It won't be long before you'll be booked up, I'm also rural and within a year I have over a 100 dogs on my books. Like you last year I took any bookings I could I even had customers that only groomed their dogs once a year they now book in regularly.Must be nice, but I'm a fairly new business in a small rural area, in competetion with a twenty plus year kennel/grooming shop. Most dog owners here are not accustomed to having their dogs groomed at all. Someday I hope to be booked enough with regulars to not have to deal with the dregs, but not yet. Until then, I look at it as an opportunity to not only provide some relief for the matted dogs, but also as a chance to educate owners as many of them don't understand all that it takes to keep a dog healthy.
Thats the truth, once word gets around that you're good at what you do peole will be flocking to your door. I've also got a grooming business less than a year old that is established inside of a self service dog wash that is going on two years old.It won't be long before you'll be booked up, I'm also rural and within a year I have over a 100 dogs on my books. Like you last year I took any bookings I could I even had customers that only groomed their dogs once a year they now book in regularly.