Jess Rona: Founder of Jess Rona Grooming Salon and Shmoop

23:50It would break your business. Like it was everything. So how is social media and the media impacting your day-to-day business at that point in time?

24:00Jess Rona:I was so busy. That said, when I moved to my brick and mortar, it was a different story. But when I was still in my garage and small and it was just me, I ended up hiring three other people. I had two assistants and another groomer in my garage. It was like five of us at one point. It was crazy. And yeah, it was really, really busy. I had a wait list. I wasn't able to take new clients. It was just too much. And so it did help my business. And I also gave opportunities, like I got a book deal. It wasn't like the time of the influencer like it is now, but I was able to, like when Apple launched this new camera on their phone, they like had me come in and shoot dogs for this thing.

24:45Jess Rona:So I was still able to get some cool brand deals like Elf Cosmetics. They're cruelty free. And so they came in and I had all these different animals come into my grooming salon. In my garage, I had like a frog and a chicken. So the business was booming. The brand deal started to come in. It was really amazing. 2016 to 2019 was like, holy shinoli. I was like shot out of a cannon and I needed to get my business out of my garage. If I had a day off, my employees had to come in and use the bathroom anyway. So like there was no separation. It was too much. And I was in my garage for six years. And so then I moved to the brick and mortar, but that's a whole thing.

25:24Talk to me about that, moving Jess Rona Grooming from your garage where you've been bootstrapping it and figuring it out and living and working all in the same place, which, by the way, I also did in the early days of Who What Where. So what was it like making the decision to move into a brick and mortar in Larchmont?

25:42Jess Rona:I was desperate to get out. I felt like a plant that was in a pot that had outgrown the pot and the roots were spinning and spinning and spinning. And so I found this place all the way at Beachwood Canyon next to the Beachwood Cafe. It was next to a laundromat. It was an old antique store. And I was like, it's a tiny tucked away secret hidden grooming salon I could put here. Because I wanted to just find a place where I can keep the home vibe, the hidden exclusive. We do celebs, you know, like it's like a little secret place. Very, if you know, you know. If you know, you know. and so I found this place and I waited for it and waited for it and I waited over a year for this place they were like giving me the runaround and all this stuff and like finally the landlord was like I just don't want a grooming salon here and I was so heartbroken because I was like this place or nothing so then the search began to find a cozy place that was like in the middle of the city maybe or somewhere local where like all my clients could still come like my east side people my Beverly Hills people, my West Side people everywhere.

26:49Jess Rona:And so I searched and searched and I couldn't find a hole in the wall like that one spot, but I did find another antique store on Larchmont and I was like, oh, this is really cozy and cute. It just reminds me of almost like European a little bit. And I love vintage. And so I was like, this could be it. And I kind of fell in love with this building. And I signed the lease three months later. It was like a really hefty back and forth to sign the lease because I had to do a full build out of this salon. And I had no idea what I was in for. And the pandemic hit. So October, we signed the lease. We had a three-month build out.

27:27Jess Rona:It ended up taking a year because of COVID. And I was working in my garage, paying rent on this place,$6 ,000 a month without being able to use it. And so with COVID, everybody was so scared that I would put a permit application. It had to sit for five business days just for them to be able to look at the paperwork. So we had to get permits for everything. So I was just sitting and waiting. And it was the most brutal thing I've ever been through until now, where I'm doing the same thing with Shmoop, which has been another, almost the same thing as the build out, this new product line I'm launching.

28:06Jess Rona:It's been like a very similar waiting, waiting, waiting and spending all your money and talk about anxiety and fear and like the sense of free falling, the sense of making decisions when I am absolutely not qualified, you know, and that's the founder story that I'm sure a lot of your guests share is like, I'm not qualified to do this. I'm spending all the money. I don't know what I'm doing. And I hope and pray that I'm doing the right thing. But the beauty is, and you mentioned this before, is like all the heartache are lessons. Every bad decision or quote unquote bad is not bad. It's just teaching you this thing.

28:46Jess Rona:It's an opportunity to grow more, to learn more about yourself, to heal more and to learn more about what you're doing. So anyway, that was what happened with the brick and mortar. But it's thriving and it's fabulous. And I'm there every other week. And my dog is like straining to get there, which is not an experience I've ever had with any dog being groomed ever. And it's just such a magical place. That was actually one thing I wanted. I didn't want to buy an already existing grooming salon or move into an old salon because I wanted the dogs to experience a new energy. And I wanted to recreate the energy of my home into this place, which is how I built the salon, which is why we're so different and why dogs run in to come in.

