PetGroomBossPro Blog — Groomer App

The Solo Groomer's App: Grooming, Texting and Getting Paid From One Phone

A lot of mobile grooming businesses are one person and one van. The owner is the groomer, the bather, the receptionist, the bookkeeper and the person who cleans the van at night. For that person, software has to earn its keep in minutes saved, not in features that need an office manager to run them.

One Person, Both Sides

The last article, What the Office Sees When the Groomer Completes an Appointment, described the office's view. For a solo groomer, the office and the groomer are the same person. They see both sides: the groomer app in the van during the day, and the office side, often on a laptop, at night.

The owner adds themselves as an employee with a PIN, assigns themselves to their van, and runs the day like any groomer would.

Evenings: Building Tomorrow

For a solo groomer, the office work usually happens in the evening or early morning. With PetGroomBossPro, much of it is already done:

• Repeat appointments are written up front. Clients booked every 4, 6 or 8 weeks already have tomorrow's visit planned, with its day, time and van.
• Pending Jobs shows tomorrow first. Confirm the planned visits with one click.
• New requests wait under “No Day.” Booking requests from your Book Now link land in Leads with the pets, services, add-ons and quoted price, and you get an email. Pick a time and book them.
• Auto-route the day Closest First or Furthest First from home, or set the order by hand.

Night-before reminder texts go out to customers who chose that alert, without you sending them.

Daytime: Just Groom

During the day, the solo groomer lives in the groomer app. The day is in order with set times. Each card has the pets with their breed, size, coat, cut and behavior notes, the add-ons, the van notes and the past notes. Tap navigation, read the card, groom, work the checklist, take photos, tap Complete. The customer gets on-the-way and arrived texts automatically.

No typing “on my way” with wet hands, no looking up last time's cut in a notebook, no writing a receipt.

Getting Paid Without Chasing

When a solo groomer taps Complete, the invoice is created and the card on file can be charged right then. The customer can leave a tip on the paid invoice in the customer app. For customers without a card on file, the invoice waits in the customer app to be paid online.

For a one-person business, that removes a whole evening task: sending invoices and checking who paid. The money arrives when the work is done. Payment at completion is covered in Charging the Card on File When the Groomer Taps Complete.

Texting Without Your Personal Number

Solo groomers often run the business from their personal cell, which means customers text at 10pm and the phone never stops. PetGroomBossPro's two-way texting runs through the business, with automated reminders and alerts. Customer replies come into the office side of PetGroomBossPro, where the groomer can answer when they choose.

Every plan includes a monthly text allowance: 500 texts on Start, 1,000 on Pro and 2,000 on Crew, sent and received, in the US and Canada.

The Right Plan for One Van

Plans are $59, $89 and $199 per month (Start, Pro and Crew), with the groomer app on every one and a 14-day free trial with no credit card. A one-van groomer can start on the plan that fits today, for example by how many texts they expect, and move up when they add a bather or a second van. Plan details are on the pricing page.

Good records also matter if the solo groomer ever needs a day off. With every pet, cut note and van note on file, a fill-in groomer can cover a day without a long phone call the night before. And if the owner ever sells the business, a client list with pets and notes attached is worth far more than a phone full of text threads.

Ready for When You Grow

The setup that works for one van is the same setup that works for three. When a solo groomer hires a bather, the bather gets a PIN and joins the van, covered in A Groomer and a Bather in One Van: Sharing the Day on the Groomer App. When they add a second van, the regulars' pets and notes are already on file, so a new groomer can take them over without the owner re-explaining every dog.

Starting with good records from day one, even as a one-person business, makes that growth much easier. For the full picture of the groomer app, visit the PetGroomBossPro dog grooming app page.