, thanks so much for coming on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we cannot wait to talk to you and I love hearing about everyone's stories and how they became a pet groomer. And then you know, obviously you're on Groom Team USA and all the good stuff. Could you like just share to our audience how you started grooming and is this something you always knew you wanted to be? Or what was your first career choice and how did you get here? Like, let's start from day one?
Speaker 3:Well, so I my original career choice, like when I was a senior in high school, was I wanted to be an act teacher.
Speaker 3:I was really involved in acting like showing livestock in high school and like I'm a very competitive person and I didn't want to give up like that part of like being competitive. But and I also was like really burnout on school because, like I was a diehard student, I worked really hard in school and it just like I was like I've already taken like two concurrent college classes while I was going to high school, I was like I don't want to go to college, especially to go make like no offense to any teachers, but teachers are very underpaid, yeah. And so my girlfriend at the time actually she, her family, were groomers and stuff so she kind of showed me some things and a salon was hiring and I just went and applied and the rest was history. I kind of was self taught and then I I learned from like I learned from some people. I got mentored by some really good like old school show people in the beginning and I think that really helped shape me towards the direction I've gone.
Speaker 3:But, yeah, it's kind of my beginning into grooming story, so this will be your 10 now, so 10.
Speaker 1:Okay, when are you located that you're in agriculture, is it?
Speaker 3:I know where you're at.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oklahoma, I just wanted other people. I'm from Iowa and 4-H in agriculture and showing things and is that how you were like competitive with showing livestock like sheep or something like that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I mainly showed cattle and I livestock, judged a lot Okay, evaluated livestock and structure kind of how they do dog shows.
Speaker 1:I've been to some cattle shows and sheep shows and like the state fair in Iowa was just like a week ago, and to see like the cow grooming that they do. Did you do anything like that to get them ready?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So actually in Oklahoma they have like fitting contests for high school, wow, and there's like a team and they get an hour and a half to like fit and it's like full, like doing a show, like you hairspray the leg and glue them and then you color them, yeah, and like you'll even add like fake fibers to build the hair up if they don't have hair.
Speaker 1:You've known structure for like a long time. Like yeah.
Speaker 3:I think the livestock judging and my high school ag teacher. I attribute so much of like what I know about dogs to him Because he taught me so much. I'm like how to fit cattle and stuff like that that. It really helped me transfer that knowledge over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's really good.
Speaker 2:And so we're talking right now and you're like sitting in your salon. This is your salon that you own, right? So how did you go from so? You started at one salon where you kind of learned everything. How did you get to this point today where you have your own shop?
Speaker 3:Just a hard work and determination. I was kind of always determined to own my own salon and when COVID happened I was just like all of a sudden unemployed. Yeah, and I was like what am I going to do with like my life after this? Because I just went through like several like big life changes and I just moved back to like my hometown Because I was living in Tulsa and the groomer in town closed down through COVID, which was really sad for her.
Speaker 2:But, her space was available, yeah, and her. All those clients got to go somewhere.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my grandpa knows the guy who owns the strip mall that was in and he was like this groomer just left and it's all like set up for a groomer. Do you guys like I know your grandson grooms, do you want to? Just? And he like made me a really good deal and so I took my two stimulus checks and put it into a grooming salon and that was how every five canines was born.
Speaker 2:That's so nice. So, yeah, you basically a lot of people like COVID was like a loss for them, but you got like you turned it into something good, so that's, that's a good thing yeah. All you can do is make the best of any situation you're given. So, but you now you have your salon. Can you tell us how you started competing and what that looked like for you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, Um, so I'd only been grooming like probably a year and I had just gotten my first standard poodle and I was going to like confirmation handling classes with my poodle and then I saw that there was like the pet pro classic in Dallas and that they had grooming contests and I was like, wow, I should go try that. Yeah, I was just like I said. I was very competitive and I'm like, well, I want to be the best at everything I do, so that's the only way I feel like I can get there.
Speaker 3:And so I went to the pet pro classic in 2014.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:And that was my first contest.
Speaker 2:How did you do it Amazing?
Speaker 3:Um, I got first in both classes. I did a one.
