Latest / The Growth Class with Phil Masiello / Entrepreneurship Reality Check: Navigating Pressure and Long-Term Commitment with Jesse Coslov

Transcript

Entrepreneurship Reality Check: Navigating Pressure and Long-Term Commitment with Jesse Coslov · The Growth Class with Phil Masiello

• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Hi everyone and welcome back to the growth class.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Phil Massiello, and look, starting a business is a great achievement.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: But keeping it alive, scaling it, dealing with the everyday grind, that's where the real work happens.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: And after 30 years and a few exits of my own, I can tell you that maximizing profits, finding the right talent, adapting to the chaos of the market are challenges that never really go away.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Whether you're a startup, I don't even care if you're a massive corporation.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: But today we're talking to someone who's tackling those exact hurdles while scaling a national franchise.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: My guest is Justy Kozlov, co-founder and CEO of the Dog Stop.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's an all-inclusive dog care facility.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's not what you think it is.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Let's l we'll we'll uh we'll get into it, but it's pretty, it's pretty cool.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's an all-inclusive dog care facility, hails everything from daycare, boarding, training, retail.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: I share my house with Millie, Bauer, and Pete, but I know firsthand the level of trust it takes to hand over your dogs to a business.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Jesse and his team have built a model that earns trust, and today we're cutting through the noise to talk about his biggest bottleneck, franchise development.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: So we get into the reality of finding partners who don't just have the capital, but actually give a damn about the animals and the bottom line.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: He's also sharing why leaving the safety of his corporate world was the best risk he ever took.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: So let's get into it.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Jesse.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Apologize for that little stumble on the intro, but uh good.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you could uh just give us a little history there and uh let us know who you are, what you've done, and how you got here.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: No, uh uh thank you for having me, Phil.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Super excited to to be here and and share some of the the tales from from the years past.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: But um no, so I uh I started the dog stop in 2009 and you know never intended it for it to become what it has.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: I never thought there would be a second location, let alone it turned into a franchise.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was really just all about trying to create a better version of pet care.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't like what was out there for myself and my local community.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um and, you know, as I did a little bit of research, you know, there were all these kind of industry standards which I didn't understand, didn't make sense to me as a pet owner, as a as a dog dad.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I wanted to try to create a better version of it.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, for me it was just let's let's get as close to uh 100% transparency.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so many of these places wouldn't let me go in the back.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't take a tour, I couldn't see where my dog was gonna be.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I actually had some people, you know, look at me with a straight face and say, you know, I don't come into your office and ask to see where you do your job, do you?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, well, I'm trying to leave my dog with you.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I would like to see where they're gonna be.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um piggybacking on that, you know, I grew up working in, you know, bars, restaurants, um, you know, hotels, and and it was all customer service.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt like that should be the case in in pet care and dog care as well.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: And and the number of places that acted as if it was my privilege to pay them to watch my dog was just incredible.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then lastly, you know, I had two dogs who had very different needs, one big dog, one little dog.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: One had allergies, needed special foods, one needed a lot of training, the other was pretty obedient, one needed a lot of exercise, the other was uh, you know, pretty calm.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I was going to like five or six different places to satisfy all of these different dog care needs, and it was wildly inconvenient for me, and it wasn't great for the dog.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you know, I said, hey, let's let's combine all the services under one roof, let's have, you know, best possible transparency, cameras everywhere.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: People can come in, take a tour anytime they want, see where their dog's playing, staying, getting their haircut, whatever it is.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then from a customer service perspective, you know, it's it's all about both customers, the two-legged and the four-legged customer, whatever they need, we're here to help them and and uh you know be a partner in the uh the dog care journey.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that was the inspiration for the dog stop in 2009.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, all of those principles still hold true today.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um, because of how it's evolved and developed and having all the services under one roof, that's the daycare, the boarding, the grooming, the obedience training, uh, the retail stores you offered.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: We do the in-home services, dog walking, overnight pet sitting, um, we have telehealth involved, you know, really trying to touch all aspects of dog care.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's it's really kind of positioned us as a uh you know, a true uh kind of disruptor and differentiator in the market.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, it's it's it's proven to be not only much better for the consumer, the dog owner, um, but it's much better for the business.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: We've taken all the peaks and valleys out of what has traditionally been a very seasonal business model and ultimately, and and what's the best part about it is it's the best for the dog.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: The dog gets comfortable coming somewhere, they know the people where they're going, and it takes all that, you know, fear, anxiety, and stress out of, you know, going for boarding and and going in for grooming.