Happy Friday, Daily Groomers!

If you've felt like you're busier than you've ever been, but the business somehow still feels fragile… you're not imagining it. And you're definitely not alone.

Over the last few weeks, we asked 1,000+ groomers across The Daily Groomer community what's actually going on inside their businesses. Shop owners. Solo groomers. Mobile operators. Multi-van fleets. 10 polls. 1,000+ responses. And hundreds of raw, written answers.

This was a grind to put together btw…. S/O to our small but scrappy team.

What came back wasn't a clean industry report.

It was the unfiltered gut-check… the kind of stuff most operators are only saying to each other in private group chats.

So we built it into one thing.

👇 Download the Free State Of The Grooming Industry Report

The grooming industry isn't broken. But the business model most groomers inherited is.

Knowing what's actually happening across the industry means:

A lot of people are talking about the economy. This is what it actually feels like inside the small grooming businesses all over the US.

Here's a peek at what's covered:

Six numbers that sum up the state of the shop floor right now. (One might make you feel a lot better about your business. Another one might make you uncomfortable.)

The #1 problem cited by groomers — and it's not a labor shortage. It's something uglier, and nobody's saying it clearly. We did.

Half the industry feels underpaid. One owner's quote on this hit so hard I had to read it twice.

41% of groomers are booked 3+ weeks out. So why does everyone still feel behind? This chapter is uncomfortable.

One of the rawest quotes in the entire report is in this section. It's about a golden retriever. I won't spoil it.

We asked the community: if you could fix one thing in your business overnight, what would it be? The answers are unfiltered. Some are funny. Some are heartbreaking. All of them are real.

5 honest predictions for the next 12 months — based on what operators are actually saying, not what analysts are guessing.

I'll be honest… reading through hundreds of written responses was a gut-check for me too.

You hear the same lines over and over:

"I can't find good help."

"I need to raise prices but I'm scared."

"I'm so tired I cried during a groom last week."

These aren't complaints. They're signals. And when a thousand groomers say the same thing with slightly different words, it stops being noise and starts being the industry.

Here's what I walked away with: the operators getting their lives back right now aren't the ones grooming harder. They're the ones fixing the business around the grooming - pricing, systems, hiring, team.

That's what this report breaks down. All the numbers. All the patterns. All the raw quotes. And a clear read on where this is all headed.

It's free. It's 26 pages. And unless you've never felt behind, underpaid, or understaffed - I think it'll feel like someone finally said it out loud.

For the love of grooming,

Alex

At Teddy, we’ve been noticing something:

A lot of groomers are fully booked… and still feel underpaid.

It’s not a demand problem — it’s a visibility problem.

So right now, we’re focused on helping you actually see what you’re making, where you’re undercharging, and where revenue is slipping through.

Not more clunky reports… something much smarter

Honestly, this might be the most impactful thing we’ve built yet.

That’s all folks! Keep calm and groom on 🐶🤘