Speaker 2:Wow, I was casually, that's good. He's like I've been winning ever since.
Speaker 3:It was a really good first time experience. I look back at those and I'm like, oh my God.
Speaker 1:I think we all did that.
Speaker 3:But yeah, it was good. And then I went to Atlanta and I took five dogs to Atlanta to compete with Wow.
Speaker 2:Second time.
Speaker 3:And then I placed in rescue rodeo or rescue roundup, and that was it. None of the class dogs I took I placed with and I did every single class, which was a terrible idea. New competitors, if you're listening to this, do not do that.
Speaker 2:It's a lot. No, it's so overwhelming, especially if you're like by yourself to like load up all those dogs and all those kennels and then prep for yourself. It becomes a lot.
Speaker 1:Do you do dog tours? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I ended up the weekend, I was like sat down in the hallway of the hotel that I was in. I wasn't even to my room yet and I just like finished prepping my Cocker and I like sat on the floor in the hallway and I was just like. I need to take a break. I need just a minute. I'm going to sit here, and that's actually how I became friends with Helen Schaefer. She saw me sitting down and she hands me a Coke.
Speaker 3:And she just handed me a Coke. I really needed this. You have no idea, girl.
Speaker 1:Oh, Helen.
Speaker 2:That's so nice.
Speaker 1:So when you just jumped into these contests, did you have any friends like that, like we're helplers, or you really were? You just saw there's a contest, you went, you figured out how to do entries by yourself. You showed up, you figured out how to prep. Like who helped you? Was there anyone to like show you the way? Because I my first show was pet pro classic Nobody showed me the way. I was the dumb person. That was like it's not dumb If anyone does this, but I was the one. So where do I go on base? Where do I go? They says there's like a meeting to come check in. Nobody's here, like a pet pro classic. Nobody actually has that meeting, but you're there for the meeting.
Speaker 3:So I'm just wondering did you have somebody just kind of like to guide you or not really in Oklahoma, especially like contest crew means not really a thing, like a lot of groomers don't even know. And I became friends with Scott Wasserman and he kind of mentored me into like figuring it out. And I made friends at the contest. Like I'm like, oh, wow, it was Kelly night and I'm like, wow, that girl, that lady is really good at grooming poodles. I'm going to talk to her because I want to groom a poodle like her. Yeah, and she kind of helped me. And then, like Melissa class was there and she helped me and Scott, but I didn't have any pre help before, like I didn't even know we could use a fate or the sanitary and the feet.
Speaker 2:So like my dog.
Speaker 3:I had to like shave the dog right before the class, start the feet right before the class started, because I know.
Speaker 1:But yeah, that's impressive though.
Speaker 2:That's very impressive, yeah, yeah, and you showed up in one. You were just like hooked and you started going to shows all the time, or like because you're on groom team USA now, and so for people who don't know how that works, like you have to beat, go from injury to intermediate and from intermediate to open, and then you have to place an open so many times to get points.
Speaker 3:So like where you just hooked after that and you just kept competing, or so my competing like journey I guess we'll call it her adventure was kind of it's kind of been broken up over years like 2014. I competed pretty heavy like 2014 to 2015. I competed pretty heavily and then I got into open after like in that year and I got like up and coming groomer of the year that year from Barkley and it was a really, really cool year. And then I got into open and I hit my dead zone, what I call it like that's where I live right now.
Speaker 3:Well, it's just like a lot of people like you think you're ready for open, like oh, I want to get out of intermediate, so bad, and I want to be an open. And then you get there and you're just like all these dogs are really pretty.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And look really good and like it doesn't look like there's a hair out of place on like five of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like you know, when you're in middle school and you get to eighth grade and you're like I can't wait to be in high school, like it's going to be so amazing, and then you're just like a freshman and you're like starting from the bottom again, like you just have to start all over. That's kind of how it feels.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and so I just did like probably two or three shows a year for until like the last three years really, and there were some years like I didn't do any shows, just because of like life, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Man, you know, but here lately I've been hitting it pretty heavy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have been.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You've been killing it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh thanks. It's exhausting. You know how people have been. There's some competitors that have been competing for 10 years like this, and I'm like how do they do this?
