A new set of shears? A better dryer? The latest grooming products? Most salon owners understand the value of investing in the tools they use every day.

But when it comes to investing in their own education, team training, or learning how to run a stronger business, the decision isn't always so easy.

Why is that?

In this unscripted episode of After the Last Dog, Jennifer Oppel and Dara Forleo pull a random question from their topic fishbowl and explore why grooming and pet care business owners are often more comfortable spending money on equipment than on education that could help their businesses grow and thrive.

It's an interesting conversation about how we think about money, what we consider a worthwhile business investment, and why learning to run a business doesn't always get the same attention as learning to do the work.

After all, many salon owners built their businesses on years of experience, technical skills, hard work, and a genuine love for animals. But being great at what you do and knowing how to build a business around it are two different skill sets.

Jennifer and Dara explore why investing in yourself can feel risky, especially when you're already busy, watching expenses, and wondering whether another training program will actually make a difference.

This isn't about buying another course or spending money you don't have. It's about recognizing that the knowledge, confidence, and business skills you develop can be just as valuable as the equipment you purchase.

Because sometimes the next investment your business needs isn't another tool. It's learning a better way to use what you've already built.

Join Jennifer and Dara for a candid, unscripted conversation about professional education, business ownership, and what it really means to invest in the future of your grooming or pet care business.

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Nobody teaches you how to lead a grooming business, you just end up doing it. In the final episode of the Legacy or Liability series, Jennifer gets personal (without getting confessional) about the relational side of what you inherited when you opened, bought, or took over a salon: the clients still bracing for the last owner's mistakes, the team carrying in habits from every job before yours, and your own default version of "boss" that you copied from whoever you last worked for. From inheriting a town's scar tissue after a hygiene-scandal salon sat empty for six months, to why training keeps failing when there's no system behind it, to the handbook realization that changed everything, this episode is about recognizing which people problems are actually yours to fix, and which ones you're just paying down for somebody else.

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Hiring and Onboarding Masterclass

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Introduction to the Salon https://www.growinggroomers.com/offers/qPF5DrfV

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Bather Brusher Course https://www.growinggroomers.com/offers/EawtRyyV

“I’m not a manager.”

It’s something grooming business owners say all the time. But owning the business means you still need to understand what each role is responsible for, what good work looks like, where employees have decision-making authority, and how you know expectations are actually being met.

In this episode of After the Last Dog, Dara shares how she learned that having a few employees who naturally “got her” was not the same as having a management system.

We talk about what happens when growth exposes unclear expectations, why “they should know” can become a dangerous assumption, and how owners can accidentally recreate pieces of the workplaces they once wanted to escape.

You’ll also hear why inspecting what you expect is not about micromanaging. It is about making sure the business your team experiences matches the business you believe you built.

This episode is part of The Business We Inherited: Legacy or Liability?

Ask yourself: Have I built a business where someone can succeed without having to think exactly like me?