Why The Pet Grooming Is 20 Years Behind (in a good way)! 🤔

Happy New Year Daily Groomers!

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If you’ve ever driven past a Paul Mitchell School and thought… they’re everywhere, you’ll want to hear this one.

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This week on the podcast, we sat down with Winn Claybaugh, the Dean + Co-Founder of Paul Mitchell Schools (the largest school network in the professional beauty industry)… and now a co-founder of a pet grooming venture called Salty Dawg.

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I’ll be honest: I went into this episode thinking we’d talk “beauty industry crossover” stuff.

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What we got instead was a masterclass in:

• building culture on purpose

• writing systems down before you “need” them

• hiring for attitude (and avoiding the superstar trap)

• and why grooming is sitting on a wide-open opportunity that no one has fully captured yet

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Sharing my rough notes below 👇

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A Quick Winn Backstory

Winn is one of those people whose resume doesn’t make sense until you hear him talk.

• Opened his first salon ~40 years ago

• Never went to college

• Never became a hairdresser

• Barely graduated high school (“apparently they want you to show up… I was busy”)

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And yet…

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He built an education empire and has been credited with revolutionizing professional beauty education.

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Now he’s looking at pet grooming and seeing what the beauty industry looked like 20 years ago and that’s exactly why he’s excited.

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Meet Winn (in his own words)

A few themes that popped early:

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Hard work + hustle (and his definition of “hustle” is important)

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Hustle doesn’t mean screwing people over. It means not waiting for opportunities to come to you.

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Surround yourself with better people

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“I’m not the smartest, the prettiest, or the most talented so I’ve become a genius at attracting people who are.”

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That willingness to surround himself with people better than him is a big reason he’s been able to scale.

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Culture Isn’t Something You “Add Later”

This was the part that got me.

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Winn’s point: you don’t create culture… you already have it.

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“When two people come together, there is a culture… you just decide if you’re shaping it or it’ll be decided for you.”

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He gave the perfect example:

You walk into a restaurant and in 30 seconds you can tell if you like it before you’ve seen the menu or talked to anyone.

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That feeling? That’s culture.

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A few culture truth bombs:

• You can have the best strategy and systems in the world -> culture decides whether they work.

• Your values aren’t what you say…. they’re what your behavior proves

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“Build It and They Will Come” (But He Means Team + Customers)

Someone asked: how do you attract great people early, before you’re “proven”?

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Winn’s answer wasn’t fancy:

You build a culture worth joining.

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Not with slogans… with consistent behaviors.

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He hammered the point that passion is visible:

“People say they’re passionate… I’m like, tell your face, because I can’t see it.”

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😂 but also… true.

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The Systems Piece (aka why “great groomers” won’t save you)

This section is going to hit for anyone who’s tried to scale.

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Winn’s stance is firm:

“Systems run your business. Then you hire people to run the systems.”

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He used Disney + Ritz-Carlton as examples:

• you don’t show up with your own version of Snow White

• you don’t say “no problem” at Ritz (you say “my pleasure”)

• the brand is consistent because the system is consistent

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Two qualities of a real system:

It’s written down

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“If your systems aren’t written down, you don’t have a system.”

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Repetition

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Training isn’t one-and-done. It’s ongoing. Train, train, train.

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Also: the six words of a failing company:

“We’ve always done it that way.”

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If you’ve ever felt stuck in “how we’ve always done it”… that line stings for a reason.

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Hiring Framework: Attitude > Skill

Winn didn’t mince words here:

“We hire attitude. We can train skill.”

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Because he’s hired the talented “superstar” without the right attitude… see what happens.

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Best practices he shared:

• You’re always hiring (even if you’re “fully staffed”)

• Interview people multiple times + at different times of day

• Let multiple team members interview them (they show different versions to different people)

• Hire slow, fire fast

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And yes, he said:

“Give me someone who loves their mom.”

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😂 …and his logic was basically: if they have a pattern of hating authority figures, eventually you’re next.

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The “I’m Too Busy For Culture” Excuse (his response was… direct)

When asked what to do if you don’t have time for culture / giving back, he said:

“Build a bridge and get over it.”

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His point:

Don’t delay the stuff that makes your business sustainable.

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Build it into the system now because that’s what attracts:

• customers

• great employees

• loyalty over time

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He also tied “giving back” to retention:

People want to buy from brands that contribute.

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But more importantly: your best employees want purpose, not just a paycheck.

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The Moment That Hit Me: “Value Your People”

Near the end, I asked:

If a grooming business owner takes only one thing from this episode… what is it?

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Winn’s answer:

“Value your people.”

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And then he made it real with a story:

He calls hundreds of people each year on their birthday.

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Not a text. A real call.

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Sometimes they ignore the call on purpose… just to save his voicemail.

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He said people have told him:

• “My spouse forgot my birthday, but I knew you wouldn’t.”

• “I still have your voicemail from 10 years ago.”

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Then he dropped the line that should be on a sticky note in every salon:

“You wouldn’t pay someone to kiss your kids goodnight… don’t outsource appreciation either.”

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Whew.

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Why Winn Thinks Grooming Is Wide Open

This was the big thesis:

“Pet grooming is where professional beauty was 20 years ago.”

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Meaning:

• tons of demand

• mostly mom-and-pop

• massive opportunity for modern education + brands + systems

• pet parents are spending more than ever (and treating dogs like family)

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And that’s why he’s building Salty Dawg: to bring a more modern playbook into grooming especially around education and professionalism.

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Listen To The Episode

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If you’re an owner trying to:

• scale without chaos

• seeing hiring as a constant battle

• struggling to retain good people

• or trying to build something bigger than “just grooming dogs”

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This one is worth a full listen.

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See you on the next one,

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Alex