Speaker 2:And they make it look so easy and it's hard and just like getting to shows is hard and it's a lot. Yeah, fighting the dogs, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But you're also like leaving to go compete and you're gone for like a week and so that's like a week of income you don't have, unless you're like a full ride sponsorship rumor and I could like maybe think of two people that have that yeah. So like, yeah, that's what something will. One I have children but two like it's really hard to do all of it or even do shows a year is really where I was at and so like, who does to you guys for doing all of that? It's exhausting just thinking about it. I'm not even doing it.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you recently came back from an injury, right Cause I know you were out for a while due to like a. Was it an injury or an accident? Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so in Palmetto hold on, I think it was Palmetto of 2022. It was in like January of 2022. There was a Palmetto grooming contest and I went to that and competed and had a pretty good contest, and that was in January. And then I was entered in Atlanta and literally the week of Atlanta I was on the way home and it was the week of my birthday too, and I was on the way home from getting a tattoo, but that was my birthday present to myself and I hydroplained my car and wrecked I tore my rotator cuff my bicep.
Speaker 3:I broke my other, the hand on my other side.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, yeah, yeah, it was a crazy experience.
Speaker 3:What kind of recovery.
Speaker 1:Was that Like how long of a recovery? You broke your hand and all that so you couldn't groom right, yeah, so the rotator cuff was actually the big thing.
Speaker 3:So, like normally, when someone tears the rotator cuff, it's normally from, like it's like an older person and it's like they have a bone spur. That's like slowly like kind of shredded their rotator cuff. Well, mine, with my accident, I have like the death grip of a Viking because of the dogs that we hold onto all day long, you know. And so what I did is I hydroplined and then I went down this really steep hill like into a ditch, and I came up the other side of the ditch and hit a tree. Well, I was locked onto the steering wheel and so my arm took the impact of.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so my like, my arm stayed straight and then my body like went forward past my shoulders Like your rotator cuff is like all the ligaments that attach your arm to your shoulder, and so I ripped all those off and my bicep.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh that was very visual.
Speaker 3:And so I go in and I thought I like, cause my arm was just on fire, like it burns, right after it happened and I couldn't remember anything, cause, like I had had I hit the windshield with my head and yeah, I couldn't remember anything.
Speaker 3:And I'm like freaking out. I call my mom, my poor mother. I freaked her out so bad when this happened to me. But so, anyways, I get to the hospital and I thought I had like, fractured my collarbone or something Like. I didn't know what that feels like, but it's just like my shoulders on fire and like you're thinking, oh, it's your collarbone.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like I broke my collarbone and they do a scan like no, nothing's broken in your shoulder, and I'm like well, I can't move my arm, literally Like I could move my wrist, but that was it. Like the rest of my arm like there was no function cause the tendons aren't there to like make it move, or your biceps not there to make it go like up and down.
Speaker 1:What hand or what arm was that? So you're left or right, your dominant one, or it was my right, yeah, my scissor oh shit, shit I'm like you can, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so I go in and they tell me that it's gonna be four months before I can go back to work From when I have this surgery. So I had to wait three weeks to have this surgery because they had to get the swelling down enough, and so it was gonna be like five months total I had to be off work.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1:And you have been gone, and this is the week of Atlanta.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I was just feeling like yeah, I was just feeling good old team and yeah, oh, wait a minute.
Speaker 2:Like at this point you already owned your salon, right yeah?
Speaker 1:Uh-huh. So what did you do?
Speaker 2:Like, how did you navigate that yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, luckily, I had a good friend that was a groomer and she was like a stay at home mom at the time, okay, and so she kind of came out of stay at home mom for three days a week and worked at my salon for three days a week to like keep the doors open, basically. Wow, that's so sweet Because, like I couldn't function at all with my right arm and I was the sole groomer at the time, I had an assistant who bathed and like prepped for me, but I did like everything else.
