Expert Profile: Victor Rosado

Joe Zuccarello: Welcome to Hey Joe, a podcast answering questions asked by our listeners. Created by pet professionals, for pet professionals. Now, your host, Hey Joe’s very own Joe Zuccarello.

Joe Zuccarello: What’s up everyone, Joe Zuccarello here, and welcome to Hey Joe, a podcast brought to you by Paragon School of Pet Grooming. Check out our site at paragonpetschool.com for lots of really cool information on a variety or programs, products, and to connect to educational resources, such as webinars, podcasts, current events, special news, certifications, and lots of other helpful information to help you grow yourself, your team, and of course your business. Let’s get started with this week’s episode.

Joe Zuccarello: Hey everyone, this is Joe Zuccarello, your host of the Hey Joe podcast. This is a podcast where you get to listen in on a real coaching call between myself, and an industry expert in the pet industry. Answering questions that we get all of the time. Most of those questions over the years have been submitted to us, and they usually start with the words, “Hey Joe”.

Joe Zuccarello: So, a couple of questions for you. You might be asking yourself what does it take to go from a beginner in the pet grooming industry, to be one of the top and most talented professional groomers in the business. Or maybe you’re wondering how can your career change when you seek out new skills, or work on your craft. What challenges might you need to prepare for as you go down that journey. If you find yourself asking, “If I could only spend some time with a master in the grooming industry. I would love to hear how they did it, what their story was, what their inspiration was.” Well then, you’re going to be thrilled to listen in on the guest that I have for you today.

Joe Zuccarello: Today we’re talking with Victor Rosado. Victor is … my goodness, this guys resume is about a mile long. Accomplishment after accomplishment. Some of them are a grooming competitor with multiple wins. Best in shows, best all around. Over 100 awards in sporting, and hand stripping, and scissored breeds, poodles, tournaments, combined. It just goes on, and on, and on. I’m sure Victor’s information is out there and readily available to you. Maybe you know who he is, but if not you’re going to get to know him very well after this podcast.

Joe Zuccarello: You’re going to want to listen to this entire podcast, all the way through, because there are just nuggets of gold all the way throughout. I’d hate for you to miss an opportunity to benefit by everything that Victor has to share with you.

Joe Zuccarello: As always, you can go to paragonpetschool.com to not only find this podcast, if you want to listen to it again, or share it with your friends or families, or colleagues in the industry. And to learn more about Victor, and also to download the transcripts to the podcast.

Joe Zuccarello: Victor and I today are going to be kind of talking about his path in this incredible industry. From his very beginnings, and all the way to where he is today. I just want to put a shout out to the Hey Joe listener audience, thank you for sending us your questions. This podcast thrives on questions submitted by you, our listener audience. If you want your question considered for a possible use on a future Hey Joe podcast, send your question to heyjoequestions@paragonpetschool.com. Again, don’t forget to go to paragonpetschool.com to not only listen to this podcast, but also hit subscribe, if you haven’t already.

Joe Zuccarello: So let’s get started with this week’s episode, and talking to Victor.

Joe Zuccarello: All right, Hey Joe listener audience, this is Joe Zuccarello, your host. As I mentioned in the introduction, I’m joined by one of the super stars in the professional grooming industry. That’s Victor Rosado. I got to tell you, Victor is not only an incredibly accomplished professional, but he’s definitely recognized and … he’s a recognized and respected authority in the grooming industry. While I might have done a little bit of an introduction of him, Victor can you … well first off Victor, thank you for joining us today. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself. I know we’ll take a little bit deeper dive, but kind of tell us what are you up to these days?

Victor Rosado: I’m intrigued about that guy, who is it? Is that me? Well, first of all, I remember years ago … living in Puerto Rico, which is an island in the Caribbean. That’s when I faced a little bit of limitations to go to grooming school. So I went to a veterinarian clinic, and I was basically functioning as a veterinarian assistant. That’s about the closest I could get to dogs at that point. But then I really wanted to do something more than just giving assistance to the veterinarian, and that’s when the grooming part came in. In the island, there was no school, no educational program available. So basically I was just trying to find books, and all kinds of educational material, so I can start working with dogs and give beauty to them.

