557: Scaling with Heart with Amy Addington
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Ever feel like the stress of competition overshadows the joy of your work? Amy Addington, President and Co-Founder of Woofie’s, shares her 20-year journey from a $10 dog walk to leading a thriving pet care franchise. Amy dives into the power of relationships in business, how to build trust with clients, and the importance of staying flexible in a changing industry. She also unpacks the challenges and rewards of franchising, the role of branding in maintaining consistency, and why networking—even with competitors—is essential. Full of insights and actionable tips, this episode will inspire you to lead with heart and build a pet care business that thrives on trust and connection.
Main topics:
Transitioning from Corporate to Pet Care
Building Trust Through Relationships
Franchising Woofie’s: Challenges and Rewards
Creating a Strong Brand Identity
Networking with Competitors and Community
Main takeaway: “At the end of the day, this is not a transactional business. It’s a relationship business, and that’s what makes it so rewarding.”
Pet care isn’t just about providing a service—it’s about building trust, fostering connections, and becoming a reliable part of someone’s life. When a client hands over their keys or entrusts you with their pet, they’re giving you something invaluable: their confidence.
So how do we honor that trust and make the most of these relationships?
🌟 Listen Deeply: Every interaction with a client is an opportunity to learn more about their needs and the unique personalities of their pets. Take the time to ask questions, observe, and truly understand.
🌟 Be Proactive: Anticipate client and pet needs before they arise. Whether it’s remembering a pet’s favorite treat or offering flexible scheduling during busy times, the little things show you care.
🌟 Be Consistent: Relationships are built on reliability. Show up, follow through, and stay true to your word every single time.
Pet care is a privilege, and every interaction with a client and their pet is an opportunity to strengthen that bond. It’s these relationships—not transactions—that make our work meaningful and sustainable.
💬 What’s one way you go above and beyond to connect with your clients?
About our guest:
Amy Addington is the President and Co-Founder of Woofie’s, a premier pet care company specializing in pet sitting, dog walking, and mobile grooming services. With over 20 years of experience in the pet care industry, Amy has built Woofie’s into a trusted franchise brand known for its focus on building relationships, fostering trust, and delivering exceptional service. Amy’s journey began in 2004 when she and her co-founder, Leslie Barron, left corporate careers to pursue their passion for animals and entrepreneurship.
Under Amy’s leadership, Woofie’s has expanded into a successful franchise model, empowering business owners to provide top-tier pet care in their local communities. A dedicated advocate for innovation and collaboration, Amy is passionate about supporting franchisees, maintaining brand integrity, and staying at the forefront of industry trends.
When she’s not leading Woofie’s, Amy enjoys working with her team in Delray Beach, Florida, and contributing to the pet care industry as a mentor and speaker. Her commitment to excellence and her belief in the power of relationships continue to inspire pet care professionals across the country.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pet sitting, dog walking, brand consistency, franchise expansion, local community, business relationships, customer trust, mobile grooming, franchise model, business challenges, entrepreneurial passion, customer service, business growth, franchise support, local marketing
SPEAKERS
Collin, Amy A.
Collin 00:01
Welcome to pet sitter confessional, an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter today. We're brought to you by our friends at tide pet and pet perennials. Scaling our businesses means many different things. It could be adding one employee, it could be growing in a new service area, or could mean franchising our business, no matter what the scale of our business relationships are, at the core of making sure you have a strong foundation, and that's why we're really excited to be speaking with Amy Addington today, President and co founder of woofies, a franchise of dog walking and pet sitting businesses across the country. Here in the United States, she talks about the importance of branding and maintaining consistency, and how it's not all just about turning widgets or cranking out the next thing. It's about building those relationships and making an impact in people's lives. Let's get started.
Amy A. 00:54
Sure and Collin, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Glad to be here today. So I actually started wolfies 20 years ago. This past September, was 20 years with my neighbor, Leslie Barron. We lived across the street from each other, and we quit our corporate jobs and moved into our pet sitting and dog walking business. And I always tell the story leaving a six figure corporate salary and everything that entailed benefits, all of that. And our first day on the job, we walked a set of dogs, lucky and Cody for $10 so it was a very humble beginning. And I remember, though feeling so excited about leaving corporate and doing something that I really loved, because we had a shared passion for animals, and we knew there was a need for a pet sitting, dog walking service in our local community. We didn't quite know it that that day where it was going to go, but I remember being very excited and just feeling that it was the best $10 I think I've ever earned in my professional career. So
Collin 02:02
I love that, and I love that you even remember their names of lucky and Cody, they have such an impact on us. Don't and sometimes in ways that we never really can appreciate. Megan and I were just talking about this the other day in our business of things that we do today, of like, how we kind of think it's just common sense, and how, if we actually think about it, we can relate it back to some very early experiences with those clients. Of like, oh my gosh, man, that was a real lesson at that time. I didn't even, I didn't even know
Amy A. 02:33
it. Oh, 100% I mean, I look back in those early days, we didn't have anyone giving us a playbook, you know, we had put a business plan together, of course, before we started the business, but we didn't have any guidance of what to do, or, you know, how to handle certain situations or things that would happen that would come up, that you just learned from experience. So I look back in those early days, and I think in a strange way it must have without realizing it prepared me for franchising, because when I look at our operations manual, it's filled with a lot of things we did well, but a lot of things that went wrong. And because of those things that didn't work, we had to pivot very quickly and create a policy or change the way we were doing things a lot of trial and error in those early days.
Collin 03:23
If you ever look at one of those spray cans for spray paint right on there, on the back, it says, Do not put in drill press. And I remember thinking like, what? Why would somebody do that? But at some point, somebody put a can of spray paint in a drill press and tried to put a hole in it. And there are many times in our business where I go, Oh, this is our, this is our drill pass moment, isn't it? This is,
Amy A. 03:46
oh, yeah, there's plenty of those moments, absolutely, but that's, I think, you learn from that. That's the key, I think, of building a business. Not everything's going to go right every day, and as best you try, you want everything organized and everything runs smoothly and perfectly, but things happen, but I think it's how you react to it. And if something doesn't go right, learn from it, understand what went wrong, and then what steps do you put in place so it doesn't happen again. So I think you can get a lot of life lessons when something goes wrong, you can't fear it. We don't like it. Of course, we don't try to have things go wrong, but if they do go wrong, you need to learn from it, and that'll make you ultimately a better business owner.