Speaker 1:Stay home. So what was going through your mind at that time? Your arm is pretty much like at this point. Six months you might be able to like, yes, dog grooming. But like you had a whole contest career and you were coming back Like that was like the year you were kind of doing more than two or three shows a year. Right Was this year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was honestly devastating Like it was. I went to a really dark place. I'm not gonna lie, it was very like hard mentally for me to do. Like cause I also had, like this, carrie Blue, who I wanted to show. And like I was gonna miss all of these shows because of this, and like strapped financially because, like I mean, you can't work. So yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh my.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it was just. It was a big learning experience. It definitely made me a stronger person. I can. I definitely know what I can endure and survive now, which is more than those people think. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about yeah, let's talk about the accolades you've been climbing just recently and your, what was the Barkley Honor Award, the nominee that you just received? I'm like blanking out.
Speaker 3:I'm not groove over here, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's huge.
Speaker 1:Yes, and like that yeah it was really exciting.
Speaker 3:It was kind of it was kind of a weird deal because it was like they accidentally miscounted and like I was found on like the miscount, which is fine Accidents happen.
Speaker 2:It's nice, yeah, nice little bit of drama just to add to the to the name.
Speaker 1:Well, when you went back to work, did you like, how did it take you longer to get into the technique and give like hand-cissoring and all the things? So like the vibration of the tools, like was it hard, like did you have to relearn it? Did you do therapy?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I actually had to do therapy, like four days a week of therapy, for two hours every week every week for the first like two months, and I had a great, great occupational therapist. Her name was Kate. I love you, kate. If you ever listened to this, I'm gonna send this to her. Oh, she really helped me through some dark moments Cause, like you think that, oh, they reattached these ligaments and my arm's just gonna be normal, like I could not when I was driving, I could not let my right arm sit on the steering wheel without it like making me want to cry.
Speaker 3:Like the first when I was first like able to use it, like it was the most painful and like humbling experience in my life.
Speaker 3:But I actually went back to work sooner than I was supposed to, because my the groomer that I had filling in and it was just like overwhelming her cause I'm a power groomer and I groom like 10 or 12 a day with a bather and so she does like six small dogs and but she was trying to like do more and help me because, like she sees all these clients wanting to get in my salon and they can't. So I started I was actually still in my sling and I was grooming small dogs.
Speaker 3:No, you're laughing, but they actually told me that, like they think the scissoring and stuff earlier, while I wasn't supposed to do it, it did help my like therapy progress faster Because I have more mobility now than my doctor ever thought I was going to, is what he told me.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. That's impressive, but also super sad and tragic all at the same time. I had to go through all of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and like you, your whole life had to stop. It's not just your business or just like competing these like Professional goals. You had, like your whole entire life that had to be put on pause, like that is. That is a lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I actually had a really cool like it was already paid for Like two week long trip in Europe and we were supposed to leave, like. So I was going to Atlanta, coming home from Atlanta, dropping my dogs off at the border for two weeks and then I was going to Europe and it was like paid for me and my boyfriend and my best friend, we were all gonna go. It was like Amsterdam, paris and London, yeah, and we had to cancel it because of my injury.
Speaker 3:But they're insurance on the trip at least yeah, we got all of it back except $300, but still, I'd rather like have the experience rather than Did you guys ever rebook it? No, we haven't, because like dog grooming competitions have taken over my life, but Well, you're doing a lot can we talk about?
Speaker 1:yeah, let's talk about the accolades you've been climbing just recently and you're what was the Barclay honor award?
Speaker 3:That was good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have all these things happening, but like I want to talk about because you went from this horrible accident to like doing all these amazing things and just like, how do you have the mental strength to like come back like that? Because I know Most people I'm assuming like after something like that, it would take them probably years to get back into like competing or just like anything like that. So can you talk a little bit about like Pretty much like your perseverance from that to like becoming groomer of the year, because that's a really like amazing feat.
Speaker 3:I'm really stubborn, I so like the year before I got my accident, I missed groomed team by like two points or like a point or something, and and it was like all, there was like four of us that were all really close that year, yeah and. Like if I would have been one higher place at Dallas that year. I would have made group teamer. You know, I don't even remember now, but so I said the next year. I said I am not missing it another year.