29:34Jess Rona:Some dogs are like nervous, but they get over it pretty quickly. But yeah, like what you just said means so much because that's exactly the feedback I would want from a client is like, my dog is actually happy here. Your dog gets the party started. Your dog loves the salon, but also you are a really good dog owner because you took your dog to the groomer so often in the beginning that he's so cozy at my place because he runs around like he owns it because it's not scary to him because you took him so often. And just like building the salon was so difficult. It was also so fun. Like with Shmoop, I'm having so much fun.

30:10Jess Rona:Yes, it's torture. And also it's a blast. We contain multitudes. Yes, we can have the heartache and the love and the gratitude at the same time. You talked about there's the book, there's TV show, there's also an educational component to your grooming empire where you teach grooming master classes. Also, you have like a whole wonderful team of people that you have trained and upskilled and who handle all of that day to day. How do you think about expanding and when it's the right time to expand into something new? The educational piece came from, like, I would get feedback from groomers and pet parents that grooming is so hard and it is so hard, but I think because I had such a deep understanding of dog behavior, I was able to build trust with the dogs as I work.

30:59Jess Rona:And because of all of my personal development work, I've been able to learn how to regulate my own nervous system. So it's like a combination of, can I regulate myself while I do this hard thing? Can I build trust with this cute, living, breathing love of someone's life in front of me? So I realized from just like a love of helping people that I wanted to help make grooming easier for groomers. It's such a struggle when you're new. I had the blessing of being able to learn at such a young age. So I was able to develop techniques to teach people how to build trust in the dog to create a calm dog.

31:37Jess Rona:And also when the dog isn't calm, to be able to have tools to regulate yourself so that you can have a better time at your work. This is what we do for a living. Might as well enjoy it. But anybody who's tried to groom a dog, it's frustrating. you know, 20, 40 minutes of a dog avoiding everything you're doing starts to wear on you. I have about 40 minutes of patience I've learned. Once 40 minutes kicks, I got to give myself a break and go do box breathing and take a minute. So I was able to find a way to not only show like a basic blueprint that I follow to create cute faces and create cute haircuts, but I was able to show groomers how to just make grooming a little bit easier and less frustrating, especially for the groomers that really struggle with dogs that have behavioral issues.

32:23Because one key thing that I've learned is you should not have an opinion or judgment

32:30Jess Rona:on the dog's behavior while you're training it or grooming it. Any pet parent can have that neutral tone and neutral energy when handling a dog. So like if a dog sees you frustrated and pissed that it's like doing whatever behavior, it's going to look at that as weakness and it's not going to think of it as strength. Think of a mother that has like five kids that can just do a look and a snap. Obviously, this is like a very special mother, but you've seen it. It's just there's no loudness. There's no opinion. There's just an uh-uh. And it's like that kind of energy with a dog. I don't have an opinion on your energy.

33:05Jess Rona:It's just no, that's not the way we work. And like a dog that sees that confidence in me, trusts me. Because you're alpha. Yeah, you're alpha, but you're also calm alpha. You're not a frazzled, trembling, frustrated alpha. That kind of alpha, especially as a leader in a business, that kind of alpha isn't going to get respect or a team that values them or is inspired by them. The alpha, and obviously I'm very flawed and like not a perfect leader at all, side note, but I do know that I can show up and fake it. I tell that to groomers, fake the confidence, fake the calmness, fake it in front of your team, and then you can go behind the scenes and crumble.

33:45Jess Rona:And I learned that from reading Jen Atkins' book too, Blowing My Way to the Top. She is a huge expander for me. Expander meaning someone that shows you what's possible. I really look up to her and adore her so much in so many different ways. Her generosity is mind-blowing and it has a ripple effect because I want to be generous like her. But also she had a story where she was like, I can't show this side to my team. I need to show up for them in this way. I really want to be like that too. But that can all be translated to dogs and grooming and educating people to help them. So I want to help people too.

34:23I love that. I've said before that like my nerves and my insecurity and my rattled vibes,

34:31Jess Rona:all that, like that's none of their business. That is so next level. How long did it take you to learn that? You know, honestly, I think that for me having kids change some of that because I realized in a different way, that was the big teachable moment for me is that kids are on your Wi-Fi. So I had like such a different level of feedback with them. And so if I was dysregulated, even as babies, I could tell that they sense that. And so for me, I just started applying that forward, which for you, you know, like dogs are on your Wi-Fi. Like if you are coming in, in a rattled sense, like they're going to feel rattled too.