Collin 04:28
That's hard, though, because a lot of times we have to admit, oh, I actually had a role in this, right? I had a role in why this didn't work out, and I was
04:36
very humbling. Yes, yeah, right. So sometimes you're
Collin 04:39
right, sometimes we just steer away from the bad stuff. We go, nope, I can't deal with that. I'll just move on, instead of actually taking that time to sit and address it, because otherwise we are never going to learn and it's just going to happen again and again and again in our businesses.
Amy A. 04:53
Yeah, and you can't fear that. You know it's okay. You do your very best, like I said, to have everything. Run smoothly. But things happen. Life happens. People are involved. Animals are involved, you know, the thing and so you can't beat yourself up. You You have to fix it, though, you have a responsibility to fix it. That's the thing. You have to look yourself in the mirror and say, Okay, maybe this didn't go exactly the way I would have liked with, you know, in this situation, but let me fix it, and let me make certain it doesn't happen going forward.
Collin 05:26
Well, so 20 years ago, you're out on your first dog walk with your neighbor, Leslie. What? What did? What made you go from your six figure, you know, corporate jobs, I'm sure, you had a trajectory of how you envisioned your life, you know, how did you find yourself behind lucky and Cody making 10 bucks.
Amy A. 05:42
Well, five each. Actually,
Collin 05:45
sorry, I'll change. That was a big day for me. Yeah.
Amy A. 05:48
So no, you know what? I I've always wanted to have a business. I've always been entrepreneurial. Ever since I was younger. I always had the passion for animals that was something that just brings so much joy and meaning to my life, and I'm glad I did corporate for 12 plus years. I got a lot of great experience, and I never look back. I always look at everything as a stepping stone. So I'm really glad that I had that time in corporate, but the more time I spent in corporate, the more it made me realize I went out of corporate and I want to be my own boss. I want to make my own decisions. I want my success to have a direct impact on me and my life. And so that was something that, you know, talking with Leslie, we had that mutual connection and that passion for animals, and we also were consumers of the service. We both, for different reasons, needed pet sitting services, and we each had had a bad experience, and so we knew there was an opportunity there. And I think, you know, there were a lot of people that in our area that maybe just did it on the side, which is great. There's so many amazing companies that start that way, and and I think we just felt there was a really unique opportunity to come in and run it the way that we want to, from a highly personalized standpoint, we wanted to really go above and beyond for every single customer. And it was just the two of us for quite some time. It was the two of us walking dogs seven days a week, you know, morning till night. I know you guys can relate to that. And it was, it was just something that we knew there was an opportunity, and we just wanted to do it in a unique way for us, you know, something that we hadn't experienced yet in our community. So I always tell people, obviously, we didn't create the concept of dog walking 20 years ago. There were people been doing it for a long time. We just had our way that we wanted to do it, and that type of level of support and kind of really being part of that local community that was something that was really important to us. From the very beginning, you
Collin 07:57
had a phrase there where you said that you wanted your success to have a direct impact on your life. And I've never heard it put quite like that, Amy, where we look at what we're doing and the effort that we're putting into sometimes for other people, and we go, man, if I put 75% of this effort towards me and what I wanted to do, where could I end up? And that is the beauty of things that we get to do. And that's a reminder that I have to have a lot and some days, well, okay, a lot of days, especially during the hard ones of No, I get to do this, and there is a benefit directly to me and my family because of this work that I'm doing absolutely
Amy A. 08:33
and that's something that I think is the core of every entrepreneur. You know, that's why you take the leap and from the comforts of the corporate world. And it can be scary and intimidating, and you can have those challenges. I mean, going through COVID In 2020 I mean, that was the worst business challenge we've ever seen, and that hit the pet sitting, dog walking business very hard in those early days when everybody was home, so, you know, but at the end of the day, you have to keep really focused on what you're doing, why you're doing it, and that, that love of this business, and that's something that drives me to this day 20 years into it,
Collin 09:13
yeah, it is. We have to find that, that that reason, whatever it is, right? And it could be, you know, I want to, I want to provide for my family, or it's, you know, like for us we when the very early days, we just had little goals, right? Of like, I need my business to pay for my car insurance, okay, and then I can pay my business needs to pay for my car insurance and the gas it takes to get to whatever. And you can kind of, or maybe it's just a lifestyle that you have of, I want to spend more time with my kids, or I want to see my dad on Christmas, or I want to go hang out with friends more, whatever that is, we have to find that and really make sure that that is front and center for us personally. Because, yes, it's a business that does things for people, and it serves people, it makes money, and we get to benefit from that for our own purposes and our own ends. And that's okay, right? That's not that's something that we shouldn't feel bad about at the end, in the end of it
Amy A. 09:57
well, and that's the heart of everybody. Business Owner, at the end of the day, you need to find something that drives you. And in our business, it's very much a passion business, you know, taking care of people's animals. I think it's a huge responsibility, and it's also such in a great way, I'm always so flattered and feel so respectful when people give us keys to their home and they're trusting us with their pet, and they tell us, I can go away on a vacation now because I have woofies Like that is so amazing to me, and that's something that really drives me so it's not just the it's your livelihood and it's your lifestyle, but also you're finding something that has meaning in your life. And for me, that's something working with animals has always given so much meaning. For me, it's something that's just, you know, like you I mean, it's anyone who goes into this business, you know, I think you have at the core that, that real passion for taking care of animals, and there's something very rewarding about that. Yeah, it
Collin 11:02
is finding those because we do a lot of mundane tasks, right? We have to do a lot of things that we just don't want to do. Say hello to the explosive diarrhea in a kennel. You know, it's always so much fun, right? Nobody is like, you know what I want to do as a pet sitter or dog walker? I want to make, I want to spend 35 minutes hosing out and sanitizing a kennel from explosive diary. That's just, I would love to do that, but we, we, and if you're out there, send me an email. But like, if we do that, because what do we like? We love the pets and
Amy A. 11:31
bad for the baby, right? We
Collin 11:34
love them, and we love the person enough to do that for them in this and yes, we're getting paid for it. But there is that passion of, like, sometimes it's like, there's no amount of money that would make what I'm doing right now worth it, but because I care about what's the well being, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go through with this.