Speaker 3:Okay and so I went back to work and I was at work and I like I had a poodle in Shoko when I my injury started and then she was in a modern trim by like the end of my injury and so I had her and I had my carry and I have this wire, dawson, and Dallas was coming and I was like you know what, let's, let's do it, we're gonna go to, we're gonna go to Dallas and we're gonna try, yeah. And then Dallas went okay, and I placed with my carry and I I was like, well, there's one more left.
Speaker 3:And that was like the groom South show that Snuck up on all of us at the end of last year and so I went to that and it was just, I Don't know, just putting one foot in front of the other and I, I, just I. In really hard situations, I just kind of try to find something to focus on and don't look at anything else. Yeah, she can't look at the past because you can't change it, so you just have to keep looking, for I don't know yeah there was definitely some dark moments and some hard moments, but I have really good family, really really good family.
Speaker 3:I have a really good boyfriend and just a really good support system at home and it helped a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But so, yeah. I just, I guess, just Binding goals and keeping your eyes on them. There's a will, there's a way, I guess yeah and you showed it you have the will.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cuz even putting out like the most beautiful work I've seen, like recently. So I love watching you and and every time I'm on Facebook I feel like I've never it shows anymore. But I always like, yes, like every time I see I can have my favorites and you're definitely one of them. So I. But you're definitely one of my favorite. Um Anything coming up for you, um anything any new cool.
Speaker 3:You're on groom team USA now, like I really want to Take on some new categories and really feel like I'm Like feeling confident in those. Like when I say new categories, I mean like wire and sporting, mm-hmm, and I have like a new sponsorship coming, I'm coming or coming out, so I'm really excited about that. And Just the rest of this year, I mean there's still like five shows left, so there's a lot left to happen and I'm just kind of excited to see what it brings. I don't know that is exciting.
Speaker 2:You have a Schnauzer now. Right, you have a mini schnauzer.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, mr Ernie, he's like six months old.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what his first show will be.
Speaker 3:It was gonna be the weekend of Hershey, but now I'm going to Hershey so he doesn't get to get shown. So I don't know, it'll depend on grooming contest kind of rule my life. So, doc, shows just get to happen when those don't, you know. Yeah, so It'll just kind of depend on that.
Speaker 2:Hey, okay, so you were nominated for groomer of the year. Can you tell us about, like your journey to get there, like who some of your mentors were, who are some people that you've learned from? Who are some people that you haven't learned from yet, that you would still like to learn from?
Speaker 3:Oh so mentor wise, I am like Facebook messenger dog picture person, if there ever was one, and if you ask like Scott Wasserman or Lisa Leedy, they would probably Be like in the top category of like who mentored you know. So I was in my younger years, lisa probably has, and Scott to Do 300 photos of like, screenshots of my dogs, or like. Can you draw on this or like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, this, I do the same same.
Speaker 3:So those, those were like the earlier ones. Sarah moon also helped me a lot in those in my beginning years. She was kind of an open-level competitor I really looked up to and here in more recent years, someone I've really admired and tried to learn from, as Pina, her, irina pinkus of itch, as I don't know she has on Facebook, but she is just like a wealth of knowledge and a great person and We'll just, if you will learn, she will teach it, man.
Speaker 2:I yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm so grateful to her for that. She gave me a mini poodle lesson. It was at my first Carrie blue specialty. It was at Carrie fest and it was like sprinkling rain, cold under a tent in Missouri. And it's like freezing cold and it's like 5 30 in the morning and she's giving me a grooming lesson on a mini poodle.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 3:Like the nicest mentor ever.
Speaker 2:I don't know see you say that like fast forward a couple years, and you literally just did that for me, so like that's so cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I always try to give back or help when I can. I love seeing them Nice people succeed, so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, who are some of your other like favorite, like groomers that you really look up to?
Speaker 3:Um, I would say Michelle Evans. I really respect her as a judge. Just really good. She's like. The integrity and Knowledge that woman has is, I think, unparalleled by a lot of people Julie Wilkins and Martin, I Just think they're they're grooming queens and they're just hard to talk. Heather Bruzey she, you talk about a hand stripper man like I respect.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, her Airdale. Oh my gosh, so gorgeous.
