News

ParagonPetSchool.com president, Joe Zuccarello, has teamed up with our partners at WPA to offer an exciting trifecta of topics for grooming businesses at the GROOM’D trade show and grooming competition in Atlanta, GA, March 7-9.

GROOM’D is the ultimate one-stop-shop for pet care professionals at every stage of the game to discover new trends and tools, the latest in pet wellness, business insights and outstanding competitive artistry. The grooming-focused pet trade show is presented by World Pet Association, the global pet industry’s first trade organization. For more than 70 years, WPA has provided professionals of all experience levels and in a variety of roles with valuable educational resources, industry news and forums that allow our community to promote the health and growth of businesses and our industry.

In addition to exhibiting in Booth #135 with Director of Operations, Cara Evans, Joe will connect with pet pros while leading the following educational workshops:

How to Set, Raise and Correct Pricing

Saturday, March 08, 2025 • 1:30 pm–3:00 pm • Italian Suite

In this session, Joe Zuccarello will help demystify the challenges of establishing the best pricing for your services, who should be setting the prices, how and when to raise prices, and how to correct prices that might be way off where they should be. Joe will also provide some recommendations on how to approach your clients with communicating pricing changes. Believe it or not, many businesses leave a ton of money on the table by missing some basic pricing strategies. And many businesses are inadvertently confusing their clients. If you want to seize every opportunity for every dollar you and your services are worth, join us for this seminar.

Succession Planning

Sunday, March 09, 2025 • 12:30 pm–2:00 pm • Italian Suite

Exit Ramp Ahead. When is it time to exit the “freeway” or traffic of business? What is your succession plan? Description: It’s coming. The day when you feel is best for you to exit your business. But much like driving your car, do you know where you are heading, when, and how to plan to get moved over from lane to lane so you are properly positioned for your exit? What destinations are out there for you to consider? What steps do you need to take to reach your desired destination? And when do you start using your “turn signals” to start maneuvering toward your destination off-ramp? In this session, Joe will identify some of these options for exits, planning, positioning, etc. No matter if your business is new, growing, maturing, or ready for an exit, this session is a must.

Anyone Can Sue for Anything

Sunday, March 09, 2025 • 10:00 am–11:30 am • Italian Suite

While most people we deal with are compassionate, loyal, fun, and responsible, there are times when we are challenged by customers who may see things differently than we do, especially when it comes to their pet’s care and hygiene. In fact, there are stories where clients are threatening (or successfully) suing their pet care providers for haircuts that didn’t turn out the way the pet parent envisioned or worse, if there is an accidental injury to the pet during grooming procedures. During this session, Joe will share some stories and recommendations to limit the chances of this happening to you. Strengthening your client messaging to protect yourself and offer your clients choices that everyone wins is the goal takeaway from this session.

For more business coaching inspiration, visit our Employer Resource section and select Joe’s 10 Minute Coaching for Pet Care Pros.

Looking for a keynote speaker for pet business coaching sessions? Contact Us.

You don’t need to tell Paragon students that Mentor Suesan Watson, CMG, is an inspiration! Paragon is delighted to celebrate Suesan’s recent recognition for her outstanding contribution to the grooming industry. She was feted with the 2024 AKC Leadership Award at the Barkleigh Honors gala in Hershey, PA, earlier this month.

In the words of Mark Dunn Executive Vice President of AKC:

“Leadership matters. Groomers who are educated, knowledgeable and confident can lead their clients, lead in their community and  lead in the industry. (Sue has) helped thousands of other groomers throughout her career. Her contributions have changed lives and helped shape the entire industry. She’s been a leader for more than two decades from the AKC Confirmation dog show ring to the grooming show floor. She was an original NDGA certifier. Her critiques, I am told, are always positive, uplifting and confidence-building.”

Dunn noted that the American Kennel Club has sought to improve lives of dogs and people who love dogs for more than 140 years, and that groomers play a vital role in pet owners lives by keeping pets happy and healthy. He called the award “penultimate.”

It’s a fitting award for Sue, whose career has spanned five decades. She is a double Certified Master Groomer with NDGAA and IPG who has competed worldwide, winning multiple placements along with several Best in Show and Best All Around Groomer Awards. She is a GroomTeam USA Alumni and has won three consecutive Cardinal Crystal Groomer of the Year awards and a Groomer of the Year presented by Wahl Clipper at the Westminster Dog Show. As part of the Wahl Elite Team, Sue travels to grooming shows to judge competitions and educate other groomers.

As a Paragon Mentor and Groominar® Network expert from the early days, Sue has literally helped develop thousands of individual professional groomers and groom business teams through Paragon.

“Sue possesses the perfect blend of excellence in terms of technical grooming skills and teaching skills,” said Paragon President Joe Zuccarello. “We could not be happier to have her on our team or prouder of her well-earned recognition and leadership within the industry.”

Sue, who’d just won Best-in-Class in the Model Dog division at Groom Expo, was both shocked and thrilled to receive the award.

“When I was 13 years old and groomed my fist poodle I never thought being a dog groomer could lead me to where I am today. Grooming is not just being a groomer, it’s more – you touch every animal with such care and such love – and it means so much to me,” she told the crowd. “To be in this family is such a special thing – I can’t thank you all enough for the warmth and love that you have shown me over the years!”

