Start-Up NY/Inclusive Entrepreneurship: Impact Stories – Cameo Grooming & Day Care

Cameo Grooming and Day Care

Cameo Grooming and Day Care

Heidi Grosser and her fiancé, Greg Tiemann, are retired from the armed forces and both have service‐related disabilities. Upon leaving military service, they trained to become certified dog groomers, and decided to use their savings to develop a business. Grosser had begun to put together a business plan for a dog‐grooming business, using a software program, but she found the program confusing. Furthermore, to qualify for veterans’ benefits, the business plan had to be reviewed by an experienced business advisor. The VA recommended the couple to the SBDC. Working closely with SBDC Business Advisor Nancy Ansteth, at the Onondaga Community College SBDC, they soon had a business plan that passed the scrutiny of the VA. They persisted again when they encountered zoning issues in connection with their contemplated building site. Cameo Grooming and Day Care opened in July 2007. The total funding consisted of $345,000: $150,000 in owner equity for building upgrades; a $165,000 mortgage held by the building owner, and $30,000 for equipment. They offer pet products for sale in their retail store, Cameo’s Curios. In October 2007, Cameo Grooming and Day Care was honored by the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce as Economic Champions of Central New York. Says Heidi Grosser, “Many thanks to Nancy Ansteth and the SBDC for all of your help with our business plan. You made a confusing process much easier.”