Speaker 3:Yeah, she's amazing and, of course, like Lindsay Dickens, like that girl, she can groom anything and make it look like spectator, like.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's like one of my goals is to be able to be at that point. We're like just any breed, like if I can just take it and make it look good, like that is. That's seriously goals for me.
Speaker 3:Same I want that's, that's my goal, like I don't want to be a groomer known for like the one dog, of course, like Lindsay's, known for B Sean's, but everyone knows like she can do everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, was it just last competition that I was at Chicago like the night before was like anyone, have a hand stripping dog.
Speaker 3:I'm.
Speaker 1:Facebook and she like had like four different options and she just like nailed it. I'm like, wow, I would have been like having a stroke trying to figure out how to groom this dog, but nope, she's like I'll take whatever. Yeah, those are some big names. I know Pina is like on my list. I want to take a lesson or a class from her. She's definitely. But like I think every single one that you listed is someone I would love to just be honored to take a lesson from.
Speaker 3:Um yeah, and I think like Not to like Get on a tangent, but I think a lot of like newer rumors forget about those people. I'm like, yeah, so that was like old-school, like bad asses that are not utilized, and I'm like we need to utilize these people more.
Speaker 2:That was my next question. I was gonna ask, like, what advice would you give to, like a new competitor or somebody who Wants to compete? That's just starting out. What would you tell them?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would just say, Like, when you ask for a critique or you what? When you compete, always get a critique, no matter what. If, like if you think you've arrived nine times to Sunday, still get the freaking critique, write it down and never enter into the judge again. But you will always know, like what they like, what they didn't like, and you'll have that for the future. And when you're like looking at someone to get like a lesson from or Advice from or knowledge from, really like consider the source, take their opinion, like try to find the value and everything, because I truly believe you can learn something from everyone. And and then you also have to decide, like what you're gonna keep from that and what you're not. But, yeah, just really consider the source and look at like what, the, what value they bring and what's behind their opinion. I guess I would say I think that's great.
Speaker 1:I should yeah, citate these people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like if they say they're a poodles breed specialist, like they better have a chicken poodle or yeah, no, I.
Speaker 1:I love that. I think that's such good Advice to anybody you mentioned about. You have a new Ambassadorship coming up. Can you give us the deets on who who's in back, who you're being a brand ambassador for?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I had that sort of wrecked. They contacted me and they kind of are trying to do like um, I Don't know, I don't want to try to sound special, but they're just really trying to like they took a lot of outside input and tried to create an ambassador ship that's really gonna like help push For. It's an education, along with like their brand and Like some new products that wanted to develop. So I'm really excited about that and like getting to like Look at products and new products and test them out.
Speaker 2:It's really exciting.
Speaker 3:It's so fun to me trial on Like I am like a great person to be a trial and error person with brushes and combs, because I have like 600 and they're all on my table at all times, so yeah, you want the honest people like to help you, Product test them to you.
Speaker 1:Don't want to be a yes man because that's their name on something you know and if you're just being a yes man. Then they have this brush. That's just kind of float in and nobody actually likes it. But they bought it because you said to, and so I think yeah pet store direct is very lucky to have you. I actually Is it to me Domingo or Domingo? I can never say his name in a lot of. Domenico, thank you. Yeah, I've met them a couple times and there's like the sweetest people in the world.
Speaker 3:So that's so exciting, good for you, I think, I actually I believe it's Dominic.
Speaker 1:Dominic yes. I'm gonna see him in September here in a couple weeks, so I'll make sure he could tell us then. Yeah that we murdered his name. That's okay, that's buddy, yeah. Oh. So are you gonna do some like booth work, like are they gonna get a table in their booth and Do stuff like that too?
Speaker 3:Um, I don't know it's it's hard because I do so many classes. It shows, yeah, like grooming, come up, competition classes, that it's really hard, like Even if I'm only doing three classes that morning, like, oh yeah, that one morning you do have office, really nice to like sleep in and then prep your dog later. So I don't know if we'll get to do much of that, but we really. We hope to have some like private seminars and yeah stuff like that, yeah, so I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1:You think they'll be like the social media. A lot of people I see a lot of companies are doing like the the tiktok Instagram, real like social media, education videos. Is that something you think you'll do for them as well?
