Today we’d like to introduce you to Xavier Sanchez.
Hi Xavier, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
A little over two years ago, I started off at 18 years old walking dogs. I used a dog service app called Wag. I needed some extra money and I figured that working with Dogs would be the best avenue to take since I grew up around dogs. I loved the time freedom that the app gave me. I started to gain a lot of traction and brought on a lot of clients, and eventually started to take clients off of the app to become personal clients in which I walked their dogs regularly throughout the week. I had the chance to handle hundreds of dogs all around town, which in turn allowed me to work on my client and business skills. As I got older (19 years old), life started to put some financial responsibilities on my shoulders and dog walking as a primary source of income wasn’t going to be lucrative enough to support the upcoming responsibilities. Then a huge opportunity presented itself whenever one of my Dogwalk clients asked if I could give his dog a bath. I had no idea what to charge so I threw a number out there in which he doubled. And that’s how I got my start in dog grooming. Funny enough, I had nowhere to bathe the dog, but I found an apartment complex down the road that had a dog wash station right next to their dog park that they offered as an amenity. That location is where I would go on to handle the next hundred clients that I got before the maintenance guys sniffed me out and booted me since I did not live there.
After that first dog bath client, I realized that there may be something in grooming that I could latch onto. So I started a Facebook page, and used my skills in social media advertising, as that’s what I did before dog walking, and started running ads to my page and the messages started rolling in to book appointments. I was on a shoestring budget so I was spending about $20 a day in advertising and that surprisingly started to gain traction very quick. Eventually, I capitalized on my dog walk clients and turn them into grooming clients. The work was great, I loved working with all of the dogs and different personalities within each of my clients. I was loving every day of my job as I got to work on my business skills and build relationships with each and every dog. I made it my goal to be able to take in as many dogs as I could despite breed or behavior issues. I know that many dog grooming shops around town have different restrictions based off of breed, and behavioral issues, so one way that I could differentiate myself would be to take in dogs that other grooming shops would normally turn away. And ever since, that has been one of The factors that have been driving my success. After being booted from The first location, I had to act quick as the appointments did not slow down and I also had reoccurring clients to keep up with. So I reached out to a buddy of mine who was head maintenance at another apartment complex, and he allowed me to use their apartment complex dog wash station. I would spend a little over a year at that location building my client base, developing a proper pricing structure, building my social media pages and establishing a name in Austin. Eventually, the staff at that apartment complex also sniffed me out and booted me.
At this point, my life had completely changed, I was supporting a girlfriend, an apartment, and a baby on the way. So I had to think quick and figure out what I was going to do because money had just stopped flowing. Well with the baby on the way, we were already looking for another apartment to raise a family in, so why not try to find an apartment that also offers a dog wash station as an amenity. That’s exactly what we did, and that’s the situation in which I’m running my business currently. The apartment staff is nice enough to allow me to handle appointments out of the dog wash station provided to us as residents. I now currently have a strong and growing client base, and I recently made the decision to raise pricing accordingly to support opening and sustaining a retail space in town. I’ve gotten immense support from all of my clients and family, and at this point there’s no reason why growth should stop here. I’ve always wanted to be able to set my family up in the future for financial freedom, and especially with our son now here, it gives me even more motivation to make this happen, establish a proper footstep here and Austin and grow this business to its maximum potential. The amount of dogs and dog owners that I’ve been able to help on just a shoestring budget from a small idea with a one-man team has been incredible. And I can only imagine what the future holds. I wouldn’t be able to share my story in this light without giving credit to my girlfriend who has been an amazing mother in raising our son while I go out to run & build the grooming business.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
This journey has not been smooth, there have been plenty of obstacles as should be expected with starting any business. The main obstacle in which I still struggle with is not having a proper grooming shop to handle appointments in. The fact that I operate in an apartment complex dog wash station limits me and my potential to grow clientele. Operating in this situation is just flat out inconvenient for me and my clients, it limits the amount of content I can make and post to my social media pages, but nonetheless it was the opportunity that was handed to me so I make it work to the best of its potential.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Fluff ‘n’ Buff Dog Grooming?
My services and pricing has changed throughout time but currently, I’ve settled on a set of services that I found most popular to my clients. I offer dog grooming and specialize in a complete bath package with simple add on grooming services. I don’t offer haircuts, but I’ve been able to build my business around a complete Bath package that includes deshedding, shampoo and conditioner, rubber brush massage, ear cleaning, brush session, blow dry station, and conditioning fragrance spray. With optional add on services that include nail trim, flea treatment, or transportation. My transportation service has been one of the most popular services that I’ve offered. It allows the dog owner the most convenience when booking an appointment as with that option, I pick up and drop off their dog at their convenience. They can be home or at work, but nonetheless I come and pick up their dog and drop them off spic and span. That has been one of the services that has put me apart from other dog grooming shops. Eventually, as I get a proper location established, I do plan on hiring on another groomer to handle haircuts, but as of now the main problem that I see that dog owners are having is that their dogs stink and need a proper pamper session.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
The main person that deserves credit is my girlfriend. It is not easy to be with a business owner, but she has given me so much support and ideas in the business. And especially now with our kid, she is a phenomenal mother and despite my busy schedule, she makes it her number one priority to be the best mother she can in raising our son who is now one year old. So my mind is always at ease whenever I’m working so I know that he is taken care of and is being raised by an amazing person. Aside from her, YouTube has been my greatest mentor and advisor. I’ve learned all of the services that I now offer through YouTube and experience and have become very proficient in them.
Contact Info:
- Email: xaviersanchez3699@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/fluffnbuffatx
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/home.php#!/fluffnbuffatx/?tsid=0.2635084192363637&source=result