The veterinarian initially he said, “Well, I’m going to give you five dollars per dog if you can shave them down, just take all the hair off. So I can do my surgeries, and all my procedures.” I’m like … maybe I can just start working with clippers, and working with the dogs, and see how it goes. Plus I can make some extra money, and why not? So that’s when I started, but it wasn’t making my heart happy. I wasn’t happy about just shaving down dogs. That wasn’t what I was looking for. Basically that’s how it all started. It’s been a long journey.

Joe Zuccarello: Let’s talk a little bit about that journey, because I know that the Hey Joe listener audience out there is going to just be really intrigued, and they’re probably at the edge of their seats just wanting to know who is this Victor character? What is he made of, and where did he come from? What an interesting start to the story. What did you do before the veterinary job then? How did you land in that job?

Victor Rosado: Well, before that I was in high school.

Joe Zuccarello: Okay, so that was a job right out of high school?

Victor Rosado: I started really young. I don’t want to say my age right now.

Joe Zuccarello: But it was just a few years ago, right?

Victor Rosado: Yeah, just a few years ago. I come from a family with not much income. I had to start working right out of high school just to make some money to be able to go to college. I was always so attached to dogs, because my family always had dogs. I remember I grew up with pekingese, that was … I think that’s so important because that’s how it started. The love of dogs came from my family. As I grew up, I grew up with dogs at home all the time. Pekingese and I remember I think one chihuahua, always small dogs.

I think that basically put that love for dogs just right there. My family was really responsible, and they took extreme care of dogs. So I had a really good foundation on that way. I always respect … the more I keep going in this industry, the more I go, the more I respect dogs. So it’s amazing.

Joe Zuccarello: Victor, that’s such a powerful word too, is respect. I’ve been in the industry for … I won’t say my age, but maybe-

Victor Rosado: You’re smart like me.

Joe Zuccarello: I’ve been doing it for a few years as well. That respect factor, not only respect for the dogs, but also the pet parents, and our coworkers, and our fellow professionals in the industry.

It’s interesting what you said was that when you get this job right out of high school to go to work for a veterinarian, and the veterinarian’s wanting to throw you a few dollars to shave down dogs. You knew immediately that shaving down the dogs wasn’t necessarily paying the best respect. So you started to seek out education.

What was, or who was your inspiration back then?

Victor Rosado: Okay, good question. I remember I met … there was this veterinarian assistant, and she came to the clinic to work. I had this huge desire to learn English as well. So the love of dogs. Also, I really wanted to learn English. Spanish is my main language. So she came to the office, she was from Seattle. She was bilingual, but her Spanish was very limited. I decided to build a close friendship with her, her name is Amber.

She and I spent a lot of time together, me learning English, and she learning Spanish from me. Plus working together with dogs. To my surprise, her mother … she had toy poodles, and she groomed them. She used to groom them. She had no groomers that she knew how to groom a poodle. Basically putting the towel on top of the washing machine, and then using clippers and shears, and giving different types of haircuts.

One day we went to her house to meet her mom. Her mom was grooming these blonde toy poodle on top of the washing machine, and she was giving … I remember the dog’s name, Trinkle. She was giving Trinkle this summer trim with scissor top knot, and pom poms on each leg, and a nice pom pom on the tail. When I saw that, my heart start pumping faster. I’m like, “Oh, it’s not only shaving dogs, you can leave hair in some places of the body and make them look really pretty.” I’m like, “I want to do that.”

So I immediately … I was like a little kid in this candy store, and was so excited. She said, “Yes, please come every afternoon. You can come and we can go … ” I not only groom my own dogs, but I also groom my neighbors’ dogs. They all have poodles, and we can work with them, and you can learn. It’s not only shaving dogs. You give them some styles. I’m like, “Wow, oh my God.”

I was there every single day for two weeks. I was working with them, I’m like, “This is what I want to do the rest of my life, that’s it, I’m done.”

Joe Zuccarello: Wow, I like how you said it was like a kid in a candy store. It’s almost like seeing color for the first time. You drew such a great picture. I could see young Victor standing there looking … you know what she did though right? You know what she did? She was able to get free labor on those afternoons by having you show up. So I guess it was a win-win for both of you right?

