The Visibility Behind the Brand: How Debby Bradbury Took Her Service Based Business to a Product Based Business

What happens when a professional dog groomer with over 20 years of experience stops keeping her best secrets to herself? She builds a brand. In this episode of The Visibility Impact Show, Crissy Conner sits down with Debby Bradbury, founder of For Fur Sake, a brand dedicated to helping dog owners achieve professional-level grooming results at home through effective tools and step-by-step education.

Debby shares how years of working with reactive dogs, special needs dogs, and overwhelmed dog owners revealed a massive gap between what groomers know and what owners actually have access to. Instead of sending clients home with a complicated list of products to track down separately, she created a system that puts everything in one place and backs it up with real education.

Connect with Debby Bradbury and For Fur Sake:

• Website: forfursakegrooming.com
• Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube: @forfursakegrooming
• For Fur Sake Community Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/9169142066529294
• For Fur Sake App: https://forfursakegrooming.com/pages/dog-life-tracker

The OMNI Method is a diversified visibility strategy built across social media, search and AI - designed for female entrepreneurs who want to be known, found and unforgettable without living online around the clock. If you are ready to build visibility that works harder than you do, learn more at https://thevisibleceo.com/omni 

Website: thevisibilityimpactshow.com

Brand: thevisibleceo.com 

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LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/crissyconner 

