Franchise Friday – Episode 205 with Brandon Neilson with The Dog Stop

Franchise Friday podcast episode 205 host Melissa Pang speaks with Brandon Neilson of The Dog Stop

Franchise Friday, where you can watch or listen as we explore franchising, entrepreneurship, and small business ownership, speaking with the franchise industry thought leaders and subject matter experts that shape the Future Of Franchising. #FranchiseFriday – For more about our podcast, visit our website: https://futureoffranchising.com/ Produced by Franchise Source Brands International and The Entrepreneur’s Source.

About Brandon Neilson

I have a 20-year career in franchise sales and development and have helped thousands of people become franchise business owners.

I am currently the Director of Franchise Development with The Dog Stop based in Pittsburgh, PA. The Dog Stop opened up its first location in 2009 and currently has 22 locations open and operating with many more to come.

The owners of The Dog Stop® spent several years researching the pet care industry, surveying the needs of local pet owners, and planning an all-inclusive facility after they saw a lack of transparency in the industry. Their goal was to create a fun and safe environment where dogs would love to come and play and pet owners would feel 100% confident in the superior care that their dogs were receiving.

In 2009, the first The Dog Stop® doors opened in Pittsburgh, PA. Since that day, The Dog Stop’s mission has been to deliver a superior experience for the dogs and their whole families by providing a safe environment, offering educational opportunities, anticipating and exceeding the needs of clients and their pet companions, instilling complete peace of mind for those we serve – and to earn their trust every day!

The Dog Stop is America's favorite total dog care facility. With 20+ locations across 10 states devoted to clean and safe fun for your dog, this is where every dog wants to be. The Dog Stop is actively looking for franchise partners throughout the country to continue to expand its brand and service offerings. Dog Care Services include Daycare, Boarding, Grooming, Obedience Training, Self-Wash, In-home services, and an awesome retail store featuring the best pet foods, toys, accessories, and products available. The Dog Stop is currently franchising! We are actively seeking viable franchise candidates.

For more information visit: https://thedogstop.com/franchising/why-choose-dog-stop/

Website http://www.thedogstop.com

More... https://futureoffranchising.com/podcast/podcast-sharing-the-experience-with-brandon-neilson/

Franchise Friday, where you can watch or listen as we explore franchising, entrepreneurship, and small business ownership, speaking with the franchise industry thought leaders and subject matter experts that shape the Future Of Franchising. #FranchiseFriday – For more about our podcast, visit our website: https://futureoffranchising.com/ Produced by Franchise Source Brands International and The Entrepreneur’s Source.