Victor Rosado: Yeah, for both. I was blown away to see … it’s not only shaving dogs, it’s more to it. We can put bows, we can make them look cute. I don’t know, I was like super excited.

Joe Zuccarello: So when you were just starting then, so you’ve obviously just discovered … it sounds also Victor to me like this industry … you were meant for this business, right? Obviously, it was written that you were supposed to be in this business. In those early days, I’m sure there were some struggles. What were some struggles that you faced.

Again, the Hey Joe listener audience out there, some our audience members, they might not be in the industry yet. Maybe they’re contemplating, or thinking about going into dog grooming as a career. Some have been in it a little while, up to even a long while. Some are seasoned professionals or veterans. Everybody has those struggles when they first started. Especially for my newbies out there, my young groomers out there, baby groomers we like to call them. What struggles did you face maybe in the early days of your career? Maybe they would relate to that.

Victor Rosado: One of the biggest challenge that I faced … all of my development … when I just identified what I wanted to do the rest of my life, basically that happened on a moment in the history in most of our countries, when there’s this transition on the mentality of the people, and the cities itself. It’s not only a guard dog, it’s not meant to be in the backyard, or protecting your house. It’s also part of the family. It moves into your house, it plays inside your house, and it becomes part of your family.

So my development came at the same moment as the dog also transitioned from being service into companionship. That changed the whole mentality. Then you have to deal with these people, they don’t want cutie cutie, they just want functional. Sometimes you face those challenge.

Also the mentality to go to a dog groomer, what is a dog groomer? I just take … here in Latin American countries, they just shave down dogs … back in those years, they just shave dogs on the veterinary clinic. Now we have dog grooming salons, we have doggy spa, we have boarding facilities. It’s just a transition. Basically, I faced all the challenge, and the mentality of owners, and how to turn them into this more … it’s not humanize dogs, but it’s just be more responsible, or treat dogs more like pets.

Joe Zuccarello: Right. So it’s interesting … I kind of expected you were going to say money, or education availability, or a number of dogs. What a great interesting observation that you had. One of the struggles that comes to your mind right off the top of your head was that transition, that mental shift, if you would, of the pet becoming more family and what that meant for the pet parents to have to think about it differently than that. What a great observation Victor.

Victor Rosado: I face … for example, when I started and maybe we’re going to talk a little bit about financial thing, but I’m not going to get into those details. I managed to build a business in my city out of dog grooming, just dog grooming. For the city I live, this was like something new. They had no idea. They had never seen … doing doggy’s hair cuts as a profession. They don’t see the dog groomer as a professional at that moment.

I remember going in my car, years back I loved sports car and I always have my really nice car, going around the city. I remember some people just making comments like, “Oh, how can you pay for that car just by just shaving dogs?” Comments like that, it’s just the mentality. They don’t put the groomer as a professional, or the dog grooming that is something that is needed in our cities. It’s just part of our society in a different way.

Joe Zuccarello: You know, Victor what’s interesting about what you’re saying is that we still struggle with that today. The professional grooming industry is still sometimes seen as a less than … it’s more of an inferior choice of profession. My career, one of the things that I’ve always strived for and now being part of Paragon’s School of Pet Grooming, is to raise the level of professionalism.

One of the best ways we do that, and I know Victor, you’ve been really successful in doing that, is by making sure that you are contributing to the respect and professionalism of the industry, versus just becoming complacent. Actually giving the common public any fuel for saying, “See, that’s what I mean.” About the industry. “Look at how he dresses, or she dresses, or behaves, or speaks, or the quality.” Those types of things in our industry really could benefit by everybody raising the bar of their professionalism and expertise.

At Paragon we have something called education is everything, and we believe that to our core. It’s interesting that you bring up the same perspective of the industry.