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: And and um, you know, it's it's wonderful to see the relationship that we get to build with again the the the two-legged and the four-legged customers.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that's important.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm like you, I I I don't take my dog to to the groomers because well, one of my dogs will will never go into a crate in between, you know, sessions.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: She just she just won't do it.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: She had a very bad childhood one before we got her, and she's deathly afraid of being in a crate and she won't do it.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: So um and groomers, you know, they've got a process.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: They wash them and then they put them in the crate and then they do this and then they do this.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: And and I don't, you know.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then the second thing is I I don't understand why you have to have them for six hours, you know, in a lot of cases.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: And it just it drives me crazy.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't take my dog to the to the groomers.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: I we have the we we are fortunate that we have a mobile groomer that comes and then uh but a lot of it we do ourselves, you know, nail clipping, washing, drying, all that stuff.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh ear cleaning.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: We can uh we can do it ourselves.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean and and we learn to do it only because of that.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: We couldn't find anybody who um you know would sort of do it our the way that we wanted it to be done.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh or the way we needed it to, or the way the dog needed it to be done, to be honest with you.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's the right part right there.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: What what the dog needs.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: We've we've we've experienced all of that and then some.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we have some owners who literally come into the grooming space because it provides that calm and whatever the the dog needs.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: To your point, a lot of people like to say, hey, I want this to be an hour, an hour and a half.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna drop off at this time.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Please be ready.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's move through the whole process and then I'll be ready to pick up.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, a lot of people also love the, you know, all of our grooms include three, free hours of daycare.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: So the dog comes, plays, gets tired out, and then we groom the dog.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's, you know, it's nice because the dog is obviously both physically and mentally worn out, and uh it makes for a easier grooming experience for everyone involved.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever, you know, again, going back to this is not we know dog care is not a one size fits all proposition.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: We meet every dog and dog owner wherever they are and devise the care around what works for them.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely, 100%.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I think it's uh I think it's cool.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, and I think when we talked um b in the pre in the pre-show call, I I think we talked about what I what I thought, and I I don't know if I was right, wrong, or indifferent, but I thought, you know, the hardest part of this is probably finding the groomers, because you know, trying to find a good groomer when you have a franchise model is probably the the most difficult part.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember if that was the case or not.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, I mean look, it's it's uh grooming is certainly a key component of what we do.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: It ends up being about 25% of our overall revenue stream.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um and we do have a you know a process that we help our franchisees with to identify um you know talented groomers.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we we certainly wouldn't be um bringing somebody on board who doesn't have at least you know five or six years of experience and and a book to show their skills and you know and and a competency across all breeds.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you sometimes will find people who, you know, they're specialists in a certain type of dog or a certain type of cut.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, when when you you have different dogs coming in every day, you need somebody as well versed on on all of the breeds, all of the different styles and and techniques.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: So um that's certainly part of of what we offer and and provide to our franchisees is helping them identify and and hire and most importantly retain um you know the the best uh talent in in that service that we pride uh provide, as well as as all the others, you know, all the key management roles and dog care roles and and everything that that uh is part of building a successful facility.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's it's uh the groomers um are actually happy to work for uh a company like yours because they maybe started a business and they may be great groomers and they love grooming, but they hate all the aspects of running a business.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: So here they can just focus on being good groomers.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so and and that kind of segues well into just the general concept of you know, everyone wanting to be an entrepreneur and then, you know, sometimes realizing once it's too late that that wasn't what they actually wanted.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: But um, no, so we've had a lot of luck um both in grooming and training, finding, you know, really, really talented individuals who who are exceptional um in their field.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And somewhere along the line, someone convinced them that, like, hey, you're such a good groomer, you're such a good trainer, you should go start your own business.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: And they think, yeah, you know what, you're right.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I should have my own business.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: And they go out there and they find their own space and you know, they they outfit it and they hire a couple employees, and you know, six months, nine months down the road, all of a sudden they hate what they always used to love and were so passionate about.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not because they no longer like grooming or training, it's because they probably, you know, don't have uh the not the capacity, but you know, they they weren't meant to necessarily be business owners.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: So now that they're dealing with, you know, rent and landlords and taxes and insurance and employee matters and repairs and maintenance and all of those things that go into owning a business, it's really taken away from what they were passionate about and what they love.