We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again: Hounds Town doggy daycare is a fantastic business opportunity for professionals of all backgrounds, industries, and levels of experience. Our most successful Franchise Owners have come from desk jobs in corporate settings, blue-collar industries, other franchises, and everything else in between. There’s no need to have prior experience with the pet industry, but if there’s one thing we’ve found that can help an Owner truly thrive, it’s an entrepreneurial spirit, whether it’s from a lifelong desire to start your own business or hands-on experience bootstrapping your own business before joining our pet franchise.

With that being said, we’re psyched to introduce our newest Franchise Owner, joining us from sunny Phoenix, Arizona, a family man with experience launching an investment and management business of his own before finding Hounds Town! With his wife and youngest son, this new Owner plans to introduce a new business into the mix for the family to launch and scale all together.

Join Us in Welcoming John Pons, Our New Phoenix, Arizona Franchise Owner!

There’s another new owner joining our franchise pack, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome this veteran and animal-loving family man from Arizona! While John Pons is already an accomplished entrepreneur and is familiar with the regular expenses of growing a company, he wanted to find a franchise that could eventually involve his wife and youngest son and become a true family business.

So, let’s dive into John’s journey through the franchise process and learn all about why he chose to join Hounds Town USA!

John’s Career & Business Success

While he began his adult years in the Air Force, becoming a Missile Combat Crew Commander before moving back into civilian life, John is no stranger to business management. In 2015, John began his entrepreneurial journey in the commercial real estate industry, co-founding his own investment and management business that has since grown from just four partners to over 50 employees, 14 multifamily communities, and over 2000 units across four states. During this venture, he’s also continued his role as a practicing attorney, focusing primarily on commercial real estate and finance law. However, this interest in law doesn’t stop at John – his wife is also a practicing attorney with expertise in healthcare.

Outside of their work, the Pons consider themselves a family of hikers who have been fortunate enough to take hiking trips to iconic locations like Kilimanjaro, Patagonia, Machu Picchu, Mont Blanc, and the Tetons. It’s this sense of adventure that led John to begin thinking about a career change that would allow him to marry his existing entrepreneurial mindset with his desire to start a family business around something everyone loved.

Getting to Know Hounds Town

As an experienced entrepreneur, John knew exactly what he was looking for in a new business, and while an established franchise brand was key to this career move, he also needed a business model that would work best with his skills and his family’s wants for the future. With this in mind, he was initially introduced to six different franchise concepts by his consultant, each of which he conducted his own due diligence on. In the end, John was only impressed by and chose to pursue one: Hounds Town USA. John brought a diligent approach to everything, even going as far as to take three pages of notes after watching our dog daycare franchise introduction video and hopping on his first call with our team.

Throughout each stage of the franchise process, John continued to discover more about the model that he liked and felt fit his family’s lifestyle, the most important of which became Hounds Town’s policy to never discriminate based on a dog’s breed. This, paired with our culture and the recordings the Pons family listened to where current Franchise Owners discussed everything from day-to-day operations to how locations are willing to help each other out, made it clear that this was a business model they could get behind.

The Pons’ Plan for the Future

Once John made the decision to bring Hounds Town doggy daycare to his corner of Arizona, he and his wife, Natalie, agreed it would be the perfect opportunity to involve their youngest son, Hudson, who’s currently pursuing a psychology degree at Arizona State University. By pairing John’s business management experience and his son’s lifelong affinity for dogs, the family is confident that they’ll not only be able to launch the business successfully but also grow it into multiple locations over time.

Today, the Pons’ goal is to create a business together that they can use to build generational wealth and secure the futures of the children that follow them. While John plans to be primarily responsible for the daily operations of the Pons’ Hounds Town alongside his son, his ultimate goal is to eventually and gradually step back into an oversight role. Upon her retirement from her practice in the next few years, Natalie also plans to step into managing the business until she can also make a gradual exit and leave the business to their children.

Our Q&A Session with John

While the Pons family is busy finishing their Hounds Town onboarding and hunting for the perfect location to open their doggy daycare, John still took a moment to sit down with our team and talk about his experience with the franchise process. Check out this peek into what he had to say and how he feels about moving forward with Franchise Ownership.

What drew you to Hounds Town, and why do you feel their model is the right fit for your family?

John: “As we went through the diligence process and listened to other Franchisees talk about their experiences, as well as meeting several of the corporate team on Approval Day, it was an easy decision. Not only do we feel it is a good fit from a philosophical standpoint, but we are confident the business model – with the strong corporate support – provides the best opportunity for success.”

Was there an a-ha moment that solidified your decision to become a Franchise Owner?

J: “There was no real a-ha moment. We performed a great deal of diligence on the dog daycare business and its plan for growth. Meeting everyone on Approval Day and listening to them talk about the business and their plan for success and support for the franchisees sealed the deal.”

What are you most looking forward to about owning a Hounds Town doggy daycare?

J: “We are a family of dog lovers. We currently have a Pit Bull (Blue), two Rottweilers (Nelson, aka Nellie, and Loki), and a miniature Goldendoodle (Brix). My family is passionate about how it feels about animals. Having a family business that allows us to do something we are passionate about is rare. I’m very excited about the opportunity to do so.”

Are you ready to leave your unfulfilling corporate job behind in favor of a legacy-building business you can pass on to the next generation? Or are you looking for a franchise with streamlined operations that can help you scale into your own dog daycare business empire? Then Hounds Towns USA’s simple doggy daycare business model may be the perfect solution. Join our franchise pack by taking the first step toward your new future today; take our quick, one-minute qualification quiz to get started.