Victor Rosado: Also the image, how we present ourselves. As I go in different countries around the world, I always tell them that we’re professional. We are professional, we have to present ourselves into society as professionals. Look and not only us, but also our business. My business in those years, in my city, my business looked like a spa. I remember I had pictures, and I looked at them like, “Oh my God, Victor.” It looked like a doggy spa. I remember some people they just stopped by to sit down and relax. Because I had this nice spa music going on, and the nice lighting, and the decoration. It didn’t look like a grooming salon, it looked more like you go into a spa and a doggy boutique.

I always use that language, that nice language. It just basically raised the bar, and make you look more professional. Think and look like, it makes a big difference.

Joe Zuccarello: I’ve often said that if you respect yourself, and respect the industry you will be respected. So I think you get what you give at that point. It is a personal mission, it is our professional mission at Paragon, and I’d love to hear that there are people like you out there Victor that are also making it your mission. Hey Victor, so if you could go back in time, and talk to young Victor, what would you say to him?

Victor Rosado: Get ready, you’re going to have a really exciting future Victor.

Joe Zuccarello: That is awesome, I love that. I expected like, “Okay, be careful, do this, do that.” No, just get ready.

Victor Rosado: No, I wouldn’t change a thing. I think everything that has happened in my life, I never use the word struggle or problems, or nothing negative. Even if looked negative, it makes me what I am right now. I don’t know, it’s a beautiful journey, and I wouldn’t change a thing. I think everything came right in the moment. The more it goes, and the more things I discover that I can do, it stays on the thing that I just experienced in the past. It’s just continuation. So I wouldn’t change a thing.

Joe Zuccarello: Nice. Just a quick reminder to our listeners out there, this is the Hey Joe podcast, and we are talking with one of the grooming industry superstars, Victor Rosado. Victor’s sharing his story with us today. If you’ve been listening for the first half of this podcast, you are, I’m sure already very inspired, just hearing about his path. I hope that the second half of this podcast is going to be, and I know it’s going to be just as powerful, if not more than the first half.

So if you have any questions that you would like for us to cover in a Hey Joe podcast in the future, be sure to start emailing us at heyjoequestions@paragonpetschool.com. You can find this podcast link so that you can share it, and subscribe to it by visiting paragonpetschool.com, and visiting the podcast page.

So Victor, one of the … I identified kind of who our listener audience is comprised of. I was going to divide those folks up a little bit. what words of wisdom would you have for people that might be listening who are considering grooming as a career?

Victor Rosado: I think first it’s the respect for dogs, then passion. If you are very passionate about grooming or working in our industry, then I think respect and passion will be too powerful words. It has to be in your system in order to be able to dedicate your life to dog grooming.

Joe Zuccarello: So passion and respect, those are powerful words and it sounds like-

Victor Rosado: Otherwise you may have the intention of the financial part, or it can be anything. But if you don’t have the passion, if you don’t have the respect, basically you’re going to burn out in no time. You see many groomers, they go to school, they take training, they’re good. But then one or two years and they’re out. They have no patience. It’s not easy to work with dogs. You need a lot of love and patience to be able to give them beauty. They’re not robots. These are pets, so you need that respect and you need that passion to be able to survive and be able to groom for years and years.

Joe Zuccarello: Well, I’ve used other core attributes of people to make that same point. If you do have those attributes, it’s amazing how much easier a difficult job might be.

Victor Rosado: Yeah, exactly.

Joe Zuccarello: You can rebound.

Victor Rosado: And information, it’s important. One thing that has helped me tremendously. I started first on the competition dog show world. I became a licensed judge, and that put me in the position to take testing and training through all the groups like the hurdling, the working, the non sporting, the sporting group, the companions group, the sight hounds. To be able to understand them, to study them. Their standards and their temperament. It has helped me tremendously to understand when I handle dogs and when I groom them. I think that’s why education and information is super important. Use along with your passion and with your respect for dogs. It creates a really nice recipe for success.

Joe Zuccarello: Those are such valuable words. Again, part of our audience are … there are folks out there in the Hey Joe audience right now, they’re in the grooming industry, but maybe they have just started, or they’re baby groomers. Maybe they’re just a few years in. Do you have any words of wisdom for that particular group?