35:11Why wouldn't that be applicable for employees or for teams or for everything else?

35:15Jess Rona:Totally. I mean, you can also be rattled, but can you compartmentalize it and put it in your back pocket? Or if you have a spiritual practice, can you turn it over and give it to your higher power and just say, you take this for the day. Let me have a good day. You can do something like that. But yeah, on your Wi-Fi, it's so true. It took me so long to learn how to show up as a leader. I still fumble through it. I still say the wrong things. And the garage business was around for six years. And now we just celebrated six years in the salon. It's a completely different business. And I didn't know.

35:52Jess Rona:I thought it would just be more of the garage business. It's the same thing, but it was a whole new business that I was starting. I had to start from scratch and learn how to be a leader. It's an ongoing skillset that you're always adapting and learning. And then on top of it, you have decided to throw another skillset package into the mix because you are also launching Shmoop, a beauty brand for every dog. Shmoop launches very soon. You and I have been talking about it for quite some time. I feel like we've been talking about it like as long as I've had snacks. So almost a year. Talk to me about the concept, what inspired you and what we can expect.

36:34Jess Rona:Oh my gosh. Okay. So the concept is, you know, it's just a kitschy, very 1960s brand that is fun and accessible and adorable. And when you talked about branding before, one way I approach branding is branding makes someone feel something. And so there's a little sense of nostalgia. there's a sense of joy and fun. I want people to feel fun and warm when they enter my world. I want them to feel like they're being hugged and they're being entertained and they're laughing and it's cozy. And so that's what Shmoop is. And, you know, there's been so many dog grooming brands built by people that have never groomed a dog.

37:20Jess Rona:It's true. You know, they're built by vets who have never groomed dogs. They're built by people that are really good at marketing or own dogs that bathe their own dogs. But like, there's never been a brand that has been built by someone that has been having their hands on the coats of dogs for 20 years. I've seen every skin issue, every coat type, everything. Cause like in LA, there's so many itchy dogs. And I realized when I was working in the garage, when we would hydrate the coats on these dogs, they would not have itchy skin. And so I realized in the garage when I was working with my bather will, we were both like, wow, like my hands aren't raw at the end of the day when I am hydrating the coats.

38:04Jess Rona:So I wanted to create a brand that was fully devoted to hydration. And it's also inspired by the beauty trends. So we have niacinamide in our spray. And also I partnered with a pet esthetician. People don't know that there are pet estheticians that study the skin and coat and the science of skin and coat of dogs. And so that's actually the way I connected with my old salon manager from PetSmart. I saw her at a science of skin class taught by this pet esthetician. This was like 10 or 15 years ago that I started to kind of geek out on dog skin and like coat care and the flakies, the shedding. That's why I went with snacks.

38:44Jess Rona:Like we want to focus on shedding. Shedding is the sign of a healthy coat, by the way. Shedding is a regeneration of coat and skin. it's fine. But when it becomes excessive or too much, like, okay, maybe we need hydration. Maybe there's an issue. Anyway, so I wanted to create accessible products that are beautiful because every dog grooming brush looks the same. And I wanted to invent a new dog grooming brush that was beautiful that people would want to display instead of hide. And so I went to this iconic dog grooming teacher named Jodi Murphy, shout out. She invented this coat rake for dog show people for the show world.

39:23Jess Rona:And I was like, how did you invent this thing? And if anybody's listening that has this invention in their head, this is what I did. Cause I would have never done this. She said, go to the craft store and get molding clay and mold out of clay what you want. And you can take it to a 3d printer and you can show them what you want, or you can mold it and show it to an engineer. So I went to the craft store and I molded the brush I wanted. I looked through Etsy and eBay at these old makeup brushes and hairbrushes. They were stunning back in the day. You know, they were made of crystal or metal and they had these different tiers.

39:56Jess Rona:And I was like, I want to do that, but in tortoiseshell, or I want to do something that's like pearly. I was like, what if we did a pearl brush or a pink sparkly one? Like I want to do all different colors. And so I found the 3D printer. This is what has taken the longest. It's taken a year and four months to make this brush because I had to find a manufacturer that can do it. And it was just a whole journey. So I made a new brush that's tortoiseshell. It's called the Love Brush because I also wanted something that was gentle and effective on coats. And then I also wanted things that were accessible to any pet parent.