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we've had a lot of luck finding those folks and saying to them, hey, you know, we would love to acquire, you know, basically your book of business and we'll move you into our facility and you can go back to doing what what you love most.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, all you have to do is show up every day and we'll have the dogs ready for there for you to groom, and you can do your thing and you can go home at the end of the day and and turn it all off.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, uh it's incredible how many times we've had that conversation and people just get emotional and they start to cry and they start to realize that, you know, I'm not stuck.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have to continue doing this, and I can get back to doing what I love.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that is certainly one of the ways that we've um, you know, kind of helped to um seed our our our grooming shops.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: But um, you know, it's it's it's really it it's it's indicative of a larger conversation that I have with all of our franchise owners because um you know everybody thinks they want to be an entrepreneur, everybody thinks they want to own their own business.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you know, the the reality is that you know it's everybody is not meant for it.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, the you hear the the uh the the expressions or the sayings that you know entrepreneurs are those crazy people who you know give up a 40-hour work week for a you know 100-hour work week.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's it's true.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I think um certainly there's a lot of rewards associated with it.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, if if if you're not good with you know 24-7, 365, you know, pressures and stresses uh from all different angles, um, you know, it can really, really wear on people.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, once you make the leap and you commit to it, um, if you realize it's not right for you, there's there's really only two ways out.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: One is you you kind of gotta walk away and and probably take a huge loss.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the other is you gotta put your head down and do two, three, four years of hard work to get it to the point where, you know, you can exit and you know, hopefully make a few bucks.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: But um, you know, I I I'm always very leery of that and like to make sure that you know you ask all the right questions and people really understand what they're doing, especially in what I do, because you know, I try to get people to remove the dogs and all the the fun and passion out of this and say, you know, okay, if if this were a pizza shop or if this was, you know, a transmission shop, or if this were any other business that you weren't so passionate and you were like, you know, I get to be with a hundred dogs every day.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Would you still want to do this?
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because don't get me wrong, the the non-monetary rewards and and getting to be with all the dogs are incredible, but it's still a business and you still have all of the same, you know, employee management and you know, insurance and taxes and all those other, you know, stressors that that come along with with owning the business.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was on the phone yesterday with or I was on a call yesterday with with uh uh a woman who who built a nice business, like she does about 15 million a year.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: She built it from scratch and and I said, you know, what what would be one piece of advice that you would give to young entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs starting a business?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: And she said, don't follow your passion.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: She said, because if you build a business based on your passion and what you love to do, then you're gonna hate what you used to love to do.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: She said, and that's a problem.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: She said, so find a business that you want to build that you see a n a need for, that you see a problem you can solve, but keep your pa what you're passionate about as something to uh on the side that you can do to sort of level out your life.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: So because if if you're passionate about, and it this sort of goes along with what you just said.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're passionate about dog grooming, then then all of a sudden you start a dog grooming business because everybody says, oh, you should have your own business, and you don't want to do all the businessy things, you wind up hating dog grooming.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that was your passion.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it gave you joy, maybe it gave you happiness.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you're a florist and you know, if you like flowers and all of a sudden, you know, they say, hey, you know, become a florist, and you have to deal with marketing and and customer uh uh attraction and advertising and all that, you no longer want to be a great florist.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: You just you're miserable.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: So it sort of goes along with what you were just talking about.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: No, there's no doubt.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: I I agree with that and I would probably I would add to it and I would challenge it a little bit because I think it is important that whatever business you get into that you are passionate about the subject matter.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, I I I I do agree with that.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think um you know, I think you have to you have to like what you do, you have to love what you do, and if you are passionate about the subject matter, I think it makes it much better.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, arguably the most important um probably similarity between most successful entrepreneurs is that what they love and what they're passionate about is building things and figuring things out and building the systems and and understanding it all, um, you know, and and growing something.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, at the end of the day, I mean that's what I love to do.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, those franchisees that we've seen that have been the most successful, they they certainly, you know, share that that common thread.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously the fact that we get to do it with dogs that everyone in the system is passionate about is uh is just a cherry on top.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think being passionate about building things and and systems and and business I always tell people it's not so much about what you're um what you're passionate about.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like f don't i it's not about following your passion, right?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: I may be passionate about you know cycling, I may be passionate about running, but I don't want to start a business around it.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, but it's the thing it's the idea that you get that keeps you up at night.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's the that's what you need to follow.