Transcript

Unknown: 0:00

Hey, I'm here with Brandon Nielsen. Over at the dog stop. We are chatting today just about some of the placements that we had with the entrepreneurs, coaches and clients and the dog stuff. So Brandon, before we dive right in, I want to give a little intro your background how you came into franchising. And then he got to the Dogstar franchise developments, one of those things, it's, it's not like you can just come into the industry, you kind of have to know somebody, and was the same for me, my dad's been doing this for my basically my whole life, I got my start when I was in my early 20s. With franchise development. Well, it's been about 20 years now, since I've been in franchise development and sales. And it's been fantastic. My history with the dog stop, I actually was interesting. I had my own franchise development company years ago, at a development company, the docstoc was one of four different clients that I was working with at the time, this is like back in 2016 17 timeframe. And I, we were able to bring in I think I brought in maybe 10, franchise owners formed around that timeframe. And it was a great little run. And then I had another opportunity that fell in my lap and one of those kinds of too good to pass up opportunities. And so I actually left my business and put all those clients on hold, and basically said, Hey, I'm going to be going to do this other thing for you know, two to three years is kind of what I projected. And so that's what I did. And then immediately when I was done with that other opportunity, which I knew it was only going to be a you know, a short two to three year deal. I immediately called up Jesse over the duxtop and said, Hey, I'm done. I want to come work with you guys again, and Jesse's, like, that's great, we want you back, we need you back. But we want to hire you directly. We don't want to work with anybody else, we want you exclusively just with us. And I was like, Okay, let's, let's set up a deal. So I've been officially back in that role as director of franchise development with the duxtop, since just over a year now that I've been back with them. And it's been a busy, busy year, trying to get everything set up, we've kind of brought our franchise development efforts kind of to the next level over the last six months, and in really doing it the right way. So it's been it's been fantastic. That's really exciting. Because I know I believe worked or talked with the the dog stuff back in kind of the early days when they were really just getting started. And then now to see, okay, like the growth and development from that point and to your story. You know, the past year, I think especially one of the reasons why I decided to come back and work with these guys, again, is Jesse and Chris, the founder, the founders, the owners of the company, they're some of the most easiest guys to work with. There's symbols laid back kind of tight, you know, give you the shirt off their back type guys, right? I mean, that was a big decision for me, you know, when, when I was weighing the decision where to go, that was one of the big things, but the thing with the dog stop, one of the things that they did very differently from the very beginning is they have had a very slow and methodical approach to a franchise growth where I've seen companies, you know, and you can imagine, and 20 years of doing this business, I've seen companies, lots of companies that have kind of had the opposite approach and grow and grow way too fast right out of the gate is a new franchise company. And in some cases that literally destroyed their entire business because they just grew too fast. They weren't able to support their franchisees, Jesse and Chris did the optic, the opposite approach, and they're like, listen, we're gonna go very slow, very methodical, and it has paid off. And then we're now at 21 locations open and operating. Now every single location is profitable. And that's not common in the franchise world, right? In the franchise world, you typically have like, you know, every franchise has a top third, middle third, bottom third, but most bottom thirds for most franchises are really struggling, right, they're losing money, or they're breaking even even our bottom third are making money. So that's a testament to doing it the right way, being patient doing it the right way. And that's and that's really what they've done. And we're and I it was only really probably last year, summer, around this time last year where we were like, You know what, we're ready to grow, like, we're ready to step it up. We have everything in place, we have an overabundance of support staff, the amount of support staff we have could support 100 franchisees but we only have 17 that we're so we're waiting for growth. So we're kind of at that point. Now, that is great. And I've just loved that you say that of because I think too in the industry. It's like, just award as many franchisees as possible, and then you'll figure it out. So just on like on a tangent, what would you say to someone like a brand comes to you? And I'm sure they have, we're like Brandon, I would like to add 50 franchisees this year, I only have two right now, like what would you save about? It's a tough deal, because as a franchise development person, a lot of guys in my position a lot of people in my position, they see dollar signs, right? And it's like, well, I would rather at the end of the day, I'd rather be able to sleep well at night and know that what I'm doing is actually doing well for other people, not just for the new franchisees, but also for the franchisor because what the franchisor doesn't understand and taking something like that on they're not going to be ready for it and they're not going to be prepared for it and they're going to it's going to end up it's going to come back and bite him big time. And I've just seen I have friends that do what I do in the industry and I've seen horror stories that I just can't I can't I have to do the right thing at the end of the day and then the right thing is to yes we could probably grow a lot faster but let's grow at the pace we know we need to in order to be successful. Oh great. And I know we also talked about like a lot of abundance and I think those two they're like if we do Don't do this now, then we're not gonna be able to grow like, it's never gonna happen. So we got to do it now. And it's like, no, no, if you're going to do it the right way, don't worry, like it's going to happen. And once you have the groundwork in place, and you want this to be long term, well, you don't want to be in two years looking back and being like, oh, no, we have to like terminate half of our system. Yep. Yeah, that's that's exactly what you don't want and that, unfortunately, in the franchise world, that happens quite a bit, unfortunately. So love hearing that. So thank you for sharing that part of it with the entrepreneurs. I mean, we had to win two placements. And I think the span of like, two weeks, I'd like to franchisors and there were multiple location awards as well. So just wanted to get your thoughts on, first of all, like, what were the kind of the clients backgrounds and where were they coming from? Yeah, Justin, was a business development guy. He essentially helped the businesses kind of get things in order to help them grow and develop their own business without business support. This is development