40:32Jess Rona:So we're launching with a leave-in conditioning spray that will feed the skin and coat. There's seaweed minerals in it, trace minerals that plumps up the coat and makes it really healthy and it feeds the coat. So I wanted something that was functional, but also like smells really nice. You know, it's a detangler and it seals the follicles. So it helps prevent tangles. And then I wanted to do a kind of oil because we would finish each dog in the garage with this beautiful argan oil that I got from this one brand, but they stopped making it. And I was like, okay, I can't do a full oil because pet parents are going to put way too much on their dogs.

41:08Jess Rona:And so the formulator, my chemist and I came up with this idea to do a balm to oil. So it's almost like a lotion. So you pump it and you put it in your palms and warm it, and then it's the oil. So you're not going to over apply it. And you can put it in your own hair. You can put it on your own skin. It smells really nice. So we're launching with four products, the Balm to Oil Serum called the Velvet Drops. And then we have the Satin Spritz Hydration Mist, which is great for in between refreshers, a really nice conditioning, hydrating spray that can detangle. And two brushes. I'm doing a de-shutter brush for short haired dogs.

41:47Jess Rona:It's shaped like a heart. It's super cute, but that's for short haired dogs like Pugs and Labs. And then we have the Love Brush, which is the slicker brush. And I've already formulated the shampoo and conditioner because Cutie Pie Melissa Palmer, who owns Osea, she was like, you got to do a shampoo and conditioner. You got to launch it right after you do the other four. So start your formulations now. I'm so glad I listened to her because this shit takes forever because you have to test it. Yeah. And also my pet esthetician, Michelle Knowles has to approve and she has to look through all the ingredients and tell me what I'm doing.

42:22Jess Rona:So the shampoo and conditioner are ready to go. I hope that we can launch those before the Christmas season. We'll see. But yeah, we launch on October 5th. I have a date. I needed the brushes to clear customs before I could say that. And they cleared yesterday. Oh my gosh. That's amazing. Congrats. Yeah. It's one thing to launch a product. It could be the best product in the world, but if you don't know how to market that product, where's your audience? How does your audience find you? In addition to building great products, you also are a supreme expert at marketing. Wow. Really? Yes. There's no question.

43:01There's no one who can touch you. It's a clear brand. It's a clear point of view. You have built such an amazing engine because so often what happens is people build something on social media, but there's no gravitas to it. And then they try to launch a product, but no one cares because it's not in alignment. Like Like you have built the full virtuous circle of great brand, great content, great audience. I guess my question is, are you excited about that marketing piece? Because to me, all of this has been so much, but like, this is the piece that I feel like is a little bit like pushing an open door of this whole process because you've got that on lock.

43:37Jess Rona:Wow. Thank you for saying that. I have had so much fun. We've already created the socials for Shmoop. And so for the colder audiences, like on the website and the packaging, the owners will be the audience. When you get into the world of Shmoop, the dog will be the hero. So we're going to have messaging like, are you sick and tired of a lackluster coat? You deserve the best. So now once you get into the world of Shmoop with our social media, the dog is going to be the hero. Centered. Yeah. So they are going to be our audience. so I also am really inspired by 1950s and 60s beauty ads so all of shmoop is going to be a beauty ad from the 60s like max factor but to the dogs I found someone with a vintage camera and we have been shooting things that are actually like vintage and we put like filters on them to make it look old and you know now you're looking good shmoop you know it's just like a beauty brand for every dog.

44:39Jess Rona:And I'm going to get my husband to do some voiceover and I'm going to do some voiceover. It's really fun. I love that. Okay. So we end the podcast with the same three questions for everyone. And the first one is about mistakes because we all make mistakes throughout the course of our career, but we don't always talk about it. And I think as women in particular, it's important to talk about the mistakes because it's important to show people that you can do something wrong and come back from it and that we are resilient and that we can keep going no matter what. So I'm hoping that you can tell me about a mistake that you've made at any point in your career and what you've learned from it.

45:18Jess Rona:Well, the biggest mistake I made was overhiring to give myself freedom without understanding how to be a leader. And so I had a really big team that was too big. And so I was spending a lot of money on payroll. I was really stressed out and not showing up as a good leader. And that was a huge mistake. I thought over hiring would give me freedom. It only gave me more of a headache. So that was a really big mistake. But you learned from it. And I learned, oh my God, yeah. I learned to hire really mindfully. And I learned that a good leader has to understand themselves and have a really heightened sense of self-awareness and understand the effect that they have on other people.