Amy A. 11:50
You know, I always tell people my hardest day in the pet space is still better than a great day in corporate. But, yeah, you kind of tapped into one of the tougher times. Sure. I mean, nobody wakes up in the morning and hopes that happens. It's just it is what it is. But you know, for me, it's when I something like that does happen. Yeah, at the very core of it, I feel bad for the animal, and I just want to make the animal feel better and clean them up. And you just, I don't know it, that's, that's, but that can be tough. Sure, it's not the best part of the job, of course, right?
Collin 12:34
So you're, you started wolfies 20 years ago, and I know now you are. You're franchising and you're expanding in that way. When did that become a goal for you in your in your business?
Amy A. 12:46
So we started, so we started in 2004 with the pet sitting and dog walking. We grew that business, brought on some really trusted pet sitters, and built up the pet sitting business along the way. You know, we built that relationship. Everything was based on that relationship with the client. Along the way, they kept asking about grooming, because nobody was really doing mobile grooming, and we already had the relationship with the clients. And so that's when we started. In 2011 we added the mobile grooming piece. And once we added that mobile grooming piece, is really where we saw such tremendous growth in the business. It had already grown year after year, but adding the mobile grooming piece, it was just another service offering and another value that we can provide another service for the customers. So we saw a lot of growth right away when we added the mobile grooming piece and we had clients. I was in the Northern Virginia area, and that's can be kind of a transient area with government. And we had a lot of people that would move out of the area, or kind of out of our immediate service territory, and they would call us and say, I need a woofies. Are you going to expand? So we did think about expansion. We thought about where do we want to take this business? Because we knew we tapped into something in our local community, and we were building a really great team of people, and we were adding the mobile grooming piece, and we started looking, do we add more locations that we own, or do we franchise? And so I went to my first franchise conference in 2015 and I really dug into the franchise industry to really try to understand it all the nuances, and networked with a ton of people who ended up being amazing mentors for me. But I love the franchise model for a lot of reasons. One is I feel in this business, if you're going to run a wolfies or any pet sitting, Pet Services, grooming company, I love the idea of it being a business owner, someone who has the financial investment, the personal investment, the emotional investment, it's their business that they're running in their local communities. So at the core, I love the franchise model. And I also go. Back to 20 years ago when Leslie and I did make all this mistakes. You know, there were things that we just didn't know, because we didn't know, and the industry was a lot less mature at that time too. It's, it's really evolved over the years. And so, you know, being able to give a business owner who has that passion and love to get into the pet business. They want to be part of their local community. They want ownership of that wolfies business, but also being able to give them an operations manual and all the training and all the playbook and all the Hey, it's ultimately your business. But you may want to think about this, because here's what happened and why, 20 years ago, and so if I can help any owners avoid that and not have to go through some of that pain of things that maybe didn't go right, or because you didn't have certain policies in place, or just things that were unexpected, so that definitely but I think also, you know, with A franchise model, you now have a peer network of all these fellow business owners, these fellow woofies business owners, who are running their woofies in their local community. So you you now have this really big support system. You know, you not only have the marketing and operations support from from the franchisor, but you have your fellow wolfies owners, and I think that's something that's really special, because all of our owners that have come into our network, they're just really incredible people at their core, they're they come with very diverse business backgrounds, which I love. I love having different people coming into our network as an owner, because they have a fresh perspective and a unique perspective, and all of them are adding so much value, and they really are collaborating. And I just think that is one of the most special parts of being part of a franchise system that
Collin 16:56
support really what that sounds like. And I love you also started by that difference in the passion of where that's coming from, right? Because, again, you know, wrestling with that. Do I expand way over here and have a, you know, a regional manager or somebody over there, somebody who doesn't have that, what you tapped into that beginning of my success directly impacts my life right there that is a little bit disconnected whenever it is an employee model who's running that from the top down, that's they don't quite have that, that drive, versus somebody who is owning and operating that, yeah, it's under the same name and branding and the policies and whatever. But there is much more incentive for that to to get boots on the ground, to get that and make sure that it is running well,
Amy A. 17:39
they have the equity in it? Absolutely. Yeah, yeah.
Collin 17:42
Which, which kind of, which is that, which is that, you know, it kind of changes that mindset of, how do I how do I do this? Well, I need to find somebody equally as passionate and invested in this as I am. Well, anybody who has employees will tell you that's kind of hard to find in a lot of cases. But if somebody is owning it and running it themselves, they have that equity, both in the passion, the personal commitment, the financial obligations and all that tied up into that. It really does help drive that new location.
Amy A. 18:11
Yeah, I think the fundamental level of building your business, whether it is a franchise model or corporate model, the key is finding the right people and building a really incredible team. And I've seen, and I have, you know, I don't know if you know this, I own the Delray Beach wolfies in Florida. My husband and I bought it a year ago, but I have an incredible General Manager, Liz, who runs the day to day because, obviously, I'm running the brand at the higher level, so that's my job in a very busy one. But you know, I love what these I wanted to use down here in Delray Beach, where I now live. And I am so grateful that I was able to find a general manager like Liz. I mean, she truly runs the day to day operations, and she just does an amazing job, and is so fully committed. So absolutely, there are so many great people out there, whether it's the GM model or, you know, in my case, like we talked about equity, you know, I love the idea of her building equity into this Delray Beach business, and over time, you know, she may be the full owner of that which I personally would love to see, that I think I love to see career paths for people who are passionate about animals, love to be in the business and have that commitment. And, you know, finding somebody like Liz and several of our other owners have found really similar GMs that just are integral to the business, and that's just such an important piece, is to find those good people who will support your business and have that full commitment.
