I am Back!!......I Think

Boy, it feels like I have been gone forever.

I think that I will have numbers spinning in my head for awhile yet.

Anyway, my daughter and I just got back from Intergroom.

Other than getting stuck in accident traffic on the way there, (our 3 hour drive turned into a 4 hour and 20 minute ride) and the 20 minute ride we took around Secaucus New Jersey because I missed the first exit on the way back home, we had a really nice time.

Jessica and I didn't compete in any grooming contests, but we did attend some of the educational classes.

I always say that if I walk out of the class having learned at least one thing, it was worth the money.

I was scheduled to go to 6 classes, but skipped two of them.

I skipped one class on Sunday to meet up with one of my blog readers.

Hi Shelley!

Shelley and I had a nice talk while we sat watching the Poodle grooming competition.

She gave me an idea for helping other people with their grooming.

I will be looking into that.

Monday I got caught up in watching and photographing the Creative Grooming contest, so I missed another class.

Wow!

There were a lot of really great entries.

I have tons of pictures that I will be working on and making into a few collages.

Hopefully I will post them sometime this week.

The other four classes I had mixed feelings about.

The first class was very informative, only I already knew everything that the speaker talked about, but the class was very beneficial for a lot of other groomers.

There was one little thing that the speaker talked about that I had not thought of before, so the class was not a waste for me.

The speaker was a very experienced groomer, but after talking a little about herself......good grief, how do I put this without sounding bad?

Let's see........

The way she grooms now in her career is not how the everyday pet groomer grooms.

The prices that she charges are not realistic with what the average, everyday groomer is able to charge.

I am not knocking her.....more power to her if she can get that kind of money for her grooms, and find the customers that will pay it.

Most groomers are worth more than the amount that they are able to charge for their grooms, but the area (economy) that they live in, or shop owner that they work for will not allow them to charge for all of the hard, physical, skilled work that it takes to groom dogs.

I would love to charge the hourly rate that the speaker gets, but I know that there is NO way that most of my customers could handle that kind of charge every four to six weeks.

So, I find it a little hard to sit and listen to the speaker tell the class to 'just do it'.

Okay, I am getting off of my soapbox.

The above comments are just my personal opinion. :/

The next class was a little disappointing also.

Mainly for how unorganized it was.

Two speakers were giving this class.

One speaker was late...very late.

They had to go find her.

On top of that, they didn't even have a dog there for the demo.

The speaker was also very hard to hear.

Anyway, the class finally got started, without the other speaker. (she did show up a little later)

The fact that I did learn something in this class made up for the disorganization.

I did not mention the names of the speakers, or the names of the classes on purpose.

I will name the name of the speaker of the next two classes that I went to, because she is a great speaker that I enjoyed listening to very much.

Daryl Conner

If you ever go to a Grooming Expo, and Ms. Conner is speaking, please take her class.

I have heard her speak at both Groom Expo Hershey and Intergroom. 

She is a very experienced, down to earth Professional Pet Groomer. 

She has a ton of advice and her classes are not boring in any way.

The first class was about the 'day in the life' of a groomer.

Ms. Conner made the class fun and interactive.

Every groomer in that room could relate to everything she was talking about.

The class was very informative and helpful.

I did not really learn anything new in her class, (we have both been grooming for about the same amount of time) but that didn't matter, I enjoyed it very much.

I did find out that she is a Certified Cat Groomer, and I would love to see her give a class on tips for handling cats. :)

Her next class was about 'Check them out---when they arrive'.

It was very informative and fun also.

I did learn something in this class.

Well, I learned to look at something a little differently then the way I had been doing it. :-)

Don't forget...if you get a chance to listen to Daryl Conner speak, it will be well worth your time. :)

So, over all we had a really nice time at Intergroom.

I'll have those Creative Grooming photos up as soon as I can.

I also have almost 50 comments waiting for me. :/

I will get to them as soon as I can also.

Glad to be back blogging. :)

✂ Happy Grooming, MFF ✂