Paragon President, Joe Zuccarello, is scheduled to share his expertise – from perfect pricing to schedule management – during education sessions at North America’s leading pet retail trade show, SuperZoo 2024, August 13 -16 in Las Vegas.

Produced by the World Pet Association (WPA), the trade show historically attracts more than 16,000 pet professionals from 25 countries and features education, new product introductions, a grooming competition and networking events. More than 1,000 exhibitors from every pet product category participate and more than 900 products typically make their debut at the show.

As a perennial presence, Paragon brings education topics designed to help pet grooming businesses, independent and multi-store pet retail companies, and pet boarding and daycare operators discover best practices for a productive and successful pet business.

“It’s very energizing to meet with fellow pet care professionals and share our expertise to help take the headache out of grooming operations,” Joe said. He designs topics to reflect solutions to the pain points the company hears from grooming businesses of all types and sizes. As a pet business coach prior to Paragon presidency, he knows how small changes can net big effects in profitability.

Paragon’s 2024 SuperZoo Education lineup includes the following topics:

Retail Education – 4 Steps to Becoming a Competitive Employer – Aug. 13 – 8 a.m. – 9 a.m.

During this session Joe shares some techniques that business owners and managers can use to become a more competitive employer and reduce the time to qualify and hire quality candidates.

 Grooming Schedule Management – Aug. 14 – 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Joe explores the best way to maximize your grooming services production without underutilizing the skills of your grooming staff or overworking them toward burnout or injury. Joe demonstrates techniques for building a scheduling management approach that is customer-centric and balances staff performance.

Perfect Pricing for Grooming Services – Aug 14 – 2:30 – 3:30 p.m.

Joe unpacks how to know if you are pricing your services correctly.  Are you leaving money on the table? Do you struggle with raising prices? During this session, Joe will help business owners and managers understand how to set, raise, and correct pricing for grooming services to maximize financial rewards.

Paragon Groomer Education & Training will also be exhibiting in Booth #1739 and will welcome visits from pet businesses who want to leverage the company’s industry-leading training platform powered by Melissa Verplank’s  curriculum to produce highly skilled grooming professionals.

“We are thrilled to share ways pet retail businesses can increase their foot traffic and basket value through the development of grooming services, and to show the latest tools for training professional groomers,” said Annalisa Signorelli, Director of New Business Development.

If you or your associates plan to be at SuperZoo ’24, stop by to say hi and learn what’s new in professional pet groomer training.

Not planning to attend the show but interested in learning more about options that help petcare businesses grow their own groom teams? 

Book Some Time with our Sales & Client Relation Specialist!

Pup Relief Tour Heads to Nigeria for Intensive Dog Grooming Workshop Feb 8 – 15th powered by Paragon Curriculum

Four trainers. Twenty-five students. Eight days. Two job offers. And a lot of dogs! The inspired mind behind the national sensation of the Pup Relief Tour is going global with his quest to promote the grooming profession in an intensive skill development workshop in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.

Paragon School of Pet Grooming is delighted to lend professional curriculum support to Brian Taylor, aka the “Dogfather of Harlem,” and his team of volunteers as they prep to train 25 self-taught groomers who will vie for employment at a popular daycare, boarding and grooming operation. The tour kicks off February 8^th, with Paragon providing the training curriculum, process and procedures.

Critters Veterinary Centre in Lekki, which also serves as a boarding and grooming facility, is hosting the workshop and supplying the dogs. In addition, Critters will offer employment to 2-3 groomers exhibiting impressive skills and potential which will significantly improve the groomers’ annual income.

“Paragon’s mission is to elevate the grooming profession, in North America, and around the world, through excellence in skill development. We’re thrilled to help Brian and his team bring the highest level of groomer training to this outreach project,” said Joe Zuccarello, President of the Paragon School of Pet Grooming.

In preparation of their departure, the volunteer trainer team brushed up their coaching skills using Paragon’s online training platform, and were supplied with additional textbooks and materials to make the most of the intensive workshop.

Taylor cited Paragon’s curriculum, textbooks, beautiful illustrations, and instructional videos as key advantages of the Paragon partnership.

“The school’s curriculum is rooted in the unmatched experience and teachings of industry icon Melissa Verplank, Certified Master Groomer, and their team is hand-picked from the best of industry experts. This is an incredible opportunity for groomers in Nigeria to access this kind of content not readily available in their country,” Taylor said.

Taylor is passionate about opening avenues to the grooming profession at home and abroad. The banker-turned-successful grooming business owner became a social media sensation during the height of the pandemic when he spearheaded the non-profit Pup Relief Tour in 15 cities across the United States. The team groomed 1918 pups whose pet parents faced financial hardships and raised awareness of pup health and well-being through grooming.

For the Nigeria venture, Taylor is joined by Pup Relief Tour Ambassadors, Labree Blaxon, Owner, Fluffy By Nature, (California), Latonya Smith, LC’s Detroit Salon, (Michigan) and Gianna Richardson, Gia Styles Grooming (Virginia). All have successful pet grooming businesses here in the U.S. and are primarily Black-owned.

Together, Paragon and The Pup Relief Tour are committed to raising awareness of the shortage of dog groomers and to help pet lovers discover the lucrative opportunity of a career in pet grooming.