46:04Jess Rona:Because me, I've always been like the kid sister the young one, like nobody paid attention to me. I was like, hello, my baby. Hello, my daughter, like trying to make everyone laugh and like the underdog low status. And so to show up and realize, oh, the things I say have so much weight to everybody. I didn't know that. I didn't think anybody cared about what I said. I was a peer, but that's a big lesson I learned. Like, no, you're the boss. And also you're Jess Rona. You have a big name in the grooming world. People respect you and they're intimidated by you in this world. Also, I would just need people to like me.

46:38And so I would talk, talk, talk, talk, thinking like, let me put myself down.

46:43Jess Rona:Let me self-deprecate. Let me tell you jokes. Let me entertain you. And if you don't like me, I got to keep trying. Now I have to show up as a leader. And it's like, if you don't like me, talk to your therapist about it. It still sucks if someone doesn't like you, but I need to run my business. And that's why we're here. So I really had to learn that. took a long time. It's a practice. It's a journey. It's a practice. It's a journey. It continues to be. So a lot of the folks who listen to this podcast are in their first lives and they want to do something else. Maybe they want to switch careers entirely, or maybe they're in one industry and they want to evolve it.

47:22I look at your career and you have both switched and evolved within a lane, but they're scared and they don't know how to do that next step or to try the thing. What advice would you give someone who's thinking about trying something new, but just hasn't done it quite yet?

47:39Jess Rona:I fully relate to the fear and the not knowing. I think you nailed it. I just want you to know, if you're listening to this and you're thinking about pivoting or changing, everyone's afraid. There's no one that's not afraid. I think it's the people that can work with the fear and make friends with the fear or just accept the fear. They still make moves. with the fear. So don't wait for the fear to go away. It never will. And it'll only get worse. Do one thing towards that thing every day. It could be an email. It could be watching a YouTube video. It could be tiny. It could be journaling about your vision.

48:15Jess Rona:It doesn't have to be a big thing. If you could do one little thing towards that goal, it will make you feel a little bit like you're on your track, which will give you a little sense of confidence and pride. and every founder that has made anything worthwhile was not qualified and didn't know what they were doing. The how will be revealed within the actions. So make your moves, one tiny move a day if you can and do it with the fear. Mine's named Gary. Gary and me, we're going, but Gary's in the passenger seat. He's not driving. So like do it with the fear together and you can also try giving the fear away.

48:52Jess Rona:You could journal about it and say, I'm gonna put my fears on this journal and the journal will hold the fears for you so that you can go live your life. You can give your fear to your higher power, to source, mother nature, energy, whatever. You can give it away for the day. But yeah, see if you can work with the fear, make friends with the fear, do it with the fear and do one small action towards your goal every day. I still don't know what I'm doing. I'm still doing it though. I love that. And I think that's such incredible advice because yeah, like you can't wait until the fear is gone because the fear will never be gone.

49:23No, it sucks and it's great Because it teaches us and it's okay. Yeah. So my last question is also my favorite question, which is if you could get into a time machine and go back in time and speak with your younger self and give younger Jess some advice, what

49:39Jess Rona:would you say? Just put yourself out there a little bit and try it. Audition for the school play. You're going to be trembling with fear. You're going to be barfing. Just try it. Just go for it. And you are funny. So just believe that you are. Just know it. You are funny. You're just divine sparkly little bear. You're funny. You're good enough. Jess, I love this. Thank you so much. This has been such a pleasure and such a long time coming. As I have said to you in person many a time, I am such a fan of you and what you've built and your brand. And I know that Shmoop is going to be beloved and phenomenal.

50:18I'm so glad that it's almost here. Congratulations on everything. And thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me today.

50:26Jess Rona:I just also want to tell you how wonderful you are. You're so good at this. Just this has been such a wonderful conversation. And just I'm so grateful.

50:44That was Jess Rona, the founder of Jess Rona Grooming Salon and her new brand, Shmoop. For more inspiring interviews with women like Jess, head on over to secondlifepod.com where we have so many more for you to peruse. If you like today's show, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't forget to rate and review us. We love seeing you spread the word on social. And now you can tag us in your posts. We are at secondlifepod on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. We always want to know who you're interested in hearing from on the show. So send in your requests to hello at secondlifepod.com, or you can DM us on Instagram.

51:26I'm at Hilary Kerr. The show is at Second Life Pod. Our DMs are always open. I'm Hilary Kerr, and you've been listening to Second Life. This episode was produced by Hilary Kerr, Summer Hammeris, and Natalie Thurman. Our production assistant is Grace Ingram. Our audio engineers are at Treehouse Recording in Los Angeles, California, and our music is by Jonathan Leahy.