Collin 19:47
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19:52
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Collin 20:13
looking for new pet sitting software, give time to pet a try. Listeners of our show will save 50% off your first three months by visiting time to pet.com/confessional you even whenever you are selecting, okay, who do I move forward with a franchise opportunity with? Right? There's that vetting process of not just somebody who shows up with the the check sign, I'll pay you, right? I've got the I got the money here you're going, Ah, you know, we've got a lot more process involved to make sure that you are going to do well with this.
Amy A. 20:44
Absolutely it is, I think, in my role with wolfies, I think the most important job I have is to bring on great franchise owners, because I owe that to our existing franchise owners, anybody who comes into our system, it needs to be aligned with the culture, the vision, the values. They need to have that hyper local community focus, that very personal touch to their customers, that going above and beyond. They have to buy into that. And not everyone does. You know, there are people that have looked at the opportunity and it's just very transactional for them. And that is not somebody we would bring into our system. It just, they're not going to be happy. We're not going to be happy. Let's just cut it. It's, you know, let's say nice to meet you and move on. You really need to find people who have that shared passion that is super critical to the success of this type of
Collin 21:41
business. What was it like getting your business ready to become a franchise? You know, I know there's just a whole lot more here that's, that's probably 20 more podcasts, but like, you know, if you're like somebody staring at your business, how do you go from this is me and my friend and maybe a few employees, to this will be immediately replicable to wherever we can set this down with the right people involved. Yeah,
Amy A. 22:05
it's good question. It's, it is a lot of time, a lot of work, a lot of investment you need to put into it to do it properly. You know? It's, it's not something you wake up and say, oh, you know what, I'm going to franchise my company. That sounds great.
Collin 22:21
Scratch that off my plan tomorrow, but
Amy A. 22:24
it's very it is very doable. Franchising is a great business model, absolutely. But you need to really understand everything that's involved. You know, you're creating your your business model. You're taking everything that you do operationally and documenting it. And it's funny when you start thinking about it, every single policy process, everything has to be documented. I mean, our operations manual, I think, is over 1000 pages. And wow, I wish I had AI and made it sound a little bit better, but I can't tell you how many months and months and months we spent documenting down to every single detail, every single detail. And you don't realize how many details in your day to day operations there are until you start having to document them. So and and we had the two sides of the business. We have pet sitting, dog walking and grooming. So really we're it's two lines. So it was double the work there, but also then creating what is your franchise business look like, and what is your the FDD, your Franchise Disclosure Document, the legal document that governs the relationship between a franchisor and franchisee. You know, you need to work with a law firm that specializes in franchising and will help put together an FDD that makes sense and is fair for both sides, the franchisor and franchisee, as you guys partner together. So, you know, then the marketing, the everything that you need to do. I mean, it's, it's obviously very doable. There's tons of franchise opportunities out there. And again, I think it's a really great business model. The key is just knowing what you're going into, have the investment and be prepared to invest. Because I feel if you're going to ask somebody, in my case, to run a woofies business, I need to give them 1,010% I need to give them everything that I have. If they are coming to me saying, I want to own a woofies in my local community, I want to make sure I have the best FDD. I want to make sure we have the right marketing, the operations, everything that we need to do to support our franchise owners, and that's why we became part of authority brands. You know, we became our parent company is authority brands, and we became part of them in January of 2022 and that was a big reason why we did that, because we knew we wanted to do. Scale our franchise system, but I wanted to make sure we did it properly and we had all the capital, the resources, the expertise of a parent company. So it's a really nice blend, because we run the brand, and it was super critical that we were able to maintain what makes woofies unique in a local community. I didn't want it to go corporate and turn into this like ridiculous corporate behemoth thing, because that is not what makes Whoopi special, and that's not what we're about. And I know you know this running your business, it is all about that relationship with your customers and that really personal touch. So I needed to make sure whatever we did, we maintain that at all times, but to have the cover of a parent company to give us those resources for our franchise owners as we continue to expand, that was extremely important as well. Yeah,
Collin 25:58
having those resources the time and the details really is what that sound like. And when you start, especially when you start thinking of going, I'm gonna have to document over 1000 pages of what I do like that that's, I'm sure that was also, I was gonna say, cathartic, but I don't know, but like, but like, it kind of was, yeah, allows you to like, especially when you're like, Oh, I think this is how it should operate. But I'm sure as you were writing that down, you're able to go, oh, actually no, like, let's either we're not operating like that, or let's actually change this, because I'm externalizing this now. And it makes you better, right? That kind of process just makes you better the more you document, because then you can refer back to it, you can have other eyes on it. It makes you a lot more robust as a business. You know, regardless of whether you want to go and franchise or not just documenting processes helps you, because you can now see no that's how it's supposed to be done, and you can judge and be more critical of it and say, Should we do that or should we change it some other way? I
Amy A. 26:52
love that you said that because I agree, whether you franchise it or not, as a business owner, you absolutely should be documenting everything and learning like we talked about earlier, like learning when something doesn't go 100% right? Okay, what happened? And then what process do we need to put in place so it doesn't happen again? But also, I think being hyper flexible. I mean, I look at 20 years, the industry has changed and evolved quite a bit, and you can't stay stuck in your day. This is how we did it in 2004 you're done if, if you have that mindset, you know you have to be very flexible. You have to go with the changes of the economy, the customer mindset, technology, all these different influences in your business, competitive landscape. You know that's constantly evolving and changing, and you have to be aware of it and and react accordingly. You know, that's something. You have to be very, very flexible, I think, all the time well. So
Collin 27:50
how are you how is, how is wolfies? Now, you know, you have multiple franchises out there. How does it work if you want to implement changes, and while also having that, you know, local flavor and that local implementation of things, how is there a balance there that you guys walk through? And how does that work?
