The Pet Groomer

Michelle Hoskins, who has a soft spot for animals, originally wanted to work in the zoo. She completed a Certificate II in Animal Studies and became a Zoo Friend at Sydney's Taronga Park. Michelle also worked at an animal centre in Fairfield, and even went as far as Gosford to volunteer her time and knowledge. Michelle initially had big dreams, desiring to gain a job working in a zoo or animal park, whether it meant travelling to Queensland!

After realising it was too competitive and unrealistic, Michelle decided to modify her goals, and focus on her second love - dogs. The skills and knowledge acquired in her Cert. II attainment came in handy when she decided to establish Pet Bodyworks in May last year.

The plan was to work only the hours her kids were at school, as well as all day Saturday. Michelle only attracted a total of 3 dogs in that first month, but after a bit of advertising - through her husband broadcasting her company on Google! - Michelle soon found that she had more demand than she could supply!

Michelle realised that there were many customers out there looking for a quality service for their pooches and she looked into the costs of setting up a salon. She realised that her business would then become a numbers game: with a minimum of two staff and rent to pay on the premises, she knew she would have to start getting more dogs through the doors and the quality of her work would drop. So whilst maybe one day she may expand the business, Michelle currently still works only in school hours, has enough clients to be fully booked every week and loves what she does.