Speaker 3:I might try. I am really bad self same so I try. It doesn't always turn out great and I'm like hyper critical. I have imposters. It's really bad, like it's On me man and so I Pick apart my grooms, even if it's a pet trip, like like today. I was gonna post this like mini Aussie on my business Facebook page and there was like one Hair on the ear that is like sticking up and I'm like I Can't post. No one's gonna know what's gonna notice this hair, that's buddy. So I might try to do some like of the tips and tricks videos.
Speaker 1:I've done some in the past, yeah, I think you should, because the audience you're reaching it to isn't a whole bunch of contest groomers Like I think that's the biggest thing to remember is you're actually helping a lot of people, and those 20 second, 30 second videos, like they could gain that one thing, so yeah, yeah there's people.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I'm say, there's those people who are just like you, like at that first show you ever went to, and you're like Scared and you're confused and just like just to know that there's somebody that maybe you're just internet friends with, that might like be in your corner, can be, so Just like relieving.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this thought just came in my head and that's okay. I'm sorry if it's like a Question, that's like weird, but the pet pro classic take all of our virginities, like.
Speaker 2:My kind of I.
Speaker 1:I.
Speaker 2:Did a world's room, so that was my first contest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah but like in person, like. Is it because it's like pet pro classic or why like well?
Speaker 2:it's not that well for Jacob and I. It's not that far from us, Okay so that's, that's the other reason you and Iowa. That's different.
Speaker 1:Well, it was because it was Pam. She told me to come and did not prep me for the real life. That was embarrassing, but yeah, okay, sorry that mine that thought just like slipped into my mind and I was like, is this the show everyone goes to for their first? Is this something we should tell people? Because I really feel like a lot of people show up now like it's a, it's a heavy-hitting show right now too.
Speaker 2:Like I was gonna ask Jacob, what shows do you have planned for the rest of the year?
Speaker 3:Um, I believe I'm doing all of them except for New England. Yeah, yeah, I'm like I'm blessed you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm tired for you.
Speaker 3:Well it's, the points are so close right now that I don't know if you're going to do it. You got to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So but New England it's like New England's like three days away from Dallas or something of doing that. That's crazy. Cause like but in the sun is right after Dallas. They're trying to kill us with a schedule.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what do you think they could do differently for the schedule for all of these contests? I've heard so many opinions on how it should be Cause that is crazy Three shows back to back, to back.
Speaker 2:You know what I wish? I just wish there was like more shows that were more in like the central United States cause it feels like they're on either coast and for those of us that live like in Texas or Oklahoma, for example, like we have a trip to like every single show, like on the coast. So it would be nice if there were more and just like the central States, I think that would help a lot yeah.
Speaker 3:Um, I don't know necessarily what the solution to the scheduling conflict is. Uh, it just doesn't make sense Cause, like Barkley, they're the same company and they're having like two shows within like a week of each other. Fun in the sun in. New England. Um, and I just think that would be a lot for one company to do, but I mean that's it's not my company, so obviously I can't say give my input and.
Speaker 1:I've never put on a show, so but isn't the sanctioned shows done by Grim team, so like they get to choose what shows are sanctioned.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah Is this not a good topic to talk about on podcast. I'm just like just generally curious, like that's this. When you said three shows back to back to back, I'm like aren't they in charge of what shows are sanctioned? Like no, they are, oh man, um, but yeah, the shows are back to back to back. So like shouldn't there be some sort of like people have families and dogs that aren't contest dogs, and like they have a whole life outside of contest grooming, which is fine, but like our, so like when I first went into this industry, my husband had motocross for a while.
Speaker 1:Okay, so once you get sponsored, my brain was, like you know, like a sponsored motocross racer, racer your bike, your racing, your hotel, your gas, you even get a paycheck just to get a trophy. Like that's where my brain went before I figured out contest life. Like yes, you guys get some, some brand deals, some shampoo, you know, maybe an entry fee covered, maybe you get to keep your prize money, that's nice, um, but like there, you know, and sometimes your whole trip maybe is paid for. That's not the case a lot of the time, um, but just to like having those shows back to back to back, like that's just. That's just like, like okay, so someone that's going to go to every single show, right, like what's their home life? Are they? Just it's really hard to choose what's important, like what's what's success to these people is to go and do all these things and then have like a the best home life.