Amy A. 28:07
Yeah, I think it's, it depends what kind of changes you're talking about. You know, at the end of the day, these are business owners, and we always tell our owners, this is your business, your woofies, you own your business. We're here. We're providing, you know, the guidance and the template, and you know the 20 years of experience and the support. And there are certain things that are non negotiable. You know you are offering pet sitting and dog walking and grooming. You know you can't open up a bakery, you know, I mean, so like, there's certain things you know that you know are the core of the woofies franchise offering, right the business model. But there are, you know, we have some locations, maybe they utilize different marketing tactics. In some markets, the more traditional direct mail, door hangers, stuff like that works. And then in other models, it's doing tons of events and different things. So we work with our business owners on what works for your business and your market, and really understanding your market and that landscape, and if there is a change that needs to go system wide, you know, it's something that we want to prove out first we want to make certain. You know, you have to be very careful, like anything that is a change system wide or an update, you really need to do your homework, make sure it's the right thing for the brand before implementing it. But there's a lot of also some leeway, in a sense of it is a hyper local business. And we want you know the wolfies of Columbia might look different from wolfies of Rochester or wolfies of West Orlando, a little bit because of the market that you're in. But at the end of the day, it should be that Wolfie service. It should be the there should be all those fundamentals in place. That's. Same offering? Yeah,
Collin 30:01
that's just kind of an ongoing conversation, right? As part of that too, is, how is the brand being used? I'm glad you know you brought up like, yeah, no, you're not just offering up a wolfies bakery next to you, because that's not what we do. That's not how things are set up, but how you talk to people, and you know the what community events you're involved in, and how you know that stuff is where you get to see okay, now I just got to make this work. I got to try and make this work in my local community, get the connections that I need. Because at the end, you said, you said, it is a hyper local community I love. Whenever we get contacted by marketers, and they'll say things like, I can get you on the airwaves in 12 counties to let you know. It's like, no, so that's a big note for me, but thank you. Thank you. It is. It's getting to know that those people and your neighbors really is what that is.
Amy A. 30:49
It is, I mean, that's what this business is all about, is the relationship and the trust that you get from the customers and you know, and that's why, for example, social media that is really important, like those local community groups, people go on there, you know, all the time. Hey, I'm looking for a dog walker. Any recommendations? People trust their neighbors and and people on social media, but also just word of mouth and and also networking. You know, we're very big on the grassroots marketing with our franchise owners and every market that's something that's universal, is you need to be part of your local community, and you need to network with fellow business owners, network, obviously, and work with the local shelters and rescue groups. I mean, that's a huge piece of giving back as part of wolfies, but also something that always surprises people that don't come into pet space is you also should be networking with your local competitors. And it's really important, because at the end of the day, there might be a competitor in your area that you know, as the holidays come up, we know everyone has that frantic, last minute pet sitting request. Oh my gosh, my neighbor fell through. Or, you know, the kid was supposed to do of it, and something happened, or something happened with the company. You know, you want to have the relationship with your fellow business owners in the pet space, because, you know, if you can accommodate a client, or if they can't accommodate a client, you should be able to refer business back and forth, because at the end of the day, we want to make sure pets are taking sure pets are taken care of. At the end of the day, that is what matters, is make sure those pets are taken care of. So we tell everybody, all of our new business owners, reach out to your local competitors, you know, because you should know each other and be able to refer business back and forth when it's needed. And I think because, again, we have the end of the day where we are trying to do what's best for the animals. And you never this is the type of business. If somebody calls in and says, desperate, I need to get out of town my poor we, you know, I need pet sitting if for any reason you can't accommodate. The last thing you want to say is, sorry, can't help you. Bye. You want to say, You know what? I know Collin, and give him a call. Their company is awesome. And you know, I mean, so I think it's just very important to have those relationships.
Collin 33:12
It is, it's to find those people, those businesses, those companies that you would feel comfortable leaving your pets with too, right? They're out there, right? And it is so necessary. There are more pets on the face of the plant than we could ever hope to, you know, to service. And honestly, Megan and I talk about this, I don't want all that headache of trying to service, you know, all of the pets in our, in our, in our, in our service area, because this, you know, that's, that's a lot. And so going, I need to have trusted people who I can also commiserate with. We can talk to one another. We can help make sure that we're elevating the industry together and that we are everybody's on the same page, not that we're, you know, price fixing or doing that kind of stuff, but when we're talking about best practices, like, what's going on, what's working, what do our What do clients need here? How can we serve our community? It gives you a much bigger picture of what as is actually happening. Because you'll be surprised when you talk to other sitters in your area, you'll be like, you encounter that, like, that's a whole side of the I what I've never seen that before. Oh my gosh.
Amy A. 34:14
It is, it's, it's funny. You bring that up because when I first started with Leslie in 2004 in Northern Virginia. There was a Northern Virginia professional pet sitters network that was in existence, and they met once a month, and that is where I met Lydia best who I've been working with now for the last seven years, but I've known her for 20 years. We were competitors. We were direct competitors. She had started her business a year before me, and we met at a networking meeting, and just completely connected. We both came from corporate. We both had that, again, very shared passion for what we were doing, of building a business, but building it right, and doing this as a business. And we really connected. And I was so. Fortunate to meet her at that meeting 20 years ago, and we had two different approaches. I had as Les and I had a small service area, and Lydia had a larger service area. So I referred anybody outside of my service area. I refer to everything to her, because I had that relationship with her and she and when we started mobile grooming, she trusted me enough to refer her pet sitting clients in my territory to us for grooming. I would never have poached her clients or pet sitting I had absolute respect for her business, and those are her customers, but we offered mobile grooming whereas she didn't, so she referred all of those clients to us, and we always give that as an example of how great we work together. And we were direct competitors, but we referred business back and forth to each other, and thank goodness, because when somebody called me that was out of my service area, I had the confidence to say, call Lydia. She's a very good friend of mine. They will take amazing care of you, and she did the same for us. That
Collin 36:05
confidence is so great on the other other end of the phone, because it happens to us too, where we know our service area, it's locked in. I'm not going outside of that, and your heart does.