Transcript

0:00

Welcome back to the visibility impact show. I want to ask if you've ever thought that your expertise was too niche to become a business. Today's guest is about to change your mind. We are so excited to welcome Debby Bradbury to the show today. She is a professional dog groomer with over 20 years of experience in coat care, handling and owner education. She is the founder of For Fur Sake a brand dedicated to helping dog owners achieve professional level grooming results at home through effective tools and step-by-step guidance. Throughout her career, Debby has worked closely with both dogs and their owners developing practical methods that prioritize safety, comfort, and long-term coat health. She is known for simplifying the grooming process and helping owners feel confident, who doesn't want to feel confident in their dog grooming, in their ability to care for their dogs between professional appointments. Her mission is simple. help dog owners stop guessing and start grooming with confidence. Debby, welcome to the show. I'm so glad that you're here. So let's get right into it because this is gonna be a really fun episode. We're gonna spotlight Debby and talk about her business. And we're also gonna talk about visibility from a product based standpoint. your brand is called For For Sake, which is such a great name. where did that come from and what was the moment you knew you had to create this product? gosh, I've been thinking about the product for forever. Like I've been teaching and educating and teaching and educating and sending them off to find like, okay, we'll get this and get this, get this here and get that there. And then I realized like, that's just so complicated to here's your list, go find it everywhere, put it all in one place, teach them how to use it. And it's a win-win for everybody. And the name, it just came to me one day and I was like, that's it. Let's do it. Cause it just covers everything that I don't know. I just, I just loved the play on it. I just loved everything. There's the, there's like something when you just know, right? When like, this is the name I feel so connected to this name. Like this is it. Yeah, absolutely. It just like hit me and I was like, okay, let's, let's do it. You, before this, you spent 20, over 20 years behind the grooming table. What were you seeing dog owners struggle with over and over that really finally pushed you to build something they could use at home? I think part of the struggle is seeing dogs that don't like to be groomed. I worked tons of years with the vets and reactive dogs and all the special needs dogs and sort of fixing problems from home, problems from other groomers, trying to educate. And it just, like there was such a big need because one, not all dogs can go to the groomer, but they all deserve to be clean and comfortable. Like they need grooming. It is not optional. And to put that care into owners' hands when they're desperate for to figure out all the dog owners want to care for their babies. At the end of the day, that's they're doing their best and they needed simple answers and that my dog hates it. My dog doesn't let me my dog, this, my dog, that. And I'm like, those are all just behaviors that with the proper techniques and care 99.9 % of the time you can get past that. Well, and I think, okay, maybe this is my imagination. Cause obviously I use Debby's product, but I, even though my dogs don't always love it, I feel like They have so much confidence after I groom them. Like they feel like I look good and I know I look good and maybe this is in my head, but do you feel that when you work with dogs or when you've seen people use your product? Absolutely. Like that strut. And I think that part of it comes from like your confidence. Like if you think like, oh, this is good. This is bonding time for us. I love it. They love it. It's like more of an experience. then they're like, yeah, look at me, look at me, you know? they can, I do, I love that like when you see them like straighten out like, yeah. And when they're clean and comfortable, like you want to snuggle on them more when you're not covered in fur. So I think they, they know that. One of the things that I teach over and over and over is your dog picks up on your confidence. Your dog picks up on your anxiety. So doing it the right way is important. Like if you are, I don't want to hurt you like this meek, they feel that they're like, why are we afraid? What's wrong? So being able to go into it, like knowing like, okay, I got this, you got this together. We could totally can kill this. They come out on the other side. They're like, Hey, I feel good now. Okay. I'm clean. I'm comfortable. It's all good. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I just, I noticed that and I was like, we had to talk about that today because I know that My dogs just, they have this different air about them when they show up and they've been brushed. So did you notice that there was like a gap maybe between what professional groomers know and what owners actually have access to? Absolutely. I've always felt like they have this weird thing that owners have maybe like a lack mentality. Like if I teach other people to do this, they won't be coming to me. where I'm like, there is millions of dogs. is, there's enough dogs for everybody. All the dogs deserve the best care. Some people prefer to do it in a grooming salon. Some people prefer to do it at home. There is more than enough dogs to go around. So I think that has kind of crossed over and I think it's getting a little bit better, but some people just don't want to share. And that just makes me sad. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Plenty to go around, plenty of dogs to brush. So, you know, pull it out and let's go. When you say your mission is to help dog owners stop guessing and start grooming with confidence, what does that actually look like with your particular de-shedding system? I think that everybody has bought a brush. You can order one on Amazon. You can pick it up at PetSmart and you get home and... One, the dog is moving, they don't know where to do. And so then you kind of lose that confidence. It's like you're getting behind the wheel in the car. You're like, I need somebody there to tell me what to do. You know, and as soon as you're losing confidence, then the dog is losing confidence. And it's that symbiotic relationship that if you know, okay, do this first, do this first, do this first. You're like, okay, I can do this. And then having products built for safety. At the end of the day, there's definitely tools out there that are not safe, if not used properly. And there's no education behind that. it like, I've seen some things and that's, it just breaks my heart. So I feel like it's one of those things. The information is out there. Everybody could go figure it out, but it's the same with almost anything to be a business owner. Like you need the steps. you say like, for me as a business owner, starting like, starting an email list, all the things I'm like, I don't know how to do that. I needed somebody, know, Chrissy to come in and be like, okay, I do this, this, then that. And I'm like, okay, now I have the confidence to do that, you know? So just giving the simple steps builds your confidence and it's just a win-win for everybody. Absolutely. So one of things that you also talk about is safety and comfort when it comes to grooming. Why is that so important to you? And also are there things that owners are doing that could actually be hurting their dog's coat without realizing it? Absolutely. The hill I will die on is that the Furminator tool is horrible for their coat. There are dogs that works great on, there are small instances that like It's a very small subset of coats that it works great for. Their marketing is amazing. Everybody thinks like, I can go out there and I can use this tool and I get all this coat out. Well, you're totally damaging all the top coat, all this beautiful coat. And it, you know, then your dog's coat is rough. They're not as soft to stuggle with. It just snowballs from there as you're damaging the coat and damaging the coat and you're sort of chasing that afterwards. So getting that undercoat, leaving the top coat is so important because we want them to not shed and be snuggable. Like at the end of the day, we want soft, flush, you know, fur babies. It's like the hill I will die on is that some tools just work better than others. Some just have better marketing than others. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So walk us through what the Four Forsake experience looks like. Is it the tools that are most important or is the education piece that you provide just as important as the tools? I honestly feel like the education is probably more. The whole system makes everything easier. But if you had the right education, In theory, you could go out and find all the tools and sort of piece it together and do a good job. You know, so I think the tools are make it easier. The education is what makes it better and safer. So good. So good. And you're like the perfect person to teach this. Over 20 years of grooming, like I don't even want to know how many dogs that was. Like, did we do that math? Because I feel like that's a lot of dogs. one of these days, I thought about it one time and I was like, I've done way more than thousands, you know, and yeah, and it's been my passion. grew up in the pet industry. like, truly, I've been a professional business owner and groomer for 20 some odd years, but I've been in the industry from my mom being at the animal shelter when I was a baby. You know, I've been in the industry my whole entire life. So let's switch gears a minute and let's talk about being a product based business in today's world. Because a lot of times when people have a product and maybe you thought this at one time, but the product should speak for itself. And it's kind of like that build it, they will come mentality. But when did you realize that you got to be visible along with giving your product the spotlight? Right away, because that's exactly what I thought was this is. better than anything out there. And like, and I know in my heart, it's better than anything out there. It's so different. Every, you know, like, there's so many different breeds that I'm like, this is perfect. Every breed, you know, every German Shepherd needs it every, you know, and then you don't know what you don't know, you know, until they know about your product. Obviously, they're not going to be racing in there. So having to sort of start a physical product business, the visibility is so different. than a storefront. So I thought that I was a badass. I thought I knew my stuff. And then I just really got all turned around realizing, okay, that's so important. And you need it from day one before, you know, start working on that before you even have the product all the way ready. As soon as that idea is there, that's when you need to start being visible. Thank you. Thank you. You heard it from, you heard it from a product based business saying that. So what was it like going from being this expert in the room who, who had a dog in front of them, um, to you showing up on camera and social media as your face for, for Fur Sake. Oh, it was, it was tough. Cause one-on-one I was like, I know my stuff. Like. And then I get on the internet and you just know people are going to have their own opinions and you can't say all the things you know all at once. And everybody. So I was like, okay, this is so different. Am I going to be judged? And then I had to really, truly let that go. You know what? Not everybody likes Taylor Swift. Millions and millions of people do, you know, just because she has a few haters. You think that's going to let them stop her? I have a bigger purpose and dogs that need me and owners that need me. So suck it up buttercup. You need to get out there and, and do it. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So you also spent decades on your feet, grooming dogs every single day. What does it mean to you to have built something where you get to still utilize this expertise you have and create income with out having to go hands-on into the grooming place every single day. Well, it's everything because you can only do that for so long. Like it is rough on your body. So sort of being able to turn that expertise into truly like the freedom from my body, having to do the physical labor every day, but also the time freedom. When you're putting in your 40 as a business owner, 40 plus hours every week of hard physical labor, Being able to sort of turn that around and use like your mind and your expertise more was a God's end for sure. What would you say to someone? Cause I feel like obviously being a groomer, being a massage therapist, even somebody maybe even doing hair, right? For humans are going to eventually have this come up in their life where they're not going to want to do this hands on. So maybe they have this deep trade experience or service experience like you did. And maybe they've been thinking about turning what they know into a product or a brand, what would you say to them? Just do it. Like, feel like everybody has that person that needs them. And I think that you have to, that's what you have to realize is how many people you can help. So being a one-on-one service base, you can only do so much, but you have so many gifts that you can really, truly share with everybody. So you're kind of doing everybody a disservice to hold back. and not bring your gifts out to the world. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So tell us what is next for Debby and for Forsake. So many things. I think we're super excited we're launching an app. That is something that I was looking for for my dogs and I couldn't find it and it's another thing through the years. When was your dog's last shots? this you have people are busy. You don't think about my dog needs his toenails trend until you hear pitter-patter on the floor. And then you're like, now I have to have to dadadada. And there's this list to do to get through it. If you have all your information stored on place and you have reminders and all those things, it's exactly what you need. think another thing that I built because I needed it for myself. So that's, you know, That's where that came about was because, you know, I'm not getting any younger and I needed the reminders and I needed the help. Yeah. And we have apps for everything these days. Why do we not have one for our dog? Exactly. Yes. It was very helpful for someone who is listening to you right now. And they're completely overwhelmed by their dog shedding and they have no idea where to start. What is the very first thing that you would tell them to do? Watch the videos, learn. You can learn what to do and what not to do pretty easily from the beginning, you know, really buy the system, brush your dog, but anything helps because even like I just got a brand new puppy was not planned, but she's perfect and amazing. So from day one, we started just messing with her feet and just loving on her in a way that says, Hey, this is what's coming in the