Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Diamond
Hi Nick, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am born and raised in paradise valley, AZ. Attended Chaparral High School graduated 2012 and I attended Arizona State University on a Baseball Scholarship as a left handed pitcher. I am currently 30 years old. After ASU, I attended Grand Canyon University and got my Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) – I worked in the residential real estate industry for 2 years and the mortgage banking industry for 3 years… I really did not like the work lifestyle in those industries and I was unhappy. During Covid I was put on furlough by my real estate company and I never went back. In 2021 I started my own online flipping business using eBay and got my inventory from garage sales and estate sales. I was loving that but not making enough money and I got burnt out pretty quickly and it was hard to find inventory. I struggled for almost a full year trying to figure out what I wanted to do, all I know is that I wanted to work for myself. I wanted to do something and work with people or something I love. I found mobile dog grooming after I noticed a trend that it was difficult to find mobile dog groomers with availability. It seemed to me like there was a lot of demand and not enough supply. It took me a long time to finally pull the trigger and start my business, and a lot of work was needed. I purchased a brand new 6×12 trailer, completely gutted it, and with the help of my younger brother (Mike Diamond), we built my mobile grooming trailer from scratch, I will admit my brother Mike did 90% of the building as he was far more skilled than me. It took 2 months and my trailer was complete and ready to operate in April 2024. I started a LLC, got a business account, insured my business and my trailer, created a website, launched an Instagram and started taking in new clients.
During the 2 month process of building the trailer, I shadowed/trained with the mobile groomer (Pam) who groomed my parents dogs. She was nice enough to train me and shadow me and she was recovering from a surgery so I helped her pick up the larger dogs. I was trained and taught everything I needed to know about grooming during that month long 1 on 1 training. With over 125 dogs completed over that month, I felt confident I was ready to go. My plan was to start slow, maybe one dog a day was my goal, and hopefully by October 2024 get up to 2-3 dogs a day.
The name Chubbs Mobile is very special to me. I named the business after my late dog Chubbs, a 160 pound mastiff mix, that I bought for $200 off Craigslist when I was a 19 year old at ASU. Chubbs instantly changed my life, stuck by my side through good and bad. He passed away at the age of 7 from a brutal battle with bone cancer. I was crushed and devastated. It sent me into a tough spot mentally for a while. Part of naming my business after him gives me extreme pride and joy and he was just as special to me as any person ever has been. Chubbs legacy lives on through my business and it’s a really special feeling.
Fast forward to today, August 2nd 2024, 3 months into my grooming business and I am grooming between 2-5 dogs a day. My confidence level with grooming dogs has exploded after I was quite nervous to be on my own at the beginning.
My instagram page has 750+ authentic followers that include lots of my friends, friends of friends; and clients and dog lovers who like my content.
The success I am experiencing so far is far more than I could ever imagine at this point. Even with the AZ summer heat, I am working a schedule I love and getting up every day excited to do my job. By the way, the money is great!
My biggest reason for my success has been the love and support from my friends and family who have really helped my spread my business rapidly to many possible clients using social media and word of mouth.
I was able to achieve 50,000 organic impressions on instagram spending $0 on ads.
As the weather cools down I expect to expand, hire a helper, maybe additional trailers, and work more hours as the weather will permit it.
I’m currently working through the toughest part of the year and I’m thriving , I cannot wait to see what the future hold for Chubbs Mobile.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I got a flat tire on my 4th day, and a 2nd flat tire a few weeks ago. I’ve felt insecure, overwhelmed, scared, lost my confidence, doubted my skills even questioned my ability to do this. This was all very early on, and within a few weeks I had extreme confidence in my abilities. Getting positive feedback from my clients was very important to me.
My biggest struggle was being able to put myself out there on social media. I hadn’t posted on social media for years, so coming back on and having a daily presence was tough for me. After my first month of insecurities and struggles, I have been loving every moment since.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
CHUBBS MOBILE, LLC is a mobile dog grooming + more business located in paradise valley and we service Scottsdale and PV. We offer full grooms, we also offer walking services (not used in summer) and we also offer Home Check In services for clients who need someone to get in on their dogs. So we do 3 main services. 80% of our business is mobile grooming. What sets us apart from others is I am a male in a female dominated industry, well known for my love of dogs, and I have good artistic abilities and worked to my advantage in the grooming industry.
My brand Chubbs Mobile, is the most special part. Named after my dog Chubbs who passed away from cancer age 7, he was well known by everyone who knew me, and if you knew Nick Diamond, you knew his dog Chubbs. He was hard to miss at 160 pounds.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I’d like to share my secret to success in my service industry. I always make before/ after videos for my clients of their dogs, some of the best marketing I receive is from them posting the videos to their instagram stories, gets me a lot of exposure and I don’t have to do much. I get a new client every time it happens and it helps a lot.
Pricing:
- Full groom $85-150
- Walks $25-$50
- Home Check-in $25-$50
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.Chubbsmobile.com
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/chubbs_mobile
Image Credits
All these photos are mine, taken by myself Nick Diamond
