Nick, the groomer and director of I Love Pet Supplies, is a little more than just that, he's at one with the dogs and cats he grooms. He is, as I simply put, a dog in a human body.
Through years of grooming his own dog, Sam, from the ripe old age of 9, he grew more and more interested in grooming animals. This passion, whilst continuing to groom Sam, continued onto humans, where Nick eventually became a hairdresser.
Moving to Melbourne in 2011, he continued his passion for animals when he commenced working in a pet store not far from his home in Ascot Vale. Eventually, the manager of the store he worked for in 2012, 'found out' he was a hairdresser and had experience grooming his own dog. He was asked if he would be interested to be the grooming salon's 2IC. After a careful 2 second think about the offer, he accepted.
Shortly before accepting this offer, we purchased our first dog together, Kodi. Kodi is a sweet Cavoodle that captured both Nick's heart and mine; he is now the patriarch of our fur clan and regularly takes lost or lonely dogs under his arm when at a dog park.
In 2014, Nick started the company we now know as I Love Pet Supplies Pty Ltd (ilps), an online store that supplied food, treats and other must haves for your pet.
After approx. a year of working both full time and on his own business, it was decided that something had to give due to the high costs involved having an online store, especially when the cost of purchasing the product, shipping and maintaining a website was higher than some other online stores.
Shortly after making this heart-breaking decision to close ilps in the form we knew, Nick had a brainwave. He had been grooming our own dogs for the entire time we had Kodi and some of his friends had been asking if he could do theirs. So, without a second thought, Nick started to slowly purchase products, tools and continue his education in the grooming industry.
Around the same time, Nick was asked by his current employer to manage their grooming salon in an inner northern suburb of Melbourne. Nick was delighted that he was seen as the best in his field at work and accepted the offer almost immediately.
By now, you can see a trend happening; Nick's passion for dogs is so big, it showed in his work and the quality of his grooms.
Nick concurrently built both his own business and that of the company he worked for full time. Like many things in life, something had to give. Working a 38 hour week (usually longer) and then coming home, eating dinner on the run (with Tim in the kitchen) and grooming for hours, discussions arose about the ability for him to leave working for someone else.
This questions plagued us for several months; how will we advertise, how much will it cost, where will we advertise etc. there are so many options now and what works? From Google to Facebook and Gumtree, there are so many different mediums and how do you tell what type of paid (or free) advertisements are actually worth their weight in gold? Nick contacted a few companies that claimed to offer a free 'meeting' and 'cheap' offers to help boost your site and generate income.
The problem with this is, like many things in life, nothing is for free. Throw in a talented people manager and sales person to the meeting and a HUGE amount of information was sourced from these companies. Sure, we didn't go through with their offers, but, we did use some of the information they provided us for free. Their free offers turned in to multiple thousands $'s.
In January 2017, Nick jumped in the deep end and resigned from his full time position and now works solely for himself from our new residence in Point Cook.
ilps has been running from Nick's home in Point Cook since he moved with his partner and fur kids in October 2016. Nick hasn't looked back! This suburb or town, offers not only a fantastic lifestyle of open spaces and fantastic people, but gave Nick the opportunity to successfully work for himself.
Nick is grateful that many of his clients from Ascot Vale have followed him to Point Cook, couple this with the amazing people of Point Cook and surrounds, Nick is able to focus solely on providing the best service he can. His transition was made possible through sheer determination, sacrifice and ultimately, the love of dogs and ensuring that each and every animal that passes through our doors are treated as if they are his own.
We wouldn't leave our boys with just anyone, so Nick has modelled his pet care service on care and compassion: Would we leave our dogs with this person?
If you ever hear anyone say that 'He (Nick) is just a dog in a human body!', you're 100% correct.
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