future. So. while they're shedding, if you're getting in there and rubbing on their ears and you're messing with their feet, anybody can do that. You can do that anytime, all the time. And then when you go to work on them, they're like, well, mom's just loving on me again. So I think that just building that bond with your dog and getting them to not only accept, but love the touch and that time together will help always, whatever your path for de-shedding is, be it at home or at the groomer. I love that. I love that. I want to shout out Debby for a second because as an introvert, Debby is an introvert. Most of my listeners have introvert tendencies. At least we were in Florida in February and Debby went up to a person who had a dog, asked them if she could like brush their dog and actually ended up giving them the kit and they took it home. But I just want to like, ask you, Debby, because we talk about really getting visible. We talk about getting out of our comfort zone and how it really truly grows our businesses. How did that feel for someone like you, like before you did it? And then how did you feel afterwards? It helped my confidence so much because I was like so nervous to do it. was like in the house. I was like, okay, I can do this. I was watching the doc. I was like, oh, I just want to, want to that. You and I had that like anxiety, my heart's beating like, you can't just go up to strangers, you know, they're walking their dog. So it's like, okay, I'm just going to do it. Like you have to, you have to stretch yourself. And I went up to them and they were great and I did it. And I, and I walked back in and I felt like, like, like the dogs walking out of the shop. I'm like, I did it. I did it. And it truly, and then I've done it. multiple times since then and it just gets easier and easier. it's, you know, that growing your comfort zone so that you can do the hard things and you know, being a business owner has nobody is saying that that's the easy route. Let's put it that way. So you have to have to be willing to grow your business is never going to outgrow you. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I love because Visibility, when we typically talk about visibility, we talk about going to the masses, right? Like whether it's doing a video or something like this, but we forget that visibility is also one-on-one. so going up to people, whether you go to a networking event or you have a product-based business and you want someone to try it, like find ways to put yourself in those arenas so that you can actually get real customer reviews. And I always love those videos. I don't know about you, Debby, where they literally go up and they just start asking, people like, how did you make this much money? Or they like get them on the street and they start asking them something else about their business or their brand or whatever. And it's just like, it's so unexpected, but so authentic. And it really number one, you're creating a memory for that person. If they're willing to let you try something on their dog or whatever it is that you sell, like you're creating a memory right there and they're never going to forget you. But also like, again, it's that human connection and that visibility to one on one that I absolutely love. And it puts you like in your zone of genius, like in your, like dogs are obviously my passion. So when I'm spending my time building my business and I'm behind my computer and I'm writing emails, like that's all great. And I love to talk, but like being able to talk to the people and like, who doesn't want to talk about their dog? Like if you're a dog person, you want to talk about your dog. So you get that connection of being able to talk about things you love and get your hands into the business that you still love versus just being behind the computer. So we talked about this a minute ago, just briefly, but you want to share. think this is the first podcast that's gotten to, to, you to share this with, right? Is this app that you created, is there a name for it? How can people access it? What does it do to make their life easier? We are. Just getting ready to launch, we've got all the approvals, we've got, oh it's been a labor of love. Right now you can go and basically sign up on our website and it'll send you the link, but it is a for-forsake tracker and it tracks all of the important things that your dog needs records for. Vet records, grooming records, microchip ID numbers, there's place in there for your vet, your emergency vet, your groomer. the um dog poison control. So if there's an emergency, you can just pick it up and call your emergency vet. It's not like, I have to go, you know, and that was near and to my heart. When they had their toenails done, just all the arrays, you can save records of your vaccinations, all that stuff. It sends you reminders like, hey, your yearly shots are coming up, all that stuff. Cause who, myself, that was, that was. My shop, like, I got her. When did those shots, my dog shots were almost six months overdue. My shop was literally next door to my vet. It's just not something you think about every day. You think like, you know, your doctor calls you and says like, hey, it's been a minute, but nobody tells you like, oh, I need to make an appointment for my dog here. I need to take care of this. And it has a place just for those memories because your dog is being cute and. So it started as sort of like almost like a doggie baby book. Like I can keep the great memories. I can keep all the pertinent information and it just kind of snowballed into everything. I'm like, I need this. Okay, put it in there. I needed to keep track of this. Put it in there. Yeah. Yeah. I absolutely love that. And we'll drop the link to the app and the show notes so you guys can grab your grab it and download it for your pets. And then if people want to find you or learn more about the de shedding system, how can they get in touch with you? It's for for sake grooming.com is our website or for for sake grooming on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, all the places we're doing all of the as much education and just everybody wants to love on dogs because dogs are amazing and we love them. Yeah. And Debby has a group that we'll also put in the show notes as well that you can just be in a community of other dog lovers because you know, we all have something in common because our dog is the best. so we can all say that collectively. So I will add that link in the show notes to Debby, it's been a pleasure to have you on the show today. Is there anything that you would like to leave my audience with before we go or reiterate something we already said, but it's like, Let's just drive this home. Feel free to share But when it comes to visibility, start before you think you need to. That's my, I've sort of felt like I'm playing catch up because I thought, I need all these things ready. I need this and then I'm gonna start. And then like I've always, I felt like I'm behind the whole time. So as soon as you have an idea, start putting it out there, put your feelers out there and give visible. And it's like a win-win. Well, Debby, thank you so much for being on the show today. We're going to drop all Debby's gold and contact information in the show notes so you can connect with her. And if you love this episode, if you know someone who has a product based business or has a dog, share this episode with them because it can help all of you and we cannot wait to have Debby back on the show for a repeat. Thank you so much, Debby and have a great rest of your day friends.