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: You get an I because uh every entrepreneur, every successful entrepreneur that I've ever met, they didn't start out like in the beauty business or in the food business.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: They started out with an idea and it kept them up at night, and then they started following that idea.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: But their passion may be something totally different.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's true.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: I always tell the funny story that, you know, I was very fortunate, I had incredibly supportive parents.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, my dad would always say, you know, find something you love and you'll never work a day in your life.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, so you know, I when I started the dog stop, um, decided to start the the dog stop, you know, I was working and and doing well in in a commercial real estate career, and uh I called my dad and I was like, hey dad, you know, I just I'm I'm starting this business and I just quit my job.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like, What do you mean?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I told him what it was, and he was like, you know, asking all these questions, and I could tell he was uncertain.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Dad, you always said, you know, if I find something I love, I'll never work a day in my life.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, that's not what I meant.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't mean go work with dogs.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I was like, so I always like to remind him about it now because it it worked.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um Yeah.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: So so what do you think the uh what do you think the biggest bottleneck to growth is from from your perspective?
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh it's a different kind of model.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the franchise model is a bit different than you know, than owning corporate-owned stores and trying to do a rollout of uh you know a hundred stores.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it could be easier on the franchise side or it could be much more difficult.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think the biggest bottleneck is?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Yeah.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean I intentionally chose the franchise path, um, you know, had plenty of people ready to invest and help if I wanted to go down the corporate road, but the really the reason I didn't is because I think it is so important to have that local connection.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't think anyone is looking for a corporate conglomerate to care for their pet.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, there's plenty of there's plenty of uh, you know, uh research to show.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, PetSmart and Petco, who are better positioned than anyone to do it, have largely fallen flat when they try to offer their daycare and boarding and even to a large extent grooming services.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um I mean, it's it's people need and want that local connection, somebody who's in their community.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they don't want to walk into a store in Texas and find out the owner lives in in you know Pennsylvania.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's that that right there I think is a strike one.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: I know it would be for me, and I think a lot of other pet owners share that.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: So franchising was the natural um answer to help me, you know, take what is a proven successful business model and find good operators in each market who, you know, obviously share the passion and and want to bring this much-needed service.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: So um I think like anything, you know, in the franchise world, that the bottleneck is just you know finding the right people.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, again, everybody wants to be an entrepreneur and maybe everyone shouldn't.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um and for me, you know, there's this there's this spectrum I kind of talk about, the of of the owners and the potential owners that I speak with.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um sometimes you get the crazy dog people on one end who we know aren't going to be a good fit because they get so hyper-focused on each individual dog that they lose sight of the fact that, you know, there's there's needs to be 7,500 dogs in the building and and they can never successfully grow and and and allow the business to mature as it should.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then obviously the other end of the spectrum, I get a ton of calls from, you know, purely, you know, investment, you know, finance, the, the, the Wall Street world.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, dogs are way more than just numbers on a on a spreadsheet and have to be considered that way.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: So when you know it's only about the bottom line and only about the numbers, um, you know, you you can't um create the goodwill and the love and the trust because people see right through that.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, there's there's those are obviously the two ends of the spectrum, and there's a lot of room in the middle, but you know, important conversations to to have as we talk through and try to identify the right owners uh in each individual market.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, coming out of the pandemic, you know, not unique to us, but you know, every business I think is is really been pushed and and um pressured um just in terms of rising costs.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, our facilities now, you know, it's it's not quite double, but almost double what it cost when we were building these in, you know, 2019, 2020.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh labor costs have obviously, you know, significantly increased.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um really everything is just more expensive.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, we we can't now all of a sudden be charging, you know, 200 bucks a night for for boarding and$100 a day for daycare.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, just have to be much more careful and and um just have to be you know really good on the operation side to manage your expenses and and also diligent on uh you know following up on leads and and growing the top line sales.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I think we're very fortunate that um we have a ton of tailwinds and this industry is just continues to explode and you know dogs continue to become more and more part of the family.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the line between you know humans and dogs is as blurred as it could ever possibly be.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh that's obviously you know makes our business uh a little bit easier.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would agree with you.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: You said something right in the beginning that it has to be done on a local level because nobody wants to know about you know some some corporation that's in you know some some other state taking care of their animals because they are part of the family.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I it leads me to uh there it's the same thing with vets, right?
