Volume 17 Number 3 • 2004

"Got a Goal, Do It"

by Doreen Hester; Owner of D.J.'s Paws-ititely Purr-fect Parlor and Nancy Maxson, The University of Montana Rural Institute

Doreen Hester

"I was 60 years old when I started this, and who would have known I would enjoy it this much," says Doreen Hester, the owner/ operator of D.J.’s Paws-itively Purr-fect Parlor. "I just love pets." Doreen is a professional dog groomer in Cutbank, Montana. "I have the business set up in my basement at this time and I do plan on remodeling my garage and putting my business out there." She does day-sitting for dogs and will also do sitting for a weekend or even a couple of weeks.

The dogs that stay overnight "have to be compatible with my dog because they live in my house with me. I don’t have a kennel at this time." Doreen saw an article in her local paper about a dog grooming school in Havre, Montana. "It just really interested me and I was having a lot of physical problems at that time." She was hoping to find some kind of work she could do out of her own home. But "I had no help at all, no way of ever getting the finances" to pay the school fees.

A year earlier, Doreen had visited the Cutbank Job Service/Workforce Center. Geri Baker, the Office Manager for the Workforce Center, helped Doreen utilize a Workforce Investment Act "disability clause due to the fact that I had contracted rheumatoid arthritis." This did not mean Doreen was qualified for Social Security Disability Insurance, but with her disability status, she was able to access some of the programs at the Workforce Center for people with disabilities.

With her new idea of going to dog grooming school, Doreen went back to the Workforce Center. "I went down there thinking maybe they might have something else for me, and lo and behold Dawn [Barrett] and Michele [Rides at the Door] just went full bore." They helped Doreen apply for Montana/Wyoming Careers through Partnerships funds, administered by the Montana Job Training Partnership. "Within five-six weeks, I was in the school. The school started October 1 and I had everything I needed in before that. Dawn and Michelle worked it out, which was just so awesome."

Doreen attended the Montana School for Professional Dog Groomers in Havre for three and a half months. "They asked me to come back for two more weeks just because I was having so much fun there. I just really enjoyed it. I didn't realize how much went into grooming a dog."

Altogether, staff at the Cutbank Workforce Center helped Doreen access $3,100 to pay for her schooling and set her up in a business in her own home. "I think there were two or three programs they used. They all worked together to get me into the program that fast."

Doreen offers the following advice to other people with disabilities thinking about starting their own business. "My main advice, I would say is just if you've got a goal, do it."

Doreen Hester,
D.J.'s Paws-itively Purr-fect Parlor
702 E. Main, Cutbank, MT 59427
(406) 873-4658