Speaker 1:Like, are you picking different things? Cause that's how I feel and I only go to like two to three shows and my husband's like, holy shit, like slow down. Syria of children. Like you can't just be flying all over. I have companies, you have companies. We can't just like abandon things. Let's, let's, let's, figure out what success means to Sierra Albert, missy Like and you know we have those conversations at least every time I go so, like how, how can one sanctioned whoever gets to choose their the board of group team? Like that's a lot Like, shouldn't that come down to something? Or, if it is a lot like, hopefully there's a big, big prize in the end, other than a group team jacket. Like that's just how I feel. Maybe this is too, too, um, opinionated, I don't know, but that's just, that's a lot to ask.
Speaker 3:They do have like a thing that they only count your top nine shows, like for girl team or for the travel team, one of the two. So like if you're really gunning for it, you know you only have to have like nine, your nine best shows or what's going to count. So if you did I think there's like 13 or 14, your top nine are going to count, which law of average you're probably not going to place at every show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but if you're only doing.
Speaker 3:if you're only doing like eight shows, then you really got to make those eight count. But so I guess that really just depends on like where you're at and where you're sitting and really what your end goal is. I mean, I've always kind of said if it was really easy, everyone would do it. So yeah.
Speaker 3:But it is. It is definitely brutal, but I don't know if you're, if you ever pay attention to like. I watch professional rodeo too. I'm like a big horse person and I kind of feel like the professional rodeo athletes because they're always out there chasing money at rodeos and stuff to qualify for the end of the year, kind of things.
Speaker 1:So yeah.
Speaker 3:I guess it just takes depends on what, how devoted you really want to be, Because it definitely does take a toll on like family and your dogs at home and businesses. Like owning a business and doing competitions is really hard. I almost think it would be easier to be an employee, yeah.
Speaker 1:Gavin switched from that, like he did own a business and then he is now an employee because it is hard yeah.
Speaker 3:I've really contemplated that, like more than one time.
Speaker 1:I'm really not going to lie. Tell me more about that, though. Tell me more about owning a business and competing. What's your struggles?
Speaker 3:Like um, it's, I'm, I am a really hands on boss. I really try to um and I try and I'm really about in my salon. I'm really about like high quality, but we also are like really fast paced, because I'm just a fast paced person and that's how I've always worked and it's just it's overwhelming just trying to do all the things at once. I I had to get really good at delegating and like I hired a receptionist and like had to make myself relinquish duties to her. Like no, that is Casey's job, now Stop touching it. Like you were not doing that anymore. But, um, I think that's been the biggest struggle was just like making yourself delegate and ask for help. That's been my biggest struggle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel like a lot of people will feel that, almost like when you said that I'm like yep, I feel that right now too. So, um, where can everyone find you on social media? Um, all the things you share and the places you go?
Speaker 3:Um, so you can add me on Facebook. I'm Jacob Robinson. Uh, then on Instagram I am underscore, or okay, see underscore groomer.
Speaker 1:So all right, and then you're going to be at Hershey's. So if anyone sees Jacob, go say hi.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I'd love to meet anyone. I'm always down to make new friends, so no problem, I had a great time.
Speaker 1:Is your partner going to Hershey with you?
Speaker 3:No, he can't make it to that one, but he prioritizes going to Florida, so I know, he's dating his trips for the Florida shows Okay.
Speaker 1:That's smart planning.
Speaker 3:That's smart.
Speaker 2:That's very smart yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much for hopping on. This was fun. I really liked hearing your story and really what you came back with after your accident. Most people would have said, like they might you know, like you, you came back with a vengeance, almost, and you know, and I'm excited to see where you're going to go in the future, because I just know it's going to be great things.
Speaker 3:So oh, thanks, thanks guys.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, bye, bye.
Speaker 3:Bye.
Speaker 2:Bye, thank you.
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