Victor Rosado: Like I said, if you’re passionate about grooming, if you love dogs, I think it’s one of the most important parts. Then I think education is key. Training, to be able to understand the use of tools, the use of … today we have all kinds of tools and equipment available. It’s not like the old times. We had to improvise what we had. And also we have educational … we have schools, we have certification systems. It’s a complex system right now that really it’s very groomer friendly.

I remember years ago, I just had a book, an old book, that’s all I had.

Joe Zuccarello: Wow. You made the best of it my friend, I’m telling you.

Victor Rosado: I remember my clipper used to make so much noise and blow hair to my face. It was heavy and big, and it was very difficult to use. I just had just maybe I think a number 10 blade, and of course the number 40 because it was in a veterinary clinic. That’s all I had. My shears that can cut paper and hair at the same time, it doesn’t matter. That’s how I started. Now we have this whole complex line of tools and equipment, you name it, so it’s easier.

But you need education to be able to use those tools and that equipment.

Joe Zuccarello: I’m so pleased to hear you say that, because at Paragon School of Pet Grooming, between our different education platforms, and such, that’s exactly what we think about it. It’s nice to hear that you’re validating our motto of education is everything. So Victor, what about the people that have been in it for a while?

So they’ve been grooming maybe they’re 10 plus years in it. Maybe they’re questioning, “What’s next for me?” Maybe they’ve hit a wall, right. What would you recommend that they look at, what can be next for somebody that’s been in it for a while?

Victor Rosado: I think if you have been for a while, then you have to look back, or just think about what things you can learn and improve. I think by taking continuous education, it will put you with the latest in grooming techniques. For example, we usually … when we start training and learning the basics. But for example, I see everywhere I go hand stripping, which is one of the oldest of old grooming techniques. Sometimes we just forget about that. We don’t pay attention to that.

Joe Zuccarello: I think people are intimidated by it, right? It’s so different maybe than what they are used to doing. If they’ve just been handling clippers and shears, and combs, and brushes, right?

Victor Rosado: Yes, and that old technique, it’s very good for the salon. Economically speaking it’s very good, it will keep your clients coming in and out on a regular basis. You don’t have to do much, and it’s actually becoming popular now, it’s coming back.

Those techniques are something if you feel like you are burnt out, you’re doing the same thing over and over. It’s time to go back to the drawing table and learn hand stripping. Learn how to do a transformation, or do something that you normally don’t do. I think it’s good. Learn how to groom herding breeds, or different kind of breeds that you’re not used to. I think it will give you that … it will freshen things up. You will feel more excited about grooming again. It’s something new.

Joe Zuccarello: When we’re learning this craft, we’re like children. We’re constantly learning, and I think what happens is that folks get stuck, and they stop learning. Because they stop looking to learn. At some point in everybody’s career or life, they get to a point where learning is scary. As a child, you ask, “Why, why, why, why? What is that? Who is this?” So there’s a lot of learning we do as a child and as young person. But at some point in our life, and I’m not sure when that happens, and how it happens to different people. Learning becomes sometimes intimidating or scary. Because we have to stretch ourselves. We have to be uncomfortable once again. We have to admit that we don’t know everything.

Unfortunately it’s learning, to your point Victor, very well said. It’s learning that actually gets us out of a rut, and refreshes us, and re-energizes us.

Victor Rosado: Remember, there’s a transition that’s still going in pets all around the world. All these cities are now becoming more pet-friendly. With that, that puts the dog more into our society. Now you can take your dogs to hotels, restaurants, hospitals, airports. You find them everywhere. As they come more popular, there’s also more trims. Now we have the European trims. We have Asian trims, we have different … like for example, I just came from China and I was in five cities and out of those five cities, I saw a whole bunch of toy poodles. All the time, toy poodles just walking on the cities. They all have high water shaved feet. Like they shave their …

Joe Zuccarello: I can see it.

Victor Rosado: On my eyes it didn’t look good, but it’s a trend, it’s a tendency. I have to be open mind to understand why those dogs walk everyday out. I have to see how clean are the city, how clean are the streets for them to shave those feet so high. How often it rains. So when you put all those pieces together, then you can understand why there’s a tendency to do that. That opens your mind as a hair stylist. Not only … you don’t make them look pretty, but also it has to be a functional hair cut. That’s when you just, “Okay, I need to learn. I need to understand.” It’s constant training. As there’s an evolution as we see the dog in the cities, and we have to just open our mind, our hair stylist, and just be able to do something different.