guy and him and his wife, they are in Orlando, but him and his wife have been racing racing greyhounds, so greyhounds that have been used for racing purposes and their entire lives since they were puppies no nothing different and have been in that life. And basically, they would take these Greyhound puppies or Greyhound dogs after they've been racing for years, and try to rehabilitate rehabilitate them into normal life. That's the type of people they are they're just fantastic people. But he's, yeah, Orlando, and then they're, they're gonna do amazing. He bought he, I think he did five, I think he bought a five pack in Orlando. So he's gonna be he's gonna own to the Orlando market, for the most part, to be honest with you, I don't think I've ever had a more smooth, easy deal to get done ever. I mean, there was no issues. It was literally like from the first call, this is what we want to do, we're gonna do it. And it was just kind of like that through the whole process. The other guy in New Jersey, that was a three pack, I think they bought three territories in New Jersey, and he's an attorney. Whenever you're dealing with attorneys, you know, they're nice, nice people, obviously. But it was just like the back and forth at the very end with the agreement. And just the little nitpicky, you know, things that were like does that at the end of the day doesn't matter at all. And it's never gonna matter. But regardless, real nice, real nice guy. Now, he brought in a partner with him that he had known for quite a while, actually. And they did it together. But overall, I mean, at the end of the day, listen, it's getting deals done at Franchise development is all about communication. Always. And, and I think a lot of people in my position, one of the things that they don't do very well is the communication between not just them, you know, me and the client, but me and the consultant. And quite frankly, Julian was he was top notch. As far as communication goes, I mean, it was literally like, I got an email or a call from him every single week, back and forth communication between how Justin's doing, how's he progressing? Where is he at now? What's going on? And the same with Phil, two, they were both fantastic when it came to that communication. So you have to, you know, when you're working consultant leads like that, you have to have that, that back and forth constantly. And then both of them did an amazing job. And that obviously helps, right? So if it's just me that's trying to handle the entire thing. And I don't hear from the consultant at all, ever. It's just kind of like, it's like, all they did was send me a lead and like, close it, and let me know when you're done. And that and that was not the case with them. They were they were fantastic. Excellent to hear no, because like we talked about all the time. It's like I talked about with our franchisor members, and also with our coaches of like, collaboration is essentially the communication piece of it. And without it, it's like, if you're actually interested in the client, and you're actually invested in like success, then you have to do that piece of it. Otherwise it just like it like you said, if it's on the franchisor side, and you're the one having to do everything, like on your it's all one sided, like there's no back and forth or opposite way, you know, where the coach is the one like I'm having these calls, what's going on? Like, it just just doesn't work. So it just makes sense. But to your point, sometimes it's like, I don't have time for that. No, no complaints. Honestly, the whole process with both of both Phil and Julian was smooth throughout the whole process. And yeah, it was it was honestly there was no hiccups. With both of these it was not your any hiccup there wasn't any hiccups like your traditional Oh, we got to watch out for this. And this there was nothing like that. It was just it was a smooth process, which is great. Too bad. You can't all be like that, right? And then just a few more things. So what was it so both clients were like, a bit different. One had that very, like they were working with animals, like they clearly had that like red thread that was their values that were there. But the other one was attorney. So what resonated for them about dogs wasn't the same thing. Or were there like different things about it that spoke to well, the people that get involved in our industry, whether it's a new franchise owner, or even the people that work inside of our locations, like the employees of these locations, there's one thing they all have in common and that's they're passionate about dogs. And so for instance, the guy in New Jersey, the attorney while his partner's business partner, actually trains raises labs and trains them for people. So it's always there's always a connection. So for the most part, always connection to dogs in some way, you know, and it could be as simple as listen I You know, I, I'm interested in this franchise because I've had dogs my whole life and I love dogs and I want to do something I can be passionate about. There's a lot of franchises out there and a lot of opportunities. But it's very rare to have a franchise opportunity where you can get involved in something where you can be extremely passionate about what you do every day, but also make a lot of money. And that's this industry, right? So the financial rewards are huge in our business, as well as the emotional rewards to people just love it. I mean, we have franchise owners, it is a semi absentee business, which means that all the locations are run by full time managers. So the franchisees aren't running the day to day stuff. And we have some franchise owners that literally they'll go in after work just to spend time with the dogs for an hour, right just to go and play with the dogs because it's like therapy for them. And so that's this business. There's not a lot of businesses like that, right? I mean, there's not at the end of the day, it's just you can make money in a lot of businesses. But can you be very passionate about what you do and really love what you do? Right. That's the key. And to what I think I know, I think was an awesome point. And also where people might think, okay, they both came from very different backgrounds, like one's this business consulting, and then the other one attorney. So you have these backgrounds, and they probably aren't thinking like, yeah, they like dogs are already doing these things was either thinking, how can I turn this into a business? Or even like, there's a way for me to turn this into a business. And even if they had that thought they probably be like, asked, like, way too hard, like, no, no, like, do watch and then to be able to find something like dog stop where it's like, no, I can, I can do it all. Like, that's really exciting. Yeah, and you know, and the fact that this is not an owner, operator, business is huge for people, because it's like, it's one thing to be passionate about dogs. But it's another thing to be like, Okay, I have to go into my facility, and I have to spend from 9am to 8pm there every day. And that's not this business, right? If you do that, in any business, you're gonna get burnt out. And this, you know, so nice, because we have some franchise owners that literally go in once a week, we have some franchise owners that step in once a day just for an hour or so, or 30 minutes just to see how everything's going. But