Amy A. 36:14
She's very smart, by the way.
Collin 36:18
Your heart sinks whenever that some somebody calls and that you realize, oh, you're three miles outside that I I can't go there, right? I'm not going that far. And if you don't have somebody to refer them to, you're kind of going well. So finding those people so you can just say no with confidence. I can sleep. I can put my head on my pillow at night knowing I didn't I didn't know. I didn't go against our boundaries. I made sure we set those things, and I was still able to help that person like that just helps the entire community be better. I
Amy A. 36:48
agree 1,000% I think that is so important. In fact, when we talk about it, when our franchise owners are candidates, even evaluating the process to become part of what fees and when they go through training, we talk about that. Like I said, we have that grassroots marketing, but a big piece of it is that competitive action plan. It is really important to meet those fellow business owners and your fellow competitors and, you know, and there might be a especially like in grooming too, you know, definitely on the pet sitting side. But in grooming, you know, there might be a pet that would do better going to a vet for a groom or going into a salon for one reason or another. So you have to have those relationships. I never want a client to call any of our wolfies owners. If we can't help them for whatever reason, you better have a great referral, because that's the right thing to do, and that's where you have that credibility as a business owner. And it just, it's just really important to have that now, not everyone is open to that, you know, and if we tell our owners it's okay, sometimes you might get somebody that doesn't return your call, or they think it's a competitor coming in. I you know there may be a little skeptical or anything like that, but the ones who understand it, like what the conversation we're having and how Lydia and I talked about it and understood immediately, those are the people that you want to surround yourself with.
Collin 38:16
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Amy A. 40:25
yeah, I, I think that's a great question. I, I think we had a very strong brand identity from day one, because we knew very clearly who we wanted to be in this space. We wanted to elevate it be upscale, but not corporate snooty. You know that piece, but as a brand, we want to be known for being part of that local community, a company you can trust, a premier provider of services going above and beyond always, where you you get what you pay for. And then some you know, where we truly it's a brand that can be trusted. And I think that was something that was very important to myself and Leslie from the very beginning, and we've really held on to that these past two decades, and especially as we started franchising, is making sure that wolfies brand is consistent whether you're in Kansas City, whether you're in, you know, Space Coast, Florida. It doesn't matter like you need to when you when a customer calls in, the woofies experience needs to be the exact same the brand. When someone sees the grooming van, which, you know, we're fortunate we have that external imaging because of the mobile grooming, but the brand from the look, the esthetics, the look and feel of it, but it's also the experience you you have to have that brand identity, and that is why it's so key to bring on the right owners. Because if you don't bring on the right owner who doesn't align with the brand and the identity of the brand and doesn't support it, you know that's going to be a major problem, and that would impact other franchisees. It would diminish and devalue the wolfies brand. So the brand imaging from the exterior, but also what the brand is is is all about, is really important.
Collin 42:22
It's defining those things. Going, What does my company mean? When, when I when somebody sees my name, what should go through their head? And how are they going to know that? Yeah, there's marketing, but you can only say we're trustworthy, right? It's like, well, usually trustworthy people don't have to say they're trustworthy. That seems kind of suspicious. Like, what? Okay. But like, what? Okay? Did you follow through on your Yes? Were you consistent with your no? Did you have a good onboarding experience? Did you do what you said you were going to do? It's an experiential trust that we have to build, because we are as you know, they are gifting us with a key and access to their home. We have to now take that and carry that with the reverence that it deserves, and going that that is what's going to fundamentally further this trust. It was an initial trust that they gave that to me and hopefully through my branding, through my marketing, through my words, through their interactions with me, through the phone calls that we've had. They've developed some of that. But now that I'm actually in here, this is where rubber meets the road with this trust, and that's something that you can never really get back once it's gone 100%
Amy A. 43:23
and taking that a step further. You know, we're talking as business owners, but now it's a responsibility as a business owner to bring on team members who reinforce that. You know, you don't hire just to hire and have a body. I mean, this is not, I always say it's not a transactional business. It is a relationship business. So anybody that you bring on board is an extension of you and your brand, and you have to be very careful the people that you bring on board and make sure they are aligned with your culture and your your identity. What wolfies is all about, because you're trusting them. You are trusting them to go into the client's homes and to give that extra love and care and attention for the pets, and to go that extra mile when it you know, every time, so that bringing on those team members is so incredibly important in this type of business. Yeah, because that's
Collin 44:17
that consistency, I'm furthering this consistency outside of me. And how do I do that? Well, I have to be intentional with who I'm bringing on. I also have to be intentional with my training, with my policies, with my procedures. Now, we might not have 1000 pages that I'm still sweating over that, thinking of all that reduction
Amy A. 44:32
again, we have aI don't worry. Okay,
Collin 44:36
lay down after this. But like going, how do I make sure that when whoever's in there is doing what they're supposed to do. That's that's my responsibility, and, and I've always thought of the term brand and, you know, is of kind of it's the side conversations people have when they hear your name for the first time. What are their initial thoughts that come up? Where have they seen, heard, read about you? What do they reckon you do, or how you do that? That's what you're. Trying to influence is that name? You know, you're passing from one person to another. What are those people saying? How are they talking to one another? We can't influence everybody, obviously, and but it is going, what can I intentionally do? How do I be consistent and true to my decisions in what I do?
Amy A. 45:17
Right? And, you know, it's funny, people ask all the time, how did you come up and decide on the name woofies or the logo or the colors of the brand? All of that was very intentional. Everything had meaning from the very beginning of what do we want the brand to represent? It's up to us, ultimately, to provide that service and earn the trust of clients and to build the business. But from that first reaction when someone hears the name wolfies or sees the logo or sees the van, you know, I want that to represent something that's something that every business should think about early on. What do you want people to think when they see your name or see your website or your marketing materials, all of that, you know, ties in. But at the end of the day, it's a service you provide the team members you have on board like that's the brand. Is what people will associate with you, and that is incredibly important. You have to maintain that brand integrity forever, and that has to be a such a high priority for everybody. But it's also prove it, you know, prove it by the service that you guys are offering. Are you worth? What your brand represents?