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: You you find a vet that you that you like and that you trust your animals with.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: And in our area, uh there was One of the there's a big company out there that builds vets, that owns vet veterinary clinics.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's a major corporation.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: And they put up a veterinary clinic and they actually bought uh uh an existing uh vet clinic.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: And as soon as they bought it, I think they had like a 62% attrition rate.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody just fled because they were they they they got rid of the uh veterinarian that was that had built the business.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: They made him retire, and then they they took over, put some a couple of people in, and everybody said, you know, I don't know these people, I don't want them working with my vet.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Dr.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: So-and-so uh, you know, has been, you know, my vet's a doctor for years.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then they start asking, who's your vet, who's your vet, who's your vet?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody just like sort of left that practice.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and I can understand it because I'm very picky about I've had the same vet for my dogs for, I don't know, decades.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, until they retire, uh there we'll be stuck with them because we're comfortable with them.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think they they do a great job, they care, they live in the community, they're hands-on, they're they um they're accessible.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: They they so I agree with you 100%.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: When you're putting your your trust in your animal, it's like putting trust in your child, and you're certainly not going to uh shove your child into some corporate uh maze.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: So Exactly.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we we've got about a minute and a half left.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: So any any great uh philosophical words for entrepreneurs after your journey for the last you know couple of decades of of doing this?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yikes.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um You know, uh I think whether it's trying to figure out what business you want to start or what business you want to enter into, or um, you know, you're already into it and and how do I make it better and how do I continue to grow it.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I've always, and I and I think it's largely what's what's you know led led to the success of the dog stop to this point, has been um I've always just tried to put on my my my customer hat and you know, what would I want if I was the customer of my business.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that's evolved over time.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: It started with what would I want if I was the dog owner and how would I want the business to interact with me?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: What are the services that I would like?
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: How would I like things to be handled?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I've always just built things that way because I think at the end of the day, if the customer's happy, the business will succeed.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: That has now spilled over into I'm now a franchiser, so every time I make a decision, every time we have to do anything, I think, okay, if I was a franchisee, what would I want me to do?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and I think while that's not always in the short-term best interest of your business, I think it's always going to lead to the best long-term results because at the end of the day, if your customer's happy, they're gonna keep coming back.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna tell everyone else they know about how great this business is, and your business will ultimately succeed.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not uh, you know, it's not some um, you know, deep uh technical anything that you're gonna learn in business school.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's just, you know, it's common sense.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I think so many people overthink decisions and practices and procedures and and try to get too, you know, too smart and and and they truthfully just overthink it all.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, I think you've got to keep it keep it simple and do what's right by your customers.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, great advice.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: And uh a great ending to the show.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for coming on.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: And if anybody wants to get in touch with you, anybody's interested in uh in franchising, they would go to thedogstock.com.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: You got it.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can find us there.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: My contact info's there, and uh, really appreciate you having me, Phil.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is fun.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, my pleasure.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and if anybody wants to maybe in your community there's a dog stop, stop in and uh and and see how things uh see how things work.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: We'd love that.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: All right, great.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, we'll see you.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Phil.