that's, it's kind of the best of both worlds. Not a big deal, too. Because I think sometimes two people think, okay, I'll turn my hobby or my passion into my full time job. And then it becomes like, I hate this now, because, you know, you see what, like fitness you see with with anything, all of a sudden, you're like, what, what am I doing here? I hate dogs. You know, it's that. And I think one of the benefits that we have with our business in our industry is is this industry is a recession resistant industry. It one thing I've learned over the last 20 years and doing franchise development, people are no matter what people are going to spend money on their kids, their pets, and their and their parents. So you get into any of those types of industries that are those recession, what we call recession resistant industries. And you know, you're, for the most part, you're good to go. As long as you follow the model and do what you need to do, you're going to do well, but I still am studying. I've been working with the docstoc first set in 2017 for a couple of years. And now again, and I still cannot get over how much money people spend on their dogs. Like I have two dogs myself. And I know how much money we spend. And we don't even spend as much as some people and I'm just like, it's outrageous. Like the business is there. Like there's no there's no shortage crazy, especially now more than ever. I feel where people have dogs. Well, the COVID Puppies got brought into people's homes during 2020. I mean, that's just that alone, right there is going to keep us busy for the next 10 years. I mean, it's just it's just crazy. Yeah, so no worries there. All right, and then I'll wrap it up here. What do you value? What is the dogs don't value in their franchisees when you're looking to bring people on? And the other part is, is there anything about the dog stuff that maybe surprises candidates, as they're learning about it? Where it's something they didn't expect? Yeah, I think, you know, it's kind of the same answer to both questions for the most part in the sense that one of the things with the dog stuff that's very different than a lot of franchises is we are very flexible. In other words, what I mean by that it's not a cookie cutter franchise. So if you take all 21 of our locations that we have open and operating, not one looks exactly the same. Not one, they're all different. And the reason why is because of the way we do it, when we look at for instance, when we look at real estate, we have some competitors out there that are like going oh, we got to be in high end retail space, right? That's where we have to be with us. We're like, No, we can do retail, we can do light industrial flex commercials, it doesn't matter where we go, because this is a destination location. I mean, we have million dollar locations that are in light industrial spots. So it doesn't really matter. I think that's one of the things that surprised people that were very lenient when it comes to first of all, where we go as far as the type of real estate needs to be an A level real estate, but it can be light industrial, it can be flex, it can be commercial doesn't have to be retail, and just the flexibility flexibility that people have. So we're not so stringent on like, Listen, you have to do it our way, or that's it. So we're very open to new ideas. And all of our franchisees kind of have their own little things that they do in their own locations that are very unique to them or maybe their area, right so like you walk into one of them if it's in a certain city that will have a mural up on the wall of that city's let you know that landscape or whatever it might be. So it's really cool. And I think that's one of the things that is very refreshing for people and surprises people a lot because they especially if they've talked to other franchises that are like no that has to be done this way or else and they come in with us and they're like Oh, so you guys don't mind if I do this or me add this and then we're like, No, not at all, as long as it doesn't take away from the brand. We're totally fine with it. So I think that's the biggest surprise for a lot of people. And quite frankly, I'll be honest, the reason why some people are looking at maybe a competitor said, No way, I'm going over the docstoc. Because I can do this and this and they won't allow me to do this over there. And it's also the fact that you can open up to to four of ours for the same investment level as one of theirs, and make this make two to four times more money. We're in our industry, you know, and I won't mention any of our competitors, but we're all doing the same revenues. So in the industry, but literally our investment level is is a fraction of what theirs are, it's like a no brainer, once people realize that they're like, wait a minute, so I can open up two to four of yours for the same price as one of theirs and make the same amount of money with one location. Yeah. So and so it's kind of a no brainer. And the fact you know that we're the only true one stop shop in the industry. Nobody else does what we do, we're the only one stop shop for customers where we offer all services under one roof, where some of our competitors are more specialized, they do one thing very well, where we do everything very well. So it's so we've decided to say let's offer all services make it very convenient for the customer add extra extra revenue services for our franchisees to take advantage of and not just focusing on this one service or two services. So that's another big deal. Can you just briefly describe she said this in the beginning? Can you briefly describe what it is that the dog stop does? Absolutely. So we are the only franchise out there that is a one stop shop for dogs. So we do dog boarding, doggy daycare, grooming training, retail and in home services. And and we're the only ones that do it. You know, dog boarding, dog boarding, daycare, and grooming those three services right there. Our core services make up typically give or take about 90% of our revenue where retail comes in at about 10% Give or take but the fact that we offer all services under one roof for people is extremely convenient. So you know you have a customer that comes in and they drop their dog off for boarding or daycare their dog food is sitting on our shelf or their favorite dog treat or whatever it might be, why would they go buy it anywhere else? Right? Why would they get online in bite? They could pick it up from us right there for the same price. And so it's a huge convenience for the customer. And obviously it's just added revenue for the franchise owner so yeah, that's what we do the only one stop shop in the franchise world and run a lot of fun. We can't We can't even keep up. I mean, the demand outweighs the supply. So we're having a lot of fun with that right now. That is a good place to be so not having that. All right, well, anything else that you want to mention or close with? There's more to come. I can look on my list right now a ti es leads that I have that I'm working on. I could see easily five more that are coming down the pipe here pretty quick for new deals to be done with Te so yeah, keep them coming. We'll keep bringing them in bringing bringing good people in and yeah, it's exciting. I'm excited about the tedious stuff that we have going on. Thanks, Brandon, you're the best. Thank you appreciate your time.