Collin 46:27
Yeah, prove it by your service. I think that's definitely thing, because people buy in and at that point, I've always thought about this of, how do I, how do I get people to really buy into our service? Because they can't experience it before they've experienced it. And it's kind of like, it's kind of like selling a Disney World ticket, like you buy your ticket before you've ever gone there, but you you can see that, but now, once you show up and you're walking through those gates, you've got to experience all the hype. You've got to live up to what you've promised that person. And making sure those expectations are in alignment is really critical,
Amy A. 46:58
absolutely, and that's why we do, and I'm sure you're operating the same way any new pet sitting, dog walking client that comes on board, we go to their house and we do an in person consult. I don't want you to go on an app and see a picture of somebody and click on them and hope they hope it works out i as the owner or a manager, or somebody trusted in that role, that is one of the most important roles within the franchise system, is who's going out and doing that consult, because that is the first time you're meeting the customer face to face. You are learning about the pets routine, everything to make sure that the experience is exceptional for them, and that we have all the information that we need. We want to make sure we know the dog isn't a runner the second you open up the door. Or he gets nervous when the owners are home and may not eat, but he loves when he put some parmesan cheese on. I mean, all the different, you know, little tips and everything but, or are there any medical issues, you know? Is there anything that we need to know to make us better caretakers? But that's where you establish that relationship with the customer, and that's where you begin building that foundation of yes, you called us for one reason or another. You were referred by us. You saw us on the van driving by, or you googled and or went on social media and got some referrals from us. Somehow we got our foot in the door, but then when we get in there, that's where you really start establishing this is what wolfies represents. This is how we operate. This is how we are going to earn your trust and care for your pet and hopefully build a very long relationship with you so that in home consult is so valuable, I couldn't imagine. And that is a non negotiable, like that is one of those things we've talked about when you bring on a pet sitting, dog walking client, it is required. You must do an in home consultation. Yeah,
Collin 48:54
we Yeah, 100% in agreement with that. Of that is still part of the the interview process, really, of making sure it's a good fit for everybody, because up till that point, I have reviewed your documents that you've submitted online. I've talked with you on the phone, probably, and we've had some messages correspondence back and forth. But now I'm going to walk in your home, and I have to get a sense of, is this going to be a good owner to work with, and is the pet meeting the expectations and what we can take on. And there are so many times where I'm looking at documents and looking at answers and going, talking over with Megan, talking with with our team, going, well, there's nothing here. That's a red flag. So we're going to go into this, but I don't have a sense, really. I've got to figure this out. And then you walk in, you go, Oh, actually, no no, thank you. Never, mind that you didn't disclose that. Or that's, that's not okay. We can't do that. Oh, when you said, or, you know, they'll say, Oh, my dog has outdoor access. It's like, well, let's define that, right? Let's, oh yeah. They have 24/7, access to a to a doggie door, actually, like, Okay, you didn't tell us that. So now we've got to backtrack, or not certainly backtrack, but just. A that's against our standards and policies. We wish you the best of luck, right? Like we just can't take that on.
Amy A. 50:04
Or the clients who insist, no, you can have my dog off leash. My dog will never run. There are certain non negotiables, like, Not on our watch, absolutely not. I
Collin 50:15
love, oh, we just let them out. They love to go to the I'm glad you get to do that?
Amy A. 50:21
We are not doing that. No, absolutely not. I am all about doing our very best to maintain the normal routine of a pet. But at the end of the day, when a pet is in our care, there are certain, again, certain non negotiables, right? Being one of them.
Collin 50:39
Amy, what is this process been like for you personally. I mean, you've been growing 20 years ago, growing building, building, building, expanding, doing so, how have you handled all of that?
Amy A. 50:49
Well, I don't sleep
Collin 50:53
one, okay, cool.
Amy A. 50:56
Um, no, you know, all kidding aside. Um, it's, it's a, really, it's been a very emotional process, because to see something that you started 20 years ago, that Leslie and I built together and started, and to see it evolve over the years, to see these new owners coming on board, entrusting us to open a woofies in their local community. It's very inspiring. It's it's a responsibility I take on tremendously in the best way possible. I want to see them succeed. These are incredible people coming on board. It's really awe inspiring to like see these owners and to work with them and and, you know, when they have wins, we celebrate their wins when they have challenges. You know, we're right there with them. You know, we feel it. So it's, it's been a really incredible journey, and it's, I feel in many ways, it's still just starting, because, you know, we're going through different stages in our business. You know, we're we're growing and expanding our our owners continuing to do that. But really, how do we evolve as a brand? And how do we make wolfies even better? Because you can't get complacent, you can't get comfortable, and you owe it to the franchisees to constantly have new either national strategic partnerships or new services or new marketing promos that we can do like we owe it to them to constantly arm them with more more resources so they can be successful in their business. And you know, it's kind of come full circle, because I became a franchise owner again, and and I love that, because I kind of look at Delray as I'm grateful because I have Liz, who is, is running it and, you know, taking it, thank goodness, because she's just incredible. And I love to see her career path and her career growth and hopefully into a wolfies owner one day. But I love it, because I get back into the day to day through Liz, I hear, you know what she's going through, and I, you know, can guide her and you know, but at the end of the day, I want her to have that autonomy and to run, run the business. But it's putting my head into, again, that of a franchise owners, and I think that's important. You can't ever lose sight of your franchisees. You know it's important to grow the brand, because that ultimately helps our brand, and anyone coming in needs to elevate it. But you can't ever lose sight of these are business owners. These are, this is what they go through each day, and to understand that and appreciate that and respect that, like that's something. So I think my process is still evolving. I think it always will. But I love it, you know, it's, it's what these is the my baby that I had with Leslie 20 years ago, and it's now, I don't know, in college, and so we'll have it continue to grow. So yeah, well, and
Collin 54:06
to know that, like, it is different level of thinking, like you're thinking of these national level partnerships, how do I make things consistent and workable in each location, too? Because you may, I'm sure you've had these great ideas like this would be fantastic, or whatever, but the hearing from the owners going, No, that would never work, or I don't know how we'd implement that stuff. So still having that connection really does help make sure that that consistency and that brand identity remains strong.