Joe Zuccarello: So Victor, you used a really great word, and it was evolution. The grooming industry … I’ve been doing this for over 30 years in the grooming industry. Oops, I just said it, I probably dated myself. See, I tipped my hand, I did it, doggone it. So in your opinion Victor, what changes or challenges do you see on the horizon for the grooming industry?

Victor Rosado: Well, I hate to say it, but I think social media, because it just sometimes … as everything … sometimes we see they use pictures and they just put education, or they just put video of things that they do on social media. It’s not exactly … when we go to school, there’s a well good training program. It’s custom designed to train people from zero and just making them into a professional. Sometimes on social media, they just give away this fake lessons. Some of our professional, they get a couple of likes and they feel like they can continue giving away what they know. Sometimes it’s not specifically designed to train you for something.

I think it’s maybe social media it’s one of those. I think we have to respect the educational platforms that we have, and just stick with it. I think it’s one of those big problems that I see right now.

Joe Zuccarello: I would agree with you. Social media is making information available to everybody, but sometimes that information … if information is provided by everybody, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re credible. The folks that are out there, just do your homework. Even though it’s served right up in front of you, it’s easy to search and find things, it’s not always accurate, or can steer you really right down the wrong direction.

Victor Rosado: In my case for example, I teach different levels. I not only teach students, I also teach professors and people that are educators. I give them continuous education. The problem is when you have a person that goes on social media, and expose … or just do some videos, teaching something and get a good response from the audience. They feel like they have it, like they are stars. They basically shut down the possibility to take more continuous education, because they just reach a level and they have followers. Probably they don’t need more continuous education.

I get so sad because it’s difficult for me and some other educators. I speak for myself, I don’t want to name anyone. Then they just basically shut down and you cannot educate them and it’s just sad sometimes.

Joe Zuccarello: Well to be the best teacher, Victor, you have to be a good learner at the same token. It really is like a piece of pipe. I’ve often said it’s like piece of pipe, it has two ends, right? If one’s closed down, the piece of pipe is non-functional. It’s only functional for a very limited time until our pipe gets full. You can’t fit anything else in it. But if you keep both ends of the pipe open, one end being learning, and the other end being teaching, right?

Victor Rosado: I learn everyday.

Joe Zuccarello: So now you’ve got the information flowing. No, you’re exactly right.

Victor Rosado: Just to clarify, my information is based on an international point of view. So we’re not talking about the United States of America, we’re basically my view from all around the globe as I go, and as I see the reaction and how social media doesn’t help us that way. It’s not something that is regional from the United States, it’s everywhere.

Joe Zuccarello: That’s a great point Victor, your eyes have seen and you’ve experienced things that most grooming professionals won’t. That’s one of the brilliant parts, and why we’re so flattered that you were so happily accepted the invitation to be a Hey Joe podcast guest today.

One thing I want to let your listeners know is that Victor has agreed to be a return guest, which is incredible. I know that, Victor, we are going to, in another episode talk about competition. What does it take to get there, and what does that look like? Because that’s a completely different world than Betty pet parent, bringing their pets into grooming salons. So I’m really really excited to talk to you about that.

I just want to put a big shout out there and say again, thank you again Victor for helping us. I know our audience, I’m sure, was just thrilled with the content, and I know it’s going to be very not only informational, but I hope inspirational as well.

Thank you to our audience, our listener audience for all of your great questions. Remember to send your questions to heyjoequestions@paragonpetschool.com we can go out and find subject matter experts to help answer those questions for you, because if you’re asking that question, there’s a good chance that other colleague and team mates and fellow practitioners in grooming are also asking those same questions.

So heyjoequestions@paragonpetschool.com and you might just hear your topic discussed with an industry expert in the near future. Please share this podcast with your team members, that you work with and friends, and family in the industry who you think should know about it, and who might benefit from listening to it. Victor, thank you again so much.

Victor Rosado: Thank you.

Joe Zuccarello: I look forward to our next time together.