Amy A. 54:30
Absolutely, I tell the owners, there's nothing I would ask you guys to do that I wouldn't personally do. And a lot of times, too, I will run things through my Delray rape beach as a test, like, I'll have Liz test out different ideas, and if they work great, I'll share it with the network. If it flops, okay, that's fine, you know, it's okay. Because, you know, I think you always have to get in or kind of think of, how can we make this business better? You know, yes, we've been doing. US for 20 years. We've learned a lot along the way, but there's so much more to do, and you have to always evolve your business.
Collin 55:08
Well, that's what it means to be, to be a resilient business is constantly changing, because what your business was adapted to and came up from 20 years ago is not the same environment that it's living in now, right? It's totally and completely different. So if you do just that word complacency, right? If we are just complacent in our business, go, Well, I'm, I'm making enough now, or I've got enough clients now. It's, it's very short sighted in the end, instead of thinking, What about five years from now, or what's 10 years down the road look like, given what I'm experiencing right now, and and am I ready
Amy A. 55:36
for that? Well? And that brings up a good point. I mean, there may be some people that I'm good, where I am, like, I don't want a big, massive business. I want to have my local pet sitting business, my book of clients that I know and trust. I know the animals and I don't. I'm good. I have a couple sitters that work for me and I'm great. Or there's a lot of sole proprietors out there where they're just, they're it's them and them only. They don't want to manage anybody. You know, they don't. They're not looking to scale. And so, you know, that's where, you know, you kind of have to decide what is best for you, like, what is the type of business that you want? And there are those people who want to take it to that next level and expand. And then there's several that are like, you know, what the business is actually growing beyond what I planned or want to do. I want to just get back to the basics. I want to just take care of the animals. I don't want it to get stuck in all the business side of it, and all the marketing and the this and the that. There are others that thrive on that and want that, but there are plenty people out there that are, you know, what I got into this for the animals. I just want to take care of the animals.
Collin 56:45
Yep. And how do I do that? What does that look like? Do I need to partner with somebody else that they can take on the administrative overhead? Do I need to bring there's so many options there of, as we are entrepreneurs, running your own business, we get to decide which aspects that we would like to take on or put off to somebody else, or, you know, how we want to live our lives like, that's, that's a person very, you know, you said, I mean, that's a very personal decision that we all get to make as far as what aspects are we going to be taking on.
Amy A. 57:12
Absolutely, I think back in when I was running Ashburn with Leslie, we had three different scenarios over the years of smaller pet sitting companies in our local area that we had built a relationship with. They knew us. We knew them, but one of them retired, and she reached out to us and said, I'm retiring. I and she had, I think maybe 2025, clients. So you know, wasn't but these were clients that she had worked with for many, many years, and she said, I need to make sure they're in great hands. And so we took over those clients, you know, we had a great, you know, transition, and those clients stayed with us to this day, you know. And, and that was really important. Or if you have somebody that maybe you know, doesn't they're either retiring or they're moving out of the area. You know, you'll find that people want to make sure that their pets are in great hands. That's because they've had that relationship over the years. Sometimes we've had people like I said, that example of this has just become too much. I don't want to do the business side. Or maybe we've had some people that want to go back to corporate for one reason or another, maybe a life change. You know they were, they have to go back. They still want to do it on the side, but they don't want to manage all that business side. There's always options
Collin 58:31
out there. Yep, and we're very thankful for that, aren't we? We don't ever have to be the same tomorrow as we are today, and that's absolutely that's something to be hopeful for. Amy, I want to thank you for coming on the show today and for sharing about woofies and all the cool stuff that you guys are doing and encouraging us to build into that brand, focus on the trust and to dig into our local communities as well, of getting connected with other business owners, and that's just critical for our success and our clients as well. I know that there's a whole lot more here, and that you cover a whole lot more stuff, and you've got a lot going on. So how is the what's the best way that people can get in touch with you and follow along with everything?
Amy A. 59:08
If anybody wanted to reach out to me directly, my email is a, Addington, A, A, D, D, I N, G, T, O n@woofies.com, we also have own a woofies.com if somebody was interested to learn more about becoming a wolfies owner. And our website is woofies.com you can go in if you are somebody in a local area where we have a woofies Reach out, if they haven't already reached out to you, you know, network with, you know, for those fellow pet sitting owners out there, you know, our owners absolutely want to network, and we all are serving the same purpose. And, you know, want to see animals taken care of, you know. So I think any opportunity to reach out that would be fantastic.
Collin 59:53
Okay, well, wonderful. Amy, I'll have those links in the show notes and on the website so people can click right to those and get connected. Did. This has been a lot of fun, and I really appreciate your time today, Amy, for coming on and sharing with us. So thank you so much. Thank
Amy A. 1:00:06
you for having me, and congratulations to you, Megan, on your business. That's amazing. So thank you.
Collin 1:00:11
My biggest takeaway from my conversation with Amy was when she said, at the end of the day, this is not a transactional business, it's a relationship business, and that's what makes it so rewarding, I'll also add it's what also makes it so difficult and challenging, because our relationship is both with the dog or the cat or the bearded dragon, it's also with the person, with the human on the other end of the line and the other end of our software or our texting. There's somebody there who has a problem, who has a concern, who has a need, who has had problems in the past and is looking to you to solve them. They need help, and we get to do that, no matter how big we do or do not, grow our businesses. If we lose sight of that fact that we're helping people live a better life, we won't have a business for very long. This is a heart business, and that starts with us. We want to thank today's sponsors, time to pet and pet for reals for making the show possible. And we really want to thank you all so much for listening. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and we'll be back again soon. Happy.
